Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Friday Film Screening, January 15, 2009

Hi all,

Happy new year to everyone.

This Friday,

Film: The Hurt Locker
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow
Lang: English
Genre: Thrill, Drama, War
Runtime: 131 minutes

Venue: IDC Auditorium,
Time: 9:00 pm
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Plot synopsis: During the "Occupation of Iraq", an Explosive Ordnance Deal team goes about disposing live bombs while risking their own lives for the cause.

The film is about their estranged life conditions in a place where every man is a potential enemy and every object a possible bomb.

"The Hurt Locker" is an immaculate character study of a cynical bravado (one Staff Seargent William James) for whom his own recklessness is more of a coping mechanism in the sandbox. The film stays honest while managing to avoid either hero-worshipping or commiserating such a character. However, it does empathize his romance with his work and his decision making at the most nerve racking conditions, glamorizing slightly his love for the alternate high adrenaline world of war.

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Reviews:

Village Voice review by Scott Foundas(best review of the lot):
http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-06-24/film/the-hurt-locker-ticking-time-bomb-of-a-movie/

The New Yorker by David Denby:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/06/29/090629crci_cinema_denby

TIME review by Richard Corliss:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1838615-2,00.html

The New York Times review by A.O. Scott:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/movies/26hurt.html

Chicago Sun Times by Roger Ebert:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090708/REVIEWS/907089997


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Ratings:

imdb rating: 8.0/10

Rotten tomatoes tomatometer: 97% [ out of the 37 top critics, 36 called it fresh and 1 called it rotten]

Metacritic rating: 94 [Universal Acclaim]
Metacritic user score: 8.3

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Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden globes for 2010(including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay)

Nominated for Directors Guild of America 2010 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.


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Trivia:

1. During filming, three, four or more hand-held super 16mm cameras were used to film scenes in documentary style. Nearly two hundred hours of footage was shot at an eye-popping 100:1 shooting ratio (a higher ratio of expended film than the notorious Francis Ford Coppola epic, Apocalypse Now (1979)) [courtesy: imdb trivia section]

2. A production bus full of Iraqi refugees (hired as extras) overturned on a road heading to production. Nobody was seriously injured. A few people suffered bruises and one person was reported to have a broken nose. [courtesy: imdb trivia section]

3. Colin Farrell, Willem Dafoe and Charlize Theron were originally set to star. [courtesy: imdb trivia section]

4. James Cameron said this about ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow's film: ""I think this could be the Platoon (1986) for the Iraq War." [courtesy: imdb trivia section]

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Quotes from the Film:

1. "There's enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable." - Staff Seargent William James.

2. Colonel Reed: What's the best way to go about disarming one of these things?
Staff Sergeant William James: The way you don't die, sir.

3. "You know you can shoot people out here... You don't have to throw wrenches!" Seargent Sanborn

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Poster:







Trailer:






Director Kathryn Bigelow on The Hurt Locker:







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