A newly-mastered, slightly problematic 70mm print of Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kubrick‘s Spartacus (’60) was screened last night at the Academy theatre. And I’m sorry to say that it looked a bit darker than it needed to be (and no, it wasn’t the fault of the Academy’s projector lamp). To indicate the problem I’ve posted … Read more
HE reader “Film Buff” (a.k.a. “CH”) has passed along two complaints about alleged substandard 3D presentation of The Amazing Spider-Man at the Arclight Dome — his own and one from a guy named “Spleen” who posted on Yelp. “Maybe I’m crying over spilt milk, but the experience I had at the Arclight Dome yesterday [on … Read more
Last night Gullermo del Toro delivered a master class lecture inside Toronto’s Bell Lightbox about Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious. The classic 1946 espionage thriller was also screened. Peter Howell called GDT’s remarks “masterful.” I wrote GDT and a couple of others about whether digital footage will be made available anytime soon.
The reason I saw only the last half of Meet Monica Velour yesterday was because I was watching Dana Adam Shapiro‘s Monogamy in a tiny screening room right next to Velour‘s. (Both showings began at 4 pm). After about 45 or 50 minutes of Monogamy I was feeling so dispirited that I decided to jump … Read more
This BBC story about the re-opening of the Pennan Inn in Pennan, Aberdeenshire took me back to Bill Fosyth’s Local Hero (’83). The inn is the one visited by Peter Reigert and run by Denis Lawson in this beloved film, which…good God, I can’t believe it’s been 26 years since I first saw it at … Read more
Fantasy Moguls‘ Steve Mason is reporting a higher weekend figure for Martin Scorsese‘s Shine a Light — $2.15 million — than what I’ve been told it’s likely to be, which is something in the vicinity of $1.4 million. Even if Mason turns out to be right, it’s still lower than it should be. You can … Read more
No two ways about it — Martin Scorsese‘s Shine a Light needs to be seen in the IMAX format. It’ll be agreeable in regular 35mm — fun, engaging — but the wow factor will be missing. The Rolling Stones concert film was shot in a semi-intimate setting — Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre — and the intense … Read more
The full slate for L.A.’s AFI Fest (Thursday, 11.1. to Sunday, 11.11) was announced today, and as usual the films with genuine intrigue are few and far between. Two of the three big galas — Robert Redford‘s Lions for Lambs and Mike Newell‘s Love in the Time of Cholera — are thought to be half-and-halfers, … Read more
Brad Bird‘s Ratatouille (Disney/Pixar, 6.29) is, in all ways but one, a sublime experience. Call it a gifted-underdog-fights- the-odds fable (it’s about a French rat named Remy who manages to become the most admired chef in Paris) and a very entertaining souffle by way of inspired writing, delightful wit, great voice-acting and eyeball-popping digital animation. … Read more
I saw Jason Reitman‘s Thank You for Smoking at the Toronto Film Festival, and then again at Sundance ’06. And all that time I never wrote anything. This means something, obviously, although I’ve had fun with it each time. For a movie about lighting up, Smoking is in no way, shape or form a burn. … Read more
When I first saw the photo of former New York cop Lou Eppolito and his partner after their arrest for alleged involvement in mob hits, I knew I’d seen him before. It hit me this morning…it was that five-second quickie cameo in which Eppolito played “Fat Andy” in Goodfellas. Remember that long elaborate steadicam shot … Read more
Saw The Aristocrats (ThinkFilm, 7.29) for the second time last night (the first viewing was at Sundance), and it was no less fascinating, subversive or howlingly funny. Take your mother to see this film! Here’s a link to my five month old “Wallow In It” Sundance review (scroll down a ways) and here’s the trailer. … Read more