While I was making my travel plans for the film festival a car wreck let me without a vehicle to get there-fortunately Enterprise Rent-A-Car came to my rescue. Stay tuned for more information about the history of this great company.
Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale
Welcome back. This week I’m introducing my own quality rating system which I will be using to score the films I saw at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival. The system uses a sliding scale of 1 to 5 buffalo with 5 being the best rating and 1 being the worst.
“At Any Price” tells the story of a fourth generation farmer who resorts to “scams, bribes and under-the-table deals” in order to hold onto the family farm. Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron star in a film that explores both a troubled family relationship and the impact of globalization and large corporations on farming in America. I give it 3 buffalos.
Marilyn Monroe may be even more famous today than she was at the time of her death in 1964. “Love Marilyn” is a documentary featuring readings from her personal diaries which provide insight into the many dimensions of this complex person from her creative drive to her difficult relationships with men. The film includes never-before-seen footage from the estates of playwright Arthur Miller (Monroe’s third husband) and Truman Capote. In my opinion this is a must-see for die hard fans but it’s a 2 buffalos for your average viewer.
“Rust and Bone” is a love story about the romance between a single father(Matthias Schoenarts) struggling to care for his young son and a young woman (Marion Cotillard) who suffers a crippling injury. The film is worth seeing for the setting on France’s Cote D’Azur alone. It is in French with English subtitles so it can be hard to follow at times but I still give it 3 buffalos.
“The Central Park Five” is the true story of a white female executive who was assaulted and raped by five teenage black boys in 1989 while jogging in Central Park. Written, directed and produced by Ken Burns with his daughter Sarah Burns and David McMahon. “The Central Park Five” reveals the details of a terrible crime, a highly biased investigation and tense race relations in New York City. 3 ½ buffalos.
Reviews were mixed for “A Royal Affair”. Set in 16th century Denmark, the film is based on a novel by Bodil Steensenleth about an adulterous affair between the court physician and the Queen. Despite many plot twists and turns and the historical interest of the piece it rated 2 buffalos.
The title “No” was taken from the slogan developed by a Chilean advertising executive as part of a campaign to defeat the dictator Augusto Pinochet during the 1988 elections. “No” is in Spanish, again with English subtitles, but it is worth the price of admission just to see the guts it took for the Chilean people to defy Pinochet. Another 2 buffalos.
If you like murder and lots of it I hear you will definitely enjoy “The Iceman”, a realistic depiction of a man leading a double life, on the one hand a devout Catholic and devoted family man and on the other, an assassin for the Mafia who is responsible for over 100 murders. The cast includes Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta and Wynona Ryder. It looks like it will do well at the box office but the folks I talked to you have it 2 buffalos.
Bill Murray is President Franklin Roosevelt in “Hyde Park on the Hudson” based on the diaries of Roosevelt’s cousin and mistress Margaret Stuckley. Laura Linney as Margaret outshone everyone else in this film which is both funny and touching. For the historical content alone its gets 3 ½ buffalos.
I did not have time to see all of the films at the festival but these are a few others that I heard were good: “The Gatekeepers”, “The Sapphires,” “Amour” and “Barbara”. “The Attack” which is a new film directed by Ben Affleck, is also creating a lot of buzz and I heard it is definitely worth 4 buffalos.
If you love movies you won’t want to miss next year’s festival. 2013 will be the 40th anniversary of the festival and they are adding an extra day of events. Hope you can make it.
From Telluride I went on to the UUBAR Ranch to lead a group that was touring the area. While I was there I saw Johnny Depp was in the area filming “The Lone Ranger”. From what I heard about his portrayal of the famous Indian Tonto it will be another interesting film.
Till next time I’ll see ya down the road….
#
Hi, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Other then that, superb blog!