WERNER HERZOG TRASHES ‘LAWRENCE OF ARABIA’

Whuh?

German director Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Nosferatu; Cave of Forgotten Dreams) has disparaged Lawrence of Arabia as “not really that good anymore.” Herzog criticized the screenplay by Robert Bolt for depicting the Arab world as “very stupid.” He added: “Lawrence of Arabia doesn’t portray the Arab world in a good way.” … Herzog said that for a forthcoming film he himself is educating himself about the Arab world — “about the region, about Islam, about [the] Bedouin … about the dignity of the Arabian world. This is something which you cannot learn from Lawrence of Arabia. It does not show what is true of today.”

Good grief, the protagonist in “Lawrence of Arabia,” who just so happens to be Lawrence of Arabia, practically becomes an Arab in the film and demands the British treat Arabs as equals. Furthermore, Omar Sharif’s Arab character is portrayed as educated and sophisticated, and over and over again we’re shown the bravery and honor of the various Arab tribes.

Is it David Lean’s fault history recorded the truth about all the tribal squabbles and feuds that doom the third act?

Well, let’s see if Herzog has the sand to “show what is true today”– the good, the terrorism, and the Sharia.

Don’t get me wrong, I very much admire Herzog. But this is just dumb.

BARBARA WALTERS ANNOUNCES 2011 MOST FASCINATING PERSON. IT’S…

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–SILLY HEADLINE: ”AUCTION OF BRUCE LEE ITEMS EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS”–

Of course it “exceeds expectations.” We’re talking about The Mighty Bruce Lee. If I had the money I’d buy everything in the world associated with Bruce Lee and put it all in a giant warehouse and live in it like a happy hoarder and if anyone tried to take it away from me or get me any kind of psychological help I would claw them with my razorblade hand.

–SOUNDTRACK SALES PLUMMET 40% OVER LAST FOUR YEARS–

Soundtracks are all about reliving the movie experience through music. For years, I purchased more soundtracks than any other kind of music. But over the past decade the thought hasn’t even crossed my mind — probably for a few reasons. First off, the music industry doesn’t have much of anything new to offer these days. Very few new artists break out with the kinds of songs that capture the imagination. If there are no new songs worth purchasing, that means that the only good songs on soundtracks are those we already own.  

Another reason to purchase a film’s soundtrack was for the actual score, but when’s the last time a movie score so moved you, you just had to own it? There was a time when scores from films such as “Dances with Wolves,” “Last of the Mohicans,” and “Legends of the Fall” were must-owns. You didn’t even have to fall in love with the film in order to fall in love with the score. You just don’t hear those kinds of scores anymore.

Finally, for the last decade, Hollywood hasn’t been making the kinds of films we want to relive again and again. This is part of the reason DVD sales have collapsed and probably why soundtrack sales have followed suit.

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#16: Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987) 

“Groovy.”

This masterpiece mix of horror and slapstick gave whole new meaning to the term “eye candy” and forever cemented co-writer/director Sam Raimi’s status as a unique talent on the rise. There are so many directorial flourishes in this low-budget sequel/remake of the even lower budgeted “Evil Dead” ($350k versus $3.5 million) that to list each one would mean listing most every beat of the story. Endlessly inventive in every possible way, like most of the films on this countdown, while giving it another look last night I wondered if it deserved a higher ranking.

The sole survivor of “Evil Dead,” Ashley “Ash” Williams (The Mighty Bruce Campbell), takes his girlfriend deep in the woods for a quiet, romantic weekend in a secluded cabin. Drawn to a reel to reel tape recorder, Ash hits PLAY and listens to the cabin’s absent owner, a professor, read a spell from the pages of the Book of the Dead. What this spell unleashes is a bona fide tour de force of shocks, gore, comedy, and all the qualities required to craft a timeless cult-classic – most especially Bruce Campbell’s mind-blowingly awesome central performance.

Most of the story’s action takes place in and around the single location of this rural cabin and how Raimi and his co-writer Scott Spiegel managed to keep the plot relentlessly churning with the benefit of only a few location cutaways (to four people who have no idea they’re about to join Ash’s fight with the evil dead) is a minor miracle. There are more story turns in the first ten minutes here than you see in the entirety of some feature films. If forced to register a complaint it would be only that Raimi never stops to give us a breather. (more…)

Has “Burn Notice” gotten new writers? They used to have some very insightful comments about guns and crime (e.g., see the episode in season 2 entitled “Lesser Evil”). Yet, now one needs a scorecard to keep tracks of all the errors in some of the shows. Take some of the errors in the most recent show, “Partners in Crime,” posted on Hulu.

At 10:10 into the episode, Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) explains to Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) that an individual who they are checking up on in Florida, “Owns a gun, but it is registered.” The only problem is that Florida, where the show is said to be occurring, and the vast majority of the rest of the US, doesn’t have gun registration. Indeed, only four states require the registration of handguns and one state requires the registration of all long guns (several other states require the registration of so-called “assault weapons.”

At 16:20 Sam Axe says: “The cops are probably matching ballistics right now even without your gun.” Ugh? Now I concede there’s possibility that this comment might have been geared solely to freak out Tim (the suspected thief”, but given the previous conversation about guns being registered between Weston and Axe, I am not so sure. And there are never any knowing winks between the main characters to indicate that they are in on some joke they’re playing on the bad guy. (more…)

The season finale of “Burn Notice,” entitled “Lesser Evil,” involves Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) trying to keep both himself and Madeline Weston, his mom (Sharon Gless), safe from some angry spies. Madeline and Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) are surrounded by those bad spies and Madeline makes what to many may seem like an obvious suggestion.

Madeline Weston: Should I call the police?

Sam Axe: No, that would make it way too easy for them. Cops take us to the station — they know where we are and they know that we are unarmed.

The segment reminded me of an even even more politically incorrect show: “The Rifleman.” The episode entitled “The Anvil Chorus” aired on December 17, 1962, and is summarized this way: (more…)