New York, I love You

In any case, the film is so hermetically conceived when it comes to its characters, that a sense of place is deemed secondary. And if one suspends disbelief about that whole New York conceit, the vignettes range from mildly humorous to relentlessly tedious, as the seemingly endless 'look at me' vanity procession drags its feet along to the credits.


[newsblaze.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2009 04:51PM by askanewyorker.

I just saw Breakfast at tiffany's for the first time this weekend!
Add this to my list!

Precious

[www.themovieinsider.com]

PRECIOUS will be released to theaters today Friday November 6. The movie is starring Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, Gabourey Sidibe and directed by Lee Daniels. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

<strong>Time.com
Because the early screening of Precious came with a warning from the publicist to bring tissues, I fully expected to be a goner. Yet there I sat dry-eyed through all of Lee Daniels' screen adaptation of Sapphire's celebrated 1997 novel Push. The movie has the kind of authenticity and ugly immediacy that make the tears of a viewer sitting in the dark safety of a movie theater seem a little silly — indulgent even. Read More

Huffington Post
Part of the magic of movies is their ability to take you places you otherwise couldn't - or wouldn't - take yourself. From the fantasy realm of extraterrestrial adventures to the life-and-death setting of a battlefield, film can teach us about ourselves by allowing us to experience the lives of others. Read More

Wall Street Journal
Just a few weeks ago, "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire," looked to be this year’s requisite heartwarming movie story. The elements were all there: a difficult subject that made financing almost impossible (until a millionaire guardian angel stepped in!); an unknown star whose virtuoso performance is garnering Oscar buzz; celebrity backing by no less than Oprah Winfrey; lots of gushing stories in the mainstream media. Read More

RopeofSilicon.com
For almost 90-percent of it's runtime Precious is so bleak and downright desperate you wouldn't need to explain yourself if you told me you didn't want to see it. However, should you go against what your instincts are telling you, you will end up seeing an eternally hopeful film that is hands-down the best drama I have seen in 2009 so far. Read More

Precious Synopsis: Lee Daniels's PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome.
Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo'Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.
Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn't know the meaning of "alternative," but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2009 06:34AM by askanewyorker.

[www.slashfilm.com]

Brooklyn’s Finest. The film tells the story of three unconnected Brooklyn cops who struggle with the rules that define how they conduct themselves in and off the job. After a vastly different series of events, the three cops collide in one location in the film’s tragic climax.

Read more: Sundance Movie Review: Brooklyn’s Finest | /Film [www.slashfilm.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2010 08:56AM by askanewyorker.

Why I Am Bearish on Oliver Stone’s Wall Street Sequel

[/b]http://www.observer.com/2010/daily-transom/why-i-am-bearish-oliver-stone%E2%80%99s-iwall-streeti-sequel-plus-few-words-about-michael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2010 06:14AM by askanewyorker.

City Island
I saw a screening of this over a year ago at The Tribeca Film Festival and it's just being released. I've yet to go to City Island but this is a gem of a movie. Need to get there soon.

[www.hulu.com]

The Cruise

Part Allen Ginsberg, part Woody Allen with a sprinkling of Harvey Fierstein and Albert Camus Timothy Speed Levitch takes you on a unforgettable tour of NYC - The genuineness of his love for NYC, it's history, it's culture is infectious- There is an alluring innocence about Levitch though you can't help wondering what the issue or issues are that darken his soul; is it drugs, his sexuality, mental illness? Add Levitch to the long list of highly actualized, highly troubled human beings whose struggles illuminate the journey. The scene of his visit to the grounds of the twin towers is haunting and you wonder if this film could have been made in post 9/11 world



[www.sundancechannel.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2010 11:04AM by askanewyorker.

'Daddy Longlegs'
By STEVE DOLLAR
Filmmakers searching for a classic New York vibe often are thwarted by gentrification, from Times Square to the Lower East Side. Yet brothers Josh and Benny Safdie found exactly what they were looking for when they shot their new film, "Daddy Longlegs," last year. "What we love about Midtown," Josh Safdie said, "is no matter what people do, come 6 p.m. that place is exactly the same way it's been for 30 years."


[online.wsj.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2010 08:53AM by askanewyorker.

Jack Goes BoatingThis is entertainment for grown harts. Love, lies and comedy 13 September 2010


Hoffman has made a delightful movie classic. A nice balance of humor in a serious film with not so uplifting scenes of life, in amongst the drama of movie romance. This is one of the best films at Sundance and one of the best this year. Its an experience to get a bit lost in, yes a film experience.

Jack Goes boating is the directorial debut of Philip Seymour Hoffman and what a debut. A very complex film for a first timer. It would seem his experience as an actor payed off, now working with other actors and actresses behind the camera




[www.imdb.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2010 04:29PM by askanewyorker.

Waiting for Superman

Much of the film is told compellingly and heartbreakingly through the wide-eyed innocence of five children. There is Anthony, a Washington, D.C., fifth-grader; Daisy, same grade, 3,000 miles away in East L.A.; Francisco, a Bronx first-grader; Bianca, a Harlem kindergartener; and Emily, a Silicon Valley eighth-grader. No children profiled come from the great swatch of the American Heartland, which nags around the edges of this riveting portrait, though the statistics offered up would suggest the problems are as pervasive as they are entrenched. The film is already kicking up dust in large part because of what is arguably a broadside attack on teachers unions, and indeed they do not fare well on the Guggenheim scale.



[articles.latimes.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2010 05:58PM by askanewyorker.

The Legend of Pale Male
IMDb
ý1hr 25minýý - Documentaryý
Director: Frederic Lilien -
This is the true account of one of the most surprising and remarkable love stories in the history of New York. It begins in 1993, when a young man from Belgium looking to change his life has an unexpected encounter in Central Park. He meets a hawk. Not just any hawk, but a wild Redtail, a more »fierce predator that has not lived in the City for almost a hundred years. Compelled to follow this extraordinary creature, he buys a video camera and sets out to track the hawk. Little does he know that the journey will take him almost twenty years and lead him down many trails of life, death, birth, hope, and redemption. « less

Showtimes
Angelika Film Center New York
18 West Houston Street, New York, NY
11:00am 1:05 3:15pm

I just saw City Island this weekend- loved it! I have absolutely got to go there on one of my visits, it looks a cool place. Wonder if Andy Garcia would meet me.....