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KEANU REEVES
In addition to playing bass with his band Dogstar and tooling around on his motorcycle, the 39-year-old never-married star of the Matrix franchise also works a lot (he’s got films slated through 2007), leaving little time for romance. "When I’m working," Reeves said last year, "I think only about work. Girls have got close very rarely." CREDIT: CATUFFE/SIPA
PUBLISHED: FRIDAY JUNE 04, 2004 06:00 AM EDT
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By getting married to somebody else. That’s right, the Meet Joe Black temptress — who was allegedly proposed to by Keanu Reeves — is now officially engaged to Mission Impossible II star Dougray Scott. Claire and Keanu have laughed off their romance rumors. Claire stated she and Dougray had been dating since July 2006, exactly the same time that engagement rumors started fluttering.
Gallery Hopping at Thaddeaus Ropac, Karsten Greve, and Chez Valentin
A Scanner Darkly is an adaptation of a 1977 novel by Philip K. Dick, one of the most influential writers of Science Fiction in the 20th Century. It concerns an undercover police agent, Bob Arctor/Fred (Keanu) who is sent to spy on a house of drug-users. Arctor is anonymous to his superiors, a requirement of the force to insure against corruption. Although Arctor is meant to be observing, he finds it necessary, as part of his cover, to become a user himself and he becomes addicted to Substance D, a mind-altering drug. The results of this are an encroaching paranoia and confusion of identity.
Like much of his work, it has an autobiographical element, coming out of a period during the early 1970s that he spent living with a group of teenage drug-users. It also seems to relate back to his paranoia which led him to believe that secret government agencies were plotting against him and, subsequently, that he was plotting against himself but forgetting that he had done so. Richard Linklater’s adaptation of the novel is faithful to the original although some Dick fans have complained that it overdoes the druggie humour. But I think it captures the original quite brilliantly, mixing black comedy with psychological terror and evoking a world in which not only is there no such thing as objective reality but where even subjective reality is open to question.
There are already two excellent reviews of A Scanner Darkly on DVD Times, both by writers with considerably more knowledge of Science Fiction than I possess. I therefore strongly recommend that anyone interested in the film should read the cinema review by Roger Keen and the R3 DVD review by Gary Couzens.
My own view on the film is that it is as bold and daring a work as Richard Linklater has yet produced. He was certainly the perfect filmmaker to tackle the book given the interests in philosophy, Gnosticism and subjective reality that were brought to the fore in his previous rotoscoping experiment, Waking Life. The drug-addled comedy is also something with which he is comfortable, the performances of Rory Cochrane and Woody Harrelson coming in a direct line from those in Dazed and Confused. He understands the black humour behind Dick’s work and the trenchant ironies – the most brilliant being the way in which the flowers that produce Substance D are harvested by recovering addicts. He also understands that Science Fiction is far more about ideas and questions than it is about lasers and spacecraft and, as such, A Scanner Darkly is as pure a piece of SF cinema as we’ve seen for some time. It also manages, like a lot of good work in the genre, to comment on our own times while being notionally set in the future.
There are certain flaws, some of them inherent in the original material. The communities depicted are very insular and if you’re not part of them, it can be hard to get involved and, perhaps, sufficiently care. Freck’s miserable life is shoved right in our face at the start before we’ve come to know him or why he’s behaving in such a way and some may find this alienating. On a filmmaking level, I’m not entirely sure about the casting of Keanu Reeves. He does pretty well but he seems very limited – the line “Let’s hear it for the big blur” seems all too apt – and he’s certainly not how I pictured the character – but then no-one has ever caught a Philip K. Dick ‘hero’ in a way which I find satisfying. However, acting honour is restored by the superb supporting cast, amongst whom Robert Downey Jr. stands out as the deeply unpleasant but absolutely fascinating Barris, the kind of friend who makes you prefer your enemies. On a positive note, I also want to mention the final shot which is quite astonishingly moving.
The Disc
Warner’s R2 release of A Scanner Darkly is identical in content to their releases in other regions and, judging by what I’ve read, seems to be the same in terms of the quality of the transfer.
The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is flawless and, given the digital origins, this is how it should be. I can’t think of anything to say about this except it’s just about perfect. The 5.1 soundtrack is also very impressive with the beautifully ethereal music score by Graham Reynolds standing out.
In terms of extras, there are two featurettes, a trailer and a commentary track. The commentary is a group affair with all the participants in one room and, consequently, a feeling that some of them might as well have stayed at home. Linklater does a lot of the talking but it’s also nice to hear comments from Dick’s daughter, Isa Dick Hackett. It’s a somewhat dry track without the joking around so prevalent in commentaries of this type, but it’s intelligent and offers a lot of information about the author and how his work translates onto the screen.
The featurettes are brief but interesting, particularly the 20 minute piece on the rotoscoping process called “The Weight of the Line”. The technical challenge posed by the film was obviously astounding and it’s fascinating to see the process explained. The making-of piece, “One Summer In Austin”, isn’t as compelling since it consists of a love-in between director and actors, but the behind the scenes footage is worth a look.
The film and featurettes have optional subtitles. An audio descriptive track in English is also available.
I’ve lived in Utah for 15 Sundance Film Festivals, but aside from the occasional collection of short films, I haven’t done anything too Sundance-y. Until yesterday.
All you had to say was "Ozomatli" and "free", and I was all sorts of ready to brave the crowds and the weather. I bundled up in three layers of clothes (including three pairs of socks) and met up with some friends to head to the Park City Mountain Resort. We had a P-Diddy sighting almost immediately – he was like 10 feet from us! We also spied Keanu Reeves from afar. And a couple outside of the restrooms spotted Nick and said, "I can’t remember his name, but he’s somebody."
The Ozo show was phenomenal, as per usual! These boys from L.A. can put on an incredibly energetic show, even in below freezing temperatures.
But my favorite part was finally getting that picture with Asdru I was too shy to ask for on the Jam Cruise two years ago…
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Warner Bros. presents SWEET NOVEMBER Starring Directed by Patrick O’Connor |
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Local dance instructor, Cynthia Glinka, was brought in to transform the Matrix breaker into Fred Astaire." The two practiced at the cavernous Broadway Studios in North Beach."
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(The Lake House) |
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Résumé Le Docteur Kate Forster s’apprête à entamer une nouvelle carrière et une nouvelle vie dans un grand hôpital de Chicago. Son seul regret : abandonner la superbe maison qu’elle avait louée sur les berges d’un lac de l’Illinois… Avant de partir, elle laisse un mot à l’attention du prochain occupant, pour lui demander de faire suivre son courrier et lui indiquer que les empreintes de pattes qui maculent la jetée et le seuil de la maison étaient déjà là avant qu’elle n’y emménage. En prenant possession des lieux, l’architecte Alex Wyler a un choc : la maison, poussiéreuse, sale, ne ressemble en rien à l’image qu’il s’en faisait. Et pas la moindre trace de pattes… Des années plus tôt, Alex avait occupé cette résidence familiale, construite par son père. Il décide de la restaurer sans prêter davantage attention au mystérieux message de Kate.. Bonus Bandes annonces
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Date de sortie 14-2-2007 Spécificités produit
Nombre de dvds : 1 Langues
Sous-titres Français, Néerlandais, Anglais Format video
Edition Benelux
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WHOA! Here’s a totally bodacious shot of Bill And Ted stars KEANU REEVES and ALEX WINTER hanging out. The pair haven’t been seen chilling together since sharing their Bogus Journey and Excellent Adventure with cinemagoers. I hope they’re hatching plans for a third movie.
OMG! If the long rumored thrid sequel to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adverture were to finally happen, I would be overcome with joy! Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is my favorite movie!! Excellent!!!!
Seriously if you haven’t seen either movie run to your nearest video store and rent it now!
Director – filmography
Français
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