Perfect Sense (2011) | the idea behind this is lovely and interesting, but sadly, it just doesn’t work as a film.
Kingdom of Heaven - Director’s Cut (2005) | every so often, i have to rewatch this film.
James Bond: I have a dinner jacket.
Vesper Lynd: There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets; this is the latter. And I need you looking like a man who belongs at that table.
James Bond: How?… It’s tailored.
Vesper Lynd: I sized you up the moment we met.
(Source: themilkbottle, via whereismyoscar)
watched Casino Royale for the 81035235th time last night. there’s so much to love about this installment. interestingly, Paul Haggis said that he (re)wrote the screenplay backward, by reworking the third act first and then building the rest of the story around it. seems to have worked quite well. and in other Bond news, Sony and MGM have reached an agreement to make and release Bond 23 and 24. huzzah.
(photo by Brigitte Lacombe)
directed by Ridley Scott’s daughter Jordan Scott, Cracks is essentially Notes on a Scandal meets Mean Girls, but with a whole lot of melodrama and madness thrown in. Eva Green plays Miss G, a wildly glamorous diving coach and mentor to a group of girls at an exclusive 1930s English boarding school. Miss G regales the girls with tales of her adventures abroad and instills in them her liberal philosophies. among her pupils, her favorite is Di (Juno Temple), the queen bee of the clique and also Miss G’s greatest admirer. but the status quo changes when Fiamma (María Valverde), a Spanish aristocrat, arrives at the school and joins Miss G’s girls.
the film aims to be a psychological drama, but ends up being more Single White Female than Heavenly Creatures. Green has proven time and again that she can pull off femme fatale, but once her character starts to unravel, the actress’s performance delves into jerky histrionics. Temple and Valverde are solid in their parts, but i was really surprised by Imogen Poots’s lack of screen time (why cast her in such a tiny, thankless role?).
Scott’s feature directorial debut can easily be passed off as a nepotistic venture (Ridley and uncle Tony’s company helped produce it), and although it is largely a forgettable film, Cracks exhibits the young Scott’s individual style of visual storytelling and cinematic potential. it’ll be interesting to see what she’ll direct next.
Kingdom of Heaven, released May 6, 2005.
thoughts:
- i love Ridley Scott’s pseudo-historical May films
- looking at these screencaps, the blue-orange contrast seems to be working overtime in this film.
- if you’re going to watch Kingdom of Heaven, make sure it’s the director’s cut; it’s infinitely better.
the next time i’m in Paris, i want to beat the Bande à part and The Dreamers records of running through the Louvre. who’s with me?
