Monthly Archives: January 2014

Hey, I’m going to the Sundance Film Festival!

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I’ve got some pretty exciting news this week — I’m going to Park City, Utah to cover the Sundance Film Festival!

I got confirmation just before Christmas that I had been approved for general press credentials, so I’ll be sloshing around in the snow at Park City covering movies for the Madison Movie blog (and may be writing some articles as well for the Cap Times — TBD). I had a great time covering Sundance for the Cap Times from 2010-2012, and since I missed last year, I’m very excited to go back.

I have my eye on a few movies I’d like to see while I’m there, but let’s face it, it’s largely a crapshoot what I get into. Sundance has both public screenings and special press/industry screenings, but both are mobbed on the festival’s opening weekend, which means picking the right line and getting in it early. (My low point at Sundance was one year where I spent Saturday going all over the city, getting into line after line only to never quite make it in the door, and the first movie I actually saw that day didn’t started until 9:30 p.m.)

But that’s part of the fun of it, I keep telling myself, and at least some of the lines are indoors or in heated tents. And you do really get in some great conversations with other moviegoers in those lines — I’m always amazed how many folks from Wisconsin I come across while in line or on the many shuttle buses that criss-cross Park City.

So anyway, here are some of the movies I’d certainly like to see while I’m there. If you’ve heard about any others that should be on my radar, let me know in comments. We’ll see what I actually get to see!

“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” — The premise of this film is irresistible to me. A lonely Japanese woman (Rinko Kikuchi) travels to Minnesota to try and find the money that Steve Buscemi hid at the end of “Fargo.” I’m sure that ice scraper’s still there, right?

“A Most Wanted Man” — One of the big prestige films at Sundance this year is Anton Corbijn’s (“The American”) adaptation of the John le Carre novel, starring Rachel McAdams and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Let’s be blunt — I don’t have a shot in hell of getting into this one.

“Life Itself” — As Indiegogo backer #1106, I’m extra excited to see Steve “Hoop Dreams” James’ documentary based on Roger Ebert’s terrific memoir. (James is also showing a 20th-anniversary screening of “Hoop Dreams” at Sundance this year.)

“The Ivory Tower” — Of special note to Madison residents is this documentary from the “Page One: Inside the New York Times” about the high cost of higher education.

“The Trip to Italy” — I loved “The Trip,” the riotous comedy starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as themselves touring restaurants in Cornwall, so I can’t wait to see the follow-up.

“Appropriate Behavior” — I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this comedy about an Iranian-American teenage girl dealing with pressures at both home and among her New York City friends.

“Land Ho!” — I loved actor Paul Eenhoorn in “This is Martin Bonner” at the Wisconsin Film Festival, so I’m very interested in this next film, a comedy where he travels to Iceland.

“Drunktown’s Finest” — Lots of buzz surrounding this Sundance Lab-generated low-budget drama about a Navajo transgender teen.

“God Help the Girl” — Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian wrote and directed this musical, which likely means Belle & Sebastian will be playing a secret show while in Park City, and I will probably not be able to get into that either.

“To be Takei” — Yes, I’m a “Star Trek” buff, but I think George Takei’s journey in the last 40 years has been fascinating even if you’re not a Trekkie.

“Her”: Siri, are you thinking about me right now?

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“Her” opens Friday at Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema and Sundance. R, 2:00, four stars out of four.

There’s a scene midway through “Her” where we see Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) walking along a curved walkway in an office park. People are passing him, other people are walking behind him. It seems like an ordinary scene-setter, until we start to notice something.

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“Lone Survivor”: No battleships, just a lonely battle on a mountain

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“Lone Survivor” opens Friday at Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema and Sundnce. R, 2:01, three stars out of four.

Peter Berg shoots the opening moments of “Lone Survivor” as if he was making a recruiting commercial for the Navy SEALS. Stirring music plays as we see real-life footage of Navy SEALS going through grueling basic training, a hardy few making it to the end.

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What’s playing in Madison theaters, Jan. 10-16, 2013

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All week

“August: Osage County” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Sundance) — Audiences expecting a sassy but lovable “Steel Magnolias” kind of film will be mighty shocked by this all-star adaptation of Tracy Letts’ play, in which Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis and others get positively vicious as a dysfunctional Southern clan brought back together.

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“Inside Llewyn Davis:” How does it feel, to be on your own?

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“Inside Llewyn Davis” opens Friday at Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema and Sundance Cinemas in Madison. R, 1:45, four stars out of four.

If you see a man walking down the street in wintertime, freezing because he doesn’t have a warm coat on, you think one of two things: 1.) he can’t afford a warm coat, or 2.) he left it at home.

In “Inside Llewyn Davis,” filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen show the reasons why their hapless folk singer hero, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) seems to be out in the cold in so many ways. Part of it is beyond his control — he’s a folk singer trying to make a living in early ’60s in New York’s Greenwich Village, a tough line of work for the great ones (and Davis doesn’t seen to be one of them). And part of it is a result of Davis’ penchant for self-sabotage, antagonizing allies and burning bridges and generally being a pill in the name of art. He doesn’t have a warm coat, but if he did, he’d figure out a way to lose it.

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Blu-ray review: “Throne of Blood: The Criterion Collection”

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In the essay accompanying the new DVD/Blu-ray release of Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood,” Stephen Prince seems demur a little on the idea that the film is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” “While the description is certainly not untrue, the film is much more than a direct cinematic translation of a literary text.”

True, but then the best adaptations aren’t mere translations anyway, but embrace the new medium in exciting and unexpected ways. And “Throne of Blood” certainly has the backbone of Macbeth — the tale of a warrior who, blinded by a supernatural prophecy and urged by his scheming wife, betrays his friends and superiors in a bid for the throne.

And Prince is right — aside from an “Out damned spot!” I didn’t catch a line of “Macbeth” anywhere in “Throne of Blood” (in fact, it’s said Kurosawa never consulted the original text while making the film.) Instead, the 1957 film is a brilliant mix of historical epic and stage drama, at times putting the two genres side by side to great effect.

The great Toshiro Mifune is Washiku, a samurai general who serves under the Great Lord in the Spider Web’s Castle. While on patrol, Washiku and his comrade Miki are visited by a ghost, who prophesizes that both will rise in the ranks and eventually, Miki’s son will be Lord.

Washiku is happy by the prophecy, but his wife Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) begins planting seeds of doubt. What if Miki reveals the prophecy to the Lord, who perceives Washiku as a threat? I always pictured Lady Macbeth as a physically domineering figure, but Yamada is so effective because she is so still and demure, her head bowed as she plants seed after seed of mistrust in her husband’s mind. When the Lord does give Miki and Washiku the honors laid out in the ghost’s prophecy, Asaji is even more convinced that a massive plot against her husband is in the works. “One must kill so that one is not to be killed,” Asaji advises, the slogan of preemptive strikes down through the ages.

Washiku takes her advice, of course, and what follows is a bloody fight for power. What’s striking about “Throne of Blood” is the mix of styles — there are battle scenes familiar to Kurosawa fans, of great armies assembling for battle, of horses charging and arrows flying. But the interior scenes are filmed as if on a Japanese Noh stage, on bare floorboards with little props, the camera often at a distance, shooting straight-on, as if in the audience.

The result is a film that’s more chilly and distancing than “Seven Samurai” or “Ran”; we don’t identify with these characters, and are probably not meant to. Ultimately, “Throne of Blood” is about the folly of man, a point driven home in the beautifully grim final shot. All the graspings and jealousies of man, which mean so much to him in his lifetime, get wiped away by time.

The new Blu-ray edition includes all the special features from the original DVD, including a documentary on the making of “Throne of Blood,” as well as a commentary track by Michael Jeck. Perhaps most interestingly, viewers can choose between two different English subtitle translations, and translators Donald Richie and Linda Hoaglund both provide fascinating essays on how their approached their respective translations.

Instant Gratification Special Polar Vortex Edition: Five warm-weather movies to stream on Netflix Instant

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With the “Polar Vortex” gripping the Midwest, a lot of people are hunkered down in their homes waiting for the thermometer to rocket back up to 0 degrees, and wondering if spring will ever come.

Luckily, the movies provide us with proof that the seasons do change, and this too shall pass. So, to help you get through, this is a special bonus edition of “Instant Gratification,” featuring five warm-weather movies sure to lift your spirits.

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Instant Gratification: “Jack Reacher” and four other good movies to stream on Netflix Instant right now

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Netflix giveth, and Netflix taketh away. Last week, a lot of folks were worried that Netflix was letting its licensing agreement expire on almost 100 movies and TV series. But with the new year, Netflix Instant has added a bunch of new titles, including some bonafide classics. Lots to choose from as we get through this cold spell.

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What’s playing in Madison theaters: Jan. 3-9, 2014

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All week

“Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema) — Yep, this is it, the only new movie in wide release this weekend. The fifth installment of the found-footage series moves the malevolent demon to a Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles, which early reviews say seems to freshen up a series that was growing stale.

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