Shorts, 4/16.

"[T]he palatial sets, outlandish backdrops, and outsized drama of Cleopatra resemble another, much more recent epic about larger-than-life figures. Along with forties serials, The Hidden Fortress, Ray Harryhausen and all the other usual suspects, there is no doubt that the Cinemascope epics of the 50s and 60s, and specifically Cleopatra, served as a blueprint for the Star Wars films," writes Jürgen Fauth, before moving on to another compare-n-contrast exercise, George Lucas's epics and Grindhouse: "Star Wars works where Death Proof fails, perhaps because its admiration for the movies it emulates isn't eclipsed by the director's self-indulgence. Face it: true movie love doesn't care how hip it is, and true cool doesn't have anything to prove."

"Director Patrick Tam has picked up five trophies at the Hong Kong Film Awards with his first film in 17 years," reports the BBC. "After This Our Exile, which tells the story of a gambling addict who forces his son to steal to make ends meet, won best film, director and screenplay."

"After 90 or so films, [Maggie] Cheung is, she says, moving away from cinema," sighs Bob Flynn. She tells him: "I don't want it to be the only thing I've done in my life. I'd like to paint and compose music, which means everything to me. I have to have music from the moment I wake up. My goal is to edit and score films. Maybe I'll discover I'm not talented that way, but I want to try. And I want to travel more."

Also in the Independent:

• Aki Kaurismäki "remains one of the few contemporary European filmmakers whose work bears comparison with that of auteurs such as Godard, Truffaut or his beloved Jean Vigo," writes Geoffrey Macnab, who talks with him about Lights in the Dusk.

• "The best thing about midnight movies is that, unlike formulaic blockbusters, it's virtually impossible to make a film with the intent that it will connect with the witching-hour crowd," writes Kaleem Aftab in a piece that touches on the return of Alexandro Jodorowsky, Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream, Grindhouse and: "[T]he notion that the midnight movie is dead fails to consider the Donnie Darko phenomenon."

• Geoffrey Macnab offers a bluffer's guide a couple of dozen classics.

• Gill Pringle meets Jada Pinkett Smith.

The Telegraph critics draw up a list: "From Chaplin to Meadows - the top 21 British directors of all time." Sarah Crompton talks with writer and producer Jimmy McGovern about one of his favorite films: "Why do you need the B story? You only need it because you haven't faith in the A story. There is no B story in High Noon. It is about a man having to confront evil and not winning anyone to his cause. It is so lean and mean, it's just beautiful."

"In Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes, critic Saul Austerlitz provides an essential study of our favorite subject," writes Obtusity, introducing an interview with the author. Related online viewing (because he's honorably mentioned in the book): Brent Chesanek.

Only tangentially related to film, but certainly not entirely unrelated, either: John Rogers on James Poniewozik's cover story for Time.

"Vigen Chaldranian has directed 15 feature films, yet nobody knows who he is. Or rather, nobody who isn't Armenian," notes Brandon Hall at the Filmmaker blog. "Which is a little odd considering he isn't merely a part of Armenian cinema; he is Armenian cinema." Now, "The Priestess is the first ever Armenian-American cinematic collaboration and Chaldranian's finest opportunity to garner recognition this side of the Mediterranean."

"Nothing prepared me for the ferocity, the liveliness, the wall-to-wall richness. I was expecting something good, something special, but I wasn't expecting this." Zach Campbell on Killer of Sheep. More - a lot more - from Nick Schager.

And then Zach Campbell finds a certain "B-movie auteurism" in Shield for Murder.

Prince Caspian, the next adaptation of CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, is being filmed at the Barrandov studios in Prague, which has just seen the completion of Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth. Fran Yeoman pays a visit for the London Times and finds things going well but not perfectly: "The question of tax credits - the mantra of filmmakers everywhere - has inevitably raised its head. The Czech Republic is lagging behind some of the other new EU states on this."

Charlotte Westenra is directing a new stage version of Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Donmare Warehouse (the run will be April 25 through May 26) and looks back on the novel's origins and many interpretations over the past few decades: "Even in adulthood, Puig would set his evenings aside for his mother whenever he was in Argentina, so that they could catch up on the latest films his friends would post to him. The Argentinian film industry didn't excite them in the way that Hollywood did. Their taste was broad and populist: B movies, zombie flicks, musicals and rom-coms were all part of the repertoire."

Also in the Guardian:

• "The anniversary of Terence Davies's Distant Voices, Still Lives, the finest British movie of the 1980s, reminds me of a time, 10 years earlier, when there was the faintest gleaming of what a truly British, truly independent-minded kind of cinema might look like," writes John Patterson. "It was one of the paths not taken. How I wish it had been."

• Kira Cochrane talks with Sarah Polley about directing Away From Her.

• David Thomson profiles Adam Sandler.

• Ronald Bergan remembers Bob Clark.

The success of Smoke Signals "appeared to be a harbinger of a new wave of Native filmmaking. What's happened since? 'Absolutely nothing,' according to [director Sherman] Alexie." Matthew Fleischer reports in the LA Weekly. Related: Ann Cummins reviews Alexie's novel, Flight, for the Washington Post.

At Dr Mabuse's Kaleido-Scope, Jason Sperb follows up on his first entry regarding Hulk and Baudrillard. (Related: Brendon Connelly's entry, "Edward Norton Blah Blah Hulk Blah Blah Reboot Blah Blah Blah.") Also: "How can a scholar (they of the 'critical distance' persuasion) also write as a cinephile? Loving the cinema, for [Christian] Metz, constitutes seeing the cinema only as a special landscape immune from the traditional standards of scientific and intellectual rigor. So, one must stand outside their love."

"The aesthetic of writer/director Eugène Green is so clean and simple in this age of image saturation and hyper-abundant kinetics that his 'mini-film' Les Signes feels as natural and fluid as his fascinating longer features like 2004's Le Pont des Arts and 2003's miniature knight's tale, Le Monde Vivant," writes Daniel Kasman.

Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net: "The intriguingly titled upcoming book adaptation Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother is an Only Child) reunites some of the more established talents of Italian cinema with two of the Young Turks of Italian acting."

Not only has Michael Guillén taken extensive notes on an impromptu a Q&A with Francis Veber that followed a screening of La Doublure (The Valet) for the press in San Francisco, he's also interviewed Veber one-on-one. Related: For the Los Angeles Times, Susan King asks Veber what's up with the name "François Pignon."

"In style, Hyperbola of Youth belongs more to the 1930s than to the 1950s, but that's okay," writes Duncan Mitchel. "Thirties Hollywood comedies are more fun." Also at Koreanfilm.org: "The Feminist Video Activism WOM collective, in their documentary triptych Out: Smashing Homophobia, succeeds in protecting each girl's identity while ushering the audience into the triple lives of Korean lesbian teenagers," writes Annie Koh. Earlier: "Seoul Dispatch."

"Over 500 jurisdictions now record confessions on video, we're told. In virtually all instances, there's only one camera, and it shows only the accused. That means, in movie terms, there are no reverse shots of the questioner. What difference does it make?" asks David Bordwell. "Quite a lot, it seems."

"We are in a cycle right now where Hollywood is not really creating new stars." David Poland ranks the players on the field.

Sahara has become "one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history. For the Los Angeles Times, Glenn F Bunting takes a close look at documents that "provide a rare behind-the-curtain peek at the thousands of expenditures that drain the budget of a major motion picture."

Also in the LAT:

• "A rumored $250 million is riding on whether sand, venom, a goblin and a mysterious black tar-like substance from outer space can keep a high-flying movie franchise soaring." Sheigh Crabtree talks with the team behind Spider-Man 3.

• "Considering how fuzzy the line between good guys and bad guys has gotten in real life, it's no surprise our horror films are confused," proposes Carina Chocano.

• Mark Olsen profiles Danish writer and director Anders Thomas Jensen.

• Cristy Lytal meets Adam Brody. On a related note, Newsweek's David Ansen: "In the Land of Women is the kind of small, personal tale that once would have made for a slight but promising first novel. Here... [Jonathan] Kasdan has made a winning if overly pat first feature notable for its keen ear, its preference for character over plot and its refreshing modesty."

"Lyon has a population of one million, four times less than Sydney (where I currently live), but about five times the number of screens dedicated to what we would call 'arthouse' cinema," writes Matt Riviera. "It's when I come here that I truly realize how little diversity there really is on our screens in Australia. The same applies if you compare Paris to London, Toronto or even New York."

Michael Guillén recalls meeting Cathleen Rountree and recommends her book, The Movie Lovers' Club: How to Start Your Own Film Group.

Camillo de Marco has a quick talk with Danish director Per Fly for Cineuropa.

Michael Brunton interviews Andrew Goldsworthy, the subject of Rivers and Tides, for Time.

"The prospect of younger viewers being able to see All That Jazz with fresh eyes untainted by knowledge of the film's proximities to [Bob] Fosse's personal life is an encouraging one," finds José Teodoro in Stop Smiling.

Film Threat's Mark Bell asks David Arquette about his directorial debut, The Tripper, which Arquette describes as "a political horror film set in the Redwood Forest at an outdoor music festival."

Paul Harris revisits the case of the Zodiac killer. Also in the Observer: Daphne du Maurier "is about to be comprehensively celebrated," notes Kate Kellaway.

"I've learned to take my punishment and pleasure in small doses," blogs cnw for Reverse Shot, "and to content myself with watching Berlin Alexanderplatz as it was intended to be seen, whatever other critics who climb mountains in their seats and toss down gauntlets with their pens (or keyboards) have to say about it - and I'm sure my ass, spared a second day of Titus 1, will thank me."

At Filmmaker, Scott Macaulay remembers editor, writer and actor, Jim Lyons.

"Barry Nelson, the first actor to play James Bond on screen, has died aged 89," reports the BBC. "Nelson played the famous spy in a one-hour TV adaptation of Casino Royale in 1954." Adds Joe Leydon: "Nelson also will be remembered by many as a reliable MGM contract player of the 1940s and, later, an accomplished stage actor in and around New York."

Pazit Cahlon talks with Sacco and Vanzetti director Peter Miller for ScreenGrab.

For the New York Press, Eric Kohn talks with Henry Rollins about his Show on IFC.

Lindy West spends one long horrible day at the movies. Fortunately, it was cheap. She reports for the Stranger.

"Culture Snob is hosting a forum for essays, arguments, and provocations on misunderstood movies. The blog-a-thon will run Wednesday, May 16, through Sunday, May 20, although I won't turn my nose up at contributions that arrive before then."

New Zealanders: Registration is open for the 48Hours competition. The weekend shoot: May 18 through 20.

Online browsing tip. Nathaniel R launches the "20:07 Project."

Online browsing tips. The work of poster artist Bob Peak. Also via John Coulthart: Coming attraction lanterns slides at the George Eastman House.

Online browsing and viewing and/or listening tip. Not only is Girish pointing to a slew of sites that'll derail your day before you choose the ones you want to work into your routine, he's also pointing to video and audio of the book launch for Nicole Brenez's Abel Ferrara: "The speakers include Edward Colless and the book's translator, Adrian Martin. Their remarks are insightful and contagiously enthusiastic; it's cinephile catnip."

Online viewing tip #1. The trailer for Cinematographer Style, via Coudal Partners.

Online viewing tip #2. Michael Tully finds "Quite Possibly My Favorite Scene Ever."

Online viewing tip #3. Filmmaker has a "Rough Cut Clip" from John Sayles's upcoming Honeydripper.

Online viewing tips, round 1. Seven from the Guardian's Kate Stables.

Online viewing tips, round 2. Ted Z's got a few at Big Screen Little Screen.

Online viewing tips, round 3. ScreenGrab's "Greatest 'No-Sex' Sex Scenes."

Online viewing tips, round 4. A "mash-up masterclass" at the DVblog.

Posted by dwhudson at April 16, 2007 5:33 AM