Movie City Indie http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/ 2008-07-24T22:10:42-08:00 <![CDATA[<i>Indie is transcribing</I>]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/indie_is_transc_2.html American refugees
Images from a humid-torrential-downpour Pitchfork Music Festival weekend for now, until the type-type-typing's done; this is minutes after a basement afterparty with No Age was flooded and the Chicago skies continued to pour. [Dov Charney is nowhere in sight.]

Pouf

Tear

Gap

Lynch

Enter dream

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Ray Pride 2008-07-24T22:10:42-08:00
<![CDATA[An image from <i>Wings of Desire</i>]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/an_image_from_w.html Berlin's Golden Angel statue.jpgFrom atop the Siegessäule statue in Berlin.

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Ray Pride 2008-07-24T12:19:44-08:00
Guillermo del Toro: mixologist http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/guillermo_del_t.html
At Alamo Drafthouse, Mr. Del Toro administers "The Muppet."

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Ray Pride 2008-07-18T16:23:38-08:00
Yes, Debbie Reynolds sings "If I Had A Hammer" http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/yes_debbie_reyn.html

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Ray Pride 2008-07-18T15:05:40-08:00
<![CDATA[The unlikeliest film tie-in of the day: <i>The Exiles</I> skateboards]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/the_unlikeliest.html

Milestone Films' The Exiles, presented by Charles Burnett and Sherman Alexie, a restoration of Kent McKenzie's 1961 fiction film in film noir tradition, the story of Native Americans in Los Angeles' Bunker Hill District as they struggle during the Bureau of Indian Affairs “relocation period," boasts the most unlikely but strangely thrilling product tie-in in an age. Writes Milestone's Dennis Doros, "Possibly the very first tribute of its kind for any classic film release, we are particularly pleased that The Exiles has struck a chord with Native Americans throughout the US and Canada. It is interesting to note the coincidence that it was Douglas Miles' own San Carlos Apache Reservation in Gobe, Arizona where Kent Mackenzie first conceived the idea of The Exiles when he visited in 1957. Mackenzie's stark vision serves as the template for the (often misunderstood) stark artistic vision(s) of Douglas Miles as he re-creates scenes from the film... Using spraypaint, exacto knives and found objects, imagery from The Exiles comes to life via Miles' singular vision. His guerilla art method provides the backdrop for the collision of two works of art/artists exploring the so-called native experience. A perfect combination. The results being a one-two punch that builds interest and respect for The Exiles film, director, music and cast." To cite two of the many celebrations of the film, here's Manohla Dargis at NYTimes: "The restoration and long-delayed commercial release of The Exiles, a 1961 film about a largely forgotten corner of that deceptively bright city, is nothing less than a welcome act of defiant remembrance..." And Richard Brody at the New Yorker; "[T]he night photography alone would make the film immortal." The film's website. The site for Miles' Apache Skateboards. Coverage of his work here. [Below: a clip from The Exiles.]

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Ray Pride 2008-07-17T19:46:09-08:00
<![CDATA[<i>I love cold-calling</i>: The Marina Zenovich story]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/i_love_coldcall.html Zenovich
A strong interview with director Marina Zenovich on the day Roman Polanski asks LA prosecutors to consider the charges of judicial misconduct in Roman Polansk: Wanted and Desired. A few bits: "I read an article in the Los Angeles Times that kind of piqued my interest in 2003. So, I had some people from that article who I cold called. The article was about whether or not [Polanski] would be able to come to America if he got nominated for The Pianist. When he got nominated there started to be more press, and then the girl and her lawyer went on the Larry King show and her lawyer said, “The day Roman Polanski fled was a sad day for the American judicial system.” That was really the comment that got me going, but I didn’t know anyone who knew her lawyer. I cold called him. I love cold calling [laughs]. I cold called the judge’s girlfriend. It was amazing; I found the judge’s obituary online and she was mentioned as being with him at his death. This was 2003, and he died in, I think, 1994. It was 11 o’clock when I found her number, and the next day by noon I was in her living room. And I said to her, “You shouldn’t let strangers into your house.” Anyway, that’s part of the fun, trying to find people, and then people hook you up with other people.

"I was never trying to humanize him. I think you can’t help but humanize people by telling their story, because he is a human... I think of him as a man who’s had a long and varied life filled with more ups and downs than most people. I wasn’t trying to be sympathetic, I was just trying to understand what got him to that night. I wanted to go backward in time to tell some of his history. I would have [told] more, but we had to keep to the story. I would have wanted to show maybe a little bit more of his childhood, but people know about his childhood, at least the people that I’m telling the story for. To me, he is very human. We’re all flawed human beings. If you tell a story about someone, you can’t help but make them human. I have archive[d footage] of him where he’s being very human. He’s very real. He’s not like—I can’t think of the male equivalent of Britney Spears. If I was to make a film about her, I would try to humanize her. I’ve never seen her do anything that seems particularly humanizing except for maybe when she was really, really in trouble. I remember reading something about her, like she got on an airplane, sat in coach, sat in the last row and was shaking all the way to L.A. That was the most human thing I’d ever read about her. She’s presented as a celebrity and you don’t even think of her as a human. To me, Roman Polanski is a full-blown figure and human being." [Much more at the link.]

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Ray Pride 2008-07-17T19:45:00-08:00
<![CDATA[Appropriating Girl Talk's Appropriations [<i>language NSFW</i>]]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/appropriating_g.html


Girl Talk is Greg Gillis, whose second album is "Feed the Animals." He's an epic practitioner of the mashup: every song is comprised of what he considers "fair use" samples from other recording artists. Enter "Bunny Greenhouse," who's compiling videos with snippets from videos by those musicians. Jeeeeez..... Then again, BG did re-edit Magnolia to Gameboy music.








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Ray Pride 2008-07-17T19:44:11-08:00
It's electric: when Mark Twain visted with Nikola Tesla http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/its_electric_wh.html 475px-Twain_in_Tesla's_Lab.jpg
On a 95-degree day in Chicago where breezes are no balm... an image pregnant with possibilities.

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Ray Pride 2008-07-16T15:54:38-08:00
<![CDATA[<i> No time for the old in-out, love, I've just come to read the meter.</i>]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/_no_time_for_th.html kubrick_exc_02_070625144657606.jpgFrom Kubrickonia, a small trove of Kubrickiana, a spot of door wide open: Mr. Kubrick's offices had cat doors. And you might be amazed what you could learn about Kubrick's boxes if you were to move around the web. No, I don't mean the complete Barry Lyndon on YouTube. JMW Turner never engraved a postage stamp in his life. [Below: For the love of a nice, normal fella and a trailer that might just be a Kubrick homage.]

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Ray Pride 2008-07-16T10:29:11-08:00
Batman explodes the shark http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/batman_explodes.html
From Batman: The Movie (1966): "Bat ladder away!" "Hand me down the shark repellent bat spray!"

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Ray Pride 2008-07-15T18:59:58-08:00
"I'm a doctor!"; Yes, of course you are, Dr. Harford http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/im_a_doctor_yes.html From the Telegraph's I'm a doctor!.jpgStanley Kubrick: a props odyssey. All drawn from the Kubrick Archive. Make an appointment today!






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Ray Pride 2008-07-15T16:21:49-08:00
An hour with Matt Dentler on digital distribution http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/an_hour_with_ma.html
From Los Angeles Film Festival's YouTube Screening Room account, an hour of Cinetic's' Matt Dentler in conversation with YouTube about emerging initiatives. As they prepare to release their first batch of titles to various portals, Cinetic Rights Management also offers a list of sites that currently support shorts and features, including Amazon Unbox; iTunes Movie Store; Hulu; Jaman; Netflix Watch Instantly; YouTube Screening Room; imeem; Veoh; Joost; Babelgum; Caachi. Fred Schuer's backgrounder on Cinetic Rights Management, from Portfolio in June, is here.

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Ray Pride 2008-07-14T16:35:22-08:00
<![CDATA[ <i>Burn After Reading</I>'s international teaser]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/_burn_after_rea.html
Via "Universal UK Trailers," who's only ever uploaded this video. "Good."

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Ray Pride 2008-07-14T15:17:32-08:00
<![CDATA[Katharine Hepburn? <I>Removalist</i>.]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/katharine_hepbu.html
From the same interview, Ms. Hepburn rearranges the set to her substantial satisfaction. "Or put a rug over it! A green one!"


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Ray Pride 2008-07-14T08:44:49-08:00
<![CDATA[Interview of the... week? <i>Zabriskie Point</i>'s Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin in conversation with Dick Cavett, Mel Brooks and Rex Reed]]> http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/interview_of_th.html
Several strained interviews linger in my memory, but this 8-minute clip from "The Dick Cavett Show" is almost otherworldly, and I mean that in a good way. Thirty-eight years ago was another planet. [Below, the same points made by other means by Signor Antonioni.]

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Ray Pride 2008-07-13T13:54:40-08:00