Movie On: Day 1 at #Berlinale2016

National Websites

Friday, February 12, 2016

This is a new version of the daily coverage as will not talk about ALL the movies that will be screen each day but only about the ones that I find "interesting". But will include press news from English-speaking sources (maybe some non-English too) where you can read news, reviews, comments, etc. about the movies in the festival.

Another novelty is that will publish post as soon as there is some info available and will be updating post during the day, until the next day when the new post is open. So, post will be work in progress until becomes final.

Post bottom has some public photos about whatever is happening daily in the fest, BUT if you wish to see professional photos (like the ones from Getty Images) please go to my pinterest here where will be publishing photos with all the credits.

The Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony was long, very long and started late, quite late as the opening film crew came late to the theater. Nevertheless I highly enjoy Ange Engelke's dry/black German humor and this was not an exception as laugh quite hard several times. She's very funny lady. Most impressive was the standing ovation Meryl Streep had just when Ange mentioned her name, later the audience calmed itself and when she was on stage, ovation still was loud. I'm in awe of my own reactions to Meryl Streep being the Jury president as tend to be different to what I felt with the presence of extraordinary directors; is like is "normal" for a director to be the jury president, it's "normal" for male/female actors be jury president, BUT it is not normal for Meryl Streep to be a jury president! LOL! Believe I'm not alone with that or similar feeling. Sigh.

As in every festival opening ceremony the best part are the film clips and this time there were three segments with all the films in the selection, in and out of competition. Caught at least 2 films that suggest will have great visuals, which makes me very happy as know they have become must-be-seen for me.

So, #Berlinale2016 is open and the great cinema feast is just starting with great films in the Selection as well as in the other festival sections.

Hail, Caesar! by Coen Brothers

As we know the movie had its premiere a couple of days ago in New York, so there are lots of reviews from that premiere that got promoted yesterday as "to remain" us there is no need to talk again about the movie. My spontaneous perception is that film press did not enjoyed much the movie; but, in general, seems that film got a wide range of evaluations that travel the good to bad scale, with good being a fun-to-watch comedy and bad being not-the-best Coen's oeuvre. Here are some headlines.

The Coen Brothers’ Star-Packed Hail, Caesar! Feels Overdeliberate-David Edelstein, Vulture
The great thing about Hail, Caesar! is that it is fun whether you get all its references or not-Kenneth Turan, LATimes
The Coen brothers deliver a gorgeously crafted romp through vintage Hollywood in this droll and ruminative entertainment-Justing Chang, Variety
Hail, Caesar! is one of those diversions that they turn out in between masterworks and duds. It’s a typically sly, off-center comedy, once again set against the machinery of the motion-picture business-Manohla Dargis-NYT
A dispiritingly vitriolic, only sporadically funny satire of ’50s Hollywood, Hail, Caesar! verifies a suspicion long held here, that the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, really hate the movies-John Anderson, Wall Street Journal
The brothers' latest also has a certain buoyancy...The fizziness, though, proves fleeting, and Hail, Caesar! too often goes flat-Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

News

#Berlinale2016 Screen's Dailies

Day 1

THR Day 1 Daily

Neil Young's Film Lounge
Berlinale 2016: Golden Bear Odds - Published February 9th, 2016
7-2: Soy Nero (Pitts; 120m; Germany/Fr/Mex)
5-1: Things To Come (Hansen-Løve; 100m; France/Ger)
13-2: 24 Weeks (Berrached; 102m; Germany)
9-1: A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (Diaz; 485m; Philippines/Sin)
—
12-1: Death in Sarajevo (Tanović; 85m; Bosnia-Herzegovina/France)
14-1: Fire at Sea (Rosi; 108m; Italy/Fr)
14-1: Hedi (Ben Attia; 88m; Tunisia/Bel/Fr)
14-1: Letters From War (Ferreira; 105m; Portugal)
16-1: Crosscurrent (Yang; 116m; China)
16-1: Boris Without Béatrice (Côté; 93m; Canada)
16-1: United States of Love (Wasilewski; 104m; Poland/Swe)
—
25-1: Midnight Special (Nichols; 112m; USA)
25-1: Being 17 (Téchiné; 116m; France)
25-1: Genius (Grandage; 104m; UK/USA)
25-1: A Dragon Arrives! (Haghighi; 107m; Iran)
—
33-1: Zero Days (Gibney; 116m; USA)
40-1: The Commune (Vinterberg; 111m; Denmark/Swe/Net)
50-1: Alone in Berlin (Perez; 103m; Germany/Fr/GB)

Photos

The International Jury