Curio: A Peek Inside the Orson Welles Centennial in Woodstock, IL

Happy Orson Welles Centennial! - Don't Miss Best Shot tonight

Alexa here. I was honored recently when one of my collage pieces was chosen to be a part of the Orson Welles Centennial celebrations in Woodstock, IL.  For those that don't know their Welles history, here are some facts: Welles attended the progressive Todd School in Woodstock from 1926 to 1931, after his parents' divorce and his mother's death.  It was there where Welles met his lifelong mentor Roger Hill, the headmaster of the school; Hill essentially developed a curriculum to nurture Welles' interests in art and theater. It was in Woodstock that Welles directed his first play and made his first film.  In interviews later in his life, he said that Woodstock was the closest place he had to a real home.

Welles, circled, during his time in Woodstock

Located about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, Woodstock is holding 3 weekends of centennial celebrations to honor Welles' 100th birthday. Of course there will be screenings: of Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles, a new documentary directed by Chuck Workman.  There will also be stagings of "Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles," a one-man play by Erik Van Beuzekom, and a staging of "War of the Worlds." Oja Kodar, Welles' former girlfriend, is also set to speak, along with many others.  

Coinciding with these events will be an exhibit that will include original art and a private collection of memorabilia. I was lucky enough to have festival co-chairman Greg Gantner give me a peek at a few of the items that will be on exhibit before the show opens on the 8th.  The Welles nerd in me was very excited and snapped some pictures...  

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"Best Shot" Mid Season Finale

Why not join the merriest movie club? You only have to 1) watch the movie, 2) take a screengrab of your favorite image and 3) post it somewhere online saying why you chose it. It's that easy!  Here's what's coming right up... only two episodes left until we break for a few weeks. 

Wednesday Night, April 29th BRIGHT STAR (2009)
Thursday Night, April 30th... (you have an extra day due to forgotten scheduling conflict chez moi)
We're joining Anne Marie's "Women's Pictures" series for a Jane Campion (she's been the topic this month). Drown in the beauty of this flowery poetic romance between poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and fashionista Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Cinematography by Greg Frasier who Oscar has yet to notice for shame. 
[Amazon Instant |  Netflix Disc | iTunes]

ORSON WELLES CENTENNIAL
WEDNESDAY MAY 6th
mid season finale of HYMYBS 

Your choice experiment! 
CITIZEN KANE or THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS or THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI 
Let's make this one special - challenge a friend to play to expand our club! If they don't have a web space, share their pic as well as yours in your article. To celebrate this cinematic giant on his 100th birthday, experience either his compromised but incredible family epic (...Ambersons is my personal favorite) or Shanghai, the stylish Rita Hayworth noir. If you're feeling really ambitious take on his behemoth debut which many consider the greatest film of all time. 

SHANGHAI (87 minutes): Amazon Instant | iTunes
AMBERSONS (88 minutes): Amazon Instant | iTunes | Netflix Disc 
KANE (119 minutes): Amazon Instant | iTunes | Netflix Disc 

Tim's Toons: Remembering the Best of All Transformers Movies

Tim here. We are come to the release weekend of a new Transformers movie - this one has Mark Wahlberg replacing Shia LaBeouf and robot dinosaurs replacing the idiotically absurd lack of robot dinosaurs. And with solemn redundancy almost as predictable as the content of the movies themselves, the same critical conversations that happen every time a Transformers opens are happening once more. There's the "if you like these movies, you are objectively wrong" essay; the litany of reviews all bemoaning the length, noise, and visual incoherence of Michael Bay's latest bombardment of ugly CGI and sexism; the handful of weakly noble defenses that it's all actually fun, and don't we like having fun? And I largely agree with at least two of these, and always enjoy when they put in their appearance.

Then there are always the pieces about how the Bay movies are cynical, loud junk that entirely miss the goofy fun of the crudely-animated Japanese cartoon from 1986 that first brought the Transformers to the big screen. And since I wasn't doing this when the last movie opened, it's my pleasure to write about that one this time around.

For Transformers: The Movie (or, formally speaking, The Transformers: The Movie, but that’s a lot of definite articles in just four words) is actually pretty good, considering how crappy it is. [More...] 

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Curio: The Conde Nast Collection

Alexa here. In searching for holiday gift ideas this year, I keep coming back to The Conde Nast Collection. For a reasonable price (under $150), you can buy photographic prints of the work of some amazing photographers, including Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst and others.  Their collection from Vanity Fair is especially fine when it comes to the world of cinema. I've chosen some standouts to entice you if you feel like beautifying your walls or someone else's for Christmas... 

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Oscar Horrors: An Irish Ghost Story

HERE LIES... Hilton Edwards' short film Return to Glennascaul, mauled by Disney's Bear Country.

Andreas here with another spooky Oscar Horrors case file! This time, it's a ghost story. And who doesn't love a good ghost story? (Other than the Academy, I suppose.) Return to Glennascaul (1953) retells a traditional urban legend, that of the "vanishing hitchhiker," but with so much flair and atmosphere that its overfamiliarity doesn't matter. The set-up is classic: it's late at night, on a winding road outside Dublin, and the narrator stops to pick up a stranded motorist. But aha, a twist: the narrator is in fact Orson Welles, on a break from Othello! What better addition to a ghost story than Orson, that master raconteur, he of the perfect radio voice?

Aother small twist: his passenger isn't a ghost, but instead has his own eerie story of two mysterious women and the old abandoned house he drove them to, a house called Glennascaul. All these framing devices, coupled with Orson Welles playing a wry version of himself, make the short feel like a "friend-of-a-friend" anecdote. Like something built up too plausibly not to be true. And hey, who knows what can or can't happen in the misty Irish countryside? The women themselves (one old, one young) seem harmless enough, if a little kooky, until Orson's new friend contacts the realtor trying to sell Glennascaul... and, of course, learns that they've both been dead for years. (If that's a spoiler, then you should really bone up on your campfire stories.

This is some subtle horror, certainly, but it grows in power as the climax hits—as the gentleman makes the titular return, only to discover a dusty, desolate house with no residents to speak of. Truly haunting. In addition to Orson's baritone, the film's carpeted by a sparse piano and harp score, and it's shot in chiaroscuro black and white; exactly the minimalism that the material calls for. Sometimes, as Return to Glennascaul teaches us, all you need to tell a chilling story is 20 minutes, a little music, and an old house. Oh, and Orson Welles.

It may not have won the Oscar (thanks, Disney) but it will send shivers up your spine.

Recent Oscar Horrors 
Jaws - Best Editing
Aliens - Visual FX
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte - Supporting Actress

All Oscar Horrors