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It was on the sound mixing stage when we were expecting a wire transfer that they called to say they needed more time to think about it. The mixer was literally looking at us, saying “are we starting?” and we said “We need the money NOW.” It turns out they were showing the completed cut on video to one of the investor’s 12 year old son. He turned to his dad and said “This is better than ‘American Pie’.” And that was it, they wired the money. Literally my career, my whole life’s work, was in the hands of a 12 year old. And thankfully, he loved it.
The Aughts (and The Aught-Not- Haves) | Mediaite - I’m not a fan of Eli Roth’s movies, and until this article I wasn’t really a fan of him either. But I can’t help but have some respect for the guy after reading this article (written by him) about breaking into the film industry.

A sometimes-enlightening discussion of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The film historian is an average scholarly bore at best, and the production values of this program leave something to be desired, but McDowell and Burgess are great. (via Google Video)

Augmented Reality and Avatar (Part One) « THE HYDRA - A two-part article on the relationship of the real and the virtual in James Cameron’s Avatar. I’m linking to this article not because it’s exceptionally well-written (it isn’t), but because it attempts to explore the layers of reality and simulation carefully integrated into Avatar’s story and its production. In that regard, it does a good job of making points to think about. ‬ I’ve yet to read an article about this relationship that was written skillfully enough to not confuse the reader. But, this one did have a good line in it worth mentioning (in part 2): To see and understand Avatar is, glibly speaking, to ‘experience’ its technology: there is no easy means of saying anything critical about a movie that is simultaneously, confoundedly, unoriginal and innovative. That sums up my feelings about it, and I would assume the feelings of many other curious Avatar spectators, perfectly.

Augmented Reality and Avatar (Part One) « THE HYDRA - A two-part article on the relationship of the real and the virtual in James Cameron’s Avatar. I’m linking to this article not because it’s exceptionally well-written (it isn’t), but because it attempts to explore the layers of reality and simulation carefully integrated into Avatar’s story and its production. In that regard, it does a good job of making points to think about.

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I’ve yet to read an article about this relationship that was written skillfully enough to not confuse the reader. But, this one did have a good line in it worth mentioning (in part 2):

To see and understand Avatar is, glibly speaking, to ‘experience’ its technology: there is no easy means of saying anything critical about a movie that is simultaneously, confoundedly, unoriginal and innovative.

That sums up my feelings about it, and I would assume the feelings of many other curious Avatar spectators, perfectly.

To Cameron, making a movie is going to war, and he is a Spartan general: he comes home carrying his shield or on it. It is a posture that requires a good deal of self-parody. Before beginning production on “The Abyss” (1989), the most ambitious underwater movie ever attempted, he went to see Leonard Goldberg, then the president of Fox, which was financing the film. “He said, ‘I want you to know one thing—once we embark on this adventure and I start to make this movie, the only way you’ll be able to stop me is to kill me,’ ” Goldberg told me. “You looked into those eyes and you knew he meant it.” James Cameron and “Avatar” : The New Yorker If you have even the slightest interest in the man who brought us Terminator 2, Aliens, Titantic, and now Avatar, this is an article you must read. The man has an amazing track record that involves constantly pushing the technological envelope in filmmaking while telling good stories that appeal to mass audiences. Cameron’s not a Godard or a Kubrick by any means, but he is unquestionably an auteur, a filmmaker with a vision, and that’s why I believe if you care about movies or filmmaking, reading this bio piece about him is a must. On a side note, I kept thinking while I was reading this that Michael Bay must wake up every morning wishing he were as badass as James Cameron.
To Cameron, making a movie is going to war, and he is a Spartan general: he comes home carrying his shield or on it. It is a posture that requires a good deal of self-parody. Before beginning production on “The Abyss” (1989), the most ambitious underwater movie ever attempted, he went to see Leonard Goldberg, then the president of Fox, which was financing the film. “He said, ‘I want you to know one thing—once we embark on this adventure and I start to make this movie, the only way you’ll be able to stop me is to kill me,’ ” Goldberg told me. “You looked into those eyes and you knew he meant it.”

James Cameron and “Avatar” : The New Yorker

If you have even the slightest interest in the man who brought us Terminator 2, Aliens, Titantic, and now Avatar, this is an article you must read.

The man has an amazing track record that involves constantly pushing the technological envelope in filmmaking while telling good stories that appeal to mass audiences. Cameron’s not a Godard or a Kubrick by any means, but he is unquestionably an auteur, a filmmaker with a vision, and that’s why I believe if you care about movies or filmmaking, reading this bio piece about him is a must.

On a side note, I kept thinking while I was reading this that Michael Bay must wake up every morning wishing he were as badass as James Cameron.

If you allow it, if you lower your resistance, The New World is not a movie you simply watch – it is a movie that happens to you, overwhelms you, like the weather, or true love. Malick took his time with this, his one true masterpiece, and so should you. As everything else rots away, it will abide. A beautiful retrospective piece on Terrence Malick’s The New World by John Patterson of The Guardian. Count me as a disciple of The New World, too: I saw it five times in the theater, once completely alone. It’s among the tiniest class of films that I call experience films. Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar (Wikipedia, Criterion’s DVD) is another experience film. They are films that affect you, aesthetically, emotionally. You walk out feeling different, changed; for me, I felt peaceful, enlightened. There is something pure about seeing them, where you don’t feel like you’re watching them, but that they are happening and you are witnessing it. If you haven’t seen The New World, I suggest similar preparations to Patterson’s: wake up, have your cup of coffee and what not, then begin watching it while you’re still drowsy or just beginning to become awake. It sounds crazy, I know, but your life could change in a couple hours. The New World: a misunderstood masterpiece? | Film | The Guardian
If you allow it, if you lower your resistance, The New World is not a movie you simply watch – it is a movie that happens to you, overwhelms you, like the weather, or true love. Malick took his time with this, his one true masterpiece, and so should you. As everything else rots away, it will abide.

A beautiful retrospective piece on Terrence Malick’s The New World by John Patterson of The Guardian.

Count me as a disciple of The New World, too: I saw it five times in the theater, once completely alone. It’s among the tiniest class of films that I call experience films. Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar (Wikipedia, Criterion’s DVD) is another experience film. They are films that affect you, aesthetically, emotionally. You walk out feeling different, changed; for me, I felt peaceful, enlightened. There is something pure about seeing them, where you don’t feel like you’re watching them, but that they are happening and you are witnessing it.

If you haven’t seen The New World, I suggest similar preparations to Patterson’s: wake up, have your cup of coffee and what not, then begin watching it while you’re still drowsy or just beginning to become awake. It sounds crazy, I know, but your life could change in a couple hours.

The New World: a misunderstood masterpiece? | Film | The Guardian

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It is the thought and circumstances behind the action that will make the action interesting. Example: A man walks up to a mailbox, drops in his letter and walks away. OR A man desperately in love with a girl far away carefully mails a letter in which he has poured his heart out.
Frank & Ollie’s Official Site: Notes From Ollie - Notes from Ollie Johnston, legendary Disney animator, that also apply to everything about making a good film.

I finally got around to watching this short film from Alex Roman today (after having had it in my Instapaper list for ages) thanks to Sidarth’s post from a couple days ago that reminded me of it. It is increasingly becoming Internet-famous, and for good reason: it’s breathtakingly amazing computed-generated imagery. Alex has since uploaded a couple making-of videos to his account that shows how he composited and produced (from start to finish!) some of the scenes in the film. Incredible work, and yet another example of the crucial role that emerging technology has always played with film.

Thanks to Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals for the link to Gray Scale Gorilla’s all-in-one Third & Seventh post.

fxguide - vfx tips and training - District 9 : A thorough overview of the visual effects that went into District 9. Amazing work. Click for high-res photo

fxguide - vfx tips and training - District 9 : A thorough overview of the visual effects that went into District 9. Amazing work.

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Robin often made pleas for Criterion to put out his favorite films, and Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow always topped that list. This fall, we were finally able to put that project together, and, at his suggestion, to include his chapter on the film from Sexual Politics. We are dedicating the release to his memory.

Robin Wood: 1931–2009 - From the Current - A gifted film historian and scholar. Blessings on Mr. Wood’s family.

I’d never heard of Make Way for Tomorrow, so naturally I googled it. From Wikipedia:

Orson Welles reportedly said of the film, “It would make a stone cry,” and rhapsodized about his enthusiasm for the film in his booklength series of interviews with Peter Bogdanovich, This Is Orson Welles.

Ahaha! “A stone cry”! Brilliant. I look forward to seeing it.

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Call Sony and tell them to make it work,” Orson demanded, slamming his fist on a table at one point. “Don’t ever tell me ‘No.’” I called Sony, and Sony responded by sending two expert engineers to help Orson push the video envelope on the project.

Orson Welles and His Brief Passionate Betacam Love Affair - Orson Welles - Gizmodo -How can you not love this guy? A fascinating story about one of the greatest artists America has ever seen.

Props to Mike (acharmercoiling) for the link.

Watch This: 70-Minute Video Review of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace | /Film

If you’re someone who’s under the age of like 20, who says his least favorite film in the series is The Empire Strikes Back because it was the most boringest one, then I suggest you shut this review off right now before I carefully explain how much of a f***ing idiot you are.

This is the most thorough teardown of The Phantom Menace I’ve ever seen. Everything is spot-on, and not only does the guy makes it critically informative and enlightening, he also makes it entertaining. That makes it special.

Yeah, it’s 70 minutes in total. Yeah, it’s totally worth it.

Via Daring Fireball.

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Jonze had never written a movie script before, but to him this seemed no impediment. “I never knew how to do anything before I did it, really,” he reasons. “Those are the situations that I find the most exciting. It’s most fun just to decide, ‘Okay, I’m going to choreograph this. I’ve never choreographed before, I’ve never really danced before, but I know what kind of dancing I like, so I’ll do that.’ ” It seems to him that such resolutions are less leaps of grandiose self-confidence than a way to reprise the unworried and unfettered creativity of childhood. “Like, if you were going to make a fort in your backyard,” he says, “you’re not going to go, like, hire someone to make your fort or go buy plans. You’re just going to have an idea for it and go make your fort.

Spike Jonze Will Eat You Up: Movies + TV: GQ : And another choice quote: “It goes back to the whole testing-numbers thing, like, ‘We’ve got to get this many people to like this character’ and ‘this many people to think this’ and ‘this many people to feel this.’ I’ve never made a movie like that. I want anyone to feel anything that they want to feel. You can like a character, you can not like a character. Think something’s funny, think something’s sad, think something’s creepy. That’s not interesting, to make a movie where you try and make everyone feel the same thing, everyone think the same thing. You make a movie that is about what you want it to be about and let people have their reaction to it.”

His attitude and his films make him my favorite contemporary American director.

Briefly - Cross of Iron

I was looking forward to seeing Sam Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron tonight, but having just finished it, I can’t find anything good to say about it. The disappointment struck such a chord with me that I wrote my first Netflix review (and possibly one of the first reviews I’ve ever submitted to any online service):

A disjointed, poorly-edited mishmash of anti-war sentiment and meaningless heroics. There’s a kernel of a good film in here, but it is lost in slow-motion explosions and blood-spurts. The film suffers from a lack of real direction, substituting chaos and confusion for drama and contemplation, giving the film as a whole a surreal quality that pervades it from the children singing in the opening credits, to Coburn’s maniacal laughter finishing with a grim, “Aw sh*t,” before the screen goes black. A disappointing film from a great director.

I almost wish I hadn’t already sealed the DVD back in the return envelope to Netflix so I could capture some stills and write a longer essay, but, sad to admit it, I don’t think I could sit through it a second time. Peckinpah’s themes are in there (the meaning of masculinity, female brutality, senselessness of violence), but his message and the narrative is lost in a film without finesse.

Alexander Desplat is composing for Malick’s new film, Tree of Life. A few words from him about Malick’s cinema:

If you know Terrence Malick’s cinema, every single shot is a pure beauty. It could be the angle, the light, the way he makes the actors move slowly, out of focus, or out of frame. It’s fantastic. And this new film will be so beautiful, so nice.

I can’t wait. Tree of Life is scheduled for release sometime in 2010.

Stanley Kubrick on Stardust (featuring rare footage) : Choice quote from about five minutes in:

So then we talked for a long time about several things. At one time, he asked me if I cutted (translator probably meant “edited”) the old way or if I did that digitally, to which I replied I did it the old-fashioned way. After that, he literally spent several hours trying to talk me into doing it digitally from then on!

Kubrick was one of cinema’s most technically talented and intellectually gifted directors. That he would jump on the idea of digital film editing a la Final Cut doesn’t surprise me in the least. He and Peter Sellers carried on correspondence for years about the latest cameras they were shooting with for fun, what qualities they had, what was a good lens, so on. Kubrick was a camera geek!