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Written by Trent Daniel
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Wednesday, 12 May 2010 |
In no particular order . . .
 A bone turns into a space weapon in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The most profound jump cut in film history.- The revelation of Rosebud in Citizen Kane. It sells us everything-and nothing.
- Judy emerges from a bathroom door morphed into Madeline in Vertigo.
- Travis Bickle alone in his apartment in Taxi Driver. “Here is a man who would not take it anymore.”
- The 3 man gunfight in a graveyard that seems to stretch into eternity in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- Michael Corleone emerges from a bathroom in a small Italian restaurant and faces his destiny in The Godfather.
- “I know it was you, Fredo.” The Godfather Part 2.
- Blood erupts from a toilet in a previously spotless hotel room in The Conversation.
- Wendy Torrance discovers her husband’s writing in The Shining. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
- The Lady in the Radiator serenades Henry in Eraserhead.
- A spinning tape recorder plays a murderer’s confession in The Thin Blue Line.
- “Stonehenge” descends to the stage in This is Spinal Tap.
- Marge Gunderson confronts failed criminal Jerry Ludergaard in Fargo.
 Man versus dog in a death race in No Country for Old Men.- Dorothy emerges from her house into Oz in The Wizard of Oz.
- A maniacally laughing puppet emerges from a closet and startles a soon to be victim in Deep Red.
- Indiana Jones versus a giant stone ball in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Baghdad, Iraq: Day 360 in The Hurt Locker.
- A woman discovers her own corpse in Mulholland Drive.
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Read more... [100 Reasons Why I love Movies]
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Monday, 26 April 2010 |
 This is not a best score list, nor is it a list of best musicals. I’ll save those lists for later. Instead, this top 10 focuses on films that successfully incorporated songs, either written for the film or from the era in which the film is set, that mesh so beautifully that they truly enhance the film as well as any scene or character. Some of these films are truly classics-and all would likely not be without their soundtracks.
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Why the top? It’s The Beatles in their prime, singing the title track, plus “And I Love Her,” “I Should Have Known Better,” “She Loves You,” Can’t Buy Me Love,” plus other classics. Case closed.
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Though dismissed for a long time, this soundtrack, highlighted by BeeGees classics, such as “More Than a Woman,” Night Fever,” “How Deep is Your Love” and “Staying Alive,” has rightfully regained much respect and is now considered a classic. Like many great soundtracks, it perfectly captures a particular time and place. It also symbolizes Tony, John Travolta’s character and his need to escape from his mundane existence and make something of himself. The soundtrack is arguably the second most important character in the film behind Travolta. It simply would not work without it.
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Read more... [10 Best Movie Soundtracks]
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Tuesday, 20 April 2010 |
 An Education, one of the 10 best picture nominees of 2009, could have easily slipped into Lifetime movie melodrama or, at worst, an obvious cautionary tale for young women about the dangers of being seduced by older men. However, thanks to great acting, subtle but strong direction and a sharp script by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy), this film is much more than that. It serves both as a charming look back a Britain just before The Beatles exploded on to the scene and as a coming of age portrait nearly any 16 year old girl can identify with (and should see).
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Read more... [DVD Review:]
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Tuesday, 20 April 2010 |
 Melody is a comedy-drama from 1971 starring Mark Lester, Tracy Hyde and Jack Wild. Directed by Waris Hussein.
Melody is simply one of the best films ever made about childhood. It is also one of the most underappreciated films of all time. It all but disappeared from print in the US for decades, only to reemerge on DVD last November. Adding insult to injury, the DVD copy is horrible and full of scratches, further highlighting the lack of respect this little gem gets.
Oh well. I saw for the first time when I was 17 years old and I still recall how this tender, honest little film touched me. Having not seen it for 25 years, I was thrilled to learn of its re-release, but somewhat concerned that it would not hold up. Could it really have been as charming and moving as I remember?
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Read more... [DVD Review: Melody]
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Wednesday, 14 April 2010 |
 Pilot: “Where do you live?”
Ryan Bingham, sitting in first class: “Here.”
The simple exchange above effectively describes Ryan Bingham, the protagonist of Jason Reitman’s dramedy Up in the Air. Bingham (George Clooney) is a “relocation coordinator,” which is a tidier way of describing his true profession as traveling ax man for large companies who don’t have the time or decency to fire their own employees on their own. Bingham doesn’t necessarily enjoy his work much. What he does enjoy is flying and having no roots or attachments (“Last year I spent 43 miserable nights at home.”) His goal: reach 10 million sky miles-and accomplishment only 7 other travelers have reached.
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Read more... [DVD Review: Up In The Air]
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Monday, 05 April 2010 |
 Paranormal Activity is a horror film starring Micah Sloat, Katie Featherson and Michael Bayouth. Directed by Oren Peli.
Yes, Paranormal Activity is quite similar to The Blair Witch Project. That statement should be taken as a compliment. Copying a similar “real footage” shaky cam technique, Paranormal Activity, like BWP, proves that a horror film does not need a high budget, nor elaborate special effects, to be truly scary.
The painfully simple plot: Katie (Featherson) and Micah (Sloat) are a boyfriend and girlfriend living in a two-story house in a San Diego suburb. She complains that she is being haunted by a malevolent force-and has been since she was eight years old. Skeptical Micah buys a video camera and decides to tape them while they sleep-partly to prove Katie wrong and partly, it seems, because he thinks it might be cool if they actually captured something.
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Read more... [DVD Review: Paranormal Activity]
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Monday, 29 March 2010 |
 People often forget that the best fairytales are, at their core, scary as hell. Writer Neil Gaiman and director Henry Selick seemed to understand this and thus, with Coraline, set out to make a modern fairy tale that is imaginative, entertaining and, yes, scary.
The story: Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) moves with her parents into a dark, gloomy and isolated boardinghouse located in the middle of nowhere. Coraline is not a particularly sunny or cheerful little girl. She has good reason for her attitude, however, as her parents are obviously more interested in their work than in their child (her mother constantly bickers, while her father seems permanently attached to his laptop). Her only new friends are a strange neighbor boy named Wyborn (Robert Bailey, Jr.) and a curious black cat (who is obviously more than he seems and turns out to Corlaline’s key ally).
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Read more... [DVD Review: Coraline]
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Written by Bruce Frigeri
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Thursday, 25 March 2010 |
 The award winners from the South By Southwest Film Festival were announced today. Reading about them made me wistful. SXSW has always been my favorite N. American film festival and I've skipped it now two years in a row. The reason I chose to stay home again is quite simple. In spite of my affinity for all things Austin, TX, there is simply no business to be had for the vast majority of films that screen at South By Southwest.
Of course every year is different than the last, and with delivery systems evolving on a weekly basis, perhaps there will soon come a time where it will once again be at least modestly profitable for distributors to release good quality American independent films.
As has been discussed here many times over the past couple of years, the forces working against independent films are many and formidable. The landscape is littered with well executed, creative work that either drowned some brave distributor in red ink, or simply withered on its creators' hard drives, ignored by an unforgiving marketplace.
Perhaps variations of the new browsing software that has caused so much controversy on Netflix will enable good independent films to be discovered in the VOD and On Line universe. Or maybe an enterprising producer or creative distributor will figure out how to economically negotiate the current distribution landscape and find the audience that is surely still out there for these films. Sooner or later it is going to happen.
In the meantime one can only hope that the good films at SXSW, and there are always good films there that don't win any awards, get a chance to be seen. They represent a creative energy that is too often missing from mainstream releases. More importantly, they remind us of just how diverse and rich our country's creative life still remains. The film business, and our culture, are better off when these films have a place in it... |
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Written by Trent Daniel
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Wednesday, 17 March 2010 |
 The Damned United is a sports drama starring Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney and Jim Broadbent. Directed by Tom Hooper and written by Peter Morgan.
Imagine if the manager of a long down and out baseball team, such as the Kansas City Royals, hired a hotshot young manager who brazenly challenged the Joe Torre managed New York Yankees-and actually managed to catch up to them and beat them in the playoffs. Now, imagine if the respected manager of the Yankees left and was replaced by the hotshot who had been such a nuisance. Finally, image that the coaching change was such a complete disaster that the hotshot was fired 44 games into the season.
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Read more... [DVD Review: The Damned United]
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Black Swan - Trailer