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SpoutBlog, Now Available in Book Form
30 October 2009 10:03 PM, PDT
The long-promised SpoutBlog book is finally here! An anthology of the posts that various SpoutBlog readers, trusted advisors and I consider to be my “greatest hits” as editor of this blog, The Portable SpoutBlog contains 41 previously published pieces, a new introductory essay (intended as a recap and a look forward; you can consider this a substitute for a sentimental final post by me on this blog), and notes and addendums contextualizing the included blog posts — dated and ephemeral by their very nature — for their new life in print. The content is divided into four sections: Responses, being the most bloggy of blog posts — th ... »
- Karina Longworth
Happy Halloween Links. Today in Film Bloggery 10/30/09
30 October 2009 3:27 PM, PDT
Still one more day til Halloween (Silver Shamrock!), but as this will be the final Today in Film Bloggery post ever on SpoutBlog, it's my only opportunity to do a roundup of what the blogs are posting this week related to the holiday of candy and costumes. I'll actually be dressing up as something non-film-related tomorrow ("Moss" from UK series The It Crowd), but I do plan on watching some horror flicks (including Paranormal Activity), which I rarely do, on Halloween or any other day. Maybe if I'm feeling academic -- and since my present job situation has me aiming to get my PhD in cinema studies -- I'll break out Mary Ann Sloan's essay "Film and the Masquerade" and attempt to make it relative to the festivities (I know, it's a real stretch). What ... »
- Christopher Campbell
Random Answers
30 October 2009 7:28 AM, PDT
I apologize -- I have run out of time to answer many of questions you've sent me via the Ask Karina thread. So, here is another batch of quick answers. Feel free to follow up in the comments on this post; you can also contact me directly through my personal website. First, a whole bunch from Mike Maguire: 1) Do you find yourself living an adequate/satisfied lifestyle with film criticism as your sole career (if it is) and source of income? A bit of a sore question at the moment, of course, but I’m confident you’ll find a new outlet. I should have specified that I wouldn't answer questions about money, but I didn't, so I will: I did, and it was. I don't know if it will be again. 3) Who is your favorite working female filmmaker? I think answering that que ... »
- Karina Longworth
10 Sex Scenes Involving Costumes
29 October 2009 2:42 PM, PDT
The most popular lists on SpoutBlog have involved sex scenes or Halloween costumes. So, to give the people what they want we’ve decided to combine both topics for our final list ever. It makes sense anyway, seeing as how Halloween is this weekend and seeing as how the holiday has pretty much turned into a sex-based festivity -- for adults, at least. Surprisingly, with all the cosplay fans and other fetishists out there, sex scenes involving costumes aren’t too common. We’ve tried to exclude anything considered a uniform or transvestism, as neither of these is about masquerading. There are two job-related costumes, however, but both have been deemed qualified. And the single example of cross-dressing is more about disguise than transgenderism. Feel free to add to the list if you think of any that we left out. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-17927" tit ... »
- Christopher Campbell
Avatar Trailer #2 Changes Some Minds. Today in Film Bloggery 10/29/09
29 October 2009 2:15 PM, PDT
Okay, okay. It looks better. But that only makes me want to comment less on the latest Avatar trailer. Because there's still no point in pre-critiquing the thing. If it does end up really good, I'll believe Fox should have released this trailer from the start. However, seeing one weak trailer and one great one means it could really go either way. How about we just wait and see if it's any good when it comes out? To fill some space, though, let me just say, "Giovanni Ribisi is in this????" And his little interaction with Sigourney Weaver makes me think he's this film's equivalent of Paul Reiser in James Cameron</st ... »
- Christopher Campbell
This Is It.
29 October 2009 10:14 AM, PDT
Extraordinary forces — knee-jerk wariness of capitalism, ordinary standards of human decency in the face death — conspire to give This is It the stench of a robbed grave. A rushed release of footage documenting rehearsals for a series of concerts Michael Jackson was about to launch when he died in of a drug overdose in June 2009, bought in a bidding war by Sony for a reported $60 million and edited by concert director Kenny Ortega (whose most impressive cinematic credits heretofore consist of Newsies and all three widgets in the High School Musical franchise), This is It exists on this earth only because Michael Jackson no longer does. The problem ... »
- Karina Longworth
Invictus Trailer Promises a Real Best Picture Contender. Today in Film Bloggery 10/28/09
28 October 2009 4:47 PM, PDT
With ten spots available this year for potential Best Picture nominees, it's been easy to consider every other new movie a candidate for the top Oscar. But for every pundit who believes something like Up or The Hurt Locker or, now, This Is It, is a shoo-in for a nomination there is an opposing argument available for why each of these films might not get the Academy's votes. Finally, there's at least one title that can not possibly be denied: Clint Eastwood's Mandela and rugby movie, <a href="http://www. ... »
- Christopher Campbell
The House Of The Devil Review
28 October 2009 7:03 AM, PDT
Ti West’s The House of the Devil finds its sweet spot in the paranoid shadow of misdirection, so it’s best not to reveal much of the plot beyond what you’ll know from watching the trailer: it’s the 80s, and a sleepy college town is obsessed with an impeding eclipse, and a young, pretty co-ed in desperate need of some quick cash takes a mysterious babysitting job in a big, secluded manse, for a creepy couple who don’t actually have a kid. What actually happens is less important than what West teases could happen. Duality is the order of the day: there are two houses that could potentially be devilish, two girls — serious brunette Sam (Jocelin Donahue) and the more playful blonde Megan (Greta Gerwig) –– at the mercy of two men (Tom Noonan and Aj Bowen), each with two evident personalities. The final punchline even sets »
- Karina Longworth
Demand This: Paranormal Activity Director’s Next Film Needs a Distributor. Today in Film Bloggery 10/27/09
27 October 2009 3:35 PM, PDT
Did you see Paranormal Activity? Did you like it? If you answered yes to the second question, you mostly have writer-director Oren Peli to thank. But if you didn't like it, you can thank Paramount for at least getting you in the movie theater. And the studio's shareholders have Paramount's marketing department to thank for the humongous profits the movie has been making -- from people buying tickets, not from people liking what they paid for. Obviously it's more important to make money than a good movie, which may explain why Peli is repor ... »
- Christopher Campbell
Medicine For Melancholy on DVD Today
27 October 2009 9:27 AM, PDT
Medicine for Melancholy, which you've had to endure me raving about since virtually the beginning of this blog, comes out on DVD today. Here's another look at my review... Visually more sophisticated than the bulk of features to yet come out of the new wave of Diy independent American cinema, narratively smoother and yet still boundless in mold-breaking ambition, triple-Independent Spirit Award nominee Medicine for Melancholy offers a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white manâ ... »
- Karina Longworth
Let’s put flashlights under our chins and look into the future.
27 October 2009 8:22 AM, PDT
This post is in response to a question asked in the Ask Karina thread by eugene: "You referenced this in your “Bagger” post, but what do you think is the future of film blogging? Where is all this going?" I generally feel uncomfortable predicting the future, but I feel very comfortable diagnosing what's wrong with the present! Here is what I wrote about the general state of blogging in my post about the changes at the Carpetbagger blog: I’m concerned that Oscar blogging has lost its urgency –– as has much of year-round film blogging, as so many of us either waste time bickering amongst ourselves, or piling on the same semi-stories in a desperate quest to chase the traffic that keeps us alive. Anything of interest currently happen ... »
- Karina Longworth
Favorites.
26 October 2009 10:38 AM, PDT
This post is a response to several comments in the Ask Karina thread, asking me about my favorite films of all time. I find it extraordinarily difficult to make "top" or "best" lists of any kind; I'm uncomfortable making reductive decisions and I feel silly standing behind them. For years, when asked to name my favorite films of all time, I've listed three, in no particular order: A Star is Born (the 1954 version, directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason); Barry Lyndon; and Ghostbusters. I'm both very serious ab ... »
- Karina Longworth
12 articles
