The Clouds of Sils Maria is a fascinating journey about the way a female star skyrockets to stardom in youth and plateaus in middle age. Juliette Binoche takes the role head-on and allows herself to be completely exposed. Kristen Stewart plays her personal assistant and life imitates art throughout the picture. Bella Swan is in some ways Chloe Grace Moretz's character. The mega-star comic book heroine. Moretz knows how to satisfy Binoche in a key scene when they first meet. Moretz endlessly compliments Binoche on her achievements and cites that she is the reason she wanted to become an actress.
The lines that are read in the film within a film between Stewart and Binoche are captivating. The French are absolutely correct to give Stewart a Cesar for this performance. Stewart shows the depth and holds her own with Binoche as the two women joust in a remote chalet in the Swiss Alps. The clouds become a character in this film. The snake is an splendid experience to witness as a filmgoer. Oliver Assayas exposes all the haunting qualities of celebrity from youth to middle-age. He was great in making Something in the Air about the music scene and politics in France. Boarding Gate by him as well happens to star my favorite actor of all time Michael Madsen and the powerhouse Asia Argento is another terrific experience.
The Clouds of Sils Maria belongs to the women in the film. Binoche, Stewart, and Moretz all represent different aspects of the industry and the film is a testament to their hard work, iciness, vulnerability, and glamor.
Pop the champagne to France, Switzerland, and ITALIA!!!
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Jauja
In Lisandro Alonso's Jauja a viewer is brought into a dreamscape immediately. The first images of peat moss covered rocks in tide pools are a microcosm of the world the film represents. A surreal dreamscape where a tattered army is helpless and lost in the frontier of Argentina. A land where a colonel offers a horse as a trade for the only woman in a 100 mile radius. A place where men are swallowed by a merciless desert. An area where a renegade former colonel dresses in women's clothes and hunts humans in the hinterland.
Oh how refreshing that ambiguity is served up in all it's forms, but here the film never goes over the line. The film Jauja is not El Topo or Inland Empire. However, the picture is a traditional Western in many respects. The storyline is basic in structure. A ruthless frontier, a missing daughter, and a father that wishes to track her down. A man looking for his daughter in the desert is the rudimentary story. However along this journey many strange things start happening.
The film looks staggeringly beautiful and the landscapes are breathtaking. Viggo Mortensen is perfect as the lead. He portrays a Danish father with poise and grace. His quest for his daughter is quite an adventure. The score of the film is Spanish guitar done by Viggo himself and it has a haunting and relaxing quality. The locations of Patagonia in Argentina are unlike anything I have seen before. They are remote and extraordinary. The film is the kind of film that lingers on a viewer long after the red credits.
Many thanks to the hits from Italy, Argentina, France, Russia, Turkey, and Indonesia! Long live global cinema!
Oh how refreshing that ambiguity is served up in all it's forms, but here the film never goes over the line. The film Jauja is not El Topo or Inland Empire. However, the picture is a traditional Western in many respects. The storyline is basic in structure. A ruthless frontier, a missing daughter, and a father that wishes to track her down. A man looking for his daughter in the desert is the rudimentary story. However along this journey many strange things start happening.
The film looks staggeringly beautiful and the landscapes are breathtaking. Viggo Mortensen is perfect as the lead. He portrays a Danish father with poise and grace. His quest for his daughter is quite an adventure. The score of the film is Spanish guitar done by Viggo himself and it has a haunting and relaxing quality. The locations of Patagonia in Argentina are unlike anything I have seen before. They are remote and extraordinary. The film is the kind of film that lingers on a viewer long after the red credits.
Many thanks to the hits from Italy, Argentina, France, Russia, Turkey, and Indonesia! Long live global cinema!
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Body Horror in Hollywood Babylon
One of the first images we see in "Map to the Stars" is Mia Wasikowska sleeping in a bus headed to Tinseltown. In this moment Cronenberg let's you know that evil is coming to Hollywood. The girl then gets a ride from limo driver Robert Pattinson who say's his most famous fare was Al Gore and he thinks of changing to scientology for a career move. The dialogue of this film is a delight to witness. Not since "Only God Forgives" where such cute vulgarities created for the English language. I would like to make this a capsule review as to not give to much away. However I was completely freaked out by John Cusack's character Dr. Weiss. Cronenberg has one scene shot of him with a million different tones of white as he preps to heal his clients by washing his hands. The horror is so unnerving and almost believable. Julianne Moore goes for the jugular without restraint. Her range is limitless and shows no signs of slowing down. David Cronenberg has decided to destroy Hollywood by burning it to the ground. In a time when on-demand and garbage at theaters is snuffing out the candles of greats like himself, Spike Lee, Michael Mann, and Herzog he decides to stoke the fire and throw kerosene on the descent of Hollywood and the sad state of cinema. Keep the fires burning dear ones and know that your creativity is appreciated. At least Cannes gave Julianne Moore best actress.
Shout outs to the hits from Italy, France, Russia, Canada, Mozambique, China, Australia, and Chile!
Shout outs to the hits from Italy, France, Russia, Canada, Mozambique, China, Australia, and Chile!
Friday, January 2, 2015
Trivial Top 10 2014 and awards consideration?
Well 2014 has come to an end and as always almost all the great adult dramas are sandwiched into the fall awards season. However this past year had a number of early surprises Boyhood and The Grand Budapest Hotel. They both were not only amazing, but have stood the test of time. The summer had the joy of Lucy and not much else. There was Von Trier's life altering Nymphomaniac part I and brick wall disappointment part II. Films at the end of the year that really struck a chord with me were Unbroken, Exodus Gods And Kings, Wild, Mr. Turner and The Homesman. My film of the year was Gone Girl!
Trivial Top 10 of Summit Cinema
1. Gone Girl
2. Boyhood
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Homesman
5. Exodus Gods and Kings
6. Unbroken
7. Wild
8. Lucy
9. Mr. Turner
10. Nymphomaniac part I
Special award goes to Only Lovers Left Alive for the scope of Jarmusch's vampire saga set in Detroit.
Top Ten Oscar Contenders even though some are HORRIBLE!
1. Birdman- worst film of the year totally depressing
2. Selma -good but not great biopic of MLK
3. Wild- excellent acting by Reese Witherspoon
4. Imitation Game-unseen
5. Theory of Everything-unseen
6. Boyhood- 12 year opus
7. Whiplash-unseen
8. Foxcatcher- unseen
9. Inherent Vice- PTA's worst film
10. American Sniper-unseen
Happy New Year to Italy, France, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, China, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, and Canada!
Looking forward in 2015 to Michael Mann's The Black Hat
David Croneberg's Map to the Stars
Spike Lee's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert
Fatih Akin's In The Cut
Trivial Top 10 of Summit Cinema
1. Gone Girl
2. Boyhood
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Homesman
5. Exodus Gods and Kings
6. Unbroken
7. Wild
8. Lucy
9. Mr. Turner
10. Nymphomaniac part I
Special award goes to Only Lovers Left Alive for the scope of Jarmusch's vampire saga set in Detroit.
Top Ten Oscar Contenders even though some are HORRIBLE!
1. Birdman- worst film of the year totally depressing
2. Selma -good but not great biopic of MLK
3. Wild- excellent acting by Reese Witherspoon
4. Imitation Game-unseen
5. Theory of Everything-unseen
6. Boyhood- 12 year opus
7. Whiplash-unseen
8. Foxcatcher- unseen
9. Inherent Vice- PTA's worst film
10. American Sniper-unseen
Happy New Year to Italy, France, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, China, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, and Canada!
Looking forward in 2015 to Michael Mann's The Black Hat
David Croneberg's Map to the Stars
Spike Lee's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert
Fatih Akin's In The Cut
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Gone Girl off the RICHTER SCALE!!!!………….
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
distinguished cinephiles and serious adult drama moviegoers, fall is here! My favorite time of year of for great cinema is here. The time when a truly great film rises to the SUMMIT. The Master, 12 years a Slave, and now drum roll please. I can't stand it when Stephanie Zacharek from the L.A. Weekly calls Fincher's latest work "too slick." She reminds me of one of those people at a concert that just stands and refuses to dance because she is too cool. Last year it was the issue that 12 years a Slave was too image based. McQueen and Fincher are heavyweight directors and she has no idea what she is talking about.
On to the film of the year. Gone Girl seems to be Fincher's most accessible film in years. I was not a huge fan of the Social Network and I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and I loved Zodiac. Gone Girl is a fusion, of Zodiac, Seven, and House of Cards. The relationship between Amazing Amy/ Amy Elliot Dunne,/ Rosamund Pike, and Nick Dunne/ Ben Affleck has all of the components of Francis Underwood/ Kevin Spacey, and Claire Underwood/ Robin Wright. However, this husband and wife dynamic is quite different than House of Cards, yet similarly in Gone Girl when both couples are behind closed doors as a viewer you feel you are truly peering into their private lives.
Nick Dunne is the average man that to quote Fincher, "His nuts are in a vice the whole time." Ironically his twin sister Go has a t-shirt with a squirrel carrying a bat and protecting acorns appearing at the beginning of the movie at the bar that reads "protect your nuts." The film has the Hitchcock sense of Roger Thornhill being chased by a crop duster and his life simultaneously falling apart. Nick Dunne is played by Ben Affleck. Affleck does an incredible job at making the viewer feel that his entire life is coming undone.
The use of flashbacks in the film was some of the best I have ever seen. The musical accompaniment of the flashbacks by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross create a surreal dream world. Rosamund Pike will be nominated for best actress for an oscar. She appears for the first half of the movie via flashback as a ghost and she is truly amazing. She says so much with her eyes and her expressions without verbalizing anything. She haunts the first half of the film like a ghost. When I first heard about the adaptation of my favorite modern book in the last five years I thought no one could portray the essence of Amy. Rosamund Pike has done just that. Most will argue that the character is just crazy, but there are many more layers to the cake than meets the eye.
The film is essentially about marriage. Kudos to Gillian Flynn she is the best modern writer I have read in the last five years. The way Flynn as a writer chose to break the chapters from a female and male perspective was astounding. She was like a detective herself in the amount of research and time she spent in getting help from the St. Louis Police department and others. As a reader you could tell she gave it her all. I honestly thought not even Fincher could scratch the surface of the book. However, Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay. She had to cut hundreds of pages and distill so much information, but the transfer was there. At 2:45 minutes the movie feels like Argo in terms of pace. Flynn writes in a way that makes you understand why a marriage is disintegrating in a very short period of time and how great it once was in flashbacks. The flashbacks of the matching bed sheets at the Chinese restaurant, the sugar kiss, and the bar affair kiss, as well as the murder scene and internal dialogue were my favorite parts of the film.
People will latch on to media and celebrity culture, but that has nothing to do with movie. Get it while it's hot off the grill. The film of the year and winner of best picture! Cheers to France and Russia thanx for the hits!!!
distinguished cinephiles and serious adult drama moviegoers, fall is here! My favorite time of year of for great cinema is here. The time when a truly great film rises to the SUMMIT. The Master, 12 years a Slave, and now drum roll please. I can't stand it when Stephanie Zacharek from the L.A. Weekly calls Fincher's latest work "too slick." She reminds me of one of those people at a concert that just stands and refuses to dance because she is too cool. Last year it was the issue that 12 years a Slave was too image based. McQueen and Fincher are heavyweight directors and she has no idea what she is talking about.
On to the film of the year. Gone Girl seems to be Fincher's most accessible film in years. I was not a huge fan of the Social Network and I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and I loved Zodiac. Gone Girl is a fusion, of Zodiac, Seven, and House of Cards. The relationship between Amazing Amy/ Amy Elliot Dunne,/ Rosamund Pike, and Nick Dunne/ Ben Affleck has all of the components of Francis Underwood/ Kevin Spacey, and Claire Underwood/ Robin Wright. However, this husband and wife dynamic is quite different than House of Cards, yet similarly in Gone Girl when both couples are behind closed doors as a viewer you feel you are truly peering into their private lives.
Nick Dunne is the average man that to quote Fincher, "His nuts are in a vice the whole time." Ironically his twin sister Go has a t-shirt with a squirrel carrying a bat and protecting acorns appearing at the beginning of the movie at the bar that reads "protect your nuts." The film has the Hitchcock sense of Roger Thornhill being chased by a crop duster and his life simultaneously falling apart. Nick Dunne is played by Ben Affleck. Affleck does an incredible job at making the viewer feel that his entire life is coming undone.
The use of flashbacks in the film was some of the best I have ever seen. The musical accompaniment of the flashbacks by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross create a surreal dream world. Rosamund Pike will be nominated for best actress for an oscar. She appears for the first half of the movie via flashback as a ghost and she is truly amazing. She says so much with her eyes and her expressions without verbalizing anything. She haunts the first half of the film like a ghost. When I first heard about the adaptation of my favorite modern book in the last five years I thought no one could portray the essence of Amy. Rosamund Pike has done just that. Most will argue that the character is just crazy, but there are many more layers to the cake than meets the eye.
The film is essentially about marriage. Kudos to Gillian Flynn she is the best modern writer I have read in the last five years. The way Flynn as a writer chose to break the chapters from a female and male perspective was astounding. She was like a detective herself in the amount of research and time she spent in getting help from the St. Louis Police department and others. As a reader you could tell she gave it her all. I honestly thought not even Fincher could scratch the surface of the book. However, Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay. She had to cut hundreds of pages and distill so much information, but the transfer was there. At 2:45 minutes the movie feels like Argo in terms of pace. Flynn writes in a way that makes you understand why a marriage is disintegrating in a very short period of time and how great it once was in flashbacks. The flashbacks of the matching bed sheets at the Chinese restaurant, the sugar kiss, and the bar affair kiss, as well as the murder scene and internal dialogue were my favorite parts of the film.
People will latch on to media and celebrity culture, but that has nothing to do with movie. Get it while it's hot off the grill. The film of the year and winner of best picture! Cheers to France and Russia thanx for the hits!!!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Boyhood: Summer Masterpiece…..
Dear Cinephiles and soul surfers,
From the waters of Florida, Charleston, Venice Beach, and all across the world the summer at the cinema is usually bone dry. However, there has been a dramatic change to the summer filmgoing experience. I am astounded by the current best film of the year. A film that seems like viewing ten films in one.
As a lover of the art of cinema one has to admire the audacity of Richard Linklater's latest portrait of life. Linklater is originally from Texas and a lot of his personal life and soul is in this one. Known for "Slacker" "Dazed and Confused" and the "Before Trilogy". Here it seems like the film he always wanted to make all his life.
The film "Boyhood" took ten years to film and the boy Mason grows from a young kid to a college freshman before your eyes. The actual use of chronological time took the film to a completely different level. As a viewer you get to witness Mason go through many phases of life. From wanting bumper bowling, going to a baseball game with his actual Dad, becoming a photographer, camping with his father, the first girl he truly falls in love with, graduating high school and becoming a college freshman.
My favorite scenes in the movie are when he is with his father listening to the band warm up in the club and he is telling him the secrets of life and how to cope with the loss of his girlfriend. Linklater knows a certain type of dialogue better than anyone out their. I kept thinking how organic this felt watching this chemistrty. I imagined how long a rapport must of been built up between the actors after such a long time working together. They had to become like family.
The scene of Mason leaving the nest and his mother pleading to take the photo of the first one he took with his camera is a show stopper. She becomes completely naked as an artist and bears such deep feelings that I rarely feel in cinema. This is an example of what Werner Herzog would call "the ecstatic truth."
The ending is one the best I have ever seen when the girl tells Mason about the present moment that she believes "The Moment ceases us" the film instantly becomes epic.
What range, scope, and determination. Cheers to Summer and the Hits from Japan, France, Russia, and Germany.
From the waters of Florida, Charleston, Venice Beach, and all across the world the summer at the cinema is usually bone dry. However, there has been a dramatic change to the summer filmgoing experience. I am astounded by the current best film of the year. A film that seems like viewing ten films in one.
As a lover of the art of cinema one has to admire the audacity of Richard Linklater's latest portrait of life. Linklater is originally from Texas and a lot of his personal life and soul is in this one. Known for "Slacker" "Dazed and Confused" and the "Before Trilogy". Here it seems like the film he always wanted to make all his life.
The film "Boyhood" took ten years to film and the boy Mason grows from a young kid to a college freshman before your eyes. The actual use of chronological time took the film to a completely different level. As a viewer you get to witness Mason go through many phases of life. From wanting bumper bowling, going to a baseball game with his actual Dad, becoming a photographer, camping with his father, the first girl he truly falls in love with, graduating high school and becoming a college freshman.
My favorite scenes in the movie are when he is with his father listening to the band warm up in the club and he is telling him the secrets of life and how to cope with the loss of his girlfriend. Linklater knows a certain type of dialogue better than anyone out their. I kept thinking how organic this felt watching this chemistrty. I imagined how long a rapport must of been built up between the actors after such a long time working together. They had to become like family.
The scene of Mason leaving the nest and his mother pleading to take the photo of the first one he took with his camera is a show stopper. She becomes completely naked as an artist and bears such deep feelings that I rarely feel in cinema. This is an example of what Werner Herzog would call "the ecstatic truth."
The ending is one the best I have ever seen when the girl tells Mason about the present moment that she believes "The Moment ceases us" the film instantly becomes epic.
What range, scope, and determination. Cheers to Summer and the Hits from Japan, France, Russia, and Germany.
Friday, July 25, 2014
The Knick: OFF THE HOOK!
Dear Ladies and Gentleman,
Last summer at the San Francisco Film Festival Steven Soderbergh gave a long speech about the death of cinema. As one of my favorite auteurs this news was sad and troubling. He spoke of the tremendous difficulty with financing and getting artistic projects green lighted. He explained that he was retiring from the film industry. Thank Soderbergh for choosing not to stop creating. Television is the new springboard that a variety of auteurs are utilizing. David Fincher with "House of Cards," Oliver Stone with "A Peoples History", and Martin Scorsese with "Boardwalk Empire". However a fundamental difference between Soderbergh and these directors is he himself was behind the camera for every part of the creative process. Soderbergh created "Behind the Candelabra" for cable and it was a great biopic about Liberace. I am so thrilled to hear and witness Soderbergh's latest project for cable. Television seems to be the perfect avenue for a variety of esteemed talent to make serious adult dramas.
The "Knick" is a nine episode series created by Soderbergh. He directed all nine episodes personally. The "Knick" is an exhilarating joyride into scientific innovation circa 1900 New York City. The first episode hits the viewer like a fever dream. The pace is fast for a period piece. Soderbergh did not want to romanticize the time period. We meet the lead character an unflinching anti-hero Clive Owen who is determined to make innovations in medicine at all costs. Owen's character is called Dr. Thackery and he is addicted to cocaine, has bad manners, but wants to make advancements in medicine no matter what wall gets in the way. He is a character who is driven like a mad man. The themes that the "Knick" seems to address are topics like class, race, gender, and corruption. Looking at science through the lens of Dr. Thackery is fascinating for a viewer. He loves learning and knowledge and advancing medicine, yet is completely self-destructive. Only Soderbergh could create such a unique character and let him run wild. The series feels fresh and alive. I don't know what to compare it to.
At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art an early screening of episode one was a treat for myself and all whom attended. The cast and crew were in attendance as well as Soderbergh and his latest muse Clive Owen. Soderbergh stated when asked about his retirement? He responded, "What could I say I was fired up!" The script apparently got his artistic juices flowing and the wheels turning in head. The result for the audience was off the hook. Clive Owen, claimed "I was thrilled to be working with Steven, then I read the script and I asked myself how am I going to play this character for this long with this intensity?" Apparently the schedule was extremely tight and all shooting was done in three months. The second season for the "Knick" has already been green-lit with Soderbergh at the helm!
Summit Cinema wishes to thank all the hits from around the world! Japan, Italy, France, and Russia are definitely in the house!
Last summer at the San Francisco Film Festival Steven Soderbergh gave a long speech about the death of cinema. As one of my favorite auteurs this news was sad and troubling. He spoke of the tremendous difficulty with financing and getting artistic projects green lighted. He explained that he was retiring from the film industry. Thank Soderbergh for choosing not to stop creating. Television is the new springboard that a variety of auteurs are utilizing. David Fincher with "House of Cards," Oliver Stone with "A Peoples History", and Martin Scorsese with "Boardwalk Empire". However a fundamental difference between Soderbergh and these directors is he himself was behind the camera for every part of the creative process. Soderbergh created "Behind the Candelabra" for cable and it was a great biopic about Liberace. I am so thrilled to hear and witness Soderbergh's latest project for cable. Television seems to be the perfect avenue for a variety of esteemed talent to make serious adult dramas.
The "Knick" is a nine episode series created by Soderbergh. He directed all nine episodes personally. The "Knick" is an exhilarating joyride into scientific innovation circa 1900 New York City. The first episode hits the viewer like a fever dream. The pace is fast for a period piece. Soderbergh did not want to romanticize the time period. We meet the lead character an unflinching anti-hero Clive Owen who is determined to make innovations in medicine at all costs. Owen's character is called Dr. Thackery and he is addicted to cocaine, has bad manners, but wants to make advancements in medicine no matter what wall gets in the way. He is a character who is driven like a mad man. The themes that the "Knick" seems to address are topics like class, race, gender, and corruption. Looking at science through the lens of Dr. Thackery is fascinating for a viewer. He loves learning and knowledge and advancing medicine, yet is completely self-destructive. Only Soderbergh could create such a unique character and let him run wild. The series feels fresh and alive. I don't know what to compare it to.
At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art an early screening of episode one was a treat for myself and all whom attended. The cast and crew were in attendance as well as Soderbergh and his latest muse Clive Owen. Soderbergh stated when asked about his retirement? He responded, "What could I say I was fired up!" The script apparently got his artistic juices flowing and the wheels turning in head. The result for the audience was off the hook. Clive Owen, claimed "I was thrilled to be working with Steven, then I read the script and I asked myself how am I going to play this character for this long with this intensity?" Apparently the schedule was extremely tight and all shooting was done in three months. The second season for the "Knick" has already been green-lit with Soderbergh at the helm!
Summit Cinema wishes to thank all the hits from around the world! Japan, Italy, France, and Russia are definitely in the house!
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