The only thing I truly like about art in the form of paintings / statues etcetera is that I am fascinated by the world around it. Although I sometimes visit a museum, artworks that I see there do rarely really move me. But to see how the art world works, how artists make their work and the craziness of it is often fascinating. The number of documentaries/films that I have seen about the subject is enormous (
Last night the Oscars were announced. It’s a ceremony I don’t stay up for to watch, but I’m always curious the next day to find out who are the big winners. (You can find them here). I never do predictions, but the only category for which I really had a preference was best animated feature and I was happy to see that Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse won.
Bohemian Rapsody and The Favourite are movies I have not seen, so I can’t share my opinion on those movies winning. It is nice to see that Alfonso Cuarón went home with three Oscars for his masterpiece Roma. The category which surprised me most was that of best film, which Green Book won. A title which I enjoyed watching and does show big social issues during the sixties which are unfortunately still relevant now, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me, it lacked subtlety. I would have rather seen Roma win.
What is your opinion on the Oscar winners?
I can still remember a moment, what could have been 20 years ago, when I went to a club in Rotterdam called Nighttown (which was once the place where a cinema was located) where a hiphop festival took place. It was a mix of all kinds of disciplines. In one room there were b-boys breakdancing, music was playing and artists were performing. But the thing everyone wanted to go to were the battles, which were on the program towards the end of the evening. A gladiatorial battle between different MCs, who try to basically kill each other verbally. A spectacle in which the direct feedback from the audience is the indicator of success. A mix of well thought-out pre-written texts, but also proof that you can respond to your environment and what the other person says to you. In one of the rounds it was local artist Tim Beumers battling and the referee dropped the coin by mistake at the toin coss, he saw an opportunity. He started and made an instant statement that the other guy was so poor that he saw him wanting to pick up that dropped coin. The audience went wild and Tim immediately used that in his lyrics as well. He went home as the winner that evening.
It is a subculture of hip hop that occasionally shows up in TV shows and films, with 8 Mile probably being the best known example. Eminem, who made a name for himself as a battle MC before he broke through, brought the battling to a wider audience and in Bodied, which he produced, also is about this scene. Is this a copy of that movie or does Bodied bring something new to the table? Continue reading
Whichever genre your taste in films tends to favour, we all love a good summer blockbuster from time to time. The massive success of films such as Black Panther, Pacific Rim and the Avengers series is testament to this. So, what’s coming up this year in 2019? We’ve got some returning favourites from the Marvel universe, as well as a new look at a couple of popular characters like DC’s the Joker and Dark Horse’s Hellboy. Not forgetting some highly anticipated reboots from Disney! Continue reading
As we get older, the chance that our body starts to show defects is increasing. If you injure yourself, you will recover less quickly, you may need a new hip and a cold can have more serious consequences. Yet slowly losing your brain, your thoughts and who you are may be the most frightening thing that can happen. That you can no longer rely on the thing which makes you who you are and could no longer recognize the world around you. Forgetting what you did yesterday. If you are a serial killer who has decided years ago to no longer murder and suddenly find out that bodies are found, how do you know if you did not when you can’t remember? Continue reading
When I think of director Robert Rodriguez, I do not immediately feel that I should see every project he does. His first film El Mariachi was good, I have been able to enjoy the Spy Kids films for what they are and Sin City is perhaps his best, but the feeling of Grindhouse-like films that he has done a lot (eg. the Machete titles) prevails. I did not really have any expectations about Alita: Battle Angel, but the fact that this is a project that James Cameron wanted to make for nearly twenty years, besides Avatar, and he was also involved in developing this Rodriguez version, could result in something interesting. I decided to watch the film the best way possible, in a Dolby Cinema. Is Alita: Battle Angel worth it? Continue reading
The medium of film is a true chameleon. It can be used to entertain, share information, raise awareness or provoke discussion. The film screen is a blank canvas on which a filmmaker can paint whatever he wants, and it is up to the viewer to decide whether what is shown is moving you or whether it is good / bad. Director Adam McKay, who previously made The Big Short (but also Step Brothers, Ant-Man and The Other Guys) uses that canvas here for something that is anything but standard. Continue reading
Writing a story for a film is a challenge in which the person who thinks of what happens to the main character can make a huge number of choices. As a writer, you want to be unique and not get into clichés. If you make the right choices and then it is also filmed by a competent director, that can result in a great movie. But if you make one wrong choice it can have a lot of impact on a story, sometimes so much that the viewer is no longer prepared to believe in the world that you have built up with great difficulty. Fortunately that was not the case for Arctic … until the last five seconds. Continue reading
While Unbreakable did not really leave a lasting impression on me, it was very different with (what at the end of the film turned out to be) the follow-up Split. A film that I was a huge fan of and I could not wait to see the third part in this trilogy, Glass, in which the characters from the first two films come together. Continue reading
Poland, the 1950s. Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), together with a number of colleagues, travels through the country to ensure that traditional music is not lost and does so by recording it. They start an organization to perform this music and Wiktor meets the rebellious Zula (Joanna Kulig). The two are getting closer and closer, but as the success of this folklore group increases, the regime also sees it as a perfect way to promote itself, something Wiktor is not enthusiastic about. He devises a plan to escape with Zula to the west so that they can be together and do what they want, but whether that is realistic, is the question. Continue reading