BLOW OUT (1981)

I watched this yesterday and I quite enjoyed it! Probably one of Brian De Palma's more compelling films, it is thrilling neo-noir film starring John Travolta as a film sound recordist. One night out recording sounds, Jack Terry accidentally records the sound of a terrible car crash that kills a presidential candidate. Jack is convinced that what he his sound recording proves this was no accident but instead an elaborate assassination set up to look like a car wreck. Jack saves a woman from the car, Sally, who ends up helping Jack--though rather reluctantly--solve the crime. John Lithgow also appears as a hitman out to eliminate the witnesses. From a thriller standpoint, it is quite good. Reminiscent of THE CONVERSATION (1974, Francis Ford Coppola) as well as BLOW-UP (1966, Michelangelo Antonioni), it follows a relatively lonely man on an obsessive quest to prove a truth through technological means. Like the these two other films, BLOW OUT's protagonist goes over and over and over his evidence, convincing himself that there is something else there, almost to the point where the original recording is rendered meaningless. I did enjoy this aspect of the film. I love that idea of having a piece of evidence and stripping it down and comparing to other details in the effort to make some sense out of it. In doing this De Palma invokes the process of filmmaking and editing. Editing is a process where one goes over a sequence dozens of times, even hundreds, attempting to glean to most meaning out of a scrap of film, or a series of shots. De Palma here is showing us this process, and Jack at one point even syncs up his sound recording to a series of photographers a second eye witness happened to shoot. From that standpoint, I found this fascinating. I think one negative point to mention is the Nancy Allen role, Sally. Her character is so un-compelling that I did not care about her in the least, and in fact most of the time found her annoying. And it made the fact that Travolta's character was interested in her even more annoying. That is a huge complaint I have about films: when two characters are only together because the script says so, and there is no chemistry whatsoever. But aside from that, BLOW OUT remains a interesting take on a neo-noir thriller through the eyes and ears of a filmmaker.

Trailer:

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY (2011)

I desperately cannot wait to see this film.

Here is the just released full-length trailer.

MONEYBALL (2011)

Why do I care about this movie? I don't really care about Brad Pitt. I'm not interested in baseball. I'm not big on sports movies. But something about it interests me. I can't put my finger on it, but I will definitely see this movie. I can't figure it out! Is it Jonah Hill? Can he really be carrying this movie? Or maybe it was the beleaguered production of it. Steven Soderbergh (before he decided to quit directing to become a painter) was originally attached to direct this. Who knows! I do however feel that Brad Pitt is slightly miscast in this movie, maybe it's because he is Brad Pitt and will always be doing the "Brad Pitt" in every role. Maybe he will surprise me! I guess we'll have to find out come September 23rd.

SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS (2010)

This short, taut Canadian thriller by writer/director Ed Gass-Donnelly set in rural Ontario is worth seeing on the whole, but if you need one, really specific reason, it is the soundtrack. Bruce Peninsula provides the pulsing, soaring, and dramatic score blending epic drums and hints of First Nations and religious sounds. Very interesting! The film itself is good, and the acting is solid too. Peter Stormare (another, "that guy!", most notable to mainstream audiences as the crazy Russian cosmonaut in ARMAGEDDON, as well as Slippery Pete on SEINFELD) stars as a Ontario Provincial Police officer, Walther, whose small town is dealing with the murder of an unknown woman. Walter is tasked with the investigation and quickly becomes hampered by both a big city detective's arrival, as well as incooperative persons of interest, namely the new boyfriend of Walter's recently ex-wife, a slightly underused Jill Hennessy. While the investigation is more or less central to the film, the main theme is Walter coming to terms with his past and actions, and facing his demons and his anger. He is newly religious, as well as remarried, but is this quaint idyllic life really what he needs, or is it just further bottling up his emotions? Stormare is by now an accomplished actor, and I was really happy to see him taking a leading role, especially in a small independent Canadian film. Maybe I can hire him for my new project? Anyways, have a look at the trailer which contains some of the aforementioned soundtrack.

THE DEBT (2011)

Well, we went to see THE DEBT tonight, a smart historical thriller based around three Mossad agents in the 1960s hunting and capturing a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin, and it was great! I thought it was a very well made, intelligent, well acted, well shot, and well written film! So, good on all fronts. The cast was excellent, especially Helen Mirren, as well as Jessica Chastain (who plays the former's younger self)--who I mentioned yesterday is having a huge year. But most notably, Sam Worthington! I don't mean to be snide, but, I didn't know he could act! Sorry, Sam. But it doesn't help that his most visible work has been done in films like AVATAR, TERMINATOR: SALVATION, and CLASH OF THE TITANS--all films not hyped on their in-depth thespianism. So it was a nice surprise to really see him get a good role to sink into. I think he is going to be a Colin Farrell type, who Hollywood vetted to be a next big it-person leading man type, but fails, only to become a smaller and more critically acclaimed independent and non-mainstream actor who gets interesting roles in smart films like THE DEBT. So, go see it for its acting, but also for all the rest of the reasons one goes to see a great film. It is a pretty riveting story that is deftly edited together, coherently blending two time periods and cleanly establishing early on which two actors are playing the old and young versions of their characters. Well played, all of you!

Jessica Chastain

Sam Worthington

Trailer:

"Colin Firth says film industry underestimates audiences' intelligence"

Here is an interesting article featuring interview snippets from the cast of the forthcoming TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, which, if you didn't already know, I am quite looking forward to! But a few good points are raised about studios underestimating an audiences ability and willingness to interpret and analyze a film. Quite true! There is a place for all kinds of films out there, but there most certainly is a demand for movies that make one use one's proverbial noodle. So take a look at this article, and it also has some information about the upcoming film! Looking forward to this!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/sep/05/colin-firth-venice-film-festival?intcmp=239

TAKE SHELTER (2011)

WOW! I continue to be the world's worst blogger! Chalk it up to a busy and gorgeous summer, and well, yeah the last thing I think I felt like doing was spending time on the computer. Hopefully, with the approaching gloom of the fall, I'll be watching and writing more! ANYWAYS! We are entering Canadian Film Festival season with the TIFF and the VIFF rapidly approaching! And this year, there are many films premiering at TIFF which is exciting! TIFF has become one of the biggest film festivals in North America which is very exciting indeed. Now, if we could only showcase our own films as prominently as the American ones. Baby steps, I suppose.

Speaking of the aforementioned approaching gloom, and films appearing at TIFF, here is a trailer for a film by director Jeff Nichols, and starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. I think this looks great! I mean approaching gloom only from the thematical standpoint (watch trailer). Michael Shannon has become more of a common name around film circles and rightly so! He is a terrific actor, who, like a William H. Macy or a Philip Seymour Hoffman, was always "that guy" that you recognized in a ton of movies. Well, Shannon has been busy, doing turns in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and the TV series BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and receiving much acclaim in the process! But take a look at his IMDB, and you'll probably recognize a few more titles that he has been involved in. His co-star, Jessica Chastain is having a huge year. She acted opposite Brad Pitt in Terrence Malick's enigmatic TREE OF LIFE, and is also in a handful of other releases this year. So! On to TAKE SHELTER. I think this looks thrilling, and creepy, and fascinating. Take a look and decide for yourself! And then wait for it to come to a theatre near you, and decide whether you will see it! Enjoy:



UPDATE: Michael Shannon, I just realized, is playing General Zod (Superman fans, I assume this is classic character? I don't know!), in the new Zach Snyder-directed and Christopher Nolan-produced Superman film, MAN OF STEEL!

Happy Birthday, Stanley Kubrick!

Today is what would have been the great Stanley Kubrick's 83rd birthday! A master filmmaker. What more can be said? Go watch one of his movies.

DRIVE (2011)

Well this looks amazing!



I posted the first clip of this movie a month or two ago and I thought it looked awesome. And, well, with this first red band trailer, I'd say that it still looks awesome! Can't wait!

SENNA (2010)

I recently watched this incredibly in-depth and moving documentary by director Asif Kapadia and found myself thinking about it for days afterwards. Now I'm interested in F1 and fast cars, but I am convinced that even the average person who cannot tell the difference between NASCAR and F1 and go-karting will find it hard to resist the beautiful and tragic story of the late great racing driver Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian rose to fame in the 1980s, the glory days of F1 where restrictions on the cars were nothing compared to today's standards, and coupled with relatively primitive technology (manual gearboxes, no traction control etc.), made race driving insanely dangerous, and not to mention extremely thrilling to watch. These men were piloting cars with over 1000 horsepower around wet race tracks with slick tires, and the men became separated from the boys pretty quickly. Senna, despite his boyishness, immediately stood out as something special. He was fearless, and determined to become a champion, even if that meant running his own team-mate off the road or worse. But despite his intense desire to win, he was rational, well-spoken to an almost poetic degree, and had genuine humanity about himself, making him very difficult to dislike. Though many traditionalists did dislike him, making him a bit of a maverick, as he was willing to sacrifice anything to win. The thing I could not shake though, is that there is something glimmering in his eye, something beautiful yet tragic, as if he knew deep down inside that his passion was going to kill him too young. On a number of occasions, we are given an opportunity to just watch Senna either sitting in his car or elsewhere thinking, pondering. And it is in these moments that I found I really became a fan of his. You can tell he wants to be the champion so badly and that he is burning bridges to do so and he knows it is wrong, yet he continues on. He knows that if anything were to happen to him, it would emotionally destroy his family, his friends, his home country of Brazil, and indeed the whole F1 community, and yet he goes on. And I think that is what stuck with me well after it ended, just this feeling that despite the dangers or the banality of piloting a car around a circuit, it was important to him and to many, many people in a way that is indescribable. So despite how you feel about auto-racing, I highly recommend this film as an "in" to how and why people are passionate about this type of sporting event (and it is a sport, and the drivers truly are athletes). And if nothing else, you'll know about an inspiring person named Ayrton Senna.

Here is the trailer:


And watch this excellent segment from the BBC's Top Gear last year. The end gives me goosebumps: