How do you prepare soldiers for war? Training of course. But how do you prepare them for war in unfamiliar territory and climate with hundreds of civilians milling around? Simulation of course! And what better place to simulate Iraq than in California’s Mojave Desert!
Welcome to “Virtual Iraq”, a simulation built by the US Army to simulate urban warfare, a simulation that all troops live through for three weeks before being deployed to Iraq. The intricate set-up is complete with a fake town and ethnic individuals who play the roles of the civilians. It’s an interesting concept for a training exercise and even more interesting for a documentary. The trailer suggests that the “play fighting” escalates to the point of explosion but we’ll have to wait to see if the unfolding is as interesting as it appears.
Full Battle Rattle doesn’t have a release date but it is currently making the festival rounds and will play the Sheffield (UK) Documentary Film Festival in November.
Andy is a compulsive gambler who owes some people a lot of money; so much that the lenders have hired Reuben to take him out. Reuben picks up the young Andy and gives him a one hour extension, offering to take him to see and do what he can in his last 60 minutes of life.
Truthfully, Randall Cole’s second film doesn’t look particularly impressive but there’s something about the casting of Jay Baruchel, who I’ve only seen in Apatow productions, as an uncontrollable gambler that has mild appeal unfortunately, all of that seems to disappear with Randy Quaid who is a fine actor in his own right but his accent here is mind numbing. And yet, I’m curious to see what comes of this.
Real Time will play TIFF later this year. I’ll make my final decision on this one once we see a few reviews. Maybe it’ll surprise.
I can’t believe that I’m still doing these screen shots on almost a daily basis. Today is number 100 and to celebrate I’m running a small contest. I’m posting 10 screen shots from DVDs that I personally own (yes some of them I have not seen) and the person who lists the most correct movies in order wins a free DVD of their choice with a value of less than $30.00 Canadian. I’ll ship it to you and everything.
Put your guesses in the comments and also try to convince everyone else is wrong in their guesses. The contest will run till I post the next screen shot quiz. I’m not going to give you a precise time and it may even be later today so don’t hold on to you guesses as you might wait too long.
In case of a tie the winner will be randomly selected by me from the people with the most number of correct guesses.
I am the only one who selected the screen shots so the contributors to Row Three can also post their guesses but they can not win the prize. If they have the most correct then the 1st best guesser not a contributor will win.
Here is the first shot and the rest are below the cut.
I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that the TIFF section of the site is now officially open. I’m constantly (okay well not constantly but close too it) the list of movies that are being shown at this years festival.
Each movie is receiving its own post and I will post as much information as I am able to track down. If you have information about any of the movies feel free to jump in and comment on the posts and I’ll add the information in. I also want to just say thanks to Twitch for providing a great resource for the trailers. Its been a big help so far.
Please also feel free to say if you are planning on attending any of the movies in the comments section for the movie. Hopefully we can all arrange to meet up a few times through the 10 day of movie heaven.
This Episode:
Mr. Matt Gamble of Wherethelongtailends.com joins the fray to help discuss Tropic Thunder, some more Woody Allen, a new top ten list and other goodies and tangents.
Click the little Audio Icon until we get our Widget back in order:
Earlier this year, Jonathan brought up some news that the Coen Brothers would be returning to the world of adaptations once they completed their upcoming project A Serious Man. I remember vaguely hearing something about the project being the follow up to Burn After Reading which opens later this year, but there had been little news on the film or its cast.
However, there have been a few revelations since the original announcement of the film, namely that the Coens have cast Michael Stuhlbarg and funny man Richard Kind to star in the black comedy. Set in 1967, the film will have Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnik, “a Midwestern professor whose life begins to unravel when his wife sets out to leave him and his socially inept brother (Kind) won’t move out of the house.”
Aside from the fact that people are saying this is a throw back to Fargo, the film will have another connection to that Coen classic: it too will be shot in Minneapolis. I have a feeling Andrew may have to start scouring the streets of the city for filming locations.
**Tune into this weeks CINECAST to hear a long tangent involving A SERIOUS MAN***
To be completely honest, at this point I just want to get through the year and catch up with Burn After Reading before I start to get excited about the upcoming project. That said, it’s always nice to have something to look forward to.
I clearly remember renting Brotherhood of the Wolf a few years back but for the life of me, I remember nothing of the film other than a lot of rain. Not sure why but at the time of viewing, it simply didn’t appeal to me though over the years, it has repeatedly come up in conversation and I’ve been meaning to catch up with it to see what I had blotted out of my mind. It looks like the time for the revisit may be coming sooner rather than later.
The folks at Horror Movies have news that a new version of the film is on the horizon and will be released on August 26th. Included in the two disc edition will be:
DELETED SCENES: Watch over 40 minutes of additional footage from the film.
MAKING OF BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF: THE GUTS OF THE BEAST: Explore the creation of the movie from its unlikely genesis to the breathtaking fight scenes and daring digital effects.
DOCUMENTARY: Go on-location with the cast and crew as they deal with everything from fight choreography to costume decisions and weather challenges.
THE LEGEND: Uncover the chilling historical facts behind the legend of the vicious Gévaudan Beast.
STORYBOARDS: See extensive storyboard galleries from some of the film’s most memorable scenes.
THEATRICAL TRAILER: Watch the theatrical trailer from the film.
To sweeten the pot, Amazon has the DVD listed at the low price of $19.98 or $16.99 for pre-orders.
Just for fun, I’ve tucked the trailer under the seat!
I‘m not sure what more needs to be said about the, hopefully, upcoming Viking/Alien awesomeness that will be Outlander but for one reason or another, the folks at Weinstein have yet to announce anything even remotely connected to a release date. What on earth are they waiting for? Another viking/alien flick to come along and pave the way? The bloody film is already in the can so there is little more for them to do other than roll it out. Heck, if you have such little faith, start small and expand!
But I’m already digressing. The real reason for the post is that the folks at Quiet Earth have uncovered the first clip for the film which also happens to be an official clip for the press from the recently wrapped Locarno Festival. If you’re still scratching your head wondering what this viking and alien talk is about, be sure to check out our previouscoverage.
We’ll be keeping you posted on the release date if and when it is available.
Since this is officially The Summer of RDJ, let’s get a little discussion going on the man and his movies. Everybody knows about his run-ins with the law, the times he spent in prison, his career being all but over after being given so many chances. Some of these younger folk that are now beginning to idolize him this summer don’t realize that Robert Downey Jr. has been prevalent in the business since the mid-80s (did you know he even spent a season on Saturday Night Live in 1985?). Decades from now, we’re going to see a biopic made of this man and all of his struggles, because really, he is one-of-a-kind.
Here are about three dozen films that leap out at me (based on country, director, limited info) until the more information is forthcoming. After the Jump.
Director: Randall Miller (Nobel Son) Writers: Jody Savin , Randall Miller, Ross Schwartz Producers: J. Todd Harris, Brenda Lhormer, Marc Lhormer, Randall Miller, Jody Savin, Marc Toberoff Starring: Chris Pine, Bill Pullman, Alan Rickman, Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodríguez, Dennis Farina, Eliza Dushku MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running time: 110 min
I read a lot of comparisons to Sideways before taking my seat for Bottle Schock. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ok sure, there’s some wine snobbery and they both take place in California’s wine country, but Bottle Shock is nowhere near as fun or as unpredictable as Sideways was. The story is a near opposite and the style isn’t hip in the slightest - to say nothing about the blandness of the characters; that had real potential to be great. So no, if it’s Sideways you’re looking for, then watch Sideways; it’s one of a kind.
Putting aside the “based on a true story” thing for a moment, let’s assume this is basically an original screenplay as I’m sure much of the dialogue and circumstance are all made up anyway for “dramatic effect.” The problem is that it’s not all that dramatic and it doesn’t have that much of an effect either. I’m one who can easily be suckered into some emotion with a heartfelt father-son story or a lifelong dream shot down by unfortunate circumstances. Unfortunately with Bottle Shock every interaction is played so lightheartedly, that nothing even remotely resembling drama comes forth.
Director: Matthias Glasner (Fandango, Sexy Sadie) Writers: Judith Angerbauer, Matthias Glasner, Jürgen Vogel Producers: Frank Döhmann, Matthias Glasner, Christian Granderath, Jürgen Vogel Starring: Jürgen Vogel, Sabine Timoteo, André Hennicke, Manfred Zapatka MPAA Rating: NR Running time: 163 min
It’s one thing to walk away from a horror film feeling a bit shaken and, if effective, a little scared but there’s something all together different and that much more profound when some of the same uneasy emotions are brought forth by a film about real people in realistic situations, suffering through genuine emotions and heartbreaking situations.
Matthias Glasner’s The Free Will is one such film. While many of us complain that Hollywood is predictable and “safe”, Glasner avoids safety nets and instead drags the audience through some of the most emotionally damaging scenes I’ve seen captured on film. It begins with Theo, our anti-hero, throwing a tray of glasses at a group of school children. He’s obviously emotionally unstable as he storms away towards his car uttering a stream of profanities. Visibly angry, he comes up on a woman on a bicycle and the scenes that follow are painful even to recount. For the next ten minutes, Theo rapes and beats the stranger and all the while, we watch or rather the camera watched while I squirmed and peeked through my fingers.
I was trying to zero in on why I continued to watch the film after such a traumatizing scene. It may have something to do with Glasner’s choice to shoot the scene, and the film, in a minimalist, neo-realist style but much more likely, the reason I didn’t turn it off is because there’s no emotional manipulation in the way the scene is shot; there’s a sense of documentation, not judgment. The audience is left to form their own emotional response and opinion though the brutality of the scene leaves little choice as to what that emotional response will be.
So as you may have guessed, I’ve been checking out some internet videos today. My friend Jay from The Horror Section posted this little video on his facebook profile today. Since I just attended the Star Wars exhibit last week, this one tickled my fancy.
Whatever your take on the Star Wars franchise is, you gotta admit that some of these shots of The Death Star over the bay in San Francisco are pretty damn cool looking.
Supposedly, this aired during the Olympics at some point, but I missed it. It’s a one-minute long TV spot for David Fincher’s upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It’s poor quality right now, but there is plenty of new footage here and this picture is looking as magnificent as ever. I have a hunch that all these awards shows aren’t going to overlook this one like they did with Fincher’s Zodiac last year.
Check it - and of course, if you haven’t read the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story that this is based on yet… well, what are you waiting for?
With rumors running rampant that Paul Newman is battling cancer and may only have weeks to live, there have been plenty of television, magazine, and internet tributes being made for the greatest American actor the past few weeks. I stumbled across this one article on Vanity Fair, from renowned journalist and biographer Patricia Bosworth, that goes in-depth and chronicles Newman’s life from his roots all the way until the present. While I knew a lot of what she already wrote, it’s still a fantastically written article with a touch of personal encounters that really portrays Newman as the man that he really is.
Like all of us who spend a good deal of time here on Row Three, I love movies. However, (and I say this without knowing the depth or breadth of each person’s particular obsession), the way we express this love differs from individual to individual. For instance, one of the particular ways that my affair with all things cinematic has manifested itself is in an enormous excel database, one that I have been maintaining for six years now (in fact, it all started six years ago yesterday). In this database, I have compiled, among other things, daily viewing logs for every day since August 16, 2002 (there’s no real significance to that date…it’s just when I decided to start keeping track of this information), which I cross-reference with an alphabetical list of films and the days on which I viewed them. On March 19, 2003, the day the U.S. first launched the war against Iraq, I was busy watching The Big Bird Cage, a Roger Corman-produced exploitation film starring Pam Grier. The film I’ve seen the most since August 16, 2002 is Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which I’ve viewed 10 times in the past 6 years.
One of the spreadsheets I put together as part of this database was a list of IMDB’s Top-250 films, which I did with the express intent of watching every film on that list. To date, I’ve been fairly successful, with only 8 films on the list that I still need to see. The problem is that the top-250 I laid out for myself was from December 15, 2002. Looking at today’s IMDB top 250, the number I have yet to see has jumped to 17. Furthermore, only five of the films I haven’t seen from my original 2002 list are even on the newest top 250. Three of them (The Others, You Can Count on Me and The Man Who Would Be King) have dropped off completely.
Even the five that appear on both lists have shifted positions since 2002, some significantly:
Das Boot (#36 on the list in 2002, #66 on the current list) Double Indemnity (#44 in 2002, #54 now) It Happened One Night (#112 then, #130 now) Arsenic and Old Lace (#131 then, #241 now) His Girl Friday (#148 then, #231 now)
The new additions to the Top-250 that I haven’t seen are:
The Lives of Others Oldboy Kind Hearts and Coronets Brief Encounter Sleuth (1972) The Lady Vanishes The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Kid (1921) Stalker Ace in the Hole Hate (La Haine) Great Expectations (1946)
Now, the additions of The Lives of Others, Oldboy, and The Diving Bell and Butterfly make perfect sense; none of those films had been released at the time the 2002 list was compiled. What’s surprising is that the remaining nine are considerably older, and were around in 2002. Kind Hearts and Coronets, released in 1950 and completely left off the 2002 list, is now #140 on the current Top-250. Why the 110-position surge? I originally thought the answer might be DVD related, that the release of the film to the home market may have influenced its standing, but Kind Hearts and Coronets was first released on DVD in the U.S. three months prior to the 2002 list I copied (I don’t know when it was released in other markets). Has the film found a recent audience, or did a few zealous Alec Guinness fans ‘stack the deck’, taking the time to create hundreds of accounts on IMDB in order to vote it onto the list?
Other films have also changed significantly. Some (released around 2002 amid a great deal of hype, only to see the furor dwindle by 2008) make sense. Others don’t. Here are a few of the other ‘list shifts’:
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (dropped from #5 in 2002 to #20 today) Citizen Kane (#4 in 2002 to #29 today) Lawrence of Arabia (#22 then, #35 now) Raging Bull (fell 20 places, from #51 then to #71 now) Touch of Evil (down a whopping 35 places, from #58 then to #93 now)
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Still other films on 2002’s list have now dropped off completely, and not just ones that were at the bottom to begin with:
All the President’s Men (was #171 in 2002…gone today) The Iron Giant (#198 in 2002, also gone today) Miller’s Crossing (from #205 to oblivion) The Untouchables (#215 to nowhere to be found) Clerks (#217 to nothing)
Of course, not every film has dropped. Some have even increased in popularity over the last 6 years:
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (#27 in 2002, #5 today) Pulp Fiction (up 13 places, from #19 in 2002 to #6 today) 12 Angry Men (from #24 in 2002 to #10 today) Fight Club (was #37 in 2002, and now it’s #23) A Clockwork Orange (jumped from #64 in 2002 to #48 today)
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And for the record, the #’s 1 and 2 films in 2002 were The Godfather (#1), followed by The Shawshank Redemption (#2). Today, #’s 1 and 2 are The Shawshank Redemption (#1) followed by The Godfather (#2)
So, how reliable do you feel the IMDB top-250 list is in determining the likes and dislikes of its contributors? Can it be heavily influenced by a ‘fad’ mentality (The Dark Knight is still sitting at #3 overall on the current list), or does it do a good job in detailing the tastes of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of film fans who vote on a regular basis?
With this week’s Hidden Treasures, I take a look at three films from the golden age of Silents.
Broken Blossoms (1919)
D.W. Griffith’s tragic tale of love and brutality remains just as powerful today as it was nearly 90 years ago.
Broken Blossoms opens with Chinese native Cheng Huan (played by Caucasian actor Richard Barthelmess) expressing his desire to travel to the land of the white man, where he will deliver the loving message of Buddha to the masses. Aghast at the behavior of white sailors stationed in China, Huan is convinced he can help these people, but when he arrives in London his dreams are quickly dashed. Before long, he has been reduced to running a store that sells Chinese trinkets, smoking opium to pass the time.
Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp) is London’s boxing champion, yet his brutality is not limited to the ring. He has a young daughter named Lucy (Lillian Gish), who we learn was “thrust into his arm by one of his girlfriends” 15 years earlier. Burrows abuses and torments Lucy horribly, and the young girl is so distraught that she can’t even muster a smile without using her fingers to curl the corners of her mouth. Cheng has been watching Lucy through his store window, and has fallen in love with her. After a particularly brutal beating from her father, Lucy staggers into Huan’s shop and collapses. Huan cares for her, showing Lucy an affection she has never before experienced. While she’s recovering upstairs in Huan’s shop, one of Battling Burrows’ friends spots her, and rushes off to inform Burrows of where his daughter has ended up. Burrows, who’s training for a match across the river, vows to return after his bout and take his daughter away from that “dirty chink”. The ensuing scenes of violence and despair have lost none of their potency, and would move even a modern, more jaded audience.
To be sure, I found Broken Blossoms a bit difficult to watch at times, due mostly to a constant stream of racist remarks (upon its release in 1919, the film had an alternate title in some western areas and was known as “The Chink and the Child”). Even Lucy, when she is being tended to by Huan, asks “What makes you so kind to me, chinky?” However, Griffith (no stranger to controversy thanks to his earlier classic, Birth of a Nation) took what I must believe was a great chance in making this film. Despite the above racial slurs, the famed director was nonetheless successful in portraying Huan in a very positive light, and even gets a few jabs in at Western hypocrisies along the way (When a priest friend greets Huan on the streets of London, he informs Huan that his brother, also a priest, is traveling to China to convert the “heathen”, a clear contradiction to everything we’ve experienced of both cultures thus far). Griffith took a huge risk in presenting a love story that crossed cultural and racial boundaries, and while the film falls short of physicalizing this love, the feelings are perfectly displayed in the eyes of the performers (Lillian Gish, perhaps the top silent actress at that time, was 23 when this film was made. Despite her age, she is extremely effective in portraying a shy 15-year-old girl who has found kindness and love in the most unlikely of places).
Broken Blossoms is surely one of Hollywood’s first socially conscience films, designed to coerce its western audience into examining their fears and misconceptions of those in the east.
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
While I am admittedly a fan of the 1960 Roger Corman/Vincent Price version of Edgar Allen Poe’s House of Usher, I can’t help but think that, given the choice between that film and Jean Epstien’s 1928 adaptation, Mr. Poe himself would choose this silent classic as his favorite.
The story is well-known to literature buffs and fans of the macabre alike. Allan (Charles Lamy) has received a rather distressing telegram from good friend Roderick Usher (Jean Debucourt), begging Allan to come to the House of Usher at once. It seems that Roderick’s wife, Madeline (Marguerite Gance, the wife of famed silent director Abel Gance) is gravely ill, pushing Roderick to the brink of insanity. Upon arriving, Allan finds his good friend in a most disturbed state, while Madeline, who has taken to wandering the halls of their enormous mansion in a daze, barely clings to life. Tragically, Madeline dies and is buried in the family crypt, yet despite his wife’s passing, Roderick clings to the hope that he will see his wife again in this life, leaving Allan to discover the true nature of the curse that befalls all who dwell in the house of Usher.
Director Jean Epstien (1897 – 1953) was a pioneer of the avant-garde. While he served as both director and screenwriter for many films, he is best remembered as a film theorist, and many of his early works, including The Fall of the House of Usher, were little more than filmed tests of these theories. In a 1928 essay written by Epstien, he details the process of adapting a Poe story for the screen, stating that the only way to successfully bring one of the author’s tales to cinematic life is through a relation of images. The Fall of the House of Usher boasts a remarkable use of imagery and film technique, much of which was relatively new at the time. For example, it had only been three years since Russian director Sergei Eisenstein introduced the concept of montage to the world with his brilliant Battleship Potemkin. In The Fall of the House of Usher, Epstien made this artistic concept part of his own repertoire (in the scene where Roderick Usher plays his guitar for Allan, Epstien skillfully joins this episode with random shots of the Usher estate, thus establishing a montage inviting comparison between Usher, a man in decay, and his estate, which seems to be wasting away with its master)
In the hands of Jean Epstien, The Fall of the House of Usher was as much a filmed Poe tale as it was a celebration of the art of filmmaking itself. Many special effects abound, from the use of superimposed images (such as when Madeline’s casket is being carried to the crypt), to slow motion shots of curtains blowing in the wind. At one point, the camera actually seems to ‘break free’, flying through the hallways of the house as if carried by the wind. It is rare, especially in the silent era, to see artistic film technique blended so well with an engaging story. With Jean Epstien (the film theorist) and Edgar Allen Poe (the master storyteller) combining forces, The Fall of the House of Usher transformed into much more than a mere filmed experiment; it became a masterpiece.
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Had it not been for the steadfast determination of Hollywood legend Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., The Thief of Bagdad, one of the most popular films of the silent era, may have never come to pass. Aside from his flamboyant performance in the lead role, Fairbanks was also responsible for bringing both the film’s director (Raoul Walsh) and costume designer (Mitchell Leison) to the project. Fairbanks recognized the potential in this story of fantasy and redemption, and he put forth one hell of an effort to make it all a reality.
The story behind The Thief of Bagdad is the stuff of fairy tales. A lifelong thief (Fairbanks) falls in love with a beautiful Princess (Julianne Johnston), who is the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad (Brandon Hurst), the most powerful man in the entire city. Despite the fact that he’s a criminal, the Thief is still permitted to compete against other royal suitors for the honor of marrying the Princess, and must undertake a perilous task to prove himself worthy of her. In order to claim the Princess, each suitor must, in one week’s time, return to Bagdad with the most extraordinary treasure they can find. Whichever suitor brings back the most stunning item will win the Princess’s hand in marriage. Transformed by his sudden love for the Princess, the Thief sets out on this quest with the best of intentions, but the Mongol Prince (Sojin), whose only wish is to make Bagdad a province of his vast kingdom, is not as honorable, and will stop at nothing to guarantee that the Princess becomes his bride.
At the outset of The Thief of Bagdad, the Thief is little more than a man with the mindset of a playful child, one who loves life and takes everything he can from it, both literally and figuratively. The Thief goes about his day robbing the honest citizens of Bagdad in the most ingenious of ways, delighting in each of his criminal triumphs. He steals a magic rope belonging to the court magician (Sadakichi Hartmann) and even uses this rope to escape his pursuers by climbing it to the safety of an overhead balcony. However, the Thief’s carefree outlook on life is doomed the moment he spots the Princess for the first time, a meeting of eyes which ignites a passion within him that he has never felt before. Late one night, after he has broken into the Caliph’s castle, the Thief sneaks up on the Princess to watch her as she sleeps. It is at this moment that he realizes his happy-go-lucky existence is at an end. Alone in the Caliph’s castle, with the treasure of the richest man in all of Bagdad at his disposal, the Thief escapes with nothing more than one of the princesses’ ordinary slippers, an item he now believes is the most wonderful treasure he has ever possessed.
As the Thief, Douglas Fairbanks gives a colorful performance, complete with flailing arms and a huge smile that seems permanently painted across his face. It’s obvious that the legendary Hollywood performer enjoyed this role immensely, and as a result, the film has a light, entertaining air about it. From all appearances, it seems to be the part that Fairbanks was born to play, and he surely made the most of his opportunity to do so. His additional efforts behind the scenes, as mentioned above, further proved his commitment to making this film a reality. Forget what the film’s credits may say; The Thief of Bagdad was, from start to finish, a Douglas Fairbanks movie.
You’ll probably kick yourself though when you find out...
Matthias Glasner’s 
Even the five that appear on both lists have shifted positions since 2002, some significantly:
Other films have also changed significantly. Some (released around 2002 amid a great deal of hype, only to see the furor dwindle by 2008) make sense. Others don’t. Here are a few of the other ‘list shifts’:
Of course, not every film has dropped. Some have even increased in popularity over the last 6 years:
