An article about Roger Ebert's August 19th induction ceremony into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame at the American Writers Museum and reprint of lovely speech by Milos Stehlik
Matt writes: Abbas Kiarostami, who passed away July 4th at age 76, was one of the great masters of the cinematic art form. I'll never forget the experience of watching his 1990 landmark, "Close-Up," in its pristine Criterion edition, or becoming entranced by his 2010 masterwork, "Certified Copy," when I first saw it on the big screen. Patrick Z. McGavin wrote a beautiful tribute to Kiarostami, as did Godfrey Cheshire, who reflected on his friendship with the icon. Various staff members at RogerEbert.com also pitched in to offer their own remembrances in a lovely multi-voice piece.
My dinner with Michael Cimino; Emily Ratajkowski's naked ambition; When Disney got trippy; Filmmakers are fans of TCM; Diversity ignores the disabled in Hollywood.
An obituary for the late Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.
A tribute to Isabelle Huppert as the 2014 Chicago International Film Festival plans to do the same this weekend.
Bruce Dern and Will Forte reminisce about their father-son road trip in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska."
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How good, or bad, does a movie have to be in order to make an impression -- enough of one, anyway, so that you can remember it, or even still feel like talking about it, 15 minutes after you've seen it? Inspired by "The Hottie and the Nottie," Joe Queenan suggests criteria for The Worst Movies of All Time ("From hell") in The Guardian.
Among the movies he considers: "Futz!" (a 1969 satire, based on a hit LaMaMa Broadway production, about a man who marries a pig), Marco Ferreri's "La Grande Bouffe" (1973), John Huston's "A Walk With Love and Death," Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salo: 120 Days of Sodom," Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful" ("as morally repugnant -- precisely because of its apparent innocence -- as any film I can name"), Kevin Costner's "The Postman," Martin Brest's "Gigli" and Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate." Queenan writes: A generically appalling film like "The Hottie and the Nottie" is a scab that looks revolting while it is freshly coagulated; but once it festers, hardens and falls off the skin, it leaves no scar. By contrast, a truly bad movie, a bad movie for the ages, a bad movie made on an epic, lavish scale, is the cultural equivalent of leprosy: you can't stand looking at it, but at the same time you can't take your eyes off it. You are horrified by it, repelled by it, yet you are simultaneously mesmerised by its enticing hideousness....
Great Movies
