Um, No.

To compare Lindsay Lohan to Liv Ullmann in Persona is the height of bullshit.

Our Darkening Film Screens

Roger Ebert on the literal darkening of American movie theaters due to 3-D.

I know Ebert hates 3-D with deep passion, which I more or less agree with even though I could see theoretical artistic advantages to the technology. But the fact that these projectors simply don't project 2-D light effectively is an enormous problem. No doubt the public won't care, or if they do, it'll be to demand more 3-D. Will art theaters soon become known for showing films at full light?

Civil War and Film

Kevin Levin is less than optimistic about the upcoming Ridley and Tony Scott film version of Gettysburg.

Will this movie really highlight what was a “visceral, terrifying, and deeply personal experience?”  Wasn’t Ted Turner’s Gettysburg an example of just such a movie or is the difference here that the special effects will set the Scott production apart?  I guess in the end I have trouble believing that any Civil War movie can strip away “the romanticized veneer of the Civil War” entirely.  Our memory of Gettysburg is wrapped up in all kinds of romantic memes from “Brother v. Brother” to “A Battle that Decided the Fate of a Nation.”  We don’t have a Civil War apart from our romantic notions that define its continued significance and meaning.

In a sense we have come a long way in our memory of the Civil War. We now center African-Americans in the experience. Historians almost all call slavery the primary reason for the war. Yet somehow this has not created space for new tales of the War to be told on screen. With the arguable exception of Glory, which still managed to tell a tale of heroic soldiers fighting for what they believed in, our Civil War films have not progressed too much in the last half century. Filmmakers are still as wary of offending Southerners as they were in 1926, when Buster Keaton switched the story of The General from a Union to a Confederate officer in order to appease southern sensibilities. The films aren't as openly racist as Birth of a Nation or even Shenandoah, but they tend to still tell tales of two armies fighting for their beliefs without judgment of their ideology. The message is the glory and valor of putting up a strong fight rather than treason in defense of slavery.

This version of Gettysburg is going to have 3 elements:

1. Gritty war scenes.
2. Manhood defined through war
3. Ideological vacuity

Can we not tell stories that move beyond 19th century battle reunions? I guess not, even when employing our most famous directors.

The Essence of Film

Roger Ebert, discussing Terence Malick's new film, gets at the essence of what distinguishes a great film from a bad one:

Many films diminish us. They cheapen us, masturbate our senses, hammer us with shabby thrills, diminish the value of life. Some few films evoke the wonderment of life's experience, and those I consider a form of prayer. Not prayer "to" anyone or anything, but prayer "about" everyone and everything. I believe prayer that makes requests is pointless. What will be, will be. But I value the kind of prayer when you stand at the edge of the sea, or beneath a tree, or smell a flower, or love someone, or do a good thing. Those prayers validate existence and snatch it away from meaningless routine.

This might seem esoteric, but the greatness of film lies not in its escapism, though escapism is entirely legitimate, but in its ability to absorb us in new universes. And this is regardless of genre: whether we are in the spaceship in Solaris, bowling with the Dude and Walter, in the dressing room in All About Eve, or wandering through the tropical forest between battles in Malick's own The Thin Red Line.

Best and Worst of Woody Allen

Jim Emerson thinks on Woody Allen and comes up with his 5 favorite and 5 worst Woody Allen films. It reminds me that I own Another Woman another viewing. I haven't seen a lot of Woody's recent work because it looks so grim, but here's my lists:

Best:

1. Annie Hall
2. Manhattan
3. Zelig
4. Husbands and Wives
5. Crimes and Misdemeanors

Outside of Zelig, that's a very standard list, but what can you do. Deconstructing Harry probably comes in 6th, which is much higher than most people seem to rate it.

Worst:
1. Shadows and Fog
2. Scoop
3. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

Actually, I'm going to stop there. There's not another movie of his that I've seen that I really dislike (though I'd be hard-pressed to call Love and Death good). But I have no doubt that the other 2 would come from his 2000s films. 

Historical Image of the Day

Still from the film, Them, 1954

Phoning It In

Anthony Hopkins is at least honest:

Mr. Hopkins said that, as an actor, “I phone it in a lot as I’m getting older,” but seeing the aura of his old mentor in Mr. Branagh stirred him to invest himself more fully in “Thor.” 

I mean, he really fooled me with his titanic performances in The Wolfman and Beowulf....

David Gordon Green

There was a time when I loved David Gordon Green. I thought George Washington was a fine, fine debut film that dealt with interracial friendships in a mature and complex way, largely by realizing that race isn't always a big deal anymore. All the Real Girls is one of my favorite films of the last decade. I love this. I wasn't a huge fan of Undertow, but I respected it.

And then Green ran out of stories to tell. I haven't seen Pineapple Express, but I heard it was alright, nothing more. Now we have the execrable-looking Your Highness. Roger Ebert lets him have it:

Now comes “Your Highness.” The movie is a perplexing collapse of judgment. Assume for the sake of argument that David thought the time had come for him to direct a farce. Fair enough. One with a severed cyclops head, an emasculated minotaur, damsels in distress, crowds of witless extras, castles, hydras and ... mechanical bird? OK, they come with the territory. Not so much the bird. But why this screenplay? What did they think would be funny? They're satirizing a genre that nobody goes to see when it's played straight. It's sad when good actors dress funny and go through material more suitable for a campfire skit on the closing night of summer camp.

Of course, this is hardly the first indie director to collapse once Hollywood comes calling. But does anyone really think Green has another masterpiece left in him? Or even a good movie? I hope I'm wrong.  But I'm extremely skeptical.

Meek's Cutoff

Kelly Reichardt's "Meek's Cutoff" looks very exciting. Interesting review at GreenCine.

Plus Reichardt is already the best Oregon-centered filmmaker in history I think.

Jean Harlow Month on TCM

Hot-a-palooza. Yowza!

Claire's Knee

Jonathan Pacheco has an excellent discussion of Eric Rohmer's masterpiece, Claire's Knee.

Immigration Documentaries

C.N. at The Color Line has compiled a three part series on the best immigration documentaries. A fine resourced for those of us who teach American history, as well as many other fields.

La Jetee

I'm not even going to begin claiming I'm the film reviewer that Daryl is. I love film as much as he does, but I don't write about it well.

That said, I cannot say strongly enough how completely blown away I was by Chris Marker's La Jetee. This 1962 short film (28 minutes) is probably the best science fiction film I've ever seen. Admittedly, this is not my favorite genre, but I can be awed by films that shy away from monsters and stupid special effects and think hard about presenting intelligent versions of a dystopian future. Marker's film, about a single individual in post-apocalyptic Paris, follows the story of a man used for time traveling experiments that discovers the woman he was in love with in the past. Shot entirely in still photography with narration with the exception of a single powerful scene, it's hard to imagine a film with greater emotional power.

La Jetee is available for streaming on Netflix, which is how I saw it. 

Moreover, La Jetee is a reminder of how much we filmgoers miss out on in a world without short films. Not every film needs to be 90 minutes, not to mention 135. Sometimes a story needs 30 minutes and no more. And that's great. The Oscar nominated shorts are the only shorts that receive any distribution, but like other Oscar nominees, there's little reason to believe that they are really the best in the genre.

Top 100 British Films

An interesting list as compiled by Time Out London. Some of the choices are pretty questionable--I'm not sure in what world "Nil By Mouth" is better than "Lawrence of Arabia." And "Nuts in May" is arguably Mike Leigh's worst movie. But I've always enjoyed British film quite a bit. Many of these films are almost unknown in America. See "It Always Rains on Sunday," which I managed to see in Lisbon but I don't think is available in the United States, or at least wasn't at the time. Sadly, I've seen surprisingly few of these films, suggesting how poorly British film is distributed in the U.S.

Maria Schneider, RIP

Passed at the age of 58.

Schneider's probably right to claim that Bertolucci and Brando took advantage of her during the filming of the bloated and tedious Last Tango in Paris. But give Schneider this, she was not only stunningly beautiful but a very brave actor.

Queen Bee

It seems to me that there is some cult market for xenophobic Korean films from the 80s exploiting the nation's fear of foreign English teachers.

I know I'd sit down with friends and some drinks and laugh my ass off at this.

Awesome

Turns out there is going to be a 300-style David and Goliath movie coming out. That out to be fantastic--combining the absurd masculinity of 300 with Christian ideology. Fantfreakingtastic!

Historical Image of the Day

Hollywood, 1928

National Film Registry

The National Film Registry named its new entrants yesterday. As usual, it's an interesting combination of popular favorites and unique or obscure films. It's a bit eye-rolling to see The Empire Strikes Back be named, but without it, a) no one would talk about the NFR and b) it would be harder to get Congressional funding. So I can live with it. Some really fascinating entries though:

I Am Joaquin (1969)
“I Am Joaquin” is a 20-minute short film based on an epic poem published by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales in 1967. Gonzales’ poem weaves together the long tangled roots of his Mexican, Spanish, Indian and American parentage and a past mythology of pre-Columbian cultures. The film is important to the history and culture of Chicanos in America, spotlighting the challenges they have endured because of discrimination. Luis Valdez, often described as the father of Chicano theater, produced and directed “I Am Joaquin” as a project of Teatro Campesino (the Farmworkers Theater), which he founded in 1965 to inform, encourage and entertain Chicano farm workers. Valdez later directed the Chicano-themed “Zoot Suit” in 1981, a retelling of the early 1940s Los Angeles race riots, and “La Bamba” in 1987.

Let There Be Light (1946)

Director John Huston directed three classic war documentaries for the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the period of 1943-46: “Report from the Aleutians,” “Battle of San Pietro” and “Let There Be Light.” “Let There Be Light” was blocked from public distribution by the War Department for 35 years because no effort was made during filming to disguise or mask the identities of combat veterans suffering from various forms of psychological trauma. The film provides important historical documentation of the efforts of psychiatric professionals during World War II to care for emotionally wounded veterans and prepare them to return to civilian life. “Let There Be Light” was filmed by cinematographer Stanley Cortez and its score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin.

I've actually seen Battle of San Pietro and it is an incredibly compelling view of a completely non-descript battle in the Italian campaign of 1943. 

Study of a River (1996)
Experimental filmmaker Peter Hutton is best known for his thoughtful and beautifully photographed ruminations on the co-existence of urban areas and natural waterways. His most renowned films focused on the Hudson River. “Study of a River” is a meditative examination of the winter cycle of the Hudson River over a two-year period, showing its environment, ships plying its waterways, ice floes, and the interaction of nature and civilization. Some critics have described Hutton’s work as reminiscent of the 19th century artist Thomas Cole and other painters of the Hudson River School.

I Love the Fresh Ideas Coming Out of Hollywood!!!!

Oh boy...

Miramax and the Weinstein Company already had an agreement to release new chapters in the “Scream” and “Spy Kids” movie series (watch for “Scream 4″ in April and “Spy Kids 4″ in August). The expanded partnership will include sequels to seemingly self-contained films like “Shakespeare in Love,” “Bad Santa” and “Rounders” – not to mention the possibility of follow-ups to “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Copland,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Swingers,” “Clerks,” “Shall We Dance,” and “The Amityville Horror.”

I am so freaking stoked for a sequel to Shakespeare in Love, I just cannot tell you......

Weinstein once deserved respect. No longer.