Among the many established or iconic locales famous for gambling, the Las Vegas Strip has been a very popular cinematic setting over the years. From films like Warren Beatty’s Bugsy (1991), the Joe Pesci/Robert De Niro classic Casino (1995), hell even Chevy Chase’s Vegas Vacation (1997), there’s something undeniably cool and edgy about “The Strip” (except maybe that National Lampoon one). Yet in the city of sin, or wherever you try and find Lady Luck, when you pony up to the tables sometimes you’re putting more than just some colorful chips on the line. Unfortunately, as one Danny Ocean astutely comments, the underlying rule is that “the house always wins“, but it’s not always the case as…
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G-S-T Top 10 – Movies Off The Beaten Path – Round 4
After a two-month hiatus, we’re back with the next installment of “Movies off the Beaten Path”. Movies, and the entertainment business, can be highly hit or miss because of ranging tastes in film and how people approach the medium. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you hear about a movie and have no desire to see it and don’t. You may even avoid it at all costs. In other cases you have no idea the film exists until someone points it out to you, years after its original release. The following entries in our series of Top 10 lists are films I happened to stumble upon or that were recommended to me. Whether…
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G-S-T Review…Hyde Park On Hudson
Hyde Park on Hudson recounts the royal visit of King George VI (who you may remember from Colin Firth’s portrayal in The Kings Speech, depicted here by actor Samuel West), and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) to Hyde Park from the perspective of Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney), who at this time has recently become FDR’s (Bill Murry) mistress. Unbeknownst to Daisy, she’s not the only secret Roosevelt is keeping. The screenplay is based on actual events discussed in diary entries and letters that belonged to Daisy. The correspondence was found after her death, and the affair she had kept a secret for most of her life was finally revealed. The royal visit begins with…
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Dallas Filmmakers Make Sundance Line-Up
Yesterday, The Sundance Institute announced their 2013 line-up of US and World Cinema Competition films as well as films in their NEXT program line-up. As several of us from the Go, See, Talk team are Dallasites, we were delighted to see some familiar Dallas names associated with films that made the list. Among these films were David Lowery’s western drama, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Austinite Yen Tan’s Pit Stop, and Dallas native Shane Carruth’s (Primer) Upstream Color. Ain’t them Bodies Saints, “The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met,” and Upstream Color, about a man and…
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G-S-T Review…Hitchcock
Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock tells the story behind the making of the 1960’s horror flick, Psycho. Beyond that however, it uncovers a story behind the film, and behind the man himself. Some synopses refer to John Mclaughlin’s script as a love story, and this is certainly one aspect that exists within the multi-layered plot. Alma is the wife of Alfred Hitchcock. She is also a writer, producer and sometime-director, and according the film, the final say behind every script that Hitchcock turns into a film. It is Alma’s notes that he eagerly awaits on the set of Psycho, Alma who saves the movie when Hitchcock gets sick and shooting is three days…
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[AFF Review]…The Sapphires
Based on the true story of screenwriter Tony Briggs’s family, and adapted from the 2004 stage production, about an Aboriginal girl band, The Sapphires is set in 1968 Australia, when racism was prevalent, causing the girls talent to go unnoticed. That is until they meet Dave Lovelace (Chris O’Dowd, Bridesmaids), a local Irishman who happens to play piano accompaniment at one of the venues where the girls perform. O’Dowd is hilarious and loveable as the eccentric Lovelace, and his performance is a highlight of the film through comic relief and O’Dowd’s undeniable charm. Dave sees something in the girls that the town refuses to notice due to the racism that exists within the community. Dave quickly appoints…
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[AFF Review]…Hyde Park On Hudson
Hyde Park on Hudson recounts the royal visit of King George VI (who you may remember from Colin Firth’s portrayal in The Kings Speech, depicted here by actor Samuel West), and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) to Hyde Park from the perspective of Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney), who at this time has recently become FDR’s (Bill Murry) mistress. Unbeknownst to Daisy, she’s not the only secret Roosevelt is keeping. The screenplay is based on actual events discussed in diary entries and letters that belonged to Daisy. The correspondence was found after her death, and the affair she had kept a secret for most of her life was finally revealed. The royal…
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[BFI London Film Festival Review]…No
Gael García Bernal stars in Pablo Larraín’s third film to reflect on the brutality of the Pinochet regime in Chile during the almost twenty years they were in power. No, examines the inner workings of war propaganda, and is based on the real-life ‘No Campaign’ against Pinochet, that was established during the 1988 referendum. Once Renè is hired to work on the campaign, he quickly does away with the stories of sorrow and bitterness the opposition has made their focus, and replaces them with jingles, advertising clips showing joyful scenes of ‘happy’ people, and a logo that consists of a large rainbow along side the word ‘no.” The campaign proves…
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[BFI London Film Festival Review]…Ginger & Rosa
Sally Potter’s incredible film explores aspects of female friendship from the perspective of 17-year-olds Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert, daughter of director Jane Campion), as they attempt to navigate their way through adolescence during Cold War, 1960’s Europe. Ginger and Rosa epitomize the rebel, Beatnik culture of the 60’s; they even dress the part, and their determination not to become their mother’s, both aging housewives who have been left by the men who once loved them, is a nod to the changing times, as well as one of the many aspirations that serve to bond the two girls. At first this bond appears as though it may never…
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[BFI London Film Festival Review]…Midnight’s Children
Over thirty years after the novel’s publication, Salman Rushdie’s film adaptation of his Booker prize-winning novel has come to fruition. With so many years of waiting and anticipation, the film has a lot to live up to, and the complicated nature of the book is a challenging body of work to attempt to fit into 148 minutes of film. Rushdie wrote the screenplay with Oscar-nominated director, Deepa Mehta, resulting in a whimsical interpretation of an epic tale with beautiful imagery and magical powers that gives the story a fairytale quality. The problem with this approach is one that is common in films with story lines spanning several decades, it often…
