Sunday, August 31, 2014

Sunday TBAs and Sneaks/ Quick Takes of Day Two Films/Name Drops/Day Three/Rate Films

Hope your Festival is going as well as mine is...I have had a great first two days of TFF #41.


SUNDAY TBA'S AND SNEAKS



Sunday TBAs

CJC/Sun 12:15PM       (SNEAK) ESCOBAR: PARADISE LOST - Q&A

Masons/Sun 1:30PM     MAGICIAN     FREE    
SOH/Sun 3:30PM        TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT 

Nugget/Sun 3:30PM     RED ARMY     Q&A

Galaxy/Sun 4PM          ROSEWATER        
Pierre/Sun 6:30PM      50 YEAR ARGUMENT                           

Nugget/ 8:45PM         MOMMY   Q&A                                                     

Masons/Sun 9PM    WILD TALES       

Pierre/Sun 9:15PM      Student Prints  FREE

CJC/Sun 11:55PM       KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON   FREE


Seminar
FROM REAL TO REEL: HOW DOES A FILM SHAPE FACT?

with Jon Stewart, Bennett Miller, Gael García Bernal, Yann Demange, Regis Wargnier, Jean-Marc Vallée

Moderated by Annette Insdorf

SNEAK PREVIEW   ESCOBAR: PARADISE LOST   Chuck Jones/Sun 12:15PM Q&A
Nick (Josh Hutcherson) and Dylan (Brady Corbet), two Canadian brothers, discover an idyllic surfing beach on the coast of Colombia, where Nick eyes Maria (Claudia Traisac), an idealistic local girl who works with the poor. But this love story has a dark side: Maria’s wealthy, very protective uncle is Pablo Escobar (Benicio Del Toro), the country’s biggest narco-trafficker, and one of the most dangerous men alive. Writer-director Andrea Di Stefano ingeniously mixes fact and fiction in this disturbing thriller, with Hutcherson (Jennifer Lawrence’s love interest in the Hunger Games movies) giving a touching performance as an ordinary guy stumbling headlong into terror and violence, holding his own opposite one of the most charismatic actors alive. And Del Toro, with his mixture of avuncular sweetness, self-mythologizing grandiosity and cobra-like cruelty, may well have been born to play Escobar. (France-Spain-Belgium, 2014, 120m) In person: Andrea Di Stefano
MONDAY SNEAK PREVIEW     THREE SHORT FILMS ABOUT PEACE    Herzog/Monday 9:15AM Q&A

Errol Morris is best known for his interrogations of humanity's dark complexity, including portrayals of two American engineers of war, Robert McNamara, in THE FOG OF WAR (TFF 30) and Donald Rumsfeld, in THE UNKNOWN KNOWN (TFF 40). Here, Morris turns his camera 180 degrees, creating three inspiring portraits of courageous figures who dare to confront the worst Goliaths of our times. In THE DREAM, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee recounts the coalition of Liberian women whom, without brandishing a weapon or uttering a word of disrespect, stopped one of the longest, most vicious wars in modern history. THE SHIPYARD shows how Lech Walesa, a Polish electrician and Nobel Laureate, rallied workers to challenge the repressive Soviet Union, succeeding where 30-plus years of Cold War aggression failed. And in THE MOMENT, rockstar Bob Geldof tells how he transformed his commitment and some guilt (along with a phenomenal Rolodex) into an ongoing, 30-year struggle to eradicate hunger in Africa. Morris, one of cinema’s most insightful, inquisitive and expressionistic artists, reminds us of his deep, heartful comprehension of the indomitable human spirit. He created these films in conjunction with the New York Times’ Op-Docs series. (U.S., 2014, 49m total) In person: Errol Morris

   

QUICK TAKES OF DAY TWO FILMS



FOXCATCHER:  Bennett Miller directs with such assuredness as to be a little unworldly.  Fantastic performances from the three leads, Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.  Truly wonderful work all around. 4.5/5

RED ARMY: Solid doc work from Gabe Polsky focusing on the Russian Men's Hockey team from the 1980's Cold war era through perestroika and the fall of then wall right up to today.  Stirring and often funny.  3.5/5

WILD TALES: Argentinian episodic film of mostly comic aspirations.  The opening sequence is the funniest and strongest.  Thereafter, it's sporadically comic.  3.5/5

BIRDMAN:  Authentic genius and Alejandro Inarritu's best film (and that's saying something).  Venice raves are dead on.  Beautifully realized from start to finish on all fronts.  Michael Keaton is a revelation. OSCAR thy name is KEATON or it should be.  Great work from the rest f the cast but special mention for Edward Norton and Emma Stone..  It's Inarritu's masterpiece. 5/5


NAME DROPS



I had really kept this largely quiet, but the Mrs. and I were invited to Fox Searchlight's party this year and stopped in for about an hour Saturday night.  Persons of Interest: Jon Stewart, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alejandro Inarritu, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Morten Tyldum (director of The Imitation Game) Cheryl Strayed (the author of "Wild").

Also got to hang with buds: Sasha Stone, Tomris Laffley and Chris Schiller.


DAY THREE



Plans are to catch the Hilary Swank tribute at 8:30 at the Chuck and the ensuing presentation of "The Homesman".  After that the day is kind of open.  In consideration: "Magician", "Two Days, One Night", "Leviathan", "Escobar: Paradise Lost", "The Look of Silence", "The Price of Fame", and "Merchants of Doubt".  Also wouldn't mind catching at least some of the Justin Kauffin concert in Elks Park and maybe laying eyes on the master: Quincey Jones.

RATE THOSE FILMS




Now that we're down to Telluride weekend, here's your reminder...Don't forget to join in on "The People's Telluride".  Rate the films you see this week on a 0-5 scale ( 0 being just abysmal and 5 being a masterpiece).  You can rate each day or do them all at the end of the fest.  Send film ratings to me via Twitter (@Gort2) or email me at michael_speech@hotmail.com or comment to the blog itself.

I'll collect all of that data and post the collective ratings from we, The People.




More tomorrow...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

No comments: