Homepage Archive: May-August 2007

by Brian Eggert

August 27th, 2007: Put Ryan Reynolds in a costume already!

No stretch of the imagination could grant Ryan Reynolds a respectable filmography. From Van Wilder to Smokin’ Aces, his movies are generally a few script drafts away from being enjoyable. So why do I so desperately want to see this guy to succeed, specifically in a comic book flick? Maybe I’m just sick and tired of reading and hearing rumors that Reynolds is attached to this, that, or the other thing.

For the last couple years, Reynolds was set to star in a Flash film, originally with writer-director David Goyer behind the camera. If you’re unfamiliar with Flash, he’s a DC Comics character whose speed landed him a position on the Justice League of America.  Notably fast, quit-witted, and incredibly cocky, Flash is sort of like every one of Reynolds’ roles, except, you know, super. Perhaps you remember the television series “The Flash” from 1990—the one where Flash’s suit looked like it was made from a Vellux blanket?

Goyer eventually left Flash and was replaced with Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy. So, Flash the movie went from being written and directed by the writer of Batman Begins, to being helmed by the mastermind behind The Pink Pantherremake? Reports indicate that Goyer wanted a dark take on the character, but Warner Bros. wants a comedy-centered movie of Flash, akin to Fantastic Four. Bad, bad idea.

Luckily, talk of a Flash movie has subsided recently and has been replaced with buzz about a possible Justice League of America movie, reigned by Mad Max director George Miller. But getting a movie with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, and the rest of the JLA seems insane, and would likely require an astronomical, infeasible budget. Not to mention that Christian Bale, without a doubt the best filmic Batman, has refused to do a JLA movie. With that in consideration, the latest rumor is that JLA will be computer-animated, or possibly just feature motion-capture technology to create the film's heroes—something like The Polar Express, except less creepy.

Reynolds says “‘The Flash’ isn’t dead at all. There’s talk of it being a JLA movie, the Justice League having them all together. And then there’s other talk of doing a ‘Flash’ movie with [director] Shawn Levy,” Reynolds tells MTV. “I don’t really know how much I’m allowed to talk about that stuff. But I’m sure they’ll figure out something. It’s no secret that they have a JLA script and it’s a project that’s in development – the contents of which, who knows. We’ll see. I’d love to see a full on Justice League movie done, the scope of which is just enormous. I think it’s something they can pull off.”

And just when you thought a Flash or JLA movie might happen, Reynolds recently began talking about another possible comic book movie role. This time, it's the mercenary Deadpool, yet another agile, red-costumed, cocky character, this one born from the X-Men universe. "It’s a very tricky character to do,” says Reynolds. “It’s hard R. It’s ambiguous whether he’s good or bad. He’s a mercenary. This is all to say nothing of the fact that his face is made entirely of scar tissue... These are huge issues... Hopefully, there’ll be [somebody] who has the balls to go there and make a really authentic, decent ‘Deadpool’ movie.”

Hollywood, wherever you decide to place Reynolds, I beg of you, please do it soon, so we can stop with the seemingly constant stream of speculation, and what ifs, and blah-blah-blah. Anything to avoid hearing more rumors about what Ryan Reynolds would like to do. The actor has potential, so give him something besides Blade: Trinity or Waiting to prove himself in.

So, until I see a picture of Reynolds in Flash or Deadpool garb on a movie poster, you’ll find me reading The Dark Knight and Iron Man news.  

 

August 16th, 2007: Criterion announces November line-up

The Criterion Collection has really made my November, as they’re releasing films from my two all-time favorite directors: Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa. This announcement puts anticipation to rest over long-confirmed titles, ones verified in the Criterion Newsletter, on their On Five blog, or from various other sources. The wait has been worth it. Not only do the titles themselves speak volumes, but look at that artwork. Hot damn! And even though this is one of Criterion’s best release months of 2007, chances are that after reading this most of you will go on to wondering what December’s releases will be. It never ends, does it?


Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)

This inconceivably-long 941-minute 1980 film by German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder is more an artfully-made miniseries than a movie. (Putting together a 15-hour film boggles my mind!) I’ve never seen this epic, but of course have heard great things. Based on Alfred Doblin’s novel of the same name, the story was originally shown in theater segments, where patrons would have to return each night to catch another two episodes. Finally available on DVD in the U.S., this massive set includes seven discs. In addition to the more than 15-hour long movie, Criterion’s set also offers a couple full-length documentaries, and the 90-minute film version of Doblin’s book, made in 1931 by director Phil Jutzi. I can’t wait to see this one come November 13th. SRP: $124.95


The Lady Vanishes (1938)

In this, Alfred Hitchcock’s last wholly British production before coming stateside to work for David O. Selznick, he filmed what he considered his own favorite of his Brit pictures. The Lady Vanishesfollows a young woman (Margaret Lockwood) traveling by train, caught up in a spy yarn when the old woman she was lunching with disappears. She enlists the help of another passenger (the incomparable Michael Redgrave) to find her somewhere on the train. This is one of my favorite Hitchcock films, as its light character fills the screen with Hitch’s signature pangs of suspense and humor. It’s wonderful entertainment. Criterion released the film on DVD back in 1998; in fact, it was their third DVD release. This new 2-disc special edition sports superior artwork and an improved digital transfer. Look for it on November, 20th. SRP: $39.95


Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)

With Ingmar Bergman’s recent death still looming in the hearts of filmlovers everywhere, its no wonder Criterion has seen fit to quench a much-needed Bergman fix. Releasing on November 20th, Bergman’s 1953 film Sawdust and Tinseluses the director’s early-career narrative tropes to create a romantic tragedy. Meshing carnival imagery with the timeless plights of love, Bergman sets his story around a circus, with actors Åke Grönberg and Harriet Andersson playing a battling circus manager and his girlfriend. Their relationship is hyperbolized by the setting, making it a metaphor for love and life (and eventually sex and death) in the way only Bergman can. Included on the disc is a video introduction by Bergman himself, filmed in 2003. SRP: $39.95


Drunken Angel (1948)

Akira Kurosawa is perhaps the director for whom I have the most respect. Like Hitchcock, he brings artistry to entertainment. His films are for the masses, and yet please art film critics for their visual perfection and subtextual content. In Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi) Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura prove why they were two of Japan’s finest actors. Mifune plays a tuberculosis-ridden gangster whose doctor (Shimura) is an alcoholic; the two become friends in this noirish tale that ends like a true noir should. The two actors appeared in almost 20 films together, with Shimura often playing the father-figure to Mifune’s character; in Akira Kurosawa movies alone, we see this in Seven Samurai and Stray Dog, among others. This will be the fifteenth (!) Kurosawa film released by Criterion; here’s hoping they get to his entire filmography in the years to come. Drunken Angel hits stores November 27th in a single-disc edition. SRP: $39.95

See the full details on these and other Criterion releases here

 

July 30th, 2007: Ingmar Bergman: 1918-2007

Swedish filmmaker and figurehead of artistic cinema, Ingmar Berman, died Monday, July 30th at the age of 89. Having passed in his home in Fårö, Sweden, the cause of his death is yet unknown, though one can assume it was simply old age.

Bergman’s career spans 63 years, offering some of the best cinema viewers and critics will ever see. His pensive films gained attention in the 1950s beginning with The Seventh Seal, the classic tale where a knight of the plague-ridden Middle Ages plays chess with Death while considering his own mortality and belief in God. Bergman’s films often dealt with existential concerns of faith, love, death, religion, family, and sex.  

The son of devoutly Lutheran minister, Bergman had religion thrust upon him at an early age. He lost his faith early on in life, but the question of religion and existence of God followed him in a number of films.

In his partly autobiographical film Fanny and Alexander, a young boy from a bourgeois family finds himself under the care of a new father, a bishop; Bergman clearly alludes, and exaggerates, the torture of religion forced onto a nonbeliever. And yet, Berman was always careful to suggest the possibility of something more, something ethereal or ghostly, about life.

Bergman’s films have a mood to them, a feeling that one cannot deny no matter if we understand his discussion or not. He once claimed that film was like a “mistress”, an escapade outside of the traditional. When watching a Bergman picture, we see where this attitude originates, as his work is like poetry woven with pictures, silence, and brooding dialogue—his films unlike anything we have ever seen, or would expect from a movie.

Bergman often said the only film he liked of his was Winter Light, which he considered to be a perfect film. It is rare for a filmmaker to call his or her own work “perfect”, but watching that picture, or any number of his pronounced masterpieces, one finds it difficult to argue otherwise.

Many of Berman’s best films were made with frequent collaborators, namely cinematographer Sven Nykvist (who won Oscars for his work on Bergman’s Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander), and performers Max Von Sydow, Liv Ullman, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson, and Erland Josephson. Nykvist was famed for his beautiful black and white photography, but worked gloriously with color as well. Nykvist died in 2006.

Beginning with Smiles of a Summer Night, a romantic comedy in the spirit of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bergman’s career earned him a string of primarily artistic successes, making his name synonymous with Swedish film. His greatest masterpieces include Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, Scenes from a Marriage, Persona, and Through a Glass Darkly. He earned a number of Academy Award nominations, including numerous nods for Best Direction, Best Writing, and Best Picture. In 1971, Berman was given the Academy’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, an honor he shares with Alfred Hithcock, Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg, and William Wyler.

Awards aside, any critic or film historian will tell you Bergman was one of the best filmmakers in history.
Bergman’s last film was 2004’s Saraband, a sequel to his 1973 picture Scenes from a Marriage. Even though Berman was 85 during filming, his control over his work did not falter in the least. He retired from directing after its release.

Like Akira Kurosawa or Alfred Hitchcock, Bergman was one of the most important auteurs in filmmaking history. His passing marks a moment in film history where yesterday’s masters have truly all faded away.

He will be missed.

 

July 20th, 2007: Will it ever end, Criterion?

Sometimes I wish The Criterion Collection would take a vacation and for one month simply not release anything, or at least anything good, giving my wallet a much-needed breather. Even if they’re distributing movies I’ve never seen and don’t plan on buying outright, chances are I’ll rent them and eventually buy them. And they’re expensive DVDs too, but of course worth every last penny in retrospect. In a way, Criterion has been a better film school than college ever was. With Criterion, at least there’s no need to endure a crazy professor’s supposition that we all inherently want to eat poop. I have learned, in my own film research, that we actually do not all want to eat poop. Go figure.

I reflect on Criterion this way because they’ve announced their October titles. And, frankly, they’re another group of important, surprising, and in some cases unexpected titles.

Mala Noche (1985)

First up is Gus Van Sant’s 1985 debut directorial effort Mala Noche. Based on Walt Curtis’s novel that contains shades of autobiographical reference, it’s a small black and white independent film shot in Oregon. Centering on a flaneur’s “adventures” through slummy parts of the city, Van Sant explores homosexual obsession. Curtis (played by Tim Streeter) becomes infatuated with a young Mexican man, pursues him, regardless if his desire doesn’t speak English and is a little off-put by Curtis’ presence. Van Sant explored similar one-way homosexual passion in My Own Private Idaho (another Criterion set). This single-disc edition hits stores on October 9th.

Under the Volcano (1984)

Under the Volcano is legendary director John Huston’s adaptation of Malcolm Lowry's "unadaptable" novel of the same name. Albert Finney stars, in an Oscar-nominated performance, as a British consul in Mexico during WWII, wallowing in alcohol and melancholy. Houston himself was in the twilight of his career when making this film, adding late additions to his already brilliant filmography. His style may have been more cynical in his old age when compared to his earlier films like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or The African Queen, but Houston was a craftsman no matter the tone. Under the Volcano is Houston’s first appearance in the Criterion Collection. Rumors of Criterion releasing Huston’s last film The Dead have surfaced recently; here’s hoping he makes frequent new appearances in the collection. Expect this 2-disc edition on Oct 23rd.


Breathless (1959)

I’ve always preferred Francois Truffaut and Louis Malle’s approach to French New Wave. Jean-Luc Godard’s self-absorbed style has been too emotionally detached for me to swallow—Godard is more concerned with concept than any other filmic element. But I recognize why Criterion’s release of Godard’s most popular film Breathless is an important moment for them. It’s been highly requested for years by Criterion fans, and it’s often considered one of the most important New Wave films ever made. As Criterion’s summary states, “There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless.” That said, however good the movies deriving from this work are, the movie itself just isn’t my cup of tea. For those Godard fans out there, the 2-disc edition will be available Oct 23rd.


Days of Heaven (1978)

Finally, Criterion will release Terrence Malick’s 1978 film Days of Heaven, also on Oct 23rd. Malick offers a unique vision artistically. Malick is more concerned with poetry and philosophy than a flowing narrative; he's often noted for his use of stunning visuals to accompany his moody cinema. Just before WWI hits, steel mill workers in Chicago are forced to travel to Texas for harvest work to escape capture for manslaughter. Filled with stirring emotions, sweeping landscapes, and an appropriately pensive score, this is a beautiful film. After making it Malick seemingly disappeared from filmmaking, taking a twenty year hiatus for reasons unexplained. He finally returned to movies in 1998 with The Thin Red Line. Criterion’s single disc edition will surely surpass Paramount’s previous disc. Check it out come Oct 23rd.

For more information about these titles, and all things Criterion, visit their site HERE

 

July 9th, 2007: Wild about Harry (Potter that is)

What makes great fantasy is not special effects or big name actors; we learned that painful lesson after the insulting failure Eragon—a star-studded flop festering with poor computer effects. It doesn’t matter how well CGI convinces us of a particular world, if creatures are visualized with flawless computer animation or not. Audiences eat-up narratively flat pictures like The Chronicles of Narnia because the special effects entertain. Such second-rate movies lack vision and story: everything that makes great fantasy. Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling have defined such excellence by first outlining the world, and then afterward focusing on characters within.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which opens in theaters today, is a prime example of top-drawer fantasy, as its story has an already concrete following in literary form. Read the movie review HERE.

Harry Potter, like The Lord of the Rings, began as a wildly popular series of books. Our world, in comparison to the wizard one Rowling has invented, seems dull and silly to the dignity of magic folk. Just as hobbits seem somehow more sophisticated than our society could ever be. Characters cast spells, concoct potions, change into animals, time travel, ride hippogriffs, fight dragons, and eat vomit-flavored jelly beans—all typical magic stuff, all stemming from Rowling’s appealing mythology.

Rowling completed her first Harry Potter manuscript back in 1995; immediately the series picked up, spawning book after book over the last twelve years. Upon its inception, she claims she always knew the ending of this massively popular series, envisioning it all in a flash, details aside. She wanted each book to focus on a year of development at Hogwarts, growth and growing doom. Her characters are diverse, human (even though sometimes they are unmistakably not human), quirky, and heroic. They are also vulnerable, like her target readers, making the kid in us sympathetic to Harry Potter’s wizardized ripening into maturity.

How could she have known it would become so popular, or so criticized by overly religious enthusiasts claiming it was satanic? Nevertheless, children seemed immediately linked to the books, but as Rowling’s talent grew with each coming story, the stories grew darker and more complex. Ultimately, she was writing a coming-of-age story for children around the world, to read as they grew into young adults, and for grown-ups in touch with their inner child.

Now, with the seventh and final book approaching, the fifth in a string of blockbuster film adaptations will again dazzle crowds. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is perhaps the darkest, most atypically un-Potter of Rowling’s book-to-film adaptations. I thought it was darn good.

In honor of the new film, you can now read reviews for all five Harry Potter films on this site. I must say, revisiting them recently to complete the reviews was a treat; I always underestimate how much I enjoy them. It really is one of the best franchises around...

Click on the poster below for the corresponding review:

 

June 19th, 2007: Criterion's September Slate Announced

Just announced from The Criterion Collection are five new DVD releases, all underlining Criterion's especially eclectic year thus far. Past years have proven that Criterion often focuses on a particular type or nationality of film within a given year. In 2005, Japanese and French film dominated their releases each month with titles like Harakiri and Le samouraï. Last year was more recent independent film such as Kicking and Screaming and re-releases of discs already in their catalog—their anamorphic widescreen disc for Brazil and 3-disc special edition of Seven Samurai were two of my favorite releases from 2006.

2007 seems harder to pin-down, with titles birthed from every genre. For fans of the company, this year has been one of Criterion's best. Titles rumored for upwards of five years on the Criterion Forum, such as The Milky Way, Berlin Alenxanderplatz, and Breathless are finally getting their due. Furthermore, an apparent new deal with both MGM and Paramount has allowed happy surprises like next month's Ace in the Hole and August's House of Games. No shocker then that September maintains the trend of surprises and long-anticipated special editions.  

First up is a pair of Jim Jarmusch films, Night on Earth (1991) and Stranger than Paradise (1984).
Pioneer of American Independent cinema, Jarmusch's more popular films include the wonderfully post-modern Dead Man, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, and Criterion’s own Down by Law. Jarmusch makes often humorous and slow-moving pictures capable of entertaining even those with tastes outside of independent film. Due on September 4th, both releases feature restored high-definition digital transfers, approved by the director himself. Included on the Stranger than Paradise extras disc is Jarmusch’s debut Permanent Vacation (1980), a full-length movie curiously incorporated as one of the discs bonuses.

Criterion’s cover art for Martha Graham: Dance on Film is not yet available, and admittedly, I haven’t yet seen this documentary. It contains three performances: Dancer's World (1957), Appalachian Spring (1959), and Night Journey (1960), all with dancer and choreographer Graham. Any fan of dance or manipulation of human body for the purposes of art should be pleased. Expect this 2-disc edition on September 18th.

Also due September 18th, legendary silent filmmaker G.W. Pabst will have his early sound film The Threepenny Opera (1931) released. Viewers follow flâneur Mack the Knife through the seedy underworld of Victorian London as he chases women and pursues his next score (Kurt Weill’s music is the true star, however). This 2-disc edition includes both the German and French-language versions. For more Pabst, check out Criterion’s now-available release of Pandora’s Box.

Sci-fi on DVD just took off to the proverbial moon, or Mars rather… If you’re a fan of 1950s and 1960s science fiction classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still and Planet of the Apes, in the vein of those entertaining and well-crafted pictures comes Byron Haskins’ Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). Director of genre staples like War of the Worlds, and a special effects man before that, Haskins conceived this sci-fi-infused version of Defoe’s story with beautiful Mars scenery shot in Death Valley. With a heavy cult following, this minimalist-yet-extravagant adventure comes on September 18th courtesy of the aforementioned Criterion/Paramount loan-out deal.

For more information on the special features, or on these and other current and upcoming Criterion Collection releases, click HERE.  

 

June 18th, 2007: Where have all the cowboys gone?

Every summer, like clockwork, my hunger for cinema’s best turns toward the Western genre. Certain films, I find, play best during certain seasons. I couldn’t imagine watching Jaws any other time than around July 4th; Die Hard around Christmas; Halloween around Halloween. Given the dusty and dry climate of most Westerns, current high summer temperatures inspire indoor air-conditioned Western viewing. Luckily there have been recent DVD releases such as Warner’s new Ultimate Edition of Hawks’ Rio Bravo, MGM’s boxed set ‘The Sergio Leone Anthology’, and HBO’s “Deadwood” Season 3 to suit such tastes.

Unfortunately, the conspicuous absence of Westerns released into theaters the last two decades hurts. Kevin Costner directed Open Range in 2003 and Sam Raimi made the entertaining duellist yarn The Quick and Dead in 1995, otherwise Clint Eastwood’s Best Picture Oscar winner Unforgiven from 1992 was the last great Western. In 2004, HBO made a valiant effort to reignite the genre’s popularity with the excellent series “Deadwood.” Sadly, it was cancelled after its third season.

From 1903’s The Great Train Robbery to 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West, the genre was as popular as a comedy or war picture. In the 1960s alone, Western tropes were broken and reinvented by auteurs like Leone and Sam Peckinpah, producing some of the best Westerns… scratch that, some of the best movies ever made. So why, in the subsequent thirty years, has the genre all but disappeared? Why has such a notably influential and exclusively American genre rolled away like so much tumbleweed? Is it because as Americans we’ve lost some sense of our own identity? Is it because the Western is about settling the unknown, and aside from space, there is no more unknown (which is why science fiction stories are often now considered Westerns)?

Just as all hope was lost for the genre, this weekend two movie trailers debuted on the web, both for new Western films due out fall of 2007.

The first is for James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma, a remake of Delmer Davies’ 1957 movie of the same name, which starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. Mangold, director of Walk the Line and Identity, has played with numerous genres; now his touch for Westerns will be tested when his remake hits theaters come October 5th. Starring Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, and Peter Fonda, the film’s trailer suggests Mangold has embraced classic Western storytelling—something absent from Hollywood’s more recent Old West productions. The story follows a captured criminal (Crowe) as he’s transported to catch a 3:10 train by a group of authorities and a motive-curious rancher (Bale). Alas, the criminal’s gang makes the trip difficult to entertaining lengths. Check out the trailer HERE at Yahoo! Movies.

On the other, less traditional side, P.T. Anderson’ filmic adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!, entitled There Will be Blood, doesn’t look to be the shoot-‘em-up-type of Western, rather of the dramatic, Giant sort. With Daniel Day-Lewis starring, the film’s trailer has a creepy tone, centering on a prospector’s desire to strike oil to further his own narcissism. Coming from Anderson, whose pictures Boogie Nights and Hard Eight  never fail to impress, the film’s December 25th release couldn’t come fast enough. Watch the trailer HERE courtesy of an Anderson fansite.

I keep hoping something new and superb will arise from the Western, making the genre relevant once again. Here’s hoping these two potentially great movies send a signal to Hollywood, announcing that this seemingly dead genre has in fact a welcomed place in modern cinema. With directors like Mangold and Anderson behind these pictures, the likelihood of their success, either artistic or commercial or both, is damn near-guaranteed…

 

June 5th, 2007: The Definitives: now and future entries

A few titles have been sitting in the “Coming Soon” section of The Definitives page for months now. Those of you anticipating my essays on Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ and Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Sanjuro might have to wait a while. If you want to file a complaint, email The Criterion Collection.

Every time I think I’ll sit down and start work on my ‘Vertigo’ essay, Criterion releases another film on DVD that rekindles my love for an old favorite or inspires my affection for a new one. In the former category, being reminded of how much I enjoyed Melville’s Army of Shadows and Dassin’s Brute Force—that I should have anticipated. Nothing could have prepared me, however, for Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff.

I’ve seen but a handful of Mizoguchi films. Available to your everyday consumer are only Sansho the Bailiff and another Criterion release, Ugetsu. The latter is a brilliant meditation on providence and ghosts set in feudal Japan, and was the first Criterion-Mizoguchi DVD release. Rumors of Criterion’s Eclipse line releasing a boxed set of the director’s work sometime in the future have recently been confirmed. (Pick up Sansho the Bailiff or Ugetsu at your favorite online retailer for an SRP of $39.95 (usually discounted to $25.99).)

If you’re familiar with Japanese cinema, Mizoguchi will appear wholeheartedly Japanese, in that American motifs are not as prevalent in his work, as opposed to in Kurosawa or Kobayashi. If you’re not familiar with Japanese cinema, you have no idea who or what I am talking about, but trust me, Mizoguchi’s work is brilliant. I was so taken with Sansho the Bailiff, a movie I had never seen prior to my recent viewing on DVD, that I felt I must attempt to expose as many people as possible to this beautiful, sad motion picture. It’s an incredibly moving experience.

As for The Definitives, I’ve been tossing around whether or not to do The Third Mannext. It is, after all, in my top 10 favorite films of all time. In all honesty, though, I’m starting to feel like a Criterion whore, given Criterion’s Special Edition release of The Third Man in May. Perhaps I should hold off… Then again, there’s nothing to feel “guilty” about, since Criterion releases some of the best movies ever made. My two personal favorite films, Brazil and Seven Samurai, are both 3-disc Criterion sets.

What to do. What to do.

As for now, other possibilities include Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Manchurian Candidate(1967), Alien (1979), The Thing (1982), To Be or Not to Be(1942), North by Northwest (1959), Paths of Glory (1957), White Heat (1949), and many others. If you have suggestions, feel free to email me.

Until the next entry into The Definitives, click HERE to check out my new essay on Sansho the Bailiff.

 

May 20th, 2007: A French classic enters The Definitives

If you’re unfamiliar with French cinema, the name Jean-Pierre Melville means nothing to you. But I can guarantee, whether you know it or not, you’ve seen his influence in the films of Quentin Tarantino, John Woo, and other contemporary filmmakers. None match the original talent though, as he’s the director of several of my all-time favorite films—including Bob le flambeur (1956) and Le Cercle rouge (1970).

In honor of The Criterion Collection’s new DVD release for Melville’s Army of Shadows, as well as my own adoration for the director’s filmography, the film has been added into The Definitives.

Melville’s picture is a stylistic treat—a sad and emotionally draining film about the French Resistance. Its palate is blue-muted, paralleling the tone, helping to place the viewer into an operational melancholy. Like most of Melville’s pictures, the visual aspects of the production are labored over to a great extent, but only insomuch to minimalize idealized depictions. Meticulous details become important, and while brooding over them we realize Melville has made us feel something we’d never expect from such an explicit concentration on detail.

With a focus on thematic elements and the visual and emotional composition of Melville’s work, my essay looks at Army of Shadows as a gangster film about the French Resistance state-of-mind.

If you have any interest in WWII history, French history or film, or simply just great filmmaking, Melville’s film will do you wonders.

The DVD is currently available for a suggest retail price of $39.95, but you can purchase Army of Shadows for a reasonable $25.97 HERE. As usual, expect only the best from Criterion. Below are the DVD’s extras:

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

> New high-definition digital transfer of the 2004 restoration, supervised by director of photography Pierre Lhomme
> Optional Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 soundtrack
> Audio commentary by film historian Ginette Vincendeau
> New interviews with Lhomme and editor Françoise Bonnot
> Archival video excerpts, including on-set footage and interviews with Melville, cast members, writer Joseph Kessel, and real-life Resistance fighters
> Jean-Pierre Melville et "L'Armée des ombres" (2006), a short program on the director and his film
> Le journal de la Résistance (1944), a rare short documentary shot on the front lines of the final days of German-occupied France
> Film restoration demonstration by Lhomme
> New and improved English subtitle translation
> PLUS: A booklet featuring critic Amy Taubin, historian Robert Paxton, and excerpts from Rui Nogueira’s Melville on Melville

Click HERE to read The Definitives: Army of Shadows (1968)

 

May 16th, 2007: David Mamet joins Criterion in August

Screenwriter, director, and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet will have his brilliant 1987 directorial debut House of Games released on DVD come August 21st by The Criterion Collection (also slated for August are Carlos Saura's Cria cuervos and Luis Buñuel’s The Milky Way). Supplementary material is as follows:

DIRECTOR-APPROVED FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Juan Ruiz Anchia
• Audio commentary by director David Mamet and consultant and actor Ricky Jay
• New video interviews with actors Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna
• David Mamet on "House of Games," a short documentary shot on location during the film's preparation and production
• Storyboard detail from the deleted scene "The Tap"
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and excerpts from Mamet’s introduction to the published screenplay

A frequenter of the official Criterion Collection message boards, I’m always on the lookout for potential future Criterion releases. There have been rumors of landmarks like Kurosawa’s Drunken Angel, Kobayashi’s The Human Condition Trilogy, even Lubitsch’s The Smiling Lieutenant, all due sometime in 2007. I confess I haven’t heard a thing about any Mamet film getting the Criterion treatment. But with this news I am overjoyed, and if you’re a Mamet fan, chances are you’re overjoyed as well. If you’re unfamiliar with David Mamet’s work, shame on you…

Glengarry Glen Ross was the first time I was exposed to Mamet’s writing style: a staccato rhythm only the best actors can deliver. In that film, the stellar cast of Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, and Alec Baldwin (who plays one of the best cameo roles ever put to film) handles Mamet’s dialogue like a dream. It’s been one of my favorite movies ever since. Mamet creates action out of words. Where special effects are normally inserted, he instead uses half-sentences and broken thoughts, organized so that they might seem unnatural in any other world but his own.

After discovering other Mamet pictures such as The Spanish Prisoner, Heist, Things Change, State and Main, Spartan, and Homicide (A little help, Criterion?), the last of his films I found was House of Games. By this time I should have been well-attuned to Mamet's frequent cons; I was anything but, as the writer has a way of catching his audience off guard. Unsure of where the film was going, I was Mamet’s filmic victim, being beaten into complete submission by his words as they formed a solid character study beyond his usual twists and turns.

House of Games is the benchmark film of one of contemporary cinema’s best writer/directors, and come August, it will be what looks like a superb DVD.
For more info, please see Criterion's webpage for the film, HERE. PS:
Mamet's next film, entitled Redbelt, is due in 2008. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and frequent Mamet collaborators Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pidgeon, in a story about underground martial arts fighting. If there's anyone who can elevate such material, it's Mamet.

 

May 1st, 2007: Bullseye: The Adventures of Robin Hood

Representing months worth of research, newly added into The Definitives comes my article on the 1938 Warner Bros. costume epic The Adventures of Robin Hood,starring the all-time greatest swashbuckler Errol Flynn. This beautifully conceived picture stands as a timeless testament to flawless storytelling from the Golden Age of cinema. In the article, you’ll read numerous talent biographies, the technical history and artistic application of three-strip Technicolor, and a detailed production history, complete with anecdotal stories from the set and the lives of those involved in making this picture.  

Initially, I set out to write about the life of Errol Flynn, using the film as a backdrop. Having read several books on the star in the past few years, he’s become a favorite actor of mine, partly because his offscreen life was frequently more interesting than his onscreen roles. After reading even more about Flynn in preparation for this article, I found it was impossible not to include the stories of people like Olivia de Havilland and Michael Curtiz, as their relationships, good or bad, were interweaved with Flynn’s though a number of films including Captain Blood and The Charge of the Light Brigade. 

Given that The Adventures of Robin Hood is the first financial and artistic live-action success using three-strip Technicolor, I thought it important to include a description of the procedure and its development. While doing research on the subject, I realized that a Laymon’s terms explanation was hard to find, and that most people, films buffs or otherwise, couldn’t really explain what the process involved. Technical book often rely on heavy terminology, which admittedly left my head spinning. I’m happy to say I’ve incorporated a brief description of three-strip Technicolor—easy-to-understand for anyone. It may be light on technical lingo, but that’s the point, since I wanted anybody to be able to read and understand the basic industrial characteristics. 

I hope that after you read the essay, even if you’ve seen the film, you take the time to watch (or revisit) The Adventures of Robin Hood either on DVD or television (TCM frequently airs the film uncut and commercial free). Available from Warner Home Video is an incredible 2-disc DVD, complete with several documentaries, short films, “Looney Tune” cartoons, and more. The digital transfer on the disc is peak, reminding us how well preserved Technicolor films are over later color processing. You can pick up the DVD for relatively cheap at Amazon.com or DVDplanet.com.

There’s so much to love in The Adventures of Robin Hood; so much beauty and joy and color. It’s wondrously romantic entertainment, and ageless—nothing like it could ever be made in today’s Hollywood. As an obvious fan of the picture (just look at this website’s header), I can only hope I’ve done it justice with its inclusion into The Definitives, or, at the very, least clearly conveyed my own personal affection for the film.

Read The Definitives article HERE.