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3 items from 2013

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Popes on Film

29 April 2013 2:15 PM, PDT | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Pope Movies (photo: Anthony Quinn in ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’) [See previous post: "Pope Francis Movie in the Works?"] Now, do we need another Pope Movie? Well, actually there haven’t been that many. Most notable among the Pope Movies of decades past are Michael Anderson’s widely lambasted The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), with Anthony Quinn as what one pundit called "Zorba the Pope," and Nanni Moretti’s widely acclaimed comedy-drama We Have a Pope, with Michel Piccoli as a cardinal who reluctantly is elected chief of the Catholic Church. Here are a few more: Rex Harrison hammed it up as Pope Julius II to Charlton Heston’s equally risible Michelangelo in Carol Reed’s The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965); Liv Ullmann played the title role in Michael Anderson’s critically massacred Pope Joan (1972), about the alleged medieval female pope; and Finlay Currie reverentially incarnated the official first pope, St. Peter, in Mervyn LeRoy’s dreary (and »

- Andre Soares

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The Forgotten: Rome Wasn't Burned in a Day

3 April 2013 9:45 PM, PDT | MUBI | See recent MUBI news »

Above: Rome burns, whereas Nero merely suffers a bit of nitrate decomposition.

Arturo Ambrosio, prolific producer (1313 titles on the IMDb) and specialist in early twentieth century epics of the ancient world (his career climaxed with a 1925 Quo Vadis? but also included the 1913 Last Days of Pompeii (I've seen it: a corker!) pulled out all the stops when releasing his 1909 Nerone (Nero; or The Fall of Rome). Almost three hundred and fifty prints were struck (I believe that's around the same number as accompanied the Us release of the Roland Emmerich Godzilla, to give you an idea) and the movie was accompanied by a sixteen page promotional booklet. That's more than one page per shot in the actual movie, which, being from 1909, is a bit skimpy by the standards of our modern super-films, weighing in at fourteen minutes and averaging one shot per minute.

Above: Home cinema, ancient Roman style.

The most interesting moment, »

- David Cairns

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Posterized: Oscar's Well Loved Losing Dozen

21 February 2013 4:00 PM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

"And the Oscar Doesn't Go To..." The following dozen films are historically the biggest losers in Oscar history. All of them had 8 or more nominations and won zip on Oscar night. But, please to note, "loser" is a tongue-in-cheek title here. If you're well regarded enough to win nearly two handfuls of nominations as "best of the year" you're already a winner, even if you "lose".

How many have you seen?

The Little Foxes (1941) 9 nominations

Quo Vadis (1951) 8 nominations

Peyton Place (1957) 9 nominations 

The Nuns Story (59) - 8 noms

The Sand Pebbles (66) - 8 noms

The Turning Point (77) 11 noms *tied for most noms without any wins*

The Elephant Man (1980) 8 noms

Ragtime (1981) 8 noms

The Color Purple (1985) 11 noms *tied for most noms without any wins*

Remains Of The Day (1993) 8 noms

Gangs Of New York (2002) 10 noms

True Grit (2010) 10 noms

Trivia Puzzle: It happened most often in the 50s (3 films) and 80s (3 films) though I couldn't tell you why! »

- NATHANIEL R

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2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004

3 items from 2013

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