/Film a remake of Citizen Kane? This satiric trailer savages our cinema today. popbytes Hugh Jackman trains giant robots to box in Real Steel. This sounds so terrible that I desperately want it to be a Bad Movie We Love. USA Today first look at The Smurfs (speaking of bad movies waiting to happen) Movie|Line alerts us to a new Chen Chang movie on DVD called Parking. We love Chen Chang. Towleroad something for the prurient among you: Kellan Lutz costume fitting for The Immortals.
CHUD & The Flick Filosopher are worried about movie geek tastes becoming so dull and unadventurous. What's happened? It's simple. Everyone became a geek. And once something's mainstream... Silly Hats Only hosted a White Elephant blog-a-thon yesterday. Participating blogs gifted each other with odd movies to write about. See the results. Low Resolution "She Should Work More Vol XXVI: Amy Madigan" Well stated, Joe. She should. My guess is she's not "soft" enough for what Hollywood wants even in "hard" women. Broadway Buzz under the 'life is unfair' umbrella add: I missed this Sutton Foster show. Why must I love artforms that are beyond my socioeconomic reach? Tabloid Prodigy an oral history of Showgirls. Heh. You said 'oral'. popbytes Taylor Lautner wants to model his career on Tom Cruise's huh. I have a number of problems with this and they are 1) Tom Cruise 2) a role model??? 3) Didn't Taylor want to be Matt Damon last year? Make up your mind! The Fug Girls commemorate the most awkward moment (ScarJo + Liev Schreiber and Ryan Reynolds) we saw at the Tony Awards with their infallible lip reading skills. Movie Addict a radio discussion of the funniest movie actresses of all time. The assembled panel is a wide mix of age ranges and the list they come up with stretches over the decades too all the way from Myrna Loy (who gets a ton of love) through Madeline Kahn and on to newbies like Tina Fey. Fey as an all time movie actress? Er... I love Fey but she's very TV. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If you ask me, though, a list without Carole Lombard in the upper rungs is insanity!
Finally if you choose to click on this link, a warning. "Now a warning?" That link will take you to the most horrifying thing you will have seen in weeks months. It's like Nathaniel's nightmare film world, visualized. Proceed at your own risk. **
/Film Jamie Bell may have just been cast as the new Spider-Man. Ah, I knew Marc Webb had good taste (with (500) Days of Summer as evidence) Trespass Magazine Glenn interviews movie poster maestro Jeremy Saunders, who designed this year's fb gold medal winner for poster (Antichrist). Little Gold Men Sandra Bullock sapphic smooches, part two. The TV Addict Katharine Heigl's career killer Killers ?
Deviant Art a fan made poster for The Avengers. This movie will have to give blind men back their sight and maybe part oceans to live up to fanboy expectations. Movie|Line Luke Evans is on "the Verge". He also wants to star in a film version of Miss Saigon so good on him. Towleroad Apparently Elton John is going to perform at Rush Limbaugh's wedding. Money may be the reason but it's not like Elton needs any more of it. What a traitor. I've only ever bought two Elton John records in my lifetime but now I'm wishing I hadn't given him a lone dime. OMG "Make Homosexuals Marry" Actors Justin Long & Mike White tie the knot excruciatingly tight in this campaign vid. Newsweek on Italy Porn Movies like Eat Pray Love and I Am Love
...one of the earliest surviving narratives shot on location in Yosemite Valley. The one-reeler shows the magnificent terrain prior to the creation of the National Park Service, when U.S. Army cavalry troops kept order, and it is the military presence that provides the backdrop for the story.
The second is from 1912, another western called The Better Man. That blog-a-thon which was hosted by Marilyn Ferdinand and Self Styled Siren is still taking donations so maybe a third film can be saved! It's a worthy cause if you have the cash.
Hollywood's millionaires and its behemoth corporations could do a lot more to preserve old films -- imagine how many silents could be saved if like one single day's profits (or hell even one showing's) from any of those soulless blockbusters were so directed -- but at least we have devoted cinephiles and government funding helping to preserve cinematic history.
Fandango Top 10 Jeff Bridges performances. I'm glad The Door in the Floor is above Crazy Heart. That's when he shoulda won his career Oscar. I gave him the gold Topless Robot bizarre news of the week: someone is greenlighting another Chronicles of Riddick feature for Vin Diesel? Hollywood Elsewhere even more bizarre but not exactly news: a rumor that Scorsese and von Trier may unite for a creative partnership involving, uh, Taxi Driver. I actually love this idea because I think as long as you aren't remaking but riffing on, it's all good. And creative partnerships can sometimes reinvigorate people. Rob Salem best couples on tv, with Modern Family's gay duo topping the list Coming Soon Madonna has lined up her next directorial gig, and her Anglophilia is still showing The Envelope a fun 'if i ran the Oscars' piece with Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger)
Today's Must Read...
...or maybe it's 'must peruse' since there will be many articles. For the Love of Film, a blog-a-thon about film preservation has now begun. This one, hosted by Ferdy on Films and Self Styled Siren has been very well publicized and is sponsored by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Check it out. Whenever this topic comes up I get ugly angry that Hollywood doesn't funnel more of its vast wealth back into the preservation of their own artform. Take Avatar for example... should some of those billions go to saving some disintegrating silent?! *
Just in case you haven't heard, StinkyLulu is hosting his 4th annual Supporting Actress Blog-a-Thon. It's a wonderful annual tradition since there is so much actressing worth celebrating in any given film year, particularly in supporting. If you want to be mathematical about it, shouldn't the supporting categories have double or triple the nominee count since there are far more supporting roles in movies than leads?
This year's crop seems to be more on the fringes than investigating the Oscar suspects but I love this web-party each year precisely for this reason. It's a scrapbook of individual in-the-moment passions. I didn't have time to contribute (I'm so unhappy about how little time I have anymore) but if I had I probably would have celebrated one of my nominees, or possibly Juliette Lewis in Whip It (♥) or Celia Weston in Observe and Report (those slurry line readings were made of win) since they're two of my favorite living actresses and I always get a charge from watching them work their peculiar magics.
If you've been here for some time you might recall that the Film Experience was once one of the main pushers of the phenom known as the blog-a-thon where multiple sites posted on a specific topic simultaneously. I hosted three of the largest blog-a-thons the web had ever seen at the time (Michelle Pfeiffer 2006, Vampires in Cinema 2006 and Action Heroines 2007) before collapsing from exhaustion / 'thon burnout... that happened pretty much everywhere since the sites that used to keep calendars of such events stopped keeping track, too.
The blog-a-thon has essentially been replaced by the film clubs which come in two forms: one site hosted discussions or formatted like old school 'thons with links to every site discussing the topic. The other 'thon replacement is the monthly event/tradition like, for example, StinkyLulu's awesome Supporting Actress Smackdown series which is about to hit its 34th installment. WOW. That's devotion.
Here are some upcoming gatherings you might want to keep an eye on if you, like me, are beginning to miss the community feel that such gatherings once prompted.
Final Girl Film Club Slaughter High (1986) ~Oct. 19th (hilarious article) TOERIFC Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) ~ Oct 19th (extremely long article and a bajillion comments so jump in) Hugo Stiglitz... Italian Horror Blog-a-thon ~Oct 19th-31st (just startin') StinkyLulu Supporting Actress Smackdown (1956) ~Nov 1st TOERIFC Orson Welles' F For Fake (1974) ~ Nov tba Frankensteinia The Boris Karloff Blog-a-thon ~Nov 23rd-29th TOERIFC Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952) ~ Dec tba
As ever... time is the thorn in my side or I'd try to do it all. As for this site's group efforts, another episode of "Best Pictures From the Outside In" is coming up very soon with Unforgiven and Casablanca as the twin subjects. *
I was goofing earlier when I put forth EVE as an Oscar contender for "acting" although the love and sentiments expressed (beyond the double joke regarding categorization) were completely sincere... yet I was appalled to notice that nobody in Stinky's big blog-a-thon had touched on either Rachel Getting Marriedco-star Rosemarie DeWitt or Debra Winger. To briefly correct that, a few words about DeWitt's performance.
From a cold hearted punditry standpoint it's intriguing and not entirely surprising that Dewitt's fate in the Awards race seems to be mirroring her character Rachel's fate in the movie (awards often chase "roles" in a more obvious way than they follow "performances" if you know what I'm saying). Which is to say that though Rachel is the title character and the entire plot theoretically revolves around her moment... her thunder is repeatedly stolen. Her groom stays focused on her but literally everyone else in the movie --including, most tellingly, Rachel herself --shoves her to the side whenever her narcissist sister Kym (Anne Hathaway) needs the slightest bit of attention or care. This need, as you can imagine, appears frequently. This abandoning is there in the filmmaking, too, which gives Rachel/DeWitt a wonderful thank you gift of a final scene but otherwise leaves her whenever Kym needs story time. This, as you can imagine, also happens frequently.
From a acting fan's standpoint this mirrored fate for DeWitt (who has missed out on valuable precursor awards support) is not intriguing at all but upsetting. Anne Hathaway's performance is a brilliantly cut thing, all self-serving charisma (it had to be a movie star in the role) and moments of lucid realization of her own toxicity. Hathaway deserves the Oscar nomination, no question, but what of the valiant support and noteworthy acting choices from the actors playing her family members? The movie, blessed by strong screenplay and direction, would work without ace performances orbiting the star but thankfully it doesn't have to. DeWitt has a tricky task in the movie. Like Hathaway, she has to sell a complex character, but unlike Hathaway who is free to stay all tied up in Kym's head, DeWitt has to illuminate the spaces outside of Rachel, too. Kym's sickness is partially that she can't inhabit these spaces but in Rachel we have to see a distinct personality (DeWitt doesn't sugar coat Rachel's own disagreeable traits, which adds beautiful ambiguity to the conflicts) and the painful/loving/continually renegotiated space between them. Kym has to be Kym. Rachel has to be Rachel and Rachel with Kym.
The star is the star is the star. But this supporting actress sure helps her shine.
This post is part of the 3rd Annual Supporting Actress Blog-a-Thon hosted by my friend and fellow promoter of the gospel of screen actressing, StinkyLulu.
In three short weeks when the names of the nominees for Best Supporting Actress are read aloud, you won't hear her name. But one hundred years from now, when Oscar pundits are arguing about who might be nominated @ the 181st Academy Awards, I am quite certain her name will ring more of a bell with the 22nd century pundits than "Maria Elena", "Cassidy", "Mrs. Muller", "Queenie", "Sister James" or anyone other character that ends up represented in this year's Supporting Actress Nominations.
I'm thinking of....
EVE in WALL•E (2008) approximately 41 minutes 12 scenes roughly 42% of the running time *
While her name is instantly iconic, this beauty doesn't live in a garden. In fact, a garden would immediately shut her down, leaving only a pulsing green light as indication that she still functions at all. No, this EVE lives aboard the Axiom in Pixar's latest classic.
But "stop!" I hear you objecting. EVE is totally a LEAD actress, not a supporting player. Maybe so... butsince she spends a good chunk of the movie in a directive induced coma (*her screen time above doesn't include that half hour), I'm cutting her a break to name her "supporting". Nobody claimed Glenn Close was the lead of Reversal of Fortune (1990) ... she just kept lying there silently in that bed.
Insulin / Directive = coma for Sunny / EVE
Well not so silently. She was narrating. But here's another mark in EVE's favor. Think how much this unknown actress conveys with a vocabulary that consists of just 7 words: "Earth" "EVE" "No" "WALL•E" "Directive" "Classified" and "Plant"? I mean apart from a lucky round of MadLibs, how much could you convey with only 7 words. (It's too bad she isn't just mute because than she'd win the Oscar for sure. They love the silent ones)
EVE enters the movie at the 16 minute mark and she's all business. Any interruptions to her routine will have her cocking her gun with as much fierceness as Linda Hamilton mustered in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (another Supporting Actress wonder snubbed due to genre prejudices). A lesser 'actress' might have kept hitting this one note of 'uptight career woman' (the script certainly calls for it) but EVE starts shading her routine duties with everything from indifferent shrugs to attempts to refocus after distractions to hints of joy whenever her job allows her a moment to fly. (This actressy instinct pays off later in a major way during an outer space "dance" sequence that's too beautiful for words. So there aren't any)
Eve & Sarah Connor ~ totally bad-ass sci-fi heroines
Though EVE makes the right decision to never show "EVE"s fatigue (she's too hardcore for that), she does reveal chinks in the facade. Only five minutes into the performance and she's registering frustration and barely contained fury that, for all her efforts, she isn't quite cutting it at her job.
Writer/director Andrew Stanton opts to shoot EVE out of focus or in long shot quite often but even in these moments, her performance is filled with emotional clarity. You always know just what she's feeling and without dialogue she relies on her whole body (pod-y?) and especially her eyes to maximize the effect. It's a surprise when she finally notices her awkward grubby suitor, a prince charming in frog's clothing, but thanks to the rangy expressiveness of her performance leading up the sweet name exchange, that first giggle doesn't read as incongruous to her earlier no-nonsense posing but as a natural unguarded off the job respite.
EVE thinks WALL•E is a funny little guy
Once her hair is down, so to speak, EVE even demonstrates remarkable flair for slapstick comedy in her tour guide's private lair. And just when we couldn't love her more and we're as wrapped around her three fingers as WALL•E wishes to be, she shuts down... courtesy of the little guy's plant gift. It's twenty-five agonizing minutes for WALL•E before she's conscious again at which point EVE picks up the performance right where she left off (did they film out of sequence? If so, kudos!) as a woman who knows she kinda sorta likes a slightly embarrassing fella but...what to do, what to do with him? I mean she's still totally into her career.
By this point in the movie, confident that she's gotten her character across, EVE is even generous enough to hand over complete scenes to the other players like the emerging third tier hero in the Captain of the Axiom. From the background or in her action scenes she keeps on amplifying her emotional connection to WALL•E.
EVE plays dead again to avoid capture. She's a sly one.
I know there are a lot of killjoys out there that don't want to see this movie in the Oscar running for Best Picture. These same stingy types are probably barking mad that I'm recognizing EVE here today. I can hear them now "She's only a computer. She has no business competing with flesh and blood women who have brains and not 'directives'. She's a glorified iPod with a raygun!" These naysayers clearly have never owned an iPod. Those things have a mind of their own.
And EVE... she's got the brains and the heart. And boy does she let you feel it when she finally realizes how much that little guy loves her.
But I'm guessing there's more than enough suspense within the other FB Award categories to keep you into it -- hell, there's even enough suspense for me... since 4th and 5th spots are still in flux in most categories. Hence, the blank pages. So as I finish write ups I'll be posting them. I've added notes on The Wrestler and Reprise on the top ten page. I've also posted a F.A.Q. for new readers (welcome! there's a lot of you) and/or forgetful ones and made sure the Oscar prediction pages were in order. A bit later I hope to throw up an entry into StinkyLulu's Supporting Actress Blog-a-Thon which is already a fun party. I was particularly enthralled by Stinky's brave props for a much maligned actress in a much maligned movie and the piece on Samantha Morton (Synecdoche New York). I don't care for that movie but I thought she was fan-tas-tic. I also recommend checking out interesting pieces on Catinca Untaru (The Fall) and Angelina Jolie (Wanted). But I must say "ARGH!" that category fraud happens even in this blog-a-thon. These are lead roles. Weirder still is that both articles justify this in the exact same super odd way by claiming, if I'm reading it correctly, that 'since the performance is successful... it's supporting!' Say whaaaaa?!? Well, I guess that's how the Oscars explain it too.
I hear new justifications for Oscar minded Category Fraud every year and they never convince me that the Protagonists are now Background Helpmeets. Joe warned me last night before we caught Valkyrie that I would one day have an aneuryism from taking movie award categories too seriously. He's right. So don't mind this unshaven crazy person in the corner (me) whispering "lead. lead.lead. LEAD. lead I say." to himself, whilst surrounded by shredded ticket stubs and madly scribbling on the walls. Today in a moment of attempted self-recovery and an olive branch to people who don't care about that line between Supporting / Lead I shall honor a woman who is kind of a lead when I post. *
Cannes knows how to pick them. Isabelle Huppert will head the 2009 Cannes Jury. Last year's estimable panel, headed by Sean Penn, contained two actresses, two actor/directors and three directors. If the collection is similar this year, who will have the honor of sitting beside her? Will they be frightened for their very souls?
Now, one never knows which actors are expert at judging the craft of acting and filmmaking (criticism being an entirely different skill than creation ... one only has to look at SAG's often horrible taste in "best" to see this dichotomy) but Huppert has an undeniably rare gift and such a thrilling distinct persona that it's amazing just to fantasize about her all godless, gorgeous and cerebral ... peering stone-faced down her freckled nose at the shivering anxious movies. Isabelle the destroyer. But what will she love? [src] oh yes, the links... Self Styled Siren a fine piece on Douglas Sirk and... Revolutionary Road? Film Ick Hugh Jackman, no stranger to stage musicals, is still not transferring it to screen. He won't be starring in Soderbergh's 3D rock musical Cleo after all. Brendon thinks this is a mistake. Dave Kehr with the list on the 25 movies added to the National Film Registry for 2008. The list doesn't magistically preserve the titles for all postery (shame) but it's an honor suggesting that they merit preservation. Titles include In Cold Blood (see Nick's guest review), Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar and five silent goodies including Foolish Wives... Lazy Eye Theater "Robert Rodriguez, you son of a bitch" Cinephiliac pulls its own plug (just moved to GreenCine) with the top 30 of 2008 MTV John Travolta's teenage son has died. How very sad. Our hearts go out to the family. Valley Dreamin' says finis to the "Endings Blog-a-Thon" with 22 articles wrapping things up. THE END. *
If you're planning to participate in StinkyLulu's 3rd annual Supporting Actress blog-a-thon please place this teaser I created on your blog to let your readers know. Coming Soon! But, pssst, don't give away the goodies yet. Don't let people know who you're writing about. The best thing about this blog-a-thon is how surprising, diverse and fun the choices have been from around the 'sphere. If you're new to all this, check out The Class of 2006 and The Class of 2007 to see which women got placed in these fascinating scrapbooks previously. (I wrote about Streep the first time and Tomei the second. I still have no idea who I'll write up this year but it's coming at'cha on January 4th)
and yes new Oscar predictions are coming later this weekend
Velvet Goldmine 10th anniversary blog party on November 6th. The boys will be pretty. The girls will be fabulous. The music will be glam (rock). You're invited. R.S.V.P.
On the 6th of each month I'm writing about one hand-picked musical. Anybody who loves the genre is invited to join in by screening, commenting, or publishing their own take on it. I started the series with three goals in mind: reacquaint myself with films I haven't seen in a long time, promote rental ideas for readers, enjoy films I've never seen (there are many) from within my favorite genre. Cabin in the Sky (1943), Vincent Minelli's first full directorial effort and a rare all-black musical from Hollywood's early days, falls into the latter camp. I am so pleased that you chose it from the list offered. It's a delight.
The story of gambler Little Joe (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson) and his ever-praying wife Petunia (Ethel Waters) is a riff on the classic Faust tale. It's one in a long line of literary and filmed entertainments that deal with Heaven and Hell's eternal battle for our souls. Some are heavy dramas but often they're comedies. The premise lends itself to goofy sets, outre performances and good triumphs over evil uplifts. Early in the film Joe nearly dies and the forces of Heaven & Hell agree to give him six more months on earth: repentance and good behavior wins him that dreamy 'cabin in the sky', more of the same wicked lifestyle will trap him in "H-E-double toothpick" as me mum used to say.
The last movie I personally remember seeing with this out-of-fashion premise was that awful Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta flop from 1983 Two of a Kind though I know there've been others since then. Anyone remember that film? It gave the world Olivia Newton-John's last big hit "Twist of Fate" and not much else worth mentioning.
Anywayyyyy.... Little Joe is a sinner who can't resist the dice or one of the devil's favorite gals "Georgia Brown" (the legendary Lena Horne). His wife Petunia prays and prays and prays for him to change and renounce both gambling and Georgia. And then she prays some more. Early in the film, Joe is shot in the local club Jim Henry's Paradise by a ne'er do wells he owes money. As he lay dying, the battle-lines for his soul are drawn (that six month contest) between Lucifer Jr's squad and some rather uptight angels. While convalescing Joe expresses bewilderment that Petunia is so confident that he won't stray again.
Little Joe when you're good, something in here [*points to heart*] starts singing.
And the lord seems to say, 'All my angels are playing beautiful music because they feel so happy for you. Can you hear it down there?' And I listen and sho' nuff I hear it as plain as if I was up in heaven myself. They were teaching me their prettiest tunes. Then I realized that's the Lord's way of telling me to be happy.
She then sings Joe this musical's gorgeous title song, beaming with both romantic and spiritual love all the while. Ethel's voice is expressive, nuanced and mature. Here's the way I see it/hear it: Musicals make the world beautiful. I hear them as plain as if I was up in heaven myself. They've got the prettiest tunes. Musicals are the Cinema's way of telling me to be happy.
There's a lot to enjoy in the film: Ethel Waters voice and performance were rich, the songs --many of them famous -- were quite good and Eddie Anderson's comic timing and inimitable screech in the song "Consequence" provided much amusement as he tries to ward off the advances of Georgia Brown. Though the film was obviously difficult to finance due to its risky all-black status in a racist era (many theaters wouldn't show the film in the 40s), there's still a bit of variety and ingenuity in the limited sets that are utilized. I loved the freezer burn detail on the air conditioned devil's office. Funny. For a musical it's skimpy on costume changes as well, but once Georgia and Petunia face off at Jim Henry's Paradise it's a feathery, glittery event that you wish you could see in full color. For film buffs there's some amusement to be had in the recycling of cast members from Gone With the Wind (1939) and sets and special effects direct from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Yes Cabin in the Sky made me happy despite the odd warning or "disclaimer" that ran before the movie started.
That warning indicates "films" as in this is a stamp that's been placed on other films too? But unless I missed something (which is possible as a white boy) there wasn't all that much to be offended by on the race front. More troubling was the sexism but you'd never see a warning placed on a film from this era about that, now would you? And, what's more, the kind of sexism that Cabin in the Sky trades in --very popular in 40s movies, especially noirs, with seductive women painted as dangerous destroyers -- isn't all that dated, cinematically speaking. Both of the female characters are blamed for Joe's sins. Georgia Brown is blamed for seducing him (Men have NO CHOICE about who they sleep with, don't you know?! He says sarcastically) And later even Joe's devout patient wife is blamed for his tailspin when she fails to 'stand by her man' at one crucial point. Little Joe somehow wins points for Petunia's good deeds but she loses some for his free fall??? Heaven Can Wait ...for feminism apparently.
I leave you with the lovely Lena Horne's cut song "Ain't it the truth" which was deemed too scandalous what with Lena singing gleefully whilst enveloped in a decadent bubble bath.
Isn't she a honey?
Musical of the Month'ers Movies Kick Ass 'Heaven... I'm in Heaven' StinkyBits - finds this movie "fascinating, strange, well worth watching." Criticlasm thinks Ethel Waters rules the piece StinkyLulu -profiles Lena Horne's famous role as "Georgia Brown" If you write about it, send me the link...
Next Episodes November 11th (delayed) -Nov 6thmarks the exact 10th anniversary of the release of Todd Hayne's glam rock oddity Velvet Goldmine (1998). It was a big moment in the careers of Toni Collette, Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Lots of angles to be explored by any willing bloggers. Dec 6th ~'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' with Judy Garland in the classic Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).
When I first heard of He Shot Cyrus's "My Best Post" blog-a-thon (day 3 / day 2 / day 1) I thought 'what an ingenious idea!' That complimentary attitude quickly soured. I no longer pictured him (we've never met) as a saintly shepherd of unheralded writers. I replaced the kindly image with a cackling horned sadist, gleefully punishing the prolific and whipping the self-satisfied.
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth (perhaps in wood engravings?) would ensue. The only people that would find that "best post" choice easy would be new and humble writers! I am neither. Recently, I started collecting Best ofs at the end of each month (you can access old articles from the handy drop down menu on the side). It isn't for bragging purposes. It's more that I suck at organization and I thought it might be a good way to catch lagging readers up, catalogue things I could use for portfolio freelance purposes, or rework for "Best of" collections that I ridiculously fantasize I will one day create, illustrate and then hawk on The Today Show, The Daily Show and David Letterman to the unsuspecting masses who had never before considered what 19 years of thinking about Michelle Pfeiffer every day might do to a man.
I would sell hundreds of millions of copies (naturally!) and buy a spacious loft on the Upper West Side which I would quickly fill with clutter, kitty cats and various mooching houseguests and best friends until space was so limited that I would have to create another mammoth best seller so as to purchase a second loft that I might use expressly for dinner parties and screenings. My newfound fame fortune and social status would lure Kathleen Turner, Pedro Almodovar, Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei, Viggo Mortensen, Marni Nixon and other luminaries I like to obsess over for fascinating conversation and themed screenings ... maybe slumber parties (in which case Note to Self: invite Jake & Jude). I would quickly be invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, becoming the only person ever so invited who has never worked on a movie in his entire life. Dream big, right?
During all of this fabulousity I'd be jotting down notes and planning more blog pieces because UNFORTUNATELY I cannot stop. It's a sickness.
Timetables have conspired against me. I really wanted to participate in Goatdog's Movies about Movies Blog-a-Thon which is now in progress. The entries so far cover a geographically wide and artistically varied array of cinema... everything from Federico Fellini through Spike Jonze and even Blake Edwards. My three favorite Movies about Movies are Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Blvd, and Purple Rose of Cairo and so far only Blvd has a write up. Right about now I'm pretending I just wrote "Don't Turn the Projector Off" (two year old post. Wheeee) so that Cairo could have been celebrated at this particular blog party.
Do you love movies about movies or do you think Hollywood ought not to be so self involved? *
You chose it and we'll follow Audrey (I)'s deepest wishes. We're going "somewhere that's green" on September 6th for our Musical of the Monthcelebration.
So prepare your articles / posts / oddities / deconstructions / attacks / tributes regarding Little Shop of Horrors (1986) for publication on Saturday, September 6th.
Whether you want to talk about that Mean Green Muuuther from Outer Space, life on Skid Row, 50s fantasies, sadomasochistic trips to the dentist's office, puppetry on film, doo-whop greek choruses, the rare subgenre of horror musicals, the 80s-ness of Rick Moranis, green thumbs, happy endings, film-to -stage- to-film peculiarities... Little Shop has something foreach and everyoneof us.It's alonely oasis in the desert of musicals that was the 1980s. It'll provide you with juicy drops of blood to help your blog post grow.
Get tuned up, witty, carnivorous and creative but be there on September 6th for the virtual sing along. Do right by Ellen Greene after all she did for us here as Audrey and all she's doing for us again on Pushing Daisies. If you're planning to join in let me know. *
I mean musicals that don’t dramatize the slow creep of the Nazi party across Weimar era Germany. Or musicals that don't involve bloody racial conflicts on Manhattan’s West Side. Or musicals that don't torment blind single mothers on death row… Let's restate: Musicals are sometimes cheerful. I need a cheerful one right now.
See, it's been a tough week. Things haven’t been going well for me technologically speaking –this DVD player I use keeps freezing on me and refusing to play DVDs. What gives? It did this when I tried to review The Car, too -- and don't even mention "time management" to me. I’m apologizin’ straight away that this post is very short and open-ended (make sure to check out my musical pard'ners at other blogs below). Deadlines surround me. I had but three hours of sleep last night and back to the office I went.
Doris Day kicks off this month's featured movie singing with her fellow travellers on a horse driven carriage way back in the 1870-something. Flash forward 138 years and it's corporate America that's singing "whip crack away" to me. They ain't as cheerful about it as Ms. Doris Day.
So thank god for musicals and their bright colors, catchy songs and high spirited dancing. I need them. From its first frames Calamity Jane conspires to put a smile on my face. It’s not content to just throw up a huge colorful title. This 1953 musical adds a chorus of swelling voices to sing that very title to me --just in case I'm illiterate like those Deadwood settlers. They sing her name like they're speeding over a hill in their own carriage. It's got a big rise and fall. Yes, phantom chorus, sing to me! Drug me up with that musical cheer. I'll join in as soon as we get to a number I recognize.
Alas, my DVD player isn't playing and I'm denied again. [Editor's note: This is the last scheduled posting that shall be ruined by said problem. I just need a free day to find a solution and I haven't had one in a couple of weeks.] The real reason I wanted to kick off this series with Calamity Jane was that I was dying to see it again. How foregrounded are the fascinating homo undercurrents I remember thinking about once I saw The Celluloid Closet in 1995. I'll have to read the other posts in this mini-celebration to find out. Doris Day was never a Judy Garland but Calamity Jane's most famous song "Secret Love" was understandably a major gay anthem back in its day, descriptive of and embraced by the GLBT community before there was really such a thing as being "out".
Now I shout it from the highest hills I even told the golden daffodil. At last my heart's an open door. And my secret love's no secret anymore
Imagine how thrilling, how moving this fantasy wish fulfillment in a song must have been in the 1950s when the reality was almost always the closet?
Just a brief cursory "scene selection" tour through this Technicolor Deadwood has convinced me that what the world really needs is a gay remake or perhaps a meta drag version for the new millenium. The latter would be vaguely Victor/Victoria-esque only in this case it'd be a thinkier spin "a man pretending to be a woman who everyone thinks of as a man" rather than the fully comedic 82 version
"A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman?!? Preposterous! No one will believe it." "Exactly. That's why it will work!"
And whether this imaginary "Jane" is a 50s tomboy or an effeminate man playing a tomboy "she's" got an interesting thing for "Wild Bill", don'cha know. When we first see Bill Hickok, Calamity veritably shimmies at him despite her objections to immodest ladies of entertainment and sings enthusiastically about "his gun with 27 notches"
Jane after checking out Bill's gun: "I'm glad to say he's a very good friend of mine." (hee)
I love their relationship. I never watched HBO's Deadwood but catching glimpses of Howard Keel and Doris Day's mostly platonic (brotherly?) romance in this musical makes me curious to see how other artists have treated this mythic pairing. Like Bonnie & Clyde, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane have been mythologized for a long time. No one who can separate the fact from the fiction is still alive. What was going on there? It's ripe for multiple interpretations. Did they really have a child together as Jane later claimed? It's a complicated affair. The true details of this love (reciprocal or otherwise) are secret.
The golden daffodils aren't talking.
For more on Calamity Jane, say...
"Howdy Pardners!" Movies Kick Ass gender roles & revisionist westerns in Calamity Jane & Johnny Guitar Spartickes "That ain't all she ain't!" StinkyLulu delivers a cheeky funny audiovisual meditation Criticlasm "You make no sense at all, but you’re a rollicking good old time." Stinky Bits unedited ramblings on the butch/femme lesbian romance within the film
Next time... Those few brave souls who participated in the first installment will be voting on the movie to be featured on September 6th. The options are: Fred & Ginger in Swing Time (1936), the non-stop dancing of The Red Shoes (1948), Gene Kelly's On the Town (1949), Bollywood classic Mother India (1957), Off Broadway transfer Little Shop of Horrors (1986) or Christian Bale hoofin' it through Newsies (1992). We'll announce the winner in a few days.
In an effort to expand my viewing habits, I decided to participate in the popular monthly horror event known as Final Girl's Film Club. Horror is the one genre I just about never watch so with stretching in mind I set out to view The Car (1977). Here I am trying to watch it with a tight deadline and something is wrong. The first image I see is a frozen looping one of Jamie Bell leaping onto the screen. Over and over again he joyously bounces and freezes. I'm quite content to watch Billy entering a frame but unless he's about to get run over by a killer car, something is wrong with this DVD. I attempt to skip ahead and I see only these static images for the first few minutes...
I can hear the soundtrack in fits and starts. Scary music plays and then I guess (can't quite see it) these bikers cycle their teen selves into a dark tunnel. When scary music is playing one must never enter dark places! Don't actors ever learn? Later I hear car sounds and and see a bicycle wheel. The kids are obviously still alive and probably outside the tunnel but something must be wrong: screaming can be heard. And then the damn DVD force quits. It's like my Mac knows that I'm a wuss and that even a PG horror movie might be more than I can handle.
I'm going to guess that the kids got run over. And then maybe the title appeared? If you've seen the film perhaps you can tell me how close I am.
Trying again...
[audio] indecipherable voices male and female [video] a woman with a blue robe --where are her hands? OMG where are her handsssssss!?! [audio] doors slamming shut [video] doors wide open in the frame! How creepy [audio] birds chirping [video] trees with (probably fake) foliage.
This movie is so abstract.
My fourth attempt.
James Brolin naked!?? I'm catching just this one frame glimpse. Am I missing 70s era nudity here or is he just wearing low riders? 70s nudity is the best. It's so real. No body doubles or surgically inflated parts. If I'm missing dangly Brolin Bits I am going to feel very cheated by and angry with Netflix right now.
This DVD I have cleaned and polished but it just ain't gonna play. I can't even view the trailer without static frame choppiness. I'm left with fleeting images of Brolin with his police officers. Brolin with mustachioed face. Brolin face-offs out in the desert with a gun. James Brolin might just be up against something primordial, supernatural... something unidentifiable EVIL. It's all very Llewelyn Moss vs. Anton Chigurh actually (well it is to me since I can't watch the movie). I can't ever see this car for more than two seconds so for all I know its license place reads BARDEM.
like father, like son... right down to the mustache
The only other thing I see is lots of shots of an ominous black car. Its windows are either dusted over or they're fully blackened out which is very Near Dark --are there vampires inside? I have no idea what this movie is about other than Brolin is a cop and he's being haunted by a black car that likes to rev its engines and (presumably) run people over... though I have no proof of this.
At one point I see a very brief fleeting image of Brolin superimposed with the grill on the front of the car (what's that called again? What? I don't drive. I live in NY where driving is utterly foolish. You can get everywhere faster on the train and cabs are just as dangerous as The Car) Confronted with this unintended double image, my mind races to Psycho and that final shot of Norma Bates and "Mother". And then the only thing I can think of is 'James Brolin is married to Barbra Streisand!' It's one of those common knowledge celebrity trivia that I always forget until something reminds me. That's Nuts, I know... but the faulty disc is playing headgames with me.
Babs was totally loveable in her 70s era incarnation so I don't mean to equate her with vehicular manslaughter. I can't help where my movie addled brain goes. Yet if Barbra Streisand were to psychically possess a car with murderous intention, I doubt that her hubby would be her chosen target. I'm thinking more along the lines of...
They'd better start running.
*
Now, go to Final Girl for more from bloggers who were actually able to sit through this 70s picture. And if you like group activities, check out the first edition of the Musical of the Month. Any blog that participates will help determine September's Musical. *
...you're not joining the 'Musical of the Month' club -- Aug 6th (and every 6th thereafter) right here @ The Film Experience and @ participating singing & dancing blogs. Even Madonna is excited to talk Doris Day in Calamity Jane.
Don't tell me to blog ---Tell me "Jane"'s not a dog ------Other blogs better show ----------Nathaniel said so, mmm-mm
I've been super pleased with the participation and the enthusiasm this season (easily the most successful TFE summer yet) and given that... I feel more excited about the upcoming Oscar season than I usually do. Unfortunately my funds have run dry so I return to corporate America today for at least a few weeks. I won't have as much time to write while I earn dollars doing less interesting work, so JA (My New Plaid Pants), Jonathan (Cinema Styles) and Robert (Country Fair and Circus) and have agreed to pitch in when inspiration hits them. Enjoy their upcoming posts in addition to mine. If you love TFE to stay as content filled and busy as it's been all summer (when I've devoted most of my time to it) please consider a small donation.
CHUD & The Flick Filosopher are worried about movie geek tastes becoming so dull and unadventurous. What's happened? It's simple. Everyone became a geek. And once something's mainstream...
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