What’s on at the Tropic
Since the current world seems so dystopian (etymology, from Greek: “bad place”) it’s only appropriate that we indulge ourselves in a little dystopian entertainment. It might make us feel a little better, since we haven’t gone as far into the dark world as the imaginations of novelists and filmmakers can take us.
NEVER LET ME GO, based on the multi-award winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, posits a world where human clones are raised to be organ donors. The novel, and its faithful movie adaptation, focuses on three of these special persons, played by Carey Mulligan (An Education), Keira Knightley (The Dutchess, Atonement), and Andrew Garfield (The Social Network). Some critics have complained: why do they accept this fate? But we might ask, why do people join the Army? That question may be an undercurrent in the movie, but it’s more about the humanity of these farm-raised creatures, and the manner in which they relate to their unusual lives.
A “poignant, troubling and altogether splendid new film.” (Time Magazine). This “meticulous and devastating adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's dystopian novel…. richly deserves the Oscar consideration it will surely receive.” (Salon.com)
Speaking of Oscars, THE SOCIAL NETWORK is the hottest prospect out there. Jessie Eisenberg (the boy from The Squid and the Whale) is Mark Zuckerberg, the socially inept Harvard student who founded the ubiquitous new mode of social interaction known as Facebook. Along the way he lost his own best friend and partner (Andrew Garfield - see above) as well ask a variety of others, but became filthy rich.
The striking thing about the buzz surrounding this film is how fundamentally uncinematic the story is. Its strength lies in the sharp dialog from writer Aaron Sorkin (West Wing), and our fascination with the characters in a movie populated with anti-heros in pursuit of a new order.
If all this makes you long for something traditional, LOVELY, STILL is the movie for you. Martin Landau (age 82; he was in North by Northwest in 1959) and Ellen Burstyn (age 77; sexy-she was in Tropic of Cancer in 1970), meet and fall in love. It shouldn’t be a surprise, these guys are lovely, still, and at the top of their games. Ms. Burstyn does three or four movies a year, and Landau has roles in five movies currently in production. Of course, it’s not all going to be smooth sailing, but I can’t tell you why.
Also opening this week is part two of the biopic about the French master criminal Jacque Mesrine. MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY #1 completes the story of his remarkable twenty-year career. What a guy. And what a film!
If you haven’t seen it yet, this week will be your last chance to see Woody Allen’s YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER.
Moving on to Special Events, the much underused Tropic stage will spring to life on Thursday with a performance by the Key West Contemporary Dance Company, accompanied by site-specific dance film and music. Tickets only $10, are available at the Tropic boxoffice or via the Tropic’s online ticketing system.
P.S. The Tropic will be closed all day on Saturday, Oct. 30, for Fantasy Fest. Hey, the staff deserves a little fun, too.
[from Key West, the newspaper - www.kwtn.com]
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Never Let Me Go (Rhoades)
“Never Let Me Go” Holds Onto Bleak Future
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
You’d think it was one of those oh-so-British Merchant Ivory films that lingers lovingly on the past. After all, “Never Let Me Go” was penned by Kazuo Ishiguro, the same author who gave us “Remains of the Day.” However, this story about three children at a boarding school takes place in the dystopian future.
Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth (played by Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley) attend Hailsham, an idyllic English boarding school where they students are told they are special. Yes, like Kobe beef.
They are being raised to become organ donors in this futuristic world that seems only a few degrees off today’s reality.
The story is narrated by Kathy, now grown, having left the school to become a “carer,” those who administer to donors. She recalls the love triangle between her and two schoolmates.
Told in parts, the film is directed by Chicago-born Mark Romanek. London-born Alex Garland wrote the screenplay based on Ishiguro’s novel.
Both have sci-fi DNA in their genetic makeup: Romanek credits seeing Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 A Space Odyssey” at the age of nine with inspiring him to become a film director. Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's zombiefest, “28 Days Later.”
“Never Let Me go” was produced by DNA Films and Film4.
But it’s Kazuo Ishiguro’s macabre vision that drives the story. He wanted to write a book about a group of young people on a campus with a Seventies atmosphere. “They hung around and argued about books,” he says of the characters. “I knew there was this strange fate hanging over them, but I couldn’t work out exactly what it was.”
Only after listening to a radio program about biotechnology did the fate of his
students become clear to him.
His wife wasn’t impressed. She thought a “campus novel” was sufficiently horrifying in itself, forget about clones and harvesting organs.
Before the book was published in 2005, Alex Garland had already written a 96-page script for a possible film and passed it along to the producers.
The cast is superb. You’ve seen Carey Mulligan in “An Education” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Andrew Garfield was recently in “The Social Network” and is slated to become the next Spider-Man. Keira Knightley is the iconic young actress from “Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice,” and those “Pirates of the Caribbean” adventures.
Best known for music videos, director Mark Romanek was eager to sign onto the project. “I knew I was going to be pointing my camera at British things. And what if I tried to have sort of a Japanese sensibility about it? So I learned about several Japanese concepts. One of them was this idea of ‘yugen’ which is the calm surface that belies the deep strong currents underneath. There’s a beautiful idea in yugen which comes from Noh theater, which is this idea of the kind of joyful acceptance of the basic sadness of life, which is, I feel like, where Kathy ends up at the end of the film, which is what’s so moving to me about it, and was so moving about the end of the book.”
Although Kazuo Ishiguro came to England at age 5, he was born in Nagasaki, Japan. So he knows that life can be strange and terrifying and not how we imagined it to be. Even at a fine old institution like Hailsham.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
You’d think it was one of those oh-so-British Merchant Ivory films that lingers lovingly on the past. After all, “Never Let Me Go” was penned by Kazuo Ishiguro, the same author who gave us “Remains of the Day.” However, this story about three children at a boarding school takes place in the dystopian future.
Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth (played by Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley) attend Hailsham, an idyllic English boarding school where they students are told they are special. Yes, like Kobe beef.
They are being raised to become organ donors in this futuristic world that seems only a few degrees off today’s reality.
The story is narrated by Kathy, now grown, having left the school to become a “carer,” those who administer to donors. She recalls the love triangle between her and two schoolmates.
Told in parts, the film is directed by Chicago-born Mark Romanek. London-born Alex Garland wrote the screenplay based on Ishiguro’s novel.
Both have sci-fi DNA in their genetic makeup: Romanek credits seeing Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 A Space Odyssey” at the age of nine with inspiring him to become a film director. Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's zombiefest, “28 Days Later.”
“Never Let Me go” was produced by DNA Films and Film4.
But it’s Kazuo Ishiguro’s macabre vision that drives the story. He wanted to write a book about a group of young people on a campus with a Seventies atmosphere. “They hung around and argued about books,” he says of the characters. “I knew there was this strange fate hanging over them, but I couldn’t work out exactly what it was.”
Only after listening to a radio program about biotechnology did the fate of his
students become clear to him.
His wife wasn’t impressed. She thought a “campus novel” was sufficiently horrifying in itself, forget about clones and harvesting organs.
Before the book was published in 2005, Alex Garland had already written a 96-page script for a possible film and passed it along to the producers.
The cast is superb. You’ve seen Carey Mulligan in “An Education” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Andrew Garfield was recently in “The Social Network” and is slated to become the next Spider-Man. Keira Knightley is the iconic young actress from “Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice,” and those “Pirates of the Caribbean” adventures.
Best known for music videos, director Mark Romanek was eager to sign onto the project. “I knew I was going to be pointing my camera at British things. And what if I tried to have sort of a Japanese sensibility about it? So I learned about several Japanese concepts. One of them was this idea of ‘yugen’ which is the calm surface that belies the deep strong currents underneath. There’s a beautiful idea in yugen which comes from Noh theater, which is this idea of the kind of joyful acceptance of the basic sadness of life, which is, I feel like, where Kathy ends up at the end of the film, which is what’s so moving to me about it, and was so moving about the end of the book.”
Although Kazuo Ishiguro came to England at age 5, he was born in Nagasaki, Japan. So he knows that life can be strange and terrifying and not how we imagined it to be. Even at a fine old institution like Hailsham.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Lovely, Still (Rhoades)
“Lovely, Still”Is Still Lovely
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Although Thanksgiving is yet to come, I was in the mood for a sweet Christmas movie. “Lovely, Still” is that, a quiet holiday romance that plays well to older folks. But it’s more than that too.
Academy Award-winner Martin Landau (“Ed Wood,” “North By Northwest”) portrays a lonely guy named Robert Malone who encounters love for the first time in the form of Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Requiem for a Dream”).
Backup for the aging pair comes from Adam Scott (“Art School Confidential”) and Elizabeth Banks (“W.”).
However, this story is not so straightforward as it seems. There’s a twist that has been likened to M. Night Shyamalan.
First-time director Nicholas Fackler denies any influence. “I had some clues and ideas that might seem weird – something like a detective story with a twist, but also romantic which has never done before.”
Nik’s script was a “beautiful stew” that simmered up from his teenage years.
“In Omaha, my parents have this 50’s diner and when I would wait tables, it was my opportunity to do character study,” he explains. “And I met this old man once who had never fallen in love and at the time I was seventeen and falling in love and also wanted know how it would feel if my heart were broken. This old man had never been married, and was always alone his whole life and never had extreme happiness or extreme sadness so I was captivated by this man and had to write about him and that was the start of the character Robert Malone.”
Filmed on location in Omaha, the 6-week shoot took from November to Christmas Eve. Cinematographer Sean Kirby – with the help of twinkling holiday lights – captured an “old Hollywood look” for the film.
“All the background people and the community were happy to help,” Nik Fackler says of his tight-budget indie film. “Even the confetti was free.”
The 21-year-old director loved sharing his hometown with the 82-year-old actor. “Martin loved being on location there,” he recounts. “He stayed in Omaha for Thanksgiving and we had a big feast.”
“Lovely, Still” offers the illusion of Christmas fairytale, but about an hour into the film, there’s a seismic shift.
“The interesting thing about both my character and Ellen’s is that if you see it a second time, you see a different film,” says Martin Landau. “It’s not unlike ‘The Sixth Sense,’ in that you’ll see things and hear things that you missed. The trick, really, is not to give any of that away, and Ellen and I were basically acting on two levels at once.”
Although the story involves a form of memory loss, that’s not really the point. “I never wanted this film to be about sickness or disease. It is a love story,” insists the director.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Although Thanksgiving is yet to come, I was in the mood for a sweet Christmas movie. “Lovely, Still” is that, a quiet holiday romance that plays well to older folks. But it’s more than that too.
Academy Award-winner Martin Landau (“Ed Wood,” “North By Northwest”) portrays a lonely guy named Robert Malone who encounters love for the first time in the form of Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Requiem for a Dream”).
Backup for the aging pair comes from Adam Scott (“Art School Confidential”) and Elizabeth Banks (“W.”).
However, this story is not so straightforward as it seems. There’s a twist that has been likened to M. Night Shyamalan.
First-time director Nicholas Fackler denies any influence. “I had some clues and ideas that might seem weird – something like a detective story with a twist, but also romantic which has never done before.”
Nik’s script was a “beautiful stew” that simmered up from his teenage years.
“In Omaha, my parents have this 50’s diner and when I would wait tables, it was my opportunity to do character study,” he explains. “And I met this old man once who had never fallen in love and at the time I was seventeen and falling in love and also wanted know how it would feel if my heart were broken. This old man had never been married, and was always alone his whole life and never had extreme happiness or extreme sadness so I was captivated by this man and had to write about him and that was the start of the character Robert Malone.”
Filmed on location in Omaha, the 6-week shoot took from November to Christmas Eve. Cinematographer Sean Kirby – with the help of twinkling holiday lights – captured an “old Hollywood look” for the film.
“All the background people and the community were happy to help,” Nik Fackler says of his tight-budget indie film. “Even the confetti was free.”
The 21-year-old director loved sharing his hometown with the 82-year-old actor. “Martin loved being on location there,” he recounts. “He stayed in Omaha for Thanksgiving and we had a big feast.”
“Lovely, Still” offers the illusion of Christmas fairytale, but about an hour into the film, there’s a seismic shift.
“The interesting thing about both my character and Ellen’s is that if you see it a second time, you see a different film,” says Martin Landau. “It’s not unlike ‘The Sixth Sense,’ in that you’ll see things and hear things that you missed. The trick, really, is not to give any of that away, and Ellen and I were basically acting on two levels at once.”
Although the story involves a form of memory loss, that’s not really the point. “I never wanted this film to be about sickness or disease. It is a love story,” insists the director.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
The Social Network (Rhoades)
“Social Network” Gets In Your Face
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Me and 27,944 other Facebook members indicated that we “like” the new film, “The Social Network.” It’s only one of the 137 things I’ve “liked” so far on Facebook.
Of Facebook’s half-billion members, I’m friends with only 500. That makes me feel like a hermit. Maybe I’m not very social.
“The Social Network” is being called the most anticipated film of the year. Maybe so. It’s about Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire Harvard dropout who created Facebook with a little help from his friends. But as the saying goes, with friends like these who needs enemies? The ambitious geek found himself engaged in a $600 million lawsuit.
“Everyone believes they are doing the right thing,” observes one of the film’s stars. “Everyone sees themselves as the good guy.”
“The Social Network” is currently friending new audiences at the Tropic Cinema.
Facebook – and social networking – is an interesting phenomenon. Friends and wannabe friends share their most mundane moments (”I’m having a cup of coffee”). Or their innermost feelings (“I hate my job. Will this day ever end?”). It serves as a public journal for participants.
One person out of every fourteen in the world belongs to Facebook.
At its core, “The Social Network” is the story of an outsider wanting to belong. Ironically, in creating this “largest engine of social interaction in the history of mankind,” friendships are lost and relationships break down.
Jesse Eisenberg (a talented young actor who’s had minor roles in “The Squid and the Whale” and “Solitary Man”) stars as Zuckerberg. He’s joined by Andrew Garfield (who will play the title role in the reboot of the “Spider-Man” franchise) as spurned co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Singer Justin Timberlake does well as the creator of Napster. And Rooney Mara (who has been tapped to play Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood remake of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) is cast as Zuckerberg’s ex-girlfriend.
Director David Fincher (”Fight Club,” “Seven,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) says, “There’s an ironic story behind this thing that’s about friendship and the need to connect. The fact that it was Facebook brought an interesting context for this simple drama of acrimony.”
Based on Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires,” the screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin (the wordsmith who gave us TV’s “West Wing” and penned the scripts for “A Few Good Men” and “Charlie Wilson’s War”).
Fincher and Sorkin were an odd combination to pair for a film. “What David is most known for is that he’s peerless as a visual director, and I write people talking in rooms,” acknowledges Sorkin.
More than just the story of a hacker who became the world’s youngest billionaire, producer Scott Rudin sees the film as dealing with such important social questions as “The nature of communication. What is friendship?
What is the nature of loneliness?”
Mark Zuckerberg has a more personal viewpoint. Not happy that “The Social Network” portrays him in a sometimes unflattering light, he says, “I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive.”
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Me and 27,944 other Facebook members indicated that we “like” the new film, “The Social Network.” It’s only one of the 137 things I’ve “liked” so far on Facebook.
Of Facebook’s half-billion members, I’m friends with only 500. That makes me feel like a hermit. Maybe I’m not very social.
“The Social Network” is being called the most anticipated film of the year. Maybe so. It’s about Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire Harvard dropout who created Facebook with a little help from his friends. But as the saying goes, with friends like these who needs enemies? The ambitious geek found himself engaged in a $600 million lawsuit.
“Everyone believes they are doing the right thing,” observes one of the film’s stars. “Everyone sees themselves as the good guy.”
“The Social Network” is currently friending new audiences at the Tropic Cinema.
Facebook – and social networking – is an interesting phenomenon. Friends and wannabe friends share their most mundane moments (”I’m having a cup of coffee”). Or their innermost feelings (“I hate my job. Will this day ever end?”). It serves as a public journal for participants.
One person out of every fourteen in the world belongs to Facebook.
At its core, “The Social Network” is the story of an outsider wanting to belong. Ironically, in creating this “largest engine of social interaction in the history of mankind,” friendships are lost and relationships break down.
Jesse Eisenberg (a talented young actor who’s had minor roles in “The Squid and the Whale” and “Solitary Man”) stars as Zuckerberg. He’s joined by Andrew Garfield (who will play the title role in the reboot of the “Spider-Man” franchise) as spurned co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Singer Justin Timberlake does well as the creator of Napster. And Rooney Mara (who has been tapped to play Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood remake of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) is cast as Zuckerberg’s ex-girlfriend.
Director David Fincher (”Fight Club,” “Seven,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) says, “There’s an ironic story behind this thing that’s about friendship and the need to connect. The fact that it was Facebook brought an interesting context for this simple drama of acrimony.”
Based on Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires,” the screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin (the wordsmith who gave us TV’s “West Wing” and penned the scripts for “A Few Good Men” and “Charlie Wilson’s War”).
Fincher and Sorkin were an odd combination to pair for a film. “What David is most known for is that he’s peerless as a visual director, and I write people talking in rooms,” acknowledges Sorkin.
More than just the story of a hacker who became the world’s youngest billionaire, producer Scott Rudin sees the film as dealing with such important social questions as “The nature of communication. What is friendship?
What is the nature of loneliness?”
Mark Zuckerberg has a more personal viewpoint. Not happy that “The Social Network” portrays him in a sometimes unflattering light, he says, “I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive.”
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Week of October 22 through October 28 (Mann)
What's on at theTropic
by Phil Mann
Woody Allen is back again, now with YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER. For his fans, or anyone who appreciates a sophisticated diversion, it's always a pleasure to spend an hour and a half (more or less) with this unique cinematic maestro.
The cast, as usual, is an incredible collection of talent. Woody seems to be able to attract anyone he wants. So he has Anthony Hopkins (as an aging, long-married gent who thinks a new young woman will solve his problems), Gemma Jones (as Hopkins' discarded wife), Lucy Punch (as Jones' floosy replacement), Josh Brolin (as a failed, blocked novelist), Naomi Watts (as Brolin's long-suffering, financially supporting wife), Antonio Banderas (as a diversion for Watts), Freida Pinto (as a diversion for Brolin… she's the dusky beauty from Slumdog Millionaire). And there's also Roger Ashton-Griffiths (as a diversion for Jones).
You can probably see the plot evolving, except you can't know all the Allenesque touches that mark the film as his: Brolin is a Peeping Tom; Jones and her new beau are New Age devotees. All in all "it's a wicked and winsome comedy" (Phila. City Paper), an "inspired piece of misanthropy" (TimeOut NY). I'm not sure about the tall dark stranger. Everyone does meet someone, but only Freida Pinto qualifies as dark… and tall. Whatever. In Allen's nihilistic world, such details are hardly important.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD tells a different kind of story. Basquiat was one of those shooting stars of the art world: brilliant at 23; dead of an o.d. at 27. This is already the second biopic devoted to him, after Julian Schanbel's first venture into filmmaking in 1996. Unlike Schnabel's narrative approach, director Tamra Davis has taken a straight documentary path here, drawing on footage of the artist himself, and interviews with his friends and art world insiders. It surprised me to learn that, despite his head of dreads and street style, Basquiat was born to a middle-class Brooklyn family. He ran away at 17, lived on the streets, self-promoted himself into fame in the hot 80's art world, and then flamed out.
HIDEAWAY (Le Refuge) from the great French director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women) begins with an overdose death. Mousse (Isabelle Carré) and her wealthy boyfriend are shooting up. He O.D.'s and dies, but she survives, pregnant. The film then follows her, now somewhat reformed but still on methadone, drinking and smoking, as she waits out her pregnancy at a beach house, in the company of her deceased boyfriend's adopted, gay brother. The beach house is owned by a man she slept with at 16, possibly her father. There's a lot going on that's not politically correct, but it's all the tapestry which this very French exploration of family weaves.
Also opening this week is Ben Affleck's crime thriller THE TOWN. Held over are WALL STREET 2 and LET ME IN.
The latter has joined some distinguished company, having been nominated as Best Picture for the Gotham Independent Film Awards. This ceremony, taking place just after Thanksgiving, traditionally kicks off the award season. Pay attention: Last year's winner was The Hurt Locker, which went on to win the Oscar. Joining Let Me In on this year's list are two other films you should have seen at the Tropic – The Kids Are All Right and Winter's Bone.
Enjoy.
[from Key West, the newspaper - KWTN.com]
by Phil Mann
Woody Allen is back again, now with YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER. For his fans, or anyone who appreciates a sophisticated diversion, it's always a pleasure to spend an hour and a half (more or less) with this unique cinematic maestro.
The cast, as usual, is an incredible collection of talent. Woody seems to be able to attract anyone he wants. So he has Anthony Hopkins (as an aging, long-married gent who thinks a new young woman will solve his problems), Gemma Jones (as Hopkins' discarded wife), Lucy Punch (as Jones' floosy replacement), Josh Brolin (as a failed, blocked novelist), Naomi Watts (as Brolin's long-suffering, financially supporting wife), Antonio Banderas (as a diversion for Watts), Freida Pinto (as a diversion for Brolin… she's the dusky beauty from Slumdog Millionaire). And there's also Roger Ashton-Griffiths (as a diversion for Jones).
You can probably see the plot evolving, except you can't know all the Allenesque touches that mark the film as his: Brolin is a Peeping Tom; Jones and her new beau are New Age devotees. All in all "it's a wicked and winsome comedy" (Phila. City Paper), an "inspired piece of misanthropy" (TimeOut NY). I'm not sure about the tall dark stranger. Everyone does meet someone, but only Freida Pinto qualifies as dark… and tall. Whatever. In Allen's nihilistic world, such details are hardly important.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD tells a different kind of story. Basquiat was one of those shooting stars of the art world: brilliant at 23; dead of an o.d. at 27. This is already the second biopic devoted to him, after Julian Schanbel's first venture into filmmaking in 1996. Unlike Schnabel's narrative approach, director Tamra Davis has taken a straight documentary path here, drawing on footage of the artist himself, and interviews with his friends and art world insiders. It surprised me to learn that, despite his head of dreads and street style, Basquiat was born to a middle-class Brooklyn family. He ran away at 17, lived on the streets, self-promoted himself into fame in the hot 80's art world, and then flamed out.
HIDEAWAY (Le Refuge) from the great French director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women) begins with an overdose death. Mousse (Isabelle Carré) and her wealthy boyfriend are shooting up. He O.D.'s and dies, but she survives, pregnant. The film then follows her, now somewhat reformed but still on methadone, drinking and smoking, as she waits out her pregnancy at a beach house, in the company of her deceased boyfriend's adopted, gay brother. The beach house is owned by a man she slept with at 16, possibly her father. There's a lot going on that's not politically correct, but it's all the tapestry which this very French exploration of family weaves.
Also opening this week is Ben Affleck's crime thriller THE TOWN. Held over are WALL STREET 2 and LET ME IN.
The latter has joined some distinguished company, having been nominated as Best Picture for the Gotham Independent Film Awards. This ceremony, taking place just after Thanksgiving, traditionally kicks off the award season. Pay attention: Last year's winner was The Hurt Locker, which went on to win the Oscar. Joining Let Me In on this year's list are two other films you should have seen at the Tropic – The Kids Are All Right and Winter's Bone.
Enjoy.
[from Key West, the newspaper - KWTN.com]
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (Rhoades)
"Tall Dark Stranger" - A Tale Told by an Idiot
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
There was an arcade on the boardwalk of Jacksonville Beach with a fortune telling machine, a booth inhabited by a gray-haired gypsy woman who looked like a Madam Tussaud wax exhibit until you put a coin in the slot. Then she would mechanically come to life, spreading a hand of cards, eying you maliciously, and offering a witch's cackle. And then a card with your fortune printed on it would drop into the metal tray.
The messages were often smugly pessimistic.
That's what Woody Allen's films remind me of, an annual fortuneteller's card dropped on us by the director, filled with his metaphysical musings about the meaninglessness of life. As if we need to be reminded.
"You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" not only fits the bill, the title even bears a message delivered by the movie's wizened fortuneteller (played by Pauline Collins). This latest misanthropic outing can be found at the Tropic Cinema.
Don't take these observations as negative. I'm a longtime Woody Allen fan. I used to go watch him play his clarinet at Michael's Pub, a block from my apartment in New York City. He's like the Fool in a jester's hat who entertains the emperor's court, the only person in all the kingdom allowed to utter the truth under the guise of humor.
Allen gives us a clue, starting off "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" with a quote from Shakespeare about "sound and fury, signifying nothing." His usual nihilism. "A tale told by an idiot," the quote continues. Nudge, nudge – don't you get it?
For his 41st film, the director returns to London (scene of "Match Point," "Scoop," and "Cassandra's Dream"), the project fueled by Spanish financing (as was "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"). And he features an international array of stars, including Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Naomi Watts, and Josh Brolin, among others.
That is to say, this Woody Allen movie was not made in New York – the love affair with that city so brilliantly celebrated in "Manhattan," "Annie Hall," "Manhattan Melodrama," "Bullets Over Broadway," and "Broadway Danny Rose" now clearly over.
The famously neurotic director will tell you its because making films is so much cheaper in Europe these days. But it sounds kinda like that old breaking-up excuse, "It's not you, it's me."
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
There was an arcade on the boardwalk of Jacksonville Beach with a fortune telling machine, a booth inhabited by a gray-haired gypsy woman who looked like a Madam Tussaud wax exhibit until you put a coin in the slot. Then she would mechanically come to life, spreading a hand of cards, eying you maliciously, and offering a witch's cackle. And then a card with your fortune printed on it would drop into the metal tray.
The messages were often smugly pessimistic.
That's what Woody Allen's films remind me of, an annual fortuneteller's card dropped on us by the director, filled with his metaphysical musings about the meaninglessness of life. As if we need to be reminded.
"You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" not only fits the bill, the title even bears a message delivered by the movie's wizened fortuneteller (played by Pauline Collins). This latest misanthropic outing can be found at the Tropic Cinema.
Don't take these observations as negative. I'm a longtime Woody Allen fan. I used to go watch him play his clarinet at Michael's Pub, a block from my apartment in New York City. He's like the Fool in a jester's hat who entertains the emperor's court, the only person in all the kingdom allowed to utter the truth under the guise of humor.
Allen gives us a clue, starting off "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" with a quote from Shakespeare about "sound and fury, signifying nothing." His usual nihilism. "A tale told by an idiot," the quote continues. Nudge, nudge – don't you get it?
For his 41st film, the director returns to London (scene of "Match Point," "Scoop," and "Cassandra's Dream"), the project fueled by Spanish financing (as was "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"). And he features an international array of stars, including Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Naomi Watts, and Josh Brolin, among others.
That is to say, this Woody Allen movie was not made in New York – the love affair with that city so brilliantly celebrated in "Manhattan," "Annie Hall," "Manhattan Melodrama," "Bullets Over Broadway," and "Broadway Danny Rose" now clearly over.
The famously neurotic director will tell you its because making films is so much cheaper in Europe these days. But it sounds kinda like that old breaking-up excuse, "It's not you, it's me."
Here, Allen provides us with a triptych of romantic disasters. Roy (Josh Brolin) is a faltering novelist who's married to Sally (Naomi Watts). He and his shrewish wife live an upwardly mobile bohemian existence, the nirvana that Allen would have his characters strive for. Sally's mother Helena (Genna Jones) helps support the couple. Helena's ex-husband Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) is the poster boy for midlife crisis, having gone back to the gym and bought himself a trophy wife (Lucy Punch) with an array of furs, jewels, and a lavish apartment. Never mind that she's a former call girl with little class. His former wife Helena tries to meet someone new, but can't compete with deceased loved ones. The curse of old-age dating. Meanwhile Roy is ogling Dia (Freida Pinto), the dishy neighbor across the way who undresses for his amusement.
And the aforementioned tall dark stranger is none other than Sally's boss (Antonio Banderas in a typecasting coup for the Woodman).
We get the joke: What's it all about, Alfie? Where's Michael Caine ("Hannah and Her Sisters," "Alfie") when Woody needs him to help deliver this message about the meaninglessness of life?
At 75, Woody has quit acting in his films (since he's "too old to get the girl"). And they've quit being funny. Even in that's Fool's way of delivering an unpopular message. Maybe if this brilliant director would surprise us with a different message, he'd discover the secret to Clint Eastwood's longevity. You can't play Dirty Harry forever. Nor can you be the neurotic shlub for half a century without it starting to sound like a Borsch Belt routine you've heard before.
Sure, I enjoyed "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger." But truth is, I was looking forward to meeting someone who was so much more than a fortuneteller's cliché.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
The Town (Rhoades)
“The Town” Is New Shot For Ben Affleck
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
There are more than 300 bank robberies a year in Boston, we’re told. And most of the participants live in an area known as Charlestown. Or “The Town,” for short.
I’ve been there. As well as been in many Boston banks. I even got arrested for carrying a gun there.
Never mind that it was a legally registered pistol in New York State. Massachusetts has a zero-tolerance gun law with a two-year mandatory prison sentence. Thanks to a helpful state cop, I didn’t join all those bank robbers in MCI - Cedar Junction at Walpole. But that’s another story.
In “The Town” – the crime thriller now playing at the Tropic Cinema – a team of bank robbers is being pursued by an FBI agent. The gang is hanging tight until one of them makes the mistake of falling for a bank manager they kidnapped in one of their heists.
Ben Affleck (“State of Play,” “The Sum of All Fears”) and Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”) are the two crooks at odds with each other. Jon Hamm (“The Day the Earth Stood Still,” TV’s “Mad Men”) is the special agent on their tail. And Rebecca Hall (“Please Give”) is the love interest caught in the middle.
You’ll also see Blake Lively (TV’s “Gossip Girl”) as a former gal pal. And Chris Cooper as the dad who “doesn’t get out much” because he’s serving time at Cedar Junction.
Not only does Ben Affleck star in “The Town” but he directs it as well.
That’s a slightly daunting prospect,” he said, “but we’ll see. I’m nervous but excited. It’s based on a book called ‘Prince of Thieves’ by Chuck Hogan. It’s based on a true fact that there is this neighborhood in Boston called Charlestown where there are more armed robbers per capita than anywhere else in the world. It’s about this group of guys who rob a bank and an armored car. Rather than a heist movie it’s very realistic. You see how the guys really operate and what they really do. It’s about their lives, the connection to one another, and the way that where they live is changing. It’s unusual and kind of complicated for a movie that has a conventional genre at its root.”
Yes, Affleck is looking for a game changer. His career has bounced around like a pinball, from his debut in the Oscar-winning “Good Will Hunting” to thrillers like “Armageddon” to indies like “Chasing Amy” to public embarrassments like “Gigli” to his acclaimed directing debut with “Gone Baby Gone.”
However, this is the first time since “Good Will Hunting” that Affleck has worked as both actor and filmmaker in a project. “It’s hard to disavow a movie when you’ve written, directed and acted in it,” says Affleck. “This is an emblem of the person I want to be going forward.”
Warner Bros. views this as a potential actor-director combo of the kind that’s made Clint Eastwood a perennial for them.
For Affleck, it’s not only a possible career reboot but also a chance to hang out in the city where he grew up. “The Boston ambience is as comfortable for Ben as New York is for Scorsese,” notes a Warner Bros. exec.
However, when pushed, Affleck will admit that he grew up in a law-abiding Boston neighborhood full of police officers and firefighters. So his introduction to the criminals of Charlestown came from hiring ex-felons as extras on the set.
“Insuring the ex-convicts,” he said, “was a problem. Even more difficult was persuading parole officers to let these consultants handle guns – even fake ones – in scenes.”
After all, you can’t rob a bank without a gun. Unless you’re Bernie Madoff.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
There are more than 300 bank robberies a year in Boston, we’re told. And most of the participants live in an area known as Charlestown. Or “The Town,” for short.
I’ve been there. As well as been in many Boston banks. I even got arrested for carrying a gun there.
Never mind that it was a legally registered pistol in New York State. Massachusetts has a zero-tolerance gun law with a two-year mandatory prison sentence. Thanks to a helpful state cop, I didn’t join all those bank robbers in MCI - Cedar Junction at Walpole. But that’s another story.
In “The Town” – the crime thriller now playing at the Tropic Cinema – a team of bank robbers is being pursued by an FBI agent. The gang is hanging tight until one of them makes the mistake of falling for a bank manager they kidnapped in one of their heists.
Ben Affleck (“State of Play,” “The Sum of All Fears”) and Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”) are the two crooks at odds with each other. Jon Hamm (“The Day the Earth Stood Still,” TV’s “Mad Men”) is the special agent on their tail. And Rebecca Hall (“Please Give”) is the love interest caught in the middle.
You’ll also see Blake Lively (TV’s “Gossip Girl”) as a former gal pal. And Chris Cooper as the dad who “doesn’t get out much” because he’s serving time at Cedar Junction.
Not only does Ben Affleck star in “The Town” but he directs it as well.
That’s a slightly daunting prospect,” he said, “but we’ll see. I’m nervous but excited. It’s based on a book called ‘Prince of Thieves’ by Chuck Hogan. It’s based on a true fact that there is this neighborhood in Boston called Charlestown where there are more armed robbers per capita than anywhere else in the world. It’s about this group of guys who rob a bank and an armored car. Rather than a heist movie it’s very realistic. You see how the guys really operate and what they really do. It’s about their lives, the connection to one another, and the way that where they live is changing. It’s unusual and kind of complicated for a movie that has a conventional genre at its root.”
Yes, Affleck is looking for a game changer. His career has bounced around like a pinball, from his debut in the Oscar-winning “Good Will Hunting” to thrillers like “Armageddon” to indies like “Chasing Amy” to public embarrassments like “Gigli” to his acclaimed directing debut with “Gone Baby Gone.”
However, this is the first time since “Good Will Hunting” that Affleck has worked as both actor and filmmaker in a project. “It’s hard to disavow a movie when you’ve written, directed and acted in it,” says Affleck. “This is an emblem of the person I want to be going forward.”
Warner Bros. views this as a potential actor-director combo of the kind that’s made Clint Eastwood a perennial for them.
For Affleck, it’s not only a possible career reboot but also a chance to hang out in the city where he grew up. “The Boston ambience is as comfortable for Ben as New York is for Scorsese,” notes a Warner Bros. exec.
However, when pushed, Affleck will admit that he grew up in a law-abiding Boston neighborhood full of police officers and firefighters. So his introduction to the criminals of Charlestown came from hiring ex-felons as extras on the set.
“Insuring the ex-convicts,” he said, “was a problem. Even more difficult was persuading parole officers to let these consultants handle guns – even fake ones – in scenes.”
After all, you can’t rob a bank without a gun. Unless you’re Bernie Madoff.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
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