The Filmic 5: Unknown Stuntman Edition
Your Weekly Film Superlatives By Critic and Film Scholar Jack Hanley
I. Film News I Am THRILLED About This Week
Something amazing happened this week...the Academy FINALLY listened. ;)
This Wednesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the LONG OVERDUE creation of a competitive category for achievement in Stunt Design- debuting at the 100th Academy Awards in 2028.
While so many advocates from across the industry have long championed this recognition, we especially thank David Leitch- a former stuntman and coordinator himself. This is a HUGE win for the men and women who LITERALLY risk life and limb to create the action set pieces that are an essential part of movie magic.
From Cruise to Chan to Jeannie Epper and Michelle Yeoh, stunt work in cinema has a RICH and STORIED tradition...even since the very first "flicker" of the medium. I know MY personal fave...
II. Fan Project That I Am In Love With This Week
If you were raising a child in the late 2000's, you undoubtedly encountered the precocious penguin PINGU- a charming Swiss stop-motion/claymation cartoon originally distributed by the German production company Schweizer Fernsehen.
My own daughter (now a rabid teenage horror aficionado) ADORED Pingu- and, as such, when THIS Gen-X Father recently stumbled across a fan-made parody of John Carpenter's THE THING by Lee Hardcastle in the PINGU tradition, it proved love at first sight.
I know WE have been loving this together this week...I hope you love it too. Enjoy THINGU by Lee Hardcastle.
III. Film Education Piece I've Been Fascinated By This Week
Do YOU have a favorite movie trailer? (Admit it, if you are reading this then I am betting that you- like me- NEVER miss those previews). Love them or hate them, GREAT trailer editing is an absolute art.
"Trailer editor Bill Neil works at Buddha Jones making movie trailers that scare, excite, and, most importantly, get people to want to see a movie. In this video, he explains the things that a trailer editor notices about trailers old and new, great and terrible, and somewhere in the middle. Starting with trailers from the '60s, he gets all the way to the present while reviewing techniques like sound design, “rug pulls,” and how to hide fake blood." Thanks to our friends at VOX for this fascinating look at the art of the trailer.
IV. Film Challenge I'm Taking On This Week!
As a cinephile, I've always been a bit cocky about my "classic cinema cred"- until Andrea Ciriaco came along and published her Collider list of the "Ten Best Classic Movies You Haven't Seen". I was SHOCKED at the number of films on this list that I hadn't yet experienced- and as a co-host of a film podcast dedicated to filmic "blind-spots", I immediately knew I had to remedy the situation.
I've embarked on a "film challenge" to watch EVERY film on this list by the end of April. I hope you will join me if these are "new" to you too! Click here to read the entire list via Collider Magazine. And thank you, Andrea for reminding us that we are FOREVER edifying our filmic educations.
V. Criterion Closet Guest I'm Gushing Over This Week
Actor and comedian (and cinephile!) BOWEN YANG (Saturday Night Live) stops by the Criterion Closet to recommend some of his favorite films. NO NOTES NEEDED. Enjoy.
Jack Hanley is a Boulder-based film scholar, podcaster, and critic. He is a programmer with the Chicago Underground Film Festival and Boulder International Film Festival. He is one-half of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast and Flicker with Jack and Scott on YouTube. Find him at Kinophilia on Medium and at HanleyOnFilm.com