February, 2010 Archive
Jay Steinberg | This Week in Film History
March 2, 1906: Biograph Studios wins appeal of kinetoscope inventor Edison's patent claims, preventing (temporarily) a potential monopoly on the making of movies.
March 5, 1919: Pioneering black producer/director Oscar Micheaux releases his first film, The Homesteader.
March 5, 1922: A "strange symphony of terror" is unleashed on screens across the world with the debut of Germany's Nosferatu, a unauthorized adaptation of Dracula.
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Fred Burdsall | FanFare Guests
What makes you a fan?
Whatever your interests, there’s always something specific that gets your attention and won’t let go.
For me, it was movies—horror movies—and the scarier the better. I liked that nervous feeling we all get when something makes us uncomfortable. I liked sitting there and wondering if this is the one that finally makes me turn my head away. To me, it’s the greatest feeling in the world and I owe it all to four specific films.
My mother loves watching horror movies, so it was early on in life I got introduced to Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Soon after I discovered the joys of Corman, Price and Poe, but in the midst of all that there were two that grabbed me like no other.
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Jason Marcewicz | Create-A-Caption
You know the drill. Below is a classic movie photo with Jason’s caption.
You’re encouraged to leave your own suggestion in the comment section below!
Kate & Leo soon found out why
it was so cheap to book a reservation at
a New Orleans B&B during hurricane season.
Gary Cahall | Scene Stealers
She was Maid Marian's devoted lady-in-waiting. She survived encounters with the Invisible Man and the Frankenstein Monster. And she worked for the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and Billy Wilder. She was rubber-faced character actress Una O'Connor, once dubbed the movies' "quintessential town biddy."
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Gary Cahall | Staff Notes
Last fall, on this very web site, I wrote a pair of articles detailing the various cinematic and TV depictions of The Wizard of Oz over the past 100 years or so (take a look for yourself, they're still there: The Wizard Of Oz In Film Prior To 1939 and The Wizard Of Oz In Film And TV Since 1939). What I found was a century of good and bad adaptations that generally followed L. Frank Baum's story...but that often also would graft bits from it and his other books together, shoehorn in song-and-dance sequences, and fill the cast with name actors whose already established personae overwhelmed the characters they were supposed to be portraying. Well, Dorothy Gale of Kansas wasn't the only fantasy literature heroine whose exploits would be thus put through the Hollywood ringer.
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George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
Looking for a great DVD/Blu-ray hit you may have missed in the theaters? Check out Movie Irv's recommendations for these three "sleeper" hits:
guest-blogs | FanFare Guests
Matt Bird from Cockeyed Caravan takes a look at one of his favorite underrated films:
Title: A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
Year: 1982
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Jose Farrar (Cyrano de Bergerac), Julie Hagerty (Airplane), Tony Roberts (Annie Hall), Mary Steenburgen (Parenthood)
The Story: Three couples spend a weekend in the country in upstate New York at the beginning of the 20th Century. While there, they debate the existence of the spirit world and clumsily attempt to seduce each other’s partners.
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Jerry Frebowitz | New Releases This Week
New DVD Releases for this week include two very different supernatural thrillers, The Box and Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. Also, a very fine remake of an Italian film, Everybody's Fine with a great ensamble cast, and John Hurt is back as Quentin Crisp in An Englishman In New York, a "sort of" sequel to The Naked Civil Servant. There are new TV series, including the complete first season of Nurse Jackie but it's the older entries that take the spotlight: George Bernard Shaw on Film includes three classic masterpieces from Shaw, who was both a Nobel Prize-winner and Oscar-winner. Along with these other older classic films is Make Way For Tomorrow, a highly requested tearjerker from director Leo McCarey.
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Jay Steinberg | This Week in Film History
February 25, 1906: Future Universal Pictures president Carl Laemmle enters the moving pictures business with Chicago's first nickelodeon, the White Front Theater.
February 27, 1920: German expressionist painting and design are captured to great effect in Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
February 22, 1934: A Depression-weary American public flocks to Frank Capra's comedy It Happened One Night, starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable.
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Jason Marcewicz | Art of the Movies
Here is the fourth and final chapter in the series of movie mash-ups. We end on a visual note, with more film posters that have been sliced & diced and then reconfigured to make one-sheets you’ll never see in cases at your local mall. Enjoy!
The Adventures of Priscilla, the African Queen of the Desert
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; The African Queen
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Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
The other movie about Iraq that was nominated for multiple Academy Awards is The Messenger, an absorbing drama that was critically acclaimed but little seen. Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) play soldiers who take on a difficult job of informing civilians that their loved ones died at war. Samantha Morton co-stars as the recent widow who gets romantically involved with Foster. A moving film from first-time director Oren Moverman (Interview), who shares a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, The Messenger is being reissued in theaters around the country. Here's my Raw Review:
Here's a trailer for the film, after the jump:
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