Pennan vs. Forks, towns made touristy by movies.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/20/2009
Today, innumerable thousands of shrieking tweens (and older counterparts who really should know better) will descend on the nation's multiplexes, baying for "New Moon" blood. The phenomenon isn't limited to theaters: Forks, Washington -- where Stephanie Meyer set her novel without ever visiting -- has seen tourism jump way up, from 18,000 visitors in 2008 to more than 64,000 this year alone. Twihards come in hoards, over 100 a day, desperate for a scrap of town memorabilia, stealing dropped library cards and offering cheerleaders cash for their uniforms. It's all very impressive and frightening, and undoubtedly good for a lumber... MORE »
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Fellini: The Ride.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/20/2009
Filed under: Abroad
Here in America, we have solid theme park rides based on movies that, for the most part, make sense, like Universal Studios' "E.T. Adventure," or the "Wayne's World" roller coaster "Hurler" (since sold and de-"Wayne"'d by Paramount, but still). But in Rome, they're building a ride based on the Fellini film "City of Women." Yes, in an effort to shore up tourism in the city, Cinecittà Studios is going to give us Cinecittà World -- 400 acres of themed fun for the whole family, based on the many movies that have shot at the legendary studios over the year. Since... MORE »
Jeanne-Claude, 1935-2009.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/19/2009
Filed under: Memoriam
Jeanne-Claude -- Christo's collaborator and partner -- died today in Manhattan at the age of 74. It was fitting, in a way, not only because the artist pair have been residents of the city since 1964, but because their last big completed project was "The Gates," which turned Central Park's walkways into a series of orange vinyl doorways and drapes, portways of color livening up an especially dreary winter. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been shorthanded as the people who "wrap" things, which only goes so far. A bigger part of their projects was to rendering the familiar temporarily strange, whether... MORE »
Dissecting the Oscar doc shortlist.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/19/2009
Filed under: Awards
Bemoaning the failures of the Oscars in the Best Documentary department has become an annual ritual, like spazzing about filing your income taxes or dusting off stale jokes about March Madness obsessions. So the news that this year's doc shortlist of 15 potential nominees is full of omissions and small obscurities is not a surprise. Many folks would've liked to have seen "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil," "Collapse," "Crude," "Tyson," "We Live In Public," "The September Issue" or "It Might Get Loud" on the list. So it goes. Some of those omissions are reasonable -- there's not much in "Tyson"... MORE »
The Werner Herzog, Jr. awards.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/19/2009
Filed under: Zeitgeist
"The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" open Friday, Werner Herzog's supposed latest exercise in unhinged lunacy. But as a colleague observed after a screening, "If you didn't know going in Herzog had made it, would you be able to tell?" I'd say probably not: there's none of his trademark stunning footage that was clearly dangerous to get. It's understandable that at 67, Herzog hasn't really endangered himself of late. But who are the filmmakers willing to take up his mantle of unusually arduous and potentially hazardous shooting? Some nominees: Benjamin Gilmour ("Son of a Lion") Gilmour's "Son of... MORE »
Roadtrip/no roadtrip.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/18/2009
Filed under: Odds
Nothing says 1969 like "Easy Rider," the bad-trip Altamont to the ebullient celebration of the next year's "Woodstock." While the hippies were partying down, Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson were discovering there was no place for them in America, either old or new. On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, Keith Phipps retraced the road trip taken by the gang. The week-long series is halfway done on Slate, and it's a good read, tracing what's the same and what's different. The biggest difference, though, is the gap between the "Easy Rider" trio and Phipps, whose mode of travel... MORE »
Italian cinema on American shores.
By Stephen Saito on 11/18/2009
Filed under: Events
There's never been a better time to indulge in a little Italian cinema, at least if you live on the coasts. For New Yorkers, that's meant classics from the likes of Visconti, Rossellini and Pietro Germi at the Italian Neo-Realism series at the Lincoln Center, and a new 35mm print of Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. If you live on the west coast, mid-November means Cinema Italian Style in Los Angeles and New Italian Cinema in San Francisco and Seattle, where contemporary crime thrillers and comedies straight from Sicily have been the order of... MORE »
In defense of John Woo's American period.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/18/2009
Filed under: Odds
Friday sees the release of an abridged version of John Woo's new film, "Red Cliff," a two-part, five-hour epic condensed for American audiences into what's still an admittedly pretty entertaining regular-length feature. As Glenn Kenny notes at The Auteurs while comparing the two versions, what's gone is a lot of character detail and poetic flourishes. What's left is one ridiculously over-the-top battle scene after another, which is definitely fun if you want to see, say, something called the "Turtle formation." It is, however, inescapably silly, and I enjoyed it much the same way I enjoyed "Mission: Impossible II" and "Paycheck."... MORE »
Chris Columbus, protector of children.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/17/2009
Filed under: Watchy
Some directors are automatic punchlines, their names synonyms for lousy. There's Adam Sandler cohort Steve Brill ("Without A Paddle," "Drillbit Taylor"), Eddie Murphy's favorite Brian Robbins ("Norbit," "Meet Dave") and of course Shawn Levy ("A Night At The Museum," "The Pink Panther," "Cheaper By The Dozen"), who pays the bills as perfunctorily as possible. The godfather of them all may well be Chris Columbus, a man so prone to alternating equally leaden bathos and comedy it's amazing he once had it together enough to write "Gremlins." His resume is one of shame: the first two "Home Alone"s (they're terrible, get... MORE »
Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused" sequel bites the dust.
By Vadim Rizov on 11/17/2009
Filed under: Odds
"Dazed and Confused" is effectively beloved by everyone who's seen it -- including me -- so I got uber-excited about the prospect of Richard Linklater making a "spiritual sequel." And now it's dead on the ground. It was apparently called "That's What I'm Talking About," in honor -- we presume -- of the kind of stoned logic of the original, where that phrase was the highest form of praise you could offer. But Linklater couldn't raise the $14 million necessary to get the project off the ground, at least not without casting already completed. Now it goes on the backburner,... MORE »
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