Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label RabbitBandini Productions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RabbitBandini Productions. Show all posts
The colorful, in-your-face youthfully brash poster for Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers
Four young college girls must get away for their spring break; away from their depressing dorms to sunny Florida, even if their vacation is only made possible through a violent robbery. During their time there, they wallow in drink and drugs and send reassuring messages home to their families.
Spring Breakers, by writer-director Harmony Korine (Gummo (1997)), is a visually persuasive and impressive argument. - But for, or against, what? It seems too sophisticatedly made to be just a trite scare story about the dangers of guns, crime, drugs, uncontrolled partying and Miami spring breaks. One can easily project a lot of oneself into an analysis of the film, which doesn't stand out as strongly as related predecessors like Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Irréversible (2002).
The visually sensory-based, light-stressing universe is reminiscent of a Nicki Minaj music video (with cinematography by Benoît Debie (Get the Gringo (2012))) and, - together with the almost constant, wavy music (score by Cliff Martinez (Drive (2011)) and Skrillex (Smog City (2012, documentary))), - weigh up for the fact that the story moves slowly and at times feels secondary to the stunning visuals. It is incredible that Korine has managed to get the four promising young actresses to join him in this wild movie. SPOILER Their characters are mostly deeply unlikable, but so are the people that they kill, so any major reaction to these misdeeds remains absent. James Franco (Howl (2010)) is great and gives perhaps his career's most transformative performance as the silly-idiotic drug dealer Alien.
[Spring Breakers premiered September 4 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Korine has said he wanted to make the film to make up for his own missed spring breaks, which he used on skateboarding instead of pursuing hedonism. Emma Roberts was in talks to star in the film. Filming took place in Florida in and around March 2012. The film opened #27 in just 3 theaters to a huge 263k $ first weekend, peaking at #6 in 1,104 theaters in the US, where it grossed 14.1 mil. $ (44.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 4.6 mil. $ (14.5 %) and Canada with 1.7 mil. $ (5.4 %). Rapper Riff Raff has announced that he would sue the producers for "sampling" his life in Franco's character, but the suit doesn't seem to have materialized, perhaps unsurprisingly. Many critics included the film on their top 10 of the year lists, and Franco campaigned unsuccessfully for Oscar attention for his performance. Spring Breakers is fresh at 67 % with a 6.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Best Lead Actor: James Franco (lost to Stephen Dorff for Somewhere)
+ Best Art Film of the Year + Best Poster of the Year
A creative and very keen poster for Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman's Howl
Allen Ginsberg was the son of an insane mother and became a groundbreaking gay poet in 1950s New York, who after travels, hospital admissions, loves, relationships and personal insight reads and publishes his poem Howl, which causes outrage in 1955.
Howl tells the true story of Ginsberg and his titular poem, written and directed by great documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman (Lovelace (2013)), who make their fiction debut with it. It is an eclectic, attractive, stringent film, which both arranges the poem, lets Ginsberg speak, - through James Franco's (The Adderall Diaries (2015)) inspired performance, - and portrays the 1957 obscenity trial that the work underwent in San Francisco. This part of the film is adorned with such gifted actors as David Strathairn (Simon Birch (1998)), Jeff Daniels (Dumb & Dumber (1994)), Bob Balaban (Girl Most Likely (2012)) and Jon Hamm (Sucker Punch (2011)). Without my awareness, the film got under my skin and made a big emotional impact. It is touching, strong and exhilarating as the poem itself, which it breathes cinematic life into in the most ideal way with a mix of a resplendent Franco and playful animation created by Eric Drooker, who also collaborated with Ginsberg while he was still alive. Anyone interested in literature, poetry, wordplay and/or art in general should find themselves surrendering to this splendid, surprising gem.
Cost: Unknown Box office: At least 1.6 mil. $ = Unknown (but likely a big to huge flop) [Howl premiered January 21 (Sundance) and runs 85 minutes. It was shot in just 14 days in and around New York from March - April 2009. It opened #51 in just 6 theaters to a 51k $ first weekend, peaking in 29 theaters and grossing 617k $ (38.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 305k $ (19.1 %) and (surprisingly) Vietnam with 240k $ (15 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3/4 stars, a grade lower than this review. An extensive interview with the directors by the A.V. Club's Keith Phipps can be read here. Howl is fresh at 62 % with a 6.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Howl? Other poetry-centered films that you think are recommendable?
