Squawker Lisa, I realize that two of your least favorite things are Josh Beckett and "Star Trek," but I think even you will be amused at a clever piece comparing the two written by friend of the Squawkers Sully Baseball:
How Josh Beckett and the Star Trek films mirror each other
After I read Sully's piece, I realized that Oliver Perez mirrors "V." Both were clearly dead in the water by the end of last season, yet both somehow continue to avoid richly deserved pink slips.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Allegheny County Health Department Meeting
On Thursday, the Allegheny County Health Department Board members approved an air quality plan for bringing the Liberty-Clairton area into compliance for national standards in terms of the federal clean air act.
The vote was unanimous. The area has been one of the region's worst offenders for poor air quality - because of the Clairton Coke Works factory owned by US Steel. It emits ultra-microscopic particles that are harmful to human health because they can be inhaled deep into the lungs. There isn't an air quality standard for that pollutant.
The plan will go into agreement in 2013. By then the company will have made a number of improvements to the plant, mostly replacing old coke oven batteries with new ones.
The vote was unanimous. The area has been one of the region's worst offenders for poor air quality - because of the Clairton Coke Works factory owned by US Steel. It emits ultra-microscopic particles that are harmful to human health because they can be inhaled deep into the lungs. There isn't an air quality standard for that pollutant.
The plan will go into agreement in 2013. By then the company will have made a number of improvements to the plant, mostly replacing old coke oven batteries with new ones.
Local Environmental Groups Challenge Sewer Authorities
The Clean Water Action group along with Three Rivers Waterkeeper have joined in legal action against two sewer authorities in the region who have flushed unfiltered wastewater into the Monongahela River watershed.
The clean water environmental groups filed notice in federal court in Pittsburgh of their intent to sue the Municipal Authority of McKeesport and the Franklin Township Sewer Authority. The plaintiffs claim McKeesport’s wastewater goes directly into the Mon River and Franklin Township’s enters the 10-mile Creek which is a tributary of the river.
Steve Hvozdovich, Marcellus Shale policy associate for the CWA, says the main concern of this wastewater being dumped in the rivers is the chance that hazardous chemicals from the drilling sites will contaminate drinking water.
“The biggest concern is that the chemicals, metals and salts that these treatment facilities cannot properly remove will affect the quality of the Monongahela River which will ultimately affect the drinking water quality for nearly a million people in the Allegheny County area,” Hvozdovich says.
The groups are aiming to stall these authorities from accepting wastewater until the proper filtration machines can be installed. Hvozdovich also points out that the facilities need to acquire permits and hear public input on whether accepting wastewater should continue, something both McKeesport and Franklin Township have failed to do.
The groups hope the lawsuit deters other sewer authorities in the region from taking drilling wastewater in the future.
The clean water environmental groups filed notice in federal court in Pittsburgh of their intent to sue the Municipal Authority of McKeesport and the Franklin Township Sewer Authority. The plaintiffs claim McKeesport’s wastewater goes directly into the Mon River and Franklin Township’s enters the 10-mile Creek which is a tributary of the river.
Steve Hvozdovich, Marcellus Shale policy associate for the CWA, says the main concern of this wastewater being dumped in the rivers is the chance that hazardous chemicals from the drilling sites will contaminate drinking water.
“The biggest concern is that the chemicals, metals and salts that these treatment facilities cannot properly remove will affect the quality of the Monongahela River which will ultimately affect the drinking water quality for nearly a million people in the Allegheny County area,” Hvozdovich says.
The groups are aiming to stall these authorities from accepting wastewater until the proper filtration machines can be installed. Hvozdovich also points out that the facilities need to acquire permits and hear public input on whether accepting wastewater should continue, something both McKeesport and Franklin Township have failed to do.
The groups hope the lawsuit deters other sewer authorities in the region from taking drilling wastewater in the future.
Puri's ‘Bbuddah’ Launched By Abhishek, Aishwarya
Shooting of ‘Bbuddah’ (Hoga Teraa Baap) directed by Puri Jagannath and jointly produced on the banner of Viacom18 and AB Corporation was formally launched at Khoja Bungalow in Versova of Mumbai.
Director Puri Jagannath broke the coconut and offered the puja for the formal launch. Later the muhurat shot was picturised on Sonu Sood. Abhishek Bachchan, Aiswarya Rai Bachchan, Sonali Chouhan attended the inaugural as chief guests.
Amitabh in blog stated ‘The story narrated for ‘Buddah’ was excellent. All the dialogues were quite thrilling. I am eagerly waiting to take part in the shooting. This would be another big commercial hit.’
Director Puri Jagannath says, ‘I am a big fan of Amitabh since my childhood. I am very happy for getting an opportunity to direct my favourite hero, that too for a sensational movie like ‘Bbuddah’. Amitabh would take part in the shooting from March 11 and the film would be shot non-stop and it would be completed in a single schedule.’
The director is planning to release the film in 2011 itself.
Amitabh Bachchan, Hemamalini, Ravina Tandon, Sonu Sood, Sonal Chouhan, Charmme, Prakashraj, Subbaraju, Shevar Ali and others are in the cast.
Music is by Vishaal-Shekhar, action is by Vijay, editing is by SR Sekhar, background music is by Anup Rubens, while story, screenplay, dialogues and direction are by Puri Jagannath.
Rajini's Story For Rana
Rana, Super Star Rajini Kanth’s next prestigious project is making buzz every now and then for it latest occurrences.
For the last couple of weeks, Rana topped the headlines for the hunt of heroines opposite Rana. Things are under finalization regarding the female leads pertaining to the dates and the rest of the things.
Now latest and most attractive part of Rana is, Super star Rajini himself has written the story for Rana.
Interesting! This is going to be his second story writing as he has earlier penned the story for the Tamil film Valli in 1993.
We are confident that Rana is going to be spectacular film ever in the recent times.
Dortmund Barrios Doubtful For Hoffenheim Clash
Runaway Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund are set to be without hot-shot striker Lucas Barrios for Saturday's German league with Hoffenheim.
The 26-year-old Paraguay striker, Dortmund's top scorer with 11 goals in 24 games this season, has a calf problem, has been in practice Thursday and is unlikely to play at Hoffenheim.
Dortmund has a lead of 12 points at top of the table and chase their 20th win of the season from 26 league games.
Germany defender Mats Hummels is again uncertain after suffering a pinched nerve.
Fabregas To Miss United Cup Clash
Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas missed Saturday's quarter-final against Manchester United after suffering a recurrence of his hamstring injury in the FA Cup.
Fabregas is back soon to play on Tuesday's Champions League clash in Barcelona, but the gamble failed when he was forced to come off midway through the second half and the Gunners eventually dropped.
Arsène Wenger confirmed on Thursday that the Spanish midfielder will not be featuring at Old Trafford this weekend, and could also miss the next Premiership match against West Bromwich Albion on March 19.
Fabregas should be asked to play on Saturday, Wenger said: "No, he had a recurrence of his hamstring and will be out for the next game, maybe for the next two games.
"He said he was ready to play against Barcelona and Cesc Fabregas is good when you play.
"He is of course very disappointed because it is becoming a bit of problem for him but he should be back soon."
Photo Gallery: Boys Basketball - VHSL D4 State Semifinals by Gary Sousa - Potomac Falls vs. Christiansburg
(Mar. 10, 2011) - It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's ... Gary Sousa ... Superhero Photographer!
Yes that was Gary Sousa way up high in the catwalk at VCU Wednesday taking photos of the Potomac Falls boys win over Christiansburg in the VHSL Division 4 state semifinals. No word on if Spiderman the Musical is considering hiring Sousa to shoot it retooled Broadway opening ... but they could be so lucky
Yes that was Gary Sousa way up high in the catwalk at VCU Wednesday taking photos of the Potomac Falls boys win over Christiansburg in the VHSL Division 4 state semifinals. No word on if Spiderman the Musical is considering hiring Sousa to shoot it retooled Broadway opening ... but they could be so lucky
Patnaik keeps his men on a leash !
Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik is refurbishing the public image of the city police force and has strongly warned his policemen to keep away from politicking and working at cross- purposes.
At a marathon meeting with officers of the rank of senior inspector of police and above which lasted for over seven hours on Sunday last, he said that he would not tolerate mischief- mongers and policemen involved in criminal activities.
He further warned that " I will not tolerate indiscipline from policemen and police officers working against the interest of the city force and other fellow police officers in the force.
Don't attempt to play any kind of mischief with me as I will initiate strict action against mischief- mongers and dismiss them from the force if they are found to be guilty of flouting service rules." Apparently, the warning was issued to senior police officials to keep away from jeopardising the policing work and improving performance levels by bringing in accountability in the city force at all levels.
Since he took over as city police chief, Patnaik has been tightening the functioning of the force from the Joint Commissioner of Police rank to below. Last Friday and Saturday, he had a series of meetings with all the Additional Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police, where he took stock of the detection rate in their jurisdiction.
The rise in the number of chain- snatching cases, house- breaking and dacoities in the last three months was discussed threadbare at these meetings and Patnaik drew out a plan to revive the local information network at the police station level and involve the constabulary in crime detection.
Last week, Patnaik had got the wireless department to rectify the Global Position System of combat and patrol vehicles, which was malfunctioning, to enhance the strike capacity and intercept criminals fleeing in stolen getaway vehicles after committing a crime.
At a marathon meeting with officers of the rank of senior inspector of police and above which lasted for over seven hours on Sunday last, he said that he would not tolerate mischief- mongers and policemen involved in criminal activities.
He further warned that " I will not tolerate indiscipline from policemen and police officers working against the interest of the city force and other fellow police officers in the force.
Don't attempt to play any kind of mischief with me as I will initiate strict action against mischief- mongers and dismiss them from the force if they are found to be guilty of flouting service rules." Apparently, the warning was issued to senior police officials to keep away from jeopardising the policing work and improving performance levels by bringing in accountability in the city force at all levels.
Since he took over as city police chief, Patnaik has been tightening the functioning of the force from the Joint Commissioner of Police rank to below. Last Friday and Saturday, he had a series of meetings with all the Additional Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police, where he took stock of the detection rate in their jurisdiction.
The rise in the number of chain- snatching cases, house- breaking and dacoities in the last three months was discussed threadbare at these meetings and Patnaik drew out a plan to revive the local information network at the police station level and involve the constabulary in crime detection.
Last week, Patnaik had got the wireless department to rectify the Global Position System of combat and patrol vehicles, which was malfunctioning, to enhance the strike capacity and intercept criminals fleeing in stolen getaway vehicles after committing a crime.
Neill Blomkamp casts his villain for new sci-fi Elysium
Little is known about Neill Blomkamp’s much-anticipated follow-up to his successful first feature District 9. The sci-fi film Elysium is set on another planet in the future and will feature Matt Damon as an ex-con, as well as Sharlto Copley (who played the lead in District 9) and Jodie Foster. Now, Brazilian actor Wagner Moura has joined the cast as the antagonist. Moura received praise for his role as Captain Nascimento in the Brazilian action crime films Elite Squad and its sequel, for which he’s most recognisable. Directed by José Padilha, the first film won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008 and Elite Squad 2 holds the record box office gross in Brazil. This new opportunity, which will mark Wagner Moura’s Hollywood debut, is likely to increase his following and launch him into the mainstream. His character in Elysium is said to be powerful, with a crazy sense of humour.
Elysium starts shooting this July in Vancouver and is currently set for release on the much-too-distant date of March 8th 2013.
Photo Gallery: Girls Basketball - D4 State Semifinals by Gary Sousa - Loudoun County vs. Turner Ashby
(Mar. 10, 2011) - Hey we had two teams make the trip to VCU for the basketball state semifinals so why not have two photographers! Gary "He is NOT my brother but what a cool last name" Sousa was on hand to capture all the emotion and check out the shot of Erica Linnemann as she puts the ball in for the winning layin with four seconds left in Loudoun County's 41-40 victory over Turner Ashby! Wow .
Flooding Through Pittsburgh Area Continues
Rain is expected to continue in Pittsburgh into this evening turning into snow around two in the morning. The rain along with melting snow is leading to flooding throughout the region.
John Darnley, Forecaster for the National Weather Service, the Ohio River and its tributaries will flood soon. "When we talk about this type of flooding along the Ohio River. It's the type where the Wheeling Island floods at 38 (feet) and it's forecast to go to 41.6. So we're looking for some minor to major flooding all along the Ohio with just some moderate flooding throughout the Monongahela through Pittsburgh."
Darnley says that the Mon Wharf will be flooded through the beginning of next week into Tuesday. He says the Point along with the Tenth Street Bypass will flood at midnight tonight, with the Parkway Central flooding at 8 am tomorrow during rush hour.
John Darnley, Forecaster for the National Weather Service, the Ohio River and its tributaries will flood soon. "When we talk about this type of flooding along the Ohio River. It's the type where the Wheeling Island floods at 38 (feet) and it's forecast to go to 41.6. So we're looking for some minor to major flooding all along the Ohio with just some moderate flooding throughout the Monongahela through Pittsburgh."
Darnley says that the Mon Wharf will be flooded through the beginning of next week into Tuesday. He says the Point along with the Tenth Street Bypass will flood at midnight tonight, with the Parkway Central flooding at 8 am tomorrow during rush hour.
Photo Gallery: Boys Basketball - VHSL D4 State Semifinals by Jeff Scudder - Potomac Falls vs. Christiansburg
(Mar. 10, 2011) - Jeff "Shoot 'Em Up" Scudder was on hand as the Potomac Falls High School boys basketball team rolled to its 29th win on the season Wednesday and advanced to the VHSL D4 state finals for the second straight year. Click on any photo to enjoy the full gallery.
Photo Gallery: Girls Basketball - D4 State Semifinals by Jeff Scudder - Loudoun County vs. Turner Ashby
(Mar. 10, 2011) - It was an emotional ending to a great comeback for the Loudoun County High School girls basketball team Wednesday in the VHSL Division 4 state semifinals, and Jeff Scudder was on hand to shoot it. Click on any photo to check out the 162 shots by Jeff from the big win.
Group Marks National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
For nearly a decade, the fastest growing HIV/AIDS population has been women and the Pittsburgh based group, Educating Teens About HIV/AIDS, is hoping three events this month will do something about it. March 10th is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Educating Teens About HIV/AIDS will gather some 100 women tonight to show a documentary, hold a discussion and draw up a wide sweeping action plan. “Encourage each of us to encourage each other to be cognizant of what is going on and to protect themselves…. and what we can do individually to prevent HIV/AIDS, to encourage other people to become educated about HIV, to encourage everyone to work with teens and young adults,” says Educating Teens About HIV/AIDS Project Director Albertha Graham.
Later this month Graham and her group will take their message to younger women with the 11th annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Graham says in the past as many as 300 teens have come to the daylong event. This year’s event will be held March 29. Graham says to help accommodate teens that cannot get away from school that day they are holding a second event the night before. Registration for both events is still open. Graham says the region’s youth seem to be open to talking about HIV/AIDS, “The tricky part is getting adults involved in the process, understanding the need to educate our students and our teens and the more we work with teens the more we realize they are receptive and they really don’t want to contract the disease.” Graham says teens seem to be a bit less afraid of HIV than they were a few decades ago. She says to help combat that, her group usually brings in a person living with AIDS to talk about how hard it is to live with the disease.
Later this month Graham and her group will take their message to younger women with the 11th annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Graham says in the past as many as 300 teens have come to the daylong event. This year’s event will be held March 29. Graham says to help accommodate teens that cannot get away from school that day they are holding a second event the night before. Registration for both events is still open. Graham says the region’s youth seem to be open to talking about HIV/AIDS, “The tricky part is getting adults involved in the process, understanding the need to educate our students and our teens and the more we work with teens the more we realize they are receptive and they really don’t want to contract the disease.” Graham says teens seem to be a bit less afraid of HIV than they were a few decades ago. She says to help combat that, her group usually brings in a person living with AIDS to talk about how hard it is to live with the disease.
Federal Housing Cuts Decried
Several housing assistance nonprofits criticized a proposal to make deep cuts into federal housing programs outside Pittsburgh Council Chambers today.
The groups say the most pressing issue in the budget passed by the House is a 62% decrease in Community Development Block Grants. Pennsylvania Community Reinvestment Group Chair Aggie Brose says that would translate to a drop of at least $1.2 million in Pittsburgh alone, where CDBG funding helps rebuild neighborhoods.
“The Federal Hill project in the Central North Side took a blighted commercial strip and major transit corridor, and through investment in strategic demolition and infrastructure is attracting more than $10 million in private market investment,” says Brose.
Larry Swanson of ACTION-Housing says while CDBG funding is the core concern, two other housing programs are facing even greater cuts of 70% -- the 811 program for seniors and the 202 program for the disabled. Swanson says cuts that deep would effectively kill the national programs.
The nonprofits say the drop in federal support will compound with state-level cuts, and will ultimately deny essential services to those in need.
The budget bill is now in the mainly Democratic Senate, which may temper several of the housing cuts.
The activists toted signs reading “Housing = Jobs” and “Homes Are Not Discretionary,” standing outside Council Chambers in support of a bill to reform CDBG distribution in Pittsburgh.
The groups say the most pressing issue in the budget passed by the House is a 62% decrease in Community Development Block Grants. Pennsylvania Community Reinvestment Group Chair Aggie Brose says that would translate to a drop of at least $1.2 million in Pittsburgh alone, where CDBG funding helps rebuild neighborhoods.
“The Federal Hill project in the Central North Side took a blighted commercial strip and major transit corridor, and through investment in strategic demolition and infrastructure is attracting more than $10 million in private market investment,” says Brose.
Larry Swanson of ACTION-Housing says while CDBG funding is the core concern, two other housing programs are facing even greater cuts of 70% -- the 811 program for seniors and the 202 program for the disabled. Swanson says cuts that deep would effectively kill the national programs.
The nonprofits say the drop in federal support will compound with state-level cuts, and will ultimately deny essential services to those in need.
The budget bill is now in the mainly Democratic Senate, which may temper several of the housing cuts.
The activists toted signs reading “Housing = Jobs” and “Homes Are Not Discretionary,” standing outside Council Chambers in support of a bill to reform CDBG distribution in Pittsburgh.
Jameson Cult Film Club - Monsters (2010)
Jameson Cult Film Club screening of Monsters (2010) at The Royal College of Surgeons, London, 3rd March, 2011.
Written and Directed by Gareth Edwards.
Starring Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able.
SYNOPSIS:
A NASA space probe containing alien spores crashes in Mexico, turning the northern part of the country into a quarantined area known as 'The Infected Zone'. Photojournalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) reluctantly agrees to escort his boss’s daughter Sam (Whitney Able) back to America, but their only way is through the infected zone and the alien 'monsters' which reside there.
Having heard nothing but good things about Jameson's Cult Film Club events, I was especially keen to see what they'd do with British director Gareth Edward's debut, Monsters, which I'd seen on it's release last year and been very impressed with. The focus on films becoming events to lure the average cine-fan from his home-cinema and comfy sofa has been on the rise of late, with Secret Cinema, Curzon's Midnight Movies and now Jameson getting in on the act. Some fine early choices for screenings (Taxi Driver, Aliens) mixed in with a cocktail of themed gimmicks and well, cocktails, made for an intriguing mix.
As locations for a cult sci-fi film night go, I'd be pressed to think of a better one than The Royal College of Surgeons in Holborn - a grand, pillared building, lit up for the night in ominous green, foreboding against the icy London sky. The interior of the college seemed to have required only minor scenery adjustments, the long stone halls, giant photographs of the college founders and display cases lending themselves perfectly, giving the air of some sinister government institution, it's purpose unclear at best. More green lighting, a smattering of foliage and staff running around in decontamination suits added to the atmosphere, with actors portraying the characters moving through the crowds, playing their film likeness's parts rather well . The giant infected zone map at the end of the entrance hall was a great finishing touch, painstakingly recreated from the film.
Once inside the auditorium, we were treated to a brief Q & A session with director Gareth Edwards and editor Colin Goudie, although the pair remained frustratingly tight-lipped about the upcoming Godzilla reboot, recently announced as the director's next project. However Edwards did share his experience of timing the amount of time the shark is actually on screen in the first hour of Jaws (three seconds apparently) and how he adopted this approach when making his own feature.
Monsters, despite the presence of the title creatures, bears very few similarities to the monster or horror movies it was initially lumped in with. Obvious comparisons to Cloverfield and District 9 were banded around upon it's release but the monsters are minor characters here , a presence the world has largely adjusted to and sectioned off safely. Rather, the real focus of Monsters is the main characters, Kaulder and Sam, and their slowly blooming relationship. Equally reliant on each other for survival (Kaulder as the 'protector', Sam with her grasp of languages) the pair's interaction is realistic and believable, helped by naturalistic, improvised dialogue.
Initial expectations of a 'monster film' give way to a kind of indie drama by way of the road movie, with the characters discovering themselves and each other via probing questions (“Doesn't that bother you? That you need something bad to happen to profit?”) and hazardous situations , all against the backdrop of a post-alien world. It's been said that Monsters is very much a post-modern creature-feature, in that the monsters are almost a mundane inconvenience and are no longer the fantastical, main focus of the story.
Reenforcing this, the only moment when we really see the aliens properly (as opposed to mere glimpses) occurs at the end of the film in a scene so serene and touchingly handled that the aliens are practically humanised - dangerous yet misunderstood, with the same will to survive as our two leads, who stand and watch the creature's mysterious interaction with awe and respect.
Edwards has apparently stated that he had no intention of any kind of political subtext, but given the setting and the plot (and to a certain degree, the legacy of District 9) implications are unavoidable, but they work in the film's favour, further grounding the film in reality. America's recent relationship to Mexico and immigration in the wake of the Arizona Senate Bill 1070 (to give just one example) has been rather hostile, and the swift quarantining of the northern part of the country in Monsters could be read as a comment on America's approach to immigration, erecting a great wall to protect the US from 'aliens'.
Part road movie, part character study, Edward's has conjured up something entirely fresh with Monsters, utilising an on-the-fly approach to film-making to create a spontaneous, energetic and personal feature, a small-scale drama masquerading as a hulking monster movie. With such a smart approach to cinema, it should come as no surprise that he's been handed the reigns to reboot the much-cherished Godzilla franchise. A Brit in charge of Japan's most famous monster? You'd better believe it.
Roger Holland
Movie Review Archive
Written and Directed by Gareth Edwards.
Starring Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able.
SYNOPSIS:
A NASA space probe containing alien spores crashes in Mexico, turning the northern part of the country into a quarantined area known as 'The Infected Zone'. Photojournalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) reluctantly agrees to escort his boss’s daughter Sam (Whitney Able) back to America, but their only way is through the infected zone and the alien 'monsters' which reside there.
Having heard nothing but good things about Jameson's Cult Film Club events, I was especially keen to see what they'd do with British director Gareth Edward's debut, Monsters, which I'd seen on it's release last year and been very impressed with. The focus on films becoming events to lure the average cine-fan from his home-cinema and comfy sofa has been on the rise of late, with Secret Cinema, Curzon's Midnight Movies and now Jameson getting in on the act. Some fine early choices for screenings (Taxi Driver, Aliens) mixed in with a cocktail of themed gimmicks and well, cocktails, made for an intriguing mix.
As locations for a cult sci-fi film night go, I'd be pressed to think of a better one than The Royal College of Surgeons in Holborn - a grand, pillared building, lit up for the night in ominous green, foreboding against the icy London sky. The interior of the college seemed to have required only minor scenery adjustments, the long stone halls, giant photographs of the college founders and display cases lending themselves perfectly, giving the air of some sinister government institution, it's purpose unclear at best. More green lighting, a smattering of foliage and staff running around in decontamination suits added to the atmosphere, with actors portraying the characters moving through the crowds, playing their film likeness's parts rather well . The giant infected zone map at the end of the entrance hall was a great finishing touch, painstakingly recreated from the film.
Once inside the auditorium, we were treated to a brief Q & A session with director Gareth Edwards and editor Colin Goudie, although the pair remained frustratingly tight-lipped about the upcoming Godzilla reboot, recently announced as the director's next project. However Edwards did share his experience of timing the amount of time the shark is actually on screen in the first hour of Jaws (three seconds apparently) and how he adopted this approach when making his own feature.
Monsters, despite the presence of the title creatures, bears very few similarities to the monster or horror movies it was initially lumped in with. Obvious comparisons to Cloverfield and District 9 were banded around upon it's release but the monsters are minor characters here , a presence the world has largely adjusted to and sectioned off safely. Rather, the real focus of Monsters is the main characters, Kaulder and Sam, and their slowly blooming relationship. Equally reliant on each other for survival (Kaulder as the 'protector', Sam with her grasp of languages) the pair's interaction is realistic and believable, helped by naturalistic, improvised dialogue.
Initial expectations of a 'monster film' give way to a kind of indie drama by way of the road movie, with the characters discovering themselves and each other via probing questions (“Doesn't that bother you? That you need something bad to happen to profit?”) and hazardous situations , all against the backdrop of a post-alien world. It's been said that Monsters is very much a post-modern creature-feature, in that the monsters are almost a mundane inconvenience and are no longer the fantastical, main focus of the story.
Reenforcing this, the only moment when we really see the aliens properly (as opposed to mere glimpses) occurs at the end of the film in a scene so serene and touchingly handled that the aliens are practically humanised - dangerous yet misunderstood, with the same will to survive as our two leads, who stand and watch the creature's mysterious interaction with awe and respect.
Edwards has apparently stated that he had no intention of any kind of political subtext, but given the setting and the plot (and to a certain degree, the legacy of District 9) implications are unavoidable, but they work in the film's favour, further grounding the film in reality. America's recent relationship to Mexico and immigration in the wake of the Arizona Senate Bill 1070 (to give just one example) has been rather hostile, and the swift quarantining of the northern part of the country in Monsters could be read as a comment on America's approach to immigration, erecting a great wall to protect the US from 'aliens'.
Part road movie, part character study, Edward's has conjured up something entirely fresh with Monsters, utilising an on-the-fly approach to film-making to create a spontaneous, energetic and personal feature, a small-scale drama masquerading as a hulking monster movie. With such a smart approach to cinema, it should come as no surprise that he's been handed the reigns to reboot the much-cherished Godzilla franchise. A Brit in charge of Japan's most famous monster? You'd better believe it.
Roger Holland
Movie Review Archive
COMPASS360 RACING FINISHES FIFTH AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
(Homestead, FL) -- Compass360 Racing's #75 Honda Civic Si crossed the line fifth in a thrilling last-lap run for the flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway last weekend. After running second for much of the last half-hour of the race, the creditable finish was still a tough pill to swallow for the team, which looked sure to notch a podium result.
Ryan Everlsey took the wheel of #75 after a strong opening performance from co-driver Keith Carroll, in his first time behind the wheel of a C360R Honda. "The car was perfect, and so much fun to drive," said Carroll. "I had a great time working through traffic as the race progressed, and tried to baby the brakes so Ryan would have lots left at the end."
While Carroll moved up through the field, top C360R qualifier and 2010 Champion David Thilenius moved in the opposite direction with is #74 Honda suffering a gear selection problem in the early going. "I felt my qualifying lap was golden, and having qualified second in 2010 with this very car, it's a little disappointing to have only managed ninth. Grand-Am wanted to mix things up with the rules changes and it's clear they have!"
Thilenius had qualified ninth, with promising rookie Andrew Novich in 17th; Carroll was 24th and Carlos Tesler-Mabe was 29th.
Tesler-Mabe kept his #76 Civic clean and moved up the order, handing the car to Bob Beede, who's long been a fixture in the Grand-Am paddock. Beede managed to get up to seventh place before pitting for a quick splash of fuel in the closing stages of the race. "We decided not to gamble on fuel strategy," explained Crew Chief Steve Wheeler. "If we'd left Bob out he'd have been running on fumes and might've got stranded out on track, but with that late-race yellow he might have made it... Perhaps next time we'll leave him out!" Car 76 crossed the line 17th.
Thilenius managed to keep 74 on the lead lap for his entire stint, despite only having even-numbered gears to work with. Lutz soldiered on similarly until contact with another car cut down a valve stem, necessitating a pit stop that put him a lap down. They finished 29th, salvaging some points for the second race in a row. "I hope that's all the bad luck we'll have for the season," said Lutz. "We're behind in the championship now, so from here on Dave and I will just concentrate on podiums and winning."
Novich did a fantastic job in the opening stage of the race, moving up six places before the transmission of his #77 Honda got stuck in second gear. The team worked feverishly to get him back out, and when he did, many laps down, he ran times with the leaders. Novich turned the car over to co-driver Benoit Theetge with 30 minutes to go, and at race end the car was classified 32nd.
"We ran the perfect race with 75, and it's frustrating that a race-winning car from last year can now only manage a fifth-place result," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "Grand-Am made some changes over the off-season, and they've affected some cars more than others. We're hoping to see some competition adjustments that will bring those overdog platforms back in line with the rest of the paddock."
The Miami race marked the first event for C360R's partnership with the Children's Tumor Foundation, and it proved a great success. CTF volunteers welcomed fifteen families with children living with neurofibromatosis, as well as top local fundraisers. You can read about CTF's Miami Racing4Research event here: http://bit.ly/hUXKv5
The Grand-Am Homestead 200 race will be broadcast, tape-delayed on SPEED Channel on March 19th at 2:00pm
Compass360 Racing (C360R) is the motorsports division of Compass360 Branding Communications, a firm offering marketing expertise to clients in diverse industries across North America. The team, with support from Honda Performance Development (HPD), fields four front-running Honda Civic Si's in Grand-Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, winning series Championships in 2010, 2009 and 2007. It won the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2010. For details visit http://C360R.com
Ryan Everlsey took the wheel of #75 after a strong opening performance from co-driver Keith Carroll, in his first time behind the wheel of a C360R Honda. "The car was perfect, and so much fun to drive," said Carroll. "I had a great time working through traffic as the race progressed, and tried to baby the brakes so Ryan would have lots left at the end."
While Carroll moved up through the field, top C360R qualifier and 2010 Champion David Thilenius moved in the opposite direction with is #74 Honda suffering a gear selection problem in the early going. "I felt my qualifying lap was golden, and having qualified second in 2010 with this very car, it's a little disappointing to have only managed ninth. Grand-Am wanted to mix things up with the rules changes and it's clear they have!"
Thilenius had qualified ninth, with promising rookie Andrew Novich in 17th; Carroll was 24th and Carlos Tesler-Mabe was 29th.
Tesler-Mabe kept his #76 Civic clean and moved up the order, handing the car to Bob Beede, who's long been a fixture in the Grand-Am paddock. Beede managed to get up to seventh place before pitting for a quick splash of fuel in the closing stages of the race. "We decided not to gamble on fuel strategy," explained Crew Chief Steve Wheeler. "If we'd left Bob out he'd have been running on fumes and might've got stranded out on track, but with that late-race yellow he might have made it... Perhaps next time we'll leave him out!" Car 76 crossed the line 17th.
Thilenius managed to keep 74 on the lead lap for his entire stint, despite only having even-numbered gears to work with. Lutz soldiered on similarly until contact with another car cut down a valve stem, necessitating a pit stop that put him a lap down. They finished 29th, salvaging some points for the second race in a row. "I hope that's all the bad luck we'll have for the season," said Lutz. "We're behind in the championship now, so from here on Dave and I will just concentrate on podiums and winning."
Novich did a fantastic job in the opening stage of the race, moving up six places before the transmission of his #77 Honda got stuck in second gear. The team worked feverishly to get him back out, and when he did, many laps down, he ran times with the leaders. Novich turned the car over to co-driver Benoit Theetge with 30 minutes to go, and at race end the car was classified 32nd.
"We ran the perfect race with 75, and it's frustrating that a race-winning car from last year can now only manage a fifth-place result," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "Grand-Am made some changes over the off-season, and they've affected some cars more than others. We're hoping to see some competition adjustments that will bring those overdog platforms back in line with the rest of the paddock."
The Miami race marked the first event for C360R's partnership with the Children's Tumor Foundation, and it proved a great success. CTF volunteers welcomed fifteen families with children living with neurofibromatosis, as well as top local fundraisers. You can read about CTF's Miami Racing4Research event here: http://bit.ly/hUXKv5
The Grand-Am Homestead 200 race will be broadcast, tape-delayed on SPEED Channel on March 19th at 2:00pm
Compass360 Racing (C360R) is the motorsports division of Compass360 Branding Communications, a firm offering marketing expertise to clients in diverse industries across North America. The team, with support from Honda Performance Development (HPD), fields four front-running Honda Civic Si's in Grand-Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, winning series Championships in 2010, 2009 and 2007. It won the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2010. For details visit http://C360R.com
Universities to Fight For Funding Restoration
A day after Governor Tom Corbett’s budget address, Pennsylvania’s higher education community still seems to be in shock.
The Republican wants to slash funding for the 14 State System of Higher Education schools from $444 million to $232 million. State-related universities don’t fare any better. Penn State’s funding, for instance, would drop from $304 million to $152 million. “The cut proposed is believed to be the single-largest appropriation cut in the history of American higher education,” said Penn State President Graham Spanier at a State College press conference, calling it, “a near-total abandonment of higher education.” Spanier predicted Penn State would cope with the cuts by increasing education, trimming courses, freezing or decreasing employees’ pay and benefits, and halting new projects. He warned the school might even close some of its satellite campuses. The University of Pittsburgh's appropriations are being cut by about $110 million.
The reductions would have an even bigger impact on smaller schools, according to administrators. Roger Bruszewski, a vice president at Lancaster County’s Millersville University, said “there are no models” for overcoming a 50-percent cut in state support. Corbett’s proposal means $22 million of the school’s $106 million overall budget would disappear. “No matter what we do with tuition, we are not going to have the course availability that we’ve had in the past. So that means students will be able to graduate in four years. If they can’t graduate in four years, that means it’s going to cost them more long-term before they graduate,” he said. “Forget the tuition increase. If it takes them five years to graduate because they can’t get the courses or the programs they need, that means additional costs them no matter what. So that’s a big concern.”
Millersville’s annual tuition increase has been about 4.3 percent over the past ten years, according to Bruszewski. “To think you can solve a $20 million problem with 4.3 percent is unrealistic. To give you an idea, a one percent increase in tuition for us [raises] about $538 thousand.”
Representatives from all 14 SSHE schools met Wednesday afternoon outside Harrisburg, to go through the implications of the cuts. Bruszewski says the schools are beginning to formulate their response, and that a state Capitol rally for funding restoration is being planned for early April.
The Republican wants to slash funding for the 14 State System of Higher Education schools from $444 million to $232 million. State-related universities don’t fare any better. Penn State’s funding, for instance, would drop from $304 million to $152 million. “The cut proposed is believed to be the single-largest appropriation cut in the history of American higher education,” said Penn State President Graham Spanier at a State College press conference, calling it, “a near-total abandonment of higher education.” Spanier predicted Penn State would cope with the cuts by increasing education, trimming courses, freezing or decreasing employees’ pay and benefits, and halting new projects. He warned the school might even close some of its satellite campuses. The University of Pittsburgh's appropriations are being cut by about $110 million.
The reductions would have an even bigger impact on smaller schools, according to administrators. Roger Bruszewski, a vice president at Lancaster County’s Millersville University, said “there are no models” for overcoming a 50-percent cut in state support. Corbett’s proposal means $22 million of the school’s $106 million overall budget would disappear. “No matter what we do with tuition, we are not going to have the course availability that we’ve had in the past. So that means students will be able to graduate in four years. If they can’t graduate in four years, that means it’s going to cost them more long-term before they graduate,” he said. “Forget the tuition increase. If it takes them five years to graduate because they can’t get the courses or the programs they need, that means additional costs them no matter what. So that’s a big concern.”
Millersville’s annual tuition increase has been about 4.3 percent over the past ten years, according to Bruszewski. “To think you can solve a $20 million problem with 4.3 percent is unrealistic. To give you an idea, a one percent increase in tuition for us [raises] about $538 thousand.”
Representatives from all 14 SSHE schools met Wednesday afternoon outside Harrisburg, to go through the implications of the cuts. Bruszewski says the schools are beginning to formulate their response, and that a state Capitol rally for funding restoration is being planned for early April.
PennEnvironment: Shale Panel Seems Like "Stalling Tactic"
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s new Marcellus Shale Commission leaves some environmental advocates cold.
During his budget address, Corbett announced a 30-member panel aimed at drafting drilling policies. The commission, headed by Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley, will “oversee how we can build around this new industry and how we can make certain we do this while protecting our lands, our drinking water, our air, and our communities, all the while growing our workforce,” according to Corbett.
Erika Staaf, the clean water advocate for environmental group PennEnvironment, said the new commission seems like a stalling tactic. “We know what the policy handles are that are needed to address the problems and the dangers related to Marcellus Shale gas drilling. We know what the regulations are that need to be updated,” she said. “Legislators have already drafted countless pieces of legislation to address Marcellus Shale gas drilling, and the updates for regulations.”
Staaf is also upset a third of the commission is made up of people with ties to the drilling industry. Representatives from Range Resources, Exxon, Chesapeake and other energy companies will sit on the panel, as will former energy executive Terry Pegula, whose family donated $280,000 to Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign. State and county-level government officials are also on the commission, as are a few environmentalists. “Really, the deck is stacked against them,” said Staaf. “There’s a handful of environmental groups, but when it comes down to a vote with only 15 to 20 percent being from the environmental community, it doesn’t sound like they have much of a voice on this panel.”
Corbett wants the commission to issue its report within 120 days.
During his budget address, Corbett announced a 30-member panel aimed at drafting drilling policies. The commission, headed by Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley, will “oversee how we can build around this new industry and how we can make certain we do this while protecting our lands, our drinking water, our air, and our communities, all the while growing our workforce,” according to Corbett.
Erika Staaf, the clean water advocate for environmental group PennEnvironment, said the new commission seems like a stalling tactic. “We know what the policy handles are that are needed to address the problems and the dangers related to Marcellus Shale gas drilling. We know what the regulations are that need to be updated,” she said. “Legislators have already drafted countless pieces of legislation to address Marcellus Shale gas drilling, and the updates for regulations.”
Staaf is also upset a third of the commission is made up of people with ties to the drilling industry. Representatives from Range Resources, Exxon, Chesapeake and other energy companies will sit on the panel, as will former energy executive Terry Pegula, whose family donated $280,000 to Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign. State and county-level government officials are also on the commission, as are a few environmentalists. “Really, the deck is stacked against them,” said Staaf. “There’s a handful of environmental groups, but when it comes down to a vote with only 15 to 20 percent being from the environmental community, it doesn’t sound like they have much of a voice on this panel.”
Corbett wants the commission to issue its report within 120 days.
U.S. Census Reports Pittsburgh Population Decrease
While Pennsylvania's population remains the 6th highest in the union with 12,702,379 residents, southwest Pennsylvania's population faces decline. According to the 2010 Census results Allegheny County experienced a 4.6% population loss counting for 58,318 people, while Pittsburgh's population dropped to 305,704 from 334,563.
Chris Briem, Regional Economist at Pitt's University Center for Social and Urban Research, says that the declining population is fallout from families migrating after a lot of industry left the region. "The job loss here, the loss of heavy industry here, was about as extreme as you would find even by Rust Belt standards. So I think a lot of those long term demographic trends are impacting us more than elsewhere."
Briem says that once families left the region they took away some of the opportunity for the population to grow and left behind an older population that is less likely to have children.
Other Pennsylvania regions fared better than the Pittsburgh region with the entire state gaining 421,325 people and Philadelphia County acquiring an additional 8,456 people.
Chris Briem, Regional Economist at Pitt's University Center for Social and Urban Research, says that the declining population is fallout from families migrating after a lot of industry left the region. "The job loss here, the loss of heavy industry here, was about as extreme as you would find even by Rust Belt standards. So I think a lot of those long term demographic trends are impacting us more than elsewhere."
Briem says that once families left the region they took away some of the opportunity for the population to grow and left behind an older population that is less likely to have children.
Other Pennsylvania regions fared better than the Pittsburgh region with the entire state gaining 421,325 people and Philadelphia County acquiring an additional 8,456 people.
Sky viewers vote Helena Bonham Carter as Hollywood's top actress
Despite losing out to The Fighter's Melissa Leo in the race for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at the Academy Awards, BAFTA-winner Helena Bonham Carter has been named as the most powerful actress in Hollywood in a poll conducted by Sky Movies HD as part of their 'Women in Film' season. Collecting 10.8% of the public vote, The King's Speech actress takes pole position ahead of Natalie Portman (8.3%) and Helen Mirren (8.1%), with Hollywood A-listers and Oscar-winners Angelina Jolie (6.4%) and Julia Roberts (5.8%) rounding out the top five. Other names to make the list include rom-com favourite Jennifer Aniston, two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep and Oscar host Anne Hathaway, who presumably finds herself included due to her recent casting in The Dark Knight Rises.
Take a look at the full list of results...
1. Helena Bonham Carter (10.8%)
2. Natalie Portman (8.3%)
3. Helen Mirren (8.1%)
4. Angelina Jolie (6.4%)
5. Julia Roberts (5.8%)
6. Jennifer Aniston (4.8%)
7. Meryl Streep (4.5%)
8. Cameron Diaz (4.3%)
9. Drew Barrymore (3.9%)
10. Anne Hathaway (3.5%)
Others (39.6%)
Running until 13th March, Sky Movies Showcase HD’s Women In Film Season is celebrating films by some of the movie industry’s best female directors and leading ladies, including Thelma & Louise, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, It's Complicated, Erin Brockovich and Cleopatra amongst many others.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
365 Days, 100 Films #3 - The King's Speech (2010)
The King's Speech, 2010.
Directed by Tom Hooper.
Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce and Timothy Spall.
SYNOPSIS:
Plagued by a stammer, Britain's Prince Albert strives to overcome his speech impediment in order to rally his country for war with Germany.
I stupidly didn’t book a seat for my first attempt to watch The King’s Speech on the Saturday of its opening weekend. We had to go and see 127 Hours instead, which isn’t the easiest going film for a date. The Tuesday afternoon, almost a fortnight later, fared only a little better. The screen was rapidly filling up to capacity – for a 2.25pm showing on a Tuesday. Not by rowdy teens or romantic couples, but by an elderly, creaking horde. So I was pushed a little to the back and a little to the left of where I usually sit, and surrounded on all sides by pensioners and pensioners-in-waiting. But aren’t we all?
Rather than being annoying, there was a certain charm to all this. This film has found huge resonance with the British public, and only the deeply cynical can deny the romance of it all. The King’s Speech deals with events still in living memory, yet it is essentially a period piece – possibly the most recent a period piece can be (any later and it would be a ‘war film’), as it somehow feels shackled to the Victorian costume drama. The pensioners on all sides of me could have very well experienced the period details, quaint nostalgia and historic events first hand. My grandfather was born in 1930. He would have been nine at the film’s conclusion. I doubt many can remember what being nine was like, but I’m sure they can recall what the 1930s were like, just as those of us in our 20s can remember the 90s in a Fresh-Prince-esque haze of clashing colours. It appears as though the Academy shares these sentiments, preferring The King’s Speech’s past to The Social Network’s uncanny present for the Best Picture, Director and Actor Oscars. The King’s Speech is a period piece from living memory – a memory undoubtedly shared by many in front of the screens in which it is projected. Being amongst such collective age and experience is really quite humbling.
The King’s Speech is a very good film. The sort that makes you choke up in misty eyed nostalgia for a time of which you were never even a part. When stiff upper lips and smart hats were standard fare. One is connected to those apparels through the history books in school and archive footage on television. The nostalgia, like most nostalgia, has a longing ache to it. It arguably depicts the last era when Britain was internationally regarded as Great– limping a little from World War 1, but not yet crippled by its sequel.
If a film is so closely linked to themes of British pride, it’s probably best to cast a national treasure as the protagonist. Colin Firth is quite superb as King George VI (Bertie), and will most likely be rewarded for his portrayal. However, one must not overlook the other performance that contributes so significantly to the film – Geoffrey Rush as Bertie’s speech therapist and antithesis, Lionel Logue. Because, fundamentally, The King’s Speech is a buddy movie.
There are little thrills to be had at the period detail and recognisable faces (Timothy Spall chewing away as Winston Churchill), but the true satisfaction comes from the class-differing relationship between Bertie and Logue. Bertie’s stammer is chronic, which the film effectively conveys in its opening scene – a speech to a stadium of people for the British Exhibition and, slightly more intimidating, the millions listening around the world on radio. According to some surveys, the majority of people are more terrified of public speaking than their own death. Most of us are familiar with the crushing stage fright. The dry throat and mental stalling, the unbearable heat on the back of the neck – Firth manages to stutter this all without sounding comedic, a trap into which speech impediments often fall.
Bertie’s anguish is ever present in his contorted face and closed expressions. The eyes sometimes let a little out, like a glimmer of hope or love, but mostly stay stern and angry. In comparison, Logue’s features are an open window, the curtains drawn back with the sun pouring through. A failed actor and Australian immigrant, Logue works as an experimental speech therapist. His techniques are far removed from the ancient exercises (marbles in the mouth) used by the therapists to whom Bertie is accustomed. Desperate to help her husband, Helena Bonham Carter (the future Queen Mother) goes to Logue for help. However, Logue requires absolute equality with Bertie for his unique therapy to work. Bertie, not because he is a spiteful man, but because things are just not done that way, refuses such demands. So maybe it’s more of a class-clash, buddy movie.
The coming of war is only ever a background murmur, yet it seeps the film’s otherwise unimportant narrative – treating a stammer –in historic significance. The murmur becomes more anxious as the film progresses, when it becomes apparent that Bertie will become King, and that he must address the nation on the eve of war. Imagine a stuttering monarch against the aggressive staccatos of Hitler.
Bertie’s debilitating stutter is not just conveyed by Firth’s performance, but by the deep-focused lens and large interiors of the film itself. Space is a very important part of The King’s Speech as its framing is consistently used to isolate characters within the screen, trapping them in a room or wall. Consequently, objects appear either further apart in the focused, long shots and completely alien to each other in the shallow close-ups (like the blurry microphone that obscures Bertie in the film’s opening scene). There are two great examples of how this can have contrary effects in The King’s Speech; firstly, of an overwhelming isolation; secondly, of intense intimacy when it is abandoned.
Before Bertie’s brother has abdicated the throne to be with his (twice-married) American girlfriend, Wallis Simpson, Guy Pearce hosts a party for his friends and family. The influence of Simpson has made it a very relaxed affair, not what the other Royals, dressed in formal attire, were expecting. It is during this scene that Guy Pearce first displays the cruel taunting of Bertie’s stutter of which had only previously been hinted. Although only childish, the mocking is undoubtedly mean, made worse by our strong identification with Bertie thus far. There is a shot of the two brothers at the side of the door to where the party is being held. It is tall and long, dwarfing Bertie in its size. After the spiteful mocking, Pearce leaves him, walking into the party and popping a bottle of champagne. The cork bounces off a wall and down onto the ground, rolling back towards us where Bertie stands alone. Those inside the party are ecstatic, cheery and laughing, listening to music and occasionally dancing. And then there is Bertie, standing outside the room slumped against the wall. No one can see him and he can’t see party. Only we can juxtapose the two simultaneously. Bertie, despite regally dressed in a kilt and jacket, becomes a child, the one teased and laughed at by all the others. Rarely has a man been framed so alone.
But shortly after his father’s death, Bertie runs to the only non-royal friend he knows – Lionel Logue, his speech therapist. Logue, surprised at Bertie turning up unannounced, but affectionate enough not to show it, offers a cup of tea. A whiskey would suit him better, Bertie replies. This is one of the sole instances where Bertie talks of his childhood, not indulgently, but with hurt restraint. Remarkably, for a character that has hitherto been so pent-up, his sudden release feels wholly naturalistic. And so Bertie and Logue sit, this future King and Australian amateur actor, share a drink, and talk. But the dialogue is filmed far more conventionally than the empty frames of before and a comforting tempo develops between its shot/reverse shot structure. The warmth comes from the closer framing of each character. This intimacy is made all the more poignant in a film full of cold and vast interiors. Logue and Bertie are not just becoming closer emotionally, but also perceptively, to the audience, they are together.
Looking at The King’s Speech alongside The Damned United, Tom Hooper’s only other theatrical film (although he has a considerable body of work for television), one can see similarities in their visual styles; of man-made interiors - rooms, palaces, and football stadiums – which dwarf the characters that inhabit them. David Thompson wrote that Hooper “seems to have no visual style”, but this was before The King’s Speech’s release and his Best Director Oscar. Did he deserve it? Maybe, but not as much as David Fincher for The Social Network. The Academy does tend to operate a “swings and roundabouts” policy for empty-handed directors though.
Hooper may be without a substantial oeuvre to assess yet, but already he shows a consistency in his visual style. Thematically, too, of real stories from history and enduring male relationships. Perhaps cinema is freeing Hooper from the ‘house-style’ of television to assert his own vision through film.
Oli Davis
365 Days, 100 Films
Movie Review Archive
Directed by Tom Hooper.
Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce and Timothy Spall.
SYNOPSIS:
Plagued by a stammer, Britain's Prince Albert strives to overcome his speech impediment in order to rally his country for war with Germany.
I stupidly didn’t book a seat for my first attempt to watch The King’s Speech on the Saturday of its opening weekend. We had to go and see 127 Hours instead, which isn’t the easiest going film for a date. The Tuesday afternoon, almost a fortnight later, fared only a little better. The screen was rapidly filling up to capacity – for a 2.25pm showing on a Tuesday. Not by rowdy teens or romantic couples, but by an elderly, creaking horde. So I was pushed a little to the back and a little to the left of where I usually sit, and surrounded on all sides by pensioners and pensioners-in-waiting. But aren’t we all?
Rather than being annoying, there was a certain charm to all this. This film has found huge resonance with the British public, and only the deeply cynical can deny the romance of it all. The King’s Speech deals with events still in living memory, yet it is essentially a period piece – possibly the most recent a period piece can be (any later and it would be a ‘war film’), as it somehow feels shackled to the Victorian costume drama. The pensioners on all sides of me could have very well experienced the period details, quaint nostalgia and historic events first hand. My grandfather was born in 1930. He would have been nine at the film’s conclusion. I doubt many can remember what being nine was like, but I’m sure they can recall what the 1930s were like, just as those of us in our 20s can remember the 90s in a Fresh-Prince-esque haze of clashing colours. It appears as though the Academy shares these sentiments, preferring The King’s Speech’s past to The Social Network’s uncanny present for the Best Picture, Director and Actor Oscars. The King’s Speech is a period piece from living memory – a memory undoubtedly shared by many in front of the screens in which it is projected. Being amongst such collective age and experience is really quite humbling.
The King’s Speech is a very good film. The sort that makes you choke up in misty eyed nostalgia for a time of which you were never even a part. When stiff upper lips and smart hats were standard fare. One is connected to those apparels through the history books in school and archive footage on television. The nostalgia, like most nostalgia, has a longing ache to it. It arguably depicts the last era when Britain was internationally regarded as Great– limping a little from World War 1, but not yet crippled by its sequel.
If a film is so closely linked to themes of British pride, it’s probably best to cast a national treasure as the protagonist. Colin Firth is quite superb as King George VI (Bertie), and will most likely be rewarded for his portrayal. However, one must not overlook the other performance that contributes so significantly to the film – Geoffrey Rush as Bertie’s speech therapist and antithesis, Lionel Logue. Because, fundamentally, The King’s Speech is a buddy movie.
There are little thrills to be had at the period detail and recognisable faces (Timothy Spall chewing away as Winston Churchill), but the true satisfaction comes from the class-differing relationship between Bertie and Logue. Bertie’s stammer is chronic, which the film effectively conveys in its opening scene – a speech to a stadium of people for the British Exhibition and, slightly more intimidating, the millions listening around the world on radio. According to some surveys, the majority of people are more terrified of public speaking than their own death. Most of us are familiar with the crushing stage fright. The dry throat and mental stalling, the unbearable heat on the back of the neck – Firth manages to stutter this all without sounding comedic, a trap into which speech impediments often fall.
Bertie’s anguish is ever present in his contorted face and closed expressions. The eyes sometimes let a little out, like a glimmer of hope or love, but mostly stay stern and angry. In comparison, Logue’s features are an open window, the curtains drawn back with the sun pouring through. A failed actor and Australian immigrant, Logue works as an experimental speech therapist. His techniques are far removed from the ancient exercises (marbles in the mouth) used by the therapists to whom Bertie is accustomed. Desperate to help her husband, Helena Bonham Carter (the future Queen Mother) goes to Logue for help. However, Logue requires absolute equality with Bertie for his unique therapy to work. Bertie, not because he is a spiteful man, but because things are just not done that way, refuses such demands. So maybe it’s more of a class-clash, buddy movie.
The coming of war is only ever a background murmur, yet it seeps the film’s otherwise unimportant narrative – treating a stammer –in historic significance. The murmur becomes more anxious as the film progresses, when it becomes apparent that Bertie will become King, and that he must address the nation on the eve of war. Imagine a stuttering monarch against the aggressive staccatos of Hitler.
Bertie’s debilitating stutter is not just conveyed by Firth’s performance, but by the deep-focused lens and large interiors of the film itself. Space is a very important part of The King’s Speech as its framing is consistently used to isolate characters within the screen, trapping them in a room or wall. Consequently, objects appear either further apart in the focused, long shots and completely alien to each other in the shallow close-ups (like the blurry microphone that obscures Bertie in the film’s opening scene). There are two great examples of how this can have contrary effects in The King’s Speech; firstly, of an overwhelming isolation; secondly, of intense intimacy when it is abandoned.
Before Bertie’s brother has abdicated the throne to be with his (twice-married) American girlfriend, Wallis Simpson, Guy Pearce hosts a party for his friends and family. The influence of Simpson has made it a very relaxed affair, not what the other Royals, dressed in formal attire, were expecting. It is during this scene that Guy Pearce first displays the cruel taunting of Bertie’s stutter of which had only previously been hinted. Although only childish, the mocking is undoubtedly mean, made worse by our strong identification with Bertie thus far. There is a shot of the two brothers at the side of the door to where the party is being held. It is tall and long, dwarfing Bertie in its size. After the spiteful mocking, Pearce leaves him, walking into the party and popping a bottle of champagne. The cork bounces off a wall and down onto the ground, rolling back towards us where Bertie stands alone. Those inside the party are ecstatic, cheery and laughing, listening to music and occasionally dancing. And then there is Bertie, standing outside the room slumped against the wall. No one can see him and he can’t see party. Only we can juxtapose the two simultaneously. Bertie, despite regally dressed in a kilt and jacket, becomes a child, the one teased and laughed at by all the others. Rarely has a man been framed so alone.
But shortly after his father’s death, Bertie runs to the only non-royal friend he knows – Lionel Logue, his speech therapist. Logue, surprised at Bertie turning up unannounced, but affectionate enough not to show it, offers a cup of tea. A whiskey would suit him better, Bertie replies. This is one of the sole instances where Bertie talks of his childhood, not indulgently, but with hurt restraint. Remarkably, for a character that has hitherto been so pent-up, his sudden release feels wholly naturalistic. And so Bertie and Logue sit, this future King and Australian amateur actor, share a drink, and talk. But the dialogue is filmed far more conventionally than the empty frames of before and a comforting tempo develops between its shot/reverse shot structure. The warmth comes from the closer framing of each character. This intimacy is made all the more poignant in a film full of cold and vast interiors. Logue and Bertie are not just becoming closer emotionally, but also perceptively, to the audience, they are together.
Looking at The King’s Speech alongside The Damned United, Tom Hooper’s only other theatrical film (although he has a considerable body of work for television), one can see similarities in their visual styles; of man-made interiors - rooms, palaces, and football stadiums – which dwarf the characters that inhabit them. David Thompson wrote that Hooper “seems to have no visual style”, but this was before The King’s Speech’s release and his Best Director Oscar. Did he deserve it? Maybe, but not as much as David Fincher for The Social Network. The Academy does tend to operate a “swings and roundabouts” policy for empty-handed directors though.
Hooper may be without a substantial oeuvre to assess yet, but already he shows a consistency in his visual style. Thematically, too, of real stories from history and enduring male relationships. Perhaps cinema is freeing Hooper from the ‘house-style’ of television to assert his own vision through film.
Oli Davis
365 Days, 100 Films
Movie Review Archive
Bet On NCAA Basketball: Hawkeyes Look To Knock Out Spartans
March Madness betting players have seen Michigan State spiral out of control from a Final Four contender to a possibility of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997, and a loss in the first round of the Big Ten tournament would surely be the final nail in the coffin. The Spartans face off against Iowa, and this rubber match won’t be easy to get through.Iowa vs. Michigan State Betting – Thursday, 4:30 PM ET
The Hawkeyes (11-19, 4-14) lost six in a row before a major upset of Purdue at home, and they could use that big win to gain some momentum for this game. They’ll need it because the Hawkeyes aren’t a good team, ranking 207th in points scored and 186th in points allowed. Matt Gatens is one of three players to average in double figures for the Hawkeyes, who do shoot a decent 44.1% from the field, but only 31.1% from the three-point line. If the Hawkeyes were an online horse betting option, they would be a longshot but at the same time, they have nothing to lose and can play relaxed.
On the other hand, the Spartans (17-13, 9-9) have everything to lose in this game, and it’s been a weird season in East Lansing. It began with a brutal non-conference schedule, while guard Kalin Lucas had to battle back from another injury, and fellow guard Korie Lucious was kicked off the team. The Spartans still rebound well and they block shots, but they’re not as good defensively as they normally are, ranking 147th in points allowed, and they’re terrible at defending the three-point shot, ranking 280th in three-point defense.
We’re going to bet 5dimes that the Spartans will be the favorites in this Big Ten clash, as they are 4-1 SU and 2-3 ATS in their last five meetings with the Hawkeyes. Their two meetings this year were both routs as Iowa won by 20 at home on February 2nd, while the Spartans avenged that with a 19-point victory at their place a month later. The Spartans still have enough talent to beat the Hawkeyes, but they’ve played well below their standards this season. Lucas, in particular, has to take this team on his back and lead the way, but freshman Keith Appling scored 18 in the win at East Lansing, and if he doesn’t, someone else will have to step up. The Spartans have a size advantage in the post as well, and they should use that to maximize their chances. The Hawkeyes are going to give the Spartans a scare and this will be a close game, but we’re sticking with Michigan State in our best online sportsbook.
Ohio/National Question Suggestions
Ohio was the runaway winner in our vote on where to poll this week so:
-Who would you like to see us poll against Sherrod Brown?
-What other questions would you like us to ask besides stuff about the Senate and Presidential races?
The vote for who to include as the bonus Republican on our monthly 2012 poll is now up and running.
What other questions would you like to see us ask on the national survey?
-Who would you like to see us poll against Sherrod Brown?
-What other questions would you like us to ask besides stuff about the Senate and Presidential races?
The vote for who to include as the bonus Republican on our monthly 2012 poll is now up and running.
What other questions would you like to see us ask on the national survey?
Heinz Endowments to Work Harder on Bad Air
A report released today by the Heinz Endowments finds that while the region’s air may be better than it has been in the past, it still lags behind much of the nation. Study author John Graham says there is no doubt the region’s air quality is better than it was decades ago but the improvements have not been as fast as they could have been. “I looked [at data] over the course from 1999 to 2009, at the beginning of that period there were two monitors in this region out of 11 that were in the worst 10-percent of monitors nationwide for annual PM2.5 pollution, by the end of the decade there were actually six,” says Graham. That means even though air quality improved in southwestern Pennsylvania it improved more in other places.
Graham says power plants may be a big reason why the region has lagged, “In some respects the power plants here in western Pennsylvania have not made the same reductions as other places in the country.” Facilities in Ohio and West Virginia are reducing emissions at rates twice as fast as plants in this region according to Graham.
Endowments President Robert Vaught says the report debunks the myth that the pollution is all blowing in from other states. It finds about half of the region’s pollution is from local sources. “Now inside that there is a piece of good news because it means that if at least half is generated here, this is a portion that we can then begin to try to control ourselves,” says Vagt.
In reaction to the report the Heinz Endowments plans to launch a new effort focused on air quality. Grants will be made to press for more federal oversight, more monitoring and greater public awareness not only of the problem but also of what individuals can do to make a difference. Vagt raised his hand at the news conference announcing the effort and admitted he was a target. I drive into work every day rather than taking the bus he says.
Heinz Endowments Environment Program Director Caren Glotfelty says the Endowments has been making grants for air quality issues in the past but the results have clearly not been what is needed. She is quick to not blame the organizations getting the grants. “These groups have been working in a difficult environment for a long time, culturally and politically,” says Glotfelty, “They have been pushing a boulder up hill for all of the time.” Glotfelty says part of the initiative will be to launch a new section of the Heinz Endowments website. Panels will also be formed to dive into the numbers and look for solutions. The web content will go live later this month and the process of pulling together stakeholders has already begun.
The full report can be found here.
Graham says power plants may be a big reason why the region has lagged, “In some respects the power plants here in western Pennsylvania have not made the same reductions as other places in the country.” Facilities in Ohio and West Virginia are reducing emissions at rates twice as fast as plants in this region according to Graham.
Endowments President Robert Vaught says the report debunks the myth that the pollution is all blowing in from other states. It finds about half of the region’s pollution is from local sources. “Now inside that there is a piece of good news because it means that if at least half is generated here, this is a portion that we can then begin to try to control ourselves,” says Vagt.
In reaction to the report the Heinz Endowments plans to launch a new effort focused on air quality. Grants will be made to press for more federal oversight, more monitoring and greater public awareness not only of the problem but also of what individuals can do to make a difference. Vagt raised his hand at the news conference announcing the effort and admitted he was a target. I drive into work every day rather than taking the bus he says.
Heinz Endowments Environment Program Director Caren Glotfelty says the Endowments has been making grants for air quality issues in the past but the results have clearly not been what is needed. She is quick to not blame the organizations getting the grants. “These groups have been working in a difficult environment for a long time, culturally and politically,” says Glotfelty, “They have been pushing a boulder up hill for all of the time.” Glotfelty says part of the initiative will be to launch a new section of the Heinz Endowments website. Panels will also be formed to dive into the numbers and look for solutions. The web content will go live later this month and the process of pulling together stakeholders has already begun.
The full report can be found here.
Senate Approval Roundup
-For the first time since March of 2009, immediately after she took office, PPP finds Kay Hagan's approval numbers in positive territory. 39% of voters like the job she's doing in the Senate to 38% who disapprove. Hagan's numbers had gone as low as a -15 spread in August of 2010 at 35/50.
Hagan's biggest improvement since that time has come with independents. The balance of them still disapprove of her with 31% approving to 46% disapproving. But that's a massive improvement from that August survey when she was at 20/62. She's also seen a softening in feelings toward her among Republicans. Her approval with them remains just 11%, but her disapproval is now only 61%, down from 79% in the summer. Her smallest level of improvement has come with Democrats, who were already supportive of her. She's up to 66/15 with them from 62/19.
Why have Hagan's numbers improved? It's probably a combination of things. Voters have started feeling more positive toward Democrats in Congress since they lost control of the House. Hagan has also shown a willingness to buck the party line in recent months, most prominently when she voted against the Dream Act. Votes like that alienate the Democratic base but they also show independents and moderate Republicans that you're willing to be an independent voice for the state. Stuff like that will help you in the long run as long as you don't antagonize your own party's voters too, too much.
-Hagan may be on the rise but Richard Burr is still the most popular Senator in North Carolina. 40% of voters approve of him to 33% who disapprove. Democrats actually like Hagan a tad bit more than Republicans like Burr. But Burr has twice as much crossover support as his junior colleague, with 23% of Democrats approving of him. And independents narrowly give him good marks by a 40/36 margin as well.
-Roy Blunt's approval numbers are already under water just a couple months into his first term in the Senate. 37% of voters like the job he's doing to 41% who disapprove. This really isn't particularly surprising because Blunt never had good favorability numbers at any point over the course of his campaign the last couple years.
Blunt should probably send Barack Obama a gift basket. Missourians never did and still don't care for Blunt but they sure as heck weren't going to send another vote for the President over to Washington so folks voted for Blunt anyway despite their lack of personal affection for him.
Blunt's under water because Democrats (73%) are more unified in their dislike of him than Republicans (66%) are in their approval. Independents split slightly against him as well by a 35/37 margin. Blunt seems like someone who would be in a lot of trouble in a neutral or Democratic leaning election cycle but his timing was certainly right last year.
-Another of the new Republican Senators is inspiring more ambivalence than anything else. Ron Johnson's on positive ground with 32% of voters approving of him to 28% disapproving but the largest group at 39% expresses no opinion in one direction or the other. The high level of 'not sures' about Johnson seems fitting for probably the most obscure of the new Senators, someone whose name recognition at this point a year ago would have been under 10%.
He's staying above ground because Republicans (64%) like him more than Democrats (53%) dislike him and he's on narrowly positive turf with independents at 28/24. Basically the opposite of Blunt on all of those measures.
Hagan's biggest improvement since that time has come with independents. The balance of them still disapprove of her with 31% approving to 46% disapproving. But that's a massive improvement from that August survey when she was at 20/62. She's also seen a softening in feelings toward her among Republicans. Her approval with them remains just 11%, but her disapproval is now only 61%, down from 79% in the summer. Her smallest level of improvement has come with Democrats, who were already supportive of her. She's up to 66/15 with them from 62/19.
Why have Hagan's numbers improved? It's probably a combination of things. Voters have started feeling more positive toward Democrats in Congress since they lost control of the House. Hagan has also shown a willingness to buck the party line in recent months, most prominently when she voted against the Dream Act. Votes like that alienate the Democratic base but they also show independents and moderate Republicans that you're willing to be an independent voice for the state. Stuff like that will help you in the long run as long as you don't antagonize your own party's voters too, too much.
-Hagan may be on the rise but Richard Burr is still the most popular Senator in North Carolina. 40% of voters approve of him to 33% who disapprove. Democrats actually like Hagan a tad bit more than Republicans like Burr. But Burr has twice as much crossover support as his junior colleague, with 23% of Democrats approving of him. And independents narrowly give him good marks by a 40/36 margin as well.
-Roy Blunt's approval numbers are already under water just a couple months into his first term in the Senate. 37% of voters like the job he's doing to 41% who disapprove. This really isn't particularly surprising because Blunt never had good favorability numbers at any point over the course of his campaign the last couple years.
Blunt should probably send Barack Obama a gift basket. Missourians never did and still don't care for Blunt but they sure as heck weren't going to send another vote for the President over to Washington so folks voted for Blunt anyway despite their lack of personal affection for him.
Blunt's under water because Democrats (73%) are more unified in their dislike of him than Republicans (66%) are in their approval. Independents split slightly against him as well by a 35/37 margin. Blunt seems like someone who would be in a lot of trouble in a neutral or Democratic leaning election cycle but his timing was certainly right last year.
-Another of the new Republican Senators is inspiring more ambivalence than anything else. Ron Johnson's on positive ground with 32% of voters approving of him to 28% disapproving but the largest group at 39% expresses no opinion in one direction or the other. The high level of 'not sures' about Johnson seems fitting for probably the most obscure of the new Senators, someone whose name recognition at this point a year ago would have been under 10%.
He's staying above ground because Republicans (64%) like him more than Democrats (53%) dislike him and he's on narrowly positive turf with independents at 28/24. Basically the opposite of Blunt on all of those measures.
Downtown Billboard Targeted in Court
A local nonprofit has petitioned the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to order the removal of a large electronic billboard in downtown Pittsburgh.
Scenic Pittsburgh Executive Director Mike Dawida says he was driven to file a complaint in court after months of being ignored by the city’s Bureau of Building Inspection.
Hanging over 11th Street at the Greyhound station, the 1100-square-foot sign remains incomplete three years after construction began.
Lamar started to build the sign in February 2008 with city approval, but City Council said it violated a no-billboard zoning area and later put a moratorium on all electronic billboards.
Dawida says a court order should force the city to remove it right away.
“They have two options: they can tear it down themselves and bill the Lamar company, or they can ask Lamar to tear it down themselves,” says Dawida. “Either way would be fine by me, but it should be torn down.”
Dawida says the billboard is an eyesore and the city should stand by the public zoning process.
Scenic Pittsburgh Executive Director Mike Dawida says he was driven to file a complaint in court after months of being ignored by the city’s Bureau of Building Inspection.
Hanging over 11th Street at the Greyhound station, the 1100-square-foot sign remains incomplete three years after construction began.
Lamar started to build the sign in February 2008 with city approval, but City Council said it violated a no-billboard zoning area and later put a moratorium on all electronic billboards.
Dawida says a court order should force the city to remove it right away.
“They have two options: they can tear it down themselves and bill the Lamar company, or they can ask Lamar to tear it down themselves,” says Dawida. “Either way would be fine by me, but it should be torn down.”
Dawida says the billboard is an eyesore and the city should stand by the public zoning process.
Missouri close...except with Huck or Palin
The Presidential race in Missouri could go three different ways next year based on our current polling, depending on who the Republican nominee is.
If it's Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich the state will be a tossup much as it was in 2008. Barack Obama ties Gingrich in the state at 44% and trails Mitt Romney by just a single point at 44-43.
If it's Mike Huckabee, Republicans should win the state by a much more comfortable margin than John McCain's narrow victory the last time around. He leads Obama 49-43.
And if it's Sarah Palin, Democrats should finally be able to return this state to their column. Obama leads her 48-43.
One thing's for sure: Missouri is one of the states where Obama's personal standing has seen the greatest decline since 2008. After basically fighting to a draw there his approval is now just 43% with 52% of voters disapproving of him. His unpopularity there goes a long way toward explaining Roy Blunt's unexpectedly decisive victory over Robin Carnahan, as well as Ike Skelton's somewhat shocking loss for reelection. That 43/52 spread for Obama may be the biggest threat to Claire McCaskill's prospects for a second term, maybe more even than her own numbers.
The reason Obama's still competitive in Missouri despite his own unpopularity is the weakness of the Republican candidate field against him. Only Huckabee has net positive favorability numbers, with 45% rating him favorably to 35% with an unfavorable opinion. Voters are quite negative toward Gingrich (31/50) and even Romney (32/44), allowing Obama to stay competitive with them despite his own poor numbers. And of course Palin's figures are the worst with 56% of voters expressing a negative opinion of her to only 37% with a positive one.
Obama's approval numbers in Missouri are such that if Republicans run a competent candidate against him he should lose by a greater margin than in 2008. Whether they will do so though remains to be seen and if they put forth an incompetent enough candidate Obama could even win the state in spite of his unpopularity.
Full results here
If it's Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich the state will be a tossup much as it was in 2008. Barack Obama ties Gingrich in the state at 44% and trails Mitt Romney by just a single point at 44-43.
If it's Mike Huckabee, Republicans should win the state by a much more comfortable margin than John McCain's narrow victory the last time around. He leads Obama 49-43.
And if it's Sarah Palin, Democrats should finally be able to return this state to their column. Obama leads her 48-43.
One thing's for sure: Missouri is one of the states where Obama's personal standing has seen the greatest decline since 2008. After basically fighting to a draw there his approval is now just 43% with 52% of voters disapproving of him. His unpopularity there goes a long way toward explaining Roy Blunt's unexpectedly decisive victory over Robin Carnahan, as well as Ike Skelton's somewhat shocking loss for reelection. That 43/52 spread for Obama may be the biggest threat to Claire McCaskill's prospects for a second term, maybe more even than her own numbers.
The reason Obama's still competitive in Missouri despite his own unpopularity is the weakness of the Republican candidate field against him. Only Huckabee has net positive favorability numbers, with 45% rating him favorably to 35% with an unfavorable opinion. Voters are quite negative toward Gingrich (31/50) and even Romney (32/44), allowing Obama to stay competitive with them despite his own poor numbers. And of course Palin's figures are the worst with 56% of voters expressing a negative opinion of her to only 37% with a positive one.
Obama's approval numbers in Missouri are such that if Republicans run a competent candidate against him he should lose by a greater margin than in 2008. Whether they will do so though remains to be seen and if they put forth an incompetent enough candidate Obama could even win the state in spite of his unpopularity.
Full results here
Fayette County Gets $4.1 million for ‘BetterBuildings’
Homeowners in “Coal Patch” towns in Fayette County can start tapping into $4.1 million in federal grant money aimed at helping to improve their home’s energy efficiency. The US Department of Energy says the money will be spent within the next 2.5 years. DOE BetterBuildings Program Manager Danielle Byrnett says home owners will be able to tap into different levels of support based on their income. All homeowners will be eligible for a free home energy evaluation that will determine where energy can be saved. Higher income families will be eligible for rebates while lower income homeowners will be able to tap into the pot of money to fully fund upgrades such as new insulation, and new energy efficient furnaces and refrigerators.
Homeowners need to apply directly to the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Fayette. After filling out the one-page form homeowners should expect to hear back within four weeks, says Byrnett. The DOE expects Fayette County to be able to help more than 1,000 homeowners.
Byrnett says there are several reasons why the DOE wants to make homes more energy efficient. “Getting home energy efficiency improvements allow homeowners to save energy, which improves the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants,” says Byrnett, “its also better for communities and homeowners who end up being much more comfortable and have typically improved health and safety in their homes as well.” She says it is also good for homeowners to have a little extra money in their pockets after paying the energy bills.
The Private Industry Council of Westmorland/Fayette will also be providing free training for up to 60 students to become “Building Performance Institute Certified.” The first class will begin later this month. Byrnett says there are many contractors trained in looking at different aspects of energy efficiency but not many who can take the holistic approach that is needed. She says these newly trained workers will be a great legacy left by the program.
Homeowners need to apply directly to the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Fayette. After filling out the one-page form homeowners should expect to hear back within four weeks, says Byrnett. The DOE expects Fayette County to be able to help more than 1,000 homeowners.
Byrnett says there are several reasons why the DOE wants to make homes more energy efficient. “Getting home energy efficiency improvements allow homeowners to save energy, which improves the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants,” says Byrnett, “its also better for communities and homeowners who end up being much more comfortable and have typically improved health and safety in their homes as well.” She says it is also good for homeowners to have a little extra money in their pockets after paying the energy bills.
The Private Industry Council of Westmorland/Fayette will also be providing free training for up to 60 students to become “Building Performance Institute Certified.” The first class will begin later this month. Byrnett says there are many contractors trained in looking at different aspects of energy efficiency but not many who can take the holistic approach that is needed. She says these newly trained workers will be a great legacy left by the program.
Palin in Arizona
Ben Smith reports that if Sarah Palin runs for President next year she'll base her campaign in Arizona.
We found last month that voters in Arizona don't care for Palin. Her favorability there is just 39%, with 57% of voters holding a negative opinion of her. We found that she would start out trailing Barack Obama in the state by a 49/41 margin. That would make her only the second Republican to lose the state since 1948.
In addition to having poor numbers for the general election in Arizona, Palin also lags a good deal among Republican voters. Mitt Romney's in first place there with 23%, followed by Mike Huckabee at 19%. Palin can muster only a third place tie with Newt Gingrich at 15%.
Voters in Arizona do at least like Palin better than the ones back home in Alaska do. Her favorability there is a 33/58 spread and she gets an identical 15% in the primary, which places her 4th in that state behind the triumvirate of Romney, Huckabee, and Gingrich.
Of course if Palin was going to make her headquarters somewhere voters like her the options are limited- you're probably talking Boise or Cheyenne.
We found last month that voters in Arizona don't care for Palin. Her favorability there is just 39%, with 57% of voters holding a negative opinion of her. We found that she would start out trailing Barack Obama in the state by a 49/41 margin. That would make her only the second Republican to lose the state since 1948.
In addition to having poor numbers for the general election in Arizona, Palin also lags a good deal among Republican voters. Mitt Romney's in first place there with 23%, followed by Mike Huckabee at 19%. Palin can muster only a third place tie with Newt Gingrich at 15%.
Voters in Arizona do at least like Palin better than the ones back home in Alaska do. Her favorability there is a 33/58 spread and she gets an identical 15% in the primary, which places her 4th in that state behind the triumvirate of Romney, Huckabee, and Gingrich.
Of course if Palin was going to make her headquarters somewhere voters like her the options are limited- you're probably talking Boise or Cheyenne.
Understanding Scorsese: A Martin Scorsese Profile (Part 2)
Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary American filmmaker Martin Scorsese in the second of a five-part feature... read part one here.
“It’s true that some films will involve me more than others,” admitted American filmmaker Martin Scorsese. “It’s also true that I might have never made taxi Driver [1976] were it not for the success of Alice [Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 1974]. The question of commercialism is a source of worry. Must one make a choice, must it be a matter of either setting your sights on winning an Academy Award and becoming a millionaire, or making only the movies you want to make and starving to death?” The $1.3 million production about a lonely New York City taxi driver (Robert De Niro), who has an unrequited romantic attachment with political campaign volunteer (Cybill Shepherd) and becomes a vengeful angel for a child prostitute (Jodie Foster), potently harnessed the sense of public disillusionment fueled by the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. “I had to make that movie. Not so much because of the social statement it makes, but because of its feeling about things, including things I don’t like to admit to myself.” A veteran of a number of failed marriages, the director could relate to the emotional turmoil endured by Travis Bickle (De Niro). “I know the feeling of rejection that Travis feels, of not being able to make relationships survive.”
“The best way is to start with a character and then put him through scenes, through conflicts, that illustrate your theme,” instructed Martin Scorsese. “When Travis [De Niro] falls in love with a woman, he can’t admit he wants to make love to her… The movie deals with sexual repression, so there’s a lot of talk but no sex, lovemaking, no nudity. If the audience saw nudity, it would work like a release valve and the tension that’s been building up would be dissolved. The valve in Taxi Driver is not released until Travis finally lets loose and starts shooting.” One of the most famous scenes in cinema was the result of a creative collaboration between the director and his leading man. “I did improvise him talking in the mirror: ‘Are you talking to me?’ It was in the script that he was looking at himself in the mirror, doing this thing with the guns, and I told Bob, ‘He’s got to say something. He’s got to talk to himself.’ We just started playing with it and that’s what came out.” Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), who was 12 years old at the time of filming, was impressed with the ability of Scorsese to bring out the best in his cast members. “There’s a big difference between someone who performs with you and somebody who asks you to perform for them,” stated Foster. “He is there. Marty gets behind your eyes.”
Despite Columbia executives’ disdain for having to enduring the expense of on-location principle photography, Martin Scorsese insisted on shooting Robert De Niro (Stardust) talking to Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show) in an actual coffee shop. “I placed them by a window so you can see all of Columbus Circle, the cars, the whole city,” explained the filmmaker. “New York City is a character in the movie.” Scorsese was left emotionally drained from his constant battles with the Hollywood studio. “That night, I went through a number of crises and made a lot of phone calls. I said to a friend, ‘That’s it. If they don’t like the way I’m going to make the picture, then I won’t make the picture.’ That’s when you realize that you really have to love something enough to kill it.” His devotion to the story came at a great personal cost to the native of Flushing, New York. “For me it was just the beginning of going into an abyss for about two years and coming out barely alive. It was a few weeks after taxi Driver that I started playing with drugs.” Cast along with De Niro, Shepherd and Foster in the drama which grossed $28 million domestically are Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs), Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein), Albert Brooks (Lost in America), Leonard Harris (Hero at Large) and Martin Scorsese. At the Academy Awards, Taxi Driver contended for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score; while the BAFTAs lauded it with Best Supporting Actress (Foster), Best Newcomer (Foster), and the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music as well as nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Editing. The Golden Globes nominated taxi Driver for Best Actor – Drama (De Niro) and Best Screenplay; it also won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Robert De Niro was presented with the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, Paul Schrader received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination Best Original Screenplay – Drama, and Bernard Herrmann contended at the Grammy Awards for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture. Commenting on the enduring acclaim for the film which was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994, Martin Scorsese remarked, “I was in China in 1984 and a young man from Mongolia talked to me at length about taxi Driver, about the loneliness. That’s why the film seems to be something that people keep watching over and over. It’s not the shoot-’em out ending.”
“It’s about the decline of big bands and a couple, a saxophonist and a girl singer in a band, who try to make a go of it but they have no money; they break up and get back together after making it,” explained Martin Scorsese of his ill-fated 1940s musical New York, New York (1977) which stars Liza Minnelli (The Oh in Ohio), Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander (Once Upon a Time in the West), Barry Primus (Absence of Malice), Mary Kay Place (Being John Malkovich), Georgie Auld, George Memmoli (Rocky), and Dick Miller (The Terminator). “In the picture, I tried to fuse whatever was a fantasy – the movies I grew up with as a kid – with the reality that I experienced myself.” The creative decision of the director caused the production budget to balloon to $14 million. “It became a little bigger than we thought because of this concept I had of doing the picture in the old style, which is sound stages and back lots.” Though the title suggests otherwise, the entire principle photography took place in Los Angeles. “14 weeks became twenty-two weeks mainly because of the fact that it was a musical. Irwin Winkler, Bob Chartoff and I had never done a musical before so we underscheduled the picture mistakenly.”
Earl Mac Rauch spent two years composing the original script. “Whenever we would ask for a change of two or three pages, he would bring twelve pages in and they were terrific,” recalled Martin Scorsese. “A whole new direction, whole new character things. He is a good writer and what happened was it became unmanageable in terms of making a shooting script.” The director turned to his veteran collaborator for help. “We needed structure. So Mardrik Martin of Mean Streets came in…. He wrote some scenes, some key dialogue.” Martin worked with Scorsese’s wife at the time Julia Cameron to reinvent the screenplay. “I reshot a couple of things at the end, because up until that point, I had been so close to the subject matter, [and] the characters that I couldn’t see how they should end as characters.” A test screening of New York, New York, resulted in sequences being cut from the picture. “The biggest thing was the Happy Endings production number. A lot of people felt it overbalanced the picture. It was 11 minutes long. The movie was a commercial disappointment, earning $16 million domestically. The BAFTAs nominated New York, New York for Best Costume Design and Best Soundtrack; while at the Golden Globes it contended for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Musical or Comedy (Robert De Niro), Best Actress – Musical or Comedy (Liza Minnelli), and Best Original Song. The Santi Jordi Awards presented Robert De Niro with the trophy for Best Performance in a Foreign Film. Scorsese was given the opportunity to restore some of the sequences removed in order to achieve a 2 hour and 45 minute theatrical runtime. “The entire Happy Endings number, along with all the other scenes we liked, are in the television version, which is three to three-and-one-half hours [long].”
“I shot the whole thing incognito,” confessed Martin Scorsese of his documentary rock-concert film, The Last Waltz (1978), which was filmed at San Francisco’s Winterland in the fall of 1976. I was suppose to be resting, taking time off between shooting and editing New York. It was all very secret. Irwin Winkler [New York, New York’s producer] didn’t know I’d done it until it was over and then, when he found out, he was furious.” The director conceived the project chronically the last live performance of The Band as an opera; he borrowed the set of La Traviata from the San Francisco Opera. Scorsese sat down with his cinematographer Michael Chapman to discuss the colour lighting changes required to emphasize the content of each musical moment. Permission was obtained to dig into the floor of the Winterland to construct a tower that would enable Martin Scorsese to film wide angle shots. The resourceful moviemaker employed crab dollies in places on the stage which would not obscure the view of audience members. “We went in thinking, we’d document the Band’s last concert and maybe we’ll get something, maybe we won’t. Then when footage came back and we looked at it on the KEM, I just said, ‘Wow. This is fantastic. We’ve got a movie.’”
Additional footage was filmed. Scorsese interspersed three studio shot numbers into the production which enabled him to experiment with pyrotechnics and interview members of the group. Film editor Jan Roblee suggested placing the footage of the last song Don’t Do It at the beginning of the film thereby turning the concert into a flashback. “I had the feeling that the movie audience could become more involved with the concert if we concentrated on the stage. Besides, after Woodstock [1970], who wants to see the audience anymore?” Appearing on stage with Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson are Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Neil Young, The Staples, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, and Ron Wood. “The movie was therapy. It was the only thing that held me together,” confided Martin Scorsese whose marriage to writer Julia Cameron fell apart after the birth of their daughter. New York, New York was a box office failure, and he was replaced by Gower Champion as the director of the struggling stage sequel to his musical starring Liza Minnelli called The Act. “There was a lot of high living. At first, you felt like you could make five films at once. Then you wound up spending four days in bed every week because you were exhausted and your body couldn’t take it.” In and out of hospital suffering asthma attacks, Scorsese ended up in hospital with internal bleeding on Labour Day 1978. “Marty got a doctor who conveyed the message that he either alter his life or he was going to die,” revealed musician Robbie Robertson who roomed with the filmmaker. “We knew we had to change trains. Our lives were way too rich. The cholesterol level was unimaginable.”
American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince (1978) is a documentary Martin Scorsese produced about an ex-drug addict and road manager for Neil Diamond who portrayed a gun dealer in taxi Driver. As Steve Prince talks about his family, the filmmaker intersperses home movie clips shot during Prince’s childhood. Some of the stories told have served as cinematic inspiration for the likes of Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) and Richard Linklater (Waking Life). During the opening credits, Time Fades Away by Neil Young is played. A sequel was released called American Prince (2009) which was helmed by Tommy Pallotta.
“I remember having read the book in California when I was finishing Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” recalled Martin Scorsese of the autobiography written by boxer Jake La Motta which was brought to his attention by Robert De Niro. “I also remember a long conversation with Bobby during a night in my office at Warner Bros.. Honestly, it wasn’t like a bolt of lightning. No matter what anyone claimed later, I didn’t even notice Jake’s opening line, ‘When my memories come back to me, I have the feeling that I’m watching an old film in black and white.’ My reasons for shooting in black and white have nothing to do with this quotation.” Contemplating his reasoning for not shooting in colour, the director stated, “Our memories of boxing from the 40s are in black and white, like the newsreels and photographs of that time.” Scorsese explained further, “The final reason was that several films on boxing were in preparation: The Champ [1979], Rocky II [1979], The Main Event [1979], [and] Matilda [1978]. I wanted Raging Bull [1980] to be very different visually and to evoke the admirable photography of James Wong Howe in Sweet Smell of Success [1957].”
“Mardik did two and half years of research and interviews,” said Martin Scorsese. “He took off in all directions, and he even spent a year writing a play about Jake. The more eye witness accounts he got, the more things got mixed up.” The story became overly ambitious. “The script was way too long. Everything was there, Jake’s childhood, his father, the prison and even his testimony before the Kefauver Commission in New York – but I didn’t want to hear anything about any boxing matches!” A new structure had to be found so Scorsese recruited Paul Schrader to rewrite the script. “Schrader had the idea of opening with the speech on the stage and linking that to Jake’s first defeat, in Cleveland. An unjust and inexplicable defeat…The essential thing was for the audience to sympathize with Jake right away.” Concerned about making the main character unlikable, Scorsese decided to tone down the domestic violence. “Schrader had kept the scene in which Jake knocks out his first wife during a party and, thinking she’s dead, imagines different ways to get rid of the body…There was also a scene where his wife climbs up on the fender of his car to keep him from starting it. This violence came too early. I was happy with just the table overturned and a couple of swear words.”
“Here’s a man who is methodically destroying himself, who is pulling others down with him, who falls into the deepest hole – and who pulls himself up again,” stated Martin Scorsese in regards to what attracted him to produce the biopic. A major difference between the autobiography and the film is that the characters of Peter Savage and Jake’s brother Joey are combined into one character. Cast in the $18 million production are Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci (My Cousin Vinny), Cathy Moriarty (Casper), Frank Vincent (The Crew), Nicholas Colosanto (Family Plot), Mario Gallo (King Kong), Frank Adonis (Wall Street), Joseph Bono (Analyze That), Frank Topham, and Martin Scorsese. “The first match is the only one in which we used the reactions of the audience,” said the director as to how he constructed the boxing scenes. “The last meeting with Robinson is completely abstract. There are wide angle and foggy shots because at this stage no one is worrying about the punches which landed so well. The ring is twice as big as it was in reality. It’s not a matter of literally translating what Jakes sees and hears, but to present what the match means for him, all the while respecting as much as possible, the historical truth.” Scorsese carried on to say, “With the exception of the match against Dauthille, where we were outside the ropes, I was in the ring the whole time with the camera, just as attentive to the physical reality of the punches and the panting as I was to the psychological dimension of the encounter.” The choice not to film the movie in colour caused the filmmaker to improvise. “I had to use a lot of blood because we were shooting in black and white, but that’s just secondary. The real violence is inside.”
The first flashback being setoff with Jake La Motta practicing to That’s Entertainment was an act of serendipity. “We found it by accident one night at the editing table, when I was in despair about not being able to connect Jake’s bloated face of the 60s with his young face of the 40s,” recalled Martin Scorsese. “Two tracks accidentally overlapped and bang! The sound connected the two eras.” The principle photography went over budget with ten weeks of shooting fight scenes that in the end amounted to nine minutes of screen time. “I went through a serious crisis. I didn’t want to do the film any longer. ..Physically, I was also in terrible shape. I spent four days in the hospital hovering between life and death. I was lucky I survived.” Grossing $23 million domestically, Scorsese dedicated the film to his former NYU professor Haig Manoogian. “When I took his first course in the 60s…he gave me the energy to become a filmmaker.” Raging Bull won two Oscars for Best Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Editing; it also contended for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci), Best Supporting Actress (Cathy Moriarty), Best Cinematography, Best Director, and Best Sound. At the BAFTAs, the boxing biopic was rewarded with Best Editing and Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (Pesci) while competing for Best Actor (De Niro), and Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (Moriarty). The Golden Globes honoured Robert De Niro with Best Actor – Drama as well as handing out nominations for Best Director, Best Picture – Drama, Best Supporting Actor (Pesci) and Best Supporting Actress (Moriarty). The New York Film Critics Circle Awards presented Robert De Niro with Best Actor and Joe Pesci with Best Supporting Actor. Martin Scorsese received a Directors Guild of America Award nomination and film editor Thelma Schoonmaker won the Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film from the American Cinema Editors. In 1990, Raging Bull was inducted into the National Film Registry.
Unwanted notoriety came to Martin Scorsese in 1981 when John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to impressed actress Jodie Foster; he had been obsessed with her since seeing taxi Driver. Fearing a violent public reaction to the revelation, the director attended the Academy Awards surrounded by undercover FBI agents. Interestingly, the next picture by Scorsese was about a struggling comedian who resorts to extreme measures in order to gain public attention.
The King of Comedy (1982) stars Robert De Niro as novice comedian Rupert Pupkin who kidnaps a famous talk show host played by Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor) in an attempt to get himself on television. “I can identify with Pupkin,” remarked Martin Scorsese who utilized static shots throughout the picture in an effort to simplify things. “It’s the same way I made my first pictures with no money and with the constant rejection – going back and going back until finally, somehow, you get a lucky break.” The moviemaker understands the destructive drive of the character. “I wanted to look at what it’s like to want something so badly you’d kill for it. By kill I don’t mean kill physically, but you can kill the spirit, you can kill relationships, you can kill everything else around you in your life.” Performing in the $20 million production with De Niro and Lewis are Sandra Bernhard (Hudson Hawk), Diahnne Abbott (Love Streams), and Shelley Hack (Annie Hall). The drama with the movie poster tagline “It’s no laughing matter.” grossed $3 million domestically. “A close friend of mine told me two months before the film was finished, ‘The buzz is bad.’ I hate that. When the buzz is bad, people don’t want to be associated with the picture. You feel totally abandoned. I must say, that was painful. Because the film came out and died in four weeks.” At the BAFTAs, The King of Comedy won Best Original Screenplay and contended for Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor (Jerry Lewis); it also received a Palme d’Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. The London Critics Circle Film Awards presented the movie with the ALFS Award for Film of the Year while the National Society of Film Critics Awards lauded Sandra Bernhard with Best Supporting Actress.
Breaking his streak of films with Robert De Niro as his leading man, Martin Scorsese selected Griffin Dunne (My Girl) to play the main character in After Hours (1985). The dark comedy follows Paul Hackett (Dunne) who experiences a series of misadventures and dangers while making his way home in New York City. The randomness of the events that occur in the movie that also stars Rosanna Arquette (The Whole Nine Yards), Verna Bloom (High Plains Drifter), Terri Garr (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), John Heard (The Pelican Brief), and Linda Fiorentino (The Last Seduction) is inspired by reality. “Violence has always been a pretty scary thing for me, but I’m fascinated by it, especially by the aimlessness of it,” remarked Scorsese. “It’s always erupting when you don’t expect it, particularly in a city like New York. You’re sitting in a restaurant, eating and suddenly a car crashes through the window and you’re dead. That’s happened several times in New York.” Made on a budget of $4.5 million, After Hours earned $11 million domestically. Rosanna Arquette was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTAs and Griffin Dunne contended for Best Actor – Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes. The Independent Spirit Awards lauded After Hours with Best Director and Best Feature as well as nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Female Lead (Arquette), and Best Screenplay. Success was found at the Cannes Film Festival where Martin Scorsese won Best Director and the film competed for the Palme d’Or. Complicating matters was a plagiarism lawsuit filed by radio artist Joe Frank who claimed portions of his NPR Playhouse monologue were used in the plot and dialogue of the movie. Never given official credit, Frank received a lucrative financial settlement.
Collaborating with colleague Steven Spielberg (War Horse), Martin Scorsese produced an episode of the NBC anthology television series Amazing Stories called Mirror, Mirror (1986). Sam Waterston (The Killing Fields) portrays an arrogant horror novelist who is pursued by a misshapen face which he can only see when looking at reflective surfaces. Performing with Waterston are Helen Shaver (Desert Hearts), Dick Cavett (Frequency), Tim Robbins (Bull Durham), Harry Northup (Bad Girls), Dana Gladstone (The Presidio) and Valerie Grear (Girls Just Want to Have Fun).
Attempting to try something creatively different, Martin Scorsese elected to helm a cinematic project featuring a Hollywood legend and a box office star.
Continue to part three.
For more on the director be sure to visit the Martin Scorsese Fansite and ScorseseFilms.com, along with the BFI documentary A Personal Journey with Scorsese Through American Movies.
Short Film Showcase - What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
Short Film Showcase - The Big Shave
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
“It’s true that some films will involve me more than others,” admitted American filmmaker Martin Scorsese. “It’s also true that I might have never made taxi Driver [1976] were it not for the success of Alice [Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 1974]. The question of commercialism is a source of worry. Must one make a choice, must it be a matter of either setting your sights on winning an Academy Award and becoming a millionaire, or making only the movies you want to make and starving to death?” The $1.3 million production about a lonely New York City taxi driver (Robert De Niro), who has an unrequited romantic attachment with political campaign volunteer (Cybill Shepherd) and becomes a vengeful angel for a child prostitute (Jodie Foster), potently harnessed the sense of public disillusionment fueled by the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. “I had to make that movie. Not so much because of the social statement it makes, but because of its feeling about things, including things I don’t like to admit to myself.” A veteran of a number of failed marriages, the director could relate to the emotional turmoil endured by Travis Bickle (De Niro). “I know the feeling of rejection that Travis feels, of not being able to make relationships survive.”“The best way is to start with a character and then put him through scenes, through conflicts, that illustrate your theme,” instructed Martin Scorsese. “When Travis [De Niro] falls in love with a woman, he can’t admit he wants to make love to her… The movie deals with sexual repression, so there’s a lot of talk but no sex, lovemaking, no nudity. If the audience saw nudity, it would work like a release valve and the tension that’s been building up would be dissolved. The valve in Taxi Driver is not released until Travis finally lets loose and starts shooting.” One of the most famous scenes in cinema was the result of a creative collaboration between the director and his leading man. “I did improvise him talking in the mirror: ‘Are you talking to me?’ It was in the script that he was looking at himself in the mirror, doing this thing with the guns, and I told Bob, ‘He’s got to say something. He’s got to talk to himself.’ We just started playing with it and that’s what came out.” Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), who was 12 years old at the time of filming, was impressed with the ability of Scorsese to bring out the best in his cast members. “There’s a big difference between someone who performs with you and somebody who asks you to perform for them,” stated Foster. “He is there. Marty gets behind your eyes.”
Despite Columbia executives’ disdain for having to enduring the expense of on-location principle photography, Martin Scorsese insisted on shooting Robert De Niro (Stardust) talking to Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show) in an actual coffee shop. “I placed them by a window so you can see all of Columbus Circle, the cars, the whole city,” explained the filmmaker. “New York City is a character in the movie.” Scorsese was left emotionally drained from his constant battles with the Hollywood studio. “That night, I went through a number of crises and made a lot of phone calls. I said to a friend, ‘That’s it. If they don’t like the way I’m going to make the picture, then I won’t make the picture.’ That’s when you realize that you really have to love something enough to kill it.” His devotion to the story came at a great personal cost to the native of Flushing, New York. “For me it was just the beginning of going into an abyss for about two years and coming out barely alive. It was a few weeks after taxi Driver that I started playing with drugs.” Cast along with De Niro, Shepherd and Foster in the drama which grossed $28 million domestically are Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs), Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein), Albert Brooks (Lost in America), Leonard Harris (Hero at Large) and Martin Scorsese. At the Academy Awards, Taxi Driver contended for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score; while the BAFTAs lauded it with Best Supporting Actress (Foster), Best Newcomer (Foster), and the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music as well as nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Editing. The Golden Globes nominated taxi Driver for Best Actor – Drama (De Niro) and Best Screenplay; it also won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Robert De Niro was presented with the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, Paul Schrader received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination Best Original Screenplay – Drama, and Bernard Herrmann contended at the Grammy Awards for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture. Commenting on the enduring acclaim for the film which was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994, Martin Scorsese remarked, “I was in China in 1984 and a young man from Mongolia talked to me at length about taxi Driver, about the loneliness. That’s why the film seems to be something that people keep watching over and over. It’s not the shoot-’em out ending.”“It’s about the decline of big bands and a couple, a saxophonist and a girl singer in a band, who try to make a go of it but they have no money; they break up and get back together after making it,” explained Martin Scorsese of his ill-fated 1940s musical New York, New York (1977) which stars Liza Minnelli (The Oh in Ohio), Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander (Once Upon a Time in the West), Barry Primus (Absence of Malice), Mary Kay Place (Being John Malkovich), Georgie Auld, George Memmoli (Rocky), and Dick Miller (The Terminator). “In the picture, I tried to fuse whatever was a fantasy – the movies I grew up with as a kid – with the reality that I experienced myself.” The creative decision of the director caused the production budget to balloon to $14 million. “It became a little bigger than we thought because of this concept I had of doing the picture in the old style, which is sound stages and back lots.” Though the title suggests otherwise, the entire principle photography took place in Los Angeles. “14 weeks became twenty-two weeks mainly because of the fact that it was a musical. Irwin Winkler, Bob Chartoff and I had never done a musical before so we underscheduled the picture mistakenly.”
Earl Mac Rauch spent two years composing the original script. “Whenever we would ask for a change of two or three pages, he would bring twelve pages in and they were terrific,” recalled Martin Scorsese. “A whole new direction, whole new character things. He is a good writer and what happened was it became unmanageable in terms of making a shooting script.” The director turned to his veteran collaborator for help. “We needed structure. So Mardrik Martin of Mean Streets came in…. He wrote some scenes, some key dialogue.” Martin worked with Scorsese’s wife at the time Julia Cameron to reinvent the screenplay. “I reshot a couple of things at the end, because up until that point, I had been so close to the subject matter, [and] the characters that I couldn’t see how they should end as characters.” A test screening of New York, New York, resulted in sequences being cut from the picture. “The biggest thing was the Happy Endings production number. A lot of people felt it overbalanced the picture. It was 11 minutes long. The movie was a commercial disappointment, earning $16 million domestically. The BAFTAs nominated New York, New York for Best Costume Design and Best Soundtrack; while at the Golden Globes it contended for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Musical or Comedy (Robert De Niro), Best Actress – Musical or Comedy (Liza Minnelli), and Best Original Song. The Santi Jordi Awards presented Robert De Niro with the trophy for Best Performance in a Foreign Film. Scorsese was given the opportunity to restore some of the sequences removed in order to achieve a 2 hour and 45 minute theatrical runtime. “The entire Happy Endings number, along with all the other scenes we liked, are in the television version, which is three to three-and-one-half hours [long].”“I shot the whole thing incognito,” confessed Martin Scorsese of his documentary rock-concert film, The Last Waltz (1978), which was filmed at San Francisco’s Winterland in the fall of 1976. I was suppose to be resting, taking time off between shooting and editing New York. It was all very secret. Irwin Winkler [New York, New York’s producer] didn’t know I’d done it until it was over and then, when he found out, he was furious.” The director conceived the project chronically the last live performance of The Band as an opera; he borrowed the set of La Traviata from the San Francisco Opera. Scorsese sat down with his cinematographer Michael Chapman to discuss the colour lighting changes required to emphasize the content of each musical moment. Permission was obtained to dig into the floor of the Winterland to construct a tower that would enable Martin Scorsese to film wide angle shots. The resourceful moviemaker employed crab dollies in places on the stage which would not obscure the view of audience members. “We went in thinking, we’d document the Band’s last concert and maybe we’ll get something, maybe we won’t. Then when footage came back and we looked at it on the KEM, I just said, ‘Wow. This is fantastic. We’ve got a movie.’”
Additional footage was filmed. Scorsese interspersed three studio shot numbers into the production which enabled him to experiment with pyrotechnics and interview members of the group. Film editor Jan Roblee suggested placing the footage of the last song Don’t Do It at the beginning of the film thereby turning the concert into a flashback. “I had the feeling that the movie audience could become more involved with the concert if we concentrated on the stage. Besides, after Woodstock [1970], who wants to see the audience anymore?” Appearing on stage with Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson are Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Neil Young, The Staples, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, and Ron Wood. “The movie was therapy. It was the only thing that held me together,” confided Martin Scorsese whose marriage to writer Julia Cameron fell apart after the birth of their daughter. New York, New York was a box office failure, and he was replaced by Gower Champion as the director of the struggling stage sequel to his musical starring Liza Minnelli called The Act. “There was a lot of high living. At first, you felt like you could make five films at once. Then you wound up spending four days in bed every week because you were exhausted and your body couldn’t take it.” In and out of hospital suffering asthma attacks, Scorsese ended up in hospital with internal bleeding on Labour Day 1978. “Marty got a doctor who conveyed the message that he either alter his life or he was going to die,” revealed musician Robbie Robertson who roomed with the filmmaker. “We knew we had to change trains. Our lives were way too rich. The cholesterol level was unimaginable.”American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince (1978) is a documentary Martin Scorsese produced about an ex-drug addict and road manager for Neil Diamond who portrayed a gun dealer in taxi Driver. As Steve Prince talks about his family, the filmmaker intersperses home movie clips shot during Prince’s childhood. Some of the stories told have served as cinematic inspiration for the likes of Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) and Richard Linklater (Waking Life). During the opening credits, Time Fades Away by Neil Young is played. A sequel was released called American Prince (2009) which was helmed by Tommy Pallotta.
“I remember having read the book in California when I was finishing Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” recalled Martin Scorsese of the autobiography written by boxer Jake La Motta which was brought to his attention by Robert De Niro. “I also remember a long conversation with Bobby during a night in my office at Warner Bros.. Honestly, it wasn’t like a bolt of lightning. No matter what anyone claimed later, I didn’t even notice Jake’s opening line, ‘When my memories come back to me, I have the feeling that I’m watching an old film in black and white.’ My reasons for shooting in black and white have nothing to do with this quotation.” Contemplating his reasoning for not shooting in colour, the director stated, “Our memories of boxing from the 40s are in black and white, like the newsreels and photographs of that time.” Scorsese explained further, “The final reason was that several films on boxing were in preparation: The Champ [1979], Rocky II [1979], The Main Event [1979], [and] Matilda [1978]. I wanted Raging Bull [1980] to be very different visually and to evoke the admirable photography of James Wong Howe in Sweet Smell of Success [1957].”“Mardik did two and half years of research and interviews,” said Martin Scorsese. “He took off in all directions, and he even spent a year writing a play about Jake. The more eye witness accounts he got, the more things got mixed up.” The story became overly ambitious. “The script was way too long. Everything was there, Jake’s childhood, his father, the prison and even his testimony before the Kefauver Commission in New York – but I didn’t want to hear anything about any boxing matches!” A new structure had to be found so Scorsese recruited Paul Schrader to rewrite the script. “Schrader had the idea of opening with the speech on the stage and linking that to Jake’s first defeat, in Cleveland. An unjust and inexplicable defeat…The essential thing was for the audience to sympathize with Jake right away.” Concerned about making the main character unlikable, Scorsese decided to tone down the domestic violence. “Schrader had kept the scene in which Jake knocks out his first wife during a party and, thinking she’s dead, imagines different ways to get rid of the body…There was also a scene where his wife climbs up on the fender of his car to keep him from starting it. This violence came too early. I was happy with just the table overturned and a couple of swear words.”
“Here’s a man who is methodically destroying himself, who is pulling others down with him, who falls into the deepest hole – and who pulls himself up again,” stated Martin Scorsese in regards to what attracted him to produce the biopic. A major difference between the autobiography and the film is that the characters of Peter Savage and Jake’s brother Joey are combined into one character. Cast in the $18 million production are Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci (My Cousin Vinny), Cathy Moriarty (Casper), Frank Vincent (The Crew), Nicholas Colosanto (Family Plot), Mario Gallo (King Kong), Frank Adonis (Wall Street), Joseph Bono (Analyze That), Frank Topham, and Martin Scorsese. “The first match is the only one in which we used the reactions of the audience,” said the director as to how he constructed the boxing scenes. “The last meeting with Robinson is completely abstract. There are wide angle and foggy shots because at this stage no one is worrying about the punches which landed so well. The ring is twice as big as it was in reality. It’s not a matter of literally translating what Jakes sees and hears, but to present what the match means for him, all the while respecting as much as possible, the historical truth.” Scorsese carried on to say, “With the exception of the match against Dauthille, where we were outside the ropes, I was in the ring the whole time with the camera, just as attentive to the physical reality of the punches and the panting as I was to the psychological dimension of the encounter.” The choice not to film the movie in colour caused the filmmaker to improvise. “I had to use a lot of blood because we were shooting in black and white, but that’s just secondary. The real violence is inside.”The first flashback being setoff with Jake La Motta practicing to That’s Entertainment was an act of serendipity. “We found it by accident one night at the editing table, when I was in despair about not being able to connect Jake’s bloated face of the 60s with his young face of the 40s,” recalled Martin Scorsese. “Two tracks accidentally overlapped and bang! The sound connected the two eras.” The principle photography went over budget with ten weeks of shooting fight scenes that in the end amounted to nine minutes of screen time. “I went through a serious crisis. I didn’t want to do the film any longer. ..Physically, I was also in terrible shape. I spent four days in the hospital hovering between life and death. I was lucky I survived.” Grossing $23 million domestically, Scorsese dedicated the film to his former NYU professor Haig Manoogian. “When I took his first course in the 60s…he gave me the energy to become a filmmaker.” Raging Bull won two Oscars for Best Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Editing; it also contended for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci), Best Supporting Actress (Cathy Moriarty), Best Cinematography, Best Director, and Best Sound. At the BAFTAs, the boxing biopic was rewarded with Best Editing and Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (Pesci) while competing for Best Actor (De Niro), and Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (Moriarty). The Golden Globes honoured Robert De Niro with Best Actor – Drama as well as handing out nominations for Best Director, Best Picture – Drama, Best Supporting Actor (Pesci) and Best Supporting Actress (Moriarty). The New York Film Critics Circle Awards presented Robert De Niro with Best Actor and Joe Pesci with Best Supporting Actor. Martin Scorsese received a Directors Guild of America Award nomination and film editor Thelma Schoonmaker won the Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film from the American Cinema Editors. In 1990, Raging Bull was inducted into the National Film Registry.
Unwanted notoriety came to Martin Scorsese in 1981 when John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to impressed actress Jodie Foster; he had been obsessed with her since seeing taxi Driver. Fearing a violent public reaction to the revelation, the director attended the Academy Awards surrounded by undercover FBI agents. Interestingly, the next picture by Scorsese was about a struggling comedian who resorts to extreme measures in order to gain public attention.
The King of Comedy (1982) stars Robert De Niro as novice comedian Rupert Pupkin who kidnaps a famous talk show host played by Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor) in an attempt to get himself on television. “I can identify with Pupkin,” remarked Martin Scorsese who utilized static shots throughout the picture in an effort to simplify things. “It’s the same way I made my first pictures with no money and with the constant rejection – going back and going back until finally, somehow, you get a lucky break.” The moviemaker understands the destructive drive of the character. “I wanted to look at what it’s like to want something so badly you’d kill for it. By kill I don’t mean kill physically, but you can kill the spirit, you can kill relationships, you can kill everything else around you in your life.” Performing in the $20 million production with De Niro and Lewis are Sandra Bernhard (Hudson Hawk), Diahnne Abbott (Love Streams), and Shelley Hack (Annie Hall). The drama with the movie poster tagline “It’s no laughing matter.” grossed $3 million domestically. “A close friend of mine told me two months before the film was finished, ‘The buzz is bad.’ I hate that. When the buzz is bad, people don’t want to be associated with the picture. You feel totally abandoned. I must say, that was painful. Because the film came out and died in four weeks.” At the BAFTAs, The King of Comedy won Best Original Screenplay and contended for Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor (Jerry Lewis); it also received a Palme d’Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. The London Critics Circle Film Awards presented the movie with the ALFS Award for Film of the Year while the National Society of Film Critics Awards lauded Sandra Bernhard with Best Supporting Actress.
Breaking his streak of films with Robert De Niro as his leading man, Martin Scorsese selected Griffin Dunne (My Girl) to play the main character in After Hours (1985). The dark comedy follows Paul Hackett (Dunne) who experiences a series of misadventures and dangers while making his way home in New York City. The randomness of the events that occur in the movie that also stars Rosanna Arquette (The Whole Nine Yards), Verna Bloom (High Plains Drifter), Terri Garr (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), John Heard (The Pelican Brief), and Linda Fiorentino (The Last Seduction) is inspired by reality. “Violence has always been a pretty scary thing for me, but I’m fascinated by it, especially by the aimlessness of it,” remarked Scorsese. “It’s always erupting when you don’t expect it, particularly in a city like New York. You’re sitting in a restaurant, eating and suddenly a car crashes through the window and you’re dead. That’s happened several times in New York.” Made on a budget of $4.5 million, After Hours earned $11 million domestically. Rosanna Arquette was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTAs and Griffin Dunne contended for Best Actor – Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes. The Independent Spirit Awards lauded After Hours with Best Director and Best Feature as well as nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Female Lead (Arquette), and Best Screenplay. Success was found at the Cannes Film Festival where Martin Scorsese won Best Director and the film competed for the Palme d’Or. Complicating matters was a plagiarism lawsuit filed by radio artist Joe Frank who claimed portions of his NPR Playhouse monologue were used in the plot and dialogue of the movie. Never given official credit, Frank received a lucrative financial settlement.Collaborating with colleague Steven Spielberg (War Horse), Martin Scorsese produced an episode of the NBC anthology television series Amazing Stories called Mirror, Mirror (1986). Sam Waterston (The Killing Fields) portrays an arrogant horror novelist who is pursued by a misshapen face which he can only see when looking at reflective surfaces. Performing with Waterston are Helen Shaver (Desert Hearts), Dick Cavett (Frequency), Tim Robbins (Bull Durham), Harry Northup (Bad Girls), Dana Gladstone (The Presidio) and Valerie Grear (Girls Just Want to Have Fun).
Attempting to try something creatively different, Martin Scorsese elected to helm a cinematic project featuring a Hollywood legend and a box office star.
Continue to part three.
For more on the director be sure to visit the Martin Scorsese Fansite and ScorseseFilms.com, along with the BFI documentary A Personal Journey with Scorsese Through American Movies.
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Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
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