David Vining's Blog, page 92

Finally…

So, I’ve been writing this book for more than a year. It’s one of my longer books by design, and I’ve struggled through my inability to commit to a dedicated process of writing that pulled me away from everything else, allowing me that time to concentrate. My efficacy has suffered for that, but I marched on, diligently if not always effectively.

Still, I think it’s good. It’s a horror novel inspired by the structure of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot and the portrayal of the ghosts in John Ca...

Marty: A Second Look

The Academy goes from awarding a pseudo-independent film (On the Waterfront was financed by Columbia) to an actual independent film in Marty, a film based on a teleplay by the screenwriter by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Delbert Mann, financed by the small production company started by Burt Lancaster and his agent Harold Hecht. Replacing Rod Steiger with Ernest Borgnine and expanding the girl’s role a bit (I still think it’s not quite enough, my only real problem with the film).

I rece...

On the Waterfront: A Second Look

It’s interesting to watch this after my negative reaction to Gentleman’s Agreement. I had large problems with Elia Kazan’s earlier film, mostly about how the different pieces never connected dramatically. And then I revisit On the Waterfront, and it’s damn near perfect. It makes me wonder if Kazan was one of those filmmakers who didn’t have a great understanding of storytelling while also having a great understanding of the mechanics of the visual and performance aspects of filmmaking. I’m g...

From Here to Eternity

Adapted from the novel by James Jones, Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity is a look at the lives of pre-war enlisted men told from a man who knew it. Sanitized a bit from the source, it shows how petty and undirected the army had become without a war to fight, especially how the officer corps treated the men under their command. Anchored by a bevy of great performances, the film is something of a powerhouse look at an army without purpose, shaken into action in its final moments into a w...

The Greatest Show on Earth

Maintaining the reputation for one of the least worthy films to win the Best Picture Oscar, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth feels like it’s going to be something of some quality to start as it lays out its vision of the Ringling Brothers circus as well as all of the little personalities that populate it from town to town and season to season. However, it becomes quickly apparent that the film is at least half an hour too long, if not more so. The desire to bring the circus to t...

An American in Paris

I occasionally mention movies that I attribute with my father, but this is the main film I attribute with my mother. I saw it several times in my youth, all with her. In fact, my mother was due to come for a visit, so I actually worked my schedule so that we could naturally watch this together upon her arrival. I’m glad I got to watch it with her again.

Having just finished all of Ernst Lubitsch’s work immediately prior to this, I couldn’t help seeing heavy similarities between the storyt...

The Best Picture Winners at the Oscars: A Statement of Purpose Part III

And I’m back at it for just a very short little stretch.

Eight movies over five days, three of which are second looks. This will largely take care of the fifties before I start on another director’s full work: John Boorman.

I expect to enjoy a good bit of this, to be honest.

Dune Part 2 – Trailer

I’m gravitating towards how all of the dialogue is about Paul going too far, first with Jessica talking about how Leto would not approve of revenge and from Stilgar about not being showy regarding the riding of Shai-Hulud along with the final exchange with Jessica about how Paul sees what they’ve done with the Fremen to be more important and more impactful than even she realizes.

I really get the sense that Denis Villeneuve is digging into the ideas of the manipulation of the masses...

Ernst Lubitsch: The Definitive Ranking

In retrospect, I had literally no idea what I was getting into when I decided to go through the works of Ernst Lubitsch. It took me a little while to find the right wavelength from his films, his Germany period being largely mediocre in my opinion with a handful of small bright spots, but once he hit the sound era in America, I was fully on board.

I had seen a handful of his stuff before, but it had been years for any of them. I’d seen the late-career highlights that everyone points on (l...

The Lady in Ermine

Well, at least I learned what ermine is, that’s neat. That being said, I was actually somewhat enchanted with That Lady in Ermine, Ernst Lubitsch’s final feature film that he was unable to complete due to his untimely death, a task that Otto Preminger, who had completed the earlier project that was supposed to be Lubitsch’s A Royal Scandal, finished. I really felt like there was a failure on the part of Preminger on the earlier film where he simply didn’t try to make a Lubitsch film, but the...