Magic in the Moonlight - Woody Allen (2014)

Last year Allen picture full of sharp script and beautiful imagery (the Riviera in the 1920s). It's mostly dialogue, with british irony and accuracy on one side (Colin Firth) and american naturalness on the other (Emma Stone). The backbone of the story is the match (meeting or clash) between reason and love.

Her - Spike Jonze (2013)

"Her" is a programme, computer stuff, and could have been "him" indeed, just the client's appeal. And the client is Theodore Twambly, that's a name, a sensble man with a womanly half inside (we are told). Science fiction about feelings, love ones, friends, relations, you name it. Real life is this way but for the fantastic side of the story, when Samantha (her, the programme) goes berseck, speeds up into the next dimension or whatever. Great movie.

Enough Said - Nicole Holofcener (2013)

The late Gandolfini plays the part of a bearman second to main actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus in this romantic comedy.  Writer and director Nicole Holofcener hits the target once more (I love her movies). Sensitive little details all the time spicing the plot, humorous enough by the other way. This great line at the end of one dialogue: "I'm tired of being funny". I'm not tired of Holofcener.

The Place Beyond The Pines - Derek Cianfrance (2013)

I wondered about the title and here's the explanation: It's the translation to english of Schenectady, the name of the city (loosely mohawk) where the action takes place. The story is a crime drama which expands along the years involving two generations. There's this cool guy, a motorcycle boy who gets into trouble as all motorcycle boys tend to do. The good point about him (and about the other main character, the officer, by the way) is that he's not good not bad, but something in between. Same as life itself.

Se pueden ver

Argo - Ben Affleck (2012). Real story told the way it happened with just a plus of dramatism to achieve the thrill expected.
Gracias por fumar - Ivan Reitman (2005). Colorida y dinámica obra con agudos diálogos que no pasa a mayores logros.
Liberal Arts - Josh Radner (2012). Romantic comedy with campus and poetry books. Pleasant dialogues too.
Los Idus de marzo - George Clooney (2011). Thriller político que nos descubre el competitivo mundo de los asesores de campaña.
All The King's Men - Robert Rossen (1949). An american tale about a once honest man who becomes the governor of the state.
El mal ajeno - Oskar Santos (2010). Entretenido film con hospital e ingrediente fantástico.
A Roma con amor - Woody Allen (2012). Cuatro historias con el sello Allen y el patrocinio del ayuntamiento romano.
Café de Flore - Jean Marc Vallee (2011). Dos bien contadas historia familiares que acaban conectándose de modo sorprendente.
Mátalos suavemente - Andrew Dominik (2012). Violento film de gangsters malhablados llevado con buen ritmo.
Caos calmo - Antonello Grimaldi (2008). O el hombre de los abrazos. Bonita reflexión sobre los sentimientos de un hombre en una encrucijada de su vida.
Blue Valentine - Derek Cianfrance (2010). A marriage in two parts; how it began and how's ending.
Como locos - Drake Doremus (2011). Otra historia de amor contada a ras de suelo, como la vida misma.

Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino (2012)

Italian style western by Tarantino. That means, you know, good script, good cinematography, appropiate music and some bullet and blood showers; the last not being everybody's cup of tea. The most atractive character is not Django, in my view, but the well spoken and clever Dr Schultz. The story is well developed and interest is maintained along the nearly three hours it runs. Enjoyable if you forget for a while about ethics.

Estas pelis me han gustado

The French Kissers - Riad Sattouf (2009). Divertida y fresca historia de adolescentes en Francia. Ganó un César a la primera película.
Ruby Sparks - Jonathan Dayton (2012). Talented Zoe Kazan wrote and played the story, a romantic fantasy mix of comedy and drama.
Laurel Canyon - Lisa Chodolenko (2002). Half a dozen human beings meet in LA and have some lively experiences.
Antes del atardecer - Richard Linklater (2004). Es la secuela mejorada de "Antes del amanecer". Un paseo por París y una intensa conversación sobre ésto y lo otro.
Silencio de hielo - Baran Bo Odar (2010). Cine negro del norte de Europa con luminosa fotografía.
Nader y Simin, una separación - Asghar Farhadi (2011). Multipremiada película iraní. Cada escena y cada diálogo se antojan pura realidad.
El tiempo de los gitanos - Emir Kusturica (1988). Cruda historia de supervivencia con elementos fantásticos y buen humor.
Without Love - Harold S Bucquet (1942). This is the third film together of the Tracy -Hepburn team. A romantic comedy part of the war effort.
La impetuosa - George Cukor (1952). La misma pareja diez años después en otra comedia de final previsible pero que tiene su encanto.
La chica muerta - Karen Moncrieff (2006). Bien urdida trama de cine negro narrada desde cinco puntos de vista.
This is Spinal Tap - Rob Reiner (1983). Cult movie filmed as a false documentary that tells the story of the rise and fall of a rock band.
Susurros del corazón -Yoshifumi Kondo (1995). Película de animación que cuenta una bonita historia de adolescentes que leen. Los dibujos son preciosos.
Heaven Knows Mr Allison - John Huston (1957). Robert Mitchum is a marine an Deborah Kerr a nun in  a Pacific island during WWII. Some charming dialogues and a convincing end.

Detour - Edgar G. Ulmer (1945)

Film noir thriller, and cult movie they say."It could happen to you" kind of story with an efficient voice-over being wise. A virtuous pianist goes west hitchhiking (so his art wasn't decently paid) and chance takes care. Then a "Cigarette-puffing femme fatale" (Ann Savage, what a name) tries to handle him without care.

The Grapes Of Wrath - John Ford (1940)

Do you think we've got a crisis nowadays?. That was a crisis. The novel had been published only a year before and the great John Ford put it in pictures the way he knew. There's not only one main character, Tom Joad/Henry Fonda, but a bunch of them; remarkable the former preacher Casy/John Carradine and his deep quiet voice always expressing sensible things. A mystery how that wheel didn't break down some place along route sixty six.

Undercurrent - Vincente Minnelli (1946)

A mystery tale with an eager and enthusiastic Katharine Hepburn playing the main role with the escort of the always handsome Robert Taylor and the upcoming Robert Mitchum. The story is well told and the doubt stands till the end. Miss Hepburn has also the chance to appear in some fancy clothes and look beautiful.

Human Desire - Fritz Lang (1954)

This is one of the many film noirs that Lang made along the forties and fifties. In the main roles a not so expressive Glenn Ford and a sensual Gloria Grahame. The story comes from a Zola's novel. The plot is settled in the midwest in a railway environment. Good rythm and engaging train images "chugging down the track" while the engineer at charge watched the scenery and smoked happily .

Movie, movie

Algunas otras películas que he visto últimamente:

Four lions - Chris Morris (2010)
A satire about a bunch of stupid terrorists. That's the point.
Criadas y señoras - Tate Taylor (2011)
Colorida historia sobre la segregación racial en el sur (de USA) hace no tanto.
La voz dormida - Benito Zambrano (2011)
La posguerra y las cárceles franquistas de mujeres.
Ciudad de ladrones - Ben Affleck (2010)
La épica del buen ladrón en Boston.
El niño de la bicicleta - Hnos Dardenne (2011)
Un indomable niño belga, tenaz como él solo, quiere una familia.
No habrá paz para los malvados - Enrique Urbizu (2011)
Thriller con policía de vuelta de todo.
The descendants - Alexander Payne (2011)
Some clues about life, love and death with George Clooney.
No controles - Borja Cobeaga (2010).
Fallida comedia con alguna gracia de Julián López.
Little Manhattan - Mark Levin (2009)
Little and tender story about a first love at ten.
Las malas hierbas - Alain Resnais (2009)
Desconcertantes comportamientos en una historia bien narrada.
La piel que habito - Pedro Almodóvar (2011)
Almodovoriana historia sobre identidades.
Wall Street 2 - Oliver Stone (2010)
Hábil secuela con incongruente final feliz.

Mary and Max - Adam Elliot (2009)

This is a brilliant animation film about a friendship between an australian misfortuned girl and a not less ill-prepared for living middleaged man from New York. Strangely enough the best in the movie is the sense of humour. The development of the story it's really funny and also touching. Life as crude as it is and two pen pals who hold each other's hand against all odds.

My name is Julia Ross - Joseph H Lewis (1945)

A b movie in the film noir department, this is a "neat little thriller" that could have been directed by Alfred Hitchcock himself. The girl is Nina Foch, a silent movie kind of beauty with big eyes and some resemblance to Marlene Dietrich. The running time is just over an hour.

Lonesome Jim - Steve Buscemi (2005)

This film was a complete failure when released. Strange with all the known names involved. I have liked it. The narration goes smoothly and in spite of the sadness floating around the movie is really funny. Humble people in an medium-sized city in Indiana and a very down to earth story where the pleasant girl in her twenties, beautiful Liv Tyler, happens to be a single mother.

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen (2011)

It's striking how easily Woody Allen makes up a film (a pleasant one) out of the blue. He did it in Barcelona and now he does it in Paris. The scenery helps, you run around the city without actually having to pay the aperitif (so expensive there, they tell). The screenwriter working on a novel resembles of Allen, of course. There is a fantasy (not so original) and a tribute to the mythical cultural life in Paris along the years. The explicit message comes in this line of the dialogue: "The present is a little unsatisfying because life is a little unsatisfying".

The Company Men - John Wells (2010)

We keep on chatting about the crisis here. Ben Affleck is the human hero in an american tale where one can always appeal to the family. Life is more than ever a war with defeats, some victories now and then and casualties always. Good acting and pleasant to watch. The future may be, as they say here, to come back to the times when men made real things, as houses or ships.

The Inside Job - Charles Ferguson (2010)

This documentary film won the oscar last year, a circunstance few people care about, I guess. It's peculiar that the structure is that of a fiction movie. The songs, the sceneries, the characters neatly divided in good and bad guys. The bad guys either declined to appear in the film or, if they do, stutter miserably. Curiously one of the good guys is Strauss-Kahn, now in disgrace. The story is the financial crisis, how it came to happen and how, incredibly, a few greedy executives took the money (a lot of) and run.

The Next Three Days - Paul Haggis (2010)

Haggis is here the screenwriter also and the movie is a thriller about an "amour fou", because no less than a crazy love is required to make a school teacher be determined to "rescue" his wife from the county prison. The suspicion about she being guilty or innocent remains till the end. Not as good as his master work "Crash", the story is enjoyable.

The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Chodolenko (2010)

Great picture about a family with two moms but not so different after all. All of us are just human in the end. The outside factor that stirs things up in the family life is an easygoing pal who captivates all of them. The story is smartly developed and the acting is really good. There's also a tribute to Joni Mitchell and a more subtle one to David Bowie.