In this morning’s roundup of movie news ‘n’ notes from around the web, 3D goes old school, and Scarlett O’Hara needs 30 grand worth of tailoring.
Leonard Maltin loves 3D. But he’s not talking about stuff like “Step Up 3D” or “Cats & Dogs” – instead, he’s rhapsodizing about the old-school 3D of the 1950s, which is being presented for the next two weeks at the Film Forum on Houston Street in downtown Manhattan. “You’ll have a great time,” says Maltin, “even if most of the movies aren’t great.” Film Forum will be using the old dual-projector Polaroid system of exhibiting 3D, which Maltin likes because back then, he says, 3D movies “were fun to watch.” The italics are his. (Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy)
Scarlett O’Hara has clothes problems again, and these are the kind that can’t be solved by pulling down a curtain and turning it into a fabulous gown. Five of the dresses that Vivien Leigh wore in “Gone With the Wind” are badly in need of repair, says the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, which wants to exhibit the celebrated gowns as part of a commemoration of the movie’s 75th anniversary in 2014. Jim Vertuno says the center is trying to raise $30,000 to restore the gowns, which are suffering from loose seams and worn areas. Among the five are Scarlett’s wedding dress, and the green gown she famously whipped up out of a curtain that she pulled off a window during hard times. “These dresses have been under a lot of stress,” says a Ransom Center staffer. Yeah, but not nearly as much stress as Scarlett endured … (The AP via Yahoo! News)
Tom Elrod is coming a little late to the party in the Chris Nolan/”Inception” thinkathon, but he wades in with gusto nonetheless. Like the grad student in English Literature that he is, Elrod devotes a sprawling 3,500 words to carefully analyzing every one of Nolan’s movies to determine what the director does wrong and what he does right; most of the compliments are backhanded ones (“Nolan may not be a great storyteller, but he is a great constructer of moments”), and the fact that he thinks “Insomnia” is the director’s best movie might raise a red flag with most Nolan devotees. But then, this isn’t an essay for Nolan devotees – instead, it’s an equally intriguing and irksome in-depth exploration the man Elrod calls “an artist of plot,” and of whom he generously concedes, “[H]e is not a hack.” I will assume that any similarities between the title of Elrod’s piece (“Christopher Nolan: What Are We Watching, Exactly?”) and the recent, famously clueless Rex Reed review (“Can Someone Please Explain Inception to Me?”) are accidental. (Slant Magazine)
In honor of this weekend’s final episode of “At the Movies,” Matt Singer and Stephen Saito compile their 10 favorite reviews (complete with video clips) from the long-running show that aired under many different names. Naturally, eight of the 10 involve original hosts Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, talking about the good (“Hoop Dreams”), the bad (“Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood”) and the ugly (the direct-to-video “Frozen Assets”). And who remembers that Roger Ebert sort of liked “Cop and a Half?” (IFC News)
