Happy Birthday to Anna Paquin, Lynda Carter, Doug Liman, Gus Van Sant, Robert Hays, Peter Yates, Patty Jenkins, Chief Dan George, Delmer Daves, Alexandre Dumas and Ermanno Olmi! On Tuesday, I saw three quite different features, in Scoop (Woody Allen, 2006; 8/10), The Karate Kid Part II (John G. Avildsen, 1986; 7/10) and my Curtain Call, as best film of the day, Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron, 2013; 10/10), as well as its related short film, Aningaaq (Jonas Cuaron, 2013; 8/10) and a short film by Michel Gondry, Pecan Pie (2003; 7/10). I was quite pleased with the second of Woodys three films made in England, and theyre ones I believe are quite indebted to Sir Alfred Hitchcocks films made on the island, and would have made him quite proud had he made them himself. Its always good seeing Scarlett Johansson, and it was cool seeing both Hugh Jackman in a rare villainous turn and Woody Allen having a smaller, non-romantic role. The Avildsen film did no discredit to the original, and it was a good idea to bring the series to Miyagis turf. Though Gravity was admittedly a great film and a masterpiece, you cant get true transcendental epiphany, such as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 91 minutes. Cuarons Children of Men is a far better film, and the Academy voters were right to give Best Film to 12 Years a Slave. I realize that in this ADHD, very-low-attention-span age, that was why Cuaron wanted to get to the action right away, and end the film right after Stone was safe on Earth, but the story could have used perhaps 30-45 minutes of fleshing out, perhaps with time on either Earth or in the spacecraft, giving further character development or background on the ecological problem of space debris: Countries cant just keep pumping things out there, forget abut them, and it not have long-term ramifications. The filmmaking was worthy of a 135-180 minute script: Its too bad Cuaron didnt have the self-confidence as a writer to go with that instinct. Filmmakers have to stop having such low expectations of us cinephiles: Like Lawrence of Arabia or other compellingly-long masterpieces, if the work is great, people are going to stay for the long haul. The proofs in the pudding. And perhaps Cuaron could have gone with a better actor than George Clooney. The film was so close to perfection, its a bloody shame that it fell just short. My Five Stars, for cinematic excellence, were: --Actor: Hugh Jackman (Scoop) --Actress: Sandra Bullock (Gravity) --Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) --Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) --Soundtrack: Steven Price (neat that he has the same birthday as my son; Gravity). Tonight: Probably Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen, 2008), A Bridge Too Far (Lord Richard Attenborough, 1977) and Il Sorpasso (Dino Risi, 1962). All the best tonight from Film Club! =)
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 01:34:55 +0000
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