Film Shapes

So here are the ten best films I've seen so far this year (up to June 30). This time round, I'm only picking films I've seen for the first time. In order, they are: 1. Wish You Were Here 2. The Imposter 3. We Need to Talk About Kevin 4. Argo 5. Even the Rain 6. Iron Man 3 7. The Kid with a Bike 8. Django Unchained 9. 500 Days of Summer 10. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists And here's the offal. Worst first. 1. Intouchables 2. The Tree of Life 3. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger 4. Life of Pi 5. Mamma Mia! 6. Morning Glory 7. Ted 8. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai 9. Amazing Grace 10. Haywire

The Cannes Film Festival of 2013 has just finished with the Palme d'or going to a French film called La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2 ( Blue is the Warmest Colour ) by Abdellatif Kechiche. Seems to be a 3 hour lesbian romance starring Lea Seydoux. I'm on board. The Grand Prix went to the Coen Brothers for Inside Llewyn Davis , which has garnered some pretty good reviews. I'll watch anything they do but the setting doesn't really grab me (1960's New York folk music scene). Here are the other films that were vying for the top awards. BEHIND THE CANDELABRA directed by Steven SODERBERGH BORGMAN directed by Alex VAN WARMERDAM GRIGRIS directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN HELI directed by Amat ESCALANTE INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS directed by Ethan COEN, Joel COEN JEUNE & JOLIE (YOUNG & BEAUTIFUL) directed by François OZ...

This Japanese poster seems to suggest this will be the last outing for the titular Iron Man/Tony Stark character (さらば　- 　アイアンマン。= Farewell Iron Man) but as long as the box office continues to ching-ching, I'd say that's a premature assumption. Certainly, he'll reappear in the next Avengers movie at least. And I kind of hope he doesn't disappear. He's one of the most likeable 'superheroes' I've seen - a flawed smart-arse who runs like a 'suit' avoiding the rain and reacts to surprises with either a cocked eyebrow or a look of exasperated acceptance. All credit must go to Downey Jr. for this - he's good in other films but this is his Harry Potter or Alan Partridge, he may never be able to shake this role. But the film itself? I'd have to say it's better than it's immediate predecessor but not quite as good as the original. Kind of what you'd expect from a third installment. The script has some gems but at the same time...

Here are some brief appraisals of a few films I've seen so far this year, cinema trips not included. Some of them have been for my ongoing movie lesson but most have been for my leisure. Ted   (2012) Seth McFarlane - Not half as funny as it wishes to be and annoyingly referential. Haywire (2011) Steven Soderbergh - Boring 'covert ops' action film from a very over-rated director. I don't understand how he always seems to attract the big(-ish) name stars to appear in his films. I can't recall actually liking any of his movies. The Hunger Games (2012) Gary Ross - A bit slow to get going and, of course reminiscent of Battle Royale but watchable enough for a lark. First part of another fucking franchise as well. The Tree of Life (2011) Terrence Malick - Eye-burningly terrible. My wife accused me of making her watch 'a two hour screen saver'. Guilty as charged. I can never get back the time that I wasted watching this dross. Wish You Were H...

The second of my two trips to the cinema while I was back in Aus, this time I enjoyed the surprisingly tranquil surrounds of the Bunbury Grand Cinema. The film was Quentin Tarantino's latest, Django Unchained and I had a pretty good time while watching. It was only a few days later that a few reservations began to leak out. Now, I quite like Tarantino as a film-maker. He's smart and he knows his film history. Pulp Fiction was one of the movies that defined the 1990s and Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown are brilliant. I didn't like Kill Bill (1 or 2) and I've yet to see Death Proof but Inglourious Basterds was great fun. So that basically leaves us with Django . And (of Tarantino's work) I reckon it's just above the Kill Bill films in quality. Well, maybe quality is the wrong word - more like.....heart or emotion. As with much of his portfolio, Django comes across as a cocky, smirking movie, one that's a little too clever for its own good. I get...

One of my two trips to the cinema while back in Australia, I saw this at Cinema Paradiso in Northbridge (where once upon a time I used to get the odd free entry courtesy of the Pig Strangler). It seems to have retained its indie charm though not its old price listings - $17 for a ticket and $4.50 for a choc bomb! Welcome to Perth. Argo is Benna Fleck's 3rd directorial effort and he seems to be growing into a pretty solid film-maker. He must have done his research regarding pacing (helps to have a good editor) and atmosphere. I've never really been a fan of his acting or presence on screen but he obviously knows how to get a performance from actors. In fact, I think he's a better actor when he's directing himself (or maybe he's just getting older and more familiar). The cast is fine all round, especially the relatively less well-known group on the periphery of the crisis. Their performances lend a pseudo-documentary feel to the whole thing, especially in counte...

Here are the ten best films that I watched in 2012. This follows on from the mid-year report and as you'll note, there have only been a few changes from that list (see pic below for one example). Once again, this list is made up of films that I watched in the past year - new or old, first time viewings or repeats. In the future I may settle on only first time viewings. 1. Blade Runner 2. Casablanca 3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 4. There Will Be Blood 5. Delicatessen 6. Vertical Ray of the Sun 7. The Descendants 8. The Apartment 9. The White Ribbon 10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes And here are the duds. 1. Mighty Joe Young 2. I Come with the Rain 3. Invictus 4. Wedding Crashers 5. John Carter 6. A Christmas Carol (2009) 7. Young Sherlock Holmes 8. The Spanish Apartment 9. Me and Orson Welles 10. The Iron Giant

I caught  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Kobe and this marks the first film I've seen in 3D. Probably the last also. At least until the technology improves to a level where I don't need to wear heavy, head-ache inducing glasses over my existing specs. But more than the lack of comfort, I don't think 3D actually brings anything extra to a film - I'm sufficiently 'immeresed'  if the film is good enough. And it darkens the picture somewhat as well. The HFR (High Frame Rate - 48 frames per second as opposed to the regular 24) was another oddity. Now I'm not sure if this was just the HFR or the 3D/HFR combination but the pictures seemed rather fake looking, especially at the start. Kind of like a presentation of some new ultra-clean medical imaging system or a Terminator show at USJ Osaka. Too sharp for these eyes. They need a bit of grain. So onto the film itself. Some pundits have derided it for being too long. I disagree with this but they'r...