Gloria is the next film club selection

Next Sunday, October 19, the film Gloria will be shown. This film from Chile promises to be quite entertaining. It's a about a mature woman trying to find the perfect relationship. The film starts at 3:00 pm. Hope to see you there.





The San Diego Asian Film Festival

Mark you calendars. The San Diego Asian Film Festival is coming November 6-15. Lots of interesting films will be previewed. Click this link for the complete program:

http://festival.sdaff.org/2014/


In Memoriam
We all remember Jan Hooks from Saturday Night Live. Her imitation of Tammy Faye Baker was the best. You probably have your favorite character. She was only 57 when she died. Way too young.

Don't Forget to Vote

It's time to start voting for the films for next season. You've been sent an email of the dramas (there are tons to look at and consider). You can either email your choices to ncfilmclub.com or bring your list to the film this Sunday. Watch for emails that will include nominations for documentaries and comedies. Be sure to vote. Speaking of the film this Sunday, you're in for a treat.

Barbara

The upcoming film Barbara,  is a tale about a female doctor in East Germany trying to defect to West Berlin.  The German film will be shown at the Carmike Theater (formerly Digiplex) in Oceanside at 3:00 pm, Oct. 5. Here's the trailer:

 


The Red Shoes

There are so many dramas to choose from. Only a few will be in next season's lineup. I noticed that someone had nominated The Red Shoes, a classic film from 1948. For some reason vintage films don't often make the vote. But guess what? as luck would have it, The Red Shoes will be shown on TCM this Sunday at 5:00 pm. You can just barely make it after you see Barbara. You might want to DVR it for later viewing.

Kensington Video 

Another sad tale about the demise of a beloved community establishment. The Kensington Video after 30 years in business will be closing February, 2015. There will soon be no bookstores or video stores. What's this world coming to?

Read this article about the Kensington Video in San Diego.

Instructions Not Included

This Sunday, September 21 the North County Film Club will be presenting the film Instructions Not Included, the highest grossing Mexican film ever released in the U.S.

This Chaplinesque mixture of laughter, pathos and tears is written and directed by its star, Eugenio Derbez, one of Mexico's most prominent and beloved television stars.

The story follows unexpected twists in the life of its protagonist Valentin, a ladies man with bigtime daddy issues whose life is upended when one of his conquests drops a baby he's sired off on his doorstep.  Deciding to raise the child, he goes to America and through a series of comic incidents finds professional fulfillment as a stuntman and personal happiness as a father until the mother's return and a custody hearing threatens the arrangement.

The film is at the Carmike (formerly Digiplex) Mission Marketplace theater in Oceanside at College and Highway 76.  It begins at 3pm.  Please join us and stay for a Q&A afterwords.


Hope to see you there.

Don't forget to send in your nominations for next season's films. Email your selections to ncfilmclub.com or bring them with you Sunday. This Sunday, Sept. 21 is the deadline for nominations.


In Memoriam - Joan Rivers

Girl on a Bicycle

Next Sunday, August 24, The North County Film Club will be presenting Girl on a Bicycle. This romantic comedy takes place in Paris. Paolo, an Italian tour bus driver,  proposed to a German stewardess, when he sees a young French beauty, Cécile  Soon Paolo finds himself with a German fiancée, a French "wife", and two Australian children who call him "Papa".

Here's the trailer:

Hope to see you there.

In Memoriam

We lost two important actors last week, Lauren Bacall and Robin Williams. Here are tributes to them. They'll be missed.

Frances Ha - August 10th Film

On Sunday, August 10 we'll be treated with the film Frances Ha. This independent film starring Greta Gerwig is about a persistent woman who wants to be a dancer. Even though she has no talent for dance, she perseveres only to watch her dream dwindle. The film will be shown at 3:00 pm, the Digiplex Theater (college and mission). Don't miss this interesting look into the life of a New York City woman as she persists in her unrealistic goal. And notice her parents in the film - they're actually her real life parents.


Oceanside International Film Festival

The Oceanside International Film Festival will be starting on August 3 and continuing through Aug. 10. This is the place independent filmmakers have the opportunity to have their work screened and judged. Besides the schedule of films, there will also be workshops. Click the link below for information and schedule:

http://www.ocaf.info/oceanside-international-film-festival/

How nice to have this festival in our own backyard - a perfect activity for north county film buffs to catch up with the latest in independent film.

10 Best Foreign Films
I noticed this site while surfing the web. It's a list of the 10 best recent foreign films. Wadjda is listed along with 9 others. Hopefully they're all available through Netflix.
http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/56792554/10-foreign-films-you-need-to-watch

Wadjda

Even though I haven't seen this film yet, I think we're in for a real treat. How many times have we seen a Saudi Arabian film? Should be very interesting.

Here's a trailer of the film in case you haven't seen this previously when we were voting for the slate of films this season:




Wadjda is a story about a determined 10-year-old girl and her quest for a bicycle. She lives in the Riyadh suburbs where bike riding is considered a threat to a girl’s virtue. Wadjda hopes to buy a bicycle by winning the cash prize in a Koran-recitation competition at school. 

Here's a New York Times review with more details:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/movies/wadjda-by-haifaa-al-mansour-made-in-saudi-arabia.html?_r=0

This film will show Sunday, July 27, 3:00 pm at the Digiplex Theater in Oceanside. Hope to see you there.

Followup - 20 Feet from Stardom

Wasn't 20 Feet from Stardom a wonderful film? Hope you all had a chance to see it. In case you didn't get enough of that wonderful voice, here's a fun version of Darlene Love performing on the David Letterman show in 2007:


Notice the background singers for Darlene. She has four of them, 2 white and 2 black. I find this kind of interesting. Nice to see that Darlene is an equal opportunities employer. (If indeed, she did the employing or was it David?).

In Memoriam

I don't think there are too many people that didn't like James Garner. He certainly crossed every kind of genre both in film and on TV. He was a handsome, talented, likable guy. What was not to like? Enjoy this tribute (but why no Doris Day?).
  

See you Sunday, the 27th for Wadjda.

Twenty Feet From Stardom - July 13th

The North County Film Club will open the Summer /Fall season with the Academy Award winning film, Twenty Feet from Stardom.  This film will be shown Sunday,  July 13th at 3:00 pm.

The film is about the lives of backup singers living their lives just beyond the spotlight. Their voices brought harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until this film.

You'll follow the stories of Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Lisa Fischer, three African American singers who sang backup for many leading bands through the rock era. You'll hear interviews with veterans of the period and see concert footage. It's interesting to see these talented singers trying to make a living in the rock era but burdened with low profiles and career frustrations.

John Anderson's questions to assist in after-the-film discussion:

1.  To what extent are the films' subjects struggles to achieve fame attributable to their own ambivalence or inequities in the music industry?

2.  How has the black church influenced American popular music, and how has the style of musical performance in the gospel tradition conflict with the celebrity driven nature of the secular recording industry?

3.  In what ways does the struggle between sacred and secular values force its subjects to reconcile different modes of feminism in their professional lives? 

Critics Corner
Gail Brown has been at it again - going to lots of movies and favoring us with her reviews. Here's two more to add to our list:

The Fault in Our Stars

*leads perfectly cast
*story sweet, a bit slow
*The three of us gave it between an 7.5 - 9, the teenagers in front of us who read the book gave it a 9



Edge of Tomorrow

*Disclaimer:  Sci Fi is my least favorite kind of movie but wanted to see what the critics were raving about.
*A cross between Groundhog Day and War of the Worlds (on steroids).
*Creative, layered script but…last half hour started losing interest…
*There should be an award for actors that have to work and show various tough emotions (let alone fighting with aliens) on a blue screen.
*Emily Blunt was great…I would have never cast her for this role…but she pulled it off very well
*A true Tom Cruise type of movie..he still has the chops for action at this age (51)..if you love Tom and Sci Fi movies this movie is for you.

Book Nook
Book recommendation by me (Nancy Javier)
Here's one of my favorite books about film. It's not new at all, but it's definitely worth a read.

 

 

It's about the making of Heaven's Gate - one of the least viewed and most talked about movies in history. You'll love reading about all of the egos that went into the making of this film - from the nit picky director, Michael Cimino, to the executives at United Artist that just didn't know what to do with him. This ultimately led to the sinking of the studio and the end of Cimino's career. His excesses are very fun, but frustrating to read about. If you get a chance to pick up a used copy, and you're someone who loves to read about the behind scenes (like me), you'll love this book.

Hope to see you Sunday at the Digiplex for 20 Feet From Stardom.