February 2012
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Scorsese on Altman
During a 4-hour interview with Fast Company, Scorsese apparently name-dropped so many films, the magazine’s website felt compelled to compile them all in a glossary of sorts. Altman pops up more than a couple times:
Kansas City: “This is one of the great jazz movies ever. If you could hang on with Altman, you were going to go on one of the great rides of your lives.”
M*A*S*H: “I saw it at...
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Jonathan Rosenbaum on "California Split"
Found another “California Split” gem from the always fantastic Jonathan Rosenbaum. In this analysis, Rosenbaum calls attention to the film’s pioneering use of 8-track recording and highlights the freedom that afforded Altman and the actors during production. He also rightfully hails the two lead actors:
In what might be his best performance to date, Gould is a perpetual live...
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PopMatters Revisits "California Split"
Stumbled upon this fantastic October 2011 entry of PopMatters’ “ReFramed” column in which two contributors shine some light on oft-overlooked films from the past. These two have some great insights into “California Split” and give voice to what I’ve been feeling for years now:
The under-recognized work of Altman is just as accessible and digestible as his...
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January 2012
2 posts
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December 2011
2 posts
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WatchMartin Scorsese on Robert Altman
[via Fast Company]
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August 2011
2 posts
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David Gordon Green on Robert Altman
A man who once seemed primed to assume the Altman throne, filmmaker David Gordon Green has fallen upon (at best) puzzling times lately. While he cut his teeth on painfully beautiful, delightfully improvisatory films like George Washington and All the Real Girls, he’s recently taken to courting the studios with depressingly middling fare such as Your Highness and the upcoming Jonah Hill...
June 2011
2 posts
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The AV Club Provides You With An Altman Primer →
The Onion AV Club today posted an in-depth look at Altman’s career, covering just about everything you could ask for. Personally, I find several of their judgements on the lesser-known films to be pretty boring (they’re not crazy about Buffalo Bill, HEALTH, or Pret-a-Porter, but they’ll praise Dr. T?), but this piqued my interest:
Altman was much more on-point with 1979’s A...
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“Robert Altman, of course, made it a fine art: background conversations and...”
– Steven Spielberg, in a recent AICN interview about Jaws (of all things)
May 2011
2 posts
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April 2011
1 post
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March 2011
1 post
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February 2011
8 posts
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BAFTA Gosford Park Q&A →
Simon Relph chairs this interview with Robert Altman and screenwriter Julian Fellowes discussing their 2001 film Gosford Park. Conducted November 8, 2001.
#AltmanAudioDay
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Robert Altman Delivers the 2002 David Lean Lecture... →
The British Academy of Film and Television’s annual David Lean Lecture Series was given by Altman in February 2002. Listen to the hour-long audio podcast by clicking the link in the headline.
#AltmanAudioDay
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Museum of the Moving Image - Robert Altman →
The Museum of the Moving Image offers a half-hour audio interview with Altman from April 29, 2006, conducted after a screening of his 1996 film, Kansas City. [Note: headline links to a direct mp3 download]
#AltmanAudioDay
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Movie Geeks United: The Robert Altman Legacy →
The podcast Movie Geeks United interviewed Mitchell Zuckoff (author of the fantastic Robert Altman: The Oral Biography—please tell me you guys have read this) about the writing of his book, his relationship with Altman, and the legacy of the great filmmaker.
#AltmanAudioDay
Altman Audio Day
because why not
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John Farr Remembers Robert Altman
John Farr over at The Huffington Post has just written a retrospective on what he views as some of Altman’s best works in anticipation of the director’s 85th birthday in a few weeks. Farr describes Altman, whom he had the great fortune of meeting in 2004, as being “one of the more generous and unassuming people I’d ever encountered.” He also relates a comment Altman...
January 2011
1 post
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November 2010
3 posts
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CriterionCast Thinks "The Long Goodbye" Should Be... →
Obviously, so do I.
September 2010
3 posts
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WatchTrailer for Thieves Like Us (1974)
My God, What Have I Done
I don’t know how we reached this place. Work started piling up and before I knew it it’d been weeks since the last Altman update. I will try my darnedest to maintain some semblance of consistency of output in the coming months. Do accept my apologies, friends, and know that they are sincere. More to come!
August 2010
13 posts
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The Long Goodbye Features "a More Believable...
Got to see this fantastic film in 35mm for the first time on Friday. What a treat. Curtis Faville at The Compass Rose just posted his thoughts on the picture, and as you might expect, he has some great things to say about it.
The lingering, laid-back mood of the 1960’s heavily influenced the feel and touch of movies throughout the Seventies, and The Long Goodbye is very much of the mood of...
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“If an actor comes up to me during or before a film and says, “listen, tell...”
– Robert Altman, in an interview on the Images (1972) DVD
July 2010
56 posts
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Brewster DVD "Looks Remarkable"
Sorry for the flood of Brewster McCloud posts but I’m just ever so excited about this new DVD and want to compile as much info on the new remastered transfer as I can before I go order it. Plus, I want the uninformed out there to know how cool this movie is. Next up on the review queue is TV.com, who has plenty more nice things to say about this inimitable work:
Brewster McCloud is a...