Curio: Saint Werner

Alexa here.  I heard someone say once that Werner Herzog is as close as the cinema gets to a saint, and I agree. Of course there are the films (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, oy, the magic!), but there's also the exuberant man himself; he feels like a beacon in the middle of a wasteland sometimes.  Nathaniel's perfect festival wardrobe choice of a Herzog tee reminded me of this Herzog wearable I want for my birthday:

I imagine people would assume I'm wearing my grandfather or something, and I'd love to see the different reactions I'd get when I tell them it's an image of Herzog.  (I spied it Seacave's etsy shop; unfortunately he doesn't have any for sale right now, but he does have a sweet Bonnie and Clyde pendant necklace for the lawless out there.)

Recently I spotted this portrait embroidery of Werner, and knowing me, if I had $185 to burn I just might buy it.  You can find him at this etsy shop, along with Peter Sellers and Jean-Luc Godard.

  

First and Last, Birds

Andreas here with another First and Last.

The first and last images from a motion picture:

Can you guess the movie?

Read the answer after the jump...

Click to read more ...

New on DVD: Rabbit Hole, Bergman and oh yes, The King's Speech.

Jose here, with a roundup of this week's new DVD releases.

First up we have the Oscar winning The King's Speech which surprisingly hasn't been out on DVD for decades. Doesn't it feel like one of those movies you're used to passing by on video store aisles, next to things like Around the World in 80 Days, Oliver! and all those other Best Picture winners nobody remembers anymore? Maybe I'm alone on this one, since the film was so popular it ended up making $138 million in the North American box office. Will perennial home video popularity follow?

Much less popular, but inarguably more interesting, was Sofia Coppola's Somewhere which also debuts on DVD tomorrow. The Venice Film Festival winner was supposed to reignite Stephen Dorff's career but went by almost undetected by audiences. Give it a try at home, bask in its visual richness and join Nat next week as he features it in "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".

There is also a rerelease of From Dusk Till Dawn, which includes the documentary Full Tilt Boogie: a chronicle of the behind the scenes of the George Clooney vampire fest.

Speaking of things that suck, how crappy was it that Nicole Kidman failed to win any major awards for her moving turn in Rabbit Hole? This tale of grief and sorrow also contained a powerhouse performance by the always underrated Aaron Eckhart and great turns from the reliably good Dianne Wiest and Sandra Oh. The Blu-ray includes deleted scenes and audio commentary with director John Cameron Mitchell. I'd love to hear how he found the calm to direct this after his two outrageously "visual" previous movies.

Also out on DVD is Ingrid Bergman in Sweden a boxset that includes some of the legendary actress' most famous Swedish movies. The set includes Intermezzo (which she then remade for her Hollywood debut), A Woman's Face and making its DVD debut is June Night which was Ingrid's last Swedish movie before moving to America. 

Other new releases include Jane Campion's Sweetie making its Blu-ray debut courtesy of The Criterion Collection and Peter Weir's The Way Back.

 Excited about any of these releases? 

First and Last, Desert

Dave here filling in on another First and Last.

The first and last images from a motion picture.

Can you guess the movie?

Check the answer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Make Way For The Many Angel-Headed Hipsters

JA from MNPP here, with the first couple of pictures from Walter Salles' adaptation of Jack Kerouac's semi-autobiographical classic On the Road. (via) On the right that's Sam Riley as Kerouac stand-in Sal Paradise, with Garrett Hedlund as Neal Cassidy stand-in Dean Moriarty. No look at Kristen Stewart or Kirsten Dunst or Viggo Mortensen, amongst others, yet. Apparently the few people who've seen the film so far are saying the film, and Stewart in particular, as very good. No specific release date's set yet but it should be out before the end of the year.

We just saw Kerouac and Cassidy on-screen last year in Howl, played by Todd Rotundi and Jon Prescott, seen here:

It's a popular time to be a Beat, eh? I wonder why On the Road's finally able to get made after all these years. Does anybody think Mad Men's successful fetishization of the Sixties has anything to do with it?

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