Month: September 2016

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: MA VIE EN COURGETTE (MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI) (Switz/France 2016) ***** Top 10

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

my_life_as_a_zucchini_posterMA VIE EN COURGETTE (MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI) (Switz/France 2016) ***** Top 10
Directed by Claude Barras

Starring: Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud

Review by Gilbert Seah

The surprise hit at Cannes and the Swiss entry for the Best Foreign Film at the next Academy Awards, MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE is pure delight. It is stop-motion claymation full of life and emotion – the story of an orphan who lands himself in a foster care home after accidentally killing his mother.

All the other orphans have endured traumatic experiences including child abuse, neglect and crazy parents. Yes, it is an adult, black comedy that is suited for adults and older children. There is also a very funny sex education portion, so parents with littler children should note.

The boy, called Courgette by his mother, is at first bullied but finally finds no only acceptance and true love but a new foster father. The bully not only becomes Courgette’s best friend but saves the day. Barras knows how to tell a a story and evoke emotion like tears of joy.

The sensitive script is penned by Céline Sciamma (writer-director of GIRLHOOD and TOMBOY) adapted from Gilles Paris’ novel Autobiography of a Courgette. Running at only 66 minutes, this is one film you would not want to end.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9N5Y_sN8Q

 

Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: DOG EAT DOG (USA 2016) Starring: Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

dog_eat_dog_poster.jpgDOG EAT DOG (USA 2016) **
Directed by Paul Schrader

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Louisa Krause

Review by Gilbert Seah

Paul Schrader, best known as the writer of TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL and director of AFFLICTION, directs this crime black comic cape (based on a 1995 novel by writer and ex-convict Edward Bunker) about three ex-convicts out to make good with one last score.

Trouble is that the three, led by Troy (Nicolas Cage) with Mad Dog (Willem Dafoe) and Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook) are all violently crazy and cannot b trusted to do anything right. Worst still luck never seems to be on their side and trouble seems to follow them wherever they go.

Schrader has a cameo as the mafioso “The Greek” who has just the job of kidnapping a mobster’s baby. But the film is not as good as it sounds. The trio’s antics get boring after a while. The fact that the audience has no sympathy for any one of the three does not help either.

The last segment of the film makes little sense in continuity. Over violent, a staple in Schrader’s films, does not always work in black comedies.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0FkSTyffs

Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: DIVINES (France/Qatar 2016) ****

festreviews 2016 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

divines_poster.jpgDIVINES (France/Qatar 2016) ****
Directed by Houda Benyamina

Starring: Oulaya Amamra, Déborah Lukumuena, Kevin Mishel

Review by Gilbert Seah

DIVINES is the much acclaimed surprise film at this year’s Cannes and the winner of the grand Camera d’Or Prize, the first to be won by an Arab director.

Houda Benyamina’s debut feature follows the hard lives of two young women who become embroiled in the criminal world of the Parisian neighbourhoods. Teenager Dounia (Oulaya Amamra) dreams of having it all: money, power, and a man. But she is saddled with a drunken and whorish mother.

At school, she freaks out and walks out of her well-intentioned teacher, swearing that she will make more money than her teacher will ever dream of. That she does with her friend, Maimouna (Déborah Lukumuena) by dealing drugs but not without dire consequences.

DIVINES is also a coming-of-age story and a very violent and hard look at the alternatives out there and there are not that many. Benyamina’s no-nonsense film is highly spirited and also full of music and dance with a little lost romance.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Zp_FM9Yug

Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: L’AVENIR (THINGS TO COME) (France/Germany 2016) ****

festreviews 2016 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

things_to_come_poster.jpgL’AVENIR (THINGS TO COME) (France/Germany 2016) ****
Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve

Starring: Isabelle Huppert, André Marcon, Roman Kolinka

Review by Gilbert Seah

Director Hansen-Løve’s (LA PERE DE MES ENFANTS, UN AMOUR DE JEUNESSE, EDEN) latest feature is again a film about life and living. Like in the other 3 films mentioned, her protagonist undergoes a major change in life in the midst of the movie.

Nathalie (another excellent performance by Isabelle Huppert) is a dedicated and demanding teacher, wife, and mother whose life is jolted when her husband of many years leaves her for another woman. As her life slowly crumbles (she loses her publications as well), Nathalie slowly adapts using her background in philosophy.

Nathalie is not as assured and confident as she is in the past. Her black, obsess cat, Pandora stands also as a metaphor for her life. But Nathalie, at least finds an unlikely friend in a former student, the radical young communist Fabien (Roman Kolinka).

The film is also beautifully shot in Normandy in a beautiful vacation house where the tides waters of the sea come into the backyard (my personal dream home). The musical score ranging from classical (Schubert) to folk (Woody Guthrie) is marvellous.

There are lots more to relate, reference and to enjoy in Hansen-Løve’s film such as a short clip seen of her husband Olivier Assaya’s film in one scene. As in all of Hansen-Løve’s films, L’AVENIR is an intelligent, handsomely mounted production that is an entertaining and insightful look on life and living.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhErAqJ8HGE

Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

Died Today (September 9th): Burgess Meredith (1907–1997)

festreviews Died Today , , ,

burgessmeredith.jpgBurgess Meredith (1907–1997)

Born: November 16, 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Died: September 9, 1997 (age 89) in Malibu, California, USA

Married:
Kaja Sundsten (8 January 1951 – 9 September 1997) (his death) (2 children)
Paulette Goddard (21 May 1944 – 8 June 1949) (divorced)
Margaret Perry (10 January 1936 – 19 July 1938) (divorced)
Helen Derby Berrien (1932 – 20 August 1935) (divorced)

[on his childhood] All my life, to this day, the memory of my childhood remains grim and incoherent. If I close my eyes and think back, I see little except violence and fear. In those early years, I somehow came to understand I would have to draw from within myself whatever emotional resources I needed to go wherever I was headed. As a result, for years, I became a boy who lived almost totally within himself.

Advise and Consent
1962
dir. Otto Preminger
starring
Henry Fonda
Meridith		 Batman 1966Batman
1966
dir. by Leslie H. Martinson
starring
Adam West
Burt Ward
ROCKYRocky
1976
dir. John G Avildsen
starring
Sylvestor Stallone
Tia Shire
Burt Young		 Burnt OfferingsBurnt Offerings
1976
dir. by Dan Curtis
starring
Karen Black
Oliver Reed
Rocky II
1979
dir. Sylvestor Stallone
starring
Sylvestor Stallone
Carl Weathers		 ROCKY IIIRocky III
1982
dir. Sylvestor Stallone
starring
Sylvestor Stallone
Talia Shire
Mr. T
SANTA CLAUSSanta Claus
1985
dir. Jeannot Szwarc
Starring
Dudley Moore
John Lithgow		 ROCKY VRocky V
1990
dir. John G Avildsen
starring
Sylvestor Stallone
Tommy Morrison
MOVIE POSTERGRUMPY OLD MEN
1993
dir. Donald Petrie
Stars:
Jack Lemmon
Walter Matthau

THE HINDENBURG
1975
dir. Robert Wise
Starring:
George C. Scott
Anne Bancroft

Happy Birthday: Michael Bublé

festreviews Uncategorized , ,

michaelbubleMichael Bublé

Born: September 9, 1975 in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Married to:
Luisana Lopilato (31 March 2011 – present) (1 child)

[on producing a more costly and extravagant stage show] Listen, I should be able to go on stage and entertain you with just a chair and a balloon. If you’re a good entertainer you don’t need a bunch of stuff. But I also feel that if you’re going to ask people to come to an arena to see you, that it’s kind of the artist to give them a great production and great production value. A lot of people are far away, so you want to give them some beautiful eye candy that doesn’t take away from what you do, but really enhances it.

Happy Birthday: Tom Wopat

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

tomwopat.jpgTom Wopat

Born: September 9, 1951 in Lodi, Wisconsin, USA

He’ll forever be remembered as strapping, good ol’ boy Luke Duke, the virile, blue-eyed, dark-haired, plaid-shirted rascal (equally good-looking John Schneider was the strapping, plaid-shirted blond cousin) on the rough-and-tumble bucolic 80s series The Dukes of Hazzard (1979). Where others may have fallen by the TV wayside, however, after the cancellation of such a popular series, Wopat moved on and reverted back to his first true love – music – successfully refocusing as a recording artist and musical leading man of Broadway and regional shows.

As far as The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) goes, it was what it was. It was a huge phenomenon. If you have a success of that stature you should embrace it. And you shouldn’t deny it. Some people who have a popular television show will tell you that they wanted to “be more artistic” and deny that that TV show was what they wanted to do, but to me it’s all work.

Happy Birthday: Cliff Robertson (1923–2011)

festreviews Happy Birthday , , ,

cliffrobertson.jpgCliff Robertson (1923–2011)

Born: September 9, 1923 in La Jolla [now in San Diego], California, USA
Died: September 10, 2011 (age 88) in Stony Brook, New York, USA

[on being blacklisted in Hollywood after exposing David Begelman in 1977] People told me I set a dangerous precedent. My ex-wife said that if I had played the game I would have owned the town, but I was always too independent.

Happy Birthday: Henry Thomas

festreviews Happy Birthday , ,

henrythomas.jpgHenry Thomas

Born: September 9, 1971 in San Antonio, Texas, USA

I understood why films were made, and if they made a lot of money, they were successful. All of these things I knew. As a ten-year-old boy, I didn’t really think a lot about finances or celebrity. I always viewed films as kind of what I imagined a summer camp to be like.

Suicide Kings
1997
dir. Peter O’Fallon
starring
Christopher Walken
Denis Leary
11:1411:14
2003
dir. Greg Marcks
Starring
Thomas
Blake Heron

E.T -the Extra Terrestrial
1982
dir. Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Henry Thomas
Peter Coyote