"Propaganda against the system"

Over at The Guardian it was reported that Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in prison and is banned from directing, producing, writing, and anything else film related for 20 years. He was convicted of "colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the regime." This is a rather heavy blow to Panahi, especially, but also to the whole Iranian film community.

According to another article, a group of European filmmakers, stars, and critics have put together an online petition protesting Panahi's sentence and demanding it be changed. The petition claims,

Jafar is innocent and his only crime is wishing to continue to freely exercise his profession as a film-maker in Iran ... Through this sentence inflicted upon Jafar Panahi, it is manifestly all of Iranian cinema which is targeted.

That Panahi supported and distributed "propaganda against the system" seems possible - watch his films, it's in there. So there might be no way around the allegations of collusion against the state. Except he isn't being convicted because of his films, but allegedly for some other acts of "civil disobedience," which he might indeed be innocent of. Maybe the Iranian government works kinda like the Oscars, awarding you not for the film that deserves it, but rather for the film you most recently did. Never mind what Panahi's past films say, he's punished for whatever political statements he has said recently.

Yet his punishment attacks his role as a filmmaker, not as your average concerned citizen. And that's why his sentence is targeting all of Iranian cinema. At the very least, his sentence is a message to filmmakers, as well as all citizens, that the government means business (like we all didn't know that already), and that filmmakers need to behave in a government-approved fashion. Panahi (and fellow filmmaker Muhammad Rasoulof, also sentenced to six years prison) are examples to the whole community of what happens when you step out of line. This isn't a new government tactic, for opposition to filmmakers by the government has always existed. Film has always been both a tool of and threat to the State.

Panahi's sentence is being appealed, so who knows if things will play out differently for him. Hopefully so. In the meantime, I'd watch some Iranian films, but I don't actually own any (shame on me). I'll have to settle for The Lives of Others, which seems quite appropriate in light of Panahi's statement that, "When a film-maker does not make films it is as if he is jailed. Even when he is freed from the small jail, he finds himself wandering in a larger jail." The government has punished him as a dissenting citizen, but his punishment targets his art, because his greatest political weapon is arguably his art, his films. Keeping an artist from their art does more than just snub a hobby, it damages their whole character. And in the case of a particularly good artist like Jafar Panahi, it hurts the entire community.

 

Dark Night of the Soul

In case anyone missed the news, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse did an album together, titled Dark Night of the Soul. If that wasn't enough coolness, David Lynch shot a whole book of photography for the project, and sings on two of the album's tracks. The album's release remains uncertain thanks to record label lameness. Luckily, NPR Music allows you to listen to the whole album on their site.

Boast's verdict: It's brilliant.

"Et tu, Cleanflicks?"

As you have all come to expect, the stalwart interns here at Boast HQ will not rest until we, like the NY Times, have updated you with "all the news that's fit to [post]." How else do you think our world-wide readership topped 300,000 last month? Well I can tell you that it isn't by posting controversial little nasties about a certain former movie-editing franchise that is "NOT Affiliated in Any Way with Daniel Dean Thompson, a Convicted Felon Recently Arrested on Sexual Abuse Charges."

Hey, speaking of...

Did you hear Ray Lines, CEO of Cleanflicks, telling everyone, "[Daniel] Thompson was never a partner, officer, affiliate, dealer, franchisee, collaborator, consultant or representative of any Clean Flicks entity in any capacity"? He pointed out that because of Thompson's scandal, "Our name has been dragged through the mud and it's not right." Boy, it sure isn't right, and it's a good thing that Cleanflicks isn't associated with this guy because nothing brings your business down like criminal activity.

Sarcasm aside [sigh], what Cleanflicks has done by releasing a statement and filing charges against Thompson is the equivalent of a schoolyard "Nuh-uh!" Like all businesses who appreciate a good sports metaphor, Cleanflicks has adopted the philosophy that "the best defense is a better offense." Ask the Patriots about that one, Ray.

What I see is Thompson claiming one thing and Lines another. It's not like Daniel Thompson has only just started making this claim - he's been doing it since the courts ruled that the movie-editing business was bad (and by bad I mean illegal) business. We didn't hear Cleanflicks filing lawsuits and non-affiliation then and it's not like they weren't being dragged through the proverbial mud of public perception. But now the company who made such a show of being picked on by Hollywood is now suing Thompson for $1.1 million in damages, fees, and awards. What makes me sad is that because of this, Ray Lines and Daniel Thompson will probably never be friends.

The official Boast, M.D. diagnosis:
Cleanflicks suffers from acute martyrdomitis (the interns watch a lot of House) - first it's Hollywood, now it's the lying pedophiles.

The Boast Judges:
Not one finger - but two!




[Link to Cleanflicks statement]
[Link to SLTrib article]
*Clicking or adding labels to a feed reader will keep you up to date on these topics*

More Cleanflicks

Wipe that wink off your logo!
I've posted a couple of times on the supreme cheekiness of a company touting moral high ground while selling unauthorized and illegal versions of edited movies. However, much to my surprise, owner of the re-opened Orem, UT location of Cleanflicks, Daniel Thompson, keeps pushing the levels of irony to laughable proportions.

It seems that the mole in charge of illegally cutting movies in the sweaty basement has also had a few side activities that wouldn't become one so bent on cleanliness. Daniel Thompson and Isaac Lifferth have both been booked into jail for paying 14 year-old girls for sex acts.

Although, after the courts ordered them to stop doing business the first time, they did change their name from Cleanflicks to Flix Club... hmmm. I guess it's not so ironic after all. My bad.

Anyway, the undernourished staff writers here at Boast have been working all afternoon (their sleepy-time) on new names for the next time someone decides to continue this silliness:

FlixXx Club
The Club (for private members... you know *wink*)
Prison Flix, or Flix Prison (we're a bit undecided on this one)
A club for guys who watch hours of sex and violence frame-by-frame.
Jim Cunningham's Heroes

It can always get worse/better (choose one).


[Link to the KSL article]
[Related Boast articles here, and here]

Sugarshock, by Joss Whedon & Fabio Moon

Dandelion

Is the answer if you have found yourself wondering what Joss Whedon (aka Monsieur Creative Genius Extraordinaire) has been up to since cutting off from the intriguing but possibly doomed Wonder Woman project. This latest work of pure Jossiness has been spotted on our Whedar and does not fail to please for all its randomness and the lovable Dandelion.

This new post-fem rocker girl heads a thrash band named Sugarshock (also the comics' title), loves her mates, is slightly delusional, and festers some mysterious childhood angst against Vikings. And she saves planet Earth while signing with an interstellar music label.

It might be fair to say that this is the coolest thing since, well, the last thing Joss did.

"One, two, three, four...!"


Free Sugarshock comics from Dark Horse @ MySpace:
Part one
Part two
Part three

Reshoots for Blade Runner's 25th?

Dark Horizons reports that Joanna Cassidy, who plays the famous replicant Zhora from the classic sci-fi film Blade Runner, has recently finished re-shooting scenes to be included in the film's upcoming 25th anniversary DVD boxed set.

From Cassidy's website:

Joanna has just finished re-shooting her scenes from the original BLADE RUNNER movie. Joanna is wearing her original outfit (which she kept over from the first production).

This could be really exciting - nearly as much as the fact that Cassidy still has that sweet outfit from 25 years ago! Apparently, director Ridley Scott has a great track record for extended/director's cut reissues - both Legend and Kingdom of Heaven received better reviews for the DVD release than they did for the theatrical. My only worry is that Blade Runner (one of my absolute favs, as previously mentioned) could suffer from the same conflated pretentious nostalgia that inspired George Lucas when re-releasing the Star Wars films (IV, V, VI) or the 30th anniversary release of Night of the Living Dead (not Romero's fault). The reshoots for both of these films, while I'm sure causing Lucas's beard to twitch and his beady eyes to start wiggin', made my childhood dreams distort in a pile of digitally induced CGI reflux. (For the record, 35mm black and white looks way better than miniDV with the color removed).

Lets hope that this release will be as cool as we all hope. And maybe if we're lucky, they'll shoot some more scenes with Edward James Olmos! Hey, if androids can dream, so can we!
Meh!


[Link] to the Dark Horizons article.

Lindsay Lohan + Tennessee Williams = Redundant?

Affectionately named 'Li-Lo' by the tabloid press, Lindsay Lohan would be wise to heed such advice as every time she moves she takes it in the neck from the media. Sure, we tire of hearing of yet another silly thing that she has done, but the last thing we really need is the exploitative tabloid harlots encouraging further (self?) destruction.

Cintra Wilson at The Oxford American discusses the sympathetic struggle of Lindsay Lohan and why her new role in an upcoming Tennessee Williams adaptation is so fitting and familiar:

While Lohan never seemed to have the dazzling prepubescent wonder, poise, and innocence that made Liz Taylor so sympathetically girlish and childlike (New York Times film critic Janet Maslin found Lohan’s double-performance in the remake of The Parent Trap so audacious, “that she seems to have been taking shy violet lessons from Sharon Stone”), there is something endearingly lame about both actresses—a pleasantly obvious lack of the kind of cool, preternatural grace possessed by Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly. They get a little shrill, raspy, and nasal when they’re nervous or overexcited. There is, at times, a perilous, half-crazy, overbrightness in both sets of big blue eyes. Something roundly superfeminine about their cushy, youthful bodies best reflects the more ravenous, low, cannibalistic desires of their decades. Unlike the indestructible Ava Gardner, both Lohan and Taylor have suffered from chronic broken hearts and serial attractions to men who guarantee them. Liz and Lohan are wounded little tigers—always collapsing and being released from hospitals, sprained, skinned, whimpering. But tigers are perceived as tigers, and get no pity from cows.

Tennessee would have felt their pain. “I have a funny heart,” he wrote of himself. “Sometimes it seems to thrive on punishment.” He was admitted to the Barnes Medical Center in St. Louis by his brother for what was deemed “violent, destructive and possibly suicidal” behavior brought on by willful and sustained drug abuse. Artists blessed and cursed with the job of channeling the emotions of their generation are invariably crushed under the bright pain of unrelenting scrutiny. Stars are supposed to portray human life, and its joys and tortures, perfectly—but we don’t allow them to feel excessive misery in their personal lives, without a note from the doctor or a dead parent. Depression is forbidden, as is self-loathing…how dare she be so unhappy when she has everything?

Update: Apparently, Lindsay Lohan has been replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard for The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond... which might be less ironic and generally better for the poor girl.


[Link] to the full article.

2008 Presidential Candidates' Film Favs

Because the 2008 US Presidential race will most likely be a tight one, with candidate and party platforms, promises, and politicking creating a minefield of confusion as to who you should vote for, the sweaty grubs working in the Boast Research Dungeon have found all of the important info you need to make a well-informed vote...

The Candidates' favorite films!

• Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona: "Viva Zapata" (1952)
• Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York: "Casablanca" (1942)
• Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-New York: "The Godfather" (1972)
• Former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina: "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964)
• Gov. Bill Richardson, D-New Mexico: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969)
• Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Massachusetts: "Raiders of the lost Ark" (1981)

This also works as a voting prediction generator. Here are a few possibilities that our analysts have rushed together.

A) The race will boil down to Hillary and Rudy, with Sen. Clinton winning because she prefers a bit of romantic nostalgia to a bloody animal head.

B) John Edwards will take it in a landslide because of his tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Slim Pickins should really be riding a nuke rather than running the country.

C) A three-way tie between Gov. Richardson, Sen. McCain, and John Edwards due to the political relevance of their film choices.
Unfortunately, Mitt Romney's choice, while a pretty dang fun movie, speaks a bit too loudly on demonizing the 'Other', US manifest destiny, and advancing monetary means by way of exploiting Asia and the Middle East - which is kind of old hat these days. If he really wants to stand a chance, our advisory board recommend that he publicly apologize and change his pick to something like, Gold Diggers of 1933, Playtime, Paradise Now, or anything by Kieslowski.
Good luck.

[Link]


Tagged under:
Film, US Presidential Elections

The Day the Earth Stood Still... Seriously

The dirty word on the street is that one of the most reputable sci-fi flicks in film history will be mooshed through Hollywood's low-brow-remake cash extractor. Before you strain something at the thought of this heinous milkery, let me just say, well, ... "RUN!!! Run fast! Get your children, your pets, your ipods - and get awaaayyy!"

Instead of daft-looking army men bearing guns, there are now sinister-looking capitalists bearing studio clout. Our only hope rests on the endearingly silent and charismatic Gort coming down and melting their gold teeth and money clips or freezing all of the projectors on opening night.
"Gort. Klaatu, barada, nikto!"

And stop watching Ghost Rider.


[Link to the article]


Tagged under:
Entertainment, News, New Releases, Movies

Simon Pegg on British and American Humour

Whilst living in Britain I would frequently hear the remark that British humour is 'different' than American humour, and then get surprised glances when I (an American) appeared to 'get'/dish out a clever bit of irony (don't misunderstand, I'm not that clever). I was always puzzled by this, as I merely thought it was the interpretation, filtered by cultural context, that determined whether someone got the laugh or not.

Well, we can all rest easy now, as British Actor/writer/man-of-extraordinary-genius, Simon Pegg, writes a brilliant article on the virtues and (lack of?) difference between British and American humour.
An excerpt from The Guardian:

When it comes to humour, however, there is one cultural myth that just won't die. You hear it all the time from self-appointed social commentators sat astride high horses, dressed as knights who say, "Ni". They don't get it. They never had it. They don't know what it is and, ironically, they don't want it anyway. That's right: "Americans don't do irony." This isn't strictly true. Although it is true that we British do use irony a little more often than our special friends in the US. It's like the kettle to us: it's always on, whistling slyly in the corner of our daily interactions. To Americans, however, it's more like a nice teapot, something to be used when the occasion demands it. This is why an ironic comment will sometimes be met with a perplexed smile by an unwary American. Take this exchange that took place between two friends of mine, one British (B), the other American (A):

B: "I had to go to my grandad's funeral last week."

A: "Sorry to hear that."

B: "Don't be. It was the first time he ever paid for the drinks."

A: "I see."

Now, my American friend was being neither thick nor obtuse here; he simply didn't immediately register the need to bury emotion under humour. This tendency is also apparent in our differing use of disclaimers. When Americans use irony, they will often immediately qualify it as being so, with a jovial "just kidding", even if the statement is outrageous and plainly ironic. For instance...

A: "If you don't come out tonight, I'm going to have you shot... just kidding."

Of course, being America, this might be true, because they do all own guns and use them on a regular basis (just kidding). Americans can fully appreciate irony. They just don't feel entirely comfortable using it on each other, in case it causes damage. A bit like how we feel about guns.

[Link to the full article]

Tagged under:
Entertainment, Simon Pegg

Twin Peaks, Season 2 on DVD

This might just be the best DVD-release news I've heard since Criterion re-released Jacques Tati's Playtime; The second season of David Lynch's Twin Peaks will be released on DVD [in America] on April 3rd. For all of us who have been suffering from over-worked tracking ticks and watching a cast whose VHS-induced complexion looks like they just spent the last decade in a tanning bed, we can finally put those faithful tapes to rest (who am I kidding - we'll still hang on to them and periodically pull them out for parties and odd conversation starters).

Party carefully, lovelies, because the owls will definitely be watching.


Tagged under:
Entertainment, Twin Peaks

David Bordwell on 'Infernal Affairs' and 'The Departed'

"Infernal Affairs or The Departed?" Surely a question to stir up the excitable fanboy and pseudo-savvy filmgoing buzz-word-dropper. And despite the fact that I happen to really like Infernal Affairs and have yet to see The Departed, I think it's the type of comparison that rarely produces anything other than opportunities to display a (lacking) knowledge of cinema. In fact, I think the main reason people generally trash Nolan's reworking of Insomnia has nothing to do with the film at all, but that the original is Norwegian and by 'preferring' it they can dip into the international well of film that seems to elude so many.

That said, Hong Kong cinema expert David Bordwell makes some interesting points about each film that go beyond fanboy excitement and EWeekly predictability.

[Read the article]



Tagged under:
Film

Steely Dan offer Wes Anderson Advice©

Fans are an interesting bunch. Obsessed fans… well, they’re interesting for slightly different reasons that are more selfish than Golden Rulish. For all of you hipsters who worship Wes Anderson, (even so much as to send bits of assumed advice his way) here is a bit to His Geeky Holiness, Señor Anderson, from the copyrighted and royaltied guys of Steely Dan© - yes, THAT Steely Dan.

You can also link to the full article below, which includes another fine letter to Owen and Luke Wilson.

From: W. Becker and D. Fagen [AKA Steely Dan© ]
To: Wes Anderson

Maestro:

As you may know, we are the founders of the celebrated rock band "Steely Dan"©. If for some reason you don't know our work, check with Owen and Luke Wilson - they're both big fans. Here's something you may not know about us: when not distracted by our “day job” – composing, recording, touring and so forth – we like to head downstairs into the paneled basement of our minds and assume the roles we were born to play - you may have already guessed it by now – the roles of Obsessive Fans of World Cinema.

That's right. Eisenstein, Renoir, Rene Clair, Bunuel, Kurosawa, Fellini, Godard, Tarkovsky, Ophuls the Elder, Blake Edwards, Ophuls the Younger, you name it. Sat there, dug it.

Maestro, we give to you this Message: there was a time when Giants walked among us. And, damn, if you, Wes Anderson, might not be the one to restore their racial dominance on this, our planet, this Terra, this... Earth.

You may have heard that we have recently made it our personal project and goal to deliver a certain actor of no small importance to your past and present work from a downward spiral of moral turpitude from which it seemed there might be no escape. We are delighted to report that, with the news of Mr. ________'s participation in your new film (which we understand to be entitled, indeed, charmingly, “Darjeeling Limited”), our efforts have been repaid, and How.

This unqualified victory has inspired us to address a more serious matter. Let's put our cards on the table - surely, we are not the first to tell you that your career is suffering from a malaise. Fortunately, inasmuch as it is a malaise distinctly different than that of Mr.______ , and to the extent that you have not become so completely alienated from the intellectual and moral wellsprings of your own creativity, we are hoping that we - yours truly, Donald and Walter - may successfully "intervene" at this point in time and be of some use to you in your latest, and, potentially, greatest, endeavor.

Again, an artist of your stripe could never be guilty of the same sort of willing harlotry that befalls so many bright young men who take their aspirations to Hollywood and their talent for granted. You have failed or threatened to fail in a far more interesting and morally uncompromised way (assuming for a moment that self-imitation and a modality dangerously close to mawkishness are not moral failings, but rather symptoms of a profound sickness of the soul.)

Let's begin with a quick review of your career so far, as it is known to us and your fans and wellwishers in general.

You began, spectacularly enough, with the excellent "Bottle Rocket", a film we consider to be your finest work to date. No doubt others would agree that the striking originality of your premise and vision was most effective in this seminal work. Subsequent films - "Rushmore", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Life Aquatic" - have been good fun but somewhat disappointing - perhaps increasingly so. These follow-ups have all concerned themselves with the theme we like to call "the enervated family of origin"©, from which springs diverse subplots also largely concerned with the failure to fulfill early promise. Again, each film increasingly relies on eccentric visual detail, period wardrobe, idiosyncratic and overwrought set design, and music supervision that leans heavily on somewhat obscure 60's "British Invasion" tracks a-jangle with twelve-string guitars, harpsichords and mandolins. The company of players, while excellent, retains pretty much the same tone and function from film to film. Indeed, you must be aware that your career as an auteur is mirrored in the lives of your beloved characters as they struggle in vain to duplicate early glories.

My favorite is their aptly appointed theme of “envervated family of origin”©.

Now that’s what I call, “Quality”©.

[Link] to the full letter.

Tagged under:
Entertainment

Upcoming Criterion Releases!

Lovely things are happening over at the Criterion Collection Factory of Joy this September. They are rereleasing Jacques Tati's Playtime, Fellini's Amarcord, Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, and Terry Gilliam's Brazil. I can hardly believe it myself. But yes, the upstanding folks at Criterion are doing their part to rid the world of poorly transferred reissues of the best that cinema has to offer. Rest assured, you are in very safe hands.




Also, note the cool new minimalist criterion logo that they are sporting these days! Dig it.




!Warning!
The purchasing and hasty consumption of all of these titles may result in the following side effects: extreme coolness, lack of boredom, intense cerebral activity, enlightenment, and various forms of attention from the opposite sex.



Disclaimer:
The extremely handsome lounge lizards here at Boast are not responsible for the lack of said side effects if persons fail to purchase all of the aforementioned titles.




Tagged under:
DVD, Entertainment,

Dispelling Myths About Miami Vice

Since it's TV-to-big-screen adaptation was announced, I've found myself confused by the insistence of the general public and critical world that Miami Vice is going to suck neon-lit, 80s pastiche, art deco butt. Well, it doesn't. Is it a stand alone feature that was inspired and adapted by the series' original creators and producers? Yes. Do they think so little of their ideas that they merely homage the original with tongue-in-cheek distaste in order to skive along on the recent bandwagon of television-to-feature tedium? No. Is poor Colin Farrell finally going to transcend his apparent status as Hollywood's most invisible leading action man? ... Um... who knows?

What Michael Mann has created is a grim and cynical cop/drug bust movie. Is that all? No. Despite what lazy critics might lead you to believe, it's never that simple people. This film isn't Heat, by any means, it's Miami Vice. A different film. Thank you Michael, we all appreciate the fact that you don't just recycle all of your films. What we don't appreciate is high school criticism parading around as professional competence.

[Enter: The Doofus]

Eric D. Snider, illustrious cheap thrill enthusiast and apparent film-hater (whom I have previously posted on here), seems to have had his assumptions that this was going to be Charlie's Angels dashed into reductive pieces.

He begins his review of Miami Vice by saying,

What Michael Mann -- executive producer of the TV series and writer/director of the new film -- has done is take that story and strangle all the fun out of it... The fact that I've never seen an episode of "Miami Vice" does not appear to be a liability.

Considering that Snider criticises the feature for being devoid of 'fun', I would say that it is a BIG liability - how can he assume that the TV series had any fun in it to be removed in the adaptation if he hasn't even seen it?! What does he mean by 'fun', anyway? Should the 'convoluted' vice cops be cracking more jokes, or making more sexual inuendos? Should there be more slo-mo car crashes or gun battles? Maybe the undercover cops should be a bit more wacky because the whole scenario is just a little too dramatic and not fun enough. That's what we need: drug busts that are not just uplifting and pleasant, but enjoyable and fun.

He continues,

Mann's films tend to be melancholy, even somber ("Ali," "Collateral," etc.), but never has he seemed so hell-bent on dreariness. The story, easily handleable in a two-part TV episode, is stretched out for 133 minutes, its themes repeated endlessly. Occasional bursts of action provide temporary respite. Then it's back to the dreariness.

It's sure good that his 'etc.' wasn't replaced by, um, I don't know, 'Heat' or 'Last of the Mohicans' or 'The Insider', because that would have ruined his whole argument, since they are all monuments to uplifting sensationalism. What I think Snider wanted was 133 minutes of bursting action to deaden all of that pesky dreariness. Need I remind anyone that the title of the film is Miami VICE? Not Miami Somewhat-uplifting-and-hopeful, but Vice; complete with all of the respiteless dual meaning.

Does this all mean that I thought Miami Vice was prefect? Definitely not. My purpose here is to encourage people to stop making/listening to stupid criticism that rails on it for not being another Michael Mann film or claiming that it is worthless and shallow. Michael Mann may be the best director since Michelangelo Antonioni or Andrei Tarkovski at commenting on humankind's relationship with themselves and with nature. Whether it takes place in Los Angeles or Miami, Mann's films build on characters in morally distressed situations that resemble similar themes found in Antonioni's Mediterranian or Tarkovski's deep space. The simple fact that Crocket and Tubbs are vice cops working under cover doesn't make their respective moral and physical battles in urban and rural environments any less of a comment on the paradox of 'fighting' conflict or discovering/losing humanity.
Mann implements a number of interesting formal techniques here. The use of silence is very effective in illustrating the feeling of disbelief and wavering sense of bearing. Several times sound would cut completely, as we watch a character carry on a telephone conversation, or respond to a particular situation. In these scenes, not only do we not hear the dialog, but we don't hear music or ambient noise either and are left to gather the story elements from other characters' reaction shots - a huge improvement over Collateral, in which I thought more than a few scenes were botched by lame audio edits and annoying music.

The use of camera focus also makes us consider who/what is important. The overall cinematography embraces a documentary style, with shaky pans and quick rack focus, and several times the camera would frame a character (usually in extreme close-up) and remain out of focus. Which makes us wonder who/what is in focus? Are our heros maybe too entrenched in the under cover nature of their seedy business that they have lost moral focus? I would say, yeah.

These themes are crammed into a fairly straight forward cop/drug bust plot complete with pros and cons. To reduce a movie like this down to what it isn't, rather than what it is, is cheap and lazy. Take the time to think about the details and the elements that make you uncomfortable or interested; They are there, but you may have to put forth a little effort to notice.











Click image for wallpaper


[Link to Snider's full review]


Tagged under:
Entertainment, Miami Vice

Kiera: Spotted

It was a sunny day, I was walking along in Hyde Park, enjoying my lunch break, when who should pass, listening to her ipod?

Kiera Knightley

I was tempted to make this into an interesting dissection upon the nature of celebrity, stardom and all the rest of it, and in fact an unprovoked comment from one of my colleagues did initially lead in this direction. After telling them I had seen her, he said casually ‘yeah, she lives in lancaster gate, just down the road, (Pause) I see her all the time…’

The pause in his speech was, I now realise, crucial. I see her all the time? Did he mean at her place, or the park? Or on the television? Or on big posters and magazine adverts? I thought therin lies the crux of the problem with modern celebrity – where does our engagement with them stop? Would it have been appropriate for me to go up to her and say hello in the manner of Capt. Jack Sparrow aka Keith Richards? Isn't I see you all the time the kind of comment a stalker makes? Should I be wary of my workmate?

However, after seeing a ‘star’ it was inevitable my thoughts took me onto a completely different – and slightly less intellectual level. What really confirmed that it was Kiera (stalking aside, I do feel like I’m on first name terms now, having walked past her an’ all) was that she pouts. I did a double take as I walked past to check it was her, and as if on queue she did this funny thing with her mouth muscles - they went into a sort of amphibian-breathing-for-air-style. I thought it was just an effect for Pirates of The Caribbean, - or the next olympic sport- but it now seems more like an uncontrollable, and potentially career-breaking, mouth disorder…

Once I get over the shock of having seen Kiera I will post a photo of said pout – there’s bound to be one on some mouth disorder charity website.


p.s. for the record I looked, she looked, I looked again, she pouted. Not once did I pout back m’lord.

Mickey Spillane Dies at 88

Hard-boiled Crime and Pulp Fiction writer, Mickey Spillaine, dies at age 88. Probably best known for his anti-hero, slap-happy detective Mike Hammer, Spillaine has been a prolific writer of the genre and influenced several films that have become quintessential noirs, such as Kiss Me Deadly. Now don't get me wrong here. I read I, the Jury, and was pretty much disgusted with the character of Mike Hammer after the first few pages. However, I do acknowledge the fact that Spillane's writing has influenced many other (dare I say, more talented?) writers to create fantastic crime noirs and pulp fiction. I also loved the Robert Aldrich adaptation of Kiss Me Deadly. For that, I say, Rock on.

Being that we focus on film, literature, etc. we thought it appropriate to post on this rather than, say, the fact that the Chairman of Hooters also passed away today... oh, what the heck - Hey people, the Chairman of Hooters passed away today. There.
Generally speaking, I think it's a sad day for chauvinists everywhere. Weep softly, then go slap someone around.


[Link to NPR's story]
[Link to CNN]

Tagged under:
News, Entertainment

Clean Flicks? Not Anymore

A U.S. District Court has ruled that content editing and duplication of DVDs and VHS tapes is a violation of federal copyright laws. U.S. District Judge, Richard P. Matsch, says,

"Their [studios and directors] objective ... is to stop the infringement because of its irreparable injury to the creative artistic expression in the copyrighted movies... There is a public interest in providing such protection."

This is, of course, very true as I have previously mentioned - and yes, there is public interest in preserving artistic expression. The judge has ruled that the specific companies involved in the legal battle (Cleanflicks, CleanFilms, Family Flix USA, and Play it Clean Video) must shut down and relenquish their inventories to the proper authorities.

...Meanwhile, back at the Strawman Ranch, Daniel Thompson, owner of the Utah County CleanFlicks stores and stalwart movie-hater, cries out,

"It's sad that Hollywood finds it wrong to take out profanity, sexual content and nudity."

Fortunately for all of us dirty, rancid pervs, we were too engrossed in our un-edited filth to hear his warning call - but we did note that the Judge said the ruling was because of copyright violation and not because we all want to indulge in "profanity, sexual content and nudity." Apparently moral superiority excludes abiding by the laws of the land. Well, not anymore.

As a side note, I find it interesting that he didn't criticise Hollywood for violence.

Now leave me alone, I'm going to go watch The Insider, To Live, The Thin Red Line, Billy Elliot, Gosford Park, The Man Who Wasn't There, Bowling for Columbine, Psycho, Manhattan, The Three Colors Trilogy, and American Splendor.


[Link to quoted material]
[Link to Deseret News]
Believe it or not, the press section on the CleanFlicks web site doesn't mention any of this recent news.

**Huge, gargantuan News Update**
It's really difficult to believe that the 'Clean'Flicks boys are genuinely interested in (your) morality when they get busted for having sex with underage girls in their store.
[Link to KSL article]


Tagged under:
Entertainment, News

Transformers Overdrive?

Zahra over at the rockin' Flixens site has posted an image of Optimus Prime from the newest Transformers movie project.

Unfortunately, the image of Optimus Prime reminded me of Maximum Overdrive more than the old Transformers show and movie. Yikes! I know some people are skeptical of Michael Bay directing it, but I wonder if the show's premise isn't beyond the destructive lameness of Mr Armageddon...
Disputing Alien robots that transform into semi trucks, VW Beetles, and ambulances? Sounds pretty sweet for saturday morning, but a live-action feature? Hmmm... I almost hate myself for saying this, but Bay might actually be able to make this show watchable.

Then again, maybe not.

Related:
Movie MILF's Transformer post

Tagged under:
Entertainment

Newsflash: British Geography Teacher Gets Mistaken For Cannes Prize Winner

Bonjour!

It had to happen someday, I suppose. Ken, with a film about some 1920’s Irish Rebels, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, has managed to walk away with the Palme D’or, Cannes top prize.

What worked for Ken? Well an anti-British anti-imperialist film worked. A jury with fellow British left-wingers Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter worked. Mediocre or average films from Richard Kelly, Sofia Coppola, and Pedro Almodovar also worked. But mostly, a lifetime of these sorts of images worked:

Not to begrudge Ken his due. I haven’t seen the film yet, but by all accounts it is a great, sympathetic telling of the beginnings of the Irish Republican Army, with the lone survivor from 28 days Later -Cillian O'Murphy- taking centre stage. However, at the 8th time of entering, it must surely also be recognition for a lifetime of fantastic film-making. Or is that too cynical?


Tagged under:
[Ken Loach]