Tag Archive
An ode to Ken Russell, RIP
In honor of director Ken Russell (The Devils, Women in Love, Crimes of Passion, Lisztomania, Tommy) who died yesterday, I’m posting a video I edited exploring his themes and motifs, narrated by Russell himself. Sound is required, watching it in a large window is recommended, and considering the rather decadent nature of his films, I […]
Lisztomania
There’s a famous story about how Paddy Chayefsky, screenwriter of Network, who had it in his contract that none of the dialogue that he wrote for Altered States could be changed. That presented a problem for any director brave enough to tackle the speech and science heavy material and still assert themselves on the set, […]
Kansas City Bomber
Here’s the idea behind “A Canadian, an American, a Lawyer, and an Elitist”: Rhett’s favorite movie is Meatballs 4, Shawn has an unhealthy fixation on Resident Evil, Richard scoffs at anything that isn’t pretentious and hoity toity, and Adam is a prick who hates everything. We all watch far too many movies, and spend our […]
When They Shouldn’t Have Bothered
The movie version of The Boys From Brazil, based on Ira Levin’s (Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives) novel is about Hitler’s doctor Joseph Mengele, trying, via an extremely complicated process, to bring about a second coming. While the story is very clever, and the plan was very detailed and intelligent, it was so convoluted and […]
The Baby of Macon
Peter Greenaway’s films are more divisive than virtually every other filmmaker working today. He has stated publicly that he is no longer interested in traditional ways of filmmaking, developing characters, telling a straightforward story, etc. Even the best experience I had with a Greenaway film, the sumptuous The Pillow Book, I left a screening with […]