Public Address | Cafe | Muse: Reel Life: Pliéing Turkey

BenWilson

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:21:04 +1300

My sister, trained in film studies, women's studies, and contemporary dance shared your views on this film, Craig. It wasn't about the dancing, and it wasn't really about dancers. It was trying to mimic European film, but without the subtlety, themes were too obvious and too gratuitous.

Matthew Littlewood

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:29:40 +1300

Ironically enough, Moira Shearer – who was a professional dancer not an actress – gives a better performance than Portman in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s delirious melodrama The Red Shoes (1948), which was one of the highlights of last year’s film festival. Like Nina, Vicky Page literally dies for…

giovanni tiso

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:02:37 +1300

heard ALL of The Green Lantern through the wall from the theatre next door.

And they didn't make you pay extra? You lucky thing.

Emma Hart

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:50:41 +1300

When a screening starts fifteen minutes late, and the first half hour is out of focus

This reminds me of something, the bitching about which slipped my mind. Can't think how that happened. Went to see The King's Speech at Hoyts Moorhouse. Loved it, kept thinking how much my mother…

Craig Ranapia

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:25:47 +1300

Trailers for Never Let Me Go have been running for a couple of months in cinemas. Rialto is talking about a March 17 release date:

Thanks, Philip. I hope it will be screening elsewhere, because I no desire to set foot in Rialto Newmarket unless I'm being paid to do…

philipmatthews

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:20:37 +1300

Trailers for Never Let Me Go have been running for a couple of months in cinemas. Rialto is talking about a March 17 release date:

http://www.rialto.co.nz/vistait/village/Default.aspx?Control=ComingSoon

Rich Lock

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:13:06 +1300

I'll be damned if I've heard anything about a release date, even straight to DVD

Coulda sworn it was going to be released here, but I must've been reading too much overseas media again. Lousy internet's got a lot to answer for.

Jeremy Eade

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:00:05 +1300

Thanks Craig, I had a feeling this was "overhyped." I will avoid.

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:17:42 +1300

Another dance film recommended to me is La Danse. It’s a documentary about the Paris Opera Ballet and has subtitles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOzkWakRLmE

Damn, I was kicking myself for missing this at the festival last year (and it would make an interesting double bill with his 1995 film about the American Ballet…

sally jones

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:51:04 +1300

Thanks for that video Craig – she said, tears streaming down her soppy sentimental face, having watched it three times. Christ how I miss it some times.

And cheers Geoff. A film about my life you say? Well if others think that's a good idea, who am I to disagree…

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:01:12 +1300

Might I suggest as well Gelsey Kirkland’s autobiographical Dancing on my Grave which is not unlike Black Swan in its depiction of Kirkland’s own descent into drug abuse and ‘madness’ as her career faded, having been worshipped as one of the most brilliant ballet dancers of her time.

Oh, Muses,…

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:42:03 +1300

@ Sally. Crikey--I think we need the film of your life. I do agree that the proposition that a little rub-a-dub puts you in touch with your 'dark side' rather adolescent.

sally jones

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:35:56 +1300

Displaced older dancer Beth (Wynona Ryder) begs to differ – just before she throws herself in front of a cab as highly strung ballerinas gone the way of expired yoghurt are prone to do.

My next move. How did you guess???

anyone who has the time and energy to read…

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:03:57 +1300

Are you going to be reviewing ‘Never let me go’ at some point?

Would love to — but I'll be damned if I've heard anything about a release date, even straight to DVD. (Which wouldn't surprise me, considering that the reviews in the US and UK have been lukewarm and…

Rich Lock

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:11:35 +1300

My wife saw 'Black Swan', and loved it (she is also a fan of 'The Red Shoes'). She also though the CGI was well used.

I'm currently polishing up a review [of True Grit]

I'll look forward to that. More my cup of rotgut.

Are you going to be reviewing…

Neil Morrison

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:08:57 +1300

not sure what the story is with comps,.

I'll probably try and see Outside the Law since I liked Indigènes.

Turk's Head

and Gondry's The Thorn in the Heart

Tim Michie

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:01:53 +1300

True Grit
Just saw it last night agree entirely. Perhaps the Academy blinded by Bridges, Brolin and Damon (who I thought particularly disappeared into the role).

Linky Love too for the Documentary Edge Festival officially beginning today...

(Apologies for bare comprehensibility in my earlier).

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:48:25 +1300

Not unless someone is going to throw a bushel of comps at my head – still learning the fine art of getting my name on all the best press lists. :) Still, that's another item to add to the next Linky Love post.

Of course, if you've got any picks…

Neil Morrison

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:33:44 +1300

going to any of the French Film Festival films?

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:10:22 +1300

So if not Portman, who would pick Craig?:

I'd vote for Jennifer Lawrence, but wouldn't bet the farm on Oscar voters being that tasteful. (BTW, here's a fun-fact and some homework. Winter's Bone is based on an excellent novel by Daniel Woodrell , whose second novel Woe to Live On…

recordari

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:03:42 +1300

I really must go see this movie so I can join in this discussion proper like. Although I feel I know too much.

Jacqui Dunn

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:55:51 +1300

Suggest you look over

> there.

Well, I was looking earlier, but I see it has progressed somewhat. Actually, for what it's worth, mine was a genuine enquiry. The person's wording is ambiguous.

philipmatthews

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:32:02 +1300

Gotcha. Didn't make sense to me, but okay.

James Butler

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:31:50 +1300

Even if the reviews were uniformly dire

No, that wouldn’t be accurate, Craig.

You missed his cunning use of the subjunctive “were” :-) He did link to rottentomatoes upthread…

Edit: Emma, snap.

Emma Hart

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:29:05 +1300

Philip, Craig didn't say the reviews were uniformly dire. He said " even if they were", aftter saying "And while I'm being honest (with the usual caveats), review aggregators strongly suggest you're not the only one."

recordari

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:28:20 +1300

What's not red-blooded enough? The review, the thread, or the film?

Suggest you look over

> there.

philipmatthews

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:27:31 +1300

Even if the reviews were uniformly dire

No, that wouldn't be accurate, Craig. Black Swan has had good reviews in — locally — the NZ Herald, Sunday Star-Times, Dom Post (Graeme Tuckett), Waikato Times (Sam Edwards). Overseas, good reviews from Sight and Sound, Roger Ebert, Richard Brody, David Edelstein in…

Tim Michie

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:04:58 +1300

Ah, The Red Shoes – lost Best Film to Olivier's Hamlet.

So if not Portman, who would pick Craig?:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)

Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone (2010)…

Neil Morrison

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:27:44 +1300

Haneke did it much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpKH1NRUuss&feature=related

Jacqui Dunn

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:16:11 +1300

Not sure that this is red-blooded enough for me.

What's not red-blooded enough? The review, the thread, or the film?

David Herkt

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:02:44 +1300

Fun review, Craig. You made my 8.30am moment on the net before I settle down to real work… You had a relish there that I enjoyed, particularly around here on Public Address, where lately it’s been a bit like everyone is trying to resurrect the too much repeated tone of…

recordari

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 07:10:09 +1300

Not sure that this is red-blooded enough for me.
This should be good. Can I get front row seats?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:40:42 +1300

Not sure that this is red-blooded enough for me.

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:37:09 +1300

A well-written review, Craig and do tend to side with you in respect of the displays of excess, and the not totally convincing slide into madness. But I do wonder if it might be a gender thing. My beloveds (wife and daughter) responded to it more strongly than I, for…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:16:17 +1300

For a film centred around the barely contained chaos of a (so we’re told) make or break new production fora company past its prime, there’s remarkably little of it – but to be fair, I don’t think Aronofsky was that interested. As I said, far be from me to speak…

Leopold

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:17:18 +1300

And apart from that how was the ballet work? Only reason I'd see it

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:06:58 +1300

Also, to be vulgarly commercial for a moment: Even if the reviews were uniformly dire, Oscar bounce or no, a US$170m + worldwide gross off a $13m budget isn’t a bad ROI for Fox Searchlight.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:45:35 +1300

Well Craig, once again our mileage differs!

Very good. Keeps me honest and staves off the kind of boredom that leads to arson and random cattle mutilation.

And while I'm being honest (with the usual caveats),, review aggregators strongly suggest you're not the only one. I've also come across quite…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:38:32 +1300

I thought it was a fine film apart from the use of CGI. That should be reserved for silly sci-fi where it belongs.

Lilith __

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:29:37 +1300

Well Craig, once again our mileage differs! While I don't disagree about the plot being overblown and melodramatic, Portman, Kunis, Hershey et al., really made it work, for me anyway. It's different in tone from The Red Shoes, and less original. but I don't think it's a turkey, at all.…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:03:58 +1300

No, thank you Ange.

I won’t have that dreadful alienating feeling of being the only viewer with that experience.

At the screening I attended, someone starting giggling hysterically about the point Mila Kunis tried to stick her head up Natalie Portman's twat (you have to be there) and couldn't stop.…

ange wither

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:15:26 +1300

What a great review, thanks for posting it.

Think I'll still see the movie as planned, but at least if I hate it I won't have that dreadful alienating feeling of being the only viewer with that experience.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:15:31 +1300

somewhere between brilliant and the wankiest thing I've ever read. :)

Aww, that would hurt my feelings if it wasn't true. Seriously, I've got a five thousand word rip on Natalie Portman tucked away for future use but she's not the problem here. I can't imagine anyone doing more with…

Thomas Beagle

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:00:23 +1300

I also must compliment you on your use of:

In an earlier draft of this review, I complained that...

Referring to an earlier version of your own work in the very work you're referring to is... somewhere between brilliant and the wankiest thing I've ever read. :)

That said, I…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:45:13 +1300

Great minds think alike. :) I don't know how the frig it happened, but I reverted to an earlier draft and posted it due to human incompetence. The internal sub-editor has been taken out the back of the woodshed for a good thrashing.

Thomas Beagle

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:42:04 +1300

How about giving this article a little spell check and edit? Here's some words to search for: confortable, teeling, remian and serriously

There's also something missing at the start of the para that begins "reminds me".

Public Address

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:42:04 +1300

Discussion from blog post.