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A super-positive first review for the new coen brother’s movie.

Man I’m looking forward to this.

(previously)

Stanley Fish on Kim Novak’s enduring, and often misunderstood, appeal;

MacMurray plays a cop assigned to ingratiate himself with her in the hope that she will lead him to her gangster boyfriend. But, as TCM host Robert Osborne observed, one look at Novak and he’s lost. When he’s not watching her, the camera is, for the plot consists largely of a surveillance operation; a team of detectives spends endless hours looking at Novak through binoculars, as do we. It is voyeurism from a distance, and emphasizes her status as a glittering something beheld from afar.

via greencine

It’s starts out pretty rubbish, but the quality gets better about 40 seconds in. Till the real trailer arrives, this will have to do.

Don’t screw this up guys (or manny will never forgive you)

Heavy!!

With early reports comparing it to Godfather II, Heat (!!!) or Empire Strikes Back-I can’t remember a film I’ve been more excited about.

Slashfilm has an early (spoiler free) review.

“The Dark Knight is a masterpiece - an almost flawless comic book movie adaptation“

The Arrested Development movie is go

Watched zodiac last night, it’s a great movie. All round strong performances (especially mark ruffalo), some beautiful cars and a wonderful,subtly fx-heavy recreation of 70’s san francisco. The soundtrack is also right on the money-it’s one of those soundtracks that gets you jumping on google as soon as the credits roll- perfectly capturing that hippie-gone-bad vibe of the late sixties/early seventies. It’s got donovan’s freaky ‘hurdy gurdy man’ as the main theme and this killer from ‘three dog night’ (which has been sampled by somebody, but I can’t quite put my finger on it) for the intro.

Suffice to say-(if you haven’t already)-you need to see this, but in the meantime….

three dog night-easy to be hard

our recent server problems aside it looks like this weekend is going to be another doozy - and one of those where the last thing you really want to do is stay in and watch a movie. luckily the recent batch of trailers i’ve been foraging through in the depths of my summer cold hibernation are all slated for autumn/winter release - its an odd, odd thing to be wrapped in blankets, dressed in fleece leisurewear and have people call you to tell you how glorious the weather is outside while you shiver and dream of a log fire, like watching the world go by from a different continent or something, but i digress.

be kind, rewind - the new michel gondry (trailer here) has me all in a whirl - jack black and mos def remake 80s movie classics after black’s magnetic brain wipes all the cassettes in the video store where they work. frankly, i’d have paid £8 to hear someone explain the premise to me in a cinema so the idea of getting to see that pitch executed by le bateau-des-reves gondry, has me tickled pink.

in the search for bkr(as the cool kids aren’t calling it)’s trailer i also happened across one for former wes anderson cohort, noah boambach’s sophomore effort. margot at the wedding appears to be a similarly fraught examination of family ties as the squid & the whale - and while i’m not as over the moon psyched about it as anderson’s upcoming darjeeling limited, matw (man, even i’m not finding this particularly funny… sorry) has got a solid cast, beautiful cinematography and looks like a worthy contemplatative arthouse feature. what took me most during the trailer however was the lilting diaphenous cover of crosby stills & nash’s our house. in a beautifully cyclical sweep the soundtrack’s version is performed by phantom planet, who’s drummer, jason swartzman appears as one of the three brothers in darljeeling limited, as well as having played max fischer in anderson (& baumbach’s) rushmore.

since we’re all lined up for another dappled, balmy summer weekend it seems only fitting that hickory smoke and torn denim of our house be the soundtrack to that. have a lovely weekend.

phantom planet - our house

JUSTICE “Phantom part II-soulwax remix” via busy p’s blog for fader.

Man I love this clip, it reminds me of drunken nights at basilika.
Me and illa going nuts behind the decks, loving the music as much as (way more than) the crowd, oh and that mix sounds amazing.

Speaking of basilika, prince week continues a pace with loads of exclusive versions of our favourite unreleased or hard to get tracks. Word to DC for joining in the fun.

Also on the firemusic network,jez at innersounds is posting like a maniac, (God knows where he gets the energy) including this monster from hl fav moodyman.

Heavy.

Solace has a phone-cam version of the trailer for new Michael Gondry/Jack Black film ‘Be Kind, Rewind‘-the quality is not so great, but it has the greatest premise of any movie ever made.

The LA Times reviews William Gibson’s new book Spook Country,which I would have pre-ordered from amazon alreday if I wasn’t half way through about 12 books already-maybe it’s the motivation I need to clear the decks.

And (via Serif) this wonderful collection of 60’s/70’s book covers.

Was lucky enough to attend a preview of the new Bourne film last night (thanks jimmy). After the disappointment of transformers it was a timely reminder of how to do a big summer movie right. Taut scripting, wonderful performances, a plot that just about stays the right side of believable and some of the most visceral action sequences ever put to celluloid-what’s not to love ?
Despite the last Bond borrowing heavily from the Bourne ‘mature action movie’ template, the film remains restlessly innovative. The camera, caught too close to the action in the last film rendering some of the action a blur, hovers gracefully and obtusely, drawing us deep into the emotional centre of conversations and unflinchingly into the fiery heart of battle; an American action movie made in the style of a European Arthouse.

It’s an exhillurating, mildly exhausting 90 mins that doesn’t ask us to leave our brains at the door, because it is smart enough and well made enough not to need to.

If all that weren’t enough there’s an interesting subtext about the
corrupting influence of overwhelming power and the terrifying
consequences of blind, unthinking patriotism. It brings to mind the sacrifices being asked of men and women drilled into remorseless killing machines and sent to the far ends of the world to serve obscured and dub(ya)ious schemes.

A subversive political message in the midst of a bombastic summer blockbuster?-maybe there’s hope for the empire yet.

Visual FX aside, Transformers is by no means a good film, but anything so relentlessly (and in this case, clumsily) attuned to the mainstream is bound to have some interesting things to say about the culture it’s been engineered to appeal to.

In the hands of a more gifted director, the cut and paste characterization, the ham-fisted slapstick, the soul destroying summer blockbuster box ticking might have gone largely unnoticed, perhaps a sam raimi could have even made it enjoyable.  Such is the paucity of michael bay’s vision that all these processes are writ large on the screen constantly reminding you of commercial and idealogical forces at work shaping and directing the narrative.

I say ideological because this is a film heavy with pernicious product placement not just by corporate america, but most jarringly by the US military. At one time (maybe even a few years ago) or, once again in the hands of a more talented director, this mindless propaganda would have been barely noticeable. As it is slo-mo helicopters land in desert bases where arab children wait to embrace the returning warriors, keffiyeh‘d men join the americans in the defence of their land from outside attackers, a brave and valiant fight against great odds.

All of which makes you wonder who’s agenda these plot devices are choosing to serve? What price to the film-maker for the access to so much hardware and, more importantly, what price to the audience ?

Scariest of all (or what should be scary to the people who write the checks-to the military script advisers or whatever they call themselves) is that in a movie about 40ft transforming robotic aliens it is the idea of a competent, powerful, respected American Military that is hardest to swallow.

You couldn’t even make it up.

G Force-Feel the Force