About the author
To watch or not to watch? Anouk will tour around Amsterdam’s cinemas and answer this crucial question every Friday. Without mercy, of course. Sucky movies will be slaughtered, cinematographic pearls will be appreciated as such. Or the other way around. After all, good taste is in the eye of the beholder.
Somewhere
O yeah! There’s a new Coppola in town and again it’s a story about loneliness and estrangement; the first scene makes that crystal clear. A Hollywood actor, played by Stephen Dorff, lies in bed watching twins doing a ridiculous striptease. It’s sad and funny at the same time. We get it immediately: Dorff is not a happy guy. He’s an actor, but we don’t see him act. We see him at press events, in make-up rooms, alone in his hotel room, on stage in a stupid Italian TV-show. Sofia Coppola already proved with Lost in Translation that she is a master in the ‘show, don’t tell’ principle.
Dorff climbs out of his lethargic hole when his daughter (cute Elle Fanning) comes to live with him. Life suddenly seems a lot lighter. The interaction between the two is amazing and Dorff shows that he is more than just the typical Hollywood jerk. But the one who really stole my heart is ‘Jackass’ Chris Pontius, who has a small part as Dorff’s friend. Go out and see this movie! By the way, listen to the soundtrack song: ‘I’ll try anything once’ by The Strokes.
Watch this movie in:
The Movies, Cinecenter, Tuschinski
Barney’s Version
Why is Paul Giamatti such a good actor? Because he can be anything: mean (The Nanny Diaries), tragic, yet funny (Sideways), super weird (The Illusionist) and everything at the same time as Barney Panofsky in Barney’s Version. Giamatti is the owner of production company Totally Unnecessary Productions. An old cop is absolutely convinced that Barney killed his own (hot) friend Boogie many years ago, but couldn’t prove it, so he wrote a book about it.
The movie tells Barney’s version, but don’t think this is a thriller, a story about murder and suspense. No, this is about Barney. Who marries the wrong woman. Twice. Who has a great father (Dustin Hoffman, wow!) and, for a long time, is a very lucky guy. Wife of his dreams, two cool kids, beautiful house, the whole shebang. Needless to say, nothing stays the same forever. Things just change or you can change them yourself like Barney tries.
Also essential for a good time: get drunk with your friends. Don’t shoot them, like Barney.. Or didn’t he?
Watch this movie n in:
The Movies, City
13 Assassins
It’s on, bitches! Get your tickets while you still can! This Japanese samurai movie is shown at the Imagine Filmfestival in Kriterion. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will next week. Not only does the trailer promise a true spectacle, my friends do as well. Like little boys they showed me ‘awesome’ samurai moves, saying things like: ‘And then a whole body was chopped right through the middle!’ Woohoo! I have no idea what the movie is about. Something with a battle against a lord in feudal Japan. According to my friends it’s pretty bloody, but not in a B-movie sort of way. Bring it on!
Watch this movie in:
Kriterion
Sharing is caring!
Tweet
