Fury Road - Crash & Smash (No special effects)

link to video

Automated parking lot fights... they are too contrived for me

What movie cliché drives you crazy?...

> punches goon
> goon falls over
> that's enough of that guy, through to next room

People breaking through glass windows without getting a single scratch.

Turning the TV on and immediately seeing the relevant news report.

When the main character decides not to hurt the main villain of the movie, but is totally ok with slaughtering hundreds of their minions/workers

That last one reminds me of this Kevin Smith's first movie scene...

Lastly

Feedback whenever anyone approaches a microphone, then the sound is suddenly 100% perfect.

"'Me Before You' perpetuates idea that the disabled should consider suicide"

Chicago Tribune:  As press reports show, some people with disabilities have already begun to protest the new movie, "Me Before You," which opens Friday in the U.S. The primary objection concerns the essential plot point about which romantic partner's life counts for less, the young able-bodied woman's or the young and severely disabled man's. Guess who draws the short straw?

As a severely disabled man myself — I was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular weakness that renders me quadriplegic — I'm loath to give this movie any additional publicity. But the timing of the release could not be any more disturbing. Just a week after, on June 9, California's so-called Death with Dignity law takes effect. The repercussions of this ghoulish juxtaposition are positively frightening.

The law — styled after its predecessors in Oregon and Washington — permits physician-assisted suicide in the nation's most populous state, under strict regulatory controls. Nothing to worry about, supporters say. It applies only to those with terminal conditions who have been thoroughly evaluated by medical professionals.

I wish I could believe it. But all the safeguards in the world are nothing against the power of Hollywood to influence sentiments. (read more)

Inside Pixar Inside Out

Sanctuary!

link in case the video does play

That's the scene that always plays in my head when I hear "sanctuary city."

R.I.P. Maureen O'Hara.  You were lovely!

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"Refugee" -- a provocative tag at Lem's. What does he mean by putting it in quotes -- "refugee"?

The word is a two-layer etymology puzzle. The Germans call a refugee a Flüchtling -- a word in which the curious will see the diminutive ending -ling and the root Flucht or flight.

Our word refugee has the prefix re- meaning "back to" and a root based on the Latin verb fugere meaning "to flee" (think fugitive or centrifugal meaning center-fleeing).  But the verb also means to fly or to take flight: Tempus fugit

"Superhero movies are ruining cinema"

"William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director of The French Connection and The Exorcist, has dismissed the modern craze for superhero and sci-fi movies."

"Films used to be rooted in gravity. They were about real people doing real things,' the acclaimed filmmaker says. 'Today cinema is all about Batman, Superman, Iron Man: stuff I have no interest in seeing."

He believes that the chase by studios to appeal to the broadest audience possible is why his own films fell out of favour after the Seventies. "That is when my films went like that - out of the frame," added Friedkin.

He dates the change back to 1977 when he made what he considered his best movie - the largely ignored Sorcerer, starring Roy Scheider, about four men transporting a cargo of nitroglycerin in South America - only to see it eclipsed by Star Wars. "If I am remembered at all for anything, I hope it would be that,"

Christmas Dinner Redux

The one that never was.

link

How to top saying that it was John Huston's career-topping last movie?  The best of better films? A labor of love for a beloved writer?

My revision of that scene would be a metaphor for the old Althouse crowd. One by one they self-identify like guests at a dinner party that never really happened in real life.

The context was Irish -- as certain as Joyce was constrained to what he knew best. But, the theme is universal and cuts across literary media.

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Tomorrow is St. Nicholas' Day according to the Catholic calendar. Dutch and German children traditionally put out shoes this evening in hopes that St. Nicholas will fill them with treats and goodies.  In the following movie clip, a young Dutch girl sings about the "shoes." I couldn't find a single clip of the scene and so post them both for context. Edmund Gween won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1947) for this role.

The scene is rarely translated (at least when I've seen it, but I haven't seen it lately).

Kris: Hello! I'm glad you came.
Dutch Girl: Oh, you are Santa Claus!
Kris: But of course!
Dutch Girl: I knew, I knew for sure that you would understand!
Kris: Of course, just tell me what you would like to have from Sinterklaus.
Dutch Girl: Nothing, I already have a lot--I only want to be with this nice lady.
Kris: Will you sing a song for me? 

The video rudely cuts off here, but here's the rest, and a translation of the lyrics:

Sinterklaas kapoentje, 

Gooi wat in mijn schoentje, 

Gooi wat in mijn laarsje, 

Dank u, Sinterklaasje. 

Christmas capon,*

Throw something in my shoe,

Throw something in my boot,

Thank you, Sinterklaas.

'The Movie Inception Retold by Mom'

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I have to watch this every year at this time...the Halloween scene from "To Kill A Mockingbird."

Look how young Robert Duvall was:

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The scene doesn't frighten anymore, but 1925 filmgoers were shocked at Lon Chaney, Sr.'s on-screen visage. Visual images and stills were tightly controlled in those days, so most everyone only heard about the scene before seeing it.

The comment thread under that video got me to thinking. Excerpt:

Comment: I cant help but laugh at those old movies, their acting is so over-the-top! 

Reply: Back then, theatre (which was pretty over-the-top until Constantine Stanislavsky came along and explored naturalism in acting) was all anyone knew. Not only was the acting 'over-the-top,' the filming was very 'stagey.'

I had to google Constantine Stanislavsky and I learned something new.

Chaney's parents were both deaf-mutes and he grew up with sign language as his "mother tongue." He didn't even learn to speak until he was old enough for school, even though there was nothing wrong with his speech or hearing. Later, his mother fell ill and young Chaney was left to care for her after she lost the use of her hands. They communicated with facial expressions. That explains why Chaney was so unique as Hollywood's first character actor. He was a skilled make-up artist as well. But Chaney did not make the transition to "talkies" -- he died of a throat hemorrhage in 1929.
________________
[added] Here is the original trailer. Also, 15-year old Carla Laemmle had a minor role in the film and she's still alive at age 104!

[added] Sadly, she passed away ten days after I wrote this.

What The Hell Is Wrong With Old Men?

Commenter Lindyhop* asked:

Lindyhop said...
What the hell is wrong with old men? Why are they such insufferable pricks?
April 14, 2014 at 1:26 AM

My starting answer/offer is a Max von Sydow monologue from Woody Allen's "Hannah And Her Sisters" (You can listen to the clip/rant here, but I can't embed it).

You missed a very dull TV show on Auschwitz. More gruesome film clips, and more puzzled intellectuals declaring their mystification over the systematic murder of millions. The reason they can never answer the question ‘How could it possibly happen?’ is that it’s the wrong question. Given what people are, the question is ‘Why doesn’t it happen more often?’
You see the whole culture — Nazis, deodorant salesmen, wrestlers, beauty contests, talk shows. Can you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling? But the worst are the fundamentalist preachers. Third grade con men telling the poor suckers that watch them that they speak with Jesus, and to please send in money. Money, money, money! If Jesus came back and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.

Answer how a man can get like that, and you'll have your answer, Lindyhop.*
______________________
*Is that you, Inga?

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R.I.P., Mickey Rooney

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Cate Blanchette should have won an Oscar for her performance as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There" instead of her performance in "Blue Jasmine."

The clip is lengthy, but I really like the part around 5 minutes when Cate sticks a microphone into Mr. Jones' cage.

The subtitles look Finno-Ugric. Does anyone know for sure?

Squirrels, Rabbits, Blue Jays, and Mockingbirds

My favorite scene from an old classic:

 

The clip cuts off too soon and should have included how Calpurnia calls Scout into the kitchen and proceeds to give her a lecture on hospitality: Walter was a guest and therefore could do whatever he wanted to do. The absentee mothering that Calpurnia did was underplayed in the movie, IMO. Maybe it was too controversial/suggestive for movies in 1962?