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In the last few years, there's been several signs that the Werner Herzog persona-- an increasingly dominant presence in his documentaries-- is tipping towards self-parody. Last year's "Werner Herzog Reads Curious George" video was initially mistaken by many people as the real thing, a sign that others can now plausibly forge their own Herzog soundtbites. Now 68, Herzog fortunately remains funny and self-reflexive. On GC Daily, Vadim Rizov looks at Herzog's latest, and in some ways most strait-laced, documentary, the acclaimed Cave Of Forgotten Dreams. Read more >>
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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Guy and Madeline, Green Hornet, and more.
- What We're Watching: Somewhat Gentle Man, Blow Out, The Warning.
- Explore: SFIFF and Tribeca Critic's Notebooks.
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Introducing his podcast with the director, GC's Aaron Hillis wrote: 'They don't make musicals like MGM used to decades ago, so you have to hand it to Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench writer/director Damien Chazelle for channeling the spirit of innovators like Stanley Donen and even Michel Legrand in his gritty but beautiful, 16mm black-and-white debut, one of the bona fide treasures at Tribeca [in '09]." The film, adds Jeannette Catsoulis, "has style to burn. A soulful black-and-white commentary on love, art and their competing demands, [it] floats on a wave of spontaneity and charm." |
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Reviews were frankly wildly mixed for Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry's take on the crimefighter/playboy but if you treat it as an comedy-action flick, it works better, and Jay Chou's Kato is perhaps the best reason to see this romp. "The film is a blast," says Peter Debruge on Variety. Elizabeth Weitzman calls it "an irreverently funny, ultramodern take on the 1930s radio serial, with a vibe so casual you half expect star Rogen to amble off screen and put his feet up on the seat next to you." |
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What a presence, in any of his films, has Stellan Skarsgård. This unusual actor -- he of the firmly under-stated performance and increasingly jowly visage -- has, to my knowledge, never given a bad performance, even in dreadful movies like Angels and Demons or silly ones like Mamma Mia!. The actor turns 60 this year and has 109 roles to his credit (including the original Insomnia and Dogville), but I doubt that he has ever been better than he is in A Somewhat Gentle Man, the new Norwegian film cogently directed by Hans Petter Moland (who also directed Skarsgard in the lesser known Aberdeen) with a fine script by Kim Fupz Aakeson.... Read more >> |
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Making for a great companion piece with the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job, this important PBS Frontline offers a detailed look at the roots of the '08 economic crisis by investigating why government officials refused to regulate emerging derivatives markets that later ruined the financial system. "If the government spent as much time analyzing our financial situation as Frontline has, we might all be in better shape" (Minneapolis Star Tribune); it's "very clear in explaining the complex and secretive forces that caused the implosion" (Hartford Courant). Official site. |
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