Tag: Film

Reading Around on February 16th

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Some additional reading February 16th from 00:25 to 12:47:

  • WEB BROWSER COLOR MANAGEMENT Tutorial – Test Page FireFox 3 Safari – FILES have embedded ICC profiles Photoshop ColorManagement – The above “Tagged WhackedRGB” example also will clearly show if your web browser is colormanaged or not — both Tagged and Untagged files are identical except the top image has an embedded ICC profile — the rollover is in essence stripping the profile. … FireFox 3 (Mac and Windows free download) Note: Color management in FireFox3 is off by default. TO ENABLE COLORMANAGEMENT: type about:config into the address bar. To turn it on, change the value of gfx.color_management.enabled to true and restart the Fire Fox browser. In addition to enabling color management in Firefox, you also should enter the name of the monitor profile – it’s next to the enable/disable parameter in the parameters list that you get to by entering about:config in the address field.

  • Chilly scenes of winter « STEVENHARTSITE – Movies don’t come any more hardboiled than Frozen River, even if virtually every scene of the film is is covered with snow and ice. Courtney Hunt’s refreshingly blunt and unsentimental storyline centers on Ray (Melissa Leo), a housewife abandoned by her husband and stranded with two young sons in a dead-end job at the Yankee Dollar. By chance she falls in with Lila (Misty Upham), a troubled young Mohawk woman who smuggles illegal immigrants across the frozen St. Lawrence River via tribal lands overlapping Quebec and the New York state line.

Michael Moore’s Wall Street Film

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“The Awful Truth – The Complete DVD Set (Seasons 1 & 2)” (Michael Moore, Linda Mendoza, Tom Gianas)

Even though I admit I haven’t bothered to view either of Michael Moore’s last two films1, I’m fully on board with his plans to make a Wall Street exposé. Mr. Moore’s heart2 is usually in the right place, once one ignores his love for self-aggrandizing.

I am in the middle of shooting my next movie and I am looking for a few brave people who work on Wall Street or in the financial industry to come forward and share with me what they know. Based on those who have already contacted me, I believe there are a number of you who know “the real deal” about the abuses that have been happening. You have information that the American people need to hear. I am humbly asking you for a moment of courage, to be a hero and help me expose the biggest swindle in American history.

All correspondence with me will be kept confidential. Your identity will be protected and you will decide to what extent you wish to participate in telling the greatest crime story ever told.

The important thing here is for you to step up as an American and do your duty of shedding some light on this financial collapse. A few good people have already come forward, which leads me to believe there are many more of you out there who know what’s going on. Here’s your chance to let your fellow citizens in on the truth.

[From MichaelMoore.com : Will You Help Me With My Next Film? …a request from Michael Moore]

There is obviously a lot of rage-inducing financial corruption happening in our nation’s financial sector, and who better to film it than Michael Moore?

Footnotes:
  1. Sicko and Slacker Uprising [↩]
  2. ie, his political leaning [↩]

Netflixed RocknRolla

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Netflixed Guy Ritchie’s RockNRolla


Starring Thandie Newton and Gerard Butler, director Guy Ritchie’s crime thriller follows a variety of crooks from London’s underworld who set out to nab millions of dollars left for the taking when a Russian mobster’s real estate scam falls apart. The first part of a planned trilogy, RocknRolla co-stars Jeremy Piven, Ludacris, Tom Wilkinson, Gemma Arterton, Jamie Campbell Bower, Mark Strong and Idris Elba. [Netflix RocknRolla]

Other than the momentary shock at hearing Idris Elba1 speak with a non-Baltimore accent2, a typical Guy Ritchie film. Enjoyable fluff, a few cringes at clumsy dialogue, several over-the-top stylistic editorial elisions, and some excellent soundtrack choices3. If you’ve seen any other of Guy Ritchie’s films, you know what to expect: no new ground is broken here. I’ve seen worse, and better. Still, watched the entire movie, despite its lack of depth. Not every film is worthy of Criterion Collection status.

As Roger Ebert concludes:

“RocknRolla” (which is how they say “rock and roller” in the East End) isn’t as jammed with visual pyrotechnics as Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrel” (1998), but that’s OK, because with anything more happening, the movie could induce motion sickness. It never slows down enough to be really good, and never speeds up enough to be the Bourne Mortgage Crisis, but there’s one thing for sure: British actors love playing gangsters as much as American actors love playing cowboys, and it’s always nice to see people having fun.

[From RocknRolla :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews]

‘Nuff said.

Footnotes:
  1. famously Stringer Bell of The Wire [↩]
  2. some sort of Cockney dialect [↩]
  3. like The Clash – Bankrobber; Lou Reed – The Gun; The Sonics – Have Love Will Travel [↩]

Reading Around on January 25th through January 26th

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A few interesting links collected January 25th through January 26th:

  • How to Replace a Sky in Photoshop – “Got an image that is great, except for that lifeless dull sky? Learn how to replace the sky in an image using Photoshop in this tutorial.”
  • Op-Ed Columnist – Will Obama Save Liberalism? – NYTimes.com – “This is William Kristol’s last column.” Awesome news.

  • Blog-Sothoth: netflixed What Times Is It There – Sounds awesome. Added to my Netflix queue.”What Time is it There? is a quiet masterpiece–and literally quiet, because there is about ten minutes of dialogue in a two-hour film. If you need traditional plot in your flicks, avoid this one like the plague. It moves like an ethereal dream.”
  • Media Matters – Goldberg publishes badly doctored version of Rose/Brokaw interview as purported evidence of Brokaw’s bias – Bernie Goldberg is just a hack, talentless, bitter hack. “In another house-of-cards example of purported media infatuation with President Obama offered by Bernard Goldberg in his new book, Goldberg echoes Rush Limbaugh by printing badly doctored “snippets” of an interview between Charlie Rose and Tom Brokaw. Goldberg’s doctored transcript of the interview falsely suggests, among other things, that Brokaw expressed the view that “there’s a lot about [Obama] we don’t know,” when, in fact, Brokaw attributed that assertion to “conservative commentators” and that comments Brokaw and Rose made about their lack of familiarity with the candidates applied only to Obama when, in fact, they were referring to Sen. John McCain as well.”

Netflixed Gallipoli

Seth Anderson1 Comment


Gallipoli


Australian Director Peter Weir takes on one of his country’s most tragic moments in history: the World War I confrontation with the German allied Turks. As the film leads up to the battle in act three, we get to know the young men destined to be casualties of war. A young Mel Gibson (on the heels of his successful turn in Mad Max) plays one of the innocent doomed. This poignant war drama swept the Australian Film Institute Awards with eight wins. [Netflix: Gallipoli]

Was predisposed not to like this film because:
a. it is a tragic war film, and who hasn’t seen enough of those
b. the film starred Mel Gibson

However, liked it a lot. The bloody spurts of war’s cruelty isn’t even on screen until the last act, and beside a lot of sound effects, and some blood, the carnage is more implied than fetishized. One could offer critique that war as depicted in Gallipoli is akin to a holiday camp for young men, but then it seems as if a lot of 17 year olds believe that to be the case. War as it really is too disturbing to watch. Gallipoli isn’t that sort of movie, choosing cinematography over grit every time, especially in the first act set in western Australia.

To be honest, I almost liked the included documentary about the making of the film as much if not more, but then I’m a film school drop-out. Your mileage may vary.


“Rum Sodomy & the Lash” (The Pogues)

Oh, also was strongly reminded of the Pogues song1: And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAKyA2ttv0I
[live version]
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFjToKuZQM
[album version, with images from WW 1]

Footnotes:
  1. which due to the peculiarities of Shane MacGowan’s diction, and my own tin ears, never noticed that he is singing about Gallipoli specifically [↩]

Netflixed Bunny Lake Is Missing

Seth Anderson1 Comment


“Bunny Lake Is Missing” (Otto Preminger)

Certain films are nearly great.


Director Otto Preminger’s dark film portrays the horror that befalls Ann (Carol Lynley), a single mom recently transplanted to London who shows up one day at her daughter’s nursery school to find she’s completely disappeared. Nobody seems to know the girl’s whereabouts, nor that she even exists, which leads the police (with Sir Laurence Olivier in the role of chief) to believe Ann is delusional. Can she convince everyone that she’s not insane? [Netflix Bunny Lake Is Missing]

Bunny Lake is Missing swerves on the edge of being a great, taut thriller, but doesn’t quite make it. Otto Preminger quickly disowned the film, I guess he only did it for the money. Fancy that.

I quite enjoyed watching the film, yet certain scenes were eye-rolling. Also the hysterical woman paradigm slightly over-played. I can understand why there is a remake in the works, since society was a wee bit more innocent about child-snatching in 1965, necessitating certain elisions in plot, and yet, I would not be surprised if the remake is too maudlin to be interesting.

The Zombies play on a state-of-the-art 23 inch television, at a local pub. Here’s a low-quality trailer on YouTube:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFX0iK0l7nI

And maybe I’m crazy, but the final crazed conclusion, the main characters eyeballs were so dilated, I’d swear they were dosed on something. 1965 “Swinging London“? Hmmm, wonder what substance it could be?

Netflixed Caligula

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“Caligula (Three-Disc Imperial Edition)” (Analysis Film Releasing Corporation)

Shipped on 01/09/08.

Malcolm McDowell portrays the infamous emperor who wielded godlike power over ancient Rome while at the same time sleeping with his sister (Teresa Ann Savoy). Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud co-star in this film produced by Penthouse Magazine editor Bob Guccione and written by Gore Vidal. Warning: This unrated edition contains explicit sex, nudity and violence as well as disturbing imagery. [From Netflixed: Caligula]

Yikes. Easily the worst movie I’ve seen in years. Not even good porn, unless you like late 70’s Penthouse Magazine lesbian porn, or scenes of group (male) masturbation. I couldn’t make myself watch the whole thing, apparently there was even more over-the-top action to follow.

My two word review: cocaine-inspired megalomania. Apparently, Bob Guccione locked everyone except for sycophants out of the editing room, and cut and pasted footage so it is even more confusing. Gore Vidal sued to get the title changed from “Gore Vidal’s Caligula” to “Caligula”, though his name is still on the credits. Even as straight-out camp fun, this film wasn’t fun.

Roger Ebert’s review is classic:

“Caligula” is sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash. If it is not the worst film I have ever seen, that makes it all the more shameful: People with talent allowed themselves to participate in this travesty. Disgusted and unspeakably depressed, I walked out of the film after two hours of its 170-minute length. That was on Saturday night, as a line of hundreds of people stretched down Lincoln Ave., waiting to pay $7.50 apiece to become eyewitnesses to shame.

I wanted to tell them … what did I want to tell them? What I’m telling you now. That this film is not only garbage on an artistic level, but that it is also garbage on the crude and base level where it no doubt hopes to find its audience. “Caligula” is not good art, It is not good cinema, and it is not good porn. [snip]

You have heard that this is a violent film. But who could have suspected how violent, and to what vile purpose, it really is? In this film, there are scenes depicting a man whose urinary tract is closed, and who has gallons of wine poured down his throat. His bursting stomach is punctured with a sword. There is a scene in which a man is emasculated, and his genitals thrown to dogs, who eagerly eat them on the screen. There are scenes of decapitation, evisceration, rape, bestiality, sadomasochism, necrophilia.
[snip]
“This movie,” said the lady in front of me at the drinking fountain, “is the worst piece of shit I have ever seen.”

Francis Ford Coppola Finances His Movie with Wine

Seth Anderson1 Comment

I have new-found respect for Francis Ford Coppola (though it has been a long, long time since he’ made a great film), I like his wine, and his new film sounds interesting. Coincidently, I have several volumes of world religion study from Mircea Eliade on my shelf, yet I was unaware Eliade wrote fiction too. From the NPR podcast

Coppola’s success allows him, at this stage, a certain freedom. He financed

Youth Without Youth himself — “as I intend to do with all my films now, (in) this last part of my career.”

That means, of course, that he’s not required to shop his script around, taking edits from every producer and studio chief with a finger in the financial pot. And while every script can benefit from outside input, Coppola says he gets that from his own production team: actors, cameramen, editors and other colleagues.

“I think it’s the market research aspect that’s trying to eliminate risk in the movie that’s partly what’s wrong with films,” he says.

Not that he’s immune to public opinion.

“I make movies in the same way I would cook a dinner,” he says. “I want people to come and enjoy it. I don’t want the dinner to be over and (have) people saying, ‘Well, that was interesting; I want to think about it.” [not transcribed: Robert Siegel, the interviewer, cracking up]
[snip]
So, from here on in, it’s Francis Ford Coppola, independent filmmaker?

“I think in my heart I’ve always been an independent filmmaker,” he says. “Oddly, and very strangely, I became wealthy in other businesses.

“In a sense, everyone who buys a bottle of Coppola wine is my executive producer and makes it possible for me to pursue other movies that I feel passionate about — that I love — and that I make irrespective of whether they’ll be commercial or not.”
[From NPR : Francis Ford Coppola Seeks Answers in ‘Youth’]

Well worth listening to the entire interview (also available for free at the iTunes store – search NPR – Movies)

Richard Linklater – Haymarket Riot

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Yowsa! I’ve got to call in some chips from my Austex connections, and get a consultant job for the Haymarket Riot film. I’d love to work on it in some capacity. The LBJ movie might be interesting too: I did my senior paper on LBJ and the Rise of the Surveillance State (working with original documents at the LBJ library). But the Haymarket movie needs to be made.

Haymarket Touchup

Exclusive: Filmmaker Richard Linklater – ComingSoon.net : … [Interviewer] I would think that being from Austin, Texas would lend itself to an interesting movie, that being a very liberal city in the middle of a conservative state.

Linklater: Yeah, Texas politics itself is very fascinating. I’d love to do a film about LBJ’s early days. There’s some cases when he was Senator where he was extremely political, just to show a really crafty politician who really cares about the people. You can take a moment in time politically. I’d like to make a film about the Haymarket Riot, a political action moment in our country’s history. You just basically execute a bunch of people because you don’t like what they believe even if they didn’t do anything wrong.

I’d even be happy to sell a few photos of the memorial to Mr. Linklater…

such as from here, or Haymarket Riot memorial, or here, or this fave of the old memorial, yadda yadda.

History of the Riot in engravings