Passages

A subforum to discuss film culture and criticism.
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DarkImbecile
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Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:24 pm
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Re: Passages

#7226 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon May 21, 2018 3:49 pm

Bill Gold, legendary creator of film posters ranging from Casablanca to The Searchers to Cool Hand Luke to A Clockwork Orange to Platoon to Unforgiven to Mystic River, among many dozens of others.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#7227 Post by colinr0380 » Tue May 22, 2018 3:33 pm

djproject wrote:
Mon May 14, 2018 1:20 pm
Margot Kidder
Mondo Digital just put out this review of The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, which sounds as if it has another interesting Margot Kidder performance in it.

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Fiery Angel
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:59 pm

Re: Passages

#7228 Post by Fiery Angel » Tue May 22, 2018 3:48 pm

Kidder is definitely the best thing about the movie.

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Feego
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Re: Passages

#7229 Post by Feego » Tue May 22, 2018 4:29 pm


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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Passages

#7230 Post by Ribs » Tue May 22, 2018 11:10 pm

Philip Roth

When I saw Indignation, the trailer for American Pastoral came on beforehand, and the old man sitting behind me said to his wife, "Philip Roth - we gotta see that." At the end of the movie, as soon as it cut to credits and James Schamus' directorial credit, he again said to her, impossibly quickly, "Philip Roth is a genius." Suffice it to say - it was probably Philip Roth.

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colinr0380
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Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#7231 Post by colinr0380 » Fri May 25, 2018 1:14 pm

John Bain aka TotalBiscuit, a PC Gaming YouTube critic and podcaster, at 33 from cancer. Sadly not unexpected as he had been struggling with it for many years (and recently spoke about it), but it has been a really big blow for the gaming community. The video podcast he ran weekly was invaluable for giving a weekly runthrough of the gaming news each week, as well as the new releases. Plus all the various guests introduced a whole range of talented people with their own channels over the weeks.

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colinr0380
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Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Passages

#7232 Post by colinr0380 » Sat May 26, 2018 5:26 am

StevenJ0001 wrote:
Fri Apr 06, 2018 3:07 pm
Michael Kerpan wrote:
Saturnome wrote:Isao Takahata
Devastated...

Variety

Japan Times
Just found about this and am utterly heartbroken. An incomparable giant of the art form.
There is an excellent lengthy tribute to Takahata in this months issue of Neo (number 176) by Andrew Osmond, who makes a number of interesting points such as pointing out Takahata's study of French literature and poetry at university and that it was therefore fitting that his last credit was as producer on the French animation The Red Turtle; that while a lot of Takahata's features have made it to the West, much of his long form TV work (series of Heidi and Anne of Green Gables, as well as 300 Leagues In Search of Mother and Chie the Brat. I love Chie the Brat in particular, even the silly and buffonish father, who has a habit of messing everything up and gambling, but seems kindhearted too, almost to a fault! I also love that perhaps Chie's annoyed attitude towards him is not just for his character faults, but perhaps more being upset at having messed up the marriage to leave her without her mother) remain unreleased on disc and show a more comedic side that only really appears in the features as an undercurrent (aside from Pom Poko perhaps, which Osmond relates to Animal Farm); the 'experimental' art styles of My Neighbours The Yamadas and Princess Kaguya. And Osmond ends with this nice comment about the partnership with Takahata and Miyazaki:
Andrew Osmond in Neo wrote:Hilda [in Little Norse Prince] turns out to be an alienated, conflicted spirit, who gradually questions her malign role in a story she's been parachuted into. She's an early case of what is often described as Takahata's "objective" approach to character. In Takahata's films, characters may not understand themselves or their actions, their contradications presented without overt comment. In Grave of the Fireflies, the boy Seita loves his sister but is catastrophically blind to how his decisions are killing her. The father in Princess Kaguya is pompous, greedy and selfish - and loving towards his daughter at the same time...

...And yet there were artistic exchanges to the end. Kaguya's were relatively superficial; Takahata's film has a Miyazaki-esque fantasy flight scene and a score by Joe Hisaishi. Wind Rises though, could almost be a Takahata film. Abandoning his crowd-pleasing heroines, Miyazaki finally depicted a protagonist - a myopically driven aircraft designer - with Takahata's objectivity.
EDIT: And here's a wonderful video tribute to the Heidi series!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon May 01, 2023 9:16 am, edited 2 times in total.

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djproject
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Re: Passages

#7233 Post by djproject » Sun May 27, 2018 12:04 am


WmS
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Re: Passages

#7234 Post by WmS » Sun May 27, 2018 2:20 pm

Markus Nornes reports on the KineJapan listserv that the great cinematographer Tamura Masaki ( 田村 正毅 ) has passed.

He was best-known for his phenomenal work on the Ogawa Pro documentaries in Sanrizuka and Magino Village. His 80s work on films like Himatsuri and Tampopo are fantastic, and then in his late career he worked on films by younger directors, like Kawase Naomi's debut Moe no Suzaku and Ikeda Chihiro's Tokyo Rendezvous.

To my eye his landscape cinematography on Aoyama Shinji's Eureka elevates that film far, far beyond its flimsy premise and plot. That he also did Sato Makoto's intimate documentary Self and Others testifies to his range. Would that more of his work were available on Blu, or just in international editions!

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colinr0380
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Re: Passages

#7235 Post by colinr0380 » Sun May 27, 2018 8:00 pm

I absolutely love Eureka - that's a film that desperately needs a Blu-ray edition sooner rather than later. I have not had the chance to see them but Masaki Tamura was the cinematographer on all of Shinji Aoyama's features of the 2000s to 2010, starting with Eureka and continuing through Desert Moon, Lakeside Murder Case, My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?, Crickets and up until Sad Vacation.

It is also interesting to note that he was the cinematographer on the first Lady Snowblood film, on 1990's Zipang, on Sogo Ishii's The Crazy Family, on two of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films that followed Cure - Eyes of the Spider and Serpent's Path (they're out on a double-feature DVD set from Third Window). I was also surprised to note that he did the cinematography on Toshiharu Ikeda's bizarre (and rather incoherent. It feels more like a stream of consciousness collection of set pieces) 1988 horror film Evil Dead Trap, which starts off a bit Argento-styled before going body horror in the finale!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon May 28, 2018 5:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Feego
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Re: Passages

#7236 Post by Feego » Mon May 28, 2018 5:25 pm

Allyn Ann McLerie, of Calamity Jane and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

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Dr Amicus
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Re: Passages

#7237 Post by Dr Amicus » Tue May 29, 2018 5:47 am

Gardner Dozois - A good, solid SF/Fantasy writer, but a major figure as an editor and anthologist, not least for his lengthy run as Editor on Asimov's and his annual Best SF of the Year collections.

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Polybius
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:57 pm
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Re: Passages

#7238 Post by Polybius » Wed May 30, 2018 12:55 am

Dr Amicus wrote:
Tue May 29, 2018 5:47 am
Gardner Dozois - A good, solid SF/Fantasy writer, but a major figure as an editor and anthologist, not least for his lengthy run as Editor on Asimov's and his annual Best SF of the Year collections.
I was always happy to see those thick trade paperbacks on the shelf each year. He was a worthy heir to Terry Carr and Donald Wollheim as a chronicler of the best stories each year.

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Passages

#7239 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed May 30, 2018 7:03 pm

Frank Doubleday, who played the gang leader that shoots the little girl in Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 and Romero in Escape From New York

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djproject
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Re: Passages

#7240 Post by djproject » Thu May 31, 2018 7:27 am

Bruce J. Mitchell, remembered best as Zap Rowsdower in The Final Sacrifice ... and thus remembered by MST3K fans.

This was one of those under the radar things that is only just now come to the surface.

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Passages

#7241 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:27 pm


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DarkImbecile
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Re: Passages

#7242 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:35 pm


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Lemmy Caution
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Re: Passages

#7243 Post by Lemmy Caution » Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:28 pm

Dick Tuck, Nixon nemesis and political operative extraordinaire.

An original political prankster.
Gave the famous concession speech: "The people have spoken ... the bastards."
Tuck is credited with waving a train out of the station while Nixon was still speaking from the back platform of the train.
In 1968, Tuck utilized Republican nominee Nixon's own campaign slogan against him; hiring a heavily pregnant African-American woman to wander around a Nixon rally in a predominantly white area, wearing a T-shirt that read, "Nixon's the One!"
Reportedly Tuck's long time antics so got under Nixon's skin, that he gave the go ahead to Segretti's dirty tricks campaign and ultimately the Watergate break-in.
Tuck was also a key player in RFk's campaign for the presidency.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Passages

#7244 Post by Roger Ryan » Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:30 pm

The last of the Lollipop Guild, and the last munchkin period, Jerry Maren.

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dadaistnun
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:31 am

Re: Passages

#7245 Post by dadaistnun » Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:41 pm

Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets.

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Feego
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:30 pm
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Re: Passages

#7246 Post by Feego » Wed Jun 06, 2018 2:06 pm

Roger Ryan wrote:
Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:30 pm
The last of the Lollipop Guild, and the last munchkin period, Jerry Maren.
It's probably safe to assume he was also the last surviving cast member period.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
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Re: Passages

#7247 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Wed Jun 06, 2018 2:33 pm

The original Chicago Tribune article cited for that Maren obituary makes the more qualified claim that Maren was the last survivor "of the original 124 little people who starred in the film." Some of the Munchkins were played by non-little person children and several of them are seemingly still alive, including Priscilla Montgomery and Betty Ann Bruno. Also, Ambrose Schindler (who played one of the guards at the witch's castle and also doubled for Jack Haley in some shots) is apparently still going at 101.

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Passages

#7248 Post by L.A. » Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:08 pm

Kira Muratova.

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: Passages

#7249 Post by hearthesilence » Wed Jun 06, 2018 6:18 pm

Damn, I found out about her only a few months ago via the Women Directors List thread.

The Asthenic Syndrome (what may be her greatest film) is streaming on Amazon Prime, though it seems to be her only film that's available through them. I do see quite a few of her other works on YouTube like Three Stories - unfortunately this may be the best option for most American viewers as she remains little-known here and nearly all of her films aren't even available on DVD.

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Yakushima
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:42 am
Location: US

Re: Passages

#7250 Post by Yakushima » Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:12 pm

What a terrible loss... I was thinking a lot about Kira Muratova lately, and re-watched many of her films on DVDs, starting with my favorite, "The Tuner" and ending with her last, and thus a final picture, "Endless return". The last of the giants of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian/Ukranian filmmaking, and a wonderful human being is gone. R.I.P.

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