What we’ve been reading – June 24th through June 25th:
In an article originally written in 1978, Jonathan Rosenbaum discusses the profoundly odd "children's" film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, a surreal Technicolor musical from a story by Dr. Seuss, with seemingly equal parts Salvador Dali thrown in for good measure.
Pauline Kael is one of the most beloved American critics of all times, as much for her outspoken opinions and the unabashed enthusiasm that poured out of her writing as anything else. Jason Bellamy of The Cooler hosted a series of discussions on her more provocative pieces last week – I look forward to reading through it!
Ray Young of Flickhead has begun a ten-day blogathon in tribute to New Wave director Claude Chabrol. The first few days are already linked up, and he'll continue to add links to this post as he and other film bloggers add to it.
William Gibson says Transformers 2 is a surreal mind fuck in the same spirit of Le Chien Andalou, just with a "squillion" more dollars. "Transformers: ROTF is so long, you'll need to wear adult diapers to it. But the movie's pure celebration of the primal urge, and unfiltered living, will make you rejoice in your adult diapers. You'll relieve yourself in your seat with a savage joy, your barbaric yawp blending in with the crowd's screams of excitement."
This is why Away We Go struck the right notes with me. Nothing is more polarizing in this day and age in the suburban world than child raising philosophy. It's more dangerous to bring it up in polite company than Religion or Politics. And despite being rather smug about it, Away We Go does it a lot of the right nerves for expecting parents
Interview with Kathryn Bigelow on the development and making of "The Hurt Locker".
Collider interviews Ms. Lynch in regards to SURVEILLANCE.
Interesting talk on what it was like to participate in the shooting of "The Hurt Locker."
Early glimpses of some scenes from Michael Mann's film before it hits theaters.
Kurt, I’m still waiting to hear your take on the smugness of Away We Go. Smugness, to me, implies uncalled for provocation of opinion, and I think the targets in the film are called for, and furthermore, the ultimate message of the film is the least smug of all, its live your own life the way you want to.
That said the film does overdo the alternative parenting critique.
It is just finding the time. My thoughts have been percolating on AWG for the past two days.