P.T. Anderson is back in theaters, with Inherent Vice gaining a wide release this weekend. He has built quite a career for himself. Any conversation about the best American filmmakers working today has to include his name. Over the years, he has developed a style all his own, complete with recurring themes, actors, and even individual elements. I’ve put it all together in a scorecard. Continue reading
Filed under Movies
Re-Watchterpiece Theater is a series that explores the organic way that attitudes about films change after you watch them a second time, a third time, or more, further down the line than the original viewing.
Today’s Re-Watchterpiece Theater episode has been in the works for a long time, although it took an unfortunate event to make it happen. I’ve been meaning to re-watch Magnolia for at least a year now. My attitude about P.T. Anderson has changed so much in that time. And it took the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman to serve as the spark. Continue reading
Filed under Movies
In the opening scene of P.T. Anderson’s Boogie Nights, the camera swoops down on the titular club. The last time I saw it, I realized that I knew the typeface on the club’s storefront from somewhere. It was the same font that the NFL’s Miami Dolphins used in their script logo throughout the 1980s and into the 90s. Even now, they use a modified version of it. Check out a side-by-side comparison after the jump. Continue reading
One of my favorite aspects of watching a film is tracing the directorial roots. Certain shots, scenes, or bits of dialogue hearken back to other films made by other directors, usually by design. After all, directors are probably the biggest fans of film. You’d have to be to be able to tap into the reservoir of knowledge that they employ when constructing their movies. In many cases, there are specific directors whose films inspire young filmmakers to go into the business, which renews the cycle for the next generation. Here are some infographics that illustrate just how influential a masterful director can be.
(click on any image for the full resolution version) Continue reading
Filed under Ingmar Bergman, Movies, Swedish Film
‘Tis the season for letters to the North Pole. Why should little kids have all the fun? Here’s what one movie fan wants. Continue reading
Help us out here, Wikipedia:
Anthropomorphism is a term coined in the mid 1700s[1][2] to refer to any attribution of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed or believed by some to belong only to humans) to animals or non-living things, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sun depicted as creatures with human motivations, and/or the abilities to reason and converse.
In other words, which stuff in my home has the same characteristics as some of my favorite movie directors? Continue reading
