Blog Directory CineVerse: August 2013

And the summertime cinema king is...

Saturday, August 31, 2013

The votes are in, and the winner of CineVerse's latest poll, which asked the question "What is the best movie set in the summertime," is (da-duh, da-duh, da-duh, da-duh...can't you just hear that classic John Williams theme music creeping up behind you?) Jaws, with 37% of the vote.

In second place was Rear Window (25%), and American Graffiti (18%) nabbed third.

Stay tuned for a new CineVerse poll soon to be posted on the home page. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend! 

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...do as the Romans do

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Yesterday, CineVerse took a detour to Italy via the delightful romantic comedy fantasy "Roman Holiday." Here's an outline of our major discussion points:

WHAT IS IT ABOUT ROMAN HOLIDAY THAT KEEPS YOUR ATTENTION AND INTEREST?
·       On the surface, it’s a rather lightweight romantic comedy without extreme dramatic shifts or plot twists. However, it functions as an interesting short-term romance story in which we’re pulled into the chemistry between Ann and Joe and their individual characters. That’s a function of strong actors who can command our attention not only with physical sex appeal but with personality appeal on a more cerebral level.
·       The story serves as an interesting Cinderella or Pygmalion tale told in reverse, or for that matter, a partial adaptation of the Prince and the Pauper. Even subconsciously, we can relate to it on a fairy tale level.
·       It’s European authenticity is refreshing for a Tinsel Town movie shot in the early 1950s. Roman Holiday was reportedly the first Hollywood film to be shot and processed completely in Italy. We don’t get the fake process shots of stock footage of the streets of Italy in the background or artificial sets and California backlots that are meant to substitute for Italy. The film, therefore, satisfies as a holiday or vacation for the viewer, too, in that we get to go sightseeing around a very sanitized and picturesque Rome.
·       Knowing that this was Audrey Hepburn’s screen debut—in a part that earned her an Oscar for best actress—makes us pay special attention to what must have allured audiences in the early 1950s: she’s a waifish pixie, cute as a button and possessed of tomboy traits but utterly feminine, who exudes a chic charisma and sense of fashion.
·       The film is also a great example of a showcase for the writing talents of a blacklisted screenwriter, in this case Dalton Trumbo, who nobody would hire after he refused to name names during the HUAC witch hunts for supposed communists in Hollywood. Trumbo had to use a front for this picture, although Paramount later added his name to the credits once the witch hunting era was long over.

WHAT MESSAGES AND THEMES ARE PROPOSED BY THIS FILM?
·       Is it possible to carry on a sincere love affair when a man and a woman operate under false pretenses and are dishonest with each other?
·       For women who dream of becoming princesses, be careful what you wish for: it’s possible for princesses to dream about becoming regular women.
·       There’s no such thing as a perfect romance or ideal love affair: it’s fun to fantasize about the possibilities, but the reality is that love in this context rarely happens. Consider the ending of the film as proof of this.

OTHER MOVIES THAT ARE SIMILAR TO ROMAN HOLIDAY
·       Princess O’Rourke, starring Olivia de Havilland, in which a princess falls for an ordinary American Joe
·       Ace in the Hole, Billy Wilder’s acerbic study of a reporter with a scoop who abuses his journalistic privileges for personal gain
·       Notting Hill
·       Chasing Liberty

OTHER FILMS BY WILLIAM WYLER
·       Dodsworth
·       Wuthering Heights
·       Mrs. Miniver
·       The Best Years of Our Lives
·       Ben-Hur
·       Funny Girl

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When in Rome...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

On August 28, prepare to take a holiday--a “Roman Holiday,” that is (1953; 118 minutes), directed by William Wyler, chosen by Danealle Kueltzo.

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Candid currency

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Few films offer as sincere and fascinating a view of childhood than Francois Truffaut's Small Change, which CineVerse featured yesterday. Highlights of our group discussion are as follows.

WHAT SURPRISED YOU ABOUT “SMALL CHANGE”? HOW DID IT DIFFER FROM YOUR PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS?
·       It’s an episodic film that doesn’t follow conventional narrative storytelling structure; it weaves together a series of vignettes featuring child characters who are loosely connected in that many attend the same school or are possibly from the same neighborhood/community.
·       Its tone is predominantly light, nostalgic and fun, although it can be dark (the subplot involving the abused child), suspenseful (the child endangered by the open window), and bittersweet (the student whose crush on his teacher is ignored).
·       It also has a surprising and refreshing frankness in its tone, and a feeling of unscripted, real-life honesty in the performances and shots, which often bear the look of documentary filmmaking.
·       It has distinctive European/French sensibilities to it that can appear fresh, novel and insightful to American audiences who are used to films that pander and condescend in their approach to children.   
·       The acting by the children is quite admirable and natural, as if they weren’t acting at all: Truffaut primarily cast non-professionals and everyday children for extra spontaneity and credibility, and he encouraged improvisation and deviation from the script.

WHAT PROMINENT THEMES ARE SUGGESTED IN “SMALL CHANGE”?
·       The resiliency and inventiveness of children, who learn to adapt to their environments.
·       The crucial importance of the formative childhood years in shaping our adult personalities.
·       Adults need to recognize how vulnerable and impressionable children are and work to safeguard each child’s fundamental right to be nurtured, fed, sheltered, protected from abuse and neglect, get an education, and form social interactions.
·       Children are often excluded from the world of adults; this idea is exemplified in the predominant use of windows, doors and other enclosures, which serve as physical and symbolic barriers between kids and grown-ups in the movie.

WHAT ARE SOME HALLMARKS OF TRUFFAUT’S STYLE AS A FILMMAKER?
·       Many of his pictures share an insightful sympathy with children and feature child characters/actors as the main protagonists.
·       Several of his movies depict “coming of age” themes and situations that involve a child’s loss of innocence, disillusionment, precociousness, and resourcefulness.
·       He also enjoys depicting “a film within a film”; in Small Change, this occurs when the townspeople attend the local cinema and view a short concerning a popular mime.
·       Additionally, many of the characters and situations portrayed in his films are drawn from real life incidents and personal experiences.
·       Many of his movies have been described as lyrical, nostalgic, sentimental, romantic, and inventive in the way he brings fluidity to his camera movement and in the way he uses freeze frames and innovative editing techniques a hallmark of the French New Wave, of which he was the poster child director.

OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY TRUFFAUT
·       The autobiographical Antoine Doinel series of 4 films: The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run.
·       Shoot the Piano Player
·       Jules and Jim
·       Fahrenheit 451
·       The Bride Wore Black
·       Day for Night
·       The Man Who Loved Women
·       The Last Metro

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Thrills, chills and drama on tap for CineVerse in September/October

Eager to learn what films we'll be exploring in CineVerse during September and October? The new schedule for the next two months is now ready for viewing/downloading. Check it out by clicking here.

Hope you can join us over the next several weeks!

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Small Change, big movie

Sunday, August 18, 2013

World Cinema Wednesday returns to CineVerse on August 21, when we'll feature a feature film from France: “Small Change” (1976; 104 minutes), directed by Francois Truffaut, chosen by Dave Ries. Plus: Stick around for a preview of the September/October CineVerse schedule.

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Last call for our summer poll

Friday, August 16, 2013

Don't forget to vote in our CineVerse summer poll, which asks: What is the best movie set in the summertime? The poll closes at the end of the month, and we value your vote! Visit our home page to participate in the poll, found in the left sidebar.

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Countdown to comedy

Thursday, August 15, 2013

One, Two, Three was spotlighted last evening at CineVerse, which provoked an enjoyable group dissection of the film's merits and messages. Our discussion yielded the following points:

WHAT IS BRAVE, UNIQUE AND INTERESTING ABOUT ONE, TWO, THREE, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING WHEN IT WAS RELEASED (1961)?
·       It attempts to spoof both communism and capitalism at a time when tensions were high between the United States and Soviet Union and in a location (West Berlin) that was ground zero for this ideological clash; interestingly, the Berlin Wall was being constructed as the film was in production, ratcheting up the real world tension all the more.
·       Americans are depicted as arrogant, rude, coarse, aggressive, and fixated on sex
·                The communists are depicted as devious, paranoid and distrustful and hateful
·                The film employs a rapid fire comedic pace where one liners are rattled off like machine gun fire and viewers are challenged to keep up with the speedy dialogue and jokes. The speed of the dialogue is a testament to top-notch writing and on-the-spot comedic timing.
       It manages to predominantly feature two icons of American capitalism: Coca-Cola (it’s surprising that the beverage company allowed their product to be spotlighted here) and James Cagney, a major box-office draw from years earlier and a star symbol product of Hollywood.
       The movie is prescient in that it predicts the scenario of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

IS THIS FILM TOO MUCH OF A CULTURAL ARTIFACT AND PRODUCT OF ITS TIMES TO BE ENJOYED TODAY? IS IT TOO ANCHORED IN THE EARLY 1960S?
       There are many now dated references to things contemporary for 1961—including Stripe toothpate, Kruschev’s shoe-banging at the United Nations, the Itsie Bitsie Teenie Weenie song, Huntley and Brinkley name dropping and more.
       Yet, it’s rewarding to film and history buffs to pay attention for these pop culture references and bits of humor that would have been relevant 50 plus years ago.
       The fact that the Cold War is over doesn’t diminish the value of the satire of American consumerist culture and how we’re perceived by those in other countries, two topics that remain relevant.
        
WHY IS JAMES CAGNEY A WISE CASTING CHOICE FOR THE ROLE OF MCNAMARA?
       The actor has a manic energy, spry physicality and sharp comedic sense of humor he brings to this fast-talking character.
       He’s also strongly associated with the tough guy gangster roles he played in the 1930s, so he brings that baggage with him that he is a force to be reckoned with and that he has the power to expand his territory and safeguard his interests as he did when he was a gangster.
       In portraying an “ugly American” type character, Cagney is leveraging against his popularity and powerful screen image as an American actor icon, essentially serving as a caricature.

THE FRAMING AND COMPOSITIONS WITHIN ONE, TWO, THREE ARE ADMIRED BY MANY CRITICS
Film blogger Trevor Link offered this fascinating theory on the movie: “Wilder uses the wideness of the frame to great effect here: the aspect ratio, in fact, even approximates the proportions of a dollar bill. He organizations his figures in a way that recalls the multi-panel shape of the comic strip (see here and here). He also fills the frame with bold, cartoonish imagery that pops and bursts out towards the viewer (see here and here). This imagery, this sense of space, doesn’t mock what it depicts–this is not jingoistic propaganda. Instead, it creates a field, a plane (flat, in every way, like the dollar bill), where value is suffocated, as though conspiratorially, and dispensed with in the black of night. The cartoon, the comic strip, or the circus (which is recalled here through the use of the Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance”) provide the appropriate metaphors: this is a space where up can be down, black can be white, and everything opens itself to the vulgarity of mockery. The film’s wide frame, like the dollar, seems to hold everything and nothing at once and to announce that no meaning can exist outside, for there is no meaning other than what can be grafted onto the dollar.”

WHAT OTHER FILMS DOES ONE TWO MAKE YOU THINK OF?
       Ninotchka, a 1939 movie co-written by Wilder in which communism and capitalism clash and the Soviets are satirized
       Dr. Strangelove and The Producers, two later sixties pictures that lampooned past and present political enemies of the U.S.-the Soviets and the Nazis, and two movies that had the guts to make farcical entertainment out of powderkeg political figures and ideologies
       My Fair Lady/Pygmalion, in how McNamara serves as a kind of Henry Higgins to Otto’s Eliza Doolittle, attempting to remake Otto’s image

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Get a little Wilder

Sunday, August 11, 2013

On August 14, CineVerse returns to its latest monthly theme: Triple talent pioneers--filmmakers who wrote, directed, produced (and sometimes starred in) their movies. In this installment, we'll examine a lesser-known diamond-in-the-rough from director Billy Wilder: “One, Two, Three” (1961; 115 minutes), chosen by Peggy Quinn.

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Coffee is for closers

Thursday, August 8, 2013

CineVerse took an in-depth peek at the high-stress life of a salesman last evening with a viewing of Glengarry Glen Ross. The group discussion garnered many cogent comments. Here's a roundup of what was talked about.

WHAT ARE THIS FILM’S GREATEST STRENGTHS AND WHAT ARE ITS GREATEST WEAKNESSES?
·       The film benefits from the whip smart writing of David Mamet, especially the credible dialogue and distinctive vernacular of the characters, as well as the rhythm and cadence of the language.
·       Incredible casting featuring an A list of top-notch actors, each of whom could carry their own movie: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin.
·       The story is very condensed, occurring over roughly a 24-hour period; hence, we get a snapshot portrait of each character within a short time frame and within a pressure cooker milieu.
·       However, there isn’t much of a story or a plot here; the theft and the investigation of it adds intrigue, but this is really less of a story than it is a character study and a depiction of a harsh workplace environment and vocation.
·       Written originally as a stage play, there isn’t much action or shifting to interesting settings. Hence, this isn’t a film that’s going to showcase dramatic camera movement, innovative editing techniques or impressive sets. It’s a film that soars or fails on the merits of its characters, which means that it had better be well scripted and well acted.
·       It’s also a very bleak, pessimistic and tonally dark picture with many unsympathetic characters that can leave you feeling depressed and cynical.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR THEMES PLAYED OUT IN GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS?
·       The quest for materialistic rewards leads to corruption, decay and destruction.
·       Mamet stated that the play is about “how business corrupts” and about how “those in power in the business world…act unethically.”
·       Critics and historians have posited that this play, written in the 1980s, is Mamet’s critique of Reaganomics and the “greed is good” materialistic ideology of the eighties.
·       The unfair system in business and capitalism whereby the rich get richer and the poor get poorer; those who succeed are rewarded with more opportunities to succeed, while those who struggle cannot advance.
o   Mamet was heard to say about his play: “This is play is not…about love. This is a play about guys, who when one guy is down…the guy who’s up then kicks the other guy in the balls to make sure he stays down.”
·       Nobody wins in a corporate culture that emphasizes greed and numbers over human beings: by the end of the film, every character has lost: Roma’s sale to Lingk has been lost; Lingk feels like he has disappointed Roma; Williamson has lost business with the ransacked office; Levene and Moss will be prosecuted; Aaranow is even accused of theft.
·       The universal experience of being in a job you hate and feeling powerless and desperate as you’re trapped in that position.
·       This is also a study about the persuasiveness of language: those characters who are able to verbalize persuasively better succeed and command respect
·       In this story, masculinity defines a character; as writer Helen Johnson put it: “the audience hears that a salesman’s masculinity is based, almost exclusively, on his ability to sell products to his customers.” Masculinity in this universe is earned.
o   Interestingly, however, each character is emasculated during the film in their mission to “act like a man.”

WHAT OTHER FILMS OR WORKS OF LITERATURE DOES THIS MOVIE REMIND YOU OF?
·       Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
·       Wall Street
·       Reservoir Dogs, in how there’s not much of a plot, it’s a character-driven piece with terrific dialogue, and nearly every character betrays each other.
·       Patton, in that both films start off with tremendous opening monologues that play like stern pep talks.

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Coffee is for closers...

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Dramatic plays often lose something in the translation from stage to screen, but not "Glengarry Glen Ross” (1992; 100 minutes), directed by James Foley, chosen by Tom Nesis. Join CineVerse on August 7 to see what all the fuss was about when this stellar flick hit theaters two decades ago.

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A horse of a different color

Thursday, August 1, 2013

This week, CineVerse took a closer look at Steven Spielberg's War Horse, which yielded an impassioned discussion from our group. Here's a roundup of our verbal analysis:

WHAT DID YOU EXPECT OF THIS FILM, AND HOW DID IT DIFFER FROM THOSE EXPECTATIONS?

        It’s an episodic film that essentially works more as a series of set pieces and vignettes linked together than as a strong traditional narrative.
        With great attention to period detail and gritty accuracy, it effectively depicts the battlefields of World War I, a major war that has been relatively overlooked in cinema history compared to the Civil War and WWII; however, it doesn’t have the same level of blood, gore, and graphic violence that, say, Saving Private Ryan does. War Horse is more of a family film that even younger children can watch.
        There is no false advertising here; as indicated in the title, the main protagonist is a horse, whom we follow throughout the movie. This is a challenging feat for the filmmakers, who chose to avoid the approach of the original novel, which told the story from the horse’s point of view. While we can possibly identify with his young owner, it’s difficult to identify with an animal that cannot talk or convey emotions like a human being.
THIS HAS BEEN CALLED A THROWBACK MOVIE, AN HOMAGE TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD ERA OF THE LATE 1930S, EARLY 1940S. WHAT’S THE PROOF OF THIS THEORY?
        Spielberg’s chosen canvas is melodrama: a genre that uses melody and drama to manipulate audiences into sweeping ranges of emotional response—from joy to sadness to fear to laughter to relief and love. Spielberg’s goal here is to make you cry and to develop a strong emotional attachment to Joey and Albert.
        Melodramas were prevalent during Hollywood’s golden age, when filmmakers like David O. Selznick, John Ford, Douglas Sirk and others made memorable films designed to stir your emotions, including Gone with the Wind, How Green Was My Valley, Casablanca, Wuthering Heights, Magnificent Obsession and many others. This picture is a loving tribute to a filmmaking approach that was abandoned long ago—where nostalgia, sentimentalism and emotional extremes are plumbed to get a strong response from viewers.
        Spielberg also paints with deep primary colors here to create an oversaturated, old-school cinematic look where even the skies are designed to evoke a deep emotional response: consider the end scene where the sky is awash in rich reds and oranges, and think about how strong the chromatic resonance is in other scenes, where beautiful greens and blues stand out. This look is meant to harken back to that classic Technicolor canvas of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
        Spielberg is clearly channeling the works of John Ford in War Horse; Ford was a master of big, broad natural landscapes that also prominently featured horses, often in westerns where the colors popped with vibrancy.
SPIELBERG HAS BEEN LABELED AN UNABASHEDLY MANIPULATIVE DIRECTOR OF MAINSTREAM MELODRAMAS. IS THIS A FAIR OR UNFAIR CRITIQUE?
        Arguably, the aim of any quality film is to produce a strong emotional response in viewers and engage and entertain audiences. Spielberg’s films are consistently entertaining, engaging, and emotionally powerful. So, why should that be held against him just because his films are so popular and therefore mainstream, and just because the man himself is so overexposed in the media?
        The artistry, craftsmanship and attention to detail in Spielberg movies is clearly evident and in strong supply. With few exceptions, the man is not painting by numbers or going through the motions. Most of his films are deeply personal on emotional levels, and you can tell he genuinely cares about the subject matter, settings and characters in his pictures. He brings a strong vision and a passionate commitment to every project he pursues.
        When you consider how widely seen and immensely lucrative his films have been, Spielberg becomes an easy target for critics: after all, this is the man, along with George Lucas, who ushered in the era of the summer blockbuster with Jaws and forever changed the way movies were slated and marketed, many say for the worse. It’s not Spielberg’s fault that Hollywood—and modern audiences—prefers big budget, special-effects-laden action/adventure/thriller fare over the past 35 years. Why should it be held against Spielberg that he is a Hollywood insider who is given large budgets, hot property scripts and A-list actors, writers, composers and technicians to work with?
        In this sense, Spielberg is like the New York Yankees: rich in payroll, loaded with talent, consistently winning and celebrated, and immensely popular, yet easy for critics and film historians/scholars to root against and dislike because of his clout, connections, power and privileges.
        Additionally, what’s so bad about “melodrama”? Why is it such a bad word among critics? Why can’t films be sentimental, emotionally stirring and worthy of a good cry? If a new, young, unknown director was able to achieve Spielberg’s mastery of emotional manipulation in a feature film, he’d be praised for his talents.
WHAT THEMES DOES WAR HORSE DELVE INTO?
        A wistfulness for a simpler bygone time, as well as the clash between the past and present, as exemplified in the battle sequences where contemporary tactics of warfare contrast with outdated ones—consider the tank that targets the trapped horse. We root for the beautiful horse, which symbolizes a time when warfare was less dehumanized and mechanized, yet it is no match for the machinery of modern war.
        Loss of innocence—both Joey’s innocence and Albert’s. Both have to grow up and face fear and an uncertain future. The scarlet sky at the film’s conclusion, which is far from the deep, idealized blue skies of earlier scenes, is symbolic of the scars these two now have and the horrors they’ve been exposed to.
        The underdog—hope in an improbable longshot who must defy the odds and survive hardship and trauma to be able to return to his original master.
        The senselessness and war and how it exploits humans and animals alike to achieve its violent ends.
OTHER FILMS THAT WAR HORSE REMINDS US OF
        National Velvet
        Au Hasard Balthazar, a Robert Bresson picture that follows the life of a simple donkey in a cruel world
        The Killing Fields, in how the two main protagonists—an American and an Asian—are separated by war and how the Asian must endure a horrific journey until he is reunited with his friend at the denouement.
        Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front, two earlier features with World War I as the setting
OTHER MAJOR FILMS BY STEVEN SPIELBERG
        Jaws
        Close Encounters of the Third Kind
        Raiders of the Lost Ark
        E.T.
        Jurassic Park
        Schindler’s List
        Saving Private Ryan
        A.I.-Artificial Intelligence
        Lincoln

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