Shorts, 6/18.

Two recommendations from Mick LaSalle: Antonia Quirke's Choking on Marlon Brando, out next month: "It's a memoir of a woman's love life and how it was influenced by her obsession with male movie stars. But, really, unless you're really, really, really interested in a stranger's sex life, the book is in truth a smart excuse - a shrewd way of arranging - one film critic's best thoughts and ideas about watching movies, and her best comments and observations about particular stars, especially actors.... Quirke is a gifted describer and observer, a genuine and intelligent talent, and a welcome new voice. She's about three seconds from becoming very famous." And the second? Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings.

Another title you might want to seek out for these long summer days: Raymonde Borde and Etienne Chaumeton's A Panorama of American Film Noir 1941 - 1953. Girish introduces a few excerpts: "Being Surrealists, Borde and Chaumeton tirelessly hunt for a handful of qualities in these films: oneirism, strangeness, eroticism, moral ambivalence, cruelty, death, sensation. It makes for a delicious read."

Speaking of noir, Cyberpunk Review has details on an upcoming 5-disc Blade Runner "Ultimate Collection" DVD release. Via Fimoculous, also pointing to the "100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies."

Speaking of detectives who may or may not fully realize who they are, Twin Peaks, the full series, pilot and all, the "Definitive Gold Box Edition." David Lambert reports for, appropriately enough, TVShowsOnDVD.com. Via Jeffrey Overstreet.

Kung Fu Cinema hears that there will be a Host 2 - but Bong Joon-ho won't be directing it.

"Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper, Mark Rydell, Owen Roizman and Haskell Wexler are among the film industry veterans slated to be interviewed for inclusion in a new documentary about two of the community's most influential directors of photography, Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond." Carolyn Giardina has more in the Hollywood Reporter.

A dog, a lawsuit, an 11-year-old movie director, and yes, Kevin Bacon. Dana Goodyear tells the odd story in the New Yorker. Also, John Lahr on Neil LaBute's In a Dark House.

For the Los Angeles Times, Bruce Wallace files a profile from South Korea: "A mere two years after arriving in South Korea with a single suitcase and a one-shot contract for a TV commercial, [Daniel] Henney, 27, has become one of the country's most famous TV and movie stars, a heartthrob who can't go out for coffee in Seoul without attracting a (mostly squealing female) crowd."

"Power of Art teaches as much about the power of storytelling on television as it does about the history of art," writes Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times. "[Simon] Schama, who most recently undertook A History of Britain for the BBC and the History Channel, is taking a faster and more furious look at Western civilization."

At Slant, Nick Schager finds September Dawn's "Mormon characters demonized with such laughable gusto, and its Christian victims cast in such a holy, noble light, that the project quickly feels less like an attempt at historical truth-telling than like shameless anti-Mormon propaganda."

Rob Humanick: "I declare the week of July 15-21 the official 'Movies I've Borrowed for an Unreasonably Long Time' Blog-a-Thon. This date will give anyone interested in participating a full month to get around to those dust-collecting DVDs and tapes - extra props to anyone who can beat my own personal record of a whopping four years (that's right - I borrowed my friend's copy of WarGames at the end of my senior year in high school, and now I'm applying for graduate school)." Via Keith Uhlich at the House Next Door.

And a reminder from William Speruzzi: The Ambitious Failure Blog-a-Thon is still set for Wednesday through Sunday.

Wagstaff's "5 for the Day" at the House Next Door: "My five is heavy on car chases, but anything on wheels may qualify, as long as someone is being chased or doing the chasing."

PopMatters starts listing the "50 DVDs Every Film Fan Should Own."

Online browsing tip. Penguin Design Award winning entries and shortlist. Via the CR Blog.

Online listening tip. "Enemies of Happiness premiered at IDFA last November, where it won the Silver Wolf Award," writes Joel Heller at Docs That Inspire. "The film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary at Sundance in January. I never imagined that six months later I'd be sitting across from the inspiring subject of the film, a 28-year-old woman named Malalai Joya, whose moral courage and strength I deeply admire."

Online viewing tip #1. Filmmaker's Scott Macaulay passes along links to Scott Kirsner's conversation with Peter Broderick: "Peter has always been a thoughtful, ahead-of-the-curve commentator on independent film distribution, so I suggest you check these out on Google Video."

Online viewing tip #2. At AICN, Moriarty has a trailer for Jay and Seth vs the Apocalypse. That would be Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen.

Online viewing tip #3. Jim Coudal finds "appropriately silent movie about Colin Ord's forthcoming book on animated optical illusions."

Online viewing tips, round 1. Ed Champion rounds up a heavy handful of apocalyptic downers.

Online viewing tips, round 2. Filmschatten, "films that made (no) history," via wood s lot.

Posted by dwhudson at June 18, 2007 2:01 PM