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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 20:57:11 GMT
I might watch it as I would a documentary about orangutans in Borneo, not because it had anything to do with reality. Although, I must say, it seems far more rooted in reality than Sex In The City, which was basically a glossy ad for a certain NYC lifestyle.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2014 9:59:18 GMT
I am really looking forward to this Palestinian movie.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2014 21:29:51 GMT
As a little break from our own cinematographic preoccupations, it is sometimes interesting to look at what is happening in other parts of the world. For example, in Egypt, the film Halawet Rooh, starring the famous Lebanese actress Haïfa Wehbé has just been banned. It is a remake of the Italian film Malena by director Giuseppe Tornatore, which starred Monica Bellucci in 2000. The subject is simply about how a local woman elicits desire among the neighbourhood men during the absence of her husband.
Anyway, the movie was released April 3rd in Egypt but has been yanked from the screens even though apparently far more salacious movies regularly appear on Egyptian screens. the reason the movie is in the news is because the chief Egyptian censor Ahmed Awad has resigned in protest over the interdiction, since he authorised the film and other government authorities went over his head to get it banned. The Ministry of Culture must make a new decision about the film in a few days but the Ministry of Family Affairs has already rejoiced about the ban because "there not a single scene in the movie where Haïfa is not showing a part of her body."
So here is the very popular trailer.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2014 20:46:11 GMT
The Cannes festival seems wide open this year because there seem to have been numerous powerful films. The French critics appear to favour Xavier Dolan's Mommy or the Dardenne brothers' Deux Jours, Une Nuit but the fact that both of them are in French probably skews their opinion. Other strong contenders are the Mauritanian film Timbuctu or the new Mike Leigh movie about the painter Turner, for which Timothy Spall might get an acting award or even Steve Carell who is apparently astounding in Foxcatcher. Three actresses might be slugging it out for the acting award -- Marion Cotillard in the Dardenne movie, Julianne Moore in Maps to the Stars by Cronenberg or perhaps Anne Dorval in Mommy. One thing I love is how unpredictable it all is because it rests on the shoulders of just 9 people in the jury. One of the cruellest things about the award day (tomorrow) is that some time before noon, various people are told that they should attend the award ceremony in the evening without having the slightest idea what they might win. This gets up hopes for the Palme d'Or, but since only one film can win that, there are always a lot of disappointments.
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Post by lola on May 24, 2014 13:43:43 GMT
NYT movie critic Manohla Dargis yesterday implies that nothing much happened at Cannes this year until Godard: "...83-year-old rock star Jean-Luc Godard shook up the Cannes Film Festival with his latest, a 70-minute 3-D extravaganza, “Goodbye to Language.” Finally, the competition lineup had something it has desperately needed all week: a thrilling cinematic experience that nearly levitated the packed 2,300-seat Lumière theater..." Many shots of a dog, Roxy, "as well as on a man and a woman the dog goes to live with. The man evacuates his bowels in a bathroom; Roxy relieves himself in the great and glorious outdoors. A woman sits behind bars..." while dog runs free. My. I'm afraid that much dog-related symbolism would go right over my head. www.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/movies/godards-goodbye-to-language-enlivens-cannes.html?ref=movies&_r=0
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Post by lola on May 24, 2014 14:04:29 GMT
I have enduring warm spot for G. Depardieu, and wish him well, though I won't go see WTNY probably. Is he still a Russian?
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2014 16:40:29 GMT
Nobody here cares. People just spontaneously stopped going to any movie that he is in. French producers lost quite a bit of money because of him this year, even in films where he only had a cameo appearance.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2014 17:00:31 GMT
NYT movie critic Manohla Dargis yesterday implies that nothing much happened at Cannes this year until Godard: "...83-year-old rock star Jean-Luc Godard shook up the Cannes Film Festival with his latest, a 70-minute 3-D extravaganza, “Goodbye to Language.” Finally, the competition lineup had something it has desperately needed all week: a thrilling cinematic experience that nearly levitated the packed 2,300-seat Lumière theater..." I am beginning to run low on movies that I haven't seen, but today I put my 3-D glasses in my pocket and went to my usual 27-screen multiplex at Les Halles. There are three 3-D movies playing there at the moment, and I had already seen Godzilla. So I ignored the Godard and went to see X-Men instead.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2014 17:47:13 GMT
Setting all other considerations aside regarding the Cannes film festival, the most incredible special effect at the award ceremony was how Sophia Loren looks at age 79.
Anyway, the Palme d'Or went to the Turkish film Winter Sleep, on the 100th anniversary of Turkish cinema.
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Post by bjd on May 24, 2014 17:59:24 GMT
I saw that review in today's paper -- it didn't really make me want to see Godard's movie. I don't have to go and sit in a movie theatre to watch a dog. Especially if it is being walked by Gerard Dépardieu. I have always disliked him as an actor -- I just couldn't stand the way he looks, and he hasn't improved with age. On the other hand, I always thought Sophia Loren looked great, until I saw a photograph of her in Cannes. Too many face lifts -- her eyebrows are pulled up.
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Post by htmb on May 24, 2014 18:39:57 GMT
It must take a tremendous amount of work to look like that at her age.
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Post by lola on May 24, 2014 20:52:03 GMT
I'm guessing that the whole symbolic point of Roxy the Dog is Freedom, and not being walked by anyone, let alone box office poison Russians, poor thing.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2014 20:53:27 GMT
I will put on my 3D glasses and go see the Godard movie tomorrow morning. It is only 70 minutes long, so it probably won't kill me.
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Post by lola on May 24, 2014 20:54:19 GMT
Let us know whether it levitates you.
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Post by bjd on May 25, 2014 6:33:00 GMT
Last night I had saw the report about the Cannes prizes on France 24. Neither the reporter nor the critic (not the usual one, this one was particularly useless) seemed thrilled about the prizes. "Nobody would sit through the Palme d'Or if it hadn't won the prize", and after a clip from the Godard movie, "No, we didn't edit it, it really is like that".
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2014 10:49:27 GMT
Okay, I saw the Godard movie as promised, and I can see why it won the Jury Prize, as annoying and pretentious as it is. He did things with images and sound that have absolutely never been done before, which is remarkable for somebody so old. However he did do something very upsetting two or three times when you are watching something in 3D -- all of a sudden the image veered off in two different directions, which is something that our minds are just not made to process because we are only supposed to see one view of the world around us that fits together. If you want to reproduce the same effect at home (since very few people will ever have a chance of seeing the 3D), take a teaspoon and scoop your eyes out of their sockets while being careful not to sever the optic nerves. Point your eyeballs in two different directions and try to make sense of what you are seeing. When you give up, just pop your eyes back in place and the world will become normal again.
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Post by lola on May 25, 2014 13:01:34 GMT
Thank you for reporting back and saving us from having to perform the eye-and-spoon maneuver. I say good for Godard, but I won't be paying money to see it.
Do people buy their own good-quality 3D glasses, then?
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2014 15:26:31 GMT
Most of the cinemas here use the same glasses that you buy for 1€ and keep to reuse as much as you want. One chain uses electronic glasses that you have to return, and they charge 3€ for that -- I do not see any 3D movies at that chain, not just because of the cost but also sometimes the glasses do not work and it is a real pain to exchange them when the movie has just started.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 17:33:45 GMT
Jacques Tati's Playtime dates from 1967, but it continues to be rereleased in France from time to time because it is such an amazing portrayal of "modern Paris" seen through the eyes of a tourist. I saw it with a Swiss friend the last time it was on the big screen about 8 years ago, and I have to admit that I am tempted to go and see it again now that it is playing all over the city again.
All of the buildings portrayed were built on a set in reduced sizes, but it was such a huge undertaking that it bankrupted the director since people of 1967 were displeased to see Paris denigrated in such a way. One of the things that I found remarkable is that you can catch a glimpse of the monuments of Paris from time to time, but only in reflection.
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Post by lola on Aug 1, 2014 21:16:05 GMT
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Post by lola on Aug 1, 2014 21:29:21 GMT
I'd like to see Playtime. Too bad 1967 insisted on reverence towards Paris.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2014 14:31:28 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing the biopic of James Brown, Get On Up (produced by Mick Jagger, who has certainly been making the rounds on radio and TV promoting it). To Jagger's credit when asked whether or not he "borrowed: any of Brown's "moves" for his own use, he stated: "Borrowed? I totally ripped off everything he did on stage". The actor who portrays James Brown has had no previous film experience as a musical performer but, has got rave reviews. Much like Jamie Fox, who portrayed Ray Charles in "Ray" so convincingly. My brother in law saw James Brown perform live twice at the old Saenger Theatre back in the early '60's. My husband remembers vividly wanting to tag along and was not allowed to because he was "too young". My BIL remembered being one of only a very small number of "white people" in the audience.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2014 11:43:11 GMT
I'm looking forward to the new Helen Mirren film, The 100-Foot Journey. Released yesterday (in the US anyway).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2014 15:33:56 GMT
I was watching the trailer on YouTube this morning, and at least it looks better than Chocolat, which is a film for which I have considerable disdain.
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Post by htmb on Aug 9, 2014 15:38:52 GMT
I was watching the trailer on YouTube this morning, and at least it looks better than Chocolat, which is a film for which I have considerable disdain. Figured you would. :-)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2014 16:08:38 GMT
Movies that take place in France but which are filmed 100% in English are a major pain for me. (I fear that about the new movie as well.) I actually knew the little boy who acted in Chocolat, because my dead friend Donna was his nanny.
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Post by htmb on Aug 9, 2014 18:11:56 GMT
Movies that take place in France but which are filmed 100% in English are a major pain for me. (I fear that about the new movie as well.) I actually knew the little boy who acted in Chocolat, because my dead friend Donna was his nanny. The English dialogue, and a few other minor things, bothered me a bit when I first started watching the movie the other night, but I quickly got more into the fun and spirit of the thing. It's pure fantasy, after all, and I was looking for something light. I thought the performance by the little boy was very sweet. Interesting that you knew him.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2014 17:12:06 GMT
Today I saw a French movie in French but subtitled in French because it was about the Yéniche gypsy minority which has a very odd locution. What was funny is that a lot of the Yéniche terms remained incomprehensible even in the subtitles because I just didn't know the words. Quite a few other terms were shared with other French gypsy cultures and some have even entered ordinary French slang over the years.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2014 19:56:09 GMT
Not too many movies have a super buzz these days, but this one does, since it shows French girls who don't look like the usual French girls.
I absolutely cannot wait to see it next week after have seen the first two films by this director.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2014 18:09:41 GMT
I am still hesitating about whether to go and see The Book of Life (French title: La Légende de Manolo). I don't see a great many animated features, although if I say "maybe 5 a year" it probably sounds like a huge number to a lot of people without small children, unless you consider that fact that at least 40 or 50 animated features are released every year these days, thanks to the ease of computer animation.
But I might like this one since it has a Mexican theme and a Mexican producer and director, and I am biting my fingernails about whether Bixa will do another wonderful report about the Day of the Dead this year.
Has anybody seen it?
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