17/06/2013

*Batteries Not Included (1987)

Dennis Boutsikaris plays artist Mason Baylor

Mason painting a portrait of his pregnant neighbour Marisa Esteval


 Marisa is shocked to see that he has painted her naked even though she posed fully clothed

*Batteries Not Included (1987) on IMDB

Frank and Faye Riley (respectively Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy), an elderly couple who run an apartment building and café in the run-down East Village neighborhood, come under threat by a nearby property development. The development manager sends a hoodlum named Carlos and his gang of thugs to bribe the couple and their tenants to move out. When the tenants resist, they punch through artist Mason Baylor's (Dennis Boutsikaris) door, intimidate pregnant single mother Marisa Esteval (Elizabeth Peña) and break retired boxer Harry Knoble's (Frank McRae) jar of tiles. After Frank Riley refuses to move, Carlos vandalizes the café. With this assault and Faye's dementia growing, Frank contemplates giving in.
Things look bleak until the appearance of a pair of flying, living machines descend into the Rileys' apartment that evening, repairing many of the items that were broken. The two extraterrestrials take up residence in the shed at the top of the apartment building, and are dubbed "The Fix-Its" by the residents of the building. Carlos comes back to threaten the tenants once again, but the Fix-Its lure him to the top of the building and into the shed where they scare him away.
Faye and Marisa learn that the "female" Fix-It is pregnant. After consuming plenty of metal and electrical objects, it gives birth to three baby Fix-Its, although one of them is stillborn. Faye buries the stillborn in a flowerpot the next day, but then Harry digs it up, takes it back to his apartment and succeeds in reviving it. Frank and Faye see a boost of business in the café from the demolition crew, while the Fix-Its help in the kitchen.
With Carlos unable to prove the existence of the Fix-Its that had been foiling their plans, Lacey, the development manager, is furious with the delays in evicting the tenants and moves to replace him. Desperate to see the job done and growing more unstable, Carlos breaks into the building's basement to sabotage the building's pipework and electricity, and badly damages the "father" machine in the process. After Harry throws him out, the tenants discover the Fix-It children are missing and go searching for them in the city while Faye stays behind with the "mother" machine as it fixes the "father". When the father machine is repaired, the now-wary Fix-It parents leave to seek out their offspring, and after finding them with Harry, the machine family departs from the planet.
Tired of the delays, Lacey sends a professional arsonist to burn down the building in a staged "accidental fire". Carlos discovers the plan and in a rage sabotages the arson to make the entire building explode, only to then discover that Faye is still in the building. While the arsonist flees, Carlos unsuccessfully attempts to pose as her late son Bobby to get her to leave, but succeeds in rescuing her as the fire spreads. The tenants then return to find the blazing apartment block collapsing, and Faye being loaded into an ambulance.
By the next morning, the apartment block has been reduced to a smoldering wreck. To Lacey's fury, construction is still unable to continue as Harry, sitting dejected on the steps, refuses to leave. Harry is then greeted by the mechanical family later that night, who have recruited countless other Fix-Its for repairs. By the next morning the entire building has been seamlessly restored to brand new condition, forever ending Lacey's demolition plans and resulting in his termination by his employers. Mason and Marisa settle into a relationship, while Carlos has ironically started a friendship with the Rileys, with Faye finally having come to accept her real son's passing. The story then rolls on to an undisclosed period some years later in the future, revealing that skyscraper developments have eventually been built, but this time flanking either side of the tiny apartment building, with Frank's café now doing a roaring trade as a result of the new employment brought into the area.

08/01/2013

Of Human Bondage (1934)

Leslie Howard plays artist Philip Carey


 Philip Carey
 Philip Carey and his art teacher who is telling him he has no talent as an artist
 A Philip Carey painting
Philip Carey gives up being an artist train to be a doctor, seen here in his apartment with fellow medical students who are admiring his paintings of naked ladies
Philip Carey falls in love with a waitress named Mildred Rogers, he draws her portrait whilst waiting in her cafe



 
A smitten Philip Carey admiring a photograph of Mildred Rogers with his painting of a naked lady on the wall behind his desk
Mildred Rogers destroying one of Philip Carey's paintings

Of Human Bondage (1934) in IMDB

Sensitive, club-footed artist Philip Carey is an Englishman who has been studying painting in Paris for four years. His art teacher tells him his work lacks talent, so he returns to London to become a medical doctor, but his moodiness and chronic self-doubt make it difficult for him to keep up in his schoolwork.
Philip falls passionately in love with vulgar tearoom waitress Mildred Rogers, even though she is disdainful of his club-foot and his obvious interest in her. Although he is attracted to the anemic and pale-faced woman, she is manipulative and cruel toward him when he asks her out. Her constant response to his romantic invitations is "I don't mind," an expression so uninterested that it infuriates him – which only causes her to use it all the more. His daydreams about her (her image appears over an illustration in his medical school anatomy textbook, and a skeleton in the classroom is transformed into Mildred) cause him to be distracted from his studies, and he fails his medical examinations.
When Philip proposes to her, Mildred declines, telling him she will be marrying a loutish salesman Emil Miller instead. The self-centered Mildred vindictively berates Philip with nasty insults for becoming romantically interested in her.
Philip begins to forget Mildred when he falls in love with Norah, an attractive and considerate romance writer working under a male pseudonym. She slowly cures him of his painful addiction to Mildred. But just when it appears that Philip is finding happiness, Mildred returns, pregnant and claiming that Emil has abandoned her.
Philip provides an apartment for her, arranges to take care of her financially, and breaks off his relationship with Norah. Norah and Philip admit how bondages exist between people (Philip was bound to Mildred, as Norah was to Philip, and as Mildred was to Miller).
Philip's intention is to marry Mildred after her child is born, but a bored and restless Mildred is an uninterested mother, and gives up the baby's care to a nurse.
At a dinner party celebrating their engagement, one of Philip's medical student friends, Harry Griffiths, flirts with Mildred, who somewhat reciprocates. After Philip confronts Mildred, she runs off with Griffiths for Paris. A second time, Philip again finds some comfort in his studies, and with Sally Athelny, the tender-hearted daughter of one of his elderly patients in a charity hospital. The Athelny family is caring and affectionate, and they take Philip into their home.
Once again, Mildred returns with her baby, this time expressing remorse for deserting him. Philip cannot resist rescuing her and helping her to recover from another failed relationship. Things take a turn for the worse when Mildred moves in, spitefully wrecks his apartment and destroys his paintings and books, and burns the securities and bonds he was given by an uncle to finance his tuition. Philip is forced to quit medical school, but before he leaves the institution, an operation corrects his club foot. The Athelnys take Philip in when he is unable to find work and is locked out of his flat, and he takes a job with Sally's father as a window dresser.
As time progresses, a letter is sent to Philip which informs him that his uncle has died, leaving a small inheritance. With the inheritance money, Philip is able to return to medical school and pass his examinations to become a qualified doctor.
Later, Philip meets up with Mildred, now sick, destitute, and working as a prostitute. Mildred's baby has died, and she has become distraught and sick with tuberculosis. Before he can visit her again, she dies in a hospital charity ward. With Mildred's death, Philip is finally freed of his obsession, and he makes plans to marry Sally.
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31/12/2012

A Stolen Life (1946)

Bette Davis plays artist Kate Bosworth
Dane Clark plays artist Karnock







A Stolen Life on IMDB

Kate Bosworth (played by Davis) is an artist who misses her boat to an island off New England, where she intends to meet her sister and uncle. She persuades Bill Emerson (played by Ford) to take her home in his boat, and they both fall in love. However, Kate's twin sister Patricia (also played by Davis) decides to fall in love with Bill also, and she succeeds in stealing him away.
Refusing to be happy for Patricia, Kate instead focuses on her work. Bill eventually goes to Chile, allowing Kate to spend some time with her sister. They go sailing, and Patricia is washed overboard and drowns. Kate is washed ashore, and, when she regains consciousness, she is mistaken for Patricia. Being told that Bill is about to return from Chile, Kate decides to assume her late sister's identity.
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21/11/2012

Stay (2005)

Ryan Gosling plays artist Henry Letham






Stay on IMDB

The film opens with a car crash on Brooklyn Bridge, and introduces Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling), apparently a survivor of the crash, sitting next to a burning car on the bridge.
Psychiatrist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) and his girlfriend Lila (Naomi Watts) are then introduced in a new scene. Sam discusses his patient, Henry, a college student and aspiring artist whom he describes as depressed and paranoid. Sometimes Henry hears voices, and he seems able to predict future events. Henry is also suspicious of Sam because he has suddenly replaced his normal psychiatrist, Beth Levy (Janeane Garofalo). Henry has told Sam that he will kill himself that Saturday at midnight, which Sam finds very troubling. Lila, an art teacher who has survived a past suicide attempt, offers to help to dissuade Henry from killing himself. But first they must find Henry.
Sam investigates Henry's circumstances in an effort to help. After repeatedly attempting to reach Dr. Levy, he comes to her apartment to find her disoriented and lethargic, mumbling incoherent phrases like "I didn't move him; I know you're not supposed to touch him." Henry claims to have killed both of his parents, but Sam finds that Henry's mother appears to be alive. Sam visits Henry's mother but finds her living in a bare house, confused about Sam's identity (she insists that he is Henry) and refuses to respond to her questions. Henry's mother insists on feeding Sam, but when she opens the fridge it is completely empty, and then her dog bites Sam.
At the clinic to have his arm bandaged, Sam discusses the visit with a police officer who is curious as to why he would visit that house. Sam reveals that she started to bleed from a head wound during his conversation with Henry's mother. The police officer tells him that the woman who lived there is dead. This seems to send Sam into a fugue in which the same scene is repeated several times.
Later Sam contacts a waitress named Athena (Elizabeth Reaser) with whom Henry had fallen in love. She is an aspiring actress and he meets her at a script reading where she is reading lines with another man. She agrees to take him to Henry, but after a long trip down winding staircases he loses her. When he gets back to the rehearsal room, she is there reading the same lines as when he first met her.
The search continues until 11:33 pm on Saturday, less than half an hour before Henry plans to kill himself. At a bookshop known to have been frequented by Henry, Sam finds a painting that Henry had painted and bartered for books about Henry's favorite artist. He learns that the artist had killed himself on Brooklyn Bridge, on his twenty-first birthday. Henry's twenty-first birthday is Sunday, and Sam realizes that Henry plans to commit suicide on Brooklyn Bridge in imitation of the artist.
Sam finds Henry on the Brooklyn Bridge in a physical atmosphere that is increasingly unraveling. Sam turns away as Henry puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger.
The car crash of the first scene is then reprised. Henry was fatally wounded in the crash but, in his last moments, is suffering survivor guilt. Each of the characters introduced earlier in the film was in fact a random spectator at the site of the crash, including Sam, a doctor, and Lila, a nurse, who treat Henry in an attempt to save him. The brief remarks they make are the same ones heard previously by their dream-world counterparts earlier in the film. They fail to rescue Henry, and Henry dies, but not before seeing Lila as Athena and proposing to her, which Lila accepts out of sympathy.
The entire film up until Henry's death had existed in his mind, in his last moments (a plot device used most famously in the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge). However, there are clues that the people surrounding Henry as he lay dying were actually drawn into another world in some way. For instance, after Henry dies and is being loaded into a body bag, Janeane Garofalo's character is heard telling her name to the police: Elizabeth Levy. Since Henry died before hearing this, he would have no way of knowing how to "dream" her true name. Additionally, before parting, Sam appears to get a flash in his mind of the experiences between him and Lila that Henry had constructed, and asks Lila out for coffee.
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31/10/2012

El coleccionista de cadáveres aka Cauldron of Blood (1970)

Boris Karloff plays artist Franz Badulescu
Rosendra Monteros plays artist Valerie

The film is set on an island that is an artists colony, it’s star Boris Karloff plays a blind sculptor, Charles Badulescu, who uses the bones of real people in the creation of his art. As he is blind he is seemingly unaware of the fact the armatures for his sculptures are in fact skeletons of people killed on the island.
We first meet the artist in his mansion, a reporter wants to interview him about his work
Franz Badulescu working on his latest commission in his studio.
His wife Tania, who provides the armatures for his work, comes to check on the progress 
Franz Badulescu’s work in progress
Franz Badulescu in his studio, tired from having just finished his sculpture
Franz Badulescu’s wife Tania comes to inspect the final piece
Franz Badulescu’s final sculpture

Rosendra Monteros as artist Valerie





The artist Valerie shows the reporter how artists use an armature to make a sculpture


Franz Badulescu‘s wife Tania’s nightmare





Cauldron of Blood on IMDB


31/10/2011

Boomerang (1992)

Halle Berry plays the artist Angela Lewis



Boomerang on IMDB The film begins as Marcus Graham (Eddie Murphy) enters Chantress, the company that he works for as an advertisement executive. It is quickly established that he is quite the ladies' man, as he tells his assistant to send flowers to nine different women, with cards reading "only thinking of you." When he enters his office, Nelson (Geoffrey Holder), one of the creative minds also in Marcus' department, shows Marcus a re-cut he's done of one of the ads they've been working on. Marcus tells Nelson, who's very creative but also very risqué and overtly sexual with his style, that he must re-edit the ad, as some of the material may be offensive to women. Nelson reluctantly agrees, then leaves. The next day, Marcus meets Lady Eloise (Eartha Kitt), the head of the company which will soon be acquiring Chantress in a business merger. She suggests that Marcus may be promoted to head of the marketing department, and invites him to her home for dinner that evening. Marcus realizes she intends to have her way with him, and thinking of the promotion, goes through with it and spends the night with her. The next day at work, he meets Jacqueline Broyer (Robin Givens), a beautiful woman who he realizes is going to be given the job he wanted, and will soon become his boss. At the party being held for the companies' merger, Marcus tells his friends Tyler (Martin Lawrence) and Gerard (David Alan Grier) he's thinking about resigning since he's not going to be promoted. While there, Jacqueline introduces him to Angela Lewis (Halle Berry), who works in the art department, and tells him the two of them should be working together. Also, everyone in the party is introduced to Strangé (Grace Jones), the wild fashion diva who's been chosen as the new face of Lady Eloise Cosmetics. While looking for Jacqueline, Marcus bumps into Angela, and when he spots Jacqueline, introduces Angela to Gerard so that he can go and catch up with her. When he attempts to woo Jacqueline, she tells him she doesn't date co-workers. Marcus however still believes he will be made the exception because of her flirtatious nature towards him. Some time later at the office, Jacqueline tells Marcus they should go over some of their work together, and Marcus suggests they do it at his place over dinner, to which Jacqueline agrees. Marcus also finds out that Angela and Gerard will be going out that night. Both couples meet that evening, and ironically, Gerard, who's not as successful with women as Marcus, ends up having the better evening with Angela, while Jacqueline and Marcus eat dinner in front of the TV, which doesn't leave much time for the two to establish any sort of chemistry. Later, the two are sent on a business trip in New Orleans, and they eventually have sex while there. Marcus, who assumes that he and Jacqueline are now a couple, is rather shocked to find that Jacqueline feels they should take it slowly, and isn't as enthusiastic about their relationship as he. While he feels he's falling in love, he doesn't understand how she can be so careless and inconsiderate about his feelings. After Marcus finds out that Jacqueline has told some of their personal business to Strangé, he tells her that the two of them should take a break for a while. Jacqueline gets the last word however, when she bluntly tells Marcus "it's over." Distraught about their breakup, Marcus' work ethic begins to lag, and after he ruins a major business proposal, Jacqueline decides rather than fire him, she'll give him a few weeks off work to get himself together. During this time, Marcus begins to hang out with Angela, who tries to help bring him out of the funk he's in. On Thanksgiving, Marcus, Angela, Tyler, Gerard and his parents get together for dinner. While eating, Angela and Gerard tell his parents that they aren't a couple, when his father assumes that the two are. When everyone else leaves, Marcus and Angela clean up, and fall asleep on the couch together. When they wake up, the two begin to make out, and assumedly sleep together. While out with Gerard and Tyler, Marcus tells Gerard that he and Angela are going out together, which upsets Gerard, knowing Marcus' past with women. read more on Wikipedia

19/10/2011

Spiral (2007)

Joel Moore plays artist Mason (as Joel David Moore)












Spiral on IMDB

A reclusive telemarketer and aspiring artist makes a friend, sketches a portrait of said friend, and has a massive mental breakdown.
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