And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the best directors of the decade according to the candler blog. I’m going to do this a little differently than our first installments on Notable Events, Writers and Actors. When Sunrise Tippeconnie and I recorded this podcast, we tried to sum up the entire decade in 90 minutes. We found it completely impossible. In fact, the time we spent on directors alone was about that much. The discussion was good enough that I thought we should share it here. Instead of telling you who we pick as filmmaker of the decade, we thought you should listen in and hear for yourself. Okay, maybe we’ll tell you soon so keep your eyes peeled for a post about our favorite filmmaker of the decade. In the meantime, sit back, relax and listen in on the musings of a few cinephiles.

 
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The candler blog is not just a movie review website, though we do plenty of that from time to time. Officially, when people ask me what kind of a website this is, I say “the candler blog is a film theory and criticism website”, which cinema civilians tend to get a bit confused by. “Theory?” they ask. What do we mean by that? Myself and Sunrise Tippeconnie have recorded a Candlercast to help explain that idea. Just like an egg candler holds an egg up to light to determine its health, we hold films and pop culture up to our own form of candle. In picking apart the minutiae of films and filmmaking, we hope to achieve a greater understanding of this art form.

Sunrise Tippeconnie and I are friends and collaborators who have spent hours upon hours deconstructing every part of the process of moviemaking over the years. I would like to share just some of that conversation with you, dear readers, will join in. On the docket for this first dialogue are the state of HD and 4K video acquisition. We talk about the usefulness of certain technologies alongside film, the need for more standardization of cinema terminologies, and the Charlie Chaplin vs. Buster Keaton complex. What does all of that mean? You’ll have to listen to find out.

 
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Filmmaker Brian Lonan has a lot to say about Science Fiction movies, which is a good thing because his new film, Attackazoids, Deploy!!, is full of killer robots in the future. He joins the candler blog this week for a chat about all things movies. On Satruday, Deploy! will be making its world première at the Coney Island Film Festival and he has a booked docket from there on out. It will be a busy few months for Mr. Lonano, so it’s a good thing we nabbed him when we could.

Tune in and you will also a conversation about the persistence of aging filmmakers, a gaff involving two Reiners, Werner Herzog’s film school, and where to find the best pizza in New York City. This week’s candlercast is one not to be missed. Stream, download, or subscribe below.

 
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I first met filmmaker Blayne Weaver back at the Deadcenter Film Festival in June, where his film Weather Girl was playing. You can read what I thought about it back then in this post, but we’re way past reviewing the film at this point. Weather Girl will be making its television debut tomorrow, Septermber 23, 2009, on the Lifetime channel. You heard right, Lifetime.

Blayne took some time out of his schedule to chat with me about this current film, his next project, and topics as varied as digital distribution, Inglourious Basterds, and screening your film on a PS3. In other words, if you take the time to swallow this whole interview, you’ll be in for more than one surprise. Check it out and check the movie tomorrow night, on Lifetime.

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Two days ago, I wrote a rection piece about Ridley Scott’s being named director for an upcoming Alien prequel. Today, Variety is reporting that Steven Spielberg has chosen his next picture as director, an adaptation of the 1944 Mary Chase play, Harvey. Most audiences will remember the story from the 1950 film of the same name starring, quite memorably, Jimmy Stewart. So here we have next project decisions from two towering cinema institutions: Spielberg and Scott. You already know what I think about the whole Alien thing. What do I make of this? Glad you asked.

Any IMDb troll worth his or her salt knows that following Mr. Spielberg’s next film is a game so confusing and full of deceit that it is better to just sit and wait for announcement such as this one. For example, his Abraham Lincoln project has been in the works forever. I personally prefer it this way. For a director as formidable as him, I’d rather not know what he has coming down the pipe. It only adds to the whole “Spilebergian” mystique. But now we know the next film.

The question that must be asked is does the world really need another incarnation of Harvey? Probably not, but there also isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t have one, right? We’re content to watch so many other remakes and redos and reboots, what’s the big deal about one more? The biggest problem with a director making the wrong choice is that he only has a limited amount of years to make films; any missteps waste years in which better films could be made. So who is to say that this is the right or wrong choice? Well, Mr. Spielberg himself.

The biggest piece that I left out of the Ridley Scott article was that these A-list directors are in a position to make whatever they want. Where younger up and comers may get wedged into a particular project for the money or the connections, an established director can think long and hard about the projects he wants to take on. So while it is all well and good for us to comment from the sidelines, we should also be at least excited that these people see something in these projects that propels them into the director’s chair. Why is Mr. Spielberg taking on Harvey? Why is Mr. Scott rejoining the Alien franchise? Because they see something wonderful, and in time, that vision will be shared with us.

All that being said, I feel totally secure sitting here on my tuffet, eating my curds and whey, giving Spielberg the stink-eye (one eyebrow raised) and saying “Harvey? Really? Uhhhhhhhh-reeeeally?” That’s what separates the two of us. While I can blog my cynical thoughts away, he gets to wake up and make whatever the hell he wants. Good for you Steve, just please don’t cast Tom Hanks in the lead; your Frank Capra-Jimmy Stewart relationship has come far enough.

Guest poster Sunrise Tippeconnie is a filmmaker currently living in Oklahoma City. He is an old friend of the candler blog who also dabbles in film criticism and history. You can read more of his work in Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies. We hope to see more of Sunrise on the candler blog in the future.

There are three questions that immediately come up about this picture. 1. Is it a “passing of the torch” film? 2. Is it film a masterpiece? 3. Is it funny?

Let’s answer the last question first. Funny People is exactly what the title suggests, it is about people, and not about being funny. To be direct, the film is funny but it is definitely not a [traditional] comedy. In fact the concept of the film being a comedy (specifically a crossbreed of two subgenres: the Adam Sandler and the Judd Apatow comedy) is a complex idea that reaches into anthropologic study in the vein of the Hal Ashby’s Being There. Sandler’s character George Simmons finds out in one of the first (and almost rushed) scenes at blank range that he has cancer. Comedy and death immediately call up another analysis of a comedic master: Chaplin in Monsiuer Verdoux (and we all know how the audience loved that film, despite it’s ranking as a masterpiece). Read on…

About a month ago I entered a short film into a contest hosted by culture/event blog Flavorpill and literary magazine GRANTA. The idea was to make a film that encapsulates the idea of life as a rehearsal. The film I submitted, Process, managed to win the contest. They gave me a lovely writeup for the film. Watch it here.

I made the film a few months ago from footage I took a few months before. While hanging out with my friend Nazy, I broke out my Nikon D90 and started filming her. She thought I was going to take a still photo any minute, not realizing at first that I was recording our conversation. From about 15 minutes of footage I snipped together this little piece. (Nazy consented to all this, so don’t be afraid to hang out with me while I have my camera)

The candler blog is specifically a site about film by filmmakers, so I thought you might like to see a bit of what I do when I’m not picking apart blockbusters or dolling out career advice. I would love to hear your thoughts on the piece in the comments, and will happily field any questions about it.

As a blogger, I don’t actually have an office in which to conduct business and interviews. So when the opportunity arose to meet with multi-hyphenate John-Luke Montias, the first sport that came to mind was Central Park near the Upper West Side. Being the sport that he is, Mr. Montias trucked over to meet me. Waiting on the corner by a hot dog stand on a warm July day, I began to wonder if so serene a spot was proper for meeting a man whose film deals in sex-slavery, gangsterism, money laundering, and grand theft auto. Then I remembered, this is New York City; we’re all in the soup.

John-Luke studied acting at New York University. After school he did what he refers to as the whole actor-bartender thing: “I got tired of waiting for the phone to ring, I was working at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen that had some really crazy ass characters. I would hear a lot of crazy stories whether I wanted to or not. Then it dawned on me that this was a great opportunity, so I started writing.” That compilation of stories would eventually become the director’s first film, Bobby G Can’t Swim, but he admits that those stories still permeate his work. From listening to him, you can tell that his ears were well-chewed during his days serving drinks. Read on…