Paul Newman RIP

‘For a moment there I thought we were in trouble‘…..

Oh fuck. This is a real shame although not a massive surprise, I’d heard he was ill recently but its a shame he couldn’t make it through until next January where the lifelong democrat and political activist could have seen his country turn a corner and get back on a path to recovery. Fingers crossed of course. I think this is especially sad due to all the tales of just what a nice chap he was, all too rare a quality in Hollywood. Married for 50 years, donating all the proceeds of his food sauces to charity which was estimated at a staggering £200 million profit over the last thirty years, an old fashioned dude who allegedly during the 70’s coke fueled Hollywood parties would discretly make his apologies and leave should so much as a joint be sparked up. One of the genuine good guys. 

  

I wouldn’t include Newman in my top ten actors of all time but he’d certainly be in the top twenty. I’ve already banged on about how great he was in ‘The Verdict‘ which I’m not inclined to repeat here but just think about the other iconic roles he’s got in the CV – ‘The Sting‘. ‘Cool Hand Luke’. ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof‘ (which I got last Xmas and still haven’t ever seen, that shall be rectified over the next few days). ‘Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid‘. ‘The Hustler‘ for fucks sake, for my money the greatest sports film ever made. 

 

So here are the links to some of his finest moments as best I can track them down. By the mysteries of BBC scheduling ‘The Colour OF Money‘ is on Monday night which I strongly recommend, along with ‘After Hours‘ it is probably the most underrated Scorsese movie. RIP.

Flotsam & Jetsum XX

 

Right then, chop, chop, pay attention as we have plenty to get through. This may well be the final post for a while due to circumstances that will become clearer later on, I’ll therefore cram in as much nonsense as possible. First of all some random film material, here is a reasonably interesting strange German Expressionist / Silent Movie serial mash-up to give us an early portrayal of that story which has dominated this years box office, although its clearly never enough. Give part two a whirl for footage from ‘The Man Who Laughs‘ which I think I’ve mentioned before was instrumental in Bob Kane’s conception of the man who laughs…

I think these are fascinating. Might have been more fun if they removed the titles and credits on some of ‘em and presented them as a quiz – quite a few in there are so abstract you’d never get ‘em. Zombies!! An entertaining timeline of all the unholy cadaver celluloid shambling which serves as a nice reference tool. Another bloody Wire link which you should of course skip if you haven’t seen Season Five, in this Simon fleshes out some details of his examination of the press and media. 

 

I’ve had the programme through for the London Film Festival and I can’t say I’m impressed after the crop of mostly good films I managed to see last year. I’m sure my limited knowledge means that many of the European and global film makers who have screenings are all beyond my puny cinematic knowledge but hey, even the opening and closing night galas don’t interest me. There’s no sign of the South American “Sleep Dealer‘ SF movie I mentioned a while back and most of the screen talks and interviews don’t interest me, with the exception of this dude being interviewed. Still, I have applied for tickets for Soderburgh’s ‘Che‘ movies – 2 two hour movies covering two parts of the guerrilla leaders life which has Del Toro Oscar 2009 written all over it and a new print of ‘Once Upon A Time West‘ which will be terrific.

I’ve decided on Oliver Stone for this entries director of choice of film makers who are currently operating due to his previewing this eagerly awaited political bio-pic at the London Film Festival. I think we have to concede that Stone is pretty much the pre-eminent chronicler of the American post War experience, exploring America’s wars at home and abroad, its most seismic political assassination, its political pariahs, its driving ideology, offending the media by way of mirror, courageously tackling recent extremely sore events (much better film than I expected that was), probing the national pass-time and finally delivering a cameo choked love letter to the small town B movie. 

  

For my last day of freedom (4:10 and see below) I decided to spend my time wisely and went down to the City to chuckle at the finance HQ’s and all their corporate logos which are sure to change over the coming weeks. My real purpose though was to jump on one of the tourist clippers down to Greenwich for a quick wander around the Maritime Museum – mission accomplished. I have to recommend the clippers, the tour guides oratory is well informed and they do point out genuine areas of interest. The best for me was the revelation that my local pub, ‘The Grapes‘ has a Thames facing attic room which was where Dickens finished writing ‘Great Expectations’. Wow. Greenwich always makes for a pleasant Sunday afternoon, now it’s time for a meditative bath, a late period Argento and an early night.

Well, that’s been quite a burst of blogging recently hasn’t it? I needed to get all these posts finalised and up as I suspect things may drop off considerably here (although I’m putting the finishing touches to my epic post on ‘Barry Lyndon‘ so keep an eye out) as I’ve finally secured a new assignment which begins tomorrow. The commute is frankly horrific (the role is based on Folkestone so we’re talking 2 hours door to door) but I’m sure I’ll get back into the swing of things. I have this to finish reading and a few other novels collecting dust on the bookshelf so have plenty to keep me entertained, I’m quite relived to finally get something secured given my Plan B of possibly returning to the private sector being somewhat overtaken by the recent financial holocaust. The project itself is unique and is something that my colleagues and Directors at the authority have never attempted before so it will be a learning curve for us all, I have until 2010 to get it right and it’ll look good on the CV so can’t complain. Wish me luck…..

The Wave

It was quite a surprise to see a German Language film being screened at my local multiplex, as you would imagine it is normally the preserve of the latest UK and Hollywood releases. Having heard some promising things about ‘The Wave‘ (can’t find any subtitled trailers, soz) I changed my original plan of catching ‘Eden Lake’ yesterday and opted for some teutonic self-analysis. At the cinema that is.

Lapsed political activist turned teacher Rainer Wenger is assigned a project to teach his young cultural theorist students the theory of autocracy. Being popular with his students Wenger decides to embark on a unusually involved programme, encouraging and influencing his pupils to think alike, accept the authority of one ruler, adopt identical uniforms and reject any dissent of their social experiment. Unforeseen sociological events (peer bullying, absent parents and most curiously laissez faire parental attitudes) outside the school accelerate the students embrace of the philosophy until the experiment spirals out of control, leading to a violent climax.

Now of course this is Germany so it’s not difficult to see what the indigenous film-makers are getting at, despite the story being lifted from a fictionalisation of a supposedly real event that occurred in California in 1967. I think they’ve slightly botched this, a potentially interesting analysis of German history (as soon as the spectre of the Nazi’s is raised many of the students roll their eyes and moan ‘Not them again’) moves along a very predictable path with characters development being telegraphed very early on- the psycho, the rebel, the passive pupils inevitably conforming to the status quo. I wanted to like it as the presentation of the school tribes was acutely observed as was some of the frustration and perils of adolescent development, it just doesn’t quite convince even for a clearly allegorical film. As you’d expect a German School seems to much the same as a UK or US establishment, infested with booze, weed, under-age sex – and that’s just the teachers <cymbal crash….scattered applause….> so I think it will have an appeal outside of Germany and I’m sure will find itself on the syllabus of some educational establishments. So, not as outstanding as the recent German export ‘Downfall‘ nor as exciting as the upcoming ‘Der Baader Meinhof Komplex‘ which I think looks very interesting….

This brings me to teenage or school movies, always a fertile area if you’ll excuse the expression. Forgive me this as we travel from the obvious to the sublime to the ridiculous. I’ll always have a soft spot for this which of course was hugely influenced by this – there was a day when George Lucas could make good, straightforward, well crafted movies. Who’d have thought…

Minty’s Movie Masterclass – Peter Weir

Strewth, ripper, barbie, fosters – yes, we’re off to Australia for this post so I hope you’ve packed your hunting knife and crocodile repellent. With the possible exception of John Hilcoat (I’m really looking forward to this) there is no Australian director I’ve enjoyed and admired as much as Peter Weir, the vanguard of the so called New Wave of Australian films that emerged onto the World’s film festivals in the 1970’s, garnering critical praise and awards in kind. 

What Weir likes to ponder is the introduction of characters into alien environments, be they physical (The Truman Show), sociological (Green Card), cultural (Witness) or physiological (The Cars That ate Paris). He’s one of those few directors that emigrated to Hollywood and continued to work whilst exhibiting his trademark fascinations and themes in films ranging from the major big budget league to smaller, more intimate projects. I’ve tried a mixture of his Australian and American work as a sort of compare and contrast exercise, lets see how it goes.

‘Picnic At Hanging Rock‘ – Valentines Day, 1900. A group of Australian private schoolgirls and chaperone travel to local beauty spot Hanging Rock for a school excursion, an expedition that turns to tragedy when three of the girls and one teacher mysteriously vanish without a trace. Local search parties eventually locate one of the girls who has suffered concussion and remembers nothing of the event, the scandal and world global attention to the incident ultimately leading to the closure of the private school. Marketed as based on true events (in a manner reproduced by the Coens for their marketing of the great ‘Fargo’) the film is actually based on the non-fiction story of the same name by Joan Lindsay – until this viewing I was also under the misapprehension that it was in part based on a real incident, it seems my guillability knows no bounds eh? 

  

What a wonderful, magical film that emits such an enchanting fable-like quality, something of an Alice in Wonderland savor transported to the eerie Australian outback. The soundtrack sells the opening act in conjunction with the slightly degraded yet luminous quality of the film stock which makes it feel that it was actually shot on the cusp of the 20th century, albeit in colour of course. The religious overtones seem obvious to me with Weir shooting his vision of the garden of Eden, an environment of breath-taking, timeless beauty that will consume the young women’s burgeoning sexuality, themes that are signaled throughout the dialogue and framing of the films outstanding ‘vanishing‘ sequence.

  

Once the incident has occurred the film moves onto the aftermath and search for the missing girls and teacher. It’s not really a spoiler to mention that the film offers no solutions to the mystery, no resolutions are offered and in fact the film raises new questions and conundrums as the amnesiac survivor is ostracised by her peers following her recovery and fails to assimilate back in her culture. Make your own mind up, come to your own conclusions – qualities that I always admire in a movie. 

‘Master & Commander‘ – So the first of the American films on this post, this big Russell Crowe starring project was launched on to the high seas in 2003. It’s 1805 and Captain Aubrey (Crowe) is the Captain of the HMS Surprise, a British Royal Navy Frigate which is battling in the midst of the Napoleonic wars. The ship is instructed to locate and sink the French ship Acheron, a vessel lurking in the dangerous waters of the pacific ocean. An aquatic game of cat and mouse ensues as Aubrey uses all his nautical warfare skills best the French and bring honor to his majesty’s services.

  

This is quite an unusually authentic and smart blockbuster with some intriguing attention to detail which I suspect has been lifted from the popular source material. This realism extends to the exciting action scenes where we are not insulted with images of bayonet wielding officers swinging from ship to ship and dispatching scores of villainous curs in Errol Flynn swashbuckling style, in ‘Master’ we witness the real docile ‘playing dead’ tactics coupled with the use of weather and environmental conditions to gain the advantage in order to best your opponents. 

 

I’m not big fan of Crowe’s – he was good in ‘Gladiator’ and of course ‘LA Confidential‘ but he generally leaves me cold. In ‘Master’ he effective portrays a plausible leader, a man whose crew would follow him to the jaws of Davy Jones locker itself. Good fun and recommended for a slightly more cerebral Saturday night movie. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a sequel yet as I’m sure it made money and there are a whole series of books to draw on, time will tell.

‘Gallipoli‘ – Once again we’re in turn of the century Australia for this highly regarded World War I movie. Two athletic and slightly competitive friends (they both excel in long distance running) comprising of the idealistic Archy (Mark Lee) and the roguish Frank (Mel Gibson in an early starring role) are recruited into the army to fight in the Australian campaign against Turkey, a battle that marked the countries entry into the global conflagration. As with all these films, the insanity and human cost of the war is explored along with the class divisions and murderous corruption of the officer class who are prepared to sacrifice regiments of their troops for a few feet of blood soaked soil.

 

The film is justifiably famous in Australia as the battle is considered as something of a turning point in the countries history, an event which symbolised Australia’s coming of age and loss of innocence which of course is reflected in Archies and Frank’s diverse fates. The early portions of the film worked better for me rather than the slightly predictable albeit effective finale. The sequences in Lake Torrens standing in for the West Australian desert were handsomely shot and it was also amusing to hear Jean Michel Jarre’s then (it was released in 1981) very futuristic ‘Oxygene‘ on the soundtrack as a musical cue for all the running sequences, a bit incongruous with the films time-frame but it works. Just.

 

Its an enjoyable enough film but it didn’t quite grasp my emotions as much as other war films have over the years. I’m actually struggling to think of anything else to say, I suppose it was nice to see a film back when Mel Gibson was y’know, good and watchable and hadn’t yet revealed himself to the be the mentally ill anti-semite that we’ve all come to know and love. 

‘Fearless‘ – I believe this is one of the most underrated films of the 1990’s. Jeff Bridges is incredible, the plot is genuinely something different and heck, Weir even makes the grating Rosie Perez bearable. In the aftermath of a horrific air crash air crash Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) emerges unscathed from the wreckage, leading a young child and other dazed survivors to safety. The experience has deeply affected Max, he no longer fears death and the paradigm shift of the event has resulted in him observing the world in a different, detached and slightly hollow way which begins to isolate him from his family and colleagues. 

Mystic? Healer? Angel? Saviour? What has happened to Max? Weir smuggles in a very profound art film in the shell of a Hollywood vehicle however it didn’t quite fully evade the executives radar as their are claims that the film was interfered with which lead to Weir’s taking five years before he came back with his biggest film, ‘The Truman Show’. Bridges is perfect as the alien, otherworldly Max (echoing of course his Oscar nominated role in this), cinematically isolated by sound wipes, framing and composition to communicate his growing withdrawal from his fellow man.

Isabella Rossellini is also terrific – she really should be in more films (three quick Rossellini facts, she was married to Martin Scorsese, is the daughter of legendary Italian director Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman and has a identical twin sister!) and there is also an early appearance of Benicio Del Toro as a typically shifty chancer who only wants to get as much compensation out of the airline for the death of his child, the mother being portrayed by a uniquely unannoying Rosie Perez who forms a platonic relationship with Max. It’s a close call with Picnic’ but this just pips it out of the four as ‘Fearless’ held my attention more, although they are both ambivalent movies with no obvious conclusions or resolutions it is Jeff Bridges mesmerizing performance that trumps the other movie.

So there you have it. From the IMDB link it doesn’t look like he has anything in development at the moment which is a shame, I’m sure he was in the frame to direct ‘Pattern Recognition‘ at one point and I swear he was attached to a film of this as well (as was Cronenberg) so lets hope he hasn’t hung up his monocle and riding crop.

Richard Wright RIP

   

Very briefly this is real shame, 65 is too young. Many an hour was spent listening to material such as this in my youth. I’ll avoid the obvious ‘Great Gig In The Sky’ references, here are some of my favourite other Floyd moments, (never seen this before, terrific) including a possibly sacrilegious post Waters track. Wikipedia have a good summary of his work and talent – didn’t realize he was born in the Hatch End area of North West London where I lived from 2000 – 2003 when I first moved back to the capital. Given todays events it would of course be remiss not to include this (although in truth it was never a track I was that fond of but hey…)

  

Enlarge the picture above at your peril. Here’s the urban legend. Regardless, RIP.

The Strangers

Slim pickings these days my friends, slim pickings. There’s not a great deal to draw me into the cinema these days with the exception of a new print of this which is only screening in one art cinema off Trafalgar Square,  I’ll try to catch Lynch’s early celluloid nightmare next week when I’m in that neck of the woods. The only other picture of even remote interest is ‘The Strangers‘, a low key slasher horror which opened today in my local cinema so I took the time this afternoon to view this brisk 85 minute reasonably effective little chiller.

 

A young couple James (Scott Speedman) and Kristin (Liv Tyler) return to James’ fathers isolated summer house following a mutual friends wedding. James has proposed to his beloved but has suffered the ignominy of rejection for undetermined reasons, leaving a cloud of apprehension hovering over the film’s opening act. Just as they begin to attempt a reconciliation (yes, sex equals death in the film as per any other slasher film worth its chops) some mysterious masked figures arrive and begin a programme of intimidation and terror against our young lovers, an agenda that inevitably escalates to stomach churning violence and horror….

  

Its pretty much genre by the numbers, spending the requisite first 20 – 30 minutes establishing the characters so that when the terror begins you identify enough with James and Kristin to be squirming uncomfortably in your seat, silently praying for our heroes to get the fuck out of dodge. The sound design is delivered very effectively to tighten the thumbscrews with some clever use of the planes of field which reminded me very much of that grandaddy of the slasher film, ‘Halloween‘ – take a look at the third photo above to see what I mean. Unfortunately it then resorts to some genre cliches with James making some outrageously stupid decisions (Hmm, I think I’ll head over to the abandoned barn on my own, leaving my girlfriend alone..) which really dissolves the atmosphere of tension and dread that has been so professionally constructed. It is however quite ruthless at the finale with an outrageous reference to another US 70’s horror classic that I can’t reveal here for fear of obvious spoilers – worth a DVD rental but don’t start browsing for babysitters.

  

Unlike the 70’s and 80’s cycle of slasher/horror movies there is no real agenda for the maniacs in ‘The Strangers‘, no family secret, no humiliation or abused childhood to give psychological motivation for their horrific actions. I kind of admire that as it leaves the film as more of a sheer exercise in technique although as I said it does run out of steam toward the finale. Well, this all gives me an excuse to collate some of the most outrageous and depraved clips from slasher horrors of yore, peruse at your peril as they are occasionally and obviously very NSFW. Shows how accurate Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving‘ trailer spoof was don’t it? Very American-centric I know so here’s a few moments from some of the European entries to the genre, plus the the film that kicked it all off. There’s also a couple of ‘The Shining‘ references in the film which again only highlights some of the films shortcomings, that does however lead me nicely on to next weeks definite cinema visit which is a screening of the luxurious ‘Barry Lyndon‘ at the NFT – can’t wait.

Right, just to go pretentious for a moment – I’m aware of how this might look and how simply the accusation of misogyny can be employed against people who vaguely enjoy films in this genre. Yes, the fact is that women are butchered and murdered in the most disgusting ways in these films but first of all so are the men and frequently it is the strong female character that triumphs over their nemesis. Some argue that these films reflect rather than maintain or support any patriarchal treatment of women, crucially certain Feminist film theorists even posit that these films are quite liberating in their conclusions. Minor spoilers aside it seems that female protagonists have partially usurped the usual male cypher in some more recent films from France, perhaps in part to a reaction to Gasper Noe’s ‘Irreversible‘ which caused huge controversy for obvious reasons. When it comes to cinema the French have been at the cutting edge since day one. The Slasher movies are certainly a product of their times and certainly can be considered a reflex to the emergence of feminism in the US and Europe during that period, to me that’s what makes them interesting on one level whilst I also simply enjoy the genre trappings of horror cinema and how it evolves like other genres during broader cultural trends. Besides, Ripley kicks ass. I mean um….

Anyway, have a look at Mastermind with a competitor answering questions on John Carpenter, via BBCi – I got 9 and was happy with that…….

CERN & The Cosmos

How’s that for a ambitious post title? I’ll be brief, just to say that I’m happy to be alive when one of the most incredible recent activities of our species is conducted even when we seem hellbent (excuse the religious references, it’s unavoidable Western indoctrination of language) on destroying our environmental infrastructure in the pursuit of short term profit. But I digress….

So here’s some links to the best science series ever made – well at least the best I’ve seen – Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. He has a point in this brief introduction – why do we find the sea, the ocean, the vastness so romantic, so alluring? Anyway, I have vague memories of seeing this when I was about ten and the Vangelis soundtrack has always lodged in the cranium, magnifying Sagan’s efforts to condense the entire history of existence into ten hours of education. The phrase ‘epic‘ seems reductive. 

Here’s some background on tomorrows historic event and some amusing commentary. Who knows, if CERN doesn’t envelop the planet in a mysterious apocalyptic glamor then maybe our shaved monkey race can move forward. May you live in interesting times indeed…

   

If you’re still here in twelve hours then go out tonight to your garden and have a look upward. See what you can see. Marvel at that.

Brilliant isn’t it?

London Fields III

  

Life moves pretty fast. As my diary slowly begins to fill up with interviews I am trying to cram in some further excursions before I’m locked back into the dull spiral of working and commuting. I’ve been meaning to explore one portion of the Thames Path as it runs from my place all the way up to central London, as a friend was over from Australia to attend his brothers wedding this week it seemed an ideal opportunity to combine a little exploration and a meet-up in Leicester Square. 

   

Starting in Limehouse the path meanders through Shadwell before skirting through Wapping, taking you all the way up to Tower Bridge, not always straddling the Thames waterside by occasionally diverting pedestrians inland through small business parks and converted warehouse yuppie condominium estates. Although I set off early (and the photos should indicate what wonderful weather I was blessed with) it took me about an hour door to door to reach the St. Katherine’s Docks development where I paused to take a well deserved coffee break in the shadow of Tower Bridge.

  

What I had misjudged is the distance from that landmark to the West End, reaching the Millenium Bridge half an hour later I jumped on a bus for the remainder of the journey to ensure I reached Leicester Square with ten minutes to spare for the rendezvous. After a quick lunch we popped over to the British Museum for a wander round and brief look at the American Prints exhibition I had mentioned earlier. 

  

During my journey I stumbled upon the Alfred Plaque which was established in 1986 to mark the 1,100 anniversary of King Alfred rescuing London from the clutches of the evil Danes. Cool. One of the things I love about London is that combination of old and new, modernist glass hued testaments to the capitals global financial status nestling next to Victorian tenements and world famous structures. One thing you should do when exploring London is to look skyward, to see beyond the street level identikit Starbucks and fast food joints in order to absorb the real sense of scale and history of London – particularly good for this is Regent Street and many of the furtive side streets in Soho and other parts of the West End. 

 

In the evening I saw Juliette Binoche interviewed at the NFT to celebrate the opening of a film season of her work. First of all, I have to say that she is far more attractive in real life than she is in the movies and this is from someone who never really found her that alluring on screen. Hmm, reading that sentence back I’m sure I’ve just won some points with the feminist lobby. Anyway, the interview was a bit dull to be honest although it has put me on the trail of some of her early films that I’ve always meant to track down such as ‘Les Amants du Pont-Neuf‘, ‘Mauvais Sang‘ and ‘Damage‘ looks worth a revisit, I remember quite liking that film. It was revealed that she turned down the Laura Dern part in ‘Jurassic Park’ for the lead in <MAJOR SPOILERS> ‘Three Colours: Blue‘ which I think is superb – I like ‘Jurassic Park‘ don’t get me wrong but ‘Three Colours: Blue‘ is just an outstanding film with one of the best central performances I can recall seeing, I think it’s head and shoulders above the other entries in the trilogy which I actually find a little overrated. 

  

So, here’s some random London film links with no particular unifying theme, (proper old school credits there but anyway….) just a celebration of some of the great films that have been made in my beloved city. As part of their 75th anniversary the BFI are conducting a ‘Visions For The Future‘ programme to get the public to nominate a film which they feel should be preserved for future generations. Not a bad list with some unusual nominations I have to say (‘Back To The Future’? ‘The Fog Of War?’ are both good but c’mon…) so to be contrary UK wise and avoid the obvious Kubrick nominations I have opted for Lindsay Andersons ‘If…‘ which is one of my favourite British films and serves as an ideal companion piece to my international choice, <SPOILERS again> ‘Fight Club‘ – if you can’t leave future generations the lessons of rebellion, to constantly distrust and question authority then what can you do eh? Anyway, this is always worth another look and finally, some sad news – Don La Fonatine has passed on. Who’s he? I hear you ask, well maybe this link will give you an idea.