Monday, December 31, 2007

(Almost) The Last of 2007: No Country For Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Simpsons Movie

Here are 3 of the last 5 films I saw in 2007. All three are some of the biggest acts to debut before the year's end, though my reaction to each of them spanned from "great" to "meh."

Monday, December 17, 2007

No Country For Old Men: I was terribly underwhelmed by this nebulous story on a western man in the dusk of his life, and thought it veered toward viciousness and violence rather carelessly. Stylistically, No Country is stunning, don't get me wrong. I have to tread on this thumbs-down criticism lightly, because there is no question the Coens are two of the most important and talented filmmakers of my generation. But at the same time I can't help but think the movie was too callous in the handling of its subject (the American West, its people) to be received with such adulation. I know I'm in a minority on this one, but I felt cheated by the movie's end; after two hours of slaughter there was hardly any account for its characters, as if they didn't matter to begin with. There is such a distance between the Coens and the characters they create that each one always feels forcefully drawn up, making it that much easier for them to be, finally, expendable.




Friday, December 21, 2007

And then came director Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and The Butterfly: a sheer visual delight, and a film that has such tenderness for human life. French Elle Editor Jean-Dominique Bauby is suddenly paralyzed from a stroke, and learns to communicate by blinking his left eye; one blink for "yes," two blinks mean "no." By these means he writes a short novel chronicling his experience trapped within his own body, with the assistance of a speech therapist who recites the alphabet until he blinks "yes" for the letter needed to complete his word. The film is based on this true short story, and features a performance by Max von Sydow as Bauby's (Mathieu Amalric) father that rivals for the most emotionally devastating moments on film.

If you don't like this movie, you can't be human.






Sunday, December 30, 2007

Yeah, I know, I got to this one right under the wire, just hours before the end of '07, and even then it's sort of pathetic to think I waited all this time for The Simpsons Movie to arrive before my eyes on DVD format. You could see the complexity of the animation, how this "episode" was crafted specially for the big screen. I kick myself for missing this one in theaters last summer for this reason; it truly was a spectacle that I missed (if not a cinematic phenomenon, it was surely a cultural one.) And yet, if you look at the animation there is nothing done that hadn't been done before, and the story was your typical Simpsons arc: Marge and Homer arguing, the whole family suffering a public humiliation for something minor one of the family members (most likely Homer) could have prevented easily; Lisa in love (and Milhouse in love with Lisa); Bart exacerbating an already bad situation by misbehaving; and Maggie as the mystery shooter. So yeah, it was, like, the greatest Simpsons episode ever. I still will always refer to this great review that sums up about everything there is to be said about The Simpsons Movie.

Some New Film, Some Old: Russian Dolls, Juno, and Carlito's Way

Sunday, December 9, 2007

L'Auberge espagnole (2002) was the first Cédric Klapisch film I saw, and now the second, appropriately, the sequel to L'Auberge, Russian Dolls (2005), is another lovely jaunt through Europe where I live vicariously through the characters who find amazing abodes in the heart of Paris, and meaningful, hair-pulling careers as writers. Ah, where is that bottle of Bordeaux? My glass is empty and I need a refill.

Russian Dolls finds the college flatmates now buried in work they are disappointingly tied to as they struggle to make do with a reality that doesn't mesh with their dreams of yore. Each one, teetering on bona-fide adulthood, is swept off their feet by love and lust, still in touch with that dewy freshness of youth and ideals. Pour heavy. That glass is already empty...

L'Auberge Espagnole and Russian Dolls are to Generation Y, who now march solemnly into the dawn of their thirties, what John Hughes and The Breakfast Club were to Gen X-ers in the 1980s: a celluloid catharsis that demands we not deny the spirit of youth, enlightenment, of who we are, of who we love, of what we want to do, of who we want to be. Pour on!



Friday, December 14, 2007

I listed Juno in the number 4 slot of this year's Top Ten List, but it very well could have been placed further up (or down?) depending on the day. I wrote a bit about Ellen Page on Seen's sister site Scarlett Cinema, which defines Page as one of the biggest female assets to the film industry. You can read about that right here.

I'm thirsty for more of Ellen Page's fresh attitude and wit that holds as much clout as her male counterparts.


















Saturday, December 15, 2007

Hello, Brian De Palma! I missed your movie Carlito's Way in 1993, but now, nearly fifteen years later, I finally saw it, and I have to say it's one of my favorites. Pacino is always great, that's a given (except for in Two For The Money), but the real winner is Sean Penn as the coke addled, high-power attorney. For as humorless and annoying as Penn can be of late, one ought not to forget his serious contributions to cinema; his acting is simply uncanny. I have yet to see Into The Wild, but did see The Pledge (2001) and remember being impressed with his skill as a director too.

Also, some brief observations on the camera work in Carlito's: an outdoor party scene in the Hampdens reveals Penn and Pacino in extreme long shot, from what looks to be a mile away from the subjects; the sound of their conversation is crystal clear, however, and it creates a real sense of surveillance. De Palma also has the incredible ability to make the streets of New York look like they're duplicates on a set; in a number of scenes outside of a night club and an evening exterior of a cafe look downright painted.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Katie Holmes Hair Style


Katie Holmes Hair Style


Katie has made her entry into the hair style fashion scene with her very stylist modern bob hair style, see photo left.
Her style features lots of layering combined with a deep side part and side swept bangs. This type of hair style can be worn many different ways, including curly and stick straight.
The bob hair style, however, is a high-maintenance style that will require frequent trims and lots of hair style products to keep all the hair in exactly the right place. This is especially true if you have frizzy or unruly hair. See more Katie Holmes hair styles at http://www.hrhairstyles.com/katie_holmes.htm


Friday, December 14, 2007

Blood Butterflies

Flowers in the Attic
Flowers in the Attic

Ive just bought this t-shirt from Threadless - Flowers in the Attic. Its running out of stock though as they are having a $10 sale. This shirt seems totally emo. I bought several other shirts while waiting for this one to be reprinted (it was so popular, I knew it would be eventually). Fortunately it only took two weeks before the magic reprinting notice! I'm wearing it now. One of those designs that just sticks in your mind forever. I love it so much. Visit Threadless for a bunch more wonderful tees.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

EMO T-Shirts


Emo, which is a shortcut for “emotional,” is an important fashion trend nowadays. Emo clothing is rooted in other fashion styles, such as goth and punk. Emo fashion is associated with dark tight-fitted clothes, with occasionally flashy accessories.

Emo t-shirts are important pieces in the closet of any emo. Emo t-shirts can be very symbolic and expressive of the person’s feelings and interests. If you want to dress like an emo, here are the basic characteristics of an emo t-shirt that you need to know.

  • Emo t-shirts are typically dark colored t-shirts. A plain black t-shirt is a favorite among emos.
  • If you are not into wearing plain dark-colored t-shirts, striped or checkered t-shirts will also do.
  • Dark colored t-shirts mixed with other colors, such as neon, can also be worn.
  • Typical designs for emo t-shirts include various ghoulish symbols, such as a skull or a broken heart.
  • Emo t-shirts may also have logos of emo bands, such as Dashboard Confessional and Hawthorne Heights, printed on them.
  • Emo t-shirts are usually slim-fitted.

Emo t-shirts are best worn with pencil-tight jeans, studded belts and oversized belt buckles, and a pair of Vans or Converse shoes. Also consider getting a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and a black messenger bag. To complete the emo look, it is advisable to get an emo haircut and put on some simple black eye make-up, such as eyeliner or eye shadow. These tips apply for both guys and girls.

Although these are the clothes commonly worn by emos, you should not be limited to these. Remember that being emo calls for a sense of creativity, individuality and non-conformity. Your clothes say a lot about who you are and what you are feeling at the moment. Be true to yourself! Be emo!

Monday, December 3, 2007

How Do I Make My Curly Hair look Emo?

For those who have curly hair and want to look emo, here are some tips that would somehow help you achieve the emo look. These are all taken from the comment section. Thanks to all who have taken time to write these mini guides.

Oh, wow.
This could be a lot of work, but if you are willing to be dedicated to it, then it would look awesome.
Emo guys are so hot!
Alright, first off..
HOT TOPIC IS YOUR FRIEND!
I know some people are scared of it, but there is nothing wrong with the people there.
Just go. Almost every single thing in that place will make you look emo.
You don't necessarily have to wear skinny jeans. Regular jeans are ok too, as long as they are a dark color.

Ok, now for your hair.
You don't really have to dye it if you don't want because your hair is pretty dark as it is.
But you will need a straightener.. hate to say that but it's true.
Or you could get it chemically straightened, but that is like really expensive.
You might want to grow your hair out a bit, but it's not required, because emo is all about being yourself.
[Cough, cough.]
But you will need to have it straight.
Go to a stylist, or get a friend to cut it for you. You will need side bangs. Lots and lots of side bangs. And make sure they cover at least one eye.
One side of your bangs needs to be longer than the other side.
Cut the back part on top of your head kind of short and spike it up.
The best type of gel is Got-2-B-Glued.
Or, if you don't like that, you could try a faux-hawk. They are pretty cool.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. SHOES!
Oh, how I love shoes.
You will need Vans slip-ons or Converse. Or some black skate shoes like Etnies or Adios.

And the best type of hoodie for an emo guy is either a plain black one, or a band hoodie, or one that is a zip-up with, like, black and grey wide horizontal stripes.
[Like one Pete Wentz would wear.]

Here's the part where I would tell you to try to be yourself, but it's a little too late for that now.
Hahahahaha.

Well good luck, I think it will look great!
I wanna know how it comes out.

By: Katie

First off all,
u have to straighten it.. its a must.
if u cant dye your hair, and u've straightened it, buy some moisturizing spray so it looks like your hair it makes your hair dark and messy. style it so it comes across your forehead at an angle then use hairspray to lock it in place.

after that, go to your hair dresser and ask him to layer the back and think it out and little but not take any length away from it.
then buy your self some hair clayy and go wild. pull your hair away from your head and then sort of twist it with your fingers and srunch it up. it gives it a reli messy spikey look. then hold that in place with hair spray. u dont have to spike it. if you dont comb it down constantly.

Becuase your hair is quite short go buy some reli huge womens sun glasses which will cover your eyes and try to pull you hair over your glasses.

Next if you cant buy any good emo-ish shirts go to like a childrens store and buy the tightest and smallest spiderman or transformer shirt u can fit into. dont worry if its a bit short and your belly is showing it just adds to the 'i'm not afraid to show my self and i dont care what u think look'

then buy some reli tight jeans and either vans old school skate shoes or slip-ons with a reli funky or childish design. if u cant the converse will have to do. Start listening to quality music like faber drive and as i lay dying ,which reli express how u feel then buy your self the bigeest head phones u can afford and have them on all the time it stops people from talking to you, and is reli anti social. Then find a tight zip up hoodie that is black, dark purple or pink. Wear your studded belt side ways also if u've got 2 put the other one on aswell.

By: Richard_died-inyourarms

The best way for me to get the emo look is to get a hair straightner and some straightening gel. If you have money to throw away, look into japanese hair straightening. Make sure to get heat protecting spray as to not fry the hair. Then for me I have to straighten twice a day so it falls flat and doesnt poof on me. Then apply palmade or clay. I should also add my hair is extremely thick so I had to get it thinned a bit as to once again so it wouldnt poof on me. My picture on thier is a month or 2 old. Ill get a new one soon.




Hey that dude with curly hair, what you should do instead of frying your hair with the irons, go to the hair salon and get a CHEMICAL straightner on it. Then you will have straight hair full stop. It's like a perm, except they make it straight instead of curly. Styling wise, I've seen your myspace. Dude it's a mess. Get it cut. You have a fairly long face, so it's best to keep your hair long all around. Get it cut just above the eyes and stop the spiking at the back. Keep it flat. It won't look like a mess. That's for the long hair look. Looking at your other pictures with your short hair, personally i think you look much better with short back and sides :P

anonymous

Personally I don't think people with curly hair should bother with the emo style. If you have curly hair, you're lucky, i love the ringlets lol. Emo guys, if you want emo hair just give it about half a year to grow and go and see your hairstylest mate. If you're afraid of your hairdresser like me and cut your own hair. Here is how.



You need some basic tools first.
Scissors. Not ones you cut paper with PROPER scissors.
A Sharp Object. Maybe a blade. Prefrably a rasor, small one.
Comb.

Okay the razor will be used to cut your sharp pointy fringe at an angle. Start from the left or right however you want to do it and about half way down your forehead. Cut it whatever angle you want.

Used the scissors to just trim down the sides of your hair and the top otherwise you will end up with the thickest, gayest and afrolikish hair. Not too short. Juut trimmed. Same with the back.

Comb it through and check your results. But note: USE A MIRROR and use two mirrors to cut the back of your hair.

By: The guy that is a master at cutting emo hair

Nick needs Help


Very cute Nick here needs some help. Lets help him become an emoboy. Post your thoughts on the comment section.

Hi my names Nick. I saw your advice on emo hair.
I am guessing your emo. Or whatever.
I want to look like that.
I just don't know what to do.
I don't know if this matters at all but heres my description along with pic.
I am 5'5 (short I know) i have about to my top of my eyes (when straight) brown ungodly curly hair. I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT. I wear hollister (not emo I know but what the heck idc its clothes) I have an awesome studded belt. I want to look emo. I also am a little like pudgy. I don't like it I want ab's. I am 14. I am NOT a kid and I know what I want.
I'd really appriciate your help.
Thanks

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Short Experimental Films: Len Lye

Saturday, December 1, 2007



The Chicago Filmmakers' screening of Len Lye's short films earlier this month (12/01/07) was a fantastic film experience, and if you were so unlucky as to miss the 16mm tour of his oeuvre, there are a handful of Lye's films available for a peek on YouTube. I've posted my favorite above, Free Radicals (1958/1979), which begins at about 3:30 on the counter, and you can read a full description of each film in the series in an earlier post over at Seen's sister site Scarlett Cinema.

The Films of Pedro Costa

The Gene Siskel Film Center concluded its retrospective on filmmaker Pedro Costa a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. Here's a quick breakdown of what I saw, and again, please mind my brevity, but with two days left of 2007 I am scrambling to review everything that's been released in the past month. But, suffice it to say, in short, that everything I saw from Costa last month (and earlier this month) was fantastic and constitutes some of the best cinema I've seen in 2007.



Tuesday, November 27, 2007

With the release of Costa's Colossal Youth last year, his filmmaking has been at the fore of my mind, though not having seen any of his films before it was diffcult to gauge my expectations. Let me say now that the first Costa screening I attended in late November, Down To Earth (1994) was an aesthetic delight. The story follows a young nurse who travels back to her patient's rural hometown; he is in a coma, she seems in search of some meaning in her life. Surrounded by the mountainous landscape, littered with lava rocks and a scarce few trees, Costa's characters become abstract figures in disconnected space. His shot sequences lie somewhere in between the long takes of Bela Tarr that take on a life of their own, and the bouncy disconnect of Godard, a la Breathless, making us keenly aware of the technology that informs and mediates the actual landscape, at the same time showing us pure moments of beauty that mixes the live human being with the heavy force of nature.


Friday, November 30, 2007

Where Lies Your Hidden Smile (2001) is a must for anyone interested in editing, language, and the semiotics of them both. Following filmmakers Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub as they strain to find the precise moment to cut their film, the story is as much a show of their labor as it is a labor of love for one another. The filmmakers painstakingly advance and rewind the reel of celluloid frame-by-frame, in one scene, to find the the spot where the root of a character's smile begins, a subtle expression overlooked by the untrained eye. The film is an exercise in seeing how a film is edited, and though it requires an almost tedious amount of concentration, it's an experience unparalleled in its drive to show us what it takes to get just the right frame of film onscreen.


Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Colossal Youth was the big to-see film of 2006, and now that it has been released one year later I'm glad to say I finally saw it. Maybe it was the build-up of 365 days of rave reviews that made me slightly less than thrilled about the feature overall, but more likely, Colossal Youth simply fell to the shadow of the predecesors I was lucky enough to see before it, the aforementioned Down To Earth and Where Lies Your Hidden Smile. In retrospect, it actually seems like a familiar exercise for Costa who employs much of the same long-take/long shot aesthetic in Down To Earth (and undoubtedly others, which unfortunately I was unable to see), and, as illustrated in the image above, Costa's characters here too are contrasted against local buildings, structures, and other ubiquitous pieces of the landscape that really pull them out of space. Colossal Youth, for me, looked much like an urban version of Down To Earth. All of that being said, despite any repetition Costa exercised in this particular film it is still an individual masterpiece. The run-time is a bit longer than the others (and felt that way too), but you can think of this movie like you're taking an extended look at artwork on a museum wall; time is handled with a lot of texture that very much slows things down to make you notice everything you're seeing in the shot.

Bee Movie and Another 'B' Movie

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Late Marriage - 2001 - DVD

Late Marriage was a 2001 Israeli film that landed on my Netflix queue for reasons unknown. It won best everything from the Israeli Film Academy, but I found it just depressing. Though, before I begin to sound hateful of it, I'll stop; it wasn't the movie's fault I wasn't ready (or wanting) to watch it when it came, so I shall reserve criticisms for now.



















Monday, November 26, 2007

Most underwhelming and overhyped movie of the year: Bee Movie. Okay, Transformers was hyped more than Jerry Seinfeld's Bee flick, but I think most of us trusted that Seinfeld would end up with the smarter of the two animated films. Though I haven't seen Transformers to know for sure, the independent polling I took among friends and acquaintances was that Michael Bay's summer blockbuster was surprisingly fun. On the other end of the spectrum, I imagined hilarious and endlessly entertaining consequences for Seinfeld's script, so believe my profound disappointment when the movie turned out to be about not much more than a few jokes of the Seinfeld sort sprinkled throughout a contrived kids' story. The only thing good about the film was Seinfeld himself (as the bee's voice anyway), and I'd rather have him in non-computer animated form on the stand-up stage instead. Bummer, I was excited about this one...

A Few New Films in '07: Oswald's Ghost, I Think I Love My Wife, and The Darjeeling Limited

Friday, November 16, 2007

Oswald's Ghost was a short, and a shade sentimental documentary by Robert Stone on the Kennedy assassination's impact on U.S. society. As the title suggests, the film is centered on the role of Lee Harvey Oswald and the many subsequent conspiracy theories in the years after his murder. Though the film doesn't offer any new perspective on the history of the assassination, it does make use of long reels of news footage that are usually only seen in the length of a soundbite. Dan Rather is young, dewy-skinned freshman reporter, and the now gray and frazzled conspiracy theorists looked like young and frazzled conspiracy theorists; Jim Garrison is one in particular, the story of whom is the base of Oliver Stone's JFK (1991).

In all, what makes the movie compelling is not actually cinematic, but the result of the subject matter itself that's an inextricable part of the American political and social sphere. Looking at the Zapruder film up close and re-magnified is like living through that moment, now over forty years in our past, again for the first time (even for those of us who weren't alive to see it upon release.) The film mentioned a figure somewhere around the 70% range for the section of Americans that believe President Kennedy's death was conspired by our own government, using Oswald as he himself says on one famous newsreel, a "patsy." The film is kind of like an undergraduate level paper on the Kennedy assassination; interesting and genuinely curious and earnest in its questioning, but doesn't uncover anything new on the subject. That said, history buffs will delight (as I did) in the rekindling of facts it provides.


Friday, November 16, 2007

I Think I Love My Wife, Chris Rock's second directorial feature, was the most misogynist film of the year, gleefully congratulating itself with an internal monologue of cat calls from the film's lead character Richard Cooper (Chris Rock). Meanwhile back at home, his wife stakes her claim as a shrewish, demanding and humorless teacher/homemaker. Is Richard honestly shocked by their non-existent sex life when he is the only half of their so-called partnership that gets to have fun and make a joke or two?

Rock's adaptation is based on Eric Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon (1972), but is written for a much wider base; likely Rock's target audience is a far cry from those who sit down for the high concept ideas of Rohmer. The modern version of the film then becomes more of an exercise on bashing the low points of marriage, which are summed up from the male perspective only, thus pinning the roots of that anxiety on the boring, humorless wife. If only she were more fun, more spontaneous, then maybe he wouldn't be so tempted to undress every attractive woman with his eyes.



Sunday, November 18, 2007

Besides Rushmore (1998), The Darjeeling Limited might be the best Wes Anderson flick yet. I think the main criticism I've read about the film is its redundancy in terms of style, that it looks like every other W. Anderson film. His signature is surely there onscreen, but I adored it anyway. Everything from Bill Murray's opening cameo, to Jason Schwartzman's pepper spray scene was a lot of fun, and most of it was done with so little dialogue that it gave us a good chance to just watch a solely visual story. The fact that the three American brothers are deserted in a country where their language isn't understood in the first place, is a good premise for the muted scenes. Most notable are the shots of simple human movement: watching the brothers walk or run with old-school designer suitcases in tow, regular mundane exercises become elegant.

Otto Preminger Visits Chicago (and my living room)

Sunday, November 25, 2007

I've been watching a bit of Preminger lately, mostly due to a retrospective that ran at the Music Box Theatre. The screenings were once-a-week matinée shows on weekends; the first of which I saw was a gem from 1950, Where the Sidewalk Ends, starring Dana Andrews as a jaggedy-edged cop covering up a murder he didn't mean to commit.

Preminger cuts to the chase. From the start of the credit sequence we're already into the action, punctuated by the film's characters interacting directly with the title cards as they walk over the big, chalked letters on the sidewalk beneath them. City sounds abound: car horns honking, people chattering, it's an overall bustling buzz that hints more at a reality than style. Though that gritty reality is in and of itself a style.

Sgt. Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) is a disturbed by something internally (is it the war? at this late date I can't recall if his character is war veteran), which he takes out rather aggressively on the rough-necks he picks up. He's warned by his superiors (one Lt. Thomas, played by Karl Malden) to cool it or he'll be suspended or demoted, or maybe worse; so when he pushes his last suspect, a war hero, a bit too hard, he knows his goose is cooked; he covers up the murder, and on down his cover-up spirals that eventually involves an innocent cabbie, the father of Dix's love interest, Morgan, played by the stunning Gene Tierney.



Monday, November 26, 2007

Fallen Angel (1945) graced my DVD player the next day and brought more of the same Preminger grittiness, though this time with a female lead who is much less graceful and pretty than Gene Tierney: Stella (Linda Darnell), the femme fatale who hooks con artist Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) and inevitably trips him up in a no-win love affair. Stanton sweeps into town and courts the more wholesome hometown girl, June Mills (Alice Faye) who is heir to a small fortune following her parents' deaths, and which is not-so-coincidentally her most attractive feature to the swindling Stanton.

Darnell, who is the town's prostitute (though never overtly referred to as such in the film), is such a transient soul--both physically when she runs away and returns time after time, and emotionally, in her loosely defined love with Stanton--is Eric Stanton's center of gravity. But when she falls out of his life, he loses track of it himself. He's caught in a love triangle with a woman's money (and with a woman who loves him unconditionally) and with the woman who has stolen his heart, the cruel and corrupt Stella. Add in with the mix a murder for which Stanton is being framed, and what you have, once again, is a post-war, post-traumatic stress picture that disseminates Stanton's self-confidence in one quick blink.

Eric Stanton is a drinker in the movie (yet another escape from his unbearable being), and after learning recently that Dana Andrews was an alcoholic, I can't think of a more perfect actor to maintain the portrait of Stanton's male fragility. There's a double-layer to the character in Fallen Angel, kind of a transparency of Andrews's self that brings that extra edge of roughness to the film, and moreover, adds that harshness of reality that seems to sum up the signature of Preminger.

50s Transition Films: Murder By Contract (1958) and The Big Sky (1952)

Once a week since the beginning of September Chicago Reader film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has introduced films from the 1950s "transition" at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The movie plus a brief introduction and discussion following the film, comes in at a mere $4 (for Film Center Members), making it the best deal in Chicago for cinema. I made it out mid-way through November (finally) for two of the must-see movies on the schedule: Murder By Contract (1958) directed by Irving Lerner, a film said to have influenced Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch and others; and Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952). The last film of the year is coming up this Wednesday (12/12) and is sure to please, Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon (1957). Actually, the print we will see is a UK version with twelve extra minutes of runtime, and officially titled, Curse of the Demon. No matter what you call it, it will be great; Tourneur is one of the finest horror and noir directors, the same man credited with Cat People (1942) and Out of the Past (1947).


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Ah, double rates for women, indeed! Claude (Vince Edwards) is a swaggering contract killer who is hired to take out a target, but it isn't a hulky man like he's used to; it's not the kind he can envision like an old enemy of war, this time he's hired to kill a woman. Don't let her slight figure and delicate piano playing fool you, the lady's got a mouth like a sailor, terrorizing her police escorts and body guards with degrading tongue lashings. She's one of a handful of women scripted in the story, and it is no wonder she strikes fear in his heart, she's the only one of them with authority and voice. If we are to draw noir characteristics into the analysis of Murder, pianist Billie Williams (Caprice Toriel) is clearly Claude's femme fatale. He brustles past his two male counterpart, veritable babysitters employed to keep Claude on schedule and at ease, hence outings to the beach and to other Los Angeles attractions. On a one-week deadline to complete his mission Claude relaxes most of his days away until it is finally revealed to him that Billie isn't a man. With only two days left he hastily demands $10,000 to complete the job (up from his original fee of $500, I believe); the rate is guaranteed to him without any mention of why his stock suddenly soars so high in the murder market. The poster illustrates just how close Claude comes to his target, and he fails out of unspoken insecurities with women in general. It might have been the singularly oddest post-war picture of maladjusted men, and is clearly a part of an anxiety-riddled theme in Lerner's other films from the 1950s, none of which I have seen, but whose titles speak volumes: Suicide Attack (1951), Man Crazy (1953), Edge of Fury (1958), and City of Fear (1959).



Wednesday, November 28, 2007

If Hawks' Red River (1948) is homoerotic, The Big Sky is a confident acceptance of male companionship. Kirk Douglas and his much lesser-known co-star Dewey Martin play two comfortable companions on a fur trade expedition up the Missouri River with "Uncle Zeb" (Arthur Hunnicutt), another amiable character who is employed as the film's gentle voiceover narrator. When the story opens with Boone (Dewey Martin) knocking the lights out of Jim (Kirk Douglas) for no apparent reason, we think the movie will be demoted to a series of macho fights that declare superiority. To the contrary, Douglas's character is too calm mannered to care; he really is a guy resigned to the unwieldy western terrain, but he's rather thoughtfully at peace with that fact. And so, with the typical alpha-male tensions dissolved there's room for the characters to live and breathe together, and they are (as the introductory speaker mentioned; not Rosenbaum, who was out of town at a film festival) quite at ease in one another's company. The voiceover narration by Hunnicutt, in his unpretentious and wise country tone, frames the film with a sense of loyalty and male sentimentality rarely seen in a western.

Movie Catch-Up: Eastern Promises, The Exorcist, Deep Red, Control, and Nights of Cabiria

The past two months have seen a tremendous influx in film viewing, and thusly, I am far too backlogged to give each and every film the proper analysis it deserves. That statement means doubly as much for the content of this post, chock-full of cinema geniuses young and old, from Cronenberg and Fellini, to Anton Corbijn, music video vet and director of 2007's Control. So bear with me in the next few updates that bring us right in to Top Ten season. Yes, the Top Ten Best Movies of 2007 are already being calculated and will be up and ready for debate by the end of this month.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

I'm a big David Cronenberg fan and Eastern Promises, the next feature film after his miraculous 2005 movie, A History of Violence, reassures that to the max. The crowing achievement in his new film must be the brutal and fleshy fight scene, in which actor Viggo Mortensen is stripped down to nothing and fights for his life against two large (and clothed) gangsters; not only for the way this scene makes the violence personal, but for the intimate camera of Cronenberg regular Peter Suschitzky, and the superb makeup from Stephan Dupuis (who won an Oscar in 1986 for another Cronenberg vehicle, The Fly), the movie becomes beautiful (yet bloody) in a personal way.


Saturday, October 27, 2007

The weekend before Halloween, a few friends and I met up for a "Horror Movie Marathon," (once one reaches their late twenties there will be no late-night celebrations on Wednesday workdays, apparently) involving cheap champagne, red vines and carrot cake. Combined with our gory double-feature that included Euro-Slasher classic Deep Red and Friedkin's 1973 terror, The Exorcist, naturally we felt sick by 2:00am when we wrapped up. If you haven't seen Italian director Dario Argento's Deep Red (Profondo rosso), please do; it'll give you a jump, and is more artful than exploitative than its horror counterparts. Ditto on The Exorcist, which somehow gets scarier every time you see it.


Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Control is the sort of fiction film that feels so real it could almost be a documentary. It's about Joy Division lead singer, Ian Curtis's rise to stardom before his suicide at age 23, and chronicles his aims at reaching adulthood prematurely: his wedding, the birth of his first child, and his extra-marital affairs. It is the quick rise and fall of a man too frustrated with his youthful identity to patiently grow beyond it, and find greatness. Shot entirely in black and white by Anton Corbijn, who is mostly known for his work in rock documentary and videos--One Night in Paris, not the movie you're probably thinking of, but rather a Depeche Mode concert--is one, and there are more that cover U2 and Metallica also. You can see the director's past genre influence on this film's style, and is a real tribute to Curtis's talent, and a quiet eulogy-in-retrospect on his death. The soundtrack is also phenomenal.


Tuesday, November 8, 2007

Somebody out there that I went to graduate film school with is probably shocked to learn I had never seen Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria until early last month. For whomever that may be I refer you to the brief Onion Opinion headline, "Oh My God, You've Never Seen Every Movie Ever Made?" So now that that's out of my system, I should say how lovely Nights is, tender and heartbreaking, but the clownish Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) keeps up our spirits regardless. I doubt there is anyone more adorable in screen history, excepting the male version of herself, Charlie Chaplin. I really loved this movie.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Chicago International Film Festival



The sad reality of a day job prevents one from devoting full days to a fleshy portion of a film festival's schedule. But luckily a good chunk of the movies one has to miss for myriad reasons--scheduling of course, but probably the cost of a $13 ticket price, too--luckily, a lot of those movies will get released in the succeeding months. Thus, after finding out director Anton Corbijn's pseudo-documentary on the truncated life and times of Joy Division front man Ian Curtis in Control was sold out (and was to be released theatrically 2 weeks later); and that scheduling issues would make me miss Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (yet to be released in the Chicago area), I made three ticket purchases with the following provisions: 1) something new and/or by a director I knew; 2) something with a lot of buzz that I'm unfamiliar with; and 3) a retrospective. There are pros and cons to be argued for these logistics, the cons being that treading on unfamiliar territory can lead to some rather dull cinema. But the inverse can also be true; there is something exciting about wandering into a film you know nothing about, it could end up being the best thing you see all year.


Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Walker, a new release by cinema veteran Paul Schrader, a screenwriter (Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980)), director (Affliction (1997), Autofocus (2002)), and occasional movie critic, was underwhelming in that "aw, shucks" kind of way (and certainly was not the best film I've seen all year.) By that I mean, with the set of credentials behind Schrader we want to be awestruck again with something that redefines what the world looks like, and it is usually its darker underside. Taxi Driver is seventies disillusionment defined; Raging Bull has a seedy swiftness that bowls you over in defeat; and his directorial contributions are likely to reveal regular peoples' more wretched sides (Autofocus takes this to a raunchy extreme.) The Walker stars Woody Harrelson as the homosexual son of a deceased senator with an outlandishly strong southern accent, an eye for high fashion, and a prejudice for almost no one. Weaving through the web of Washington society and politics he's a perfect fit among his gossipy gal pals (Lily Tomlin, Kristen Scott Thomas and Lauren Bacall) for weekly card games, but when a murder turns things terribly awry his friends disappear quickly. Washington politics are dirty, the story overtly goes. What's curious about The Walker, however, are how brightly lit his characters and sets are; the aesthetic is unnaturally sterile and symmetrical for a story regarding characters in up to their ears in deception, lies and greed. An irony that tips its hat directly to the planned, museum-like landscape of Washington, D.C. itself perhaps. If nothing more, Schrader remains consistent with The Walker in the way he shows us that nothing is ever as regal as it appears. It's the lack of urgency in this story where he diverges from his past.


Friday, October 12, 2007

The Man From London was the first film I've seen by Hungarian director Bela Tarr, and was decidedly the most important to watch at the festival after the critical buzz his past films had received. I am going to think of this film as an easier, or at least more digestible, introduction to Tarr, whose Sátántangó (1994) clocks in at 450 minutes (that's 7 1/2 hours), and Werckmeister harmóniák (2000) at 145 minutes. The two hour run time of The Man From London felt a touch longer than that, but only as an adjustment from the standard film fare these days that allows for an abundance of (some say unnecessary and/or sloppy) cuts and close-ups. The first thing to know about Bela Tarr is his penchant for the long shot and long take. The still image from the film above is a nice illustration of this, the primary establishing shot of the movie that later comes back as a bookend at the film's conclusion. What you won't glean from the image above is the thick texture of the picture, the deep contrast of black against white so dense and dimensional it's analogous to the sound of a needle on a dusty record, a tactile sound, and in Tarr's case, image. It is a movie to be seen on a big screen, on DVD-TV at home as a last-ditch effort, for much of the meditation on form will probably be lost in translation. The scenery is stark and minimal, yet enveloping and hypnotizing; there's a simple sense of space the characters live in that doesn't make it seem artificial, even though each scene is staged as much (if not more) than that of any other fiction film.

The story is simple: a man from London arrives in the opening scene smuggling a briefcase of money ashore; from the watchtower (the view as seen in the still above) a guard watches the man's actions, and his subsequent fight with a man at the dock edge unfold. Without seeing the character from whose eyes we're watching this drama, the camera pans inch-by-inch, back and forth across the window panes of his watchtower, careful not to be seen by anyone below. But after the guard steals the money the camera's perspective changes; we meet his family, towns people, and finally an investigator on his trail to get the money back; that is, he's as vulnerable being seen in public as the first man he witnessed sneaking the briefcase on land. A shot framed by the windows of his tower reveal a skyline of windows from which he too may be seen, and reveals an incredible amount of depth as to be a window itself, and not simply a projection onscreen.

My favorite shot takes place in the last third of the film as the watch guard Maloin (Miroslav Krobot) carries a grocery sack at his side, seen from the tracking low-angle shot directly at the bag's level, and about the height of Maloin's knees; a minor object becomes the subject of greater consideration, and therein lies the beauty of The Man From London, an attention to the mundane, to everyday objects that adorn life, and how they are placed and consume time within the bigger picture.


Saturday, October 13, 2007

One of the big retrospectives this year at the festival was Rouben Mamoulian's 1935 film based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, one of the main characters of which is Becky Sharp. If you know the novel, you know her character, a conniving gold digger in search of permanent socialite status. I found the performances over-played, melodramatic, but inadvertently so; the color palette was the main pull of the film, shot originally in 3-strip Technicolor. From reel to reel you could see a drastic difference in the tone and color contrast, and a friend of mine pointed out after the screening that not every reel was a copy of the 3-strip process, but rather 2-strip Technicolor. The picture at left gives you a good idea of the garish color scheme employed, which in and of itself was dazzling. However, as a piece of cinema the staging and dialogue was too theatrical to be memorable.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Download "Fun aur masti songs"


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from the movie "Fun aur masti". This is a urdu or rather a Hyderabadi hindi movie casting R.k., Payal sarkar, Monika nouva, sarkar and others. All the songs are in mp3 format with great quality. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download "Fun aur masti songs"

Short on cash?

The holidays can be a tough time of the year and some people are in need of a little extra cash. If your credit cards are maxed out where do you turn to? One place you can turn to is a good payday loan company. Often you can get up to $1500.00 with no credit check, they just deposit it right in your bank account usually the next day. Getting a loan online is so much easier than driving to a business that provides them.

A friend really wanted to get his girlfriend a nice gift for Christmas this year but he knew he wouldn't have the money until after the first of the year when he gets his bonus from work. I told him about online payday loans and how easy they are to get. You really only need a bank account and a drivers licence and they approve you. The payday services are great for short term loans that you can pay back but if you don't have the money to pay back the loan then you get stuck in the cycle of always taking out another loan to pay for the one due.

Download "Halla Bol Songs"


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from the movie Halla bol. Halla bol starring Ajay devagan, Vidya balan and other stars is a rocking movie. Never miss it.. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-

Song-->1 Jab tak hai dum
Song-->2 Shabad gurbani
Song-->3 Is pal ki soch
Song-->4 More haji piya
Song-->5 Barsan lagi
Song-->6 Theme music

Download Halla Bol songs as a single file

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Download Hard kaur album "Supa women"


Hi pals.. Here is the album of the hot chik Hard kaur's Supa women. This album contains a lot of songs for you. All the songs are in mp3 format with great quality. Only all songs as a single file is given, if you want individual songs also claim for it.. I will try to upload. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Supawomen album as a single file

Download "Billa songs"-tamil


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from the movie Billa. Billa movie starred Ajith, Namitha and Nayanatara. All the songs are in mp3 format@320kbps. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Billa songs as a single file

Monday, November 26, 2007

Download "Goal movie"


Here is the Goal movie for you to download. This movie is based on football and racism in England. Goal starred John abraham and his GF Bipasha basu(BIPS) and Arshad warsi. Quality is updated to P-DVD rip. Enjoy the movie. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-

Goal Part-->1
Goal Part-->2
Goal Part-->3
Goal Part-->4

"Jodha Akbar" Promo download


Hi guys.. Here is the promo of the movie Jodha Akbar starring Hrithik roshan and Aishwarya rai. This promo is 4 and half minute video and is really exciting. I can't wait to watch the movie. All the sets and actors are attracting and I got crazy with this trailer.

Download Jodha Akbar Trailer

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Download Prashant tamang's "Dhanyavad songs"


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from the album Dhanyavad, composed by Indian Idol winner Prashant tamang. All the songs are in mp3 format with superb quality. Read the disclaimer before downloading.

Download All Dhanyavad songs as a single file

GUIDE: HOW TO GET AN EMO HAIR

Emo hairstyles are similar to the hairstyles of music artists in the 1980s and the punk hairstyles in the past decade. Commonly, emo hairstyles include straight black hair with long bangs or fringes styled to one side, covering part of the face and eyes. However, the emo hairstyle is not limited to this anymore; styles have evolved so that anybody who wants to have an emo hairstyle can get one.

CHECK THE SHAPE OF YOUR FACE

The shape of your face is important when choosing a specific emo hairstyle. For people who have longer faces, a longer emo haircut would fit. For those with rounder faces, long fringes and short hair at the back would look best.

FIND A PICTURE

Now that you know what kind of emo hairstyle would look good with the face of your shape, the next thing to do is find a picture with the kind of emo hair you want. There are numerous sources of emo hairstyles from the Internet, especially musicians. Bring this along when you go to your hairdresser, and have your stylist cut your hair the same way.

GET YOUR HAIR CUT

Before you can get an emo haircut, you need to grow your hair a little first. This allows your stylist to cut in the emo style into your hair. Ask your stylist to cut the sides and the back of your hair in layers. The bangs should be made choppy. Although emo bangs usually have one side longer than the other, some emo styles can also have bangs cut straight across, covering the forehead. The hair at the crown should also be cut short, keeping it spiky with hair products.

HAVE YOUR HAIR COLORED

Have your entire hair dyed black or dark brown. If you want to add highlights, you can do so in a variety of colors. Emo hairstyles tend to use unusual hues in order to create a glaring contrast to the black hair – white, blue and even bright pink, for the more outrageous, are typically used. Highlights are usually added under the bangs and at the nape.

STYLE YOUR HAIR

Having emo hair is high maintenance. Styling emo hair typically involves the use of a lot of hair products. You can choose to either straighten your hair with a hair iron or create a messy, unruly look. For those with curly hair, try straightening even just the front part of your hair. When ironing your hair, remember to do so in small sections so that you go through all the parts. If you are a guy, you can also spike up the back of your hair, while keeping the front pat down. You can also use funky accessories and clips to style your hair.

CONCLUSION

Getting an emo haircut is an important part of living the emo lifestyle. Although these are simple guides on how to get a basic emo haircut, it is important to incorporate your personal ideas to create your own one-of-a-kind emo hairstyle. Try it!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Download "Maharaja sree songs"


Hi guys.. Here are Maharaja sree songs. "Maharaja sree" movie starred Rishi, Nikitha and Anumehta and tracks were composed by MM Sreelekha. All the songs are in mp3 format with fantastic quality. Read the disclaimer before downloading the songs. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-

Song-->1 Gaali neeru akkarledu
Song-->2 Priyatama
Song-->3 Suppose nenu pattukunte
Song-->4 Loolu loolu looloo
Song-->5 Naamam pettu naamam pettu

Download All songs as a single file

Download "Azhagiya Tamizh Magan songs"


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from the movie Azhagiya Tamizh Magan songs(ATM songs). This movie Casted Vijay as hero and shriya as heroin and music is given by A.R.Rahman. Just, check it out. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-

Download Azhagya Tamizh Magan songs as a single file

Friday, November 23, 2007

Download "Welcome songs"(mp3s)


Here are welcome songs. Welcome is a multi starrer starring Akshay kumar, Katrina kaif, Anil kapoor and mallika sherawat. Music tracks are composed by Himesh reshmiya and Anand raj anand. Enjoy the songs. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-

Song-->1 Hoth rasiley
Song-->2 Insha allah
Song-->3 Kola laka vellari
Song-->4 Kiya kiya
Song-->5 Ucha lamba
Song-->6 Welcome

Download All songs as a single file

Download "jay sean-Deal with it" songs


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from Jay sean's album Deal with it. All the songs are in mp3 format with excellent quality. Enjoy the songs. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Jay sean's Deal with it album

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Download "50 Lakh movie" [DVD-rip]


Hi guys.. Download the movie "50 lakh". This movie casted Pawan malhotra, Mohit chaddha, Sindhu tolani, Virendra chauhan etc. Though this movie tumbled at box-office, it is worth a watch. So just check it out. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.
Sources:- filmijoy.com, zshare.net

Download Links:-

50 Lakh part-->1
50 Lakh part-->2
50 Lakh part-->3
50 Lakh part-->4

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Download "Bank songs"


Here are the songs from the telugu movie "Bank". Bank movie starred Jackie shroff, Rahul dev, Abbas, Raghuvaran and Archana. Thus there is touch of bollywood in the crew of the movie. Anyway enjoy the songs. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-


Song-->1 Naa choopu
Song-->2 Appa rao
Song-->3 Chandamama
Song-->4 Hey come on
Song-->5 Prathi kshanam
Song-->6 Bank bank

Download All songs as a single file

Download "Sangamam songs"


Hi guys.. here are the songs from the movie sangamam. This movie starred Rohith and Gade Sindhura(Former Miss India) and was directed by Rasool, the director of Okariki okaru. Tracks were composed by Keeravani. So enjoy the music. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.

Download Links:-

Song-->1 Pootha vesina
Song-->2 Santhosham
Song-->3 Paalaraati shilpaniki
Song-->4 Chinuku chinuku
Song-->5 Are u an angel

Monday, November 19, 2007

Download "Visakha express songs"


Hi guys.. Here are the songs from the telugu movie Visakha express. This tollywood movie starred Allari naresh, Rajiv kanakala, Sindhu tolani, preethi jingyani etc. Read the disclaimer before downloading. Subscribe to receive more uploads from this blog.
Download Links:-

Song-->1 Maapatelu ee roju

Song-->2 Maapi prema
Song-->3 O prema
Song-->4 kasukku sokulu
Song-->5 Prema

Download All songs as a single file

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Another Emoboy with a Heart

cute emo hair

Got this tru email. Another hot emoboy with a really nice emo hair. His name is Charles Brindle. Visit his myspace profile and be inspired.. He also cut his own hair and do the same for his friends.. talented..

I'm a fairly extroverted person who enjoys reading, hanging out, poetry, artwork, and computers. I spend a lot of time working on artwork and reading particularly. You'll find me in coffee shops most of the time, probably working on one of these things. I absolutely love coffee and without it I probably wouldn't get as much done as I do. Starbuck's frapicinos rule 2, along with BK Joes, and Sheri's coffee. Helps to curve my ADD anyway (at least that’s what I keep telling myself.)

Right now I'm running a small business and trying to make my way through college. Life for me is usually crazy but I've been living in a mad world so long I find it more enjoyable then a boring life. Better to live your life as an adventure then not live it at all. I also really like to help people out however I can. I personally think that the greatest way to spend your time is to be spending it helping others.

If you feel like you ever need someone to talk to, send me a message and I'll do my best to get back to you. The time I spend here is not to judge people, just here to help them out as best as I can.

I've got a lot of problems and I'm far from perfect. Actually I'd say I'm a pretty screwed up person and I'm trying to rebuild my life from the ashes of other people’s mistakes. But God is there to help me along the way, and I believe I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today without Him. If you don't believe in God or share this view that’s okay. I think people should have the choice to believe in what they want (shouldn't everybody have the right to that?)

-Charles Brindle

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Do you know about this hair trick?


Secret to reducing frizzy hair



Many professional stylists have a whole hat full of hair styling tricks that they sometimes share with their clients.


Of course they don't want to give away all of their secrets!


A great hair style trick that is really amazing is the concept of cool/cold. When you take a shower and you shampoo/condition, you can turn the water to cold during the last few minutes of your shower for amazing frizz control.


The cold water closes up the cuticle so that it can not absorb as much moisture anymore. Frizz happens when the hair absorbs and holds moisture.


Another great trick that is very similar is to switch your blow dryer to the cool setting (or press the cool blast button if you have one) after your hair is dry. This also does wonders for making your hair less frizzy.


Try it on your own hair and see! It's like magic.

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