Who is Paul Newman? What is Paul Newman?

A beautiful "hommage" to Paul Newman.

Paul Newman

The desert in movies

Another brilliant compilation made by the french tv channel Arte: Cinema and the desert.

Color in Movies - Green

And finally, the color GREEN in movies.

GREEN in Movies

Color in Movies - Yellow

Now the color YELLOW in movies.

YELLOW in Movies

Color in Movies - Red

And now the color RED in the movies

Color in Movies - Blue

Colors are very important in Cinema. We all remember some particular scene in a movie where a color caused a strong impression on us. Or a director whose style includes a special attention to the colors. Selecting some of the greatest movies or movie scenes that used a particular color seems a great idea. And the french tv channel Arte did just that. The result is a small set of delicious videos that you can watch in this post and the following! We'll start with the color BLUE.

Blue in Cinema

My top 10 movies from 2012

I'm a bit late, but here is the list of my 10 favourite movies released in Portugal in 2012.
I didn't have the time to watch all the movies I was wishing for. Some of the ones I haven't watched could have made it into this list. The movies are ordered randomly. 

1 - Argo (by Ben Affleck)

2 - The Dark Knight Rises (by Christopher Nolan)

3 - The Descendants (by Alexander Payne)

4 - Hugo (by Martin Scorsese)

5 - Trouble with the Curve (by Robert Lorenz)

6 - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (by Stephen Chbosky)

7 - Shame (by Steve McQueen)

8 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (by Peter Jackson)

9 - Skyfall (by Sam Mendes)

10 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (by David Fincher)

And the Oscar goes to...

Wes Anderson I love you, but you're bringing me down.

James Murphy's inspired song, reflect the feeling I get from every single film Wes Anderson has ever directed.
Well, except for Rushmore (1998) which I just don't get. 

The world met Anderson's distinctive aesthetic twelve years ago: The Royal Tenenbaumms (2001) premiered in Portugal at Fantasporto and soon became one of my favourite films ever. Margot desperation and Richie’s secret love for her, makes us realise that not time nor distance will restrain soul mates from fulfilling their destiny. Chas’ mourning is sad and makes wonder how we would react in the same situation. And Royal rediscovering his tremendous affection for his family is endearing.

2004’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as far as I see it, is the reason why films exist! It’s two hours of pure adventure, it has the best maritime shooting, and is the perfect homage to the explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

The film also features Brazilian singer and actor Seu Jorge, whose character is named Pelé dos Santos and sings David Bowie’s songs in Portuguese. About this, the legendary British musician said «Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs in Portuguese I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with.»

Set mostly in India, The Darjeeling Limited (2007) is about three estranged brothers, set out to meet their mother. The journey starts out with strong resentment, but the time spent together heals all wounds and they finally release themselves from the heavy weight of the past, on a smart metaphoric scene: we see them throwing away their dead father’s luggage, after carrying it around throughout the whole film. Bags which, by the way, were a successful partnership with the brand Louis Vuitton

The film itself has a prologue: Hotel Chevalier, a short film starring Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman, about love and a broken heart.

Wes Anderson would surprise his fans in 2009, or maybe not. His work always had a characteristic – which I cannot explain – that distances his films from the real world, despite the strong and complex human traits that all characters carry.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated film about a fox with a dilemma: should he respect his wife’s request and be a responsible / respectable family man or just follow to his rebellious instincts? Well, he chooses the latter and the fight for survival of his family and community begins. Having main characters voiced by Meryl Streep and George Clooney, this film soon acquired cult status.

Last year, Anderson returned with Moonrise Kingdom. It tells us the story of two teenagers, but it could easily be about grown-ups. They meet, they fall for each other and they’re unable to be apart. The feeling they grow is too powerful to keep inside. They elope. And become more and more in love. How to live without each other? Not even when facing the most challenging perils and society’s obstacles Sam and Suzy consider such possibility.  

For Wes Anderson, it's all about the colour scheme, the detailed wardrobe, the perfect timeless soundtrack, the quirky dialogues, and the inside chaos found on each character. 

Every single individual he creates starts out in pain or has reached an impasse. But each one, in every film, is faced with a journey and will overcome the gloomy shadow that embraces him and find true bliss and serenity.

Anderson shows how every strained spirit will find his own path. In the end, no matter what, it will all workout. 

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.