Well the past few weeks have been rather busy indeed.

Originally, the plan was to get all of these wonderful cinematic events posted in rapid-fire style. The mind was willin but the body went into shut-down mode and was like “nah, you need some rest.”

So after a few days of some R&R (and still recovering) I hope to get back on track in the coming days with my posts on:

• A roundup of my experience at Tribeca 2013 (Check out my Day One TFF Coverage on the LAMB – thanks Shala!)
• My coverage of the closing events of the Columbia University Film Festival.
• Profile of opening weekend at Rooftop Films; including a review of Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s latest, Frances Ha)
• Additional Reviews of The English Teacher, State 194, Star Trek Into Darkness, 42 and The Great Gatsby

Stay tuned for some super-sized fun!

Day 3 – Four!

Saturday morning cartoons were a staple of my rearing and today would be no different. So again at a time that I would not typically be attending the cinema (8:30 or so to queue up) I was entertained by a series of Looney Toons shorts, featuring the one, the only Bugs Bunny, who was celebrating his 75th birthday! The shorts were introduced by Jerry Beck and Leonard Maltin.

I swiftly moved from Chinese Multiplex 1 to 4, prepared for my second Hitchcock screening, The Lady Vanishes that was introduced by Norman Lloyd (age 98), who skipped his weekly tennis game to present this (and several other) film.

The wonderful thing about attending events like this is that they provide a rarefied opportunity for us in the present to listen to people who provide first hand accounts of people of the stature of Alfred Hitchcock, people who in seem so distant and removed from us.

The Big Parade: I have to admit; this film was not on my radar as I made my preliminary viewing plan, but I am SO glad that I changed my mind at the last minute. Admittedly I am not a huge fan of silent cinema, but it is a format that I am gradually coming around to. So what better way to continue my silent cinema education than by watching the World Premier Digital Restoration of the WWI classic, directed by King Vidor, and introduced by film historian Kevin Brownlow. What fascinated me above all else with this movie is that it predates the silent epic Wings which until this point was my gold standard in the capturing “the war to end all wars” on film. This response to The Big Parade does not diminish in any way the impact and significance of Wings but it does help inform my further understanding of the canon of silent film. In the simplest of terms, this film was sublime.

The Tall Target: Check out my previous blog post on this.

What a way to round out the day! As the evening crept in, a feeling of sadness swept over me … I knew my time at the festival was drawing to a close and it made me sad I said hellos (and goodbyes) to the wonderful array of friends I made and ventured back to my hotel to ready myself for my eastbound flight the next afternoon.


Day 4 – No movies, just taking it all in. 

But I enjoyed living vicariously living through my fellow festival goers as to their whereabouts. I did a walk-by of the Cinerama dome prior to the showing of Cinerama Holiday (really wanted to see it).

Other films I wanted to see if given the time were:

Never in a million years did I think I would utter the phrase – how I hate to leave Los Angeles – but this weekend I did. But the time came sooner than I wanted. I spent that morning prior to departure wandering down the boulevards of legend (H’wood and Sunset) pass through a lovely farmer’s market.

OH I did also take the time to show my #noncynicalnewyorker stripes and took way too many pictures of some of my favorite stars’ star on the Walk of Fame.

But now as I write this, LA and Hollywood are in my rearview as I am settled and safely nestled in my East Coast domicile, ready for it to start all over again. See you in 2014!

Columbia University Film Festival

I will be attending the closing night event this upcoming Thursday (May 9); coverage to follow.

TCM Programming

Day 1 (or Nought Point Five if you will) – Arrival.

I touchdown a bit late but I touch down (#ThankGoodnessForSmallFavors) and shuttle to my hotel on Hollywood and Vine (nice!). But I did not have too much time to enjoy it – I simply drop my bags, freshen up and head straight down the Boulevard to the Roosevelt Hotel to pick up my credentials and meetup with a couple of folks. I connected with my blogging buddy Paula (@TCM_Party) in Club TCM and attend my first event  – a presser where we are introduced to the new TCM/Bonhams auction house collaboration of classic Hollywood memorabilia.

I also had the pleasure of playtesting a TCM app that is currently in development. My reward was a $5 GC that I quickly used as a credit for purchasing quite a few items in the TCM Boutique. My question is: how did they know I am a shopaholic? After spending a few minutes poolside at the Opening Night Party, I prepare myself for a double bill of classic movie goodness.

My first screening The Killing features one of my personal favorite actors, Sterling Hayden. I cannot exactly pinpoint it but I think it has something to do with his varied career as an actor and pursuer of many interests that draws me in.

The evening came to a close with the viewing of a pre-Code gem – William Wellman’s Safe in Hell, introduced by film historian Donald Bogle and William Wellman’s son.

After that it was an ‘interesting’ walk down Hollywood Boulevard to my hotel. Here I would like to offer a bit of advice: don’t walk it at night – hop on the Metro – it’s one stop and clean.

I pick up a slice of pizza (my first meal in LA) and promptly relax myself as I look forward to the day ahead – no time could be spared, the next day started at 9:15AM, sleep and jet lag be damned.

Day 2 – Three Films, One Completely New

Like I said above, I had to get up rather early, took the Metro (advice heeded) and queued up for my first film on a Friday morning. Just typing being at a film at 9 in the morning feels weird.  The way I justify it (if I HAVE to) is simple – it’s early afternoon at home. I Know Where I’m Going! is a British/Scottish gem and a film that I have always wanted to watch but never quite gotten round to. All I can say is that I am SO happy that my first experience is seeing was on the big screen. Did I mention I thought the film was absolutely LOVELY?

As soon as the end credits rolled, I allowed myself a moment to take in the aforementioned loveliness and swiftly headed down the street to Grauman’s Egyptian to get on another line, this time to screen a repeater for me, the noir classic The Narrow Margin, introduced by one of the film’s surviving stars, Jacqueline White. It had been some time since I had last seen this film so I had forgotten a lot of the plot and subsequently many of the plot twists that I had totally forgotten about.

My next film was also in the Egyptian. For the first of two Hitchcock films I would see over the weekend, the incomparable Notorious. Introduced by former TCM Essentials host Rose McGowan, I must say I never tire of seeing this sensual thriller.
It’s my iPhone wallpaper, ya’ll!

What a satisfying way to end my day.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the concluding two days of my Hollywood adventure!

However, there also exists in this space a smaller set of films that offer a counter-balance to the larger more extravagant fare on offer. So for this week’s “Overlooked” series (courtesy of bloggin’ buddy Todd Mason) I have decided to look into my crystal ball (don’t actually have one) and see what films coming out this summer I feel will not get their just desserts by the mainstream audience.

Frances Ha (actually will be seeing it this week)

Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives in New York, but she doesn’t really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she’s not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren’t really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has, but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. “Frances Ha” is a modern comic fable in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption. Courtesy of IFC Films. Opens May 17th in NY & LA with a staggered released throughout the country.

Before Midnight (see previous post). Opens May 24th

The East

An operative for an elite private intelligence firm finds her priorities irrevocably changed after she is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group known for executing covert attacks upon major corporations. (Source: IMDB) Opens May 31

Much Ado About Nothing

A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words. (Source IMDB) Directed by Joss Whedon. Opens June 7

The World’s End

Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind’s only hope for survival. (Source: IMDB) From the team that brought us Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Opens August 23

What films are you looking forward to this summer that you feel have the potential to be overlooked by the mainstream audience? Hit me up in the Comments section below.

1. Will Happy slip back into a coma after watching season 3 of Downton Abbey?
2. How did Tony Stark pay for all of that hardware when he was in exile in Tennessee? ILCs Theory: emergency stash of cash in the Iron Man suit.
3. Speaking of Tennessee, that little kid – precocious or just plain annoying?
4. Why didn’t they have the Thermal Soldiers [copyright ME ] guarding the ‘hideaway’? Side Note: bullet to the kneecap ALWAYS looks so painful.
5. Rebecca Hall’s appearance, a bit of a letdown?
6. Why is Miguel Ferrer always playing a bit of a creep?
7. Exactly how does one reverse making someone a thermal person? I see you Pepper Potts …
8. Guy Pearce + Don Cheadle two actors I am glad to see on the screen and collecting (what I imagine is) a nice paycheck. Well done boys.
9. 3D AND IMAX, really?
10. Why did I stay until the end credits?

In spite of these asinine questions and observations I have just presented, I really did enjoy the film – more than the second (well except for this bit):

and not nearly as much as the first one.

Robert Downey Jr. always sells the role enough to keep me interested in seeing where the character is going. The ‘peripheral’ characters (a term used advisedly) did not hold as much sway for me.

A lot of the charm in the Iron Man canon was the levity and humor that was here, mainly in the form of Sir Ben Kingsley (spoilers), was patchy at best. Frankly I was expecting a little more since Shane Black was affiliated with the film but then I remembered this was a PG-13 film whose goal was to shoot straight down the middle and fill as many theater seats possible (still salty about the whole 3D/IMAX ‘experience’ but I digress – really is my own fault).

Let me know what you think in the Comments section below.

Powell is a New York City-based a police officer, hell bent stop the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in Baltimore as he makes the train journey from Pennsylvania to his inauguration in Washington, DC.

Now I will readily admit (as I also discussed with another film-goer), that when I read the program description in the festival guide, I was not sure if this was some sort of contemporary, for the time hard-boiled crime thriller (Powell was in it after all) that happened to be anachronistic, given the “tall target” of the title. But soon in I realized that was not the case. Thanks in part to another WONDERFUL introduction by film historian Donald Bogle, we find out that this film is based in part on historical folklore that allegedly took place on the eve of Lincoln’s swearing-in.

There are quite a few twists and turns to this one so I will leave it up to you to enjoy for yourself.

Also starring in supporting roles are Adolphe Menjou and Ruby Dee, a young slave who has more moxie than one initially would think.

Check out Todd Mason’s site, Sweet Freedom for more overlooked, forgotten or otherwise under-appreciated cinematic gems.

Folks it has been a busy couple of weeks for me and in the coming days I will try my best to recap (with photos) my coast to coast film festival going.

Until then I just wanted to take a quick minute to thank both the Tribeca Film Festival and the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival for each putting son some great shows!

Hope you enjoy my coverage.