BLUE MAG

Narrative film began with the Western. It’s a troubling genre sometimes full of explicit racism and visual poetry within the same frame. Perhaps that is why it is so quintessentially American because it is a genre full of the best and worst angels of our nature. Essentially the Western is a morality play telling modern myths of how to be civilized and behave in white and black hats. It seems fitting that the latest released forays into the genre should cut to the binary quick: two men, one good, one bad or are they? Continue reading New Westerns

I enjoyed this tidbit from BuddyTV’s report on former “Laguna Beach” (shouldn’t that be former star of the show Formerly Known as “Laguna Beach”) star Talan Torriero’s new starring role in the film “American High School”:

After Laguna Beach, he made several guest appearances on television and soon land roles in the horror feature Doing Time on the Set of Driftwood, Driftwood, and Through the Gauntlet: Inside the Walls of Driftwood.

That’s some hat trick!

The Summer of 2007 has faded into memory leaving several disastrous blockbusters in its wake. I tried to see as many as I could but alas I am but one man. Anyway, here’s a rundown of the rest of this films I saw this past summer: Continue reading Summer Movies: Part Two

The other day I saw the rather forgettable new comedy “Hot Rod.” In the background of one scene appeared the poster for the 80s sex comedy “The Whoopee Boys,” another forgettable movie. For some unfathomable reason this juxtopositioning of two forgettable films within each other like the renderings of a medium-talent Escher caused me to become obsessed with “The Whoopee Boys” and more importantly its director John Byrum.

Continue reading Whatever Happened to the Whoopee Boys?

This month Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” is being re-released in England. This doesn’t mean much to us Yanks but fortunately it means a lot to some of the best critics writing for British publications.

David Thomson gives his take here in the Guardian.

And the Independent profiles Raging Bull co-screenwriter Paul Shrader.

Also: The above newspaper also has an interesting article about the apparent controversy surrounding Hayao Miyazaki (or what was supposed to be) new film

Perhaps I’m the only person who would get excited about director Martin Scorsese’s written tribute to Antonioni but these words are so good:

Where almost every other movie I’d seen wound things up, “L’Avventura” wound them down. The characters lacked either the will or the capacity for real self-awareness. They only had what passed for self-awareness, cloaking a flightiness and lethargy that was both childish and very real. And in the final scene, so desolate, so eloquent, one of the most haunting passages in all of cinema, Antonioni realized something extraordinary: the pain of simply being alive. And the mystery.

The rest of the NY Times article can be found here.

Good video here from “Superbad” viral marketing…

Continue reading What *does* it mean to be Superbad?

Screw August, next month is going to be the best month ever for movies. After a glut of summer movies we’ll finally be getting some substantial material from some of the best filmmakers.

First up is David Cronenberg’s new film “Eastern Promises” which has Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts in bed with the Russian mob in London. Viggo and Naomi … that’s good stuff.

“Shine a Light” is Scorsese’s new IMAX documentary on the history of the Rolling Stones leading into their new tour. It’s shot by the best cinematographers working today, this looks like the best thing ever.

Finally Wes Anderson’s new movie, “The Darjeeling Limited” rounds out the month.

Among the news to come out of ComiCon was some casting confirmations for “Watchmen,” one of the most closely watched castings in the history of BLUE MAG. Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, which is great, and Billy Crudup as Osterman/Dr. Manhattan (actually I think this was confirmed before but I’m just getting around to complaining).

I’m stoked to see this movie but I don’t like Crudup in that role. Isn’t Dr. Manhattan supposed to be a big giant blue man? Billy Crudup is 4 foot 9 in heels. I wanted Billy Zane more for any casting since I wanted Sean Connery as the Drow in the film version of R.A. Salvatore’s “The Chrystal Shard” when I was 12…

Thanks to somebody’s countless hours digitizing, every review Siskel, Ebert and Roeper have ever done is now available for viewing online. This includes Ebert and Scorsese’s “Best Films of the 90s” which in my mind is one of the best things about movies ever to air on television. Note: there are still some glitches (it launched today) but the wealth of information (at least for a film junkie like me who first heard of films like “Blue Velvet” through this show) is priceless.