 |
|
After you're done with the minor matter of helping elect the next president of the USA (today if you're in one of the 24 Super Tuesday states), why not consider voting for a fellow GreenCiner, too! We had quite a few nominations, and many other good candidates to boot, but can only pick one winner of our first GreenCine Member of the Month Award: so congratulations to Vanamonde! (Prize: Amazon gift certificate.) Don't be discouraged, there'll be a new winner each month. Keep posting on the boards, writing reviews, and making lists.
Next, the winner of the Red Scream Films horror forum contest is Empress Stephanie, who wins a copy of their Prison of the Psychotic Damned disc. Thanks and congrats again to all! Look for a new Be Kind Rewind contest on GreenCine starting this Friday. Lastly, and at long last, the winners of our Control contest: congrats to antiheroine and erinwolth, who each receive a copy of Joy Division's "Closer" CD set. |
|
|
In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Jesse James, 2 Days in Paris, and much more.
- What We're Watching: Shadows, Kirikou and Ladron.
- Service Highlights: Contest winners-a-plenty! (See above.)
|
|
|
Oscar noms went to Casey Affleck for his beautifully played performance as the eventual shooter of Jesse James (hey, the title gives it away!), and Roger Deakins for his gorgeous cinematography, in Andrew Dominik's "Western in the classical tradition." (Roger Ebert) "Though there is plenty of gunplay, this is a wondrously contemplative and poetic saga that offers a fresh and bewitching take on a timeworn genre." (USA Today) The BBC's Mark Kermode picked it as the best film of '07. |
|
|
|
"2 Days in Paris is pure Julie Delpy, figuratively and otherwise," wrote the LA Times' Carina Chocano. "Since first becoming known to American audiences in the early '90s, she's revealed herself to be an artist of sundry and unexpected talents, with a distinctive voice and point of view." The actress directs herself in this light comedy masquerading as a dark one. Adds Jonathan Rosenbaum: "Among the many offhand virtues of Julie Delpy's first feature as solo writer-director is the fact that she's as attentive to French foibles as American ones." Adam Goldberg co-stars. More >> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Writes Jeffrey Anderson: Director Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) suffered for his art. Nearly age 40, and bored with documentaries and other films that were Soviet-approved, he balked and began making films for his own pleasure. From there, he suffered years of butting heads with the authorities, arrested, prohibited and otherwise hounded, he managed to squeeze out only a few more films in his career. Watching his breakthrough feature Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors reveals an undeniable sense of joy... read review here >>
|
|
|
|
Strikingly animated feature by French filmmaker Michel Ocelot loosely based on a West African fable, a most unusual coming-of-age tale. Kirikou is a minuscule boy whose aggressiveness, stubbornness, and curiosity are so intense that while still in his mother's belly, he demands to be born. Upon his self-imposed arrival into this world, Kirikou effortlessly cuts the umbilical cord once and for all, proudly announcing... read review here >> |
|
|
| |
One of the more pleasurable movie experiences I've had of late, Ladron Que Roba A Ladron (Thief Robs Thief) is so much better than Ocean's Eleven, Twelve or Thirteen--faster, funnier, shorter and infinitely more meaningful--that's it's hard not to over-praise what is basically a by-the-numbers heist film. But because it's about Latinos in the USA, immigration and its uses/misuses, labor unions and sleazebags who make millions of dollars off the backs of the poor, the movie offers a kick in the pants that its more glamorous and expensive predecessors don't come near. If you detest those lying "infomercials" (and the folk who grow rich off them) that promise everything and deliver zilch, you're gonna love what writer... read review here >> |
|
| |
|
|
