The Madness of King George

George Lucas is, officially, insane. Or, just an asshole. Possibly both. He's certainly one of the biggest trolls on the planet, a fact confirmed by recent comments he made while promoting the new 3D release of "Star Wars--Episode I: The Phantom Menace".

Criterion Crazy: Ashby, Ozu and others in April (plus a rumor roundup)

It's that time of the month again--Criterion's April titles have been announced. And, I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed underwhelmed.

The induction of Hal Ashby's comedic ode to cross-generational love, Harold and Maude (1971), into the Collection and a release of Yasujiro Ozu's Late Spring (1949) are among the films making their blu-ray (and DVD) bow this spring. A new boxset of avant-garde films from Hollis Frampton, another Eclipse release and two other discs are also on the horizon.

New on Blu: "The Guard" (2011)

Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is an unconventional cop, in "The Guard".

“The Guard” opens with an almost-literal bang, the words “fuckin’ posers” blaring on the soundtrack, as a group of young ruffians—chivalrous-less chavs—speed down a country road. The camera sweeps across the vast, green countryside, as the boys’ red coupe drifts between the lanes on the weaving tarmac—a strip of black cutting through the lush landscape of West Ireland. The speeders whiz past a white-and-yellow Ford, a cop car, but the camera stops on the officer, the Garda, or Irish policeman, inside. His face emotionless, in a daze, we hear the speeders horrific crash off screen and he guard’s stone face turns to a grimace, as he rolls his eyes in disgust. The guard leaves his roadside post to inspect the accident. It’s a horrific scene. The red car now mangled, upside down, bodies—the car’s recent occupants—strewn everywhere. He looks inside the ruined vehicle, then turns back to the first body on the road and starts rummaging through the corpse’s jacket pockets. He finds a baggy, shakes it, opens it, examines one of the tablets for a moment, cocks his head and then, satisfied, places the tab on his tongue. The screen flashes for a brief flicker of a frame with a smiley face, an editing flourish that establishes one thing: the guard just dropped acid. He walks a short distance away from the crash, turns his gaze towards the oppressive gray sky and utters the words, “what a beautiful fuckin’ day”.

"The Conversation": Coppola's quiet, contemplative and underrated masterpiece

He'd kill us if he got the chance."

Although the topic of “bests” in film will always be hotly debated in most circles inhabited by those souls so inclined to talk about cinema, whether it’s specific or overly broad—arguments over the best actors, genres and decades—there’s little point in questioning certain truths. One of those truths is that the New Hollywood era—a time when a group of young American filmmakers rose to prominence and broke the molds of the old studio system and its censors in a fashion similar to the French New Wave, producing culturally critical, sometimes exceptionally violent, and unusually anti-establishment productions all while fully-funded by big brass at Columbia, Universal, Paramount and Warner Brothers—is one of the most important times in cinematic history. It just is, largely because of the directors who led the charge and how they changed movies forever.

"Tanner Hall": Or, that one movie Rooney Mara was in before "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (no not "The Social Network")

Rooney Mara in "Tanner Hall"

There’s a saying that everyone has at least one book in them, and I suppose that’s probably true for (most) people and films too. Everyone has at least one story they could make into a movie. But, as the late Christopher Hitchens once said, “everybody does have a good book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay.” And that statement is certainly even truer of people and films. You might have a story to tell, but will anyone besides you and your best friend—who you wrote the script (and co-directed; and co-produced) with—want to watch it?

“Hugo” is Marty’s magnificent, magical masterwork

Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz in Hugo

"Come, and dream with me."

Between 1896 and 1914 French filmmaker George Méliés directed more than 500 films. At one point—because Méliés, like many early film pioneers, failed to adequately preserve his work—nearly all of them were thought to be lost (many of the film negatives were melted down during World War I to make rubber heels for the boots of French soldiers). A magician by trade, Méliés was fascinated by the advent of motion pictures, which allowed him to further hone his craft through time lapse photography, stop-start editing, and other forms of cinematic trickery like double exposure. While inventors Auguste and Louis Lumiére saw movies as little more than a passing fad—and were merely interested in producing short documentaries like the 50-second The Arrival of a Train at La Coitat Station (1895), which, as the title tells the viewer, showed nothing more than a train pulling into a station—Méliés understood that movies could entertain and delight through their ability to manipulate reality.

Criterion Crazy: Jesus & Scorsese, Lean & Coward, and Titanic & Not James Cameron among March wave

The other Titanic movie is making its way to blu-ray
via Criterion, March 2012

Criterion have announced their March wave, which is set to include blu-ray upgrades of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Roy Ward Baker's tragic titanic epic A Night to Remember (1958), and an impressive 4-fim boxset of director David Lean's collaborations with playwright Noël Coward.

Of the eight titles announced for March, three--The Last Temptation of Christ, A Night to Remember and David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945)--were previously released on DVD by the Criterion Collection. The other five--D.A. Pennebacker and Chris Hegedus' documentary The War Room (1993), Mikhail Kalatozov's Letter Never Sent (1959) and the three other films in the Lean-Coward boxset, In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1944) and Blithe Spirit (1945)--are new to both the Collection and Region-A blu-ray (and will also be available on DVD on the same date).