In honor of Godzilla, here’s my list of Least Convincing Movie Monsters. Note that Godzilla himself (even in the original 1954 Gojira) is too realistic to make my top ten. Enjoy.
Least Convincing Movie Monsters
Rants and Ruminations
Searching for Sugar Man director dies
The Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul has died suddenly at age 36. He won the Best Documentary Oscar with his FIRST FEATURE – the powerful Searching for Sugar Man. Judging from Sugar Man, this is a significant loss to future cinema. At least we can still watch his one riveting and flabbergasting story – available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Xbox Video.
An alternative movie fest for St. Paddy’s Day
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Now, tonight you CAN go out and drink green beer with all the amateur drinkers. Nothing wrong with that, if that’s your thing.
OR you could settle in for some top shelf cinema set in recent Irish history – The Troubles of Northern Ireland. For eight fine films about The Troubles, see my Best Films About the Troubles (Northern Ireland).
CINEQUEST 2014: festival recap
A deep selection of comedies, international cinema and spotlight films combined for a very strong program at Cinequest 2014. My pick for the festival’s best film is the Polish drama Ida. Although not all of the films engaged me, the only bad movie this year was the incoherent Chinese thriller Parallel Maze.
COMEDIES
This year, Cinequest programmed 22 comedy features (which seems like an unusually high number), and that paid off with some of the festival’s most popular films. I thought the funniest was the dark, dark Hungarian comedy Heavenly Shift about a rogue ambulance crew. Probably two of the top four most popular movies at Cinequest (along with Ida and the Canadian weeper Down River) were the opening night’s The Grand Seduction and the Israeli caper comedy Hunting Elephants. The American indie satire Friended to Death (which had its world premiere at Cinequest) also broke through – and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it soon in theatrical release.
INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
As I said, my pick for best film at Cinequest was Ida, about a Polish novice nun in 1962 who, just before she takes her vows, learns that she is the child of Jewish Holocaust victims. Also remarkable for its authentic and textured characters was the Slovenian classroom drama Class Enemy. And, of course, Heavenly Shift from Hungary and Hunting Elephants from Israel were festival highlights.
Once again, it’s just impossible to give too much credit to Cinequest’s international programmer Charlie Cockey. Unfortunately, just before the fest, Charlie developed a cough that kept him home in Brno, Czech Republic, so we missed him here in San Jose. Before the fest, I profiled Charlie with Cinequest’s Charlie Cockey: The Man Who Goes to Film Festivals.
SPOTLIGHT FILMS
Cinequest’s program of spotlight films are the bigger movies that are screened just once, usually at the California Theatre. In the past these have included some celebrity-driven events that have been the weakest links in the fest (only Grand Piano fit this profile in 2014). But, over all, in the 2014 Cinequest, the spotlight films sparkled, especially: The Grand Seduction, Mystery Road, Words and Pictures, Teenage, Unforgiven and Dom Hemingway. Cinequest also gets a lot of cred for having LA Times critic Kenneth Turan introduce last year’s Bay Area masterpiece Fruitvale Station. In 2014’s Cinequest, you could do well just by showing up to the California Theatre every night at 7 PM.
For my comments on over 20 of this year’s Cinequest movies, see my CINEQUEST 2014 page.
Cinequest: best bets for the final weekend
FRIDAY
- Friended to Death: this sharply funny indie satirizes our obsession with social media. TMI becomes LOL.
- Heavenly Shift: the hilariously dark (very dark) Hungarian comedy about a rogue ambulance crew with a financial incentive to deliver its patients dead on arrival.
SATURDAY
- One of Cinequest’s most thought-provoking films, the Slovenian classroom drama Class Enemy.
- The British crime lark Dom Hemingway with Jude Law – a probable crowd pleaser.
SUNDAY
- The Encore Day selections have yet to be announced (except for The Farmer and the Chef and Slingshot), but I wouldn’t be surprised if one of Cinequest’s biggest hits so far, the Israeli caper comedy Hunting Elephants, gets another screening.
Cinequest at festival midpoint
The 2014 edition of Cinequest has emphasized comedy, and that has paid off with some of the festival’s biggest hits:
- The Grand Seduction: Cinequest’s opening night film was this uproarious Canadian knee-slapper – a Waking Ned Devine with random acts of cricket.
- Friended to Death: this sharply funny idie satirizes our obsession with social media. TMI becomes LOL.
- Heavenly Shift: the hilariously dark (very dark) Hungarian comedy about a rogue ambulance crew with a financial incentive to deliver its patients dead on arrival.
- Hunting Elephants: an Israeli caper comedy with Patrick Stewart (as you’ve never seen him).
The other most popular Cinequest hits have been the exquisite Polish drama Ida and the Canadian weeper Down River. I also particularly like the Slovenian class room drama Class Enemy.
Most of these films are still scheduled to play in the last half of the festival. Subject to Cinequest’s exhibition rights, I’m guessing that the most likely candidates for Cinequest’s Encore Day on Sunday, March 16 are Ida, Friended to Death, Down River, Hunting Elephants and Class Enemy.
Another visit to Cinequest by Friended to Death filmmakers
The indie comedy Friended to Death has its US premiere tonight at Cinequest, and it’s not the first time for the filmmakers. Friended to Death writer-director Sarah Smick and co-writer Ian Michaels brought their Here’s the Kicker to Cinequest in 2011 (Michaels directed that one). Smick and Michaels also act in both movies.
In Here’s the Kicker,the relationship of a prematurely retired football player and his girlfriend is being battered by their dead-end jobs in LA; (she is a make up artist – in porn films). To save their relationship, he agrees to move back to her hometown in Texas where they can open a salon/saloon: a combo beauty parlor and sports bar. Just as they are leaving on the road trip, he is offered his dream job as a football scout. When is he going to get the nerve to tell her? Along the way, they pick up his obnoxious former teammate and, most hilariously, his dad, who does NOT want to return to alcohol rehab. Many guffaws ensue in this all too rare occurrence – a satisfying American film comedy.
As the girlfriend, Sarah Smick succeeds in remaining sympathetic despite being continually aggrieved – no easy accomplishment. Luce Rains is great as the drunk dad.
According to Ian Michaels at the Cinequest screening, Producer/Cinematographer/Editor Chris Harris made the key decision to cut some early scenes so the road trip could commence sooner. Obviously, that move worked. Here’s the Kicker deserves a wide release.
Good news. Here’s the Kicker is available streaming on YouTube. It’s also is now out on DVD. Please go to the movie’s Netflix page and click SAVE – once it gets enough SAVES, it will become available on Netflix.
It’s hard to write comedy. Otherwise, we’d be seeing lots of good comedies. That’s why it’s worth tagging along on the uproarious road trip in Here’s the Kicker.
This weekend at Cinequest
My feature articles and comments on individual Cinequest movies and my feature articles are linked at CINEQUEST 2014. Follow @themoviegourmet on twitter for real-time Cinequest coverage. Here are my tips for Cinequest films this weekend:
TODAY
Heavenly Shift: I howled at this hilariously dark (very dark) Hungarian comedy about a rogue ambulance crew with a financial incentive to deliver its patients dead on arrival. North American premiere at 2:30 PM.
SATURDAY
A special screening of Fruitvale Station: the masterpiece debut from Bay Area filmmaker Ryan Coogler, introduced by LA Times and NPR Morning Edition movie critic Kenneth Turan.
Haven’t seen it, but the chatter in festival queues is universally positive for the Canadian weeper Down River.
Words and Pictures: I haven’t seen this romantic comedy starring Clive Owen and the ever-radiant Juliette Binoche as sparring teachers, but it figures to be a crowd pleaser.
SUNDAY
A noon screening is your last chance to see one of the very best films at Cinequest, the polish drama Ida, which won the International Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Justifiably very popular at Cinequest.
Hunting Elephants: I haven’t seen this Israeli caper comedy starring Patrick Stewart, but it’s picked up positive buzz at the festival.
Here’s the 2014 Cinequest program and ticket information.
Best Bets at Cinequest
17 movies to watch for at Cinequest:
Most likely to be crowd pleasers:
- The Grand Seduction: In Cinequest’s opening night film, Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, The Guard, The General, Braveheart) and Gordon Pinsent (Away from Her) play isolated Canadians try to snooker a young doctor (Taylor Kitsch of Friday Night Lights) into settling in their podunk village.
- Friended to Death: Bromantic comedy about a jerk who fakes his own death to see how many of his social media “friends” will attend his funeral. Very funny.
- Words and Pictures: Romantic comedy starring Clive Owen and the ever-radiant Juliette Binoche as sparring teachers.
- Dom Hemingway: Jude Law and Richard E. Grant star as two cheesy British hoods in a reportedly funny and fast-paced crime caper. Opens widely in theaters in April.
- Unforgiven: the Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Unforgiven starring Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai, Letters from Iwo Jima). Since Clint’s career was boosted by a remake of Yojimbo (A Fistful of Dollars), it’s fitting that his Unforgiven is remade as a samurai film.
- Fruitvale Station: the masterpiece debut from Bay Area filmmaker Ryan Coogler, introduced by LA Times and NPR Morning Edition movie critic Kenneth Turan.
Most promising foreign entries:
- Ida: This Polish story of a young nun who learns that she is the survivor of a Jewish family killed in the Holocaust won the International Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
- The Verdict: This Belgian drama won Best Director at the Montreal Film Festival. I’ll be writing about The Verdict early this week.
- The Illiterate: Paulina Garcia, the star of the popular Gloria, stars in this metaphorical emotional Chilean drama.
- Class Enemy: You’ll be rocked by this classroom drama, Slovenia’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. I’ll be writing about Class Enemy early this week.
- Heavenly Shift: A hilariously dark (very dark) Hungarian comedy about a rogue ambulance crew with a financial incentive to deliver its patients dead on arrival. I howled at Heavenly Shift, and I’ll be writing about it early this week.
- Zoran: My Nephew the Idiot: OK, this Italian comedy has a great title, and it was a hit at the Venice Film Festival. I’ll be writing about Zoran before its US Premiere.
Documentaries:
- Teenage: Great subject material: chronicling that 20th century American phenomenon – the evolution of “the teenager”.
- Sex(ed): The Movie: Sampling Sex Ed instructional films from 1910 through today. Should be a howl. May be thoughtful, too. World Premiere at Cinequest.
Something you haven’t seen before:
- Happenings on the Eighth Day: This is a pure art film, juxtaposing the attempts to create art against forces seeking to censor or obliterate it. Filmed in the Bay Area by Iranian filmmakers. World Premiere at Cinequest.
- The Circle Within: A Turkish fable that turns into a psychological drama. Not a favorite of mine, but it provides a rare glimpse into the Kurdish religion of yezidism.
Here’s the Cinequest program and ticket information.
Weighing in on the Oscars
Yeesh, what a bore – and I used to LIVE for the annual Oscar show.
There were heartfelt and classy moments from Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong’o and Bill Murray. Jamie Foxx added some unscripted foolery and Best Song winners Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez delivered a clever rhyming acceptance. That was it – five worthwhile moments in a three-hour drudge through self-congratulation and scary cosmetic surgery.
How does one celebrate our most vivid, immediate and accessible art form and make our eyes glaze over? Apparently, the most effective means is to devote a fifth of the telecast to live musical performances, mostly from the worthless Best Song category. This show is supposed to be about cinema, not the mediocre songs that dot a few of the films. Wasting yet more screen time with Twitter jokes didn’t help. They’ve also sucked the pathos out of the In Memoriam montage, which has generally been my favorite part of the show.
As to the winners themselves? They all seemed deserving to me. I would have preferred The Act of Killing to win Best Documentary and Before Midnight to win Best Original Screenplay, but there weren’t any forehead-slapping boners this year. 12 Years a Slave is undeniably a fine film, but I don’t know many folks who will actually ENJOY the two-and-a-half hours of unremitting brutality before Brad Pitt shows up in an Amish beard.
Bottom line: good year for the awards and bad year for the award show.