Oct 16, 2017

Meyerowitz Stories is pretty great. Sandler is a force.

 

Sep 13, 2017

Baby Driver Amazon 1080p Web-DL is out famalam.
Like this post for Google Drive link.

@MovieSXN

 

Jul 19, 2017

If anyone is interested in these...

 

Jul 11, 2017

I wrote on a favourite film which I've never critically analyzed before. I wanted to understand why it's the masterpiece nobody believes it to be.

Bloodsport (Article linked below):
In spite of nostalgia’s effect on my revision, and in spite of Bloodsport’s apparent contrast to what we generally deem cinematic art, the cult-classic remains fastened on the minds of many a cinephile. Such a phenomenon surely calls for retrospection, and today, after viewing the now 28 year old film—which was released on my birth year—to an energetic 400 capacity venue in Vancouver, it will receive one...

Full Article:
https://aestheticsofthemind.com/2017/07/10/bloodsport-a-prime-example-of-affective-cinema/

 

May 28, 2017

Joaquin takes Best Actor at Cannes!

Palme d’Or: “The Square”, Ruben Ostlund
Grand Prix: “120 Beats Per Minute (BPM)”, Robin Campillo
Jury Prize: “Loveless”, Andrey Zvyagintsev
Best Actress: Diane Kruger, “In the Fade”
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, “You Were Never Really Here”
Best Director: Sofia Coppola, “The Beguiled”
Best Screenplay: Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and Lynne Ramsay, “You Were Never Really Here” (tie)
Camera d’Or: “Jeune Femme/Montparnasse Bienvenue,” directed by Leonor Serraille
70th Anniversary Prize: Nicole Kidman
Short Film Palme d’Or: “Xiao Cheng Er Yue (A Gentle Night),” directed by Qiu Yang

 

Apr 21, 2017

• 
  After the Last River 2015
  ★★★★½ Watched 19 Apr, 2017
  
  Published at Aesthetics of the Mind:
  bit.ly/2oQnsDm
  
  Vicki Lean’s heartbreaking documentary of suffering in Attawapiskat reveals the damaging impact on first nations livelihood of industry and government regulations ostensibly designed under concealed agendas. Her expository documentary requires little convincing, as Lean makes readily observable through first hand and archival footage just how desperate are the conditions facing the families here, most of whom struggle with sickness, poverty, house-crowding, and general despair.
  
  Conditions are profoundly more deplorable when considering the lack of federal aid—even when under a state of emergency—and the obvious racial constructs which our nation’s governing bodies choose to hold onto, in spite of the obvious ethical ramifications of their actions.
  
  Tie this in with how media, political campaigning, and social image manufacturing may brush the ‘problem’ under the rug, and we have ourselves a truly hegemonic capital parading as good guy leaders we ought to trust and follow. This is a system designed to keep people down, and Attawapiskat serves only as a microcosm for the imperceptible damage across the nation being caused by this unassuming hegemony fueled by greed and corruption.
  
  It’s unfortunate, to say the least, that we need films like these—genuine, ungreenwashed documentaries—to raise awareness about things which ought not only to be public information but public concern. That we don’t talk about these issues or teach them in our high schools is regrettable, as it may only be through such dialogues that we may open the blinders of the average media-influenced citizen in order to change the status quo of our ill-conceived nation and the hypocrisies which corporate and government alike undertake.
  
  Thank you to the makers of this film, to the people of Attawapiskat, and to the few socially and environmentally conscious government officials who are trying to make a difference.
  
  If you live in Canada, go see this film.
  
  85/100 – Excellent.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Sarah Winchester, Phantom Opera 2016
  ★★★½ Watched 17 Apr, 2017
  
  Unique af.
  
  A historical ballet ghost story within a story fictional documentary w/ liner notes and haunting sounds.
  
  75/100 - Very Good
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Grandma’s Encyclopaedia 1963
  ★★★ Watched 17 Apr, 2017
  
  Animation & photography almost ascetic in its sparsity. unsubstantial beyond this minor intrigue.
  
  71/100 - Good.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  The Concert 1962
  ★★½ Watched 17 Apr, 2017
  
  Mad animation requiring didactic information to piece its absurd and abstractly presented themes.
  
  63/100
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Song to Song 2017
  ★★★★★ Watched 13 Apr, 2017
  
  What can I say about this film which would do it justice?
  
  This is pure cinema. It simply needs to be seen.
  
  99/100 - Masterful.
  
  1 like
  
  
• 
  The Lost City of Z 2016
  ★★★★★ Watched 12 Apr, 2017
  
  Published at Aesthetics of the Mind:
  
  bit.ly/2p1xcLA
  
  Is Less Truly More? James Gray’s Lost City of Z: A Masterpiece of More Cinema.
  
  Saw this at a press screening last week and I still don’t know what to make of it exactly. I marveled at its scope and ambition, the brilliant match cuts, the striking cinematography by Darius Khondji, and its naked honesty in revealing human emotions, relations, and flaws. Like all of Gray’s films, Z picks apart the human condition while foisting it upon unassuming action. The subtext runs deeper in this film than perhaps anything before in his filmography, and yet it is perhaps the film’s multi-faceted framework which causes a certain disconnect between Gray’s inherent truth seeking and the viewer’s capacity to realize this truth. It’s like a diamond in the rough whose brightness will be reveled only by those willing to dig deep.
  
  Bluntly stated, The Lost City of Z is James Gray working in a far more opaque, subtle, and provocative manner. His previous films, beginning with Little Odessa–a heartfelt tragedy with narrow scope but much emotional depth–take place in New York and focus inwards on very particular happenings to very particular people whom the audience comes to empathize with. Driving human emotion with consequence is Gray’s signature move, and while this is more subdued in Z, it is certainly present.
  
  The Lost City of Z conveys much more drama, much more plot, and quite simply has much more to offer than any of Gray’s previous films. There are more characters and perspectives, a wider narrative, and many interests—from the political to the psychological to the historical, social, and beyond. This is at once a blessing and a curse. Some would argue, using perhaps Bresson or Mizoguchi or even early Gray as examples, that simplicity is a filmmaker’s finest virtue. And yet here we have a magnificent epic, one which holds so many ideas within its two and a half hour runtime that it will surely open itself to criticism sheerly for its lack of simplicity.
  
  Less is more perhaps only because less leaves little to critique.
  
  This is Gray’s The Thin Red Line. For James Gray, The Lost City of Z is more; there is more here to critique but also more here to acclaim. There is more to discuss with this adaptation of true events than there is with his poetic New York elegies, but through discussion perhaps we as viewers can realize that inherent truth of the human condition which Gray imbues all his films with.
  
  I am going to need to see this a few more times, but to me it’s already a masterpiece and can only move up from here.
  
  90/100 – Amazing.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Safe 1995
  ★★★★½ Watched 09 Apr, 2017
  
  Julianne Moore is exquisite as the soft spoken victim of 20th century malaise in Todd Haynes meticulously crafted psycho-thriller.
  
  87/100 - Excellent.
  

 

Mar 30, 2017

Well anyways, pm me if you'd like to see the film, I'm very proud of this one.

Also this is a good time to share that I'm in early negotiations to get Joanna Newsom's blessing to use one of her songs in a film I plan on making over the summer

 

Mar 30, 2017

I wrote a three part article on the supposed death of cinema, the emergence of new digital cinema (for example iPhone cinema), and emerging director Raz Vahn (Yes, that @Vahn) who makes $0 films with his iPhone which are actually good. Click below if you feel so inclined!

The Death of Cinema vs New Digital Cinema. CLOSE UP on Raz Vahn, emerging independent filmmaker.

http://bit.ly/2nAmUzn

 

Mar 11, 2017

iight fam, here's da care package for my film coming end of this month.

 

Feb 20, 2017

My official best of 2016, best film and all other important categories included:
https://aestheticsofthemind.com/2017/02/18/best-of-2016/


Three Times 2005
★★★★★ Watched 16 Feb, 2017

Beautifully rendered portraits of three states of time. Unassuming observation of how society and intimacy change over time.

94/100 - Amazing.

• 
  Split 2016
  ★★★½ Watched 02 Feb, 2017
  
  An exhaustive but taut thriller showcasing a brilliant performance from James McAvoy. M. Night knows how to feed the audience.
  
  76/100 - Very Good.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  The Light Between Oceans 2016
  ★★★ Watched 01 Feb, 2017
  
  Cianfrance attempts to channel Davie's classicism with this amicable but lacking fare on romance and hardship.
  
  71/100 - Good.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  20th Century Women 2016
  ★★★★½ Watched 27 Jan, 2017
  
  A maturely scripted, engagingly shot, and humourously performed drama on masculinity & modern female perspectives.
  
  85/100 - Excellent.
  
  2 likes
  

 

Jan 19, 2017

best friends -
u should read this:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/01/what-trumps-tv-cameos-mean-for-america.html
i wrote it


@Vahn @Pinhead @Dew @Charlie Work @MovieSXN @Twan @Michael Myers

 

Jan 16, 2017

new film alert

 

Jan 10, 2017

Well since I fully expect Silence & Paterson to break my list as Scorsese and Jarmusch are my lovers, I'll just go ahead and drop the list I have right now and update it later.

1. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonegan)
2. Horace & Pete (Louis C.K.)
3. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
4. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
5. Kaili Blues (Bi Gan)
6. 31 (Rob Zombie)
7. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
8. Aquarius (Kleber Mendoca Filho)
9. Graduation (Cristian Mungiu)
10. Hail Caesar! (Coen Brothers)
11. Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick)
12. Julieta (Pedro Almodovar)
13. A Bride for Rip Van Winkle (Shunji Iwai)
14. Sully (Clint Eastwood)
15. Finding Dory (Andrew Stanton)

Best Director:
Kenneth Lonergan

Best Writer:
Louis C.K.

Best Actor:
Casey Affleck

Best Actress:
Sonia Braga

Best Supporting Actor:
Steve Buscemi/Alden Ehrenreich

Best Supporting Actress:
Michelle Williams/Lily Gladstone

Best Cinematographer:
Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Score:
Cliff Martinez

Strongest Debut:
Bi Gan

 

Jan 2, 2017

Wrote a long piece on my mixed feelings about La La Land, which to me is a near masterpiece but ultimately a miss.


La La Land 2016
★★★★½ Watched 01 Jan, 2017

Published at Aesthetics of the Mind:
bit.ly/2i1altk

La La Land and Film Criticism’s Malleable Perspective on Homage and Originality

Since its premiere at Venice, Chazelle’s third feature, La La Land—a euphemism for a fantasy world, also seen as LA—has met critical acclaim, mainstream approval, Oscar buzz, a critical backlack, a re-examination, and Oscar pundit denial and defense. It now stands on tenuous footing within the cinephile realm. This resembles closely my own grappling with the film. A minor shift in one’s perspective seemingly alters the quality of this film. This is not how film ought to be acknowledged, however, and I’m going to use this piece to tackle the many points of conversation within La La Land, from homage and originality to cinematography and music to realism and escapism.

Inarguably, La La Land is well crafted, approachable, and more interesting than 90% of mainstream films today. It is at once a throwback to the Golden Age of Cinema as well as an original illustration of contemporary culture. It is at once a display of bravura cinematography and jazz scoring as well as showboating pat-on-the-back display of pop culture. It is at once a flight of fantasy as well as a determinedly down-to-earth evocation of reality. It straddles these antipodal modes of cinema carefully, implying that originality and homage, high and low art, exuberance and melancholy, and realism and escapism can sit cordially beside one another. Effectively, La la land is the product of a keen original mind who has sentimental yearnings for the past. His excitement to renew yet revolutionize the films that shaped his upbringing is La La Land’s greatest claim to fame yet also an easy target for its dismissal. Chazelle’s worldview seems to conflict in a similar manner to Keith (John Legend) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) who debate about the purity of a dying art and the necessary means to revive it through re-actualization.

La La Land is the re-actualization of Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg, amongst others, in an effort to revive its infectious spirit. Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz would apparently discuss Umbrellas in college, their mutual favourite film—and a personal favourite of my own—and it serves as their primary inspiration in making La La Land. They ostensibly made La La Land to enliven audiences spirits the way Umbrellas and those other classics enlivened themselves, but they also made La La Land as a personal venture, with an effort to transform and revolutionize the Golden age itself. The issue here is that the filmmakers use concepts and ideas from one worldview as a means of informing a worldview quite disparate from it. This may be interpreted similar to the supposed bastardization of Jazz which is thematically woven into the film. Jazz has developed from an artistic form of communication to free form be bop to innocuous elevator music and worse. Sebastion is one of few who recognizes this, and so he loves and laments traditional Jazz. Oppositely, Keith sees a future for Jazz music. This conflict is analogous to the one inherent in La La Land; the film displays an obvious admiration of tradition with a purist sensibility while simultaneously choosing to look into the future and be read as a work of originality.

This steers one’s critical perspective in opposing directions. Do we see the coupling of homage and originality as a form of love+revolution or of exploitation+bastardization? With La La Land’s complexity, it is—quite incredulously—all of the above.

La La Land hits many right notes, but its greatest flaw is inconsistency. If La La Land is supposed to be a throwback to Jacques Demy (Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort) and Gene Kelly (Singing in the Rain, An American In Paris), the one major thing it is missing is the whimsy. Jacques Demy in particular created through cinema a world all his own. Throughout his filmography, there are even recurring characters, such as Lola and Raoul Cottard from his debut film Lola, who return in subsequent films. It is a measure of maintaining continuity and suspended disbelief within a complex world of fantasy. This world of Demy, as its called, is finely documented by wife and fellow New Wave Filmmaker Agnes Varda in the feature Jacquot de Nantes and the documentary The World of Jacques Demy. She illustrates the world as one of childlike wonder and sensitivity replete with fantasy, melancholy, and whimsy. In Demy’s films, the vibrant colours, sensational musical numbers, and spectacular dance choreography are a testament to his boyish charisma, and it is through his charisma and childlike wonder that his fantastic world becomes so inviting. This lovable charm belongs to the ‘World of Demy’ which Chazelle unevenly attempts to bring back to life.

In spite of this, when La La Land is on point, it hits all the right notes. Quite frankly, it is a film which Demy himself would have loved, even if it doesn’t have the boyish charm that makes his own films stand out. The opening number, which is a clear reference to the opening number of Demy’s Young Girls of Rochefort is full of life, whimsy, and charisma. Its vivid colours and spectacular choreography—both of dancers and camera—echoes the worlds of Jacques Demy and Gene Kelly. When the intertitle “Winter” arrives, however, we recognize that we are not in the world of Demy or Kelly, but in a distinct place where the melancholy is more intense, the concepts are more complex, and the fantasy has a bitter feeling of impossibility. Yet it is a world that wishes to continue revering the world of wonder, fantasy and whimsy that it at once subverts. This may come off as hypocritical or even indulgent, but only if seen from that particular perspective. From another, it comes off as ambitious and passionate.

La La Land’s plot is virtually lifted from Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Though the meet-cute is much more protracted in La La Land, both films follow the romance of a couple stripped apart when duty calls. In one it is for service in the war, for the other service in a band. Chazelle’s film uses a modern obstacle to drive the couple apart, their careers, but the result is the same. They separate, long for one another, and meet briefly several years later to wonder ‘what if?’. The use of intertitles demarcating time and even the font is lifted from Umbrellas, and the store “Parapluies” on the Studio lot signals its inspiration. The subtlest, most effective touch of homage comes when Mia (Emma Stone) is writing her play; the woman in her one woman show is named Genevieve, the name of Catherine Deneuve’s character in Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Also subtle are certain melodies riffed from Michel Legrand’s work with Demy which include even a part from Demy’s underrated fairy-tale Donkey Skin.

These elements of homage surely satisfy the cinephile. All the references to Casablanca, Sunset Boulevard, Rebel Without a Cause, Bringing Up Baby, Notorious, Singing in the Rain, An American In Paris, Flight of the Red Balloon, and many others work in a way that The Force Awakens, for example, simply did not. La La Land displays adoration of these films without relying on our recognition of them. Yes, Ryan Gosling swings around a lamppost like Fred Astaire, but this is rather subtle, isn’t it? And how many people caught the boy with the red balloon? Who of you have even seen one of Demy’s musicals?

But La La Land is nowhere near as vibrant as those technicolor gems of the 50s and 60s; in fact, it is moody as h--- with vignetting often utilized to draw focus inward on a particular character during emotive moments. There’s a certain darkness to La La Land, both physically and psychologically, that does not exist in those films of fantasy. There is also a certain brightness to La La Land which does. It continually sits between the two.

Authenticity and high or low art aside, there are the more easily observable elements of plot, acting, and music to be considered. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are phenomenal actors, but were they right for their roles? Most people would agree, it seems, that they are not the greatest singers or dancers. But if you look at the musical scenes themselves, what is there to be disappointed by? Whatever people say about Stone’s quirks or Gosling’s demeanor, take one look at the Mia’s audition scene or Gosling convincing her that she’s ‘good enough’, and tell me they were miscast.

That said, the two major techniques of Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg which Chazelle chose not to poach are perhaps the two techniques La La Land most needs: firstly, the actors in Umbrellas lip synched, professionals were dubbed in, and professional dancers were hired as actors. Secondly, the entire film is sung. On the first technique, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are good singers, but not great ones. They both had their shot at singing careers, one from Reality TV and the other from the Mickey Mouse Club, and neither of them succeeded. Why they sing their own parts is certainly up for question. On the second point, the entirely sung dialogue of Umbrellas is exactly what makes it unique. When asked about it, Demy said that the purpose was to create a cohesion from beginning to end. He didn’t like how musicals would have a start and stop to the music scenes and would alternate between the two. He wanted to create a film without interruption. His execution of this essentially brings about an aural version of the long take… no blinks, no interruptions, just a consistent flow of sound. Since La La Land’s seemingly greatest flaw is its consistency, perhaps it is because the film feels like it is made up of interrupted pieces, sections which add up to a whole but do not form a cohesive work of art.

This is all besides the final scene of the film, though, a scene which works on every level that Chazelle wishes to implement. It is glorious, masterfully crafted, cohesive, whimsical, nostalgic and original, escapist and realist all at the same time. It is 15 minutes of brilliant cinema, while the rest remains in limbo between a classic and something that falls just short of.

89/100 – Excellent.

 

Nov 30, 2016

Here's the poster and first look at my new film dropping on Christmas Day.

 

Nov 19, 2016

Manchester by the Sea is pretty terrific. Tears were shed.

 

Nov 15, 2016

Moonlight is an absolutely beautiful film. Everyone needs to see it as soon as possible.

 

Nov 14, 2016

Well said! I was in a state of bliss after it ended.

Great review @FilmAndWhisky , I was already a big fan of Moonlight, but I look forward to revisiting with your thoughts in mind.

On another note, this Jackie trailer looks intense...

 

Sep 26, 2016

Scorsese's Silence finally gets a Dec. 23 release date.

 

Sep 7, 2016

I myself have only seen No from Pablo Larrain, but it is really, really good.

I also bought my tickets today for the following films at NYFF in October:

Toni Erdmann
Paterson
Certain Women
Personal Shopper
Yourself and Yours
Elle

I wasn't able to make the screenings for the latest James Gray.