My Day with Film (Sunday, 12/4/16)

Sunday, 12/4/16


Dear Diary,

I didn't get to watch THE GAME last night, and probably won't tonight. THE WALKING DEAD is on, and it's also the season finale of WESTWORLD. I'm planning to watch those tonight.

Earlier this past week, I wrote about how Universal shared a 16-second teaser for the new MUMMY reboot starring Tom Cruise. That teaser ended with a line that said "Trailer Sunday." At the time writing, I have yet to see the full trailer. I suspect it will be online sometime tonight, possibly alongside Sunday Night Football on NBC.

The big topic I came across today today was this article from Elle Magazine about Bernardo Bertolucci and Marlon Brando conspiring to rape Maria Schneider for a scene in LAST TANGO IN PARIS.

Bertolucci and Brando conceived the idea of Brando's widower character, Paul, raping Schneider's Jeanne with a stick of butter on a whim. The scene wasn't in the script, and allegedly, Schneider had little to no warning before they shot it. Now many are expressing their disgust towards Brando with some saying that his great legacy - which includes essential classics like THE GODFATHER and APOCALYPSE NOW - is forever tarnished, if not completely ruined.

Here's my personal dilemma with this issue: back in 2007, Schneider herself told the Daily Mail that no physical harm ever took place on the set. According to the actress, all the sex scenes were simulated. Brando never forced himself on her at any time; she just felt as though she had been manipulated by her co-star and director into doing something that she didn't agree to in her contract. To me, that doesn't sound at all like "sexual assault," which implies a physical altercation. The damage here was more psychological. Still, the fact that Brando and Bertolucci conspired to do anything without considering the interests of Schneider is terrible. Many of the film's viewers could also probably argue whether or not Schneider's natural reaction in the scene is any more convincing than if she'd acted as if it were scripted. This is a shitty situation, but for me, it doesn't affect the way I feel about Brando's work in APOCALYPSE NOW, THE GODFATHER, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, ON THE WATERFRONT or any of the remarkable films he's done. How could it? These are separate films each with separate circumstances, and it's never been a secret that Brando was difficult to work with. I've personally never seen the man as a role model, so this news simply all but confirms that for me. Tim Molloy wrote a nice, clear-headed piece for The Wrap about this whole thing which I encourage you to check out here before denying yourself a re-watch of ONE-EYED JACKS.

Until tomorrow,

BC

My Day with Film (Saturday, 12/3/16)

Saturday, 12/3/16


Dear Diary,

I'm close to landing a stint as an intern on the set of a new indie thriller shooting in Louisville this week and next. I've been in touch with some great people and now just waiting on approval from the Assistant Director staff. More to come on that in the days ahead.

James Wan is directing the AQUAMAN movie starring Jason Momoa for Warner Brothers. It's part of the whole Justice League / Batman v Superman movie universe. The official release date has been announced for that film: October 5th, 2018. That's the exact day my baby sister turns 21. Damn, I'm getting old.

I just saw an article from Indiewire which said that Johnny Depp, David Lynch and J.K. Simmons recently joined THE BLACK GHIANDOLA, a short film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, Sam Raimi and Ted Melfi. It's about a young man risking everything to save the girl he loves after his family is killed by zombies. The kicker is that the short was conceived and co-written by young Anthony Conti, a teen battling stage IV adrenal cortical cancer. It makes my heart happy to see all this A-list talent coming together to turn this kid's filmmaking dreams into reality. I hope to see the finished product someday.

In other news, I think you'll be pleased to know that GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2 looks even better than the original. Marvel just released a brand-new trailer which you can (and should!) check out here:

Baby Groot is poised to steal this entire movie.

Lastly, I'm trying to decide what movie to watch tonight. I have at least one episode of BLACK MIRROR to get through, but after that I'm not sure. Yesterday BLACK MIRROR had me in the mood to watch my Criterion disc of David Fincher's THE GAME, so maybe that'll be the one.

Until tomorrow,

BC

My Day with Film (Friday, 12/2/16)

Friday, 12/2/16


Dear Diary,

I finished watching the extended cut of GHOSTBUSTERS (2016) today. I got more out of the film as a whole than I did before. The humor is still pretty cringey, but otherwise it's not quite the disaster that many think. It's important to form your own opinions about things - movies, art, etc. in particular.

In other news, I found out that there's a 16-second teaser out there for the upcoming reboot of THE MUMMY starring Tom Cruise. The full trailer comes out on Sunday. From what I gather of the brief look so far, it appears similar to what the Brendan Fraser version might look like if it was set in the current time / near future. This is alleged to be part of Universal's shared cinematic universe for its Classic Monsters franchise. DRACULA UNTOLD was apparently the first film in that universe. I've yet to see it myself.

I joined the Cincinnati Film Society today. I'm hoping to meet fellow cinephiles and network with people in the industry going forward.

A friend asked me about Filmstruck, the new online streaming home of Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection. I'm not a subscriber myself just yet. It seems a bit pricey, and the lack of apps presently doesn't help the cause.

Tonight is Smash Cut night at The Woodward in Over-the-Rhine! I've been working for a PR company that's in the middle of a re-branding, and this event is the first to be sponsored exclusively by us. This event has been billed as "a movie-themed comedy game show" hosted by one of the guys from Future Science. I don't really know what to expect, but it should be fun!

Until tomorrow-

BC

My Day with Film (Thursday, 12/1/2016)

Thursday, 12/1/16


Dear Diary,

Last night I tried to convince a GREEN ROOM virgin to watch the film on Amazon Prime over the Los Angeles Kings game. They were down 3 goals to San Jose at the end of the first period though. Even as a fan, I would've switched to GREEN ROOM at that point. This person is a dear friend of mine, and I'm just looking out for his general well-being.

I had another brief discussion with this same friend about the Critics' Choice Awards nominations. I sent him the list of Best Picture nominees. It's likely to be the same list as the Oscars in February, although it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Academy swapped LOVING or SULLY for Martin Scorsese's SILENCE. He was surprised that Yorgos Lanthimos' THE LOBSTER was not included among the nominees. He hasn't seen that movie yet. I wanted to tell him that it's not that good, but knowing him, he'll skip it entirely if I tell him that. I always encourage people to watch every film they can regardless of what someone says about it.

I shared my thoughts on the Critics' Choice nominees with Dan and Frankie on the new episode of The Reel Movies Podcast, which we recorded today. Be on the lookout for it soon!

We're also going to be attending a cool event on Friday night down at The Woodward called "Smash Cut." It's like a live, movie-themed comedy game show thing. I believe it's going to be hosted/moderated by the guys from the Future Science comedy show. I'm hoping to do a live recording inside the event to use for a future Reel episode, but we'll see. May have Frankie bring along his fancy focused-audio thingamajig.

I sent prospective job emails today to some contacts I have at various local film commission offices. I think I mentioned this in yesterday's post. Fingers crossed!

I also reached out to the guys at the GoRentSkip podcast, who I met completely by chance at an event I was working for the upcoming LEGO BATMAN MOVIE, to let them know about "Smash Cut."

Lastly I wanted to mention that I, in fact, did not get to GHOSTBUSTERS (2016) last night. Darn. Instead I watched the last half of CHRISTMAS VACATION with my sainted mother. With my dad out of town on business this week, she's wanted to watch Christmas movies with me. We caught Rudolph and part of Nancy Meyers' THE HOLIDAY on TV on Tuesday night.

I managed to start up part of GHOSTBUSTERS this afternoon and will finish up the extended edition tonight. The opening five minutes, in my unpopular opinion, feature some of the best executed haunted house elements of any horror movie this year. Also, Kate McKinnon is a hoot. For these reasons, GHOSTBUSTERS (2016) will never be totally devoid of merit for me despite falling flat in just about every other respect.

Looking forward to another big day tomorrow!

-BC

My Day with Film (Wednesday, 11/30/16)

Wednesday, 11/30/16

Dear Diary,

So late last night, I started watching THE NEW WORLD since I ran short of time over the Thanksgiving holiday. I picked up the Blu-ray disc from the Criterion Collection during one of their 50% off flash sales earlier this year. The package apparently contains three different versions of the film: the 3-hour Extended cut, the 2-hour Theatrical cut, and Terence Malick's 2.5-hour First cut. I chose the Extended cut to watch this time.

The last time I saw this film was in 2006 in the theater, and being the young, naive moviegoer that I was at the time, I hated it. It was my introduction to Malick, and I didn't understand his deliberate, poetic visual and narrative style. So I popped the disc in sometime after midnight last night and made it through the first hour or so before falling asleep. It wasn't for lack of trying to stay awake, however. I finished the film earlier today, and it's times like this that I'm so grateful to have received a formal education in the study of cinema. Suddenly THE NEW WORLD, a film I once despised, became one of the more enriching cinematic experiences of my life. Chivo's naturally-lit cinematography sucked me in. The production design from Jack Fisk, musical score from the late James Horner, and lead acting performances all kept me there.

Rediscovering Malick's oeuvre over the past year (and going forward) with fresh eyes has been an absolute joy. I first saw DAYS OF HEAVEN via Criterion this year, and it's now one of my all-time favorite films and likely the most visually resplendent I've ever seen. Watching any film from Criterion is like watching it all over again for the first time. They do such an impeccable job, from the box art to the supplemental material. I cannot recommend their products highly enough.

This morning I saw that Netflix instituted a function where you can download certain titles for offline viewing. That's pretty cool. I could've used that last week when we drove 10 hours to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. Aside from long road trips or plane rides, I'm not sure when I would use Netflix offline personally.

Also today I searched online for jobs with the Cincinnati, Louisville and Kentucky state film commissions. I couldn't seem to find anything on their webpages. I've reached out to Cincinnati a few times before, and I emailed the Kentucky state commission. Fingers crossed!

Tonight I'm watching this past Sunday's episode of THE WALKING DEAD and most likely the extended edition of GHOSTBUSTERS (2016). Will report on that tomorrow.

- BC

My Day with Film (Tuesday, 11/29/2016)

I decided today to start a daily diary with my interactions with film. I'm not sure exactly what it will be aside from a little insight into how my warped mind works when it comes to movies on a daily basis. I don't have time to cover stories like these all the time on my podcast, so I thought I'd just write everything down. I hope you'll stick with me and continue to listen to The Reel Movies Podcast and continue to read this blog. So here goes:


Tuesday, 11/29/16

Dear Diary,

Today is Tuesday, which means it's another week with more new releases on home video. I've been doing well recently with saving some money. Christmas gifts for the family are all pretty much set; now I'm saving for my best friend's bachelor party next year. Overall I've been trying to reduce the number of Blu-rays I buy, particularly at release day prices. I have a collecting problem that I'm slowly getting under control. I didn't go nuts with Barnes & Noble's 50% off Criterion November sale like I usually do, and I also didn't buy any movies on Black Friday this year, which is extremely uncharacteristic of me.

No, I had to wait until literally the day after all the damn sales ended so that I could get DON'T BREATHE and PETE'S DRAGON - two of my favorite films of 2016. FML!

I'm ecstatic to have them in my collection, but the whole time I was in Target today, I was thinking "These are probably going to be on Netflix or Hulu or Crackle someday, and if they aren't these Blu-rays will come down in price another day. You don't need them today." Then my inner Kermit the Frog took over.

"Disney Blu-rays very rarely, if ever, go on sale after release day. You might as well jump on it now. And you loved DON'T BREATHE! To sweeten the deal, both movies have a director's commentary! You can't beat that!" 

I hate you, Kermit.

I loved both of these films when I saw them in theaters this year. I reviewed both on the blog a couple of months ago. They're for completely different audiences, but I'd recommend them to anyone in those target audiences. I'm excited to check out the bonus features on each disc. 

Mark these famous last words - PETE'S DRAGON and DON'T BREATHE will be the last two Blu-rays to go on my shelf between now and Christmas Day. 

It's the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday, and I'm not sure what the rest of the day in cinema will hold. I just reviewed THE LOVE WITCH, and I laughed to myself that I reviewed a '60s inspired pulp melodrama before DOCTOR STRANGE, MOANA or FANTASTIC BEASTS. All great movies, by the way. I wanted to watch my Criterion disc of Terence Malick's THE NEW WORLD over Thanksgiving because when else would you watch Terence Malick's THE NEW WORLD? I didn't get to do that over the holiday, so I'll try to knock that out tonight. Ah, but I haven't watched this week's episodes of WESTWORLD or THE WALKING DEAD yet. And I still have several discs at home I haven't popped in yet, including Criterion's THE APU TRILOGY which I got for Christmas last year. Not to mention everything in my Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO and Crackle queues. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. I feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of content I have to get through and eventually revisit, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Until tomorrow.

BC

"The Love Witch" Review

Just when you thought the time of year for Midnight Movies was over and Oscar bait was poised to take over the cinemas, writer/director/Jane-of-all-trades Anna Biller delivers what is likely to be the year's last, best late-night gasser. In fact, if it wasn't for the sheer unbridled lunacy of The Greasy Strangler, The Love Witch would be 2016's best case for a future cult classic. I saw the film late on a Monday night and was the only soul in the auditorium. I can only imagine how much fun The Love Witch would be on the big screen with a raucous midnight audience.

The Love Witch is about a gorgeous young woman named Elaine (Samantha Robinson) who practices witchcraft. She uses spells to get men to fall madly - even fatally - in love with her. The film's entire gag is that it's made to look like one of those gaudy Technicolor melodramas and pulp stories from the 1960s. Intricate, handmade sets and costumes, washed-out lighting, and intentionally cheesy acting (in this case) are the tools of Biller's trade. Although the joke wears a bit thin in a few scenes, it's difficult not to find yourself totally captivated by the time the credits roll. I couldn't help but laugh every time the production design around Elaine's character oozed '60s and '70s style only for her friend Trish (Laura Waddell) to make a call from her iPhone and drive around town in her 2015 BMW M3.

Performances from both Robinson and Gian Keys as Detective Griff Meadows in particular sealed the deal for me. Both know precisely what is expected of them and fit the material beautifully. Robinson is as enchanting as any of the screen sirens of the period that the film spoofs. Keys's clean, chiseled "movie-star" look is also reminiscent of the classic B-movie heroes. Biller couldn't have picked a more perfect specimen to fit this role. Keys IS Griff Meadows. He and Robinson are perfect foils in this "Battle of the Sexes" - the seemingly perfect man versus the seemingly perfect woman. Who's will could possibly triumph?

Elaine and Griff don't get together until later in the film, but undoubtedly the story picks up steam when they do. It builds to a surprisingly thought-provoking climax as it pertains to pathological narcissism, personal fantasies, and gender politics (particularly the fragility of manhood).

It seems that this is the first time Biller's work has gotten anything close to mainstream exposure. I had never heard of her prior to this film, but an investigation of her back catalog suggests that The Love Witch isn't her first rodeo with the '60s melodrama thing. Her previous work appears inspired by that of Mario Bava, Ed Wood and William Castle to name a few. It will be fun to watch Biller's career unfold from here as The Love Witch signals the arrival of a confident new voice in genre cinema. The best thing about this movie is that it knows precisely what it is and what it needs to be. As long as you're able to buy into Biller's shtick, The Love Witch comes recommended.

A-