The Birds (1963) gets the prequel we definitely needed...
The Birds (The Prequel) from NYSUfilms on Vimeo.
... because everyone hates movies without exposition / backstory. [/sarcasm] I love the gentle spoofing of our modern need for all mystery to be explained to us "We had no answer... until now". Ha!
Apparently this prequel trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds is a year old. But I'm just seeing it now thanks to @mattriviera and @mattzollerseitz so it's new to @me... and a delightful start to my morning it was, too. Good morning!
*
Showing posts with label Hitchcock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hitchcock. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
15 Directors Who Shaped My Movie Love
So there's this meme going around that Paolo tagged me with. So why not? The idea is that you list 15 directors, mainly off of the top of your head, that contributed to the way you experience and think about the movies. This is not a list of my all time favorites though half of the list would probably overlap. This is the list I come up with when I think briefly on the formative masterminds and/or the ones that have or had some sort of claim on my soul if you will. Three of them I could definitely live without at this point but I'm trying to be honest about the exercize.
So here goes in no particular order...
ROBERT WISE (1914-2005)
When I was a kid West Side Story and The Sound of Music were the most Epically ! Epic !!! movies to me. At the time I didn't quite grasp the auteur theory but at some point I became aware that this guy had made both so therefore "He must be the best director of all time!" Later I discovered that he wasn't but I still think he's a stronger talent than he gets credit for being nowadays.
first encounters: The Sound of Music and West Side Story (on television)
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1899-1980)
As I said in my Rope retro, he's training wheels for any young budding film buff who is curious about The Man Behind the Curtain (Hitch or otherwise).
first encounter: North By Northwest (I think I saw it here, the place I saw many old movies for the first time. My parents didn't know what a monster they were creating by taking me there regularly.)
WOODY ALLEN (1935-)
For the same reason as Hitchcock really; it's impossible to think you're watching anyone else's film. Woody was the first director I "followed", eagerly anticipating and attending each movie as soon as I could. As a result, he'll always have a place in my heart.
first encounters: Broadway Danny Rose (in theaters... my older brother's idea), The Purple Rose of Cairo (in theaters, my idea)
WILLIAM WYLER (1902-1981)
The auteur theory isn't everything. This man understood dramatic storytelling and didn't dumb it down but made accessible all the nuances and fine points. Plus he could wring top notch work from all kinds of actors. His resume is deservedly overstuffed-with-classics. Just last month while watching The Best Years of Our Lives I even dreamed of watching all of his movies chronologically in a row for a blog project. I bet it would be an awesome journey.
first encounters: Ben Hur (revival house) and Wuthering Heights (VHS)
STEVEN SPIELBERG (1946-)
Because everyone loves him and therefore he was ubiquitous when I was growing up and still is to a degree. There was no question that he was shaping Hollywood and more than one moviegoing generation. I never felt personally attached but he was always present in the movie menu.
first encounters: Raiders of the Lost Arc & E.T. (in theaters)... the latter is the only movie I can ever remember seeing with my Grandma *sniffle*
| Wise with Wood ~ West Side Story |
ROBERT WISE (1914-2005)
When I was a kid West Side Story and The Sound of Music were the most Epically ! Epic !!! movies to me. At the time I didn't quite grasp the auteur theory but at some point I became aware that this guy had made both so therefore "He must be the best director of all time!" Later I discovered that he wasn't but I still think he's a stronger talent than he gets credit for being nowadays.
first encounters: The Sound of Music and West Side Story (on television)
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1899-1980)
As I said in my Rope retro, he's training wheels for any young budding film buff who is curious about The Man Behind the Curtain (Hitch or otherwise).
first encounter: North By Northwest (I think I saw it here, the place I saw many old movies for the first time. My parents didn't know what a monster they were creating by taking me there regularly.)
WOODY ALLEN (1935-)
For the same reason as Hitchcock really; it's impossible to think you're watching anyone else's film. Woody was the first director I "followed", eagerly anticipating and attending each movie as soon as I could. As a result, he'll always have a place in my heart.
first encounters: Broadway Danny Rose (in theaters... my older brother's idea), The Purple Rose of Cairo (in theaters, my idea)
| Wyler meeting Charlton Heston's son. |
The auteur theory isn't everything. This man understood dramatic storytelling and didn't dumb it down but made accessible all the nuances and fine points. Plus he could wring top notch work from all kinds of actors. His resume is deservedly overstuffed-with-classics. Just last month while watching The Best Years of Our Lives I even dreamed of watching all of his movies chronologically in a row for a blog project. I bet it would be an awesome journey.
first encounters: Ben Hur (revival house) and Wuthering Heights (VHS)
STEVEN SPIELBERG (1946-)
Because everyone loves him and therefore he was ubiquitous when I was growing up and still is to a degree. There was no question that he was shaping Hollywood and more than one moviegoing generation. I never felt personally attached but he was always present in the movie menu.
first encounters: Raiders of the Lost Arc & E.T. (in theaters)... the latter is the only movie I can ever remember seeing with my Grandma *sniffle*
Friday, October 01, 2010
A History of... Julie Andrews
To celebrate the 75th birthday of the great Julie Andrews, our favorite singing governness, our favorite magical nanny, our favorite gender bending toast of Paris. Something big was in order. Why, she's practically perfect in every way... so in her honor, a resurrection of a long dormant exhaustively researched 100% true* series that was once the Film Experience's most popular feature.
1935 Julia Wells is born to Mrs. Barbara Wells in Surrey, England. Mr. Wells is not the father. Scandal! This bastard child will one day become the icon of squeaky clean family entertainment. She won't always enjoy it. At her christening the good fairy Fauna grants her the gift of song
1940 Having already recognized the fairy's generous gift, non biological daddy Ted Wells sends Julia to live with mom's new man Ted Andrews (also not her biological father --- so confusing!) who is better equipped to give her the musical education she needs.
1947 Julia -- now "Julie Andrews" -- makes her professional debut at the London Hippodrome singing the aria "Je Suis Titania" (i.e. 'I am Titania' -referencing the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Nights Dream, no doubt an homage to generous Fauna) from the opera Mignon. She blows the roof off the place.
1951 Does not prick her finger and fall into an unnatural slumber but is, by now at 16, a British star of stage and radio. Waits impatiently, but sweetly, forlove's first kiss total world domination.
1954 Start at the top: Debuts on the American stage on Broadway in the lead role of The Boyfriend.
1956 Wouldn't it be loverly if she originated the plum role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and concurrently became a superstar with the live television airing of the musical Cinderella? Statistics vary but her numbers are basically up their with the explosion of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and the final episode of M*A*S*H. We're talking everyone... or roughly 10 times the numbers that even the biggest "event" nowadays.
1959 Love's first kiss: Marries set designer Tony Walton who she met on the stage in London many years prior whilst playing the Egg in Humpty-Dumpty.
1960 Her eggs produce first child, Emma. Also creates the original Guinevere in the smash hit Broadway musical Camelot.
1962/1963 Julie, already a household name in America, is passed over for the movie version of the role she created in My Fair Lady because Jack Warner, in a typically lazy movie industry move (that we still see every day in 2010) only wants someone "bankable." Never mind that her first two movies become enormous "all time" blockbusters, each outgrossing My Fair Lady (which was also a hit with "bankable" Audrey Hepburn). Nobody can see into the future and most people aren't willing to risk casting based on rightness for a role... even though anyone in the right role at the time can become bankable as Mary Poppins will soon prove.
1964 Kill Audrey, Vol 1: Julie's movie debut Mary Poppins outgrosses My Fair Lady. So much for not bankable. She also stars in the acclaimed adult-oriented drama The Americanization of Emily, a film which she reportedly loves, though few notice in the enormous wake of that flying nanny.
1965 Kill Audrey Vol. 2: Julie wins the Oscar, besting Audrey Hepburn (who actually wasn't nominated but this isn't the way history remembers it. Shut up!).
As follow up, Julie spins around on a mountain top; billions of people all over the world get dizzy, and thousands of fairies are born. The Sound of Music outgrosses every movie that's ever existed including Gone With the Wind (if you don't adjust for inflation).
After defeating Audrey Hepburn, Julie targets Vivien Leigh. 'You can make one dress out of curtains? Amateur!'
1966 Hitchcock, having worn on Tippi Hedren's last nerve, has to find a replacement blonde. He tries Julie out for Torn Curtain. Outcome: Not icy and anonymous enough for Hitch. They never work together again. The film is a big hit. So is Hawaii that same year. Even outside of musicals Julie is beyond bankable.
1967 Julie stars as wannabe flapper Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. People remember it today as a misfire or flop but sorry: another huge hit, the biggest in Universal's history up till then. Julie + musicals = box office gold.
1968 Except when it don't. Oops. Star, a bloated biopic of Gertrude Lawrence becomes her first failure. Julie divorces Tony Walton and...
1969 ...marries Blake Edwards after filming Darling Lili (1970) for the director with Rock Hudson.
1970s After five years on the mountain top of global stardom, Julie bows out of the movies, making only two more films over the decade. She has two more children and then adopts two more still. She makes multiple television appearances.
1981 Blake convinces his wife to bare her breasts, which he had undoubtedly seen thousands of times already but he's a sharer. Her boob flash in S.O.B totally scandalizes Mary Poppins fans and my parents (also Mary Poppins fans). I remember the fallout vividly from my youth. They were furious.
1982 Despite her "betrayal" of squeaky clean loving fans, Hollywood and pop culture reembrace the icon when Victor/Victoria hits. Her multi-octave slide in "Le Jazz Hot" shatters glass and thousands more fairies are born. Julie is nominated for another Oscar for her woman-pretending-to- be-a-man-pretending- to-be-a-woman nightclub act wherein she falls in love with gangster King Marchand (James Garner again) or "Fairy Marchand" as his arm-candy girlfriend rechristens him in a jealous rage.
1983 Julie Andrews loses the Oscar to Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice as would anyone from any year in any film under any circumstance.
rest of the 1980s makes a few more movies with Blake Edwards but nothing ascends. Bares her breasts again opposite Rupert Everett in Duet For One (1986) but few notice. You only get a shock from that once.
1990s-1999 returns to Broadway, eventually revives Victor/Victoria in new form, refuses a Tony nomination for their "egregious" snubbing of her fellow cast members. Vocal problems begin. Undergoes surgery for throat nodules and something goes wrong and she is unable to sing again. A special new circle of hell is created for whomever is to blame though...
2000 ...here on earth the matter is settled in a malpractice lawsuit. Julie's Just Rewards: She becomes "Dame" Julie Andrews by order of the Queen.
2001 Speaking of Queens... The Princess Diaries opens, surprising virtually everyone by becoming a smash with non-bankable Anne Hathaway in the leading role of the Princess and non-singing no-longer bankable Julie as the Queen of Genovia. The hit film will win her a new generation of young fans and set in motion a new career in children's films, albeit usually just as voice work. As in...
2010 Despicable Me wherein Julie Andrews plays the disapproving mother of super villain Gru. On October 1st, Julie Andrews celebrates her 75th birthday.
Here's to her next quarter century as one of the great entertainers of all time!
*or truthy, same diff.
1935 Julia Wells is born to Mrs. Barbara Wells in Surrey, England. Mr. Wells is not the father. Scandal! This bastard child will one day become the icon of squeaky clean family entertainment. She won't always enjoy it. At her christening the good fairy Fauna grants her the gift of song
(We figure that's the only way you get a voice that lovely.)One gift, the gift of song,
Melody your whole life long!
The nightingale her troubadour,
Bringing his sweet serenade to her door.
1940 Having already recognized the fairy's generous gift, non biological daddy Ted Wells sends Julia to live with mom's new man Ted Andrews (also not her biological father --- so confusing!) who is better equipped to give her the musical education she needs.
1951 Does not prick her finger and fall into an unnatural slumber but is, by now at 16, a British star of stage and radio. Waits impatiently, but sweetly, for
1954 Start at the top: Debuts on the American stage on Broadway in the lead role of The Boyfriend.
1959 Love's first kiss: Marries set designer Tony Walton who she met on the stage in London many years prior whilst playing the Egg in Humpty-Dumpty.
1960 Her eggs produce first child, Emma. Also creates the original Guinevere in the smash hit Broadway musical Camelot.
1962/1963 Julie, already a household name in America, is passed over for the movie version of the role she created in My Fair Lady because Jack Warner, in a typically lazy movie industry move (that we still see every day in 2010) only wants someone "bankable." Never mind that her first two movies become enormous "all time" blockbusters, each outgrossing My Fair Lady (which was also a hit with "bankable" Audrey Hepburn). Nobody can see into the future and most people aren't willing to risk casting based on rightness for a role... even though anyone in the right role at the time can become bankable as Mary Poppins will soon prove.
1965 Kill Audrey Vol. 2: Julie wins the Oscar, besting Audrey Hepburn (who actually wasn't nominated but this isn't the way history remembers it. Shut up!).
As follow up, Julie spins around on a mountain top; billions of people all over the world get dizzy, and thousands of fairies are born. The Sound of Music outgrosses every movie that's ever existed including Gone With the Wind (if you don't adjust for inflation).
After defeating Audrey Hepburn, Julie targets Vivien Leigh. 'You can make one dress out of curtains? Amateur!'
Von Trapp play-clothes
1966 Hitchcock, having worn on Tippi Hedren's last nerve, has to find a replacement blonde. He tries Julie out for Torn Curtain. Outcome: Not icy and anonymous enough for Hitch. They never work together again. The film is a big hit. So is Hawaii that same year. Even outside of musicals Julie is beyond bankable.
1968 Except when it don't. Oops. Star, a bloated biopic of Gertrude Lawrence becomes her first failure. Julie divorces Tony Walton and...
1969 ...marries Blake Edwards after filming Darling Lili (1970) for the director with Rock Hudson.
1970s After five years on the mountain top of global stardom, Julie bows out of the movies, making only two more films over the decade. She has two more children and then adopts two more still. She makes multiple television appearances.
1982 Despite her "betrayal" of squeaky clean loving fans, Hollywood and pop culture reembrace the icon when Victor/Victoria hits. Her multi-octave slide in "Le Jazz Hot" shatters glass and thousands more fairies are born. Julie is nominated for another Oscar for her woman-pretending-to- be-a-man-pretending- to-be-a-woman nightclub act wherein she falls in love with gangster King Marchand (James Garner again) or "Fairy Marchand" as his arm-candy girlfriend rechristens him in a jealous rage.
1983 Julie Andrews loses the Oscar to Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice as would anyone from any year in any film under any circumstance.
rest of the 1980s makes a few more movies with Blake Edwards but nothing ascends. Bares her breasts again opposite Rupert Everett in Duet For One (1986) but few notice. You only get a shock from that once.
1990s-1999 returns to Broadway, eventually revives Victor/Victoria in new form, refuses a Tony nomination for their "egregious" snubbing of her fellow cast members. Vocal problems begin. Undergoes surgery for throat nodules and something goes wrong and she is unable to sing again. A special new circle of hell is created for whomever is to blame though...
2000 ...here on earth the matter is settled in a malpractice lawsuit. Julie's Just Rewards: She becomes "Dame" Julie Andrews by order of the Queen.
2010 Despicable Me wherein Julie Andrews plays the disapproving mother of super villain Gru. On October 1st, Julie Andrews celebrates her 75th birthday.
Here's to her next quarter century as one of the great entertainers of all time!
*or truthy, same diff.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Pandora's Link and JGL's Bad Romance
Links!
The Big Picture George Clooney's box office pull and the fate of The American.
/Film interviews Aron Ralston. James Franco plays him in 127 Hours.
Cinematical strange stories surfacing from 127 Hours screenings. Medics called in.
MTV Movies Mulan is getting a live action version with Zhang Ziyi returning to action heroine mode. Jan De Bont (Speed) will direct. This message has been brought to you by the year 2000.
Lazy Eye Theater an important message from Machete.
Movie|Line The Verge: Keir Gilchrist. I like this regular feature at Movie|Line.
Mind of a Suspicious Kind would like you to reconsider Megan Fox... as a silent film star.
CHUD Natalie Portman offered the Gravity lead. So much for our casting suggestions last week. I like Portman quite a lot but every actor has their weaknesses and so far she hasn't shown any skill at acting with green screens. Can Cuarón take her to where she needs to go?
Movie City News a cool press kit for Never Let Me Go. Uhhhh, I didn't get this. Boo.
Rooney Mara Network They're already filming The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? David Fincher is breaking speed records he is. Perhaps he's hurrying to complete filming before the awards season long haul for The Social Network.
And finally here's another Joseph Gordon-Levitt performance. He does love singing the girl songs. This time it's "Bad Romance"
This is my favorite part OF COURSE
For those still doubting the artistic integrity of Lady Gaga, this next verse has three Hitchcock references and the use of the word "shtick"Heh.
*
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Robert F Boyle (RIP), Designed Many Classics
Sad news to report. Robert F Boyle, a four time Oscar nominee for Art Direction and Alfred Hitchcock's Production Designer during the Tippi Hedren years, passed away on Sunday at 100 years of age. He nearly made it to 101.
Here he is at the February 2008 Oscars with Nicole Kidman when he was 98.
When I published the list of Oldest Living Oscar Nominees last month, I didn't mean it as a morbid countdown, but as a tribute to these enduring artists and I hope it reads that way, even as they depart. We all must pass on eventually. Boyle had been the oldest of them all. May Luise Rainier, now the oldest at 100, live as long as Methusaleh.
Among Doyle's credits are classics like North by Northwest (Oscar nomination), Fiddler on the Roof (Oscar nomination), In Cold Blood, The Thomas Crown Affair and Cape Fear (the originals). In the last ten years of his career (roughly the 1980s) he mainly worked on female star comedy vehicles like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Troop Beverly Hills and Private Benjamin.
Clockwise from left: North by Northwest, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Cape Fear and Fiddler on the Roof
Clockwise from top left: The Thomas Crown Affair, The Birds, Marnie, and Staying Alive
He had a long and rich career. May we all find such great use of our talents.
*
Here he is at the February 2008 Oscars with Nicole Kidman when he was 98.
When I published the list of Oldest Living Oscar Nominees last month, I didn't mean it as a morbid countdown, but as a tribute to these enduring artists and I hope it reads that way, even as they depart. We all must pass on eventually. Boyle had been the oldest of them all. May Luise Rainier, now the oldest at 100, live as long as Methusaleh.
Among Doyle's credits are classics like North by Northwest (Oscar nomination), Fiddler on the Roof (Oscar nomination), In Cold Blood, The Thomas Crown Affair and Cape Fear (the originals). In the last ten years of his career (roughly the 1980s) he mainly worked on female star comedy vehicles like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Troop Beverly Hills and Private Benjamin.
He had a long and rich career. May we all find such great use of our talents.
*
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Linkfish
- Catfish, a hot ticket documentary from Sundance is coming to theaters near you. It's totally worth seeing but please avoid all articles and trailers. Just know that it's about an online relationship. Just trust me on this one. Totally worth seeing (even if you hate it) for the conversations it'll spark afterwards.
- Black Swan will open in early December, presumably following The Wrestler's release pattern. I'm not sure this is a good idea since it seems like a harder sell for awardage since it's genre tinged AND about young beauties. Oscar likes old broken down piece of meat man drama way more. But I must lower my expectations. I'm unreasonably excited and there's not even a trailer yet.
I Need My Fix Emily Blunt in Elle. Did y'all hear Meryl Streep sang ABBA at Blunt's wedding? Blunt leads a charmed life, okay.
Coming Soon The Social Network and The Tempest will open and close NYFF, respectively. But what's the centerpiece?
The Disney Blog a live action Mulan with Zhang Ziyi. Well, Ziyi could really use a comeback hit.
Movies Kick Ass weighs in on the new posters for Tangled and Never Let Me Go.
/Film Liam Neeson on longer attached to Steven Spielberg's Lincoln biopic. Will it ever be made?
Fader remembers the Madonna-adjacent style of Tony Ward. Definitely Madonna's best trophy boy.
That Obscure Object Johnny Depp by Herb Ritts? Wow, this takes me back.
Fashion & Style considers Mad Men and and the vicarious thrills and feelings of superiority watching its messy lives. But are we living? Great piece.
Edward Copeland on Film I haven't read this 75th anniversary article on Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps yet, but I hope to write about the movie myself tonight, if time allows. Watching it on Netflix today.
Alt Film Guide Suso Cecchi D'Amico, the female Italian screenwriter that I'd forgotten on my list of Oldest Living Oscar Nominees last month, died yesterday in Rome. She leaves behind many classic films including The Bicycle Thief and The Leopard.
Today's Must Read
The Awl "Fingered by Fosse" a conversation about jazz hands, not spirit fingers. The clip from All That Jazz makes me sad because we'll never see dancing like Ann Reinking's again at the cinema. No directors or studios care about training anymore. And Ann is a marvel. That takes years to master.
Finally, here's Jude Law for Dior Homme (directed by Guy Ritchie)
Jude Law is nasty. We've always liked him that way. Ever since Wilde.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
What's Your Poison?
As you may have guessed from earlier posts, I've had "Telephone" by Lady Gaga stuck in my head for over a week and though I don't like the video short film as much as her last -- I think it's trying a tiny smidgeon too hard whereas "Bad Romance" is just so controlled and escalating in its impact -- I do find it amusing how much Gaga loves to poison people, for laughs (and provocation) in her music videos. What is it about poison exactly that is so cinematic?
Cary Grant in Suspicion
It's as if its malevolence is both scarier, sicker and sexier than regular kinds of violence. [If violence could ever be called sexy that is ... and given the ample evidence, most filmmakers find it a major turn on.] Perhaps the terror / eroticism of poison comes from it being something that happens internally, something that's connected to inescapable human needs (eating, drinking) and something that capitalizes on our fear of the unknown. You can see a fist or an arrow or a rampaging beast hurtling towards you, but you can never see poison coming.
Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander
What's your favorite poisonous scene in the movies? My mind lept immediately to Ingrid Magnussen's complete toxicity (literal and figurative) in the underrated White Oleander and to Elle Driver's educational lecture on the Black Mamba in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 and to that classic pair Romeo + Juliet who guzzle faux poison but are poisoned instead by their rash youth and noxious environment. Where did your mind go?
It's as if its malevolence is both scarier, sicker and sexier than regular kinds of violence. [If violence could ever be called sexy that is ... and given the ample evidence, most filmmakers find it a major turn on.] Perhaps the terror / eroticism of poison comes from it being something that happens internally, something that's connected to inescapable human needs (eating, drinking) and something that capitalizes on our fear of the unknown. You can see a fist or an arrow or a rampaging beast hurtling towards you, but you can never see poison coming.
What's your favorite poisonous scene in the movies? My mind lept immediately to Ingrid Magnussen's complete toxicity (literal and figurative) in the underrated White Oleander and to Elle Driver's educational lecture on the Black Mamba in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 and to that classic pair Romeo + Juliet who guzzle faux poison but are poisoned instead by their rash youth and noxious environment. Where did your mind go?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Compartmentalinked
creativity is not a waste of time
Laz Marquez amazing freshly imagined Hitchcock movie posters [heads up]
The Awl a conversation about Lady Gaga's "Telephone"
Gallery of the Absurd Lindsay is a "milkaholic"
Very Important Pixels how great are these simple movie director drawings? You can recognize them instantly!
Pop Eaters Mad Men dolls? Me want
classics
Self Styled Siren on Merle Oberon and her hidden mother
Old Hollywood 'subtle moments in American cinema' with Jayne Mansfield
If Charlie Parker... two bitches
oscar night
Towleroad more lingering (gay) questions from Oscar night
The Hot Blog has a few (harsh) words on the media's reaction to Farrah Fawcett's absence from Oscar's 'In Memoriam'. I personally think she should have been included since Michael Jackson was. I mean if we're opening it up to celebrities who weren't movie stars, shouldn't they be treated equally?
coming soon
The Big Picture Leonardo da Vinci, action hero. Oh dear
I Need My Fix Dakota & Kristen premiere The Runaways. In hideous clothing.
V Magazine The Art of Being Kirsten Dunst (Can we expect a comeback? *crosses fingers*)
LA Times more females behind the scenes in Hollywood? We can hope. It's still VERY much a boys club
the state of moviegoing
LAist I have shushed people in movie theaters. Fortunately I've never been stabbed with a meat thermometer for doing it
Erik Lundegaard statistics on moviegoing for the past 100 years. Crazy how the attendance is the same but the population has grown enormously. The 70s had the least amount of moviegoing. No wonder all those great directors got away with so much.
Laz Marquez amazing freshly imagined Hitchcock movie posters [heads up]
The Awl a conversation about Lady Gaga's "Telephone"
Gallery of the Absurd Lindsay is a "milkaholic"
Very Important Pixels how great are these simple movie director drawings? You can recognize them instantly!
Pop Eaters Mad Men dolls? Me want
classics
Self Styled Siren on Merle Oberon and her hidden mother
Old Hollywood 'subtle moments in American cinema' with Jayne Mansfield
If Charlie Parker... two bitches
oscar night
Towleroad more lingering (gay) questions from Oscar night
The Hot Blog has a few (harsh) words on the media's reaction to Farrah Fawcett's absence from Oscar's 'In Memoriam'. I personally think she should have been included since Michael Jackson was. I mean if we're opening it up to celebrities who weren't movie stars, shouldn't they be treated equally?
coming soon
The Big Picture Leonardo da Vinci, action hero. Oh dear
I Need My Fix Dakota & Kristen premiere The Runaways. In hideous clothing.
V Magazine The Art of Being Kirsten Dunst (Can we expect a comeback? *crosses fingers*)
LA Times more females behind the scenes in Hollywood? We can hope. It's still VERY much a boys club
the state of moviegoing
LAist I have shushed people in movie theaters. Fortunately I've never been stabbed with a meat thermometer for doing it
Erik Lundegaard statistics on moviegoing for the past 100 years. Crazy how the attendance is the same but the population has grown enormously. The 70s had the least amount of moviegoing. No wonder all those great directors got away with so much.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
The 13th Link
Au Current
Nick's Pix is not going to tell you how much he loves the latest Coen Bros, A Serious Man. No way. He won't do it
BuzzSugar Angelina Jolie + Johnny Depp = hottest screen couple ever?
Just Jared But Nicole Kidman + Robert Pattison = urrrgh-aa--well... NO! (at least to me)
Mighty God King Americanized poster of Pirate Radio née The Boat That Rocked sinks
Pop Elegantiarum Film Experience contributor Alexa does Joanie from Mad Men for Halloween. Her husband as Roger Sterling. I love this so much. It's almost as good as dreaming about this weekend's season 3 finale
Low Resolution Joe on Avatar's second trailer "...everything went Ferngully"
My New Plaid Pants but JA is more excited. And not just for that movie. What's left in '09?
Miscellania
The Auteurs What's left to discuss when it comes to Alfred Hitchcock?
The House Next Door Betty White...
...By Ken Levine a brief explanation of how movie determine screen credits. I knew most of this already from a lengthy piece in some magazine (about a disputed case) but if you don't know, it's totally interesting to learn
Go Fug Yourself thanks Juliette Lewis for her consistency, with or without The Licks
Boy Culture Mariah Carey's moustache. Deglam demystified
Oscar
Yahoo has a disturbing wrongheaded article on the Original Screenplay category. Thanks to Jose for pointing it out. Every time I read a story (in any year) that claims one category is totally empty... I always think "look harder". There are hundreds and hundreds of films released each year. It's sad that we need them to all be in one genre or of a certain box office profile or in English to consider them awards-worthy. While this article mentions The Hangover and Star Trek as possibilities (Star Trek... yep, how is that "original" when its based on über familiar stories and characters from 30 years of film and television? Especially when something like Before Sunset was considered adapted merely from revisiting characters from one earlier film?) Original Screenplays not mentioned in this strangely tunnel visioned article include: Bright Star (some might consider it adapted but it considers itself original -- probably because it's drawing from so many sources to imagine its historical love story. ), The Hurt Locker, Moon, The White Ribbon, District 9 (based on a short but this category is sometimes flexible), It's Complicated, Broken Embraces and In the Loop (spun off from a series... but if Star Trek is eligible, this should be too. We shall see). Here are my predictions.
Nick's Pix is not going to tell you how much he loves the latest Coen Bros, A Serious Man. No way. He won't do it
BuzzSugar Angelina Jolie + Johnny Depp = hottest screen couple ever?
Just Jared But Nicole Kidman + Robert Pattison = urrrgh-aa--well... NO! (at least to me)
Mighty God King Americanized poster of Pirate Radio née The Boat That Rocked sinks
Pop Elegantiarum Film Experience contributor Alexa does Joanie from Mad Men for Halloween. Her husband as Roger Sterling. I love this so much. It's almost as good as dreaming about this weekend's season 3 finale
Low Resolution Joe on Avatar's second trailer "...everything went Ferngully"
My New Plaid Pants but JA is more excited. And not just for that movie. What's left in '09?
Miscellania
The Auteurs What's left to discuss when it comes to Alfred Hitchcock?
The House Next Door Betty White...
...By Ken Levine a brief explanation of how movie determine screen credits. I knew most of this already from a lengthy piece in some magazine (about a disputed case) but if you don't know, it's totally interesting to learn
Go Fug Yourself thanks Juliette Lewis for her consistency, with or without The Licks
Boy Culture Mariah Carey's moustache. Deglam demystified
Yahoo has a disturbing wrongheaded article on the Original Screenplay category. Thanks to Jose for pointing it out. Every time I read a story (in any year) that claims one category is totally empty... I always think "look harder". There are hundreds and hundreds of films released each year. It's sad that we need them to all be in one genre or of a certain box office profile or in English to consider them awards-worthy. While this article mentions The Hangover and Star Trek as possibilities (Star Trek... yep, how is that "original" when its based on über familiar stories and characters from 30 years of film and television? Especially when something like Before Sunset was considered adapted merely from revisiting characters from one earlier film?) Original Screenplays not mentioned in this strangely tunnel visioned article include: Bright Star (some might consider it adapted but it considers itself original -- probably because it's drawing from so many sources to imagine its historical love story. ), The Hurt Locker, Moon, The White Ribbon, District 9 (based on a short but this category is sometimes flexible), It's Complicated, Broken Embraces and In the Loop (spun off from a series... but if Star Trek is eligible, this should be too. We shall see). Here are my predictions.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Books @ the Movies, Shutter Island
As you may have noticed with recent Mad Men & Project Runway posts I've become enamored of references to movies in other mediums. I thought I'd share them as they occur to me. On that note, I recently picked up Dennis Lehane's mystery thriller Shutter Island which is set in the 50s on an island for the criminally insane. Figured I had time to read it before the movie version arrives given its abrupt move to February 2010. The jacket blurb claims that it's "instantly cinematic" and for once the blurb ain't shamelessly overstating. Not only does the book read like a zippy movie-movie, it mentions movies, too. Here's one example.
page 168...
Rachel Solando (to be played by Emily Mortimer) and Teddy Daniels (to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio) meet. This is not a spoiler ~ please DO NOT post spoilers in the comments!
You be the judge.
Emily in 2007 at 36 years of age | Teresa in 1943 at 25 years of age
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Rachel Solando (to be played by Emily Mortimer) and Teddy Daniels (to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio) meet. This is not a spoiler ~ please DO NOT post spoilers in the comments!
"Are you accusing me of being a Communist?" Her back came off the pillows and she bunched the sheet in her fists...That'd be Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt and if Hitch' were alive, he might've wanted to adapt Shutter Island himself. I giggled at the patriotism line and hoped it made it into the screenplay. Then I thought 'Does Emily Mortimer look anything like Teresa Wright?'
"A Communist, ma'am? You? What man in his right mind would think that? You're as American as Betty Grable. Only a blind man could miss that."
She unclenched one hand from the sheet, rubbed her kneecap with it. "But I don't look like Betty Grable."
"Only in your obvious patriotism. No, I'd say you look more like Teresa Wright, ma'am. What was that one she did with Joseph Cotton, ten-twelve years ago?"
You be the judge.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
New Releases + Hitchcock
There's quite a variety of new product at the multiplexes. Let's start with the romantic drama, The Time Traveler's Wife in which Eric Bana keeps disappearing and reappearing in Rachel McAdams life. Wait, is he playing Ryan Gosling?!? This vanishing / reappearing act is probably a great metaphor of some sort for romance, though I haven't read the bestseller so I've no idea if the concept is executed well. The faithful are angry that they've changed it to something sunnier. Hollywood is so terrified of sad endings, even in tearjerkers which are supposed to make you cry.read the rest at Towleroad
Sunday, May 31, 2009
May Flowers, Vertigo
For the finale of May Flowers I thought we should gaze at Alfred Hitchcock's immortal Vertigo(1958). Aside from Vertigo descendants like Robert Altman's Three Women or David Lynch's Mulholland Drive what film is more appropriate for this time of year when we're ruled by twin sign Gemini? Hitchcock films generally deserve complete dissertations but we don't have Scottie Ferguson's (Jimmy Stewart) stamina when it comes to fetishizing doppelgangers. So in the space of this blogpost we merely glance at his introductions to Madeleine/Judy (Kim Novak).
Ferguson has been hired to follow Madeleine and as he first spots her in the deep rose red restaurant, Hitchock slow zooms out from Scottie (far right) at the bar and pans left, following his gaze, into the dining area filled with flowers and well heeled customers and even a painting of a floral arrangement framed by floral arrangements before it finally stops at Madeleine (tiny, far left) in her emerald green dress.
As she leaves the restaurant we get Kim Novak's first bewitching close up, carefully calibrated and emphasized by Hitchcock's editor George Tomasini and cinematographer Robert Burks. Scottie likes what he sees but this is a job.
This is psychologically astute visual storytelling. Once he's in pursuit, Scottie is cast into shadow and suddenly it's all color, flowers, woman. This will be happening to Scottie again and again, albeit not in the literal sense. His personality will darken (obsessive bullying voyeur coming right up) and soon his life will be entirely focused on colors (it must be the gray suit!), flowers (his eyes darting from bouquet to bouquet) and this particular woman. All he will be able to see is Madeleine.
Or Judy as the case may be...
Scottie also first "meets" (okay, stalks) Judy, who looks suspiciously like Madeleine, in a setting bursting with colored petals. His eye is drawn there by a familiar bouquet... And then he spots Judy, introduced with a right profile closeup just like Madeleine. Her shot isn't as elegant but she's from Selina, Kansas. What did you expect?
Though she lacks Madeleine's class, she's practically a fraternal twin. Scottie will force the issue until she's identical. Hitchcock, Novak and Stewart aren't afraid to commit to unlikeable characters (pity that neither actor was Oscar-nominated for this, but then Oscar treated this masterpiece quite shabbily, extending only sound and art direction nominations) and the movie is richer and darker for it.
Vertigo makes you dizzy with its duplicate women, tripled bouquets -- oops, I didn't mention the third woman, Carlotta Valdes, and that painting that hypnotizes Madeleine? No?!
We can't venture there, lest we be sucked into the knotty insane spiral of all of these doppelgangers. We don't want to end up like Scottie or Madeleine who'll violently toss her flowers into the river before jumping in herself.
This movie was all too much for her.
*
Ferguson has been hired to follow Madeleine and as he first spots her in the deep rose red restaurant, Hitchock slow zooms out from Scottie (far right) at the bar and pans left, following his gaze, into the dining area filled with flowers and well heeled customers and even a painting of a floral arrangement framed by floral arrangements before it finally stops at Madeleine (tiny, far left) in her emerald green dress.
As she leaves the restaurant we get Kim Novak's first bewitching close up, carefully calibrated and emphasized by Hitchcock's editor George Tomasini and cinematographer Robert Burks. Scottie likes what he sees but this is a job.
Some enchanted eveningScottie will indeed be seeing Madeleine again and again. His interest is piqued. Hitchcock sees this man's spiral into obsession coming long before he does. When Scottie next follows Madeleine she enters a door in an alley way and he enters, not knowing what he'll find there.
You may see a stranger,
you may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know,
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again.
-"Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific which (trivia note!) opened in theaters two months before Vertigo.
This is psychologically astute visual storytelling. Once he's in pursuit, Scottie is cast into shadow and suddenly it's all color, flowers, woman. This will be happening to Scottie again and again, albeit not in the literal sense. His personality will darken (obsessive bullying voyeur coming right up) and soon his life will be entirely focused on colors (it must be the gray suit!), flowers (his eyes darting from bouquet to bouquet) and this particular woman. All he will be able to see is Madeleine.
Or Judy as the case may be...
Scottie also first "meets" (okay, stalks) Judy, who looks suspiciously like Madeleine, in a setting bursting with colored petals. His eye is drawn there by a familiar bouquet... And then he spots Judy, introduced with a right profile closeup just like Madeleine. Her shot isn't as elegant but she's from Selina, Kansas. What did you expect?
Though she lacks Madeleine's class, she's practically a fraternal twin. Scottie will force the issue until she's identical. Hitchcock, Novak and Stewart aren't afraid to commit to unlikeable characters (pity that neither actor was Oscar-nominated for this, but then Oscar treated this masterpiece quite shabbily, extending only sound and art direction nominations) and the movie is richer and darker for it.
Vertigo makes you dizzy with its duplicate women, tripled bouquets -- oops, I didn't mention the third woman, Carlotta Valdes, and that painting that hypnotizes Madeleine? No?!
We can't venture there, lest we be sucked into the knotty insane spiral of all of these doppelgangers. We don't want to end up like Scottie or Madeleine who'll violently toss her flowers into the river before jumping in herself.
This movie was all too much for her.
*
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
May Flowers, Princess Grace of Monaco
May Flowers, weeknights @ 11:00
Fifty-four years ago last month, way back in 1955, movie star Grace Kelly attended the Cannes Film Festival (pictured below) -- it was held in April in those days. She had just headlined two Alfred Hitchcock hits Rear Window and Dial M for Murder and just barely won the Oscar for Country Girl. To Catch a Thief was arriving later that summer. She was in short, as super as superstars get.
During this very trip to Cannes she met Prince Rainier of Monaco! How crazy must that year have been for her? The courtship was aggressive and they married the following April.
Their royal union made her even more famous but ended her film career. Kelly never made another motion picture (though two were released in 1956: The Swan and High Society) and Prince Rainier subsequently banned screening of her films (according to at least one website it's still illegal to show Kelly films in Monaco). Reportedly the marriage got in the way of two comeback trips, the actress wanted to make: a reunion with Hitchcock for Marnie (1962) which went to Tippi Hedren and the ballet drama The Turning Point (1977) which eventually starred Shirley Maclaine and Anne Bancroft. In short, Prince Rainier was an enemy of the cinema.
If you stop to think about it, Cannes not only makes international movie careers it also destroys them. Exhibit: Grace Kelly.
The 62nd annual Festival de Cannes kicks off a week from today running May 13th through the 24th.
Fifty-four years ago last month, way back in 1955, movie star Grace Kelly attended the Cannes Film Festival (pictured below) -- it was held in April in those days. She had just headlined two Alfred Hitchcock hits Rear Window and Dial M for Murder and just barely won the Oscar for Country Girl. To Catch a Thief was arriving later that summer. She was in short, as super as superstars get.
During this very trip to Cannes she met Prince Rainier of Monaco! How crazy must that year have been for her? The courtship was aggressive and they married the following April.
If you stop to think about it, Cannes not only makes international movie careers it also destroys them. Exhibit: Grace Kelly.
The 62nd annual Festival de Cannes kicks off a week from today running May 13th through the 24th.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
April Showers, Charade
April Showers evenings @ 11; with Dave from Victim of the Time.
Cary Grant usually sings a medley of old favourites when he's in the shower. Any requests?
Audrey looks stern, but she doesn't know what Cary's going to do yet. And Cary may look old, but there's some screwball zest in the man yet. Lest you think Hitch sucked it all out of him, but then Jimmy Stewart was the one who got mentally tortured, wasn't he? Cary just got terrorized by a plane and kissed by Grace Kelly. And Ingrid Bergman. Life is so unfair sometimes.
What were we talking about?
I get the feeling that this scene is remembered purely for how bizarre it is- but then most of Charade doesn't really make sense. It's been said- exhaustively- that this is "the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made", but he generally did make some kind of sense even if he never explained, say, why those birds were pecking everyone to death. (That was kind of the point.) But apart from that, when did Hitch ever make as chic and frivolous a movie as this? To Catch A Thief, I suppose, but that's Hitch on a bad day and it's hardly his signature style.
I do apologise. I've obviously got Hitch on the brain. Now, I love Cary. And his mannerisms in this scene are really quite amusing. But clearly the best thing about this scene- and indeed the entire movie- is my beloved Audrey Hepburn. Isn't she just a peach? Adorable. The third panel here is the highlight:
Aww.
Oh, and Cary gets wet some more. This didn't really work out very well, did it? Sorry. Feel free to dissect the goodness/failure of this cross-generational pairing in the comments.
Cary Grant usually sings a medley of old favourites when he's in the shower. Any requests?
Audrey looks stern, but she doesn't know what Cary's going to do yet. And Cary may look old, but there's some screwball zest in the man yet. Lest you think Hitch sucked it all out of him, but then Jimmy Stewart was the one who got mentally tortured, wasn't he? Cary just got terrorized by a plane and kissed by Grace Kelly. And Ingrid Bergman. Life is so unfair sometimes.
What were we talking about?
- How often do you go through this little ritual?
- Oh every day, the manufacturer recommends it!
- I don't believe it...
- Oh yes, it's true... Look... Wait a minute. Read the label! Look at the small print: "Wearing this suit during washing helps protect its shape."
I get the feeling that this scene is remembered purely for how bizarre it is- but then most of Charade doesn't really make sense. It's been said- exhaustively- that this is "the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made", but he generally did make some kind of sense even if he never explained, say, why those birds were pecking everyone to death. (That was kind of the point.) But apart from that, when did Hitch ever make as chic and frivolous a movie as this? To Catch A Thief, I suppose, but that's Hitch on a bad day and it's hardly his signature style.
I do apologise. I've obviously got Hitch on the brain. Now, I love Cary. And his mannerisms in this scene are really quite amusing. But clearly the best thing about this scene- and indeed the entire movie- is my beloved Audrey Hepburn. Isn't she just a peach? Adorable. The third panel here is the highlight:
Oh, and Cary gets wet some more. This didn't really work out very well, did it? Sorry. Feel free to dissect the goodness/failure of this cross-generational pairing in the comments.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
April Showers, Black Book
Dave from Victim of the Time again here... it seems I shower more at the weekend, for I'm supplying your Sunday night edition of April Showers too. We go from apparently unacceptable ass to... well, you'll see. I must atone for my sins after all.
When Nat posted on Changeling in this series, he gave you five types of "horror showers". We all know Paul Verhoeven's a bit of a nutjob, and in Black Book he can't just settle for one harrowing shower experience. He gives you three at once.
Ellis de Vries (the marvellous Carice van Houten), having spied from within on the Nazis, is now in a prison camp for collaborators, and, as you might expect, they aren't being treated nicely. Ever-resilient Ellis refuses to take off her clothes like the other obeying prisoners- which lands her in trouble with the drunken, angry officers. And beneath the drum full of excrement we've just seen the prisoners adding their bucket-loads to. Crouching on the floor after an aggressive beating, she thinks it's okay to rise... but the foreboding music says otherwise.
So beaten down by the sheer force of what just came from above, a bit like the blood-sodden Carrie, Ellis' face is covered by matted hair. Verhoeven, keen to emphasize the moment, even inserts a bird's eye view of the solitary, chalk-outline-esque posture of Ellis on the floor of the warehouse.
But the guards aren't done with her yet. The busty females on the balcony above gleefully pour their remaining spirits down on her head, barely rinsing the sludge off her.
Yet Ellis' punishment still isn't over with. Here's the familiar hose-down moment, complete with a close-up of the hose itself, and the humiliated Ellis shies from the blast of water even as it wipes the caked brown sludge off her. Her fellow former-spy Akkermans (Thom Hoffman) is here to rescue her, but, as Ellis looks up with as much pride as she can muster, you and she both know it's not quite over yet.
Black Book looks, from the outside, like another big WWII epic (except Dutch), but it strikes me as more Hitchcockian, in its strong, beautiful, deceptive heroine and twisting moralities. I've not explored Verhoeven's oeuvre beyond this and Showgirls- lament the heroine there, too, for fame's a bitch- but this scene, at the very least, is like Tippi Hedren being pecked half-to-death, or Janet Leigh getting chopped, or Marion Lorne getting strangled: she's had sex, she must be punished. Living in the 21st century as we now do, we don't need Ellis to suffer quite so much, and there's as much sympathy here as there is accusation- but this is still one of Black Book's key scenes, clearly a moment Verhoeven wants you to remember, and he probably had as much fun filming it as van Houten had annoyance at cleaning all the stuff off afterwards.
When Nat posted on Changeling in this series, he gave you five types of "horror showers". We all know Paul Verhoeven's a bit of a nutjob, and in Black Book he can't just settle for one harrowing shower experience. He gives you three at once.
Ellis de Vries (the marvellous Carice van Houten), having spied from within on the Nazis, is now in a prison camp for collaborators, and, as you might expect, they aren't being treated nicely. Ever-resilient Ellis refuses to take off her clothes like the other obeying prisoners- which lands her in trouble with the drunken, angry officers. And beneath the drum full of excrement we've just seen the prisoners adding their bucket-loads to. Crouching on the floor after an aggressive beating, she thinks it's okay to rise... but the foreboding music says otherwise.
But the guards aren't done with her yet. The busty females on the balcony above gleefully pour their remaining spirits down on her head, barely rinsing the sludge off her.
Yet Ellis' punishment still isn't over with. Here's the familiar hose-down moment, complete with a close-up of the hose itself, and the humiliated Ellis shies from the blast of water even as it wipes the caked brown sludge off her. Her fellow former-spy Akkermans (Thom Hoffman) is here to rescue her, but, as Ellis looks up with as much pride as she can muster, you and she both know it's not quite over yet.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Did you know that February is...
Feed those birds. Feed them Tippi Hedren if you must, but feed them. Our winged friends need to consume half their body weight every day. (Ah, another excuse to throw The Birds into the DVD player. )
February is also Black History Month, American Heart Month and Chocolate Lovers Month but somehow I always get so tied up with Oscar that everything else that the shortest month of the year has to offer is forgotten. So here's to chocolate, birds, black history and Oscar winners.
No, I have no idea where I'm going with this... sometimes I just start typing and can't stop. Plus I'm detoxing from Oscar and I never know where I'm going post that.
Do you? If so, help me!
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Wednesday, February 04, 2009
We Can't Wait #19 Broken Embraces
Directed by ALMODOVAR
Starring Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Chus Lampreave and Blanca Portillo from Volver. Plus: José Luis Gómez, Rossy de Palma (yay!) and Rubén Ochandiano
Synopsis The plot details of this contemporary thriller are being kept secret so the official synopsis is bare bones: "Fourteen years after having an accident that left him blind, a writer and filmmaker remembers the circumstances that surrounded him and the woman that he loved".
Brought to you by El Deseo & Sony Pictures Classics
Expected Release Date November (that's the Almodóvar slot)
Nathaniel: Pedro (also known as "The Greatest Living Film Director") makes sensational cinema and I love that he's been on this Hitchcock groove lately -- think of that great score for Volver or the threatening underlay of Bad Education. He promises this one is funny, too.
Whitney: The first Almodóvar I saw was Talk to Her, and I've felt uncomfortable with him ever since. There was something about that rape-a-coma-victim thing that stuck with me in a bad way. That's not to say that his films aren't pretty amazing, I just look forward to them in the same way you look forward to going to the gynecologist: you're glad you're going to get some substantial - perhaps needed - treatment, but you're trying to put it off for as long as possible.
Nathaniel: A ringing endorsement!
Joe: I'm fairly certain I can't top the Almodóvar-as-gyno-appointment metaphor, and I'm tempted to just leave it at that. As it stands, it feel weird to be merely a casual appreciator of Almodóvar's movies as opposed to a rabid fan, because it seems like that's just now how it's done. But I've been a huge fan of the Hitchcockian touches as of late, too, and as long as clever, artful comedies remain a rarity, I'll treasure weird old Pedro.
JA: Yeah, I've been racking my brain all day, trying to figure out if that makes Penny Cruz the stirrups, the forceps, the... other things (it's terrible when the first reference one comes up with for gynecology is Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, no?). Speaking of auteurs with wacko fascinations! I've thoroughly enjoyed Pedro's recent renaissance, and all the associated Hitchcockian accoutrements, too. I hope he dials it up to 11 and pulls a De Palma type Hitch "homage"... if Penny doesn't wear a blonde wig at some point, I might find myself very disappointed.
Joe: So it's come to referring to her as "Penny" now, in some "we love your newfound discovery of talent so much we want to be on not only first-name but nickname basis" stab at familiarity now? What happened to the good old days when she gleefully sucked in mainstream Hollywood fare and we could all be content in the knowledge that she would be the worst thing in any given movie? Simpler times, man. Post-Volver America freaks me out.
Fox: First, Nathaniel got the "Greatest Living Film Director" wrong,.. that would be Brian De Palma. But to not take anything away from Almodóvar - a director I really admire -- I'll steer this away from any possible "my daddy is bigger than your daddy" bickering -- I hope it's funny. I prefer the more absurd comedies of his to the more recent serious turns. True, Talk to Her and Bad Education could be considered dark comedies, but before Volver, the last film of his I liked was Live Flesh. I think Pedro came off as bitter in his 00's work prior to Volver, and I don't think that suits him, or, at least he hasn't figured out how to wrangle that in yet.
Oh, and yay to Penélope. Remember the above the kitchen sink shot in Volver? Talk about your Psycho-sexual imagery with that phallic knife that she's give a scrub to.
Nathaniel: How about you, reader? Anxious for another round with "P & P"?
In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
*
Starring Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Chus Lampreave and Blanca Portillo from Volver. Plus: José Luis Gómez, Rossy de Palma (yay!) and Rubén Ochandiano
Synopsis The plot details of this contemporary thriller are being kept secret so the official synopsis is bare bones: "Fourteen years after having an accident that left him blind, a writer and filmmaker remembers the circumstances that surrounded him and the woman that he loved".
Brought to you by El Deseo & Sony Pictures Classics
Expected Release Date November (that's the Almodóvar slot)
Nathaniel: Pedro (also known as "The Greatest Living Film Director") makes sensational cinema and I love that he's been on this Hitchcock groove lately -- think of that great score for Volver or the threatening underlay of Bad Education. He promises this one is funny, too.
Whitney: The first Almodóvar I saw was Talk to Her, and I've felt uncomfortable with him ever since. There was something about that rape-a-coma-victim thing that stuck with me in a bad way. That's not to say that his films aren't pretty amazing, I just look forward to them in the same way you look forward to going to the gynecologist: you're glad you're going to get some substantial - perhaps needed - treatment, but you're trying to put it off for as long as possible.
Joe: I'm fairly certain I can't top the Almodóvar-as-gyno-appointment metaphor, and I'm tempted to just leave it at that. As it stands, it feel weird to be merely a casual appreciator of Almodóvar's movies as opposed to a rabid fan, because it seems like that's just now how it's done. But I've been a huge fan of the Hitchcockian touches as of late, too, and as long as clever, artful comedies remain a rarity, I'll treasure weird old Pedro.
JA: Yeah, I've been racking my brain all day, trying to figure out if that makes Penny Cruz the stirrups, the forceps, the... other things (it's terrible when the first reference one comes up with for gynecology is Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, no?). Speaking of auteurs with wacko fascinations! I've thoroughly enjoyed Pedro's recent renaissance, and all the associated Hitchcockian accoutrements, too. I hope he dials it up to 11 and pulls a De Palma type Hitch "homage"... if Penny doesn't wear a blonde wig at some point, I might find myself very disappointed.
Joe: So it's come to referring to her as "Penny" now, in some "we love your newfound discovery of talent so much we want to be on not only first-name but nickname basis" stab at familiarity now? What happened to the good old days when she gleefully sucked in mainstream Hollywood fare and we could all be content in the knowledge that she would be the worst thing in any given movie? Simpler times, man. Post-Volver America freaks me out.
Fox: First, Nathaniel got the "Greatest Living Film Director" wrong,.. that would be Brian De Palma. But to not take anything away from Almodóvar - a director I really admire -- I'll steer this away from any possible "my daddy is bigger than your daddy" bickering -- I hope it's funny. I prefer the more absurd comedies of his to the more recent serious turns. True, Talk to Her and Bad Education could be considered dark comedies, but before Volver, the last film of his I liked was Live Flesh. I think Pedro came off as bitter in his 00's work prior to Volver, and I don't think that suits him, or, at least he hasn't figured out how to wrangle that in yet.
Oh, and yay to Penélope. Remember the above the kitchen sink shot in Volver? Talk about your Psycho-sexual imagery with that phallic knife that she's give a scrub to.
Nathaniel: How about you, reader? Anxious for another round with "P & P"?
In case you missed any entries they went like so...
*
We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
*
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