Link Round-Up: Pies and Cries (And Whispers)

Mr. Keaton always preferred the chase to the pie.

Over at To Be Cont'd, I continue our month long conversation on the summer blockbuster by examining the relationship to the Cinema of Attractions and Donald Crafton's idea of the "pie and the chase," and how we're moving toward a pie-centric blockbuster. I also expand on the ideological elements of blockbuster cinema, and explain how a great metaphor like Jaws works while Star Trek Into Darkness makes me want to destroy the very idea of a political cinema. Read that here.

The Strange Little Cat played at the Toronto Film Festival, and it's an absolute delight as I argue here.

It's Bergman Vs. Bergman over at The Film Stage, where I review Criterion's recent Blu-Ray update of Autumn Sonata, directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Ingrid Bergman. I also review the new late-term abortion documentary, After Tiller.

On Letterboxd, those who've seen Blue is the Warmest Color, the Palm D'Or winner from Abdellatif Kechiche, can read my spoiler-filled take on the very good, often misconstrued film.

I also have shorter pieces on Fritz Lang's M, Howard Hawks's Fig Leaves, Renoir's The River, Claire Denis's Trouble Every Day, Don Siegel's Coogan's Bluff. I also went kind of long and super ambivalent on Hour of the Furnaces, if you're curious about that one.

Finally, Jordan Cronk came on The Cinephiliacs, where we reviewed Repo Man.

Link Round Up: To the Sky and Under the Sea

I am not attending the Toronto International Film Festival this year, because I am a working man with responsibilities and undergrads to teach. However, I was able to do a couple pre-festival reviews, starting with what might be my favorite release of the year: Manakamana, the follow-up to Leviathan from the Ethnography Lab at Harvard. It's quite awesome and the kind of humanist poem I adore, especially considering how much Leviathan is an (deliberately) alienating experience. I reviewed it for The Film Stage, so follow the action there.

Also new is To Be (Cont'd) is here, and the first post is by yours truly considering the state of blockbuster filmmaking. The first post is mostly about dispelling the old myths in order to frame the conversation, as well as considering the how and why of the emergence of blockbusters, as well as a reading of Nashville and Jaws, the two "event movies" of 1975. Take a read here, add to the comments, and get ready for next week's response.

My work with The Criterion Collection continues with half the capsules for the new Eclipse set celebrating the early films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. I wrote the introduction and the capsules for Love is Colder than Death ("What a title!") and The American Soldier. Thanks to Danny King for helping me out with the others.

On the Boxd - some spoiler considerations of Edgar Wright's The World's End, and Roger Corman's It Conqured the World, which I compare to Griffith of all things.