Via indieWire: Kim Morgan and Matt Zoller Seitz are the forces behind this smartly put together video essay on Mike Figgis' hardboiled 1988 debut film, Stormy Monday. Moreover, it's "not just about a certain film, but a certain review of a certain film: Roger Ebert's appreciation of Stormy Monday." Matt edited and Kim narrates using Ebert's words in precisely the voice I've always imagined her having, which is precisely how she writes. I swear, she could convince me to take up smoking.
DEEP FOCUS: Mike Figgis' STORMY MONDAY, as reviewed by Roger Ebert from Matt Zoller Seitz on Vimeo.
I hope they keep on making these. Oh, wait — they will!
Also via indieWire:
- The Best Films Of 2011…So Far — Regarding those I've seen, I can't complain. Those that I haven't are on my Check It Out list.
- Reeling and Spinning: How the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack weaponizes cinema
- Francis Ford Coppola to Bring Horror Film to Comic-Con
- This Is Hardcore: John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus" — A film I jotted about recently here.
NYRB: The Variety of Movie Experience — In the same way that William James applies the tensile force of his logical prose toward the evocation of an imperceptible bridge beyond logic that must, somehow, be there, Malick has continued to muster the resources of film toward embodying what cannot actually be embodied.
The New Republic: David Thomson on Films: Why I Loved Peter Falk as Columbo
Movie Morlocks (TCM): No, No, That’s Not Your Movie, This is Your Movie!
NPR: Marlon Brando's Lost Musical Innovation — The actor was also an amateur drummer, as well as an inventor with four patents to his credit. His lost prototypes for tuning conga drums were recently uncovered in a West Los Angeles storage facility.
Via Glenn Erickson: A vintage '60s commercial for Sun Sweet prunes, featuring Ray Bradbury in an ad campaign crafted by Stan Freberg. Some context at Wikipedia. (I posted about the time I worked with Mr. Bradbury here.)
Cracked: Storyboards from Michael Bay's The Great Gatsby
On taste, perspective, brains. This applies to movies as well as to anything else:
