Though I generally try to avoid reviews and/or other "spoiler-ish" literature beforehand for films that I am eager to see, I generally read a lot about films that are in production or are just about to be released, etc. In doing so, not only do I get a gist of what the plot of the movie is, but most times, the same words or phrases keep popping up.
For
Children of Men, the word "dystopian" is the one that stood out for me. Many films that take place in the future are described as such. Here is a short list of "dystopian" films that have been released in the past 20 years (from Wikipedia):
12 MonkeysBrazil
Code 46
Dark City
FreejackGattaca
The Island
The Matrix series
Minority Report
A Scanner DarklyV for Vendetta
A few things stand out with this list (and the full list
here). For one, I like and/or love almost all of the films (that I have seen), even some of the ones that I would consider "bad" (
Freejack, The Island, Demolition Man). Another obvious point is that they all take place in the future. However, not all of them are dystopian, which is defined as "a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. It is usually characterized by an oppressive social control, such as an authoritarian or totalitarian government."
Many of the above films don't seem to be dystopian at all:
Minority Report, for example, takes place, in fact, in a society virtually without murder, that is not overseen by any sort of totalitarian overlords. It's basically just a story about some groovy psychics, their ability to predict murders (or lack thereof) and their imminent exploitation.
The Island isn't dystopian, as society at large is not even aware of what is happening at a certain facility in southern Arizona. The only affected parties are a group of clones - perhaps it tells the tale of a dystopian subculture.
Perhaps I'm picking nits again. My intrigue arose from the use of the word in describing
Children of Men. To make a short story long,
Children is not a dystopian film. Sure, there are a lot of police onscreen, and the future is most certainly a bleak one, but that certainly can't be the only criteria to earn such a label. The film takes place in 2027, in a time where the youngest person alive is 18 years old, with the world's women all infertile. Why? No one knows
for sure - it could be pollution, gamma rays, anything.
But the film is about hope, redemption, salvation and other such "-ion" words. It's about the loss of many lives towards a greater good. The outlook for many is grim, but not all have given up.
Amongst the actors, Michael Caine shines brightest, stealing all of his scenes, playing the 2027 version of an eccentric hippie.
Clive Owen has found an excellent vehicle for his brand of melancholy, and Julianne Moore adds class as usual. Chiwetel Ejiofor (
Inside Man, Kinky Boots) continues his hot streak and path towards stardom
, playing a freedom fighter (or terrorist, depending on your viewpoint).
Alfonso Cuaron, the director of
Y Tu Mama Tambien and
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the best in the series), has made a film that will be compared favorably to such cult classics as
Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys and
Brazil, and it is entirely deserving of those comparisons, as it is sad, beautiful and poetic all at once.
91 out of
100
Worst movie ever.
How Beach was not nominated for a Golden Globe is criminal, and the reason had better be because Flags wasn't a mass/global appeal type of film that would appeal to the Hollywood Foreign Press. Simply put, Beach should win for Supporting Actor hands down. His only viable challengers are Jack Nicholson and Eddie Murphy. Just because the press has hitched their wagon to Letters from Iwo Jima and has a short memory shouldn't mean that Beach gets left out.
A short take on The Painted Veil:
Actress, Drama: Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet
It's pretty rare that a "name" director works on an animated film, unless he or she happens to be named Tim Burton. Sure, there's John Lasseter (the Toy Story series, A Bug's Life, Cars), but he made his name with feature-length animation, and has made no features that aren't animated. So for Luc Besson, acclaimed director of La Femme Nikita, The Professional (Leon), and The Fifth Element, to make a half-and-half (animated/live action) film, that's something that should pique your interest.
You wouldn't think that a film about adultery, statutory rape, a broken marriage, a fatal attraction, and an elderly, borderline stalker lesbian would be a funny film. But you'd be wrong.
the college football season (the game itself was wildly boring, but that's neither here nor there). However, what happened in the game is really immaterial to me. The thing that bothers me is that the story dominated the sports coverage in the Phoenix media.
Though I generally try to avoid reviews and/or other "spoiler-ish" literature beforehand for films that I am eager to see, I generally read a lot about films that are in production or are just about to be released, etc. In doing so, not only do I get a gist of what the plot of the movie is, but most times, the same words or phrases keep popping up.
for sure - it could be pollution, gamma rays, anything. But the film is about hope, redemption, salvation and other such "-ion" words. It's about the loss of many lives towards a greater good. The outlook for many is grim, but not all have given up.
It's been almost five years now, but for his follow-up to Punch Drunk Love, director Paul Thomas Anderson has outdone himself with Little Children, a sprawling, ensemble film about the inhabitants of a Boston suburb during one particularly hot summer.
What happens when you take a six hour movie and cram it into two and a half hours? 
