The embedded code for the 2.13 MSNBC “Morning Joe” segment I tried to post is clearly different than last night’s (“An Embarassment of Niches”) but it doesn’t post. Instead you see last night’s segment all over again. The MSNBC techies need to get their act together. Irritating. Drop it.

“I’ve recently watched two largely dismissed large-format Hollywood films in exemplary HD transfers– The Big Country and the 1966 Lawrence of Arabia wannabe Khartoum. In both cases certain dramatic deficiencies of the films that would have been apparent [as] talking-heads dramas on your 21″ Sylvania in the 60s or 70s, receded in importance when the films again benefited from having their sheer size and detail restored.
“Seeming subtleties of presentation make a big difference. A film that is captivating in a sparkling clear print can be a chore in an only slightly muddier one. A film that seems trite on TV can delight on a big screen when its visuals dominate its words.
“We know all this, but as we were reminded this week, the chances to see such movies on the big screen are fewer and fewer and, of course, for many films they have never existed again since their initial release. HDTV is not the same as having everything in 35mm or 70mm on a big screen, but at the same time, it is very different from the standard-def TV experience we’ve known for 50 years.”
— from an excellent piece by Nitrateville‘s Mke Gebert about re-discovering the pleasures of big-format films via big-screen high-def.

What a gutless dithering douchebag pussy John Edwards has turned out to be, sitting on the sidelines, thinking things over, unable to pull the trigger for days on end. My respect for the man has gone out the window.
It’s not that he’s reportedly thinking about endorsing Hillary Clinton, which would be fine. (She’s all but finished anyway and the Edwards voters have already re-aligned so what does it matter?) It’s the fact that he’s been acting like the softer, squishier, less decisive brother of Gregory Peck‘s character in The Big Country. By the standards of that 1958 William Wyler film, a part of me wants to see the kind of decisiveness exemplified by Burl Ives or Charles Bickford‘s characters in my Presidential candidates.

Chicago investors are reportedly looking to build McMansions on just-acquired land right next to the Hollywood sign. Opportunity knocks! The city of Los Angeles needs to make a definitive statement to itself and the world that there is no such thing as hallowed ground in this town when it comes to potential real-estate booty. No major U.S. city has shown less regard for its past (even when it came to preserving ’50s kitsch establishments like Tiny Naylors back in the ’80s). Build the homes, get your ugly on, and hire some crack riflemen to go out and kill those coyotes

A discussion is warranted about Pete Hammond‘s belief/theory (which is shared by yours truly) that given the strong support/affection for Michael Clayton, particularly among the over-60 crowd, the odds favor at least one Clayton nominee — Tilda Swinton — getting rewarded with an Oscar.
The thinking is that Academy voters, wanting to give Tony Gilroy‘s film something but knowing that a Best Picture or Best Director or Best Original Screenplay or Best Supporting Actor win won’t happen (because No Country, the Coen brothers, Diablo Cody and Javier Bardem have these prizes all but sewn up), will throw all their Clayton love to Swinton.
Swinton has the added plus factor of having gained a bit of weight for her role as a never-jangled corporate flunky and thereby made herself look less than fully attractive (flab being a symptom among Type-A professionals of bad food, late-night drinking, stress and anxiety). Academy members have always seemed to admire any performance that physically alters or deglamorizes. I know, I know….the height of shallow thinking. But why was there laughter when Denzel Washington said “by a nose” before he announced that the Best Actress Oscar was going to Nicole Kidman for her performance in The Hours?
http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2008/02/tilda-swinton-w.html

In a Berlin Film Festival review of Filth and Wisdom, the first feature directed by Madonna, Times Online critic James Christopher has waxed mixed-positive. Wait…is that an accurate way to characterize? It’s almost a pan but with a Valentine flourish. Like Christopher was staggered by the fact that it was a lot better than expected, which led to his writing from a generous (i.e., relieved) state of mind.
“Despite its many shortcomings and an ending so mushy and neat it would embarrass Richard Curtis, Madonna has done herself proud. Her film has an artistic ambition that has simply bypassed her husband, the film director Guy Ritchie. She captures that wonderfully accidental nature of luck when people√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s lives intersect for a whole swathe of unlikely but cherishable reasons. ‘Altmanesque’ would be stretching the compliment too far, but Filth and Wisdom shows Madonna has real potential as a film director.”

It was already pretty “official” by most standards, but Hollywood’s writers made it even more so last night when they voted to end the WGA strike by a 92.5% majority. That means, apparently, that 7.5% of the 3,775 members (roughly 345 writers) said no, not good enough, back to the barricades.

As a way of challenging HE talk-backers who screamed in defiance in response to my two There Will Be Blood/”I drink your milkshake” postings last Friday (enough! it’s jumped the shark! we can’t stand it any more!), here’s a column posted today (2.12) by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson on the same topic. And they admit that they only began to get wind of the milkshake thing a week ago! So give us a break! For Mr. and Mrs. America, this milkshake branding is a relatively new thing. There’s no room for snide elitist judgments on this site. (Kidding!)

Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris‘ first film since his Oscar-winning The Fog Of War, has been zip-gunned by Variety critic Todd McCarthy in a 2.12 Berlin Film Festival review.

“If the medicine’s going to taste as bad as it does in Standard Operating Procedure, it had better be really good for you,” McCarthy begins. “But despite the coup of landing candid interviews with several of the Americans most intimately involved in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Morris’ doc adds relatively little insight to the public understanding of wayward military behavior more incisively analyzed in Taxi to the Dark Side.
“Helmer’s status and heavyweight subject matter will stir attention running up to April 18 domestic release, but the film is such a grind to sit through that a B.O. fate similar to that of other Iraq-themed releases seems inescapable. Smallscreen and home-format prospects are better.”

This columnist is hereby saluting Steven Spielberg for announcing he won’t participate in Beijing’s Summer Olympic Games as an artistic adviser, citing the lack of progress in ending the genocide in Darfur. A respectful salute is extended also to Mia Farrow, whose guilt-tripping of Spielberg last March led to the dawning of his political conscience in this matter.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to formally announce the end of my involvement as one of the overseas artistic advisers to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games,” Spielberg said in a statement released today and reported at 2:23 pm by Variety‘s Ted Johnson.
“I have made repeated efforts to encourage the Chinese government to use its unique influence to bring safety and stability to the Darfur region of Sudan,” Spielberg wrote. “Although some progress has been made …the situation continues to worsen and the violence continues to accelerate.”