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Movie Anagrams

These aren’t necessarily who I want to win – I’d take Rush over Bale, for one – but who I THINK will win.

During the trivia contest in which a friend regularly participates, one of the categories was ‘movie title anagrams’. Since it’s Oscar week, see how many you can get in the same allotted ten minutes.

1. The Rave Bra
2. That Mixer
3. Tiger Rut
4. Haled Wirer
5. Local Rattle
6. Whale on Plate
7. Mayfly Raid
8. Pan Tool
9. New Tramp Toy
10. Greet a Pest Ache

I won’t approve any quiz answers for the first 24 hours, so everyone will be on equal footing.

I had written about my early Oscar picks here four weeks ago. I had intended to see several more films in the intervening time, but life (and death) got in the way. The only full-length movie I’ve seen since then is Blue Valentine, about which I will write soon. So I guess I’ll let my picks from last month stand: Firth, Bale, Portman and Steinfeld in the acting categories; The Social Network and The King’s Speech in the screenplay categories; The King’s Speech for Best Picture. Which means I have to actually make a selection for Best Director, and my gut says The Social Network’s David Fincher over The King’s Speech’s Tom Hooper, with the Academy spreading the wealth. These aren’t necessarily who I want to win – I’d take Rush over Bale, for one – but who I THINK will win.

The Best Picture vote uses Instant Runoff Voting. What does that mean? See HERE.

Film Review-Oscar shorts, live action

It was Valentine’s Day. The wife and I had a long-standing commitment for a child sitter, and movie passes for The Spectrum Theatre in Albany. Obviously, my grandiose plan to see more Academy Award films had put aside in the past two weeks, so seeing a nominee was my preference. But what? She didn’t want to see True Grit. Watching Blue Valentine, a movie about a disintegrating romance, didn’t seem quite right. Nor did seeing separate movies – she wants to see The Social Network, I The Black Swan.

So we decided to see five movies instead, those Oscar-nominated for best live action short films. The descriptions are from Oscar.com.

The Confession – Tanel Toom (UK-25 minutes)
“A young boy preparing for his first confession worries that he has no sins to report, so he enlists a friend’s help in committing one.”
And it’s a pretty minor one, actually, but one that has consequences. Moody, with a bunch of pointed symbolism, well acted, especially the lead boy. I’m told it’s got the Oscar buzz. A brief clip.

Wish 143 – Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite (UK-24 minutes)
“When a terminally ill young boy is granted a wish by a charitable foundation, he makes a surprising request.”
Actually, he’s an older boy, though not an adult, and what he wants is not to die a virgin, which is a bit of a conumdrum to his priest friend. It has humor and pathos, and it was my favorite of the five. A clip.

Na Wewe– Ivan Goldschmidt (Belgium-19 minutes)
“In 1994, as the Rwandan genocide spills over into neighboring Burundi, a bus is attacked by a group of rebels.”
Very tense; I was awaiting the slaughter, yet imdb called it a comedy? Well, maybe a subtle comedy. Na Wewe means You Too in Kirundi. Looks like the kind of film the Academy would like. A clip.

The Crush -Michael Creagh (Ireland-15 minutes)
“Eight-year-old Ardal has a crush on his teacher and is devastated to learn she has a fiancé.”
And Ardal finds the fiancé unworthy and calls him out. My wife’s favorite film. A clip.

God of Love – Luke Matheny (US-18 minutes)
“A love triangle between two musicians and a young woman takes a surprising turn when one of them finds a collection of magical darts.”
Appropriate for Valentine’s day, though probably the most lightweight of the five. Feels Woody Allenesque somehow. The trailer.

Unsurprisingly, all of the filmmakers are first-time nominees. “The Academy’s entire active membership is eligible to select Oscar winners in all categories, although in five – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only after attesting they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.”

Old Father 2010

I’m no more, or less, disillusioned by politics than I was last year.

So what kind of year was 2010?

I’m still sad that my local YMCA closed. I was a member there from December 1982 to April 2010. I played racquetball there, and occasionally volleyball as well. My attempt to play racquetball elsewhere proved unworkable.

My bike was stolen; majorly bummed by that.

The blog I do for the Times Union newspaper got excerpted in the print edition at least a half dozen times this year. The problem with that, of course, is that the blurb may be confusing to the reader out of context. Still, people actually recognize me from this, which, I guess, is a good thing. I’m notorious enough to be asked to participate in that To Kill A Mockingbird readathon.

I’ve been attending my current church and singing in the choir for 10 years. We got a new choir director this fall. After eight years of stability, the last couple of years were full of transition in the leadership of the choir; hope this guy sticks around a while. I’ve been a Presbyterian for eight years, after being a Methodist – or nothing – for most of my life; STILL learning about it.

I attended no funerals this year; that’s actually quite unusual for me.

After attending the school where my wife works for a year, my daughter is now attending her neighborhood school in the city, and I take her there most days, while her mother picks her up.

We’re going to an international reunion next year, and we all got passports, not just on the last day, but the last 15 minutes, before the rates went up.

I’m no more, or less, disillusioned by politics than I was last year.

When the Golden Globes movie nominations came out, I realized that, outside of the animated films, of which I saw Toy Story 3, Tangled, and 30 minutes of Despicable Me, I saw only one movie for which either the actors and/or the film was nominated, and that was The Kids Are All Right.

My TV DVR is constantly at 75% full, give or take 10 percentage points. I have yet to see an episode of 30 Rock or The Office for this season, I’m weeks behind on Glee. I skipped the JEOPARDY! college tournament. I AM up-to-date with The Closer and Grey’s Anatomy, however.

I have in excess of 140 sick days available at work, a function of being there 18 years.

I blogged every day this year, again.

Johnny B. re Captain Beefheart

I didn’t realize until I saw this TCM clip that THREE members of the cast of the movie Airplane! died this year: Peter Graves, Barbara Billingsly, and Leslie Nielsen.

Steve Bissette Tackles the Hate Movies

The late Gail Fisher, who is best know for playing Peggy Fair on the detective series Mannix, starred in The New Girl, and it also featured Edward Asner.

Not only is my good buddy Steve Bissette a great comic book artist, he is a cultural historian. First, he linked to a booklet created by Steve Canyon artist Milton Caniff on How to Spot Someone of Japanese Descent, but the terminology used was less appropriate.

Then he put together a series on posts on what he calls Hate Movies:

1. The horrific anti-Japanese propaganda “documentaries” during and after WW2, and well into the early 1960s

2. The 1960s exploitation movies that played upon racist fears of miscegenation, black-and-white sexual relations, and so on (from which I purloined the image to the left).
Discussion of movie titles such as I Passed for White and My Baby Is Black.

3. How to Deal with Racial Conflict Head-On & Fail at the Boxoffice, Whatever Your Race – the harder to summarize, confrontational race conflict dramas of the 1960s.
Features a six-minute clip of a pre-Star Trek William Shatner in the title role as The Intruder, plus a discussion of the film by Shatner and director Roger Corman. Also a discussion of actor Sidney Poitier and writer LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka.

3 APPENDIX. What Happened to The Intruder?
Mike Ripps’ versions of Bayou aka Poor White Trash (trailer) and Roger Corman’s The Intruder under the title Shame (the whole thing).

4. Turning Up the Heat: Bill, Juan, & Leroi, Then & Today Or, What Do You Call Angry Anti-Hate Hate Movies? Whatever You Call Them, Don’t Call Them Late for Supper!
LeRoi Jones’s Dutchman (1966), which will feature in the next eight segments. The Negro Handbook and the Negro Motorist Green Book; and is there anti-white xenophobia? Also featuring FOX News and the firing of Juan Williams from NPR.

The series was briefly interrupted as explained HERE.

5. Subversion on the Subway. LeRoi Jones/Amiri Imamu Baraka’s Dutchman and Jones’ wife Hettie Jones.

6. Lula’s Roots: Little Sisters, Passing Pinkies, Poor White Trash. Antecedents of Dutchman’s Lulu in such diverse fare as D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915), Fritz Lang and Thea Von Harbou’s Metropolis (1927), Elia Kazan’s Pinky (1949), Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), Robert Mulligan’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (1967).
I was most fascinated by “Lewis Freeman’s government-produced educational short film The New Girl (1959), produced for the President’s Committee on Government Contracts, created by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower in August, 1953 and …chaired by none other than Vice-President Richard M. Nixon.” The late Gail Fisher, who is best know for playing more-than-just-a-secretary Peggy Fair on the detective series Mannix, starred, and it also featured Edward Asner. Steve linked to it, but I thought I would as well:
PART 1 and PART 2.

7. On a Downtown Train…Cashing Out Clay. More on Dutchman, plus Amiri Imamu poetry.

8. From Lula to Lulu: Making Manhattan in London – Underground, Overseas. Dutchman and the Beatles films link; Black Like Me; To Sir With Love; and an episode of The Outer Limits.

9. Bring Out Your Dead…”The Jones Boys”: Carrying Clay. Clay, the black male character in Dutchman, as he relates to the music of Charles Mingus, and the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Fred Hampton.

10. Going Continental: Continental Divides. The distribution of Dutchman by Walter Reade/Sterling, which also was responsible for Lord of the Flies, Black Like Me, Ghidrah, Night of the Living Dead, Dr. Who and the Daleks, and Slaves.

11. Dutchman: Contemporaries, Ripples & Shockwaves. Masculin, Féminin; The Brig; Marat/Sade; very early Brian DePalma films such as Hi, Mom!; Be Black; and Paradise Now, which Steve rightly suggests is an antecedent to to the Broadway musical Hair.

12. Uncle Toms, Watermelon Men, Sweet Sweetback & Mandingos. “Being a potpourri of images, quotes, and links that relate to, summarize and/or surround the essay installments I’ve posted to date…” Including the “blaxplotation” films of the early 1970s, such as Watermelon Man (1970). the brutal Fight For Your Life (1977), and the pivotal Melvin van Peebles work, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971).

EPILOGUE: White Trash, Blaxploitation, Hate Movies & Continental Blues. Or; Final Look at What I Was Talking About All Month
A summary, but mentions a Leadbelly movie I need to know more about.

It’s fair to say that there is a LOT of material here, and the blogposts are a first draft of a project Steve is working on. As he then noted, the postings “prompted deeper research into some venues, and I’m expanding and considerably revising a print version of this essay for publication later this year in one of my collected editions of my fanzine/magazine/online writings on genre films.” Also, at the end of each segment, he writes, “Please note: I do not condone or share the views expressed in the archival images presented in this serialized essay at Myrant. I share them here for historical, educational, and entertainment purposes only.”

All the animated movies in the world. Sort of.

Well, of course. This was a remarkable technological feat. And features a character named Roger.

From Johnny Bacardi. Neither he nor I named these categories, BTW.

CLASSIC DISNEY
——————————-

[X] 101 Dalmatians (1961) – probably in the first run. The lead adult male is named Roger, a guy who loves music, which was great!
[O] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[X] Bambi (1942) – probably around 1963, in the theater. Scary stuff.
[X] Cinderella (1950) – probably around 1964, but I was 11, and I found it too “girly”; I like it better now.
[X] Dumbo (1941) – did I see this all the way through?
[X] Fantasia (1940) – saw as an adult, in a theater. Loved it.
[X] Lady and the Tramp (1955): probably c 1962. I related to Tramp.
[X] Mary Poppins (1964). But almost certainly NOT in the theater. On network TV, perhaps?
[X] Peter Pan (1953). Almost definitely on TV. Has not aged well.
[X] Pinocchio (1940). On TV. Quite intense.
[X] Sleeping Beauty (1959). In the theater c 1966, probably.
[X] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In the theater c. 1965.
[O] Song of the South (1946). Only seen excerpts.

DISNEY’S DARK AGE
——————————-
[O] The Aristocats (1970)
[O] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[O] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[O] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[X] The Jungle Book (1967). Probably on commercial TV.
[O] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[O] Oliver and Company (1986)
[O] Pete’s Dragon (1977)
[O] The Rescuers (1977). No, but I’ve read the adaptation.
[O] Robin Hood (1973)
[X] The Sword In The Stone (1963). Probably saw this first run.

THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
——————————-
[X] Aladdin (1992). In the theater.
[X] Beauty and the Beast (1991): On video in the last year, with my daughter. I love that song “Gaston”.
[O] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[O] Hercules (1997)
[X] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). On video recently, though I owned the soundtrack earlier.
[X] The Lion King (1994). In the theater, my favorite in this category.
[X] The Little Mermaid (1989). On video, with my daughter, but she bailed in fear, and I watched the rest later.
[O] Mulan (1998). But read the adaptation.
[O] Pocahontas (1995). Ditto.
[O] The Rescuers Down Under (1990). Ditto.
[O] Tarzan (1999). Ditto.

DISNEY’S MODERN AGE
——————————-
[O] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[O] Bolt (2008)
[O] Brother Bear (2003)
[O] Chicken Little (2005)
[O] Dinosaur (2000)
[O] The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
[X] Fantasia 2000 (2000). Not that much of an improvement, if at all.
[O] Home on the Range (2004)
[X] Lilo & Stitch (2002). Ended up seeing this on the Disney Channel or some such. It’s OK.
[O] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[O] Treasure Planet (2002)

PIXAR
——————————-

[X] A Bug’s Life (1998). Saw it in a theater.
[O] Cars (2006). Always meant to see. And now Cars 2 is coming out in 2011.
[X] Finding Nemo (2003). We were at a Christmas party a couple of years ago. My daughter was upstairs watching this on video and she was sobbing over Nemo trapped in the aquarium trying to get out. Subsequently rented it myself.
[X] The Incredibles (2004): Saw in a theater. By far my favorite Pixar film, which I can tell, because it was on NBC recently, with all those damn commercials, and I still enjoyed it.
[O] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[X] Ratatouille (2007). I like this more than most people. They made a movie about a rat chef appetizing.
[X] Toy Story (1995). In theater.
[X] Toy Story 2 (1999). In a theater. Made me cry.
[X] Toy Story 3 (2010): In a theater. Also made me cry.
[X] Wall-E (2008). On video. Too scary for the daughter.
[X] Up (2009): Saw in a theater. Possibly the best first 15 minutes of any film.

DON BLUTH
——————————-
[O] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[O] An American Tail (1986). Saw a scene or two on TV.
[O] An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
[O] Anastasia (1997)
[O] The Land Before Time (1988)
[O] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[O] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[O] The Secret of NIMH (1982)
[O] Thumbelina (1994)
[O] Titan AE (2000)
[O] A Troll in Central Park (1994)

CLAYMATION
——————————-
[O] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[X] Chicken Run (2000). In the theater. I LOVED Chicken Run.
[O] Corpse Bride (2005)
[O] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[O] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
[O] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005): Yet I have watched the three shorts.
[O] Coraline (2009)

CGI GLUT
——————————-
[X] Antz (1998). I saw both this and A Bug’s Life in theaters, and am now having difficulty recalling which was which.
[O] Bee Movie (2007)
[O] Happy Feet (2006)
[O] Ice Age (2002)
[O] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
[O] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
[O] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[O] Madagascar (2005)
[O} Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
[O] Monster House (2006)
[O] Over the Hedge (2006)
[O] The Polar Express (2004)
[O] Robots (2005)
[O] A Shark’s Tale (2004)
[X] Shrek (2001). In theater. Liked it well enough.
[X] Shrek 2 (2004). In theater. Started off strong, but lost interest.
[O] Shrek The Third (2007)
[O] Shrek Forever After (2010)
[O] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

IMPORTS
——————————-
[O] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[O] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[O] Light Years (1988)
[O] The Triplets of Belleville (2003). I REALLY need to see this!
[O] Persepolis (2007). And this.
[O] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[O] Watership Down (1978)
[O] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[O] Wonderful Days (2003)
[X] Yellow Submarine (1968). Saw this three or four times in movie theaters. It was on network TV, CBS I think, and it was edited terribly.

STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
——————————-
[O] The Cat Returns (2002)
[O] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
[X] Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
[O] Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
[O] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[O] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[O] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[X] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[O] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[O] Only Yesterday (1991)
[O] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994)
[O] Porco Rosso (1992)
[X] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[X] Spirited Away (2002). My favorite in this category.
[O] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
[O] Ponyo (2009)

SATOSHI KON
——————————-
[O] Millennium Actress (2001)
[O] Paprika (2006)
[O] Perfect Blue (1999)
[O] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

SHINKAI MAKOTO
——————————-
[O] She and Her Cat (1999)
[O] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)
[O] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[O] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

OTHER ANIME FILMS
——————————-
[O] Akira (1989)
[O] Angel’s Egg (1985)
[O] Appleseed (2004)
[O] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[O] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title – Vengeance of the Space Pirate) (1982)
[O] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003)
[O] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title – Revenge of the Ninja Warrior) (1985)
[O] Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1987)
[O] End of Evangelion (1997)
[O] Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
[O] Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
[O] Fist of the North Star (1986)
[O] Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
[O] Ghost in the Shell (1996)
[O] Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
[O] The Girl Who Lept Through Time (2006)
[O] Lensman (1984)
[O] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title – Clash of the Bionoids) (1984)
[O] Memories (1995)
[O] Metropolis (2001)
[O] Neo-Tokyo (1986)
[O] Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985)
[O] Ninja Scroll (1993)
[O] Patlabor the Movie (1989)
[O] The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983)
[O] Project A-ko (1986)
[O] Robot Carnival (1987)
[O] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle (2006)
[O] Silent Möbius (1991)
[O] The Sky Crawlers (2008)
[O] Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
[O] Steamboy (2004)
[O] Sword of the Stranger (2007)
[O] Unico and the Island of Magic (1983)
[O] Urotsukidoji: The Movie (1987)
[O] Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)
[O] Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1982)
[O] Vampire Hunter D (1985)
[O] Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2000)
[O] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (1987)

CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
——————————-
[O] American Pop (1981)
[O] The Animatrix (2003)
[O] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996).
[O] Cool World (1992)
[O] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[O] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)
[O] Fire & Ice (1983)
[O] Fritz the Cat (1972). I have seen segments.
[O] Halo Legends (2009)
[O] Heavy Metal (1981)
[O] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[O] Hey Good Lookin’ (1982)
[O] Lady Death (2004)
[O] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[O] Sita Sings the Blues (2008)
[O] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[O] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[O] Waking Life (2001). I remember seeing this in preview and deciding I didn’t want to see it.

OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
——————————-

[O] The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
[O] Animal Farm (1954)
[O] Animalympics (1980)
[O] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[O] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
[O] Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)
[O] Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
[O] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[O] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[O] Cats Don’t Dance (1997)
[O] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)
[X] Charlotte’s Web (1973). I’ve actually seen the bulk of this at my church recently.
[O] Fern Gully (1992)
[O] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[O] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)
[O] Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)
[O] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[O] The Hobbit (1977)
[X] The Iron Giant (1999): One of my favorite films.
[O] Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)
[O] Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[O] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[O] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[O] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[O] Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982). I saw parts of this on video, but just wasn’t in the mood.
[O] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[O] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[O] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[O] Ringing Bell (1978)
[O] The Road to El Dorado (2000)
[O] Shinbone Alley (1971)
[O] Space Jam (1996). Yet I had a Space Jam T-shirt.
[O] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[O] Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)
[O] Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)
[O] Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[O] The Swan Princess (1994)
[O] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[O] Wizards (1977)
[X] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Well, of course. This was a remarkable technological feat. And features a character named Roger.
[O] Wonder Woman (2009)
[O] Balto (1995)
[O] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)