Van Sant has the career most young filmmakers would dream of, myself included. The ability to pay the bills with decent if not slightly banal Hollywood fare, coupled with the ability to, at any time, buck the system and make the smaller (and better) films that he deeply cares about as an artist.
As a director, he’s been able to find great success in both worlds of cinema, and he can go back and forth as he pleases. That’s something to admire.
I think Chungking Express is, without a doubt, a perfect choice for a debut blu-ray from Criterion. And while Bottle Rocket could be seen as an odd pick, I love the movie, and will be buying it.
As for that initial list, that was never an “All of these are coming out at once!” situation. It was a list of the blu-ray releases they had in line, and so far that list has been followed perfectly. The order of the original list, and the order of the release dates are identical; Third Man, Bottle Rocket, Chungking Express, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last Emperor, and El Norte. This would mean that the February through May-ish releases will also follow that original press release exactly. And that means I’ll soon own The Complete Monterey Pop in 1080p, so I’m completely happy.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned their release of Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz yet. As for modern, American television series, there’s no way they’d ever be able to afford the rights to release things like The Wire, The Sopranos or The Shield, nor do I think they have any interest in doing so, or any reason to.
Plus, it would be a huge commitment; Either they release one 30+ disc set of the entire series (smaller if it’s blu-ray), or set out for the long haul and say they’re going to take up their time and energy releasing the seasons separately over a period of years. Think of all the great films that would put on the back burner.
Solaris, if watched alone, in the dark, with the volume up, will always creep me out. And keeping with the sci-fi theme, although getting high and watching 2001 is one of my favorite things to do, there’s always a 50/50 chance that the last twenty minutes will either be a time of pure elation, or absolute, seemingly unending horror.
Seven Costanza: I completely agree about Irreversible, but the last shot always brings a tear to my eye with it’s sheer beauty. After I first saw it, I actually turned around and walked right back into the theater to see it again, mainly because of that.
Did you hear about how at the premiere, Noe underscored the soundtrack with the audio tones police use to cause crowds of people to vomit and become incompasitated?
While I have no interest in watching his Psycho remake again anytime soon, the fact that he made that movie only shows how enormous his balls truly are.
It’s an avant-garde experiment funded entirely by Hollywood and released in theaters across the world.
It would be as if Ry-Russo Young was handed a check for millions and told that Marion would be given a national release.
Well, when I first saw Evil Dead sometime between the ages of ten and twelve, I realized that movies weren’t just something made by mythic figures in far away places, but an art form that could be achieved in the woods with your friends and some cameras.
But that’s to do with changing my perception of production, not aesthetics or narrative.
Number 6: Let the Right One In, from Criterion, on blu-ray and loaded with extras would be like manna from heaven. My favorite film of 2008, hands down.
But that’s wishful thinking.
What would please me most, and would be much more likely than most of the films listed so far, is if at some point they put out any of the great American independent films that have been released lately.
Movies like Ballast, Frownland, Yeast, or maybe a collection of Court 13 shorts (Glory at Sea, Death to the Tinman, and so on), none of these movies currently have distributors, and are owned by the filmmakers themselves. It’d also be great if they could release things like the work of Joe Swanberg or Andrew Bujalski, after puling them away from the tight grip of IFC.
The only downside to that would be the elimination of Benten Films, which would be a terrible thing.
All I know is what little has been leaked about it.
He’s been trying to make it for 30 years.
Multiple lead actors have dropped out, been replaced, and then the replacement has dropped out.
It’s set in the 1950’s
It’s main theme is “loss of innocence”
And if it somehow comes out in 2009 it’ll make this decade the most prolific of Malick’s career.
I do find it ironic that Brad Pitt is the one who finally stuck with it as the male lead in a film with such a problematic pre-production, when just a few years ago he was the one who dropped out of a problematic pre-production on a film which was entirely about the tree of life (The Fountain).
I don’t really feel guilty about any of the questionable movies I love. I’m proud to justify them.
Robocop – One of the best action films of the 80’s, and an amazing score. Plus, one of the best “high-five whoever is around you at the moment” endings.
Speed Racer – Along with 2001 and Baraka, one of the single best movies to watch while completely and utterly high. People seemed to hate or dismiss it, but it’s nothing more than a two hour ride through a living rainbow that occasionally explodes all around you. And for that, it’s brilliant.
Mac & Me – The most unintentionally funny movie ever made. A blatant rip-off of ET and a giant, heartless commercial for Coca-Cola and McDonalds. So bad, yet so, so good.
If you loved Solaris, Citizen Spain, you’ll love Stalker. A minimalist sci-fi epic that deals with morality, mortality and religion, among many other things. For my money, it’s superior to Solaris in almost every way, though both would easily make my non-existent 100 Greatest Films of all Time list.
I too have seen everything in Tarkovsky’s limited yet brilliant ovuere. I would say it’s one of the finest collections of films any director can claim credit for, and I don’t think there’s a bad one in the bunch. Even his student films are fantastic, and as someone who has first hand experience with the amount of pure shit that usually comes out of film schools (even the most prestigious ones), this is no easy feat. In a way, he was born to be a master.
I loved Moviemaker’s Master Class, as well as My First Movie, a collection of interviews with a wide swath of filmmakers on the trials and tribulations of making their first feature length film.
Also of note are If Chins Could Kill, by Bruce Campbell and Make Your Own Damn Movie! by Lloyd Kaufman. I know one of them is merely an actor, and both have spent their careers making what could very easily be described as shit, but their insights into the world of ultra-low budget independent film are nearly invaluable to someone starting out with their own money and their own equipment.
My favorite book by a filmmaker, however, is Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa. It’s an absolutely brilliant memoir that actually deals little with his life as a filmmaker. In fact, he ends the book with the premiere of Rashomon, saying that if you want to know about his life after that point, all you need to do is watch his movies. Pure genius.
On a more serious note, the aforementioned Seven Samurai and 8 1/2, as well as Grave of the Fireflies, Cheyenne’s noble and quiet death in Once Upon a Time in the West, and the much more recent Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Those are some favorites that come to mind right now.
The Raymond Bernard set is great, and has yet to be mentioned here. Wooden Crosses is one of the best WWI films ever made, and his adaptation of Hugo’s Les miserables is the best you’ll ever see.
My favorites are going to have to be The Delirious Fictions of William Klein, Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy and The Documentaries of Louis Malle.
The only real issue I have is Once Upon a Time in America. For one, I’ve never liked the movie. Two, there are so many better Leone films to choose from. Hell, just change one word in that title and you’ve got one of my 100 Greatest films of all time.
Other than that, it’s a pretty solid, extremely predictable list of films.
King Shot is sort of what became of the El Topo sequel, what with Marylin Manson’s involvement and all.
For me, this movie has the potential to either be one of the greatest returns of a master to the stage of cinema, or a complete and utter failure on all levels imaginable. Either way, it’s my most anticipated film of 2009, if it actually comes out next year (which, most likely, it won’t).
I suppose it could be just okay, Zak… but this is Alejandro Jodorowsky, making a movie starring Marylin Manson, Nick Nolte and Udo Kier… and I know the video is down now, but if you saw it; It has giant gun-cars being pulled by Ostriches and a mutant Pope monster.
No, this is either going to be brilliant, terrible, or so terrible it becomes brilliant.
Right now I have a five level shelf for Criterions, and a four level shelf for television series/box sets/blu-rays.
Due to limitations in apartment space, the bulk of my dvds (ie, everything that isn’t listed above) are contained in three binders, with the cases packed in boxes and in storage. I’m not a fan of the binder solution, but it’s what must be done at the moment.
Their blu-rays are being released in a cardbord slipcase the size of the standard plastic, blue-bordered ones that the major studios use. The booklets are exactly the same as the ones in DVD cases in terms of content, but slightly smaller.
D. Wilkerson is right, The Trial is where it’s at.
One of his most ignored films, but my favorite from him. His classics are classics, of course, but The Trial just has that little something extra that makes me melt as a lover of cinema.
Mr. Arkadin is great, too, and I recommend watching all the versions available in one massive block of Welles. The fact that there are alternate versions of the film is both ironic and wonderful, considering that the movie is entirely about the different versions of Gregory Arkadin that exist. For me, part of watching and appreciating the movie is taking it all in, the plot of the movie itself, the alternate cuts, and the history behind it.
It wasn’t intentional, but it all plays out like a symphony of cinema that was composed by a master and played to perfection.
The last battle in Seven Samurai will always be my favorite. Not so much for it’s technical skill, or choreography, but simply because it’s a down and dirty battle, and more accurate to how these things really played out rather than the more hyper-stylized sword fights that seem to be the norm.
Not to mention the fact that Kikuchiyo finally shattering his giant katana and picking up a real blade for the first time is one of the greatest character-development moments you’ll ever see.
After that my picks would be anything from the Zatoichi series, anything from the Lone Wolf & Cub series, and the final duel in Sanjuro, which is the birthplace of what’s now become a cliche in Japanese cinema; Pause, attack, pause, explosion of gore.
But, for my taste, nothing is better than a simple white-on-black title card. Just the title itself, I prefer the credits to be saved for the end. My way of thinking is, don’t force someone to look at the signature before they can see the painting.
Off the top of my head, without thinking too far back in my cinematic memory, Once Upon a Time in the West. Not only is it a great opening sequence, but it also perfectly sums up Sergio Leone as a filmmaker in terms of pacing, cinematography and use of violence.
His original plan was for Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef to play the three gunmen, wanting to fool the audience into thinking that he was making another movie with the three of them as the main characters, only to have them all shot down by Charles Bronson in the first scene. Unfortunately, none of them wanted to be in a movie where they die almost immediately.
Any adaptation of On the Road would have to significantly reduce that which makes the book so worthwhile, the prose itself. No one reads One the Road for the plot, they read it for it’s style and language.
I’d actually very much prefer that the movie were made by someone who knows how to make a small movie with a large scope, and can do it dirty and cheap. Harmony Korine, Vincent Gallo, Andrew Bujalski, Kelly Reichardt, or maybe a great return for Jim Jarmusch. Those would be some names I’d get excited over, and have hope for.
But, it doesn’t matter, because Salles has the job. Good luck to him, he’s certainly not a bad filmmaker, even though I didn’t much care for Motorcycle Diaries.
In a perfect world, that’s the correct answer, Shotzi.
As for my naming Bujalski, I think he’d fit with a low-budget, natural, 16mm take on the book. He knows his way around the world of young, nearly homeless artists wandering through life, going from one place to the next. I also just think that a young filmmaker would be better suited for the material.
My favorite thing about Eraserheard isn’t actually in the movie itself, but the fact that Lynch dedicated so many years of his life to one, undying artistic vision, nearly destroying his relationship with his wife and family.
Also, one of my favorite stories from any director about their early films is how Lynch was completely burned out after so many years of making Eraserhead, and he was at the point where he only needed one sequence of Henry Spencer walking across the room. Jack Nance was unavailable at the time, but Lynch was so fueled by his desire to simply finish the movie, that he decided just to make a little clay Henry Spencer and shoot the scene in stop-motion. Thankfully, Jack Nance’s scheduled almost immediately cleared up, and he was able to shoot the scene the easier way.
In terms of new media, Vimeo.com is my favorite, and I’d even say the best, website to find user-generate content with extremely high quality uploads. Think youtube, but in HD, and consisting entirely of fairly brilliant material people are making themselves.
For blogs and reviews, I enjoy Spout.com and hammertonail.com among others.
Funny enough, Johnny Depp is going to star in the adaptation of In the Hand of Dante, about an author who has to prove whether or not a handwritten manuscript of The Divine Comedy is authentic or not. It also jumps back and forth in time, with Dante writing the poem.
For the past couple of months I’ve been adapting Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives into a screenplay, purely out of my own desire to see what that would be like (both the process and the finish product). I have zero expectations of actually making the movie, but I’d enjoy it immensely.
Opinions of Van Sant? over 3 years ago
Van Sant has the career most young filmmakers would dream of, myself included. The ability to pay the bills with decent if not slightly banal Hollywood fare, coupled with the ability to, at any time, buck the system and make the smaller (and better) films that he deeply cares about as an artist.
As a director, he’s been able to find great success in both worlds of cinema, and he can go back and forth as he pleases. That’s something to admire.
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Criterion's lame blu-ray debut over 3 years ago
I think Chungking Express is, without a doubt, a perfect choice for a debut blu-ray from Criterion. And while Bottle Rocket could be seen as an odd pick, I love the movie, and will be buying it.
As for that initial list, that was never an “All of these are coming out at once!” situation. It was a list of the blu-ray releases they had in line, and so far that list has been followed perfectly. The order of the original list, and the order of the release dates are identical; Third Man, Bottle Rocket, Chungking Express, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last Emperor, and El Norte. This would mean that the February through May-ish releases will also follow that original press release exactly. And that means I’ll soon own The Complete Monterey Pop in 1080p, so I’m completely happy.
Go to Comment
SHOULD THE CRITERION COLLECTION INCLUDE TELEVISION SHOWS? over 3 years ago
I’m surprised no one has mentioned their release of Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz yet. As for modern, American television series, there’s no way they’d ever be able to afford the rights to release things like The Wire, The Sopranos or The Shield, nor do I think they have any interest in doing so, or any reason to.
Plus, it would be a huge commitment; Either they release one 30+ disc set of the entire series (smaller if it’s blu-ray), or set out for the long haul and say they’re going to take up their time and energy releasing the seasons separately over a period of years. Think of all the great films that would put on the back burner.
Go to Comment
Whats the scariest film ever or some of ur favorites over 3 years ago
Solaris, if watched alone, in the dark, with the volume up, will always creep me out. And keeping with the sci-fi theme, although getting high and watching 2001 is one of my favorite things to do, there’s always a 50/50 chance that the last twenty minutes will either be a time of pure elation, or absolute, seemingly unending horror.
Last night it was horror.
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Whats the scariest film ever or some of ur favorites over 3 years ago
Seven Costanza: I completely agree about Irreversible, but the last shot always brings a tear to my eye with it’s sheer beauty. After I first saw it, I actually turned around and walked right back into the theater to see it again, mainly because of that.
Did you hear about how at the premiere, Noe underscored the soundtrack with the audio tones police use to cause crowds of people to vomit and become incompasitated?
Go to Comment
Opinions of Van Sant? over 3 years ago
While I have no interest in watching his Psycho remake again anytime soon, the fact that he made that movie only shows how enormous his balls truly are.
It’s an avant-garde experiment funded entirely by Hollywood and released in theaters across the world.
It would be as if Ry-Russo Young was handed a check for millions and told that Marion would be given a national release.
Go to Comment
Films that changed how you looked at cinema over 3 years ago
Well, when I first saw Evil Dead sometime between the ages of ten and twelve, I realized that movies weren’t just something made by mythic figures in far away places, but an art form that could be achieved in the woods with your friends and some cameras.
But that’s to do with changing my perception of production, not aesthetics or narrative.
Go to Comment
Come and See-Greatest War Film of All Time over 3 years ago
It’s a tie between that and Grave of the Fireflies for me, both being very similar in subject matter.
Come and See is an absolutely brilliant film, though… so much greatness to behold.
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WHICH MOVIES...PUT OUT IN LAST 5 YEARS...DO YOU THINK WILL ONE DAY JOIN THE CRITERION COLLECTION? over 3 years ago
Number 6: Let the Right One In, from Criterion, on blu-ray and loaded with extras would be like manna from heaven. My favorite film of 2008, hands down.
But that’s wishful thinking.
What would please me most, and would be much more likely than most of the films listed so far, is if at some point they put out any of the great American independent films that have been released lately.
Movies like Ballast, Frownland, Yeast, or maybe a collection of Court 13 shorts (Glory at Sea, Death to the Tinman, and so on), none of these movies currently have distributors, and are owned by the filmmakers themselves. It’d also be great if they could release things like the work of Joe Swanberg or Andrew Bujalski, after puling them away from the tight grip of IFC.
The only downside to that would be the elimination of Benten Films, which would be a terrible thing.
Go to Comment
Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" over 3 years ago
All I know is what little has been leaked about it.
He’s been trying to make it for 30 years.
Multiple lead actors have dropped out, been replaced, and then the replacement has dropped out.
It’s set in the 1950’s
It’s main theme is “loss of innocence”
And if it somehow comes out in 2009 it’ll make this decade the most prolific of Malick’s career.
I do find it ironic that Brad Pitt is the one who finally stuck with it as the male lead in a film with such a problematic pre-production, when just a few years ago he was the one who dropped out of a problematic pre-production on a film which was entirely about the tree of life (The Fountain).
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Guilty Pleasures over 3 years ago
I don’t really feel guilty about any of the questionable movies I love. I’m proud to justify them.
Robocop – One of the best action films of the 80’s, and an amazing score. Plus, one of the best “high-five whoever is around you at the moment” endings.
Speed Racer – Along with 2001 and Baraka, one of the single best movies to watch while completely and utterly high. People seemed to hate or dismiss it, but it’s nothing more than a two hour ride through a living rainbow that occasionally explodes all around you. And for that, it’s brilliant.
Mac & Me – The most unintentionally funny movie ever made. A blatant rip-off of ET and a giant, heartless commercial for Coca-Cola and McDonalds. So bad, yet so, so good.
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Tarkovsky over 3 years ago
If you loved Solaris, Citizen Spain, you’ll love Stalker. A minimalist sci-fi epic that deals with morality, mortality and religion, among many other things. For my money, it’s superior to Solaris in almost every way, though both would easily make my non-existent 100 Greatest Films of all Time list.
I too have seen everything in Tarkovsky’s limited yet brilliant ovuere. I would say it’s one of the finest collections of films any director can claim credit for, and I don’t think there’s a bad one in the bunch. Even his student films are fantastic, and as someone who has first hand experience with the amount of pure shit that usually comes out of film schools (even the most prestigious ones), this is no easy feat. In a way, he was born to be a master.
Go to Comment
When Directors Write (or Speak) over 3 years ago
I loved Moviemaker’s Master Class, as well as My First Movie, a collection of interviews with a wide swath of filmmakers on the trials and tribulations of making their first feature length film.
Also of note are If Chins Could Kill, by Bruce Campbell and Make Your Own Damn Movie! by Lloyd Kaufman. I know one of them is merely an actor, and both have spent their careers making what could very easily be described as shit, but their insights into the world of ultra-low budget independent film are nearly invaluable to someone starting out with their own money and their own equipment.
My favorite book by a filmmaker, however, is Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa. It’s an absolutely brilliant memoir that actually deals little with his life as a filmmaker. In fact, he ends the book with the premiere of Rashomon, saying that if you want to know about his life after that point, all you need to do is watch his movies. Pure genius.
Go to Comment
Favorite Films In Which the Heroes Die over 3 years ago
The Last Temptation of Christ?
On a more serious note, the aforementioned Seven Samurai and 8 1/2, as well as Grave of the Fireflies, Cheyenne’s noble and quiet death in Once Upon a Time in the West, and the much more recent Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Those are some favorites that come to mind right now.
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Eclipse over 3 years ago
The Raymond Bernard set is great, and has yet to be mentioned here. Wooden Crosses is one of the best WWI films ever made, and his adaptation of Hugo’s Les miserables is the best you’ll ever see.
My favorites are going to have to be The Delirious Fictions of William Klein, Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy and The Documentaries of Louis Malle.
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Cashiers du Cinema's 100 Greatest Film List over 3 years ago
The only real issue I have is Once Upon a Time in America. For one, I’ve never liked the movie. Two, there are so many better Leone films to choose from. Hell, just change one word in that title and you’ve got one of my 100 Greatest films of all time.
Other than that, it’s a pretty solid, extremely predictable list of films.
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KING SHOT (2009) over 3 years ago
King Shot is sort of what became of the El Topo sequel, what with Marylin Manson’s involvement and all.
For me, this movie has the potential to either be one of the greatest returns of a master to the stage of cinema, or a complete and utter failure on all levels imaginable. Either way, it’s my most anticipated film of 2009, if it actually comes out next year (which, most likely, it won’t).
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KING SHOT (2009) over 3 years ago
I suppose it could be just okay, Zak… but this is Alejandro Jodorowsky, making a movie starring Marylin Manson, Nick Nolte and Udo Kier… and I know the video is down now, but if you saw it; It has giant gun-cars being pulled by Ostriches and a mutant Pope monster.
No, this is either going to be brilliant, terrible, or so terrible it becomes brilliant.
Go to Comment
Solutions to the DVD storage dilema over 3 years ago
Right now I have a five level shelf for Criterions, and a four level shelf for television series/box sets/blu-rays.
Due to limitations in apartment space, the bulk of my dvds (ie, everything that isn’t listed above) are contained in three binders, with the cases packed in boxes and in storage. I’m not a fan of the binder solution, but it’s what must be done at the moment.
Go to Comment
Criterion Blu-ray Cases over 3 years ago
Their blu-rays are being released in a cardbord slipcase the size of the standard plastic, blue-bordered ones that the major studios use. The booklets are exactly the same as the ones in DVD cases in terms of content, but slightly smaller.
Go to Comment
Orson Welles, your recommendations over 3 years ago
D. Wilkerson is right, The Trial is where it’s at.
One of his most ignored films, but my favorite from him. His classics are classics, of course, but The Trial just has that little something extra that makes me melt as a lover of cinema.
Mr. Arkadin is great, too, and I recommend watching all the versions available in one massive block of Welles. The fact that there are alternate versions of the film is both ironic and wonderful, considering that the movie is entirely about the different versions of Gregory Arkadin that exist. For me, part of watching and appreciating the movie is taking it all in, the plot of the movie itself, the alternate cuts, and the history behind it.
It wasn’t intentional, but it all plays out like a symphony of cinema that was composed by a master and played to perfection.
Go to Comment
Best sword fight over 3 years ago
The last battle in Seven Samurai will always be my favorite. Not so much for it’s technical skill, or choreography, but simply because it’s a down and dirty battle, and more accurate to how these things really played out rather than the more hyper-stylized sword fights that seem to be the norm.
Not to mention the fact that Kikuchiyo finally shattering his giant katana and picking up a real blade for the first time is one of the greatest character-development moments you’ll ever see.
After that my picks would be anything from the Zatoichi series, anything from the Lone Wolf & Cub series, and the final duel in Sanjuro, which is the birthplace of what’s now become a cliche in Japanese cinema; Pause, attack, pause, explosion of gore.
Go to Comment
Your favorite title sequence over 3 years ago
Cache comes to mind, as does Irreversible.
But, for my taste, nothing is better than a simple white-on-black title card. Just the title itself, I prefer the credits to be saved for the end. My way of thinking is, don’t force someone to look at the signature before they can see the painting.
Go to Comment
Best or Favorite Opening Sequence over 3 years ago
Off the top of my head, without thinking too far back in my cinematic memory, Once Upon a Time in the West. Not only is it a great opening sequence, but it also perfectly sums up Sergio Leone as a filmmaker in terms of pacing, cinematography and use of violence.
His original plan was for Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef to play the three gunmen, wanting to fool the audience into thinking that he was making another movie with the three of them as the main characters, only to have them all shot down by Charles Bronson in the first scene. Unfortunately, none of them wanted to be in a movie where they die almost immediately.
Go to Comment
Jack Kerouac / Walter Salles over 3 years ago
Any adaptation of On the Road would have to significantly reduce that which makes the book so worthwhile, the prose itself. No one reads One the Road for the plot, they read it for it’s style and language.
I’d actually very much prefer that the movie were made by someone who knows how to make a small movie with a large scope, and can do it dirty and cheap. Harmony Korine, Vincent Gallo, Andrew Bujalski, Kelly Reichardt, or maybe a great return for Jim Jarmusch. Those would be some names I’d get excited over, and have hope for.
But, it doesn’t matter, because Salles has the job. Good luck to him, he’s certainly not a bad filmmaker, even though I didn’t much care for Motorcycle Diaries.
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Jack Kerouac / Walter Salles over 3 years ago
In a perfect world, that’s the correct answer, Shotzi.
As for my naming Bujalski, I think he’d fit with a low-budget, natural, 16mm take on the book. He knows his way around the world of young, nearly homeless artists wandering through life, going from one place to the next. I also just think that a young filmmaker would be better suited for the material.
Go to Comment
The Best Films of 2008 over 3 years ago
I saw Paranoid Park in 2007, and think I put it on my best-of list then, but since it seems to be in the running again this year, I’d say…
Let the Right One In
Paranoid Park
My Winnipeg
Son of Rambow
Dear Zachary
Glory at Sea & Chonto – Best short films
Those are the ones that immediately come to mind as my “best”. There are others I’m forgetting, and still others I’ve yet to see.
Oh, and Speed Racer wins the award for most fun with controlled substances.
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Eraserhead over 3 years ago
My favorite thing about Eraserheard isn’t actually in the movie itself, but the fact that Lynch dedicated so many years of his life to one, undying artistic vision, nearly destroying his relationship with his wife and family.
Also, one of my favorite stories from any director about their early films is how Lynch was completely burned out after so many years of making Eraserhead, and he was at the point where he only needed one sequence of Henry Spencer walking across the room. Jack Nance was unavailable at the time, but Lynch was so fueled by his desire to simply finish the movie, that he decided just to make a little clay Henry Spencer and shoot the scene in stop-motion. Thankfully, Jack Nance’s scheduled almost immediately cleared up, and he was able to shoot the scene the easier way.
Go to Comment
Best Online Film Resources over 3 years ago
In terms of new media, Vimeo.com is my favorite, and I’d even say the best, website to find user-generate content with extremely high quality uploads. Think youtube, but in HD, and consisting entirely of fairly brilliant material people are making themselves.
For blogs and reviews, I enjoy Spout.com and hammertonail.com among others.
Go to Comment
In Your Dreams over 3 years ago
Funny enough, Johnny Depp is going to star in the adaptation of In the Hand of Dante, about an author who has to prove whether or not a handwritten manuscript of The Divine Comedy is authentic or not. It also jumps back and forth in time, with Dante writing the poem.
For the past couple of months I’ve been adapting Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives into a screenplay, purely out of my own desire to see what that would be like (both the process and the finish product). I have zero expectations of actually making the movie, but I’d enjoy it immensely.
Go to Comment