Authors — Vadim Rizov
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Watch: A Short Test of the Koji Color LUT Suite
For those interested in using a LUT (lookup table) to obtain a more filmic look, our friends at No Film School have drawn attention to Koji Color’s new suite, which attempts to preserve the appearances of six different 35mm film stocks. The program works with most NLE and post applications, and above we’ve got test footage shot by Paul Schefz. It has a strong look; whether it succeeds at preserving 35mm’s textures and colors exactly is obviously up for anybody who wants to debate that. For those convinced enough to buy, the No Film School link above will allow you […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 8, 2014 -
“Set Up like Drama, Shot like Documentary”: 20,000 Days on Earth Directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
The Guardian recently republished a 1988 profile of Nick Cave in which the infuriated musician veered over the course of days from open, insightful and analytical to infuriatedly seething “I have to spend hours talking to fucking idiots like you who have no kind of notion about anything” and throwing a boot at his interlocutor. As with Richard Hell — who over decades went from alarming Lester Bangs for his nihilistic abandon to writing poetry reviews for The New York Times — Cave is a former self-destructive dark messiah turned elder statesman, a respected screenwriter and still recording/touring musician who’s […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 8, 2014 -
Watch: William Friedkin Visits Criterion’s Offices
In the latest edition of “a famous person visits the Criterion Collection’s offices,” William Friedkin drops by to browse. Sighting Sunday Bloody Sunday, he remembers that as another film nominated for Best Picture the year he won with The French Connection. Segeuing from memory to pro-digital polemic, he says that the Criterion’s editions preserve films as they were meant to be seen, unlike movie theaters, where prints are “scratched up.” He also praises “one of Walter Huston’s greatest performances, The Devil and Daniel Webster” and talks up Jules Dassin’s Brute Force. “I never thought I’d see this again,” he says, […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 7, 2014 -
Watch: The Teaser for Twin Peaks’ Unexpected Return in 2016
This is unexpected but welcome: in 2016, 25 years after its abrupt and terrifying finale, Twin Peaks will return to Showtime in 2016. Variety has the story, but for now here’s a teaser trailer with zero new footage that’s still mildly bonechilling. Fans, you may recall that abrasively loud Frost/Lynch production company logo that ended every episode; it’s the stinger here, so maybe turn down the volume.
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 6, 2014 -
Watch: P.T. Anderson and Inherent Vice Cast’s NYFF Press Conference
Stoking the fires of anticipation for P.T. Anderson’s Pynchon adaptation Inherent Vice, here’s the press conference from Saturday morning’s NYFF press screening. The questions may not always be on point, but you’ll probably want to stick with it for P.T. Anderson quoting Crazy People to explain why he shot in 1.85 rather than widescreen (it’s like a Volvo: “they’re boxy but they’re good”), Owen Wilson explaining that “I had one shirt that I really wanted to wear, and I guess it wasn’t ’70s enough” and that his look was equally modeled on Dennis Wilson and Zoot the sax player from […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 6, 2014 -
NYFF ’14: David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars and Consumed
There’s something about anti-Hollywood satire that brings out the worst/most facile in otherwise great filmmakers. The prime example is probably Robert Altman’s The Player, which pretends to be aghast that studio executives have never heard of The Bicycle Thief and concludes that’s why everything sucks. Oddly, Scream 3 may be the only satire in this vein with real teeth, since its murderous mayhem is instigated by a need to avenge a decades-old casting couch act of sexual aggression, something of more consequence than the usual “those philistines rewrote my script by committee” japery. David Cronenberg is decidedly not calling from […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 6, 2014 -
Watch: iPhone 6 Plus 240 fps Slow Motion Test Footage
Our friends at No Film School have a good round-up of 240 fps test footage shot with the iPhone 6 Plus. I’m particularly mesmerized by this 39-second snippet, which is nothing more than wine being poured from a bottle into a glass. The same way NFL Films render just about anything hypnotic by breaking it down to the tiniest movements, so here: wine’s trajectory through air is captured in all its separate streams, then blood-like bubbles and blobs pop up as liquid hits glass.
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 2, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Interstellar, Now with Giant Waves
Here’s the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s global warming/space travel epic Interstellar, now reported to clock in at a you-better-deliver 175 minutes. Where the last trailer had Michael Caine orating Dylan Thomas to urge humanity to not go gentle into that good night, this time the exposition gives a more concrete idea of what to expect, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your tastes. There’s also lots of Matthew McConaughey urging people not to give up and what appears to be the biggest tidal wave since The Abyss‘ director’s cut.
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 1, 2014 -
Watch: Don Hertzfeldt’s Fantastic The Simpsons Couch Gag
You’re hopefully familiar with animator Don Hertzfeldt’s fatalistic, sinisterly humorous, one-of-a-kind body of work. Last night The Simpsons let him take over the opening couch gag. The result is a phantasmagoric two-minute short that turns the clan into protozoa and reverses the flow of time. It’s very much of a piece with his recent work as anthologized in 2011’s It’s Such a Beautiful Day. Watch Homer chant “I AM SIMPSON!”; deriders of the show’s deathless downward spiral, you’ll be convinced that The Simpsons is still good for something. If you’re not familiar with Hertzfeldt’s work, you should follow that up […]
by Vadim Rizov on Sep 29, 2014 -
Watch: The Eyes of Hitchcock by :: kogonada
Here’s the latest from video essayist :: kogonada, who Scott Macaulay interviewed earlier this week. Beginning, as you might expect, with the zoom into red eyes from Vertigo‘s opening credits and the zoom out from Janet Leigh’s dead eyes in Psycho, :: kogonada captures Hitchcock’s characters’ eyes in states of fear, hypnosis, dawning comprehension et al. This one’s via the Criterion Collection.
by Vadim Rizov on Sep 26, 2014
