The Unstoppable Tony Scott

Tony Scott used to be a flash but relatively normal filmmaker, but somewhere around Enemy of the State (1998) he discovered ADD editing, and never looked back. More zoom-happy than Mario Bava, pushing discontinuous edits farther than Michael Bay, Scott – the younger brother of Ridley Scott – has managed to maintain his own storytelling style, but with the odd quirky similarity to brother Ridley.

He actually appeared in Ridley’s 1965 film debut, the short Boy and Bicycle, and the two established names for themselves as directors of striking TV commercials before eking out their own careers as film directors.

Both continue to collaborate as producers via their Scott Free production shingle, but it is amusing to see the two evolve into editorially flashy directors when wide visual compositions tended to be their hallmark. Tony still maintains a look reminiscent of glossy commercials, but like Ridley’s obsession in casting one actor (Russell Crowe) in all his films, Tony’s been glued to Denzel Washington.

Tony, however, isn’t obsessed with bloated epics that are released in even longer directorial cuts, not the use of conventional scores or the heavy use of CGI. His filmic world is a fusion of practical and creative, applying film tools ‘like paintbrush strokes’ whether it propels, heightens or utterly ruins a scene involving a car chase, or a character leaving forward to say ‘This is Garber’ into a microphone via 18 different angles with impeccable colour lighting.

Unstoppable [M] (Fox) is one of Tony Scott’s better films, but he’s also the best and worst kind of director to handle a disaster movie about a runaway train.

The good: the trains are real, as is the carnage. The bad: well, read the review.

In retrospect, the project feels like a natural extension of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [M] (Columbia / TriStar), the third remake of John Godey’s novel which Scott directed in 2009 that largely dealt with characters interacting around slow-moving or parked trains in the underground environs of the NYC transit system. Unstoppable is all exterior, all moving camera thingies, and characters are constantly chasing trains in sometimes vain attempts to restrain and halt the giant mechanical hulks.

Neither film is bad, but they’re products of a visually over-active mind who can’t tolerate stillness of any kind. If 12 years has pushed him to the current level of editorial shakycam, zoom-happy madness, one wonders where he’ll be in 2024.

Oh, I heard that thought. That wasn’t very nice…






Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

Handling the Truth

Investigative journalism isn’t new to movies, but there aren’t many films that balance story, characters, and the thrill of the chase for facts into a fluid narrative which also leaves audiences thinking about serious events or social issues.

Perhaps the first film in that arena that comes to mind is Call Northside 777 (1948), in which crusading reporter James Stewart finds the proof needed to set free a wrongly convicted man whose floor-scrubbing mother was the only person who refused to give up on her son’s innocence.

It’s a rock-solid little drama that’s propelled by a reporter searching for the truth, finding injustice, social prejudice, and the use of technology to transfer facts across the country. A large portion of the film deals with how facts are unearthed, winnowed down to a relevant table, and the whole piece comes together with a published story and a free man.

It’s a template that was similarly applied in Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), in which investigative reporter Gregory Peck pretends to be Jewish to see how deep anti-Semitism ran in perfectly ordinary routes and venues of society, be it hotels, country clubs, restaurants, and social circles.

Flash forward to Ron Howard’s The Paper (1994), and the formula’s been twisted a bit, fused wit a little bit of the brutally funny and absurd cynicism from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s play The Front Page (later remade a few times as films bearing the original title, and as His Girl Friday). Written by brothers David (Angels & Demons) and Stephen Koepp, The Paper is a perfect blend of melodrama, humour, and absurdism, starring an amazing cast and sporting a solid, dryly humorous score by Randy Newman.

It’s also one of the few movies from Universal’s first foray into DVD that’s in DIRE NEED of a letterboxed release. Call this one a forgotten gem no one remembers. Again: look at the cast.

Also note how Jason Robards is among the ensemble troupe, which may be more than coincidence, considering Robards won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1977 for playing Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in All the President’s Men [M] (1976), perhaps the definitive and most flawless movie about investigative journalism, and despicable political corruption, as chronicled in the eponymous book by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Warner Home Video just released a sparkling Blu-ray edition which sports all of the extras from the 2006 anniversary DVD, but it’s a beautiful transfer that again illustrates the right way to transfer an old film to HD without washing away film grain – a problem that a number of critics have lobbed towards Fox.

One of the reasons The Paper and All the President’s Men go hand-in-hand is because they show some of the technological changes over 20 years, not to mention how things have furthered since the nineties.

Woodward and Bernstein did tremendous grunt work using just notepads, telephones, and scribbling notes and quotes for use in articles – a process that seems weirdly antiquated when we’re surrounded by so many toys designed to do things better, faster, and with video.

It’s easy to see why professors use the film version of All the President’s Men as a teaching tool, because like Woodward and Bernstein’s book, it does inspire journalists to try harder, seek out angles, keep asking questions during the fact-searching treks, and reminds writers there is some dignity and nobility to reporting events.

No matter how cynical we’ve become towards the media, if a subway train is down, workers strike, or a federal minister lies to her staff + cabinet + legislature + country at large (er, the Oda affair neither the PM nor the populace seem to care about) we turn to the media for straight facts, whether it comes from right, left or centrist outlets.

It’s a tremendous credit to the filmmakers that the film version of Woodward and Bernstein’s chronicle of the Watergate scandal remains gripping, because we’re just watching writers think aloud and do legwork onscreen in montages, and a few ballsy long takes. No one does this anymore because our film sensibilities have changed, and yet the film still works.

Watching Robert Redford (as Woodward) make calls and uncover further slime in one long slow-zoom is compelling because of the performance, the content of the dialogue, and the audience slowly comprehending the impact of what’s being hashed out.

It’s smart filmmakers trusting the audience without spoon-feeding facts or crafting bouncy music montages, and like the antique fact-gathering processes of the reporters, there’s much to learn about an older style of direction and writing, because the drama and message still come through lean and clean.






Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

Francis Lai & Claude Lelouch I - A Man & a Woman

Anouk Aimee, deep in Yaba-Daba-Da land.

Since 1966, Francis Lai has been Claude Lelouch’s chief composer, and the two may well have broken the record for the longest professional association between a composer and a director.

The current film festival touring of Lelouch’s Ces amours-là / What Love May Bring (2010) marks the 44th year the two creative minds have worked together, so it’s appropriate their musical history is partially sampled in Silva Screen’s latest composer tribute, Francis Lai: The Essential Film Music Collection, featuring 20 themes composed and conducted by the composer.

In 1965, Claude Lelouch was utterly bummed out for making Une filles et des fusils / The Decadent Influence, a movie the director describes as being unwanted by critics and audiences alike. Being its writer, director and producer, he needed to rethink his next project as well as absorb the defeat of making a dud, because his production company was now in financial jeopardy.

Lelouch hopped in his car and simply drove – a tactic which he’d used in the past to clear his mind, sort out issues, and wait for inspiration to hit – and when he ended up on a beach at Deauville, he spotted a woman playing on the sand with a young son at 6am in the morning.

The oddity of such a normal event taking place at a ridiculous time sent his brain into motion, and he imagined a backstory of a busy mother having a small window of time for her child before heading back to the boarding school and leaving for work. With further writing, a script was hammered out, and the story garnered the interest of Jean-Louis-Trintignant, a popular actor whose father happened to be a professional race car driver.

When the actor and director discussed the dream actress who could play the character of Anne, Anouk Aimee came up as No. 1 – fortuitous for Lelouch, because Trintignant was friends with the striking actress.

Filmed on location on Deauville with a core production crew of 10 and using colour and black & white stock to keep the costs down, A Man and a Woman / Un home et une femme eventually did the film festival rounds, and garnered both awards and the attention of international audiences.

The film ultimately won Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay, and Lelouch and Lai were suddenly international names, and in spite of their lengthy careers, not to mention Lelouch’s prolific output, they’ve perhaps become marginalized over the past 10-20 years due to Lelouch’s eclectic, personal stories, and Lai being pigeoned as a composer of romantic schmaltz.

Mention Lai, and one thinks of the corkscrew ‘yaba-daba-da’ title theme from Man and a Woman, not to mention the syrupy Love Story (1970) theme which became a standard on easy listening radio for years.

Silva’s CD offers a sampling of his thematic work, but it’s not unfair to say Lai’s abilities for writing dramatic cues have been overshadowed by his gift for songs. Few of his albums were released in the U.S. after his peak hits, and even if one goes back to his 1966 soundtrack debut, the album itself falls short of the dramatic cues that made the film so affecting.

Lai’s style may also be unique to stories with lyrical character arcs and dynamic relationships, or intimate tales of men and women being emotionally and physically naked in ways American filmmakers would avoid due to a more conservative audience base, and the MPAA ratings.

So perhaps like those filled with biases and ignorance, I started to examine the pair’s work with the 1966 film and found much more than a melodramatic weepy. The skill of Lai’s writing is apparent, and Lelouch is part of the next group of French New Wave filmmakers who absorbed some of the rule breaking methods of the first generation, and expanded the possibilities of impressionistic editing and textured montages.

In terms of filmmaking techniques, Lelouch deserves to be studied as much as Godard and Truffaut, and it’s unfortunate the director remains largely marginalized, as though some historians wrote him off as a poseur or imitator, rather than a pioneer for the next wave of sixties filmmakers in Europe, and America.

A Man and a Woman has also stood the test of time because it’s atypical; the romance begins through an act of kindness, then friendship, a sharing of common life experiences, and it stays in a holding pattern as two adults play careful for the benefit of their children. Then admitted secrets expose common vulnerabilities, and the multi-part ending is filled with potent subtext, which is why the final scene compelled audiences to add their own conclusion or resolution to the couple’s next step.

Lelouch, for whatever reason, decided he needed to explore their lives, but rather than examine the intervening years between 1966-1986, he needle-dropped his curiosity in 1986, initially bringing the two former lovers together before separating them again.

As much as he may have wanted to avoid, his sequel – A Man and Woman: 20 Years Later – was a classic boy reunites with girl, gets girl, loses girl, and reunites again for better or worse – and it ultimately feels like an exercise with earnest intentions gone semi-clichéd.

As I stated at the end of the review for the 1966 film, Warner Home Video needs to revisit both films as a double-billed Blu-ray special edition. With the exception of the sequel, new extras aren’t required (well, maybe an interview with Francis Lai is due).

Why the studio chose to release the sequel only in Europe in 2003 is a mystery, unless WHV felt there was no North America interest in Lelouch, which is nonsense. The sequel recently debuted in Region 1 land as part of the Warner Archives series, but having seen the film, its incredible visuals – much like the cinematography in the original film – scream for a HD release.

See, there are French speaking folks in Canada, and there are aficionados of Lelouch in North America, so there’s no reason why a BR edition isn’t possible, unless it’s that current dilemma of shrinking demand for physical media; if that’s the case, then let the Europeans follow through with a region-free BR double-bill, because I’m sure a good chunk of French film fans would be delighted with any Lelouch film in HD.

In spite of its inherent flaws and weaknesses, the sequel is visually stunning, and I can imagine how much better it would play on a big home theatre screen.

In any event, uploaded is a review of the aforementioned Silva Screen CD [M], plus the original LP [M] of A Man and a Woman, plus the film [M] (released by Warner Home Video in a nice special edition), plus the sequel [M] (released in Italy via WHV’s Italian arm on a gorgeous DVD, albeit lacking English subtitles).

Both films comprise one of the few adult-themed fairy tale romances about the longing between two adults who should’ve given in to instinct instead of fear and ghost emotions from prior loves. If Lelouch’s ’66 film is stripped of its style and music, what’s left is a simple but compelling drama, and that’s why A Man and a Woman is so affecting 44 years since its theatrical release.

It’s just that good.







Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

New & Imminent Soundtrack Releases

Here's the latest tally of new and upcoming soundtrack releases on planet Earth, including titles regular and limited, plus a few you totally missed out on because you blinked too slowly.

(Relax, I too missed Les Baxter's Fall of the House of Usher, which Intrada released Feb. 7th. Two specific points related to an argument: it's Baxter, it's a classic Poe film, so why didn't you press more for the other few hundred that wanted the blasted score? I wonder if I have to wait another 25 years to finally get a copy. Ha-rumpf.)

New to the list is nascent DVD label Twilight Time via Screen Archives Entertainment, who plan to release films on disc with film music goodies, such as isolated scores - a special feature pretty much restricted now to the odd indie title (such as Synapse Films' recent DVD/Blu-ray combo of Vampire Circus [M]) or select Fox Blu-ray titles. More info on the series is available via the Film Score Monthly Message Board.


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Online only via iTunes and Amazon.com (Soundtracks)

Dead Space 2 (Jason Graves)

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Alhambra (Germany)

Hindenburg (Dirk Leupolz)

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Anti (USA)

Rango (Hans Zimmer) --- Mar. 15

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Beat Records (Italy)

Il cinico l’infame il violento / The Cynic, the Rat, and the Fist (Franco Micalizzi) --- ltd. 1000 copies, Feb.

Notti porno nel mondo n.2 / Sexy Night Reporter N.2 (Gianni Marchetti) --- ltd. 500 copies, Feb.

Roma a mano armata / Brutal Justice – Tough Ones (Franco Micalizzi) --- ltd. 1000 copies, Feb.

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BSX Records (USA)

Bounty, The (Vangelis) --- re-recording, 2000 copies

Night Sins (Mark Snow) --- ltd. 1000 copies

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Cinevox (Italy)

Giu’la testa / Duck You Sucker (Ennio Morricone) --– 2CDs, Feb.

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DigitMovies (Italy)

Albert e l’uomo Nero (Franco Micalizzi)

Il Massacro della foresta near (Carlo Savina)

Roma l’altra faccia della voilenza + La banda vallanzasca (Fabio Frizzi, Franco Bixio, Vince Tempera, Gian Paolo Chiti, Sergio Montori)

Signora Gioca bene a scopa? La (Alessandro Alessandroni) + L’infermiera (Gianfranco Plenizio)

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Disques Cinemusique (Canada)

Guy de Maupassant (Georges Delerue)

Musique pour l’ecran (Raymond Alessandrini)

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Film Score Monthly (FSM) (USA)

Big Bus, The (David Shire) --- ltd. 2000 copies

Lassie Come Home: The Canine Cinema Collection (various) --- 5 CDs, ltd. 1000 copies

Poltergeist (Jerry Goldsmith) --- 2 CDs, ltd. 10,000 copies

Rich and Famous + One is a Lonely Number (Michel Legrand) --- ltd. 2000 copies

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GDM (Italy)

Assassination (Robby Poitevin)

Boccaccio ’70 (Nino Rota)

Che c’entriamo noi con la rivoluzione? – expanded (Ennio Morricone)

Disubbidienza, La / The Disturbance (Ennio Morricone) --- late Feb.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso / Complete Edition (Enno Morricone) --- Feb.

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Harkit Records (UK)

Depart, Le + Bariera (Christopher Komeda)

Green Hornet, The (Billy May)

Mambo in Paris – non-film (Lalo Schifrin)

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Intermezzo Media / Mask Records (Italy)

Alessandro Alessandroni: Prisma Sonore --- mid-Feb.

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Interscope Records (USA)

127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)

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Intrada (USA)

Battlestar Galactica (Stu Phillips) --- ltd. 3000 copies

48 HRS. (James Horner) --- ltd. 5000 copies

House of Usher (Les Baxter) --- 1200 copies

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Kritzerland Records (USA)

Casino Royale (1967) (Burt Bacharach) --- 2CDs, ltd.1000 copies, Jan. 18

Dry White Season, A (Dave Grusin) --- ltd. 1000 copies

Fear Strikes Out / The Tin Star (Elmer Bernstein) --- ltd. 1500 copies, early Mar.

Gone with the Wind (Harold Rome musical) --- ltd. 1000 copies, early Mar.

Gorky Park (James Horner) --- ltd. 1000 copies

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Lakeshore Records (USA)

Beastly (Marcelo Zarvos)

Blue Valentine (Grizzly Bear)

Drive Angry (Michael Wandmacher)

Faster (Clint Mansell)

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Milan Records (USA/Europe)

Oldboy (Jo Yeong-Wook)

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MovieScore Media (Sweden)

Amalia (Nuno Malo)

Cool Dog (Stephen Edwards)

Cuckoo (Andrew Hewitt)

Herencia Valdemar II: La Sombre Prohibida, La (Arnau Bataller)

Monster Mutt (Chris Walden)

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Music Box Records (France)

L’Incorrigible / Va voir maman, papa travaille (Georges Delerue) --- ltd. 1000 copies

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Normal Records (Germany)

Alpha 0.7 (Christopher Blaser, Steffen Kahles)

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Perseverance Records (USA)

Death Warrant (Gary Chang) --- ltd. 2000 copies

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Quartet Records (Spain)

Harry & Son (Henry Mancini) --- ltd. 1000 copies

Il Peccato / Noche de Verano (Antonio Perez Olea) --- ltd. 500 copies

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RCA (USA)

Bette Davis: Classic Film Scores of Bette Davis (Max Steiner) --- Mar. 1

Citizen Kane: Classic Film Music of Bernard Herrmann – Mar. 1

Elizabeth and Essex: Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold --- Mar.1

Laura + Forever Amber + The Bad & the Beautiful (David Raksin) --- Mar. 1

Now Voyager: Classic Film Score of Max Steiner --- Mar. 1

Spellbound: Classic Film Scores of Miklos Rozsa --- Mar. 1

Sunset Boulevard: Classic Film Scores of Franz Waxman --- Mar. 1

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Silva Screen (USA / UK)

Brighton Rock (2010) (Martin Phipps) --- Feb. 7

Doctor Who: Series 5 (Murray Gold) --- 2CDs

Eagle, The (Atli Orvarsson) --- mid-Mar.

Francis Lai: The Essential Film Music Collection --- Jan. 11

Next Three Days, The (Danny Elfman)

Promise, The (Debbie Wiseman)

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Trunk Records (USA)

Primitive London (Basil Kirchin)

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Twilight Time / Screen Archives Entertainment - DVDs with isolated scores (USA)

Kremlin Letter, The – DVD with isolated score track --- ltd. 3000 copies, mid-Mar.

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Varese Sarabande (USA)

Battle: Lost Angeles (Brian Tyler) --- March 8

Fringe: Season 2 (Michael Giacchino) --- Mar. 8

Ironclad (Lorne Balfe) --- Mar. 1

Largo Winch II (Alexandre Desplat) --- Mar. 22

Ligne Droite, La (Patrick Doyle) --- Mar. 8

Princess of Montpensier, The (Philippe Sarde) --- Apr. 5

Pushing Daisies: Season 2 (Jim Dooley) --- Apr. 5

Randy Edelman: ThePacific Flow to Abbey Road --- Apr. 5

Sanctum (David Hirschfelder)

Unknown (John Ottman) --- Feb. 15

Way Back, The (Burkhard Dallwitz)

Yeux de sa mere, Les / His Mother’s Eyes (Gustavo Snataolalla) --- Mar. 22

Your Highness (Steve Jablonsky) --- Apr. 15

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Warner Bros. Records (USA)

Danny Elfman & Tim Burton Anniversary Music Box, The --- 16CD deluxe set + 1 DVD + book, Feb. 15 [non-limited set; does not incl. 17th Bonus Disc with ltd. pre-order set from Dec. 2010]

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This handy-dandy list was compiled from various sources, including catalogue announcements at Screen Archives Entertainment, Soundtrackcollector.com, Chris’ Soundtrack Corner, and Intrada.








Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

Rituals returns! and other cult DVD news

The demise of Code Red (or rather the company's decision to fold) left a number of announced projects in the air, but two of the label's classic Cancon titles are back on the release schedule of Navarre, to be released in Canada via E1's Vivendi.

Peter Carter's Rituals is on again, with a release daye of April 5, just in time for some spring hunting. Rue Morgue magazine did a cover story on the film (issue 96), packed with pictures and interviews, so maybe this time the special edition will actually hit the street.

One suspects fans will snap it up fast, just in case a vengeful orthodontist from Yorkville pops up from the woodwork and claims 'participating financier status,' and delays the release yet again. Alongside Dario Argento's Door Into Darkness TV series - announced by NoShame, then postponed when the label died, but finally released a few years later via new label Mia - Rituals may be the most delayed cult film on home video.

Plenty of publicty, plus a local screening of the film built up a lot of anticipation in 2009 (yeah, it's been that long), but if the p.r. sheets are reflective of finished product, Rituals will contain a new 16x9 transfer, and audio commentary + on camera interview from actor/producer Lawrence Dane. I guess Code Red's hope of getting Hal Holbrook to contribute an interview for the DVD never materialized, but we've got the Rue Morgue Q&A to fill in some gaps.

Also coming from Navarre, slated for April 12, is The Last Chase, a sort of post-apocalyptic, end of the oil reserves eco chase variant of Vanishing Point (it's all there) starring Lee Majors and Chris Makepeace, plus Burgess Meredith as another grumbly old man. The DVD will sport an audio commentary with director Martyn Burke, and marks one of the last feature film scores by jazz & electronic music whiz Gil Melle (The Organization [M]), whose other Cancon credit is that fantabulous stinker, Starship Invasions.

Also coming from Navarre (April 19) is Marcy, Joe Sarno's 1969 erotic film, and Julie Darling (due April 26), featuring a new HD transfer, and audio commentary and on camera interviews with stars Sybil Danning and Isabelle Mejias. I wonder if the latter release will yield Spasms, aka Death Bite, the other film produced by John Pozhke. Director William Fruet’s cult shocker (“You scream, you expand, you explode. A new source of evil is discovered and is out of control”) is in need of a proper DVD release after kicking around on international VHS tapes for decades.

Lastly, Shout! Factory continues mining the exploitation realm, starting April 5th with Roger Corman's Cult Clasics Triple Feature Action Packed Collection, featuring with Georgia Peaches, Smokey Bites the Dust, and The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, plus undisclosed extras.

On April 12, the label is releasing a double-bill of two out-of print titles: Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and Race with the Devil. Extras are also undetailed, but the DVDs sport new anamorphic transfers.

Lastly, also from Shout! is The Ernie Kovacs Collection, a 6-disc set to be released April 19 with reportedly previously unreleased material among its 780 mins.

No details as to whether material from a prior 2-disc set released in 2000 by White Star is included, but here are the basic specs for Shout's set:

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- Disc 1: The Early Years

- Disc 2: The NBC Morning Shows

- Disc 3: The NBC Evening Shows

- Disc 4: The Late 1950s

- Disc 5: The ABC Specials

- Disc 6: Classic Pieces

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Spring is looking good already!






Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com