Links for the Day (January 30th, 2007)

Links for the Day (January 30th, 2007)

By Keith Uhlich on January 30, 2007 in Links for the Day Jump to Comments (0)

1. "Happy Birthday, CB!": House fave Christian Bale turns 33 today. Roll dat boo-shit up!

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2. "What I learned during "An Evening with Kenneth Anger"": From Eric Henderson at When Canses Were Classeled.

["Pauline Kael is an overrated little film critic who wrote (poorly) over-effusive pieces celebrating second-rate talents like ... [And here I held my breath, expecting the next words to come from his mouth to be Brian De Palma.] ... Sam Peckinpah ... [Whew!]"]

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3. "Microsoft Vista: Should you buy now?": Peter Lewis of Fortune magazine test-drives the new Windows OS.

["What does Windows Vista have in common with the just-christened nuclear aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush? Answer: They are both powerful flagships of technology that took five years and billions of dollars to build. Also, while they'll both be in use for years to come, they're almost certainly the last of their respective kinds. The world now moves at Internet speed, and slow, complex behemoths - whether warships or software - are being forced to become smaller, faster and more maneuverable. Vista is anything but. After numerous well-publicized delays - two years of core coding had to be scrapped and rewritten to plug security holes - Vista will be launched on Jan. 30, backed by Microsoft's largest-ever marketing blitz."]

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4. "Bond's late arrival in China": From the BBC.

["After saying no to James Bond for the first 20 films, the Chinese government censor has now decided that the franchise is finally fit to be screened in this country. So, Casino Royale is being released uncut into Chinese cinemas. In the basement of a Beijing shopping centre, the series got its first premiere in this country."]

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5. "Kansai TV now accused of faking info in 1998": Thanks to Jeffrey Hill for the link.

["Kansai Telecasting Corp., already under fire for airing a program earlier this month with fabricated dietary data, used deceptive information in that show's predecessor in 1998, two university professors who appeared on the program said Sunday. Yoichi Nagamura, a professor of health and food studies at Chiba Institute of Science, and Makoto Tajima, a professor of nutrition studies at Jissen Women's University, said a producer of "Hakkutsu! Aruaru Daijiten" used their test data and comments dishonestly in a May 25, 1998, episode on the possible sleep-inducing effects of lettuce."]
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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged.

TAGS: links for the day

Sars: "No love for Oscar-winner Phil Collins either, I see."

I've got two ears and a heart, don't I?
Posted by Bruce Reid on 2007-01-31 13:18:00 Hey, lots of celebs had birthdays today. But Bale's the only one that's cut. Plus, he's the same age as Christ when he died.

I got your back, Keith, yessir-ree! Looking forward to that Sussudio clip tomorrow.
Posted by Matt Zoller Seitz on 2007-01-31 02:01:00 Dear me... Herr Collins! How could I neglect? Check tomorrow's links for an appropriate mea culpa.
Posted by Keith Uhlich on 2007-01-31 01:53:00 Two things I learned while looking up what Christian Bale is up to:

1. He's going to play Dan Evans in a remake of "3:10 to Yuma," a remake I would not have thought the world was clamoring for (though I do not mean this as a slight of the original movie in any way).

2. The YouTubers have a fondness for Newsies.

And on a separate note, Matt, you might want to check out Brad Anderson's contribution to Showtime's _Masters of Horror_ anthology series, an episode entitled "Sounds Like." Slight and punishing, but in my (minority, it seems) opinion interesting; it shares obvious thematic resonances with The Machinist.

Anon
Posted by anon on 2007-01-31 01:48:00 Straight people prefer Puce Moment? On Earth?
Posted by Bill C on 2007-01-31 01:02:00 Keith: No love for Oscar-winner Phil Collins either, I see. Bunch of snobs in this joint.
Posted by Sars on 2007-01-31 00:52:00 Personally, I don't know how it's possible for any young film student to watch "Fireworks" and not be amazed and delighted by its sheer effrontery. That final shot alone is adolescence distilled to a single image.
Posted by Matt Zoller Seitz on 2007-01-30 23:35:00 IMDB informs me, however, that today is also the birthday for Gene Hackman and Vanessa Redgrave, who've earned a virtual toast or two I'd say.

Lest we leave out Sir Wilmer Valderrama from the birthday pack. :-)
Posted by Keith Uhlich on 2007-01-30 23:17:00 I can't see Bale in anything without being reminded of the horror that was Equilibrium.
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-01-30 22:48:00 While I'm not as enthusiastic about The Machinist as Matt, I think it's a good film that rings some interesting changes on its admittedly played-out premise (such as Bale's conscience weirdly being manifested as Marlon Brando, or Roque BaÃ±os's intriguingly retro score that sounds like avant-gardism from 1955). And Brad Anderson is a master at maintaining an unsettling mood; after all that work to make Spain look like L.A., remember that distinctly European water tower he uses as a touchstone throughout the movie. He may not have made an excellent movie yet, but from the evidence so far I'm waiting for him to do so.

For me, Bale is easily the most daring, versatile, and consistently good actor of his generation. He's probably most stunning in American Psycho, but the rage and egotism of that flashy performance only enhance how lovely and understated his work in The New World truly is. IMDB informs me, however, that today is also the birthday for Gene Hackman and Vanessa Redgrave, who've earned a virtual toast or two I'd say.

That piece on Anger's lecture is an interesting portrait of the artist as an old fart, but one of the writer's claims jumped out: "it never fails to amuse me that gays go for [Fireworks] while straights seem to flock to the infinitely more bejeweled Puce Moment." Is there really anyone, gay or straight, that prefers the latter? I'd have thought Kustom Kar Kommandos was the one with an acceptable level of homoeroticism for uptight college film geeks to embrace.
Posted by Bruce Reid on 2007-01-30 22:40:00 Bale wasn't the problem with Harsh Times; in fact, the movie seems assier by contrast because he's in it.

I may be the only person who saw this flick, but he's really good in Metroland.
Posted by Sars on 2007-01-30 22:21:00 Re: The Machinist, I was actually distracted from the narrative by Bale's physical transformation. Coming after American Psycho and before Batman Begins it had me truly alarmed for his health - these DeNiro-esque physical torments do not necessarily equate to good serious thespianism, to all you budding actors out there. I'm assuming that in Rescue Dawn he went back down to emaciated, before bulking up _again_ for Batman Begins Again.

Oh, and I don't care at all for The Machinist, featuring what is probably the most overused plot device of the last decade of filmmaking. Brad Anderson is a hack in my estimation.
Posted by jeffmcm on 2007-01-30 19:49:00 I've liked Bale in practically everything he's done, despite disliking several of the films that house his performances. He gives the best performance in The New World and, along with Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine, almost succeeds in overcoming the script of the mind-numbingly boring The Prestige. Had John Singleton's misguided Shaft remake focused on his character rather than dropping him for Jeffrey Wright's, the movie might have been tolerable.

Love for The Machinist is understandable but not shared. Bale's physical transformation is astonishing, and he gives a perfectly pitched performance, but I found myself completely disengaged from the story to the point where I started fantasizing about his character falling in love with the equally skinny Ally McBeal. But your "incredibly technical in its conception" description is perfect.
Posted by odienator on 2007-01-30 16:38:00 My Harsh Times pan notwithstanding, Bale is a favorite. Aside from that movie, I can't think of anything I haven't liked him in. Right now my favorite thing he's done is The Machinist. Incredibly technical in its conception, and De Niro-esque in its punishing execution, it somehow plays completely natural, and no matter how many times you watch it (I've probably seen the film five times over the years) you keep discovering new layers to Bale's performance.
Posted by Matt Zoller Seitz on 2007-01-30 14:48:00

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