edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

Upcoming

July 2

Hancock

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The Whackness

July 4

Diminished Capacity

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Holding Trevor

Kabluey

We are Together

July 9

Full Battle Rattle

July 11

A Man Named Pearl

August

Eight Miles High

Garden Party

Harold

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Meet Dave

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The Stone Angel

July 18

A Very British Gangster

Before I Forget

The Dark Knight

The Doorman

Felon

Lou Reed's Berlin

Transsiberian

July 22

Two Tickets to Paradise

July 23

Boy A

Godard Was God

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"In Jean Luc Godard's 'return to zero' film Le Gai Savoir, a pretty woman is shown reading a poem in front of a wall adorned with large images of Batman, the Hulk and Spiderman. Four decades ago none of those mutated heroes were well known outside culture mongers and kids reading comics. Flash forward to the present and those iconic images are what sell current movies. In fact they're all present this summer if you replace Peter Parker with Bruce Banner. Name a filmmaker working now with a film that has a single frame that identifies the zeitgeist of 2048." -- HE reader Michael Bergeron.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 30, 2008 at 11:46 PM

comment #1

JacksOrBetter says ...

But why the past tense?

His post-1980 is more and more, uh, challenging, but the guy's a gosh-darn genius.

Posted by JacksOrBetter at May 1, 2008 12:35 AM

comment #2

Devin Faraci says ...

"Name a filmmaker working now with a film that has a single frame that identifies the zeitgeist of 2048."

Hopefully Plorvax, the HE commenter from the 22nd century, can weigh in on this. Because otherwise this is a stupid sentence.

Posted by Devin Faraci at May 1, 2008 01:09 AM

comment #3

BurmaShave says ...

Every frame of CHILDREN OF MEN identifies the zeitgeist of 30 years from now, unfortunately, but that is why it is probably the greatest film of this decade.

Posted by BurmaShave at May 1, 2008 01:59 AM

comment #4

corey3rd says ...

comic book characters aren't that predicting of culture. Not like Godard had his character list the names of The Hills cast.

Posted by corey3rd at May 1, 2008 05:46 AM

comment #5

Mark G. says ...

Godard was overrated 40 years ago and he sure is unwatchable today...

Posted by Mark G. at May 1, 2008 06:09 AM

comment #6

The Hoyk says ...

Next to George Lucas' thorough ruination of the once-glorious STAR WARS franchise, is there a more heartbreaking turn of events for movie lovers than Godard? His '60's output so fresh, frequent, and exciting, and then he effectively kills himself with unwatchable, preachy "commie" fare. And then when he ostensibly claims to be working in a commercial idiom again, undercuts his occasionally challenging moments with snotty, condescending public statements and a downright hostile indifference to the general audience, masturbating himself into cultural irrelevance over the last three decades.

Posted by The Hoyk at May 1, 2008 06:29 AM

comment #7

Howlingman says ...

"His post-1980 is more and more, uh, challenging, but the guy's a gosh-darn genius."

No, just French.

Posted by Howlingman at May 1, 2008 06:57 AM

comment #8

D.Z. says ...

Hoyk: You're only assuming that his older stuff was only non-commie affiliated because it wasn't so blatant. http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080501i.php

Posted by D.Z. at May 1, 2008 08:18 AM

comment #9

BlueBomm says ...

This is ridiculous. Everyday people didn't know who Batman was in 1969? Seriously, just think about that for a second...

Posted by BlueBomm at May 1, 2008 10:43 AM

comment #10

D.Z. says ...

Plus they had those crappy one-frame Spider Man and Hulk cartoons in the 60s, but I'm not sure those count...

Posted by D.Z. at May 1, 2008 02:31 PM

comment #11

Richardson says ...

I do agree with him that no comic book character created today is going to be omnipresent in 40 years, but that doesn't really have anything to do with Godard.

That's like saying, "Hey, 'King Kong' was one of the hugest movies ever made a few years ago, so I guess Dino DiLaurentiis was onto something."

Posted by Richardson at May 2, 2008 01:17 PM