RIP TONY CURTIS 1925-2010

(Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster above in one of the greatest films ever made about both journalism and show business - and it contains some of the sharpest dialogue of all time courtesy of screenwriters Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman - Sweet Smell of Success.) Ray Pride at Movie City Indie has posted some clips here from the film.)

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RIP ARTHUR PENN

Director Arthur Penn.

The great Arthur Penn has passed away at the age of 88. Below is an interview Jon Zelazny did with Penn some two years back.

THE LEFT HANDED GUN: ARTHUR PENN’S TICKET TO HOLLYWOOD… AND HIS TICKET BACK HOME AS WELL
by Jon Zelazny

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on EightMillionStories.com September 29, 2008.

In the 1960’s, Arthur Penn was one of the most acclaimed directors in the world, best known for his smash hits The Mircale Worker (1962) and Bonnie & Clyde (1967), each of which earned him an Oscar nomination.

He spent his early career directing theater and live television in New York, until he and three of his TV colleagues—producer Fred Coe, writer Leslie Stevens, and fledgling star Paul Newman—went to Hollywood to make a western about Billy the Kid.

Paul Newman takes aim as Billy the Kid, in Arthur Penn's The Left Handed Gun.

2008 marked the 50th anniversary of The Left Handed Gun, Penn’s now-celebrated feature film debut. We spoke by phone, ironically the day before Paul Newman passed away at age 83. The day after that was Penn’s birthday. He’s now 86.

Happy Birthday!
Arthur Penn: Thank you.

How are you feeling?
Well, considering what birthday it is, not bad.

Have you spent most of your life in New York?
All of it. We’ve always lived here, aside from a few brief periods in Hollywood. And when I was on location.

Before we get to The Left Handed Gun, I mentioned in my email that I finally saw your film Mickey One (1965) for the first time last Friday. There were about seventy people at the screening; the programmer asked how many of us had ever seen it before, and about five hands went up. Why has it remained so obscure? Is it true it’s never had a home video release?
Columbia never liked it. I made it for very little—a million dollars—so they could afford to just scrap it. Which is what they wanted to do as soon as they saw it.

Author's Note: "Mickey One" is an experimental feature film about a New York nightclub comic (Warren Beatty) who goes on the lam when he can’t repay his mob debts. He lays low in Chicago, starts working in clubs under the name Mickey One, and falls in love with a nice girl… but his paranoia regarding his past threatens to destroy his new life.

Even Warren Beatty in the lead isn’t enough to justify a home release today?
No. Maybe they would now, but I doubt it.

What I’d always read in books was that it was your ode to the French New Wave. There is a feeling of Godard about it, but my first reaction was that it was more in the spirit of Richard Lester, very whimsical and sassy… but as it got darker and darker towards the end, it really reminded me of David Lynch, especially the films I think of as his “dream stories.”
Everybody evaluates Mickey One for their own time. There was no David Lynch at the time I did it.

Paul Newman (L) as Billy the Kid in Penn's debut film, The Left Handed Gun.

Have you seen those works of his? Lost Highway, or Inland Empire? Did it strike you he was working along some of the same lines?
Those are his pictures. They’re his equivalents of Mickey One.

Were you trying to evoke the French New Wave?
No. They only called it French New Wave at the time because there was nothing else to compare it to.

The print we saw was gorgeous, by the way, and I think people really enjoyed it. I also like pictures where the director feels free to really experiment, to play with interesting visual ideas. Did you know Scorsese’s Boxcar Bertha?
No, I never saw it.

It’s a Roger Corman picture, a rip-off of Bonnie & Clyde really, but you can see the young Scorsese just using the opportunity to try every visual trick, and angle, and idea that he can possibly get in. Another one I like is Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey.
Yeah, I saw that one.

When I think of your first three films now—The Left Handed Gun, The Miracle Worker and Mickey One—it’s an amazing progression. Your confidence and dexterity with the medium really leapfrogged with each picture.
Yeah. It was all new to me. I was very captivated by it.

Paul Newman and Lita Milan in a rare romantic moment of The Left Handed Gun. Note the rather Freudian implications of Newman's pistol...

In researching The Left Handed Gun, I saw that you, Fred Coe, Leslie Stevens, and Paul Newman all knew each other from these television dramas in New York. Were all these shows you did free-standing stories?
Yes, they were. The first one I ever did was about a Korean war soldier coming back. That was all live TV. You know… well, you probably don’t know.

The only one of those I ever saw was Requiem For a Heavyweight with Jack Palance. I never saw any of yours. What was a schedule like for one of these shows? Were they all done in studio?
Sure. They were live. There was no tape. What we shot went right out on the air. That was television in the early days. I did one every third week for NBC. We’d rehearse them in a hotel ballroom with just the actors, no cameras. We’d plan how we were going to shoot it, and after about seven days of these rehearsals, we’d go into the TV studio. We’d rehearse one day with the cameras, the next day was a final dress rehearsal, and we went on the air that evening. And the pictures that were going out, we cut them ourselves, in the control room. And not only were we choosing the shots, we were choosing how long those shots would last—based on how the actors were performing! That was live TV.

I had to direct like that once in college. It was incredibly difficult.
We did it. Show after show.

It must have been the greatest training ground imaginable.
It was wonderful.

I saw you first worked with Paul Newman on a TV drama called The Battler in 1956. When did he first come to your attention?
I saw him on the stage, very early on. In Bus Stop. I knew him from The Actor’s Studio.

And you directed a Leslie Stevens TV script called Invitation to a Gunfighter in 1957. Was that your first western?
Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it wasn’t much of a western. It was all done in the studio.

But it had cowboys in it?
(chuckling) Yeah, it had cowboys. Not so many horses!

So who had the idea that you, Fred Coe, Leslie Stevens, and Paul Newman would make this western for Warner Bros.?
Fred had the rights to the play. And he’d talked to Newman about it. And they approached another director, Delbert Mann, but he wasn’t available. Then they went to Bob Mulligan, but there was some falling out there, so then Fred came to me. I said I wanted to rewrite it with Leslie, so that was the deal.

And who was it at Warner Bros. that decided to take a chance on four TV guys from New York?
Jack Warner. Our first day at the studio, he took Fred and me around on a tour of their facilities. And introduced us to his son-in-law, who was starting to produce some TV there. See, they were finally coming around to the idea that the future was in working with TV, not against it. Up until then, they just kept hoping it go away. But it had gotten so popular that it had cut deep into their audience. So they thought, “Well, let’s get some of those television guys to work for us.” That’s how we really got there.

Most Hollywood westerns, before and since, have been made by these very rugged, Western, California kinds of guys. Did anyone think it was funny, you New York theater types coming out to make a western?
Well, the cameraman sure didn’t like me! (laughs) Because I came in with this idea that I was going to make sort of a ditzy Western, y’know? With a different twist to it. And he wanted to drag me into a kind of conventionality. Then I started using camera angles he didn’t want to do. So he put up this clapboard at the head of all these shots. It said, “Photographed Under Protest.”

You’re kidding.
No. That was for the executives, so when they saw the dailies… y’know, he didn’t want them to think he’d lost his touch! But he worked for them. He was under contract to Warner Bros. Everybody was in those days. You worked at one place.

I looked at it again last week. It seems to me the basic idea was to take a '50s juvenile delinquent story and put it in the Old West. Was that about how you saw it?
Yeah. It was also based on the idea that as the West was expanding, there was this yellow journalism back east, where they more or less invented these stories about people just to sell cheap dime novels. So there was this kid named Bill Bonney, who had this bad reputation out west, and they named him Billy the Kid, and wrote up this whole legend about him. Nobody knows what’s really true. They’re pretty sure that one photo of him is authentic, but now it’s come out that it was actually a reversed image. That picture was the sole reason people believed Billy the Kid was left handed, but it turns out that wasn’t really the case.


The iconic photo of the real William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, circa 1880.

I think your staging of that photograph is one of the best scenes in the movie. Now that idea of modern technology intruding on the West became a major element for Sam Peckinpah. He loved putting cars, or other modern inventions, in his westerns to show time was moving on. Did he ever acknowledge you as an inspiration for that?
He did.

Another '50s director I really admire is Anthony Mann, who I think started taking Westerns into riskier psychological terrain: you could make the case that it was the emotionally unstable heroes Jimmy Stewart played for Mann that set the stage for Paul Newman’s really unstable Billy. Was Mann someone you paid attention to at the time?
Oh, yeah. I think we were in the same camp. I never met him, but I wish I had. I really admired his work.

I noticed Billy and his buddies are supposed to be around twenty years old, but Newman and the other actors look about thirty. Did anyone say that at the time?
No. Because most of the movie stars back then were fifty or sixty!

So he really did seem like “a kid” to a 1950s audience. I’m going to guess they gave you twenty-five days to shoot the picture?
I think it was twenty.

That’s pretty tight. Or did it feel luxurious compared to those TV shows?
Oh, yeah. TV was so frantic, it made this seem like a vacation.

Did Paul Newman enjoy all the rugged playacting you have in westerns that you don’t have in theater? Riding horses, gunplay, all that?
Sure. He was very committed. He’s a real actor.

A cinematic moment that really stands out his murder of Bob the deputy, when the man collapses to the street in slow motion.
It’s actually half slow motion and half fast motion.

L to R: Gene Hackman, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie & Clyde.

You’d expand on that technique in Bonnie & Clyde, and then it became pretty standard in Hollywood action sequences. Was that an effect you invented yourself?
No, I picked it up from Kurosawa.

That’s right. I forgot he’d done it as well. Did The Left Handed Gun do well?

It didn’t do well at all. The studio didn’t like it. They put it out on the bottom half of a double bill with some stinker, and it didn’t do anything… until it opened in France. A man named Andre Bazin—he was sort of the intellectual father of Cahiers du Cinema—he saw it, and he wrote a very good piece about it. And then other filmmakers looked at it, and picked up on it, and it became a big hit in Europe. It won the Belgian Film Critic’s Prize for the Best First Picture.


The Left Handed Gun trailer.

Warner Bros. had certainly read the script. They knew who was in it. What was it they disliked so much about the finished film?
The unorthodoxy of it. It was simply not what they expected a western to be.

That’s hard to understand fifty years later. Was it the way Newman played the character?
There was that. It was the way it was shot, the way it was written. The Hurd Hatfield character—this journalist who holds Billy up to this god-like position, and then when he’s sort of rejected, ends up betraying Billy—that was a whole new kind of character. That was like Gene Hackman’s character in Unforgiven. I think that character was a steal from Left Handed Gun.

Did you get other film offers after that?
I went back to New York. I got pissed off when Warner Bros. wouldn’t let me edit it. The day we finished, a guy walked up and said, “I’m going to edit your movie.” And there was no court I could appeal to that might change that decision. He was the studio cutter. It was just a disgraceful process because it was so industrialized. Later, the studios lost a lot of that power, in the good period of the late 1960s and early '70s. Now they’ve regained it, and they’re right back where they started.

Are there changes you can still remember wanting to make?
The ending. It was supposed to end with Billy dying, when he collapses and rolls off those carts. It looks like slow motion, but it’s not. Instead, they stuck on this ending with Pat Garrett’s wife saying, “We can go home now.” They wanted a happy ending.

Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker.

They did love a sunny tack-on back then, didn’t they? So you went back to Broadway, and did The Miracle Worker? And because that play was such a hit, you were able to do it as your next movie?
I did Two For the Seesaw on Broadway first, and that was a big hit too, but Ray Stark bought the movie rights, and he didn’t want any of us involved. And boy, he really fucked up that movie. Hired what’s-his-name to direct… “The hills are alive/With the sound of music… ?”

Robert Wise.
Yeah, Bob Wise. And they got Shirley MacLaine, but it was just a terrible film. So the next hit we had, when they came around for the movie rights, we said, “Hell, no. We’re going to do it, or you can’t have it!” And United Artists agreed. So Bill Gibson, who wrote the play, wrote the screenplay. I directed it, Fred Coe produced it…

…and the rest was history!
It’s a pretty damn good movie.

Yeah, I was knocked out when I saw it. I think it’s still one of the best adaptations of a stage play I’ve ever seen. And it holds up so well.
It really does.

One last question: you said at the top that you’ve almost always lived in New York. Was there ever a time—say, following your Oscar nominations—when you felt like you’d really become a Hollywood director? That you were a part of this community?
No. I wasn’t that impressed by those nominations. I didn’t even go to the ceremonies—no, I did go the first time, but not the second or third. Because I was more interested in theater at that time. I thought Hollywood movies were always going to be like the experience I’d had on The Left Handed Gun, which was unpleasant. But The Miracle Worker was fun. And we did it right here in New York. So I never gave any more thought to going back out to Hollywood.

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DVD Playhouse: September 2010

DVD PLAYHOUSE SEPTEMBER 2010
By
Allen Gardner

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (Music Box Films) Follow up to the hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo finds Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joining forces once again as Blomkvist is about to break a story on Sweden’s sex trade, which leads unexpectedly to a dark secret from Elizabeth’s past. Starts off well, then quickly nose-dives into sensationalism and downright silliness, with a pair of villains who are straight out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film. A real letdown for those of us who felt Dragon Tattoo had finally breathed life into the cinema’s long-stagnant genre of the thriller. Bonuses: English language track; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE KILLER INSIDE ME (IFC Films) Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic, and notorious, novel about the psychotic mind of a small town sheriff (Casey Affleck, excellent once again playing an unhinged loner). Winterbottom wisely sets the film in the 1950s milieu in which the story was originally written, which just heightens the feeling of creepiness and despair that almost drips from the edges of every frame. Overall, a major triumph in the film noir genre, although it does lose steam, and come apart somewhat, during the final twenty minutes. Excellent supporting cast includes Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas, Simon Baker, Tom Bower and Bill Pullman. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
SOLITARY MAN (Anchor Bay) Michael Douglas does one of his best turns in years as Ben Kalmen, a one-time self-made millionaire who has let his career, and life, slide over the past decade after getting a grim diagnosis from his doctor. While visiting his old college, Ben embarks on a final bender of self-destruction, nearly taking a succession of women (Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise Parker, Jenna Fischer, Olivia Thirlby) with him, along with a hero-worshiping kid (Jesse Eisenberg, who is honestly in every other film that’s being produced). Douglas is the entire show in this sentimental piece of puff, which, without his star power, would have been a Lifetime movie of the week. Not bad, but in the end we’re left with a feeling of “So what?” Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by writer/director Brian Koppelman, director David Levien and actor Douglas McGrath; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
MONSTER HOUSE (Sony) Fun, eye-popping animated film (also done in 3D) about an earnest lad who foolishly decides to explore a rickety old house that is rumored to be haunted. Hang on! Inventive, smart horror/comedy has something to please kids and adults alike. Exec produced by Steve Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. Fine voice work by Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Jason Lee, Catherine O’Hara, Kathleen Turner and Fred Willard. 3D effects look quite spectacular on 3D-enabled TVs. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: 3D glasses; Filmmaker commentary; Eight featurettes; Photo gallery. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-MA 5.1 surround.
TEMPLE GRANDIN (HBO Films) Claire Danes shines in this true story of a woman afflicted with autism during a time (1950s-‘60s) when little was known about the disease. Through perseverance and the encouragement of her strong-willed mother (Julia Ormand, also excellent) and science teacher (David Strathairn). Manages to be emotional, without ever veering into sentimentality—a terrific film. Fine support from Catherine O’Hara, as well. Bonuses: Featurette; Commentary by Grandin, director Mick Jackson, writer Christopher Monger. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY (Sony) Stirring biopic about the love affair between the eponymous fashion designer (Anna Mouglalis) and the legendary composer (Mads Mikkelsen, excellent) during the 1920s. Reminiscent of Ken Russell’s superb biographies of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, combining stunning period detail, rich performances and unbridled lust and sexuality. Well-done across the board. Bonuses: Featurette. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
THE THIN RED LINE (Criterion) Terrence Malick’s adaptation of James Jones’ 1962 novel about WW II is a visual feast, full of stunning nature shots, lush vistas, and epic battle scenes, all brought to life by an all-star cast (Sean Penn, James Caveizel, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly). All that’s missing is a center, and a soul. One of the most maddeningly uneven films ever made: part brilliant, part pretentious, and part indecipherable. Worth seeing, however, for the 60% that’s good. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by cinematographer John Toll, production designer Jack Fisk; Interviews with cast and crew; Audition footage; Outtakes; WW II newsreels; Featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME (Disney) Based on the classic video game of the same title, Jake Gyllenhaal becomes a live action version of the rogue prince who teams up with a rival princess (Gemma Arterton) to safeguard a magical dagger that gives its possessor the power to reverse time and rule the world—which is just what bad guy Ben Kingsley intends to do with it. Almost indescribably moronic from start to finish, this is a movie that would suck even if the viewer were flying high on the world’s greatest LSD from 1966. It’s always a bad sign when a movie is based on a video game (as opposed to the other way around, which doesn’t always work, either), but this train wreck takes the cake in spades that most card sharks have never stuffed up their sleeves. I hope Kingsley and Gyllenhaal, two of their respective generation’s most gifted actors, were handsomely compensated! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: CinExplore features and featurettes; Deleted scene; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE (Criterion) Nagisa Oshima’s study of culture clash, camaraderie and homosexual repression in a Japanese POW camp during WW II. David Bowie delivers one of his best performances as a British officer who refuses to knuckle under to the camp’s sadistic commander (Japanese pop star Ryuichi Sakamoto) who may or may not be in love with him. Tom Conti is the British colonel who acts as interpreter between the captors and the prisoners, and Beat Takeshi, in his screen debut, scores as a sympathetic sergeant. Not for every taste, to be sure, but like all of Oshima’s films, it’s a feast for the mind and the senses. Bonuses: 1983 featurette; Interviews with cast and crew; Documentary on author Lars van der Post, whose novel was the basis for the film; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD stereo.
LITERARY CLASSICS Fox/MGM releases some of the best book-to-film adaptations ever made, including THE GRAPES OF WRATH, John Ford’s masterful telling of John Steinbeck’s classic novel about migrant drifters from the Depression-era Midwest journeying to California for a better life. Ford won a Best Director Oscar and Jane Darwell Best Supporting Actress for her iconic turn as Ma Joad. Henry Fonda’s final speech is one for the ages. A powerful, classic film that stands the test of time. Bonuses: Commentary by film scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw; UK prologue; Featurettes; Movietone News; Outtakes; Photo gallery; Restoration comparison. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. MOBY DICK is John Huston’s mammoth take on Herman Melville’s timeless novel about an obsessed sea captain (Gregory Peck) risking his ship, his life and the lives of his crew to hunt and kill an elusive albino whale. Pure cinema at its best, all the more remarkable for its production year of 1956. Screenplay by Huston and Ray Bradbury. Bonuses: Trailer. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. RICHARD III is the brilliant reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic, re-set in Fascist Europe of the 1930s. Ian McKellen stars as the evil turncoat Richard, who sells out and betrays everyone he knows to gain the throne of power. Dynamite supporting cast includes Annette Bening, Robert Downey, Jr., Jim Broadbent, Nigel Hawthorne, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and John Wood. Screenplay adaptation by McKellen and director Richard Loncrane, whose cinematic eye is unparalleled. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
MARMADUKE (20th Century Fox) Live action movie based on the popular comic strip should please the kiddies in your house, but older folks, beware! Owen Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, and George Lopez are the human stars who back up Marmaduke, the world’s most lovable Great Dane. When Marmaduke moves into a new neighborhood with his family, the super-sized teen dog soon discovers he doesn’t quite fit in—literally. With the help of best friend Carlos the Cast (Lopez) and some other four-legged friends, Marmaduke might just find his niche. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Deleted scenes; Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
SEARCHERS 2.0 (Microcinema) Alex Cox (Repo Man) helmed this quirky road picture about Mel and Fred, two washed-up child stars now floundering in adulthood, who see a chance at redemption by taking vengeance upon the screenwriter who abused them as kids. Traveling to Monument Valley, AZ., the site of John Ford’s greatest westerns, where the old man is taking part in a t-shirt signing ceremony, the two men hitch a ride with Mel’s estranged daughter, which generates lots of existential, and very real, angst on the journey. Funny, surreal and quite poignant, a welcome return to form from a wholly original filmmaker. Exec produced by Roger Corman. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
GOOD (NEM) Viggo Mortensen stars as a German writer who finds his latest novel championed by the hierarchy of the Nazi party. When he finds his career taking off and his life surpassing his wildest dreams, he also discovers the Nazi’s nefarious agenda. Does he take a stand, or keep quiet and enjoy the perks of being a member of the club? Powerful story is buoyed by Mortensen’s strong performance. Bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
WHO IS CLARK ROCKEFELLER? (Sony) Eric McCormack stars in this true story of one of the most elusive con artists in history. Clark Rockefeller, aka Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, passes himself off as an heir to the Rockefeller family fortune, tying the knot with wealthy Sandra Boss (Sherry Stringfield). When Sandra figures out that Clark is a fraud, he kidnaps their daughter, and attempts to disappear forever. Truth is stranger than fiction in this bizarre, made-for-TV tale. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
KUNG-FU MASTER (Lions Gate) Solid chop-socky flick about a man in feudal China who must decide between being a master with the Kung-fu alliance that holds his region together, or stand up for what’s right and defend the people of his village. These films haven’t changed much content-wise since Bruce Lee’s films of the early ‘70s, but they remain great fun to watch. Bonuses: Trailer gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
PRINCESS KATULANI (Lions Gate) Q’orianka Kilcher stars as Katulani, heir to the Hawaiian throne in this true story about the teenager’s early life: shipped off to the UK to receive an education in becoming “civilized,” as befits a future queen. In England, she meets the dashing Clive Davies (Shaun Evans), who sweeps the naïve girl off her feet. When destiny calls back home, and the Hawaiian monarchy is overthrown with U.S. annexation looming on the horizon, Katulani must choose between love and duty. Sweeping romantic epic is beautifully made. Bonuses: Commentary by director/writer Marc Forby; Documentary; Featurette; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE (Lions Gate) Fictionalized dramatization of Bruce Lee’s life (exec produced by his daughter Shannon) is okay, but nowhere near the film that Dragon was, fifteen years ago. Chinese martial artist and actor Kwok Kwan Chan stars as Lee, in the film that traces his life from the streets of Hong Kong, to stardom in Hollywood, to his untimely (and mysterious) death at 32. Bonuses: Trailer gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
MADCHEN IN UNIFORM (GIRLS IN UNIFORM) Romy Schneider stars in this 1958 remake of the classic 1931 film about repressed lesbian love in a German boarding school. Schneider was never better, and is matched by the great Lilli Palmer as the teacher with whom she falls in love. More frank than the original version, and beautifully shot in color. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
TEKNOLUST (IFC Films) Tilda Swinton continues to astound, here playing no less than four roles as Rosetta Stone and her three self-replicating automatons cloned from her own DNA. In order to maintain their lives, the clones must seek lifeforce in male reproductive fluid, or sperm, which they seek out the old-fashioned way. Quirky and odd, to say the least, but also inventive and highly entertaining. Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan award for writing and directing. Fine support from Karen Black, Jeremy Davies and Thomas Jay Ryan. Bonuses: Interview with Swinton and director Lynn Hershman. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
BOOGIE WOOGIE (IFC Films) Fun send-up of the pretensions of the art world from director Duncan Ward. All-star cast includes Gillian Anderson, Heather Graham, Alan Cumming, Danny Huston, and the venerable Christopher Lee as the artist who created the work known as “Boogie Woogie” which they all hope to possess. A nasty good time! Bonuses: Trailer and TV spot. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
SHERLOCK HOLMES DOUBLE FEATURE (MPI) Two classic Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Holmes tales from the 1940s, the first of which, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON, while one of the best entries in the series, inexplicably transported Holmes and Watson from their 19th century confines to modern-day America, where they are sent to ferret out Nazi spies! Goofy, to be sure, but also well-written, and expertly-performed by the two leads. SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH has our heroes back in England, this time investigating strange goings-on at a centuries old mansion, where Dr. Watson is tending to wounded soldiers. Great fun. Bonuses: Audio commentary; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (IFC Films) A mad German doctor (is there any other kind?) forces two stranded American tourists to be his human guinea pigs to create a new species by conjoining them to the buttocks of a Japanese businessman. Yes, that’s really the plot of this very straightforward (and straight-faced) horror/comedy that must be seen to be believed. Not for every taste, to be sure, but there are some truly unsettling sequences that will stay with you. Bonuses: Trailer; Deleted scene; Featurettes; Casting and foley sessions; Poster gallery; Commentary by director Tom Six. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE DARLEELING LIMITED (Criterion) Wes Anderson’s story about three estranged brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman) who reunite for a train trip across India. Full of Anderson’s signature deadpan humor, surreal touches and overall celebration of weirdness. Also chock full of a smug self-satisfaction that has sunk many of his films that could have lived up to the promise that Bottle Rocket and Rushmore showcased so beautifully. A mixed bag, to be sure. Fans are sure to love it, others…beware. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Anderson, Schwartzman, and co-writer Roman Coppola; Documentary; Featurettes; Audition footage; Deleted and alternate scenes; Photo galleries; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
THE MAGICIAN (Criterion) Ingmar Bergman’s masterful tale stars Max Von Sydow as a 19th century mesmerist and peddler of potions whose powers are put to the test by a tyrannical royal medical advisor in Stockholm. One of the cleverest, nastiest battle of wits every captured on film follows between the two men. One of Bergman’s finest hours, gorgeously shot in moody black & white. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Visual essay by Bergman scholar Peter Cowie; 1967 interview with Bergman; Audio interview with Bergman, done in English. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.



DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! A&E releases SECRET AGENT AKA DANGER MAN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, all 86 episodes of the legendary spy series that ran from 1965-67, starring Patrick McGoohan as British agent John Drake, who hops the globe keeping the world safe, often utilizing his brains more than his brawn, although there’s plenty of that to go around. Smart, fun and still quite timely. Shot almost entirely in moody black & white, save for the final two episodes, which were done in color. All have been beautifully restored and remastered for this terrific box set, featuring 18 discs. Bonuses: McGoohan biography/filmography; U.S. opening title sequence; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. RICH MAN, POOR MAN is the groundbreaking 1976 miniseries (the first of its kind), based on Irwin Shaw’s best-selling novel, starring Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss as the star-crossed Jordache brothers, sons of a proud immigrant who go on to lead disparate, and sometimes tragic lives. Still holds up beautifully today. Also includes the sequel, "Book II," from 1977. Fine support from Susan Blakely, Ed Asner, and William Smith, as one of TV’s great heavies. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew on Book I. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Warner Bros. releases THE BIG BANG THEORY: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON features 23 episodes on 3 discs of the hit comedy that revolves and three uber-geeks and their ridiculously hot neighbor. Loaded with in-jokes and pop culture references sure to please the most jaded cinefile and comic book junkie. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. FRINGE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON, features 22 episodes on 4 discs, which follows the adventures of three clandestine FBI agents who investigate the paranormal. Full of clever twists and far-out plotlines, but always manages to feel very real. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Bonus episode; Featurettes; Commentary by cast and crew on select episodes; Gag reel; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Paramount/CBS releases NCIS: LOS ANGELES, THE FIRST SEASON, starring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J as Office of Special Projects operatives who enforce the law in the City of Angels. Loaded with slam-bang action set pieces and a great turn by Oscar-winner Linda Hunt as their boss. Bonuses: Featurettes; Music video; Spin-off episodes from “NCIS” season 6; Commentary by Shane Brennan on “Identity.” Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. THE GOOD WIFE: THE FIRST SEASON, stars Julianna Margulies as the resilient wife of a disgraced State’s Attorney who must take control of her family and her life in the wake of her husband’s downfall. A nice mix of smarts and trash. Bonuses: Deleted scenes with commentary; On-air promos; Featurettes; Cast and crew commentary. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. 20th Century Fox releases HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: THE COMPLETE SEASON 5, features 24 episodes on 3 discs, and the most star-studded season ever, with guest spots from the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, Amanda Peet, and Rachel Bilson. Bonuses: Bloopers; Featurettes; Music video; Trailer; Extended version. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: SEASON FIVE, features 12 episodes on two discs, and more zaniness from the gang at Paddy’s Irish Pub, climaxed by a road trip to the Grand Canyon that has to be seen to be believed. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; Featurettes; Deleted and extended scenes; Blooper reel. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. THE LEAGUE: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE, features all six episodes of the freshman season of the zany show that follows a group of fantasy football fanatics and their unbridled obsession with the pigskin. Very funny and quite profane! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Bloopers; Deleted scenes; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. MODERN FAMILY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, stars Ed O’Neill as another family patriarch, this time as a befuddled father and grandfather trying to make sense of family dynamics in our complicated time. Nicely combines humor and real-life dilemmas. Bonuses: Featurettes; Deleted, extended and alternate scenes; Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. GLEE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is the Golden Globe-winning comedy series that follows a talented group of high school misfits who turn into a performing sensation under the direction of a dedicated, and often manic teacher (Jane Lynch, brilliant). Charming and funny, not to be missed! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: (On BD) Visual commentary with cast and crew; Sing-along musical jukebox; Featurettes; Audition footage. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. SONS OF ANARCHY: SEASON 2, features 13 episodes on two discs, following the lives and loves of an outlaw motorcycle gang with nefarious intentions. Great cast of anti-hero characters really get under your skin and stay with you. Terrific performances by Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, and Charlie Hunnam. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Commentary by cast and crew. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. HBO releases BORED TO DEATH: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, starring Jason Schwartzman as Jonathan Ames, would-be writer, romantic, and unlicensed private eye. After getting his heart broken, Jonathan is determined to become the Sam Spade of Brooklyn, aided by fellow fringe-dweller Zach Galifianakis. Low key comedy is fully of quiet laughs, with nice support by Ted Danson and Heather Burns. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Deleted scenes; Commentary by cast and crew. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-5.1 surround. BILL MAHER: “…BUT I’M NOT WRONG” features the politically-incorrect comic performing live in Raleigh, North Carolina, letting loose on every sacred cow in the book, and taking no prisoners. Maher provides a welcome blend of social commentary, political satire, and genuine raunchiness. Not to be missed, especially for fans. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Disney releases LOST: THE FINAL SEASON 6, in which the hit series about a group of stranded plane crash survivors on a remote island all ties together. One of television’s finest hours, from the fertile mind of creator J.J. Abrams. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Bonus chapter; Bloopers; Deleted scenes; Commentary by cast and crew. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. Acorn Media releases POLDARK: SERIES 2, a sweeping, swashbuckling epic based on the beloved novels by Winston Graham about a gallant English army officer in the 18th century who finds the trials and tribulations of life at home far more challenging than the ones he survived on the battlefield. One of the most popular series in British TV history, originally broadcast in 1977. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. ON THE ROAD WITH CHARLES KURALT, SET 3, features more homespun, real-life stories from the veteran journalist, who traveled the country from 1967-87 in search of the unusual and overlooked that was sometimes literally in your own backyard. Bonuses: Bonus interview; Featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. A MIND TO KILL: SERIES 2 features more adventures of Welsh detective Noel Bain (Philip Madoc), a workaholic whose constant exposure to mankind’s worst side does little to improve his life in a grim Welsh mining town. Great guest spots from David Warner, Ioan Gruffudd, Richard Harrington and Carol Drinkwater. Bonuses: Filmographies and bios of cast; Clip from Welsh-language version of the series. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Lionsgate/ABC releases BOY MEETS WORLD, THE COMPLETE FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD SEASONS, each a 3-disc set with 22 episodes, stars Ben Savage as a typical boy entering sixth grade, then navigating the tenuous halls of middle school for the next two seasons. Fun for kids and grown-ups alike, with its mix of slapstick humor and genuine pathos. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; Bonus episodes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. LESS THAN PERFECT: SEASON ONE stars Sara Rue as a woman who has moved up the ladder in TV news from secretary to the anchor’s desk, much to the consternation of her fellow workers. How does a former temp calm the waters of envy in a cut-throat workplace? Watch and find out. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Sony releases RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON, featuring 13 episodes on two discs. David Spade stars as the leader of a longtime group of friends who find that their personal lives are hopelessly intertwined. Patrick Warburton, Adhir Kalyan, Megyn Price, Bianca Kajlich and Oliver Hudson co-star. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.


BLU BAYOU Criterion releases two classics onto BD. Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS officially started the “French New Wave” movement upon its release in 1960. Shot on the cheap, it’s an homage to American gangster pictures, with Jean-Paul Belmondo as an edgy Paris hood, who foolishly takes up with a callow American student (Jean Seberg) after committing a senseless murder. Still holds up, fifty years later. Bonuses: Archival interviews with cast, crew and colleagues; Video interviews with cinematographer Raoul Coutard, A.D. Pierre Rissient and filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker; Two video essays on Godard and Seberg; Documentary; 1959 short by Godard, starring Belmondo. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. CHARADE is Stanley Donen’s sexy, suspenseful Hitchcock homage, starring Cary Grant as a mysterious gent who helps young American Audrey Hepburn as she’s chased by murderous thugs trying to recover the fortune they claim her husband stole from them. Gorgeously shot in Technicolor, featuring great atmosphere in 1963-era Paris. Bonuses: Commentary by Donen, screenwriter Peter Stone; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono. MGM/Fox release BD editions of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, a weak remake of the equally weak 1979 (supposedly) based-on-fact ghost story about a young family that moves into a rambling Long Island house, only to be driven off by angry spirits who were there first. Not a scare in sight, just a lot of jittery camerawork and excessive bloodletting. Scary doesn’t equal gross, kids. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Featurettes; Commentary by star Ryan Reynolds and producers; Multi-angle POV; Photo gallery. RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is one hoot of a zombie horror flick/satire starring venerable character actor Clu Gulager as the only thing standing between a pack of ravenous brain-eaters and some hard-partying punk rockers holed up in a warehouse where toxic nerve gas has been released. Written and directed by sci-fi master Dan O’Bannon. Bonuses: Commentary by cast, crew and undead; Featurettes. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is Philip Kaufman’s masterful 1978 remake of the ‘50s classic, relocated to contemporary San Francisco, where health inspector Donald Sutherland stumbles upon strange goings-on among the city’s populace. Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy and Veronica Cartwright co-star in this brilliantly-made chiller. Bonuses: Featurettes; Trailer. Commentary by Kaufman. THE ORDER is a goofy thriller with a terrific pedigree: written and directed by Brian Helgeland, who won (along with Curtis Hanson) a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for L.A. Confidential, and starring the late Heath Ledger as a rebellious young priest who is sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of a member of a secret society with the Church. Pretty silly stuff, with little to recommend it, save for the location filming and Ledger’s undeniable star quality. Bonuses: Commentary by Helgeland; Deleted scenes and dailies; Trailer. All are Widescreen, DTS-HD 5.1 surround. Lionsgate releases 2001 MANIACS, a hyped-up remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ 1964 gore cult classic 2000 Maniacs, starring Robert Englund as the leader of a small hamlet in the Deep South that reappears every hundred years to massacre wandering Yankees in vengeance for a Civil War-era massacre. Nearly as bad as the original, but at least this version is presented with tongue firmly in-cheek. Bonuses: Filmmaker commentary; Featurettes; Deleted and extended scenes; Alternate opening with John Landis. HIGH TENSION (HAUTE TENSION) is a about two college girls taking a weekend off in the summer home of one of the girl’s parents, only to find their journey interrupted by a knife-wielding maniac. Starts off strong, but then director Alexandre Aja takes the easy way out by substituting buckets of gore and a weak (not to mention predictable) plot twist to advance his story. Made a major killing at the box office worldwide, however, which is even more frightening than this movie has any business being. Bonuses: Original French director’s cut; U.S. dubbed version; Commentary by Aja, cast and crew; Featurettes. DTS-HD 7.1 surround. BAD LIEUTENANT is director Abel Ferrara’s masterpiece of misogynist self-destruction, with Harvey Keitel as the dirtiest cop in movie history: an on-the-take skirt-chaser who abuses suspects physically and sexually, and is into the mob for major money due to a gambling problem, not to mention drug and alcohol abuse that makes Keith Richards circa ’72 look like Pat Boone. When the cop investigates the brutal sexual assault of a nun by a group of gang kids, he sees a final chance at redemption before the clock on his very wasted life runs out. Keitel gives the performance of his career, unjustly ignored by the Academy, and Ferrara delivers his goods in spades, as well. Not for the faint of heart (take the NC-17 rating seriously, please), but not to be missed by mature, discriminating viewers. Bonuses: Commentary by Ferrara and cinematographer Ken Kelsch; Retrospective documentary; Trailer. DTS-HD 2.0 surround. OPEN WATER/OPEN WATER 2 are two things: the first is a terrific, microbudget thriller about a couple (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) mistakenly left by their boat while deep sea diving. They must survive in shark-infested waters, hoping that rescuers will arrive soon. All we can say is: Alfred Hitchcock would have been jealous! Top-notch thriller from start to finish. The second is an in-name only sequel, and a wholly unnecessary one at that, when a high school reunion at sea turns into a deep blue nightmare for a group of revelers who are left unable to board the boat after going in for a swim. Fine cast includes Susan May Pratt, whose talents still can’t save this stinker. Bonuses: Cast and crew commentary; Deleted scenes; Featurettes. SECRETARY is a sexy, kinky romantic comedy about a repressed attorney (James Spader, never better) who finds his inner dominate coming out as he engages in a torrid S & M affair with his comely young secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Spot-on from start to finish. Bonuses: Commentary by writer/director Steven Shamberg; Featurette; Photo gallery. DTS-HD 7.1 surround. WONDERLAND is the sordid, but powerful, true story of washed-up porn star John Holmes (Val Kilmer) and his involvement in one of LA’s most gruesome murder cases, in a house on Wonderland Ave. in the Hollywood Hills. Terrific portrait of early ‘80s nihilism, with standout work from Eric Bogosian, Kate Bosworth, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, and a who’s-who supporting cast. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Crime scene footage; Commentary by director/co-writer James Cox and co-writer Captain Mauzner. HARD CANDY is a tough, brutal little film about a pedophile (Patrick Wilson) whose would-be victim (Ellen Page, startling in her film debut) turns the tables on him, in spades. Nasty, clever and cringe-inducing thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat. Bonuses: Commentary by director David Slade and writer Brian Nelson, Page and Wilson; Featurettes; Deleted and extended scenes; Trailer. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, a pseudo-documentary about a group of student filmmakers investigating a centuries-old legend about witchcraft in New England, was the first Internet-created film sensation, and perhaps one of the biggest con jobs ever perpetrated on the movie-going public. A six year-old could shoot a Polaroid flip book that’s better than this piece of amateurish junk. Don’t be conned AGAIN, and avoid it! Bonuses: Director and producer commentary; Alternate endings; Featurettes; Trailers and teasers. DTS-HD 2.0 surround. All titles are widescreen, DTS-HD 5.1 surround, unless otherwise indicated. Finally, Blue Underground releases VIGILANTE, a grindhouse classic from 1983 starring Robert Forster and Fred Williamson as vigilantes who take vengeance, Death Wish-style, on the thugs who murdered Forster’s family, and then on all low-lifes in New York, in general. Yes, they have their work cut out! Woody Strode, Joe Spinell and Willie Colon co-star in this unapologetically trashy, but “guilty pleasure” level entertaining drive-in flick. Uncut, unrated version. Bonuses: Commentary by co-producer/director William Lustig, co-producer Andrew W. Garroni, Forster, Williamson and Frank Pesce; Trailers, TV spots, radio spots; Promo reel; Photo gallery. Widescreen. DTS-HD 7.1 and Dolby EX 5.1 surround. Palm Pictures releases SEX AND LUCIA, one of the sexiest mainstream films ever released. Paz Vega stars as a woman who, after the death of her boyfriend, moves to an island in the Mediterranean, and falls in love with a new man. Honest portrait of adult relationships and sexuality is a visual feast, thanks in no small part to Vega's stunning presence. Bonuses: Featurettes; Cast interviews; Photo gallery; Soundtrack excerpts; Trailers. Widescreen. DTS-HD 5.1 surround.



DOCUMENTARY DAYS Criterion releases THE ACTUALITY DRAMAS OF ALLAN KING, a cutting-edge filmmaker whose contribution to the documentary spans a fifty year career. Criterion offers five of King’s best-known works in this box set: Warrendale, his feature debut from 1967, takes viewers into an experimental home for troubled youths. A Married Couple takes a hard look at the institution of matrimony by getting up close and personal with Billy and Antoinette Edwards. Alternately amusing and unsettling. Come On Children focuses on a group of disaffected teens who spend a summer on a Canadian farm, without adult supervision, for ten weeks. Picture Lord of the Flies meets Easy Rider, and you get an idea of a few of the dark corners this unsettling doc explores. Dying at Grace takes a look the final days of five terminally-ill patients, and Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company examines a group of nursing home residents who struggle with different forms of dementia. All utilize the “direct cinema” approach to narrative, in which the camera stays focused exclusively on its subjects, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions. Full and widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono and 2.0 stereo. A&E releases BATTLE 360: THE COMPLETE SERIES takes a look at the legendary WW II-era aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, and the pivotal missions it helped carry out. All 10 episodes on three discs, including “Call to Duty,” “Midway,” “Hammer of Hell,” “The Grey Ghost,” and “Battle of Leyte Gulf.” Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Additional scenes. Full screen. Dolby and DTS-HD 2.0. AMERICA THE STORY OF US tells the riveting story of how the United States was invented, covering over 400 years of American history in this 12-part series on two discs. Featuring interviews with a diverse group of prominent Americans including Michael Douglas, Tom Brokaw, Meryl Streep, Colin Powell, Melissa Ethridge, Brian Williams, and an introduction by President Barack Obama. Bonuses: Additional scenes. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. PATTON 360: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE, is a fascinating blend of restored archival footage and computer graphic animation that recreates Gen. George S. Patton’s triumphant defeat of the Nazis in Europe. 2 disc set offers nearly eight hours of programming. Dynamite, especially for history and WW II buffs. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby and DTS-HD 2.0. NOSTRADAMUS: 2012 is a detailed, imaginative look at the prophecy of the legendary soothsayer, who predicted that the year 2012 would bring global Armageddon to Earth and all its inhabitants. Unsettling and thought-provoking program, which wisely avoids sensationalism. Bonuses: Documentary “The Lost Book of Nostradamus.” Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby and DTS-HD 2.0. THE REAL NATIONAL TREASURE takes an inside look at the Library of Congress, the more than two decades old institution, where some of the world’s most important documents are housed. 745 miles of shelves hold close to 145 million items, from George Washington’s hand-written diaries to historic drafts of the Declaration of Independence. Bonuses: Featurette. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE ESSENTIAL GAMES OF THE SEATTLE MARINERS features four legendary games from the swatters of the Emerald City: The 1995 AL West Playoff against California, “The Double” ALDS game vs. the Yankees from 1995, the 2000 AL Division Series, and the Division Championships vs. the Angels from 2001. Bonuses: Extra highlights from the games and the seasons; Featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. PARANORMAL STATE: SEASON FOUR takes you along with the investigators of the Paranormal Research Society (PRS), including founder Ryan Buell, as they investigate seemingly inexplicable events. Fascinating, real-life “X-Files” adventures that have to be seen to be believed. Bonuses: Additional footage. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Indiepix releases SOUNDTRACKER, a look at the life and work of nature sound recordist Gordon Hempton as he scours the ever-developing American west for three quiet places to record ambient sounds. Fascinating combination of social commentary and social document. Bonuses: Interview with director Nicholas Sherman; Featurettes; Deleted scenes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. WADE IN THE WATER, CHILDREN is a devastating look at post-Katrina New Orleans from the POVs of the city’s children who reside in the rough Central City neighborhood. Sobering and infuriating look at how our inner cities and its denizens are ignored. Bonuses: Featurettes; Interview with directors Elizabeth Wood and Gabriel Nussbaum; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. MVD releases another stellar series of music docs, entitled AMERICA’S MUSIC LEGACY, with four titles in the series: “Country and Western,” focusing on the growth of country music and its influence on other genres, including rock ‘n roll, with performances from people like Jerry Lee Lewis, Doug Kershaw, and Ricky Scaggs. “Rhythm & Blues” looks at the roots of R&B in black Gospel, jazz, ragtime, and spiritual standards, featuring tunes by Billy Eckstein, Billy Preston, Mary Wells, and Sam Moore, of Sam and Dave. “Rock ‘N Roll” looks at the birth of the world’s most popular musical genre, with performances from diverse artists such as The Coasters, Chubby Checker and Fabian. “Gospel” looks at the popular genre that grew out of spiritual favorites, featuring songs from Doug Miller, The Chambers Family and The Archers, among others All are full screen, Dolby 2.0 stereo. JOHNNY WINTER: LIVE THROUGH THE ‘80s features seven live performances from the legendary guitarist, recorded in disparate locations from New Hampshire to Sweden. Winter’s mastery of the axe is apparent throughout. A terrific record of a unique artist. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. CACTUS: LIVE, LOUD & PROUD features live performances from the popular band during their 2006-07 tour. Bonuses: Interviews with the band; Music video; Featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Athena/CBS releases 20TH CENTURY WITH MIKE WALLACE: POLITICS AND PRESIDENTS, has the veteran newsman hosting a series of historic clips from some of television news’ most timely moments, featuring reporting from Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Roger Mudd, and other veteran TV journalists, as well as Wallace’s own chats with historians such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Beschloss, Hugh Sidey, and others. Bonuses: Viewer’s guide; Featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Paramount releases PETTY BLUE, a look at the legendary Petty family who have virtually cornered the market on auto racing. Follow the stories of Richard “the King” Petty, son Kyle and grandson Adam as they tear up the blacktops of speedways the world over. Narrated by Kevin Costner. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Bonus interviews; Featurettes; Vintage audio interviews; Music video. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. HBO releases MAGIC & BIRD: A COURTSHIP OF RIVALS, an intimate look at the intense rivalry between two of the 1980s’ biggest NBA stars: Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird, who ferocity on the court was only equaled by their loyalty to each other after the game was over. Narrated by Liev Schreiber. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.



FOR THE YOUNG ‘UNS Warner Bros. releases SUPERMAN/BATMAN APOCALYPSE, a brand new animated feature that has the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight (as well as DC stalwarts Wonder Woman and Darkseid) clashing over what should be done with the passenger that emerged from a mysterious spaceship originating from the planet Krypton. Voiced by Tim Daly, Andre Braugher, Kevin Conroy and Summer Glau, and quite dark and violent in parts. Take the PG-13 rating to heart! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; 4 bonus cartoons featuring Darkseid. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. Disney releases BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: DIAMOND EDITION, the film which put Disney back on the map as the leader in animated entertainment after a long dry spell in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Nominated for Best Picture in 1991, the classic story of a princess who finds true love with a horrific-looking creature who is actually a dashing prince under the spell of a curse. Filled with eye-popping images and a beautiful music score by Alan Meken. Terrific voice work from Angela Lansbury, Robby Benson, Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: 3 versions of the film; Featurettes; New music video; Alternate opening; Deleted scene; Sing-along mode; Audio commentary by cast and crew; Game. Widescreen. DTS-HD 7.1 surround and Dolby 5.1 surround. CAMP ROCK 2: THE FINAL JAM, EXTENDED EDTION, features more adventures from the kids at Camp Rock, this time locking horns with rich kid cross-lake rivals, Camp Star, who challenge the Camp Rockers to a battle of the bands. Music and dance-filled sequel is sure to delight any kid who loved the first Camp Rock film. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Rock-along; Featurettes; Music videos. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. TINKER BELL AND THE GREAT FAIRY RESCUE offers up Tinker Bell in a brand new animated adventure that’s a pre-quel, if you will, to Peter Pan, telling the tale of Tink’s aiding a young girl named Lizzy, whose steadfast belief in the power of fairies brings Tink to her side at a time of need. Eye-popping animation and a touching story should please the toughest kid critic in your house. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Featurettes; Music video. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. Lionsgate releases JIM HENSON’S FRAGGLE ROCK: SCARED SILLY, featuring the “Fraggle Rock” gang in three Halloween-themed adventures: “Terrible Tunnel,” “Scared Silly,” and “The Dark and Stormy Night.” Bonuses: Extra episodes; Sing-along; Featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. E1 Entertainment releases THE SECRET OF MOONACRE, based on the classic children’s novel “The Little White Horse,” by Elizabeth Goudge, tells the tale of a young orphan who goes to live with her eccentric uncle at Moonacre Manor, where she discovers a magical world inhabited by outlandish characters and mythical beasts. Fans of the Harry Potter books and films should delight in this fantasy, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry, Nastascha McElhone and Dakota Blue Richards. Bonuses: Featurettes; Deleted scenes; Cast interviews. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. New Video/Scholastic releases another title in its Storybook Treasures series: DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS, and two other animated adaptations of beloved children’s stories, including “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale,” and “Leonardo, the Terrible Monster.” Bonuses: Featurettes; Spanish versions of the stories; Read-along. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. 20th Century Fox releases two titles in the “Goosebumps” series, based on the popular books of R.L. Stine: GOOSEBUMPS: THE BLOB THAT ATE EVERYONE, featuring the aforementioned story, as well as “My Hairiest Adventure” and “Piano Lessons Can Be Murder,” and GOOSEBUMPS: GO EAT WORMS, that also features the stories “Bad Hare Day” and “Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes.” All are full screen, Dolby 2.0 surround. Paramount releases five new Nickelodeon titles: EVERYBUNNY LOVES WINTER, featuring 12 animated adventures of everyone’s favorite lupines, Max & Ruby. LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE LAURIE BERKNER BAND! features sing and dance-along performances from the beloved children’s trio, who offer up 15 music videos for the kids’ entertainment. Bonuses: Extra videos. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: 10 HAPPIEST MOMENTS features ten animated adventures from the underwater-dweller and his friends. Bonuses: Extra episodes. DORA THE EXPLORER’S SLUMBER PARTY features Dora in six animated adventures revolving around bedtime. Bonuses: Featurettes. DORA’S CHRISTMAS CAROL ADVENTURE features Dora in a full-length Yuletide romp where she must help Swiper get back on Santa’s “nice” list. Bonuses: Music videos; Featurettes. All are full screen, Dolby 2.0 stereo.

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Paul Verhoeven: The "Starship Troopers" Hollywood Flashback Interview

Director Paul Verhoeven.


This is the first of two conversations I've had with director Paul Verhoeven, the second being for his WW II drama "Black Book." When I met Verhoeven in the Sony Pictures commissary for lunch in October of 1997, I had been a fan of his work since seeing the classic "Soldier of Orange" in 1979. The manic energy that Verhoeven is renowned for was evident throughout our chat, and was infectious. By the time our all-too-brief lunch was over, I found myself waving my hands while I spoke in rapid clips, and using more bounce than usual in my stride, to the point where a few friends suggested I switch to decaf.

The other memory that remains vivid is the passion and high hopes that Verhoeven had for "Starship Troopers." Like the director himself, I thought this would be a groundbreaking movie event and that the world would embrace its blend of gleefully gory sci-fi action and deft satire, as they had with "Robocop" the decade before. Alas, it was not to be, but "Troopers" certainly became a classic in retrospect, claiming a spot on many highbrow critics' "overlooked" and "Best of the '90s" lists. It remains a personal favorite of mine, and one of Verhoeven's finest hours behind a camera.

"Starship Troopers" screens tonight at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, followed by a Q&A with Verhoeven.

PAUL VERHOEVEN
GOES BUGGY WITH STARSHIP TROOPERS
By
Alex Simon

Paul Verhoeven was born in Amsterdam, Holland on July 18, 1938. During his early childhood Verhoeven lived in German-occupied Holland and was exposed to the horrors of war first-hand, including watching the neighboring city of Rotterdam get flattened by German bombs and having a group of Dutch Nazi sympathizers throw him up against a wall at gunpoint at age six, only to walk off laughing. These early impressions of the reality and immediacy of violence left their impression on the future filmmaker, impressions that, combined with his Dutch frankness regarding sexuality and its depiction, Verhoeven has brought to his films since day one.

Though he earned his Ph.D. in mathematics and physics, Verhoeven discovered filmmaking interested him more, and he turned to creating documentaries for the Dutch Royal Navy and Dutch television. After success with the TV series "Floris," about a medieval knight (played by his frequent future star Rutger Hauer), he made his feature debut with Business Is Business (1971), then gained wider recognition with the Oscar-nominated international box office hit Turkish Delight in 1973. The aggressively erotic satire about the unhappy marriage of a sculptor (Hauer) brought recognition not only to Verhoeven, but to the emerging Dutch film industry. He followed this with Katie Tippel (1975), about the rise of an ambitious young girl in 19th century Dutch society. His next hit film, Soldier of Orange (aka Survival Run, 1978), was a riveting true story about the lives of six wealthy Dutch university students whose lives are irreversibly changed by World War II. Many regard it as one of the greatest war films ever made. In subsequent films, Verhoeven returned to the themes of sexuality and obsession he had begun to develop in Turkish Delight. Spetters (1980) was a frank look at the lives of gay and straight teenagers enamored of motorcycle racing. The Fourth Man (1983) was a stylish, hallucinatory, darkly comic thriller about a gay novelist on the trail of a woman he suspects to be a husband killer. Frequently working with cinematographers Jan De Bont, and Jost Vacano and actors Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, and Renée Soutendjik, Verhoeven established a characteristic visual style that was both haunting and kinetic.

Verhoeven's work caught the notice of Hollywood, resulting in Flesh + Blood (1985), a grim and bloody 16th century adventure starring Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It did poorly at the box office and narrowly avoided an X-rating. For his next films, however, Verhoeven managed to transfer the commercial adroitness he developed on the art house circuit to the larger scale of Hollywood blockbusters. Beginning with Robocop in 1987 and again with Total Recall in 1990, his U.S. films have been violent, action-oriented material that pack theaters even as they arouse public and critical controversy. Basic Instinct (1992), sparked nationwide protests from gay activists for its depiction of lesbians, family groups for its sex and violence and some critics for what they felt was a confusing tale of sex, betrayal and murder that made a great deal of money, just the same. With Showgirls in 1995, Verhoeven's story of an ambitious lap dancer in Las Vegas, the director took a critical beating that would have reduced lesser men to rubble. But guess what folks, Paul Verhoeven is back--with a vengeance.


Starship Troopers, based on Robert Heinlein's classic 1959 novel, is a science fiction/war epic that can only be described as All Quiet on the Western Front meets Attack of the Crab Monsters. Telling the tale of a 23 rd century lad named Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) who is forced to fight for the future of planet Earth as it is threatened by invasion from a planet of bloodthirsty insects(!). Although the plot might make some cynics a bit skeptical, Troopers boasts the most eye-popping CGI visual effects ever put on film (created by special effects master Phil Tippett), along with what will surely be Oscar-winning production design and star-making performances from newcomers Van Dien and particularly from Dina Myer, as a feisty, sexy, 23rd century femme warrior. It was an E ticket ride that left this passenger begging for more at the journey's end.

Dressed in his trademark rumpled denim shirt and faded jeans, Paul Verhoeven, rushes into the Rita Hayworth dining room on the Sony lot. A bundle of kinetic energy, Verhoeven seems to vibrate as he sits, illustrating each sentence with his hands, like a conductor guiding an orchestra. Let's listen to the first movement...

Your wartime experiences in Holland seem to have colored your perception quite a bit. Tell us about what being a kid in the middle of World War II was like.

Paul Verhoeven: If you live in a country being occupied by another one, it's a weird experience, but because I was so young when war broke out, seeing fighting and bombing and ruins and grenades and dead bodies and planes going down in flames seemed like the norm. Then later after we were liberated by the allies, things changed obviously. Even today, those memories play a large part in my work. Sometimes I think my acceptance of violence is based on the fact that I saw so much of it early on. So you could say that I am still haunted by war, or if you like, inspired by it, although that's not a very politically correct statement. (laughs)

Did you come from an artistic family?

No. My father was a school teacher. I had an uncle who was a painter, but besides that the family wasn't artistic.

Verhoeven (R) in the Dutch Marines, late 1950s.

Initially you didn't pursue the arts, either.

Right. At university I studied mathematics and physics, and while I think that both subjects are very important, they didn't really touch me on an emotional level. So during my military service in the Navy, I got assigned to a documentary film unit and did documentaries on the Dutch Marines. I felt like filmmaking was more my cup of tea than mathematics. I never felt creative about (science). I was in it because I was good at it and because I could take my exams well. But I knew that I couldn't really bring anything new to it. Film was more versatile to me. So after the military, I decided to abandon mathematics completely and become a filmmaker. This led me first to television for a couple years until 1971 when I did my first feature.

How did you fall in love with film initially?

Two reasons, I think. One is that when I was seven or eight, suddenly the movies came to Holland. During occupation there were only German propaganda movies anyhow, which my parents weren't too keen on taking me to. So immediately after the war all these American movies came to Holland and it was like after all these years of being cut off from the rest of the world, there were all of the sudden all these different realities: westerns, musicals, science fiction. I went to the movies three or four times a week for fifteen years. The other reason was that my father was always showing films at school at the end of the day on this little 16mm projector. And at the end of the day when all the kids had gone I'd watch these films myself, looking at them again and again. I was fascinated by the possibilities of the medium...feeding the film into the projector, the way it threaded through...it fascinated me. It still took me a long time, until I was 26, to realize that film was what I really wanted to do.

Verhoeven and Der Governator clown on the Total Recall set.

Was there one film in that period that really sparked your imagination?

Sure, War of the Worlds. Also Tarzan's New York Adventure and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Also pirate movies like Captain Blood, Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate. All these sort of action-oriented movies with a lot of movement and a lot of splendor.

You have always presented sexuality and violence in a very matter-of-fact way in your films which is one reason, I think, why most people find them shocking. Do you think this comes from the fact that Holland is so much more relaxed as a country about sex and sexuality?

Yes, I think so concerning the sex. Sex is more accepted in Holland than in America. Violence is not. Violence is accepted by me. And other people of my generation who grew up with it.



Soldier of Orange is one of my favorite films of all time. Tell us how the project came about.

Well the book was an autobiography by Eric Hazelhoff, who was a war hero of the Dutch underground during WW II. We had been trying to get it made for a long time, but it was a lot more expensive than any other Dutch movie ever made. After five or six years, we finally got it set up with the assistance of the Dutch Royal family and the Dutch military...For me the movie was about friendship that goes above political antagonism. I thought it was an interesting theme.

You seem to explore the themes of friendship and betrayal with most of your films.

It seems to me to be a very general theme that goes on throughout your life. People that you think are your friends that then turn around and stab you in the back. And that attitude is certainly nothing new here in Hollywood. In war or in peace it's rare that you stick to your friends or that your friends stick to you throughout your life.

Jeroen Krabbe, Susan Penhaligon and Rutger Hauer in Solider of Orange.

I heard that Steven Spielberg initially contacted you about working in the U.S. after seeing Soldier of Orange.

Yeah, he called me in Holland and said "Why are you staying in Holland? You can do much more interesting things here." So he took me to a few different studios. After Soldier of Orange there was a lot of interest from the American film community...but it wasn't until the political climate in the Dutch film community changed to the point of it being difficult for me to work there that my wife and I decided to move to the U.S.


Trailer for the English-dubbed version of Soldier of Orange, poorly re-titled as Survival Run.

How was making a movie in America different than making one in Holland?

Not that much. Jan De Bont, who came here in 1975, told me that there was nothing to be afraid of. It was the same equipment, the same technique. If anything, in Holland you almost had to know more because there we had no "specialists" as there were here. In Holland, your lead actor might have to be your boom operator when he's not on camera, you see? Here in America everything is specialized and the director usually doesn't have to learn about those other skills.

One thing I noticed about your American films was that your scope really changed to that of making epic films. Do you ever see yourself going back to make a smaller, more personal film like the ones you did in Holland?

Yeah, but I would still try to make it for a big audience. It could be a bit more personal and more intimate than I've been doing the last few years. Ultimately it really has to do with the project itself and if it would be worth doing. Although in the United States I'm not known for doing projects like that. There's one project that I might do on the life of Houdini that Sony wants me to do. This story deals more with Houdini and his relationship to the occult than Houdini, the magician.

Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas, Basic Instinct.

Let's talk about Basic Instinct. When you direct an explicit love scene, how do you approach it with the actors, especially American actors, who might not be as open sexually as European actors?

I am very open with them because otherwise you cannot do it. I call everything by name and I tell them exactly what I want. In fact, with Basic, I storyboarded most of the (love) scenes very specifically and gave them to Michael (Douglas) and Sharon (Stone). The scenes were very choreographed. It was very precisely "You do this, then you do that. Then she does this, and she does that." Every move, every touch was all planned, all done like an action scene.

Did the uproar over Basic Instinct surprise you?

Yes, I thought it was silly. If the people who protested it had taken time to look at my work, particularly The Fourth Man, they would know that I would never make an anti-gay movie at all. I thought all the gay action groups were really full of shit and that it was all about politics because it was such a high-visibility project.

The ironic thing is that the protests probably helped the film business wise.

Yes. Because it was on the news every day. I didn't really see it that way at the time, but later I realized that it had worked that way.

Verhoeven on the Starship Troopers set.

Let's move on to Starship Troopers. Tell us the genesis.

This was about four years ago, at the end of Basic Instinct, (screenwriter) Ed Neumeier came to me with this idea of young adults, coming from high school that have to fight giant bugs in outer space! I got intrigued because it made me remember all the movies I liked so much in the 40's and 50's. It was something I always wanted to do, but never had a chance to do. Although it was what appeared to be sort of 'B' material, I wanted to bring it up to an 'A' in a way, although clearly it was never going to be Lawrence of Arabia (laughs). It still approaches that reality in a very serious way, and I think it succeeds, and seems to be able to portray the world of another species that is extremely dangerous and realistic. You see these movies of the 40's and 50's like Them! about giant ants, and so on, and they all seem today very (unrealistic). But if you look at Ray Harryhausen's work, like Jason and the Argonauts, it was much more sophisticated and poetic almost. And I've studied his work a lot. So I thought there was something there you could do. And I knew today with the digital technique that could give us this and that Phil Tippett would be in charge of it that maybe we could come up with something new and exciting.

Casper Van Dien: "The only good bug is a dead bug!"

I've never seen visual effects like these. Most of the CGI effects I've seen previous to this look like cartoons superimposed onto film. These looked real.

Yes, they're very well integrated. And I only did the movie because Phil was there. That was my context for doing it.

It also had the feel of a WW II propaganda film, which was really kitschy and wonderful.

That was basically there after the first draft, and the stuff with the Internet-style devices and titles came partially during the shooting and a lot in post production. It was an attempt to upgrade the old style Fox Movietone newsreels...and Third Reich propaganda films and even my old Marines documentaries that I did, because a lot of that was promotion and propaganda as well...That's why the relationship to the second world war is so important to me because it was probably the last war, and one of the few wars in history, where you can make the argument that it was good. Although all war has to be viewed as something that should be avoided, this was a case of two, or maybe three, evil empires that had to be stopped. Otherwise you have to argue that Europe really should have been left alone and see what would have happened. And then, well...I wouldn't be here! I'd be speaking German and working for UFA (the German film company). (laughs)

Neil Patrick Harris doing his best Joseph Goebbels.

Do you have any advice for first time directors?

I would be in good physical condition. Avoid drinking and abusing yourself in any way because shooting a film is so physically exhausting. It's twenty hours a day. And also try and prepare as much as possible. Make as many sketches or write down for yourself specific notes before you come to the set, at least for the first week or so. That way if you get stuck or feel uninspired you can just turn to the storyboard and do what it says. Perhaps it's not the best it could be, but at least it's okay, and that way you don't have to sit there and say to yourself 'Okay, now I have to be inventive.' Because then you get scared and lose your confidence. Then after the first ten days or so you loosen up. But in the beginning it's always like "What now?" So get as much sleep as you can, at least five or six hours a night if you can, and have a plan of some sort for the first couple weeks. Also be nice and have a good relationship with your actors and crew members. Listen to suggestions and be willing to admit when you're wrong about something. Even apologize in front of the whole cast and crew if necessary. I still do that today. I make terrible mistakes and get upset sometimes. Never be afraid to be seen as someone who makes a mistake and can own up to it. Like my parents used to tell me "If you ever have a fight, try to solve it before the sun goes down." That's very good advice for filmmaking, I think.

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Feeling Dreamy About "Inception"

Non-sequential Ideas about Inception I’d Like to Implant Directly into Your Subconscious While You Think You’re Dreaming

by Jon Zelazny

What the hell happened to Tom Berenger? Did you know he used to be a leading man back in the eighties? He peaked with Platoon (1986) and then I heard he hit the sauce and went downhill pretty quick. Then you’ve got Michael Caine. Seventy-seven years old, a king-hell boozehound for decades, and he looks fucking fantastic! Go figure.



****

How can Dom meet Saito as an ancient man in the prologue if the operation that puts Saito in limbo hasn’t even happened yet? Does that mean the whole rest of the movie is a flashback? If so, then when we finally get back to Saito the ancient man at the end of the story, why does the scene unfold differently? Does that mean… ? Oh, forget it.

****


I am totally crushin’ on Ellen Page. Impossibly adorable, smart, and spunky, she’s a ray of Juno sunshine that lights up Inception’s relentless bleakness. She’s also a ray of hope, because I knew whatever became of the rest of the characters, Ellen Page was absolutely going to survive. Killing Juno in this movie would be like strangling a live kitten onscreen. The audience would burn down the theaters and riot in the streets.

****

I love these people who become rabidly passionate about things many other people find too convoluted, contradictory, or confusing, ala credit default swaps, superstring theory, or Scientology. If you don’t share their blinding devotion, they may turn smug, or even aggressive. “What? You didn’t “get” Inception? Dude, you weren’t paying attention! You really have to see it, like, three times. Actually, don’t bother; you’re obviously not smart enough to appreciate genius.” My first exposure to this school of film criticism was in 1982. “Man, Pink Floyd The Wall is seriously heavy shit! You know what your problem is? You have to see it stoned!”

****

I am personally indebted to Christopher Nolan. In November 2008, I got a job at Warner Bros. Television, and the HR guy said I was getting three additional days of paid vacation. Why? The Dark Knight. Then at Christmas, we got a bonus on top of our one-week’s salary bonus: a DVD of The Dark Knight. I wasn’t interested in seeing it again, so we re-gifted it to somebody’s cousin or something.

****

I liked Inception. It kept me on the edge of my seat. Not just because it was exciting, but because I was straining to hear the dialogue. I pondered it a lot this week… mostly about how I would recut it. My version would only be two hours long, with the long-ass prologue reduced to ten minutes, and 50% less snow fortress stuff. You might scoff at my arrogance. The picture’s raking it in; why change a thing? That’s true, but if I ran the WB circus, I wouldn’t be satisfied making $500 million when I know in my heart more editing would widen the movie’s appeal enough to bring in $1.1 billion.

****

Can we please come together as cinemaniacs and admit part of the reason Heath Ledger is so great in The Dark Knight is because all the other characters are duller than dirt? How could anyone assemble a dream team cast like Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Eric Roberts, and then hamstring them with such vapid scenes and dialogue? Heath was mesmerizing. When he wasn’t on screen, I was bored.

****

With his rigorously intelligent, highly organized, painterly visual style, Christopher Nolan is the new David Fincher, who was the next Ridley Scott, who was called the heir to Kubrick, who revered Ophuls and Welles, who adored Sternberg, who worshipped Murnau.

****

Few people thus far have pointed out Inception’s similarities to David Cronenberg’s little-seen eXistenZ (1999). In this sci-fi bummer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law plug a video game into their spinal chords and run around in a conspiracy-plot “game world” that has levels within levels within levels, some of which are difficult to discern from reality. Cronenberg probably had 10% of Nolan’s budget, so there’s no car chases, folding cityscapes, or zero gravity fistfights. On the other hand, Nolan doesn’t come up with a dream image even half as trippy as a guy pulling bones out of an alien reptile restaurant dish and instinctively snapping them together to make a pistol that fires human teeth.

****


Can someone explain The Prestige (2006) to me? Not the whole movie, just that final twist in the very last minute. Loved David Bowie as Tesla. I would sit through just about anything if Bowie were in it, and Lord knows, I certainly have.

****


Has anyone else noticed Leonardo DiCaprio channeling Jack Nicholson the last couple years? He doesn’t do it a lot, but every once in a while—like when he discusses his past with Juno in Inception—I catch him mimicking Jack’s inflections. I have a theory why he does it. While Nicholson is best known for his hammy Crazy Jack persona, he’s also remarkably convincing when he play a realistic, regular guy, as in The Last Detail (1973), The Border (1982), or About Schmidt (2004). In contrast, I think Leo frets a great deal about how to do normalcy. I think he worries that “not doing much” is too close to “not doing enough to keep the audience interested.” Co-starring with Nicholson in The Departed (2006), I think he came away very impressed by the old lion’s mastery at making non-histrionic moments just as compelling as the ones where he opens up the throttle. Leo works hard at being a good actor, but he’s still more of a star to me, in the sense that he rarely disappears into his roles, particularly the ones that require him to suggest working class roots. Nothing in Leo’s natural presence, voice, or behavior indicates any specific American geographic, social, ethnic, or class background to me. He’s a blank slate, which is probably why I thought he was so great as a fifties company man in Revolutionary Road (2008). Anyway, go rent Shutter Island, and see if you can spot him Jack-ing off. Maybe I’m the one who’s crazy.

****

To me, Insomnia (2002) was "Twin Peaks" without the humor or sexy girls. I have terrible insomnia, so I was looking forward to a thriller built around a condition that can make your life absolute hell. I don’t know much about Nolan’s personal life, but I can tell you one thing about him after seeing this movie: he’s never had insomnia.

****

Imagine you’re a Warner Bros. story analyst in 2009, and your boss assigns you to read the new draft of Inception because he wants “fresh eyes” on the project. Most scripts run about a hundred pages; Inception has over 160. You start reading, and within five pages you’re very confused. You go back and start over. You kind of get it this time, but kind of not really, so you resolve to read it straight through and try to enjoy the ride.

Two hours later—an eternity in screenplay reading time—you finish it. That Inception is an unholy, sprawling, indecipherable mess on the page goes without saying, but you have to be verrry careful: Christopher Nolan just made the biggest blockbuster in the studio’s history. By tradition, he more than deserves to have the studio bankroll whatever passion project he wants to do, even if it’s two hours of a green awning flapping in the wind. Of course The Green Awning would only cost a few million; Inception will cost 400 times that. But that’s not your problem. Your problem is writing up the first official studio opinion on Golden Boy’s opus.

Before you can even think about how to critique his script, you have to write a synopsis: a two-page summary that explains the movie’s basic through line, something any executive in the company can quickly skim to get the gist of what it’s all about. You go to work. Summarizing the first ten pages alone takes you half a single-spaced page. This is going to be a bitch. And you don’t dare cut any corners: your telling of the story better reflect Nolan’s like a fucking hall of mirrors. Two hours later, you finish. Your summary runs four single-spaced pages, but at least it’s about 88% accurate. You don’t know what half the plot points mean, or how they all fit together, but everything’s there for the WB chain of command to chew over. In comparison, your one-page critique is fairly easy to write. You of course RECOMMEND the project, and then gently salt it with a few run-of-the-mill development phrases nobody in town would object to: “characters could be more defined and likable,” “dream state rules should be clarified,” “structure could be streamlined without much difficulty,” “overall length can be trimmed.” Happy with your work—particularly that kick-ass summary—you turn it in.

Your boss calls the next day. “Hey, great coverage! But you need to do another pass on that synopsis.”
“But I worked really hard on that. Every beat is there, I swear.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t make any sense.”
“I agree.”
“So what’s the story? These guys go into people’s dreams, they fuck with their heads, and the lead guy is bent out of shape about his wife. That’s about as much as I can figure out. I mean, is she dead, or alive, or what?”
“No, she’s dead. He just dreams about her. And then she’s really dead. I think.”
“Yeah, whatever. Look, I’m pretty sure Nolan knows what he’s doing, but you make it sound like gibberish! You need to rewrite this, pronto. Forget all the little spinning tops for now and just tell the goddamn story! Pretend I want to explain it to my wife. Which is true. I do want to explain it to my wife.”

You go back to the salt mines, and manage to whittle your synopsis down to three pages, but it’s still a pretty hard slog of a read. Your boss accepts it, begrudgingly, and then some version of the phone call imagined above is repeated on up through the next six layers of studio bureaucracy. In the end, nobody who reads the coverage knows how Inception works, and they soon discover that reading the actual script is no help either. Old timer friends of the WB chieftains point out that nobody could make head or tail out of George Lucas’s original script for Star Wars either. It was stone cold incomprehensible… but look what the guy did! That’s how it is with these geniuses.

In the end, Christopher Nolan is simply trusted to make it rain. Everybody crosses their fingers and prays. Miraculously, their prayers are answered, and the rains come. God is Good, and everybody in the WB chain of command gets to keep their job. Including you.

****

It was nice seeing Lukas Haas. Remember him? The adorable Amish kid in Witness (1985)? IMDb says he’s been working steadily, but I think the last time I saw him was in Mars Attacks! (1996). Keep on truckin’, Lukas!

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