Hollywood Elsewhere (Free subscription) | 10/31/2009
"Anyone can formulate a personal version of heaven -- an aerie of angels, a tropical getaway, a cloister with 72 virgins, a sports bar with unlimited beer and bigscreen, or an ethereal place where you could mingle and chat with everyone from Socrates to Groucho Marx," Variety's Todd McCarthy wrote in a 10.22 column. "Last week I discovered the closest approximation of paradise I can...
Variety.com (Free subscription) | 10/18/2009
Film News: Eastwood receives Prix Lumiere at Grand Lyon -- "I consider France my second home," Clint Eastwood said Saturday night as he became the first recipient of the Prix Lumiere at the inaugural Grand Lyon Film Festival in the city that gave birth to the cinema.
Variety.com (Free subscription) | 10/06/2009
Award Central: Actress to receive world cinema tribute -- The European Film Academy will honor French actress Isabelle Huppert with its European Achievement in World Cinema tribute at the European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 12 in Bochum.
Anorak News (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
Anorak's round-up of the Polanski case -a big debate with a rape film, a galaxy of stars and victims galore...
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
Some pretty revolting blind eyes being turned in the movie world, as reported in the Herald: Petitions from leading film directors and other cinema figures, including one signed by the celebrated Polish director, Andrzej Wajda, focused most of their anger on the Swiss authorities. The fact that the Polish-born Mr Polanski was arrested as he arrived [...]
Hollywood Elsewhere (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
At a press conference earlier today, the Zurich Film Festival jury wore red "Free Polanski" buttons and accused Switzerland of "philistine collusion" in arresting Polanski. "We hope today this latest order will be dropped [as] it is based on a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities," said jury president Debra Winger. "We stand by and...
The One-Line Review (Free subscription) | 09/15/2009
France Short Film Writer/Director: Eric Rohmer Cinematographers: Bruno Barbey, Jean-Michel Meurice Cast: Barbet Schroeder, Claudine Soubrier, Michèle Girardon, Bertrand Tavernier A handsome young student and rampant litterbug with an ever-expanding waistline enjoys a brief, flirtatious encounter with an attractive young woman, but when she subsequently disappears he very casually eases his way...
Cinematical (Free subscription) | 09/03/2009
James Gray ( Two Lovers ) remembers going to see Walter Murch talking about his groundbreaking sound and editing work on The Conversation . John Landis ( An American Werewolf in London ) remembers seeing the original King Kong , a "life-changing experience." Allison Anders ( Gas Food Lodging ) remembers seeing an obscure Bette Davis movie with a packed house. Rian Johnson ( Brick ) one time...
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 08/19/2009
Live Recording. Sometimes record companies release a second soundtrack from a successful film for reasons that seem more commercial than artistic, but in the case of THE OTHER SIDE OF ROUND MIDNIGHT FEATURING DEXTER GORDON, that practice is well warranted. Taken from Bertrand Tavernier's 1986 film based on jazz great Bud Powell's years in Paris, these songs helped the film win an Oscar for Best Original...
Culture Monster (Free subscription) | 08/12/2009
Now that Michael Govan has said that he will sit down with members of Save Film at LACMA to discuss the fate of the museum's 40-year-old film program, the group of film lovers (which has launched a campaign to save...
Filmjourney.org (Free subscription) | 08/10/2009
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that “In the wake of the chorus of disapproval that greeted last week’s announcement that he was red-lighting the 40-year-old weekend film series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, museum Director Michael Govan has some good news: Potential donors have stepped up, interested in helping underwrite the [...]
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 08/01/2009
…is we must all talk about Film Club. Above, we see Derek Malcolm, one of Britain’s finest film critics, who presented the first series of The Film Club on BBC2 on Saturday nights in bygone days. My friend Colin McLaren calls him the Walking Talking Stephen Hawking, for reasons which I guess are slightly apparent. I [...]
The Oxford Times | Blogs (Free subscription) | 07/23/2009
Review of Cinema and the Swastika: The International Expansion of Third Reich Cinema (Edited by Roel Vande Winkel and David Welch, Palgrave Macmillan, 344 pp)
Fin de Cinema (Free subscription) | 07/13/2009
Every so often on the message boards at CriterionForum (no affiliation with Criterion itself), there's a user poll which catalogs the best films of a given time period. It looks like we're on our second time around for each of the decades, and for the first time, I participated in the poll for the Best Films of the 1990s. When the poll was conducted in 2005 for the 90s, Wes Anderson's Rushmore was...
DIY Filmmaker Sujewa (Free subscription) | 06/23/2009
That could be a web show (get on it Reid! :), but, for the moment, a blog entry will have to do. From Reid Rosefelt's recent post " What Andrei Tarkovsky Said About Francis Coppola ": "In the early 80’s, I was running a movie PR firm called “Reid Rosefelt Publicity.” The title sounded impressive, but it was only me and an assistant or two working out of my bedroom in...
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