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Rush to Judgment
Here's one man's (not mine) review of FARBER ON FILM. The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. (2009). "This is a special publication from The Library of America that should be on every movie-lovers shelf, both as a reference and as a superb source of casual dipping. I stayed up very late two nights in a row and managed to finish, sadly, all 775 pages of this encyclopedic tome. I couldn’t get enough of Farber’s wit, insight, and discerning eyes and ears as they watched films from all over the world and told us what was good about them, and, equally, what was bad. I have this urge to quote huge sections of the various essays on specific films, genres, and/or directors and actors, but I’ll stifle it as much as I can.. Most of these essays were published in The New Republic, and The Nation, with the longer, later works published in Commentary. There are hundreds of films reviewed, from 1941 through 1976, the longer pieces co-written with his wife. Farber was also a successful artist and wrote also about the current art scene. He accumulated the reputation of only liking “B” movies, though that was certainly not the case. He did aver that many B movies were able to avoid the pompous influences of the large studios and were able to tell their story on low budgets that required imagination. Some of the films he (mostly) liked included: Union Station, Crisis, Little Big Horn, The Thing, Five Fingers, The Captive City, Los Olvidados, He Walked by Night, Red River, The Turning Point, Limelight, Band of Outsiders, etc., etc. Some of the films he believed had major flaws included: Casablanca, Pride of the Yankees, Bambi, Song of the South, It’s a Wonderful Life, the later films of Alfred Hitchcock, the later films of Orsen Welles, etc., etc. You will find these critiques to be fascinating reads. Whether you agree with his views or not, you will find yourself watching movies in a different way after you read him. Highly recommended." I've yet to read it. Will as soon as possible. Great to see you liked the Campion as much as I thought you might, Duncan.— October 7, 2009 7:12 p.m.
Huff-Puff
Board: "Now, in Pulp Fiction, he borrowed from a lot of movies for various scenes. But he made them better..." Oh yeah? Name one example.— September 30, 2009 4:32 p.m.
Huff-Puff
My favorite Campion is PASSIONLESS MOMENTS, then PORTRAIT, then SWEETIE, then A GIRL'S OWN STORY, and the only one I haven't seen is the full-length mini-series version of AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE. I like everything she does, alot.— September 18, 2009 5:07 p.m.
Huff-Puff
#3 "Comment removed by website administrator." Darn, I was too late to see what the deal was! Well here's a couple differet deals for yous: *Jane Campion's new film BRIGHT STAR ("The drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25." but possible bad omen: Tarantino said "it was Campion's best film!!") is listed to be released thusly... Cannes Film Festival: 15 May 2009 United States: 18 September 2009 Israel: October 2009 United Kingdom: 6 November 2009 Bet that means October in the sticks (trans.: here). **Eastwood's INVICTUS isn't comeing till December. ***The Coen's A SERIOUS MAN however can be seen by 2 October 2009. -?-Also, Walter Hill fans with cable might do well to check out 'Madso's War', which may appear on Spike [sic] network or somewhere, maybe as a pilot for a projected series (shot in Boston). I'm a Hill completest, so if anyone can record it, reach me at [email protected]. I don't know when it aires but if you e-mail me I'll send you a shiney silver star or video of BAD INFLUENCE for the effort.— September 16, 2009 4:48 p.m.
Letters
Re: Jamie Hill's zany rant... For me, Duncan's column IS the "main course", and often only course I take in each week in the Reader. So why not have it up front and easy to find? They are of greater cultural importance than the rest of the paper.— September 9, 2009 6:26 p.m.
Huff-Puff
Now Jerichow sounds like one I'd be willing to rouse myself for. Not so for The September Issue. Or the Andy Griffith penis movie (I just re-watched A Face in the Crowd two days ago, so that news flash really hits me at how very far we've sunk as a culture). Hey, I noticed for the first time today that on Jonathan Rosenbaum's website, in his Farber tribute, he has that same passage that's in his book about criticism ('Placing movies'): "Among his many disciples are Greg Ford, J. Hoberman, Donald Phelps, myself, Ronnie Scheib, and Duncan Shepard. (The latter followed Farber all the way out to San Diego from New York, where he reviews movies for the San Diego Reader.)" --And still spells it "Shepard" instead of Shepherd! He appears to be the only fellow movie writer who can't spell Duncan's name right. Which is funny, because he attacked the Coen brothers' intelligence by claiming -in an early draft of Barton Fink that he supposedly read- that they didn't spell some words right! I guess that's why he considers them "immature" (to say nothing of their "adolescent smarminess"!) ? So does anyone know if Rosenbum has anything against "Shepard", or is it only his typical ignorance writing?— September 9, 2009 6:08 p.m.
Taking Stock
Aww, I meant to catch that Answer Man but it looks like it's another of Gaslamp's weekend's-only offerings, and only last weekend at that. And Happy Birthday Duncan Shepherd, if I don't have that wrong (it's the same as Werner Herzog's -5th of September- believe I saw you write before?). Keep up the wonderful job as long as you can ...as one admirer said selfishly. Also, congratulations on the Fado collection! I still haven't seen Fados and I love Saura. Is that the first music you brought along in your car since the Georges Delerue? Beats radio, that's for sure!— September 2, 2009 6:45 p.m.
Better Than the Rest
Carlos Reygadas's first film, 'Japon', is available at most public library's here, in addition to Kensington, etcetera... So you've no good excuse not to see one of his films, cinephiles! And Saura has four films (!) between 'Goya' and 'Fados' I've not seen yet (has Duncan Shepherd?), as well as the new one he completed called 'Io, Don Giovanni'. Sounds good. No new Ripstein's up the pike. Hope you keep us posted on that, Mr. Shepherd. I forget - did you like 'El Carnaval de Sodoma' much? That's another one I feel a dunce for missing. I notice that Gaslamp is carrying Che: Part One & Two, so us movie deviants can finally see it for the same price Mr. Shepherd payed, if we're so inclined (as much as DVD's are a great convienence, I hope to se in the future a revise of Mr. Shepherd's column so yeas back, about Video versus Cinema...myself, I always try to see the 'Scope films at the theater first, since I don't have a big set-up at home). Also -- looks like DS's is not reviewing 'Tokyo!' this week (at Ken, 10-16 April). So let me remind those who care: one of the segments of this three part omnibus is directed by Joon-ho Bong, of 'Memories of Murder ' and 'The Host' fame. His segment is the last, called 'Shaking Tokyo', and I suspect will be the best, as it was easy to surmise that Wong Kar-Wai's part of 'Eros' would be the standout (and as it turns out, standalone) beauty. Good luck everyone, and let's wish for a speedy return by Our Critic back to the beat.— April 8, 2009 5:12 p.m.
Shopping List of Classics, Film Noir, and Westerns
Yikes, I've never been a Web shopper much, yet to have never heard of Yammering Magpie makes me feel ever so out-of-it. My kinda place, looks like. They've got John Sturges's 'The Capture' for $6.50 (print quality: B) - what a bargin! And Wm. Dieterle's hard find beauty, 'The Last Flight' for the standard $14 is fair enough for me. And I've always wondered if the Colleen Moore/Gary Cooper silent 'Lilac Time' would be made available - and there it is, albeit in C+ condition. I wonder why they don't have 'Hickey and Boggs' -(No Walter Hill fan can be complete without it)- when it just played recently on the HD channel (I don't have cable so can't say for sure how easily it can be copied, but...). We deserve an 'A' copy of this great, great, great film by now! I'll have more to say about the main of this week's glorious Shepherd column , latter...— March 6, 2009 3:12 p.m.
Nook and Cranny
I've been wondering, every now and then since I saw it last December, just how 'The Order of Myths' would be reviewed ad rated by Mr. Shepherd. The scorecard may have been ready, but did he see it?!? I thought is was well better than average. Good cinematography (at least for a 'documentary' these days), interesting subject. Suprising to see such a movie get sceen there as it was. This is usually the kind of film PBS will play, noone sees, and it jumps back into obscurity. Nice to have this rare chance to see it where it belongs. If I was sure about what Godfrey Cheshire's 'Moving Midway' was at the time, I might have caught that too at the Gaslamp, when it played a few weeks prior, and maybe would have been as pleased with it. Why the new Reading Cinemas (formerly, Pacific Theaters) chose to play such oddities with no publicity of any kind, no press sceening, remains a mystery. I was the only person that Sunday evening to attend 'The Order of Myths'. It was nice, on the other hand, to see 'A Secret' get a better reception and longer run there. What a fine thing that was.— February 11, 2009 7:14 p.m.