antares is a 2004 austrian film directed by götz spielmann .

it was austria 's submission to the 77th academy awards for the academy award for best foreign language film , but was not accepted as a nominee .

the movie is a sexual drama that focuses on adultery , abusive relationships , and sexual frustration .

critics claim that the film also explores the relationship between austria and its former empire through immigration .

antares ( film )

antares , a film that is as much about sex as it is about marriage and relationships and sadness , is the rare film that explores this elusive terrain with clarity and dignity .
production : a lotus film , team film production . ( international sales : austrian film commission , vienna . ) produced by erich lackner , wulf flemming . directed , written by goetz spielmann .
antares was poorly received by critics ; it has a 0 % rating on rotten tomatoes .
based in part on a blog entry written from the toronto international film festival .
sports hall
gdynia
- kazimierza górskiego 8 str . , 4km from the hotel antares .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing antares near you .
the antares musicians were the perfect addition to my elegant wedding at the dar . their sound was wonderful and working with them to prepare for my special day was a breeze ! i strongly recommend antares .
for an even more far out experience , try his early film “zentropa” . very haunting .
was surrounded by some consternation at the cannes film festival . von trier ' s jokes about
screen’s chief film critic on why the festival found itself looking behind the times this year .
austria ' s oscar selection for best foreign film , antares cunningly interweaves the erotic stories of 3 couples at crossroads in their relationships . over 3 momentous days in an apartment complex , each couple searches for love , intimacy & passionate romance . antares features explicit sexual content and mature themes in portraying these modern relationships .
world limited to the plot : unusually for a disaster film ; the film focuses solely on justine , her family , and guests , and shows none of the outside world ' s reactions to melancholia .
antares musicians were professional easy to deal with and flexible including with a last minute venue change . plus they sounded great .
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the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
caution : this post is a bit of a plot spoiler for people who haven’t seen the film . however , knowing the plot was no hindrance to my second viewing of the film , at all . i was even more impressed and awed , the next time around .
hi david , having read your summary and kathy´s recommendation , i´m definitely going to haunt this film and going to see it . thanks !
art shift : the opening montage is shot in extreme slow motion , with extremely stylized imagery . the rest of the film is photographed normally .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
we hired a string trio from antares musicians for our may 1st wedding . our trio played during our ceremony and reception and they were incredible - our guests are still talking about how beautiful the music was . our contact was tammy . from start to finish tammy was amazing . i picked two songs for our processional and recessional that weren’t in their music library and tammy worked with me to find the arrangements online so i wouldn’t have to pay the $ 50 fee for antares to arrange the piece . at our reception , my mother requested a song and our trio found the song online and played it for her , all within minutes ! we are completely satisfied with antares - not only were they wonderful musicians but were also lovely people . thank you so much antares for making our wedding so beautiful ! - emily and steven 05 / 01 / 16
the antares musicians were amazing . they played every song we selected and sounded amazing . they made our ceremony and cocktail hour even better . it was definitely worth it and one of our favorite memories from the wedding .
in the end , though , it’s a bit trite . antares stumbles so badly in its first story that it’s difficult to ascertain when it regains its footing . that’s likely because the film never fully recovers , and what comes through clearly , a meticulously shot examination of sex and social status , never feels particularly urgent . when the final shots light up the screen , they are closer to vacuous than revelatory .
part two of the film is called “claire . ” justine has now become so depressed that she can not even walk to the bath under her own power , or perform the simplest activities .
the antares musicians were a delight to word with and truly professional . it made for a very smooth flow to the wedding ceremony and cocktail hour . i would definitely refer them to other clients . anne berman special event & wedding consultant
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antares did a great job providing our ceremony and cocktail hour music . they are really talented and have an awesome music selection . they are also really organized and made planning the ceremony / cocktail hour music portion of our wedding a breeze . they provided us with a detailed questionnaire which we completed . from there antares had all of the information they needed . they prepared a cue sheet which they shared with us , and on the wedding day everything went off without a hitch .
the film is a rich feast visually . kirstin dunst won the award at cannes for best actress , and charlotte gainsbourg is every bit as good . although the subject matter of melancholia is certainly unusual , the film itself is probably the most traditional lars von trier has ever done . he has said that , ” a film should be like a stone in your shoe . ” i , however , did not feel the slightest rub in my shoes . the film’s stylistic accessibility gives it a universality , and promotes a sympathetic identification with the characters , that is not always the case in von trier’s oeuvre . melancholia has a deeper continuing resonance , for me , than any of his other films . it totally absorbs you and compels rumination about the deepest questions in life . parts of the film that von trier considered a parody of superficial , upper middle - class life , actually , ( as in the way ingmar bergman often used the same milieu , ) open up many touchstones with everyone’s emotional experiences . families are families in the end , and how they deal with the messy stuff of life , offers much that compels and preoccupies us all . melancholia is a film that washes over you and through you and leaves you deeply moved and thrilled . the experience of it is more like viewing and inhabiting a piece of art , than merely watching a movie .
with all the raw , animalistic rutting that opens
antares
( followed by fits of jealousy , betrayal , bigotry , screaming , lying , cursing , attempted suicide , vehicular mayhem , and physical and emotional bullying ) , there is something eerily calm about this strangely compelling film . perhaps
calm
is not so much the word as
deadpan .
it is the tension , in fact , between matter - of - fact presentation and volcanic emotional content that creates its perverse appeal .
a string trio from antares played for our ceremony and cocktail hour , and they were wonderful . tammy was our point person before the wedding , and she was incredibly responsive and helpful with picking out our processional and recessional music , and she was also really communicative with our day of coordinator about cueing the ceremony . it’s very clear that antares musicians have a ton of experience with weddings . i didn’t get to hear much of the pre ceremony or cocktail hour music , but i received so many compliments about the fun music they played . we asked them to play more contemporary music , and our guests loved hearing instrumental versions of many songs , especially the game of thrones theme song ! i highly recommend antares – they’re incredibly professional and experienced , and of course , their music was top notch .
this is from the film movement club , a club that puts out a film every month to its members and i have yet to see a bad one . this movie is from austria , and what we have is moments in the life of 3 women who live in an apartment complex , one women a nurse cheating on her husband , one women who is lying to her boyfriend that she is pregnant . and the other women trying to get rid of her husband . all three stores intersect with each other . i found it enjoyable . and if you get the chance for a quiet night alone , this is a good film . 4 1 / 2 stars put it in the collection .
u7 centre - go bowling ! the u7 centre encourages active leisure . for our guests there is a 15 % discount on bowling and pool . to get your discount , just show a stamped antares hotel business card . for more information , ask at the hotel reception desk . urltoken
if you ' d like to feel like an absolute dream on your wedding day , please choose antares musicians . on our wedding day , antares did our ceremony music . it was absolutely beautiful . they were sooo easy to work with and started and ended all of the ceremony music with excellent precision . there is definitely a difference between the songs they played so beautifully themselves versus music coming from a speaker ( not saying that ' s bad at all ) . but if you ' ve got an ear for clear , beautiful music - i would highly suggest them !
götz spielmann ' s antares is one of those films that weaves together a triptych of largely unrelated stories featuring largely unrelated characters , so naturally , it begins with a car crash . the whole short cuts / magnolia / amores perros genre relies on the idea that lives only have meaning inasmuch as they ' re like other lives , and the quickest way to show how everyone ' s the same is to inflict a shared injury , via natural disaster or man - made one . antares ' protagonists span the social classes , from schubert - loving medical professionals to shopgirls who listen to russian pop songs , but the characters all live in the same blocky viennese apartments , and by the end of the film , they ' ve been bonded by a metal - on - metal collision and a none - too - tragic fatality .
in melancholia , he strikes an elegiac tone , shot through with mystery and nameless loss . the film is quite strange , and was about half an hour too long , but on the whole it was compelling , and hard to look away from .
morzé ' s trysts are depicted explicitly , and the intense eroticism of those early sex scenes pretty much derails antares . in the first story , spielmann makes the irrationality of desire almost tactile , fogging the fact that little else is really going on . stories two and three contain far more plot , but the respective lack of sensationalism produces diminishing returns . all that ' s left to ponder are minor details , like whether the title—which refers to the name of a double star on the verge of supernova—is meant to have any relation to the way so many of the characters in antares look alike . and spielmann seems to be making a point about how in the modern age , cell phones offer a mistaken illusion of connection . for the most part , though , antares is uneven and piddling , and suffers from the affliction that it depicts : a terminal case of bad timing .
i agree with you about all . this film really sticks in my mind , in terms of visual images , characters , plot . i just replay so many of the scenes in my head . it’s bizzareness and awkwardness some how work to it’s benefit .
like amores perros and 21 grams before it ( and crash just a month after it ) , antares is a film about interconnectedness that relies heavily on a car accident . antares begins with its crash and then takes us to a time before it where eva ( petra morzé ) , a content nurse with a husband and daughter , begins an affair with the victim from the opening scene . after telling the story from her point of view , the story shifts to sonja ( susanne wuest ) , who has been falsely telling her boyfriend marco ( dennis cubic ) that she is pregnant and suspects him of cheating ( she is eventually proven correct ) . the final tale is alex ( andreas kiendl ) , a cruel realtor who stood up the eva and her husband and also the father of the child of the woman with whom marco is cheating .
crew : camera ( color ) , martin gschlacht ; editor , karina ressler ; music , walter w . cikan , marnix veenenbos ; art director , katharina woeppermann ; costume designer , thomas olah ; sound ( dolby srd ) , ekkehart baumung ; sound designer , andreas kopriva ; assistant director , katharina biro ; casting , rita waszilovics . reviewed at locarno film festival ( competing ) , aug . 4 , 2004 . ( also in toronto film festival - - contemporary world cinema . ) running time : 120 min .
the first section of the film is entitled “justine , ” after the kirsten dunst character , and chronicles her wedding at the opulent , castle home of her sister , claire , played by charlotte gainsbourg , and her wealthy husband , john , played by keiffer sutherland .
the antares musicians completely delivered on our wedding day . they performed both at the ceremony and during the cocktail hour . several of our guests ( and our photographer ) noted that it was the best music they ' d heard at a wedding . in the weeks leading up to the big day , their coordinator ( jill ) was highly organized and communicative , making sure we understood our options for the playlist and giving informed suggestions where we needed help . if you ' re looking for a string quartet , especially one that can play the beatles and beach boys with the same skill as classical tunes , antares is a great choice .
the film presents the only danger melancholia poses to earth is by direct collision . however , even a flyby could potentially be disastrous . it might
slingshot
the earth out of orbit , and the tidal forces could also wreak havoc , depending on melancholia ' s mass .
i had the same fear going in , and my reaction was just like yours , as well . it’s amazing that someone can do a movie about the end of the world and have it not be depressing . it’s part of what makes melancholia such a unique and original film .
fan disservice : given what her character ' s going through and also the tone of the film , kirsten dunst ' s nude scenes are not supposed to be sexy . you have to give credit for kirsten going further than she ' s ever been in her career , though .
we hired the antares musician ' s 3 piece flute and strings trio for our september 12th wedding . my family originally wanted us to hire a band for the reception which can be very costly , so our happy medium was live music for our ceremony and cocktail hour . my husband and i were very pleased with the quality of service and professionalism we received from start to finish . my emails and phone calls were always returned in a timely matter , and the music that was played throughout was absolutely beautiful . we received many compliments from guests afterwards . i would definitely recommend the antares musicians to future brides looking to incorporate live music into their wedding day .
i appreciate your comment about the plot spoiling . i thought long and hard about it , and even disagreed with my in house editor - my wife - about it . it felt natural in trying to express my reactions to the film , but i’m having second thoughts… i might revise .
screening some of the most highly anticipated films of the season , along with special programs and series focusing on directors and avant - garde work , the 49th new york film festival starts on september 30 and runs to october 16 . take a look at the schedule and purchase tickets here .
antares did such an amazing job at my wedding . they played all of our musical selections beautifully , we got tons of compliments all night . jill was a pleasure to work with and answered all of my questions in a timely manner . if i had to plan my wedding over again they would still be one of the fist vendors i booked !
we used the antares musicians for our ceremony and they were an amazing addition to our wedding . they provided beautiful music and were so easy to work with ! they are responsive , detail oriented and professional . we couldn ' t have asked for anything more ! ( side note : guests could not stop talking about how much they enjoyed the music )
viennese director goetz spielmann , who helmed the impressively noirish “the stranger” ( 2000 ) , brings the same coolly analytical gaze to more complex , subtly interlocking material in “antares . ” centered on the love lives of three different women in an anonymous housing project , and fanning out into a group portrait of sexual and emotional follies , cleverly constructed script [ … ]
the antares trio created a perfect musical performance for our wedding and the reception and dinner that followed the ceremony . accomplished professionals and highly talented performers , these musicians provided the elegance of classical pieces to underscore the formal commitment of bride and groom to each other and then provided a robust repertoire of show tunes and popular music to animate the revelry after the ceremony .
the film begins with this gorgeous , slow motion , cinematic ballet of cosmic death , choreographed to wagner’s tristan and isolde . as viewed from outer space , this cosmic dance of death is almost sensual , and certainly as lyrical as anything in kubrick’s “2001 . ” it’s both a prelude to the main body of the film , and a documentation of the end . before the first character comes on screen , we have already seen their eventual fate . that first introduction of characters is similarly done in an expressionistic , slow motion scene that visually weaves the fate of the main character to the planet’s own inevtiable attraction to a gravitational field bigger than its own .
we couldn ' t have been happier with antares musicians . we initially booked them for our ceremony for our black - tie wedding . they not only learned our favorite songs for our processional and recessional , they played our cocktail hour as well with very little notice ! very professional , fantastic song selections , we were just thrilled . added fantastic atmosphere and made our ceremony unforgettable .
i have never seen a film that left such a long lasting impression on all my senses as melancholia . and , in spite of my trepidation that it was going to be an immensely depressing movie , somehow it’s not . as you pointed out , so much more than a movie – a real lasting work of true art .
either way , what saves antares is precisely who is connected . our characters range from store clerks to realtors to nurses who don’t have to think twice before looking for another apartment , and whether they are austrian or yugoslavian , they can be both sexually frustrated or unfaithful . furthermore , these characters tend to look a great deal alike—the women are very blonde , and the men are neither tall , clean - shaven and combed or scraggly with facial hair—and it’s an effective way of literalizing their commonalities . regardless of social status , antares ’ cast are grappling with the same issues and playing roles , however small , in the lives of each other . spielmann may not do any more than say we are all connected , but he makes sure to be inclusive about it .
but spielmann’s other emphatic mark , his fascination with sexual betrayal and satisfaction , actually bogs down the film’s inclusive nature . eva’s story is largely without plot and spends much of its time with extremely graphic sex scenes , a decision which paradoxically disconnects eva from the following two stories . after emphatically declaring that the film will be no frills when it comes to portrayal of sex , it doesn’t take long to backpedal , and the unintended elephant in the room is what makes sex between these two so special ? is it supposed to be more honest or is it supposed to be more disturbing ? why ? certainly , or at least hopefully , it is not because of class .
as unceremoniously as he arrived , tomasz departs , precipitating a not entirely unexpected change in eva ' s relationship with her family . spielmann ' s film , at this point , picks up its second thread , one concerning a grocery clerk named sonja ( susanne wuest ) and her philandering , immigrant husband , marco ( dennis cubic ) . while the director has spoken of how
antares
is about
people trying to break out of their loneliness ,
here that effort manifests itself in sonja ' s pretending to be pregnant to hang onto her man . it ' s not enough , of course - - how could it be ? - - but what turns out to be enough , in the end , may surprise you .
not even bothering with the accent : everyone in the film uses their natural accent , so it ' s not clear where the film takes place . claire and justine are sisters with british parents , but dunst as justine uses her american accent . she works for a swedish man who has a nephew with an american accent . the resort ' s butler is danish and the wedding has a german planner . claire is married to an american man and their child has an american accent , while gainsbourg as claire herself doesn ' t hide the fact that she ' s of mixed anglo - french origin , speaking in a bit of a ( hardly discernible ) french accent every now and then .
it captures the tragic - romantic - depressive mood that permeates the movie . in fact , the idea for the film was generated by a therapist’s suggestion to von trier , ( who famously suffers from depression and anxiety disorders , ) that depressed people often remain calm in highly stressful situations . it doesn’t get more stressful than the literal end of the world .
the antares musicians were absolutely my favorite aspect of my wedding . the string trio was perfect and were such an elegant touch for our big day . from performing all you need is love at the end of our ceremony to playing fun songs like sweet caroline and the game of thrones theme song during cocktail hour , everything was just perfect . i ' m still hearing compliments about the music from friends and family .
götz spielmann ( b . 1961 , wels ) grew up in vienna , studying screenwriting and directing there . his films include erwin and julia ( 1990 ) , the neighbor ( 1991 ) , this naïve desire ( 1993 ) , fear of the idyll ( 1994 ) , the stranger ( 1999 ) , daybreak ( 2001 ) and antares ( 2004 ) . he has also recently written and directed for the stage .
she comes to the castle to live with claire , john , and leo . gradually with claire’s nursing she becomes better . the focus now shifts to what was thought previously to be the star , antares , and is now revealed as a huge planet on a rogue orbit through the galaxy , called melancholia , because of it’s blue color . as it becomes clearly visible on its own , everyone flock’s to john’s telescope .
the second part of melancholia belongs to claire ( charlotte gainsbourg ) . justine has come to live with claire and john following her wedding , and she has disintegrated so precipitously that she needs help undressing and bathing . claire is worried . john is too , but he is more taken up by a celestial event that seems to be happening , an event that justine had already noticed on her own . she had glanced up at the dawn sky and saw that a star is suddenly missing from scorpio . antares , the brightest star in the constellation , is no longer there . apparently , a planet is now blocking antares , a planet no one had heard of before . it is named melancholia , and the scientists predict that its trajectory may very well end up interfering with the earth , although it may well miss the earth , too . no one is sure what will happen .
above , the couple arriving two hours late for their wedding party , and , above , right , pausing to stare at a strange celestial object , with claire and john , the evening’s hosts . while everyone else seems transfixed , claire stares away , tensely and with , as it turns out , appropriately ominous , premonition . john , an amateur astronomer , explains that the object is the star antares , hidden by the sun , and harmless .
the musician at my church dropped the ball and i had to book ceremony musicians less than a month before my wedding , so understandably i was a little frantic . after sending around tons of inquiries , jill responded within a few hours , we had a phone call that evening , and i booked the antares musicians within a few days . we had a trio - violin , flute , and cello - and jill helped me pick the music , as well .
this was truly a great investment . i hadn ' t seen musicians play at any other wedding i ' ve been to , but i am beyond happy that my husband and i chose to have them at our wedding . they were absolutely perfect and also a phenomenal value . so many aspects of planning a wedding seem overpriced , but the antares musicians were not only reasonably priced , but they were worth so much more and were a perfect fit for our wedding .
when i began the wedding planning process , i had never thought about having musicians at my wedding . the antares musicians appeared on a recommended vendor list from our venue , so my husband and i decided to check out their website . we were instantly delighted listening to their clips , as there was not only classical music but more contemporary songs as well , like from the beatles . we decided to go for it and hired them to perform our reception and cocktail hour .
the antares musicians played for our wedding ceremony and a 1 - hour cocktail reception . they were outstanding ! ! ! the live music added something special to our wedding . they added a personal touch to the ceremony that wouldn ' t have been present with a dj . the musicians were wonderful and accommodated our special requests for a couple of tunes that we both liked . we highly recommend these musicians - - - - - our ceremony was beautiful and we loved the music .
this 2 - kilometre long route starts from kościuszko square and leads to the foot of kamienna góra . you can continue walking along the beach to the cliff in redłowo , the pier in orłowo or even as far as the neighbouring resort of sopot . gdynia is also associated with the polish film festival , becoming a polish cannes each year in spring . the audience can attend festival shows and meetings with visiting movie stars .
if you’re lars von trier , the world ends in total destruction , as it both implodes and explodes , in the opening sequence of his new film , melancholia . the earth’s atmosphere is ripped away by the gravitational pull of a wandering , giant blue planet , named melancholia , which literally consumes the earth , as it draws our planet in to the point of implosion / explosion , and burns it up . point , fire .
in a way , the bang ( which is , at the same time , a whimper ) that closes this episode brings the film full circle , tying up its disparate elements - - fear , anger , sadness , hurt , lust , jealousy - - in a single , if not especially tidy bundle . it may not offer any profound insights into human misery except this one : we all , at one point or another , are touched by it .
the film is divided into two halves , titled
justine
and
claire .
it appears that the two sisters exchange personalities , but to no great effect . maybe the approach of an overwhelming event has dissolved the membranes of personalities . notice how jack , the ad man , continues to place importance on his ad slogan . and how gaby lashes out at the very notion of a wedding or a party . there is displacement here that is frightening .
sliding scale of idealism versus cynicism : pretty much breaks the scale on the cynicism side . it doesn ' t really matter that the world is going to end and possibly all life in the universe will be extinguished ; life is so shitty and devoid of meaning that it ' s a good , perhaps even beautiful thing . sort of justified , in that the whole scenario is a metaphor for depression , except that the director is pretty much romanticizing it with this film .
viennese director goetz spielmann , who helmed the impressively noirish “the stranger” ( 2000 ) , brings the same coolly analytical gaze to more complex , subtly interlocking material in “antares . ” centered on the love lives of three different women in an anonymous housing project , and fanning out into a group portrait of sexual and emotional follies , cleverly constructed script overstays its welcome in an unnecessary coda but for most of the going is involving drama , with fine performances from the ensemble cast . strong fest item could secure some european arthouse exposure , followed by specialized tube sales .
the grittiness of the special effects portraying the approach of melancholia adds to the dazzling look of the film , and to a sense of intensifying horror and doom . the sound drops out of the picture in the second half , and the air is filled with a barely concealed dull roar , the roar of the planet ' s approach . it ' s very eerie . claire weeps for the inevitable destruction of the planet earth , weeping for herself , for her son , for the end of everything .
the final chapter spins off sonja and marco ' s dysfunctional relationship into the sick dynamic between the woman marco has been having an affair with ( martina zinner ) and her real estate agent ex - husband , alex ( andreas kiendl ) , a package of damaged goods if ever there was one . angry with the world ( immigrants , his ex , his clients , himself ) , he ' s a walking time bomb , or , to pick up the metaphor suggested by the film ' s title , a star destined to explode as a supernova .
melancholia is a 2011 speculative fiction film written and directed by lars von trier . it mainly focuses on the relationship between the two sisters justine and claire , played by kirsten dunst and charlotte gainsbourg . the movie is divided into two parts , the first about justine ' s wedding , the second about the upcoming fly - by of the rogue planet melancholia that ' s drifting through the solar system . the focus lies on how the characters relate to the events surrounding them , from the mundane event of a wedding to the possibility of a planetary collision .
in any film involving the destruction of the globe , we know that , if it is not to be saved , there must be a
money shot
depicting the actual cataclysm . i doubt any could do better than von trier does here . there are no tidal waves . no animals fleeing through burning forests . no skyscrapers falling . none of that easy stuff . no , there is simply a character standing on a hill and staring straight at the impending doom , as von trier shows it happening in what logically must be slow motion , with a fearsome preliminary merging of planetary atmospheres .
the opening of lars von trier ' s melancholia is magnificent , reminiscent of a high - concept couture spread in vogue italia , with excruciating slo - mo and a parade of surrealistic tableaux , all to the bombastic accompaniment of wagner ' s
tristan and isolde .
there is an intensifying burn as the film builds to its apocalyptic second half , a powerful and dreamy statement of the inevitability of disintegration and destruction , as seen through the deadened - by - sorrow eyes of kirsten dunst as justine , whose wedding sparks a cloud of despair in her so deep that she cannot be reached .
this is the first time we see justine ( kirsten dunst . ) she seems to both strain against and also be pulled toward an invisble force , just like the earth is , in the heavens above . the first part of the movie is the story of justine’s wedding . her mental illness , more than just normal depression is on display early , and in fact the wedding night ends with the marriage and justine’s career in tatters . this beautiful image , left , is part of an early montage that reflects a sense of the morbid fairy tale that is about to unfold . the film’s visual style is ” a clash between what is romantic and grand and stylized , and then some form of reality , ” according to von trier . yet the melding of styles of kubrick’s sensual , fluid , visual imagery and bergman’s intense , elegiac , naturalistic acting ( enhanced by a lot of hand held camera shots ) blend quite effectively throughout the film . the mood and composition of the shot above is certainly a reference to the well known pre - raphaelite masterpiece by john millais , called , ophelia , below . it was painted in 1852 , and is an illustration of the death of ophelia from shakespeare’s hamlet .
working with the antares musicians was such a breeze ! the value for the service they provided was phenomenal . i wish i had an excuse to have another event because i would hire them again in a heartbeat ! jill was very responsive through email and offered suggestions when i did not know the best course of action . tammy , shane , and the third violinist ( i can ' t remember his name ! ! ) were so friendly and kind . my wedding guests commented on how lovely they sounded , and how classy they made the wedding feel . i cannot thank them all enough for their professionalism , talent , and the skill they brought to our wedding day . thank you ! ! !
constructed as three interlocking stories featuring the residents of an austrian apartment complex - - in which minor characters from one vignette turn up later as major characters in another and vice versa - - writer - director gotz spielmann ' s drama begins with a kind of muted bang , in more ways than one . after a short prologue that ends abruptly when a car slams into a taxicab carrying a man flipping through some dirty photos ,
antares
begins with the tale of eva ( petra morze ) , a married nurse who , while heading home to her family after working the night shift , encounters a taciturn man ( andreas patton ) she may or may not know from somewhere - - although we recognize him from the cab - - waiting for her in the hospital lobby .
this film tells three intertwined stories of the residents of an apartment building . this style of filmmaking has become popular of late , following the early success of robert altman (
nashville
and
short cuts
) and alejandro inarritu (
amores perros
and
babel
) . this one , however , falls far short of those films . of the three episodes , the first one is the most interesting , featuring a nurse in a loveless marriage having a brief affair . the other two episodes concern low - lifes making each other ' s lives miserable . neither the characters nor the stories are particularly interesting . of course everything comes together in a predictable finish .
as justine has improved , claire has become increasingly agitated and fearful that the world is coming to an end . she has started obsessively doing internet research and finds data that shows melancholia is on a collision course with the earth , and that john’s analysis is wrong . at first , the collision theory is portrayed as a kook conspiracy notion , but eventually , is proven to be true . the characters reactions to this reality and their varying levels of acceptance of it , takes up the last third of the film . john pretends it’s not true . claire’s agitation and fear keep mounting for herself and her child , while justine becomes almost calmly philosophical and accepting , even as the climate changes and strange precipitation falls from the sky
dunst , whose persona on film has often been effervescent and humorous , is a revelation in melancholia . her depression is tangible , seen in the dark shadows in her eyes , the flatness of her affect . she portrays a woman in the grip of something she cannot even name . in one scene , she goes into john ' s study , where there are art books on display along the shelves . the pages are all open to colorful abstract paintings , cheerful blocks of reds and blues . in the grip of melancholia , she flips through all of the books , looking for paintings that more accurately reflect her mindset , dark disturbing images of death and torture . dunst goes very deep in melancholia , and her performance is mysterious , compelling , and emotional . it is her best work yet .
if i were choosing a director to make a film about the end of the world , von trier the gloomy dane might be my first choice . the only other name that comes to mind is werner herzog ' s . both understand that at such a time silly little romantic subplots take on a vast irrelevance . doctor johnson told boswell :
depend upon it , sir , when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight , it concentrates his mind wonderfully .
in the cast of von trier ' s characters , impending doom seems to have created a mental state of dazed detachment . they continue to act as if their personal concerns have the slightest relevance . von trier has never made a more realistic domestic drama , depicting a family that is dysfunctional not in crazy ways but in ways showing a defiant streak of intelligent individualism .
a devastating car accident forces a nurse , a supermarket checkout girl , and a high - strung real - estate agent to come to terms with their true longings and needs while searching for love and human contact in austrian filmmaker götz spielmann ' s stark and sexual drama . though their lives couldn ' t be more different , it only takes one act of sudden and unexpected tragedy to bring three lost souls into contact and forever alter the course of their lives . over the next three days , each of these previously unconnected individuals will learn not only the value of time , but the true motivations that drive them and the effects that their actions can have even on those they might have never considered . lives that intersect at critical moments , skillfully woven into a film about the obsessions of love , the search for closeness , and the hope for happiness . about fear , loneliness , and courage .
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75 % or higher after a set amount of reviews ( 80 for wide - release movies , 40 for limited - release movies , 20 for tv shows ) , including 5 reviews from top critics .
a devastating car accident forces a nurse ( petra morzé ) , a supermarket checkout girl ( susanne wuest ) , and a high - strung real - estate agent ( andreas kiendl ) to come to terms with their true longings and needs while searching for love and human contact in austrian filmmaker götz spielmann ' s stark and sexual drama . though their lives couldn ' t be more different , it only takes one act of sudden and unexpected tragedy to bring three lost souls into contact and forever alter the course of their lives . over the next three days , each of these previously unconnected individuals will learn not only the value of time , but the true motivations that drive them and the effects that their actions can have even on those they might have never considered . ~ jason buchanan , rovi
brendan connell , jr . appointed chief operating officer of the academy museum of motion pictures
the academy’s board of governors awards an oscar® to alejandro g . iñárritu’s “carne y arena” virtual reality installation
the academy continues residency at the metrograph theater in new york with “the ballad of gregorio cortez” and tribute to george a . romero
academy rescinds sound mixing nomination for greg p . russell on “13 hours : the secret soldiers of benghazi”
jennifer aniston , jason bateman , warren beatty , sofia boutella , matt damon , faye dunaway , michael j . fox , ryan gosling , salma hayek , taraji p . henson , dev patel , seth rogen , octavia spencer , meryl streep and vince vaughn announced as presenters
halle berry , jamie dornan , chris evans , gael garcía bernal , samuel l . jackson , scarlett johansson , dakota johnson , kate mckinnon , shirley maclaine , hailee steinfeld will be presenters on oscars® stage
jackie chan , anne v . coates , lynn stalmaster and frederick wiseman to receive academy’s 2016 governors awards
oscar winners morgan freeman and john legend added as presenters along with j . j . abrams , sacha baron cohen and henry cavill dave grohl will give a special performance
kathy baker , o’shea jackson jr . , freida pinto and jimmy smits to perform at academy nicholl fellowships live read
kristen bell and michael b . jordan to host academy ' s sci - tech awards
lacma and the academy co - present a major u . s . exhibition highlighting the prolific career of mexican cinematographer gabriel figueroa
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a deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points , faltering behind the doors of the same , plain vienna apartment block . a bored nurse with a stable , comfortable . . . see full summary »
buzzing comedies such as the spy who dumped me await you in our summer movie guide . check in for all the info you need .
round - up : goodnight mommy blu - ray / dvd , the funhouse massacre release details , new live - evil photos , dr . gangrene halloween videos
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angela an illegal immigrant living in los angeles stumbles across bill , a disgraced banker on the run . through sex , conversation ranging from politics to philosophy , and other worldly pleasures , angela introduces bill to another worldview .
can strangers connect ? can casual sex become something else ? in santiago , daniela and bruno , both about 30 , meet at a party , go to another and end up in a hotel . we join them there as . . . see full summary »
three generations of a french family open up about their sexual experiences and desires after young romain is caught masturbating in his biology class .
a failed london musician meets once a week with a woman for a series of intense sexual encounters to get away from the realities of life . but when he begins inquiring about her , it puts their relationship at risk .
in a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis , the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet cecile , a character who symbolizes desire .
one day at a colleague ' s going away party , anna meets domenico , a virile , slightly older chap who ' s married with two small kids . passion ' s flames are rapidly kindled and result in steamy encounters .
two young women find themselves struggling to survive in paris , street - wise nathalie , a stripper , and naïve sandrine , a barmaid . together , they discover that sex can be used to their . . . see full summary »
a young single mother drops her son of at the bus stop to visit his dad in paris . after being late for work , she almost gets fired . at the end of her duties she gets into a tricky situation which she handles , with the advice her colleague gave her .
reluctantly , a sulky adolescent returns to her parents ' house for yet another boring summer vacation , dabbling in desire and the art of desirability , eventually mixing reality with vision , caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality .
a filmmaker holds a series of boundary - pushing auditions for his project about female pleasure .
coming of age . in buenos aires , eloy is on the verge of manhood . he studies physics , helps with the family headstone business , and does advertising - handing out flyers while walking on . . . see full summary »
a chronicle of the life of a middle - class french girl ' s sexual adventures , her then fall into prostitution , and her ultimate redemption .
a deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points , faltering behind the doors of the same , plain vienna apartment block . a bored nurse with a stable , comfortable family life has a wild but almost - wordless extramarital affair with a fashion - conscious traveling salesman , who ' s obsessed with sex photos . an unstable young austrian grocery checker lies to hold on to her philandering yugoslavian boyfriend , claiming she ' s pregnant . finally , a recent divorcée whose violent , ex - husband is a king of denial intent on getting her back . will the residents ' fibs and moral failures save or destroy them ? can the women safely express their fears ?
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with jurassic world : fallen kingdom now in cinemas , we take a look at how imdb users rated the films of the franchise . plus , browse exclusive lego® jurassic world playsets , presented by lego .
viennese director goetz spielmann brings coolly analytical gaze to complex , subtly interlocking material . centered on the love lives of three different women in an anonymous housing project , script is cleverly constructed , with fine performances from the ensemble cast . strong fest item could secure some european arthouse exposure .
with : with : petra morze , andreas patton , hary prinz , susanne wuest , dennis cubic , martina zinner , andreas kiendl , xenia ferchner , angelika nidetzky , hannes thanheiser , reinhard nowak , gisella salcher , monika tajmar , wolfram schmidt , barca baxant .


busy buddies is the 78th short film released by columbia pictures in 1944 starring american slapstick comedy team the three stooges ( moe howard , larry fine and curly howard ) .

the comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959 .

busy buddies ( film )

the film title
busy buddies
is a play on
busybodies
.
busy buddies is the seventy - eighth columbia pictures short subject starring the three stooges .
busy buddies has a great ending and a somewhat interesting premise , but the humor is lacking and the film also lacks energy in its execution .
busy buddies is a 1956 animated short that is the 100th tom and jerry cartoon . it is such a disappointing episode .
you can watch this cartoon today on your computer . just click below to start viewing
busy buddies
online now .
posted in tom and jerry and tagged animated short films , busy buddies , cartoons , rating , reviews , tom and jerry .
moe : [ in total madness ] i ' ll warden you , get busy .
busy america is never too busy to laugh ! . . . and movie - goers have been laughing at filmdom ' s zaniest comedy team for ten years ! ( trade paper ad ) .
i can ' t hear pop goes the weasel without thinking of this film .
do you love busy buddies , or do you think it is the worst cartoon ever ? let us know what you think ! surely you have an opinion . . . so share what you think . take a minute and post your own comments about this cartoon here .
a scene featuring vernon dent and john merton as detectives was cut from the final film .
back to one podcast : keith poulson on developing as an actor in the ny indie film scene .
( for an explanation of what everyone does on a film set , read the sidebar article . )
this film was adapted in the three stooges # 6 comic book , st . john publications 1954 .
the short is a reworking of laurel & hardy ' s feature film pardon us ( 1931 ) .
curly’s wife in the film is played by marcia healy , sister of their late boss ted healy .
do you have anything to add to this page ? have we made any mistakes . . . or do you have any additional information about busy buddies ? if so , we would love to hear from you . please send us a quick note with your additions or corrections to this page , and we will make the corrections as soon as possible !
acresses judy malcolm and sethma williams appear in lobby cards , the one - sheet and publicity photos , but are nowhere in the film . jules white ' s copy of the shooting script does not offer any clues as to their parts in the film . it is assumed that whatever their roles , those scenes were deleted from the final film .
jump in picture a noticeable jump cut in the film when curly crashes off - screen after yanking the phone wire .
leg / hand shaking during a wresting or boxing match , the third stooge ' s leg or hand begins shaking . moe asks
are you nervous ?
, and the third stooge usually repsonds something like
no , only in that leg
. also used in : grips , grunts , and groans · busy buddies · fright night · hula - la - la · fling in the ring
' busy buddies ' is a nice animated short where tom and jerry have to work together . the babysitter does nothing but talking on the phone to one of her friends while the baby keeps crawling away . tom and jerry have to make sure nothing happens to the baby . it ' s a nice and pretty funny short . it is fun to see the cat and the mouse work together for a change .
digesting indigestibles the stooges mistake something else for real food ( like a potholder for pancakes ) . after a while of having difficulties in trying to eat it , they end up coughing it back out non - stop . also used in : uncivil warriors · busy buddies · all gummed up · three hams on rye · baby sitters jitters · bubble trouble · wham - bam - slam ! · commotion on the ocean
sometimes , film shoots are awful . directors lose control ; producers are scoundrels ; people have bad ideas and worse communication skills .
barbara pepper ' s name appears on the one - sheet and lobby cards , but she does not appear in the film .
imdb lists this short as having premiered in portugal on october 25 , 1943 . . . a full month before the film even started shooting .
this was the final short in which curly cries out his famous
woo woo woo
. it was dubbed in as the film fades out .
“even though this film is so completely different from ‘the incredibles , ’ michael’s range is so great i just knew that he was the right guy for it , ” says bird . “this film is more whimsical than ‘the incredibles’ — a funny , romantic journey into paris — and michael did a tremendous job capturing that . ”
the song the stooges sing , known in the film as swinging the alphabet was originally composed by septimus winner and published in 1875 as the spelling bee . it was director charley chase who brought the song into this film , with a few tweaks . his maid had known the song and had taught the chase children how to sing it .
shooting schedule : 8 / 1 / 1940 - 8 / 5 / 1940 . the film ' s title is a spoof of the expression
beautiful but dumb
.
{ i love this film so much . it was one of the first hitchcock movies i watched back in 2012 and i agree with you , it . . . } –
comments john lasseter , chief creative officer walt disney and pixar animation studios and a two - time academy award® - winning director : “the idea of following one’s creative passion against all odds is one that brad bird cares deeply about . and it shows because he’s created an amazing film that’s deeply funny in an original way and has a real emotional core to it , which is so important to us . there’s a level of depth , complexity and humor to this film that i don’t think any pixar film has had before . ”
it ' s funny but not in a set - piece or one - liner way . it ' s busy but not in a plot development way . swanberg manages to fill the running time with moments that usually make the cutting room floor and still manages to drive the story forward . go see it .
a father ( tommy lee jones , with susan sarandon ) tries to solve his son ' s murder in paul haggis ' s film ,
in the valley of elah .
punch drunks is the only stooges film to credit the stooges for the story ; moe actually wrote the treatment , and added curly ' s and larry ' s names to it .
for the 8mm home - movie market in the 1960 ' s . film historian and author ted okuda recalled a time when wgn television in chicago once broadcast this 9 minute version .
jump in picture a noticeable jump cut in the film when curly removes the poster section of the billboard . same thing later in the short right before the chair hits curly on the head .
hope that no one on a film set will ever again ask me where to get a ladder . ( the answer is the grip department . the answer is always the grip department ) .
throw away your trash . a film set is a sacred place where creative people engage with one another and make art . every bag of chips and empty coffee cup left behind is an act of disrespect to the art - making at hand . it is also a blemish on the film itself , as an errant water bottle , discovered too late , renders a great shot useless .
delayed response after larry says ã¢â‚¬å
it ' s a good thing i had a spare boatã¢â‚¬ , moe is supposed to respond ã¢â‚¬å
what spare boat ? with this guy on the back ? ã¢â‚¬ but he ' s too busy helping curly in the boat , so a few seconds later , he finally says his line .
for most of his remarkably busy career—sixteen features in less than a decade— swanberg has worked mainly with actors who are at the beginning of their own careers , and his casting has proved as crucial to his own movies as to the cinema at large : he has given early major roles to such actors as greta gerwig , kate lyn sheil , and amy seimetz . now , with “drinking buddies , ” swanberg is working with experienced actors who have well - developed personae and who have already achieved a high level of success . swanberg’s conception of the movie depends greatly on his stars’ talents and radiance—even as he reveals hidden facets of their art that make for their stardom .
{ this sounds great . the only griffiths film that i have seen is broken blossoms . i have watched very few silent movies - ' ' sunrise ' ' is my favorite . . . } –
brandon tonner - connolly is the production designer of two sundance 2015 competition entries , unexpected and i smile back , as well as drinking buddies , about sunny and sticky notes . his other production credits include robot & frank , while we’re young , a . c . o . d . , choke , inside amy schumer and many more .
with those words , giacchino dove into the project , yet he found that even his creative process had to transform . “before i saw the film , i was thinking about it from a very practical point of view , but after i saw it , it became a very emotional process , ” he explains . “it was the scene at the end of the film where the food critic ego is giving his review made me say ‘wow , that’s what this story is about’ and that scene helped me to come up with the main theme for the score , which we also turned into a song for the film . ”
click here to read our summer 2018 issue , featuring interviews with madeline ' s madeline director josephine decker , david leitner on the new cameras of 2018 , our overview of film schools and more . . .
says the film’s director , brad bird : “i think we all have impossible dreams and we do what we can to pursue them – and remy’s dream might be the ultimate impossible dream of them all . ”
enter the film’s in - house culinary consultant , michael warch , who was a professional chef before he entered the film business , and also worked as a manager for ratatouille’s sets and layout departments . “basically , i was always at the ready . the effects people would call me up and say we need to recreate the soup that remy fixes and i would go down and make the soup , ” explains warch .
yet , to contrast with the visual wildness of ratatouille’s madcap physical comedy , giacchino kept the focus of much of his score on subtlety . “it’s easy in animation to chase every single move , ” he notes . “but the thing i like most about film music is that the slightest thing can be suggestive . so i really tried to pull back and let the picture be the picture , just as if it were a live action film . ”
this is a very underrated curly film . i have seen this and towed in a hole w / laurel and hardy , and i am going to compare them . both films have funny gags , but i like it when the stooges are quick with them , rather than taking up half of the film to build them up like l & h . ; they have better pacing than the veteran duo , and this film is great . not as slapstickish as others , and the only slow part is the beach scene . i love the ending fishing segment before the stooges are almost blown out of the water . memorable scene : the hilarious fishing segment . rating : 3 1 / 2 starsbeatlemoe
filmed in 1960 and in color , the three stooges scrapbook was originally shot as a television pilot . . . it did not sell . all was not lost however , as the film was distributed to theaters in september of 1963 as
almost no violence takes place on screen , but there are times when “in the valley of elah” feels almost like a horror film . its steady crescendo of suspense builds toward the revelation — and vanquishing — of some unspeakable , monstrous evil .
behind - the - scenes 16mm home movie footage , in color , exists . the silent film materials were discovered in 2007 and feature the stooges , jules white and the actresses who portray the stooges girlfriends on set at the columbia ranch .
in my capsule review of the movie , i liken it to goethe’s novel “ elective affinities , ” from 1809 , in which the marriage of a high - bourgeois couple is threatened by the arrival in the household of the husband’s best friend and the wife’s young protégée . goethe called his novel theoretical , and “drinking buddies” is , too , and swanberg works out his moral idea in a surprising way .
the characters in “drinking buddies” are hardly characters , in the way that they’re conceived in the era of highly - detailed , hyper - motivated tv dramas . they’ve got names , they’ve got occupations . they have almost no backstory and almost no psychology—but the performances , which are improvised in dialogue and gesture , render the characters both intensely , physically , tonally specific and give the characters a spotlit intensity of inner life .
classic curly calamities ! the whole film is great , but nothing can beat the boy ' s opening mayhem as
troubleshooters from the phone company
. extra kudos to bud and lorna . darn , i can ' t think of a signature !
viewed from one angle — straight on , from the ground level of its busy plot — “in the valley of elah” might be mistaken for a tidy crime procedural . a retired military police officer named hank deerfield ( played by tommy lee jones with his usual brisk , gruff economy ) learns that his son mike ( jonathan tucker ) , an army specialist recently returned from iraq , has gone awol from his base in new mexico .
calahan was seduced by the notion of giving the film the feeling of a perfect october day in france . “when we went to paris , it was sunny , but the light was so silvery and diffused and everything felt very soft and warm and inviting . that was the kind of overall quality i wanted for the movie , ” she says . “the film isn’t lit with a lot of heavy colored light and heavy colored shadows in the usual way because i really wanted to celebrate the local color . ”
some of waggoner’s favorite costumes are those of august gusteau himself , who was once a very robust man but has become a ghostly sprite . “we designed the clothes first for the living version of gusteau , then shrank them down to size for the sprite you see in the film , ” waggoner explains . “but we also wanted his clothing to be very sophisticated and highly tailored . there’s really no precedent for designing clothing for some of the body styles we have in the film , so that made it very interesting . ”
in a money - saving move , norman maurer devised a storyline which allowed the reuse of much of the footage from the first half of the pilot , and printed it in black & white for the feature film the three stooges in orbit ( 1962 ) .
curly : i ' m getting sick and tired of making chips for you guys . i gotta get busy for my radio contest . [ sits down with moe and larry and prepares with pen and paper to write a slogan ] roses are red . and violets are blue . try stick fast glue…and you ' ll be stuck to . i got it . oh boy ! if i get the best slogan , i ' ll make a lot of money . yaaahh !
remy’s dreams would never get a chance to come true if it weren’t for linguini , the lowly garbage boy at gusteau’s who discovers the rat’s talents and finds them changing his own fortunes . although they start out partnered together out of mutual desperation – linguini needing to hang onto his job and remy hoping to finally get his chance to work in a real live restaurant kitchen — remy and linguini slowly become buddies who learn they can truly count on one another .
this is a remake of the 1930 hal roach short the laurel and hardy murder case . two of the original cast members of the laurel and hardy film , dell henderson and fred kelsey , appear in this version , with kelsey reprising the exact same role from 15 years earlier .
as with all pixar films , the heart of ratatouille lies in the characters who – whether homo sapiens or genus rattus – bring their own unique personalities , quirks and passions to the story’s mix . their life - like natures and wonderfully familiar dilemmas – from family squabbles to job headaches to standing up for friends — are the result of a collaborative artistic effort that starts with a stellar voice cast and continues with the film’s cutting - edge animation , filled with a layered artistry that makes both the film’s animal and the human characters stand out creatively in the cg world .
the presence of an adult is interesting and i really liked that the duo teamed up here . of course that ending where the mischievous baby winks to the audience is the highlight and the film does have its moments , but given its premise , it should have been much better executed .
great short . all three are at the top of their game . so many of the standard stooge gags were first seen here which makes me think that the stooges should have gotten writing credits more often than they did . arthur houseman almost steals the film , though , as the timekeeper .
the misunderstanding implicit in all these statements is that the priority of the day is your time , your enjoyment , your feelings , your creative fulfillment or your education . instead , know this : every day on a job in film is an opportunity to prove that you deserve to come back tomorrow , nothing else . instead of asking yourself if you are having fun , ask yourself if you’ve done everything you can to help the film succeed . instead of asking yourself if something is worth your time , think about why it might be important to others . if you make yourself valuable , you will begin to be valued .
a film set is a uniquely judgmental place . everyone is relying on each other , so everyone is constantly evaluating whom they can rely on . it’s not enough to do the job , or even to do the job right . you have to do it right and look like a pro while you’re doing it .
re - review : the worst curly short . over half of this episode is reused footage . even though the
we put all the yeast in bit
is good , the rest of the film just drifts , especially the
so long mr . chumps
footage . overall , a very lousy short .
i thought this was a rather dull , uninvolving film . there was too much focus on one couple and not enough on the other . it ' s no surprise that the distributor has essentially buried it - two cinemas in dublin giving it a single late show only . that ' s usually not a good sign .
just as a film set is broken up into departments with specific responsibilities , departments are broken up into individuals with even more specific responsibilities . your department head has a million things to be concerned with , and their mind must be clear for high - level strategizing and communication . you are there to eliminate their concerns .
amidst the perils and pratfalls , the film also traverses through universal themes : the bonds of friendship and loyalty ; the battle against family expectations and finding your own independence in spite of them ; and most of all , the importance of being true to who you are , even if you’re not quite what anyone expects .
another key theme in the film is that of colette , which giacchino explains “surrounds the whole cooking process . ” he continues : “you hear it for the first time when colette is teaching linguini what to do in the kitchen and what he needs to know to be a great chef . then , it kind of changes throughout the film , depending on what’s going on . when linguini has to come up with an off - menu dish and remy starts improvising , that same theme is used in a much more improvisational way , the same way that remy is just going off the cuff and making up the recipe as he goes . the themes and the music constantly change with the story . ” skinner’s theme also shifts with his mercurial moods – starting out with a hipsterstyle french jazz theme that grows increasingly frenetic and orchestral as he loses control of the kitchen . “the theme starts out cool and suave and ends up a little insane , just like the character does in the film , ” laughs giacchino .
“drinking buddies” is a brilliant sleight - of - hand , which i mean in a positive way . most of the classic hollywood movies that we love—whichever they may be—are works of magnificent trickery , from the use of studio sets to the painted backdrops of cityscapes to the use of rear - screen projections and miniatures . though swanberg’s methods are resolutely naturalistic—he films actors on location , in places where any viewer could theoretically go—he projects the micro - crises of daily life with a big - time hollywood grandeur . it’s the second movie currently in release—the other is david lowery’s “
the rats of ratatouille might have an engaging realism , even humanism , to them , but they are also very much a part of a fairy tale – which becomes especially clear in the scenes in which remy controls linguini like his own chef marionette . for the filmmakers , the entire success of the film hung on getting the audience to believe in this fantastical and funny notion . “the animators worked it out so just the slightest tug of linguini’s hair creates a movement of his hand , ” says brad lewis . “it’s just so funny . this film has so much old school buster keaton physical humor , it has you laughing your pants off without a single word being uttered . ”
the original working title was three duds in the suds and was originally intended to be a two - reel version of laurel and hardy ' s feature , pardon us ( 1930 ) . the original script contains many gags used in the laurel and hardy film , including a reworking of the scene in prison school that appears in pardon us .
indeed , with its fast - and - furious comic pacing , its madcap antics and its painterly beauty , ratatouille features some of the most sophisticated visuals yet seen in a cg animated film , once again nudging the technical bar for animated filmmaking skyward . among the film’s many unique qualities is its locale — an ornately magical imagining of paris . then there is the food . not just any food , but the most delicious , scrumptious , artistically presented gourmet meals imaginable . all of which takes audiences into a realm of sublime visual delights previously unexplored in cg animation and helping to create an utterly authentic world in which audiences might even believe that a rat could be a chef in the kitchen .
it’s unlikely that a veteran m . p . , whose service covered at least some of the vietnam years , would entertain the illusion that all fighting men are boy scouts . but it is clear that hank has both a general fondness for soldiers and a father’s assumption that he knows his own son . that may be part of why the grisly nature of mike’s fate , and the possibility that some of his buddies were responsible for it , disturbs him so much . something , he suspects , has gone terribly wrong with the institutions and the men he has always loved and trusted .
in 1958 , screen gems used a slightly edited version of this short as the pilot film to help sell the stooge comedies into television syndication . many stations did not return the print ( which had a specially made title sequence ) and it remained in the rotation of shorts for many years . . . turning up on wtbs as late as 1984 .
bird ultimately hopes the film will take audiences on a journey that keeps them constantly off guard , yet rooting for remy to achieve the seemingly impossible and save not only himself but his new friends at gusteau’s restaurant . sums up bird : “when you can get audiences to believe in something that might seem inherently unbelievable , that’s the real magic of movies . ”
for this sensitive underlying plot , some television stations pulled the film from their rotation . listen for emmett lynn to mumble the word
bastard
uring the scene where the stooges trade their car to the farmer for his run - down farm . it ' s the last thing he says ( under his breath ) as he attempts to start the car .
the dining room at gusteau’s was equally important to the film’s whimsical look . it was inspired by an amalgam of several famous parisian restaurants , including guy savoy , taillevent , la tour d’argent and le train bleu , the beloved belle epoque dining spot in the gare de lyon railway station , as renowned for its grand , eclectic décor as for its classical cuisine .
when it came to finding the right music to fuel the manic action and subtle emotion of ratatouille , brad bird returned to the composer who had done such a bang - up job with “the incredibles” : michael giacchino , who conjured up a brassy , jazzy , percussive score that is as fun , fast - paced and french - themed as the film itself .
a hilarious short and the dogs were delightful ! i always found it interesting that for all of the stooges ' roughhouse antics , no gags were ever written in about the dogs getting hurt . i wonder how we got from there to movies like
there ' s something about mary
where a dog in a bodycast is the main attraction to the film ?
the collaborative spirit between brad bird and giacchino is part of what spurred the two on to define a fresh sound for the film . “these two guys are basically able to read each other’s minds , ” observes producer brad lewis . “brad speaks in a visual language and michael speaks in a musical language , but somehow they find a way to intertwine them perfectly in the film . sometimes the music is subtle , sometimes it’s very broad and comic and michael has this great way of creating the right mood to go along with each moment in the story . he can get really grand and emotional , he can get really small and light , and he can get a little bit goofy , all of which we needed in this movie . ”
to his great credit , mr . haggis tries to coax an answer out of his story rather than imposing one on it from the start , as he did in “crash . ” that film , which owes its best - picture oscar to the dedication of its cast and the obviousness of its themes , turned racial intolerance into fodder for a self - righteous , schematic allegory .
with so many original characters and situations , ratatouille constantly inspired the filmmakers to push the technology to new limits . notes the film’s supervising technical director michael fong : “there were so many technical challenges to tackle on this film , starting with lots and lots of furry characters , as well as very complex human characters , intense water scenes with rapids and the recreation of the beloved city of paris . along the way , we significantly changed the way we shaded models , the way we light the scenes and the way we do cloth . we took technology from our previous films and found ways to make it even better . and all of this contributes to a really different , original look that audiences will experience along with all the fun of the story of ratatouille . ”
the parents go out and leave jeanie to look after the baby , but she is irresponsible and it is up to tom and jerry to do the task themselves . the plot is typical and the babysitter is such a clichéd female character . the problem here is that the film is just not funny and it is never particularly exciting . we’ve seen this before and nothing here is memorable .
back home , the entire team got into the act with a series of cooking classes , in which computer artists more used to clicking and tapping instead learned to slice and dice like the pros — gaining essential insight into tiny but vital details about how chefs hold a knife , chop an onion , stir a soup and interact with others in a wildly busy kitchen . the cooking classes provided lots of creative fodder – and even had some interesting side effects . “it kind of ruined me , ” laughs supervising animator mark walsh . “i used to be a top ramen , tuna - outof - the - can man and suddenly i realized how much more fun it is to make something really good ! ”
swanberg ' s opening scenes set the tone for this un - rom - com rom - com , using a handheld camera under harsh fluorescent lighting ; it ' s as if to doll it up , to shoot his actors in flattering light , would be disingenuous . while avoiding conventions , swanberg aims for familiarity : he knows that half the battle here is the audience recognising that they have been in a friendship that veered towards something else , enjoying its flirty nature and having fun ignoring it . that ' s drinking buddies ' charm , and it ' s this that will hit home more than anything else . plus the ad - lib approach from wilde and johnson works a treat .
“drinking buddies” is a movie of sublime paradox : a quartet of actors—jake johnson , anna kendrick , ron livingston , and olivia wilde ( who co - executive - produced ) —play characters living in very ordinary circumstances , and they improvise their dialogue within situations that developed spontaneously in the course of the shoot . yet swanberg’s ideas—and he has always been a director of ideas—are so strong and clear that the actors realize them as if within the orienting pull of a magnetic field . i’d argue that the only reason swanberg’s earlier work hasn’t been recognized for its abstraction is that the intimate scale of the performances focusses attention on their personal element , and this movie is even more abstract in its conception than his prior work .
yet the technological achievements of the film are always in service to spinning an even more enveloping and laughter - filled tale that celebrates the challenges of being true to friends , family and the search to find real happiness in life . notes john lasseter : “these characters are so charming and so emotionally believable that the audience isn’t likely to even realize they are seeing new technology . you’re just too caught up in their story . ”
naturally , jessup started with an inspirational journey , along with director of photography / lighting sharon calahan , to france . “we were looking mainly at color , shapes and surfaces , ” jessup explains of their whirlwind trip . “it really inspired us to use a very different kind of a palette than ever before . we realized that much of paris has this kind of classical , stone quality that is then filled in with little accents of color . we’d see a woman walk by in a red coat and she would just sparkle against the gray background – and we wanted to get that in the film . that’s why the palette is more muted than any other pixar film . it was a little scary , because usually animated films are so outrageously colorful we were using colors more as accents , but i think the restraint of color can also make it much more powerful . ”
that space becomes the scene of all kinds of comic mayhem when remy enters it , which also challenged the film’s directors of photography . although remy loves to cook , a human kitchen is filled with dangers he has to avoid , from falling into pots to paddling through a sink filled with dishwater , which leads to much of the film’s physical comedy . says robert anderson , director of photography / camera : “a lot of times , the cameras are hustling just like the kitchen is hustling . in some scenes you’ve got remy cooking in his own world and the camera will start out graceful and flowing with the music as he prepares this amazing meal . and then suddenly , remy will be discovered in the kitchen and now the camera’s chasing after him , as people are throwing things at him and he’s almost getting run over and thrown into an oven . the camera is always right there with him . ”
the process started in paris , where the filmmakers’ “research” consisted of eating their way from one famous restaurant to the next , sampling the mouth - watering delights and peeking behind - the - scenes at the most creative kitchens in the world . “there was some concern that we might die of eating too much good food in too short a time , ” laughs bird . “but we really learned a lot that adds to the fun of the film . ”
the only clues he has are some jpegs his son e - mailed to him , the memory of a desperate late - night phone call from the war zone and some smeary , scrambled video recovered from mike’s cellphone . these hectic , unfocused clips stand in jarring , pointed contrast to the neatly composed frames and carefully paced shots that make up most of mr . haggis’s film , and they pose an agonizing challenge : how do you extract meaning from such chaos ?
it ' s hard to believe that only their second columbia short is considered a classic today . but i guess that just goes to show how extraordinary the boys were . i like that larry also plays a significant role in this film , too . he ' s not the star of the short , but watching him run in fast motion looking for anything playing
pop goes the weasel
cracks me up everytime .
i lost my ba - lance !
disney•pixar presents ratatouille , directed by brad bird , the film is produced by brad lewis and executive produced by john lasseter and andrew stanton . bringing to life a wide - ranging roster of memorable characters is a voice cast that includes popular stand - up comedian patton oswalt , golden globe® award - winner brian dennehy , emmy® award winner brad garrett , comic star and emmy® nominee janeane garofalo , academy award® nominee ian holm and the legendary 8 - time academy award® nominee peter o’toole .
from academy award® - winning director brad bird and the amazing storytellers at pixar animation studios comes ratatouille , the most original comedy of the summer about one of the most unlikely friendship’s imaginable . the film’s protagonist is a rat named remy who dares to dream the impossible dream of becoming a gourmet chef in a five - star french restaurant . together with a down - and - out garbage boy named linguini , the pair carves their own imaginative path to becoming the greatest chef in paris .
although many of the film’s locations are fanciful , jessup faithfully recreated several legendary landmarks , most notably the pont alexandre iii , the beautiful arched , lamp - lined bridge that spans the seine , where linguini and remy first form their reluctant partnership . “that’s really a low point emotionally for linguini and remy so brad wanted it to play out against the dramatic scenery by the seine with the soaring notre dame cathedral in the background , ” explains jessup . “we tried to recreate it very authentically . ”
an extraordinary current of pain runs through joe swanberg’s new romantic comedy , “drinking buddies , ” a deep melancholy that turns out to be the driving force of the action , which is the sustenance of the life of a couple—and the incommensurable gap between a member of a couple and a single person . there’s a stern morality at work in the movie , which begins with the irrepressible flirtation of two seemingly kindred souls—luke ( jake johnson ) , who runs a chicago craft brewery , and kate ( olivia wilde ) , the marketing director . they and their respective partners , jill ( anna kendrick ) , a schoolteacher , and chris ( ron livingston ) , a music producer , will soon learn that playtime is over , that couplehood is a vast but unstable edifice that can be shaken and even shattered—or , for that matter , defended valiantly by a single action .
yet , for waggoner who is as much an artist as a programmer , the real fun came in putting everything together into a dramatic big picture . “the primary challenge for me was really nailing the look , because brad likes things to appear both realistic and caricatured at the same time . so it was never just a case of scientifically studying the way different cloth moves and then entering in the numbers . instead , it was an overall subtle process of fitting every detail into the film’s overall aesthetic , ” she says .
eventually , keller would also voice the role of a restaurant patron in the film , but first he served as a dynamic guide into the world of culinary adventure for lewis . “brad wanted to see what a real kitchen looks like and feels like , the energy , the dynamic , how people work together and move around the kitchen – “the dance” as we call it in our restaurant” explains keller . “brad and his team also took a lot of video at the french laundry so they could study it and turn reality into animation . ”
so on the one hand , we have some of our talented in - house artists doing voices and on the other we have acting legends such as brian dennehy , ian holm and peter o’toole – yet they each bring something really specific and special to their roles . we also were lucky to cast patton oswalt , janeane garofalo and brad garrett , who are all gifted stand - up comedians . i think they give the film a special comic edge . in every case , the voice performers provided the animators with a creative turbo charge . ”
in weaving together the film’s many styles and tones , giacchino made a musical separation between the human and rodent worlds . “there’s certain instrumentation that i used a lot in the rat world , including a giant thumb piano that’s layered into the orchestration , and a lot of pizzicato strings , ” he says . “brad really loved the sound of the pizzicato strings for the rats , but again , there was no hard and fast rule . what was right for one scene with the rats might not be right for the next , so it is always changing . ”
bird was especially excited about injecting the film with wild twists and turns from nail - biting suspense to no - holds - barred comedy , from navigating the whitewater rapids of paris’s famously intricate sewers to the high - pressure hustle of a restaurant serving dinner with a critic in the house . “part of the joy of ratatouille is simply that it is so unpredictable , ” bird notes . “if we’ve done our job right , when you think it’s going left it goes right , and vice versa , hopefully all in a way that’s not only humorous but from the heart . ”
as for the theme that emerges between linguini and remy , giacchino says : “the buddy theme only really happens when they are working together . the prime example of it is when remy first learns how to control linguini – that’s the embodiment of their theme . then , it progresses into a very big , kind of heroic action cue at the end of the film when all the rats band together and linguini’s on his roller skates . it’s almost like a british world war ii theme because their friendship has evolved to the point where they’re going to get this done together . ”
as in an episode of “law & order , ” suspicion veers one way and then another as new information comes to light . was it drug dealers ? gang members ? soldiers from the young man’s own squad ? was mike himself guilty of terrible things ? paul haggis , the writer and director , obeys the rules of the whodunit genre by providing answers to some of the basic , literal questions at the center of the film . and considered strictly as a crime drama , “in the valley of elah” is a bit pedestrian , with a few too many set pieces , extraneous subplots and predictable turns .
bruce bennett appears as two different characters in the film . first as a truck driver at the beginning and later as the rock pile prison guard . during the rock pile scene , larry is placing rocks on curly ' s head and moe swings down a sledge - hammer to bust the rocks . at one point , as larry places a rock on curly ' s head , it appears that an ad - lib by curly (
hey ! . . . that ' s a real one . . . i ' m no fool ! ! !
) causes both moe and larry to break character and smile
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already renowned for its pioneering work in cloth motion , the team at pixar went a step further with ratatouille by creating the most complex “wardrobe” ever for cg animated film . for a long time cloth was a sticking point in creating authentic - looking cg animation because clothing , by nature , isn’t static and the laws of physics – from gravity to friction – are subtly operating on it all the time . it was pixar that first opened up new possibilities for cloth with the life - like rumpled t - shirt in “monsters inc . ” and then made amazing breakthroughs with the array of credible , retro - futuristic clothing styles presented in “the incredibles . ”
producer brad lewis believes that brad bird was the perfect man to take on this mission of pushing the boundaries of animated comedy in the name of innovative storytelling – in part because of his remy - like refusal to believe anything is impossible . “brad bird is as intense and passionate as remy is in the film , ” lewis muses . “i’ve never seen someone so locked into what’s going to make a story work creatively and emotionally . he’s got these skills of perception where he always hones right in on what’s going to make things a little more natural , or a little more funny or a little more true . and he’s a genius with physical comedy . ”
warch worked throughout the film to assure the kind of authenticity that even the snobbiest gourmand would appreciate . this was especially true in gusteau’s kitchen . “the idea was always to create something that was stylized and fun but also true to a real french kitchen , ” he says . “we needed to have the right french copper pots , the right french knives , the correct sense of the workflow with the chefs always in perpetual motion – right down to the way the food is plated with the different types of sauces and the architectural presentation . we wanted anybody who has been behind the scenes of a great kitchen to say ‘wow , they really got it’ ! ”
the enchantment of ratatouille begins with the charm of the characters , developed by bird and jan pinkava , who first invented the film’s premise , and whose characters join the pixar pantheon with real and relatable inner lives . at the center of the tale’s emotional appeal are remy’s many different relationships – including those with the affectionate but flummoxed father who doesn’t understand the road he has chosen ; with the ghost of the legendary french chef he has idolized all his life , despite their different species ; and especially with linguini , with whom he forms an unusual symbiotic friendship based at first on their mutual desperation but which turns into something truly life - altering for both of them .
the new scenes actually have production values , so some of the time is taken up with reused footage . while that would normally knock any film down a couple notches , some of this short ' s dialogue has become part of the american lexicon with
we all put the yeast in !
and
goiter !
surviving to this day . the goiter bit was used before but this is the one everyone remembers . the over - yeasted beer was done by keaton in the silent days but this is the one everyone remembers . and the bucket of sand is my favorite vernon dent scene ever . only the stooges could take a
nothing
short and make it seem worthwhile .
in some of the film’s most uproarious scenes , linguini lets remy literally control his own attempts at cooking . explains bird : “linguini is somebody who doesn’t like to attract attention and thanks to remy he gets a huge amount of it . he’s a great example of someone who thinks they aren’t anything special , but when the going gets tough , they find it within themselves to be amazing and do the right thing . ” character supervisor brian green admits he had another contemporary movie character in the back of his mind when it came to linguini – “i thought of him a little bit like napoleon dynamite ; he’s appealing , he’s funny and somehow you can’t help but root for him , ” he says .
watching their new pets lead their daily lives also gave green and his team plenty of fun ideas and opened up new areas of exploration . “one of the things that became very important to the film is that we began to realize how squishy rats are . a rat can do all kind of amazing things with its body – they go through tiny holes you would think impossible or shrink into a little tiny ball because their rib cages are so small and flexible – and that was something that we knew would be a lot of fun inside the story . but first , we had to create special technology to simulate that and try to capture it in a way that was realistic , ” green explains .