#go watch Lawrence of Arabia and get inspired

[cinemaocd]

For my UK mutuals

As requested I'm not interacting but I have a lot to say about surviving extreme weather as American who has survived half a century of extreme weather in the midwest.

I lived in uninsulated attic bedroom without ac as a child and these are things I learned to do when I was little:

Close up the windows and shut the blinds as the day is heating up. Wait to open things up until after the sun goes down. Use fans to circulate air into the house early in the a.m. when it's colder outside than inside. Use your fans to circulate air around the house during the heat of the day. Use your fans to push air OUT of the house again in the evening. If you push air out an upper story window it will draw some colder air from below.

Save activities/errands for evenings and early mornings. Stay out of the sun as much as possible. Use umbrellas for shade. Wear a hat. Lose fitting clothing in a breathable (cotton, linen, light weight wool) fabric is much better than exposed skin if you have to go in the sun. If you want to go to the beach go early in the morning or in the evening. Don't swim in the heat of the day. If you are in charge of when you work, avoid doing it in the heat of day. If you run a shop, cafe or other business, change your hours to avoid being open during "siesta hours" (2-5 p.m.) If possible try to work from home to avoid commuting during the heatwave. The more people on the Tube the hotter it's going to be down there.

Cars left in the sun are subject to the greenhouse effect and will be much hotter than outside temperatures. Open your car windows and doors before you drive and run the fan to push the hot air out. If you are traveling carry the following: Cold drinking water, a sports drink, nut milk or cow's milk are preferable to soda, coffee or tea but any of those three are preferable to nothing. Even if your vehicle has a.c. you still need more hydration to deal with the heat.

Also useful for travel: bandana or towel (more on that later), sun hat, handheld fan (for when you are stuck in traffic). In America they sell these shields that you can put over your windshield to prevent the greenhouse effect. Not sure if they sell them in the Old Country, but here is a tutorial for making one out of cardboard. All of this stuff (minus the sunshade) would be useful on public transport.

That other post talks about how its bad to wear wet clothes in the sun because water acts as a lens but wet clothing can be your best friend in the shade! A bandana dipped in cold/cool water and wrapped around your neck will keep you cool until it dries. For sleeping I often place a cold bandana or washcloth on my face or forehead. You can dampen a towel and sit on it (this is a great trick for long car rides in the heat) Alternatively: Hot water bottles can also be COLD WATER BOTTLES. Just add ice. They make ice trays that make skinny little shapes to fit into water bottles, and they can help turn your hwb into an ice pack.

Cold/cool showers and baths especially right before bed if you have trouble sleeping in the heat. Kiddie pools or animal troughs in the shade are great for keeping people and doggos cool.

Cranking your fridge to its lowest setting will make it cool more but the heat that is pumped out of the fridge goes right into your house. Keep your fridge at the warmest temp you can get away with. Likewise televisions and computers pump out of a ton of heat when they are running.

IF YOU LOSE POWER

The temptation to rely on your refrigerator/freezer is obvious but the first thing that happens in a heat wave in America is the power grid goes down.

Think about buying a solar powered fan now, before the grid goes down...

Make sure you have batteries charged ahead of time.

If you rely on candles or lanterns for power outtages, consider a source of light that doesn't add heat to the environment, like a solar powered LED lantern.

Another piece of equipment that could literally save your life: a marine cooler.

If/when the worst happens: take some large frozen items out of freezer/deepfreeze and put it in a cooler with some essentials from your fridge. Deeply frozen food will keep those other things cool for a day or more (depending on your cooler). Try to keep the fridge and freezer shut then after you have filled your cooler so that the remaining cool air will keep things as long as possible. If you go multiple days without power you may need to throw everything out anyway, but you might get away with it if you are careful and have a good cooler.

A marine cooler kept out of the sun will keep ice for days. We started camping with one and we no longer have to do any kind of mid-trip ice stock up. Also: block ice will stay frozen so much longer than cubes. If you have the space in your freezer, buy some now and stash it before you need it.

Fresh fruit and vegetables that don't require cooking are a great way to get more liquids and feed yourself without making your house any hotter or using electricity. If consumed quickly they don't need refrigeration either.

This is a wacky one but hear me out: hammocks. If you can hang a hammock do it! Sleeping suspended like that air circulates around your body and you will be so much cooler. I was in tropical Mexico a few years ago and all of the houses had hammock hooks built into the walls to take advantage of the cooling effect. Bonus: you can pretend to be Captain Jack Aubrey while you're lying there...

[kingoftheclaudes]

Welcome to the King of the Claudes Tournament!

A silly little place with polls about our favorite silly little actor, Claude Rains!

Prior to the creation of this blog, we were shocked (shocked!) to find that across the Tumblrverse, time and time again, Claude Rains would be beaten by fearsome opponents in the race for the crown of various hottest/scrungliest/what-have-you titles. So, we've decided to take matters into our own hands to give some well-deserved love to this beloved character actor through various polls!

The King of the Claudes Tournament has ended! Congratulations to Captain Louis Renault! Long may he continue to round up the usual suspects!

The Queen of the Claudes Tournament has begun! Matchups can be found HERE or through our #queenoftheclaudespoll tag!

Our next tournament, as decided by the voters, will be Best Villains! Stay tuned for more details and propaganda submission guidelines!

Just here for the polls? Check out our #kingoftheclaudespoll tag! Looking for photos? Have a gander at out #the daily claude tag!

We're going to be matching up all (and we mean all!) the roles Claude has played over his decades of acting to decide which one of them will be The King of Claudes! All characters(we're talking the famed Captain Louis Renault, the mad scientist Jack Griffin, as well as other lesser-known portrayals like the kindly Mr. Jordan and the cankerous Professor Benson) will be submitted by default and it's up to the voters to send in their favorite propaganda(pictures, GIFs, stories, video clips)!

Specific past polls can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE or through our #round one, #round two, #round three, #round four, #quarterfinals, #semifinals, #finals, and #redemption round tag!

As of this time, we're only going to be looking at Mr. Rains' film career, so no TV, stage, or radio portrayals will be in the running this time around. This goes for propaganda, too, so please don't send in entire radio broadcasts as propaganda(we know they're great, you don't have to tell us!).

FAQs

Who's Claude Rains? Great question! William Claude Rains was a British screen/stage/radio actor who was primarily known for his character acting and there was never a role he couldn't seem to play (When asked about his versatility as an actor, he replied that he "can play the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker"). He was a frequent collaborator with stars such as Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Cary Grant, among others and worked with directors such as Michael Curtiz and Alfred Hitchcock. He was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and won a Tony Award for his role in Darkness at Noon. Oftentimes, people know him as "that guy" when talking about his roles in iconic films (such as Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Invisible Man, and Lawrence of Arabia). He also served in WW1 (even fighting alongside individuals such as Basil Rathbone and Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and called himself a "gentleman farmer", often returning back home to tend to his farm in between shooting for films. Also, if you search up the term character actor, you see a lovely still of him in Sons of Liberty!

Why is this blog a thing? Because it has been a deeply saddening affair to watch Claude Rains get stricken down during various polls (and we mean every. single. one. [although, we had a grand Round One victory over on @vintagetvstars!]) and we feel he deserves to win something! Also, this blog hopes to bring more recognition to his great work! We'd also like to thank @hotvintagepoll for directly inspiring us to create this blog and if you haven't already, please go check them out!

Who should I vote for? We are judging the portrayal of the character here, not the characters themselves. Claude played a lot of baddies (some worse than others) but we are not judging how good or bad a character is morally, only on the portrayal. Who will be the winner? That's up to you! Which of these Claudes deserves to be crowned the King of them all? What makes them the King in your eyes?

How can I submit propaganda? Before the tournament starts, we will be accepting propaganda through a Google Form and we will be accepting written and visual propaganda(pictures, GIFs, and video clips) to go along with each character. We're also only looking for propaganda from the particular film a character is in, but we're open to headshots/professional stills from the time it was filmed! Please only submit propaganda for one character at a time and don't hesitate to send in multiple submissions! We'd like for each character to have propaganda, so go nuts in your submissions! Tell us why you think your Claude should be crowned King of the Claudes! Again, we are not looking for character submissions, only propaganda for that character! Don't fret, every Claude from a film will be submitted! Here is a list of all the possible characters to send propaganda in for!

Additional Propaganda? We encourage additional propaganda through our ask system or by tagging us @kingoftheclaudes. As previously stated, we will only be accepting/boosting propaganda from Mr. Rains' film career, so no GIFs from his various Alfred Hitchcock Presents or radio snippets from his various Lux Radio Theatre broadcasts. We also tag each film and each Claude in an effort to make things easier when searching through the taglist.

These polls are mean to be short 'n sweet (much like Mr. Rains!) and not meant to be taken seriously! We just want to have a good time enjoying the many works of Claude Rains and all views expressed in propaganda and tags are not our own!

The tournament is scheduled to kick off on Sunday, November 10th (coincidentally[or perhaps, not] Claude Rains' birthday!) and will compile of 27 matchups of 54 characters (since the character of Adam Lemp appears in three movies [Four Daughters, Four Wives, and Four Mothers], we are combining all his appearances into one and, contrary to Wikipedia's listing, Mr. Rains did not provide the voice of Jacob Marley in Scrooge. We are also opting to omit the character of Clarkis from Build Thy House, since there is limited knowledge on the film available, as well as omitting the character of The Mayor from The Pied Piper of Hamelin, since despite it later being released in theatres, it debuted as a TV special). We're tentatively planning on scheduling 5 polls a week to make this tournament last longer and each poll will run for one week!

What happens after the polls end and the crown is handed off? We may be open to doing a series of mini-polls, such as 'Best Father', 'Best Villain', 'The Battle for Science', 'King of TV Land' and 'Historical King of the Claudes' among some others. If you have some more ideas, let us know!

My question isn't answered! Feel free to send in an ask but always check the FAQ before, since your question may have already been answered!

We hope you enjoy our fun little polls and wish all the Claudes the best of luck!

(sneaky @tournament-announcer tag and a bonus Claude as a thanks for reading this far! :))

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

EWAN MITCHELL INTERVIEWED BY POLYGON MAGAZINE.

YOU'VE SPOKEN BEFORE ABOUT THE INFLUENCES YOU TOOK IN WHEN CRAFTING YOUR APPROACH TO AEMOND — YOU HAVE PROMETHEUS; YOU HAVE HEAT; HALLOWEEN; LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. I'M CURIOUS WHAT YOU WERE SEEKING AS YOU WERE RESEARCHING TO PLAY AEMOND IN SEASON 2.

"Characters who possess a tremendous amount of power, and see it as a means to do things no one else can do."

Similar with Lawrence of Arabia — something in Lawrence of Arabia that I like, he says 'The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.'

"You know, the idea that he kind of tempers himself — very similar to Aemond — to pain."

"He puts duty over love."

"And [similarly,] the idea that Aemond can be loved, but he also knows that he can achieve more if he’s willing to be feared, and do the necessary kind of evil."

"[I sought] characters who were kind of marginalized, and they maybe start off their story on their back foot, and over time become the hero of their story."

"There are setbacks, but they bounce back even stronger."

"Those kinds of characters."

DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WERE LIFTING THE ENERGY OF THESE PERFORMANCES, THE PHILOSOPHY, OR JUST THEIR PHYSICALITY?

"Anything — I mean, I try to watch a film a day."

"Although recently, with press, I’ve sometimes had to do two a day, because I miss a day."

"But anything, anything: Inspiration can come at any time."

"I’m always watching for it."

"I was watching Split the other day, M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, and it kind of raises the idea that the broken are the more evolved."

"And that’s certainly true with Aemond; from the moment he had his eye taken from him, he’s used it as motivation to develop himself and manufacture himself into this lethal weapon."

"I was speaking to a reporter earlier, and he had a Rutger Hauer T-shirt from Blade Runner."

"That’s also something that I might use as inspiration going into season 3."

"Just kind of leave my arms open, take anything."

DO YOU FIND YOU HAVE DIFFERENT INFLUENCES FOR DIFFERENT MOMENTS IN AEMOND'S LIFE, OR EVEN JUST DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS, LIKE ALICENT VERSUS HELAENA?

"Yeah, ultimately, after the raising of the dragonseeds in 'The Red Sowing,' it’s definitely made Aemond a lot more desperate going into episode 8, and he’s losing that composure that he’s known for [in] the previous episodes."

"And so there was always something really fascinating in exploring that kind of fractured Aemond, seeing that scared boy rise to the surface again, that he’s tried to keep a lid on for so many years."

"It’s the sort of relationship that makes total sense even when you don’t see them together."

"Of course she’s the person who sees him and puts him in his place."

"And he just has nothing to say to that."

"Her words just cut him in half."

"He always has this idea of where and how things will pan out."

"She just challenges that, and it breaks him a little bit."

IN A SHOW THAT'S SO MUCH ABOUT INTERROGATING PEOPLE'S QUEST FOR A POWER, THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO IT, AND HOW IT CAN BE BOTH WIELDED AND CORRUPTING AS A FORCE, HOW DO YOU SEE AEMOND FITTING INTO THAT? WHAT'S HIS MINDSET?

"I think he raises that question of whether Aemond is inherently evil, or whether power does corrupt, whether it was nurture versus nature."

"Was it the upbringing that [he] received from Otto Hightower and his mother, or was it just being in the Red Keep and being a product of his environment there?"

"I think Aemond — he’s always had that quest for power."

"He’s always wanted to be known as that war hero."

"And here at the council table, for the first half of the series, he’s very much serving in the war from one end."

"And then when he gets into power and becomes prince regent, he goes to the other end."

All of these people, he now has a completely new perspective on, and it’s like, 'OK, so how can each of you serve me? And if you can’t serve me, you’re gone.'

"It’s that kind of very black-and-white pursuit that Aemond has in his quest for power, which I think is quite scary."

"It’s formidable."

It doesn’t really take anybody else’s perspective into account. 'It’s what I want.'

"So what’s his relationship with power? It’s not a pretty one."

DO YOU SEE HIS QUEST FOR POWER AS COMING FROM THAT SCARED LITTLE BOY WHO JUST WANTS SOME PROTECTION AND INSULATION, AND TO BE ABOVE REPROACH? OR DO YOU SEE IT AS HIM THINKING I HONESTLY BELIEVE I CAN DO THIS BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE HERE?

"I mean around the council table, all these other characters, they’re losing their composure, they’re raising their voices, they’re arguing."

"Aemond’s just sitting back."

"He’s calculated, he’s cool."

"He strikes when the moment arises."

"He needs to be seen as someone who can wield that power effectively."

"He needs to be seen as someone who can lead."

"He can become that war hero."

"Whether or not he wants to sit the Iron Throne — I don’t know; I don’t want to answer that! But he definitely wants a similar kind of reputation as Daemon Targaryen."

"He wants to be like Daemon Targaryen, but he also wants to better him."

"He wants to be known as that rogue prince, who you know all of the realm respects."

"Or maybe he doesn’t really care what anyone thinks — that’s kind of what I love about the character."

"He could be many things."

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU APPROACHED THE ARC FOR HIM OVER THE SEASON — TO RETURN TO INFLUENCES FOR A SEC, I WAS THINKING A LOT ABOUT STREETCAR NAMED DESIRED, AND HAVING A CHARACTER WHO DOESN'T KNOW THEY'RE THAT CLOSE TO A BREAKDOWN, BASICALLY, AND DOESN'T KNOW THEY'RE ONE BAD DAY AWAY FROM THAT. THEY'RE JUST HOLDING THEMSELVES TOGETHER EVEN WHEN PEOPLE AROUNG YOU CAN SEE THIS IS BAD NEWS.

"Aemond… if he has a breaking point, I don’t think he’s found it yet."

"It’s interesting."

"Maybe he found it there, when Helaena challenged everything he thought his life would amount to, and how things would pan out."

"I think Aemond always thought of himself as the captain of his own fate and his own destiny."

"And so when Helaena shares that knowledge — on one hand, it could make an enemy out of him."

"But on the other hand, it could also make Helaena a tremendously valuable ally."

"If you’re able to harness that kind of foresight and that power that Helaena possesses, you could see a blow coming before it lands."

I think that would certainly be something interesting to explore: 'Where is Aemond’s breaking point?'

"I mean we’ve seen everything he’s done so far."

"He kind of had to abandon humanity in season 2, with what he did to his brother."

Helaena raises that: 'Was it worth the price, and what did he lose in that moment?'

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHERE HE ENDS UP THIS SEASON? IN MANY WAYS, IT FEELS LIKE AND OTHERWISE TRIUMPHANT SEASON PUTS HIM IN EXACTLY THE RIGHT PLACE TO HAVE HER POP THAT BALLON FOR HIM.

"Yeah, that’s a good way of looking at it."

"I think he’s got to sit with that information now, and sit with that realization."

"But as we know for Aemond, he can’t sit still for long."

"He’s going to be on the back of that dragon."

"Up to no good, you know."

"And yeah, I can’t wait to see where it goes in season 3."

"I think he’s got to change again."

"I think similar to when he had his eye taken out as a kid, it served as this motivation to become something else entirely."

"And then with this new realization at the end of season 2, he’s gonna have to evolve again, or otherwise risk being broken again."

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #118 (Year 3/Week 14):

My 3rd re-watch of Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean’s magnificent, all-male epic and the movie that Steven Spielberg had seen more than any other film. It’s so grand that the nearly 4 hours spectacle opens with 4+ minutes of orchestral music prelude on a dark screen and includes an ‘intermission’.

It got me to realize that most all movies (maybe because of the economics of movie-financing) always show deference to authority; The influences they represent, whether government, military, religion, civil powers, or simply ‘the big man’, the rulers are always accepted as masters.

🍿  

The Garden of Words, my second anime ever, and coincidentally also my second by Makoto Shinkai (After ‘Your name’). A melancholy and poetic story about a 15-year-old aspiring shoe-maker student who keeps meeting a woman skipping work on a park bench at the beautiful Shinjuku Gyo-en gardens during the raining season. Gorgeous visuals of nature and rain.

The Wikipedia page for this film is nearly as long as the one for Obama!

🍿

3 more terrific debut films by young female directors:

🍿 For some unclear reasons, I’ve seen a large number of Parisian high school dramas recently. Spring blossom is one of the best. A gentle drama of a shy 16 year old girl who falls in love with a 35 man she sees outside a local theater.

And like Quinn Shephard’s ‘Blame’, it’s twice as impressive, because it was written by the talented Suzanne Lindon when she was only 15, and she directed it and starred in it before she was 20. Je l'adore! 8/10.

🍿 The Hive, my first film from Kosovo. Another on my growing list of “Debut films directed by female filmmakers”. The “first film in Sundance Festival history to win all three main awards – the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award – in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition”. Based on a true story, it tells simply but touchingly about a war widow who started a small business, making homemade Ajvar and empowering the women in her village. Highly recommended. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. And of course, reminiscent of the Macedonian documentary ‘Honeyland’. 8/10.

🍿 Rye Lane, a cute new rom-com about two young black South London strangers who meet at random and spend the day getting to know each other. Fresh and original.

🍿  

My 7th by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki. Every time I watch another of his movies, I get elated. There is nobody who make movies like him, he’s one of a kind. The man without a past, the second of his “Losers” trilogy, opens with a cinematic gut pinch and doesn’t let go until the end. My favorite of all his films so far?...

The trailer. 9/10.

🍿    

The Hollywood Reporter Critics put out a new list of their ‘50 best films of the first 21 years of the 21st century’, and I decided to go through the ones I haven’t seen yet.

First was Far from Heaven, my 4th tragedy by Todd Haynes. A precursor to his masterful ‘Carol’, this is another Douglas Sirk-inspired melodrama of oppression and unrequited desire in middle class America of the mid 50′s. Drenched in luminous colors over all (except of the scenes of illicit dangers, in the gay bar and black cafe), and accompanied by another expansive score, it’s a devastating tale of the price of conformity. The husband who can’t control his homosexual urges, and the wife who falls for a black gardener are doomed, and their lives will be shattered. The poor players had simply nowhere to go. 8/10.

🍿 

‘Today I learned’ about ‘Elite Panic’ describing the “behavior of members of the elite during disaster events, typically characterized by a fear of civil disorder” and the shifting of focus away from disaster relief towards implementing measures of "command and control".

New order, my third memorable film by Mexican auteur Michel Franco (after the terrific ‘Sundown’ and the disturbing ‘April’s daughter’) describes a society collapsing, the exact moment when the shit finally hits the fan, when the riots on the TV screen cross over and knock on your door. It’s a brutal and unforgiving story, ugly, violent and without any sentimental sympathy. Shocking anarchy escalates quickly when the pressure gets too much.

When the revolution comes down, it will bring some serious bloodshed. No wonder the greatest boogieman the ruling class warns us all about is “Class Warfare”. The most distressing film of the week - 9/10!

🍿  

To catch a thief, Hitchock’s romantic thriller. The Good: Grace Kelly on the French Riviera, the ultimate glamour of the lifestyles of the rich and famous at Cannes and Nice, Hitchcock’s first (?) use of helicopter shots and modern car chases. The Bad: The genre roles & sexual politics of the husband-seeking unmarried young woman would not fly today.

I watched it solely because of this clip.

🍿 

2 with Brigitte Fossey (of ‘Jeux interdits’):

🍿 “...The square is mine!...”

I forgot that she played the grown-up Elena in Cinema Paradiso, one of Ennio Morricone’s most popular movies. And yes, without his magnificent score, the 3-hour long nostalgic trip to the heart of cinema, would not be half as enjoyable.

The question that was not well-answered was: Why did he not bother to visit his mother for 30 year? (Re-watch).

🍿 The happy road, a mediocre 1957 children comedy about 10 year old American boy and French girl, who escape from a Swiss boarding school, and hitchhike to Paris. Directed by and starring Gene Kelly, falling for the girl’s mother. 3/10.

🍿    

Inside, the new Willem Defoe survival thriller. He’s an art thief who breaks into a hi-end NYC penthouse of a wealthy art collector, intending to steal 3 paintings by Egon Schiele. But the security system traps him inside, and he’s unable to escape for many months. Captivating hi-concept and one-trick film, but a bit too long. 6/10.

🍿    

...”Never forget how much he loved you, Kubo”...

After being seriously obsessed with everything ‘Coraline’ all of last year, Adora moved on to Laika Studio’s next stop-motion animated story Kubo and the two strings. A Japanese-inspired action story about a one-eyed Samurai son who creates magical origami figures from his 3-stringed shamisen. But it was as if all the pretty parts were combined by an AI-engine. 4/10.

I will introduce her next to ‘The Iron Giant’, and ‘Isle of dogs’.

🍿    

First watch: The green room, one of the last few François Truffaut films I haven’t seen yet. In it, he plays a somber 1920′s journalist obsessed with death who builds a shrine to everybody he had lost. I love his human directing style, but this was a confusing mess. 2/10

🍿    

RIP, Ryuichi Sakamoto X 2:

🍿 In remembrance of his passing I started re-watching Bertolucci’s ‘The Last Emperor’, but to be honest, I got bored after 30 minutes; I blame the less than HD version of my pirated copy. So maybe I’ll try it another time.

Instead, I went back to my of favorite ‘Black Mirror' episodes, and the only one he composed the score for, Smithereens. It was directed by the same man who did my other cherished story ‘Hated in the nation’, and was also about online media frenzy that spirals out of control. This ‘Tyranny of the Screens’ parable received mixed reviews, because it wasn’t futuristic enough, but for my money it is a tense thriller on par with the best of them. 10/10.

Sakamoto’s dark score is subtle and minimal. You have to strain to notice it. Perfect!

...”This is my last day!”...

🍿 Psychedelic Afternoon, a 2013 animated short, featuring David Byrne, and released to raise money for children who survived the 2011 tsunami.

🍿  

‘Mad men’ is one of the few TV-shows I've seen, and I’ve seen it 3 or 4 times (including once last year). “Hazel” of YouTube ‘Dream Dimension Productions’ analyzes one “Perfect Scene” from Season 3 finale “Shut the door, have a seat”.

A terrific breakdown, which got me to watch it again, together with a few more.

Extra: Her ‘Netflix has a content problem’, which I also agree with, as I was attempting to avoid 90% of all their content.  

🍿   Talk to her, my 3rd unsatisfying film by Pedro Almodóvar (after ‘All about my mother’ and ‘The human voice’). A twisted story about two unappealing men who befriend each other at a clinic where they both care for comatose women. His editing choices and scattered direction, constantly focusing on unrelated detail in every scene turned me off. Some artistic perversions (like a silent film clip of a tiny man entering a giant vagina) notwithstanding. I guess I’m not a fan. 4/10.

🍿   2 more by Noah Baumbach (both with Adam Driver):

🍿 The last film I saw this week was also the best one:

I started watching the new Adam Driver dinosaur fantasy ‘65′. but it felt so stupid the moment Adam Driver opened his mouth, that I had to switch it off within 5 minutes. Instead, I turn to Marriage Story again. An absolute masterpiece, so painful and so true, for all divorced couples and parents of children of divorce. (That 10 minutes long scene at the apartment was raw! - Screenshot Above). 10/10 deservedly and without any reservations. 

(And now I must see ‘Two for the road’!)

🍿 (Actually, I ended up with his uneven While we’re young, which didn’t measure up to that. The milieu of hipster millennial poseurs and Brooklyn wannabe documentary filmmakers was uninteresting, and I also can’t stand Ben Stiller.)

Still I will look for the rest of his movies I had missed.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[papermoonloveslucy]

MOVIES on TV!

Part 2 ~ The Movies of “The Lucy Show”

Lucille Ball was a famous film star who became one of the biggest TV stars of the 1950s. She continued her trailblazing TV career in the 1960s with “The Lucy Show” where her character, Lucy Carmichael, was a huge film fan. 

~FACTUAL FILMS~ 

“Lucy Goes To a Hollywood Premiere” (1965) 

Lucy is movie mad!  When her plans to go to a Hollywood premiere with Mary Jane fall through, she disguises herself as one of the theatre’s ushers to work the red carpet and get autographs from the celebrities.

Lucy’s movie poster collection includes: Radio City Revels (1938), which was filmed at RKO, the studio that became Desilu; The Overland Express (1938); and Suspicion (1941), another RKO picture.  

Kirk Douglas is introduced as “The star of two great films: ‘The Heroes of Telemark’ and 'Cast a Giant Shadow.'” The Heroes of Telemark was released in the UK in November 1965, but would not premiere in the US for a month after this episode first aired. One month later (March 30, 1966), Cast a Giant Shadow premiered.

Memorabilia crazy Lucy says she bought a pink chiffon nightgown from Lillian Goodman’s Goodies for $75 that was worn by Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959).  Mr. Mooney says he wouldn’t buy a second hand nightie if it had been worn by Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot (1959).

“No More Double Dates” (1963) 

Lucy and Harry (Dick Martin) and Viv and Eddie (Don Briggs) can’t agree on where to dine or what movie to see. They decide to pick out of a hat. 

Searching for possible movies to see, Eddie prefers Ben-Hur (1959) at the Ritz over Two for the Seesaw (1962), because you get more actors for your money. Ben-Hur famously had a cast of 30,000. The movie was also mentioned in “Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit” (1962). Ralph Hart (Viv’s son Sherman) was an extra in Two for the Seesaw. Although the play lived up its title with a cast of two, the film was fleshed out with many more characters. 

Viv wants to see What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962), but Lucy thinks it will be too scary. The film starred Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, who will make a guest appearance on “The Lucy Show” in season 6. Lucy says she wants to see “the Cary Grant picture at the Danfield Theatre.”  She is probably referring to That Touch of Mink (1962). Herschel Graham, an extra in this episode, is also an extra in the film. Lucy notes that movie tickets are $1.50. 

CLEOPATRA ~ “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (1963)

At the Danfield Community Theatre, Lucy lands the plum role of Cleopatra. 

Lucy says she should get the part because she saw the film twelve times. Sarcastically, Viv says “She means the one with Theda Bera.” Lucy is referring to the 20th Century Fox's 1963 extravaganza Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as Mark Antony. Viv is referring to Cleopatra, a 1917 silent film. All known prints of this film were destroyed in a Fox Studios Fire in 1937. The writers might have also referenced Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 film Cleopatra starring Claudette Colbert.  

GASLIGHT - “Lucy Gets Mooney Fired” (1967)

Lucy and Mary Jane watch Gaslight  (1944) on TV. Lucy sums up the plot for Mary Jane: “Charles Boyer tries to convince Ingrid Bergman that she is seeing things that aren’t there.” This inspires Lucy to try to make Mr. Cheever think that he is going crazy, much like the plot of the film. The movie was based on Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light (known in the United States as Angel Street). It inspired a 1940 British film before the 1944 Hollywood version.

WINGS ~ “Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part 2″ 

Lucy and Carol get their wings as flight attendants and perform a graduation revue about the history of aviation with the stars of the 1927 silent motion picture Wings, Buddy Rodgers and Richard Arlen. The film was the first to win an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929. 

In Part 1, the in-flight movie unravels, causing Carol and Lucy to do live entertainment in the aisle. 

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA ~ “Lucy the Disc Jockey” (1965)

Listening to the hourglass (egg timer) to win a radio contest, a sleepy Viv makes a joke about hearing Lawrence of Arabia calling for help. Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 epic historical film based on the life of  T.E. Lawrence and taking place mostly in the desert. It won seven Oscars including Best Picture. The film was also mentioned in “Lucy the Stunt Man” (1965). 

GONE WITH THE WIND ~ “Lucy and Robert Goulet” (1967)

When Mr. Mooney helps Chuck Willis (Robert Goulet) get on a horse for his photo, he comments that there probably was not this much trouble making Gone with the Wind. Lucille Ball was considered for the lead role in the 1939 epic, which went to Vivian Leigh (right) instead.  

DANGER IN PARIS ~ “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” (1966)

Lucy admires (and later wears) a red beaded jacket she recognizes as one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Paramount’s 1937 film Danger in Paris (aka Cafe Colette aka K-33). She says it was sent over by Paramount. In reality, Danger in Paris did not star Hepburn and was not released by Paramount. This is likely something Lucille Ball wanted to wear so a story was made up for it.

MILDRED PIERCE ~ “Lucy and the Lost Star” (1968)

Viv calls Joan Mildred Pierce. This was the name of the title character of the 1945 film that won Crawford her only acting Oscar.

GOLDFINGER ~ “Lucy and the Starmaker” (1967)

When Mr. Mooney threatens to send Lucy to Fort Knox to be made into gold bars, Lucy says to Tommy (Frankie Avalon): “Who does he think he is? Goldfinger?” Goldfinger was a James Bond film released in the US in early 1965. 

In “Lucy and the Undercover Agent” (1965) Lucy, Rosie (Ann Sothern), and Mr. Mooney have just seen a James Bond film. Although the title is never mentioned, Goldfinger was released in the USA in January 1965. A few weeks after this episode aired, Thunderball premiered.

~FILM INSPIRATION~

MY FAIR LADY ~ “My Fair Lucy” (1965) 

LUCY: “Rosie, I have a plan. Did you see ‘My Fair Lady’?” ROSIE: “Yes.” LUCY: “Now listen…” [fade to commercial]

The episode is inspired by My Fair Lady, a 1956 stage musical by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe that was turned into a major motion picture in 1964. To con a rich couple into funding their charm school, Rosie claims that under her tutelage, she can transform an uncouth, slovenly woman into a refined lady at an elegant soiree. Lucy’s cleaning lady character is named Liza Lumpwhomper. Eliza Doolittle is the name of Audrey Hepburn’s character in My Fair Lady.  

The film starred Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, recreating the role he played on stage. The film won eight Oscars and was phenomenally successful at the box office. It premiered in New York City on October 21, 1964, five weeks before this episode was filmed. In the feature film, a couple of familiar faces from Lucy sitcoms appear: Walter Bacon, George Holmes, Barbara Morrison, Jerry Rush, Bert Stevens, Ben Wrigley, and Lucille Ball’s good friend, Barbara Pepper. Although set in England, the film was shot exclusively in Hollywood.

In 1965′s “Lucy Saves Milton Berle”, Lucy Carmichael disguises herself as a poor flower seller, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. 

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT ~ “Lucy the Camp Cook” (1965)

After Mr. Mooney runs out of gas (because the last filling station didn’t give trading stamps), Lucy and Viv try hitchhiking. Viv says “Let’s give it that old Claudette Colbert try.”  Viv is referring to a scene from the 1934 film It Happened One Night in which Colbert ‘schools’ Clark Gable in how to get a driver to stop by hiking up her skirt above the knee. 

THE KID ~ “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (1966)

In Mickey Rooney’s theatre school recital Lucy plays Charlie Chaplin and Rooney is the Kid. The sketch is inspired by The Kid (1927) a silent classic starring Chaplin and Jackie Coogan. Praising Mickey Rooney, Lucy tells him “Those father and son talks with Judge Hardy helped a lot.” Lucy is referring to Rooney's portrayal of Andy Hardy in 16 films between 1937 and 1958.

FOLLOW THE FLEET / ROBERTA ~ “Lucy and George Burns” (1966) 

Lucy says that Ginger Rogers is her very favorite star. She describes a film she saw on “The Late Late Show” in which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers fell in love despite her accidentally kicking him from the chorus line. Lucy is probably describing Follow the Fleet (1936) or Roberta (1935) in which Lucille Ball had supporting roles. Both films were made by RKO, which became Desilu Studios.

~FICTIONAL FILMS~

“Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (1965)

Dimitri Orloff (Sid Gould) is the composer of “I Left My Kidney with Dr. Sidney,” the theme song from the film Doctors and Nurses A-Go-Go.

Mimi Van Tysen (Beverly Powers) and Coconuts (George Barrows) are stars of the Love in the Jungle.

“Lucy and the Monsters” (1966)

Lucy tells Viv that Jerry and Sherman are at the State Theater to see the double-feature The Surfing Werewolf and The Eggplant That Ate Philadelphia, both made-up horror films. Their worries about the effect of the horror films on their boys leads them to have a shared horror film dream. 

“Lucy Meets the Berles” (1967)

To earn extra money Lucy takes a job working as a secretary for Milton Berle. When Lucy hears overhears him rehearsing a love scene with Ruta Lee, she jumps to the conclusion that he is being unfaithful to his wife.  The film they are rehearsing is titled The Friendly Skies, although the script he holds is titled The Friendly Sky. 

“Lucy and the French Movie Star” (1967) 

Lucy says she saw Jacques DuPre (Jacques Bergerac) in the film Kisses at Dawn where he did his own stunts playing a lion tamer. He even goes so far as to demonstrate, using an office chair and a whip (Lucy's raincoat belt) with Lucy acting as the lion. When Mr. Mooney bursts in and sees the reenactment, he jumps to the conclusion that Lucy is attacking DuPre, instead of the other way around!  

“Lucy the Stunt Man” (1965) / “The Return of Iron Man” (1965) / “Lucy and Bob Crane” (1966)

In all three episodes, Lucy makes extra money appearing in films as gruff stunt man Iron Man Carmichael. The title of the films go unmentioned, but in Iron Man’s first outing he is in a barroom brawl in a Western. In his return he is shot out of a canon in a Pirate movie. And when she meets Bob Crane she parachutes in during a World War One epic resembling “Hogan’s Heroes”, Crane’s hit series filmed at Desilu Studios. 

~FILM HOMAGE~

DANCE, GIRL, DANCE ~ “Lucy the Gun Moll” (1966)

In an “Untouchables” parody, Federal Agent Briggs (Robert Stack) is in the dressing room of Rusty (Lucille Ball). Behind Stack is a photo of Lucy singing “Jitterbug Bite” in the 1940 film Dance, Girl, Dance. Ball met Desi Arnaz while filming this movie. It was filmed at RKO, the studio that became Desilu, producer of “The Untouchables”. 

[mutantenfisch]

Hey, so I feel a little awkward about this bc I've never even watched Lawrence of Arabia and I won't be able to remedy that anytime soon, but I really love your fanart of the leads, it's so beautifully expressive!

Hey anon! First of all, thank you so much! These characters, their historical inspiration and their actors bring me a lot of joy and if i could transport that into my drawings that really means A Lot to me! 💖💗

And please don't worry! There's nothing awkward about not having watched the movie, which tbh requires a bit of commitment or a whole free afternoon to watch in one go, since it is almost 4 hours long^^

And please let me try to reassure you, I am familiar with a bunch of fandoms through the existing fanart only! Games like Deus Ex or Disco Elysium I have never played but whenever my mutuals who like them reblog or post respective fanart I am filled with joy because I see them enjoying the thing they enjoy and I get to see pretty art which I enjoy. It's a two cakes situation! 😄

[letterboxd]

Found Family.

Riders of Justice writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen opens up to Aaron Yap about grimly funny fairy-tales, woke teenagers and creating an accidental Christmas movie with hunky muse, Mads Mikkelsen.

“Genres, that’s just a sales tool really. That’s to give people, show people, ‘are we having sushi or are we having Italian?’ Sometimes I like it when you don’t know what you’re getting.” —Anders Thomas Jensen

It’s stupidly easy to sell writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen’s new film Riders of Justice on its thirsty pulp appeal alone. Who can resist the promise of Danish acting force Mads Mikkelsen finally getting a decent John Wick-ish vehicle of his own, stoically meting out anguished, bloody vengeance to a cadre of underworld thugs? Certainly not, among many Letterboxd members, Harlequinade, who was moved to write this ode:

“MikkelGod sporting a bushy beard MikkelGod wearing a military uniform MikkelGod wearing a suit MikkelGod having this whole silverfox daddy thing going on MikkelGod killing a man with his big beautiful bare hands MIKKELGOD 🤗🙏🏻😍”

But to dismiss Riders of Justice as another entry in the seemingly endless slew of action-revenge pics would also be to undersell its other layers. Much more than Wick, your average Liam Neeson thriller-of-the-month, or even the recent avenging-dad flick, Nobody, Riders positions itself in a more emotionally and psychologically rewarding space, one perhaps closer to its tonally fluid South Korean counterparts. “What lingers,” Douglas Davidson writes, “are the questions Anders presents and the strange hopefulness that flickers upon the credits roll, burning like the embers of a dying fire in the darkness of night.”

It’s of a piece with all of Jensen’s directorial work thus far. A prolific screenwriter who’s penned everything from soulful early Susanne Bier heartbreakers to the recently misfiring The Dark Tower adaptation, Jensen, as a director, has found a sharply honed groove in the form of grimly funny, genre-defying modern fairy-tales populated by oddball characters forced to contend with the chaos of the inscrutable cosmos around them.

Causality plays an even more pronounced role in Riders. The film’s unlikely heroes—hard-bitten special forces soldier Markus Hensen (Mikkelsen) and a trio of bumbling data wizards (Lars Brygmann and Jensen regulars Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro)—are drawn together to take down a vicious biker gang, but also preoccupied with processing the hows and whys of grief and trauma, and of course, the value of revenge.

Amid the terse blasts of gunfire, the film foregrounds scenes of connection and healing between its characters, an assortment of progressive teens and bumbling middle-aged men whose unusual found-family dynamic recalls Jensen’s previous dark, offbeat comedies like Adam’s Apples and Men and Chicken. As More_Baddass writes, the film gifts us some “Christmastime therapy of an unorthodox family”.

Over Zoom, we spoke about whether it’s possible to make Mikkelsen less handsome, why Denmark won’t be getting a sci-fi blockbuster anytime soon, and the time that Jensen and a friend tried to break the Guinness World Record for movie-watching.

‘Riders of Justice’ cast members Lars Brygmann, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro.

Riders of Justice is one of your more action-packed films. Did you watch any other action flicks, or were there any specific movies that inspired you while you were designing and creating the action in this film? Anders Thomas Jensen: It’s funny, because it’s always subconscious. I never look for inspiration directly because for me, that would be weird to do because then you’re just copying. Definitely in the back of my mind, there’s a lot of action movies and a lot of revenge movies that I’ve seen in the past that will work their way in there. The process for me is very, how do you say, unconscious? What’s it called?

Intuitive? Intuitive, that’s the word. Thank you. First of all, a revenge movie is not easy, but it always has a strong lead and it has a strong will, which is obviously really good if you want to do a script that moves forward. Hamlet is a revenge story, right? I love Once Upon a Time in the West. I love that. The Searchers. The Sting, I guess, is also a revenge movie. Also, there’s so much identification in people who are wronged.

Wish fulfilment. Yeah that too. It’s one of the obviously basic human feelings. Revenge, love. There are these emotions that you’ll do dramas based on long after we were here.

I understand that you took a break from directing for a while and you were spending time raising your family. I’ve noticed, with Men & Chicken and Riders of Justice there’s a lot of attention paid to parenthood, and the role of the parent. Was that intentionally woven into these narratives and something you were thinking of? Yeah. I don’t do it on purpose, but I can definitely see that every movie I ever made I’m very much a part of it. So the whole father story is part of my life in this movie. I have a teenage daughter who I sometimes feel like … I don’t at all have the emotional tools that she and her friends have. This new woke generation that I’m aware of; every single feeling and the environment and everything. I was brought up in a different way. So that’s quite personal in the story, the whole ‘father who has to learn how to communicate through feelings when he’s not very good at it’.

Mads Mikkelsen and Andrea Heick Gadeberg in a scene from ‘Riders of Justice’.

Would you consider Riders of Justice a Christmas movie? Well, it’s so funny because I didn’t see it at all before one of my editors said. No, I wouldn’t because I didn’t pay attention to it at all. The only reason it ends on Christmas is because that’s the perfect coming together of a family. I needed it in the end, but it could have been Easter, but it wasn’t. Perhaps it is a Christmas movie now because it does have Christmas in it.

What was the first film that made you want to be a filmmaker? There are several, but I think the first time I had was Lawrence of Arabia. I saw that when I was very little, when I perhaps shouldn’t have seen it. But when I was around ten, I got a bootleg copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. VCRs were a brand new thing and we got a VCR. I saw that film every day for half a year and I still know every line in it. It’s not getting out of my head. I love that film and I think from there on, I knew that I wanted to do films.

As a screenwriter, do you have any other screenwriters that you respect and admire? I have many. Billy Wilder is one of my favorites. Also, Ingmar Bergman, the Coen Brothers, Robert Towne, but many others also. There are a lot of good screenwriters.

I can see elements of those writers coming through your work, especially the first three. You’re really good at blending elements from different genres and putting strange characters together. Are there any other genres you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Well, it’s funny because every time I open up a new streaming service, I look for sci-fi movies first. I’m part of the Academy and when I get the screeners, I’m always checking for sci-fi. I have a love for sci-fi, but unfortunately I’m born in a country where doing a sci-fi film would just be insane. It’s never been done. If you have a really big budget, you have five to six million here. So it’s just something that won’t happen. But of course, you could get ambitious and write a sci-fi movie and hope you could do it somewhere else. I hope one day [to] do a good sci-fi movie, or at least something within that genre because it is a favorite.

But I also have to say, basically, I love all genres. Perhaps not rom-com that much, but I really like Westerns. I like war movies, revenge movies, dramas. I love to mix genres. Every time I do a movie, I get this from the distributors: “What are we going to call it?” Because it is this mix of genres. Genres, that’s just a sales tool really. That’s to give people, show people, “are we having sushi or are we having Italian?” So people don’t get confused. But I think sometimes I like it when you don’t know what you’re getting. That’s also what I love about the Coen Brothers and other directors that play with genres, is that I never know where it’s going.

‘Riders of Justice’ writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen.

Let’s talk a little about Danish cinema. You have your Lars von Trier, you have your Vinterberg and Susanne Bier. Is there an older Danish film that you would recommend that people should see? I actually thought about it and it’s going to sound arrogant, but I couldn’t find one. Not when I compare to what else is out there of American, French, Italian, British, German, Russian and Asian. No, there isn’t. Of course there’s Carl Dreyer. He’s an icon in early, early cinema. That’s the obvious thing to say, but no. For me, Danish cinema starts in the ’90s. Also, I haven’t watched many Danish movies before that, because there aren’t that many. Some people will hate me for saying this, but that’s how I feel.

Are there any recent Danish films or filmmakers that you can recommend? This year I saw a film called Shorta, which was great. It was made by two directors with no budget, about two cops venturing into this Muslim part of Copenhagen where there’s a riot. That was really a promising debut. Also, I really like the idea they had. They made a lot of great stuff visually and for almost no money.

What are your movie-watching habits? You said when you turn on a streaming service, you look out for sci-fi movies. Do you have any other weird behaviors? It’s crazy, but if I really like a movie, I see it many times. I also see it many times where I do not look at it. I hear it. I will just lie with my back to it and just hear the movie. Actually, if the movie is really good, it also works without the picture.

I think that’s [as] weird as it gets, otherwise I’m pretty much normal. I used to binge-watch. Actually, I tried to get into a Guinness Book of Record with a friend when I was fifteen, where, for five days continuously, we watched movies. I can’t remember if it was 107 movies. We watched movies and we had a video store sponsor us. We were lying in an all-night video store, and just saw films until we collapsed. That’s the craziest thing I’ve done, but we never got into the book because there are people that are better at not sleeping, so somebody else beat the record by far.

Do you have a list, or a record of what you watched? No, but there was a journalist that asked us what number afterwards. He asked me, “What film was the film number? 47, 46?” I remember him being very impressed that I could differentiate them.

It would have made a great Letterboxd list. Preserve it for eternity. The funny thing is years after I would actually see a film, and I would get an hour into it and I would go, “Oh, I’ve seen this one.” It was because when I saw the last 30 films, I was unconscious.

I need to ask about Mads Mikkelsen because he’s massive with our community. You’ve worked with him for quite a long time now, so you’ve got a pretty solid working relationship. Having just watched a number of your films in a short period of time, it was impressive that you found that range in him that maybe other filmmakers haven’t tapped into. Is there a type of role that you want to see him in that he hasn’t had a chance to play yet? Yes. There are many roles, but I don’t know. I could put a job description or a feeling on it, but it’s much more complicated with Mads, I think. We have this common thing that we love exploring people who lie to themselves, whether it’s comedy or drama. People who are not being honest with themselves and people who have this screwed up self-image, which in all the films we’ve done together, his character has. There are many other characters I would love to explore with Mads.

His looks are quite specific in each film. He just looks like a different person each time, which is great. You just want to see how he is going to look in the next one. His wife is like that too. She’s always excited and she was so happy this time because he wasn’t ugly. Normally he doesn’t look very well, like in The Green Butchers. Because he’s so handsome, so I try to do him not so handsome.

Riders is the hunkiest he’s been in your films, I guess. Definitely. The competition isn’t tough, though. You’re up against a guy who masturbates and a guy with a bad receding hairline. But it is by far his most hunky.

Related content

Softspacedad’s annotated rundown of 46 Mads Mikkelsen films, and ‘Mads Mikkelsen movies ranked based on how good of a father he is’

‘Mads Mikkelsen is filled with rage and has only one eye’, a list by King

Onebear’s lists of all Danish movies released within each cinematic year since 2009

Anders’ list of films by Danish directors or in the Danish language

Leyner’s list of Danish films nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Film

Mikkel’s list of Danish Christmas films

Follow Aaron on Letterboxd

‘Riders of Justice’ is screening now in select US theaters and available on demand. Images courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

[365days365movies]

February 9, 2021: Doctor Zhivago (Review)

Note: WHOOPS! This one went out so late, it’s a day behind! My bad, guys. Next review is still coming tonight! Check out the bottom to see what it is!

Russia, man. It’s got one hell of a history, and while this movie definitely isn’t purely historically accurate, it definitely feels true to the time period. At least it does to me. Feels about as Russian as this:

And a pigeon photoshopped to look like it’s saluting Vladimir Putin definitely feels Russian to me. Honestly, this was going to be a longer joke, but...c’mon. Look at that. That’s perfect.

Anyway, the ironic thing is that this movie isn’t Russian at all. The book, of course, is Russian, but the movie definitely wasn’t. Then again, this came SMACK DAB in the middle of the Cold War, so...yeah, wouldn’t be Russian, would it? Makes it even more interesting to me that the movie was as popular as it was. Also interesting that, again, it inevitably came in second that year to another movie starring lovers in a country embroiled in a World War.

By the way, made a bit of an error in the Recap posts. This movie DID win 5 Oscars, but lost 4 to The Sound of Music. So, really, it won out more than I thought in the end, huh?

OK, so what did I think of this movie? Well, let’s get into it, huh? Check out the Recap (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) for more about the movie itself!

Review

Cast and Acting: 9/10

Without fear of pretense, I can say that both Omar Sharif and Julie Christie are fantastic as the main couple of the film. Their chemistry isn’t quite as sizzling as some of the others from this month, but it’s still there, and feels like a whirlwind romance as much as that of a seasoned couple who rely on each other to get through hardships, whether together or apart. And, hell, that’s some good chemistry right there, to be able to pull that off. Individually, of course, the two are quite stellar as well.

This cast, overall, is restrained in their emotional performances, which seems deliberate. Alec Guinness, though barely in the film, is still quite memorable for his role. No wonder he and Sharif are some of the director’s favorite standbys, also appearing in Lawrence of Arabia. Rod Steiger’s turn as Russia’s biggest asshole is also quite good, and contains some palpable realism to temper out his qualities as a villain that is extemporary to the film’s main conflict: war and politics. Speaking of villains, DAMN, Tom Courtenay! Pasha’s the most interesting character in the film for me, solely from a character standpoint, and I DESPERATELY want to know what happened to him after the war, and why exactly he was wanted. And Courtenay’s turn, from sweet and soft protestor, to determined revolutionary, to FUCK MY FAMILY COMMUNISM FOREVER is quite well done, and weirdly believable. So, yeah, props all around. Oh, and Geraldine Chaplin and Ralph Richardson should also get some of that credit.

Plot and Writing: 8/10

Once again, like preceding films, this is one of those films based on a book, by Boris Pasternak in this case. The film is apparently mostly faithful to the book in terms of plot, with certain elements and characters having been dropped out. Haven’t read it, but let me know how crazy the differences were, and if it hurt the film at all. Now, here’s the funny thing about the plot: I originally thought that this may have been a little...overdone. After all, this came out during the Cold War, and anti-Russian sentiment was pretty high in the USA and the UK at the time. But, apparently, that didn’t factor in as much as I thought! I mean, sure, it was still banned in the Soviet Union, but that’s not exactly a surprise, now is it?

Anyway, what did I think of the plot and writing? Both were good! Not exactly groundbreaking, but it was definitely a pretty great screenplay. Robert Bolt wrote it, and he won an Oscar for it for good reason. If I have a single criticism, it’s this: why couldn’t we have heard any of Zhivago’s poems? They’re real! Pasternak wrote them out and everything; check them out right here, if you’re curious. No other massive comments here, so moving on!

Directing and Cinematography: 9/10

Yeah, uh, holy shit, this cinematography is EXTREMELY good. Full stop, it’s legit some of the best I’ve seen. Some of that credit is funneled into the production and art design as well, but...LOOK AT THAT SHOT, GODDAMN IT. Shot composition throughout this movie is gorgeous, and this is just one example. The lighting is used in a clear narrative sense, especially when looking at someone’s eyes as they look at someone else. I mean, godDAMN, Freddie Young, you’re a rock star! And director David Lean is obviously no slouch either! I don’t think it’s as good as his other most famous film, Lawrence of Arabia, but it’s still fantastic.

Production and Art Design: 8/10

Hey, fun fact for you! This movie’s gorgeous winter landscapes and cinematography actually helped to inspire the look of Disney’s Frozen! Neat! And I’m not surprised, because this movie LOOKS fantastic. It’s quite good at capturing the splendor of Russian upper class lifestyle before the Revolution took place, as well as the dour aftermath of the Russian Civil War. It’s an iconic looking film, that’s for sure. The most iconic? Ehhhh, no, not really, but it’s definitely one I’ll remember for a few key scenes.

Music and Editing: 9/10

Has there ever been an instrument more Russian than the balalaika? And honestly, this film’s score is STILL stuck in my head with Zhivago’s theme, played on that very same balalaika! That instrument serves as the core of Zhivago’s leitmotif, representing his past in poverty, the inheritance of his mother, his forced-but-willing return to a more pastoral existence, as well as the symbol of connection with his child by the end of the film. And that musical symbolism is good, but the music itself is quite memorable as well! Seriously, as I type this, it’s still paying in my head, it’s incessant. Credit goes to Maurice Jarre for that little earworm. 

Editing, too, is great! A lot of interesting scene transitions that I noticed, some of which are quite good. Norman Savage, another of Lean’s favorite guys, does some serious flexing of his skills, and somehow makes what should be a 3.33 hour slog into a surprisingly smooth watching experience! So, yeah, lots of editing talent needed to do that.

86% for the good Doctor and Lara!

Is it odd that I’d willingly watch this again, maybe with some friends next time? Might be a long movie, but I surely did enjoy it!

Might want to sew up the historical films soon, though. Let’s do another one, probably the last. But this time, let’s have it set in the same country that made it, and not the United States...hmmm...take place in a later time period, less touched by war...what else...probably going to have some infidelity, I can’t seem to avoid that this month...not based off of a book this time...and by a famous director.

OK, I think that settles it! Y’know, I think I’m enjoying this month, romance and all. I guess, after all this, I’m...

February 10, 2021: In the Mood for Love (2000)

[rogue-hammer]

ELDAR PART 2: #5 EXODITES You know that army everyone says their going to do, and then you never see anyone doing it? You know that concept that seems kind of bizarre and niche, but is always kind of fun when you think about it? Lets cut the bull, do you know about the Exodites? Yeah you know the ones I mean. The Eldar who where smart enough from the get go to realize that shit was gonna hit that fan. And by hit we mean, the shit was a dirty nuclear bomb, and the fan was spinning at Mach 10, and no one within a 1 million light year radius of it was going to not get shit on them? The Eldar that if they had a proper army dex, would probably be Toughness 4, Strength 5 and could break an Aspect warrior over their knee? Well fear not, because the Chaos Druid is here to tell you how it may be possible to have these “Salt of the Earth” Style Eldar as a force. -First off, the lore. The Exodites as we all know, where those Eldar who, at the time before the fall realized what was going to happen, and after trying to tell the rest of their race that the liberal agenda was a bad idea, went fuck it and took off for the distant Eastern fringe of the galaxy. Abandoning much of what their race had achieved, these highly attuned seer like Eldar went and settled many a wild and dangerous world. You could say they where Mountain Men of their race. Minus the Buckskins. When establishing a concept for your army, it should be important to note these sorts of things, and mayhap research our own real world history, looking for those who left behind more advanced surroundings to wander the wilds and tame or become a part of their new surroundings. Besides, whats not to like when coming up with a how did your army tame mutha fuck’n dinosaurs for an army concept than to read about people who did much the same thing? 

-How to represent it? This is the big hurdle to Exodites. GW never did give these backwoods space elves a codex of their own (sometimes I wonder if they where meant to be a mirror to wood elves from WHF) and so you have to be able to work a little bit of magic to bring them to the table. There are two ways of doing this: 1: Use a community created and tested Codex. This one is pretty simple. There are loads of communities on the net who enjoy making non-official but professional quality dexs that never existed, or that did and got left behind. This can be a good place to start if your unsure what exact kinds of units and characters you want to try and represent on the table. 2: Do a “Counts as army.” While this may seem a bit less interesting than going out in search of a quality fan made dex, believe it or not, counts as armies and models are some of the funnest challenges in the hobby. After all, who says you have to stick to one area? When it comes to a race as wide spread as the eldar, you can use all kinds of lists to represent your Exodites. From IA books, to the various inner factions and old codexes, you have a wealth of pre-made stats and rosters for your army, and it may even inspire you to create a Home Brew Dex of your own for use with friends and fellow Exodite fans, it can even be a group project!

-Modeling. Ah yes the next big hurdle in your quest to make this awesome idea come to life. But lucky for us, in this day and age of vast miniatures Renaissance, your never short on companies who produce all sorts of models for use in creating your own flavor of Exodites. Even the GW ranges can be put together via the various universes and factions to give rise to a unique and conversion heavy Exodite host. It’s these kind of armies that GW once upon a time used to really try and get their community interested in. Your own imagination is the only limit when making a fully converted army, and since everyone likes Dinosaurs, dragons, and laser guns, well, who isn;t going to have plenty of models ripe for bits fodder and base construction? 

-So then next, whats your theme? After all, Exodites can be as various as their craftworld kin. They don’t all have to be from the same sort of planet, or even have the same sort of unit arrangement. Think first to yourself, what wild and possibly feral world has my army tamed and guards as their own? Are they Jungle style folk, Eldar survivalists of the deepest jungle worlds know to the galaxy who could give catachans are run for their money? Taming giant lizard like creatures and avian like Dinosaurs for use in war, while using mainly Stealth and Guerrilla style tactics against invaders, blending seamlessly into the Jungle foliage to strike while using the elements of their home world to wear down an enemy, Maybe they are a desert folk. Having traversed the sands of a barren wasteland planet in the style of Dune. (Dune….Eldar. Ok I may have to do this now) and have grown hardy and strong from the unforgiving conditions. Training and using burrowing and dangerous desert creatures such as serpentine lizards, Scorpion and draconic scalies of fire and ash to their use. Able to blend in and traverse the known ways of the sands to out maneuver and flank their foes foolish enough to come after them (and now I also want to watch Lawrence of Arabia). An alpine people would also not be a far stretch. After all we have seen plenty of Jungle Exodite concepts. So what about their Highlands dwelling kin? Eldar who live off the rock and timber of a giant temperate and sub arctic worlds. Strong of limb and able to survive the cold and wild temperaments of their chosen homes. Going into battle atop heavy plated and massive dino/prehistoric mammal like hybrids, battering their foes aside by ferocity and strength much like our own history’s hardy people of the mountains regions. Truly when creating an Exodite army, any hardy and primal like folk of our own world can serve as an excellent source for theme and character.

-And that leads us to story. Yet another thing that can have infinite possibilities based off your own imagination. Are your Exodites of the first migrations away from their Stellar Empire? The ancient and proud ones who fled the fall of their doomed race and have since held onto life and world for thousands upon thousands of years? Are you a young and newly aspiring tribe of Exodite travelers, having only just now in recent years and light of galactic events decided it best to leave the constraining confines of a Craftword and forge a new and hard destiny for yourself? Are you a sanctuary to Outcasts and those who have been forced or chosen to leave their homes in the Craftworld or even the Dark City. Do you dream of rising once again to dominance, or have you accepted the humble life of survivors and exiles. Are your Exodites proud warrior like people, given over to tribal customs of battle, honor and glory in combat? Or have you attempted to become a peaceful and conservative folk, only drawing a blade when pressed by outside forces. Do you count many of the ancient seers among your ranks, or do the physically strongest and most warlike lead you? Have you shunned all forms of technology or do you harbor much of your ancient relics and tech for use to give you an edge over your environment and enemies? Again, the sky is literally the limit with the number of ways you can forge your own unique brand of Exodites. That is, at the end of the day the fun of non-official, but canonical armies. #6 CORSAIRS Everyone’s thinking it I’m just say’n it. Pirates! Ah yes, corsairs. Eldar Corsairs no less. A throw back to the original concept of these ancient Space Elves from the Rogue Trader era, where the Eldar, much like Orks, and even Chaos were cast in a more “Raider, Pirate, Freebooter” light than as giant interstellar empires of their own. And if I may be frank, my favorite style of all Eldar. Corsairs are in a league of their own when it comes to lore and the table top. If Craftworld Eldar are the Boomer parents, and the Dark Eldar are the teen goth phase kids, while the Exodites are the redneck uncle you visit during summer vacation, then the corsairs are that cool older sibling who always seems to have a few rings in his ear, rocks out to old style metal music and owns some sort of sup’d up car you love riding in. Over the years the Corsairs have had many attempts at army lists and most have fallen by the way side with each passing edition. So what is a pirate to do? Break out your Space Rum and lets find out. 

-Find your inner Outcast. This is the best place to start. Of all the Eldar sub factions, Corsairs are considered the Outcast. Too liberal minded and self serving for the Craftworlds, not into back stabbing, court intrigue and BDSM which counts the Dark Eldar out, and still too fucking full of themselves to go and play salt of the earth farmer with the Exodites. In all things the Corsair is the embodiment of the classic pirate trope. Those who live outside law and country. Content to ply the stars and do as they wish, when they wish, and save their own skin above all else. This type of “Sandbox” mindset can be used to create an eldar force with limitless background, style and character possibilities.

-What sort of pirate be ye? That’s your next question. Being Self sufficient and serving, Corsairs fit just about any niche you can think of when it comes to reaver like style. This also means they can be found just about anywhere, with just about anyone. Are your Corsairs a club for eldar only? Or have they allied to other even more unscrupulous characters? Corsairs can be found raiding alongside the likes of Rogue Traders, other alien species, and even among chaos warbands and Ork freebootas! And the reasons are just as varied. Are your pirates proud Corsair Princes/Princess’, plying the stars on an ambitious mission of their own? Are they fallen from grace renegades who have or will fall in with any dirty crowd? Are they the ruler of a pirate kingdom all their own, or do they sail the stars in a single infamous vessel like pirate stories of old, ravaging and stealing as they desire? Are they survivors of a larger group of CW Eldar, hiding amongst Exodites and teaching them the old ways of your people while trying to accumulate enough power and followers to rebuild what was lost? The options are almost limitless when forging a narrative for your Corsair warband.

-What is your goal? In the end, many a Corsair is an individualistic character. Shunning the Narrow dogmatic path of the Craftworlds, and refusing to become a corrupted sadist like the Drukari, they live a life of self fulfillment and ambition. So what motivates your band of pirates? Do they seek a sporting challenge as arrogant reavers of the stars? Are they after the ancient glory of their Race’s past when they ruled over the galaxy? Maybe perhaps they are altruistic, and ally themselves with whoever they foresee being a benefit to the galactic order of things. Fame and fortune? Women and wine? A warrior code dedicated to Khaine, or another esoteric group of reavers worshiping the many faded or forgotten gods of the past? Nefarious allegiance to chaos, or maybe a darker order of things. Maybe perhaps just indulging your own hedonistic desires without care to share them with others. Again, a corsair can have many a goal, which makes for all sorts of unique concepts regarding your army.

-Models models models. Ah yes, models, and what to use for your physical army on the table? Fortunately we live in a time where not only is there quite an expansive range of Eldar style models, both official and third party, but there are other factions with models that can be used to further augment your Corsair warband. The options are many. Maybe you use a combination of CW and Dark eldar models to achieve a rough reaver/noble look.  You can also dip into the Human side of models, utilizing Necromunda and RT faction models to give your eldar a much more grounded and space faring/gang like look. Even fantasy Elven ranges can be used to boost a more primal look to your Eldar, or perhaps Out of the way factions like Mechanicus and Warcry warbands can be augmented with Eldar models to produce some very unique Tech mash ups or tribal like appearances. Not to mention older far more grim looking GW models from Ebay can be used to add a spice of old to your model ranges. However you choose to do it, make sure your models are cut apart from straight up CW or Dark Eldar style figures. After all, your above that kind of crap. 

-Now we come to the final question, how do we play this army? As I mentioned before, there are older Corsair lists under official publishing one can use, as well as no doubt a bevy of fan made content. Like the Exodites, the Corsairs can easily be used as a counts as force, with even more options as you can pull from a number of different books in order to create homebrew allies and piratical alliances with your army. Once you have down how to create a list, its time to ask, how will yours be a unique pirate band? The cornerstone of any crew of pirates is Speed. After all, no need to hang around and risk your own neck am I right? This luckily is the Eldar’s forte, and can be done in numerous ways without too much overlap. On one hand, taking advantage of Eldar Air power is an awesome idea for Corsairs. Not only have they used in pass incarnations many of the powerful aircraft of the Eldar race, including the feared Void Dragon, other smaller editions have been made of time such as the handy Wasp, and fast moving Jump pack corsairs. Building off this concept, corsairs can utilise the various armies of the Eldar to kick into high gear. Between the DE and CW books, there is a wealth of fast moving raider vessels, teleporting and deep striking units, as well as high initiative and deadly close combat infantry. Depending on your list and homebrew rules, you may even have options to add other races in for flavor, such as Ork Meatshields…..I mean Ork allies that are very useful and cared about. Human RTs that can use various codex designs to function as an extra bulwark of strength and toughness and even Chaos elements if your feeling like you need the warp on your side. Maybe your corsairs favor Jetbike and light attack craft tactics and are made up almost completely of such units, along with jump infantry to help support your already fearsome maneuverability. There’s even ways to create an Eldar Corsair force that deploys almost exclusively from Deepstrike, entering the table at any point, ready to strike the enemy’s weak spot or run circles around their more cumbersome units. Always remember the enemy can;t hit back if they never see you coming, or are too slow to catch you!

It can be said, if the Exodites are a Modeling enthusiast’s dream, then the Corsairs are Narrative army creator’s playground. Enjoy Pillaging the stars fellow pirates! I can only hope this lengthy entry has given some of you new perspective or even just revivied old ideas on how to create and Eldar army of unique or simply enjoyable design. Sometimes I do feel as if Eldar are bottlenecked into repetative lists and story styles that leave little to customize, and rarely seem to fire the imagination. So really, these Pointy Eared ones arn’t just simple ELVES IN SPACE. There is little limit to what one can make of so many different aspects of this once great and powerful race.

As Always, Happy Hobbying!

[phantoonsoftheopera]

Review: "The Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge" or: "I was a Teenage Phantom"

So it has come to my attention that there are some in the Phandom who may not be aware of some of the, let us say, more obscure Phantom adaptations there have been through the years. Well, as one of the dinosaurs of the Phandom, I cannot let this stand. So gather around, children, while I drag out this ancient tome I wrote a few decades ago about the cinematic masterpiece, “The Phantom of the Mall.”

(Oh, but let it be known that this is a review of the broadcast version of the movie, which included scenes not included in the theatrical cut. Because I have both versions. Yes. I have BOTH VERSIONS.)

Note: This review is written with tongue firmly implanted in cheek. No offense is meant to the fans of the movie -- either one of you ;-)

This past weekend, I was cataloging the various Phantom items I have collected over the years when I came across a long-forgotten recording of that late 80s cinematic extravaganza: "The Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge." I immediately popped it into my VCR and sat transfixed by this lost gem. And being the gracious fellow that I am, I felt compelled to share my thoughts with those of you who had the great misfortune of missing its original limited theatrical engagement (pulled from theaters a week after its release -- it was obviously ahead of its time).

Directed by Richard Friedman, auteur of such films as "Scared Stiff" and "Doom Asylum," this 1989 epic featured such master thespians as Pauly Shore ("Bio-Dome"), Rob Estes ("Suddenly Susan") and screen legend Morgan Fairchild ("Test Tube Teens from the Year 2000"). My only regret is that Vanilla Ice had yet to emerge onto the public scene in order to claim the title role. A role which, I'm sure you all would agree, would have secured his name in the annals of film history.

But I digress.

Its cinematography surpassed that of "Citizen Kane," and the acting (as you can surely tell by the few actors I've already named) rivaled that displayed in Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet." And the music? Ah, the music... But enough gushing, let me enthrall you with the details.

The screenwriters did a masterful job updating the classic tale for modern times. Replacing the Opera House with a mall? What brilliance! Brian de Palma was on the right track when he set his "Phantom of the Paradise" in a discotheque, but it lacked the symbolism and dramatic possibilities that a shopping mall provides (just thinking about the tense scenes filmed in the Windsor Fashions and Sam Goody stores makes my heart race!)

While I'm sure you'd all want me to go into a scene-by-scene description and analysis, it would be want of me to rob you of the pleasure of the thrills and surprises it contains. Therefore, I shall only give you a brief rundown of the plot and describe a few key scenes which make this a standout among "Phantom" films.

The film involves the grand opening of the Midwood Mall, built atop a former residential area. Eric ("Erik," as portrayed by Derek Rydall) has been dead for a year, and his girlfriend Melody ("Christine," played by Kimber Sissons) and their friends Buzz ("The Persian," played by Pauly Shore) and Suzi ("Meg," played by Kari Whitman) all get jobs there. At the big press event opening the establishment, Melody catches the eye of a photojournalist named Peter ("Raoul," played by Rob Estes). It turns out that they met the year prior: they were both at the scene when her boyfriend's house burned to the ground, making the way for the mall developers to begin construction. Eric had helped Melody escape but was apparently burned to death in the conflagration. Melody believes it was arson (perhaps it was the strange man dousing her with gasoline prior to the firemen arriving that raised her suspicions) and Peter promises to help her solve the mystery. Little does she know that a masked figure in ball cap and varsity jacket watches her every move from the security monitors in the batcave -- excuse me -- the lair...

It is a staple of all "Phantom" films to have an unmasking scene, and this movie delivers in a clever update. After rescuing Melody from the arsonist who has taken a position as a security guard, Eric takes her to his lair in the catacombs beneath the mall. She awakens on his leather sofa and sees her savior doing pulldowns on his weight machine nearby. She slowly walks up behind him, but no, she doesn't rip his mask off to reveal his charred face as you would suspect. Melody instead simply says, "Hello Eric." He then obliges her by removing the mask himself. She shows no fear in seeing him unmasked but once he shows her the department store wardrobe that he has picked out for her, Melody suddenly remembers she has a life and a handsome new boyfriend aboveground, which rouses Eric's anger. Ah, cinema at its best.

But for me, the best acting in the film came in a touching scene involving Suzi and Buzz. In it, Suzi laments over her lack of companionship while Buzz attempts to console her. Here is an excerpt from the script:

Suzi: "How come all the girls who don't want a boyfriend get one and the girls who do, don't, huh?"

Buzz (reassuringly): "Lots of guys like you, Suzi."

Suzi (dramatic pause): "Not the ones that really matter."

Buzz gestures to himself and smiles.

Suzi: "I mean, what would this world be if all the people who wanted to buy cars couldn't, and the ones that could had them given to them?"

Buzz: "That would be pretty kinda like, messed up, huh?"

Surely, even Sir Laurence Olivier could not have given a more inspired performance!

Finally, let me address, briefly, the music. No expense was spared to gather the finest of 80s hair bands to perform on the soundtrack. Yet they were all eclipsed by the stunning rock and roll anthem, "Is There a Phantom in the Mall?" by The Vandals. As hummable as anything Lord Lloyd Webber has written, it made its debut during a party scene and later was reprised over the closing credits. Sadly, through the fault of the studio hierarchy, no soundtrack was officially released for the fans to treasure. But now, I share with you some of the lyrics:

chorus: Is there a Phantom in the Mall? folks are bound to ask Is he the Phantom of the Mall? Or just some retard in a broken hockey mask?

Clearly, even with those few lines, the brilliance of the songwriters shines through!

It is a crime that the dilletantes at the AFI neglected to include this masterpiece in their top 100 films of the century. "Lawrence of Arabia"? "Gone with the Wind"? "Casablanca"? Pshaw! Robert Friedman's "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge"! Now there is a landmark -- nay, epochal -- cinematic masterpiece!

[cinemaocd]

Good god, I'm watching David Lean films on my laptop and using my good headphones and they are so very much about sound, especially after Lawrence, but before on BOTRK, where the noise of the jungle was allowed to breath around the edges of the proceedings. As a designer he would never let atmosphere hamper dialog. Fond of echo effects, which he uses playfully in Lawrence of Arabia, Lean uses them to amplify the sound of a crying infant in a cave, and the rushing echo of a heart attack as heard in a dying woman's ear, to a far more mystical, almost supernatural effect.

I can't help but think David Lynch was paying close attention to David Lean.

For a man whose name is also an adjective for absence of fat, Lean's movies are ironically larded with rich sequences of landscapes, filmed in wide screen with the best technicolor. While the text of Lawrence of Arabia uses "fat" derisively to describe an imagined decadent England. (I always picture Bertie Wooster when Lawrence gets going on England being a fat country full of fat people. Not necessarily physically, but perhaps a mental blubber. ) It is a byword for decadence. The joy of course, is realizing the decadence of the experience of watching a three hour film, that takes time out to show you a troop of monkeys, a bicycle ride through tall grass, a woman passing an umbrella down a cliff as the wind absolutely booms in your ears. Lean transports you to impossible places. It is always spectacular.

I've often lamented the decade of bloated, over-long, over-budget films that followed in the wake of Lawrence of Arabia, which changed the landscape for a decade or more for better and worse. It seemed after Lawrence films got bigger but not necessarily better. Watching a master like J. Lee Thompson go from the glorious The Guns of Navarone to the excreble McKenna's Gold could inspire a strong case study against the Lawrence Effect.

Yet, it's Lean himself who makes best use of the space he made in the industry for a bigger, longer, artier film to be made in Hollywood. A Passage to India is a gorgeous film with a haunting theme. It's beautifully acted for the most part (Alec Guinness cringe aside) and manages both drawing room period drama pacing balanced against the coiled tension of Indian history. The film suffered from timing as it was released the year after Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. Two big name British filmmakers, doing period dramas set in India within a twelvemonth is a news story onto itself. Gandhi came out first: big, loud, simple-minded, ham-fisted, utterly gorgeous prestige drama that swept all the awards. The next year Lean puts out what amounts to an art house period dramedy with some interesting overtones of Forster's sexuality. That the film seems dated with its brown face and with its pussy footing around with the gay theme, when the year before Maurice was far more frank.

[ourdallasvideofestthings]

BART CHAT 9/17/18 Greetings all, DOCUFEST is coming soon to The Texas Theater. Weds  October 10th at 7:30 PM. We will be showing a short called Moment of Truth, made by the great Chuck Workman, that puts together key moments of documentary history that set the tone for this year’s DOCUFEST. We will also roll out the VideoFest promo for this year, shot on film (thanks to Kodak) and made by Josh Gallas. The main attraction on that Thursday night will be a screening of The Great Buster, a new documentary about Buster Keaton made and narrated by Peter Bogdanovich. I have loved the silent comic film from the first time I saw Chaplin.  There has been a longstanding debate, kind of like a “who was the best hitter in baseball debate” that people have at bars, but about who was better at the silent comic— Keaton, Chaplin or Harold Lloyd. If you see me at a bar, I’ll happily have that discussion with you, but I honestly think they are ALL great.  There is so much about Buster’s life and story that I didn’t know before, and now you will know, too, when you see the film. It’s always great to hear one great talk about another great on film. In this case, Bogdanovich’s writing and voiceover work are both entertaining and scholarly, and we get to hear from many others who were influenced by Buster such as Hertzog, Richard Lewis, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and many more—but of course, it is the films that steal the show. If you’ve never seen them or haven’t seen them in a while, this will definitely put a smile on your face. We are so happy to be able to start of DOCUFEST with this film!  I will post more on the rest of the schedule next week. Thursday night at 10:00 PM on KERA, Frame of Mind shows work from two very different film and video programs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Two of the films, The Broken Man and Sophia, are from TCU, and the two shorts, Bat and Basil, are from KD Conservatory, which is a great program headed by Dennis Bishop. What is showing this week? At The Texas, they are showing Deliverance. I really think about this film differently after seeing the documentary Hillbilly this year at the Women's Texas Film Festival. This film, while good and powerful, created a false impression of the people of Appalachia. For a balanced look, try Harlan County, or Matewan. Also at The Texas they are showing Bad Reputation—the Joan Jett film that played the Oak Cliff Film Festival and Shaft in 35mm. On Sunday night, you can catch Lawrence of Arabia, which should always be seen on the big screen, not an IPhone. I also saw the trailer for Kusama: Infinity and that looks good. The Magnolia Theater is showing Love Gilda, which I thought I was going to love but instead, just kind of liked. Pick of the Litter is playing there, so if you were inspired by PawFest, this is a chance to reconnect with your inner dog. The Angelika is showing Lizzie and Assassination Nation. The Alamo is showing Dazed and Confused, Full Metal Jacket and Spaceballs. (Why are they always showing Spaceballs?)  Also, before you check out Fahrenheit 11/9 playing around town, watch Despotism, as Moore uses clips from this film in his documentary about the current political state of affairs. On Thursday night, Women in Film Dallas is having their member showcase from 6:30-9:30PM at Media Tech and if you’re a filmmaker needing more information on how to market yourself, you can check out this workshop on marketing and publicity for actors and filmmakers. I hope you have a great week and don't forget to put Opening Night of DOCUFEST on your calendar! Bart Weiss, Artistic Director Dallas VideoFest

[forfoxessake]

I posted 195 times in 2021

162 posts created (83%)

33 posts reblogged (17%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.2 posts.

I added 522 tags in 2021

#100 movies challenge - 138 posts

#movies seen in 2021 - 129 posts

#movie review - 76 posts

#100 movies - 47 posts

#100 films challenge - 29 posts

#film review - 27 posts

#100 films - 23 posts

#netflix - 20 posts

#review - 17 posts

#documentary - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 52 characters

#self made: inspired by the life of madam c.j. walker

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

[79] Silver Skates (2020)

Watching Russian cute movies is going to be my thing, I can feel it. The language sounds so aggressive to my Latin-speaking self and it's so odd to see that in a romantic cutesy context. The film is not terrible in that made for the web/hallmark/Netflix way, it actually has a plot and interesting characters and a woman that gets exactly what she wants in the end.

17 notes • Posted 2021-07-05 20:56:47 GMT

#4

Dracula (2020)

In this alternative spin on the classic book, we see many differences from the original text, but my favorite out of all of them must be making Van Helsing a non-believing skeptical nun. She is the glue that puts together this series. A much bigger start than Jonathan and Nina, or even Dracula himself.

22 notes • Posted 2021-11-09 21:51:35 GMT

#3

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

You don't really need a lot of dialogue when you have Anya Taylor-Joy's expressive big eyes. They constantly saying a thousand words, telling a story in a few seconds. But luckily for us, this is much more than just that. It's a thrilling mini-series about chess, that makes a game hard to understand seem exciting and like a World Cup final at every game. It's also about addiction and the belief that without that thing we learned to rely on we are nothing. Finding out that is not true is hard work.

26 notes • Posted 2021-01-09 13:41:21 GMT

#2

2020 is over. The year in review.

 I watched 140 movies in 2019 of my usual 100 goal. This past year, we all got stuck at home due to humanity fucking up the world. So I reached the impressive number of 190 movies. 

I started the year with  Christopher Robin and ended with Free Solo, in between, there were many rewatches, many movies that I had put off watching for the longest time, many great films, and just as many bad ones. 

Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

A Ghost Story  - one of the last films I saw in 2020, quiet, delicate, and beautiful. The art of cinema at it’s best. 

Dogtooth - crazy, insane, unimaginable film where parents just take away their children’s liberty until they can’t possibly survive in the real world. 

God’s Own Country  - a film about love, just love understanding. 

 Holidate  - that perfect Christmas movie where is not really about Christmas but truly about adulthood and it’s fuck ups. 

Sound of Metal  - Riz Ahmed’s future Oscar win. This movie is so loud it hurts, so silent that is peaceful and so touching that you can’t help but understand. 

Little Monsters  -  I don’t know how to explain this movie, is this a kids movies? A romantic comedy? A zombie horror movie? Lupita is singing a Taylor Swift song while looking gorgeous in yellow and gore. 

Parasite -  2020 started so great with Parasite absolutely destroying the Oscar’s and it’s the end of the year and I don’t think anything that was released after is as good as this. 

 1917  -  I have seen very few films in cinemas this year and this was the one that I loved the most. I’m glad I got to see it and have the experience that is demanded. 

 Wild Rose  -   My favorite musical that is not really a musical. Jessie Buckley is bound to shy, as an actress, or as a singer, preferably both! 

 Apollo 11  -  I always wondered how it was possible for the USA to have reached the moon with the technology that they had at the time and after watching this I understand even less. INCREDIBLE. 

Lawrence of Arabia  -  a classic that took me far too long to see. I have seen a lot of war movies but none that actually gives us a glimpse of the economical reasons for so much death. And a fabulous Peter O’Toole in the role of a lifetime. 

The Godfather - yet another classic that now I don’t really understand why I had not seen a thousand times before. I find it impossible now to not stop and watch it whenever I come across it on tv. 

 Portrait de la jeune fille en feu - the art of cinema is an amazing thing, a movie put together so perfectly that every second has something to say, transcending words. 

Little Women - I have seen this twice and loved both times equally as much. Greta Gerwig turned a novel that I sort of enjoyed into a feminist manifest a la Jane Austen. 

 Jojo Rabbit - Taika Waititi is Hitler and there’s a little Nazi kid who we love, why? Because adults are shit and children should always be protected. 

 The Tale   - I have seen many movies on the subject this year but this one with Laura Dern hurts the most. Pedophilia needs to be talked about, if we don’t our children will forever be vulnerable. 

 Morte a Venezia  - I didn’t really like reading this Thomas Mann novel, it just didn’t click with me, the movie, on the other hand, is absolutely sublime. 

 Hotel Mumbai - I thought I was watching a white-savior movie but it turned out to be a movie about a real tragedy with real heroes that does a wonderful job not criminalizing religion or personal beliefs. 

 Romeo and Juliet  -  I was shocked to finally have read this play and realize it’s nothing like popular culture had me believe. Sure, it’s two very young people thinking that they found the love of their lives, and other teenagers going on with a fight that they really don’t understand. The tragedy of youth. 

 Dracula   - Francis Ford Coppola can also be fun and irreverent while at the same time delivering amazing shots and insane use of shadows and references. 

 Amadeus  - I thought this was bad at first and Mozart annoying with that loud laugh of his, but then his genius shine, and you can’t help but feel the touch of God. 

I have read 95 books this past year of my usual goal of 70. In 2019 I read 76 novels, short stories, and graphic novels. 

I started the year with  Warleggan (The Poldark Saga #4) by Winston Graham and ended with  Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster.  Read many series, audiobooks, audioplays, plays, short stories, graphic novels, and bad historical romances. 

Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Excalibur (The Warlord Chronicles #3) by Bernard Cornwell    -  this entire trilogy is amazing but the ending surpassed all my expectations. 

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade -   I adore audiobooks read by the authors and this one had me in fits of laughter. Richard is great, even greater when he dedicates an entire book to a terrible movie.

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35 notes • Posted 2021-01-01 15:48:10 GMT

#1

[53] The Father (2020)

Directed by Florian Zeller 

 A heart-wrenching, deeply touching movie. I don't think I have ever seen a movie about dementia/Alzheimer's quite like this.  It's unnerving to be experiencing the point of view of someone who has lost himself in time and space, who can't recognize his surroundings, the people that he loves, who is constantly vividly reliving things that are long past. Anthony Hopkins is a fantastic actor, with many excellent films, but The Father is his true masterpiece.

37 notes • Posted 2021-05-03 23:11:16 GMT

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[sdierdorf]

Scott’s Top Ten Movies

They’ll probably change tomorrow. But here’ s where I’m at right now. (Presented in alphabetical order.)

2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick • 1968 It’s hard for me to say which is Kubrick’s best film, but this is the one that moves me the most. I see it whenever I can, and I get something new out of it each time. It’s more philosophy than story, really, but it grabs your attention and never let’s go. And, of course, it’s visually stunning, with special effects that have never been equalled.

Blade Runner  Ridley Scott • 1982 I hesitate to call this a guilty pleasure, but for some reason it feels that way. More noir than sci-fi, Blade Runner never stops interesting me. Scott’s direction is spot on, and Harrison Ford’s cocksure performance is perfect. Another movie I watch whenever I can. 

Citizen Kane  Orson Welles • 1941 I know it’s a little cliche to say you love this movie, but boy do I love this movie. Seeing this for the first time was an awakening for me. It showed me that films could be more than just entertainment, and set me off on a life of loving film as art and craft. 

Dune David Lynch • 1984 Okay, this one is a guilty pleasure. A flawed film to be sure, but what can I say? I love it. It’s confusing and hastily assembled, and it’s questionable if it ever would have come together even if the studio hadn’t meddled with it. But it’s also gorgeous, and inspiring, and its scenes are all so tightly written that it makes you realize what a master screenwriter Lynch is. It’s the perfect vision of what the novel Dune was trying for, and, although I love Denis Villeneuve, he’s got some big shoes to fill with his coming Dune adaptation.

My Neighbor Totoro  Miyazaki • 1988 I say this is the greatest children’s movie ever made, and I’ll fight anyone who tries to argue. Not only is My Neighbor Totoro an example of the towering artistic achievement that is possible in animation, it’s also a sweet, funny, kind film. Totoro is perhaps the best children’s character ever: part protector, part little brother, part magical unicorn. I’ve seen it a thousand times, but the magic never wears off.

Mulholland Dr. David Lynch • 1999 I’ll take a flyer here and say that this is Lynch’s best film. It contains virtually every Lynchian trope, but puts them all in a package that is challenging to the viewer but ultimately coheres perfectly. (This is in contrast to his other masterpiece Lost Highway, which is similar in tone but far more elliptical.) More to the point, I love watching it. I have to be in the right mood to watch Lost Highway, but I can watch Mulholland Dr. anytime.

Raiders of the Lost Ark Steven Spielberg • 1981 The ultimate popcorn adventure movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark is also one of the greatest examples of film craft ever put on screen. If you ever doubted Spielberg’s talent, simply sit down and watch Raiders with a critical eye. Although aided by a great script by Lawrence Kasdan and the keen eye of DP Douglas Slocombe, most of the glory here is Spielberg’s. Watching Raiders is a thrill-ride of cinematic craft.

Rashomon Akira Kurosawa • 1950 It’s hard to pick just one Kurosawa film for this list. I easily could have chosen Ran, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, High and Low, or The Bad Sleep Well. All are brilliant films, and all are personal favorites. But Rashomon has an extra certain something that makes it special. The structure is famously brilliant, the acting is top notch, and the black and white photography is beautiful. It’s a more personal film, so it lacks the epic sweep of Ran or Seven Samurai, but I don’t think it’s the worse for it. This was Kurosawa’s debut on the international stage and was a revelation to me when I saw it. 

Singin’ In The Rain  Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly • 1952 This is the greatest movie musical ever, and I love it. The songs are great, the acting is great, and the dancing never fails to impress. Even more than that, though, I love the direction, in particular the “Broadway Melody” sequence. It’s tight, efficient, gorgeous, and hilarious. Truly a masterpiece within a masterpiece.

Vertigo/Notorious/Hitchcock 

Honorable Mentions

Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985) – Forget Chinatown; this might be the most perfect script ever written.

Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975) – Gorgeous.

The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925) – Not as perfect a film as City Lights, but funnier.

In the Mood For Love (Wong, 2000) – A beautiful story, gorgeously rendered.

Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962) – They don’t make movies of this scale anymore.

The New World (Malick, 2005) – A religious experience.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928) – The most beautiful black and white photography ever put on film.

Raising Arizona (Coen, 1987) – Another of my favorite comedies of all time, and overall great piece of filmmaking.

Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959) – One of my favorite comedies of all time. Lemmon and Curtis at their best.

There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007) – Watching DDL work is such a joy.

Up (Docter & Peterson, 2009) – I love the whole film, but the first 20 minutes stand alone as one of the most moving silent films ever made.

[aion-rsa]

Justice League: The Snyder Cut Will Be a 4-Hour Miniseries

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Mythical. That is a word Zack Snyder and his collaborators like to use when describing Justice League and its lineup of superheroes. To be sure the character of Wonder Woman is inspired, at least in part, by ancient Greek mythology, but they all take on a mythic bent in Snyder’s mind, which he expanded upon during the DC FanDome panel for “The Snyder Cut” of Justice League. And like any good epic myth, Snyder’s vision for Justice League is meant to be long.

Indeed, it was at the end of the “Snyder Cut” panel when the filmmaker revealed that the film will have a gargantuan length of four hours and be released not as a single viewing experience but in four individual installments. That’s right, Justice League just effectively became an HBO Max miniseries.

“It’s going to be in four parts, one-hour each,” Snyder revealed. “So four hours of Justice League is coming your way. We’re going to work on a way of bundling it together at the end, so you can watch it as a single film if that’s the way you want to experience it.”

This is a fairly surprising development in the labyrinthine saga revolving around Justice League’s production and release. For nearly three years, a passionate segment of fans demanded Warner Bros. release “The Snyder Cut” for the film, even as this cut didn’t technically exist. While there had been an assembly cut of Justice League produced—purportedly running close to six hours—and which had been slowly shortened, the movie’s edit was far from over, not to mention post-production work that includes special effects, music, sound editing, color correction, and a legion of other aspects hadn’t been completed.

So when WB and HBO Max announced they were going to release “the Snyder Cut,” it also meant they had to make it. Nevertheless, one would be hard pressed to find a fan who expected to get a four-hour cut, or one that would be released, at least initially, like a TV series. However, there is a commercial and creative wisdom in this decision.

If “the Snyder Cut” of Justice League is borne out of fan demand to get a different, allegedly more substantial version of the movie, giving them as much content as possible may generate greater value than trying to make something that appeals to the widest possible audience. This also puts Justice League now in the rare company of four-hour epics that include Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, and maybe less illustriously, Cleopatra. But more importantly, if it’s cut up over four episodes, HBO Max could potentially space Justice League out over four weeks. This means if it starts in the middle of any given month in 2021, it would ensure two months’ worth of subscriptions for fans who want to see it all live.

To be clear, this is purely speculation, and no timetable or release has been announced. But what is clear from the new “Snyder Cut” trailer is that it will be filled with plenty of glorious slow-motion money shots.

Snyder also took a moment at the end of the panel to reassure fans who do not live in the U.S. or a country where the HBO Max service is offered that it will be made available via traditional international distribution plans.

“Also to all my international fans and everyone watching all over the world, don’t worry if you don’t have HBO Max,” Snyder said, “because we’re working on a distribution plan, so I promise you that you’re going to get the chance to see it.”

The question though of whether they’ll see it as a movie or television series remains to be answered.

The post Justice League: The Snyder Cut Will Be a 4-Hour Miniseries appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[ladystylestores]

Good sci-fi speaks to the times, and Domain has done that twice in four years

The email hit my inbox in mid-May. The reader kept things succinct.

Subject: Remember Domain?

Body: I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/12/the-domain-review-the-internet-can-be-worse-than-humanity-ravaging-epidemics/

Two months into a global pandemic obviously sticking around for a bit, I can’t say I had put much thought into a sci-fi B-movie I saw once several years back. But upon mention, I did instantly and vaguely remember Domain. I caught a screener for Ars ahead of a small sci-fi-only film festival in December 2016, and the premise stuck with me more than the plot or any single performance. In this unabashedly indie film (read: high-concept, super specific, and low-budget aesthetic), a viral pandemic called the Saharan Flu keeps racking up a body count. “The World Health Organization says it’s potentially civilization-threatening,” public broadcasts declare within the film’s opening minutes after 5,000 deaths (only!) sweep across Germany, Egypt, and Italy.

Ho-hum, another pandemic film, you say. We have a million of those. In fact, not even writer/director Nathaniel Atcheson had been recently thinking about Domain in light of our current predicament (I called and asked in June). But what happens in-film after its fictional pandemic makes Domain disturbingly prescient four years later. The movie follows seven people from across the United States, but most of the action takes place in similar-looking bunkers because humanity has been forced to quarantine en masse. And in this alternate version of the present day, the government requires these groups to keep tabs on each other by communicating through ever-present video chat—it’s not Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet, or Skype; it’s the titular Domain.

“It was probably two or three weeks into [the pandemic] before I realized and put the connection together myself,” Atcheson tells Ars. “I literally made a movie about this exact scenario: people are home for a very long time and all they have is this Web interface. The real-world logistics are a bit different—obviously we can go outside, we just aren’t supposed to. So maybe that kept me from making the connection sooner, but I’m sort of embarrassed how long it took for me to think of it. I have the poster on my wall in my living room/dining room, and I was sitting here eating and looking at the poster. ‘Oh my god.'”

Talk about a 2020 logline: “After a deadly virus wipes out most of humanity, the survivors are forced to wait in self-sustaining bunkers with a networked video interface for communication, but one by one, they start mysteriously disappearing.”

Denver trying to send some long-distance love to Phoenix using the Domain video chat.

Maybe Domain isn’t a perfect movie, but it is definitely an interesting movie.

Twitter

A lot of reviews from 2020 for a film from 2016…

Amazon Prime

IMDB

IMDB

Like the anonymous Ars reader above, others who had seen the movie had been making the connection, though. Domain hit DVD and VOD back in 2018, and the film sat on Amazon Prime waiting in plain sight as all of us started having more living room time than we bargained for this spring. Atcheson has since noticed an uptick in user reviews saying as much. And when we revisited our review of the film this spring, phew, does it make you do a double take.

If deadly flu destroys the world and we’re all left together on Skype, it won’t end well…

As the film’s reliance on a social network plot point may indicate, Domain has something to say about the nature of our interactions through digital means. It’s a place that empowers consequence-free action for trolls like Orlando, a place that can feel so isolating that suicide seems viable, and a place where a real mystery can propagate endless fear-mongering theories…

Domain‘s fictitious president oversees a US that is ransacked by viral outbreak and choses to save everyone by only focusing on a select few. And within this new world, bullying and fear could run wild. As with any good sci-fi, there’s probably a lesson somewhere.

Of course, when Atcheson was writing Domain sometime before 2015, he had no intention of predicting or speaking to life in 2020 (or to the very unexpected changes in the fall of 2016 when Domain debuted, for that matter). Without spoiling anything, neither viral pandemics nor the horrors of always-online life actually inspired Atcheson to sit down and write Domain. Instead, a separate subject still on the public’s mind did: the criminal justice system. Domain turns out to be a twist movie, a concept Atcheson has a love/hate relationship with. It can make a film more complex and interesting, but “they’re usually so often just a ‘Gotcha!'” he says. “They don’t always have thematic relevance, so I wanted this one to make you go back and think about everything else you saw.”

Making an indie film he knew would struggle to get footing since it didn’t feature a star, Atcheson ultimately kept Domain at a tight ~90 minutes to maximize his chance for finding an audience and earning festival showings. As such, the twist may not be as fully explored as some viewers would like. But the filmmaker told Ars he actually had a sequel in mind if the opportunity came about, and that story would lean much more into the ideas in Domain‘s final act. And if Atcheson had the opportunity to remake things (or to turn Domain into a series on Netflix or Quibi or whatever), those ideas would be emphasized faster and further.

“The virus stuff is interesting, but pandemics have happened. People have made movies about people waiting in isolation from viruses or viruses ravaging the world. For the original concept, I was inspired by this novel Station Eleven, which is about to be adapted into a TV series,” Atcheson says. “The concept is: everyone loves a good viral thriller. And for me, I wanted to set that apart from the crowd by having this other thematic thrust, which is this one-two punch of the virus and then [what happens in the end, #NoSpoilers]. Today’s Black Lives Matter and justice-reform protests have strangely made the movie more relevant than I could’ve ever expected. I never wanted it to have a happy ending, because that didn’t feel appropriate for the story. I couldn’t see a way for it to resolve into something positive for these characters.”

Given the odd state of cinema in 2020, revisiting small, possibly overlooked titles from recent years has become one of the few, reliable ways to see new (or at least new-to-you) films. And revisiting Domain, which is still available on VOD and Amazon Prime, actually took my mind to a few other recent smaller films. The stylish and claustrophobic High Life, Claire Denis’ space flick with Robert Pattinson, shares a similar high aesthetic and vibe (“I actually watched that at the beginning of quarantine,” Atcheson says. “I was definitely going for a similar thing, at least with the art direction, though obviously I’m not Claire Denis. I thought it was great”).

But Domain makes me think most about another Amazon Prime flick—The Vast of Night. These two films share an approach to storytelling: take a known archetype (pandemics and aliens), apply your vision and voice, and give audiences just enough to think about without offering an explicit message, thus allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions.

When Ars spoke to Vast of Night filmmaker Andrew Patterson last fall, he believed that should be the goal of both good sci-fi and of good films in general. They have captivating central stories and timeless-enough ideas and themes for different generations or time periods to see their reality within. “Good films will be about something else depending on the era they’re watched in. They can kind of meander through time,” Patterson said, citing a Lawrence of Arabia rewatch that brought the film’s LGBTQ undertones to his attention. “So I hope we made a movie that in 40 years is about the definition of a family or in 30 years is about something else.”

It’s only been four years for Domain, but already the film has lived through and resonated within two potentially historic and distinct times in US (if not world) history. Not bad at all for a young filmmaker’s little sci-fi B-movie.

Listing image by Fons PR / Other Worlds Austin

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