Take a look at Iceland regarding films per capita. And see how Canada has about the same production per capita as the States but a radically smaller budget per film. And speaking of budgets, take a gander at New Zealand. And overall, why such a dearth of film production in South America?
Seem to be on a movie kick lately…thanks to Cinematical, I discovered the new parody video for Tetris over at Black20.com
And while there I discovered one of their older ones for Pirates of the Caribbean:
Film Noir & The 99 Cent Ribeye
The 99 Cent Chef has a dark, hungry heart; he likes his steak medium rare, Scotch on the rocks and a dame who powders her nose on the inside.
Comes with a recipe for a ribeye for someone on their way to the local noir film fest and a definitive clip from Double Indemnity which I still cannot believe I don’t yet own. Its a perfect film really and why should we be surprised with the talent in every aspect of this production both in front of and behind the camera. If you are too lazy too wander over there, here’s the clip. They just don’t write dialogue like this anymore (they try but they don’t quite get there):
“The little girl’s performance is insanely brilliant. From the q & a, Tarsem revealed that she hadn’t acted before…and didn’t really understand what was going on until about a third of the way into the shoot. She was convinced that Lee wasn’t an actor and that he truly was a paraplegic. (This isn’t a spoiler) But when she did catch on to the whole acting thing….she thrived and nailed her scenes. Every time. This, according to Tarsem.
“The film is tragic, surreal, hilarious, epic. It captures his brilliant artistic production design while remaining true to the narrative that builds with empathy to the very end. It is Ford, Chaplin, Dali, Del Toro, Brooks, Tarkovsky….and so on. I have no faith in Roadside Attractions to market this film. They will step and then kill it.
“Please see this. It needs great word of mouth. Particularly yours. I have no connection to this film. I’m simply an earnest cinephile who wants to scream in angst when something this beautiful is put through the ringer. But there is no question….The Fall is one of the great films of our time.”
Great praise indeed, and quite possibly true given The Cell’s indication of potential. Some time ago I posted the trailer which you can find here.
Hey, John Cusack…need I say more. Ok, then, Joan Cusack, and Ben Kingsley, and Marisa Tomei. And though this its hard to be sure of the quality overall, I see that Mark Leyner who wrote the very funny My Cousin My Gastroenterologist is the screenwriter on this.
And
Jeffrey Wells at HollywoodElsewhere writes:
This thing, I swear, has a carefully parsed intensity that woke me out of my usual Wednesday-night blahs. Most of it seems to happen in Brooklyn or Queens with a little Manhattan thrown in. It’s wild and manic and surging with energy and sometimes mad as a loon (but rightly so, given the dirty-borough-cops storyline), and it really left me open-mouthed at times. I get that way when confronted by fierce but subtle acting, and especially when it’s all beautifully shot and swirled together in a big fat energy milkshake.
About halfway into the screening it hit me that the performances reach and even surpass, at times, the level of delivery in Michael Mann’s Heat. Seriously. Power and Glory is an exceptional high-throttle thing that absolutely needs to see the light of day this year. Word around the campfire is that with New Line now reduced to a small production company status, Picturehouse/Warner Independent (i.e., the new Warner Bros. unit made up of Picturehouse and Warner Independent being combined) may acquire it and do just that.
The plot and the milieu are familiar, but it’s the singer, not the song. Emotionally complex and yet clear-headed with a carefully worked-out story, it’s basically about working-class ethics and morality under pressure and under fire. Like with James Gray’s We Own The Night, Pride and Glory is about a big blue-collar family of cops, this time called the Tierneys. It’s primarily about having to struggle with crime and corruption within their own ranks.
Having pioneered tech-noir with Blade Runner, Ridley Scott is trying his hand at classical noir with The Kind One. Variety reports that Scott will direct and produce an adaptation of the Tom Epperson book, with Epperson himself writing the screenplay. The novel is about an amnesiac in 1930s Los Angeles who is informed that before he lost his memory, he was a ruthless gangster named “Two-Gun Danny,” and that he works for a fearsome gangland boss.
Can’t wait to see what this superb visual stylist comes out with….
and
One of the more buzzed-about flicks coming out of Sundance this year was Hamlet 2, starring the very funny Steve Coogan as a drama teacher who, with no other ideas, attempts to rally his Tucson, Arizona students around a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet — featuring a song called (I kid you not) “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus.”
Hamlet 2 stars Coogan, Catherine Keener, David Arquette and Melonie Diaz. It was directed by Andrew Fleming and it’s due out in theaters on August 22.
I’ve always liked Coogan, especially in Tristam Shandy, and of course Catherine Keener. Just watched her in Love and Amazing and it was the first time I didn’t like her character; it was not the best film to be sure. It was interesting to see her play against my expectations.
Saw this first a few years ago, and rediscovered it on Ticklebooth; its a keeper. It is in German but if you don’t spreche Deutsch its still pretty straightforward. Its kind of an industrial safety film on how to properly operate a forklift (the director seems to have studied under Sam Raimi). Similar sense of humour as Evil Dead.
Nice new resource with opening sequences from The Shining (a personal favourite) to Once Upon a Time in the West to Casino Royale and many more. Go to The Art of the Title Sequence.
