Lars Von Trier: "I Understand Hitler"

He really is now one of my favorite directors, I mean to get up there in front of an audience of the biggest most important film festival and make jokes about Hitler takes some real guts. I found his comments hilarious, and don't know what the big fuzz is all about. He's a brilliant directors, and I would say the same things, Hitler was a horrible man, but there is more there than the monster everyone sees.

Portrait of an Alcoholic (The Lost Weekend review)

The Lost Weekend
*****

Next to Casablanca (1943), The Lost Weekend is the second oldest movie I have ever seen. At least as far as I can remember. Seeing Casablanca several months ago if anything was an experience opposite of what it was meant to be. I found it to be, even  with it’s status as one of the best, to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Acting in my opinion is the best thing to look for in a movie. If the film has bad acting in it, than surely it’s not a good movie overall. Casablanca has plenty of acting that anyone could do because it’s not acting at all, but a mere delivery of bad lines. That experience alone made me never want to look back past 1980 in film history. I was very reluctant this summer to compose a list of older movies, and even more skeptical to start the list with a movie from 1945. Could all classical movies be swarmed with the Casablanca ill-acting? I was about to find out.

I picked The Lost Weekend at random from the book The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History by Jim Piazza and Gail Kinn, a book I consider to be my bible. I simply opened a page at random and by luck it was on the year 1945 where The  Lost Weekend, a winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director,  grabbed my attention. The film won Billy Wilder an Oscar for Best Director, and Ray Milland for Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role. With all fours Oscars rightfully deserved, the film is a character study of a man in grip of alcohol.

The film spans a weekend on the life of Don Birnam (Ray Milland), an alcoholic. It is wonderful to see such great character development so far back in movie time. Don Birnam is a weak man, always going back for another drink.

The film opens with Wick (Phillip Terry), Don’s brother, and Don (Ray Milland) packing and readying themselves to go out of town for the weekend. As soon as Wick leaves sight of Don, we see Don grab a bottle of rye whisky hanging from the window by a string. As comical as it may seem, this simple act proves the characters eagerness and anxiety to have a drink. Don wants a drink and nothing else, so desperate he finds ingenious ways to hide alcohol.

Don is also in love with Helen St. James (Jane Wyman), but this is all under whelmed by his constant drinking.  She is madly in love with him and shows undying determination to help Don. She puts up with him and his constant absence. She, I guess could be said is somewhat blindly in love with him. Of anyone she is the only one who sees talent and ambition in Don, something barely there, clouded by the fog of alcohol on which Don’s life revolves around.

We see Don through the course of four days. He drinks almost all day everyday, and we see him visit Nat’s Bar daily. Owned by Nat (Howard Da Silva) a man who might be his only friend outside his own brother Wick and love Helen. Some would argue; what kind of friend hands shot after shot to an alcoholic at the brink of perdition? I still felt that Nat in his own way did more for Don than anyone. A drunk wants to be listened to and Nat did that more than anyone else. At one point, even if momentarily, Nat encourages Don to finally write a novel he’s been meaning to write about his own life and love with Helen. A novel that is nothing more than an autobiography and appropriately titled “The Bottle”.

Don starts out eager to get a hold of a drink after drink, but soon it becomes the other way around, the drinking clearly is the one taking a hold of him. Don becomes so lost in the rye whisky that at one instance he hides a bottle of it, and later can’t remember for the life of him where he placed it. At a restaurant/bar he goes to such extreme as to steal from a young woman just to afford another drink. In his worst Don imagines a bat eating a rat coming out of a whole in the wall that was never there. We see a man loose almost everyone, the few who genuinely cared about him, and himself.

The Lost Weekend is a beautiful portrait of a man lost in addiction. The film is equally well acted by the entire cast. It is too brilliantly directed by Billy Wilder, and is edited in the classical continuity style, a staple of cinema I intent to incorporate in ninety percent of my films. The cinematography contains such exquisite details like the circles of water left by the perspiration of a shot glass on the wooden bar. A detail that cleverly allows us to get the magnitude of how much alcohol Don has consumed. This film as old as it may be, and with it’s lack in rawness such as profanity, sex, and even violence manages to capture an extremely accurate portrait of what it’s like to be an alcoholic. The Lost Weekend is a film that will surely grace the high end of my list of Best Films I Have Ever Seen, and remain there without a doubt.

Clip from The Lost Weekend.avi

A clip from the wonderful film The Lost Weekend directed by Billy Wilder, starring Ray Milland, and Jane Wyman.

"Just For one day (Heroes)" By David Guetta

Great song, I say David Guetta is one of the best. I used to listen to this a long time ago, just my kind of music, the one I grew up with.

Red - Official Trailer 2 [HD]

Here is the trailer for the fun and unique action movie, RED, starring Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker, and Morgan Freeman.

Big Actors, Big Guns, and The One That Tripped (RED review)

RED
***

I knew before going in to see this film that RED was going to be a film of zero depth. It was, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. One reason is all the legendary actors that managed to be involved in this. I mean in my opinion, Helen Mirren would have been enough reason to see this film. Directed by little known director (to me) Robert Schwentke, the film falls a bit short, but it’s not a deal breaker.

RED is about a group of retired black-ops who suddenly become a target, and they must get back the old team to fight the attack. It’s an entertaining film, specially because all the actors play the parts well. They are all legends in their own right, and to see them in something far from their comfort zone, at least for most, was a blast. Such cast includes Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and Mary-Louise Parker.

There are not many things that stand out completely about the film, but it is at times like a sightseeing tour. For example, I don’t think it gets anymore badass than to see Helen Mirren with a machine gun, seriously she is perfect for anything. Also I loved John Malkovich as the crazy man, who is not entirely nuts either. In one particular scene he grabs a woman coming out of a store, puts a gun to her head, and simply justifies it by saying “she smells like government”. Such a funny scene in the film. John Malkovich can certainly play the wacky old man. Another wonderful thing that just about made this film worth seeing was that the second half of the film would not have happened if one of the characters hadn’t tripped. Have you ever seen that in an action sequence, a character trip and then get caught? Well it happens here and it drives the second half of the narrative. It’s great, that made me laugh so much.

RED is not a serious film, so don’t be fooled by the pedigree in the cast. This is a fun, funny, and unique action movie. I would recommend you to rent it, if anything to see Academy Award winning actors embody action roles that are unlikely of them to do so. Who says old people can’t have fun? They certainly did in this picture. 

Inception Soundtrack-Dream is Collapsing (Hans Zimmer)

My second favorite piece of music from the film Inception.

Inception Soundtrack, Trailer music - Mind Heist

This is certainly one of the most epic pieces of music from a film ever. Well it's addicting, and very inspiring at leas to me. I have heard it hundreds of times. I say that when I feel uninspired I listen to this immediately. Hans Zimmer is a genius.

The Social Network Official Trailer -In theatres Oct 1 2010

They Talk So Fast! (The Social Network review)

 

The Social Network
****

I don’t understand why I ever hesitated to watch this film. I think it is partly because it was too popular of an Academy Award nominated movie for my taste, but in the end I gave it a chance and it all worked out for the best.

The Social Network chronicles the battle and life before of Mark Zuckerberg the creator of Facebook. One of the most impressive things that the writer accomplishes is putting some heavy dialogue into the characters. Often I found myself reading the subtitles too fast, and believe me you at least need subtitles to catch everything the characters say. One characters that impressed me beyond imagination was that of Mark Zuckerberg himself. Jesse Eisenberg plays him with extreme confidence, one I myself or many would never pull off. His words come out like a speeding bullet train which serves to prove how smart this person is.

The performances are not only brilliant, but extremely well casted. While most might feel that the main character, the creator of Facebook, comes off as an arrogant asshole, I found myself liking him a lot. This film if it is at all accurate with the actual personality of the real Mark Zuckerberg; I say praises him as an extremely intelligent man. One I not only found myself feeling great sympathy for, but also great admiration for. I mean if you can create something like Facebook, and become the youngest billionaire in the world then I say go for being the though asshole you can be. Why the hell not?

The movie is wonderfully shot, the cinematography is nothing short of genius. I don’t know but the films had a lot of green in it, and I loved it. The sound design too can be appreciated in some of the club scenes. Truly this films stands out in many technical aspects, but what really makes it genius, is the writing by Aaron Sorkin. The quick talk, and wonderful complicated words (God only knows what they mean) that fill the screenplay are something to appreciate greatly. It credit’s the great appeal of the movie, aside from the young actors and stars such as Justin Timberlake who by the way surprised me by showing that he can actually act.

This extremely modern piece should be watched by everyone. I think you will be greatly impressed at how interesting a movie about Facebook can be. Also if anything at least anyone with a Facebook should watch it. Trust me this film is a masterpiece.