Shorts, 10/11.

"Years go by, and my career takes off. Harlan Ellison becomes a fan of a film I wrote, A History of Violence, and invites me to write with him, adapting his short story 'The Discarded' for the ABC series Masters of Science Fiction. In the process, we become spectacular friends." But that's only one small part of the incredible story Josh Olson has to tell.

Also in the LA Weekly, Scott Foundas recommends Heinz Emigholz's Schindler's Houses as a film to set alongside Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself, "Michael Mann's Heat and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep on the short list of essential movies about our city's physical and social geography." He also talks with Tony Kaye about Lake of Fire and Chuck Wilson profiles Paul Schneider.

"It's always vital to listen to filmmakers, but we shouldn't limit our analysis to what they highlight," argues David Bordwell in an entry that calls on examples ranging from DW Griffith and Orson Welles to Paul Greengrass and Michael Mann. "We can detect things that they didn't deliberately put into their films, and we can sometimes find traces of things they don't know they know.... And it doesn't hurt, especially in this age of hype, to be a little skeptical and pursue what we think is interesting, whether or not a director has flagged it as worth noticing."

Reviewing The Man Who Wanted to Classify the World, Kevin Kelly explains that Paul Otlet's "most amazing invention (in retrospect) was his invention of hypertext, multi-media, and the web. He didn't use these words of course," but decades before Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson, he'd mapped out the essential concepts. "And more importantly, he actually built a analog hypertext system."

"I like to play the game of taking a single moment from a movie I like, and seeing how many general observations about the film flow naturally from that moment." For this round, Dan Sallitt picks a scene from Arnaud Desplechin's Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle).

"Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney are to star in a film loosely based on the rise and fall of presidential hopeful Howard Dean," reports the Guardian.

At PopMatters, David Sterritt reviews Claudia Springer's James Dean Transfigured: The Many Faces of Rebel Iconography, "a flawed but fascinating study that blends intellectual insight with pop-culture savvy."

Tim Lucas is captivated by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

"As a part-time ethnic militant, let me just say that the anti-Anderson animus is nutso," blogs Reihan Salam at the Atlantic. Meanwhile, at Vinyl is Heavy, Steven Boone and Ryland Walker Knight exchange thoughts via email on The Darjeeling Limited.

Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea, "narrated by none other than John Waters, examines the sad history of the sea and its steadfast champions, some of whom persistently believe another economic heyday is just around the corner, along with a cautionary tale about the consequences of tampering with Mother Nature," writes Neil Morris in the Independent Weekly.

"A gorgeous panoply of natural wonders and far-flung mysticism, the Mongolian-made drama Khadak is a unique adventure," writes Eric Kohn in the New York Press. Also: "As theater goes, Golda's Balcony follows a very standard one-woman show routine," writes in the New York Press. "It hasn't exactly been rebuffed as a 'film,' although director Jeremy Kagan throws in plenty of rear projection featuring archival footage, along with jump cuts and the off-putting construction of several Goldas seemingly engaged in conversation with each other as they embody various characters.... At best, these devices enliven the material; at worst, they turn into gimmickry."

"Blood bath." Someone had to say it in David Carr's New York Times piece on the current "glut of films" that's "rapidly becoming nearly a year-round state of affairs," and that someone in this case is Paramount Vantage president John Lesher. But there's another side to this that shouldn't be underplayed: "Nancy Utley, chief operating officer of Fox Searchlight... said many of the films flooding theaters today would not have been made just a few years ago. The result, she said, is that 'it is much more difficult to let a film breathe for a few weeks.'" Sure - difficult during its theatrical release. But that's not the end of the road. Main thing is, that film's been made.

Kim Masters writes up a quick-n-easy primer on Hollywood's looming writers' strike.

"[T]oday on National Coming Out Day we celebrate one of the underrepresented brave minorities of Hollywood." An impressive list from Nathaniel R.

Ironic Sans revisits a 13-year-old "Must See Movies Checklist." Via Coudal Partners.

Online browsing tip. The Realist Archive Project, via Flickhead in an entry that also points to Bhob Stewart's terrific piece on the title (and titles) of North by Northwest.

Posted by dwhudson at October 11, 2007 3:44 PM