March, 2010 Archive
Irv Slifkin | Staff Notes
These days, when a director strings a few good movies together, people say they are on a roll. But how many filmmakers can honestly had an entire career that was one big roll—a career in which he’s never made a bad film? Even the likes of Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese have erred at times. Buddy, Buddy, Jamaica Inn or Bringing Out the Dead, anybody?
But consider the career of Pedro Almodovar, the great Spanish director. The guy has been prolific, making movies for 20 years, and nary one has been a bomb. Sure, there have been some disappointments, but most of his films have been right on-target, all showcasing —to borrow the phrase used for the great Ernst Lubitsch—“The Almodovar Touch.”
And what exactly is “The Almodovar Touch”?
Well, in most cases, Almodovar’s films have complicated plots, bold colors, and handsome—and sometimes wildly over-exaggerated—costume and production design. Often, they salute film noirs or glossy melodramas of Hollywood’s past. In many of his films, the characters are involved with the entertainment business, whether they are actors, TV reporters, or even bullfighters. Playing essential parts in the films are love, sex, romance, family, (anti-) religion, murder and the characters’ desire to find happiness in a topsy-turvy world.
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Brian Sieck | First Viewing Experiences
Throughout the entire span of one’s own movie-watching career (for lack of a better word), there are always going to be films that get missed by individuals. Some of these celluloid efforts that escape a person’s experience are even considered “classics.” It’s just the nature of the beast. Considering all the releases that have been produced throughout history, it’s impossible to see everything, especially when one’s age is taken into consideration. Of course, I’m referring specifically to myself. I was born well after what would be considered Hollywood’s Golden Age, so it’s only natural that I’m a touch behind the viewing curve when it comes to the entire breadth of classic cinema (though, in my defense, I feel I’m way ahead of many folks my age). However, in researching a piece for “anti-Valentine’s Day films,” it dawned on me that I have never seen Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion. So, I recently set aside some time to view this supposed masterpiece. Here are my thoughts:
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Jay Steinberg | This Week in Film History
March 25, 1932: Olympic swimming champ Johnny Weissmuller is Tarzan the Ape Man and Maureen O'Sullivan Jane in the first in MGM's jungle adventure series.
March 24, 1939: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce make the first of 14 screen pairings as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Related Article) in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
March 25, 1943: Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's first film, Sanshiro Sugata, is released.
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Chris Cummins | New Releases This Week
This week's new releases include such diverse offerings as Sandra Bullock's Academy Award-winning performance, a timely drama featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, Wes Anderson's wonderful adaptation of a Roald Dahl favorite, a comedy featuring telepathic soldiers who use their mind to murder goats, a completely unneccessary remake of a TV classic, and the DVD/Blu-ray debut of one of the greatest films ever made. Let's take a look, shall we?
The Blind Side
The fascinating true life story of Baltimore Ravens left tackle Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) is told in this stirring drama that aims to pull on your heartstrings. Lifted out of the poverty of a Memphis ghetto by his talent on the gridiron, the withdrawn teen finds acceptance and a chance to better himself when he's taken in by sassy socialite Leigh Anne Touhy (Best Actress Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock) and her loving family while he attends college. Based on the best-selling Michael Lewis book, the film co-stars country music sensation Tim McGraw and Kathy Bates. Some critics found this movie to be sappy and manipulative, resulting in plenty of "The Bland Side" puns and reviews that condemned the film's melodramatic aspects. If you somehow missed this blockbuster during its theatrical run, here's your chance to judge for yourself for if it was worthy of the acclaim it received.
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Jason Marcewicz | Art of the Movies
As with the original Letter Imperfect article, when it comes to movie posters, one wrong letter can change everything. See for yourself…
He’s a poet. Did you know it?
• The 40 Year Old Virgin
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guest-blogs | FanFare Guests
Guest blogger Kate Gabrielle writes:
About nine years ago I saw The Man with the Golden Arm for the very first time. I was only a year or so into being a huge movie fan, and so for almost every film I watched I was seeing the stars acting for the first time. My first encounter with Eleanor Parker was as a conniving, deceitful, whining, nagging wife to Frank Sinatra -- who was the be-all and end-all of my movie obsession at the time. Having seen none of her other performances, I immediately determined that she was a conniving, deceitful, whining, nagging person and I'd avoid all of her films from there on in.
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guest-blogs | FanFare Guests
Guest blogger Jacqueline Lynch writes:
On November 5, 1938, some 71 years ago, the Mohawk Theater opened in the small western Massachusetts town of North Adams. These days, the community is anticipating, and actively involved, in its future re-opening.
Once part of the E.M. Loew chain in New England, the Art Deco movie house was the third theater in North Adams, and the only one that remains today. It is a downtown icon there on Main Street, one of the few remaining late Art Deco style movie theaters in the U.S. Originally a single balcony theater with a capacity of 1,200, the Mohawk operated until the mid-1980s.
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Gary Cahall | Staff Notes
Here's a funny thought: more than a few moviegoers--many of them, I'm guessing, under the age of 30--may only know cult filmmaker John Waters as one of the people behind that charming, upbeat musical from a few years ago, Hairspray. It's even funnier to imagine those same people bringing home some of that charming, upbeat Mr. Waters' earlier works, and the looks on their faces after settling in with their families to watch, say, A Dirty Shame or Cecil B. Demented or Serial Mom or Polyester (a thought that is, sad to say, funnier than most of the first two films I mentioned). And don't get me started on what would happen if they came into contact with the self-proclaimed Prince of Puke's 1970s oeuvre: Desperate Living, Female Trouble, and his 1972 midnight movie classic, Pink Flamingos.
Yes, Baltimore's favorite film-making son (sorry, Barry Levinson) has come a long way since his earliest, ultra-low-budget beginnings, shooting guerrilla-style in the streets of "Charm City" with an eccentric ensemble that included David Lochary, Edith Massey, Cookie Mueller, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, and everyone's favorite 300-plus-pound transvestite, the one and only Divine. The problem is, shock cinema fans, you'll never know how far Waters has come, because none of his work prior to Pink Flamingos is currently available on home video.
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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!
“We said we needed powdered donuts, not plain.
What are you, some sort of stooge?”
Irv Slifkin | In the Star's Trailer, Movie Buzz
All Jeff Kinney wanted to be was a cartoonist.
While attending college at the University of Maryland, Kinney created a comic strip called Igdoof that ran in the campus newspaper. His dream was to graduate from school and draw a syndicated comic strip. When that dream didn’t pan out, Kinney went into creating material for websites and conceived the children-oriented site called Poptropica. At the same time, Kinney continued his cartooning, eventually collecting his drawings and writing in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The 2007 book focused on the misadventures of Greg Hefley and his pal Rowley Jefferson as they enter middle school. The kids encounter Greg’s trouble-making older brother Rodrick, school bullies and a mysterious piece of cheese that sits in their schoolyard.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid took off—big time. After spending weeks and weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, it spawned four sequels and a how-to book, with more on the way. So far, the series has sold over 18 million copies.
It’s no surprise, then, that Hollywood came a-calling. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie is now opening, but this is not your everyday “Hollywood-options-book—and-radically-alters-it” situation.
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