In feature films the director is God, in documentary films God is the director. (Alfred Hithcock)

If my films make one person miserable, I’ll feel I have done my job. (Woody Allen)

It’s great that audience have their own different takes on what they have just seen, and don’t know all the answers. Often, I don’t know the answers either. (Jim Jarmusch)

We tend to do period stuff because it helps make it one step removed from boring everyday reality. (Ethan Coen)

A films is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The them, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later. (Stanley Kubrick)

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Grant Heslov’s film was inspired by “The Guardian” journalist Jon Ronson’s novel. He says it was inspired by the BBC documentary series in which retired general told about mental power usage in the army. Given some sophisticated humor the story becomes a high level ironic tale about the war and human, life and human desire to become something more than he is.

Reporter Bob Wilton’s (Ewan McGregor) marriage collapsed and this drip feels a need to prove something to his ex-wife and himself. Iraq is the answer and Bob goes to the Near East. There he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a bizarre guy who claims he was a member of an experimental U.S. military unit – New Earth Army. These soldiers, Cassady reveals, were being trained to fight not with body and guns but with their mind and soul. They can read enemy’s thoughts, pass through walls, and even kill an animal, goat for example, simply by staring at it.

Cassady is going to some place in Iraq and Bob follows him. During the action it turns out that the real mission was to find Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), hippie, who is the founder of the New Earth Army program…

You have to learn yourself the whole strange plot and symbolic ending. However, don’t feel alone when going after film and asking yourself: How strong human mind is? Is peace more powerful than war?Can your imagination strengthen you? What was the real reason: warriors’ spirit or drugs?

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Tim Burton’s „Alice in Wonderland“ got a royal premiere last weekend, when Prince Charles and Camilla came to watch the film among other sophisticated guests, tells “Vanity Fair“.

Disney, the company that created “the happiest place on earth” and cornered the market on pink, turns a little bit black. It reaches out to an unlikely audience for new merchandise: female “goths”.
Disney is planning to license an extensive line of clothing and accessories to Hot Topic. While film is coming to cinema theatres Walt Disney Co.’s consumer-products division is aiming its marketing firepower at young women and teenage girls, particularly those who gravitate to darkly romantic entertainment like the “Twilight” series. The soundtrack album features goth icon Robert Smith, lead singer of the Cure, performing a song from Disney’s 1951 “Alice in Wonderland.” notices „Wall Street Journal“.

Summarily, come to cinema, watch the film and become one of its characters yourself. Live in the wonderland.

However, I suggest You some music, not visuality. It’s Avril Lavinge’s song written specially for the „Alice in Wonderland“. Almost „Avril in Wonderland“, one might say.

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But he found a new area. Please watch some short ads promting tourism in Denmark directed in specific Lars von Trier’s way.

Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier

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Drama by director Semih Kaplanoglu wasn’t in the favorites list this year but it was worth it. As the “Alt Film Guide” describes, set in a mountainous forest, “Honey” tells the story of a six-year-old boy who ventures into the woods after his wild honey-collecting father has gone missing. “The central performance is touching, truthful and overpoweringly charming,” wrote Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times. “One of those classic screen turns by a child, up there with “The Kid and The Red Balloon”.” By the way, “Honey” is the final part of an autobiographical trilogy about a young poet named Yusuf, that began with “Egg” (2007) and “Milk” (2008).

„Silver Bear“, the Jury Grand Prix, went to „Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier“ (If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle“) by Florin Serban.

Other prizes:

Silver Bear – Best Director

Roman Polanski for „The Ghost Writer“

Silver Bear – Best Actress

Shinobu Terajima in „Caterpillar“ by Koji Wakamatsu

Silver Bear – Best Actor

Grigori Dobrygin for „Kak ya provel etim letom“ („How I Ended This Summer“) by Alexei Popogrebsky. Ex aequo Sergei Puskepalis for the same film.

Silver Bear – Outstanding Artistic Achievement in the Category Camera

Pavel Kostomarov for the camera in „Kak ya provel etim letom“

Silver Bear – Best Script

Wang Quan’an and Na Jin for „Tuan Yuan“ („Apart Together“) by Wang Quan’an

Alfred Bauer Prize (in memory of the Festival founder, for a work of particular innovation)

„Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier“ by Florin Serban

The Berlin 2010, the 60th festival, jury was composed of German filmmaker Werner Herzog, the jury president; Chinese actress Yu Nan; Italian writer-director Francesca Comencini; Spanish producer Jose Maria Morales; Somali-born writer Nuruddin Farah; American Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger; and German actress Cornelia Froboess. Photos from the event are here.

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It wasn’t suprising, I think. Great director Martin Scorsese and great actor Leonardo Di Caprio just did what they had to.  A story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (L.DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who come to mysterious hospital for the criminally insane in the remote island to investigate a difficult case, has been made in a beautifully catching way. Guys are trying  to find out something about the dissapearance of a murderess, but they feel more and more as potential victims themselves…What do they manage to do with in this trap? Go and see yourself.

It was easy to guees thaht last week’s blockbuster Valentine’s Day would utterly fold — setting itself up for a second-weekend drop of more than 70 percent — while Percy Jackson fared only moderately better in third place. And behind them, Avatar made a decent-enough stride in its climb to $700 million.

SHUTTER ISLAND: $14,100,000 (new)
VALENTINE’S DAY: $5,680,000 ($75,942,000)
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF: $3,975,000 ($47,435,000)
AVATAR: $3,900,000 ($675,621,000)
THE WOLFMAN: $2,855,000 ($43,324,000)
DEAR JOHN: $2,350,000 ($61,021,000)
TOOTH FAIRY: $1,075,000 ($46,442,000)
CRAZY HEART: $765,000 ($19,325,000)
FROM PARIS WITH LOVE: $720,000 ($19,420,000)
EDGE OF DARKNESS: $615,000 ($38,719,000)

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James Cameron is beginning work on a prequel, film’s producer Jon Landau has revealed a few days ago. Businessinsider.com cites director himself. It would be his debut in literature.

“Jim is going to write a novel himself,” Jon Landau told us when he stopped by the MTV News studios recently. “Not a novelization — and there is a distinction. A novelization basically retells the story of the movie. Jim wants to write a novel that is a big, epic story that fills in a lot of things.”

“[We] won’t have time to do [these stories] in the movie, or maybe in sequels,” Landau explained of what Cameron will be writing about. “[So the novel will] give a foundation for the world.

“It would be something that would lead up to telling the story of the movie, but it would go into much more depth about all the stories that we didn’t have time to deal with — like the schoolhouse and Sigourney [Weaver's character] teaching at the schoolhouse; Jake on Earth and his backstory and how he came here; [the death of] Tommy, Jake’s brother; and Colonel Quaritch, how he ended up there and all that,” Landau explained.

As I’ve already stated, this idea reveals two things about “Avatar’s” creators. First of all, they’re trying to “validate” the film story by making it not only a mix of visual effects but adding some real drama, giving new details and lines for the plot. Deeper stories will give more colors to the characters, not only blue.

What is more, there’s a pragmatic reason, I guess. It is called: “sweep away as much money as you can, boy!” However, the fans will wait. According to producer, the book could be finished by the end of this year.

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Warner Brothers/New Line comedy, directed by Garry Marshall, uses the whole formula:

1) as many stars as possible (EIGHTEEN this time, including Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Shirley MacLaine and so on);

2) tittle – target (What’s fit to Valentine’s Day most? Valentine’s Day, Genius!);

3) the plot – a lot of variations of love and relations of different age, social groups and so on, appealing almost to everyone. I must stop here, because if I say one more word, I will reveal the whole plot…

According to “NYTimes“, a trio of high-profile new movies — and a still-solid “Avatar” — brought in large crowds at North American theaters over the weekend.

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” based on the young-adult novels by Rick Riordan, was second after “Valentine’s Day” with about $31.1 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office statistics. Some critics said that film, a fantasy from 20th Century Fox, was a knockoff of the Harry Potter franchise, but Fox played up the similarity in advertisements, a decision that box-office analysts said probably paid off.

“The Wolfman” (Universal Pictures) was third with about $30.6 million, a weak opening for such an expensive endeavor — budget estimates range from $110 million to $150 million — but better than some analysts had anticipated given negative chatter on the Internet.

“Avatar” (Fox) was fourth with about $22 million for a new domestic total of $659.6 million, while the tear-jerker “Dear John” (Relativity/Sony) was fifth with about $15.3 million ($53.2 million total).

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1. “Amadeus” (Milos Forman, 1984) – about Mozart.
2. “Shine” (Scott Hicks, 1996) – based on the life of Australian pianist David Helfgott, who made a comeback after suffering a nervous breakdown.
3. “The Buddy Holly Story” (Steve Rash, 1978).
4. “Ray” (Taylor Hackford, 2004) – A portrayal of soul and R&B legend Ray Charles.
5. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (Michael Apted, 1980) – about Loretta Lynn.
6. “La Vie En Rose” (Olivier Dahan, 2007) – about Edith Piaf.
7. “Walk the Line” (James Mangold, 2005) – about Johnny Cash.
8. “Bird” (Clint Eastwood, 1988) – about Charlie Parker.
9. “Backbeat” (Iain Softley, 1994) – about the early days of The Beatles.
10. “La Bamba” (Luis Valdez, 1987)- about Ritchie Valens.

Read here for arguments. But reading this top one more music biopic came to my mind – “I’m not there” (2007) by Todd Haynes about Bob Dylan.  This biopic was one of those rare ones which succeeds to show different sides of the main hero (person? character?).  And it does it not by strictly  following tiny details of subject’s life but by making so called interpretational biography. The fact that Bob Dylan is being represented by six actors, including afroamerican child and a woman (the one and only Cate Blanchett), reveals a lot. However, ironically, he isn’t there…

Would you like to add more music biopics to the top list?

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I won’t develop much more, because I’m risking to fall in to the most misleading trap, though it is possible that this could be the main purpose of the movie. Why? Because the film which I’m trying begin to tell about is an ode for telling itself. The genres, style and mood do not matter. “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus“ springs with admiration for magnificent human ability to imagine and to tell. Narration gets different features: from the axiom that narration force the world to rotate to the thought that telling is simply fun thing. I won’t give examples, because I don’t want to rob a pleasure to watch.

Let’s return to the very beginning instead. Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is a host of a magic theater which wanders through space and time. He and his miserable escort invite his audience to come to the miraculous mirror and viewer finds himself in the world created by his character and Parnassus imagination. At first a guest is wandering trough the animated space in which his or her biggest dreams and obsessions embodies. Later, depending on a level of guest’s rottenness, a participant of Doctor Parnassus imagination gets an exercise: he or she must choose between his weaknesses and the eternal values. Such a game is great opportunity for a little bet. This is what devil, mister Nick, likes the most…

It seems an odd friendship of Parnassus and Nick has been lasted longer than a millennium, from the day when Satan gave immortally to Doctor and the latter promised his first child for Mr. Nick when he or she becomes sixteen years old. Only now, after so many ages, Parnassus understands what he really had given, because only now he has a daughter Valentina, performed by nonstandard beauty Lily Cole. The fatal sixteenth birthday is coming and a great fantasist is puzzling his brains searching for ways to save Valentina.

Here Tony, a playboy, who has lost his memory, comes to the rescue. Now is the trick: four great actors had played this part. Maybe movie creators could be satisfied with one, but Heat Ledger didn’t make it till the shooting end. Therefore Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell came to finish the job. Usually these names themselves show the quality of the film. However, for the sake of truth, I should say that, despite a few very sophisticated moves, the first epithet that comes to my mind this time is “oh, what a funny narration!”

By the way, this review was published on the official site of the movie.

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