Incendies

Viewers make a journey of discovery with fraternal twins Jeanne and Simon as they travel to their mother's homeland to find a brother and father they never knew in Incendies.



Incendies has received many awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to In a Better World, which is also an excellent film.

Scary movies for Halloween

Tomorrow is Halloween, and The Washington Post has a slideshow of stills from nineteen "scary" movies. This photo is a still from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre of 1974. I've seen the 2003 remake, which was very good, and I have the original on my wishlist. The original is relatively expensive, so it may be excellent.

The other stills at the slideshow are from: Nosferatu, The Phantom of the Opera, Psycho, The Birds, Rosemary's Baby, Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, Jaws, The Omen, Carrie, Halloween, Alien, The Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Scanners, An American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist, and The Thing.

The Washington Post's article is "From ‘Paranormal Activity’ to ‘Nosferatu,’ a look at the scariest movies of all time." Interestingly, a still from Paranormal Activity isn't included in the slideshow, but there is a link to "‘Paranormal Activity 3’: Is the found footage horror movie played out?"

The Los Angeles Times has "50 Creature Features," "Celluloid mutants, werewolves and blobs -- the stuff of nightmares. Play the videos, and vote for the greatest monster movie ever."

I like the Childs Play movies, which didn't make either list. "Chuckie" is scary.

I'll watch 1994's Ed Wood, which received an Academy Award for Martin Landau's makeup. Landau played Bela Lugosi.

Wouldn’t It Be Cool if Shakespeare Wasn’t Shakespeare?

Writing in The New York Times, Stephen Marche writes:

“Was Shakespeare a fraud?” That’s the question the promotional machinery for Roland Emmerich’s new film, “Anonymous,” wants to usher out of the tiny enclosure of fringe academic conferences into the wider pastures of a Hollywood audience. Shakespeare is finally getting the Oliver Stone/“Da Vinci Code” treatment, with a lurid conspiratorial melodrama involving incest in royal bedchambers, a vapidly simplistic version of court intrigue, nifty costumes and historically inaccurate nonsense. First they came for the Kennedy scholars, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Kennedy scholar. Then they came for Opus Dei, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Catholic scholar. Now they have come for me.

Professors of Shakespeare — and I was one once upon a time — are blissfully unaware of the impending disaster that this film means for their professional lives. Thanks to “Anonymous,” undergraduates will be confidently asserting that Shakespeare wasn’t Shakespeare for the next 10 years at least, and profs will have to waste countless hours explaining the obvious. “Anonymous” subscribes to the Oxfordian theory of authorship, the contention that Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford, wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Among Shakespeare scholars, the idea has roughly the same currency as the faked moon landing does among astronauts.

The good news is that “Anonymous” makes an extraordinarily poor case for the Oxfordian theory. ...

You can read much more of the article at the Times by clicking this post's title.

President Obama to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street movement?

Despite missing an historic opportunity to institute real financial reform in 2009, The Washington Post is reporting that "Obama plans to turn anti-Wall Street anger on Mitt Romney, Republicans."

From the Post's article:

President Obama and his team have decided to turn public anger at Wall Street into a central tenet of their reelection strategy.

The move comes as the Occupy Wall Street protests gain momentum across the country and as polls show deep public distrust of the nation’s major financial institutions. ...

... Obama aides point to recent surveys that show anger at Wall Street spanning ideologies, including a new Washington Post-ABC News poll in which 68 percent of independents and 60 percent of Republicans say they have unfavorable impressions of the big financial institutions.

But the strategy of channeling anti-Wall Street anger carries risks. Many of Obama’s senior advisers have ties to the financial industry — a point that makes Occupy protesters wary of the president and his party. ...

... And many on the left have attacked Obama and his administration for its ties to Wall Street, arguing that the financial regulatory overhaul fell far short of an industry makeover that many critics believed necessary.

Much of his top economic team has roots in the financial services industry, and in recent months [Chief of Staff William] Daley and top campaign aides have devoted much of their time [to] improving the relationship with big-dollar donors on Wall Street. ...

To be fair, it should be noted that Republican candidates also have relationships with "big-dollar donors on Wall Street."

The Post's article notes that President Obama has been critical of Bank of America for its plan to collect $5/month for the use of a debit card; however, with or without its plan, that bank will remain a sick bank. The Democratic national convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters of Bank of America.

BBC has a story about the Occupy Wall Street movement becoming a global movement: "'Occupy' protests at financial crisis go worldwide." The article notes, 'Witnesses blamed attacks on cars and businesses on a small number of masked militants, dubbed the "black blocs" because of the colour of their clothes.' This post's photo (taken in Rome) was obtained from that story.

Update: OccupyWallStreet has a definition of a "black bloc." OccupyWallStreet's website is here.

R.I.P. dmr

During his lifetime, Dennis M. Ritchie received several awards for his contributions to computer science. Here, he is receiving the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999. He passed away on October eighth at the age of seventy.

With his colleagues at Bell Labs, Ritchie developed the C programming language and the UNIX operating system.

Many have learned a lot from him. Writing for Wired, Sean Gallagher wrote, "Every bit of software that makes it possible for you to read this page has a trace of dmr’s DNA in it."

The New York Times' story is "Dennis Ritchie, Trailblazer in Digital Era, Dies at 70."

The Washington Post's story is "Dennis Ritchie, father of C programming language and Unix, dies at 70."

Wired's story is "Dennis Ritchie, Father of C and Co-Developer of Unix, Dies."

Dennis Ritchie's Bell Labs home page is here.

Grindhouse

Here are "Cherry Darlin'" and "El Wray" shortly before "Cherry" loses a leg to a zombie cannibal in Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror. Grindhouse is a double feature and includes Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.

The blu-ray presents the two films as they played in theaters in 2007 as a double feature. Intermission cards, and trailers for Werewolf Women Of The S.S., Don't, and Thanksgiving are part of the experience. A second disc includes several videos: Robert Rodriguez' ten-minute cooking school, the makeup effects of Planet Terror, the hot rods of Death Proof, and how the trailers were made.

Blu-ray.com's reviewer wrote:

[D]oes this Blu-ray accurately represent the directors' visions and the way the film actually looked in theaters? Rodriguez and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Tarantino have filled this film with scratches, flecks, pops, missing reels, missing frames and other "fun stuff" to help recreate the less than pristine screenings of second (or third, or fourth) run films back in the day. There's also intentionally overdone grain, low contrast and about everything else videophiles tend to complain about, offered here in unapologetic abundance. Death Proof, despite its "missing reel" and the kind of funny "stuttering" missing/repeated frame in the early bar sequence, looks a bit better than Planet Terror, but that is inarguably by design. Both of these films sport typically lurid color, redolent of American International's mid-60s schlockfests, and it's offered here in rich and gooey saturation. Detail is impressive, given the self-imposed limits the filmmakers were working under. Grindhouse must simply be taken on its own terms, warts (festering or otherwise) and all. This Blu-ray offers a near perfect recreation of what the film is supposed to look like, and that really should be all that matters.

There are two "missing reels." The first, in Planet Terror, is the climax of a sex scene between "Cherry Darlin'" and "El Wray." The second, in Death Proof, is "Stuntman Mike"'s lap dance. But, Hey! The director's respect our imaginations, don't they?

Schlockfest? Something to know about these directors, especially, Quentin Tarantino, is that they often allude to the movies they grew up on, but in doing so they do them better. For example, the cannibal zombies of Planet Terror are reminiscent of the zombies seen in Night of the Living Dead. Death Proof can be viewed as a tribute to Vanishing Point.

The poignant love story of "Cherry Darlin'" -- not a stripper! -- and "El Wray" -- never misses! -- runs through Planet Terror.

If you watch the credits, you'll see that Quentin Tarantino's chef was not Quentin Tarantino, but Robert Rodriguez' chef was -- you guessed it: Robert Rodriguez.

Recommended!

I'm not the greatest fan of either Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino. I only have Grindhouse, El Mariachi, Desperado, Kill Bill (both volumes!), Reservoir Dogs and Sin City. Someday I'll have Once Upon A Time In Mexico, among others, like Jackie Brown. Those will have to wait, however; Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction was just released and that comes first. It was excellent on VHS, so it's going to be wonderful on blu-ray.

Blu-ray.com's review of Grindhouse is here, where this post's screenshot was obtained.

The Best of Youth

This is "Giorgia" (Jasmine Trinca), who was briefly rescued from an abusive hospital by two brothers, while they were students, early in the film "The Best of Youth." The story of the brothers, "Nicola" (Luigi Lo Cascio) and "Matteo" (Alessio Boni), occurs over nearly fourty years, and aside from Giorgia, who inspired Nicola to specialize in psychiatry and who reappears several times during the film, we meet the brothers' parents, sisters, lovers, and their children.

Nicola is the film's main character. When his daughter asks him what she should do in response to a letter from her estranged mother, Nicola asks her whether she is happy. When she answers affirmatively, Nicola tells her, "Now is the time to be generous," and she was, and she and her mother enjoyed meeting after many years apart.

Nicola may have gotten his happiness from his mother, who, about the time his father was dying, thanked him for never being jealous of his siblings. Matteo got a love of literature from her, but when his life ended she was so full of grief that she threw some books from his apartment onto the pavement and was unable to continue to teach literature. But she overcame her grief through the love of Matteo's son and his mother's generosity, before she died.

The film may offer an answer to that age-old question: What is the purpose of life? Perhaps the film's lesson is that our purpose in life is to to help one another. But to help others can require a generous spirit, which can require happiness. Perhaps our purpose is to be happy first, then to be generous. We can enjoy being generous when we're happy.

The film (on two DVDs) is about six hours long, and it was never dull or uninteresting. It's episodic, so there are a lot of convenient breakpoints. I watched it over two days and think that it was a good experience watching it that way.

Recommended!

The post's picture is a picture of the film's poster, from Wikipedia's entry for the film.

The Illusionist

This is "Alice," near the end of The Illusionist, in tears after the aging magician she believed in has left her with a little money and a note reading, "Magicians don't exist." But the magician, "Tatischeff," had transformed her from an unsophisticated maid working in a remote, isolated inn into a fashion-conscious young woman of Edinburgh.

Alice had been captivated by the magician, who bought her gifts he could scarcely afford: a new pair of shoes to replace the worn-out ones she wore at the inn, then a fashionable coat, dress and shoes after she followed him to Edinburgh. And it was in Edinburgh where she met a young man. It is an at times delightful and at times sad film with what may seem to be a happy ending.

The Illusionist is an animated film and the attention to detail is striking. For example, a train's reflection in the water as it passes over a bridge is drawn convincingly, as is the reflection of a passenger in the train's window as he looks out the window. At one point, the film's coloring and light reminded me of the paintings of Thomas Kincaid, but the film's drawings aren't -- well, schmaltzy -- like Kincaid's paintings can be.

Recommended!

The Illusionist received several film awards and was nominated for an Academy Award --- Best Animated Feature Film -- only to lose to Toy Story 3.

The post's screen capture is from Blu-ray.com's review of the film, here.

Wikipedia's review of the film is here.

'West Side Story' Blu-ray set to arrive on November 15th

High-Def Digest writes that my favorite musical is coming:

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the classic musical with two different editions hitting Blu-ray this November!

In an early announcement to retailers, 20th Century Fox has just unveiled 'West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition' for Blu-ray on November 15.

The Blu-ray will be available in a Limited Edition 4-Disc Boxed Set featuring 2 disc Blu-ray, newly-restored DVD, Tribute CD and collectible memorabilia, as well as a 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. ...

High-Def Digest's complete story is "'West Side Story' Announced for Blu-ray!"

Variety has a story, too: "'West Side Story' dances to Blu-ray."

Apocalypse Tomorrow!

The Los Angeles Times has a short, interesting article, "Apocalypse when?: May 21 and other doomsday dates on film," about the end of the world as we know it. The article has a slideshow of stills from apocalyptic films and each is accompanied by some essential, don't-make-any-plans-without-it, be-prepared information: When; Who called it; What's going to get us; and What can save us.

This post's photo is the third in the slideshow and is a Columbia/TriStar publicity photo for 2012.

Calling 2012 for the end seems at odds with what the article states is a prediction for tomorrow: "According to Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping of the Family Radio organization, Saturday is the first day of the "end of days," leading to the final, absolute, this-is-really-it, end-of-the-world doomsday on Oct. 21, 2011. Keep both dates free."

Of course, Harold Camping isn't a filmmaker. But, too, some filmmaker's have been mistaken about the date. The UK Guardian's "The Rapture: judgment day imminent … if US engineer has calculated right" has an interesting story about Camping's prediction.

Blow Out: A political conspiracy thriller?

In 1981, Vincent Canby wrote an interesting review of Brian De Palma's Blow Out:

... [M]ore important than anything else about ''Blow Out'' is its total, complete and utter preoccupation with film itself as a medium in which, as Mr. De Palma has said along with a number of other people, style really is content. If that is the case, ''Blow Out'' is exclusively concerned with the mechanics of movie making, with the use of photographic and sound equipment and, especially, with the manner in which sound and images can be spliced together to reveal possible truths not available when the sound and the image are separated.

This subject is, I suspect, so arcane that most moviegoers will insist on looking at ''Blow Out'' in terms of the story, which was written by Mr. De Palma as well as directed by him. Because that's only about half of the movie, and because the story is not entirely, consistently logical, a number of people may feel cheated. If one takes ''Blow Out'' on this level, it becomes the kind of movie one watches with increasing excitement until one gets to the end and asks, ''Is that all there is?''...

Canby's thought that the film is about getting the perfect scream makes sense. The film begins with Jack (John Travolta) doing the sound for a co-ed slasher film. The producer isn't satisfied with a girl's scream, so Jack's job is to get that scream for their film. Blow Out ends with that perfect scream dubbed into their film. How Jack gets that scream (by unhappy coincidence) is the "story" of Blow Out.

A Blu-ray edition of Blow Out was released on April 26th of this year. The Blu-ray not only includes the film, whose transfer was supervised and approved by De Palma, but an interview (about an hour) with De Palma, an interview with Nancy Allen (about 1/2 hour), an interview with cameraman Garrett Brown (about Steadicam shots -- he invented the Steadicam), two written reviews, and De Palma's 1967 feature Murder à la Mod, which was watched on television by one of the characters in Blow Out. Some of Louis Goldman's behind-the-scenes still photos are also included.

The still from Blow Out, above, showing Jack checking a wire on Sally (Nancy Allen), is from Blu-ray.com's screenshots, several of which -- the black and whites -- aren't from Blow Out. Those are from De Palma's Murder à la Mod.

West Side Story's 50th Anniversary

It's been fifty years since the film version of West Side Story appeared. There is a rumor that it will appear on Blu-ray, later this year. Let's hope so.

If not, there are at least two DVDs available. First, there is the MGM "full-screen" release, which was panned and scanned to be "full-screen" on an old-school television. As soon as I saw the first dance scene, I knew that a lot of the film was missing, visually, so I hit "eject" and took it right back to the library. Then, there is the "Special Edition" DVD, which presents the film as it was meant to be seen. The "Special Edition" can be purchased for $35.00, directly from the film's official website or from Amazon for considerably more. It comes in oversized packaging, so I didn't know the library had it until I saw it in the catalog and went to the "oversized" shelves.

West Side Story is phenomenal, visually and musically. Among the many songs written for it, "America" and "I Feel Pretty" are my favorites.

Though it's a love story, West Side Story is also a story of ethnic hate. Whose death is more moving? Tony's or Bernardo's? Why?

The photo is "The sharks girls extol the virtues of America," taken by Owen Carey at Portland Center Stage's production of West Side Story in 2007.

Oldboy

I saw it twice before I began to fully comprehend director Park Chan-wook's Oldboy. You may have heard, "Don't get mad, get even," and "Revenge is a dish best served cold," but Oldboy is a cautionary tale.

Don Murphy, producer of Natural Born Killers, Apt Pupil and Transormers wrote:

At the height of the mystery of OLDBOY, the main character Oh Dae-su has just fought his way back out of the building where he believes he was illegally held prisoner for a decade and a half. It will turn out he's correct, although it doesn't solve the central mystery of "who" and "why." He takes a moment to suck up his courage. He just fought off three dozen thugs with weapons and this is no easy thing.

It's at this point that Oh Dae-su wonders, via the magic of narration, whether he'll ever be the same after he's had his revenge. He doesn't allow himself all that much reflection -- mere moments later he's back on his journey of revenge. But, having seen the film multiple times, it's that split second that stands out to me. He knows this is all going to end in blood and shit, in pain and agony. But he's got to do it. ...

... Indeed, upon reflection, the one and only possibility to avoid the vengeance that ultimately comes in OLDBOY is to walk away and do nothing. But Oh Dae-su can't walk away. He NEEDS to know who stole fifteen years of his life and killed his wife. He needs to find out and get the bastard back. I would too. So even though he does pause to reflect about whether this is a good idea or not, he cannot stop. As humans the desire for retribution is in our genes.

Oldboy is part of the "Vengeance Trilogy," which includes two additional, excellent films from director Park Chan-wook: Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance.

The photo (Oh Dae-su imprisoned) is a still from Oldboy and was found at The New York Times' unappreciative review of the film, "The Violence (and the Seafood) Is More Than Raw." (I noticed two tooth extraction scenes; the tooth extractions weren't done by a dentist; however, what was about to happen was sufficiently foreshadowed that I had time to put a hand in front of my eyes. What I imagined was about to happen may have been far more gruesome than what was filmed. I'll see the film again and may screw up my courage to find out.)

The quote from Don Murphy was copied from a booklet that accompanies the "Vengeance Trilogy."

Should you see this film? Yes! For the irony of Oh Dae-su's quest and to experience his horror when he learns "who" and "why."

Summer Hours

Winding-up an estate rends many families, but three siblings, heirs to a few valuable art objects and a French country house, manage to do so amicably -- well, democratically, anyway.

The New York Times' A.O. Scott wrote:

... Hélène’s [Hélène Berthier (Edith Scob)] eldest son, Frédéric (Charles Berling), wants to keep everything as it is, so that the next generation can gather at the old place and appreciate Grandma’s stuff. But Frédéric’s sister, Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), and their younger brother, Jérémie (Jérémie Renier), who live abroad (she in the United States, he in China with his wife and three children), would rather sell the house and most of what is in it, donating the best of the paintings, pieces of furniture and sundry knickknacks to the Musée d’Orsay.

That, in a nutshell, is the dramatic arc of this extraordinary film, which, in spite of its modest scale, tactful manner and potentially dowdy subject matter, is packed nearly to bursting with rich meaning and deep implication. And this is only fitting, since one of Mr. Assayas’s [Olivier Assayas, the film's Director] themes is the way that inanimate things accrue value, sentimental and otherwise — the curious alchemy that transforms certain objects into art. ...

Late in the film, Frédéric and his wife see his mother's desk and a vase at the Musée d’Orsay and comment that they're nicely displayed, but Frédéric's tone of voice seemed to convey the idea that they were less valuable in their new setting, outside his mother's house, where they had been used in the course of ordinary, everyday life.

In his review, A.O. Scott wrote, "Frédéric ... dreams of holding on to it all for at least one more generation, but the film’s clearest and most poignant insight is that this longing, which is essentially to stop time, can never be fulfilled."

A.O. Scott's review of the film is "Sorting Out an Inheritance: Three Siblings Dissect the Stuff of Life," where this post's photo was found.

My rating of Summer Hours? A must see.

From 8 1/2 to Nine and Back, Again

This is Kate Hudson, as Stephanie, singing Cinema Italiano in Nine. The Blu-ray has some extra material in which you can see how intensely the soundstage was lighted for this number. Hudson's costume was made of a metallic mesh fabric and was heavy and was hot.

While watching Nine, I was contstantly reminded of Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 of 1963. Nine is not a remake of Fellini's film, but is derived from it. Many of the scenes and characters are similar. In both films, there is a director named "Guido."

"Guido" doesn't have a script, in either film. Imagine that! And with cast and crew assembled, with an imminent pre-release press conference, we see the film he might have made through scenes he imagines.

I had always thought that the alternative title for 8 1/2, The Beautiful Confusion, was an appropriate title, because although it was something pleasant to watch, the film didn't seem to have any meaning; it didn't make sense. But Nine and 8 1/2 are both films about making films; something I didn't realize until I saw Nine.

What is a director's role? Choreographer of time? With a number of scenes in the can, what can a director do? He (or she) might omit scenes, rearrange them, or, budget permitting, film additional scenes. The only thing remaining to be done is to tie the scenes together into a narrative whole. Music might be used to do that.

I saw 8 1/2 years ago; I don't remember where or when. After borrowing Nine (Blu-ray) from the library, I borrowed their 8 1/2 (DVD), then bought both Blu-rays. So, I have gone from 8 1/2 to Nine and back, again, and seen 8 1/2 as a musical for the first time.

How is a film like a life? How are a film's scenes like life's experiences? How is being a film director like telling one's life story?

The photo is a still from Nine, from blu-ray.com's collection of screenshots.

The Seven Year Itch

The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role. It contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th century -- Monroe standing on a subway grate as her dress is blown above her knees by a passing train.

While his wife and son are away for the summer, "Richard Sherman," played by Tom Ewell, meets "The Girl," played by Marilyn Monroe. Let's just say -- without getting clinical, in a psychological sense -- that Mr. Sherman has a very vivid imagination. The film can be quite tedious while Mr. Sherman is alone in his apartment, but once The Girl comes down for a drink it becomes fascinating. Marilyn Monroe plays a ditzy airhead -- dumb blond, if you prefer -- perfectly. She's an excellent actress.

The film is only available on DVD at this time. The DVD includes "Back Story: The Seven Year Itch," which has more of the famous subway scene than was included in the film, and it describes how Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio may have deteriorated over such scenes. Some of the bonus material also describes how the film differs from the hit play from which it was derived; how the Hayes Code caused the play to be butchered in order to make it into a film.

The Seven Year Itch is number 51 on The American Film Institute's Top 100 Comedy Films list. Ewell won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor, Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film's Director, Billy Wilder, was nominated for a Director's Guild of America award.

The post's image, as well as its first paragraph, were taken from the Wikipedia entry for the film, here.

Charlie Sheen Rants -- 'Two and a Half Men' Production is Discontinued

From "Charlie Sheen slams 'Two and a Half Men' creator in multiple rants," by James Hibberd of "Inside TV:"

Charlie Sheen ripped Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre — as well as Alcoholics Anonymous and women he parties with — in a stunning live radio rant Thursday, and then followed up a few hours later with a reported second rant to TMZ directed at Lorre specifically. ...

... Calling into the Alex Jones Show radio program, according to TMZ, Sheen called the executive producer of his hit TV show a “clown” ...

... Seemingly referring to women he parties with, Sheen says, “If I bring up these turds, these… losers, there’s no reason to then bring them back into the fold because I have real fame, they have nothing. They have zero. They have that night. And I will forget about them as the last image of them exits my beautiful home. And they will get out there and they will sell me and they will lose. Bring me a frickin’ challenge. It just ain’t there.” ...

... Regarding AA, Sheen called the organization a “bootleg cult” with a five percent success rate. ... "This bootleg cult arrogantly referred to as AA now supports a 5 percent success rate. My success rate is 100 percent. Do the math! One of their stupid mottos is ‘Don’t be special, be one of us.’ News flash: I am special and I will never be one of you. ‘Oh, we have to all sit in here and touch ourselves and frown.’ Well, you don’t look like you’re having a lot of fun. I’m going to hang out with these two smokin’ hotties and fly privately around the world. It might be lonely up here but I sure like the view.”

“I’m so tired of pretending like my life isn’t perfect and bitchin’ and just winning every second,” he continued. “I’m not perfect, and bitching and just delivering the goods at every f—ing turn. Because look what I’m dealing with, man — I’m dealing with fools and trolls. I’m dealing with soft targets.”

Inside TV's article has been updated with a link to an announcement by CBS and Warner Bros. Television. They are discontinuing production of the show for the rest of the season. The show had been scheduled to resume production on Monday, with Sheen back on the set Tuesday.

This post's photo is taken from The Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker column, "'Two and a Half Men' faces uncertain future after CBS shuts down season in wake of Charlie Sheen outburst," which adds: 'In a letter to TMZ issued after the network decision had been made, Sheen wrote of Lorre: “Clearly I have defeated this earthworm with my words -- imagine what I would have done with my fire breathing fists.”'

Radio lives. It's a quality rant, no? Much better than anything you can find on internet forums. Check-out the vocabulary: "Unevolved minds," "bootleg cults," "fools and trolls; soft targets," "Vatican assassin warlocks," and "fire breathing fists." Have you ever wanted to defeat an earthworm? Would words do that? Whether Charlie Sheen is embarrassed by his rant remains to be seen; however, he will certainly regret it, if only because its result will be a loss of income, now that production of the show has stopped.

You can hear Sheen ranting at the TMZ link, "according to TMZ," above.

Brain Scan!

I had an MRI brain scan, yesterday, after a CT scan found "nothing remarkable" in my head. I was told that it would take some time and be a noisy experience.

There was a lot of noise, but at times I recognized the source sounds of a fantastic music. It's very percussive. Afterward, I asked whether anyone had a recording of the machine; the operator didn't know of any. So, I searched the web and quickly found one person's description of an MRI for a wrist injury:

... The table then started to rise and slide into the machine. A few seconds later, the sound show began.

First, a somewhat distant repetitive rhythm kicked in, followed by a series of synth-like bleeps. Then it got LOUD. There were all kinds of odd sounds resembling horns, jackhammers, alarms, sci-fi blips and industrial percussion. One stretch sounded just like a time-expanded drum loop. The sound was incredible. ...

Then I found Project MRI. There, you can hear music tracks created from the sounds made by an MRI machine. Project MRI states, "All the songs on this CD were based on a set of sample recordings of a real MRI machine. The artists manipulated the samples with various effects and audio software, using the output as their final composition, or using it as a backdrop for adding additional recorded tracks from various Instruments."

Two raw MRI sound samples can be heard at a Center for Diagnostic Imaging page. The sounds heard while undergoing an MRI are louder and may be more interesting, or irritating, depending upon your taste, but those samples may give you an idea of what the raw machine sounds are like.

Always in the background, even before the scan began, there was a hammering sound. I was told that that sound is the noise made by the machine's cooling system. The rate of that sound varies as the scan proceeds and varies with the machine's cooling demands. The non-background sounds occur when electrical currents flow through the machine's gradient coils, producing magnetic fields that interact, audibly, with the machine's core magnetic field.

In a couple of days, my doctor will have the scan's results. Is there anything in my head? Anything at all?

Update, February 25, 2011: My doctor's office called to say, "The MRI is negative: no tumors; no masses." This adventure began when I experienced an overnight hearing loss in one ear. Doctors call it "sudden hearing loss."

A Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil was written and directed by Orson Welles, and the film stars Orson Welles as "Hank Quinlan," Janet Leigh as "Susie Vargas," and Charleton Heston as Miguel "Mike" Vargas. Along with them, Marlene Dietrich and other well known actors of the time play supporting roles.

This two-DVD set is a feast for film aficianodos. It includes the theatrical release of 1958, a "preview" version, discovered in 1976, and a 1998 "restored," actually re-edited, version, which was made to conform to a memo Orson Welles wrote after he had submitted a rough cut and then saw, with disappointment, the studio's re-cut, which included new footage added by contract director Harry Keller. A facsimile of Welles' typewritten memo is included in the box. Welles had fallen out with the studio's executives by leaving the country before the film was finished. Welles never directed another U.S. film.

In his memo, Welles expressed, among other things, two concerns about the film's opening. First was his concern about the long tracking shot at the beginning of the film. He was shown that shot superimposed with the film's credits and accompanied by Henry Mancini's score. The "restored" version removes the credits from the opening and replaces the opening's music with "sourced" sounds, that is, sounds that might be heard along the streets of a typical town on the U.S. and Mexican border. That town was the imaginary Los Robles, which was actually Venice, California. Welles' original vision of the opening shot was available for the "restoration," because the studio had preserved it in order to present international editions of the film with credits in languages other than English. Another great concern of Welles was the removal of the inter-cuts between the scene of the explosion, at the end of the opening shot, and Susie's encounter with Grandi; Welles thought the inter-cuts were necessary to the plot, but the studio thought that the audience might become confused by them. The inter-cuts make clear that essential elements of the plot occur simultaneously, in different places. Parts of the action occur on the U.S. side of the border; equally important things occur on the Mexican side.

The film does have a plot: Someone places a bomb in a car; the car explodes at the end of the film's opening; a lot of police descend on the scene of the crime; a long search for the perpetrator ensues. During the course of the investigation, several more tensions become apparent: Vargas is Mexico's top cop, and Grandi is a Mexican mobster; Vargas is Mexican, just married to an American, and Quinlan is an American who may have strangled his own wife; Quinlan is a corrupt, celebrity cop, and Vargas is a good, doing-his-duty cop; and then there are the differences between the cultures of Mexico and the U.S. The "restored," re-edited, version was made to make the plot more coherent, to tie-up the many loose ends left by the theatrical release. But the journey may be more interesting than the destination; this film can be enjoyed without comprehending the plot in its entirety.

I enjoyed the cinemaphotography. It's black-and-white, and much of the film is shot at night; it should be expected to be dark and contrasty, as it is, yet a lot of detail is retained. Aside from the justifiably famous, opening tracking shot, there is a scene of a moving car filmed without a process shot -- a first! -- with the camera attached to the front of a car as it's driven by Vargas down a long Venice, California alley. The film's cars were supplied by Chrysler, some of them are convertibles (1957?), whose design was influenced by Virgil Exner and marked the height of Chrysler's use of tailfins, before the 1959 Cadillac appeared.

There is a wealth of "bonus" material on the two disks. Each version of the film can be seen with voiceover commentary: writer F.X. Feeney, on the theatrical version; Welles historians Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore, on the preview version; and, on the "restored" version, the restoration's producer, Rick Schmidlin talks about the film. An additional voiceover commentary on the "restored" version -- although the box' back cover indicates that it's with the preview version -- with Schmidlin and two of the film's stars, Charleton Heston and Janet Leigh, can also be heard. In addition to the voiceover commentaries, Bringing Evil to Life has interviews with Heston, Leigh, members of the film crew and film historians, and Evil Lost and Found has a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the restored version.

One of the voiceovers mentions that Alfred Hitchcock became enamored of this film. His Psycho of 1960 also starred Janet Leigh, who had a bad time in an out-of-the-way motel, just as she did in this film. In Touch of Evil, the motel clerk was played by Dennis Weaver, whose eccentricity was portrayed differently than Norman Bates' eccentricity in Psycho.

Russel Metty was responsible for the film's cinemaphotography. He won an Academy Award for 1960's Spartacus, another film that starred Charleton Heston.

These disks were seen, upscaled via a Sony S570 Blue-ray player to a 1080p hi-def TV, and the transfers were done very well. Harry Quinlan's seediness is quite apparent; a Blue-ray edition might show off his whiskers a little better and reveal more of the costumes' details and textures, but these DVDs provide an adequate impression of those things.

Some have complained that this set is inappropriately letter-boxed. It was filmed in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio, but the director's intent was that it be shown in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, so this set's presentation is correct. People who saw a theatrical release or the VHS release in 1.37:1 saw more than was intended. In a theatre, the projectionist should have set the projector's aperture plate to display 1.85:1 frames; the VHS transfer's aspect ratio may have been a concession to television's 4:3 aspect ratio at the time of the VHS release.


The film's Wikipedia entry is here.

Walter Murch's article, "Restoring The Touch of Genius to a Classic," which appeared in The NY Times, is here. Walter Murch was engaged by restoration producer Schmidlin to re-edit the film.

And, again, Welles' memo, with editorial matter by Lawrence French, can be read here.

This post's image was found at Amazon.com, here.

Sudden Fear

I've seen this. It is excellent; a must see.

I say that fully aware that the film's transfer to DVD appears to be flawed. It's doubtful that the film appeared as poorly when it was projected, but I have only seen this DVD. The contrast varies throughout the film, and it isn't as sharp as it might have been.

Nonetheless, the film is a thrilling suspense story.

The film was nominated for four academy awards in 1952: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Joan Crawford; Best Actor in a Supporting role, Jack Palance; Best Cinemaphotograpy, Black-And-White; Best Costume Design, Black-And-White.

The film's suspenseful score (particularly effective late in the film) was written by Elmer Bernstein.

Wikipedia's Sudden Fear entry.

Sudden Fear at The Internet Movie Database.

The NY Times' 1952 review of Sudden Fear.

Kino International's DVD release occurred in 2003. There is a German/English language DVD entitled Eiskalte Rache, released in 2005, which may be a better transfer. I haven't seen it, so cannot say.

The Consolation of a Story

George and Martha had an imaginary son. They loved him and each other.

In a Dark Corner

Suppose you discover you've a rival for your spouse's affection. Wouldn't it be nice if your rival disappeared? But murder can be untidy. You could solicit someone to kill your rival. But people get caught and squeal. What if you could goad someone into killing your rival? Someone with no connection to you. You'd have the plot that drives The Dark Corner, a noir film of 1946.

The film stars Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix and Mark Stevens. Stevens plays "Bradford Galt," an ex-con turned private detective; Ball plays "Kathleen," Galt's receptionist/secretary and the woman behind the successful detective. You see, Galt goes into a funk when he discovers he's being followed, when someone tries to run him over with a car, and when someone frames him for murder; Kathleen picks him up each time. Clifton Webb plays "Hardy Cathcart," a wealthy gallery owner and the husband to "Mari Cathcart," played by Cathy Downs. Mari Cathcart is carrying on an affair with "Anthony Jardine," played by Kurt Kreuger. Hardy Cathcart wants Jardine to disappear, and he engages the "guy in a white suit," played by William Bendix, to goad Galt into killing Jardine. Galt and Jardine were private eye partners before Galt went to prison.

For those weaned on re-runs of Lucille Ball's "I Love Lucy" and William Bendix' "The Life of Riley" TV shows of the 1950s, it can be a surprise to see Ball and Bendix in these roles. Ball carried off an important, serious role without a single pratfall; Bendix played an effective thug, instead of an amusing, bumbling TV-dad. Instead of comedy, they did a melodrama; before some melodramas became known as film noir.

Something that distinguishes a noir film is its visual style: its lighting, and its composition of scenes and individual frames. It isn't difficult to find interesting stills in these films. The Dark Corner exemplifies and illustrates noir's visual style beautifully. The film can be seen on DVD, which includes a viewing with voiceover commentary by film historian Alain Silver and author James Ursini. They talk about the film's lighting, characters and plot, and, while doing so, they compare and contrast The Dark Corner with other noir films. Silver and Ursini collaborated to write several books, including The Film Noir Encyclopedia

Judson Hirsh's The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir is considered by some to be the go-to intro to film noir.

I must have enjoyed the film; it held by attention, and it was interesting to see Lucille Ball in a serious role. My copy of the DVD was obtained from a library, and I saw it (upscaled) via a blu-ray player (Sony S570) to a 1080p hi-def TV. The film's aspect ratio is 1.33:1, so it is letter-boxed, left and right. I didn't notice any scratches or dust, so some work went into the transfer from film to digital. There is little, if any, grain visible, which might lead one to suspect that considerable noise reduction was applied during the transfer, especially considering the film may have been shot on Tri-X film; without seeing the original, projected film, it's difficult to know for sure.

Let us enjoy ... The Adventures of Superman!

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane! It's a bird! It's Superman!

Many have watched the television series "The Adventures of Superman." Some of you may have seen it after school and heard your mom ask, with a sigh, "Is your homework done?" Others may have seen it on Saturday morning and had their nannies toss them a box of Frosted Flakes®, saying, "Don't forget to eat!" Whatever the circumstances, or if you've never seen the show, it's worth a second, or a first, look.

The first disc of the series' first season is a real treat. It contains six episodes, including "Superman on Earth," which is about Superman's arrival on Earth. He arrived, while still a baby, aboard a small -- flimsy -- rocket from the planet Krypton. His father and mother placed him in the rocket -- did they strap him in? -- and launched it on a course for Earth just as Krypton disintegrated. The rocket crash-landed and was found by a childless couple, surnamed Kent, who gave the baby the name "Clark" and raised him. At the age of twelve, Clark came home from school one day in a funk. "Mom" asked "Clark" what the matter was, and he told her that he had abilities the other boys didn't have: That very day he had found a lost baseball behind a rock, and he was able to see it because he had X-Ray vision! "Mom" told "Clark" about his origin. "Clark" grew to be a man and, after "Dad" died, left on a bus for Metropolis, where, with the help of his extraordinary powers, he landed his job at the Daily Planet newspaper.

The second episode, "The Haunted Lighthouse," can be seen with voice-over commentary by Gary H. Grossman, who wrote Superman: Serial to Cereal, which is considered the go-to guide for the series. Grossman didn't see re-runs; he saw it as a four-year-old, when it was first broadcast in the early 1950s. He became a life-long, passionate fan, and he did a lot of research before writing his book. Grossman says that the first season is the best; the episodes were mini-films with sound plots. Although he finds "bloopers," he has a lot of praise for the series' production values, which, he says, were quite good considering the episodes were filmed in a rush and on a low budget.

The first disc, by itself, might be good to have when people visit. It runs for about two and one-half hours -- about the right length for a mini-marathon -- and might lead to some interesting conversations: Where were you when you first saw the show? It's so fake, now! Wow! Did everyone wear hats -- and suits? -- back then? Will either "Lois" or "Jimmy" ever realize that "Clark" is Superman? Was George Reeves the best Superman ever? Where can we buy -- wear? -- vintage clothes? What kind of car does "Lois Lane" drive?

There is an excellent picture of a preserved or restored car, like the one "Lois Lane" drives during disc-one's "The Mystery of the Broken Statues" episode, here, at Wikipedia's entry for the television series, here. Grossman mentions Aardvark's -- in LA -- for vintage clothes, but, alas! the store may no longer be in business.


The DVD looked very good when played on a 40" hi-def TV, via a Blu-ray player. The aspect ratio is 3:4, so on a 40" TV the picture appears as though it's on an old-school TV of about 32 inches, letter-boxed, left and right. The series was filmed and, when the DVD is paused, some grain can be seen. The picture is much clearer than what I remember seeing broadcast -- in re-runs! -- on TV years ago. I timed one episode and it ran for twenty-five minutes, so there must have been five minutes (!) of Kellog's commercials (?) when the show was broadcast. I've read that some of the commercials can be seen on another disc from the first season set.

One short episode -- not from the first season -- was made for the U.S. Government and is in the public domain:



via Stamp Day for Superman (1954)

Check your library for this DVD set. I obtained disc one from my library. Apparently, they broke the set up into several items for lending.

Superheroes in Comic Books and Film

Some comic books -- graphic novels, if you prefer -- are thought by some (parental units) to be violent. But the "violence" of comic books is stylized violence, which some (vermin intellectuals, a.k.a. elites) call "aestheticized violence." Stylized violence is the heart and soul of Superhero comics. Superheroes survive villians' knockout, fatal blows and use their supernatural powers to defeat their adversaries. The books' theme is classic Good vs. Evil, at times drawn in graphic black and white.

Frank Miller's Sin City appeared about twenty years ago and was adapted to film in 2005. Many, if not all, of the characters are criminals and may not be, strictly speaking, superheroes, but they are able to survive incredible violence and come back for another beating, bullet or blade. There are "good" criminals; when everyone is a criminal, aren't there bound to be "good" and "bad" criminals? It's a black and white film, with a little color used to draw attention to a character in each of its many episodes: red in The Customer Is Always Right, blonde in The Hard Goodbye, ... . Excellent!

In the mid-eighties, Watchmen was written by Alan Moore, drawn by Dave Gibbons and colored by John Higgins. A film adaptation of Watchmen appeared in 2009. The film portrays Superheroes in several lights: flawed good-guys, vigilantes and has-beens. The film is set in the mid-eighties, when Nixon -- believe it or not! -- is in his fifth term. The Blu-ray set contains some extra clips with an interview in which the comparison of Superheroes with vigilantes is made explicit. Until seeing that particular interview, I had forgotten that the mid-eighties were a time when the "Subway Shooter" and "Guardian Angels" flourished. Another extra clip attempts to discourage kids from becoming a Superhero or pretending to be one.

But one teenage boy does decide to play Superhero. Mark Millar and John Romita created Kick-Ass in 2008, and it was adapted to film last year. The film's stars are "Big Daddy" (Nicolas Cage) and "Hit-Girl" (Chloe Moretz). Hit-Girl is a young femme fatale (she's eleven), and the film was criticized for her profanity and violence, but it is stylized violence (could anyone do and survive what she did?), so I have to give her (and the film) a "You go, girl!" rating. "Kick-Ass" (Aaron Johnson) is the boy who pretends to be a Superhero.

Kill Bill, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino of Pulp Fiction fame, didn't originate in comics, but is a wonderful revenge story in which "The Bride" (Uma Thurman) avenges a wedding massacre as she searches for "Bill" (David Carradine). One rather lengthy display of The Bride's martial arts prowess and sword-fighting skill culminates in a beautiful scene (the sword fight with "O-Ren Ishi" (Lucy Liu)) that looks as though it could have been filmed in a snow globe. In another scene, The Bride's family values become apparent as she and "Vernita Green" (Vivaca Fox) engage in a knife fight. And, in yet another scene, you can witness an assassin's compassion: Sent to kill The Bride, "Karen Kim" (Helen Kim) walks away during a tense standoff after she learns The Bride is pregnant. During the film, Bill reveals a great secret about Superheroes when he tells how Superman differs from other Superheroes. Kill Bill is a two volume film, with each volume a sequence of five chapters, and like many novels it employs non-linear narrative to tell its story.

The post's picture, which is of the church where the massacre in Kill Bill occurs, is taken from Wikipedia's Kill Bill entry.

Blade Runner - The 'Final Cut'

Blade Runner's "final cut" was released as a single Blu-ray disk on January 4th of this year.

It can be seen as part of a 5-disc collector's edition, which was released in December of 2007. My library acquired the 2007 set, so I've spent some time seeing the film in most of its variants: the director's workprint, the international cut, and the final cut, as well as some of the extra/bonus material. I haven't yet had a chance to see the domestic cut and the 1992 director's cut.

The final cut's lighting seemed darker -- contrastier -- in comparison with the earlier cuts. It has two "improved" scenes which I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't also watched some of the extra material: Some out-of-sync lip movement by Harrison Ford's character, Deckard, was corrected (by Harrison Ford's son) and Zhora's "retirement" was re-shot. The final cut also has a completely new scene of the dove (Roy's soul?) flying away (to heaven?). The final cut has eliminated the voice-overs by Harrison Ford, which were unnecessary explanatory material and considered disruptive by Harrison Ford and many fans of the film. But unlike the international edition's "happy" ending, the final cut ends sooner, more ambiguously.

What's the film about? Four replicants, human robots made by Tyrell Corporation, with a four-year lifespan, have illegally come to Earth in search of a longer life. So, a Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), is tasked with "retiring" them. Leon and Zhora bleed like humans, then there are two: Roy and Pris. Roy finagles an audience with Mr. Tyrell, his Maker, and kills him after learning there is no way his life can be extended. Pris is then shot dead by Deckard. Roy then pursues Deckard through the Bradbury Building, and just as Deckard is about to fall from a nearby building, Roy saves him, then sits down in the rain to die, telling Deckard sadly (stoically, if you prefer), "I've seen things you wouldn't believe ... . All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain."

What I like about the film are the scenes of L.A. streets in 2019. They are dark, grey, blue and black, peopled by absolutely medieval characters, with bright, colorful neon signs.

Some people who talk about the film like to speculate about whether Deckard is a replicant. Perhaps we're all replicants, living here, somewhere "off-world."

Isn't it interesting that Roy kills his Maker?

Rachael is a replicant who believed she was human; you can believe that she and Deckard live happily ever after, if you like.

The film's only failure of imagination, from my point of view, is that the film's TVs and monitors aren't the stuff of 2011, much less 2019; they're more relics of the 1980s. They might have taken an idea from how they lighted the high-rise, in the picture, above, to anticipate the flat-panel displays of today. On the other hand, the film's see-around-the-corner photo enhancement (when Deckard examines Leon's pictures) may have been prescient.

Blade Runner made the AFI's top 100 list in 2007. Just barely ... it's #97.

Should you buy the single-disk "final cut?" Not if you're a fan of this film. The price difference between the 5-disk set and the single-disk is about $10 at Amazon, and the 5-disk set has a lot more to see. It's a film you can watch more than once.

Richard Wagner's cycle has made its mark on comic books

David Ng writes in "Richard Wagner's cycle has made its mark on comic books:"

... Los Angeles Opera is producing the complete "Ring" for the first time beginning in May. Although this avant-garde staging isn't for neophytes, its emphasis on spectacle and visual effects (light sabers play an important role) could make it the ideal "Ring" for superhero geeks. ...

... Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung" is regarded by many as an important genetic mother ship for today's fleet of action heroes. ...

... Even those who have never experienced Wagner's epic should have little trouble recognizing the names of some of its chief protagonists such as Wotan and Brünnhilde and her fellow Valkyries. That's partly because Wagner himself borrowed from a number of well-known myths and legends -- the 12th century Germanic poem the "Nibelungenlied" was his primary source. But it's also because pop culture has taken Wagner's creations over the years and liberally repurposed them into a multitude of hit incarnations.

Perhaps the most popular of the "Ring" characters are the Valkyries -- the airborne female warriors of the cycle's second opera, "Die Walküre," who carry slain soldiers from the battlefields to their final resting places in Valhalla. ...

... On TV, the most recognizable offspring of Wagner's Valkyries was the title character in the cult series "Xena: Warrior Princess." In the sixth and final season, which aired in 2000-2001, viewers learned that Xena ( Lucy Lawless) was once an evil Valkyrie who presided over a reign of terror in the show's pan-mythological universe. ...

A promotion for LA Opera's production -- with audio and photos -- is here. LA Opera's Ring Festival closed on June 26, 2010.