Est. 1998
Woody Allen is a genius. You can’t even say that he really is an American filmmaker, because his movies are in a category of their own. He started doing stand-up, and went on starring and directing in a bunch of screwball comedies. His most interesting work, though, is his many comedies about love and sex in New York. I believe he has made a film…
(3 Sept) Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006, Karan Johar)[ review ]90 (4 Sept) La vie secrète des gens heureux (2006, Stéphane Lapointe)56 [ Did I mention that I was doing a FFM blog for Voir? Well, I was, and that’s where I jotted down a few words about this closing film. ] (6 Sept) The Protector (2006, Prachya Pinkaew)23 [ Ok, we get it,…
previously: Almost Famous) My timing on this is a bit awkward… I’d already planned to make “Kill Bill” the next movie(s) I was gonna revisit when the news hit a couple of days ago that David Carradine, i.e. motherfucking Bill himself, had died. How would that affect the viewing of his defining performance? We’ll see, but first, let’s address the unfortunate fact that we’re…
In many ways, “Eastern Promises” is a harsh, sobering picture. But what the hell, allow me to go on about the most extreme parts first! Right from the start, there’s a botched assassination in a barbershop that’s sure to make you take notice. A bit later on, there’s a “cleaning” scene, à la Jean Reno in “Nikita” or The Wolf in “Pulp Fiction”,…
1998 Un 32 août sur terre37 [ Back in 1998, I was in film school and I had just started writing movie reviews online, yet I barely bothered checking out what current Quebec cinema had to offer. Fairly or not, I had the impression that most of our local filmmakers were self-indulgent, pretentious bores and the few late 90s/early 00s Québécois pictures I did watch…
“What’s in a name?” asks Shakespeare in Romeo & Juliet. “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” Maybe, but when a writer gives a character a name, consciously or not, it holds a meaning. Take the protagonist of “There Will Be Blood”, who goes by the name of Daniel Plainview but who’s called J. Arnold Ross in Oil!,…
It’s 10pm. Do you know where your half human, half devil kid is? Hellboy is sixty-something years old, but he looks half that age and he tends to act like a moody teenager. Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt) has been taking care of that big red ape since WWII, when he was working as paranormal advisor to President Roosevelt and helped Allied troops thwart the Nazis’…
Movie Infos Title: Cruising Bar Year: 1989 Director: Robert Ménard This film is one of the biggest moneymakers in the history of Quebec cinema. It’s a comedy that ain’t very sophisticated or anything, but I still think that it’s got something special. I think I found it more interesting as a depiction of what goes on in certain bars than I found it entertaining as…
(1 May) Mad Max 2 A.K.A. The Road Warrior (1981, George Miller) 85 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] (5 May) Ex Machina (2015, Alex Garland) 86 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] (6 May) Montage of Heck (2015, Brett Morgen) [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] (7 May) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985, George Miller & George Ogilvie) 41 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] (8 May) This Means War (2012, McG) 29 [ It starts…
Movie Infos Title: Five Easy Pieces Year: 1970 Director: Bob Rafelson Jack Nicholson is certainly one of the most gifted contemporary American actors, as he proved with such unforgettable movie performances as “Chinatown”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, “The Shining”, but also “Five Easy Pieces”. That classic film features some of Nicholson’s signature tantrums, yet it’s a different Jack we watch in this film,…