paul

Member since 12/21/2005, last signed in awhile ago.

Send a message

Add to contacts

Invite to a group

Interested in:Culture & Society, Drama, Historical Film, History, Mystery, Theater

paul's movie tags

Talk

Sita Sings the Blues

SITA SINGS THE BLUES available ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"One of Karina Longworth’s favorite undistributed films of last year is available to watch for free on Reel 13. Sita Sings the Blues won the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award at the 2008 Gotham Awards. In Karina’s review from Tribeca 2008, she called it, “a strange and beautiful little film, a potentially wispy slice of autobiography smartly elevated through irresistible, orgiastic style.” Watch the movie and read Brandon Harris’ interview with director Nina Paley from last November (republished) after the jump. Originally published on 11/17/08 as SITA SINGS THE BLUES Director Nina Paley: The Media Diet by Brandon Harris For fans of relatively offbeat animation, 2008 seems to have been a banner year. Pixar produced perhaps their most acclaimed effort yet with Wall-E, which is drawing considerable heat for a best picture nomination. Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir thrilled and horrified audiences in Competition in Cannes with subject matter and personal introspection ... " [More]

Iron Man

FilmCouch 110: Movies That Shou ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"In episode #108, we posed a simple question: Which movie should be turned into a graphic novel? Your responses to the question became the fodder for a great conversation. Turning the typical page-to-screen progression on its head, we dig into the strengths and weaknesses of each medium. We discuss the possibility of seeing Mystery Train, Walkabout, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Zardoz, Hero, Die Hard, and Gangs of New York crammed into little action-packed drawings. We check in with Karina for a hindsight conversation about awards season. She poses the question: Who would win in a fight, Benjamin Button or Iron Man? The answer is as obvious as it seems, but not for the reason you think. Want to win a copy of Watchmen: The Official Film Companion? Send us an e-mail telling us what film you think has the best production design in entire history of cinema. It’s that simple. E-mail filmcouch [at] spout [dot] com. (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or ... " [More]

Twittering The Oscars and Spiri ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"My favorite memory of the Oscars last year was Karina Longworth’s Twitters hitting my iPhone every few minutes. The way she can describe Diablo Cody’s dress in one sentence had me turning to my wife saying, “You’ve got to hear this…” By the end of the night we had the iPhone sitting between us, propped on a pillow where we could both see each twitter as it popped up. Sunday, February 22nd, Karina and a gaggle of other SpoutBlog writers will live-twitter the Oscars again. Check back here at 8:00 EST. If you won’t have a laptop with you to see all the action, you can at least follow Karina on Twitter. Saturday, February 21st, Karina will also be at The Spirit Awards, twittering from the scene. IFC’s televised coverage begins at 5:00 EST, hosted by Steve Coogan. Want to see Karina’s Twitter stream? It’s embedded after the jump. twitter.com/karinalongworth Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Paul Moore " [More]

500 Days of Summer: Why I Walke ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Typically at SpoutBlog, we rarely state the obvious when it comes to a mediocre movie, trying to instead direct our gaze toward a gem that deserves some advocacy. Unless, of course, there’s a danger that said movie is going to overshadow the much earned good buzz around a great film. Such is the case with 500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It’s a movie I walked out of at Sundance 2009, not because it sucked, but because it was lukewarm. I figured I’d never write, “It was so-so” for a review, so I left. But in the past week it has, surprisingly, garnered ovations that threaten to eclipse so many excellent films coming out of that festival. Case in point, it’s number one in Coming Soon’s Best of the Fest: Clearly the biggest crowd-pleaser at this year’s festival was this romantic comedy from first-time director Marc Webb and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael Webber, which covers a year and a half in the relationship between Tom Hanson (Jose ... " [More]

Push: Based on a Novel By Sapphire

PUSH: BASED ON THE NOVEL BY SAP ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Push took top prizes at Sundance 2009 (Grand Jury for Drama, Audience Award and special acting prize for Mo’Nique), but–like a lot of prize winners in the past–it may prove to be too much for regular audiences. During the Q&A after the screening I attended, a girl stood up and said, “I’m from Harlem and I know people like that, but I’ve never seen it on a screen before.” She then thanked director Lee Daniels through her tears and sat down. It was the kind of moment Sundance programmers live for. This small, risk-taking film does show something that hasn’t been on a screen before, and it eclipses the feel-good-and-give-me-your-mon ey bigger pictures. Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire is a simple story about an uneducated, pregnant girl in Harlem circa 1987. It leaves you a sweaty wad of mixed emotions and defies you to figure you what you’re feeling and why you feel it. Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is a sixteen year old girl who lives in hell. She’s morbidly obese and hated wherev ... " [More]

Art & Copy

Art and Copy Review, Sundance 2009
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"On the surface, Art & Copy is a tribute to legendary creative minds in advertising, and the process through which they made their most iconic ads. From taglines that became pop touchstones like “Just Do It” and “Got Milk?” to how Mac, Budweiser and Volkswagon went beyond their product and became “lifestyle brands,” the charismatic advertisers share how it happened from their point of view, which smacks of self-mythologizing. Not only does the director, Doug Pray, appear to completely buy the mythology presented, but when the film raises moral and ethical questions about advertising, I’m not sure he realizes the questions are even there. The documentary follows a simple structure. An advertising legend (Hal Riney, George Lois, Dan Wieden, David Kennedy, Mary Wells, Rich Silverstein, Jeff Goodby, Lee Clow among others) tells a story or expounds on creativity. Between each story is a meditative sequence that harkens back to Koyaanisquatsi: billboard scaffolding, a city highway, a sate ... " [More]

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country

Burma VJ Review, Sundance 2009
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Burma is under a repressive military regime. To a Western mind, it’s hard to imagine plain clothes agents of the government arresting anybody holding a camera (who’s not another agent), or soldiers shooting protesters in the streets then airing TV messages like “RFA, AFP, BBC [free press] saboteurs, watch your step!” Almost all images from inside Burma come from a few brave Burmese “reporters” with Sony Handicams. They leave them rolling in their bags, then briefly unveil the lens to capture a piece of an event without being discovered, which is the extent of their reporting. They upload the footage over the Internet or smuggle it to Thailand. From there it goes to Oslo, Norway where it’s broadcast back into Burma. Burma VJ is Anders Ostergaard’s documentary about the anonymous cameramen known as The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). Without them, the world does not see what happens in Burma. Having the emotional effect of a thriller because each action anticipates a truly brutal r ... " [More]

Thriller in Manila

Thriller in Manilla Review, Sun ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Take an epic sporting event, cut together the highlights and interviews with the athlete (or athletes) and coach (or coaches), and you have an instant crowd-pleaser, because the crowd already been pleased once and knows it will be again. I expected Thriller in Manila to be that documentary until the build up of “the greatest fight of all time” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier unexpectedly wheezes, as a 63 year old, nearly incoherent Frazier walks into his decrepit Badlands of Philadelphia gym. With one shot of the little, cluttered room he lives in upstairs, the tone shifts to the unapologetic telling of Joe Frazier’s side of the story. Director John Dower has an easy target (Ali can’t speak for himself anymore), but to his credit he lets the camera remain on the mixed emotions of people closest to the fight and thereby raises issues–and the film–above its genre. Through talking heads with the gray hairs who were there, archival footage and the relentless narration of Paterson ... " [More]

Australia

FilmCouch #99: Where’s the GI J ...
By paul in paul on spout.com
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Eric Fensler created one of the first viral video sensations when he overdubbed the GI Joe PSAs. He’s a rare artist who, like Andy Kaufman, is hard to describe in a sentence or two. One thing is certain, he’d rather not be called, “The GI Joe PSA guy.” Listeners respond with what their families watched on Thanksgiving, while Karina Longworth was transfixed by Australia and Indecent Proposal over the holiday weekend. (See two of Eric Fensler videos after the jump.) (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) 0:00 - Intro, listener feedback 5:32 - Eric Fensler 29:41 - Karina on Indecent Proposal, Australia 42:21 - Listener voice mail: why movies are better than video games filmcouch-99 Eric Fensler’s TRS-80 music video, featuring himself on keyboards Eric Fensler’s GI Joe PSA, “Body Massage” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Paul Moore " [More]

Twilight

Re:WTF? Pattinson the Ultimate ...
By paul in Filmgaming
"What seems obvious is that Twilight fans have a well organized campaign. Oh well. I think we all can agree that, regardless of the outcome, Max Schreck (Nosferatu) vs. Kiefer Sutherland (Lost Boys) was the must-see match of the week. Really, the millenium. " [More]

Games that should be movies and ...
By paul in Top 5
"Two lists are being created for SpoutBlog this week (10/20/08): Video Games That Should Be Movies High School Horror Stories (think teen movies and horror movies getting it on in the back of dad's sedan) Got any top 5's for those two categories? " [More]

WANTED: Free movies online (Fil ...
By paul in FilmCouch
"Legal or not, it doesn't matter. We just want you to tell us about great movies you've found available online. I want to watch them. I want to know they are there for me and I will be there for them. While you sit and think, watch Gabriel Over the White House from this week's podcast. And if you want to see something really fresh, watch Part 1 of S.P.I.C. " [More]