'Examined Life' – Help Is Something We All Need
Examined Life / Featuring Cornel West Avital Ronell K. Anthony Appiah Martha Nussbaum Peter Singer Slavoj Žižek Michael Hardt Sunaura Taylor Judith Butler / Directed by Astra Taylor A somewhat slight, yet entertaining and moving eight-seven minute recording of various known thinkers thinking out loud, ‘Examined Life’ might be better titled ‘Help’. How do we [...]
Maurice Jarre
At Christmas 1985 I was given three cassettes to play on my new mono Walkman. One of them I forget, another was Lionel Richie’s ‘Dancing on the Ceiling’, and the third the soundtrack to ‘Mad Max-Beyond Thunderdome’, songs by Tina Turner, score by Maurice Jarre. (You may remember ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’. How could [...]
This Week's Podcast: Knowing and Duplicity
In this week’s podcast Gareth and I to and fro over ‘Knowing’ and ‘Duplicity’ – click below for the discussion: The Film Talk – Part 55 – Knowing / Duplicity
The Film Talk – Part 55 – Knowing / Duplicity
Films Reviewed This Week: Knowing / Duplicity Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
Godard's 'Made in USA' in Nashville till Tuesday
Films by Jean-Luc Godard are always necessary and appropriate when you become tired of cinema – they refresh you. Screen a copy of ‘Breathless‘ and you realise we haven’t began to tap into what linear narrative image series are capable of doing. With that in mind if you’re worn out by the current crop of [...]
Nashville Film Festival Movies Announced!
The 2009 Nashville Film Festival films have been announced!: 2009 Official Selection Here’s the same list with summaries of the films, info on the filmmakers, etc.: 2009 Nashville Film Festival Press Room I don’t know about you, but if you’re a film junkie like me you’ll want to see everything. The official schedule will be [...]
'The Great Buck Howard' Opens Today at the Belcourt
‘The Great Buck Howard’ opens today at the Belcourt. Click here for showtimes and below for our review: ‘The Great Buck Howard’ – Review
Belfast Film Festival: Daily Highlights
To TFT listeners in Belfast: you know it already, but those of us on the other side of an ocean are mildly envious that we can’t be with you at the Belfast Film Festival over the next week or so. (Don’t cry for us, though, for in one of those thrice-yearly mystical encounters, your genial [...]
Penelope Cruz was Robbed. By Penelope Cruz.
Through the magic of Netflix Watch Instantly – which seems to be delivering much better quality image than it used to – tonight I saw one of the films I had been eager to catch last year but missed due to unhelpful film distribution patterns/other commitments/laziness. ‘Elegy’, a film based on a Philip Roth story, [...]
Last Chance to See 'Gomorrah' and 'Two Lovers' at the Belcourt
‘Gomorrah’ and ‘Two Lovers’ close Thursday, March 26th, at the Belcourt. I highly recommend you see them if you get the chance – especially the thrilling ‘Two Lovers’. Our Review of ‘Gomorrah’ / ‘Gomorra’ Our Review of ‘Two Lovers’ – A Young Man Who Would Rather Care For Someone Else Than Be Cared For – [...]
'Let the Right One In' Subtitle Travesty
Via @joblocom comes this excellent post by ‘Icons of Fright’ on what can only be described as a travesty in the U.S. DVD subtitling for fine Scandopire flick ‘Let the Right One In’: Let The Wrong Subtitles In To LET THE RIGHT ONE IN?! Let the ‘Icons of Fright’ post be a warning – always [...]
The Best Film Ever Made
I was walking at high altitudes in New Mexico yesterday with three friends, and the conversation turned to where it inevitably goes when people know that part of what I do for a living is to watch movies. ‘So, what’s the best film ever made?’ It’s an impossible question, of course – I’m not sure [...]
This Week's Podcast: 'Taken' as Prehistory
In this week’s podcast Jett explains why ‘Taken’ is a tale told in pre-history and Gareth suggests an alternative picture, ‘Emerald Forest‘: The Film Talk – Part 54 – Taken
'Star Trek' Live on Stage
As discussed in these comments TFT rarely critiques television shows. I would make an exception though for the original ‘Star Trek’ series – if only as an excuse to publicise the wonderful video above, (via Metafilter). What a delight – would loved to have been there!
The Film Talk – Part 54 – Taken
Films Reviewed This Week: Taken / Atanarjuat / Emerald Forest Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
A Review of 'Adventureland' – Timing is Everything
Adventureland / Featuring Jesse Eisenberg Kristen Stewart Margarita Levieva Ryan Reynolds Kristen Wiig Bill Hader Martin Starr / Photographed by Terry Stacey / Written and Directed by Greg Mottola A beautifully shot, touching, yet light and funny coming of age story, ‘Adventureland’ deserves to be seen – but not for the reasons I’ve just stated. [...]
The Beautiful and Unsettling Experience of Watching Koyaanisqatsi on Hulu
Koyaanisqatsi, that tremendous collage of images and music directed by Godfrey Reggio with an astonishing score by Philip Glass is now available for viewing on ad supported Hulu.com. This make for a strange, unsettling experience. There we are, ensconced in the strange beautiful world of Koyaanisqatsi – a non-verbal mediation on nature and the imbalance [...]
Nashville 9 Premiere and Benefit this Thursday at the Belcourt
An interesting experiment in the fast fusion of film-making and music, Nashville 9, is premiering tomorrow night at the Belcourt as a benefit for ‘The Boys and Girls Club of Middle Tennessee’: The Nashville 9 Premiere & Performance Event It’s an ambitious idea, (see work-flow diagram below), and I have no idea if they’ve pulled [...]
Films That Everyone Knows About But Has Forgotten How Bad They Really Are Even Though They Have At Least One Thing To Commend Them #1: Purple Rain
This is what happens when you listen to your inner ‘give the benefit of the doubt’ whisper. Yesterday morning, feeling a little sluggish, I decided to begin the working week with a viewing of ‘Purple Rain’, Albert Magnoli’s extended pop video showcase of the talents of a certain Prince Rogers Nelson, and a film that [...]
What Watchmen Creators Zack Snyder and David Hayter Could Have Learned From Peter Weir
Gareth and I have already gone into some depth analysing the myriad failures of the recent film ‘Watchmen’: The Film Talk – Part 52 – Watchmen But am prompted to add a last thought after reading this weekend a plea from ‘Watchmen’ screenwriter David Hayter to go see the film again so as to boost [...]
This Week's Podcast – The Films of Stanley Kubrick
Just uploaded – Dr. Higgins and I pick our favorite scene from each of Stanley Kubrick’s pictures: The Film Talk – Part 53 – The Films of Stanley Kubrick
The Film Talk – Part 53 – The Films of Stanley Kubrick
Films Reviewed This Week: Fear and Desire / The Killing / Paths of Glory/ Spartacus / Lolita / Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb / 2001: A Space Odyssey / A Clockwork Orange /Barry Lyndon / The Shining / Full Metal Jacket / Eyes Wide Shut Get TFT [...]
Unsung Films That I’m Not Going To Say Much About Other Than PLEASE WATCH THIS RIGHT NOW #1: 'It's All Gone Pete Tong'
Sometimes keywords are all you need: Dance music/amazing central performance/utterly compelling story/cold turkey/love affair you can believe in/redemption that looks real/total surprise out of left field/Paul Kaye should have won an Oscar/addresses physical disabilities with deep sensitivity/substance abuse/enthralling musical sequences/Ibiza/far better than you could hope to imagine/Jett could say ‘Go see it!’/Gareth says ‘It’s one [...]
Gomorra / Gomorrah
Gomorra / Featuring Salvatore Abruzzese – Gianfelice Imparato – Manuela Lo Sicco – Scarlett Johansson / Written by Roberto Saviano – Maurizio Braucci – Ugo Chiti – Gianni Di GregorioMatteo Garrone – Massimo Gaudioso – Roberto Saviano / Directed by Matteo Garrone The ‘anti-Goodfellas’, Gomorra is a bleak, depressing look at the banality of the [...]
