Alfonso Cuarón and the Cinematic Precipice

WHAT IS CINEMA?: Alfonso Cuarón and the Cinematic Precipice from Jorge Gonzalez Diaz on Vimeo.

'Falling': A Video Montage

with 'gravity' just around the corner 'falling' is timely

Back to the Camera

135 Shots That May Restore Your Faith in Cinema

135 Shots That Will Restore Your Faith in Cinema from Flavorwire on Vimeo.

'Camelot' Blu Ray Releases Today

i love 'camelot'. i contend it is one of the best translations of a broadway show to film media. i love the book, the look, the score, the casting and the direction. richard harris and vanessa redgrave are the perfect arthur and guenivere. if there is a weak link it is franco nero as lancelot getting one of the worst dubbed singing voices in musical history. otherwise it is actually a better film than the original broadway production. 

richard harris plays arthur as a big kid with a big heart, a lot of love, warmth and charm. he is just so damn perfect. vanessa redgrave gives us a guenivere that is worth fighting a war over. and she has never been more sensual as  a guenivere should be.

the score soars. it seldom falls flat although 'if ever i would leave you' one of it's most famous tunes is utterly destroyed by the aforementioned nero dubbing. rather than list my favorites i give you some videos instead. please realize these are not from the blu ray version but some older you tube clips.

'i wonder what the king is doing tonight' introduces us to mr harris's youthfully charming arthur

'where are the simple joys of maidenhood' in turn introduces us to a  youthful yet sensual guenivere

'the lusty month of may' gives us an equally lusty guenivere, lusty knights and lusty ladies

'camelot'

'what do the simple folk do'

'take me to the fair'

'how to handle a woman'

don't let it be forgot
that once there was a spot
for one brief shining moment...


and now it is on blu ray forever

 

Ode to the Movie Slap

just a little fun

Happy Birthday Katharine

i loved katharine ross since 'the graduate'. she feel out of film when she reached a 'certain age'. the parts were just not there. but three wonderful performances in three wonderful films give her a place forever among the best.

she stole hearts worldwide as elaine in 'the graduate' a great film and a defining film for all time.

elaine and ben together again

as joanna in 'the stepford wives' katharine went from normal to stepford without missing a beat.

as etta place she held her own with two giants of the screen newman and redford in butch cassidy and the sundance kid' and oh that smile!

'the bicycle scene', raindrops and oh that smile again

katharine appeared in an all-star film 'voyage of the damned' as mira hauser about german jews seeking refuge and denied entry everywhere. her character, etta hauser, was a jewess posing as a gentile. she was prostituting herself to make money to help her parents seeking refuge. it was a bit overbloasted but for history buffs it was a  bit of an enlightment.

*****************

Jill Clayburgh: Memories

for me it all began with the musical 'pippin'. jill played catherine. she had three songs. at that moment she had me forever. jill had two solos and one duet with john rubenstein portraying pippin. these songs will appear in my 'loving jill' video over the weekend and on my ipod forever.

the tv film 'hustling', 'gable and lombard' and 'silver streak'  came next. but more on them later except to say that as carole lombard in the aforementioned 'gable and lombard' my love affair truly began.
 
and then in 1978....

the deal was cemented with her first major role as erica in 'an unmarried woman'. jill became the toast of the cannes film festival after it's premiere. she won best actress at that festival. the oscar money was on jill to win best actress in 1978. the oscar, heaven help us, went unwisely to jane fonda in the mediocre 'coming home'. another oscar crime.

i believe jill was too 'new york' for the mostly hollywood voter. it was this prejudice that cost her the oscar win. they just did not get jill or her character erica benton with their upper west side sensibilities.

about four minutes into the following scene you will see why she was at least oscar nominated. yes and why she should have won.

the following scene early in the film shows the dreams of the married woman. it's a charming and delightful scene that we have all imagined in some way or another. then dreams are shattered for awhile as she becomes an unmarried woman. erica benton as her portrayer would not let the bad permanently halt the future.

'an unmarried woman' began a string of roles for jill that showed smart,capable, independent women with a touch of the neurotic. hell that means she portrayed a real person. we all have our own nuerosis though try and hide them we might.


meet erica benton

to be continued

Happy Birthday Barbara

is it possible that barbara harris is 74 today?

i went to smoke enders with ms. harris. truly. we had a hoot together. we lost touch eventually but my heart carries the memories. i also cherish seeing her in 'the apple tree' and 'on a clear day you can see forever'. and 'freaky friday' remains a classic disney film, hitchcock's 'family plot' and then there is her brilliant performance in the classic 'nashville'.



on a side note: when the film critic of 'new york' magazine at the time reviewed the barbra streisand he film version of 'on a clear day you can see forever' he commented 'barbra streisand is missing more than an A from her name but compared to barbara harris she is missing everything from B to Z.





so happy birthday barbara and thanks for the cherished memories.
especially this one from her tony award performance in 'the apple tree'

'All About Steve' Rates *1/2stars

the "razzies" gave sandra 'worst actress of 2009' for this film. ok it's a pretty lousy film but sandra played the role of someone outside 'normal' perfectly. sandra wasn't flawed the character was flawed that is if being somewhere 'next' to normal is flawed.

did the "razzie" committee happen to see katherine heigl in 'the ugly truth'? did they see 'bride wars' with ann hathaway and worst of all kate hudson? or did they just go with sandra because she said she'd show up and was getting 'oscar' buzz? me thinks the latter.

Barbra: 'On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'

go to sleep



hurry it's lovely up here



what did i have that i don't have



wait till we're sixty five*






*cut from 'on a clear day

Rachel to Play Jackie Kennedy Onassis*

By Jeff Sneider
Published: April 14, 2010
Oscar winner Rachel Weisz ("The Constant Gardener") is attached to play Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in "Jackie," a Noah Oppenheim-scripted drama that Weisz's fiance Darren Aronofsky ("The Wrestler") will direct and produce with Scott Franklin through their production company Protozoa Pictures, reports Entertainment Weekly.

The film will follow Jackie O over the four days between President John F. Kennedy's assassination and his burial and reportedly show the beloved late First Lady "at both her most vulnerable and her most graceful." The intriguing concept sets the film apart from other Kennedy-related projects, including Oliver Stone's "JFK."

CAA is shopping the package and lining up financing for the project. Judging by Aronofsky's recent track record, it'd be fair to suggest that the project will wind up at Fox Searchlight, however, it also carries a certain prestige element that may be better suited for DreamWorks. Either way, the "Jackie" package is attractive enough that some Oscar-hungry studio will be unable to resist.

The L.A. Times previously reported that director Steven Spielberg was linked to the project, which was expected to land at HBO, home of Spielberg's miniseries "The Pacific," but the DreamWorks principal is not part of the package at this point.

It's kind of funny that an American icon like Jackie O will be played by a British actress, but there's no doubt that Weisz has the look, and more importantly the talent, to succeed in the high-profile role. Plus, it's comforting to know that Weisz and Aronofsky's last collaboration was 2006's underrated romantic sci-fi epic "The Fountain," as opposed to, say, "Far and Away," to name one of several possible examples of bad movies made by good couples.

The project is certainly in safe hands with Aronofsky, who is indisputably among the best American filmmakers working today. His last film, "The Wrestler," was my favorite film of 2008, and I consider his second feature, "Requiem For a Dream," to be the second-best film of the last decade. He recently completed Fox Searchlight's ballet thriller "Black Swan," which stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder and Captain America's new sidekick Sebastian Stan ("Gossip Girl").

Weisz has starred in an alarming number of disappointments since winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She followed "The Constant Gardener" with the aforementioned "The Fountain," but then went on to star in "Eragon," "My Blueberry Nights," "Fred Claus," "The Brothers Bloom" and "The Lovely Bones." Yikes! Not much luck there, but hey, at least I enjoyed "Definitely, Maybe" more than most. Weisz will next appear in Alejandro Amenabar's long-delayed historical drama "Agora," which Newmarket Films will finally open on May 28. According to The Playlist, the film will be 14 minutes shorter than the version that received an underwhelming response at Cannes last year. Weisz has also been rumored to play the head of Quantum in "Bond 23," which would be very cool news if it is ever confirmed.

Oppenheim is a former journalist and "Today" show producer who currently serves as the head of development at Reveille.

*courtesy of 'the wrap

Keira Knightley Out, Carey Mulligan In As Eliza Dolittle

emma thompson to write screenplay

Meet the Mad Hatter

Alice in Wonderland Exclusive Mad Hatter Featurette in HD

Trailer Park Movies | MySpace Video

R.I.P.: The Month of January 2010

jean simmons - actress
eric rohmer - director
james mitchell - actor
meip gies - humanitarian
erich segal - author
j.d. salinger - author
harve presnell - actor
teddy pendergrass - singer
zelda rubinstien - actress
ugly betty - series
miramax - studio

'Nine':B+

Screw the critics. I thought 'NINE' could not be made. The fact is the Broadway show was not made.
Rob Marshall used the musical as a starting point to make something more cinematic. He got it!
Truth be told Ii enjoyed it more than 'Chicago' that was poorly cast.

'NINE' has near perfect casting.
Day-Louis, Dench, Fergie,Cruz and surprisingly, for me, Nicole all shined.
The exception being Kate Hudson. What the hell was she doing in this ensemble?

The true gift was the performance of Marion Cotillard as Luisa. Needing to be sad or angry or sweet she had it all and gave it her all. She's extraordinary she is as she goes from jubilation to desperation without missing a beat. I'm falling in love with this woman...this damn good actress. It's not by accident that Marshall had Marion wear a little black dress, Audrey Hepburn style, and then basically recreated Audrey's 'Roman Holiday' screen test for Marion's character. Inspired!

'Nine'

I'm a 'Nine' officiando.
From the original Broadway show to the revival.

The show ALL my friends thought I would hate.
They were ALL wrong.
Yet it was a show I believed would not and could not and most importantly should not be filmed.

My Film review in a day or two.

The Worst in Film 2000-2009

The worst are those that aspire to and pretend to be the best. the decade had a lot of bad films and a lot of good and great films. The following are the good, the bad and the downright ugly films 2000-2009.


The #1 spot goes to 'Rachel Getting Married' and most everything else where Anne Hathaway's name appeared above the title*



and the other 9 in no particular order are:

All the King's Men-Kate and Sean's HUGE mistake.
Australia-could possibly sink the entire continent.
Gladiator-it's the 21st century for god's sake.
No Country for Old Men-no film for sane men and women young or old.
Passion of the Christ- mel gibson's bloody violent and anti-semetic rant. oy vay!
Sideways-sideways, upside down or right side up a mess,a bore about male menopause
The Departed-retreading scorcese and big bad boston irish cops yet again.yawn!
The Edge of Love-Keira's mistake
The Ugly Truth-the truth is in the title: uglyuglyugly



Worst performance by actor, actress, canine, feline or what have you goes to you guessed it:



*(the exception being 'The Devil Wears Prada' because Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt dwarfed her at best mediocre performance)

'A Single Man': Rates an 'A'

An amazing directorial debut by Tom Ford. An amazing supporting performance by Julianne Moore whose work I have never admired in the past. Matthew Goode and Nicholaus Hoult are terrific in supporting roles also.

BUT it is the brilliant portrayal of this newly single man by Colin Firth that makes this an exceptional film. He has always charmed me but now in this meaty, gusty, heart wrenching role he gets to show everyone what i personally always knew was there.

His is the actor role of the 2009 as far as I'm concerned. He now moves into the 'legend' category of film actors.

'A Single Man' claims it's spot as one of the Best Films of the decade.

A Look Back at 'Brokeback Mountain'