Indies–Coming Soon to Your Computer

Posted on November 1, 2008 at 8:00 am

Dozens of films released each month never play in theaters outside of a few big cities. But Gigantic Digital is making independent films available online for a modest charge.
For a ticket price of just $2.99, we’ll stream it to you in super high quality. And you can watch it as often as you like for 3 full days before your ticket expires. And there’s some excellent free stuff to watch too! So give the babysitter the night off, park the car in the garage, microwave some popcorn and settle in for a relaxed movie-going experience where you can talk all you want (although we don’t recommend it) and where you never have to turn off your Blackberry (although we do recommend that.)
They only have two films available so far, but more are coming and I hope before too long everyone will be able to see all the quirky little independent films they want without having to go to New York or Los Angeles.

List: Election Documentaries

Posted on October 31, 2008 at 8:00 am

In honor of one of the most exciting elections in American history, here is a list of ten classic documentaries about elections and politics.

1. Primary This pioneering political documentary from Robert Drew, the first in a trilogy, shows candidate John F. Kennedy running against Hubert Humphrey in the Wisconsin primary in 1960. Elbert Ventura wrote in Slate:

Stacked up against today’s documentaries, which tend toward overweening subjectivity and strident polemics, Drew’s movies seem like relics. Here, it seems, was the first gaze–the audience granted an intimate glimpse of their leaders, the subjects not yet trained to play to the cameras. Ironically, Drew’s innovations would end up killing the very spontaneity he captured. The ubiquity of portable cameras, whose development Drew helped speed along, would eventually usher in the era of media-trained politicians.

2. The War Room “It’s the economy, stupid,” was the mantra of campaign specialists James Carville and George Stephanopoulos as they and their colleagues took a young Governor from Arkansas to the White House.

3. Our Brand Is Crisis Carville attempted to export his skill at marketing candidates to Bolivia and the result is a tale of American hubris — soon to be remade as a feature film starring George Clooney.

4. A Perfect Candidate Two very high profile Virginia candidates for the Senate, former Governor (and Lyndon Johnson son-in-law) Charles Robb and Iran-Contra figure Oliver North compete for votes in 1994 in one of the state’s most tumultuous elections.

5. Journeys With George The daughter of the first woman Speaker of the House made this up-close-and-very-personal documentary about the campaign of George W. Bush that is as much about the way media covers the candidate as about the candidate himself.

6. Anytown, USA Candidates for mayor of Bogota, New Jersey — two legally blind, one ill, in a race that proves that not only is all politics local politics but that local politics are just as brutal and unpredictable as national elections.

7. See How They Run Even by San Francisco standards, this race is a wild one. The ever-popular wheeler-dealer Willie Brown is challenged by a baker’s dozen of colorful characters.

8. The Delegate Most documentaries focus on the candidates, their top aides, or the press. This one looks at a 21-year-old delegate to the GOP convention.

9. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story The late former Chairman of the Republican National Committee who engineered Ronald Reagan’s election is profiled in this current theatrical release.

10. Unprecedented – The 2000 Presidential Election Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman takes the viewers on a journey through the turbulent 2000 election with stops at the Republican and Democratic conventions and conversations with activists from all sides.

Toto on Why We Love Horror

Posted on October 30, 2008 at 8:00 am

Christian Toto asks why we love horror movies and he comes up with what to me — someone who has very little tolerance for horror movies — some very plausible answers. The entire post is well worth reading and here is a sample:
Losing control: Our lives tend to be bland, or at least uneventful. And that’s a very good thing. But horror movies offer an alternative reality that play upon our worst fears. In most cases, the hero lives to tell the tale. On some level we hope we’d react with the same heroism if we were fleeing a knife-wielding maniac.

An inept drama or comedy can be painful to endure. An inept horror can pack one moment, one scene, which can prove unforgettable.
Horror is communal. I’d never encourage people talking in a theater … but once in a while the crowd noise can elevate a standard horror viewing into an event.
Hidden messages: Horror movies often pack a political or social punch that would otherwise come off as trite or heavy handed. George A. Romero has led the way with his “Dead” features, commenting on racism and consumerism courtesy of his flesh-chomping zombies.
I believe that a scary film, whether a noir thriller, a slam-bang action film, or a horror film, or even a drama with an angry confrontation and some emotional risks, is a dress rehearsal for our emotions, a way for us to work through our fears and experience a sense of release. I’d just rather do it with a little better dialogue and a little less blood. But if you feel differently, be sure to check out the Rotten Tomatoes list of the all-time best horror films.

Please Vote for Me

Posted on October 28, 2008 at 8:00 am

There is no better way to make elections real to kids than this award-winning documentary about the first-ever election in a third-grade classroom in China. In Please Vote for Me , the children are completely unfamiliar with even the concept of a genuine election and their parents and teachers don’t know much more. The office at stake is class monitor and the campaigns are as cutthroat, heart-felt, and heart-breaking as any election anywhere. Though its subtitles make it unsuitable for the youngest children, it is an outstanding introduction to the benefits and costs of democracy and a great way to start a conversation about what we look for in the people who deserve our votes.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Posted on October 27, 2008 at 8:00 am

This episodic story of the Smith family in the St. Louis of 1903 is based on the memoirs of Sally Benson. Its pleasures are in the period detail, the glorious songs (including standards “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”) and the loving and nostalgic look at a time of innocence and optimism, where a long-distance call was almost as thrilling as having the World’s Fair come to your very own city. We see the family over the course of a year, celebrating Halloween and Christmas, riding the ice truck in the summer and building snowmen in the winter. They face the prospect of having to leave St. Louis so that Mr. Smith can accept a promotion. They wonder whether the older girl’s two boyfriends will propose. They treat each other with great loyalty and affectionate tolerance. And then they live happily ever after.

The Smith’s older daughters are Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther (Judy Garland). Rose is attracted to Warren Sheffield, and a bit impatient because he has not proposed. Esther has decided to marry “the boy next door,” John Pruitt (Tom Drake), even though they have not yet met. When the girls have a party, their two little sisters (Joan Carroll and Margaret O’Brien as Agnes and Tootie Smith) creep downstairs. Tootie is allowed to do one song with Esther (the cakewalk “Under the Bamboo Tree”) before being sent back to bed. Esther asks John to help her turn out the gas lights before he leaves, to have some time alone with him. The next day, he joins her as she and her friends ride on the trolley, and when he catches up with them, she sings “The Trolly Song.” Later, Warren escorts a visiting out-of-town girl (June Lockhart) to another party, and Esther and Rose conspire to fill her dance card with the least appealing partners at the dance. When she is revealed to be so friendly and tactful that she gets Rose and Warren back together, Esther has to take all of her dances. Tootie is heartbroken about moving to New York, and while the rest of the family tries to hide it, they are, too. Mr. Smith gives up, they stay in St. Louis, and when the fair opens, they are there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ2Q8_P_msg

One of the movie’s most evocative scenes is Halloween, celebrated very differently in those days, but like today the one night of the year where children have the power to frighten the grown-ups. Agnes and Tootie dress up in rags and “kill” the people who answer the door by throwing flour at them. Director Minnelli skillfully shows how spooky and at the same time thrilling it is for the girls to be out after dark. When Tootie is successful at “killing” the grouchy neighbor, she is heralded by the other kids, and blissfully announces, “I’m the most horrible! I’m the most horrible!”

This is one of the most loving of all movie families. Everyone in it treats all of the other members with trust and affection, even, when it comes to Tootie, indulgence. They are interested in each other and take each other’s concerns seriously, whether it is the seasoning of a sauce or choice of a future spouse. Only the poor father is rather left out. He is not told about the long distance call, and no one is pleased with his promotion. But in a way, that is just a reflection of the family’s devotion to him and to the life they have together in St. Louis. And the lovely duet he sings with his wife, “You and I,” shows that it is their relationship that is the foundation of the family.

Minnelli began as an art director and designer, and his use of color is always fresh and fun — there isn’t another director in history who would have thought to put Esther in purple gloves for the trolley ride, but once you see it, you can’t imagine any other color.