Author Archives: The Filmsmith

DVD Monday: The Other Woman

Posted on May 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ever since she snagged her Oscar for Black Swan, Natalie Portman has been everywhere. From the unfortunately unfunny Your Highness to the comic book adaptation Thor, she has had 5 or 6 films in theaters lately, all making profits from her recognition by the Academy. IFC has dug up a film from two years ago they never properly released, and decided to give it a go, too. The Other Woman, which never made it to most cities, is coming out on DVD this week, two years after it was finished. Does it hold up among her other recent performances? Continue reading →

Serial killer superhero delightfully twisted in Super

Posted on May 12, 2011 | 2 comments

In all likelihood, the 2000’s will be looked upon as the decade of the comic book movie, with plenty of vigilantes bouncing around in various forms of outlandish garb, dishing out justice from fists, claws, and expensive gadgets. Of course, when these heroes take the screen, critics take them down, laying bare the genre’s love affair with violence as a problem-solving tool, as well as the recent trend of sexualized female killers (Sucker Punch). I don’t agree with many of these assessments (usually critics are picking on the wrong films), but Super is a superhero film critic’s rantings come to life; reveling in the usual tropes of the genre with a deliciously twisted bent, then showcasing their disturbing nature when placed within a context beyond comic panels or film frames – the real world. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Filmsmith Faves, Reviews

Tagged James Gunn, Kevin Bacon, Rainn Wilson, Super

Certified Copy, Kiarostami’s latest enigma

Posted on May 11, 2011 | 1 comment

Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian auteur par excellence, has offered up over 35 films since the 70s, but only the last dozen or so have received a wider audience than his native country. Certified Copy, his first filmed outside of Iran, is certainly his most assured film to date, if not his best. It’s the biggest head trip on the art-house circuit right now, and deserves to be seen ASAP. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Reviews

Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy, Juliette Binoche

Thunder God Thor needs a better writer

Posted on May 9, 2011 | 4 comments

Ever since Marvel took control of the films about their characters (Iron Man, then The Incredible Hulk) the superhero genre has matured beyond doe eyed children (Spider-Man) to cocksure teenagers with some justifiable swagger. Despite not owning the rights to some of it’s most popular characters (the Spider-Man films are controlled by Sony, and the X-Men, 20th Century Fox), Marvel has its sights set high on an Avengers film in 2012, featuring Iron Man, Captain America (coming out this summer), Hulk, and Thor. The ultimate question is if they will not just introduce interesting characters, but give us stories to care about. Thor strives for such storytelling, but struggles to escape painful melodrama. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Reviews

Tagged Marvel, Thor

The Croisette: This Year’s Cannes Film Festival

Posted on May 4, 2011 | 1 comment

Every May, hundreds of film professionals head to the South of France to experience what may be the classiest film festival in the world. Some of the greatest auteurs currently active are tapped to create a lineup of films with a few surprises nestled between the expected ones. The films compete for the Palme D’Or, the most prestigious prize in all of filmmaking. After the jump, you’ll see who is competing this year, as well as the few we here at the Filmsmith expect to win. Continue reading →

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Posted in News

Tagged Cannes Film Festival 2011

Filmsmith Faves: Ugetsu Monogatari

Posted on May 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you ask anyone what they know of Japanese cinema, they might mention Akria Kurosawa or his masterpiece, Seven Samurai. If you come across someone well-versed in the subject, they may bring up Yasujiro Ozu, whose catalog is filled with just as many great films as Kurosawa. You’re less likely to hear mention of Kenji Mizoguchi, a contemporary of Ozu’s who died a couple years after Kurosawa hit it big. About 70 percent of his films have been lost or destroyed, and what remains is scattered between historical epics, simple melodramas, and stories of strong women. Some are great, some aren’t, but his masterpiece Ugetsu is beyond that distinction. It may very well be the greatest Japanese film ever made. Continue reading →

Fast Five’s heist mildly interesting

Posted on April 29, 2011 | 1 comment

If you’re a film critic aiming to be taken seriously you draw up reviews of awesome little-known films like Night of the Hunter and level sniper shots at the latest Transfomers flick. Anything heavily marketed to mass audiences is normally regarded as terrible before official screenings begin, and that sentiment isn’t without its reasons. But even the most erudite critic has a guilty pleasure, and mine happens to be any film that tries to do as much real special effect work as possible before going to the computer, which is what made me curious about Fast Five. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Reviews

Tagged Fast Five, Justin Lin, Paul Walker, The Fast and the Furious, Vin Diesel

Batman goes mental in amazing fan video, The Batman Complex

Posted on April 28, 2011 | 2 comments

When you come across fan-made videos, whether they are trailers to a film they’d love to see or short film musings on an aspect of a beloved character, they’re at best entertaining. The fan-trailer for The Batman Complex however, goes beyond casual amusement and straight into, “Why haven’t they already made this?!” Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Filmmaking, News

Tagged Batman, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, Dreams, Inception, Psychology

Night of the Hunter a visual treat

Posted on April 27, 2011 | 2 comments

The Classic Hollywood System is typified by films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Casablanca, and The Wolf Man, where a kiss implied sex, the sound of a gunshot with dramatic music implied death, and Clark Gable’s famous line in Gone with the Wind was scandalous. It’s the reason your grandparents complain about modern films being too dirty, thanks to the films they saw under the censorship of the Hays Code (as opposed to milder censorship through the MPAA). The code forbade nudity, exiled homosexuals, and put restrictions on the ways in which institutional authority could be depicted. Which is what makes Night of the Hunter (1955), a tale in which parents and other adults in the community fail to protect two children from a widow-killing preacher, stand out as a haunting horror thriller. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Filmsmith Faves, Reviews

Tagged Charles Laughton, German Expressionism, Night of the Hunter, Robert Mitchum

Special Effects you won’t believe were done for real

Posted on April 25, 2011 | 1 comment

Here at The Filmsmith we have a great love for all the hours that go into practical special effects, those pieces of wizardry that aren’t created by computer animators. These guys have to battle the restrictions of the real world (time, space, gravity) in order to do their job well, because when they do, you feel the term movie magic. So here are some of the highlights from Cracked’s, “8 Special Effects You Won’t Believe Aren’t CGI.” Continue reading →