"We Got That B Roll!!" and other various beautiful web-abouts.

A screen grab from the very funny video, We Got That B Roll!!.  Directed by Dylan Osborn and written by Sergio Cilli.

To continue our two day run of funny videos - we must share one of our favorites, We Got That B Roll!!. This is a bit of a documentary insider joke. But we know our sophisticated audience will get it. Just in case you need an assist here is the definition of B Roll: secondary footage that adds meaning to a sequence or disguises the elimination of unwanted content. Unfortunately, this funny video cannot be embedded into our blog due the creators wishes. Please click on the following title to take you to this very funny video. We Got That B Roll!!.

Our graphic designer...I mean Director of Motion Graphics, Brian Oakes, has his new website up and it is fantastic. Brian is involved in all kinds of projects including the upcoming HBO doc, Runnin' Rebels of UNLV, which airs on March 12 - just before the beginning of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
http://www.brianoakes.com/

J. Todd Anderson and George Willeman of the radio show, Filmically Perfect.

Since you are already strolling around the Interwebs why not check out George Willeman's website, Filmically Perfect. Okay, it's not George's website but the Internet home of the radio show, Filmically Perfect, on WYSO-FM hosted by Niki Dakota (very cool name!) and features George (one of our interview subjects and our friend at the Library of Congress) and J. Todd Anderson. The three talk about movies that are "perfect." What makes a movie perfect? Go to their website to find out the rules for the perfect movie. You can listen to their show via the web or podcast.

And, finally, our erstwhile These Amazing Shadows website is undergoing a facelift. Stay tuned for the historic release of our new site! It is coming just in time to give you the straight skinny on the plethora of TAS scheduled screenings across the USA beginning in April 2011.

Oscar Talk with Leonard Maltin and his guest Mike Tyson

Oscar Talk with Mike Tyson & Leonard Maltin from Mike Tyson

Noted film critic, Leonard Maltin, one of These Amazing Shadows interview subjects discusses the 2011 Oscar race with former heavyweight champ, Mike Tyson. Very illuminating.

On a more serious note - Leonard was nice enough to post a blurb about These Amazing Shadows on his blog. Thanks Leonard!
Read Leonard's Blog Movie Crazy

For the Love of Film (Noir) Blogathon: The Deaf character in Out of the Past

Actor Dickie Moore as The Kid in Out of the Past.

I feel a bit silly writing about Out of the Past (1947) because it is so well known and what could I possibly add to the discussion of this great film. I can only offer something very personal. As a side note I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area so any movie that features The City is tops in my book. The movie also features Lake Tahoe, another geographical location significant to me. The important personal connection I have to Out of the Past is the Deaf character, The Kid. My parents are Deaf (as were my grandparents and only Aunt and Uncle). The Kid, played by Dickie Moore, is a gas station attendant who is devoted to the operator of the business, the protagonist Jeff Bailey who is played by Robert Mitchum. What attracts me to The Kid is that the fact he is Deaf does not play a pivotal role in the story. He just happens to be Deaf. That he is a bit strange and kills someone doesn't bother me because that is all about the world of Noir, not a reflection of his deafness. Everyone is bad and a bit off in the world of Film Noir. It is all about to what degree you are bad. What really amazes me is that The Kid signs really well. It is clear and accurate American Sign Language, which is very unusual for a motion picture of any era. I have wondered for years what motivated the production to be so accurate. The actor, Dickie Moore, is hearing and I have been unable to identify any connection to deafness or Deaf Culture in his background. If anyone has any insight into my question please let me know. The fact that Dickie Moore signs so well is a small detail and is probably of little consequence to most fans of this film. Perhaps it was this attention to detail by the director Jacques Tourneur that made the world of Out of the Past so authentic.

Out of the Past was selected to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1991.

DONATE NOW TO THE FILM NOIR FOUNDATION TO RESTORE THE SOUND OF FURY

A scene from Out of the Past that includes Jane Greer.

For the Love of Film (Noir) Blogathon: The Hitch-Hiker

A scene from the 1953 film noir The Hitch-Hiker. (l to r) Frank Lovejoy, William Talman and Edmond O'Brien

A female directed film noir. A rare occurrence. Stripped down camera work, sparse cast with no femme fatale or dark urban setting - The Hitch-Hiker, directed and co-written by Ida Lupino - is a breed apart. Though it won't appeal to everybody because of its claustrophobic atmosphere, this film tells the story of two fishermen who pick up a psychotic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over. It's one of those films that makes you think, "What would I do in that situation?" Everyday life can be pretty challenging, but it does not bring with it the complexities of extreme moral decisions. Would you, can you kill to defend yourself? Would you escape a killer if it meant leaving your friend behind? How do you react when a gun is pointed at you? To take this film on face value does it a disservice. Placing it in the context of post-WWII America gives the story power beyond a causal viewing. The two friends are vets, but have settled into civilian life far removed from their war experiences. But, violence once again intrudes upon their lives (typical of characters in the world of Film Noir). This brings me back to my original point - in the same situation that face these two friends - what would you do?

Watch The Hitch-Hiker

Donate to The Noir Foundation and for the restoration of The Sound of Fury



Ida Lupino at IMDB

The Onion jumps on the National Film Registry bandwagon...kinda.

Shocking news report about the Library of Congress!
Library of Congress Adds 3 Titles to List of Films That Should be Destroyed Forever!

NOTE: The Onion is a news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national and local news. It's not real news. 

These Amazing Shadows to screen at the Boulder International Film Festival

These Amazing Shadows will screen at the Boulder International Film Festival at 5:00 pm Friday, February 18th. For tickets please click on the following link:

BUY TICKETS

This year’s BIFF will honor one of the greatest, most thought-provoking film directors of our time—three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone (Midnight Express, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July). Mr. Stone will receive BIFF’s Master of Cinema Award and sit down for an in-depth interview and retrospective of his films at the Closing Night ceremonies on Sunday, February 20th.

On Saturday, February 19th A Conversation with James Franco will highlight the Festival. From Freaks and Geeks to James Dean to the Spider-man trilogy to Milk to Howl, this Golden-globe and Oscar-nominated actor has shown great versatility and excellence in everything he does. Come see a screening of A Clerk’s Tale, a short film directed by Franco that premiered in Cannes last May, as well as a retrospective of his work. Franco will receive BIFF’s Vanguard Award, followed by an interview conducted by BIFF Executive Producer of Special Events, Ron Bostwick. Franco was just nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours. Franco will co-host the Academy Awards one week after attending BIFF.

Also screening is our friend Morgan Neville's doc, Troubadours, a musical journey tracing the lives and careers of James Taylor and Carole King, pillars of the California singer/songwriter scene, which converged in and around LA’s Troubadour Club in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Troubadours is part of the opening night gala and will screen at 8:00 pm Thursday, February 17th.

BOULDER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

For the Love of Film: Film Preservation Blogathon

 

Our friend, Self-Styled Siren (AKA: Farran Nehme, one of our interview subjects) along with her friend, Ferdy on Films, will be hold a film preservation fundraising blogathon during February 14th through 21st. What is a blogathon? Well, a bunch of film blogs will write virtually non-stop on the subject of Film Noir. Not really non-stop, but frequently in order to draw attention to raising money to restore the film, The Sound of Fury (1950), directed by Cy Endfield and starring Frank Lovejoy (famously known as the murdeous psychopath in the Ida Lupino directed, The Hitch-Hiker) and a rather fine performance by Lloyd Bridges as Jerry Slocum.

Belgian poster for The Sound of Fury

Donations (see link below) will go to the Film Noir Foundation who will coordinate the funding for the restoration which will be done by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, using a reference print from Martin Scorsese’s personal collection to guide them and fill in any blanks. Paramount Pictures has agreed to help fund the restoration, but the Film Noir Foundation is going to have to come up with significant funds to get the job done. That’s where the blogathon comes in.

Last year the blogathon raised thousands of dollars and was a great success. Join us this year and help restore The Sound of Fury!

The Sound of Fury IMDB page

Donation Link

The Film Noir Foundation

Self-Styled Siren

Another day in the life at Sundance Version 2.0, Volume 2, Chapter 2

The mini marquee for theater number five at the Broadway Centre Cinemas in Salt Lake City.

Another day...whew! They all have blended into each other. We shall begin with last night...Friday night in Salt Lake City. Most films at Sundance have a Salt Lake City screening. It requires leaving the protection of the Sundance bubble with it's festival friendly audiences and driving 45 minutes to the real world. It is conventional wisdom that the audience you get in SLC is a "real" audience and will give you a much better idea of what the public really thinks of your film. As you can see from the above photo of the mini marquee above the entrance to theater 5 we had a lot to live up to. It turns out the full house thought our doc was "Amazing." Once again, whew! Even though it was a late showing and the theater was rather warm - most of the audience stayed for the Q&A. Great questions and many pigeonholed us after for private questions. Really passionate people who love film. Great audience. Thank you SLC!

Composer Peter Golub talking with score mixer Mike Roskelley and his wife Kelly.

We were lucky to be joined last night by our composer Peter Golub and score mixer Mike Roskelley who was with his wife, Kelly. Mike and Kelly live in Salt Lake City. Kelly is a psychiatrist who practices at the local VA hospital. They are such a nice people. Several members of the team that Peter assembled to create his score are from SLC. Prior to the screening we had dinner with Peter who is a wonderful dinner companion because he can speak on such a wide range of subjects. He is one of those rare people who has strong opinions but is not preachy or over bearing. He is just very smart and personable - an unusual combination and a great person to hang with.

Co-editor Alex Calleros does some business on the web at the Sundance House HP computer center.

Our co-editor, Alex Calleros, has seen 124 films over the past ten days. Okay, that is an exaggeration, but he has seen a ton of films and reports to us daily on his favorites (The Details, Circumstance among others). He is the master at getting around town on the confusing free shuttle system. Not only is Alex out in force supporting These Amazing Shadows, attending parties, seeing films - he and two friends have launched a site called Finite Films (see link below). They propose to produce one short film every month over the next year following "constraints" that are submitted by the public to their site. They have a very clever pitch video that you must see that will explain the idea of "constraints." And, yes, they are asking for money and their pitch is really seductive. But, more importantly they are asking for your participation. You can actually collaborate with them. Simply said...these guys are talented so don't miss this opportunity.

http://www.finite-films.com/

Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Mariano discuss These Amazing Shadows distribution strategies.

We all piled out of the IFC/K-Swiss party at Jean Louis Restaurant and everyone (except me!) was handed a K-Swiss logo striped winter cap. After donning the caps Paul and Frazer transformed before our eyes into rowdy ruffians bent on besmirching the well crafted TAS public image (which was already damaged by my poor showing in the IFC/K-Swiss ping pong tournament...sorry everyone). After they realized that nobody was scared, intimidated or disturbed (well, maybe disturbed) by their gangster behavior we all retreated to our various cushy condos for some hot coco. What does it take to get the Park City police to take notice that some scary dudes are wearing stripy cozy winter caps.

Frazer Bradshaw, director of photography and co-director Paul Mariano.

George Willeman displays how a fashionable man wears a stripy cozy winter cap.

A day in the life at Sundance.

St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) plays at the ASCAP Music Cafe in Park City.

Kind of  crazy day - so I think it proper not to describe it in chronological order. Though I will start with weather - it was perfect. In the afternoon Doug Blush (co-editor) and I caught St. Vincent at the Music Cafe on Main Street in Park City. My word, she was great. At times she was a soft voiced pixie, then she was down on the floor ripping it up on her guitar like she was in the NYC punk scene in the 1980s. She appears to have these crazy long fingers that allows her to have a very unique guitar style. Please, please catch her as she tours around.

Paul Mariano and Doug Blush make their way to the
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City.

Our first stop of the day was a special high school screening of These Amazing Shadows at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City. There were about 450 kids from various high schools. Rather daunting audience. We were a bit skeptical they would get into TAS because so many of the films we focus on were created and released before they were born. How wrong we were. They were the most incredible audience. They clapped through the entire closing credits. During the show they would break out into applause when they saw a movie clip the liked, they asked great questions at the Q&A and one girl told us that our doc has changed her life because now she knows she wants to make movies as her life work. Crazy heavy stuff. 

Director Jennifer Phang at the HP Print Center in Park City.

Park City is such a small town and that means you run into people you know all the time. I stopped by the HP Print Center late in the day to pick-up some beautifully printed TAS posters. I was organizing the materials when I heard someone call my name and to my delight it was Jennifer Phang. She is a director who had her first feature screen at Sundance two years ago and she also appears in our doc. She told me about her next feature and how she is trying to figure out if it makes sense to shoot in Norway. Her story needs startling beautiful locations. She may, for budget considerations, opt to shoot in Canada. 

What to say about the above photo? Stopped by the New Frontier art/media installations. Lots of great stuff but I must go right to the most unusual and cool multi-media installation. The actor James Franco has done something that on the surface sounds quite strange but is wonderfully funny and wonderfully bizarre. Can I describe it and do it justice...probably not but here goes...you go into a room that has a old couch, a rug and some plastic plants. Projected on one wall is the first episode of the 1970s comedy Three's Company. James, with help from somebody, voices all the roles and even sings the opening credits theme song. He reads the script as written but in a deadpan voice - then sometimes in an emotionally exaggerated way that is out of place for the scene. He also throws in lines like, "Meanwhile, back at the Regal Beagle." The above shot shows the moment that Mrs. Roper (wife of the landlord who thinks Jack is gay - making it okay for him to share an apartment with Janet and Chrissy) figures out that Jack is not really gay because he gawks at the barmaids breasts. Hilarity ensues. The whole thing makes no sense but is quite fantastic.