Happy Birthday, Ken Russell!

I mentioned over on Twitter that I was more excited to celebrate Ken Russell's birthday than I was the 4th of July. And as delighted as I am to have a job where writing a celebratory post on the occasion is a duty specifically called for in my job description, I have, of course, not exhausted everything I want to say about this estimable figure.

I came in at the tail end of the main of his career - of all of his films I only ever saw WHORE during its theatrical run. I've been lucky enough to catch up with some of his work in rep screenings, and other films (LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM and particularly SALOME'S LAST DANCE, possibly my favorite cinematic adaptation of a play) were mainstays of my video watching then and now.

Though he'd had a long and provocative life and career (which only got more and more outrageous the older he got), I was still stunned and saddened by his death in November 2011. One naturally assumes that such larger-than-life folk will remain, but of course this isn't so.

Reading up on Russell prior to writing about him I clicked through to the article on "A Kitten for Hitler", a rare Internet-only film from Russell. Challenged in 2007 to make a film that he would himself want to have banned, Russell created a short, bizarre, and horribly, horribly wrong little eight-minute short. The hilariously shit CGI is only the start of it. The thing is on YouTube. Consider yourself warned.

Today with Russell firmly on my mind, I kept laughing about this movie. Marvelling at its sheer wrongness, but delighted that there's still a huge body of work to be experienced for the first time. It should hold me over until 2019, when his Richard Strauss documentary can be legally shown again.

200, for Roger

Representation is, in fact, important.

And so it was that young, prepubescent, bespectacled, asthmatic, schlubby me was somewhat adrift in a childhood free of identifiable role models. No one on television looked like me, or did anything within my sphere to emulate.

Except.

Davey Marlin-Jones (who was just as bespectacled and a hell of a lot weirder than I) was on television reviewing films for Eyewitness News. Which started to unlock something in my head...

...until viewings of Sneak Previews not just unlocked that door, but blew it wide open. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert weren't just relatable, they were smart. The way some kids looked at athletes with tangible dreams of growing up to be one, so did I see these guys as my own heroes. I was always a movie-loving kid, but these guys honed my nascent cinephilia. Siskel & Ebert had me looking at movies outside my comfort zone at an early age, enabling a number of cinematic epiphanies possible. Sure, my family took me to STAR WARS like any other child of my generation, but THE SHOOTING PARTY was the movie that truly sent me and showed me what movies could address. Sneak Previews didn't point me at that film, but it made my experience of it possible.

With Siskel and other partners, into soloville as Thee Recognizable Face and Voice of The Movies, Ebert continued to serve admirably as both reviewer AND critic (remember, they aren't the same thing). You could trust his opinions, whether you agreed with them or not. The disagreements were a challenge to articulate your own position. And the agreements would open new doors to beloved, familiar works. And he was refreshingly capable of human error (as when he picked up a certain rumor about a local movie palace a year and a half ago, but why dredge up those details?).

I had something much larger in mind for my 200th post here (which, indeed, this is), but that piece has been floundering under the weight of what I wanted it to become. It's necessary for me, for everyone touched by Roger's example, to articulate what that example meant to them. I can't imagine what my life would be like without that early formative influence. I'm sad to say goodbye to him, but the fire he stoked in me burns still. And in everything before these 200 posts, through them, and everything after.

Thanks, Roger. G'night.

DARK SHADOWS (2012)

Cursed to become a vampire by a jilted lover, nobleman Barnabas Collins is unearthed two centuries later (in 1972) to find the world almost completely changed. His beloved home, Collinwood Manor, remains barely standing, presided over by the remnants of his family. Barnabas moves to restore his family to its former glory, even as he is haunted by the spectre of at least one lost love...

I lamented previously about the foul taste left by the trailer for this, the latest Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration. I couldn't understand how a film by two avowed fans of the original series could be as off-puttingly goofy as the trailer suggested it would be. Reviews of critics and reports from friends suggested that my fears were well-founded. And yet even weeks after the thing opened I remained curious about it, and figured I'd have to see it for myself. I went with my girlfriend, a woman who's picked up my DARK SHADOWS habit, who held out hope that there was something of substance within the film. I harbored my doubts even after the solid prologue, bracing myself for the film to go off the rails.

But it never did. The credits roll as Victoria Winters travels to Collinsport to take her new job as governess to Collinwood Manor (the event that opened the original series - indeed, it was a dream of this image that led Dan Curtis to conceive the show). The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" is an obvious choice to score this, but it works. The choices Burton (and writers John August and Seth Grahame-Smith) makes in introducing the Collins clan, from the still-proud elegance Michelle Pfeiffer brings to Elizabeth Collins Stoddard to young David Collins' startling resemblance to the young Damien Thorn, also work, demonstrating an understanding of what makes the characters compelling but necessarily going beyond simple rehash.

There is humor in the film, yes. And some if it is so gaudy that it seems to have been tacked on after the fact (and yes, I refer to the scenes that figure in the trailer). My girlfriend was convinced that these scenes were shot at studio insistence, and though one cannot ignore Burton's previous lapses into mood-breaking cutesiness (and there have been several), the gothic tone is so lovingly realized throughout the film that these scenes are hard to explain any other way. Especially alongside moments of sly humor that are realized more solidly, and are genuinely funny. One such moment finds Barnabas cursing a bright (and prominently framed) McDonald's sign. "Mephistopheles!" he hisses, a clever subversion of such direct product placement that showcases a wit absent in the film's goofier moments.

It is as compromised as Orson Welles' MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, which is not to say that it is as brilliant as that film remains. Some choices can not be laid down to studio interference. Eva Green holds all of the physical characteristics of Tim Burton's favorite leading ladies, but she doesn't bring to Angelique the knowingly freaky grace and eldritch power that would have made her a formidable villain (Burton's former muse Lisa Marie MUST have had the role at some point in their history). Still other characters are clumsily misplaced - Jonny Lee Miller's Roger Collins is too one-dimensional to ever be effective and is quickly written out; Victoria's backstory is rushed through; and there are a couple of character 360s that exist solely to provide the final conflict some oomph.

But even through all of these setbacks, these mistakes, these interferences, there is plenty to latch onto. Johnny Depp's haunted, irreverent grace. More crucially, the dedication of Barnabas to his family, which here, as always, keeps him from being the monster he fundamentally is (fan confession: the first extended scene between Barnabas and Elizabeth was exactly what I wanted/needed from this movie, and Depp and Pfeiffer just nail it). Pfeiffer's wounded strength, and the way Burton films her on Collinwood's main staircase. The lone tree on Widow's Hill, and the watery tragedy beneath. The curious, but keenly felt, kinship between Barnabas and David. The gentle lapse of familial duty into unconditional love. These and many other moments are realized with reverence, and eagerly shared by Burton, Depp, and company. As challenging as it is to see through all of the haze and meddling, there is real love for the source material here. The suits signed off on it, but generous eyes and heart reveal that they didn't quite kill it. Collinwood remains. This fan cried. And the Collinses endure.

the DARK SHADOWS trailer

I'm less than pleased with the clip above, which is shattering since I've been looking forward to this film for a couple of years. I'm quite surprised that this gaudy comic mishmash is the movie that Burton and Depp chose to make from the series, considering the decades each has spent nursing their affection for it. A friend quite reasonably reminds me that a trailer can't be counted on as a concrete indicator of what a film will be like, and one does wonder if the studio marketing department (who surely cut this trailer) were put off by stranger moments in the film and settled on the cutesier, more saleable stuff.

And yet the fact that so much of the latter seems so evident in the trailer is cause for concern. I'm not blind to the camp value that many ascribe to DARK SHADOWS (indeed, I've reveled in some of the show's more enthusiastic outbursts myself). And yet the craziness of the show was an outgrowth of its ambitious creative process, not a deliberately winking wackiness, and to play the story of Barnabas Collins and family mainly for yuks is an easy out that I'm disappointed to see Burton and Depp taking.

But even if they are going for something more interesting and varied, this trailer sets us up for a campy laff riot. Which is so much less than what the series offered, even amid the technical screw-ups and blown lines. I stand by my definition of the show as "the craziest community theatre in your town doing a short Gothic horror play EVERY SINGLE DAY" - the result of this approach is, just as often as camp, an atmospheric shudder delivered creatively on the cheap, and occasionally inspired romance (not to mention time travel and parallel worlds). The Burton/Depp film may yet provide these, and though the trailer gives me no hope, I admit I'll be heading out the second weekend of May to see for myself.

to a hero on his birthday.

"May we trust the inexpressible benevolence of the creative impulse.

"Don't be helpful: be available.

"When a musician believes that music is a commodity, music dies in them.

"We pay our own tab.

"In the creative leap, history waits outside.

"Define the aim simply, clearly, briefly, positively

"Anything within a performance is significant, whether intentional or not.

"May the quality with which we live our life honour the lives of our parents and mentors.

"If we can define our aim, we are halfway to achieving it.

"We may not have an equality of talent.
We may not have an equality of experience.
But we may be equal in aspiration.
We can be equal in commitment."

Happy Birthday, Mr. Fripp.

all my love

happy birthday, G.

August Ragone reminds me that today's a holiday, of sorts.



Not coincidentally, perhaps, Crackle has over a dozen Godzilla and related films available for free streaming. GODZILLA: FINAL WARS is a thing of joy and wonder, and GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH has your proprietor's favorite special effects shot ever.

Happy Birthday, Gojira-san.

a murder of crows

Two years ago your proprietor wrote the following:

"On the spur of the moment, after videotaping two shows at the Dark Room I grabbed a cab up to the Clay Theatre, where they were screening Alex Proyas' The Crow at midnight. This film was a staple of a short but memorable time in my life - I saw it four times when it screened back in 1994. A friend visiting briefly during an overseas gig was surprised that the thing had been released, in light of star Brandon Lee's on-set death (mirroring that of his father, Bruce Lee). As powerful as the film was, with its star's death paralleling that of his character, opinion was split of this curious film, among critics and among our friends: Sean thought it was a waste of time; Josh though it was too, unrelentingly dark; a woman I know had an orgasm during the nightclub shootout.

"As for me, I cried every time I saw it - the very act of watching the film was magic, its star a ghost haunting his final film, brought back to life every time the thing unfurled, projected on a screen. Those screenings remain precious memories, and solidified (though I was too young to realize it at the time) my belief in the cinema as an act of worship, as a tribal magic.

"And now fourteen years later, I returned to watch the ghost animate one more time (I could never watch the film on video). Tonight's service had maybe twenty attendees - even a pre-screening performance by a punk cabaret ensemble wasn't an inducement (hell, maybe the audience knew something about the band that I didn't, and went the following night).

"The film has dated all right, I'd say - Proyas' mise-en-scene is still remarkable, as artificial and lovely in its own dark way as the scratchy art and fragmented script of James O'Barr, creator of the original graphic novel. The songs and soundtrack still moved and amazed. The film's weaknesses, to which even as rapturous a convert as I back in '94 wasn't blind, still remained, and have not been made any less clunky by the passage of time. The whole "destroy-the-crow-and-you-destroy-the-man" thing remains an unhappy means of developing third act tension, despite the fact that Eric Draven, as invulnerable as he is, has already had everything taken from him, and could not possibly be more destroyed. The film's good points and bad points were remembered, and taken in with my older, more discerning eyes and more detached heart.

"But when the crow takes flight, propelling Eric toward the first fight in his quest for vengeance, Trent Reznor's cover of "Dead Souls" (itself haunted by original singer Ian Curtis) taking all of us over this damned city, carrying us along the rooftops as Brandon/Eric leap, stride, and run across them, the ghost lives again. I breathe in, softly, and cry."



The thing was wide open for sequels - any number of dead souls could be brought back for vengeance, and sequels proliferated across the screen, yes, but also in comics and novels. The cinematic franchise immediately saw diminishing returns: Vincent Pérez was just dandy in the lead (and much of the supporting cast were more than game), but the screenplay seized on and amplified the "destroy-the-crow-and-you-destroy-the-man" and collapsed into a mess. Further sequels went straight-to-video, and many of them had their moments. But none of the subsequent films could come near to capturing the ethereality of the first: the thing's too charged with the ghost of its star, rendering any sequel a pale, too-solid imitation.

Maybe for that reason I'm having a hard time getting worked up over the news that Mark Wahlberg is rumored to be cast as Eric Draven in a forthcoming remake/reboot. Perhaps I'm just numb to Hollywood disintering yet another franchise in lieu of paying a screenwriter to come up with something new. Perhaps because the original film is too close to my heart, too fast, too ghostly, too keenly felt, to be anything but unassailable.

in conversation: Dark Shadows

house: D!!!!!!!!
4f: Hiya
4f: Still in bed
4f: Yay
4f: Still watchin DS
house: like fritos, isn't it? can't stop with one episode
4f: Yup
4f: Amd dsoesnt matter if I doze
house: indeed
house: it's ambient gothic TV
4f: Yes!
4f: I love the lines
4f: Sometimes I feel like replying
house: it's drinking game fodder to be sure
4f: everyone draws a name from a hat - when your character goes up on a line, you drink
4f: "Ok. It's because I'm a fucking vampire ok? Now get off my back!"
house: and when roger draws from the decanter in the living room, everyone drinks
4f: Ha
house: i don't completely understand my fondness for roger
house: maybe because on a fundamental level we both just want it quiet
4f: Heh
4f: Ha ha
4f: He's the resident malcontent
4f: Mrs stoddard doesn't help improve morale
house: she classes up the place, though
4f: Yeah. Classy dame.
house: one of the finest moments in the series' first year is when carolyn (the free-wheeling blonde) sluts it up one too many times, and mrs. stoddard just lets her have it
4f: Hahahhahha
4f: LOVE the lines!
4f: Haha
house: you can see why depp and burton are queer on making the film
4f: Yyyesssssssssss
4f: I was tickled pink to hear about it
house: there's no way it'll be allowed, but i'd love it if burton executed each shot/scene in one take like the original show
4f: Yes!
4f: Whatever it is...it'll be good
house: here's hoping
house: still watching DS or are you doing stuff?
4f: both
house: good good
4f: i'm enjoying the most delicious miso an dnoodles for lunch
house: excellent
4f: why did they want willie gone to begin with?
4f: he put the moves on the slutty chick?
4f: they are so mean to him
house: yeah - plus he was jason's more unhinged lil' buddy - jason would threaten shit, but willie looked just THIS far from actually doing it
house: there are quite a few episodes of bad willie before barnabas basically (i'm convinced) raped him
4f: vampires do that
4f: this series is rich and superficial all at the same time
house: it really is!
4f: "rich" and campy too
house: it plays a long game - you have like 20 episodes of almost non-existent plot development, and then something really insane, otherworldly, or just plain fucking GAH happens
4f: the residents are SO stupid
4f: kinda love it
house: a frustrating drawback about the show is that you're almost never behind the characters - you know a secret, and wait for weeks for the characters to figure it out
4f: ha
house: the series nearly lost me the first year when victoria was locked in a basement for ten straight episodes
4f: was this created in part for tweens back then?
4f: or stupid housewives?
house: not deliberately, i don't think - it was made for the daytime TV audience, but the kids quickly caught on and became the show's main demographic
4f: i LOVE the "next episode" option
house: on DVD i just let the thing run
4f: one press of a button and then a fix...
4f: ah
house: and i like how the camera fixates on an empty space as the closing credits roll
4f: yes
house: how many episodes have you watched?
4f: 14
house: cool - you've seen both episodes 214 and 222 - don't recall what happened in them, but they were both shown at MOMA during the jeremy blake WINCHESTER show
4f: we're at the spot where willie has moved into the place and barnabas has comissioned a painting of himself
house: right
4f: young child's name is david
4f: heh
house: i've come close to putting some david-related dialogue on my voicemail greeting, since he's always missing/fucking around at the old house

NATHALIE GRANGER

Two women live with two children (the relationships are never clear). One of the children, the title character, is faintly disturbed. A radio broadcasts updates to the chase of two young murderers across France by the authorities. The piano lessons continue.

If Rod Serling, upon seeing LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, brought Alain Resnais to the States to make a TWILIGHT ZONE episode, the result might have resembled NATHALIE GRANGER, a slow-burning non-drama from French New Wave mainstay Marguerite Duras. As in her finest work, the well-realized setting (here a suburban house) quickly turns into a place of dream and nightmare. The house seems positioned right on a borderline between straight society and a fog-shrouded neitherworld. The hallways and rooms inside the house seem to stretch on into eternity, and mirrors invariably lead to other places. When Gerard Depardieu's comically desperate washing machine salesman slips in, he transitions from odd man out to sole representative of sanity. His quiet confrontation with the true soul of the house at the film's quiet, otherworldly climax is one of Duras' finest set pieces (if she can be considered an author of set pieces).

Perhaps the mirrors in the film reflect outward - a review I read of the film on IMDB praises the film's bucolic beauty and tranquility. This reviewer seems to have missed the horror movie seen and reviewed here by your proprietor, but it's clearly the same film. I wonder what you would see in it. And what NATHALIE GRANGER would see in you.

Happy birthday, Machman

a night in

(ETA: Well, your proprietor has been made to look and feel like a tit, what with this episode disappearing from the schedule. Again.)

Your proprietor doesn't trust the sun that has peeked through a rainstorm that's been battering San Francisco for the better part of the day. One suspects the rain will return in earnest rather soon. But here at the House of Sparrows we're practically hoping for a rainy gloomy night, in anticipation of a half hour of television that has been oft-delayed, but eagerly awaited...



Based on one of my favorite comics, Batman: The Brave and the Bold has been a delightful destination for early Friday evening viewing. Though slightly more kid-friendly than other iterations of the DC comics universe, B:TBATB has captured the truly gonzoid spirit of the team-up comic upon which it is based, which mined the teaming of Batman with lesser-known heroes for some offbeat stories. At worst it's a diverting and entertaining superhero cartoon; at best (as in a truly sublime teaser which teamed Batman with Detective Chimp to solve a locked room mystery), it can be downright thrilling.

I've been keen to see tonight's episode for a number of reasons. "Chill of the Night" concerns Batman's quest for the killer of his parents. Heavier subject matter than the show's usual beat, which may account for its continued postponement. But also notable is the fact that the episode brings back writer Paul Dini (one of the driving forces behind the justly lauded "dark deco" Batman: The Animated Series) to the Batman fold. Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for many years, also steps in to provide the voice of the Phantom Stranger. Given the Phantom Stranger's household god status here at the house of Sparrows, tonight's episode pretty much commands your proprietor's attention.

The episode airs in the show's usual timeslot (Friday night, 7:30pm) on Cartoon Network. If you tune in, comment and tell me what you thought, and thus become a friend of the House of Sparrows forever.

the holy trinity

The Sister:



The Muse:



The Spirit: