IlDivo Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 10/27
Filed under: New Releases », DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
Orphan
An "outwardly angelic little girl" gets adopted by a new family consisting of Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga, and then begins to unleash her hidden evilness. In his review, Peter Martin wrote that Orphan "is so bats*** crazy that it wears you down just enough to accept the lunacy and enjoy the movie for what it is: every parent's worst nightmare, writ large in childish crayon." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.
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Whatever WorksWoody Allen's follow-up to Vicky Cristina Barcelona and return to the Big Apple takes his old man self out of the equation to give a new dude (played by Larry David) some May-December romance with Evan Rachel Wood. Nick Schager wasn't sold, and in his review, he wrote: "rather than an inspired meeting of kindred minds, their collaboration does little except reinforce the notion that Allen's creative well has long since run dry, his films now split into either inert, heavy-handed, detached spectacles of pretty people doing naughty things in foreign locales (Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), or leaden comedic larks in which notable names embody Allen's archetypal kvetching role." Rent it. Also on Blu-ray.
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Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
The next installment in the family film series. In his review, William Goss wrote: "All in all, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is an improvement over its massively forgettable predecessor: generally inoffensive (save perhaps for history buffs), a bit more charming than most of the non-Pixar competition, and frivolous in the best possible sense." Buy it for the family film collection. Also on Blu-ray.
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Also out: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, Nothing Like the Holidays, Night of the Creeps, Criminal Ways, Stan Helsing
Italy Scores Big in the European Film Award Nominations
Filed under: Foreign Language », Independent », Awards », Oscar Watch », Cinematical Indie »
The Italian films Il Divo and Gomorra hogged the spotlight at Saturday's announcement of the European Film Award nominations, with five nods apiece, including best picture. "But wait," you might be saying if you're not European. "Why do the European Film Awards matter to me? I'm not European!" They matter because you love foreign films, that's why. OK, and also because the EFAs often presage the Academy Awards. Recent EFA best picture winners have included such Oscar-scented titles as The Lives of Others, Talk to Her, Amelie, and Dancer in the Dark. Gomorra -- which is apparently about skinny underwear models who shoot guns at the beach -- has been submitted as Italy's Oscar hopeful and now seems like a surefire nominee, thanks to its EFA attention. The other EFA best picture nominees are The Class (France's Oscar submission), Waltz with Bashir (Israel's submission), Happy-Go-Lucky (whose star, Sally Hawkins, has generated Oscar buzz), and The Orphanage (which was eligible for Oscar consideration last year).
In the director category, the EFA nominees are Laurent Cantet (The Class), Andreas Dresen (Cloud 9), Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir), Matteo Garrone (Gomorra), Steve McQueen (Hunger), and Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo). Also of note: Toni Servillo is named in the best actor category for two performances -- Il Divo and Gomorra. You'd think those were the only two films Italy made this year.
Most of the EFA-nominated films either have U.S. distribution lined up or are already playing here. Success at the awards, to be handed out in Copenhagen on Dec. 8, will increase their visibility in American theaters and may also help their chances at the Oscars. The complete list of nominations is here.
Live From Toronto: Watching the Cannes Holdovers
Filed under: Cannes », Sony Classics », Festival Reports », Toronto International Film Festival », Cinematical Indie »
Cinematical goes to Cannes, so when it comes time for the fall festivals, we mostly ignore the movies we've already covered there. But since I didn't go to Cannes, the many holdovers from that festival are new to me, and a big part of the fun. (Less fun: complaining about being conflicted out of a movie only to be met with "oh, I saw that at Cannes." Thanks, jackass.)
One such holdover is the Dardenne brothers' very good Lorna's Silence, an(other) study of guilt and self-deception. The Dardennes' approach can be charitably termed "narrative economy," or less charitably "a pathological refusal to let important events happen on screen." For that reason, Lorna's Silence plays like a mystery, except that the mystery is what the hell is going on, with the filmmakers dropping tidbits of information at their leisure. It's an unusual way of generating suspense – a bit tyrannical, but also a recognition that real life generally does not contain expository dialogue. Though the film contains plenty of conventional what-happens-next suspense as well, its nature makes virtually any plot description a spoiler. If you like the Dardennes, or are just interested in the current art film vanguard, don't read much about Lorna's Silence but just go see it. Sony Pictures Classics will release it in North America.
Andreotti Pic Charges Full Steam Ahead
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Casting », Celebrities and Controversy », Politics », Cinematical Indie »
This past spring, there was a bit of a filmmaker/subject kerfuffle. Director Paolo Sorrentino said he was going to make a film about ex-Prime Minister of Italy, Giulio Andreotti. Sorrentino said that he had met with the controversial figure twice to discuss the project. However, Andreotti then said he had never met him. Regardless of the ex-PM's memory, the project is pushing forward. IMDb says the film, Il Divo, is in post-production, and The Hollywood Reporter has posted that it will be released next May by Lucky Red in Italy.Italian actor Toni Servillo, whose work with Sorrentino already garnered him a David di Donatello award for his work in Conseguenze dell'Amore, will star as Andreotti. On and off from the '70s through the '90s, PM Andreotti made waves with boatloads of scandal and accusations -- mainly involving "allegedly strong but shadowy ties to both the Vatican and the Mafia." (I'll let you make your own assumptions on that one!) Many say that he has also hit the screen before -- as the basis for Don Licio Lucchesi in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III. Whatever the case, it's sure to be a pretty interesting drama, and one that should fire up the ex-PM if he ever remembers to see it.
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Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/24
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