Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings.
It’s been too long since I wrote up and update post. I thought it was about time. Especially when you consider that we’ve passed the midway point of the year, and that’s usually when there’s some overhauling done around here.
First, since an update around this time last year I no longer conglomerate film reviews. Therefore reviews are usually either categorized as Reviews (full-length; 400 words or more) or Mini-Reviews (Under 400 words).
You may see more instances of multiple posts in a day as I have now scheduled almost all the remaining backlog of reviews that have not gotten their due.
This should allow me to dedicate the time needed to creating new content and keeping up on films and reviews.
Having recently compiled June’s BAM Award considerations the compiling of offline master lists has begun. It seems like contenders are shaping up well.
New and older posts will be posted more frequently on Twitter, film viewings can be accompanied on Letterboxd. You can also accompany the site on Facebook or subscribe via email.
There will likely be more news soon so check back soon and enjoy!
The name may not be one that immediately jumps out at you, however, when you check William Wellman’s IMDb you realize you likely have seen one of his films. I will be writing about Night Nurse.
I recently read the fantastic biography of William Wellman and found myself so inspired by the life and films of this great American director that I decided to do something about it! More to the point, I decided to host my very first blogathon!
Announcing The William Wellman Blogathon!
Love WINGS? Does WESTWARD THE WOMEN get your heart beating? Want to talk about THE OX-BOW INCIDENT? Think that Gary Cooper owes quite a bit to William Wellman and want to share your thoughts? Go for it! You can write about anything and everything related to William Wellman, his life, his films, and his career.
Now for the nitty gritty! This event will run from September 10-13, 2015. I am not assigning days for posts so feel free to post any time during the event. Duplicates are fine so pick any topic you like! Also, this is my first…
One thing I was aiming to avoid when starting my own page was being a slave to the cinematic news cycle. Not that there’s anything wrong with following industry headlines, and I usually comment on things I find compelling on Twitter. However, yesterday and today there has been a synergistic confluence of fantastic news, in my estimation. Therefore, when the bad news occurring in threes trend is reversed, I feel it should be fodder for my first update post in quite some time. So it’s what’s new on the site and the four bits of film news.
Follow my Letterboxd as I may add the My Radar post there as a list. Also, other themes where I plan on doing year-round viewing will be viewable there too.
Also check out out all four of the new About pages if you’re so inclined.
Star Wars
Yes, it was just May the fourth and the forthcoming Episode VII played into it big time by releasing new images and information here.
Also recently it was announced that the Anthology films will be Rogue One, directed by Gareth Edwards. Rogue One centers on the Rebel plot to steal plans for the Death Star.
It was also confirmed that the second anthology film, which Josh Trank just departed as director, will be about Boba Fett.
Pennywise cast for new adaptation of Stephen King’s It
I don’t usually like to get into a casting decision that may still be in negotiations, but the idea of Will Poulter (Multiple BAM AwardWinner) as Pennywise in the forthcoming two-part It film from New Line and director Cary Joji Fukunaga is so brilliant I have to applaud it repeatedly.
Recent Birthday Celebrants Making News
Asa Butterfield (April 1st), BAM Award Winner forEnder’s Game, has been cited on the leaked shortlist of candidates to be the next Spider-Man. A few publications cite him as the favorite. If this does come to fruition, it’s awesome news.
Bobby Coleman (May 5th) appears to have a new title Momoannounced per his IMDb page. Considering some of the notices I’ve given Coleman (which you can see below) it’s a wonder this is his first credit since 2013, and that title was long-in-the-can.
What buoys this episode is the prosthetic work, the voice over of the creature, its conclusion and most importantly Bobby Coleman‘s performance, which may be the finest of the series to date.
As per usual, Bobby Coleman, as the young lead, is fantastic and a standout in this cast. He buoys the title much more than most would deem possible, and more than most actors his age could possibly hope to.
Most impressive in the film is Bobby Coleman, best known to some as the title character in The Martian Child, who plays the younger brother in this film and delivers a very compelling performance. Towards the end he does quite a bit of crying and considering this is his second tear-jerker style movie it can now be said with no exaggeration that his abilities as a crier now rank amongst the all-time greats, rivaling even Bobs Watson.
Conclusion
It’s been too long since I posted an update, I will try to do this more regularly in a free-flowing manner.
Yes, another blogathon I am adding to my slate. However, this reblog/announcement comes well in advance of the late March-Early April window. It fits in well leading into Poverty Row April as well, as usually I have many pre-code titles in there as well. I am covering Blonde Venus (1932) and am looking forward to it greatly.
Jean Harlow. Joan Blondell. Warren William. Dorothy Mackaill. Kay Francis. Ricardo Cortez. Madge Evans. Leila Hyams. Lyle Talbot. Anita Page. Norma Shearer.
Pick a star, any star.
Or any movie released between 1930 and 1934 – that absolutely awesome, totally titillating, sinfully scandalous era of filmmaking known as pre-Code.
The 2015 Pre-Code Blogathon is a celebration of this brief but oh-so memorable period in the annals of cinema – one that featured more lingerie than you can shake a stick at! Around these parts, we think that the films produced in the early 1930s are some of the best from Hollywood’s Golden Age – and if you share our fondness for these features and the performers who made them so unforgettable, you are cordially invited to join in the fun!
Seeing as how I typically partake in writing about and seeing many TCM selections for 31 Days of Oscar, I’m thrilled to also join a 31 Days of Oscar blogathon discussing four unusual topics: Non-competitive, non-lifetime wins (e.g. Charles Chaplin “The Circus), Defunct Categories (e.g. Title Writing), Cinematographers in Black & White and Color, and those Who Won as Directors Not as Actors. Can’t wait!
“Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to the Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We’re both a little weather-beaten, but we’re still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.”
– John Wayne
We started this event to coincide with Turner Classic Movie’s (TCM) 31 Days of Oscar marathon during which the network shines the spotlight on the storied history of the Academy Awards.
This February promises to be another stellar programming month for TCM, a month filled with fabulous tales and screen wonders –…
This is just a quick update to indicate that although December 24th has come and gone the BAM Shortlists will arrive shortly. They were nearly done (Or so I thought), and then I realized I had to reconcile a bookkeeping SNAFU. I will continue to work towards getting the shortlists out today (12/25), tomorrow (12/26) at the latest.
Thank you.
Bernardo Villela, The Movie Rat
P.S. This first trimming down should allow for the nominees to be released on the 2nd and the winners announced on the 9th. In the meantime go here to view previous awards.
This is mainly a post to announce that though I have yet to post anything new in relation to it, 61 Days of Halloween is still very much a thing! Look for new material soon.
OK, so here’s what’s happening on The Movie Rat as of the last update, and some things that will be happening from here on in.
The Short Film Saturday post on this site has been consistently delivered and will continue to be for quite some time to come. You can find previous selections here.
BAM Considerations posts have been added to on a monthly basis for May and June.
If you navigate the menu bar you will see new drop downs added since the last update.
Tarzan Thursday may or may not be winding down, but I have added new entries there and you can find all of them here.
Created a new feature I hope to follow-up on called Food on Film, and one I’ve already posted in twice called Duh about famous relations one featuring the Derns and another the Gleesons.
I shamelessly plugged a trio of short stories I am releasing on Kindle.
Lastly, is that having ended the Mini-Review Round-Up I am further burying many films worthy of individual attention. Therefore, over time the films that were included in those posts will be featured in newly-published individual posts. In some cases there will be new additional quotes or materials added, but mostly it will just be an individual short post, a Mini-Review (such as this one). This will mean posts every day for sure, and it will allow me to focus on posts that need the time and not scrambling to create new content, or worse, missing days.
Thanks for stopping by, and y’all come back now y’hear!
Today I finally returned to creating a new page for the menu bar. It was something I intended to do a while ago, but only got to now. Anyway, go here to find links to all the blogathon posts I’ve contributed so far.
Posts have been a bit more infrequent but I’ve been working to rectify that to an extent. There has, however, been work going on behind the scenes and when I get a string of days scheduled it should be possible to start filling in the schedule on a more consistent basis.
One thing I have been able to make great progress in, thanks to Apple TV, has been the scheduling of Short Film Saturday. There shouldn’t be a missed one of those for quite some time. You can look up past films here.
There should be more reviews coming down the pike as things have been viewed. In the meantime, if you need you play catch-up you can go here.
The Movie Rat 