MovieMaker. 59.

Serious as granite, Werner Herzog peers at you from cover of the new issue of MovieMaker. With a batch of his earlier films freshly out on DVD, Grizzly Man in selected theaters, Wheel of Time in selected art-houses and The Wild Blue Yonder on the way, not to mention - no, let's go ahead and mention them - the recent meta-Herzog experiences, Incident at Loch Ness and Criterion's release of Burden of Dreams on DVD, it's hard to believe that about a decade ago he was teetering on the edge of "What ever happened to...?" I wouldn't call it a comeback, but to see him bounce back from his previous return to narrative filmmaking (Invincible), to see his name on marquees and his face in the press is one of finer pleasures of 2005.

MovieMaker's piece on/with him isn't online, but he doesn't get a somewhat honorable mention (sort of; Grizzly Man as "astounding snuff film"?) in David Geffner's survey of indies as "counter-programming" since 1973. The definition of "indie" here stretches far and wide; what Geffner's really describing are come-from-behind hits. In a related piece, Bob Fisher talks to cinematographer Bill Butler about shooting Jaws thirty years ago: "When Spielberg asked if he knew how to shoot day for night on the ocean, Butler tried to look casual when he assured him that it wouldn't be a problem."

Troy and Clay Nichols on moviemaking in high school: "Kids have been picking up cameras, recruiting a few buds and making videos for a while now. Lately, however, they've been growing more ambitious. They don't just want to make a funny home movie. They aren't satisfied with improvised dialogue and shaky, handheld camera work. They want to make a real movie."

Joe Eszterhas growls through his ten golden rules. Some are worth considering: "If you're stuck for something to write about, think of all those things your family just doesn't talk about. Somewhere in there lurks at least one good script." Some aren't: "In the company of the director, don't bend over.... He is your enemy."

Modesty demands saving a pointer to Daniel Nemet-Nejat's article on video-on-demand for last, but it doesn't prohibit one iota of insistence that you go and read it right now: "Last May, GreenCine began distributing [Caveh] Zahedi's films, marking the first time that any service had made films that were not released on DVD available online for on-demand viewing. [Jonathan] Marlow developed GreenCine's VOD as a way to give exposure to a growing number of quality films that were unable to secure a theatrical release.... Zahedi, for one, finds it 'liberating' to know that 'anyone in the world can see my films.'"

Posted by dwhudson at August 5, 2005 9:42 AM