Blog Directory CineVerse: June 2013

Wild Dogs

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Want to see some pre-Fourth of July fireworks? Make plans to attend CineVerse on July 3 for Reservoir Dogs (1992; 99 minutes), Quentin Tarantino's brash, bold, stylish directorial debut, as chosen by Zach.

Note that this film contains scenes of intense graphic violence and profanity, so be forewarned.

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Summertime on the big screen

Saturday, June 29, 2013

What's the best film set during the summertime? That's the question posed in CineVerse's latest poll, which you can vote on now through Labor Day by visiting the left sidebar on our home page.

Choose from among 10 different movies where the story takes place during the summer, including Jaws, Dazed and Confused, Stand By Me and others. Note that this list is not meant to be all-inclusive, and some of your favorites may have been left off, but most of these 10 come critically acclaimed.

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A new breed of western

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Yesterday, CineVerse dived head-first into the epic spaghetti western masterpiece The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Here are the conclusions our group reached about this seminal work by Sergio Leone:

HOW IS THIS FILM DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE FROM OTHER WESTERNS THAT CAME BEFORE IT?

·       It employs an exaggerated style, epic scope, larger-than-life cartoonish characters, and an implausible world of grand gestures and comic book-styled action. Its pastiche style is also evident in the offbeat casting of actors of various nationalities (Americans, Italians, Spaniards), the deliberate choice to shoot silent and later dub voices in, often poorly matched dubbing.
·       The form and style of the film is quite unconventional from the traditional classic Hollywood structure:
o   Leone rarely uses medium shots, preferring alternation between longshots and close-ups, especially extreme close-ups of character’s faces, to visually tell the story.  He often prefers to open a scene or sequence with a close up instead of the traditionally used establishing (long) shot.
o   Leone draws out certain sequences to exaggerated lengths to build tension and suspense, such as the showdown at the cemetery.
o   Leone also uses silence and white space to build suspense and a surreal quality into his story.
o   Contrasting imagery of beauty and brutality, rich and poor, moral and immoral, is juxtaposed throughout the movie. The filmmakers also often prefer stark, barren compositions to imply the inherent violence and ghostly qualities lurking beneath the surface or just out of the edge of the frame.
·       Leone also suggests that our ability and the characters’ ability to see is dependent on the confines of the film frame; what the camera doesn’t show, the characters cannot see; Leone continually surprises us with sudden entrances into the frame that often defies the physical geography of the landscape the characters inhabit.
·       Unlike earlier westerns, the morality of the characters in this film is more ambiguous and blurred; each character is capable of inflicting merciless violence and being “ugly,” so the names of the characters (good, bad and ugly) are not necessarily indicative of their personalities or moralities. Type, not psychology, seems to define these characters.
·       This picture also is imbued with a postmodern hyperbolic sense of humor that can border on the absurd and ridiculous in its comedic undertones to make a point. The film functions as a parody of the western genre in that it takes many tropes and conventions of the classic movie western and exaggerates them for dramatic and comic effect.
·       The epic score by Ennio Morricone serves as a character unto itself, commenting on the action and signaling a big, brassy dramatic tension; the score was also innovative in its use of wailing voices meant to mimic coyote calls and a mocking Greek chorus. Leone also chooses to occasionally play sweet, serene music while scenes of torture and suffering are shown also reinforces the deliberately jarring and contrasting tone.
THEMES PREVALENT IN THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY INCLUDE:
·       The senseless horrors of war.
·       Survival seems more dependent on fate and unpredictable outside factors than rugged individualism and strong will; consider the sudden cannon fire at the hotel that spares Blondie.
·       Criticism of capitalism and the traditional western’s American ideology.
·       God and the devil battling for a sinner’s soul:
o   Blondie is a Christ-like figure who is referred to as Tuco’s guardian angel; he shows compassion and mercy to a dying soldier.
o   Angel eyes is a name that refers to the fallen angel Satan; when first introduced, he kills both men who hired him to kill the other, as if suggesting that making a deal with the devil is bound to get you burned; he is “cast back down to hell” by Blondie into an open grave by the film’s end.
o   Tuco is the sinner representing the common man; he’s been made ugly by man’s original sin; consider how, every time he’s about to be hanged, his list of crimes is read aloud as if they were a confession of his sins; following each “confession,” he is forgiven by Blondie (Christ), who severs the rope. By the film’s conclusion, Tuco has to make a choice: stand on the cross (lead a virtuous life), or go for the material pleasures of the gold and risk death.
WHAT INFLUENCES DOES THIS FILM DRAW FROM?
·       Leone seems inspired by the Latin literary traditions of the picaresque novel, such as Deux Amis by Guy de Maupassant, as well as commedia dell’arte.
·       The film also reflects Artaud style, meaning the characters are expressed via their actions, contrasting personalities and confrontations with one another.
·       The 1959 Italian movie La Grande Guerra, as well as Charles Chaplin’s 1947 Monsieur Verdoux, were other apparent inspirations.
OTHER FILMS BY SERGIO LEONE
·       A Fistful of Dollars, and For a Few Dollars More (the first two films in the Man With No Name trilogy)
·       His masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West
·       His last major work, Once Upon a Time in America

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Further changes to July/August CineVerse schedule

Due to another conflict with a member's schedule, the July/August 2013 CineVerse schedule has been changed again. Two back-to-back dates have simply been swapped: Now, on July 24, we will screen and discuss My Favorite Year, and on July 31 we will screen and discuss War Horse.

You can view/download the updated calendar by visiting http://sdrv.ms/16ya1Gw.

I expect these will be the last changes that need to be made to the July/August 2013 calendar, and I apologize for any inconveniences these changes may have caused. Hope to see you at our film group this summer!

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The Good, the Bad, and the extremely long run time

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Tonight's scheduled CineVerse film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, is actually the restored, extended version that reinserts 19 additional minutes into the movie that had been trimmed out for decades, making the final film as close to director Sergio Leone's original cut as possible. While that will be a treat to watch, that means that the film will run for 3 hours (20 minutes longer than I had anticipated). Hence, we will need to start the movie promptly at 7 p.m. sharp, take a 3-minute bathroom break at 10 p.m., and reconvene for 20 or so minutes of discussion. I completely understand if some of our members cannot stay for the discussion. My apologies for not being aware of the longer-than-expected run time. Hope to see you this evening.

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He's got no name, but a face you'll never forget

Sunday, June 23, 2013

On June 26, CineVerse will present another World Cinema Wednesday special (from Italy and Spain) and the Citizen Kane of spaghetti westerns: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966; 161 minutes), directed by Sergio Leone, chosen by Len Gornik;

Note that, due to this film's extremely long runtime, we will start promptly at 7 p.m. and extend our discussion to 10:15 p.m.

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July-August CineVerse schedule ready for prime time

Friday, June 21, 2013

Eager to learn what we'll be viewing and discussing over the next several weeks at CineVerse? You can now access the July/August 2013 schedule by visiting our home page or going to http://sdrv.ms/14nfIWy

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Peeking behind the bars of "Each Dawn I Die"

It's pretty hard to find a bad James Cagney picture. "Each Dawn I Die" is loaded with stereotypical characters, far-fetched plot twists and cliched lines, but Cagney's steely screen presence seems to neutralize all those negatives. Here's a synopsis of our CineVerse group discussion on that movie:

WHAT SURPRISES YOU ABOUT THIS FILM? HOW DID IT DIFFER FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
·       George Raft isn’t his generation’s Marlon Brando, but he holds his own as a co-lead in a picture that, on the face of it, would appear to be dominated by Cagney.
·       The level of corruption, torture and misery inherent in the American penal and political system suggested by this movie is eye-opening for this era, when many studios would have upheld the law and the establishment as unimpeachable bastions of society. This film indicts the authorities, depicts the brutalities of living in prison and suggests that reforms are needed.
o   Warner Brothers was known for being a liberal, working man’s studio that had the guts to produce gangster pictures, socially conscious-themed movies, violent thrillers and action films, especially in the 1930s.
o   Interestingly, Warners established itself as the definitive studio for the gangster picture in the early 1930s, but the censors wanted them to stop glamorizing the gangster lifestyle; hence, the studio altered its plots and characters to underscore the role of law enforcement and expose journalist, while at the same time continuing to depict the violent lifestyles and tough guy charisma of gangster characters. In other words, they could still show the violence and sex, but they had to frame it within a social message that favored the good guy viewpoint and ensured that justice prevailed.
·       The plot twists and schemes, such as Stacey’s plan to clear Ross and escape from the courtroom, don’t date very well; they’re quite far-fetched and implausible.

FILMS THAT REMIND YOU OF “EACH DAWN I DIE”
·       I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
·       San Quentin
·       Dilinger
·       Brute Force

OTHER FAMOUS PICTURES RELEASED IN 1939, CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST YEAR OF RELEASES EVER:
·       Gone With the Wind
·       The Wizard of Oz
·       Stagecoach
·       Wuthering Heights
·       Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
·       Dark Victory
·       Ninotchka
·       Gunga Din
·       Drums Along the Mowahk
·       Destry Rides Again
·       Goodbye, Mr. Chips

OTHER FILMS HELMED BY DIRECTOR WILLIAM KEIGHLEY
·       G-Men
·       The Adventures of Robin Hood (he was replaced by Michael Curtiz)
·       The Man Who Came to Dinner
·       The Green Pastures
·       George Washington Slept Here

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Each Wednesday I die for classic movies

Sunday, June 16, 2013

On June 19, prepare to feast your eyes on the steely charmisma of James Cagney in “Each Dawn I Die” (1939; 92 minutes), directed by William Keighley, chosen by Joe Valente; Plus, we'll preview the July/August CineVerse schedule.

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Seeing the world through Sullivan's eyes

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Yesterday, CineVerse had the pleasure of delving into Preston Sturges' timeless big-screen satire, "Sullivan's Travels." Highlights of our group discussion are as follows:

WHAT MAKES THIS FILM INTERESTING, DISTINCTIVE AND DIFFERENT ABOUT “SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS,” ESPECIALLY WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER FILMS OF THIS TIME PERIOD (1941)?
·       It features striking changes in tone:
o   from farce/parody to slapstick comedy to social message picture to romance to action to dark drama to musical.
o   The film’s visual palette also changes tone accordingly, from brightly lit/low contrast standard Hollywood lighting to chiaroscuro high contrast lighting indicative of film noir and horror.
·       While it’s arguably unclassifiable in any particular category, it’s probably best remembered as a comedy; with this in mind, it features a plethora of comic movie devices, including a portrait that alters its expression, sped-up car chases, pratfalls into swimming pools and other visual gags.
·       It depicts its African American characters with a level of respect and dignity that was uncommon for this period in cinema history.
·       “The girl” is never given a name, keeping her an enigma
·       Sullivan and the girl are also shown sleeping next to each other in the flophouse and boxcar; although they don’t technically “share a bed,” this would seem to flout the strict censorship of the era that dictated separate sleeping quarters for lovers.
·       The movie showcases quirky and creative directorial choices: extended montages with no dialogue tell a lot of the story; there’s an unexpected musical number a la the black gospel choir; and the first conversation with the studio suits is one long, continuous 4-minute shot.
·       The film offers a warts-and-all, no-pulled-punches look at the impoverished and destitute, which makes it a bit bleak and eye-opening, especially for a 1941 comedy. In fact, it’s one of the best known Hollywood feature films that depicts the harsh reality of the Great Depression and its aftermath.
·       Sturges also irreverently pokes fun at virtually everyone and everything in “Sullivan’s Travels”—from the shyster producers to the overly ambitious director

WHAT THEMES DOES STURGES EXPLORE IN THIS PICTURE?
·       Commerce vs. art; popular entertainment vs. creative works intended to have deeper significance
·       The universal power of laughter, which can unite people of any background and uplift even the most despairing
·       The wide gap between the haves and the have-nots in America.
·       The artificiality and superficiality of the movie industry and Hollywood.
·       Irony: the fact that Sullivan is driven by a social conscience to abandon the calling that made him a success (comedy directing) for socially relevant message pictures and connecting with the common man; this endeavor, however, ends in tragedy: he’s attacked by the kind of down-and-out man he’s trying to help, and he’s later thrown in prison.
·       What lesson does Sullivan learn? Don’t try to be pretentious or patronizing; people go to the cinema to be entertained, not necessarily to see real life.
·       The film also serves as a clever satire of self-important Hollywood types who try to patronize the common man and the poor: the fact that Sullivan abandons his “O Brother Where Art Thou” type movie and goes back to formulaic comedies seems to be a subtle criticism of pretentious filmmakers who aspire to make socially conscious message movies, including Frank Capra.
·       Sturges later wrote in his autobiography: “After I saw a couple of pictures put out by some of my fellow comedy directors, which seemed to have abandoned the fun in favor of the message, I wrote Sullivan’s Travels to satisfy an urge to tell them that they were getting a little too deep-dish; to leave the preaching to the preachers.”
·       It’s possible to interpret Sullivan as an avatar for or representative of Sturges himself, who continued to make comedies that changed in tone and mood as Sullivan’s Travels does.

WHAT IS THE SIGNFICIANCE OF THE TITLE, “SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS”?
·       It’s a play on the title of another famous satire of its time, “Gulliver’s Travels,” written by Jonathan Swift, whose title character Gulliver  treks into strange lands populated by odd peoples.
·       John L. Sullivan, the movie protagonist’s name, was also the name of the late popular boxer and heavyweight champion.

OTHER FILMS THAT “SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS” BRING TO MIND:
·       O Brother Where Art Thou, which the Coen brothers conceived as the kind of movie that Sullivan might have created if he went through with it
·       Many Chaplin films, such as “Modern Times” and “The Kid”
·       The Big Picture, another film about an ambitious filmmaker who is seduced by big Hollywood dreams and abandons his original vision
·       My Man Godfrey, in its depiction of Depression-era haves/have-nots
·       The Player, in its skewering of vapid and superficial Hollywood
·       The Day of the Locust, yet another biting satire of blood-sucking Hollywood types

OTHER FILMS BY PRESTON STURGES
·       The Great McGinty
·       The Palm Beach Story
·       The Lady Eve
·       The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
·       Hail the Conquering Hero
·       Christmas in July

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Experience the ever-sturdy Sturges comedy

Sunday, June 9, 2013

In celebration of CineVerse's 8th anniversary, on June 12 we'll return to Triple Talent Pioneers: Filmmakers who wrote, directed, produced (and sometimes starred in) their movies with one of the greatest examples of them all: Sullivan’s Travels” (1941; 90 minutes), directed by Preston Sturges; Plus, stick around for excerpts from a documentary on Preston Sturges.

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Deciphering a "Dream"

Thursday, June 6, 2013

It may not yet be midsummer, but anytime is a good time to indulge in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which was adapted into a charming film in 1999. CineVerse engaged in a well-rounded group discussion on the merits of this movie last evening. Here are some of the highlights:

WHAT IS INTERESTING ABOUT THIS FILM, ESPECIALLY AS A SHAKESPEARE ADAPTATION?
  • It updates the time and setting of the story, from Ancient Greece to Italy in the 1900s
  • It has more modern sensibilities (slight nudity) and more contemporary props (bicycles, opera records, etc.), yet keeps much of Shakespeare’s original poetic language. The dialogue is straight from the text, but is possibly more easily understood and appreciated because of the distinctive visual design and cinematic approach from the film’s director.
  • Although it appears to be a fairly big budget film infused with more contemporary sensibilities and esthetics, it doesn’t over-rely on special effects and elaborate sets: Bottom’s donkey ears could have been CGI’d on, but instead they’re low-tech, as is the forest set, which is kept looking relatively simple
  • It can be difficult to keep all these characters straight, especially the young lovers manipulated by the forest creatures, but by casting fairly well-known and easily recognized actors, this is arguably not as difficult.
  • The cast includes a wide aray of American, French and English thespians, including TV actors and classically trained Shakespearean actors, which produces a disparity in acting styles, for better or worse.
  • While this film adaptation is fairly true to the original text, it truncates speeches and removes smaller sections and material to make it more cinematic and “sitworthy” as opposed to having a long, rambling 3-plus-hour movie that is an unabridged, verbatim adaptation.
THEMES EXPLORED IN THIS MOVIE
  • Love is blind: Romance is random and dependent on chance and luck.
  • The difficulties that come with love, examined via the motif of love that is out of balance, in other words, romantic relationships where an inequality or discrepancy or inequity complicates the balance or harmony of that relationship.
  • Dreaming, and the otherworldly, magical nature of dreams.
  • Contrasting characters and personalities. The play features groups of doubles and opposites, and most characters have one. For example, Bottom is victimized by pranks while Puck likes to pull them; Bottom is ugly while Titiana is attractive; Hermia is diminutive while Helena is tall.
WHAT ARE THE INHERENT PROBLEMS THE FILMMAKERS FACED IN TRANSLATING THIS PLAY INTO A 1999 FILM?
  • While this is one of Shakespeare’s more lighthearted and comedic plays, the tone of the play is so whimsical and the conflict so light and inconsequential that it can be difficult to take as seriously as one of Shakespeare’s heavy tragedies or plot-thickened dramas.
  • Indeed, the fantastical elements of this story can arguably be challenging to take seriously for modern audiences. This isn’t an historical drama based on a real-life ruler or a timeless tale of unrequited lovers; this is a somewhat silly, irreverent, yet romantic and capricious tale of fantasy.
  • As with any work of Shakespeare, it can be very difficult to adapt it cinematically—in other words, transform an otherwise stage-bound play into a flowing, visually fluid, interesting film, especially considering Shakespeare’s flowery language, long soliloqueys and speeches, and numerous and complex characters to distinguish among. Films need to be able to tell a story visually; Shakespeare plays rely on their language and interesting characters to tell their story.
  • Modern filmmakers, like Michael Hoffman, may feel inclined to update the time and setting and contemporize the personalities and situations of the characters, as Hoffman did here. But it’s easy to lose the whimsy, charm and magical elements of this play if you tinker with it too much. 
WHY DO FILMMAKERS CONTINUE TO ADAPT SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES AND ARCHAIC TIMES AND SITUATIONS PRESESNTED IN HIS WORKS?
  • Because his plots, characters and situations are timeless and endlessly fascinating to audiences of any era.
  • Because, as Roger Ebert put it: “He is the measuring stick by which actors and directors test themselves. His insights into human nature are so true that he has, as Bloom argues in his book, actually created our modern idea of the human personality. Before Hamlet asked, "to be, or not to be?," dramatic characters just were. Ever since, they have known and questioned themselves. Even in a comedy like "Midsummer," there are quick flashes of brilliance that help us see ourselves.”
OTHER NOTABLE SHAKESPEARE FILM ADAPTATIONS
·       Orson Welles’ Othello (1952) and Chimes at Midnight (1965) The script contains text from five Shakespeare plays: primarily Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2, but also Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
·       Olivier’s Richard III (1955)
·       Forbidden Planet, based on The Tempest (1956)
·       Zeffereli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968)
·       Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, based on King Lear (1985), and Throne of Blood (1955), based on Macbeth
·       Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989)
·       Branagh’s Hamlet (1996)

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Big screen Bard

Sunday, June 2, 2013

You may have seen your share of Shakespeare film adaptations, but never one quite like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1999; 116 minutes), directed by Michael Hoffman, chosen by Jeanne Johnson. Make plans to join CineVerse for this colorful romp on June 5.

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