:: posted by Matt, 7/29/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 7/27/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Monday, July 25, 2005
:: posted by Matt, 7/25/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
:: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 7/25/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
On a side note, Linklater recently listed his seven favorite remakes in Premiere Magazine: A Star Is Born (1954), Imitation of Life (1959), Heaven Can Wait (1978), The Fly (1986), Cape Fear (1991), The Nutty Professor (1996) and Psycho (1998).
I think I'd agree only with The Fly. My list would also include His Girl Friday (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Cat People (1982), The Thing (1982), Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and Quick Change (1990). Certainly none of the onslaught of remakes from 2004 and 2005 would make any kind of list like this, and that's including Bad News Bears.
:: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 7/25/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
:: posted by Ian Dawe, 7/25/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
Friday, July 22, 2005
[Via The Whine Colored Sea]
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 7/22/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Another figure from Classic Hollywood is gone - actress Geraldine Fitzgerald succumbed to Alzheimers last weekend at the age of 91. Although she never became a true leading lady, I always admired the unique nobility and realism she brought to her craft. Her portrayals of the patient Isabella in Wuthering Heights and of Bette Davis' nurturing best friend in Dark Victory are priceless, but her talents went far beyond those two classics. For a different side of Fitzgerald, check out the 1946 melodrama Three Strangers. She appears to completely relish the opportunity to play a scheming lottery ticket winner opposite Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, and it's a joy to watch. Miss Fitzgerald was a true talent who will be missed.
:: posted by Matt, 7/21/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Doohan was actually a Canadian, born in Vancouver, BC, and served in the Canadian army during World War II, where he was wounded (he lost a finger on D-Day). He later moved into radio and stage productions in Canada and later in the US. An actor of consummate professionalism, he never let his frustrations with leading man William Shatner boil over into his work, nor did he show up anything less than prepared. He was well-liked by everyone who met him, and was even granted an honourary Doctorate of Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, having inspired much of their graduating class to pursue an engineering career. No less a figure than Neil Armstrong spoke at his last Star Trek convention, toasting him from "one geeky engineer to another". He was in good health up until his last few years, even fathering a child at age 80.
He was living in Washington state, close to his roots, when he died.
:: posted by Ian Dawe, 7/20/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Friday, July 15, 2005
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 7/15/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Thursday, July 14, 2005
TV Shows on DVD has the goods on the upcoming third volume in Warner Home Video's Looney Tunes Golden Collection series. Individual discs will focus on Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Hollywood caricatures and parodies, and a fourth disc of miscellaneous cartoons. I'll likely skip the Whoopi Goldberg intros, but once again it'll be a pleasure to view these fantastic animated shorts restored to pristine condition on DVD.
:: posted by Matt, 7/14/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
"I don't feel like I'm fighting for my country anymore," says a young American soldier in Gunner Palace, "And that kind of sucks." This is a documentary filled with that kind of ambivalence towards the conflict in Iraq. Far from being an All-American flag-waving unquestioningly patriotic defense of their current adventure in the Middle East, Gunner Palace is a penetrating look into the war from that messiest of perspectives: the ground.
Continue Reading >>
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 7/14/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
:: posted by Matt, 7/13/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
What should we take from this? It's quite possible that TV offers more interesting opportunities than the movies these days, perhaps because so much less is at stake (financially and in career potential). Hollywood movies have become largely a big-budget fast food business, playing it safe each and every time. With millions of dollars on the line, perhaps you can't blame them. In TV, on the other hand, some artistic risk can be afforded. Also, with the growing market for satellite and digital cable, more people seem inclined to just stay home. We could see the day when TV actually eclipses film in its boldness, and its star power. Wouldn't that be ironic?
:: posted by Ian Dawe, 7/12/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Monday, July 11, 2005
:: posted by Matt, 7/11/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Among the ranks of eccentric outsider artists, few can top the strange case of Henry Darger (1892-1972).
I was first exposed to Darger back in the early '90s, when a small sampling of his work was published in Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's comics anthology, RAW. What I saw were drawings both wonderful and insanely creepy: angelic little girls in pinafores brandishing guns, strange flying creatures, mangled and tortured bodies, hermaphrodite children, colorful widescreen cloudscapes, incomprehensible text passages. The artwork seemed almost too personal and idiosyncratic; viewing them was like being let in on a stranger's innermost psyche. Darger's work has been seen by thousands, perhaps millions -- every one privy to an intensely personal relationship, a secret not to be shared.
Director Jessica Yu brings this same sense of wonder, awe and possessiveness to her terrific documentary on Darger, In the Realms of the Unreal. Yu's main purpose for the film lies in delineating between Darger's two lives: his prosaic real-life existence as a Chicago janitor and intensely private old man with few acquaintances, and his fantasy world, an outlet for his many obsessions (Catholicism, children, the weather). The narrative is pieced together from Darger's own autobiographical writings and reminiscences from the few people who knew him. For such an enigmatic subject, it's a remarkably thorough portrait.
Continue Reading
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 7/11/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
In Lloyd's version, he plays a shy, inexperienced stutterer who writes a book on how to date girls. Of course, as in Hitch, he falls in love with a real-life girl and none of his techniques work.
When I spoke with Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne in 2002, she told me that she hoped to do her own remake of Girl Shy. I'm not sure if she ever made the connection between it and Hitch, or if she was secretly involved in Hitch's production, but I think Hitch is a pretty fair updating.
Unfortunately, Girl Shy isn't available on DVD yet, because Ms. Lloyd -- who has control of the Lloyd estate -- is holding out for a truly masterful production with all the bells and whistles and breathtaking video transfers. Meanwhile, a package of Lloyd classics, including the similarly unavailable The Freshman and Safety Last, will hit various repertory houses around the country later this summer including an August 19-25 stop at the Castro in San Francisco.
:: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 7/11/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Friday, July 08, 2005
But a look at the charts shows even more baffling evidence. People keep returning to see mediocre films like Batman Begins and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but are completely ignoring great films like Land of the Dead, not to mention modern art house classics like Tropical Malady and Saraband. Saraband, by the way, is Ingmar Bergman's triumphant return to American screens for the first time since After the Rehearsal in 1984. It also happens to be far and away the best film I've seen this year so far.
Fall looks slightly more promising, with new films coming up by Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Roman Polanski (Oliver Twist) and Terrence Malick (The New World). All in all, this year really isn't very different from any other year in the history of movies. People will always pay more attention to the bad movies, but the good ones always surface later. Just look at Million Dollar Baby, out on DVD this Tuesday, for a perfect example.
:: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 7/08/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Thursday, July 07, 2005
A groovy gallery of photos from Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up. (via Rashomon)
:: posted by Matt, 7/07/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
:: posted by Matt, 7/07/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
:: posted by Ian Dawe, 7/05/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Monday, July 04, 2005
The New York Times has a fascinating story (registration req'd) on the business of budget DVDs. Apparently, profits for public domain films sold in 99-cent stores are nothing short of amazing. Although these companies don't consider silent films a good investment ("for aficionados," they say), one can get surprisingly good quality stuff this way. Reading this makes me want to seek out that cheapie copy of The Killer Shrews.
:: posted by Matt, 7/04/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
Friday, July 01, 2005
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 7/01/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
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