(4/5)

Based on my superficial knowledge of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice before watching it, I expected a swinger sex farce, taking advantage of the loosening mores and relaxed content restrictions of the late ’60s to portray two pairs of married friends who indulge in becoming something more. But it ended up being a lot more than that, to my pleased surprise.

Bob and Carol (Robert Culp and Natalie Wood) attend a self-discovery retreat, initially because Bob intends to make a film about it, but after a revelatory and emotional group counseling session, they become believers and want to share their new-found enlightenment with their best friends Ted and Alice (Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon). But Ted and Alice aren’t quite ready for their friends’ touchy-feely gospel and being told that they should live in total openness and truth makes them more uncomfortable than anything. Here I expected the film to side with Bob and Carol unequivocally and paint Ted and Alice as hopelessly old-fashioned and out of touch. But actually, the film is more balanced and thoughtful than that.

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Them!, playing on TCM late Friday, early Saturday

The Oscars are over for another year, but Film on TV continues apace, and it’s another quite good week with a bunch of quality films across the board. Among newly featured films, TCM has a Kurosawa mini-marathon on Tuesday night through Wednesday morning – I’ve only seen a few Kurosawa films myself, so I’m hoping to catch up on a few myself. We’ve also got the first film with synchronized sound, The Jazz Singer and Ellen Page’s breakout film, Hard Candy – how’s that for a near-double feature? Friday’s got some real B-level treats, including The Collector (yes, the one recently featured on the Cinecast – see how awesome the Cinecast is? It affects TCM programming choices!), Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2, and one of my absolute favorite 1950s atomic creature-features, Them!.

Monday, March 8

4:00am – TCM – The Bad and the Beautiful
Vincente Minnelli directs Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Dick Powell, and Gloria Grahame in one of the best dark-side-of-Hollywood noirish films this side of Sunset Boulevard.
1952 USA. Director: Vincente Minnelli. Starring: Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Dick Powell, Gloria Grahame.

6:15am – IFC – Broadway Danny Rose
It’s lesser Woody Allen, but it’s still Woody Allen. Danny Rose (Woody) is a theatrical agent whose clients always leave him when they start becoming successful. His current client, a has-been tenor trying to make a comeback, gives him further grief by having an affair with a young woman (Mia Farrow) with gangster connections. Not very substantial, but enjoyable.
1984 USA. Director: Woody Allen. Starring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Nick Apollo Forte.
(repeats at 12:05pm and 5:30pm)

8:15am – TCM – The Band Wagon
There are many reasons to consider The Band Wagon among the best movie musicals ever made. The satirical plot involving a Shakespearean director who tries to turn a lighthearted musical into a doom-and-gloom version of Faust, the bright yet sardonic script and score by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (who basically appear in the film as the characters played by Nanette Fabrey and Oscar Levant), the last really great role for Fred Astaire (maybe Funny Face is a contender, but barely), and of course, the never-surpassed beauty of dance numbers like “Dancing in the Dark” with Fred and Cyd Charisse. But even if it didn’t have all that, I’d still rank it among my favorites for the epic “Girl Hunt Ballet” number spoofing hard-boiled detective fiction.
1953 USA. Director: Vincente Minnelli. Starring: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabrey.
Must See

9:35am – IFC – Bride and Prejudice
Laugh at me if you must for recommending Chadha’s Bollywood-infused version of Pride and Prejudice, but I love it. It’s silly, it’s beautiful, it’s a fun exercise in adaptation of literary classics, and it’s only slightly weighed down by Martin Henderson’s woodenness.
2005 UK. Director: Gurinder Chadha. Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews, Alexis Bledel.
(repeats at 3:30pm)

4:00pm – TCM – Silk Stockings
The musical version of Ninotchka, about a staid, repressed Communist woman who goes to Paris on a mission, only to get loosened up by a Western guy. You’re better off with Ninotchka, honestly. Silk Stocking substitutes Cyd Charisse (who’s really only ever convincing when she’s dancing), Fred Astaire (who’s fine, though a bit on the old side by 1957), and adds Cole Porter music, which is really the major reason to check this version out.
1957 USA. Director: Rouben Mamoulian. Starring: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, Peter Lorre, Jules Munshin, George Tobias.

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Thanks to the magic of the internets, I was able to locate and watch all of the animated shorts up for an Academy Award come Sunday, and there’s some great stuff here. I’m honestly not sure how to pick which one I like best. You’ve got everything from another great entry in the Wallace and Gromit series to the jaw-dropping virtuoso trademark-ripping-off of Logorama, and other more conventional but still excellent shorts in between.

I’ve embedded them all after the jump, so take a look and let us know what you think.

(Unfortunately, I was not as successful at locating the live-action shorts; most of them only have trailers available online, if that.)

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This morning while killing some time browsing around Vimeo, I ran across this gorgeously-shot short by director Ben Briand. Two people are on a first date at a cafe, and the man asks the woman about her first love, and we see her reminiscences in flashback as she speaks. The combination of solid acting from the two leads and the beautiful cinematography (crisp in the cafe scenes, ethereal and almost lomo-esque in the flashback) captured me immediately, and I wasted little time tracking down more info on Mr. Briand. Going through the samples on his website, looks like he’s done a fair bit of commercial work in Australia, everything from Westfield Shopping Centers to high-end fashion, as well as a number of shorts (including a documentary following Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes on a live theatre production). All of the clips show a similar strong sense of style, no matter how mundane the subject. Here’s hoping for more from Ben Briand, maybe a feature film at some point.

(The film credits the actress as Laura Gordon – can anyone tell if it’s the same Laura Gordon who’s in Saw V? I have no interest in watching the Saw movies enough to figure it out myself, but her resume on IMDb does say she’s Australian. I thought she was excellent in Apricot; would like to keep an eye on her career.)

This is the second in a hopefully consistent series highlight what’s available off the beaten track for film lovers in LA. We had a really good February, and looks like it’s going to be at least as good a March. So if you’re in LA, skip the AMC and the Arclight a time or two this month and see some of the great stuff the repertory and indie theatres are working hard to bring us.

Cinefamily @ The Silent Movie Theatre

The way I’m formatting these updates, you may think I have a soft spot for Cinefamily. You’re right. There may be a lot of repertory opportunities in town, but Cinefamily is the most eclectic of the bunch, serving equally foreign film lovers who want to get beyond the standard film buff stuff and cult-film lovers always on the quest for more and more bizarre fare. They’re also the only place to consistently do series around really interesting and wide-ranging themes, much like we’ve tried to do in our marathons around here, pulling all sorts of films together around the Doomsday, Dirty Thirties, and other themes. It would’ve been nice if they’d timed this month’s Post-Apocalypse Now series of apocalyptic double-features to match our Doomsday marathon a little better, but hey. They didn’t consult me.

Cinefamily.org

SPECIAL EVENTS (selected)

Jerry Beck’s Animation Festival: Scope-a-Toons – March 2nd
This month Jerry Beck highlights cartoons of the ’50s in various widescreen formats – many of them haven’t been screened in their original aspect ratios for ages, so this will be, as always, a special program. This is tomorrow, so cancel whatever plans you’ve got now and get ready.

See more after the jump.

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Contempt, playing on TCM late Sunday/early Monday

Of the new ones this week, I’m most excited about catching Days of Heaven myself (Monday on TCM), since it’s part of the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls marathon. Don’t know if I’ll watch it right away, though; I’m trying to keep in somewhat chronological order watching those. Other notable newly features ones: West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause on Tuesday, Alien on Wednesday (I’m long overdue a rewatch on that one), All the President’s Men on Thursday, and Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt late Sunday/early Monday.

Monday, March 1

8:30am – IFC – American Splendor
Harvey Pekar is one of the more idiosyncratic graphic novelists there is (”comic book” doesn’t quite cover his very adult, neurotic art), and Paul Giamatti brings him to life perfectly.
2003 USA. Directors: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini. Starring: Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis.
(repeats at 3:30pm)

10:15pm – TCM – Days of Heaven
Terrence Malick has made his reputation on only four films; this is his second, some five years after debut Badlands. I haven’t watched it yet, but it’s on the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls Marathon list, so I will be before long – and judging by the screencaps I’ve already seen, I’m expecting to love it.
1978 USA. Director: Terrence Malick. Starring: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard.
Newly Featured!

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We’re all about film (mostly) over here on Row Three, but we indulge our love of other areas of pop culture over on MorePop. Here’s some of the things we’ve been looking at over there recently.

It’s been longer than I intended since the last one of these, so there’s a bunch of stuff over there worth highlighting!

• Lost Season 6 Discussion Thread [the return of the most popular MorePop feature]
• Kirsten Dunst in Akihabara Majokko Princess [video]
• Music Video: St. Vincent – “Laughing With a Mouth of Blood” [video]
• First Tracks from Broken Social Scene and New Pornographers Albums [MP3s]
• Pop Electronica Band Lali Puna Prepares New Album [MP3s]
• New Radio Empire Album Drops [video]
• A Couple of Poignant Videos from The Eel’s New “End Times” [video]
• Vampire Weekend Live from La Blogotheque [video]
• Jane’s Addiction Gets a New Bassist – DUFF!
• TIFF Review: The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights
• Rolling Stone Picks the Top 15 Drummers of All Time
• Blogger: The Day the Music Died
• I’m on a horse. [video]
• Procrastination is… [video]
• Nostalgia – Collectible Pop Culture Glasses
• Image of the Day: Lines and Colors
• Image of the Day: Facebook
• Image of the Day: Coulrophobia
• What [Jonathan's] Been Reading – February Edition
• Literary Quote: “I’d cheat on her and she’d know it and keep silent in order to live in my house with my wealth.” – Charles Bukowski [excerpt]
• Literary Quote: “I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you’re alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” – Neil Gaiman [excerpt]
• The Definitive Mario Timeline
• The History of Video Games in Ten Minutes [video]
• First Images from NASA’s WISE Camera

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(4.5/5)

Woodstock exists in cultural memory as the quintessential music festival – the festival that brought together the greatest musical acts of the late 1960s with the counter-cultural generation. Every musical festival since aspires to be Woodstock-like (though sadly, most achieve the comparison only by being doused in rain and becoming mudpits as Woodstock famously did). As a current music-lover and festival-goer who is admittedly under-informed about a lot of the history of rock music and its place in culture at that time, I feel very grateful to Michael Wadleigh and others for preserving the event so well on film.

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Director: Andrea Arnold (Red Road)
Screenplay: Andrea Arnold
Producers: Kees Kasander, Nick Laws
Starring: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbinder, Kierston Wareing, Rebecca Griffiths, Harry Treadway, Sydney Mary Nash
Year: 2009
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 124min.

(4.5/5)

Three years ago, Andrea Arnold burst onto the scene with her first feature Red Road, a slowly-paced but incredibly rewarding thriller set at the edges of Britain’s working class. She has outdone herself with Fish Tank, in which she continues to find inspiration from the working class, this time focusing on teenaged Mia, struggling with school and a shrill, messy home life, keeping her head afloat only through her enjoyment of dance and possibly her relationship with an older man. If this sounds like the premise of a sappy, inspirational coming of age story, trust me, it doesn’t play like one. What I said above is basically the synopsis that appears everywhere for the film, and though it approximates what happens in the film, it’s wholly inadequate to describe it.

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Stage Door, playing at 3:30am on Sunday, Febuary 28th (late Saturday)

As TCM’s Oscar-celebratory month winds down, they’ve still got a few new ones to throw at us – the first musical to win a Best Picture Oscar, The Broadway Melody, shows on Monday; an actual good Merchant-Ivory film in A Room With a View turns up on Thursday; and fantastic underrated film noir The Killers plays on Thursday; finally, one of my personal all-time favorite films, Stage Door, hits the screen late Saturday/early Sunday (trust me, picture quality is higher than the still above; couldn’t find a decent cap). Sundance also springs Zhang Yimou historical actioner Curse of the Golden Flower to us on Sunday. As expected, the rest of the week is filled out with great repeats on all channels – many classics, both new and old.

Monday, February 22

2:00pm – TCM – The Broadway Melody
After Warner Bros. thrust the film industry into the sound era with Jolson’s musical numbers in The Jazz Singer, it wasn’t long before other studios latched onto the musical possibilities provided by the debut of synchronized sound. MGM led the way with this backstage entry (the first of a series of unrelated “Broadway Melody” films) and earned themselves a Best Picture Academy Award. That’d never hold up today – this is extremely creaky and old-fashioned now – but hey. It has historical interest.
1929 USA. Director: Harry Beaumont. Starring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love.
Newly Featured!

6:00pm – TCM – Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder’s classic noir explores the dark side of the rich and formerly famous, as a struggling screenwriter (William Holden) gets involved with a silent screen star seeking to make a comeback in the sound era. In one of the most brilliant cast films ever, actual silent screen star Gloria Swanson returned to the movies to play the delusional Norma Desmond and actual silent star/director Erich von Stroheim (who worked with Swanson on the never-finished Queen Kelly, portions of which appear in Sunset Boulevard) plays her former director/current butler. The film is a bit on the campy side now, but that doesn’t diminish its enjoyability one bit.
1950 USA. Director: Billy Wilder. Starring: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Nancy Olsen, Erich Von Stroheim, Buster Keaton.
Must See

11:45pm – TCM – It Happened One Night
In 1934, It Happened One Night pulled off an Academy Award sweep that wouldn’t be repeated until 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, snagging awards for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress. Colbert is a rebellious heiress, determined to run away and marry against her father’s wishes. Along the way, she picks up Gable, a journalist who senses a juicy feature. This remains one of the most enjoyable comedies of all time, with great scenes like Colbert using her shapely legs rather than her thumb to catch a ride, Gable destroying undershirt sales by not wearing one, and a busload of people singing “The Man on the Flying Trapeze.”
1934 USA. Director: Frank Capra. Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert.
Must See

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Director: Mark Region
Screenplay: Mark Region
Producers: Mark Region
Starring: Jason Kulas, Peggy McClellan
Year: 2009
Country: United States
Running time: 93min.

(1/5)

Folks, we have a potential new contender for the title “worst film ever” – and a potential new cult hit among a certain kind of audience (that is, snarky and/or high). Just for fun, here’s the synopsis writer/producer/director Mark Region has placed everywhere for the film: “The end of another season has brought more than the usual change in temperature to the residents of a city. As they go through some tragic events, the residents, and especially a group of medical students, must reevaluate their lives and face new questions.” Okay, a murder does take place during the film, which counts as a tragic event. And the main characters are medical students. Beyond that, this synopsis is useless, because it suggests that there is some thought somewhere in or behind the film, which does not appear to actually be the case.

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Spirited Away, playing on Sunday at 9:45am on IFC

A few new ones this week – the still powerful mental illness drama The Snake Pit on Monday, the mismatched buddy comedy The Odd Couple on Tuesday, Meryl Streep’s first Oscar-winning role in Kramer vs. Kramer on Wednesday, a great teaming for Taylor and Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Saturday, and one of Miyazaki’s best, Spirited Away on Sunday. A lot of great repeats, too – some Bogart and Bacall, some of Woody Allen’s best, a few of our favorite films of the decade (The Squid and the Whale and The New World), a pair of Soderberghs, some classic sci-fi from Kubrick and Spielberg, and a pair of Hitchcocks to finish out the week.

Monday, February 15

7:30am – TCM – I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Paul Muni plays an initially optimistic and energetic young man who struggles to find a job during the Depression. Eventually he ends up unwillingly involved in a robbery and sentenced to the chain gang. One of Warner Bros’ best “ripped from the headlines” socially conscious films – they did a lot of them in the 1930s.
1931 USA. Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson.

8:00pm – TCM – The Snake Pit
One of the earlier films to deal with the realities of mental illness seriously, with Olivia de Havilland as a woman in an insane asylum, brilliantly moving back and forth between lucidity and falling back in the fog of illness. She got an Oscar nom for her role, based on a true story.
1948 USA. Director: Anatole Litvak. Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm.
Newly Featured!

10:00pm – TCM – The Heiress
Olivia de Havilland won her Oscar for her role as the title character in this adaptation of Henry James’ Washington Square, a woman forbidden from love with a young suitor because her controlling father fears the suitor is only a fortune hunter.
1949 USA. Director: William Wyler. Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins.

12:00M – IFC – The Proposition
Australia’s answer to the western; Guy Pearce must hunt down and capture his brothers for the law in order to save his own skin. Gritty and violent almost to a fault, and it definitely brought new life to the Western genre.
2005 Australia. Director: John Hillcoat. Starring: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone.

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