High Tension

"Even Dwarfs Started Small" (feature clip)
Dir: Verner Herzog
Premier: 1972
Viewed: 4/13/09


"Heart Of Glass" (feature clip)
Dir: Verner Herzog
Premier: 1977
Viewed: 4/13/09


"Picnic at Hanging Rock" (feature clip)
Dir: Peter Weir
Premier: 1975
Viewed: 4/13/09


"Ali: Fear Eats The Soul" (feature clip)
Dir: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Premier: 1974
Viewed: 4/13/09


"The Wickerman" (feature)
Dir: Robin Hardy
Premier: 1973/75
Viewed: 4/13/09
Review: Personally, when it was revealed that no little girls were going to be burned alive in this movie, most of the tension in this film went away. I’m not sure what that means about me. I didn’t even raise an eyebrow for the sergeant. I guess the idea of harming a woman or child in a story strikes a nerve with me. I wouldn’t have been able to leave the island, knowing that a girl was to be murdered in mere hours.

And what was with the unarmed sergeant!?

“Oh, I think I’ll fly all the way to Sommerisle to investigate the kidnapping of this little girl! But I hope I don’t actually MEET the kidnapper, or I’m pretty much screwed!”

I understand a lot of European police officers tend to go without firearms, but this guy couldn’t even defend himself in a barehanded tussle! Could you imagine if the Oakland P.D. was involved? That big bearded Scottsman would be a big bearded Scottsman with a broken jaw and matching fractured femur! And Lord Sommerisle would have a sizzling hole in his forehead, right between the soliloquies. But I digress…

I should consider the name and literary role of “Punch” when developing characters. His story seems to be one of hubris and deception. I probably should’ve guessed that the sergeant was being lured into a trap. When the girl he was supposed to be rescuing was running yards ahead of him, it made me question who was in control of the “rescue”. The acting must’ve been a challenge. The actors were charged with playing townsfolk who seemed eccentric, but were playing an elaborate game with their prey.

"Zelig" (feature)
Dir: Woody Allen
Premier: 1983
Viewed: 4/19/09
Review: The plot of “Zelig” was really cool to see after Film History 1. I think the period was portrayed especially well. The gags were funny, but played with an air of subtlety. The subtext about people yearning for the approval of others made me look back at my earlier years. For that matter, it also reminds me of my current years. It’s actually a profound plot idea to have a man who feels so out of place that he becomes those around him. The blue screen effects were fantastic. The clips looked authentic because for all intents and purposes, they were.

The acting was great. The way Woody Allen delivers lines would have you believe he naturally speaks in one-liners. Every time a recording of Zelig in therapy came up, I leaned in, trusting that the clip would end in a laugh.

“I have an appointment to teach the ‘Psychology of Masturbators’ seminar! If I’m late, they’ll start without me!”

Sinking the Boat!

"Putney Swope" (feature)
Dir: Robert Downey Sr.
Premier: 1969
Viewed: 4/3/09
Review: As it turns out the story of Putney Swope was also a satire of Robert Downey Sr.’s early work environment. There was a line where one employee asks his boss for a raise. The boss explains that if he gives the worker a raise, he’ll have to give the other workers a raise. And if he gave the others a raise, etc. Apparently that was a line directly lifted from Downey Sr.’s boss decades ago, when a black worker asked for a raise.

The film was in black and white, which was strange since the commercials were in full color. I found out in the special features that the voice for Putney Swope was actually Robert Downey Sr.! The actual actor was often too quiet and kept forgetting his lines. As a joke one of the crew members said that the director could do the ADR himself if it simply doesn’t work. Smash cut to the premier, where Putney’s voice sounds strangely familiar…

Chowder: "The Party Cruise" (tv series)
Dir: Eddy Houchins
Premier: 4/2/09
Viewed: 4/07/09

"And day breaks, and the night bird calls out."

"Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" (feature)
Dir: Mamoru Oshii
Produced: Toshio Suzuki (Studio Ghibli)
Premier: 2004
Viewed: 4/3/09
Comment: The film was finally given a decent DVD release since Dreamworks' gaffe back in 2005. A lot of this blog is a reference to "GitS" in one form or another. It happens to be one of my all-time favorite animated franchises. It's heavily influenced by films like "Blade Runner". I saw this dubbed, and was glad I did. During the theatrical release, I was too busy reading the heavy and layered script at the bottom to notice the famous visuals. I didn't even recognize half of the shots... The English voice cast was the same from the rest of the franchise, which I consider a personal favor.

And now for some name-dropping! As it turns out, Steven Speilberg aquired the rights to the franchise for live-action. I should've known from the Dreamworks release, but I'm glad things worked out that way. Especially after seeing "Minority report" and "A.I.".

The 1970's: A Decade Under The Influence

"Persona" (feature)
Dir: Ingmar Bergman
Premier:
Viewed: 3/30/09
Review: I thought "Persona" was a great learning tool. Using practical editing techniques to get across concepts of insanity was really interesting. The burning film effect was unexpected, each time it was played. Some might be put off by the liberal use of film-handling techniques, and find it difficult to take the film seriously. I managed to suspend those feelings in favor of enjoying the performances. Also it’s not always a good idea to build tension for a full feature’s length, but in experimental times. These concepts must be explored to make mainstream films more dynamic in their shot choices.

The scene at the end, where the mute woman is being told a story from woman is being told a story from her past is repeated almost 3 times. I thought it would reveal a "multiple-personality", kind of plot-twist, but when it didn't, I became completely confused as to what was going on. The acting was really amazing. Liv Ullman was a very strong actor and seemed to be working for two.

"A Decade Under The Influence" (documentary)
Dir: Ted Demme & Richard LaGravenese
Premier: 2003
Viewed: 3/30/09
Review: At a certain point between the 60’s and today, films became a LOT more dynamic in their style and subject matters. Even the most formulaic of modern films show evidence of several movements in cinema. One of those revolutions was French New Wave. Another was 1970’s American cinema. In IFC’s documentary, these years are explored in relative depth. There’s a point in the film where all the film makers cite their favorite film makers. The point of interest is that even influences have influences. Names like Ozu, Kurasawa and De Sica some up several times. Films like Easy Rider are brought up as examples of alternative film styles from the big studio norms.

There was a very long list of filmmakers interviewed in this documentary. Dennis Hopper and Jon Voight are names my generation knows mainly from their acting resume. It was interesting to see that they had also directed some serious hard-hitters of film history.


Family Guy: "Not All Dogs go to Heaven" (tv series)
Dir: Greg Colon
Premier: 3/29/09
Viewed: 3/30/09

Phantom of the Cinematheque

"Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinematheque" (documentary clip)
Dir: Jaques Richard
Premier: 2005
Viewed: 3/23/09


"The Adventure" (feature clip)
Dir: Michaelangelo Antonioni
Premier: 1962
Viewed: 3/23/09


"Cleo From 5-7" (feature clip)
Dir: Agnes Varta
Premier: 1961
Viewed: 3/23/09

The Doomsday Clock

"Watchmen" (feature)
Dir: Zach Snyder
Premier: 3/6/09
Viewed: 3/15/09



Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Mystery in Space!" (tv series)
Dir: Brandon Vietti
Premier: 3/13/09
Viewed: 3/16/09

Deep Cover For Batman!

"Wonder Woman" (feature)
Dir: Lauren Mongomery
Written: Michael Jelenic, Gail Simone (current W.W. comic writer)
Voices: Keri Russel, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Nathan Fillon, Virginia Madsen
Premier: 3/3/09
Viewed: 2/27/09 (wondercon preview)
Comment: The director/ story artist's first shot directing a feature-length film. It had more shades of "300-with-homicidal-supermodels" than the old live-action series. The infamous Bruce Timm helped out, I'm sure. It got a great reaction from the audience.



"The Graduate" (feature)
Dir: Mike Nichols
Premier: 1/15/1968
Viewed: 3/1/09
Review: The graduate was hilarious. I really connected with the lead character. I was able to relate to the idea of being “worried about my future”. I can relate to how those thought can turn you into an awkward and angry person at times. I can’t help but think of Mrs. Robinson. Her story is pretty clear, but the mindset she had to be in to come onto someone who is practically her nephew leaves a lot to the imagination. The director did a great job in putting the lead character in the worst, most awkward situations in the name of comedy. I joked with my parents that the only thing keeping me from Dustin Hoffman’s trouble was a car.

I really liked the matter-of-fact opening sequence, played with Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence”. The film started just as awkwardly as it would play, and eventually end. That song played during “Watchmen”, and I was glad I got the reference. Part of me wishes my life got that interesting, yet part of me doesn’t need the grief.

"Diabolique" (feature)
Dir: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Premier: 11/21/1955
Viewed: 3/2/09
Review: I’d be lying if I said this film didn’t get under my skin. I never was an openly eager fan of thriller’s. I thought the use of plot twists was masterful, even if the ending seemed a bit abrupt. The writers did a great job of drawing tons of false hypotheses out of the viewer. From sabotage, to ghost phenomena, to even further foul play, the viewer didn’t quite know what to think until the very end. Perhaps the reason the ending seemed too quick and tacked on was so the viewer wouldn’t take it seriously, and wonder if the lead actually did die.

The acting was a straight-forward job. The actress who played Nicole Horner had a somewhat tall order to fulfill. Then again, so did the other actress if many of the viewer’s theories are true. The final scenes were very well staged. I dug the concept of seeing the Michel’s figure through her clothing to make her seem more vulnerable. It’s that kind of thinking that made the ending that much more terrifying.

"Psycho" (feature clip)
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Premier: 1960
Viewed: 3/2/09


"Lawrence of Arabia" (feature clip)
Dir: David Lean
Premier: 1963
Viewed: 3/2/09


"The Manchurian Candidate" (feature clip)
Dir: John Frankenheimer
Premier: 10/24/1962
Viewed: 3/02/09



"Dr. Strangelove" (feature clip)
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Premier: 1/29/1964
Viewed: 3/2/09


"Goldfinger" (feature clip)
Dir: Guy Hamilton
Music: John Barry
Premier: 1/9/1965
Viewed: 3/2/09


"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (feature clip)
Dir: Mike Nichols
Premier: 6/22/1966
Viewed: 3/2/09


"Rosemary's Baby" (feature clip)
Dir: Roman Polansky
Premier: 6/12/1968
Viewed: 3/2/09


"Night of the Living Dead" (feature clip)
Dir: George A. Romero
Premier: 10/1/1968
Viewed: 3/2/09


Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Deep Cover For Batman!"
Dir: Michael Chang
Premered: 2/28/09
Viewed: 3/2/09
Comment: That was probably the best guest star they've had in this show so far. Unexpected, even for me.

Ugetsu

"Ugetsu" (feature)
Dir: Kenji Mizoguchi
Premier: 1953
Viewed: 2/23/09
Review: I learned a great many cinematic tricks while watching this film. Theres a wierd principle in film making where if you take an element from live-action, rip it off deliberately and post it in animation, it's considered a reference and adds color to a film. And the door swings both ways. I watched Resevoir Dogs in the AAU DVD lounge and was surprised to see references to Fantastic 4 as well as references to animation. The crossover wakes the viewers up, and calls their attention. But if you steal a sequence from Jungle Book and post it in your own animation, you're called a hack and rightfully so. But I digress.

I've seen Tantino use veeeeeeeery long takes. I feel that idea was taken from films like this one, where the actor is charged with a large monologue and must perform for unusually long takes. I also liked the use of ghosts to further the story. Japanese ghosts tend to not be superficially scary like in American horror. They tend to be more cerebrally scary, teaching life lessons through brutalo and terrifying honesty. The film used cheap editing and set tricks to seamlessly pass the viewer between the human world and the spirit world.

Sci-fi/ Clip Show, featuring Stanislavsky's "Method Acting"!

"Destination Moon" (feature clip)
Dir: Irving Pichel
Premier: 1950
Viewed: 2/16/09



"The Day The Earth Stood Still" (feature clip)
Dir: Robert Wise
Premier: 9/28/1951
Viewed: 2/16/09
Comment: First use of the "Theremin" in sci-fi music (high pitched wail), by Bernard Herman.



"War of the Worlds" (feature clip)
Dir: Byron Haskin
Premier: 8/26/1953
Viewed: 2/16/09


"When Worlds Collide" (feature clip)
Dir: Rudolph Mate'
Premier: Aug/ 1951
Viewed: 2/16/09



"Creature from the Black Lagoon" (feature clip)
Dir: Jack Arnold
Premier: 3/5/1954
Viewed: 2/16/09



"It Came From Beneath the Sea" (feature clip)
Dir: Robert Gordon
Animation: Ray Harryhausen
Premier: Jul/ 1955
Viewed: 2/16/09



"Forbidden Planet" (feature clip)
Dir: Fred Wilcox
Premier: 1956
Viewed: 2/16/09
Comment: Influenced by Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Influenced productions like "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"


"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (feature clip)
Dir: Don Siegel
Premier: 2/5/1956
Viewed: 2/16/09

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"Rebel Without a Cause" (feature clip)
Dir: Nicolas Ray
Method Actor: James Dean
Premier: 1955
Viewed: 2/16/09



"A Streetcar Named Desire" (feature clip)
Dir: Elia Kazan
Method Actor: Marlon Brando
Premier: 1959
Viewed: 2/16/09


"Suddenly Last Summer" (feature clip)
Dir: David Mankiewicz
Premier: 1959
Viewed: 2/16/09


"Some Like It Hot" (feature clip)
Dir: Billy Wilder
Premier: 1959
Viewed: 2/16/09

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up!"

"Afro Samurai: Resurrection" (feature)
Dir: Fuminori Kizaki
Exec. Produced: Samuel L. Jackson
Premier: 1/25/09
Viewed: 2/13/09



"Sunset Boulevard" (feature)
Dir: Billy Wilder
Premier: 8/4/1950
Viewed: 2/13/09
Review: Boy what a film to watch when gearing up for a career in Hollywood. This film was cynical, ruthless, and most of all, honest. The streets weren't paved so much with gold in this film, as they were with urine and old chewing gum. It opens with a man being chased by collection agencies. He unwittingly falls into the lap of an old mistress who's beloved pet monkey died. The mourning is short lived, though, as she just lucked into a new one.

So far in these noir films, the female roles seemed to be written to overpower the male roles. The male lead arguably held his own against his circumstances, but the mistress was terrifying. She made every one of her scenes unbearably awkward. It's hard to watch, but strangely enough, I can relate. Many of us have been in a situation where things are soooo awkward that it's tough just to get up in the morning. The lead gets what I'm sorry to say is a typical end in Sunset. The mistress is revealed to be about twice as insane as she was believed to be earlier. Welcome to film noir.

Adventure, In all It's Glory!

"The Man Who Would Be King" (feature)
Dir: John Huston
Premier: 12/17/1975
Viewed: 2/10/09
Comment: Recommended by Mark Andrews, head of story on many of Pixar's new films. He mentioned it on the Splinecast, a podcast run by artists at Pixar (available on iTunes!).



Spectacular Spider Man: "Shear Strength" (tv series)
Dir: Jennifer Coyle
Premier: ?
Viewed: 2/10/09
Comment: I'm still wondering about the logic in airing an American series in other countries, over a full quarter-year before giving the Americans a look... Just plain wierd...

The Bicycle Thief

"The Bicycle Thief" (feature)
Dir: Vittorio De Sica
Premier: 12/13/1949
Viewed: 2/9/09
Review: “The Bicycle Thief” was a pretty depressing movie. I thought the characters were relatable enough. I guess that’s not too surprising, considering the setting of the plot. After a few years in art school, stories about frustration and futility tend to raise an eyebrow with me. At the end of the plot, Antonio is reduced to just another thief, victim to desperation. I can’t really decide whether that ending diminishes the viewer’s interest in the character, or enhances their empathy for him.

Lots of wide open spaces are utilized in this film. Added to which are large crowds, further driving the point of hopelessly lost property home. The acting was almost improvisational. The actors seemed to be making decisions from the gut, and from their own experiences. It really showed in scenes like when the two locate the thief, but the entire neighborhood sides with him. The frustration and tension in the sequence grew and grew until Antonio eventually gave up his search, and subsequently, his bicycle.

AAU's DVD Lounge

"Kung Fu Panda" (feature)
Dir: Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Dir. Animation (dream sequence): James Baxter
Head of Character Animation: Dan Wagner
Head of Character Design: Nico Martlet
Premier: 6/6/08
Viewed: 2/4/09
Comment: FINALLY managed to see it. This was more of a belly-laugh movie than an emotional cinematic journey. The acting and animation was awesome, as was the novelty-style editing, though I'll have to see it again in private. The ANM-3d dept. chose THAT day to host a free pizza party in the lounge. Good pizza, horrible audio experience.

Week 2

"Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (feature)
Dir: Pedro Almodovar
Premier: 1988
Viewed: 1/26/09 & 2/2/09
Review: "Women on the Verge" packs in a lot of surprises for the non-film buff. For one, I didn't expect to see Antonio Banderas in such an early stage in his career. The dialogue was subtitled from Spanish but was no less witty for it. It used slightly pale primary colors and chose red to be the symbol of sanity. There were many things that I enjoyed in the film, one of them was the amount of subplots introduced sequentially during the story. From Shiite terrorists to an eccentric taxi driver, the story gets more and more cramped and hectic until the very end, where we step back and see the chaos after it crumbled. Many had a problem with that, but I believe the film was just very well named.

For story artists looking for interesting and comical ways to shoot moments of insanity, I'd say study the down-shots and closeups used to frame Lucia, the male love interest's wife. A very entertaining twist is that in the beginning of the story, we believe Pepa, the leading lady, to be losing her mind due to her calm attitude in the face of absurd situations. By the end of the film, everyone else has been emotionally exhausted and the building subplots have all collapsed. The only one left unscathed is Pepa, who calmly weathered the whole storm. She wasn't necessarily losing her mind, but becoming empowered.


"Double Indemnity" (feature)
Dir: Billy Wilder
Premier: 9/06/1944
Viewed: 2/02/09




The Daily Show With Jon Stewart: "Jan 27, 2009" (tv series)
Dir: Andy Barsh, Scott Preston, and Christian Santiago
Premier: 1/27/09
Viewed: 2/02/ 09



Robot Chicken: "But Not in That Way" (tv series)
Dir: Chris McKay
Premier: 2/01/09?
Viewed: 2/02/09