Cut to the Chase: Top Five Film Chase Scenes

Posted on August 21, 2013 by McPhedran

I have always been enticed by the chase scene, dreaming of one day making a film that is a relentless series of chases from beginning to end.

Bullitt (1968) with Steve McQueen

Chase scenes require ingenuity and detail and are, like science fiction films, frequently a letdown. That said, there are a few great chase scenes, like the 1968 film Bullitt that stand above the rest.

5. Midnight Express (Alan Parker, 1979) Billy Hayes is arrested for drug smuggling in 1970s Turkey and tries to escape police in an Istanbul marketplace. This chase scene utilizes the basics – music, crowds, close-ups – effectively, creating a genuine tension that is hard to achieve.

4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson, 2004) A homage/parody of Jacques Cousteau’s exploits. This rescue scene from the pirates is unforgettable specifically for its subtelty in music and camera angles.

3. The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin) New York cop Popeye Doyle battles drug dealers. Many aspects of this film are dated; however the iconic chase scene will never go out of date.

2. Terminator III: Rise of the Machines (Jonathan Mostow, 2003) The third installment of the franchise that documents machines coming back in time to kill a future revolutionary hero. The chase scene between an industrial crane and fire truck is notable for its epic destruction – including a crushed bouncy playpen – and its consistent sense of humor.

1. Ronin (John Frakenheimer, 1998) Professional crooks chase after each other through France to secure a briefcase with a secret. The car chase goes through Paris and features a remarkable sense of detail – securing a seat belt halfway through the mayhem – as well as unmatched tension when it crosses lanes and goes the wrong way onto the highway.

Apollo Film posted

Posted on August 19, 2013 by McPhedran

Apollo has just been posted onto vimeo. The 5-minute film follows Dee as she comes home to her New York apartment to find a drunk fire fighter with a knife in his hand and her dog, Apollo, bleeding on the floor. It is begins with an evocative opening shot, followed by a hypnotic sequence in a car. It is a compelling work – acting and technically solid. It’s well worth your time!

The Fantasy of Reality

Posted on July 4, 2013 by McPhedran

Luis Bunuel wrote in his autobiography My Last Sigh, “Our imagination, and our dreams, are forever invading our memories; and since we are all apt to believe in the reality of our fantasies, we end up transforming our lies into truths.” Greenlandic explorer Knud Rasmussen reflected in his journals from the Fifth Thule Expedition, “Here on this lonely spit of land, weary men had toiled along the last stage of their mortal journey. Their tracks are not effaced, as long as others live to follow and carry them farther; their work lives as long as any region of the globe remains for men to find and conquer.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in The Little Prince, “A geographer is too important to go wandering about. He never leaves his study. But he receives the explorers there. He questions them, and he writes down what they remember. And if the memories of one of the explorers seems interesting to him, then the geographer conducts an inquiry into that explorer’s moral character.” And finally Italo Svevo offered these musings from Zeno’s Conscience: “Simply, I believed I had made an important scientific discovery. I thought I had been called upon to complete the whole theory of psychological colors. My predecessors, Goethe and Schopenhauer, had never imagined what could have been achieved by deftly handling complementary colors.” “I should say that I spent my time sprawled on the sofa opposite my study window, from which I had a view of a stretch of sea and horizon.”

Myers’ Cursed “Love Guru”

Posted on July 1, 2013 by McPhedran

I already knew that Mike Myers’ $60 million vanity project The Love Guru was bad, but having stumbled upon it on late-night cable, I forced myself to watch, because it features the Toronto Maple Leafs. There’s nothing good to note – despite cameos by John Oliver, Daniel Tosh and Stephen Colbert – except that it’s over in 87 minutes.The film came under attack for its boorish treatment of Hinduism, and while this is certainly true, it’s Myers’ parody of hockey that is most pathetic. Players assaulting coaches, elephants having sex on the ice and a penalty shot with one second to play that decides the Stanley Cup are just some of the insidious details that reduce the game to Myers’ poo-poo and pee-pee one-liners. Not that this really should matter, especially in light of the Mighty Ducks trilogy. The difference here is that the Disney Corporation never pretended to know anything about hockey, while Mike Myers is not only Canadian but also considers himself a die-hard fan. Fair restitution for this abomination would be a life-long ban for Myers if not from Canada than at least from attending games at the Air Canada Centre. Or he could at least pay the buy-out on Mike Komisarek.

Sewer Water Summer Movies

Posted on June 29, 2013 by McPhedran

Summer films are supposed to be good for distraction, nothing more than that; however World War Z is sewer water at best. The plot is derivative, the development tedious and, most disappointing of all, the tension non-existent. Once again, it’s all about the effects, thousands of zombies like moving ants.More disappointing is Kon-Tiki, a wonderful story by explorer Thor Heyerdahl, which is fictionalized badly with laughable changes from real life to make the characters less than they are and a stupid amount of sharks. Both of these films suffer from the disease of CGI, essentially denied the artistic magic of what to do if your shark/zombie doesn’t work.

I’ll just have to miss out on the rest of this summer fare – The Lone Ranger, Man of Steel and Elysium – and watch Jaws, Alien and Dog Day Afternoon instead.

Pitch Conference: Part One

Posted on June 22, 2013 by McPhedran

In the midst of a four-day conference on engineering the pitch, I take stock of where I am, in a complex of multi-use studios where others act, dance and sing, an ideal location for a Robert Altman film. The starting point of the conference is a work-shop circle, focusing on editing the pitch, ensuring the set, hook, complications, plot points and cliff hangar are in place, re-writing that again and again until the essence of my bad side is razor sharp or dead. The second and third days are devoted to pitch sessions, the first done in front of the group, the second and third in one-on-one speed meetings with my group leader as coach. There is a lot of sitting and staring, waiting for the door to open and my chance to go in. And when that comes – in the room for a second, maybe two – I can’t remember any of it except that I had said something about not wanting to change my sex and then went on about the wonder of science fiction, which my book isn’t, in other words, the bits that I would like to have back. Another session awaits, another chance to shine or collapse, and of course regret everything in the end.

Reviewing the Reviewers

Posted on June 16, 2013 by McPhedran

Truth be told, I stopped reading film reviews in 1992 when I stumbled onto a piece about The Crying Game and read, “You’ll never guess the big surprise!” This of course left me guessing throughout the film – He’s a secret agent! He’s dead! He’s a murderer! – and ruined the experience.

The problem with reviews is simple: they are plot-driven. Even The New Yorker, highly touted for its prose, consistently offers lame reviews, all summary and no insight. Roger Ebert marketed his thumb well, but now that he’s gone, it’s all about the freshness of a tomato. The thing about reviewing is that anyone can do it; the only requirement is consciousness and barely that.

Gene Shalit

I developed a 8-Star system as a teenager. I must admit to a vagueness in my descriptors but would like to point out that I never handed out a “#” nor a “—“. Never. That said, I know that there was some inconsistency in my ratings. I suppose, to my young eyes, Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon just wasn’t as tightly paced as Orca. I went on to review a few films in college, one piece which I used in the development of my undergraduate thesis on Walt Disney.

Extract from my “Sleeping Beauty” review

It was also in college that my penchant for reviewing the reviewers arose.

My first letter to the editor

Some things never change.

Six Great Heroines of Fiction

Posted on June 12, 2013 by McPhedran

It’s a challenge to think of a heroine who isn’t passive, either loving from afar or loving too hard.

Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina

And while these passionate characters are to be admired, they tend to limit us in our view of what it is to be a woman of substance. Where are the heroines to rival Odysseus, Atticus Finch and the Cat in the Hat? I offer you my Top Six.

6. Joy Adamson (Born Free) The co-protagonist of the Born Free series, along with Elsa the Lion, Adamson is more outspoken and independent in the books – to say nothing of real life – than offered on film.

5. Hannah Arendt (Hannah Arendt) The 20th-Century philosopher, as portrayed in Margarethe von Trotta’s 2013 film, is intimidating, uncompromising and could smoke anyone under the table.

4. Gloria (Gloria) Gina Rowlands’ portrayal in John Cassavetes’ 1978 film, a modern-day Fury, is striking in her combination of anger and sentimentality.

3. Chihiro (Spirited Away) Even after her parents are turned into pigs and her name is stolen, Chihiro wants to help everyone, including the evil witch.

2. Clytemnestra (Agamemnon) While it may be true that she has the blood of her husband and Cassandra on her hands, Aeschylus makes it clear that she has her reasons.

1. Doctor’s Wife (Blindness) The only hope offered in Jose Saramago’s post-apocalyptic parable is a woman willing to sacrifice herself for the good of everyone else. Imagine that.

Sex Symbols of the 1960s

Posted on June 11, 2013 by McPhedran

A tantalizing contradiction seems to exist in the sex symbols of the 1960s, a sexuality that simultaneously offers lust and innocence. Paul McCartney used this iconography on the Out There tour as a stage backdrop for his performance of Paperback Writer.

Paul McCartney, Barclay’s Center, Brooklyn, June 10, 2012

The Dandy Warhols used similar imagery while playing Good Morning.

The Dandy Warhols, Terminal 5, New York, May 30, 2012

The images are provocative – more so than most graphic visuals of today – as they tiptoe along the line of what might be allowed.

Brigitte Bardot

Raquel Welch

Jane Fonda

In other words, it’s not so much the nudity as the pose, a faux timidity almost asking, “Do you mind?” Of course those were different times.

Stanislaw Lem’s “Solaris”

Posted on June 10, 2013 by McPhedran

Continuing in my science fiction research, I have begun Stanislaw Lem’s novel Solaris. Made into a film by both Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderbergh, it is the story of a planet with a living consciousness, Gaia in the extreme. Although the writing is dense at times, the narrative is artfully dream-like, almost in a trance. Most impressively, the notion of a living mass conscious comes across as an effective precursor for what we are heading for here, our collective and unspoken mission to be eternally plugged in.

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