Here in the Northeast, temperatures have cooled just a bit in the past few days, but it’s a sure thing the baking will resume all too soon. The Soccer World Cup has come down to Spain vs. Holland, and the results will be well-known by the time this particular thread is actually published. Yankee fans are on cloud nine and the defending world champs are presently holding the best won-loss record in major league baseball.
On the movie front, I have become gloriously addicted to the Anthony Mann Film Festival winding down at Manhattan’s premiere revival house, the Film Forum, attending nine more films for a total of 26 of the 26 offered. I have all intentions to see the remaining 6 over the next four days, and will even be heading to the Film Forum on the festival’s Tuesday off-day to see the first two films in the just-launching “Hollywood on the Hudson” series which will feature a double feature of Crime Without Passion (1934) and The Scoundrel (1935). I managed to squeeze in three newly-released films as well, making for 12 films seen since Tuesday in theatres. Seeing the epic El Cid on Thursday night with Lucille, Sammy and Voting Tabulator Extraordinaire Angelo A. D’Arminio Jr. was a special thrill, as was the family outing to see the animated Despicable Me. I saw the following:
The Furies **** 1/2 (Tuesday, July 6th) Anthony Mann Festival
The Tin Star **** (Tuesday, July 6th) Anthony Mann Festival
The Glenn Miller Story *** 1/2 (Wed., July 7th) Anthony Mann Festival
Strategic Air Command ** 1/2 (Wed., July 7th) Anthony Mann Festival
El Cid ***** (Thursday, July 8th) Anthony Mann Festival
The Far Country **** (Friday, July 9th) Anthony Mann Festival
The Tall Target **** (Friday, July 9th) Anthony Mann Festival
Desperate **** (Sunday, July 11th) Anthony Mann Festival
He Walked by Night **** (Sunday, July 11th) Anthony Mann Festival
Despicable Me **** (Saturday afternoon) Edgewater multiplex
The Kids are All Right **** 1/2 (Saturday night, July 10th) Chelsea
Lisa Cholodenko’s wise, perceptive, homorous and poignant The Kids are All Right stands as one of the best American films of 2010, and it contains superlative performances by Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. These are the most three-dimensional characters we’ve seen in a while, and it shows how the success in family life is one that’s hard-earned.
Despicable Me is the third outstanding animated film released this year, and it’s a stylish and devilish confection with a deep emotional center. In large measure the animation is audacious, the voice work distinguished and the characters engaging. And it’s neither a Pixar, nor a Dreamworks release!
I will withold further commentary on the films I saw in the Anthony Mann film festival for the final (massive) wrap up post in about 10 days. The festival ends on Thursday, July 15th with an 8:30 P.M. showing of The Fall of the Roman Empire.
Filmmaker and ‘sweetheart of a guy’ Jeffrey Goodman has accelerated his blogging and firmed up plans to begin shooting Peril by the beginning of 2011, as he explains in an engaging interview with the Dallas Film Society. Dallas was the city his first film, The Last Lullaby opened in, and the experience there was thrilling: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2010/07/interview-with-dallas-film-society.html (more…)