Many years ago, Jack Nicholson was quoted in a Vanity Fair article stating, "Kiss a tit, get an X rating. Hack it off with a machete, get a PG." What is it that makes Americans so puritanical about sex, yet so lax towards violence? That's one of the main considerations of "This Film is Not Yet Rated", the new documentary from Kirby Dick that follows the standards and practices of the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings system. The film presents the theory that the levels of violence ...
Director Michael Apted ("Nell") began documenting the lives of 14 children in 1964 and has returned to them every seven years since. The first film, "7UP", produced for British television, began as an examination of the class system. These kids were from both upper and lower income families; they were either spoon fed or forced to struggle day by day just to survive. The thesis was originally to discover what kind of benefit or hindrance this class system would inspire in their development as ad...
It's been a long time coming, but the producers of the James Bond series, who are descendents of the family that has maintained "artistic" control of the series ever since its inception, have finally loosened their grip ever so slightly and allowed for an attempt at reinvention. For thirty years, more or less (or to be more exact, the moment Sean Connery left), the series has struggled with staleness and predictability with few exceptions. This was never more true than with the Roger Moore era...
Why are Pacino's contributions more impressive than De Niro's?
1. THE STAGE
Pacino, even to this day, eats, sleeps and breathes acting. It's all that he knows. He began in the theatre and still goes back and performs for scale once or twice a year.
An interesting anecdote that speaks to how extensive theatrical experience aided Pacino from a career standpoint takes place in the late sixties. He was discovered by budding producer Martin Bregman in a New York production of "Does a Tiger We...
When previews loop on television touting the release of "We Are Marshall", the inspirational football drama starring Matthew McConaughey, we can't help but feel that we've seen this film countless times before. In many respects, we have. Like all great sports stories, the film's focus is on overcoming overwhelming obstacles and rediscovering the true spirit that transcends the game. We know going in that the team will suffer their fair share of stumbles along the way to victory. We expect a rous...
In times of turmoil, the role of the documentary filmmaker becomes a thriving and essential function. When handled responsibly, their films can wake us up to a multitude of issues we haven't previously considered or been privey to.
With our country at war, several filmmakers have produced works aimed at knocking the current adminsitration's sloppy tactics and the senselessness of the war efforts they foster.
By far, it was the Vietnam-era film "Hearts and Minds" that became the beacon of what...
While "Blue Velvet" could be the most structurally complete Lynchian vision, "Wild at Heart" could be considered his most accesible. For me, this is the perfect culmination of everything I love about Lynch. The previous themes exist here, too, but they are more deeply felt than they've ever been before. Like "Blue Velvet", the film is about extremes -- love and violence, darkness and light, sanity and madness. But this film takes those extremes even further - the colors and the characters are...
These themes continued and matured with his feature debut, Erasurehead. The story of a new father and factory worker who lives among the hydraulic drone of an industrialized town, Lynch sheds light on the fear inherent in first-time fatherhood. The father is himself, as are many characters from Lynch films, like a newborn baby in adult form -- an outsider who is at once curious and unnerved by the world around him. The baby in the film is a mutation and all it knows how to do is cry; in other w...
"Many of the things that you subconsciously use in painting you use in film." - David Lynch interview from documentary 'Pretty As a Picture'
The canvas was slathered in rich black with oversized deep green blades of grass eminating upward from the bottom edge. David Lynch could imagine the sound of the wind as it caused the greenery to rustle and sway. He wanted to make the scene come to life for real. It was in that moment that he became a film director. And thirty years after reaching this...
It's easy to see how V, as a letter, as a symbol, can represent and inspire an uprising of citizen revolt. Victory. Vindication. Valour. These are the codes that the depressed people of a future totalitarian society aspire to and they also define the title character who stirs them to action. The graphical quality of the letter itself can resemble two arms, defiantly reaching for the heavens. But a revolution can live or die by the double-edged sword it employs; violence can pollute a cause and ...
THE ELITE:
In a career teeming with brilliant work, these are Al Pacino's greatest films.
The Godfather: This is where the legacy begins, both of the greatest one-two punch in film history and Pacino's stellar career. Pacino first plays the highly moral idealist Michael sheepishly, until he subtly morphs into a cold-blooded gangster right before your eyes. It is the most amazing transformation ever portrayed in the cinema; made all the more powerful because you barely register it happening. A+
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