tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196865244136046942024-03-05T17:58:49.350-08:00Sales On Film SALES ON FILM
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<a href="http://mubi.com/users/120051">mubi</a> Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-19432073619215144762014-04-09T03:20:00.000-07:002014-04-09T03:20:19.778-07:00My 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival ScheduleI'm making this schedule as bare bones as possible (partly because I'm writing this the day before the fest and partly just for clarity).<br />
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Find the full schedule <a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/festival-schedule/">here</a>. <br />
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<b><u>Thursday April 10</u></b><br />
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Press Day / 9AM--12:15PM / Chinese 1<br />
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(I have no idea why this is being held in a movie theater instead of the Roosevelt, or why it's so long this year. I just hope they have free coffee like last year!!)<br />
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Pick up festival badge at the Barcelona Suite of the Roosevelt. Bask in swag.<br />
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Meet TCM / 2PM / Egyptian<br />
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(What is this and why is it being held in the Egyptian? I might go; I'll probably bolt early, however.)<br />
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Sons of Gods and Monsters / 3:30PM / Hollywood Museum<br />
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(Where is the Hollywood Museum, again? So many questions this year!)<br />
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Welcome Party / 5PM / Club TCM<br />
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(Two words: free beer.)<br />
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<i>5th Avenue Girl</i> / 7PM / Chinese 4<br />
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<i>Johnny Guitar</i> / 10PM / Chinese 1<br />
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<u><b>Friday, April 11</b></u><br />
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<i>On Approval</i> / 9:45AM / Chinese 4<br />
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<i>Grey Gardens</i> / 12PM / Chinese<br />
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(This was the hardest choice of the fest for me--HENRY ORIENT and MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW might still factor in, depending on how I'm feeling that day.)<br />
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<i>Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore</i> / 3PM / Chinese 6<br />
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<i>The Lion in Winter</i> / 5:45PM / Chinese 4<br />
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(This is the only film I have scheduled that I've seen before, not including the midnight screenings, but I gotta pay tribute to my boy Peter O'Toole.)<br />
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<i>The Italian Job</i> / 9:30PM / Egyptian<br />
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<i>Eraserhead</i> / Midnight / Chinese 6<br />
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(I'm glad I've seen this film in a theater before, because there is a 90% chance that I'm going to fall asleep.)<br />
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<u><b>Saturday, April 12</b></u><br />
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<i>Stella Dallas</i> / 9AM / Chinese 6<br />
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<i>Hannah and Her Sisters</i> / 11:45AM / Chinese 6<br />
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<i>How Green Was My Valley</i> / 3PM / El Capitan<br />
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<i>A Hard Day's Night</i> / 6:30PM / TCL Chinese<br />
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(It is literally killing me that the ending of this movie overlaps with the beginning THE MUPPET MOVIE. I want to cry.) <br />
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<i>Sorcerer</i> / 9:15PM / TCL Chinese<br />
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<i>Freaks</i> / Midnight / Chinese 6<br />
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(I've seen this one on the big screen, too. Thank God, because, yeah, I'll probably be snoozing.)<br />
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<u><b>Sunday, April 13</b></u><br />
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Sunday is the day of TBAs. I don't have anything scheduled for the first half of the day, precisely for this reason. We'll see what comes up.<br />
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<i>The Heart is a Lonely Hunter</i> / 3:45PM / Egyptian<br />
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<i>Hobson's Choice</i> / 7:15PM / Chinese 6<br />
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PARRRRTAAAAAAAYYYYY / 9PM--???? / Club TCM<br />
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Leave a comment if you'll be hanging out with me for any portion of this schedule.<br />
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Follow me on various social media for festival updates:<br />
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-58031972793644820172014-03-27T08:45:00.002-07:002014-03-27T08:45:39.977-07:00On Family, Community, Legacy and the TCM Film FestThis year marks the fifth annual TCM Classic Film Festival, and the 20th anniversary of the Turner Classic Movies television channel. To commemorate, the theme of the 2014 TCMFF is "Family in the Movies: The Ties that Bind." While that's a pretty broad theme (as all festival themes have been), when we expand the definition of family to include (the idea of) community at large, the theme becomes a comment on the festival, and the channel itself--the first "meta" TCM Film Fest.<br />
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From the TCMFF <a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/about/">website</a>: "TCM is summoning its family of movie lovers from around the globe to
come to Hollywood for a cinematic celebration of the ties that bind us
together."<br />
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Never let it be said that TCM isn't brand-savvy. They may be the only TV channel with its own Bat-Signal. For those of us who have been attending TCMFF for a while, the decision to focus on the attendees as much as the films itself (and the intersection between the two), comes as no surprise. The first time you come to TCMFF, you're home. It's a cliche, but the people you meet at TCMFF really <i>are</i> like family.<br />
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The great thing about this festival, and what makes it different than most film festivals, is that everyone is here to have fun. Since none of the films are new, there's no sense of competition, no nervousness over their reception. Everyone is a fan, even the "celebrity guests" and panelists. It's no exaggeration to say that TCMFF is closer to a fan convention like Comic-Con than your typical film festival (some people even cosplay!). Unlike Comic-Con, which in recent years has been plagued by overcrowding and is increasingly just another arena for film studios to sell their new summer superhero tentpole, there is comparatively little pressure to "debut" new content (restorations, original scores, cast reunions) at TCMFF. For most attendees, they're here for the movies.<br />
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Which brings me to the schedule itself. While some films present a traditional portrait of a family (<i>Cheaper by the Dozen</i>, <i>Father of the Bride</i>), other selections are deliciously dysfunctional (<i>Grey Gardens</i>, <i>The Lion in Winter</i>). Friday provides us with two terrifying science-fiction portraits of perverted childbirth, in <i>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</i> and <i>Eraserhead</i>. Siblings take center stage in <i>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?</i>, <i>The Innocents</i>, and <i>East of Eden</i>. Several films blend family and community, notably <i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i> (in which WWII veterans are inextricably linked via their military service), and <i>Gone With the Wind</i> (in which the divisions within a country are expressed in microcosm by Scarlett O'Hara's family). John Ford often created communities, both with his stable of actors and crew members, and in the stories he chose to tell: <i>The Quiet Man</i> (in which the community takes the lead in creating a new family) and <i>Stagecoach</i> (in which traveling strangers take on the roles of members of a small town, another microcosm) are prime examples of Ford's favorite theme. (<i>How Green Was My Valley</i>, is of course, a more traditional example of a Ford family.)<br />
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The Club TCM discussions and guest talks also reflect the larger theme of how the classic film community forms a kind of multigenerational family. "Sons of Gods and Monsters" features makeup artist Rick Baker and filmmaker Joe Dante, both of whom got into movie-making because of their love of monster movies. TCMFF is fantastic at highlighting the legacy of classic film, and how we are all living within a continuum of cinematic influence--regardless of whether we're fans, filmmakers, critics, bloggers or historians. More than most, TCM understands its audience is as deeply engaged in classic cinema as many professionals in the industry, and the festival respects that relationship.<br />
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I'm especially glad this year features more contemporary actors speaking on behalf of classic movies. I understand this is a somewhat contentious issue among attendees, but in my opinion, the more inclusive and wide-ranging the festival programming is, the more relevant and engaging the festival becomes. When they're introducing cinema classics, Patton Oswalt, Greg Proops, and Dana Gould aren't just comedians, they're fans (maybe funnier and more well-spoken than most, but still, fans). When Bill Hader introduces <i>The Muppet Movie</i>, he's just kid who loves the Muppets (aren't we all?). When Anna Kendrick introduces <i>The Women</i>, she's not an Academy Award nominated actress, she's a Norma Shearer fangirl (again, who isn't?). The idea of cinematic legacy is stronger than ever given the slew of remakes and reboots in contemporary Hollywood; hopefully Gareth Edwards (director of the upcoming <i>Godzilla</i> remake) won't skirt the issue when he introduces the original Japanese <i>Gojira</i>.<br />
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I think the universality of this year's theme has lead to the strongest line-up of TCMFF films yet. It's also a major step towards acknowledging that that while a channel/festival specializing in classic films shouldn't necessarily always be looking backwards. Programming contemporary Hollywood guests like Kendrick, Edwards, etc. speak to TCM's understanding that "old" films exist in a universe where time is relative. As long as classic films are screened and seen, they remain contemporary. To paraphrase an old NBC slogan, if you haven't seen it, it's new to you! As we move forward in time (unfortunately, unlike great films, we all have to age!), the "legacy" aspect of the family/community film will become more prominent.<br />
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Luckily, TCM has fostered and inspired thousands of thoughtful, engaged and passionate fans to carry on the legacy of classic film, and hopefully, as we move forward, continue to update and redefine what it means to be a part of the classic film community. Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-38819623803720573462013-11-03T07:37:00.001-08:002013-11-08T07:38:30.076-08:00Noirvember: What to Watch, And WhereSince there's no official watch-list for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Noirvember">Noirvember</a>, it can be kind of daunting deciding which films noir to dig into, especially considering that everyone is at a different level of noir proficiency. To remedy this slightly, I've compiled here an abbreviated and nowhere complete listing of the films noir you can find online (via pay sites and streaming free). The list is organized by location, except in the case of public domain noirs, which can be found on multiple sites (I've tried to link the highest quality version). Enjoy! Happy Noirvember!<br />
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NETFLIX INSTANT<br />
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Classic Noir:<br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Double_Indemnity/60030178">Double Indemnity</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/The_Naked_City/60011267">The Naked City</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Call_Northside_777/70025291?locale=en-US">Call Northside 777</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Scarlet_Street/70002643">Scarlet Street</a> (also in the <a href="https://archive.org/details/ScarletStreet">public domain</a>)<br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Raw_Deal/70271343?trkid=13476361">Raw Deal</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Crime_of_Passion/60032975?trkid=13476361">Crime of Passion</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/You_Only_Live_Once/60028560?trkid=13476361">You Only Live Once</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/A_Kiss_Before_Dying/60030302?trkid=13476361">A Kiss Before Dying</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/99_River_Street/70147280?trkid=13476361">99 River Street</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Big_Knife/60024040?trkid=13476361">The Big Knife</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Big_Caper/70147231?trkid=13476361">The Big Caper</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/They_Made_Me_a_Fugitive/60029662?trkid=13476361">They Made Me A Fugitive</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Crime_Against_Joe/70147253?trkid=13476361">Crime Against Joe</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Cage_of_Evil/70147201?trkid=13476361">Cage of Evil</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fashion_Model/70147321?trkid=13476361">Fashion Model</a><br />
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Neo-Noir:<br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Long_Goodbye/60023740?trkid=13476361">The Long Goodbye</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/In_the_Cut/60031245?trkid=7808591">In The Cut</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Killer_Inside_Me/70123097">The Killer Inside Me</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Dressed_to_Kill/60020714">Dressed to Kill </a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fear_City/60003549">Fear City</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Grifters/562335">The Grifters</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Black_Widow/70012392">Black Widow</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/King_of_New_York/60035919">King of New York</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Reservoir_Dogs/902003">Reservoir Dogs</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Ice_Harvest/70039184">The Ice Harvest</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Zodiac/70044686">Zodiac</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Drive/70189289">Drive</a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Brick/70024088?trkid=2361637">Brick </a><br />
<a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Memento/60020435">Memento</a><br />
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<br />
FANDOR<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fandor.com/movie-genres/film-noir-films-86">list of film noir titles</a> (subscription required) <br />
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WARNER ARCHIVE INSTANT<br />
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<a href="http://instant.warnerarchive.com/browse.html#catId=2496">list of film noir titles</a> (subscription required)<br />
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HULU<br />
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<a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/265784">Strange Impersonation </a><br />
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SNAGFILMS<br />
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<a href="http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/black_book">Black Book aka Reign of Terror</a><br />
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VIEWSTER<br />
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<a href="http://www.viewster.com/movie/1050-10152-000/the-third-man">The Third Man </a><br />
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OPEN CULTURE<br />
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<a href="http://www.openculture.com/free_film_noir_movies">Click here</a> to see a listing of more than 30 films noir you can watch for free online (some of these also appear in the Public Domain listing below)<br />
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PUBLIC DOMAIN**<br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/Martha_Ivers">The Strange Love of Marther Ivers</a><br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/TheStranger_0">The Stranger</a> <br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/doa_1949">D.O.A. </a><br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/KansasCityConfidential720p">Kansas City Confidential</a> <br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/suddenly">Suddenly</a> <br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/impact">Impact</a> <br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/Detour">Detour</a><br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/TheBigComboCornellWilde1955BOO">The Big Combo</a> <br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/Hitch_Hiker">The Hitch-Hiker</a> <br />
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**You can many of the public domain titles other places online, including YouTube. The archive.org links I've provided are generally good quality, but it might be worth it to search for a different viewing format with higher quality.<br />
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If you know of any films noir available online, please drop me a note in the comments and I'll add it to the post! <br />
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-51338886300767164932013-10-28T08:33:00.001-07:002013-10-28T09:02:59.628-07:00The Vincent Price Blog-A-Thon: WITCHFINDER GENERAL (Michael Reeves, 1968)<div style="text-align: center;">
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It was two years ago, almost to the day, that I was sitting in the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, totally agape and unable to move from my seat. The lights were up, people were trailing out the isles, but I was just totally stuck down dumb. I had just seen <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General">WITCHFINDER GENERAL</a>, which I still consider one of the most powerfully disturbing films I've ever seen. WITCHFINDER capped off a weekend-long celebration of the <a href="http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/theater-of-blood-witchfinder-general">Vincent Price Centennial</a> at the American Cinematheque; that Sunday night, Reeves' film was paired with a much hammier Price performance in THEATER OF BLOOD. The juxtaposition of Price's over-the-top Shakespearean killer in THEATER and his subdued but ruthless inquisitor in WITCHFINDER cemented his status as one of my favorite actors, and one far more gifted than he is usually given credit for.<br />
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WITCHFINDER GENERAL, released in 1968, comes at an interesting crossroads, both in film history, and in the career of Vincent Price. In America, 1968 marked the year of the desolution of the production code (long since languishing) and the establishment of the MPAA ratings system. Around the world, youth was in revolt. Revolutionary fervor was reflected in the cinema of the time: BONNIE & CLYDE broke boundaries in screen violence, THE GRADUATE and MIDNIGHT COWBOY in screen sex. No longer were explicit sex and violence relegated to the drive-ins and exploitation films.<br />
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That's where Price comes in. Having successfully built up a career as a camp-horror icon with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Corman#The_Edgar_Allan_Poe_adaptations">Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe series</a> of films in the early to mid '60s, Price had more recently back-slid into mad scientist self-parody with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Goldfoot_and_the_Bikini_Machine">Dr. Goldfoot films</a> (personal opinion, of course). When Corman's American International Pictures became co-producer on WITCHFINDER GENERAL, they demanded Reeves hire Price over his first choice for the role of witchfinder <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General">Matthew Hopkins</a>, Donald Pleasence.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5nqcZ3BtfVG_2CFgt6oe-DJeOpc48qySy2AjDr177Dmqz7MBR2jJ8-dN7d33TrYEZiPHkiZ58EhO39wu8DtQgzu1gISqtiX0VUauQOIMexrAoLO9Q1DA2eRhwI1JSP2jtj3CYtz1AHQ/s1600/tumblr_ltnnhyixGK1qbhnrvo1_500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5nqcZ3BtfVG_2CFgt6oe-DJeOpc48qySy2AjDr177Dmqz7MBR2jJ8-dN7d33TrYEZiPHkiZ58EhO39wu8DtQgzu1gISqtiX0VUauQOIMexrAoLO9Q1DA2eRhwI1JSP2jtj3CYtz1AHQ/s1600/tumblr_ltnnhyixGK1qbhnrvo1_500.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Reeves">Michael Reeves</a>, only 24 at the time of filming, was a hot up-and-coming British horror director in the late-to-post Hammer Horror years, having directed Boris Karloff in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerers_%28film%29">THE SORCERERS</a> the previous year. Due to AIP's meddling, Reeves was furious at having Price on the picture and the director and star clashed constantly throughout filming. Price resented Reeves' youthful arrogance and Reeves, for his part, refused to give Price any concrete direction on his character. The production was fraught with other difficulties, including a razor-thin budget, a tight schedule, a lack of extras, and the inclusion of exploitative nude scenes the producers required for the German version of the film (oh, those kinky Germans!).<br />
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This collision of Vincent Price, famed American horror icon, and Reeves (and the tradition of British Hammer & post-Hammer Horror), create an utterly unique film, both in Price's career, and in the annals of British film horror history. WITCHFINDER marks a distinct turning point in Vincent Price horror (post-Corman, pre-PHIBES), which is unlike any other role in his filmography. It is also in a unique position in British horror history, as a non-Hammer film and a non-monster movie (no Dracula or Frankenstein during the English Civil War!). Some critics have dubbed WITCHFINDER, which primarily takes place among the ferns and tall grasses of East Anglia, as part of a series of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_%28film%29#Influence">"folk horror,"</a> which also includes THE WICKER MAN.<br />
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In truth, the staying power of the film lies in its depiction of the banality of evil. WITCHFINDER GENERAL presupposes the horror films of the '70s and '80s where the boogey man could be the boy or girl next door (HALLOWEEN, CARRIE), rather than the traditional supernatural villain (DRACULA, THE WOLF MAN, THE MUMMY). As Quentin Turnour explains in an essay for Senses of Cinema, in WITCHFINDER GENERAL, "there is no Evil incarnate; only perpetual corruption explains social misery" (<a href="http://sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/witchfinder_general/">Tornour</a>). The category of the "historical horror film" is still rather under-explored and there are a scant number of films that deal with the persecution of witches in Europe, let alone in America. WITCHFINDER GENERAL remains the most powerful film on the subject of witch hunts, an unrelenting examination of institutional prejudice and bureaucratic violence. <br />
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In America, WITCHFINDER was released under the title THE CONQUEROR WORM as an attempt to tie it into the Corman/Price/Poe films (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_Worm">"The Conqueror Worm"</a> is a poem by Poe). Besides tacking on an excerpt from the poem to the beginning of the film, Reeves' film naturally has nothing to do with Poe. (There are no worms to be found in the film.) The film was a success in the States (unlike its release in the UK, where it was decried by critics as sadistic trash), and launched a short-lived revival in AIP's Poe series. This included the 1969's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oblong_Box_%28film%29">THE OBLONG BOX</a>, which Michael Reeves was prepping to direct until his tragic and untimely death of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 25.<br />
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Finally, to the film itself: Price plays <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General">Matthew Hopkins</a>, a very loose interpretation of the real-life 17th century witch-hunter who terrorized Eastern England and was almost single-handedly responsible for the "convictions" and executions of more people for witchcraft than in the previous 100 years. Hopkins' preferred method of torture included <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pricking">"pricking,"</a> which consisted of pricking the skin of a suspected witch, looking for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches%27_mark">"The Devil's Mark."</a> Any mark on the skin, including moles, freckles, warts or scars could be considered a mark of the Devil and a sure signal that the suspect was a witch.<br />
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The local priest in the film runs afoul of Hopkins in just this manner and is about to be executed, when his niece Sara interjects and offers herself up to Hopkins in order to spare the life of her uncle. Hopkins is called away from the town before consummating Sara's offer, however his fiendish assistant witch-hunter Stearne rapes Sara anyway. When Sara's fiance, the young <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundhead">Roundhead</a> Marshall hears of his injustice, he swears vengeance against Stearne and Hopkins. Meanwhile, the witchfinder and his assistant continue to scour the countryside condemning witches with abandon.<br />
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One of the most chilling scenes in the film features the burning of a suspected witch in the town square. Reeves emphasizes the blank faces of the townspeople who crowd around, watching impassively as an innocent woman is burned to death. The scene reminds me of the witch burning in Ingmar Bergman's SEVENTH SEAL; but instead of focusing, as Bergman does, on the demented woman as the last flickers of humanity and cognizance flash across her face, Reeves purposefully isolates the viewer from the victim, implicating us along with the townspeople in the abuse of justice that allows her to die.<br />
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The casualness of the violence in WITCHFINDER GENERAL creates a deeply disturbed atmosphere of disgust and revulsion. The casting of Vincent Price as Hopkins was, as it turned out, a stroke of genius. Not only did Price give one of his greatest performances, he even lent a modicum of humanity to a man whose greed and amorality lead to the demise of hundreds of innocents. In his Corman/Poe roles, Price usually played the villain, but he was never unlikeable. We always somehow rooted for him to succeed, even when we knew he was a murderer and a fiend. Price's performance as Hopkins is so matter-of-fact, absent the winking camp that became the hallmark of his earlier films (and would continue in his post-WITCHFINDER roles). Hopkins is little more than a petty bureaucrat, an opportunistic war profiteer who found in the English countryside a populace terrified of the war around them and willing to cannibalize itself for the sake of some perceived reinstated stability. After hunting the witch, and providing the peasants with a little violent entertainment, Hopkins basically shakes down the town government for a "finder's fee." His specific torture of Sara and Marshall is purely self-serving: he brands them as witches to get back at their meddling interference to his grand work. <br />
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Which brings me back to the beginning of this piece--that is, the end of the film. It's a brutal, sudden, bloody and shocking ending--one of the most unexpectedly jolting I've ever witnessed. And because actions speak louder than words, here is the final scene of WITCHFINDER GENERAL to watch for yourself. Here, Hopkins and Stearne have captured Sara and are torturing her in a castle. Marshall storms in to try to rescue her. What follows is humanity's seemingly limitless capacity for horror. As Turnour writes: "Sara’s final, unsilencibly mad scream is born of nothing extraordinary –
just a despair caused by bestial, mortal, venal and male human nature" (<a href="http://sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/witchfinder_general/">Turnour</a>).<br />
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EDIT: If you don't want to spoil the ending of the film, you have a chance to catch the whole thing as part of an all Vincent Price Halloween night on <a href="http://www.tcm.com/schedule/index.html?tz=est&sdate=2013-11-01">TCM, Nov 1 6:30EST</a><br />
<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-32867367782597310562013-05-24T22:58:00.003-07:002013-05-24T23:01:17.848-07:001998: The Technological Timecapsule That Is YOU'VE GOT MAILAh, 1998. Dial-up modems. Book stores. Meg Ryan's career.<br />
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We're flashing back all the way to 1998 in today's mini-photo essay on the tech interfaces in Nora Ephron's YOU'VE GOT MAIL. Itself a Clinton-era update on the 1940 Lubitsch comedy THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, YOU'VE GOT MAIL is ludicrously dated even fifteen years after its release in a way that the earlier film is not. A large part of this is due to the rapid evolution of email and the Internet during that time. AOL Instant Messaging seems archaic in a way that sending and receiving letters in the mail simply doesn't. <br />
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If we ignore the inane love story (and it's best to), a lot of YOU'VE GOT MAIL is about changes in technology. Or, rather, in metatextual retrospect, the irony of shifting technologies makes the storyline of YOU'VE GOT MAIL nearly obsolete. Here's the jist: Meg Ryan (and her hair) run a cutesy kids bookshop called (cutesily) The Shop Around the Corner. Tom Hanks runs the big, bad corporate box conglomerate that serves lattes with its best-sellers and moves into the quaint, old-fashioned neighborhood to ruin Meg Ryan's life. AH BUT. The two are unwittingly in lurve with each other, having exchanged anonymous, soul-bearing missives via ye olde email. WHAT TO DO. Will Tom Hanks allow his brick and mortar monstrosity swallow Meg Ryan's overpriced niche book store??? Will they live happily ever after???<br />
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Watching this in 2013, I'm glad to say this doesn't matter because both businesses have been made obsolete by Amazon.com and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are probably now 13-year olds Skyping each other in their parents' living rooms.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anonymous file folders </td></tr>
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Anyway, this interface business. The film starts off with a clever title gag, turning the Warner Bros. logo pixelated and then revealing a desktop background onto which the titles are projected. This is cool for a number of reasons. First of all, it presupposes (accidentally, albeit) the accessibility of the Warner Bros. brand on the Internet. When YOU'VE GOT MAIL was released, movies had tie-in AOL Keywords that you could search and get info about the flick. But nowadays you literally have access to the WB catalog via Warner Archive Instant, the studio's streaming service. The titles are a nice way for you to enter the world of the film, which just happens to be the world of "virtual reality" (as they used to call it in the '90s).<br />
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Check out these retro screens from AOL circa 1998. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sending and receiving of email is fetishized via the anticipatory close-up. The big moment.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In which the main characters extoll the sexy virtues of online courtship.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meg and Tom switch from email to IM for their heated debate over THE GODFATHER. (He's right; she's wrong.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The agony of defeat. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The desktop.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The quaintness of spam email circa 1998</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dial-up.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you took a shot every time someone said the title of this movie, you'd be drunk within the first ten minutes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The all-time accurate face of a person posting their opinion on the Internet.</td></tr>
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It's not just the email and IM interfaces that are now a part of the archival past. Meg and Tom's respective book stores have been pretty much put out of business within the measly span of fifteen years. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty much the only surviving cultural signifier in the movie is the Starbucks both leads consume with zeal. It seems that people are still (and increasingly) willing to leave their house for caffeine, but everything else they prefer to get online.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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In a subplot we have Meg Ryan's boyfriend Greg Kinnear, a newspaper writer. I know, right? Newspapers! This guy is obsessed with old media, from newspapers and magazines to typewriters. He's contrasted with his (obviously not right for him) girlfriend via their media consumptions. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This dude and his newspapers, I swear.</td></tr>
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Greg Kinnear is another character whose job would most likely have been
made obsolete by modern technology. He'd either be a rogue blogger
(probable) or still a news reporter for an online publications. That Kinnear yearns to create copy on an outmoded typewriter touches on the tech nostalgia that will only increase as more and more old technologies are thrown over for the new. Which is really the theme of the movie. Or, rather, since it's a romcom, the coming together of the protagonists mirrors the synergy of their respective technologies. Meg (email) ditches Greg (typewriters) for Tom (email), even though Tom's business (big box book store) will almost inevitably drive Meg's small book shop out of business. So what does Tom Hanks do? He quits. Which solves the problem for the film, but not for the characters' reality. <br />
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YOU'VE GOT MAIL provides a snapshot of a particular time, pre-Dot Com boom but post-nobody having the Internet. It's kind of an odd, niche, coming-of-age time in our technological era. It's worth note, too, that since 1998 pretty much no one has come up with a better way of conveying online communication than the shot/reverse/shot of the screen/user/screen with the V.O. of what they're writing. Some modern films like SCOTT PILGRIM have tried and succeeded in capturing the feeling of what it's like to communicate via multiple technological shorthand (see my review <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2010/08/scott-pilgrim-vs-world.html">here</a>), and IRON MAN has taken technological interfaces to the next level with the HUD (see <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-man-interface-technology-politics.html">here</a>). Nevertheless, I look forward to the future romantic comedy that is able to break away from the decades-long tradition of showing technology as is and actually communicating the feeling of Skyping, texting, connecting via social media, etc. If YOU'VE GOT MAIL is any indication, we have another fifteen years to wait for this to happen. Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-67850905659266297662013-04-08T19:03:00.001-07:002013-04-08T19:03:51.722-07:00TCM Classic Film Festival: My Schedule<br />
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I couldn't be happier to be returning to the TCM Classic Film Festival for the third time! They recently released the full festival schedule and I've been pouring over it in a state of anxiety that's part ecstasy, part heartbreak and 100% nervous excitement. It's always a bummer to have to choose between films at the fest, and now with more awesome Club TCM events than ever, those choices go from difficult to me in a whiny voice simpering like a sad puppy. Still, it's hard to complain about the greatest that is the TCM Classic Film Festival. I should just be grateful I'm going, right? Right. Without further ado, below is my tentative schedule for the festival, (as ever) jam-packed with great films, awesome special screenings and impossible choices. <br />
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<a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/schedule-thursday.php"><u>THURSDAY APRIL 25TH</u></a><br />
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Luckily the first night is always the easiest. Since I'm not going to the <b>FUNNY GIRL</b> red carpet premiere, that frees me up for an awesome night of noir and pre-code movies. First up is Stanley Kubrick's <b>THE KILLING</b>, with star Colleen Gray in person! This was a film made in 1956, so to have the star there to tell stories about the making of a classic is pretty exciting. It'll be in DCP, which is not ideal, but you take what you can get.<br />
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Luckily, the next film screens in 35mm. It's the William Wellman pre-code <b>SAFE IN HELL</b>, starring Dorothy Mackaill as a sassy prostitute who hides out on a tropical island to beat a murder rap back home in gangland Chicago. If that sounds awesome, it's because it is. Great movie and I can't wait to see it on the big screen. <br />
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<a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/schedule-friday.php"><u>FRIDAY APRIL 26TH</u></a><br />
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The next day features the toughest choices of the fest. Firstly, I can't decide between <b>THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER</b> in 35mm or 1968's <b>THE SWIMMER</b> with Burt Lancaster. The first I've seen several times but never on the big screen, and the second is a film I've wanted to see for a long time (and I love Burt Lancaster). I feel like because this is first thing in the morning, I'll be going wherever my friends are going (I'm easily swayed).<br />
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The second choice is, for me, the most difficult of the fest. I really, REALLY want to see the great, train-set film noir <b>THE NARROW MARGIN</b>. The only problem is that the evil, evil programming people scheduled it opposite the Club TCM talk with film preservation superstar Kevin Brownlow and silent movie score superstar Carl Davis. <b>Brownlow & Davis</b> contributed to the incredible, life-changing screening of Abel Gance's <b>NAPOLEON</b> at last year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. I bought a poster. I want to get it signed. On the other hand, <b>THE NARROW MARGIN</b> is one of the greatest, underrated films noir of all-time (and I love movies about trains!). Plus, co-star Jacqueline White will appear in person. Ugh, I hate this decision, but I have a feeling Brownlow & Davis will win out. I think I'll start the Twitter campaign to screen <b>THE NARROW MARGIN</b> again in the Sunday TBA spot, now...<br />
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The next choice is obvious: <b>NOTORIOUS</b>. Hitchcock. Grant. Bergman. 35mm. Done.<br />
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Then it's time for my first silent film of the fest, Clara Bow in her star-making role as the <b>IT</b> girl. (Yes, that's where the phrase comes from.) Carl Davis will be conducting the score. Bonus awesome.<br />
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Now for a classic Hollywood confession: I've never seen <b>ON THE TOWN</b>. I know, I know. Gene Kelly in a sailor uniform. I KNOW. But I'll be seeing it on the big screen, so that kind of makes up for my previous ignorance? <br />
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After a full day of movie-going, the lovely, lovely programming people have planned a treat for all us humans with "stupid minds--stupid, stupid!" Yes, my friends, it's Ed Wood's masterpiece, <b>PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE</b>! Obviously, I can quote almost all the bad lines from PLAN 9. As an ardent lover of Tim Burton's <b>ED WOOD</b> (and the marvelously, sincerely, uniquely horrendous oeuvre of the master Edward D. Wood, Jr. himself), I am well-versed in the film. The only question is how to sneak in a bottle of something for an Ed Wood drinking game...? <span class="st"></span><br />
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<a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/schedule-saturday.php"><u>SATURDAY APRIL 27TH</u></a><br />
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Saturday's shaping up to be the most diverse day of the festival, with offerings ranging from silents and Swedish, to noir and cartoons.<br />
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After yesterday's late night silliness with Ed Wood, Saturday morning should begin as all Saturday mornings should begin: with cartoons. (Amen.) Sex symbol Leonard Maltin presents <b>BUGS BUNNY'S 75TH BIRTHDAY BASH</b>, a collection to celebrate Bugs' silver anniversary this year. Sounds good, Doc.<br />
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It's a pretty big three-sixty from a rascally rabbit to rapey hillbillies, but, ah, such is the joy of the TCM Classic Film Festival. Next up is John Boorman's <b>DELIVERANCE</b>, one of several '70s classics that, through the inexorable passage of time, now share billing with Greta Garbo, Ernest Lubitsch and Bob Hope. And I'm all for it. With respect to the traditional "classic Hollywood" era fans, the 1970s were probably the all-time greatest decade for American film (certainly, the '40s give the '70s some stiff competition). Heck, it's been 40 years. Yes, the '70s is classic. And Jon Voight will be there in person! C'mon, TCM, you couldn't get Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty? What are they doing that's better than this? Their loss. <br />
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One of the must-see screenings is the world premiere restoration of <b>THE BIG PARADE</b>, presented by rock star/sexiest film preservationist alive Kevin Brownlow. King Vidor's 1925 epic about WWI features (another!) new score by Carl Davis. It's a match made in silent cinema heaven.<br />
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Speaking of cinema heavens, how about a discussion with Max von Sydow about <b>THE SEVENTH SEAL</b>? Kind of amazing, right? Ingmar Bergman's stone cold classic with the star in person? Okay, you twisted my arm. And screening it in 35mm as to preserve Sven Nyquist's perfect cinematography? Oh, my heart, be still. <br />
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Next up is a film I know nothing about: Cy Endfield's <b>TRY AND GET ME</b>. But I trust Eddie Muller, the czar of noir, to pick out gems for the festival. And the film--about mob justice in light of a kidnapping that ends in murder--sounds like a winner. <br />
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Now it's time to take a breath. It's Saturday night at midnight. Am I still awake and alive enough to sit through <b>ISLAND OF LOST SOULS</b>? I sincerely hope so, because it's an awesome film that I've been meaning to see forever. I mean, Charles Loughton and Bela Lugosi in a pre-code horror flick about half-human monsters? Perfect midnight movie fodder. Here's to the coffee I will require to make it through this awesome slate of movies.<br />
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<a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/schedule-sunday.php"><u>SUNDAY APRIL 28TH</u></a><br />
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Sunday I am running completely on fumes. Luckily for me, it's kind of an easy day because, baby, we're spending it in the '70s.<br />
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First up is the digital restoration of Terrence Malick's amazing first feature, <b>BADLANDS</b>. No Sissy Spacek or Martin Sheen for the Q&A, though, which is a bummer. But it's an amazing film and I'm psyched to finally see it on the big screen.<br />
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Ditto for the next film: an oft-overlooked New Hollywood gem called <b>SCARECROW</b>, which co-stars Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. The pair play drifters who hook up to travel together, but beyond that (and the fact it was photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond), I don't know much about it. This will be the U.S. premiere of a new digital restoration, however, so that's cause for excitement.<br />
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We continue the Max von Sydow tribute with Sydney Pollack's thriller, <b>THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR</b>. And '70s Robert Redford on the big screen? Me-<i>ow</i>. <br />
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Which brings us to the end. But what a finale! It's my bf Buster Keaton's masterpiece, <b>THE GENERAL</b>! Screened in a world premiere digital restoration with musical accompaniment from the terrific Alloy Orchestra, this will be an amazing end to what's sure to be an amazing festival.<br />
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And then, oh yes, the infamous Club TCM after party. What happens at the Club TCM after party <i>stays </i>at the Club TCM after party. Happy festival, everyone!<br />
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-63119413336969253132013-01-25T19:47:00.000-08:002013-01-25T19:48:39.262-08:00Ladies of Tampa: The (Ecstatic, Exurberant) Women of MAGIC MIKE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Washboard abs. Male butts in thong underwear. Male sexuality being worshiped by women in a playful, consensual environment (and men loving it). <i>Magic Mike</i> is something of a mainstream movie miracle in regards to gender relations. Simply the amount of naked male flesh in this film makes me wanna pen feminist odes to Steven Soderbergh. But perhaps my favorite part of <i>Magic Mike</i> isn't the skin, so much as the reactions to this hidden world of male stripping. Most of these reactions mix surprise and disbelief with the expected excitement and titillation. I know for a fact the accuracy of these faces--it's what theatrical audiences looked and sounded like when the film was released last summer.</div>
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So, please, enjoy the feminine side of <i>Magic Mike</i>. "Laaadies of Tampaaa..."</div>
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Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-25520552780006143512012-10-11T23:10:00.001-07:002012-10-12T20:04:03.692-07:00Harris Savides' San Francisco<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Celebrating the cityscapes of the late cinematographer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767647/">Harris Savides</a>. </div>
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Previously: <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/10/harris-savides-los-angeles.html">Los Angeles</a></div>
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<u>San Francisco</u></div>
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From Fincher's obsessively dark land of murder and mystery to the scruffy '70s of Harvey Milk's gay rights revolution, San Francisco through the lens of Savides always focuses on the architecture of the city. Bridges, tunnels and windows make mazes for Michael Douglas in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119174/"><i>The Game</i></a>; the Bay Area's network of interconnected cities and suburbs make it impossible for the police to track the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443706/"><i>Zodiac</i> </a>killer, whose knowledge of puzzles and codes is matched by his mastery of urban design and transportation. The story of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013753/"><i>Milk</i></a> is the story of San Francisco--the two are inseparable. The life, death, and legacy of a man and a city. </div>
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<i>The Game</i> (David Fincher, 1997)</div>
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<i>Zodiac</i> (David Fincher, 2007)</div>
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<i>Milk</i> (Gus Van Sant, 2008) </div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-54008351679778160332012-10-11T22:45:00.001-07:002012-10-11T22:45:53.923-07:00Harris Savides' Los Angeles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767647/">Harris Savides</a> today at the young age of 55. </div>
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I first took note of Savides' work while watching <i>Somewhere</i> & <i>Greenberg</i> (both 2010) almost back to back in early 2011. Both bring a kind of hazy, wrapped-in-smog kind of indecipherability to L.A. His view of Los Angeles is essentially isolationist: a single palm tree, a single neon sign, a single commuter in impenetrable traffic; a city that utterly lacks connection. </div>
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These films turned out to be near the end of Savides' career, which began in music videos and included lensing for Gus Van Sant, David Fincher, and Sophia Coppola. </div>
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Enjoy these shots from Harris Savides' LOS ANGELES: </div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-52492577261857987602012-09-23T18:40:00.000-07:002012-09-24T19:33:10.312-07:00WHAT A CHARACTER Blog-A-Thon: "By Jiminy!" The Life and Times of John Qualen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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People who know I watch a lot of movies sometimes ask me if I have a favorite character actor, and more often than not, I'd try to wriggle out of answers. I mean, <i>what even is </i>a "character" actor? Stuff like that. But in the last couple of years, there's been one face, one voice, one character actor that seems to follow me everywhere. At Cinecon 47, he popped up in the Jack Haley vehicle <i>She Had to Eat </i>(1937) as a laconic gangster named Sleepy who, you guessed it, was always sleepy. Earlier this year at the TCM Classic Film Festival, I was quite enjoying Carole Lombard in the raucous screwball comedy <i>Nothing Sacred</i> from the same year, and lo and behold, in an uncredited cameo as a small town fireman, it was him. It was THAT GUY. Hey, it's THAT GUY from <i>Casablanca</i>--and <i>His Girl Friday</i>--and <i>The Searchers</i>!</div>
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For me, John Qualen is the ultimate Classical Hollywood 'THAT GUY.' </div>
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He has a funny voice. He has a funny face. He can be a decent all-American Joe, a continental European, the Scandinavian immigrant with a heart-o'-gold. John Qualen always looked a little frail, a little crooked, like a man who could be easily toppled. Qualen is the ultimate downtrodden. It helps that Qualen was a gawky, awkward looking little fellow with hollow eyes and a nervous hitch in his voice. This came in handy during The Depression; it wasn't hard to imagine Qualen as the hardworking type kicked in the shins by back luck and economic crisis; it wasn't hard to imagine him, either, as the hardworking type who had finally given up being decent and succumbed to the allure of organized crime. </div>
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Qualen could play a "good guy" and a "bad guy," but he was never an unlikable guy. He was too pitiful-looking. In many a role, Qualen had the hungry, nervous look of a drowned rat. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Qualen as Muley Graves in <i>The Grapes of Wrath </i>(1940)</td></tr>
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Qualen's unique appeal may have reached its ultimate expression in John Ford's <i>The Grapes of Wrath </i>as a humble Oakie forced off his land by...who? The land owners, the bank, the government? Giving voice to the frustrations of millions--then, as now, Qualen's Muley Graves looks in vain for someone to blame. Exasperated, he asks, "Then, who <i>do </i>we shoot?"</div>
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Qualen was given his best parts by John Ford, for whom he worked nine times. Along with John Wayne, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, et al, Qualen was part of Ford's regular stock company, providing local color for the director's many male ensemble pictures.<br />
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In <i>The Long Voyage Home</i> (1940), for example, Ford pairs Qualen with the Duke (improbably playing a Swede). Qualen, master of Scandinavian comic relief, lends some credibility to Wayne's Ole Olsen (!); but it's obviously Ford's delight at pairing the two actors--big Swede, little Swede--that comes across strongly in the film's many two-shots. As Axel, Qualen sticks to Wayne like a barnacle to a blue whale; his exaggerated accent and frequent exclamations of "By Jiminy!" (pronounced "Yiminiy") distract us from Wayne's barely-registered Swedish "accent."<br />
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But Qualen isn't just the little fool--he does his share of dramatic work. In many ways, Qualen's Axel is the heart of <i>The Long Voyage Home</i>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Qualen as Axel in <i>The Long Voyage Home</i> (1940)</td></tr>
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He says what the audience is thinking. We're all rooting for Duke to give up the sea-farin' life and go back home to Sweden, to ma and pa, to settle down and raise a family. Qualen is Wayne's "lil' buddy," that semi-comic, semi-tragic guy who knows it's too late for him to escape his fate--which is exactly why he works so hard to get Wayne back home.<br />
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Again working with Ford and Wayne, Qualen had a big part in <i>The Searchers</i>, again playing Wayne's opposite. Only this time, Qualen is the sturdy, secure family man--the man with hope and happiness--and Wayne is the titular searcher.<br />
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The <i>Searchers</i> perhaps marks Qualen's most quintessential "immigrant success story" role. As Lars Jorgensen, Qualen represents the hard-working European who came to America with nothing and by sheer gumption, managed to carve out a small but prosperous living in God's Country. It's one of John Ford's favorite themes --the little Scandinavian frequently acting as B-story comic relief to the often Irish immigrant/autobiographical protagonist.<br />
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As is typical in his roles for Ford, Qualen balances pathos with plentiful ethnic humor. Ford never hesitates to give Qualen his signature exclamation--<br />
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Qualen's malleable European identity came in handy in <i>Casabalnca</i>--perhaps Hollywood's greatest Continental ensemble of ambiguous accents. Qualen is unforgettable as Berger, the jewelry salesman/freedom fighter whose rendezvous with Paul Henreid's Laszlo is one of the essential plot points of the film.<br />
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As a member of the Resistance, Berger's worshipful treatment of Henreid is critical to the audience's understanding of his importance, and his truly impressive status as a "Good Guy." Heretofore, we've obviouly been rooting for Bogie because Rick is the hero of the film...or is he? Laszlo is an undeniable baller, a concentration camp survivor and world-class hater of Nazis (what's not to love?). Qualen's small role communicates the large underground following that is willing to sacrifice everything for Laszlo's freedom. That kind of loyalty is critical to sympathizing with Isla's affection for Henreid--especially in contrast to Bogie, whose loyalties are shifty at best.<br />
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If I were to try to list all of John Qualen's memorable supporting roles, this blogathon could go on forever. Another one of my faves--and a prime example of the actor's unique combination of criminal & pitiable--is as the murderer sentenced to hang in His Girl Friday. Who can forget those scenes of timid, little Qualen hiding in a desk as Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant whirl around the newspaper office in perfect screwball mania?<br />
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It seems like wherever you go in Classic Hollywood, from '30s screwball comedies to '50s gangster pictures, as the Depression-era downtrodden to the thriving immigrant on the American frontier, John Qualen is bound to show up. You may not know his name, but you'll always remember his performances. </div>
Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-77141511465089480712012-09-11T23:50:00.000-07:002012-09-11T23:50:00.951-07:00GHOSTBUSTERS Without Ghostbusters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Enjoy these generic establishing shots that could be from almost any movie based in New York, but are in fact, from <i>Ghostbusters</i>. </div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-18019967272321174702012-08-31T01:22:00.004-07:002012-08-31T01:23:57.777-07:00Cinecon 48 -- Day One <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Cinecon may be a long haul, but Thursday evening is always a breeze. That's the festival's "half day," a relaxing evening show entree of four films. View the full festival schedule <a href="http://www.cinecon.org/cinecon_schedule.html">here</a>.<br />
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This year, however, Cinecon really started with a bang. If you were to ask most classic film audiences who their crowd-pleasing favorite performers were, chances are you'd get a lot of votes for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Brothers">Nicholas Brothers</a>. We were treated to a short clip from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122402/">"The Black Network"</a> (1936), an all African-American short film. This was one of the duo's first Hollywood films. As you can see, they're babies.<br />
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But as if a Nicholas Brothers number wasn't enough, then the Cinecon audience got a real treat. Down the theater stairs came Cathy and Nicole Nicholas, Fayard's granddaughters, who perform their famous relatives' routines as the Nicholas Sisters. They took the stage (er...tap floor) for a choreographed performance, recreating Fayard and Howard's rendition of "Lucky Number" step for step. It was a real treat (not to mention a real trip!) to watch two generations of Nicholas dancers tap and shimmy some seventy years apart. An extremely cool way to kick off the festival.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Stan Kenton Orchestra</td></tr>
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If only we could have kept that energy going! The first official film of Cinecon 48 was a rather dreary musical short called <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240351/"><i>Artistry in Rhythm</i> (1944)</a>, featuring big band leader <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Kenton">Stan Kenton</a> and his Orchestra. It may not have been ol' Stan's fault, but this short, which also featured jazz singer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_O%27Day">Anita O'Day</a> (perky & scattin') and a trio called <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1346783/">The Tailor Maids</a> (stiff & vapid), is pretty dull going. The camera cuts from long shot to medium shot...and back again. For a musical, there's no real movement in the whole thing. There seems to have been little done to transfer the nightclub experience to the big screen. One highlight, though: the unintentionally hilarious crooner <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0962238/">Gene Howard</a>, performing "<a href="http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/She's-Funny-That-Way-lyrics-Frank-Sinatra/621D5A279054D2514825692800341A54">She's Funny That Way</a>." The ballad's opening line, "I'm not much to look at, nothing to see," drew some twitters from the audience; Gene Howard looked a bit like a gangly Fred MacMurray in a suit three sizes too big.<br />
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Continuing the theme of mid-'40s Universal musicals, the first feature of the night was <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035629/"><i>Always a Bridesmaid </i>(1943)</a>, a starring vehicle for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andrews_Sisters">The Andrews Sisters</a>. Appearing here at the height of their WWII-era fame, the sisters play themselves (basically). They're stars of a radio show called The Lonely Hearts Club, a matchmaking venture which attracts the desperate romantic as well as the con artist. An investigator (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0461549/">Patric Knowles</a>) poses as a lonely bachelor who falls for a woman (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531738/">Grace McDonald</a>) who may or may not be playing him for a fool. Adding some much needed comic relief are veteran character actors <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0125325/">Charles Butterworth</a> as a corrupt colonel, and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0317970/">Billy Gilbert</a> as the love-struck and tongue-tied sponsor of the radio program.<br />
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<i>Always a Bridesmaid</i> is a pretty basic "B," but the screenplay by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0110958/">Oscar Brodney</a> (who later wrote <i>Harvey</i>!) does manage to get in a few memorable zingers. Some advice to hesitant lovers: "Getting married is just like learning how to swim--hold your nose and jump in!" When a tramp gets a little too chatty with our romantic couple: "I'm a hobo, not a hermit. I'm gregarious!"<br />
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By far the best part of the film, however, is the inclusion of Cinecon favorites, the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1300135/">Jivin' Jacks and Jills</a>. The group of swingin', teenage contract players appeared in several Universal B-movies of the period. Their famous alums include Peggy Ryan and Donald O'Conor. In <i>Always a Bridesmaids</i>, these kids just keep popping up and crashing the adults' party. Good thing, too, as their high-flying dancing and slang-laced insolence keep the rote "sting operation" plot from sinking the ship.<br />
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The second film of the night was also the festival's first silent picture, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014007/"><i>The Drums of Jeopardy</i> (1923)</a>. This is your typical silent film melodrama. Boy, what <i>doesn't</i> this movie have? The titular drums are twin emeralds attached to these little statuettes of half-naked Hindus. These <i>Maltese Falcon</i>-like maguffins carry with them--you guessed it!--a terrible history of misfortune, plague, and bloodshed. They caused the deaths of rajas! They brought down Imperialist Russia! Their incessant drumming forecasts imminent doom to whomever possesses them. So, of course the plot concerns everyone and their mother trying to get their hands on them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silent film star Elaine Hammerstein</td></tr>
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The best part of this ridiculousness is a young <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000891/">Wallace Beery</a> as the villainous Karlov, the Bolshevik bully who travels to America to reclaim the jewels with which he overthrew the Czar. It's clear that Beery, even early in his career, had already mastered the shifty-eyed snarl. I mean, he's one cape-twirl away from caricature here, but he makes it work. In fact, I wish everyone chewed the scenery as well as Beery, and his Russian villainess lover <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0313532/">Maude George</a>, who has a penchant for sporting outrageous, spangly headgear.<br />
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Our young heroes are played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0611804/">Jack Mulhall</a> and billed-above-the-title star <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358567/">Elaine Hammerstein </a>(granddaughter of Oscar). Elaine is the free spirit daughter of a rich banker who falls for handsome Jack, but that's before she suspects him of offing her father. Oh, no. Elaine must find out who murdered her dad, who wants the emeralds and why, and then rescue Jack who has gotten himself locked in some kind of dungeon for almost the entire movie. Yes, it's over-the-top, but there's some fun stuff here. The best scene sees Elaine and Maude George pitted in an epic cat fight chock-full of amazing bitchfaces and outrageous outfits. It's like silent-era "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasty_(TV_series)">Dynasty</a>". Also featured: an imbibing butler, people hanging precariously from windowsills, and Wallace Beery smashing an old man's violin and laughing about it. That big meanie!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cast of <i>15 Maiden Lane</i></td></tr>
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Unfortunately, due to public transportation issues, I wasn't able to catch the last feature, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027617/">15 Maiden Lane</a>. This is a real bummer because the movie has a lot going for it: directed by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0245385/">Allan Dwan</a> (one of Hollywood's pioneers), starring <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872456/">Claire Trevor</a> (for whom my alma mater's <a href="http://www.arts.uci.edu/">art school</a> is named) and a young <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003110/">Cesar Romero</a>. Young Cesar Romero! Ugh.<br />
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But tomorrow the trains will be running late, so watch out, Cinecon. I'm just gettin' started.<br />
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-40632573500818089742012-08-30T14:19:00.003-07:002012-08-30T17:12:23.808-07:00The Cinecon Drinking Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gZz4rzdqt_VHpQV_hQaqr7kunjSVi0RBMIQooYj8xMVwCfI5C_nVsNnQEuaw2hWPkga9tICuGsi7hwbQx0umyQh0R8lbWC9Y4yDRXX0K6NP9Ke3hCfA0fnGEKI3IEPlzxB5oVUZa_SY/s1600/cinecon_home.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gZz4rzdqt_VHpQV_hQaqr7kunjSVi0RBMIQooYj8xMVwCfI5C_nVsNnQEuaw2hWPkga9tICuGsi7hwbQx0umyQh0R8lbWC9Y4yDRXX0K6NP9Ke3hCfA0fnGEKI3IEPlzxB5oVUZa_SY/s640/cinecon_home.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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The <a href="http://www.cinecon.org/">Cinecon</a> Classic Film Festival is a venerable Hollywood institution, celebrating its 48th year as the premiere destination for silent and classic film fans and collectors. Cinecon screens archival prints, rarely-seen or almost-lost features, shorts, and newsreels from the first half of the twentieth century.<br />
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So what better way than to celebrate such a significant cinematic event than with an old fashioned drinking game?<br />
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I've had the privilege of attending Cinecon the past two years, and within that short span of time, there are certain people, places and themes that recur. You're almost guaranteed, for example, to be treated to at least two Depression-era musicals, some screwball comedy pratfalls, some B-Western oaters, and tons of silent movies starring people you've barely (or never) heard of.<br />
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The experience of watching these lost cinema treasures is similar, too. Ensconced in the historic Egyptian theater all Labor Day weekend (Thursday thru Monday, all day long), there are certain survival skills one must adopt. Bring your own water. Maybe a couple baggies of snacks. A jacket. Stretch during breaks. And, be a pal: nudge your neighbor if he nods off.<br />
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Without further ado...<b>The Cinecon Drinking Game</b><br />
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<b><u>Familiar Faces</u></b><br />
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<ul><li>Wallace Beery? </li><ul><li>Take 1 drink.</li></ul><li>John Qualen? </li><ul><li>Take 1 drink. </li><li>With a Scandinavian accent? Take another drink.</li></ul><li>Wallace Beery? </li><ul><li>Take 1 drink. </li></ul><li>Eugene Pallette? </li><ul><li>Take 1 drink.</li><li>Skinny Eugene Pallette? CHUG.</li></ul><li>Jack Oakie?</li><ul><li>Take 1 drink.</li><li>As a football player? Take another drink.</li></ul><li>One of the great silent clowns--Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Langdon--performs a death-defying stunt? </li><ul><li>Applaud wildly and then take a drink. </li></ul><li>Cowboy actor does a rope/horse trick?</li><ul><li>Applaud wildly and then take a drink. </li></ul><li>William Wellman, Allan Dwan, or Henry Hathaway?</li><ul><li>Take a big drink.</li></ul></ul><div><b><u><br />
</u></b><b><u>Give it Up For the Archives</u></b></div><div><ul><li>Movies presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Eastman House, The Library of Congress, or MoMA?</li><ul><li>Applaud wildly and toast these wonderful institutions.</li></ul><li>Spot one of the <a href="https://twitter.com/warnerarchive">@WarnerArchive</a> guys?</li><ul><li>Buy them a drink!</li></ul></ul><div><b><u><br />
</u></b><b><u>Awwwkward</u></b></div><div><ul><li>Politically incorrect title card?</li><ul><li>Take 1 drink.</li></ul><li>Blatant sexist/racist/whatever?</li><ul><li>Take 2 drinks.</li></ul><li>White kids performing in blackface?</li><ul><li>CHUG. Because that is the worst. </li></ul></ul></div><div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b><u>Audience Jollies</u></b></div><ul><li>Silent film nudity?</li><ul><li>All the guys take a drink.</li></ul><li>Hunky actor takes his shirt off?</li><ul><li>All the ladies take a drink.</li></ul><li>Pre-code sexiness?</li><ul><li>CHUG. <i>Because</i> <i>everyone loves pre-code sexy. </i></li></ul><li>Someone sitting next to you falls asleep?</li><ul><li>Take a drink. </li></ul><li>Audience boos a bad joke?</li><ul><li>Take a drink.</li></ul><li>Audience applauds for an actor and you don't know who they are?</li><ul><li>Take a drink and feel shame. </li></ul></ul></div><div><br />
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Additional/Optional Rules:<br />
--take a drink whenever the title of the film has nothing to do with the plot<br />
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--if the film is set during Prohibition, whisper the speakeasy password ("Swordfish"), then take a drink from your flask<br />
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***And of course we here at SalesOnFilm urge you to drink responsibly. And, y'know, this works with popcorn and Coca-Cola, too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUDSrq1orOhj21bZX8_pEAOGEIsiHXlaotw7iuodn-waBEMnFNtnSHEEyYvgvTOesjl2I7puFkcK6aGv9UQ2Qu8CYhbA9uURZDidW5oniBAMvTQjImA_dnm4967StZJ_DT89p063B8BDQ/s1600/titlecard.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUDSrq1orOhj21bZX8_pEAOGEIsiHXlaotw7iuodn-waBEMnFNtnSHEEyYvgvTOesjl2I7puFkcK6aGv9UQ2Qu8CYhbA9uURZDidW5oniBAMvTQjImA_dnm4967StZJ_DT89p063B8BDQ/s640/titlecard.jpeg" width="640" /></a>Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-30051640163515495822012-08-22T14:20:00.000-07:002012-08-17T19:08:52.633-07:00Gordon WIllis' New York: BROADWAY DANNY ROSE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sadder than <i>Manhattan, </i>the elegiac and nostalgic <i>Broadway Danny Rose</i> is perhaps Allen's finest underrated film. Allen and Willis ping-pong from the city's iconic Broadway haunts, where washed-up comedians gather for coffee, to New Jersey, where madcap romance looms in the shape of Mia Farrow's giant, <i>Mob Wives</i>-eque sunglasses. A caper, a comedy, a mournful portrait of success and failure; a beautiful film.</div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-61675335033396785622012-08-21T14:26:00.000-07:002012-08-17T19:09:53.959-07:00Gordon Willis' New York: THE PICK-UP ARTIST<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Post-Coppola, post-Allen, Gordon Willis--already immortally associated with THE New York look--is picked up by the '80s. This time, it's James Toback, seeking the visual heft the lightweight story of an NY cad (Robert Downey, pre-Jr.!) so sorely needs. It's all Brat Pack desperately seeking some Gen X relevancy. At least the city looks good.</div>
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Final scenes at Atlantic City gives us a glimpse into the neon wasteland of young RDJ's babyfaced cruiser. Romantic and cynical, genuine and scheming, RDJ's/Toback's pick-up artist tries to strike out on his own, but can't quite escape the city's cultural baggage. (RDJ's character lives near Coney Island, just like Woody Allen does in <i>Annie Hall</i>; note the shot below that <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/08/gordon-willis-new-york-manhattan.html">Willis cribbed </a>from his earlier work in <i>Manhattan</i>.)</div>
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Willis does what he's hired to do--remind you of his earlier, better New York pictures. A self-conscious reflection of the city's evolving (devolving?) state. In the '70s, NYC was pitch-black; in Allen's nostalgic black & white, a city of classical beauty; in Toback's Reagen-era city is alternatively washed-out and alive with the colors and spaces of New York City's cinematic past. </div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-12778355430813138352012-08-20T15:59:00.000-07:002012-08-21T20:41:21.618-07:00Gordon Willis' New York: KLUTE<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DP Gordon Willis (left) with director Alan J Pakula<br />
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When we talk of Gordon Willis collaborations, everyone focuses on Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola. I mean, why wouldn't they? <i>The Godfather</i> films? Woody's greatest films (<i>Manhattan</i>, <i>The Purple Rose of Cairo</i>) of his greatest decade (1980s)? These are tough creds to ignore.<br />
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That Willis' collaboration with Alan J. Pakula (<i>Klute</i>, <i>The Parallax View</i>, <i>All The President's Men</i>) is only his third most notable contribution to American cinema, speaks to the absurd high quality of the man's work and his seminal impact on filmmaking.<br />
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All three films deal with paranoia, surveillance and the espionage-as-commonplace themes prevalent during the Nixon years. The message: You Are Being Watched. Who better than Willis, the master of the artistic establishing shot, to capture the individual in the everyday?<br />
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<i>Klute</i> is the most formally obscure of the three films. Pakula/Willis shot behind objects in the foreground, between bars, from behind windows. POV is stationary, constant, omnipotent. You are just a figure in the background. We see all.<br />
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-12649746252357405142012-08-19T15:46:00.000-07:002012-08-21T20:25:15.596-07:00Gordon Willis' New York: THE GODFATHER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Blacks have never been blacker, shadows never so deep. Gordon Willis' starts with a blank, pitch-dark frame and then adds pools of illumination--an arc light here, a reflection in blue-tinted glass there. Minimalism is key. </div>
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Most people forget that for much of its runtime, <i>The Godfather</i> is a Christmas movie. Willis and Coppola capture the crispness of a wintry Manhattan where holiday cheer is put on ice. It's a post-war Christmas, slightly dimmed, slightly less festive. New York wants to celebrate, but there's a darkness in the streets they can't escape.</div>
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The objects of the mafioso become <i>objets d'art</i>: the smooth glint of a chrome running board, the burst of fire from a .38 special like a shot in the dark. </div>
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<i>The Godfather </i>would be nothing without its time and place. This is the world of Michael Corleone--all inky pavement and dank alley corners--as thick and dark as Pacino's Brylcreemed hair. </div>
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This is Gordon Willis' New York. All hail The Prince of Darkness. </div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-65393863848691538832012-08-18T15:11:00.000-07:002012-08-18T15:11:00.416-07:00Gordon Willis' New York: BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Another '80s gem. A movie so much about New York, cocaine, and yuppies, you'll think the neon was right there in the room with you. LIVE IT as Michael J. Fox lives it. Confront your own dickishness via the superficial milieu of cheap fusion restaurants; marvel at your lack of insightful introspection even as you walk the streets all night in search of crepuscular redemption.</div>
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Here Willis has perfected the art of the street corner, the street sign, and again--eternally, a trademark (money shot?)--the <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/08/gordon-willis-new-york-manhattan.html">silhouetted</a> <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/08/gordon-willis-new-york-pick-up-artist.html">couple</a>. </div>
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As with <i>The Pick-Up Artist</i>, Willis keeps the pic afloat; whatever mild interest it rouses stems from his consummate urban eye. Even though the film is laughably dated (albeit in a fun, "It's the '80s! Let's do cocaine!" kind of way), it takes itself much too seriously, in a faux Bret Easton Ellis style White Boy's Sorrow kind of way. Again, the pretty pictures ground its quarter-life crisis melodrama in some kind of recognizable reality. Yuppies come and OD; New York City survives. </div>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-64337220386317542752012-08-17T14:30:00.000-07:002012-08-17T18:42:50.309-07:00Gordon Willis' New York: MANHATTAN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The definitive, the iconic; <i>Manhattan</i>: perhaps the New York movie to end all New York movies. </div>
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Certainly, the Woody Allen/Gordon Willis New York movie to end all Woody Allen/Gordon Willis New York movies. </div>
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Allen's intoxicating love of the street, the architecture, the smells and textures of the city are heralded by Willis' incredible contrasts, painterly framing, and famously inky, blacker-than blacks. </div>
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The first five minutes of Manhattan contain more poetry than most blockbuster trilogies. Even these selection of stills--caught and cropped out of context, out of time--tell a compelling and timeless story of unrivaled beauty. </div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He adored <i style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion - er, no, make that: he - he romanticized it all out of proportion. - Yes. - To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. - Er, tsch, no, missed out something. - Chapter One. He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles. - No, no, corny, too corny for a man of my taste. Can we ... can we try and make it more profound? - Chapter One. He adored New York City. To him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity that caused so many people to take the easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in ... - no, that's a little bit too preachy. I mean, you know, let's face it, I want to sell some books here. - Chapter One. He adored New York City, although to him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitized by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage ... - Too angry. I don't want to be angry. - Chapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. - I love this. - New York was his town, and it always would be ...</i></span></blockquote>
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-66630823215979886302012-08-07T15:53:00.001-07:002012-08-08T02:29:04.546-07:00It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Harold Lloyd!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This entry is part of the <b>Harold Lloyd Blogathon</b>, running from August 6--10th, hosted by <a href="http://salesonfilm.tumblr.com/">salesonfilm</a>, <a href="http://oldfilmsflicker.tumblr.com/">oldfilmsflicker</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/tpjost">tpjost</a>.</div>
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The purpose of the blogathon is to raise awareness of the films of Harold Lloyd and reinvigorate interest in celebrating and preserving the Burchard, NE birthplace of Harold Lloyd. Visit <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SaveTheHaroldLloydBirthplace">Save the Harold Lloyd Birthplace</a> on Facebook for more info.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">...faster than a speeding bullet...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">...more powerful than a locomotive...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">...able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!</span><br />
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<b><i>Clark Kent, I suppose, had a little Harold Lloyd in him.</i> --Joe Shuster, Superman co-creator</b></div>
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For years, comic book fans have debated the "real" identity of The Man of Steel: Superman, or Clark Kent? The alien immigrant or the Kansas farm boy? When teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman in the early 1930s, they based the characters' dual identities on two famous film stars of the time, Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd.</div>
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Fairbanks: eccentric, dashing, acrobatic star of swashbuckling adventures, whose famous, defiant arms akimbo pose later became Superman's signature posture. Lloyd: at intervals shy and bold, homely and handsome, intrepid and timid, whose iconic round-frame glasses helped to normalize the comedian's hidden athletic prowess.</div>
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However, while watching many Harold Lloyd pictures in preparation for this blogathon, I realized: Harold Lloyd may have been the model for Clark Kent, but he's Superman, too. No disrespect to Fairbanks, but Lloyd did just as much scaling up buildings, bounding around cities, and rescuing damsels--he just did it in glasses and a plain wool suit. Unlike Fairbanks, who reveled in the adventurous possibilities of faraway kingdoms and historical flights of fancy, Harold Lloyd was distinctly a man for his time; his averageness made him counterintuitively spectacular. In the words of critic Dave Kehr, "T<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">h</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">e other great silent comics defined their own worlds; Harold Lloyd lives dangerously in ours." </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">In fact, Lloyd's comic persona inhabits both sides of the Clark Kent/Super divide. He is as often an innocent country lad (</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">Grandma's Boy</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">) as he is a street-smart metropolitan (</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">Speedy</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">); in Lloyd's most successful outings, he is able to combine the two poles of identity into a spectacular character arc (</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">Safety Last!</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">, </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">The Kid Brother</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">).</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">Harold Lloyd himself was born in the tiny midwestern town of Burchard, Nebraska--might as well have been Smallville, Kansas. The towering skyscrapers of New York and/or busy streets of Los Angeles are analogues to Kent's adopted home of Metropolis. In fact, when Siegel and Shuster were dreaming up Superman stories, they harkened back to the Lloyd pictures of their youth for inspiration. Film fed into comics, and then back into film. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Harold Lloyd in <i>Professor Beware</i> from 1938, the same year Superman debuted in the comics.</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">But I like to think of Lloyd as more an example of "living history" in the creation/propagation of the Superman/Clark Kent mythos. It is not as if Siegel & Shuster were only looking to the silent movie past; throughout the '30s, Lloyd was actively making talking pictures. His second-to-last talkie premiered the same year as Superman, 1938. (Fairbanks, on the other hand, stopped making pictures all-together in the early '30s and passed away in 1939.)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif;">All of this to say, you can look at Lloyd's onscreen persona as influencing the formation of Clark Kent/Superman in more ways than one. Unlike Kent, who needs to "pretend" not to be Superman all the time (or, vice versa, if you prefer), Harold Lloyd is able to be both at once. The flexibility within the average--Harold as "The Boy," the everyman, the regular Joe (or Clark, if you prefer)--allowed Lloyd to stun us with his daredevilry, amuse us with his wit, endear us to his humanity, and cheer at his successes. The more normal "The Boy," the more impressive the (Super)man. </span><br />
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<tr><td><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgatNYaZ2WR6kj0FUOHxBaDq6nxi56y03D_4S0xOiAPV_LPpJRh9zuVJTNaQfYUXqH73WFPKU43YfaJKNhmwYBvtFHehDefMRgxDN_LBfdqjusX9iS15_8Dfev_ieIBjWGK_XpG5lJIzmw/s640/MV5BMjMyMzI5NzY4MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjcxOTIyNw@@._V1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="510" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cary Grant in <i>Bringing Up Baby</i> from 1938, the same year Superman debuts</span><br />
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<b><i>You've seen Harold Lloyd in pictures, haven't you? ...Take his attitude--How he walks and how he moves, what he's doing, how he plays the scene.</i> --Howard Hawks to Cary Grant </b></div>
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Which brings us to later screen iterations of Harold Lloyd and his legacy as Kent/Superman. A pivotal point in this progression is 1938's screwball comedy masterpiece, <i>Bringing Up Baby</i>. The film's director, Howard Hawks, told Cary Grant to base his character, mild-mannered paleontologist David Huxley, on Harold Lloyd. Grant fixed himself up with a pair of round-rimmed glasses, an awkward-fitting suit, and the beleaguered exasperation of a man eternally cursed by comedic circumstance.</div>
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It is worth noting that even here we can look to Lloyd as a "living history" and a very real, viable influence on screwball comedy of the period. Two years earlier, Lloyd had starred in <i>The Milky Way </i>(1936) for director Leo McCarey. The film wasn't devised as a vehicle for Harold Lloyd, still boyish-looking then but well into his '40s, but McCarey new the material was right up Lloyd's alley. Incidentally, the next year, McCarey would direct another screwball classic, <i>The Awful Truth</i>, with who else? Cary Grant.</div>
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In <i>Bringing Up Baby</i>, we can see the influence of both silent-era Harold Lloyd and sound-era Harold Lloyd. I would post more about the Lloyd/Grant connection, but I think some screencaps from <i>Bringing Up Baby</i> and their equivalents in Lloyd's pictures speak for themselves.<br />
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<b><i>I based the character of Clark Kent on the young Cary Grant. There's a wonderful scene in </i>Bringing Up Baby<i> in which he plays a paleontologist working on a dinosaur, and he's up on a ladder that is rocking back and forth. He looks terribly awkward and afraid, while Katharine Hepburn looks brash and fearless as she comes to his rescue. He has a shyness, vulnerability, and a certain charming goofiness that I thought would be perfect for Clark Kent. He even wears the same kind of glasses. Of course I knew I could never </i>be<i> Cary Grant, but there was nothing to prevent me from stealing from him.</i> --Christopher Reeve </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent in <i>Superman</i> (1978), forty years after the debut of character</span></td></tr>
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This quote says it all, really. Forty years after the release of <i>Bringing Up Baby</i> and the debut of Superman, <i>Superman: The Movie</i> re-established the comic strip character's relevancy. I don't know if Christopher Reeve was aware that Grant's performance was in turn influenced by Harold Lloyd, or if Reeve knew that Siegel and Shuster originally partly based Clark Kent on Lloyd. What I do know, is that Christopher Reeve's performances as Superman and Clark Kent are by far the most iconic invocations of these characters in the history of Superman. For many people, Christopher Reeve will always be Superman/Clark Kent. What they may not appreciate, however, is that Superman/Clark Kent has always been Harold Lloyd.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brandon Routh as Clark Kent in <i>Superman Returns</i> (2006)</span></td></tr>
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<b><i>Christopher Reeve did such an amazing job that to give him some kind of accent or more bravado would have been wrong.</i> --Brandon Routh</b><br />
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This brings us all the way to the present--well, 2006. <i>Superman Returns</i> was such a blatant remake of the 1978 <i>Superman</i>, many film viewers (aka me) wondered by the hell it was made in the first place. Infused by a stoic reverence for the Reeve movies, <i>Superman Returns</i> didn't dare do anything unique or original. It's not a terrible movie, but so paralyzed by its idolatry of the earlier film, that it never really comes to life on its own terms. </div>
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Despite the flaws in the film, it is interesting to think of this "new" Superman as being precisely as old as the character itself. In modeling his performance on Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh is in essence playing Reeve playing Grant playing Lloyd.</div>
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Harold Lloyd was at the beginning of Superman's inception, and continues to be a reverberating influence every time the character is revived on the big screen. Whereas Douglas Fairbanks might have contributed Superman's iconic pose--<a href="http://flickflackmovietalk.com/wp-content/uploads//2010/02/superman_returns_e.jpg">Routh does it beautifully</a>--I would argue that the Kent persona--shy, bumbling, lovelorn, honest, hardworking, and forever optimistic--is all Harold Lloyd.</div>
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<br /></div>Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-18232866530671010482012-08-03T23:19:00.001-07:002012-08-03T23:32:33.059-07:00ON COMICS: Read this book now--HAWKEYE #1<br />
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HAWKEYE #1 was designed and executed by good people who love us and want us to be happy. </div>
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Seemingly devised to appeal to the newly-minted, post-<i>Avengers</i> Hawkeye fanboys (and fangirls--Jeremy Renner, holla), this book is all Clint Barton all the time: scruffy, sassy, purple t-shirt-wearing, man-of-the-people Clint Barton. No supervillains, no Avengers, no tights and quivers; as Clint delineates his disadvantages: "I'm an orphan raised by carnies fighting with a stick and a string from the Paleolithic era." </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB43XZmu4y9lVA53RpyEAthv6Br4CxHl1tY4njW3KID_lbQCOOSxto00R22T0W7j55jcry_nY1ztoSIyTd_sTtBquq2vpTIJaOvORrZZMq-jfvxS-ee8p8jITlNcYJH5fRNB9Q-ZS9hAE/s1600/HAWKEYE2012001013_col.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB43XZmu4y9lVA53RpyEAthv6Br4CxHl1tY4njW3KID_lbQCOOSxto00R22T0W7j55jcry_nY1ztoSIyTd_sTtBquq2vpTIJaOvORrZZMq-jfvxS-ee8p8jITlNcYJH5fRNB9Q-ZS9hAE/s640/HAWKEYE2012001013_col.jpeg" width="420" /></a></div>
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As a dude with no superpowers, it follows that the opening pages of HAWKEYE #1 feature Clint falling off a building, landing on top of a car and spending the next six weeks in traction. </div>
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But this isn't one of those books all about de-mythologizing superheros; it's just what Hawkeye does when he's not being Hawkeye. Turns out Hawkeye lives in a shitty tenement house in Bedford-Stuyvesant run by some Russian tough guy named Ivan who decides to triple everyone's rent so he can flip the building for a tasty profit. So, Loki, he ain't. </div>
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But it's the street-level charm of HAWKEYE #1 that makes the book such a unique pleasure. In a parallel story, Clint tries to rescue a cute, pizza-loving dog from being run over. His good-guy efforts naturally lead to fisticuffs in the veterinary clinic, and adopting the battered pup, named, coincidentally enough, Arrow. </div>
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Everything about HAWKEYE #1 works, which should come as no surprise given it's written by Marvel/Avengers veteran/wunderkind Matt Fraction. I get the feeling Fraction could tell Clint Barton's story with his eyes closed and walking backwards, but the writing here is by no means lazy. It's a strong character piece with action and heart in all the right places. Complimenting the writing perfectly is David Aja's incredible artwork. Aja's beautiful split-panel construction creates variations on the traditional nine-panel format that always keeps the story flowing. Matt Hollingsworth's stellar colors help convey a steamy, stifling New York August and the cooler scenes at the vet, as a summer thunderstorm pounds the pavement outside.<br />
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This book is a pleasant surprise. I'll confess I've never read a Hawkeye title before, but like Marvel's current run of Daredevil (a character in which I'd never previously been particularly invested), Hawkeye has all the ingredients for a terrific introduction to the character. I'd say if you got to know Hawkeye in the <i>Avengers</i> movie, HAWKEYE #1 is a great book to pick up and enjoy Clint Barton in all his purple glory. </div>Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-11249332567521998732012-07-06T00:02:00.004-07:002012-08-17T14:54:20.013-07:00ON COMICS: 'Before Watchmen' Ozymandias #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Ozymandias #1</i>, as written by Len Wein and drawn by Jae Lee, is so far the best book in DC's 'Before Watchmen' launch; and when I say the best, it is <i>by far</i> the best. </div>
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There is not a single thing about it which is not completely satisfying. This book is a masterclass in how to take the mundane elements of an origin story--those plot and character points which must inevitably get checked off in our hero's journey from schoolboy to superhero--and lay them out on the page in such a way that the elegance of the visual storytelling overcomes any apprehensions of familiar plotting.</div>
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And, really, this is what every good comic should do; but in a medium so entrenched in re-telling its origins and re-working its myths, a medium so reliant on a recognizable, standardized length and format, that to deviate to the extreme in form or content risks marginalizing its core readership--a good superhero origin story is about as elusive as a unicorn in a field of four-leaf clovers.</div>
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And perhaps it is especially rare to see just intelligence, rigor and attentive design to a project which has been almost universally decried--as intellectual theft, as actual theft, as crass commercialism, or just pure bad taste. But I feel like, in the five issues of 'Before Watchmen' released, <i>Ozymandias #1</i> is the first to actually touch on the potential greatness--the sheer creative excitement--of revisiting the world of <i>Watchmen: </i>that is,<i> </i>is a self-contained, self-sufficient, singular entity. As far as I can tell, <i>Ozymandias #1 </i>does nothing to tarnish what Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons did in <i>Watchmen</i>, but it does a helluva job of tapping into what made that seminal work so spectacular. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Just look at this asshole.</i></td></tr>
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What I like about Wein's structure for the first issue is that he starts big; right off the bat we have a famous <i>Watchmen</i> splash page. Everyone knows Ozymandias is the villain. There's no reason to pussyfoot around the realities of Adrian Veidt: he's a zillionaire, he's a genius, he's a martial arts expert and world-class gymnast, he genetically engineered a giant pet cat named Bubastis, he lives in a goddamn ice fortress in Antarctic. Adrian Veidt is not subtle. Adrian Veidt is an asshole who knows everything and may or may not be a completely justified mass murder. Len Wein <i>perfectly </i>captures that sort of charming dickishness inherent in Veidt's character; he's such a little prick but we can't help admiring him at least a little bit because he's also right. Ozymandias at least has the courage of his (crazy, maniacal) convictions; like Lex Luthor, he's a compelling megalomaniac. </div>
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Baby Adrian is, of course, the same. Wein absolutely nails Veidt's infuriatingly precise, logical, almost Spock-like reasoning. This one page of background pretty much gives you everything you need to know about Veidt. And check out that final panel! That's the kind of too-obvious in-joke that might have turned me off if this issue weren't otherwise so beautifully written and drawn. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I mean. C'mon, right? No, but it's fantastic.</i></td></tr>
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As much as Len Wein's characterization is spot-on, I honestly think the VIP of this issue, and probably the entire 'Before Watchmen' series so far, is artist Jae Lee. Let me level with you: I have no idea who Jae Lee is, but goddamn if he is not the perfect person to draw <i>Ozymandias</i>. Just look at the way he draws Veidt's face throughout the book: the eyebrows raised in superciliousness, the impetuous little curl in his inhumanly golden hair--just the way Adrian always looks as though he's thinking about everything in the world except the other human being in the room with him. It's a far-off look; it's a look of Alexandrian conquest. </div>
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The story follows Veidt through everything Ozymandias told us in <i>Watchmen</i>--that his parents died, he gave away his family fortune and went on a "vision quest" to the Far East, ate some hash, fucked some dudes (you're surprised? c'mon), and practiced his kung fu for future crime-fighting and world-conquering purposes. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Wein & Lee have crafted a book that doesn't ape the look or feel of <i>Watchmen</i>, but one that has--what can I say?--a vibe, a certain rhythmic similarity; it strikes a tone on the page. Colorist June Chung does a stellar job of washing the book in constant--yet almost subliminal--sunshine; the entire thing seems dipped in gold, as if the color were emanating from Veidt himself and staining every page. One notable exception is the very first page, which recreates the famous "shot" of Veidt standing in front of his wall of television monitors in his Antarctic fortress, poised to unleash devastation across the globe. This glorious splash page is ice cold.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Much has been made of <i>Watchmen</i>'s visual rigor, the nine-panel format and frequent use of recurring imagery, mirrored panels, and of course, that <a href="http://www.readingwatchmen.com/2012/05/watchmen-chapter-v-complete-annotations.html">famous symmetrical chapter</a>. That kind of discipline, planning and precision would be daunting to anyone taking up the <i>Watchmen</i> mantle, and it seems like most writers & artists of 'Before Watchmen' have chosen to go their own way in constructing their comics. Fair enough. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">But perhaps the most impressive aspect of <i>Ozymandias #1</i> is the way in which the entire book is constructed of circles and squares (well, rectangles). Not only do the circles echo the recurring image of the snow globe/perfume bottle in the original <i>Watchmen</i> series (and included by Darwyn Cooke & Amanda Connor in <i><a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-comics-before-watchmen.html">Silk Spectre #1</a></i>--nice!), here they serve the very economical function of divvying up each page and getting as much story in as possible. There is <i>a lot</i> to this book; a lot of words, a lot of art, and an awful lot of Veidt's background. Wein & Lee cover twenty years in thirty pages, and not a single beat seems out of place. Some of the other 'Before Watchmen' have had some major pacing issues, but this one seems perfectly calibrated. Not an inch of the frame is wasted, partially due to the contrasting circle-within-rectangle, frame-within-frame structure. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">This thing is elegant as fuck. It's smooth, controlled, powerful and yet quiet...much like Adrian Veidt himself? I may be overreaching a bit here, but <i>Ozymandias #1</i> <b>does</b> project a quiet confidence and self-assuredness. It's certainly the first 'Before Watchmen' title I've wanted to read the next issue of right away. It's completely fulfilling yet leaves you wanting much, much more. If you've been skeptical about the merits of this whole 'Before Watchmen' business, <i>Ozymandias #1 </i>might be the title to change your mind.</span><br />
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<br />Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-66301541015340837112012-06-27T18:29:00.000-07:002012-06-27T20:12:47.419-07:00ON COMICS: 'Before Watchmen' NITE OWL #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b> <i>Nite Owl #1</i> by J. Michael Straczynski, Andy Kubert & Joe Kubert </b></div>
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One of the major storylines in <i>Watchmen</i> is Nite Owl coming out of retirement to embrace his inner superhero, get the girl and save the world, aka how Dan Dreiberg got his groove back. </div>
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So, if any character has a good backstory to mine, it's Nite Owl. At his height, he and Rorschach were crime-fighting badasses; Dan was the Batman of the <i>Watchmen</i> universe. He was cool. To wit: the Kuberts' gorgeous cover to <i>Nite Owl #1</i>. A triumphant, commanding pose, a ripped Nite Owl surveying his dominion. Now, don't get me wrong--I <i>love</i> fat, nerdy, impotent Dan Dreiberg. I mean, I really love fat Dan. But as much as I love the extremes of the character, what I'm interested in is how shy, nerdy Dan can co-exist with skull-crushing, vigilante Dan. How did he get to be that way?</div>
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Luckily for me, it seems that's the exact question Straczynski is asking in this series. When you think about, in a lot of ways, Dan is the most human character in the <i>Watchmen</i> universe. He doesn't have any superpowers, he wears glasses, he eats bad food; he's fallible, the quintessential "regular guy."So one of the best aspects of the series is watching Nite Owl play off of all the other personalities in <i>Watchmen</i>: sociopaths (The Comedian), extremists (Rorschach), and god-like, giant blue naked dudes (Dr. Manhattan). Dan is also an interesting link between the old guard (The Minutemen) and the new. And this is exactly where Straczynski begins in <i>Nite Owl #1</i>.</div>
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It's 1962. Dan is still a teenager living with his parents. His room is plastered with <a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-comics-before-watchmen.html">Nite Owl (aka Hollis Mason)</a> memorabilia. One night he bugs Nite Owl's Owl Car (yes, really) and tracks him back to his underground Owl Cave (yes, really). There he finds a note from Mason to meet him in the park the next day. Dan pushes hard to become Hollis' partner (the Robin to his Batman, if you will). Mason says he'll think about it.</div>
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And here is where the book lost a lot of points for me. When Dan gets home, he learns his father has burned all of his Nite Owl memorabilia and sees his father viciously beating his mother. Only a few panels later we learn his father has had a heart attack and a few more panels later Mrs. Dreiberg is spitting on her husband's lifeless corpse at the funeral. I mean...what? Why couldn't Dan's father just have died? Dan mentions in <i>Watchmen</i> that he was gifted a large inheritance when his father died, but why the need to include domestic violence in the equation? It seems like a very sudden and unnecessary narrative crutch to fall back on. Considering Dan's chivalry towards women and general good-guy-ness, wouldn't he have mentioned his father's violence to Laurie (who certainly has plenty of daddy issues herself)? I mean, it's kind of a huge event smack dab in the middle of the book that only seems to get us from point A (Dan living with his parents) to point B (Dan living with Hollis Mason and training to become the new Nite Owl). I guess Mrs. Dreiberg moved to Mexico or something IDK.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZ-nuj2XunoIRVaV3jeIlEOapZueBV_AeKC83kr7AXKADX_0dHZLUdidK5J_eZYLi0HxgKSnGslNf6xlqaUwjJThWYbityMuptrV_FkjP0QVyme-lkNTh_svR_8iil6Z4RcOTFXdonnI/s1600/NO_01_08.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZ-nuj2XunoIRVaV3jeIlEOapZueBV_AeKC83kr7AXKADX_0dHZLUdidK5J_eZYLi0HxgKSnGslNf6xlqaUwjJThWYbityMuptrV_FkjP0QVyme-lkNTh_svR_8iil6Z4RcOTFXdonnI/s640/NO_01_08.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan trying on Hollis Mason's Nite Owl cowl<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">ANYWAY...the next part of the book is actually really, really cool, which is why I'm having a hard time not liking it. It's now 1965, Dan is officially Nite Owl, he's got <a href="http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Owlship">Archie</a> and he's partnered with Rorschach. (Rorschach!) In one brilliant splash page, we get the summation of their thug-busting partnership with not one, but two "Hurm" jokes! Blatant fan service, but, c'mon, you know when Rorschach shows up, the "Hurm" jokes aren't far behind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What follows is the famous scene of the first meeting of the Crimebuster. Joe & Andy Kubert very wisely don't try to re-invent the wheel here. They replicate the characters' blocking exactly, we just get everything from a different angle. Check it out.</span></div>
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I really dig this. We get a new perspective on the meeting that started it all. We're privy to Dan's thoughts about Laurie, all the while we know that she's looking at Dr. Manhattan. Now, just because I liked the Crimebusters retread, it's still just that: a retread. As much fun as it is to watch Dan interacting with Hollis, Rorschach and Laurie--the key figures in his life as Nite Owl--there is a strong sense of deja vu with this issue. We've seen it all before. And maybe JSM is just getting the introductions over with (and rather quickly--this book moves at lightning speed) so he can start building a really epic Nite Owl/Rorschach crime-fighting arc. I would like to see JSM slow down a bit and give real time to the important relationships in Dan's life. <span style="background-color: white;">He basically has the entire 1960s to do so. </span><span style="background-color: white;">There's so much to be mined here; it would be a real shame to just treat the <i>Nite Owl</i> title as a sub-par Batman team-up book.</span></div>
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In addition, we do run into some timeframe issues here. <i><a href="http://salesonfilm.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-comics-before-watchmen.html">Silk Spectre #1</a></i> ends in 1966 with Laurie hitching a ride with her boyfriend and some hippies to San Francisco, and here in 1966 he's attending the Crimebusters meeting in New York. It will be a real challenge to get these books to coordinate with each other and stay true to the complex and detailed <i>Watchmen</i> timeline. Will they pull it off? Hurm, indeed. </div>Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-50299525081318254952012-06-26T00:48:00.003-07:002012-06-26T00:48:18.778-07:00ON COMICS: 'Before Watchmen'<i>Watchmen</i> got me into comics, so when I heard about DC's plan to launch 'Before Watchmen,' unlike a lot of comics fans, I was pretty psyched. I mean, I love the characters, I love the universe, and because <i>Watchmen</i> was what opened up the entire medium to me, I feel a sentimental attachment to the property.<br />
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Of course, I have my reservations. Isn't part of the brilliance of Moore & Gibbons' <i>Watchmen</i> its narrative singularity, the fact that the six-issue series stands apart as a comment on superhero comics as much as it is a total story in and of itself? Yes, but unlike some purists (I would say, killjoys), at the same time as I entered into the realm of reading and collecting comic books, I entered into the bizarro alternate universe of comics fandom. <i>Watchmen</i> fandom to be exact. In this world, the characters belong to us--the fans--and we may tinker with them as we wish, rewrite their deaths, fill in gaps in the canon, write about before and after the official beginning and ending of the series.<br />
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And isn't that what's happening here? Sure, it's on a terrible, soul-crushing, DC-sanctified corporate level and not a cool, underground, indie slashfic level, but what's the difference? Anyone who knows comics knows writers, artists and companies reinvent, retcon and otherwise draw and quarter their own creations in a ouroborosistic orgy of cannibalism on a regular basis. At least DC hired some cool people to honor/destroy/do absolutely nothing drastic or permanent to the legacy of the greatest comic book of all-time.<br />
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Yadda, yadda, let's get to the books.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiK_9ghEMs2hENyw4qVjDW6uHE9XX3HiPpklNb3r3crYFBZ4G7TX5cjE1Y_GWZrBR7zbKy2YoeShtXWP7DNjVQdTWIRRpnrmUuyP73LGcyPlGotUYWdJlvlfshyt4_VqRXUkYD1qTObVw/s1600/BW_MINUTEMEN_1_Cvr.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiK_9ghEMs2hENyw4qVjDW6uHE9XX3HiPpklNb3r3crYFBZ4G7TX5cjE1Y_GWZrBR7zbKy2YoeShtXWP7DNjVQdTWIRRpnrmUuyP73LGcyPlGotUYWdJlvlfshyt4_VqRXUkYD1qTObVw/s640/BW_MINUTEMEN_1_Cvr.jpeg" width="416" /></a><b style="background-color: white;"><i>Minutemen #1</i> by Darwyn Cooke</b><br />
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Okay, so maybe I'm not to be entrusted with objectivity here, but in my mind, Darwyn Cooke is the perfect man to handle the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Watchmen_characters#Minor_characters">Minutemen</a>, who were the Watchmen before 'Before Watchmen.' Meta-meta-meta, <i>woah</i>. In my opinion, Cooke's epic <i>DC: The New Frontier</i> is second only to <i>Watchmen</i> in its thorough, enthusiastic, gorgeous, heartbreaking de- and re-construction of the origin and myth of the American superhero.<br />
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As an artist, Cooke's commitment to mid-century retro aesthetics is a welcome asset to the story of Golden Age crime fighters. Indeed, I think Cooke's attention to fabrics, shading and the overall tactile quality of the character's costumes actually adds a new dimension to Dave Gibbons' original artwork.<br />
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<i>Watchmen</i> itself was full of extra-textual pieces on the Minutemen that were not, strictly speaking, part of its linear storytelling. You could certainly read #1--6 of <i>Watchmen</i> without reading the supplementary excerpts from 'Under the Hood' and get along just fine. In this regard, <i>Minutemen #1</i> is sort of a supplement to a supplement, with 'Under the Hood' author Hollis Mason (aka Nite Owl) walking the reader through the history of the Minutemen.</div>
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Hollis recalls how, while still a New York policemen, he first encountered Hooded Justice. Cooke's reveal of the vigilante is terrifying and suspenseful, dousing the page in striking red (the first appearance of that color in the book). He goes on to introduce all the players: Sally Jupiter (aka Silk Spectre), Edward Blake (aka The Comedian), Byron Lewis (aka Mothman), patriotic superhero for hire Dollar Bill, and mostly touchingly, Ursula Zandt (aka The Silhouette). In Moore & Gibbons' <i>Watchmen</i>, Silhouette is alloted only a few panels and her intriguing and heartbreaking backstory is only alluded to by other characters. In <i>Minutemen #1</i>, Ursula gets four whole pages of introduction (as much as Cooke gives Nite Owl, his narrator), giving us a glimpse into the character's crime-fighting never seen before. </div>
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This is the stuff of fandom heaven. This is the kind of thing I wanted to see from 'Before Watchmen': fan favorite characters actually being given stuff to do. I want to see Silhouette busting up a child pornography ring; I want to watch her take down bad guys; I want insight into her background in Nazi-occupied Austria. There's nothing in the first issue to suggest that isn't exactly the kind of storytelling we're going to get from Cooke's series.</div>
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But as much time as Cooke spends giving us the run-down on characters, he's crafting a larger portrait of how these disparate vigilantes came together as the Minutemen. Using minor characters like Sally Jupiter's manager/husband Larry Schnexnayder, Cooke begins to connect the dots between the 'before' and the 'after' events of the Watchmen universe. The book ends with the reveal of Nelson Gardner (aka Captain Metropolis), the former marine who founded the Minutemen. Like many of the minor characters from <i>Watchmen</i>, very little is known about Captain Metropolis and what little we can piece together of his background is mostly speculative. It's exciting to watch how Cooke weaves together all these characters, incorporating the history of <i>Watchmen</i> while setting future events in motion. But the first issue gives little indication on what kind of story <i>Minutemen</i> will tell. Will it be a retro action book? Will it flash forward to Hollis and Sally Jupiter's involvement in <i>Watchmen</i>'s main story, or will it stay in the 1940s? I could even envision different issues having a different narrator. Whatever the future holds for the 'Before Watchmen' <i>Minutemen</i> series, I know I'm in good hands with Darwyn Cooke, and that at the very least, each new issue will deliver the gorgeous, detailed artwork and lovingly crafted characterizations that are the Cooke's signature. </div>
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<b>Silk Spectre #1 by Darwyn Cooke & Amanda Conner</b><br />
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Silk Spectre is the hardest damned <i>Watchmen</i> character to write for, and just as hard to defend. Both Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I) and her daughter Laurie (Silk Spectre II) are burdened with being the only female characters of much importance in the <i>Watchmen </i>universe, and are therefore saddled with every expectation of women, ever. It was Alan Moore's intention to use Silk Spectre(s) to investigate, comment upon, and ultimately critique the issues surrounding female superheroes (their intense sexualization and fetishization for male audiences); but like most minority representations, those stereotypes were also enforced.<br />
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And, so, with all this baggage, I was still excited by the prospect of a Silk Spectre book drawn by Amanda Connor (goddess of lady superheroes and all around incredible artist) and written by my fav Darwyn Cooke, who's partly my fav because he's generally pretty fair-minded when it comes to giving female characters some depth and integrity.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">But we seem to run into some issues right away because <i>Watchmen</i> already covers the time when Laurie is very young. How much 'Before Watchmen' could there possibly be? As a second generation superhero, Laurie was born into the business; in fact, her whole life is defined by<i> Watchmen</i>. Is it actually possible to sincerely explore her other facets without totally re-writing the character? After reading <i>Silk Spectre #1</i>, I still have my doubts. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">The story takes place in 1966, when Laurie is sixteen (the same age she was when she started dating Dr. Manhattan). It primarily concerns (and stop me if you've heard this one before) her strained relationship with Sally as mother/sensei/best friend/public embarrassment, her burgeoning attraction to A Cute Boy, and The Mean Popular Pretty Girls at school who are all about slut-shaming and being catty about Sally Jupiter's rather scandalous superhero past. The latter issue is the one I found most interesting because, really, being a teenager with an overbearing mom is enough without that mom having been the spread-eagled subject of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tijuana_bible">Tijuana Bible</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">As much as Cooke's writing succeeds in capturing some of the genuine naivete and insecurities of teenage life, it's Amanda Conner's art that really makes this book. I especially loved the little fantasy inserts of Laurie's inner-thoughts (a compliment from her crush rings wedding bells and a tift with her mother conjures hellish caricatures). There are also many mirrored images of Laurie and Sally that visually signify their co-dependent yet adversarial relationship, and also serve as references to Dave Gibbons' constantly referential and recursive artwork in <i>Watchmen</i>. <i>Silk Spectre #1</i> carries over the snow globe symbolism in <i>Watchmen</i> to this book, and all of the other visual in-jokes (Sally and Laurie both checking themselves out in the mirror, both dissatisfied by what they see) are excellent touches. Perhaps the greatest of these are two panels that reference key events in Laurie's life and in the Watchmen series as a whole: after sparring with her mother, Laurie is seen in close-up with a trickle of blood spilling from her nose; after receiving a chaste kiss from A Cute Boy, Laurie imagines herself jumping for joy on the moon. Oh, if only she knew how that one turned out.</span><br />
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As an interesting footnote: of all three 'Before Watchmen' books released so far, <i>Silk Spectre #1</i> is the only one to stick to <i>Watchmen</i>'s rigorous nine-panel format (see above). Even though the story of <i>Silk Spectre #1</i> is one of teen angst, infatuation and rebellion (in Connor's signature expressive, cartoony style), in terms of how the panels look on the page (and within the individual panels themselves), this is the closest the 'Before Watchmen' comes to actually looking like <i>Watchmen</i>.<br />
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The story proper wraps up with Laurie running away with A Cute Boy and, since this is 1966, hitchhiking with some hippies to San Francisco. This seems like a cop-out. Hippies? Please. But maybe this title will take us to some weird and unexpected places. Will everyone's favorite hashish-tripping, vision quest-taking, vegetarian, utopian fascist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias_(comics)">Adrian Veidt</a> show up? Fingers crossed.<br />
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<b><i>Comedian #1</i> by Brian Azzarello and J.G. Jones</b></div>
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Azzarello is no stranger to high-profile investigations of the psychotic mind (see: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(graphic_novel)"><i>Joker</i>)</a>, so when it was announced he'd be penning <i>Comedian</i>, I think everyone's reaction was kind of a collective, "Well, duh." Eddie Blake is the biggest bastard of the <i>Watchmen</i> universe (well, I guess that's debatable). At any rate, he is, to outward appearances, the most repugnant anti-hero, a ruthless sociopath who views the world as a sadistic joke. Fun times, kids! The Comedian made a career out of violence, working for whatever government would pay him to assassinate whatever political obstacles needed to be erased. </div>
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It is this side of Eddie Blake--the political mercenary--that Azzarello focuses on in <i>Comedian #1</i>. The issue courts controversy immediately with a scene that sees a youthful Eddie playing football with Teddy and John F. Kennedy at Martha's Vineyard. Why controversy? Well, because in <i>Watchmen</i> it is heavily implied that The Comedian assassinated JFK (the film version goes so far as to depict it). With this in mind, Azzarello spends the entire book toying with our expectations and preconceived notions of Blake's involvement, his political convictions, and even his influence in the U.S. government. </div>
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Blake is all about machismo, gun-toting terror and skull-crushing thuggery. He fancies himself the big man on campus, and when that illusion is shattered, The Comedian's tearful disillusionment triggers <i>Watchmen</i>'s famous first scene: the assassination of Edward Blake. Whereas <i>Watchmen</i> can, in some ways, be boiled down to a 'Who killed Eddie Blake?' murder mystery, 'Before Watchmen' seems to hint at an earlier moment of The Comedian's self-doubt. </div>
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There is a lot of cool, alternative history going on in <i>Comedian #1</i> (as there should be in the Watchmen universe), but I wonder if Azzarello isn't taking things a bit too far too early. Without giving everything away, at the end of this issue, Blake finds himself a pawn in a much larger game. It stuns him and leaves him wondering 'what next?' The last five pages of the book are absolutely haunting, giving us Blake as helpless bystander; we watch him <i>watching</i> a horrific historical event, instead of <i>enacting</i> one. Something about that passivity is deeply disturbing. I don't know if this series will offer up a more empathetic Comedian (I sincerely hope not; Blake is a grade-A son of a bitch and I'd hate to see that image softened), but it does seem to hint at a more vulnerable one. </div>
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J.G. Jones is is the artist for this series, and though I always like to see Azzarello commune with his go-to guy Eduardo Risso, I'm glad Jones was chosen for this project. Risso's art, all deep blacks and scratchy pencils, is often a paean to aestheticized ugliness, but in delving into Eddie Blake's history, I feel like we're drudging up enough ugliness already. Jones has a clean, realistic style (his Kennedy boys are dead-ringers) that lends the book a grounding in historical reality, even while writing concocts layer upon layer of metafiction. The tension between the storytelling and the art is something I really look forward to in future issues. </div>Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-919686524413604694.post-12104011644317870122012-06-25T14:37:00.000-07:002012-08-17T14:38:37.777-07:00Look East Film Festival: A BITTERSWEET LIFE<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>How can you not want to go to a film festival with kimchi on the poster?</i><br />
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<u>Day 1: The Films</u></div>
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<b>"You can do a hundred things right, but it only takes one mistake to destroy everything": Kim Ji-woon's A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005)</b><br />
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Kim Sun-woo (Byung Hun Lee) is the manager/house detective/enforcer for an upscale hotel managed by Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol), a paranoid, ruthless and uncompromising gang boss. Sun-woo is an impeccably stylish killer who, when not cracking skulls, enjoys sipping espresso and wearing finely tailored suits. He doesn’t even get his hair mussed when beating down thugs.<br />
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In <i>A Bittersweet Life</i>, he’s like a Korean James Bond, all smooth moves and deadly precision. Part of this image is due to Byung Hun Lee’s absurd handsomeness; although a very accomplished actor, the fact that Lee is so good-looking seems impossible not to comment on. Lee joins fellow gorgeous actor Alain Delon in <i>Le Samourai</i> as an example of the passive, deadly, and doomed noir protagonist. But bad times are a-brewin’. When Kang suspects his young girlfriend Hee-soo is cheating on him, he assigns Sun-woon to watch her, report back his findings, and if need be, eliminate the girl and her lover.</div>
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It is exactly an old school film noir plot. The protagonist is trapped from the very beginning.</div>
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He also has to deal with a rival punk gang boss and his stupid fellow hotel enforcer Mun-suk. The truth is, although Sun-woo is powerful muscle, he’s a piss-poor detective. He has a short temper that erupts all too often; he can’t tail Hee-soo worth a dime (he sits in a car across from her hours for hours on end and doesn’t even duck when she looks his way); when he finally confronts Hee-soo and her male companion, all he has to do is ask her what their relationship is—maybe it’s all a misunderstanding? But he doesn’t do that. He lets his rage (and burgeoning lust for Hee-soo) get in the way.<br />
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Classic film noir sap, always fallin’ hard for the wrong dame. So Sun-woo lets Hee-soo and her lover go, double-crossing his boss and triggering a series of increasingly violent events. Sun-woo has some pretty explosive anger management issues he takes out on some rice rocket, drag-racing punks. The man’s rage is furious and terrifying—and ultimately self-destructive. One moment of unadulterated badassery: the oly thing Sun-woo keeps in his trunk? A metal baseball bat.</div>
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When Mr. Kang returns, Sun-woo’s life begins to unravel. He gets beat up real good by some thugs working for another gangster who wears glasses and a bucket hat who I will dub Hat & Glasses for our nominal purposes here. What the hell does Hat & Glasses have against Sun-woo? In true film noir fashion, it seems he’s plunged headlong into a pile of shit and now everyone, enemies known and unknown, are out to get him.<br />
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Turns out Mr. Kang was behind it all. He knew Sun-woo lied about taking care of Hee-soo and her boyfriend and sets out to systematically dismantle his life by way of revenge.<br />
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They break his fingers and then bury him alive, which seems a little harsh to me.<br />
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The burial and resurrection sequence is a little bit of the good ol’ Korean ultraviolence: pure exploitation joy with intense camera zooms, jazzy, spaghetti Western-infused Spanish guitar cues, and exaggerated, kung-fu SFX with every punch and kick. Of course, our hero escapes. This bravura sequence is the film’s most impressive, and its most disruptive. It’s a clear homage to Tarantinoesque excess. Director Kim Ji-woon has said <i>A Bittersweet Life</i> was heavily influenced by <i>Kill Bill</i>, an influence that is pervasively obvious throughout the film.</div>
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The burial scene marks the film’s high point, but everything after that gets a little fuzzy and unfocused. Characters disappear and reappear seemingly at random and it’s difficult to keep track of who is who and who is after what and why. For the first time, Kim includes some scenes of broad comedy and the film undergoes several quick mood changes, most of which didn’t work for me.</div>
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<i>A Bittersweet Life</i> does a total reversal: now it’s Sun-woo’s quest for revenge on Kang and all the people who betrayed him and ruined his life. The enforcer goes rogue, engaging in a series of double-cross deals with the Russians to acquire an arsenal of weapons and boatloads of cash to fuel his revenge fantasy.</div>
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One by one, Sun-woo tracks down his enemies and eliminates them. One of the most memorable tete-a-tetes takes place on an empty hockey rink. It’s scenes like these that remind us never to bring a knife to a gunfight; the image of blood pooling on ice has rarely been so beautiful.</div>
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In the final shootout, Kim borrows liberally from Scorsese’s <i>Taxi Driver</i> (a man’s fingers are shot off, among other things). Sun-woo just decides to kill everybody, facing each set of opponents with a steely Mexican standoff and (apparently) unlimited ammo. In addition to Tarantino’s <a href="http://youtu.be/a3aFv8IQb4s">House of Blue Leaves sequence in <i>Kill Bill</i></a>, the finale also recalls the bloody, pyrotechnic excess of John Woo. He becomes the impossibly bullet-proof action hero cliches, surviving a headshot among several other traditionally life-ending injuries. We seem to be entering the realm of impossibility here; the violence is simply too extreme, too unbelievable.<br />
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Sun-woo’s final lines sum up the film perfectly: “This is too harsh.”<br />
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But then the final reversal…after Sun-woo apparently dies in the climactic shootout, last scene of the film flashes back to an opening scene of Sun-woo drinking espresso in the hotel bar. He gets up, looks at his image in the window and begins shadowboxing, enacting a fantasy version of himself as a deadly man of action. In reality, Sun-woo may have wholly crafted the events in the film in a daydream; the ending is open to interpretation. What is clear from the final image is that <i>A Bittersweet Life</i> is about a man fighting with and against himself in a struggle he’s fated to loose.</div>
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The film’s twist ending incorporates the film noir theme of the unreliable narrator in a really interesting, genre-bending way. A Bittersweet life is intensely melodramatic and sentimental, but also abrupt and savage in its depiction of violence. Like <i>Kill Bill</i>, it’s a revenge picture, but unlike Tarantino’s constructed alternate reality, Kim’s film acknowledges the impossibility of that kind of stylized violence existing in any kind of recognizable, contemporary reality. In reciting a Buddhist parable, Sun-woo admits his own flaws and the necessity of fantasy in achieving his ideal self:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">One late autumn night, the disciple awoke crying. So the master asked the disciple, "Did you have a nightmare?" "No." "Did you have a sad dream?" "No," said the disciple. "I had a sweet dream." "Then why are you crying so sadly?" The disciple wiped his tears away and quietly answered, "Because the dream I had can't come true."</span><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></i></span></blockquote>
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And isn’t that true of cinema itself? Kim Ji-woon has made a film that exploits the fantastic nature of fantasy itself, and gives us a comment on our own enjoyment in ultraviolent revenge films.</div>
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In a Q&A after the film, Kim described his ambition to film an “artistic description of destruction” via the figure of the lonely male protagonist in the big city (a la <i>Taxi Driver</i>, <i>Le Samourai</i>, and many films noir). He certainly succeeded in bringing that wounded, lonely archetype to 21st c. life.<br />
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Sales on Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698385117210584275noreply@blogger.com0