celluloidnotes

I’ve been meaning to make comment on the recent discovery of Fritz Lang’s original print of Metropolis but hadn’t found the time. Even though it was announced earlier this month, I need to spout my excitement over this discovery.

For those who haven’t heard this news, a few staff members at Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken in Buenos Aires Argentina discovered an old 16mm negative of Metropolis. They knew it was an old print, but as is often the case in museums, it’s difficult for a small staff to careful comb through everything that is in the museums holdings. They began to take a closer look at the negative and realized that there were scenes that are not in any other version of the film.

It has long been rumored that an original cut of Fritz Lang’s sci-fi masterpiece still existed. The story goes that Metropolis was supposed to be Germany’s cinematic stand against Hollywood. At $2 million dollars it was easily the most expensive film that had ever been made. A cast of over 20,000, and an adjusted for inflation price tag of $200 million makes it insanely expensive even now. But the critics and audiences hated it. So the Hollywood studio that brought it to America recut it - in a fashion that Lang didn’t think much of - but that is the standard Metropolis cut that is shown today and available on DVD. The original cut was thought to have been lost or destroyed. But it has been rediscovered and is undergoing restoration so that it can be seen through the original ideas for the first time (again).

This follows on the heels of the discovery of lost footage of Orson Welles The Magnificent Ambersons in Sao Paolo Brazil in May. South America seems to contain more than a few of the holy grail’s of cinema.

For a great article on the specs of the discovery and the print go to EmulsionCompulsion.

The Dog Days of summer have landed. The films are beginning to drop off in frequency and quality, few bands are touring, it’s hot and muggy, and the summer is closing in on us all.

On the bright side there are a slew of great films that are coming out this fall and the trailers and teasers are beginning to trickle online. While I was out of the office (blog) a good batch of the were released and I thought I’d share a short gallery of fall previews. There are some exciting pics coming up and the clips are rolling in.

THE WATCHMEN

The new adaptation of The Watchmen has a pretty fantastic trailer. Though, it’s not clear if it will stick close to the graphic novel or if director Zak Snyder will take it in a new direction. It is also not clear if it will be worth a damn, but the trailer is pretty solid, and has a great Pumpkins tune in there.

W.

Oliver Stone’s seemingly satirical W. is a highly anticipated film that many in his close circle are calling a complete return to form for Stone. Whether or not that is true and not just hype remains to be seen. The film is definitely causing a buzz and has been jammed through production and will somehow be making theaters this fall. This teaser only gives a slight idea of how Stone will represent the life of our current president and his rise to power. I look forward to it, but I’m not sold on it.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE

The new Bond has received almost as much hype as the record breaking The Dark Knight, and it looks pretty standard. Not bad, but it appears to have the same things going that the last Bond had. meh, I’m sure it will be good, but it’s the 22nd Bond film, how blown away could you really be?

HARRY POTTER & THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE

This could potentially break The Dark Knight’s new records. Will it? maybe not, but it will be huge. Am I dork? Yes. I write about the blockbusters a lot, but I generally don’t get too excited about them, I am definitely excited for this one. Even this little teaser made me excited for November.

So I’ve finally moved into my new home, driven across the country and lifted boxes for hours on end and will return to Cell Notes regularly. I apologize to those who have been reading and feel like the site has fallen apart. I appreciate you reading, and continuing to check back. I assure you I will be here for good, just had some serious madness to take care of.

So, as nearly every critic in the nation predicted, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight has set all sorts of box office records over the weekend. It sold more tickets to a midnight screening than any film in history, broke both the opening day and opening weekend records, previously set by Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 3. Hauling in over $155 million this weekend The Dark Knight is pretty well set to be the biggest release of the year. The calls for an Oscar nod for the late Heath Ldeger’s performance as The Joker have continued, generally rave reviews continue to flow in across the blogosphere (including one here at Celluloid Notes), and the huge amount of press it is continuing to get can only add to what is sure to be one of the biggest box office releases ever. The rumor mills are already starting up on whether or not Nolan will in fact attempt a third in this series (which seems all too clear, the studio will easily finance another sequel to a film that has smashed so many box office records). One can only imagine that the third installment is already in development, and I’m sure there will be plenty of rumors circulating about who the new villain will be, and who will be involved, it is surely up in the air at the moment, as (SPOILER) neither the Joker nor Two-Face actually die in the films final moments. Though one of these two will not be involved in any sequels (…).

Hello there readers. Just a note to apologize for the lack of posts the past few days. I’ve been frantically packing and planning. I am moving across the country this week, so I’ve had little time for writing and movies (though I have been watching some, and I’ve got a few posts about ready). But I appreciate that you’ve been checking in and I’ll be back with a couple of posts this week, and I should be all moved in this weekend and will be back, posting regularly by the beginning of next week. So, until then…

The Dark Knight has finally hit the big screens in one of the widest releases in history. Amid the critical hysteria and the isolated dissent the film has received more attention than any other release of 2008, and for good reason. The Dark Knight is a taut intelligent thriller, that continues the story of director Christopher Nolan’s highly praised Batman Begins.

What is really working in Nolan’s reinvention of the Batman series is that he takes the characters very seriously, he doesn’t treat them with the same kind of comic book flare that saturates other comic book adaptations of recent years, like Hellboy or The Incredible Hulk. The film is very dark and the characters very real. Nolan seems to invest himself whole-heartedly in the mythology of Batman. Reinventing the classic villains as real characters who were once just an everyday person. Much of the dissent has been, aside from a slightly convoluted plot structure, that the late Heath Ledger’s Joker does not seem to follow this formula, but that is the nature of the Joker. Since the early years of the comic book the Joker has not been a character with a past, he is a character that kind of just appears as the antithesis to Batman. Batman has raised the bar in Gotham and the Joker is the underworld’s answer. He is more symbol than most of the Batman villains, and The Dark Knight portrays that perfectly.

Heath Ledger gives a stellar performance as the completely deranged Joker. His performance is filled with subtlety and nuance that is truly quite surprising, considering there was a great danger of Ledger borrowing heavily from Jack Nicholson’s Joker performance in Tim Burton’s Batman. The film is full of great performances. Even Aaron Eckhart gives a great performance as Harvey Dent. He seems a somewhat off choice to play a character as deranged as Harvey Two-Face. But his solid stance as Harvey Dent, DA, gives a fullness of character to Two-Face by the end, it gives it a foundation to grow from. Two-Face becomes a character who truly has two sides, a character who has given everything to fight crime in the city, and is conflicted between his desire to continue his battle and to seek revenge against those who have destroyed his life during his attempts to make life better for everyone.

The Dark Knight’s biggest weakness is that Nolan tries to make it too real, in a sense. There is something inside of the highly intricate plot that makes it a little too heavy to pull it’s own weight through two and half hours. Subplots develop and are never fleshed out, the audience is expected to accept that subplots start and end and you will know very little about the whole story. For the most part this approach – which has become something that is standard in almost all of Christopher Nolan’s films – works, there are times when it becomes a bit too much and feels a little tacked on, but on the whole it functions. The film comes together very nicely and moves rather quickly through its lengthy run time. Maybe the calls for an Oscar nomination for Ledger are a bit too strong, but The Dark Knight is certainly the best film of the summer, and the best comic book film to come out in a very long time.

Ah, another big week at the cinema. This week’s obvious pick is The Dark Knight which is already sold out for midnight here in Minneapolis. They have even started offering a 3am screening Thursday night/Friday morning, which subsequently sold out, and now some theaters are offering a 6am screening. Unbelievable, theaters are going to be playing this film non-stop day and night. This really has the potential to be one of the biggest openings ever. I have been told, from an unreliable source online, that The Dark Knight has already sold more tickets for opening weekend than Spiderman 3 did. Anyhow, on with the show: What to see this Weekend? Let me indulge…

PICK OF THE WEEK:
The Dark Knight
dir. Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman

The long awaited second installment of the Batman revamp from director Christopher Nolan is here. Anyone want to bet that this won’t be number one at the box office this week? I’ll give you whatever odds you’re looking for.

The first five minutes of the film have leaked online, and if you haven’t seen it yet we’ll just say that it’s promising. That’s all that needs to be said about this, it will be huge, early reviews are saying it’s the best film of the year, it’s poised to make over 130 million opening weekend (do you realize how much that is?).

Mamma Mia!
dir. Phyllida Lloyd
Starring: Merryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan

If this summer has proven anything (besides that comic book adaptations are a sure fire win) it’s that the studio’s often underestimate the pulling power of the female demographic. Sex & the City and Kit Kittredge have been a huge success, and Mamma Mia! is sure to be a big film this weekend. With a built in audience of fans of the theatrical version, and a host of people who aren’t interested in The Dark Knight (though it seems as though that might be a small demographic) are sure to turn out for this. Sure, it won’t beat Batman, but it’s going to be a top four film this weekend.

Transsiberian (NYC)
dir. Brad Anderson
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer

Ben Kingsley is everywhere this summer. Harrelson and Mortimer play a seemingly innocent American couple on a trip in Russia when they get caught in a drug scheme that involves a detective and a train headed to China. The film looks interesting and has had some positive reviews online. I’m interested, and will likely be out to see it. No word on a further release beyond New York City.

Space Chimps

Well this film exists, that’s for sure. I don’t know what to say about this. It looks bad, and probably won’t be able to compete with the continued popularity of Pixar’s brilliant WALL-E.

Also out this week are limited releases, and expanding releases of Lou Reed’s Berlin, Very British Gangster, The Legend of God’s Gun, and Doorman.

Last Week’s Top Ten
1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2. Hancock
3. Journey to the Center of the Earth
4. WALL-E
5. Wanted
6. Get Smart
7. Meet Dave
8. Kung-Fu Panda
9. The Incredible Hulk
10. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Movie Geeks United is a podcast available through Blog Talk Radio. Movie Geeks is a show that varies greatly, from geekish musings on what is in the cinema currently, to director interviews, and tribute shows. I have been somewhat new to this program but have been listening to it frequently lately and thought that this was a good podcast that needs to be highlighted here.

It’s often pretty low-fi, plagued by bad cell phone reception, trouble with uploads (the recent Chris Carter episode), rampant use of the phrase “gangbusters,” and some hokey jokes, but it all adds to the podcast’s charm. Spending an equal amount of time chatting about recent blockbusters like Hancock or WALL-E and on hidden gems like Dear Zachary or The Wackness.

The style the interviews take on is often pretty low key and has a certain earnestness to the questioning. You never get the sense that this is their job, or that they feel a sense of obligation. The hosts are always having a good time and thrilled to interview anyone from authors to their quite good interview with X-Files director Chris Carter. I highly recommend this podcast, I was skeptical at first, but if you can take in a few episodes and get used to their laid back style of broadcast, and their constant excitement about every interview you can see how much they enjoy cinema, and are willing to talk about all styles. They are knowledgeable (unlike some podcasts where the hosts seem to be knowledgeable on modern cinema but have never seen anything prior to 1970), and they keep the show varied. From their interviews, to their quite clever dissection of Hancock, to a great tribute show to recently deceased Sydney Lumet, this is one of the best podcasts out there if you are willing to give an hour to a podcast.

You can subscribe to Movie Geeks United through iTunes or you can go straight to Blog Talk Radio’s page for Movie Geeks United. They generally have new shows twice weekly.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army has all the makings of a great summer comic book film. A solid cast that works in their roles, a great director at his best, a great crew making spectacular special effects and prosthetics, yet, even with all this talent, it’s is not difficult to discern why this film is a failure. Everything in this story comes easy. A group behind me at the early screening mentioned that this film should maybe prompt a new rating, not suitable for people over 16.

The effects in the film are fantastic, and Ron Perlman is very capable as the devilish and conflicted Hellboy, even Jeffery Tambor’s comic relief is a welcome shtick, yet it still can’t manage to come together. There is a noticeable improvement upon the first film, most noticeable the look of the film is spectacular, the trolls, elves, and monsters are amazingly rendered, true style. The main issue in this film seems to be that the script was written by a focus group with little imagination. The story is predictable and stale from the opening flashback. Moment to moment in the film there is enough foreshadowing for a six-year-old with a blindfold to figure out what will happen next. While the action and visuals are a vast improvement upon the first installment, the glaringly stale plot prevents the film from ever really taking off. There is a lot of potential in Del Toro’s Hellboy franchise, but it just hasn’t been fully realized yet. But it was great popcorn fare to prep everyone for next week’s The Dark Knight premiere.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army  
dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair

Del Toro is back at the helm for the second installment of the Hellboy franchise. With him this time around is almost his entire crew from Pan’s Labyrinth, which, if you ask me, is a fantastic addition. The first film was fine, not amazing, but solid. This time around it seems as though the effects and prosthetics are going to be exponentially better and the early reviews seem very positive. This is a likely front runner for the number one spot at the box office this weekend, feeding off of the highly anticipated The Dark Knight, as most of the mediocre superhero films of the summer have been.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (3D)
dir. Eric Brevig
Starring: Brendan Fraser

Journey to the Center of the Earth is the first in a long line of 3D films that are making a comeback this summer. The studio’s seem to have decided that there is a potential audience in the young film goers who don’t remember the first time they tried to make 3D films the wave of the future. Will it work? It won’t be tops at the box office, but it’s sure to rake in a solid amount of cash for the sheer gimmick of it.

Yes, we’re still falling, just like my respect for New Line…

Meet Dave
dir. Brian Robbins
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, & Eddie Murphy (oh, and Elizabeth Banks)

What have we done to deserve another comedy with Eddie Murphy starring in multiple roles? Going to Norbit was the crime. If you keep paying to see these films, they will keep making them. Maybe that’s a good thing for you, but more likely it’s not.

Dear lord, can we stop putting “Staying Alive” in films?

Garden Party (limited)
dir. Jason Freeland
Starring: Erik Smith, Tierra Abbott, Vinessa Shaw

Here is the synopsis from IMDB: “As 15-year-old April (Holland) tries to piece together a life in Los Angeles, she encounters a group of her peers who are all struggling for a toehold in the city as well.” Wait, what happened, I feel asleep reading that. Is that all, did I miss something?

August (NYC)
dir. Austin Chick
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, Naomie Harris (and a small role from David Bowie)

An appearance from David Bowie may be enough to pique my interest in this film. Austin Chick’s XX/XY was an interesting enough film, but the plot here seems a little thin. In the days prior to 9/11 a web start-up guru (Hartnett) tries to keep his life and company together amid some unforeseen troubles. Now I know it’s rather chiq to withhold plot info when there is a high amount of anticipation for a film, but if there isn’t the meager synopsis the studio offers is something of a borefest.

Harold (NYC/LA)
dir. T. Sean Shannon
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Spencer Breslin, Nikki Blonsky

Breslin plays a prematurely balding teenager starting high school, while he and his friend (Blonsky) do battle against the taunters of the school they try to maintain their dignity in a pretty typical high school plot (minus the balding bit). It’s poised to be an interesting comedy. Shannon’s directorial debut is being heavily supported by SNL (so the buzz is), in some form, and the comedic world seems to have a lot of faith in his abilities, that remains to be seen. The studio is promising to roll this film out across the nation after the NYC/LA release.

Last Weeks Top 10:

1. Hancock
2. WALL-E
3. Wanted
4. Get Smart
5. Kung-Fu Panda
6. The Incredible Hulk
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
8. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
9. Sex & the City
10. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan