February 2012
13 posts
5 tags
Dear Mr. Hazanavicius . . .
Dear Mr. Hazanavicius,
While I thought it was cool that you thanked Billy Wilder in your acceptance speech for winning an Oscar for Best Director for your work on The Artist, I just have to ask: You do know he’s best known for writing dialogue, right? Just checking.
Sincerely,
Johnny Case
5 tags
Cinequest : Film Festival : SHORTS PROGRAM 2: OVER... →
Next up for Sterling Hallard Bright Drake is the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose. Cinematographer/Editor extraordinaire Zack Ellenbogen will be in attendance at all three screenings and I’ll be there for the latter two. We can’t wait! All screenings will be at the Camera 12 Cinemas Downtown:
February 29 @ 9:30 PM
March 1 @ 10:00 PM
March 3 @ 4:00 PM
4 tags
Somebody up there likes me . . .
Last fall my friend Bob Byington came to Bedford Falls University and screened his deservedly much adored film Harmony and Me. At the time he was deep in post on his new film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, which is making its highly anticipated premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March as part of the Narrative Showcase. I am dying to see the finished product, but in the...
6 tags
Sterling Hallard Bright Drake at the 34th Big...
Sterling Hallard Bright Drake plays at the The 34th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival in Carbondale, Illinois tonight at 10:30 PM in the Big Muddy Independent Media Center. What a great festival of which to be a part; man, we so wish we were there to see all those great films and meet the other filmmakers!
6 tags
“Shopping is also cyclical. The menstrual cycle determines every choice a woman...”
– The Office’s Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), from “Tallahassee,” episode 815. As I’ve previously noted, The Office has been absolutely terrible all year and then out of nowhere comes “Tallahassee,” easily a top 10 all time episode, and this came on a night when 30...
7 tags
Where have you gone, Richard Widmark?
As I once mentioned in a long ago post, I’m obsessed with films noir from their major cycle (roughly 1944-1958) during the Classical Hollywood era. I’ve seen hundreds of them and I’m always watching more. I might not ever see all of the thousand or more that were likely made, but it won’t be for lack of effort As part of that process,...
5 tags
In which the worm turns . . .
It’s staying light out until almost 6 PM. The dark daytime skies of the NW aren’t quite as low to the ground and heavy on the soul as they were just a week ago. It’s still cold, but it’s not that bone chilling moist air that you can’t get away from. There are tight buds ready to burst on the Dogwoods in my yard and just yesterday I saw the first green fronds of...
5 tags
A Manhattan Adventure....
The other night I got into a fight with a server at a posh new local bar. Well, not really a fight, because I’m unceasingly civil and polite, but it was clearly a disagreement. I was there at happy hour, during which all mixed drinks are $6 instead of the normal $11 (which is usurious in a town like Bedford Falls). I ordered an Old Overholt Manhattan. Or three. Mother’s...
4 tags
“There’s a big upside, but I have a stable job right now. I have three...”
– Modern Family’s Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell), contemplating the risks that come with starting an independent real estate company. Episode 3.8, “After the Fire.”
5 tags
Sterling Hallard Bright Drake plays today...
Sterling Bright Hallard Drake will be playing today at 2:30 PM as part of the “Around the World” doc block at the Dam Short Film Festival at the historic Boulder Theatre in Boulder City, NV. Let’s just say I’d rather be there than here in the hellish gray of the great NW, but my day job prevented it in this instance. If you’re in the Vegas area, you should...
6 tags
Expo ‘74, the Spokane World’s Fair:
F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t referring to America when he coined the phrase “some sort of epic grandeur,” but it certainly applies. Even as the country is arguably deep into the decline phase of its reign as the planet’s last great singular superpower, for many folks around the world the idea of America still exerts an...
4 tags
The Artist . . .
I just don’t get the critical adoration. There are a couple of great scenes at the start, including the meet-cute of the leads, who have fantastic chemistry, and then there’s a lovely final scene. In between the beginning and end the leads mostly aren’t together, nothing much happens, and there’s an unconscionable amount of George Valentin’s (Jean Dujardin)...
5 tags
January 2012
15 posts
5 tags
“There is a place where America’s manifest destiny collides into the...”
– From the opening voice-over of Stacy Peralta’s f***ing amazing doc Dogtown and Z-Boys, as narrated by Sean Penn. While it’s describing a certain part of Santa Monica, I think it perfectly encapsulates the whole of Southern California, a place so maddening, so complicated, and so...
6 tags
And then the surprise . . .
While I don’t think it’s a slight that Ryan Gosling’s dead-eyed and frustratingly flat turn in Drive—a silly and nihilistic hyper-violent film adored by 15 year old boys, for whom it is perfectly tailored—didn’t earn him an Academy Award nomination, I am genuinely surprised that The Tree of Life was nominated for Best Picture and also earned a Best Director nod...
5 tags
Sterling Hallard Bright Drake is going to get...
We are super excited to announce that Sterling Hallard Bright Drake will be screening at the 34th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival, which is one of the oldest university affiliated festivals in the U.S. and has a “reputation for programming excellence … recognized world wide by film and video professionals, as well as academics and faculty at distinguished institutions.” This...
3 tags
It's not a snub . . .
… when a loud, messy, mostly incoherent, and largely uninteresting film fails to garner an Oscar nomination. Yup, I’m looking at you and your dog, Tintin. Having grown up with the books, I wanted to love it, but I was surprised with how boring it turned out to be, especially given that the trailer looks great. At any rate, not a snub, oversight, or an omission. Just common sense.
3 tags
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
Two years ago I spent Chinese New Years Eve (which is just one day of what is really a two week long celebration) on the roof of a 41 story apartment building in Tin Hau on Hong Kong Island watching fireworks go off over Victoria Harbor. This was immediately followed by what was one of the best, and most decadent, parties I’ve ever been to in my life. I was just beginning to adjust to...
3 tags
In which there's a Northwest snowpocalypse.....
So you know how the national news has been reporting nonstop on the snowpocalypse in the Pacific northwest? Yeah, that happened, as you can tell from this shot of the backyard of the Smythsonian, my beloved Bedford Falls manse:
Here’s the thing though: it’s only an event because the NW refuses to deal with snow. I was in Seattle during a “snowstorm” a few years back...
6 tags
5 tags
Grocery shopping transcript:
The following is a verbatim transcript from my trip to the store this morning:
Me: [Scanning my list.] “Let’s see, I think we just need lemons and then we’re outta here.”
My 7-year-old daughter: “What kind of cocktails are you making, Dad?”
Old blue-hair who overheard: “Did she just ask you about cocktails?”
Me: [I smile sweetly and nod...
3 tags
WatchWes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom comes out in the United States on May 25th. Sweet Jesus, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so excited for a movie. Everything about this trailer makes me happy. He is definitely the most distinctive auteur working today—his narrative and visual stamps are so wonderfully unique and recognizably his own. Has Wes Anderson surpassed...
2 tags
“I want to show people that Manny can change, that he can do the right thing.”
– Manny Ramirez, talking about why Manny Ramirez wants to try to make a comeback to baseball after Manny Ramirez’s second suspension for testing positive for banned substances.
4 tags
“I’ve found that you don’t need to wear a necktie if you can hit.”
– Ted Williams, shoddy dresser and the last major league ball player to hit over .400. Only 51 days until the Seattle Mariners and my beloved Oakland A’s kick off spring training play in the Cactus League.
5 tags
Sterling Hallard Bright Drake is going to Vegas...
…or near it at any rate. We’re delighted to announce that Sterling Hallard Bright Drake will be screening at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, NV on Friday, February 10th at 2:30PM in the historic Boulder Theatre. We’ve heard great things about this festival from a lot of people, so we’re hoping we can make it!
8 tags
Q: What do Gregg Ginn and me . . .
… have in common? A: An unabashed love of the Grateful Dead. This amazes me! I discovered this strange factoid while reading Michael Azerrad’s “Our Band Could be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground (1981-1991),” which is one of the three best books about music I’ve ever read (interestingly, all three are about a specific...
7 tags
Sterling Hallard Bright Drake is off to Cinequest!
I’m delighted to announce that our documentary short Sterling Hallard Bright Drake is an official selection of the 2012 Cinequest Film Festival, where it will play in March (exact time & place TBA). The dead-time between when you finish a film and then start hearing back from festivals is an absolute killer for your confidence, so it’s nice to start things off with an...
December 2011
10 posts
6 tags
“You can’t make a great movie by accident. It just does not happen. There...”
– Matt Damon telling The Business’ Kim Masters why he agreed to star in Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo. I’m fascinated by how much controversy the Auteur Theory generates in academia and how little pause it gives those who actually work in the industry. In any case, when you write...
3 tags
“It is the people’s drink. It doesn’t get more American than whiskey.”
– Fred Sarkis, a bartender at the Sable Kitchen and Bar in Chicago, as quoted in Mickey Meece’s 12/24/11 New York Times piece about the current boom in American bourbon. Merry Christmas, indeed. Just remember it’s not okay to buy anyone you really care about “flavored...
3 tags
“I had a sh***y run on a bunch of shows, but you know, I’ve always said you...”
– Louis C.K. discussing his multiple previous TV failures in the first installment of his two-part podcast interview with Bill Simmons on the BS Report. This might be the best interview I’ve ever heard about the contemporary TV industry. He is brutally honest in analyzing both his own work and...
3 tags
Mr. Hitchens and Me
Many years ago Christopher Hitchens gave a lecture at Bedford Falls U. The Politics Department brought him to campus for our annual Scoop Jackson Lecture, for which he gave a presentation based on what he argued were the war crimes of Henry Kissinger. After his talk, which was amazing, he took Q & A, and he was as forthcoming a speaker as I’ve ever seen. The...
3 tags
America's sweetheart my a**
The following is a verbatim transcript of a conversation between myself and my cousin Little E, who recently broke up with her boyfriend of two years.
Me: Why’d you guys break up?
Little E: Well, there are a ton of reasons, but one of the biggest is he likes Sandra Bullock movies. Can you believe that sh*t? He’s a grown man, for chrissakes. We watched The Blind Side and almost as...
8 tags
Tower Heist: An Exercise in Contempt
I have no problem suspending my disbelief when I go to the movie theatre. I suspend it in the parking lot. I suspend it the day before. Sometimes, when I read about a movie that sounds good to me going into production, I’ll suspend it from that point on. Time travel, super heroes, dead baseball players emerging from corn fields, Justin Timberlake as a viable romantic lead, Ryan Gosling...
2 tags
5 tags
“As Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris reminds us…nostalgia for values...”
– Mark Harris, in the latest installment of Oscarmetrics on Grantland. While I agree with his point about Midnight, I’m nevertheless uncomfortable with the way so many critics, academic and otherwise, consider “sentimentality” pejoratively. To whit: I once had a professor tell me...
5 tags
“Am I drinking? As soon as I’m done.”
– Bob Harris (Bill Murray), said in response to a photo director during a print ad shoot for Suntory Whisky in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. This is the last film I’m teaching this semester and it’s easily one of my three or four all time faves—so dreamy and wistful and...
5 tags
“You don’t have to worry about what foreigners think about you,...”
– Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) to Jeff (Joel McHale) on “Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism,” the 12/1/11 episode of Community. Community has lost a lot this year and it’s no surprise it’s being put on a network mandated “hiatus,” but it’s still got its...
November 2011
12 posts
6 tags
“People are faced in life with choosing between reality and fantasy and...”
– Woody Allen, in reference to The Purple Rose of Cairo, from Robert B. Weide’s fantastic “Woody Allen: A Documentary,” which just ran on PBS’ American Masters.
4 tags
“God creates all men equal, but once they get out of the womb he starts playing...”
– Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), from “Chasing Ghosts,” Episode 6 from Season 6 of The Shield, written by Shawn Ryan & Adam E. Fierro.
4 tags
“I think we are, indeed, in a new golden age of television. I think TV today is,...”
– Breaking Bad creator & showrunner Vince Gilligan, from “The Crusader,” Part 4 of PBS’ America in Primetime. I’ve seen 75 or so movies in the theater this year (so far) and really enjoyed seeing maybe 25 of them, and of those 25 there’s probably not more than 7 that...
6 tags
In which there's a special delivery...
Washington state has the most expensive liquor in the United States, not to mention the worst selection. This is because the state runs the booze business, which means I have to go to a state store that not only has scant offerings, but terrible hours as well. It’s only been in the last couple of years that the liquor store has been open on Sundays, and even then it’s only for a few...
7 tags
J. Edgar, Dad, and me...
When I was in college I worked as an intern for the F.B.I., solely because I didn’t have to undergo a background check because at that time the Bureau had in place a nepotistic system through which the offspring of Agents were given summer jobs if their parent vouched for them. In a decision that probably went against his better judgment, my dad vouched for me. It was about as good a...
4 tags
“We moved to Los Angeles because we made the decision that we had to move into...”
– Werner Herzog explaining why he and his wife decided to live in L.A. when they moved to America, as told to Kim Masters during a fascinating interview on KCRW’s The Business.
4 tags
“Television now has taken on the role that movies had, but actually being more...”
– The above quote is from a bunch of different folks (including Ron Howard and Brian Cranston) from the interview montage that ends of “Man of the House,” episode two of PBS’ magnificent America in Primetime, a four part documentary series on the history of television. For the life...
5 tags
Willett Rye (via Sluggyland)
The following was recently posted by Sluggy, my college roommate, on his blog, Sluggyland: All That’s Wrong with Me. While Johnny Case may or may not be the maker of the Manhattans to which he refers, it’s certain that Mr. Case does indeed know in full the sordid details of the Howard Miller incident referred to below, the Jim Beam induced facts of which are much too depraved to be...
8 tags
WatchI spent most of Sunday afternoon on my mountain bike carving up single track in the rolling wheat fields around the Bedford Falls Reservoir. Just for kicks I filmed part of it, complete with a Frostian “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” moment, which led to me backing up and actually taking the road not initially taken. After doing so, I dropped down into a part of the trail that...
3 tags
...and the view from the back porch
Another hard frost this morning. Three days ago an unexpected wind storm broke a 15 foot branch off of the top of one the birch trees in my front yard, which was pretty scary. There’s no danger of it hitting the house, but the kids and I routinely play tag and pickle on the grass underneath those trees and it would’ve seriously injured any of us—at least—had it struck...
The view from the front porch...
…of the Smythsonian, my beloved Bedford Falls manse. God I love this time of year.
9 tags
The Office is closing...
Thursday night as must see TV on NBC is dying a slow painful death right before our very eyes. I don’t really have any vested interest in a singular night being appointment TV, and, in fact, I can’t remember the last time I watched something other than sports live anyway. It’s all about the DVR. That said, as recently as last year I relished my weekly viewing of Community,...