According to the BBC, Sharon Stone has been nominated for a Razzie for her role in Basic Instinct 2.
And yet she was nominated for an Oscar for appearing in Casino. Just shows that stars' judgement is not always great in thinking of which roles to accept. Halle Berry managed to follow up Monsters Ball with the pretty awful Catwoman!
Next film on my list is Dekalog. Which isn't a film at all really. It's a mini series of 10 short films, based on the Ten Commandments, of which two were made into longer versions - A Short Film About Love and A Short Film About Killing. Filmed in Warsaw in the late 1980's, they do look a bit dated now and are pretty bleak. Although mainly dialogue and character based, they do have their surprising moments - the murder in A Short Film About Killing is pretty graphic. Krzysztof Kieslowski, the director and writer, went on to make The Double Life of Veronique and the Three Colours trilogy. Once again, not exactly a barrel of laughs (even though Three Colours: White is a "comedy"), but beautifully made and acted.
Monday 22 January 2007
Friday 12 January 2007
Foreign Language Films
I've been wondering of late whether films that are in another language gain a badge of respectability and kudos just because of that, and whether I would watch the same thing if it were in English.
With some, of course, this can be put to the test, if they get remade (usually by big US studios), and more importantly if the structure or ending of the film isn't tinkered with. An awful instance (though a good example here) was the remake of the Dutch film Spoorloss as The Vanishing. The original was great - full of (to me) unknown actors with an ending as bleak as any I've seen (though with no gore), but obviously too bleak for US audiences, which had a much happier ending.
Nikita was also far better in its Luc Bresson original.
It's the other films - the less mainstream ones, that don't get remade - which I watch thinking I'm being very worthy, but possibly in their native tongue are pretty average.
This could apply to Etre et Avoir, but I doubt it. It's a touching film showing life in a school in a small, pretty idyllic actually, French town. It's the (only) teacher's last year before retirement, and it follows him with a group of first year pupils, and shows how they mature over the year, and the genuine warmth he feels for them (and they to him).
I've holidayed in France for the last few years (and am again this year), but after this we'll probably venture further afield. So, I expect I'll be needing a new credit card to fund it all!
With some, of course, this can be put to the test, if they get remade (usually by big US studios), and more importantly if the structure or ending of the film isn't tinkered with. An awful instance (though a good example here) was the remake of the Dutch film Spoorloss as The Vanishing. The original was great - full of (to me) unknown actors with an ending as bleak as any I've seen (though with no gore), but obviously too bleak for US audiences, which had a much happier ending.
Nikita was also far better in its Luc Bresson original.
It's the other films - the less mainstream ones, that don't get remade - which I watch thinking I'm being very worthy, but possibly in their native tongue are pretty average.
This could apply to Etre et Avoir, but I doubt it. It's a touching film showing life in a school in a small, pretty idyllic actually, French town. It's the (only) teacher's last year before retirement, and it follows him with a group of first year pupils, and shows how they mature over the year, and the genuine warmth he feels for them (and they to him).
I've holidayed in France for the last few years (and am again this year), but after this we'll probably venture further afield. So, I expect I'll be needing a new credit card to fund it all!
Thursday 11 January 2007
Films 1 - À la folie... pas du tout
So, you've (if you've clicked on it) seen a big list of my favourite films. Big deal. So what. Lists are reasonably informative as they can give some common points of reference, but it's also quite handy to know WHY some of the things on the list are there. So, "review" would be too high-falutin' a term, but I'll give my take on them. And I may as well do so in alphabetical order.
This makes À la folie... pas du tout the first entry. My French isn't great, but even I know that the name this film was released under in the UK - "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" is not by any means a literal translation of the original. Oh well.
The main motivation for watching this film (reviews aside) is that it stars the brilliant Audrey Tautou (Note: I've not seen The Da Vinci Code, so have no reason to think otherwise), who was so good in one of my top 10 films ever - Amélie. Main male lead is Samuel Le Bihan, who was very good in Brotherhood of the Wolf.
Anyway, it's set in Bordeaux, and tells a love story from two angles. And it's only when you see the two angles put together that you see the full picture. Has a nice twist in the end as well. Which if I say much more I'll give away, so I won't.
This makes À la folie... pas du tout the first entry. My French isn't great, but even I know that the name this film was released under in the UK - "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" is not by any means a literal translation of the original. Oh well.
The main motivation for watching this film (reviews aside) is that it stars the brilliant Audrey Tautou (Note: I've not seen The Da Vinci Code, so have no reason to think otherwise), who was so good in one of my top 10 films ever - Amélie. Main male lead is Samuel Le Bihan, who was very good in Brotherhood of the Wolf.
Anyway, it's set in Bordeaux, and tells a love story from two angles. And it's only when you see the two angles put together that you see the full picture. Has a nice twist in the end as well. Which if I say much more I'll give away, so I won't.
Monday 8 January 2007
Hello
If I were more imaginative, this blog would have a theme. Something memorable. With a catchy title to accompany it.
Sadly, it hasn't. It's likely to be more me going on about stuff I like (and dislike) - music, books, films, TV, etc.
A good place to start is films. I've built up a list of my favourites on imdb, and now only need to work out how to display them generally.... if that's possible!
Sadly, it hasn't. It's likely to be more me going on about stuff I like (and dislike) - music, books, films, TV, etc.
A good place to start is films. I've built up a list of my favourites on imdb, and now only need to work out how to display them generally.... if that's possible!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
