Archive for the 'Cinema' Category

The Book of Eli

Published 7 July, 2010 Cinema 1 Comment

Image

Stolen cinematography (from The Road)? Probably.
Masked religious propaganda? Most certainly.

The thing that upset me the most about this film: its prepotency.
To make a whole movie based on the premise of the Holy Bible being the ONLY book worth saving/destroying/copying/whatever-the-fuck-you-think-of on a pos-apocalyptic world, and making absolutely no reference to any another religion, as if all the other faiths or gods just don’t play any part in the world…man it pisses me off, even from an Agnostic/almost Atheist point of view.

Other than that, João already made a hell of a good review to this film some months ago, so please read it, I think I totally agree with it. But, if you’re planning to actually watch this film, DON’T READ THE SPOILER PARAGRAPH, I did it and it totally ruined the film for me (and by now saying this I’m aknowledging that 99% of the people reading this and then clicking on the subjective.movie.reviews link are gonna read that paragraph, stupid humans lol).

Oh, and I liked Denzel’s performance, he’s a great actor despite being involved in a lot of blockbuster bullshit.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

Colin Farrell Double Review

Published 27 June, 2010 Cinema 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , ,

Recently, I managed to watch two films with Colin Farrell, and since none of them was surprisingly amazing, I decided to make small reviews and join them together on the same post. Enjoy:

TRIAGE

Image

Triage delivers an interesting perspective over the trials and tribulations of being a photojournalist.

It’s a totally character driven movie, where the historic background serves only to guide the audience into perceiving the mind of Mark Walsh (Colin Farrell), a man deeply scarred by the memories from the wars he has documented, and whose colleague is missing from their latest assignment.

Actually this is the best I’ve seen from Farrell ever since In Bruges, and one of his greatest performances from what I know, but the movie does not impress because it delivers almost nothing else besides that Walsh’s memories could have been more expanded, with more stories helping to build up for the cathartic ending…and the whole “triage” thing seems to go off way too easily in terms of plot development.

Overall the film is bit above average, but not premium material. Christopher Lee also does a nice job, but doesn’t drop the accent quite well, considering he’s playing a Spanish old guy.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Image

Well, obviously the actor that catches all the attention in this film is the late Heath Ledger, and I must say that besides his amazing job playing Joker, this is probably the second time I really enjoyed his work on a film.
But the film isn’t really ’bout Ledger’s character (or Farrell’s, considering he plays the 3rd version of “Imaginarium Tony” and does the best job from all the 3), it’s about the fantastic story of Doctor Parnassus.

If it wasn’t for the lousy animated scenes, this movie would have impressed me a lot more, but still it delivers one of the characteristics I enjoy in this kind of films: the capacity to show imaginary sceneries and to take me out of ordinary reality and immerse me into this “fairy tale world”.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is competent, has a good cast (mainly Heath Ledger and Christopher Plummer), but again, not brilliant.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

JR #01: NEVER FAIL & PxHxT – Split 7″

Published 17 June, 2010 Art , Books , Cinema , Cooking , Design , Fashion , Interviews , Mixtapes , Music , Playlists , Reviews , Skateboarding , Video , whatever Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,

Image

Two different bands, the same record, 6 new tracks.

There was no better way to officialy start a record label intended to have no barriers, than with a record that mixes styles, sonorities and messages. NEVER FAIL and PxHxT prove in this record that what matters the most is people, leaving differences on the background and uniting themselves with Juicy to release a threesome record, but with a single idea. Crossover baby.

MORE INFO ON PRE-ORDERS

26 FESTROIA

Published 4 June, 2010 Cinema 1 Comment
Tags: ,

Image

Starts today, and it’s gonna be my life for the next 2 upcoming weeks.

There’s some good films this year, as usual, so if you have the chance to show up don’t hesitate!

26th FESTROIA WEBSITE

Uncertainty

Published 23 May, 2010 Cinema 2 Comments
Tags: , ,

Image

Being sort of a fan of the work of Joseph Gordon-Levitt ever since Brick, I can say I have watched the majority of his leading role movies without a feeling of disappointment.
This is a young actor in Hollywood that knows how to choose his works. Either he has a great agent or a natural talent for spotting good projects. Not great films, but competent.

Well, but it had to happen someday: Uncertainty was a bad move. The photography is good, but nothing really happens in this movie!
The filming style and the way the story was cut in two “parallel universes” gives us the sense we’re watching an episode of 24, with multiple things happening at the same time, but we aren’t…and what seems like an interesting plot in the first moments, turns into a wild goose chase with no actual development during the whole film.

As for Gordon-Levitt, he totally missed it. His character is boring and doesn’t have any shinning moment….ok that’s not only the actor’s fault, but even the beautiful Lynn Collins manages to bring some depth to her performance, stealing all of their common scenes (98% of the film lol).

Pass on this one if, like me, you have a never-ending list of films to watch.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

Carne

Published 13 May, 2010 Cinema Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Image

It’s kinda funny, but after watching Irréversible, and then Seul Contre Tous, and now Carne, I realized that I’ve been watching Gaspar Noé’s filmography backwards, kinda like the way the first movie mentioned is directed.

This fact has allowed me to see the evolution of this director on a different perspective, specially since all the 3 movies are connected, specially Seul Contre Tous and Carne.

Carne is a short film telling the beginning of the story of The Butcher character.
It works kinda like an essay for everything that we see on the sequel, Seul Contre Tous, but of course doesn’t reach the depth of a feature film. The format of the movie makes the story a bit too condensed, so naturally the raw violence and sexuality on The Butcher’s acts, and his internal thoughts and monologues are not so dominant and explored, but still it unveils concepts and a directing style that would become (in)famous in Gaspar Noé’s work.

Recommended if you already watched any of the 2 movies mentioned before, if not, this isn’t probably a good start.

IMDB LINK

JUICY RECORDS

Published 4 May, 2010 Art , Books , Cinema , Cooking , Design , Fashion , Interviews , Mixtapes , Music , Playlists , Reviews , Skateboarding , Video , whatever 6 Comments

Image

Juicy Records begins to leave its mark in 2010. Not to reinvent, nor to divide in worthless categories of genres and aesthetics, but to serve as a platform for projects that transport contents through music.

Music with content is music that transmits something. Values, messages, emotions, stories…all of these have been brought to us over many years by music, and now it’s time to gather some friends and give something back.

It’s official, JUICY RECORDS, my own record label, is out. Check the site for all the relevant info.

You may or may not have heard about it in the last couple of weeks, you may or may not have helped me in some way to put it together, but right now it feels good just to see it take form.

Some people have asked me why am I doing this, why drag my money, my time and my energies on something that can  be a total failure just by looking at the state of things nowadays…my answer: I’m just doing me, I’m just following an old dream and creating something to share with everyone.

All my life I have been inspired by music. Not only by the bands playing on stage, their words, but also by the  people standing on the backstages, working hard to make things happen. I have been on both sides, but most of the time I am just a kid in front of a stage waiting for that burst of sound that makes me feel alive…to all those kids, I bring JUICY RECORDS to life.

It’s kinda my way to say thank-you to hardcore and music in general. It was all a dream…but maybe it is finally coming true.

JUICY RECORDS WEBSITE

JUICY RECORDS MYSPACE

JUICY RECORDS FACEBOOK

The Night James Brown Saved Boston

Published 25 April, 2010 Cinema 1 Comment
Tags: ,

Image

James Brown performed a concert in Boston, on April 5th 1968, one day after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
While the rest of the country was wrapped in riots, with racial tension and military forces on the street, on that night, Boston was quiet.

This film, produced by VH1 in another effort to bring good documentaries on the relation between music and crucial times in History, is a nice example on how to tell historical facts through a very entertaining manner. It’s a complete piece, including archive footage and sound from the concert in question, and interviews with the Mayor of Boston at the time and all the other relevant people that made everything happen.

But of course, the relevance of this movie and its main impact rest with James Brown. Not only an huge musical influence, James Brown was also a generational influence.
He had his own ideas on violence, war and racial conflicts, and in the film we get to understand how he got involved with politics and worked as a pacifist after the Luther King murder. Actually one of the most positive things about this work is its extension to the facts after the 5th April show, where we see a bit more of Brown’s attitude towards a peaceful America and how he became one the most relevant voices for the African-American community at the time.

The Night James Brown Saved Boston is a competent insight into a very critical period of modern American History, with a great soundtrack and a very short but objective view on the life and ideas of James Brown.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

The Road

Published 22 April, 2010 Cinema 4 Comments
Tags: , ,

Image

Grey. That’s the color for the end of the world apparently.
The Road doesn’t give us causes, it gives us consequences…it shows us how humans forget about humanity when all that is left is a will to survive.
To any info about the story of the film and a well developed perspective on it go here. And yes, this movie is devastating, depressing, and will leave you with a feeling of nothingness.

For me, it didn’t really bring me a moment of reflexion about the future or the preservation of the planet. It made me think about life and the things we will do for the ones we love. I find the character of Charlize Theron much more complex than what appears on screen…normally humans (and other mammals) see the mother as the protector figure, and the father as the provider, but here we see a character playing the exact opposite. The movie leads us into thinking she’s just weak-minded or something…but I’d like to read the book to get a more deeper notion of the whole plot.

Watch this movie if you’re into something that will leave you in a gray state of ming.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

Whatever Works

Published 11 April, 2010 Cinema 1 Comment
Tags: , ,

Image

Admitting from the start that I’m neither a connoisseur or an admirer of Woody Allen’s filmography, what I can tell you about this movie won’t probably be a surprise.

Surprise for me was the quality of the script, with all the suis generis humorist touches that I came to know through Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but going way over this reference. And, again this probably won’t be any news, but the element that manages to deliver the final touch which gets this movie beyond the generic Woody Allen humoristic romance story is Larry David, playing Boris, the main character. Check my synopsis:

Boris is a smart but sometimes annoying guy entering his old age, with fixed and pessimist ideas on life. He keeps ranting about everything around him with in a very sarcastic and edgy style and lets no one enter his personal space of feelings. But then he meets Melodie, a southern country girl that will slowly change his life and live in his house…or maybe she doesn’t change him, not that much I think.
And then (maybe spoiler, but who cares) he meets the rest of Melodie’s family…and well, that doesn’t change him that much neither, but surely is a lot fun to watch ahah.

Ok, back on the review.

I found myself laughing with Boris mainly cause many traces of his personality instantly resembled my own (on my worst days of course). Boris makes you laugh even if you don’t actually relate to him, as long as you understand the (dark) humor behind all his lines or his relation to the other very distinct characters.
I’m not gonna turn into a Woody Allen fan with this flick, I think probably no one will, but it’s definitely a nice film that will put a smile on your face.

IMDB LINK

TRAILER

Categories

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started