AUTHOR UPDATE: It’s been brought to my attention by a commenter that this excellent article on Pixar in the June issue of Wired magazine, written by Jonah Lehrer, begins by riffing off of the exact same William Goldman quote that I used for the beginning of this blog post. I’m mortified at the similarity, and have no excuse other than I plum didn’t know of their article — it certainly didn’t come up in the (apparently grossly inadequate) Google research I did on Pixar. Very embarrassing. All apologies to Mr. Lehrer and Wired for my inadvertent plagiarizing of their nifty use of Goldman’s legendary quote. And please do go to their site and read Mr. Lehrer’s own article in its entirety, it’s very fine.

In a town where screenwriter William Goldman famously stated, “Nobody knows anything,” Pixar evidently knows something. It began its life in the early 1980s as part of Lucasfilm’s struggling computer division, then later was spun off into the hands of Apple visionary Steve Jobs. The debut of Toy Story in 1995 finally rocketed the fledgling studio into the public’s consciousness, and since then every one of its eleven films has become a monster hit, both critically and commercially. It’s a winning streak unmatched by any other studio in Hollywood history.

Countless articles and interviews have attempted to divine the alchemy that turns everything Pixar touches into box-office gold. Some see an increasingly tired formula at work under the hood of each film, in which only the surface trappings change. Others see a genuine creative ethos guiding the minds responsible for each picture, something almost akin to a filmmaking religion, complete with its own commandments and proscriptions.

What’s their secret? There’s as many answers to that as there are movie-loving blowhards blogging on the Internet, but here’s my take: (more…)

“It’s one of those parties where if a girl is named Jill she spells it J-Y-L-L-E, ya know…that s**t.”  –Harry Lockhart

Those who have read my piece about a film noir revival and the film Brick know that I am an emphatic fan of the noir genre.  While I have a deep love for the classics that fell within the initial movement (arguably 1941-1959), there are still some neo-noir films that spark my interest (not enough, which is why I asked for a revival!).  One of these films is the extremely fun Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.  It is a very different noir film that is funny and opposite the dark, desperate, lonely noir films of years past.

In a rare combination of coincidences, Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) is a petty thief in New York City who finds himself auditioning for a role in a new detective film.  He goes to Los Angeles after being accepted as a potential candidate.  Harry is a fast-talking, chain smoking and delightfully sarcastic protagonist that makes this neo-noir film one of the best.

After getting invited to a party in the Hollywood hills, Harry meets Gay Perry (Val Kilmer).  Perry is an (ironically gay) quick-witted private investigator that asks Harry to participate in a murder investigation in preparation for his potential film role.  Perry’s homosexuality plays on the theorists of the 1940’s and 1950’s that psychoanalyzed many noir protagonists as being gay men (I know, those theories are a stretch at times). (more…)

Even though I am of a certain age, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m an aficionada of true cinematic erotica. Unfortunately it does not exist in today’s offerings which can only be described as soft porn and even beyond that. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

The word erotica typically applies to works in which the sexual element is regarded as part of the larger aesthetic aspect. It is usually distinguished from pornography, which can also have literary merit but which is usually understood to have sexual arousal as its main purpose.

Erotica should be what arouses sensuality and sexual desire in the imagination. Pornography is a cheap substitute to genuine sensuality by replacing it with naked thrusts and bursts of faux gasps of passion. How trite compared to visions created in our minds stimulated by a simple touch, look or gesture. Last night I watched the TCM channel which ran a surprising example of true erotica-Tarzan-the Ape Man. 

Laugh if you will but Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O’Sullivan generate more heat in this 1932 action adventure film then any of the actors and actresses starring buck naked and writhing in today’s features.  (more…)

Super-heroes are uniquely American in origin and reflective of the “Greatest Generation” that created them. Their progenitors can be traced to ancient myths though their direct foundation springs from American legends like Paul Bunyan and John Henry. Pulp literature fermented these heroes from the 1800s with Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and on to Doc Savage. By the 1930s super-powered and costumed characters showed up in the newspaper comic strips including Popeye and the Phantom. 

The characters we now recognize as super-heroes crystallized with the debut of Superman in 1938. Representative of the American experience, Superman was the ultimate immigrant. Not merely from another country, the Man of Steel came from a whole different planet! With his success, publishers released a myriad of titles featuring crime-fighting patriotic adventurers who all fought for “truth, justice and the American way.” That included those who were born on an all-female island (the star-spangled Wonder Woman), from Atlantis (the Sub-Mariner), robots (the Human Torch) or even dead people (the Spectre and Kid Eternity)! Gaining super powers even reformed criminals as in Plastic Man’s case.  (more…)

The United States Navy is in the news and on my mind lately. The events off the coast of Somalia are surely one very good reason for this. Heroism and service. Ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances. Another not nearly so dramatic, but nonetheless exciting reason, for me at least, involves the very recent honor I’ve had of contributing my prose to a citation to confer on Mr. George Herbert Walker Bush the degree of Doctor of Social Science, honoris causa.  His own history, his willingness to serve, to sacrifice and risk everything for a cause, for others, is something we should never underestimate. It’s something we, as Americans have always been good at.

It’s also something our movies used to portray well. We don’t get to see too many of these kinds of movies anymore. Nope, they don’t make them like they used to. That can be said of both the men and women of Bush 41’s generation, as well as the films of that era. But sometimes, in more recent times, we’re graced with shining examples of tarnished excellence, of battered beauty in our citizens and in our favorite art, the movies.    (more…)