I watched this for the first time last night and was blown away!
Set in a time before parents worried about their children disappearing on bikes into the sunset, a groups of kids (Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Jeff Cohen, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton and Jonathan Ke Quan) seek a pirates treasure while being pursued by escaped criminals.
Screenplay by Chris Columbus (Gremlins), directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) with Steven Spielberg responsible for the story, it’s everything you’d hope for from an 80’s family action adventure film.
Calvin (Paul Dano) is a best-selling author going through writers block. Dreaming of the girl of his dreams, he begins writing about her, never imagining that she might step off the page and into his life.
The first film written by and starring the hugely talented Zoe Kazan (In Your Eyes, What If), with a spectacular cast, it is a better version of (500) Days of Summer (2009), showing the dangers of creating an image of a women rather than getting to know the one that is right in front of you.
It is beautiful, magical, terrifying and above all truly heart-felt.
Zia (Patrick Fugit) slits his wrists and wakes up in a grey and dreary world for people who commit suicide. When he discovers his ex-girlfriend has also killed herself, he knows he needs to find her.
Adapted from a novella by Israeli writer Etgar Keret by Croatian writer/director Goran Dukic, it definitely has a more multicultural feel than your average American indie.
Tom Waits, John Hawks, Will Arnett, Shannyn Sossamon, Leslie Bibb and Shea Whigham make up the marvellous supporting cast for this remarkable feature.
On the same day that Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) is fired from her job, she misses the tube by a split second. Her life splits into what could have happened had she caught the train, and what happened because she didn’t.
This is not a comedy. There are funny moments, but ultimately it’s a moving exploration of one woman’s life, and how she is affected by those around her. It’s a philosophical debate marketed as a romance, and it does both.
Set in a future world where overpopulation is the main concern, a class of students are captured by their government, sent to an island and forced to kill each other to survive.
This is not the Hunger Games. This is far more grown up and far less forgiving. There’s no beautiful scenery or costumes, this is not Young Adult fiction. This film may not be for the faint hearted but is definitely worth watching.
Opening Title: Children believe what we tell them. They have complete faith in us. They believe that a rose plucked from a garden can plunge a family into conflict. They believe that the hands of a human beast will smoke when he slays a victim, and that this will cause the beast shame when a young maiden takes up residence in his home. They believe a thousand other simple things. I ask of you a little of this childlike simplicity, and, to bring us luck, let me speak four truly magic words, childhood’s open sesame: “Once upon a time…”
Between 1899 and 1913 it had been adapted five times, but Cocteau was the first to make a feature out of it.
Josette Day (Les Parents Terribles) and Jean Marais (Orpheus) star as Belle who sacrifices her freedom for that of her father and the Beast who keeps her locked up in his neglected but magical castle.
This film is sublime in ways that I cannot even begin to do justice to in words. It captures the heart of the fairytale; the humour, the romance, the sinister undercurrent and above all the beauty which is so tantalising and keeps us wanting more. Perhaps unsurprisingly based on his work here, cinematographer Henri Alekan went on to be nominated for an Oscar for his work on Roman Holiday (1953).
Initially, writer and director Cocteau and Alekan clashed over the visual aspects of the film. Cocteau favoured a hard-edged style while Alekan preferred soft-focus. As director, Cocteau had the final say and after a rough first couple of days Alekan came around to his way of thinking. The look and feel of the film is heavily influenced by the work of Gustave Doré and his illustrations of the nineteenth century French edition of Don Quixote (see right).
To play the part of the Beast, Marais spent five hours getting into his outfit every morning which included being covered in animal hair and wearing fangs that could not be removed until the end of the days shoot. This meant that he could not eat anything more than mulch during the day to avoid damaging the fangs. Marais had quite strong opinions on what the Beast should look like. Supporting Beaumont’s original story, he felt that the Beast should have a head that resembled a stag, with antlers, to draw upon the image of Cernunnos, the Celtic stag-headed god of the woods. However, as with Alekan, Cocteau’s vision won out and the image of the Beast as he is now recognised in Disney’s version was born.
Beauty and the Beast and Belle et la Bete
I know I have already used the words beautiful and magical to describe this film, but it really is. If you haven’t seen it, you absolutely must! I saw it for the first time at Bath Film Festival and was completely moved.
In case you still had doubts, here is the trailer:
Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a young boy living with his mother in an apartment block in early 1980s Stockholm. Bullied at school, he is hopelessly lonely until he meets Eli (Lina Leandersson).
Adapted from a masterful novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and directed by Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) this is a fantasy horror made the way they should be; bleak, at times sweet, and always beautiful. None of those sparkling vampires, the sort in Lindqvist’s world are truly terrifying.
Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) seek marriage counselling from a therapist (Ted Danson) who recommends a romantic weekend away to help fix the holes in their relationship.
Debut feature film from director Charlie McDowell (Danson’s stepson) and screenwriter Justin Lader, it was more devised than written. Almost all of the dialogue was improvised around the storyline and for the more complicated scenes Lader would write a few pages as a guide the night before.
Nina (Juliet Stevenson) and Jamie (Alan Rickman) are in love, completely and utterly. When Jamie dies, Nina expects to be haunted by him, but perhaps not literally.
Written and directed by Oscar winning Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley), this is one of those films that will stick with you. Minghella wrote the film specifically for Stevenson and there is no doubt without her and Rickman’s tremendous performances there would not be a film.
Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) is a young governess hired by an absent uncle to look after two young children in a large house with a mysterious past.
The trailer for this film is extraordinary (see below) but to my mind it fails to accurately capture how terrifying parts of this film are. I am a wuss, but it is full of suspense and dread.
Directed by Jack Clayton (The Great Gatsby, Room at the Top) and adapted by Truman Capote, this is skilled cinematic genius.
cinemescope 