Caught them all while traveling through Europe today, so I'm a bit late checking in.
Nebojša Slijepčević 'Slap' - bad acting, cheap directing, totally cliché. Just meh. Matija Kluković and Goran Odvorčić 'Goran Odvorčić and Matija Kluković's film for Asja Jovanović and Andrea Rumenjak - honestly, I didn't get it. I wanted to walk out after the first few minutes, then I actually stood up and left, though I watched the next two while standing, before finally sitting back down. My internal reaction while watching: "What a slap in the face to Kluković." Ivan Sikavica 'Spanish continent' - feels like a music video. Also just another cliché little flick about neighborhood gangs. Basically a remix of "Slap." Branko Ištvančić 'Recycling' - given how the first three turned out, this was actually pretty solid, even if it hits too many tropes. Zvonimir Jurić 'Yellow Moon' - now we're talking. I felt genuinely proud for about ten minutes there. You don't see this kind of raw power in modern American cinema very often. When Lana Barić said "Don't go," I actually got chills—almost teared up. Why? Because it was phenomenal. Simple, original, and most importantly, it saw things through to the end. Marko Škobalj and Ivan Ramljak 'Smart settlement in state' - also excellent, though the ending is super abrupt and sloppy. It’s hilarious at times (those doppelgängers; the "less than a minute" thing was such a clever 🙏 move), but the ending, which should have been funny, just leaves you feeling lost. Such a shame. I bet the creators hit a wall of "where do we go from here?" and just panicked. Dario Pleić 'Game Over' - I'm currently playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and not talking to anyone, so this felt really relatable and interesting. Not bad, even if it's a bit trope-heavy. Igor Mirković 'The Incas' - great acting, great concept, everything was great, except (like Škobalj-Ramljak) the ending was garbage. Marija Kohn really shouldn't have fallen off that chair, and you could see it coming a mile away. Another disappointment. Zoran Sudar 'Channel' - right up there with the boring ones from earlier. Plus, it's just a variation on an existing movie, so it could've easily been called "Recycling" itself. That opening with the camera/fly wandering around until it hits the guy before the story even starts? Totally unbearable. 🙄
All in all, thumbs down from me. Way too many predictable plots, way too many remixes of themes that were already remixes. And where's the city? What part of this even feels like Chicago? Maybe "Spanish continent" and maybe "Smart settlement in state," but everything else could easily fit into an anthology titled "Stories," which totally defeats the purpose of an urban concept. I heard so much hype that my expectations were clearly way too high.
Christian Taylor3 said:Taschen isn't just about aesthetics, and it’s certainly not this being hailed as the film book of the year.
Yellow Submarine is absolute garbage. Bringing back yellow submarine vibes is basically bringing back pure trash.
Garbage or not, that's really a matter of opinion. The reality is that Yellow Submarine is the only book of its kind available here in the States. For instance, I found Visionary film: the American avant-garde, 1943–2000 by Adams Sitney to be an incredibly tedious and exhausting read, yet I don't feel the need to call it garbage or dismiss someone else's hard work and the entire community of avant-garde fans just because that specific movement doesn't happen to be my cup of tea 🤷. So, I'll be skipping your take on this (at least regarding the book itself 😁).
- “Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber” (Library of America, $40) - “Everything is Cinema; The Working Life Of Jean-Luc Godard” (Metropolitan, $40) - “Robert Altman: The Oral Biography” (Knopf, $25) - “Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of ‘Fitzcarraldo’” (Ecco, $25) - “Paul Newman: A Life” (Harmony, $30)
- Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe - Getting Away With It: Or: The Further Adventures of the Luckiest Bastard You Ever Saw by Steven Soderbergh - The Name Above The Title by Frank Capra - An Open Book by John Huston - Scorsese on Scorsese (Directors on Directors) by Ian Christie - Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors by Peter Bogdanovich - Martin Scorsese: Interviews (Interviews With Filmmakers Series) by Peter Brunette - Hitchcock's Notebooks: An Authorized And Illustrated Look Inside The Creative Mind Of Alfred Hitchcock by Dan Auiler - Hitchcock (Revised Edition) by Francois Truffant - The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans - Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
Sorry about my previous post, I’m clearly celebrating a little too hard right now 😁. Anyway, the Dumont shipment should be arriving in early January.
- Go ahead and celebrate, it’s high time for some festivities. - I’m looking forward to Dumont this winter even more than a gourmet Panettone from a fancy bakery in NYC. - Tashen’s "Kubrick-Napoleon" was probably named book of the year (if you say so, I have no reason to doubt you) simply because it’s the first one on that subject. At least as far as I know. I'm not against books like that. But if I had to choose between Chatman’s book on Antonioni and some (pretty, but useless) snapshots from the set of "The Adventures," then Tashen still loses out. - Now, "Yellow Subtitle" is a completely different beast. Tashen is a solid writer if that's your thing, but "Yellow Subtitle" is just a bad book, even if you actually care about that subject matter. I don't love the avant-garde either, but I’m generally down to read a good book about it. In fact, every new insight moves my belief in the avant-garde from 2.4% up to 2.6%. But "Yellow Subtitle"—and I am saying this for the last time—is a bad book, even if you are interested in the topic. And I read the whole thing, start to finish. Just because it's the only one available doesn't mean I have to respect it.
Mark Wood79 said:I’m in the same boat, though I decided to treat myself to just one book this holiday season. Amazon is honestly dangerous—you start browsing their curated collections and suddenly your head is spinning with everything you want to buy. That said, I still trust the Criterion Collection more than anyone else. It looks like nobody has picked up that Wakeman book yet, and it's a bit pricey right now, so I guess I'll wait and see... maybe I'll order it in a month or two.
Exactly. Like I mentioned before, I just wanted to ask about that one book that caught my eye, and it felt silly to start an entirely new thread just for that. Besides, your site covers so much ground anyway—it's not just books, but interviews, deep dives into the classics, and all sorts of background info.
Roughly how much does that run? What's the exact title? Are you positive they have it in stock? If so, I'd probably go out and grab it tomorrow. I've realized lately that my actual library at home is pretty thin—and I'm talking real books, not just photocopies or whatever.
It's called "The Nature of Film," split into two slim volumes, and you can grab the whole set for about $27. And this goes for both you and briskhound2: this is part of that "Screen Arts" series, which basically curated every essential film studies book ever written. The only headache (similar to trying to find old issues of *Sight & Sound*) is that they’re incredibly rare. But every once in a while, you strike gold. Unlike *Film Comment*, which is basically impossible to track down! In four years of collecting, I’m only missing about ten books from their total collection of thirty. Whether you borrow it or buy it, it’s easily one of the best collections ever put together in the States. From a purely cinematic and bibliographic standpoint, it was a world-class project. You've got names like Krakauer, Bazin, Mitry, Cohn-Seegrim, Birley, Lotman, and Bazin all represented in "Screen Arts." For some reason, though, the stuff by [Author Name] was published separately, even though it was originally supposed to be part of the series.
Bottom line? It doesn't get better than this. Borrowing vs. buying is almost irrelevant here. Just read it.
I’m pretty sure that old bookstore on Broadway near the corner of 42nd Street has that book for maybe 50-$20 bucks. If they don't, check out the shops over in Chelsea.
And those guys on Broadway definitely carry Krakauer's "Understanding Media" volumes 1 and 2—absolute essentials if you care about film. Go grab them right now!
briskhound2 said:QUENTIN TARANTINO: THE BATTLE OF BALBOA Is this actually worth my time? I just can't seem to find the motivation to finally pick it up...
Wait, isn't that the one by Clarkson? If it is, go for it. I wouldn't call it some life-changing masterpiece, but it definitely wasn't total garbage either—unlike "Yellow Subtitle." It’s a solid, readable enough read.
northerncrane4 said:First off, you can't claim Sherman's film is a masterpiece in one thread, then—once I actually explain why that isn't true—start rambling about weed on a park bench in another, all while telling John Doe to learn the basics of "craft directing" (a term that, BTW, means absolutely nothing).
Oops, my mistake. Just asking for info, honestly. No harm intended. 😁
northerncrane4 said:Nobody is questioning your right to an opinion. However—and I’ll be the first to call it out—I am going to take issue with you spouting nonsense about "mastering the fundamentals of craft direction"—unless you actually prove through your contributions here that you have any business using those terms in the first place.
It’s actually pretty charming in the first half, but then it just falls off a cliff. That whole cute little gimmick about jumping through time is handled so clumsily it’s honestly gross. There are way too many movie references, a mountain of clichés, and some seriously bad acting. I actually told my buddy right after it ended that they should have just retitled it "90 Minutes of Clichés."
A ton of Good Music and a bunch of solid jokes are the only things that make this movie even remotely tolerable. But if you think this belongs in the lineup of some serious indie festival that loves bragging about showing movies you can't see anywhere else, yeah, I’m not buying it.
Thumbs down.
p.s. Maybe I only sat through it because I’ve spent the last ten days buried in these supposedly "deep" black-and-white classics for work, so a bright, happy movie in color was a relief in its own way. My friend reckoned I probably would’ve walked out after twenty minutes if I’d watched this right after a few "normal" colored films. Who knows? 🙄 p.p.s. Honestly, my favorite part was when that clip from 500 Days of Summer (which they’re watching in the theater) popped up in full frame. For those seven seconds, I was just sitting there drooling, thinking about how great it would be to watch 500 Days of Summer in a theater.
Jonathan Collins43 said:"A treasure trove" and "required reading for every cinephile"? Yeah, my ass. I just finished borrowing *Film Theory Basics*, and honestly, I didn't find anything remotely interesting in there. I’m sure Roger Ebert knew his stuff, but I haven't spent enough time digging into his work to make a call. As for this specific book? It was a total bust. I didn't learn anything useful, and it definitely didn't teach me how to actually level up my film criticism. I might give it another look later, but for now, it's a skip.
Look, "film theory basics" aren't exactly some hidden treasure or essential reading for every single cinephile out there. Honestly? You don't need them. Look, they aren't even trying to help you uncover something mind-blowing or teach you how to actually level up your film criticism. That's just not the point here.
Look, being a cinephile isn't the same thing as being a film theorist. It really isn't. And honestly? *Film Theory Basics* is exactly what the title says it is: a book for people who actually want to dive into the deep end of theory. It’s for those folks looking to get their hands dirty with the mechanics of how movies work. Most casual movie lovers—and let's be real here—don't actually care about the heavy theory stuff. They just want to watch a great movie and enjoy it. You shouldn't be recommending academic textbooks to people who just want to grab some popcorn and settle in. When it comes to "discovering something way too interesting," I am always down for that. $1.75 I found a dusty old copy of "The Greatest Hollywood scandals" at a used bookstore in Chicago. If you’re looking for some real juicy trivia, stick to books like this one. If you’re looking for some solid film criticism, don't bother digging through those "film theory basics" or his deep dives into specific "concepts." That's just not where the good stuff is. If you want to find Roger Ebert's real analytical gems, you should check out his old columns in *The New Yorker* or pick up his "study of nine films." Honestly, most of that stuff leans more toward heavy analysis than actual criticism. For true, raw criticism, you’ve gotta go straight to the legends—grab a collection of essays by either Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael. That's where the real magic happens. If you really want to level up how you write film criticism, you need to look at a completely different set of books. Seriously. I’d highly recommend grabbing "A Short Guide to Writing About Film" by Corrigan. I’ve read it myself, and let me tell you, it’s an absolute gem if you're looking for a solid introduction to the craft.
The first step is knowing exactly what you're looking for.
Look, you can never go wrong by brushing up on the film theory basics. There’s really no harm in it.
For this year’s 56th annual San Francisco Film Festival, we’re looking at twenty incredible films handpicked from the world's most prestigious festivals. You'll find them spread across the Europolis-Meridians in Castel, China Valley, and the main Pop program at the local stadium. It’s heavy on genre stuff—think crime thrillers, comedies, and juicy melodramas—and this year, there's a massive focus on French cinema.
We’re kicking off the fifth edition of the Europolis-Meridians section on July 11th at the Castel with a funny drama called Paradise being West (Eden in the West). It follows a young illegal immigrant navigating the European Union, directed by the Greek-French veteran Costa-Gavras, who actually closed out this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Also, we’re bringing back a legend: last year's winner, the cult French director Claude Chabrol, will be represented by his crime flick Bellamy. It’s his first time teaming up with Gerard Depardieu, playing a famous Parisian inspector who gets sucked into a murder investigation while on summer vacation.
Continuing the haul from the Berlin International Film Festival, we've got the latest from legendary French director Catherine Breillat – Bluebeard. It’s an unconventional period drama about a girl standing up to a brutal killer of women—specifically the notorious Elizabeth Báthory. In her own take on the Bloody Countess, the director herself, Julie Delpy, stars alongside William Hurt and Daniel Brühl.
Coming straight from Berlin is Philippe Claudel’s film I Loved You So Long. This one already cleaned up, winning a César for Best First Film and a BAFTA for Best Foreign Film. Plus, Kristin Scott Thomas snagged a European Film Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe nod for her role as a woman trying to reintegrate into society after fifteen years in prison. From Sundance, we’ve got an allegorical German comedy called Absurdistan by Veit Helmer. It’s about women in a remote village withholding sex from their husbands until the water supply finally returns. We also have the acclaimed crime thriller Transsiberian by American director Brad Anderson. It’s a high-stakes tale of murder, chases, and deception on a train ride from Moscow to China, starring Ben Kingsley and Woody Harrelson.
Three heavy hitters are arriving from the last Venice Film Festival. There's the Mexican romantic drama The Burning Plain by Guillermo Arriage (the mastermind behind Dog Love, 21 Grams, and Babel). It weaves together four different stories involving affairs, past sins, and broken families, starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.
Representing Japan is Takeshi Kitano with a witty drama called Achilles and the Tortoise. It tracks the life of a painter trying to find his footing and gain recognition from childhood through old age. Then there’s the crime thriller Province No. 2 by Vinko Möderndorfer, which centers on a dark secret about a mass murderer uncovered during a robbery.
Also from Venice, we have the Mexican crime thriller La Zona, directed by Rodrigo Pla, which deals with a crime committed within a gated community for the wealthy.
That movie is a total winner—it grabbed the Luigi de Laurentis award in Venice, the FIPRESCI prize in Toronto, and audience awards in San Francisco, Miami, and Fribourg.
Finally, two films are making the jump from Cannes: the romantic drama Two Lovers by James Gray (the guy behind Little Odessa and Cop Land). It’s about a guy torn between a good friend his parents want him to marry and a hot neighbor; notably, it features Joaquin Phoenix’s final role before he pivoted toward music, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow. We also have the German-Kazakh comedy Tulpan by Sergey Dvortsevoy, about a guy searching for a bride in the middle of the steppe after leaving the navy. That one won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes and picked up Best Director in Cottbus, plus wins in Tokyo, Zurich, and Montreal, and even Best Film in the East from West program at Karlovy Vary.
Coming straight out of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival is Aleksei Uchitel’s Russian drama *The Prisoner*, which just snagged Best Director. It’s about two Russian soldiers using a young Chechen prisoner to try and claw their way back to freedom. It’s basically the heavy hitter from that major Eastern European fest in Cottbus. We're also getting a French crime flick called *The Killer* by Cédric Anger. It dives into the twisted dynamic between a hitman and his target, starring Grégoire Colin (you know him from *Olivier, Olivier* or *Before the Rain*).
From the UK, we’ve got Julian Jarrold’s *Brideshead Revisited*. It’s an adaptation of that famous Evelyn Waugh novel about a young guy whose whole world shifts after meeting an aristocratic Catholic family in pre-war England. Then there's a romance drama from Rome titled *The French Gigolo* by Josiane Balasko—she's actually the daughter of an American immigrant, Ivan Blaskovic. It follows a married guy living a double life, providing sexual services to wealthy ladies in his spare time.
The international program for the 56th San Francisco Film Festival is kicking things off with the 5th edition of the Europolis-Meridians in Castel. That runs from Saturday the 11th through Friday the 17th of July, 2009, starting at 9:30 PM.
Every single movie from that kickoff lineup will be screened again during the main festival over at China Valley starting at 4:00 PM. As for the international program films, they’ll show up at China Valley at 6:00 PM, and they'll also hit the stadium right after the National Program movies wrap up.
Believe it or not, the first international film program at the San Francisco stadium dates all the way back to 1953, thanks to Marian Rotar. Since then, they've done occasional foreign film revues as part of the festival.
Back in 2001, they officially launched the competitive program for European cinema.
Since 2004, the international competition has been showcasing hits from both European and global cinema.
Honestly, most of these names are garbage. But hey, with an Almodóvar retrospective and maybe one or two decent local titles, this could easily be the festival of the year.
Mark Wood79 said:Martin Scorsese made this gorgeous three-part documentary about movies back in '94—it's called "a personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American film." You really have to see it.
He also did "My Trip to Italy," which honestly? I’d recommend even more.
Anyway, there's this one interesting—almost cliché at this point—fact about "sports" flicks, specifically boxing movies, and Martin Scorsese.
When Martin Scorsese made Taxi Driver, Rocky took the Oscar. Then, a few years later, when Martin Scorsese made that boxing masterpiece (and what a masterpiece it was!) Raging Bull, the statuette went to Robert Redford's Ordinary Man.
(Also, slightly less interesting but follows the same pattern: Martin Scorsese actually lost two Oscars because of debut performances from future legends. He lost with "Raging Bull" to Redford, then again with his next stuff to Kevin Costner's "Guys." But I won't turn this entire thread into a deep dive on Martin Scorsese, so let's leave it at that.)
When it comes to Robert De Niro, I’m with you. For me, paired with Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt and Pacino in Dog Afternoon, it’s easily the best male lead performance of the last 30 years or so.
As for the realism you mentioned, there’s a lot we could dig into there. How much "reality" is actually in it? That’s a big question, maybe for another time.
Regarding quality, honestly, everything has already been said about this movie. It’s an undisputed classic, most critics call it Marty's finest work, and personally, it’s easily in my top five (even if the great Taxi Driver isn't).
It was a massive turning point in Marty's life and career, too.
That's all from me.
And here’s my little contribution. Even though people treat certain copies like crown jewels on a shelf, I hear it’s nearly impossible or insanely expensive to find a decent copy nowadays—I think a friend mentioned seeing them for $100 on Amazon. So, I dug through my stash and found a Cambridge Film Handbook from their "The films of..." series—some of the absolute best film literature out there—and uploaded it for all you pathetic fans of our favorite El Toro: http://rapidshare.com/files/25048309...books.pdf.html
I’m basically guessing that recent comparisons between different fast-food chains (like KFC, Burger King, Subway, or Taco Bell) and McDonald's are just like comparing various types of blockbuster directors (think Ridley Scott, Unknown, John Woo, or Joe McTiernan) to Michael Bay.
Just a heads-up: the order of the food joints and those director names is totally random.
Joseph Lee3 said:Hmm, is it camp or just straight-up trash? Sounds intriguing, I haven't seen it. Is it something you can find on Netflix or at a local video rental?
I've actually got it. It was on TV sometime in the last year so I made a solid recording of it. I'll get it to you on our next trip.😉
ruggedjackal46 said:So, let me get this straight: a breathing mask just happened to be lying around, Lynch found it, and went, "Hey, Dennis, you want to breathe through this in one of the scenes?"
There is a massive difference between improvising an entire movie and improvising a single scene involving a sandwich.
If you're giving up on the discussion, I’d suggest you spend your time reading "Lynch o Lynch" instead.
Or, if you want to be more accurate—and honestly, more sensible regarding this thread—it's better phrased as "Linč o Linču."
