Recently in Film Category

I've just been reading a great article in the Guardian Unlimited Film section from Shane Meadows about his new film This is England (which i'm hoping will include the song of the same name by The Clash).

There are a couple of choice quotes from the piece, but the interesting thing for me were his thoughts and ideas of what it was like growing up in a small town in the 1980's when you're part of a subculture, and in part, the attendant iconography of the objects that become meaningful.

Late in 1985, when I was 15, I got my first pair of Dr Marten's boots. For a while they had to be hidden at a friend's place, because at the time my Father wouldn't allow them to be 'under his roof'. What they meant to him and what they meant to me were completely different things - for him they were the accoutrements of fascism, while for me they were the symbol of anti everything - benign, insipid, popular, 'normal' and fascist. All of this meaning I had to walk around to my friend's place for the first 6 months of owning them to be able to wear them when we went out anywhere.

When we did go out, if we saw someone else wearing them, we (or them) would stop and have a chat about whatever, there was a good chance that we might have just met a brand new friend. The fact is, ideologically, or at least musically, there was a 99% chance we would be into exactly the same things. If you're my age, you might even remember that you could tell a lot about who you were meeting depending on the colour of their laces. Black and Red could mean Marxist and Anarchist, White could mean fascist or a 'hippy punk' preference.

When I was teaching, I used to tell my film or media students about this and for the most part they would laugh out loud unanimously. Maybe it was oversensitivity on my part, but whatever it was, it used to annoy me that they thought it was so funny. It wasn't funny. It was heart on your sleeve, life and death serious. Why? Because we all felt alone and sincere.

Shane Meadows talks about the multiple subcultures in his small town of Uttoxeter, and although my small town didn't have anywhere near the same diversity, I know exactly what he means when he describes his small town - pull the word Uttoxeter and insert Tauranga - during the weekends.

"In a town as small as Uttoxeter, though, there weren't enough people for each sub culture to fill their own parties or clubs, so most weekends everyone would turn up at the same village hall disco and end up fighting."

It's 20 years later, and a lot of the ideas, values and things I most value hold true to the things I learnt back then. Unlike then, I often wear a suit now, the footwear of choice are still the same.

"The big difference between now and the period in which my film is set is our level of isolation. In 1983, people still cared about society as a whole but now they'll keep their mouth shut as long as they've got the house, the job and the car they want. If you were a kid in 1983, you wouldn't have a PlayStation to sit indoors alone with. You got your entertainment from mixing with a variety of different people. While making the film, I realised that all of my fondest childhood memories surrounded human contact: mucking about with mates or going camping. In 2007, people put less emphasis on that sort of thing and more on planning their careers and their TV viewing. As far as I'm concerned, if you're working from nine to five then coming home to watch shows that your Sky box has recorded for you while you were out, you might as well be on a fucking drip."

Amen.

Revenge of the Sith has been out for less than a week and already I know someone who has it on DVD, however it's been publicly hammered by the media as being available via BitTorrent in the last few days with all the attendant arguments for and against p2p file sharing: Capitalism, Lucas' seemingly voluminous wealth and greed, Theft vs. Infringement etc. Interestingly these are the first notices people are receiving due to their perception (or self-perception) of being small-time infringers.

What's interesting about the below paragraph is the initial reading of it gives me the impression that 'Twentieth Century Fox (collectively, 'FOX')' are in fact the sole copyright owners of ALL of the world's cinema. Gauging what their parent company News Corporation has acquired recently, for a second I thought it actually might be. And then it occurred to me that it's the 21st Century and they're probably going to have to play technological catch-up really soon. Or at least start preventing their employees from leaving work with time-coded preview versions.

FOX issuing takedown notices to Sith downloader

"Re:Unauthorized Use of Twentieth Century FOX Film Corporation Property

Notice ID:xxxNotice IDxxx
Notice Date:21 May 2005 xx:xx:xx GMT

Dear Sir or Madam:

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION and its affiliated companies
;(collectively, 'FOX') are the exclusive owners of copyrights in motion
pictures."

There's been some interesting media stats released in the last few days, a Boing Boing reader discovered that MGM had a gap in their website security (since closed) that revealed a whole mess of data and sales stats they would probably prefer didn't leak. The above image merely confirms what we already know: Digital media is far cheaper to replicate and distribute than the analog (and i'm obviously including VHS here) counterparts of the past. Sony knows this too. Sony has just completed acquiring MGM and now has a full catalog of 4200 of MGM's past glories, which i fully expect to see utilised in the next 6-12 months if Sony can repackage and distribute quickly enough for consumers. Time Warner had been interested in capitalising on the catalogue too, but somehow decided that the $3 billion Sony finally moneyed up with was too much. To me 3 billion sounds a bit cheap. If they hold the rights in perpetuity the only real cost is distribution.

In its day MGM was a phenomenal studio that was as well known for its lavish productions and stars, almost as well known as Michael Bay is known for directing awful films.

MGM was responsible for a number of american classics in its time, for most, as the owner of The Wizard of Oz; but one thing that hasn't been mentioned at all is that Sony is part of a consortium of owners who have purchased MGM, the notable investor in all of this is Comcast and it's pretty easy to see why.

Ted Turner took the United Artists or UA out of MGM/UA in 1986 so he could broadcast the catalogue via his cable channel, and colourise films that should never be colourised (No Ted, The Maltese Falcon is supposed to be that dark). Although, fortunately, that phase seems to have passed from history, it's pretty easy to see why Comcast would want access to the catalogue $ 3 billion is pretty cheap when you can devote an entire channel to MGM catalogue greats, not to mention the obvious next step: Video-on-demand and the potential of digitally cleaning up the catalogue for cinema re-release and the consequent DVD re-releases that will inevitably follow.

If you have seen Shaun of the Dead [Edgar Wright, 2004] you may have experienced that peculiar phenomenon when leaving the cinema of thinking that every other person you pass on the street is a zombie. If you went to the 24 Hour Movie Marathon you know exactly what it's like to feel like a zombie when you emerge from the theatre having experienced not only some great films; but the sleep deprivation and multiple caffeine sources have produced a compelling mix of light-headedness and an uncontrollable flickering of your eye-balls. Did I mention the pounding headache that felt like someone had got loose with a jack-hammer in my head?

This was my first year attending the marathon, and I'd heard many good things from those who had attended previously. The one complaint I heard from one friend when I asked if he wanted to come with me was that he had no desire to attend this year because he wanted to keep whatever sense of taste he had left. Excellent, I thought, I'm gonna love it.

I wasn't disappointed, the marathon this year evenly split screen time between current pre-release films and films from the 50's through to the present. Insofar as my own poor taste in cinema, this is a moot point. However, and this is significant, the marathon provides an alternative antidote to the majority of festival screenings we currently have in New Zealand, because simply put, it's fun.

Like The Incredibly Strange Film Festival, there is a unique blend of old and new material, but the marathon also seems to embody a passionate love of the cinema for people who might like to call themselves cineastes, if only the term didn't sound so pretentious. The organizers of the festival and programme seem to say (and I whole-heartedly agree) NOT every film should be consigned to the dustbin of history when it's run has finished, assuming it even has one, and not every film that doesn't make it to your local multiplex, or video/DVD outlet is necessarily a bad film. And then there are many of us who think unintentional comedy is far funnier than the intended kind, and, well, bad craziness is a good thing. Of this kind of film making my personal favourites from the marathon were Russ Meyer's Up! [Russ Meyer, 1976], Night of the Lepus [William F. Claxton, 1972], and Fangs [Art Names, 1974]. Films like these often give the marathon the feel of a good friend having stolen the keys from your local film society and plundered all of the so-called 'second-rate' booty for a private party.

The new material selected for the marathon ran the gamut, and most will be appearing or have started showing at major theatres. From the sequel to Anaconda, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid [Dwight H. Little, 2004] (that's right, throw in a bunch more snakes and it's bound to be scarier) to films like Paparazzi [Paul Abascal, 2004] that looked like some pseudo Michael Mann film from the 1980's. A disgruntled family man and up and coming action movie star starts killing off the paparazzi who stalk him and his family. I know, it sounds dumb already. The only thing of interest about this film is this unusual return to 1980's reactionary conservative values. Films like these really do grow on trees. The highlight of the new material for many was probably Team America: World Police [Trey Parker, 2004] or Napoleon Dynamite [Jared Hess, 2004]. Both were excellent and helped cement the tone of the entire 24 hours, and in-turn prompted a number of shout out loud one-liners for the rest of the marathon. The one New Zealand offering for the marathon was Geoff Murphy's Spooked [Geoff Murphy, 2004], I tried to take it seriously, but once I saw that New Zealand SIS agents look and act like Agent Smith from The Matrix, well, it just didn't seem very credible.

Like any real marathon or test of endurance you need to go prepared. That means caffeine and food, but I recommend a blanket, you may start getting cold about 3 am because you haven't really moved for several hours and by 7 pm you may want to sit on it because, well, a certain part of your anatomy is now numb and impossible to get comfortable. As I mentioned, by the time Return of the Living Dead [Dan O'Bannon, 1985] started (a great way to end the marathon) most of the audience were looking and feeling like the undead. I can't wait for next year.

Well, aside from Chirac giving Spielberg the Legion of Honour. France has had the temerity and intelligence to decide to introduce cellphone blocking into its cinemas, but the UK seems to need legislation to help it out. i'm applauding France and hoping New Zealand will follow suit so i can watch that 20 stone Gorilla with 3/4's of an inch of brain try and figure why he can't phone his friend to meet up after the movie.

"Mobile phone signals will be jammed in French cinemas and theatres to prevent the devices disturbing the audience.

The French government has backed a move to install equipment to block signals in cinemas, concert halls and theatres.Emergency phone calls and calls outside the performance area will still be permitted, however. Jean Labbe, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas, said the measure followed "a long-standing request" by cinemas. French industry minister Patrick Devedjian backed the move, supporting a decision by France's Telecommunications Regulation Authority. Mr Labbe told France Info radio that cinemas had invested heavily to improve comfort and "the authorisation of jammers is the cherry on the cake".

Jules and I went to Blow and had this idiot decide to have a 15 minute conversation with his mate in a 50 person theatre in the middle of the movie. My skinny boy 5'9" stature was no match for 6'3" and 20 stone, 'natch. Pacifist in everything but movies, i was pleased to see i'm not alone in this.

"Marketing manager Andrew Woodyatt said: "There's nothing more annoying or likely to cause a fight than someone talking on a phone, and it's amazing how widespread it is.

Last month, actor Kevin Spacey declared London's Old Vic theatre a "phone-free zone" during his tenure as its artistic director. "We certainly don't want them ringing and people ignoring them pretending that it's not theirs," he said. "My feeling is if people don't know how to behave they shouldn't come."

Well said, and by the way, thanks for Swimming with Sharks

How on earth does Steven Spielberg manage to get awarded the Legion of Honour and Jean-Luc Godard, a director who has made enormous contributions to French and to world cinema for 50 years, not get one? How does a director who hasn't even (as far as I know) included a French-speaking character in his films (OK, aside from that walk-on by Truffaut in Close Encounters) manage to get France's highest accolade? Especially when he's on a junket peddling the latest edition of Tom Hanks as the 'everyman' with Zeta-Jones as the 'heart of gold' love interest. I want answers.

Spielberg awarded Légion d'Honneur

Staff and agencies
Monday September 6, 2004

Jacques Chirac and Steven Spielberg
Speaking out against intolerance: Jacques Chirac (left) and Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg has been awarded France's highest civil honour, the Légion d'Honneur.

Spielberg is in Paris to promote his new film The Terminal and to receive the award from the French president Jacques Chirac, who praised him as a "great director". Mr Chirac also saluted his hard work in fighting hatred and intolerance, saying that films such as Schindler's List help the world to remember dark times in history.

In his speech, Mr Chirac made reference to recent attacks on Jewish cemeteries and buildings in France. "At this difficult time when intolerance, racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and fanaticism are on the rise again, it is essential that cinema, which touches each one of us deep inside, recalls the horror of what is unutterable," he said. "It is essential that this form of eminently popular expression and creativity reminds everyone of the disastrous effects of hatred, intolerance, and the rejection of others."

Spielberg, too, called for understanding and tolerance. "We have to work very, very hard to make people understand that we have to celebrate people's differences and not condemn them" he said.

Stupid things to do on a Saturday afternoon when you don't want to do work: Go to the below and find out what Matrix character you are. What can I say, i'd rather be Larry Fishburne than Little Wooden Boy any day of the week.

You are Morpheus, from "The Matrix." You
have strong faith in yourself and those around
you. A true leader, you are relentless in your
persuit.

What Matrix Persona Are You?