Man, this is shaping up to be quite a windstorm. The cats wanted out after tanking up on Christmas catnip and spent a frantic five minutes freaking out in the yard as large things flew and tumbled by them. They are now safe inside, even though the dog managed to eat on of their christmas gifts already.
NOG
Oh yeah, one egg, 8 oz milk, some booze, and a mixer: there you go.
Location location etc
Here is a pretty decent list of locations used in “The Artist,” including a house that Mary Pickford once lived in. That last bit of trivia had been puzzling me since I had thought (correctly) that Pickfair was torn down some time ago. Obviously, not shot at Pickfair, but instead at another house.
Puppets
We caught The Muppets tonight. The film bears thematic relationships to The Artist, and it is of course a musical (with, it dawned on me as I listened, many of the original songs by Bret McKenzie of Flight of The Conchords). Growing up with the show on TV (and Kermit on Sesame Street), I was a definite fan. But the movies never really appealed to me very much, as is the case with Star Trek.
So, this film is pretty good, and I enjoyed it. But I would definitely suggest NOT watching it the day after The Artist. The films are in totally different leagues. I mean obviously. One’s a musical.
Tweet Digest for Sunday, December 25, 2011 (GMT)
No updates for this day.
A few thoughts on The Artist
Natasha Simons, at the new-to-me Mary Sue (“A Guide to Girl Geek Culture”), sheds some light on the context of the end of the silent era.
She seems to see the character of George Valentin as most closely based on William Powell, on the evidence of Jack Russell terriers, which seems off base to me. Valentin is collaged from the lives of several silent stars, including Douglas Fairbanks and Valentino. His character design is fascinating, by the way, not least because the actor who portrays him, Jean Dujardin, bears an occasionally uncanny resemblance to both early 1960s Sean Connery and Clark Gable.
I had thought sections of the film set in the city were shot on the old RKO Pathé backlot, the “40 Acres,” which was used to provide settings for downtown Mayberry and city settings for at least two and I bet more episodes of Star Trek, but that backlot appears to have been torn down. If I come up with a locale I will post it.
UPDATE: here is some info on locations. Warner Bros backlot and, it seems, Pickfair!
One down, how many to go?
Trying to keep track of the movies we are aiming for this weekend.
Hugo
Muppets
Holmes
Tintin
Looks like The Muppets is the one to concentrate on since it is on the smallest number of screens.
The Artist
Caught the contemporary silent “The Artist” tonight. Breathtaking. It is unclear to me if it should even be compared to original period silents, although it clearly begs to.
Haven’t sought out nerdtastic nitpick reviews citing year inappropriate props yet, but the film is such a labor of love it seems that such must inevitably be called into being. The structural perfection of the film is truly stunning. So, like, go see it before it disappears from big screens forever.
I suppose one should take it as advised that as soon as I read about the film it seemed very much as though someone had deliberately set out to make a film to appeal to me, and only to me. So it is likely I would have enjoyed the piece even if I felt it to be an amateurish hack job, which I do not. It is magnificent.
Tweet Digest for Saturday, December 24, 2011 (GMT)
No updates for this day.
Blueline
