Sunday, June 5, 2011
Interview with the Vampire - 1994
Always a sucker for a good vampire story this is one of my favorites. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are very good, Antonio Banderas and Kirsten Dunst even better. Equally as beautiful as it is dark, this movie should be on everyone's list of movies to see.
A vampire tells his epic life story as Director Neil Jordan's Oscar-nominated tale of bloodsucking immortals moves from 18th century New Orleans to a Grand Guignol theater in Paris to present-day San Francisco to explore betrayal, love, loneliness and hunger. The lives of a trio of vampires -- cavalier Lestat (Tom Cruise), tormented Louis (Brad Pitt) and childlike Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) -- are interconnected for centuries in this adaptation of Anne Rice's romantic horror tale.
Reign of Fire - 2002
REIGN OF FIRE (2002) is an action fantasy film directed by Rob Bowman and starring Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Gerard Butler, and Izabella Scorupco. It takes place in the year 2020 in England, after dragons have reawakened. The film grossed about $82 million on a $60 million budget.
This one is a major "what if" but it's about the possibilty that in 2008 during construction on the London Underground, a huge hibernating dragon awakens, incinerating the construction workers. The only survivor is 12-year-old Quinn Abercromby (Ben Thornton) whose mother, Karen (Alice Krige), was crew chief on the project. She is crushed by the dragon as she tries to escape to the surface with her son. The dragon flies out and suddenly dragons begin appearing, multiplying rapidly. It is announced that scientists discovered that dragons are a lost species that are responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction by burning them all to ash. The speculation was that dragons instinctually hibernate after destroying most of the earth's living creatures, waiting until the Earth repopulates.
Reign of Fire was filmed in Ireland, in the Wicklow Mountains. They were only allowed to film there under the condition that they clean up entirely after themselves, without damaging the landscape.
The film was shot at the time of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Ireland which, due to restrictions in place, meant that many planned sequences could not be shot.
The design and construction of the dead dragon were provided by Artem and the special visual effects provided by The Secret Lab.
This one is a major "what if" but it's about the possibilty that in 2008 during construction on the London Underground, a huge hibernating dragon awakens, incinerating the construction workers. The only survivor is 12-year-old Quinn Abercromby (Ben Thornton) whose mother, Karen (Alice Krige), was crew chief on the project. She is crushed by the dragon as she tries to escape to the surface with her son. The dragon flies out and suddenly dragons begin appearing, multiplying rapidly. It is announced that scientists discovered that dragons are a lost species that are responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction by burning them all to ash. The speculation was that dragons instinctually hibernate after destroying most of the earth's living creatures, waiting until the Earth repopulates.
Reign of Fire was filmed in Ireland, in the Wicklow Mountains. They were only allowed to film there under the condition that they clean up entirely after themselves, without damaging the landscape.
The film was shot at the time of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Ireland which, due to restrictions in place, meant that many planned sequences could not be shot.
The design and construction of the dead dragon were provided by Artem and the special visual effects provided by The Secret Lab.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Reception - 2005
Here is an independent film that crossed my mind the other day. I saw in 2005 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. I think I recall it because it was such a uniquely, well-acted drama that threw me for a loop with some intense plot twists that I didn't expect. It's worth seeing. I'm sure it's nothing you've ever seen before.
It is a drama set in wintry upstate New York. Hoping to cash in on an inheritance, Sierra (Margaret Burkwit) and her husband Andrew (Darien Sills-Evans) arrive at her mother's Jeannette's home only to discover resentful Jeannette (played by Pamela Holden Stewart) and her companion, the African-American artist Martin (Wayne Lamont Sims). I don't want to give up anymore than that...but it's an intelligent drama with great characters. The characters sometimes ask each other questions they should already know the answers to.
It only cost $5000 to do this film in "8" days. It just goes to show you that a great film can be made with a minimum amount of money if you have a good story.
It is a drama set in wintry upstate New York. Hoping to cash in on an inheritance, Sierra (Margaret Burkwit) and her husband Andrew (Darien Sills-Evans) arrive at her mother's Jeannette's home only to discover resentful Jeannette (played by Pamela Holden Stewart) and her companion, the African-American artist Martin (Wayne Lamont Sims). I don't want to give up anymore than that...but it's an intelligent drama with great characters. The characters sometimes ask each other questions they should already know the answers to.
It only cost $5000 to do this film in "8" days. It just goes to show you that a great film can be made with a minimum amount of money if you have a good story.
Schindler's List - 1993
Schindler's List is a 1993 American biographical drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS)-officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.
The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (7 BAFTAs, 3 Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time (up one position from its 9th place listing on the 1998 list).
The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (7 BAFTAs, 3 Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time (up one position from its 9th place listing on the 1998 list).
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - 2009
I LOVE this movie. Based on the best selling trilogy from Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tatto introduces us to the unlikely heroine of Lisabeth Sander played by Noomi Rapace. It is always a first recommendation.
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and rebellious computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) team up to investigate the unsolved disappearance of wealthy Henrik Vanger's (Sven-Bertil Taube) teen niece (Ewa Fröling), only to uncover dark secrets about Vanger's powerful family.
All music for this film and its 2 sequels was recorded in just 4 days. According to composer Jacob Groth, the note sheets for the orchestra weighed 33 kilos.
A Hollywood version is set to release in 2011.
Somewhere In Time - 1980
Is time travel possible? When you see this romantic drama you will wish it was possible.
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction tragedy film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christopher Plummer, Teresa Wright, and Bill Erwin.
Reeve plays Richard Collier, a playwright who becomes smitten by a photograph of a young woman at the Grand Hotel. Through self-hypnosis, he travels back in time to the year 1912 to find love with actress Elise McKenna (portrayed by Seymour). But her manager William Fawcett Robinson (portrayed by Plummer) fears that romance will derail her career and resolves to stop him.
The film is known for its musical score composed by John Barry. The eighteenth variation of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini also runs throughout the film.
In the novel, Richard travels from 1971 to 1896 rather than 1980 to 1912. The setting is the Hotel del Coronado rather than the Grand Hotel. Unlike in the movie, he is dying from a brain tumor, and the book ultimately raises the possibility that the whole time-traveling experience is merely a series of hallucinations. The scene where the old woman hands Richard a pocket watch (which an older version of himself had given to her) does not appear in the book. Thus, the ontological paradox generated by this event (that the watch was never built, but simply exists eternally) is absent. In the book, it is two psychics, not William Fawcett Robinson, who anticipate Richard's appearance. And Richard's death at the end is brought about by his tumor, not heartbreak.
Although this movie was well received during its previews, it was widely derided by critics upon release, and it underperformed at the box office. In 2009, in an interview with WGN America, Jane Seymour stated "It was just a little movie...The Blues Brothers came out the same week and it was a $40 million budget, so Universal didn't really support it. There was also an actors strike, so Chris [Reeve] and I weren't allowed to publicise it. And they barely put it out because I don't think anyone really believed in it."
However, Somewhere in Time was popular in China and Hong Kong, where it played in theaters for over a year and was later re-released. It was also a big success in Brazil and still remains very popular. It has since earned a large and loyal following in later years, and the movie is now regarded by many to be a "cult classic."
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction tragedy film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christopher Plummer, Teresa Wright, and Bill Erwin.
Reeve plays Richard Collier, a playwright who becomes smitten by a photograph of a young woman at the Grand Hotel. Through self-hypnosis, he travels back in time to the year 1912 to find love with actress Elise McKenna (portrayed by Seymour). But her manager William Fawcett Robinson (portrayed by Plummer) fears that romance will derail her career and resolves to stop him.
The film is known for its musical score composed by John Barry. The eighteenth variation of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini also runs throughout the film.
In the novel, Richard travels from 1971 to 1896 rather than 1980 to 1912. The setting is the Hotel del Coronado rather than the Grand Hotel. Unlike in the movie, he is dying from a brain tumor, and the book ultimately raises the possibility that the whole time-traveling experience is merely a series of hallucinations. The scene where the old woman hands Richard a pocket watch (which an older version of himself had given to her) does not appear in the book. Thus, the ontological paradox generated by this event (that the watch was never built, but simply exists eternally) is absent. In the book, it is two psychics, not William Fawcett Robinson, who anticipate Richard's appearance. And Richard's death at the end is brought about by his tumor, not heartbreak.
Although this movie was well received during its previews, it was widely derided by critics upon release, and it underperformed at the box office. In 2009, in an interview with WGN America, Jane Seymour stated "It was just a little movie...The Blues Brothers came out the same week and it was a $40 million budget, so Universal didn't really support it. There was also an actors strike, so Chris [Reeve] and I weren't allowed to publicise it. And they barely put it out because I don't think anyone really believed in it."
However, Somewhere in Time was popular in China and Hong Kong, where it played in theaters for over a year and was later re-released. It was also a big success in Brazil and still remains very popular. It has since earned a large and loyal following in later years, and the movie is now regarded by many to be a "cult classic."
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Nim's Island - 2008
This adventure seems like it's just for kids--but it's not. It's one of my favorites. It encourages imagination. Yes, there are a few 'corny' parts to it--but it's still a nice film for a change of pace.
Nim's Island is a 2008 American adventure-fantasy film directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin and starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler. The story is based on the book Nim's Island by Wendy Orr. A young girl, Nim, seeks help from the author of her favorite adventure series when her scientist father goes missing. Nim, though, lives on an island in the South Pacific. The author, Alexandra Rover, is an agoraphobic living in San Francisco. Rover overcomes her fears and sets out in search of Nim while Nim tries to overcome her fear of losing her father. In the meantime, a cruise ship company threatens to invade Nim's island with uncouth tourists.
Nim's Island is a 2008 American adventure-fantasy film directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin and starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler. The story is based on the book Nim's Island by Wendy Orr. A young girl, Nim, seeks help from the author of her favorite adventure series when her scientist father goes missing. Nim, though, lives on an island in the South Pacific. The author, Alexandra Rover, is an agoraphobic living in San Francisco. Rover overcomes her fears and sets out in search of Nim while Nim tries to overcome her fear of losing her father. In the meantime, a cruise ship company threatens to invade Nim's island with uncouth tourists.
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