Shorts, 1/2.

By David Hudson on 01/02/2009

Ryland Walker Knight and Keith Uhlich discuss the film that was instrumental in the launching of the House Next Door: Terrence Malick's "The New World."

Tim Lucas on Myriem Roussel: "Godard cast Roussel in his films at a point when his work became obsessed with composition and the schism between the static nature of great paintings and the necessity of motion pictures to move. She was the perfect Muse for this era of his filmmaking because her beauty is absolutely in keeping with that of the models who posed for the great paintings of antiquity."

"A series of loosely connected anecdotes reminiscing over the heyday of radio programs and their effect on a Queens household modeled after that of Woody Allen's childhood, 'Radio Days' resembles a standup routine more than any of the work of this legendary comedian-turned-actor/director," writes Kevin Lee. "Allen's buoyant voiceover accompanies a wall-to-wall soundtrack of period jazz, a fluid, hard-driving talk-and-tunes narrative approach that anticipates the first hour of Scorsese's 'GoodFellas' by a few years."

Carrie Fisher is "one of the rare inhabitants of La-La land who can actually write," notes Charles McGrath in his review of "Wishful Drinking." "'George Lucas ruined my life,' Ms Fisher says, which doesn't seem entirely fair. On the other hand, in a book full of weirdos, he emerges as possibly the strangest of all."

Also in the New York Times, Jeremy McCarter on Stefan Kanfer's "Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando."

"What better way to start the new year than with a psychedelic lesbian vampire freak-out?" Roderick Heath on Jesús Franco's "Vampyros Lesbos."

"Mickey Rourke's overnight comeback is neither as surprising nor as precipitate as people would like to believe," argues Joe Queenan, while Marina Hyde looks into a supposed feud between Rourke and Sean Penn, sparked by a wayward text message.

And Danny Leigh writes, "Should the deeply baroque prospect of Mickey Rourke winning an Oscar come to pass in the wake of his turn in 'The Wrestler,' hindsight might yet settle on a few of his vintage performances. There is, after all, plenty of gold among the clunkers - and yet I think there's a special poetry to Rourke's renaissance arriving on the 25th anniversary of 'Rumble Fish.'

Meanwhile, Sheila Johnston talks with Darren Aronofsky for the Telegraph and James Mottram interviews Evan Rachel Wood for the Independent.

Back in the Guardian:

• Geoffrey Macnab talks with Emir Kusturica about "Maradona by Kusturica."

• Peter Bradshaw on "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia": "Three in the morning would be the time for the fullest, bleariest appreciation of its Jacobean qualities.... For a film renowned for its violence, Garcia unfolds at a leisured, almost lugubrious, pace with scenes allowed to unspool at a length that would never be allowed in any Hollywood thriller today." More from Neil Young (Tribune).

• And "The Reader": "I can't forgive this film for being so shallow and so obtuse on such a subject, and I can't accept it as a parable for war-guilt-by-association suffered by goodish Germans of the next generation. Under the gloss of high production value, under the sheen of hardback good taste, there is something naive and glib and meretricious." More from Wendy Ide (Times), Derek Malcolm (Evening Standard), Mike McCahill (Telegraph) and Anthony Quinn (Independent). Related: Kevin Maher talks with Ralph Fiennes for the London Times.

• Nechama Tec, author of "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans," recalls visiting the set of Edward Zwick's adaptation: "At once I was taken over to meet Daniel Craig and encouraged by Zwick to answer as many of the actor's questions as I could. They covered a range of points I found remarkable for their depth and breadth. In his questions to me, Craig demonstrated a seriousness of purpose and a thorough approach to his own research that I had hardly anticipated."

• "[I]n a season of moribund and stately/pretentious big pictures from America ('Benjamin Button,' Doubt,' 'Revolutionary Road' - all likely to feature in the Oscars race), nothing can match the furious energy and vivacity of 'Slumdog Millionaire,'" argues David Thompson.

"The Warped Ones" "may be [Koreyoshi] Kurahara's best film, not to mention the one that best fits into the taiyozoku genre." Another round on Kurahara from Nick Palevsky in the Auteurs' Notebook.

"The Japanese film industry - particularly at the top, where Toho and the TV networks dwell - had a terrific 2008," writes Mark Schilling in the Japan Times. "The new year, however, looks to be tougher for the local industry - and not only because of the recession."

In the Evening Standard, Nick Roddick looks ahead to the year in "art house films" for Londoners: "From a Korean spaghetti western to a Danish war film, expect the unexpected." Geoffrey Macnab has more "Highlights of 2009" in the Independent.

"Gus Van Sant's new film, 'Milk,' is thoughtful, patient, funny and touching, and both Sean Penn and James Franco should get Oscars, but it doesn't answer the questions any biopic raises for me: what's it for and why now? Or perhaps it does have the answers, but we have to do our own digging for them." Michael Wood in the London Review of Books. The film is due in the UK on January 23, so Van Sant is making the rounds, talking with Ryan Gilbey (London Times) and John Hiscock (Telegraph).

"What Film Would You Like to See Go Digital?" asks Matt Dentler. Seriously, too. He might well be able to make it happen.

"Donald E Westlake [IMDb], the incomparable writer of a great many fine crime novels - including the Dortmunder series under his own name and the Parker novels as Richard Stark - is dead." Sarah Weinman gathers links: tributes, interviews and more. Via Ed Champion.

Online viewing tip. Cinematical's Erik Davis has Gus Van Sant's "The Discipline of DE," based on a story by William S Burroughs.

Online viewing tip #2. From Bilge Ebiri at Vulture: "Now that fuel is back at bargain-basement prices that will never rise ever again and we clearly have endless supplies of the stuff, this little animated film 'Fuel' should serve as a whimsical and quaint reminder of those bygone times. Though filmmaker Dale Goodson's short made us laugh out loud several times, what really impressed us was just how damn embittered it seems (the self-vocalized sound effects certainly helped, too)."

[Photos: "The New World," New Line Cinema, 2005; "The Wrestler," Fox Searchlight, 2008; "Milk," Focus Features, 2008]

Tags: Best Feature FIlm, Pan's Labyrinth, Spirit Awards 08