Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring


NCM Fathom Events www.fathomevents.com is screening The Lord of the Rings Trilogy this month at movie theatres nationwide. My own AMC Theatre in Emeryville hosted the event and I had a front row seat. The first showing was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring last night. The next two movies will be screened on consecutive Tuesdays. These are the extended versions that were released to DVD after the films initial theatrical run in 2001 ( I can't believe LOTR is 10 years old already). The event opened with comments by Peter Jackson from the set of The Hobbit in New Zealand and then the sell-out crowd of over three hundred people were once again transported to Middle earth to join Frodo on his epic journey to Mount Doom. The film was spectacular and the audience watched in rapt attention without any of the usual disturbances that occur daily in a theatre.

The Lord of the Ring films are big spectacles that need to be seen on the big screen, especially with a full theatre of appreciative fans. The extended version is about 40 minutes longer than the original version and this is the first time they have been shown theatrically. The prints were remastered for the Blu-ray release later this month.

I am looking forward to next week's installment, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which was a much better film with the extended scenes and then finally on June 28 I will be watching, for the first time, the extended version of LOTR: The Return of the King, the final, Oscar winning chapter in this epic saga.

At the Movie House rating ****

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Super 8


I came of age when the summer blockbuster was born. I have fond memories of going to see Jaws, Star Wars, Alien, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. These were magical movies that were all about story and not special effects. The age of Godzilla and Armageddon was not upon us yet, when studios would spend as much money to market movies as they did to make them. These were innocent movies in a more innocent time.

Director J.J. Abrams in a loving homage to those early days of great science fiction fantasy takes us back, and makes us realize how much we miss good movies, with his superb movie Super 8. The movie feels like a classic Steven Spielberg film and the fact that Spielberg is the producer might have something to do with it. But Abrams and Spielberg have known each other for years and have always been looking for the right opportunity to work together. Abrams grew up watching the same movies I did and in Super 8 he has re-created the perfect summer movie. Super 8 takes the sci-fi elements from Close Encounters and mixes them with the fear from Jaws, and then adds all the warmth from E.T., and gives us a film that will make you jump in your seat, but also touch your heart with a sense of wonder. 

The film follows the story of a group of kids, geeks, who are making a zombie movie with a home movie camera. The film is Super 8, a type of 8mm film, hence the title. One night, while filming they witness a horrific train crash, and when the military moves in to clean-up, they begin to realize that everything is not what it seems.

I won't go into the plot any further than that because you need the movie to unfold for you in it's own special way. Abrams has written a frighteningly good script that relies more on the human emotions of his actors than it does on the CGI guys creating the special effects. The bulk of the movie falls on new comer Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, a boy who is learning some hard facts about life, but still filled with an adolescent sense of wonder and adventure.

Super 8 is not your typical summer blockbuster. There are no big name stars in Super 8. The very effective Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Light's) stars as  Joe's dad. The only girl amongst the group of boy movie makers is Elle Fanning (sister of Dakota Fanning) and playing her dad is Ron Eldard (ER, Deep Impact, Black Hawk Down). And that's it. The film is not a sequel or a super-hero movie. In addition Paramount used an almost stealth like marketing campaign. I could not find anyone under the age of 40 who even knew what the title referred to (super 8mm film became obsolete in the early 90's with the advent of the camcorder). The trailer looked great, but explained little, and the advertising art of a landscape vertical in the frame told even less. In many ways the marketing campaign resembled another film, a little summer flick from 1982 called E.T., also directed by a new, but successful director. That film went on to  be one of the biggest hits of all time. Let's hope Super 8 does the same.

At The Movie House rating ****


Friday, June 10, 2011

Why Vertigo?


Alfred Hitchcock's Masterpiece Vertigo is my all time favorite film. I have seen it more than fifty times and every time I watch it I see something new. My most recent viewing I was drawn to Hitchcock's use of the color yellow. The film is renowned for the masterful use of red and green to create and enhance emotion, but on this viewing I noticed the yellow. In the apartment of the girlfriend Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes). her sweater, the step stool, the curtains. The golden and soft browns of the furniture and wall coverings. I realized there was almost a complete absence of red and green in these scenes. Later when Scottie (Jimmy Stewart is having the nightmare the overhead shot shows a bright yellow blanket on his bed, dividing him in half. What was Hitch trying to say by using yellow like this. And what does it say about a film that, even after fifty viewings, it leaves it's audience wanting to know more.

Vertigo is unique. It is the singular vision of a master filmmaker. The entire film is created in his mind before a single piece of work is done. Then he story boards everything out so he can hold his visualization in his hands. But film is a collaborative effort with hundreds of people working to create a movie. With Vertigo all these people work, using their own unique talents to create the vision of one person. And they do it magnificently.

Alfred Hitchcock believed in pure cinema. The use of images and sound to tell a story without dialogue. In Vertigo he achieves this. There are long stretches of hypnotic beauty, especially when Scottie trails Madeline (Kim Novak) around the city. As he follows her we can see his interest become more than curiosity. The first half of the film has a dream-like quality as Scottie falls in love with the mysterious Madeline.

If the first half of the film is a dream, the second half is a living nightmare for Scottie. Now he is trapped with his obsession for the deceased Madeline. His entire life is dictated by the need to have something back which has been lost. Never has an actor so clearly played someone who is haunted by obsessive love, then Jimmy Stewart in the last half of Vertigo. 

I am a great fan of Jimmy Stewart and I think he gives the best performance of his career. In Vertigo and in the last half of It's A Wonderful Life he takes his famous "everyman" character and shows us the dark side of human nature. The "Mr. Hyde" that is inside all of us, made all the more fearful because it was Jimmy Stewart, the gentle man so beloved.

Kim Novak is also outstanding. There has been a lot of critical comments written about her performance, but I believe it is the best of her career. Throughout the film she plays a woman who's primary emotion is fear. In the first half she is involved ** spoiler alert** in a murder plot and fear of being caught can't be far from the surface. Then she falls in love with Stewart and is afraid of losing him if she proceeds with the plan. But she must proceed because things have gone too far already. Then, in the second half of the film she is a woman afraid of being found out. Afraid of not being loved for who she is. Afraid of being re-created as the deceased Madeline and afraid that Scottie will only ever love her as Madeline. She is the typical cool blond on the surface, but the fear is there, in her eyes in her voice, always just under the surface. An excellent portrayal.

The movie stars Stewart and Novak, but it also stars San Francisco. Hitchcock came to the city in 1951 and it's visual beauty is what inspired him to film Vertigo here. The city is almost like a living breathing character in the film as Scottie and Madeline travel its streets in search of something they will never find.

As I mentioned earlier in a Hitchcock film every detail is thought out and Vertigo is no exception. The camera only pans left to right in the early part of the film and right to left in the second half. Madeline is shot in right profile and Judy in left. The movement of the camera and the actors have repeated circular patterns. All of this to draw the viewer inward. Scenes alternate from day to night, patterns are created and repeated over and over again. Almost hypnotic just like the spirals in the opening credits.

Saul Bass is the man who redefined what movie credits could be created one of his best works for Vertigo. Another of Hitchcock's collaborator's Bernard Hermann created his greatest work and one of the best movie scores ever written when he created the hauntingly romantic music for Vertigo.

I first saw vertigo when I was very young. It was broadcast on TV and i watched it. This had to be sometime between 1967 and 1969. I was aware it was a Hitchcock film. Even at that age I knew who he was because of his TV show and I had already seen The Birds a few times (I watched it whenever it was on). Vertigo along with Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Trouble With Harry, were personally removed from circulation by Hitchcock in 1970. They were not shown in a theatre or on TV for the next thirteen years, until Universal negotiated the rights with Hitchcock's estate. In October 1983 all five films were shown in theatres and I attended the premieres of all of them. 

I loved each and every one of them but the images from Vertigo stayed with me. My mind vividly recalled images of the film from when I watched it as a child. I distinctly remembered the opening rooftop scene. The scene when Madeline jumps in the bay and the scene in the bell tower. Obviously something about this film had touched a nerve in me. I also remembered that the film had created a romanticized image of San Francisco and I think that is where I got the desire to live here.

All five films were released to home video in 1984 and I owned all five on RCA Selectavision discs and then later on VHS. But even then I knew about "pan and scan" and VistaVision and knew something was missing. In 1996 I attended the world premiere of the restored version of Vertigo at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and that was a huge event. I was blown away at how beautiful the film was and I was drawn into it's hypnotic spell all over again. I have owned the film on laser disc and DVD and I am sure I will buy it when it comes out on Blu-ray.

I have seen it screened twice more on the big screen, once at Lincoln Center in NYC, and at The Castro Theatre here in SF.

Vertigo is the greatest work of one of cinema's most creative geniuses and that is why it is my favorite film.

At The Movie House rating ****

Monday, June 6, 2011

West Side Story


Tonight I had the opportunity to see West Side Story projected in it's original 70mm Panavision format. There are very few theatres that can screen a 70mm film so this was a rare treat.

I love West Side Story and have seen it many times. I have owned it on RCA Selectavision, VHS, Laser Disc and DVD. When the Blu-ray comes out I'm sure I'll buy it. West Side Story is a remarkable film that deserves the accolades it has received and the multiple Academy Awards it won.

I have seen it on a big screen before. It was many years ago at an outdoor summer film festival. But that was an old 16mm or 35mm print. Seeing it in 70mm was like seeing it for the first time. The theatre was packed and I could easily imagine the audiences filling the Rivoli theatre 50 years ago where the movie played for 77 consecutive weeks. Rivoli Theatre

The theatre went dark and the overture started. The curtain parted and those abstract lines appeared on the screen and I was drawn into the film in a way I had never been before. The music continued exploring all the themes of this landmark musical. The screen alternated colors  until finally the title appeared on screen and the abstract lines turned into the new York city skyline circa 1960.

Watching the opening few minutes of the film I realized director Robert Wise used the same opening for The Sound of Music four years later. Each movie begins with an aerial shot of the scenery below. The ambient noise of the surroundings are heard and above all that is the soft musical notes of the films prologue. The camera glides along over head until it comes down and zooms in on an actor. Russ Tamblyn in West Side Story and Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

I was filled with delight as the film played before me. You could feel the appreciative energy from the audience watching this great film in all it's magnificent 70mm splendor. Every detail was crisp and colors popped. The ugly tenements of NYC never looked so good. Within minutes I was caught up in the urban love story of Maria and Tony and I have to admit, I had a tear in my eye at the end. 

Watching West Side Story at the Castro reaffirmed my belief that the best way to see a movie is in a theatre with an audience. Movies are larger than life and should be watched on a big screen, not an iPod. 

And now I am going to propose some heresy. West Side Story should be remade. Watching the film in 70mm not only exposed its' beauty, but all it's flaws as well. West Side Story is a great film, but it has not aged well. On Broadway every few years a musical is revived and re-staged or re-imagined, so perhaps it is time for West Side Story to under go a remake of it's own. Here are the things that need to be addressed.

The Casting: Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood were seriously miscast. Neither can sing and the overdubbing of both is painfully obvious when watching the movie. Beymer also lacks the charisma to fully portray the Tony character. Natalie Wood constantly slips in and out of a Spanish accent when she talks. And both stars appear older then the characters they portray. The film requires more youthful actors who can sing. And the role of Maria should go to a Hispanic woman who can really embody the part. 

The Dancing: What was once modern now appears dated. The entire audience laughed when the Jets started dancing in the opening number. Their ballet moves, while graceful, looked silly compared to the tough characters they were supposedly portraying. In addition the modern dance, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, may have been new in the 1950's, but now they looked like out of date Bob Fosse. All the dancing should be updated to more modern, athletic style dancing, while still retaining some of the classical ballet elements.  

Themes and Dialogue: The film is filled with references of disenfranchised youth popular with such films as Rebel Without a Cause and Blackboard Jungle. The advent of the rebellious anti-social teenager became popular in the 1950's when the play musical was originally produced. But at no time do any of the gang members give off a sense of menace or violence. They were brawling, violent urban gang members living in a slum yet they were amazingly clean cut. This is especially notable in the speech Riff gives to the Jets at the beginning of the film. A lot of the films language is dated, especially in the use of slang terms such as "Daddy-O". There were many moments where the audience laughed and twittered at dialogue or actions that might have seemed contemporary fifty years ago. 

Can a film like West Side Story be remade? I think so. And since Hollywood is remaking My Fair Lady, another landmark musical from the 1960's, there is no reason West Side Story shouldn't be considered. The play and music are great, so there is no reason a new modernized version should not find an audience. Maybe it's time to add some of the Spanish language elements that made the 2009 Broadway revival so popular. 

The Castro Theatre os sceening three other 70mm prints this week, Play Time, Vertigo and Lawrence of Arabia and I hope to catch all three.

At The Movie House rating **** stars

Sunday, June 5, 2011

X-Men: First Class


Surprise, surprise just when I thought the X-men franchise was played out X-Men: First Class delivers a superior film with a complex plot that is focused on character just as much as it is focused on special mutant powers and computer generated special effects.

The film is a prequel that tells the origin story of Professor X and how he formed the X-men and started his school for gifted children. It stars James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Micheal Fassbender as Eric Lehnsherr/ Magneto and the movie is primarily a story a bout their relationship. The film explores some of the same themes of the Star Wars films as Charles attempts to turn Eric away from the dark side of his mutant nature.

The film opens in 1944 Poland and we see the same scene from the Nazi concentration camp that opened the original X-men film. The movie jumps to Westchester where we meet a young Charles Xavier and the mutant girl Raven / Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). The plot moves along swiftly, advancing in time as it bounces around the globe. Eric is in search of the Nazi doctor who killed his mother. Charles is in Oxford completing his education. As a young man we see Charles is not above using his telepathic powers to pick up a girl.

The Nazi doctor Dr. Schmidt is played by Kevin Bacon and he is the films primary antagonist. He adopts the alias Sebastian Shaw and he has brought together a band of mutants, called The Hellfire Club, and has inserted himself into the serious tensions between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union right before the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

CIA agent Moira Mac Taggart (Rose Byrne) becomes aware of Shaw's band of mutants and seeks out one of the world's leading experts on genetic mutation, Charles Xavier, to help her understand what they are up against. Xavier, Mac Taggart and Raven join up with The Man in Black (Oliver Platt) a CIA agent and head of Division X, a government agency.

The movie details the banding together of other mutants in order to stop Shaw from starting a nuclear war by manipulating both sides in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

While the film offers a multitude of mutant characters most of them are realistic drawn and seem like real people rather than just 2 dimensional super heroes. The plot is complex and yet easy to follow with just the right balance of drama, action and humor. Director Matthew Vaughn really tapped directly into the spirit of the X-men comics while bringing some freshness to the whole super-hero movie genre.

McAvoy and Fassbender are at the center of the film and each of them give strong dramatic performances that the film needs to maintain the dramatic tension of the film.

Visually the CGI artist do a great job of keeping all the super-hero action grounded with a sense of realism. 

I had very low expectations for this movie and was surprised and delighted by how good it was. Looks like the X-men series has gotten an official re-boot from Fox. Expect a sequel to follow in 2013 or 2014.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars