Hrm. The Cap'n doesn't really have a review today. I thought I might, but over the last two days I watched Halloween II with Rob Zombie's commentary track and the group commentary for Trick 'R Treat. I've toyed with the idea of doing write-ups of commentary tracks, as they seem to be the least accessed feature on nearly every DVD and Blu-Ray release. For some reason, it never seems as interesting to write about them as it does to listen to them. Appropriately, many directors, writers, producers, and actors feel like it's not as interesting to listen to them talk about a film when you can let the film speak for itself. Steven Spielberg doesn't record commentary tracks for just that reason, along with David Lynch and the Coen brothers*.
Part of the appeal of a "Rogue Commentary Track" is that it would allow people who have a marginal history with the film, but who appreciate something about the film, to speak at length about what they take away from it without forcing people to pay anything. If it ever happens, that is. I certainly don't have the equipment to make that happen, but I do know a number of well versed cinephiles who could sit down and provide insightful and entertaining tracks for films that go underrepresented. It's the technical end that's hanging that idea up, and the scheduling; there's rarely time that everyone could get together.
Well, let's try to make something out of this commentary-centric Saturday. Trick 'R Treat was fun to watch (virtually) with the director, editor, composer, producer, and storyboard artist, and I picked up a few more connective tidbits that I hadn't caught yet. The film really does reward multiple viewings, because it is packed with overlapping character moments. I honestly had no idea that Brian Cox wanted Mr. Kreeg to look like John Carpenter, but it's actually a clever nod that I can see during his segment.
After listening to the Halloween II "Unrated Director's Cut" commentary, it's clear that two things dominated the making of the film: the decreasing budget / schedule and the editing. Zombie is clearly frustrated that a number of sequences were hampered by schedule cuts, including the Phantom Jam (which was supposed to take four days to shoot but was shortened to one night), and while he feels the film suffers from the shortcuts they had to take, he's reasonably satisfied with the director's cut.
I'm happy that I found a copy of the Theatrical Cut (available in Canada, but I'm not sure if it is here in the US), because based on Zombie's description of what was cut, alterations made to existing footage, and his feelings about the changes, that unlike many "director's cuts," this is a radically different version of the film. Tonally the films sound quite different: the relationship between Laurie and Annie is less antagonistic, Michael's visions are more ambiguous, and the ending heads in a different direction. Zombie is happier with his cut of the film (available on Blu-Ray), but I think being able to watch both will be a valuable point of comparison. There's also a commentary on that DVD, and I wonder if it's also distinct from the director's cut, as it would be difficult to simply cut out many of the descriptions of what differs.
All of this may seem irrelevant to many of you, as I understand that people really seem to hate Halloween II. As someone who really hated Halloween, I find it odd that people were less interested in seeing Zombie go off in his own direction with the sequel, and it makes me wonder what exactly it was that you all liked about the 2007 remake. Aside from the hospital dream sequence, Zombie makes no effort to stick to remake "rules," and while it may have problems, I think that Halloween II works as a sequel, and considering that the original Halloween II is a mess of sloppy plot points, needless coincidences, and stupid characters, I'm going to give the edge to Rob.
Oh well. That seemed more interesting to write than it probably was to read for you. I'll see what I can do to rectify that in the coming days. I have found more than a dozen horror films from the 1980s that I've never heard of before that seem like they'll be fun to review. Until then...
* With the notable exception of The Man Who Wasn't There, which is a low-key affair featuring Joel, Ethan, and Billy Bob Thornton, where they impart a number of interesting details along with what may or may not be a whole bunch of trickery about the film. It depends on whether you trust the mercurial Coens or academics, who claim to have "figured them out" without actually knowing them.
Showing posts with label Rogue Commentary Tracks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rogue Commentary Tracks. Show all posts
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
More News, More Notes
Good day to you, Blogorium readers! I was all set to do some reviewing, but a few things have come to my attention that are worth at least mentioning, and least one is a follow-up from Saturday's news and notes.
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Let's start with this Lars von Trier "Nazi" business, since I have some suspicion that it may seriously impact the announcement last week of his collaboration with Martin Scorsese. If you haven't already heard, von Trier was at a press conference for Melancholia, and he made some unfortunate comparisons between himself and Hitler. Well, you know what? I'm not going to paraphrase what Lars von Trier said. Here's the video:
Today, he was banned from the Cannes Film Festival, and gave an interview attempting to clarify the gaffe, which has the Danish provocateur in a more precarious than usual situation. This is quite a bit further than Antichrist being booed at 2009's festival, as his comments have garnered negative publicity from around the film community. Von Trier, for his part, seems reticent to do anything other than go home and direct pornography (see the interview linked atop this paragraph), and reactions are... mixed. I don't really want to say much more than that, because somehow arguments about French hypocrisy (involving Roman Polanski) and Mel Gibson started showing up here. Honestly, I don't want to wade any further into that, but felt it was worth directing you towards in order to give you some idea of the fallout from von Trier's comments.
What I did want to speculate on is that "remake" of The Five Obstructions story that was everywhere last weekend. This is a bit of a stretch, but in light of Arnold Schwarzenegger's tabloid troubles putting his return to acting on hold indefinitely, and the nature of really toxic publicity killing projects, I'd say the likelihood of this team-up between Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese just hit the rocks. I'm not a prognosticator, but it seems like Melancholia is either going to be the hot ticket movie when it comes out, or it's going to be The Beaver and vanish from sight until Criterion releases it (as they did with Antichrist).
At this point, the actual quality of Melancholia (or The Beaver, for that matter) is irrelevant; this is about public perception, and the people who already hate Lars von Trier hit the jackpot, as "Nazi" is really not something you want to identify yourself with, even in jest. His fans will probably retreat quietly, and no American distributor is going to want to touch a Scorsese / von Trier joint. That's my guess, anyway. Bad publicity has killed many a "dream" project, and this one looks to be headed in the wrong direction.
---
Okay, to lighten the mood, let's talk about two things you don't have to weigh heavily, either intellectually or emotionally: movies online. Not the illegal ones (the Cap'n wouldn't know anything about that), but streaming video of films in their entirety from reputable sites. Free ones, at that: while Netflix and Amazon Prime customers already have access to streaming movies and television, YouTube also decided to get in on the game and now offer a "Movies" section on their main page.
What you've probably noticed is that they are charging for many of these movies, but what you may have missed is their selection of "Free" films. I was expecting to find mostly public domain, easy to locate anywhere fare, but I was impressed to see that YouTube has a solid lineup of higher profile features at no cost. Titles like Ghostbusters, The Buena Vista Social Club, Bad Taste, The Third Man, Bringing Up Baby, Bob le Flambeur, His Girl Friday, "M", The Man with the Golden Arm, The Intruder, Scarlet Street, Chaplin's The Kid, The Squid and the Whale, Super Size Me, Peeping Tom, American Scary, and DiG!.
It's actually pretty impressive, and that's just a cross section of movies you can watch (in their entirety) instead of the latest clip of some stupid thing a cat did, or whatever the hell "planking" is. The quality isn't amazing, but I'd say it is perfectly watchable, considering. This, coupled with IMDB's available free movies, you're in pretty good shape if rental prices are too steep.
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Finally, I don't know why I haven't mentioned this sooner, as I'm a full-on addict to this site, but cinephiles need to run, not walk, to Trailers from Hell. Spearheaded by director Joe Dante (The Howling, Matinee, Gremlins), the site is a collection of all kinds of trailers for all sorts of classic (and not-so-classic) films, presented by themselves or with commentary from the Trailers from Hell gurus. The gurus include geek fan favorites like Edgar Wright and Guillermo Del Toro, as well as Roger Corman, Neil LaBute, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Lloyd Kaufman, Bill Duke, John Landis, Allison Anders, and Rick Baker.
Informative and enjoyable, I get a kick out of watching the trailers with thoughts from long-time fans and filmmakers who give historical context (just look at the mini-lesson from Bill Duke on Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song) to what are normally considered "exploitation" trailers. Seriously, go there now!
---
Okay, that's plenty for you to look into heading into your weekend. I'll be back tomorrow or Saturday with a new review, so until then stay classy!
---
Let's start with this Lars von Trier "Nazi" business, since I have some suspicion that it may seriously impact the announcement last week of his collaboration with Martin Scorsese. If you haven't already heard, von Trier was at a press conference for Melancholia, and he made some unfortunate comparisons between himself and Hitler. Well, you know what? I'm not going to paraphrase what Lars von Trier said. Here's the video:
Today, he was banned from the Cannes Film Festival, and gave an interview attempting to clarify the gaffe, which has the Danish provocateur in a more precarious than usual situation. This is quite a bit further than Antichrist being booed at 2009's festival, as his comments have garnered negative publicity from around the film community. Von Trier, for his part, seems reticent to do anything other than go home and direct pornography (see the interview linked atop this paragraph), and reactions are... mixed. I don't really want to say much more than that, because somehow arguments about French hypocrisy (involving Roman Polanski) and Mel Gibson started showing up here. Honestly, I don't want to wade any further into that, but felt it was worth directing you towards in order to give you some idea of the fallout from von Trier's comments.
What I did want to speculate on is that "remake" of The Five Obstructions story that was everywhere last weekend. This is a bit of a stretch, but in light of Arnold Schwarzenegger's tabloid troubles putting his return to acting on hold indefinitely, and the nature of really toxic publicity killing projects, I'd say the likelihood of this team-up between Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese just hit the rocks. I'm not a prognosticator, but it seems like Melancholia is either going to be the hot ticket movie when it comes out, or it's going to be The Beaver and vanish from sight until Criterion releases it (as they did with Antichrist).
At this point, the actual quality of Melancholia (or The Beaver, for that matter) is irrelevant; this is about public perception, and the people who already hate Lars von Trier hit the jackpot, as "Nazi" is really not something you want to identify yourself with, even in jest. His fans will probably retreat quietly, and no American distributor is going to want to touch a Scorsese / von Trier joint. That's my guess, anyway. Bad publicity has killed many a "dream" project, and this one looks to be headed in the wrong direction.
---
Okay, to lighten the mood, let's talk about two things you don't have to weigh heavily, either intellectually or emotionally: movies online. Not the illegal ones (the Cap'n wouldn't know anything about that), but streaming video of films in their entirety from reputable sites. Free ones, at that: while Netflix and Amazon Prime customers already have access to streaming movies and television, YouTube also decided to get in on the game and now offer a "Movies" section on their main page.
What you've probably noticed is that they are charging for many of these movies, but what you may have missed is their selection of "Free" films. I was expecting to find mostly public domain, easy to locate anywhere fare, but I was impressed to see that YouTube has a solid lineup of higher profile features at no cost. Titles like Ghostbusters, The Buena Vista Social Club, Bad Taste, The Third Man, Bringing Up Baby, Bob le Flambeur, His Girl Friday, "M", The Man with the Golden Arm, The Intruder, Scarlet Street, Chaplin's The Kid, The Squid and the Whale, Super Size Me, Peeping Tom, American Scary, and DiG!.
It's actually pretty impressive, and that's just a cross section of movies you can watch (in their entirety) instead of the latest clip of some stupid thing a cat did, or whatever the hell "planking" is. The quality isn't amazing, but I'd say it is perfectly watchable, considering. This, coupled with IMDB's available free movies, you're in pretty good shape if rental prices are too steep.
---
Finally, I don't know why I haven't mentioned this sooner, as I'm a full-on addict to this site, but cinephiles need to run, not walk, to Trailers from Hell. Spearheaded by director Joe Dante (The Howling, Matinee, Gremlins), the site is a collection of all kinds of trailers for all sorts of classic (and not-so-classic) films, presented by themselves or with commentary from the Trailers from Hell gurus. The gurus include geek fan favorites like Edgar Wright and Guillermo Del Toro, as well as Roger Corman, Neil LaBute, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Lloyd Kaufman, Bill Duke, John Landis, Allison Anders, and Rick Baker.
Informative and enjoyable, I get a kick out of watching the trailers with thoughts from long-time fans and filmmakers who give historical context (just look at the mini-lesson from Bill Duke on Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song) to what are normally considered "exploitation" trailers. Seriously, go there now!
---
Okay, that's plenty for you to look into heading into your weekend. I'll be back tomorrow or Saturday with a new review, so until then stay classy!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Today's Post has the Bad Taste Sheep Explosion in It.
Sorry for the lack of Blogorium content yesterday - the Cap'n does, at times, have other obligations which prevents me from watching films or continuing to discuss the latest and greatest of the day. That being said, there are actually a few things worth reporting, dear readers:
- Quite unlike normal for the Cap'n, there was a sustained debated on another social networking site about the relative merits of The Matrix vs. Dark City, the issue of artistic repetition that doesn't involve direct remake / re-imagining / re-adaptation - i.e. films like The Illusionist and The Prestige or Deep Impact and Armageddon, films with similar premises of plot devices - and whether or not The Matrix is pretentious, over-convoluted, or just silly. If I procure permission from the other discussees, this discussion might make its way to the Blogorium next week.
- The reason the discussion happened at all was a result of the Cap'n finding a number of books at a local used business, one of which is called Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Post-Modern Science Fiction. Published in 1993, it focuses heavily on Baudrillard, Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs, David Cronenberg, William Gibson, Tron, The Terminator, and The Man Who Fell to Earth. I'd really love an updated edition that included Cronenberg's eXistenZ, as well as Strange Days and Dark City. Just no The Matrix. I've heard enough about how "revolutionary" that film was in my life already.
- I also picked up Scorsese on Scorsese, David Cronenberg: A Delicate Balance, and Kieślowski on Kieślowski, as well as some Bergman titles, Criterion and otherwise, all with trade credit. Spending money isn't something I can (no pun intended) afford to be doing, so finding other ways - that don't involve stealing - to continue research has been an ongoing project.
- Finally, I have actually been working on a small side project, one that would allow for Rogue Commentary Tracks from the Cap'n and friends to become a more tangible reality. The following clip should be helpful. Consider it a not-quite video daily double clip.
Because I don't want to leave you with sweet nothings, here's one of the most random acts of pointless violence in the already random and incredibly violent Bad Taste, the other Peter Jackson movie nobody seems to have seen:
- Quite unlike normal for the Cap'n, there was a sustained debated on another social networking site about the relative merits of The Matrix vs. Dark City, the issue of artistic repetition that doesn't involve direct remake / re-imagining / re-adaptation - i.e. films like The Illusionist and The Prestige or Deep Impact and Armageddon, films with similar premises of plot devices - and whether or not The Matrix is pretentious, over-convoluted, or just silly. If I procure permission from the other discussees, this discussion might make its way to the Blogorium next week.
- The reason the discussion happened at all was a result of the Cap'n finding a number of books at a local used business, one of which is called Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Post-Modern Science Fiction. Published in 1993, it focuses heavily on Baudrillard, Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs, David Cronenberg, William Gibson, Tron, The Terminator, and The Man Who Fell to Earth. I'd really love an updated edition that included Cronenberg's eXistenZ, as well as Strange Days and Dark City. Just no The Matrix. I've heard enough about how "revolutionary" that film was in my life already.
- I also picked up Scorsese on Scorsese, David Cronenberg: A Delicate Balance, and Kieślowski on Kieślowski, as well as some Bergman titles, Criterion and otherwise, all with trade credit. Spending money isn't something I can (no pun intended) afford to be doing, so finding other ways - that don't involve stealing - to continue research has been an ongoing project.
- Finally, I have actually been working on a small side project, one that would allow for Rogue Commentary Tracks from the Cap'n and friends to become a more tangible reality. The following clip should be helpful. Consider it a not-quite video daily double clip.
Because I don't want to leave you with sweet nothings, here's one of the most random acts of pointless violence in the already random and incredibly violent Bad Taste, the other Peter Jackson movie nobody seems to have seen:
Friday, November 12, 2010
A Series of Modest Proposals
(or, a nice way of saying "While it's sitting in the PS3, I still haven't watched Harry Brown yet and therefore can't review it.")
Hello, dear readers. The Cap'n has two things going on this week that contributed to a lack of blogging yesterday and (almost) not one today: 1) I'm feeling a bit under the weather, 2) I've been working on applications for graduate school, which are time consuming and while technically "film" related (being those are specifically the programs the Cap'n is applying to), they don't translate to compelling blogorium material. Perhaps, once I'm positive that they have or will not be looking at the blogorium, I'll share with you my "personal statement," which lays out a number of topics I'm looking to expand on here and in an academic setting.
In fact, if I don't actually post the statement itself, I will happily share the topics of study at a point in time other than today. Today I'd like to pose a series of proposals that you may feel free to answer, not answer, or dismiss and answer some question not posed by the Cap'n but you feel I should know anyway. Is it "lazy" blogging? Oh, almost certainly, but the outcome of several of the answers will directly influence future reviews, commentary, news, and pieces like "Five Movies" and "Four Reasons."
Without further ado:
1. While I am on the record that I have no interest in seeing Avatar, I remain on the fence about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. As you may remember, I was, perhaps, rude (to understate it) to fans of the film during its theatrical showing, mostly as a result of their very public outcry against movies people were seeing not called "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." That being said, I remain a fan of Edgar Wright and have, with a few small exceptions, not heard many bad reviews. I'd like for someone to give me a measured reaction, if possible, and to sell me or not sell me on the film. What works? What doesn't?
2. As I always am, the Cap'n is fishing for recommendations. While I regularly visit DVD review websites in search of something I've never heard of (and have found quite a few that I'll be looking into soon), I also like to turn to the readers and ask them what they've seen lately that they think I should check out. Just because I make it a mission in life to expose others to films they haven't seen before doesn't mean that I have my finger on the pulse of under-watched cinema at all times. Help a Cap'n out, folks.
3. I have seriously been toying with the idea of recordinging and hosting downloadable "rogue" commentary tracks for films that don't have one. While the model is similar to RiffTracks, I don't intend for them to always be comedic. Whenever possible, I'd like to bring in other people who can speak authoritatively about the film or add a perspective on the movie that would be interesting for audiences. If you'd like to see (or hear this) and, more importantly, would like to be a part of this, let me know. I have the initiative, but lack certain key ingredients (like recording equipment).
4. Finally, I'm still looking for a really good title for December's mini-horror fest. Merry Mayhem is the only one I've come up with so far, and I'm not really in love with it. Don't make me turn this into a contest, folks! There could be a prize in it for you!
Hello, dear readers. The Cap'n has two things going on this week that contributed to a lack of blogging yesterday and (almost) not one today: 1) I'm feeling a bit under the weather, 2) I've been working on applications for graduate school, which are time consuming and while technically "film" related (being those are specifically the programs the Cap'n is applying to), they don't translate to compelling blogorium material. Perhaps, once I'm positive that they have or will not be looking at the blogorium, I'll share with you my "personal statement," which lays out a number of topics I'm looking to expand on here and in an academic setting.
In fact, if I don't actually post the statement itself, I will happily share the topics of study at a point in time other than today. Today I'd like to pose a series of proposals that you may feel free to answer, not answer, or dismiss and answer some question not posed by the Cap'n but you feel I should know anyway. Is it "lazy" blogging? Oh, almost certainly, but the outcome of several of the answers will directly influence future reviews, commentary, news, and pieces like "Five Movies" and "Four Reasons."
Without further ado:
1. While I am on the record that I have no interest in seeing Avatar, I remain on the fence about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. As you may remember, I was, perhaps, rude (to understate it) to fans of the film during its theatrical showing, mostly as a result of their very public outcry against movies people were seeing not called "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." That being said, I remain a fan of Edgar Wright and have, with a few small exceptions, not heard many bad reviews. I'd like for someone to give me a measured reaction, if possible, and to sell me or not sell me on the film. What works? What doesn't?
2. As I always am, the Cap'n is fishing for recommendations. While I regularly visit DVD review websites in search of something I've never heard of (and have found quite a few that I'll be looking into soon), I also like to turn to the readers and ask them what they've seen lately that they think I should check out. Just because I make it a mission in life to expose others to films they haven't seen before doesn't mean that I have my finger on the pulse of under-watched cinema at all times. Help a Cap'n out, folks.
3. I have seriously been toying with the idea of recordinging and hosting downloadable "rogue" commentary tracks for films that don't have one. While the model is similar to RiffTracks, I don't intend for them to always be comedic. Whenever possible, I'd like to bring in other people who can speak authoritatively about the film or add a perspective on the movie that would be interesting for audiences. If you'd like to see (or hear this) and, more importantly, would like to be a part of this, let me know. I have the initiative, but lack certain key ingredients (like recording equipment).
4. Finally, I'm still looking for a really good title for December's mini-horror fest. Merry Mayhem is the only one I've come up with so far, and I'm not really in love with it. Don't make me turn this into a contest, folks! There could be a prize in it for you!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
From the Vaults: Commentary Tracks Are Tricky Things...
From 2008-ish:
Uh... so I now see why so many dvd commentaries are so awful. It was an experiment, sort of: Dr. Adams wasn't all that interested in just another discussion of Sunset Boulevard, especially since half the class never says anything as it is.
So he cued up Sunset Boulevard on the dvd player and said "let's do our own commentary". Mercifully, it wasn't recorded, because when the room gets dark, even the chatty students seem to shut up. Some of them fell asleep (I think).
There were fits and bursts of analysis, particularly regarding the way Billy Wilder was playing with expectations for his second fore into film noir. Sunset Boulevard could, in fact, be considered a proto-neo-noir; much like Ace in the Hole (or The Big Carnival, whatever you've heard it called), Sunset Boulevard is Billy Wilder playing with the conventions of noir in very different circumstances. He subverts and in many cases reverses shots, themes, and motifs established in Double Indemnity (six years separate Indemnity from Boulevard), so it's hard to say it fits cleanly into "classic" noir*.
But that's getting away from the discussion of our group "commentary", which ended up being mostly Dr. Adams pointing something out, one of three of us occasionally piping in noticing something strange (like the connection between Mabel Norman and Norma Desmond in a biographical sense) or pausing to appreciate the deep focus during the coffin scene. Most of the time we just watched the movie. For long stretches I'd want to say something but instead got caught up watching what was happening on-screen and not wanting to narrate the action.
To be honest, I don't know how many of you listen to commentaries, but they frequently fall into one of the two traps I just listed. The other big one is the actor commentary which is generally anecdotal stuff about pranks on the set or "how great it was to work with blah blah blah". Very rarely do you get a commentary track that provides solid technical information, decent analysis of subtext, narrative, or intertextuality.
One of the reasons I enjoy Steven Soderbergh's films so much is that when he records commentaries (for his films or others like Point Blank, The Third Man, and The Graduate), they're frequently very informative beyond "it was really sunny that day". For as bad of a movie as it is, the commentary on his remake of Solaris is endlessly fascinating. Soderbergh is teamed up with director James Cameron (who produced the film), and they have very different styles of direction which leads to a good discussion of the process of adapting existing material and approaches to shooting it.
There are some good commentaries out there, but often they're a lot like the Film Noir class was this afternoon: lots of dead air, sporadic bursts of qualitative content, and two hours better spent watching the film itself. Next time I'll try harder, or maybe MST3K had the right idea all along: riff til you see the credits rolling.
* there's the possibility of a series of really long essays about elements of Sunset Boulevard: it's place in film noir, the long list of citations in the film (obvious or otherwise), and the way that Wilder, knowing audiences were expecting another Indemnity, set about deconstructing the style he helped make famous.
2010 Thoughts: I wish that'd I had been able to point out that Jean Luc Godard lifts shots from Sunset Boulevard near the beginning of Breathless, but the Cap'n wasn't as up on his film history as he ought to have been. In retrospect, it may be that with better preparation and more gregarious participants, a commentary could work. As I'd pointed out, the students were never chatty to begin with, but in the ensuing years the Cap'n has frequently considered recording "rogue" commentary tracks for Night of the Lepus, Terrorvision, and very recently Shit Coffin. It remains to be seen whether those will ever come to pass, but it was something I considered doing as a semi-regular feature in the Blogorium.
Uh... so I now see why so many dvd commentaries are so awful. It was an experiment, sort of: Dr. Adams wasn't all that interested in just another discussion of Sunset Boulevard, especially since half the class never says anything as it is.
So he cued up Sunset Boulevard on the dvd player and said "let's do our own commentary". Mercifully, it wasn't recorded, because when the room gets dark, even the chatty students seem to shut up. Some of them fell asleep (I think).
There were fits and bursts of analysis, particularly regarding the way Billy Wilder was playing with expectations for his second fore into film noir. Sunset Boulevard could, in fact, be considered a proto-neo-noir; much like Ace in the Hole (or The Big Carnival, whatever you've heard it called), Sunset Boulevard is Billy Wilder playing with the conventions of noir in very different circumstances. He subverts and in many cases reverses shots, themes, and motifs established in Double Indemnity (six years separate Indemnity from Boulevard), so it's hard to say it fits cleanly into "classic" noir*.
But that's getting away from the discussion of our group "commentary", which ended up being mostly Dr. Adams pointing something out, one of three of us occasionally piping in noticing something strange (like the connection between Mabel Norman and Norma Desmond in a biographical sense) or pausing to appreciate the deep focus during the coffin scene. Most of the time we just watched the movie. For long stretches I'd want to say something but instead got caught up watching what was happening on-screen and not wanting to narrate the action.
To be honest, I don't know how many of you listen to commentaries, but they frequently fall into one of the two traps I just listed. The other big one is the actor commentary which is generally anecdotal stuff about pranks on the set or "how great it was to work with blah blah blah". Very rarely do you get a commentary track that provides solid technical information, decent analysis of subtext, narrative, or intertextuality.
One of the reasons I enjoy Steven Soderbergh's films so much is that when he records commentaries (for his films or others like Point Blank, The Third Man, and The Graduate), they're frequently very informative beyond "it was really sunny that day". For as bad of a movie as it is, the commentary on his remake of Solaris is endlessly fascinating. Soderbergh is teamed up with director James Cameron (who produced the film), and they have very different styles of direction which leads to a good discussion of the process of adapting existing material and approaches to shooting it.
There are some good commentaries out there, but often they're a lot like the Film Noir class was this afternoon: lots of dead air, sporadic bursts of qualitative content, and two hours better spent watching the film itself. Next time I'll try harder, or maybe MST3K had the right idea all along: riff til you see the credits rolling.
* there's the possibility of a series of really long essays about elements of Sunset Boulevard: it's place in film noir, the long list of citations in the film (obvious or otherwise), and the way that Wilder, knowing audiences were expecting another Indemnity, set about deconstructing the style he helped make famous.
2010 Thoughts: I wish that'd I had been able to point out that Jean Luc Godard lifts shots from Sunset Boulevard near the beginning of Breathless, but the Cap'n wasn't as up on his film history as he ought to have been. In retrospect, it may be that with better preparation and more gregarious participants, a commentary could work. As I'd pointed out, the students were never chatty to begin with, but in the ensuing years the Cap'n has frequently considered recording "rogue" commentary tracks for Night of the Lepus, Terrorvision, and very recently Shit Coffin. It remains to be seen whether those will ever come to pass, but it was something I considered doing as a semi-regular feature in the Blogorium.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
I Always Forget One...
Without fail, every time the Cap'n does a Year End Recap, I forget one movie that subsequently sticks out like a sore thumb. It was nearly Whatever Works, but I managed to sneak it in at the last second while working on the "Favorites". Astute readers have pointed out to me that I did completely forget about Taken, which was something we watched in lieu of a Doctor Who party earlier this year. I could use my "get out of jail free" card and point out that the rest of the world had Taken in 2008 (which prevented JCVD from making it onto the list), but since it was technically released here in January, I forgot it. Whoops.
For those curious, Taken would have fallen into the "Honorable Mentions" category. It's a breezy movie, one punctuated with some jarring violence, but not the sort of film that transcends "good action movie". It's more Lethal Weapon 2 than Leon. No offense intended.
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I'm not going to make a big deal of this, because the guy is a) an idiot, or b) some kind of comedy mastermind looking to take me down a peg, but "Grampa J" is at it again with his 2009 Best Of. I haven't laughed that hard in a while, so I recommend you scuttle on over to his blog, whoever he is, and take a gander for yourself. Any list that includes District 9, The Ugly Truth, Avatar, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop is one worth a chuckle.
Don't tell him I sent you. I don't want this dude getting any ideas.
---
Coming tomorrow is a review for It Might Get Loud, the rock guitarist documentary from Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). If you haven't heard of the film, the basic idea is to get Jack White, The Edge, and Jimmy Page together in a room and let them play. I suppose they also talk about their influences, etc, but the word on It Might Get Loud is very good.
So I can include the "Damn You Hippies" tag on this post, I watched Gimme Shelter last night, and those hippies got what was coming to them. I can just imagine Eric Cartman watching the Altamont footage and seething with anger.
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Finally, I'll briefly touch upon the Blu Ray release of Chasing Amy. I'm not really a fan of the film, so this is mostly about the supplements, which included two things I really wanted to check out: 1) a "12 years later" discussion between Kevin Smith and Joey Lauren Adams, who were an item prior to, during, and shortly after the film came to be. The conversation is interesting, but the first half is mostly dominated by Smith recounting how the couple came to be. Adams has some interesting comments towards the end about the problems she's had in Hollywood getting past the "girlfriend" role with casting directors.
2) was the SModcast commentary that replaces the Criterion laserdisc track (which famously began with Smith pronouncing "Fuck DVD!"). The new commentary track is, in fact, just another SModcast (part of Smith and Scott Mosier's long running podcasts), except that you'd have to pay roughly $30-40 to get it (the rest are free). They claim it to be a "technical" track, which is partially true, but more often than not it's like most SModcasts: they digress, laugh wildly at silly moments, and come up with crazy ideas.
The two that stand out the most involve an earlier version of the film that theoretically could have been called "Ass is Pussy", and Smith's idea to make a Chasing Amy Take Two with the entire cast twenty years later. Rather than a follow-up, he expresses an interest in simply shooting the same script with the same cast, but in the hopes his skills as a director have improved enough to do it justice.
For the record, I didn't watch the actual movie with its actual soundtrack, so I can't really give you a revisited opinion, but it did look much better than the Criterion dvd, and considerably better than the Clerks Blu-Ray. There's also a nice 80 minute documentary about the film with all the principle cast and crew, producers, Miramax execs, and critics involved, and a 10th Anniversary Q&A where Ben Affleck cuts loose again. I can't imagine Smith fans not picking this up, so it scarcely requires the Cap'n to recommend it.
For those curious, Taken would have fallen into the "Honorable Mentions" category. It's a breezy movie, one punctuated with some jarring violence, but not the sort of film that transcends "good action movie". It's more Lethal Weapon 2 than Leon. No offense intended.
---
I'm not going to make a big deal of this, because the guy is a) an idiot, or b) some kind of comedy mastermind looking to take me down a peg, but "Grampa J" is at it again with his 2009 Best Of. I haven't laughed that hard in a while, so I recommend you scuttle on over to his blog, whoever he is, and take a gander for yourself. Any list that includes District 9, The Ugly Truth, Avatar, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop is one worth a chuckle.
Don't tell him I sent you. I don't want this dude getting any ideas.
---
Coming tomorrow is a review for It Might Get Loud, the rock guitarist documentary from Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). If you haven't heard of the film, the basic idea is to get Jack White, The Edge, and Jimmy Page together in a room and let them play. I suppose they also talk about their influences, etc, but the word on It Might Get Loud is very good.
So I can include the "Damn You Hippies" tag on this post, I watched Gimme Shelter last night, and those hippies got what was coming to them. I can just imagine Eric Cartman watching the Altamont footage and seething with anger.
---
Finally, I'll briefly touch upon the Blu Ray release of Chasing Amy. I'm not really a fan of the film, so this is mostly about the supplements, which included two things I really wanted to check out: 1) a "12 years later" discussion between Kevin Smith and Joey Lauren Adams, who were an item prior to, during, and shortly after the film came to be. The conversation is interesting, but the first half is mostly dominated by Smith recounting how the couple came to be. Adams has some interesting comments towards the end about the problems she's had in Hollywood getting past the "girlfriend" role with casting directors.
2) was the SModcast commentary that replaces the Criterion laserdisc track (which famously began with Smith pronouncing "Fuck DVD!"). The new commentary track is, in fact, just another SModcast (part of Smith and Scott Mosier's long running podcasts), except that you'd have to pay roughly $30-40 to get it (the rest are free). They claim it to be a "technical" track, which is partially true, but more often than not it's like most SModcasts: they digress, laugh wildly at silly moments, and come up with crazy ideas.
The two that stand out the most involve an earlier version of the film that theoretically could have been called "Ass is Pussy", and Smith's idea to make a Chasing Amy Take Two with the entire cast twenty years later. Rather than a follow-up, he expresses an interest in simply shooting the same script with the same cast, but in the hopes his skills as a director have improved enough to do it justice.
For the record, I didn't watch the actual movie with its actual soundtrack, so I can't really give you a revisited opinion, but it did look much better than the Criterion dvd, and considerably better than the Clerks Blu-Ray. There's also a nice 80 minute documentary about the film with all the principle cast and crew, producers, Miramax execs, and critics involved, and a 10th Anniversary Q&A where Ben Affleck cuts loose again. I can't imagine Smith fans not picking this up, so it scarcely requires the Cap'n to recommend it.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Just the other day, I discovered that the iPod generation is finally working in unison with the cinephile generation. While I was reading a review of Wrong Turn 2 (out of curiosity), there was a tidbit in the extras about the director recording a commentary track that Fox left out. However, Dread Central made the commentary track available as an mp3 to anyone who wanted to download it. Slap it on your iPod, cue up the movie, and enjoy.
I must admit that I'm intrigued by this concept. It's not only one out there either: director Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs) has actually been recording mp3 commentary tracks with members of the cast and crews of Fright Night, Child's Play, and Nightwing. Since director Tom Holland wasn't asked to add his thoughts to the Child's Play 20th anniversary, Sullivan sat down with him and made another track for fans to listen to. Fright Night has two tracks, each with different participants, which is two more than the dvd has!
To be fair, this isn't exactly new: Kevin Smith had the botched iPod commentary for Clerks 2 that didn't come out in time to watch in theatres (but is on the dvd), and I suppose you could make the argument that Riff Tracks is essentially doing the same thing. I would argue that Riff Tracks (the Mike Nelson / Kevin Murphy / Bill Corbett MST3k spin-off) serves a different function since you're paying for an mp3 of people making fun of well known movies (like The Dark Knight, Star Wars, or Harry Potter).
Why I find this more interesting than the "record your own video commentary" that's on Warner Brothers Blu-Rays is that the portability factor isn't there. I have plenty of friends who have laptops or iPods that don't have fancy tvs or internet-linked Playstation 3's. While the downloadable commentary may not seem that practical in comparison to ones on the actual disc, it is an interesting way for directors, writers, actors, and effects crew members to subvert a cheap-o studio looking to pump out the disc quickly.
Let me know if you see any more of these floating around. This movement could be a fun way of bridging what the fans want and what the manufacturers deliver.
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I don't actually have much to say about Chris Rock wanting to make another Pootie Tang film except YES.
---
Finally, since I was talking about Gremlins a few days ago, this amused the Cap'n:
I must admit that I'm intrigued by this concept. It's not only one out there either: director Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs) has actually been recording mp3 commentary tracks with members of the cast and crews of Fright Night, Child's Play, and Nightwing. Since director Tom Holland wasn't asked to add his thoughts to the Child's Play 20th anniversary, Sullivan sat down with him and made another track for fans to listen to. Fright Night has two tracks, each with different participants, which is two more than the dvd has!
To be fair, this isn't exactly new: Kevin Smith had the botched iPod commentary for Clerks 2 that didn't come out in time to watch in theatres (but is on the dvd), and I suppose you could make the argument that Riff Tracks is essentially doing the same thing. I would argue that Riff Tracks (the Mike Nelson / Kevin Murphy / Bill Corbett MST3k spin-off) serves a different function since you're paying for an mp3 of people making fun of well known movies (like The Dark Knight, Star Wars, or Harry Potter).
Why I find this more interesting than the "record your own video commentary" that's on Warner Brothers Blu-Rays is that the portability factor isn't there. I have plenty of friends who have laptops or iPods that don't have fancy tvs or internet-linked Playstation 3's. While the downloadable commentary may not seem that practical in comparison to ones on the actual disc, it is an interesting way for directors, writers, actors, and effects crew members to subvert a cheap-o studio looking to pump out the disc quickly.
Let me know if you see any more of these floating around. This movement could be a fun way of bridging what the fans want and what the manufacturers deliver.
---
I don't actually have much to say about Chris Rock wanting to make another Pootie Tang film except YES.
---
Finally, since I was talking about Gremlins a few days ago, this amused the Cap'n:
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