Author: Frank Mengarelli

I have always been Frank.

PTS PRESENTS EDITOR’S SUITE with JIM HELTON

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Interviews, Podcast

HELTON POWERCAST

HeltonPodcasting Them Softly is honored and extremely excited to present a discussion with feature film editor Jim Helton. Jim‘s big screen credits include Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines, and this September’s The Light Between Oceans — all of which were directed by Derek Cianfrance. It’s very clear that Jim has forged a unique and intense artistic relationship with Cianfrance, who ranks as one of our favorite filmmakers currently working, and throughout this extremely informative chat, we discuss how their unique partnership came to be born. Jim has also worked on a variety of short films and documentaries, and also edited the indie dramedy Lovely By Surprise and the street-racing action thriller Quattro Nozza. He also contributed to the dynamic soundtrack for The Place Beyond the Pines, as music is a big passion for him, which is something we also had a chance to discuss. He even crafted the extremely memorable title sequences for Blue Valentine. Jim‘s work is smart, stylish, and extremely disciplined and we’re thrilled to add him to our Editor’s Suite series. We hope you enjoy!

PTS Presents Producer’s Notes with EVZEN KOLAR

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Podcast

KOLAR POWERCAST

KOLARPodcasting Them Softly is incredibly proud to be joined with veteran producer Evzen Kolar whose credits include STREET SMART, the epic Cannon Film’s MASTERS OF THE UNIVRSE, DOUBLE IMPACT, SURF NINJAS, and a film that was made to be a featured film on Pocasting Them Softly, the 1997 hardnosed neo noir CITY OF INDUSTRY.  Evzen also produced the soundtrack that is a must own for any cinephile soundtrack junkie!  Before becoming a producer, Evzen worked as an assistant director, a unit manager on NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and he has also done some stunt work.  Unknown to us prior, Evzen is married to Robert Shaw’s daughter, and we spend a fair amount of time talking about Robert Shaw!

PTS Presents DIRECTOR’S CHAIR with DAVID MICKEY EVANS

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Podcast

DME POWERCAST

DMEPodcasting Them Softly is extremely excited to present a chat with special guest David Mickey Evans, the writer, director and the narrator’s voice of the heartwarming classic baseball movie THE SANDLOT, and writer/producer of the cult family classic RADIO FLYER.  He has contributed to the BEETHOVEN family movie series, and also wrote, directed and narrated THE SANDLOT 2.  His recent novel, THE KING OF PACOIMA, is a fascinating expansion on the RADIO FLYER universe he created, and really hits a lot of intense notes of emotional and personal reflection. His work has skillfully combined childhood magic with real world trauma, something that had been largely missing on screen since 1960’s era cinema, and he helped to break the mold of cliched cuteness that was inherent in family fare all throughout the 1980’s. He’s also a prolific script doctor on a wide variety of films, which is always an area of great fascination for us.  A true movie lover, Evans is a major baseball fan, so it was a lot of fun to pick his brain over his favorite big screen tales from the diamond. It was an honor to have David on the show, and we hope you all enjoy!

Michael Cimino’s DESPERATE HOURS – A Review by Frank Mengarelli

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Film Review

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Remakes are rarely a good idea, particularly if you’re a semi defrocked filmmaker and your headliners are Mikey Rourke who’s self-infliction was becoming more rampant in the late 80’s and early 90’s and a pre-SILENCE OF THE LAMBS Anthony Hopkins who’s star was on the fade.  Back all of that up by remaking a seminal Bogart film and releasing it to critical annihilation and an uninterested box office and we are left with a film that doesn’t find its audience until decades later.

Michael Cimino’s DESPERATE HOURS is a remarkable film.  It’s angry and brooding, wonderfully shot by Doug Milsome, and features two fierce performances from Rourke and Hopkins.  Mickey Rourke gives one of the finest performances of his career as Michael Bosworth whose freakishly high IQ wrapped along with his sociopathic tendencies makes for a fantastic villain and a very showy performance from Rourke.

Rourke is an escaped murderer on the lamb, he holds up in Hopkins’ house, where his family gets held captive by Rourke and his two lackeys.  Hopkins slowly pits Rourke’s paranoia and anxiety against him and his crew, slowly manipulating and faking them out at every turn.  Seeing Rourke and Hopkins go head to head in a fight between alpha males is worth the price of admission alone.

We all know about the rise and fall of Michael Cimino, and while the tide has completely turned on HEAVEN’S GATE, Cimino’s back catalog is more than deserving of being revisited.   DESPERATE HOURS isn’t a perfect film, but for anyone who loves dark and brooding films, this film is perfect for you.

PTS Presents Writer’s Workshop with DANIEL WATERS

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Interviews, Podcast

WATERS POWERCAST

ba965028-fbd5-4a62-9008-9d6f9378a819Podcasting Them Softly is beyond thrilled to present a chat with the tremendous screenwriter and filmmaker Daniel Waters. His legendary writing credits include Heathers, Batman Returns, Demolition Man, Hudson Hawk, and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, while he’s directed two features based on his own scripts — the underrated Happy Campers and the dark romantic comedy Sex & Death 101 with Simon Baker and Winona Ryder. He also collaborated with his brother Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls, on 2014’s Vampire Academy. Daniel has one of the most unique and idiosyncratic voices to ever work in the big-budget blockbuster arena, and clearly Heathers is an eternal classic that so many generations of audiences have latched onto as a key title. We hope you enjoy this informative and passionate discussion about Hollywood, the art of screenwriting, and our collective love for movies in general. And hey, maybe you’ll finally find out what those three seashells in Demolition Man were really meant for!

Derek Cianfrance’s BLUE VALENTINE – A Review by Frank Mengarelli

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review

“You made a promise to me, okay?”

Steeped in fiery passion and offset by raging resentment and animosity is the quagmire that is Derek Cianfrance’s spellbinding portrait, BLUE VALENTINE. 

The film is one of the most realistic portrayals of a new and growing love that eventually unravels in an emotionally catastrophic way.  There isn’t a good guy or a bad guy, there are just two people who have drifted apart over time.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams duel throughout the entire film.  Each respective actor is continuously making the other one better, breaking new waves as they reach deeper within themselves to catapult their performance in a real and heaetbreakingly honest way.

Derek Cianfrance has quietly become a master filmmaker.  His vision is taut, compelling, and grounded within the secret horrors of reality.  His aesthetic and technical choices are paramount to his finished product.

The film was shot in one part 16mm for flashbacks and then one part digitally for present day.  The editing duties were split between Cianfrance’s two collaborators Jim Helton and Ron Patane whom edited the two timeframes in the film separately.

The film ends with a pulverizing gut punch.  For one of the characters, there is no more forward momentum; all is lost.  And then the film’s closing credits happen.  The credits are the most powerful closing credits since THE CHINA SYNDROME.  Editor Jim Helton constructs a closing sequence of still frames of Gosling and Williams young and in love, freeze frames encapsulating moments in time of over romanticized memories and faded dreams.

Nicolas Wind Refn’s THE NEON DEMON – A Review by Frank Mengarelli

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review

Nicolas Winding Refn’s cinematic progression is something to be marveled at.  With his latest film, THE NEON DEMON, he pushes every boundary imaginable, creating a film with so much impending doom that it will make the most unflappable cinephile become seemingly uncomfortable as his tale of vanity and debauchery comes to a brilliant conclusion.

Refn has reached the top tier brotherhood of self indulgent filmmakers featuring Lars von Trier, Terrence Malick, and Bob Fosse.  Making his own films, without having to concede anything to anyone, allowing his own unique kaleidoscope of artistic vision to wash over the screen.

This film is fantastic, and it is Refn’s best film to date.  His unbound storytelling is wrapped tautly by Natasha Brier’s fluid cinematography, a perfect ensemble, and one of the best film scores of all time composed by Cliff Martinez.

Refn’s cinematic world is dark and dangerous, vicious and surreal.  He monumentally cashed in on DRIVE, allowing himself the freedom to make the films that he wants to make, pushing the boundaries of cinema to new heights.  With THE NEON DEMON he forgoes star power and box office anchors, and makes a film so twisted it becomes incredibly serene in a way that would make Stanley Kubrick proud.

Every single actor and crew member deserves all the accolades in the world for their accomplishments on this film.  One could spend an entire essay talking about each actor in this film. 

Elle Fanning.  Wow.  She absolutely commands every frame of this film.  Keanu Reeves completely shakes his on screen persona in a scummy and sleazy hard supporting role that will leave you wanting more.  Desmond Harrington FINALLY got his role.  He is silent, gaunt, and cathartic in his few scenes; showing off his previously untapped potential.

Refn’s latter day films are not for the People.  They aren’t made for the average Friday night moviegoer, they aren’t made for art house cinephiles.  They are made because he has his own story to tell. 

In an age where great cinematic story’s are told in a novelization over the medium of television; I don’t know how this film got made, or how it got a wide cinematic release – but we should all celebrate the fact that it did.

PTS PRESENTS WHEN PODCASTS COLLIDE with THE COOPER AND RUPERT PODCAST

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Podcast

BASEBALL PODCAST

We were joined with Doug Cooper and Mikey Rupert from THE COOPER AND RUPERT PODCAST where we talked our favorite baseball films.  It’s an entertaining chat where we argue and bond over our favorite and least favorite baseball films.  Please find their podcast here.

Episode 28: JONATHAN GLAZER’S SEXY BEAST

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Podcast

Ep28

We get back to our roots with a REGULAR episode dedicated to a single film with two top fives.  This time we talk about Jonathan Glazer’s SEXY BEAST and top five Ben Kingsley performances and top five English gangster films.  We plan on doing more of these regular podcasts in the future, hope you guys enjoy!

Angelina Jolie Pitt’s BY THE SEA – A Review by Frank Mengarelli

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review

A cinematic love story is rarely grounded in reality.  We see a projection of it, someone else’s idea of what love is.  The escapism of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and then the boy triumphantly wins girl back – is a mundane and trite formula.  Angelina Jolie Pitt’s BY THE SEA is a love story that wages war with itself and takes place within the reality of life.

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The film spans a few weeks at a villa in France.  Roland (Pitt) and Vanessa (Jolie) are married, waging a toxic and a fearless psychological war with one another.  Roland drinks all day, desperately seeking inspiration for his next novel while Vanessa bunkers herself within their room and lies comatose in bed on a self medicated mixture of pills and wine.

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At this point in their marriage, all is lost, yet they continuously fight for and against one another.  Their passion still burns bright, but their hope flickers as each minute of the film passes.

Jolie has become an inspiring vision behind the camera, fluidly crafting her film; using the vulnerability and innocence of 1970’s France as a canvas to showcase such a painfully beautiful film.

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BY THE SEA is a clear cut example of a critical and box office failure that eludes the self indulgence of critics and the current cinematic populous with its pulverizing and honest view of love.