Thursday, September 24th, 2009

If I do have any readers, you will surely know by now that I adore Werner Herzog's filmmaking style. There is truly no other filmmaker quite like the helmer of Fitzcarraldo. All of the stories from the makings of Herzog's films are almost certainly and consistently more entertaining than the films themselves. Maybe Herzog realizes what a treasure trove he is, and what a lost art his guerilla style filmmaking has become, because Cinematical points out a new site to recruit aspiring directors to join Herzog's Rogue Film School to teach you all the things that actual film school will not. In the about section of the website, points eight and ten tell exactly why one would want to join a class taught by one of cinema's greatest visionaries.

"8. Related, but more practical subjects, will be the art of lockpicking. Traveling on foot. The exhilaration of being shot at unsuccessfully. The athletic side of filmmaking. The creation of your own shooting permits. The neutralization of bureaucracy. Guerrilla tactics. Self reliance.

9. Censorship will be enforced. There will be no talk of shamans, of yoga classes, nutritional values, herbal teas, discovering your Boundaries, and Inner Growth."

The site also notes that there will be another class in 2010 on the east coast. So, if anybody's looking for a birthday/Christmas or whatever the hell else you buy gifts for idea, the $1,500 enrollment to the Rogue Film School would be accepted.

In other news, The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business Blog has announced that David Cronenberg is in talks with Fox to write and direct a remake of Cronenberg's own critically acclaimed 1986 remake of the 1958 Vincent Price vehicle The Fly. I never really thought that The Fly warranted another remake, but if Cronenberg is aboard, my curiosity will get me in the seats. Also, who else is hoping that Jeff Goldblum will also return?

Bukowskis has the viewing for Ingmar Bergman's personal possessions that are to be auctioned off online at the moment until the auction actually begins on the 28th. Really, aside from a swivel chair, everything on the site looks amazing. The item that I'm interested at how much it will go for is the wooden chess set used in The Seventh Seal.

Finally, The Wrap has reported that Disney has trashed David Mamet's script treatment of The Diary of Anne Frank, which wasn't even set in the Holocaust, nor was the main character Anne Frank. Whenever the original story was announced, I have to admit, I wasn't as shocked as some, seeing that I'm not all that familiar with Mamet's work, and saw no real problem with him pairing with Disney for an adaptation of Frank's writings. I think I was personally more worried about the years and years of Walt Disney's alleged anti-Semitism being projected in a big budget movie about the suffering of the Jewish people. Regardless, I guess for the time being, both the national media's fears of Mamet and mine of Disney's history of racism have both been quelled.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

So, for the past week, I've been keeping the passing of John Hughes as a major topic on the blog, and for more fuel for this ongoing topic, I find that it has been swept under the table on most news outlets, and I'm a bit perturbed that The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles hasn't been in heavy rotation on cable. I'm also shocked at how little coverage the documentary Don't You Forget About Me, which I spoke of yesterday, is getting. The film, which chronicles the journey of four young filmmakers attempting to find out what has become of the reclusive director, and possibly get an interview with him seemed like a great idea already, catching my interest when I read about it in Geek Monthly before the tragedy of Hughes' death. There's just something about a road trip to satisfy a passion of cinema that plucks at the ole cinephile's heartstrings. I've been reading further about the film today, and I've still not been able to spoil the ending and find out if they ever did actually get the interview with Hughes or not, but that will be a selling point of the film, however it is distributed. One of the interesting tidbits in the movie that I can't wait to see is the interview with Roger Ebert, as he retracts many of the disparaging comments he made during the initial reviews of some of Hughes' teenage fare of the 80's. I will be keeping an eye on the film as it progresses through trying to find a distributor, as well as the talents behind it, who will most certainly be taking to the media circuits to discuss the untimely death of Hughes. In fact, I found that they also share a blog on Blogspot, which I now follow, so any news, trailers, release dates or anything further I'll pass along.

For a bit more on Hughes, the picture accompanying my blog today is from an article out of the New York Times, written by Molly Ringwald, recounting her days as the iconic director's muse, very appropriately titled The Neverland Club. A good read.

Also, speaking of the Brat Pack, Cinematical uncovered a story that loosely deals with Emilio Estevez. One of the true cult classics of the 80's that starred the Breakfast Club alum, Repo Man may be getting a sequel. Actually, the director of the film, Alex Cox, claims it will be a "freestanding film", called Repo Chick, that shares the same mind as the original. Interesting, but is this really a good idea? At the very least, it gets Repo Man into the public spectrum again.

Variety reports that Universal Studios has partnered with 20th Century Fox for their annual Halloween Horror Nights event at the Hollywood theme park, meaning that they now have the rights to stage a short tribute version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. To me, there is no better way to spend Halloween than seeing The Rocky Horror Show live; however, when Universal does this festival, I hear they go all out, so I am a bit envious of those who will get to see their live version. Let's hope it will be among the adult only attractions during the festival, as the raunchiness is what the live show is all about.

Variety also has a story announcing that David Mamet will take on the directorial job of a new adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank from Walt Disney Pictures. I'm not huge on Mamet like the rest of the blogsphere out there, so we'll wait to see what comes of this. With Disney behind it, I'm sadly picturing the Robot Chicken spoof of Hilary Duff in a modern day teen dramedy re-telling of this, actually happening.

Finally, I will end with more pirated footage of Kick-Ass from the San Diego Comic Con. IWatchStuff has four videos up, but the following excerpt, featuring Nicolas Cage shooting a little girl in the chest, may be the most entertained I've been in ages.