Filmfeline

Welcome to Filmfeline.com bitches!

This blog is written in laymen’s terms. There is no political jargon, metaphors or discombobulating simile on our site. A 10 year old kitten can read Filmfeline reviews. Chinny Bini film reviews were born on Allie is Wired, a Hollywood buzz site owned by my friend Allie Shain. Filmfeline.com is updated daily as often as I can, by me, Chen Zhen Cassiopeia De Cat, a multilingual domestic short-hair feline with a great interest in film. (that’s not me on the picture to the left, I have no idea who that is!)  

I’m a Boston raised Hungarian, born in former Czechoslovakia to a pediatrician father and an artist mother. I consider my ‘parental units’ heroes. They are my inspiration, my role models and my raison d’etre. My first language is Hungarian, but I speak eight languages (okay, nine if you count HTML). My dad deserves a big praise for taking me to the library every week, when I was a little girl. By the time I was five I could speak, read and write in Hungarian, Czech and Latin. I’m obsessed with Shakespeare’s work. I also memorized a few of his plays. I adore Hemingway, Sartre, Nietzsche, Camus, Shaw, Verne, Lada, Hugo and the Bronte sisters. J. Austen and of course Virginia Woolf are among my absolute faves. Lately I’ve been reading philosophy, but my favorite genre is science fiction and I love poetry. 

A VALEDICTION, FORBIDDING MOURNING by J. Donne is my all time favorite poem. At the bottom of this page are some of myown poems. Scorpios are a tad over the cuckoo’s nest, but the Scorpio chakra is bellow the belt, which makes us romantics to the core. I was born indigo, which means my throat chakra is also open; this makes me intuitive and in touch with my emotions. Having a strong emotional side is a plus for any writer! Although, I don’t know how much writing I’m actually doing these days… I’m also a certified interpreter and a voiceactor with very little personal time. Do I know what I’m talking about when it comes to film? Eh, maybe, maybe not. With a BA in Performing Arts, private training with a Moscow coach, Lee Strasberg Institute and two years of film school, hm, I think I’m safe to say, that at the very least, I have a decent opinion of films. 

My fave female actors are:

Grace Kelly, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cate Blanchet, Isabella Rossellini, Nicole Kidman, Gretchen Mol, Diane Lane, Joan Allen, Audrey Tautou, Keira Knightley, Natalie Portman, Libuse Safrankova, Julie Delpy, Chloe Sevigny, Jenna Malone, Meryl Streep, Glen Close, Michelle Pfeifer, Anette Benning, Reese Witherspoon, Brenda Blethyn, Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Kate Winslet, Oksana Akinshina, Diane Kruger, Rachel McAdams, and Jodie Foster and the entire Redgrave/Richardson family can certainly hold their own on screen. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few… In the new breed, I admire Drew Barrymore for the way she picked up all her broken pieces, made something of herself without whining about her childhood, blaming someone else. Of course I love my lookalike Milla J, as if you even have to ask. I happen to be one of the first 20 to start her fan club way back when! I see Mia Washikovska as a promissing new talent, and Dakota Fanning proves herself to be able to carry any picture even at such a young age, Kristen Stewart is truly genuine and Abigail Brieslin lights up the screen. Watch out for Isabel Fuhrman, there’s a talent!

My fave male actors:

Jean Reno, Ian McKellan, Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Spacey, Stellan Skarsgård, Ethan Hawke, Al Pacino, Gabriel Byrne, Joel Gretsch, Johnny Depp, Elijah Wood, Sam Sheppard, Leonardo Di Caprio, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Christian Bale, Giovanni Ribisi, Edward Norton, Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, James Gandolfini, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Jude Law, Daniel Day Lewis, Martin Sheen, Clive Owen and young Cam Bright. They are in no particular order. Okay, fine, Jean Reno #1, Al Pacino #2 …Gary Oldman, Anthony H..  nah, I can’t do that. I’m sorry….

In my opinion, Nuevo Cinema Paradiso is the best film made. It has EVERYTHING!

There are many great films, like Metropolis, Léon, Blue Velvet, Le Grand Bleu, Blade Runner, Trois Couleurs: Rouge, Trois Couleurs: Bleu and Trzy Kolory: Bialy, Dune, Crouching Tiger/ Hidden Dragon(where my kung fu teacher’s sword routine is featured), True Romance, Shichinin No Samurai, Legends of the Fall, The Abyss, Kolja, The Fifth Element, Slumdog Millionaire, Star Wars, Point of No Return, Lost in Translation, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Reservoir Dogs and Beautiful Girls, Contact, Sixth Sense, Kurosawa’s Dreams, the Poltergeist, old John Hughes movies, a whole slew of really old films from the 20’s, the 40’s I can’t list them all here, but one of the older oldies I love so much is The Red Shoes (1948). Anyway, this page is only so long. I do love anything Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg put their hands on. Film magicians, like Spielberg, Scorcese, Lyne, Crowe, Mastroianni, Kurosawa and Hitchcock have me at awe. As a feminist, I admire female directors, like Sofia Coppola and Robin Swicord, new female producers like Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon, producing some fabulous films for young adults. Catherine Hardwicke for the beautiful Twilight. 

Indie films & Sci FI films are my thing. I also love books made into films, like Where the Heart Is, Everything is Illuminated (a fab indie) or The Secret Life of Bees.  Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet is the most beautiful Shakespeare production I’ve ever seen, Gone With the Wind, a beautifully made epic and I also love period pieces! My faves by Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Austen, Bronte. Stories like the Count of Monte Cristo (the old one), and believe it or not I dig funny stuff like Men in Black, Madagascar or the wonderful fellas Gromitt and Wallace. I couldn’t give two figs how much money some film made. If it’s bad, anyone with two brain cells can tell. Actors who can’t act, be they popular or not, should embrace criticism, set aside their bruised ego and brush up on their craft to earn credibility, rather than hate someone for criticising them. I try to see at least two films a week, but if you don’t see any new releases here, I simply don’t care for them or I just haven’t had the time to see any. I have a life too. There are a few truly interesting  indies, proving one need not have a multimillion dollar budget to make an decent film:  French Ponette, Italian Io Non Ho Paura, American film Pi, Japanese film Adrenaline Drive

The best films offer  fabulous performances, beautiful cinematography, great direction and a decent plot. A good picture is a complete. I NEVER REVIEW A FILM I DIDN’T LIKE.  I’M A POSITIVE ANIMAL.  NO FURBALLS ! 

Feel free to comment on the films or leave me a msg in the cbox on the main page. My email is: Filmfelineadmin@gmail.com  feel free to write in any language rep’d with a flag:

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