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2009 | 2008 | 2007

10 articles from 2009

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Scenes We Love: Christmas Morning with 'The Thin Man'

25 December 2009 6:02 AM, PST | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Between Monika and myself, The Thin Man gets plenty of love here at Cinematical, and a few years back Jeffrey included the classic film on a list of non-Christmas movies set during the holiday season. But this time of year I can't help coming back to everyone's favorite alcoholic detective couple, Nick and Nora Charles (played by William Powell and -- swoon -- Myrna Loy), and sharing my appreciation for their witty and drunken ways. If only one person is turned on to this movie with each posting about it, I feel my work at this blog is good for moviegoing-kind. And since tis the season for giving, I'm glad to be able to gift an introduction to or a memory of the first of their six film installments.

Ironically, Nick and Nora may not seem the most clearly Christmas-spirited folks (they tend to prefer an 's' at the end »

- Christopher Campbell

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Watch: My Dear Enemy at MoMA

18 November 2009 10:00 PM, PST | TribecaFilm.com | See recent Tribeca Film news »

An older version of this piece originally ran as a Q and A during the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. More often than not, the romantic comedy is an utter wasteland of a film genre, giving the world two one-dimensional characters played by very pretty actors with some amount of platable quirks - She likes getting married! He likes drinking beer! - and pushes them together at the end. The results, more often than not, are insulting to the average moviegoer. There's a reason that Woody Allen's masterpiece Annie Hall is, across the board, the only romantic comedy cited as a favorite or influence in the past thirty years. (And not enough people give the delightful, sex-charged interplay of your average 1930s screwball comedy credit these days; say, something by Preston Sturges or Myrna Loy and William Powell in The Thin Man.) That said, there's something special in the South Korean »

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Discuss: The Characters We Wish Were Serialized

29 October 2009 3:32 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

There are times when our fandom gets satiated. We see a world stretch out before us on the big screen, come to adore a character, and then get to follow him or her through a number of films. In some cases, they might even start to feel like an old friend, popping up over and over again. We'll become attuned to their swagger, the tone of their voice, the moments they love or loathe. Other characters, their presence in our lives is deliciously, yet painfully brief -- destined only for repeat viewings of the same scenes, the same reactions, the same outcome over and over again.

The more our movie world leans towards sequels, the more part of me wishes certain characters could have continuing life on the big screen. (Played by the same actor, of course. No Vince Vaughn/Norman Bates recasts allowed.) On the mind from earlier this month, »

- Monika Bartyzel

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Ramon Novarro II: Best Films, Rex Ingram

27 October 2009 1:34 PM, PDT | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Jeanette MacDonald, Ramon Novarro in The Cat and the Fiddle. Photo: Courtesy Matias Bombal Collection. Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview I How would you describe Ramon Novarro the actor? Novarro was a first-rate actor – maybe not an Olivier, but a good solid actor. Even in bad films such as Laughing Boy (1934), he had his moments. He was excellent in dramatic roles such as the aviator Alexis Rosanoff opposite Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1931), or as the rapist-suitor of Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (1933). He excelled in light comedic moments, especially in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) and in several of his musicals including The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) and The [...] »

- Andre Soares

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What "Inglourious Basterds" Owes to History

9 September 2009 12:00 PM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

[Spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen "Inglourious Basterds."]

There have been two moments in film this year that have moved me to my cine-loving core. Both involved individuals stirred by the power of image, art and mythology. And both illustrated a personal investment for each character (some, real-life characters), revealing a potent significance and identification -- something that ascended beyond mere fandom. Simple and yet complex, these moments were meaningful to these people.

One, occurred in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies." Watching John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) fatefully sitting inside the Biograph watching Clark Gable as Blackie, essentially playing a version of Johnny (John Dillinger) in "Manhattan Melodrama," the look on J.D.'s face was gripping. And not only because we know what's going to happen to the legendary gangster once he steps out of that theater, but for all of the imagined ideas going through Dillinger's head at that moment. How could he not think »

- Kim Morgan

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Link Shelves

6 July 2009 9:20 PM, PDT | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

Self Styled Siren "anecdote of the week" the great Myrna Loy (Manhattan Melodrama) on John Dillinger -- a great choice 0f topic given all the discussion about Public Enemies this week.

PopWatch the future and end of Friday Night Lights, one of the best shows on television. If you haven't yet watched, please do yourself the favor and rent the DVDs.

Kenneth in the (212) on the documentary "My Big Break". A documentarian decided to film his struggling actor roommates and three of the four ended up finding some fame.

Lazy Eye Theater is a patriot. He alerts the authorities to Roland Emmerich's questionable activities. "If you see something, say something!"

The Hot Blog David Poland has some deep thoughts on the audience/critical divide and what we (the audience) need and accept from movies. Good stuff though I'm not so sure about the final Star Wars examples. CGI Yoda »

- NATHANIEL R

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Interview: 'Warehouse 13'

17 June 2009 12:00 PM, PDT | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »

In July, Sci Fi Channel, which by then will be called by its new moniker, Syfy, debuts a new series, Warehouse 13. Starring Joanne Kelly (Vanished, Jeremiah), Eddie McClintock (Bones, Desperate Housewives), and Saul Rubinek (Frasier, Leverage), the paranormal themed show is set in South Dakota, where the U.S. government maintains a warehouse that houses “strange artifacts, mysterious relics, fantastical objects and supernatural souvenirs”.

Kelly and McClintock are two Secret Service agents who, after saving the life of a president, are transferred to the South Dakota facility, where they meet the caretaker, Artie Nielsen, played by Rubinek.

McClintock’s Pete Lattimer sees the assignment as a reward, but Kelly’s Myka Bering can’t help but feel like she’s being punished. Regardless, their new responsibility is to chase down new objects that belong in the warehouse.

Warehouse 13 is lensed largely on location in and around Toronto. The »

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Scenes We Love: The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

7 May 2009 4:15 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Shirley Temple was the biggest box-office star during the Great Depression, tap-dancing, pouting and mugging through a staggering number of films and shorts -- IMdB has 11 listings for the curly-headed moppet in 1933 alone. One can only imagine that Dakota Fanning's agents wish they could have worked her that hard, too. Damn these modern child labor laws!

But like most kid stars, Temple worked less as she got older. She was still doing roughly a picture a year during her teen years, but for a star of her caliber under studio contract, she might as well not have been working at all. Temple retired in 1949 at the age of 21 (the same year that she divorced actor John Agar, whom she married when she was 16) and went on to an impressive career in public service.

But what if she had continued acting? For a glimpse of what might have been, check »

- Dawn Taylor

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Getting Versed in Versus Movies

31 March 2009 9:43 AM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

There has to be no easier movie pitch than unveiling a "versus" in the title. Everyone, even studio heads, has at one time or another dwelt on the existential question of "who would win in a fight?" The conflict is clear, the characters are established, the action implied -- all they have to do is sign on the bottom line. Sci-fi has especially benefited from the built-in allure of this most savage of titling decisions -- from the endless "Godzilla" fight cards to the recent "Alien vs. Predator" franchise, mano y mano monster throwdowns have made a mint at the box office, especially when established geek properties square off. Often a sign that a character has run his or her course into camp ("Freddy vs. Jason" or "Dracula vs. Frankenstein"), the more resourceful of these films exceed their built-in limitations. DreamWorks is trying to milk that "versus" mojo for their animated 3D spectacle "Monsters vs. »

- R. Emmet Sweeney

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Why Do So Many Romantic Comedies Suck?

11 March 2009 12:16 AM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »

A reader sent in a link to E's interview with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (featured to the right) and the interviewer asks the two stars of the upcoming 500 Days of Summer, "Why do you think so many romantic comedies suck?" A valid question and Deschanel beats around the bush to ultimately come to the conclusion that once you tell the same story 100 different times just with different people it kind of gets old. Gordon-Levitt believes the films seem to fall into the trap of pandering to their audience rather than say something true, which sounds to me like a roundabout way of saying filmmakers are treating the audiences as idiots when they aren't. I haven't seen 500 Days of Summer yet, but I have heard good things, but this question of why have romantic comedies gone so far downhill in the recent years is something I have talked about with »

- Brad Brevet

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2009 | 2008 | 2007

10 articles from 2009

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