Film Freak Central

Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, and the Price of a Vision - Books

Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, and the Price of a Vision
FFC rating: 7/10
by Charles Elton

by Bill Chambers Six years after his death, Michael Cimino remains an enigma, shrouded by a swirling mass of rumours and contradictions. A biographer has their work cut out for them. Before reading Charles Elton's Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, and the Price of a Vision, I took stock of everything I knew about the mercurial filmmaker: that he helmed seven movies during a span of 22 years, the second of which he was fêted for (The Deer Hunter), the third of which he went to director jail for (Heaven's Gate); and that he gradually began to look different in ways for which time alone cannot account. I also had some preconceived notions about Cimino--that he was vain, an egotist, one who burned a lot of bridges--that are more or less borne out by Elton's overview, but it's important to note that Cimino was not around to defend himself when the author went rummaging through his past. (I feel fairly confident in saying, again from the picture Elton paints, that he probably would've spent more energy trying to halt the book's publication altogether.) Though Cimino is not one of the great posthumous bios on the order of David Weddle's If They Move...Kill 'Em! or Lee Server's Baby, I Don't Care, it does have unique virtues (which I'll get to) and is reasonably good at preserving Cimino's dignity while countering or outright demolishing his own unreliable narrative.

Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother - Books

Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker
FFC rating: 8/10
by Barry Sonnenfeld

by Bill Chambers Barry Sonnenfeld is a renowned cinematographer and a director with more than a few blockbusters on his resume (The Addams Family, the original Men in Black trilogy), but the Sonnenfeld who's front and centre in his autobiographical Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker is the raconteur who's honed his craft on talk shows with comic tales from his civilian life as the offspring of overbearing parents and husband of the beloved "Sweetie," many of which reach their final form here. Cinephiles may consequently find the book to be something of a disappointment compared to, say, fans of humorists like David Sedaris. While Sonnenfeld does touch on his experiences in filmmaking (including a stint in porn), he skips blithely over some milestones on his CV or remembers them for exceedingly idiosyncratic reasons that won't sate any conventional curiosity one might have about them. For example, Miller's Crossing, arguably the pinnacle of his three-movie collaboration with the Coen Brothers, is reduced to the production that climaxed with his wedding. On the other hand, there's value in Sonnenfeld's somewhat dumbfounded consideration of his unlikely journey up the Hollywood food chain, which shows that fate and, let's face it, white male privilege can play major roles in launching a film career. His utter lack of sentiment when it comes to his achievements makes for a tonic against the typical showbiz-dreamer's success story.

It is also a very, very funny book.

A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away.... - Books

A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits―Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More
FFC rating: 8/10
by Paul Hirsch

by Bill Chambers "You know what's a great cut?" I said to the editor of my student film--or he said to me, I can't remember now. Conversations frequently began this way in our cluttered editing room, a glorified broom closet we'd decorated with, among other things, a life-size cardboard cutout of Mr. Spock and the poster for Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron. Anyway, the answer to that rhetorical question was the opening of Casualties of War: a stark cut from black to a shot inside a subway car, where Michael J. Fox, the movie's star, is Where's Waldo?-ed amongst the passengers. The other person enthusiastically concurred; it was an incredible bonding moment between us, realizing we'd each recognized the power of this relatively obscure and deceptively simple moment. Since Paul Hirsch had edited so many Brian De Palma films, including his then-recent Mission: Impossible, we assumed it was his handiwork. (Smart-phone technology for checking these things instantly did not yet exist.) A different De Palma veteran, Bill Pankow, cut Casualties of War, as it turned out, but our misapprehension sparked a discussion of the legitimate work of Paul Hirsch, who soon became the patron saint of Casa Spock. Hirsch had edited the kinds of films us Gen-X cinephiles internalized like radio hits, and even though we were cutting a dopey little student film, we aspired to his rhythmic grace, which remains somewhat overshadowed by sheer popularity when it comes to his biggest credits (Star Wars, Footloose, Planes, Trains & Automobiles).

Apples vs. Oranges: On the Burt Reynolds and Frank Langella Memoirs

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME: A MEMOIR
FFC rating: 6/10
by Burt Reynolds and Jon Winokur

DROPPED NAMES: FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN AS I KNEW THEM
FFC rating: 10/10
by Frank Langella

by Bill Chambers Burt Reynolds and Frank Langella are very different actors (Burt could not have pulled off Dracula, nor would Langella have ever looked at home behind the wheel of a Trans-Am) and, as it happens, very different writers, yet in 2015's But Enough About Me: A Memoir and 2012's Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them, respectively, they've taken a similar approach to memoir by reminiscing about, in Langella's words, "the transient company of many remarkable people." Langella sticks to the rich and famous while Reynolds broadens his repertoire to encompass his father, various civilian friends, and a horse, but a more significant distinction is that, with one exception, everyone Langella writes about is dead, whereas quite a few of Burt's players are still alive. It sometimes makes But Enough About Me read like an open letter--one with decidedly Nixonian overtones in a passage listing every person who stood by Reynolds when it was rumoured he had AIDS. (If you're not on it, fuck you is the subtext.) If Langella is by definition the more vulturous of the pair, he's also the superior anthropologist, a keener observer, and, comparatively-speaking, a born humorist, vividly caricaturing his subjects so that even the most reviled of them (Anthony Quinn, Lee Strasberg) will seem worthy of the contempt. Here's how Langella introduces his chapter on Strasberg:

Miracles

Closing the book on Miracle Mile

by Walter Chaw I set down in California for the first time since I was there for a cup of coffee at the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind junket a little over a decade ago. I had flown into Riverside, where my sister and her husband live. A lifetime of living in Colorado made me confused when a mountain range right outside the airport indicated east rather than west. It was hot. It was February.

"Miracle Mile" by Walter Chaw -- NOW ON SALE

If you follow our Facebook or Twitter accounts, you're probably aware that we've had another book in the works for quite some time. Today that book--Miracle Mile, by Walter Chaw--finally goes on sale.

In the tradition of Jonathan Lethem's They Live monograph and the 33⅓ series of longform album reviews, Miracle Mile offers a mix of cultural commentary, film criticism, and memoir as Walter dissects Miracle Mile's therapeutic function in his life following a traumatic event in the summer of 1989.

The book also features running commentary from Miracle Mile's own writer-director, Steve De Jarnatt. Meanwhile, the cover art is an original piece by Eisner Award-winning artist Paul Chadwick, whose film work includes Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and The Big Easy. One of the reasons we're not releasing an electronic version right away is to honour this glorious wrap-around illustration, which comes courtesy of Mr. De Jarnatt.

I love this book and consider it the best thing FILM FREAK CENTRAL has ever published--online or off. If you're a fan of Walter's writing and/or Miracle Mile, this is the alpha and the omega. And thus very reasonably priced, at $13.95 for the trade paperback and $9.95 for the eBook.

Miracle Mile is now available exclusively at Lulu.com. In the coming weeks, it will trickle into other outlets, but a Lulu purchase is the best way to show your support and encouragement.

Visit Lulu.com to buy the book or check out a free preview. For press inquiries, please contact Walter or myself.-Bill Chambers

Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See - Books

written by Jonathan Rosenbaum
FFC rating: 7/10

by Walter Chaw When it concerns my failure to speak for the popular taste is really the only chance I get to engage in conversation about film criticism anymore. The damnable conundrum of it all is that even when I do speak for the popular taste, I don't do it in a popular way. It's a topic I'm weary of, and as I confront the first serious writer's block of my professional career, this seems as good a time as any to take existential stock in what it is that's become of my chosen vocation. Or, better yet, to let a better critic do it for me. Jonathan Rosenbaum's Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Conspire to Limit What Films We Can See is all over the place, scattering its ripostes hither and yon over the idea that modern popular criticism is a bankrupt profession in bed with the interests of a few very powerful movie distributors (Miramax's Weinstein brothers in particular) that have become our guardians of "independent" taste.

Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film - Books

written by Peter Biskind
FFC rating: 5/10

by Bill Chambers  "Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film," the subtitle of Peter Biskind's latest slipshod industry exposé Down and Dirty Pictures, ought to be reworded "The Rise of the Miramax and Sundance Independent Film." An extremely narrow-focused chronicle of the indie landscape after it was made procreant by Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape, the book, in a manner not unlike Soderbergh's Traffic (whose making is touched on therein), alternates passages retracing Miramax's long journey up its own ass, Sundance's peaking, and October Films' head Bingham Ray's consummation of self-fulfilling prophecies. It's a hastily-published tome--you can smell the ink drying in the preface, which brings up the recutting of the Christmas 2003 release Bad Santa--at a loss for an ending, what with Miramax and Sundance proving ultimately unassailable, however much Biskind mourns their metamorphoses into more commercially-minded enterprises. This seems the most efficient way to damn the hyperbole of Biskind's prose, seeing as how Down and Dirty Pictures charts a course for an Apocalypse that fails to materialize, at least with any tragic weight.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) - DVD + John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness - Books

MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN
**/**** Image A- Sound B+ Extras C
starring Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean
screenplay by Robert Collector & Dana Olsen and William Goldman, based on the book by H.F. Saint
directed by John Carpenter

JOHN CARPENTER: THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS
FFC rating: 6/10
written by Gilles Boulenger

by Bill Chambers In John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness, a new interview book by Gilles Boulenger, John Carpenter says that you don't see the possessory credit on Memoirs of an Invisible Man (i.e., "John Carpenter's Memoirs of an Invisible Man") because the film is not 100% his, but rather the product of studio interference he knew full well would take place prior to signing on. ("Warner Bros. is in the business of making audience-friendly, non-challenging movies," Carpenter declares.) Boulenger doesn't ask his subject how he stomached accepting the project--funnyman Chevy Chase's darling, which Chase had shepherded through an abortive incarnation to be directed by Ivan Reitman and scripted by William Goldman before Carpenter climbed aboard--despite his misgivings, since he obviously did it for the A-list boost and the last time he did that (Christine) felt tormented about it for years after. ("When there is no connection between the movie and my inner soul, I get lost and I walk through it.") You'll find that's the pattern of Boulenger's Q&A: Carpenter feeds his interrogator provocative morsels, and they go untested because Boulenger has a set-list he wants to get through. (It's the spontaneous follow-up question, the willingness to confront, that tests an interviewer's mettle.) I fear we may have another Laurent Bouzereau on our hands, for Boulenger's favourite query--he uses it over and over again--is also his most reductive: "Do you recall one telling anecdote about the shoot?"

The Hunted (2003) [Widescreen] - DVD + William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality - Books

THE HUNTED
***/**** Image A Sound A Extras B
starring Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Connie Nielsen, Jenna Boyd
screenplay by David Griffiths & Peter Griffiths and Art Monterastelli
directed by William Friedkin

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN: FILMS OF ABERRATION, OBSESSION AND REALITY
FFC rating: 9/10
written by Thomas D. Clagett

by Walter Chaw Hot on the heels of Bruce Willis's bwana wish-fulfillment fantasy Tears of the Sun comes William Friedkin's The Hunted, a film that introduces its titular fugitive in a flashback to Kosovo at the height of the Albanian genocide. The parsing of historical atrocity functioning as shorthand for backstory to what is essentially a pretentious action movie is distasteful, the insertion into that history of elite American soldiers righting wrongs un-righted to this day a kind of unspeakable arrogance late unique of Yankee cloth. That being said, The Hunted is a cheerfully ridiculous movie that manages over the course of its running time to entertain with a series of action set-pieces that recall Friedkin's work in The French Connection. Though riddled with plot impossibilities and stunning coincidences, the picture, courtesy, perhaps, of Caleb Deschanel's magnificent cinematography, reminds of the nearness of nature and violence of John Boorman's Deliverance; of the kineticism of Doug Liman's The Bourne Identity; and of the premise and execution of a little-read Rex Miller novel called S.L.O.B.. If it also reminds of the creaky Abraham/Oedipus by way of Robert Bly wilderness dynamic of Mamet's appalling The Edge, so be it: the fun parts outweigh the infuriating ones.

Reel Conversations: Candid Interviews with Film's Foremost Directors and Critics - Books

written by George Hickenlooper
FFC rating: 9/10

by Walter Chaw Finding himself at the cusp of the supplementary-material revolution, filmmaker George Hickenlooper was afforded the rare opportunity to speak with a wide panoply of cinematic luminaries in the early-Nineties as LaserDisc changed the way that film historians could appreciate--and filmmakers could preserve--film. It's possible to find in the dialogues collected in Reel Conversations: Candid Interviews With Film's Foremost Directors and Critics (a book that seems at least partly inspired by a FILM COMMENT debate between Richard Schickel, Roger Ebert, and Andrew Sarris concerning the decay of popular film criticism in the United States) an ironclad justification for the very process of serious film criticism and authoritative discussion. I mentioned to Mr. Hickenlooper a few months ago that I thought it was something of a shame he was a filmmaker instead of a critic: People who understand movies are in short supply on both halves of the thin celluloid line between critics and directors. Speaking selfishly, I wanted one more good thinker on our side.

The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece - Books

written by Jan Stuart
FFC rating: 8/10

by Bill Chambers Jan Stuart makes it look easy. If that suggests a backhanded compliment, what I mean is that his book, The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece, born of his passion for said "masterpiece," reads so smoothly and is so engaging that your first instinct upon completing it is to run down the list of your favourite films and call a publisher. Stuart has interviewed, with few exceptions, all involved with the 1974 production in some capacity (associate producer Scott Bushnell declined comment because her words have betrayed her in the past; indeed, if The Nashville Chronicles has an antagonist, it's the Lady Macbeth-like Bushnell), and with their quotes he has compiled a linear oral history that begins long before the location shoot (Altman's time in the service) and ends long after: Stuart concludes with his own critique of the screenplay to Nashville 12, the aborted sequel that would've reunited the entire Nashville cast save Keenan Wynn (dead), Dave Peel (born-again), and Scott Glenn (written out because his Pfc. Kelly had such an opaque personality). And that's not wishful thinking, either: The actors were bought and paid for, but creative differences between Altman and producer Jerry Weintraub, aggravated by a contract dispute with Lily Tomlin, won out.

Canadian National Cinema - Books

FFC rating: 7/10
by Christopher E. Gittings

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Canadian National Cinema is a valiant stab at something that had previously not existed: a work on Canadian cinema that includes all Canadians. Taking on the not inconsiderable task of levelling the playing field for those who do not fit the white hetero male standards that serve as its default position, author Christopher E. Gittings, a professor at the University of Alberta, sees through official culture and de-centers centralized discourses that distort and oppress. While his sheepish methods ultimately boomerang on him and constrict the scope of his discussion, there's no denying he's created an excellent introductory text that clearly establishes the important issues in Canadian film studies.

Kon Ichikawa - Books

FFC rating: 8/10
edited by James Quandt

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover

"I've read that in America, they'll screen the finished film for ordinary fans in a movie theatre free of charge. Then they have the audience write what they think was good or bad about the film. Looking at the responses, the star or director will sometimes try to reshoot scenes the audience didn't like... That attitude toward filmmaking is really conscientious; I think it's a great way to make films."

Those, believe it or not, are the words of a world-class director, trusted by millions and still active at the age of 86. And such remarks go a long way towards explaining why, despite being one of the four best-known Japanese directors (along with Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu), he has never attracted the personality cult the other three have enjoyed. For unlike that trio's relentless vision, doggedly pursued in film after film, Kon Ichikawa refracted his through the distorted lens of studio insistence and assignments, which may explain why he has worked consistently throughout the Eighties and Nineties when younger directors like Nagisa Oshima and Shohei Imamura have often had to struggle to get a film made.

Weimar Cinema and After - Books

Weimar Cinema and After: Germany's Historical Imaginary
FFC rating: 9/10
by Thomas Elsaesser

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover All together now: German cinema between the wars irrationally reflected the fears of the times. It mirrored the decadence of the period and was closely linked with the irrationalism of German romanticism. It directly prefigured the rise of Hitler and the flight of the country's important directors during the Nazi era, which both condemned Germany to hack propaganda and gave America the gift of film noir.

The Jaws Log: 25th Anniversary Edition - Books

written by Carl Gottlieb
FFC rating: 9/10

by Bill Chambers The Jaws Log is not, in fact, laid out in the manner of a sea captain's journal, though it does offer a blow-by-blow account from a privileged vantage point of a voyage fraught with peril. Written by Carl Gottlieb, who was given a role in Jaws, piped up about its story problems, and soon found himself the latest in the film's line of screenwriters, The Jaws Log first hit shelves in 1976 but was recently reissued by Newmarket Press in a "25^th Anniversary Edition" appended with fifty-four annotations of the "Where are they now?" variety. Not much else has changed; Gottlieb has "left the original narrative intact, except for minor spelling changes and a few stylistic fixes." (Oops: he overlooked "Johnny Weismueller [sic].") One is so hard-pressed to find the equivalent of The Jaws Log--a nuts-and-bolts look behind-the-scenes told with plenty of humour and grace--these days that reprinting it is better than nothing.

Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood - Books

Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood
FFC rating: 2/10
by Andrew Yule

by Walter Chaw Andrew Yule's anecdotal biography-as-memoir of David Puttnam's rise as an independent movie producer and brief run as the head of Columbia Pictures, Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood is a poorly-written vanity piece that offers a minimum of analysis en route to being tediously repetitive and at least 30 pages too long. Packed to the gills with quotes from Puttnam, his wife Patsy, close friend/director Alan Parker, and an extended cast of British and Hollywood production glitterati, the book finds Yule interjecting occasionally in the tiresome reportage style of a relatively talentless journalist incapable of offering anything in the way of a trenchant critique. Chapter flows into chapter, bound only by chronology and Yule's occasional stultifying transition, e.g.:

David probably did not realize it at the time, but The Mission marked the end of a major phase in his career. A very significant phase was about to begin.

Orson Welles: A Critical View - Books

FFC rating: 8/10
by André Bazin

by Walter Chaw André Bazin is one of the most influential figures in cinema, not for his actions behind a camera, but for his actions as an active spectator--as that most loathsome and vital of creatures, the critic. A founder of the legendary arts magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, Bazin became the de facto father of the French Nouvelle Vague movement and a nearly literal father to director François Truffaut, whom he saved more than once from imprisonment and impoverishment. Writers employed by Cahiers du Cinéma include the "big five" French New Wave directors: Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. Each began his career in cinema among its staunchest critics, and each would later endeavour to redefine film as a more "novelistic" and "authentic" method of expression.

Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner - Books

Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner
FFC rating: 10/10
by Paul M. Sammon

by Bill Chambers Ridley Scott's Blade Runner took two years to complete, while Paul M. Sammon's exhaustive document of its inception was finished over a period of one-and-a-half decades. The author admits that his book, like its subject, is "compulsively detailed." Future Noir's appendices alone--which include a thorough interview with Scott, fussy comparisons of Blade Runner's multiple video incarnations, confirmed continuity slip-ups, soundtrack information, a directory of related websites, and a full credits listing--occupy 66 pages! In fact, the only information Sammon fails to provide is his own credentials. A journeyman in the best way, he's a film journalist and documentarian who, as an inveterate producer of electronic press kits, was eyewitness to some legendary (and legendarily troubled) genre productions, such as Dune and RoboCop. 

Killer Instinct - Books

Killer Instinct: How Two Young Producers Took on Hollywood and Made the Most Controversial Film of the Decade
FFC rating: 7.5/10
by Jane Hamsher

by Jarrod Chambers Why do we enjoy Killer Instinct so much more than other Hollywood tell-all books? It has all the same elements--booze, drugs, adultery, politics and backstabbing, production nightmares, and boneheaded executives--that a hundred other stories of La-La land contain. So why did I find myself gobbling this book like popcorn during the opening trailers?

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Illustrated Screenplay - Books

written by George Lucas
FFC rating: 6/10

by Bill Chambers Chiefly, I bought Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Illustrated Screenplay a week before the movie opened because I wanted to know what kind of screenwriter is George Lucas. (It was also the most desirable life-preserver I could grab while caught in the recent tidal wave of Star Wars hype.) The book wound up a handy reference manual as I wrote my review of the finished film, but that doesn't justify its $21 (Canadian) sticker price. (It can be had for much less online.)

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies - Books

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies
FFC rating: 9/10
edited by Mark C. Carnes

by Bill Chambers Steven Spielberg's nineteenth-century set Amistad was criticized in the pages of Roger Ebert's "Movie Answer Man" for its characters' use of the greeting "Hello," an uncommon conversation-starter until well after the introduction of the telephone. Experts are wont to nitpick such details, and the collection Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies has provided a panel of experts a forum for their criticisms of so-called fact-based motion pictures. For trivia buffs like myself, who learn as much from what a movie gets wrong as from what it gets right, the book is page after fascinating page of Hollywood getting caught taking liberties great and small.