If I was still living in West Hollywood I would have definitely have driven to Las Vegas by now to see the Las Vegas Sphere presentation of The Wizard Of Oz. It began showing about a month ago. Ticket prices are punishing ($140 or $150 for one decent seat — close to $300 for two … Read more
The spectacular Wizard of Oz sequence when the cyclone approaches and then consumes the Gale farmhouse (2:06 to 2:23) wasn’t used for some idiotic reason…talk about exciting, believable, first-rate work. Hats off to A. Arnold Gillespie, Edwin Bloomfield, Marcel Delgado, A.D. Flowers, Corril Harris, Donald Jahraus and J. McMillan Johnson, among several others.
15 years ago WHE released a 70th anniversary Bluray of The Wizard of Oz (‘39) — a sharper and more vibrantly colorful version than anyone had seen up to that point, but also grainy as hell. You could see Judy Garland’ freckles but she and costars seemed to be literally choking to death, their lungs … Read more
In a piece posted today (8.15), HuffPost contributor and Columbia film professor Annette Insdorf has linked Philip Noyce‘s The Giver and Victor Fleming‘s The Wizard of Oz. Both transition from black-and-white into color. Both feature wicked witches (Meryl Streep‘s bitch elder, Margaret Hamilton‘s Wicked With of the West) with the power to appear unexpectedly. Both … Read more
When the spirit is upon N.Y. Times critic Manohla Dargis, whether in positive or negative mode, it’s always a great read. So I love her disemboweling of Sam Raimi‘s Oz The Great and Powerful, and especially this graph: “Oz the Great and Powerful is exactly the kind of extravagant misfire that professional pessimists offer as … Read more
Last week I wrote that the opening credits of Oz The Great and Powerful, presented in black-and-white 3D within a 1.33 aspect ratio, are inventive and beautiful and altogether quite masterful. I also noted that the subsequent 15 minutes, also in the same format, are quite good also and in fact deliver more allure than … Read more
A couple of hours ago Coming Soon critic-reporter Ed Douglas graciously agreed to do a brief Oscar Poker chat about Oz The Great and Powerful, which opens on Friday. Ed is more of a fan than I am, and has actually called Sam Raimi‘s film “as entertaining” as Victor Fleming‘s The Wizard of Oz (1939). … Read more
I spent some time earlier today at Warner Home Video’s Wizard of Oz Blu-ray junket. I’ve already discussed it twice — on 9.18 and 9.19 — and said (a) it’s the sharpest, best looking, most luscious Oz yet even though (b) the grain structure is too vivid. I’ll soon be shooting a big Wizard of … Read more
Last night Some Came Running‘s Glenn Kenny didn’t really get into last weekend’s Wizard of Oz original-grain-structure discussion, but he summarized my postings and has gotten hold of a copy and run some screen shots, etc. To be continued.
This morning I heard from and then spoke to restoration guru Robert Harris (The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, Spartacus) about my 9.18 reaction to the forthcoming Wizard of Oz Blu-ray — i.e, “much sharper and more vivid, bursting with color, splendorific,” etc. Harris admires the disc as much as I do and probably more … Read more
Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray restoration of The Wizard of Oz will be out less than a month from now, debuting Tuesday, 9.29. The restored classic will also have a one-day showing on screens nationwide on 9.23, and a special 11 am screening at Manhattan’s Alice Tully Hall (a program presented by the New York Film … Read more
Alex Gibney‘s Musk, which I saw last night, includes a ten-minute intermission. This is apparently why the running time was initially misidentified — without intermission it runs 225 minutes but 235 minutes with it. During the ten-minute break I got up and stretched and tapped out the following: “Elon Musk is obviously an ego beast, … Read more