Feb 29, 2012

Final Compiled Poll for the 2012 Michael Spitler/Renee Diskowski Greatest Films Poll

And I am not going to bury the lede.

Also, I am going to give you a Top Baker's Dozen, a lucky thirteen, if you will, on this rainy Bay Area Leap Day, 2012.  Because "Real life is for March."

To wit,



No. 1:  Casablanca (Curtiz)
(11 votes total -- 65 1/2 points)


Casablanca viewed now, rather when it was new, is from a different perspective.  The use of black and white rather than color, using a moving line on a map to show travel, and the newsreel type narration are from another era and add a nostalgic element.  The title and location give an exotic and foreign feel to the movie.

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman give great romantic performances, but it is the supporting actors that add so much flavor of the movie.  Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet play types with which they have come to be identified.  Claude Rains as Captain Renault, is a cynic and opportunist who will make the best of any situation provides some humor.

Parts of dialog that have become recognizable one-liners include; “I was misinformed” (about the water) “round up the usual suspects”, “I am shocked to find gambling is going on here”, “Play it again Sam” have become famliar. The flashback to an earlier time in Paris was done well and links in the familiar “As Time Goes By” music that really adds to the  appeal of the movie.   The many little side stories and characters add interesting detail. and many cannot be accused  of being too subtle

The movie was released during WWII and the aspect of self-sacrifice for the greater good and war time patriotism are obvious.

But it is the writting and direction that make Casablnca exceptional in my opinion.

This comment about Casablanca was provided from an anonymous contributor.  






No. 2:  The Godfather, Parts 1 & 2 (Coppola)
(10 votes -- 59 1/2 points)

Coppola's finest work.  These films were not only Masterpieces of their time but were mammoth Box Office hits that crossed racial boundaries, unwittingly becoming one of the main inspirations for the Gangsta Rap movement.

The cinematography by Gordon Willis was sublime; the violence depicted in a pulpy yet brutal manner; and the films are full of amazing performances; notably Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Caan, and Diane Keaton.

I will let the wonderful critic and author, David Thomson, have the final word:  "Compellingly entertaining, The Godfather is still as beautiful as it is mysterious.  No other American classic so repays repeated viewings.  How odd that American film offered this last song of vindication just as it delivered its most foreboding message:  the corruption of the state.  For years, Hollywood films were happy and positive; now it had grasped eternal unease.  Has the America that followed been fit for movies or songs, or is it just too sunk in its own dismay?"

Mr Thomson's thoughts on The Godfather are from his absolutely crucial and essential book on film, Have You Seen ... ? 






No. 3:  Citizen Kane (Welles)
(8 votes -- 47 1/2 points)


Citizen Kane turned main stream motion pictures into art film.  The camera was now as important as the actor in telling the story.  When I first saw this film I was stunned at the visual images playing out on the screen , deep focus, tilted angles, really good sound effects, interesting lighting. And as all great art, it is based on a simple concept.  As I have gotten older the story resonates even more than when I first saw it in the early 1970’s.

What makes it even more special, as well as exasperating, is that Orson Welles was only 24 years old when he wrote, starred in and directed this movie.  It was also his first feature film.  If you can only make one good thing in your life you might as well make it the best ever.   (But wait he also made the best radio show ever....)

Citizen Kane also stands the test of time, it stands up just as well today as when it was made in 1941.  It beats the snot out of almost every movie that is made today.

Thoughts on Citizen Kane contributed by my father, Andy Spitler.






No. 4:  Star Wars, Episode Four -- A New Hope
(6 votes -- 43 1/2 points)

Star Wars is the myth for the new era.  A myth is a story that may never have happened but is always true.



It is the hero's journey.  Myth, as Shelley said about poetry, sensitizes us to the fragility of the soul.  Star Wars connects us at this soul level, with a sacred concept, that we are all Jedi Knights in service of the force.  We are all called to be a sacred answer to a cosmic need.  We all want to be called to a higher purpose and Star Wars is that call.  Maybe subconsciously,   but we all await the knock on our door from the Jedi.  This is the power and the call of Star Wars A New Hope.

Thoughts on Star Wars contributed by Terry Layton.








No. 5:  Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
(5 votes -- 33 1/2 points)

More than thirty years later, I persist in my belief that Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW is the greatest film our cinema has produced. For me, no other film fuses together such intensity and richness in its terrible and gorgeous imagery, hallucinatory music and sound design, indelible writing (and improvisation), philosophical heft and outrageous humor, great acting, and metaphorical journey of a plot into a massive work of such overwhelming power. I think the criticism that its third act is a murky mess has been disproven by history, as Brando’s scenes are now iconic (“My God, the genius of that. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure.”) and “the horror” of the climax an acknowledged masterpiece of visual and rhythmic virtuosity.

Thoughts on Apocalypse Now contributed by Scott Shattuck.






No. 6:  Annie Hall (Allen)
(6 votes -- 32 points)

First off, here are my thoughts on Annie Hall.  But I would also just like to mention how Allen finally made a great American film that seemed so European (or French, really.) Although he adores Ingmar Bergman, Allen simply does not have that type of sense of humor.  And none of his attempts at the Bergman style have been very good.

But with Annie Hall, Allen finally found his voice and started making profoundly funny and profoundly moving films.  It is all the more ironic that Allen be best remembered for Annie Hall, as the film was an absolute disaster before cutting, over three hours long, and a complete mess.  But somehow Allen, Gordon Willis (there is that name again), Marshall Brickman, and the editing team found the story and the style and recovered an absolute diamond from the mine.

-- Ardent Henry






No. 7:  Blazing Saddles (Brooks)
(6 votes -- 31 1/2 points)

I love the way Mel Brooks dealt with racism in Blazing Saddles. Whenever I feel like the world has gotten too P.C. for me, I think of the scene where the chain gang is asked to sing an "old negra spiritual worksong" and they break out with Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out of You", and have no idea what "De camp town laaaydees??" is.

Thoughts on Blazing Saddles contributed by Michelle Lee Houghton.  










No. 8:  Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
(5 votes -- 29 points)

This Masterpiece by Kurosawa is an epic story of courage, humility, and nobility.  Despite being filled with epic, groundbreaking battle scenes, the film also contains a good deal of humor.

Once again, I will let David Thomson have the last word, "It is a landmark in action films, but in its treatment of heroism, too ... And Seven Samurai comes as that notion was being treated with cynicism.  But there is no denying or forgetting the faces of these men.  They are the seven samurai, and they have found themselves.  They do not need to say so, because we understand it."

Once again, a very serious tip of the hat to the marvelous David Thomson and his splendid book, Have You Seen ... ?






No. 9:  Aliens (Cameron)
(4 votes -- 27 points)

I first saw this film upon its release with my movie buddy at the time, Kevin Parker.  We were very excited to see it, listening to NPR on the way to the theater, a reviewer extolling its virtues.

I like how Cameron completely eschewed the original Alien genre and made an action film instead.  I also like how the Marines are all a bunch of sweary loudmouth badasses going in to the battle but are all reduced to sniveling little crybabies by the time they return to HQ.

In my personal opinion, Cameron has never made a film near as good as this one.  And I doubt he will ever top it.

-- Ardent Henry






No.  10:  Singin' in the Rain (Donen and Kelly)
(5 votes -- 26 1/2 points)

Like Gold Diggers of 1933, Singin' in the Rain is one of the very few Musical Comedies that satisfy on every level.  The music is fantastic, the songs are good (though Arthur Freed totally ripped off Cole Porter for Make 'Em Laugh), the comedy is absolutely side-splitting (Jean Hagen deserves a Lifetime Oscar for her work in this film alone), the dancing (Gene Kelly did the choreography) is sublime, and there are so many iconic moments in this film that will outlast us all. But what else do you expect from the Freed Unit at MGM?

Nobody, nobody made better musicals than MGM at this time.  And no unit at MGM could even touch the Arthur Freed Unit.  I strongly encourage you to watch the brill documentary, Musicals Great Musicals:  The Freed Unit at MGM whenever you get a chance.  The doc is part of the lavish dvd set of Singin' in the Rain.

(And just on a personal note, as a tween in Dallas, Texas in the late seventies/early eighties, seeing Cyd Charisse dance in the final "Gotta dance!" production number was like receiving a punch in the solar plexus.  That is the day Michael David Spitler discovered that girls really were different from little boys.)

-- Ardent Henry






No. 11:  To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan)
(4 votes -- 24 1/2 points)


I was in a theatre production of To Kill a Mockingbird in high school.  I was cast as Dill and I made an absolute hash of it, a travesty.  I wanted the Mr Gilmer DAs part instead.

I have always loved the fact that the amazing Harper Lee wrote just one novel.  Hey, if you are going to write just one book, why not make it one of the greatest novels in American history.

And I have always loved that Horton Foote wrote the screenplay for the film.  I also appeared in a Horton Foote play in 1984.  I played the lead (a kid again -- I almost always played kids due to my height and my intelligence) and I nailed it, one of my finest performances.

There is something about Texas and the South, that if you have never lived there, frankly, you just will not ever understand.

This is a wonderful adaptation of Ms Lee's masterful novel and I am so honored that it made this list.

-- Ardent Henry






No. 12:  All That Jazz (Fosse)
(4 votes -- 23 1/2 points)

Here are my personal thoughts on All That Jazz again.  But I will add a few more observations here:

Though depressing, there is so much life in this film that it bears multiple viewings.  I can not tell you how many times I have seen this absolute genius motion picture.

Fosse was not only one of the finest choreographers that ever lived but he was a masterful director who time and time again got uncanny, amazing performances from his actors, merely by directing them in a documentary, interviewer's style.  He always asked questions to his actors, never gave them direction.

Fosse was one of the all-time legends of cinema and Broadway.  He is so sorely missed.

-- Ardent Henry






No. 13:  All About Eve (Mankiewicz)
(5 votes -- 22 1/2 points)

All About Eve also made my personal ballot and you can read my thoughts here.

As I discussed re Trouble in Paradise, All About Eve is also a movie for smart grown-ups.  It is the type of film that Hollywood gave up on ages ago.  And we, as cinema goers, are all the worse for it.

And like All That Jazz, All About Eve is the type of film that theatre/showbizzy folk could stand to watch once a month (or more) for the rest of our lives.

-- Ardent Henry


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Honorable Mention (in no particular order):


Until the End of the World; Chinatown; Goodfellas; Rear Window; Manhattan; Bringing Up Baby; Dr Strangelove; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me; 12 Angry Men; North by Northwest; Lord of the Rings; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Blade Runner; The Outsiders; The Empire Strikes Back; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Double Indemnity; Now, Voyager; The Blues Brothers; Pulp Fiction; It's A Wonderful Life; and Lawrence of Arabia.  


************

Honestly, I wanted to give you a whole rash of favorite ballots with this post but I am not going to be able to get to that today.  (Going to the big Frog's Leap Leap Day Party in Napa very soon. Woo-hoo!)

I will give you my two favorite ballots today, though.  They are both from the two most important Libras in my life, my father, Andy, and my wife, Renee.  Both of them simply could not list just ten films.  My father gave me eighteen, and my wife gave me twenty-one! What is it about Libras? Rules? What rules? We are the true judges, after all!


Renee Diskowski's ballot:
(in no particular order)

Manhattan
An American in Paris
Metropolitan
Cabaret
Citizen Kane
Annie Hall
Bedazzled (the Donen directed Dudley Moore/Peter Cook version)
All About Eve
Bringing Up Baby
Happiness
North by Northwest
Now, Voyager
The Philadelphia Story
Play Misty for Me
Rear Window
Sunset Blvd.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Hanna and Her Sisters
Beauty and the Beast (the Cocteau live-action Masterpiece)
Glengarry Glen Ross



William Andrew Spitler's ballot:
(in no particular order)

Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Salesman (Mayles Bros documentary)
Day for Night
Brazil
Matewan
2001:  A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
The Fly (Cronenberg version)
Double Indemnity
The Philadelphia Story
All That Jazz
The Elephant Man
The Sting
The Maltese Falcon
Chinatown
Glengarry Glen Ross
Bye Bye Brazil

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And there you have it, folks! Thanks to all of you that participated.  Perhaps I will do another one on Leap Day, 2016?

I will publish in the coming days other ballots that I loved or found interesting.  I hope all of you have enjoyed this project as much as I enjoyed hosting it.

Thank you all so much! I love you all,

Mwah, ... 
mds


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You have got to be kidding me, Cyd!



The exquisite Cyd Charisse (1922-2008) yet another Woman Michael Loves.











mds








Nick C and I always have lists

Or polls or questions for the day on our brains.  And so yesterday, partly in honor of tne upcoming Spitler/Diskowski Greatest Films Poll (soon to be published) and after discussing just how fucking brill the group Wire is, we did an on-the-spot, snapshot, Leap Day, 2012 Top 5 Bands Poll.

Here's Nick C's:

1. The Rolling Stones
2. Steely Dan
3. The Ramones
4. Wire
5. Tower of Power



Here is mine:

1. The Beatles
2. Steely Dan
3. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
4. Wire
5. Spacemen 3



Ciao!

Feb 27, 2012

Trουble iח Ρaradise (1932) 4/8

No. 1: Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch)



Remember that this is my personal ballot and not the final compiled ballot that will be published in this space on 2/29/12.


Random notes on Trouble in Paradise: (With quotes from the film interspersed, as well.)

"Marriage is a beautiful mistake which two people make together."

... I love how we keep seeing a lovely antique bed throughout the entire picture but that in this very sophisticatedly sexy film we never see anyone actually in this bed.  And near the end of the picture, we finally see something on the bed, a stack of money, one-hundred thousand francs ... I love the Trotsky-ite (played by Leonid Kinskey, who also appeared as Sasha, the Russian bartender in Casablanca) scolding Kay Francis for buying such an expensive handbag during the Depression ... The shot of Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins vanishing before our eyes on a love seat is heavenly and I am swept off my feet every time I see it ... And then there is the shot of Kay Francis reclining luxuriously, practically swooning on to her chair at The Major's party.  You can tell, you just know that she has just made love with Herbert Marshall ...

"Darling, remember, you are Gaston Monescu.  You are a crook.  I want you as a crook.  I love you as a crook.  I worship you as a crook.  Steal, swindle, rob.  Oh,  but don't become one of those useless, good for nothing gigolos."

... Many have tried to make a film as naughty, amoral, and sexy as Trouble in Paradise, but all have failed.  The most famous film to try is the execrable, backlash mega-hit, Pretty Woman, directed by Garry Marshall.  And Marshall is no Lubitsch.  No one is.  Or ever will be again ... One of the most sacred Cardinal rules of Hollywood is:  Never give your best lines of dialogue to anyone but the Star.  Lubitsch totally ignored this rule to brilliant effect, giving his bit players in all his films some of the juiciest and richest comic bits.  I think it was all part of his generous, family-style atmosphere on the set.  Lubitsch made the set seem like a party, Champagne constantly flowing, everyone in great spirits.  And I have never read or heard of any Star bitching about working with Lubitsch as a director ... 

"Yes, that's the trouble with mothers.  First, you get to like them, and then they die."

... At one of the lowest points of my life whilst living in Oakland I happened to notice in the SFChron that Trouble in Paradise was playing at the Balboa in the City.  I did not even have time to take a shower.  I took BART to the City, a cab to the Balboa and settled in to my chair just as the film began.  It was magnificent and magical to see this glorious, glossy Masterpiece on the big screen with an audience.  The packed house applauded when the film was over.  The run was extended a couple of weeks and I went back to see it three more times, once with a friend ... And the ending of this film is the greatest ending in cinema history, as far as I am concerned.  Every time I watch it at home when it gets to the last scene I crank the volume up and attempt to soak up every last sexy, romantic, funny drop ...

Herbert Marshall:  I know all your tricks.
Kay Francis:  And you're going to fall for them.
Marshall:  So you think you can get me?
Francis:  Any minute I want.
Marshall:  You're conceited.
Francis:  But attractive.
Marshall:  Now let me tell you ...
Francis:  Shut up -- kiss me! Wasting all this precious time with arguments.

... Ms Francis' widiculous lisp might annoy some but I think it just adds to the charm of her character ... Travis Banton's sleek and stunning gowns for Ms Francis and Ms Hopkins are runway worthy and jaw-droppingly beautiful.  Banton was Edith Head's mentor at Paramount ... Francis and Hopkins kept trying to upstage each other in the "I'm going to be a bit of a tyrant scene".  Finally, Lubitsch nailed Ms Hopkins' chair to the floor so she could not move it ... Herbert Marshall lost a leg, fighting for Britain in WWI.  His entire English and Hollywood career he had a prosthetic leg.  Despite this, Marshall, married, had affairs with both Hopkins and Francis while working on the film ... And Lubitsch, himself, was always madly in love with Miriam Hopkins.  But nothing romantic ever happened between them ... 

Miriam Hopkins:  Well, did you ever take a good look at her, um, ...
Marshall:  Certainly.
Hopkins:  They're alright, aren't they?
Marshall:  Beautiful.  What of it? Let me tell you something, as far as I'm concerned her whole sex appeal is in that safe.
Hopkins:  Look, Gaston, let's open it right now.  Let's get away from here.  I don't like this place.
Marshall:  No, no, sweetheart.  There's more sex appeal coming on the first of the month.  It's only ten days.  Eight-hundred and fifty-thousand francs!

... The whole spanking speech and the "Maybe, Monsieur Leval" and the "Like this, Monsieur Leval?" stuff just cracks me up to no end.  It is raunchy yet still urbane.  Witty yet still naughty. So brilliant.  Only Lubitsch, it seems (and maybe Preston Sturges) could pull stuff like that off ... I do not want to spoil the ending.  I am sure many of you have not seen the picture, but it is so fucking adult.  I do not mean adult in terms of a sexual nature.  I mean adult as in, Trouble in Paradise is a sexy, romantic 1932 comedy meant for smart grown-ups.  Kids would love the picture now, too, but Hollywood quit making serious, smart comedies for adults decades ago.  And that is a terrible shame ... Trouble in Paradise is available on Criterion dvd (no blu-ray yet, but I am sure that will arrive soon) and is an absolute must own for any and all sophisticated aesthetes out there.  It is like having Moet with Brillat-Savarin.  Trouble in Paradise almost makes this atheist believe in God.  Rent it, own it, whatever, just see it.  It will change your life, I swear.  

************


So, here, again is my personal Top Ten:

1.  Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch)
2.  Citizen Kane (Welles)
3.  Sunrise (Murnau)
4.  All That Jazz (Fosse)
5.  Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy)
6.  Annie Hall (Allen)
7.  Casablanca (Curtiz)
8.  All About Eve (Mankiewicz)
9.  The Lady Eve (Sturges)
10.  Double Indemnity (Wilder)

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Thanks to all of you that voted.  The compiled ballot will be published on Leap Day, February 29, 2012, two days from now.

My goodness, I love you all!



Ciao!





Feb 23, 2012

I must admit I am a bit distracted,

Watching Roeg's brilliant, Bad Timing, and wanting to speak about Python's Meaning of Life.

Hullo, Doctor.
The Pythons, themselves, would have you believe that The Meaning of Life was the worst thing they did.  Do not believe them.  It was by far their best film, due to the fact that it was a sketch set-up, like their brill teevee show, which was much better than any film they ever produced.

Meanwhile, Bad Timing, is an absolute master work; difficult, wrong, sexy, fantastic title, bad casting, fabulous soundtrack (The Who & Tom Waits!), amazing cinematography, editing, etc, ...  a Master Class for young independent directors and writers.

And I learned what the word "ravishing" (or "ravishment") really meant.

As fucked-up and uneven as directors like Nic Roeg and Ken Russell were, my gosh, I am missing so desperately their spirit in films today.

Only Todd Solondz or sometimes Todd Haynes achieves those two men's amazing, difficult, controversial heights.

Where are the new trailblazers, damnitt?

Where?





(It's funny.  Renee and I hate Klimt.  Anytime we see his work, we yell, Kliiiiiiimut.)

We still both love Bad Timing, though.











xxxoooxxx

Toni Collette,

Next in the Women Michael Loves series.

She loves Dancing Queen.
Ms Collette is such a smashing actress and has long been one of my favorite people to enjoy on the big screen.

There are two moments from her career that stand out to me.  One only lasts a second or so and she does not even have a line.  It happens in Little Miss Sunshine when Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell are arguing in the VW bus.  Ms Collette is sitting in the passenger seat, smiling, half laughing, and you can see all the love she has for both of these flawed men.  One is her brother (Carell) and the other is her husband (Kinnear).  It is an astonishing, very simple piece of acting that gives me goosebumps every time I see it.

The other life-changing, profound performance from Collette that I treasure is the scene where she meets her prospective husband at the pool in Muriel's Wedding.

She is one of the best working today.  I love Ms Collette.

"Isn't it funny how beautiful people look as they're walking out the door."







Feb 21, 2012

No. 2: Citizen Kane (Welles)

Remember that this is my personal ballot and not the final compiled ballot that will be published in this space on 2/29/12.  


Gosh, where do I begin?

This little blast from the past seems as good a place to start, I suppose.  (But also, perhaps after I have read this post, just as good a place as I should have finished.  We will see.) And then, I figure, I will attack the subject in multiple sections, each speaking towards a different theme, style, or reason why Citizen Kane is so special.

To wit,

The absolute worst thing Citizen Kane (and Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz) did, and the thing that both of them always regretted the most, was the way they portrayed the delectable, sweet, loyal Marion Davies as a drunken floozy.  It was such awful timing, too.  Citizen Kane was released just as the American public had finally forgotten about Ms Davies, forgotten how during the silent-era William Randolph Hearst had literally shoved Ms Davies and her career down the public's throat in his newspapers.  And how Hearst had blindly sabotaged her career by insisting she only do films that he would approve of, films and characters that were the complete opposite of her charming, naturally mischievous, comic style of performing, or acting.

But if Mankiewicz' famous San Simeon-insider story about the nickname Hearst had for Ms Davies' private parts is true, "rosebud", then that is worser, still.  To hang the entire film on such a rude private joke is beyond small or mean.

Mank and Ms Davies were great friends.  He was a notorious drunk and bon vivant, someone Davies could sneak off and drink with at the legendary Hollywood San Simeon parties.  (Hearst was a teetotaller and hated the idea of Marion drinking.)  In order to relieve himself of his awful guilt towards his friend, in an absolute master-stroke of self-destruction, Mank gave a copy of the Citizen Kane script to his friend and Ms Davies' nephew, Charlie Lederer.  Welles would only express regret in interviews late in his life re their treatment of Ms Davies.  And at one point in his life Welles borrowed a great sum of money from Lederer, which he never returned.

Perhaps I am the only person who thinks like this:  If Citizen Kane had strictly, solely laid to bare the life of William Randolph Hearst and had not included Marion Davies in it, then perhaps Hearst might not have reacted as he did, or with such Biblical vengeance.  I could be completely wrong.

************

Welles said there were so many curtain calls that eventually they just raised the curtain and let the audience congratulate the cast and crew on stage.  
One of the best arguments for why I could be wrong in the paragraph above is that Hearst and Welles had already come in to conflict before Citizen Kane was made.  One of the greatest triumphs of Welles' career and of that of the American Theatre was Welles' production of Macbeth in Harlem in 1936.  The production was part of the Federal Theatre Project, which was part of FDR's Works Project Administration (WPA), which was a massive economic stimulus project. (Gosh, where have we heard about projects like these recently?) Of course, some one like Hearst was opposed to the WPA and the Federal Theatre Project, and FDR and the twenty-year old director, Welles, and the fact that the cast was entirely African-American amateurs.  Welles and FDR were routinely savaged in Hearst newspapers as  traitors and Communists.  (Gosh, who likes to bandy that word about these days -- though, now they prefer the, to them, tamer friendlier word, Socialist?)

Welles and Hearst were headed for an absolute comet-like collision course no matter what.  It was inevitable.

Look, I am sure that even back in Roman times there were reactionary right-wing assholes that controlled a portion or all of the media of its' times.  Before Hearst it was someone else in this country and today it is Rupert Murdoch.  But go back to that link above, Jimmy Breslin's quote. Hearst set out to destroy Citizen Kane before it was released, offered $800,000 to the (Jewish) major studio heads to purchase the negative and have it destroyed. Hearst threatened to expose the studio heads as Jewish, Commie-symp Libertines if he did not get his way.  And as for Welles, well, "You always suggest sodomy.  Always."

Even William Alland, the reporter in Citizen Kane and the fantastic voice-over for the famous News on the March sequence, was called before the FBI to discuss if Welles and he were lovers. And if they were Communists.

That is why I forgive them, reluctantly, for their treatment of Ms Davies (sometimes great art has to be small and mean) and absolutely why I have no compunction for the way the film and Welles and Mank exposed Hearst and his media empire for the wretched reactionary creeps that they were.

What is the quote from Greil Marcus' superb book, Lipstick Traces? He is quoting Eisenhower, "Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."

************

But when the heck is Michael David Spitler gonna talk about the film, the movie, Citizen Kane?

Well, right now, as a matter of fact.

One of the only directors that I consider even in the same league as Welles (for completely different reasons, mind you), Ernst Lubitsch, was famous for his method of beginning his films. He would always work with his scriptwriter and demand that it had to be fresh, new, and different. That the first few minutes of his films had to be special.

For Citizen Kane, Welles and his crack DP (one of the greatest ever), Gregg Toland, that is how they attacked not just the beginning of the picture, but every single shot.

Every single shot in Citizen Kane is fresh and different.  Every single shot adds depth to the story or the characters.  Every single shot has the power to move or astonish or infuriate the viewer. And Welles and Toland used every trick in their respective bags.  Toland finally got to perfect the deep focus that Jean Renoir had come to love, directing La Règle du jeu.  Toland and Welles dug out the studio floors to create the dramatic low-angle shots that Hitchcock would exploit again and again.  Welles brought every theatre trick he could, including insane false perspective sets, featuring giant fireplaces or over-sized window frames that reinforced story or character.  Welles included cut-outs of people at the political rally (reinforcing the inherent fascistic nature of all politics or political movements).  Welles (and his production design team) told the whole story of the life and death of a marriage through simple editing and by enlarging the dinner table in increments, scene by scene.

What an amazing joy that must have been to arrive on the set each day.  All the geniuses were finally allowed to do whatever they pleased, try anything they had always secretly wanted to try, but were never allowed to before.

Just the News on the March sequence is decades ahead of its' time, blending stock footage, real footage, double and triple exposures, etc, ...

The camera went anywhere and everywhere.  Audiences had not seen anything like this since Murnau's Sunrise, fourteen years earlier, and pretty much forgotten by 1941, Citizen Kane's release.

But it is not just the technical side that makes Citizen Kane so special.  It is also its thrilling larger than life acting and characters.  The fact that the finest acting performance comes from Agnes Moorehead and she is in only one scene.  The amazing Bernard Herrmann score which magically and surreptitiously obeys no rules for scene changes, yet, numerous times comments wittily on the action at hand.  The elegant way that the script and the performers and the production so slyly satirise American Pop Culture and the media.  And on, and on, and on, ...

************

Honestly, Citizen Kane is the greatest motion picture in history.  But for idiosyncratic, special romantic, personal reasons, here it will have to reside as No. 2.

Believe me, Citizen Kane (like the Beatles) is not over-rated as many would suggest.  It is still under-rated.  It is an absolute diamond mine of riches, seemingly infinite, with still, yet more treasures to unearth the more we explore.

************

Favorite two moments from Citizen Kane:

1.  The ferry girl speech because I have had the exact same experience.  I was on a flight home from Germany in 1994.  The flight was delayed due to mechanical problems.  They ushered us back to the terminal and plied us with free cocktails and crappy German snacks.  It was there I spied one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life, waiting with me.  I never spoke to her.  I doubt we could have, anyway.  I remember her beautiful auburn hair and her Romanian passport.  At the oddest of times, every now and then, I remember the way she stood, clutching that passport.  I am quite sure she never thinks of me, at all, ever.

2.  The whole "in sixty years I'll have to close this newspaper" sequence.







All my love,

Ardent Henry



















New Whit Stillman film, his first

Since The Last Days of Disco, which was fourteen years ago, comes out right around my birthday this year.  Hoo-ray!

It is called Damsels in Distress and is part musical, believe it or not.  No Chris Eigeman or Taylor Nicols in it, though.  Looks pretty much like all young unknowns.  "Chad" from In the Loop and the sultry, surly Aubrey Plaza (Scott Pilgrim, Parks and Recreation) make appearances.  The trailer is below:



Meanwhile, I loaned out Barcelona to my friend, Meghan, and a bunch of other great films, so Renee and I scratched our Whit Stillman itch the other night by watching Metropolitan again.  It is such a sweet, wonderful, darling motion picture, with a true old-school classical structure full of ingenues, heroes and cads.  And so much great dialogue.  Of course, I identify with Tom Townsend.  I am Tom Townsend.  I quit reading novels ages ago.  I prefer to read literary criticism.  I walk everywhere or take public transportation.  I actually know who Charles Fourier is and used to talk at great length about him with my splendid vegan, Socialist, wannabe ELF member, now author and legitimate environmental protector, Douglas Bevington.  Also, like Tom Townsend, for all my revolutionary rhetoric I would be just as vulnerable to the seduction of the Manhattan UHB-scene, eager to belong to their clique, their world.  But unlike Tom Townsend I most definitely do not have bright red hair.









"It has a lining."



AH

Feb 20, 2012

If Ms Trotta was working for any other network

She woulda been canned.

Self-loathing kills, Sister.
But she works for Fox News so she was propped up again the next Sunday and allowed to "backpedal" and be contrite.  Except she did not do that even.  She said the same exact crap she had said the week before on Fox while Fox lamely attempts to cover their ass by putting the word, "COMMENTARY" in Ariel typeface in the top left-hand corner.

The main thrust of Ms Trotta's self-loathing, self-hating, Right Wing, nutjob, backlash argument is: That our courageous, honorable Sisters in Uniform would not get raped and abused and ridiculed by their fellow male soldiers if they would get out of the military once and for all, a place Ms Trotta has decided women are not fit or meant for.


Ugh.  It makes you sick.

Velvet Goldmine

Is a mess.  A film that appears to completely come apart, ripping at the seams as the reels unspool before us.  The whole Citizen Kane parallel structure, the seemingly willful way Todd Haynes refuses to focus on one or two themes or crucial arcs all indicate that perhaps ambition and wanting to say everything and more may have made the film more like the rooms and halls of the real Bedlam.

But what a beautiful mess.  Those walls and hallways are lined with velvet, natch, and spun gold brocade.  And the leftover wine rests in the finest Czech crystal.  And the lithe, naked lovely sleeping bodies, the "residents", as it were, are all smiling.  The men cover themselves with their frocks to keep themselves warm and happily dreaming.  The women with their dinner jackets, their ties still loose around their slender necks.

And maybe I am all wrong.  I have been wrong before.  Many times.  Maybe Haynes insisted on this lack of focus, this careening riot of decadence, glamour, glitter and the gutter best illustrated, to him, everything Glam was all about, what the glorious post-Stonewall gay liberation must have felt like to him.  It was a beggar's banquet drenched with paste diamonds, silks, and eyeliner.  For a short while the Bedlamites and Libertines were free from their Jean Genet prison cells, walking the streets proclaiming that ultimately Pretension is a just a word, just a word, meaning to "aspire to something."  (h/t Simon Reynolds.)
Ah, a couple of rock stars sleeping in on a Sunday.

But amidst this majestic, gaudy parade, very early Haynes lays down a very very important message to the haters and charlatans out there, through Ewen McGregor, speaking as rock star, Curt Wild (loosely Iggy Pop, really):

Everyone's in to this scene because it is supposedly the thing to do right now but you can't fake being gay.  You know, if you're going to claim that you're gay you're going to have to make love in gay style.  And most of these kids just aren't going to make it.

I treasure Todd Haynes' sumptuous yet shambolic Velvet Goldmine.  There are many moments in this film that I will always recall with fondness or wisdom.  In fact, his entire canon is worth watching, notably Poison, Safe, Far From Heaven, and his HBO Mildred Pierce miniseries. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest American directors working today.

"Camp is not just a row of tents."



All my love,
AH








Feb 19, 2012

Champagne swag

1988 Cheval Blanc and Lynn Barber's perfect memoir.
Is the greatest, most fun swag gift available.  It is disposable, luxurious, and rich with valentine love.

Our Martinis are lit w/ only the finest of Champagne lamps.





And never forget that the only true religious experience I have had with wine was with my lovely Wifey, Valentine's 2006, drinking a 1988 Cheval Blanc.  (And that is considered young for a wine of that quality.)

It was majestic and transcendent.  It is possible I will ne'er taste a wine as good as that, even if it is '61 Lafites.

It was perfect that night.  As it is w/ so many nights w/ Renee.





AH

Feb 18, 2012

OMG! (Pictures later.)

So, I got a raise today.

(Had to work till frickin seven-thirty.  Ugh!)

Got home today to the wonderful Wifey and our friend Meghan.  They made a special mushroom-free savory bread pudding for me (!) They made the most wonderful Cafe Rouge handmade sausages.  Meghan made the most perfect salad evah! Renee bought Sea Smoke Pinot Noir at Paul Marcus! Meghan brought the most brill Alto Adige white I have tasted in a while.  And Chiquot Green Card grower Champagne, which I had not tasted in forever.

Roasted carrots, delicious ice cream desserts, Last Days of Disco and All That Jazz on the screen.

Absolute fucking heaven.  I am spoiled rotten.

I am so blessed to be surrounded and loved by so many wonderfulwonderful women.

And I love all you women, damnitt.  You make me who I am.  Many kisses.



Kisseslkisseskisseskisseskisseskisses,
Michael

Lesley Woods,

Hanging in the green room, talking about Kate Millet, I am sure.
Singer/guitarist for the spectacular post-punk geniuses, Au Pairs.  (Next in Women Michael Loves.)

She eventually quit rock.  She is a lawyer, living and working in London now.

Au Pairs first album, Playing with a Different Sex, and their armful of early singles:  Kerb Crawler; It's Obvious, and You are feminist, political (sexual and otherwise) knives aimed straight at the hearts of the straight, white Western World.

Plus, the music they cloaked their message in is arresting, jarring, thrilling, and tense enough to snap at any moment.  Scary, fantastic stuff.





Ciao!




Feb 16, 2012

Lætitia Sadier,

Yet another, in what I guess is a new series:  Women Michael Loves.

Lætitia Sadier
And Ms Sadier is right in my wheelhouse.

She is a bonafide French, Parisian, Situationist.  Mais oui! She was born in May of 1968! She had no other choice!

She is pretty and she plays a mean Moog, too.

But check out this story:  Ms Sadier saw the English Marxist 'rock' group, McCarthy, in Paris, fell in love with the guitarist, dropped out of the University of Paris, joined McCarthy, and when McCarthy broke up, started Stereolab with her sweetie, the guitarist, Tim Gane.

Psychogeography of Paris.  Linklater did one for Austim, TX for the artwork of the Criterion dvd of Slacker.
Stereolab ruled my existence from about 1991 until the tragic death of Stereolab guitarist/singer, Mary Hansen in 2001.  Ms Hansen was riding her bike in London and was killed by a lorry driver.

I was fortunate to see Stereolab many many many times.  They came to the City at least once a year in the 90s and I never once missed a show.  I also had the good fortune to see them open up for Pavement in Prague, March 1994.  At the Jean-Paul Belmondo Theater.

Stereolab's unique blend of Can/Neu Krautrock and French pop, combined with Ms Sadier's Situationist political lyrics made them so unworldly and special to me that they will always be an inspiration and an influence on any and every thing I do.

Sadly, Ms Sadier and Gane have split.  They have a child, Alex.

The groop, as Stereolab have always described themselves, are on hiatus currently.  I hope they make another record someday.  And that I get one more chance to see them.

In the meantime:

Here is something for your Revolutionary Fervor!

"I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires."

"Ne travaillez jamais"

"Beneath the paving stones, the beach!"

May, 1968, Paris.  It took Charles de fucking Gaulle to get on the teevee and end the magical General Strike of France.  Guy Debord and the Situationists were soooo close.  

All my love,
Ardent Henry

California Dreamin' is such a superb

Motion picture.

It is a Romanian film that tells the tale of some US Marines on their way to Bosnia who are left standed in a small, remote Romanian village for a period of time. 

This delights the villagers, particularly the Mayor and all the young "High School" village girls.

Armand Assante, the Marine Captain, meanwhile does everything he can to cut the stay short and complete their mission.

In some respects, California Dreamin' is similar to Milos Forman's exquisite, Loves of a Blonde.

There is much to love about this film.  Here are some of my favorite things:

All the furious necking and making out between the soldiers and the village girls.  It is played so romantically, yet so truthfully, as well.  The reckless near-desperate abandon with which these young adults express their young, new, and inflamed love is so touching and pretty.  And, of course, the poignant other side of that coin is the glum faces of the newly-made wallflower village boys.

Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered.
I also love the party scenes, especially the one with the Romanian Elvis, as it were, singing Blue Suede Shoes and Love Me Tender.

Naturally, the prettiest girl in the village falls in love with the most handsome Marine.  And of course, there is a young male classmate of hers who is hopelessly in love with her. 

As the girl, played by the pixillating Maria Dinulescu, can not speak English she enlists the love-sick classmate to translate a conversation between her and the Marine.  But the boy is so in love with her that he sabotages the translation playing the Marine off as a rowdy playboy. 

This sabotage is unsuccesssful, much to the classmate's chagrin. 

Right after this, the classmate's father tells his son to forget about Dinulescu, concentrate on college, move to Bucharest, and never return to this fucking village again. 

Sadly, the director of California Dreamin', Cristian Nemescu, died before the film was totally complete.  He was only twenty-seven.  He did not leave us much but he did leave us this touching, bittersweet jewelbox of a film. 

Very highly recommended.




Ardent






Theremin - Clara Rockmore play "The Swan" (Saint-Saëns)

Clara Rockmore - Pastorale (Anis Fuliehan)

Feb 15, 2012

No Direction Home,

The Scorsese doc about Bob Dylan is frustrating to me.  I thought the interviews with Dylan himself were lucid and valuable but not enthralling or illuminating.  My favorite witness was Joan Baez, who upon much reflection now, wonders why she ever thought back then that Dylan should have been nicer to her.  Now, she knows what a difficult, moody, and complex person Dylan was (is.)  And that is one thing that many of witnesses keep repeating, that Dylan always only does whatever the fuck he wants to do.

Frankly, the whole Greenwich Village part of the film bored me.  And, after seeing all the abuse that even people like Pete Seeger (for crying out loud) hurled at Dylan after he went electric, it makes me hate folkies almost as much as jazz purists.  I can not stand reverence.  Truly nothing is sacred to me.  (Even the Beatles or Shakespeare or what have you.)  These kids screaming, "Judas," or "Traitor", or "Sell out" to Dylan infuriates me.  I do not know how he survived it.  Those kids obviously had waaaaay too much time on their hands, and some real screwed-up sense of proportion.

That is my favorite (by far) part of the film.  All the footage of Dylan and The Band slugging it out in Europe, playing those fantastic songs, and trying to slough off the stupid abuse.

(Side note:  There was a part of the film, illustrating what the Hit Parade looked like when Like A Rolling Stone broke.  No. 1 was Help!/The Beatles.  No. 2 was Like A Rolling Stone.  No. 3 was California Girls/The Beach Boys.  And No. 4 was It's the Same Old Song/The Four Tops.

Wow! Man, the boomers were so frickin' spoiled.  We will never see the likes again of the wealth and riches of the most popular music being so monstrously good.  Take that to the bank.)

(Side note two:  I had never thought Dylan particularly good looking or even a sexual object for females but in his benzedrine, pot-smoking Don't Look Back days, he was pretty damn hot.)

************

And then I saw a fantastic, touching, magical documentary that everyone should see.  That would be Theremin (which I had seen before but it had been a very long time.)
What a splendid, lovely photograph.  You see all the love & friendship.

The ending is just so wonderful and special.  And I am not going to spoil it for you.

The whole thing is worth it just to see Clara Rockmore play the theremin.  And the whole crushing, poignant story of her dear friend, inventor Lev Theremin is beautiful, too.

You can watch Theremin on Netflix.  Highly highly highly recommended.

Kisses,
AH



Feb 14, 2012

There almost always is a method

To my madness.

The crucial albums that Renee and I listened to when we first starting "going out"/living together in 2002:

Electric Warrior/ T Rex
the first two White Stripes records (thanks to Chris McClung)
The Cars' eponymous debut (Thanks to Chris again)
Sticky Fingers/ The Rolling Stones
The Coast is Never Clear/ Beulah  (Renee and I saw Beulah at Bimbo's in the City in 2002.  For the first round of encores the singer/guitarist pulled me up on to the stage to play with the band.  I, naturally, immediately reached in to the crowd to pull Renee on to the stage with me.  She shook her head so furiously.  There was no way she was getting on that stage.)
Is This It?/ The Strokes
Field Studies/ Quasi
Bill Withers/ Lovely Day:  Bill Withers' Greatest Hits

************

I invited Renee over for a lavish, insane Valentine's Day Dinner.  I was living in one of the coolest apartments in the entire Bay Area, with an absolute madman for a housemate.

One of my facebook friends was there, too.  Sean O.


Sean, did you bring a 1994 Ridge Monte Bello? Is that right?

************

Renee, later that Summer, asked me to be her date for her parents fortieth Wedding Anniversary party.

Oh, I was furious.  Because this was the same day that the US played Germany in the World Cup Quarterfinals.  UGH!


Who would have known amongst all of us at the table that night that Renee and I would be married and have been together for ten years now?

************




Thank goodness for you, Renee, who made me finally respect myself and become a man.  I love you to pieces, angel, and always will.






And, oh yeah, Germany beat the US one-nil.



Mwah, 
AH

Feb 11, 2012

Ides of March is not very good.

Renee and I were particularly underwhelmed.  Like a lot of films it gets off to a very strong start but loses focus right after Ryan Gosling and Evan Rachel Wood consummate their affair.  More on this later.

You are not sure what Clooney and Heslov's point is.  That politics is dirty and underhanded? That politicians will always let you down? The mercenary nature of politics? That politicians can not help but sleep with young, hot interns? Did we not know all this, already?

And what a waste of talent, my goodness! Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Gosling, Wood, Clooney, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Heslov, etc, ...

Once again, like Crazy Stupid Love, the best scene in the picture is a romantic seduction scene between Gosling and Wood.  It takes place at a Ohio campaign HQ in Gosling's office and it is extremely sexy, with Ms Wood getting all the really good lines.
"Are you a Bearcat?"

(And Ms Wood is really starting to make an impression with me, personally.  I tried True Blood and can not get in to it, but she was astounding in Todd Haynes' HBO Mildred Pierce and she is delicious in Ides.  Plus, she can sing and dance, i.e. Across the Universe.)

Renee then made an excellent point.  Take a look at Gosling's CV.  It is atrocious.  Time and time again Renee and I have watched a Gosling picture and it has been awful.

Here it is (from imdb):


Lawless (pre-production)

2012 Only God Forgives (filming)

2012 The Gangster Squad (post-production)
Sgt. Jerry Wooters

2012 The Place Beyond the Pines (post-production)
Luke

2011 Drunk History Christmas (short)
Pa

2011 The Ides of March
Stephen Meyers

2011 Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Jacob Palmer

2011 Drive
Driver

2010 All Good Things
David Marks

2010 Blue Valentine
Dean

2007 Lars and the Real Girl
Lars Lindstrom

2007/ Fracture
Willy Beachum

2006 Half Nelson
Dan Dunne

2005/ Stay
Henry Letham

2005 I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust (TV documentary)
Ilya Gerber (voice)

2004 The Notebook
Noah

2003 The United States of Leland
Leland P. Fitzgerald

2002 Murder by Numbers
Richard Haywood

2002 The Slaughter Rule
Roy Chutney

2001 The Believer
Danny Balint

2000 Remember the Titans
Alan Bosley

1998-1999 Young Hercules (TV series)
Hercules
– Life for a Life (1999) … Hercules
– Valley of the Shadow (1999) … Hercules
– Ill Wind (1999) … Hercules
– Apollo (1999) … Hercules
– Mila (1999) … Hercules
See all 49 episodes »

1999 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (TV series)
Zylus
– The Academy (1999) … Zylus

1999 The Unbelievables (TV movie)
Josh

1997-1998 Breaker High (TV series)
Sean Hanlon
– To Kill a MockingNerd (1998) … Sean Hanlon
– Heartbreaker High (1998) … Sean Hanlon
– Chile Dog (1998) … Sean Hanlon
– Lord of the Butterflies (1998) … Sean Hanlon
– Kiss of the Shy-Er Woman (1998) … Sean Hanlon
See all 44 episodes »

1998 Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy (TV movie)
Tommy

1997 Frankenstein and Me
Kenny

1996 PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal (TV series)
Adam
– Dream House/UFO Encounter (1996) … Adam

1996 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (TV series)
Kevin
– Dragon's Lair (1996) … Kevin

1996 Avonlea (TV series)
Bret McNulty
– From Away (1996) … Bret McNulty

1996 Goosebumps (TV series)
Greg Banks
– Say Cheese and Die (1996) … Greg Banks

1996 Flash Forward (TV series)
Scott Stuckey
– Double Bill (1996) … Scott Stuckey
– Skate Bait (1996) … Scott Stuckey

1996 Ready or Not (TV series)
Matt Kalinsky
– I Do, I Don't (1996) … Matt Kalinsky

1996 The Adventures of Shirley Holmes (TV series)
Sean
– The Case of the Burning Building (1996) … Sean

1995 Are You Afraid of the Dark? (TV series)
Jamie Leary
– The Tale of Station 109.1 (1995) … Jamie Leary





Okay:  Drive, Half-Nelson, and Blue Valentine are all good.  I will give you those.  And I guess I can give you Remember the Titans, too.   But I will not allow Lars or The Notebook to be considered good films.  And Fracture is certainly one of the worst films of the last decade.

Meanwhile, check out Michael Fassbender's CV (he is three years older than Gosling):


Twelve Years a Slave (pre-production)

2012 Prometheus (post-production)
David

2011 Haywire
Paul

2011 Shame
Brandon Sullivan

2011 A Dangerous Method
Carl Jung

2011 X-Men: First Class
Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto

2011 Jane Eyre
Rochester

2011 Pitch Black Heist (short)
Michael

2010 Fable III (Video Game)
Logan (voice)

2010 Jonah Hex
Burke

2010 Centurion
Centurion Quintus Dias

2009 Inglourious Basterds
Lt. Archie Hicox

2009 Fish Tank
Connor

2009 Blood Creek
Richard Wirth

2009 Man on a Motorcycle (short)

2008 The Devil's Whore (TV mini-series)
Thomas Rainsborough
– Episode #1.4 (2008) … Thomas Rainsborough
– Episode #1.3 (2008) … Thomas Rainsborough
– Episode #1.2 (2008) … Thomas Rainsborough
– Episode #1.1 (2008) … Thomas Rainsborough

2008 Eden Lake
Steve

2008 Hunger
Bobby Sands

2007 Wedding Belles (TV movie)
Barney

2007/ Angel
Esmé

2006 300
Stelios

2006 Agatha Christie's Poirot (TV series)
George Abernethie
– After the Funeral (2006) … George Abernethie

2006 Trial & Retribution (TV series)
Douglas Nesbitt
– Sins of the Father: Part 1 (2006) … Douglas Nesbitt

2004-2005 Hex (TV series)
Azazeal
– Where the Heart Is (2005) … Azazeal (credit only)
– Noir (2005) … Azazeal
– With a Little Help from My Friends: Part 2 (2005) … Azazeal
– With a Little Help from My Friends: Part 1 (2005) … Azazeal
– Ella Burns (2005) … Azazeal
See all 13 episodes »

2005 Our Hidden Lives (TV movie)
German POW

2005 Murphy's Law (TV series)
Caz Miller
– Boy's Night Out (2005) … Caz Miller
– Hard Boiled Eggs and Nuts (2005) … Caz Miller
– Strongbox (2005) … Caz Miller
– Disorganised Crime (2005) … Caz Miller
– The Goodbye Look (2005) … Caz Miller

2005 William and Mary (TV series)
Lukasz
– Episode #3.3 (2005) … Lukasz

2004 Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (TV movie)
Charles Allen

2004 A Bear Named Winnie (TV movie)
Lt. Harry Colebourn

2004 A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of Charles Bravo (TV movie)
Charles Bravo

2004 Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (TV movie)
Guy Fawkes

2003 Carla (TV movie)
Rob

2002 Holby City (TV series)
Christian Connolly
– Ghosts (2002) … Christian Connolly

2002 NCS Manhunt (TV series)
Jack Silver

2001 Band of Brothers (TV mini-series)
Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
– Points (2001) … Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
– Why We Fight (2001) … Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
– The Last Patrol (2001) … Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
– The Breaking Point (2001) … Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
– Bastogne (2001) … Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
See all 7 episodes »

2001 Hearts and Bones (TV series)
Hermann
– Episode #2.6 (2001) … Hermann
– Episode #2.5 (2001) … Hermann
– Episode #2.2 (2001) … Hermann


Fassbender already has Hunger, Shame, Inglorious Basterds, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Band of Brothers, Fish Tank, an X-men movie, 300, and is currently working on his third film with director, Steve McQueen.  Sure, Fassbender's been in some crap, too, but that is a v impressive CV with some trophies sprinkled in, as well.

I like Ryan Gosling a lot.  But he either needs a new agent or he needs to do like he did with the astonishing Drive and take the project on himself and hand-pick his director.


All my love,
Ardent