The latest on what’s happening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, dispatches from the New York Film Festival and exclusive content from Film Comment magazine.
Stay tuned to the filmlinc blog for an in-depth look at the festival offerings and the filmmakers behind them, and be sure to enter our Camp contest on Facebook. If you have a funny/horrible/unbelievable story or photo from your camp days, you could win tickets to see Camp Girls, Gay Block’s re-exploration of the summer camp subjects of a 1981 photo essay, and a copy of the hilarious Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, dance as an artform may be more analogous to cinema than theater–in their attention to physical and visual gesture, both forms derive much of their power in employing kinetic energy to transmit meaning that transcends words. You can be the judge this week as the Film Society unveils it’s popular “Dance on Camera” series. This year’s selections range from specially commissioned shorts to a new dance film from India; from Russian ballerinas to Busby Berkeley; and from documentaries on dance virtuosos Antonio Gades and Jerome Robbins to a rare screening of a 1918 silent film classic. Special events are too numerous to list here. Suffice to say an action-packed five days of dance will be leaping off the screen at the Walter Reade beginning tonight at 6:15!
Produced by Felt Soul Media and Trout Unlimited, Red Gold is a gripping look at worlds colliding in Alaska, those of family fishermen, corporate interests and environmentalists. This is one film you’ll want to watch before you dig into another bagel with smoked salmon.
Which leads me to remind you about the culinary pleasures you’ll enjoy after this illuminating film and panel discussion. Savoychef Peter Hoffman will be on hand on hand after the screening and Q & A to serve up scrumptious salmon-centric snacks comprised of sustainable ingredients and wild salmon provided by Ocean Beauty.
The filmlinc blog asked digital strategist Bud Caddell to look into his crystal ball and predict how we will be consuming movies in five years. What follows is his prediction for the future of cinema.
“It’s easy to forget that 2014 is only five years away. By no stretch of my imagination will we be traveling to movie theaters aloft in the clouds by means of a rocket powered car which conveniently folds up into a briefcase. With that in mind, I’ll leave Jetson-like predictions to bolder men.
But what I can tell you is that for most movie-goers, life will be relatively unchanged. Large commercial theaters in populated areas will still take in enough revenue to do well, though there will be pressure: moviegoers will continue to feel stung by rising ticket prices, concessions will struggle with our hopefully changing diets, and studios will still fixate on opening weekends and summer blockbusters. Thereʼs a fair chance that theaters will see diminishing returns. Which is good news for everyone at the edges of the industry.
By far, my favorite movie theater in America is the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. At the Alamo, you sit in spacious rows complete with tables in front of you to hold your dinner, or your snacks or your beer as you enjoy your film. The last movie I saw there was Dr. Strangelove. Sometime before that I caught the premier of Johnny Deppʼs remake of Willy Wonka, where I devoured items from a chocolate themed menu. On another night, members of the audience brought in their own embarrassing home movies to play for each other. Austin has plenty of other theaters that are always packed; but the Alamo holds a special place in the heart of the community.
Over the next five years, our screens (television and computer) will continue to get bigger and cheaper. And by 2014, more digital content than ever will shimmer through them (including some of those summer blockbusters). But places like the Alamo and Walter Reade Theater will thrive. Their choices of programming, their places within the community, and the transportive experience of sitting with a live audience splashed in the reflection of that cinematic light just canʼt be surpassed.
By 2014 I think weʼll be watching more movies on IMAX film. I have a sneaking suspicion that commercial films will be shorter in length. And I know for a certainty that weʼll be interacting with film in entirely new ways online by then. In fact, Iʼm making it my business.”
Not content to simply issue a critical roundup of the year’s 20 best films, Film Comment’s latest issue is filled with must-read cinematic trivia that should make any list-lover’s heart flutter. Get a complete look at the making of the final cut for the magazine’s famous critic’s poll 2008, including which Film Comment staffer has a soft spot for Kazakhstan, plus incisive commentary on the “movies that mattered, for better or for worse.”
This latest issue of Film Comment also boasts a new feature, the Film Comment Trivial Top 20, which is a fresh, film-related list devised and selected by the finest minds in the cinephile universe. In this issue: the 20 best acting performances by directors in fellow helmer’s films. So is it Quentin Tarantino? Sydney Pollack? Roman Polanski? Check out page 11 of the Jan/Feb issue for the answer!
It’s not all just lists, either. In the issue, you can read an interview with James Toback by Quentin Tarantino, a cover story on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Amy Taubin, a look at the surprisingly fascinating (and critic’s poll hit) avant-garde film RR, plus a piece that begins with this priceless sentence: “Why was practically everyone expecting Valkyrie to suck?” Exhaustive reviews of the latest DVD and theatrical releases are included as always.
If you want to be the first to get an irreverent bi-monthly dose of movie news and reviews, the best thing to do is to subscribe now. It’s only $29.95 for 6 issues, and remember, if you become a member of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, your subscription is included.
If you’ve enjoyed our lists, director interviews, or even Brad Pitt pictures over the past five months, please consider nominating the filmlinc blog for a 2009 Bloggie award. Voting only takes a few minutes, and it closes January 12, so hurry!
The long answer has to do with the history of film, aspect ratios and the development of different camera equipment, but suffice to say chances to see a 70mm print are few and far between. For our presentation of Jacques Tati’s Playtime on January 5th, the Film Society is rigging up special sound equipment and other bells and whistles.
The print arrived a couple of days ago. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Tati’s exuberant vision will be a ray of sunshine in the middle of winter. Come join on Monday:
As the clock runs out on 2008, there’s still time for one more year-end list. This one comes from Time magazine, which scoured the landscape of user-generated videos to find the most searing portrayals of small fuzzy animals in slapstick predicaments, grown men bringing the world together through dance, and other various and sundry viral video novelties.
We here at the filmlinc blog wondered why is it only cinematic portraits of the central Asian steppes or wrenching stories of girls and their lost dogs that get all the critical ink? So we tapped our in-house team for insights on the year’s top viral vids.
Eschewing Time’s #4 pick “Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)” Film Comment’s Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa supplies this worthy alternative, “Walrus Plays Saxophone.” He says: “The walrus, long associated with the sinister and the ugly, from the myths of the aurora borealis representing lost souls playing ball with it’s head to Kipling’s description of the animal as an “old Sea Vitch—the big, ugly, bloated, pimpled, fat-necked, long-tusked walrus of the North Pacific, who has no manners except when he is asleep,” has finally been vindicated in this viral video which demands that we no longer think in such black and white terms as beauty vrs. beast or good vrs. evil.”
NYFF Correspondent Tom Treanor picks Time’s #7, How To Pretend You Give A Sh*t About The Election, above, as his top pick. Tom says: “The most informative news segment broadcast all year; a pointed, decisive, and altogether wildly educational crash course on how to get by at a cocktail party when discussing 2008’s favorite ad nauseum topic: the presidential election. When, after all, it’s hard to have a well-informed opinion about the mess of it all, it’s best to turn the discussion to the never-fail fallback: just say ’swing state.’”
When pressed for his take on the state of viral video 2008, Film Comment Senior Editor Chris Chang issued this statement from his winter retreat in Sunset Park: “While the top ten viral-video list is indicative of salient, yet ominous, societal trends, there are more menacing tendencies at play. The contemporary bastardization of direct-cinema, Kino-Pravda, and other forms of “authentic” documentary, specifically as a means of social propaganda, continues to detract from the ontological value of documentary as such. On a purely ideological level it leads toward a forced normalization of intellectual condescension, i.e., a status quo of social elitism—or cultural fascism. Albeit a spatio-temporal impossibility, there can be only one (true) recourse: Bring PUPPY CAM back.”
Under the Sign of Fincher is finally upon us…your chance to see the director’s most acclaimed films up on the big screen, including Se7en, Zodiac, Fight Club and the directors newest, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
In the second installment of the Critics’ Roundtable, Film Comment’s Evan Davis sat down with two trusted colleagues to discuss the films of David Fincher:
Among the issues tackled were the development of Fincher’s career, how Zodiac may or may not be “talking” back to Se7en, the passage of time in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and the exploration of systems within Fincher’s work. Listen to it now:
In related news, our special Facebook contest has a winner! Wayne Titus wants to ask David Fincher “For an ensemble piece like Zodiac do you do a lot of rehearsing with your actors before principal shooting?” Kent Jones will be on hand to interview the director about his career on Sunday at 7:30 at Rose Hall, and with any luck there will be a Q & A session after the conversation open to audience participation.
Film Comment will print the results of its readers’ poll in the March/April issue. To enter: Send your ranked list of the year’s 20 best films along with your name, address and phone number to fcpoll@filmlinc.com. Feel free to send in any rants, raves and insights on the movies of 2008.
Deadline: February 13, 2009
Prizes: Four winners will be chosen at random, and can select prizes, subject to avaliability, from the Criterion Collection catalogue. First prize: up to $200, Second prize: up to $120, Third & Fourth prize: up to $80.
The latest on what's happening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, dispatches from the New York Film Festival and exclusive content from Film Comment magazine.
A sneak preview: Film Comment goes list-crazy in January/February 2009 issue!
Posted January 4, 2009 by Amanda McCormick, filmlinc.comCategories: Film Comment, Filmmaker interviews, what's on
Tags: amy taubin, curious case of benjamin button, Film Comment, quentin taratino, RR, Valkyrie, year-end list
Not content to simply issue a critical roundup of the year’s 20 best films, Film Comment’s latest issue is filled with must-read cinematic trivia that should make any list-lover’s heart flutter. Get a complete look at the making of the final cut for the magazine’s famous critic’s poll 2008, including which Film Comment staffer has a soft spot for Kazakhstan, plus incisive commentary on the “movies that mattered, for better or for worse.”
This latest issue of Film Comment also boasts a new feature, the Film Comment Trivial Top 20, which is a fresh, film-related list devised and selected by the finest minds in the cinephile universe. In this issue: the 20 best acting performances by directors in fellow helmer’s films. So is it Quentin Tarantino? Sydney Pollack? Roman Polanski? Check out page 11 of the Jan/Feb issue for the answer!
It’s not all just lists, either. In the issue, you can read an interview with James Toback by Quentin Tarantino, a cover story on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Amy Taubin, a look at the surprisingly fascinating (and critic’s poll hit) avant-garde film RR, plus a piece that begins with this priceless sentence: “Why was practically everyone expecting Valkyrie to suck?” Exhaustive reviews of the latest DVD and theatrical releases are included as always.
If you want to be the first to get an irreverent bi-monthly dose of movie news and reviews, the best thing to do is to subscribe now. It’s only $29.95 for 6 issues, and remember, if you become a member of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, your subscription is included.
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