Rubicon3

Upcoming Star Trek Movie

First cast photos.

Exodus Part One

In honor of Paul Newman

Part 2

Part 3

They Simply Must...

...make the movie "A New Leaf" (1971), starring Walter Matthau and Elaine May, available on DVD.  It is a very funny movie - Matthau at his best as an old fashioned playboy who runs out of money and decides to marry a wealthy woman and then do away with her. He finds Elaine May, a nerdy horticulturalist.  Their comedic chemistry was stellar!  I laughed til I cried when I saw it and as one of the reviewers on IMDb remarked, even the second time around it's funny in anticipation of what you know is going to happen.

It's a crying shame it's not available on DVD.  I check for it every few months, but no luck.

A summary from Amazon:

Elaine May wrote, directed, and starred in this acidic comedy about a wealthy playboy (Walter Matthau) who discovers that he has nearly spent all of his fortune. Casting about for a solution to his money problems that won't actually involve work, he finds a desperate solution: He'll marry an heiress (May) for her fortune. The hitch: She's a social maladept ("The woman is feral," Matthau growls). Indeed, Matthau finds marriage so intolerable that he decides there's only one course of action, which is to actively pursue making himself a widower by bumping her off. An offbeat, funny, and dry film, with a wonderfully misanthropic performance by Matthau and a sharply drawn one by May.

Some reviews from Amazon and IMDb:

This comedy performance by Walter Matthou ranks with his best work, such as in The Odd Couple, Sunshine Boys etc. Unfortunately, not as many people have seen it, as this movie is a little-known gem.

I saw it as a second feature and almost missed it as I had never heard or read anything about it. We stayed, and laughed so hard I looked for it for years and told people about this odd film no one knows about.

Thank God cable aired it and it became available on VHS so I could recommend it to friends. The movie is simply hilarious.

Matthau is an arrogant, cultured, vain, selfish and rich snob suddenly finding himself penniless. His only salvation is to marry a rich woman and he finds the perfect target in the introverted and socially inept heiress/botanist played by Elaine May.

Matthau, dreading this intrusion into his perfectly ordered bachelor existence, decides murder of this ditz-of-all-time is the answer to all his problems. But, that is just the beginning to a very funny and ultimately touching story.

There are some of the best written and performed comedy bits in this film that I've ever seen. Starting with William Redfield as an accountant trying to explain to a willfully uncomprehending Matthau that he's broke; James Coco as Matthau's detested uncle extorting him over breakfast; Jack Weston as May's conniving and crooked lawyer/boyfriend; Matthau proposing to May while kneeling on broken glass; the wedding with May being given away by a blubbering Weston; the Honeymoon and the toga nightgown; May's disasterous household of thieving servants; and so on.

Special mention must go to George Rose who plays Matthau's valet and all-purpose manservant. He is superb in his dry, clipped delivery while conveying the man's undelying wisdom and empathy.

Okay, the ending may seem tacked on or otherwise not perfect but you can say that about The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and quite a few other classic comedies. I won't take so much as 1/2 star off for that. This is a Classic American comedy and should be seen by everyone. Don't miss it. And please, someone, preserve it forever by putting it on DVD!

**********

Every now and then you stumble across a film that has been forgotten, or just ignored, and for the life of you, you can't figure out why. "A New Leaf" is such a film. Seeing this wonderful comedy for the first time was the movie-watching equivalent of discovering buried treasure.

One of the marks of an excellent comedy is one that you can watch a number of times and still laugh involuntarily even though you know what is coming. The performances of Matthau and May, as well as the supporting cast are that priceless.

So many funny and memorable scenes, but a couple of my favorites are: the meeting between Henry Graham (Matthau) and his accountant Beckett (Redfield) as Beckett tries to contain his frustration and explain to Matthau that his money is gone ("perfect"); and the scene where Graham crawls to his rich uncle (James Coco) to ask to borrow money while the uncle is favoring an electric pepper mill during his lavish meal (the expressions on Matthau's face are exquisite).

A delightful, black romantic comedy that somehow manages to be very light, and as a bonus even subtly tosses out some profound truths.

**************

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Patrick Swayze

This news is very sad.  I liked Patrick Swayze in the very silly, yet vast and sweeping epic mini-series, North and South, and I liked his performances in Dirty Dancing and Ghost as well. From what I remember from my days as an oncology nurse, the odds are not good with this diagnosis.

Graphic of Movie Box Office Receipts

The Ebb and Flow of Movies: Box Office Receipts 1986 - 2007

Summer blockbusters and holiday hits make up the bulk of box office revenue each year, while contenders for the top Oscar awards tend to attract smaller audiences that build over time. Here's a look at how movies have fared at the box office, after adjusting for inflation.

Don't Mess With the Zohan Trailer

The Steven Spielberg Archive of Jewish Film

A short film overview of Spielberg's collection of rare 20th century footage which gave me goosebumps.

A Great Disappointment

Went to see the remastered original Star Trek episode "The Menagerie" on the big screen last night.  It was great - we had a lot of fun - but I was very disappointed to see that no one dressed up in Starfleet uniforms or Spock ears. The audience was very tame, and the theater was only three-quarters filled. I was hoping for something more along the lines of this. Had my camera with me and was all prepared to snap away and post the pics here.  But alas, the scene was one of ordinary, every day movie goers. The only funny costumes and make up were worn onscreen.

The episode did look wonderful. Before it came on there was a brief clip narrated by Gene Roddenberry's son describing the remastering process and showing a bit of how it looked both before and after for comparison. 

But, as my husband said, 40 years old is 40 years old. There were parts where the audience laughed out loud at the campiness of it all - the green dancing girl that no man can resist, Bones getting all grumbly over one thing or another, and Shatner's scenery chewing acting technique.  But the same things that made us laugh were also the things that made the show so good.  It had personality that none of the Star Trek series that came later could hold a candle to, in my opinion.

 

Reports and commentary from people who attended viewings in England, Canada and all over the US can be found here. You'll have to scroll through all the pre-screening comments to get the post-screening remarks.

Star Trek Reminder

COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU:

Star Trek News

The next Star Trek movie will come out in December of 2008. Leonard Nimoy has agreed to be in it, and William Shatner may have a part as well:

Leonard Nimoy isn't through with Spock yet.

The 76-year-old actor will don his famous pointy ears again to play the role in an upcoming "Star Trek" film due out Christmas 2008.

"This is really going to be a great movie. And I don't say things like that lightly," Nimoy told a gathering of 6,500 fans Thursday at Comic-Con, the nation's largest pop-culture convention.

He greeted the crowd with a Vulcan salute.

Nimoy was joined by the newly named young Spock, "Heroes" star Zachary Quinto, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nimoy.

...While the character of Captain Kirk has yet to be cast, Abrams said that William Shatner, who played the role in the original TV series, would likely also have a part in the film.

"It has to be worthy, of him and of you," Abrams told fans, adding that production is slated to begin in November.

One fan asked Nimoy what he thought of his "replacement."

"It was logical," the actor said dryly. He then closed with Spock's classic line: "Live long and prosper."

Birds Pay Tribute to Hitchcock

Germany Bans Tom Cruise From Filming at Military Sites

In a strange overreaction to Cruise's strange religion:

Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.

Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognise as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.

The U.S. actor has been cast as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944 with a bomb hidden in a briefcase.

Defence Ministry spokesman Harald Kammerbauer said the film makers "will not be allowed to film at German military sites if Count Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult".

"In general, the Bundeswehr (German military) has a special interest in the serious and authentic portrayal of the events of July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg's person," Kammerbauer said. Cruise's publicists could not be reached for comment.

Stauffenberg had been deeply opposed to the Nazis' treatment of the Jews and planted a briefcase bomb under a table near Hitler in his "Wolf's Lair" headquarters on July 20, 1944. The bomb went off but only wounded the Fuehrer.

Link

Way to be tolerant of differences.

UPDATE:

United Artists Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Paula Wagner released the following statement regarding the matter:

"To set the record straight, 'Valkyrie' is a historically accurate thriller that presents the World War Two resistance hero Col. Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg as the heroic and principled figure he was, and we believe it will go a long way towards reminding the world that even within the ranks of the German military there was real resistance to the Nazi regime. 'Valkyrie' was originated and brought to United Artists by Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Based on the fantastic screenplay written by Mr. McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, we gave it the green light. Mr. Singer, the director, then offered the role of Col. Stauffenberg to Tom Cruise because he thought he was perfect for the part. Aside from his obvious admiration of the man he is portraying, Mr. Cruise's personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie's plot, themes, or content. And even though we could shoot the movie anywhere in the world, we believe Germany is the only place we can truly do the story justice."

Every Film Cliche in Existence

The Mother of All Movie Trailers has it:

Yikes...

...maybe it's best to hold onto a bit of body fat as one ages to fill in those wrinkles.

She looks ten years older than her age. After all those thousands of dollars of plastic surgery...

The Dickson Experimental Sound Film - 1895

YouTube is so phenomenal  - providing things that we otherwise would never have had the opportunity to see.  Here is a clip of the first known film with live-recorded sound. The sound itself doesn't begin until a minute in.  Beofre it does, you will see words on the screen which are very tiny to the point of almost being unreadable.  If you are interested, more information about the recording can be found at YouTube.

The 17-second film is repeated three times.  On the last repetition, the clicking of the wax cylinder is removed, making the sound a bit clearer.  

If Only...

If only they'd concentrate on the story and the acting instead of the special effects. 

Schindler's List

My middle son (18 yrs old) was watching Schindler's List last night as I was preparing dinner.  I've seen it twice before, but found myself running into the family room every chance I could get to watch bits and pieces.  I'd forgotten how compelling it was. 

It was the end of the movie, the scene where Schindler is presented with a gold ring by the people he saved and he cries because he felt guilty that he didn't save more. Following that scene, the film shifts to Jewish survivors arriving in Israel after the Holocaust. Then another shift to  modern times, and the real life people who Schindler saved, elderly now and accompanied by their children and grandchildren, pay hommage to Schindler through the Jewish custom of placing a rock on the headstone of his grave as the hauntingly beautiful tune, "Jerusalem of Gold" plays in the background.  I found it, once again, to be incredibly moving.

My son, who is and always has been the epitome of masculine self-contained cool, and who pretends he doesn't care a whit about Judaism (but who, I notice, keeps a well-thumbed Siddur (prayerbook) on his bedside table), turned to me and said, "They ought to make that movie required viewing in high school."  And surprised, I turned to him and asked, "They don't show it?  How do they teach the Holocaust anyway?"  And he replied that they don't do much. (Getting a lot of words out of him can be like pulling teeth.  He's similar to his mother, who is unusually - for her - chatty on her blog.) No wonder Holocaust denial continues to rear its ugly head...

Whatever else Steven Spielberg does or has done in his life, Schindler's List is a great movie and a tremendously influential accomplishment.  It captured the essence of the Holocaust from the irrational hatred, to the casual cruelty, to the all too rare kindness of an ordinary man like Schindler.  It graphically illustrated the Talmudic saying "Saving one life is like saving the world," through its emotional portrayal of the Schindler survivors and their descendents. It clearly demonstrated why Jews treasure, need and deserve a land of their own.

But maybe its greatest gift is what it does for young Jews like my son, reminding him of the great lengths his people went through to maintain their Jewishness.  I don't believe anyone can watch that movie and take their Jewish identity for granted. 

The 300 Workout

I haven't seen the movie 300 and am not likely to do so (I have yet to determine if it's worth seeing. If the screenplay/story says something, if the drama is good, I am willing to sit through a moderate amount of violence, but generally speaking, I don't enjoy watching blood and guts and death all over the big screen.), but I came across the following information on what the actors did to prepare for the physicality of the role to be very interesting.  It was not an ordinary workout - the goal was to turn the actors into the physical specimens they'd need to be if they actually WERE Spartan warriors:

<

This site has a good description to go along with the video.

Sadly, Sylvester Stallone seems to have used a less healthy method of body building.

The Wilhelm Scream

The "Wilhelm Scream" is a motion picture special effects scream used over and over again in many movies and especially favored by George Lucas.  The complete story can be found here.

Here's a video compilation of the scream being used in films over the past 50-odd years:

Academy Award Nominations

79th Annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif.  The ones I've seen are in bold.  Hard to have much interest in it when I've seen so few of the nominated pictures:

1. Best Picture: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Queen."

2. Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"; Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"; Peter O'Toole, "Venus"; Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"; Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland."

3. Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Volver"; Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"; Helen Mirren, "The Queen"; Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"; Kate Winslet, "Little Children."

4. Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"; Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"; Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"; Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed."

5. Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, "Babel"; Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"; Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"; Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel."

A movie I saw last weekend that did not receive a nomination but I thought was worthy - The Painted Veil with Edward Norton, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber. It is based on a novel by Somerset Maugham, and takes place in China in the 1920s during a cholera epidemic.  Great story, great cast.

Star Trek News

A draft of the script of the next film is done.

The Last King of Scotland

This evening's movie entertainment for my husband and I was about the madman dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin.  {{{{{{shudder}}}}}}}  Forest Whitaker was terrific  - he played Amin.  It covered the time period from when he first came into power - initially he was extremely popular and people had high hopes for him improving the country - until the hijacking of an Israeli plane and the subsequent succesful raid on Entebbe, when stories of Amin's insanity and violence began to emerge.

This film falls under the category of what I call the "sweaty palm" genre.  There was a torture scene near the end where I had to hide my eyes.  However, I didn't think it was overdone or gratuitous.  It was a real life story and has a very simple moral that should be taught and driven home repeatedly to every liberal who dares complain about the US:  If you are living in a place where you can wake up each morning and go to bed every night and know that in between, your day is going to be predictable in terms of a roof over your head, healthy food on your plate, a reliable income, freedom from being shot or tortured, with access to good medical care, air conditioning, and a clean water supply, thank God for it.

The movie scared the crap out of me, frankly.  There are real live lunatics in this world, and somehow, some of them manage to charm/kill their way into being put in charge of the lives of others.

George Bush?  President Bush is Mr. Rogers and we Americans live in the neighborhood of rainbows and lollipops compared to the lives of some people in this world. 

After seeing this film, I am torn between feeling that we Americans ought to be out there killing each and every lunatic despot and saving all the poor innocents of the world vs thinking that we ought to put up a big fence around our borders, live behind it and never even peek over the top again.

Link.   

"The Queen"

Went to see it yesterday - it's a small movie only shown in the arthouse theaters around my area - you may or may not have heard of it.  Helen Mirren delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as Queen Elizabeth, playing her with dignity, determination, icyness, old-fashioned stick-up-the-butt aristocratic snoot, and melting confusion when faced with the changing modern world. The movie is both hard on and sympathetic to Elizabeth, Charles and Diana, each in turn.  There's no smarm or sentimentality - it's about a family with a complicated heritage trying to deal with it and the reaction of the public to Diana's sudden death.  They coped with their own grief or lack thereof, taking care of the young princes, and preserving the monarchy all at once.  Tony Blair comes off very well, exhibiting both sympathy for and frustration with Elizabeth. According to this version of events, he was instrumental in saving the royals from a public relations disaster.  The funniest part was watching Blair's pro-republic anti-monarchy wife enacting a reluctant curtsy. 

A great way to spend a late afternoon, followed by dinner out, which is exactly what we did yesterday.

Link

Is it Safe?

Definitely not.  This is a clip from a movie that turned me off to dental work forever - Lawrence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman in the torture scene from "Marathon Man."  I dare you to watch it on the day you have a dental appointment:

I've had a couple of root canal procedures that were exactly like this. After the first one, I opted for valium and nitrous oxide in addition to the novocaine, which helped, but not completely. Apparently, some of us have root canals that are structured in a way that the novocaine can't reach the entire nerve.  So there's a point in the process where - well, let's just say I can really relate to what Dustin Hoffman was feeling.

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto

...as interpreted by Saturday Night Live.

Wickedly funny.

News sources are reporting that Apocalypto, which took in $14.166M in receipts from Friday to Sunday, was number 1 at the box office this weekend. Just to put things in perspective, here are the numbers for more than 350 of the top first weekend grossing films. Gibson's latest was trumped by  "Rugrats in Paris," "13 Going on 30," "The Forgotten," "Waterworld," and "Hellboy," just to name a few.