Trailers: Christopher Nolan's "INTERSTELLAR"!


Folks - how are you today? If you are feeling good, bad or anything, i hope (Chris Nolan, actually) that this new poster and trailer for Interstellar will change all that for the better.

Check out the new trailer for one of the fall's most awaited movies here.



"Interstellar" opens November 2014!

Can't wait!

XXX
Raymond Lo

Film Review: "Boyhood"


I finally got to see "Boyhood" yesterday afternoon. It is an ambitious film that pays off enormously. I loved it.

The movie tracks the years in the life of a young boy named Mason from the time he was seven until he went to college. The part is played with surprising tenderness by Ellar Coltrane (he had no previous acting experience when he was cast) who literally grows up before our very eyes. Amid a summer filled with movies populated by state-of-the-art computer-generated special effects, Ellar Coltrane stands out as the best special effect there is this summer!

"Boyhood" is a heartwarming and moving film that reaffirms how precious and fleeting time is and that what we have in the present is the only thing that really matters.

I will echo the sentiments of many critics here, Richard Linklater has definitely crafted what is perhaps one of the most important and greatest contributions of America to world cinema. What he has achieved here is beyond magic; he created life on screen -- a life that mirrors pretty much our lives to some varying degree, of course. It makes you long for the childhood that you've had and also makes you look forward to more milestones, more special moments that you will create in the life that you are trying to build.

Did I already mention that I loved it? This early, the Best Screenplay and Best Director Oscars are Linklater's to lose. And if the academy would try to look ahead and place themselves in a position where they can judge "Boyhood" from some twenty years now and see its importance in the evolution of cinema as a medium to capture life then "Boyhood" is your rightful Oscar Best Picture winner already!

Rating: 5 glorious stars!!!

XXX
Raymond Lo

Trailers: "Fifty Shades of Grey"

It's here!!!

Valentine's Day is still a few months away but Universal and Focus offered avid fans of "Fifty Shades of Grey" a glimpse at the realized world of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele and the whole world (it's an exaggeration but you follow my gist, right?) dropped everything and devoted a good two minutes or so of their existence today to watch the most-awaited trailer of the most-awaited movie in many years! Yes, am a big fan of "The Fault in Our Stars" but that movie comes second to "Fifty Shades of Grey" in terms of the anticipation from avid, rather rabid (LOL!) fans of the series. (Myself included, haha!)

Here's the trailer:


And here are a few juicy screen grabs from the trailer. Enjoy!








xxx
Raymond Lo

Venice 2014: Festival Lineup

Tahar Rahim stars in Fatih Akin's THE CUT

The 71st Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, will run on Venice Lido from 27th August to 6th September 2014, directed by Alberto Barbera. 

The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organizes retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema. 

Here are the films playing at this year's edition of the festival:


VENEZIA 71
In Competition

Fatih AKIN

The Cut

Tahar Rahim
Akin Gazi
Simon Abkarian
George Georgiou


Germany
France
Italy
Russia
Canada
Poland
Turkey


183’
Roy ANDERSSON
En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron
(A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence)

Holger Andersson
Nisse Vestblom
Sweden
Germany
Norway
France
101’
Ramin BAHRANI

99 Homes
Andrew Garfield
Michael Shannon
Laura Dern
Noah Lomax

USA
112’
Rakhshān BANI E’TEMĀD
Ghesseha
(Tales)
Golab Adineh
Farhad Aslani
Mohammadreza Forootan
Mehdi Hashemi

Iran
88’
Xavier BEAUVOIS
La rançon de la gloire
Benoît Poelvoorde
Roschdy Zem
Séli Gmach
Chiara Mastroianni
Nadine Labaki

France
Belgium
Switzerland
114’
Saverio COSTANZO

Hungry Hearts
Adam Driver
Alba Rohrwacher
Roberta Maxwell

Italy
109’
Alix DELAPORTE

Le dernier coup de marteau

Romain Paul
Clotilde Hesme
Grégory Gadebois
Candela Peña
Tristán Ulloa

France
82’
Abel FERRARA

Pasolini
Willem Dafoe
Riccardo Scamarcio
Ninetto Davoli
Valerio Mastandrea
Maria de Medeiros
Adriana Asti

France
Belgium
Italy

86‘
David Gordon GREEN

Manglehorn
Al Pacino
Holly Hunter
Harmony Korine
Chris Messina

USA
97’
Opening Film
Alejandro González IÑÁRRITU

Birdman
or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)


Michael Keaton
Zach Galifianakis
Edward Norton
Andrea Riseborough
Amy Ryan
Emma Stone
Naomi Watts


USA


119’
Benoît JACQUOT
3 coeurs
Benoît Poelvoorde
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Chiara Mastroianni
Catherine Deneuve

France
100’
Andrei KONCHALOVSKY

Belye nochi pochtalona Alekseya Tryapitsyna
(The Postman’s White Nights)

Aleksey Tryapitsyn
Irina Ermolova
Timur Bondarenko

Russia
90’
Mario MARTONE
Il giovane favoloso

Elio Germano
Michele Riondino
Massimo Popolizio
Anna Mouglalis
Valerio Binasco
Isabella Ragonese

Italy
137‘
Kaan MÜJDECI
Sivas

Doğan İzci
Ezgi Ergin
Hasan Özdemir
Furkan Uyar

Turkey
93’
Francesco MUNZI
Anime nere
Marco Leonardi
Peppino Mazzotta
Fabrizio Ferracane
Anna Ferruzzo
Barbora Bobulova

Italy
France

103’
Andrew NICCOL
Good Kill
Ethan Hawke
Bruce Greenwood
January Jones
Zoë Kravitz
Jake Abel

USA
100’
David OELHOFFEN

Loin des hommes
Viggo Mortensen
Reda Kateb

France
110’
Joshua OPPENHEIMER

The Look of Silence
(documentary)
Denmark
Finland
Indonesia
Norway
United Kingdom

98’
Shinya TSUKAMOTO

Nobi
(Fires on the Plain)

Shinya Tsukamoto
Yūsaku Mori
Yūko Nakamura
Tatsuya Nakamura
Lily Franky

Japan
87’
WANG Xiaoshuai
Chuangru zhe
(Red Amnesia)

Lü Zhong
Feng Yuanzheng
Amanda Qin
Qin  Hao
Shi Liu

China

110’



OUT OF COMPETITION

Guillermo ARRIAGA
Emir KUSTURICA
Amos GITAI
Mira NAIR
Warwick THORNTON
Hector BABENCO
Bahman GHOBADI
Hideo NAKATA
Aléx de la IGLESIA


Words with Gods

Yaël Abecassis
Masatoshi Nagase
Pepon Nieto
Emir Kusturica
Damian Bichir
Yilmaz Erdogan
Chico Diaz
Miranda Tapsell
Ram Kapoor

Mexico
USA

129’
Peter BOGDANOVICH

She’s Funny That Way

Owen Wilson
Imogen Poots
Jennifer Aniston
Rhys Ifans
Kathryn Hahn

USA
93’
Peter Ho-sun CHAN
Qin’ai de
(Dearest)

Zhao Wei
Huang Bo
Tong Dawei
Hao Lei
Zhang Yi

Hong Kong
China
135’
Lisa CHOLODENKO

Olive Kitteridge
Frances McDormand
Richard Jenkins
Bill Murray
John Gallagher Jr.
Zoe Kazan

USA
233’
Joe DANTE
Burying the Ex
Anton Yelchin
Ashley Greene
Alexandra Daddario
Oliver Cooper

USA
88’
Edoardo DE ANGELIS
Perez.
Luca Zingaretti
Marco D'Amore
Simona Tabasco
Giampaolo Fabrizio   
Massimiliano Gallo

Italy
  94’
Davide FERRARIO
La zuppa del demonio

(documentary)
 Italy
 75’
James FRANCO

The Sound and the Fury
James Franco
Scott Haze
Tim Blake Nelson
Joey King
Ahna O'Reilly
Seth Rogen
Jon Hamm

USA
101’
Amos GITAI
Tsili
Sara Adler
Meshi Olinski
Lea Koenig
Adam Tsekhman
Andrey Kashkar

Israel
Russia
Italy
France
88’
Sabina GUZZANTI

La trattativa
Sabina Guzzanti
Enzo Lombardo
Ninni Bruschetta
Filippo Luna
Franz Cantalupo
Claudio Castrogiovanni

Italy
108’
Closing Film
Ann HUI

Huangjin shidai
(The Golden Era)

Tang Wei
Feng Shaofeng
Zhu Yawen
Wang Zhiwen 



China
Hong Kong


178’
IM Kwontaek
Hwajang
(Make-up)

Ahn Sungki
Kim Hojung
Kim Qyuri

South Korea
 89’
Barry LEVINSON
The Humbling
Al Pacino
Greta Gerwig
Nina Arianda
Barry Levinson
Dianne Wiest
Charles Grodin

USA

112’
Manoel de OLIVEIRA
O velho do restelo
(The Old Man of Belem)

Diogo Dória
Luís Miguel Cintra
Ricardo Trêpa
Mário Barroso

Portugal
France

 19’
Gabriele SALVATORES
Italy in a Day - Un giorno da italiani

(documentary)
Italy
United Kingdom

75’
Ulrich SEIDL
Im Keller
(In the Basement)

(documentary)
Austria
82’
Anthony STACCHI
Annable GRAHAM

The Boxtrolls
(animation film)
Ben Kingsley
Isaac Hempstead Wright
Elle Fanning
Toni Collette
Tracy Morgan
Simon Pegg

United Kingdom
100’
Lars VON TRIER
Nymphomaniac Volume II (long version) Director’s Cut
Charlotte Gainsbourg Stellan Skarsgård
Stacy Martin
Shia LaBeouf
Jamie Bell
Willem Dafoe
Mia Goth

Denmark
Germany
France
Belgium

180’ 


ORIZZONTI

Naji ABU NOWAR

Theeb

Jacir Eid
Hassan Mutlag
Hussein Salameh
Marji Audeh
Jack Fox


Jordan
U.A.E.
Qatar
United Kingdom


 100
Salome ALEXI
Kreditis limiti
(Line of Credit)

Nino Kasradze
Georgia
Germany
France

 125
Michele ALHAIQUE

Senza nessuna pietà

Pierfrancesco Favino
Greta Scarano
Claudio Gioè
Adriano Giannini
Ninetto Davoli

Italy
98’
Michael ALMEREYDA
Cymbeline
Milla Jovovich
Ed Harris
Dakota Johnson
Penn Badgley
Anton Yelchin
Ethan Hawke
John Leguizamo
Bill Pullman

USA
  96’
Benoît DELÉPINE
Gustave KERVERN

Near Death Experience
Michel Houellebecq
France
90’
Renato DE MARIA
La vita oscena
Isabella Ferrari
Clément Métayer
Roberto De Francesco
Italy
85’
Quentin DUPIEUX
Réalité
Alain Chabat
Jonathan Lambert
Elodie Bouchez
Kyla Kenedy

France
Belgium
90’
Veronika FRANZ
Severin FIALA
Ich Seh / Ich Seh
(Goodnight Mommy)

Susanne Wuest
Elias Schwarz
Lukas Schwarz

Austria
  99’
HONG Sangsoo
Jayueui onduk
(Hill of Freedom)

Ryô Kase
Moon Sori
Younghwa Seo
Kim Euisung

South Korea
   66’
Duane HOPKINS
Bypass

George MacKay
Benjamin Dilloway
Charlotte Spencer

United Kingdom
 103’
Opening film
Mohsen MAKHMALBAF


The President

Misha Gomiashvili
Dachi Orvelashvili

Georgia
France
United Kingdom Germany


 115’
Ami Canaan MANN
Your Right Mind

Katherine Heigl
Ben Barnes
Emily Alyn Lind
Clea DuVall
Ryan Bingham
Sheryl Lee

USA
90’
Franco MARESCO
Belluscone, una storia siciliana

Ciccio Mira
Salvatore De Castro
Vittorio Ricciardi
Tatti Sanguineti
Salvatore Ficarra
Valentino Picone

Italy
95’
Elchin MUSAOGLU
Nabat

Fatemeh Motamed Arya
Vidadi Aliyev
Sabir Mamadov
Farhad Israfilov

Azerbaijan
105’
Josh SAFDIE
Ben SAFDIE
Heaven Knows What

Arielle Holmes
Caleb Landry Jones
Buddy Duress

USA
France
94’
Ognjen SVILICIC
Takva Su Pravila
(These Are the Rules)
Emir Hadzihafizbegovic
Jasna Zalica
Hrvoje Vladisavljevic

Croatia
France
Serbia
Macedonia

75’
Chaitanya TAMHANE
Court

Vira Sathidar
Vivek Gomber
Geetanjali Kulkarni

India
116’
ORIZZONTI – OUT OF COMPETITION

Antonio AUGUGLIARO
Gabriele DEL GRANDE
Khaled SOLIMAN AL NASSIRY


Io sto con la sposa


(documentary)
Tasneem Fared
Abdallah Sallam
MC Manar
Alaa Bjermi
Ahmed Abed
Mona Al Ghabr


Italy
Palestine

89’
ORIZZONTI – Short Films

Ali ASGARI


La bambina (Bache)

Sahar Sotoodeh
Faezeh Bakhtiar

Italy
Iran

15’
Andrea BALDINI
Ferdinand Knapp

Dominique Pinon
Philippe Du Janerand
Dominique Uber

France

 15’
CHEN Tao
Da shu
(Great Heat)

Li Xiufeng
Xie Yunbo
China
  13’
Guillame GOUIX
Mademoiselle

Céline Sallette
Fanny Touron

France
  17’
Pedro HARRES
Castillo y el Armado

(animation film)
Ruben Castillo
José Edil
Pilly Calvin

Brazil

   13’
Idan HUBEL
Pat – lehem
(Daily Bread)

Adam Shmidh
Marina Shoif
Sasha Avshalom Agarunov

Israel
  18’
Avelina PRAT
Diego OPAZO
3/105
Diego Sánchez
Andreea Ghermann

Spain
6’
Sidi SALEH
Maryam
Meyke Vierna
Indonesia

17’
Adrian SITARU
Artă (Art)

Emanuel Pârvu
Andrei Rus
Ioana Abur
Iulia Crişan

Romania
  19’
Brendan SWEENY
Era Apocrypha

Molly Tarlov
Erica Dasher
Kelsey Siepser
Zena Grey
Christine Presley

USA
  21’
Carl-Johan WESTREGÅRD

Cams

Sweden
 13’
Rami YASIN
Fi Al Waqt Al Dae’a
(In Overtime)
Rami Yasin
Makram J Khouri

Jordan
Palestine



13’
ORIZZONTI – Short Films – OUT OF COMPETITION


Ramin BAHRANI


Lift You Up

Glyn Stewart

USA

8’
Simone MASSI
L’attesa del maggio
(animation film)
Italy
8’


To those who are going, enjoy! Have fun!!! 

XXX
Raymond Lo