Archive for category Film
STEELE Picks: 20 Best Films of 2013
Posted by Amy Steele in Film on December 27, 2013
Frances Ha
written by: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
directed by: Noah Baumbach
starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver
–a dazzler about creativity, dreams and reality.
Ginger & Rosa
written and directed by: Sally Potter
starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Annette Bening, Alessandro Nivola, Christina Hendrick
–stunning film about being a teenager during the Cuban Missile Crisis in England. it’s about friendships, parents and finding one’s place in the world.
The Place Beyond the Pines
written by: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio
directed by: Derek Cianfrance
starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes
–this film made me cry. fathers and sons. heartbreaking.
Before Midnight
written by: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
directed by: Richard Linklater
starring: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
–Celine and Jesse return nine years later, this time they’re vacationing in Greece and question their relationship. superb dialogue and chemistry.
12 Years a Slave
written by: John Ridley
directed by: Steve McQueen
starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael K. Williams, Michael Fassbender, Adepero Oduye, Alfre Woodard
–important story about one man’s experience as a free black man sold into slavery in the South. it’s heart-wrenching and powerful.
All is Lost
written and directed by: J.C. Chandor
starring: Robert Redford
–whether you like sailing or not this is an intense film and Robert Redford’s amazing.
Enough Said
written and directed by: Nicole Holofcener
starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener
–sweet, smart, honest. a delight.
Dallas Buyers Club
written by: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto
–based on a remarkable true story, this should get your fired about against the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA as well as angered over the thousands who died unnecessarily in the 80s from HIV/AIDs.
Fruitvale Station
written and directed by: Ryan Coogler
starring: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer
–another film based on a true story shows active racism among law enforcement and its devastating impact on a young man’s life and that of those who love him.
Drinking Buddies
written and directed by: Joe Swanberg
starring: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston
–men and women CAN be friends. brilliant script.
The East
written by: Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling
directed by: Zal Batmanglij
starring: Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, Patricia Clarkson
–truly creepy and mesmerizing film about a cultish, violent activist group and the FBI agent who infiltrates it.
Spring Breakers
written and directed by: Harmony Korine
starring: James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson
–excess. mayhem. heart-pounding.
August: Osage County
written by: Tracy Letts
directed by: John Wells
starring: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Julianne Nicholson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Abigail Breslin
–amazing cast, brilliant script. poignant, dark, literary.
What Maisie Knew
written by: Nancy Doyne, Carroll Cartwright
directed by: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
starring: Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Steve Coogan, Onata Aprile
–best film about divorce since Kramer vs. Kramer.
The Bling Ring
written by: Sofia Coppola, Nancy Jo Sales
directed by: Sofia Coppola
starring: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga
–love the visuals and flash. Sofia Coppola’s one of my favorite filmmakers. She’s got such an interesting eye.
Inside Llewyn Davis
written and directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake
–melancholy and lovely.
Much Ado About Nothing
written and directed by: Joss Whedon
starring: Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond, Ashley Johnson
–one of the best modern Shakespeare adaptations ever.
Girl Most Likely
written by: Michelle Morgan
directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
starring: Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon
–sharp and funny. Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening both brilliant.
Blue Jasmine
written and directed by: Woody Allen
starring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Sally Hawkins
–darkly poignant.
In a World
written and directed by: Lake Bell
starring: Lake Bell, Jeff Garlin, Demetri Martin, Alexandra Holden, Rob Corddry
–explores women voice-over artists. strong and charming.
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WOMEN IN FILM NEWS
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, Women/ feminism on December 26, 2013
–Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to join Carey Mulligan and Anne-Marie Duff in Suffragette — a film about the nineteenth and early twentieth century women’s right to vote movement. The period piece will be directed by Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane) and written by The Iron Lady scribe Abi Morgan.
–Jessica Lange has signed on to play Mark Wahlberg’s put-upon mother in The Gambler, a remake of the 1974 film.
–Rashida Jones and her writing and producing partner, Will McCormack, just sold a “midnight-dark workplace dramedy-noir about a nail salon in Florida and the strange, dangerous women who work there” to HBO. Claws is the third show the pair behind Celeste and Jesse Forever have sold this year.
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STEELE Picks: Best Documentaries of 2013
Posted by Amy Steele in Film on December 10, 2013
The Punk Singer
directed by: Sini Anderson
stars: Kathleen Hanna, Carrie Brownstein, Kim Gordon, Adam Horowitz
56Up
directed by: Michael Apted
Stories We Tell
directed by: Sarah Polley
Salinger
directed by: Shane Salerno
Central Park Five
directed by: Ken Burns
Venus and Serena
directed by: Maiken Baird, Michelle Major
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The Punk Singer: film review
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, Music on December 3, 2013
The Punk Singer contains so many inspiring and kick-ass moments. In this documentary film about feminist/musician/Riot grrrl/ activist Kathleen Hanna, I realized how much I want to be her friend. I’m an avid feminist and honestly don’t have many feminist friends. It’s disheartening. Hanna’s the epitome of an unapologetic GenXer feminist. The next time someone questions my feminism I’m going to remind myself “What would Kathleen Hanna Do?” She explains at the end of the film is that if someone doesn’t understand or like feminism then they just need to get out of the way. She also laments that men tell the truth and it’s accepted and rarely questioned. Women tell the truth and it’s dissected, examined and rarely accepted for the truth. Women must prove themselves again and again. Women constantly fight the system in whatever industry.
So when a young Kathleen Hanna asserted a media black-out for Bikini Kill in the 90s due to negative press and backlash it was the only way she could control her truth at that time. As women why can’t we be beautiful feminists who dress in skirts and wear make-up? There are no rules that say we can’t. We have brains and boobs and vaginas and voices and we won’t be silenced. But people who don’t want to hear us will twist everything.
Hanna originally started doing spoken word performances but someone suggested she form a band because people actually go see bands. And music what a perfect medium. It resonates in so many ways for so many people. We feel the rhythm. We analyze the lyrics. We watch the band members when we see them perform. Music can change our mood or reinforce our current state of mind. Music can make us feel less alone. Music is power. Hanna crafts her songs to push and pull us in various directions. Kathleen Hanna the musician brilliantly encapsulates so many layers to her music and performances– visual, sonic, cerebral, visceral.
The film chronicles Hanna’s journey from Olympia, Wash. college student—she was friends with Kurt Cobain and inspired him to write “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – to her new music project The Julie Ruin. When as a college student and photography major she started a feminist art collective and later the punk band Bikini Kill. It was a seminal band for the 90s and the third wave feminist movement. Hanna sang about serious topics—sexual abuse, rape, sexism, body image. Mosh pits and crowd surfing were the rage at the time and girls were getting hurt in the rough punk most-male crowds at other shows. At a Bikini Kill show, Hanna had a new decree: girls at the front; boys in the back.
Bikini Kill moved to Washington, D.C. and toured throughout the world although never making much money. Hanna and some friends created zines and developed the Riot grrrl concept—the ability for women to speak out about what was important for them, to be themselves. After eight years, Bikini Kill breaks up and soon after Hanna forms a trio called Le Tigre—more electro-pop with thoughtful lyrics. Very cool music. She had to end things with Le Tigre when she became sick with Lyme disease. She’s currently married to Adam Horowitz of Beastie Boys–of whom she says “can’t believe this feminist was with the guy who wrote that ‘Girls who do the dishes, who do the laundry song’ in the ‘80s but you fall in love with who you fall in love with.”
Using concert footage, archival footage, testimonial from former band-mates as well as friends such as Kim Gordon and Tamara Davis as well as husband Adam Horowitz, The Punk Singer is one of the best biographical documentaries I’ve ever seen and a must-see for all feminists, all women, anyone with empathy. It’s empowering, riveting and bold. More people need to learn about Kathleen Hanna.
The Punk Singer
Directed by: Sini Anderson
Running time: 80 minutes
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PETA Features Vegetarian/Vegan Celebs on Stamps
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, TV, vegan/ vegetarian on November 24, 2013
–PETA has launched a limited-edition sheet of U.S. postage PhotoStampsTM featuring famous vegetarians throughout history.
Read more: http://www.peta.org/features/famous-vegetarian-postage-stamp-series/#ixzz2lZwz6TVm
Stella McCartney: “[Vegetarianism is] a philosophy of how you conduct your life and time on the planet. … One of the things I was taught growing up was, ‘Do unto others as you would have done to yourself.’”
Sarah Silverman: “When I was 9 or 10 years old, my dad took me over to a neighboring farm to help get stuff for the meal. The farmer, Vic, told me to look at all the turkeys and pick one out. I saw a cute one with a silly walk and cried, ‘Him!’ Before my pointing finger had even dropped to my side, Vic had grabbed the turkey by the neck and slit [the animal’s] throat. Blood and feathers went flying. I had sentenced that turkey to death! Up until then, I didn’t know where meat came from—and I’ve been a vegetarian ever since.”
Bob Barker: “The answer to enjoying life is nutrition. I recommend that you become a vegetarian and exercise if you want to enjoy the golden years. … I became a vegetarian about 25 years ago, and I did it out of concern for animals. But I immediately began having more energy and feeling better.”
Edie Falco: “Once you’ve seen [the undercover factory-farming footage], you can’t pretend you didn’t. It’s over. The stamp is in my brain, and the idea that we commit such atrocities against animals—it will be our fatal flaw as humans, I think, to not bring the situation to light and stop it.”
Natalie Portman: “Eating for me is how you proclaim your beliefs three times a day. That is why all religions have rules about eating. Three times a day, I remind myself that I value life and do not want to cause pain to or kill other living beings. That is why I eat the way I do.”
Sir Paul McCartney: “If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”
Morrissey: “I think animals look to humans for protection, and of course humans lead them into slaughterhouses, which to me is just like an image of leading children into a slaughterhouse. There’s no difference.” Morrissey’s stringent views on vegetarianism inspired his album with The Smiths’ titled Meat is Murder.
Read more: http://www.peta.org/features/famous-vegetarian-postage-stamp-series/#ixzz2lZxOuyHh
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Choice Quote: Diablo Cody
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, Women/ feminism on November 5, 2013
“I’m perhaps alone amongst my colleagues because I like talking about women’s issues in film, and feminism. I think a lot of women don’t like to do that. It’s usually, “Can we please turn the conversation back to my work?” For me, it’s an important part of who I am. I feel like so much of the reaction to my work and to me is connected to the fact that I’m a woman, so I can’t avoid that conversation. A part of my career is that I am a woman and I’ve committed myself to writing roles for women. I cannot separate myself from that and say, “Oh, can we please just talk about my work?” That is my work.”
–Film School Rejects, October 19, 2013
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FILM: what to watch– indie, instant, documentary, foreign
Posted by Amy Steele in DVD, Film on October 9, 2013
On Thursday, a friend and I plan to see Gravity on a long-planned movie date. In the past week, I’ve seen several wonderful films that I must recommend.
indie in theaters:
ENOUGH SAID
–writer/ director Nicole Holofcener [Lovely and Amazing, Friends with Money] creates wonderfully complicated characters. A masseuse [Julia Louis-Dreyfus] begins dating a guy [James Gandolfini] who turns out to be the ex-husband of a new friend. Julia Louis-Dreyfus exudes warmth and charm, James Gandolfini plays insecure and the film is sweet and smart.
on Netflix instant:
WAR WITCH
— intense, amazing film about a girl kidnapped and forced to be a rebel soldier in sub-Saharan Africa. when she develops intuition to where the enemy is she’s deemed a witch and works alongside the leader. that is until one day she meets an unusual boy who might provide her a way out from this terrible existence. brutal and beautiful. this 12-year-old girl’s survival story.
documentary on DVD:
WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE
–Spike Lee’s four-part compelling, heartbreaking, eye-opening documentary about Hurricane Katrina. He digs deeps for answers and interviews a wide patch of people. It’s remarkable and must-see viewing.
foreign on DVD:
LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED
— A surprising and delightful film by Susanne Bier. A young couple intends to marry during a weekend in Naples, Italy they begin to question their relationship and their respective families start to unravel with their own problems. The bride’s mother, Ida, a hairdresser [Trine Dyrholm] who lost all her hair to cancer found her husband cheating on her with a younger woman. She traveled solo to Naples, Italy for the wedding. The groom’s father, Philip, [Pierce Brosnan] misses his wife who died in an accident many years ago and Italy brings back memories. Although Ida and Philip don’t get along at first they soon find themselves quite attracted to each other while their children seem less likely to get married as the weekend progresses.
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Feminist artists speaking OUT — Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry and Natalie Portman
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, Music, vegan/ vegetarian, Women/ feminism on October 3, 2013
Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry wrote a column in the Guardian about online misogyny. She spoke about the ease in which people feel it’s okay to write messages calling her a slut, threatening to rape her and pick her appearance and intelligence apart due to her gender.
In the piece she states:
“I should note here that I have never said that men – in the public eye or otherwise – do not receive such comments. I can, however, only speak of what I know, which is that the number of offensive messages directed towards me, “the girl singer,” compared to my bandmates is undeniably higher. I should also clarify that this has nothing to do with hating men, as some have suggested. I identify as a feminist but subscribe to the pretty basic definition of a feminist as “someone who seeks equality between the sexes”. I am now, and have always been, in bands with smart, supportive guys, and have many amazing men in my life as family and friends. For that I am incredibly grateful.
“Of my numerous personal failings (perpetual lateness; a tendency towards anxiety; a complete inability to bake anything, ever), naivety is not one. I am often cynical about aspects of the music industry and the media, and was sure from the off that this band would need to avoid doing certain things in order for us to be taken seriously as musicians – myself in particular. We have thus far been lucky enough to do things our own way and make a pretty decent job of our band without conforming to the “push the girl to the front” blueprint often relied upon by labels and management in a tragic attempt to sell records which has little to do with the music itself.”
super-feminist Natalie Portman spoke about feminism with Thor co-star Tom Hiddleston for the November issue of ELLE UK:
“I want every version of a woman and a man to be possible. I want women and men to be able to be full-time parents or full-time working people or any combination of the two. I want both to be able to do whatever they want sexually without being called names. I want them to be allowed to be weak and strong and happy and sad – human, basically. The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you’re making a “feminist” story, the woman kicks ass and wins. That’s not feminist, that’s macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathise with.”
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CELEBS: my boyfriend Idris Elba
Posted by Amy Steele in Film, TV on September 20, 2013
he’s amazing in LUTHER and was brilliant in The Wire and RockN’Rolla
“Now that I’ve achieved some of the things that I’ve wanted to achieve, I’m not going to be a slave to it all of a sudden. I respect the artist that lives that way. The people that just go, ‘You’re going to hate me for what I just did, or you’re not going to understand why I made that film or that record or whatever, but what you are watching is someone that’s living their life.’ You know: I’m not watching you; you’re watching me.”
“That really is more about the writing of The Wire than it is the performance. You know, Stringer Bell is a great character that was written. I happened to play him, but it could’ve been anybody playing that role.”
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FALL FILMS ON MY RADAR
Posted by Amy Steele in Film on September 12, 2013
12 Years a Slave [Oct 18]
Director: Steve McQueen
starring: Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt
–a free black man from upstate New York gets abducted and sold into slavery in pre-Civil War United States
Touchy Feely [Sept 6]
Writer/director: Lynn Shelton
Starring: Rosemarie Dewitt, Ellen Page
–A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother’s floundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his healing touch.
Enough Said [Sept 20]
written and directed by: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss
–a divorced woman learns the man she’s interested in is her new best friend’s ex-husband
Rush [Sept 27]
directed by: Ron Howard
Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Chris Hemsworth
–great competition between two British car racers in the 70s. looks amazing.
Don Jon [Sept 27]
written and directed by: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Glenne Headly, Tony Danza
–guy addicted to porn. written and directed by JGL looks to have a lot to say about mass culture.
Gravity [Oct 4]
director: Alfonso Cuaron
starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
–an accident leaves an astronaut and an engineer adrift in space. this looks so freaky.
Runner Runner [Oct 4]
written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien
starring: Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck
–not sure why Justin Timberlake’s been cast as a college student. It’s another of those off-shore entrepreneur meets an online poker player.
Captain Phillips [Oct 11]
Dir: Paul Greengrass
starring: Tom Hanks
–based on true story of ship hijacked by Somalian pirates. I’m all in.
Great Expectations [Oct 11]
directed by: Mike Newell
starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Flemyng, Toby Irvine
–A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom [Nov 29]
starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris
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About Me
covering mostly music and books. focus on alternative/indie and women in music, literature and the arts. feminist. vegan. mostly alternative, a bit bohemian. Masters in journalism from Boston University. BA from Simmons College.
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