Nominations Please

Now is your chance to nominate your favorite films for consideration for next season.  If there are particular films you would like to see as a part of the Film Club's Summer Season simply list the films you wish to see and email your choices to ncfilmclub@gmail.com

The last day to nominate a film for the Summer 2014 season is Sunday, March 23.


Our Next Film

 

Our next film for Sunday, March 23 is After the Wedding. Mads Mikkelsen plays a manager of an underfunded orphanage who discovers that he and a potential benefactor share a tangled history. Co-writer and director Susanna Brier withholds key back story information, lending a touch of suspense and surprise in this effecting drama that is ultimately about the struggle to overcome the negative and destructive behaviors that interfere with our capacity to love.

We look forward to seeing you there - Digiplex theater in Oceanside (College and Mission) 3:00 p.m.

Here are some questions from John Anderson to think about as you're watching the film. We hope you'll stay for the discussion after to see how the questions are answered.

1.  How does withholding some of the back story effect the manner we relate to the character's physical display of emotions?

2.  In what other ways does the film's "realistic" style mediate against what many would consider the excesses of melodrama?

3.  Does the film offer its characters closure to the repetitive, destructive aspects of their personalities?

In Memoriam

It's ironic that just after viewing In A World, Hal Douglas, one of the most famous voice over actors has died. Here's the article about him from the L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-hal-douglas-voice-countless-movie-trailers-dies-20140313,0,942130.story#axzz2wRVE93cF

Also, take time to watch this video from a Jerry Seinfeld film - it's a parody starring Hal Douglas:

Critics Corner

Gail Brown has recently seen Monuments Men. Here's her review:

Cast:  George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, Huge Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Bob Balaban (numerous TV shows and movies)

Director & Producer:  George Clooney

Synopsis: Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.

 Critics Weigh In:

The movie does have some strong dramatic moments, but in general the story is bland. Yet despite the movie's drawbacks, it still manages to tell a story about an historical event of great importance and significance, and so for that reason alone is worth watching.

"Men" is a good, if flawed, film, telling a difficult tale that had to be harder to accomplish in reality than was depicted on screen. Its flaws are in uneven pacing, mismatched musical support, and a too-simple story; yet even amid these flaws, it conveys a valid story about still more heartbreaking loss in the midst of war. IT's worth your consideration.

In My Opinion:

I waited to review this film because I did not want to knit pick it since it is a valuable, historical and significant story to be told.  One that many of us did not learn about in school.  I agree with the two comments above. 

That is all I will say about the film.  I do think it should be seen.  Just sad and shocking to think of some of the things that went on in this world at that time.