The Decade List: Some More Honorable Mentions (2002-2004)

While there are some stylistic and genre connections between some pairs of films below, the most unifying characteristic of all the films below is a certain boldness that makes them stand apart and above most of their peers. This boldness comes in many different forms but is commendable all-the-same. They are in no particular order.

Dahmer - dir. David Jacobson

Thinly utilizing small facts surrounding the infamous cannibal murderer Jeffrey Dahmer as a guide (I'm still convinced the screenplay shifted to specifics of Dahmer's case for broader appeal), Dahmer the film plays more like an Off-Off-Broadway play. Restricting most of the action to one location, Dahmer's apartment, director and co-writer David Jacobson molds Dahmer like a wordy character study and powerplay between a seductive killer (Jeremy Renner) and his prey (Artel Kayàru). I couldn't find anything to support this, but I was told, when the film was released theatrically in 2002, that positive reaction to the film dug it out of its direct-to-video hole (still then with its negative connotations), despite complaints from the victims' family members who objected to the portrayal of Dahmer as a sympathetic character. I suspect the unspoken objection was a result of the sexiness Renner brings to the character, his creepy intimacy and erotic taunting sure to make many people uneasy. Dahmer isn't a grand success by any means, but it's provocative enough to stand above the subsequent trend of serial-killer-sploitation flicks, including a Ted Bundy dud from the director of Freeway, that once invaded the once popular video rental stores.

With: Jeremy Renner, Bruce Davison, Artel Kayàru, Matt Newton, Dion Basco, Kate Williamson, Christina Payano, Tom'ya Bowden
Screenplay: David Jacobson, David Birke
Cinematography: Chris Manley
Music: Christina Agamanolis, Mariana Bernoski, Willow Williamson
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Peninsula Films

Premiere: 21 June 2002 (Los Angeles)


Intolerable Cruelty - dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Unfairly regarded as a lesser effort from the brothers Coen, Intolerable Cruelty sits just beneath No Country for Old Men on my ranking of the filmmakers' ouevre this decade. With fiery performances from both George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Intolerable Cruelty is the madcap black comedy I (maybe unfairly) kept wishing The Ladykillers and Burn After Reading would be.

With: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Herrman, Richard Jenkins, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Adelstein, Julia Duffy
Screenplay: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, story by Ramsey, Stone, John Romano
Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Music: Carter Burwell
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Universal Studios

Premiere: 2 September 2003 (Venice Film Festival)
US Premiere: 30 September 2003


She's One of Us [Elle est des nôtres] - dir. Siegrid Alnoy

Edited from my earlier review: Fitting perfectly into a triple-feature of Werner Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Rolf de Heer's Bad Boy Bubby, the "heroine" of She's One of Us, Christine (Sasha Andres), just can't fit in with the world. She's a social cripple and, like our two other friends, likes to mimic dialogue and experiences from others and pull them off as her own. It's her only way of successfully communicating outside of her world of temp jobs and solitude. Eventually, she becomes one of "us"... or, more specifically, them. The collective "us" is always a "them," as she conforms to both office and social politics -- turning from wide-eyed and creepy to cold and cruel, and eventually finding herself a man (Eric Caravaca). Though Alnoy's first feature beams with an admirable eerieness, she composes several shots to be blatantly "arty" (see above), though her cool plasticity and use of the ugliest hue of red you'll ever see stylistically work through the rest of the film. Christine has a fascination that's quite comparable to Kaspar and Bubby, yet while Kaspar's story is tragic and Bubby's is darkly humorous, Christine's is coldly French.

With: Sasha Andres, Carlo Brandt, Eric Caravaca, Pierre-Félix Gravière, Catherine Mouchet, Mireille Roussel, Jacques Spiesser, Geneviève Mnich, Dominique Valadié
Screenplay: Siegrid Alnoy, Jérôme Beaujour, François Favrat
Cinematography: Christophe Pollock
Music: Gabriel Scotti
Country of Origin: France
US Distributor: Leisure Time Features/Home Vision

Premiere: 16 May 2003 (Cannes)
US Premiere: 10 April 2003 (Philadelphia International Film Festival)

Awards: Direction, Special Mention - Siegrid Alnoy (Thessaloniki Film Festival); FIPRESCI Prize - Siegrid Alnoy (Stockholm Film Festival)


Monster - dir. Patty Jenkins

Biopics like Monster aren't rare, no matter which way you swing. Monster is, all at once, an ordinary true-life (crime) drama, a parable of murder that searches for humanity within cruelty and a platform for a then-underrated actress to shine. You can see examples of all three in the above-mentioned Dahmer, but I've seldom seen an actor as vigorous as Charlize Theron is here. We all recognize how much Hollywood and the Academy love a gorgeous woman in ugly make-up; seven of the last ten Best Actress Oscar winners have been awarded to portrayals of famous women of the past century, all of which by actresses significantly more attractive than their subjects. Theron's performance haunted me more than any of the others (though Helen Mirren, Marion Cotillard and Hilary Swank were just as deserving of their trophies) and forced the possibly prosaic film into my thoughts for the days following.

With: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen, Annie Corley, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Marco St. John, Marc Macaulay, Scott Wilson
Screenplay: Patty Jenkins
Cinematography: Steven Bernstein
Music: BT
Country of Origin: USA/Germany
US Distributor: Newmarket Films

Premiere: 16 November 2003 (AFI Film Festival)

Awards: Best Actress - Charlize Theron (Academy Awards); Best Female Lead - Theron, Best First Feature (Independent Spirits); Best Actress, Drama - Theron (Golden Globes); Best Actress, Silver Bear - Theron (Berlin International Film Festival); Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Theron (Screen Actors Guild)


I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - dir. Mike Hodges

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is a subtle noir in plain clothes, quietly smoldering beneath the surface. Seeking to find answers for his brother's suicide, Clive Owen travels through familiar corridors, for us and, of course, for him. The four central actors do what they do best: Owen brooding, McDowell hamming, Rhys Meyers posing and Rampling looking slightly too classy for her role. Everything comes together magnificently in Owen's final discovery, a wonderfully nasty monkey wrench typically found within other films' subtext.

With: Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jamie Foreman, Ken Stott, Sylvia Sims
Screenplay: Trevor Preston
Cinematography: Michael Garfath
Music: Simon Fisher-Turner
Country of Origin: UK/USA
US Distributor: Paramount Classics

Premiere: 16 May 2003 (Cannes)
US Premiere: 18 February 2004 (Portland International Film Festival)


Anonymous - dir. Todd Verow

Few filmmakers are as consistently multifarious in their productions as Todd Verow, the Maine-born director best known for his terrible adaptation of Dennis Cooper's Frisk. As a friend of mine would say, if you throw enough pieces of meat at the wall, one is bound to stick. In Anonymous, Verow plays a character named Todd, a movie theatre manager whose lack of ambition is being hustled by the ticking clock of age. Still physically desirable, Todd substitutes professional enterprise with sexual ardor, cruising online and in bathroom stalls behind his lover's back. Anonymous is more effective a portrayal of a homosexual ignoramus than Lionel Baier's Garçon stupide. Both films transpire with an aggressive sexuality, but Verow's realism trumps Baier's attempts to mirror the digital revolution.

With: Todd Verow, Dustin Schell, Jason Bailey, Shawn Durr, Sophia Lamar, Craig Chester, Philly, Noah Powell, Lee Kohler, Florian Sachisthal, Elliott Kennerson
Screenplay: Todd Verow
Cinematography: Elliott Kennerson
Music: Jim Dwyer
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Bangor Films

Premiere: February 2004 (Berlin International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 27 April 2004 (Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival)


A Tale of Two Sisters - dir. Kim Ji-woon

Is it just me? I'm often of the mindset that when it comes to J- or K-horror (or whatever one likes to call Korea's answer to Japanese ghost yarns) explanation is of little necessity. I don't know if missing the answers to all my questions is a result of not understanding some of the cultural implications of what's happening, but I always find myself puzzled near the end. Unlike the other Asian ghost flicks that were remade into lame(r) American ones that I've seen, Kim Ji-woon's A Tale of Two Sisters really doesn't appear to give a shit whether I (or anyone else, I hope) follow the course of action. And unlike the others, it doesn't really matter; it's spooky and strange enough to exist without needing to justify itself. Please let me know if I'm alone in these sentiments, which is entirely possible.

With: Lim Su-jeong, Moon Geun-Young, Kim Kap-su, Yum Jung-ah
Screenplay: Kim Ji-woon
Cinematography: Lee Mo-gae
Music: Lee Byung-woo
Country of Origin: South Korea
US Distributor: Tartan Films

Premiere: 13 June 2003 (South Korea)
US Premiere: 16 April 2004 (Philadelphia International Film Festival)

Awards: Best Picture (Screamfest)


Autumn [Automne] - dir. Ra'up McGee

Like the dapper cousin of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, American director Ra'up McGee's French crime noir Autumn takes a more virile approach to the genre. Some may regard McGee's unwavering stylization and plotting as a fault, but he's thoroughly consistent. And sometimes that alone gets you points in my eyes.

With: Laurent Lucas, Irène Jacob, Benjamin Rolland, Dinara Drukarova, Michel Aumont, Samuel Dupuy, Denis Menochet, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Didier Sauvegrain
Screenplay: Ra'up McGee
Cinematography: Erin Harvey
Music: Cyril Morin
Country of Origin: France/USA
US Distributor: Truly Indie

Premiere: 10 September 2004 (Toronto International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 15 April 2005 (Filmfest DC)


Tony Takitani - dir. Jun Ichikawa

It was a safe choice for the first Haruki Murakami story to be adapted onscreen to be one of his lesser known short stories. While the decision was safe, Jun Ichikawa, who sadly passed away last year, composes Tony Takitani with an impressive delicacy, a trait that would be paramount in taking on any of Murakami's works.

With: Issei Ogata, Rie Miyazawa, Shinohara Takahumi, Hidetoshi Nishijima
Screenplay: Jun Ichikawa, based on the short story by Haruki Murakami
Cinematography: Taishi Hirokawa
Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Country of Origin: Japan
US Distributor: Strand Releasing

Premiere: 11 August 2004 (Locarno Film Festival)
US Premiere: January 2005 (Sundance)

Awards: Special Prize of the Jury, FIPRESCI Prize - Jun Ichikawa (Locarno Film Festival)


Calvaire [The Ordeal] - dir. Fabrice Du Welz

Fabrice Du Welz showcases a number of traits that seem to have disappeared in the horror genre. He's certainly a commendable visual artist, and with Calvaire and the later Vinyan, he appears well-versed in the traditions of American and European horror which makes Calvaire a much, much better reworking of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than both the putrid official remake and Xavier Gens' vacant Frontière(s). Gens seems preoccupied with the nastiness of Massacre, which is such a common mannerism that it seldom, if ever, works when there's nothing to substantiate the grizzly malevolence. Thankfully, Du Welz focuses on Massacre's absurdist qualities, and this is what makes Calviare the tastier descendent.

With: Laurent Lucas, Jackie Berroyer, Brigitte Lahaie, Philippe Nahon, Jean-Luc Couchard, Philippe Grand'Henry, Gigi Coursigny
Screenplay: Fabrice Du Welz, Romain Protat
Cinematography: Benoît Debie
Music: Vincent Cahay
Country of Origin: France/Belgium/Luxembourg
US Distributor: Palm Pictures

Premiere: 18 May 2004 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 11 August 2006 (New York City)

You, the Living, Finally in the US

You, the Living [Du levande] - dir. Roy Andersson - 2007 - Sweden/Germany/France/Denmark/Norway/Japan - Palisades Tartan

Over two years after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Roy Andersson's astounding You, the Living, a sequel of sorts to Songs from the Second Floor from 2000, finally makes its official US premiere in New York this week after being left in limbo after Tartan Films USA closed its doors. For those familiar with Songs from the Second Floor, You, the Living is a continuation of Andersson's vibrant style and bizarre humor, chronicling moments in the lives of a selective group of a Sweden city.

While Songs from the Second Floor was shrouded in a grim, apocalyptic tone, most of those who've seen You, the Living have agreed that what separates the two is the latter's beaming serenity. One sequence in particular, involving a young newlywed couple in a moving house, is one of the most spectacularly incandescent scenes I've seen in a really long time. You, the Living is just one of the amazing films from some of the most dazzling filmmakers from around the world that will make its US premiere, after dangling in distribution oblivion, this year. Keep your eye out for György Pálfi's Taxidermia in August from here! Films and Ulrich Seidl's Import/Export, also from Palisades Tartan.

The Mark Of Yoong's Leaving

Today, is the day, where I bade him farewell in my bed -__- , holding back my sadness, hugging him as tightly as I could as if he's not coming back, telling him how much I love him, wish him all the best for his trip back to home, put away my sleepy drowsy thought (it 6am in the morning for heaven's sake), and hope that he could reach home safely.

My heart now, how should I describe it?? Its like sleeping. No more enthusiasm to face work, no more anticipating upcoming events, no sadness or sorrow to cry, just.... NOTHING!!!

I wish I could be alive, be the usual cheerful self, living on my daily life, but, its like impossible while you are going back for 2 months.

I am starting to miss you dearly, just have fun while you're at home and stay safe.

Day 1 - Living Without You

The Decade List: Awards (2004)

There's maybe too much to say about the year 2004 in regard to its various film festival and industry awards, but I'll keep it brief. 1.) Tropical Malady was the best film to play at Cannes in 2004, hands down, so was it the fact that Quentin Tarantino was head of the jury that it only nabbed the Prix du jury? I'd venture to say yes. Although Isabelle Huppert's jury also quite liked Park Chan-wook's Thirst, so... 2.) Hilary Swank wins her second Best Actress Oscar, and for some reason, I don't mind, if only because Annette Bening gives me a raging headache. 3.) 2004 was the douche-iest year for the Independent Spirit Awards. A Sideways sweep? Best first film: Garden State? Best film made for under $500,000: Mean Creek? Best documentary: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster? I think I was happier with the Oscar picks. 4.) Fuck the Razzies. I still do not understand what it is they're trying to convey by giving George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Britney Spears "awards" for their roles in Fahrenheit 9/11. Someone please explain what it was they were trying to say to me with that. 5.) I still haven't seen Vera Drake, but I'll always think fondly of it as it was the punch-line of one of my favorite moments of Ricky Gervais' Extras.

Cannes

Palme d'Or: Fahrenheit 9/11 [d. Michael Moore]
Grand Prix: Oldboy [d. Park Chan-wook]
Prix du jury: Tropical Malady [d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul]; also Irma P. Hall - The Ladykillers, for her acting
Best Director: Tony Gatlif - Exils (Exiles)
Best Actor: Yûya Yagira - Nobody Knows
Best Actress: Maggie Cheung - Clean
Best Screenplay: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri - Comme une image (Look at Me)
Technical Grand Prize: Éric Gauthier - Clean; Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
Camera d'Or: Or (My Treasure) [d. Keren Yedaya]

Venice

Golden Lion: Vera Drake [d. Mike Leigh]
Grand Special Jury Prize: Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) [d. Alejandro Amenábar]
Best Actor: Javier Bardem - Mar adentro
Best Actress: Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
Career Golden Lion: Manoel de Oliveira, Stanley Donen

Toronto

People's Choice Award: Hotel Rwanda [d. Terry George]
Discovery Award: Omagh [d. Pete Travis]
Best Canadian Feature: It's All Gone Pete Tong [d. Michael Dowse]

Berlin

Golden Bear: Gegen die Wand (Head-On) [d. Fatih Akin]
Best Director: Kim Ki-duk - Samaritan Girl
Best Actor: Daniel Hendler - El abrazo partido (Lost Embrace)
Best Actress: (tie) Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace; Charlize Theron - Monster
Jury Grand Prix: El abrazo partido [d. Daniel Burman]
Outstanding Artistic Achievment: Om jag vänder mig om (Daybreak), to its outstanding cast
Honorary Golden Bear: Fernando E. Solanas
Teddy (Feature): Wild Side [d. Sébastien Lifshitz]
Teddy (Documentary): The Nomi Song [d. Andrew Horn]

Sundance

Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic): Primer [d. Shane Carruth]
Grand Jury Prize (Documentary): DiG! [d. Ondi Timoner]
Director (Dramatic): Debra Granik - Down to the Bone
Director (Documentary): Morgan Spurlock - Super Size Me
Special Jury Prize (Dramatic): (tie) Rodney Evans - Brother to Brother; Vera Farmiga - Down to the Bone, for her performance
Special Jury Prize (Documentary): Catherine Tambini, Carlos Sandoval - Farmingville
Cinematography (Dramatic): Nancy Schreiber - November
Cinematography (Documentary): Ferne Pearlstein - Imelda
Audience Award (Dramatic): Maria Full of Grace [d. Joshua Marston]
Audience Award (Documentary): Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids [d. Ross Kauffman]
Audience Award (World Cinema): La grande séduction (Seducing Dr. Lewis) [d. Jean-François Pouliot]
Audience Award (World Cinema Documentary): The Corporation [d. Jennifer Abbott, Mark Achbar]

Academy Awards

Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby [d. Clint Eastwood]
Best Director: Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx - Ray
Best Actress: Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman - Million Dollar Baby
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett - The Aviator
Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor - Sideways
Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson - The Aviator
Best Documentary: Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids [d. Ross Kauffman]
Best Foreign Film: Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) [d. Alejandro Amenábar]
Best Animated Feature: The Incredibles [d. Brad Bird]
Honorary Award: Sidney Lumet

BAFTAs

Best Film: The Aviator [d. Martin Scorsese]
Best Director: Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
Best British Film: My Summer of Love [d. Pawel Pawlikowski]
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx - Ray
Best Actress: Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
Best Supporting Actor: Clive Owen - Closer
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett - The Aviator
Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor - Sideways
Best Cinematography: Dion Beebe, Paul Cameron - Collateral
Film Not in the English Language: Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries) [d. Walter Salles]

European Film Awards

Best Film: Gegen die Wand (Head-On) [d. Fatih Akin]
Best Director: Alejandro Amenábar - Mar adentro (The Sea Inside)
Best Actor: Javier Bardem - Mar adentro
Best Actress: Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
Best Cinematography: Eduardo Serra - Girl with a Pearl Earring
Best Screenplay: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri - Comme une image (Look at Me)
Best Documentary: Darwin's Nightmare [d. Hubert Sauper]
Discovery: Certi bambini (A Children's Story) [d. Andrea Frazzi, Antonio Frazzi]
Screen International: 2046 [d. Wong Kar-wai]
Audience Award (Actor): Daniel Brühl - Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (Love in Thoughts)
Audience Award (Actress): Penélope Cruz - Non ti muovere (Don't Move)
Audience Award (Director): Fatih Akin - Gegen die Wand
Life Achievement Award: Carlos Saura

Independent Spirit

Best Feature: Sideways [d. Alexander Payne]
Best First Feature: Garden State [d. Zach Braff]
Best Director: Alexander Payne - Sideways
Best Male Lead: Paul Giamatti - Sideways
Best Female Lead: Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace
Best Supporting Male: Thomas Haden Church - Sideways
Best Supporting Female: Virginia Madsen - Sideways
Best Debut Performance: Rodrigo De la Serna - Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor - Sideways
Best First Screenplay: Joshua Marston - Maria Full of Grace
Best Cinematography: Eric Gautier - Diarios de motocicleta
Best Documentary: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster [d. Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky]
Best Foreign Film: Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) [d. Alejandro Amenábar]
John Cassavetes Award (for features made for under $500,000): Mean Creak [d. Jacob Aaron Estes]
Someone to Watch Award: Jem Cohen - Chain

Golden Globes

Picture (Drama): The Aviator [d. Martin Scorsese]
Picture (Comedy/Musical): Sideways [d. Alexander Payne]
Director: Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
Actor (D): Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator
Actress (D): Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Actor (M/C): Jamie Foxx - Ray
Actress (M/C): Annette Bening - Being Julia
Supporting Actor: Clive Owen - Closer
Supporting Actress: Natalie Portman - Closer
Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor - Sideways
Foreign Film: Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) [d. Alejandro Amenábar]
Cecil B. DeMille Award: Robin Williams

Césars Awards

Best Film (Meilleur film): L'esquive (Games of Love and Chance) [d. Abdel Kechiche]
Best Director (Meilleur réalisateur): Abdel Kechiche - L'esquive
Best Actor (Meilleur acteur): Mathieu Amalric - Rois et reine (Kings and Queen)
Best Actress (Meilleure actrice): Yolande Moreau - Quand la mer monte... (When the Sea Rises...)
Best Supporting Actor (Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle): Clovis Cornillac - Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités
Best Supporting Actress (Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle): Marion Cotillard - Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement)
Most Promising Actor (Meilleur espoir masculin): Gaspard Ulliel - Un long dimanche de fiançailles
Most Promising Actress (Meilleur espoir féminin): Sara Forestier - L'esquive
Best Screenplay (Meilleur scénario): Abdel Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix - L'esquive
Best Cinematography (Meilleure photographie): Bruno Delbonnel - Un long dimanche de fiançailles
Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger): Lost in Translation [d. Sofia Coppola]
Best European Union Film (Meilleur film de l'Union Européenne): (tie) Ae Fond Kiss... [d. Ken Loach]; Život je čudo (Life Is a Miracle) [d. Emir Kusturica]
Best First Film (Meilleur premier film): Quand la mer monte... [d. Yolande Moreau, Gilles Porte]
Honorary César: Micheline Presle

Razzies

Worst Film: Catwoman [d. Pitof]
Worst Director: Pitof - Catwoman
Worst Actor: George W. Bush - Fahrenheit 9/11
Worst Actress: Halle Berry - Catwoman
Worst Supporting Actor: Donald Rumsfeld - Fahrenheit 9/11
Worst Supporting Actress: Britney Spears - Fahrenheit 9/11
Worst Screenplay: Theresa Rebeck, John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris, John Rogers - Catwoman
Worst Remake/Sequel: Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed [d. Raja Gosnell]

AJN hypocrisy


Charming to see the AJN commenting that the Age's irrelevant mention of the Leifer affair.

This is from the same newspaper that beat up the original story into a appalling and lurid sensation. And long after the rest of the Australian media stopped mentioning it, the AJN continued to rehash it week after week – ad nauseum.

Pity that there isn’t a Walkley Award for hypocrisy – the Jewish News would be the front runner.

No comment necessary

New Denis, Rivette, Ferrara, Chéreau, Akin, Sequels to Repo Man, Tetsuo at Venice 09

The official Venice Film Festival line-up was announced today in Italy with some very exciting prospects, not least of which the latest from Claire Denis and Jacques Rivette. The fest will show their national spirit by opening with (groan) Giuseppe Tornatore's latest Baarìa (in other Tornatore news, did you know Miramax remade Everybody's Fine with Robert De Niro, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale? It'll be out later this year). A number of the films announced will also screen at this year's Toronto. I suspect Toronto might have been waiting for Venice's announcement to add the final details to their roster. My long-shot of a hope that Sébastien Lifshitz's Plein sud would premiere there didn't happen (its release has also been moved to December in France), but otherwise, 2009 has been a pretty promising year at the big festivals. If that's only by name and/or prestige, I can't say... But can we at least expect an Abel Ferrara/Werner Herzog showdown in Venice this year?

In Competition

- 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup - d. Jacques Rivette - w. Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, Jacques Bonnaffé, André Marcon
- Accident - Cheang Pou-Soi (Dog Bite Dog)
- Baarìa, la porta del vento - d. Giuseppe Tornatore - w. Monica Bellucci, Raoul Bova, Ángela Molina
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - d. Werner Herzog
- Between Two Worlds - Vimukthi Jayasundara (The Foresaken Land)
- Capitalism: A Love Story - d. Michael Moore
- La doppia ora - d. Giuseppe Capotondi (directorial debut) - w. Filippo Timi
- Il grande sogno - d. Michele Placido (Romanzo criminale) - w. Riccardo Scamarcio, Laura Morante
- Lebanon - d. Samuel Maoz
- Life During Wartime - d. Todd Solondz
- Lourdes - d. Jessica Hausner - w. Sylvie Testud, Bruno Todeschini, Léa Seydoux
- Mr. Nobody - d. Jaco van Dormael (Le huitième jour, Toto le héros) - w. Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Rhys Ifans
- Persécution - d. Patrice Chéreau - w. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Romain Duris, Jean-Hughes Anglade
- Prince of Tears - Yonfan (Bishonen)
- The Road - d. John Hillcoat (The Proposition) - w. Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Michael K. Williams, Molly Parker, Garret Dillahunt
- A Single Man - d. Tom Ford (yes, the designer) - w. Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, Gennifer Goodwin
- Soul Kitchen - d. Fatih Akin - w. Birol Ünel, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Lo spazio bianco - d. Francesca Comencini (Visions of Europe) - w. Margherita Buy, Salvatore Cantalupo
- Survival of the Dead - d. George A. Romero - w. Kenneth Welsh, Devon Bostick (really, in competition?)
- Tetsuo: The Bullet Man - d. Shinya Tsukamoto
- The Traveller - Ahmed Maher
- White Material - d. Claire Denis - w. Isabelle Huppert, Isaach De Bankolé, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle
- Women Without Men - d. Shirin Neshat

Out of Competition

- [REC] 2 - d. Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
- Anni luce - d. Francesco Maselli (L'amore in città)
- Chengdu, I Love You - d. Fruit Chan, Cui Jian
- The Hole - d. Joe Dante (Gremlins, The 'burbs) - w. Bruce Dern, Teri Polo
- The Informant! - d. Steven Soderbergh
- The Men Who Stare at Goats - d. Grant Heslov (HBO's Unscripted) - w. Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Stephen Lang
- Napoli Napoli Napoli - d. Abel Ferrara
- L'oro di Cuba - d. Giuliano Montaldo (Sacco & Vanzetti)
- Prove per una tragedia Siciliana - d. John Turturro, Roman Paska
- Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story - d. Yousry Nasrallah (La porte du soleil)
- South of the Border - d. Oliver Stone
- Yona Yona Penguin - d. Rintaro (Metropolis)

Midnight Movies

- Brooklyn's Finest - d. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) - w. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Lili Taylor, Ellen Barkin, Will Patton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brian F. O'Byrne
- Delhi-6 - d. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
- Dev D - d. Anurag Kashyap
- Gulaal - d. Anurag Kashyap
- Valhalla Rising - d. Nicolas Winding Refn (the Pusher series) - w. Mads Mikkelsen, Jamie Sives

Horizons

- 1428 - d. Du Haibin (China)
- Adrift - d. Bui Thac Chuyên (Vietnam)
- Buried Secrets - d. Raja Amari (Satin Rouge, Tunisia)
- Il colore delle parole - d. Marco Simon Puccioni (Riparo, Italy)
- Cow - d. Guan Hu (China)
- Crush - d. Pyotr Buslov, Aleksei German Jr., Boris Khlebnikov, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vrypayev (Russia)
- Engkwentro - d. Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
- Francesca - d. Bobby Paunescu (Romania) - w. Luminita Gheorghiu
- I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You - d. Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus), Karim Ainouz (Brazil)
- Insolacao - d. Daniela Thomas, Felipe Hirsch (Brazil)
- Io sono l'amore [I Am Love] - d. Luca Guadagnino (Melissa P.) - w. Tilda Swinton
- Judge - Liu Jie (China)
- The Man's Woman and Other Stories - d. Amit Dutta (India)
- Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country - d. Guo Xiaolu (China)
- The One All Alone - d. Frank Scheffer (Netherlands)
- One-Zero - d. Kamla Abou Zekry (Egypt)
- Paraiso - d. Héctor Gálvez (Peru)
- Pepperminta - d. Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland) - w. Sabine Timoteo
- Repo Chick - d. Alex Cox (U.S.)
- Tender Parasites [Zarte Parasiten] - d. Christian Becker, Oliver Schwabe (Germany)
- Toto - d. Peter Schreiner (Austria)
- Tris di donne e abiti nunziali - d. Martina Gedeck (Italy)
- Villalobos - d. Romuald Karmakar (Deutschland 09, Germany)

There were a few more events named, including some stuff from Werner Herzog, Aleksandr Sokurov, Tinto Brass and Phillip Haas. There was also a New Italian Cinema Trends side-bar that I didn't post -- but you can get the titles via Variety. I'll post more when I hear of it.

He's leaving :(

He's boarding the plane tomorrow, in the morning, going back for 2 months, and 2 songs pops up in my mind:

Kim Jong Il- I'm So Ronery

I'm So Ronery
So ronery So ronery and sadry arone

There's no one
Just me onry
Sitting on my rittle throne

I work rearry hard and make up great prans
But nobody ristens, no one understands
Seems rike no one takes me serirousry

And so I'm ronery
A rittle ronery
Poor rittle me

There's nobody I can rerate to
Feer rike a bird in a cage
It's kinda sihry
But not rearry
Because it's fihring my body with rage

I'm the smartest most crever most physicarry fit
But nobody else seems to rerarize it
When I change the world maybe they'rr notice me

But untir then I'rr just be ronery
Rittle ronery, poor rittle me

I'm so ronery



Chantal Kreviazuk - Leaving On A Jet Plane

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go'

Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

I'm ...There's so many times
I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I'll tell you now, they don't mean a thing

Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, oh, let me kiss you
And close your eyes and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times that I won't have to say ...

Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Stick to what you know, Adam


Remember young Adam’s terrifying warning on “Watching the Watchers”, ( see: http://ajnwatch.blogspot.com/2009/07/adam-kamien-gets-nasty.html ) about keeping an eye on AJN Watch?
While we have been quivering in our boots, in trepidation of his next salvo, it seems that he has approved of our blogposts since that time - as there hasn’t been another peep from him.

We, on the other hand, cannot allow his above piece to go by without a comment.

In that feeble and unbecoming attempt at sarcasm and tabloid reporting, Kamien appoints himself as both judge and posek regarding those organ transplants.

Our advice to Adam: Stick to tittle-tattle and gossip about the dreckerati and leave matters of halacha and law to rabbis and judges.

"As Kosher as the AJN..."

A reader sent us this cutting from the AJN adding:

I was surprised that you hadn't mentioned this piece from last week's AJN. Seems that the ignorami employed by the Jewish News haven't got a clue about Kashrut matters. Nothing! Don't they realise that Kosher meat cooked in a Treif pot is basically Chazir treif?
And even when cooked in a Kosher pot but by irreligious or non-Jews the result is just as Treif?

Where are the 2 KA's?

Why haven't we heard any comment from them?

PJM


Thanks PJM for that. You make some excellent points.
Hopefully the KAs will now take some action.

Unfortunately our community has become hardened to the upsetting occurrence of Treif food establishments being publicised by the AJN.
Treif, Chametz bePesach, Chilul Shabbos are all regulary advertised in the so-called "Jewish" newspaper.

However,free publicity for a purely Treif cafe trying to attract "kosher" consumers may be a new low.

Meanwhile your words "Kosher meat cooked in a Treif pot is basically Chazir treif" seem like a great analogy to Divrei Torah published in the AJN...

DVD Release Update, 29 July: Buñuel, Jarmusch, Egoyan, Claudette Colbert

Luis Buñuel's Death in the Garden will make its DVD premiere on 27 October from Tranflux Films; dates have also been set for Atom Egoyan's Adoration, on DVD and Blu-ray, and Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control, only on DVD it seems. Universal also announced a box-set entitled The Claudette Colbert Legacy Collection, with six films new to DVD, including Mitchell Leisen's No Time for Love and Ernst Lubitsch's Bluebeard's Eighth Wife.

- OMG/HaHaHa, 2007, d. Morgan Jon Fox, Water Bearer Films, 29 September
- Adoration, 2008, d. Atom Egoyan, Sony Pictures, also on Blu-ray, 13 October
- Every Little Step, 2008, d. Adam Del Deo, James D. Stern, Sony Pictures, 13 October
- Jack Brown Genius, 1994, d. Tony Hiles, Lionsgate, 13 October, w. Martin Csokas
- Death in the Garden [La mort en ce jardin], 1956, d. Luis Buñuel, Transflux Films, 27 October, w. Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli
- Five Element Ninjas, 1982, d. Chang Cheh, Tokyo Shock, 27 October
- The Narrows, 2008, d. François Velle, Image Entertainment, also on Blu-ray, 3 November, w. Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevin Zegers
- Say Anything..., 1989, d. Cameron Crowe, 20th Century Fox, 20th Anniversary Edition, also on Blu-ray, 3 November
- Franklyn, 2008, d. Gerald McMorrow, Image Entertainment, also on Blu-ray, 17 November, w. Eva Green, Sam Riley, Ryan Phillippe
- The Limits of Control, 2009, d. Jim Jarmusch, Focus Features, 17 November

The Claudette Colbert Legacy Collection, Universal, 3 November

- Three-Cornered Moon, 1933, d. Elliott Nugent
- Maid of Salem, 1937, d. Frank Lloyd
- I Met Him in Paris, 1937, d. Wesley Ruggles
- Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, 1938, d. Ernst Lubitsch
- No Time for Love, 1943, d. Mitchell Leisen
- The Egg and I, 1947, d. Chester Erskine

More from Toronto: Pippa Lee, Bad Lieutenant, Michael Moore, Coens and Danis Tanovic

Sorry for the delay, but Toronto unveiled another crop of films playing in September the other day. They include a new offering from the Coen brothers, Werner Herzog's not-remake of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, Michael Moore's latest, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Danis Tanovic's English-language debut and the North American premiere of Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

- Dorian Gray - d. Oliver Parker - w. Colin Firth
- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - d. Rebecca Miller - w. Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Mario Bello, Shirley Knight, Keanu Reeves, Blake Lively, Julianne Moore, Monica Bellucci
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - d. Werner Herzog - w. Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif, Xzibit, Irma P. Hall
- Capitalism: A Love Story - d. Michael Moore
- Harry Brown - d. Daniel Barber - w. Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer
- Perrier's Bounty - d. Ian Fitzgibbon - w. Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy
- A Serious Man - d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - w. Adam Arkin
- Triage - d. Danis Tanovic - w. Christopher Lee, Colin Farrell, Paz Vega, Kelly Reilly, Juliet Stevenson, Jamie Sives
- Whip It - d. Drew Barrymore - w. Ellen Page, Barrymore, Alia Shawkat, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden, Zoe Bell, Eve, Ari Graynor