Re-Animator, (1985), Stuart Gordon.

There's a special list of movies that my significant other has made particular judgments about. This either ends in us shutting off the DVD player, or him exiting stage left with the comment, "I'll let you finish this one." These aren't really "movies he made me turn off" because obviously I have the power to control a remote, but kind of an endearing list of intolerance for crap. I'd just like to point out that this is a guy who happily watched all of Gymkata.

Here's the first: Re-Animator.

Final comment, "I'll leave you with your sci-fi." Well, I suppose there's an element of sci-fi, but it's more an 1980s ripoff of the HP Lovecraft short story, which was a 1922 ripoff of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Not a bad low-budget production, but definitely conjured up the disturbing memory of being a little kid in the video store and seeing, at eye-level, the video cover art of a bunch of idiots whitewater rafting in a giant yellow raft with tits.

Not the movie I watched, but similar.

Result (for Re-Animator, not - shiver - Up the Creek): Finished this one, it was kinda cute. Yes, there's tits, but it was the 80s. I think the only movie I have ever seen where every character is covered in blood.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Sergio Leone.

In many scenes like this one, set in a Chinese laundry, the camera lingers over an almost dizzying amount of visual detail.

Did Leone really have Jack Elam blow a fly off his face for an entire minute and a half? I think I read Elam poked his eye out with a pencil when he was kid, but I might be wrong about that.

The dubbing of actors' voices is jarring (like in A Fistful of Dollars etc., many of the Italian actors are dubbed here). Or maybe it was just odd. Odd like dressing up a bunch of Italians to look like Irish homesteaders and filming them in the Spanish desert.

I went out and got this one only to see Henry Fonda as a complete badass, and sure enough he's a real soulless piece of beef jerky. An interesting one, but moves at a glacial pace.

Understanding Movies (1999), Louis Giannetti.

Great little survey course textbook on reading film. Makes up for the fact that I was too Protestant to take Film 101 in university. I particularly enjoyed the section where he references himself in the third person, as in "Most college textbooks, such as Gerald Mast's A History of Narrative in Film, and Louis Giannetti [at this point I had to look at the cover to re-check who was writing] attempt to integrate as much as possible from technological, economic, and social film histories, but their main emphasis is on film as art." I always thought a good drinking game would be to take a shot whenever an academic author cites himself.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I picked this one up when I heard Roger Ebert recommended it as a classic. I have a few bones to pick with popular pro film critics. I will up front say I love the guy for loving movies and unashamedly admitting his fanboy attitude. However, I think the guy's given too many thumbs up to total crap in recent years and this in my mind raises the question as to the role of film criticism - is he part of the PR machine, or actually providing insightful observations about film? Well, without slamming the guy when he's down (I know he's been ill recently), I'll just say thanks for the great book recommendation.

Trouble in Paradise (1932), Ernest Lubitsch.

A little dessert of a movie. Everyone is sinful and everyone gets off scot free.

Whither Direct-to-Video?

Another post in the form of a question: what is the status of the "Direct to video" production? Nowadays they would probably be termed Direct to DVD (sidebar: does anyone ever use "DVD" adjectivally, because I certainly don't). When I was a kid working in a pre-Rogers store in the strip mall, we got monthly catalogues chock full of these contemporary B's - like Lorenzo Lamas' latest, or ones sure to confuse our customers ("Death Ring looks awesome. Wait- who is Don Swayze?!"). We'd scrutinize every page and invariably these flicks - probably quite a good line of work for innumerable non-A listers and production people - would be solid renters for months. But who goes to the video store anymore? I am a born-again apostle for the local company that sends me DVDs by mail and I know that the next step will obviously be emailing a file or somesuch. Surely aside from longer animated products, like Disney's nth princess story, there must be a place in the world for flicks with compromised production values. I guess I am just wondering, even if they're being produced nowadays, how does anyone find them if we're not browsing the new release shelf anymore? If anyone's reading - seen any "good" direct to - ? productions lately- let me know!

Godfather of Soul: everything must go

This one cropped up this week, and relates to my last post. NYTimes writer Guy Trebay describes what the Christie's auction of James Brown's possessions will do for music history:

"...it is increasingly unlikely that there will be a James Brown museum for writers like Greg Tate and R J Smith, both embarked on biographies of the singer, to visit. And there will be no archive for Spike Lee to consult for a film the director is said to be planning about the Godfather of Soul. There will be no Graceland to contain the clothes and furs and costumes and gold records and awards and record collection and personal photos and handwritten love notes and jail records dispersed at the sale. Perhaps for this reason — and regardless of the jolly media hubbub that attended the sale — a somber aura seemed to hang over the proceedings."

Sad! Apparently the auction didn't even earn as much as expected. Here's the link to the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/fashion/20james.html?scp=5&sq=james%20brown&st=cse

20th Century Fox closes its research library

I am no film scholar but have often wondered how accessible research materials documenting film history are. Has the market value of every tangible scrap from tv and film productions atomized previously intact collections? (Check out Profiles in History's latest auction, you can buy Lou Ferrigno's latex nose from the Hulk TV show!) How does this impact film scholarship? In particular, where has the history of the studio era been preserved? Am I over-estimating the importance of keeping records in public (or at least publicly-accessible) institutions?

This link, courtesy Nikki Fink's Deadline Hollywood Daily, brings up the closure of 20th Century Fox's "research library." The terminology in Fox's publicity statement (instead of using "archives," for example) seems to be an attempt to underplay the historic value of the documents.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/fox-to-close-its-film-research-library/

Rio Bravo (1959), Howard Hawks

Yeah, that's some guy whacking John Wayne over the noggin - bad move, hombre! Wayne and a couple of self-pitying rejects must stand guard over local baddie while every pug, mug and thug in town tries to prevent him from being handed over to a US Marshal. Angie Dickinson's character was a bit of a speed bump, slowing down the action every time she appeared. Surprisingly, John Wayne and Dean Martin (can you imagine two more different men?) worked well together. I didn't recognize Dean Martin initially (was it the latent 'stache?) and not having seen him in a western ever, I wondered if he would "fit." Dude fits!

Best cowboy / possible dog name: Stumpy

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), John Sturges

A big Safeway cheese ball replete with lazy direction and crappy photography, plastic trees and scenery chewing. This should have started one hour into the actual running time, but instead we were forced to watch back story. The whole thing was nothing but lead up to... the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Both leads were flat. I like Kirk Douglas hale and hearty, not sweaty and horky. And Burt Lancaster's uptight Wyatt Earp sucked the air out of every scene. How did Burt Lancaster survive after having thrown his HAT on the bed? Zero for cowboy lore.

Young character actor watch: DeForest Kelley (I declare!), Lee Van Cleef, Dennis Hopper

Harlem Rides the Range (1939), Richard C. Khan

Part of the independent effort to produce films with an all-black cast during the 30s & 40s, this one's a true B-movie - no expenditure on production. Looks like they just plunked the camera down & starting filming. Most scenes have no cuts. There's also no soundtrack aside from sung sequences and in some instances no sound effects at all (thank God someone rustled up some pops and bangs for the final shootout). The story isn't bad, though, and alternates between the tale of hero's being framed for murder and a selection of gags, some of which have a bit of life in them still! White Hat is played by tall, thin Herb Jeffries. Probably a lot more fun than trying out for sidekick/stereotype roles (I'm looking at you, Mayor of Hell). Beef: why is this not in Leonard Maltin?