MotionPicturesComics will be dark next week, as I head to Chicago to enjoy some New Years festivities.  

We’ll be back on Monday, January 5th, with new cartoons and lots more fun stuff.  I have a lot of movies and DVDs that I’ve seen recently that I can’t wait to tell you all about, and I’m also going to get in on the fun of putting together some “Best-Of” year-end lists of all the things I’ve seen and enjoyed in 2008.

There’s lots ahead for Motion Pictures in 2009, so thanks for being with us — and be sure to tell all your friends!

Have a great New Year, everyone.

I first saw this terrific German film a number of years ago, and for quite some time now I’d been eager to check it out again.  The copious amount of snow that fell this past weekend was as good a reason as any!

Released in 1999, the story of Run Lola Run is pretty simple:  Lola (Franka Potente) is a young woman who has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks, or something very bad will happen to her boyfriend Manni.  Through some great camerawork and a little visual trickery, we follow Lola as she makes a mad dash through the city streets in an effort to some-how, some-way, come up with the money.  

This is a film with a lot on its mind — particularly some deep questions about chance, fate, and destiny.  But with the exception of a bit of a pompous voice-over in the opening minutes, the film chooses to explore those issues through what is pretty much non-stop, pulse-pounding action.  As noted above, the camera-work is very sharp, getting the viewer viscerally involved in Lola’s run through the city without making one too nauseous, Blair Witch style.  The pulsing soundtrack helps, too, as do the occasional switches into frenetic animation.  The film is very well-edited, as all of the above is somehow mixed together into an energetic yet easy-to-follow whole.  Coming in at a lean 81 minutes, there’s not a moment of fat to be found here.  (In terms of pace,the short Run Lola Run is sort of the polar opposite if Once Upon a Time in America, which I reviewed yesterday!)  

The way the film plays with time is fascinating.  I won’t spoil any surprises, but there are some clever twists in the way the tale unfolds.  I also really love the fast-paced “and then” montages, in which the film will occasionally pause to show us, in a quick series of shots, the differing ways in which the lives of several of the people who Lola encounters might unfold, based on the vagaries of chance.  As I wrote above, this film has a lot on its mind.

All of this would fall down, of course, were Franka Potente not so compellingly winning as Lola.  Clever and resourceful, yet right on the edge of total desperation, this is a star-making role.  Potente has gone on to appear in the Bourne movies and The Shield, but I don’t know if she’s ever been better than she is here.

One final note:  Be sure to watch this film in the original German with subtitles, as opposed to the dreadful English over-dub!  You’ll thank me, believe me.

I love trolling the discount bins at Newbury Comics and other stores that sell DVDs, because you never know what sort of fun treasures you’ll find for very little money.

Case in point:  I recently came across Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America.  I had heard of this film but had never seen it, so I looked the DVD over.  An over three-hour gangster epic, starring Robert DeNiro and James Woods?  Sign me up!

Originally released in 1984, Leone’s sprawling tale covers about 50 years in the lives of a group of Jewish friends, from their days growing up on the streets on the Lower East Side, to their rise through the ranks of the New York City underworld to, of course, the eventual tragedies that usually end these sorts of crime stories.  The film was received poorly upon its release in the States, probably because the studio took Leone’s lengthy epic and severely truncated it — not only cutting out enormous swaths of footage but also removing Leone’s intricate narrative structure of flashbacks within flashbacks, and instead presenting the film linearly.  This DVD presents a restored version of Leone’s 229 minute cut (although the disc’s special features refer to extensive additional footage that Leone considered “essential” and yet was not included in this version).

Although he might portray the least convincing on-screen Jew since Elijah Wood in Everything is Illuminated (although that’s not a knock against Wood’s powerful performance in that vastly underrated movie!), Robert DeNiro creates a fascinating character in his portrayal of the man nicknamed Noodles.  Throughout his life, Noodles struggles to balance his sharp intelligence with his more violent impulses, and his ambition with his limited worldview.  Time after time, most of Noodles’ choices are defined in association with, and sometimes in contrast to, his close friend Max, played by James Woods.  From their very first meeting as kids, the two share a tight bond as well as a fierce rivalry, and much of the power of Once Upon a Time in America comes from the examination  of their relationship over the course of their lives.  

Just as New York City was a major character in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (about which I wrote yesterday) so too is the essence of New York  an important element in the tone of this film.  The gorgeous sets and locations, combined with Leone’s direction, create a compelling picture of old New York.  The film’s title puts one in the mind of a fairy tale, and perhaps this film’s picture of life in the Lower East Side has equal footing in both reality and fantasy.  (Having not lived there during the time-period of the… [continued]

My father recommended this film to me, years ago, and from the first time I watched it I knew right away that he was right on the money in declaring it to be a masterful work.

Made in 1974, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three stars Walter Matthau as New York City transit chief Lt. Garber, called upon to deal with the unprecedented hijkacking of a subway train (the titular Pelham One Two Three).  Robert Shaw leads the armed men who have perpetrated the heist and seem to have planned for every possible eventuality.  What follows is one of the great cinematic battle of wits, as Matthau’s Lt. Garber struggles to figure out just what the criminals’ goals are and how he can prevent what seems to be a perfectly planned crime.

There are a number of movies in which New York City figures in, almost as a main character, and The Taking of Pelham One Two is certainly one of the most notable.  In so many little ways, the film captures the feel and personality of the city.  It is a magical combination of the actors (both the large number of people with speaking parts as well as all the background players), the dialogue (and the accents with which the dialogue is spoken!), and the sets… along with that special something about the personality of 1970′s film stock that puts us right into the middle of the beating heart of New York.  Personality is a good word, because it is precisely by setting of this heist story in the specific locale of the New York City subway system that the movie gains its distinct personality.  I didn’t live in the city in the 1970′s, but after spending two hours with this movie I feel like I did.

Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that the film’s star is Walter Matthau.  His Lt. Garber is the quintessential New Yorker — world-weary and bedraggled, yet possessing of an incredible stubbornness that just won’t permit him to allow Robert Shaw to get the best of him.  Matthau is phenomenally compelling — a flawed man (he is shockingly rude and condescending to a group of Japanese visitors early in the film, and there is also an amusingly awkward encounter with an African American Police Inspector) and yet extraordinarily likable.  Equally compelling is Robert Shaw as Matthau’s opponent (referred to only as Mr. Blue). Mr. Blue is intense, intelligent, and very dangerous.  Watching his plan unfold step by step, the audience races along with Lt. Garber in trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three  isn’t a terribly well-known film from the ’70s, but it’s… [continued]

There is a lot of terrific comic book work being published these days. Last month I spent a lengthy post discussing Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. Allow me, today, to bring a few other high-quality series to your attention:

All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely – The idea behind DC Comics’s All-Star line was to allow today’s top creators to tell stories with the big DC heroes without worrying about current continuity issues. And so we have been blessed by this twelve-issue take on Superman (currently collected in two volumes) which manages to be retro (capturing a lot of the weirdness and silliness of Superman comics from the 50’s) and also very modern (in terms of the sophistication of the narrative). As a reader, you know you’re in for something special on the very first page of the very first issue, in which Morrison and Quitely manage to capture everything you need to know about Superman in four simple panels. As for the series’ story: Lex Luthor realizes that he’s getting older and so had better get serious about finally killing Superman. You’re best-off if I don’t tell you anything other than that, except that you should feel safe in the knowledge that, freed from the regular comics’ continuity and the need to leave all the toys in the same place that they found them, Morrison and Quitely are able to tell a story that involves real change for all the characters (no super-amnesia kiss to be found here) and that does not back away from the end that the first issue seems to be suggesting. In so doing, they are able to, at least for me, really get to the heart of the character of Superman. Brilliant work.

1985, by Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards – 1985 was a big year for Marvel Comics, with the publication of their huge inter-company cross-over, Secret Wars. I began collecting comics right around that time, and I was a Marvel zombie, so the feel and tone of the Marvel Comics adventure stories from those years really holds a powerful nostalgic allure for me. What does that have to do with this six-issue mini-series? That sensation of immersing oneself in the magical world of Marvel Comics in 1985 is something that Millar and Edwards really channel in this work, but I won’t spoil it by telling you exactly how. I will tell you that 1985 is set in the “real world.”

We are introduced to young Toby, a boy who hasn’t had the easiest childhood (parents divorced, etc.). Things start getting much worse for him when he sees a Marvel comics super-villain, The Red Skull, standing in the attic… [continued]

I love movies, and I am fascinated by politics, so it’s no surprise that I am always up for a good political movie.  And make no mistake, Ron Howard’s latest film, Frost/Nixon, is a very good political movie.

Adapted by Peter Morgan from his own play (which attracted notice in London in 2006 and on Broadway in 2007) and directed by Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon details the May, 1977 interviews of former president Richard M. Nixon by British TV personality David Frost.  

Right away the movie gains points in my book by allowing the two leads from the play to reprise their roles.  Michael Sheen, who came to many movie-goers’ attention (including my own) portraying Tony Blair in The Queen (also written by Peter Morgan), creates a compelling portrait of David Frost.  Sheen’s Frost is an intensely likable, charismatic man who has achieved great success but who we can see hungers for something more.  At first that is just his quest to nab the next Big Fish for an interview subject, but over the course of his efforts to make the Nixon interviews happen, we see that morph into a search for something a little more serious.  Then there is Frank Langella as Mr. Nixon.  Believe it or not, I first encountered Langella in a terrific three-episode guest-starring role in the second season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  His intense gaze and deep voice were gripping, and I was quite intrigued, subsequently searching out many of his other performances.  His films don’t always interest me but as an actor he seldom disappoints, embodying roles as disparate as Perry White in Superman Returns or William Paley in Good Night, and Good Luck.  Langella’s Nixon is the polar opposite of Sheen’s Frost in terms of appearance and temperament, but he is a powerhouse.  The moments when the full force of his personality break loose are an incredible thing to watch.

I was surprised and intrigued by  the way the film was structured as a faux documentary, continually cutting back to the actors, in their roles, being interviewed as we would expect to see in a real documentary.  I have not seen the original play, so I can’t speak to what changes or adjustments were made in crafting the film.  But as a film, it is compelling.  Frost/Nixon is a very talky movie, but that is not a weakness.  I am always enraptured by films that are able to create dramatic tension from simple conversations.  The pay-off in this film is not an action sequence or a stand-off with guns — it is when these two men finally sit down and talk.  

I should also mention the rest of the impeccably… [continued]

One of the first full-season-of-a-TV-show DVD sets that I ever purchased was Season 1 of The Larry Sanders Show, released back in 2003.

After having risen to prominence as a stand-up comedian in the 1970′s & 80’s, Garry Shandling became a fixture of late-night television as a regular guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.  In 1985 he created It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, which ran on Showtime through 1990.  (I have heard that It’s Garry Shandling’s Show is a magnificently bizarre, surreal adventure in television, although I have never seen a minute of it.  I live in hope of an eventual DVD release!) 

In 1992 Shandling created The Larry Sanders Show for HBO.  Sanders was a sharp satire of the world of late-night comedy which Shandling knew so well, and was notable for including various celebrities (actors, comedians, and musicians) in each episode, poking great amounts of fun at their public personas.  The show was also notable for its look, which mixed footage shot on video (the segments of the show which chronicled Larry Sanders’ late-night talk-show) with footage shot on film.  Nothing like this had ever been done for television before.

The comedy is powerful and brutal, and revels in awkward moments and painful situations.  (In this way it can be seen as a direct forerunner of the original British version of The Office.)  And yet, the beauty of the show is that you can’t help but fall in love with the show’s central trio: the neurotic Larry Sanders, the clue-less and self-absorbed side-kick Hank, and the fiercely loyal and astonishingly profane Artie, the show’s producer.  A great number of talented comedians and actors also did great work in supporting roles: Janeane Garofalo, Penny Johnson (Sherry Palmer on 24 and Kassidy Yates on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe on 24), Sarah Silverman, Bob Odenkirk, Scott Thompson, Wallace Langham, and many many others. 

I discovered The Larry Sanders Show fairly late in its run.  My parents taped many of the episodes of the last few seasons for me when I was away at college.  So I was thrilled when Season 1 was released, as I finally had a chance to watch the earlier episodes that I had never seen.  I quickly devoured the 13 episodes on the set, and waited patiently for the release of season 2.

And waited.

And waited.

No other season of The Larry Sanders Show has ever been released on DVD.  The information I have been able to find on-line seems to indicate that there is an issue with the exorbitant cost of licensing all the… [continued]

Among my very favorite DVD sets are Peter Jackson’s extended versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Being a fanatical LOTR fan, it is a delight to have longer versions of the films that incorporate action, character moments, and lots of other fun details drawn from the books.  The LOTR extended DVDs also boast some of the most comprehensive and enjoyable extras I have ever seen – detailed, feature-length documentaries that cover every aspect of the making of the films, from the casting to the production to the music to the editing to the guys who made the chain mail for all the elvish armor.  Just fantastic stuff, and it gives us a wonderful peek into the experiences of all the talented craftsmen and women who toiled on the LOTR films for over half a decade.

Because of that, and because I enjoyed Peter Jackson’s King Kong more than most, when the extended DVD set of King Kong was released over two years ago (in November, 2006), I of course picked it up right away.  However, for some reason, it subsequently sat unopened on my DVD shelf.  I’m not sure why that is.  Maybe it’s because the thought that a longer version of Kong was rather daunting?  As I wrote above, I really loved Jackson’s remake of Kong, but even I must admit that the film (clocking in at 187 minutes) was longer than it needed to be.  Even from the comfort of my own couch, the idea of pressing play on the 201 minute version was, I suppose, not something I was in a terrible hurry to do.

But I did finally sit down to watch the extended version of King Kong this weekend, and let me say I was delighted.  Unlike the Lord of the Rings extended editions, this is not a complete re-working of the film.  The changes are actually rather minimal, mostly consisting of a couple of additional hideous encounters on Skull Island.  If you didn’t like King Kong in its theatrical form, this new version isn’t going to change your mind.  But for me, watching Kong I right away remembered every reason why I had enjoyed the film so much when I saw it in theatres.

Anyone who knows anything about this Kong remake knows that it was Peter Jackson’s dream since he was 9 years old, and that love pores off of every frame of this film.  The movie is a fantasy, a fairy-tale of the best kind, and the terrific score and the sumptuous visuals right away sucked me in to the world of 1933 New York and the story being told. 

There is… [continued]

For the record, the dead Bond girls in today’s cartoon are (from left to right): Paris Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies, killed in her bed by the assassin Dr. Kaufman at the behest of her media mogul husband Elliot Carver; Miss Anders from The Man with the Golden Gun, shot by Scaramanga with the titular golden gun; Corinne DuFour from Moonraker, the personal assistant and pilot for the villainous Hugo Drax, hunted down by Drax’s vicious trained dogs; Aki from You Only Live Twice, killed when an assassin drips poison down a cord from the ceiling onto her lips (I hate when that happens); and of course the unfortunate Jill Masterson from Goldfinger, who might have the quickest sex-to-death time in all of the Bond movies as she suffocates after being painted gold from head-to-toe.  All of these lovely ladies befell their fate after (and as a direct consequence of) sleeping with our man 007.  Rough.

I first saw Citizen Kane in college, during a fantastic class called Film Architecture (one of the best classes I had in college).  I’ve seen it several times since then, and while I wouldn’t list Kane as my favorite film of all time, I certainly understand why many consider it to be the greatest film ever made.  It is a magnificent piece of work, and seeing Kane instantly made me an enormous fan of Orson Welles.  Last month I had the great pleasure to watch two Welles films on DVD, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Touch of Evil — Made in 1958, Touch of Evil was written and directed by Welles, and he has a major role as police Captain Hank Quinlan.  In the opening moments of the film, a man places a bomb in a car driving across the Mexican border into the United States.  When the bomb goes off on the U.S. side of the border, high-ranking Mexican narcotics official Ramon Miguel “Mike” Vargas (played by, believe it or not, Charlton Heston) and his young American wife (Janet Leigh) quickly get swept up in the investigation and a tangled web of dirty cops, drug dealers, and a lot of other nastiness.

Visually and technically, the film is a masterpiece.  The dynamic camerawork is astonishingly inventive for a film made 50 years ago.  The movie opens with one of the most famous shots in film history, a long tracking shot (3 minutes and 33 seconds) that starts with a bomb being placed in the trunk of a car and then follows the car’s slow drive down streets and across the border, paralleling Heston & Leigh’s walk across the border.  The camera constantly pulls in and out to follow both the car and the couple, making sure the viewer can follow exactly where they are in relation to one another, and charting their progress through a Mexican border-town and across the border.  The soundwork here is also magnificent, as we hear an interwoven stream of sound with the levels shifting from moment to moment, allowing us to catch snippets of music from the street, the car’s radio, and Heston and Leigh’s conversation as well as their interactions with various others such as a border guard they pass.  

Although that opening shot is the most famous, there is an even longer, more impressive uninterrupted sequence in the middle of the film, in which Welles is interrogating a young Mexican suspect.  Over the course of this shot we witness a lengthy interrogation, with characters moving around the house and coming in and out of various rooms.  The drama is so good that you might not realize the stunning camera work,… [continued]

I suppose I have high standards for the TV shows that I watch.  Is that a bad thing?  I don’t watch TV casually.  I don’t sit down and flip around to find something that looks interesting.  There are a bunch of shows that I watch, and I watch them religiously — every week, every episode.  That’s how I watch TV.

Why am I talking about this?

Well, I decided last week that I think I’m done with Heroes.

Much has been written in the past few months about the show’s creative decline.  Entertainment Weekly wrote a scathing cover story about the show’s woeful third season, and (possibly in response) two of the show’s head writers (co-executive producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander) were unceremoniously canned. 

I certainly agree that the third season has been dreadful.  But let’s be honest with ourselves — the show was never really that good to begin with.

I resisted watching Heroes throughout its entire smash-hit first season.  There was something about the show, from all that I had seen and read, that just seemed off to me.  I got the sense that the show’s creators were a little embarrassed that the show was about super-heroes.  Sort of the way J.J. Abrams seems to be trying to get non-Star Trek fans to go to his new Star Trek movie by proclaiming to everyone that he’s not a Star Trek fan, I read a lot of interviews and articles where the Heroes cast and crew kept saying, “come watch us, we’re not just about tights and spandex, we’re really a drama!” or “we’re really a character study!” or “we’re really a mystery!” or something else like that.  

But when the first season came out on DVD, after so many people I knew encouraged me to give it a try, I finally gave in.  And I must admit there was something there in that first year.  The show was silly and astoundingly derivative (of other movies, of other TV shows, and especially of LOTS of great comic book stories), but there was still a goodly amount of entertainment to be found.  I enjoyed the continuity — the cliffhangers that ended each episode were fun, and it was neat how the season really attempted to tell one long, interlocking story.  And the production values were, for the most part, pretty impressive for a weekly TV series.  We got to see a lot more super-hero action than I had expected.

But the holes started to show even towards the end of that season.  Much has been made of the first season finale, which many felt was anticlimactic after all that had been built up over the year.… [continued]