what world am i in

The Films of Woody Allen: Match Point

2006-03-01T06:10:00.000-08:00

Woody Allen's latest film has been enjoying a tidal wave of critical and popular praise which I believe is more a product of hype than due to the film's actual quality. My dissapointment in the movie, is also probably due more to the hype surrounding it than the movie itself.

The themes in this movie are obviously presented to be a struggle between luck and fairness. Not so obvious is the existential dillemma this entails to the main protagonist which explains his character. Chris Wilton, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Velvet Goldmine) is an ex-tennis pro who decides to leave the court in search of a better lifesyle, I forget whether it's hinted that he quits tennis due to him simply being lucky at the game and not good.

There are two different types of characters in this movie. The lucky ones, represented by Chris Wilton and his counterpart Nola Rice played by Scarlett Johansson, those who always happen to be in the right place on the right time with the right looks and get everything they don't deserve. On the other side are the fair agreeable individuals that have worked hard to get where they are and do everything right in life. This is the family that Chris Wilton and Nola Rice luck themselves into.

In one of the finer scenes of the movie Chris Wilton details his life philosophy, his belief that the universe is governed by complete randomness, a depressing sentiment which is contrasted by his girlfriend and his best friend which happens to be his girlfriend's brother but not however by Nola, his best friend's fiance, who shares in his philosophy. It is in this scene that we realize that both characters are outsiders and will never truly belong with the family that has taken them in.

This is also the main reason for them getting together which is an obvious eventuality in the movie as well as one of the low points during it. The relationship between Chris and Nola takes so much screentime and story development in the movie but still remains very cliched and uninteresting which also serves as a model for the rest of the movie. It's at this point where the film turns into an ordinary suspense drama of a forbidden romance which would be perfectly okay if the individual scenes were any bit engaging or surprising on their own. Instead they become by the book and are no different from the scenes of films made by lesser directors. Ultimately the audience (me) is left bored for a good portion of the movie.

There are numerous other flaws in the movie, where in some parts the dialogue is laughably silly (such as the initial encounter between Nola and Chris) and at other times the screenplay seems simply badly written. For example, there is a character in the movie, an ex tennis friend of Chris, that appears twice in the movie with the sole purpose of giving Chris the opportunity to explain his plight in the film and nothing else, allowing for simple exposition and no advancement of story. This is simply lazy writing and it's hard to forgive.

The film picks up, however, in the last twenty minutes where the main character, after being his comfortable lifestyle threatened by Nola, makes his choice. I found that the actual choice, while surprising to some, was predictable seeing that it's a story that has been told many times before. Surprisingly, Woody Allen shows himself to be completely competent in developing suspense. The tension in the movie is geniusely dealt with through it's final minutes where there is one final but good surprise which gives our protagonist an ending fitting to his outlook on the world which sadly cements him within his existential depression forever.

It's been said by critics that this film differs with other Woody Allen movies by not featuring the Woody Allen archetype (which I've discussed in my previous article on the director). To me, anyone that says that loses any credibility they have as a movie critic. Chris Wilton is a man that finds himself in a position of sucess which he feels he doesn't deserve. Morally, he's weak especially when it comes to matters of lust, jeopardizing every good thing he has for sex. He lies when confronted with the truth and desperatley tries to save himself when his fuck ups become too extreme. This is Woody Allen, I know it and he knows it and is also the main reason that this movie is still a Woody Allen movie, overrated but still, being an Allen movie, worth seeing.

2006: Movies to Watch

2006-02-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

I dedicate this post to my blog's approximately two (02) regular readers. Do you know how frustrating it is to have 18 comments from 2 people? Sigh, I love them anyway. For this post I decided between making a pretentious top 10 of 2005 list and letting people know what movies we can look forward to this year. You can look forward to great films apparently, as 2006 will feature movies from great directors as well as several big franchises making their return. Here they are, the top movies to see in 2006:

1. Superman Returns

Last year we saw a revival of the Batman franchise with Batman Begins, which featured an interesting new approach to a classic iconic character. Good directing, good writing, good casting. Surprisingly enough the approach works making Batman Begins one of my favorites (if not the favorite) of 2005. It looks like were getting more of the same with the relaunch of the Superman franchise, which in this case is not a remake but actually a sequel to the first two Superman films. Brian Singer directs, and the two kids who made X-Men 2 so good wrote the screenplay.

I was never a fan of Superman as I am of Batman, but the absolutely epic teaser trailer as well as the behind the scenes videos on www.bluetights.net is making this my most anticipated film of the year. You can watch the trailer here.

2. Lady in the Water

I will see and love anything M. Night Shymalan makes. I am constantly fascinated by his take on different genres and themes. The Sixth Sense was one of the best ghost stories ever. Signs was a completely innovative approach to the aliens attacking earth genre (where aliens are hardly even shown), and I consider Unbreakable to be the best superheroe movie ever made. This time with Lady in the Water the director takes on... mermaids? Water fairies? Who knows, but whatever it is it's sure to be good. Paul Giamatti (Sideways) and Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village, Manderlay) star.

trailer.

3. A Scanner Darkly

Richard Linklater is another filmmaker whose name is sufficient to get me interested. He directed several of my all time and most watched movies such as Dazed and Confused and Waking Life. Recently he's concentrated on more mainstream films such as School of Rock and Bad News Bears but now he returns to the type of movie we all love him for. The weird ones. A Scanner Darkly is so weird I can't, after watching two trailers, even figure what it's about. All I know is that it's based on a Phillip K. Dick story and uses the same animation on film method as Waking Life. Looks creepy, surreal and trippy, i'm sure to love it. Keanu Reeves stars.

weird ass trailer

4. Sunshine

This comes out only in October, so there's little to no information about it as of yet. How does it place so highly on this list? Director Danny Boyle and author/screenwriter Alex Garland, the creative team by the visceral masterpiece 28 Days Later..., reunite to bring us another sci-fi thriller. The creative team alone gets me excited and the plot only makes it better. The story is set 50 years in the future where a team of scientists and astronauts have to travel to the sun to reignite it to save the earth. This sounds like Armageddon but actually good, and I loved Armageddon. If I had more information or a trailer I would have definitely put this at top of the list.

5. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

I can't get enough of Michael Winterbottom and while I enjoyed last year's 9 Songs I felt it was much more a cinematic exercise than a proper film. 2006 seems like it will satisfy my craving for a Winterbottom film with Tristam Shandy, a film about a director trying to make a film about an unfilmable novel. It worked for Adaptation, I bet it'll work for this.

trailer

6. X-Men 3

I'm just a sucker for superheroe. I'm more curious than excited about this movie knowing that the director is the mediocre Bret Rattner (Rush Hour films, Red Dragon). Either way, having read a script review and knowing that this last installment of the X-men franchise will kill major characters and feature huge events I have to say that i'm extremely looking forward to it. This movie will see the introduction of such characters as Beast, Angel and Juggernaut among others as well as reintroduce Jean Gray as Pheonix. The trailer actually makes it look pretty cool.

trailer

7. Grindhouse

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez make movies you just have to see. They might not even be particularly good movies but they're always interesting and innovative. They take chances and do things undreamt of by other directors. This time around they 're teaming up on a project which is actually two movies in one, both shot in 70's exploitation style. Pseudo trailers will be made as a part of the movie. Sounds really cool.

8. The Inside Man

Director Spike Lee makes a movie about a really good bank robber. The plot sounds awfully bleh, but it's Spike Lee and that's enough.

trailer

9. Mission Impossible III

The huge big budget franchise returns and this time under the helm of J.J. Abrams, creator of the best tv shows around, Lost and Alias (and Felicity too). The trailer however is a bit too dissapointing and very vague, but due to the fact that it's a teaser and my faith in the director i'm still very interested.

trailer

10. The Children of Men

Holy crap. All I'm gonna do is copy IMDB's plot tag: In 2027, in a chaotic world in which man can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of mankind.

Okay, that could go either way right? Horribly stupid with a bad director or amazing with a good one. In this case it's the latter with Alfonso Cuaron (who made Great Expectations, a movie I love).

11. Block Party

Micheal Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) a type of documentary which comedian David Chapelle as he tries to organize and hold a street party/ concert featuring the very best of hip-hop. Sounds very interesting and like a lot of fun.

trailer

12. Lucky You

I love the game of No Limit Texas Hold Em' Poker (even though I only play it online) and Rounders is one of those movies I can watch anytime and not get bored. When the subject of poker gets treated by a good director as in this case and the last one, this time with Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), I want to see it. In this movie, Eric Bana (Munich) tries to win the World Series of Poker.

13. Miami Vice

Not another movie based on a Tv show. Don't studio executives know that they're never, ever good? Oh wait, Michael Mann (The Insider, Collateral) is making it. Hmmm... Sure to be great visually and very possibly above average entertainment.

14. The New World

Ever since Alexander came out and since I've seen him on Saturday Night Live i've pretty much loathed Colin Farrell. Here he plays John Smith in a retelling of the Pocahontas story. I put it on this list because people keep telling me how fricking amazing director Terrence Mallick is even though I haven't seen one of his films. Never the less I have to say I'm very intriqued by this movie.

15. Joyeux Noel

I don't know anything about this movie but the plot which is enough for me. A true story recounting the christmas eve of 1941, where on a world war 2 battlefield French, Scottish, and German soldiers momentarily paused their conflict to share gifts, play football and celebrate christmas along one another.

New Screennplay: Untitled

2005-10-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

Não durmo faz muito tempo. Estou completamente irritado que o "N" no meu teclado virou a vítima de uma accidente de coca-cola e todo vez que preciso digitar o maldito "N" resulta num esforço horrível. Nunca (dois!) foi tão consciente (2!) da letra. Mais enfim, to superando o sofrimento para apresentar meu novo trabalho cinemático.

Passei essa noite escrevendo o roteiro mais tosco que já escrevi.

Teve origem numa conversa que tive com aquele amigo meu que tá atualmente cursando o New York Film Academy. A gente bolou uma história no MSN para ele apresentar o curso. Decidimos que nós dois escreveriamos nossa própria versão e depois iriamos combinar o melhor dos dois. Mas eu sabia que ele não ia fazer porra nenhuma. Escrevi tudo sozinho.

O roteiro está em inglês, é uma curta de 15 páginas. Passei ontem a noite inteira batalhando com o sono e o "N" para terminar. Situa-se em Nova York and basicamente trate-se de uma boneca inflável que atravéz da sua vibrador fada mágica vira um a mulher de verdade para ganhar o amor do cara que comprou ela.

Este sinopse realmente não denota o quanto que o roteiro é de mal gosto.

Também, realmente não está muito bem escrito. Mas um dos partes que mais me orgulhei está numa cena de perseguição aonde vários tarados correm atrás da boneca inflável. Na hora não consegui pensar em um jeito de fazer que a boneca escapa dos homens então simplesmente introduzi um Deus Ex Machina e fez que um carro atropela eles.

O filme é uma comédia romântica mas queria no final terminnar como um filme de terror/slasher aonde a boneca inflável persegue loucamente o amor dela. Mas fiquei sem paciência e também o Final Draft demo não permite salvar roteiros com mais de 15 páginas. Fucking bastards.

Enfim, quem se interessar pela essa obraprima avisa e mandarei por email.

You know who you are

- To escrevendo em portugûes por que ás vezes tenho vontade de escrever em portugûes e ás vezes em inglês, também, escrevo em portugûes as coisas que acho que não tem importância para pessoas no exterior. Não concordou com minhas críticas, escreva aí então, quero saber.

- Cadé a poema?

Random Bits: Update on previous topics and other nonsense

2005-09-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Once again this is gonna be a half-assed post and hopefully Ill write another serious one as soon I see a movie that really inspires me or if I finish watching the last of the Michael Winterbottom movies I needed to see to make write an article on him.

First, lets review the movies to watch list

2005:Movies to Watch Update

So far I've seen four of the movies on the list. In retrospect I would have made the list a bit different.

FIrst of all, I saw 9 Songs and I liked it, I really did. It isnt my favorite Winterbottom movie and to be honest, I wouldnt put it on any top ten lists but in my own way I loved it. It seemed less than a full fledged movie and more of a cinematic exercise, and for that I commend it. One other slight problem though, I didnt really like most of the bands featured.

Next was The Island. What the fuck was I thinking putting it at number three? Seriously not the worst movie ever made as people have been commenting, but definitly not good either. Some cool ideas, some cool sequences, but overall, pretty much what I should have expected it to be.

War of the Worlds was the big surprise. I fell in love with it. Best and most realistic alien invasion movie ever made. Speilberg is the man.

Fantastic Four was actually many times worse than I thought it would be. In other words, it was fucking horrible. How this shit gets made is beyond me.

In other news, Jarhead leaps to the top of my list. It has seriously one of the best trailers iv seen in a long time and you can watch it here.

My Screenplay 2

A minha falta de sorte em conseguir críticas ou elogios para o roteiro da minha curta continua. Depois do meu post resolvi mandar para várias pessoas para aumentar as chances de receber estímulo artístico e até agora, como q vcs acham q foi? Vamos ver...

Primeiro mandei para um cara bacana que é diretor de curtas meio conhecido aqui em Brasília. Ele é super gente boa e faz uns filmes estranhos mais interessantes. A resposta dele:
"vou ler seu roteiro ainda... foi mal.... estou respondendo para vc
saber que
li seu e-mail... falou!!!"

Este foi o ultímo mensagem. Com data 7 de Julho.

Depois mandei para um menina que faz cinema no Rio. Dela eu fiquei bastante interessado de saber a sua opinão que ela é muito legal e parece ser extremamente intelligente e tem idade mais perto da minha. A resposta dela:
"Oi, Ed!
Eu recebi nos dois [emails]!
Já, já te respondo.
Beijo!"

14 de Augusto.

Esses dias mandei o roteiro para um amigo que está estudando cinema em Nova York, e depois vou mandar para um outro amigo e depois uma atriz famosa que por acaso é amigona da minha mãe. Vamos ver o que dá.

Mas fode-se, outro dia fiquei inspirado a fazer outra curta. Com tema menos séria e mais comédia/suspense/surrealismo. Vai ser tipo um episódio do twilight zone. Eu comento mais para os interessados.

Filmes pare vocês alugarem

Eu aluguei Mean Creek outro dia. Que filme lindo. Este filme destaca em todos os elementos: performances, cinematografia, roteiro. Simplesmente BOM. Um filme pequeno, simples, mas fiquei de cara com a sua qualidade. Com o seu sinopse, um bando de jovens planejam tomar vingança contra outro jovem briguento, tinha tudo para dar errado, mas o filme evita todos os clichês imagináveis e sobressai como uma obra-mestre.

Muppets! A minha locadora de filmes é o melhor, tem a melhor coleção da cidade. Só aluga pela internet e entrega em casa, excelente acompanhante para aquela pizza. Outro dia mandei uns sugestões de compra para o dono da loja. Dois já tinha comprado e outro, que eu mandei com pouca seriedade, ele comprou na hora. Devido ao fato que eu era um ótimo cliente para ele. Duas semanas depois, chegou The Muppets Show: First Season. E agora to me sintindo mal porque NINGUÉM tá alugando, com certeza deu prejuízo para ele nesta opção. Por favor povo de brasília, ALUGUEM! Muppets é hilário! Podem alugar no CineDVD.

You know who you are

- Por acaso que vc está lendo isso Babs, não fique ofendido. Era só uma brincadeira para servir os propósitos do blog.

- Eu ainda não entendi essa pala de fazer aniversário meio ano em avanço.

Deconstructing Woody

2005-08-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

I am so pissed. I just wrote a huge post on Woody Allen and I lost it. Oh goddamn. Anyway, im gonna give a shot at writing it again. Im too pissed to give up.

For anyone that has seen a Woody Allen film, there's a certain pattern that shows up in most of them. They're all about him. If the main actor isn't Woody Allen, they're still playing him '"thinly disguised." Jason Biggs played him recently in Anything Else, a naive loser who cheated on his first girlfriend with a more interesting lady and later that girl cheats on him and finds someone else. In Celebrity he's played by Kenneth Branagh as a self-important immature man who cheats on his fiance with a younger more interesting girl who in the end, loses both of them. In Husbands and Wives Woody Allen shows up twice. First as himself as a divorcee who falls in love with his student and in the end, ends up alone. Second as Sydney Pollack who leaves his eccentric wife for a more attractive younger person. In Manhattan, Woody Allen leaves his love for a 17 year old.

In real life, Woody Allen has been married several times and been accused of being a dirty old man. In an acceptance speech for an academy award, Allen simply remarked "I don't deserve it." It's funny how he can be so self deprecating as well as so self important.

In most of his movies, it's the story about an old horny neurotic and selfish slightly pathetic man. Deconstructing Harry stays true to this pattern but grows more significant and that it becomes a reflection on all Woody Allen's past works. Ultimately, it's a work of love.

The story of Deconstructing Harry is this. Harry is in most definitions, simply a poor human being. He's gone through three failed marriages. In each one of them he has cheated through them. At one point, he manages to cheat with two woman at one time. He has a terrible relationship with his sister. He has to kidnap his son to spend time with him. He's a professional writer and he can't seem to get past some writer's block.

Harry is a writer and at many parts of the movie he recounts his stories and his characters come to life. Each one of them mainly focus on Harry himself "thinly disguised." And in these stories, they always show the character messing up and ruining his own life. But yet, they're all funny. The movie manages to be completely lighthearted. This is for a reason which is better understood by the time the movie finishes.

This movie reminds of Waking Life as in that it feels like someone looking back on his life once it's gone. The memories and occurences pass in a surreal and dreamy fashion. Imaginary and symbolic characters pop up to give the main guy advice. They invite him to look at scenes in which he wasn't present where he is being discussed. The movie passes without concern of chronological time much as when we reflect on our own lives. The memories simply just pop up. Mortality and Faith are also important themes present in the movie.

Actually I feel that there are several hints that Harry is in fact dead and reviewing his life throughout the movie. The beginning of the movie starts with one of Harry's old lovers stopping by his apartment accusing him of ruining her life by selfishly using their story as one of his books. She was in an affair with him while he was married to his sister, and now her family finds out and the blame falls on her. Harry accuses her of exaggerating and insults her at which the woman pulls out a gun and tells him that she's going to kill him. At a crucial scene where the gun is drawn on him and he's trying to talk his way out of dying the scene is cut slightly abruptly while the suspense peaks. The film reccomences and Harry is apparently alive and talking to his therapist (Ala Sixth Sense). Throughout the film Harry often mentions that he smells sulphur for some weird reason. (You know what that means right?)

Near the end of the movie Harry is at a lowpoint in his life. A former lover of his is marrying his best friend and comes to him for his blessing. But being the selfish greedy man he is he denies it and tries to convince her cancel the wedding. But she gets married. He goes to a hooker, fights with other people, eventually ends up in jail, being arrested in front of his son. He sits there in his cell questioning his life and why these things happen to him. Why he is such a bad person. Why can't he just be happy. Coupled with his reflections shown through the movie, he comes to the conclusion that he's simply "bad at life".

Eventually he gets released from jail and accepts his former lover's marriage to his best friend, hugging them both. He goes home, thinking in melancholic self-pity. At this point he hears a knock on his door. Its the people from his old alma matter, the one that had kicked him out back in the day, they're inviting him to his honoring ceremony. They lead him to a large room where every one of his creations, his characters are there for him. They're all standing, smiling at him. Honoring him, loving him. At this very moment, Harry isn't alone. At his side an enthusiastic college student shares an insight with him. No matter how messed up Harry's stories are, they're still funny and lighthearted and at their very core, they're happy. They are happy.

And it hits him. He realizes, he likes it. He writes about flawed and neurotic characters because he likes it. He creates characters who represent himself because he likes them. He loves himself despite all his flaws. In fact, its the very flaws which he loves because they are him.

Dude, I almost fucking cry. I am filled with utter love in this moment.

Harry thinks to himself, what a great character he is. How funny and perfect this crazy pathetic idiot is. The movie finishes with Harry becoming inspired again and he sits down at his typewriter and starts writing about Harry, creating himself.

It reminds me of American Beauty, on how Kevin Spacey's character who tells us as he dies how utterly grateful he is for every moment of his stupid screwed up life. How he feels the beauty inherent in every second and every atom of everything. And if you didn't understand that, this article or these movies, then just like the final lines of American Beauty were told "Don't worry. Someday, you will."

2005: Movies to Watch

2005-06-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

Fuck, blogs sure are annoying. It's always there in the back of your head making you think "goddamnit, i gotta update that thing sometime". It never ends. It doesnt help when theres always one or two people who keep bugging you to update it (Don't stop though). Anyway, today's post is inspired by complete boredom. I've pretty much exhausted stuff to do on the internet, theres nothing good on TV, and I simply refuse to read a book for some reason.

2005 is already half done and, cinematically, we dont have much to show for it. It seriously hasnt been that memorable. The best movies that I can remember seeing this year in the theater was Oldboy and Batman Begins. Oldboy was originally released in 2003 and Batman Begins is a superhero movie. It still rules though.

Cheer up though because the best is still to come, and to prove it to you I made this fun list of the movies I most anticipate coming out this year in order of how much I want to see it. Here we go:

Top Movies to See in 2005

1. 9 songs

Say what? Yeah I know you've never heard of it. It's from director Michael Winterbottom who has recently been becoming my favorite filmmaker ever. He's surprisingly prolific (making around one movie a year for the past ten years, sometimes more) not to mention consistent. Every movie I've seen of his I love. The most well known movies he made I think are 24 Hour Party People and Code 46, both known for innovative visual style. I dont know much about 9 songs and dont need to know since no matter what this guy makes Ill watch it. But from the trailer it seems to be an experimental type film intercutting a couple's sexual love affair with alot of music and performances by indie bands like Franz Ferdinand and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Just the thing to make this a favorite for the local pseudocults. What I expect from this though is too be a completely interesting and viscerally exciting music/film experience. Can't wait (too bad I'll have to, probably will get to Brasília in 2 years). Weird observation, the running time is exactly 69 minutes. And the trailer is somewhere on the net...

2. Elizabethtown

Cameron Crowe's next. Crowe simply just makes the most memorable, lighthearted and enjoyable movie experiences. Like my musical moments list, if I made a top whatever memorable movie moments list Cameron Crowe would dominate it. For film n00bs, Crowe directed Vanilla Sky, Jerry Maguire, and most notably, Almost Famous. He's keeping the plot simple this time around, in what basically just seems like your basic guy meets girl picture. Orlando Bloom is the guy, Kirsten Dunst is the girl. Either way, from the online movie buzz it seems that this will be Crowe's most inspired effort. Just hearing that makes it exciting. I really cant wait for the trailer.

3. The Island

This looks to be Michael Bay's best movie to date. Unfortunately that doesnt say too much seeing how he directed Bad Boys 2 and Pearl Harbour. However, he's also the guy who did Armageddon which, screw all of you alls, ruled. It was one of the funnest must see in a big ass movie theater experiences. The Rock was alot of fun too. Good or bad, all his movies demand seeing in a theater. The Island looks amazing combining Bay's big budget action skills with one of my favorite movie subjects, dystopian futures as well as reality mind fucks. The plot to this movie sounds alot like the Matrix actually, and hopefully itll provide us with compensation to Matrix 2 and 3. In this one, Ewan Mcgregor and Scarlett Johansson (hey, good actors) find out that nothing that they thought was real is, and must escape the people holding them.

Watch the trailer here

4. Bad News Bears

Richard Linklater, thats all I need. The guy behind Dazed and Confused (one of my all time favorite movies) and Waking Life has recently been becoming more mainstream, without losing any of his touch. Just for that he's amazing. School of Rock was like a family film, but still was entertaining and funny as hell. Bad News Bears kinda seems like School of Rock 2, as yet another irresponsible adult (this time Billy Bob Thornton) takes under his wing a group of youngsters (this time a little league baseball team). Doesnt sound too good, does it? Well, it will be.

Watch the trailer here

5. Into the Blue

This is a funny one to put in the list. It's just a dumb action flick about treasure hunters featuring actors that havnt really done anything important yet (Paul Walker and Jessica Alba). The thing that makes me look forward is director John Stockwell, who, in all sincerity, doesnt make the best movies. He does though, have a distinct visual style which, for some reason, Im in love with. His movies are just damn beautiful and different looking, and the trailer for this looks like more of the good stuff. John Stockwell has made Crazy/Beautiful and Blue Crush. His next movie is Touristas, which guess what, is about a bunch of tourists who get kidnapped in Brazil. Im definitely gonna find more about that.

Watch the trailer here

Other Movies I'm looking forward too

6. Last Days

Gus Van Sant. Sort of based on Kurt Cobain's last days before his suicide, like what he did for Columbine in Elephant. Sure to be depressing as well as beautiful.

7. The Weather Man

An American Beauty type story of a family man (Nicholas Cage) as he takes back his life. I'm a sucker for these type of stories and the trailer looks odd and quite funny.

8. Jarhead

From the guy who actually made American Beauty, a true story of a young soldier in Iraq. Love true stories, especially political ones. Not to mention the director of another of my all time favorites. He also made Road to Perdition which was awfully boring, hopefully he makes up for it on this one.

9. Oliver Twist

Roman Polanski. You should know something about the story.

10. Lord of War

From the director who made the amazing Gattaca and the not so amazing Simone. Even so, hes a great screenwriter/director. Dont know much about this once except it stars Nicholas Cage and tackles the topic of violence.

11. Broken Flowers

From the guy who directed the so-fucking-boring-and-pretentious-i-want-to-kill-somebody Coffee & Ciggarettes. This is pretty much just out of curiousity seeing that it got a major award at Cannes, and stars Bill Murray.

12. Domino

Based on a true story of a female bounty hunter written by Richard Kelly, the guy who wrote Donnie Darko. That's enough for me. Directed by Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Enemy of the State) who's overdirecting is sometimes really damn cool and at others obstrusive and tiring.

trailer

Movies that I dont really care about, but im gonna have to go see anyway

13. War of the Worlds

Supposedly this should be at the top of my list, seeing how it is on everyone elses. Yawn. It has huge hype. End of the world epic. Steven Speilberg. Tom Cruise. Biggest budget in history. Whatever, the trailers seriously dont impress me at all, yet they make everyone else go crazy. Since its Speilberg I know itll be good I just dont know how good.

14. Fantastic Four

This looks horribly casted, with an exception to the human torch character. Sounds dumb and looks dumb and the director has reportedly made some crap in his day (Taxi). Yet, it is a superhero movie which makes me way too curious to let go and the trailer has just enough cool and funny moments to make me see it at the movies. Most probably will suck, but has a chance of being dumb fun.

Ok, that should keep me for a few weeks I hope... Until then.

Random Bits: My screenplay, David Spade makes a comeback, related movie news.

2005-06-04T02:06:00.000-07:00

My Screenplay

Ano passado eu fiz um roteiro para uma concurso que me deixou todo orgulhado comigo mesmo. Só o fato que eu conseguir escrever 15 páginas coerentes (em duas horas alias) me deixou feliz. Eu mostrei esse roteiro para exatamente duas pessoas, os dois falaram que gostaram, mas sem nenhuma reação emotiva, tipo um "huh. cool." que me deixou um pouquinho deprimido. Eu não escrevi depois disso. Também, o roteiro desapareceu no mundo do ciber-espaço. Recentemente, achei uma cópia num diskette, e depois de um pouquinho de reação positiva para o meu blog, resolvi mandar o roteiro para uma amiga minha que realmente trabalha com cinema em brasília. Ela é bastante sexy e sofisticada também, e fiquei ansioso para ver suas resposta, querendo que ela ficasse impressionada, iniciando uma discussão profunda sobre meu trabalho.

Umas horas mais tarde, recebi a resposta por e-mail:
"Legal, é por aí mesmo.. Cuspa as idéias."

Maybe next year...

David Spade makes a comeback

We all have fond memories of David Spade don't we? He was one of those hillarious Saturday Night Live alumni's of the Adam Sandler/Chris Farley generation who never seemed to be able to follow in their more prosperous footsteps. True enough, Chris Farley did die, but he also played the lead in the comedy classic that will be remembered for all time, Tommy Boy, while Spade was left with the supporting role. While Adam Sandler went off to star in blockbuster after blockbuster (Anger Management, 50 First Dates), David Spade managed to get the lead in box office bombs like Joe Dirt and... and...

Anyway, David Spade is in the midst of a comeback. Just last year stole the show in the actually funny teen romp Eurotrip. Surrounded by less charismatic and underexperienced costars, Spade completely dominated the screen with his trademark sarcastic witticisms. It seemed that he went to great lengths to be right for his role, a horny 17 year old teenager, by either employing the use of cutting edge CGI technology, or using a time machine to go 20 years in the past, switching places with himself while he was in highschool. Either one is possible.

He's back baby, he's back.

Other Movie Related News

I dont think I have seen a movie since Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. That's pretty sad.

Final Comments

- You know who you are:
Fazer mais dois artigos sérios sobre cinema para que você me dê o endereço do seu blog? Bwauhah, nem precisa mais menina melancolia.

- For the record, I liked Joe Dirt.

Retrato: Izadora Xavier

2005-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Pois bem, hoje vou deixar o meu inglês e minhas críticas super cults cinemáticas para falar de uma menina especial chamada Izadora Xavier. Por que to fazendo isso? A Izadora Xavier tem alguma importância no mundo de cinema? Realmente não tenha, mas ela parece sim ter bom gosto em filmes e quem sabe um dia vira um diretora conhecida (mas eu duvido). Mas na verdade é que um dia por sei lá que razão falei para a Izadora que eu iria escrever um post no meu blog sobre os defeitos dela, (e as qualidades). Não sei por que falei isso mas o que importa e que eu falei que eu iria, e quando eu falo coisas eu sinto uma obrigação tremenda de realmente fazer-las. Também, isso seria um jeito de aquietar suas incessantes pedidos de atualizar o meu blog. Eu acho que ela é a unica pessoa que ler isso, e todas essas 80 pouca visítas é só ela acessando 80 vezes. Então, vamos começar com as qualidades (this wont take too long).

As Qualidades

- Ela tem um jeito meio stoner que é ate charmoso
- Ela tem cabelo bonito
- Ela é fâ número um do meu blog (e provavelmente o único)
- Ela gosta de filmes da disney
- Ela gosta de pular em carros em movimento (divertido de ver)
- Ela não tem medo de dançar frenéticamente em lugares públicos sem música
- Ela aprecia o por do sol
- Ela tem um nome que dá possibilidade a vários apelidos legais (Izadora monte de merda, Izasauro)
- Eu adoro o nome Izasauro
- O sorriso e o riso dela

Os defeitos

- Ela tem um jeito meio stoner
- Ela não sabe seguir regras
- Ela não conhece a classificação biológica de animal, vegetal, e mineral
- Ela rouba os picolés dos outros
- Ela me faz sentir burro
- Ela não sabe que e o único tipo de allstars que podem usados com vestido de noiva são os pretos e brancos
- Ela dá tchau sem nenhum abraço, beijo, eu te amo, etc.
- Ela faz parte de muitas comunidades clichês no orkut
- Ela se diz feminista quando nem eh
- Ela sai andando sem rumo sem falar com ningúem, deixando muitas pessoas perdidas atrás dela
- Ela fala mal dos outros que falem mal dela
- Ela tenha idéias sobre sua própria grandiosidade
- Ela faz as pessoas perderem o por do sol
- Ele me apoia quando eu jogo esportes, mas não me apoia muito bem
- Eu nunca ver ela muito bebada ateh cair, mas não duvido que ela já fez isso
- Existe a possibilidade que ela seja interesseira, eu suspeito que ela só me pede pra autualizar meu blog por que ela sabia que este seria o próximo post
- Ela nem me ligou para assistir star wars com ela (eu tava na sala do lado)
- A primeira vez que ela me conheceu, ela foi grossa comigo (mas pelo menos ela tinha cabelo bonito)
- ACABOU DE SER DESCOBERTO: A paciência não é uma das suas virtudes

Te apresento a Izasauro, "a menina mais importante da minha vida"; queria até escrever mais, mas acredito que nem conheço ela muito tempo? Quem for ler isso, por favor deixe um recado, não aqui no meu blog, mas sim no scrapbook dela : aqui

Daqui uns dias eu faço um posto voltando para o mundo de cinema, até lah

My Top 15 Musical Moments in Film

2005-05-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

I feel silly just doing this. But if I actually just wanted to make a serious, well thought blog on the art of cinema, then I guess I would post once every few months and eventually give up. So, when in doubt of what to say next, make a top ten list. Or in this case, Top 15. Plus, seeing as my last post is about someone pretty much nobody knows, this might make it more acessible. Warning: these views are not to be taken seriously; this post is probably not well written; and the list is probably comprised of a fairly obvious cliche movies. What the fuck ever, here we go:

1. Magnolia: The Sing-Along
Aimee Mann - Wise Up

OK, this is a serious dramatic movie. But P.T. Anderson pretty breaks all our expectations of a serious dramatic movie and inserts a scene which would you see in a musical, without losing any of its orginal emotional value. Thats kind of hard to do, isnt it? It's weirdly fitting, not to mention poignant and touching. All of the characters of this movie, fighting their own sorrows and depression, after a night of pure drama when theyre just feel like giving up, start singing this song. This movie has a lot of weird unexpected things, but this scene makes complete sense as you could say Aimee's Mann music in this film is not only a soundtrack, but also a character in it. This movie is filled with great musical moments, most especially the beginning.

2. Fight Club: Romantic Ending
Pixies - Where is My Mind

Wow. This is the most romantic ending ever. As you'll see, a lot of great musical moments take place in the ending. Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter finally meet as true lovers while they watch together armageddon outside the window. Beautiful.

3. Lost in Translation: Karaoke
Bill Murray - More than This

I cant imagine Lost in Translation without its soundtrack. The movie itself is simplistic, theres not much of a script. But with the combination of the urban backdrop, the actors, and the soundtrack the movie becomes an ephemeral dream like experience. Kevin Shields is a big part of why this works, his shoegazing stlye music puts us in a world that feels more like life than any hollywood movie, filled with small but bittersweetly beautiful moments. One of these such moments is the entire karaoke scene, with Bill Murray's rendition of More than This as its centerpiece. He sings with a contrast of self-deprecating humor and melancholy as only Bill Murray can, while in the corner Scarlett Johansson smiles at him. Agggh, that smile, argggh. Love it.

4. Trainspotting: Renton's Overdose
Lou Reed - Perfect Day

One of the several great offbeat slightly twisted scenes in this movie as Danny Boyle gives us his depiction of a Heroin overdose. We slowly sink into the ground as Lou Reed plays and we feel blissfully okay. If this is how it feels to die then thats one less thing to worry about. This is one of the several additions that director Danny Boyle is responsible for.

BTW, dont do drugs ok? Kthnx.

5. Say Anything: Lloyd's Desperation
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

All hail Cameron Crowe for he is the master of music in film. If I made a Top 50 list he would be responsible for at least 30 of it. In this scene, John Cusack after his girlfriend breaks up with him blasts Peter Gabriel outside her room. All night he holds up his boombox high, real high; a declaration of his love. What's even more amazing is he used Peter Gabriel and the scene is completely serious. Was he popular back then? I mean, who the heck likes Peter Gabriel? What a weird decade.

6. The Beach: Sex on the Beach
All Saints - Pure Shores

Another Danny Boyle movie. Leonardo and Dicaprio go to the beach under a beautiful starry night and get naked in the water as glowy fungus thingies illuminate them. One of the prettiest things I've seen in a movie. Completely surreal and magical.

7. Before Sunset: The scene where she sings to him
Julie Delpy - Jesse's Song

Okay, the song is kind of silly but its actually really good. It kind of gets stuck in your head. Plus, after seeing both movies it sparks a strong emotional resonance. And hey, the actress not only sang it, she actually wrote it too. We feel captivated as Julie Delpy plays this song for Ethan Hawke, and when he smiles, we smile too.

8. Donnie Darko: Strange Morning
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

I think songs from the 80's make the best movie scenes. I mean, New Order, Smiths, etc. They're songs are THE soundtrack for small precious life moments. In this movie they´re all used unexpectedly which somehow manages to fit the ominous dark mood of the film. I put The Killing Moon because I think it made for one of the best beginnings Ive ever seen. I hardly knew anything about Donnie Darko before I watched it, it was before it reached an insanely popular cult hit status here. But even so, I dont think a beginning has ever made me want to see the rest of the movie so badly. "Frank the Bunnyman Rules!"

9. Napoleon Dynamite: Best Dance Scene Ever
Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

I had to put this. This scene is overtly underdramatic. It seems to poke fun at all those other scenes in other movies where the main character finally shows his stuff after weeks or months of hard training (Think Rocky). Here, the scene doesnt go off with a bang, it goes with a small itty poof. As we, and the audience in the movie, become perplexed as we watch Napoleon finally let loose and dance like theres no more tomorrow. First, were perplexed and in complete utter shock over what were seeing. Then, we love him for it.

10. Jerry Maguire: First Date
Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden

Cameron Crowe again. This scene is so cute it makes me want to puke. Love starts to show its face as Renee Zelwegger and Tom Cruise go on their first date. Its completely awkward and they look at eachother and smile, aknowledging the sillyness of the moment. Cameron Crowe makes a soundtrack for the way we want life to be.

11. Can't Hardly Wait: Thanks, Alcohol
Guns N Roses - Paradise City

Oh C'mon, who didn't have a smile on their face as the nerdy kid transformed into a rock n roll superstar in front of all the people who picked on him for the entirety of highschool? And all of this because of alcohol, the one true savior of all lost causes. I fucking hate Guns N Roses and I specially hate this song but I LOOOVE this scene.

BTW, dont drink too much okay? Nobody likes a drunk.

12. Wet Hot American Summer: WTF
? - Higher and Higher

Maybe im sick of writing, or maybe its just this scene. I really cant explain it. Its just one of the funnest scenes ever okay? Take my word for it. Please, please rent it. Its one of my favorite scenes in the world. Really, its that good. Does anybody know the artist of the song?

13. Welcome to Sarajevo: Concert for Peace
Some Actor - Some classical song

Just such a beautiful ending to a beautiful movie. I'll talk more about this movie and its director in another article. After the movie portrays the uglyness of a war in Bosnia, it takes an unexpected turn at the end which results in a strangely peaceful and uplifting but at the same time hauntingly sad sequence backed up by some famous classical violin song. You know those dreams where all your friends are there and find that your finally happy? Its kind of like that.

14. Cruel Intentions: Together again for the first time
Counting Crows - Colorblind

Say what you want about this movie, It has a damn good soundtrack. I dont know any other soundtrack more purchased by people I know than this one. In this scene, the dark humor mood takes a break as the film and its two main characters stop playing games and finally let their true feelings out. Since language is a main source of bullshit, this sequence has little to no dialogue. All we do is feel.

15. 28 Days Later: Longer than a Heartbeat
John Murphy - In a Heartbeat

It was between this and the ending to the Matrix. I put this because I like Danny Boyle more than the Wachowski brothers and this sequence is one of the most visceral heart stopping moments ive seen in film. I almost never feel suspense in movies but this entire film culminating with this scene blew me away. I walked into this movie blind and I wanna do the same for you, I dont wanna spoil any of it. Either that or Im just lazy.

Thats it, is the list too blatantly pop? Did I forget something? Let me know what you think and what your personal picks would be.

My Favorite Filmmakers: James Toback

2005-04-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

Telling people about my favorite filmmakers seems kind of childish. But at least its honest. In the majority of movie review websites or any opinion peice people are so sure to point out what are the best movies and best directors. A bunch of film snobs who are so sure that they have the only valid view on whats crap and whats not. While I do think I have the only valid view on most things, Ill try not to share in their arrogance.

Anyway, the first of these posts is about James Toback. The inspiration came from my just recent viewing on his latest picture, When Will I Be Loved. While in my opinion its not his best work, its still extremely fascinating and is a perfect example of his unique style. The movie focuses on the character of Neve Campbell, Vera, and her relationships within her world, mainly with her hustler boyfriend and an old rich Italian businessman. Vera is an extremely interesting lead due to her contrast with the rest of the characters in the movie. The movie is basically about how people bullshit themselves. The director is making a point on an ugly truth of humanity. We all want something. We all use other people to get what we want. We all make make excuses for it. None of us admit it to ourselves.

That's exactly what makes Neve Campbell's character so striking and appealing. She's the only one, in the film, that can admit it. She acts out, quite impulsively at times, on her desires, without making excuses. She stops total random strangers on the street she finds attractive and asks them for their numbers. She outright tells a girlfriend: "I want to kiss you". She's completely honest on why she dates her loser boyfriend. "He's extremely beautiful and a great lover." Not only that, but she seems aware about this aspect of herself and humanity, and will catch anyone on their bullshit.

The director of the movie plays a university professor who interviews Vera about a job with him. The director dialogues on how he likes to keep in touch with youth but in all truthfullness he's just an old horny guy trying to use his intellectuality to get laid with young girls. As Vera somewhat says: "I think you just want to fuck me." The professor responds: "Only as a possible side-effect."

The same situation repeats himself after were more introduced with the secondary character of the movie, Vera's boyfriend Ford, a self-made pimp and hustler. With Ford, his main desire is money. He spends his day figuring out get rich schemes and trying to get millionaires to spend money on him. One of these millionaires, the extremely rich Italian businessman Lupo is himself extremely fascinated with Vera. He's willing only to take Ford in if he can arrange a meeting with is girlfriend. Everyone deep down inside knows the truth about this meeting, but only Vera actually says it. Lupo wants to fuck Vera and will pay money for it.

It takes around ten minutes of Ford's bullshitting for him to finally ask Vera to meet with Lupo. During this time, he repeatedly insists that it isnt about his own wishes. "And the money?" Vera asks. Ford responds: "Well, since your so rich, you might as well give it to me."

Vera finally meets with Lupo, during which she repeatedly asks: "What is it that you want?", where he responds: "Why, just to give you pleasure is all." "How?" she shouts back, continually trying to cut the bullshit and subtext. Lupo even offers to take her on a trip to an exotic place outside the country, but Vera knows hes just trying masquerade his true intentions in the hopes he will ultimately reach them. She brings up the notion that he wants to have sex with her, to which he responds "If that is what you desire."

The plot thickens and Vera, maybe because she's fed up and bitter about reality, takes drastic action. She does something mischeivous and lies about it. The movie reaches incredible heights of subtle irony as Vera, the only one belonging to the truth, is now the liar and the one guilty of deception. It comes off extremely humorous in a twisted way on how Lupo and Ford become the "innocent" ones.

This subtle perceptiveness on the nature of reality and people are on the most marking characteristics of Toback's films and also what make them so gripping. I say subtle because, at a first glance, its hard to see the relevance of certain scenes in his movie. A lot of the time they seem completely random and disconnected while in truth are extremely loyal to the films central themes.

The captivating aspect of his pictures are also due to his personal style. His movies, his last three at least, are beautiful to look at. The colors pop and contrast, as so does the music. I have noticed a trend where the director creates a scene that seems to last forever with a particular song and interconnects it with another scene following a different situation with a completely different mood in action and music. His characters are intelligent, they talk fast and act fast.

I have seen three other movies of his. Two girls and a guy, where Robert Downey Jr. is confronted by his two girlfriends who just find out about his deception; Black and White, where Toback takes a look at a multitude of characters in the hip-hop world; and Harvard Man, my favorite of the four. While each of them are interesting as hell, I just can never get sick of watching Harvard Man.

Harvard Man also seems to be Toback's most personal film. It plays on the three main aspects of his life. Gambling, Sex, and LSD. In an article with Moviemaker magazine he recounts on the inspiration for the movie, his eight day drug experience. In acid, the director experienced the major human drama of the illusion of self. In the movie, Adrian Grenier plays Alan Jenson, an extremely bright but cocky basketball player student who attends Harvard. You can call him an obsessive compulsive sensory addict. He's addicted to finding new experiences, ideas, activities. He wants to explore the most visceral emotion he can through everything in his life. He wants to know everything and have everything, which also leads to his dramatic downfall. He has two girlfriends. He's a philosophy student as well as a basketball player. In the opening scene of the movie he has multiple stereos playing different music while having sex with his girlfriend while getting high. He has no patience for settling down on one thing, he needs a sensory overload.

The chance for sensory overload comes with a friend of his who gives him three LSD cubes. "Don't even think about doing more than one at once." Being the greedy fuck that he is, he takes all three of them at once. For the most part of the movie, Jenson is running around high out of his mind while the rest of the characters are dealing with his actions. His exhileration with his newfound sensory overload quickly turns into despair as someone points out to him, that due to the amount he took his trip might never end.

Through out the movie there are conversations on the nature of self and the value of identity, which comes into plain view once Jenson starts to bad trip. I think for me one of the reaons that I enjoyed it so much was that I identified completely with Jenson's dillemma. It's one thing to be know about the illusion of your own identity, but its another thing completely to experience it. As the director states in his interview, how can one function in this world with complete utter knowledge that you, as a person, are false? It's the break, brought on by drugs, in the filter between this normal everday reality and the void that can drive us quite mad. It validates the notion however that mad people are actually the sanest people of all. It is the shocking confrontation with the truth that leads to us not being able to be normal functional human beings.

This is the most accurate depiction i've seen of a drug experience in film. As the main character steadily progesses in his trip, so do the myriad of voices and feeling and thoughts which lead him to madness as the truth starts to unfold, in everythingness there is nothingness. Harvard Man is a great layered movie filled with meaning, but also its ripe with humor, plot, and memorable scenes. It's strange to say after this description but the movie, maybe because the main character is based on Toback himself, is honestly a lighthearted movie.

Apparently, the truth is a constant theme in Toback's films. The characters in his movies can sometimes be somewhat unsympathetic and despisable which leads to the director and his audience being placed objectively outside of the story. This way, we are able to see the truth of each characters actions and motivations behind these actions. As we do this we see that we, the audience, are really not so different and not much better than them.

i hate introductions

2005-04-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

i should be studying. i should be working. i should be figuring out things.

ok, fuck it.