The Movie Maventag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2008:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//302007-03-13T16:59:52ZStephanie Curtis is Minnesota Public Radio's Movie Maven. She writes about new releases, old chestnuts, and the movie-going experience.Movable Type Open Source 4.1The End.tag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.101672007-03-13T16:02:56Z2007-03-13T16:59:52ZI quit! Well, not really. You still can find me on The Current Music Blog and hear me reviewing movies every Friday with Mary Lucia. I'll also still be stopping by Midday with Gary a few times a year. If...
The Current Music Blog and hear me reviewing movies every Friday with Mary Lucia. I'll also still be stopping by Midday with Gary a few times a year. If you need more frequent movie fixes, check out Movie Natters. ]]>
Sing to me, muse, of the six-pack of Leonidastag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.101302007-03-09T18:37:55Z2007-03-09T18:42:13Z300 is a purportless excerise in comley computer imagery and a showcase for the latest in steroid-enhanced male torsos. The filmmakers don't know how to mete out either. One CGI-rhinoceros is cool. But add elephants and giants and superannuated ninjas...
300 is a purportless excerise in comley computer imagery and a showcase for the latest in steroid-enhanced male torsos. The filmmakers don't know how to mete out either. One CGI-rhinoceros is cool. But add elephants and giants and superannuated ninjas and 3 meter tall monarchs and evil hunchbacks...well, you get kind of tired. And after two hours of the half-nude Spartan fighters flexing their transverse abdominis, sartorius, gastrocnemius and obliques, I worried about the body images of the soft, milk-dud munching boy comic book fans around me. Girls, you don't have to look like Kate Moss. Eat a little. And guys, Gerard Butler gets paid a lot of money to train eight hours a day and has special "nutritionists" working with him to achieve the proper regal six-pack.
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I miss the accountantstag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.99402007-02-26T22:40:12Z2007-02-26T22:44:40ZSo Bob Collins just strolled by and said, "Write something about the Oscars!" Is there anything left to say? I talked about them for an hour already. So here are a couple of things I didn't mention: Where were the...
Z or Closely Watched Trains. It's corny, but I grew up watching That's Hollywood. (They shoudl get Tom Bosley to introduce all the clips!)
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Walk out of the movietag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.99152007-02-23T20:25:52Z2007-02-23T20:28:22ZI have an odd request. You need to trust me on this. If you go see The Lives of Others this weekend (and you should,) leave after "the steaming scene." I don't want to give away the end, just remember...
The Lives of Others this weekend (and you should,) leave after "the steaming scene." I don't want to give away the end, just remember "the steaming scene" and you'll be fine. Now, normally I don't recommend walking out of good movies before they end, but "the steaming scene" is the end of the good movie. If you stay, the hokey finale betrays the fascinating, grim and funny two hours that precede it.
I've only ever recommended this strategy once before and that was for Broadcast News. You need to stop watching that after "the airport scene." No one took my advice in 1987. Please take it now.]]>
The Most Romantic Filmstag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.97702007-02-14T13:28:39Z2007-02-14T13:36:17ZI'll be on KARE 11 this morning talking about my favorite romantic movies of all time. Here they are: It Happened One Night - The perfect romantic piece of fluff. Perfect, smart fluff. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert squabble, fall...
It Happened One Night - The perfect romantic piece of fluff. Perfect, smart fluff. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert squabble, fall in love and then take a few minutes to admit that they've fallen in love. If only love were so simple...
Now, Voyager - But Bette Davis knows the path to love is not simple. You need a psychiatrist to help you escape the misery and insecurities inflicted on you by your parents first. But then, you can find love...for a little while at least.
The Shop Around the Corner - Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan nearly miss out on love during hard economic times in a Hungarian gift shop. Dear friend, the movie is sincerely moving, funny and dizzyingly romantic.
Annie Hall - A great love, even if it doesn't last. Alvy and Annie could've made it work, but even though they don't , we still have lobsters, Marshall McLuhan and that terrifying trip back to Wisconsin for the holidays.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Are we doomed to repeat our same romantic mistakes over and over?
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Movies to Watch with Kidstag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.97492007-02-12T20:02:20Z2007-02-12T20:25:11ZThere are plenty of websites and books out there for parents who want to choose movies for their kids. Most of them strike me as preachy and too narrow. Kids can watch movies that grownups like and not all movies...
AND have a good time themselves. Boston Globe critic Ty Burr's wrote The Best Old Movies for Families and it's completely delightful. It's more than a list; he tells you why a particular movie will work for kids (and he's tested them out on his own.) Here's a snapshot of his sensibility: he recommends North by Northwest for 7 year olds and Leave Her to Heaven for teens. Perfect.
Finding Nemo is wonderful, but there are a lot more films you can watch with your children without cringing. ]]>
Should have been nominated:tag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.94212007-01-23T17:07:35Z2007-01-23T17:08:10ZThe oscar list didn't horrify me this year, although what the heck is Little Miss Sunshine doing anywhere near The Queen? Still, there are some films and performances that I wish had been recognized: Best Picture: Children of Men United...
The oscar list didn't horrify me this year, although what the heck is Little Miss Sunshine doing anywhere near The Queen? Still, there are some films and performances that I wish had been recognized:
Best Picture:
Children of Men
United 93
Pan's Labyrinth
Best Director:
Guillermo del Toro for Pan's Labyrinth
Bill COndon for Dreamgirls
Alfonso Cuaron for Children of Men
Actress:
Emily Watson for The Proposition
Ellen Page for Hard Candy
(Can't think of another...it was a good list this year but Meryl should be in the supporting category and Jennifer Hudson should be in the leading lady category.)
Actor:
Clive Owen for Children of Men
Christian Bale for The Prestige
Edward Norton for The Illusionist
A film about broken friendships and the joy of the outdoorstag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.93762007-01-19T19:23:22Z2007-01-19T19:29:07ZOld Joy finally opens today in the Twin Cities. I was actually worried it wouldn't open here at all. It's a small, true independent movie (not a Little Miss Sunshine - a mainstream comedy with an indie patina to it)...
Old Joy finally opens today in the Twin Cities. I was actually worried it wouldn't open here at all. It's a small, true independent movie (not a Little Miss Sunshine - a mainstream comedy with an indie patina to it) that could have easily bypassed us and headed straight to DVD.
The quiet (really quiet) film follows two buddies on a camping trip in the Oregon wilderness. They don't get attacked by any Sasquatch or crazed locals, instead they face something far scarier: a dying friendship that neither one seems able to discuss. Mark (Daniel London) will soon be a father. He's not exactly high-powered, but he's employed, committed to a woman and manages to make the rent. Kurt (Will Oldham aka singer Bonnie "Prince" Billy,) on the other hand, wanders a bit more. He owns a van (with a broken window) stuffed with his possessions and that's about it. No family. No lover. No job. He drifts from place to place looking for a good time or a beautiful view or a decent meal.
You can see how the two were once close. They both have the vestiges of pot-smoking, hacky-sacking undergraduate life clinging to them even though they are in the their mid-thirties. It's painful to watch but one of the most moving films I have seen in a long time. Well worth the morbid reflection about the state of friendships, romances and life goals that settles in after the screen goes black.
You can see it for the next week at the Oak Street Cinema. I think there's a hockey game at the U arena tonight, so get to the theater early to find a parking spot.]]>
The worst movie of 2007?tag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.93092007-01-16T21:49:53Z2007-01-16T21:50:16ZOkay, so the highly-esteemed Hollywood Foreign Press Association thinks that Babel is the best movie of 2006. I don't want to look backwards, I want to look forward. I predict the worst movie of 2007 will be: Ghost Rider....
Babel is the best movie of 2006. I don't want to look backwards, I want to look forward. I predict the worst movie of 2007 will be:
Ghost Rider.]]>
And the Oscar will not go to...tag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.91912007-01-08T17:12:57Z2007-01-08T17:13:41ZArthur and the Invisibles has been kicked off the list of films eligible for the Oscar. It would need to be over 75% animated to qualify and it features some live actors. Too many apparently. It was a formality to...
Arthur and the Invisibles has been kicked off the list of films eligible for the Oscar. It would need to be over 75% animated to qualify and it features some live actors. Too many apparently. It was a formality to kick it off the list, since it didn't have a chance of actually being nominated.
I kind of loathe the animated category of the Oscars anyway. I think that really good animated movies like Cars and The Incredibles should be in regular contention and not relegated to a corner where they compete the latest animals-on-a-quest feature like Barnyard.
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What luck, two great Childrentag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2007:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.91722007-01-05T19:46:38Z2007-01-05T19:49:06ZHey, we're lucky, two great movies open this weekend. Little Children, a suburban drama from director Todd Fields, follows two unhappily married folks and the local pedophile as they all try to grab some happiness. Unlike a lot of movies...
Little Children, a suburban drama from director Todd Fields, follows two unhappily married folks and the local pedophile as they all try to grab some happiness. Unlike a lot of movies with intertwining stories, each one of the plots is engaging. Fields knows how much weight to give each character and how much humor to blend in with the pathos. It's a perfect little movie with a lot of humor and humanity, but still left me queasy and drained. If you've got the stomach for something serious this weekend, go see it.
Now how is a drama about suburban life more depressing than a dystopic future where humans have lost the ability to procreate and society has broken down around them? Maybe it's that effervescent Michael Caine who can makes every movie better. Now Children of Men is no cheerful holiday fare, but director Alfonso Cuaron knows better than a humorless navel-gazer like Darren Aronofsky. Yeah, we're the last generation of humans. Yes, society broke down and millions of people are being held in camps, but you can still find something to smile at. Like Michael Caine getting stoned! Anyway...if there's a great movie about the alienation of modern life and xenophobia paralyzing the world, it's not Babel. It's Children of Men.
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Worst of 2006tag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2006:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.90272006-12-22T18:28:12Z2006-12-22T18:51:33Z Lady in the Water - M. Night Schyamalan, you are not yet a legendary filmmaker. Quit acting like your every film is a present to the human race. Failure to Launch - Cynical romantic comedy cobbled together to fill...
Lady in the Water - M. Night Schyamalan, you are not yet a legendary filmmaker. Quit acting like your every film is a present to the human race.
Failure to Launch - Cynical romantic comedy cobbled together to fill that late winter slot where The Wedding Planner and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days made lots of money. Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker don't just seem to lack chemistry, they appear to dislike one another.
The Wicker Man - There could be a remake of the dated original. This pointlessly misogynist film should not be it. If women created a Utopia, I would hope it would not be to exile men and mute them. Or to wear hemp clothing and birkenstocks.
Click - Continuing the theme of silencing the opposite sex. This is a nasty piece of business about a man who finds a remote to control his family. OK, women may talk a lot, but is the ultimate dream of every American male to have a mute wife?
Trust the Man - You know!? A remote control like might be a good idea if we could use it to stop the whiny, dislikable lot in this romantic comedy from speaking about their over-priveleged and self-indulgent existences!
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The best of 2006tag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2006:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.90232006-12-22T16:00:51Z2006-12-22T16:02:57Z The best: United 93 - Paul Greengrass' taut thriller about a story that we thought we already knew. When the screening I saw ended, no one moved. The most powerful filmmaking of the year. The rest of the top...
The best:
United 93 - Paul Greengrass' taut thriller about a story that we thought we already knew. When the screening I saw ended, no one moved. The most powerful filmmaking of the year.
The rest of the top ten:
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - Not as sharp a satire about America as it's TV counterpart, but this movie was astonishingly funny. Sacha Baron Cohen's nerve is a wonder. I question his sanity.
The Prestige/Inside Man - The 2 best traditional Hollywood entertainments of the year. Great scripts, great acting, great twists. If only everything Hollywood churned out were as good as these two.
The Queen - Now this is satire. A perfectly balanced blend of comedy and drama. Helen Mirren gives the performance of the year.
Dave Chapelle's Block Party - Pure joy.
The Proposition - An Australian western about what happens when the outlaw west gets settled (and it isn't quite ready for it.)
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story - Last year, a Michael Winterbottom ended up on my worst list (12 Songs. Eegads it was bad.) He more than makes up for it with this film about making movies.
Sweet Land - This isn't on here as a "isn't this a nice local film" charity case. It's the sweetest (not treacly) love story of the year and makes Minnesota's prairies look gorgeous. I have yet to meet a person who didn't like it.
The Departed - OK, it's a tad long (a little less Jack would have been nice) but still the best adrenaline rush of the year and the fuss over Leonardo DiCaprio finally makes sense to me.
The Syrian Bride - Politics in the Middle East on a personal scale. A Druze woman from the Golan Heights decides to marry a Syrian man, but if she does, she can never return home to her family.
Golden Globe Nomineestag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2006:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.88912006-12-14T16:34:27Z2006-12-14T16:39:17ZI hate to these rinky-dink awards any attention, but I have a bone to pick with them that I am guessing I will have with the Oscars, too. Jennifer Hudson should not be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She is...
I hate to these rinky-dink awards any attention, but I have a bone to pick with them that I am guessing I will have with the Oscars, too.
Jennifer Hudson should not be nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
She is not supporting, she is the lead and the heart and the soul of Dreamgirls. In the 1982 Tonys, for the exact same role that Hudson plays in the movie, Jennifer Holiday was nominated for and won Best Actress in a musical. Why is Hudson being shunted aside? Simply because the neophyte isn't as big of a star as Beyonce. It's bizarre to me.
Even Kate Winslet Can't Save a Bad Movietag:minnesota.publicradio.org,2006:/collections/special/columns/stephanie_curtis//30.88052006-12-08T18:31:43Z2006-12-08T18:35:54ZThe Holiday opens today. I love dumb, escapist romantic comedies. And this one promised two: Cameron Diaz romancing Jude Law and Kate Winslet involved with Jack Black. I figured at least one them would be vaguely satisfying fun. Unfortunely, they...
Being John Malkovich and In Her Shoes, but her half of the movie is doomed from the time she was cast. Even the charming Jude Law, who can make wooden dialogue sound natural, can't save the storyline.
But, we have another shot to find at least an entertaining hour in the theater. The grand Kate Winslet plays a lovelorn English reporter who goes to LA to soothe her broken heart. Winslet, although gorgeous, manages to play and frumpy and insecure quite well. But she gets entangled in a unfortunate subplot involving one Eli Wallach playing a great Hollywood screenwriter of yore. He's supposedly the guy who added "kid" to "here's looking at you." Winslet, in one of many agonizing montages in the film, TEACHES THE HANDICAPPED WALLACH TO WALK over the course of an afternoon. Eegads. It only gets worse as Winslet half-heartedly gets involved in one of those movie romances that doesn't seem too romantic; her paramour is Jack Black. They have the romantic chemistry of Dorothy and the Tin Man.
The final blow: both Winslet and Diaz have their own individual singing-rock-songs-out-loud-while-dancing-in-your-PJs scenes. Of the terrible images I will carry away from this movie - Jack Black's home-permed hair, Jack Black singing movie theme songs in blockbuster video store, Jack Black giving Winslet a lingering kiss (ick!!,) Diaz and Law in a hiding-behind-evergreens-and-punching-each-other-playfully montage - none will scar me as the image of the regal Winslet playing air guitar on a pillow.
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