RandomCha

What is the universe trying to tell us? Here are the four titles we currently have checked out from GreenCine:

BAMBOOZLED
THE DEAD GIRL
THE DEAD ZONE
DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS

Hmm …

http://www.everythingthathappens.com/

Sign up for a free song! August 4th. And there’s a funny video announcement featuring David and a large bunny rabbit.

No Name on the Bullet [1959]

1. John Gant never drinks liquor. Only coffee. A lot of it. “More coffee.” “I’ll have to make it fresh.” “Then do it.”
2. Luke’s hammer trick. Like Thor.
3. “You wouldn’t sit back and let a cold turn into pneumonia.” “Why not? You can’t cure a cold, but you might be able to cure pneumonia.”

The Purple Rose of Cairo [1985]

1. “I’m a genuine countess with a lot of dough, and if that’s you’re wife she’s a tub of guts.”
2. Mia Farrow’s stammer when she lies about babysitting for the Lorenzos.
3. “What the hell’s goin’ on? Somebody tryin’ to hustle me?”

Anatomy of a Murder [1959]

1. Two shots that rhyme. In the beginning we follow James Stewart as he’s driving, camera comes up beside him and we peer in at him. Then his car overtakes us and we see a city limits sign for Iron City. Much later in the movie there’s a similar shot where we follow Arthur O’Connell driving, camera comes up beside him and we see him hunched over the wheel (he’s a bad driver). Then his car overtakes us and we see a sign indicating that the Canadian border is just up ahead. These shots probably aren’t much, but I was reminded of when Agent Cooper drives past the Twin Peaks city limits sign in the pilot episode. It’s shot very differently (the camera is static) but somehow conveys a similar feeling. More than an establishing shot. Moving us into the the geography of a place.
2. Eve Arden: “If you put any more fish in this icebox it may swim upstream and spawn all by itself.”
3. Brilliant ending. The camera dollies into a medium closeup of a trash barrel, which is nearly overflowing. Stewart takes a broken high-heeled shoe and hooks it over the edge of the barrel, walks away. Tremendous dissonance from the entire Ellington orchestra on the soundtrack, slowly, reluctantly fading away. Above it all Cat Anderson punctuates using trumpet squeaks. Impossibly high, stabbing. Fade out image then quick fade in to Saul Bass’ end title, the stylized body, finally made whole, the words THE END. Fade out. Anderson’s trumpet makes its final squeaks. Black.

Happy Birthday to

zoe_trope

 !

She never fails to help me see the future optimistically.

Just came back from the Newberry Library Book Fair. It was an utter madhouse. Literally hundreds of people rudely crowding aisles, snatching things indiscriminantly and generally being obnoxious. I almost turned around and left as soon as I walked in. But I ended up with two good books for $3.50: The Monk by Matthew Lewis (a gothic horror novel that Bunuel often considered adapting for film) and The Music of Chance by Paul Auster. The latter I already have, but you never know when you’ll need another copy.

Yesterday, at the staff-only pre-sale browse, Andy found two more Alberto Moravia books for me that I’m keen to devour. He also found about a dozen other books for himself.

I’m glad that the sale is such a success, but I’d go at your own peril. Seriously.

Be Kind Rewind [2008]

1. Hundreds of videotapes lie in the middle of the street. A steamroller methodically drives over them. Signorney Weaver: “Make another pass.”
2. Jack Black kicks the light pole, and because his whole body is magnetized his foot sticks.
3. The fan-blade/piano wire contraption used to make the footage look like an old movie.

A whole lot of fun. So much lo-fi creativity in this movie. Gondry doesn’t let the story get in the way either.

The Candidate [1972]

1. On a TV monitor during the setup for the debate, for a brief moment the two candidates’ heads are superimposed. Brilliant.
2. Peter Boyle grabs a chair and backs himself into the elevator, shouting, “Stay back! Stay back!” Like a lion tamer.
3. Great final shot. The empty hotel room, the debris of the campaign. The feeling that he will never again be alone, that he will forever be surrounded by people, the political entourage.