After a lengthy hold-out, I’ve galloped into the loving arms of Blu-Ray. It’s the right time to jump in, as the studios are (rather desperately) pushing the format hard, cutting prices across the board. You can pick up a player for around $150, with many library titles on sale for $10 (most new releases are set at $25). Starting in 2010, Warner Brothers will release every new theatrical release exclusively in “Blu-Ray combo packs”, which will contain the high-def disc along with the standard-def DVD (forcing consumers to buy the Blu-Ray and push them to upgrade). With HDTV prices finally starting to come down as well, Blu-Ray is finally a financially feasible option for cash-strapped cinephiles like myself.

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As my last post for the year 2009, I thought it might be fun to recount the last words of some of Hollywood’s illustrious, notorious, and even forgotten stars. And, I don’t mean their last spoken words, but the epitaphs on their gravestones. These are the thoughts, comments, and quips that they chose to be remembered by. Some seem to perfectly fit their star images, as befitting actors whose public personas were as important as their performances, while others are just plain odd. It makes me realize that all the good epitaphs are taken!

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By complete serendipity I revisited Heathers on the same weekend I saw Bobcat Goldthwait’s latest film: World’s Greatest Dad. It was downright eerie, because while watching the latter I couldn’t help but wonder if Goldthwait had purposefully set out to make a film that followed the Heathers mold. Both are dark comedies that use high school as a backdrop for story threads involving mean kids who die and become martyrs. Both films also fall into that strange wormhole where art mirrors an aspect of reality but then gets trumped by headlines that strip the art of its seeming innocuousness. READ MORE

At the annual BookExpo event in New York City last June, Fantagraphics Books had some of the most original and desirable soon-to-be-released titles in their Fall 2009 catalog but few seemed to attract the buzz of this inspired creation with its oversized VHS box design complete with slipcase and fetishised detail, right down to the FBI warning and reminder to “Keep out of direct sunlight.”       READ MORE

The great thing about Christmas is that it’s yours to do with whatever you like.  Some people just can’t abide the holidays and my heart goes out to them.  I understand.  I’m an atheist, a secular humanist, a realist, at times even a cynic.  I get how galling the prefab mirth and canned bonhomie can be to the disenfranchised, the bitter and the angry.  And yet I love Christmas and I wonder sometimes if the haters are just hating someone else’s idea of what the holiday should be.   Make the season your own, I say.  Personalize it. Brand it.  Instead of holly, deck them halls with red chili peppers!  Instead of eggnog, guzzle some Sprecher’s real ginger ale, an amber lager or a crisp Riesling!  And instead of that infernal Yule Log, fire up one of these babies… READ MORE

Noel Coward pointed out a long time ago that it was “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is”. I think that most of us have felt the same bittersweet pull of moments in popular films as well, even if we think we know better or believe we might be too jaded or sophisticated to acknowledge their power. While reading the heartfelt blog posted here by High Hurdler, I was admiring his economy of emotion and touching description of the unexpected impact of the minor motion picture Michael (1996-Nora Ephron) on him some years ago. As I read that piece, a light came on in that ramshackle house called my memory once more. Transported back to other Decembers over 25 years ago, a door opened on experiences similar to the one explored by my fellow Morlock.

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My lists for the top films of the year and of the decade have been posted over at Indiewire, so feel free to rush over there and criticize my choices in the comments back here. Only two English language films made my year-end roundup (The Informant! and Orphan), but there was a whole slew of valuable work churned out in the States that I’d like to recognize in this dusty corner of the internet. The lag time in distribution means that the finest in international cinema arrives in waves – the highlights of three years of festivals hit all at once (Aleksandr Sokurov’s The Sun took four years to reach theaters, for example).  I highlighted many of these on my list (go check out The Headless Woman, my topper, just out on DVD from Strand), but it necessitated knocking out a number of strong Hollywood films that were actually made in 2009. So, here’s my favorite local product:

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A friend and I have been mulling over cinematic portrayals of real-life historical figures, stars, and celebrities. We’re not particularly interested in historical or biographical accuracy but in which famous figures are most often depicted in the movies and by whom. Just as I was thinking about how to turn this idea into a blog post, along came Me and Orson Welles, which is director Richard Linklater’s new movie about the legendary boy genius before he came to Hollywood. Me and Orson Welles inspired me to think further about the use of real-life figures as characters in fictional films and prompted me to uncover other cinematic portraits of the great director.

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The nature of art is that it produces an emotional response, sometimes it’s loud and obvious but more often than not it’s muted and internalized.  If an art form resonates or touches us in a meaningful way, it’s likely to create a memory of the time when we first experienced it.  As such, we might associate a particular song or movie with a person we once knew – e.g. a popular tune or film from when we were dating a certain someone – such that hearing or seeing it again will provoke a nostalgic feeling of a time gone by, or of an acquaintance lost.  I’ve also found that many of the more powerful epic films that I’ve experienced can imprint themselves permanently into my consciousness.  Additionally, movies watched when I’ve been emotionally vulnerable have a stickiness factor within my heart and mind.
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