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The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
I Fell In Love Again For 44 Stories (not Counting the Mezzanine!)
I had seen this movie (in part) on TV some years ago, and I returned to it after seeing and owning many of the Coen Brothers movies such as Barton Fink, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, and No Country For Old Men. I simply just had to get this one too! Especially for the music, (Khachaturian's Adagio of Spartacus And Phrygia as the main and love theme, Saber Dance, and others), the comedy of the story, the Art Deco set design and props such as the board room table that resembles an airstrip or runway for CEO's, that clock (reminding me of the one on the old Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Brooklyn), Barnes' "invention" ("y'know, for kids!") which may have been a parody about WHAM-O INC., (except that WHAM-O really started with the sling shot, but the Hula Hoop came next). I also appreciate Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance, (though many only think that only Hepburn could have done that correctly)...JJL did a fine job! So did Paul, Tim, Charles and other principle cast members, and Roger Deakins (cinematographer) and Carter Burwell (music). A Coen Brothers masterpiece!
Moog (2004)
Moog Misses The Mark
I must say that this documentary is a rather poor tribute both to Robert Moog and the Moog synthesizer for a myriad of reasons. Perhaps you might watch this (as it is being aired this month, December, 2007 on The Movie Channel (HD) for the same reason that I did (and that is to see what this documentary had to say about the man and his instrument, philosophy and some of the history behind the Moog synthesizer's and company's development), however the total impact of this piece greatly suffers both from what was included in the film and what was left out.
Granted, it is obvious that this film was not intended to be a complete historical review of the Moog's development. The same applies to the music, musicians, interviews and other footage including Robert Moog's own comments about himself, his instrument, and those who used the instrument commercially or in performance. The soundtrack is also quite disappointing, especially in terms of what was chosen as representative examples of Moog performances over the years. I suppose you would have to be well-versed in the history of the synthesizer (as I am) to fully understand this.
I agree with other reviewers in that Walter/Wendy Carlos was only briefly mentioned during this documentary, especially when it applies to the Moog modular system (as recorded on Switched-On Bach, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, Switched-On Brandenburgs, Tron and others) which were perhaps the first and most influential recordings of the Moog synthesizer of all time. Also missing were such artists as: Isao Tomita, Dick Hyman, Herbie Hancock, Tony Banks (Genesis), and many more who recorded and performed with the Moog synthesizer during its early years. Instead, the focus of the piece centered around Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Bernie Worrell and some of the early partners and friends who worked with Moog towards its development (Herbert Deutsch and other contemporaries and personal friends of the late Dr. Moog). The interview with Wakeman and Worrell was taped in a noisy hallway and could have been more effective (at the very least) by being taped in a quieter setting.
The commercial use of the Moog synthesizer centered around a rather dated beer commercial. I was expecting perhaps an interview with Suzanne A. Ciani who was infinitely more prominent in this area. In other cases, the interview location (city) was titled, but not the name of the person speaking with Bob Moog and that was also disappointing.
I also agree that certain comments were repeated, especially Bob's comment on having a feel of what was going on within the Moog's circuitry when he played it. Since he also discussed the Theremin (which seemed to be a major portion of this documentary) it would have nice to included some commentary about Miklos Rozsa and the role the Theremin played as the only recognized synthesizer as an "orchestral instrument." I am referring to many film score recordings which featured the Theremin, such as Hitchcock's Spellbound and many others in the suspense and Sci-Fi genres. There was little discussion about the other Moog synthesizer models outside of the modular system and the MiniMoog (such as the PolyMoog, MemoryMoog, and others).
The in-between footage, music and performances were rather disappointing and disjointed. I think the director could have planned a better tribute to a wonderful person, inventor, instrument, social and historically-significant musical technology. I think to really do justice to both the man and his machine, you would have to present, at the very least, about a 2 to 3-hour-long documentary.
On the plus side, it was interesting to see the Moog in production and some of the performance and interview footage, but not all. Actually, much of the footage is somewhat comical in nature when you look back at how it was presented, back in the early days of synthesis.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Polly Perkin's Camera
There seems to be a lot of factual errors in this movie, but a few I noticed concerns Polly's camera... It is very much like my old Argus camera (and it probably is an Argus camera!). If you look closely (even to the image of the camera on the DVD cover), you will see that there is a picture number counting wheel. This was actually on the top of the camera and kept track of the number of pictures you have already taken, and not a clear window on the top of the camera as depicted in the movie. In order to wind the film to the next position, you would have to click a button next to the counting wheel to release the stop mechanism of the winding sprockets, and then advance the film to the next position before snapping your next shot (if you didn't wind the camera, but armed the shutter, it was possible to do a "double exposure" for the same frame of film). You had to arm the shutter spring mechanism on the front of the camera before shooting, and Polly never seems to do that before shooting. If there ever was a window to see the frame number internally, it probably was dark red in those days to prevent outside light from exposing the film. Also, she takes a flash photo in one scene in the movie, but where does the flash come from? It should come from an attachment she simply doesn't have at all... that's an assembly of a battery canister which holds two "C" cell batteries, a separate metal reflector which slides in and locks with a screw-type knob, and some rather large flash bulbs. When these three elements are assembled, the flash unit plugs into the side of the camera with two metal contacts which are triggered when the shutter is released.
Obviously, Polly could not carry all of this gear with her, and artistic license was deployed. Last but not least, this camera did not have a "lens cap", and the camera lens was quite visible after she took her last photo in the movie. The actual "lens cap" was the cover of the camera case which flipped over the camera and snapped-shut at the back. Polly doesn't seem to have this type of camera case, but rather, just the straps attached to the camera throughout the movie. Once the film was completely exposed, you had to take the camera out of this leather case, and then manually rewind the film back into its' canister with a winder on the bottom of the camera. This rewinding would override the film advance stopping mechanism which only works when the film transports in the forward direction, and not in reverse. Also, this is not an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, but a "range finder" camera, meaning that you compose your picture looking through a separate element, and not through the actual lens, itself. That part, they represented correctly in the movie, although I don't think we would have had such a nice view of Captain Joe if we were actually looking through that tiny viewer.
A few others have commented about Polly's camera in this film since it plays such an important role along with her character, while others have commented about Joe's aircraft, etc. With all of the production people who were involved with this movie (during the filming and post production), you would think that the "continuity person(s)" would sit down at some point and check-out these details along the way if such details were important enough to the directors and producers. However, I do enjoy reading about all of these juicy mistakes after the film has been made and IMDb is a great place to find them!
In spite of these "photo technicalities," I did enjoy this film for its' unique production stylings and special effects instead of being critical of its' plot and screenplay. You just have to accept movies like this as pure fantasy and see that the objective was to capture a style of the times and movie-making of the '40's. Why criticize a fantasy? Why not just sit back and enjoy it as one would enjoy an impressionistic painting at the Met, or an Art Deco work in pure digital form? I salute all of the creative and talented people who team-up to make such fine art.
The musical score was really quite good, too, including Jane Monheit's rendition of Harold Arlen's "Over The Rainbow" during the End Credits. "Over The Rainbow" is the correct title, and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is just the first lyric of the song. (Jane's rendition of this song was done in the same key (Ab) as her jazz-trio version on her CD, "Come Dream With Me, (2002)." But this time, I think she really put her heart into it! She also sings a a soulful version of "Haunted Heart" on her "In The Sun" CD, which was originally made famous by Jo Stafford and appeared during the end credits of "The Two Jakes" (the sequel to "Chinatown"). Shearmur's score is really quite intense if you listen to it just on its' own and reminds me of John William's "Indiana Jones trilogy" scores, (ala German marches, a romantic love theme and more!). And who influenced John Williams? ... Try Erich Wolfgang Korngold and "The Captain Blood Overture."