screen cap from film 'Coriolanus,' based on Shakespeare's play
by Sam Juliano
The countdown for Christmas Day 2011 is now nearing the single digits, and holiday shopping is at a peak at a time when the weather has at least been cooperative. The action at Wonders in the Dark has abated considerably since the conclusion of the musical countdown, but this down period is being experienced all over the blogosphere, as readers are understandably pre-occupied with more pressing responsibilities at this time. The site is in a kind of a holding pattern, with Ford and Kuibrick projects nearing and a massive spring ‘comedy countdown’ presently being discussed at the preliminary level.
The critics’ groups are naming their annual awards at a feverish pace, with Los Angeles, Boston, the New York Critics Online and Detroit all weighing in over the weekend. The Artist continues to dominate, though LA rocked the boat by going with The Descendants and Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life.
Late last night the San Francisco Film Critics Circle chimed in with the best results of all so far by going with The Tree of Life as Best Picture, Terrence Malick as Best Director and among other excellent choices, Vanessa Redgrave for Best Supporting Actress for Coriolanus. Way to go San Fran!
In any case it was business as usual at the site over the past week with Jim Clark chiming in with an ever-impressive essay on the Coens’ A Serious Man, Jamie Uhler’s “Getting Over the Beatles” series reaching an astounding 53rd installment, and both the Fish Obscuro and Bob Clark’s comic-to-screen series offering up memorable pieces.
Lucille and I had another typical December week with a healthy dose of movie fare, two of which were also attended by our three boys, two with our friend Alan Hardy, and one with Broadway Bob. For the second week in a row a Metropolitan Opera HD simulcast was aired on Saturday afternoon. The next one won’t be until late January.
We experienced the following films and one opera in local theatres:
Coriolanus **** 1/2 (Thursday night) AMC Loews Lincoln Square
We Need to Talk About Kevin **** (Saturday night) Angelika Film Center
The Wind ***** (Monday evening) Film Forum
March of the Wooden Soldiers **** 1/2 (Friday Night) Loews Jersey City
Faust ***** (opera; Gounod) Saturday afternoon; Edgewater multiplex
CORILOLANUS, a grossly underrated Shakespeare play, gets as visceral an interpretation as imaginable in the updated militaristic interpretation by Ralph Fiennes. Seen on the final day of its one-week qualifying run, it excerts some remarkable emotional power are offers up several superlative performances, including an electrifying turn from Vanessa Redgrave. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is admittedly the best film ever from “style-over-substance” helmer Lynn Ramsay, and it contains some harrowing scenes and deft weaving of metaphorical imagery. Tinton is solid, but hardly the dominant force that some are say she is in the film. Her underplaying has become her trademark, and in this film it heightens some of the unanswered questions and difficulties in sorting out motivation. Still, at times the film resonates deeply, and both young Kevins gave remarkable turns. They were on hand on Saturday night at the Angelika to moderate a spirited Q & A after the film.
I wrote a full review of the Laurel & Hardy classic THE MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (a. k. a. BABES IN TOYLAND) during the musical countdown, but they didn’t stop me from again treking out to see the film on the big screen with the family for a Christmas venue at the Landmark Loews movie palace. Sadly the print was very poor, with continual audio skips, and several key scenes were missing, including the “Go to Sleep, (Slumber Deep)” number, and the opening “Toyland” song. As to THE WIND, the Film Forum presentation of this Victor Sjostrom/Lillian Gish masterpiece was superlative, as was the piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner.
The new Metropolitan Opera sets and staging for Gounod’s towering opera FAUST are not my cup of tea, though the updating, setting the opera between the World Wars was fine enough. The singing of this magnificent score was first-rate though, and the audience offered up 14 ovations. Gounod’s lovely score is one of French opera’s greatest.
John Greco, writer extraordinaire, has authored a terrific review of Howard Hawks’ 1964 “Man’s Favorite Sport?” at Twenty Four Frames: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/mans-favorite-sport-1964-howard-hawks/
R.D. Finch has written a buffo essay on “The Tree of Life” at The Movie Projector: http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-of-life-2011.html
Judy Geater at Movie Classics has penned a new entry in her seminal Wellman series: 1932′s “Love is a Rachet.” As always is a marvelous piece: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/love-is-a-racket-william-a-wellman-1932/
Tony d’Ambra has penned a superlative capsule on 1949’s “The Window.” which he asserts contends with Dassin’s “Night and the City” as the first documentary noir. It’s over at film noir’s altar: FilmsNoir.net: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/the-window-1949-the-city-as-a-prison.html
On the occasion of Woody Allen’s 76th birthday, Jaime Grijalba offers up a killer list of his ten favorite Woodman films at Exodus 8:2: http://exodus8-2.blogspot.com/2011/12/los-76-de-woody-allen.html
Just Another Film Buff (Srikanth) considers “Zombie vs. Shark” and exploitation cinema at The Seventh Art: http://theseventhart.info/2011/12/11/super-scenes-13/
Laurie Buchanan at Speaking From The Heart covers “Gemini” in her extraordinary astrological series: http://holessence.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/gemini-may-21-jun-20/
Dee Dee has posted a wonderfully informative and engaging piece on the origin of lobby cards at Darkness Into Light: http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2011/11/holding-auctiontaking-look-at-eleven.html
Jon Warner has written a terrific review of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” at Films Worth Watching: http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2011/12/before-sunrise-1995-directed-by-richard.html
Kaleem Hasan’s Satyamshot blog continues to attract record-breaking numbers at this altar for Indian culture, film and politics. Here’s a recent post displaying images for the new “The Dark Knight” film: http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/the-dark-knight-rises-first-poster/
Marilyn Ferdinand has written another brilliant essay on a film she recently saw with Shane at the University of Chicago called “The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975″ at Ferdy-on-Films: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=12413
Meanwhile, Roderick Heath holds the lead position at Ferdy-on-Films with a wholly spectacular essay on “Drive” that again raises the bar: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=12479
At Roderick Heath’s literature blog, English-One-O-Worst, the great writer takes on the Bard’s “King Lear” and the result is a scholarly masterpiece: http://englishoneoworst.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-he-rightly-is-king-lear-as-king.html
Pat Perry has penned another perceptive piece on the severely flawed sex comedy “Friends With Benefits” at Doodad Kind of Town: http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-home-screen-friends-with-benefits.html
Craig Kennedy announces that ‘The Descendants’ has taken the top prize in the Los Angeles Film Critics voting: http://livingincinema.com/2011/12/11/awaiting-la-film-critics-best-picture/
Murderous Ink, in Tokyo examines 1920′s cinema ia a brilliant new post titled “Going Berserk” at Vermillion and One Nights: http://vermillionandonenights.blogspot.com/2011/11/going-berserk.html
At Patricia’s Wisdom, our friend and proctor of the same name has authored a stirring book review of a moving memoir, “So Far Away” at Patricia’s Wisdom: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2011/12/so-far-away-by-christine-w-hartmann/
At Scribbles and Ramblings Sachin Gandhi has penned a master class essay on “Martha Marcy May Marlene”: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2011/11/girl-with-three-names.html
At the always-spectacular Creativepotager’s blog, artist Terrill Welch offers up another captivating work-in-progress on her latest oil painting: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/spilling-over-original-oil-painting-by-terrill-welch/
Writer extraordinaire Samuel Wilson, has penned a provocative essay on the grim historical drama “City of Life and Death” at Mondo 70: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2011/12/city-of-life-and-death-nanjing-nanjing.html
At The Long Voyage Home, Peter Lenihan features 103 year-old director Manuoel de Oliveira’s “The Strange Case of Angelica”: http://thelongvoyagehome.blogspot.com/2011/11/moving-beyond-materialism-manoel-de.html
The gifted and always brilliant Jason Bellamy takes a fascinating and perceptive look at “J Edgar” that in some measure differs from the majority stand. It’s at The Cooler: http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2011/11/solid-weight-j-edgar.html
Filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman at The Late Lullaby offers up a new quartet of films including one by Ozu and another by Pialat that impressed him greatly as of late: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2011/11/favorite-four-part-fifteen.html
Again Stephen Russell-Gebbett expands the boundaries of blog posts by offering up some cogent ideas as what makes a film work in a tremendous piece titled “Film and Musicality: The Importance of Tempo, Rhythm, Length and Timing” at Checking On My Sausages: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2011/11/film-and-musicality-importance-of-tempo.html
At The Schleicher Spin David asks writers to name the ten people from the past they’d most want to have a conversation with: http://theschleicherspin.com/2011/11/23/elizabeth-r-you-free-for-dinner/
At Cinemascope Shubajit Laheri has penned a marvelous capsule on varda’s “Cleo from 5 to 7”: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2011/12/cleo-from-5-to-7-1962.html
At This Island Rod, Roderick Heath stays the course with another stupendous review, this one on 1971′s “When Eight Bells Toll: http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/2011/11/when-eight-bells-toll-1971.html
Michael Harford, the erstwhile ‘Coffee Messiah’ offers up an engaging video about the beverage’s worldwide popularity: http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2011/11/coffee-break.html
Troy Olson announces plans to commence with his Robert Bresson project at Elusive as Robert Denby: http://troyolson.blogspot.com/2011/11/argh.html
Jason Marshall issues an expertly reasoned pan of Lars Von Trier’s “Melancholia” at Movies Over Matter: http://moviesovermatter.com/2011/12/03/the-earth-is-evil-we-dont-need-to-grieve-for-it-lars-von-triers-melancholia/
At Petrified Fountain of Thought Stephen Morton offers up three terrific capsules on “50/50″, “Moneyball” and “Ides of March”: http://petrifiedfountainofthought.blogspot.com/2011/11/recent-movies-5050-moneyball-ides-of.html
Fritz Lang, Joseph Losey and Jean-Luc Godard all figure in Drew McIntosh’s latest post “I’ll Be Damned” at The Blue Vial: http://thebluevial.blogspot.com/2011/11/ill-be-damned.html
Kevin Olson offers up a postscript to his recent Horror Blogothon at Hugo Stigliz Makes Movies: http://kolson-kevinsblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/italian-horror-blogathon-postscript.html
Tony Dayoub at Cinema Viewfinder offers up an interview with the Self-Styled Siren: http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2011/11/gone-to-earth-conversation-with-self.html
Hokahey has penned an impressive review of “The Immortals” at Little Worlds: http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2011/11/immortal-imagery-immortals.html
Dave Van Poppel is gearing for some updates at Visions of Non Fiction, but presently is still leading up with his very fine review of “Project Nim”: http://visionsofnonfiction.blogspot.com/2011/08/project-nim.html
At The Reluctant Bloger Jeff Stroud has offered up some stunning beautiful images in a post titled “Autumn Leaves”: http://jeffstroud.wordpress.com/
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
Wonders in the Dark 
Hi Sam, it’s funny you saw The WInd as I caught up with Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse this week, and it reminded me of the Sjostrom a lot, along with several other silents. The connection isn’t quite as deep as the one between Satantango and The Spirit of the Beehive, but it’s definitely there and I think Tarr is relying on it in some sense, as the film itself is so open and sparse. I thought it was a really great film–I missed Tarr’s (refreshingly lowbrow) sense of humor but I think it is, along with Satantango, one of his greatest works.
I also saw We Need to Talk About Kevin, which I wasn’t crazy about, although it had its moments. Really disappointing coming from Ramsay, though.
Hey Peter!
A copy of THE TURIN HORSE is presently on its way to me from Allan! I can’t wait to see this, and am further excited by your comparison and declaration that it is a great film! Intriguing connection too between SPIRIT and SATANTANGO, both of which I consider masterworks.
As noted I did have some issues with KEVIN as well, and don’t see Swinton’s mannered turn as anything beyond competent. To be honest this is the first time Lynne Ramsay’s artistry work even to this degree for me. So I see where you are coming from.
Thanks so much my friend for getting the ball rolling here, and for the typically excellent submission!
Getting ready for movie review number 3…I think I will need to watch this one several times to get it right – what I want to say….Racking my head with what to post for the Holiday week… Thank you for the lovely shout out – it was quite a book and now the Internet is full of an article called How Doctor’s Die, that I think is important too.
I will never catch up to all your movie going…several sound wonderful and I am sure one will not come here and I will have to wait and wait. I wanted to go see Hugo this weekend, but we did not have the funds….the good news is a major architectural project for the schools has come up starting in January…Hip Hip Hurray!
Thanks for all this update and enjoy the shopping days too 🙂
Patricia—
That is thrilling news about the new school system architectural project planned in your hometown. Getting the funding for that is always a major obstacle. I’d love to hear about the specifics. You are really on a roll with the movie reviews at PATRICIA’S WISDOM, and I loved your moving book essay. I’m sure you’ll get to HUGO over the holidays, though sadly the film has been a bust at the box office despite the sensational reviews and award mentions. Yes, December is always a month to see stuff. Traditionally, Lucille, the kids and I see a Christmas Day movie. This year we have “War Horse” planned, as that’s the big release for that day.
Have a great week my friend. Thanks as always for the much-appreciated comment, and I’ll be watching for the new film piece!
As you know Sam, I went to see three films in the theater this past week plus one at home. I also have Incendies waiting to be viewed very soon as well. Still haven’t drudged up the motivation for Hugo yet, but its coming. What I saw these past seven days….
The Adjustment Bureau *1/2
Shame *****
The Artist ***1/2
Into The Abyss ****
Shame was the fifth absolutely great movie I had the pleasure of watching this year (imo). 2011 is going down as the best since 2007 for me. I also watched the shocking Boardwalk Empire season finale which wrapped up a highly superior second season worthy of recognition. Last and somewhat least, the Michael Mann directed debut of Dustin Hoffman’s starring HBO series Luck failed to grab me in any way. I’ll probably rewatch the pilot again soon to see if I have a change of heart.
Maurizio—
I do feel that INCENDIES is a must. One of the year’s most powerful films, its a film that’s hard to shake. Now remember, HUGO is getting solid response from critics and audiences who rarely go for that sort of thing. I think you may be in for a surprise there. I was thrilled to hear by e mail of that stellar regard for SHAME, one I largely agree with. It was a stark, harrowing film that gave Mr. Fassbender a chance to deliver his most electrifying turn in a year where he has really made his mark (A DANGEROUS METHOD, JANE EYRE) There are a number of scenes in that film that stay with you weeks after the viewing. While you and I are not in agreement on THE ARTIST, which I feel stylistically and exuberantly is one of the year’s most outstanding achievements, I nonethessly feel you have voiced your issues most perseptively and eloquently. One couldn’t ask for or expect more. INTO THE ABYSS is a chilling and affecting documentary from Warner Herzog, who typically offers up multiple instances of excellence every year. It wasn’t as accomplished as CAVE, but it is still superb, and treats a more interesting subject.
As far as THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, I won’t even go there, and applaud the low rating it has earned from you.
Have a great week my friend! I look forward to the plans!
Hey Sam. The Wind is one of the few silents I have seen, and I rate it tops too. The climactic wind storm is truly riveting.
The only recent cinema release I have seen of late is George Clooney’s latest directorial effort, The Ides Of March, which I found only so-so. Clooney should stick to the knitting. The two young leads were good, with Evan Rachel Wood really impressing, and the script would have worked better with her intern being the focus. Even before the dénouement Clooney playing the presidential candidate appears terribly phoney – come to think of it has there ever been one since Nixon who hasn’t been a phoney? Clooney the celebrity is always in the frame for me, and I can’t take him seriously as a liberal/left-winger because of his blatant hypocrisy. His heart must really bleed for the poor and disenfranchised when ensconced in his pallazzo on Lake Como, after laughing all the way to the bank.
Clooney slummed it in Sydney last night on a bird-call visit. (A Chicago bank marketing executive once related to me his definition of a ‘bird call’: you fly in, drop a bit of shit, and fly out again. Clooney’s one-night-stand grossed him a cool 600 grand. A local JJ Hunsecker wanna-be reported the news Friday: By George, look who’s coming | December 9, 2011 | PRIVATE SYDNEY | Foxy … George Clooney | FORGET about the quick brown fox, it’s the lightning-speed silver fox George Clooney who will be cutting a swathe through Sydney when he jets into town on Sunday and collects his mouth-watering appearance fee. Clooney, who is joining a conga line of ”inspirational speakers,” including America’s cupcake queen and former jailbird Martha Stewart and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons as the star speakers at a business seminar, will be in town for just 24 hours. For an actor who commands $15 million a movie that usually requires many months of involvement, his one day’s work in Sydney is set to be particularly lucrative. Insiders inform PS he will pocket more than $600,000 from his Sydney hosts. His fee is said to be around six times what Stewart and Simmons are being paid. Clearly he is the star attraction. He’ll be addressing a business seminar at Darling Harbour (lunch alone is $1100 a plate) with those paying the top price getting a photo with the heart-throb, as well as attending a VIP cocktail party and then going onto a private dinner that night. Providing Sydney’s single ladies with a glimmer of hope, PS understands he will not be coming with his latest girlfriend, professional jelly wrestler Stacy Keibler, giving our gals a slim window of opportunity to dazzle the former ”sexiest man alive” before he jets back into Keibler’s slippery arms. The couple were spotted dining in West Hollywood on Wednesday night, no doubt saying their goodbyes before Clooney, 50, makes the long trek ”down under”. Ladies, start your engines.
Tony—
I couldn’t agree with you more on THE WIND. The wind storm climax is surely one of the silent cinema’s most justly-celebrated sequences, and it came off magnificently with a pristine Film Forum print, and that excellent piano accompaniment from Steve Sterner, which heightened the tension in that crucial segment. And THE WIND is one of the cinema’s great achievements by any barometer.
As I recall I gave THE IDES OF MARCH a 3.5 out of 5, but since then have pretty much relegated that to cinematic limbo. What you relate there about Clooney’s hypocricy is telling, and the 600 grand for a single stop in Sydney is as ever, galling. I remember Leo DiCaprio was Down Under last year, but he was on a shoot as I recall. The biggest problem with Clooney the Actor is the one you bring out here: Clooney plays Clooney, and it is practically impossible to separate the man from the role. To a degree I had the same problem with Jack Nicholson, but Jack is easily the greater talent. Still, if cast carefully he can be reasonably effective as he was in this year’s THE DESCENDANTS and in MICHAEL CLAYTON. But overall, I must agree he is overrated, and he’s a major money-sucker.
I got a charge out of reading J.J. Hunsecker’s “By George, Look Who’s Coming” which pretty much speaks for itself! BTW, I did think that Ryan Gosling was far more interesting as far as IDES goes.
Thanks my great friend for this buffo submission and for that neat report! Have a great week!
I’ve been having an uneven time plowing through the end-of-year Oscar bait, Sam. I stopped watching We Need to Talk About Kevin half-way through: almost nothing in it struck me as convincing, as it sacrificed nuance and clarity throughout to effect, and it seemed more like a relentless exercise in new-age parent played as art-house horror movie than any kind of authentic character and situational study. I liked Ramsay’s Morvern Callar much more. I enjoyed Margin Call when it was concentrating on characters sweating their way through a crisis they knew was going to make a mockery of their professional and moral interests, and not when indulging faux-Mametian speeches and obvious soundtrack cues. I was infuriated by the film version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which I’ve written up over on This Island Rod. A Dangerous Method, on the other hand, is a tight and intelligent piece of work that set my synapses firing aplenty.
Rod—
This is always an exciting time of the year, but it is also a time when some expectations just aren’t met. Your reaction to KEVIN is one i completely understand. It did have some powerful sequences, and the two children that played the bad seed were impressive, but I have always had a problem with Ramsay’s cold detachment, and inability to build a satisfactory narrative around her often maddening stylistics, some of which are over-the-top. Swinton was solid, but hardly spectacular as some have claimed.
I loved this line from you:
“new-age parent played as art-house horror movie.”
Very nice sizing up there!
I wasn’t a fan of RATCATCHER nor MORVERN CALLER, but I know I am in a minority with those. I also thought MARGIN CALL was overrated, but I am still sorting out why I really didn’t care much for it. Your excellent two-sided consideration clarifies a good deal for me.
I am in full agreement with you on A DANGEROUS METHOD, much for the reasons you well elaborate on. As to TINKER TAILOR I will be seeing that this coming Thursday night, but what you say in disent is quite interesting.
I have not been able to get over to FoF to respond to your magnificent review of DRIVE, but as it is a top ten film for me, I will be voicing my reaction later today. And I will seek more clarification on TINKER TAILOR at “This Island Rod,” which I have been delinquent in visiting as of late.
Thanks Rod, for this tremendous comment! Have a great week!
Sam, thanks so much for the wonderful mention.
Hearing you speak about THE WIND reminded me again of one of the biggest gaps in my silent film education. I still have never seen the famous film and definitely need to do something about that very soon.
This week was still a little slow on my end, in terms of film-watching. I only took in MARGIN CALL and Tourneur’s CANYON PASSAGE. Although happy to see both, I was really blown away by the latter. I have to credit Peter Lenihan for putting it on my radar. For me, it was one of the most underrated films I’ve seen in a long time, and just further proof of Tourneur’s masterful storytelling abilities.
Here’s to another great week, Sam! Thanks so much for all that you do.
Glad you liked Canyon Passage so much Jeffrey. I believe it’s a big favorite of Drew Mcintosh’s as well. I had the opportunity to see it on the big screen earlier this year and although there were some sound issues it was a really incredible experience.
Jeffrey—
I’m hardly surprised that movie going will take a little hit during this hectic season. At least I can say that watching at home is never an attractive proposition with all the movement on the outside. Ha! THE WIND never received a legit DVD release, so only decent-enough bootlegs taken from the fine laserdisc release from the 90’s have filled the gap for that film, THE CROWD and GREED among a few others. CANYON PASSAGE is a film I own (I am a big Tourneur admirer) but sorry to say I have not yet sat down to watch. I am thrilled that you, Peter Lenihan and Drew McIntosh are big fans of it, and am red-faced that I can’t yet voice my agreement. But I am sure it is coming. That’s fantastic that Peter saw it on the big screen!
Jeffrey, I wish you and your wife the best holiday season ever. It has been a great joy having you aboard for this long my great friend!
Sorry to hear that We Need to Know About Kevin wasn’t the masterpiece you were expecting. Still a more than respectable response. I am really intrigued by Coriolanus. I’ve heard nothing but praise for Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave.
Another marathon opera with Faust. I’m sure you were enthralled.
Yes, San Franciso distinguished themselves with those picks.
How about the G-I-A-N-T-S! They can now control their fate. What a game vanguishing the dreaded Dallas Cowboys.
Frank, I shut the tv off when the first Dallas field goal went through. I got a phone call ten minutes later confirming the time out and the negation. I blew it!
Frank—
I probably gave KEVIN a half star more than it deserved (3.5 is really more appropriate) but I’d still urge you to see it. I can make such an experience happen, so I’ll speak to you later today.
I haven’t stopped thinking about CORIOLANUS since I saw it last Thursday. That’s a sure sign that it hit the mark. San Francisco’s awards are the best we’ve seen thus far for sure!
I was thrilled that Giants came back, and am hopeful they will secure a playoff berth!
Thanks as always my very good friend!
Actually the Giants can make it in by only winning the second Dallas game, the way I am figuring it. Dallas would have to lose two games though. But 2 out of 3 will clinch it.
Peter, it would be much safer to win 2 games. But I guess that’s a given.
Sam – Thanks for the link!
What a week for you – Laurel and Hardy, Lillian Gish, Shaksepeare, Gounod and Tilda Swinton! That’s a pretty eclectic round up of films. I am looking forward to CORIALANUS and KEVIN myself, as well as a host of other “Oscar Season” releases that I haven’t gotten to yet. As choristers, Marlon and I have been swamped with performances – I had two this weekend, as did Marlon with Chicago Master Singers, so filmgoing is on the back burner for now. I did manage, last night, to start tackling my very long and overloaded DVR queue (the oldest entry, Coppolla’s YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH has been waiting at the bottom of the queue since March 2009!)
But I wasn’t up to that last night, so instead watched Alan Parker’s 1982 divorce drama SHOOT THE MOON with Albert Finney and Diane Keaton. I had seen it probably twenty years ago, and it was every bit as intelligent and beautifully acted as I remembered, but definitely downbeat. I’m off on a business trip to Houston this week, but brining along a DVD of LOVE ACTUALLY for holiday cheer, plus hoping to possibly squeeze in a visit to their new Sundance Cinema which opened last month on the site on the site of the former Houstnn Angelika Film Cetner.
Have a great week!
Pat–
Love the way you outlined my ventures! Somehow it seems more distinguished with those catch words in place! I’ll speak to you by e mail about Kevin later today. As to CORIOLANUS I am sure it will be re-opening early in January. I can’t wait to see it a second time. I’m figuring you’ll go for it big-time, but we’ll see. Kudos to you and Marlon for continued success with the Chicago Master Singers. I can’t blame you for putting film on the temporary back burner while those performances are imminent! As far as YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH, I’ll admit I’m not much of a fan, but the film has many admirers. I’d be more than curious to know how it resonates with you. You know what Pat? I honestly can no longer remember SHOOT THE MOON. I did see it upon release, and though well enough of it, but I’d need to see it again to say more. LOVE ACTUALLY is a nice holiday choice indeed. I am surprised that the Houston Angelika couldn’t survive. The one in New York is hugely successful with the art house venue, but perhaps the Sunshine in Houston will continue that tradition.
Thanks as always my great friend! have a terrific week!
I’ve been waiting for ‘Coriolanus.’ I’m stoked to hear that we have a major success with it. Redgrave went through the ringer over the past few years, making her continued success an inspiration.
Fred–
Redgrave did indeed have a dire time with tragedy after tragedy. But aside from that she gave a tremendous performance and deserves to be considered for awards. Hope you get a chance at the film soon. In the meantime I’ll keep my eyes open for a screener!
Thanks as always my friend!
a damn shame you had a chance to see POSSESSION on the big screen this weekend and balked. But I see it’s there for the remainder of the week so hopefully you can catch it (and this goes for anyone in NYC). One of my favorites.
Jamie—
I expected you to mention this, and I can’t say I blame you, as I had boasted about planning to see it this past Thursday by e mail. What happened by a last minute change of plans to head uptown to see CORIOLANUS, which was running for only a single week to allow for award consideration. My Film Forum friend Alan hardy told me on Thursday that POSSESSION would indeed be offered up for the rest of the week, so I figured, fine, no sweat.
You can be rest assured as My name is Sam you-know-who, I will be there with bells on one one of the next four days. Tonight I have teh silent THE BIG PARADE and Thursday TINKER TAILOR, so it is either tomorrow or EWednesday. But it will happen.
Thanks for the heads up though, my great friend!
Sam, my desire to see Coriolanus is getting stronger and your little review only helps. For now I’m mostly working through the ever-mounting DVR queue. Rewatched Ivan the Terrible last week and had its awkward genius reconfirmed. Otherwise, apart from City of Life and Death, mostly more pre-Codes and early Code-Enforcement material courtesy of TCM. Watch for a write-up on Mervyn LeRoy’s High Pressure, a funny William Powell satire of stock promoters. Also saw Powell in the Dieterle/Berkeley Fashions of 1934, featuring one of the latter’s last mad pre-Code numbers, “Spin a Little Web of Dreams” with human harps and a crew of blonde argonauts rowing through a sea of ostrich feathers — or something to that effect. Followed Powell to M-G-M for Victor Fleming’s Reckless, a quasi-musical Selznick trainwreck and another apparent exploitation of Jean Harlow’s semi-private life. Took in Bill Gunn’s Ganja and Hess, intriguing in theory, often inept in practice, and Jonathan Kaplan’s The Slams, an unpretentiously cynical Jim Brown prison picture reminiscent of pre-Code attitudes in a post-Code era. Tried to watch Lloyd Bacon’s Boy Meets Girl but couldn’t stand it — why were Cagney and O’Brien trying to be the Ritz Brothers??? Screwballs they ain’t. Anyway, keep us posted on those prestige pictures and enjoy the big-city festivities, Sam.
Samuel–
CORIOLANUS will re-open early in the New Year I am certain. While I was happy to get a chance to see it during the one-week qualifying run, it would have been fine to see it a few weeks later. But you have quite the visceral feast ahead of you, with the Bard’s most underrated play taking center stage. The actors are all inspired. CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH was one harrowing film, and I thought you wrote an outstanding essay on it at MONDO 70. I like the framing of “awkward genius” of the great Eisenstein epic IVAN THE TERRIBLE. I just now see you have the pre-coder “High Pressure” up. I haven’t seen this one, but will surely be reading your take. Looks like you had a min-Powell Festival there, which eventually entered the gates of teh MGM lot. I don’t know “Boy Meets Girl” but after reading what you say, I’m happy I don’t. I just got some other Harlow films, so I am in no rush to watch RECKLESS! Ha!
Thanks for the spectacular round-up my friend!
I, too, am anxious to see Coriolanus.
This weekend I saw Young Adult to see what all the fuss is about. It’s a flawed film that could be good with some rewriting and recasting of the lead. I don’t think Charlize Theron has the chops for this kind of material, and, although Diablo Cody has talent, this pic was pushed out of the gate too early.
In other news, I noticed that Lilies of the Field was on TCM — never having seen it, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give it a look while making dinner. It’s a much better film than I’d imagined, and Poitier is utterly good in it.
Pierre—
I liked Cody’s work in JUNO, but I have no deseire to go out of my way to see YOUNG ADULT. You have confirmed my fears, and while I know there are minority instances where we do disagree or least have varying levels of appreciation for some films, I suspect you probably have nailed this one’s failings. Theron is capable as we know of sdoing very fine work, but this does not seem to play to her strengths I agree.
I guess back in the day critics had their knives sharpened for LILLIES, but I must agree with you that time has been kind to this crowd pleaser that features Poitier at his charismatic best. I have come to see this film as much more than just a guilty pleasure, and reading about your experience here has brought a smile to my face.
Thanks as always my very good friend! Hope to speak to you soon!
. . . reading about your experience [with Lilies of the Field] has brought a smile to my face.
I bet it did, Sam — I can be an ol’ softy with the best of ’em!
I’m pleased that Vanessa continues her high quality work. I’m sure she was tickled to get a chance at acting in a Shakespeare work that she probably has done on stage previously. Fiennes is really finding his calling these days. I am waiting on line.
“Faust” sounds great Sam.
David—
It is heartening what you say about Vanessa for sure! She had a very big scene late in the film, and I must see it was an electrifying moment that sent chills down your spine. One can say that for all the harm they cause, the Oscars could get a big emotional scene out of a Vanessa win. She gave an extraordinary performance, and she’s gone through the work events a person could endure over the last few years. Yes, I’m sure she has done this role before. Fiennes has indeed really turned the corner.
FAUST is a masterpiece opera, even if the staging here wasn’t to my liking. The singing was top-rank of course.
Thanks as always my very good friend! Have a great week!
Hurrah for the SF film critics (and the LA critics for honoring ‘Poetry”s Yun Jung-hee as best actress).
Sam, speaking of ‘Satantango’, I just borrowed a copy from the Columbus library and I’m a little apprehensive about watching this seven-hour marathon. I understand there’s a cat torture scene, and I recall walking out of Bertolucci’s ‘1900’ when D. Sutherland head-butts the cat tied to a pole. So….
Sofia Coppola’s recent film ‘Somewhere’ motivated me to re-read Joan Didion’s ‘Play It As It Lays’ last night. I suppose that’s because ‘Somewhere’ is a little like ‘Play It As It Lays’ with gonads, featuring Stephen Dorff in the Maria Wyeth role. Though Dorff doesn’t have an autistic daughter, doesn’t wind up in a sanatorium and no one commits suicide, ‘Somewhere’ takes place along Didion’s LA-Las Vegas axis and Hollywood is used once again as a metaphor for the dead center of nothingness.
A digression and a confession. I have never taken Didion’s highly praised novel seriously. Maria Wyeth’s little cosmos reads like a wildly absurd farce, but Didion is militantly humorless, hellbent on seriousness. Death and despair and horror rise ominously from every page of Didion’s spartan prose, but instead of being frozen with fear, I’m sitting there laughing my ass off at poor Maria, thinking it’s all a put-on. But it isn’t.
A sample passage of ‘pensees’ by Maria Wyeth:
“Maria made a list of things she would never do. She would never: walk through the Sands or Caesar’s alone after midnight. She would never: ball at a party, do S-M unless she wanted to, borrow furs from Abe Lipsey, deal. She would never: carry a Yorkshire in Beverly Hills.”
Now if the sight of someone carrying a Yorkie down Rodeo Drive fills you with an unnameable dread then you suffer from phobias that are far more comic than existential, and the book is filled with screamers like this.
In ‘Somewhere’ Coppola’s inchoate style of directing fits right in with this vision of LA movie biz as listless, enamelled ennui, and her main shooting location is the hipper-than-thou Chateau Marmont (“Have you got an ‘a deux’ going at the Marmont, Maria?”), a name-dropper’s paradise. I still think Coppola’s got talent to burn, but I would have liked ‘Somewhere’ better if it hadn’t been so redolent of Didion-like chic despair.
I am now girding my loins to watch Bela Tarr’s behemoth film.
Mark—
I hope to have my copy of THE TURIN HORSE later this week, and I must say I am anxious to check it out. SATANTANGO of course offers up a marathon viewing experience, opne that requires patience for Tarr’s insistence on holding his images for several minutes. The herd of cows opening lasts for seven minutes and is done in a single take. Tarr is hoping to entrance his viewers, and the sequence of the cat is a clear implication of the power dynamics in the film. The girl is bullied and in return must do the same to a defenseless (powerless) animal. In any case SATANTANGO is one of the cinema’s supreme masterpieces.
I am no fan of SOMEWHERE, not of Ms. Coppola in general. I used the “P” word for LOST IN TRANSLATION and caught a lot of flak, but heck I saw it four times in the theatre and wa srepeatedly unimpressed. I well remember PLAY IT AS IT LAYS and unlike others was unwilling to summarily dismiss it -there was some honesty there- but never read Dideon’s sourse. You deserve a lot of credit for going back to it. Enjoyed your elaboration here with the passage from Maria and that brilliant description of Dideon’s prose.
Have a great week my friend! Thanks for the superlative submission as always!
Sofia sure is the anti-Francis Ford, eh? Small movements, static shots, desultory action. She has a wonderful eye for camera placement, but someone, maybe a confidante, should tell her that sometimes a script is a good and useful thing. Just wish she hadn’t set ‘Somewhere’ in the Marmont — too many celebrity ghosts and pandering to the coterie. I’m still rooting for her, though, and I’ll definitely queue up for her next picture. Maybe she should get Mario Puzo to write her next film (or has he passed?)
West’s ‘Day of the Locust’ is still probably the best novel about Hollywood, though Schlesinger made a grotesque film out of it in 1975 with a too-old Karen Black (one of my faves from 1969 [‘Easy Rider’] through 1982 [‘Come Back to the Five & Dime’], but not here). You should read Didion’s book, Sam. It’s a fast read, and Didion takes pith to a whole new, unintentionally hilarious low —
‘I know what nothing means, and keep on playing.’
‘Why?’ BZ asks.
‘Why not?’ I say.
Desolation for the Neiman-Marcus crowd.
See all this white space? It’s there to soak up my tears of laughter and maybe I’m just an insensitive, illiterate heel.
As expected, the Globes have given the middle finger to Malick, the SOBs.
And Gosling gets nominated for a silly comedy, instead of ‘Drive.’
It’s Prozac time.
You are tireless when it comes to the arts, Sam. I am constantly amazing how you manage to fit it all in. I am looking forward to CORIOLANUS, if and when it makes it way down here. My own theater going was again curtailed this week due to our annual weekend shooting of ‘Santa with Pets’ photos at our local Petsmart. It’s always a fun event to photograph, and make some $$$ for our voulunteer cat shelter, and this year, we surprisingly did very good compared to the previous two years.
On the home front I watched following films…
The Last American Hero (****) Another underrated film that deserves more attention. Excellent performances from Jeff Bridges, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Art Lund.
Riffraff (***1/2) Uneven but entertaining comedy/drama with Harlow and Tracy. Harlow looks more comfortable and believable in the early comedy scenes while Tracy is entertaining as the blowhard she loves.
Gun Glory (**1/2) Average “B” western with Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming.
Some Girls – Live in Texas 1978 (****) Fantastic Rolling Stones concert filmed during their SOME GIRLS tour. The venue was small and the band was hot. For Stones fans, this is a must.
Thanks John—but of course your track record and weekly performance dating back to the time I first met you is at least as spirited. That’s a wonderful weekend you had with the pets there, kudos to you and Dorothy! Great to hear the fund-raiser was successful.
Sorry to say I have not seen GUN GLORY and SOME GIRLS but much appreciate the engaging capsules. I did see SHINE THE LIGHT a short while back though.
I’m close enough to you on the ratings of THE LAST AMERICAN HERO and RIFFRAFF to pretty much corroborate your estimations. I agree the former has always been underrated. I hop CORIOLANUS shows up dowen by you in the coming weeks!
Thanks again my friend for the terrific wrap and the rewarding week!
Thanks a lot Sam for the mention, and thanks a ton for publishing the interviews (which I noticed just now). It sure is a great privilege to be covered at WitD.
Wow, the least rating you gave for the films you watched is 4 – which essentially means you had an extremely satisfying week in terms of movie viewing!
I just completed Emir Kusturica’s When Father was Away on Business, which I quite liked. I also watched the following films this past week – Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7 (which you’ve mentioned about), Anthony Mann’s muscular Western Winchester ’73, a nice documentary called Satyajit Ray Negatives: My Life with Manik Da (which is available for free on the net), the wonderful Kieslowski film Camera Buff, Woody Allen’s latest Midnight in Paris, and the renowned Miklos Jancso film The Round-Up which I watched earlier in the morning today.
And I don’t know if I mentioned this to you – I’ve started a Cine Club at my institute, and screened Godfather & Godfather Part II on consecutive nights (the night before & last night, respectively). Though I’ve seen both the films innumerable times, it was still great fun to watch them on big screen.
p.s. By the way, just wanted to mention that the spelling of my surname is ‘Lahiri’, and not ‘Laheri’, which I noticed you spelled my surname as in the other post (interview) as well.
Shubhait–
It was my honor, I assure you. I don’t think an interviewer could ever hope to get more comprehensive and eloquent responses than what you did here. I even had to shorten my lead-in, because of the way you brilliantly navigated your end.
Yes this past week was amazing for me. I am not a big fan of the Kusterica, but I can’t wait to read about your take on WINCHESTER 73 and Jansco’s THE ROUND-UP.
THE GODFATHER and THE GODFATHER PART TWO are films that can be watched over and over and over again! Glad you got yet more millage from them! And of course the big screen is the way to go. Good Luck with the CINE club!
Sorry about the spelling on your name. I am always making mistakes I’m afraid. But i did correct the problem.
Thanks as always my friend for the superlative wrap! Have a wonderful week!
Sam – so jealous you got to see CORIALANUS! I can’t wait for that one!
I’m seasonally miffed about all the great stuff out there in NY (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Young Adult; A Dangerous Method; The Artist) that has yet to open elsewhere. I think we’re at least getting Young Adult next week.
In the theaters I continue to avoid HUGO despite all the raves and my love of Scorsese. I have very little patience for whimsical kids’ movies, especially ones that try to have a message (even if that message is about a topic I care about like film preservation). I attempted to avoid THE DESCENDANTS, too, despite my love for Payne as something in the previews looked “off” to me, but because it’s essentially the only thing out there right now, I caved in and bought a ticket….and I HATED IT.
On DVD I watched Crazy, Stupid, Love and was surprised how much I liked it.
More about these odd turns of events here:
http://theschleicherspin.com/2011/12/10/twice-told-cuckold-tales/
David, I can’t promise you’d like Hugo, but it’s not really a kids’ film. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone below the age of reason (12, I think). Aside from film preservation, the film’s greater theme involves how everyone has a purpose in life and that we need to find what that purpose is so that the world “works.”
David—
No doubt you were probably ready to barf after learning that the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle (ya know that group that inspired us all by picking WALL-E Best Film in 2009–I’m being serious, not facetious) named THE DESCENDANTS Best Film of 2011. I must say David, on that film we are not in agreement, though it is not among my ten favorites for the year. Still I did like it quite a bit despite some minor issues. I will be over to THE SCHLEICHER SPIN ASAP to see what you’ve cooked up. As always I’m sure it will be most persuasive. I also liked CRAZY STUPID LOVE, but not as much as I liked THE DESCENDANTS. I agree with Pierre that HUGO may surprise you big-time. Though it was based on a Caldecott Medal winner, it is in the end a film that adults can best appreciate. I urge you to give Marty the benefit of a doubt. HUGO is one of the best films of 2011.
As I say I’ll be investigating your arguments my friend. Have a great week and many thanks as always for the terrific comment here!
Hi Sam,
There’s no place like home! So I have returned to my wife and daughters and it feels very good to be back. Flights were long but the jet lag is now gone. I came back to find the collection of movies you sent to me! Looks like a great selection and I can’t wait to dig into them. Thank you! Glad you saw The Wind on the big screen with accompaniment. It is one of my favorite silent films and clearly one of the best films of that era. So now it is my time to catch up on holiday festivities. I took my oldest daughter to see a local production of The Nutcracker on Sunday and had a splendid time. It was both my daughter and my first time to ever see it before. Needless to say that Holly came straight home and put on her ballet slippers and tutu! Her birthday is also this coming weekend so lots to plan for as we prep for her first “kids” birthday party. It’ll be fun for sure. Well on the movie front I am working on getting back into the swing of things with Les Cousins, The Four Feathers, and The Phantom Carriage this week. Also, look for my review of My Week With Marilyn in the next day or two, which will also have a brief re-cap of my trip as well. Hope you have a superb week Sam!
Jon–
This is for you:
Great to hear we are completely in agreement on THE WIND! It was indeed a heavely experience with the piano accompaniment. But so was last night with THE BIG PARADE! As far as THE NUTCRACKER, you and I are AGAIN on the same page! I attended a 6:00 P.M. encore HD broadcast of George Ballantine’s THE NUTCRACKER earlier this evening with my 11 year-old daughter Jullian at out Edgewater multiplex!!!! But your local production can’t be beat. Great it made such an impression on her that you went straight to the slippers! Jillian’s birthday was Sunday. Happy Birthday to your daughter!!! Sounds like you have some Criterion blu-rays waiting for you! I bet you obtained those in the sale!
Have a great week John! And I’m sure your family is on Cloud Nine to have you back!
Haha! I love it Sam, thanks for the tremendous “Welcome Back”. It is very good to be back in the amongst family and friends. Very refreshing I must say. Haha yes we each have daughters with December birthdays! Not only that, my youngest is a January! We didn’t plan that very well 🙂
Hello Sam and everyone! Thanks once again for the link to my blog! It has been some tough weeks so I haven’t updated in quite a while because of the short and a particular review that I have in the works that simply can’t be finished soon enough. So yeah, the final days of the year are near, christmas is in the air and yep, uni is almost over as well.
You sure had an incredible week Sam, with The Wind and Babes in Toyland being two movies I’m interested in seeing, and one movie that I already saw! We Need to Talk About Kevin, but that we should leave for my capsules down below.
Now, I’m just working on the short and playing catchup with all the films of 2011 I need to see and were available for me. Not many left available, so I’m pretty happy with what I’ve seen for now and the editing of the short itself.
My week, movie wise:
– Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (2011, Makoto Shinkai) **** Anime film that could be easily catalogued in the beauty and scenery porn sack. Not a bad thing if the film is really really beautiful, and this anime is, and it’s quite good and sometimes original, and sometimes emotional, the problem is the word ‘sometimes’ should be ‘always’ for a movie to be really good. The scriot needed some work as it wasn’t really original.
– Guilty of Romance (2011, Sion Sono) ****1/2 Stupendous, gorgeous and oversexualized film that portrays histeria and the liberation and the consecuences of the repression of the sexual and anodine urges. Superbly acted, shot and written, this is another hit for who is maybe the greatest live action japanese director alive (may any other director I’m forgetting forgive me).
– `The Skin I Live In (2011, Pedro Almodóvar) ****1/2 Great great great film. But, God, Almodóvar, he really chooses his projects well, because he got to put his agenda in this one really well, and those who’ve seen it know what I’m talking about. It’s been called a horror film, and I saw it that way for its later half, and specifically of the Cronenberg kind, so it was really a surprise for me to see how good it is, yet maintaining his tropes.
– Warrior (2011, Gavin O’Connor) ***1/2 This film, even if it’s almost 2 hours and a half, it doesn’t feel that long, but maybe a bit boring on how the events go after the other. This one packages a bunch of good performances, so at least is worth a watch, and the fight scenes are well coreographed, so you feel the punches and kicks in your gut as they are hit.
– We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011, Lynne Ramsay) ****1/2 Yeah, so, I liked it a bit more than you did, but I have some reservations with it, just as you did. It is clearly style over substance, yet both of them are really strong, as well as the subtext. But as I watched the framing and the interpretations I was having of the moments in the film, I couldn’t help but remember our own school works, as every little frame has a very deep yet obviously readable subtext, and the framing is so perfect that you feel that it was guided by guidelines or a teacher more than a personal style. But that was me. The film is still great.
that’s all Sam, have a good week!
Jamie—
I hope that everything on the school front went well this past week. I know you are heading for a well-deserved break. You did some great things over the past months. I know you have been occupied to the point where you haven’t been able to update much as of late, but I know these things go in cycles. The Woodman listing though is a great one to have as a hold over! I am sorry to say that I have not yet seen WARRIOR or GUILTY OF ROMANCE, but am particularly interested in the Sono, which you really do write passionately on! I am happy to see that someone finally gives teh Almodovar film the praise it deserved. Way too many for my taste have hedged with it. Almodovar is audacious and his direction on this one had me rivted throughout. Fair enough withy KEVIN. I know others who basically feel as you do, and Allan did after all give it a five-star rating. And Jamie liked it quite a bit too.
Have a great week my friend. Enjoy the break and Happy Holidays, though I’ll wish you that again next week! Now I’m heading over to look at your Vargas feature.
So went to the movies last night with a friend and took a glace at the wall of posters in the theater lobby. Normally I would have seen anywhere from three quarters to nearly all of the pictures advertised. I was stunned to see that I hadn’t seen ANY. I decided I need to get back into the movie going habit, especially now with so many great movies coming out for the awards season. I find it ironic that I consumed nearly everything in the first half of the year, when most of the crap comes out and nearly nothing the second half. It makes me feel a little dirty, like I ate the entire pumpkin pie.
I did see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy last night, which was solid, without being spectacular. I did appreciate a thoughtful adult thriller, but I wish it was constructed better. But I will have more to say about it later.
Jason—
I have plans to see TINKER TAILOR on Thursday night, so I’d definitely be interested in your analysis. Most of what I have read so far has been positive, and I know Allan is a huge fan, so the proof will be in the pudding. But I have noted your modest reservations. I fully understand that the latter part of the year unraveled at a time you were not able to see the volume you managed for the first half. I wouldn’t worry about it, especially since in time you’ll see mostly everything. I would love to get your reaction to SHAME, A SEPARATION, THE ARTIST, HUGO, ABOUT KEVIN, and WAR HORSE for starters.
Thanks again my great friend. Have a wonderful week!
Hi Sam, a great week of cinema for you.I hated the book of ‘Kevin’ so am a bit dubious about the movie, but I’m looking forward to ‘Coriolanus’ when it gets its UK release in January – no guarantee it will make it to my neck of the woods, but I hope so. I haven’t been to the cinema in the past week, but have seen several films at home, with my star ratings for once:
The Sky’s the Limit (1943) ** A disappointing Fred Astaire film, with him as a Second World War pilot on leave, where the plot doesn’t make a lot of sense, though the amazing, passionate, glass-smashing dance for ‘One For My Baby’ deserves five stars. Shame the rest of the film doesn’t live up to that sequence.
On Moonlight Bay (1951) *** I enjoyed this Doris Day musical but didn’t think it was anywhere near the standard of ‘Meet Me in St Louis’, which it tends to get compared with. The younger brother is quite annoying, but I loved the scene where he is watching a silent film about the perils of drunkenness.
Scoop (2006) **** This Woody Allen movie didn’t get a cinema or even a DVD release in the UK, despite being filmed in London! I finally got the chance to see it thanks to a TV screening – great to see Woody back in front of the camera, and the casting as a seedy magician is great. I also thought he made a good comic pair with Scarlett Johansson.
Skyscraper Souls (1932) **** A great pre-Code melodrama laced with comedy – Warren William is excellent as the double-crossing businessman, and the shots of the building are stunning. At times I found it a bit hard to keep track of all the characters, as it moves at such a breathless pace.
Play It Again, Sam (1972) **** My second Woody Allen film of the week. I’d somehow never seen the whole of this before, despite being a fan of both Woody and Bogie. Loved it, though the guy playing Bogart isn’t much like him – but that doesn’t really matter. I liked the way Allen’s friend constantly phones up his office from every single restaurant to say where he is, a gag that gets steadily funnier. A good job mobile phones hadn’t been invented yet to spoil the joke.
Stage Door (1937) ***** I loved this drama about a group of young actresses living in a seedy boarding house – Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers make a great pair, and it is refreshing to see a female version of the buddy drama. Alphonse Menjou is also excellent as a sleazy theatrical producer, and, even in a film made under the Code, it’s pretty clear that he utilises the casting couch to its full potential.
Wishing a good week to all at Wonders.
Judy–
I never read the book of KEVIN myself, but can well understand anyone having more than an apprehension for the film after a bad reading experience. With me it was primarily my regard for Ransay as a stylist who forfeits a great deal of narrative sense and substance. Still for some modest issues, I think KEVIN is well-worth seeing for several reasons. Allan has gone the five-star distance with it. I really can’t wait for you to see CORIOLANUS. Your vast experience and love for the Bard makes this almost a certain success with you, but on the other hand I know you are rightfully discerning.
That was quite an amazing week you had with the home viewing. I’ve seen all of those, and am particularly thrilled to hear you have watched the Warren William SKYSCRAPER SOULS, which I recently saw at the festival. I do think you are dead-on there! I didn’t care much for Woody’s SCOOP, but like you greatly enjoyed PLAY IT AGAIN SAM. As far as the Astaire and Day films, I would probably do much the same with the ratings, or at leats close either way. Neither film is memorable.
Catch blame you for affixing the masterpiece moniker on STAGE DOOR, which for all kinds of reasons (as you state here) is a bonafide screen classic.
Thanks again my very great friend, and have a worthwhile weekend!!
Again you are demonstrating an impressive degree of resilience with the Monday night MGM silent film festival with live piano. I am assuming you will make every film being screened, and I marvel at your fortitude. If only the showings were on the weekends.
I can’t wait to see ‘Coriolanus’ and ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’. I’m even intrigued with ‘War Horse’ though I know I say that at my own risk at this site. Allan, Jamie, Bob and Maurizio are not members of the director’s fan club. lol.
Go Jints!
Peter—
Thanks so much for that! Actually I will be missing next Monday as Broadway Bob and his mother are treating Lucille to a Christmas show in the city that night. It will be my only miss of the entire festival though. The film showing is the Von Stroheim THE MERRY WIDOW. I will be there with the kids again on December 26th for THE CAMERAMAN, the Keaton gem we all saw just a few months ago! The kids liked it that much!
No, WitD is not a place for Spielberg fans to mingle. Right now I am holding the torch, but I am not sure what to make of WAR HORSE just yet. We will see. I do believe you will love CORIOLANUS especially!
Thanks as always my friend!