Adventures in Film Criticism at Funerals & Snakes

Adventures in Film Criticism

Published

11 months ago

I was musing at the top of the Downstage stairs yesterday evening that a Wellington Film Critics Circle (for no reason other than to say we have one) might be an idea - we could hand out awards at the end of the year and say they point to Oscars like the New York critics do (or we could all get together once a year for a piss-up).

Anyway, later on I read this link below and went off the idea pretty much straight away.

My favourite line: “If the various elements had been more fully orchestrated, the grating psychological reasoning would have been even more redundant.”

Eh?

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Roger Ebert repeats an anecdote told him by Marcello Mastroianni about filming the famous Trevi Fountain splashabout in La Dolce Vita:

“The water, it was-a very cold,” He said. “Fellini, he shoots again and again. Finally, the time for the close shot of my fingers reaching to touch-a her cheek. I am always smoking, smoking, smoking. My fingers, the nicotine!”

He held them up to illustrate.

“Anita’s skin is alabaster white. Fellini, he looks-a my fingers against her skin, and shouts, Marcello! When-a you gonna learn the right way to wipe-a your ass?“

Made me laugh anyway.

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My friend Alex, honorary international judge for this year’s 48 Hours (Wgtn) sent me a story:

I met a guy who lives in isolated Indonesia and builds medical centres
I asked him about the building materials- local
I asked him about the sanitation methods- pig
Yip
That’s right, there is a pig who lives under the building who gets shat on all day, who eats human shit all day, who doesn’t get out of the shit pen much
For its whole life
And then,
The villagers eat the pig

Nice story huh?

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My friend Rachey is blogging at The Wire which means she is a person of some significance:

everyone I know went a bit crazy on the weekend with the full moon.
look
I fell over and scraped the skin of my knee.
was a little drunk.
had just eaten a pie.

[Post with picture of scraped knee, here]

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Now Showing in Wellington

Meet Dave (2008)
2008-07-10 20:51
Not yet reviewed.
0.3
Mamma Mia! (2008)
2008-07-10 20:51
Not yet reviewed.
0.3
Get Smart (2008)
2008-07-10 20:47
Not yet reviewed.
0.3
The Tiger's Tail (2006) 3/5
2008-06-30 14:20

"The “evil twin” story is one of the oldest in literature and it makes for a pretty lumpy metaphor here."
0.3
Speed Racer (2008) 2/5
2008-06-30 10:00

"... I have rarely felt so detached from a big screen movie ..."
0.3
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead... 4/5
2008-06-29 15:15

"Effortlessly switching perspectives and time-frames, Lumet proves that he hasn’t lost that ability to reveal human frailty by piling on the pressure. Totally recommended."
0.3
Kung Fu Panda (2008) 3.5/5
2008-06-27 18:30

"... boisterous and entertaining ..."
0.3
The Jammed (2007) 3/5
2008-06-23 22:00

"... a tightly-wound piece of work ..."
0.3
Grow Your Own (2007) 3.5/5
2008-06-23 13:00

"... contains plenty of diverting comic moments while never losing sight of the human stories unfolding close at hand, reminding us that Social Workers may well be the heroes of the 21st century."
0.3
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian... 3.5/5
2008-06-22 12:45

"... chugs along at an excellent pace and the whole thing is sprinkled with plenty of wit."
0.3
3.5/5
2008-06-19 15:30

0.3
Outsourced (2006) 3/5
2008-06-16 20:00

"The usual cross-cultural misunderstandings occur but the characters all grow on you, much like India grows on our hero."
0.3
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) 3/5
2008-06-16 11:00

"There are plenty of jokes per minute and the relentless teasing of Israelis for their love of fizzy drinks, hummus, disco and hacky-sack is pretty entertaining."
0.3
Brick Lane (2007) 3/5
2008-06-08 20:00

"Clumsily condensed and fussily directed, Brick Lane never quite overcomes it’s own clichés."
0.3
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) 2.5/5
2008-06-08 17:45

"... I think the reason why Happy-Go-Lucky fails is the lack of empathy for the characters (possibly caused by Leigh not having actors like Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall to make the emotional connections for him)."
0.3
Sex and the City (2008) 2.5/5
2008-06-04 13:00

"... it appears to be about four women in Manhattan, not too bright, not too nice and not too deep, who are looking for love, success and shoes."
0.3
4 (2007) 2.5/5
2008-05-26 20:00

"... a pleasant enough hour and a half."
0.3
Second Hand Wedding (2008) 3.5/5
2008-05-11 13:30

"... an adorable confection, easy to praise and a pleasure to recommend."
0.3
The Painted Veil (2006) 3.5/5
2008-04-26 18:00

"... the images are ravishing, the performances are uniformly excellent and you could do a lot worse on a wet weekend."
0.3
Lars and the Real Girl (2007) 4.5/5
2008-04-07 20:15

“Gosling’s performance is a thing of wonder but it wouldn’t be half as successful without great work from Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson to play off. Kudos to them all. Not to be missed.”
0.3
I'm Not There. (2007) 4.5/5
2008-03-29 20:15

"I think the key to Dylan is that he is less complicated (and at the same time more complex) than the world would have you believe and he fully deserves a work of art as fine as this one in his name.
0.3
In the Shadow of the Moon (2007) 4/5
0000-00-00 00:00

Take the whole family.
0.3
Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007) 4.5/5
0000-00-00 00:00

A masterpiece of sensitive adaptation.
0.3

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