Synecdoche, New York – Movie Trailer
Oct 24th
Synecdoche, New York marked the directorial debut of iconoclastic, cerebral screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Caden Cotard, an eccentric playwright who lives with artist Adele Lack (Catherine Keener) and their daughter Olive in Schenectady, upstate New York. Prone to neuroses, misgivings and enormous self-doubt, Caden also begins suffering from accelerated physical deterioration – from blood in his stools to disfigured skin. Upon receiving a prestigious MacArthur grant, Caden decides to use the money to concoct one gigantic play as an analogue of his own life; he builds massive sets amid a New York City warehouse, casts others as his friends, family and acquaintances, and casts others to play the ones he’s casting. After Adele whisks Olive off to Europe but demonstrates no sign of returning soon, Caden drifts into a series of relationships with lovers – first with box office employee Hazel (Samantha Morton), who purchases and moves into a house that is perpetually on fire; then with Tammy (Emily Watson), an actress assigned to play Hazel in the theatrical project; and subsequently with others. Unfortunately, the play itself grows so big and unwieldy – and rehearsals go on for so long, taking literally decades – that it becomes unclear if the production itself will ever launch.
“W.” Greek Tragicomedy
Oct 24th
Greek Tragicomedy
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
W. is an outstanding film by Oliver Stone that should be seen by everyone regardless of political affiliation or how you did or didn’t vote in any election.
And I don’t mean because of its subject matter, which is a dramatization of the adult life of President George W. Bush. I mean because of the outstanding performances of the actors.
Josh Brolin has a lock on an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of “Bush 43,” if not on the award itself. Richard Dreyfuss could easily get one for his portrayal of Dick Cheney. Elizabeth Banks is tremendous as Laura Bush, and the list just goes on and on, including Toby Jones as Karl Rove, the advisor who sits on Bush’s shoulder and tells him what to do.
Just don’t expect a hatchet job, which would be too easy, given the subject matter and the emotions caused by the years of the Bush Administration.
Instead, expect a well-made film about a fascinating person who didn’t exactly have greatness thrust upon him so much as grabbing greatness with his own two hands and wrapping it around his weak, undeserving shoulders.
The film begins in 2002 as President Bush and his advisors struggle to come up with his notorious “Axis of Evil” phrase. Then it shifts back to 1966, and we watch “George College” at his drunken fraternity pledge week impress the brothers with his ability to name the active members and give them clever nicknames.
The story then continues to shift back and forth between Bush’s presidency and his younger years of trying to find a career for himself and pleasing his father, a theme that runs throughout the film.
When George meets Laura for the first time, he tells her, “Call me anything but ‘Junior.'”
There are obvious strains between George and his father, whom George calls “Poppy.”
There is nothing new to be learned, and the only scenes of fancifulness are a few showing that George would rather have had a career in baseball than in politics. Also, there is the strong implication that George’s drinking problem had a lot to do with shaping him and preventing him from succeeding at anything.
So, think of the film as a tremendous dramatization of someone we have already come to know and love or hate.
W. is the stuff of Greek tragicomedy.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Pride and Glory – Movie Trailer
Oct 24th
Director Gavin O’Connor collaborates with Narc director/screenwriter Joe Carnahan on this family-focused police drama concerning an honest homicide detective (Edward Norton) assigned to investigate the precinct run by his potentially crooked older brother (Noah Emmerich). As the investigation begins to reveal some troubling facts about the precinct, it gradually becomes apparent that the policeman who is also the older brother’s best friend (Colin Farrell) may be the man orchestrating many of the suspected crimes.
