Scorsese honors DeNiro at Kennedy Center awards
December 29th, 2009 by Scott Marks
Marty and the gang got together Sunday night at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to pay omaggioto Bobby D. The Prefecture of the Pontifical House on Elizabeth Street offered His benediction before turning the proceedings over to Meryl Streep, Harvey Keitel, Sharon Stone and Edward Norton. What’s the matter? Joe Pesky couldn’t get his runty ass off the golf course long enough to pagare il suo rispetto? Disonorante…
See how Mr. Bobby Big Shot looks perched in the loges with the rest of the sweepstakes winners, Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Grace Bumbry and Dave Brubek, Is it me or is DeNiro looking a little like Robert Young in his Marcus Welby period? All he does is sit and laugh, which is pretty much what he’s been doing on screen (and all the way to the bank) for the past fifteen years.
Excuse me. What’s with those rainbow things they got hanging around their necks? They look like gay suspenders, for Christ’s sake.
And, Bob, tell me why. Why the f@*% do you have to go all the way to Washington for you to sit next to the Opera chick with the dog cone?
I’m sure Keitel first met DeNiro “on a street like this” paper mache tenement mock-up. What’s with the shitty set: a hot dog cart and a garbage can! And Ben Stiller shows up and does shtick. Look how they honor Him. Like a bum. Like a trash man.
Don’t turn it off until you see Norton’s spot on impression of Lord DeNiro.
Tags: Bruce Springsteen, Dave Brubek, Grace Bumbry, Harvey Keitel, Kennedy Center Honors, Martin Scorcese, Martin Scorese, Martin Scorsese, Mel Brooks, Meryl Streep, Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone and Edward NortonFiled Under News
Restored RASHOMON will expose new audiences to Kurosawa classic
September 22nd, 2009 by Scott Marks
For too long it appeared as though no major 35mm restorations of classic films were going to make their way from Hollywood down the 5 to pay a week-long visit to San Diego. I had to schlep all the way to Landmark’s Nuart in West L.A. to see the “American premiere” of Jean-Luc Godard’s “Made in USA” and that goes double for the dazzling revival of Max Ophuls’ “Lola Montes” completed with supersaturated color and restored stereo tracks.
It’s been years since I have seen Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” the “film that introduced the world to Japanese cinema.” The critically acclaimed, much beloved favorite was a sensation when it came out in 1950 and has long been a staple of Film History classes. Told in flashback, “Rashomon” recounts a rape and murder from four varying points-of-view. If memory serves, it’s a handsome, well-crafted work that’s a tad dry and suffers from a somewhat pat resolution.
Honestly, I fought to keep Kurosawa out of my Film History class, my logic being that most serious film students would have a much easier chance of catching up with his frequently revived films. I did take pleasure in occasionally showing “The Hidden Fortress” if for no other reason than exposing “Star Wars” obsessed students to just what kind of a plagiarizing whore George Lucas is. My motivation was also purely selfish. It’s my goal to see every extant Ozu film and at the time, New Yorker had a fairly extensive 16mm library of The Master’s work. Succumbing to pressure from my department chair, I did screen “Rashomon” once, but the print had one subtitle for every ten sentences of dialog. I immediately called the distributor to complain and they overnighted me a print of “The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family.” Even when I lost, I won.
According to the Film Forum Repertory, “The basis for this stunning new restoration was a 35mm print created in 1962 from the original camera negative; while the print itself was in good physical condition, the source material from which it was made was extremely battered. Due to the extensive printing and handling it had received over its lifetime, many shots were already starting to shrink and warp, and there were numerous scratches, dust, and dirt in the damaged negative. Scanned at 4k resolution, that 47-year-old print has been meticulously cleaned both digitally and by hand, complete with a new, seamless soundtrack. This essential restoration has been made possible by the Academy Film Archive, the National Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kadokawa Pictures, Inc., with funding provided by Kadokawa Cultural Promotion Foundation and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation.”
“Schindler’s List” and “Lilies of the Field” notwithstanding, any chance of seeing a newly struck 35 mm print of a black-and-white movie in this day and age (and city) is a cause celebre. The film will play at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre from October 2 - 8 and arrive in San Diego for a weeklong run at Landmark’s Ken Cinema on December 18, just in time for Christmas!
If this trailer is any indication, the film has never looked better.
Tags: akira kurosawa, Landmark Theatres, Martin Scorese, rashomon, Rashomon restored, STAR WARS, the ken cinema, Trailer, yasujiro ozuFiled Under News
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