Matt Damon (the Bourne movies) is reportedly in talks to star in Torso for director David Fincher (Zodiac). If cast, Damon will play Eliot Ness, the famous Cleveland chief of police and former head of "The Untouchables" who spearheaded the search for the Cleveland Torso Murderer, so named because he only left the torsos of his victims, making them very difficult to identify.

Ehren Kruger (The Brothers Grimm) adapted the script from the Eisner Award winning comic book by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko, itself inspired by the true crime story. Torso's release is currently set for next year.

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One aspect of Telluride's 35^th film festival that was immediately apparent this year was the noticeable lack of U.S. entries in comparison to last year's event which yielded I'm Not There, Into the Wild, Juno, The Savages, Margot at the Wedding, Redacted and Rails and Ties. Instead, filmgoers were treated to a wide range of offerings from around the world that included Norway (O'Horten, by Bent Hamer of Kitchen Stories), Australia (Rolf de Heer's 12 Canoes), India (Firaaq), Denmark (Flame & Citron), Senegal (the documentary Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love), Ireland (Kisses), South Korea (The Good, the Bad and the Weird), the Czech Republic (Private Century), Kazakhstan (Tulpan), Romania (The Rest is Silence), and several contenders from the U.K. and France. 

No new Japanese films were in evident and the only upcoming American feature films being screened were American Violet (Tim Disney's true account of racial injustice in Texas in 2000) and the last minute arrival of Flash of Genius, another dramatization of a true story starring Greg Kinnear as college professor/inventor Robert Kearns who takes on the auto industry after they refuse to recognize his creation of the intermittent windshield wiper that he created and they appropriated. Paul Schrader's Adam Resurrected, however, was technically a Germany-Israeli production even though the cast included Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe. But on the documentary front, the U.S. was well represented with Kimberly Reed's Prodigal Sons (which became a hot ticket item after an enthusiastic first screening buzz), Nicholas Eliopoulos' Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies, Peggy Stern & John Canemaker's 25 minute short, Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood and Richard Schickel's chronicle of Warner Bros. - You Must Remember This, which one student festival attendee described as "really bad. I thought I was going to learn about the history of Warner Bros. studio but instead it was like a promotional film for specific movies they produced." 

The clear audience favorites were I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG, based on the novel by French author-turned-filmmaker Philippe Claudel about the reunion of two sisters, one of whom has recently been released from a 15-year jail sentence; Danny Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE in which an impoverished Hindu lad wins a fortune on the Indian TV equivalent of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and is subsequently arrested and harassed by the police who accuse him of cheating; and EVERLASTING MOMENTS, Jan Troell's period drama which opens in 1907 and charts the trials and tribulations of a Swedish housewife who becomes an accomplished photographer. 

Mike Leigh's new film, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, set in a London most tourists don't see, probably generated the most debate among festival-goers who were equally divided between those who loved the film's relentlessly upbeat heroine Poppy (Sally Hawkins) and those who wanted to conk her over the head. Poppy is one of those people who seem determined to force their cheerful exuberance on everyone they meet, particularly those who seem determined to resist her open manner and randy sense of humor. In real life, she would be insufferable but on the screen Sally Hawkins creates a vulgar but irrepressible lifeforce who is more effective in her quieter moments. The film seems rather shapeless and incomplete compared to most of Leigh's previous work and comes off as more of an improvisational actors' exercise. Yet Leigh tries to give the movie dramatic closure with an emotionally overwrought confrontation between Poppy and a misanthropic driving instructor who has been used as a comic straight man to Poppy's kookiness throughout the film. For a moment, it appears the movie is going to end on a downbeat note of complete contrivance but instead it transitions into a final but apt visual metaphor for Poppy's behavior - a rowboat going around in circles on a lake.  

In terms of revivals and repertory screenings, the 35^th TFF had much more to offer than any past festival I can recall – three of which were selected by this year’s guest director Slavoy Zizek, a Marxist philosopher and prolific author. They included Nicholas Ray’s ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952) with Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino, the 1947 film version of William Lindsay Gresham’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY starring Tyrone Power as the ambitious mentalist reduced to a carnival geek – the Hollywood ending was a travesty imposed on director Edmund Goulding by the Hayes Code, and John Frankenheimer’s contemporary “horror” film SECONDS (1966), which was a commercial failure upon release but remains a haunting, original work and features Rock Hudson in one of his finest dramatic roles. Also on the schedule was the David Fincher director’s cut of ZODIAC (probably the most overlooked major release of 2007), Terence Fisher and Antony Darnborough’s SO LONG AT THE FAIR (1950), an entertaining “gone missing” thriller set at the 1896 Paris Exhibition with Jean Simmons searching frantically for her vanished brother and being assisted by Dirk Bogarde, Richard Brooks’ ELMER GANTRY (1960), Jan Troell’s two-part epic THE EMMIGRANTS (1971) and THE NEW LAND (1972) in which Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman play Swedish peasants who attempt to make a new life for themselves in rural Minnesota – a visually stunning but emotionally exhausting experience, Dusan Makavejev’s rarely seen INNOCENCE UNPROTECTED (1968) from Yugoslavia, Rene Clair’s THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT (1928) with live musical accompaniment by Maud Nelissen, “Laughing ‘Til It Hurts” – a program of silent comedy shorts including Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Buster Keaton in The Cook (1918), Max Ophul’s gloriously restored and most complete version of LOLA MONTES (1955) featuring Martine Carol in the title role, the lush 1944 color melodrama THE GREAT SACRIFICE by German director Veit Harlan, famous for his Nazi propaganda films for Hitler, and the 1949 Soviet Union epic, THE FALL OF BERLIN from director Mikhail Chiaureli.

Among my favorite viewing experiences at the 35^th TFF were:

1) THE LAST COMMAND (1928) – One of the great silent films directed by Josef von Sternberg, this handsomely designed melodrama reflects a fascinating period in early Hollywood when European immigrants were arriving in Los Angeles and entering the film industry after fleeing political unrest and tyranny in their home lands. The beginning of the film which features an insider look at the mechanics of studio system moviemaking is actually a framing device that bookends the real story, one in which a high ranked general of the Czar loses everything in the Russian Revolution and is reduced to playing himself as a Hollywood extra in a movie version of the actual events. As the shell-shocked general, Emil Jennings proves why he is often considered one of the great silent film actors and in a smaller but pivotal role is William Powell playing a former Bolshevik turned Hollywood director. Adding immeasurably to the film’s effectiveness was a new music score performed live by the much loved Alloy Orchestra, a regular fixture at Telluride.  

3) PIROSMANI - This retrospective screening of Giorgi Shengelaya's 1969 biopic about the Georgian folk painter Nico Pirosmanichvili was introduced by festival co-director Tom Luddy. His account of how the festival managed to receive a beautiful archival print of the film from the Georgian Film Archives was as fascinating as the actual movie. Originally a rather battered 35mm print of PIROSMANI was slated to play as a backup in the event that the Georgian Film Archives couldn't deliver their vaulted copy. Then when Russia invaded Georgia just prior to the festival and all communication with the archives staff was cut off, Luddy assumed the inferior U.S. print of PIROSMANI was the only option and played its appearance down in the program schedule. In a strange twist of fate, the Georgian Film Archive print of PIROSMANI turned up at the festival office after the program had gone to press - apparently, it was on the last flight out of the airport in Georgia before the Russians bombed the facility. So, along with a fortunate few (possibly 20 viewers in all), I was able to revisit Shengelaya's hypnotic and melancholy portrait of the once neglected Soviet artist (I had previously seen it when I was a film programmer at Films Inc. and we carried the Audio Brandon library; the movie is now distributed in the U.S. by Kino International).  Unlike most film biographies of artists, Shengelaya's approach to his subject is poetic rather than informative, depicting scenes of Pirosmani's nomadic existence in a pictorial style that often imitates the style of his somewhat surrealistic paintings of farm animals, peasants and exotic singers. The painter's alcoholism, his inability to hold a steady job, forge close relationships with anyone or place any value on his work is never explained but the evidence is there for us to contemplate. At times, the movie exudes a raw, primitive power that is closer in style to an ethnographic documentary from another time period and images from this film are guaranteed to resonate in your memory for years to come.  

4) WALTZ WITH BASHIR - Another Cannes Festival winner from this year, Ari Folman's animated account of the 1984 invasion of Lebanon by Israeli forces bent on raiding Palestinian refugee camps is a highly original and harrowing work of art. A first person witness to the atrocities committed in 1984, Folman turns his own investigative reporting techniques on himself and former comrades-in-arms to remember what he has blacked out of his own memory from the sheer horror of it. The fact that the movie unfolds in the visual style of an animated graphic novel doesn't soften the nightmarish tone or the dehumanizing acts of violence on display. It's probably no accident that WALTZ WITH BASHIR at times resembles a gamer's most violent X-box fantasy except that these events really happened....and in the movie's final moments we see actual newsreel footage of the massacred bodies of defenseless Palestinian women, children and men. A shameful moment in Israel's history comparable to the U.S. military involvement in the My Lai Massacre in Viet Nam. 

5) HERE'S YOUR LIFE - Jan Troell's 1966 directorial feature debut - he previously directed a segment of the 1965 film 4 X 4 - is an intensely lyrical coming of age story unlike any I've ever seen before. Based on the popular Swedish novel "Romanen om Olof" by Eyvind Johnson, the film charts the picaresque adventures of Olef, a young man coming to terms with the harsh realities of provincial life in Sweden in the 19^th century. I'll be writing a more detailed analysis of the film at the end of the month in our Movie Morlocks blog-a-thon on "Our Favorite Recent Movie Discovery" so check back on Saturday, September 27^th for an in-depth look at HERE'S YOUR LIFE (aka Har har du ditt liv).  

As for those previously mentioned crowd pleasers, I didn't see Jan Troell's EVERLASTING MEMORIES so I can't comment on that but the other two favorites - I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - were, in my humble minority opinion, overhyped and unsatisfying on numerous levels. Despite fine performances by Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein as estranged sisters, I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG is undone by a risible final act revelation about Thomas's crime - the murder of her young son - that undermines the great empathy director Philippe Claudel has build up for Thomas, transforming her into a first class masochist or worse, a self-deluded martyr with a Joan of Arc complex. While it might look and feel like an elegant and subtly nuanced French art film on the surface, don't be fooled. I'VE LOVED YOU FOR SO LONG turns out to be a tearjerker for women in the classic Hollywood tradition of Magnificent Obsession or Now, Voyager. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, on the other hand, is a loud, flashy and synthetic feel-good tribute to the underdog - in this case, a trio of street orphans in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) who are perpetually beaten, chased and harassed by sadistic criminals, rival religious clans and the cops in the course of their passage into adulthood. Despite a colorful visual palette and an attractive, energetic cast of unknown Indian actors, the film sacrifices character development for breathlessly paced action/chase sequences, often crosscutting between past and present events in an annoying MTV editing style. For a film which purports to address the problem of street kids struggling for survival in the slums of Mumbai, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE eventually goes off the rails, morphing into a clichéd love story between two star-crossed lovers who are fated to be together. The audience clearly loved every minute of it though, breaking into applause over the ending credits as the young cast members move in unison to the sounds of M.I.A. in a Michael Jackson-like "Thriller" production number. I even heard murmurs of "Danny Boyle is gonna win an Oscar for this." Maybe so but it seems like Boyle is more interested in turning out slick commercial films these days and is no longer in touch with that inventive director who once made quirky and original films like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting.

In case you didn't know, a second sequel to the 1981 cult animated film Heavy Metal is in the works. Like the first two films, it will be a collection of short segments from various directors, including David Fincher (Zodiac). Now, Heavy Metal magazine owner Kevin Eastman says directors Zack Snyder (300), Gore Verbinski (the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy) and Guillermo Del Toro (the Hellboy films) are all interested in joining the project. Befor you write this off as fact however, keep in mind that this is the same guy who said the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would go live-action again, which turned out to be false (more on that here). The new Heavy Metal is planned for 2010

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Po pięcioletniej przerwie, doczekaliśmy się premiery nowego filmu Davida Finchera, autora „Siedem” i „Podziemnego kręgu”. Poprzedni obraz - „Azyl” – okazał się fiaskiem zarówno artystycznym, jak i komercyjnym. Na szczęście najnowsza, oparta na faktach, produkcja pt. „Zodiak” potwierdza nieprzeciętny talent Finchera.

Reżyser, przez niektórych nazywany artystą kina gatunkowego, po raz pierwszy w swojej karierze zdecydował się sięgnąć po autentyczną historię. Postanowił opowiedzieć o seryjnym mordercy Zodiaku terroryzującym Zatokę San Francisco, nota bene do dziś nie ujętym. Za materiał źródłowy posłużyły mu hipotezy zawarte w dwóch książkach („Zodiac” i „Zodiac unmasked”) napisanych przez Roberta Graysmitha, wieloletniego pracownika San Francisco Chronicle, będącego najbliżej rozwiązania zagadki tożsamości zabójcy.

Morderca, o którym mowa w filmie, rozpoczął swą działalność czwartego lipca 1969 roku - w miejscowości Vallejo zamordował młodą kobietę oraz ciężko ranił nastoletniego chłopaka. Wkrótce po tym zdarzeniu wystosował do trzech gazet (San Francisco Chronicle, Vallejo Times-Herald i San Francisco Examiner) list, w którym podał szczegóły zbrodni oraz nadał sobie przydomek Zodiak. Zażądał od wszystkich dzienników publikacji treści oświadczenia oraz dołączonego do niego kryptogramu. Do redakcji tych czasopism pisywał aż do 1974 roku. Za każdym razem podawał informacje dotyczące morderstw popełnionych w ostatnim czasie w okolicach San Francisco. W swoich listach przyznał się do zamordowania trzydziestu siedmiu osób, ale tylko w pięciu przypadkach można ze stuprocentową pewnością stwierdzić jego winę. Dziś już wiadomo, iż wielokrotnie przypisywał sobie zbrodnie dokonane przez innych, o których przeczytał wcześniej w gazetach.

Tematem seryjnego mordercy zainteresował się, uwielbiający mroczne historie, David Fincher. Centralną postacią swojego najnowszego filmu nie uczynił jednak tytułowego bohatera. Znacznie większy potencjał dostrzegł w losach czterech mężczyzn, próbujących dopaść Zodiaka. Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) i Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) z wydziału zabójstw policji San Francisco, sprawą zbrodniarza zajmowali się z zawodowego obowiązku. Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr) był w owym czasie dziennikarzem śledczym San Francisco Chronicle i pisał artykuły dotyczące działalności Zodiaka. Stopniowo wzrastało również zaangażowanie Roberta Graysmitha (Jake Gyllenhaal), karykaturzysty San Francisco Chronicle, który poświęcił wiele lat na rozwikłanie zagadki tożsamości, grasującego w latach siedemdziesiątych maniaka. Prowadzona przez Toschiego i Armstronga sprawa należała do najważniejszych w tamtym okresie. Do śledczych zgłaszały się setki osób, przyznających się do serii morderstw lub twierdzących, że znają zabójcę. Rozwiązanie sprawy hamowało jeszcze wiele rzeczy: walka z biurokracją, nieustanna kontrola ze strony prasy, zwykłe ludzkie błędy - jak wtedy, gdy po morderstwie taksówkarza dwójka posterunkowych przepuściła sprawcę mordu.

Dla Paula Avery’ego sprawa nieuchwytnego mordercy miała być przepustką do pierwszej ligi dziennikarstwa, okazała się jednak przyczyną jego klęski. Po serii artykułów Zodiak zwrócił się do niego bezpośrednio, grożąc śmiercią. Doprowadziło to do tego, że wszyscy żurnaliści w mieście nosili plakietki z napisem: Nie jestem Paulem Averym. Obsesyjne zainteresowanie sprawą wykazywał również rysownik San Francisco Chronicle i zarazem miłośnik zagadek, Robert Graysmith, który rozwiązał jedną z nadesłanych przez zabójcę, zaszyfrowanych informacji. Armstrong po siedmiu latach niekończącego się śledztwa zrezygnował z pracy w Wydziale Zabójstw, a Avery popadł w chorobę alkoholową. Także dla Toschiego i Graysmitha skutki zaangażowania w rozwikłanie zagadki mordercy nie były najlepsze.

Ich dramatyczne losy Fincher portretuje w sposób wyważony. Film ma niespieszne tempo, reżyser nie szarżuje - ogranicza stosowanie uwielbianego przez siebie, teledyskowego montażu. Dzięki błyskotliwej reżyserii niecierpliwie oczekujemy na zakończenie, które przecież znamy już przed rozpoczęciem seansu. Rewelacyjne są też zdjęcia - jak choćby ujęty z góry, zamglony most Golden Gate, wielokrotnie przecież filmowany, ale chyba nigdy dotąd w taki sposób; czy drobiazgowo oddana scena ulewy, z kroplami deszczu spadającymi na szybę samochodu - znakomicie budują atmosferę bezsilności. Fincher po raz kolejny pokazuje, że zdecydowanie chętniej operuje cieniem, aniżeli światłem.

Nieodłączną częścią kina Finchera jest plejada pojawiających się na ekranie, hollywoodzkich gwiazd. Występowali u niego m.in.: Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Michael Douglas, czy Jodie Foster. Dla Brada Pitta właśnie role Davida Millsa i Tylera Durdena były najlepszymi w dorobku. Także przy okazji „Zodiaka” reżyser współpracował z aktorską śmietanką. Lekko zbzikowany i wiecznie podchmielony, momentami przypominający kapitana Jacka Sparrowa, Paul Avery w wykonaniu Roberta Downey Jr., to już dziś jeden z kandydatów do Oscara za najlepszą rolę drugoplanową. Zmieniający wygląd niczym kameleon i grywający często bohaterów z różnych bajek (nieszczęśliwy romantyk z „Jak w niebie”; brodaty artysta w filmie „Moje życie beze mnie” czy gliniarz - cwaniak z „Zakładnika”) Mark Ruffalo tworzy jedną z najbardziej wyrazistych postaci policjantów w kinie ostatnich lat. Wreszcie możemy zapomnieć o jego wyczynach w filmach pokroju „Szkoły stewardess” i „Dziś 13, jutro 30”. Zaznaczają swoją obecność na ekranie Jake Gyllenhaal i Anthony Edwards, rewelacyjny jest cały drugi plan - na czele z Chloe Sevigny w roli żony Graysmitha i Philipem Bakerem Hallem, grającym grafologa Sherwooda.

„Zodiaka” można odczytywać jako świadectwo ewolucji poglądów reżysera i pewnego rodzaju polemikę z filmem „Siedem” (1995). Tam Fincher wykreował wizerunek psychopatycznego mordercy z misją, chcącego swoim postępowaniem uświadomić społeczeństwu jego błędy i głupotę. Ten typ bohatera od lat jest hołubiony przez hollywoodzkich producentów i wciąż dopisywane są nowe epizody jego historii (patrz seria „Piła” czy cztery filmy opowiadające losy Hannibala Lectera). John Doe (co w anglosaskiej terminologii policyjnej oznacza „nieznanego sprawcę”) jest metodyczny - swoje ofiary dobiera staranie, potem cierpliwie zabija, zgodnie z misternie skonstruowanym planem, w myśl biblijnych siedmiu grzechów głównych. Chce przez to pokazać degrengoladę współczesnego świata. Natomiast tytułowy bohater najnowszej produkcji Finchera jawi nam się jako osobnik, przede wszystkim, szukający uznania i rozgłosu. Za jego działalnością nie kryła się żadna ideologia, a oglądane na ekranie sceny morderstw pokazują, że Zodiak wcale nie celebrował swoich zbrodni. Więcej, nie kierował się żadnym kluczem przy doborze ofiar - nie zabijał wyłącznie WASP-ów, ani samych hipisów czy czarnych, lecz przypadkowe osoby.

„Zodiak” Davida Finchera jest filmem nietuzinkowym. Udaje - szczególnie w pierwszej części - thriller, będąc w rzeczywistości dramatem o ludzkich obsesjach. Reżyser dekonstruuje mit filmowego psychopaty, metodycznego, działającego według planu killera. Urzeka prostota finału, jego ascetyczna forma oraz minimalny przekaz treściowy. Nowy film Finchera byłby sporo gorszy bez rewelacyjnych zdjęć, pogrążonego w ciemnościach, San Francisco minionych lat.

Tekst: Lech Moliński

Recenzja ukazała się w pierwszym numerze Nowego Tworzywa a także na stronie portalu G-punkt.pl

Yıl 1999.. Fight Club adlı filmi gösterime girmişti. Sinemadan çıktığımda hissettiğim şey şoktu. Böyle bi film yapılabilir miydi? Ertesi gün aynı filme yine gittim. Neredeyse her kelimesinin altı çizilmesi gereken, yıllarca konuşulacak bir başyapıt izlemiştim ve Fight Club (Dövüş Kulübü) fanatiği olan herkes gibi ben de bu filmin olabildiğince daha fazla insan ulaşması için uğraştım. Daha sonra Dövüş Kulübünün "Chuck Palahniuk" adlı bir yazarın romanı olduğunu öğrendim. David Fincher'ın yarattığı görsellik en az kitap kadar başarılı, ki Chuck Palahniuk romanın film çıktıktan sonra yapılan basımında, filmi çok beğendiğini söylüyor. Ancak o zamanlar henüz Ayrıntı Yayınları kitabı türkçeye kazandırmamıştı. İçinde bulunduğumuz kapitalist sistemin yarattığı "tüketim arzusu" ve bu arzunun köleleri haline gelmiş toplumun buhranını işliyor Palahnuik, Anlatıcı (filmde Edward Norton canlandırmıştı ve oldukça başarılıydı), Tyler ("In Tyler We Trust") adında bir karakteri yaratıp sisteme şenlikli, kanlı, yumruklu ve sonra sabotaj dolu bir isyan hediye ediyor. Tyler Durden (filmde Brad Pitt canlandırmıştı ve bence çok yakışmış) anarşist/nihilist bir portre, Antlatıcı neyse Tyler onun tam tersi, "özgür, çalışmıyor, sistemden nefret ediyor, zenginlerin yağlarından sabun yapıp yine zenginlere satıyor ve bu arada o yağlardan da bomba imal ediyor. Tyler çok zeki, yakışıklı, Anlatıcı'nın hiçbir zaman sevişemeyeceği gibi sevişiyor.. Ancak Tyler ölümden korkuyor" Şu sıra yazarın "Tıkanma" adlı romanını okuyorum ve emin olun başında da yazarın dediği gibi "Eğer bu kitabı okumaya niyetliyseniz, hemen vazgeçin! Kendinizi kurtarın. Televizyonda muhakkak daha iyi birşeyler vardır. Burada anlattığım şeyler sizi kızdıracak ve sonra herşey daha kötü olacak" Aşağıya Biyografi.info adlı siteden Chuck Palahniuk'un biyografisini aldım.

Kemal Mete

Amerikalı roman yazarı ve gazeteci. Asıl adı Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk ‘tur. Tüketim toplumunu alaycı, keskin ve yaratıcı bir üslupla analiz etmiş, “Minimalist Yazarlık” akımının öncüsü olmuştur. Sosyolojik bir araştırma statüsünde de değerlendirilebilecek nitelikte romanlar yazmıştır. Palahniuk’u tüm dünya, David Fincher tarafından beyazperdeye uyarlanan romanı Fight Club ile tanımıştır. Hollywood’un ünlü yönetmenlerinin en çok çalışmak istedikleri yazarlardan biridir.

21 Şubat 1962’de, Carol Palahniuk ve Fred Palahniuk’un dört çocuğundan biri olarak Amerika’da dünyaya geldi. Çocukluk yılları doğduğu yer olanWashington’ın Burbank kentinde mütevazi bir evde geçti. Sonraları anne babası boşanan Palahniuk, 3 kardeşiyle birlikte büyükbabasının Doğu Washington’daki sığır çiftliğinde yaşamaya başlayacaktı.

20’li yaşlarında University of Oregon's School’un gazetecilik bölümüne kaydoldu. Eğitimini sürdürürken bir yandan da Oregon’daki radyo istasyonu National Public Radio’da staj yapıyordu. 1986’da okuldan mezun olduktan sonra Portland’a yerleşti. Kısa bir süre lokal bir gazetede yazdıktan sonra kamyon imalatı yapan bir fabrikada tamirci olarak çalışmaya başladı. Bu dönem boyunca kamyonların onarılması için kullanım kılavuzları hazırlayan Palahniuk, gazetecilikle ilgilenme fırsatı bulamıyordu. Landmark Education tarafından düzenlenen seminerlere katıldıktan sonra fabrikadaki işinden ayrılma kararı alan Palahniuk, gazeteciliğe geri döndü. Ancak sadece gazetecilikle ilgilenmek istemediği için farklı projeler üzerine yoğunlaştı. Bu dönemde evsizler için yapılan bir barınma yurdunun çalışmalarında gönüllü olarak görev aldı. Ardından ölümcül derecede hasta insanların grup toplantılarıyla desteklenerek ağırlanması şartını koşarak bir yurtta çalışmaya başladı. Gönüllü olarak yaptığı bu işi kendisinin destek verdiği bir hastanın ölmesi sonucu bıraktı.

Palahniuk, Cacophony Society adındaki protest ve isyankar bir grubun da çalışmalarını yakından izliyor ve gruba üye olmak istiyordu. Cacophony Society tarafından gerçekleştirilen etkinliklerin düzenli katılımcılarından biriydi. Daha sonra yazacağı kurgusal ve kurgusal olmayan öykülere ilham verecek olan grubun etkinlikleri, etkisini en çok Cacophony Society’yi temel alarak yazdığıProject Mayhem in Fight Club’ta gösterecekti.

Palahniuk 30’larının ortalarında öyküler yazmaya başladı. Aralarında Tom Spanbauer’ın verdiği yazarlık workshop’u da olmak üzere bir çok yazarın kursuna devam etti. Tom Spanbauer, Palahniuk’un minimalist yazım tarzından çok etkilendi.

Chuck Palahniuk’un yazdığı ilk kitap, “Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already”, öyküsüyle hayal kırıklığı yaratınca basılamadı ancak yazar öykünün bir bölümünü daha sonra Fight Club’ta kullanacaktı.

Bir sonraki romanı “Invisible Monsters”’ın kaderi, kitabın yayıncılarca oldukça rahatsız edici bulunmasından dolayı ilk kitapla aynı oldu. Bu iki olumsuz yayın deneyiminden sonra Palahniuk en ünlü romanı olacak Fight Club’ı yazmaya başladı. Yayıncısını yeni kitabını basması için ikna etmeye çalıştıkça daha çok reddediliyordu. İlk işine geri dönen ve boş zamanlarında Fight Club’ın hikayesini yazan Palahniuk, 1995’te daha sonraları Fight Club’ın altıncı bölümü olacak Pursuit of Happiness ismini verdiği kısa hikayesini yayınladı. Ancak hikâyeyi genişletmek ve tam bir roman haline getirmek isteyen yazarın bu isteğine yayıncısından gelen cevap Palahniuk için oldukça şaşırtıcı oldu: Kitap basılacaktı.

Fight Club, yayınlandıktan sonra pozitif eleştiriler almasının yanında Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association ve Oregon Book Award’ın verdiği “En İyi Roman” ödüllerinin sahibi oldu. Kitaba Hollywood yolunun görünmesi de uzun sürmeyecekti. Çünkü yönetmen David Fincher, Fight Club’ı beyaz perdeye uyarlamak istiyordu. Film 1999’da tamamlanıp vizyona girdikten sonra, Amerika’daki birinci haftasında en çok izlenen film olmasına rağmen box-office’te hayal kırıklığı yarattı ve filmle ilgili yapılan eleştiriler çeşitlilik gösterdi. Fakat Fight Club’ı kült hale getirecek bir izleyici grubu vardı, zira DVD’si yayınlanır yayınlanmaz film büyük bir popülarite kazandı. Kitap 1999’da, film adaptasyonu hakkında yazarın önsözünün eklendiği 2004’te ve 2005 yıllarında olmak üzere toplam 3 kez yeniden yayınlandı.

1999’da Fight Club’un tüm dünyadaki büyük başarısından sonra Palahniuk oldukça trajik bir olay yaşadı. Babası Fred Palahniuk’un gazete ilanı aracılığıyla tanıştığı Donna Fontaine ile ilişkisi oldu. Ancak Fontaine’in cinsel istismar suçundan hapse attırdığı eski sevgilisi Dale Shackleford, hapisten çıktıktan sonra çiftin başına bela oldu. Dale Shackleford, Palahniuk’un babası Fred Palahniuk’u ve Donna Fontaine’i öldürdü. Babasını trajik biçimde kaybettikten sonra Palahniuk, Shackleford’a idam cezası verilip verilmemesiyle ilgili karar verme süreciyle başa çıkabilmek için kitabı Lullaby’ı yazmaya başladı.

Lullaby, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association tarafından ödüle layık görüldü.

2003 eylülünde Entertainment Weekly’den Karen Valby ile yaptığı röportajda Palahniuk, Valby’nin sorusu üzerine, sanılanın aksine bir kadınla evli olmadığını ve birlikte olduğu kişinin bir erkek olduğunu ima etti. Palahniuk, Valby’nin iznini almadan bu bilgiyi okuyucularıyla paylaşacağına inandığı için, web sitesine Valby hakkında olumsuz yorumlarda bulunup gay olduğunu açıkladığı bir kayıt ekledi. Ancak durum farklıydı. Zira Valby, buna yazısında yer vermemişti ve vermeyecekti. Hayranları Palahniuk’un cinsel tercihleri yüzünden utandığını düşündü ve daha sonra yazar sitesinde bu kaydı yayınlamaktan dolayı duyduğu pişmanlığı dile getirerek hayranlarından özür diledi.

Aynı yıl web sitesi üyeleri tarafından hayatının anlatıldığı “Postcards from the Future: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary” belgeseli çekildi.

Resmi fan sitesi The Cult’ın üyeleri, Palahniuk’un kendilerine ticaretin hilelerini öğrettiği workshoplara başladı. Yazar ayrıca sitede yazım stiliyle ilgili her ay bir done veriyor, kendisine sorulan soruları yanıtlıyordu.

Palahniuk, ayrıca kendi tarzı olan minimalist yazarlıkla ilgili olarak sitede verdiği bilgileri bir araya getireceği bir kitap projesi olduğunu açıkladı.

İngiliz grup Fightstar, Palahniuk’un sit-com’larda kullanılan gülme efektiyle ilgili teorisinden yola çıkarak bir şarkılarının ismini “Palahniuk's Laughter” olarak değiştirdiler.

Ünlü müzik grubu Panic! at the Disco's debut albümleri A Fever You Can't Sweat Out’taki birçok şarkılarında, Palahniuk’un çalışmalarını referans aldılar.

Palahniuk’un edebiyat ve sinema dünyasında kült bir figür haline gelmesinden sonra, daha önce basılmayan kitabı “Invisible Monsters” revize edilerek “Survivor” adıyla yayınlandı. Yazarın New York Times’ta bestseller olan ilk kitabı ise Survivor’dan birkaç yıl sonra yayınlanan “Choke”tu. O tarihten sonra basılan her kitabı aynı ilgiyi görmeye ve aynı başarıyı kazanmaya devam eden yazar, tüm kitapları için dünyanın dört bir yanında tanıtım turları gerçekleştirmeye başladı.

Yazar 2003’te kitabı Diary of the Dead’nin promosyonu için çıktığı turnede, okuyucularına Haunted adlı kitabında da yayınlanacak ve mastürbasyon kazalarını anlatan hikayesi Guts’u okuduğunda, 35 kişinin baygınlık geçirdiği rapor edildi. Playboy dergisi Mart2004 tarihli sayısında hikayeye yer verdi, ancak Palahniuk’un yayınlaması için Playboy’a önerdiği ikinci hikayesi, dergi yöneticileri tarafından oldukça rahatsız edici bulunduğu için yayınlanmadı. Palahniuk 2004 yazında “Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories” için çıktığı tanıtım turunda, hikayeyi yine okudu ve bu kez baygınlık geçiren kişi sayısı 60’a yükseldi. Yazar bunun üzerine yaptığı açıklamada olaylardan rahatsız olmadığını ve okuyucularının olanlar yüzünden Guts’u ve diğer kitaplarını okumaktan vazgeçmeyeceğini belirtti.

Yazar son olarak yayın tarihi 12 Ekim 2007 olarak açıklanan “Zarour Files” isimli romanını yazmıştır ve mayıs 2007’de yayınlanacak “Rant” isimli kitabı için şu anda Kanada’da bulunmaktadır.

Chuck Palahniuk / Figh Club’tan

“Biz televizyon izleyerek, milyonerler, sinema tanrıları, rock yıldızları olacağımıza inanarak büyüdük ama olmayacağız... Hepimiz heba oluyoruz... Bütün bir nesil benzin pompalıyor, garsonluk yapıyor ya da beyaz yakalı köle olmuş... Reklamlar yüzünden araba ve kıyafet peşindeyiz... Nefret ettiğimiz işlerde çalışıyor, gereksiz şeyler alıyoruz... Bizler tarihin ortanca çocuklarıyız... Bir amacımız yok; ne büyük savaş ne de büyük bir buhran yaşadık.... Bizim savaşımız ruhani savaş... Ve bunalımımız kendi hayatlarımız...’

“Sizin sevdiğiniz ile sizi seven asla aynı kişi değildir.”

“Her şeyi yapabilecek kadar özgür olabilmen için her şeyini kaybetmen lazım”

“Sahip olmak istediklerin, sana sahip olurlar.”

"Bize inandırılan bu gerçek dışı dünyada yaşıyoruz, hiç bir teste tabii tutulmadığımız için neleri kurtarabileceğimiz konusunda hiçbir fikrimiz yok."

Kitapları

Kurgusal

•Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already (90’ların başında yazdı, yayınlanmadı)

•Fight Club (1996)

•Survivor (1999)

•Invisible Monsters (1999)

•Choke (2001)

•Lullaby (2002)

•Diary (2003)

•Haunted (2005)

•Rant (Yayın tarihi Mayıs 2007 olarak açıklandı.)

•Zarour Files (Yayın tarihi 12 Ekim 2007 olarak açıklandı.)

Kurgusal Olmayan

•Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon (2003)

•Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (2004)

KAYNAK : http://www.biyografi.info/kisi/chuck-palahniuk

10.- David Lynch - Sony - "The Third Place" (2001)

9.- Jonathan Glazer - Guiness - "Surfer" (1998)

8.- Wes Anderson - Amex - "My life, my card" (2006)

7.- David Fincher - Adidas - "Mechanical Legs" (2002)

6.- Ridley Scott - Apple - "1984" (1984)

5.- Terry Gilliam - Nike - "The Secret Tournamet" (2002)

4.- Michale Mann - Mercedez Benz - "Lucky Star" (2002)

3.- Michel Gondry - Smirnoff - "Smarienberg" (1998)

2.- Tony Scott - BMW - "Beat the Devil" (2002)

Y el Ganador es.....

1.- Spike Jonze - GAP - "Pardon Our Dust" (2005)

via: nerdorama.cl

1- De Olhos Bem Fechados (Eyes Wide Shut)

2- DogmaTenha respeito pelo nerdmaster, oras. Kevin Smith é o maior símbolo do nerdismo dos anos 90 e estará com todos os filmes nas minhas listas. Aparentementente o povo ficou afendido devido à celeuma que tal filme causou antes mesmo de ser lançado, mas fazer o quê, fanatismo, falta de informação e preconcepção tem dessas coisas, poxa, o Buddy Christ era tão legal! Mas nada, nada mesmo, supera o trauma da ausência peniana de Alan Rickman, quem se importa se Alanis é Deus se o Alan não tem pinto?

3- MatrixOs dois filmes seguintes fuderam com tudo, mas esquecendo-os dá para lembrar o quão filmaço o elo primordial foi. Acho que ninguém vai negar que tal filme destruiu a estética do cinemão por um bom tempo e que o Agente Smith é um dos grandes vilões do cinema.

4- MagnóliaMagnólia é aquelas coisas. Tenho medo do Tom Cruise até hoje, não que ele seja menos assustador que a personagem.

5- Fim de Caso (The End of the Affair)Neil Jordan. Julianne Moore. Ralph Finnes. Jason Isaacs. Graham Greene. Chuva. Segunda Guerra. Deus. Amor.

Real melhor filme do ano: Clube da Luta (Fight Club)

NOTA: Não me aguentei nessa de jornada pessoal através do cinema e vou fazer tops 5s até os tempos de Edson e dos Lumiére, por isso faz de conta que tenho oito anos e quem manda agora é o tiozão velho e meu padrinho, o Seu Cinema, mesmo que seja visto através dos meus olhos.

The Telluride Film Festival has always taken place on Labor Day weekend, beginning on a Friday and ending on a Monday night. But any regular attendee knows that the festival "unofficially" begins on that Wednesday night before with an outdoor screening at the Abel Gance Cinema, the town's intimate amphitheatre-like park, and is followed by another one on Thursday night. There is always a secret connection between the outdoor screenings prior to the festival and the special tributes and/or honored guests and it becomes a fun guessing game up until the mysteries are revealed on Thursday in the Film Watch magazine which announces the festival highlights. 

The Wednesday Abel Gance screening for the 35^th festival was ELMER GANTRY (1960) and among the surviving cast and crew members, I wondered who the special honoree might be. Possibly Shirley Jones, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her cast-against-type role of the prostitute who takes revenge on the so-called evangelist who led her astray? Or maybe the composer, Andre Previn, who created such a memorable, dynamic score? Or could it be the British actress Jean Simmons, whose performance as Sister Sarah Falconer is one of her most memorable American film roles?  

Having not seen ELMER GANTRY since my high school days on a black and white television, I was surprised and happy to see it projected on a giant outdoor screen in a beautiful 35mm print and noticed that it was photographed by the great John Alton (a previous honoree at Telluride) who was instrumental in designing the look and visual style of numerous film noirs, many directed by Anthony Mann (T-Men, Raw Deal, Border Incident). As for the actual film, it's hard to imagine any actor other than Burt Lancaster as Gantry and he gives a larger-than-life performance that is completely appropriate for the driven, overzealous Bible-thumper hero of Sinclair Lewis's novel. Jean Simmons - who, it turns out, is one of the special honorees this year - is equally impressive as a creation of her own making, with a background not much different from Gantry's, but with a much more sophisticated veneer. Is she a true believer or someone with delusions of grandeur? Simmon's radiant performance, waxing between the prim and the passionate, is a tour-de-force and the much needed contrast to Gantry's overt hucksterism. And Richard Brooks' film adaptation still stands as a literate and easily accessible entertainment that wasn't such a rarity in 1960 but seems like a lost art form now.   

On the following evening, the guessing game of the mystery film connection continued with a program of shorts (1 Daffy Duck and 2 Betty Boop cartoons, Dean Parisot's kooky 1985 NYC indie short TOM GOES TO THE BAR) and the documentary, En Frusen drom (A FROZEN DREAM, 1997), an account of the ill-fated polar expedition of Swedish explorer S.A. Andree and his two-man crew in 1897. It was directed by Jan Troell and featured several actors reading from the diaries and letters of the explorers, one of whom was Max Von Sydow. Was it possible that the actor so identified with the films of Ingmar Bergman would be making an appearance? No, the connection here is Troell was is the second honoree of this year's festival (David Fincher, showing his director's cut of ZODIAC, is the third honoree). Troell is probably best known in the U.S. for his two companion epics, both of which were Oscar nominated - THE EMIGRANTS (1971) and THE NEW LAND (1972). A FROZEN DREAM, which clocks in at barely over sixty minutes, uses archival footage, reinactments, and actual artifacts and photographs of the tragic Andree mission, one in which the three men team strived to become the first explorers to reach the North Pole by balloon! It's a meticulously detailed documentary, rich in period detail, that finds inventive ways both visually and aurally to tell its story since there was no actual film footage to draw on. On that level, it's a success but for those unfamiliar with the historical facts - I wasn't - there are too many unanswered questions that would be better addressed in a definitive non-fiction book. Interestingly enough, Troell had already made an epic 145-minute historical drama about Andree's expedition in 1982 entitled Ingenjor Andrees luftfard (In the U.S. it was called FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE, named after the explorers' balloon). 

Flash forward to Friday and the "Show" schedule has been released. The first film of the festival, shown in conjunction with this year's Guest Director choice Slavoj Zizek, was A PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA (2006), an exhilarating take on some 43 movies by Zizek, a philosopher and psychoanalyst from Slovenia. Directed in a unique and mesmerizing visual style by Sophie Fiennes, sister of actors Ralph and Joseph, the documentary is a frequently funny and thought-provoking dissection of such important films as Blue Velvet, Stalker, Vertigo, the 1931 version of Possessed starring Joan Crawford, The Great Dictator, The Piano Teacher, The Conversation, Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Ivan the Terrible Part II, even the mind-warping cartoon short "Pluto's Judgment Day." Zizek zeros in on sexuality, politics, fantasy vs. reality and countless other topics in a way that will make you think differently about some of these movies and send you back to Netflix or your own DVD shelves to watch them again. 

Other highlights of the 35^th Telluride Film Festival promise to be Mike Leigh's new work, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, Paul Vester's WALTZ WITH BASHIR (fresh from its success at Cannes), a beautifully restored version of Max Ophuls' LOLA MONTES, Josef von Sternberg's 1928 silent masterpiece THE LAST COMMAND with live musical accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra, a last minute addition of Danny Boyle's new movie SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the sprawling, unglamorized Mafia epic from Italy GOMORRAH and much more that I hope to cover in another post.

This movie is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tapley has a passage from the book that is not included in the script. This could be one of the saddest passages I have ever read.

And then he remembered nothing. When he was hungry he cried — that was all. Through the noons and nights he breathed and over him there were soft mumblings and murmurings that he scarcely heard, and faintly differentiated smells, and light and darkness.

Then it was all dark, and his white crib and the dim faces that moved above him, and the warm sweet aroma of the milk, faded out altogether from his mind.

Wow. I guess that Fitzgerald guy could really write huh?

A confused young man tired of his life finds a new one in a new club where you beat each other to a plup as therapy.
All films take a certain suspension of disbelief. Fight Club takes perhaps more than others, but if you're willing to let yourself get caught up in the anarchy, this film, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, is a modern-day morality play warning of the decay of society. Edward Norton is the unnamed protagonist, a man going through life on cruise control, feeling nothing. To fill his hours, he begins attending support groups and 12-step meetings. True, he isn't actually afflicted with the problems, but he finds solace in the groups. This is destroyed, however, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), also faking her way through groups. Spiraling back into insomnia, Norton finds his life is changed once again, by a chance encounter with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), whose forthright style and no-nonsense way of taking what he wants appeal to our narrator. Tyler and the protagonist find a new way to feel release: they fight. They fight each other, and then as others are attracted to their ways, they fight the men who come to join their newly formed Fight Club. Marla begins a destructive affair with Tyler, and things fly out of control, as Fight Club grows into a nationwide fascist group that escapes the protagonist's control.

Fight Club, directed by David Fincher (Seven), is not for the faint of heart; the violence is no holds barred. But the film is captivating and beautifully shot, with some thought-provoking ideas. Pitt and Norton are an unbeatable duo, and the film has some surprisingly humorous moments. The film leaves you with a sense of profound discomfort and a desire to see it again, if for no other reason than to just to take it all in. --Jenny Brown

Fight Club (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) is available at Amazon for $9.49. To Order click here
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Other Products of Interest

• American History X
• Seven (Single Disc Edition)
• Snatch (Widescreen Edition)
• Pulp Fiction (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
• Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Widescreen Edition)

If so, future series will hopefully learn from one of Twilight's most major missteps: Its first two episodes are its most cheesy and insipid. As the series settles into its narrative, moves past genre clichés and raises the dramatic stakes, it improves.

Twilight carries the tagline, "Therapy without limits," but the "treatment" depicted within looks more like a psychological S&M game show than any kind of sanctioned psychiatry. A group of apparent strangers, in clusters of one or two, meet to receive instructions from a bearded master of ceremonies who intones as ominously (and cryptically!) as Howie Mandel on Deal or No Deal. They're sent out, one pair at a time, into scenarios designed to push their comfort zones. A typical scenario has a married couple on the brink of divorce entering a high-stakes poker game and, after nearly losing everything, finding their sexual connection reinvigorated. In general, when the "patients" follow their master's instructions to the letter, they come out of the exercise with their lives newly affirmed; when they stray from the program, Bad Things Happen.

Twilight was produced as the result of a Red Bull-sponsored contest, designed to give the creators of a web series pilot a chance to work with a real budget and a professional production company to flesh out their vision. (Surprisingly, eggregious product placement isn't slipped in until Episode 4. Maybe another reason to premiere the whole series at once?) According to Twilight's About page, contestants "were forced to ask what can be done after dark, how do one's attitudes change, and how are rules and expectations altered when the clock hits a certain hour?"

The word "forced" conjures up images of poor, defenseless web video makers, held captive in a room full of Red Bull, writing scripts against their will -- a scenario which, if documented, would feel a lot more original than Twilight, which borrows liberally from pre-existing works of pop culture. Still, there's something admirable about an effort that takes its generic forebears so seriously, rather than plumbing them for spoof value. It's a little bit of David Fincher's The Game, a lot of The Twilight Zone (including the last-minute twist in which the perpetrator of dark shenanigans gets the karmic comeuppance he deserves), filtered through the sensibility of the kind of post-Pi, third-tier, psychological thriller film festival also-ran that... well, that you could very well see late at night on IFC.

In this sense, Twilight not only fulfills the ambitions of this particular project completely, but also fits into a certain IFC curation model that Steve Bryant pegged last month as being more about making a splash with self-consciously "risky" content than about nurturing quality over time. At the very least, it's keeping the brand consistent.

Coraline de Neil Gaiman ganha vida em animação stop motion

Henry Selick, diretor da adaptação da premiada graphic novel de Neil Gaiman, Coraline, revelou detalhes sobre seu filme de animação tridimensional em stop motion numa entrevista para o site SCI FI Wire. A animação, com lançamento previsto para fevereiro de 2009, será finalizada em seis semanas. Selick, diretor de O Estranho Mundo de Jack (The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993), escolheu uma das poucas obras em quadrinhos vencedora do prêmio Hugo. Dakota Fanning dubla a protagonista que atravessa uma porta dimensional e descobre uma versão alternativa de sua própria vida com outros pais. Para o diretor, a trama é um sombrio, perfeito e moderno conto de fadas. Gaiman colaborou com Selick no roteiro da animação na intenção de fazer uma adaptação fiel para as telas, mantendo o espírito e o tom da trama original. O atual uso de computação gráfica e técnicas de animação stop motion renderam diversos sucessos como Fuga das Galinhas (Chicken Run, 2000) e Noiva-Cadáver (Corpse Bride, 2005).

Rápidas

- Patrick Swayze celebra 56 anos feliz e saudável, apesar de ter recebido em março o triste diagnóstico de câncer pancreático, doença considerada terminal. A festa ocorreu em Chicago nos sets da série do canal de TV Paga A&E Mundo, A Fera (The Beast). O astro de Dirty Dancing celebrou junto com amigos e fãs que o desejaram feliz aniversário. Depois, Swayze foi comemorar junto a esposa Lisa Niemi.

- David Fincher corre para finalizar a montagem de O Curioso Caso de Benjamin Button (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) atualmente com 163 minutos. Fincher tenta encontrar a duração certa que o deixe satisfeito para encerrar o trabalho em outubro. Baseado num conto de F. Scott Fitzgerald, a estranha trama mostra um homem que nasce velho e com o passar do tempo vai ficando jovem e reune um elenco estelar. Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton e Julia Ormond. O lançamento está previsto para dezembro de 2009.

- O ator Clifton Collins Jr. (Babel) revela que ele e Eric Bana (Munique) interpretam romulanos no próximo Jornada nas Estrelas (Star Trek) como se fossem piratas espaciais. Eles também precisaram trabalhar com linguistas para criar uma língua própria da raça romulana.

- Em entrevista sobre o longa metragem He-Men, o roteirista Justin Marks prometeu apresentar um filme mais realista, incluindo origens mais coerentes dos personagens, mesmo aqueles fantasiosos demais.

Ya hemos hablado alguna vez de la próxima película de David Fincher (Seven, El Club de la Lucha, Zodiac...). Se trata de The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, donde veremos una historia de amor basada en la historia corta escrita por F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A continuación más información de la película y un nuevo trailer que ha salido a la luz....

La historia cuenta como un hombre nace con 80 años y de manera progresiva va rejuveneciendo (su cuerpo viaja en el tiempo -1 segundos por cada segundo que transcurre), causandole esto serias complicaciones cuando se enamora. El elenco actoral lo conforman Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, Elle Fanning y Tilda Swinton. Su estreno se esperá para el 23 de Enero de 2009.

El trailer no está en Youtube, así que no podemos colgarlo automáticamente, pero aquí tenéis el enlace directo al video (no tiene mucha calidad)

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/curious-case-benjamin-button/olympic-tv-spo

Via | Cinerama

Regie: David Fincher (2005)

Mit diesem Video hat sich im Jahre 2005 Multitalent David Fincher wiedergemeldet, welcher hauptsächlich durch seine Kinofilme (Fight Club, Panic Room, Alien 3) bekannt ist. Weniger bekannt ist, dass Fincher von 1985 bis 1995 für eine Vielzahl von Videos verantwortlich ist. Wie z.B. folgende Künstler: The Hooters, Sting, Paula Abdul, Gipsy Kings, Madonna oder Aerosmith.

Für "Only" von NIN hat er sich folgendes einfallen lassen: NIN Sänger formiert sich auf einem Büroschreibtisch. Genauer gesagt: In einem Nagelbrett. Optisch sehr ansehlich. Jedenfalls in den ersten Minuten, auf Dauer ist diese Visualisierung aber etwas zu langweilig.

Edit: Natürlich waren das nicht die Nine Inch Nails, sondern die White Stripes. Nun aber die NIN's. Sorry dafür.

Upon browsing the PUFG, I can't help but wish we'd thought of it sooner. We've had ideas like that! Half of our jokes begin with the premise, "Wouldn't it be funny if ____?"

Though, to be fair, I can barely be roused to maintain this blog. Simply transcribing things said not four hours ago is often too much effort. And if it's not too much effort it's my poor memory. I've taken to keeping scraps of paper on my person so that I can record the hilarity. Which is in itself kind of funny.

• Sarah F. Sorensen - "Art and Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations: Film Rendition of Charles Dickens' Novel Focuses on Art"
• Alex Ben Block - "Universal's global presence pays off", i.e. Universal doing well universally (Hollywood Reporter)
• Adam "Adrock" Horovitz of the Beastie Boys to provide music for Rudo y Cursi, reports Jesús Díaz  for (Noticias)
• Fincher Fanatic reports that David Fincher (Fight Club) will film a Nike commercial (football maybe?) with Emmanuel Lubezki as Director of Photography.  Filming is already underway.
• "Actors Camila Sodi and Diego Luna became parents Monday night in the city of Los Angeles."  Read more.
• Emmanuel Lubezki will be present at the Venice Film Festival, which takes place between 27 August and 6 September in Lido, Venice.  He is just one of many Mexican film makers and actors who will be taking part in the 65th edition of the festival.  Read more.

So I should probably learn to listen to my own advice.  I watched the movie version of The Ruins today, and I was pretty disappointed.  I liked the book a lot, but the movie just didn't do it.   Strangely enough, too, the screenplay was written by Scott Smith, the author of the book.

Now, the movie is very different from the book story-wise, and that's fine.  I'm totally cool with changing the plot around in novel adaptations.  This is because novels allow a lot of different things, which movies do not: character introspection, for one, and there is a lot of character introspection in the novel The Ruins; it's a character driven book.  You can't have an internal monologue in a movie ... well you can, but the results are usually bad (exceptions: Fight Club, Adaptation).  But you can still have a character driven movie, and that's what this should have been.  The Ruins movie is not, though.  It's a character driven story crammed into a slasher plot.  And I got nothing against a slasher plot; The Ruins (book) definitely has a slasher element to it, but it's told through characters.  This movie should have been paced like Jaws, not like Halloween.  Halloween wouldn't have worked if it was paced like Jaws, and Jaws wouldn't have worked paced like Halloween.  At ninety minutes, The Ruins is far too short.  This movie needed to be at least two hours to get the feeling right.  Ninety minutes is just not long enough for the sense of dread this story gives off to set in.  And the book is dripping with dread.

Also, the art direction/CGI didn't do the vines justice.   Close, but just not completely there.

Then there's my other big problem.  All the silly slasher stereotypes (fun in some movies, but not here), which are completely absent from the book, appear in the movie.  The two girls (fully fleshed out character-wise in the novel) become the standard slasher victims.  The two guys become the standard stereotypes as well: they're tough, can hold their emotions better than the girls, and make all the decisions.  The character of Stacy (extremely important and complex in the novel) spends most of her time screaming in her underwear in the movie.  All of the characters just seemed empty in the movie.  And it wasn't the actors; they were actually pretty good.

One more gripe: the ending.  Again, different from the book, but that's not the problem.  A cop-out sure, but still not the problem.  The problem is that they missed a huge opportunity to take a cop-out ending and make it a great.  **SPOILERS**  Amy getting away at the end?  Come on!!!  She's got the vine on her!  There totally should've been a shot of vine spreading into the outside world.  Totally blown opportunity. **END SPOILERS**

So, in conclusion: good book, good opportunity for a movie, but they blew it.  It's not a completely awful movie.  There are some good parts and some good ideas, but mostly they just missed it.  It's too bad.

Maybe if David Fincher had directed it ...

A two and a half hour version ...

One can dream.

10. Steven Spielberg 

An excellent director who always directs big-budget crowd pleasers.

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark

2. Jaws

1. Schindler's List

9. Francis Ford Coppola

A masterful director whose movies are well-crafted and intelligent.

3. The Godfather

2. The Godfather Part II

1. Apocalypse Now

8. David Fincher

A psychological director whose movies always make you think.

3. Zodiac

2. SE7EN

1. Fight Club

7. Christopher Nolan

An artist who can turn rocks into gold.

3. Memento

2. Batman Begins

1. The Dark Knight

6. Oliver Stone

An artist whose movies are almost hypnotically arresting.

3. Platoon

2. Natural Born Killers

1. JFK

5. Tim Burton

An artist whose movies are always dark, yet beautiful.

3. Big Fish

2. Ed Wood

1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

4. Martin Scorsese

A entertaining artist whose movies are always fun, yet real.

3. Casino

2. Goodfellas

1. The Departed

3. Quentin Tarantino

His movies are intense, funny, fun and all iconic.

3. Reservoir Dogs

2. Death Proof

1. Pulp Fiction

2. The Coen Brothers

Their movies are all more intelligent than the common mind will comprehend and more detailed than the common man would care to notice.

3. Miller's Crossing

2. Barton Fink

1. No Country for Old Men

1. Stanley Kubrick

"If it can be written or thought, it can be filmed."

I can happily and with no doubt in my mind say that Stanley Kubrick is by far the greatest director of all time. He is an artist who can make a movie from any genre (basically has) and make a masterpiece. He is a genius at what he does and will never be surpassed.

3. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

2. Full Metal Jacket

1. The Shining

1- Ratatouille

Se existe um filme que realmente acabou comigo em 2007, este foi Ratatouille. Que grande pedaço de arte é essa pérola camuflada de fantasia infanto-juvenil, duvido que alguma criança tenha saboreado melhor tal filme do que qualquer adulto que já tenha lido Marcel Proust, afinal, paladar se aprimora com a idade. Não, a França, o paladar e a experiência vivida não são mera coincidência neste assustadoramente maduro Ratatouille.

2- Stephen Fry: Guilty
Este pequeno documentário da BBC é um achado, primeiro porque se vê o altamente intelectualizado comediante inglês Stephen Fry chutando o balde e assumindo que é fã de ABBA entre outras coisas não muito bem quistas pela pretensiosa e suposta elite intelectual que assola o mundo, segundo porque tenho uma queda por quase tudo que ele menciona e não tenho vergonha de assumir.
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3 - Saneamento Básico, O FilmeTenho que confessar que este filme é uma obra prima, elenco perfeito, texto perfeito e a mais vívida realidade do que é fazer cinema no Brasil. Sem mencionar que o Monstro do Fosso é a maior criação do cinema B mundial desde os tempos de Ed Wood Jr.

4 - GrindhouseTirando a papagaiada nacional de não poder ver o bagulho completo nos cinemas e blábláblá, fazendo que apelemos à boa e velha atividade ilegal e apesar de que eu esperava algo mais podreira e artesanal do que realmente foi, é no mínimo tranquilizador que ainda se possa ver esse tipo de ode ao bom cinema B por aí. Afinal, não é todo dia que vemos o pinto do Tarantino derretendo.

5- Across the Universe
É brega, é kitsch e a tal da elite intelectual odeia. E daí? Tem Beatles, Jim Sturguess e a Salma Hayek vestida de enfermeira gostosa. Adoro, é claro.

Reais melhores filmes do ano: I'm Not There, No Country for Old Men, Zodiac.