Superbad

A recommendation goes to "Superbad" from Carina Chocano writing for the LA Times in her capsule review of the movie:

This is not a teen movie -- it's a movie about young people. Wide-eyed and sincere as it is hilariously, unrepentantly profane, the movie aims to express what it's like to stare down the barrel of your first lone foray into adulthood, and it's not afraid to be honest about it. High-strung, impulsive Seth (Jonah Hill) and shy, gentle Evan (the gifted Michael Cera) are days away from graduating from high school. Embarking on a late-night odyssey, an epic journey that takes them through all manner of perilous encounters with thugs and weirdos, drunks and cokeheads, and women who are way more uninhibited than they can handle, the lifelong best friends confront their fears, confessing their feelings and growing up. (C.C., Aug. 17) (1:54) R for pervasive crude and sexual content, strong language, drinking, some drug use and a fantasy/comic violent image -- all involving teens. (Read Chocano's full review of Superbad - A Sweet Surprise, teen raunch isn't what's shocking; it's the love story.)

Synopsis: High-school seniors Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) have high hopes for a graduation party: The co-dependent teens plan to score booze and babes so they can finally be part of the in-crowd, but their separation anxiety and two bored police officers (Bill Hader, Seth Rogen) complicate the pair's self-proclaimed mission.

August 2007
1 hr. 54 min.
R
Cast: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen
Director: Greg Mottola
Genre: Teen Movie, Sex Comedy, Buddy Film, Comedy

Rescue Dawn

Carina Chocano in her LA Times capsule gives "Rescue Dawn" a "Recommened" award writing:

Werner Herzog has been here before, and not just because he first visited this story in his 1997 documentary "Little Dieter Needs to Fly." A dramatic interpretation of the true-life ordeal of Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, who escaped from a Laotian POW camp shortly before the start of the Vietnam War, "Rescue Dawn" mines the themes that have preoccupied Herzog throughout his singular career.

PG-13 for some sequences of intense war violence and torture.

2006 movie being released to theaters August 2007

Delirious

Kevin Crust writing his "Recommended" capsule for the LA Times on "Delirious" says:

Tom DiCillo's film, a fractured fairy tale of lost innocents finding and losing one another in a world bordered by paparazzi, reality television and MTV, skewers the celebrity subculture while deftly portraying friendship as the compromised collateral damage of love. A story peopled by flawed archetypes, it's an achingly funny film that is also a little sad around the edges. Steve Buscemi stars as a paparazzo with dreams of being a "real" photographer, whose routine is upset when a young homeless man latches onto him and becomes his unpaid assistant.

LA Times Kevin Crusts full review of "Delirious"

Les Galantine (Steve Buscemi) is a paparazzi photographer who yearns to be a “real” photographer. He slinks through a daily routine of watching as the rich, famous and beautiful walk past the velvet ropes and into the exclusive VIP areas of New York's best clubs. This routine is upset when a young homeless man named Toby (Michael Pitt) stumbles upon Les and his fellow paparazzi staking out a trendy Manhattan hot-spot in hope of getting a shot of K’harma (Alison Lohman), a young pop diva. Seeking shelter, Toby follows Les and becomes his unpaid “assistant,” eagerly lapping up Les’ life lessons, amusing sayings, and laissez-faire perspective on life.

August 2007
1 hr. 46 min.
Cast: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Alison Lohman, Gina Gershon, Callie Thorne
Director: Tom DiCillo
Genre: Satire, Comedy

Times and locations for Delirious at Fandango.com

Death at a Funeral

Sid Smith, a reviewer for the LA Times that I don't recall seeing before, emblazons "Death at a Funeral" with a "Recommended" title, writing:

This film is lethal farce, combining hints of "The Lavender Hill Mob," doses of Joe Orton and a smidgen of the Farrelly brothers' scatology in its mix. It's sillier but funnier than "Knocked Up," the summer's other notable comedy. Plopped on Agatha Christie-like terrain and featuring a mostly English cast -- British-born director Frank Oz of Muppet renown is at the helm -- the movie has a transoceanic pearl in the form of actor Alan Tudyk, a Texas-born off-Broadway veteran who had a small part in "Knocked Up" as a TV boss. A man must deal with his unruly British family as he tries to make his father's funeral a perfect event. (Death at a Funeral - LA Times - Sid Smith)

On the morning of their father's funeral, the family and friends of the deceased each arrive with his or her own roiling anxieties. The son, Daniel, knows he will have to face his flirty, blow-hard, famous-novelist brother Robert, who's just flown in from New York--not to mention the promises of a new life he's made to his wife Jane. Meanwhile, Daniel's cousin Martha and her dependable new fiancé Simon are desperate to make a good impression on Martha's uptight father--a plan that literally goes out the window when Simon accidentally ingests a designer drug en route to the service, leaving him prone to uncontrollable bouts of delirium and nudity in front of his potential in-laws. Then comes the real shocker: a mysterious guest who threatens to unveil an earth-shattering family secret. It is now up to the two brothers to hide the truth from their family and friends, and figure out how to not only bury their dearly beloved, but also the secret he's been keeping.

August 2007
1 hr. 30 min.
R
Cast: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, Andy Nyman, Ewen Bremner, Daisy Donovan
Director: Frank Oz
Genre: Black Comedy, Farce, Comedy, Ensemble Film

The Bourne Ultimatum

Carina Chocano of the LA Times raves about The Bourne Ultimatum in her capsule review that gives the movie a "Recommended" award:

It says something about Paul Greengrass' directing style that he's able to make a movie as fresh and frank as "The Bourne Ultimatum" from a genre as moldy and bombastic as the spy thriller. And yet the profusion of frantic shots never feels like showboating, and the closeness never feels claustrophobic. His camera may scurry and dart like a rabbit trapped in a mall, but he keeps the tone grounded, the effects in-camera and the acting low-key and real. Greengrass brings a degree of honesty to a completely implausible fantasy that's remarkable. Of course, Matt Damon helps, too.

All he wanted was to disappear. Instead, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is now hunted by the people who made him what he is. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was. He must travel from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne—all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.

Release Date: August 2007
1 hr. 51 min.
PG-13
Cast: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney
Director: Paul Greengrass
Genre: Action Thriller, Spy Film, Action

Times and locations for The Bourne Ultimatum from Fandango

Wordplay

Kevin Crust of the LA Times writes of "Wordplay":

What else would a guy who majored in enigmatology — the study of puzzles — end up doing in life but become the New York Times Crossword editor? Will Shortz, a graduate of Indiana University where he designed his own curriculum, is also a regular Sunday morning National Public Radio contributor, director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and the subject of Patrick Creadon and Christine O'Malley's delightful documentary, "Wordplay."

Cleverly constructed, the film profiles Shortz and an interesting cross-section of players, explicates the activity's brain-twister appeal and chronicles the down-to-the-wire excitement of the 2005 tournament — the Super Bowl of rossword.

Kevin Crust's review of Wordplay

Release Date: June 2006
1 hr. 34 min.
Rated PG
Cast: Will Shortz, Merl Reagle, Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, Indigo Girls
Director: Patrick Creadon
Genre: Biography, Hobbies, Crafts & Games, Culture & Society

12:08 East of Bucharest

12:08 East of Bucharest gets an "also recommended" prize from LA Times reviewer Kenneth Turan. In his capsule review he writes: "The most unlikely subjects make for the most deliciously comic films, and that's just the case with this Romanian film, winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes..."

Synopsis: December 22. It's been 16 years since the Revolution and Christmas is approaching. Pisconi, an old retiree, is preparing to spend another lonely Christmas. Manescu, a history teacher, doesn't want to lose his entire salary to pay his debts. Jderescu, the owner of the local TV station, doesn't seem very interested in vacation. With Piscoci and Manescu's help, he wants to find an answer to a 16-year-old question: "Did a revolution really take place in their city?"

Release Date: June 2007 1 hr. 29 min.
Cast: Mircea Andreescu, Teo Corban, Ion Sapdaru
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Genre: Comedy

Pierrot le Fou

Kevin Thomas gave this 1965 Jean Luc Godard film the critics' choice mantel in last Sunday's La Times. In his capsule review he writes:

This is the pivotal 1965 jean-Luc Godard film in which the iconoclastic filmmaker moves toward his apocalyptic essay from that adheres to the present. His twist on the reality vs. fantasy take is to make the viewer constantly aware that it is fantasy that he or she is watching, a stance that yields layered meanings and intricate implications. What is "real" in the film which has an intellectual (Jean-Paul Belmondoz) mired in bourgeois luxury running off
with enchanting gun runner Anna Karina, is Godard's frustration and pain at losing Karina, who had left him before making this film.

Bergman and Antonioni Die on the Same Day

Two of the great directors of art film, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, died on Monday July 30th, 2007. I recall so clearly seeing Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander" in my mid-20s and being so moved by this movie. Perhaps it was my own strict religious upbringing that made this movie resonate so much with me. Whatever it was, it was from this point on that I was fascinated by the films of Ingmar Bergman.

Here is a complete list of the work of Ingmar Bergman for both the big and small screens:

• 1945 Kris (Crisis), an adaptation of a drama by Leck Fischer
• 1946 Det Regnar på Vår Kärlek (It Rains on Our Love)
• 1947 Skepp till Indialand (A Ship Bound for India)
• 1948 Musik i Mörker (Night Is My Future)
• 1948 Hamnstad (Port of Call) 1949 Fängelse (The Devil's Wanton)
• 1949 Törst (Three Strange Loves)
• 1949 Till Glädje (To Joy)
• 1950 Sommarlek (Summer Interlude)
• 1950 Sånt Händer Inte Här (This Can't Happen Here)
• 1952 Kvinnors Väntan (Secrets of Women)
• 1953 Sommaren med Monika (Summer with Monika)
• 1953 Gycklarnas Afton (Sawdust and Tinsel/The Naked Night)
• 1954 En Lektion i Kärlek (A Lesson in Love)
• 1955 Sommarnattens Leende (Smiles of a Summer Night)
• 1957 Det Sjunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal
• 1957 Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries)
• 1957 Nära Livet (Brink of Life)
• 1958 Ansiktet (The Magician)
• 1960 Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring)
• 1960 Djävulens Öga (The Devil's Eye)
• 1961 Såsom i en Spegel (Through a Glass Darkly)
• 1962 Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)
• 1963's Tystnaden (The Silence)
• 1964 För Att Inte Tala om Alla Dessa Kvinnor (All These Women)
• 1968's Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf)
• 1968 Skammen (Shame)
• 1969's En Passion (The Passion of Anna) - his first film in color
• 1972 Viskningar och Rop (Cries and Whispers)
• 1975 The Magic Flute - made for TV
• 1976 Ansikte mot Ansikte (Face to Face) - made for TV
• 1977 The Serpent's Egg 1978 Autumn Sonata
• 1980 Aus dem Leben der Marionetten (From the Life of the Marionettes)
• 1982 Fanny och Alexander (Fanny & Alexander)- Oscar winner
• 1984 Efter Repetitionen (After the Rehearsal) - TV
• 1985 The Blessed Ones - TV
• 1992 Den Goda Viljan (The Best Intentions) filmed for television by Bille August, script by Bergman
• 1996 Larmar och Gör Sig Till (In the Presence of a Clown)- TV
• 2003 Saraband - TV

Awards

Academy Awards
In 1971, Bergman received The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards ceremony.

Three of his films have won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film: The Virgin Spring in 1961; Through a Glass Darkly in 1962; and Fanny and Alexander in 1984.

Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Smultronstället (1960)
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Såsom i en spegel (1963)
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Viskningar och rop (1974)
Nominated: Best Picture, Viskningar och rop (1974)
Nominated: Best Director, Viskningar och rop (1974)
Nominated: Best Director, Ansikte mot ansikte (1977)
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Höstsonaten (1979)
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Fanny och Alexander (1984)
Nominated: Best Director, Fanny och Alexander (1984)

BAFTA Awards
Nominated: Best Film from any Source, Ansiktet (1960)
Nominated: Best Foreign Film, Fanny och Alexander (1984)

Cesar Awards
Nominated: Best Foreign Film, Trollflöjten (1976)
Nominated: Best Foreign Film, Höstsonaten (1979)
Won: Best Foreign Film, Fanny och Alexander (1984)
Nominated: Best European Film, Saraband (2005)

Cannes Film Festival
Won: Best Poetic Humor Sommarnattens leende (1955)
Nominated: Golden Palm Sommarnattens leende (1955)
Won: Jury Special prize Det Sjunde inseglet (1957)
Nominated: Golden Palm Det Sjunde inseglet (1957)
Won: Best Director Nära livet (1958)
Nominated: Golden Palm Nära livet (1958)
Won: Special Mention Jungfrukällan (1960)
Nominated: Golden Palm Jungfrukällan (1960)
Won: Technical Grand Prize Viskningar och rop (1972)
Won: Palm of Palms (1997)
Won: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (1998) (Special award for his whole works.)

Golden Globe Awards
Nominated: Best Director, Fanny och Alexander (1984)