Probably beating a dead horse here, but is the flash sale in February always a guarantee? I know they've had them at least for the past two years. If so, I'm really hoping it's on the 18th or later, so Fantastic Mr. Fox will be included.
Picked up Jules and Jim today ay B&N using one of the 20% coupons I got in the mail (it was already 20% off as a new release, with additional 10% for members). While I was there, I noticed some of the Criterion documentaries were included in the "Up to 50% off" doc sale. They weren't 50% off, but some were 30%. The 2 I noticed were Gimme Shelter and For All Mankind. Not a huge Stones fan, but I keep toying with the idea of picking it up. Maybe I'll watch it on Hulu first. :-)
You really do not need to be a Stones fan to get something out of "Gimme Shelter," you merely need to be interested in the period. The film gives the sharpest portrait of the fallout of the love generation imaginable and it's often very unsettling (even in the smaller, detail-oriented moments that Pennebaker is known for). Pair it up with "Zabriskie Point" and make it a "dark side of sixties counterculture night."
im currently reading bergman's book "the magic lantern" really good. should have read it first and watched funny and alexander later^^
I still need to see Fanny and Alexander. I attempted to watch it around Christmas, but I always got caught up doing something else.
By the way, speaking of books...
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Charlie Chaplin's only novel published for the first time
Quote:
The only work of fiction ever written by Charlie Chaplin, a dark, nostalgic novella which was the root of his great film Limelight and which has lain unpublished for over 60 years, is being made public for the first time.
Footlights, which runs to 34,000 words, traces the same story as Chaplin's valedictory film Limelight – that of an ageing, alcoholic clown Calvero and the ballerina he saves from suicide.
The film, in which Chaplin played Calvero and Claire Bloom the ballerina, was the final American movie Chaplin made before he was banned from the country for alleged communist sympathies. The novella, which Chaplin wrote in 1948, before the film script, widens and deepens the story, giving an insight into the author's state of mind at the time.
It has lain in Chaplin's archive for decades, but has now been pieced together from a mix of handwritten and typed scripts by Chaplin's biographer David Robinson. It is published by the Cineteca di Bologna, an Italian film restoration institute which has been digitising the Chaplin archive for his family.
Cecilia Cenciarelli, co-director of the Cineteca's Chaplin project, said the novella "has shadows. It's the story of a comedian who has lost his public, by a comedian who at that time had lost his public, who was referred to in the press of the time as a 'former comedian', a 'former successful film maker'".
It is a prequel of sorts to the film, in that it fleshes out "why Calvero has nightmares, why he is so disenchanted with his career, with the public", she said. "The book deals a little more with the relationship of the artist to his audience, with the meaning of art."
"I know I'm funny," says Calvero in the novella, "but the managers think I'm through … a has-been. God! It would be wonderful to make them eat their words. That's what I hate about getting old – the contempt and indifference they show you. They think I'm useless … That's why it would be wonderful to make a comeback! … I mean sensational! To rock them with laughter like I used to … to hear that roar go up … waves of laughter coming at you, lifting you off your feet … what a tonic! You want to laugh with them, but you hold back and laugh inside … God, there's nothing like it! As much as I hate those lousy – I love to hear them laugh!"
Chaplin was going through a bad time in America when he wrote the novella, said Robinson. "He was a big target for J Edgar Hoover … which was effective to the extent that a great deal of middle America turned against him. This was a shock to him, who had been the best loved man in the world for 30 years." These feelings, said Robinson, "work themselves out in the story of Calvero".
Footlights, complete with Robinson's commentary and description of the story's evolution, is being launched by the Cineteca this week, with an event at the British Film Institute Southbank, London, featuring Robinson and Bloom, to whom the book is dedicated. The book will be available from the publisher's website and Amazon, although it does not yet have a British or American publisher – something Cenciarelli is hoping will change.
"It is astonishing that this man who went to school for six months in his life managed to become a writer," she said. "The reason it has never been published before is because the family has been a little protective … but eventually they were convinced this would be a good thing to do."
"He never meant it for publication," said Robinson. "It was something absolutely private … he wrote it for himself."
In his commentary, Robinson writes that Chaplin "can move without warning from the baldly colloquial to dazzling yet apparently effortless imagery, as when the crushed Calvero gazes 'wearily into the secretive river, gliding phantom-like in a life of its own … smiling satanically at him as it flecked myriad lights from the moon and from the lamps along the embankment'".
Chaplin's childhood in south London can be seen, he writes, in a child character's "aversion to parks – 'the dreary, forlorn patches of green, and the people who sat about them, were the living graveyards of the hopeless and the destitute'". The novella also shows "the delight in fine or strange words of the self-confessed autodidact, who kept a dictionary beside him and set out to learn a new word every day: brattled, selenic, efflorescing, fanfaronading and – to the end of his life his all-purpose favourite – ineffable."
"Once he'd got a word he liked to use it, even if it was not quite right for the situation," Robinson said. "Nevertheless he does write amazingly. With his films he worked and worked until it came right, and it is the same with this book. It's a good read. Strange, but good."
Pamela Hutchinson, who blogs about silent film at http://silentlondon.co.uk/, called the publication "very exciting".
"There is always tremendous interest in Chaplin – and when so much has been written about him over the years the chance to read his own words, especially ones we haven't heard before, is refreshing," she said. "One of the things that is really wonderful about Limelight is that it shows Chaplin returning to the London of his youth: the tenements and music halls that he knew.
"To read what he was writing about this world in the 40s confirms our fondly-held belief that Chaplin never forgot his British roots throughout his successes in the States.
"The subject matter of Limelight – poverty, mental health and the variety stage – as well as its London setting, could have been plucked straight from his childhood. The drafts of this novella confirm that these things were still playing on his mind late in his life."
Reviews for Wes Anderson's latest Grand Budapest Hotel are coming out and its drawing lots of comparisons to Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not To Be). Anderson said himself that he was inspired by that film. Really excited to see it.
Pretty much do the same thing... trying to watch all the World Cinema films to see if the boxset is worth it. I really love The Housemaid but not sure I can justify $125 for the one film.
I'm uncertain if it is available to stream anywhere, but you should seek out Bong Joon-ho's interview that accompanies the film. Really enlightening stuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesilo
Reviews for Wes Anderson's latest Grand Budapest Hotel are coming out and its drawing lots of comparisons to Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not To Be). Anderson said himself that he was inspired by that film. Really excited to see it.
I also saw another article state the Anderson drew influence from Bergman's The Silence, which is so cool.
Probably beating a dead horse here, but is the flash sale in February always a guarantee? I know they've had them at least for the past two years. If so, I'm really hoping it's on the 18th or later, so Fantastic Mr. Fox will be included.
I too would like to know when the usual flash sale is?
I also saw another article state the Anderson drew influence from Bergman's The Silence, which is so cool.
Inspired, but very unlikely surpassed.
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey was inspired by Bergman also.
The 90s and early 2000s showed many directors that made movies with extravagant style but with little substance. This includes Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. Wes makes films about dysfunctional families (or groups) and Quentin vengeance films. After awhile, the themes get very old.
I think you're generalizing Wes Anderson quite a bit. Yes, broken/dysfunctional families are quite a bit but I wouldn't call it an old or tired theme by any stretch.
I too would like to know when the usual flash sale is?
It's not "usual" - it's only been two years running, and it was in different times of the month both years. Both times, however, it was a Tuesday, so just be sure to check back each Tuesday and you should be fine.
It's not "usual" - it's only been two years running, and it was in different times of the month both years. Both times, however, it was a Tuesday, so just be sure to check back each Tuesday and you should be fine.
Didn't they drop a hint the day before on Twitter/Facebook?
It's not "usual" - it's only been two years running, and it was in different times of the month both years. Both times, however, it was a Tuesday, so just be sure to check back each Tuesday and you should be fine.
You really do not need to be a Stones fan to get something out of "Gimme Shelter," you merely need to be interested in the period. The film gives the sharpest portrait of the fallout of the love generation imaginable and it's often very unsettling (even in the smaller, detail-oriented moments that Pennebaker is known for). Pair it up with "Zabriskie Point" and make it a "dark side of sixties counterculture night."
Thanks for the info, it really interests me for the "subculture" of the time, or counterculture so to speak. It looks like a great piece of history really, that's why I keep coming back to it.
I'm uncertain if it is available to stream anywhere, but you should seek out Bong Joon-ho's interview that accompanies the film. Really enlightening stuff.
Thanks, I'll keep an eye out.... I really enjoyed the film and would love to see more about the making, etc.
I think you're generalizing Wes Anderson quite a bit. Yes, broken/dysfunctional families are quite a bit but I wouldn't call it an old or tired theme by any stretch.
Wes has a knack for detail and style, but he does not have the universality of Bergman (it feels awkward to use those directors in the same sentence). I feel if he can get out of his comfort zone, he can again make an interesting film.
The only film I have not seen from him is Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Wes has a knack for detail and style, but he does not have the universality of Bergman (it feels awkward to use those directors in the same sentence). I feel if he can get out of his comfort zone, he can again make an interesting film.
The only film I have not seen from him is Fantastic Mr. Fox.
I'm not sure why you're comparing Anderson with Bergman. Bergman's The Silence was brought up by Anderson as an influence for him, which, I have to admit, excites me. No, I'm not expecting something entirely Bergman-esque, but I'm expecting his polished aesthetic to be meshed with an array of influences, this one included.
The Seventh Seal is one of Bergman's greatest films. The problem with the contemporary viewing of the film is that it is usually token out of context; and at times parodied out of misunderstanding.
It was made during the Cold War, so the doomsayers were all around. It is not so much about religion than death and the purpose of living. It has some great scenes, epic film composition and literary characters. The cinematography is also great.
You will always see cynical posters that believe that film is plagued by pretensions. I am certain it is said out of ignorance and naive opinion.
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