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  1. Pascal A

    Nobody Knows – starting to get into theaters

    Yeah, apparently You is a well-known pop singer, so I guess it's like Cher. :) I liked Nobody Knows a lot, but not to the extent of After Life or Maborosi (although I did like it more than Distance). I agree that it's a draining experience, and I think the length of the film contributes to...
  2. Pascal A

    2005 Foreign, Alternative and Independent Films

    I recently caught Nina's Tragedies at the New York Jewish Film Festival, and it's being released by Wellspring in March to at least New York. It has a morbidly funny intertwined narrative that's incredibly well done. Highly recommended.
  3. Pascal A

    Tribecca Film Festival

    Tribeca is running a little earlier this year, 4/21 to 5/1. You may want to keep an eye out on their TFF website for updates.
  4. Pascal A

    HTF Top 10's of 2004: Time To Throw Down!

    I go by what I saw between 1/1-12/31/04 so I'm not still second guessing for months after the end of the year or holding out mentioning films until they get wider distribution. Anyway, here's my list: 01. The Story of Marie and Julien (Jacques Rivette) 02. The World (Jia Zhang-ke) 03. War...
  5. Pascal A

    The current appeal of Documentaries?

    My favorite documentaries this year so far are Born into Brothels and Persons of Interest and even though the stories in the latter film are triggered by immediate post 9/11 policy, both films are really more about humanism and compassion, and I don't see that either are patented by any kind of...
  6. Pascal A

    Help me get to NY without driving...

    Go with Doug's idea. Hoboken parking has become incredibly difficult especially in the past two years and even with a monthly garage pass, I found myself getting shut out of a parking spot if I don't get there early enough (like 7:30-8:00 a.m.) Fortunately, I have access to a private garage...
  7. Pascal A

    "Love Letter" (Iwai, 1995)

    I got the impression that their relationship had always been superficial and that the sense of "kismet" that Hiroko had always held on to (that their relationship was not this great, destined coincidence) proved to be an illusion.
  8. Pascal A

    Foreign/Art/Independent Film DVD Preorder List II

    Kim Ki Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring has just been listed at Yeon DVD as being out now [R3 Korea] from Bitwin.
  9. Pascal A

    Expanding Horizons

    One of the older films that I caught at this year's Film Comment Selects was Timothy Carey's patently unclassifiable The World's Greatest Sinner, a kind of B-movie, drive-in, pseudo horror satire that seemed as though it was right up Brook K.'s alley. ;) It's also notorious as being Frank...
  10. Pascal A

    Foreign/Art/Independent Film DVD Preorder List II

    I found these on the Blackstar site: 3/15 In America (Jim Sheridan, Ireland/UK) 20th Century Fox [R2-UK] 3/22 Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang, Germany) Eureka [R2-UK] 3/29 Young Adam (David Mackenzie, Scotland/UK) Warner [16:9] [R2-UK] {although I found the film rather vacuous, the...
  11. Pascal A

    Our Top 10's of 2003: Time To Throw Down!

    Here's my Top 10. I didn't exlude anything based on geographic "wide release" dates, but I did see these between 1/1/03 to 12/31/03, all theatrically except Camel(s). 01. Since Otar Left (Julie Bertucelli) 02. Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-Liang) 03. Elephant (Gus Van Sant) 04. Life on the...
  12. Pascal A

    2004 Green Mountain Film Festival

    Since Otar Left is my favorite film from 2003. It recently won the "Best of the Fest" Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival (I had written the programming notes for the film that's printed in their festival catalogue). To Be and To Have and Elephant are also must-sees (in addition to Il...
  13. Pascal A

    Screen capture software recommendations

    Snapz Pro is the only one I know of that works for mac, but requires running in OS X. A scaled down version was shipped with my Powerbook G4 about a year and a half ago, so I don't know if the new systems are still shipping with it.
  14. Pascal A

    President Bush to announce manned trip to Moon, Mars (merged)

    O'Keefe visited Goddard today specifically to talk to the HST (Hubble Space Telescope) project team and break the news that HST Servicing Mission 4 is officially cancelled. The funding is being diverted to the moon/Mars initiative.
  15. Pascal A

    _Columbia_: the preliminary report.

    I remember that one of the advantages of Columbia was that it was an Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) so it could be outfitted with more crew life sustaining commodities like water and breathing air (along with waste containment) for the two week long missions (Columbia, and later Endeavour, were...
  16. Pascal A

    Foreign/Art/Independent Film DVD Preorder List II

    Three for the list: 1/26 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie, China) - Optimum Realeasing [R2-UK] 2/10 Party Monster (Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, US) - Lion's Gate 3/23 Shattered Glass (Billy Ray, US) - 20th Century Fox [16:9]
  17. Pascal A

    "Barber of Siberia" ever come to DVD?

    I have the Ruscico NTSC version (R0) of The Barber of Siberia and can definitely recommend it. It's anamorphic (2.35:1) and has 12 subtitle languages (including English). Unlike the DVD for An Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano though, there aren't three language menu options (where you...
  18. Pascal A

    Expanding Horizons

    Caught a boatload of Yasujiro Ozu films that I hadn't seen before and a few that I hadn't seen in years - mostly prewar and wartime (I've seen most of his postwar films) - thanks to the Ozu Centenary program at the New York Film Festival: What Did the Lady Forget? Kagamijishi Days of Youth...
  19. Pascal A

    Tokyo Story

  20. Pascal A

    Expanding Horizons

    I haven't seen Signs of Life, but from what I've seen of Herzog's work, his images tend to be surreal or fantastic, don't they? Bartas' seem to be mind-numbingly realistic images of wastelands shot in real-time. Yeah, Tsai's films can be slow, but at least he has a sense of humor. I'm looking...
  21. Pascal A

    Foreign/Art/Independent Film DVD Preorder List II

    Two UK Region 2's: 10/13 Ararat (Atom Egoyan, Canada) - Momentum [R2-UK] 10/27 Dolls (Takeshi Kitano, Japan) - Artificial Eye [R2-UK]
  22. Pascal A

    Expanding Horizons

    Three Sharunas Bartas films for me: Three Days, The Corridor, and Few of Us. Overall, I can't honestly say that I recommend his films except to the most adventurous film goers. His films are more dispirited and more bleak than Bela Tarr, but without the fluidity of Tarr's camerawork, and more...
  23. Pascal A

    2003 New York Film Festival

    Hey, don't rub it in! :frowning: Unfortunately, I couldn't take off the full two weeks for the festival and although I actually preferred the Week #2 NYFF programming, I preferred Week #1 of the Ozu programming. I'm already overstretching my vacation to 1 1/2 weeks, but there was no way to...
  24. Pascal A

    2003 New York Film Festival

    Okay, I'll admit that I was scared off; 6 1/2 hours of Italian history! :b It looks as though 10/12 won't be a conflict for me (I have Ozu's The Only Son scheduled as backup in case I miss the 10/6 screening), so I'll see if I can nab tickets to that along with Since Otar Left and Distant, which...
  25. Pascal A

    Should Godzilla's 50th Anniversary Be Recognized At Next Year's Academy Awards?

    Seth, I understand where you're coming from, but my point was (and I realize that I didn't elaborate very much on it) that Academy Awards tend to be forgotten quickly (sometimes even before the show ends) while 'Best of" lists, the kind that S&S or AFI represent, tend to get scrutinized...
  26. Pascal A

    2003 New York Film Festival

    Just wanted to post a reminder that tickets to the 2003 NYFF go on sale starting today. Also, program listings for the accompanying series, Yasujiro Ozu retrospective and Views from the Avant-Garde have been posted online: Here's the schedule: MYSTIC RIVER (Clint Eastwood) - opening...
  27. Pascal A

    Should Godzilla's 50th Anniversary Be Recognized At Next Year's Academy Awards?

    I just wanted to mention that I think Godzilla is profoundly important (and certainly influential) in the evolution of Japanese cinema, and certainly expressed the conflict and fear inherent in the hibakusha (testament of atomic bomb survivors) cinema of postwar Japan in a way that made it...
  28. Pascal A

    Expanding Horizons

    It's about friggin' time! :emoji_thumbsup: A couple of semi-noteworthy viewings for me. The first is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Bright Future which is part Kurosawa trademark atmospheric suspense, part urban ennui, with a hint of Shohei Imamura whimsical fantasy thrown in. It's screening at TIFF so...
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