KGB Productions

Okay this is my last Godard review for awhile.  Since I read the book: "Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard" I wanted to review some of his films to get a better rounded view of Godard.  First was Breathless, and now "Weekend".  Weekend is considered Godard's last film of the 60's. He would eventually come back to movie making in 1972, but till then Godard was as he said "finished with cinema".  The end of Week-end even states this in the end credits. To tell you that it was a difficult movie to get through is an understatement.  Not that it is a bad movie.  It's far from that.  Weekend is one of Godard's darkest films, and it really reminded me of  certain other films about the end of the world, but what Godard does which other filmmakers do not is to include sociopolitical undercurrents within the story.  The film is about consumerism, and breakdown of civilization into savagery.   Our main characters Corin...

So I did get a chance to see "the Iceman" starring Michael Shannon, and directed by Ariel Vromen .  The story is based on a true story about a man who was a contract killer for the mob.  But that is over simplifying the film or the subject matter.  The movie is based on the book : The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer. The film is also based on the HBO documentary called " Conversations with a Killer ". The man's name was Richard Kuklinski and he was a contract killer.  He claimed to have killed over hundred people, but some authorities say that his body count is much more since Kuklinski was also a sociopath.  I have to say that the film gives a chilling account on how he preformed the murders and how he lead a dual life as a family man and a killer.   Michael Shannon gives a wonderful performance as Kuklinski, and the movie is all on him.  But the supporting characters here also need their due.   Winona Ryder , Rob...

When I feel a bit less inspired I try and find films that inspire me, and that sometimes means going back.   Breathless by Jean Luc Godard is one of those films.  I did see it while in film school, but I've grown to admire it more and more, and after seeing it again the movie reverberates through me in what good cinema is.    For those who cannot get over Godard's style I understand that it may not be your cup of tea, but Godard is one of the more innovative directors of the era then most.  In each film he pushes cinema a bit further in what he thinks it should be.  Sometimes it's entertainment, but most times there is a message.  In a way it's a feeling, a response he wants to get out of his audience, and Breathless certainly does that.  From its cinematography to its editing the film has a feeling of restlessness.  Even in the sequences where the characters talk about nothing in particular.  To Godard these scenes are important, ...

It's getting to be summer season, and summer movies have always been fun and roller coaster rides in a way.  I was a fan of the first two, and was interested in the third.  I also hoped that my boys would also be excited, and they were to a point.  But now after seeing it something still bothers me.  Also when I asked my boys if they liked it they said it was okay.  Right there is when I thought my vibe of the film was right.  Something was off with this one. Was it something to do with the actors?  I can't say that was the problem.  The actors were all good.  It was more the film as a whole.  The pacing in Iron Man is off, and while watching it you do feel how off they are.  Also the story is lame.  I was a comic book fan of Ironman, and I do remember a villain by the name of "The Mandarin", but I believe it was some eastern block enemy.    I won't give any spoilers here, but the enemy here was weak.  The...

It's been a time of reflection and re-tooling for me. Getting back to basics and picking up a few new media tools. I've been reading "Everything is Cinema: The working life of Jean-Luc Godard" by Richard Brody. I've always been fascinated and have admired the French New Wave.  To me nothing in the cinema has been as innovative as the French New Wave.  Sure there have been great films made since the New Wave, but not since that time has cinema become as innovative or as intellectualized since the New Wave.  New terminology was thought of, and new theories had been discussed and discovered.  Maybe I romanticize the era too much but I do know that time was a time of innovation, and experimentation. It's what I'm doing or trying to do.  Just trying some new stuff, and getting a bit more schooled in new ways of doing things.  Here's an interview of Godard.

Soderbergh says a few things that are right. The distinction between cinema and movies is real, and something I always think about.