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Fritz Lang (I) More at IMDbPro »
2009 | 2008 | 2006 | 2005
1-20 of 80 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
Esther Williams Box Set: Million Dollar Mermaid
27 December 2009 2:04 PM, PST | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »
Van Johnson, Esther Williams Esther Williams Box Set, Vol. 2: Part I If you find yourself unmoved by what you’ve read so far, then I suggest you skip this Esther Williams set altogether as, historical and sociological dimensions aside, these films are pretty dreadful. The visual style usually hovers around the level of "faceless competence" (but, curiously enough, the dullest-looking of the bunch, This Time for Keeps, was shot by Fritz Lang’s brilliant Metropolis cameraman Karl Freund); those of you who are fans of mid-century set design and color values will at least have that to pay attention to. Better to scrutinize the periphery of the shots than to waste too much attention on supporting casts featuring the likes of Jimmy Durante, [...] »
- Dan Erdman
Forget E-Books: The Future of the Book Is Far More Interesting
23 December 2009 7:51 AM, PST | Fast Company | See recent Fast Company news »
Coming soon... It's the end of the book as we know it, and you'll be just fine. But it won't be replaced by the e-book, which is, at best, a stopgap measure. [Viral Loop Chronicle #8]
Take a long hard look at a book, any book. Pull a favorite off a shelf, dust off the top--maybe it's the Bible, the Koran, a novel by Jane Austen or Leo Tolstoy. Perhaps you're more into Dan Brown or Jacqueline Winspear mysteries, Doris Kearns Goodwin biographies, or you've dog-eared page after page in Skinny Bitch. You may even gravitate toward business books like Viral Loop, my latest. Now say your goodbyes, because there will soon be a day that you may view such analog contrivances as museum pieces, bought and sold on eBay as collectibles, or tossed into landfills.
Coming soon ... It's the end of the book as we know it, and you'll be just fine. But »
- Adam Penenberg
Finals Week: 'The Final Girl: A few thoughts on Feminism and Horror'
21 December 2009 12:08 PM, PST | Pretty/Scary | See recent pretty-scary news »
The Final Girl: A Few Thoughts on Feminism and Horror By Donato Totaro
One of the more important, if not groundbreaking, accounts/recuperations of the horror film from a feminist perspective is the 1993 Carol Clover's "Men, Women, and Chainsaws". One of the book's major points concerns the structural positioning of what she calls the Final Girl in relation to spectatorship. While most theorists label the horror film as a male-driven/male-centered genre, Clover points out that in most horror films, especially the slasher film, the audience, male and female, is structurally 'forced' to identify with the resourceful young female (the Final Girl) who survives the serial attacker and usually ends the threat (until the sequel anyway.) So while the narratively dominant killer's subjective point of view may be male within the narrative,the male viewer is still rooting for the Final Girl to overcome the killer. We can see this »
- Superheidi
Tuesday Morning Foreign Region DVD Report, Obsessive Collector Edition: "Scarlet Street" (Fritz Lang, 1945)
15 December 2009 6:05 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »
What is it about the very scrupulous DVD collector, or, maybe what we might call the very scrupulous DVD librarian? What is it that drives him or her—but let's face it, more often than not it's a him—to pursue various iterations of a particular title in an obsessive fashion, so as to finally arrive at the closest thing at that moment to a platonic ideal of pictorial perfection? This week, we look at two versions of Fritz Lang's 1945 thriller Scarlet Street and try to arrive at an answer. »
Todd Lincoln Prepping Shoot for The Apparition
9 December 2009 1:21 PM, PST | DreadCentral.com | See recent Dread Central news »
Bucking the trend of updating the masses via Twitter, Todd Lincoln has instead opted to communicate via Facebook, where he provided an update on the status of The Apparition, which he's writing and directing for Joel Silver's Dark Castle.
Lincoln wrote the following as his most recent Facebook update: "in Berlin prepping The Apparition. Love my crew. We're building our sets on the same stage that Polanski recently shot on and that Fritz Lang shot Metropolis."
Now that's some heady history there! The Studio Babelsberg, located in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Founded in 1911, it covers an area of about 270,000 square feet.
Last we heard, Dark Castle was shooting for a February 1, 2010, start date so things appear to be on track. The Apparition, which is inspired by true events, centers on a young couple haunted by a supernatural presence that's unleashed during a college experiment. »
- The Woman In Black
In the November Notebook
6 December 2009 8:51 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »
Acquarello
Now on DVD: "The Human Condition" (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959-1961)
The Forgotten: Loose Talk
The Forgotten: Chains of Love
Now on DVD: "TheGoodTimesKid" (Azazel Jacobs, USA)
The Forgotten: Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden
Now Playing on The Auteurs: "Death in the Garden" (Luis Buñuel, Mexico/France)
The Forgotten: Strausswitz
Adrian Curry
Movie Poster of the Week: "Hausu"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Up in the Air"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Bright Star"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Home"
Ways of Love, or the Best Films that Didn't Appear on Other "Ten Best" Lists...
The Trouble with Movies: II
53rd London Film Festival: "La danse - Le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris" (Frederick Wiseman, USA)
Daniel Kasman
Video Sundays
Video Sundays: The Modern Charade
God and Man: Aleksandr Sokurov's "The Sun"
Images of the Day
Video Sundays: Auteur Pantomime in the »
'Red Cliff' Just the Latest Film Re-Edited for American Consumption
26 November 2009 9:10 PM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
Last Friday marked the arrival of Red Cliff (read our review here) the new war epic by Chinese action-meister John Woo. But this wasn’t the same version that graced Asian theaters prior to its international release: In its home country, Red Cliff was released as two films, the first in mid-2008; the second in early 2009.
Rather than unleash a nearly six-hour magnum opus on audiences worldwide, Woo pared both films down into a single two-and-a-half hour cut. In interviews, he said the deleted scenes mostly placed the film’s events in historical context, which might not have appealed to Westerners unfamiliar with Chinese history. Woo’s movie depicts the famous Battle of Red Cliffs, which was fought around early 200 A.D. between warlords from the northern and southern regions of China.
It’s too early to tell how successful Red Cliff will be with North American viewers (In mainland China, »
Revenge of the shlockmeister: Roger Corman gets his due
25 November 2009 4:57 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Roger Corman's output through the years may not be immediately familiar, but he's been a wide conduit for emerging talent and raw creativity. That's why he's finally been given an Oscar
"Ok, so, November 14th 2009, Roger Corman receives an Oscar. People … what took you so long?" The words of Jonathan Demme in his speech before handing over the statuette to Corman on that fateful evening.
Don't worry, you've not missed the Oscar ceremony (something surprisingly easy to do since Sky swiped the TV rights). This was the inaugural Governors awards, part of the new-look Academy that will see the number of nominees greatly expanded come March, where the board issue honorary Oscars to deserving talents who they missed out or ignored over the years. It's a shame this was such a sidelined event as we were denied the opportunity to see Hollywood's brightest and best politely clapping at a »
- Phelim O'Neill
Kurosawa's 'Ran' Will Still Find Its Way to Blu-ray
24 November 2009 3:38 PM, PST | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
Those upset (myself included) that Criterion had to withdraw their planned Blu-ray edition of Ran due to a rights issue can cheer up as the holder of those rights was making the same plans. Lionsgate Home Entertainment in cooperation with StudioCanal are set to release Ran as well as 1955's The Ladykillers starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers and Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (Le Mepris) on Blu-ray on February 16, 2010.
Unfortunately there isn't any box art available yet, but below are the list of features for each:
Ran 1080P High Definition Widescreen format with Japanese, English, Spanish, French, German and Italian DTS Master Audio "A.K." - the acclaimed feature-length documentary on the making of the film "Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate" - documentary on the director Portrait of Akira Kurosawa by Japanese cinema expert and interpreter Catherine Cado "The Samurai" - documentary on Samurai art "Art of the Samurai »
- Brad Brevet
Payback is making a comeback
20 November 2009 4:15 PM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Why does recession bring with it a thirst for dumb revenge dramas?
Law Abiding Citizen, which I should say at the outset is a terrible, terrible movie – either the stupidest of the year so far or the most unintentionally funny – takes the urban revenge movie and grafts on to it certain depressing innovations from other genres, including the serial killer-as-genius trope from The Silence Of The Lambs, and the post-Saw/Hostel enthusiasm for torture-porn and mega bloodshed. Let's just say it doesn't tell us much except that the revenge movie is back with, um, a vengeance.
Gerard Butler plays a man who takes complicated, detailed and violent revenge against the killers who raped and murdered his wife and daughter. Thing is, he's already in jail when most of the killings occur (cue evil genius!), which doesn't stop one victim from being surgically deprived of various extremities, up to and including his Johnson (hello, »
- John Patterson
'Broken Embraces': Love In Vain, By Kurt Loder
20 November 2009 7:05 AM, PST | MTV Movie News | See recent MTV Movie News news »
Pedro Almodóvar dazzles again.
Penélope Cruz in "Broken Embraces"
Photo: Universal
Lena, Mateo and Ernesto are caught up in a vintage film-noir triangle. Lena (Penélope Cruz) is a willful beauty with a lurid secret. She lives in luxury with the much-older Ernesto (José Luis Gómez), a wealthy Madrid businessman, but is falling under the spell of Mateo (Lluís Homar), a celebrated movie director, who has cast her in his latest picture. Ernesto, possessive and ruthless, has arranged to become the film's producer, and has assigned his unstable son (Rubén Ochandiano) to shoot a video documentary about the making of it — footage that allows Ernesto, back in his mansion in Lena's increasing absences, to track her deepening relationship with Mateo.
Pedro Almodóvar's "Broken Embraces" is a rapt essay in film-noir atmosphere — the classic black-and-white fog of desperation, treachery and impending disaster — which has been translated here in carefully calibrated color. »
TCM Classic Film Festival: A Star Is Born, Metropolis, Breathless, 2001
18 November 2009 2:23 PM, PST | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »
Judy Garland in A Star Is Born (top); Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (middle); Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg in Breathless (bottom) Turner Classic Movies‘ first-ever TCM Classic Film Festival, which will be held on April 22-25, 2010, in Hollywood, will feature the world premiere of a newly restored edition of George Cukor’s A Star is Born (1954), starring Judy Garland and James Mason; the North American premiere of the restored version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927); and a 50th anniversary screening of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. The TCM Classic Film Festival will also feature a special presentation of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, including a discussion with Oscar-winning visual-effects artist [...] »
- Andre Soares
Restored 'Star Is Born' to Kick Off TCM Classic Film Festival
18 November 2009 10:51 AM, PST | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
By Lisa Horowitz
The world premiere of a newly restored version of George Cukor's "A Star Is Born" will be the opening-night event of TCM's Classic Film Festival on April 22 in Hollywood, part of the fest's overall theme of celebrating Hollywood's history.
Also during the inaugural festival, which runs through April 25, TCM will present the North American premiere of a restoration of Fritz Lang's 1927 "Metropolis" and a 50th-anniversary screening of "Breathless," »
- Lisa Horowitz
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
18 November 2009 7:57 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »
Updated through 11/18.
While this season of taking stock finds us tinkering on our lists of the best films of the year - best of the decade, even - along comes a book that throws all our efforts into humbling perspective. Never mind years and decades. Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber presents us with the work of a lifetime, collecting what for too long has gone uncollected, the reviews and essays, stray thoughts and well-targeted rants of "the liveliest, smartest, most original film critic this country ever produced," as none other than Susan Sontag put it.
Over the next couple of weeks, The Auteurs will be celebrating this landmark publication with new appreciations of Manny Farber and his work; the full text of editor Robert Polito's introduction as well as his selections from the book of previously unpublished works by Farber; and a short film by »
A Japanese superhero whose backside fires bullets. Cool
16 November 2009 1:43 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Are we ready for Astro Boy? He's a cute little robot with rocket boots, spiky black hair and – winningly – the ability to shoot bullets out of his backside. January sees the UK release of the animated Hollywood film Astro Boy, an all-star production, with voices coming from Donald Sutherland, Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron and Bill Nighy. Their names are all over the movie's website. But where's the name of Astro Boy's creator, Osamu Tezuka? You'd need a magnifying glass to find any mention.
In her lavish new book The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, Helen McCarthy acknowledges that her subject is not exactly well known in the west. The first chapter is titled: "Osamu Who?" The fact that the question needs to be asked is indicative of the enduring bafflement with which we regard Japanese pop culture. And the Japanese are not nearly as insular as »
- Sam Leith
Topics/Questions/Exercises Of The Week—13 November 2009
13 November 2009 8:45 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »
On The Evolution Of CinemaScope: Or, of you're going to be a stickler about names of formats and such, "The 2.35:1 Or So Aspect Ratio."
Above: The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953).
Above: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958).
Above: Le Mepris (Contempt) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963).
When CinemaScope was introduced in 1953, the first film in the widescreen format was in the then au-courant sand-and-sandals quasi-Biblical-epic genre. The Robe still plays, in its silly way, as a study in gargantuan production value. And the gargantuan dimensions of the CinemaScope screen were seen as something of a novelty, a piece of showmanship rather than cinema per se, Zanuck's would-be blowback at television in an attempt to shore up the notion that movies were still going to be your best entertainment value.
What, though, had 'Scope to do with the art of cinema? And/or what director was going to be able to use 'Scope artistically? The answer came reasonably quickly, »
'Melrose Place' recap: Auggie skips town, Ella's heart skips a beat
10 November 2009 10:00 PM, PST | EW.com - PopWatch | See recent EW.com - PopWatch news »
You know you're boring when the only reason people notice you're not around is a full-fledged Lapd manhunt. Yes, Auggie fled town after his tryst with Violet (understandable -- I’m still trying to get rid of the mental picture myself), off to Mexico to go “surfing.” Who did they get to fill in chopping the thyme at Coal!? The knife the cops dug up last week was the weapon used to murder Sydney and it turned out to have Auggie’s blood on it. So a ridiculously large group of cops (and did I hear a helicopter?) swarmed Melrose to find him. »
- Wendy Mitchell
The Good, The Bad And The Wtf: Sands of Not My Freakin' Dime
4 November 2009 1:09 AM, PST | JustPressPlay.net | See recent JustPressPlay news »
It's the mid-week report of the good, bad and you-know-what-the-what here, as we compile the movie news from the past week and a half. Yes, you'll have more at the end of the week—but for now, let us all cringe together as we see stomach news of the 2012 motion sickness experience, an Mib without Will Smith, and the audacity of some people to shoot a barely visible topless scene and hype it up like it was Basic Instinct 3.
The Good
• For years, there have been several attempts to do a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, none of them ever came close to moving ahead. Speaking to MTV last week, director Robert Zemeckis set the record straight: that this time he is personally involved and really excited to do the sequel, and that he has commissioned original scribes Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman to write the screenplay. Let's hope »
- Arya Ponto
Tuesday Morning Foreign Region DVD Report: The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Boxset
3 November 2009 10:51 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »
These notes are for Bill Ryan.
One would hope that for pretty much every cinephile reading this, the object announced above (from—you'd never guess—Eureka!/Masters of Cinema, Region 2 Pal U.K.) would sell itself. I can't imagine anybody who would deny that Fritz Lang's three films about the master criminal created by Norbert Jacques are not merely touchstones of genre cinema, not merely touchstones of auteurists cinema, but touchstones of cinema itself. First there is 1922's Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler, a.k.a. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler—although Mabuse maven David Kalat reminds us in the commentary that "Spieler" doesn't just, or only, mean "gambler," but also "actor," a person who is "in it;" in hip-hop parlance, "player" (or "playa"). It is a nearly five-hour film, in two parts, that evokes corruption and rot in a fashion that often recalls an all-night drug and alcohol jag—exhilarating highs melting into stomach-churning lows. »
What I Watched, What You Watched: Installment #15
1 November 2009 2:16 AM, PST | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
On top of the titles listed below I also watch the Criterion Blu-ray for Howards End and the Blu-ray for Warner Home Video's North By Northwest, both of which will be reviewed on Tuesday along with the Criterion Blu-ray for Wings of Desire. On top of that I watched the Blu-ray for Disney/Pixar's Up, which will be reviewed in a couple of weeks along with the Blu-ray versions of Monsters, Inc. and Cars.
As for the titles listed below, the first three are the final three of Sony's November 3 release of Film Noir Collection Volume One after I discussed my thoughts on The Sniper and 5 Against the House last week. You can get more details on the complete set right here and a link to buy the set is included with all three films below. As a quick note, the only one of the five I didn't particularly »
- Brad Brevet
2009 | 2008 | 2006 | 2005
1-20 of 80 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
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