Happy Birthday to Mary Shelley, Robert Crumb, Cameron Diaz, Fred MacMurray, John Phillips and Paul Oakenfold! Last night, I checked out three fine recent films, in The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013; 9/10), The Girl (Julian Jarrold, 2012; 8/10) and my Curtain Call, as best film of the evening, The Town (Ben Affleck, 2010; 9/10), as well as two Pixar short films: The Adventures of André and Wally B. (Alvy Ray Smith, 1984; 7/10) and Luxo Jr. (John Lasseter, 1986; 9/10). I was really pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed Afflecks film so much; I had not been a huge fan of his acting, and this was the first film that he directed that I have seen. I was very impressed: he surrounded himself with a fine cast, great crew and saddled up with a taut script that was engrossing from start to finish. Dare I say that hes one of the best actor-directors other than perhaps Woody Allen or Orson Welles. I liked the Scorsese film a lot as well; its certainly his best with Leonardo DiCaprio, and probably his best since either Casino or Bringing Back the Dead...but I still thought The Town was a better made film. The Girl was fine for an HBO film; I do believe that the truth wasnt as black and white as the movie tries to get across; I dont believe either that Tippi Hedren was as innocent or Sir Alfred Hitchcocks as villainous as the film would make us believe. Im glad that after the ruckus that their actor-director relationship caused, and the films they made together in The Birds and Marnie, that he was able to come back before retirement and produce the masterpiece Frenzy, returning to England after two decades. Mary Shelley, who would be 217 today if Victor Frankenstein had anything to say about it, is my Film Club Props award recipient, and my Five Stars, for cinematic splendor, are: --Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) --Actress: Rebecca Hall (The Town) --Director: Ben Affleck (The Town) --Cinematography: Robert Elswit (The Town) --Soundtrack: David Buckley and Harry Gregson-Williams (The Town). Tonight: Probably Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012), and two rewatches--The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, 2008) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011). All the best, tonight, from Film Club! =)
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 21:46:33 +0000
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