Posts Tagged ‘Jeff Bridges’
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Review:
On the day of his wedding to Quaker Grace Kelly, city marshal Gary Cooper learns that a murderer he once sent up has been pardoned and is returning on the noon train. The town fathers urge him to leave the place immediately, but he knows that he has to stick around. Over the next 80 minutes, he desperately tries to raise help in defeating the man who has come to kill him. John Wayne once called this “a western for people who don’t like westerns” and that’s somewhat true. It’s depiction of the old West is much closer to Sergio Leone’s work than Wayne’s and Cooper’s useless search for help readily deconstructs the hero myth. The tension builds over the (almost) real time development before it unleashes itself in the final confrontation.
Random Observations:
High Noon at the IMDb
Writer Carl Foreman wrote the script as an allegory for the McCarthy witch-hunts of the HUAC - probably one of the reasons Wayne disliked it so much. The producers later purchased the rights to the story The Tin Star by John Cunningham because Foreman was unsure whether he had read it and subconsciously based the story on it.
This was Foreman’s last Hollywood project before he became blacklisted. Lloyd Bridges (father of Jeff Bridges), who played a dissatisfied deputy, befell a similar fate, but the actor was “only” greylisted.
Despite the modern day Los Angeles skyline clearly visible in the background, the shots of the deserted town have become rightfully iconic.
Interestingly, John Wayne accepted the Best Actor Oscar on Gary Cooper’s behalf, who was absent at the ceremony.
The film’s theme song “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’)” was the first non-musical song to win the best original song Oscar. The score of the entire film is also a variation on the theme, which is very unusual, was a first at the time, and is actually annoying, despite the song being completely awesome.
Tags: 1952, American Film, based on previously published material, Carl Foreman, Drama, english, Eve McVeagh, Fred Zinnemann, Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Harry Morgan, Harry Shannon, Henry Morgan, High Noon, Ian MacDonald, Jeff Bridges, John W. Cunningham, John Wayne, Katy Jurado, Lee Van Cleef, Lloyd Bridges, Lon Chaney Jr., minute movie review, Morgan Farley, movie review, Movies, Oscar, Otto Kruger, Robert J. Wilke, Sergio Leone, Sheb Wooley, The Tin Star, Thomas Mitchell, Thriller, Western
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Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Review:
When Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe set out to make a documentary about Terry Gilliam’s new film, “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”, they knew that some drama would ensue. They had no idea, however, that production would be abandoned on the sixth day after a series of mishaps that included everything from bad planning and a low budget to horrible weather and sick actors. The film is an incredible entertaining look at one of the most plagued productions of all time, mercilessly retelling the story while offering interesting insights into how films are made - or not made, in this particular case.
Random Observations:
Lost in La Mancha at the IMDb
Making a film about Don Quixote has always been a dream of Gilliam and he first started planning it almost ten years prior to shooting. As of today, he is once more working on the project.
The film proves once and for all: The First Assistant Director is not only the most important person on set, he is also the one who gets blamed for everything that goes wrong.
Tags: 2002, Andrea Calderwood, Bárbara Pérez-Solero, Benjamín Fernández, Bernard Bouix, British Film, Carlo Poggioli, documentary, Don Quixote, english, Fred Millstein, Gabriella Pescucci, Jean Rochefort, Jeff Bridges, Johnny Depp, José Luis Escolar, Keith Fulton, Lost in La Mancha, Louis Pepe, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Nicola Pecorini, Orson Welles, Phil Patterson, Ray Cooper, René Cleitman, Terry Gilliam, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Tony Grisoni
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Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Award Season is Crazy Season. If you follow these things at all, you have been bombarded by information about the superiority of one film above another for months now. If you blissfully ignore all that stuff, you might even not have heard that a producer on The Hurt Locker is in trouble for trying to convince Academy voters to vote for his film instead of Avatar. His crime: sending an e-mail to his friends. Yes, things are crazy. So it is a good thing that with the Oscar telecast on Sunday, Award Season will be over. Until May or so, when the first discussions for next year’s favourites and winners will begin once more.
But before the Oscars, the most important of all the meaningless awards, are handed out on Sunday, it is time for my annual Oscar predictions. Last year, I picked 19 of the 24 winners. This year, let’s try to improve on that. But unlike last year, this year I actually feel like I am entitled to my own opinion, having seen 20 of the 58 animated films, 18 of the 38 feature films, and actually having seen all nominated films in three categories. So not only will I now predict the Oscar winners as promised, I will also tell you who should win. (Yes, my opinion constitutes objective truth in these matters.) The following list is ordered rather randomly and incomplete, an alphabetical and complete breakdown of all categories and predictions follows at the end.
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Tags: 2009, 2010, A Matter of Loaf and Death, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Aardman Animations, Ajami, Alessandro Camon, An Education, Anastasia Masaro, Anna Kendrick, Armando Iannucci, Avatar, award season, Bob Peterson, Carey Mulligan, Caroline Smith, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Plummer, Coen Brothers, Colin Firth, Coraline, Crazy Heart, Das Weisse Band, Dave Warren, Disney, District 9, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, english, Ethan Coen, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Faubourg 36, Gabourey Sidibe, Geoffrey Fletcher, George Clooney, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Helen Mirren, Henry Selick, In the Loop, Inglourious Basterds, Instead of Abracadabra, Invictus, James Cameron, Jason Reitman, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Jesse Armstrong, Joel Coen, Kathry Bigelow, La teta asustade, Lee Daniels, Logorama, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marion Cotillard, Mark Boal, Matt Damon, Mauro Fiore, Meryl Streep, Mo'Nique, Morgan Freeman, Movies, Neill Blomkamp, Nick Hornby, Nine, Oren Moverman, Oscar, Paris 36, Penélope Cruz, Pete Doctor, Pixar, Precious, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Quentin Tarantino, Randy Newman, Sandra Bullock, Sheldon Turner, Sherlock Holmes, Simon Blackwell, Stanley Tucci, Star Trek, T-Bone Burnett, Terri Tatchell, The Blind Side, The Door, The Hurt Locker, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Messenger, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, The White Ribbon, Tom McCarthy, Tony Roche, Un Prophète, Up, Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga, Wallace & Gromit, Wes Anderson, Woody Harrelson
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Review:
An alcoholic former Country star, now reduced to living in squalor and playing in bowling alleys, reconsiders his life when he meets a young journalist and falls for her. The story of the film is fairly trite and unoriginal, and the direction by débutante Scott Cooper is lacking in many ways, but the film is nevertheless made bearable by decent actors who take their caricatured characters to a better place than they belong, and some truly great Country music.
Random Observations:
Crazy Heart at the IMDb
The film is nominated for three Oscars. Best Actor for Jeff Bridges (okay, par for the course for him), Best Supporting Actress for Maggie Gyllenhaal (not okay, she is far below her usual standards here) and Best Original Song, The Weary Kind, which is all kinds of awesome.
This concludes my pre-Oscar Oscar-nominated film-watching. I have now seen 20 of 58 nominated films or 18 of 38 if you don’t count the shorts and documentaries, which nobody does any way. Tomorrow: my big Oscar piece with winner predictions, including the ever popular “Who should win” aspect, and Sunday the Awards show.
I actually really like Colin Farrell’s performance as the young pretty-boy country music superstar.
In sharp contrast to the cast of Nine, the actors in this film can actually sing.
Tags: 2009, American Film, Beth Grant, book adaptation, Colin Farrell, Crazy Heart, Drama, english, Jack Nation, Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, music film, Nine, Paul Herman, Rick Dial, Robert Duvall, romance, Ryan Bingham, Scott Cooper, T-Bone Burnett, Thomas Cobb, Tom Bower
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
By now, it has been three days since the Nominations for the 2009 Academy Awards, more commonly known as Oscars, have been announced, and everybody has had plenty of time to comment on them, despair over the obvious oversights and dreadful inclusions, and ultimately come to accept them as the meaningless bullshit they are. So now I thought it would be a good idea to voice my opinions on (some of) the nominations, a complete list of which can be found here. My predictions as to who will win will be up in this very space in early March, in time for the, glorious, gloriously ridiculous and ridiculously overlong ceremony on March 7th.
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Tags: A Serious Man, Academy, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, AMPAS, An Education, Avatar, award season, Brokeback Mountain, Carey Mulligan, Christian Berger, Christoph Waltz, Coraline, Crazy Heart, Das Weisse Band, District 9, english, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Helen Mirren, Inglourious Basterds, James Cameron, Jason Reitman, Jeff Bridges, Kathryn Bigelow, Meryl Streep, Mo'Nique, Movies, No Country for Old Men, Oscar, Precious, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, Up, Up in the Air
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Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
Review:
“Heaven’s Gate” is quite possibly the most famous film that flopped ever. And no wonder it did. With three and a half hours, it’s too long. There isn’t a single likable character in it. The acting is largely abysmal. The plot is convoluted. The whole thing is a sprawling mess. But what a beautiful mess it is! The story is quite interesting, about immigrants in the American West in 1890 that want to make a living there, but the cattle barons don’t want them there. Sure, that story could have been told just as well in 90 minutes, but often it is more interesting to see an ambitious film that turned into a fiasco than a well-made film that is just done by the book - maybe that is why “Heaven’s Gate” has recently garnered some praise among film critics.
Random Observations:
Heaven’s Gate at imdb.com
About the acting: Christopher Walken is good as usual. John Hurt is funny but not really important to the plot. Kris Kristofferson in the lead role is really the one who distracts from the film with a strong tendency to overact. And Isabelle Huppert seems most comfortable in the many gratuitous scenes she is nude in, but somewhat removed from the film in the others.
I really enjoyed Michael Cimino’s “The Deer Hunter”, the success of which allowed him to make this film. A detailed account of the many problems the production faced - mostly due to Cimino’s perverse perfectionism, can be found at numerous sources online. For an overview, just read about it in the ‘ped.
The cut I saw (and the only one available, as far as I know) is the so-called director’s cut, running 219 or 210 minutes in the US and Europe, respectively.
The film could have been a half hour shorter if it had just forgone the prologue, which in my opinion was unnecessary and didn’t contribute anything to the storyline. The epilogue, though only a few minutes long, was also not strictly necessary, although it helped to reinforce the message of the film.
Tags: 1980, American Film, Brad Dourif, Christopher Walken, Drama, english, Geoffrey Lewis, Heaven's Gate, history movie, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Joseph Cotten, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Cimino, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Paul Koslo, Richard Masur, Ronnie Hawkins, Sam Waterston, The Deer Hunter, Western
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Review:
Tony Stark is the owner and chief engineer of a weapons manufacturer. He’s also a playboy and all around popular guy. But when he sees firsthand what his weapons do in Afghanistan, he decides to change his ways. No more new weapons - only a suit to make him Iron Man, protector of the disenfranchised. The first summer blockbuster of 2008, Iron Man focuses on the change in personality and shows Tony Stark more out of his super suit. Played with his usual mix of charm and deeper personality defects by Robert Downey Jr., he as well as the movie are gritty and dark, yet entertaining enough to make up for the relative lack of action.
Random Observations:
Iron Man at imdb.com
While it is obvious that director Jon Favreau and the other people responsible for this film tried to do what Christopher Nolan did with Batman Begins, it is also painfully obvious which of the two has the real film-making chops. No, I’m not talking about Favreau.
What is it with comic book adaptations and the painfully awful names? Who would ever name their daughter “Pepper”?
I was really proud when watching the movie for immediately recognizing Terrence Howard. My pride was slightly diminished when I saw the end credits and Jeff Bridges’ name there. He looks odd bald.
After all the critical praise and commercial success I really tried to like this movie, but I just couldn’t. It’s not bad, just not very good either.
Tags: 2008, action movie, adventure movie, American Film, Batman Begins, book adaptation, Christopher Nolan, comic book movie, Drama, english, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man, Jeff Bridges, Jon Favreau, Leslie Bibb, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Thriller
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Sunday, February 10th, 2008
Review:
The thing about cult films is that most of those movies are not all that great, just managed for some unexplainable reason to garner a huge following. The Big Lebowski is one of those movies. While certainly not bad, the story of The Dude and his friends is a little too confused and outlandish to really work. Sure, the movie is often funny, it may even qualify as a satire, but movies like that are a dime a dozen. The Dude is the classical loser and his entanglement with the criminal element because they mistake him for a businessman with the same name leads him to some strange places. But of course (almost) everything eventually comes to a satisfying solution.
Random Observations:
The Big Lebowski at imdb.com
Here’s your homework, Lebowski cultists: Watch the movie again and in all scenes with Steve Buscemi, just pay attention to him.
The film has too many “one-stop characters” for my liking - what the hell is the point of Sam Elliott’s character?
Maybe I’m making too much of this. The movie is definitely extremely funny. Maybe that is everything that counts.
Tags: 1998, American Film, Coen Brothers, Comedy, David Huddleston, english, Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges, Joel Coen, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, Steve Buscemi, Tara Reid, The Big Lebowski
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Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
Review:
Prot (Kevin Spacey) claims to be from a distant planet called K-PAX. At first psychiatrist Dr. Powell (Jeff Bridges) thinks that he is just another mentally ill person - but soon he realizes that Prot’s story makes a little too much sense. The movie follows Powell’s search for the truth - why can Prot claim to be from another planet so convincingly and what caused this claim. Or is he actually telling the truth? The movie’s strength is it ambiguity - both options are plausible throughout. The problem is that at some point, you just don’t care anymore. Certainly an interesting idea with some nice moments included for good measure, it is not enough to make a movie out of it - maybe the book is better.
Random Observations:
K-PAX at imdb.com
After Kevin Spacey was heralded as the next legendary actor since he won an Oscar for his tremendous performance in “American Beauty“, he quickly ruined that reputation with “Pay It Forward” and this movie.
If anyone recognizes the sunglasses - they are Bono’s.
Here’s why you should never trust a critic: Despite a nice idea and a stellar cast, the movie only got mediocre reviews. But it is intriguing nevertheless and I would suggest you make up your own mind about what really happened.
There’s a small, not really important scene, after the credits.
Tags: 2001, Alfre Woodard, American Beauty, American Film, Bono, book adaptation, Charles Leavitt, David Patrick Kelly, Drama, english, Gene Brewer, Iain Softley, Jeff Bridges, K-PAX, Kevin Spacey, Mary McCormack, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Oscar, Pay It Forward, sci-fi movie
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