UPDATE TIME!
I have to do this super-fast as deadlines are breathing down my neck like a fatman in a packed subway car:
- Posting powerhouse Simon Abrams has the usual glut of material on the webs. He's updated his own blog, Extended Cut, reviewed another cartoon for the AV Club, written a nice think piece on Guillermo del Toro's efforts as a producer/presenter, interviewed del Toro for Vulture, reviewed a brace of new releases for Wide Screen, talked about Lee Chang-Dong's Poetry for Fandor, threatened the safety of our souls with another Bad Idea Podcast (an endeavor co-piloted by Steve Carlson), and - finally - hated on the new Conan. Per his Facebook status, he's also "just ate (his) penultimate home-grown jalapeno." So Simon's a busy bee/beaver/whatever.
Lest this be an all-Simon, all-the-time affair, it's worth noting the following:
- Jason Alley liked 30 Minutes or Less, Fright Night, and that Apes movie equally.
- Ali Arikan's inaugural installment of Nobody's Business But The Turks, a column for Indiewire's Press Play, focused on the Apes as well.
- Danny Baldwin encapsulated Griff the Invisible and Senna.
- Sean Burns barely gave Fright Night a passing grade.
- Chris Devlin linked to a Schlitz Malt Liquor advertisement featuring Shaft and Huggy Bear (don't miss this).
- Dennis Cozzalio revisited his hometown movie palace.
- Ari Dassa has posted a teaser trailer for his forthcoming documentary, The Israeli Dancer.
- Jim Emerson weighed in on Sean Penn's Tree-pissing and commented on the much-ballyhooed Press Play "Chaos Cinema" piece which I refuse to link to.
- James Frazier liked One Day.
- Kenji Fujishima updated his ever-charming Artistic Consumption index.
- Craig Kennedy writes a love note to Los Angeles and participates in a podcast wherein The Help and the best movies of the summer are discussed (and I'm pretty sure those two subjects don't intersect).
- Uncle Crizzle has been almost Abrams-busy: he reviewed a Jill Scott concert, learned about white people with the Hold Steady, took a look at a pair of early Spielberg features, and -- in a great piece over at indieWIRE -- asked "just what is a 'nigga movie'"?
- Phil Nugent contributed with wild abandon to the AV Club, adding to their Katrina and songs-about-disease Inventories, reviewing episodes of Top Gear, Leverage, and Homicide: Life on the Streets and tackling the 2011 MTV Video Awards.
- Lucas McNelly continued his Year Without Rent.
- Mark Pfeiffer is gearing up for Toronto 2011.
- and, alphabetically last but first in the hearts of her countrymen, Alison Willmore reviewed The Caller and Special Treatment for the AV Club and co-starred with her former IFC colleague Matt Singer on the Filmspotting podcast, chatting about their favorite haunted house films.
If I may highlight two pieces that were too old to make the last update:
- Daniel Getahun's 300 Words About Steve James' Stevie, an extremely overlooked doc that needs to be seen by all of you.
- My own take on the Criterion disc of Polanski's Cul-de-Sac because what's in it for me if I don't shamelessly plug my own e-scribbles?
While people are yammering about "Chaos Cinema" (a postulate that excites me about as much as the "Pool Movie"), here's some beautiful chaos, courtesy of Stan Brakhage. It's 1994's Black Ice and contains multitudes in its two minutes:
I have to do this super-fast as deadlines are breathing down my neck like a fatman in a packed subway car:
- Posting powerhouse Simon Abrams has the usual glut of material on the webs. He's updated his own blog, Extended Cut, reviewed another cartoon for the AV Club, written a nice think piece on Guillermo del Toro's efforts as a producer/presenter, interviewed del Toro for Vulture, reviewed a brace of new releases for Wide Screen, talked about Lee Chang-Dong's Poetry for Fandor, threatened the safety of our souls with another Bad Idea Podcast (an endeavor co-piloted by Steve Carlson), and - finally - hated on the new Conan. Per his Facebook status, he's also "just ate (his) penultimate home-grown jalapeno." So Simon's a busy bee/beaver/whatever.
Lest this be an all-Simon, all-the-time affair, it's worth noting the following:
- Jason Alley liked 30 Minutes or Less, Fright Night, and that Apes movie equally.
- Ali Arikan's inaugural installment of Nobody's Business But The Turks, a column for Indiewire's Press Play, focused on the Apes as well.
- Danny Baldwin encapsulated Griff the Invisible and Senna.
- Sean Burns barely gave Fright Night a passing grade.
- Chris Devlin linked to a Schlitz Malt Liquor advertisement featuring Shaft and Huggy Bear (don't miss this).
- Dennis Cozzalio revisited his hometown movie palace.
- Ari Dassa has posted a teaser trailer for his forthcoming documentary, The Israeli Dancer.
- Jim Emerson weighed in on Sean Penn's Tree-pissing and commented on the much-ballyhooed Press Play "Chaos Cinema" piece which I refuse to link to.
- James Frazier liked One Day.
- Kenji Fujishima updated his ever-charming Artistic Consumption index.
- Craig Kennedy writes a love note to Los Angeles and participates in a podcast wherein The Help and the best movies of the summer are discussed (and I'm pretty sure those two subjects don't intersect).
- Uncle Crizzle has been almost Abrams-busy: he reviewed a Jill Scott concert, learned about white people with the Hold Steady, took a look at a pair of early Spielberg features, and -- in a great piece over at indieWIRE -- asked "just what is a 'nigga movie'"?
- Phil Nugent contributed with wild abandon to the AV Club, adding to their Katrina and songs-about-disease Inventories, reviewing episodes of Top Gear, Leverage, and Homicide: Life on the Streets and tackling the 2011 MTV Video Awards.
- Lucas McNelly continued his Year Without Rent.
- Mark Pfeiffer is gearing up for Toronto 2011.
- and, alphabetically last but first in the hearts of her countrymen, Alison Willmore reviewed The Caller and Special Treatment for the AV Club and co-starred with her former IFC colleague Matt Singer on the Filmspotting podcast, chatting about their favorite haunted house films.
If I may highlight two pieces that were too old to make the last update:
- Daniel Getahun's 300 Words About Steve James' Stevie, an extremely overlooked doc that needs to be seen by all of you.
- My own take on the Criterion disc of Polanski's Cul-de-Sac because what's in it for me if I don't shamelessly plug my own e-scribbles?
While people are yammering about "Chaos Cinema" (a postulate that excites me about as much as the "Pool Movie"), here's some beautiful chaos, courtesy of Stan Brakhage. It's 1994's Black Ice and contains multitudes in its two minutes:
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Jean Vigo's ENTIRE filmography to watch before I retire for the evening.
EXTRA CREDIT: Should anyone want to weigh in in the combox: now that we're two-thirds through 2011, what are the must-sees of the year? Particularly the hidden gems?
