Antonio Gaudi on Criterion DVD
Andy Beta05.23.08
Is a work of art the sum of its whole? Or a collaborative event between people and subjects – when is one bestowed the honor of creator? This question gets especially blurry when talking about the arts of film and architecture, with so many coming together to make a final product. Architect Antonio Gaudi believed he answered to one master – God. In Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara’s movie about Gaudi, now on Criterion DVD, we’re left to ponder questions about the notion of the autuer, as in the end it’s one of Teshigahara’s collaborators whose brilliance shines over both subject and author. Andy Beta reviews the DVD Antonio Gaudi (1984).
Interview with Director John Gianvito
Benjamin Strong05.04.08
Benjamin Strong talks with director John Gianvito, whose recent documentary Profit motive and the whispering wind, takes us to the places of memory for some of this country’s defining heroes on the flip side of history. The movie recently screened at New York’s Tribeca Film Festical.
Curtains for Richard Widmark
Kevin Killian03.28.08
“Has any star, bar Arthur Kennedy, been so unjustly forgotten?” writes Kevin Killian about screen legend Richard Widmark, who died this week at age 93. If you’re under 40, you probably know Widmark only as a staple of 1970s schlock—a supporting star in everything from Murder on the Orient Express to Rollercoaster to The Swarm and Coma. But as Killian argues, Widmark was a precursor of the Robert DeNiro school, an actor who plumbed the timorous and venal corridors of the American male psyche before it was fashionable to do so.
Yeah Right: A Brief History of Skateploitation Cinema
Benjamin Strong03.20.08
As a long time fan of Gus Van Sant and a long time (and still active) skateboarder, Benjamin Strong sees the director’s latest film, Paranoid Park, as an opportunity to look back at the history of skateploitation films (both Hollywood and "indie") as well as the parallel history of "true" skater-produced film and video.
No Place For Old Men at the Oscars 2008
Benjamin Strong02.25.08
While last year’s ceremonies may have reveled in the past, the 2008 Oscars were all about youth and beauty. The old men got flat out snubbed this year, especially in the supporting role category, Benjamin Strong argues.
Oscar Party 2008: Blood on the Tracks
Kevin Killian02.25.08
Kevin Killian gets together with friends at his San Francisco apartment to vote on the Oscars (he and Drew, Stephen, Emily, Minette, Maizie, Georgette, etc mentioned in the review). It’s the 3rd time for Fanzine that he’s sent us their take, and again his scorecard isn’t matching up. Seems to be a year in which he might have titled the piece: "No Country for Anyone but Brits and Flukes." This year there is blood indeed! Art by Danny Jock.
The Year the Western Returned?
Mark Asch01.19.08
Mark Asch takes a look back through 2007 – a year that found filmakers producing perhaps an inordinate amount of neo-Westerns – then decides whether or not they live up to the the standards of the classics. Seems many missed their mark, nevertheless a few have now cleaned house at the Oscars.
Film Poll 2007
The Fanzine12.31.07
Welcome to the first annual Fanzine year-end Film Poll. Don’t expect to find Oscar nominees, sleeper hits, or good taste in this survey. This is strictly about our love of movies. Contributors include Benjamin Strong, Mark Asch, Samantha Culp, Kevin Killian, Michael Louie, and Nancy Keefe Rhodes.
Berlin Alexanderplatz on Criterion DVD
Mark Asch12.07.07
Long unavailable on these shores, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s monumentous Berlin Alexanderplatz super-sizes the defining obsessions of a prodigious career. Criterion’s long-awaited DVD box is your one-stop shop for decaying social structures, sexual opportunism, and righteous, bracing aesthetics; Mark Asch breaks it down.
Interview with Roger Warren Beebe
Nancy Keefe Rhodes12.06.07
Filmmaker Roger Warren Beebe believes experimental movies are for the masses, and to prove it he led an avant-garde roadshow across the States. Nancy Keefe Rhodes talks with the director about his tour and the varieties of non-commercial filmmaking.
