I got lucky the first two years I did the White Elephant Blogathon. Last year, my luck ran out, and this year...well, let me just say that when I opened the email and beheld the title of my film, my blood ran cold. I'm sure I went white as a sheet. There are some right bastards throwing names in the hat and this year, I fell victim to one of them. Behold, this year's nemesis, Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988, directed by John De Bello), and despair....
There a few ways to watch the new version of Godzilla (2014, directed by Gareth Edwards). One way is to put it into context with other Godzilla movies. If you choose to watch it with this mindset, you may find yourself slotting the film as an upscale version of the late Shōwa series, in which Godzilla was a superhero/wrestler protecting the Earth from aliens from Planet X and their monstrous pawns. It has something of the feel of Godzilla vs. Megalon or The Terror of Mechagodzilla. If you choose to watch it, instead, from the point of view of a cinephile, then you'll marvel at some of the imagery and cringe at the ham-fistedness of its script. Either way, you'll find yourself negotiating with your sensibilities. This is one of the most frustrating films I've seen in a good long while.
Although it didn't invent the mid-franchise retcon for movies, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014, directed by Bryan Singer) does better than previous examples, accomplishing the tricky marketing surgery involved with stitching X-Men: First Class to the previous series while also neatly excising both X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine out of existence if you feel like forgetting about those movies (as many fans do). It does something more than that, too. Like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it also tears down the grimdark superhero and rebuilds something less cynical in its place. No small feat for a film and a series that begin with visions of mass graves and extermination camps.
I decided to revisit Pandora's Box this morning. I've written about it before, so I won't rehash it. But I did want to share the shrine to Louise Brooks I have atop my entertainment center. The other side of the entertainment center features a shrine to Godzilla:
I'm trying out Patreon as a means of funding my blogs. They don't have a widget yet, so this link will just have to do. If you like my writing and art and if you'd like to support Krell Laboratories and Christianne's Art and Comics, please come on over and pledge. Thanks.
Tis the season for blogathons. I'll be doing the 1967 blogathon next month. My films will be Seijun Suzuki's yakuza freak-out, Branded to Kill and King Hu's classic kung fu film, Dragon Inn. The blogathon is being hosted by Silver Screenings and The Rosebud Cinema, so pay them a visit if you want in on the fun.
I'm trying out Patreon as a means of funding my blogs. They don't have a widget yet, so this link will just have to do. If you like my writing and art and if you'd like to support Krell Laboratories and Christianne's Art and Comics, please come on over and pledge. Thanks.
My friend, Anna, sent me a copy of the Ford at Fox box set on the condition that we run a John Ford Blogathon. Anna blogs over at Bemused and Nonplussed.
I don't have a snappy title--"Print the Legend" was taken by a blogathon a couple of years ago and I don't want to nick that. So "The John Ford Blogathon" it is. If you want to participate, please leave your name and your blog in the comments and tell me what you want to write about. You can write about more than one thing. This is going to be a week-long affair. It will run July 7-July 13.
For myself, I'm planning on writing about How Green Was My Valley and probably some of Ford's work from the 1930s (since I have that shiny new box set), but all periods of his work are fair game. Entirely up to you. Duplicates are allowed, but if you want to shy away from repeating anyone, here's what folks want to write about:
The participants thus far:
Krell Laboratories (right here, as it so happens)--How Green Was My Valley and probably some other stuff.
Bemused and Nonplussed--the Ford at Fox box
Movies, Silently--Bucking Broadway
The Joy and Agony of Movies--They Were Expendable
Critica Retro--The Iron Horse
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear--Prisoner of Shark Island
Caftan Woman--The Informer
Vintage Cameo--My Darling Clementine
Outspoken and Freckled--The Quiet Man
21 Essays--Wagon Master
Directed by John Ford (tentative)--TBA
We Have the Stars--Wee Willie Winkie
Silver Screenings--The Sun Shines Bright
Phantom Empires--The Blue Eagle
Public Transportation Snob--She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Grim Reader--The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Girls Do Film--The Grapes of Wrath
The Girl with the White Parasol--Young Mister Lincoln and/or The Whole Town's Talking
Microbrewed Reviews--The Searchers (and tentatively, Donovan's Reef)
The Round Place in the Middle--Drums Along the Mohawk
Mayerson on Animation--Submarine Patrol
Movie Fanfare--Up the River
The Great Katharine Hepburn--Mary Queen of Scots and Ford and Kate
Once Upon a Screen--Rio Grande (and maybe The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
Mildred's Fatburgers--The Lost Patrol
The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog--The Horse Soldiers
Dammaged Goods--Donovan's Reef
Christy's Inkwell--Maureen O'Hara and John Ford
The Stop Button--The Whole Town's Talking
She Blogged by Night--Fort Apache
Ferdy on Films/This Island Rod--TBD
Curtsies and Hand Grenades--Young Mister Lincoln and/or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
All Things Kevyn--10 Favorite Lesser-known John Ford Films
The Suesue Applegate Blog--The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
The Cinema Packrat--TBD
David Meuel--Women in John Ford
Barry Bradford--Young Mr. Lincoln
Cary Grant Won't Eat You--Mister Roberts
Portraits by Jenni--Sergeant Rutledge
Tom Price--The Last Hurrah and/or The Horse Soldiers
Anyway, here are some banners.
I'm trying out Patreon as a means of funding my blogs. They don't have a widget yet, so this link will just have to do. If you like my writing and art and if you'd like to support Krell Laboratories and Christianne's Art and Comics, please come on over and pledge. Thanks.
Under the Skin (2013, directed by Jonathan Glazer) is one of the most distressing horror movies I've seen in a good long while. It's a film that frustrates me, because it creates images that overturn the power dynamics of the horror movie and then reasserts them in the end. It's visionary. It's blank-faced and mundane. It's transgressive. It's retrograde. It's the goddamnedest thing.
