Feel a Film

Robert Bresson speaking about the relation between the audience and his movies.

Just Tarantino being Awesome - PG18

Tarantino's Mind

One more step in the preparation for receiving Django Unchained. A very interesting and very funny approach to Tarantino's work and the way all of his movies are connected. Tarantino already said that he sees all his movies as parts of a single body of work. In this short movie we get to know a very special theorie about that. Tarantino's Mind!

Encyclopedia Tarantino

In Portugal we're in the countdown for the premiere of Django Unchained, the new Tarantino. While we wait  we can prepare ourselves reading this impressive compilation of the very extense list of homages, influences and references in all Tarantino pictures. A true Encyclopedia Tarantino.

Encyclopedia Tarantino

"Mamã" premieres at Fantasporto 2013

"Mamã" premieres at Fantasporto 2013

The 33rd Fantasporto, Portugal’s biggest film fest (according to Variety) is coming. Held between the 25th February and the 10th March (national dates) and 1st -9th March (international competitions), Fantasporto brings the newest films in the three competitions (Fantasy, Directors Week and Orient Express) and also a full programme of retrospectives and tributes.

The 2013 edition will celebrate the most recent productions but also Michael Powell, the British director of so many masterpieces like “The Red Shoes” (1948), the 70th anniversary of the classic feature “Aniki Bobó” (1942), the film that portraits the city of Porto better than any other and directed by living legend Manoel de Oliveira and, last but not the least, The Stars of French Cinema, displaying all the beauty of its charismatic actors and actresses.

The Special Programm 2013, a sidebar of the festival crossing the Cinema with the Arts and Sciences, is dedicated to Cinema and Literature.  And in the section Fantas in Shorts, lots of films for free…

With the High Patronage of the Ministry of Culture, welcome to Porto, a World Heritage City  (by UNESCO). Next February and enjoy a film festival like no other!

5 Reasons For Loving Vertigo

These are not the only 5 reasons for loving Vertigo, or the main 5. These are just 5 good reasons I picked among several possible others. Instead of speaking about Hitchcock's masterful direction or Kim Novak and James Stewart's wonderful performances, I will focus on some more detailed aspects of the picture.

1. Bernard Herrmann's score

The music composed by Bernard Herrmann ties the movie together. It gives the movie the right mood in every moment, and conquers the audience since the opening titles. Someone said that, in the battle between Vertigo and Citizen Kane for the "best movie ever" title, the decisive factor is Bernard Herrmann. And I think this is a very interesting point.

2. Ernie's and Madeleine

This picture is painted with magnificent colours. And when we, and Scottie, get to meet Madeleine for the first time, she's at Ernie's, the restaurant in San Francisco (totally rebuilt in the studio). The camera takes us through the room, dominated by the red in its walls. And then we find Madeleine in a blue and green dress. Madeleine passes in front of our eyes, the camera freezes for a moment.

3. The museum and Carlotta

The sad Carlotta. The mad Carlotta. When Madeleine is playing Carlotta Valdes and visits Carlotta's painting at the museum, Scottie is on her tail. He hides and he watches how Madeleine gives so much attention to that particular painting and how similar she is to that woman she's looking at. And, in a wonderful shot, we watch Scottie watching Madeleine.

4. San Francisco bay

Scottie continues to follow every one of Madeleine's moves. She stops the car near the river, almost below the Golden Gate bridge. Scottie does the same. We are again in Scottie's position, and get this breathtaking view of Madeleine/Carlotta freezed, thinking, preparing her next step. The sky, the river and the bridge wonderfully captured in what is maybe the best shot in the movie.

5. The opening titles

The opening titles are very beautiful and set the tone for the entire movie. The music does that, as I already said, but the mysterious graphics, created by Saul Bass, used in this opening have also an important effect. And the close up of the eye, telling us from the beginning how important the look, an obsessive look, will be throughout the whole movie.

Not very well received in 1958, the movie was fully recovered and got back to the theaters in 1984. And it has been increasingly appreciated and considered as one of the greatest movies ever made.

Life of Calvin

Yet another version of Life of Pi's movie poster. Especially for Calvin & Hobbes' fans!

Let My Baby Ride

Roughly at the middle of Holy Motors we are struck by this wonderful sequence. Denis Lavant leads a group of musicians through a beautiful set playing some beautiful and powerful music. By Leos Carax.

Honest Titles for 2013's Oscar Nominated Movies

And now for an alternative, funnier, and maybe more honest version of some of the posters for the 2013 oscar nominated movies. Don't miss it! The link is here: Honest Titles for 2013's Oscar Nominated Movies

May The Force Be With Us

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-petition-response-youre-looking

The Sound of 2012 Movies

A very beautiful, hour-long, sound trip to the movies released in 2012 in the United States. If you hear it until the end, you will be overwhelmed by the magnificent end title music from Cloud Atlas, composed by one of the directors, Tom Tykwer.

Hear it at Soundcloud, here - Cinema Sound 2012

My TOP10 Movies of 2012

These are not the best movies from the past year. No one can decide what movies are the best for any year. But if anyone can, that person is certainly not me! These are just my personal favorites, my first 10 picks for the year 2012. And although this is just a personal choice, I think we have here a very nice set of movies! If you still didn't see them, I advise you to give it a try. Maybe these movies will help you "carry your luggage" during the new year, like Sam did for Suzy in Moonrise Kingdom, or help you avoid a state of loneliness similar to the one Brandon had in Shame.

To see the list, please click on the link below (click to play + put it on full screen):
My TOP10 Movies of 2012

The movies were chosen among the ones commercially released in Portugal during the year 2012.

Best Picture Of The Year

I used to love lists, especially movie lists because I'm so obsessed with the order of things, so it was important for me to arrange everything.

Now I don't really like this kind of list, because it is very variable through time and it is very reductive of the concept we're analyzing. The movies I choose and the order I choose always depend on the mood in the moment of the choice, just like what I feel about a movie and how it stays in my mind depends of the mood I was in when I watched it.

Anyway the idea is: each of the members of The Royal Films Club has to choose the top ten movies ordered of 2012. The movies we can consider are the ones which arrived to the Portuguese Theaters during this year.

So although this task is difficult for me, I don't have any doubt about the first title:

Shame was the movie of the year for me. And I know that this choice will remain in time, since Shame is one of those ageless movies, which portrays emotions that affect every single one of us. 

The three titles that follow are wonderful too. Then we have a solid number five. And afterwards we might have some variations. 

This was the final list I came up with:

1 - Shame (by Steve McQueen)
2 - Moonrise Kingdom (by Wes Anderson)
3 - L'Artist (by Michel Hazanavicius)
4 - Hugo (by Martin Scorcese)
5 - Argo (by Ben Affleck)
6 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (by Peter Jackson)
7 - Florbela (by Vicente Alves do Ó)
8 - Cloud Atlas (by Lana Wachowski, Andi Wachowski and Tom Tykwer)
9 - Brave (by Mark Andrews, Brend Chapman and Steve Purcell)
10 - Lawless (by John Hillcoat)

This exercise made me realize that we had some interesting pictures this year, but Shame is definitely the movie to remember. It was an outstanding picture which will prevail.

FANTASPORTO 2013

FANTASPORTO

This year's festival official poster.