I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.
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WE LIVE IN PUBLIC – DVD Review
There’s a moment in WE LIVE IN PUBLIC (Now out on DVD) in which Josh Harris, an Internet wunderkind who saw the convergence of our online and everyday lives meshing long before any of us delighted in the joy of broadband service, makes an underground lair. Now, as founder of Pseudo.com, one of the very first sites to ever make video on the Internet available in the late 90’s, he wanted to push the sociological and psychological boundaries of what we would consider voyeuristic. He built a bunker, for lack of a better word, underground in New York where dozens upon dozens of people, artists mostly, had to submit not only applications for the chance to have their lives taped 24/7 but were put through rigorous examinations to determine their willingness to be completely exposed to those around them in ways we hadn’t yet been exposed to. One of the things you learn quickly about the cultural mores of artists, I think, is that through this selection process you notice that these people are open to the idea of things, the idea of a good artistic endeavor, in a way that I don’t think Ma and Pa Kettle would, as the general looseness of those who agreed to be filmed bathing, fornicating, and doing whatever they wanted while the cameras rolled is apparent in their giddiness to take part in this experiment.
Through the fresh direction of Ondi Timoner, her documentary DIG! still ranks as one of my favorites in that genre, we see how Josh’s own theories about the Internet’s allure for instant fame and our insatiable need to consume information about the lives of those we follow play out on camera. The bacchanalia of sex, video cameras, guns, and general licentiousness that took place over the course of 30 days is fantastic in how revolutionary the idea was at the time at the turn of the millennium. Oddly enough, it was the clock striking the year 2000 that put an end to the communal party as “The Man” stepped in to put and end to what was a living, breathing example of the world that was about to come.
Josh decides to get intimate with the idea of the personal expressed through online channels and decides to do the same thing but makes it above ground and limits it to 2 people: his girlfriend and himself. What occurs is really the meat of the things we all know about today in some way or another. That the idea the Internet could allow for real intimacy is really a fallacy. This situation only confirms that when you scrutinize and pick apart situations for everyone to look at and comment on there is nothing, absolutely nothing, positive that can come out of it that would indicate how humans really act when the doors are closed.
It’s a false sense of reality and this film captures the essence of the Internet age in a way you never thought to ask because we’re all too busy making our own opinions, and lives, known on the Internet. The situations that Harris create only bolster the argument that technology, inherently, does not allow for personal intimacy. It’s a false front but the advent of new and better ways for people to communicate with one another, ironically, artificially create that sense and it’s that sense that Timoner captures so very well.
If you’re a fan of documentaries this one should be required viewing for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of what kind of lives we’re building for ourselves online and whether this is truly healthy for our own sense of self. Loved it.
About the film:
As the social networks become more and more mainstream, questions of personal privacy continue to be an issue. But in the ‘90s, Internet guru, artist, futurist and visionary Josh Harris was experimenting with that very subject. Ten years in the making and culled from 5000 hours of footage, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, from award-winning director Ondi Timoner (DIG!), documented his tumultuous life for more than a decade to create a riveting, cautionary tale of what to expect as the virtual world inevitably takes control of our lives. Called “remarkable [and] mesmerizing”, the 2009 Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner for Best Documentary reveals the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of Harris, “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of”.
Harris, often called the “Warhol of the Web”, founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television network during the infamous dot-com boom of the 1990s. He also curated and funded the ground breaking project “Quiet” in an underground bunker in NYC where over 100 people lived together on camera for 30 days at the turn of the millennium. With “Quiet”, Harris proved how we willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire, but with every technological advancement becomes that much more elusive. Through his
experiments, including a six-month stint living with his girlfriend under 24-hour electronic surveillance which led to his mental collapse, Harris demonstrated the price we pay for living in public.
Featuring music by The Pixies, Spoon and Jamiroquai, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC is presented in widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Extras include commentary from Internet pioneers Chris DeWolfe and Jason Calacanis and venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a Sundance 2009 retrospective, the official trailer and more.
THE UNIVERSE SEASON 4 – DVD Review
I’ll admit it: I’m dumb.
I hated math and I liked science a little less. However, I was utterly enthralled with Mr. Wizard’s World.
Don Herbert was a master of taking really complex concepts that ruled our every day existence and crafted experiments to show kids like me that there was practical explanations about how calories were calculated, the nuances of gravity, and what the effects of liquid nitrogen were on a hot dog. This engendered a sense of wow about the world I lived in but the problem was that Mr. Wizard only came on for 1/2 a hour a day and school lasted hours upon hours and they never brought that kind of teaching style to the table.
Fast forward 20 years. I still hate math but I do like science. I may not understand the complex means by which people get to the answers what the coefficient is of the force that will ensure the wing of the plane I am riding in doesn’t snap off but it intrigues me. Thankfully, The Universe is a lot like Mr. Wizard for grown-ups like me who aren’t necessarily nerds when it comes to understanding how the larger universe around me operates but who want to learn.
In the fourth season this series continues to impress and educate with its methodological tack for making sense of the space that our globe is ensconced in on all sides. From using computer modeling to show how star clusters function and what happens when big things collide into planets to employing real life scientists who actually enjoy what they do and communicate as such on camera provide a viewing experience that just felt easy for me to follow. And I think the ease with which these things are explained help to make this a show that isn’t just aimed at people who may fancy themselves junior astronomers. This is a show for people like myself who aren’t well-versed in the complex mathematics involved which would explain everything they’re talking about but who really do need some help in slowing down and compartmentalizing the information in bites that are simple enough to consume. No, I don’t realize the difference between stars that seem to be the same and the relationship of dimness which can set them apart but, thanks to season 4 of The Universe, I saw someone with a white car back up in a parking lot to illustrate the point they were making.
Look, there should be no shame in saying that you’re deficient in certain areas of your mental wheelhouse but the pleasure a series like this brings, where people are delighted to explain ideas that eggheads have been agonizing over for centuries and where scientists are more than happy to create a real-world scenario that contextualizes what they’re saying, makes me more than giddy to see where else they can fill in the holes. To boot, this is also a series I can enjoy with the rest of my family as everyone can get something unique out of it and I think that speaks volumes about the production aims for a series that wants to not only cast the net really wide but wants to try and elevate the conversation for everyone involved.
As long as they keep making shows like this I will be more than willing to try and school myself because if they’re anything like this, I don’t mind sitting in front of the television for hours on end.
About the film:
Using stunning HD graphics and packed with authentic NASA footage, THE UNIVERSE returns in SEASON FOUR to transport home viewers past the wonders of our own solar system and out to the bizarre far-flung reaches of the cosmos. From death stars to ringed planets, star clusters to space wars, THE UNIVERSE: THE COMPLETE SEASON FOUR on DVD and BLU-RAY uses new discoveries and more advanced CGI to help explain the mysteries of outer space.
These special edition sets feature all 12 episodes from SEASON FOUR plus special “Ask the Universe” segments in which the series’ most popular experts answer viewers’ questions. Examine which elements from popular sci-fi movies could really exist – from the ice moon of Endor to wormholes and transporters. Discover how the universe is awash in all sorts of strange liquids, from oceans of methane to blobs of alcohol floating in space, and even iron rain. And watch and marvel as experts cook up ten ways to destroy the Earth, including blowing it up with anti-matter, hurling it into the Sun, and colliding with another galaxy in this top-rated #1-selling HISTORYâ„¢ franchise.
TELL THEM ANYTHING YOU WANT – DVD Review
As Maurice Sendak tells it, life growing up was sweet with his older brother and older sister.
This rather compact documentary on the man who would pen Where The Wild Things Are is a sincere and touching view into the life of an author who never deigned to spend his life writing for children. His muse was set to make him the vessel through which he produced dozens of books that kids everywhere adored and revered.
Clocking in at around 40 minutes this is a film directed by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze that, honestly, is emotionally stirring when you listen to a man who initially comes off as a crotchety old coot who you wonder, initially, why he even agreed to be on camera. The man is crotchety, no question about it, but instead of railing against the ills of the world around him he seems consumed with the ills that plague his soul.
While he recounts a life growing up with an older sister who he adored, in the special features there is a “dramatic” recreation with Jonze and Katherine Keener of a time he threw her under the bus after being left in a bake shop one time, and an older brother who helped him make hand-made toys you get a sense here was a man who had a rich childhood that was filled with wonder. He recounts the time, in a slow and exacting manner, how when he was a toddler seeing a picture of a badly decomposed photo of the Lindbergh baby that was kidnapped and left to rot in a forest. He tells how that affected him and you cannot help but feel in awe of a man who is able to recall those things which shaped his perception.
About his writing for kids, and it sounds like he’s a grumpy old man, but he likens his talent to a malfunction. He doesn’t understand why he was able to churn out story after story where his characters were no older than kids in the throes of childhood. He doesn’t seem mystified by the process. He seems resigned to knowing that he was just following a path as an artist and never wavered from it. It’s sweet and tender but it offers insight into how Maurice would grow up to create Where The Wild Things Are, a story that was controversial for its depiction of a mother who would stoop to the level of her child. Controversial for its depiction of a mother that would let her emotions get in the way of societal niceties that dictated hard and fast rules about the role of parents.
He talks sanguinely about death and its implications but you see an artist who knows he’s created something special for the world but, as any good artist would say, it doesn’t seem good enough. He has that “one more thing” still wanting to be created and you hope for all our sakes that he finally does. At one point, near the end of the documentary, he talks about why he wrote books for kids. He asks, almost self-reflexively, “Why is my needle stuck in childhood? I don’t know…That’s where my heart is.”
This is a movie that should not be missed and should absolutely be hunted out and viewed.
About the film:
From Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze, acclaimed director of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, comes A PORTRAIT OF MAURICE SENDAK, a loving look at one of the most cherished and controversial figures in children’s literature. Featuring TELL THEM ANYTHING YOU WANT, this is a deeply moving tribute to Sendak, a seminal talent whose conflicts with success and lifelong obsession with death have subtly influenced his work.
Now 81, Sendak is best known for his book, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, which he wrote twelve years into his career as a writer and illustrator. WILD THINGS would go on to become one of the most beloved and critically lauded children’s books of all time and, much to Sendak’s chagrin, would come to define his career. Through his own words, personal photos, and illustrations, Sendak offers a rare, intimate, and unexpected look at his exceptional life. A TRIBUTE TO MAURICE SENDAK also features James Gandolfini, Meryl Streep, Catherine Keener, and Tony Kushner honoring their friend and colleague.
And the Winner is…
By Ray Schillaci
The Academy Awards is either just around the corner or has been announced depending on when or if this gets posted. It’s been awhile since I’ve delivered my input on what’s out there. Thinking back I do not have a good enough reason not to have delivered Mr. Stipp a review or two a month. I could use the excuse that I have been traversing through a labyrinth of pain while in and out of a drug haze that impedes my writing, but I just don’t think that is acceptable. I will not continue on with my condition in fear of falling into maudlin territory and depressing you, the reader, and myself. So, in my humble opinion it’s unfortunate that the Academy has reduced itself to a cheap marketing ploy rather than get more creative to capture a television audience with the announcement of 10 “best picture nominees” rather than the streamline 5. Pardon me; did I use the word “creative” conjunctively with the Academy?
This is the Academy that anointed “best picture” in 1973 to the long forgotten, “The Sting” rather than embrace one of the most memorably chilling movies in film history, “The Exorcist”. The same group that selected the now forgettable, but still well made “Ordinary People,” completely dismissing the greatest film of that decade, Martin Scorsese’s monumental achievement, “Raging Bull” and one of the most emotionally draining and provocative films of all time, David Lynch’s, “The Elephant Man”.
Between 1932 and 1943 the Academy had 10 “best picture” nominees and if you take a look at any one of those years (with the exception of 1939) the category could have easily been reduced to five. Seriously, does this year’s crop of film come anywhere near the mythos of the batch that was provided in 1939; Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, Of Mice and Men, Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Ninotchka. If you are not familiar with some of these, do yourself a favor and rent them. They are the inspirations for many famous filmmakers in the last 40 years!
Frankly, there are only five best pictures this year; The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air, Avatar and Up. I place Avatar on a precipice nearly being toppled by the far less expensive, but deeper District 9. The other films are well made human dramas that have no place under the best picture banner. Each one of the films I’ve mentioned as legit nominees have their strong sells to command the coveted spot. Avatar is the only questionable one. I’m not a Cameron basher and I do not concern myself with the budget of a movie. I am more concerned with the story itself and for the life of me I don’t understand how a film can be nominated for “best picture” without getting nominated for “best screenplay” or “best adapted screenplay”. Seeing Avatar is like going out with Paris Hilton – can it really last? Where’s the depth? It’s good for the time being, but years later it will get old and there will be little to enjoy. Am I being too mean?
For me, Kathryn Bigelow’s, “The Hurt Locker” is every bit as visceral as Oliver Stone’s, “Platoon”. It’s one of the few films you watch after the first ten minutes and say, how can they possibly top that. The expectations are too high, and yet Bigelow delivers! On the other hand, Pixar’s, “Up” personifies a classic tale that nearly rings as original as “The Wizard of Oz”. It should not be dismissed as an animated film. The feelings are genuine and so are its actors, whose voices bring to life characters that forever stay in our heart and make an indelible mark in our lives. The story is both simple and unique carrying a bittersweet tome about life; the joys of youth and the pains of growing old. Speaking of original, Tarantino steps up to the plate and knocks it out of the ballpark with his grinningly fun inaccurate WW2 take, “Inglourious Basterds”. Tarantino challenges and we are all the better for it. He shows growth both as a director and a writer. He also remains outside the Hollywood system making his style not as accessible to mainstream audiences, but that’s why we love him. It reminds me of when Scorsese brought us Taxi Driver and Raging Bull – ending up being whole chapters in cinematic history.
But superseding as the most important statement about where we stand as a nation and where we may be going is Jason Reitman’s, “Up in the Air”. From the subtle performances, nuanced script, deep rich cinematography and a score that leaves one with a mild taste of the sixties harking back to the classic, “The Graduate,” Reitman proves that he was the genius behind “Juno” and not Diablo Cody. Cody proved that herself with the tepid “Jennifer’s Body”.
If you have not seen this masterpiece on corporate America, by all means do. Do not be put off by what you may think this picture is about. I thought, going in, it would be too bourgeoisie for me. How could I relate to people making 100 grand a year getting laid off when I knew way too many people making half of that getting the ax? How could I possibly care for the lead character that performs this heinous act? Reitman and company pull this off magnificently with George Clooney delivering the best performance of his career. Vera Farmiga (Orphan) cannot receive enough praise as Clooney’s seductive co-pilot who happens to have a delicious back end (unless they used a body double). She is not only the epitome of aging gracefully, she’s downright sexy too.
The importance of this film speaks volumes and rightfully places it at the top of my list as best picture. Of course, that does not mean a thing when you look at the past; “French Connection” beating out “Clockwork Orange” or “No Country for Old Men” stealing best picture from “There Will Be Blood”. But every so often the Academy does surprise us and does the right thing. Look at “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” in 2003, “Braveheart” in 1995 and both “Godfathers – I & II” in 1972 and ’74. I only hope box office does not become the ultimate decision over what is actually the best we have to offer in American cinema.
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