There’s a film out this week you shouldn't miss. BOYHOOD. It will be referred
to for years to come, I believe, as one of the most brilliant films
ever made. It's an incredible undertaking. Also, if you’ve seen the trailers and been
hanging out for the bat boys, What We Do
In The Shadows is finally here. Then there is the very B-grade Into The Storm, which is a DVD watch or
Netflix or however you watch your video nowadays.
(My movie Pick of the week)
Boyhood ✪✪✪✪✪
Opens in Australia: 4th
September 2014
USA: 18th July 2014 UK:
11th July 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth: Luna Palace Cinemas
EXTRAORDINARY! What an
incredible concept. In lesser hands than director Richard Linklater’s, this
would be not the experience that it is. After all it is about nothing more than
a family going through the phases of parenting children into adulthood. How Linklater knew that Ellar Coltrane (cast
when he was only eight to play the central character, Mason, over a twelve year
span) would nail it year after year, makes him a psychic director.
Every actor in this film is the
SAME ACTOR coming back over the years, annually, to add to their part. We
actually watch them age; Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke grow greyer, their faces
changing with real wrinkles as the time passes.
It’s, at the core, about family and dealing with all those non-descript moments filled with excitement, fun, tedious events, milestones, challenging times, and all the mistakes and successes that comprise parenthood, along with the experience of the children becoming adults. We see it from both sides.
As a parent of boys, fourteen and
twelve, I couldn’t help feeling as if I was watching my life condensed into 165
minutes. I don’t share the single motherhood and the broken marriages of
Patricia Arquette’s mother character, but it certainly contains a lot of the
phases of parenting that I’ve experienced so far.
What is so compelling is that you
are drawn emotionally into the character’s experiences, with your own memories,
feelings, and near future, stirred by what you are watching. When you are shown
the perspective of events as seen through the children’s eyes, like the look on
the teenager’s faces as they are lectured by their parents on the usual
subjects of responsibility and respect, you suddenly realize what your kids are really seeing and hearing. Much of it really hits home.
I found this film to be a
profound and moving experience. So much so, that I ended up sobbing as I drove
home and later as I recounted the story to my husband. It just filled me
with so much emotion.
If you are a parent, or if you
are contemplating becoming a parent, you must see this film. Linklater’s daughter
plays the sister, Samantha. So there is no doubt the script was drawn from the
director’s own experiences. That’s what give this film its authentic feel that reaches
out beyond the medium of film and tears at your heart. Amazing. See it. You will never forget the
experience.
Here’s a fascinating interview
with Coltrane (Mason) that is worth reading http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/ellar-coltrane-on-his-12-year-movie-role.html
STUDIO
BLURB
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard
Linklater's BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the
eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who
literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia
Arquette as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha,
BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before.
Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and
graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a
soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay's Yellow to Arcade Fire's Deep
Blue. BOYHOOD is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to
growing up and parenting. It's impossible to watch Mason and his family without
thinking about our own journey. (c) Sundance Film Festival
What We Do In The
Shadows ✪✪✪✪
Opens in Australia: 4th
September 2014
USA: 26th April (Festival) UK:
21st November 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth: Luna Palace Cinemas
OUR THOUGHTS
The trailer to this film is
hilarious because it is short and sharp, and I do wish the guy who'd edited the
trailer had also edited the film.
The film is
funny but not all the sets-ups are as funny as they could be. I gave it the
four star rating for its originality and because the lead vampire Viago is
adorable, played perfectly by Taika Waititi. All the actors did a fine job,
considering a lot of it was adlibbed around concepts.
You'd better see it because, if you don’t, you
won’t understand what everyone is talking about at work or at your social
gatherings for the next few weeks. I think it will be one of those word-of-mouth films. You will never
look at bisgetti (spaghetti) again in the same way.
STUDIO BLURB
Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon
(Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) - three flatmates who are
just trying to get by and overcome life's obstacles-like being immortal
vampires who must feast on human blood. Hundreds of years old, the vampires are
finding that beyond sunlight catastrophes, hitting the main artery, and not
being able to get a sense of their wardrobe without a reflection-modern society
has them struggling with the mundane like paying rent, keeping up with the
chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.
Into The Storm ✪✪
Opens in Australia: 4th
September 2014
USA: 8th August
UK: 20th
August 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
OUR THOUGHTS
Remember Twister? Same stuff,
except this time it’s a video crew that have the dubious motivation of acting like complete Jackass idiots in order to film the tornadoes to make money. I can’t understand why they would be paid for this
footage when the television helicopters seemed to be getting perfectly good film
coverage.
The tornado scenes were pretty
cool but, sadly, that’s where the producers spent all the money. And a bunch of
good CGI tornadoes does not a good movie make.
Ultimately, it's a lot of hot air and not really something you should rush
out to see. There wasn’t even a cow sucked up this time. Boo hoo. Or, should I
say, “moo-hoo.”
STUDIO BLURB
In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton
is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. The entire town is at
the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict
the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards
the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime
shot. Told through the eyes and lenses of professional storm chasers,
thrill-seeking amateurs, and courageous townspeople, "Into the Storm"
throws you directly into the eye of the storm to experience Mother Nature at
her most extreme. (C) Warner Bros
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