Movie Clip Wednesday: Best Movie Set in Winter or Snow

I am late to the party today, but it gave me a chance to check out every one else's picks and avoid a blog jinx -and there would have been one (or two) too, but more about that later.

My admiration for the movie "The Shining" is well known by longtime K9 readers and I believe I have written about it before for MCW for the "best horror" week, but it is the best movie that takes place in snow. Like space horror, snow horror is interesting because of the hardship the environment presents. And in the horror category, snow makes a lovely contrasting canvas for blood spillage.

Thinking about blood and snow naturally led me to think of Fargo, eh, but Boxer already snagged that one so that was out. Next I thought about Dr. Zhivago, but Aunty chose that one. I would have focused on other aspects of the movie, not the tragic love affair between Lara and Zhivago, but the very instructive glimpse of the Bolshevik Revolution. Dr. Z is at first enthusiastic about the revolution but surprise! I never works out they way they say. A scene that stands out is Dr. Zhivago senior coming back to his own home to find that several other families had been moved in and he was now relegated to one room. And if he didnt like that, he could be shot instead. So the younger Z and his bride flee to the country house to try and escape the oppressive super-state. The scene where they arrive by sleigh at the house which is completely iced over inside and out is a truly gorgeous piece of celluloid. It's too long though and I would have only chosen it because of the snow.

Let's see...Ice Station Zebra? The Thing? already taken. what to do what to do?

K9. Trust the force.


Thirty years ago, there was a rare Hollywood occurrence. A sequel as good as, and possibly better than, the original. That movie was "The Empire Strikes Back" which features one of the best snow battles ever. Filmed at Härdangerjøkulen Glacier in Finse Norway, the winter and snow backdrop allows for some innovative scenes: Luke being kept from freezing to death by being inserted into the warm guts of a fileted Tauntaun and of course, the incredible battle with the Imperial Walkers:

Thank God some fanboy "maked a speeded up battle just for fun" because the battle of Hoth is actually10 minutes long. Enjoy, and Happy Movie Clip Wednesday.

MCW: Best Buddy Movie

It's the best movie i've seen in years. It's an unusual buddy combo, but it is exactly that. The dynamic between Vincent (Tom Cruise) and Max (Jaime Foxx) flows very naturally. It's the only movie where I've actually liked tom cruise other than his cameo as les grossman in Tropic Thunder. (And if you havent seen that dance, you really need to que up the last 4 minutes / credits of tropic thunder) The soundtrack is spectacular, if only for the inclusion of "Spanish Key" by Miles Davis, which i recently treated Moi and Boxer to while speeding toward the ATL superhub. But theres a million great tracks from Groove Armada to Audioslave. AND it was directed by Micheal Mann. And there was this quote that I loved:

while Max (Foxx) freaks out over the first target Vincent (Cruise) hits, this conversation follows:

Max: I can't drive you around while you're killing folks. It ain't my job!
Vincent: Tonight it is.

Vincent: Okay, look, here's the deal. Man, you were gonna drive me around tonight, never be the wiser, but El Gordo got in front of a window, did his high dive, we're into Plan B. Still breathing? Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, shit happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it.

Here's a delightful clip coming in at an economical 34 seconds!



This movie gets a 5 rottie howl rating. happy MCW!

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

Movie Clip Wednesday is a game that is open to all. To Play, visit Milk RIver Madman to find each week's assignment, then post your entry by wednesday.

MCW: Best Foreign Actor: Toshiro Mifune

I don't know what modern Hollywood would have done had there not been an Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, my choice for best foreign actor. With feudal Japan as a backdrop for the rise of the warrior class, the samurai (specifically a masterless/ronin samurai) personified an archetype very familiar to us: an outsider with his own code of ethics; like Han Solo, or Eastwood's Man with No Name. The character Eastwood plays in A Fist Full of Dollars is essentially the same character Mifune plays in Yojimbo, the quiet stranger that rolls into town and unleashes some epic badassery where it is well-deserved. I can't watch Kill Bill without a million flashbacks to classic Mifune moments: sword fights in the snow; dealing with (literally) insane rivals, fights against impossible odds; betrayals by dragon ladies and so forth.

Here we have a neat little compilation (2:12) a fan made with clips from "the Sword of Doom" where Mifune's character (entering the clip at :22) battles the crazy as hell Ryunosuke (played by the excellent Tatsuya Nakadai) in a series of clips that will show you, definitively, where Quentin Tarantino developed his style.



Not only were these samurai movies big to Tarrantino, but George Lucas has said that the Hidden Fortress was a huge influence on Star Wars IV. The funny thing is how often Kurosawa, the best director paired with Mifune, drew upon western literature for his films - especially Shakespeare.

Epic struggles remain the same in every time and in every language. If you have never seen a Toshiro Mifune film, start with Yojimbo. Like all great art, it remains as cool now as the day it was made.



***********

Movie Clip Wednesday is a game that is open to all. To Play, visit Milk RIver Madman to find each week's assignment, then post your entry by wednesday.

Movie Clip Wednesday: Favorite Black and White Movie

I could've gone with TO Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Strangelove, A Place in the Sun or even Manhattan; but i chose a film with themes that extend all the way into my here and now. Oh how many times have i referred to places and situations as the "Village of the Damned"! Whats worse than a band of platinum-blonde-group-think-laser-eyed kids? Implanted into the women of a small town, the children of this village are weird and scary smart even as babies. They never had the terrible twos -they were already plotting some unnamed evil. They can crash planes, or make a guy kill himself just by looking at him.

I had this friend growing up who had a cool basement at his house and a movie like this, or say, House of Wax, would play on saturday afternoon. A bunch of us would watch and it was great fun. But later, when i was alone, I was kind of scared riding my bike home. in broad daylight. Grrrrrrherhahahahah

thinking about art

/bark bark bark

one of the best shows i have seen in the last few years was the whitney biennal 2004. for one thing, it was a return to beauty and actual skill; a welcome relief from the trend of "it's a drag to be: black, gay, an objectified female, an american ashamed of GWB, *insert your grievance here*. i dont have an issue with "serious content" art but for rotties sake your craftsmanship level should be just as sincere. recently derrick and i found ourselves before a wall of plastic baggies containing all kinds of pubic hair...curly, gray, long ( ! ), reddish, coarse, dyed, super kinky...you get the idea.

i said aloud in the gallery: "am i supposed to respect this shit?"
derrick said : "what a coincidence. i have the same exhibit on my bathroom floor"

we errupted into laughter. some nearby gertie and al earth mother types in sensible shoes and ropes and ropes of chunky old lady jewelry scowled at us and waddled away. of course the artist who collected this gak and bagged it up had some long ass artist statement i didnt want to read explaining why things that are usually flushed down the toilet was art. let me just say it:

if your work requires an 8.5 x 11 single spaced sheet to explain it, you have failed as a visual artist.

An example of art needing no explanation: the image at the top of this post is by fred tomaselli and it is created with thousands of pills and marijuana leaves suspended in liquid lucite. like a helix of pharmacopia..cinema like in scale and quite beautiful. people of all ages and backgrounds stood before it and the comments went something like this:

hey! that's wellbutrin!
look there's valium. sudafed! hydrocodone! vitamin c!
whats that little orange one? baby aspirin
oh my God is that a quaalude? they dont even make those any more! no, you moron that's extra strength excedrin.
whats that pink and black one? generic cyclovore said a voice behind me

even an elderly woman in her St. John suit (how do i know that? i dont know but i do) delighted in pointing out the little pills that were a part of her landscape. did we need an artist statement to tell us we are a drug culture? no. did we need to read on the wall the awesome advertising power the pharmaceutical companies have? no. i rest my case.


Piss Christ

turns out Nietzsche was wrong. God ain't dead.
I remember the huge freak out this work inspired.
It's too bad because this work is far from indifferent and shows Serrano to be fully consumed with the body of Christ. so what if in the negative?

I have actually seen this work in the flesh /howl.

the figure is bathed in golden light; suspended into body fluid. it's a beautiful large scale cibachrome photograph. without the famous title would you ever know the attitude of the artist? body fluid.... the body of Christ. is that supposed to be offensive? it isnt. what is piss? it is a miracle of design! theoretically the image is meant as a rebellious sacrelige shocker but the fact is the image has inspired passion on both sides bringing Christ to life in our immediate time in space through lively debate! grrherherhaha. Jesus the counter-subversive. take that Freeeedrick!



and now: an art show conversation translation crib sheet.

a service provided through a generous grant from the R.R. Rottie Foundation.
below please find typical comments you might overhear in a gallery setting, and then the translation inside the *'s.


wow. you have really developed this theme of yours.
*you haven't had a new idea in 10 years. loser*

its so cool how comfortable you are with your body.
*fat ass*

you really deserved that review you got in art papers
*you're old and they finally gave you some mercy ink*

such a dark sensibility.
*are you on drugs again?*

so reminds me of matisse's studio paintings.
*you lazy derivitive punk*

i love the colors!
*i have no clue what this work is about*

what an amazing surface.
*you can't draw*

this work is really deep.
*poseur!*

this work is so sensual. i love your brush strokes. it really touches me.
*i'd like to sleep with you*

nice show! i'll definitely be back!
*when hell freezes over*


Movies about artists that i recommend in no particular order:

"the big lebowski" features one of my favorite celluloid artists of all time. julianne moore as maud lebowski. she plays it spot on as a weird vaginacentric artist who makes her work while hanging nude from wires. i love how she talks, looks and the hangers-on in her entourage. its perfect. this is a good movie in so many ways. i guarantee ya you all know someone like "the dude"

"bird" the story of charlie parker. starring forest whitaker. excellent. in fact forest whitaker is good in everything.

"Amadeus" the best thing about this story of mozart is it shows how the nature of humanity is that brilliance and debauchery often go hand and hand. much to the horror of the character soliari who prays constantly to God for favor, while deceitfully plotting to undermine mozart. it doesnt work that way, man. God knows what he's doing. people are both beautiful and horrifying.
accept it!

"rivers and tides" its a documentary about andy goldsworthy who makes art with only things from the earth. amazing amazing beautiful work that brings attention and glory to the most ordinary things.

"basquiat" a near perfect movie chock full o great actors. probably one of the most honest looks at the art world ever filmed. the scene where the rich couple comes to his studio to buy a painting is outstanding. david bowie plays andy warhol; gary oldman as julian schnabel; benicio del torro as basquiats herion addicted artist friend; parker posey as mary boone (big shot art dealer); willem dafoe as a barely holding on artist.....many more. see it.

"adaptation" a movie about a writer of screenplays and a writer of a book. one of the best movies i have ever seen. it has a close kinship with amadeus in that art often comes out of the least expected place.


"frida" i should write a whole post just on the tango between selma hayek and ashley judd. (soft) grrrr and howl!

its so beautifully filmed and true to the nature of frida. the bus crash scene where the gold leaf swirls all around while everybody in the wreck is hurt killed and/or impaled is memorable. directed by julie taymor, the woman who designed lion king for the stage, it is a valentine to a great artist. thanks to the ladies for this gift of a movie.

i would recommend "pollock" but i was so depressed after seeing it that i couldnt even be trusted with my little blue bic. but i think it was good. somebody even won an oscar.

final thought: if i had one wish to come true today, it would be that someone would develop some software that would read all my favorite blogs to me while i worked.

/grrrr