Brit Marling stars in affecting guilt and remorse drama "Another Earth", which also yields some intriguing metaphysical underpinnings
by Sam Juliano
The U.K’s Judy Geater of Movie Classics has set the Top 70 musical countdown in motion today with her terrific review of Guys and Dolls (1955), a film that made the Number 1 position on her personal ballot. Finishing at Number 70, Guys and Dolls launches a venture that will extend all the way until November 10th, and will include six musical reviews a week on every day except Saturday. As conveyed to the wide array of participants by e mail, the musical reviews will appear early in the morning and will top any other feature at the including the Monday Morning Diary and the “Fish Obscuro Series.” Any other strategy would detract from the urgency of the project and slight the work being done by friends, affiliates and guests.
Kudos to our Chilean friend Jaime Grijalba, who has worked hard to promote and perpetuate his “Richard Kelly Blogothon” at Exodus 8:2. It is hoped that any people with even a remote interest in Kelly’s brief but celebrated filmography will head over to Exodus 8:2 to make contributions of any kind. Kelly’s Donnie Darko is a cult favorite that has steadily risen in critical esteem since it’s original release.
Dee Dee, Jamie Uhler and Marilyn Ferdinand have been attending “Noir 9” in Chicago, and reports have been emanated from posts at thie sites and through e mail correspondance. It appears that some real rarities have surfaced in addition to some established genre classics and clut items. Wonders in the Dark again extends its undying gratitude to Movie Man Joel Bocko for his spectacular service of linking writer’s posts together on the sidebar. The time and work expended on the enterprise was staggering, and the results remarkable.
With the completion of both the “Pre-Code Festival” and “Buster Keaton Mondays” at the Film Forum over the past weeks and months, I have strived to take a break from festival appearances, (and succeeded for several days anyway! Ha!) but returned on Wednesday night for two films in the Robert Ryan Festival and then again on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon for two more titles in that retrospective. The weekend viewings of Nicholas Ray’s On Dangerous Ground and Born to be Bad (both with Ryan, of course) seem to be perfectly timed with our friend John Greco’s recent interview with the author of a recently-released Ray volume, and with an upcoming Ray Blogothon at Tony Dayoub’s Cinema Viewfinder. 
Lucille and I also managed to see several new releases at the multiplexes and art houses. Here is what I saw this past week:
Another Earth **** (Thursday afternoon) Montclair Claridge Cinemas
Crazy, Stupid Love **** (Tuesday night) Edgewater Multiplex
Sarah’s Key *** (Friday night) Teaneck Cedar Lane Cinemas
Odds Against Tomorrow ***** (Wed. night) Robert Ryan at Film Forum
Clash by Night **** 1/2 (Wed. night) Robert Ryan at Film Forum
On Dangerous Ground ***** (Saturday night) Robert Ryan at Film Forum
Act of Violence ***** (Saturday night) Robert Ryan at Film Forum
Born to Be Bad *** 1/2 (Sunday afternoon) Robert Ryan at Film Forum
ANOTHER EARTH is much less “sci-fi” than advertised and much more an affecting examination of characters, grief and remorse, fueled by the work of two impressive leads and some deftly-woven metaphysical images. The conclusion is unsatisfying, but in large measure it’s a film that builds some valid feelings in it’s constricted confines. Impressive atmospheric score too. CRAZY STUPID LOVE was rather a major multiplex surprise, and an unusually original approach to the material that becomes more engaging as the film moves forward. A few scenes near the end are true comedy classics, and the cast is uniformly impressive.
Robert Wise’s 1959 ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW is a noir classic that stands even taller on the big screen. A bank heist tale with a racial underpinnings, the tight script was written by noir icon Abraham Polonsky and superbly acted by Ryan, Ed Begley and Harry Belafonte, atmospherically lensed by Joseph Brun, and jazzily scored. This was the second time I managed to watch CLASH BY NIGHT in the past months at the Film Forum, and again it straddles on the five-star rating line. Barabara Stanwyck is moving in a late career turn, but Ryan is equally exceptional. Nicholas Ray’s ON DANGEROUS GROUND is one of the director’s greatest films (Bernard Hermann’s score may well be his most magnificent in a storied career) and a film of deep emotional resonance. It’s an elegiac work with compelling psychological underpinnings and it’s beautifully filmed. And it’s that rarest of birds: a noir tear-jerker, though I say that in the best possible sense. Ray’s little-seen BORN TO BE BAD is far more significant than just a vehicle for Ray completists, though it’s lesser Ray in a larger sense. Fred Zinnemann’s ACT OF VIOLENCE is a briiliant work with a buffo railroad staion set piece, and deeply affecting story with hooks back to the Nazis. Ryan and Van Hefflin are fantastic, as is Mary Astor as a woman in a bar. SARAH’S KEY is an uneven World War II drama that comes off as convoluted, while intermittantly presenting some stirring individual moments.
The blogosphere links are high-quality and plentiful as always:
Jaimie Grijalba’s splendid ‘Richard Kelly blogothon’ is officially underway at Exodus 8:2, and daily posts this week have included terrific essays from writers Olabode Olakanmi and Ignacio Goldaracena on “Donnie Darko” and another from girlfriend Carol Brito that wonderfully attests to the hold the film has maintained on her: http://exodus8-2.blogspot.com/2011/08/donnie-darko-2001-obra-maestra.html
At Darkness Into Light Dee Dee has featured Dan Kelley’s terrific daily reports of “Noir 3” in Chicago, which has featured a bevy of genre treasures, the final two of which are a Dassin gem, “Brute Force” and Anotole Litvak’s “Sorry Wrong Number”: http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2011/08/noir-city-3-final-curtain-callat-music.html
Tony d’Ambra has penned a penetrating capsule review on celebrated film noir author James Ursini’s new volume “Directors on the Edge: Outliers in Hollywood at FilmsNoir.net: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/directors-on-the-edge-outliers-in-hollywood-james-ursinis-new-book.html
The annual “Fantasia” film festival in Montreal has attracted the gleeful participation of Sachin Gandhi who offers up a glowing and comprehensive report at Scribbles and Ramblings: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2011/08/fantasia-2011.html
John Greco’s review of Jules Dassin’s “Thieves’ Highway” at Twenty Four Frames is a big winner: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/thieves-highway-1949-jules-dassin-2/
Meanwhile, John’s beautiful new ‘photography’ website is up and running:
http://johngrecophotography.com/
At Speaking From The Heart Laurie Buchanan asks “when was the last time your wires were crossded,” while featuring a telling photograph: http://holessence.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/crossed-wires/
Hot-off-the-presses, Marilyn Ferdinand has posted a lovely testament to Chilean director Raul Ruiz (who died suddenly over the weekend) in her review of his 2005 “Klimpt” at Ferdy-on-Films: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=11041
Roderick Heath has penned a typically enthralling review at Ferdy-on-Films on the epic Akira Kurosawa masterpiece “Ran”: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=10996
Again, Film Scholar Extraordinaire Srikanth Srinivasan (Just Another Film Buff) has brightened the cinematic horizons with an utterly remarkable essay on Peter Hutton’s “At Sea,” which Film Comment voted the ‘best avante garde film of the decade’. It’s posted over at The Seventh Art: http://theseventhart.info/2011/08/21/flashback-86/
Adam Zanzie has penned an astonishing marathon essay on his most recent findings on Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” at Icebox Movies: http://iceboxmovies.blogspot.com/2011/08/inglourious-basterds-2009-two-years.html
Samuel Wilson announces the passing of 92 year-old Italian Gualtiero Jacopetti at Mondo 70, where he also offers up an engaging anecdote of the origins of his blogsite name: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2011/08/gualtiero-jacopetti-1919-2011.html
Jon Warner has again penned an exceptional essay, this time on Kurosawa’s “Dodes ‘ka-den” which divided critics upon it’s release. But it’s certainly gained in esteemed over the years, and Warner’s review at Films Worth Watching is a must-read: http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2011/08/dodeska-den-1970-directed-by-akira.html
Utilizing you tubes and press reports Judy Geater gleefully reports at Movie Classics on the discovery in the UK of a lot of film scores, some thought lost: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/scores-for-silent-movies-discovered/
In Tokyo the always-brilliant “Murderous Ink” examines three rare but seminal works by Japanese greats Ichikawa, Masamura and Ozu at Vermillion and One Nights: http://vermillionandonenights.blogspot.com/2011/08/masumura-ichikawa-and-ozu.html
On scenic Mayne Island in the Pacific Northwest, Terrill Welch makes a case for a creative retreat in a wooden frame house in the woods to die for. The post is titled “Creative Island Retreat Home For You?” and it’s at the Creativepotager’s blog: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/creative-island-retreat-home-for-you/
Pat Perry at Doodad Kind of Girl explains why the Tribeca flick “Suburban Girl” with Alec Baldwin went straight-to-DVD, and the talk, while exceedingly well-written ain’t so pretty: http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-home-screen-suburban-girl.html
A major press release on “The Last Lullaby” and “Peril” from filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman leads up at the blogsite The Last Lullaby. Looks like things are moving along most promisingly!: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2011/08/latest-news-on-lullaby-and-peril.html
Stephen Russell-Gebbett’s beautiful compilation on the faces of Godard’s actresses from 1959 to 2010 paints an indellible portrait of the director’s essence, complete with a lovely Rachmoninoff prelude at Checking on my Sausages: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2011/08/jean-luc-godard-women-in-close-up-1959.html
Troy Olson may well have written his magnum opus at Elusive as Robert Denby with a spectacular essay on Robert Bresson’s Le Journal
Une Cure de Campagne (“Diary of a Country Priest”): http://troyolson.blogspot.com/2011/07/robert-bresson-journal-d-cure-de.html
Jason Marshall has named Bette Davis Best Actress of 1941 for her unforgettable performance in “The Little Foxes”: http://moviesovermatter.com/2011/08/13/bette-davis-the-little-foxes-best-actress-of-1941/
Ed Howard and Jason Bellamy have again collaborated on their seminal monthly “Conversations” post with a remarkable litchen-sink discussion of Spielberg’s classic summer blockbuster “Jaws” at The House Next Door: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2011/08/the-conversations-jaws/
David Schleicher has penned a terrific essay on “Sarah’s Key” at The Schleicher Spin titled “Sarah’s Key and the Privilege of Choice”: http://theschleicherspin.com/2011/08/15/sarahs-key-and-the-privilege-of-choice/
Ed Howard has penned a fasinating essay on the American re-make of a well-regarded Swedish vampire film at Only the Cinema: http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2011/08/let-me-in.html
At Cinemascope Shubhajit has posted an enegaging capsule on the “film within a film” thriller “Khamosh” by Vidhu Vinod Chopra: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2011/08/khamosh-1985.html
At Patricia’s Wisdom, the Bard is invoked in an immortal summer sonnet: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2011/08/summer-through-the-eyes-of-william-shakespeare/
Andrew Wyatt has penned a fantastic review of “Another Earth” at the spiffy new made-over Gateway Cinephiles: http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2011/08/16/another-earth/
You’d be hard-pressed to pass up “Coffee With a Twist” at the always intoxicating Coffee Messiah’s blog, authored by Michael Harford: http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2011/08/coffee-with-twist-post-to-appear-later.html
Peter Lenihan has posted some tragic news on the untimely passing of the 44 year-old actress Yekaterina Golubeva of Clair Denis’ “L’Intrus” at The Long Voyage Home: http://thelongvoyagehome.blogspot.com/2011/08/yekaterina-golubeva.html?showComment=1313794373722#c5297226942411927540
R.D. Finch has crafted a fascinating post on the British actor Tom Courtenay at The Movie Projector: http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2011/08/yearning-to-express-myself-life-and.html
Dave Van Poppel at Visions of Non-Fiction has posted a terrific review of the documentary “Project Nim”: http://visionsofnonfiction.blogspot.com/2011/08/project-nim.html
Craig Kennedy’s engaging “Weekend Forecast” at Living in Cinema, as always offers off a comprehensive look at the NY and LA releases, including the indes and docs: http://livingincinema.com/2011/08/19/weekend-forecast-mi-amigo/
TCM’s Greg Ferrara leads off with a wonderful report on Tom Waits’ “Glitter and Doom” Tour at Cinema Styles: http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com/2011/08/tom-waits-glitter-and-doom-live.html
Roderick Heath’s latest review at “This Island Rod” is a terrific assessment of 2011’s “Ironclad”: http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/2011/08/ironclad-2011.html
Kaleem Hasan announces the sad passing of Indian legend Shammi Kapoor at Satyamshot: http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/shammi-kapoor-passes-away/
Kevin Olson has a stylish piece up at Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies on “Summer of Slash: Hell Night”: http://kolson-kevinsblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/summer-of-slash-hell-night.html
At Petrified Fountain of Thought Stephen Morton has penned a stunning essay on Kelly Reichardt and “Meek’s Cutoff”: http://petrifiedfountainofthought.blogspot.com/2011/07/thoughts-on-kelly-reichardt-and-meeks.html
At Cinema Viewfinder Tony Dayoub has announced an early September Nicholas Ray blogothon at his place: http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2011/08/nicholas-ray-blogathon.html
Adam Zanzie has penned an altogether magnificent review of “The Tree of Life” at Icebox Movies: http://iceboxmovies.blogspot.com/2011/07/tree-of-life-2011-stairways-to-heaven.html
Jason Bellamy offers up a thought-provoking take on “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” at The Cooler: http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2011/08/everyone-needs-damn-dirty-hand-to-hold.html
At The Man From Porlock Craig has penned a terrific review of The Tree of Life: http://themanfromporlock.blogspot.com/2011/08/where-god-lives-tree-of-life.html
At the Film Doctor’s place some notable “links” this week include some telling views on the reaction of some to the recently-released “The Help.”: http://filmdr.blogspot.com/2011/08/notable-film-and-media-links.html
J.D. offers up a typically comprehensive and intriguing essay on a rarely-seen “B movie, “Top of the Food Chain” at Radiator Heaven: http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2011/08/top-of-food-chain.html
At Little Worlds Hokahey has posted a perceptive “mixed” review on “The Help”: http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2011/08/oh-help-help.html
An early September “Nicholas Ray Blogothon” is on tap at the Cinema Viewfinder, manned by Tony Dayoub: http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2011/08/nicholas-ray-blogathon.html
At Not Just Movies Jake Cole offers up superb capsule reviews on “Platinum Blonde,” “The Mad Monk” and “The Lodger”: http://armchairc.blogspot.com/2011/08/capsule-reviews-platinum-blonde-mad.html
Slant writer extraordinaire Jon Lanthier likens A Serbian Film to a “transgressive” experience, awarding it 3 out of 4 stars at Aspiring Sellout: http://aspiringsellout.com/2011/05/cameraman-2010-a-serbian-film-2010/
Paul J. Marasa considers Robert Zemekis’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in a stellar essay at TheConstant Viewer: http://theconstantviewer.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-26-1988-who-framed-roger-rabbit.html
Jeopardy Girl admits it’s been the toughest summer for her, and it’s curtailed her blooging at The Continuing Saga of Jeopardy Girl: ttp://jeopardygirl.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/hard/
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Writers/Founders
Great round up Sam. If I have one regret about the Noir Countdown it’s that Odds Against Tomorrow should of made the final list. Another big week by you that continues your impressive cinematic streak. No wonder Dennis is able to borrow half your DVD/Blu Ray collection… are you ever home to see any of them lol.
One thing…. Clash By Night ****1/2. Your finger must of stuck to the keyboard for about two of those stars 😮
You know something Maurizio? I never until now realized that you didn’t include it. I guess it’s atricky choice as it overlaps genres, even if it’s as persuasive a noir as has ever been made.
You raise an interesting fact about my straying from 7 Spruce Street. I watch things at home in binges, though Allan’s incessant heckling often does it’s job. True what you say about Dennis’s borrowing! Ha!
I know we have sparred on CLASH BY NIGHT. It seems Allan is with you on that one, though Tony feels the way I do.
Thanks as always for the incomparable support and kind words my friend!
Actually the Bard and I had a date last week and I was doing Holy Pie and speaking of blackberries this week! But then I just spent the whole day watching incredible BBC movies on my streaming video – Young Victoria and Mrs Brown and finally Revelation – where King George has his physician marry his mistress? It was lovely to be downstairs and out of the 90’F of our hot summer days…rain having a return engagement for the next several days.
I just was thrilled to read your list of movies for this week, and think 2 of them are here in town! – Our Film Society theatre is on vacation for 2 weeks to let the kids have their turn on stage and wow the Pirates of Penzance was overwhelmingly good as was Once Upon An Island…
the icing on the cake: Calla my 3 year old neighbor came to give me a huge before they leave this week as her parents are exchange teaching for a year in UK….Hugs are always the best…
Busy couple months ahead for Wonders – I am on board and reading like crazy
What fun Thank you all
Yep, Patricia, rain has been part of the equation quite often as of late up here in the Big Apple environs too! The Bard won’t be fettered by the delay; he’ll be waiting for the re-scheduling for sure! Ha! Your BBC streaming choices are impressive–time has been kind to MRS. BROWN, which yields by any standard one of Dame Dench’s finest performances. I haven’t seen REVELATION, but will inquire of Allan what he made of it. That’s a curious historical plot strand there about George!
“Pirates of Penzance” is always a joy–I won’t ever forget the production I saw of it a few years back at a local middle school by the Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Society. That youth production of it must have indeed been terrific! And “Once Upon An Island” too!
Yes, nothing compares with those hugs my friend!
Thrilled to hear that two of the films (STUPID CRAZY LOVE and SARAH’S KEY I wager) are in your town, and of your wonderful aenthusiasm for the musical countdown.
Have a great week my friend!
I am thinking the movie might be called Resolution not Revelation…very interesting premise King George II…and an amazing list of actors…Sam Neil is the king…Robert Downy Jr, Meg Ryan, and so many British names..FYI
Thank you for the mention, Sam.
Robert Ryan is one of my favorite actors, especially for his noir works. On Dangerous Ground is a gem, and as you state, is Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece. Especially I love the contrast between the neurotic power of first half and piecing sharpness of the latter. This may be only me but I burst into laugh when I saw Ryan in black coat try to row the boat in Act of Violence. That is the guy you would least expect meeting on the lake up in the refreshing air of mountains. It is a gritty noir, though.
I dug up the 6 out of 8-volume books on Japanese Cinema History in a used book store. The series was out of print for more than two decades, but contains many rare articles, interviews and essays. For example, there is an interview on the props company owner, who supplied many articles to Mizoguchi, Kurosawa and other films. The company had supplied props and small articles to movie studios since the dawn of Japanese cinema. He tells the story about Mizoguchi, how he was uncompromising about his props. One time, Mizoguchi asked for a rare, small born-china by one of the most famous name in the world of art. There would be only two or three of these existent, and will cost more than million dollars. So they found very well-made fake and sent it to studio without telling Mizoguchi about it. Mizoguchi went furious, and demanded to bring the real, true piece. They managed to borrow one from a museum, but asked him why he needs the real prop. Mizoguchi replied his actors would treat it as a fake, if it is a fake. He wanted to show the nervousness of the actor when he was holding the piece of such a value. The similar stories are for many Jidaigeki Superheros of prewar era. Many of the actors actually used the real sword during the shooting of sword play, in order to make himself alert and sharp. Really different approach to cinema making from today’s CG and post image processing.
I will keep eye on The Musical Count Down!
MI
MI—
It’s always a special treat to get one of your banner comments here, but particularly now, after a bit of sparring over the worth and artistry of Ray’s ON DANGEROUS GROUND. Love the point you make sizing up both halves! LOL on Ryan rowing the boat! It’s interesting (though planned no doubt) that Ryan was nature-bound in both films, a fact that wasn’t lost on the Film Forum programmers. ACT OF VIOLENCE is indeed one of the grittiest of noirs.
That entire story about Mizoguchi and the props is a treasure! Ha! Thanks so much for sharing it here. Yes, I know back in those days they used the real thing, which understandably added a sense of fear and immediacy, which as you note is lacking in today’s CGI world. But what a great book you unearthed there.
Thanks again my very good friend, and much appreciate the enthusiasm for the musical countdown.
Thank you for the plug, Sam, and for organising the whole Musical Countdown! Sounds as if you still had a busy week by anyone else’s standard despite supposedly cutting back on movie-going. 🙂
I’ve had a rather trying week for various reasons which I won’t go into, but have watched three movies –
‘Ladies of Leisure’ (1930), a powerful Frank Capra pre-Code melodrama with a wonderful performance by a very young Barbara Stanwyck as an artist’s model.
‘True Confession’ (1937), a screwball comedy directed by Wesley Ruggles, with fine performances by Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray as a chalk-and-cheese couple, though I didn’t like John Barrymore’s over-the-top supporting turn as much as I’d hoped to.
Dial M for Murder (1954) – no need to say much about this one. I enjoyed it though it is very talky and probably not one of Hitchcock’s greatest.
Thanks again, Sam!
Judy–
Sorry to say I haven’t yet watched TRUE CONFESSION, but much appreciate the capsule here. I am a big fan of DIAL M FOR MURDER, though I well know it has some detractors. Saw it at the 3D Festival last summer, and fell in love with it all over again. John Williams is a hoot!
Agreed on LADIES OF LEISURE!
Yes, I managed to expand my horizons again this past week–I’ll take it a week at a time. Ha!
Thanks again my very good friend!
I gotta tell you, the viewing of ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (that you reviewed briefly above) put me in a gritty mood. I longed for films with tough guys and cigarette-smoke clouded rooms, dames that are just as shifty as the men they fall into life with and good intentions gone way too bad…
With that in mind, I looked at Jules Dassin’s late 1940’s prison flick, BRUTE FORCE on Criterion DVD and was swept up by the whole thing. Starring Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn, this compact little noir lured me in for more films of it’s kind and I freely admitted to Maurizio Roca on the threads the other day that I need to give NOIR another, better chance… I’ll be seeking out more of Jules Dassin’s work in the near future…
—————————————————————————————————
Last night on TCM under the channels “summer under the stars” series saw 24 hours of films featuring the incomparable Cary Grant and I found myself swept up in many a cool moment with the suavest guy on the silver screen. ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS by Howards Hawkes was a little more melodramatic for my tastes, but the film held my attention enough to marvel at Grant’s letter perfect performance.
THE BISHOP’S WIFE sees Grant as an angel helping people in dire straits and it’s hard to bash a film this sappy when Grant is at his most chraming and romantic. A fair film that brings smiles with it’s sugary sentiments.
BRINGING UP BABY could be Grant’s best performance. His lightning bolt delivery of some of the sharpest dialoque in cinema history is pretty flawless and his chemistry with the smolderingly sexy yet completely goofy Katharine Hepburn is enough to start a 4 alarm fire…
BUT…
As good as he is in all of these films…
Grant, I have always felt, hit the pinnacle of his career by playing a person (so I’d imagine) so close to his actual comic-coolness that there seems to be no contest as to which his masterpiece is…
NORTH BY NORTHWEST not only shows off Hitchcock at his most inventive and craftiest, but allows Grant to show off the reasons he was a superstar. Cool, laconic, always with a sharp retort and a martini perched in his hand (even with guns going off and crop-dusters chasing him), he never wrinkles a collor or smudges a Brioni suit. It’s class, style and dry wit personified. Looking at the film again last night it’s no wonder where Cubby Broccoli got the ideas for VISUALIZING how James Bond would look and act.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST is, without question (in my mind anyway) Cary Grant’s best performance and the finest film he ever associated himself with.
Dennis—
Our friends Maurizio and Tony can certainly offer up more than a few in the genre you have only now begun to spend time with and appreciate. Heck I have an idea for Wednesday night!
Thanks for the sterling/fascinating recaps on all those TCM classics and for the great filmic enthusiasm throughout this enthralling response here!
And I have a Dassin film for you that will blow you away!
Thanks as always my great friend!
Sam,
As usual, thanks very much for the double mention. Glad you liked CRAZY STUPID LOVE, like you I was pleasantly surprised by it and agree on the hilarious ending. The Ryan festival just puts into perspective how many great films this man was in, he hardly ever disappoints. ACT OF VIOLENCE is a great film. It has been many years since I saw BORN TO BE BAD, remember liking it but I really do need to see it again. Hoping TCM’s Ray tribute in October includes it along with some others that I have not seen (Wind Across the Everglades, The Savage Innocents and Bitter Victory). My own week has been one of photographing shelter cats and crazy hot humid weather. Mid 90’s with humidity making it feel like 100 or more on most days, can’t wait for the fall.
On the movie front, I happily got to watch two rare, at least to me, Jean Gabin films thanks to TCM’s all day Gabin festival along with some other treats listed below.
One Day (**1/2) Is friendship between a guy and woman who meet once a year on the same day for decades going to make a good movie, in this case, no. The film has a few nice moments but it is all totally unbelievable and after awhile annoying.
Wagon Master (****) Overlooked John Ford western. A beautiful poetic character driven film revealing the difficult times and strength it must have taken for these people to travel by Wagon Train. The dirt, sand and dryness of the travel can almost be tasted.
Auntie Mame (****) Mame Dennis is a true free spirit in a world stuffed with stiff conservatives and prejudicial values. “Life is a Banquet,” she says “and most poor suckers are starving to death.” Rosalind Russell, who was in the Broadway show, is superb as the high on life free thinker. The script is phenomenally witty. The supporting cast mostly excellent with Fred Clark standing out as the stuffed shirt banker. A joy from beginning to end.
The Front (***1/2) Woody Allen stars and Martin Ritt direct this tale of a nebbish luncheonette cashier who fronts as a TV Writer for blacklisted writers during the HUAC witch hunts in the early 1950’s. Full review coming on Friday.
Des Gens Sans Importance (People of No Importance (****) Director Henri Verneuil was the kind of mainstream classical style director the French New Wave would soon rebel against. “Des Gens Sans Importance” is a strong naturalistic, unsentimental look at a weary trucker’s affair with a much younger waitress that ends in tragedy. Nicely photographed and well acted by French legend Jean Gabin and the charming Françoise Arnoul.
Leur Derniere Nuit (Their Last Night) (***1/2) – Watch Jean Gabin and you see shades of Humphrey Bogart. Weary, tough, with a touch of softness layered underneath. In this film directed b Georges Lacombe, Gabin leads a secretive life as a librarian, friendly to all who live in the same rooming house especially an attractive new tenant, a teacher (Madeleine Robinson) who takes a liking to him. He is actually a gangster with plans to rob a bank. The robbery is foiled by the police; Gabin is caught but manages to escape and goes on the lam with the help of Robinson. It is only later in the film we find out the backstory on both characters all which leads a tragic ending. Directed by Georges Lacombe.
San Quentin (**1/2) Worth seeing for the cast but this weak Warner Bother’s prison film has an unbelievable storyline and a corn filled ending. Humphrey Bogart, badly wounded, makes his way back to the prison only to die in a prison guard’s arms; his final words, “tell the guys, the new warden (Pat O’Brien) is okay.”
John–
ACT OF VIOLENCE does indeed point out why Ryan is such a great actor, but this entire festival has really set the record straight. Tonight (I will be leaving here at 7:00 and have 90 minutes left to deal with comments on this thread) I will be watching “The Racket” and “I Married A Communist.” I’m sure you have seen both. I wanted to let you know that two ultra-rare Nick Ray’s will be offered at the Film Forum in October:
Special Event! Nick Ray’s WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN with DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH
Monday, October 17
I will be sure to get my tickets early for this! You can access it on the ‘comiong soon’ tab at the Film Forum’s site.
We agreed on THE HELP, and now on CRAZY STUPID LOVE. The ending was indeed riotous! I liked BORN TO BE BAD, but found it problematic too. I’d like to elaborate further soon enough, after I agther my thoughts more cogently.
Wow, and I thought I knew Jean Gabin–haven’t seen those two (maybe Allan has?) but you make them essential there! Of the other great lot (yeah ONE LOVE is no surprise to me!) I like WAGON MASTER best, though AUNTIE MANE and THE FRONT are memorable.
Fully agreed on SAN QUENTIN.
Thanks for the typical astounding wrap my friend, and for the very kind words!
Sam,
Thanks for the mention and the high praise. Robert Ryan is a great actor. I recently saw him in The Set-Up and loved his performance. I really need to find Odds Against Tomorrow. That’s on my short list right now. I’m really happy that the Musical Countdown is finally here and looking forward to all the comments and debates. I personally saw a few more musicals this week. Fiddler on the Roof was a great musical and would likely make my own top 25, despite a second half that started to drag a bit. There’s so many great songs though in it and Topol gives an amazing performance. I also watched Love Me Tonight, which I did not see the charm in. I know many consider it great, but I found Chevalier’s mugging to be annoying and the songs forgettable. On the other hand, The Smiling Lieutenant was much better. I think it’s the Lubitsch touch that did it for me. Well have a great week friend!
Jon–
Ryan was of course titanic in THE SET UP, much as he was in the vast majority of roles he played in his storied career. He’s cerianly an actor who never received his full due, and now some are even talking of him in the ‘greatest actors of all time” gist. You absolutely, indeed must see ODDS as soon as you can manage it. I hankewr for your response on it. Great to hear you (mostly) loved FIDDLER, which has that great score and as you note tremendous performances from Topol as Tevye the Milkman. You are not the only person to feel that way about LOVE ME TONIGHT (one of the panel voters did too) but yeah, most adore it, and it’s always mentioned as one of the seminal musicals, as is two of it’s songs: “Isn’t It Romantic?” and “Mimi,” which are Rogers and Hart standards. But theer will always be some interesting divergences in tastes and perceptions, and I’m always happy to get yours here.
Thanks as always my very good friend!
Sam – Having read the book, I’ve been waiting for your take on SARAH’S KEY. From what you penned, it sounds flat compared to the written work.
Then out of the blue you dangled a heretofore unknown to me film — ANOTHER EARTH. The draw for me, as you can imagine, is the metaphysical aspect that you allude to.
Eoghan and Kayley saw CRAZY STUPID LOVE and raved, “You have to see it!” I saw the previews and thought, “Oh, no I don’t.”
Now I’m heading over to take a look at the review of GUYS AND DOLLS in the musical countdown.
Thank you for pointing to Speaking from the Heart.
Laurie–
I’m afraid to admit that you are absolutely right there. SARAH’S KEY is for the most part narratively flat, though as you’d expect there are some affecting moments. One was that horrifying wrenching “revelation” that was conveyed tastefully.
The metaphysical aspects of ANOTHER EARTH are indeed what would appeal to you most, though even shed of that dimension it’s a fairly powerful story of guilt, remorse and redemption, with some commendable acting from newcomers. Eoghan and Kayley surely has a lot of fun at CRAZY STUPID LOVE, which was a major surprise with the critics. I’d say it’s odds on you’ll fall for it too.
Thanks for your much-valued contribution at the GUYS AND DOLLS thread my excellent friend!
Sam, thanks so much for the wonderful mention.
Kudos again on your tremendous commitment to the pre-code and Keaton fests. On a weekly basis, I was jealous and inspired hearing about all that you saw. Now I’m looking forward to hearing about all the Robert Ryan flicks. He really did appear in so many interesting films.
This week was a slightly slower week for me. I saw: FOX AND HIS FRIENDS, COUP DE TORCHON, BUCK, and L’INNOCENTE. I was extremely happy to see them all. And even if I can’t say that any one of them will become absolute personal favorites, I found much of interest in each one of them.
Here’s to another awesome week. Thanks, Sam, for all that you do!
Jeffrey–
Thanks again for your regular appreciation at WitD and of your incomparable humility. You are a busy professional artist working on your next film (and on distribution for the new THE LAST LULLABY DVD release) and it has always giving me endless admiration and appreciation that you add to the conversation every week. I know that much if not all of my recent Manhattan movie ventures are right up your alley, and you’d be right there.
I haven’t yet seen that BUCK documentary, though I nearly did a few weeks ago. I’ve heard mostly positive things. Tavernier’s COUP DE TORCHON is a harrowing film, and I’ve long admired both Fassbinder’s FOX and that ravishing Visconti film, made near the end of his career. I’ve always thought the latter grossly underrated. All in all quite a lot, even if you didn’t see one standing above the others.
You are a prince my friend. Thank you.
Hi Sam and thanks again for the plug! I’ve been rather lazy about writing up NOIR CITY 3 – I kept meaning to review New York Confidential, but it just kept not happening. Still, it was a great run of noir, concluding with Chicago Deadline in a nearly sold-out house – we Chicagoans are great city boosters. I left behind the pleasures of low-budget noir to attend a more rarified pleasure, Hou Hsaio-Hsien’s 1986 film A Time to Live and a Time to Die, a wonderfully poignant entry in the Siskel Center’s run of Taiwanese films. On Friday, I stopped neglecting the Silent Summer Film Festival offerings and took in Mighty Like a Moose, certainly one of Charley Chase’s funniest shorts, and The Cardboard Lover, of which I couldn’t decide who I thought was funnier, Marion Davies or her leading man Nils Asther. We picked up some gems at the Borders liquidation sale – Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics I (The Big Heat, 5 Against the House, The Lineup, Murder by Contract, The Sniper) and I Am Cuba: The Ultimate Edition, which is packaged to imitate a cigar box. At home, besides Klimt, I took in the 1999 film of Mansfield Park, which didn’t rock my world. Took in a big harvest of tomatoes from the garden, and now it’s back to the grindstone.
Marilyn–
I can well understand the situation at present. You have a lot on your plate. Seeing a number of features in that festival is daunting enough, even before contemplating reviews on some of them. I have heard the attendance was fabulous, and somehow I’m not surprised at the particular enthusism for CHICAGO DEADLINE. Ha! Yep, I have no doubt that Chicagoans are city boosters for sure! But I would loved to see that film and NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL on the big screen. As far as that Hsaio-Hsien film, I can uneqivocably say it ranks among my favorite of all Asian films, and is the one I lioke best from that artists. It’s indeed a piercingly poignant, humanist work. I am not surprised it made Siskel’s grouping there! I habe never seen either MIGHTY LIKE A MOUSE nor THE CARDBOARD LOVER, but both would be well within my wheel house in every sense. I love Marion Davies and Nils Asher (the male Greta Garbo) and found him most memorable in Capra’s THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN, a film I’m sure you probably revere youself.
Good heist there in the Border’s sale. Great work nabbing titles I would have long thought would be gone! Seems like the Borders and B & N sales ran concurrent. I liked MANSFIELD PARK a little more, but would readily admit it’s not one of the best Austen adaptations by alongshot.
Now tomato gardening. That’s the best!
Thanks as always my very good friend!
Thanks for the mention Sam! Didn’t see any docs this weekend, but have slowly been working through Game of Thrones and keeping up with Breaking Bad.
Hope all is well!
Dave–
BREAKING BAD has more than a few fans in this neck of the woods apparently! I don’t know of GAME OF THRONES, but will do some investigating. Loved the PROJECT NIM review!
Thanks again my friend. All is well, thanks!
Sam, as you already know I saw ‘The Help’ on Saturday down in Edgewater with Lisa. We both liked it (Lisa loved it unconditionally) and found the outcry in some quarters against the film’s underlying message as bogus. On balance ‘The Help’ is a sharply drawn, if sometimes obvious look at a time and place that has always stood still in the annals of the Great Racial Divide. To look at the film as ‘condescending’ in it’s structure and point of view is to entirely miss the overarching point of the human bonds of intimacy that triumph over injustice. Watching the film reminds us of how much things have changed and how the treatment of women has evolved.
I can’t wait to see ‘Another Earth.’ I think I may have missed my chance.
Frank and Sam:
I found The Help entertaining, but too manipulative in some crucial ways.
Fair enough Peter. you are not the only one to feel that way. I’d say there was some, but nothing on the level of many other Hollywood dramas over the years.
Thank you my friend.
Frank–
That’s an exceptionally perceptive take on THE HELP! I concur in some measure with just about everything you say, and feel the dissenters are looking beyond the obvious humanist appeal. They are also attaching some unreasonable stereotyping that frankly is all part of this ugly, turbulent time. Glad you and Lisa (especially) saw the good.
ANOTHER EARTH did leave Montclair, but may srtill re-surface.
Thanks again my special friend!
Sam,
Thanks as always for the link. Lots of exciting stuff going here, what with the rest of the pre-code writeups, and Judy’s fantastic intro to the Musical Countdown today.
The weekend for me was filled with widely varied cultural treats. On Friday night, we attended the Ravinia Festival, where the CSO and a choir provided live musical accompaniment to a showing of LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. I’d forgotten just how great that movie is, and the superb live music only enhanced our enjoyment.
On Saturday, I caught ONE DAY, a genuinely lovely film – the widespread critical drubbing it has received is mystifying to me, and I’m at work on a defense of the film that I hope to get up at my blog in the next few days.
Sunday was a marathon viewing of the new UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS series – what a delight! I never saw the original series (not my Dad’s cup of tea and he ruled the television when I was growing up), but I can only imagine how wonderful it was. The new series starts in 1936 and manages to incorporate subplots involving the abdication, the rise of Facism, Jewish refugees from Germany…. and Cecil Beaton. Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins head the cast, and you can’t go wrong with those women. Watching it was like curling up with a really good book. I can’t wait for Season Two!
Have a great week.
Pat—
Aye, it’s exciting for sure. Judy’s great piece has inspired relevent discussion and tangent-but-still-relative discussion there! Ha! That Ravinia venue was also offered up at Lincoln Center here, but I didn’t get there. I’m sure it was every bit as fantastic as you report, and like you I have always seen FELLOWSHIP and the other LOTR films as “great.” But that live music enhancement was really the thing! Nice.
I look forward to reading a positive reaction to ONE DAY, a film that has indeed been drubbed by a sizable number. I liked the original UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS quite a bit, but know close to nothing about the new series. But after reading your description, the parallels are obvious. That’s one I’ll jot down for sure! The original is really great stuff!
Thanks as always my great friend!
Sam, I’ve said all along that Odds Against Tomorrow is a mighty film and I’m glad to have my opinion seconded by yours. I dare say that Robert Wise did none better, though I still have a soft spot for The Sand Pebbles. Anyway, Ryan and Belafonte are great as characters for whom race hatred is symptomatic rather than defining, and who are ultimately reduced to their common essence. Strangely, producer Belafonte requires a literal apocalypse in The World, the Flesh and the Devil for a more hopeful scenario. Go figure.
I notice you skipped the two big remakes of the weekend. No wonder they both bombed, but both John Milius’s Conan and Tom Holland’s Fright Night are arguably inimitable films. At least Wendigo and I will be arguing this week that Fright Night in particular was irreproducible in today’s pop culture. Besides rewatching that, I took in Hideo Gosha’s Secret of the Urn and Rouben Mamoulian’s Applause, both of which have been reviewed. You may consider the latter an adjunct to your musical survey if you liked. Along with those I watched the Criterion DVD of Blow Out along with De Palma’s Murder a la Mod, each of which has points of interest, as well as Michael Winner’s Lawman, a tough western but ultimately not on the level of his Chato’s Land, and Sergio Sollima’s superior spaghetti western Face to Face. And I will be getting to One Week sometime this week, but those distractions did show up as predicted. I’d better close now, since the WordPress text window is jumping with every letter I type, and I’m going to be sick if that keeps up.
You do realise that you’ve completely invalidated any argument with bringing up The Sand Pebbles, Samuel. It’s like someone they think Young Mr Lincoln is John Ford’s best film (it isn’t but it’d be a brave call) and then saying “though Mary of Scotland pushes close.”
No, I don’t realize — and we are talking about Robert Wise, here. Beyond The Set Up, what else is there?
Born To Kill, The Haunting, The Body Snatcher, Curse Of The Cat People, The Day The Earth Stood Still….. plenty if your not being cheeky lol.
Samuel–that’s Allan’s presumptuous overbearing side shining through!
In any case I agree with the choices Maurizio has made in back-up of ODDS, and would add his unforgettable co-directorship of WEST SIDE STORY.
His work on THE SOUND OF MUSIC will alway sne critically-derided, but not by me in the same vein.
The question had its desired effect. I just wanted to make sure no one was going to come out endorsing Star! or Star Trek: The Motion Picture. You never know, after all. I’d add The Andromeda Strain to the good-stuff list, but while I acknowledge the consensus favoring The Haunting, it never really did anything for me. But I am going to have to re-watch Sand Pebbles soon to mount a proper defense of it.
Count me in as a fan of The Sand Pebbles.
Great point Samuel about the little-seen THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL, which also boasts a terrific Miklos Rozsa score. But it warms my heart to read your glowing words about ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW.
Yeah I skipped those remakes out of necessity as there was just too much going on. I’d love to read that discussion with Wendigo on FRIGHT NIGHT, a film that I always had a weakness for, though maybe for valid artistic reasons. I know you have areview of the Mamouilian up–I saw it but haven’t read it yet, and am interested in the Gosha.
I haven’t seen that de Palma, oddly enough. There’s a Criterion blu-ray of DRESSED TO KILL set to follow up on BLOW OUT. Anyway thanks for this sizzling wrap with a wealth of information. Thanks as always my friend!
My neighbor really liked “Sarah’s Key” but still feels that it falls short of “The Reader.” But since I didn’t care for the latter, I think I’ll take a pass.
I know you are pumped up with the musical countdown starting up. I’ll check out the “Guys and Dolls” review now.
Enjoy the rest of the break. I can’t believe it’s already the 22nd. I’m here at the annex for a few hours.
Fred–
I can see why one would raw comparisons with THE READER, though there are many significant differences. SARAH’S KEY could have been a great film, but musy settle for middling due to some striking narrative inconsistencies.
I know the break will soon be history! Depressing.
Thanks as always my very good friend, and do please keep checking up on the daily musical entries.
Thanks Sam for the kind mention. You have seen quite a few films this week that have been recommended to me recently and I hope to get to them once I am done catching up on some Claire Denis films. Are you planning on seeing any of the Latin beat films this week at the Lincoln center?
I read something about those Latin beat films at Lincoln Center! I’d be interested.
Hey Sachin–
This is the first I’ve heard of the Latin beat films to be honest. But I’ll check out the schedule. Admittedly this week is pretty much spoken for with a planned screening of THE ICEMAN COMETH at the Ryan Festival on Thursday, and a special Harry Potter interactive show in Manhattan on Tuesday night with the entire family. It was originally a gift for Sammy’s 14th birthday in May (four of my five kids are “May” births. Ha!) but the kids are all big Potter fans from way back.
I’d love to read about your venture with the Denis films.
Thanks as always my very good friend!
Just time for a quick one before I read the ‘Guys and Dolls’ essay. Was ‘G&D’ one of Godard’s favorites or was it ‘Pal Joey’? I can never remember.
‘Inland Empire’ (2007) — A genius marking time. The line between the real and the fictional is blurred again by D. Lynch in this 3-hr. film-within-a-film (I lasted about an hour). And the Hollywood film enclosed in Lynch’s ‘real’ one has a sordid ‘Hollywood Babylon’ production history of scandal and murder.
Raymond Chandler partially blamed the Santa Ana winds for LA’s weirdness, but I think the toxicity of all that smog makes Angelenos crazy.
With ‘Inland Empire’ it comes down to a question of style and acting or maybe stylish acting. How do you want your film queen to crack up? Do you prefer the regal madness of Gloria Swanson or the gum-chewing gaucherie of Laura Dern? It’s a stretch to take this girl seriously as a star, a glamour puss and a gossip magnet installed in a Hancock Park mansion (isn’t that the old-money neighborhood where Jane Hudson/Bette Davis performed her sadistic mind games on Joan Crawford?), complete with domestics and servants of European extraction, none of whom are Erich von Stroheim, unfortunately. Dern plays nouveau riche white trash here — you can take the shopgirl out of Dayton, but you can’t take Dayton out of the shopgirl, etc., etc., etc.
We all know Hollywood isn’t the real world and Lynch needs to stop shooting these poison darts at his place of employment (I exclude the magnificent ‘Mulholland Drive,’ where he said everything he needed to say about the show-biz jungle and its delusions and hallucinations of fame and riches). Lynch needs to get back to the cornfields of Iowa or the pine forests of North Carolina and Washington to re-examine the dopers and SM’ers and voyeurs and jes-folks eccentrics who don’t have a voice coach or a star on their dressing room doors.
By the way, Jeremy Irons is beginning to sound more and more like Boris Karloff. Knowing Lynch, this was probably intentional. Nice touch.
It was probably glib comparing Marco Bellocchio to Robert Aldrich, like comparing Poe to Stephen King, but after watching ‘Fists in the Pocket’ twice I still think Bellocchio imposes a lot of baroque psychological horror on a left-wing political drama about family and class, and ends up making a faintly ludicrous picture. But because It’s so well made, I think a lot of people forgive its grotesquerie. This Paola Pitagora girl, however, is quite a discovery — child, woman, glamorous, dishevelled, irrepressible, gap-toothed, lewd and lovely. An actress like this should’ve played Lynch’s heroine.
Mark–
You back up your exasperation with the Bellochio film with a most valid and telling assessment. It makes no difference whether I, or Jamie Uhler or Joel Bocko disagree, the point is you’ve watched the film twice now, have allowed it ample time to wash over you and have measures it in the proper sociopolitical context. It works for me as a stylized treatment of dysfunctional behavior, but it’s disconcerting film that will alienate as many as it will enthrall. I fully understand that.
As far as Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE, that one is just about a masterpiece in my view, but again it’s driven people to the extreme one way or another. From the bunny rabbits of the opening scene through Laura Dern’s harrowing and electrifying monologue it’s explored the most intense surrealism in nightmare mode in Lynch’s formidable catalogue, and the urgency of the video choice is a singular achievement that’s already been emulated over the few years after its release. Still your penetrating abeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek assessment is food for thought! Never realized that about Irons.
Now you have me scurrying off to see which film musical Godard liked! Ha!
As always a spectacularly original submission here my excellent friend!
I know Bellocchio directed ‘Fists in the Pocket’ at the age of 26, so it’s a remarkable, prodigious debut by a born film director (there aren’t that many prodigies in cinema history as we both know. Ha.) I pay this film my highest compliment when I say it made me hungry to see more Bellocchio, to see ‘China is Near,’ ‘In the Name of the Father ‘ and others. Even though I think ‘Fists’ is overwrought, it’s still better than 90% of what’s out there and I’m grateful that the film exists. I could watch Pitagora over and over.
By the way, do you think Woody Allen remembered ‘Fists’ suicidal car ride when he had Christopher Walken drive Annie and Alvy to the airport? It’s something to think about.
I love ‘Eraserhead,’ ‘The Straight Story,’ ‘Mulholland Drive’ and parts of ‘The Elephant Man’, but I could see ‘Inland Empire’ was heading into a load of outre nonsense after the first hour. Call me old-fashioned, but a little narrative logic helps, especially when Lynch asks us to endure a 3-hr. film (‘Eraserhead’ is a relatively short 85 min.) And I prefer Laura Dern as Nancy Drew to Kyle MacLachlan’s Hardy Boy in “Blue Velvet.’ Is she supposed to be an over-the-hill diva making a comeback in ‘Inland Empire,’ or is she living off her Poilsh husband’s money? I didn’t quite catch that, but then I only watched the film’s first hour. I’ll give it another whirl at some point.
After watching Odds Against Tomorrow last week, I must side with the prevailing opinion. I like The Haunting and West Side Story as much, though as far as Wise is concerned. I though Ed Begley was great most of all.
Yes Bob, I am pleased to hear of your strong regard for ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW, and have long known and appreciated your special regard for THE HAUNTING, one of the greatest of of all horror films.
Seems to me that Wise by as diversified as any director making stellar contributions in musicals, noir, horror, sports and action/adventure. I guess only comedy has eluded him, though that point could be argued.
Begley was great in ODDS. No doubt about that.
Thanks as ever!
So glad to see that you’re a big fan of Act of Violence, Sam. I wrote about it for the film noir blogathon last year, and it’s just a perfect film. I like the movie Zinnemann made before it (The Search) just fine, but I’ve always considered AOV to be Zinnemann’s first *real* masterpiece (although I haven’t seen The Seventh Cross yet). It plays with all of those great crisis-of-conscience themes that Zinnemann returns to again and again in his career.
High-octane comment as usual Adam, and many thanks!
I know well of your excellent work with Zinnemann at ICEBOX MOVIES and elsewhere and much appreciate your enrichments. I’ll definitely have to go back and check your review! But yeah I must say I reallu love teh film, and have been talking it up all week! Tonight I will be seeing “I Married A Communist” and “The Racket” at the festival.
Hello Sam and everyone! Thanks for reproducing my blogathon, which has ended in a real success for me, even if my blog is in spanish and the few followers I have, I managed to have at least a daily entry, and many great original essays from people from around the world. I even managed to have many of my favorite bloggers to either promote it or even participate with entries, which was really awesome from their part. Thanks again Sam, you’re a true blogger and friend!
From the movies you’ve seen this week, Odds Against Tomorrow, On Dangerous Ground and Act of Violence sound like must-sees. You certainly had a rest after those madness weeks of the Pre-Code festival, do you? Hahahaha, well done Sam, don’t ever fatigate… unless you’re sick, of course… which I hope never happens.
Well, my week was filled with hope and right now I’m dissapointed of many people. The week began with a free day off work, which was enjoyed seeing a movie with my girlfriend. Tuesday came along with a pitching to the Fiction Workshop teacher, and in that same day it was confirmed that we were going on a strike until today, and that it would be revalidated and then ampliated to another week (and so on and so forth). Wednesday was a good day because it was my first day as a Radio Host, on a culture program on an AM Radio, the radio of my university, and it was swell. That same day I was integrated to a commision that would record famous people sponsoring a public education. Then, on thursday, I went visit my girlfriend, because she was sick with the flu. Friday was a great day of union, as almost all of the students of my career came together to a meeting to talk to the director and how he showed us his support. Saturday and Sunday came and went, and today I’m sad as we lost the strike for just six votes, and we have to respect the decission of those six people who wanted to stop a fight for a better education.
So, anyway, my week moviewise:
– Clever Monkey Pinochet versus La Moneda’s Pig (2004, Iván Osnovikoff, Bettina Perut) **** This was seen on friday at the faculty, on a public screening held by one of the directors and also teachers of the university, Iván Osnovikoff, as it was one of the strike activities. So, this chilean documentary has its basis on the rendition of the events of the coup as imagined by uninformed children, on what little they knew about the process. Interesting document.
– The Blair Witch Project (1999, Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez) **** Groundbreaking horror movie, filled with little scary moments, as well as long spaces of nothing. Good performances, and good tension through it, and a good movie overall, a experience that must be had. I was in a discussion with Bob Clark about this, and how the ending was for him the only thing that has scared him on film.
– Clerks. (1994, Kevin Smith) **** Wow, this movie is actually Really Funny, filled with jokes so you can’t have anymore, but the main thing I have with this film is that many things work, and quite a few don’t, mostly those slow jokeless segments, and the overall structure, that feels like a good amount with jokes with the resemblance of a plot around it. Still, quite good! 37… in a row? HAH!
– The Wait (2011, Francisca Fuenzalida) **** Chilean minimalistic film that I saw in a critics screening so I could write about it on an online newspaper. The movie is a good example of how independent films work in Chile: one location, few actors, lots of controversy. The main theme is pregnancy and how the protagonist girl doesn’t want the baby and does an abortion at her house. The consecuences may be predictable, but the acting is excellent.
– Friday the 13th (2009, Marcus Nispel) ** With this I’ve completed (almost) the series of films of the deformed little guy named Jason. The movie itself feels like a rehash of the older greater slasher films of the series. It doesn’t feel original and doesn’t spend any time with good acting or with the interest of the characters. Trashy and one of the worst in the series.
– Little White Dove (1973, Raúl Ruiz) **** My first Ruiz, the one that played on national TV the day he died, a chilean film based on a chilean book I’ve read. The film itself departs quite a lot in many ways and wanders off without the characters, and those are the most interesting parts, in which we see the voice and the act of speaking as art. Quite beautiful.
– The Piano Teacher (2001, Michael Haneke) ****1/2 WOW. Sick. I mean, this movie was so disgusting at times, and yet I was marvelled by the acting and the distancing framing as well as the impunity and coldness in which the acts were showcased. I mean, I almost puked once, but it was just a reflex thing after the accumulation of so many stuff. Well done Haneke, well done.
– Violeta went up heaven (2011, Andrés Wood) **** A succesful chilean film based on the life of one of the best singers: Violeta Parra. Her life as a chore, and filled with sadness, the movie features a strong acting performance from Francisca Gavilán as well as good cinematography and good framing. Still, it could’ve been a lot better.
That’s it Sam, have a good week and good luck with the musical countdown, I’ll look at it closely!
“- The Piano Teacher (2001, Michael Haneke) ****1/2 WOW. Sick. I mean, this movie was so disgusting at times, and yet I was marvelled by the acting and the distancing framing as well as the impunity and coldness in which the acts were showcased. I mean, I almost puked once, but it was just a reflex thing after the accumulation of so many stuff. Well done Haneke, well done.”
Yep, to me it’s Haneke’s masterpiece (though I’ve seen his newest White Ribbon once). I don’t think it’s as sick or disgusting as you. Distancing and alienating yes, difficult and accurate yes. Glad you liked it though. You might also really like Kraus’ ‘Four Minutes’ from 2006.
Jaime–
My apologies for the very late response. Today was a crazy one, as I’ll describe to you by email tomorrow. I am also strapped with having to write a review during the day tomorrow for a musical, a review I haven’t even begun. The review must be posted for Thursday morning so the pressure is already mounting. Tonight I took the family to that Harry Potter Exhibition in Manhattan and while it was fun, it was overpriced. It cost us about $140 for the seven of us, and it was only really a two-floor museum. I agree with you and Jamie on THE PIANO TEACHER, and only yesterday received a request from my daughter to watch THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which I like a little less than you. Not surprised they showed that Ruiz film on this very sad day. I haven’t seen it yet. I haven’t seen that Chilean documentary, but have seen CLERKS, which I liked but perhaps a bit less than you. But fair enough.
Your blogathon debut was masterly and you should really take a bow. Your dedication there on a daily basis was inspiring, and you received some outstanding essays. You did Kelly proud! And your girlfriend wrote up a fine piece too!
Yes, I saw some vital films this past week, and yes, you need to see some of them at some point.
Losing the strike by just six votes was a bummer, but a great big congratulations to you on that radio host gig!!! Great stuff!
Thanks so much for the typically awesome and passionate comment and for being such a credit to the blogging community!
Well Sam technically it is Tuesday, even here on the west coast but I haven’t gone to bed yet so it is still Monday to me 🙂 Thank you for holding a light for Creative Potager while I was off island hoping first to “the big island” Vancouver Island and then for four days on Saturna Island with my eldest grandson. First post is up now. I am suspicious that you might like it 😉
On the movie front David had REVANCHE (2008) an Austrian film, directed by Gotz Spielmann set a side for when I got home. I was prepared to dislike it but was pleasantly surprised by the depth of character development and exploration of the human condition.
Another I really enjoyed was BONNEVILLE (2006) just for fun – nothing more 🙂
I see you are continuing to be your busy self and I look forward to reading some of the latest post. Best of the week Sam and the rest of the Wonders in the Dark team and community.
Terrill–
I will be attending to your post very very soon, and am most intrigued at waht you give me that clue on!
I know you were away, and I am expecting some wonderful artistic inspiration in the coming weeks! REVANCHE has some serious fans in the WitD community, though I have not yet seen BONNEVILLE.
School will be starting soon, so I will need to pull back a bit. Welcome back my friend, and many thanks!
Oh I think you are going to have a wonderful time hiking Brown Ridge with us and enjoying the mist at East Point 🙂 Looking forward to your arrival. I trust the earthquake caused you know harm but that darn hurricane seems to be prepared to make its way along the east coast. Wishing you safe and well prepared for the start of the school year.
Terrill–
I just completed the hike, and I must say I know now the true and lasting value of the visual image. I didn’t even have to leave my PC to take in what will sorely be missing because of cancelled vacation plans. But please, WitD readers, join in! Take the hike! Please! You won’t be sorry. Terrill is perfect tour guide, and she’s got plenty of water!
http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/hiking-brown-ridge-on-saturna-island/
Thanks a lot Sam for the mention.
I really envy your being able to attend the Robert Ryna festival, and you sure managed to catch & relive some great movies. As for me, well, the week that was wasn’t really great in terms of movie viewing. Work load has been insanely high these last few days. Moreover, given that my term end exams will start from Saturday onwards, I guess I’ll be able to resume my movie-viewing only after the exams end.
Meanwhile, I finished the book Neuromancer, a seminal work in the genre of sci-fi & more specifically cyberpunk, a few weeks back. I’ve started a new blog called Biblioscope (http://cliched-monologues1.blogspot.com/) in order to post capsule reviews of the books that I read as well as my favourites which I’ve read earlier, and I chose Neuromancer for my first review there. It would be great to have you visit this new blog of mine.
Shubhajit–
I will indeed pay that new blog a visit tomorrow (It”s nearing midnight here in the NYC area and I must address a few other comments, even if shortly. I will also happily add it to the WitD blogroll. Sounds like a fantastic venture my friend, and good luck with it! I have indeed heard of “Neuromancer,” but I haven’t read it of course.
I know you are going through a difficult period with your studies. I noticed your potput was down as of late. But I’m happy to hear that will change soon.
Thanks again my friend!
All this talk of ‘Odds Against Tomorrow’ and ‘On Dangerous Ground’ has motivated me to forge arrangements to watch both. I hope to return with a report next week.
David that is great news! Please keep me abreast!
I am leaving for tonight’s Harry Potter interactive event in Manhattan with the family.
My deepest apologies to Mark, Samuel, Jaime, Shubhajit and others here for my delay in responding to you all. I got waylayed by a benign debate at another site, and I lost some valuable time. I will get to these great submissions ASAP. I am very sorry about this.
Thank you as always for the mention Sam. I have been writing less lately… well writing less for my blog. I’ve been having to prostitute my writing skills for some cash and that has been draining any initiative to write for nothing. I haven’t even had a chance to go to the movies! Not even to see “The Help,” a movie I really need to see because the debate going on over it is one that is near and dear to my heart. I suppose by the time I see it the debate will have passed me by. I suppose I’ll get out to see it this weekend.
God Jason, I am sorry you are going through such a lamentable time. If you were in the NYC area I’d do my darndest to brighten the situation. I have indeed noticed the blog writing has diminished of late, but well understand why. I am thinking you may dislike THE HELP quite resoundingly, but I could be wrong. Here’s to a good weekend my friend!
Perhaps the greatest score in motion picture history by it’s premiere composer:
It’s been haunting me all week since I saw teh film at the Film Forum.
The theatre will again be showing it in October as part of the Bernard Herrmann Festival.