Monika’s Pensieve

I’m really behind with my blog *sigh* - even my “film diary” is suffering :-/

{FILM DIARY}

The Brotherhood (USA, 2001)

Seen: Saturday, 4th July 2009
Runtime: 85′
Director: David DeCoteau
Cast: Sam Page, Josh Hammond, Bradley Stryker, Elizabeth Bruderman
Production House: Rapid Heart Pictures, Regent Entertainment
Plot: The “Doma (House of) Tau Omega” fraternity wants to recruit Chris really badly (he’s so beautiful and innocent after all). What kind of plans do they have for him exactly?

Scene From The Film

Impressions In Short
Very cheesy and corny, but fun anyway *grin*
The strongest impression I had after watching this is how can a film promise so much gay action and then not deliver on it at all lol (even the description on the youtube clip says the same thing!)

More About the Film
The film is rather hilarious. There’s no pretence about it whatsoever - it is what it is and it doesn’t try to hide it. It’s a B movie in the best possible way ;)
The plot is irrelevant and doesn’t really make much sense. The main reason to make the film was clearly to show lots of random shots of young men in their underwear (sadly, no random nudity though ;-P). Considering it has a horror theme (though personally I think it’s hard to watch it as anything other than comedy), it goes surprisingly easy on the gore. It’s definitely the homoerotic aspects rather than the horror that were of interest to the director ;)
That said, it is so frustrating to be teased and teased in this way and then not have the gay action delivered lol There are all these scenes where you think “aha, they’re going to kiss now” and even some where things could have gotten a lot more pervy (like loads of guys in their underwear performing strange vampire rituals), but nothing ever happens!

Recommended?
If you’re in the mood for something corny and homoerotic then this is not a bad movie to watch. But you really have to be in the right (preferably somewhat gigglish) mood ;)
If you don’t have any enjoyment in watching B movies then stay away though. It’ll just seem like the most horrendous movie ever made ;)

I’m having a lot of problems with spambots on this blog right now, so please don’t be surprised if your comments don’t appear straight away. This does not mean I don’t want comments - I love comments, so please keep them coming *grin* I’m just annoyed with the spam grrrr…

Below is a long, but interesting report on how strongly religion influences Lebanon’s politics.

{FILM DIARY}

Hitsuji no uta (Japan, 2002)

Seen: Saturday, 4th July 2009
Director: Junji Hanada
Cast: Shun Oguri, Natsuki Kato
Plot: Kazuna is a 15 year old boy who has not lived with his family since the age of 2. He has never been told why his parents gave him away, yet kept his sister. As strange dreams and feelings start plaguing him, he learns about the hereditary illness his family suffers from.

Trailer

Impressions In Short
I saw this for the first time about a year ago because of Oguri Shun. I liked it a bit less this time, but I still think it’s a rather intriguing film.
I wish I had a better quality copy of it. I think it would evoke much stronger feelings if the cinematography could be properly appreciated.

More About the Film
If a film has characters craving to drink the blood of others then it’s hard not to call it a vampire film. But then this film has no elements of the supernatural and the actual blood-drinking is far from being its focus. It’s a very slow, psychological movie with lots of long shots of landscapes and its true focus is the feeling of isolation and shame (it has a hint of incest too). The scenes of blood craving show the characters trying to contain the feeling and stop themselves from giving in to it. There’s practically no action in them, it’s all inner struggle.
And I think this is why the film doesn’t have an audience ;-P An art house audience is unlikely to want to watch “a vampire movie”. A commercial audience, on the other hand, is unlikely to find a film as slow as this entertaining. And so, despite starring a major Japanese star in the lead role, it’s practically impossible to get this film on DVD. A DVD with English subtitles doesn’t exist and even if I’d settle for a DVD without subtitles (which I wouldn’t as I don’t speak Japanese ;-P), the Japanese DVD is all sold out and hasn’t been re-released. So if you are one of those few weirdos like me that finds this sort of thing appealing then you can’t see this film in the legal way…
It’s a shame that a DVD with English subtitles is not available - I’d love to see it in good quality. The film is beautifully shot and I think seeing it in proper quality would enhance the viewing experience quite a bit *sigh*
Even so, there’s a lot to appreciate. There’s some good and very understated performances from the cast (Kazuna’s sister is played by the girl who did Shigeru in Hana Yori Dango 2 and even she’s beautifully understated *grin* ) and it has its own special atmosphere.

Recommended?
Probably not for most people, though if you think an extremely slow and psychological vampire movie might appeal to you then this is definitely worth a shot *grin*

I always like hearing news about age ratings for films and so here’s an article about the BBFC reviewing its guidelines. Interesting changes I think.

Daniel Radcliffe is really pushing the envelope *grin* We’ve got him specifying at what age he lost his virginity in this interview in Esquire. And the Guardian profile goes even further - he admits to an interest in cross-dressing lol I’ve been wondering whether he would own up to being a smoker if he was asked and it looks like he’s done that too!

Below is an adorable interview with Emma Watson from the Jonathan Ross show:

She talks quite a bit about her kiss with Rupert Grint and it’s really funny. Actually that generally seems to be one of the main talking points of the Half-Blood Prince publicity even though the kiss isn’t due until the 8th film or so. Daniel Radcliffe talked about the kiss in the Guardian interview as well:

“(…)But I have to say, today I saw playback of Ron and Hermione’s kiss [from the final book], and it is easily, from what we’ve filmed so far, the biggest moment in all the films. It is,” he says approvingly, “a great kiss.”

There’s also a nice interview with Mathew Lewis and this one with David Yates is a good read too.

Last, but not least, there have been some new clips and stills released. One of them (the library scene) aired during the Jonathan Ross interview, but there’s also the attack on the Burrow scene (a scene that’s not in the book, but I think I’m getting why they felt they needed it in the film), a short clip of Quidditch and a scene between Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny in the common room. The new stills are awesome. I particularly loved the two stills from the Spinner’s End scene - see here and here. Also Lavender is looking great on those pics. And why on Earth is Neville a waiter at the Slug Club Christmas party? lol

{FILM DIARY}

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (USA, 2008)

Seen: Wednesday, 1st July 2009 (cinema)
Runtime: 101′
Director: Kevin Smith
Cast: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords, Katie Morgan, Ricky Mabe, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Brandon Routh, Justin Long
Production House: Blue Askew, View Askew Productions, The Weinstein Company
Plot: Zack and Miri are broke, so they decide to make a porn film. During the course of making it they discover they have deeper feelings for each other than they thought.

Scene From the Film

Impressions In Short
I guess the surprise of the movie is that despite being rather vulgar, it’s actually a very sweet love story. It was a lot of fun :)

More About the Film
There’s not that much to say about it to be honest. It’s just lots of fun and silliness.
Me, Kin and Ewelina were all a little surprised that the porn scenes went as far as they did. I think we were expecting most of it to happen off screen and that was not the case. We even got a hilarious full frontal from Jason Mewes. Though at the same time we all felt that since they *did* go that far, it was a bit weird that the sex between Zack and Miri was so prudish. I know it was supposed to be soppy and everything, but it felt like it was from a different movie almost.
The cast was excellent. I like it when comedy’s done like that… Regardless of whether it was a comic scene or a more emotional one, they were all always in character and playing it earnestly. I loved that :)

Recommended?
Yes, if you’re in the mood for a comedy and don’t mind the humour being rather vulgar :)

In the report below, Al Jazeera interviewed people in Beirut about their city and about their views on many issues. It looks like a fascinating place :)

The publicity for the upcoming Harry Potter movie is really moving now. Here’s a small selection…

So firstly, there’s a new scene from the film available now. It’s a scene between Dumbledore and Harry.
The clip has me convinced of two things… One - we’re going to get a lot of Dumbledore in this movie. Two - I’m going to have very similar impressions about the 6th film as I had about the 5th ;-P I think it’s going to have some good performances (perhaps even better than in the 5th - they always seem to get the performances better with every film) and some interesting moments, but on the whole it’s going to be full of Hollywood clichés :] The music and some of the crane shots on that clip are painfully Hollywoodish *sigh* (the performances look great though)

There’s also a totally random TV spot making the rounds, which I thought was fun. They usually have a pretty conventional way of doing publicity and this was unusually creative ;-P

Interviews, featurettes and all that are coming out en masse too of course. What I find particularly amusing is how the Trio are suddenly all freely talking about their love lives ;)
Anyway, you can check out this interview with Emma Watson, which is pretty good. She says some cute things about Helena Bonham-Carter in that.
This is a rather good interview with Rupert Grint. It’s interesting to hear him talking about acting and how he sees his career. One rarely gets anything quite that coherent out of him about it ;)
Oh and both Rupert and Emma talk about the kiss - apparently they did it recently during the Deathly Hallows shoot.
This one with Daniel Radcliffe is relatively good, but he was at his best in this one ;) I think my favourite bit in that was when he talked about the challenges of adapting the Harry Potter books to film:

Also, we’ve sort of screwed ourselves up a bit. We haven’t had Dobby in the movies since, I think, the second. So, we’ve now got to re-establish a character and then have it mean something when he dies. So we need time to do that. Maybe I should have a line when he pops up: “Dobby! I haven’t seen you since 2003!”

Finally, I wanted to link to this also. The article caught my interest mainly because it’s the first time I’ve heard about Warner Bros putting their foot down on something the director wanted to do:

According to everyone I speak to at Leavesden, Warners has been remarkably hands off. It’s only when Yates started to get a bit arty on The Half-Blood Prince that the studio had something to say. “The only major run-in we’ve had since I came on board is regarding the look of this film. We had a fairly major negotiation about its look. Bruno Delbonnel, who was also cinematographer on Amelie, made it look very distinct and different to the previous Potters by using all these monochromatic washes. The studio wanted more colour added to it and we obliged. And actually it’s no less artful with the new grade; it looks more beautiful, more inviting. When you’re sending 28,000 prints around the world to goodness knows how many cultures, you need a show that pulls you in.”

{FILM SPOTTING}

July is clearly Hollywood blockbuster month for me *grin* (I’ll have the ENH festival at the end of the month to recuperate by watching loads of art house movies ;-P)

Brüno (USA, 2009)

Release Date (worldwide): 8th July 2009
Release Date (Poland): 10th July 2009

I originally “spotted” this here.

Public Enemies (USA, 2009)

Release Date (worldwide): 1st July 2009
Release Date (Poland): 17th July 2009
Runtime: 140′
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard
Production House: Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Forward Pass, Misher Films, Tribeca Productions, Appian Way
Plot: (from imdb)

The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
The story and trailer aren’t all that enticing.

The excited part of me thinks that…
It stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale - that should be enticing enough ;-P And also Depp tends to choose interesting films nowadays so…

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (USA/UK, 2009)

Release Date (worldwide): 15th July 2009
Release Date (Poland): 24th July 2009

Probably my most awaited movie of the year ;) I originally “spotted” this here.