In the Blogosphere – 2011 Year-End Compilation
by HELEN GEIB
Year-end compilation of the monthly blog posts recommendations.
Beth Loves Bollywood on Naag Lok: “Snake films are woefully lacking in my repertoire, but so strong are many of the key snaky elements here that even only having seen Nagin and Sheshnaag, I was easily able to recognize its fabulousnesssssss.” (more)
Beth Loves Bollywood processes her thoughts on Ra.One in a conversation with her SRK action figure
Commentary Track favorite The Bioscope reports on the films that recorded the 1910 “siege of Sidney Street” in London
The Bioscope on Mr. Bean and modern silent comedy
The Bioscope on The Soldier’s Courtship: “However, the film has never been entirely lost, nor is it (arguably) the first British fiction film. Let us examine the history.” (more)
“When silents were silent” at The Bioscope
The Bioscope on the best silent cinema DVD/Blu-ray releases of 2011
The Blue Vial examines the place of The Shamrock Handicap (1926) in John Ford’s filmography
“Walsh & Wind” at The Blue Vial
The Cooler examines Morgan Spurlock’s latest doc in “On the Money: POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold“
“Infamous & Elusive: The True Story of Jesse James” at The Cooler
Ferdy on Film’s loving appreciation should move even the steeliest-eyed skeptic to give Big Trouble in Little China a second chance
Ferdy on Films makes the case for Michael Mann’s Miami Vice as contemporary noir in this contribution to the film noir blogathon
Ferdy on Films reviews the recently rediscovered Ford silent Upstream (1927)
Review of Tony Richardson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) at Ferdy on Films
Roderick Heath at Ferdy on Films on Jaws (1975)
From the Front Row reviews Richard Press’ documentary Bill Cunningham New York (2011)
The Furious D Show presents “Studio Notes for Classic Novels” (here’s a sample, and it was hard to pick just one: “To. R. Bradbury. Re. Fahrenheit 451. Does he have to burn books? Magazines make better product placement opportunities.”)
“Can a star price himself out of stardom?” The Furious D Show has the answer
This beautifully written review of True Grit at Gateway Cinephiles situates the Coen brothers’ latest within the Western genre and their own body of work
The essay “Playing with the Truth” at Getafilm considers the intersection of reality and dramatization in five recent films “based on true events”
“Fleischers’ Superman at 70 – the best on-screen Man of Steel?” at Hero Complex
Hero Complex’s holiday gift guide
Kinnemaniac takes an appreciative second look at Black Swan
The Lady Eve’s Reel Life on Casablanca with the San Francisco Symphony: “Mr. Francis entered, stepped to the podium, picked up his baton, glanced into a small monitor next to his sheet music and in a moment the hall reverberated with those oh-so-familiar notes that herald the start of a Warner Bros. picture.” (more)
Love HK Film published its annual “best of Hong Kong cinema” nominations
MONDO 70: A WILD WORLD OF CINEMA
MONDO 70: A Wild World of Cinema examines The Illusionist (2010) as “a film by” Jacques Tati
On Cave of Forgotten Dreams: “Herzog puts on a good show, but all his formidable bluster can’t cover the fact that, once he’d heard about the alligators, he just had to have them in his movie about cave paintings, and he’d figure out a way to explain their inclusion later.” (more)
MONDO 70: A Wide World of Cinema reviews the unjustly obscure Japanese epic Samurai Banners
The Movie Projector surveys the five Westerns that make up “The Budd Boetticher Collection”
Praise for Edward G. Robinson in The Movie Projector’s review of The Red House (1947)
Review of The Tree of Life by the Movie Projector
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) review at Noir of the Week
OBSERVATIONS ON FILM ART AND film art
David Bordwell announced the e-publication of Planet Hong Kong 2d edition in a post listing 25 essential Hong Kong films, the first of several posts celebrating the cinema
The one on “principles of HK action cinema” is required reading for action movie aficionados
Also over at Observations on film art, Kristin Thompson summarizes the case against 3D’s commercial viability (part two)
At Observations on film art and FILM ART, typically insightful and lavishly illustrated essays by David Bordwell on scenic density- “an approach to staging, shooting, and cutting in which selected details or areas change their status in the course of the action”- and “multiple-draft replays, in which the second version significantly alters the first”
Review of Steven Spielberg’s film debut Duel at Only the Cinema
Insightful review of Underworld at Only the Cinema
Review of Yasujiro Ozu’s Passing Fancy (1933) at Only the Cinema
Only the Cinema’s insightful review of Wong Kar-Wai’s Happy Together (1997)
Radiator Heaven on Something Wild (1986)
Radiator Heaven mounts a spirited defense of Tony Scott’s Domino (2005)
Shadows and Satin picks 10 lesser known film noir gems
Silent Volume on Hot Water (1924) and Harold Lloyd’s comic genius
Silent Volume brings a new perspective to the Lumiere’s iconic Arrival of a Train
This Island Rod on The Viking Queen (1967): “Rather than wishing the film played straighter, I couldn’t help but wish some real nutcase had directed this, and turned it into a freeform exercise in ahistorical comic book madness.” (more)
A top-50 film noir countdown at Wonders in the Dark
Three from the “Top 70 Musical Countdown” at Wonders in the Dark: reviews of Astaire and Rogers’ top two, Swing Time (1936) and Top Hat (1935), and a review with video essay for 42nd Street (1933)
MISCELLANEOUS
Departing briefly from the blogosphere: This LA Times article on the hard times for arthouse distribution in Los Angeles is cold comfort for those of us who regularly lament how much worse it is here than there
