Showing posts with label Richard Linklater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Linklater. Show all posts

24 October 2013

Before Midnight DVD Review

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Rating:
15
Release Date:
28th October 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Sony Picture Classics (UK)
Director:
Richard Linklater
Cast:
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick
Buy Before Midnight:DVD [Amazon]

Before Midnight is the 3rd film in the most unlikely film franchise ever made. It started with the tiny budget Before Sunrise and followed 9 years later with Before Sunset. Neither film were smash hits but were critically acclaimed universally. Before Sunset even got an Oscar nomination for screenplay. It’s credited as directed by Richard Linklater but it’s more of collaboration between the director and it’s leads Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who are credited as screenwriters on the 2 sequels.

It all started with Before Sunrise, which came out in 1995 that concerns a brief encounter between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) in Vienne in their early 20s. They have a night together after meeting on a train and they wander aimlessly in Vienne and fall in love. They realise they will probably never see each other again and decide not to swap contact details.

The saga continued in Before Sunset, Jesse has written a book about their night together and it’s a bestseller. He Is on European book signing/reading tour and is in Paris and Céline pops by to say hi to an old friend. Jesse has a kid and is married but his love with Céline is rekindled and he famously misses his plane in the last scene.

Before Midnight is set 9 years after the events of the last film. Jesse and Céline have married and parented twin girls. Jesse’s son from his previous relationship is staying with them for summer in Greece but he has to fly home to Chicago to stay with his mother. Jesse has continued writing to great success but Céline is at a crossroads about her career and is debating to work for the French Government. The two of them go to dinner with some writer friends and they buy them a hotel for a night so they can have a night together. Jesse and Céline arrive at the hotel but tensions mount between the two and breaks into an argument.

The Before trilogy is one of the very few honest depictions of a romantic relationships on films. They are so often sentimental and unrealistic. The 1st 2 films are so hopelessly romantic so in the 3rd film they decide to see how is it to really live with the personal you are madly in love with. It’s perfectly acted by the two leads you buy into these characters, you care for about them and it’s works it’s strange magic over you.

Linklater has worked in all genres from teen comedies, scif-fi, dark comedy, more experimental works, crime etc. The one thing that is really his forte is the films within one day, which he has done 8 times now. Almost all of these films are his best films. It’s just a time frame that suits his aesthetic of films about people wandering and talking aimlessly about art, philosophy, films etc.

Overall Before Midnight is by the far the best cinematic romance you will see all year and the most real. It helps that Linkatler, Hawke and Delpy are such good friends for it not seemed forced which it could so much. I hope there will a 4th film in the series cause the ending definitely leaves that possibility. It’s about 100 minutes and you will hard pressed to find a more enjoyable 100 minutes of cinema this year.

★★★★★

Ian Schultz


28 March 2013

Watch First Trailer To Richard Linklater's Before Midnight

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Greece is the word, no not another Grease film but the location of a big reunion as Richard Linklater reunites with Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy for Before Midnight now watch the trailer!

After the success of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset Jesse and Celine return which sees the now married couple head to Greece on holiday 20 years after the first time they met on a train inbound to Vienna. The pair now with children, in their middle age attempting to handle the challenges life throws in front of them whilst struggling to keep the romantic spark between them alive.

I've never seen the first 2 films however you could say jokingly this is could be 'This Is 40' but don't take that as a guide in what this film is all about as this is arthouse not comedy.Before Midnight has plenty of charm, a film that will please fans of Woody Allen, plenty of dialogue, humour, romance.If your worried  about the quality of the film, you just have to look back to this years Sundance Film Festival put your mind at rest as the reviews where nothing but superb, so check out the trailer now!



Synopsis
In Before Midnight, we meet Celine and Jesse 9 years on. Almost 2 decades have passed since that first meeting on a train bound for Vienna, and we now find them in their early 40′s in Greece. Before the clock strikes midnight, we will again become part of their story.

Before Midnight is out in UK&Ireland 20th June (USA 24th May)

Source: Yahoo




16 February 2013

GFF 2013 - Bernie Review

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In a small town in Texas lives Bernie (Jack Black), a popular mortician who befriends the lonely, rich Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). The pair do everything together, however Marjorie eventually becomes abusive, and after one demand too many Bernie makes a fatal decision. The film is presented in a documentary style, with the story told by residents of the town in interviews which flash back to the events, some of whom are in fact real-life Texan’s who took part in the real case.

Richard Linklater has assembled a great cast for his latest offering. Matthew McConaughey stands out as the district attorney, while this is Jack Black’s best role for a long time, and shows he has a wider range of ability than his usual performances would have you believe. The problem however lies in the narrative: it is just not engaging enough to care about the characters. There is no build-up of events, just a meandering plod from start to finish. While displaying moments of quirkiness and charm, the script does not contain enough humour for it to deliver as a comedy. It is difficult to guess what Linklater’s intentions were, as the light-hearted tone of the film persists from start to finish, despite the turn of events. Bernie is an enjoyable watch, just not satisfactory, and may leave you wondering: what was the point?

Sophie Stephenson

★★★☆☆

Rating: 15
Release Date: 15th February 2013 (Glasgow Film Festival) 26th April 2013 (UK&Ireland)
Director
Cast