Saturday, June 30, 2012

Random Musings - June 2012

Random Notes
Looking at my calendar today, I noticed it's not only the end of another month, but already the half way point of the year. Where does that time go, and why is it that the older you get, the faster it seems to fly by? Well hopefully the sun finally decides to make an appearance in my corner of the world, because it's been a long rainy spring.

As an active member of The Lamb, June was a month marked by the annual LAMMY Awards. Now awards are something I don't personally care about too much, at least not as a competitor. Fame and recognition are things that have always ranked low on my priority list. But I have to say, after closely observing the action for the first time, that it can be a pretty fun event, and I will seriously consider participating when next season comes along. Of course, not everyone was happy with the procedure or results. But overall I think they turned out well, and things already look much better for the future.

Anyhow, congratulations to all of the 2012 Lammy Winners, a round of applause to Joel for organizing it all, and thanks to everyone who voted for me as runner-up for Best Awards & Festival Coverage

This month I also made a few design and technical tweaks to the blog. Most of which are probably too subtle to notice, but you may have seen the new leaderboard widget in the sidebar. That was an idea I stole from The Lamb, as a way to return the favor to the kind blogs who send traffic my way. I took it a step further though, and fully automated it with a script that updates it daily without my intervention. It's spam proof too, only showing blogs that are on an approved list. I also just completed a modified version of it, made specifically for The Lamb, so now Joel has no excuse if the Lamboard doesn't get updated on time :)

The last thing I'll mention is, having finally watched all of my anticipated films from last year, I've made a final revision to my Top 10 Foreign Films of 2011 list. With two new entries, #2 and #7, and an expanded list of honorable mentions.

Friday, June 29, 2012

The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Lost Weekend (1945)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Palme d'Or Winner
Genre: Drama
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman
Language: English
Duration: 101 min.
Rating: 7.7
Summary:
The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four day drinking bout.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Babycall (2011)

Babycall (2011)
Babycall (2011)
Genre: Thriller
Director: Pål Sletaune
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Kristoffer Joner, Vetle Qvenild Werring
Language: Norwegian, Swedish, English
Duration: 96 min.
Rating: 6.2
Summary:
When an overprotective mother and her eight year old son move into a large apartment complex, she begins to hear frightening voices over the baby monitor that she uses to keep tabs on him.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

2012 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Preview


The 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Central and Eastern Europe's largest and longest running film festival, begins this Friday June 29th and runs until July 7th.

Located in a small spa city in the scenic Western Bohemia region of the Czech Republic, the KVIFF has due to its highly-regarded programming, quality facilities, and unique atmosphere, become one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, where every year dozens of filmmakers arrive to present their new films and compete for the Grand Prize known as the Crystal Globe.

The Official Selection - Competition section of the KVIFF, is open to feature-length world, international, or European premieres. This year there are twelve titles in the competition, with eight world premieres and four international premieres.

Read on for a preview of the films that will be screened in the official competition program at the 2012 KVIFF:

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A Simple Life (2011)

A Simple Life • Tao Jie (2011)
A Simple Life • Tao Jie • 桃姐 (2011)
Best New Film
Genre: Drama
Director: Ann Hui
Starring: Andy Lau, Deanie Ip
Language: Cantonese
Duration: 118 min.
Rating: 8.4
Summary:
For 4 generations spanning 60 years, Ah Tao has worked as a servant the Leung family. Now she looks after Roger, a movie producer who is the only member of the family still living in Hong Kong. But when she suffers a stroke, their roles become reversed, and the two of them discover what they truly mean to each other.

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Seven Who Were Hanged (1968)

The Seven Who Were Hanged • Balada o siedmich obesených (1968)
The Seven Who Were Hanged • Balada o siedmich obesených (1968)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Martin Hollý
Starring: Jozef Cierny, Emília Vásáryová, Milan Kis, Zdena Gruberová
Language: Slovak
Duration: 61 min.
Rating: 8.3
Summary:
Seven condemned prisoners are sentenced to hang, five men and two women, and each one deals with their impending fate in their own way.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975)

Chronicle of the Years of Fire • Chronique des années de braise (1975)
Chronicle of the Years of Fire • Chronique des années de braise (1975)
Palme d'Or Winner
Genre: Drama
Director: Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
Starring: Yorgo Voyagis, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Leila Shenna
Language: Arabic, French
Duration: 177 min.
Rating: 8.5
Summary:
An epic following a peasant's migration from his drought-stricken village to his eventual participation with the resistance movement, just prior to the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

I Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister and My Brother... (1976)

I Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister and My Brother... • Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant égorgé ma mère, ma soeur et mon frère... (1976)
I Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister and My Brother... • Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant égorgé ma mère, ma soeur et mon frère... (1976)
Genre: Drama
Director: René Allio
Starring: Claude Hébert, Jacqueline Millière, Joseph Leportier
Language: French
Duration: 130 min.
Rating: 7.8
Summary:
In Normandy in 1835, Pierre Rivière savagely murdered most of his family and then, in the course of the investigation and trial, wrote an unusual autobiographical account of the murders, carefully explaining his motivations for the heinous crime.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

TT3D: Closer to the Edge (2011)

TT3D: Closer to the Edge (2011)
TT3D: Closer to the Edge (2011)
Genre: Documentary
Director: Richard De Aragues
Starring: Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson, John McGuinness
Language: English
Duration: 104 min.
Rating: 8.0 
Summary:
The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy is the greatest motorcycle road race in the world, the ultimate challenge for rider and machine. It has always called for a commitment far beyond any other racing event, and many have made the ultimate sacrifice in their quest for victory. A story about freedom of choice, the strength of human spirit and the will to win.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Romance for Bugle (1967)

Romance for Bugle • Romance pro kridlovku (1967)
Romance for Bugle • Romance pro kridlovku (1967)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Otakar Vávra
Starring: Jaromír Hanzlík, Július Vasek, Zuzana Cigánová, Stefan Kvietik
Language: Czech
Duration: 82 min.
Rating: 7.5
Summary:
A young student from Prague on summer holiday in the country, attends a traveling carnival, and falls in love with the carousel girl.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Sleep Tight (2011)

Sleep Tight • Mientras Duermes (2011)
Sleep Tight • Mientras Duermes (2011)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Jaume Balagueró
Starring: Luis Tosar, Marta Etura
Language: Spanish
Duration: 102 min.
Rating: 7.6
Summary:
An embittered concierge at a Barcelona apartment building, who subsists on the pain of others, goes to great lengths in order to make one happy-go-lucky tenant completely miserable.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Ten Best Actresses of All Time Relay Race


Well I'm not usually a fan of these types of posts, and am quite content when my name gets skipped, but this one was too interesting to pass up.

Originally conceived by the genius Nostra of My Filmviews, and passed on to me by Andy of The Film Emporium, the concept of this blog-a-thon is as follows:

“I’ve created a list of what I think are the best actresses of all time. At the end of the post I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. This blogger will have to remove one actress (that is an obligation) and add his/her own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. The idea is to make this a long race, so that enough bloggers get a chance to remove and add an actress. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actresses. It will also mean that those who follow this relay race will get to know new blogs as well!”

Here is a list of the blogs that have participated thus far:
And the current line-up:

Friday, June 15, 2012

The Wages of Fear (1953)

The Wages of Fear • Le salaire de la peur (1953)
The Wages of Fear • Le salaire de la peur (1953)
Palme d'Or Winner
Genre: Adventure, Thriller
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli, Peter van Eyck, Véra Clouzot
Language: French, English, Spanish, German, Italian
Duration: 148 min.
Rating: 9.1
Summary:
In a decrepit Latin American village, men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Michael (2011)

Michael (2011)
Michael (2011)
Genre: Drama
Director: Markus Schleinzer
Starring: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger
Language: German
Duration: 96 min.
Rating: 7.0
Summary:
A meek insurance salesman keeps a ten year old boy locked in his basement, while doing his best to appear ordinary to the outside world.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Miraculous Virgin (1967)

The Miraculous Virgin • Panna zázracnica (1967)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Stefan Uher
Starring: Jolanta Umecka, Ladislav Mrkvicka, Otakar Janda
Language: Slovak
Duration: 93 min.
Rating: 7.4
Summary:
Anabella, a young and beautiful girl meets a group of artists. She awakens their erotic desires but also pure feelings of love; she becomes the object of their secret fantasies as well as their artistic inspiration. And it seems that the boundaries between reality and fantasy suddenly cease to exist.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman
Language: English
Duration: 94 min.
Rating: 7.5
Summary:
In 1965, a pair of twelve-year-old lovers flee their New England island town, prompting a local search party led by the Sheriff to fan out to find them.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Cosmopolis (2012)

Cosmopolis (2012)
Cosmopolis (2012)
Genre: Drama
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti
Language: English
Duration: 108 min.
Rating: 7.9
Summary:
Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager's day devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Viridiana (1961)

Viridiana (1961)
Viridiana (1961)
Palme d'Or Winner
Genre: Drama
Director: Luis Buñuel
Starring: Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey, Margarita Lozano
Language: Spanish
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 8.6
Summary:
Viridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Return of the Prodigal Son (1967)

Return of the Prodigal Son • Návrat ztraceného syna (1967)
Return of the Prodigal Son • Návrat ztraceného syna (1967)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Evald Schorm
Starring: Jana Brejchová, Jan Kacer, Dana Medrická, Milan Morávek
Language: Czech
Duration: 98 min.
Rating: 7.7
Summary:
After a failed suicide attempt, an unhappy architect tries to adjust to the world around him.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)
Take This Waltz (2011)
Genre: Drama
Director: Sarah Polley
Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogan, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman
Language: English
Duration: 116 min.
Rating: 6.6
Summary:
Happily married Margot meets Daniel, an artist who lives across the street, and their chemistry is intense and immediate; forcing her in a struggle to deal with this sudden attraction.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Out of Bounds (2011)

Out of Bounds • Labrador (2011)
Out of Bounds • Labrador (2011)
Genre: Drama
Director: Frederikke Aspöck
Starring: Carsten Bjørnlund, Stephanie Leon, Jakob Eklund
Language: Danish, Swedish
Duration: 73 min.
Rating: 6.0
Summary:
On a desolate, windswept island. Stella and Oskar, a young couple, visit her father Nathan who lives a simple solitary life in the company of his Labrador dog.

Monday, June 4, 2012

The Crucial Years (1967)

The Crucial Years • Kristove Roky (1967)
The Crucial Years • Kristove Roky (1967)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Juraj Jakubisko
Starring: Jirí Sýkora, Jana Stehnová, Vlado Müller, Miriam Kantorková
Language: Czech, Slovak
Duration: 95 min.
Rating: 7.3
Summary:
The story of Juraj, a Slovak painter in his early thirties living in Prague, who realizes that up till now he has been leading a superficial and carefree life. At the crossroads he decides it is time to grow up and tries to change his ways.

Friday, June 1, 2012

American Translation (2011)

American Translation (2011)
American Translation (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Pascal Arnold, Jean-Marc Barr
Starring: Lizzie Brocheré, Pierre Perrier
Language: French, English
Duration: 114 min.
Rating: 6.4
Summary:
From the moment they meet, brooding Chris and the beautiful Aurore fall instantly and passionately in love but it's not long before their intense connection is consumed by Chris's dark obsession.