Weekly Roundup: The Celebration, Amores Perros, more and Links

Naturally, because of Paris in Genres my usual weekly roundup had to either disappear or be moved to another day. As you may see, I wouldn't want it to vanish because I'd love to share with you opinions on a few films that I watched last week and plug some awesome film posts that I have been enjoying recently.

Like I predicted, I watched just a few movies.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

I honestly believed that I might enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the first movie, but it was truly disappointing and utterly forgettable. Ask me what I remember about the plot, and I'll be speechless not because I was impressed but because everything about this movie that runs through my mind was shown in the trailer. That's it. I remember only exciting scenes that were advertized and nothing more. It was really sad that Guy Ritchie led Sherlock to such a quagmire because I loved the original film, which gets five stars from me, hands down. The sequel is lazy and disjointed at times. The only good thing is the cast: RDJ, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry and of course Kelly Reilly.

Rating:

2 ½ stars

Amores Perros (2000)

Alejandro Iñárritu's directorial debut is quite impressive and does remind me of his later successful effort 21 Grams. I gather that Babel that I haven't seen yet was made the same way as the two films, that's why it kind of bothers me that Iñárritu might be too obsessed with interlocking stories. However, not putting his career in a perspective, Amores Perros on its own is an amazing work of art that proudly manifests non-linear storytelling and the gritty image of life and its hardships. I was impressed with Emilio Echevarría's performance (the guy who played an almost homeless man). The film is a hard watch, but a worthy one.

Rating:

4 stars

The Celebration (Festen, 1998)

Ridiculously unaware of almost anything that is/was going on in foreign cinema, I thought it was so Lars-von-Trier-ish, when I started watching this motion picture, but then, certainly, I did a little research and found out what Dogme 95 is and who founded this trend (Trier and the director of the film under discussion, Thomas Vinterberg). Anyway, back to the film: although I'm not totally a fan of Dogme 95 style, this one was very good and it's a celebrated motion picture for a good reason. The family in The Celebration is the most messed up one in movies that I have ever seen. The film pays mind to characters' motivations and psychological portraits, making them interesting though some of them are frankly disgusting. The Celebration raises important moral and social issues and not to give anything away I'm telling you that it's worth of your time.

Extra thought: the movie family gathering did remind me of the wedding in Melancholia.

Rating:

4 stars

And the best film that I saw last week was…

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon, 2007)

What can be said here? It's one of the most heartbreaking filmed true stories that I've ever seen. It's so painful that you want to turn it off, even though the film is really good, even outstanding. It is based on the autobiography, written by Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered from a stroke that cost him almost total paralysis. Although I admit that films don't depress me often, I feel pretty much devastated, writing this little opinion on the film. 

Janusz Kaminski cinematography is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think not of the story but of the way it was executed on screen. As for the actors, they all were well cast, but I was most impressed with Marie-Josée Croze, who played one of the doctors. Ah, I really can't talk about this heart wrenching film anymore, for now.

Rating:

4 ½ stars

I'm studying, as you see. Three out of four films are foreign pictures. Yay. What do you think of the films?

It's time to share some link love.

Links

A runner-up for Best Blog at 2012 LAMMYs, Stevee gives you 10 blogging tips. Read it now.

Nikhat decides on what Pixar female characters are her most favorite.

Naturally, there's a lot of talk about Pixar, and Ruth asks what your favorite (no matter, male or female) character is.

Andina spotlights a great film persona, Elizabeth Shaw from Prometheus.

Mette explores Elizabeth: The Golden Age costume design.

Stevee makes a list of most memorable redheads in the movies. I'm in love with this piece.

Sati finally releases her colossal and amazing (i.e. Promethean) write-up on Prometheus.

Rianna reviews classic Waterloo Bridge, which must be seen by more people.

Sam writes about the last year treasure, The Artist.                                                   

BT has something to tell you about Babycall, starring the very popular now Noomi Rapace.