tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131993252024-03-14T01:08:20.840-04:00The Art and Culture of MoviesShort Writings on Film by Matt BarryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger786125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-19319428456164679142021-08-14T14:28:00.004-04:002021-08-14T14:28:45.920-04:00Fassbinder and Herzog, Room 666 Fassbinder and Herzog on the state of cinema, from Wim Wenders' "Room 666" (1982): Herzog: "I expect soon you'll be able to choose vegetables in the supermarket by video camera or by pressing buttons on your telephone or your computer, you can order your meal."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-79773899897458847282021-05-08T09:16:00.000-04:002021-05-08T09:16:03.626-04:00Pardon Us (1931) Laurel & HardyLaurel and Hardy's first feature-length comedy. They play a couple of "beer barons" during Prohibition who are arrested for selling alcohol to a policeman ("I thought he was a streetcar conductor," Stan says).The episodic structure feels very much like a series of shorts patched together to an hour's running time. Familiar faces from the Laurel and Hardy stock company pop up in various roles: Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-24287565873747894782021-05-08T08:48:00.000-04:002021-05-08T08:48:32.214-04:00Summertime (1955) David LeanA light, frothy romantic comedy by David Lean. Katharine Hepburn is a secretary from Akron, Ohio on vacation in Venice, where she is quickly swept up in the romance of the city and falls in love with shopkeeper Rossano Brazzi.Gorgeously photographed in color, entirely on location in Venice, providing a postcard-perfect backdrop for the paper-thin plot.Feels very much like the kind of comedy BillyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-62041755249276642672021-05-08T08:17:00.004-04:002021-05-08T08:17:43.584-04:00The Tall Target (1951) Anthony MannDick Powell plays NY detective John Kennedy, who is traveling to Baltimore to foil a plot against Lincoln's life on the eve of his inauguration. When he can't convince his bosses to take the threats seriously, he turns in his badge and sets out by train to reach Baltimore before Lincoln's arrival, trailing several people (including an army colonel played by Adolphe Menjou) that he suspects might Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-1611706331281909282021-03-30T23:09:00.001-04:002021-03-30T23:09:19.545-04:00Drivers Wanted (2012)Fascinating observational documentary about a NYC taxi garage, following a group of drivers as they tell their stories and how they came to drive cabs. The director rides around with some of the drivers, filming from the front seat, which lends a real sense of immediacy. The drivers themselves are an interesting group. One driver has the distinction of being NYC's oldest cabbie, working Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-89581484818256558532021-03-30T22:51:00.001-04:002021-03-30T22:51:22.975-04:00Missing 411 (2017)Watched this on Tubi tonight. I've been following the work of David Paulides for the past several years, which investigates the unexplained disappearances of children that happen each year in America's national parks. He's uncovered quite a few mysterious stories in his Missing 411 investigations, and this documentary examines a couple of the cases through interviews with the families and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-70932116353895513372021-03-20T08:21:00.004-04:002021-03-20T08:21:37.633-04:00Men O'War (1929), Little detailsEarly Laurel and Hardy short I caught on TV this morning. It's funny, there's a scene early on where they're talking with the girls in the park. Since this was an early talkie, shot on location, they were still working out some of the issues with shooting with sound outdoors. In the background, you can hear someone playing a ukulele, which cuts in and out between shots. Interesting how that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-61325529514132137912021-03-20T08:18:00.000-04:002021-03-20T08:18:09.639-04:00The Last Blockbuster (2020)Watched this doc on Netflix last night, about the last remaining Blockbuster video store franchise in Bend, OR. Just a few years ago there were three remaining stores in Alaska, but now the Oregon store is the last one standing. The format of the doc follows those VH1 "I Love the '80s"-type specials, with a lineup of celebrity commentators offering their memories of the video store experience, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-30233903268894166042021-02-26T08:25:00.002-05:002021-02-26T08:25:45.627-05:00Mr. Topaze (1961)AKA I Like MoneyPeter Sellers' one and only directorial effort was this adaptation of a Marcel Pagnol play. Mr. Topaze (Sellers) is a mild-mannered and honest-to-a-fault schoolteacher who is fired for refusing to inflate a rich student's grade, then ends up getting sucked into a political fraud scheme by a crooked city official (Herbert Lom).Sellers was reportedly so unhappy with the film, or at Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-13768996350292028432021-02-20T09:21:00.000-05:002021-02-20T09:21:53.827-05:00A Chump at Oxford (1940)Watched this one again this morning. Stan Laurel's "Lord Paddington" character is often cited as perhaps the best performance he gave in any of the team's films, but watching it this time, I was struck by just how great he is in every scene. Although Laurel and Hardy played effectively the exact same characters in all their comedies together, in some of the films, one or the other tends to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-29319009315120222962021-02-19T00:15:00.002-05:002021-02-19T00:15:18.961-05:00Kate Plays Christine (2016)A while ago, I had watched Antonio Campos' excellent film Christine, starring Rebecca Hall as Sarasota television journalist Christine Chubbuck, who tragically committed suicide on live TV in 1974. Recently, I learned of this other film about Chubbuck that was released the same year, and takes a very different approach. In this one, actor Kate Lyn Sheil is seen preparing for portraying Christine Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-74736150607128148062021-02-14T23:20:00.001-05:002021-02-14T23:20:47.222-05:00New Short Film: "Daydreams" New short comedy I made, just in time for Valentine's Day:Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-28399974130037896412021-02-06T09:32:00.000-05:002021-02-06T09:32:04.121-05:00HE Who Gets Slapped (1924) "A clown may be amusing in a circus ring, but what would be your reaction to opening you door and finding that same clown on your front step at midnight?" -- Lon ChaneyDirected by Swedish master Victor Sjostrom (billed as "Seastrom" during his Hollywood tenure), this silent thriller stars Lon Chaney as a scientist whose groundbreaking research is stolen by his wealthy patron, and his life Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-480877542894851292021-02-06T09:13:00.001-05:002021-02-06T09:13:44.422-05:00Busy Bodies (1933)One of the all-time, greatest two-reelers Laurel and Hardy ever produced. The idea of the Boys working in a saw mill is the perfect set-up for one great sight gag after another -- truly too many to list here. A great example of how the team could take slapstick situations that you could imagine being played by other comedians -- but make them entirely their own.It's also a great example of how Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-22860551265587433272021-02-06T08:49:00.001-05:002021-02-06T08:49:14.756-05:00Thicker Than Water (1935)One of just three shorts that Laurel and Hardy made in 1935, their final year of producing two-reel comedies. Thicker Than Water is a fine situation comedy, with some of the team's best verbal comedy routines (the business with the rent money being passed around, and the auction scene). It seems that by this point in their films, the Boys were taking a more relaxed approach to their comedy, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-66461636873292707412021-02-06T08:35:00.000-05:002021-02-06T08:35:06.056-05:00Another Fine Mess (1930)Perhaps the origin of their frequently-misquoted catchphrase, Another Fine Mess is one of the more unusual Laurel and Hardy shorts, though one of my favorite. It's based on a stage sketch by Stan's father, and as such contains a bit more plot than usual, being a farce of the kind that normally didn't lend itself to the Boys' slapstick style of humor.Laurel and Hardy had filmed this same sketch Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-44689610817245476772021-02-05T09:58:00.002-05:002021-02-05T11:32:03.308-05:00Blue Jay (2016)One of the great things about Netflix is the trove of independent films available on the service. They're just buried pretty deep in the algorithm sometimes, so you just have to do a little digging to find them.One film that I came across recently was a poignant romantic drama called Blue Jay, from 2016, directed by Alex Lehmann, and starring Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson. Duplass has become oneUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-26469630930327977092021-02-05T09:27:00.002-05:002021-02-05T09:27:28.539-05:00They Live by Night (1948)A young man (Farley Granger) escapes from prison with two thieves (Howard Da Silva and Jay C. Flippen), but desires to leave behind a life of crime when he falls in love with the niece (Cathy O'Donnell) of one of the crooks. The two set out on the road, staying one step ahead of the law as they try to build a life together, but eventually fate catches up with them.A solid Film Noir that marks theUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-55779968184959435082021-02-04T09:56:00.002-05:002021-02-04T09:56:12.784-05:00The Killing (1956, dir. Stanley Kubrick)I watched this one shortly after Killer's Kiss, so that earlier Kubrick film was fresh in my mind. I know I must have seen it before, but it's one of those movies that, watching it again, I found myself questioning whether I had in fact seen it before.It strikes me that Kubrick's first couple of films -- and I may include The Killing in this too -- felt like movies he made for the sake of making Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-56514057616184134812021-02-04T09:50:00.003-05:002021-02-04T09:56:23.884-05:00Killer's Kiss (1955, dir. Stanley Kubrick)Kubrick's second feature film (though often cited as his first "real" feature, as the director suppressed his earlier film, Fear and Desire) is a low-budget, independent production shot in the streets and apartments of New York. Filming on his home terf, Kubrick brings his photographer's eye to composing stark B&W imagery that could have come right out of the pages of his work for LIFE Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-71991169156002379452020-12-26T09:04:00.000-05:002020-12-26T09:04:08.271-05:00Duck Soup (1927)Laurel and Hardy are a pair of tramps who seek refuge in a mansion while its owner is away, but a wealthy couple soon shows up to rent the place, so Hardy poses as the millionaire with Laurel posing as both butler and maid, in an effort to keep up their ruse.This was the film in which Leo McCarey recognized the comedians' potential to work as a team. What's remarkable is how fully-formed their Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-76451646097677921292020-12-26T08:49:00.002-05:002020-12-26T08:49:22.979-05:00Beau Hunks (1931)Oliver Hardy has been jilted by the girl he loves, so he decides to join the French Foreign Legion in order to forget her, and naturally drags Stan along with him. At four reels, this one occupies as a unique place between their usual short comedies and their feature-length movies. The extra running time allows for some expanded comedy scenes without dragging on or feeling padded out. Judging Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-86788069585913352162020-12-26T08:43:00.001-05:002020-12-26T08:43:11.989-05:00Flying Fists (1937)A lumberjack knocks out a former boxing champ and is quickly promoted into the world of prizefighting. He attempts to distance himself from his reputation as "the most hated man in the ring", and sets himself up as a small town athletic trainer, but considers going in for a fixed fight to earn money to help his girlfriend.This is another Poverty Row production from Victory Productions and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-53788388134920242802020-12-26T08:37:00.000-05:002020-12-26T08:37:04.587-05:00The Ghost Camera (1933)This is an interesting little mystery-thriller "Quota Quickie" from England. A man finds a camera mysteriously deposited in the back seat of his car after a road trip, and processes the film in an effort to identify its owner. One of the photos appears to show a murder, and both the photo and the camera are quickly stolen. He uses the other photos to track down information and investigate the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13199325.post-48813993409382816242020-12-24T21:31:00.000-05:002020-12-24T21:31:01.948-05:00The Criminal Code (1931)A young man is sent to jail after killing a man in a nightclub brawl. The DA (Walter Huston) who sent him away is the newly-appointed warden of the prison. The warden takes sympathy on the young man, who is given employment as the driver to the warden's daughter. His newfound position is threatened, however, when another inmate is murdered in retaliation for snitching, and the young man refuses Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0