As you probably know… or didn’t – Yu’s latest play with Satoshi Tsumabuki, Minami he, opened in Tokyo… had some dates postponed (at least) due to the Earthquake, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s done with its running.
There were interesting thoughts on it – hint: only read one review, which you can check by going through the Minami tag – and I ran into this poster for it, which is the closest some of us got to this play xD
When I wrote my review, I couldn’t find a proper poster so I grabbed photoshop and whipped my own, but I made note that it wasn’t any official artwork.
However someone ended up using it xD
You might like to know that YAM’s got a big resolution of the nifty poster designed by Giselle Monzon Calero.
Natalie Portman’s Where the Heart Is is probably the least favorite film amongst the fans, a list that includes the Star Wars prequels, Free Zone, Mr. Mangorium’s Wonder Emporium, Mars Attacks and Anywhere but Here. However, Where the Heart Is, as well as Anywhere but Here are the only of those films that pretty much were completely fronted by Portman.
Now, compare that to Leon… or Black Swan. Mmmkay~
As a teenage Portman fan, I obviously watched those AND enjoyed them~~~ but we’re here to talk about Where the Heart Is now, so let’s talk about it.
Where the Heart Is, for what it’s worth, marks Portman’s step into womanhood, as she played a 17-year-old pregnant Novalee Nation, giving birth in a Walmart. In short, she’s pretty tacky but with a lot of heart… and what’s even more ironic, the first time I saw Portman in that fake pregnant suit in slippers (and then barefoot), I thought of Britney Spears whom later ended up stepping on a public bathroom barefoot.
But I digress. Where the Heart Is is sappy, and over-the-top acting drama… it ends up being funny. Portman looks so awkward as Novalee… skinny and so overly-fake-pregnant, plus the hair. Add to that Novalee’s white trash mother who abandoned her family for a man whose name she can’t even remember played by Sally Field, hot-peen-hungry mother of multiple children named after junk food Nurse Lexie played by Ashley Judd, cut-throat music producer Ruth Meyers played by Joan Cusack, and AA-member fornicating Sister Husband played by Stockard Channing — all over-acting. Pure amazingness.
Let’s not even begin to discuss the love-making scene, which marks a first for Natalie Portman on screen, which she shared with UK actor James Frain who’s like 15 years older than her and plays a character named Forney. Novalee doesn’t have sex with Forney, she makes love to him after his sister passes away. There’s sweet love-making pop-country crossover music as his hand entwines with hers.
But despite it all, I couldn’t take my eyes off the film… except maybe the bits without Natalie Portman on screen, in which we focus on Novalee’s baby daddy Willy Jack Pickens played by Dylan Bruno. His storyline seems a bit pointless, since we’re not supposed to feel sympathy for him and it just makes the story go slower. But then again, without him… we wouldn’t have the amazingness of Joan Cusack.
Natalie Portman as a “reformed” Novalee, mother of Americus and photographer, holding her camera shooting the fat baseball team, or with her Xmas/winter gear, and looking for Forney are probably the most gorgeous Portman could be on film.
Where the Heart Is might be cheesy, and actually pretty bad — and shame on you if you think it’s the best movie ever made — but it’s one of those films teenage girls have to watch. We were all probably 14 when we saw it, and I guess 14-year-olds watch much more crass films nowadays. However, I still think 12 or 13-year-old girls would be able to appreciate it.
I don’t think Anywhere but Here is worse than Where the Heart Is, but IMDb seems to disagree.
3/5 (2.75 without the sentimental value LOL)
You know what this means right? I finally saw a new Yu Aoi film, so I can move the queue just a little bit. We’re discussing Honokaa Boy first, then Ikechan to Boku… instead of One Million Yen Girl because of the length of roles that Yu had in the films… and we’re leaving Hyakuman-en up on the feature spot for a while… ;P
First a little about the film~
Honokaa Boy tells the story of a boy – Okay, a young man – who ends up living in the small Hawaiian city of Honokaa, after he mysteriously falls in love with the place during a failed trip with his girlfriend. In there, he meets a bunch of quirky people that are very likable, who end up having an impact on his life.
Genre: Dramedy with a bit of Romance
Starring: Masaki Okada, Chieko Baisho, Keiko Matsuzaka, Jun Hasegawa
Duration: almost 2hrs
First, let me just say that when the trailer for Dawn Treader came out, I thought it looked terrible. The CGI work in the film looked positively subpar in comparison to what you thought of Lion and Caspian when they came out. I also wondered why I couldn’t remember any details in regards of the book, since I’ve only read the series once. Except for the annoying cousin, I was blank.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader tells the story of Edmund and Lucy Pevensie who stayed over at their cousin Eustace’s place as they’re separated from their family… including Susan and Peter. Eustace is annoying, played very convincingly by Will Poulter (Son of Rambow), he’s loud, whiny, a complete pain. Then one day as the cousins are arguing in a room that includes a painting of a ship at sea, water starts dripping from the painting. The room fills with water, and they’re transported to Narnia.
Edmund, Lucy and Eustace — who’s freaking out by now — get rescued by Prince (now King) Caspian and his crew, plus Reepicheep, on board of the Dawn Treader in search for the 7 allies of Caspian’s kingdom who were betrayed by his uncle when he took power. Stopping in the first kingdom/island, they discovered a group that’s been taking people away to give them as offering to something known as “The Green Mist”.
Aslan’s totally against this Green Mist, so Caspian, the Pevensie bros, Eustace and company must trail the rest of the kingdom’s allies, get their swords together, and vanquish the Green Mist.
Looking at these not-longer-kids makes me feel old. Lucy (Georgie Henley) is even more grown-up that I remember from Caspian. Same thing for Edmund (Skandar Keynes). Peter (William Moseley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell), however, look ageless. At least they do on the film.
Because my expectations were low in regards to the CG and the conversion, I must say Dawn Treader delivers better than expected. The fakeness of the CG in the 2D trailers was lost in the 3D conversion which made the picture darker and blurry. You can’t have crisp action, that defeats the purpose of action. Also, the shots use in the film work quite fine as “3D” shots, you could even believe they had thought in terms of 3D environment.
The problem with Dawn Treader, however, lies in that it’s pretty thin on story. Even in the book, it seemed to only work as an introduction to Eustace… maybe the reason why that’s all I remember about the actual book. The film also includes some very cringe-worthy dialog, but maybe that’s an issue with the dubbing I had to watch.
But I did enjoy it. What the movie makes better than the book is that it fixes the pacing, there’s a lot of action going on while they’re on their way to search for the allies and their swords. They also make a great build-up for Reepicheep, despite the lack of screen-time he’s had in the movies, to give him a deserving send-off. Actually, it’s probably my favorite scene — despite the blatant Christianity hitting me in the face always on the series, I’m rather fond of how the series ended.
However, I wish they had done something more emotional with Lucy and Edmund’s Narnia farewell, because I felt Susan and Peter’s were much more serious, much more felt… after all, we won’t see Lucy and Edmund! We could see a glimpse of Ben Barns as Caspian on The Silver Chair, but not Keynes and Henley.
I hope they do make it to The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle… even cooler if they make The Magician’s Nephew. I really REALLY hate The Horse and his Boy, though.
3/5
I don’t think I’ve seen too many Russian films. At the moment, I can remember The Russian Ark — because it’s got Russian in the title — and I just did an IMDb search. I’ve also seen 12, Night Watch… and I guess Mongol is kind of Russian, even though it was the Kazakhstan Oscar entry.
So this is actually my 4th official Russian film.
Despite having very limited on-screen time on Good Bye, Lenin!, Chulpan Khamatova floored me. Plus, I love how Daniel Bruhl says “Lara!” So I was always meaning to watch all of Khamatova’s filmography. But do you know how difficult it is to find Russian films on actual DVD? Anyway, I finally got hold of Luna Papa. I had literally no idea what is was about, so I went in blind. This is what you should generally do. No expectations, good surprises.
Luna Papa tells the story of a 17-year-old named Mamlakat whose love for theater and the arts lead her to one of the theater company’s presentation. She misses it by a hair, as she is walking in the dark paths only lit by the moonlight, she is mysteriously seduced by a no-face man. Next thing she knows, she wakes up in the morning with her torn dress… no longer a virgin.
Now, you may think this is all serious business and that the film gets all drama from this point forward, but it doesn’t.
Luna Papa is actually the fantastic tale of a young mother from the point of view of an unborn baby. Whatever your opinion on pro-life or pro-choice is, you can’t just dismiss this simply as either of those.
Unless I really REALLY suck at math, Khamatova should be in her 20s while shooting this role, but actually looks like she’s about 15. She’s terribly endearing, and terribly sassy.
Khamatova’s mentally-ill brother is played by German actor Moritz Bleibtreu… who I thought was going to be playing a talking role in Russian, but he mumbles one-words. It isn’t bad, he’s actually very effective and quite endearing as an over-protective older brother. As well as the father, who despite cultural prejudice in the town, does a lot for her daughter and son.
I have no idea if it was the lack of any knowledge about the film, but that ending came from nowhere. It didn’t feel like cheating, because there were a lot of things that came left field since the beginning. Luna Papa — I still have no idea why it’s called like that — was just a pretty nice blend of wacky comedy with some high tension moments.
My only real big issue with a highly entertaining film like this is that Khamatova — who is of Tartar origin — doesn’t look like she’s a Tajik girl. Not like I have any grasp on ethnicity, but she felt so out of place from where the movie was taking place.
My favorite scene’s got to be Mamlakat at the abortion clinic, as the doctor tells her to lie down.
You know, I was watching the last episode of Ryomaden on Sunday’s afternoon before lunch. Sorry, Ryoma-san ~~~ I didn’t feel ya. But I did feel Teruyuki Kagawa’s Iwasaki — frienemy of Ryoma. Just like I enjoyed Kiyomori’s grey relationship with Yoshitsune.
There’s something about not so good characters in history that’s just wayyyyy more interesting than the heroes. Heroes are boring. That’s why Atsuhime was so good! She was actually sent to manipulate the Shogun in favor of her clan… then she married the Shogun, and not-really turned on her family, but she didn’t do what she was sent to do.
Looking forward to Gou… as well as Kenichi Matsuyama’s starring on the 2012 NHK Taiga drama about the life of Kiyomori. That’s all sorts of awesome considering he’s gonna battle it out with Hiroshi Tamaki playing Yoshitsune’s father, Minamoto.
Yup, I just showed you all my samurai / taiga drama knowledge right there.
It’s like I know history! I feel knowledgeable ~~~
*EDIT*
Gonna share this on the 2011 YAM Blogathon
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Let’s see, I missed posting yesterday! Coding is such a mess~ Please, if you know anything about WordPress plugins, programing, and crazy coding talk – HELP ME!
Anyway, to clear my head from that problem, I was having a debate on whether or not The Kids Are All Right is anti-male or not. The participants? The Film Snob (snobbyfilmguy), Kevin Ketchum (KevinnK), Johnny Splash aka. filmcave, Benjamin Vargas aka. bensower, and MovieBungalow.
When the film first came out, a lot of the critics and bloggers were singing praise left and right. TKAAR is my flare, light drama with bits of comedy. Plus, it’s got Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, of course I was going to watch it. However, with positive feedback, there’s also the few that can’t help but feel disappointed… or outraged.
While reading IMDb (battle zone!!), and some comments on AfterEllen.com, you could find lesbians saying the film is “anti-lesbian” because no way Julianne Moore’s character would sleep with a man, saying that it makes it seem like lesbians can’t live without c*ck – their words not mine.
That’s like saying Imagine Me & You is “anti-heterosexual” because no way Piper Perabo’s character would go for a woman. Hmmmmmkay.
Let’s start with the basics. The Kids Are All Right is the story of a lesbian couple that’s going through a rough patch. Nic (Bening) is a doctor that’s spending more time tending to her patients, than her wife Jules (Moore) who’s a stay-at-home mom, whose string of career switches fill her with insecurities.
After years of marriage (ten?), they’ve got two kids, almost-18-year-old Joni (Wasikowska) mothered by Nic, and 15-year-old (16?) Laser (Hutcherson) mothered by Jules. They seem you’re average white upper-middle class family with no kids problems, no money issues. Since Joni is about to turn 18, her brother asks her to contact their sperm-donor father — Enters Paul (Ruffalo), and all hell breaks loose.
WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS~~~
It’s begun. The beginning of the end. After the 7th book came out, and left me unsatisfied — a feeling carried over the 6th book and the 5th film — I swore to never see Harry Potter at the cinema ever again. A promise easy to keep with the 6th film, but then… it was hard to keep it when the first promotional materials for HP7 were released.
Well played, Warner. Well played.
Deathly Hallows is perhaps Yates’ best attempt at a Harry Potter adaption, but considering the other two – it isn’t saying that much. In the greater scale of things, it might follow on Azkaban’s footsteps as an interesting film filled with anguish and desperation… of I guess, the teenage sort. If the book didn’t work for you, the film seems to improve on action and characters. It’s also of great comfort to say that The WB’s decision of splitting the film in two parts was hardly a bad commercial or creative choice… at least for the fans of the books, who will savor each an every detail.
But then again, considering how many chapters were crammed into this first part, one has to wonder what’s left for part two if not only the “last battle” which, in the book, happened off-page… and that epilogue that’s ripped out of the most poorly written fanfiction.
For the non-readers or those who haven’t seen HP6… well, you’re screwed. It really doesn’t work without the background, and you’re better without watching it, if you’re going to start complaining. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows feels like made for the fans of the series only.
I don’t exactly do singles and/or greatest hits albums… but I’m tempted of getting the greatest hits in Deluxe edition… keep the DVD, and give the greatest hits to someone else — after ripping Raise Your Glass new track. LOL
