Film Articles & Interviews Thread

As much as I agree with it, parts of me thinks I could write a counter-piece THE SPY WHO LOVED ME IS ABSOLUTELY UNSOPHISTICATED & SCHIZOPHRENIC, PROVING I AM THE ONE WHO IS NORMAL

trevanian wrote:

As much as I agree with it, parts of me thinks I could write a counter-piece THE SPY WHO LOVED ME IS ABSOLUTELY UNSOPHISTICATED & SCHIZOPHRENIC, PROVING I AM THE ONE WHO IS NORMAL

It feels like a bunch of pieces of different movies stitched together, but it works for me.

Interview with Polanski, where Polanski states that CHINATOWN may be his greatest achievement.

Just found this site while looking up Tarkovsky. Looks like they have a tremendous amount of info here on all sorts of films.

http://www.leftfieldcinema.com/

The Devil's Work, Michael Newton's personal, but interesting, history of gothic films is at http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/26/gothic-films-bfi-devils-work

Newton's take on Hammer is not one I necessarily agree with, but it's undeniably well written: The early Hammer films offer a last gasp of British romanticism, the solid sets drenched in a soft brilliance of shadows, of greys, reds and blues; when these films stray into the far woods, it's always autumn there, never spring. The leaves fall, and the light shines golden and clear.

Ah, the lost glories of Technicolor...

An Evening With Sir Michael Caine - Royal Albert Hall - Wednesday 1st October 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/raph_ph/sets/72157648270768245/

Nice spread, as Carter said to Margaret.

Ambler that flicker URL you posted tells me it's private.

Please God don't let it be Caine's nude selfies.

Hmmm, works for me. It's only Caine and Quincy Jones reliving their yoof.

No Margaret alas...



Shit, I can see them remaking this with Cheryl Cole as Margaret.

She'll give you spyware, adware, malware and viruses, then she'll kill your brother.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-reveals-there-will-be-no-gratuitous-sex-scenes-9834872.html

The audience for this has got be 95% women, and since 100% of them have read the book, I have trouble understanding why full frontal nudity would somehow suddenly offend them. I wonder if Dornan simply didn't chicken out and the project was so desperate for an actor that late in the game that they acquiesced.

Other articles have stated that they've had to reshoot most of the "sex scenes" because where was no chemistry. This thing just has the look of a turkey written all over it. It seems like they're not making a movie for fans of the book; they've lost sight of their target audience; they made hasty decisions once Charlie Hunnam ditched the movie, and went with an actress whom, apparently, the fans think is terrible.

The success of 50 Shades of Domestic Bliss is a mystery to me. A lot of women like that sort of thing, but there's far better stuff out there. Ask Rave.

Thelma Schoonmaker interview. (My bold.)

Quote :

[With Goodfellas] we just kept ramping it up, faster, faster, faster, making it work with the music. It did become a major influence. And I’m afraid it lead to the trend of what I call ‘blender cutting’. That upsets me, and science tells us that you can’t register images that fast. Scorsese always says, ‘Whatever happened to the great shot?’ Like Kubrick in 2001, there are shots that last for nine minutes, and you can’t take your eyes off them – the content, the framing, the use of music. Or the beginning of Dr. Strangelove, the shot of the plane flying over Russia. Unbelievable. Marty says, ‘Why did they throw the shot out? What happened to that?’

http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1971

Erica Ambler wrote:

The success of 50 Shades of Domestic Bliss is a mystery to me. A lot of women like that sort of thing, but there's far better stuff out there. Ask Rave.

It started out as Twilight fan-fiction as well. I would argue that mainstream popular literature is at an all-time low from a creative standpoint.

Steven Soderbergh publishes some interesting articles/reviews on his website. Here's one he did for Scorsese's highly underrated AFTER HOURS (edited by Schoonmaker):
http://extension765.com/sdr/8-after-hours

I like the final bit of the article:

Quote :

And remember when actors didn’t have to be perfectly groomed or have capped teeth? I do. And I miss them. People used to look normal in movies. People used to look normal in life. Not anymore. But what’s normal? Am I defining natural as normal? Maybe. But lots of people are doing things to themselves now. I got braces as an adult to straighten my teeth, so what the fuck do I know?

Some recollections of 2001 to mark the bfi SF season.

Quote :

It's 46 years since 2001: A Space Odyssey took movie science-fiction to new levels of audacity and technical accomplishment.

Stanley Kubrick's classic remains the benchmark by which subsequent space epics have been judged. As 2001 is re-released in Britain, its American stars recall the thrill of imagining outer space - and beyond.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30252645

"Altman's 'The Long Goodbye' is popular again."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/06/movies/robert-altmans-the-long-goodbye-is-popular-again.html

In NYC, at least.

I'll be catching the MoMA screening next Friday. Can't wait. This has been a favorite of mine for years.

Interesting radio interview with William Friedkin from 2013:
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/the-treatment/william-friedkin-the-friedkin-connection

"Well, I might be able to help you with this piece of crap." -- Bernard Herrmann to Friedkin after screening THE EXORCIST

A good interview, but Bill Friedkin and the host not mentioning Don Ellis's name even once is pretty out of order.

I don't think the host really knew too much.

Neat article from BFI on the different types of color film:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-best-film-colour-systems

Some unexpectedly decent writing from Richard E. Grant. He's better on the page than on the screen. Here he takes a giant shit on Greta Scacchi aka Miss X:

Quote :

The penalty for being an aging actress seems especially loaded with cruelties.Currently accruing,with interest,upon the head of [Miss X].Who is now facing a crisis of beauty. For herein has resided the source of all her worldly powers since she stepped onto our screens FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.Now 36, having coasted through twenty lead roles in films of variable quality,more often than not,notable for how many times she slung off her bra,she now faces the terrors of playing THE MUM.Of a spectacularly gorgeous 20 year old.Upon whose poised young head,our director lavishes all his waking attention. To the point where,having rehearsed [her] in the most intimate one-to-one mode this side of actually licking her all over,announces ‘Right,let’s go for a take! At which point she yodels up with her plea, ‘What about me?’.His eyes momentarily flicker recognition that this other person is actually breathing,looks quizzical,decides “No,you are fine’turns on his heels and moseys to the monitor. Not that she has metamorphosed into an old boiler overnight. BUT.Her powerbase,if you can call it that,was her beauty.The reliable eyelid flutter and dulcet tones that commandeered men,rooms,service,cash, contracts, attention,with the ease and relish that a repulsive,height impaired fatfuck gets from breaking wind violently and daring anyone to sneer...Now this may sound glee-filled and ‘serves you right’ coming from me,but,for once,I am filling up somewhere with the faintest trickle of pity.Because,this vulnerability is the human stuff that joins us all.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/26/richard-e-grant-steve-martin-friend-fax-exchange

I came across this article today while looking up some information on the Harris/Katz restoration of VERTIGO. According to this article, if you haven't seen the film on the '84 laserdisc, then you haven't seen the full movie.

http://brightlightsfilm.com/the-scandal-of-vertigo-its-not-what-you-think/#.VggEM7Q0PzI

Funny that today, with all of the technology for film restoration and presentation, Universal can't seem to get it right.

While I'm not a big fan of Tomb Raider, or Alicia Vikander, I wonder if this bit of casting will encourage her boyfriend to take on Bond. They're about the same level in terms of stardom, and she's taking on a franchise character.

http://nerdist.com/alicia-vikander-is-your-new-lara-croft/

"I'd Vikand'er." --Tubes

Not necessarily a good read, but I'm sure lachesis will dig it. 

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/martin-scorsese-set-to-produce-gritty-joker-origin-story-20170823-gy2vxb.html