Tarantino Can't Shut Up. Neither Can We

Now that we've got a few videos under our belts, Katey and I generally wrap up our conversations in about 12 minutes. Then we edit out repetitive / awkward bits. This time, we couldn't stop talking.

Our conversation about Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds is reflective of the film's overstuffing. We did our best to avoid spoilers though there are a couple of small ones. It's best to avoid all the scenes that are available online before you see it. I know this isn't the way people interact with movies these past few years but it's so fun to be surprised at the movies and it's a pity that that happens less and less frequently. Tarantino is a great example of a filmmaker who rewards those who don't seek out spoilers. You can predict the various elements (i.e. obsessions) that will appear in each movie, but rarely can you foresee how he'll fuse them all together.

YouTube caps videos at 10 minutes so this might be a wee bit choppier than past conversations but we hope you enjoy and definitely join in the conversation in the comments section.

Part One
...in which we talk about violence, self-editing, film criticism and movies that draw attention to the man behind the camera.



Part Two
... in which we attempt to wrap it up with more on the superb European cast, Tarantino's big head, the "wait for the cream" structure and the twisty jokey gamesmanship of this movie about movies.

F&L 48

First and Last: the first image after the opening credits and the last shot before the final credit scroll.


Can you guess the movie? The Oscar nominated cinematography is by Tony Pierce-Roberts

[highlight for the answer]: This is the great Merchant/Ivory film A Room With a View (1986) for more first and last puzzles, click the label below.
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He Should Really Write a Movie For Her

Monologue Over the Rainbow.

Jose here trying to stop obsessing about The Wizard of Oz without any success...

The beloved masterpiece turns 70 tomorrow and remains as fresh and delightful as the day when it first came out.
Its timeless success is owed to what I think is the greatest monologue in film history, Judy Garland's iconic delivery of "Over the Rainbow".

As Dorothy Gale, Garland puts onscreen the ultimate performance of misunderstood childhood; you know the one, where we make everything way bigger than what it is, where we drown ourselves in a glass of water and the easiest solution is always the one that comes in the shape of escapism. For Dorothy it's the threat that her dog Toto will be taken away from her for destroying one of her neighbor's gardens.

Her Aunt asks her to "find a place where you won't get yourself into any trouble" which prompts the girl to belt out the Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg tune, as she looks towards the sky wondering if whatever is beyond the rainbow will help her.

The Academy Award winning song had originally been removed from the film after producers deemed it "dull" following a preview. Fortunately they had a change of heart and re-inserted what has become an anthem for those in need of assistance in times of great stress. Here is the scene for those who have never seen it or simply crave to enjoy it again:



Interestingly the song also has some lines and verses which are rarely used and have remained obscure, but help to add more to that feeling of angst inside Dorothy. This introductory verse for example, is limited mostly to theatrical productions of "Oz" and was sung merely once by Garland herself.

When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There's a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain

It seems as if it would've helped the song obtain more depth, but considering how flawless the sequence is, the verse is important if only in terms of historical value.

There is also a second chorus,

Someday I'll wake and rub my eyes
And in that land beyond the skies,
You'll find me
I'll be a laughing daffodil
And leave the silly cares that fill
My mind behind me

which has been used even less times (Jewel sang it once).

What becomes clear from these unused pieces is that the place Dorothy sang about was always Oz and that the film's finale, again perfect and not to be tampered with, only adds a touch of melancholy to the fact that Dorothy found the place she dreamed of but had to give it away.

If that happiness/sadness duality isn't magic, I don't know what is then...

MM@M: "9 out of 10 Hollywood stars depend on LUX"

Mad Men at the Movies. In this series we've been covering movie references made on the 1960s show. Even if you don't watch, you're here because you love talking 'bout the movies. Previously we covered a telling Gidget reference, a throwaway Wizard of Oz bit and the scandal of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Episode 4 mentions an ad campaign that featured Hollywood's A-List actresses.

1.4 "New Amsterdam"
Young account executive Pete Campbell is at dinner with the rich in-laws. The father in-law has some unsolicited advice.

Tom: You've got to get that LUX soap campaign over to Sterling Cooper. Janet Leigh, Natalie Wood -- now, there's a day at the office. I'm telling you, you boys have got it made: Martini lunches, gorgeous women parading through. In my next life I'm coming back as an ad man.

Pete Campbell: Well, there's slightly more to it than that.
Tom: Yeah? Well, I'd keep that to yourself.

When Tom says "Natalie Wood" he gestures briefly toward his wife rather than the son-in-law he's speaking to. Is the Mrs. a fan? It wouldn't be surprising.

Natalie Wood for LUX soap --->

Wood's fame was not yet at its peak in 1960 (West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass and Gypsy coming right up) but she'd been quite famous since the mid 40s. She belonged to that rare breed of actor, the child star who becomes an even bigger teen idol and then a full on A List movie queen. As the book Pictures at a Revolution reminds us, Natalie held an odd cultural position in the 60s. Though Natalie was younger then many of the members of what came to be known as 'New Hollywood'

"she was Old Hollywood to the core... even if the term New Hollywood had been in use, Wood certainly would have considered herself no part of it.

It figures that she held great cross generational appeal.

But back to LUX soap for a minute. Their ad campaign was an enduring familiar one. It had featured legendary Hollywood beauties for decades with slogans like "To him, you're just as lovely as a movie star" and "9 out of 10 Hollywood stars depend on LUX"

Here's a few actressy LUX ads for fun.


An Olivia deHavilland ad from 1941, a German version starring Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert's from 1935.


Rita Hayworth's from 1957. These ads were generally doubling as sneaky movie advertisements... this one for Pal Joey) and Debbie Reynolds' from 1956.

Other references in this episode
Television: a black and white western series... but which one? | Celebrities: Bob Newhart and Lenny Bruce | Books: Psalms and Nursery Rhymes From France | Theater: Bye Bye Birdie
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F&L 47

First and Last: the first image after the opening credits...


Can you guess the movie? Try to guess it without the last shot before the final credit scroll below (click to embiggen if you give up)



Highlight for the answer if you haven't seen this movie. And if you haven't, please do. This is Låt Den Rätte Komma In (2008)... i.e. Let The Right One In. It's soon to be destroyed by Hollywood in a bound to be dumbed down version. for more first and last puzzles, click the label

A Little Link Music

Everything I Know... Will Catherine Zeta-Jones star in A Little Night Music on Broadway?
Slog Oopsie. a joke billboard for Inglourious Basterds causes offense [thx]
<--- Starblinx (500) Days of Summer illustrated. teehee [thx]
Just Jared Dollhouse Season 2 promos
Scanners overheard at the movie theater
fourfour reconsiders Project Runway. His mind isn't changed but to his credit he does make Models of the Runway, the spinoff, sound about 5,000 times more interesting/funny than it actually is.
Read Roger on Miyazaki's Ponyo
A Blog Next Door Leonardo DiCaprio's one-two punch rule


Finally, Cozzalio doesn't like the ads for Bruce Willis' new scifi picture Surrogates. You know the ones... "human perfection. what could go wrong?"


They're plastered all over the city now. The internet has been kind of mum on this film, which opens shortly (Sept 25th) so I was interested to finally read someone's reaction. Unlike Dennis, I rather like the ads. I appreciate that they feel as vapid as clothing ads so they're sort of subverting / mocking the idea of clean airbrushed beauty. What could be wrong with that? Quite a lot, you know. But maybe I'm just a sucker for android/cyborg stories (a la Terminator / Blade Runner). In some hierarchal geek place in my mind that's just a notch or two below vampires as a subgenre that immediately wins my attention. Holding the attention is another matter. We'll see what reviews are like.

"Cat's going to the bathroom right in back of my portrait."

Little Edie: Oh god, isn't that awful?

Big Edie: No, I'm glad he is. I'm glad somebody's doing something they want to do.

Shuffled Island, Scorsese's Schedules

I neglected to mention the news of Shutter Island's shift to 2010 when it spread across the internet Friday (I swear, if you don't have your laptop grafted onto your body these days...). This shuffling happens to movies every year and everyone (including myself sometimes) acts surprised and put out as if it's never happened before. We have agreed to collective amnesia.

Dennis Lehane's 6th novel Mystic River was on screen two years after it

was published. His 7th, Shutter Island, is taking longer to crossover.

Generally speaking such schedule switcheroos prompt three distinct reactions each year

1. The studio lacks confidence in the movie and/or the movie isn't any good (suggesting that good = Oscar which it doesn't but that's another story)
   
2. This movie wasn't going to be AMPAS's cuppa anyway, no matter when it opened. Might be a good decision financially.
   
3. Yay. Something that's not total garbage is going to open in the early months of the year!

Hollywood is Pavlov and we are the dogs. Each of these groupthink reflexes has been carefully conditioned in us. They've trained us to expect junk in the first quarter, blockbusters and counterprogrammers in the second and third, prestige films in the final. Anything that appears to be in its wrong season -- as if there should be wrong seasons for things as wonderful as movies -- is immediately suspect whether it be an f/x epic, a romantic comedy, or a film from a major auteur.

--> Scorsese at Cannes with his genius editor Thelma Schoonmaker in Cannes in May to celebrate The Red Shoes (directed by Thelma's late husband Michael Powell). Thelma & Marty have made 16 narrative features together, plus documentaries and shorts.

The truth about Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island could lie anywhere. I'm leaning towards #2. I was anxious to see this hallucinatory potboiler, too, but think of the bright side: We've got more time to read the novel before the movie arrives on February 19th, 2010.

And finally, it's worth noting: Scorsese isn't exactly speedy. Who knows what's happening in Post. If the film is complete that doesn't mean he won't decide to tinker. Didn't Gangs of New York even appear in winter magazine previews for 2001 before being pushed back 12 months for December '02? We're always talking about release dates when it comes to Oscar... but what of release dates when it comes to filmmakers? Is there any consistency with Scorsese? Let's look at his 20 narrative features, release dates and Oscar's reaction (Best Picture nominees are in red).

• The Departed | Oct 6th, 2006 | 5 noms, 4 wins
  
• The Aviator | Dec 17th, 2004 | 11 noms, 5 wins
• Gangs of New York | Dec 20th, 2002 | 10 nominations
• Bringing Out the Dead | Oct 22nd, 1999 | ignored
• Kundun | Dec 25th, 1997 | 4 nominations
• Casino | Nov 22nd, 1995 | 1 nomination
• The Age of Innocence | Sept 17th, 1993 | 5 noms, 1 win
• Cape Fear | Nov 13th, 1991 | 2 nominations
• Goodfellas | Sept 19th, 1990 | 6 noms, 1 win
• The Last Temptation of Christ | Aug 12th, 1988 | 1 nomination
• The Color of Money | Oct 17th, 1986 | 4 noms, 1 win
• After Hours | Sept 13th, 1985 | ignored
• The King of Comedy | Feb 18th, 1983 | ignored
• Raging Bull | Dec 19th, 1980 | 8 noms, 2 wins
• New York, New York | June 21st, 1977 | ignored
• Taxi Driver | Feb 8th, 1976 | 4 nominations
• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | Dec 9th, 1974 | 3 noms, 1 win
• Mean Streets | Oct 14th, 1973 | ignored
• Boxcar Bertha | June 14th, 1972 | ignored
• Who's That Knocking At My Door? | Sept 8th, 1968 | ignored
  

Yep, he's an "Autumn" all right... though you can see how much more fluid Hollywood once was with prestige movie scheduling the further back in time you go. His only previous February openings, The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver, happen to be my two favorites, no fooling. Does this mean I should be very very very excited for Shutter Island or should I stop being so superstitious about release dates?

How is the move to 2010 sitting with you? Or are you eternally impatient when it comes to Oscar season? I'm guessing you're ready to get the party started. I know I am.
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thefilmexperience.net

...is currently down. I've been reluctant to let it go for sentimental reasons -- [sniffle] it's where it all began -- and it's not gone for good (Sept 1st) but the costs have proven inhibitive as readership has risen over the years. Basically what meager profits I earn go to paying off overage expenditures. Finances are such that I can't afford overages anymore and am unable to accrue them.


I'm apparently too big to not be generating profit and too small to generate real profit and thus stuck in an endless non-profitable oroborus loop. The hosting site tells me that the podcasts are one of the biggest bandwidth drains which is weird because I wasn't sure anyone was listening and I haven't recorded one in awhile. I wanted them available as mp3s in case people didn't have iTunes but should I revive the audio casts, I guess I'll have to go iTunes only (which I don't have to pay for) or figure out a way to host them elsewhere?

Anyway... I apologize for the banality of this behind-the-scenes melodrama. It's not directed by Douglas Sirk and the leading lady is not glamorously unhappy... just financially depressed. The site will be back up on September 1st but by necessity I'll have to strip out some of its back content, podcasts and photos and such to prevent bandwidth overage$. I guess. I'll be tinkering.

The site will be back up on September 1st with updated Oscar prediction charts and the like. My apologies.

"Why am I here?"

Red Carpet: Amanda's Tip Money, Jennifer's Baby Food

A random sampling of actresses (and actor) that were out and about this week, as is our habit since this isn't a celebrity fashion blog but we do like to stargaze. From left to right: Mélanie Laurent, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Renée Zellweger, Miss Piggy and Jennifer Aniston

photos reworked from Zimbio & Just Jared

Why do you suppose Amanda Seyfried has cash out?

I'm pretending that she's going to tip Mélanie and Christoph for their fine work in Inglourious Basterds. I certainly want to. I'm shoving $20s down their pants if I get the chance. The photo of Seyfried was actually snapped on the set of her new movie with Gael García Bernal (Letters to Juliet) so maybe she's saving the tip money... she must have seen Bad Education.

photo src

Meanwhile, Zeéeeee is waving to Mélanie but the French girl isn't waving back. I don't have a story beat in mind for that one but I think that's generally a smart move, pretending you didn't notice her. That said, I'm really bad at ignoring her, aren't I? For example, every one in the world skipped Miss Potter and I still tortured myself with it. New in Town sits on my DVD shelf even now (no, I did not purchase it) and how long will it be until I succumb? It's a sickness.

In other news, did you hear that Marc Jacobs furnished Miss Piggy with a new look? I love it. Miss Piggy is a national treasure and she's been out of the limelight for too long. I'd much rather hear about her cross-species love life than Jennifer Aniston's predictable romantic woes.

And speaking of...

Have you seen the trailer for Love Happens in which Jen breathes new life into dimpled, cleft widower Aaron Eckhart? They're both likeable performers but that movie looks like total baby food. It's simply flavored utterly predictable mush. The trailer is Hollywood making choo-choo noises, hoping you'll open wide for a spoon feeding.

I Want to Link to There

Your Internet Movie Rule: Robert De Niro is...
Sunset Gun Kim Morgan talks to Tarantino
<--- Empire what film will director Bryan Singer do next? I'm just going to admit it: I don't really get his career. It seems so directionless despite a collection of generally good films
MNPP Michael Fassbender Four Times (he's fast becoming someone I totally care about!)
A Blog Next Door with a surprise observation about Adaptation (2002)
Coffee Coffee and More Coffee on the import/export game, the shrinking market for foreign films and how Hollywood doesn't play fair
INF "Aniston: Zellweger Stole My Man" I've never made a secret that I'm not a fan of Jennifer Aniston and her trademark 'abandoned woman' victimhood. On the other hand, I think all tabloids, celeb mags and gossip blogs ought to pay her tithing each year, you know?
If Charlie Parker... frames within frames. Lovely


Did you see The Wolf Man trailer? Benicio Del Toro plays the fuzzy wuzzy. I'm so pleased to see Hugo Weaving again (see previous post) but was it really a good idea to cast Anthony Hopkins in this? Seems like the choice is too obvious, too directly reminiscent of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).



Topless Robot expresses what I suspect will be widespread feelings about this film before it opens. Poor lycanthropes. They never get any respect when it comes to monster movies. It's gotta be vampires, don't it?

Project Runway Goes Hollywood

...and not only by relocating to the City of Angels. The fashion design competition also enlisted two movie stars for their big premiere night. Well... one actual movie star at any rate. We'll get to the other in a sec.

Designers... meet Nicole Kidman!

I am a huge huge fan of Project Runway. You're all so talented... give my best to Tim

After announcing that the winning dress would be worn at the movie premiere of Nine -- she didn't specify by whom, mind you, could be a publicist for all we know -- she blew a kiss to Tim Gunn. Even better than watching Kidman's recorded message was seeing the reaction of the designers, which was primarily that of stunned joy. Though they would have made my night (hell, my week) if but one of them had broken down in hysterical shaking tears at the sight of her, like a tween at a Jonas Bros concert. Nicki deserves it!


Only the perpetually bummed but ridonculously talented Korto was unphased by the star wattage of the one and only.

Lifetime, obviously desperate for viewers and banking on the show they nabbed from Bravo, spent 3 and 1/2 hours celebrating all things Project Runway last night. First the All Star challenge then a season premiere and a spin-off. Can you say overkill? After their bonafide A List movie cameo, Lifetime turned to Lindsay Lohan for another sprinkling of stardust for the season premiere.

One never knows what's left on the cutting room floor when it comes to reality television but Lindsay seemed focused, serious... smart even. So much so that I started to feel bad for her.

If she's that together doesn't that mean she's fully cognizant of her own downfall? Her Mean Girls co-stars aren't exactly starring in Lifetime television movies these days.

<-- At least Lohan got some love from one of the designers.

Did you watch last night? Would you feel stunned joy to see Nicole Kidman on a TV screen talking directly to you? Or maybe you'd rather tell Lindsay Lohan you love her in person.

Leo, Ellen and Cillian

Is it just me or is it hard to picture these two acting together onscreen? What is it about Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page that give me that ole' oil and water feeling? They seem to be kindred spirits of drably dressed boredom in this photo so perhaps I'm wrong. Speculate with me in the comments...

via lots more photos here

The movie in question is Inception, due for a teaser trailer any second now, which is Christopher Nolan's sci-fi follow up to The Dark Knight. For all I know -- the plot is closely guarded -- they're playing brother and sister. Unlike James Cameron, who seemed spooked after Titanic, Nolan is just getting back to work. That's always the best move when you've just made a game changer. Get your follow up out of the way and bring your career back down to earth... even if you're still breathing rarefied air while touching ground.

Batman does not appear in the generically titled Inception but the cast is plum. Rising stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard (as DiCaprio's wife apparently) the enduring if never foregrounded Lukas Haas and Nolan/Batman holdovers Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy and Ken Watanabe. I'm glad to see Nolan sticking by Murphy in particular who we assumed, back in 2003 when he carried 28 Days Later with such magnetism, was going to be a much bigger star by now. At the very least, he's always entirely watchable.

Review: Inglourious Basterds

I understand the consensus buzz for Inglourious Basterds is muddled and noncommital. I blame two things: first, its muted Cannes reception (please note: some people are already changing their minds about it) and second, Eli Roth. What? He's fun to blame. Quentin has thankfully stayed behind the camera this time but he's unfortunately replaced himself with another director who should stay there. Roth's hostile-Hostel presence coupled with the only easy-to-describe part of the film (Jewish soldiers kill Nazis in World War II) assures that people will get the wrong idea about the movie. It's more than a lame exercize in sadism.

Not that Basterds isn't sadistic. Tarantino's films always are. But one of the most amusing and satisfying things about the writer/director's work is that though you can always predict each new movie's mix of elements: vivid performances, instantly memorable characters, long monologues and dexterous banter, Samuel L Jackson, juvenilia, foot fetishes and movie referencing; the way Tarantino arranges, twists and presents these predictable stock elements is always anything but. He's gifted (even if he still can't edit himself).

So, my brief review...

"You're Basterd People"

At first glance it might seem odd to channel Waiting For Guffman’s Corky St. Clair to title a post on Quentin Tarantino’s WW II film Inglourious Basterds, but a closer inspection excuses the odd allusion. Inglourious Basterds lurches toward the parodic on more than one occasion as it veers like a happy drunk from historical drama to espionage thriller to action gorefest to black comedy and back again. And Tarantino is never shy about cinematic referencing so why should we be when discussing his films? Brad Pitt plays the presumably illiterate Lt. Aldo Raine –hence the title, bound to drive spelling bee champs mad – who leads a group of mostly Jewish soldiers on a mission to kill and scalp “Natzis!” in occupied France late in World War II. But that synopsis, and even the understandable marketing of Pitt as the film’s star are somewhat misleading.

Brad Pitt in Cannes with two members of the terrific German cast:
Daniel Brühl (Goodbye Lenin) and Diane Kruger (Joyeux Noël) in Cannes

Like many of QT’s idiosyncratic efforts, this one is overstuffed with memorable characters and sidebar flourishes. The Basterds, as the multi-chapter plot shakes out, turn out to be the least interesting part of the long but never dull film.

Read the rest at Towleroad
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Maybe You Watched The Avatar Trailer?

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JA from MNPP here again, interjecting once more while Nat's making like a worker-bee doing the things a worker-bee does (i.e. work). I just thought y'all might wanna chat here about that Avatar trailer that everybody's buzzing about today, so if ya do, make with the comments. I took a slew of screen-grabs from it over here if you wanna see it in still form. But what do we think?



The reactions I'm hearing are all over the map, from let-down to ebullient. Yes, ebullient. Don't get to use that word often enough, ebullient. Anyway. You?
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Happy Birthday (And Where Are You?), Joan Allen

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JA fgrom MNPP here. The boyfriend and I went and saw Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons on Broadway in the play Impressionism last Fall. The show stunk something fierce, but Joan looked ridiculously fantastic - the costumes were to die for and were tailored to her like a glove. A slutty glove of wow-she's-hot!-ness. Click this link here to understand. Saucy minx! For a boy that worships at the altar of what Joan Allen's been selling for years now, it was bliss, watching her strut around like a sexy lady on-stage even if the show itself was lacking (did I mention it stunk? God it stunk).

But that was then, and now is now, and where the heck are you, Joan Allen? Today she turns 53 so a very happy one to her, so let's keep it low on the complaining, but man alive, lady, get out here! She and Irons did a Georgia O'Keeffe biopic called creatively enough Georgia O'Keeffe, but that's been sitting there on her IMDb page for ages and I've heard nothing about it. Nothing! I guess it's gonna air on Lifetime? Ack not worthy of her. There's also something called Good Sharma but.. well, that title makes me feel queasy so whatever. She's had such an odd run of roles these past few years! I get that it's tough for a broad to find good roles at her age, but she's effing Joan Allen! She should be fighting them off. Instead, Death Race.

Whatever. At least there are some credits coming up and maybe they'll be worthy of her. Maybe. That's a tall order. But I hope so. And I went looking just now and see that I've posted on her twice here at The Film Experience in the past! Wacky! I guess she's the actressexual obsession I bring over. Here those previous posts are:

Post #1 - WWJAD?
Post #2 - on the Georgia O'Keeffe movie last November

As for at my own blog, click here for my previously-posted five favorite performances of hers from her birthday two years ago. What's yours? And happy birthday again, Joanie!
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"Please make me a real boy?"

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"And always let your conscience be your guide."

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