Outside of Tuesday’s books roundup, there hasn’t been a news update around here for over a week now, so there’s quite a bit to catch up with. Which is why I’m going to be unusually succinct this time around.
First and foremost, two new issues of outstanding film journals: Bright Lights (78) and Experimental Conversations (10). They’re hefty, but the Thanksgiving holiday’s coming up.
Anyone interested in the current state of Hollywood’s “star-making machinery” will want to check out the new issue of the Columbia Journalism Review.
The Los Angeles Times‘ holiday movies package is out, but frankly, I was more taken by Mary McNamara‘s piece on Angels in America, 20 years on, for which she talks with David Ehrenstein, among others.
Nearly 1200 people have signed the petition “Ray Carney: Return Mark Rappaport‘s Films,” which has now been shown to heads of the Communications and the Film/Television Departments at Boston University, where Carney teaches. Jon Jost has a report on how that went down as well as a selection of comments from all over.
Thanks to Marilyn Ferdinand, Roderick Heath, Farran Nehme, and yes, Fandor, you can now watch Alfred Hitchcock’s earliest surviving feature, The White Shadow (1924).
J. Hoberman‘s listed 21 defining films of the 21st century.
With a focus on found footage horror, David Bordwell examines “the tendency to explore, sometimes exhaustively, all the possibilities of a single premise.”
The LA Weekly‘s Wendy Gilmartin talks with Thom Andersen about Reconversão, his new documentary about the Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura.
For Artforum, Amy Taubin looks into Milestone’s restoration of Shirley Clarke‘s Portrait of Jason (1967), while, at the Stranger, Charles Mudede recommends Clarke’s Ornette: Made in America (1985).
For Filmmaker: Randy Astle on Bill Morrison‘s new interactive work, The Shooting Gallery.
Charlie Fox for frieze: “Fassbinder (An Essay in Thirteen Scenes).” Also: Tom von Logue Newth‘s long talk with Leos Carax about Holy Motors.
At DC’s: “Re. the fastidious Rene Ricard’s reckless past.”
Greil Marcus interviews David Thomson for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Leah Churner and Nick Pinkerton‘s “Short History of Cinema’s Long Passing.”
Richard Brody on Jean Rouch and D.W. Griffith.
For the LAist, Lauren Lloyd talks with Norman Seeff about the never-before-seen photos he snapped of directors (including Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Henson, Ridley Scott, and John Huston) in the 1980s.
Stephen Barber in 3:AM on writer Pierre Guyotat and his work’s “intricate rapport with cinema.”
Saudi Arabia may be opening up just a bit to cinema; and vice versa, reports Celluloid Liberation Front in the New Statesman.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian‘s Cheryl Eddy profiles Jamie Meltzer, winner of this year’s Goldie for Film.
DVDs/Blu-ray. Darrell Hartman (Artforum) on Pasolini‘s Trilogy of Life and, for Criterion, Colin MacCabe on, specifically, The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1974).
Michael Atkinson (TCM) on Max Ophüls’s Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Sean Axmaker on Fritz Lang‘s Die Nibelungen (1924), Chuck Bowen (Slant) on Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950), Celluloid Liberation Front (Notebook) on Paul Bartel’s Eating Raoul (1982), Gary Indiana on Jean-Luc Godard‘s Weekend (1967), Joseph Jon Lanthier (Slant) on the Otto Preminger Collection, and Dennis Lim (LAT) on Nicholas Ray’s We Can’t Go Home Again (1972 to 1976 and beyond).
And then there’s Glenn Kenny‘s big and bold “Blu-ray Consumer Guide” for November 2012.
London. Tomorrow’s the last day to catch films by Peter Nestler, but you’ll find a conversation with the German filmmaker at MUBI’s Notebook and an essay on his work by Martin Brady in Afterall.
Bob Willoughby: The Silver Age of Hollywood, an “homage to the man widely credited with inventing the photojournalistic motion picture still,” is on view through January 13.
New York. Hammer to Nail‘s Michael Tully previews MoMA’s series Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, running today through Monday.
At Artinfo, J. Hoberman celebrates “the mod, mod world of Antonio Margheriti,” whose complete Gamma Trilogy screens tomorrow and on November 23 at Anthology Film Archives.
Festivals. The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced that the 42nd edition (January 23 through February 3) will feature three themed programs, Dominik Graf, Inside Iran and Sound Stages. Also: The Hubert Bals Fund has selected 25 new winners.
The 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival wrapped on Sunday. Reports: Ronald Bergan (Arts Desk), Tom Hall (Hammer to Nail), Michał Oleszczyk (House Next Door), and Rianna Richardson (Indiewire).
In the works. “Viggo Mortensen has signed on to produce and star in Lisandro Alonso‘s untitled drama set in Denmark and Argentina.” (Dave McNary, Variety)
Jean-Marie Straub’s Un Conte de Michel de Montaigne premieres next month in Paris (Andy Rector); meantime, you can watch his Schakale und Araber (2011; 10’43”; Notebook).
Rachel Weisz has joined Robert Pattinson and Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg’s Map to the Stars. (Kevin Jagernauth, Playlist)
Brett Morgan (Crossfire Hurricane) and Courtney Love are working on a doc about Kurt Cobain. (Sean Michaels, Guardian)
Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie will be comprised of three scenes, and three scenes only, playing out in real time. (Daily Beast)
Bille August will direct an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1932 novel Laughter in the Dark featuring Jeremy Irons, Tom Courtney, Charlotte Rampling, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz, Mélanie Laurent, and Christopher Lee. (Graham Fuller, Artinfo)
Alexandre Desplat will score Christoph Gans’s Beauty and the Beast featuring Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux. (Kevin Jagernauth, Playlist)
Catherine Deneuve and Harvey Keitel will play “late-blooming lovers” in Robert Cantarella’s directorial debut. (Elsa Keslassy, Variety)
Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) will write the screenplay for Episode VII of Star Wars. (Brooks Barnes, NYT)
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, and Eddie Murphy will be Triplets. (Cain Rodriguez, Playlist)
Kickstarters. The Roxie, the oldest continuously running cinema in the United States, and Big Top Without Borders.
Viewing. “Dreaming of Westerns.” Catherine Grant posts another round of video essays.
Two Hollywood Reporter roundtables. Writers (58’17”) Judd Apatow, Mark Boal, David Magee, Chris Terrio, Michael Haneke and John Krasinski; and actors (63’13”) Alan Arkin, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, John Hawkes, Matt Damon, and Richard Gere.
More browsing? See the Film Doctor, Mike Everleth, and Criticwire‘s Steve Greene.
Links for the festivals whose posters are prettying up this entry: Festival Caminhos do Cinema Português, St. Louis, and Arras.
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