Great Reading for Movie Fans

Posted on November 26, 2011 at 8:00 am

Take some time this long weekend to enjoy some of the best-ever writing about making movies, assembled by Slate in conjunction with the fine folks at Longform.org. Truman Capote profiles Marlon Brando. Hippies make “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for $60,000. Coppola fights everyone, even the mob, to get “The Godfather” made. And Beatty fights everyone to get “Ishtar” made. All worth reading!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KdQ7Gig770

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

It’s Not Your Daddy’s ‘Star Wars’

Posted on October 18, 2011 at 3:52 pm

Just last week, I decided to watch the original 1977 “Star Wars” again and enjoyed it very much. I’ve lost count of how many times I have seen it, but I can tell you that when my then-fiance and I saw it in the theater, we sat through it twice. (How long has it been since you could do that?)

But, as an amusing and informative piece in Slate by Michael Agger points out, even a sturdy knowledge of the original trilogy is of no help at all when the younger generation is hooked on the latest iteration of the saga that takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away: Star Wars: Clone Wars. This animated “microseries” takes place between Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the 4th and 5th of the movies as released but the second and third in the chronology. The animated series is hugely confusing for the generation that grew up on the live action movies in part because the focus is on Anakin Skywalker, who we know from all six of the previous films is not going to end up a good guy (“Nooooooo” notwithstanding) and in part because the good guys in this kind of dress like the bad guys we thought we knew. Just like the films, the series gives kids a rich imaginary world with many, many opportunities for memorization that will quickly eclipse the capacity of anyone over age 16. Agger’s crib notes are a big help.

Best Actor in the Worst Movie and More From Rotten Tomatoes — From Slate

Posted on June 6, 2011 at 3:29 pm

Slate has taken data from Rotten Tomatoes to compute the career trajectories of actors and directors. The results are unexpected — would anyone guess that the actor with the best reviews is….Daniel Autueil? And the worst actress…Jennifer Love Hewitt? I’m a fan of both.

To be fair, on Rotten Tomatoes actors do not get individual scores, though that’s a fun idea. How would you like to read a review that gave individual report cards to each of the people in or behind the film? Autueil is a brilliant French actor who is equally adept at drama and comedy. If he has made bad films, they have not made it to the United States. Jennifer Love Hewitt is a fine actress who has appeared in some lousy (but financially successful) movies. But the statistics are fascinating nevertheless, and Slate has included its own interactive chart, so you can put in the name of any actor or director to see how his or her career has risen and fallen over the years and even compare them to each other. Try John Travolta, Jim Carrey, and Brad Pitt.

What A Newcomer Can Do That a Star Can’t

Posted on June 2, 2011 at 8:00 am

Jessica Winter has a great list on Slate of breakthrough performances with an unusual focus. I always love the thrill of discovering a new talent; it is one of the greatest pleasures the movies bring us. But Ms. Winter makes the point that these mesmerizing newcomers can do something a star cannot. We are happy to buy tickets to see our established favorites like Will Smith, Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts. But the very thing we love about them — our knowledge of them, even our sense of a fan relationship with them — makes it impossible for them to disappear into a role the way a newcomer does. Every time we see an actor we learn a little more about the individual as we observe the performance. There are gestures and expressions that stay the same from role to role. But a first performance can transfix us into dissolving the line between actor and character. Winter’s examples all come with very telling clips illustrating her point.

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Actors For Your Netflix Queue

‘My Girl’ Grows Up — Anna Chlumksy in a New DC Satire

Posted on May 6, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Slate’s Jessica Grose has a terrific interview with the wonderful Anna Chlumsky, child star of the 1991 classic “My Girl.” Chlumsky took time away from acting to finish school and work as an editor before returning to star in this week’s Hallmark Channel movie Three Weeks, Three Kids and in the upcoming HBO series “VEEP,” from “In the Loop” writer/director Armando Iannucci. She will play the chief of staff to a U.S. Vice President (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The interview is well worth reading — she is smart and funny and has some great stories. And I love her answer to the question about whether Iannucci’s view is that politics is futile:

I agree that there’s a sense of “nobody’s a hero,” so there’s a futility in that sense. Does it mean that it’s a bad thing? I don’t know. Is just is. VEEP is going to be like that. Nobody’s safe. I get so bored when this person’s bad and this person’s good. My first litmus test when I see a piece or read a piece is: Is someone feeding me answers or did I leave with questions? That’s for me the only way to make an excellent piece.

It’s good to have her back!

Three Weeks, Three Kids

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Actors Television