Film Experience Blog

Ask David Lynch I asked him a few questions today. He was sympathetic about my cat's health problems but he sure was mean / incoherent once I asked any question about myself. What will Lynch tell you?
CHUD "What if Jaws (1975) was made today?" I love this article and I absolutely believe that it would be as described. So...much...backstory nowadayzzzz
IMDb Q'Orianka Kilcher (The New World) arrested in oil related protest. We all know that oil companies (and our dumb societal resistance to developing alternate forms of energy) are going to be the death of us all so it's good to see young activists out there.
fourfour turns five. Happy birthday to an amazing blog. Rich shares his 20 favorite posts

Observations on Film Art Why are today's movies so unimaginatively shot with back and forth closeups? I'm always bitching about this so it's nice to see other people begging for variety, too. More blocking for your actors, please, directors. Try "The Cross"
The Scott Brothers on The Discreet Charm of Catherine Deneuve:

It’s that filmic resolve that sometimes gets labeled as “emotionally distant”, which is wholly unfair and misses the point of her amazing abilities as an actress.

Movie|Line Christina Hendricks removes her body parts in sci-fi music video. Honestly I think I just read a book like this. Was it Saturn's something?
Los Angeles Times the great cinematographer William A Fraker (Rosemary's Baby, Bullitt, Looking For Mr Goodbar) passes on. RIP

The latest commercial/film in Marion Cotillard's Dior deal is out. (How much are they paying her anyway?) It's a 16 minute whatsit from the inimitable David Lynch called "Lady Blue Shanghai"


Given that the film contains grainy dv shots, ominously loud ambient soundscores, a nervous girl walking down empty corridors, overlapping image bleed and red curtains, it's Lynchian with a capital L. But parodically so?

In some ways it plays like a distant cousin of INLAND EMPIRE, a lightweight cousin with a heftier clothing allowance. Cotillard has her talents -- I like the way she handles one of those absurdly obvious Lynch questions "who knows what's inside that bag?" -- but nobody will ever top Laura Dern for her facility at embodying Lynch's psychotic break story beats in all their humor, danger and weird sincerity. Give or take Laura Palmer.



For what it's worth the film is more beautiful to look at on the Lady Dior site. I have no idea who her co-star is here. It says "with Gong Tao" but a search brings up nothing by way of an actor or model with that name.

I love that modern corporations have taken to employing acclaimed auteurs for longform commercials (a nice way for them to make extra money while audiences ignore their filmographies to buy tickets to the latest CGI film) but I doubt anything will ever top The Hire (2000-2001, starring Clive Owen) in this particular realm of filmdom. Those were such gems.



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* Further reading on this Lynch project at /Film and The Financial Times

Jose here reporting from the 25th Guadalajara International Film Festival.


A few days ago our workshop had the opportunity to have a long talk with novelist/screenwriter Barry Gifford (Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, Perdita Durango). Being in Mexico as we are, most of the conversation was spent on Gifford's love of border towns and the shady characters who inhabit them. "Borders always represent another country" he said before he addressed his fascination with criminal minds in exotic locales.

For all of you Film Experience readers who love The Wizard of Oz as much as Nat and I do, I thought it would be interesting to share how its influence on Wild At Heart came to be.

"It was all David [Lynch]" Gifford said "I was in France doing publicity for the book [version] and when I saw it for the first time the day before it screened at Cannes I saw the homage". Apparently producer Samuel Goldwyn hated the original, more realistic, ending (which is in Gifford's book) and asked Lynch to rewrite it. That rewriting created one of the most fascinating merges of classic and contemporary film.

When asked how he came up with the title Wild at Heart he revealed that it came to him by chance. Years later he found out that it was one of Tennessee Williams' favorite things to say ("say a prayer for the wild at heart") and felt the playwright was exerting some sort of blessing on his work from beyond the grave.

In case you're wondering... Golden Globe predictions tomorrow

Indie Wire the winners of the European Film Awards
Topless Robot Natalie Portman to produce and star in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, they're making a movie from the gimmicky bestseller.

What follows is my original top ten list of 2001. We'll discuss each year of the decade over the next month or two (we already did 2000). I do this because I am curious about which films "stick" and which fade and why and maybe you are too? Best year of the decade I think. The top five films would all be valid #1 film choices in some years. New comments are in red.

Note: This list references films released in NYC in 2001, not year of production or year in which they first the hit festival circuit or whatnot.


Runners Up (in descending order): Sexy Beast, Ali, Series 7: The Contenders, The Others, Last Resort and Waking Life. I don't remember loving Ali that much... and more than The Others? I don't remember that at all. I mean Nicole Kidman was the shit TWICE OVER in 2001.

In my round up of the year I also sang the praises of Monsters, Inc, Crazy/Beautiful and Wet Hot American Summer. Even though I listed Monsters, Inc as "underrated" I still didn't have it in the top 16. That was weird, me! I never consider documentaries eligible for the year's top ten. That's a quirk of mine that I can't really defend except for to say that I don't see enough of them to fairly evaluate their merits and I find it nearly impossible to compare their merits to those of narrative features. That said, in 2001 I was wild for The Gleaners and I.

10 No Man's Land
This acclaimed Bosnian film from Danis Tanovic is a startling visceral comedy about the lunacy of war. Let's hope it beats the overpraised (if admittedly enjoyable) Amélie to the foreign language Oscar this year.

I was surprisingly prophetic there though I understand a lot of people are still mad about that underdog win.

09 The Royal Tenenbaums
A film that flirts with greatness and becomes all the more touching by missing the mark. There's one great scene after another in Wes Anderson's fairy tale document on a family of failed geniuses. The film is blessed with a beautiful team-spirit bouquet of fine performances from Paltrow, Hackman, Huston, Glover, and the Wilson brothers. They've got character.

er... I get what I was saying but I'm not so sure this film missed the mark. It's a thing of melancholy beauty and curious singular humor. Anderson's best by a significant margin.

08 In the Bedroom
Todd Field's studied and terrific debut may not be the masterwork some have claimed it to be but it's a damn good film nonetheless. Its most remarkable feature is its honest deceptiveness. You think it's a love story. Bang, It's not. You think it's a thriller. Oops, think again. It's not that the film is lying, but that we are so accustomed to certain plot trajectories that its difficult to see the film's harrowing turns coming or to immediately understand how thoroughly it undermines traditional notions of revenge or catharsis. Bonus points to the cast for illuminating the emptying effects of grief, and the rage of the broken.

Todd Field and Wes Anderson's subsequent films have made me question my love for these on occasion. I can't say that I remember In the Bedroom well but I like what I remember still. That The Tenenbaums is all the way down at #9 only goes to show what a great year 2001 was.

07 Tillsammans (Together)
The sweetest film of the year is also one of the smartest. Lukas Moodyson throws a broken family into a 70s commune and the resulting emotional, personal, romantic, and idealistic collisions that ensue expose, illuminate, and energize all involved. "Feel good" is a term often used to describe manipulative, simple-minded, happy endings and Hollywood-style sugarcoating. Thankfully, this Swedish comedy has neither of those attributes and actually feels good. It uplifts while engaging you both emotionally and intellectually.

Nobody talks about this movie (maybe because Lukas Moodyson's subsequent films have been so brutal as to be deemed unwatchable by some fans of his first movies) and in truth I don't remember it well but I do remember how I felt leaving the theater: marvelous.

06 Gosford Park
No movie this year approaches it in terms of its nimbleness and fluidity in mixing character, theme and wit. Robert Altman's return to form is wildly entertaining.


05 Mulholland Dr.
This, the critical darling of 2001 (OK, In the Bedroom came close) was the year's most familiar complete stranger. We've seen all the Lynchian motifs, images, and characters before but this time, the singular auteur fashioned something new and revelatory out of his used parts. This picture, a grand one, had tremendous "give" in it allowing for multiple correct intrepetations, thereby prompting the most fascinating critical discussions of the year. But all that aside, the truly smart way to watch Lynch's mindfuck is to just let go and give in to its undeniable and nonsensical pull. From the frenetic overexposed jitterbug opening sequence to the final silencing moment, it's undeniably gripping. Just dive into the blue box.

Subsequent years have only strengthened its grip on the imagination, haven't they?

04 Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A triple threat triumph from writer/director/star John Cameron Mitchell. That this unforgettable theatrical experience made such a successful transfer to the screen with its punk edge, subversive charm, and visceral rock spirit intact was the year's happiest little miracle.

03 In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar Wai has outdone himself. The year's most glorious foreign film has the year's best cinematography. It paints a masterful and hypnotic meditation on memory, emotional stasis, and romantic yearning. The luminous coupling of Maggie Cheung as Mrs Chan and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Mr. Chow astonish: They're as erotic as Mulholland Dr's Nancy Drew lovers without a sex scene, as glamorous as Moulin Rouge!'s doomed bohemians without as many costume changes and in the end they're more emotionally affecting than either of those sensational couplings. Unmissable.

If I had a gazillion dollars I would have this movie projected on my bedroom wall 24/7. Who needs photos, wallpaper, art or paint? Just these visuals on loop, forever.

02 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pure magic. Peter Jackson's new film sets the bar high. Released just one month prior to it, Harry Potter looks even more factory-like next to it. The Fellowship of the Ring recalls the grandiose Star Wars magic minus the bad acting and none of the eventual dissappointments of an embarassing Episode One. Fellowship is compared to many films but the one it looks prettiest sitting next to is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In just two short years, two signature adventure epics for The East and the West have arrived that dwarf everything their genre has offered for years. Both films will likely inspire future filmmakers who are now but starry eyed children discovering the enormous magic of the cinema while watching them for the first time.

01 Moulin Rouge!
It's no secret that I've always adored Bazmark productions. (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet were also top ten entries in their years.) But Luhrmann and his troupe topped themselves this time. With the final film in his Red Curtain Trilogy celebrating 'real artificiality,' Baz delivered his masterpiece. A lot of ink has been spilt covering Bazmark's divisive musical fantasia and I could certainly spill a lot more, but I think this revolution of a musical sums itself up quite well and accurately in one of its first numbers.

Spectacular! Spectacular!
no words in the vernacular
can describe this great event
you'll be dumb with wonderment.

More than any film in 2001 this film hit my nerve center of cinephilia: I got completely lost in the daring aesthetics, inspired performances, music, dance, and romance. I was stunned, flabbergasted, thrilled, moved, entertained, and drained all at once. When it was over I could only applaud, buy the soundtrack, and return to the theater repeatedly. To paraphrase another song from the film: come what may... come what may.... I will love this film until my dying day.

I wasn't kidding.

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What were your favorite pictures from 2001?
Do they hold up now? Do you agree that 2001 was the best film year of the decade? For the record the films I was not at all crazy about that quite a few other people love include: The Devil's Backbone, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, A Beautiful Mind, Shrek, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone and Ghost World.
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Celebrating the birthdays of the filmic and famous. Because, why not? If it's your big day, holla at us in the comments.


Today's Birthdays 11/04
1868 La Belle Otero Spanish actress, courtesan to royalty, La Folies Bergere dancer and star of a scandalous silent short performing the "Valse Brilliante". Where's her biopic? In order to inject life into that zombie-like genre (no brains, only forward motion) I really think filmmakers need to look at more obscure but still fascinating figures, further back in time. If they stop trying to win Oscars and just try to tell interesting stories, I bet they'll still win the Oscars. Try harder, Hollywood.
1913 Gig Young won the supporting actor Oscar for They Shoot Horses Don't They?, a totally brilliant and Oscar historical film. Emcee roles are sometimes gold for awards contention, right?
1918 Art Carney of Harry and Tonto Oscar-winning fame
1946 Frederick Elmes, wonderfully expressive cinematographer who made those masterful David Lynch films so beautiful (Mulholland Dr, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart). Also favored by Ang Lee. Sadly, he's never been nominated for an Oscar. Next up: Jim Sheridan's remake of the Danish film Brothers.
1960 Kathy Griffin... suck it! The comedienne turns 49 today. I keep wondering when she'll change the title of her show because she's so not a D-Lister anymore.
1969 Matthew McConaughey, romantic comedy person, sun worshipper.

Finally, since we've already broached the subject of better biopic candidates why not Robert Mapplethorpe? The famously controversial and sexually fixated photographer seems ripe for a risque movie. I don't know if you've heard this (I hadn't... or I'd forgotten it out of the inability to categorize its weirdness) but early this year Eliza Dushku (yes, her) bought the rights to his life for just such a project. Hollywood is such a strange place. The real question is how the hell you'd ever make his life into a biopic without being willing to go the NC-17 route. And who is ever willing to do that? And who would play Patti Smith? To celebrate Mapplethorpe's birthday today -- he would have been 63 -- take a black and white photograph of yourself with a bullw... uh... never mind.

Would you see a Mapplethorpe biopic?

Robert here, continuing my series of the directors that shaped the past 10 years (Enjoy the first two installments on Scorsese and Bahrani) . The most important directors of the past 10 years aren’t always the most prolific, though this series will require a director to have released at least 2 films. Not to mention some of those featured here may be love ‘em or hate ‘em choices. Something tells me, this weeks entry is one such man: David Lynch.

Number of Films: Two.
Modern Masterpieces: I’m going to go ahead and suggest that both Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire qualify.
Total Disasters: Though you may feel that both Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire fall here.
Better than you remember: And if you do think that, may I suggest you place them here.
Awards: Nominated for a Best Director Oscar for Mulholland Drive. Won Best Director in Cannes for that same film.
Box Office: Mulholland Drive grosses over 7 mil, easily topping Inland Empire. That’s what lesbians get you.
Critical Consensus: Mulholland Drive receives high praise (some suggesting it’s his best). Inland Empire confuses the bejesus out of people, gets mostly good notices.
Favorite Actor: Justin Theroux stars in both films and the remaining principle cast of Mulholland Drive returns for Inland Empire to do the voices in a rabbit sitcom (taken from his short film Rabbits).


Let’s talk about:
Dreams. I’ve long believed that the “it’s all a dream” gimmick isn’t necessarily cinematic suicide as long as you stick to one important rule… if your story is “all a dream” please don’t tell the audience. Just leave it be. Films mired in dream-logic have an unfortunate tendency to break down and explain everything to the audience almost as if they don’t trust the viewer to accept a world not based in logic-logic (I’m looking at you Vanilla Sky). Such films give up standing as art, or even entertainment in favor of being a puzzle, a riddle, a trick, the main point of which is solving the shallow mystery. It does a great disservice to the story and to the viewer.

Are David Lynch’s movies dreams? We don’t know precisely because he avoids any artificial third act reveal. Lynch’s movies may be dreams and they may be puzzles, but it’s clear that he doesn’t see them that way. He’s not interested in presenting the audience with a trick. Odd as it may seem, he’s interested in presenting them with a truth.


Even if Lynch’s movies aren’t dreams, it’s obvious that the man himself is a believer in the genuine honesty of dream-logic. Dream-logic is unhindered by restrictions of consistency or reality. And since restrictions and hindrances only get in the way of truth, dream logic can more quickly lead the way to honesty. Though Lynch's goal isn’t intellectual honesty (even though most people spend their time watching a Lynch straining their brains) as much as it is emotional honesty. David Lynch doesn’t want you to think. David Lynch wants you to feel. Unlike most directors, he seems to believe that the medium of film has more in common with music than literature. He’s relived himself of the burden of clear narrative (so necessary for literature) and instead focused on the type of moods that few things other than a piece of music can give. When watching a David Lynch film, ignore the frustrations perplexing you and simply sit back, allowing it to envelop your being... like a dream.

All of this is worth noting, since Lynch’s two films this decade are among the most abstract in his filmography and his current career trajectory points inevitably in the same direction. After riding high in the 80’s (except for Dune which I contend has a charm all its own) and owning the cult TV market in the early 90’s, Lynch was at something of a crossroads heading into our current decade. Coming off an uneven Lost Highway (which now feels mostly like a warm up for his films of the aughts) and an uncharacteristic (though brilliant, if I may say) The Straight Story, Lynch probably wasn’t hoping for a soundly rejected TV pilot. But after a little re-tooling, Mulholland Drive became a phenom (scoring a Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Drama) that was labeled by more than a few critics as his “masterpiece.” His follow up, Inland Empire, pitched as the story of “a woman in trouble” seemed like it would be more of the same. But it was anything but. Inland Empire is most likely not to be the last film made by Lynch, but it brings his career beautifully full circle. His most experimental (and terrifying) since Eraserhead, Inland Empire is rooted deeply in the subconscious, low-budget, unlike-anything-you’ve-seen-before territory of his first film, except with the added bonus of everything he’s learned in the thirty years between.

Heading into the future, Lynch seems content to play the American eccentric in a way that’s self-aware without being disingenuous. And he’s continually adding to the definition of who he is, extending his identity beyond cinema to include: coffee proprietor, transcendental meditation advocate, annual event host (in Fairfield, Iowa naturally), internet meme star, singer/songwriter/collaborator, and, of course, weatherman.
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Adam of Club Silencio here going off the deep end. This week saw the release of Roman Polanski's Repulsion on glorious Criterion DVD and Blu-ray. As per usual we're given a beautiful print of the film with a scattering of insightful extras. And the film itself has lost none of its power; a razor-sharp story of a manicurist whose foundation is cracking alongside her confining London flat. The film has become such an essential horror film throughout the years that it becomes quite simple to see echoes of a pert and psychotic Catherine Deneuve in the many films that have adopted Repulsion's structure and style -- usually in an attempt to peruse the psyches of their damaged protagonists. It begs the questions: do male directors somehow break the misogynist critique by having these women undone by dastardly, dirty men? And do blondes really have more fun?



The final eerie frame lingers on a photo of Carol (Catherine Deneuve) as a child staring ambiguously into space, or possibly in the direction of her father. Repulsion never makes explicit whether Carol was a victim of sexual abuse and yet we're constantly faced with Carol's... repulsion... toward men. Their voices, their touch, their smell -- Carol's infinitely more at ease with the beheaded rabbit that's decaying in her living room. Even her apartment building takes part in a full on assault on her physical body. If these walls could talk... they'd say something smutty and grab your breasts. Carol's mind becomes a crumbling facade; a soft-spoken and elegant blonde woman is destroyed by some abstract primal fear. The question "why" really doesn't matter to Polanski, but much of the film's unnerving pleasure comes in the speculation of what could turn this lost little girl into an adult woman losing it with a straight-razor.



Altman's film knowingly owes Polanski a great dept as we fall into the dark recesses of Cathryn's (Susannah York) broken mind. A children's author and her dull, hobbyist husband venture to their fantastical country home where we experience Cathryn's triple assault by her lovers (both living and dead), and witness doppelgangers of Cathryn at varying stages of her life... possibly. Her madness accelerates, but much like Repulsion, we're never sure where nightmare and reality meet, or if we've been behind Cathryn's corrupted gaze all along.



Undercover at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, inspector Anna Manni (Asia Argento) experiences the Stendhal Syndrome (a psychological fatigue caused by great works of art) and quite literally falls into the arms of the sadistic serial rapist she was trying to capture. Much like Repulsion, Argento places the narrative directly in sync with Anna's dissolving mental state. Unlike Carol however, Anna's initial response to her sexual revulsion at the hands of maniacal men has her adopting her very own masculine side in order to inflict harm on the men closest to her -- also she simplifies by just using a razor blade. Eventually Anna dons a blonde wig in an attempt to regain her femininity, but it becomes more evident that it's just a simpler disguise for her continual descent into madness.



Lynch's film unravels similarly with doppelgangers and ambiguously fractured mental states. Actress Nikki Grace's (Laura Dern) latest role has her transforming into a woman spurned by manipulative men, and transforming into another woman entirely. Susan Blue (Laura Dern), a prostitute worn by the streets and an abusive carny boyfriend, is confined to her dank apartment where we see her madness manifest in the form of strobe-lit screams and a theatre showing Nikki/Susan's life as it's happening -- to which Susan herself can only describe as a "mind f**k." Typical of Lynch, all of this is best left to the audience that is now left with their minds in comparable disarray.

All I can conclude is that this would make a wonderful movie marathon for anyone (man-hater or otherwise) holed up inside their apartment for questionable lengths of time. Ultimately these fine films are a reminder of the very fragile, unknowable state of the human mind. And a solid reminder to get out more.

Adam of Club Silencio here with another look at my favorite actresses and their distinguishing claims to fame.

I had a dream. In fact, it was the night I met you. In the dream there was our world, and the world was dark because there weren't any robins... and the robins represented love. And for the longest time there was just this darkness. And all of a sudden, thousands of robins were set free and they flew down and brought this blinding light of love! And it seemed like that love would be the only thing that would make any difference... And it did. So I guess it means there is trouble till the robins come.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Laura Dern; civil rights or robins of love. Both valid dreams from inspirational dreamers. Laura Dern is one of our most bright, inspiring and expressive actresses -- an angelic beauty with an edge. Expressive not only because she's lovingly referred to as "The Face" 'round these parts, but because she has the rare ability to capture the internal conflicts in some of cinema's most ambiguous dilemmas.

She's always drawn to characters in the midst of significant grey areas: the abortion argument, the peak of adolescent sexuality and nosedive of innocence, the perils of monogamy, and cloning prehistoric species on remote islands for tourism. Her characters always seem to hold the crux between right and wrong, naivete and danger, hope and tragedy. As good with smooth talk as she is a rambling rose, Laura's greatest gift is playing to both sides of the spectrum and finding a harmonious balance.


Sweetly asking, "When will the robins come?" or theorizing that "the whole world's wild at heart and weird and top," Laura's characters ground her films with an enchanting idealism that undercuts much of the darkness surrounding them. "It's a strange world," indeed. Take it from David Lynch, her frequent collaborator who uses this dual dynamic best. In describing some of her essential roles he says, "'If you wanted to buy a bottle of innocence as a shampoo, you'd buy Sandy in Blue Velvet.' Lula, I guess, is a bottle of passion-flavored bubble gum." Laura always walks this idyllic fine line with an elegance that often dips into dangerous territory as her films progress. Whether she's snapping bubble gum in Wild at Heart, or snapping her fingers to the tune of prostitution in Inland Empire, Laura's beauty and grace can easily transform in situations of devastating circumstance.

...Whether a movie part comes to me or I seek it out, there's always this journey to darkness through light, or vice versa; that element has been in almost everything I've done.

Laura often acts as the guiding light through her film's bleakest depths. Even as Ruth Stoops, a hopeless huffer and propaganda-piece in Citizen Ruth, she manages to highlight the moral divide while giving birth to the sixth or seventh child she can't support. With a character seemingly devoid of conscience or concern, Laura manages to shed light on the controversy and still give this woman a purpose as potent as paint fumes. So many of her films (We Don't Live Here Anymore, Rambling Rose, Smooth Talk) paint her as this glowing figure whose inner light dims, flickers and fades (and seizure strobes in the case of Inland Empire) as the films progress, but usually in the end Laura's light is back and burning brighter than ever.

It's a strange world, wild at heart and weird on top, but we can depend on Laura to light the way. As we hold out for the robins, let us bask in our ever blinding love for Laura Dern.

Risky Business on the piracy pendulum for Wolverine
Attackerman on Wolverine, the character. Good piece that shares my concerns about origin stories in general
Slate another piece on Wolverine, the character. This one's on how he came to dominate comics
MTV Vulcan salute. Christian Slater has some difficulty


Justin Plus One on those wackadoo MTV Movie nominations. I stopped caring about these forever ago because they always feel to me like a parody of what an aggressive corporate team thinks that teenagers love.
Silly Hats Only Criterion releases for July. Be still my heart
Us Maggie Gyllenhaal & Peter Sarsgaard finally tie the knot.
Fraktastic On Star Trek. "this isn't your..." HA!
i09 have you seen this working Star Trek clock? Pretty amazing. If I were a Trekkie, I would n-e-e-d this

And here's Moby's "Shot in the Back of the Head" as interpreted by David Lynch

Shot In The Back Of The Head from Moby on Vimeo.

I love how David Lynch seems to live 24/7 in REM state. It's always both dream and nightmare. The still inky black and whites reminded me of his comic strip "The Angriest Dog in the World" for a minute. I miss that!
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I'll wrap up those initial Oscar predictions tomorrow! (Frustrating busy day) For now, links...

Green Porno Isabella Rossellini is at it again with Season 2 of her Sundance series. It's so awesomely wrong and fascinating.

When needed I can have an erection that's six feet long.

I'll never understand how she and David Lynch broke up. They seem like soul mates... at least from the perspective of an outside observer. They both push envelopes and effortlessly combine risque adult subjects with such strangely sincere innocence.
Bright Lights explains the difference between Paul Thomas, Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul W.S. Anderson. Important stuff... commit it to memory.
House of Mirth and Movies "The Unofficial Female Film Canon"
Victim of the Time asks 'Whatever Became of Christina Ricci?'
Notes from the Culture Bunker reexperiences Pinnochio (following Some Came Running's lead) and is terrified. I've got to watch that again.
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House Next Door on five Glenda Jackson performances
Being Boring another top 10 list for '08 (not only film) but I do like these write ups
The Big Picture on what film directors could learn from Obama's speeches
popbytes Penélope Cruz' new ad campaign
Defamer 20th anniversary of Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies and videotape celebrated at Sundance
MNPP didn't forget David Lynch's birthday like I did. Which Lynch image scares you the most? There's so much to choose from.

Details interviews Liev Schreiber about Defiance and Wolverine. On his workout and diet to play Sabretooth:

I felt like I owed it to the genre to be big

I guess doing battle with Hugh Jackman's impossibly huge guns --> would motivate. Sabretooth wears long sleeves in the trailer. Denied.

Screenshots from the 20th minute and 8th second of 2008 films.
I was missing my 20:07 series so I'm bringing it back in an altered form.

The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan). Released July 18th, 2008 to become the 2nd highest grossing film ever --or 35th if you adjust for inflation but the mainstream media doesn't like to adjust for that. That would force us to remember that the movies existed before we did [GASP] and were even more popular in olden times.

Is Wayne Manor in the city limits?

Curiosity Killed The Bat. The other day I decided to take a peak at one of those film piracy sites. A new co-worker kept bugging me to sample. I don't really believe in piracy and after briefly sampling the goodies I have to say that even if I had no qualms about it ethically (and I do --except when it comes to things like "fair use" and time frames for "public domain" which the major corporations are always trying to distort legally) shouldn't the quality of the image be sacrosanct?

If you watch a pirated version of The Dark Knight --which I didn't. Don't sue -- Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal look like this (left). Unless they're appearing in INLAND EMPIRE where smeary faces might actually be saying something about disintegration of identity, doppelgangers and psychological breakdowns (ummm wait. Maybe David Lynch should be directing Batman movies?) it seems a great disservice to both of them. On account of you know: pretty.

Pirated movies make all movies, no matter how expensive, look like early no-budget digital indies. They make all movie stars, no matter how gorgeous, look like someone's cousin acting for free for the very first time.

Harvey Dent's much ballyhooed Thesis quote also arrives in this scene

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain

It's a nifty line but I can't see that it's explored in any relevant way later in the movie (Two Face's transformation not being all that satisfying in execution... save for the technical make up and Batman's transformation being completely external and indirect: we're told that the public will think he's the villain after the credits have rolled). But mostly this scene bugs me for a nit picky reason: It introduces us to a busty Russian ballerina. Later there's that yacht shot wherein Bruce Wayne has taken her whole company of dancing girls out on his yacht... it's over in an instant but I could have sworn that yacht was filled with surgically enhanced bimbos from Central Casting rather than the traditional lithe tiny graceful anorexic ballerinas that we were supposed to be seeing. I'm not really into ballet. I've only been thrice in my life. But maybe that's three more times than Chris Nolan.
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Yesterday my peeps dragged me to the Museum of Natural History. I haven't been there in years and it was a perfect thing to do before people-watching for hours in Central Park on a coat-droppingly beautiful day. They do this on occasion, my friends... [concerned voices]: "Nathaniel, step away from the computer!"


You probably won't agree with me that the Stegosaurus is the best dinosaur but it is. Their tails are so rocking. My friends did not agree: one vote for the Brontosaurus, one for T-Rex, and one "abstain" --some people are so difficult. Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park totally shafted the Stegosaurus (and the second best, the Triceratops) in favor of those made up Velociraptors and that jaw-dropping first shot of the brachiosaurus. Unfortunately Laura Dern took the "jaw dropping" part literally.


I know she was looking at a green screen or whatever they looked at at the time (blue screen?) but work with what you got Laura. That first reaction shot always made me uncomfortable in the 'can we do another take?' way. Spielberg didn't do another take, damn him. She's way better when she stares at personal demons and makes faces for David Lynch.


Right before we left for an early evening in Central Park we watched this short film on the history of the mammal which was narrated by none other than Meryl Streep. Afterwards we all agreed that she totally phoned that voice over in. When she was talking about what happened 65 million years ago, for example, there was no past tense in her voice. It wasn't lived-in. Definitely one of her least-committed performances.

Dinosaurs are awesome and so are actresses but for whatever reason, they don't mix. Naomi Watts' terror in King Kong excepted.

The way David Lynch is always hiding Rita (Laura Elena Harring), the camera continually forced to move to capture her.




She wants to be found and seen but she comes hidden, with an obstructed view.

just a random thought for the afternoon

So, I had this bright idea for a series in 2008 called 8th. Where I count out the 8th something of something. Whoa, specific! We'll play on every 8th / 16th / 24th unless you think it's stoopid. [I know it's the 9th. I'm tardy]