Shorts, 2/22.

"Like the Neo-Classical history paintings on which it is based, Eve Sussman's film The Rape of the Sabine Women never lets you forget that it is serious art," writes Roberta Smith in the New York Times. "Extravagantly beautiful, endlessly noble and largely devoid of humor, it self-consciously pushes every aspect of movie-making toward sensorial overload."

"Biggest problem with a life spent in adoration of classic movies is the fact you'll never get that rocker punch folks received when these things were new." Another outstanding entry at Greenbriar Picture Shows from John McElwee.

"Read the comments section of any site with 4,000 hits a day and it's the sort of slow death that the journalist Tim Cahill memorably describes as being 'pecked to death by ducks.'" But Ray Pride, writing for Newcity, finds moments of reprieve and hope an "aware and worldly film criticism." Meanwhile, Jim Emerson's been reviewing past debates over Pauline Kael.

Scott Raab profiles Robert Downey Jr for Esquire.

"And after a decade of dissipation, slacker films appear to be enjoying a renaissance," suggests Marisa Meltzer at Slate.

"Fons Rademakers, whose 1986 movie De Aanslag (The Assault) won an Academy Award as best foreign language film, died Thursday of emphysema at age 86, his son said." The AP reports.

Chuck Tryon on Looking for an Icon, which "explores the iconic power of four of the photographs that won 'World Press Photo of the Year'... The narratives of the photographers themselves were often quite powerful, suggesting the complicated role of the photographer in documenting history, questions that continue to confront us as the war in Iraq continues to haunt us with no end in sight."

"Dead Daughters is far more arthouse than grindhouse," writes Todd at Twitch.

Daniel Kasman: "[Bruno] Dumont's formal minimalism rarely results in simple-minded films, but in Flanders the director has whittled down his content to a particularly inane, reductive statement fable based on the notion that people are beasts."

Ella Taylor meets James McAvoy. Also in the LA Weekly, Scott Foundas on The Number 23 and Rob Nelson on Julien Temple's Glastonbury.

"Even if the film is an educational summary about [William] Wilberforce's legacy and the tangled politics of his era, Amazing Grace's antiseptic hagiographic mode hasn't earned it the right to the title and music of a song that had become so closely linked to a people's emancipation," writes Michael Joshua Rowin at indieWIRE. More from Ella Taylor in the LA Weekly.

Ed Gonzalez on The Cats of Mirikitani: "With scant rage for the system that destroyed [artist Jimmy Mirikitani's] family and career, [director Linda] Hattendorf humanely devotes herself to guiding Jimmy past his pain. Together they pave a symbolic path toward healing that is an inspiration to us all."

Also in Slant:

• Keith Uhlich on The Wayward Cloud, in which Tsai Ming-liang "uses the vernacular of pornography against itself: every image is empty, obvious, posed - as dried out and desiccated as the drought-stricken Taipei that serves as the film's backdrop." More from Armond White in the New York Press.

• Nick Schager on Premium, The Ultimate Gift and The Number 23.

Commune "traces a clear arc from the back-to-nature communal experience to the shape of progressive politics and culture today," writes Robert Avila at SF360.

Shawn Badgley talks with filmmakers Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan about An Unreasonable Man. Also in the Austin Chronicle: Marc Savlov on the latest Hitchcock box set and Kimberley Jones on David Mamet's Bambi vs Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business. Related: For Bloomberg, Rick Warner talks with Mamet. Via Movie City News.

The latest on Days of Glory: Eric Kohn in the NYP and Sam Adams in the Philadelphia City Paper.

Bill Gibron launches a new series on the PopMatters blog, Short Ends and Leader: "A Beginner's Guide to Exploitation: The Gore-Gore Girls."

Matt Singer at the Reeler: "The Astronaut Farmer remains light and pleasant, like a warm summer day in the country or good afternoon nap."

"Don't worry too much about how long it takes for you to make your DIY film famous (at least in the indie world) and for the film to earn a significant amount of money (let's say over $100,000)," advises Sujewa Ekanayake, pointing to three examples of little films that could - over the long, long run.

"[W]hat took countless dollars and years of work to create was undone in just a few weeks by a hacker who in effect unlocked every single Blu-ray and HD DVD disc now in circulation." Bobbie Johnson considers the implications in the Guardian.

Online viewing tip. Rex Sorgatz sums this one up best: "You might remember how a few months ago Michel Gondry put a video of himself on YouTube solving a Rubik's Cube with his feet. That was followed by someone decoding how he performed this stunt. Well, now Gondry is back, solving a Rubik's Cube with his nose." Related: AICN runs an all but anonymous rave written after a test screening of Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, but you know, who knows. Hope so.

Online viewing tips. The best of January at No fat clips!!!.

Online viewing tips, round 2. "20 of the most amazing short animations you need to see before you die" at laboratory 101, via Thomas Groh.

Posted by dwhudson at February 22, 2007 2:59 PM