Seeing those four dreamy and all encompassing words “Once Upon A Time” at the start of any story is a dead give away that what you are about to see is a fairy tale. Translation: not real. But what else does it mean? Is that meant to keep kids (or adults) from being scared? Or is this the only way to make us buy what the story is selling? Not sure but this has all the familiar hallmarks of a fairy tale. This isn’t Little Red Riding Hood and this sure ain’t kids stuff. Mama calls back to the darker Grimm fairy tales and, as per all the advertising, is in the vein of Pan’s…
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G-S-T Review…Gangster Squad
Based on a book by Paul Lieberman, Gangster Squad tells the true story of the secretive police unit that took down real life mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). In the film, just as it happened in real life, this elite group of officers were assembled for their uniqueness and proved to be the one and only method of freeing up the choke-hold Cohen had on L.A. in the mid to late 40’s. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) wastes no time immersing us in what kind of movie this will be. Like a whirlwind we are swept up in a kidnapping in progress that shows us Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and his talent for following his hunches even if it most…
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Here Are Your Nominees For the 85th Academy Awards
This morning, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the full list of nominees for the 85 Annual Academy Awards and it’s a surprising compilation. Like yesterday’s BAFTA nomination announcement there’s some love for Life of Pi and Django Unchained so that makes me happy. Also I’m happy to see all 5 animated films (and the superb Paperman short) get recognized. Take that BAFTAs! If you haven’t already seen the list, have a look at all of the 2013 nominees below. PICTURE: Amour Argo Beasts of the Southern Wild Django Unchained Les Misérables Life of Pi Lincoln Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty DIRECTOR: Michael Haneke – Amour Benh Zeitlin – Beasts…
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Nominees Announced for the 2013 EE British Academy Awards
Across the pond, in the land of the Queen, high tea, James Bond, and the 2012 Olympics, some of the world’s premier and distinguished entertainers come together to celebrate the contributions the Brits have made to the world of film and television with their own awards ceremony. Not limited strictly to British thespians and filmmakers the counterpart to our own Academy Awards, The BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), is one of many awards shows this time of year that honorsand lauds the best and brightest. The BAFTAs are quite a prestigious affair and they’ve just released their full list of nominees. Have a look below and start placing your bets now. The BAFTAs…
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Off the Shelf…’Frankenweenie’
When Young Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) loses his beloved dog in a car accident he uses the lessons learned from his science class to bring Sparky back to life. It’s a success (to some degree) but his new experiment doesn’t stay secret for very long as Sparky’s revival brings the attention of his classmates eager to win the upcoming science fair. Similarly it raises awareness of the parents who deem the kid’s teacher a crackpot and while the parents are somewhat occupied ousting the foreigner, the kids are left to their own devices. The competing students take Victor’s experiment and recreate it to some adverse affects. With monster…
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The Shape of Things to Come – GST’s Most Anticipated Films of 2013
We’ve closed the books on 2012 here at Go, See, Talk!– you can catch up on all of our individual takes on the year here, here, here, and here— and officially declared it “great”. That means that the time for retrospection has come and gone, and the time to look ahead has arrived. If 2012 turned out to be a banner year for film as an industry and as an art form, then what will 2013 bring? One short answer: a whole lot of science fiction. Indeed, nearly half of the entries on this list comfortably underneath that distinct storytelling umbrella, many of quite high profile, and that’s not even to…
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Off the Shelf…Jaume Balagueró’s ‘Sleep Tight’
From Jaume Balagueró, director of [REC] and [REC] 2, comes one of the best and most suspenseful films I’ve seen in at least a decade. It’s a taut, complex and magnificently dark thriller that doesn’t let up until the credits roll. Sleep Tight (or Mientras Duermes) follows a tortured soul named Caesar (Luis Tosar) who by some weird personal quirk is unable to be happy. Nothing will brighten his sour mood…except seeing others more upset, displeased or depressed than him. Yet before you think this sounds like some hokey story or an odd iteration of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, this really is something special. The visuals are wonderfully intricate for such simple surroundings and the…
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G-S-T Review…The Impossible
There’s a line spoken to a young boy in the middle of Juan Antonio Bayona’s film The Impossible that brings a lot of gravity to the events he and his family are currently experiencing. It really captures the theme of the story and comes in a scene where one of Ewan McGregor’s sons talks to a woman as they discuss the stars in the nighttime sky. He’s fond of star gazing (as evidenced by the gift of a new telescope he received for Christmas at the beginning of the film) and in their conversation the woman tells him that some of the stars he’s looking at have been dead for a long…
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Sweet (Teaser) Trailer…'Foosball'
From Toys to Bugs (or Antz), and from Gnomes to Smurfs and other assorted tiny creatures, computer animated films never fail to bring diminutive worlds to life on the big screen. From director Juan Jose Campanella comes this light-hearted and fun looking adventure into the world of foosball. That’s right, it’s not just for basement recreation or college bars anymore. The 3D animated film is about a young boy named Amadeo who, with the help of the foosball players, shrugs off his shyness and goes mano a mano against the infamous foosballer, the Champ. Enjoy! It’s just a teaser trailer so granted there’s not much to it. Still, with a little luck it looks like…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Marc’s 2012 Wrap Up
Year in and year out, from festivals to multiplexes the world over, film fans brave the dark of the cinema and are treated to what filmmakers have spent months/years crafting. The result? A mixed bag of titles from independent pictures to studio tent poles and with productions that range from shoe-string labor of loves to all out mega-budgeted features. Annually we theater goers witness a slew of hits and misses (sometimes more misses than hits) that light up the silver screen and 2012 was no different. For every half dozen stinkers we get one gleaming reason that kept us heading to the theaters and that’s what makes these year end lists…
