Comments for Wonders in the Dark

Comment on 1991 – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, Supp Actress, Cinematography, Score, Short – RESULTS by Samuel Wilson

Samuel Wilson — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:17:58 +0000

Hollywood was functioning on a high level of efficiency this year; a lot more pop movies simply worked than seemed to be the case in the years immediately before or after. So how do we sort it all out?

Best Picture: Unforgiven
Best Director: Eastwood
Best Actor: Keitel, Bad Lieutenant
Best Actress: Pfeiffer, Batman Returns
Supporting Actor: Wes Studi, Last of the Mohicans — one of the greatest modern screen villains.
Supporting Actress: Bonham Carter, Howard’s End
Cinematography: Stefan Czapsky, Batman Returns
Score: Kilar, Bram Stoker’s Dracula — arguably best of the decade.
Special ensemble award: Glengarry Glen Ross

Comment on 1991 – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, Supp Actress, Cinematography, Score, Short – RESULTS by Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:09:06 +0000

Tony this is an absolute knockout! I just showed it to Lucille as well. Seeing the young Holliday is electrifying. This may well be the first music video, and it’s one that everyone should take a look at! Great, great stuff.

Comment on To Boldly Go Where Many, Many Others Have Gone Before: “Star Trek Into Darkness” by Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:58:20 +0000

Nah Bobby, you are too light. There are several more episodes in this extraordinary series that are of the “first rank.”

Here’s my own listing of the ones that would receive the highest rating. They are listed in an approximate order of preference. I have seen each numerous times in my life:

1. The Inner Light
2. Yesterday’s Enterprise
3. The Best of Both Worlds 1 & 2
4. Family
5. Chain of Command
6. Tapestry
7. Sins of the Father
8. Conundrum
9. All Good Things……..
10. The Measure of a Man
11. Redemption
12. Cause and Effect
13. Encounter at Farpoint
14. Who Watches the Watchers?
15. Time’s Arrow
16. Darmok
17. The Lower Decks
18. I, Borg
19. Phantasms

Comment on 1991 – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, Supp Actress, Cinematography, Score, Short – RESULTS by Tony D'Ambra

Tony D'Ambra — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:42:21 +0000

Speaking of shorts, I just discovered this gem – I know 56 years late but brilliant. From Paramount in 1935 a 9 minute free association visual representation of Duke Ellington’s Symphony in Black featuring a 19yo Billie Halliday. The last section Harlem Rythm is a knockout. Perhaps the first music video…
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/duke_ellingtons_isymphony_in_blacki_starring_a_19-year-old_billie_holiday.html

Comment on To Boldly Go Where Many, Many Others Have Gone Before: “Star Trek Into Darkness” by Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:31:43 +0000

But I applaud him for not getting on the band wagon of the dumbed-down media
reviews that jump to the tune of Paramount Corp. How bracingly refreshing.

Right Bobby. Shall we now dismiss every review ever posted for any film? Are these critics allowed to say they like STAR TREK or shall they ask for permission first. By your reasoning every review ever posted shall be scrutinized for nefarious intentions. Are to listening Stephanie Zaharek, Andrew O’Hehir, J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Stanley Kauffmann, Manola Dargis? You all need to back off from patronizing Paramount! And don’t be too adoring of Bob’s pan, as he is an expert hater. He’s a good friend, and I’ve been out with him a number of times, but he likes close to NOTHING. Is that why we go to the movies?

Comment on To Boldly Go Where Many, Many Others Have Gone Before: “Star Trek Into Darkness” by Bob Clark

Bob Clark — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:04:28 +0000

Yeah, one of the few drawbacks of the TNG era is that, despite having some of the very best designs for ships and alien species and the absolute pinacle of TV special effects that money could buy, it has something of a bland look when it comes to how it was shot. Obviously that wasn’t really their main concern, and the writing and acting on the show made up for its visual shortcomings, but all one has to do is look at how ambitious and adventurous other programs from around the same time could be, and not with huge budgets. During its lifespan you had shows like “Miami Vice” and “Twin Peaks” open up the whole look of television to something more cinematic, something more visually interesting, and it’s something that TNG never really picked up on. Neither did any of the succeeding shows in that era, and here you started seeing a lot of competition from other programs like “The X-Files” (though that definitely had a very different kind of story it was telling).

The Trek reboot is more visually conscious– in fact, it really seems to be only concerned with images, and yet somehow it’s less substantive in its imagination, especially where those images are concerned.

Comment on To Boldly Go Where Many, Many Others Have Gone Before: “Star Trek Into Darkness” by bobby J.

bobby J. — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:40:22 +0000

“lens-flare lobotomy” – brilliant, sums up the whole shebang in three words. Bob, I do agree there is something very seductive about serialised story-telling, though in the TNG, many of the strands ended up wholly unsatisfactory, with the promise of earlier segments never being fulfilled or going downhill. My own personal favorite is probably ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ parts 1 and 2 plus ‘Family’, the the two-parter has some poor back-story padding that didn’t bother me at the time with the thrill of the Federation’s Empire crumbling on the onslaught from the Borg. The back-story I’m referring to is the Riker, will he leave or won’t he and the artificial friction with his replacement.

Overall, TNG was a commendable sequel with at least six classic individual episodes of the first rank. If I remember correctly, three from the third season, three from the fourth and one from the seventh. I would have loved to have seen it being far more seductive in it’s photography, it’s musical scoring and to bring in top notch SF writers of the modern era and veterans too. Imagine George R.R. Martin riffing something akin to his savagely brilliant ‘Sandkings’ off on the Enterprise. For a show that had Paramount Corp back it up to the tilt and with the freedom of syndication and no network censorship, it was too tame. A solid professional job though.

Comment on 1991 – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, Supp Actress, Cinematography, Score, Short – RESULTS by sirrefevas

sirrefevas — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:17:19 +0000

Pic – Reservoir Dogs (US…Quentin Tarantino)
Director – Unforgiven (US…Clint Eastwood)
Actor – Denzel Washington Malcolm X
Actress – Maggie Cheung Actress
Supp Actor – Jack Lemmon Glengarry Glen Ross
Supp Actress – Helena Bonham Carter Howards End

Comment on 1991 – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, Supp Actress, Cinematography, Score, Short – RESULTS by Camolas

Camolas — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:22:25 +0000

Best Picture: Reservoir Dogs
2. Man Bites Dog (love it)
3.Husbands & Wives
4. Actress
5.Bitter Moon
Best Director: Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs)
Best Actor: Harvey Keitel Reservoir Dogs
Best Actress: Maggie Cheung Actress
Best Supporting Actor: Steve Buscemi Reservoir Dogs
Best Supporting Actress: Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives)
Best Cinematography: Phillippe Rousellot (A River Runs Through It)
Best Score: Angelo Badalamenti Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Comment on 1991 – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supp Actor, Supp Actress, Cinematography, Score, Short – RESULTS by mark s.

mark s. — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:12:50 +0000

Film: “Noises Off” — underappreciated farce that deserves a plug.
Director: Bogdanovich
Actor: Denzel Washington (Malcolm X)
Actress: Maggie Cheung (Actress)
S. Actor: Gene Hackman (Unforgiven)
S. Actress: Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives)
Photography: Michael Ballhaus (Bram Stoker’s Dracula)