Random film news and two reviews

I have just realized that my last post was the equivalent of a 45 minute seminar (which I once had the displeasure of doing) in blog form. So, never again will I post such a lenghty entry. Mainly, because it is tiring on the hands. Soon, I will have a picture of myself posted on the blog, thus destroying any shred of visual anonymity I have left.

First, here is a link to an indiewire article spotlighting various interesting foreign films which will be premiering in upcoming film festivals (including Venice and Toronto). I found it to be a good article, so I find no need to paraphrase it (which I would never do) and here it is.

http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2006/08/world_cinema_fa.html

New Toronto Film festival announcements include the premiere of the new film by Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man), Rescue Dawn, with Christian Bale, which is about the escape of a US POW prisoner from a Vietnamese prison camp.
Here is a trailer: http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_6744.html
I can't really judge the film, but the trailer is horrible. Apparently, if I am to understand the trailer, Vietnam is a land of "darkness" from which Bale's character must escape in order to enter the "Light" (ugh...why?).

Christopher Guest (a writer of This is Spinal Tap, director of Best in Show) is premiering his new film "For your Consideration" at the Toronto Film festival.

This weekend, Sundance hit Half-Nelson is getting insanely positive reviews, but it will never come here. Ever. So, I will probably be in a depressive funk for an entire week. For the curious, the film's entire score is done by the Toronto band Broken Social Scene. Although, due to its positive reception, there may be hope for a wider release like "Little Miss Sunshine" which is being expanded on August 18 (crossing my fingers that it comes here).

World Trade Center is getting overall positive reviews, although it does not interest me in the slightest and is bound to once again reinforce the us/them mentality between the US and everybody else. With the new foiled terrorist plot bound to reinforce this same dichotomy though overexposure in the media, the film will only add fuel to the fire.
A Brazilian film called "House of Sand" is doing fairly well critically at this point and so is another film in limited release named "Concersations with Other Women" with Helena Bonham Carter.

Now for the two brief film DVD reviews (and I stress brief).

First, The Libertine with Johnny Depp. Spoilers.

After watching this film, I first thought the critics are being way too harsh on this film and it is not that bad a film. Although, it is a very good film neither. It is actually not much of anything, really which is surprising considering that the film is based on the life of the well known sexual debauchee and libertine poet and dramatist, John Wilmott, the Earl of Rochester. How anyone can make the life of the Earl of Rochester uninteresting is beyond me, but this film achieves it. First, the actors. While Johnny Depp is usually competent in any film, here, he moves from being "good" to passable and then to just "bad". In some scenes, Depp overacts considerably while in others he appears to be given the audience a performance similar to that seen in his other films and unfitting to his character. Although, it is not all bad and often Depp does rather well with the role. His prologue to the film is a great opening. Aside from Depp, Samantha Morton is fine in her role as Lizzie Barrie, but not as good as she could have been. As for the other actors, things do not fare so well. Rosamund Pike, who plays Wilmott's wife, is simply horrible and embarasses Depp in every scene she shares. In one particular scene near the end, her acting is beyond bad and somehow manages to ruin Depp's performance in the scene. John Malkovitch, who I rarely like, manages to play King Charles well enough (which was surprising to me).

Although, in the actors' defense, often the film's writing could be held to blame for poor scenes. However, overall, the writing is fine and actually quite funny at times. In no other film, will you hear music about the adventures of a King named "Senor Dildo"?

Yet, my main problem with the film was with the horrible pacing, editing and the seeming lack of a point for it all. Many of the film's scenes are not linked properly and feel disjointed when placed next to one another. Often, the film leaps in time too quickly and does not develop its events with as much care as earlier in the film. Near the end of the film, this problem is more visible and the rest of the film feels rushed. In addition, the film develops Wilmott so poorly and characterizes with so negatively near the end that he can not even play the role of the anti-hero against a Puritan society which the film tries to make him conform to. When the film attempts to turn him into a converted martyr, I am puzzled as to how does the film's previous depiction of the character justify this abrupt change in image. Nor do I believe it, despite his one action of redemption. And, I have yet to find an answer. In good hands, the film could have pulled it off. All the elements are there to do so, but the performances fail to convince. If you wish to see how a film can take a character like John Wilmott and turn him into an anti-hero against oppressive forces, simply watch "Quills" again to see Geoffrey Rush's insance and fantastic performance as the Marquis de Sade. In the end, I am in perfect agreement with Wilmott's statement in the prologue "You will not like me," only I would apply it to the film itself and not the character whom I could have liked if the film had done him justice.

I will update my post with a review of "Brick" by Rian Johnson which just came out this tuesday and which film noir fans should see.