There's a Little Muriel in All of Us: Nov 12-18, 2011

The ever-prolific Simon Abrams wrote up a bunch of John Sayles movies, Poetry, two by Francesco Rosi, 3D Sex and Zen, a mess of late-summer releases, Suddenly, Life During Wartime, Attack the Block, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and a roundup of the week’s new DVDs. He also podcasted the history of Captain America on film with fellow Muriels voter Steve Carlson, just for the hell of it. Would you like to know more?

Danny Baldwin reviewed Into the Abyss and Bellflower.

Sean Burns sort of enjoyed The Descendants and sort of wanted to rip his face off during Jack and Jill.

Jim Emerson examined Pauline Kael and the intersection between cinematic technique and criticism.

Kenji Fujishima offered up a Vertigo homage from his own life and consumed.

Glenn Heath closed out his coverage of AFI Fest and took a look back at Man of the West and What Happened Was…

Craig Kennedy reviewed The Descendants, interviewed Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, shared the Oscar doc shortlist, forecasted this weekend, posted some clips from the new Woody Allen documentary, and a whole lot more.

Michael Lieberman continued to report from the Occupy Wall Street front lines.

Uncle Crizzle interviewed experimental filmmaker Tom Whiteside and posted a bunch of other must-see stuff on his Tumblr.

Matt Lotti posted a slew of new reviews, complete with a new starlet photo to grace his front page. Find out who here!

Lucas McNelly submitted dispatches on the first two days of This Is Ours.

Phil Nugent contributed like a champ at the AV Club.

Scott Von Doviak recapped The Amazing Race.

Bryan Whitefield posted some thoughts on Moneyball and the art of the obsolete.

Alison Willmore reviewed Breaking Dawn, Another Happy Day, Tomboy, Rid of Me, and In Heaven, Underground.

Finally, here’s a fascinating video Bryan Whitefield shared called The Influencers:

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Additionally, Jim Emerson shared a cool new video for Bad Lip Reading’s “Russian Unicorn”, a write-up of which he did here (http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2011/11/we_could_shoot_a_russian_unico.html):



And courtesy of Craig Kennedy, a highlight reel of the career of Saul Bass by Art of the Title editor Ian Albinson:

The Title Design of Saul Bass from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

Oh, what the hell… Chris Devlin posted a trailer for From the Back of the Room, a doc about women in punk that could potentially be pretty awesome. Check it out:

All the Muriels That's Fit to Print: Nov 9-11, 2011

Simon Abrams took on Topsy-Turvy, Tekken, A Time for Killing, Forbidden Zone, The Blade, and a new frontrunner for the worst of 2011. Additionally, he offered up a George Peppard twofer, two July releases beginning with “h”, and a trio of films by Stuart Gordon. Hey bud, where’s Stuck?

Danny Baldwin posted some thoughts on the final Harry Potter adventure.

Sean Burns went nuts for Melancholia, but didn’t have many kind words for J. Edgar.

Steve Carlson showed off part of his DVD collection. Wait, that’s the Antichrist movie you own???

Dennis Cozzalio wandered down Nightmare Alley. No relation to Jason, I’m guessing?

Chris Devlin tried to get us into Sex Church.

Kenji Fujishima spotlighted some shorts about Japan and shared a lovely afternoon with us- on video, that is.

Glenn Heath reported about five titles from AFI Fest.

Craig Kennedy interviewed Werner Herzog. Oh, and he did some other stuff that was pretty good but didn’t involve, y’know, interviewing Werner Herzog.

Uncle Crizzle stuck it to the Ratner and chatted up a local gal gone Rockette.

Phil Nugent chimed in on the Joe Paterno clustertiff and the defeat of Russell Pearce.

Alison Willmore podcasted about “anti-romances”, and reviewed Immortals, London Boulevard, 11-11-11, and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. Oh, and she saw Jack and Jill and lived to tell the tale!!

Finally, if Philip Tatler can post Muriels FYCs here, so can I. I caught up with Take Shelter today, and it’s every bit the movie Jeff Nichols’ last film Shotgun Stories was and then some. Michael Shannon obviously excels at playing crazy, but he digs even deeper than usual here, playing a character who just wants to do right even if he isn’t on the same wavelength as the rest of the world. Also, Jessica Chastain’s gotta win something this year, right? Like, either breakthrough or body of work? Anyway, the trailer:



Oh, and I also found out the truth about Eddie Murphy stepping down from the Oscar gig. Supposedly he wants us to believe he resigned in solidarity with his pal Ratner, but the truth is that once Brian Grazer stepped into the producer role, he informed Eddie that he would not longer be performing this on the show:



So now you know.

This Is This: November 6th-8th, 2011

Late again! Oy. Never enough time. Let's get this knocked out.

- Simon Abrams posted capsules on a Mike Hammer film, an amazing-sounding ninja flick and a cat man.

- Danny Baldwin caught some films at the AFI Fest.

- Chuck Bowen reviewed The Love We Make and the awesome new disc of the awesome Island of Lost Souls.

- Kenji Fujishima tipped his cap to the New York City Marathon runners and updated us on his artistic consumption.

- Glenn Heath fell hard for This Is Not a Film and big-upped Bronson.

- Daniel Johnson wasn't keen on Tower Heist.

- It's all gone Haywire for AFI Fest-goer Craig Kennedy - follow the progress from announcement to review to post-screening Q&A. Also: A trailer for Corman's World and quotes from The Graduate and a pair of Scorsese works.

- Adam Lemke went nuts for an early Mike Leigh film.

- Michael Lieberman offered a pointed quote from Pier Paolo Pasolini.

- Craig Lindsey is right about Christina Hendricks.

- Lucas McNelly needs your help! (Also, there's an update on his latest stop.)

- Phil Nugent weighed in on Herman Cain's shenanigans.

Today's video: Courtesy of Craig Kennedy (of course!), a small taste of the feast of deleted scenes on the new Blue Velvet Blu-Ray disc (a.k.a. the release that might get me to buy a Blu-Ray player).

This week in Muriel: 29 Oct through 5 Nov, 2011

Simon Abrams was up to his old tricks again, spotlighting his favorites from the NY Asian Film Festival, three old-school women-in-prison movies, the summer’s biggest anthropomorphic car movies, Herzog’s cave paintings movie, a slug-it-out noir favorite, that Conan O’Brien documentary, and a couple of horror flicks just in time for Halloween. And somehow along the way he found time for a 24-hour movie marathon, which are always awesome.

Andrew Bemis rounded out his list of scarifying greats with ol’ Knife-Hands, an otherworldly baddie who could be any one of us, the poster boy for acupuncture, the archetypal chainsaw-wielding psycho, The Shape, and finally a perfect organism.

Sean Burns shrugged off Tower Heist, recommended Hell and Back Again, and had strong words for Like Crazy.

Demon Dennis Cozzalio submitted to the Dr. Phibes treatment, offered up some thoughts on Pauline Kael, and looked back at Eyes Without a Face.

Chris Devlin’s horror challenge ramped up with viewings of Carnival of Souls and Jeepers Creepers. He also shared a selection from the latest album by Swedish black metal faves Croft.

Jim Emerson examined our cultural fascination with zombies.

James Frazier wasn’t thrilled by Footloose 2011.

Kenji Fujishima reviewed two Doc NYC selections, posted a video from his trip to the Bay Area, and consumed.

Glenn Heath began his dispatches from AFI Fest with a pan of Eastwood’s J. Edgar, interviewed Harold without Kumar, wrapped up the SD Asian Film Festival, and reviewed Martha Marcy May Marlene, In Time, Dragonslayer, and Event Horizon.

This week in Craig Kennedy: a preview of AFI Fest, an interview with Green director Sophia Takal, a review of The Other F Word, some good news about Terrence Malick and the acclaimed doc Where Soldiers Come From, the kickoff to a monthlong tribute to the work of Martin Scorsese, birthday quotes for Art Garfunkel and Charles Bronson, the last of the Halloween quotes, the trailer for We Need to Talk About Kevin, and of course the Weekend Forecast.

Adam Lemke finished off his Halloween Horror Challenge and awarded the Magic Pumpkin to…

Michael Lieberman offered up some forthcoming proof. Of what, you ask? Better ask Mike.

Uncle Crizzle talked up Iron Man’s upcoming assault on the Triangle and gave props to Anthony David. Also, hey look Christina Hendricks!

Lucas McNelly gave his blessing to some fellow Year-Without-Rent-ers, and logs two more days on The Stagg Do.

Phil Nugent co-wrote a list of the top 50 cult movies of all time, ran down some of the highlights and lowlights of the fall TV lineup, posted some brief-ish movie reviews, examined the recent piling-on of Elizabeth Warren, and contributed over at the AV Club.

Mark Pfeiffer had some burning questions of relevance to the TIFF rookie. So burning, in fact, that he still wants to know the answers almost two months after he attended.

Scott Von Doviak reviewed Zombie Apocalypse.

Bryan Whitefield recapped his fall listening and didn’t much care for Cold Weather. Um, bud? Did you see the same movie I did?

Alison Willmore reviewed 5 Star Day and The Other F Word.

Finally, I know Halloween has already come and gone, but it’s never too late to settle in for a good scare. So here’s your old pal Count Floyd to introduce a classic of the genre, the one and only Whispers of the Wolf: