WORD

popinjay [pop-in-jey] n. 1. a person given to vain, pretentious displays and empty chatter; coxcomb; fop 2. British Dialect. a woodpecker, esp. the green woodpecker 3. Archaic. the figure of a parrot usually fixed on a pole and used as a target in archery and gun shooting 4. Archaic. a parrot

BIRTHDAY

Richard Sears (1863), Louis Prima (1910), Eli Wallach (1915), Ted Knight (1923), Noam Chomsky (1928), Ellen Burstyn (1932), Harry Chapin (1942), Johnny Bench (1947), Tom Waits (1949), Priscilla Barnes (1955), Larry Bird (1956), Tim Butler (1958), Rick Rude (1958), Peter Laviolette (1964), C. Thomas Howell (1966), Terrell Owens (1973), Damien Rice (1973)

STANDPOINT

Today, instead of spouting off about this thing or that, I’m putting the ball in your court.

I’ve been considering a particular scenario. I’ve proposed it to a few of my close friends and they all agree it’s an interesting situation to ponder. So I thought I’d offer it all of you.

Here it is: Due to some kind of crazy set of circumstances, you find yourself in a room with nine strangers. A man (or woman) enters the room and delivers the following set of instructions:

1. Everyone in the room will be granted five picks. Each pick will be a particular music act you can completely remove from the face of the Earth, including any memory of their existence.

2. However, there’s a possibility one of the other nine in the room could choose to obliterate a music act you hold near and dear. So, instead of using all your picks to erase music acts you despise, you’re free to use some, or all, of them to protect music acts you feel you can’t live without.

Here’s what I’m wondering: When confronted with this kind of choice, do you opt to banish or preserve? Would you see to it you never again hear the music you hate the most? Or would you safeguard the music you love the most?

Think about it. I’m still unsure of what I’d do.

QUOTATION

I think you should be a child for as long as you can. I have been successful for 74 years being able to do that. Don’t rush into adulthood, it isn’t all that much fun. → Bob Newhart

TUNE

 So this past Saturday night, I’m hanging out with my kind of people, meaning a bunch of people who know a lot about good music. I was playing some stuff off of my iTunes and Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open The Door” comes on. All present agreed it was a solid tune. I agreed but asked everyone how they felt about the slow version – “Let My Love Open The Door (E. Cola Mix)” – off the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack. No one had heard it before. Which I thought was weird but not altogether impossible. There’s a shitload of music out there.

GALLIMAUFRY

→ Dude. When it comes to hockey, I’m all for a guy dropping the gloves and participating in a little hand-to-hand combat to try to motivate his team. But Philadelphia Flyers’ winger, Daniel Carcillo, experienced a severe lack of judgement when he almost knocked out Washington Capitals’ winger, Matt Bradley, late in the first period. It was awfully stupid because (a) Bradley had barely shook off his gloves (if he did at all) before Carcillo popped him, (b) it was the first game for new Flyers’ coach Peter Laviolette (who’s probably half-heartedly celebrating his birthday today), and (c) he gave the Capitals an unheard of nine-minute power play that turned a close game into a 8-2 loss for his team. He’s been suspended for four games and with the Flyers currently in a mid-season freefall, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’d seen the last of “Car-Bomb.”

→ Looking for a new blog to follow? (Don’t answer that. I know you are.) Check out PhilaLawyer.net. Also, I’ve just started reading his book, Happy Hour Is For Amateurs. And you should, too.

→ Tonight, at 10pm, I’ll be watching the new TNT “serious comedy” Men of a Certain Age. Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher. Yep, that’s pretty much all I need to become intrigued. Sad? No, not at all.  

Stark Sands and Laura Osnes as Bonnie and Clyde
__________________________________________________________
By Carol Davis

LA JOLLA, California —We can deny it all we want but most of us are intrigued with the glamour and glitz that goes along with most Hollywood types. In some cases it doesn’t even have to belong to Hollywood at all. I love reading about legendary figures; what they do, how they did it, how they arrived at becoming so big and how the press and public treat and/or react toward them. (Oy, poor Tiger)

There is something both mysterious and romantic about the idea of saying, “to hell with convention, I’m going to do it my way” (Frank did) because that’s usually the case when someone we read about seems larger than life.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were two such characters, and I use the word characters not in a demeaning sort of way, but to illustrate that they were truly characters of their own making; their very own creations who lived up to and in some ways beyond their own expectations for whatever that’s worth.

Many who saw the 1967 movie version of their escapades will remember the beautiful Faye Dunaway as the sculptured and lean Bonnie Parker and the handsome, virile and sinewy Warren Beatty on the run, bathtub lovers whose claim to fame followed them wherever they went, whatever they did even in the afterlife.

So it goes with the new Ivan Menchell (book), Frank Wildhorn (music) and Don Black (lyrics) depression era musical drama Bonnie and Clyde now in a world premiere at The La Jolla Playhouse through Dec. 20^th. What you might ask, do Bonnie and Clyde and musical theatre have to do with each other? Before I saw the show someone asked me, “Who wants to see a shoot em up musical about two pesky, self-absorbed outlaws who randomly killed innocent bystanders or anyone else who got in their way”?  Based on the opening night’s audience response, a lot, I guess!

The three creators Menchell, Wildhorn and Black come to the table with serious credits to their names. Menchell worked on the book to the musicals The Prince and the Pauper, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and now Bonnie and Clyde. He also wrote the bittersweet 1990 comedy The Cemetery Club about three Jewish widows whose husbands died and the widows are now in different stages of healing. They meet once a month at the cemetery, where the three deceased spouses lay buried, to pay their respects. It later became a movie starring Ellen Burstyn and Olympia Dukakis. Wildhorn’s Scarlet Pimpernel and Jekyll & Hyde with Black’s Sunset Boulevard complete the troika.

If anyone had any doubts that the story of the star crossed lovers, Bonnie and Clyde would be different or had somehow changed from the two outlaws that they eventually became or that the ending might be more glamorous because it is a musical, doubt no longer. Menchell relied on several sources to write the book for the show; Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn, Bonnie and Clyde The Lives Behind the Legend by Paul Schneider and ‘from first hand accounts taken from the book Ambushed by Ted Hinton’.

While some practice at changing history, these collaborators, according to interviews with the creators about the making of the show, were more interested in focusing on the “tragic love triangle between Bonnie, Clyde and Ted Hinton (the Dallas County, Texas Deputy Sheriff who was the youngest of the posse that ambushed the couple and killed them outside Louisiana in 1934. He tried to court her with the approval of her mother before she met up with Clyde) and how Bonnie and Clyde were and what it must have been like for the parents to have children like this?”

To sum it up Menchell added… “We want all of it-the tragic love story, the passion, the commitment to family, everything that endears us to them-and yet still keep them homicidal”. Tongue in cheek or not, I think we got it all under the fine direction and musical staging of Jeff Calhoun and his talented pool of actors and technical staff.

It’s almost hard to believe that the couple was barely out of their teens when they met, robbed more than a dozen banks, killed 13 innocent people and were gunned down by a volley of bullets in their car and all before they were out of their twenties. What a waste of human life! Funny thing is (and the musical capsules this) they both came from decent hard working families.

Ironically, Clyde’s brother Buck (Claybourne Elder) was also drawn into the mix while his zealously religious wife Blanche (Melissa van der Schyff You’re Not Going Back to Jail) tried to keep him on the straight and narrow but he couldn’t resist the money and the excitement. On the other hand Bonnie’s devoted, both religiously and maternally, mother Emma (Beautifully and poignantly portrayed by Mare Winningham) tried to reason with and counsel her daughter to no avail as well.

The story plays out against the depression era backdrop on Tobin Ost’s multi level set of sliding bleached plank boards that frame the backdrop (used successfully for Aaron Rhyne’s projections of the real life characters which brought the story back to reality) of the different locations giving the impression and the look of a drought-ridden locale. Ost also designed the 30’s looking costumes; Bonnie’s being the most eye catching while the others are depression- era perfect.

For a new musical, Wildhorn’s score is catching, with a combination of blues, gospel, folk and ballads that reveal the moods, times and characters it depicts. The tone of The Long Arm of the Law sung by the Sheriff (Wayne Duvall) in Act I and then at the end of Act I in a reprieve are powerful reminders of who the two are and that they will get their comeuppance.

Compared to Emma’s lament, The Devil sung with passion and grief for her daughter to You Love Who You Love, (Bonnie and Blanche) You’re Going Back to Jail, (Blanche and Salon women) The World Will Remember Me (Clyde and Bonnie) and finally Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad (Bonnie and Clyde) the music’s trajectory with its differing styles moves the story but never really reveals any more about the players, their motives or drives than what we hear in their conversations or see in their actions. Some of the reprieves could be eliminated to shorten the length without taking anything away from the overall production.

Clyde was a conceited self professed bad boy who never looked back on what he did or thought, “Other people got dreams, I got plans”. For him there was no option; no plan ‘B’. And in a brief exchange when Bonnie commends his shooting skills she says, “You’re good”. “I’m not good, I’m the best” he retorts.

His biggest complaint was that Bonnie never put his name first in her poems about them. She hoped to get them published some day. (You’ve read the story of Jessie James of how he lived and how they died. If you’re still in need of something to read, here’s the story of Bonnie and Clyde… Some day they’ll go down together they’ll bury then side-by-side. To few it will be grief, to the law a relief, but it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde. The Trails End by Bonnie Parker). And they were.

Stark Sands has the perfect look and mannerism as the self-confident and arrogant bad boy, Clyde Barrow who entices Bonnie to travel with him convincing her that they would be good together. He’s also in fine voice especially since this is his first musical. He shows no remorse for anything he has done, he’s that vain. Stark is convincing in his mannerisms and ways and a perfect match with Laura Osnes’ Bonnie.

Laura Osnes is a beautiful, bored and captivating Bonnie Parker whose need to escape from the humdrum world of her mother, working as a waitress in the depressed and repressive Texas and tired of her would-be suitor is a recurring theme. Between her lust for adventure and a willingness to follow Clyde into any situation and his need to be recognized at any cost, the formula for disaster is set.

Calhoun’s eye for the perfect cast is evident in the fact that there isn’t a weak link anywhere. Wayne Duvall is excellent as the out to get the pair at any cost Sheriff. Mike Sears (fresh from Man From Nebraska recently seen at the Cygnet Theatre) shows another side in multiple roles.  Chris Peluso’s Ted is strong and well meaning as well as the strong arm of the law and Michael Lanning stirred the audience with his (God’s Arms Are Always Open) number as the preacher.

Music supervisor John McDaniel who is in charge of orchestrations, incidental music and vocal arrangements conducted his six-piece band flawlessly. Michael Gilliam and Brian Ronan are right on with the mood lighting and sound design.

The trio of creators makes a perfect case for the two young lovers to wreak havoc on those around them while still having some sympathy for those left to fend off the residual effects of their actions. Mare Winningham whose role of Emma, Bonnie’s mother, has been expanded from the movie version is very much a part of the backdrop as is Clyde’s brother Buck whose loyalties lay on the side of Clyde rather than the pleas of his wife and his mother.

Menchell’s book is captivating and enticing and the two lovers create a convincing and tragic love story. Black’s lyrics are both fun and pointed and get the message across but its Wildhorn whose musical variety and mix of different genres that are the most impressive.

Like it or not is what it is and if we don’t learn from our past it will bite us in the end. Walking to my car, I heard someone actually humming a tune from the show. That’s always a good sign. Enjoy! Hats off to the La Jolla Playhouse.

Bonnie and Clyde will continue through Dec. 20^th in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

See you at the theatre and Happy Chanukah!

*
Davis, a San Diego based theatre reviewer, may be contacted at davisc@sandiegojewishworld.com

CLICK FOR TRAILER

What?

The belief in evil – and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith, author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist, the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity.

Academy Award-winner Friedkin, who introduces the film and supervised this new video transfer from restored picture and audio elements, gets effective performances from Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow and Lee J. Cobb. Winner of 1973 Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Sound, The Exorcist remains, 25 years later, one of the most shocking and gripping movies ever made.

Where?

At home.

With?

A massive headache.

Why?

I’ve never seen any of the sequels and it’s been about 15 years since I’ve seen this one, so I’m going to start from the beginning and make my way through the series.

Worth It?

The first time I watched it, it was my birthday and I was in a group of about 16 people. I found the movie to be quite embarrassingly dated, not remotely scary and actually quite laughable.

I’m (slightly) more mature now and I can see just why this is treated as a classic, because with experience I can see just why this movie is so damn creepy. You can really tap into the helplessness that Chris is going through as well as the mourning of Father Karras, these themes weren’t apparant when you’re 12 and you’re after cheap scares.

The effects still hold up well, and the finale is fantastically shot as well as being a pretty big pay off to a story that grows tensor with every scene.

Highly recommend and I look forward to part 2, which I’ve heard some OK things about.

8/10

Lataa Ohjelma (MP3)

Eeppisen mittaisessa juhlajaksossamme esitellään uusi tunnari, palkitaan kommentoijia ja ennen kaikkea käydään läpi panelistien Top 10 suosikkielokuvat kautta aikojen. Mittaa jaksolle tosiaan venähti melkein kolme ja puoli tuntia, mutta älkää säikähtäkö. Annamme tämän kuunteluun kuuntelijoille muutaman viikon kuunteluaikaa ennen uusia jaksoja ja podcastia voi kuunnella vapaavalintaisissa osioissa.

Juhan Top 10 elokuvat:
- Modern Times
- Amélie
- Seven
- Pulp Fiction
- Á Bout de Souffle
- Apocalypse Now
- Dr. Strangelove
- Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä
- Annie Hall
- Requiem for a Dream

Henrikin Top 10 elokuvat:
- WALL-E
- The Great Dictator
- Metropolis
- The Incredibles
- Galaxy Quest
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Manhattan Murder Mystery
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Finding Nemo

By Jen

No character is perfect, and no actor can be either.  A need for perfection might be a strong character choice or motivation, but no one is perfect.  It is an impossibility.

In her autobiography, “Lessons in Becoming Myself,” Ellen Burstyn tells the story of an exercise she did in class with Lee Strasberg, in which she created the image of a cup of coffee in her mind.  She carefully constructed the cup in her imagination until she could see and feel the dimensions, and feel the weight of the drink in her hand.  As she worked, Strasberg called on her and asked if she rode horses.

As she attempted to keep her concentration on her imaginary cup of coffee, they discussed her knowledge of horses, until he said, “You don’t have to ride that cup.”  With her perfect cup still in her hand, he asked her, “What would happen if you made a mistake? … Go on, make a mistake!”

“And that began my new life,” Burstyn shared.  “Lee told me that the first step was the willingness to make a mistake, to suffer the humiliation of daring to risk, to grow.  I just had no idea how terrified I was not to be perfect.”

For many actors, struggling and unyielding faith are just part of “paying your dues,” in the hopes of one day meeting success — but having that ambition and optimism is not enough if you have fallen out of love with what you do.  Demanding so much of yourself — to put forth the perfect image, to dress correctly, to deliver your lines in a certain way, to be a part of the right crowd, to project the best image to the public — is futile if you are empty inside and striving for perfection.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says,

“And now I will show you the most excellent way.  If I speak in the tongues* of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames† but have not love, I gain nothing.”

One of Stella Adler’s mantras was “agitate from your essence.”

What you feel, what you give of yourself, and what you bring to the stage must come from within you.  It must be motivated deep inside so that you can give every bit of yourself to your character.

In other words, do not be a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal — a hollow attention-grabber spouting lines emphatically to an audience or striding perfectly in front of a camera.  Giving 100 percent is not about the effort you put forth alone.  It is the total commitment of yourself to your character, and your ability to let go, step aside, humble yourself and let that character drive you.

Dare to make a mistake.  Dare to take a chance.  Dare to be in love with everything and give everything you have within you to the world.  Let go of the control, step out of the way, and just be.

*languages

†early manuscripts say “body that I may boast”

.

Plot: Hilary Duff will play the title role of Greta a waitress who falls for an ambitious cook (Ross) at the restaurant where they work. But as their summer romance heats up, she has to overcome the concerns of her grandparents (Burstyn, Murphy) about her boyfriend’s criminal past.

Genre: Drama | Romance

IMDB rating: 8.7/10 (134 votes)

Directed by: Nancy Bardawil

Starring: Hilary Duff ,Ellen Burstyn
Google Keyword Search : aaf-greta.2009.dvdrip.xvid

Links: IMDB - Trailer

“Something beyond comprehension is happening to a little girl on this street, in this house. A man has been called for as a last resort to try and save her. That man is The Exorcist“

Ok, you can tell I am still catching up on reviews from the Halloween season. So, it’s not like I am getting in the holiday season mood with a viewing of The Exorcist. In my opinion the scariest movie ever made. This is also one of the few horror movies that received critical acclaim, nominated for a total of 10 Oscars including Best Picture. If you don’t know the story, it is about a young girl possessed by a demon. Her mother turns to a local priest, who has just lost his mother and is starting to have questions about his own faith. It is this priest, Father Karras, who realizes the little Girl Regan needs a lot of help, in fact she needs an Exorcist.

This film has a great cast of characters. Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream, The Yards, and Best Actress nominee for The Exorcist) plays Regan’s mother and local actress, Chris MacNeil. She plays a very caring mother who really doesn’t have a strong religious background of any kind, yet finds herself to the point of breaking down and helpless when it comes to helping her sick daughter. Jason Miller plays Father Karras, who was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar in this film. A wonderful surprise performance from Linda Blair (Airport 1975, The Exorcist 2: The Heretic) who plays Regan. She was nominated for Supporting Actress. Unfortunately she did such a great job, she fell into a Hollywood stereo type of playing in a lot of B Horror movies like Hell Night. Long time great Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men, The Three Faces of Eve) also has a significant role as the detective investigating the murder.

I know some that have laughed this movie off, and I guess that can be expected some as much as this film has been lampooned and joked about. Just mentioning the words “Pea Soup” is iconic for the film, and even people who haven’t seen the film get this reference. Is it a horror film. Yes. Is it a religious film. Yes. The one thing this film will always remain is a true classic and the scariest film of all time.

Editor’s Note: This is part III in a series  of posts on The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby.  For part I of the series, scroll down or click here.  For part II, scroll down or click here.  As mentioned before the first post: I reveal many plot points from these films, so please watch them before reading.

In my previous posts on Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, I touched upon some of the ways in which these films exploit the uncanny feelings we experience in relation to our own bodies, as well as how these films may have a comment on the ways in which contemporary power structures terrorize and appropriate the female body.   In this continuation of the larger discussion on Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, I am interested in investigating how these films might also be mining some horror from the inherently uncomfortable disconnect we all have between our minds and our bodies.

In support of this notion, I will posit that the eeriest things in life are not often the things prowling around outside your home at night, nor are they the things coming down from outer space to apprehend unsuspecting sleepers, and certainly they are not pitchfork-wielding goblins reveling in a fiery orgy of sin below the earth.  On the contrary, the eeriest things in life often originate within the confines of our own skulls.  Throughout our history, we humans have made a habit of projecting the weird things going on in our own psyches outwardly, thereby attributing anomalous or unsavory behavior or phenomena to demons, witches and the like.  For instance, Mary Beth Norton makes a compelling argument in her 2002 book In the Devil’s Snare, that the Salem Witch Trials toward the end of the 17^th Century can be largely attributed to the anxieties and other psychological ramifications of frontier life, and specifically the fear of Native American attacks on European settlements.  The dark-skinned men lurking in the unfamiliar forests, along with the constant bloodshed that was inherent to that time and place, created a fear that was coupled with an already-present collective belief in witches, demons and unknown evils lurking in the shadows.  While these settlers did have actual danger prowling outside their homes, they were not aware that the reach of Native American influence reached through the walls of their homes into their minds, leading to irrational behavior and decision-making.  Those weren’t demons in the woods, those were people tired of being slaughtered and otherwise molested by strangely-dressed white people.

The point is that our own minds are the source of our greatest terrors.  And historically, as with the Salem Witch Trials example above, it has been  much easier to explain away the most uncomfortable or undesirable aspects of our lives with a little bit of supernatural belief and magical thinking.  The most powerful of these supernatural belief systems are the monotheistic religions which, although they are very much thriving to this day, are much more difficult to accept absolutely than they were, say, 500 years ago.  Magical thinking was a pat way to explain away events and circumstances that otherwise were baffling or anxiety-provoking.  With scientific knowledge skyrocketing in the latter half of the 19^th Century and through the 20^th Century, it became much more difficult to blame everything on witches, angels, demons and god(s).  In this vein, both Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist share a subtheme of religious faith and the loss thereof.  Father Karras, the central priest character in The Exorcist (although not the “Exorcist” referred to in the title), is wrestling with his own loss of faith.  Father Karras resides in a slummy area of Washington DC, with poverty and squalor constituting his day-to-day world and, along with this, he shares his small apartment with this ailing mother, who eventually is forced to move into a mental institution brimming with the psychologically anomalous.  Karras finds it difficult to rectify these realities with his Catholic beliefs and the demon possessing Regan exploits this fact.  In Rosemary’s Baby, one scene has the camera conspicuously linger on the April 8^th, 1966 cover of Time magazine.  The cover simply features the question “Is God Dead?” in bold red letters over a black background.  This was an actual cover of Time that was attached to an article that stated that the age of religion was essentially out the door.  Rosemary herself, when asked by Roman if she is religious, states, “I was brought up Catholic, but now I don’t know”.

Both films take as their setting a 20^th Century backdrop that is turning more toward medical, scientific and psychological knowledge to assist with problems of the body and mind instead of relying upon supernatural paradigms.  Until recent modern history, many of us have told ourselves stories about the ethereal soul and its dominion over the base, corrupted body.  The soul is said to be made of otherworldly material that is unfortunately tainted by the fleshy, gooey spaceship that it must possess in order to traverse through our inherently dirty world.  If one begins to accept the idea that we – every part of us – are of this world and then supplants the soul idea with this way of thinking, then the means by which one thinks of oneself and the world becomes dramatically altered.  This paradigmatic shift would be seismically uncomfortable, and it is my contention that Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist place themselves firmly in the fault line created from just such a shift.

In his wonderfully entertaining 2007 film The Pervert’s Guide to the Cinema, Slavoj Zizek shares some of his thoughts on modern cinema from a philosophical perspective that is rooted in the ideas of famed French psychoanalytic thinker Jacques Lacan.  In his film, Zizek pontificates on Ridley Scott’s Alien and claims that this film derives its power, particularly regarding the iconic scene in which an alien baby hatches from the stomach of its human host, from the idea that humans are essentially alien intelligences with a human body as a host.  We humans are uncomfortable in our own skins because of a fundamental disconnect; we tolerate our bodies, but we must also misrecognize our bodies as something different from ourselves in order to get by.  This disconnect is much easier to handle when one has, for instance, the Christian notion of the soul which advises comfortingly that there is no need to worry, that it’s right to fear your body, and that it’s really okay that you will die someday, for everything will be taken care of because your personality is actually not of this world to begin with.  For psychoanalysis as well as for Christianity, we are essentially ghosts inside a machine, or aliens inside of spaceships.  Christianity tells us that our alien souls will someday rejoin the Mothership (Fathership?)  in the sky, whereas psychoanalysis offers no such happy ending.  For psychoanalysis, life is weird and then you die.

Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist generate some wonderful creepiness by interjecting antiquated notions of Soul/Body and Good/Evil into a modern, scientifically-advanced setting.  One can have every priest and psychologist on call, but life will never cease to be strange.  It’s unfortunate that this basic concept is lost on many contemporary horror filmmakers.  These filmmakers spend too much time on computer graphics and convoluted story lines and not enough time looking into the mirror and contemplating the stranger staring back.

Note: I’m thinking there’s one more post on these two films on the way.  I’m thinking the next post will be about domestic spaces and antagonistic furniture in Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.

W. è un film del 2008 diretto da Oliver Stone ed interpretato da Josh Brolin.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Oliver Stone | Josh Brolin | Elizabeth Banks | Thandie Newton | Ellen Burstyn | Ioan Gruffudd

Colin Firth is in the running for A Single Man (check out the trailer), but one of his next films is the final screenplay from Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award®-winner Horton Foote. It is a luminous and timely tale of a down-and-out small town that receives a mysterious visitor – a stranger with a promise to turn things around and bring the town back to its former pride and glory.

Georgiana (Ellen Burstyn) is a stately tobacco heiress faced with a real estate problem; she has an empty warehouse on the town’s foundering Main Street. She rents the facility to the visitor, Texas businessman Gus Leroy (Colin Firth) – sight unseen and no questions asked – and she has no idea that his risky business will soon impact her friends and neighbors. From her niece Willa (Patricia Clarkson), to the local police officer (Orlando Bloom) and the girl he has his eye on (Amber Tamblyn), everyone in town begins to question the trucks arriving in the middle of the night unloading cargo into Georgiana’s warehouse.

When it is finally revealed that the material being stored is hazardous waste, there is an uproar. Leroy explains to the Mayor that several towns throughout the south are experiencing full economic recovery as a result of doing business with him, and the town must face the ultimate question – to do what is needed, or do what is right. The new business could enrich their economy, but put all its inhabitants in peril.

I posted photos of Orlando Bloom on the set of this film a while back.

Source: Collider

Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America. Scorsese is president of the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the prevention of the decaying of motion picture film stock.

Scorsese’s body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, and violence. Scorsese is widely considered to be one of the most significant and influential American filmmakers of his era, directing landmark films such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas; all of which he collaborated on with actor Robert De Niro. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed and earned an MFA in film directing from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Trivia:

Listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun (1997), which Scorsese directed. [19 December 1996]

Awarded third annual John Huston Award for Artists Rights by the Artists Rights Foundation. [1995]

Presented with a special tribute at the 1976 Telluride Film Festival. It was presented by Michael Powell. [1976]

He is a longtime friend and was once a housemate of The Band’s Robbie Robertson. He directed The Last Waltz (1978), the documentary of their supposedly last gig which Robertson produced. Robertson later produced the soundtrack for Scorsese’s The Color of Money (1986).

Good friends with editor Thelma Schoonmaker & cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Scorsese introduced Thelma to her husband Michael Powell and he often quotes Powell as an influence.

His name is pronounced “Scor-sez-see”.

He directed Michael Jackson’s Bad (1987) (V) music video. The full length video runs 16 minutes and is in both black & white and color. It is usually shortened down to just the color segment for television.

He appears as attached to his pet white Bichon Frise Zoe as he was to his beloved parents – except Zoe is right beside Marty every day in the office.

Daughter Francesca Scorsese born. [16 November 1999]

John Woo dedicated his action film Dip huet seung hung (1989) (“The Killer”) to Scorsese on a commentary he did for the movie’s DVD.

Daughter Domenica Cameron-Scorsese with Julia Cameron.

Taught both Oliver Stone and Spike Lee at NYU.

Was at one point going to make a movie about the life of comedian Richard Pryor.

He was an altar boy at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was used in his early films I Call First (1967) and Mean Streets (1973). Old St. Patrick’s is also where the baptism scene in The Godfather (1972) took place.

Was at one point slated to direct Clockers (1995), but for reasons that are not entirely clear, handed the directing chores to his onetime NYU student Spike Lee, while staying on as producer. He was also at one point going to direct Little Shop of Horrors (1986) for David Geffen, with Steven Spielberg as the executive producer. He was ultimately uninvolved, but claims that he wanted to shoot the movie in 3-D. It no doubt would have been a loving homage to Roger Corman, for whom he directed Boxcar Bertha (1972).

He took a cameo in his film Taxi Driver (1976) (as a man about to kill his wife) only because the actor who was supposed to play the role was sick on the day the scene was to be shot. Says he is generally uncomfortable in front of the camera.

Has a dog named Silas.

Is the subject of the song “Martin Scorsese” by alternative band King Missile.

Father of actress Cathy Scorsese from his first marriage.

Is of Italian-Sicilian descent.

Has asthma.

Of the three films he’s been trying to make since the mid-1970s, he has done two: The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002). The third film, a biopic of Dean Martin called “Dino”, has been on hiatus at Warner Brothers since the late 1990s. Scorsese has a very specific all A-list cast in mind, probably why it has yet to be produced. He wants Tom Hanks to star as Martin, Jim Carrey to play Jerry Lewis, John Travolta to play Frank Sinatra, Hugh Grant to play Peter Lawford, and Adam Sandler to play Joey Bishop.

Was voted the 4th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him the only living person in the top 5 and the only working film director in the top 10 (Ingmar Bergman being retired as a filmmaker).

Appeared on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000) as a shrill version of himself who comes to regret his decision to cast Larry David as a violent gangster in a movie after David repeatedly ruins the suit he needs to wear as the character.

Several characters in his films refer to the legendary (noir) actor John Garfield, star of the original The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), which is also mentioned.

He was one of three major directors to have been offered the opportunity to direct Schindler’s List (1993) by producer Steven Spielberg, the other two being Roman Polanski and Billy Wilder. Scorsese thought a Jewish filmmaker should direct it; Polanski wasn’t yet ready to deal with the painful subject (having lost his mother in the Holocaust); and Wilder (who was retired and who lost his mother and grandmother in the Holocaust) finally told Spielberg that he should do it himself.

Because so many of his actors win or are nominated for awards, actors are dying to work with him. The film With Friends Like These… (1998) pokes fun at this very real desire.

Both The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002) were personal passions of his that he had wanted to make since the 1970s. When he first starting considering them, Robert De Niro was in his mind to play the lead characters in both (Jesus Christ in “Temptation” and Bill Cutting in “Gangs”). De Niro ultimately turned down the part in “Temptation” and it was decided he was too old to play Cutting by the time that “Gangs” finally went into production.

He has famously collaborated with Robert De Niro in 8 films. Scorsese has said that his creative collaboration with De Niro is very deep and that they can often understand each other without even talking. Their collaboration has had many dry spells (including recently), but Scorsese says he shows almost every script he writes or considers directing to De Niro to see what the actor’s thoughts on them are even when De Niro ultimately has no involvement the film.

Appeared in an “American Express” ad where he goes to pick up photos of his nephew’s birthday party at a drug store, and then proceeds to nervously pick through what’s wrong with each picture while trying to get the clueless photo-lab clerk’s opinion on them. He proceeds to buy more film with an American Express card and calls the people on the pictures saying they need to reshoot. Scorsese says this funny ad is probably the closest he’s come to accurately “playing” himself.

Apart from his legendary work as a filmmaker, he has been a vocal supporter of film preservation for almost three decades. His efforts to create a strong public awareness for the work of film archives include The Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation which he started together with other filmmakers. The Film Foundation regularly partners with the American film archives on the restoration of “lost” or endangered films. With this background he has agreed to serve as Honorary President of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna.

Personally spurns the notion of the “director’s cut” feeling that once a film has been completed, it should not be further altered in any way.

He lost three best director – and best picture – Oscars to leading-man actors turned directors: Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, and Clint Eastwood (Raging Bull (1980) lost to Redford’s Ordinary People (1980); Goodfellas (1990) to Costner’s Dances with Wolves (1990); The Aviator (2004) to Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004)). On the only two occasions when he was Oscar-nominated as Best Director in years ending in zero, he was beaten by actors making their directorial debuts (Redford and Costner).

In 1975, he accepted the Oscar for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” on behalf of Ellen Burstyn, who wasn’t present at the awards ceremony. She won for her performance in Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998.

Has mentioned that he thought Robert De Niro’s best performance under his direction was as Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1982).

Ranked #3 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Greatest directors ever!” [2005]

His favorite films include: Citizen Kane (1941), The Red Shoes (1948) and Il gattopardo (1963) (“The Leopard”).

Was friend, protégé, and employee of actor-director John Cassavetes.

When asked where audiences would find the next Martin Scorsese, he said to look to Wes Anderson, the young director of Rushmore (1998).

Has directed, as of 2008, 6 biopics: Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997) and The Aviator (2004).

He received a Degree ad honorem in “Cinema, TV and Multimedia Production” from the University of Bologna on 26 November 2005.

Served as mentor to Georgia Lee and invited her to apprentice for Gangs of New York (2002) in Europe.

The 1912 American Mutoscope & Biograph Company short The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) heavily influenced Scorsese in the making of his own gangster films Goodfellas (1990), and Gangs of New York (2002). The film was picked by Scorcese for his 2005 tribute at Beaubourg, centre d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou (1977) in Paris, France. Biograph is the oldest movie company in America and in existence today, headed by producer/director Thomas R. Bond II.

Scorsese and Taxi Driver (1976) are, among others, named as inspiration for the Massive Attack debut “Blue Lines”.

He signed a four-year, first-look deal to develop projects with studio executives of Paramount. [November 2006]

The Departed (2006) is the highest-grossing movie of his 40-year career ($132,373,442 (USA)).

The Aviator (2004) was his first movie to gross over $100 million in the U.S.

He has worked with big names of music business: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, ‘Michael Jackson (I)’ and David Bowie.

Directed 17 different actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis , Cate Blanchett, Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Sharon Stone, Diane Ladd,Cathy Moriarty, Juliette Lewis, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Newman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Alda and Mark Wahlberg. (Burstyn, De Niro, Newman, Pesci and Blanchett won Oscars for their roles in one of Scorsese’s movies).

When he won his Best Director Oscar for The Departed (2006), he received the award from legendary directors, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. The four were part of the “New Hollywood” movement of the 1970s and combined have 9 Academy Awards and 38 Nominations.

As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Michael Powell’s The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) from a store that only had one copy of the reels. When it wasn’t available the owner told him, “that Romero kid has it,” referring to George A. Romero who was also a big fan of the film. Today, both directors cite the film as a major influence.

Says he was happy with the fact that it took so long for him to win Best Director, because if he had won it earlier, it would have affected his directing and films.

Recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Other recipients that year were Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, and Brian Wilson.

Says the only thing he regrets in his career is that he was only able to make The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) on a small budget although he imagined it to be a grand version.

Was originally going to direct The Honeymoon Killers (1969), but was replaced after a week of shooting.

Served as a guest critic on “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies” (1986) following the death of ‘Gene Siskel’. The episode was “The Best Films of the 90s” in which Roger Ebert cited Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990) as one of the best films of the 90s (#3). Scorsese’s full list of his favorite films of the 1990s: 10.) Tie: Malcolm X (1992) and Heat (1995), 9.) Fargo (1996), 8.) Crash (1996), 7.) Bottle Rocket (1994), 6.) Breaking the Waves (1996), 5.) Bad Lieutenant (1992), 4.) Eyes Wide Shut (1999), 3.) Duo sang (1994) (“A Borrowed Life”), 2.) The Thin Red Line (1998), 1.) Dao ma zei (1986) (“Horse Thief”).

He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.

Resides in New York City. His production offices are located on W. 57th Street in Manhattan.

Attended Cardinal Hayes high school in the Bronx as a young man. Fellow alumni included George Carlin, George Dzundza, Regis Philbin and Jamal Mashburn.

Is a fan of the British Hammer Films series.

A huge fan of Fawlty Towers (1975). He describes the episode “The Germans” as “so tasteless, its hilarious.”.

In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 7 of Scorsese’s films are listed: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006).

Haig Manoogian was Scorsese’s mentor at NYU. He eventually produced Scorsese’s first film (I Call First (1967)) and when he died in 1980, Scorsese dedicated Raging Bull (1980) to Manoogian.

Roger Ebert is a great admirer of Scorsese’s work. 14 of Scorsese’s films were given four stars by Ebert (Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shine a Light (2008)), seven of his films are in Ebert’s Great Movies list (“Mean Streets”, “Taxi Driver”, “Raging Bull”, “After Hours”, “The Last Temptation Of Christ”, “Goodfellas”, and “The Age of Innocence”), and Ebert has written an entire book of his reviews, interviews and essays on Scorsese’s work simply titled “Scorsese By Ebert”.

As of November 10th 2009, five of his films are on the IMDb’s Top 250 Films list: Goodfellas (1990), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Departed (2006), and Casino (1995).

Amazon Specials!

À y regarder de plus près, Alain Resnais n’a jamais cessé de s’intéresser à la mécanique du cerveau. Tout son cinéma tourne autour de ce thème ; depuis Hiroshima mon amour, formalisation de l’idée-même de mémoire, jusqu’à son dernier film Les Herbes folles qui, comme son titre l’indique, arpente les sentiers de la folie. De ce fait, on pourrait facilement qualifier Resnais de cinéaste « cérébral », au sens propre comme au figuré. Il faut bien l’avouer, en choisissant le terrain de l’expérimentation, Resnais a quelque peu tourné le dos au grand public. En 1978, nous sommes encore en période pré-JaBac (l’association du réalisateur avec Bacri et Jaoui aboutissant à des œuvres plus populaires dans les années 90 comme On connaît la chanson) et pourtant, Providence crée la surprise. Le temps d’un film, le public ne boude plus Resnais. Son succès se soldera même d’une pluie de César (sept au total).

Je ne m’explique toujours pas cette exception car, bien que de langue anglaise, Providence a tout du film resnaisien par excellence (à mes yeux il est d’ailleurs le plus abouti de son auteur sur la période 1970-80). Cette fois-ci, Resnais traite d’une partie du cerveau qui, chez lui tout particulièrement, a toujours fait preuve d’effervescence. Et pour cause, il s’agit de la création mentale, autrement dit de « l’imagination ». Resnais l’expérimentateur a pour l’occasion choisi comme cobaye un écrivain. Son nom ? Clive Langham. Âgé, alcoolique, reclus dans une vieille bâtisse, il en vient un soir de pluie à imaginer une nouvelle histoire. Un soldat, Kevin, tue lors d’un ratissage un homme âgé. Lors de son procès dirigé d’une main de fer par un procureur prénommé Claude, il atteste que le vieillard était en pleine mutation : il se changeait en loup-garou et l’avait supplié de l’abattre. Kevin arrive à convaincre les membres du jury et gagne son procès. Fascinée par le personnage, la femme de Claude, Sonia, se rapproche de plus en plus de lui…

L’histoire ainsi racontée peut sembler classique. Le mode de narration choisi par Resnais la rend pourtant unique. Et pour cause, le cinéaste mêle continuellement la réalité dans laquelle vit Clive à la fiction qu’il met lui même en scène. Resnais profite de tout ce qu’il a à sa disposition pour croiser les mondes. Le montage, le son, la lumière, les décors : tout n’est que matière à déstructuration et devient passerelle entre rêve et réalité. La voix-off se charge de nous guider dans un monde parallèle qui, au fur et à mesure, se décrédibilise et laisse entrevoir les ficelles d’un labyrinthe mental. La cause en est que Clive s’enivre de Chablis. Les bouteilles et les masques tombent : on finit par comprendre que les personnages inventés par l’auteur sont tous très largement inspirés de sa propre réalité. Claude est son fils légitime, Kevin son fils illégitime et Sonia sa belle-fille. Reste à évoquer Helen, son épouse qui s’est donnée la mort il y a des années de cela, et qui réapparait dans son histoire sous les traits de la vieille maitresse de Claude.

L’univers recréé par Clive est aussi fascinant que mystérieux. Les décors se désaccordent : on passe sans transition de la mer à la campagne. Pourtant, au loin, retentissent dans un paysage comme dans l’autre les bombardements d’une guerre sans nom. L’auteur s’embrouille, se trompe dans les dialogues, fait jouer des scènes à ses personnages puis les retire et les remplace par d’autres. Nous sommes en plein « brouillon », ensevelis sous les bouteilles de vin. Les personnages boivent autant que l’auteur à la différence qu’eux demeurent éternellement sobres. Mine de rien, Providence ne manque pas d’humour. Resnais multiplie les situations cocasses, à l’image du footballeur, personnage mystère qui échappe complètement à l’emprise de l’écrivain au point d’apparaître toujours de façon impromptue.

Soudain, tout redevient normal. Resnais avait démarré son film sur de lents travellings, s’introduisant dans la demeure de Clive (qui a d’ailleurs pour nom « Providence ») de la même manière qu’Orson Welles lorsqu’il dévoilait Xanadu dans Citizen Kane. Providence présente d’ailleurs d’autres similitudes avec le chef d’œuvre en question, comme la voix-off qui demeure omniprésente sur toute la longueur du récit. Lors des quinze dernières minutes du film,  nous passons de l’univers de Welles à celui de Renoir. La lumière du soleil devient presque aveuglante. Voici que les véritables enfants de Clive viennent à sa rencontre pour lui souhaiter un bon anniversaire façon « partie de campagne ». La vie reprend son cours et les situations se normalisent. Tout est convenu, nous sommes désormais en famille. L’imagination de Clive n’est pas un échappatoire, c’est simplement le miroir déformant de sa propre vie. La seule issue demeurera à jamais la mort. Ainsi s’achève Providence, dissection à cœur ouvert d’un autre Rosebud.

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PROVIDENCE (Fr.-Suisse, 1977) R. : Alain Resnais, Sc. : David Mercer ; Ph. : Ricardo Aronovich ; M. : Miklós Rózsa ; Int. : Dirk Bogarde (Claude Langham), Ellen Burstyn (Sonia Langham), John Gielgud (Clive Langham), David Warner (Kevin Langham / Kevin Woodford), Elaine Stritch (Helen Wiener). Couleurs, 110mn.

(Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd & Ellen Burstyn/ Photo Credit: Crystal A. Johnson)

USA Today held its Annual Hollywood Hero Award on Tuesday, November 1oth.  The 2009 award recipient was Ashley Judd for her commitment to social causes and charity around the world.  The event was held at Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills.  A-list stars were in abundance including Debra Messing, Magic Johnson, Molly Sims, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Burstyn and many more. 

The Food at the Montage

After working the red carpet it was off to a splendid dinner held prior to the ceremony.   Take a look at what was on the Menu:

First Course

SALAD OF WILD ARUGULA

Strawberries, Marcona Almonds and Organic Parmesan with a Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Entrée

SUSTAINABLE CHILEAN SEA BASS

Fennel, Roasted Peppers and Potato Gratin with Smoked Tomato Broth

Dessert

SINGLE ESTATE CHOCOLATE LAYERS

Crispy Praline and Malted Milk Latte

*Molly Sims and Mandy Moore attended the Dinner-GUYS, THEY ARE NOT ON THE MENU!

 article by Crystal A. Johnson

Editor’s Note: This is part II in a series  of posts on The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby.  For part I of the series, scroll down or click here.  As mentioned before the first post: I reveal many plot points from these films, so please watch them before reading.

Regan MacNeil’s bodyin The Exorcist and Rosemary Woodhouse’s body in Rosemary’s Baby are commandeered by male entities who exploit these female bodies for their own self-benefit. (If nothing else, these films prove that the devil is indeed a Republican. As if this were in question.) Regan and her mother find themselves abandoned by the male-dominated team of doctors who further abuse Regan’s body through a serious of invasive testing. Chris MacNeil must then turn to the Catholic Church, which although having a history and a present of oppressing women, sends priests to their home: men who are removed from the traditional male-as-sexual-predator-toward-women role. These men are supposed to exist asexually, and therefore are perhaps the only ones who can save Regan from her plight. Yes, I understand that Catholic priests have a habit of sexually preying upon young non-women, but we’ll leave that aside for now.

In Rosemary’s Baby, young, early-20s Rosemary Woodhouse realizes that her husband and the neighbors around her are conspiring to exploit her fertile body and maternal drives for their own ends. When she begins to piece together the puzzle, she runs to her original obstetrician, Dr. Hill, for safety. She does this at the behest of her girlfriends, who console her in the kitchen during a party. Rosemary’s doctor, Dr. Sapirstein, who comes recommended by her nosy and invasive elderly neighbors, has advised Rosemary to ignore the intense abdominal pain that she has been experiencing for weeks. When one of her girlfriends pleads with Rosemary to see a new doctor, another friend chimes in: “Yeah, some doctor besides that… that… nut!”

This kitchen scene comes as a welcome reprieve to the creepiness that completely saturates most of the film. Rosemary’s girlfriends are concerned for their friend’s well-being, are not dismissive of Rosemary’s complaints and ultimately are among the few benevolent figures in Rosemary’s life. But alas, the kitchen scene is a set-up. After this scene, Rosemary begins to exert some agency within her situation, and runs away from her husband, the neighbors and Dr. Sapirstein. She makes it to Dr. Hill, and in maybe the most harrowing scene in the film, Dr. Hill reveals himself to be more aligned with the male-dominated power structure than with the needs and concerns of his female patient. Once again, the creepiness of this film comes from the focus upon already existent aspects of our day-to-day lives.

Rosemary’s husband’s name is Guy, a name which points to the fact that this man is not an anomalous and horrible person. He is just your average “guy”, an unthinking man who, if given the chance, would sign away his wife’s body for his own selfish gains. At the end of the film, Guy offers these words in the form of an apology after it has been revealed that Guy allowed his Satan-worshipping neighbors access to Rosemary’s body so that Satan could impregnate Rosemary with the anti-Christ fetus (you know, your average marriage snafus): “They promised me you wouldn’t be hurt and you haven’t been…really. I mean, supposing you had the baby and you lost it? Wouldn’t that be the same? And we’re getting so much in return, Ro.” Guy’s flippancy toward his wife is truly terrifying and the viewer, at this point, has seen many signs of it. Even before we begin to piece-together the scenario along with Rosemary, we see Guy give his wife dismissive pats on the ass, pooh-pooh her suspicions as resulting from the “pre-partum crazies”, and most scarily, admit to fornicating with Rosemary’s unconscious body — an admission that we discover is a cover-up for what really happened.  After the otherwise lovely night when Rosemary is raped by the devil (something Rosemary doesn’t realize until much later in the film), Rosemary wakes up and this back-and-forth with her husband ensues:

Rosemary: I dreamed someone was raping me, I think it was someone inhuman.
Guy: Thanks a lot. Whatsa matter?
Rosemary: Nothing.
Guy: I didn’t want to miss the night.
Rosemary: We could have done it this morning or tonight. Last night wasn’t the only split-second.
Guy: I was a little bit loaded myself, you know.
Rosemary: You… you had me while I was out?
Guy: It was kinda fun in a necrophile sort of way.

Rosemary shrugs off Guy’s excuse for allegedly having sex with her lifeless body, which is a very scary thought in itself — even without the devil business.  This is to me is the scariest aspect of Rosemary’s Baby — the utter helplessness that Rosemary experiences in relation to the whims of men.

When Dr. Hill opens the door and lets in Guy and Dr. Sapirstein, Dr. Sapirstein has this to say, with Guy standing sheepishly at his side: “Come with us quietly, Rosemary. Don’t argue or make a scene. Because if you say anything more about witches or witchcraft, we’re gonna be forced to take you to a mental hospital. You don’t want that, do you?”  In many modern works of fiction, the mental hospital becomes the last viable option for men in dealing with women who are for whatever reason not fitting into their system.  In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood is given shock treatment and forced to spend much of her time in mental facilities because of her inability to behave “appropriately” for a young woman in her time and place.  Lisbeth Salander in the Steig Larsson’s Millenium series is institutionalized because of the threat she poses to the patriarchal powers that be (indeed, the Swedish title of Larsson’s first book translates as Men Who Hate Women).

In The Exorcist as well, the team of doctors strongly encourage Chris MacNeil to have their daughter institulationalized because of her strange disorder and their inability to properly label and deal with her problem.  While The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby utilize demonic possession in their films as a means of eliciting terror, it is through showcasing the status of women in society outside of the movie theatre that really makes these chills hit home.

Stay tuned for more on The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby! In the meantime, don’t forget to say your prayers.

Editor’s Note: this blog post assumes that you have seen the films The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby and therefore we reveal central elements of their plots. If you haven’t seen them, please:  1) Netflix them, 2) watch them, 3) make me a pulled-pork sandwich and then, 4) return to this post.

A woman becomes pregnant.  A human stranger grows inside of her.  This creature exists in darkness, feeding off of its host, affecting her diet, her mood and many of her bodily functions.

A young woman goes through puberty: an unfamiliar body develops, a strange voice emerges and a new personality is born.  Her desires, thoughts and behavior become very different than those of her prepubescent self.

When viewed from such vantage points, natural human events and processes can appear very odd.  Uncanny, as Freud would have it.  For Freud, the uncanny feeling results when concepts or things feel familiar yet strange; what was once comforting and affirming is now hostile and threatening.  Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is perhaps the quintessential piece of uncanny fiction.  In the beginning of Usher, the unnamed narrator confronts the house of his former friend Roderick Usher.  Poe’s narrator compares the feeling of looking upon this house as the same feeling he gets when coming down from opium – “the hideous dropping off of the veil” as he describes it.

It is by utilizing the uncanny and a “hideous dropping of the veil” that two of the 20^th century’s greatest American horror films gain their respective effects of terror.  Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973) deftly craft feelings of the uncanny by using young women as their respective focal points.

Both of these films involve demonic invasions as experienced by two young women during points of biological unrest: puberty and pregnancy, respectively.   Both of these women experience bodily invasion by male demonic entities who take control of their bodies as a means of furthering their own, literally devilish, schemes.  Both of these films utilize bodily orifices and bodily fluid in order to play upon our fears regarding our own bodies.  They also play upon the natural helplessness of women in a patriarchal society in order to cultivate terror, but more on this later.  The point is that although both films involve major aspects of the supernatural, the real terror is cultivated through enhancing and riffing upon elements of terror already found in our lives.

In the first third of Rosemary’s Baby, the viewer witnesses the intimate moments of a young couple checking out and then moving into a NYC apartment.  The actors, Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes, deftly portray young lovers who, although clearly not in the most loving and supportive relationship, are in a relationship that one can relate to.  It’s a relationship that rings true: we can imagine being friends with the Woodhouses.  This verisimilitude is very important, for the feelings conjured by this seemingly real and run-of-the-mill relationship will compose the veil which the remainder of the film works to drop – inch by painstaking inch.

In the first third of The Exorcist, the viewer witnesses the intimate moments of a mother and a daughter as they settle into their new Georgetown home.  Once again, the actors portraying this duo, Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair, bring a certain aura of realness to their roles that will come in handy later in the film when we are meant to empathize with them completely as their lives fall apart via demonic invasion.  Ellen Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil is a woman who is flawed and vulnerable, just like us.  Her life is messy, but the viewer gets the sense that, even when we can judge her for how she treats her servants, this woman works hard for herself and her family and fights for what she believes is hers.  Just like us.  Except for the servants part.

In both films, and this is the crucial element that many horror and thriller filmmakers don’t seem to understand, the veil is gradually and surreptitiously placed before our eyes.  Lesser modern horror films will dance bloody corpses and fantastical monsters before our eyes as if that were all it took.  Such films amount to B-grade horror porn (horrporn?).  The better modern horror films will put as much craft into the non-scary aspects of their film as the payoff fright scenes.  You have to work just as hard weaving the rug as you do pulling it out from underneath our feet.

What the Exorcist team of director William Friedkin and writer William Peter Blatty and the writer/director of Rosemary’s Baby, Roman Polanski, understand is that very basic aspects of life are frightening, fundamentally, to the human consciousness.  What they realize is that in order to scare the shit out of people, one only needs to zero in on aspects of life that are already scary and then embellish.  Puberty and pregnancy are scary.  Puberty, with its unseen chemical surges and transactions and its utterly transformative effects on the human personality and body, is at the very least creepy for the child as well as his or her parents and siblings.  Pregnancy, with its parasitic invasion of the female body featuring an unseen life form growing and feeding within another human, along with its bloody and screeching arrival, is enough to put anybody on edge – including the baby.

Stay tuned for part II of this post, where I will further explore the sources of terror in these two films, including men in power, the soul/body binary and antagonistic furniture.

Your mother’s in here, Karras. Would you like to leave a message? I’ll see that she gets it.

– Demon

I owned a VHS copy of The Exorcist for a time, but I have not seen the Director’s Cut of the movie until now. Seeing that this is the end of my “Creep-A-Thon”, I wanted to end on a high with this ten-time Academy award nominated movie and the #208 movie of All Time on IMDb by William Freidkin. It won for Best Adapted Screenplay for William Peter Blatty for adapting his own book. This movie still creeps me out.

It has been a long time since I have seen the movie that I don’t want was or wasn’t in the theatrical cut. In this version, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) is on an archeological dig in Northern Iraq where he uncovers an ancient artifact that is reminiscent of the devil.

Cut to Georgetown where an actress, Chris McNeill (Ellen Busrtyn) in the middle of filming a movie for Burke Jennings (Jack MacGowran). She rents out a house with her daughter, Regan (Linda Blair). Everything seems to fine, except Mrs. MacNeil hears noises from the attic. She thinks that there are rats. When she investigates, nothing is there.

After Regan’s twelfth birthday, she starts acting weird with spacing out, the inappropriate outbursts and swearing. Chris and Regan don’t know what is going on. Chris contacts Dr. Klein (Barton Heyman) to perform a battery of tests on Regan. He concludes that she has a lesion in her temporal lobe that causes the change in behavior.

In consulting with Dr. Taney (Robert Symonds) with x-rays, they cannot find on her brain. The doctors are stumped. They have exhausts of their options medically. It could be mental. A therapist (Arthur Storch) is called to put Regan under hypnosis. During the session, a spirit that inhabits her body is brought out.

There last resort is an exorcism to drive the spirit out of her body. Father Karras (Jason Miller) wants the task to perform the exorcism, but his superiors want to have a person that had actually performed. The church enlists Father Merrin to lead the exorcism.

I can’t believe that I was bored at some parts with this movie. During the movie, I was dozing. I don’t remember the movie having these B, C and D subplots with Karras’ mother, the mystery of the death of the director, the noises in the attic, etc.

The movie is still good. This movie is so creepy that it might happen to you. Being possessed by the devil. It’s more real than a vampire, a werewolf or a zombie coming after you.

Judgment: After all this time, the movie is very effective by freaking you out.

Rating: ****

THE FOUNTAIN av Darren Aronofsky (2006)
Med Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn

SPOILERVARNING

Tre parallella berättelser.

En grundberättelse i nutid om en forskare (Hugh Jackman) som genom djurförsök på rhesusapor letar efter ett botemedel mot cancer och får veta att hans fru (Rachel Weisz) är döende i cancer samtidigt som han hittar ett botemedel i form av saven från ett sydamerikanskt träd; en berättelse som egentligen består av en roman som forskarens döende fru skriver, om en conquistador på spanska medeltiden (Hugh Jackman) som av den spanska drottningen (Rachel Weisz), hårt ansatt av invadörer, får i uppdrag att hitta Livets träd i Edens lustgård; en framtidsberättelse om en rymdresenär (Hugh Jackman, fast skallig) som i ett ekorymdskepp med ett träd i är på väg mot en supernova.

De här tre berättelserna är parallella, men sammanflätade. Trädet i rymdskeppet motsvaras av Livets träd i conquistadorberättelsen och trädet i Sydamerika i nutidsberättelsen. Supernovan, en döende stjärna, får Hugh Jackman i nutidsberättelsen av sin hustru veta var dödens gud i Mayafolkets religion och conquistadorerna besöker förstås Mayafolket. Och det är som sagt Rachel Weisz i nutid som skriver berättelsen om conquistadoren i medeltidens Spanien. Och så vidare.

Tanken är förstås att de här tre berättelserna ska vara inte bara sammanflätade – de ska dessutom belysa varandra. För temat är detsamma i alla tre: livet och döden, och försöken att besegra döden. På olika sätt, men med samma skådespelare i olika tider.

Den här sortens mycket konstruerade filmer kräver stor skicklighet från kanske framförallt regissörens sida. Den skickligheten saknar Darren Aronofosky. The Fountain är till en början obegriplig, därefter begriplig men överdramatisk och konstlad och full av alltför tvära kast mellan de tre berättelserna, och slutligen fylld av stundtals vackra bilder men i grund och botten ointressant, vilket är synd. För det hade den inte behövt vara. Men den lastar på med flera ton och stråkmusiken är smäktande och det är meningen att vi ska hisna, men jag kom på mig själv med att i stället leva mig in i några av de mer suggestiva scenerna och tänka ut helt andra berättelser utifrån dem.

Berättelser som jag ärligt talat tyckte var mycket bättre än filmens.

Och det blev behållningen av att ha sett den.

Kör hårt,
Bellis

And you should see my Harry on Television. We’re giving the prizes away. I JUST WANTED TO BE ON THE SHOW.

– Sara Goldfrab

Requiem for a Dream is the first Darren Aronofsky picture that I have seen. I have not had to chance to view π yet, but I want to see the early beginning of this genius filmmaker. It is currently the #66 Top Film of All Time on IMDb. This film based on the novel by Hubert Shelby, Jr. was critically acclaimed for its unflinching look at drug addiction and how it will destroy your life.

Ellen Bustryn received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for playing Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow that longs to get on television. She only watches Tappy Tibbons (Christopher McDonald), a self-help guru that she wants to meet.

Her son, Harry (Jared Leto) is hooked on heroin and cocaine with his girlfriend, Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and his friend, Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). They are constantly finding ways to score. Harry and Tyrone come up with a plan to buy some grade A coke and sell it for a huge profit in order for Marion to open her own design studio.

One day, Sara receives a call that she has won a chance to be on TV. Upon hearing the news, she wants to fit in her red dress with gold shoes. The problem is that she is not able to fit into the dress anymore. One of her friends suggested that she go to Dr. Pill (Peter Maloney) to get diet pills. Little does she know that they are uppers.

As the movie progresses, we see the downward spiral into drug addiction. Seeing their lives dismantled before our eyes.

It has been a while since I have seen this movie. I love the raw human emotions expressed here by all of the actors. You felt claustrophobic as you caught a glimpse of what its like to be a drug addict.

That’s not to say that this movie is not showing its age, it does. The repeated drug taking sequences would get on your nerves. The super speed shots and the fish-eye camera lens are played out.

Judgment: A great deconstruction of addiction and its side effects.

Rating: ****1/2

Mit gerade einmal 31 Jahren sitzt Darren Aronofsky auf dem Regiestuhl, nicht zum ersten Mal. Zwei Jahre nach seinem schwarz-weiß Arthaus Erlebnis Pi verstört einer der vielversprechendsten (und besten) Regisseure unserer Zeit seine Zuschauer mit dem Drama/Thriller Requiem for a Dream, das nichts für schwache Nerven und für den “normalen” Kinogänger wohl kaum ansprechend klingt. Tatsächlich zaubert Aronofsky mit diesem Drama eine virtuose wie verschreckende Darstellung menschlicher Abgründe – ein surreales und gleichzeitig fesselndes Erlebnis, das seine Spuren hinterlässt.

Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) hat wieder einmal den Fernseher seiner Mutter Sara (Ellen Burstyn) entwendet und beim Pfandleiher gegen Bares abgegeben. Das ist auf zwei verschiedenen Wegen wirklich schlimm. Zum Einen gibt Harry das Geld für Drogen aus, zum Anderen ist seine Mutter süchtig nach dem Fernsehprogramm und nun ebenso auf dem Trockenen wie ihr Sohn kurz zuvor. Mit seinem Kumpel Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) gibt sich Harry einen Schuss. Im Rausch beschließen die beiden, selber zu dealen. Den Stoff, den sie erwerben, wird gestreckt und auf der Straße verkauft. Die Idee wird just in die Tat umgesetzt und tatsächlich floriert der Handel. Mit dem vielen Geld will Harry nun seine Freundin Marion (Jennifer Connelly) unterstützen, die ebenfalls drogenabhängig, aber aus gutem Elternhaus stammt. Problem ist nur, der Kontakt zu den vermögenden Erziehern ist eher spärlich vorhanden. Sie träumt von ihrer eigenen Boutique, in der sie ihre Eigenkreationen verkauft. Sara Goldfarb hat indes ihren Fernseher wieder erstanden und wird von ihrer Lieblingsshow angerufen: Sie ist eine mögliche Kandidatin in der Show. Schleunigst füllt sie die Bewerbungsunterlagen aus und avanciert zur Heldin der Nachbarschaft. Für den großen Auftritt will sie ihr altes rotes Kleid anziehen, das ihrem verstorbenen Ehemann so gefallen hat. Dessen Nähte sind allerdings etwas zu knapp für Sara, weshalb sie mit Appetitzüglern eine Schnelldiät versucht. Die erhoffte Einladung zur Show lässt allerdings lange auf sich warten und die vielen Pillen setzen Sara zunehmend zu. Harry bemerkt die Veränderung, die seine Mutter durchwandert, hat aber mit seinen eigenen Problemen zu kämpfen. Denn im Winter wird der Stoff knapp und die Zufriedenheit und Zuversicht seiner Freundin und seines Partners tendieren gegen Null – nun greifen die drei zu immer fragwürdigeren Mitteln, um an ihren heiß ersehnten Stoff zu kommen.

Schon in Pi zeigte Aronofsky detailliert die Gewohnheiten seiner Hauptfigur in Nahaufnahmen. Diesen Trend setzt er in Requiem for a Dream nicht nur fort, sondern treibt sie auf die Spitze. Wenn sich Harry, Tyrone und Mary einen Schuss geben, zeigt eine rasche Bildfolge die Zubereitung und Wirkung der Drogen – immer wieder. Was schon in Pi hervorragend funktionierte, wirkt auch diesmal enorm. Der Automatismus der Handlungen, die immer gleich verläuft, macht Aronofsky auf diese Weise begreiflich. Wichtiger ist aber noch die Wirkung, dass eine Anhängigkeit erkennbar wird. Die Junkies brauchen den Schuss – der Regisseur muss es zeigen und zwar im Detail.

Dieses Handwerksmittel findet auch in den Szenen um Sara Goldfarb Verwendung. Als TV-Süchtige wird das An- und Ausschalten des Fernsehers mit simplen Nahaufnahmen der Fernbedienung deutlich gemacht. Harrys Mutter schaut immer dieselbe Sendung, in der immer wieder dasselbe gesagt wird – dieses Programm hat schon etwas Okkultes, da das Publikum scheinbar willenlos dem Moderator nachspricht und nacheifert – ebenso Sara. Nachdem sie beim Arzt war, nimmt sie Pillen, um ihren Appetit zu zügeln. Diese “Medizin” wirkt vielmehr als Aufputschmittel. Anfangs sind die Tabletten noch brav und säuberlich voneinander getrennt, später liegen sie wild durcheinander auf dem Wohnzimmertisch. Ihre anfängliche Vitalität, die die Pillen erwecken, verpufft ebenso wie ihre Wahrnehmung. Durch den anhaltenden Konsum entflieht sie mehr und mehr der Realität und taucht in wilde Alpträume ein, die sie völlig um den Verstand bringen. Will sie zu Beginn nur in ihr Kleid passen, wofür sie sich auch die Haare rot färben lässt und sich gründlich schminkt, vergisst sie völlig, warum sie überhaupt abnehmen will. Sie verfällt in einen Rausch, der sie immer weiter in den Sumpf hineinzieht. Dementsprechend sieht sie gegen Ende des Films auch aus.

Requiem for a Dream ist nichts für zart Besaitete, das wurde oben bereits erwähnt. Denn wie die Verwandlung von Sara Goldfarb bereits zeigt, trügt die Idylle der ersten Filmhälfte. Denn zu Beginn des Films wird das Leben der vier Protagonisten in keinster Weise bedrohlich geschildert. Im Gegenteil. Sara hat endlich wieder einen Grund zum Lachen, Mary und Harry lieben einander und schmieden Pläne für eine gemeinsame Zukunft und Tyrone träumt vom sorgenfreien Leben. Wie der Titel schon verlauten lässt, wird daraus natürlich nichts. Behutsam und dann immer schneller führt Aronofsky dem Zuschauer den Fall der vier Personen vor die Augen. Wenn man so will baut er den Film klimatisch auf und erreicht einen ungewöhnlichen, da fern vom Mainstreamkino, Höhepunkt. Ein Blatt vor den Mund, respektive vor die Linse nimmt der junge Regisseur nicht. In aller Detailverliebtheit konstruiert Aronofsky gen Ende des Films einen schonungslosen Psycho-Thriller, der in dieser Form einmalig ist.

Untermalt wird der Wahnsinn auf dem Bildschirm fast ausschließlich von einer Komposition “Lux aeterna” von Clint Mansell nur auf Geigen gespielt. Das besondere daran ist, dass nach und nach immer mehr von dieser Melodie eingespielt wird. Die Wirkung des Stücks ist einfach unbeschreiblich, passt aber unvergleichlich gut zu den Geschehnissen. Durch die Geigen wird die Wirkung noch unterstützt, sodass unvermeidlich Gänsehaut aufkommt. Verzweiflung und gleichzeitig Hoffnung kochen im Zuschauer auf – davon muss sich schlicht jeder selbst ein Bild machen. Dadurch dass die Melodie im Film stets wiederholt wird, kommt auch dabei ein Gefühl von Abhängigkeit auf, wiederum sehr passend zur Thematik. Um dem ganzen noch die Krone auzusetzen, arbeitet Aronofsky mit ungewöhnlich vielen Schnitten und wirren Kameraschwenks. Dadurch entsteht eine ganz eigene Dynamik im Film. Außerdem wird so das wirre, aktive, kopflose und unkontrollierte Verhalten der Figuren unterstrichen.

Falls Sie jemals darüber nachgedacht haben sollten, ob ein kleines Abenteuer mit Drogen in Angriff genommen werden sollte, werden Sie sich nach dem Film ganz schnell von diesem Gedanken abwenden. Aronofsky schockt den Zuschauer mit seinen unvergleichlichen Bildern, die Darsteller, bei denen man kaum einen herausheben mag, brillieren einfach in ihren Rollen und die Musik gibt dem Ganzen noch den Rest. Selten war es eine so schwere Entscheidung, den Film ein zweites Mal zu gucken – nicht weil er schlecht wäre, ganz im Gegenteil, weil er so schonungslos auf den Zuschauer einhämmert und somit nicht nur ein Film, sondern ein Erlebnis ist. Wenn es einen Film gibt, den man gesehen haben muss, dann ist es dieser. Schlichtweg genial.

Ein Fantrailer, der die Stimmung des Films gut einfängt und mit “Lux aeterna” untermalt ist. Ein guter Eindruck vom Film und seiner Musik:

Justin Timberlake (Photo:NBC)

Actress Tina Fey won an Emmy on Saturday for her of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” while pop star Justin Timberlake also was honored for his guest host appearance on the NBC show.

This was Fey’s sixth career win, and she has a chance to win two more at the regular Primetime Emmy Ceremony on Sunday where she is nominated for best comedy actress.

Timberlake won his second career Emmy, for his hilarious hosting bout where he played several characters.

In the dramatic categories, the guest-starring awards went to Ellen Burstyn for NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and Michael J. Fox for “Rescue Me” on FX. For a complete list of winners: Creative Emmy Winners

The Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be on broadcast on Sunday, September 2oth on CBS.

The Cancelled and the Underrepresented

The 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Awards

For those who aren’t particularly interested in the seedy underbelly of the Emmy Awards process, the Creative Arts Emmys aren’t particularly interesting. Generally, the awards tend to be a bit more scattershot than the main awards, meaning that few “favourite” shows take victories and thus there isn’t a lot of mainstream attention generated by them. However, more and more each year there’s interest in terms of smaller shows getting a chance to shine in awards not deemed worthy for network television consumption, and more importantly for us pundits there’s a chance to see if there are any trends emerging (as tenuous as any trend can be when different voting bodies determine each set of awards).

Complete Winners List – 2009 Creative Arts Emmys

This year, through the joys of Twitter, I was able to both share the news of various winners and be able to get some response (from Todd VanDerWerff, Alan Sepinwall, and in particular Jaime Weinman), which resulted in some interesting discussion. So, to kind of pick up on that, here’s a few of the key areas of interest from the awards that made me pause either out of interest, excitement or concern.

Pushing Daisies wins Big, Still Cancelled

The Emmys were never Pushing Daisies’ problem: although the show wasn’t able to garner a nomination as a series in its first season, it did grab nominations for Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as some attention in the creative arts categories. This year, though, the show received a really fitting swan song as it picked up three awards (art direction, costumes and makeup), showing that even in an ill-fated and shortened season the show was noticed by voters in terms of its craftsmanship. The show has now won six Emmys total (picking up trophies for Directing, Music Composition and Editing last year), which helps cement the show’s legacy as a wonderful if tragic moment in television history.

Battlestar Galactica finds Mixed Bag in Final Year

After two back to back wins in Visual Effects, and a hugely effects-driven finale, one would have expected the show to dominate in that category. However, to my shock at least, Heroes picked up the Special Visual Effects award for the first time, although BSG didn’t go home empty handed. Spreading the love around, the show picked up the award for sound editing, which is well deserved if not quite the award one would have expected them to be contending as closely for. Either way, it’s great to see another part of the show’s great team behind the scenes pick up an award, and its unfortunate that areas where the show should have contended (See: Bear McCreary’s amazing scoring work) were uncontested.

Changes Wreak Havoc on Comedy Guest Acting

Of the changes made to the Emmys this year, the one that sort of slipped under the radar (and didn’t face a lot of pressure from any particular group) is the elimination of the individual performance in a variety/comedy/music special/series. This was the category that Stephen Colbert infamously lost to Barry Manilow, and in which musical performers, talk show hosts, and (most interesting for our purposes) Saturday Night Live hosts contended.

This year, both Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake won awards for their appearances on Saturday Night Live, and in both instances it raises some really interesting questions. Now, in Fey’s case, this actually was a guest performance: she wasn’t the host in that episode, and her stint as Sarah Palin really was a guest spot (albeit in the really strange variety show format, which would have put her in the old category especially since they submitted a clip show of ALL of her appearances). However, Timberlake’s win is an example of something that would certainly have remained in the Variety Performance award, which makes for an interesting test case. Considering how much of each individual episode an SNL host is in, I think it’s a strange comparison with other guest stars, and I can see why voters would lean towards Timberlake in comparison with the other contenders.

It just raises the question of whether the loss of that category has now opened the door for the more showy SNL roles to elbow out some more complex supporting work on the comedy side of things…although, realistically, they probably would have given it to the oldest possible nominee if not to them, so I’d still be complaining. Although, what else is new?

Dramatic Performances

Ellen Burstyn ended up winning the battle of the three award-winning ladies nominated for star turns on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (which is a magnet for the dramatic guest acting categories), but the other side of the coin was more interesting. On the acting side, you had Jimmy Smits in what was really a supporting, season-long role on Dexter and Michael J. Fox as part of a similarly lengthy guest spot on FX’s Rescue Me. I think in some ways the “Guest” distinction hurt Smits, whose character was more about arc than anything else as he turned from friend to foe, while Fox’s performance and pedigree seemed to stand alone better with the judges. I ended up 2/4 on my predictions in these categories (missing Burstyn and Timberlake), so I think it’s respectable enough.

Chuck a Repeat Victor

You probably didn’t even know that Chuck won last year’s Emmy for Stunt Coordination, so you’d be surprised all over again to see the show pick up its second straight Emmy in the category against stiff competition (Burn Notice, 24). I wonder if the show gets extra points because of the comic nature of its stunts, or perhaps that its beautiful/charming/comic cast is made to look so badass in the context of those scenes. Either way, I’m not complaining, and the stunts really were great in Season 2.

The Emmys vs. The Internet

In an effort to appear more hip with the kids as it relates to online entertainment, the Emmys have started handing out awards for interactive experiences online, including short form programming that debuts in the online arena (or elsewhere that could be considered “broadcast” in some form). In the end, it was internet juggernaut Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog that took home an Emmy for Joss Whedon (his first, after getting only a single writing nomination for Buffy the Vampire Slayer) over a set of Battlestar Galactica webisodes, while Lost’s “The Dharma Initiative” interactive web experience and Jimmy Fallon’s pre-debut online material picked up creativity awards.

The Power of PBS’ Little Dorrit

Going into the ceremony, everyone was expecting for HBO’s Grey Gardens to dominate the various creative arts categories like art direction, costumes, and cinematography amongst the Miniseries/Movie/Special categories. However, to the surprise of at least me, PBS’ miniseries Little Dorrit has been more dominant, tying or taking all of those categories and quite a few that one would have expected Grey Gardens to dominate in. Perhaps there’s some backlash against the slightly glossy nature of Grey Gardens (which I really liked, but which does seem very much “produced”), or perhaps it’s just that Dorrit is that good. Either way, it’s changed my sense of the Movie/Miniseries races in a major way.

The Curse of David Simon and Ed Burns

One thing it does tell me is that Generation Kill isn’t going to set the Emmy world on storm, and is unlikely to defeat Dorrit next weekend. I was hoping this would be a chance for Simon and Burns to avenge the Emmy-less Wire, and while the miniseries did pick up well-deserved wins for sound editing/mixing as well as Visual Effects there isn’t really a chance of them picking up the award for Best Miniseries when they didn’t pick up cinematography or Casting or picture editing (all of which it could have easily won). The buzz just isn’t there, and Dorrit seems like too much of a slam dunk with voters.

Questions of Casting

Jaime Weinman had a lot of valid points about just what criteria voters are using when deciding, for instance, that 30 Rock has the best casting for a comedy series. Since the award goes to a series in any year, it can’t be for the regular cast itself (unless it’s the show’s first year, as it was for Drama winner True Blood), so it means it’s a question of guest stars. However, as Jaime noted, 30 Rock’s casting directors don’t have to work particularly hard to get in the kind of celebrities they do thanks to Fey and Lorne Michaels’ industry clout, and the way the show handles guest stars (see: not well, most of the time) would tend to indicate that parts are written for people rather than some sort of wish fulfillment “I hope we get X for this part!”

It’s tough to know exactly what their criteria is, but almost all of the show nominated fit into the same category of not really have to work very hard in terms of pulling together a casting department. Really, the winner of this award should of been Starz’ Party Down, which despite leaning heavily on Rob Thomas’ personal connections really relied on the strength of its guest stars and was really only able to survive as a series on their strength.

Cultural Observations

• EDIT: Forgot to make note that for the first time in a few years So You Think You Can Dance goes home Emmy-less. Perhaps it was the spectacle of Hugh Jackman, but the Oscars’ Salute to Musicals picked up the only choreography award (they can award as many as they feel are deserving), defeating Mia Michaels (Mercy), Tyce D’Orio, Tabitha(r) and Napolean and Dmitry Caplan from the FOX series.
  • Edit again: turns out that the press release goes against the website, and Tyce D’Orio won an Emmy for his work on the show. Just goes to show you that you can’t always trust sources.
• Dan Castellaneta picked up his fourth voiceover Emmy, beating first-time nominee Harry Shearer – The Simpsons, however, lost the short-form animation Emmy to South Park.
• Interesting to see Mad Men get almost entirely shut out – I don’t think it really impacts its chances at next week’s ceremony, but the Creative Arts Emmys are supposed to be its showcase, and yet it lost Art Direction (for the evocative and stunning “The Jet Set”) to the cancelled Pushing Daisies, which I don’t think anyone saw coming. It did, however, pick up an Emmy for hairstyling.
• Chris Rock won the battle of the comedians (including the Academy Awards writing team, Louis CK, Ricky Gervais and Will Ferrell) for his writing work on his HBO Special Kill the Messenger, although he and everyone else lost the Variety/Comedy special category to the Kennedy Center Honours.
• Kathy Griffin, who won the last two awards for Reality Program for her Life on the D-List show, was hosting this year’s awards, and went home empty handed: she lost the Comedy Special category, and then lost Reality Program to A&E’s Intervention. Many had expected TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus 8 to compete in this category, but it wasn’t nominated and as it turns out the Academy went for some more serious fare this year.
• Interesting that a number of Alzheimer’s themed programs (including HBO’s Memory Loss Tapes and Grampa, Do You Know Who I Am?) won awards, but The Alzheimer’s Project (HBO’s critically acclaimed documentary) lost out in Nonfiction Special. A real headscratcher, that one.

Ellen Burstyn showed up on “Law and Order:SVU” in an ill-conceived effort at garnering an Emmy in the hoariest part possible – The mentally ill mother.

Burstyn’s laser facial resurfacing procedure has left her not only looking lousy but also unable to smile without tearing flesh.

And the infantile, inane “SVU” writing staff paints the mentally ill – as portrayed by Burstyn – as simply dangerously artistic.

Just another example of Hollywood trying to score sensitivity points and doing it with all the sensitivity of a drunken teenager.

Ocean Grove - photo courtesy of Blogfinger

The Jersey Shore. The tri-state area’s beach destination. Among popular towns like Margate, Ocean City and Seaside Heights, where families rent homes for a week’s vacation and high school and college kids come to party and hang, there is one discreet historical gem of a town called Ocean Grove. Located between Asbury Park and Bradley Beach, Ocean Grove encompasses 1 square mile of beachfront property that is a welcoming tribute to the past. Most residents live seaside all year long and because it’s a dry town it doesn’t attract a rowdy crowd. The history of the town dates back to 1869 when it was established as the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Christian community for summer relaxation and worship. Structures began to erect in the 1870’s and 1880’s to accommodate all of the visitors coming from New York City and Philadelphia; roads were paved and given names inspired by the Bible. The greatest structure built, which is still standing today, was the Great Auditorium completed in 1894. A magnificent theatre-style wooden building that holds approximately 6,000 people, and sliding side doors to allow air to flow and music and words to be heard on nice days.  Concerts and music performances are hosted at the Auditorium on a regular basis; last year I was invited to see Gladys Knight. I was the youngest person in the audience but the singing was fantastic! Today, Ocean Grove’s reputation for the greatest extent of Victorian architecture in the United States continuously draws new tourists, beach-goers and a growing number of residents.

Inside of the Great Auditorium - photo courtesy of Blogfinger

I began to visit this area of the shore a few years ago and it provides a quiet beach getaway from the city, easily accessible by the New Jersey Transit train. Although the actual beach can get crowded on the weekends, unavoidable, the town always seems quiet and calm and moves at a nice, slow pace. Like most New Jersey beaches, beach entry requires a tag that can be purchased for the day or even the entire summer and lifeguards do stand duty. A boardwalk runs the length of the town and connects to neighboring beaches like Asbury Park near the famous Stone Pony. Because the town is still owned by the Camp Meeting Association, the beach on Sunday is unaccessible until 12:30pm.

If you would like to stay for the weekend, there are multiple bed and breakfasts and inns along the oceanside. I have yet to stay in one, as I have the advantage of staying with family, but a complete list can be found online here under Inns and Hotels.

Main Avenue is filled with restaurants, cafes, antique stores and some great ice cream shops. Nagle’s Apothecary Cafe, a beachside diner, maintained the interior of an old apothecary with ancient bottles encased in glass cabinets and serving root beer floats and egg creams for patrons on classic bar stools. Make sure to taste their banana and chocolate peanut butter ice cream – the best! If you’re in the mood for crusty, brick-oven pizza, stop by The Pizza Shoppe, also located on Main Avenue. Serving individual, 4-slice pizzas, the straight from the oven taste surpasses most local pizza places in New York City! Shocking but true.

To stock up on some beach gear while in town, check out Ocean Grove Surf and Skate Shop in the shopping center off of Main Street across from the entrance to town. Clothing, surf boards, skate boards, bikinis and board shorts from all of your favorite beach brands like RVCA, Sanuk, Rainbow, Zoo York and more. In need of surf lessons? Private and group lessons are available to learn technique and etiquette, surfboard included!

Ocean Grove has also been the backdrop to many feature films, most famously Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, and most recently a film starring Hilary Duff and Ellen Burstyn called Greta releasing sometime in 2009.

Upcoming Community Events:

September 12: Giant Fall Flea Market, Ocean Pathway

September 19: British Car Show, Main Avenue

How to get to Ocean Grove from NYC:

New Jersey Transit train from Penn Station

Train Stop: Asbury Park (code 276)

Depending on the schedule of the day, you will need to transfer trains in Newark Penn Station and go straight from there to Asbury Park, or switch in Long Branch for the local train. The ride is approximately 2 hours and the town of Ocean Grove is walking distance from the train station.

For the latest on what’s going on in Ocean Grove, check out Blogfinger’s blog.

Per parlare di L’ultimo spettacolo, di Peter Bogdanovich, film del 1971, parto dalle considerazioni finali. Siamo di fronte ad uno dei capolavori assoluti del cinema, un film di straordinaria bellezza, che unisce il lirismo delle immagini ad una visione nostalgica, commossa ma anche irriverente e critica di un mondo dissolto, quello della frontiera americana, vista nelle vite comuni di un gruppo di persone che abitano una cittadina del Texas.

I due amici Billy e Sonny, Sam Bottoms e Timothy Bottoms

Ben Johnson interpreta Sam

Un film che per una volta tratteggia con sicurezza, con commossa partecipazione, le vite ordinarie degli abitanti, attraverso ritratti a volte impietosi, ma sempre delicatamente commossi, di persone che in fondo hanno fatto la storia e la vita di quella complessa,a volte icomprensibile realtà che sono gli states. Un omaggio nostalgico anche ad un certo cinema, definitivamente tramontato come l’ultimo spettacolo a cui assistono i due protagonisti pricipali del film, gli amici Douane e Sonny, sibolo di un legame forte, tenuto assieme anche dalle piccole cose della vita, come la visione di un film.

Charlene, Sharon Ulrick, la ragazza di Sonny

La bravissima e bella Ellen Burstyn è Lois, la mamma di Jacy

Girato in bianco e nero, con un uso magistrale della camera, che spesso indugia sui primi piani, e con dissolvenze delicate, mai brusche. Il lirismo di Bogdanovich, la sua straordinaria capacità di parlare per immagini si esplicita in numerose scene, alcune delle quali di livello eccelso, come la sequenza finale della morte di Billy, o il dialogo tra Sonny e Lois, con l’onnipresente vento che spazza impetuoso il paesino, quasi un evento cosmico che trascina, con se, speranze,illusioni e vite dei protagonisti, in un malinconico revival di quello che era e non c’è più, ma anche di quello che poteva essere e non è stato.

Cloris Leachman è Ruth, l’amante di Sonny

Jacy arriva al party notturno

Texas, anni 50. In un piccolo centro di frontiera, si intrecciano le vite dei vari abitanti, tutti legati da rapporti di amicizia più o meno profondi. I giovani del paese, tra i quali i due amici Sonny e Douane, sognano improbabili avventure erotiche con le donne. Mentre Sonny è legato a Charlene, una ragazza che ha l’unico scopo di farsi sposare, Douane è legato sentimentalmente a Jacy, una bella e ricca ragazza, la più desiderata del paese.

Un party contro la noia della provincia

Sonny, Douane e Jacy a spasso

La vita dei due giovani ruota attorno alla sala da biliardo di Sam, che è anche proprietario della tavola calda e della sala cinematografica, unico divertimento che offra la cittadina. L’uomo è anche il padre del giovane Billy, un ragazzo ritardato, legato però profondamente a Sonny, che ricambia la sua amicizia. Le giornate della cittadina passano con pigrizia, così come le serate: sono le vite dei protagonisti a motrare l’unico segno di vivacità; così vediamo Lois, la madre di Jacy, stringere una relazione adulterina con l’unico uomo interessante del paese, e assistiamo alle sue lezioni di comprotamento alla figlia.

Cybill Shepherd è Jacy

La relazione tra Ruth e Sonny

Un giorno proprio Lois metterà in guardia la ragazza dal suo legame con Douane, un ragazzo simpatico ma povero: Jacy farà debito tesoro dei consigli della madre, recandosi dapprima ad una festa in piscina, dove supererà l’imbarazzo die ssere nuda davanti ad altri giovani, e intrecciando relazioni con altri uomini. Mentre il tempo scorre lentamente, Sonny intreccia una relazione con Ruth, la quarantenne moglie del suo allenatore di football, mentre Jacy, dopo aver avuto un rapporto con Douane, decide di lasciarlo per andare a studiare in un college.

Sonny e Genevieve, che gestisce la tavola calda

La relazione tra Jacy e Douane sta per finire

La morte di Sam priva Sonny di uno dei suoi punti fermi; l’uomo lo lascia proprietario della sala da biliardo, e Sonny, supinamente, finisce per far ruotare la sua vita attorno al piccolo universo che ha sempre conosciuto. Douane, dopo la delusione subita da Jacy, si arruola per la guerra di Corea, mentre Jacy seduce Sonny e cerca di fasri sposare durante un viaggio in un altro stato. ma non sarà così, perchè il padre di Jacy la riporterà indietro, mentre Sonny si troverà costretto a litigare con Douane che lo considera un tarditore.

Un addio con rancore

Ma l’amicizia prevale, nonostante Douane ferisca l’amico in una rissa; mentre proprio Douane sta per partire per la Corea, i due si concedono una visione dell’ultmo film proiettato in paese: Il giovane parte verso il destino ignoto della guerra, e a Sonny capita di dover assistere alla morte casuale dell’unico amico rimasto, Billy, travolto da un camion mentre al solito, spazzava la strada. a Sonny non resta altro che rifugiarsi dalla sua amante Ruth, qasi a cercare rifugio in qualcosa di conosciuto.

Ruth, l’ultimo rifugio di Sonny

Jacy e Lois, dialogo tra figlia e madre

Film, come già detto, di straordinaria intensità, con momenti di grandissimo cinema. Il bianco e nero infonde al film il sapore della malinconia, dell’era così, del come eravamo;tutto ruota attorno ad un cast di ottimi attori. Bravissimi Jeff Bridges (Douane), Timothy Bottoms( Sonny), la bellissima Cybill Shepherd  ( l’arrivista Jacy),  Ben Johnson (Sam il leone), Ellen Burstyn (Lois Farrow, la madre di Jacy). Qua e la, dalla radio dello scassatissimo furgone di sonny, capita di ascoltare nostalgiche canzoni d’epoca, come  Cold, Cold Heart cantata da Tony Bennett, Give Me More, More of Your Kisses ,cantata da Lefty Frizzell, Wish You Were Here (cantata da Eddie Fisher,Blue Velvet  cantata da Tony Bennett,You Belong To Me  cantata da Jo Stafford.

La triste morte di Billy

Ruth consola Sonny

Il film vinse 2 Premi Oscar 1972: per il miglior attore non protagonista (Ben Johnson) e la miglior attrice non protagonista (Cloris Leachman), che nel film è Genevieve, la donna della tavola calda. E’ stato scelto con altre 500 pellicole per essere conservato nel National Film Registry, che conserva film culturalmente, storicamente o esteticamente significativi.

L’ultimo spettacolo, un film di Peter Bogdanovich. Con Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Timothy Bottoms, Ben Johnson.Cybill Shepherd, Sam Bottoms
Titolo originale The Last Picture Show. Drammatico, durata 118 min. – USA 1971.

Giudizio:

Timothy Bottoms : Sonny Crawford

Jeff Bridges : Duane Jackson

Cybill Shepherd : Jacy Farrow

* Ben Johnson : Sam the Lion

* Cloris Leachman : Ruth Popper

* Ellen Burstyn : Lois Farrow

* Eileen Brennan : Genevieve

* Clu Gulager : Abilene

Sam Bottoms : Billy

* Sharon Ullrick : Charlene Duggs

* Randy Quaid : Lester Marlow

Soggetto:     Larry McMurtry (romanzo)

Sceneggiatura:     Peter Bogdanovich e Larry McMurtry

Produttore:     Stephen J. Friedman

Produttore esecutivo:     Bert e Harold Schneider

Casa di produzione:     Columbia Pictures

Fotografia:     Robert Surtees

Montaggio:     Donn Cambern, Peter Bogdanovich (non accred.)

Requiem for a Dream is directed to within an inch of its life by Darren Aronofsky, who throws everything at the screen and hopes it sticks. Much of it does. But by sheer volume of technical craft he defeats himself. Aronofsky means to show us drug addiction from the inside out, but too often he seems merely to be showing off what he learned in film school … Read the rest of my review at Culturazzi.org