Cinema

Going to the movies, watching them at home, wandering by bus station posters, old, new, in-production… you get the idea.

AMPTP Contact Info

My soon-to-be-laid-off friend Ryan channeled both Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene yesterday and managed to track down a long list of numbers for various stations at the AMPTP, who kinda keep these things close to the vest. The list reads pretty much as written, which means he can’t vouch for the spelling of any […]

PLEASE STOP THE STRIKE

Writers are trying to position themselves to gain proper compensation for new media and to keep producers from taking back what writers deserve. The negotiatons didn’t go well. Now we’re on strike. Simple. But actually, it’s not so simple. First, read this, written by my buddy Ryan, one of the hardest working guys in show […]

WGA Strike: Voices Of Uncertainty

This has been making the rounds. It’s nicely assembled and pulls the words straight from the mouths of executives and turns them back on them, not unlike the Donald Rumsfeld stuff we saw a few years ago (“I never said there were weapons of mass destruction” “Oh really? Let’s watch the tape.” “That was out […]

Friday Trailer: Sleuth (x2)

This is high on my list o’ stuff to see. The original was quite good. And I love the fact that Michael Caine has come full circle from playing the role of the youngster to taking over the role that Olivier played in the original. And that Kenneth Branagh is in charge (whose theatrical upbringing […]

WGA Gets Tough

The last time there was a full-fledged Writer’s Guild strike, I wasn’t in the Writer’s Guild. That was many many years ago. I remember hearing about the strike and then all of a sudden, Dark Shadows with Ben Cross was on TV. And while I’m in the Guild now, I haven’t actually been an active […]

Inland Empire

“Um…what’s it about?” We’re at LACMA. David Lynch’s new and nearly impenetrable film, Inland Empire, has just finished a three hour onslaught. Many of us are blinking our way back into the conscious world. The man who was next to me–who squirmed and gasped through the entire film–is gone. I don’t know if he left […]

The Hollywood Code

Matthew Inman over at drivl.com gives voice to what lurks in every movie-goer, especially those of us with computers, as a common gripe. Why can’t Hollywood get the cinema of code right? Here’s the link. I always notice when FX designers take special liberties in designing computers in the movies. Sandra Bullock, for example, uses […]

Martial Arts Subtitles

The aimlessness of the blog continues for now. Want proof? Here’s a list of actual subtitles taken from martial arts movies. Enjoy them for now. I’ll tell some amusing tales about Hollywood later. When I shake this malaise. Dunno where these come from, but they’re presumably “authentic” inasmuch as a certain translation of martial arts […]

Adrienne Shelly, R.I.P.

In the film Trust, Maria, played by Adrienne Shelly, climbs up a low wall, stands straight and lets herself fall backwards. A surprised Martin Donovan catches her. This, she says, is a demonstration of love. Love is a combination of respect, admiration and, above all, trust. The words are Hal Hartley’s, but Shelly owns them. […]

Seven Nights, Seven Nightmares, Part VII

Wes Craven returns, and in a big way. Thank the Gods. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is a blessing from heaven. It’s not very good, l and I think that it says a great deal about the caliber of the films before it that I like it so much. Relatively, it’s a pretty nifty film. But […]

Seven Nights, Seven Nightmares, Part VI

We’re getting close to the end. Six films in and the fatigue is beginning to take its toll. I can’t get myself excited about watching this one, but I slide the disc in and kick back with a bottle of Delirium Tremens. The New Line logo does its thing… Okay, we’re already guilty of hubris. […]

Seven Nights, Seven Nightmares, Part V

And that’s it. Unfortunately, now that the fourth movie is done and the fifth one is underway, I fear I won’t have anything interesting to talk about. We’re dropped immediately into a blue-filtered sex scene. Oh wait. I put on an old Michael Mann film by accident. No wait. I didn’t. This is the right […]

Seven Nights, Seven Nightmares, Part IV

“I’ll see you in Hell!” “Tell ’em Freddy sent ya!” It’s Renny Harlin’s turn. Welcome to Action Freddy! Patricia Arquette declined to return for this entry into the series. Tuesday Knight takes over the role of Kristen Parker, the former asylum resident who helped tromp all over the Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs in […]

Seven Nights, Seven Nightmares, Part III

On February 27, 1987, New Line releases what will prove to become, aside from the first Nightmare, the favorite of fans worldwide. It’s a far better film than the second, even without Clu Gulager. But I’m gonna go on record here and say that it just isn’t my favorite, or my second or even my […]

Seven Nights, Seven Nightmares, Part II

“You’ve got the body, I’ve got the brains!” A year after the first Nightmare movie made a splash, New Line releases its sequel. November 1, 1985 was the date. Made for just under double the budget of the first one, it goes on to gross ten times that amount, pulling in $30 million during its […]