A weekly talk show hosted by film critic Christopher Crespo
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In this bonus episode of Cinema Crespodiso, Chris and Drew are joined by Soul Brother Kevin from “SBK Live with Kevin, Matt and Angel,” and the three of them rundown the movies of the summer of 2013.
Only Werner Herzog would see fit to make his singular foray into 3D filmmaking a documentary about the world’s oldest cave paintings, and of course since this is Werner Herzog, “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” can’t just be a straightforward documentary, but has to include the director pontificating on the actual existence of these people who created these paintings and how they felt and thought and what they may have dreamt about, only for those dreams to be forgotten, lost to time and space forever. Oh Werner. Way to be the life of the party.
From my original review from Examiner.com:
“Of course, this is a Werner Herzog movie, so he has more on his mind then just pretty drawings of horses and old footprints – he spends time thinking about the people who created all of this art, and what kind of people they were and if they had goals and dreams and desires, and if so, what were they? Of course no one can ever know what kind of dreams these people could have had (hence the film’s title), though it may be safe to assume that some of these people dreamed vividly of the wild animals living among them. He also takes a little time to get into what is essentially the world’s oldest porn – there is one painting in the cave that appears to be the lower torso of a woman, and this is followed by experts showing off some tiny little figurines of headless busty woman that date back thousands and thousands of years (nice to see that people really haven’t changed very much, at least on a base level). And of course he has to throw in just a little bit of the bizarre, as he closes out the movie with a coda about a crocodile habitat that gets its water from a power plan and how they thrived in the artificial environment and how albino (possibly) radioactive crocodiles are flourishing in this croc-only greenhouse.”
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In Episode 15, Chris and Drew are joined by DJ Baby Lac, and the trio get into the net Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, they talk about the weekend box office, Chris and Drew review Oblivion, and they take a look at the new movies coming out on DVD and in theaters. And don’t forget about the Crespodisco and the Crespodome, which includes an edition of Drewster Cogburn vs The World and a whole new Lightning Round.
Things discussed in this episode include:
Seeing Super 8 in theaters.
How awesome Netflix is.
“Nic Cage Loses His Shit.”
Baby Lac’s first modern 3D movie.
Pain & Gain = steroidsContinue Reading …
You want some Tom Cruise doing his thing where he’s always awesome and works super hard and does lots of stunts inside the confines of a gorgeous and aesthetically appealing sci-fi film with a script cobbled together by pieces of other movies? Then “Oblivion” is the movie for you because it is all of these things, and while the movie is by no means dumb, you will likely realize that in many ways this film is a grand mash up of “Wall*E,” “Moon,” “Battleshit,” “I Am Legend” and “Blade Runner,” but without actually elevating any of these borrowed elements and making them add up to something bigger.Continue Reading …
Held under wraps for all of pre-production through post-production, Neill Blomkamp’s highly anticipated follow-up to his debut surprise hit “District 9” is coming up on us in a matter of months, meaning that Blomkamp’s had to have his fingers pried open a bit to let some tasty nuggets of information out there for marketing purposes, to wet the beak of the public, and they are off to a hell of a start with this new poster and trailer combo.
“Elysium” is the name of the great big space station on which the wealthy live, free of poverty and disease and crime and fear. Meanwhile, the rest of us poor bastards are stuck on a trashed Earth, overpopulated and decimated, a toxic waste land, where poverty, disease and fear are the name of the game. And according to this trailer, Matt Damon plays a guys who wants to get from Earth to Elysium, and apparently he needs to have a robo-exoskeleton grafted to his body, and this will somehow give him the power to break into “the most heavily guarded place in the universe,” which will somehow “save everyone” in some sort of vague way. The class warfare element is obviously going to be very intense, so what else will be inside this narrative to drive this thing home emotionally. Damon’s character says he needs to get to Elysium. But why? Is it personal? Is he trying to save someone? Get to someone?Continue Reading …
“The Place Beyond The Pines” is the best kind of movie, the kind with a very strong, character-based story that goes to some unexpected places, populated with some great actors, backed by an excellent score, the whole time feeling like a real and lived-in time and place, and all told with the type of sure-handed direction that can’t be ignored or taken for granted. Continue Reading …
There Will be Blood (written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, chosen as an Examiner Essential) is an epic film about Daniel Plainview, silver miner turned oil man. The story revolves around Plainview and his relationship with the world around him, made complicated by the fact that he needs other men to accomplish his goals, despite his growing distaste for his fellow man. He feels he can only rely on family, and even then, things get screwy.
Oil! (written by Upton Sinclair, himself chosen as a Pulitzer Prize winner) is an epic novel about J. Arnold Ross, mule driver turned oil man. The story, however, revolves around J. Arnold Ross Jr., affectionately called Bunny throughout the book, and his relationship with the world around him, made complicated by the fact that he strongly identifies with the growing labor movement of the early 1900’s, which butts heads directly with his life and upbringing as an American oil prince.Continue Reading …
“Archie’s Final Project” is an excellent crazy little movie about a very creative but also very depressed high school kid who decides to make his own suicide the subject of a film class project. Sounds like fun, no? Well keep on reading!
From my original review of “Archie’s Final Project“ (which at the time was titled “My Suicide“) from the 2010 Florida Film Fest:
“My Suicide, directed by David Lee Miller, is the type of film that can usually only be seen at regional film festivals. Full of odd and interesting choices, this movie about a high school kid’s planned suicide threatens to be merely a very bloated student short, but in the end flat out works as a very kinetic and intense film…The subject matter is not what will keep the movie from theatrical distribution or free from home video obscurity. Heathers all ready explored the allure of teenage suicide, and even recently movies like Suicide Club and World’s Greatest Dad honed in on similar themes. Instead, the thing that will keep My Suicide out of shopping mall multiplexes is the presentation. The movie starts with Archie recreating a scene from The Deer Hunter with the use of a green screen and animation. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, a very hyper tone is established as the audience will be bombarded with a slick multimedia presentation that perfectly replicates Archie’s angst-ridden and overloaded mental state. All sorts of editing and filming techniques are employed throughout the movie, and though it threatens to fall apart, this crazy tone and style is actually sustained really well for about 75 to 80 minutes, before the inevitably heavy final act story elements come in.”
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In episode 14 of Cinema Crespodiso, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by fellow film critic Aaron Weiss of CinemaFunk.com (@cinemafunk on Twitter) and they talk about new movies 42 and Scary Movie 5, Chris reviews Trance and The Place Beyond the Pines, they discuss the Netflix pick of the week Archie’s Final Project, and they get down and dirty in the Crespodome, which includes an installment of Drewster Cogburn versus the World and a whole new Lightning Round with Aaron, so strap in and get ready for the ride!
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In this bonus episode of Cinema Crespodiso, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn sit down with fellow film critic Aaron Weiss of CinemaFunk.com to discuss the many films of the 2013 Florida Film Festival!