Starring
Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh, Rod Taylor, Shawn Smith,
Lisa Montell, Christopher Dark. Directed by Edward Bernds.
(1956/80 min). AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
Four
astronauts returning from Mars get caught in a time warp and
crash-land on Earth 500 years in the future. Everyone they ever knew
died centuries earlier and returning to their own time is impossible. Worse yet, Earth is
post-apocalyptic wasteland, the result of a nuclear war. The few
humans left dwell underground to avoid tribes of murderous mutants who
roam the surface.
On
the plus side, the women of 2508 are long-legged beauties in
mini-skirts and stiletto heels. The astronauts may have been
sliderule-toting nerds in the old world, but since the males of the
future are all hopeless wimps, these guys are suddenly the fucking Marlboro
men, guns blazing and ready for love...after saving what's left of the human race, of course.
They got lost on the way to the Hogan's Heroes convention.
When
the likes of leggy & luscious Nancy Gates is willing to throw
herself at Hugh Marlowe (who's always resembled a high school
science teacher), this place obviously has the potential to be a utopia. All
they gotta do is dispatch the butt-ugly mutants on the surface,
along with the occasional giant spider. This is a bit easier said
than done. The babes are on-board, and with Rod Taylor parading
around shirtless, who can blame them? However, the emasculated males
of the population need more convincing, not-to-mention learning how to man-up by making explosives.
"Do I know how to build a bazooka? Lady, I am a bazooka, if you know what I mean."
World
Without End could only have been made in the fifties, when men
were men, women were mannequins and giant spiders looked like they were made at Build-a-Bear. And not once does it occur to anybody
that reintroducing weapons to a society that has learned to live
without them - because they already destroyed civilization once -
might start the whole vicious cycle over again.On
the other hand, the NRA could use the movie to promote the
societal benefits of good guys with guns.
In
other words, World Without End is a total hoot from beginning
to end. It's an endearingly silly film that plays like a
budget-conscious mash-up of The Magnificent Seven and H.G.
Well's The Time Machine (in fact, Wells' estate threatened to
sue the studio). Somewhat remarkably, this was filmed in CinemaScope,
which was usually reserved for more respectable epics. Folks who
fancy fine film feta are highly encouraged to seek out this forgotten
flick.
Starring
John P. Ryan, Andrew Duggan, Sharon Farrell, Guy Stockwell, James
Dixon, Michael Ansara, William Wellman Jr. Directed by Larry Cohen.
(1974/91 min).
Essay
by D.M. ANDERSON
Man,
I was born twenty years too late. Had I met my wife and knocked her
up back in 1974, I'd have been spared the grotesque reality of
childbirth.
Don't
get me wrong...I love my children more than life itself and am
ultimately glad I was there when they arrived. But when my
first daughter popped out from between the stirrups with her squishy,
misshapen skull, unseeing eyes rolling in their sockets and body
covered in gelatinous goop, my first thought was
whatthefuckisthat?!? For a brief second, she reminded me of
that mutated monster from It's Alive. On the plus side, at
least she didn't kill everyone in the delivery room.
I
always thought Larry Cohen was an interesting filmmaker. He's been
around a long time and worked in many genres, but mostly specializes in schlocky, low-budget horror
movies. A majority of them aren't any good (he seems to have no sense of
pacing and his pictures are often terribly edited), but the ones that
work, such as Q - The Winged Serpent, show a writer/director
trying like hell to make more than just another monster movie. Yeah,
he knows he's making junk, but it's often quirky, imaginative
junk with subtly satiric touches and casts better than material like
this usually deserves. His cult classic, It's Alive, is another one of those.
The
Davis family (John Ryan & Sharon Farrell) are expecting a second child.
When the moment arrives, they happily drive to the hospital for
the delivery. Frank Davis remains in the waiting room with other anxious
fathers, smoking cigarettes and socializing. This scene dates the
movie far worse than the god-awful leisure suits Ryan is forced to
wear (or the fact he's smoking in a hospital). Unless an expectant father is also expecting an immediate
divorce, absolutely no husband in this day and
age would fucking dare to kick-back in the waiting room while
the wife purges his handiwork. We're expected to be there from the
moment the water breaks until the cutting of the cord. Since we're half the
reason she's now forced to push a bowling ball through a garden hose,
I suppose that's fair.
Beige polyester...a common problem among men in the 70s.
Still,
whole concept of being there to witness the miracle of childbirth is
a tad romanticized. Short of repeatedly watching the chestbursting
scene in Alien, there's just no preparing for it. My wife insisted we take Lamaze classes, where we
watched horrifying videos of other couples giving birth, an experience that
was absolutely butt-puckering: gobs of weird shit squirting from both pelvic
orifices before junior even makes an appearance, and women
screeching like the pod people from Invasion of the Body
Snatchers.
We
were taught breathing and coaching techniques as well, but all
that training flew out the window when it was my wife's turn. And as
graphic as those Lamaze videos were, they were inadequate in
preparing me for the real thing. My wife is the love of my life, beautiful inside and outside. But about halfway through this 12-hour ordeal, she looked
like a heroin addict suffering from the DT's.
When Natalie finally
emerged, her head resembled an elongated, snot-coated Liberty
Bell, the result of the doctor using some kind of weird plunger to
pull her out. I was horrified, ready to sue the entire staff's
asses off for mangling my child. A nurse promptly assured me that,
since their skull bones aren't yet fused to at birth, babies
often emerge from the womb with funny-looking craniums (my second daughter's
head resembled a boomerang).
Afterwards,
Francie didn't have the radiant glow of motherhood. Holding our first
child, she looked more like she just went ten rounds with Connor
McGregor. As for Natalie...her head quickly returned to normal almost
as quickly as a stress-ball, but her unfocused eyes kept randomly rolling around in her skull like a malfunctioning Disneyland animatronic.
And she only came in to have a boil removed.
Fortunately for him, Frank
Davis wasn't subjected to any of that horror, though an intern does
spill out of the delivery room with his face torn to
shreds. Frank runs in to find the hospital staff
slaughtered and his wife, Lenore, screaming in her stirrups (the scene is
actually pretty intense for a PG-rated movie). It turns out they've given birth to a mutant monster, which has escaped the
hospital and is now running loose in Los Angeles. Natalie never did that,
even after she got her driver's license.
Police
follow the trail of dead bodies in search of this butt-ugly urchin,
while Frank and Lenore try to come-to-grips with the fact they'll have a
tough time ever finding a babysitter. The media hounds them, Frank
loses his job, Lenore Davis grows increasingly distraught - and
eventually protective of this baby (yeah, it's a monster, but she's
still its mother). An embittered Frank is initially as gung-ho as the
police to kill the thing, especially since it's trying to
find its way home.
I remember the TV spots for the movie when
I was a kid...the camera slowly panning around a cradle to reveal a
misshapen claw hanging out, with an ominous voice-over intoning,
“There's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby... it's alive.
Don't see it alone...please.” That trailer is scarier than anything in
the film itself, which is typical low-budget Cohen...clumsily-shot, erratically-paced and atrociously
edited.
"BINKY!"
But
there's a bit more at-work in It's Alive than cheesy thrills.
Cohen seems to have something to say about the nature of
parenthood, as well as the use of fertility drugs (though the latter
isn't adequately explored). Also rising above the schlock is a remarkably earnest performance by Ryan (much like Michael Moriarity would do in Cohen's Q). Ryan is probably best known for his manic turn in
Runaway Train, where he played a sadistic prison warden. The
guy has always reminded me of a car salesman or shoe-sniffing
pervert. Here, he appropriately displays slow-burning intensity. When he confronts his “son” for the first
time, Ryan does a tremendous about-face,
simultaneously conveying disgust, remorse and empathy. For a Larry Cohen film, it's an uncharacteristically poignant moment.
As
for the baby itself...we seldom get a clear look at it, which is
probably a good thing. An early creation by make-up legend Rick
Baker, it isn't a very convincing monster. The film works better
when using sound effects to convey its presence.
It's
Alive is an enjoyable Larry Cohen freak show, despite the polyester and archaic
depiction of a husband's role during childbirth. Revisiting
the film today, watching Frank pacing the waiting room is almost as surreal as that old Winston cigarette commercial with The Flintstones. I had completely forgotten that a man's
role in childbearing was once regulated to the fun part, then passing out
cigars nine months later.
This
is one case where the backstory, production and restoration of a film is more
interesting than the film itself...
"Cinemiracle"
was a format similar to Cinerama, utilizing three projectors to
present a single image on a giant curved screen. Windjammer: The
Voyage of the Christian Radich ended up being the only film
produced in this format. Cinerama later bought Cinemiracle and pretty much
ended that rivalry before it started. Afterwards, Windjammer re-releases were formatted to Cinerama.
As
for the movie, Windjammer is a documentary that
chronicles the training voyage of a crew of young boys onboard the
Norwegian sailing ship, the Christian Radich. It's a very long trip -
as is the film - with numerous stops in various ports like Madeira,
the Caribbean and New York, where we follow the crew as they take in
the sights and frolic with the natives (including Arthur Fiedler).
Time to stash the bodies.
This
was undoubtedly pretty amazing on the massive screens it was intended
for, and the Blu-Ray restoration - including the "Smilebox"
presentation - is as close to that experience as you can get. If
nothing else, the film looks and sounds wonderful. But at home, two-and-a-half hours of what's essentially a
travelogue can occasionally be an endurance test. The sailing sequences
definitely deliver the goods, but hanging out with this crew of bland, blond
Norwegian clones sometimes slows things to a crawl (though the goofy voice-over
narration offers some unintentional laughs).
While
Windjammer isn't Cinerama's best film, this is a
typically-loaded disc from Flicker Alley, with a batch of bonus
features that are arguably more engaging than the feature itself. Viewing these first might even increase the viewer's overall
enjoyment of the movie..or at least make them appreciate it more.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
"THE
WINDJAMMER VOYAGE: A CINEMIRACLE ADVENTURE" - Running
nearly an hour, this retrospective doc is the best of the bonuses.
"THE
RECONSTRUCTION OF WINDJAMMER"
BREAKDOWN
REEL - A film originally shown to keep audiences amused whenever one
of the projectors broke down.
"THE
CHRISTIAN RIDICH TODAY" - Yeah, the old ship is still around!
2
GALLERIES - One of production stills, the other of theaters that
showed the film.
TRAILER
SUPPLEMENTARY
BOOKLET - With an essay by Randy Gitsch
THE
VALACHI PAPERS - Starring Charles Bronson, Lino Ventura,
Jill Ireland. Directed by Terence Young. THE
STONE KILLER - Starring Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam,
David Sheiner, Norman Fell, Stuart Margolin, Paul Koslo, Ralph Waite.
Directed by Michael Winner. BREAKOUT- Starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall,
Randy Quaid, John Huston. Directed by Tom Gries. HARD
TIMES - Starring Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill
Ireland, Strother Martin. Directed by Walter Hill. (1972-1975/409 min).
As a child of the 70s, I
can't think of many better ways to spend a Saturday night than
binging on some Classic Bronson, which is not
the same as watching Charles Bronson classics (only Death Wish might
arguably qualify as both).
"Charles Bronson
classics" are those unquestionably iconic films we all love, like The Great
Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Once Upon a Time in the West, and
The Dirty Dozen, just to name a few. Great films all, and
Chuck is wonderful in them, though their greatness isn't necessarily
because of him. "Classic Bronson," on
the other hand, are those flicks he did in the 1970s. His tough guy
image well-established, Chuck could be counted on to crank out a few
action-oriented potboilers every year. Death Wish
notwithstanding, few of them were blockbusters or critical darlings,
but were usually profitable, economically made and didn't require
Bronson to stretch much as an actor.
Most importantly, they
were a lot of undemanding fun. This was the Charles Bronson I grew up
on, the Liam Neeson of my generation. Hence, this four film
collection doesn't contain any classics, but it's chock-full of
Classic Bronson. And unlike other Bronson collections -
like the crap he coughed-up with Cannon Films in the 80s - there
ain't a single pooch in the package.
Chuck learns where babies come from.
The 1972 mob movie, The
Valachi Papers, came out the same year as The Godfather,
but the similarities pretty much end there. Based on a true story,
Bronson plays the titular character, a lifelong mafioso who turns
state's evidence after he learns his don has put a
contract out on him. Valachi's life is chronicled through flashbacks,
and while the film in nowhere near as rich or nuanced as The
Godfather, what it lacks in artistry it makes up for with
violent sensationalism and pulpy action.
In The Stone Killer,
Bronson is a hard-ass cop investigating the public murder of a former
mob assassin. He's supported by a solid supporting cast, including
Martin Balsam as a mafia don who hires a batch of Vietnam veterans to
assassinate his current rivals...revenge for a mob hit that occurred
in 1931. The plot is sort-of convoluted and some of the dialogue is
decidedly un-PC by today's standards, but Chuck gets to shoot people
and drive his car through buildings.
On the set, Bronson has been known to 'breakout'...into song.
I remember seeing
Breakout in theaters, which was a slight change of pace for
Bronson at the time. He's given the chance to lighten up, even be
funny on occasion, as Nick Colton, a scruffy freelance pilot. Ann
Wagner (real-life wife Jill Ireland, who co-stars in three of the
four films in this set) hires Colton to free her husband (Robert
Duvall) from a Mexican prison. It's a bit more laid-back and
leisurely paced than the usual Bronson vehicle, but the final act is
piles-on the action we signed up for, punctuated by a character who's gloriously dispatched by an airplane propeller.
Finally, Hard Times
is the one film in the collection that arguably transcends the
Classic Bronson tag, and additional proof that director
Walter Hill once made good movies. Taking place during the Great
Depression, Bronson is a drifter who eeks out a living with his fists
(yay!) in illegal bare-knuckle boxing matches. He hooks up with slick
huckster "Speed" Weed (James Coburn), whose much better at
wheeling and dealing than he is at managing money. More of a
character study than an action film, this one features engaging
characters, fine performances all-around and authentic attention to
period detail.
Watching these old
chestnuts certainly takes me back, as they certainly will for a lot
of people. They're definitely representative of the era and hardly
masterpieces, but prime examples of Classic Bronson. This collection from
Mill Creek doesn't include any additional bells & whistles, but
it's a binge-worthy batch o' Bronson for your buck.
Starring
Louis Koo, Lam Ka Tung, Wu Yue, Chris Collins, Tony Jaa. Gordon Lam,
Hanna Chan. Directed by Wilson Yip. (2017/98 min).
AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
WELL
GO USA
Review
by Tiger Longtail😼
Paradox
is the third film in Wilson Yip's "SPL" franchise. The
first two are better known to American audiences as Kill Zone
and Kill Zone 2. Not that it really matters because none of
them are actually related to each other. Paradox features the
return of Wilson Yip (Ip Man) to the director's chair after skipping
the previous film.
Louis
Koo, Wu Yue and Tony Jaa are also back, but as different characters.
This time, Koo plays Lee, a widowed Hong Kong cop whose daughter goes
missing when she visits Pattaya. He and the detective assigned to the
case, Chui Kit (Wu Yue), suspect she's been abducted. Meanwhile, the
mayor has a heart attack and needs a transplant, which is arranged by
his assistant, Cheng (Gordon Lam), who enlists the services of Sacha
(Chris Collins). Sasha run an organization that sells organs on the black market. And guess
whose heart they want.
"Thumbs up, buddy!" "Back at ya, bro!"
Though
thematically similar, Paradox is an all-around much better
film than Kill Zone 2, which completely fell apart in the
final act. Here, the story grabs the viewer right away and doesn't
let go. This film trims the excess fat and breathlessly moves from
one action sequence to the next, with a lot of violent gunplay,
chases and, of course, close-quarters martial arts, the latter of
which features some creatively-ambitious choreography.
Louis Koo decides to dine & dash.
Among
the mayhem are interesting characters. It was a smart choice having
Louis Koo play the protagonist this time. Always an intense physical
actor, Koo also effectively balances the parental sensitivity and
protectiveness his character requires while snapping some limbs along the way. Tony Jaa's character feels like a gratuitous
shout-out to the last film, but Chui Kit makes a good "partner,"
whose own family becomes at-risk as they uncover the human
traffickers. As for their foes...Paradox gives us some
despicable bad guys that we can't wait to see die...as violently as
possible (Chris makes Sacha a deliciously hateful bastard).
Paradox
goes to some dark places in terms of tone and narrative, but that's
also part of what makes it far more engrossing than its predecessors.
Since the SPL films are all stand-alone stories anyway, there's no
need for the viewer to bring themselves up-to-speed. Paradox is
consistently intense, exciting and well-worth checking out by action
fans.
Everyone who loves the visual & sonic eye candy of today's blockbusters probably owes ol' Fred Waller a tip of the hat.
Once
upon a time, television was the scourge of Hollywood, threatening the
studios' livelyhood by beaming moving images right into people's
living rooms...for free. Studios fought back the only way they knew
how, with technical advances that tiny black & white boxes simply
couldn't reproduce. This was when 3-D and widescreen came into
prominence, not-to-mention hucksters like William Castle peddling
such glorious gimmicks as "Emergo," "Percepto" and -
my favorite - "Coward's Corner."
Then
there was Cinerama, a technique developed by Fred Waller that
utilized three projectors to present a single image on a super-wide
curved screen. Depending on where you were seated, the result was as
close to a completely immersive experience as you could get, the picture
filling your entire field of vision. Cinerama wasn't without its
limitations. The way films were required to be shot was not
conducive to close-ups, which generally meant the process lent itself
best to documentaries.
However,
if it weren't for the visual and audio advances introduced by
Cinerama, chances are we wouldn't have eventually gotten CinemaScope, Todd-AO,
Panavision, 70mm, Dolby, THX, IMAX or HD, to say nothing of motion
simulator theme park rides and massive curved screen TVs. This is Cinerama was the world's first look at this technical milestone.
This is Cinerama re-release one-sheet.
This
is Cinerama is not-so-much a movie - or even a documentary - as
it is a promotional tool that was used to show people what they were
missing by being couch potatoes. And the public
responded by making it the highest grossing film of 1952.
It
goes without saying that watching the film at home is an entirely
different experience. No matter how big your TV is, This is
Cinerama is simply not going to look or sound as
impressive as it did on all those super-screens popping up in the
1950s. It helps, of course, if one remains aware of Cinerama's
impact at the time. From a historical perspective, this is
one of the most important films ever made.
That
doesn't always make it interesting. In fact, after the iconic opening
scene - a rollercoaster ride from the view of the lead car - the first half is kind-of meandering as it moves
from one location to the next - mostly in Europe - capturing operas,
bullfights, dancers and a humorously out-of-place performance by the
Vienna Boys Choir. But after a brief intermission (this disc retains
the film's original roadshow presentation) interest picks up
significantly as the film returns to the wonders in its own
backyard, such as a water-skiing show in Florida and, most
impressively, a coast-to-coast aerial tour of the United States.
Smile!
Aesthetically,
This is Cinerama is a bit dated, with some of the human subjects looking like they just stepped out of a Devo album cover.
However, even six decades later, some of the imagery remains colorful and visually
jaw-dropping. The film has been released on Blu-Ray before. This
time, however, it's been restored using the original three-panel
negatives, meaning the frame overlaps are clearly visible. But they were always noticeable in every Cinerama film back then, and seeing them
here is part of the disc's charm. That, coupled with the "Smilebox"
presentation (simulating the old curved screens) and outstanding audio
make this disc the closest thing possible to the original theater
experience.
Flicker
Alley has also included a bunch of informative bonus
features that are just as entertaining as the movie itself, maybe even
more so for passionate cinephiles.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
"THE
BEST IN THE BIZ" - This is
an hour-long retrosoective dicumentary focusing on many of the
composers who score various Cinerama films.
"RESTORING
THIS IS CINERAMA" - An
extremely detailed summary of how this new restoration was
accomplished, narrated by Dave Strohmaier, by one of the guys in
charge.
ALTERNATE
OPENING TO ACT II OF THE EUROPEAN VERSION - This
has not been restored, which helps demonstrate how good the new
restoration of the film itself really is.
"CINERAMA
EVERYWHERE: French-made short
"CINERAMA!
AT THE NEW NEON" - This my
favorite extra, a short about a theater in Ohio who began reviving
Cinerama movies after a guy named John Harvey built himself a
Cinerama projection system in his home.
RADIO
INTERVIEW - With Fred Waller
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - By John Sittig (of
Cinerama Inc), Dave Strohmaier, Randy
Gitsch (historian & producer from The Cinerama Restoration Team)
and Jim Morrison (an original crew member).
2002
TRAILER - Made for the 50th Anniversary showing at the Cinerama
Dome.
"BREAKDOWN
REEL" - This film was
shown to audiences whenever there were one of the reels broke
(featuring Narrator/Co-porducer LowellThomas).
TV
SPOTS
BOOKLET
INSERT - With
an essay by Randy Gitsch (Producer from The Cinerama Restoration
Team).
Available Digitally in HD, 4K Ultra HD™ and Movies Anywhere on May 8 and
on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, DVD and On-Demand on May 15.
THE WOMEN OF WAKANDA
PRESS RELEASE: The in-home release of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther is packed with bonus material including deleted scenes, outtakes and
never-before-seen featurettes. The highly-celebrated story of a young
African prince named T’Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman) has thrilled
and inspired generations of moviegoers around the world, and dominated
box office charts. Black Panther be
To
celebrate the in-home launch of the mighty Marvel movie, we chat to the
cast and crew about the women of Wakanda, which is the subject of one
of the exclusive bonus features: The Warriors Within. Look no further if you want to get to know Wakanda’s women and the amazing actors who portray them…
LUPITA NYONG’O [NAKIA]
“I love the way Black Panther
represents women. Each and every one of us [in the movie] is an
individual. We all have our own sense of power and we hold our own space
without being pitted against each other. I think that’s a very, very
powerful message to send to children – both male and female.
“In Black Panther,
we see women going about their business and supporting each other. They
argue with each other and have different points of view, but they are
not pitted against each other and I think that’s extremely important. In
doing this, audiences can get a sense of the fabric of Wakanda as a
nation, where we see women alongside men and we see how much more
effective a society can be if they allow women to explore their full
potential.
“Cinema
has the potential to show us who we’ve been, who we are, and who we
could be – and Wakanda is an example of who we could be. This is a
nation that has been allowed to self-determine because it has avoided
the interruption that colonialism was; that assault on a culture and the
imposition of a new culture on another. It has figured out how to
develop on its own terms. And with that development, it seems they have
figured out how to allow their citizens to realize their fullest
potential, which means that women can hold their power and not
compromise or jeopardize the man’s power. In Wakanda, a woman can assume
her own power – but she can also stand with and in support of the man
at her side.
“We
can see that with the character of Black Panther, who is this
all-powerful, vibranium-wearing guy who has Okoye [played by Danai
Gurira] by his side. He also has a confidant in my character, Nakia.
She’s someone that he can listen to and consider on a level plain. I
think that’s really cool to see. I love the way that you get to see it
unapologetic and unexplained; it’s just the way it is in a country
you’ve never visited before. I feel like this gives you a glimpse as to
what is possible in the real world.”
DANAI GURIRA [OKOYE]
“When [Black Panther
director and co-writer] Ryan Coogler sat me down and talked to me about
his vision for the movie, the story, the characters – and the women – I
was floored because you don’t get to hear stories like this very often.
It’s not often that you sit down and hear that type of a vision. It was
amazing.
“There
are so many great things I could say about how Ryan developed the women
characters in the movie. I feel really blessed and excited by the fact
he allowed us to collaborate, too. I love the fact that these women from
the continent are very developed and very complex. I remember thinking,
‘Wow, this is something else. I just want to watch it, but now I also
get to be in it.’
“I
was immediately drawn to the idea of the Dora Milaje [an all-female,
special forces security team]. I loved the concept of them, but it was
incredible to see them come to life [during pre-production]. I started
to train with all these astounding women and then we all started to get
our heads shaved for the movie. I was the first to have it done, but
then all the girls started coming in with no hair. One-by-one, we’d all
been balded – but we were united together. That’s when our pride started
to grow. We all started to embrace this symbol of power in these women.
“I
love the moment in the movie where Okoye doesn’t want a wig. She
doesn’t want to cover up her head. This is her joy and her pride, so she
wants to walk in there with her bald head and that tattoo. I thought
that moment was so subversive. It’s so subversive in the right way to
say that you don’t have to have hair to be beautiful.”
LETITIA WRIGHT [SHURI]
“I think it’s great to see so many strong women in Black Panther
because there’s a lack of them in cinema right now; especially black
female characters. All these female characters in the movie are really
well rounded, too. They are not just written one way. The women have a
lot of complexity. It was really refreshing to see and it’s inspiring to
be part of it, because it means a lot to me.
“I
also love the way that the men are always behind the women in Wakanda.
Nobody is undermined by the other sex. The men don’t stand around and
say, ‘Shuri, you shouldn’t be into technology and math.’ They’re like,
‘No, go ahead.’ T’Challa says, ‘Go ahead, Sis. This is your department.
This is your domain. Do your thing. Stay in your lane.’ I love that
that’s the mentality of the king. It’s brilliant. Everybody’s got their
own lane.
“I
love what Marvel has done with this movie. They are saying that women
are just as great as the men. It’s not one or the other. There’s a dope
balance.”
FOREST WHITAKER [ZURI]
“I
love the fact that there are many different types of strong women in
the movie. Not only are there these amazing women warriors who show the
world that women are powerful – but they have a warrior spirit to
conquer, as well as the ability to find the tools and strength to
navigate and win.
“The
power of motherhood is displayed by Angela Bassett’s character
[Ramonda] and the way she nurtures her children. She moves her son and
daughter forward, and she’s willing to do anything to make sure they are
well and right.
“Then
there’s Shuri, who shows everyone the technology of this world. She
illustrates the fact that women can be adept with technology and math;
the movie recognizes that attribute inside of women. These are very
powerful statements to the world.”
MICHAEL B. JORDAN [ERIK KILLMONGER]
“In
Wakanda, the matriarchs are the backbone and the foundation on which
the country is built on, and the men lean on their women for guidance
and strength. I think it’s extremely important for little girls and
women out there to see themselves represented in a positive, strong way
in film and television – and I think Wakanda does it really well. I
think Black Panther is amazing in that respect.
“There
are a lot of strong female characters in this movie. The fiercest
warriors are all women. The king’s private guard – the Dora Milaje – are
all women. That was something that [director and co-writer] Ryan
Coogler and [co-writer] Joe Robert Cole wanted to depict in the story.
“In
African culture, the women are the backbone of society and they have
such a positive influence on everyone. To not put a strong
representation of that into the film would be a crime because we wanted
to stay true to reality.
“We
have some very talented black women in this film, with Lupita Nyong’o,
Danai Gurira and Angela Bassett. It was incredible to work alongside
them – although I think the character of Shuri [played by Letitia
Wright] is my absolute favorite in the movie. I think Shuri is amazing.
She’s incredibly smart and witty, and her one-liners are awesome.”
Available Digitally in HD, 4K Ultra HD™ and Movies Anywhere on May 8 and
on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, DVD and On-Demand on May 15.
DIRECTOR AND CO-WRITER RYAN COOGLER
“When
you look at African culture, you’ll often see gender roles that are
different from the norm. You’ll find issues with gender dynamics in
African culture in the same way you do in other cultures, but you’ll
also find things that are different. Strong women and women’s influence
on culture and society is something that cannot be overlooked. That was
something that we really wanted to include in the movie, although it’s
something that was present in the Black Panther comics as well.
“T’Challa’s
mother, Ramonda, is a constant influence on his world. And T’Challa’s
relationship with his sister is one of the more unique relationships in
comic book films and action films. It was something that we looked at
because there’s no super hero with a little sister – but Shuri is
possibly the most important relationship in his life. That was something
that we really wanted to explore. And then you have the Dora Milaje,
who are these elite warriors in the country and it’s all women.
“This
film had involvement from brilliant women from start to finish. They
weren’t hired because they were women; they were hired because they were
the best people for the job. That includes our cinematographer, Rachel
Morrison; our costume designer, Ruth Carter; our production designer,
Hannah Beachler; and our assistant director, Lisa Satriano. In
post-production, the film was edited by Michael Shawver and Debbie
Berman, who is from South Africa. I was blessed to work alongside these
incredible women and to have their perspective and their fingerprints
all over the project.”
Starring
Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Beart, Marianne Denicourt,
David Bursztein, Gilles Arbona & Bernard Dufour's Hands (!).
Directed by Jacques Rivette. (1991/238 min).
Have
you ever shopped around on Amazon for something specific and taken a
look at the list of "similar products" they recommend?
When doing some preliminary info-gathering for La Belle Noiseuse,
Amazon's crack market-research team also suggested the following
titles: The Commuter, Laserblast, Jason Bourne, The Carol Burnett
Show and Evil Bong 666.
Unless
I somehow missed that sketch where Ms. Burnett strips nude and
contorts like a pretzel while Harvey Korman captures her essence on
canvas, The Carol Burnett Show has as much in common with La
Belle Noiseuse as my cat does with the national deficit. Then
again, off the top of my head, I can't think of a "similar
product" either, so maybe I should cut Amazon some slack.
One
thing is certain...I've never seen anything quite like this film. Granted, I'm unfamiliar with director Jacques Rivette's other work - though I'm pretty sure he had nothing to do with Evil Bong 666 - so maybe
the film's epic length, extremely-deliberate pace and a
near-absence of a traditional music score are indicative
of the guy's style. But three days after dedicating two entire evenings to
the film, I'm still not entirely sure what to think of it. I guess
the fact I'm still thinking about it is a big positive. I
couldn't say that about Jason Bourne, for which I didn't expend a second thought once it ended.
"For my next masterpiece, I shall paint dogs playing poker."
Edouard
Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) is an eccentric artist who hasn't
painted in a decade, ever since attempting what was to be his
singular masterpiece, La Belle Noiseusse, using his wife, Liz (Jane
Birkin), as his model. It's suggested that his failure not only
dissuaded him from picking up a brush again, but irrevocably changed his
relationship with Liz. Then an aspiring artist, Nicolas (David Bersztein), and his girlfriend, Marianne
(Emmanuelle Beart), arrive. Nicholas is initially enamored with the
reclusive artist and suggests using Marianne as his model to take
another shot at painting La Belle Noiseuse.
That's
the nutshell summary of a narrative that is sometimes ambiguous,
perplexing and - let's just go out and say it - arty and pretentious.
But that's not to say the film isn't interesting. In fact, it's often
quite fascinating, which is remarkable for a movie with a
running time longer than The Ten Commandments, much of it
consisting of long stretches of Frenhofer sketching Marianne in
various nude poses (many of which look painful). Their
interaction - which is silent a majority of the time - provides the crux of
the film. Being that Marianne initially doesn't want to do this,
their relationship is quietly adversarial at first, then congenial,
then personally revealing. But even their evolving relationship (and
its emotional impact on both Nicolas & Liz) takes a backseat to
the creative process. These scenes are shot in very long takes, in real
time, with sparse dialogue and no accompanying music...just the scratching of
pen to paper, charcoal & brush to canvas.
"Hey, lady...I eat at that table."
It
sounds boring as hell on paper, but even though there are admittedly
some occasions where one is tempted to hit the chapter skip button,
the artistic process is mostly pretty compelling. And if nothing else, one has to
admire Emmanuelle Beart's bravery. Hell, I get self-conscious
catching my own reflection in the mirror after hopping from the
shower, but in this four-hour film, Beart is fully nude for at-least
half of it. While she's strikingly beautiful and Rivette's camera
lingers on her body in equally long stretches, there is nothing
sexual or erotic about these scenes. In
fact, once the shock of her full-frontal form wears off, the nudity
becomes as normalized for the viewer as it does for Marianne. I found myself wondering
if it did for Emmanuelle, as well. If it didn't, then her
performance is all-the-more impressive. To act as though being
continuously nude is the most normal thing in the world...man, that's
Harvey Keitel-brave, if you ask me.
Its
visual frankness and challenging narrative obviously means La
Belle Noiseuse is not for everybody. Almost defiantly methodical
in its depiction of the creative process, the film is nevertheless
intriguing. That it manages to (mostly) maintain the viewer's interest for
four hours is quite a feat, especially when you consider the decidedly
uncinematic subject matter. I'll admit I didn't always understand the
motivations of these characters, but in the end, I don't think we
need to.
