Fun With Movie Titles #2: ELEGY

Main Entry: el·e·gy
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural el·e·gies
Etymology: Latin elegia poem in elegiac couplets, from Greek elegeia, elegeion, from elegos song of mourning
Date: 1501
1: a poem in elegiac couplets
2 a: a song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation especially for one who is dead b: something (as a speech) resembling such a song or poem
3 a: a pensive or reflective poem that is usually nostalgic or melancholy b: a short pensive musical composition
4: A movie just released on DVD starring Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz in which a middle-aged college professor who, for years, has lived in a state of "emancipated manhood." His romantic conquests are many; his lasting commitments, few. But when a stunning young student named Consuela Castillo enters his life, her otherworldly beauty captivates him to the point of obsession.

5: See Also:

Fun With Bumpers 1

Everybody’s seen ‘em, knows ‘em and really may not even think much about them despite the fact that the studios spend millions designing them so that they are immediately recognizable – the bumper: the studio trademarks and logo at the beginning of the film. Some have been around forever, some even undergo a process of evolution depending upon the movie involved. What I like about bumpers is how filmmakers will include them as part of setting the mood for their film. Again, not one second is wasted in a film. Everything has to be thought through. For instance: Warner Brothers changes their bumper depending upon the movie, like this --

The Classic Warner Brother Logo

A "Red" Variation

For"THE SILVER CHALICE" (as if embossed on the

side of a silver cup)

For "FRED CLAUSE"

Stayed tuned...

The Pink Panther 2

I saw this movie last night, primarily because my wife doesn’t want to see FRIDAY THE 13th. I pretty much figured it would be a “throwaway” movie, but instead I found it to be charming with several good laugh-out- loud laughs. There was a time when Steve Martin was the king of stand up comedy, and was unrivaled in his ability to inhabit a character that was silly and vapid, but this silly and vapid character would be so effective that you’d find yourself imitating his mannerisms or speech patterns for days on end. The challenge with THE PINK PANTHER is how to overcome the shadow of Blake Edwards and the incredibly unusual talent that was Peter Sellers. Certain movie are “time locked” – the stars line up, the time has come, the zeitgeist has smiled, or something, and for whatever reason, they become part of that year’s (or a series of years’) pop culture. (JAWS, STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES come to mind, but so do movies like CORVETTE SUMMER and CARWASH, oddly enough.) Blake Edwards’ PINK PANTHER movies commanded audience attention for many years. Probably largely forgotten by today’s audiences, they were a definite presence when they came out, and were enjoyed by quite a few people. (Who could ever forget the “Does your dog bite?” bit, or the “Kato, my little yellow friend...” gags?) Sure, Blake Edwards hated Peter Sellers, but together they created the icon of Inspector Clouseau, and no one but a comedy master like Steve Martin can come close to pulling off the impossible feat of wearing those shoes. I laughed more in this movie than I did in the last two comedies I’ve seen. Thanks to Steve Martin. Who still has such screen presence that it’s a shame he doesn’t do more films. It’s also a shame that most people now who hear the words "Pink Panther" think of the trademark cartoon cat. Who, as I remember, was even used to sell housing insulation once..

DVD ART 2/17

Movie Believe it or Not! TAKEN

A precise action story that doesn’t become action-tedious. And while you don’t really like his wife, and you think his daughter is not much more sympathetic, Neeson’s character is definitively likable. After the obligatory setup, his character leads us through a staggeringly simple – and engaging -- journey of brutality and violence that is purely motivated and uncomplicated. He lives up to his “specific set of skills” that his character boasts of in the trailer. He is clever, forceful, and not since Dirty Harry, is a character we wish we could be given the same circumstance. Question is, why hasn’t Liam Neeson been making this kind of movie the last three + years? Where has he been, exactly? After all, this isn’t just any actor (how soon we forget). This is Oskar Schindler. This is Michael Collins. This is Robb Roy. (Okay, so this is even Kinsey.) So what’s he been doing? Sure the short appearances and ultimate death scenes in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and BATMAN BEGINS. But beyond that? Video game voices. Believe it or not.

DVD ARTWORK 3/2

Structural Fallacy: THE UNINVITED (2009)

In their Film Studies Two class, students take on building the first act of an original screenplay. To this end, they have to learn some fundamental filmic storytelling structures and concepts. While the exercises they undertake tend to be relatively simplified, they acquire the basic tools to create as sophisticated a story as they want (and in many cases, their story concepts tend to be commercially viable). One of the first exercises is to create the characters for their movie, and they base their decisions on the character types delineated by Frank Danielle in his study of America film structure since the blockbuster era, and distilled by Michael Hauge in his Writing Screenplays That Sell. The four basic character types are: the hero, the nemesis, the reflection, and the romance. One of the most basic rules is that film characters should fall into one of these categories, and cannot switch categories. The reasoning behind this tenet is that these specific character types provide the most efficient and organic means of telling a filmic story, and constructs a structural matrix supporting emotional response from the audience. If characters switch categories, it becomes a point of confusion and / or frustration for the audience, which has invested emotional time rooting for the hero and fearing / hating the nemesis. THE UNINVITED, out this week in theatres, violates the “no switch” rule to the core, and the result is confusion to a point I haven’t witnessed since Statham and Li in WAR. In the screening I attended, several teen age girls began to shout at the screen that they didn’t understand what was going on. Literally. They then began a conversation while the rest of the audience was shaking its collective head and looking at each other, trying to work their way through the plot they had just seen. (Definitely NOT the response the filmmakers want, I'm sure...) Later, after leaving a screening for a different movie, I saw a small clique of teenagers from a different viewing of THE UNINVITED standing outside their theatre -- like an adolescent think tank -- trying to decipher what had happened in the last ten minutes of the movie. They desperately wanted to understand; they were rooting for this movie and for the hero, but felt cheated by their experience . Now, confusion is easy to create – it is not a mark of the uber creative or imaginative. The Hollywood “twist” at the end of the movie is the easiest and most commonly corrupted technique in any art, more often than not justified as some kind of superior cleverness.

Essential Film Books #1

If you are serious about your study of film, and want to know not only about the most important trends and events in American film history but also in the development of World Cinema, this book is a must have. It’s not cheap, however, running about 60 bucks for a new copy (a used copy still commands about 40). This was THE history text used at USC and will give anyone a firm grounding in the essentials of film history. David Cook covers everything-- the origins of film; silent films in America, Germany, and the Soviet Union; the arrival of color and sound; the American studio system; the Golden Age of American Film; World War II; the French New Wave; Cinema vs. Television in the 50’s; Eastern European Film; African; Latin; and Asian film. The great thing about this book is that it is easy to read, has plenty of photographs, and touches on major directors, stars, and producers. Add this to a Netflix account, and you can rival the best film schools in the country in the privacy and comfort of your own home.