Unpopular Art
This Is Not a Film: Jafar Panahi Manuscripts don’t burn. –Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita All art is unpopular, and if yours isn’t, then you are doing it wrong. My case in point this week is the latest “effort” from silenced Iranian director Jafar Panahi, This Is Not a Film. After being placed under house arrest and awaiting a six year jail sentence (and a twenty year ban on writing, filmmaking, and interviews) for making a movie, Panahi strikes back with this stellar record…
Netflix Pick: The Red Chapel
One in a very occasional series on some of the best of Netflix’s instant streaming program. The Red Chapel (Mads Brugger, 2009) What makes for a powerful documentary? Does the filmmaker tell a compelling story? Does it have to be entertaining? Should there be a message or a point of view? Should the director communicate some meaning? The Red Chapel is all of these things and more, and I highly recommend you add it to your Netflix cue. Mads Brugger, a Danish television personality and…
My Oscar Ballot
So Oscar nominations were just announced, and I’m beginning to get really excited. While I was worried in September that 2011 would not produce that great a crop of films, by November, I realized that Hollywood was just saving it for the very end (like always, right). The Artist, The Descendants, Margin Call, and A Separation were some fall favorites. Of course, not all nine “Best Picture” nominees belong on the list; five seems like a more reasonable number. Here is a selection of…
On Vincent Price, The Free Movies at LACMA, and Having Fun
Never underestimate the power of a bad B-movie. On Sunday I attended a free Vincent Price festival at LACMA’s Bing Theatre. If not for the Tim Burton exhibit next door and the time of year, LACMA probably would have passed on Price, but I consider his work as much a piece of California art as anything the “Pacific Standard Time” program will showcase this year in museums across the Southland. Look at some of the seacoast b-roll in Pit and the Pendulum or the photography…
In Praise of the Monkey
*Please be aware that this post contains Outbreak and Contagion spoilers. You have been warned.* Rhesus and Capuchin monkeys may be the two most under-appreciated species of primate. Lacking the cutes of an orangutan or the solemn beauty of a great ape, they are far more likely to be lab fodder than the stars of a film. Yet nevertheless, they are heroes. First in Outbreak and more recently in Contagion, these monkeys have come through time and again to save our species. While the Dustin Hoffmans and Matt Damons…
Judging Books by Covers
Recently I’ve noticed a lot of bad signage over LA. No, I’m not complaining about the freeways (this time), I’m talking about lame movie posters. Here’s one that particularly irks me: Moneyball. By every rubric, this looks like an awesome movie, I am just not seeing that right now. In fact, all I can see is Brad Pitt’s back. Is he watching a game? Is he the manager of a team? OK, according to the credits, there are some big names in the film, but…
Lessons from a Legend: Robert Towne
Last night, screenwriter Robert Towne spoke in between a presentation of his two LA masterpieces, Chinatown and The Two Jakes. Disarmingly honest, funny, and quite wise, he shared his writing philosophy and answered some questions about the movies from the audience. Sure, the questions were fawning, and the answers were not always straightforward, but here are the lessons I gleaned from his talk. 1) Don’t be afraid to write more than necessary. Protagonist J.J. Gittes makes many allusions to Chinatown in the movie, but we…
Quickie Review: Terri
Terri is a smart, strong film from indie up and comer Azazel Jacobs that may pass under most moviegoers’ radar, but deserves a wider audience. A coming-of-age comedy that takes its cues from another time, the story follows Terri (Jacob Wysocki), an overweight, pajama-clad boy who, while shuffling his way through middle school, is taken under the wing of assistant principal Mr. Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly). As Terri builds a relationship with his mentor Fitzgerald, his life seemingly falls apart, as he deals with his…
Quickie Review: Page One
I am one of those people who are inconsolably depressed over the death of print journalism. Growing up reading The New York Times and The Washington Post, I thought it was my destiny I would one day write for one of these noble institutions. OK, maybe not write—but I took it for granted I would at least read them. The internet happened in the intervening decade or two and shocked everyone, including, as it turns out, The Times itself. The new documentary Page One: Inside…
The Los Angeles Theatre
It’s a little offbeat to eat at a cafeteria these days, especially one where you get the senior discount. I thought this very thing last Wednesday night while I meditated in front of a plate of overcooked salmon and a “tomato platter” at Clifton’s in downtown LA. Now, to be fair, the senior discount was not because I had reached a certain age, but because tonight, I was going to see King Kong (1933) at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, a movie showing as part…
Recent Comments