Ebert Fest

So i went to the Ebert Film Festival last weekend and saw 2 movies, The Hulk and Romance and Cigarettes. It was a pretty good weekend. John and I got on the News-Gazette website under the photos section. I believe we are the 3rd photo. The best part was hearing Ang Lee speak after The Hulk.



The Hulk I thought was better than I was expecting. It probably would have done better if he had not been a comic book character. The movie was more character driven and not a struggle between a villain and hero, although his father is the villain it isn't exactly clear that this is the case throughout the movie. With superhero movies you probably want to have a clearly laid out villain and hero throughout the movie. Also the visual effects were a bit off. That being said, I liked how the character was developed and I liked the split screen throughout the film. The split screen gave it a comic book feel, while allow you to see different angles. I especially like the split screen shots of different faces which allow you to see how the different actors react at the same moment.



Ang Lee spoke after the film about his U of I experience and film making. He said he came to U of I because he wanted to act, but couldn't do it because he did speak English. He also said that his relationship with his dad fueled much of The Hulk's emphasis on father-child relationships. Surprisingly enough, Ang Lee also was the Hulk. He put on the motion capture suit to make many of the Hulk movements on screen. Another interesting moment was when Joe Pantoliano, who was in town for Canvas, asked him a question about how he deals with actors. He said that when actors believe they are giving a good performance, they are often overacting. So he says he picks them apart or confuses them when necessary to get a good performance. He said he is the 3rd eye in the sky for them. One of the more interesting things he said was that he was burnt out after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Hulk so he wanted to do a small movie that no one paid any attention to and only showed in art house movie theaters. After all he said in his own words, "Who would want to see a gay cowboy movie?" Of course, that movie was Brokeback Mountain.



Romance & Cigarettes is actually a musical starring James Gandolfini. Other big names include: Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise-Parker, Mandy Moore, Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet, Eddie Izzard, Steve Buscemi, and Aida Turturro. It's loosely based on the family life of John Turturro. who has been in movies like Rounders, Do the Right Thing, Quiz Show, and Transformers. It wasn't a traditional musical because while the actors were singing, they were singing with the original tracks from the original artists over the actors. In fact, it wasn't a very traditional movie at all. Best line I heard from the discussion afterwards, "Christopher Walken does a great Christopher Walken". It has some odd age arrangements. Aida Turturro plays James Gandolfini's adopted daughter, whereas in the Sopranos they play brother and sister. Mandy Moore and Mary Louise-Parker play sisters, but in Saved! Mandy Moore plays Mary Louise-Parker's daughter's friend/nemesis. Overall the movie was pretty funny and I really liked the ending too.