Well, we are officially entering the ‘ber’ month which means ‘brrrrr’ months are upon us. But I do love Autumn here in Minnesota though so let’s not think about Winter yet.
The highlight for me this month is that I’ve kept up on my script and it’s about 70% done now. I mean obviously there’s going to be a ton of rewrites and polishing but I’m just glad I’ve kept up with it almost daily, and thus I haven’t been blogging [and visiting others’ blogs] as much lately. In any case, I might blog even less in the future, but I don’t plan on giving that up completely, at least not yet.
Posts You Might’ve Missed
A Trio of Casting News
I’m Excited About
Guest Post – Musings from a part-time cartoon artist:
Maybe some comics shouldn’t be movies
Music Break: Pride & Prejudice and
Fave Scores from Dario Marianelli
Interview with the filmmakers of
NO ESCAPE: John Eric & Drew Dowdle
Blogathons
Against the Crowd:
a battle of two sword-n-sandals movies
Thursday Movie Picks #56:
Alien Invasion of Earth
Reviews
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Dark Places [guest review]
New-to-me Movies:
Hitman: AGENT 47 (2015)
Seeking A Friend For the End of the World (2012)
La Banda Picasso (2012)
The Last Flight (2009)
Two Days One Night (2014)
I tried to watch CHERI with Michelle Pfeiffer but just couldn’t finish it. I just think Rupert Friend is so awkward in the title role. Heh, his character is supposed to be a young French Casanova, wish they had cast Stanley Weber who’d be more age appropriate AND perfectly seductive in the role.
Rewatches:
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Pride & Prejudice TV miniseries (1995)
Persuasion TV movie(2007)
Sword of Vengeance (2014)
Top Secret! (1984)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
TV Shows:
Movie of the Month
I had been waiting to see Two Days One Night for ages. I thought this was going to hit Netflix back in June. Well, it was well worth the wait. It’s such a compelling human drama, right from the start the story truly sucked you in and Marion Cotillard gave such an amazing performance. It’s an understated role and they made her look so plain her as a young Belgian mother Sandra who discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus in exchange for her dismissal. So the title refers to the time she has to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so that she can keep her job.
This is the second film by the Dardenne Brothers‘ work after The Kid with the Bike and it’s definitely a superior one. It’s such a minimalist film in terms of style, the performances are naturalistic, but the story REALLY packs a punch. I was fully invested in the character’s journey and it really pays off in the end. It’s certainly one of miss Marion’s most astounding work in her already illustrious career. I can’t recommend this one enough folks, see it pronto if you haven’t already.
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FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
The best film I saw this month was my Blind Spot assignment in The Human Condition trilogy. That was a long-ass series of films. I’m glad you enjoyed Two Days, One Night which I think is the Dardenne Brothers’ most accessible work so far. The ones to check out are Rosetta and L’Enfant which plays more into what they do as filmmakers and the impact they have into exploring class, social, and economic issues as those 2 films won them the Palme d’Or.
I’ve only seen bits of Cheri and yeah, I’m not a fan of Rupert Friend either. He was good in Pride & Prejudice but he’s just bland.
I’ve pretty much given up on my Blind Spot assignments, there’s just no time for it unfortunately. I might pick it up again next year.
I’m curious to check out other Dardenne Bros’ work, I love the fact that they explore class, social, and economic issues.
I think Rupert was good in P&P, but he’s not on there for very long. He’s so miscast in CHERI.
well done on 70% done with your script, that’s progress.
The films by the Dardenne’s are good. Two Days One Night, Cotillard delivered a great performance, and I liked you could empathize with both sides. My rating was 3.5/5, I wish the scenes had been more diverse (maybe fleshing out her home life a bit more, and why she was depressed). I agree it’s quite a gripping film about contemporary problems, and glad you liked it. I think regardless if she got the job or not, the struggle, and persistence needed, made her a stronger person for the future.
Best I saw in August were new movies,Inside Out and Far From the Madding Crowd.
Thanks Chris! I think I rated Two Days One Night so highly is because of Marion’s performance and the fact that the story resonated with me. Yes you’re right I love that the Dardennes made you empathize with both parties. I LOVE Inside Out and I’d have absolutely LOVE Far from the Madding Crowd if it had a different actor as Francis Troy, Sturridge was miscast IMHO.
Can’t believe summer’s almost over, this year just went by so fast! But at least there are so many movies I’m looking forward to see this fall/winter so that’s a good thing.
Good to hear you’re making progress on your script!
I didn’t see a lot of movies at all in August, been busy trying to get my movie site up, I got the wireframe done for both the desktop and mobile app. Now I’ll just have to build the site, it’s a going to be a long process since I’m doing myself. I guess the only new movie I saw was the atrocious JUPITER ASCENDING, I don’t know what Warner Bros was thinking when they greenlight this project. I only rented it to test out my home Atmos system and it sounded great but the movie itself was a chore to sit through.
Hi Ted! Yeah I guess Summer is done, though it’s funny but this week is supposed to be super hot. And yeah, lots of great movies coming in the Fall/Winter, yay!
It’s been a lot of fun writing the script, sometimes I don’t even care much about blogging, so I think at some point I’d sunset this blog, or just do one post a week.
Oh man, Jupiter Ascending is beyond awful! I pretty much gave up on the Wachowskis now. I mean seriously, awful dialog, awful casting, just atrocious! I did see MI5 again on IMAX, oh man that was incredible!!
I totally understand about not wanting to keep up blogging much, I mean you’re one of the prolific movie bloggers that I know since I started visiting movie blogs. Heck you know I started my own movie blog and posted only ONE article, ha ha! But it’s going to be a bummer if you decides to shut it down though, maybe one post each week would be better on your schedule?
If you do shut it down, you’ll be able to enjoy my movie casting soon though. 🙂
I gave up on The Wachowskis after the last Matrix film, I think they care about making good movies anymore, just special effects crap. The only reason I rented Jupiter was to listened to the Atmos sound, I should’ve just fast forward to action scenes instead of wasting two hours of my life watching the whole film.
Yeah MI5 on IMAX was awesome, I think it’s better than the Icon Atmos theater. In fact, I wasn’t that impressed with the Atmos sound on this film. One of the weaker Atmos I’ve heard.
I caught up with a few really interesting films this month:
Coherence, a Twilight Zone-esque dinner party drama.
Enemy, another odd yet wholly fascinating piece about doppelgängers and relationships. Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s hugely influential urban class affair.
Cool Hand Luke, or Paul Newman being cool.
I actually really disliked Coherence. It was highly recommended by my hubby’s coworker but I found it rather tedious and uninteresting. ENEMY is super creepy but Jake G’s performance made it worth a watch. Haven’t seen the two classic films but Paul Newman is one beautiful man!
That’s a shame! Enemy is super creepy, really unsettling film. Gyllenhaal has been on fine form recently.
Well, you can’t like everything I think the concept is interesting but the execution bores me.
I’m glad I saw ENEMY and I agree Jake G. has become more like Christian Bale in his ‘shape shifting’ ability in his acting.
I like that Christian Bale comparison!
I think mine have got to be Straight Outta Compton and the Babadook.
Cool that you’ve seen Straight Outta Compton, I really want to see that. But The Babadook is waaay too scary for me, couldn’t even finish watching the trailer!
So glad you were finally able to see “Two Days, One Night”. I remember leaving the theater thinking I have truly seen something special. The Dardenne’s are such truthful filmmakers and we see it big time in the film. And my gosh, Cotillard was superb (as usual). She never missed a beat.
Hi Keith! I figure better late than never 😛 I was so impressed by her performance but also the emotional story that really engaged you from the start. I also saw another Marion Cotillard film The Last Flight with her partner/husband Guillaume Canet. It’s worth a watch for them but the film itself is kind of meh.
I’m sorry you didn’t like Cheri, although I must admit I struggled to sit through it on my last re-watch. It had gorgeous costumes, lovely scenery, elegant art direction, but Rupert Friend just didn’t seem like a boy Ms. Pfeiffer would bother with. I don’t know about breaking hearts, Rupert didn’t look like he could break anything apart from his own mirror from overuse. Kathy Bates was wonderful though!
I spent the long weekend watching Fay Dunaway in the classics Chinatown and Bonnie and Clyde, and also indulged in two of my guilty pleasure movies, Frankie and Johnny and Prelude to a Kiss.
Hi Paul! It’s a bummer as I really like Michelle, who was the main draw for me to see it but yeah, Rupert just doesn’t have the virility and sex appeal for the role. I mean he looks rather bored even in his scenes w/ Le Pfeiffer which is such a travesty! I kept imagining how wonderful it’d be if they had cast my French crush Stanley Weber who’s a few yrs younger than Rupert so he’d look far more believable as a 19-year-old. He’s sexy beyond words, esp w/ his native French accent oh la la! (https://flixchatter.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/stanley_louisxv1.jpg – I mean he managed to make those powder wig look ravishing but there are bedroom scenes in this French doc with his hair down & he looked extremely seductive). But yeah, Kathy Bates is wonderful so I suppose if I were to try it again it’d be for those two fine ladies.
I haven’t seen Chinatown yet but I’m not fond of Jack Nicholson for some reason but Faye Dunaway is gorgeous! I love how loyal you are of miss Pfeiffer, but I think my love for Mr Weber has reached quite a feverish level as well lately 😉
If only you were casting director!
Ahah yeah, if I were, there’ll be a bazillion films starring Stanley Weber already by now. I’d cast him opposite Le Pfeiffer AND Meg Ryan too, he could play their young lover 😉
Glad you liked Two Days, One Night, I would recommend you to see The Dardennes’s L’enfant next which is in my opinion is their best film. Rosetta is also very good.
Hi Khalid! I’m curious to check out more of the Dardennes, so yeah I’ll put L’enfant on my list.
Oh yes, Two Days One Night has a good shot of making a year-end Top 8 for me. That is a fantastic little drama. Never had heard of the Dardennes prior to this one but I think I’ll start with The Kid with the Bike and then go from there. If their other films are as realistic as this one then I think I will get along with them just fine.
I’ve seen a few decent films at the theater this, or rather *last* month but I think my personal favorite thing I got to see in August was Rob Reiner’s ‘Stand by Me.’ Finally flipped that on on Netflix and loved every minute of it.
Hi ya Tom! You have a fine taste man. If I had seen Two Days One Night sooner I’d put that on my top 10 as well. I have only seen one film from the Dardennes but need to check out more.
Oooh Stand By Me is a classic coming of age movie!
I will make watching Two Days, One Night a priority!
It’s really good! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed 🙂
Bust busy Ruth! Once again, putting me to shame! It’s another fine body of work; well done. Yours is the of the blogs I always look to; keep it up!
Hi Mark! Actually I’ve been rather slacking in the blog dept, but I’ve been busy w/ my script at the moment 😀
So glad that you liked 2D1N. Such a fantastic, simple movie. Marion was superb!
Hi Fernando, sorry it’s been a super hectic weekend. Yeah Marion’s performance is just superb but the story is wonderful too, I love human drama that’s engaging like that.
Yep! And so simple.
YAY! You saw Two Days, One Night! 😀 You know I love the Dardennes and Cotillard. It was a match made in heaven.