Sunday, February 12, 2012

Sunday Nightcap 2/12/12

Another Sunday night

Not a whole heck of alot tonight...

If you haven’t jumped to get tickets to the NYCIFF you must do so immediately, shows are selling out. With tickets only on sale a week officially the tickets for the opening night, the two special events at the Walter Reede Theater and several of the IFC screenings are gone. If you want to go to anything without multiple screenings don’t hesitate. They are adding shows but several 3D films will rescreen in 2D) They have also canceled the first screening of Toys in the Attic leaving only one screening. Jump at the chance to see it.

The Raquel Welch series is running at Lincoln Center. There is a bunch of great films playing, so if you’ve ever wanted to see any of Ms Welch’s films this is your chance. And she’s in attendance so there is even more reason to go.

Friday starts Film Comment Selects. As you know I’m of mixed emotions toward the series, but there is still a chance I may see something. However I did post a review Thursday of All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, which is fantastic documentary/essay about how computers and computer like thought is probably sending us in the wrong direction. While I'm not sure I agree with all it says, for me, it's the first truly great film I've seen in 2012, simple because it got me thinking for days afterward. Go see it.

Honestly while I'm considering some of the other films in the series, I find myself torn between going to Lincoln Center and seeing some of the films at the Downtown Feature Film Festival. I only learned of this because I got an email from Ticket Central who is handling ticket sales. I don’t know anything about it other than it’s on 4th street and tickets are five bucks. For five bucks I can be adventurous. I’ll let you know what I decide to do.

Also, this week tickets go on sale for Rendezvous with French Cinema. This is a fantastic series and I suggest you check out the schedule. I'm going to see a few things so I'll keep you posted.

I finally saw David Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Without going too far into it I don't like it. I find that its too artificial. It feels constructed and not natural with Fincher doing things the opposite of the Swedish film (the desk in the first version was shown on the right, Fincher shows it on the left). Mara Rooney's Lisbeth doesn't feel quite right. She's really good but Rapace feels more real, less affected...though to be honest she's in a completely different film than everyone else. Also the film doesn't seem to know what its about,it takes abit to get set up and then tears through the mystery to deal with the characters in the the final half hour.

And now some links:

Jean Dujardin tries out to be a villain.

Grady Hendrix's excellent look at how Korean films deal with their history can be found here.

A detailed analysis of Kubrick's The Shining

Werner Herzog on Chickens (Thanks to Randi)

(This weeks subject: Women in Prison films)

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