New Releases that look interesting

Some new current releases (2019) that I read about from RogerEbert.com that look interesting to me, and will add to my "Must-see" or "Maybe-see" lists, and may blog about them more one day.

The Load
4 Stars by Matt Fagerholm.  "Serbian filmmaker Ognjen Glavonic’s mesmerizing narrative feature debut..."

Official Secrets
3 stars by Glenn Kenney. Starring Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes in a story about Britain's involvement in Iraq in the mid 2000s. 

Before You Know It
3 stars by Christy Lemire.. Debut feature from Hannah Pearl Utt about two sisters in New York City. They have a playwright father played by Mandy Patinkin.

Falling Inn Love
Three stars by Nick Allen. A Netflix produced film. Looks schmaltzy but the setting sounds interesting; movies with hotel/motel settings I always find interesting.

New releases that look interesting

New releases that I read about today on RogerEbert.com to add to my "To See" and "Maybe" lists:

Documentaries

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Friedkin Uncut (documentary)
3 stars by Matt Zoller Seitz. With lots of interviews.

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (documentary)
2.5 stars by Nick Allen. Looks interesting, with interviews with Flea, Herbie Hancock, and others.

Drama/Comedy

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Hot Air
Only two stars by Nick Allen, but looks like it could be interesting, about a right wing talk show host (played by Steve Coogan). Judith Light plays a Senator.

Brittany Runs a Marathon
Three stars by Monica Castillo. About a first-time marathon runner (Jillian Bell).

Note: Out there in The Dark blogged about this movie recently, and a friend of mine saw it and recommended it.

Give Me Liberty
2.5 stars by Matt Fagerholm. "An unpatronizing portrayal of people with disabilities"; the lead is a medical transport driver.


Thrillers/Horror

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Burn
2.5 stars by Brian Tallerico. A single-setting thriller with Josh Hutcherson. "this is a film that kept me uncertain of what would happen next and affirms Gan as an interesting young filmmaker to watch."

Tigers are Not Afraid
3 stars by Brian Tallerico. Supposed to be del Toro-esque, set in a Mexican city with a gang of boys. In Spanish. Looks interesting.

Tone-Def
Only one star by Simon Abrams, but this look like it could be an interesting horror-comedy with an intergenerational twist. Robert Patrick and Amanda Crew.

Small Change (1976) directed by François Truffaut

A friend of mine recommended this film to me earlier this summer, and I'm so glad I watched it because I really enjoyed it!

If you're not familiar, the film is a series of humorous vignettes starring unprofessional child actors (mostly boys under 13 or 14 years old) and each vignette is seen from their point of view. Critic Roger Ebert named it his #1 film of 1976.

I haven't seen all of Truffaut's films, and I'm not sure if any of his other films are quite like this one. It's so unique. And delightful. I read somewhere that Truffaut had been collecting humorous anecdotes about children for several years, and this was the culmination of his work.

An older blog post from the blog Moon in the Gutter calls the film "one of his finest works" (another post from the same blogger highlights some of the movie's advertising and promotional art -- in most countries outside the US it was called Pocket Money -- I love all of these stills and poster images - they really capture the feel of the movie in my opinion)

I love how the entire film is centered around the beginning of a school season. The school setting ties the movie together in my opinion, since it is essentially plot-less, even though the characters are all interconnected.

Some of the teachers have their own brief vignettes, but there is usually a child involved such the little mischievous two-year old who lives in the same apartment building as one of the teachers. He's a cute boy named Gregory and really made me smile and laugh.

Another character is a neglected boy from an abusive household; he wears the same clothes every day, and carries a worn and dirty satchel. I could relate to this character the most. I remember feeling like a misfit in my own school days, and befriended some, too.

The film also reminded me of feeling embarrassed, awkward, bored, and a little rebellious. In another vignette, two mates give another a questionable haircut. And in another, a young pair experience some romantic attraction for the first time. Almost all of the kids have a little bit of small change - pocket money - on them that they use in various ways.

One of my favorite scenes (though there are many) comes at the beginning of the film, where one child mails a postcard to her cousin. It's so rare nowadays seeing children communicate with each other without a cellphone, and kind of refreshing to see as well.

Recently I stumbled upon an interesting interview here with director Wes Anderson who talked about this movie with the New York Times in 2002; he's a big fan.

Not everyone likes this movie, though.

A recent blog post from The Seventh Art posted an excerpt from the book Luc Moullet’s Piges Choisies (2009) on Truffaut and this film. Moullet is critical of the film, calling it "a series of gems without any connection between them, a collection of interesting scenes that Truffaut couldn’t put in his previous films. It doesn’t work because Truffaut didn’t deploy his master weapon, narration. No principal story, no connecting thread. Like all failures, Small Change is negatively more revelatory of its auteur’s art than his perfect successes." I am not sure I agree; I didn't watch it comparing it with the other director's films.

It was filmed and takes place in Thiers, France. Though I have not been there, the movie reminded me of my trip to France. Some memories and photos are below, if interested.

It was June 2004 when I traveled with a friend on a 12-day trip. 6 days were spent Paris. Of course, one day was devoted to the Louve (though many more could have been). I loved seeing some of the paintings that I studied in school. On other days, we went inside the cathedrals of Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, and Saint Chappelle. We rode the Metro to almost everywhere. A photo of me at Notre Dame at right.

There were several Paris museums on my list, including a museum dedicated to medieval art (Cluny museum) and nearby was an ancient Roman area which is now a park. There were so many outdoor markets, and saw so many people carrying baguettes to take home. Also visited an American grocery store where there were food items to buy where you couldn't get anywhere else, such as certain brands of cereal.

Giverny

My friend and I wanted to see more of France, so we scheduled several trips trips out of Paris to fit our schedule. One trip was to the Versailles Palace and gardens which was very impressive. Then we took a train to Giverny to visit the home of Monet and to see his gardens that inspired his paintings. A photo at right.

The second trip was by train up north to Normandy, to visit a few WWII museums and to see the beaches and cemetery. It was the 60th Anniversary that year. We also visited Mont St. Michel, to visit the ancient cathedral and town. The third trip was by train down to Nice, where we visited a museum dedicated to Marc Chagall. We also took a train to Monte Carlo, where we mainly hiked around for the day.

We did not go to Thiers, France, where Small Change takes place. But we may have passed through it on the train to Southern France. Here are some more pictures of my Paris trip if interested. 

Movie showing at the time: Shrek 2

Outside the Louvre

Inside the Louvre

Eiffel Tower

I really loved visiting Paris and France, and hope to have a chance to visit again one day!

Thanks for reading! Be sure to visit The Lady Eve’s Reel Life and Silver Screen Modes as they host the Viva La France! Blogathon on August 25 and 26, 2019.  

New York Stories (1989)

This film came out in 1989, an anthology, composed of three short films (about 40 minutes each) from 3 directors.

Woody Allen has one of the films, called "Oedipus Wrecks". He plays himself, a single man who is dating Mia Farrow (who has 2 kids - one of them Kristen Dunst). He also has a mother who is always making disapproving comments, is overly critical, and generally overbearing. I have a relative with the same personality! There's a part where she comes over to his office and interrupts a business meeting. The old mother is played by Mae Questel who was the old senile lady in Christmas Vacation. She's really funny in this and should have been in more movies. I liked the short because it shows how Woody deals with her and learns to cope with her and accept her and I could relate to that.

I couldn't relate to the short film that Francis Ford Coppola directed. It's about a rich girl who lives in a hotel in New York. She has a famous musician dad (Giancarlo Gianni) and wants to see him reunite with her mom played by Talia Shire. There's also a new rich boy who comes from royalty from an unnamed country. The girl befriends him. There's also a robbery, and some funny moments with her butler played by Don Novello. He's the only down-to-earth character in this and funny; I don't know why he hasn't done more movies. Most critics don't like this short. It feels really choppy as if were three half-hour sitcom episodes cut to 40 minutes. His daughter Sophia Coppola co-wrote this, so there may be some personal/semi-autobiographical content in this, but I'm not sure. I know Francis' father was a professional flautist, so certainly there's a familial connection there.

In one scene, some of the characters take a stroll in New York's Central Park, and there's a cool shot of this awesome-looking bridge (see below). I'd love to see that bridge one day if I ever get a chance to visit New York:

Finally, Martin Scorsese's film Life Lessons is the first short, and it's pretty good. Scorsese only directed; he didn't write this film. Nick Nolte plays an artist in New York with a big studio apartment with lots of paint and canvases, and he has an apprentice/former lover (Rosanna Arquette) who lives there too. It's basically a simple story, and it's lighthearted and funny.  Nolte makes a good artist, I thought. Believable as he whips his paintbrush and oil paints on the canvas. He reminds me of a friend I had (who died last year) who was about the same age as Nolte's character in the film. We went to art galleries together and browsed and talked about the art. He even loved to paint on canvas (I have some of this paintings I want to keep) and inspired me to do more painting as well.

Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957)

"Burt Lancaster as the famous Wyatt Earp...Kirk Douglas as the notorious Doc Holliday....Two men as different as day and night...Now you'll see them as they really were...hot blooded men in a raw and relentless era...Drawn by destiny to this scarlet dawn...October 6, 1888...When the gunfight at the OK Corral left its bloody imprint on the annals of the West.
- trailer

I did not love this movie.  It's really long, and seems longer than it needs to be, and is set in three different towns. The most interesting part is toward the end when the action place in Tombstone and we meet Wyatt Earp's family and a conflicted young gunfighter played by Dennis Hopper. I thought the movie would have been more interesting if it were set in just that town and we got to know more about those characters. Rhonda Fleming and Jo Van Fleet are the only female leads and they play the love interests of Burt (who's just okay) and gambler Kirk, who brings some personality to his character and was more interesting to me. He had to feign a bad cough throughout, and definitely convinced me he was really sick by the end.

It's so ironic that that immediately before I started watching this yesterday, the TV was turned to My Fair Lady playing on Turner Classic Movies, and the scene was Rex Harrison singing "Why Can't Women Be More Like A Man?" including the lyrics "Cause men are so friendly, good-natured and kind. A better companion you never will find."

Not at the OK Corral.

The movie is pretty violent, with lots of dudes guys getting shot or stabbed, and Jo Van Fleet almost dies twice. The opening song does not fit the mood of the film well; it's a ridiculous Frankie Lane tune that almost seems like a comedic parody --   "Okaaaay....Koraaaaaalllll.....Okaaaay....Koraaaaaalllll". I'm not the only one who thinks so -  back in 1957, Bosley Crowther, the critic for the New York Times even thought so (read that review here); he said that it seemed to be an imitation of High Noon's opening song. Not only is the song repeated several times throughout (and annoying after awhile), but the lyrics also change to fit "Boot Hill" as well. "Boot Hill...Boot Hill...". I can't think of another song every dedicated to a cemetery.

Reading more about this actual historical event, the inaccuracies and liberties that writer (Leon Uris) and the filmmakers took become more evident. For example, the trailer mentions the wrong day and year of the event. Also, the real gunfight never took place at OK Corral (the setting looks good in the movie, though).

These inaccuracies make me think more about the historical twists that Tarantino has been inserting in his latest few movies; most recently Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In 50 years, viewers of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood may watch it without any historical context, and then may think that Sharon Tate lived beyond 1969 or may think she was just a fictional character. Likewise, I was scratching my head after "OK Corral" and wondering which characters were real and which weren't myself. Maybe this is the idea that Tarantino is trying to get across in his movies - that often in Hollywood films they're nothing more than make believe, and often just good old fashioned shoot-em-up  entertainment that is told the way the filmmakers want.

Another blog post from Just Hit Play

New releases that look interesting

New releases that I read about today on RogerEbert.com to add to my "To See" and "Maybe" lists:

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Only 1.5 stars from Monica Castillo, but it stars Cate Blanchett, who I really like. And directed by Richard Linklater.

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (Animated)
3 stars from Brian Tallerico.   "an animated film about the making of “Las Hurdes (Land Without Bread),” Luis Buñuel’s scathing 1933 satire of the era’s naïve ethnographic documentaries." (IndieWire)

Blinded by the Light
3.5 stars from Sheila O'Malley.  Synopsis: Javed is a British teen of Pakistani descent growing up in 1987 England. Amidst the racial and economic turmoil of the times, he writes poetry as a means to escape the intolerance of his hometown and the inflexibility of his traditional father. But when a classmate introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteen, Javed sees parallels to his working-class life in the powerful lyrics. As Javed discovers an outlet for his own pent-up dreams, he also begins to express himself in his own voice.

What You Gonna Do When the World's On Fire (documentary)
2.5 stars from Tomris Laflfy. "...a rightfully fuming and attentive cinematic meditation that follows the delicate lives of a number of mostly black men and women in the American South"

Dora and the Lost City of Gold
3 stars from Christy Lemire who called it very entertaining for adults as well as kids.

The Kitchen
2 stars from Matt Zoller Seitz. A crime drama set in the 70s; at first I thought this was a comedy since it has Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish, who is usually really funny. This could be good.

Adam
3 stars from Matt Fagerholm. An independent directorial debut, based of a graphic novel exploring LGBTQ issues; its creater also wrote the screenplay.

Nashville (1975) and Jeff Goldblum as the Tricycle Man

In today's post, the spotlight is on Jeff Goldblum and his role in Nashville (1975), an American satire blending music, politics, and more. The film was directed by Robert Altman, known for his ensemble casts and interwoven storylines. Nashville features 24 characters, not counting cameos and an unseen Presidential candidate.

Jeff's role is smaller compared to some of the others. It's also one of the rare times when his character does not speak in a film. Hard to imagine Jeff not saying anything. But his presence is essential in my opinion.

This was only his 3rd film credit, and his largest role at the time.

Jeff''s involvement in the film is covered in the superb book The Nashville Chronicles by Jan Stewart (published in 2000; Goodreads link here). It's a really great book if you are fan of this film and want to learn more behind-the-scenes stories, and want to read more interviews with the cast and crew.

As recounted in the book, Robert Altman saw Jeff perform in a play in New York. The play, which opened in 1973, was a musical cabaret/burlesque called El Grande de Coca-Cola. Jeff 's role required him dance, perform magic acts, perform various physical stunts, and play the piano. New York Times theater critic Clive Barnes raved about the show in his 1973 review here. Some photos from the show could be found here from the New York Public Library digital archives, and some newspaper advertisements here from the blog It's All The Streets You Crossed. 

Altman was really impressed with Jeff's talents, and eventually cast him in a small role in his latest film project, California Split (1974). The part required Jeff to fly to California to film his scene, even though it was very brief.  

Altman also wanted Jeff in his next project (Nashville), and told him that his part would involve riding a motorcycle. The script (written by Altman and Joan Tewkesbury) was still in development. In the meantime, Jeff eagerly enrolled in some riding courses in New York to begin practicing for his part, but eventually failed his motorcycle license test.

Nashville began filming on location in the summer of 1974. 

When Jeff arrived on set to start filming, he learned that he now had to ride a longer three-wheeled motor bike. He recalls in The Nashville Chronicles, "I wanted to get as much practice as I could, so I drove it to and from the set. Till I sort of mismanaged my fuel tank one day and it ran out of gas on the highway going to the location." Someone from the local teamsters eventually picked him up.

Surely inspired by the quirkiness of the character in El Grande del Coca Cola, Altman also wanted Jeff to include some magic tricks in the film, but wasn't sure when and where they'd be used.  Jeff practiced a number of new tricks and showed them to Altman, who liked them and asked that he bring the the props on set every day and be ready to perform them when the time came. And he did, silly and wonderfully. 

Because he doesn't speak in the film, he's like a mime; he's either on his bike, enjoying a show, or just hanging out.  I think of his character as being comedic relief when we need him, because a number of storylines delve into some serious subject matter (infidelity, exploitation, racism, etc). 

Just seeing The Tricycle Man do one of his silly tricks every so often brings a smile.  

The film never explains what the character is doing in the city of Nashville. Is he a local? Is he on vacation? I don't think we don't need to know. He's just traveling through. And I'm glad he's there. 

At the end of the book The Nashville Chronicles, the author writes about Jeff: 

Who could have predicted that the strange tall guy on the long bike with the funny glasses would endure as Nashville's most recognizable veteran? But the funny glasses and mute posturing of the Tricycle Man concealed an actor with a slouching sexiness and oddball insouciance that came to the fore time and again in The Big Chill, The Fly, Silverado, Jurassic Park, and Independence Day.

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This blog post is part of the Jeff Goldblum Blogathon hosted by emmakwall (explains it all) and Realweegiemidget Reviews

Just released: the latest director's cut of Apocalypse Now

Apparently a new director's cut of Apocalypse Now is being released in theaters this weekend. I haven't watched the film in a very long time and I remember not liking it very much on first watch.

But now the new cut is out, I might watch it with a new set of eyes.

Here's an article that goes into more details about how the new film has been edited:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/08/apocalypse-now-final-cut-francis-ford-coppola-interview

Killer of Sheep (1978) and director Charles Burnett in person

On July 26, 2019  I attended a screening of Killer of Sheep at the University of Chicago, sponsored by several film student groups. I've never seen the movie, but knew of its reputation as a landmark independent film about African American life in the 1970s inner city, and knew that it's a movie that is often shown to college students.

It was a really good film; I really enjoyed it. It's very simple, no traditional plot structure. But I love the scenes of ordinary life, centered around one family living in South Central Los Angeles. The father (Stan) works in a slaughterhouse. There are some great scenes with his wife, kids, and friends, as well as some other characters we meet for only a scene or two, but they're memorable (including some people Stan meets in a liquor store). More often than not, characters plan to do something promising, only to have their dreams shatter, which of course happens in real-life.

The director, Charles Burnett, appeared in person afterwards and talked about the making of the film; it was a college project for him that took several years to finish because of licensing rights to songs (there are alot of good songs in it). He also talked about how almost everyone in the film was one of his friends. He lived in Watts, Los Angeles in the '60s, so he was very familiar the community.

Q&A with Burnett at the University of Chicago

There was also a time of Q&A which was really interesting, too; about a dozen people had questions. One person commented that the film was reminiscent of Italian neo-realism, and asked Burnett if any films of that era influenced him. He said, yes, and mentioned that he had numerous opportunities to see a lot of international films on the college campus and elsewhere in LA. He remembered going to all of the latest film from well-known international directors, and said some of them came to his campus to speak occasionally; one was Satyajit Ray. Burnett talked more about his college days, and said that he often had discussions with his friends and classmates about what constitutes "a black film". With Black Sheep, he said he intended for it to be a film about the community for the community to see, and only expected it to be shown locally. Someone else asked him about what he thought about being part of the "New Rebellion" of black filmmakers; he said that he doesn't like labels, but he praised other filmmakers part of the movement.

Now I really want to see his follow-up movie, My Brother's Wedding. I have seen To Sleep With Anger and The Glass Shield many years ago and want to watch them again as well.

Also, I found an interesting review from the New York Times from 1978, below.

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'Killer of Sheep' Is Shown at the Whitney: Nonprofessional Cast

By Janet Maslin | November 14, 1978

"Killer of Sheep," which opens today at the Whitney Museum, is a film to make one mindful of the difference between genuinely abstract art and iciness for its own sake.

The program notes say that Charles Burnett, the director, thinks the idea of the film "is to try to recreate a situation without reducing life to a simple plot," but his film has just enough of a story to make it taxing.

The action, which of course is hardly supposed to be action at all, revolves around a black man whose only measure of prosperity is the fact that he's well enough off to give things to the Salvation Army. He is remote and depressed. His wife is bored and sexually frustrated, and she's depressed, too.

He has two children, whom we see eating breakfast and scratching and walking around the neighborhood. He has a lot of young and reasonably attractive male friends who live with grotesquely bloated women; sometimes the men get together and fix cars, or worry.

The central character works in a slaughterhouse, hence the none-too-apt title.

To all this monotony and alienation Mr. Burnett brings an estrangement of his own.

The film consists of loosely linked glimpses of the characters' lives, punctuated by occasional cuts to the slaughterhouse. It is acted by non-professionals, who call attention to the falseness of many of the situations.

It is beautifully photographed in black and white, and very spare.

The dialogue, which is read with either insufficient or excessive emphasis by the nonactors, is often buried under a soundtrack of vintage blues, making it doubly hard to follow.

Even the slaughter of the sheep is numbingly uneventful.That may be Mr. Burnett's very point, but he makes it so studiedly that the character's estrangement from his surroundings overlaps too conveniently with the director's arty detachment from his material.

And for all its air of starkness, "Killer of Sheep" is more often arid than it is genuinely economical. Mr. Burnett obviously has a keen eye for tiny moments — the way a child pulls up a sock, the way a man's hands move on machinery — but he doesn't demonstrate the kind of coherence that might give them larger meaning.

 Nonprofessional Cast KILLER OF SHEEP, by Charles Burnett, Principal performers are Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, and Angela Burnett. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue. Running time: 87 minutes.

Targets (1968) directed by Peter Bogdonovich

According to a recent article from TIME, Universal has canceled the American release of a new horror movie - called The Hunt - following two separate mass shootings that happened in America a week ago. "Now is not the right time", was part of the reasoning. From watching the The Hunt's trailer, it looks to be an ultra-violent film dealing with people who hunt people for sport. The trailer also seems to spoil who gets killed off; it looks like Amy Madigan's character does early (I like her, so to see her mercilessly terrorized and shot does not seem like fun to watch). The movie also features Hillary Swank and Emma Roberts; I don't know what their roles are, but I've read this film is supposed to satirical.

In 1994, I remember seeing Oliver Stone's satirical film Natural Born Killers, and I thought of that movie in the last week after the news of these shootings. I didn't like that film it at the time; it seemed to be presenting a society that idolizes serial killers, a concept I find really disturbing. I can't imagine anyone idolizing these latest killers in the news. I haven't watched that film in 25 years, but was thinking about rewatching it again sometime in the future. If I do I will post my thoughts about it. It was given 4 stars by Roger Ebert in his 1994 review.

Among the older films on my list to watch was Targets, which was released in the summer of 1968. It was Peter Bogdonovich's first feature film as director. The posters for Targets at the time showed an assassin/sniper, and like in the trailer for The Hunt, also warns the audience to expect violence and gives away some of the killings.  I can only imagine the advertisers at the time trying to promote this film. Targets was released just a few months after Martin Luther King Jr and Senator Robert Kennedy were shot, and one year before the horrendous murder of movie star Sharon Tate and others in her home.

Eating a sandwich before a killing spree.
What a Tarantino character might do?

I watched the movie over the weekend. It's OK. It's actually not entirely about the assassin to my surprise. He plays a major role, but the film doesn't explore his motivations and at the end we're left to our own interpretations. His dad and mom appear in a few scenes; the father is a hunter who has his own collection. The assassin's wife is depicted as hardworking, and they all watch TV together in the living room (they all live under the same roof). We don't get much background about the killer other than he's obsessed with guns (has a whole collection of them at home and in his trunk) and visits guns stores regularly, and that he's deranged. His age isn't specified, but we assume early 20s. There's no mention of him having any prior convictions, and no one acknowledges that he has a mental disturbance, or holds any political grievances. I'm amazed at how easy it was to buy his guns and ammunition at the various shops he goes to.

He basically kills people for sport, which is what he does in the film, and it's pretty disturbing to watch when he does it.

We are also are introduced to another main character, an aging horror-film star named "Orlock" played by Boris Karloff. It's not until the end when the two characters come together; the film builds up suspense until then. I liked Karloff's performance in this. Most of his sequences are comical in tone, hinting that this is a satire. Some of his dialogue, reactions, and expressions are funny, and he even plays drunk in one scene. My favorite part is when someone knocks on his door and he quips in his unmistakable voice, "Who's that knocking at my chamber door?" (a clear reference to 1967's Who's That Knocking At My Door). He also is shown watching some of his old movies various eras of his career  (which are real Karloff films; I liked these meta references).

While watching Targets, I wondered if Tarantino saw it, and wondered if it in some way inspired him while envisioning his latest movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

I found similarities in the two movies.

For example, in OUATIH, we also are introduced to an aging star who feels useless and washed-up (like Orlock). The Sharon Tate character in OUATIH also watches her latest film like Orlock does in this movie. The killer in Targets (played by Tim O'Brien -- he had a short career before dying early) drives around LA in his Ford Mustang convertible with the radio playing 60s music and DJs, similar to Pitt and DiCaprio in OUATIH.

By the end of Targets, it seemed a bit more clear me that this movie isn't solely about the assassin. In fact, I think it's more about the Orlock character - a horror film veteran who faces real-life horror on the verge of retirement.

An interesting article from Slate that talks about the making of the film, and how  Roger Corman and Samuel Fuller helped shape the film. Really interesting.

From 2006 Movie City News - a report on a screening of the movie with the director in attendance speaking about the film.

From Dissolve (2013) - Bogdonovich talks about the gun violence and the film's "unfortunate continued relevance"

Another review of this film from the blog Surrender to the Void

Another blog post from Lazarus' Lair

50 years later, Sharon Tate's sister keeps her memory alive

In this video clip, Debra Tate, sister of Sharon, speaks to CBS news (2 minutes, 30 sec)

She says, "The grief never goes away, but you learn to cope better".



What happened to Tate and the others that were murdered 50 years ago was a horrible tragedy. She was a real person, whose life and career was cut way too short.

Terence of A Shroud of Thoughts has a lovely tribute today on his blog here.

I also read an article on Nerdist - article link here - that mentions how Debra met with Tarantino and Margot Robbie who plays her in the new movie OUATIH. I was surprised to learn that Debra approved of the portrayal. Knowing this actually makes me want to reevaluate the movie; when I first saw it I really didn't think it was a fair portrayal. But apparently her sister approves of it.

Another article from The Nerdist - article link here - mentions that another film about Tate is in the works that is being produced by Debra Tate and starring Kate Bosworth. This movie also looks interesting.

Longer interview with Debra Tate here:

 

New movies that look interesting

New releases that I read about today on RogerEbert.com to add to my "To See" and "Maybe" lists:

The Peanut Butter Falcon
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes, Thomas Haden Church. 3-1/2 stars from Sheila O'Malley. Snippets: "a man with Down Syndrome who has been placed in a nursing home by the state since he has no family and no resources..." and "...a buddy movie, but it has the quality of a fable"

Note: Out there In the Dark recently blogged about this movie here

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Recieved 3 stars from critic Tomris Laffly, who said "it doesn't break any new ground"

This is Not Berlin
3 stars from Tomris Laffly  Snippet: "An avant-garde tale of youth spawned with intoxicating memories of mid-'80s Mexico City, Hari Sama’s semi-autobiographical “This Is Not Berlin” is high on alternative ideas of decades past."

Socrates
4 stars from Godfrey Cheshire. Snippet: "...gritty, intimate account of a poor teenager’s struggles following the sudden death of his mother, a tale set in a city in coastal Sao Pâolo state"

Light of My Life
3 stars from Sheila O'Malley. Casey Affleck's directorial debut (which he also wrote). He plays a father with a young daughter.

One Child Nation (documentary)
Three stars from Glenn Kenny. Snippet: "...Wang and Zhang's film ends with an explication of a new “two child” policy, a celebration of the one-child-policy’s overall success"

Vision Portraits (documentary)
Three stars from Odie Henderson. Snippet:"....about four blind and visually impaired artists who provide insight into their creative process while being brutally honest about how their various levels of blindness affect them."

Trailer for new film about Harriet Tubman

I just watched the trailer for the new film about Harriet Tubman, and it looks good! I don't know the actor who plays her but I recognize one of the supporting players who was in Moonlight. It opens Nov. 1 in the US.

What makes a movie a classic? (article link)

I liked reading this article from CNN Entertainment, an interview with Ben Mankiewicz from Turner Classic Movies; the question on the table is "What makes a movie a classic?". I agree with Ben for the most part, and I think a film has to have a bit of a shelf life to call it a classic. For example, I don't think anyone is considering Tarantino's new movie a classic, but in 25 or 30 years, it may be considered a classic. Look at the lasting impact of Pulp Fiction; it came out 25 years ago, and most people consider it a classic.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/05/entertainment/movies-what-makes-a-classic/index.html