Sundance Selects acquires Romanian film “Beyond the Hills” (omg!)

LOS ANGELES, Feb 19 (TheWrap.com) – Sundance Selects has acquired North American rights to “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu’s newest movie, the company said Saturday.

The Romanian director’s 2007 feature “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” won the Palme d’Or and Fipresci International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mungiu wrote, directed and, with Pascal Cauchteaux and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, produced “Beyond the Hills.”

The film is about Alina and Voichita, two young women who grew up together in an orphanage and reunite in an isolated convent in Romania. Alina wants to go to Germany, and wants Voichita to go with her. But Voichita is deeply taken by convent life. When Alina challenges the priest, she is taken to a hospital — and suspected of being possessed.

“Cristian Mungiu established himself as one of the great directors with ’4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,’” Jonathan Sehring, president of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said in a statement. “We’re honored to continue our relationship with him on his latest film.”

Sundance Selects is a sister division to IFC Films and IFC Midnight. The companies are owned and operated by AMC Networks, Inc.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_sundance_selects_acquires_romanian_film_beyond_hills022316679/44590078/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/sundance-selects-acquires-romanian-film-beyond-hills-022316679.html

shark tank tim tebow cfa hellgate michael kors spice k2

Written on February 20th, 2012 , savor Tags:
Oscars 2012: Original Screenplay | Hollywood Life Magazine

This year, the expected Best Picture winner is again an original screenplay. ?While adapted screenplays seem to almost always have all of the Best picture heat, in recent years, the original script has taken over. ?It is one of the weirdest ironies that when the Coen brothers, writers/directors/editors that they are, won for their Cormac McCarthy adaptation and not for one of their original scripts. ?Jim Brooks won Best Picture for the adaptation of Larry McMurtry?s Terms of Endearment, and not for the original screenplays he?d written, like Broadcast News and As Good as it Gets.

Here is a breakdown ? and when you see an asterisk that meant the film also swept a Best Screenplay win along with it. ?This will be important later. ?In bold are those whose directors were also credited as writers.

2008-Slumdog Millionaire-adapted*
2007-No Country for Old Men-adapted*
2006-The Departed-adapted (technically speaking) *
2004-Million Dollar Baby-adapted (Sideways won instead)
2003-Return of the King-adapted*
2002-Chicago-adapted (The Pianist won instead)
2001-A Beautiful Mind-adapted?*

2011-The Artist-original
2010-The King?s Speech-original*
2009-The Hurt Locker-original*
2005-Crash-original*
2000-Gladiator-original (Almost Famous won instead)

So, going back eleven years, only three times did the Best Picture winner not win screenplay. ?Usually, a screenplay win, and a director win for that matter, are tied to Best Picture. ? That means this year?s expected winner in screenplay is Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist.

The Artist competes with some heavy hitters, Woody Allen?s Midnight in Paris, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo?s Bridesmaids, JC Chandor?s Margin Call and the one no one will ever believe lost to The Artist,?Asghar Farhadi?s, A Separation.

Weirdly enough, the last time an original screenplay writer won both Screenplay AND Picture was Crash back in 2005. ?That year, Brokeback Mountain won adapted screenplay and director. ?But it is very rare for an original screenplay author to also win Director and Picture. ?Here are the times, as far as I can tell, when they did:

Crash?Paul Haggis (co-writer)
Annie Hall?Woody Allen (co-writer)
The Apartment?Billy Wilder (co-writer; Hazanavicius would be happy about that)

And that?s it, folks. ?Three times and one of those times the director didn?t win, so that makes The Artist potentially only the third film ever to win Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (throw in director if you want) by the same author ? and the first to win that honor as a SINGLE in 84 years of Oscar history. ? This doesn?t include producer credit.

It?s ironic, a bit, that Annie Hall and The Apartment are both sweet romantic dramedies with a touch of drama and so is The Artist. ?Woody Allen?>Jack Lemmon?>Jean DuJardin.

Woody Allen, of course, also has the distinction of being the star of his film. ?Not many filmmakers can pull that off as well. ?Ironic also that Hazanavicius is going up against Woody Allen and that, if/when he wins, he will be like Woody in that he went for slapstick comedy to dramedy and then won an Oscar for it, very early in his career. ?Will Hazanavicius go on to make the great body of work that Allen has turned in? ?The jury is still out on that. So far he?s shown he can parody movies very well and tell a story very well, but will he expand and grow and challenge himself? ?We?ll have to wait and see.

As for which script deserves it, you have to figure that if The Artist is headed for a sweep it will sweep screenplay along with it. ?Even though it has no words, its story is solid and it proves you can tell a story without any dialogue at all and it will still work. ?The dialogue in it, on the title cards, is pretty bad, I?d say, weak and cliched. ?He could have done better there, but perhaps it?s the translation. ?I also wonder how a movie that is a mishmash of so many other movies can win. ?To me, as good as the Artist is, it is a screenplay a smart 12 or 13 year-old could have written because they still have the freedom of imagination to be silly like that. ?The Artist says things very simply ? the actors, the score and the director bring the depth; I don?t think it?s in the writing particularly.

But the Oscar race isn?t about individual scripts or the best cinematography or the best art direction; it is about Best Picture and everything else, for the most part, with a few notable exceptions, follows along behind.

But what of the other screenplays here? The only female writers in the category are the Wiig and Mumolo for Bridesmaids and that makes that the only film that is about anything other than male characters facing a crisis. ?As wonderful as the Berenice Bejo character is in the Artist, the movie is about him ? his career, his failure, his vanity, his ultimate compromise as THE ARTIST. ?Midnight in Paris is about a man who can?t break free from the nostalgia of the past. Margin Call is about the Wall Street bailouts. ? Finally, the best script in the pile by a length is A Separation which draws its strength from both male and female characters. ?I want to talk about them one by one, however, to dig more deeply into these wonderful stories.

Michel Hazanavicius? The Artist
The Artist really doesn?t need good dialogue to be a good story. ?The way I imagine it is not as a screenplay but as a short story or a novel where they refer to the main character as ?the Artist.? True, it is absolutely a story that has to be in black and white and silent on the cinematic canvas but you can imagine it being fairly brilliant prose, ?The Artist catches the chorus girl in his arms and they dance through the room.? All of the context a fiction author would put to the story is what the viewers do while watching the movie, with the help of some very adept actors who convey feeling, thought and emotion without relying on what they say to say what they mean.

The Artist is about the refusal to give up what has always worked in the past. ?It?s about not wanting to adapt to change. ?It is about pride and acceptance, about narcissism and humility, and it is about dancing. ?What I love most about The Artist is that it twists the notion that the guy is always saving the girl. Moreover, when people say it is just A Star is Born, it really isn?t. ?In A Star is Born, the old guy never takes the help of the woman to become a success; her success ruins him. In The Artist he lets her help him and he works. ?He takes a job as something he might not wanted to ever be: her dance partner, and maybe they?re not so much Fred and Ginger but Ginger and Fred. ?It?s a lovely twist on an old trope.

Why it wins: because this is the moment to celebrate Michel Hazanavicius? grand accomplishment. ?He took the impossible and made it possible. ?A French filmmaker not caught up under the constraints of the dysfunctional Hollywood film system, he can write and direct mostly whatever he wants. It?s always baffling to me when the big studios throw a bunch of money and power at a filmmaker and then try to control his/her vision. ?But Hazanavicius had no one telling him you can?t do that. ?And only Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. had the smarts to see what The Artist was ? how special of a film it was. ?That it?s winning so much acclaim and awards is a blessing and a curse. ?On the one hand, the film is deserving of all of the love its getting; on the other hand, I feel it might be too much too soon for this filmmaker and this actor, these wonderful ARTISTS we love so much ? what kind of fresh hell will Hollywood bring? ?Still, you can?t undo the kind of love this film has generated. So if it wins Screenplay it wins because of love.

Why it won?t win: The screenplay on its own is fairly weak compared to two others in the category. ?The movie is more about the acting an the directing and the ?concept? than the actual writing. ?If voters decide to break up the awards and not vote for the one they love, it might looks especially light compared to A Separation or Midnight in Paris, hell even Magin Call and Bridesmaids, for that matter. Though it?s strongest because it?s the Best Picture frontrunner, on its own it isn?t.

Midnight in Paris
Midnight in Paris is a departure from Woody Allen?s later work. ?It is an about-face, in fact, from much of what he has said in his films, that things were really much better way back when. ?Surely there is a part of him that must have relied on nostalgia to give life perspective. ?Don?t we forget most of the bad and remember only the good? ?So much of this year?s films are about this very thing: our unwillingness to abandon our own reliance upon nostalgia, presumably because the Now and the Future are horror shows. ?In fact, there is disillusionment among the Hollywood ranks now that their fairy tale of the perfect President and the ousting of the Republican reign hasn?t brought them the high that a Michael Douglas speech about handguns, the environment and the love of his life might have done. But alas, reality isn?t penned by Aaron Sorkin, nor is it penned by Woody Allen. ?But we start to get closer to that unkind mirror with Woody Allen, who grabs us by our nostalgia-soaked collars and says, ?wake up, people. All you have is right here, right now.? ? Allen proves his case by giving us the most delicious memory of what it might have been like in Paris in the 1920s, with Gertrude Stein and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway all hanging out at the same cool night club. ?Owen Wilson hooks up with Picasso?s mistress only to discover she herself is hung up on the Belle Epoque, a whole different time.

Funny, isn?t it? ?Yes. ?And so Owen Wilson discovers that his need to relive the fantasy of the past is wrapped up in his ability to not live in the present. Why, because he?s built a hell of his own making. ?Sure, his ?second choice? is a super hot young French girl (but who?s counting) but he does decide, ultimately, to let go of the unhappy trappings of his own life and just live more freely.

Why he?ll Win:
Arguably, there is no better writer working in film that Woody Allen. ?There are a few that come close, but consistently, since the 1970s, Woody Allen has never settled for being and saying nothing. ?The Academy done good when they invested in Woody Allen in 1976. ?That is perhaps why they love him like they do ? his Oscar was a promise for the great career to come and he delivered on that, drawing from Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini, among others. ?They were too bold and out of the box for the Academy but through Woody Allen, we were all able to better access them. ?He wrote a wonderful film which became the highest box office earner of his career. ?And to do that this late in life? It?s a miracle.

Why he won?t Win:
The only thing that stands in his way is The Artist.

A Separation
This is a film, to me, about the conflict of wanting to adhere to tradition in Iranian society and the desire to break free from it and find a new life. ?In the film, ?a mother wants to take her daughter out of Iran but the daughter is too devoted to her father to leave. ? Another woman in brought into their house to take care of the grandfather, the patriarchal leader of this family who is hooked up to machines and in the throws of dementia. ?The woman taking care of him has a problem she must attend to and before you know it the grandfather has gotten lost in the streets. ? Through a set of unfortunate circumstances, the father is accused of causing the woman physical harm. ? Without giving away spoilers, what follows is how one lie can compound another and how lying is a way to show loyalty and support. ?But it is also about how religion can be oppressive, how hard it is for women to break free from an old system, and the battle between the old Iran (as embodied by the grandfather) and the hope for a more progressive Iran (as embodied by the daughter). ?It is intricate and layered, profound and unforgettable. ?You find yourself involved with all of the characters as you follow the tightly written, suspenseful plot. ?It is a brilliantly written, flawless, complex screenplay.

Why it will win?- because voters will have hopefully seen it and if they see it there is no way they can not vote for it. ?It is by far the best written script in the category and the one that had the hardest job of telling a story yet the one that tells its story best. ?In fact, it is one of the biggest crimes of the year that with nine Best Picture nominations they couldn?t find one slot for this film, which, if we?re in the business now of honoring foreign productions, should have had Picture, Director, Actress and Supporting Actress. ?But can you imagine? ?That would never happen.

Why it won?t win?- because it isn?t written by a star writer and it isn?t a Best Picture nominee (though it should be). ?Many are always tweeting that it might have trouble because of our conflicts with Iran ? I can only hope Oscar voters aren?t that stupid. ?But you know, it?s a long shot.

Bridesmaids
What started out as Judd Apatow trying to make a movie about women turned into one of the biggest hits of the year and this mostly to do with the ensemble work by the wonderful actresses in the film, especially Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph. ?The story in and of itself is pretty brilliant. ?In the African American film community they tend to allow for stronger more complex females in their romantic comedies. ?But with the white community, we usually have to dumb it significantly down not for men but FOR WOMEN. ?We are a catty crowd and a hateful crowd at times so we need our heroines to be perfect. We need the men to be Prince Charming. We need the money and the guy and the happy ending. We need the wedding, goddamned it!

But here?s Kristen Wiig, portraying the kind of lead female character most of really are but most of us don?t want to believe. ?She is someone who sleeps with the hot guy who treats her like shit (?I really want you to leave but I don?t want to be a dick.?) and ignores the nice guy who is a lot better for her. ?It?s about female jealousy with friends, envy and one-upmanship and then it is randomly about just how funny these women are. ?McCarthy in particular is one of the funniest things in film I?ve ever seen. ?Is it the writing? ?Sure it is. But it?s all of the above. ?How nice to see the Academy really honor comedy finally. They missed the boat on Mean Girls.

Why it will win: Maybe the Academy wants to honor something written by women for a change. ?Or maybe they liked it the best.

Why it won?t?
The men dominate this category so that is either going to be an advantage or not. With Bridesmaids, at the end of the day, you?re still dealing with taking a shit in the bathroom sink, and we know how our voters are about stuff like that. ?On the other hand, Quentin Tarantino won for Pulp Fiction and Diablo Cody won for Juno, so ? anything?s possible.

Margin Call
Leave it to a writer who took many years to hone a screenplay to turn out of the best of the year. ?Margin Call is a film so intricately layered it took me several viewings to get all of the subtle, but deeply profound, twists and turns he presents. ?But each character is so thoroughly considered that you could make an eight hour movie and tell the same story from each of their different perspectives. ?As it was, he manages to tell it in under two hours. ?This is a movie about the cogs in the machine, some of whom were the stooges who took the fall, and the higher ups who didn?t.

In the moments before the Wall Street bailout, small companies were forced to sell their worthless junk ? they were just bailing water out of a sinking ship. ?This is about that moment. ?Chandor?s own father worked for a Wall St. corp so much of this stuff was insider info, and well researched.

Why it will win:
Voters might see this as a significant statement about the times in which we live. ?Of all of the five screenplays, it is the only one about American right now. ?It leaves all of the filmy nostalgia behind and concentrates on the here and the now.

Why it won?t:
Voters will see the nomination as honor enough.

My prediction: A Separation
The general consensus will say: The Artist

Source: http://hollywoodlifemag.com/2012/02/oscars-2012-original-screenplay/

alexander the great time management california king bed 28 weeks later kelly brook swat body mass index

Written on February 17th, 2012 , savor Tags: , ,
Grandpa Joe from ‘Willy Wonka’ remake dies

Warner Bros.

Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore and David Kelly are shown in a scene from the 2005 film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

By Josh Grossberg, E! Online

David Kelly, the Irish actor best known to American moviegoers as sweet and gentle Grandpa Joe in Tim Burton’s 2005 big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” has died.

He was 82.

READ: Ben Gazzara, Big Lebowski star, dies

Per RTE, Kelly passed away in his native Dublin following a short illness, though a cause of death has not yet been disclosed.

Besides acting opposite Johnny Depp, the thesp also made a memorable mark in the 1998 comedy “Waking Ned Devine” as elderly rogue Michael O’Sullivan who rides a motorcycle in the buff and tries to claim a small Irish town’s lottery winnings. The role nabbed him a Screen Actors Guild nomination.

Kelly hopped between theater, radio, TV and film in a career spanning 50 years. After getting his start on the stage performing Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett, he segued to the tube, appearing in numerous Irish TV productions including the RTE historical miniseries Strumpet City with Peter O’Toole and Peter Ustinov.

READ: Ian Abercrombie, Elaine’s Boss on Seinfeld, Dies at 77

But he’s perhaps most remembered by British audiences for his hilarious turn as O’Reilly the Builder opposite John Cleese in a 1975 episode of “Faulty Towers” and playing a one-armed dishwasher in the sitcom “Robin’s Nest.”

?

Kelly’s Hollywood credits include 1992′s “Into the West,” 2004′s “Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London,” 2004′s “Laws of Attraction” opposite Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan, and 2007′s “Stardust” starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro.

Not long after “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s” release, Kelly was feted with a lifetime achievement award at that year’s Irish Film and Television Awards.

Kelly is survived by his wife, actress Laurie Morton, and their two children.

PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths: 2012′s Fallen Stars

More from movies:

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/15/10417647-grandpa-joe-from-willy-wonka-remake-dies

barneys brett lawrie cowboy hayabusa sum 41 melaleuca aapl

Written on February 16th, 2012 , savor Tags: , ,
Upgrade Your Windows with Window Films | nobelforpeace-summit …

Window films make your home improvement projects easier and more affordable. Rather than replacing the windows in your home, you can simply have the appropriate film applied and get the results you want. They are ideal for homes, offices, and buildings of all sizes. The most common choices are solar films and security films.

Solar films for windows help reduce your heating costs so they are a great way to take advantage of passive solar energy for heating your home. Plus you can feel good you are doing something that helps the environment by reducing your energy waste.

Security films for windows help protect your windows from being shattered by natural disasters or human intruders. They make your windows stronger so it takes more force to break them and once broken, the film keeps them from splitting into deadly shards.

Having film installed is a great way to enhance your windows and upgrade your home or any other building.

Source: http://www.nobelforpeace-summit.org/business-finance/advertising/upgrade-your-windows-with-window-films

pentagon david hasselhoff ukulele nicki minaj brink bruschetta versailles

Written on February 6th, 2012 , savor Tags: , ,
Picture perfect? Cast your vote!

By Kurt Schlosser

If you still see movies at the theater despite the cost and despite your grumblings that Hollywood has no original ideas, perhaps you do so because there’s nothing quite like seeing a film on the big screen. For that you can thank, in part, the folks below.

The American Society of Cinematographers announced its nominees for the 26th annual ASC Awards on Wednesday.

The nominated cinematographers are Guillaume Schiffman for “The Artist,” Jeff Cronenweth for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” Robert Richardson for “Hugo,” Hoyte van Hoytema for “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and Emmanuel Lubezki for “The Tree of Life.”

The awards are handed out Feb. 12 and more often than not?serve as an indicator of who will be nominated for an Academy Award.

Check out the trailers again for all five films. And if you’ve seen any of them or have a hunch about which has the most compelling look,?take part in our vote below.

Which film should win for best cinematography?

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/11/10115842-vote-for-the-best-in-cinematography

new york post age passion play ava passport application form brooke burke butterfly

Written on January 14th, 2012 , savor Tags: , ,
Kim Jong Il’s Adventures in Filmmaking

To his fans, Kim Jong Il was not merely the Dear Leader, the general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, not to mention the ?father of the nation and lodestar of national reunification.? He was also the Greatest. Filmmaker. Ever.

Sure, the American capitalists have Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and the Farrelly Brothers. But what American director can say he produced a ?revolutionary film? of ?high ideological and artistic value, which makes an effective contribution to arming people fully with the Party’s monolithic ideology and which imbues the whole of society with the great Juche idea.”

(A note to aspiring revolutionary filmmakers in Hollywood: The Juche idea is defined as the ?philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides everything.? Think of the heroic self-determination of Molly Ringwold in her ?16 Candles? phase, meets the glorious masculinity of Tom Cruise in his ?Top Gun? phase, meets Mao Zedong in his ?Speech At The Ninth Plenum Of The Eighth CPC Central Committee? phase.)

IN PICTURES: Cult of Personality: Inside North Korea

Aficionados of Kim Jong-il?s filmmaking genius ? and they are estimated to be 24,346,229 people, exactly the population of North Korea ? will tell you that the most shining example of Kim Jong-il?s Juche Idea was put to film in 1985 with the classic monster film “Pulgasari.”

Called one of the most, well, Kim-Jong-ilian movies of the century, Pulgasari is an allegory of the common man?s fight against tyranny, as hapless medieval Korean peasants team up with a giant iron-eating bull to overthrow an evil king. The fact that the young director Kim had to kidnap a South Korean director, Shin Sang-Ok, and his actress wife, Choe Un-Hee, and hold them captive for eight years in order to produce the film can only be said to add to its visual and rhetorical power.

American film critics Rusty Ward and Kevin Maher, hosts of ?So Bad It?s Good? on youtube.com, gave the film a reasonably positive review.

When Kim Jong Il?s death was announced, there were many Western headlines ? notably this one from the Guardian?s Luke Harding ? attempting to distract the world?s attention to Kim?s genius by warning of Pyongyang?s uncertain control over its nuclear arsenal.

The North Korean government assured the world, however, that while Kim?s death was ?greatest loss to the WPK and the Korean revolution and the bitterest grief to all the Koreans at home and abroad,? the North Korean ship of state was in the capable hands of Kim?s son, Kim Jong-un. ?No force on earth can check the revolutionary advance of our party, army, and people under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Un,? the Associated Press quoted the government saying on Monday.

Kim Jong-il ? he whose birth was announced by a new star, a double rainbow, a talking iceberg; he who attempted to breed giant rabbits to eliminate hunger; he who had disabled people removed from Pyongyang during a youth festival ? would have easily understood how to operate in Hollywood, a town with supersized egos and brutal politics. And he was a man that, with a better agent and perhaps a better editor, could have become one of the great B-movie producers of all time.

But Kim Jong Il?s purpose, clearly, was much larger than mere film.

As president, he will be replaced. But his director?s shoes will not be easily filled.

IN PICTURES: Cult of Personality: Inside North Korea

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924165/news/1924165/

lacrosse daily herald fathers day joplin mo snakes bath salts 2012 calendar

Written on January 7th, 2012 , savor Tags: , ,
Review: ‘Extremely Loud’ is incredibly phony (AP)

It’s no surprise that the grief-drenched Sept. 11 drama “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” should turn out incredibly mawkish. A cloying exercise in sentimentality, the film also winds up extremely annoying, even infuriating.

Director Stephen Daldry’s film, featuring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, centers on the worst day most Americans have lived through, an event whose memory still pains even those who suffered no personal loss in the terrorist attacks.

Yet it exists in some bizarrely contrived alternate reality through which Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth, adapting Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, fabricate the perfect cleansing ritual for a Sept. 11 Manhattan family in mourning. Perfect for them, that is, not for a movie audience.

This story is not a catharsis. It’s a cheat that has nothing to do with overcoming sorrow in the real world, where Sept. 11 happened.

That said, in fairness, fans of the book might like Daldry’s approach, which is a true class act in its production and the talent involved. Along with Hanks and Bullock, the compelling cast includes Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright and John Goodman in small but effective roles.

Newcomer Thomas Horn, the 13-year-old star who was cast after the filmmakers saw him on a “Jeopardy!” kids episode, is a mixed bag, holding his own among the adult actors but, through no fault of his own, forced to behave with excessive shrillness much of the time.

That’s because his character, Oskar Schell, may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism (his medical tests, we’re told, were inconclusive). You make allowances in life for people you encounter with autism, but spending two hours with a fictional character possessing autistic qualities can be grating.

Oskar is a compulsive, unsociable kid, whose difficulties relating to the outside world are tempered by imaginative mind games and pastimes engineered by his father, Thomas (Hanks).

In flashbacks throughout the film, Thomas appears as teacher, guide and nurturer for Oskar. Thomas challenges his son to bridge the gap between his inner world and reality, inspiring the boy with puzzles, mystery treks around the city and tales of an ethereal New York City “sixth borough” that simply floated away to who knows where.

After Thomas dies in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, Oskar is left adrift. Alone with his mother, Linda (Bullock), with whom he’s always had an awkward relationship, Oskar finds home life more strained than ever, his mom mired in her own grief.

Then Oskar discovers a key among his father’s belongings with the name “Black” attached. Convinced it’s a clue to a vital secret his dad left for him to reveal, Oskar sets forth to visit everyone named Black listed in the New York phone books in hopes of finding the lock that key will fit.

Accompanying him on many of these journeys is a mute lodger (von Sydow) who lives with Oskar’s grandmother and may or may not be the grandfather that left Thomas to grow up without a dad himself decades earlier. The filmmakers never really explore the parallels between von Sydow’s character and Oskar’s fatherlessness; with his ancient, sad but compassionate eyes, von Sydow gives an expressive performance, but he’s there mainly as someone Oskar can talk with on his adventures.

If not for von Sydow, the film might have been even more awash in voice-over narration by Oskar, which nearly suffocates the story early on. It’s relentless, a torrent of strange associations and connections Oskar uses to make sense of the world, representative of the boy’s breathless first-person narration in Foer’s novel, but way too much of an earful in a film.

The movie does provide a lovely visual travelogue through the nooks and crannies of New York, and Daldry does not shy from reviving terrible memories by depicting the burning towers or victims leaping to their deaths. Cinematographer Chris Menges provides a wispy, dreamlike sheen to the film that nicely complements Oskar’s fairy-tale-in-Manhattan quest.

“Extremely Loud” has heartfelt moments of redemption and reconciliation, particularly in scenes with Davis and Wright as a couple of the people Oskar encounters on his search. And it’s hard not to tear up a bit as Bullock’s seemingly callous Linda reveals what she’s been up to while little Oskar wanders the city.

Hanks is at his most lovable as the finest dad a troubled kid ? any kid, really ? could ever have.

As everyone works through their pain, it all sounds so sweet and life-affirming. Yet it feels so extremely soppy and incredibly phony.

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG-13 for emotional thematic material, some disturbing images and language. Running time: 129 minutes. Two stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G ? General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG ? Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 ? Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R ? Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 ? No one under 17 admitted.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111219/ap_en_ot/us_film_review_extremely_loud___incredibly_close

seattle seahawks ny giants south korea draft grades cesar millan los angeles power rangers samurai

Written on December 20th, 2011 , savor Tags:
98% Le Havre

All Critics (54) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (1)

‘Tis the season, so the saying goes. And when it comes to Aki Kaurism?ki, it holds true. The Finnish writer-director arrives bearing a gift wrapped in a contemporary immigration fable.

If the bummers and ambiguity of some of this season’s movies are getting you down – or, hey, just the bummers and ambiguities of life – make your way to Le Havre. You won’t be sorry.

The Finnish director’s sense of humor is dry and dark as pitch, as he consistently finds moments of absurdity in the midst of strife and tragedy.

Kaurism?ki wrote the script, I think, with secret credit from Mother Goose and some fabric softener.

“Le Havre” is a small bit of movie magic, a story that plays more as a fable even as it deals with something as topical as immigration.

The film is especially comforting if you love old movies, as Kaurismaki does.

While the film never reaches any hugely profound revelations with its parable-styled stories of compassion and community, and occasionally feels a little slight, it’s also enormously enjoyable and gorgeous to watch.

It’s a puzzle, and an intriguing one.

In two stories of evolving trust and secrets, Le Havre reflects the essential simplicity of the moral choices made in its simple-seeming camera set-ups.

Kaurismaki’s movie about a shoeshine man and an illegal immigrant is nothing less than a joy

A wonderfully concise, unfussy movie; it is “easy” by the director’s standards, which is to say that it doesn’t leave any significant ellipses in the narrative up until the aggressively darling ending.

…an upbeat little tome that leaves a good feeling to the spirit.

Kaurism?ki can almost restore your hope in humanity.

Kaurismaki dives into French film culture in ‘Le Havre’

You almost become a citizen of Le Havre, watching this film and rejoicing at the end as two newfound, unexpected friends share a drink.

It’s a straightforward yet completely artificial scenario, with welcome overtones of Italian Neo-Realism.

Unlike the director’s typical hero, Wilms’s spare performance conveys confidence rather than defeat. He and the kid warm the heart, thawing Kaurism?ki’s usual icy aplomb.

Heart-wrenching but ultimately inspirational.

Le Havre is not the filmmaker’s best work (see La Vie de Boh?me for that), but no matter the storm, we should be grateful to dock in this port.

More Critic Reviews

No quotes approved yet for Le Havre. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_havre_2011/

keyshia cole ivanka trump kyrie irving enes kanter steve harvey morning show chris medina anthropology

Written on December 18th, 2011 , savor Tags: , ,
Paris Jackson: Ellen DeGeneres Interview!

Paris Jackson will do her first interview with Ellen DeGeneres! It will air this week! How exciting! I will definitely be tuning into this interview, and will post the video here for you guys when it comes out. Michael Jackson?s daughter has sure come a long way from that little lost girl, with the masks and hats covering her beautiful face. She is all grown up now, well at least from her child years, and is doing big things. I am sure they will touch on her father, but surely one of the reasons her family allowed her to go on Ellen, is likely because Ellen is known for having more tact and respect for touchy subjects. Paris will be there to promote her upcoming movie. I didn?t even know she was into acting!! The young starlet is starring in a film called ?Lundon?s Bridge and the Three Keys?. MJ would surely approve as the film is about a girl who saves the planet. I couldn?t find much of a synopsis, but it is based on a popular book series and is sure to be spectacular. She sure is following in his footsteps. I am sure she will dig her [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/MbqKCT-9hQE/

welcome sugar sugar newt gingrich coyote asm karnataka sslc results 2011 mario games

Written on December 6th, 2011 , savor Tags: , ,
Neo-Nazi murders, film confession shock Germany (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? Germany’s Interior Minister warned Sunday of a “new form of far-right terrorism” as details emerged of a grotesque film left by members of a neo-Nazi cell in eastern Germany, in which they claimed the murder of nine immigrants between 2000 and 2006.

Prosecutors said police had arrested a suspected accomplice of the group, which referred to itself in the film as the “Nationalist Socialist Underground,” and which is also thought to be behind the murder of a policewoman in 2007 and a bomb attack on a Turkish area of Cologne in 2004.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the murders were shameful for Germany.

“We must assume that this is right-wing extremism in the worst form, and it is shaming that such a thing can happen in our country,” she told German television.

The revelations, which have caused shock and outrage across Germany, began after police found the bodies of two men, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, both with far-right links, in a mobile home in Eisenach last week. Police believe they killed themselves after a botched bank robbery.

Shortly after the discovery investigators searched a burned-out house in Zwickau, used by the men and one woman, “Beate Z,” who later handed herself in to police. There they found guns used in the murder of the policewoman and of the nine vendors, eight of whom were of Turkish background and the other a Greek.

All had run small businesses or fast-food stands, in cities across Germany, leading to the killings being dubbed the “doner murders.”

Police also found a 15-minute film recorded on DVDs ready to be sent to Islamic cultural organizations and the media.

The German magazine Spiegel printed stills from the film showing the murder victims’ bodies and grotesque montages made by the group showing the cartoon figure of the Pink Panther to point out the scenes of the killings.

“Germany Tour — Nine Turks shot” said a placard in one cartoon scene.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said all unsolved crimes with a suspected far-right connection dating back to 1998 would be re-examined for connections to the group, originating in Jena, in the eastern state of Thuringia.

“It looks as if we are dealing here with a new form of far-right terrorism,” Friedrich said.

Protesters, many with Turkish roots, gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Sunday to protest against neo-Nazis. Opposition politicians expressed anger that the cell went undetected for so long.

“Beate Z” faces charges of murder, attempted murder, arson and belonging to a terrorist organization.

(Editing by Tim Pearce and Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111113/wl_nm/us_germany_crime_neonazis

sensa sister wives season 2 kerry collins kerry collins jermichael finley diana nyad diana nyad

Written on November 14th, 2011 , savor Tags: , ,
<< Older Entries

gethardcashhijack.com is proudly powered by WordPress and the Theme Adventure by Eric Schwarz
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

gethardcashhijack.com