Great Movies
"He said the emergency dispatcher laughed at his complaint, but Billington took to Twitter to vent his anger. He claimed to be concerned that the movie, the horror film The Sacrament, was being pirated, and that 'drastic measures' were called for in restoring moviegoing etiquette. 'I’m just trying to fight the good fight,' wrote Billington, 'even if others don’t agree with my methods.'"
"Now let me contrast that with another comment from [Jean-Luc] Godard, about a film I hate even though some of my most respected colleagues defend it, [Steven] Spielberg's 'Schindler's List'. Godard once made the ironically modest claim that he had not had a strong effect on film history, because of all the things he had not been able to prevent, including Steven Spielberg rebuilding Auschwitz. I know it's a low blow. But the issue here is complex, not simply sophomoric. We live in a world which has not so much forgotten the past as re-made it, made it constantly available and accessible in new packaging. Rather than watching a classic movie again one can see it re-made with color and new stars, improved special effects, all its embarrassing patina of pastness stripped away, as the past is made palatable, familiar, given a contemporary sheen. But my point is not to take a superior attitude to this packaging of the past, this drive to remake it, because at its core breathes a very deep problem, one about the nature of history and the nature of cinema. How else can one have access to the past without in some sense re-making it? That must be the task of every historian, to pull the fragments of the past into the present and speak with them. The danger lies in making this look easy, because it is very difficult."
"Explosions, while awesome, give essentially the same thrill no matter the screen. Action only holds one’s interest for so long, and right now the spectacle seems to be the major thing Hollywood is selling it’s blockbusters on—and after looking at some of this summer’s returns, they aren’t always selling. The structure of the typical movie follows its lead characters through a well-worn, three-act trek that sees the hero rise and fall only to rise again. While this formula has been used to tell some great stories, it’s far too limiting in its service to the mechanics of plot rather than character. Series, by nature of their drawn out form, move beyond this—and it makes watching them all the more engaging."
"While football experts were trying (and likely failing) to prematurely anticipate the eventual NFL champions, Oscar prognosticators were undertaking a similar enterprise at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. At Vulture, Kyle Buchanan didn’t wonder, he flat-out called his shot, Babe Ruth-style. The new historical drama 12 Years A Slave, he said, 'will surely be this year’s Best Picture winner.' Surely! 'There’s no question in my mind that this will be our ultimate awards season victor,' he added. No question! Buchanan’s essay was the most assertive about 12 Years A Slave and its Oscar chances certainties, but it was far from the only one. And I mean far far far far (far farfar [far]) from the only one."
"People are going to tell you that reputations can never be recovered and that regrets of the sexual kind are permanent and that the only people that people remember from high school and college are the loose girls. Well, rest assured, young ladies of the night: people also remember a------s and freaks and the guy who fell off the back of the bleachers drunk and the teacher who always had toilet paper coming out the back of his pants and the girl with the funny laugh and the fellow who played a mean bass and the wallflower who had an amazing singing voice and the math whiz and the boy who always brought an onion sandwich to lunch and the sweet young thang who may or may not have been a little easy. Also: memories fade. And memory fades. And wounds (save for those mortal ones I previously mentioned) typically heal."
Promotional video for MGMT's third album, directed by Jordan Fish. Shout-outs to David Cronenberg, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, maybe, and all manner of other sources.
