Cinco de Mayo - Sólo con tu pareja

Since I realized that next Monday is actually Cinco de Mayo, I decided to pick something a little more appropriate (Mexican), so we'll be watching this:



SOLO CON TU PAREJA
1991, a film by Alfonso Cuarón

"Before Alfonso Cuarón helmed the international sensation Y tu mamá también, he made his mark on Mexican cinema with the ribald and lightning-quick contemporary social satire Sólo con tu pareja. Don Juan-ish yuppie Tomás Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho, from Bad Education) spends his nights juggling so many beautiful women that he can’t keep their names straight—until one of his many conquests, a spurned nurse, gives him a taste of his own medicine. Beautifully filmed in widescreen by the inimitable Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World), Cuarón’s wildly successful feature debut (which has never been released in the U.S.) gave voice to a Mexican middle-class that had remained largely unseen onscreen, and surveys contemporary urban sexual mores with style to spare." - criterion.com

4/28 - Shoeshine

Year: 1946
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Country: Italy

Shoeshine, Joe?

From Allmovie.com:

Vittorio DeSica's Shoeshine (Sciuscia) is a must-see example of Italian neorealist cinema, ranking with such other neorealist classics as DeSica's Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Umberto D. (1952) and Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945). Using nonprofessional actors, DeSica and co-screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, also one of neorealism's leading figures, paint an uncompromising picture of the lives of Italian street children abandoned by their parents at the end of World War II.

The film concentrates on two such children, Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smerdoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi). With no one else to turn to, the boys form a solid friendship, as well as a "corporation" of sorts: they eke out a living shining the boots of American GIs.

A failure in Italy (director DeSica noted that postwar Italian audiences preferred the glossy escapism emanating from Hollywood), Shoeshine was a huge success worldwide, as well as the winner of a special Academy Awards, which can be said as the first ever Academy Award For Best Foreign Language Film.

Monday, 7 pm, at Joe's.

Errol Morris interviews Abu Ghraib guards

I thought this was interesting:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/03/24/abughraib

There are video cli[s and transcripts you can read, too.

3/24 - The Last Emperor

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Year: 1987
Running Time: 164 minutes



Rory informed me that my pick is up next, and it'll be at RORY's place since Joe is not in Houston. (Let me know if it's your pick instead). 7:00 pm. Pizza and coke.

My pick was inspired by my recent adventure to Beijing since the Forbidden City was one of the main sights I visited. With 9000 rooms and located in the center of Beijing, this giant palace was resided by emperors of the last two dynasties in Chinese history. It is called The Forbidden City because any civilians would be executed for entering. It is now the most visited tourist sight in Beijing. The place is a work of art and I can only marvel at its epic proportions (In 5 hours, I have only walked through less than 40% of it).

From Criterion.com:

"Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor won nine Academy Awards, unexpectedly sweeping every category in which it was nominated—quite a feat for a challenging, multilayered epic directed by an Italian and starring an international cast. Yet the power and scope of the film was, and remains, undeniable—the life of Emperor Pu Yi, who took the throne at age three, in 1908, before witnessing decades of cultural and political upheaval, within and without the walls of the Forbidden City. Recreating Ching dynasty China with astonishing detail and unparalleled craftsmanship by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, The Last Emperor is also an intimate character study of one man reconciling personal responsibility and political legacy."

MASCULIN FEMININ

Released in 1966 by Jean-Luc Godard.



A tap into the brainwaves of a group of restless metropolitan twenty-somethings in 1960s Paris who engage themselves in flirtations with commitment and ambivalence. A mixture of satire and tragedy.

We will have to start at 7:30 tonight instead of 7. Austin has to take a test at school after he gets off work.

There is a chance that I might not be able to get this movie. If that happens, we will be watching The Elephant Man, by David Lynch.

The house with the blue door.
1503 Michigan

PIZZA

Brittany

3/3 - Faces

At Havican's, 7p, refreshments and pizza pies provided:

Faces
John Cassavetes, 1968



I've been reading an anthology of Raymond Carver's short stories, which operate along the same theme and setting of Faces, so I'm in the mood to watch it and see how the same subject is treated. I think Joe may have already seen this, but if it turns out that a few of us have, I'll pull something else. I'm in the mood for some Cassavetes, and I have that box set that I've been neglecting.

From the Criterion Collection:
The disintegration of a marriage is dissected in John Cassavetes’ searing Faces. Shot in high-contrast 16mm black and white, the film follows the futile attempts of captain of industry Richard (John Marley) and his wife, Maria (Lynn Carlin), to escape the anguish of their empty marriage in the arms of others. Featuring astonishingly powerful, nervy performances from Marley, Carlin, and Cassavetes regulars Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel, Faces confronts suburban alienation and the battle of the sexes with a brutal honesty and compassion rarely matched in cinema.

2/25 - À nous la liberté

On an extrememly rare whim, I've decided to show something I haven't seen before. Hopefully it works out for us.



À NOUS LA LIBERTE (Liberty For Us)
1931, dir. René Clair

Anyway, I chose this film because it is considered to be a masterpiece - one of the greatest French films of all time. Here's what Criterion has to say about it: "One of the all-time comedy classics, René Clair's A nous la liberté tells the story of Louis, an escaped convict who becomes a wealthy industrialist. Unfortunately, his past returns (in the form of old jail pal Emile) to upset his carefully laid plans. Featuring lighthearted wit, tremendous visual innovation, and masterful manipulation of sound, A nous la liberté is both a potent indictment of mechanized modern society and an uproarious comic delight." I couldn't have said it better myself.

It's also interesting in that the film's distribution company sued Charlie Chaplin and United Artists for plagiarism, claiming that his film Modern Times had stolen directly from À nous la liberté. Director René Clair refused to be involved in the suit, saying that he considered it a compliment that Chaplin, who he admired greatly, would base a film on his. After more than a decade Chaplin finally settled the lawsuit, but continued to deny that the charges had any validity.

I guess we'll see for ourselves.

Mon. Feb 18-Ben, Cj, and Brittany's house 7p.m.

IN MEMORY OF ROY SCHEIDER (who has nothing to do with this movie)
Seconds, 1966
dir. John Frankenheimer
B&W 107 min.

Academy Award nominee and closet homosexual Rock Hudson delivers a power-house performance in this critically acclaimed suspense-thriller.

Desperate to escape his dreary, dead-end life, aging banker Arthur Hamilton succumbs to a mysterious organization's offer of a new identity complete with a new body and a dead past-A fresh start. Hamilton begins his new life as handsome Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson), jet-setting in shear hedonism among a shadowy community of other "reborns". But exhilaration turns into breath-taking terror as Tony realizes that his newly purchased life carries a terrifying price.
Er...see what that price is at 1503 Michigan St. 77006 while eating pizza and drinking cold ones.
Monday, Feb 18 7p.m.
Let me know if I should change the movie to Jaws in memory of Roy Scheider. It is something I am truly grappling with. Thank you-Ben

Next Monday, the 11th

is my birthday, and Ben is supposed to host (I think). So, we were all thinking that we'd push it back a week and instead head over to the Ginger Man in the Rice Village. I'd really like it if you guys could come, but I understand if you'd rather stay in and watch a movie... assholes. Just kidding.

Hopefully I'll see you Monday, and Ben will have something up soon about the following week.

Forever yours,

AUSTIN HAVICAN

2.4.8 @ Rory's

Since Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in There Will Be Blood (my favorite film of 2007) blew me away, I thought I would revisit one of his older films for my pick this coming Monday evening. I'm screening the 1989 film he won a Best Actor Oscar for - My Left Foot. (He was also nominated for Best Actor by the Academy in 1993 for In The Name of the Father and in 2002 for Gangs of New York.) There is no justice in the world if he doesn't win another Oscar for There Will Be Blood. Here's all I'm going to tell you about the plot: It's about a man with cerebal palsy struggling to live a meaningful life. It's also an Irish film and being that I am half-Irish I suppose I am representing for my people.

My NEW address is 4400 Memorial Drive # 3036. 77007. Bayou Park apartments. I need to figure out the gate code so y'all can get in (I use a magnetic card to get in) so check back in a few days after I have a chance to post a comment with that information.

7:00 PM. Pizza and drinks will be provided. BYOB if you want to drink.

1/28 - Hud

Hud
Year: 1963
Length: 112 minutes
Director: Martin Ritt
B&W



Synopsis: An amoral cattle rancher clashes with his rigid father.



I choose Hud for movie night for mainly one reason-- James Wong Howe, one of the most acclaimed cinematographers. His career spans from the silent era to talkies to color films. As a Chinese American, he overcame plenty of racial obstacles in Hollywood. Besides his 2 Academy Awards and 10 nominations, he is also remembered for his numerous innovations in film. To name a few:

1. One of the first DPs to use deep focus and pioneered the use of low-hanging ceiling in Transatlantic (1931), 10 years before Citizen Kane was praised for using such innovations.

2. Filmed part of the boxing scenes by gliding in the boxing ring on roller skates with a handheld camera for Body and Soul (1947). Raging Bull has similar shots inspired by the film.

3. Master of low-key lighting which was widely associated with film noir.

George Clooney may think that Hollywood is a very progressive place ("talking about civil rights when it's not popular"), but all I can see is racism (and other forms of oppression) persists. Minorities continue to portray stereotypes in front of the camera. Behind the camera, the number of minority filmmakers are disproportionally low. I pay tribute to one of the great. One of a kind.

new reviews from the geezers

The Reel Geezers on There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men.
My favorite line (hilarious):

"Daniel Day-Lewis is the movie. If Tom Cruise is playing it, well, no comment."

http://www.youtube.com/user/reelgeezers

It's All Gone Pete Tong

This story takes us through the life of Frankie Wilde as a world renown DJ superstar who looses his hearing at the height of his career.

There will be lots of food and tons of Coke!
My Place!
1503 Michigan

1/14- Now with more curtains!

Pizza, beer, soda, etc. 8PM

Au Revoir, 2007

...or, 2007: A Year in Review

well gang, 2007 is officially over and there's apparently no bringing it back (unless that one thing they're working on is successful). I've said it before and I'll say it again: 2007 was actually a pretty decent year for cinema (in my opinion - I'm sure the Franciscos of this world would say otherwise). As I went to compile my yearly top ten list I actually had a difficult time narrowing down the list. Usually I have to really struggle to come up with ten films in a given year that I actually liked, but 2007 was a bit different (and there are still some films I haven't even seen yet, which means my list may change).

anyway, movie night played host to some great ones too. My favorites would have to be these fine films:

Viridiana - (7/22) I'll be the first to say that Bunuel can be a little 'substance over style' sometimes (see: Diary of a Chambermaid), which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Viridiana struck a perfect blend of beautiful filmmaking and poignant irreverence.

La Strada - (4/8) Giulietta Masina gives one of my all-time favorite performances in Fellini's neo-realist/surrealist masterpiece.

Happy Together - (3/18) Another sad and beautiful film from Wong Kar-Wai about a tenuous relationship.

Let's hear your favorites!

here are my top ten releases of the year (which, as I said, may change as I catch up on all the films I missed in theaters). I'd love to hear everyone else's top films too.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. 2 Days in Paris
3. The Darjeeling Limited
4. This Is England
5. The King of Kong
6. Atonement
7. Lars and the Real Girl
8. Ratatouille
9. The Boss of it All
10. Helvetica

Movie Night Statistics 2007

1920- 2
1930 - 1
1940 - 4
1950- 5
1960 - 8
1970- 7
1980- 1
1990 - 6
2000s – 11

Total = 45

The number of black & white films are 20.5 (Happy Together is counted as the 0.5).

Films around the globe:

American -19
French - 8
Japanese - 3
Sweden - 3
Czechoslovakia - 3
Italy - 1
China - 1
Spain - 1
India - 2
Hong Kong - 1
Denmark - 1
UK - 1
Palestine - 1

Trivia:
13 countries was featured in 2007 (same as 2006).
None from South America or Africa.
4 new countries- China, India, Palestine and Sweden.
Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) was the only female director featured.
Unless you count R.Kelly, we haven't shown a film by a Black director yet.