Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Tag
Here are some more Bel Ami reviews
From Little White Lies
Guy de Maupassant’s novel, ‘Bel Ami’, about a French ex-soldier who comes to Paris to seduce his way into the upper echelons of society, has been adapted for the screen and stage on numerous occasions since its publication in 1885.
Georges Duroy, played here by Robert Pattinson in a role that trades on the real-life devotion to his boyish charms, first appears in a Dickensian hovel through which a lone cockroach crawls and quickly disappears.
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Time Out London:
Robert Pattinson steps into the shoes of antihero Georges Duroy for this lively if muddled adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel, directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, known for their theatre company Cheek By Jowl. Duroy is a likeable rogue in a world of scoundrels, an ex-soldier on his uppers in Paris who crosses the threshold of the chattering classes when he meets an old acquaintance, journalist Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), who introduces him to a web of high-class intrigue that stretches from the boardroom to the bedroom. It’s in the latter that Duroy excels, and he exercises his charms on Forestier’s wife Madeleine (Uma Thurman), and her two friends, fun-loving Clothilde (Christina Ricci) and older, vulnerable Madame Rousset (Kristin Scott Thomas), the wife of a powerful editor.
As a whirlwind of bonking and banquets, ‘Bel Ami’ is diverting and sometimes amusing, and Pattinson is adequate in the lead – pretty enough to convince as a womaniser but with enough of a hint of ambition and a moral vacuum behind the eyes. His scenes with Ricci have an attractive sense of abandon to them, but the other two women make little sense beyond superficial tics. There are serious themes afoot concerning backroom dealing in politics and media, but these are never brought out by Donnellan and Ormerod, who rush through the material with little time for thought and zero sense that anything is at stake. This ‘Bel Ami’ is spirited and sensible but little more than period fluff.
Source: Time Out London | via | via
More after the jump!
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Bel Ami review by Outnow (Swiss review)
(thnx to Ptiteaurel from @LeRPattzClub for the translation)
Bel Ami(2012)
Or a lost vampire
The former soldier Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) returns to Paris after his military service. He lives in poverty, unhealthy conditions in a room in the suburbs. He’s once again lucky and come across Forester , a former friend met during his time in Algeris, the latter invited him to dinner at his home. There he meets not only the educated wife of Forestier, Madeleine Forestier (Uma Thurman), but he will also be introduced into high society. When he is proposed to treat her experiences as a diary, he began with the help of Madeleine and her husband, an influential career in journalism.
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Here are some Bel Ami reviews. Don’t forget that everyone has their own opinion and critics can be harsh
From Screendaily:
A lush and impressively assembled adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s novel about a charming cad who rises through the Parisian high society of the Belle Époque by wooing women useful to his cause,Bel Ami stutters rather than glides and while punctuated by some impressive performances and a fine sense of design it can never quite find the right balance between its twin storylines of seduction and politics.
Reluctant heartthrob Robert Pattinson makes a brave stab at the immoral and manipulative Georges Duroy – the ‘Bel Ami’ of the title – and while his good looks and intense charisma may win over Twihards, the film may have a tough task finding an easy marketplace. Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci impress as Parisian ladies who are won over by Duroy’s charm, though Uma Thurman as his Machiavellian equal lacks the charm to convince in her demanding period role. R-Patz fans seeking a bodice-ripping costume romance will be disappointed.
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Indiewire Thompson on Hollywood: It makes perfect sense that Rob Pattinson would continue his attempts to broaden his fan base as the “Twilight” franchise nears its end. Starring in a new film adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel “Bel Ami” certainly advances that project: playing Georges Duroy, an unscrupulous ex-soldier who makes his way up the ladder of Parisian high society by seducing the wives of powerful men, adds a few strings to his bow. (Sony Pictures Classics will release the film stateside on March 2.)
Duroy is unscrupulous, self-absorbed and nakedly ambitious, but has enough sexual magnetism to further his career by talking his way into some of the city’s most opulent bedrooms. Pattinson is thus involved in screen liaisons with actresses old enough to be mothers to “Twilight”’s core audience. It’s a leap of sorts, and not without its risks.
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First Bel Ami reviews are here
Total Film
From Sight and Sound Magazine (Transcription)
Guy de Maupassant’s second novel, about an unprincipled cad who rises in Belle Epoque Parisian society using women as stepping stones, has often been adapted for the screen, most famously by Albert Lewin as The Private Affairs of Bel Ami in 1947, with George Sanders in the title role. Lewin, a cultured Francophile, did a handsome if over-wordy job, but at 41 Sanders was too old for the role, and the Hollywood censors, much to Lewin’s annoyance, imposed a moralistic ending in which the cad meets his deserts in a fatal duel. Hard to think of anything more out of keeping with Maupassant’s novel, which exudes the urbane cynicism for which the writer was famous.
The new version has no truck with such sanctimony. Rachel Bennette’s script offers a faithful rendition of the original, up to and including the ending with Georges Duroy (the amorously ambitious ‘Bel Ami’ of the title) relishing his triumph over the shallow, corrupt society that he at once despises and personifies. Although it is well-grounded in its period – Budapest locations convincingly impersonate 1890s Paris, and rampant French colonialism in North Africa provides a murky political backdrop – the film’s themes feel remarkably topical. An Arab country is invaded for ostensibly high-minded motives, political parties denounce each other’s policies while surreptiously adopting them, the press attacks the corruption from which it profits, and a young man of no discernable talent attains celebrity thanks to a pretty face and a plausible manner.
Joint directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, here making their feature debut, are best known for their work with Cheek by Jowl, the avant garde theatre company they founded in 1981. If Bel Ami occasionally feels airless and overly art-directed that may partly reflect the period it’s set in, but also the directors’ over indulgence in facial close-ups. It’s almost as though they didn’t trust their actors to express emotions in mid-shot – the last thing you’d expect from theatre directors. This does Robert Pattinson as Bel Ami no favours, since in close up his face tends to lapse into the bovine, but at further remove he gives an alert amusedly insinuating performance. A scene where he plays tap with his soon-to-be lover Clothilde (Christina Ricci, appealingly kittenish) and her little daughter brings out the boyish charm that stands him in good stead with the Parisian ladies. Even so he is outpaced in the acting stakes by his trio of lovers, Ricci, Uma Thurman as his mentor and subsequently his wife, and Kristin Scott Thomas, touchingly vulnerable as his boss’s wife. As Thurman’s Madeleine notes, unwittingly setting Georges on his unscrupulous path to the top
Via
Here are some Water for Elephants reviews
Moviehole
But the main attraction here is the performances of the three stars. Witherspoon has been very scarce on screen since winning the Best Actress Oscar in 2005 for “Walk the Line.” In the six years before winning the award she appeared in no fewer than nine films. Since, she has appeared in half that number. Her work here is perfectly nuanced in a role that could have quite easily been cliché’d. Waltz is perfect as August in a role that shows us why that Oscar win was so well deserved. But the surprise here, for me anyway, is Pattinson. Quiet and brooding in the “Twilight” films he seems to jump off the screen here, matching Waltz and Witherspoon scene for scene. Who knew this kid could act?? Well done young man. Applause also to the great Hal Holbrook, whose performance bookends the film. And I would be remiss if I didn’t include praise for Rosie the elephant, Queenie the dog and the other animals that help tell the story.
Full review here:
Read more after the jump!
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Some people in the media were at an advanced screening of Water for Elephants last night. Here are their tweets:
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As the majority of you know the new Water for Elephants trailer came out last night. Here are some reviews of the trailer. We’ll update this post as more come in so keep checking back!
From MTV:
I think I’m just going to come out and say it: Best. Second. Trailer. Ever.
There’s nothing more disappointing than looking forward to a new trailer for a highly anticipated release, only for it to be a cleverly re-packaged version of the first with nary a new scene in sight. Well, “Water for Elephants” director Francis Lawrence got it right with this one, because it almost felt like I was watching clips from an entirely different movie (in a totally good way).
Sure, Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz were all there just like before, but this second trailer revealed a whole new perspective of Sara Gruen’s best-selling novel that I totally enjoyed. Let’s count all the exciting new things after the jump!
1. Jacob Jankowski’s back story unfolds
Whereas the first trailer began with Jacob’s (Robert) arrival at the Benzini Brothers show, this one goes back even further to the events that led him to join the big top. We see the veterinary student sit for an exam until he’s interrupted by an official with tragic news—his parents were killed in a car accident. It’s then that Jacob drops out of school and hops a train bound for his destiny.
2. Marlena and Jacob kiss!
Commence the fits of fangirl giggles! It’s only a quick one- or two-second flash on screen, but we definitely spied a make out session between Reese’s Marlena and Jacob. We knew it would only be a matter of time before those longing glances from the initial trailer we’re fulfilled. (We just wish we had been on the receiving end instead of Reese!)
3. The tone is much darker
Kissing another man’s wife tends to have consequences, and for Jacob, it’s a beat-down from Marlena’s husband August (Christoph). It’s just one of several scenes—including the circus catastrophe hinted at in the first trailer—that gives this second trailer a decidedly darker tone. While the joy and whimsy of the circus—tinkly music and all—were the focus last time, the tension and conflict inside the tent take center stage now.
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Okay, I admit it: I’m a Robert Pattinson fan. And it’s not because I admire his creatively gelled hair (although it is impressive), or because I can’t get enough of Twilight (I haven’t read the books). I’m a Robert Pattinson fan because not so long ago—before he starred in Twilight, or lifeless flicks like Remember Me—he made a wonderful film called How to Be. It’s a film so good—and one which he is so good in—that I’m still waiting for him to take a break from playing James Dean wannabees, and return to his How to Be greatness.
Pattinson plays Art, a twenty-something going through
a quarter-life crisis. When his girlfriend dumps him and he moves back in with his parents, he’s got nothing going for him except his songwriting and his job at the local supermarket. The problem is, he’s not very good at either one. After he discovers a self-help book called It’s Not Your Fault, he spends his inheritance and hires the book’s elderly author to move in with him and become his life coach.
If the setup sounds similar to something you’ve seen in any number of films about “the misunderstood outsider who discovers what life is all about,” I’ll ruin the surprise and let you know: How to Be is not that movie, and Art is not your typical misunderstood antihero.
Art wants to be a musician, but doesn’t have much talent. He wants to be close to his parents, but he doesn’t have anything in common with them. He thinks he’s depressed, but he’s really just in a rut.
It’s hard to articulate what makes this film so great. For one, there’s the music. Despite Art’s lack of musical talent, the film has a killer soundtrack. The songs in How to Be do something akin to what Sufjan Stevens’ music did for Little Miss Sunshine. They are playful and wink at the audience, letting us know that Art’s on screen melodramatics are meant to be played for laughs, not tears.
Then there’s Pattinson’s British accent. Other than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, this is the only film to date where he gets a chance to play an Englishman and speak in his true accent. His American accent, though technically good, tends to sound stilted. In How to Be, Pattinson’s voice has a range that is usually stifled by his impassive characters and their American accents.
Finally, there’s Art himself, who is disarmingly disheveled. His clothes are either too big or too small. He eats brimming bowls of cereal that overflow onto the table. His hair is long, uncombed, and not mussed up by a professional stylist. Basically, the poor guy just can’t get it together.
Pattinson aptly embodies Art’s disheveled state. Maybe it’s because this is pre-millionaire, pre-magazine cover boy Pattinson, but there is something different about this performance. It’s more genuine, more creative, and less encumbered than ones he’s given since.
Writer and director Oliver Irving told PopMatters in 2009 that he was working on his second film, which would be about two female scientists. I’ll be watching for that one.
As for Pattinson, I’m still rooting for him. Here’s to hoping he can parlay his fame into working with more talents like Irving, who want to cast Robert Pattinson the actor, not Robert Pattinson the sex symbol or Robert Pattinson the brooding introvert.
Source
Thinking of Rob 