The long awaited day has finally arrived. The release of Warner's Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 4 with ten (ten!) movies. 

 

I will get nothing accomplished today. Calling in sick.

 

And....extra bonus, commentary on "Crime Wave" is with noted noir historian Eddie Muller and one of our greatest living writers, James Ellroy.

 

The great Muller has given some of the best tracks I've ever listened to (he made me think seriously that "I Wake Up Screaming" might possibly be the first film noir) but paired with James Ellroy is flat out noir heaven.  That's the first one going into my DVD player.

 

Here are the complete set titles: "Act of Violence,"  "Mystery Street," "Crime Wave," "Decoy," "Illegal," "The Big Steal," "They Live By Night," "Side Street," "Where Danger Lives," and "Tension."

 

I am off to spend quality time with, among many others, Robert Mitchum, Sterling Hayden, Farley Granger, Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, Edward G. Robinson, Van Heflin, Mary Astor, Jane Greer and Cathy O' Donnell.

 

Another master is gone, a director often compared to Ingmar Bergman.

 

Michelangelo Antonioni has passed away at age 94.

 

From the Telegraph:

 

"Whether or not he was to everybody’s taste, Antonioni went on to exert a great influence on cinematic style and on the development of cinema as a medium of ideas. Studies of alienation, which echoed the literary works of Albert Camus and Cesar Pavese, were his bread and butter. Despite the supposed anti-Americanism and naive political overtones of such works as Zabriskie Point (1970), he was not the Marxist some imagined. Though his work prophesied the decline of civilisation in greed, in politics, in the destruction of the environment, these were only analogies for the decline of personal relationships, a malaise in which love had been replaced by often violent eroticism.

But, comparing himself to Ingmar Bergman, he reflected that the Swede was solely concerned with the question of God while he, Antonioni, was 'the most laic of men', and had no solution to the human predicament. Neither a critic of materialism nor of spiritual values, he was ultimately a satirist of types, an ironist with an unremittingly pessimistic outlook: 'I believe the tragic sentiment dominates all of contemporary life; even the irony that pervades Pop Art is tragic.'”

--posted by Kim

 

 

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."

 

--One of the greats, Ingmar Bergman, who passed away today at age 89.

Over at CinemaStyles, Jonathan Lapper offers his five favorite slices of ham (on film, that is) with his "Ham Hall of Fame." It's a wonderful list that, even better, makes you want to watch all of these movies again.

 

It's such a great write-up that it was hard for me to pick a favorite but this one, regarding Burt Lancaster in Daniel Mann's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo" is funny and right on target.

 

"If you've seen 'The Rose Tattoo' you probably recognize how wonderful Anna Magnani is in the lead. From beginning to end she doesn't seem like she is acting, almost as if a real person had wandered onto the set in front of the cameras as they were rolling. You probably noticed something else too: Burt Lancaster as Alvaro Mangiacavallo. Holy crap! Hit the road intimate character insights, here comes Burt as Alvaro. In many scenes, like when Alvaro shows Serafina the rose tattoo on his chest while laughing cartoonishly ( HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ), Serafina looks bewildered by Alvaro. It's tempting to think that this was not a part of Magnani's performance but simply that of Magnani the actress thinking to herself, "Why in the hell is he ACTING so much?" Alvaro is played as a bumbling buffoon by Lancaster with every line delivered at the top of his lungs. Lancaster doesn't play the role to the balcony, he plays it to the moon. At first, you're stunned by the obvious theatrics Lancaster employs to play the role but by the end Lancaster has actually endeared you to the character. Ah, the mark of a great ham."

 

Read the entire, lovingly written list of hammy honors here.

 

Given that the actor appears to have evaded that little pesky fact of life mere mortals must endure (it's called aging) this role is pretty much perfect for him: Johnny Depp as vampire.

 

According to Variety:

 

"Warner Bros. is teaming with [Johnny] Depp's Infinitum-Nihil and Graham King's GK Films to develop a feature based on the '60s daytime supernatural sudser 'Dark Shadows.'

 

"Depp has said in interviews that he has always been obsessed with 'Dark Shadows' and had, as a child, wanted to be Barnabas Collins, the vampire patriarch of the series. The role was originated by Jonathan Frid."

 

Unless I'm missing something, I can't believe Depp hasn't played a vampire until now. He will, of course, be excellent.

 

"Iron Man," "Watchmen," "Batman"--there's so much man stuff being discussed, unveiled, eagerly awaited and so on at this year's ComiCon, it's almost overwhelming.

 

Here's one bit of excitement--Jon Favreau showing a little footage of "Iron Man" for an anticipating auditorium.

 

According to ComingSoon:

 

"Without much urging, he agreed to show some footage, actually a rough trailer, for the movie, rather than making everyone wait until Saturday to see 'Iron Man' in action. It went by fairly quickly but this is what we remember:

 

"The footage starts with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark addressing soldiers with a speech which is paraphrased here: 'Is it better to be feared than respected? I say, 'Is it too much to ask for both?' With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology.' He then says something about the best weapon being one you don't have to fire, but he disagrees and says that the best weapon is the one you only have to fire once. 'That's how America does it.' It's a great scene that shows the humor that Downey Jr. will be bringing to the role as do the next two scenes."

 

If you enjoy reading about footage or are salivating over anything "Iron Man" related, read the rest of what they saw here. And check out all of ComingSoon's ComiCon footage here.

 

  

The New York Observer talks with Woody Allen icon Tony Roberts, or as they call him "Woody's wing man" in movies like "Annie Hall" and "Play It Again, Sam."

 

My favorite part:

 

"On his off hours, Mr. Roberts works on his memoirs, though he is concerned they will not be as dramatic as his friend Donna McKechnie’s. 'Let’s face it—I wasn’t a longshoreman,' he said. 'I’ve had a charmed life.' He likes to walk across Central Park with his iPod—'with the shuffle on so I’m surprised,' he said—and takes a stretch dance class taught by Luigi Facciuto, now 82, on 68th Street. 'Luigi taught everybody who danced on Broadway. He was Gene Kelly’s sidekick in movies. There are 20 to 30 people in the class sometimes, Liza Minnelli, Ben Vereen, Donna McKechnie. It’s a very healthful regimen.'”

 

I also like when he discusses how he's happy New York City has cleaned up and isn't as it was in the 1970's. I recalled his line in "Annie Hall": "Oh, I did Shakespeare in the Park, Max. I got mugged. I was playing Richard the Second and two guys with leather jackets stole my leotard."

 

Read the entire interview, including a photo tour with Mr. Roberts here.

 

 

--MSN's Simpsons For Dummies. If you don't know these characters by now then you live in a log cabin and chop your own wood. On second thought, most people who do that have satellite dishes so I don't know what you've been up to the last 18 years.

 

--EW's 12 Small Roles With Big Impact. Kudos for including Christopher Meloni in "Wet Hot American Summer."

 

--Screengrab ranks the ten grossest onscreen kisses. Could not agree more with the inclusion of "Pretty in Pink."

 

 

The always insightful and refreshingly honest Erich Kuersten at Acidemic Film looks at Lindsay Lohan's latest scandal through the eyes of John Huston's "Night of the Iguana," a film he recently re-watched and the result is absolutely fascinating.

 

Writes Erich:

 

"So poor Lindsay is arrested again after just getting back in rehab and now everyone's circled the wagons and has their tongues all out to be clucked. Well excuse me if I stand tall in her defense, brandishing a flaming piece of lumber from your witchy bonfire as I clear the area for some Richard Burton-style oration.

 

"My resistance is probably partially due to being a fu**ed up alcoholic myself, partially it's my genuine distaste for mob mentality, but mainly I just think there's a Norman Bates-ish thing about it: persecute the young and beautiful and fu**ed up for the crime of stirring our hackles. Does Dreyer or Bergman or Russell make films about unattractive older women being burned alive as witches? No. Lindsay Lohan, you were made to be sacrificed on their altar of petty scandal.

 

"And that brings me to one of my all-time favorite movies, which I just had the chance to revisit during a long summer cold, THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (1964)... Well I thank the dark gods that daring, alcoholic visionaries like John Huston, Richard Burton and Tennesee Williams were able to leave such lovely relics of a bygone age behind. For NIGHT OF THE IGUANA is a film that pisses on the luggage of our mundane contemporary social mores. I can just imagine a wild-eyed Lindsay Lohan running up to Ava Gardner's hotel on the hill and hiding out in one of the bungalows, while the foaming-at-the mouthed Miss Fellows of the world come climbing up after, seething with their righteous contempt, brandishing cameras, tabloids, torches, and pitchforks."

 

Read his entire take here, it is, dare I say, brilliant. And damn if Sue Lyon doesn't look a little like Lohan in the poster.

 

Why so scared of the "D" word? As in, depression? I'm not sure what the fear is but according to Cinematical, when it comes to the big screen adaptation of Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" a famous book about depression, those involved are running from the apparently uncomfortable term.

 

"Celine Rattray, of Plum Pictures, had said: 'Esther Greenwood has a strong outlook on life, and we're really looking to bring out the humor in the character. We don't want to do a depressing descent into the world of suicide.' Now I can sort of buy that -- not letting the story fall only into the realm of her problems. However, now they seem to be actively pushing the serious side of depression away. Julia Stiles, who will star as Esther, recently chatted with MTV and said: 'I don't think it's depressing at all. It is ABOUT depression, but I think that Sylvia Plath writes with such awesome, beautiful, vivid imagery that is so perfect for film, that it's kind of a joy.'"

 

To a certain degree, Stiles is correct, but to say the book doesn't have large portions of depressing moments, even brutal, scary moments, is ridiculous. I'm guessing the filmmakers don't want their picture labeled as that depressing movie about a writer who eventually killed herself and was later played by Gwyneth Paltrow in a movie that was kind of disapointing and ultimately depressing. Just a hunch.  

 

Read more at Cinematical.

 

The New York Times discussed the obvious damage Lindsay Lohan's latest antics have done to her career. Famed agent Bernie Brillstein also weighed in, not mincing words.

 

According to The NYT:

 

"'I hope they put her in jail for as long as they can,' said Bernie Brillstein, whose company has represented John Belushi and Chris Farley. 'Maybe she’ll realize how serious it is. I believe she’s uninsurable. And when you’re uninsurable in this town, you’re done.'”

 

Ouch. As many of you know, I'm a Lohan defender (her acting, her acting. And, NO I don't condone drunk driving) but I do agree that if jail is the one thing that saves her, so be it. It saved Robert Downey Jr. And NO, I don't think she's proven herself to the level of Downey Jr. (who is sometimes, brilliant). Not yet she hasn't. I still say she's talented. 

 

Anyway, if she's uninsurable, perhaps she should look into acting with Jackie Chan. Isn't he uninsurable too? "Drunken Master III" anyone? Ah...bad joke.

 

I think John Waters should do a career intervention. And that's no joke. Lindsay, Patty Hearst and Traci Lords starring in...anything by Waters. I'm there.

 

I'm so excited for Wes Anderson's new film, "The Darjeeling Limited" that I don't even like talking about it. I just want to see the movie.

 

But here's an interesting take via the terrific The Playlist which asks the question: "Did Scorsese stimulate Anderson's Darjeeling fetish?"

 

"The trailer for Wes Anderson's 'The Darjeeling Limited' has all the fairweather cineastes abuzz. Fans asked themselves, will this one be better than the poorly received, 'The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou'? Will Anderson continue to burrow down the wormhole of self-indulgence, ornate pageantry and wacky ensembles? And similar question of equal nerdiness.

 

"All of it reminds us of an October 2002 article in Premiere magazine with Anderson and his directorial idol and pal Martin Scorsese. In the piece, the cinema scholarly Scorsese first screened French director Jean Renoir's first color film, 'The River' – which was set in India – to the impressionable Anderson. The piece reads:

 

 

"A big fan of Anderson's debut, 'Bottle Rocket,' Scorsese famously dubbed the Texan-born director 'the next Scorsese' in an article he wrote for Esquire magazine in March of 2000. Could the seminal Italian director's screening directly influenced Wes? Maybe something was set off his mind?"

 

Read the rest of his piece here.

 

 

 

I wrote a story on cinema's greatest twist endings and this one, a great one, didn't even occur to me.

 

Bob at SaltySix considers this the best twist ending--"The Empire Strikes Back."

 

Writes Bob:

 

"Some films become great because of a twist ending, one that the protagonists and the audience alike didn’t see coming.  There are many memorable endings which make good movies great simply due to their twists.  Such films include: 'The Usual Suspects,' 'Memento,' 'Citizen Kane,' 'Fight Club,' and 'Casablanca.'

 

"However, the best surprise ending in all of film history probably happened at the conclusion of 'The Empire Strikes Back.'  It doesn’t even strike many of us today as something that could have ever come as a surprise.  Luke’s father is actually Darth Vader.

 

"I grew up knowing this all along (or at least as long as I was aware of the Star Wars films).  It’s kind of a shame to, because I feel like when it was revealed in 1980, it shocked audiences around the world."

 

It did. Good call.

 

--posted by Kim
 

MSN's New on DVD gives "Zodiac," one of this year's greatest pictures, the respect it deserves.

 

I've got it on DVD and have already watched it twice. It's absolutely mesmerizing. And I dare you not to become also obsessed with the unsolved murders. I was online for an entire day reading everything.

 

But make sure to watch the movie if you missed it in theaters.

 

From MSN:

 

"David Fincher creates his most disciplined, focused, and mesmerizing film with his drama about the notorious unsolved Zodiac killings that had San Francisco gripped in fear during the early 1970s. Based on the nonfiction book by Robert Graysmith, a newspaper cartoonist who became obsessed with the investigation, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Graysmith, a peripheral figure in the San Francisco Chronicle newsroom as the story breaks. Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards play the investigating officers who pursue leads across county and jurisdictional lines and become devastated by the pressure of the case. And Robert Downey Jr. is the reporter who is called out by the killer in his enigmatic messages. The low-key thriller is as much a study in obsession and detail as it is a murder mystery. And Fincher is appropriately obsessive in his attention to detail, from the complexity of the investigation (Fincher studied the case files firsthand in preparation for the film) to his re-creation of '70s San Francisco and American culture, right down to his filmmaking choices. Fincher, one of the most technically accomplished directors working today, avoids all temptation to impress us stylistically to draw us into a complex story and a complicated investigation that spans years and reverberates through the culture even longer. Brian Cox and John Carroll Lynch co-star, and the expansive supporting cast features such talents as Chloe Sevigny, John Getz, John Terry, Candy Clark, Elias Koteas, Dermot Mulroney, and Donal Logue in small roles. Available in separate wide-screen and full-screen editions. There are no supplements to speak of on this release, so don't be surprised to see a special-edition release come holiday season."

 

Read the entire look at new DVD's including another one of this year's best, "The Host."

 

 

He was one of my favorites.

 

"Targets," "Psych-Out," "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," "Shampoo," "At Long Last Love," "The King of Marvin Gardens," "Pocket Money," "Paper Moon," "New York, New York"--cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs was one of the greats. And his life was quite extraordinary:

 

"Kovacs was born and raised on a farm in Hungary when that country was isolated from the Western world, first by the Nazi occupation and later during the Cold War. Kovacs was in his final year of school in Budapest when a revolt against the Communist regime started on the city streets.

 

"He and his lifelong friend Vilmos Zsigmond made the daring decision to document the event for its historic significance. To do this, they borrowed film and a camera from their school, hid the camera in a paper bag with a hole for the lens and recorded the conflict.

 

"The pair then embarked on a dangerous journey during which they carried 30,000 feet of documentary film across the border into Austria. They entered the U.S. as political refugees in 1957. Their historic film was featured in a CBS documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite.

 

"Against the odds, Kovacs and Zsigmond went on to become two of Hollywood's most influential directors of photography. Kovacs was an active member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and in 2002, he received the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, the organization's highest honor."

 

The influential cinematographer passed away Saturday night at age 74. He will be greatly missed in life and in the world of film. There's so many Kovacs lensed pictures to watch in his honor, but this piece of American iconography seems most inspiring right now.  

 

Anne Thompson writes about early reviews for "The Simpsons Movie" and, I am with her on this one, no way am I reading any of them until I see the movie. It's not just the spoiler element, it's the everything element. This movie must be great and I don't want to hear anything, good, mediocre or bad, until I've been (hopefully not) disapointed.

 

As Thompson wrote:

 

"I don't like to read early reviews. Fox threw a press junket for 'The Simpsons Movie' this weekend, so many American journos have seen it. Here's the early review from The London Times. I haven't read it yet and if you care about SPOILERS don't read it!!! The Times' James Bone covered it at the first screening of the movie, the premiere in Springfield, Vermont."

 

And if you are not like me or Thompson, go to her blog for the linked early review.

 

 

Despite suffering from bad reviews (like, baaad reviews) the Adam Sandler/Kevin James comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" was tops at the box offfice over the weekend. It beat out "Harry Potter."

 

The details via MSN:

 

"'Chuck & Larry' stars Sandler as a firefighter who poses as a gay partner for a widower colleague (James) so his pal can maintain life insurance for his kids.

 

The movie followed the usual pattern for Sandler comedies: Critics trashed it but loyal fans turned up.

 

"'The beauty of Adam Sandler is his fan base adores him, and he delivers on comedy,' Universal's Rocco said. 'Adam is a star, and I can tell you we know we're on the way with another $100 million movie for Adam.'

 

"'Order of the Phoenix,' which debuted at No. 1 the previous weekend, raised its domestic total to $207.5 million.

Fellman said the movie lost some business this weekend because of the mania over Saturday's publication of J.K. Rowling's final book in the fantasy series, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.'

 

"'They wanted to get that book Saturday, lock themselves in the house and read it, because they didn't want their other friends by Monday telling them who made it and who didn't,' said Fellman of Warner Bros.

 

"'Hairspray' follows the musical adventures of a tubby teen (newcomer Nikki Blonsky) who sets out to racially integrate a TV dance show in the 1960s. The stage musical on which it is based was in turn adapted from John Waters' 1988 cult flick.

 

"Women made up just over two-thirds of the 'Hairspray' audience, said David Tuckerman, head of distribution for New Line. The studio hopes good word of mouth will keep the crowds coming and bring in more men in subsequent weekends, Tuckerman said.

 

"'We knew getting the guys on opening weekend was going to be difficult. We knew 'Chuck & Larry' would get the guys and we wouldn't,' Tuckerman said."

 

As said, most critics loathed the movie, calling it unfunny and worse, offensive (particularly for Rob Schneider's Asian-American stereotype that's being cited as seeming lifted from Mickey Rooney's performance in "Breakfast at Tiffanys"). One contrary take however, was Village Voice's Nathan Lee who wrote:

 

"Somewhere in the cafeteria at GLAAD headquarters, girlfriend is about to choke on her quiche, but here goes: Tremendously savvy in its stupid way, 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' is as eloquent as 'Brokeback Mountain,' and even more radical."

 

Wow.

 

Here's the top five movies over the weekend:

 

1. "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," $34.8 million.

2. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $32.2 million.

3. "Hairspray," $27.8 million.

4. "Transformers," $20.5 million.

5. "Ratatouille," $11 million.

Say what you want about Tammy Faye Messner, but she was a truly original woman and I'm sad she left us early. 

 

She was, in my estimation, an honestly forgiving person. And then there were those puppets. I've got a soft spot for anyone who works with puppets.

 

I also can't help but love a woman who has a signature look (even with twenty coats of mascara) and though I'm not a highly religious person, I admire Tammy Faye for her early embracing of the gay community. When she went on PTL in the 1980's and talked to a man with AIDS, and said this:

 

"How sad that we as Christians who are to be the salt of the earth and we, who are supposed to be able to love everyone are afraid so badly of an AIDS patients that we won’t go up and put our arms around them and tell them that we care."

 

I knew she was different.

 

Watch this nice tribute to the woman. And, of course, Rest in Peace Tammy Faye.

 

 

Leave Lindsay Lohan alone. I'm serious. Just leave that girl, or, at this point, that woman and, lest we have forgotten, that actress alone. Why? Because all this negative attention concerning her personal drama deflects from what she does best: act.

 

That's right, act. Forget the freshly 21-year-old's stints in rehab (or rather, her time to reflect on healing, cheeseburgers, boys and the next time she might hang with Karl Lagerfeld), because despite tabloid fodder -- be it real (her lateness, her unprofessionalism on set, her DUI, her alleged cocaine problem) or imagined -- she is an actress, first and foremost. And when cast in the right role, she's an interesting one at that.

 

And yes, I know she seems to court controversy and even brings it upon herself -- ever thought of staying in one night and simply watching "Valley of the Dolls," not living it, Lindsay? I only wish her mother, Dina, would stress the implications of overpartying to her child and point her not to Los Angeles' notorious hot spot, Forty Deuce, but instead to its legendary film and drama bookstore, Samuel French. While among books ranging from the films of director Howard Hawks to the plays of Ibsen, Lindsay could study up on Bette Davis, Jane Fonda and Elizabeth Taylor, women who themselves endured intense scrutiny, and in some cases public hatred, yet emerged not only as Oscar winners but also as legends. Sure, they didn't have the same round-the-clock Internet surveillance and predatory paparazzi covering their every move (can you imagine if poor Patty Duke, who suffered from bipolar disorder, or the luminous Tuesday Weld, who was drinking before she was a teenager, had to endure such vampirism?), but they did undertake a fair share of controversy.

 

Now before you claim I'm comparing La Lindsay to Dame Elizabeth or my beloved Tuesday Weld, I'm not -- Lindsay hasn't lived long enough, she hasn't nabbed enough meaty roles, she hasn't exposed her extra layers of depth -- and looking at her family, you know she's got a lot from which to draw. But plenty of other sexy stars from the golden period (Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe) had to prove themselves past their obvious sexuality while using their genetic gifts with sparkling, salty charisma and, when given the chance, their major league acting talent. The big screen loves talent, but it also loves a gorgeous face.

 

Read my entire Lohan defense here.

 

 

GalleyCat covers various writers on Harry Potter mania from The New York Times controversial early "Deathly Hallows" book review to Inside Higher Ed's cultural, economic take on Potter pondering.

 

Continue the obsession with a fine distillation of all things Potter (book, movie, pro, con) at MSN as they celebrate a very Harry month.

 

Though I'm not fanatical about Potter, I am happy people still read books. Perhaps if we subtitled classics with "And the Order of the..." more would take a crack at "Crime and Punishment" or "The Sound and the Fury."  Perhaps.