Posts Tagged ‘Gone with the Wind’

  • 21 Feb

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    Cinecast Episode 294 – Gennero-ic

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    Matt Gamble makes a brief appearance in this episode where he extols upon the virtues of teen witches (and Emma Thompson.) He is also rather confident he knows something about Oscar. Kurt believes only a fool bets against Abe-Frakkin-Lincoln and Matt can Argo-fuck-himself. Andrew discusses the Teal n’ Orange edition of Officer John McClane and his adventures in Mother Russia as Daddy Car-crusher. Another Take this Waltz debate ensues. Kurt also caught an early screening of Park Chan-Wook’s Stoker and despite being under a gag-order, encourages people to flock to the cinema for this unusually stylish blend of Hollywood and Korean aesthetics. A fun and eclectic Watch List including old school mega-epics (Frankly, my dears, we don’t give a damn), Ricky Jay on Henry David Thoreau and dramatic Steve Martin, early Cameron Crowe flirtations ghetto blasters and the IRS troubles, and ends with Andrew trouble with tribulations in his Blindspotting adventures that lead to just a re-watch of Star Trek II.

    As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!


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    Cinecast Episode 294 [ 1:40:13 | 68.81 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

     

    To download the show directly, paste the following URL into your favorite downloader:
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_13/episode_294.mp3

     

    #DieHard #Spon

     
     
    Full show notes are under the seats…
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  • 13 Sep

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    Film on TV: September 13-19

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    The Virgin Spring, playing on TCM on Thursday.

    Pretty sparse when it comes to newly featured stuff this week. Best bets there are Laurence Olivier’s moody take on Hamlet and Ingmar Bergman’s savagely beautiful The Virgin Spring, both on Thursday, and then a double dose of suspense on Sunday in Wait Until Dark and Dial M for Murder (which TCM has played before since I started doing these columns, but not for quite a long time). Still some very solid repeats, including two from my best-of-the-2000s list (Pan’s Labyrinth on Wednesday and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days on Thursday), plus a whole series of Claudette Colbert films on Monday, including multi-Oscared It Happened One Night, Billy Wilder-scripted Midnight, and Preston Sturges-directed The Palm Beach Story.

    Monday, September 13

    6:15am – 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 CBolbert 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

    8:35am – Sundance – Ran
    Akira Kurosawa’s inspired transposition of King Lear into medieval Japan, mixing Shakespeare and Japanese Noh theatre tradition like nobody’s business.
    1985 Japan. Director: Akira Kurosawa. Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu.
    Must See
    (repeats at 2:50pm)

    9:30am – TCM – Midnight
    Solid Billy Wilder/Charles Brackett-penned screwball comedy that ought to be better known than it is. Claudette Colbert ends up in the middle of a millionare-wife-gigolo triangle, paid by the millionaire husband to break up the wife and gigolo by impersonating a baroness; meanwhile, a poor taxi driver she’d met previously is smitten with her and seeks her out, only to find her in her new guise. Sparkling dialogue and a strong cast give this a sophisticated twist that doesn’t quite match Lubitsch at his best, but is on the same track.
    1939 USA. Director: Mitchell Leisen. Starring: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Francis Lederer.

    9:35am – IFC – Sleeper
    One of Woody Allen’s early films, and a rare attempt at science fiction on his part, has meek Miles Monroe cryogenically frozen only to wake in a totalitarian future as part of a radical movement to overthrow the government. A rather different film for Woody, but still with his signature anxious wit and awkwardness.
    1973 USA. Director: Woody Allen. Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory.
    (repeats at 2:35pm, and 4:30am on the 14th)

    1:15pm – TCM – The Palm Beach Story
    Similar in tone but less consistent than The Lady Eve, this Preston Sturges film follows bickering couple Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert as she leaves him to gold dig for a richer man. He follows her, pretending to be her brother, and they get all entangled with a wealthy brother and sister. The ending is a weak bit of trickery, but there are enough moments of hilarity to make it worth watching.
    1942 USA. Director: Preston Sturges. Starring: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallee, Mary Astor.

    12:45am (14th) – TCM – A Face in the Crowd
    A rare film role for homespun comedian Andy Griffith really shows his chops as he plays an Ozark hobo who becomes an overnight sensation on radio and TV; when the fame and power starts going to his head, the film shows the cynical dark underbelly of media sensations. One of the recently late Patricia Neal’s best roles, too, as the girl who discovers him.
    1957 USA. Director: Elia Kazan. Starring: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick.

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  • 14 Dec

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    Film on TV: December 14-20

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    Children of Paradise, playing at 2:45am on the 21st, on TCM

     

    This is the week of the epics for TCM – explicitly so on Sunday, when they’re playing Doctor Zhivago, Ben-Hur, and others, but they’re also throwing in Gone With the Wind on Tuesday. Humphrey Bogart is TCM’s star of the month this month, and all day Wednesday is devoted to Bogart films (including a lot of lesser-known gangster films he did in the 1930s, which I didn’t specifically write up), culminating in a quartet of greats in the evening/overnight: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and The African Queen. Meanwhile, IFC is continuing to repeat some great stuff, from The New World and Before Sunrise to a trio of Tarantino films on Saturday night.

    Monday, December 14

    9:35am – IFC – The Station Agent
    One of the most pleasant surprises (for me, anyway) of 2003. Peter Dinklage moves into a train depot to indulge his love for trains and stay away from people, only to find himself befriended by a loquacious Cuban hot-dog stand keeper and an emotionally delicate Patricia Clarkson. A quiet but richly rewarding film.
    2003 USA. Director: Thomas McCarthy. Starring: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale.
    (repeats at 2:35pm)

    4:00pm – TCM – The Trouble With Harry
    A group of small-town New Englanders find a dead body (that of Harry) in the woods and, fearing they’ll be murder suspects if it’s found, conspire to hide it. One of Hitchcock’s funniest films, mixing the macabre and the absurd adeptly.
    1955 USA. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick.

    Tuesday, December 15

    7:00pm – IFC – Crimes and Misdemeanors
    When Martin Landau’s long-time mistress threatens to expose their affair unless he marries her, he’s faced with the decision to let her ruin his life and career or have her murdered. In a tangentially and thematically-related story, Woody Allen is a documentary filmmaker forced into making a profile of a successful TV producer rather than the socially-conscious films he wants to make. One of Allen’s most thoughtful and philosophically astute films – there are few answers here, but the questions will stay in your mind forever.
    1989 USA. Director: Woody Allen. Starring: Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston, Claire Bloom, Joanna Gleason.
    Must See

    8:00pm – TCM – Gone With the Wind
    Margaret Mitchell’s sprawling best-seller became David O. Selznick’s sprawling epic, the story of spoiled southern belle Scarlett O’Hara coping with the horrors of unrequited love, threats to her family’s plantation, and oh, yeah, the Civil War. Gone With the Wind needs no introduction, really.
    1939 USA. Director: Victor Fleming. Starring: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel.
    Must See
    Newly Featured!

    3:45am (16th) – TCM – Rebecca
    Hitchcock’s first American film, based on Daphne du Maurier’s romantic novel. Rebecca is actually the previous wife of our mousy narrator’s new husband – her greatest fear is that he still loves Rebecca too much to care for her, but the truth may be more sinister than that. A lot of people really love this film, but I personally dislike the Hollywoodized ending enough that I’m not a huge fan.
    1940 USA. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders.

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  • 30 Nov

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    Bookmarks for November 23-30th

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    What we’ve been reading over the past week or so.

    TwinPeaks-still
    • A Top 10: Lengthy Tracking Shots
      From Godard to Scorsese. Showy Shots abound. There are plenty more to add (feel free to suggest in the comment, I am surprised they left out the big D.W. Griffith shot in Intolerance. Or for that matter, The Protector, Brazil, Serenity, Boogie Nights, Satantango, etc. etc. But then again, it is only a top 10.
    • Playboy does James Cameron (no photos!)
      “Avatar is made very consciously for movie fans. If critics like it, fine. I can’t say I won’t read the reviews, because I may not be able to resist. I spent a couple of decades in the capricious world of being judged by those not knowledgeable about the depth and history of film and with whom I would not want to have a conversation—with a few notable exceptions. Why would I want to be judged by them? For me, this past decade has been about retreating to the great fundamentals, things that aren’t passing fads or subject to the whims of some idiot critic. You can’t write a review of the laws of thermodynamics.”
    • SPIEGEL Interview with Umberto Eco on the vertigo of making lists
      “I was fascinated with Stendhal at 13 and with Thomas Mann at 15 and, at 16, I loved Chopin. Then I spent my life getting to know the rest. Right now, Chopin is at the very top once again. If you interact with things in your life, everything is constantly changing. And if nothing changes, you’re an idiot.”
    • ‘Nine’ Leads Indie Heavy Golden Satellite Nods
      While the awards – handed out by International Press Academy – are generally disregarded as a serious Oscar precursor due to their often inexplainable decisions, this year’s batch is definitely full of worthy nominees, particularly from the specialty sector.
    • More Mainstream Press for THE ROOM.
      “Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” is a train wreck of almost incomprehensible proportions: Whole scenes are out of focus, while others are repeated in their entirety; characters appear without introduction, while others vanish without explanation; and the unfortunate cast engages in behavior that few would consider typical. All of which, of course, makes the painfully overwrought relationship drama one of the greatest comedies ever to be created entirely by accident.”
    • The Road Takes Desolate Journey From Page to Screen
      To deliver “The Road’s” worn and weathered ambience, Hillcoat avoided as much as possible the over-the-top digital approach employed by director Roland Emmerich for his post-apocalyptic spectacle, “2012.” Hillcoat shot “The Road” at 51 real-world locations to give the R-rated film, which opens Wednesday, an extra dose of authenticity.
    • 100+ Cliche Dialogue Lines
      ‘The Definitive List of Cliched Dialogue’ or just another day at the office for those ink stained grinders writing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Dacacos or Steven Segal flicks.
    • Critical Shift: New Moon vs. Gone With The Wind
      Peter Howell considers what has changed in the critical landscape in how lurid melodrama and hammy acting was received in 1939 vs. 2009.
    • Tres Chic Twin Peaks Photo Gallery
      Quite an awesome (yet creepy) set of on-set photos taken during the taping of Twin Peaks by Richard Beymar.
    • The 99 Most Jaw-Dropping Movie Moments
      We love those movie moments that make us feel like we’ve been swiftly punched in the gut. The shocking scenes that give us goosebumps and gasps at the same time. Because we love those shock & awe bits so much, we’ve compiled our 99 favourites, counting down to the all-time greatest jaw-dropping movie moment.
  • 12 Nov

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    “Gone with the Wind” BluRay Review

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    Courtesy of Hollywood Elsewhere we get this quick overview of the rather extensive Blu-Ray release of Gone with the Wind. This paragraph sums it up nicely, but I like the idea of opening the package for the first time to see what is all included in this box set. This looks like the Blade Runner brief case for classic drama fans.

     

    “I’ve just watched the first half of the new Gone With The Wind Bluray, and I’m truly dazzled. No, levitated. This is by far the most beautifully rendered old-time Technicolor film I’ve ever seen on a high-def system — razor-sharp, pulsing with color, pretty close to grain-free and significantly upgraded over the 2004 DVD version, which was excellent for what it was … I do know what my eyes tell me. This Gone With The Wind is amazing — a candy-store Technicolor eye-bath like nothing I’ve ever sunk into before. The key element is ‘next to no grain.’ I haven’t come up with a term that conveys the opposite of a ‘grainstorm’ but this delivers that. Hallelujah — somebody finally heard!”