tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post1705487225649163800..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: "Hugo"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-74406115478015248862011-12-14T06:42:01.895-08:002011-12-14T06:42:01.895-08:00"Maybe HUGO should be called ONCE UPON A TIME..."Maybe HUGO should be called ONCE UPON A TIME IN CINEMA, which is to say ONCE UPON A TIME IN ONCE UPON A TIME. <br /><br />It's too bad this had to be kid's movie. It might have been more interesting if the kid was like Travis-Bickle-as-a-kid and if the old man was played by Joe Pesci whose every other word is 'you motherfucka you'. <br /><br />"Monsieur Melies, why did your star fade?"<br /><br />"Because those motherfuckers started WWI and wreaked havoc on distribution." <br /><br />Some guy from another apartment: <br />"Shut up, you animal."<br /><br />"You motherfucker you, who you calling an animal?" <br /><br />Kid: "But wasn't Griffith the real reason for your decline?"<br /><br />"That motherfucker. I should have run him over with a train. A real one."<br /><br />btw, does this commenter have an Oedipal problem?dcitenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-16884444877814313022011-12-14T06:38:28.440-08:002011-12-14T06:38:28.440-08:00", Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career&#...", Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career'<br /><br />An amazing David Ferrie in JFK. Amazing--especially when you read about the real person, and see the pictures. His best role by far.dcitenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-68324674674060132852011-12-08T08:48:23.812-08:002011-12-08T08:48:23.812-08:00"We can all breath a little easier knowing Ho...<i>"We can all breath a little easier knowing Hollywood will never go away."</i><br /><br />Current and recently past Hollywood, yes. But much of the film of Hollywood's Golden Age has long since been lost.Kylienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41373026298302942372011-12-08T07:09:30.135-08:002011-12-08T07:09:30.135-08:00Puppy, the Scots brought fried chicken to America....Puppy, the Scots brought fried chicken to America.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89899259248452647012011-12-07T21:21:17.826-08:002011-12-07T21:21:17.826-08:00Steve, to relieve your "Color of Money" ...Steve, to relieve your "Color of Money" angst, all major studio releases, for the last several decades, are and have been backed up by YCM fine grain protection masters. This is a B/W film format that has been around for the better part of a century and has an archival life of several centuries. Properly stored, the shelf life of YCMs is indefinite. And since separations are an analogue format, they more or less require only a light source to play back.<br /><br />The "Color of Money" is backed up on YCMs and safely stored in an abandoned mine converted to a film vault, several thousand feet below the surface. <br /><br />We can all breath a little easier knowing Hollywood will never go away.Kevin Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81551277014752003262011-12-07T17:20:58.554-08:002011-12-07T17:20:58.554-08:00it may be better to say "how important montag...<i>it may be better to say "how important montage is to a film."</i><br /><br />I agree.<br /><br />It is also interesting that with film, we get to see an art form being born. And almost all of it comes out of one man: D.W. Griffith.Thursdayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002311410445623799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10827512486012789932011-12-07T16:55:52.048-08:002011-12-07T16:55:52.048-08:00>It wasn't just close ups that Griffith, bu...>It wasn't just close ups that Griffith, but a whole language of intercutting and editing.[...] All this goes to show how important the editor of a film is, perhaps next in importance to the director.<<br /><br />Griffith was both director and (chief) editor of his films; the editing consisted in putting together the mental storyboards he came up with as director. In his case it may be better to say "how important montage is to a film." Griffith's montage came principally out of his directorly head. He claimed he copped his approach from Dickens. Dickens - or any narrative fiction writer - shuttles among narrative threads, switches from expositional to introspective scenes, etc. And in Griffith's mind these translated naturally into wide shots, close-ups, intercuts, etc. Of course, many of his narrative ideas were at least latent in the ferment of very early commercial filmmaking, in which he served his apprenticeship.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-56720652207002899722011-12-07T16:09:04.607-08:002011-12-07T16:09:04.607-08:00>That's as much a violation as making a fil...>That's as much a violation as making a film about 1950s america and not reminding the audience that wasps were anti semitic/Racist!, etc.<<br /><br />Or making a film about 1960s America and referring neither to the "freedom riders" nor to MLK.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-30495079778650821202011-12-07T14:39:51.094-08:002011-12-07T14:39:51.094-08:00From the "Taki's" review...
Then ag...From the "Taki's" review...<br /><br /><i>Then again, [David] Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film speculates unsympathetically about Scorsese’s obsessions. Its entry on the Raging Bull director repeatedly hints that Scorsese is not only a sissy who doesn’t know anything about boxing but is also a flaming closet case with a crush on Robert De Niro. This allegation may (or, for all I know, may not) come as a surprise to the five women Scorsese has married.</i><br /><br />Around the time he filmed "The Last Waltz" (sometime in the late 70s), Scorsese left his wife at the time and shacked up with The Band front man (and "Last Waltz" star) Robbie Robertson. The nature of their relationship is usually only hinted at (often extremely vaguely, as is the case <a href="http://www.thetelegram.com/Arts---Life/Festivals-%26amp%3B-events/2010-02-18/article-1447573/Martin-Scorsese,-Robbie-Robertson%3A-a-relationship-that-has-lasted/1" rel="nofollow">here</a>) -- they're often described as having been 'cocaine buddies,' or 'roommates' -- but it's no secret to people in the entertainment industry. <br /><br />"The Last Waltz" is from an era before my time, and I couldn't name one of The Band's songs if I had to. But I've know of Scorsese's relationship with Robertson (about whom I know next to nothing) for years, primarily from being around music critics/writers.Drunk Idiotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-46591021558954394662011-12-07T14:36:27.704-08:002011-12-07T14:36:27.704-08:00Puggy said... Where liberals are funny is they wan...<i>Puggy said... Where liberals are funny is they wanna preserve films that show a lot of white people but don't wanna preserve white people. It's like favoring photos of roses over actual roses.</i><br /><br />Good point, and that's what I thought when I saw Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris." Allen loves France and hates America, but the Paris of his film is expunged of all non-white peoples. Couldn't he have tossed in a few burqa-clad Parisians?<br /><br /><i>Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career. Raging Bull at age 37 was only his 3rd movie ever, and then nobody paid any attention to him again for another 7 or 8 year, then he became a star for awhile in Goodfellas and as comic relief in the Lethal Weapons series, then rather quickly retired to the golf course, only coming off it for a few memorable cameos like The Good Shepherd.</i><br /><br />According to IMDb, he's done 38 films, which should be enough to justify taking it easy. When watching an old movie like "Animal House" or "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" I'm intrigued by the fact that some of the main players became big stars, while others went on to make films I've never heard of, at best.Harry Baldwinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-62717470120778415762011-12-07T14:10:06.577-08:002011-12-07T14:10:06.577-08:00Truth said...
"'Word? You be watchin'...Truth said...<br /><br /><i>"'Word? You be watchin' dat shizzle wid yo moms, son?'</i><br /><br /><i>Hey they wasn't bad ebonics for this site. I'd rate it a 6.5 and place it in about 1993 which is comparatively progressive amongst your peers."</i><br /><br />Pretty good stab at dating the vintage of the ebonics sample. The 'fo shizzle, my nizzle' stuff started going widespread in Black English when LA/West Coast 'gangsta rap' displaced early 90s East Coast, sample-based, "boom-bap" hip hop, circa mid 90s. Snoop Dogg's debut album and the Dr. Dre "Chronic" album (both from '93) really got that ball rolling. Upper middle class white people didn't start incorporating that "shiznit" in their vernacular until the late 90s/early 2000s -- at which point blacks promptly dropped it (of course).<br /><br />One minor disagreement though, <i>'word'</i> was completely out of the black vernacular long before '93. That ship sailed in 1990, after 'word' was introduced to the vast (white) mainstream when some white trash motocross punk-turned white "rapper" named Robbie Van Winkle scored the first "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=149jGeIlx3I&feature=related" rel="nofollow">rap song</a>" to hit No. 1 on the Top 40. Mental giant that he was, Mr. Van Winkle mistook the 5 Percenter-inspired phrase "word to <i>the</i> Mother" (as in 'motherland' Africa) for "word to <i>your</i> mother," and used it to sign off in the 'outro' of that chart-topping hit. Van Winkle, no doubt, had become familiar with the phrase (but, obviously, not familiar enough!) by listening to late 80s New York hip hop, in which it was nearly ubiquitous (thanks to 5 Percent rappers of the era, like Eric B. & Rakim and Big Daddy Kane).<br /><br />Mainstream white people far and wide started saying "word to your mother," having no idea that its provenance was Van Winkle's mangled attempt at proving hip hop/"street" bona fides. <br /><br />Pretty funny.Drunk Idiotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-77386934327286821862011-12-07T14:05:32.146-08:002011-12-07T14:05:32.146-08:00"Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career...<i>"Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career."</i><br /><br />I simply adored him as Bernstein in <i>The Public Eye</i>. He was wonderful in this moody, noirish variation on Beauty and the Beast. And he proved he's a master of the romantic burning glance, right up there with Colin Firth and Anthony Hopkins.<br /><br />If he'd been better-looking, he'd have had an even more successful career because he really can do it all: drama, romance and comedy.Kylienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-44737145721223378272011-12-07T13:40:29.448-08:002011-12-07T13:40:29.448-08:00Hey they wasn't bad ebonics for this site. I&#...<i>Hey they wasn't bad ebonics for this site. I'd rate it a 6.5 and place it in about 1993 which is comparatively progressive amongst your peers.</i><br /><br />Nah, sun. Dis be dem new joints. You jus' be hatin'. Nah'mean? Holla at yah moms.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24179823121856280952011-12-07T13:19:18.595-08:002011-12-07T13:19:18.595-08:00Take INDIANA JONES AND KINGDOM OF CRYSTAL SKULL. I...<i>Take INDIANA JONES AND KINGDOM OF CRYSTAL SKULL. Indy is an older man, and his son follows the old man in the adventure.</i> <br /> <br /> <br />Weird that a Scots-Irishman like Indian <b>Jones</b> and a Scots-Irishwoman like Karen <b>Allen</b><br />[or whatever her character's name was] would have a son who was, a, ah, er, well, a strapping young Scots-Irish lad like, uh, Shia <b>MacBeouf</b>?!?<br /><br />Oh, wait, okay, that makes total sense.<br /><br />BTW, Karen Allen [or whatever her character's name was] now has an Indy-verse Total Fertility Rate [TFR] of 1.0, which means that, in the Indy-verse, Jones's line was very likely [effectively] extinct by about 1970.<br /><br />Shame that those Scots-Irish refuse to procreate, but, as we all know, they're a stubborn lot.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Meanwhile, back on Planet Reality, Indy's main squeeze from Part Deux, Kate Capshaw [or whatever her character's name was] has <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001009/bio" rel="nofollow">six children</a>, two of whom were adopted with her second husband, Steven MacSpielberg, which, in the Reality-verse, gives her a TFR of 4.0.<br /><br />[And let's not even open the can of worms which is Indy's militant disdain for <a href="http://www.google.com/search?safe=off&source=hp&q=charlton+heston+spielberg+gun+collection" rel="nofollow">the Second Amendment</a>.]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10464213590124456012011-12-07T13:02:19.669-08:002011-12-07T13:02:19.669-08:00"Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career...<i>"Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career. Raging Bull at age 37 was only his 3rd movie ever, and then nobody paid any attention to him again for another 7 or 8 year, then he became a star for awhile in Goodfellas and as comic relief in the Lethal Weapons series, then rather quickly retired to the golf course, only coming off it for a few memorable cameos like The Good Shepherd."</i><br /><br />He also had a big role in Casino. For a moment I was going to say that he was great in The Sopranos, but then I checked IMDB and was reminded that the actor I was thinking of was Joe Pantoliano, not Pesci. I wonder if Pesci has lost some roles to Pantoliano in recent years.DaveinHackensackhttp://www.thehackensack.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-6455845939952106532011-12-07T12:47:21.172-08:002011-12-07T12:47:21.172-08:00Is "shizzle" Eastern slang? It always m...Is "shizzle" Eastern slang? It always makes me think of dagos in Atlantic City wearing bermuda shorts and panel shirts.Carolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-47778611977790789472011-12-07T12:38:39.923-08:002011-12-07T12:38:39.923-08:00""Aw man and den he turned the motorcycl...""Aw man and den he turned the motorcycle like 'dis EEEEERT and he was facin' da other way! Anna Joker be like "Hit me! Hit me!""<br /><br />See Anonymous, that's how it's done. We are now shading the 21st century!Truthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17286755693955361308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-75527247079598432412011-12-07T12:19:10.154-08:002011-12-07T12:19:10.154-08:00Hopefully, Hugo will do better than Blago. Mofo fa...Hopefully, Hugo will do better than Blago. Mofo faces 14 yrs. ROTFL.Seismic Puppyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17935462412957725540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-74699219914695461022011-12-07T12:05:26.199-08:002011-12-07T12:05:26.199-08:00Melies owned the Theater Robert-Houdin, founded by...Melies owned the Theater Robert-Houdin, founded by the earlier great magician, where he presented his magic show. He got interested in movies in 1896 as an addition to his stage show. The movie studio he built was the exact size and shape of his Theater Robert-Houdin, just with glass walls to let in sunlight. The biggest problem with his movies to a modern eye is that they clearly grow out of the stage magic tradition. The camera is nailed down in the middle of the aisle about ten rows back in the theatre and all the action takes place behind the proscenium arch. This severely limits the audience's ability to identify with characters.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-68429809601741406322011-12-07T12:00:55.130-08:002011-12-07T12:00:55.130-08:00"haha well it is true that africans are total..."haha well it is true that africans are totally, totally into some extremely white stuff, like movies and video games and television."<br /><br />but white folks sho loves dem fried chicken and rap music.Seismic Puppyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17935462412957725540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33205224112704125682011-12-07T11:53:35.122-08:002011-12-07T11:53:35.122-08:00The first modern magician, Jean Eugène Robert-Houd...The first modern magician, Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, was also French. Our own Harry Weiss called himself Houdini, or little Houdin, in honor of his French predecessor.<br />And the French take this stuff seriously. The House of Magic in Blois is dedicated to Houdin and all the great magicians. <br /><br />The House of Magic sits across a square from Blois’s great chateau, in the royal bedroom of which the king had one of his rivals assassinated by a ravenous pack of courtiers. The bedroom is beautifully preserved and in one corner you can see a reenactment of the foul deed in a very stagy pre-World War I movie, made in the style of, and perhaps by, Georges Melies. Scorsese would have done a much more gorily realistic job of depicting it.Henery Canadaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-90416288484058688312011-12-07T11:42:41.378-08:002011-12-07T11:42:41.378-08:00Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career. Ragi...Ah, Joe Pesci ... what an interesting career. Raging Bull at age 37 was only his 3rd movie ever, and then nobody paid any attention to him again for another 7 or 8 year, then he became a star for awhile in Goodfellas and as comic relief in the Lethal Weapons series, then rather quickly retired to the golf course, only coming off it for a few memorable cameos like The Good Shepherd.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-45839893551303877772011-12-07T11:38:13.759-08:002011-12-07T11:38:13.759-08:00If anybody has earned the right to be self-indulge...If anybody has earned the right to be self-indulgent, it's Scorsese. But, it's still okay to have some fun at his expense.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41628324532148352072011-12-07T11:10:51.732-08:002011-12-07T11:10:51.732-08:00"All this goes to show how important the edit..."All this goes to show how important the editor of a film is, perhaps next in importance to the director."<br /><br />And Scorsese has his own personal editor, Theresa Schoonmaker, who doesn't work for anybody else, but has still won 3 Oscars.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24903495377551996642011-12-07T11:09:24.613-08:002011-12-07T11:09:24.613-08:00Huggy Bear's son Justin Fargas played football...Huggy Bear's son Justin Fargas played football for my old high school, USC, and the Raiders.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.com