We’re Back!

From me and the rest of the skeleton crew of The Motley View I would like to say sorry that this website has been so inactive for several months. However, a mixture of academic burn-out, administrative problems and errors has meant that this web journal had to put on ice. However as the title notes we are back. The journal will be working on the basis of a weekly update with the aim to put out two or three articles on thursday every week (starting this thursday with an article on the role of women in film noir).

One of these articles will be film reviews with an analytical slant. These film reviews will be either premieres on television or in the cinema (with upcoming articles on Inception and A-Team). These reviews will be produced by a new part-time member FRED (or Film Review and Evaluation Droid) who will publish a weekly review article in a distinctive but functional style.

I will also continue my analysis of film but will be moving towards a more philosophical angle on film and art so that this journal corresponds to my interests and academic pathway.

Journal Restructuring II

As Andrew alluded to in his previous post concerning this Journal’s restructuring, certain areas will be focused upon to enable greater depths of evaluation and investigation. Throughout the year both Andrew and I (Vedette) will continue to collaborate (restart) our exploration of the discourse of Hollywood. The first exploration of Hollywood is here: Discourse Ideology Myth: Hollywood’s Geographical Location. We will also start a new study into the function of the detective in TV and Film. These articles will be called ‘Screening the Detective: The Detective Function’. We will explore the representation, role and social function of the detective figure. This survey will encompass amateurs (such as Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote), private detectives (Sam Spade) and Policemen (Inspector Morse). This study will run through the next year.

 

Journal Restructuring

In the coming next year this journal will continue to survey all manner of topics, genres and issues. However, a slight restructure of this journal will be made so that it will concentrate more fully on certain specific areas of interest. These cycles of interest will be for a set period of time and will alternate. Over the next year the main genre of interest will be Film Noir – specifically the representation of women. Another issue which will be at the heart of this journal, up until the New Year, is Post-colonialism and Race.

Alongside these focuses the journal will continue to produce a wide array of articles, such as the exploration of basic film techniques and their application in film. Last year’s (unofficial) focus Science Fiction will also be continued. The journal will also be restructured so that articles will be published weekly on Tuesdays (This allows the journal to have a proper structure and deadline for article completion).

I am confident that the changes will be positive and allow for the fermentation and publication of excellent articles which explore every aspect of film and culture.

Box Office Results

Although a little off the normal beaten track of this journal I thought that this was funny. The article starts:

Neither the magic of Harry Potter nor the combined star power of Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler was enough to keep a crew of wise-cracking guinea pigs from scurrying to the top of the box office this weekend.

and here is the rest of the peice. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/07/26/g-force-box-office/. It seems that, to kids, there’s nothing better than guinea pigs who save the world.

Motley View@Cambridge…

A mixture of work, family and other issues have regrettably slowed down this journals productivity however in the next few days that should be rectified with publishing of several new articles.

Motley View@Manchester…

Motley View@Manchester…

Motley View@Manchester…

We didn’t really go here but i liked the shopfront.

On a side note, a lost notepad has been found so i can continue with my look at the auteur theory (though another has been lost recently containing my notes on The Seven-Ups 1973).

The Anatomy of a Chase

This video is an interesting inside look at the construction of the car chase in The Seven-Ups(1973). Something to note is that the car-chase took four weeks to complete and that the editor takes four hours of raw footage and only selects ten minutes for the finished film.

The Seven-Ups Car Chase Clip

Here is a clip from the film The Seven-Ups (1973), a classic cop film featuring a good car chase, styled somewhat similar to Bullitt (1968). I am writing an article about this film, therefore I thought I would share a video of the film – I can’t say how easy this film is to get but if you can borrow it I would recommend it. Enjoy:

Kael Online Database

http://www.paulrossen.com/paulinekael.html

This is a link to an online database of the often adored often criticised film critic Pauline Kael’s work. Although the actual article I am writing on – Kael’s criticism of Sarris – is not in the database there are several different and interesting articles and papers. One of interest is Kael’s position on Citizen Kane (1941) that the film cannot be attributed to Orson Welles – Welles is not, according to Kael, the author of Citizen Kane.

Caro Diario Clip

I am currently composing several articles, one being on Caro Diario, but to whet your appetite here is one of the many bizarre but hypnotically engrossing scenes, featuring the beautiful Italian actress Silvana Mangano, from one of my favourite films:

 

And as i am feeling generous I’ll add this other clip. This a very beautiful shot sequence. I fully recommend you rent/buy/watch this film if you can. Enjoy:

 

Short Note…

If you haven’t noticed I am currently snowed under with work at the moment and have been unable to write up/complete some articles for this journal. I am busy untill the end of this month with work but am really comping at the bit to get back to writing articles. On the back burner is an analysis and breakdown of a classic car chase – from the film Seven-Ups – and some more Future Worlds articles. An article or two about postmodernism is on the cards – due to my time currently being filled with Fredric Jameson and co – and hopefully i’ll finally get my lazy head back to the psychoanalysis articles i’ve written notes for. I will also get back to the questions, emails and querys i have had in the near future – i promise! – however it is back to work for me (yes sir it is a late one).

Tape Archive

Recently I mercilessly grabbed part of the soon to be, or recently, destroyed tape archive of the University of Sheffield. Here is what I got away with:

 

Ugetsu Monogatari – Kenji Mizoguchi (1953) Japan

Höstsonaten – Ingmar Bergman (1978 ) Sweden/Norway

Django – Sergio Corbucci (1966) Italy

Precinct 45: Los Angeles Police – Richard Fleischer (1972) USA

Ride Lonesome – Budd Boetticher (1959) USA

Timecop – Peter Hyams (1994) USA

Police – Maurice Pialat (1985) France

The Last of the Mohicans – Michael Mann (1992) USA

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters – Paul Schrader (1985) USA

Rikya – Hiroshi Teshigahara (1989) Japan

La Muerte de un burócrata, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (1966) Cuba

Pierrot Le Fou – Jean-Luc Godard (1965) France

The Shining – Stanley Kubrick (1980) USA

Candyman – Bernard Rose (1992) USA

Hellraiser – Clive Barker (1987) UK

Skagerrak – Søren Kragh-Jacobsen (2003) UK/Norway/Germany/France

Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Piano Blues – Clint Eastwood (2003) USA

L’Avventura – Michelangelo Antonioni (1960) Italy

Shivers – David Cronenberg (1975) USA

The Charge of the Light Brigade – Tony Richardson (1968 ) UK

Rembrandt – Alexander Korda (1936) UK

Bonjour tristesse – Otto Preminger (1958 ) UK

Riten – Ingmar Bergman (1969) Sweden

Touch of Evil – Orson Wells (1958 ) USA

Die Zweite Heimat – Zeitz (1991) Germany

Death Wish – Micheal Winner (1974) USA

On The Waterfront – Elia Kazan (1954) USA

Drums Along The Mohawk – John Ford (1939) USA

Experiment Perious – Jacques Tourneur (1944) USA

You Can’t Have Everything – Norman Taurog (1937) USA

La Madre Muerta – Juanma Bajo Ulloa (1993) Spain

L’Amour à mort – Alain Resnais (1984) France

The Jackal – Michael Caton-Jones (1997) USA

I know What You Did Last Summer – Jim Gillespie (1997) USA

Yerma – Imre Gyöngyössy & Barna Kabay (1985) Hungary/West Germany

Vámmentes házasság – János Zsombolyai (1980) Hungary/Finland

Mad Max 2 – George Miller (1981) Australia

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome – George Miller (1985) Australia

Ocean’s Eleven – Lewis Milestone (1960) USA

Sommersby – Jon Amiel (1993) USA

American Gigolo – Paul Schrader (1980) USA

Missing – Costa-Gavras (1982) USA

The Shootist – Don Siegel (1976) USA

What Price Hollywood – George Cukor (1932) USA

Miracle In Milan – Vittorio De Sica (1951) Italy

Bicycle Thieves – Vittorio De Sica (1948 ) Italy

Jerry Maguire – Cameron Crowe (1996) USA

A Hungarian Fairy Tale – Gyula Gazdag (1987) Hungary

Stagecoach – John Ford (1939) USA

The Blob – Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (1958 ) USA

Groundhog Day – Harold Ramis (1993) USA

The Horse Soldiers – John Ford (1959) USA

Attack – Robert Aldrich (1956) USA

Commando – Mark L. Lester (1985) USA

The Company of Wolves – Neil Jordan (1984) UK

L’Enfant Sauvage – Francois Truffaut (1970) France

Les Deux anglaises et le continent – Francois Truffaut (1971) France

The Asphalt Jungle – John Huston (1950) USA

The Assassination Bureau – Basil Dearden (1969) UK

Neak sre – Rithy Panh (1994) Cambodia/France

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Sam Wood (1943) USA

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne – Robert Bresson (1945) France

Mister Roberts – John Ford & Mervyn LeRoy (1955) USA

The Great Ziegfeld – Robert Z. Leonard (1936) USA

Arena Profile: Kurosawa – Adam Low (2001) UK

Bonnie and Clyde – Arthur Penn (1967) USA

Gosford Park – Robert Altman (2001) UK

Hangmen Also Die! – Fritz Lang (1943) USA

The Boy With Green Hair – Joseph Losey (1948 ) USA

Teaserama – Irving Klaw (1955) USA

Storyville: A Small Town In Poland – Marian Marzynski (1999) UK

Blood on the Moon – Robert Wise (1948 ) USA

Cheyenne Autumn – John Ford (1964) USA

Rookie of the Year – Daniel Stern (1993) USA

Angels in the Outfield – William Dear (1994) USA

Twelve Monkeys – Terry Gilliam (1995) USA

Summer Stock – Charles Walters (1950) USA

Lonely Hearts – Paul Cox (1982) Australia

Shane – George Stevens (1953) USA

Citizen’s Band – Jonathan Demme (1977) USA

Je vous salue, Marie – Jean-Luc Godard (1985) France

La Grande bouffe – Marco Ferreri (1973) France/Italy

The Book of Life – Hal Hartley (1998 ) France/USA

Se7en – David Fincher (1995) USA

Ponette – Jacques Doillon (1996) France

Paint Your Wagon – Joshua Logan (1969) USA

To Live and Die in Tsimshatsui – Wai-keung Lau & Jing Wong (1994) Hong Kong

Ed Wood – Tim Burton (1994) USA

The Sicilian – Michael Cimino (1987) USA

Borderline – ???? (1994) Germany/UK

Der Dibuk – Michal Waszynski (1937) Poland

Xanadu – Armitage Film Poem (1996) UK

Boogie Nights – Paul Thomas Anderson (1997) USA

Breaking the Code – Herbert Wise (1996) UK

Aux yeux du monde – Eric Rochant (1991) France

Blade Runner (original cut) – Ridley Scott (1982) USA

Alive – Frank Marshall (1993) USA

Hets – Alf Sjöberg (1944) Sweden

Crooklyn – Spike Lee (1994) USA

Logan’s Run – Michael Anderson (1976) USA

Le Sang d’un poète – Jean Cocteau (1930) France

La Marseillaise – Jean Renoir (1938 ) France

The Long Voyage Home – John Ford (1940) USA

Force majeure – Pierre Jolivet (1989) France

RoboCop 2 – Irvin Kershner (1990) USA

Le Grand chemin – Jean-Loup Hubert (1987) France

Akahige – Akira Kurosawa (1965) Japan

La Sirène du Mississipi – François Truffaut (1969) France

Bitter Moon – Roman Polanski (1992) UK/France

The Passion of Joan of Arc – Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928 ) France

La Jetée – Chris Marker (1962) France

Safe House – Eric Steven Stahl (2000) USA

Shizukanaru ketto – Akira Kurosawa (1949) Japan

The Kentuckian – Burt Lancaster (1955) USA

Divine Madness! – Michael Ritchie (1980) USA

L’Appartement – Gilles Mimouni (1996) Italy/Spain/France

The Seven-Ups – Philip D’Antoni (1973) USA

BASEketball – David Zucker (1998 ) USA

Down by Law – Jim Jarmusch (1986) USA/West Germany

The French Connection – William Friedkin (1971) USA

Le Beau Serge – Claude Chabrol (1958 ) France

Baby Doll – Elia Kazan (1956) USA

Farinelli – Gérard Corbiau (1994) Belgium/France/Italy/USA

The Man in the Iron Mask – James Whale (1939) USA

La Fille de d’Artagnan – Bertrand Tavernier (1994) France

Misery – Rob Reiner (1990) USA

Longtime Companion – Norman René (1990) USA

Battleground – William A. Wellman (1949) USA

French Connection II – John Frankenheimer (1975) USA

Les Nuits fauves – Cyril Collard (1992) UK/Italy/France

The FBI Story – Mervyn LeRoy (1959) USA

Cover Girl Killer – Terry Bishop (1959) UK

Ma nuit chez Maud – Eric Rohmer (1969) France

Rikos ja rangaistus – Aki Kaurismäki (1983) Finland

Poetic Justice – John Singleton (1993) USA

Al Capone – Richard Wilson (1959) USA

Under Milk Wood – Andrew Sinclair (1972) UK

The Punisher – Mark Goldblatt (1989) Australia/UK

Here Come the Waves – Mark Sandrich (1944) USA

Gumshoe – Stephen Frears (1971) UK

Holiday – George Cukor (1938 ) USA

Les Bonnes femmes – Claude Chabrol (1960) France/Italy

Les Amants – Louis Malle (1958 ) France

So Red the Rose – King Vidor (1935) USA

The Magnificent Seven – John Sturges (1960) USA

The Young Stranger – John Frankenheimer (1957) USA

Sarraounia – Med Hondo (1986) Burkina Faso/Mauritania/France

Bon Voyage – Alfred Hitchcock (1944) UK

Aventure malgache – Alfred Hitchcock (1944) UK

Jungle Fever – Spike Lee (1991) USA

 

 

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas from the Motley View and happy holidays etc!

I’ll be drinking lots of Port and beer. Have a good one!