19 5 / 2013
Yesterday, I watched Moon. Aside from it being an incredible debut film featuring an array of adroit visual effects shots, it is a radiant showcase of Sam Rockwell’s versatility as an actor.
I submit the above clip as evidence of his stunning, hypnotic charm.
08 5 / 2013
State of Cinema: Steven Soderbergh from San Francisco Film Society on Vimeo.
Steven Soderbergh gave a great talk at the San Francisco Film Society where he discussed how movies are now made.
Makes a great companion piece with this New York Times article on “number crunchers” who are using data to guide Hollywood creative decision making.
Here’s this chilling bit from the article:
“It takes a lot of the risk out of what I do,” said Scott Steindorff, a producer who used Mr. Bruzzese to evaluate the script for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a hit 2011 crime drama. “Everyone is going to be doing this soon.” Mr. Steindorff added, “The only people who are resistant are the writers: ‘I’m making art, I can’t possibly do this.’ ”
And to round things out, here’s Danny Boyle lobbing similar complaints about the state of the art.
30 3 / 2013
Full Roar
Press Play VIDEO ESSAY - Pacino: Full Roar from Nelson Carvajal on Vimeo.
A joy to watch, and au courant taking into account Pacino’s role as Phil Spector, in David Mamet’s HBO bio-pic, Phil Spector.
As a sidenote, I really love these supercuts or cinema-mixtapes. They tend to be filled with such joy, obsession and energy. I playfully imagine the folks you make them to be a bit like asd;lkjasdf character in Boogie Nights.
Below are a few of the many “Losing Their Shit” videos.
Nick Cage
Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman Loses His Shit from Flavorwire on Vimeo.
Jack Nicholson
30 3 / 2013
TARANTINO FOOD POWER (by dangoodbaum)
Elvis Mitchell[wiki link] nailing it with an amazing Tarantino observation.
Mitchell has long been one of, if not my absolute favorite film critic since is his IFC show *Independant Focus.
He’s currently leading the LACMA Film Club in Los Angeles where he recently hosted “An Evening with David Fincher” 1, and continues to host one of the best Public Radio radio shows on KRCW The Treatment.
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and if anyone has any audio or video from the event feel free to send it my way. ↩
29 3 / 2013
I don’t think that writers or painters or filmmakers function because they have something they particularly want to say. They have something that they feel. And they like the art form: they like words, or the smell of paint, or celluloid and photographic images and working with actors. I don’t think that any genuine artist has ever been oriented by some didactic point of view, even if he thought he was.
Stanley Kubrick
More: Stanley Kubrick
Fantastic quote from cinema’s maestro. I couldn’t agree more, and to take apart the statement a little, let’s pay particular attention to the words “function” and “feel”.
The first, a Kubrickian term if ever there was one. The cinema of Stanley Kubrick seems partially obsessed with the invention of (narrative) systems and (cinematic) language in service of developing and creating a functional film.
Feel (and it’s close relative “feelings”) aren’t usually associated with Kubrick’s precise one-point perspective or his intense protagonists, but it’s a concept very much on the surface for anyone looking out for it.
Kubrick’s approach to projects stemmed from a bold curiosity, that then merged into exploration and experimentation, and usually ending in obsession. The feel of a film is what nurtured the overwhelming style, giving it legs of oak to stand upon.
23 3 / 2013
Biting Elbows - Motherfucker (music video)
A quick interview with the director at BigThink covers the obvious questions (budget, stunts, visual effects, etc) really well.
…it looks expensive…
Everyone asks me this. And I can’t divulge the budget, because we have a sponsor covering it. [The budget] is about two to three times less than what anybody would expect.
17 3 / 2013
The best documentary I’ve seen to date on what I believe is one the most talented filmmakers working today, Nicholas Winding Refn.
Below is part two, chronicling Refn’s departure from Denmark and his work as an autuer working in contemporary cinema.
15 3 / 2013
The Plea Of 7th Graders
A wonderfully sweet letter from a school librian to Francis Ford Coppola urging the director to make The Outsiders novel into a film.
Transcription below
(via the pitch perfect Letters of Note)
>Dear Mr. Copolla:
>
>I am writing to you on behalf of the students and faculty of Lone Star School. We hope you will take the time to consider our request.
>
>We are all so impressed with the book, THE OUTSIDERS by S. E. Hinton, that a petition has been circulated asking that it be made into a movie. We have chosen you to send it to. In hopes that you might also see the possibilities of the movie we have enclosed a copy of the book.
>
>Lone Star is a small school in Fresno County. We have a student body of 324 students. It is a kindergarten through eighth grade school. I feel our students are representative of the youth of America. Everyone who has read the book, regardless of ethnic or economical background, has enthusiastically endorsed this project.
>
>This plea comes from our seventh and eighth grade students.
>
>We feel certain that if you will read the book you will agree with us.
>
>Thank you for your time.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>
>(Signed)
>
>Jo Ellen Misakian
>(Mrs. John Misakian)
>Librarian Aide
