Tagged: David Gordon Green

‘Bad’ Movies You Watched Last Week?

I only watched one bad movie this past week. I’m not even sure if I have a right to call it bad, because I’m not entirely sure I “got” it, but here it goes.

Prince Avalanche (2013) – 5 (IMDb 6.6) – Comedy, Drama (USA)
In my experience director David Gordon Green has been full of surprises, both good ones and bad ones. When I first heard of Prince Avalanche it was in the context of the Berlin Film Festival and it was getting a lot of praise, so after the train-wreck that was Your Highness and the moderately enjoyable ‘Sitter’ I decided to give this movie a chance. I was actually kind of looking forward to it and enjoying it at the beginning, but then it sort of just ends up going nowhere. Well, maybe nowhere isn’t even the right way to describe it, because it just becomes weirder and weirder, but not in a good way. You know how some people say certain types of movies are a complete “mind-fuck”? They normally don’t mean it in the way that a movie like Prince Avalanche is weird. The film follows two highway road workers who, isolated and lonely in nature, discuss their romantic life. There’s also something about a house that burned down, but I’m not sure what it all means. Oh and weird scenes à la Dogville, but again I’m not sure why. Can’t say I completely hated it, but it’s not like I would re-watch it so, that’s why it ends up in the ‘bad’ category. Also, I like both actors (Emile Hirsch & Paul Rudd), but oddly enough their performances here didn’t impress me all that much or maybe it was just their unlikable characters, I’m not sure.

Official Line-Up for the 70th Venice Film Festival

The line-up for the 70th edition of the world’s oldest film festival was announced today. Some of my favorite directors are showing off their new work at the festival this year like: Kim Ki-Duk, Lukas Moodysson and Sono Sion. There’s even a new Coppola: Gia (Sofia’s niece, the daughter of her deceased brother Gio) presenting her debut feature Palo Alto, hopefully joining the ranks of her other family members as an accomplished member of the industry.

70 venice

IN COMPETITION
The Rooftops dir. Merzak Allouache (Algeria, France)
L’intrepido dir. Gianni Amelio (Italy)
Miss Violence dir. Alexandros Avranas (Greece)
Tracks dir. John Curran (UK, Australia)
Via Castellana Bandiera dir. Emma Dante (Italy, Switzerland, France)
Tom at the Farm dir. Xavier Dolan (Canada, France)
Child of God dir. James Franco (USA)
Philomena dir. Stephen Frears (UK)
La Jalousie dir. Philippe Garrel (France)
The Zero Theorem dir. Terry Gilliam (UK, USA)
Ana Arabia dir. Amos Gitai (Israel, France)
Under the Skin dir. Jonathan Glazer (UK, USA)
Joe dir. David Gordon Green (USA)
The Police Officer’s Wife dir. Philip Groning (Germany)
Kaze tachinu dir. Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)
The Unknown Known: the Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld dir. Errol Morris (USA)
Night Moves dir. Kelly Reichardt (USA)
Sacro GRA dir. Gianfranco Rosi (Italy)
Stray Dogs dir. Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan-France)

OUT OF COMPETITION
Space Pirate Captain Harlock dir. Aramaki Shinji (Japan)
Gravity dir. Alfonso Cuaron (USA)
Moebius dir. Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
Locke dir. Steven Knight (UK)
Unforgiven dir. Lee Sang-Il (Japan)
Wolf Creek 2 dir. Greg McLean (Australia)
Home from Home — Chronicle of a Vision dir. Edgar Reitz (Germany)
The Canyons dir. Paul Schrader (U.S.)
Che strano chiamarsi Federico Scola racconta Fellini dir. Ettore Scola (Italy)
Walesa. Man of Hope dir. Andrzej Wajda & Ewa Brodzka (Poland)

OUT OF COMPETITION — DOCUMENTARIES
Summer 82 When Zappa Came to Sicily dir. Salvo Cuccia (Italy, USA)
Pine Ridge dir. Anna Eborn (Denmark)
The Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (U.S.)
Ukraine Is Not Brothel dir. Kitty Green (Australia)
Amazonia dir. Thierry Ragobert (France-Brazil)
Til Madness Do Us Apart dir. Wang Bing (Hong Kong, China, France, Japan)
At Berkeley dir. Frederick Wiseman (USA)

HORIZON
Je m’appelle Hmmm… dir. Agnes B. (France)
Little Brother dir. Serik Aprymov (Kazakhstan)
Il terzo tempo dir. Enrico Maria Artale (Italy)
Eastern Boys dir. Robin Campillo (France)
Palo Alto dir. Gia Coppola (U.S.)
Ruin dir. Amiel Courtin-Wilson & Michael Cody (Australia)
Fish and Cat dir. Shahram Mokri (Iran)
We Are the Best! dir. Lukas Moodysson (Sweden-Denmark)
Wolfschildren dir. Rick Ostermann (Germany)
La vida despues dir. David Pablos (Mexico)
Algunas Chicas dir. Santiago Palavecino (Argentina)
Medeas dir. Andrea Pallaoro (USA, Italy)
Still Life dir. Uberto Pasolini (UK)
Piccola Patria dir. Alessandro Rossetto (Italy)
La prima neve dir. Andrea Segre (Italy)
Why Don’t You Play in Hell? dir. Sono Sion (Japan)
The Sacrament dir. Ti West (USA)

Other interesting films could be The Sacrament, from horror director Ti West, David Gordon Green’s new film Joe (in competition) and documentary on Federico Fellini by Ettore Scola. I’m probably not anticipating the same films that most people are, because of my snobbish tastes, so what are you looking forward to?