Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock / Taking Woodstock. US (c) 2009 Focus Features. P: Ang Lee, James Schamus. D: Ang Lee. SC: James Schamus - based on the book Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life (2007) by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte. DP: Eric Gautier - Arricam Cameras, Zeiss and Angenieux Lenses - Super 35 (3-perf) - DeLuxe - digital intermediate 2K - print 35mm 1,85:1. M: Danny Elfman + a great compilation score. CAST: Demetri Martin (Elliot Tiber), Imelda Staunton (Sonia Teichberg), Henry Goodman (Jack Teichberg), Liev Schreiber (Vilma), Jonathan Groff (Michael Lang), Emile Hirsch (Billy, a recently returned Vietnam vet), Paul Dano and Kelli Garner (a hippie couple in a VW), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Dan, Billy's brother and in opposition to the festival), Eugene Levy (Max Yasgur). 110 min. A FS Film release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Taina Komu / Ditte Kronström. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 14, 11 Sep 2009 (Finnish premiere day). - A cheap digital look. - A satirical account on the mounting of the Woodstock Festival. Based on a book, whose factual validity has been contested, but it does not matter, at least it is good fiction. - I'm aware that this film has been rated as minor Ang Lee, but to me this is Ang Lee at his best. I'm a fan of his first trilogy (Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman), and this film has a similar humoristic approach. - From a small angle it lets us have a look at a big story: the biggest concert ever, with world historical gravity. - It's about world politics, about the generation gap, about sexual orientation, about drug delusion, about finding oneself, about disorientation, about freedom. - I look forward to revisiting this. - Visually shoddy, yet with a pleasant and elaborate homage to Michael Wadleigh's great documentary, complete with split screen sequences. - The music score is an enjoyable compilation of vintage tracks, new reconstructions, and Danny Elfman original compositions.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Painajainen ennen joulua / Mardröm före jul. US (c) 1993 Touchstone Pictures. P: Tim Burton, Denise Di Novi. D: Henry Selick. SC: Caroline Thompson - based on the subject and characters by Tim Burton. DP: Pete Kozachik - Technicolor - 1,66:1. Digital effects: Ariel Velasco Shaw. AN: Eric Leighton. Characters: Bonita De Carlo. M: Danny Elfman. ED: Stan Webb. Characters: Jack Skellington, Sally / Shock, Dr. Finkelstein, Oogie Boogie, Santa Claus. 76 min. A vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Eirik Udd. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 25 Dec 2008. - A beautiful print with good, full colour. Interestingly there are a lot of warm, soft hues. - Revisited: the puppet animation masterpiece based on the concept of Tim Burton and directed by Henry Selick. - It is in verse form. - When Shrek was released, it was seen as Anti-Disney, but Disney, themselves, did it better here. - I liked the film even more this time.

Batman [1989]

Batman. US 1989. PC: Warner Bros. D: Tim Burton. SC: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren - based on the characters created by Bob Kane. DP: Roger Pratt. M: Danny Elfman. Songs: Prince. Cast: Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Jack Nicholson (Jack Napier / Joker), Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale), Michael Gough (Alfred), Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent). 122 min. A print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, 19 Dec 2008. - Print clean but not bright. - Revisited: the first movie of the current Batman cycle, interesting to compare with The Dark Night. - Jack Nicholson is great as the Joker, but Heath Ledger is more profoundly shocking. Billy Dee Williams is Harvey Dent but without the Two-Face aspect of Aaron Eckhardt. Kim Basinger is charming and sensitive, but she is denied the opportunity to be active and important; this was corrected in Burton's next Batman film, in the way Michelle Pfeiffer took over the Catwoman character. - Great Tim Burton touches all through the picture.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Pee-ween suuri seikkailu / Pee-wee's stora äventyr. US 1985. PC: Aspen Film Society / Warner Bros. Pictures. D: Tim Burton. SC: Phil Hartman, Paul Reubens, Michael Varhol. M: Danny Elfman. CAST: Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman). 91 min. A print avec sous-titres francais viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 Dec 2008. - Ok print, slightly worn, colour slightly diluted, we screened it at 1,37:1. - Revisited: the beginning of Tim Burton's first feature film, already mad, stylish, absolutely crazy, about Pee-wee's quest of his lost bicycle.

Standard Operating Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure / Standard Operating Procedure. US (c) 2008 Sony Pictures Classics. EX: Robert Fernandez, Diane Weyermann. P: Julie Ahlberg, Errol Morris. D: Errol Morris. DP: Robert Chappell, Robert Richardson - shot on HDTV - color - 2,35:1 - print on 35mm film. M: Danny Elfman. 118 min. Released in Finland by Cinema Mondo with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anitra Paukkula / Markus Karjalainen. Viewed at Kino Engel 1, 31 Oct 2008. - A fine and consistent digital intermediate look. - Powerful imagery helps approach the grim subject matter. Expressive Interrotron close-ups, music by Danny Elfman, sound design. The space of images, photographs, hundreds of them, being structured during the picture. "All the pictures seemed to line up". - Iraq War of 2003-. This is a journey into Abu Ghraib, beyond the sensational images of humiliation (including the sexual pyramid). We get to see them in context, and see them with different eyes. Some images look worse than what happened. But the worst things were never photographed in the first place. Mainly young and inexperienced soldiers were punished. - Saddam did a thousand times more horrible things, but the world had expected more from the US. - An important survey into the Abu Ghraib mess that has come to symbolise the US trouble in the Iraq War of 2003-. - Great, maybe too long?
Wikipedia: "The name "Interrotron" was coined by Morris's wife, who, according to Morris, "liked the name because it combined two important concepts — terror and interview." The device is similar to a teleprompter: Errol and his subject each sit facing a camera. The image of each person's face is then projected onto the lens of the other's camera. Instead of looking at a blank lens, then, both Morris and his subject are looking directly at a human face. Morris believes that the machine encourages monologue in the interview process, while also encouraging the interviewees to "express themselves to camera"."
Wikipedia: "Morris' practice of compensating his interview subjects has caused controversy, although it is not an unusual practice in documentary filmmaking, according to the producer Diane Weyermann, who also worked on An Inconvenient Truth. In a private interview during the Tribeca Film Festival, Morris said: "If I had not paid them, they would not be interviewed.""

Scream 2

/ / US / 1997 / Craven, Wes / / horror
Scream 2. © Miramax. D: Wes Craven. SC: Kevin Williamson. DP: Peter Deming. ”Cassandra Aria” by Danny Elfman. CAST: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox. 120’. Scope. MPAA 35667. DIST: Scanbox. Pre-examination as a VHS projection in Helsinki, VET, Monday 16 March 1998. *** More of the same: knowing teenage meta-horror expertly mounted by Wes Craven with a good cast. The soundtrack is excellent.

Flubber

100577 / 8 / 5 / US / 1997 / Mayfield, Les / / comedy
Flubber / Maailman mahtavin mönjä. © Disney Enterprises. P: John Hughes, Ricardo Mestres. D: Les Mayfield. Based on the screenplay by Bill Walsh for The Absent Minded Professor / Hajamielinen professori (Walt Disney Company 1961). M: Danny Elfman. CAST: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden. 93’. MPAA 35540. Rated PG-13. Finnish subtitles by Hannele Vahtera. DIST: Finnkino. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 26 January 1998. ** I have never seen the original and did not warm up to this remake. Loud noise and special effects cannot fill the void when style and warmth are missing.