magasa’s weblog

Richard Widmark (1914.12.26 – 2008.3.24)

RIP!

Steve Kerr：the 3 greatest movies of all time, 1. Citizen Kane, 2. The Godfather, 3. Kazaam.

最近看了个The Cat and the Canary (1927)。Paul Leni杀到好莱坞的第一部片子，估计把环球公司那帮人给震了一下，尤其是开头的镜头很表现主义。

可见万恶的soiuzkino成立后，苏联电影产业迅速完成了官僚化的进程。

Chicago Reader的影评人Jonathan Rosenbaum正式退休了，Roger Ebert跑去发了这么一段话：

Intelligent reviewer, yes. Pretentious, yes – lambasting popcorn movies like Star Wars for lacking emotional and intellectual depth is a bit too easy. The kind of bully who looks for the wires making Mary Poppins fly. And his critical darling, Jarmusch, is an Emperor parading about waiting for a small child to scream “naked.”

Still, his work on Welles has and will stand the test of time – something Chicago will be proud of for a long time. And, ultimately, no matter how “wrong” some of his opinions are ( “Playtime” just isn’t funny ) the reviews are never less than smart and heartfelt. One of maybe 8 film reviewers worth reading. Good luck with all future endeavors.

是不是像是砸场子？顺带把Jim Jarmusch损了一下，把他比作皇帝的新衣。

退休对有些人来说，不意味着封笔，反而表示可以更随意地写作。比如Bordwell在退休后开了blog，笔耕不辍，Rosenbaum也要开一个http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/（暂时还没开好）。

顺便一问：Ebert口中的8 film reviewers worth reading大致会有谁？当然他绝不会揭晓答案。

E per la scalea l’anonimo, anima
senza memoria, in un corpo immiserito
da secoli di sogni umilmente umani

di borghese esperienza, ormai è mitico
in questa domenica dorata
che lo vede chiaro nel chiaro vestito.

Come d’improvviso appare ornata,
la sua vita, di mite passione,
e la sua mente (dominata

dentro il cuore dell’Istituzione
dalla sua dignità dura e servile)
come pare arda, immune testimone,

d’umile desiderio di capire…

Mary Pickford有一句非常著名的话，她说：“It would have been more logical if silent pictures had grown out of the talkie instead of the other way around.”

从有声片演绎出默片比事实上反过来的顺序更符合逻辑。什么逻辑？越想越精辟，其实这句话颇值得从理论上去分析，Pickford自然不是什么理论家，但她拥有无与伦比的经验，冷不丁发自内心讲句超经典的话，可能连她自己都没意识到有多见血。凭空想是没有用的，越是多看默片，才越能体会这个假说的深意。

闲话少说，俺继续体会去了。

其实有点失望，整个过程就感觉是部很cheap的恐怖片。看的时候在想，Darabont在好莱坞到底是个什么地位？出片频率好像很低，还在做电视，但合作的人都是Jim Carrey、Tom Hanks这些超A-list的大巨星，怎么拍了个这么小成本的片子？看完一查投资是1800万美元，感觉上有点50年代科幻片的味道。