Category Archives: Uncategorized
SITE UPDATE
Sorry for the lack of updates all week. My computer died on Saturday night and my household was computerless until today. Currently I’m sharing a computer, so updates won’t be as often as they had been. But I’m going to try to keep doing Movie Quote of the Day and Oscar Vault Monday will be back on Monday, as well as part three of my four part Auteur of the Week on Spielberg will be back on Tuesday or Wednesday!
Hopefully I’ll have my own new computer sooner rather than later and we’ll be back up to par in no time. Thank you for all your patience.
RIP Sally Menke
Sally Menke was an integral player in the making of Quentin Taratino’s career. The two worked very close together to create the fast-paced, edgy feel of his films. Sadly, she passed away yesterday while out hiking, she was 56 years old.
She has quite a diverse filmography aside from her work with Tarantino:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
- The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1991)
- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- Pulp Fiction (1994) [ Nominated – Academy Award for Best Film Editing, Nominated – American Cinema Editors Eddie Award – “Best Edited Feature Film”, Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Editing ]
- Four Rooms, Segment: “The Man from Hollywood” (1995)
- Mulholland Falls (1996)
- Nightwatch (1997)
- Jackie Brown (1997)
- All the Pretty Horses (2000)
- Daddy and Them (2000)
- Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) [ Won- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing, Won – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing, Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Editing, Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing ],
- Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004) [ Nominated – American Cinema Editors Eddie Award – “Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)”, Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing]
- Grindhouse, Segment: “Death Proof” (2007)
- Inglourious Basterds (2009) [ Nominated – Academy Award for Best Film Editing, Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Editing, Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Editing, Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing]
- Peacock (2010)
I’ve seen about eight of those films. One of the things I look at in a film is the editing and I think Menke was one of the greatest editors working in Hollywood today. She will be sadly missed.
Blockbuster Filing For Bankruptcy Soon
Here’s the story from AP:
Troubled video-rental chain Blockbuster Inc. could file for bankruptcy protection as early as Wednesday, according to a Wall Street Journal article.
Citing unnamed sources, the Journal said Blockbuster is working with creditors to develop a bankruptcy restructuring plan that would free it of debt and allow the company to keep some stores open and focus more on digital distribution.
If Blockbuster misses an interest payment on Sept. 30, more than $900 million in debt will be due in full.
The article says billionaire investor Carl Icahn owns one-third of Blockbuster’s debt and would return to the company’s board once it exits Chapter 11. He resigned from the board in January.
Blockbuster and Icahn did not return calls for comment.
Once a home entertainment powerhouse, Blockbuster, based in Dallas, has been losing market share for years as more consumers switch to video subscription services like Netflix Inc., video on demand services and curbside rentals such as Redbox.
Blockbuster peaked at about 9,100 stores in 2004, but it has since shut many to cut costs and is down to about 5,800 as of August. In the same period, Netflix membership has grown from 2.6 million to about 15 million.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere, so to be honest I don’t know that I’ve ever even been in a Blockbuster. I also am a huge fan of Netflix. Still, it’s sad to see the end of an era.
It’s My Birthday!
It’s my 24th Birthday today. Not sure how I feel about this. As Janet says in Singles, “Somewhere around 25 bizarre becomes immature.” So I guess I have one year left to be bizarre!
I will also avoid getting any presents from Sean Penn.
Buy CinemaFanatic!
I’ve got a new Amazon Affiliate store set up: http://astore.amazon.com/cinefana-20
If you plan on buying any of the movies I’ve got listed, howsabout buying em from my store? It’lll be a win-win.
I have a page, which you can see on the sidebar, set up with the link to the store – so you can reference it from any of my posts.
I also plan on setting up special sections for certain posts that feature many films. I’ve already done this with all of my 20 years of ___ nominees series. Each page has a link to a store that features the films I discussed in the posts.
Let’s Not Forget About Lee Daniels
With all this talk about Kathryn Bigelow being only the 4th woman to be nominated for Best Director and the first woman to win at the DGA, I think we’ve forgotten that Lee Daniels has been making history, too. I watched an interview with him today on KTLA, wherein he said he sobbed when he heard he was nominated for the DGA. Apparently, he is the first black man to be up for the honor. He’s also only the second black man to be nominated for Best Director (John Singleton was up for the honor for 1991’s Boyz n the Hood). He is also only the third black producer up for the Best Picture award (this year, there are two black nominees, the only previous nominee was Quincy Jones for The Color Purple in 1985) Also, this is the first time a film directed by a black man has been nominated for Best Picture.
5 Awesome Uses of Music in Film 2009
There were a lot of wonderful soundtracks and scores this year, as I mentioned in an earlier post. This time I’d like to talk about 5 instances where filmmakers used a song to enhance a scene.
Inglourious Basterds – Cat People (Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline) by David Bowie
Avatar – The Matrix 2.0?
What I’m saying is Avatar is a special effects-driven film, like The Matrix, that is critically acclaimed and loved by audiences. Both films pushed boundaries of film visual effects and created new technologies.
Avatar Surpasses Titanic at Worldwide Box Office
This is a big feat and it’s taken a film 12 years do it. It’s no surprise, really, that James Cameron would be at the helm of the movie that finally surpasses Titanic–his last film.
This number is only going to go up as Titanic got to this number through a re-release after it won Best Picture. I remember seeing it when it first came out in December 1997 or maybe January 1998 and then seeing it again for my birthday in June. I don’t really see a re-release of Avatar in its future. Although, it could be a possibility since there still isn’t a home release technology that can preserve the film’s 3D self.
the diary of a film history fanatic 