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Originally Posted by Nostalgic  Watching the critic/academic commentary on the Arrow Carrie blu ray, lots of good nuggets of info (Paxton Real Estate is a nod to Bill Paxton who worked on the art direction/set design), better than most of the modern academic commentaries which descend into being a bit TOO analytical (the "m" giallo? etc).
Worth a listen, a good combination of fan love & academia! |
Have you heard the commentary on the BFI seven Samurai. Its almost impossible to get through. It's dryer than the sahara and like listening to the shipping forecast. Shame as the guy doing it seems to know his stuff.
The Post
Essentially chronicling the Washington Posts release of the classified Pentagon papers under the threat of legal action, the film deals with the thorny issue of freedom of the press vs national security as well as looking at the sidelining of women in the corporate world that was common at that point of time.
Spielberg seems to be really delivering these days. I was always put off by a lot of the mawkishness in some of his earlier work. Minority Report being a great example where for two thirds of the film its a great adaptation of Phillip K Dicks book then it goes and shits the bed with the final act, crow-barring in a happy ending that feels completely out of place based on what preceded it. But then the backbone of his work was eighties cinema which consciously distanced itself from the cynicism of the cinema of the 70's and the new Hollywood movement. I'd pretty much given up when Tin Tin came along, which managed to take several stories and craft a surprisingly decent adventure film out of the material. Then of course we got Bridge of spies which was possibly one of the best things I think he's done in a long time. The post seems to be carrying on this tradition. Its got Hanks again, really delivering as a gruff newspaper editor who refuses to compromise his belief in the fourth estate, specifically the importance of an independent press. Meryl Streep is also great, but would you expect anything less. Here her character arc is actually the most interesting one in the film. She's the owner of the Washington post, a role she found herself in after the death of her husband. She begins the film very much in her shell, as someone who has never had to work and whose role in life was as a homemaker. Gradually as the drama unfolds she begins to see more possibilities in her life and Streeps performance as she slowly begins to emerge from her shell and find the courage needed is a terrifically understated one.
Cat O'nine Tails.
Argento's 'difficult second film' is one the director himself initially stated he was not happy with as it was too 'American' and rooted too much in the film noir tradition. Personally I would disagree.
While Cat is not as ground breaking as Bird with the crystal Plumage was, and while the plot feels a little more convoluted in places, with the identity of the killer seeming to have little real importance, its still a solid and well crafted Giallo. Certainly if you took Argento's name off the picture and went into it not knowing a thing, it'd be rated as one of the better films of the period with some real stylistic flourishes including a terrific car chase and a jaw dropping death by train among its many set pieces. Karl Malden is great as the blind ex journalist who thinks he may have witnessed something. James Franciscus is also good as the journalist who gets roped into the investigation.
Arrows Blu-ray looks terrific. The colours really pop. There's no sign of scanner noise and its certainly the best presentation of the film i've seen.