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Film Banana - by cogs

 

Gran Torino (2008) - Clint Eastwood

Gran Torino Clint Eastwood Hmong Detriot Oscar
Beautiful poster!


A great movie with an outstanding performance by Clint Eastwood – basically its Grumpy Old Men meets Heartbreak Ridge, or an un-official sequel to Heartbreak Ridge.


Gran Torino IMDB

Lot’s of snarling in this picture with a great look from Tom Stern (a skip-bleach, light blue tint). This movie is cheap, cheap, cheap I tell yah, literally one location. And, besides Clint, we have a lot of first time actors here, or bad actors, vice-versa I guess (natural actors maybe).

Gran Torino Clint Eastwood Hmong Detriot Oscar


The story of a retired veteran who becomes a widower, who is an outright racist, and lives next to Hmong family in the ghetto (which was probably an all-white neighborhood in Detroit way back in the fifties). Clint’s boys are users, his Priest is like 12 years old, and his prize possession, his Gran Torino automobile. The neighbor’s kid tries to steal the car to impress a Hmong gang and the relationship begins.


This movie is all Eastwood. He commands every scene and in the end, is all we really care about, and of course who we paid to see anyway. There are real poignant moments in this film. When Clint teaches the Hmong boy how to become a man is absolutely classic. A great touching film, and I would be shocked if Clint doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for which could be his LAST performance, ever…

Gran Torino Clint Eastwood Hmong Detriot Oscar


I worked for the production company that made this film back during the writers strike. From what I learned later, after I left, the film saved their careers. The producer literally took the script to Clint during the Changeling shoot, Clint read it, and he was in.

The more I hear stories about how movies are made the more I realize how special movies are because this movie should’ve NEVER had this fortune; a script that was turned down by every studio. It was a decent script, tenacity, fear of unemployment and LUCK that made this picture. We really take movies like this for granted.

We should stop!
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WALL-E (2008) - Andrew Stanton

WALL-E PIXAR Disney Animation Oscar Andrew Stanton
Pixar is God!


I am convinced that PIXAR is the best thing America has to offer when it comes to filmmaking. Their animated movies get better and better, and it will only be a matter of time before they decide to make movies with real people (actually Fred Willard plays himself in the film, so I believe it’s not that far).

WALL-E imdb link

Wall-e is a triumph of animation and filmmaking. The first 20 minutes alone has more emotion then the last 10 years of American filmmaking, pure genius. The influence of Chaplin, Keaton and Jacque Tati is acknowledgeable, plus one hundred years of Disney animation.

The mixture of music and visuals in the first act is heart-warming, cinematic brilliance. I have never been a fan of “Hello Dolly” but it works here, it works for Wall-e.

The apocalyptic themes and images are quite astonishing, especially for a G rated movie, I got a bit of a “Silent Running” influence.

The second half of the film is a critique on humanity and its dependence on technology, and its destruction of the environment. The fat humans riding around on hovercrafts, only speaking to one another via computers is beautiful and gutsy – and shocking.

I’ll be watching all the 2008 Oscar pics this month, so, for now, I am quite sure Wall-e is the best film of 2008.

So what does that say, bad year, possibly? Maybe PIXAR just knows what they are doing, and are a force to be reckoned with. They are the kings of animation in my book...

Disney and DreamWorks have to step their game up!
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Thank You James Joseph Cialella Jr.!

movie shooter james joseph ciallela jr. philidelphia
Shut up! I'm trying to watch Benjamin Button!

Thank you James. Can I call you James? You handsome man... Because of your action, you have inspired me to arm myself at the movies as well...

Jesus. Just last week I was watching "Twilight" (which I actually enjoyed) and these fucking teenagers just wouldn't shut the fuck up. They talked through the entire movie. "Oh my god, he is so HOT in this scene!" Blah! Blah! Blah! They talked and talked and talked...

You sir, James the warrior... You took a stand. Yes. You took a stand and shot the man talking, and almost shot his son too...

Read about James the Warrior Knight of the Multiplex

So next time I go to the movies, maybe to see "Star Trek" or "Transformers 2" and I happen to go to a multiplex, full of wonderful tweens and teens (the generation of great dancers), I will bring a Tec-9, Glock, or fuck it, sawed-off 12 Gauge... And when those motor mouths start yapping about the most vapid shit imaginable... I will stand up, and blow the motherfuckers away, I'll blow the motherfuckers heads clear off, I'll eat the brains straight from the skull cavity, and I will laugh...

Thank you James, you are my hero... Have fun in prison psycho...
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Origins of Santa Claus

Santa Origins Christmas Film Xmas Coke Holidays
Santa Rocks!

If you have ever wondered, where does the myth of Santa come from, or have speculated, and come to your own conclusions, the link below could help...

Origins of Santa Claus

Happy Holidays!

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You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008) - Dennis Dugan

Zohan Adam Sandler Warner Brothers Dennis Dugan
You Don't...Zohan Poster (2008)


Got a great story behind this flick... I used to work at Warner Brothers in development -- read scripts and shit on them basically... So, when I was working this film was shooting, on the lot, taking my parking... Instead of parking in front of my building, I had to park in the garage and walk through the Sarah Chronicles set every morning


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Point Blank (1967) - John Boorman

Pont Blank Film Movie Lee Marvin Fighting
Pont Blank (1967) Movie Poster


Okay -- got a story first before I go into this, I used to work at an incredible video store, watched a lot of movies, especially old Hollywood. There was this GUY who owned the place, he would constantly hype this film, "Ohh you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor


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Josee, The Tiger and The Fish

Josee, The Tiger and The Fish Poster

Josee, The Tiger and The Fish is not a spin-off of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but is the story of the relationship that develops between a handicapped paraplegic young woman named Josee (played by the ever-so cute Chizuru Ikewaki – Strawberry Shortcakes) and a university student named Tsuneo (Satoshi Tsumabuki – Dororo). Tsuneo is a run of the mill university student as he enjoys to drink, party and sleep around when he is not studying or working at his part time job at a mah-jong parlour. One day at work he hears some customers talking about the strange old lady who is seen pushing a pram around town, when supposedly her child died ten years prior. This leads to various speculations as to what is being concealed in the pram, and guesses range from a mummified version of her dead child to drugs. It is Tusneo who is the first to find out, as when asked to take out his bosses’ dog for a walk he steadies the pram of which the old woman loses grip of. He peaks inside only to have a young woman thrust at him with a knife. This is Josee and apparently she has the knife to defend herself against any curious onlookers who decide to “attack” her. This meeting is the first step in a very touching relationship as after being invited back to Josee and her grandmother’s run down house, Josee makes him some food which Tsuneo finds delicious, although Josee at this point is very curt and disdainful towards the student, possibly because of her isolated existence, kept company only by a withering grandma and the hundreds of books that she collects for Josee to read from their neighbours’ rubbish bins.
A withdrawn Josee

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Through a Glass Darkly – “Conquering Certainty”

“I sat in the wreck, holding Karin, when reality cracked… reality…cracked, and I fell out. It’s like in dreams, anything can happen. Anything!”

The Faith Trilogy

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Shikoku

On the island of Shikoku a mother wants to revive her deceased daughter, so she can inherit her place as the next high priestess. As a result, dark powers are being awakened that have been sealed for many years to keep the dead from inhabiting it.
Shikoku Poster

The story begins with three childhood friends who live on the island called Hinako, Fumiya and Sayori. One day Hinako spies through a crack in the door, something happening to Sayori. It is a Shinto ceremony of some sort, alluding to the opening scenes of a girl being what looks to be exorcised. Sayori makes Hinako promise not to tell anyone what she has seen, not even Fumiya, threatening to end their friendship if she does. This won’t matter much anyway as Hinako is soon to move away from the island, leaving her friends and the memory of this event in the past


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The Machine Girl: Tokyo Shock Shocks Again

The Machine Girl Poster 1

The Machine Girl is one helluva film and when pitted against other similar gory Tokyo Shock releases such as Versus or Ichi the Killer it definitely comes out the squelchiest. In fact I’m willing to bet pounds for pennies that they actually soaked the film stock in blood before shooting. Blood spurts, sprinkles, pours, explodes, sprays, sprays and sprays even more from gashed arteries and severances, the bodies of which are turned into super-soakers (yeah a decapitated body is actually used as a water pistol) The amount of blood isn’t really what makes this film special though, it is the ingenious murder methods, the outrageous use of weapons, the choreography and the feeling that this is what a j-drama would be like if it was made by insanely sadistic ninja-demons who when they’re not going on killing sprees, like writing scripts about going on killing sprees. Wait, there’s also the dynamic characters such as the lead school-girl she-devil Ami Hyuga (Minase Yashiro) who is hungry for the revenge of her dead brother; Miki (played by a 22 year old pornstar named Asami) a really tough but beautiful mom who wants revenge for her dead son; and a marriage made in Yakuza lunacy with the two main villains of the piece, Ryuji and Violet Kimura being so merciless but ridiculous that it’s hard to despise them for being so nasty because they are so compellingly unhinged for parents.
Miki and Ami are ready for battle

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Tokyo Decadence: Erotic Sex or Dangerous Fantasy

Tokyo Decadence


The subculture of BDSM is vast in its categorisation being that the acronym stands for bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism, masochism, master, slave all of which explode in Ryu Murakami’s dark, sometimes comic sometimes sweet but always vulgar film Tokyo Decadence. The outline of the film is that of a subservient 22 year old woman named Ai who works as a mistress, servicing all kinds of clientele from controlling mafia or corporate bosses to hedonistic rich but extremely nutty/flamboyant layabouts to pathetic salarymen who crave humiliation


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Memories of Matsuko - New York Asian Film Festival favourite

Memories of Matsuko Poster

Memories of Matsuko is a film by Tetsuya Nakashima about a woman named Matsuko Kawajiri (obviously…well I guess it could have been a man…anyway) and the key stages of her life from when she was a child to her death. The story is "told" from different perspectives including her brother Norio, an old friend/fellow convict/pornstar Megumi Sawamura (played by Asuka Kurosawa who you may have seen in A Snake of June) and Yoichi Ryu an old pupil of hers from her school-teaching days. The purpose of this journey into Matsuko’s past is to teach her nephew Shou Kawajiri (son of Norio) a thing or two about life and to help him not make the same mistakes as she did. You see, at present Shou is a nineteen/twenty year old waster whose full time occupation, besides trying to be a guitarist in a rock band, is drinking alcohol and watching porn.

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Gojira!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gojira – 1954

Thundering beats of Gojira’s footsteps inaugurate Ishiro Honda’s film that most of us have heard much about but yet are still moved with feelings of uneasiness. Then comes the roar of a monster that has been trivialized by numerous incarnations, but nonetheless strikes fear in the hearts and minds of those who choose to see Gojira in his ultimate glory


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Sakuran: the popping of cherry blossoms

Sakuran is a Japanese Edo-period drama film released in 2006 starring model-J-Rock artist-actress and all around badass Anna Tsuchiya. The film is based on a manga series by Moyoco Anno and was adapted to the screen by photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa. Given that this is Ninagawa’s directorial debut it is remarkable that she has managed to visualise another period of time and assemble it with such clarity, accuracy and creativity as she has done. Apparently in interviews she has commented on the fact that she went through a vast amount of Ukiyoe (woodblock) prints to get to grips with the visual style of Yoshiwara (a famous district for prostitution) and based a lot of her modern, colourfully illustrated designs and patterns on the classical art of Edo.

Sakuran utilises lush and juicy colours to express the elegance of the Tamagikuya (brothel) establishment as well as the courtesans it houses, who dressed in outfits of fluorescent oranges, reds, yellows, purples and blues; with thickly painted faces, appear doll-like more than anything else. Murials of dragons and flowers; and stained glass windows of the same hues enshroud these women who are knelt, smoking their pipes and gossiping, awaiting the attention of some Samurai or Taros. There is one woman who seems to gain more attention than any of the others, standing out because of the nonchalant way she drags on her pipe, her inviting eyes and indifferent smirk as she whispers “come in, come in” to a prospective lay. This is Kiyoha, the first of several names she is given denoting her position on the hierarchical ladder, played by Anna Tsuchiya. Though prior to this she has only had two other starring roles in Kamikaze Girls and Bashment, she has never looked as gorgeous or had as much sex appeal as she does in Sakuran, making a move from the cool but cutesy Ichigo to the voluptuous and composed (well most of the time) Kiyoha


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