Columnists
Entries from January 2012
By Todd Garbarini
After
the dramatic, Ingmar Bergman-esque directorial turn he took with Interiors (1978), on the heels of his Oscar
winner Annie Hall (1977), Woody Allen
turned back to contemporary New York for a daring film that was shot in black-and-white and scored with the music of
George Gershwin. Manhattan
(1979) was the result. Proclaimed as the
only truly great American film of the 1970s by film critic Andrew Sarris, Manhattan
is a joy to behold from start to finish and is quite simply one of the most romantic
films of all-time. Gordon Willis’
beautiful photography married with the sumptuous Gershwin music makes me wish
that filmmakers would make black and white films today. There are some who do, but they appear to
only do it within avant-garde and independent circles.
Manhattan, released on
Wednesday, April 25, 1979, stars Woody Allen as Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced
television writer who is unfulfilled with his life as a comedy writer. His second ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep) has
left him for another woman and is writing a book about their marriage. Isaac is 42 and is dating Tracy (Mariel
Hemingway) who is 25 years younger than he is and is still in high school. He feels very guilty about this, but
genuinely cares for her (this plot point was reportedly inspired by Mr. Allen’s
affair with actress Stacy Nelkin on the set of Annie Hall in 1976, though her part was eventually cut from that
film). His friend
Yale (Michael Murphy) is writing a book about Eugene O’Neill and is married to
Emily (Anne Byrne) but has started an affair with Mary Wilkie (Diane Keaton)
whom Isaac initially can’t stand but increasingly grows fond of. Throughout the film we are confronted by
these characters that cannot seem to put their finger on what they want and
stick with it. They are not inherently
bad people: they just keep making questionable decisions. By the end of the film, the only person who
seems to have their head on straight is Tracy
and the film ends, like Mr. Allen’s Hannah
and Her Sisters (1986), on a very positive and upbeat note.
The
real star of the film is Manhattan
itself, with its pulsating and bustling people and automobiles. Rarely has the city looked so luminous and
beautiful onscreen. Gordon Willis, the
revered cinematographer of The Godfather
films and Mr. Allen’s Annie Hall and Interiors, captures Gotham
in all its beauty even during an era when the city was beset by social decay. For the first time in his career, Mr. Allen
forgoes the relative constraints of the 1.85:1 flat ratio to the far more
accommodating 2.35:1 anamorphic Panavision vista and the results makes one ache
for further use of this format.
Continue reading "REVIEW: WOODY ALLEN'S "MANHATTAN" ON BLU-RAY"
By Todd Garbarini
As
long as there are films, there will always be lively discussions as to what
Woody Allen’s best movie is. Most film
fans tend to argue amongst his four greatest works: Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan
(1979), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). If I personally had to choose, it would
probably be Hannah, which is perhaps
the finest film that he has ever made. At the same time, I don’t want to neglect the others, so it becomes an
exercise in futility as none of these films suffer from any condition other
than they are great films. Mr. Allen
would probably disagree, insofar as Annie
Hall is concerned. Mercifully
title-changed from Anhedonia (a
condition which characterizes a person’s inability to experience pleasure from
activities usually found to be enjoyable), Annie
Hall is a film full of life, laughs, and, ultimately, ironies. Few comedies have reached the heights that Annie Hall reaches for and easily tops,
and as such it resides on the number four spot of the American Film Institutes’
100 Funniest American Movies of All-Time.
Annie Hall, which opened on Wednesday, April 20,
1977, won the Best Picture award over George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977) in April 1978 at the 50th Annual Academy Awards. I was nine at the time and positively
bewildered that anything would have trumped my favorite science fiction film. Didn’t everyone see and love Star Wars? Who could have voted against it? When I finally did see Woody Allen’s comedy years
later I was broadsided by how different, mature, and outright hilarious it was. The film is a feast of high-brow humor with
its visual and verbal in-jokes, effectively upping the ante from the hilarious
sight-gags that populated Take the Money
and Run (1969), Bananas (1971),
and Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About Sex: But Were Afraid to Ask (1972). What makes this film so remarkable are the performances, the dialogue,
and the brilliant editing. Originally
intended as a dramatic murder mystery with a comedic and romantic subplot (which
Mr. Allen shelved until 1993’s Manhattan
Murder Mystery), Annie Hall revolves
around Alvy Singer (Allen), a neurotic Manhattan comedian, and his relationship
with his girlfriend, the titular Annie Hall (played by Diane Keaton, whose real
name is Diane Hall). Told in flashback
like J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the
Rye (which is mentioned in the film), Annie
Hall details their struggles to maintain a relationship in the Big Apple. Alvy meets the awkward Annie, and once their
relationship begins the film soars in its cinematic depiction of how they
relate to one another as well as to the audience. This is the one film of Mr. Allen’s which
begins and ends with no music over the credits, and wherein he talks directly
to the audience in character. Among the
standouts are Alvy’s description of his childhood; Alvy’s harassment by “the
cast of The Godfather†outside the
Beekman Theatre; Alvy introducing Marshall McLuhan to an annoying theatre
patron; Alvy and Annie’s attempts to cook lobster; their first meeting and
first date; making fun of people in Central Park; Alvy meeting Annie’s family; Annie’s
middle-of-the-night call to kill a spider in the bathtub; and Alvy’s
“fish-out-of-water†reaction to Los Angeles.
The
film is about memory and acts also as a great time capsule of what life was
like in 1976 when the film was shot. I
can’t help but notice how dressed up people are at the movie theatres, most of
which specialized in foreign films. It
is hard to believe now that New York City was once a place that was moderately
affordable to live in.
MGM's Annie Hall Blu-ray presentation is a considerable step
up for the previous DVD release which was marred by video noise as well as speckles
and blemishes on the film. The new
Blu-ray is, of course, sharper and is sourced from a film print in considerably
better condition. The disc has subtitles and the theatrical trailer.
If you are a Woody Allen fan, the purchase of this Blu-ray
is a no-brainer.
Click here to order from Amazon
By Todd Garbarini
Dario Argento’s Inferno (1980) is one of the most beautifully-realized cinematic
experiences ever captured on film. The
follow-up to his previous film, Suspiria
(1977), Inferno is a film that upon
first viewing appears to be short on substance but considerably long on
style. While dialogue has never been the
director’s strong suit, the verbal platitudes that permeate not just this
phantasmagorical tale of alchemy and murder, but just about every other film he
has directed, provide a certain charm that has become an unofficial and
unmistakable part of his oeuvre. Although
the film takes place in New York, virtually all of it was faked in Italy
between April and August 1979, with some minor location shooting in the Big
Apple. Beautifully framed and suffused
with primary colors, Inferno, the
story lifted from the myth of the Three Mothers as written by Thomas De Quincey
in his 1945 essay “Suspiria de Profundis,†takes the viewer on a journey not
seen outside of a nightmare. Whereas Suspiria was loud, strident, and truly
graphic, Inferno is a study in
contrasts – long, meandering scenes suddenly give way to abrupt changes in
mood, the accompanying music cacophonous in its energy. The film is no less graphic in its depiction
of violence. Leigh McCloskey stars as
Mark, a music student in Rome who becomes involved in trying to track down his
sister, Rose (Irene Miracle), who has disappeared in New York. With the help of a fellow student, Sarah (Eleanora
Giorgi), Mark uncovers a layer of evil permeating the earth that he formerly
was oblivious to. This threadbare plot
provides the basis for some truly stunning set pieces ever mounted by the
director.
Continue reading "REVIEW: DARIO ARGENTO'S "INFERNO" ON BLU-RAY"
By Todd Garbarini
I have always
loved movies that take place outdoors in the wilderness ever since seeing Ken
Annakin’s The Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
at a matinee showing in 1980 (when theaters still did that sort of thing) and
John Boorman’s Deliverance (1972),
though I will admit that the latter, although beautifully lensed by Vilmos
Zsigmond, is enough to make anyone want to stay indoors! Matthew Leutwyler’s The River Why (2010), filmed in Portland, Oregon in the summer of
2008, is the film version of David James Duncan’s 1983 novel of the same name
and the beautiful outdoors figures prominently in the film. Essentially, this is a coming-of-age story about
a young man named Gus Orviston (Zach Gilford of Larry Fessenden’s The Last Winter and television’s
"Friday Night Lights"), who is at his wits end when it comes to the constant
bickering of his parents, played effectively by William Hurt and Kathleen
Quinlan, the former of whom refers to Gus by his full name Augustine. He decides that rather than whine and
complain, he will actually do something about it. His answer is to move to a small cabin by
himself so he can concentrate on fishing, something that he loves to do. He creates an “ideal schedule†that consists
of eating, sleeping and fishing. This
schedule is more or less a result of tunnel vision as he
believes that this is all that he wants in life. As the days progress, he wants a stronger
connection to the people around him, especially with the young and initially
elusive fisherwoman named Eddy (played by the luminous Amber Heard of 2010’s The Rum Diaries) who catches his eye and
his heart.
The River Why
is a slow-moving and relaxing viewing and requires patience to stick with
it. Viewers used to the slam-bang
editing that has become the norm in Hollywood productions will more than likely
be bored, but for other viewers the film will be a rewarding experience. The story is a character-driven drama rather
than plot-driven, and there are solid supporting performances from William
Devane as a newspaper journalist and Dallas Roberts as a philosopher who gets
Gus to look at The Big Picture.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray, the latter of course is the
way to see this film as the scenery, not to mention Ms. Heard, is sumptuous in
high definition.
Click here to order on Blu-ray
Now
Available! Author and Cinema Retro columnist Raymond Benson’s classic 1980s reference book all about 007, THE
JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION, has been re-published!
THE
JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION was Benson's very first published work (it
originally appeared in 1984!). Crossroad Press has published it again this
week, first as an e-book, available for Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and all
other e-reader formats. Coming later will be an downloadable audiobook edition,
followed by a new print edition!
As
of today, the book is the #1 best-seller on Amazon Kindle’s “Film and
Video/Reference†category.
THE
BEDSIDE COMPANION was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best
Biographical/Critical Work of 1984 by Mystery Writers of America and 007 fans
still consider it to be a "Bond Bible."
Here is the official description of the book:
New digital edition of the classic 007
reference book from the 1980s, complete with a new Foreword by the
author.
THE
JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION is an encyclopedic celebration of 007, who is
still the world’s most popular secret agent.
The
only book to cover all aspects of the James Bond phenomenon in a single volume,
it includes: a) An intimate portrait of Ian Fleming as remembered by his
friends and colleagues; b) a character study of James Bond—his background and
early life, his clothing and other personal habits, his preferences in food and
drink, his attitudes toward women and marriage; c) The by-products of Bondmania
and the merchandising of 007; d) Detailed analyses of every James Bond novel by
Ian Fleming, as well as those written by other authors through the 1980s; e) A
critical look at the 007 film series—the producers, screenplays, directors,
actors, soundtracks, and special effects; f) over 100 photographs; g) An
Introduction written by Ernest Cuneo, perhaps Fleming’s closest American
friend; h) And enough facts, figures, and miscellaneous Bondian trivia to
satisfy even the most ardent fan.
BIO:
Raymond Benson is the highly acclaimed author of twenty-five books, six
original James Bond 007 novels, three film novelizations, three short stories,
and two anthologies on Bond. He is a sought-after lecturer on film genres and
history. Writing as David Michaels, Benson is a New York Times best-selling
author, an Edgar Alan Poe Award nominee, and a Readers' Choice Award winner.
Click here to order from Amazon
Cinema Retro's John Exshaw remembers a highly talented and often under-rated director.
“Don was first-class . . .
a really good film director. [He was] extremely capable, and he was very, very
interested in everything that he did. . . . He used to come well-prepared with
what he was going to shoot. . . . I don’t ever remember having problems with
making a [Don Sharp] film move and making a sequence move that one might have had . . . and
that’s why I’ve always had a lot of respect for Don, because the scenes that he
produced, they played so well.†– Eric Boyd-Perkins, editor (Hennessy, et al.)
“I will remember Don for
his determination to bring together the often disparate elements of a cast and
crew to produce a movie that was true to the intentions of its producer and
author: he was a true servant of the medium. Perhaps most of all I will
remember his patience and unfailing good humour. I had some of the best times
of my working life on the films he directed and I will remember him with great
affection.†– Richard Johnson, actor (Hennessy, et al.)
“Very, very calm. Very
calm and knew exactly what he wanted.†–
Sir Christopher Lee, actor (The Face of
Fu Manchu, et al.)
“He was one of the great
technicians in the business. He really was a very competent director in terms
of budget and schedules . . .†– Peter Snell,
producer (Hennessy, et al.)
“I kept using Don because
his films came in on budget and were without exception very successful. On top
of that he was a most agreeable person of very good character – no tantrums –
clear headed – resourceful; a gentleman too.†–
Harry Alan Towers, producer (The Face of
Fu Manchu, et al.)
It
was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Don Sharp, who passed
away, aged 90, in Cornwall on 14 December last year. I first met Don (and his
delightful wife, Mary) at their home in London in 2007, having arranged to
interview him about his career, and in particular the two films which I regard
as his finest, The Face of Fu Manchu
(1965) and Hennessy (1975). He seemed
quietly pleased that someone else shared his own good opinion of those films,
having, in the past, been mainly interviewed about the three films he made for
Hammer (The Kiss of the Vampire,
1963, The Devil-Ship Pirates, 1964,
and Rasputin, the Mad Monk, 1965).
In
a different sense, of course, I’d met Don many years before, through his films,
which always left an impression, no matter how unpromising the basic material;
I can well remember scanning the TV guides and making a point to watch anything
‘Directed by Don Sharp’. In those days, the TV schedules were full of the type
of British second-feature films that Don made, but his always had something
different – a sense of style and movement, in a word action – that made them stand out from the dross.
It
is worth emphasising how rare that quality was in British films of that period.
While Terence Fisher is justly celebrated for directing the most famous Hammer
films, his forte was atmosphere, combined with a certain classical rigour in
both composition and cutting derived, one imagines, from his years as an
editor. Seth Holt and Michael Reeves both made stylish and memorable
contributions to what, for the sake of immediate convenience, we’ll call the
horror genre, but the majority of British films in the horror-thriller field
were usually both dull in concept and laboured in execution, to put it kindly.
Continue reading "DON SHARP, DIRECTOR: AN APPRECIATION BY JOHN EXSHAW"
By Todd Garbarini
In the experience of moviegoers, there
are films that possess characters we come to care about, characters whom we
wish would make different choices by the film’s end. Inevitably, there are films that end badly
for those characters and even after repeated viewings we still wish that the
film would end positively in their favor. One such film is the 1994 New Zealand outing Heavenly Creatures, directed by a then-still-unknown Peter Jackson. Anyone who has seen Mr. Jackson's early work
– specifically Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989), and Braindead (1992) – cannot help but
wonder how in the world he managed to score the director’s chair for the film
versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s massive epic about hobbits and Middle Earth. Mr. Jackson’s first three films, while highly
entertaining, are exercises in excess and were not embraced by the masses but
have all since developed cult followings. The positive reception of Braindead
was instrumental in getting his next and fourth film fast-tracked and in front of
the cameras in early 1993. At this
point, Mr. Jackson had developed a certain look and feel to his films that
managed to carry over into his next and most ambitious project. In my humble opinion, and without taking
anything away from The Lord of the Rings
trilogy, Heavenly Creatures stands as
the finest film that Mr. Jackson has made to date. Beautifully scored by Peter Dasent and
peppered with operatic cues, it is a film of such complexity, such visual
wonder, such sheer cinematic style, and is so self-assured that it easily
warrants repeated viewings. There are
films that we all see and we go on with our lives without thinking twice about,
and then there are films that we experience and find ourselves changed by. Heavenly
Creatures falls into the latter camp, and this truth cannot help but be overshadowed
by the fact that Heavenly Creatures,
while being truly awe-inspiring, is loosely based upon the true story of a
heinous and unfathomable case of premeditated matricide.
Continue reading "REVIEW: PETER JACKSON'S "HEAVENLY CREATURES" ON BLU-RAY"
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