Maybe the most impressive feat Paulo Sorrentino pulls off with The Great Beauty is one of restraint; in two hours and twenty minutes, not a single reference is made to the man whose actions most strongly inform the backdrop of the Italian filmmaker’s latest picture. That would be Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s erstwhile prime minister and unapologetic career scoundrel, whose bunga bunga stink wafts through every orgiastic party Sorrentino stages throughout his exquisitely crafted film. But that just speaks to the lasting impact Berlusconi’s negligence and corruption have had on Italian society since his resignation in 2011; no one need mention his name to invoke his presence. He’s a specter looming…
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G-S-T Review…Black Nativity
There’s nothing worse than reviewing a mediocre film made up of a trio of elements I actually like. In that respect, Black Nativity is a compressed version of my personal hell; it’s helmed by Kasi Lemmons, the gifted director behind such treasures as Talk to Me and Eve’s Bayou, it boasts a phenomenal cast that begins with Forest Whitaker (nearly ubiquitous in 2013) and ends with Angela Bassett, and it calls on the works of the great Langston Hughes to serve as its foundation. But none of that winds up mattering much, because ultimately Black Nativity winds up doing little more than just existing; it’s there, but it’s not especially good. If you’re a glass half-full type, that suggests the…
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G-S-T Review…Frozen
Walt Disney revolutionized animation and brought it to the forefront of entertainment. Decades later the company has acquired some of the largest franchises in history like Marvel (most characters), Lucas Arts, even The Muppets in attempts to continue telling great stories. But while they have been focused on repackaging and pushing the continuing legacies of their newest acquisitions they still remember their roots and know how to tell a quality yarn even treading thin ice with their computer animated feature Tangled. Well the gamble paid off and really surprised people. Disney’s CG animators/storytellers used that momentum and took things even further with the mammothly successful Wreck-It Ralph. Seems that the future lies in…
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G-S-T Review…Alexander Payne's Nebraska
Nebraska could well just be subtitled as The Importance of Being Monotint. In a year where everyone and their cool grandma has gone back to black and white, Alexander Payne uses the absence of chroma better than most, or at least in a way that’s more viscerally effective. In two hours, Payne cobbles together a shockingly accurate portrait of the US’s flyover states, at least as envisioned by those of us living on the East and West coasts; they’re desolate, barren, cultural wastelands, places that time has forgotten, populated by people modernity has passed by. Seems like the perfect starting point for an acerbically funny critique of the world Payne himself…
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Interview…Voice Artist and Film Music Specialist Tim Burden
We at GoSeeTalk claim to be huge film score fans but there’s someone we know who puts both our passion and knowledge to shame. Hailing from London, living in Northern Ireland since 1990, host on a number of film and music related outlets, including his own “Movie Magic” show, is one Tim Burden. Raised on golden era Hollywood music his father was the John H. Burden, a past principal of the London Symphony Orchestra who played on some of the most iconic film scores of all time. I’ve admired his work and professionalism for some time and admittedly there’s a bit of Tim Burden’s “movie magic” in all my interviews. You may…
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“What’s New on Blu?” – Week of 11/25/13
Whether you rent or buy movies, Blu-ray offers the ultimate in sight and sound. Streaming is convenient, but if you plan on watching the movie more than once, you need Blu. So, What’s New On Blu? you ask. Well, good, bad or indifferent, Go,See,Talk offers up some of the titles being released each week. Check out what’s hitting the shelves this week… ——————————————————————————————————————————— Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they’ll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on…
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Off the Shelf…’Frances Ha’
Culturally, Frances Ha almost feels like Noah Baumbach issuing a challenge to all listless twenty-somethings stubbornly fixated on spending their time finding themselves: get found already, dammit. Throughout his career, Baumbach has showcased a knack for capturing the unbearable sensation of being emotionally unmoored, and across his entire filmography, Frances Ha – lyrical, succinct, rapturously authentic – may display that talent better than the rest. Think of it as a quartet of Girls episodes mashed together into an eighty minute bonanza of comic incident, if you must; the film is set in New York, and focuses on the travails of a young, white, up and coming female struggling to make her dreams come…
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G-S-T Review…Delivery Man
Delivery Man is a new movie starring Vince Vaughn as a middle aged slacker. For those of you familiar with Vince Vaughn’s work, you generally have a good idea of what to expect. Most of the time his movies are either hit or miss. He plays a very distinct slacker role in most of his films and this film is no different. The thing this movie has going for it, right out of the gate, is that it has a premise with depth and heart. Since this movie is coming out right before Thanksgiving, those are two good qualities to possess. But, are those two qualities enough to help this…
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Sweet Trailer…'Sabotage'
After two rather luke-warm receptions at the box office (well we quite liked The Last Stand) Arnold Schwarzenegger is back for his third full headlining post-Governator outing and man does this high-octane shoot-em-up look to finally deliver the goods. Originally titled “Ten”, David Ayer’s action thriller Sabotage puts an macho spin on Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians as it as follows an elite DEA task force who are taken out, one at a time, after they successfully rip off a drug cartel safe house. Directed by David Ayer (End of Watch) and written by Skip Woods, Schwarzenegger leads this elite task force that goes after the world’s deadliest drug cartels.…
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G-S-T Review…Narco Cultura
Mexico’s longstanding drug war has made for some stellar visual media in the last few years, influencing aspects of shows like Breaking Bad and providing a blueprint for films like 2012’s Savages or, much more recently, The Counselor; sitting pretty from afar, the ultra-violence that punctuates the wheeling and dealings of this outrageously lucrative business makes for a viscerally captivating narrative, allowing us to portray the realities of cartel brutality while skirting around genuinely confronting them. It’s human tragedy made into slick entertainment, not necessarily ignorant of the legitimate suffering they’re cashing in on but almost always woefully reluctant to fully confront it. Shaul Schwarz, however, isn’t satisfied with addressing…
