Links for the Day (August 22nd, 2008)

1. "When 'The Blob' came to town": From CNN. Late addition: Roger Ebert's latest journal entry, "Confessions of a blogger."

["There is a man. He carries a can, and inside it is a weird, blood-red hunk of goo the size and consistency of a generous bowl of lumpy raspberry Jell-O. Each summer, man and can climb into the car and drive to a small town on the edge of the Philadelphia suburbs, not far from where Washington spent that bitter, long-ago winter in Valley Forge. The town, Phoenixville, is a place of history, too. Fifty years ago, this place was touched by the spotlight. A small production company two towns over made a film that no one expected to go anywhere. Instead, it became one of the iconic sci-fi horror flicks of the 1950s and introduced the world to an actor named Steve McQueen."]

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2. "Jacques Rivette shoots new film at Cinecittà": From Cineuropa. (Hattip: GreenCine)

["At the famous Cinecittà studios in Rome, shooting gets underway this week on 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup (“36 Views from the Pic Saint-Loup”), the new feature by seasoned director Jacques Rivette, whose latest work (Don’t Touch the Axe [trailer]) screened in competition at last year’s Berlinale. The cast includes Jane Birkin, who appeared in Rivette’s La belle Noiseuse (“The Beautiful Troublemaker”, Jury Prize at Cannes in 1991), and Italian actor Sergio Castellitto (whose international reputation has grown further with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) who graced screens in Who Knows? (in competition at Cannes in 2001). The film also stars Julie-Marie Parmentier (Murderous Maids) and André Marcon."]

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3. On Hamlet 2, John Simon cringes, A.W. rocks-it-sexy-Jesus.

["How many times have I bored my poor spouse stiff by returning from a screening with a stentorian, "This was the worst movie I've ever seen!" and proceeding to a litany of grievances. It is not that I am given to exaggeration: Most of those movies were the worst I had seen up to then, given that recent American film production specializes in worst-ever-movies, so that, given the general dumbing down, they may triumph at the box office. And, of course, it is ridiculously easy to make the worst-ever-movies, seeing that excellence can go only so high, whereas downward the pit is bottomless. Even so, I think I was more than ever justified, returning from Hamlet 2, in trumpeting my old jeremiad. That catastrophe is not only as bad as a movie can get, it also has the potential of hanging on to that distinction for quite some time to come. It is, furthermore, not only bad in some conventional, everyday way; it is also pretentious, distasteful, stupid, smug, and unutterably boring."]

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4. "Neurotic Libertine: Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Polyamory": House contributor Lauren Wissot's latest column at Spout Blog.

["Queen of Bad Sex Catherine Breillat could learn a thing or two from Woody Allen. Not only is his latest celluloid psychotherapy session Vicky Cristina Barcelona a phenomenal work of intellectual porn, but it also happens to contain one of the sexiest, most hysterical and poignant portrayals of polyamory to come along in a long, long time. Allen actually gets that those of us who choose to live outside of hetero monogamy are not voracious sex addicts lacking in morality – on the contrary, we simply abide by a different set of desires and ethics than that of the mainstream."]

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5. Robert Koehler raves about Religulous in Variety.

["The only recent comparable example of entertainers venturing into such serious cultural-political territory is Penn & Teller’s Showtime series, “Bullshit!,” which skewers sacred cows from a skeptical-libertarian perspective. Charles’ previous smash, “Borat,” used funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen to make satirical/political points, but the particular intensity and seriousness of Maher’s project are nearly unprecedented. Indeed, its arrival shortly after the death of George Carlin -- a profound influence on Maher’s standup act and politics -- suggests the kind of film Carlin might have made in his prime. "]

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Quote of the Day: Jean Cocteau

"We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? "

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Image of the Day (click to enlarge): Henry Winkler and sons unveil the bronze Fonz. (Hattip: Ali Arikan)



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Clip of the Day: "The Explanation," a short film by our own Editor Emeritus.

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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.