Cinema and Popcorn

" If it never quite matches the brilliance of 2008's "The Dark Knight," this hugely ambitious action-drama nonetheless retains the moral urgency and serious-minded pulp instincts that have made the Warners franchise a beacon of integrity in an increasingly comicbook-driven Hollywood universe. Global B.O. domination awaits.(...) Production designers Nathan Crowley and Kevin Kavanaugh opt for a grittier, more working-class Gotham this time around, a fully inhabited city of rundown street corners, public-works offices, bombed-out bridges and fetid sewers (...) Lee Smith's editing maintains tautness and energy over the estimable running time, and Hans Zimmer adds a few ivory-tickling grace notes to his magnificently brooding score " by Justin Chang in Variety " Big-time Hollywood filmmaking at its most massively accomplished, this last installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy makes everything in the rival Marvel universe look thoroug...

1. Laura Linney for Hyde Park On Hudson Born: February 5, 1964 - New York City, New York, USA Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2001 - Best Leading Actress for You Can Count on Me (nom); 2005 - Best Supporting Actress for Kinsey (nom); 2008 - Best Leading Actress for Savages (nom) Oscar snubed performance(s): 2003 - Mystic River ; 2005 - The Squid and the Whale She may not be a movie star in a global scale or an Hollywood diva, but Laura Linney is just a lovely presence on screen and a very capable actress. While I believe her part in the Oscar friendly-looking Hyde Park On Hudson may be promoted as a supporting one, I'm sure the role is meaty enough in order to give her another Academy Award nod no matter for which category she'll be promoted. I've my doubts about Linney's Oscar-winning chances (for some reason I've found hard trying to look at her as a potential Oscar winner), but I'm sure she will score an easy nomination. Playing P...

Chuckie: So this is a Harvard bar, huh? I thought there'd be equations and shit on the wall.

[last lines] Bob: Bye. Charlotte: Bye. Bob: Bye. [Bob leaves Charlotte and walks back to his waiting taxi] Bob: [to taxi driver] All right.

1.   Les Misérables Director: Tom Hooper  Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sasha Baron Cohen and Samantha Barks Synopsis: " An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France, in which a paroled prisoner named Jean Valjean seeks redemption. " The adaptation of one of the most loved musical shows in the whole world - Les Misérables - promises to be breath taking and one of the most acclaimed movies of the year. Directed by Tom Hooper ( The King's Speech ), this movie set the bar high for itself by releasing a beautiful and emotional movie trailer, generating the strongest Oscar buzz of the pre-awards season. The stage adaptations of the movie tend to be always epic and the same may happen with the movie if Hooper knows how to manage everything. Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and a big couple of other stars, thi...

To Rome With Love was released more than 2 weeks ago, but what made me writing this post was watching the trailer of Woody Allen: A Documentary  - it made me realise how often he works with fantastic actors and actresses, directing them (mostly a female "them") in almost iconic performances. Woody Allen has such a estrogen-full filmography...During decades of moviemaking, "his women" have set the bar high for other actresses and being cast in a Allen movie became a synonym of true acting talent (and beauty) for both media and audiences. Some women appeared more than once in a Woody flick and he wrote parts with a specific actress in his mind -   I know he says he doesn't have a muse, but the fact is that some women influenced his movies since the moment he starts constructing a plot in his brain, which means, he gets inspired by them, which means he always had muses.   Well, Woody worked with a lot of great female acting names since the beginn...

"It's an adventure, a love story, a biblical allegory complete with approaching storm, a mash note to composer Benjamin Britten and a profoundly touching discourse on the needs of troubled children (...) Anderson's screenplay, co-written with Roman Coppola, is orchestrated as meticulously as the myriad Britten works excerpted on the soundtrack (...) Those might be woodwinds we hear, or they might be the deft phrasing of fine supporting turns by Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy's muddled parents (...) The formality of "Moonrise Kingdom" - the orderly structure and dreamlike perfection of it all - is as poetic as any film I've seen this year."  by Amy Biancolli in San Francisco Chronicle "Moonrise Kingdom has other lines that good, enough to make me wish that Anderson hadn’t reverted so aggressively to form (i.e., formalism) after moving the other way in The Darjeeling Limited. The movie is a showcase for cinematographer Robert...

"All hail the warrior king of this dizzying, dazzling 3D action epic (...) Whedon is not afraid to slow down to let feelings sink in. Fanboy heresy, perhaps, but the key to the film's super­smart, supercool triumph. In the final third, when Whedon lets it rip and turns the battle intensity up to 11, all your senses will be blown. I have one word for The Avengers: Wowza!" by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone "But from a logistical point of view alone, he imposes a grip on the material that feels like that of a benevolent general, marshaling myriad technical resources (including an excellent use of 3D) while, even more impressively, juggling eight major characters, giving them all cool and important things to do (...) It's clamorous, the save-the-world story is one everyone's seen time and again, and the characters have been around for more than half a century in 500 comic book issues. But Whedon and his cohorts have managed to stir all the personalitie...

1. Sundance falls in love for Hushpuppy Beasts of the Southern Wild was received with raves and some tears in Sundance Film Festival and it is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year, so far. With a 27 June release, it promises to enchant some viewers and to be a major player in the awards circuit (specially in the "indie world"). Everybody loves tragedy, hope and childhood and Beasts promises having it all to offer. Introducing Quvenzhané Wallis (and a big couple of first-time actors), I hope being able to see her performance described as a "miniature force of nature" as soon as possible, because the trailer just sold me a ticket! 2. The Avengers is a critical and commercial "Marvel" Having Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Loki and... Samuel L. Jackson in the same scenes sounded like "it will be a mess!", but The Avengers surprised comic-book fans, non-fans and critics and became the high...