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List #7: Writer’s Block is a Killer

I kind of like this one. Still a work in progress, but offhand these six are all that came to me.

You sit at your desk and stare at your screen, or your typewriter. You’re so desperate to produce something great that you freeze up and your imagination goes in every other direction at once. Nothing good can come of this situation, especially when you yourself are fictional.

Adaptation

Charlie Kaufman is hired to adapt Susan Orlean’s book, The Orchid Thief, into a screenplay. In his desperation he winds up writing himself into the story. It all goes to hell from there.

Alan Wake

You play as a popular writer, stuck for progress in your new novel. As you mope and sulk around your small town, the characters from your book start to come to life around you. It all goes to hell from there.

Barton Fink

A snooty New York playwright comes to L.A. to write for the movies. The studio puts him up in a questionable hotel, under questionable management, in the company of questionable guests. It all goes to hell from there.

Secret Window

Before his divorce, Johnny Depp used to be a successful writer. Now it’s all he can do to type a paragraph before returning to bed. One day he hears a knock on his cabin door. On answer, he beholds a strange fellow who accuses Depp of plagiarism. It all goes to hell from there.

The Shining

Jack Nicholson is an abusive father with a drinking problem. In an attempt to put all of that behind him, he takes some time off from work to manage an abandoned hotel over the winter, and concentrate on his book. It all goes to hell from there.

Throw Momma from the Train

Billy Crystal deals with his writer’s block by teaching community college. One of his students, Danny Devito, writes inept revenge fantasies about his own mother. Crystal suggests that Devito watch a Hitchcock movie for inspiration. It all goes to hell from there.

(July 30th, 2011 @ 10:51am)



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List #6: The Best Silent Films

One of the most painfully incomplete of all the lists, and one of the final ones I began before the list function stopped working. Had it kept going for a day or two, this list would be much broader. It did last long enough for someone to add Man with the Movie Camera and Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary. I notice I again say very little about the movies, and tend to be rather… emphatic. Again, though, this is meant to serve as a conversation starter.

Pure cinema isn’t about sound or color; all of that is nice, and can complement a film’s message, but at its core film is all about the picture — how frame to frame, shot to shot, scene to scene, changes and juxtapositions in subject and composition carry meaning. Accordingly, sometimes the most elegant films are those free of our modern distractions.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

One of the most influential of silent films, of German expressionist film, and of the early horror genre. The set design embodies the expressionist ideal in a way that no subsequent film could equal without imitating. This is also the movie to popularize the idea of the twist ending. Lots of stuff going on here.

Metropolis Restored

The biggest masterpiece of the German expressionist film school (depending on where you draw your boundaries), and template for nearly every utopian future vision of the last 90 years, Metropolis also still holds up well as a movie — at least, when it’s restored and reassembled enough that you can make sense of the storyline. The cinematography is gorgeous, and at least 40 years ahead of its time. Even now some of the special effects are kind of astounding.

Modern Times

One of the last films of the silent era, and intended as Chaplin’s first talkie — a decision nixed fairly late in the game — Modern Times is probably one of Chaplin’s greatest and most iconic films ever. It expresses many of the same industrial age concerns as Lang’s Metropolis, but from a satirical rather than a allegorical perspective. Also notable for a kind of unexpected cocaine gag.

Nosferatu

The first and arguably still the best adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula was nearly lost to the world. Murnau didn’t pay for the rights to the novel, you see, so Stoker’s widow won a court injunction and ordered that every copy of the film be destroyed. Good thing that didn’t work out for her, as nearly every classic horror film (including Browning/Lugosi’s 1931 Dracula) would be out a set of crucial influences. Nearly every shot is a masterpiece that could stand on its own. The acting is ridiculous in retrospect, but whatever. The problem is finding a good restoration. The recent Kino one is probably the best bet.

(July 27th, 2011 @ 3:48pm)



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List #5: The Best of Film Noir

I’ve a few more I would have added to this, had it taken off. There’s all the neo-noir stuff. Proto-noir. Lost Highway, Blade Runner. Maybe even Ghost in the Shell, which I still think is a kind of brilliant piece of cinema. I would also have liked to have said more about several of these films. Shadow of a Doubt deserves more than a passing mention. I think I was just in a rush. Ah well; this ain’t serious analysis. This is just content for a social site — a starting place for conversation.

Film noir is about more than fedoras and hard-boiled dialog. It’s about dark and light and imagery framed just right to suggest a creeping sense of doom. If something can go wrong, it will. If there’s the slightest doubt about an alliance, particularly with a femme fatale, it will be broken. And you’ll see it coming, because of where people stand, where the shadows fall, and what angles we have on the action. This is bleak, expressive stuff derived right out of German expressionism. And these movies play all the notes like the most beautiful dirge in the ghetto.

The Big Sleep

Aside from The Maltese Falcon, this is the other film that solidified noir as a genre. Famously, the film’s plot makes little sense if you care to pay attention. That’s okay; you’ve got Bogey and Bacall barking out the words of Raymond Chandler by way of William Faulkner (of all people), and coaxed forth by that director of directors, Howard Hawks. Yikes. The moment-to-moment is what makes this movie.

Chinatown

At the time, Chinatown was sort of a throwback to the films of a generation earlier. Yet it’s more than a noir revival; it filters the tropes and decorations of a 1940s detective movie through a 1970s film sensibility. This isn’t just a film about good guys and bad guys, and a certain spirit of the time; it grounds all of that in history, and the change of an era for a whole urban center. It’s a bit of a slow burner, but the more you think about it the more profound the movie becomes.

Double Indemnity

A loathsome insurance salesman sidles up to a pretty lady to plan the perfect murder — and to get double the insurance money off its back. At first everything seems to go according to plan. If it just weren’t for the annoying competence of the man’s coworkers…

One noir of many by Billy Wilder, and one clean-cut figure of many tarnishing his reputation in the sleaziest of sleazebag roles. Fred MacMurray later told stories of old men walking up to him on the street and slapping him or screaming in his face for his actions in this movie. He tried to explain the difference between an actor and a role, but the point was a little too abstract for audiences of the time.

Key Largo

John Huston teams up again with Humphrey Bogart, who brings along Lauren Bacall for extra flavor. Oh, and Edward G. Robinson, see? Yeah. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Yeah. Some amazing dialog in here, rife with double entendre. The thing about the Hayes Code is that it didn’t so much wipe out on-screen lasciviousness as it forced it to be subversive, and to smolder in the little pauses and glances that nobody would think of censoring.

M

Film noir borrows heavily from German expressionism, particularly as seen in movies like The Third Man, with its Dutch angles and deep shadows. The grandmaster of German expressionism, Metropolis director Fritz Lang, would later move to Hollywood and direct several of the most important noir films to follow in the black bird’s wake. Before he left Germany, however, he directed perhaps his greatest film, the proto-noir story of a hounded child killer, M. Amongst the movie’s landmarks are the introduction of later Maltese Falcon star Peter Lorre and Lang’s own first experiments in sound production. M is very nearly a silent film; when there is sound, it is very important and very well-done. We take so much for granted these days. No Femme Fatale, but ih. Close enough.

The Maltese Falcon

The original film whence emerges all noir. Curiously enough, it’s actually the third adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel — by the same studio, within ten years. Well, third time’s a charm. The casting is impeccable. The shots and the editing are perfect to the last.

This was John Huston’s first directing gig, if you can believe it. And he did it right across town at the same time as Welles was busy with his little opus about a newspaper mogul and a sled. This one has aged much better.

The Man Who Wasn’t There

A satire so dry that you’re never quite sure if it’s meant to be funny or not. The Coens load all the noir tropes onto a mundane story about pathetic people, that grows increasingly weird as it goes along. Since it’s the Coens, and since just about every Coen movie is informed by some combination of Night of the Hunter and The Big Sleep, they pull it off with panache. You can watch it on a couple of levels: hunt for the absurdity or take it straight. Either way, it’s probably the most subtle movie they’ve directed so far. While we’re talking about the Coen Brothers, also see The Big Lebowski.

The Naked City

A sort of revolutionary guerrilla cinematography style that was hugely influential on later generations.

Night and the City

Everyone in this story is a complete jackass. Consequently, at first the movie was a complete bomb. See if you can spot a trend here. About a decade later, as people started to actually think about film as an expressive medium, suddenly the movie shot right up the scale and became one of the most important films in the genre.

The Night of the Hunter

You can call it noir, you can call it southern gothic. You can call it a tremendous, career-ending flop. You can call it visionary. Night of the Hunter is one of the most influential films that you probably have never seen. You know that business where a tough man will write “love” and “hate” on his knuckles, to distance himself from his actions? That comes from here. Every Coen Brothers movie references this film at least once. And for once in a career as the handsome action hero, Robert Mitchum plays a nightmarishly evil dude.

Shadow of a Doubt

Hitchcock’s personal favorite of his catalog, and not without reason.

Strangers on a Train

Hitchcock may be known more for thrillers and horror than for out-and-out noir, but Strangers is about as black as noir gets and about as good. Two guys meet on a long train ride. One, a rising tennis star; the other, a deranged stalker. The second fellow proposes a grotesque, if hypothetical, scenario. The first fellow is polite and brushes him off. The second fellow takes that as a go. And oh boy, is the first fellow in for a ride.

Sunset Boulevard

You can never go too wrong with Billy Wilder, and this just may be Wilder’s best ever. William Holden is an out-of-work writer, and Gloria Swanson is a faded star lost in her own head. When the two get together, expect nothing well to come of it. You kind of get that from the first shot, in which the protagonist is lying face-down in a swimming pool, musing in voiceover about his own death.

The Third Man

Graham Greene, Joseph Cotton, and Orson Welles in his best film role. Some of the most gorgeous and most influential cinematography ever. Such an interesting sense of pace, with that shock reveal halfway through and that extended final shot. One of the greatest films ever made.

Touch of Evil

Welles jumps back into the action in a troubled masterpiece, whittled out of a B-movie against the studio’s every protestation. You know how Welles was, and how well he got along with film studios.

The version you’re likely to see now is the restored one, edited and tracked from Welles’ personal notes. Up until the late ’90s, you would have seen a more confusing edit with scenes omitted and switched around, virtuoso shots edited and obscured by captions, and the soundtrack drowned with a Henry Mancini score.

Considered an instant classic in Europe, and a total flop in the States. Europe had it right; despite some violently tight editing and an over-the-top performance from Welles himself, this is an extraordinary feat. Just watch out for the dangers of reefer!

(July 25th, 2011 @ 2:16pm)



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List #4: Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi With a Puppet

Again, an incomplete list. Fraggle Rock really belongs on here. I’d call it a notable work of television fantasy. No, really. This list got more interaction than most; other users added such entries as Star Trek (for the Tribbles) and Wars (for the Cantina scene alone, never mind Yoda).

Because sometimes nose ridges just aren’t enough.

The Dark Crystal

Jim Henson’s magnum opus, that is much more fondly remembered than was received at the time. Never mind the lushness of the world and the unexpectedly grim story. How did they make the puppets move like that?

Farscape

Australia’s major contribution to the TV sci-fi canon proves that aliens need not all look like white guys with bumpy foreheads, and that however outré they may look, aliens are people too. Mostly.

Labyrinth

David Bowie quotes The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, while disembodied hands grope Jennifer Connelly.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

It takes a while to click, but behind the junkyard production values and annoying premise is ten seasons of the best comedy writing that you’ll only understand a third of.

The NeverEnding Story

Such an elaborately designed and realized world that you could eat an apple core and not even notice.

Pan’s Labyrinth

Guillermo Del Toro likes his puppets, and he likes his models, and he likes his prosthetics. He also likes a bit of CG, where it’s useful. If you can capture something in-camera, though, it’s best to do so. So for this dark and tragic fairy tale, we get some of the darkest, most clever puppetry captured on film.

Thunderbirds

Gerry Anderson’s original supermarionette series Thunderbirds was both by far his most popular and his most influential contribution to pop culture — at least in the UK. Elsewhere, not quite as much. Although at a glance the show looks goofy as all-get out, Thunderbirds largely plays itself straight, attempting a sort of real (if pulpish) drama with the materials at hand. Of especial note are the high quality of the miniature sets and props, and the talent behind the voice performances.

(July 24th, 2011 @ 2:05pm)



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List #3: Sci-Fi for the Whole Family (Films and TV)

As with the earlier lists, this is very incomplete. I left some obvious blanks (Star Wars) either because I didn’t want to discuss them or because I figured I would give the users an opportunity to fill some slots themselves. As usual, not much of that really happened.

2001: A Space Odyssey may be a high water mark for cinema, but try showing it to a kid. The kids may eat up their Power Rangers, but just watch their parents try to hold it down, never mind digest it. These shows and movies hit a sort of a golden mean, where even the snootiest adult will find some substance and even the most hyperactive kid will be entranced. Likewise, these are the tales that age with you. You liked ‘em when you were in overalls and a bowl cut, and you like ‘em even more when you’re 35 — and can afford the action figures on your own.

The Black Hole

Disney’s first PG-rated movie, and at the time the studio’s most expensive film project ever. While exploring a black hole, a research crew stumbles upon the hulk of a long-missing vessel. Upon exploration of the vessel, it seems that its entire crew, save one, has died; in its place is a collection of worker androids, over which the survivor Dr. Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell) holds complete authority. Dr. Reinhardt reveals a curious and dangerous mission, while the crew of the research vessel develops suspicions about the robots.

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

One of Gerry Anderson’s later and darker supermarionation series, Captain Scarlet traces an unfortunate ongoing conflict between Earth and an angry Martian race. The titular hero, having embraced a certain Martian power, has become effectively immortal; after fatal injury, his body can rebuild itself and restore him to life. Compared to earlier supermarionation series, Captain Scarlet has more realistically proportioned characters and more serious themes, with increased violence accompanying a larger gray area between right and wrong.

Doctor Who

Since 1963, Doctor Who has ticked off just about every genre and tone you care to imagine — horror, fantasy, period drama, spy action, hard sci-fi, spoof, fairy tale, and educational series. It’s been complex, simplistic, adult, childish, boisterous, dry, cheap, and expensive. Its one common factor for nearly 50 years is that Doctor Who is made for the entire family. The kids enjoy the monsters and the danger; adults enjoy the dialog and interplay amongst the actors. As you age, there’s always something else that you never noticed or another era that you’ve never explored. Doctor Who is for everyone in a way that mainstream sci-fi rarely manages.

Flight of the Navigator

Kid from the 1970s gets a lift from a UFO. His robot space ship, with the voice of Pee-Wee Herman, makes a mistake; although the trip took ten years, by traveling in the neighborhood of light speed the trip was near-instantaneous for the kid. Thus he is plopped into the 1980s with no clue what’s going on, much to his own horror and that of his much older parents. Just from the description, you can see that the story operates on a few levels. It’s also iconic 1980s weirdness, with Paul Reubens on fine form.

Galaxy Quest

Not the most original or sophisticated satire ever, but a pretty and well-assembled set of observations about sci-fi movie tropes, all roped into a pretty entertaining and expensive movie. For the kids it’s got action, peril, and gizmos. For the adults, there are the jokes and the references.

The Last Starfighter

An often-neglected gem from the mid-’80s, The Last Starfighter is two stories in one. For most of the movie you’ve got a frustrated trailer park kid embroiled in an interstellar war just because he played a single videogame pretty well. Meanwhile on Earth you’ve got his cranky android duplicate, trying vainly to carry on a normal life in the kid’s absence. Wrap it up with the first CGI model shots ever in a motion picture, and you’ve got a neato adventure for the kids paired with a droll human story for the parents.

Tron

Another early landmark in CG effects, Tron made up for its box office and critical disappointment with pop culture saturation. Its influence on the videogame industry, ’90s cyberpunk culture, and a generation of now-adults is illustrated by the fervor around the 2010 sequel — again a bit of a critical disappointment, but now that Tron is a franchise there’s little way that it can objectively flop. It’s always interesting to see how people used to think that computers work.

WALL-E

One of Pixar’s best movies is also one of its simplest. Until the second half of the movie there’s barely any dialog, and basically no dialog that matters. Wall-E conveys a fairly high-concept story about consumerism, waste, and the human tendency toward sloth in every aspect of self-governance, through the filter of two neurotic robots who find love and wonder outside of their rigid original programming.

(July 23rd, 2011 @ 8:08am)



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