conversations with other women Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Conversations with Other Women, which opened last summer in the U.S., is just now making its way across the pond and the British Telegraph used their perfunctory interview with star Helena Bonham Carter -- or 'Helena BC' as they call her -- to ask about more current topics, like Tim Burton's upcoming Sweeney Todd and BC's role as the evil Voldemort henchwoman Bellatrix Lestrange in this summer's Harry Potter film. On the latter, BC is pretty blunt -- "I had five lines in that," she says. "I think they cut three of them -- and I was there for six weeks. I don't know quite how, to this day, I was there for that long. It really is 90 percent waiting. I mean, nice waiitng -- waiting's OK if you've got a trailer. I'm a very good sleeper." Perhaps sensing that her words might be construed negatively, she goes on to throw in matter-of-factly "It's fun to be a witch."

On Sweeney Todd, BC is a little more enthusiastic. "I've loved it since I was 11," she says. "I've always wanted to be Mrs. Lovett." She also talks about the dynamic of working with Burton on the film. "In Sweeney there have been times we've taken our 'couple life' to the set," she says. "And often, I should keep shtoom." [British slang for quiet] "I think my mouth just opens and I spontaneously say things that occur to me. And that can irritate him, and I don't appreciate it that much. I've written down certain commandments now that I know I've got to adopt. One of them is, I should generally obey, and he should have a bit more patience." The interview also strays into what has become familiar territory at this point -- asking BC about whether she enjoyed all those period costume dramas she did earlier in her career, and why she wanted to make a break and do Fight Club, and so forth.

My greatest cinematic weakness is the movie conversation. A great action scene or shocker can pull me in like anyone else, but it's the words that mesmerize. A good movie conversation tugs at those appealing strings of voyeurism. You watch the intimacy of words, but they, and the scene, are not directed at you. It's amazing how much can really be done with words. With the right dialogue, you don't need a gimmick for the audience. You can vicariously have fun with another's conversation, or you can watch a story play out within the span of hello to goodbye.

The following list is by no means comprehensive, but it hits on many of the big conversational accomplishments of the last 30 years. Each has its own way of relating information through words. Some are backed by the urgency of eyes, some are fueled by unnaturally delightful wordplay and some just allow the conversation to happen, wherever it travels to and whatever it says. These seven films have words that roll off the tongues of the actors, creating a cinematic verbal candy that ties into everything from the artsy fartsy to the fart jokes.

My Dinner with Andre

Long before Wallace Shawn was thinking of what was inconceivable, he headed this conversational 80's zeitgeist with Andre Gregory. It's an intellectual niche film, and not for every audience. That being said, there are innumerable subtleties that make it worthy of a first, second and third viewing. What I find most intriguing are the secondary bits that are tacked onto the words, and more importantly, the silence. Shawn is reluctant to go to dinner with Andre, which keeps him silent for a good chunk of the movie. Yet for every word and crazily interesting story that Andre relays, Shawn reacts. He says everything with minute reactions – an eye twitch here, a raised brow and chuckle there.

Just like last Tuesday, it's some pretty slim pickins, new disc-wise, but there's a small handful of interesting flicks that just might deserve a spot somewhere in your Netflix queue.

Bandidas -- This barely-released comedy western doesn't really sound all that hot ... but the leads are Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, so us guys know what we're in for. Sounds a bit like Bad Girls (only this time the jokes are intentional), but with Sam Shepard,Steve Zahn and Dwight Yoakam on board, it sounds just colorful enough to warrant a rental. Weirdly enough, the flick was co-written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) and Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid). Extras include a leading ladies' audio commentary, a featurette and a trailer.

Conversations with Other Women -- One of my very favorite movies of last year. Aaron Eckhart and the seriously awesome Helena Bonham Carter star as a boy and a girl who 'meet cute' at a wedding ... only it sure seems like they once knew each other long ago. Features a split-screen technique that's clever to some and annoying to others, but I think it's one of the most realistically romantic movies I've seen in a long time. Extras include a whole bunch of featurettes.

Crank -- If you liked Running Scared, you'll probably like Crank. If you have no interest whatsoever in action movies that take the laws of physics and twist them into bizarrely tasty pretzels, you will not like Crank. It's about a (rapidly) dying hitman who aims to get one last afternoon of high-end revenge out of his system. Imagine the classic noir D.O.A. did 140 lines of cocaine, and that's Crank. Extras include an audio commentary, some featurettes, a few interviews and a "family friendly audio option," which only partially makes sense because Crank has a lot more "adult material" than just salty language.

Idiocracy -- One of 2006's most overlooked little winners, this one comes from Mike Judge, creator of the insta-cult classic Office Space. Luke Wilson plays an exceedingly average schmo who gets frozen and wakes up 1,000 years later ... as the smartest man on Earth. Not all the jokes fly and the flick feels fairly scattershot from time to time, but there's some really quick-witted and clever stuff in there as well. Judge also does the relatively impossible by making Dax Shepard funny. Befitting the manner in which Fox totally abandoned the film, the DVD extras are limited to a few deleted scenes.

The Illusionist -- It's fun to hear film critics debate the quality of The Illusionist over the similarly-themed The Prestige, but I thought both of 'em were very well-made and eminently watchable. This one (the smaller one) stars Paul Giamatti as a police inspector who aims to expose a turn-of-the-century magician -- but finds the task more than a little difficult. Edward Norton stars, and he's backed up by folks like Jessica Biel and a wonderfully evil Rufus Sewell. Extras include a director's commentary and two featurettes.

The Night Listener -- Still haven't managed to catch up with this one, but it stars Robin Williams as a radio personality who gets involved in the life of a dying kid. No, it's not Patch Adams 2. Toni Collette and Rory Culkin co-star. Extras include a featurette and one deleted scene.

Coming next week: Brothers of the Head, Employee of the Month, Gridiron Gang, The Protector and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

Director Kevin Smith, guest hosting on Ebert and Roeper this week (he was sitting in for Roger Ebert, who is still recovering), waxed rhapsodic on Half Nelson, which opened today. How much did Smith love Half Nelson? Check out these quotes (courtesy of the PR firm repping the film):

"This pops. This pops in a big bad way. And also, when you look at it, it's the work of people who haven't made a lot of flicks. Like this dude, Fleck, this is, he took the short film he had, blew it up into this feature and it holds . . . You know, like it's an amazing piece to look at where, I sit there as a filmmaker and I'm like, this dude's way better than me. I've been doing this twelve years. This dude is phenomenal."

and ...

"There aren't enough thumbs in the world to do HALF NELSON half the justice it deserves. This is just simply an incredible film."

I have to agree with Smith that Half Nelson is great filmmaking. I'm curious to see how it does, box-office wise. It's opening against another indie flick, Conversations With Other Women, which stars the more well-known Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham-Carter, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, family-flick Zoom, Pulse (which I haven't seen, but it doesn't seem to be the same demographic as Half Nelson anyhow) and dance extravaganza Step Up, which likewise caters to a different crowd. If Half Nelson can build up a little momentum in its release, star Ryan Gosling might very well be one to watch for come Oscar time. He certainly deserves a nod for this performance, but will he get enough notice to rate one?

By the by, no quotes from Ebert and Roeper co-host Richard Roeper were provided by the PR rep, which makes me wonder ... did Roeper not like the film? Or is his opinion just not considered as important as Smith's?

I suppose it's indicative of just how much of a total dork I am that I've been waiting patiently anxiously for well over a month for today's announcement of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) lineup. Even more pathetic: I must confess that, every day this week, I've visited the SIFF website, on the off chance that maybe, just maybe, they'd be ahead of the curve and sneak it up early. Now that the blessed day has come, I've spent the better part of an hour perusing every inch of the festival lineup with the kind of love and attention I usually reserve for eyeing the menu at my fave Indian restaurant. I've been making lists of  "must sees" and "wanna sees" -- films I missed during the craziness of Sundance, films I've heard about and not caught yet, even a few I hadn't heard of yet. It's always dicey culling down a list of films the size of the SIFF lineup into an amount that can be reasonably digested over a three-week period, but hey, that's all part of the fun! Here are seven films (from my initial list of 60+ gotta-see-'em films) I'm all hopped up about catching during SIFF.