FILM
And Everything is Going Fine: Soderbergh on Spalding Gray
Theresa Smalec
05.21.10
Actor and monologist Spalding Gray's suicide was all the more upsetting because he was an artist who seemed so intensely engaged with life. It seemed to say something a little unpleasant about life itself that he should choose to leave it behind. Although as Steven Soderbergh's new documentary makes abundantly clear, Gray's lifelong fascination with death was hardly a secret. Theresa Smalec interviewed Gray on January 9th, 2004, the day before his disappearance. Here she reviews Soderbergh's film which is - appropriately enough - narrated entirely by Gray himself.
Bong Joon-ho's Mother
Michael Busk
04.07.10
Influenced by Hitchcock and David Lynch, Bong Joon-ho has made a series of films that blend horror, suspense and dark comedy to comment upon Korean society and human nature. In his latest, Mother, an older woman defends her developmentally disabled son when he is falsely accused of murder by a lazy and corrupt small town police force. Bong takes this seemingly feel-good premise and turns it into one of the most surprising and unsettling films in recent memory. His use of inventive cinematography often tricks the viewer's eye, a fitting choice for a film that is in the end about our ability to deceive ourselves.
"GENTLEMEN, GENTLEMEN..." Brief Times With Robert Culp
Michael Louie
03.26.10
I read this motto today in the LA Times: "Gentlemen, gentlemen, be of good cheer, for they are out there and we are in here." It's a great toast by men of character and taste; the words attributed to actor Robert Culp and spoken by the likes of Hugh Hefner. Unfortunately I had to read this in the Times' obituary for Robert, who died Wednesday after falling outside of his home. Robert was the father of a good friend of mine, a friend himself, and part of what I considered my surrogate West Coast family. I was always welcome in his house and his generosity and class were unmatched. It's a sorrowful farewell to a man who was a great friend to many, though I remain thankful that chin had such powerful genetics.
Tastes Good Still? Oscars 2010
Benjamin Strong
03.08.10
We are so bitchy we'll never get any star interviews...oh well. As Ben Strong elucidates: "The Oscars exist for the sole purpose of Hollywood’s identity maintenance." But the Academy didn't need Avatar to win to prove anything to itself. 'Cause The Hurt Locker "more closely resembles Hollywood’s image of itself than do blue people." Alas, it ended with historic precedents. And George Clooney had a hockey haircut, ha....and Ben Strong gives Fanzine's annual second take opinion on the event. (What we are hoping for in the future? I'm not sure…but I wouldn't mind seeing Rob Lowe take another stab at some song and dance, cracked out Disney style. -CM)
From Party Animals to Gilt Queens to a New Hollywood Dame: Oscars 2010
Kevin Killian
03.08.10
Some changes in the Oscars over the years, and especially this year - 2010 sees 10 best picture noms as opposed to 5, a woman winning best director, and no gilded Miramax flick in the bunch, right? Except that “damned Helen Mirren” still got unwanted attention from co-host Steve Martin. Kevin Killian notes what has changed and looks back on a man who maybe got the Oscar show rolling in a new direction long ago, Allan Carr, who once ruled the Hollywood party scene and blew it all on a weird Snow White night. There’s a new book out about him by Robert Hofler called Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll.