What happens when you let David Bowie run loose in Jim Henson's Muppet land?
Well, magic, of course.
Teenager Sarah, who still lives in a child's dreamworld is upset with her father and stepmother for having her once again babysit her annoying little brother. He just won't stop crying and she just wishes the goblins would come and take him away.
And so they do.
Little Toby is taken to the castle of the goblin king Jareth and Sarah, now panicky about what she has done, has 13 hours to make her way to the castle and save the boy. Her quest leads her through a labyrinth (hence, the title) and many an adventure, helped and sometimes hindered by the strange creatures she encounters.
The story is set somewhere between The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, but with the noticeable Jim Henson touch - with many awesome Muppets. And yes, awesome music.
I am not sure what they were on when they thought of this script but the final product is quite awesome.
The one thing that annoys me, though, is the Carry Mulligan character, Jean. Whenever she is on screen she is very angry. And I am not sure what the point of this angry character is and why she does not seem to have any redeeming features other than being pretty (apparently everyone wants to fuck her, we are told frequently).
Other than that, things are pretty near perfect. Oscar Isaac is wonderful. He is also a great singer. I love folk music, especially the kind from the 1960's, so the music in the film is right down my alley. And the nod to Bob Dylan in the end is nice.
The story is that of the title character sort of drifting through life, here represented by showing 'a week in the life of'. He hops from couch to cough and does in fact not have a set address. Every now and again he will get a paying job, however ridiculous ('Please Mr. Kennedy'). On occasion he will take chances, like hitching a ride to Chicago which in the end comes to nothing.
There is a host of strange characters along the way, as are in most Coen Brothers films. My favorite is probably Roland Turner, played by John Goodman, who sits in the backseat during the drive to Chicago and shares life lessons Llewyn is not really interested in hearing.
20 Feet from Stardom is one of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Documentary (up against The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars and Al midan).
This is made up of archive footage and interviews focusing on backup singers. It features the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Mick Jagger alongside the (mostly) women that many of us have heard many times over, usually without appreciating the art and beauty they bring to the songs.
The film puts a handful of these talented individuals (predominately African-American) front an center. Most but not all of them tried to get into the spotlight themselves at some point, one, Merry Clayton, even putting out three record that never amounted to much but must have been really good from the few seconds we get to hear. Another interviewee is Judith Hill who participated in The Voice (and got voted off early and rather surprisingly).
Some other tidbits we learn...Phil Spector is not a very nice person. Luther Vandross once was a backup singer for David Bowie (on the Young Americans album). Backup singers are divas too.
Beautifully shot and a very interesting bit of music history.
This is a Swedish film pieced together from little scenes featuring recurring characters without an actual plot to tie them together. It is a collection of very sad people that visually blend into their surroundings, which are very Scandinavian, as well - this is to say sparse with toned down colors.
Some of the characters we meet include: a middle aged woman, wearing animal prints, sending her boyfriend away constantly and lamenting the sadness of her life; a psychiatrist who after 27 years of listening to people complain, is tired and now merely prescribes pills; musicians practicing alone on their respective instruments; a groupie who is given the wrong address for a rehearsal space; and a husband and wife that are both devastated after a fight they had earlier, during which they called each other rude names.
The music here comes from a marching band, the Louisiana Brass Band, a middle aged woman singing out her sorrows in the beginning, a song at a funeral and people in a banquet hall singing some sort of traditional song, which also requires them to collectively stand on their chairs to have a drink.
The film got Roger Ebert's stamp of approval and a coveted 4 star review. He concludes his piece about it like this:
"You, the Living," is a title that perhaps refers to his characters: Them, the Dead. Yet this isn't a depressing film. His characters are angry and bitter, but stoic and resigned, and the musicians (there are also a banjo player and a cornetist) seem happy enough as they play Dixieland. In their world, it never seems to get very dark out, but in the bar, it's always closing time.
At Beecham house, a home for retired musician, the annual concert celebrating Verdi's music is organized by the residents themselves.
Among them is a trio of singers, famed for their rendition of "Bella figlia dell' amore" from Rigoletto. The piece is a quartet and the fourth member of their group, the diva-esque Jean (former wife of one of the male voices in the quartet), has just waltzed into Beecham House. Her arrival has upset her former husband Reggie, who at first tries to avoid her whenever possible.
The concert this year is of particular importance, as any revenues are crucial in keeping Beecham House funded. The head organizer Cedric suggests that the quartet should perform their Rigoletto piece, which will surely increase interest in the concert. It does take some convincing, though, as Jean does not want to sing because some of her higher notes may break.
She changes her mind, however, when she learns that her former rival on the opera scene will perform an aria from Tosca ("Vissi d'arte", if you're intersted).
This is Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut and the cast is phenomenal. It includes Billy Connelly, Michael Gambon and the wonderful Maggie Smith as the ageing diva Jean.
I wanted to love the film and hoped for some more comedy, I guess. In the end, I merely liked it.
Here is Martin Scorsese's version of The Band's last series of live concerts. Spiced up with interviews about their history and stories from various tours. It was a one-of-a-kind event thanks to the incredible list of guest performers that reads like a who is who of 1960's and 1970's music - The Staple Singers, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, even Bob Dylan and many more.
Not only is this the greatest concert film ever (not only in my opinion) but I will go as far as stating that this is Martin Scorsese's best film to date. There, I said it.
If there is one thing I envy my parents' generation it is the music. They really had something special in the time before pop took over and style became more important than the craft itself.
Sadistic thug Chas (James Fox) has to lie low for a while after an unplanned hit. He hides in the guest house run by the eccentric Turner (Mick Jagger), who is initially all but happy about the new house guest.
Chas finds his new surroundings rather laughable and doesn't approve of the bohemian life style he considers degenerate. While waiting for his new passport so he can leave the country, he gets caught up in Turner's strange world. Turner himself is a performer that has 'lost his demon' and now lives as a reclusive.
The film also includes a quasi Rolling Stones music video for the song "Memo from Turner" which is really kind of cool and actually fits right into the film.
Mick Jagger basically playing himself (I imagine) and James Fox puts in one of his best performances (IMO).
Mrs. Henderson, after having lost her son in the first World War, is bored after burying her husband as well. Her well-meaning friend's suggestion of taking up a hobby leads her to purchase a run-down theater in central London. With the help of Mr Van Damm, she puts on a revue that initially is very successful, but only until all the other theaters in town do likewise.
To get back on top, Mrs Henderson decides to put nude women into their sing-and-dance productions. This causes quite the stir and - of course - quite the success. The theater continues to run its shows throughout WWII. Although it is underground and therefore relatively safe from the German bombs, it does suffer its tragedies.
Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins are wonderful in a sort of love-hate relationship. This also features Will Young (singing, of course) and Christopher Guest, who adds a few laughs to the film.
I spent the entire Oscar night (and much of the day before) at the packed Gartenbaukino to watch the transmission. The pre-program the theater offered were five films nominated for one thing or another. The heavily favored film to win best documentary feature was one of the film shown - the wonderful Searching for Sugar Man.
This is the story of Detroit singer Sixto Rodriguez, who made two albums in the 1960s/1970s that fell pretty much on deaf ears, even though everyone involved and, really, everyone who ever heard him play cannot explain why he didn't take off. His music is wonderful and the lyrics and songwriting draw comparisons to calibers like Bob Dylan but somehow things didn't happen for him.
But somehow his debut album "Cold Facts" ended up in South Africa at a time when the country was shunned by other nations due to its regime of Apartheid and people withing South Africa were widely shielded from outside influences. Rodriguez singing of speaking up against the establishment triggered something of a musical revolution, as local musicians started to realize that they do have the means to make their voices heard. All of those musicians were heavily influenced by Rodriguez. He sold approximately half a million records in South Africa and the strangest thing is...he didn't even know it.
One day, a journalist took it upon himself to find out more about the singer/songwriter, who was something of a mystery. Nobody knew anything about him. The most important question that needed answering was: How did Rodriguez die? Rumors of him setting himself on fire, blowing his brains out or overdosing on drugs swirled around but nobody knew for sure. When he eventually got a hold of the producer of the first record and at the end of the interview asked his most burning question the journalist was told that Rodriguez was alive and well.
People interested in solving the mystery set up a website about their search for more information. One day, Eva Rodriguez, oldest daughter of the mysterious musician, wrote on the website's forum and left her contacts and finally got them in touch with the man himself. And when we, the audience, finally meet the man he turns out to be the most humble and gracious individual, working on construction sites, not bitter about not having had the success he would have wanted as a young man.
Eventually, he went to South Africa to play a sold out show (the first of many), which marks the climax of this wonderful, wonderful film. And after he played to sold out crowds in South Africa he went right back home to the house he has spent the last few decades in and back to work at the construction sites.
This is such a moving, loving portrait that everyone watching with me seemed to adore as much as I do. In the following Oscar night, along with the awards given to Austrians (Christoph Waltz, Michael Haneke), Searching for Sugar Man winning (as expected) best documentary got the biggest applause from my hometown crowd.
When I got home I went online an purchased both of Rodriguez' available albums.
Will, a musician, is on the verge of killing himself when he sees from his window that Eve, who works in the bar where he just played a gig, has trouble with a drunk guy. He abandons his plan for the time being to come for her rescue.
They eventually spend the entire night and most of the following day walking over London and slowly getting to know each other. Will, however, does not want to become too involved and Eve cannot quite figure out what his deal is.
The pace of the story is similar to that of Before Sunrise - two people that by chance spend the night in each other's company, but with a very different ending from the Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy trip through nightly Vienna.
I watched this mostly because I think Tobias Menzies is hot and didn't know what to expect from it.
Turns out this is one of the saddest films I have ever seen.
