tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-152437388464379312024-02-19T00:58:33.823-05:00Sing City ChroniclesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.comBlogger752125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-82517036373745773962012-09-16T12:29:00.001-04:002012-09-25T09:12:52.060-04:00TIFF Review: Room 237Room 237 (2012, directed by Rodney Ascher)
We've all been there. You're watching a movie and all of a sudden, bang! You get an epiphany about it. Maybe you were trying to figure out why the basement door always seemed to be locked and the knob was red, or why Kevin Spacey held his cigarette funny, and all of a sudden pieces start falling into place and it all makes sense. Or maybe you were Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-71846236100858322462012-09-15T10:46:00.004-04:002012-09-15T10:47:16.417-04:00TIFF Review: Cloud AtlasCloud Atlas (2012, directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer)
(Note the credit: Lana and Andy, not just "the Wachowskis". It's fitting, in a way, that this is the movie for which Lana first gets billing under her new name, as Cloud Atlas addresses questions about the nature of human identity, what it means in fact to be 'human', as well as dabbling in themes of persecution and freedom.&Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-19123843571037558652012-09-14T12:56:00.000-04:002012-09-14T12:56:22.935-04:00TIFF Review: The Lesser BlessedThe Lesser Blessed (2012, directed by Anita Doron)
As long as kids continue to come of age, there will be coming-of-age stories. No matter what time, place and culture the story's set in, the near-universality of the passage into (or at least towards) adulthood gives an audience an easy hook into a worldview they might not otherwise be able to relate to. You might not be a snot-nosed teen in Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-52001305802307022782012-09-12T15:18:00.001-04:002012-09-12T15:18:13.879-04:00TIFF Review: The HuntThe Hunt (2012, directed by Thomas Vinterberg)
A kindergarten student gives her favorite teacher and her father's best friend an innocent peck on the lips. He gently scolds her and tries to let her know that the peck was inappropriate. Feeling rejected, she tells an ugly lie to another teacher. From such small seeds are tragedies born.
The Hunt is a frustrating film, which is suspect is exactlyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-89048479392140258862012-09-11T20:55:00.000-04:002012-09-11T20:55:17.483-04:00TIFF Review: No One LivesNo One Lives (2012, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura)
Kitamura isn't exactly the most subtle of filmmakers, granted, but when the demented brain behind 2001's Versus unleashes a film on you called No One Lives, you pretty much get locked into certain expectations: a high body count, gruesome kills, and probably a certain amount of cheekiness with regard to the whole enterprise.
I am happy to report Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-11926019280010772152012-09-11T20:14:00.001-04:002012-09-11T20:59:16.802-04:00TIFF Review: Rust and BoneRust and Bone (2012, directed by Jacques Audiard)
I freely admit it- I'm a sucker for melodrama. From Douglas Sirk to My So-Called Life to Carlos Siguion-Reyna, if the emotions portrayed on screen are inflated you're probably going to hook me in at least a little. The trick with the melodramatic style, of course, is walking that fine line between exaggerated and grotesque, between engaging Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-78191871186536527982012-09-10T16:03:00.000-04:002012-09-10T16:03:04.639-04:00TIFF Review: Tai Chi ZeroTai Chi Zero (2012, directed by Stephen Fung)
This movie is... well, there's... it just... I mean, fuck.
I don't want to simply rehash the tweet I sent out right after seeing it, but it's really the best description I've got. Tai Chi Zero is the crazy, crazy baby of Kung Fu Hustle and Scott Pilgrim. Ostensibly it's a Chinese historical epic about Yang Lu Chan, the man who popularized tai chi, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-36389888750835236682012-09-10T12:57:00.003-04:002012-09-10T12:57:57.625-04:00TIFF Review: Seven PsychopathsSeven Psychopaths (2012, directed by Martin McDonagh)
Once upon a time in the land of Hollywood, after the usurper king Quentin the Loquacious had unleashed Pulp Fiction on the world, a host of lesser talents tried to make star-studded ensemble crime comedy/drama/thrillers with titles like Six Heads and Two Days in Duffel Bag Valley While You're Dead in order to carve out their own little Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-61534836222605514422012-09-09T21:13:00.003-04:002012-09-09T21:13:39.102-04:00TIFF Review: The MasterThe Master (2012, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)
Oh boy.
This was, by far, the film I was most looking forward to at this year's TIFF. Paul Thomas Anderson has never made a bad film - hell, the man's never made anything less than a great film. And given what the film was, given that it supposedly did to L. Ron Hubbard what Citizen Kane did to William Randolph Hearst, given that PTA shot it Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-35892084975171197432012-09-08T10:59:00.001-04:002012-09-08T10:59:20.895-04:00TIFF Review: Dredd 3DDredd 3D (2012, directed by Peter Travis)
This is probably the single most faithful comic book adaptation to ever hit the big screen.
Now, let me be clear here: I don't think it's the greatest comic book movie ever made. That title is clearly reserved for either Dark Knight or Scott Pilgrim, or possibly A History of Violence, and there are a bunch of others (X2, for instance) I'd stack above Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-65575903472607974192012-09-08T10:59:00.000-04:002012-09-08T10:59:01.874-04:00TIFF Review: LooperLooper (2012, directed by Rian Johnson)
If there's one thing we've learned about Rian Johnson over his brief career, it's that he has an impeccable sense of genre. Brick understood when to adhere to the beats of the hard-boiled gumshoe film, and when to use it as a springboard for something new. Brothers Bloom, for all its (in my eyes anyway) faults still knew that the most important thing that Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-34242470129171838172012-09-02T18:06:00.000-04:002012-09-02T19:15:34.109-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Saturday the 15th/Sunday the 16th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-58906263530186157272012-09-02T16:38:00.000-04:002012-09-02T19:20:04.757-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Friday the 14th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-44047594569425218952012-09-02T15:21:00.000-04:002012-09-02T19:19:42.911-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Thursday the 13th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-86963671679591740132012-09-02T14:22:00.000-04:002012-09-02T19:06:51.521-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Wednesday the 12th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-875627699950739422012-09-01T08:44:00.002-04:002012-09-01T08:44:42.001-04:00August TravestiesJust 12 songs. Sigh.
Changes - David Bowie
Doctor My Eyes - Jackson Browne
Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
Father and Son - Cat Stevens
Fell In Love With a Girl - White Stripes
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana
Instant Karma - John Lennon
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Photograph - Def Leppard
Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones
You'll Never Find - Lou Rawls
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-47848513433811307792012-08-29T07:55:00.001-04:002012-09-02T19:19:29.323-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Tuesday the 11th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-5340944865444106472012-08-28T22:23:00.004-04:002012-09-02T19:15:03.106-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Monday the 10th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-76482606301473610842012-08-27T08:33:00.000-04:002012-08-27T08:33:48.911-04:00Oh Lord, My God, Are There No Votes For A Widow's Son?Huh. I just found out, through Anne Laurie over at Balloon Juice, that Paul Ryan is a widow's son.
Maybe picking Ryan was Romney's way sending out the Masonic distress call in code. Goddess knows he needs all the help he can get.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-73360905796886823032012-08-26T18:32:00.002-04:002012-09-03T14:31:58.241-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Sunday the 9th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-67327893296595761472012-08-25T15:28:00.000-04:002012-09-03T14:28:10.432-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Saturday the 8thI'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-22020608793131668792012-08-25T13:35:00.000-04:002012-09-03T14:22:17.469-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Friday the 7th
I'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Sept Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-1231349918365278602012-08-25T13:06:00.000-04:002012-09-02T19:23:17.125-04:00TIFF '12 Preview: Thursday the 6thI'll eventually be compiling these into one big omnibus preview piece for Ain't It Cool News, but in the meantime here's the day-by-day preview of the hell that is trying to narrow a list of 101 picks into a workable, non-life-threatening 11-day schedule. Yes, I said 101 picks... this year's TIFF program is flat out ridiculous. I've never had a more laughably named 'short list'.
Thursday Sept Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-54560414353117078802012-08-14T16:38:00.001-04:002012-08-14T16:38:33.655-04:00TIFF 2012: ...and the restWith the last of the program announcements rolling out from TIFF, here are the final handful of films that seem like they might be worth my time in September:
- PTA's The Master. Mentally, I'm already in line
- Claude Miller's final film, Therese Desqueyroux, stars Audrey Tautou, which means there are two good reasons to check it out
- Nick Cassavettes' Yellow should prove once and for all Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15243738846437931.post-4966069960589918102012-08-11T00:04:00.001-04:002012-08-11T00:05:13.331-04:00TIFF 2012: Midnight Madness and Other GoodiesI've fallen behind in skimming through the TIFF program announcements to see what looks good. Let's rectify that:
Midnight Madness
No Man With the Iron Fists, sadly, but the program still looks pretty crazy even without it.
- The ABCs of Death is a 26-chapter horror anthology by, well, everybody. I'm sure the quality will be uneven (anthologies always are) but my big worry with this one is Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05606049382116502173noreply@blogger.com0