The Screengrab : palme d'or

Thursday Morning Poll for July 31, 2008

Paul Clark — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

On the heels of Quentin Tarantino’s recently announced Inglorious Bastards, we polled Screengrab readers about their favorite QT project to date. As expected, the favorite among our readers was his much feted 1994 Palme d’Or winner and Oscar nominee, Pulp Fiction. With 45% of the vote, Pulp bested all comers, with the second-place finisher, the Kill Bill saga, pulling in 27%, followed by a tie between Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. Alas, no one went to the mat for Death Proof, which came across as second-tier QT to most fans and a summation of everything that rankled his detractors. Here’s hoping Bastards finds him at the top of his game again.

This week, we take on the Dark Knight hype, which has become more or less inescapable. As with many a pop culture phenomenon nowadays, Dark Knight fever caught on like wildfire, emerging atop the IMDb Top 250 Movies list by the end of its opening weekend. Then, just as quickly, the backlash began. Not even two weeks into its release, it seems like everyone around the blogosphere has an opinion on the movie, not to mention the hype. So, where do you stand?

Which most accurately describes your opinion of THE DARK KNIGHT? | BuzzDash

As always, the comments section is open. See you next week!

Trailer Review: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Paul Clark — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of domestic trailers for foreign films, but this is pretty striking stuff. For one thing, distributor IFC Films doesn't shy away from the subtitles, unlike most studios who want you to fool you into thinking they're advertising English-language films where the characters just aren't very chatty. But beyond that, the editing of the trailer does a good job at playing up the suspense element in the film. Having missed 4 Months at Toronto, I can't attest to how true the trailer is to the spirit of Cristian Mungiu's film (last year's Palme d'Or winner), but I do know that the premise of the film — two girls trying to procure an illegal abortion in Communist Romania — has a considerable amount of built-in tension. By spotlighting this tension, the trailer does exactly what a good trailer should, satisfying the people who are already interested in the film (that's me) while intriguing those who are as yet unfamiliar with it.

Whitefield at NYFF: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Peter Smith — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:00:00 GMT

If there is one thing you can say for 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, this year’s Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, it's that there's no debating the film’s effectiveness in recreating the living hell of obtaining an illegal abortion in late '80s Romania. Still up for debate, however, is why someone would feel compelled to make this film — and why an audience should force themselves to endure this truly disturbing piece of work. As bleak, anxiety-inducing and horrific as any movie I’ve ever seen, Cristian Mungiu’s grim procedural only adds tension with its interminable long shots, and doesn’t allow the viewer a single moment of relief. In a strange sense, that's a compliment, since tension is clearly the film’s intent. The performances, especially from Anamaria Marincaare, are admirable in their authenticity and complete disregard for vanity. But because of the desolation and utter joylessness at this film’s heart, I can’t remember feeling more relieved to see a credit sequence since Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. The last line of the film translates to, "This is what we're going to do: we're never going to talk about this again." I'm guessing there are more than a few audience members who feel exactly the same way. — Bryan Whitefield