Sacha Baron Cohen--love him or hate him. Jack and I love him, the outrageous envelope-pushing funnyman, whose faux bio-pic about an oppressive middle eastern ruler, General Aladeen, set adrift in Brooklyn will have you roaring with laughter or running for the exits. Last seen in these pages in Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Cohen's own projects have, up to now, been faux documentaries. Larry Charles (directed Cohen's Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) and Brüno, as well as Bill Maher's Religulous, wrote and produced quite a few episodes of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, and wrote/produced/story edited on Seinfeld, Mad About You, Entourage, and the variety series The Arsenio Hall Show and Fridays) said in an interview that it was nice working from a script this time instead of having to escape in a car after each scene. Cohen shares writing credits with three alumni (writing and/or producing and/or directing) of Seinfeld and Curb: Alec Berg (also story editor for an 80s fave series of mine Inside Herman's Head), David Mandel (also Saturday Night Live), and Jeff Schaffer (also co-wrote Brüno).
Over 100 actors, some uncredited, are listed on imdb, including Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton from news footage. Most noteworthy are Ben Kingsley (most recently in Hugo) as Aladeen's advisor and Anna Faris (I haven't seen much of her work, including the Scary Movie series, Just Friends (2005), nor The House Bunny (2008), but I did like her in her short series arc as herself in Entourage in 2007) as the sprightly, naive free spirit who befriends him at her health food store. Cameos include Aasif Mandvi, Megan Fox, Kevin Corrigan, Fred Armisen, Chris Elliott, J.B. Smoove, Kathryn Hahn, and more.
Sight gags and great lines abound, plus Cohen's usual anti-Semitic, homophobic, and sexist humor (like I said, you either love him or hate him). The comely "Virgin Guard," unsmiling, curvy women in army uniforms with short skirts and heels, accompanied Cohen to the Oscars in February, when he arrived in character as Aladeen and pretended to spill Kim Jong-Il's ashes on Ryan Seacrest. Speaking of anti-Semitic, in at least one scene, when Aladeen is supposed to speaking Arabic, it's really Hebrew.
Lawrence Sher's (profiled in The Big Year) cinematography is better than it has to be--a silly comedy doesn't need gorgeous shots, but this one has them.
Now a few word about Sacha's brother, Erran Baron Cohen, who has composed the scores for all of Sacha's movies and some of Da Ali Show episodes. I remember hearing on NPR that Sacha asked Erran at the very last minute to compose a score (I think it was Borat) and they worked together for a couple of days without sleep to meet the deadline. Erran already liked the middle eastern musical genre (that would include Israel) as featured in his band Zohar, which fit perfectly in the Borat score as well as The Infidel, not a Cohen joint. The soundtrack for The Dictator also has such middle eastern-style remakes of Let's Get It On, Everybody Hurts, and 9 to 5. You can listen to more from The Dictator on youtube here, and follow along to others with the same picture, and then there's Erran's own site with some more songs. If you're interested in the Baron Cohens' family history, read this long and interesting article from 2010.
Some extra footage is at the beginning of the credits and Jack and I waited patiently, as usual, for a final bonus. There isn't one but it's worth it to stay in your seat until the end to hear more of the music, including the catchy Aladeen MotherF***ers.
Oh, and watch for the use of Rule #3.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
The Island President (2011)
We very much liked this documentary about Mohamed Nasheed, the charming president of Maldives, a country made up of about 1200 islands south and a little west of the southern tip of India. After a democratic election brings him to leadership following a dictatorship, Nasheed then has to address the imminent peril that climate change will inflict on his lands, that is, to put them under water with only a slight rise of sea level. Shot on location in Maldives, India, Copenhagen (in the winter--there's a contrast!), London, and New York, it brings home its message in big and small ways. I particularly liked the segue of a shot of the "coast" of Manhattan from one of the rivers cut to the coast of one of the Maldives islands. It's all closer than we think.
Directed and photographed by Jon Shenk (director/cinematographer of The Lost Boys of Sudan (2003) and cinematographer or camera department member on many other documentaries), its beautiful images and unforgettable story make it well worth your time. Audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival thought so and voted it the winner of the People's Choice Documentary Award. We saw it ten days ago in one of only two screenings at our local University. Here's a list of where it will be playing next. Or save it to your netflix queue.
Directed and photographed by Jon Shenk (director/cinematographer of The Lost Boys of Sudan (2003) and cinematographer or camera department member on many other documentaries), its beautiful images and unforgettable story make it well worth your time. Audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival thought so and voted it the winner of the People's Choice Documentary Award. We saw it ten days ago in one of only two screenings at our local University. Here's a list of where it will be playing next. Or save it to your netflix queue.
Damsels in Distress (2011)
This quirky, talky, awkward comedy about college girls yearning for the propriety of another era isn't for everyone--one of my friends, Jim, not only walked out on it but damned the theatre that showed it. Jack and I found it funny, and not only because we wanted to prove Jim wrong. I've seen all three of director/writer Whit Stillman's previous features, Metropolitan (1990) (nominated for the Original Screenplay Oscar, among other wins and nominations), Barcelona (1994), and The Last Days of Disco (1998), but I frankly don't remember them so well. In fact, we saw this two weeks ago and I don't remember that much about it either. Better get cracking before I forget it all. To jog my memory, here's the one-liner from imdb: "A trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind."
Greta Gerwig (co-star of Greenberg, supporting in No Strings Attached) won Best Actress at the Dublin International Film Festival for playing Violet, the leader of this pack who treats most of their male friends like developmentally disabled children in need of coddling. It's a joke, Jim! Probably the most uptight character in the pack is Rose, played by Megalyn Echikunwoke (here's something else I don't remember: her part as one of Kelso's girlfriends in a late season of That 70's Show, but I do remember her as Don Cheadle's hooker-girlfriend in the HBO series House of Lies). Then there's Heather, played by Carrie MacLemore, making her feature debut, who does whatever her friends tell her. Think of heather as a flower and you'll realize the trend when I tell you the next girl is named Lily, played by Analeigh Tipton (the babysitter in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and Jason's girlfriend Sandee in the third and final season of HBO's Hung). Next to join the group is Priss, not a flower name, who is played by Caitlin Fitzgerald, who was the elder daughter in It's Complicated. The always-funny Aubrey Plaza (April in Parks & Recreation) has a small part. Among the boys they pity yet desire are Adam Brody (apparently was in 92 episodes of The O.C., but I wouldn't know) as Fred, Ryan Metcalf (new to me and most everyone in his second role ever) as Frank, and Zach Woods (Gabe on The Office) as Rick DeWolfe.
Composer credit is given to Mark Suozzo (his first, fourth, eighth, and most recent at thirty-seventh credit are the Stillman movies, and in between there are such winners as American Splendor (2003), The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), and The Nanny Diaries (2007), all based on real people, and a bunch of documentaries) although his name is listed on only 8 of the 18 tracks on the soundtrack album. While I write this I've been listing to the assorted tracks on his website.
Oh, and there's some dancing, though not as much as the trailer led us to expect. Perhaps not first on anyone's list (rottentomatoes gives it 76% from critics and 52% from audiences), it's still pretty darn funny.
Greta Gerwig (co-star of Greenberg, supporting in No Strings Attached) won Best Actress at the Dublin International Film Festival for playing Violet, the leader of this pack who treats most of their male friends like developmentally disabled children in need of coddling. It's a joke, Jim! Probably the most uptight character in the pack is Rose, played by Megalyn Echikunwoke (here's something else I don't remember: her part as one of Kelso's girlfriends in a late season of That 70's Show, but I do remember her as Don Cheadle's hooker-girlfriend in the HBO series House of Lies). Then there's Heather, played by Carrie MacLemore, making her feature debut, who does whatever her friends tell her. Think of heather as a flower and you'll realize the trend when I tell you the next girl is named Lily, played by Analeigh Tipton (the babysitter in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and Jason's girlfriend Sandee in the third and final season of HBO's Hung). Next to join the group is Priss, not a flower name, who is played by Caitlin Fitzgerald, who was the elder daughter in It's Complicated. The always-funny Aubrey Plaza (April in Parks & Recreation) has a small part. Among the boys they pity yet desire are Adam Brody (apparently was in 92 episodes of The O.C., but I wouldn't know) as Fred, Ryan Metcalf (new to me and most everyone in his second role ever) as Frank, and Zach Woods (Gabe on The Office) as Rick DeWolfe.
Composer credit is given to Mark Suozzo (his first, fourth, eighth, and most recent at thirty-seventh credit are the Stillman movies, and in between there are such winners as American Splendor (2003), The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), and The Nanny Diaries (2007), all based on real people, and a bunch of documentaries) although his name is listed on only 8 of the 18 tracks on the soundtrack album. While I write this I've been listing to the assorted tracks on his website.
Oh, and there's some dancing, though not as much as the trailer led us to expect. Perhaps not first on anyone's list (rottentomatoes gives it 76% from critics and 52% from audiences), it's still pretty darn funny.
The Avengers (2012)
This continuation of the Marvel series is good fun, with lots of explosions, big special effects, a fairly high body count, and plenty of laughs. Jack and I have seen Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, and we knew to wait for the Stan Lee (co-author of the Marvel comic book) cameo and the bonus footage at the end. Mary Jo's teenage daughter had told her to see all the prequels but I was able to fill her in on all she needed to know in a few sentences.
Most of the characters return from previous movies and nobody shirks his or her acting duties: Robert Downey Jr. (last in these pages in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) as Tony Stark AKA Iron Man has top billing, got the biggest salary, and has a lot of funny lines, as his character is amusingly arrogant. Also from the Iron Man series we have Gwyneth Paltrow (most recently in Country Strong) as Stark's trusty sidekick Pepper Potts and Scarlett Johansson (We Bought a Zoo) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (introduced in Iron Man 2). In both Iron Man movies, Thor, plus Captain America: The First Avenger were Clark Gregg (I wrote about him in Choke) as Agent Phil Coulson (and to expand on what I wrote about him in Thor, now I know he's supposed to be funny!) and Samuel L. Jackson (profiled in Iron Man 2) as Nick Fury. Jeremy Renner's (last in this blog in The Town) character Clint Barton/Hawkeye made an appearance, uncredited, in Thor, where I also mentioned Chris Hemsworth, who plays that studly title character. His brother Loki is Tom Hiddleston (one of the soldiers in War Horse and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris). There's a big laugh when Loki stands up to the Hulk, who is played, this time around, by the reliable Mark Ruffalo (after I covered his past in detail in The Brothers Bloom we liked him in Shutter Island, Date Night, and The Kids Are All Right). Now that The Hulk is all computer-generated, there's no need for a big guy, such as Lou Ferrigno or Ron Perlman, to get green and angry, but Ruffalo is new to Hulk's conflicted human alter ego, Bruce Banner, played in the past many times by Bill Bixby, twice by Perlman, in 2003 by Eric Bana, and 2008 by Edward Norton. Chris Evans once again brings self-deprecating humor to Steve Rogers/Captain America and I wrote about him in my post on that one.
This is director/co-writer/producer Joss Whedon's second time directing a feature--he's better known for producing 145 episodes (and directing 22) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as co-producing the 1990 series Parenthood, among others. His co-writer Zak Penn penned the Ed Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk (2008) (according to one of the trivia items on imdb, Norton was supposed to be in this one but negotiations "broke down"). Another tells us that some of the Germany scenes were shot in Cleveland with locations well known to folks from those parts.
Alan Silvestri returns as composer of the exciting, loud music. As is often the case, someone has uploaded the whole score to youtube, so one can listen to all tracks in order, starting with this one. Then there are two 80s metal songs, of which Tony Stark is fond, Shoot to Thrill, reprised from Iron Man 2, and Live to Rise, as well as the softer Black Dirt.
I said above that there's a bonus at the end. Wait for it. Silly but funny, it was added two days after the Hollywood premiere. See, there are a few advantages of being in the 99%. The Stan Lee cameo is towards the end. At least three sequels are in the works: Nick Fury, Iron Man 3, and Avengers 2.
Most of the characters return from previous movies and nobody shirks his or her acting duties: Robert Downey Jr. (last in these pages in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) as Tony Stark AKA Iron Man has top billing, got the biggest salary, and has a lot of funny lines, as his character is amusingly arrogant. Also from the Iron Man series we have Gwyneth Paltrow (most recently in Country Strong) as Stark's trusty sidekick Pepper Potts and Scarlett Johansson (We Bought a Zoo) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (introduced in Iron Man 2). In both Iron Man movies, Thor, plus Captain America: The First Avenger were Clark Gregg (I wrote about him in Choke) as Agent Phil Coulson (and to expand on what I wrote about him in Thor, now I know he's supposed to be funny!) and Samuel L. Jackson (profiled in Iron Man 2) as Nick Fury. Jeremy Renner's (last in this blog in The Town) character Clint Barton/Hawkeye made an appearance, uncredited, in Thor, where I also mentioned Chris Hemsworth, who plays that studly title character. His brother Loki is Tom Hiddleston (one of the soldiers in War Horse and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris). There's a big laugh when Loki stands up to the Hulk, who is played, this time around, by the reliable Mark Ruffalo (after I covered his past in detail in The Brothers Bloom we liked him in Shutter Island, Date Night, and The Kids Are All Right). Now that The Hulk is all computer-generated, there's no need for a big guy, such as Lou Ferrigno or Ron Perlman, to get green and angry, but Ruffalo is new to Hulk's conflicted human alter ego, Bruce Banner, played in the past many times by Bill Bixby, twice by Perlman, in 2003 by Eric Bana, and 2008 by Edward Norton. Chris Evans once again brings self-deprecating humor to Steve Rogers/Captain America and I wrote about him in my post on that one.
This is director/co-writer/producer Joss Whedon's second time directing a feature--he's better known for producing 145 episodes (and directing 22) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as co-producing the 1990 series Parenthood, among others. His co-writer Zak Penn penned the Ed Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk (2008) (according to one of the trivia items on imdb, Norton was supposed to be in this one but negotiations "broke down"). Another tells us that some of the Germany scenes were shot in Cleveland with locations well known to folks from those parts.
Alan Silvestri returns as composer of the exciting, loud music. As is often the case, someone has uploaded the whole score to youtube, so one can listen to all tracks in order, starting with this one. Then there are two 80s metal songs, of which Tony Stark is fond, Shoot to Thrill, reprised from Iron Man 2, and Live to Rise, as well as the softer Black Dirt.
I said above that there's a bonus at the end. Wait for it. Silly but funny, it was added two days after the Hollywood premiere. See, there are a few advantages of being in the 99%. The Stan Lee cameo is towards the end. At least three sequels are in the works: Nick Fury, Iron Man 3, and Avengers 2.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
A great pleasure from beginning to end, this ensemble story of British pensioners moving to a retirement home in Jaipur, India, is colorful (literally and figuratively), moving, and funny. We who qualify for senior ticket discounts may like it best but Generations X and Y will like it, too, not only for one of the sub-plots dealing with a young man's relationships with his mother and his girlfriend. The intertwining stories are skillfully woven into a cohesive whole and the photography by Ben Davis (The Debt, Kick-Ass, more) is spectacular, shot in Jaipur and nearby Udaipur in the northern part of the country. In the trailer Tom Wilkinson's character says he loves "The light, the colors, the smiles. The way the people see life as a gift, a privilege — and not a right." Jack brought that up as we were leaving, because the light and colors are marvelous. I also bring it up because I found the characters and their journeys inspiring. But don't infer that this is a serious movie. There are plenty of laughs as well.
A superb cast graces the screen. I'll go in reverse order of age. Judi Dench, turned 77 in December (after I profiled her in J. Edgar, she was delightful in My Week with Marilyn), plays the sweet, self-aware Evelyn Greenlake. Maggie Smith, 19 days younger than Dench (won Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001); I also loved and loved her in A Private Function (1984), both Sister Acts (1992, 93), The First Wives Club (1996), and Tea with Mussolini (1999). Yes, she was in six Harry Potters but I don't care. I am eager to watch Downton Abbey sometime this summer), begins the movie as an unpleasant racist, Muriel Donnelly. Guess what happens? Ronald Pickup, 72 this June, is new to me but he has 123 titles to his name. He plays Norman Cousins (apparently no connection to the American author) who is a dirty old man with a heart of gold. Penelope Wilton, 66 in June (I particularly liked and liked her in Iris (2001) which starred Dench, Calendar Girls (2003), Match Point (2005), and The History Boys (2006), is Jean Ainslie, who doesn't see life as a gift. Wilkinson, 64 (last in these pages in The Debt, though I failed to mention he was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Green Hornet) is wonderful as retired judge Graham Dashwood who looks for closure. The reliable Bill Nighy, turned 62 in December (covered in Pirate Radio), gives us Jean's patient and delightful husband Doug Ainslie. He said in an interview that he's been married to Wilton twice before onscreen. Celia Imrie, who will be 60 in July (lots of roles on British TV; my favorites of her movies are The Borrowers (1997), both Bridget Joneses (2001, 04), Calendar Girls (2003), Wimbledon (2004), and Wah-Wah (2005)), is delightful as Madge Hardcastle, who doesn't hook up with Cousins, even though she's looking for a man as much as he's looking for a woman. Lilete Dubey, 58, is new to me, and for at least the fourth time in her career is playing someone with the surname Kapoor, this time as the mother of Sonny Kapoor, who runs the hotel, and she's a bit intimidating. Dev Patel, 23 (the star of Slumdog Millionaire), is charming as the idealistic Sonny. No age is available for the lovely Tena Desai, a former model doubtless in her 20s, who plays Sonny's girlfriend Sunaina.
Last but not least is the wonderful Indian music, of which I'm a big fan in general. Thomas Newman, 56 (after I wrote about him in detail in The Adjustment Bureau, we listened to his scores in The Debt, The Help and The Iron Lady), is a native of Los Angeles, but he has created a mood that sounds authentic to me. You can listen to clips on the amazon page, or a short suite here on youtube.
People who like to complain about what they think is wrong with movies "these days" complain that there are few roles for older actors. These actors are in exalted company and anyone who makes such complaints has no excuse not to see this wonderful movie. We think the rest of you will like it too.
A superb cast graces the screen. I'll go in reverse order of age. Judi Dench, turned 77 in December (after I profiled her in J. Edgar, she was delightful in My Week with Marilyn), plays the sweet, self-aware Evelyn Greenlake. Maggie Smith, 19 days younger than Dench (won Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001); I also loved and loved her in A Private Function (1984), both Sister Acts (1992, 93), The First Wives Club (1996), and Tea with Mussolini (1999). Yes, she was in six Harry Potters but I don't care. I am eager to watch Downton Abbey sometime this summer), begins the movie as an unpleasant racist, Muriel Donnelly. Guess what happens? Ronald Pickup, 72 this June, is new to me but he has 123 titles to his name. He plays Norman Cousins (apparently no connection to the American author) who is a dirty old man with a heart of gold. Penelope Wilton, 66 in June (I particularly liked and liked her in Iris (2001) which starred Dench, Calendar Girls (2003), Match Point (2005), and The History Boys (2006), is Jean Ainslie, who doesn't see life as a gift. Wilkinson, 64 (last in these pages in The Debt, though I failed to mention he was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Green Hornet) is wonderful as retired judge Graham Dashwood who looks for closure. The reliable Bill Nighy, turned 62 in December (covered in Pirate Radio), gives us Jean's patient and delightful husband Doug Ainslie. He said in an interview that he's been married to Wilton twice before onscreen. Celia Imrie, who will be 60 in July (lots of roles on British TV; my favorites of her movies are The Borrowers (1997), both Bridget Joneses (2001, 04), Calendar Girls (2003), Wimbledon (2004), and Wah-Wah (2005)), is delightful as Madge Hardcastle, who doesn't hook up with Cousins, even though she's looking for a man as much as he's looking for a woman. Lilete Dubey, 58, is new to me, and for at least the fourth time in her career is playing someone with the surname Kapoor, this time as the mother of Sonny Kapoor, who runs the hotel, and she's a bit intimidating. Dev Patel, 23 (the star of Slumdog Millionaire), is charming as the idealistic Sonny. No age is available for the lovely Tena Desai, a former model doubtless in her 20s, who plays Sonny's girlfriend Sunaina.
Maybe this is the year that John Madden, 63 (profiled in The Debt), will stop being known only as the Oscar-nominated director of Shakespeare in Love (1998), because this is finely crafted entertainment, with all the pieces carefully assembled. Ol (short for Oliver) Parker, 43, wrote another screenplay and wrote and directed two more, all adapted from novels, but he's new to me. He does a good job here adapting Those Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach. In a scene on the patio, Jean is reading Tulip Fever, also written by Moggach.
Last but not least is the wonderful Indian music, of which I'm a big fan in general. Thomas Newman, 56 (after I wrote about him in detail in The Adjustment Bureau, we listened to his scores in The Debt, The Help and The Iron Lady), is a native of Los Angeles, but he has created a mood that sounds authentic to me. You can listen to clips on the amazon page, or a short suite here on youtube.
People who like to complain about what they think is wrong with movies "these days" complain that there are few roles for older actors. These actors are in exalted company and anyone who makes such complaints has no excuse not to see this wonderful movie. We think the rest of you will like it too.
Friday, May 25, 2012
The Kid with a Bike (Le gamin au vélo - 2011)
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this story of Cyril, a scrappy 11-year-old coping with his father's abandonment, is moving and not just because the kid rides around a lot. Radiant Cécile de France (last in these pages in Hereafter) is the adult hairdresser who takes the boy on weekends away from the institution where his father has left him. Newcomer Thomas Doret, who was 13 at the time of photography, has exactly the right amount of intensity required (a lot) for us to believe he is Cyril. Jérémie Renier (after I wrote about him in Summer Hours he was in Potiche), not to be confused with Jeremy Renner, plays Cyril's father Guy as to make us feel sorry for Cyril. And Egon Di Mateo, another newcomer, is excellent as the teenager who befriends Cyril.
Directors/writers/brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (covered in Lorna's Silence, which is one of the rare movies on my site that I didn't like) are back on track with this drama, shot in the native Belgium of all the principal filmmakers on the project. Rottentomatoes' reviewers agree, averaging a whopping 96%, with audiences weighing in at 77%, and the movie had quite a few other nominations besides the Golden Globe, including Best International Film Independent Spirit Award.
As we saw this on May 1, my memory of it is spotty. No composer is listed and I can't remember what the music is like. But I can tell you that Jack and I both liked it. The DVD release date hasn't been announced yet.
Directors/writers/brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (covered in Lorna's Silence, which is one of the rare movies on my site that I didn't like) are back on track with this drama, shot in the native Belgium of all the principal filmmakers on the project. Rottentomatoes' reviewers agree, averaging a whopping 96%, with audiences weighing in at 77%, and the movie had quite a few other nominations besides the Golden Globe, including Best International Film Independent Spirit Award.
As we saw this on May 1, my memory of it is spotty. No composer is listed and I can't remember what the music is like. But I can tell you that Jack and I both liked it. The DVD release date hasn't been announced yet.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
I love sushi and I loved this documentary about Jiro Ono, the elderly chef whose 10-seat restaurant, Sukiybashi Jiro, in a Tokyo subway stop has won 3 stars, the highest level, from the respected Michelin Red Guide to restaurants. In case you're in the neighborhood (Ginza), a meal there costs upwards of $300, consists of only sushi, reservations must be made a month in advance, and you will be done in under a half hour. Jiro's sons Yoshikazu, who hopes to succeed his octogenarian father, and Takashi, who has his own restaurant, are featured as well.
Director David Gelb makes his feature directing debut after a short or two, and blends the western classical music of Philip Glass and Max Richter with the images of Tokyo, the fish markets, the three men, and the loving preparation of sushi.
This goes on my growing list of delicious-looking food movies. Jack couldn't make it weeks ago when I saw this, but I think it's worth saving to your netflix list.
Director David Gelb makes his feature directing debut after a short or two, and blends the western classical music of Philip Glass and Max Richter with the images of Tokyo, the fish markets, the three men, and the loving preparation of sushi.
This goes on my growing list of delicious-looking food movies. Jack couldn't make it weeks ago when I saw this, but I think it's worth saving to your netflix list.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Chimpanzee (2012)
We liked, as expected, this year's Disneynature documentary, following a baby dubbed Oscar and his life in the wild. Magnificent scenery, check, heart-warming anthropomorphic animals, check, no computer animation, check. Tim Allen narrates the story about the young chimp and his extended family, told with alternating humor and gravity. I learned from researching this that the filmmakers had shot footage for a year before the main action used in this movie occurred. And, rest assured, it's all real. The humans didn't intervene or cause anything.
Alistair Fothergill and Mark Linfield co-direct and co-produce, as they did on Earth, the 2009 Disneynature Earth Day release. Fothergill co-directed African Cats, last year's entry in the series, with someone else. And, if you're keeping track, the 2010 release was Oceans, by a completely different team. Each is spectacular in its own way.
Jack predicts this will be the most popular, as the adorable Oscar seems so human. Children will love it, and it's only 78 minutes long, so most of them will be able to sit through it when you trundle on down to your local movie house, which will give you a better experience than a small screen.
Sorry I'm so behind, folks. We saw this Wednesday 4/25, and I have two others to write, one of which was even before that. It will be a while before I get totally caught up with seeing, much less writing. Such is my happy full life.
Alistair Fothergill and Mark Linfield co-direct and co-produce, as they did on Earth, the 2009 Disneynature Earth Day release. Fothergill co-directed African Cats, last year's entry in the series, with someone else. And, if you're keeping track, the 2010 release was Oceans, by a completely different team. Each is spectacular in its own way.
Jack predicts this will be the most popular, as the adorable Oscar seems so human. Children will love it, and it's only 78 minutes long, so most of them will be able to sit through it when you trundle on down to your local movie house, which will give you a better experience than a small screen.
Sorry I'm so behind, folks. We saw this Wednesday 4/25, and I have two others to write, one of which was even before that. It will be a while before I get totally caught up with seeing, much less writing. Such is my happy full life.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Bully (2011)
This documentary about bullying, mostly in middle schools in middle America, may or may not surprise you, but you will doubtless be moved. One can only guess how the filmmakers could capture such damning behavior on-camera--perhaps the perpetrators really had no idea there's anything wrong with what they did. In any case, we see Alex being taunted and hurt, Tyler's family after his suicide, and other bullying victims and families and friends of victims. There was some controversy over the movie's rating because of the F word in more than one scene. As I understand it, the Weinstein Company was able to bargain with the MPAA (that issues the ratings) and left in one F word scene in which Alex gets taunted, and either removed or edited the other(s).
Director/writer/producer/cinematographer Lee Hirsch actually won more awards for Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002), which highlights the role of music in the South African struggle against apartheid. I meant to see it but didn't. Hirsch is American through and through -- American activist and spokesman for the under-served. According to his bio on imdb, which he wrote himself, he founded, directed, and produced Local Voices for Obama, in which small town swing state supporters speak about their support of the president.
You should see Bully, and take your middle schoolers if you have any. However, if you are affected by Motion Picture Motion Sickness (MPMS), as I am, I suggest sitting as far back as possible and looking away to the wall or the floor from time to time. There are few scenes shot with a tripod--mostly the camera is bouncing along on someone's shoulder.
Director/writer/producer/cinematographer Lee Hirsch actually won more awards for Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002), which highlights the role of music in the South African struggle against apartheid. I meant to see it but didn't. Hirsch is American through and through -- American activist and spokesman for the under-served. According to his bio on imdb, which he wrote himself, he founded, directed, and produced Local Voices for Obama, in which small town swing state supporters speak about their support of the president.
You should see Bully, and take your middle schoolers if you have any. However, if you are affected by Motion Picture Motion Sickness (MPMS), as I am, I suggest sitting as far back as possible and looking away to the wall or the floor from time to time. There are few scenes shot with a tripod--mostly the camera is bouncing along on someone's shoulder.
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