The Tree of Link
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:37AM Nicks Flick Picks looks at the cinematography of Todd Haynes masterwork Safe (1995).
Scene Stealers chooses the ten best cinematography jobs of the past decade, with The Tree of Life the only current film to place.
In Contention on Fox News freakout over The Muppets liberal agenda.
Paper Mag has an enjoyable profile of Kristen Wiig and her superstar-making year
Karine Vanasse ...will we see her again after Pan Am flies away? I find TV news difficult to follow so I'll admit total confusion when shows randomly show up on my DVR or move networks or whatnot but apparently this charming French Canadian actress says Pan Am has been cancelled and the network says it's just on hiatus? My point is that I watch the show and am totally in l'amour with her.
The Hollywood Reporter worries that the AMPAS demographic (which skews very male) may hurt The Help. Of course this argument supposes that only women would like The Help.
The Wrap though it's a rather unusual decision, given its history, this year's Vanguard Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival is not going to a well known acting legend but to the two stars of The Artist Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin. That's a major get for the Weinstein Co moving into the Oscars.
Forbes did one of those "return on investment" things to rank actors. Kristen Stewart is named the best deal with $55.83 earned for every $1 spent on her. Anne Hathaway comes in at #2 with $45.67 for every $1. Most of the list is composed of people in franchises so the numbers are quite skewed; Harry Potter is the star of Harry Potter and Twilight is the star of Twilight if you get me. Meryl Streep, who isn't exactly known for franchise appears, does make the list though with $13.54 earned for every $1 she's paid.
on embargos, social media and film critics in general
Carpet Bagger David Fincher on embargo breaking. He doesn't want any advance screenings and thinks the best film critics are moviegoers who text their friends (oy! the self-serving pomposity of some people. And I love Fincher)
AV Club Sign of the Apocalypse. Twitter-friendly seats in theaters as trend? Thousands of little glowing screens to distract you from the big one. Ugh.
Telegraph Kevin Spacey isn't having any of it. This is our favorite Kevin Spacey anything in like 12 years.
Top Ten o' the Day -David Denby
Speaking of embargos and film critics... Fast on the heels of the Dragon Tattoo ruckus, we have Denby's top ten list on which it does not appear. It's a mixture of lazy fandom (J Edgar? Ugh... seriously. I'm going to have to assume that critics who label this a top ten'er only saw 30 or 40 movies this year and even then, you'll have to make concessions.) and the highbrow like Certified Copy and the Tree of Life about which he begins, affectionately, this way...
Yes, I know, Terrence Malick’s movie is unbearably high-minded and humorless. But still!
All in all an interesting list and suggests that for Denby, two types of entertainments are generally favored: intellectual puzzlers and popcorn entertainment for the masses (Source Code, Contagion and Rise of the Planet of the Apes all appear).
Reader Comments (19)
The Twitter/theater thing is so disgusting. I still don't understand the appeal of Twitter, and am afraid I never will at this point, but who could possibly want to be on a cell phone during a movie in a theater-you're paying $13 to sit and text and not pay attention to the thing you've paid $13 for. I'm not a pet peeve-y person, but when I get to a movie theater I want a certain atmosphere-no texting, no Twitter, no cell phones, no talking-sit back and enjoy the communal experience of watching the flickering lights of celluloid on a giant canvas in a darkened theater. There's something magic in it every time, even if the movie has Kate Hudson.
Ugh, J. Edgar.
When I asked my man if he wanted to see a movie this weekend I kind of assumed it would be The Descendants, until I found out he has absolutely no interest in seeing it (apparently, he has an irrational hatred of George Clooney. Who knew?). Since we've already seen The Muppets and Hugo, I ran down the list of what was playing near us and J. Edgar was somehow his number one choice (not that there was much choice, but still). Desperate not to pay ten bucks a ticket to see Leo age for over two hours, I threw out Melancholia, knowing that he will see just about anything that has even the remotest sci-fi angle. He pulled up the trailer and actually said yes. Not wanting him to look up Lars von Trier or anything else about it lest he change his mind (he HATED Tree of Life), I made sure we left right then. I had basically resigned myself to the idea that I would have to see Melancholia by myself if I wanted to see it at all, and I hate going to the movies by myself. Neither of us loved it, but afterwards we had the longest, richest conversation I've ever had after seeing a film. And godDAMN if that isn't a gorgeous movie.
Denby can be such an idiot sometimes. I'm no fan of The New Yorker's other head critic, Anthony Lane, either (his reviews are typically a shallow mix of overexplicit description of plot and smug cocktail party bon mots), but Denby can be worse in how dense he can be. Despite having my current #1 of the year (Certified Copy) on his list, I couldn't help but groan at his introduction of The Tree of Life--thanks for pointing it out. It struck me as very bizarre, especially when considering The New Yorker's fairly erudite audience.
Also, did you see his review of J. Edgar? Here's the first sentence: "Clint Eastwood’s 'J. Edgar' is, of all things, a portrait of a soul." Give me a break.
This cinematography list is so bad. Only American and English movies and a French-speking movie directed by an American.
Of course my list would have American entries, but Asian DPs are the best. How can anyone write such a list and forget the epic wuxias directed by Zhang Yimou. Or, also directed by an Asian with a Mexican DP, why not Lust, Caution? And the always gorgeous Almodovar movies? And Wong Kaw Wai movies?
Even the American choices are not inspired. Dion Beebe was the cinematographer of the decade for Miami Vice and Collateral only. If you want traditional work, what about the spectacular Caravaggio-ish cinematography of The Passion of The Christ?
But the top three redeems the list.
(I know Dion Beebe is not American, but his movies are)
CAL -- i get the complaints but obviously with cinematography any list would be bad. there's more than 5 worthy nominees each year let alone a whole decade :)... i sometimes feel like this is the golden age of cinematography and no one has noticed
NICK -- maybe i have different expectations of film critics than some people because i hear negative things about Denby & Lane all the time and i love both of them. I think maybe it comes down to the fact that I think they're both fine writers and so few film critics worry about their quality of their writing and it's all just HERE'S MY OPINION ON THE FILM delivered with no grace or wit.
JOHN T - lol at your punchline. thank u. i needed it.
Source Code?? I think Denby just looked on a bunch of his neighbor's papers for this test - maybe those are the only ten he's seen? He aint no Pauline Kael, that's for sure.
I love Anthony Lane. I think he's a terrific writer and always has something devastatingly clever to say. However, I would never read his reviews before seeing a movie (actually, I generally just skim most reviews before seeing a movie) because he has a terrible tendency to give away endings.
About the tweeting seats- ugh!!! My favorite activity in life is going to the movies. But I get so tense and have to steel myself so much for people using cell phones around me that it's taken a lot of joy out of the experience for me. I find myself strategizing like a war general about which theater on which day and with which movie will have the least rude audiences. I now refuse to sit anywhere but the first three rows in commercial theaters (Film Forum and MOMA are pretty good, still) because any further back runs the risk of staring at a sea of glowing little screens instead of the actual movie screen. It makes me so so sad.
On the other hand, maybe segregating the tweeters would be the best option at this point. If you can't block their phones from working in the theater (and why can't you do that?), they're going to tweet. Make them sit in the back, declare the rest of the theater twitter-free and it's a throwback to the old smoking sections. You're just substituting screen glow for hazy smoke. Now I don't know how to feel about this!
Re: "The Help"'s gender appeal
On another movie site I visit, there were a number of posters saying that they didn't like "The Help" because the male characters were so underdeveloped and didn't get enough screentime, and that created a "gender imbalance." Seriously, they actually said that. And I know for a fact that these were all women who were saying this. When other posters pointed out how the exact opposite is true in, oh, every other Hollywood movie, they insisted that was somehow different, although they couldn't really say why.
There are numerous good reasons not to like "The Help"; I'm lukewarm on it myself. But it's really sad when women go to a movie with a great female cast and still only care about the male characters. Really sad.
AR--In the United States, it's illegal to intentionally block cell phone signals in public places like movie theaters. I know people who carry portable signal jammers with them to theaters, but they have to be extremely discreet about it. If they get caught, the fine is something like ten thousand dollars.
But cell phones aren't a problem in at least one theater in DC. The theaters are underground, and theater employees have started giving these little welcoming speeches before every screening, noting that the room we're sitting in is surrounded by several tons of concrete, so we couldn't get a signal even if we wanted to. Woo!
I'm not familiar with American critics, so I don't have an opinion on Denby. At least he has brought embargoes to the conversation and people are talking about them. It's refreshing.
Perhaps that's the problem I have with the Denby/Lane. I think Lane is a fine, almost-witty-to-a-fault writer--but I don't find him the best match for film criticism. As I said, it seems that half the time he is burdened by the film when attempting to write the best piece he can. I don't find them unconventional enough in an innovative way; they just tend to spend more time describing rather than analyzing, and then they'll simply focus on one scene or moment (and it's hardly ever very representative of the film) and then pick that apart. For all these reasons, yes, I never read their reviews unless I've already seen the film they're reviewing.
This top ten list is strange, but the constant downing of J. Edgar by Nathaniel, does make sense. I did not like it and do not think its top ten of the year, but it certainly was not awful or D-, as you gave it. That's reserved for Green Lantern stuff, not this, with a very good performance in an overall weak film, imo.
I saw Richard Roeper say it was one of the best films of the year, he gave it an A-.
That Forbes list is gross. Everyone but Anne and Meryl are from series and those two are probably only there because of The Devil Wears Prada, Alice in Wonderland, and Mamma Mia!. Yet another reminder of the sad state of American cinema.
Nat, did you see that Dame Judi Dench beat Sir John Gielgud in a Guardian (UK) poll, "greatest stage actor of all time"?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/8205312/Judi-Dench-beats-John-Gielgud-in-peoples-vote-for-greatest-stage-actor.html
Having never seen Dame Judi on stage I can't comment on that, except to say that I have a hard time imagining that even she (and I do adore her on film) could top Sir John. But she has an advantage - she's still alive and he's not. (And I'm sure the number of people who can remember having seen him onstage is starting to wane, so the whole thing is super-silly.)
Nat, did you see that Dame Judi Dench beat Sir John Gielgud in a Guardian (UK) poll, "greatest stage actor of all time"?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/8205312/Judi-Dench-beats-John-Gielgud-in-peoples-vote-for-greatest-stage-actor.html
Having never seen Dame Judi on stage I can't comment on that, except to say that I have a hard time imagining that even she (and I do adore her on film) could top Sir John. But she has an advantage - she's still alive and he's not. (And I'm sure the number of people who can remember having seen him onstage is starting to wane, so the whole thing is super-silly.)
@Nathaniel I know there are a lot of great choices available. I was just complaining about something that really piss me off, that is taking American Cinema for Cinema. It happens all the time. If people say "I cover only America", that's ok. But they don't. And do lists like that, that don't reflect at all what movies are today.
I am glad you keep your eyes open to what happens worldwide, even when you can't see the movies (who can? too many!). People know notice the race for best foreign language film but we know who was the first one!
Oh PAN AM... I came for Christina Ricci, but I've been staying for Karine Vanasse. She's been such a revelation.
Karine has been a gem in the otherwise very guilty, modest pleasure that is Pan Am. I do hope we see her in meatier roles.