Pop Vox good piece on Keats and Brawne as portrayed in Bright Star
Filmbo's Chick Magnet has a great idea regarding film restorations for true movie lovers
In Contention chooses the best Best Picture winners. Let me count the ways I disagree with Kris's list... let's see one, two, three, four, five, six... Worth a look
The Big Picture We're entering the last quarter of the year. That means we'll soon see another Clint Eastwood picture. And that also means he's prepping his next picture. They both star Matt Damon
Guardian the rebirth of Colin Firth with A Single Man
Movies Kick Ass observes and learns from The Towering Inferno (fun!)
The Film Doctor on Diablo Cody's feminism, male-dominated film criticism and Jennifer's Body
My New Plaid Pants congratulations to JA for his contribution to Winq Magazine. Go, JA
IndieWire ah, lists. This one claims that critics and bloggers liked the Coen Bros A Serious Man best at TIFF, what's surprising is that Precious is all the way down at #6. Colin Firth takes the #1 lead performance for A Single Man and Mo'Nique tops the supporting ranks. Could they both win Oscars?
Finally, Film School Rejects conveys the news on the upcoming Highlander remake. I liked the movie when I was a teenager (I had a thing for Christopher Lambert at roughly the same time Diane Lane did though I got it over more quickly than she) but "there can be only one" is so laughable now that the movie has spawned so many sequels and spinoffs. This also reminds me of a great line about reality television from the Monkey See Emmy live blog which went like so: "I love how we've reached a point in the genre's evolution where the best way to get on a reality show is to have been on a reality show." It's not just that genre's evolution. It's entertainment, period.
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17 comments:
I always love seeing posts like this, opens up so many opportunities to find new opinions in the world of film. I read Inglourious Snatch article as well the other day, was an amazing read. I shall have to check out some of these other ones, thanks!
I can die happy if Colin Firth finally wins an Oscar this year.
What I am hearing about Precious from people who didn't love it is that it's a good film, but not great. However, the performances from both MoNique and Gabourey are brilliant.
"In Contention" list is okay, but no Oscar Best Picture list is complete without "The Silence of the Lambs" IMHO.
My main problem with Kris Tapley's list (besides the curious ommission of Lawrence of Arabia) is his implication that The Godfather: Part II is one of the best decisions the Academy ever made regarding Best Picture. Am I the only one in thinking that Chinatown should have kicked its ass that year?
Nathaniel,
Who is the guy in the cowboy hat, looking over his shoulder, in your blog's Title Banner?
I appreciate your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxFUaGAA7Gk&feature=player_embedded#t=78
Saw this link about NINE that you might like to see.
I love it when Sophia Loren smiles.
melanie... that'd be Clint Eastwood
Thanks for the link, Nathaniel. I too was very impressed with Big Media Vandalism's discussion of the shot versus the "snatch."
what letter is the apostrophe in Mo'Nique's name replacing? isn't that what apostrophes do?
Chinatown kicks both Godfathers' asses any year. Ditto All About Eve, Gone with the Wind, Annie Hall, Brokeback Mountain - heh heh..
Also - Patton doesn't belong on a Top 10 list of anything.
Also - I believe the majority of people who believe the 70s were the Golden Age of American cinema haven't seen enough movies from the 30s, 40s or 50s. In fact, I believe the majority of people haven't seen enough movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s. (Though I do appreciate the radical shift in style, sensibility and creative ambition the 70s brought to American cinema.)
The Conversation is better than both Chinatown and The Godfather II.
The 70's were awesome. So were the 50's, 40's and 30's. The 60's were just okay. I'd argue both the 50's and the 70's consitute separate Golden Ages of (American) film and I'll fight to the death with anyone who disagrees.
to the death?
ha ha. the truth is that there are wonderful things in each decade but the type of wonderful things does shift. For example. romantic comedies were never ever ever ever remotely close to as good as they were in the 30s ever again. big epic studio stuff with giant movie stars was so sweet in the 50s. etcetera...
to each decade it's own strengths.
I can't help but think that every generation of cinephiles wishes for what's past.
If you're of the 90's, you look back at the 70's as the pre-blockbusterization of American film. Films were made for adults, not kids. Directors like Ingmar Bergman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Francois Truffaut actually were box office hits and people had dialogues about them (Liv Ullman was the pre-eminent actress, so much so that there was a New Yorker cartoon about her). It's hard to look at Last Tango in Paris and see that our current equivalents can't match it for gross, and we're talking without inflation here.
Of course, if you're in the 70's, you look back at the 50's. The 50's were the heyday of the spectacle. TV's are invading your living rooms and are usurping film as a cultural touchstone (MASH, All in the Family, Maude). But in the 1950's, film remained king. You had a revolution in acting with the method bringing new realism for the first time (thank you Clift, Brando and Dean). Widescreen was increasing in popularity. Hollywood was dropping classics left, right and centre, and directors like Kurosawa and Cluzout were showing off their mastery of Hollywood's domain. Hitchcock could fart a masterpiece.
Now, if you're in the fifties, you're wondering why things can't be like the 30's. The dawn of colour. The advent of the "event" film (Gone with the Wind). The glittering galaxy of stars who were loved not because they sounded like you (who goes to the theatre to see people mumble). But these stars... these were who you wanted to be. Who didn't want to be James Stewart, with his superhuman everyman-ness. Or Cary Grant, who could wear a women's robe and still be suaver than you. Who wouldn't want to be there when Bette Davis exploded onto the screen, challenging our ideas of womanhood and actressing? Or when Lubitsch mastered his "touch?"
And if your in the 30's? Well, I have just one comment. Too many fookin' words. Silence if golden and we had faces. If something kills Buster Keaton's career, it must suck, right?
To each their own, I love The Godfather Part II and watch it at least once a year.
Watched Chinatown recently, really wanting to enjoy it, I could barely stay awake.
arkaan --- amen. and i also love The Conversation. damn. that movie.
is great
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