Review 4. The Great Gatsby.

Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby

Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway

Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan

Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan

Isla Fisher as Myrtle Wilson

Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker

Adelaide Clemens as Catherine

Jason Clarke as George Wilson

Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim

Max Cullen as Owl Eyes

Brendan Maclean as Klipspringer

Jack Thompson as Nick Carraway's Doctor, Walter Perkins

Gemma Ward as Languid Girl

Callan McAuliffe as Young Jay Gatsby

Gus Murray as Teddy Barton

Stephen James King as Nelson

Director: Baz Luhrmann

           

           The Great Gatsby is  $125 million verson of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel – directed by ‘Romeo + Juliet’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’ director Baz Luhrmann – started shooting in Sydney in September 2010 with a cast including Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.

            This story had happened in America. The young man by the name of Nick Karruey moved to New York. He had a dream to be rich. He lodged near the lavish mansion of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious business magnate who held extravagant parties. The Nick joined this unceasing fun and having made friends with Gatsby. Gatsby was surprisingly young and rather aloof, in person. Gatsby seemed to take a liking to Nick and the two became mutual friends.

Jay Gatsby asked Nick to arrange him a meeting with Daisy. Through Jordan, Nick later learnt that Gatsby had known Daisy from a romantic encounter in 1917, and was still madly in love with her.

            After party Gatsby’s car had struck and killed Myrtle, Tom’s lover. Tom told Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of the car. Jay was abruptly shot and killed by George, who immediately turned the gun on himself. 

No one came to the Gatsby’s funeral.  Back in the sanatorium, Nick finished  his memoir and titles it, "The Great Gatsby.

            As for the cast, it is amazing. DiCaprio carries the role off reasonably well; he is probably the only possible casting, and Mulligan's Daisy has gentleness and vulnerability. Their initial intimate meeting over tea in Nick's cottage has some charge, and DiCaprio and Mulligan handle it well. Their initial intimate meeting over tea in Nick's cottage has some charge, and DiCaprio and Mulligan handle it well. Joel Edgerton was very good! He is juxtaposed to Gatsby, the husband of Daisy, he was a real aristocrat!

It’s interesting to note about music of the film. Although most of songs are modern, it conveys the atmosphere of that time.

            Of course, this is a great film.  Although most of songs are modern, it conveys the atmosphere of that time. According to this film, we all must dream, hope and above all we must try. Ana it’s absolutely right. To sum up the film involved many interesting, talented actors and exceptional and touching atmosphere in the film, all these points create an incredible atmosphere during watching this film “The Great Gatsby”.

Pleasure reading. Summary. Ch. 30 - 36

 1. A few days after how Lena stopped speaking to Ethan after conversation with a Locator Caster, Ethan drove to Ravenwood. 2. There he saw Sarafine for the first time. 3. With persistence, Ethan was able to enter Lena's room and from his thoughts Lena knew about Ridley’s secret party for Lena’s birthday.
4. When Lena and Ethan went to the party, all family had already been there. 5. Link distracted Ethan by his father from Lena to Sarafine could tell with her. 6. After making sure his dad was safe, Ethan rushed back to the scene of the party to check on Lena, but he Ethan was unable to communicate telepathically with Lena. 7. The Dark Casters prepare to convince Lena to go Dark and Macon and Sarafine continued to play tug-of-war with Lena, her fate, and her feelings. 8. Ethan discovered that The Book of Moons, which had disappeared that morning, had found its way back to its resting place on the stone dais in the crypt.
9. Unfortunately, Ethan did not have time to take that book because the surrounding field was on fire.
10. Lena had climbed to safety atop the crypt, but the fire was moving in fast. 11. Ethan climbed up to help her got down, but Sarafine was there waiting, and she stabbed Ethan. 12. Then, with Amma's help, Lena recited the resurrection spell from The Book of Moons and a lot of confusing stuff happened, but Ethan was still lying motionless on the ground. 13. Soon, the moon returned and Lena surged with heat and power, she vaporized the Dark Casters with lighting, 14. Then, it started to rain, clearing Lena’s vision. 15. In the end of the battle, Lena saw Macon lying where Ethan had been moments before. 17. Amma explained to Lena that she could not ask anything from The Book of Moons without a trade, but Uncle Macon was dead, which meant that Ethan was still alive. 18. Ethan wasn't aware of everything that had happened. 19. By using the Book, Lena had blocked herself from being Claimed. 20. The next day, Ethan found Lena crying in the crypt and he promised that he would never let Lena go. 21. But as a result, Lena decided that it was better for Ethan to forget her and even she trued to do the best things for that. 22. Despite of her attempts, Ethan’s love was so much and all her attempts were failed. 23. It was really the great force of love.

Rendering 16. Music.

            The article “Britten's War Requiem, CBSO, Birmingham” was published by Ivan Hewett on May 29, 2013. It discussed that The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's performance of Britten's War Requiem under Andris Nelsons was revelatory.

            Speaking of this article, it’s necessary to say, this may be Benjamin Britten’s centenary year, but it was last year that marked an important anniversary of what some say is his greatest piece, the War Requiem. Of course the anniversary performance had to take place in the very same spot. And it had to be given by the same orchestra that performed at the world premiere, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

            In addition, it was an emotional occasion, which gave an extra gravity to the music. The orchestra the CBSO chorus and the three soloists came together to perform the piece again, this time in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall

            In fact the clarity of sight and sound was all to the good. They showed up the special virtues of the conductor, Andris Nelsons, who refused to approach the work with the reverence it sometimes receives from British conductors. He just wanted to make it as thrilling and immediate as possible.

            The result was that passages which can sound like a somewhat dim echo of earlier Britten came up fresh and new. The word “revelatory” is overused in concert reviews, but there it’s exactly right.

            This added to the work’s expressive amplitude, because it made the sombre moments stand out in sharper relief. Much depends on the quality of the two male soloists, and there they were ideally contrasted. Mark Padmore’s tenor captured the consoling, empathetic element in the piece, while Hanno Müller-Brachmann’s grainy baritone caught its weight of fatalism and sadness.

            In conclusion, I’d like to say that I have never been at the Symphony Orchestra’s performance, but now I’ d like to visit it with great pleasure. This article amazed me, because when I was reading it, I imaged every sound and all the picture of that performance.

Rendering 15. Music.

            The article “Depeche Mode, O2 Arena” was published by Bernadette McNulty on May 29, 2013. It discussed  that The Basildon synth pioneers' lusty stadium show is strictly for the faithful, writes Bernadette McNulty.

            Speaking of this article, it’s necessary to say, in The Posters Came from the Walls, the entertaining 2007 documentary by Jeremy Deller and Nick Abrahams about Depeche Mode fans around the world. Going by the packed arena for their latest world tour, the Basildon-born boys are hardly on their uppers in the UK although the black-clad but jovial crowd was markedly pan-European.

            Yet despite being the most successful electronic band in the world with 100 million record sales under their belt and a fundamental influenc

e on the Eighties synth revival, name-checked by younger acts from Arcade Fire to La Roux, Depeche Mode are still dwarfed in prestige by more intellectual groups like Kraftwerk.

            In addition, Depeche Mode have always been lustily Catholic, ramping up the human drama of sex, death and damnation along with lashings of rock, industrial and, on their 13th album Delta Machine, blues influences.

            It’s important to point, Loaded with album tracks from the latter, less chart-troubling phase of their career, the now-threesome were firmly staking out their territory, far from their early-1980s incarnation as a synth-pop boy band, where across the river in Canning Town they had caught the ear of Mute records. Here were men who had survived bad fashions, band implosions, drug abuse and near death

            The faithful lapped it up, including ballads from Gore, but for the layman it was like listening to Latin – exotically mysterious at first, wearying after two hours with only a fantastic Policy of Truth to break up the industrial dirge.

            To conclude, those who stuck with it were consecrated at the end with a smattering of the transcendent hits that have kept the band going for 30-odd years – Enjoy the Silence and a version of Personal Jesus that morphed into Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. But by the time they finished on crowd favourite Never Let Me Down.

            I can say I have never been a fan of music articles because, as highlighted here, they are always subjective rather than objective. Rather embarrassingly though, here we have someone who is paid an inordinate amount of money, writing ineptly about something of which that person clearly has little understanding.

Pleasure reading. Summary. Ch.24 - 30

1. Lena and Ethan started to study The Book of Moons. 2. At school the next day, Link, Lena, and Ethan told about the winter dancing party, and actually Ethan asked Lena to go to there together. 3. Unfortunately, that party brought many problems for Lena. 4. As a result, Lena was blamed for the winter dance debacle, and the Jackson Disciplinary Committee held a hearing to kick her out of school. 5. Mr. Lincoln told many facts about Lena’s past, he also revealed a secret that Lena’s mother killed her father, but in that moment Macon Ravenwood showed up with Marian. 6. They got some excellent verbal jabs and Lena was saved from expulsion. 7. The next day, Ethan took Lena into his dad’s study. 8. There they found the secret painting in the book. 9. The painting was of Ethan in a Confederate uniform, but actually, it was Ethan Carter, but he looked just like our narrator. 10. Also, in that book Lena found the message “Claim Yourself”. 11. Those words were the most important for her. 12. It was a week until Lena's birthday, but they did not how to save her. 13. Lena was losing hope.

Rendering 14. Music.

            The article “BBC Symphony Orchestra, Barbican” was published by Ivan” on May 26, 2013. It discussed the BBC Symphony Orchestra performed a moving concert at the Barbican, London.

            Speaking of this article, it’s necessary to say that this concert had something perfect at its core, book-ended with things that were interesting and moving, sometimes even overwhelming, but problematic.

            In addition, the first of those problematic things was Wolfgang Rihm’s Nahe fern 1, a 10-minute orchestral Adagio which evoked the Romantic fascination with It arose out of sighing figures in the deep bass, broken up with silences, but it was never more than a dim light. Was this a real musical experience, or merely a second-hand one? It was hard to be sure, with music that shrouded itself so determinedly in dimness.

            By contrast Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony, which ended the concert, was almost painfully bright. It painted the heroic but doomed 1905 Russian Revolution, in a long arch that rose from frozen-dawn stillness to deafening martial clamour.

            It’s important to point that the impact of Shostakovich’s symphonies is always magnified by our knowledge of the political and personal torment behind them. But last night I found myself rebelling at the sheer brute insistence of the music, which all the BBC SO’s fervency and conductor Ingo Metzmacher’s shrewd pacing couldn’t disguise.

            Before this came something that plumbed equal depths of anguished feeling, but without any bullying insistence. This was a selection of songs from Mahler’s setting of folk poems Den Knaben Wunderhorn, made by the Danish baritone who performed them, Johan Reuter.But mostly he focused on military songs, with their evocation of ranks of ghostly soldiers. Whatever the mood, Reuter embodied it with the commanding presence and naked honesty that only truly great singers can muster.

            In conclusion I’d like to say that I think it was great performance. Unfortunately, I should say, that I have never been at the Symphony Orchestra performance, but thanks to this article, now I’d like to visit it. 

Rendering 13. Music

The article “Maria Schneider takes a furtherstep towards ‘classical’ discipline on her new double album” was published by Ivan” on May, 28 2013. It discussed Maria Schneider's new double album.

            Speaking of this article, it’s necessary to say that Maria Schneider is a jazz musician who works on an orchestral. Also she is a master orchestrators whose handling of a big-band palette is as sophisticated as anything you’ll find in composers who write for standard orchestras.

            In addition, on her new double-album she’s taken a further step towards ‘classical’ discipline – though as she’s quick to point out, the music is still strongly informed by a jazz sensibility. Each CD offers what is in effect a "classical" song-cycle, for mezzo-soprano Dawn Upshaw and chamber orchestra. One sets poems by the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, the other poems from the collection Winter Morning Walks by the American poet Ted Kooser.

            It’s important to point, the thing that about her music that challenged classics is that some of the songs have a groove, a driving forward that might come from jazz or a flamenco rhythm like the buleria.

            She really believes that in music colleges all classical musicians should have to take a course in time, meaning that they should have to play along with grooves played by tabla or whatever. Getting classical musicians to play in the groove was one big challenge; an even bigger one was raising the $200,000 needed to record two song-cycles with a star singer and two different orchestras. She couldn’t do it without the support of the Artistshare web-site, which started the whole crowd-sharing phenomenon. She dicided to build up a fan-base through the web-site which helped her to contribute big sums.

             To sum up, the result is something subtle and polished and suggestive. Winter Morning Walks is the gentler of the two, reflecting the rural quiet of Ted Kooser’s poems. The other cycle catches the very different mood of Drummond de Andrade’s songs.

            To conclude this article, I can say that this talented person like Maria Schneider is the person of her business. She wanted to realize her plans and she did the best things for that.

Pleasure Reading. Summary. Ch. 17 - 23

1. Ethan woke up in Lena's bedroom and they told about the ritual Lena's family performed the previous night. 2.  The boy believed Lena was going to go “light”, but there was a problem like Sarafine who was a Dark Caster. 3. Sarafine was proud of that Lena was going to go “dark”.

4. At Thanksgiving dinner, Lena met with Ethan’s family. 5. After that dinner, during the conversation between Amma and Lena, Ethan knew that Sarafine was Lena’s mother. 6. When Ethan took Lena her home, Macon told Ethan to always stay beside Lena because he could protect her, even though Macon was not sure how. 7. Gatlin considered the day after Thanksgiving to be a bank holiday that meant the Caster Library was opened. 8. Unfortunately, they could not find “The Book of Moons”, so they decided to ask the locket for guidance. 9. It was the time of the Civil War. 10. In that another world Ethan and Lena saw that Ethan Carter was lying on the ground bleeding to death. 11. Than they knew that Genevieve had cursed herself, she traded her fate to try to save Ethan’s life, and the fate of every child in the family of Duchannes. 12. So that was why the Duchannes children did not get to choose, because the book chose, and there were the hope for Lena to go “light”. 13. Then Marian told everyone that The Book of Moons was not in the library, because it had been missing for a hundred years. 14. After Ethan’s Saturday visit to his great-aunts, the Sisters, Ethan had an idea that Genevieve was buried with The Book of Moons.

15. Ethan was right and he finally dug up the book. 16. Then, when Ethan tried to return the locket to Genevieve, the ghost which was near with her grave, her ghost told him that the locket did not belong to her.

Pleasure reading. Summary. Ch 11 - 16

1. It was the gathering day, when all the Ravenwoods family had to gather together and Ethan was invited to that dinner. 2. There were many people at the meeting, but one person, who was

not waited, was Ridley, Old Man Ravenwood’s niece. 3. She was wearing dark sunglasses, a short skirt, and a tiny tank top.4. Ridley was claimed on her sixteenth birthday and she turned Dark that could be what Lena was afraid of. 5. When Ridley grabbed Ethan, he started to go cold and slowly lost consciousness; she paralyzed him, made so to Lena lose her patience.

6. Lena fed up over Ridley and caused a hurricane-sized storm, windows shattered, glass broken, rain poured inside, and tornado sucked Ridley right out of the house that was Lena helped her boyfriend. 7. After dinner, waking up in Lena’s bedroom, Ethan saw that there were hundreds of words and phrases written in all over the walls, doors, ceilings. 8. When they held hands, the ceiling started to crack, and the crack formed the shape of a heart, so in that atmosphere they kissed for the first time, but it was until Lena pushed Ethan away. 9. She did not want to get close to him because she was still afraid of being Claimed Dark on her birthday and turning into a monster. 10. Waking up from a bad dream, Ethan looked outside and saw Amma got into a pickup truck, and then Ethan decided to watch for her. 11. Amma and Macon also had a heavy conversation about the fate of the world and saw Amma gives Macon a small string of tiny beads. 12. Amma instructed Macon to give it to Lena, saying it would protect Lena from all and especially Sarafine. 13. At school, Ethan noticed Lena’s new bracelet, which Amma gave to Macon, that bracelet blocked the power of the locket. 14. When Lena took it off, it had worked, then they were transformed to another world where they saw that Ethan Carter was still alive, and moreover he told Genevieve that he loved her and would have married her. 15. The next day Ethan decided to go to his father’s study, and look through his mom's Civil War books, but Amma saw him and shut the door. 16. Soon. Ethan, Lena and her friend Marian transformed to another world again, where they knew that Genevieve went Dark. 17. Then it was Halloween day. 18. Lena had to go home because it was a high holiday and Ethan went to his friend Link. 19. Unfortunately, Ethan heard in his head Lena’s voice asking to help. 20. Ethan drove the Volvo to Ravenwood and found Lena was lying on a stone slab surrounded by her family chanting in Latin about her protection from Sarafine.

Pleasure reading. Summary. Ch. 6-10

1. After that incident, Lena wasn’t at school during several days. 2. And Ethan decided to go to Macon Ravenwood’s house. 3. It was strange, but Ravenwood Manor was packed with modern furniture. 4. And there was a garden nearby the manor where Lena was reading a book. 5. Ethan and Lena told

a bit—some of it was verbal, some of was not. 6. Soon, in the garden, while he was holding Lena's hand, Ethan picked up something from the rock he was sitting on. 7. And, just like that, he finds himself transported to another world. 8. They didn’t understand what was going on: someone named Genevieve was running through swampy ground while everything around her burnt. 9. She was surrounded by fire and gunshots. 10. Union soldiers were burning down plantation homes. 11. When Ethan got home, Amma was furious that he skipped basketball practice.12. But Ethan

found the locket in his pocket the next morning. 13. Every Saturday, Ethan spends half the day with his great-aunts Mercy, Prudence, and Grace, and the told him an interesting story ion which were the same names from their atoner world. 14. Riding to school the next morning, Link told Ethan that his mother, Emily Asher's mother, and some others were scheming against Lena. 15. After school, Ethan went to Lena and there she met Macon Ravenwood. 16. Macon invited Ethan to dinner, where was serious conversation about their locket and about that Lena had to claim for either “light” or “dark” on her sixteenth birthday.  17. The Old Ravenwood was proud of that Ethan couldn’t protect his niece. 18. Despite of all facts, Ethan and Lena fell in love with each other and they told all nights long through the kelting. 19. Finally, decided to go out on an official date on Friday night.

20. When they were watching a film, Lena reached inside Ethan's pocket for more Milk Duds, but she touched the locket instead. 21. And again they were transported to another world. 22. After several minutes they were shocked because Ethan Carter from their vision was killed.

Pleasure reading. Summary. Ch. 1 - 5

1. That story had happened in Gatlin. 2. Ethan, 16 years of the age, was living his boring life with his father and his housekeeper Amma. 3. The only change Ethan had ever faced in his life was the last year when his mother passed away. 4. So, during several days Ethan had been experiencing vivid dreams about a girl that he did not even know. 5. Then, at the first day in school Ethan and his friend Link knew that the new girl Lena Duchannes had appeared in that dim Gatlin. 6. That girl was different than everyone else at Gatlin, and she was the niece of Old Man Ravenwood  - the town’s looneybin. 7. One day, Ethan heard the well-known melody which he heard in his dreams.8. It was unexpectedly that the melody was performed by Lena Duchannes. 8. Soon, the boy sped to the Ravenwoods and virtually knocked Lena off her foot.

9. As a result, Ethan understood that Lena was the girl of his dreams. 10. The next day at school

Incident had happened, when Emily with her friends disseminated lies and slander about Lena.

11. Finally, because of those words, the window was broken and all broken glass was directed to that talkative company.

Individual Reading. Summary. Ch. 51 - 58

            After their marriage Strickland and Ata began to live in the forest. It seemed Strickland found himself there. They were 3 years of happiness for Charles. They lived alone and spoke with anyone.

            Strickland died because of leprosy. When he knew about his illness for the first time he wanted to go to the forest but Ata didn’t left him.

            Soon, unfortunately Strickland died, his wife burnt the house and the masterpiece of all his life was damaged. During his life he wasn’t rich and only with his death he became successful and his paintings became valuable masterpieces.

            The narrator returned to London and met Mrs. Strickland again. After the death of her sister she received her heritage and became a secured woman. 

Individual Reading. Summary. Ch.41 - 50

              Strickland showed the narrator his pictures. As a matter of fact Charles’ works to him ugly, but they were strangely tantalizing and gave him different emotions. Next day the narrator saw Strickland off for Amsterdam.

            After that, Strickland left France and the narrator didn’t see him anymore. But he moved to Tahiti where he knew some information about Strickland till his death. There the narrator met Captain Nicholas, who knew Strickland and he told the storyteller many interesting facts about him. They got acquainted in Marseille and became like friends, help each other to survive.            

         Strickland waited a ship to go Tahiti because he thought and dreamed that it would be better there and Nichols was of the same opinion. They were employed to the ship going to Australia.

            On Tahiti, he worked as overseer on the plantation. He continued painting but no one regarded him as a talented painter.. Strickland had taken up a native woman.

Individual Reading. Summary. Ch. 26 - 40

            Soon, Strickland began to recover from his ill. But suddenly it came to light a new fact, Blanche had secretly fallen in love with Strickland. She decided to leave Stroeve with him. But Stroeve loved this woman very much, and he left Strickland and his wife in his own flat. He came to the narrator and shared with him his misfortune.

            Once, the narrator met Strickland and Blanche. Stroeve knew about their meeting and asked to write Blanche, saying that he did everything for the sake of her.

            But once, Mr. Strickland and Blanche had had a quarrel, she tried to commit suicide. Soon this woman was weak and as a result she died. Because of that Stroeve was in low spirits and decided to move to Holland. Then, Stroeve told the storyteller that he had seen Charles Strickland and offered him to go with him, but he didn’t accept his proposal. Charles presented Strove Blanche’s portrait instead.

            When the narrator met Strickland again, he suddenly understood that he really couldn’t hate Charles, despite of the fact that he was dreadful person. 

Film Review 3

Directed by      Ben Affleck

Produced by    Ben Affleck

                       George Clooney

                       Grant Heslov

Screenplay by  Chris Terrio

Based on         The Master of Disguise

                        by Antonio J. Mendez

                             The Great Escape

                        by Joshuah Bearman

Starring            Ben Affleck

                        Bryan Cranston

                        Alan Arkin

                        John Goodman

Budget             $44.5 million

Argo is a 2012 historical drama thriller film directed by Ben Affleck. This dramatization is adapted from the book The Master of Disguise by CIA operative Tony Mendez, and Joshuah Berman's 2007 Wired article "The Great Escape" about the "Canadian Caper", in which Mendez led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

When militants seize control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the height of the Iranian Revolution, CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) creates a fake Hollywood film production in order to rescue a group of American diplomats who have sought refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

As the six members of the embassy staff remain behind closed doors, armed militants conduct thorough searches of local homes, and kill anyone suspected of harboring the Americans. Realizing that it's only a matter of time before the six are identified and taken hostage, Mendez offers a unique - yet potentially dangerous - solution: posing as a Canadian film producer, he will enter into Tehran under the precipice of scouting locations for an upcoming science fiction opus, gather up the refugees, pass them off as his crew at the airport, and fly out of Iran right under the militants' noses.

Shortly after touching down in Iran, however, Mendez contends with a few unexpected developments that threaten to erode the bond of trust he needs to establish with the refugees, and expose his deception. Meanwhile, even if they do manage to make it as far as the airport, government bureaucracy threatens to leave them hopelessly stranded in their most desperate hour.

Alan Arkin, John Goodman, and Bryan Cranston co-star.Inspired by actual events.

Most of this is a triumph of direction, because none of the elements are really first-rate: performances are capable rather than inspired, and the script has holes (including a big implausibility right at the climax, involving a problem which might’ve been better solved with a simple phone call to the control tower). Pundits are saying Argo might win the Best Picture Oscar – it’s neck-and-neck with Lincoln – but nothing else, given that Affleck himself isn’t even nominated. Maybe so; though it should at least win Best Editing because the film flows like water, its two hours gliding by almost imperceptibly.

As for me, the film is cartoonish.Yet there’s enough human detail to make us care. Affleck won the Directors’ Guild of America award last week, and struck a self-deprecating note in his acceptance speech: “I don’t think this makes me a real director, but I think I’m on my way,” he told his peers – but that’s far too modest. He is indeed a real director – and Argo, a Hollywood film about Hollywood films, may be the best Hollywood film of the year.   

Rendering 12. Cinema

The article “21 and Over” was published by Tim Robey on May 2, 2013. It discussed this exuberant frat comedy from Hangover writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore succeeds because of its likeable cast.

Speaking of this article, it’s necessary to say that “21 and Over”, America’s legal drinking age, is a wee bit older than the target audience for the exuberant frat comedy of the same name, which marks the directorial debut of Hangover writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Really, though, they might just as well have called it Boys Only. A list of the roles for women would not leave this movie covered in glory. Two rather fierce sorority girls get spanked by paddles while blindfolded, wrongly assuming that their fellow sisters are administering a hazing, when it’s the two male leads who have instead snuck into their dorm.

In addition, the main plot is about two high-school buddies, played by Miles Teller and Skylar Astin, who practically kidnap their pal Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) on his 21st birthday, even though it’s the night before his big interview for medical school, and there’s a terrifyingly stereotypical Asian dad waiting in the wings to tan their hides.

It’s important to point the teeny Jeff Chang  gets utterly wrecked, and the other two lose track of him somewhere around the point where he’s hopping nude across a college lawn with a teddy bear glued to his penis. Chon is comatose, or near it, for so much of the movie’s running time that it starts to resemble Weekend at Bernie’s with a stressed, unconscious Chinese medical student instead of a corpse.

As for me, Teller is just as terrific, puckish and endearingly intense as he was playing film-stealing second fiddle in the Footloose remake, and the promising Astin, who was stuck with boring-boyfriend duties in Pitch Perfect, matches him every step of the way. If we must have three horny fools getting their rocks off during a wild all-nighter prefabricated for cult appeal, at least it’s these three, whose combined bonhomie could get just about any party started.

Rendering 11. Cinema

The article “I'm So Excited” was published by Robbie Collin on May, 3 2013. It discussed Robbie Collin finds Pedro Almodóvar's new comedy “I'm So Excited” vertiginously disappointing.

Speaking of this article, it’s necessary to say that "I’m So Excited!” is vertiginously disappointing in the way only bad films from great filmmakers can be. Pedro Almodóvar’s 19th feature is part prickly social satire. There, though, the combination is a nightmare: a rich and oozy cheese platter generously seasoned with chalk.

In addition, the film is set almost entirely on a Spanish passenger jet supposedly bound for Mexico City, but which is in fact circling aimlessly at 30,000 ft above the Iberian Peninsula after a fault develops in the landing gear. In business class sits a cross-section of the country’s great and not-so-good: a crooked investment banker, a graying actor and Lothario, a high-society call girl, and so on.

It’s important to point The Spanish title is Los Amantes Pasajeros although the Pointer Sisters song that furnished the film with its English name puts in an appearance as a lip-synched musical number. There is a blood-curdling moment when you realise they really are going to sing the whole damn thing: two verses, four choruses, and a middle eight that feels about as long and draining as Tarkovsky’s Stalker.

To sum up, this is certainly a change of pace from The Skin I Live In (2011) and Broken Embraces (2009): a dollop of cappuccino froth to follow those films’ rich and bitter depths. It shares some ideas with Almodóvar’s earlier comedies.

As for me, Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s said to be set against a plane accident with various characters fearing for their lives and confessing their inner secrets, sometimes through song