Loquacious Kumquat: A Facetious Adventure

Friday, October 28, 2011

Out of the Past: The Week In Film 10/21/11 – 10/27/11

Of Interest:
Elite Squad (2007) Dir. Jose Padhila – Brazil

Recommended:
The Conspirator (2010) Dir. Robert Redford – US
The Perfect Host (2010) Dir. Nick Tomnay – US
Winnebago Man (2009) Dir. Ben Steinbauer – US

Theatrical Screenings:
Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within (2011) Dir. Jose Padhila – Brazil 7/10
The Conquest (2011) Dir. Xavier Durringer – France 8/10
Declaration of War (2011) Dir. Valerie Donzelli – France 9/10
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) Dir. Sean Durkin – US 10/10

Friday, October 21, 2011

Out of the Past: The Week In Film 10/14/11-10/20/11

Cess Pool Cinema:
Glitch In the Grid (2011) Dir. Eric Lesier – US
Hisss (2010) Dir. Jennifer Chambers Lynch – India/US

Recommended:
L.A. Story (1991) Dir. Mick Jackson – US
Red State (2011) Dir. Kevin Smith – US
Hipsters (2008) Dir. Valeriy Todorovskiy – Russia

Theatrical Screenings:
Young Goethe In Love (2011) Dir. Phillip Stolzl – Germany 5/10
Oranges and Sunshine (2010) Dir. Jim Loach – UK/Australia 5/10
Texas Killing Fields (2011) Dir. Ami Canaan Mann – US 9/10
Pina (2011) Dir. Wim Wenders – Germany 10/10

Friday, October 14, 2011

Out of the Past: The Week In Film 10/7/11 – 10/13/11

The Banal:
The Spiral Road (1962) Dir. Robert Mulligan – US
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) Dir. Brian Gibson – US

Of Interest:
The Last Sunset (1961) Dir. Robert Aldrich – US

Recommended:
Copacabana (2010) Dir. Marc Fitoussi – France
A Taste of Honey (1961) Dir. Tony Richardson – UK

Essential Cinema:
Shivers (1975) Dir. David Cronenberg – Canada
Last Summer (1969) Dir. Frank Perry – US
Model Shop (1969) Dir. Jacques Demy – US/France

Rewatched:
Insidious (2010) Dir. James Wan - US

Theatrical Screenings:
The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) (2011) Dir. Tom Six – Netherlands 5/10
Margin Call (2011) Dir. J.C. Chandor – US 7/10
The Ides of March (2011) Dir. George Clooney – US 8/10
I Melt With You (2011) Dir. Mark Pellington – US 8/10
The Woman (2011) Dir. Lucky McKee – US 10/10

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Out of the Past: The Week In Film 9/30/11 – 10/6/11

Cess Pool Cinema:
Thor (2011) Dir. Kenneth Branagh – US
The Rite (2011) Dir. Mikael Hafstrom – US

The Banal:
Limitless (2011) Dir. Neil Burger – US
A Very Special Favor (1965) Dir. Michael Gordon - US
Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952) Dir. Douglas Sirk – US
The Golden Blade (1953) Dir. Nathan Juran – US

Of Interest:
A Woman’s Secret (1949) Dir. Nicholas Ray – US

Essential Cinema:
I Will Follow (2011) Dir. Ann Duvernay - US
The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) Dir. Alan J. Pakula – US

Theatrical Screenings:
The Man Nobody Knew (2011) Dir. Carl Colby – US 7/10
Dream House (2011) Dir. Jim Sheridan – US 7/10
Take Shelter (2011) Dir. Jeff Nichols – US 10/10
Margaret (2011) Dir. Kenneth Lonergan – US 10/10

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Out of the Past: The Week in Film 9/19/11-9/29/11

Cess Pool Cinema:
Half Light (2006) Dir. Craig Rosenberg - US
Windtalkers (2002) Dir. John Woo - US
Jumping the Broom (2011) Dir. Salim Akil - US

The Banal:
Cage of Evil (1960) Dir. Edward L. Cahn - US

Of Interest:
The Beaver (2011) Dir. Jodie Foster - US
The Keep (1983) Dir. Michael Mann - UK

Recommended:
Rango (2011) Dir. Gore Verbinski - US

Essential Cinema:
Road To Nowhere (2010) Dir. Monte Hellman - US
Dream Home (2010) Dir. Ho Cheung-Pang - Hong Kong
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969) Dir. George Roy Hill - US

Rewatched:
The Watcher In The Woods (1980) Dir. John Hough - US/US

Theatrical Screenings:
House of Boys (2009) Dir. Jean-Claude Schlim - Luxembourg/Germany 5/10
Abduction (2011) Dir. John Singleton - US 5/10
Contagion (2011) Dir. Steven Soderbergh - US 6/10
Blackthorn (2010) Dir. Mateo Gil - Spain/US 6/10
Silent Souls (2010) Dir. Aleksei Fedorchenko - Russia 7/10
Drive (2011) Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn - US 10/10
Weekend (2011) Dir. Andrew Haugh - UK 10/10

Monday, September 19, 2011

Cinema Track: 2,000 Plus

On March 1, 2010, I wrote about a little rundown about my film watching tracking, having watched a 1,000 films since May 15, 2008. As of September 12, 2011, I have now eclipsed 2,000. As I am always curious to see where my cinematic interests lean, I have made a list of director's films that make my list 5 times or more in these 2,000 titles.

13 Titles:
Alfred Hitchcock

11 Titles:
Woody Allen

10 Titles:
Fritz Lang

9 Titles:
Rainer Werner Fassbiner

8 Titles:
Nagisa Oshima
John Carpenter

7 Titles:
Steven Spielberg
Tyler Perry
George Cukor
Stanley Kubrick
Robert Siodmak

6 Titles:
Catherine Breillat
Dario Argento
Paul Verhoeven
Jean-Luc Godard
Ridley Scott
Werner Herzog
Robert Wise
Spike Lee
Coen Bros
Claude Chabrol
Pedro Almodovar

5 Titles:
Claire Denis
Otto Preminger
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Nicolas Roeg
Alex de la Iglesia
Roman Polanski
Nicolas Winding Refn
Curtis Harrington
Francois Ozon
Brian De Palma
Victor Salva
Wes Craven
Lars Von Trier
Robert Altman
Rodrigo Garcia

Toronto Film Festival: 2011 - The Rundown

With a total of 48 films viewed, TIFF 2011 will be hard to beat, quantity wise. As far as quality goes, I had the chance to see some great new films, some about to be released and others that may take a while to get distribution. My eyeballs feel burned, and this year I will not be reviewing everything I watched. However, I did review a great deal of these for ioncinema.com. Reviews that have posted are hyperlinked. Also, I had the opporunity to interview director Todd Solondz concerning his new film, Dark Horse, as well as directors Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury for their latest, Livid. I hope to have links available as they post to ioncinema. Without further ado, here is my rundown of TIFF 2011:

BEST OF FEST:
1. Beloved (Les Bien-Aimes) Dir. Chrisophe Honore - France
2. ALPS - Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos - Greece
3. Killer Joe - Dir. William Friedkin - US (review available)
4. Kill List - Dir. Ben Wheatley - UK (review available)
5. We Need To Talk About Kevin - Dir. Lynne Ramsay - US/UK
6. The Kid With A Bike - Dir(s). Jean & Luc Dardenne - Belgium
7. Pariah - Dir. Dee Rees - US
8. Once Upon A Time in Anatolia - Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan - Turkey
9. Michael - Dir. Markus Schleinzer - Austria
10. My Worst Nightmare - Dir. Anne Fontaine - France (review available)

Rest of the Best:
11. The Skin I Live In - Dir. Pedro Almodovar - Spain
12. Three Lives (Drieleben) - Dir(s). Christian Petzold; Domink Graf; Christoph Hochhausler - Germany
13. House of Tolerance - Dir. Bertrand Bonello - France
14. Oslo, August 31st - Dir. Joachim Trier - Denmark
15. Smuggler - Dir. Katsuhito Ishii - Japan
16. That Summer - Dir. Philippe Garrel - France
17. The Deep Blue Sea - Dir. Terence Davies - UK
18. Livid - Dir(s). Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury - France (review available)
19. Among Us - Dir. Marco Van Geffen - Netherlands
20. Rampart - Dir. Oren Moverman - US
21. Outside Satan - Dir. Bruno Dumont - France
22. You're Next - Dir. Adam Wingard - US (review available)
23. The Patron Saints - Dir(s). Brian M. Cassidy & Melanie Shatzky - Canada (review available)
24. Carre Blanc - Dir. Jean-Baptiste Leonetti - France (review available)