Courtesy of director-producer Andy Bouve and writer Chadwick Matlin for Slate — smartly cut, concisely narrated, clever effects, good job.

“Something’s Happening Here,” a CNN new special airing this weekend that compares 2008 and 1968 — unpopular war, unpopular president , change candidates (RFK, Barack Obama), etc. There are seven chapters available on YouTube.

A definitive explanation of the last few minutes of the final episode of The Sopranos, written by a guy known only as bmalen3@gmail.com and passed along by Jamie Stuart.

I’ve never seen a really good-looking 70mm presentation of William Wyler‘s Ben-Hur in a good-sized theatre, so I went to what I assumed would be a showing of same at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian (which has projectors than can show 70mm) last Friday night. There are two or three 70mm prints kicking around, or so I’ve heard. It stands to reason that at least one would be here, and viewable.

2.76 to 1 Camera 65 image copied from DVD Beaver’s Ben-Hur page

But they showed a 35mm anamorphic print, projected with a typical 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio. The problem was that every so often the framing looked wrong — slightly side-cropped — due to the film having been shot in MGM Camera 65, which ultimately allowed for a 2.76 to 1 aspect ratio (which you can see in the most recent four-DVD box set) which meant a portion of what was shot and obviously intended to be seen was missing at the Cinematheque.
The other issue, of course, was that a 35mm print can’t look as sharp and clean as a 70mm print. The sound was pretty good though.
The older crowd that attended the show (some looked like family types who’d driven in from Pomona) may have been content, but not this horse. It was like the Louvre hanging a photocopy of the Mona Lisa instead of the real thing. I don’t why I stuck around until the intermission but I did, sitting there with that sinking, suckered-again feeling that I’ve come to know all too well.

“At critical junctures of her life, Hillary makes the same mistake,” Maureen Dowd has written in today’s (6.8) N.Y. Times. “She comes on strong, showing an arrogant, abrasive side, gets brushed back, and then repackages herself in a more appealing way.
“It happened when she began as Arkansas’ first lady; when she campaigned with Bill in ’92; when she started as a ‘two for the price of one’ first lady; when she did health care; and when she started her presidential campaign wearing an off-putting ermine robe of entitlement and presumption. And it happened when she lost the nomination, refused to admit it and, instead of congratulating Obama, wielded her female fan base as a bludgeon over him so she could once more share a presidency.
“Now, as she transforms herself into a team player, she must again fake it till she makes it. She still doesn’t believe Obama can win, but she knows she can move ahead only as a beguiler, not a begrudger. Meanwhile, she wants another power-sharing arrangement. She will help Obama be king, if he lets her be queen of the women.”

A memorial gathering for the recently departed Jay Peckos, senior vp distribution of Magnolia Pictures, will be held at Landmark Cinemas (10850 West Pico Boulevard, West L.A.) on Thursday, 6.19.08, at 7:30 pm. Please rsvp to mjpeckos@sbcglobal.net.
“Jay was a distribution executive who passionately loved movies and a guy who would do all he could to help a friend,” says Bob Berney, president of the soon-to-be-defunct Picturehouse. “He hired me at Orion Pictures when I really needed a break and I will always be grateful to him. Working and becoming friends with Jay was wonderful because of his generosity, support and amazing sense of humor.”

The Religulous trailer in all sizes.

The geeks have known for a long while that Robert Downey‘s Tony Stark has a cameo in The Incredible Hulk (Universal, 6.13) . Here’s a TV clip that tips/alludes. And…what, they’re setting up an Avengers movie that would have these guys in it plus a few more? Something along these lines? (Embedded code for the spot withheld on YouTube.)

Three days ago Variety‘s Dave McNary quoted a Milken Institute report claiming that the WGA strike “[has] cost the California economy a projected 37,700 jobs and $2.1 billion in lost output through the end of 2008.”
Which means, in effect, that the studio suits and producers who needlessly prolonged the WGA strike are the responsible parties. Am I wrong? Is there any other interpretation?
The Milken report “also asserts that the 100-day work stoppage helped tip the state into recession earlier this year,” McNary wrote. “The researchers said the strike’s impact will be less noticeable next year unless the Screen Actors Guild strikes — in which case the impact will intensify and the recovery will be delayed by another year.
“SAG’s current contract expires June 30. Guild is in the 24th day of talks with the majors but has not yet set a strike authorization vote.”

The car is hereby retired except during thunderstorms. The motorcycle is better for getting around anyway. Thanks to the thief who stole my bicycle 18 months ago. It’s great living in a section of a sprawled-out city without subways.

Sergei Bodrov‘s visually dazzling Mongol (Picturehouse), easily the finest biopic of the legendary Asian warrior (and certainly heads and shoulders above Dick Powell‘s The Conqueror or Andre De Toth‘s Mongols), has averaged a very decent $26,627 on five screens for a 3-day tally of $133,136. Somebody did something right.