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Candid

[via]

He’s got enough skin left. Ve do one more take.

Oh happy day! The cinetrix gets to flack two pals with one post by directing your attention to Gerald Peary's review of Chris Fujiwara's latest, The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger. If anything, ol' Otto was even more of a shit than you've heard. Here's Peary's own telling story about l'auteur terrible.

In 1980, the imperious 74-year-old Hollywood director came to Boston on a publicity tour for The Human Factor, a flawed adaptation of a Graham Greene novel that would prove his final film. I walked in to find Preminger screaming at a local radio reporter who had dared to request a five-minute interview without having first seen the movie. The reporter withered as Preminger blasted him. There would be no radio talk. A few minutes later, the famous filmmaker of Laura (1944), the formidable battler against the puritanical Hays Code, sat among reporters for a round-robin interview. Stephen Schiff, the Phoenix’s film editor, asked Preminger a somewhat challenging question. Preminger reached across the table and yanked Schiff’s beard. Hard! The Phoenix’s own yelled out: “OUCH!”

Figures. Factor was one of Greene's "entertainments," after all. You can read about more of the "hundred well-documented tales" of infamy  in Fujiwara’s book here.

Pullquote and the amazing Technicolor dream clip

Technicolor For Industrial Films, featuring fellow wonders rayon, linoleum, and Jell-O.

P.S.A.

Paying work of various stripes has kept the cinetrix busy all day, so she's ceding the floor to Wallace Shawn.

Blood-stained satin shoes and flying toupees

When the cinetrix was a graduate student--and miserable, natch--she spent a fair amount of time in the stacks of the Reg reading books not for class. Her three faves were The Battle of Brazil, Shock Value, and The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book.

Of course, her love affair with Astaire and Rogers dates back much further. From them she learned about the three B's: bias-cut dresses, bricolage, and Bowes [Maj. Edward], and reconsidered a fourth, Bullwinkle [Fractured Fairy Tales, to be precise], with a heightened sense of appreciation for the vocal stylings of stateside upper-class twit extraordinaire Edward Everett Horton.

The clip above condenses the most fully realized Astaire-Rogers film, Swing Time, into my two favorite dance sequences, but it neglects my parents' favorite number, A Fine Romance. Thrill to it below.

Science!

Shout that post title using your best stentorian Thomas Dolby-era bark, won't you? Then cast your eyes on New Scientist's post-Iron Man celebration of cinema that gets science right. [via]

As you might imagine, some of the usual suspects are listed. [Why, yes, we are looking at you, Gattaca.] But the cinetrix particularly liked the rationale behind the inclusion of Alien:

... It makes the list, though, for the vicious creature the crew encounters, in particular for the finer details of its life cycle.

The alien goes through three stages over the course of the film. It begins as an egg, which produces a kind of head-sized spider, equipped with a strong tail and a vaguely reptilian appearance. This attaches itself to the nearest living body and, while clamped over the face, implants an embryo into its victim's stomach. It then falls off and dies. The embryo survives by feeding on the victim's digested food. Eventually it breaks out (in the least pleasant way possible) and runs amok on the ship.

Every element of the life cycle can be found in nature, variously in parasites, robber wasps and social insects.

Well, when you put it like that....

Hunu?

Fans of The January Man [crickets], rejoice! Sharp-eyed SR sent along this missive the other day:

Have you seen the collection of feature films they have up on Hulu? It's a really weird collection -- everything from Requiem for a Dream to Schwarzenegger's early Hercules In New York. Monty Python and Neil La Bute.

It's like someone ran through a video store blindfolded and digitized everything they could carry.

[Including two Dr. Goldfoot titles--two!] The cinetrix can see it now--an update of Supermarket Sweep that involves cinegeeks sprinting through the vaults of various studios. What would you pitch into your cart? Come to think of it, that actually might be how the majors decide which titles in their libraries get the BluRay treatment.

Anyway, do be sure to check out the user comments for flicks like Bob Balaban's primal-scene scream Parents. Comedy gold.

The Gun Club

To round off the inadvertent firearms theme that seems to have developed here, a little story.

The cinetrix was mooning about the drug store the other day, waiting for a scrip to be filled. She'd remembered a million things she'd been meaning to pick up, as happens when one has time to kill, and had already assembled a collection of necessities that'd set her back a pretty penny when she stumbled across a bin of DVDs.

Aside: You should know that unlike the males of her dark-dwelling species, the cinetrix does not boast a vast library of films. Among other things, she lives with the 'Fesser, so there's already metric tons of scholarly tomes, not to mention CDs and vinyl, to contend with. So, yeah, I don't tend to buy movies much/

Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes. The sort of films that are generally sold at the supermarket or the drug store are low-middling to piss-poor at best, but you never know.... I still cherish my VHS copy of Unzipped plucked from the previously viewed bin at that Blockbuster on Broadway [by Tisch] back in 1996. And, as I mentioned, I was killing time. Which  I think is how I walked out of the joint the proud owner of a $6.99 copy of Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Now, I know that Dick and Bring It On get all the love as far as that moment in the Kiki oeuvre goes, but I'd been thinking about this cynical little Minnesotan beauty pageant flick ever since I saw Juno. Maybe because the films share Allison Janney, she who can do no wrong.

Anyway, nothing profound to report save that this twisted flick--allegedly a documentary, which I'd forgotten--holds up fairly well. Dunst's earnest Amber Atkins has entered the Sarah Rose Miss Teen Pageant because her idol, Diane Sawyer, paid for college with her pageant winnings.*

Of course, a pre-Fat Actress Kirsty Alley plays mother to Denise Richards', Amber's competition. [Utility comic relief Sam McMurray shows up her rich and consistently inappropriate dad.] And Ellen Barkin is snaggled-toothed Dunst's trailer-trash mama. Naturally. Amy Adams does a horny turn as a slutty cheerleader in her movie debut, and Brittany Murphy--recently reviled by Manohla Dargis--reprises her Clueless persona. There's a white girl being raised by her adoptive Asian parents, and a butch gal who thinks best riding a thresher. Something about the vibrations. Matt Malloy lingers around the corners as a pedophilic pageant judge in denial. Lutheran and pageant humor abound in equal measure. And there's a dance number featuring Jesus on the cross--really--that must be seen. Because Jesus loves winners.

Which is all a round-about way of asking , What's your favorite cut-out bin find?

*True!

Under the gun

Back in a bit.

Shots in the dark

The hell? Now Graham Fuller is filing capsule reviews for the Phoenix? The cinetrix doesn't begrudge the brother a paycheck, mind, but... O tempora! O movies!

Awful, awful, and awful

Hizzoner is in rare form this week, folks. He surprised himself by liking the latest Apatow widget off the conveyor belt:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Surprisingly, I enjoyed this film, albeit grudgingly. It is filled with low-brow, buffoonish and slapstick humor which appeals to the child in most of us, but a work of art it is not.

The plot is simple and direct. Peter (Jason Segel, who wrote the script) composes music for a television crime show starring his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). When Sarah tells Peter that she is leaving him for another guy, Peter goes into a state of depression and decides to take a Hawaiian vacation. Would you believe that he not only ends up in the same hotel where Sarah and her new English boyfriend, Aldous (Russell Brand), are staying, but he is booked in an adjacent room?

During his vacation, Peter meets and has an affair with a hotel employee, Rachel (Mila Kunis). Along the way, slapstick scenes include his half-brother, Brian (Bill Hader), a surfing instructor, Chuck (Paul Rudd), and a restaurant employee, Matthes (Jonah Hill), who wants to write rock music.

How it all ends and who ends up with whom will only be known to you if you decide to see this limited soap opera. I questioned why I enjoyed this picture containing lewd scenes and coarse dialogue and came to the conclusion that there is a little low brow in most of us; hopefully, not too much. I believe you will enjoy the movie as well.

The cast was totally unknown to me, but one of my movie companions recognized a number of the actors from television programs. They all played their parts superbly, with Russell Brand being the best in the flick and the one with the best one-liners. None were required to elicit anything from the audience but laughter, which is not always an easy assignment.

HS said: "Sarah Marshall" is one of the funniest movies I've seen in years. It is a great feeling to laugh without forcing yourself, and this movie gives you a chance to do that. Of course, it's ridiculous, but that's part of the show. In jokes, animals talk. You know they really can't, but that doesn't stop you from enjoying the joke. The Hawaiian scenery is lovely, the young actors are enthusiastic. The Brit rocker is great, the lead actor, Jason Segel, who wrote the original screenplay, is endearing, both before and after his towel drops. The women are suitably kindly or tough as the occasion requires. The best line begins, "You broke my heart…," but that's all you'll get from me. See if you pick up on it. Enjoy.

Heh: "There is a little low brow in most of us." Koch is so wise! But he had no patience for Mamet's chop-socky.

Redbelt
Three words describe this David Mamet film: awful, awful, and awful. Of the movies that opened this week, it rivaled "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey, Jr., for attention. Since I usually find flicks featuring comic-book-type superheroes disappointing, I decided to see "Redbelt." I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but I did not understand the plot or subplots of this ridiculous picture.

The lead character, Mike (Chiwetel Ejiofor), teaches the Japanese martial art of Jujutsu at a Los Angeles martial arts academy which he runs with his wife, Sondra (Alice Braga). Other characters include Mike's student, Joe (Max Martini), a Hollywood actor looking for thrills, Chet (Tim Allen), his wife, Zena (Rebecca Pidgeon), and businessmen Jerry (Joe Mantegna) and Marty (Ricky Jay).

Mike, a man of high moral character, is troubled by personal and financial problems. When a stranger enters the gym and shoots out the window, the action begins. Only one person in my party, HG, understood the underlying connection of the disparate parts, which he said was a "Salute to Honor Above All."

When deciding to see this film, I was taken in by the Times critic, Manohla Dargis, who wrote: "In Redbelt, David Mamet has taken a sturdy B-movie conceit – a good man versus the bad world, plus blood – tricked it out with his rhythms, his corrosive words and misanthropy, and come up with a satisfying, unexpectedly involving B-movie that owes as much to old Hollywood as to Greek tragedy."

If you like martial arts films, rent or see a Kung Fu picture, which usually has an understandable plot and an excellent display of the Chinese martial arts. You'll enjoy it more than this Mamet movie. 

Forget the film, watch the titles

Oh, this is truly excellent. A big thank you to SR for sending the cinetrix a link to Submarine Channel's laudable project, "Forget the film, watch the titles." I'll let them explain.

You know what they say about first impressions. That's why both Hollywood and independent studios spend valuable time and resources to create the most appropriate main title sequences for their films. At its very best, a title sequence is a self-contained hybrid that combines several moving image techniques – film, animation, cg – to introduce a film.

On SubmarineChannel, we love a good main title. That's why we started this online collection in 1997 of the most stunning and original film title sequences. Some are engaging and wildly entertaining, some are funny, exhilarating or simply deadly beautiful. Some are oozing with visual treats, while others hit you hard with their bold and audacious style.

The titles are divvied up under Animation, Motion Graphics, Mixed Media, and 3D, and presented in the wide screen aspect ratio. For examples of the first three, respectively, check out Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Hard Candy, and eXistenZ. Sweet.

RELATED: "Anyone who claims to love films must possess some interest in movie trailers–when done well and honestly, they’re like great foreplay, an irresistible tease to what hopefully will be an affair to remember." [via]

Evidently Brooklyn is the new Toronto.

Rejoice, for A.S. Hamrah has another film column up at [otherwise often tedious and Harvard wanker-riddled]* n+1. The cinetrix will share a few excerpts here, as she finds it impossible to limit herself to just one.

On Errol Morris and Standard Operating Procedure: "His 'interrotron' technique is supposed to be penetrating but it makes everybody look like they're on a job interview."

On Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay: "In the first one, white people were clueless idiots; in the sequel Harold and Kumar face a world where the War on Terror has turned everybody into idiots."

On Baby Mama: "If Tina Fey's wealthy yuppie were a Brooklyn mommy-wannabe everyone would know she was a snob; Amy Poehler's good-hearted Tastykake-eater would be seen as condescended to. But make them Pennsylvanians and they're both lovable dopes."

On My Blueberry Nights: "It never occurred me that I'd rather see Lynndie England in a movie than Norah Jones."

Hee! See what I mean? He also reviews Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon and casts a critical eye on trailers. You really should read the whole thing.

*Oooh! Just saw they have a story by Helen DeWitt in the new issue. So all is forgiven. For now.

And the winners are...

After taking a hiatus last semester, the cinetrix asked her students to list their nominees for the course's Oscar-esque awards. The candidates were all over the map, which I guess means the kiddies liked a lot of the stuff we saw. Or something.

Here are the winners, plus the nominees that most amused me.

Best Picture: Once
Best Director: [tie] Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, and Kirby Dick, This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Best Actor: "gotta be Bogie" Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca
Best Actress: Anne Baxter, All About Eve
Best Supporting Actor: [tie] Robert Redford, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Brandon Ratcliff, Me and You and Everyone We Know
Best Supporting Actress: Thelma Ritter, Rear Window
Honorable mention: "lesbian detective from film not yet rated"
Best Screenplay: The Purple Rose of Cairo
Best Soundtrack/Song: Once, “Falling Slowly” (... first movie soundtrack I've bought since Star Wars)
Honorable mention: "Paprika by far"
Best Cinematography: Citizen Kane
Best Set Design: [three-way tie] Rear Window, Citizen Kane, Casablanca
Best Costume: Grace Kelly, Rear Window
Honorable mentions: "Anything from the Citizen Kane table shot/reverse shot sequence"; "fat guy from Paprika dressed as a gigantic robot"
Best Sound [Diegetic/Nondiegetic]: Children of Men
Honorable mention: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, thanks to Burt Bacharach"
Best Villain: [three-way tie] Noah Cross, Chinatown; Thorwald, Rear Window; and Joan Graves of the MPAA, This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Honorable mention: "Who Are Those Guys, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
Best Fight: Butch vs. Logan, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Honorable mention: "between the chairman and that other guy in Paprika when they're fighting over the same body"
Best Kiss: [tie] Rick & Ilsa, Casablanca, and Jeff & Lisa, Rear Window
Honorable mentions: "Clive Owen and Julianne Moore in Children of Men, just because of the ping-pong ball game"; Me, You, and Everyone We Know, "Between the little kid and the lady... jk."

Harmacy*

Mister Lonely has gotten under the cinetrix's skin. The symptoms are all there: hunting down songs from the soundtrack, reading the zone-flooding coverage--pro, con, and meta--of Janus-faced Harmony Korine.... The whole enterprise has the pullquote, as it were, from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" ricocheting around my cranium.

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword

[Apologies to Mr. Wilde.]

The cinetrix hasn't yet chosen her weapon, but while she dithers she'd like to say a word about these two clips. The first is an edited version of that Q&A I alluded to in my IFFBoston GreenCine coverage. Caveat lector. If you've read even one Korine profile--or all of them--the shtick should sound pretty familiar: curb dancing, house fires, etc.

The second is something I'm surprised hasn't gotten a bit more play in all of the flag-planting press surrounding Korine's "comeback": his 2006 video for Cat Power's "Living Proof." After watching this clip, I still don't know how it is that a nun can fly. But I do have a better idea of a sister's track and field aptitude, as well as some insight into Korine's ongoing auteurist concerns and preoccupations.

Even so, I still can't articulate what it is about Mister Lonely--it's just the beauty of the ride, I guess.

*