Faye Wong: Movies & Video Games

I like movies; I like video games. I like Chungking Express and Final Fantasy VIII.

Thanks to a YouTube search, I found this:

It seems like wolfking1981 edited together concert and video game footage with audio from the original music soundtrack (according to some acute comments).  For more Faye Wong, check this out (but don't mind the tv-show host doing the backing vocals).

Now go watch the Criterion Collection version of Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express.

That was the US trailer.  See an additional trailer here.

Late Spring (1949) / Late Autumn (1960)

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Late Spring (1949)

Late Autumn (1960)

Ozu revisits his own work with Late Autumn (1960)—recalling Late Spring (1949)—and puts his muse Setsuko Hara at the heart of both.  She plays the daughter in 1949 and the widowed mother in 1960.  Both plots are similar, with the daughter in each film not wanting to marry and leave their widowed parent alone (a father played by Chishû Ryû in Spring and a mother played by Setsuko Hara in Autumn).  While Late Spring is generally more regarded of the two, it’s the storytelling and structure of Late Autumn that feels like it continues to open and bloom.

Here's some links to a trailer for Late Autumn and a fan-made montage from Late Spring.

Both films can be streamed in HD using Hulu Plus along with other works by Ozu. How to get a free month.

If you have Netflix, you can stream Tokyo Story (one of my top ten movies that should be in my top ten list but is not).

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011); times two, one hundred words for two films.

Please Give (2010)

Directed by Nicole Holofcener

Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give tops my list of best movies for 2010.* It’s a great New York movie filled with characters concerned with self value/worth and image/perception.  I love this movie because of its pitch perfect writing, imagery, and tone; for being sincere; and for having irony without being ironic.

*Best picture Academy-wise, I saw The Social Network, The Kid’s Are All Right, Inception, Winter’s Bone, and Toy Story 3; I will see The King’s Speech, The Fighter, and Black Swan within the next week and True Grit when it releases on DVD.

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011). 

Woody Allen Opened the Cannes Film Festival Today

My favorite filmmaker, at 75 years, opened The 64th Cannes Film Festival with Midnight in Paris—his 45th feature film.

Filming in Paris with Marion Cotillard, Alison Pill, and Owen Wilson.

When I first watched this trailer, I was happy for Owen Wilson and his new role (not knowing the director). I was really responding to it, thinking "this movie's going to be great, who made this?" Around 45 seconds in, Mr. Wilson says "pseudo-intellectual" and I had my suspicions.  The reveal is at the 1 minute and 25 second mark.

 
I can't wait until its wide US release. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on May 20th. 
I didn't like the poster that much, but here's the official website.
Here's a nice article from guardian.co.uk on the opening.

SWEET SCOTT PILGRIM POSTER

by Martin Ansin.   
Check out his works here.

He also made those sweet Archer Season 1 and 2 posters.
@the Rican: see his El Topo poster.

Have you seen these Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, and Paul Thomas Anderson montages?

These are by Kees van Dijkhuizen. 

Also, check out his Cinema [Year] montages and [the films of] Danny Boyle and David Fincher on YouTube.

[the films of] Wes Anderson

[the films of] Sofia Coppola 

This is by Joel Walden (heresjohnny1991). 

 

Paul Thomas Anderson - The Works

The Exploding Girl (2009)

Directed by Bradley Rust Gray

Zoe Kazan is luminous in Bradley Rust Gray’s The Exploding Girl. It plays like an indie/mumblecore film filtered through the lens of David Gordon Green’s early work.  Its images—like its storytelling—are graceful and sharp. I only wish Mr. Gray didn’t tilt his camera back down at the end.

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011). 
This movie is available on Netflix streaming. Oscilloscope and film website.