Passages

[hearthesilence]

Also 1941, which I’ve grown to like more and more.

[colinr0380]

Treat Williams also made for a great lead in the guilty pleasure monster disaster movie Deep Rising, really nailing the tongue-in-cheek approach to his square-jawed hero (watching that trailer which includes the joke about an incongrous elevator muzak version of the song did also remind me that the lady famous for singing The Girl From Ipanema Astrud Gilberto died recently too), even with his own supply of (intentionally) limp and undermining catchphrases in response to the escalating series of events, one of which became the last line of the film!

(That's the same kind of wry and not too serious approach to a lead character up against a fantastical foe that Stephen Sommers would go on to perfect in his next movie, The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, which Deep Rising feels like a dry (wet?) run for tonally)

[bdsweeney]

That’s awful news about someone who, by all accounts, seemed like such a sincere, kind person. As a film fan, I can wholeheartedly praise Smooth Talk and, particularly, Prince of the City.

[hearthesilence]

I didn't realize he posted regularly on Instagram, even interacting with his family on there - his last post (basically about mowing the lawn with a quiet video from outside his home) was apparently just hours before he died. I didn't know him personally, but obviously social media adds a surreal element when someone you know is gone because your interactions with them are all frozen and on display - I guess it's similar to emails or IM's in that way, but it definitely feels different than a photo or card you may have gotten from someone years ago.

[Mr Sausage]

Cormac McCarthy discussion moved here.

[diamonds]

I think this one slipped by: Christine Laurent, a co-scenarist on nearly every one of Jacques Rivette's feature films from Gang of Four onward, passed away in January of this year. She also leaves behind a small body of films she directed herself, which I very much hope to someday see.

[hearthesilence]

John Romita. IIRC he was on par with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in defining the classic Marvel Comics era.

[headacheboy]

John Romita. IIRC he was on par with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in defining the classic Marvel Comics era.

John Romita had the unenviable task of taking over The Amazing Spider-Man after Steve Ditko left and he did the comic proud. His artwork was magnificent and his characters were memorable (Mary Jane Watson, for starters, the Rhino and Kingpin) and his covers were stunning to my eyes as a kid (issue #50: Spider-Man No More is one I still see in my head). I was certainly fan of Jack Kirby, but John Romita was another Marvel artist in a league of his own, as corny as that may sound. I don't watch Marvel movies (I've seen maybe three and I disliked them immensely) but part of that has to do with growing up as a kid reading comics by the likes of Romita, Ditko, Kirby, Gene Colan and Neil Adams. That's where my allegiance lies. John Romita, long may his art run.

[hearthesilence]

IIRC Romita drew mostly romance comics marketed to adolescent girls before he switched over to Marvel's super hero comics, and I think that helped distinguish his work. It's been ages, but I still remember his artwork from the anthologies I used to check out from the library. (I didn't buy a single comic book until middle school, so when I was kid, those vintage comics were all I really knew about Marvel aside from whatever cartoons would be on TV.) It didn't sink in until much later, but the panels I remember most would usually be from a girl's point-of-view, particularly Mary Jane or Gwen Stacy, and that probably says a lot when the star(s) of the comic in question is typically male.

I know there's a whole school of thought that Roy Lichtenstein's paintings are very patronizing of comics as part of a statement on mass media - even if that's the intention, at least some of them feel much more convincing as something else entirely. His choice of comics as subject matter do have a cerebral element in that it's (in his words) "highly charged and emotional," deliberately countering the "removed and deliberate" approach of his paintings, but they can remind me of what I find compelling about the best girl group records of the '60s and why those records leave a lasting impression. Whether it's the Shangri-Las or the Shirelles or the records produced by Phil Spector or the female groups at Motown, those records just seem much more alive than their contemporaries, where everything in life feels so heightened and the stakes over every emotion really do mean the world. It would be snide to dismiss that as solipsism - it's an inherent part of humanity and a reflection of why we can have a strong emotional connection to anything at all. So when I see something like Lichtenstein's "Crying Girl," "Shipboard Girl," etc. I feel like they're actually recognizing that same quality from those girl group records in a panel of a comic book, and it's also a quality that's pretty much what's most memorable about Romita's work to me.

[pianocrash]

Urge Overkill drummer John Rowan (aka Blackie Onassis)

[MichaelB]

Former British Labour Party politician Glenda Jackson, who also dabbled in acting.

[JSC]

Former British Labour Party politician Glenda Jackson, who also dabbled in acting.

This one hurts. An enormous presence in British film and television. Her performances in Women in Love,
Sunday Bloody Sunday, Elizabeth R, The Music Lovers, Stevie and others are all worth
seeing.

[ellipsis7]

She won two Best Actress Oscars for Women in Love (1970) and A Touch of Class (1973), but did not attend either ceremony to receive the awards...

[SeizureMilk]

Even though I adored Vanessa Redgrave in The Devils, I always thought that Jackson might have been a better fit if she was available. Her performances could equal if not outweigh Oliver Reed and Walter Matthau. She was a thing of beauty but also a thing of power. In memorial I’m watching Hopscotch which is an old favorite of mine followed by Women in Love.

[Craig Wallace]

Even though I adored Vanessa Redgrave in The Devils, I always thought that Jackson might have been a better fit if she was available.

Ken Russell recalled that Glenda Jackson was initially keen to play the part of Sister Jeanne in The Devils. However when she read the script the presentation of the character was different from what Russell had originally pitched: the film was going to include a sequence in which Sister Jeanne’s head was placed on an altar after her death as a kind of holy relic in a site of pilgrimage. Without this scene, Jackson felt that the character arc was too close to the role she played in Russell’s previous film The Music Lovers, so she turned it down.

[SeizureMilk]

Oh thanks, couldn’t remember the exact reason why she wasn’t casted so I assumed she just wasn’t available. Point was though, had she been cast, she would have been incredible.

[Timec]

Jackson was also great on stage. Her performance in the 2018 revival of Albee's "Three Tall Women" made a huge impression on me.

[fiddlesticks]

Jacques Rozier

[yoloswegmaster]

Jacques Rozier

Already posted here almost 2 weeks ago:

Jacques Rozier

https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/art ... _3382.html

[fiddlesticks]

Sorry, guess I didn't look back far enough.

[colinr0380]

Jackson was also great on stage. Her performance in the 2018 revival of Albee's "Three Tall Women" made a huge impression on me.

Not only on stage!

[L.A.]

Sadao Nakajima

[headacheboy]

IIRC Romita drew mostly romance comics marketed to adolescent girls before he switched over to Marvel's super hero comics, and I think that helped distinguish his work. It's been ages, but I still remember his artwork from the anthologies I used to check out from the library. (I didn't buy a single comic book until middle school, so when I was kid, those vintage comics were all I really knew about Marvel aside from whatever cartoons would be on TV.) It didn't sink in until much later, but the panels I remember most would usually be from a girl's point-of-view, particularly Mary Jane or Gwen Stacy, and that probably says a lot when the star(s) of the comic in question is typically male.

I know there's a whole school of thought that Roy Lichtenstein's paintings are very patronizing of comics as part of a statement on mass media - even if that's the intention, at least some of them feel much more convincing as something else entirely. His choice of comics as subject matter do have a cerebral element in that it's (in his words) "highly charged and emotional," deliberately countering the "removed and deliberate" approach of his paintings, but they can remind me of what I find compelling about the best girl group records of the '60s and why those records leave a lasting impression. Whether it's the Shangri-Las or the Shirelles or the records produced by Phil Spector or the female groups at Motown, those records just seem much more alive than their contemporaries, where everything in life feels so heightened and the stakes over every emotion really do mean the world. It would be snide to dismiss that as solipsism - it's an inherent part of humanity and a reflection of why we can have a strong emotional connection to anything at all. So when I see something like Lichtenstein's "Crying Girl," "Shipboard Girl," etc. I feel like they're actually recognizing that same quality from those girl group records in a panel of a comic book, and it's also a quality that's pretty much what's most memorable about Romita's work to me.

I had completely forgotten Romita did work on romance comics which certainly informed the realistic work he brought to superhero comics. I can recall when Peter Parker went to college and it felt far more authentic (and I often wondered if my college days would feel similar, never mind the fact I was but a punk kid a long way off from college at the time) than say Jack Kirby's take on comics when Johnny Storm went off to college. Romita's work on romance comics was certainly important. And how on Earth did I ever overlook the fact Roy Lichtenstein's paintings borrowed directly from Romita? I never had a problem with Lichtenstein's work, patronizing or otherwise. It was something I understood as a kid and didn't see past what I believed to be an homage as opposed to a statement (I certainly see it more as the latter today). As for your take on his work and girl groups, I always believed some of his work would have made tremendous picture sleeves for 45s.

[j99]

Glenda Jackson seems to have been a fixture in my film viewing life, particularly in the 70s, when she did some of her greatest work, on screen at least; apparently she was equally phenomenal on stage. Unfortunately I never got to see her, so it’s the films I’m left with. So many terrific performances, continuing to the end with Elizabeth Is Missing. My personal favourite is The Maids, the Jean Genet play, with an incredible cast of Glenda, Susannah York, and Vivien Merchant. It’s one of those films which left a deep impression on my younger self, as did Women In Love, and especially The Music Lovers, and Sunday Bloody Sunday. Even later, minor works, like The Return Of The Soldier, was one I occasionally went back to, and was still in awe of her brilliance. The downside of her years as an MP, was her absence from stage and screen. She didn’t seem to care, and followed her own, unique path. Glenda left an indelible impression. She was one of the all time greats, and I’ll never forget her.

[j99]

Jackson was also great on stage. Her performance in the 2018 revival of Albee's "Three Tall Women" made a huge impression on me.

Not only on stage!

Ha ha. A joy to behold.