Fantastic Short Film Friday - Le Voyage Dans La Lune (live-action)

And we are back with another installment in our Fantastic Short Film Friday series, as we continue to showcase films released in the "lesser" known form of cinema- the short film.

In honor of the movie Hugo (I won't explain why in fear of giving too much away), I wanted to showcase one of the most important and influential films of all-time, a silent sci-fi romp to the distant moon that continues to capture the imagination of filmmakers and film lovers to this day. Here is an 16-minute French black and white silent short called, La Voyage dans la lune (or A Trip to the Moon) from filmmaker, Georges Melies. Anyone who's ever watched the Simpson's or watched the Smashing Pumpkins video for Tonight Tonight has seen this film referenced. To call it a short would be an understatement since when this was created in 1902, it was one of the longer running films.

Written and directed by Melies, this is based loosely on Jules Verne's From the Earth and the Moon and HG Wells The First Men in the Moon. It's the story of a group of astronauts that travel to the Moon and battle Moon Men before returning home to a hero's welcome.

This film is important for many reasons, least of all it's iconic imagery, it's use of animation and special effects and also it being the first sci-fi film ever produced. I decided to add the short after watching the breathtaking film Hugo, because that film is Martin Scorsese's love letter to film and the history of film. Again, I won't go into why this film and director Melies are important to the overall narrative of Hugo, but trust me you should see Hugo and then rewatch this film again. Everytime I rewatch this, I'm left with a sense of awe and wonder. They made this 100 years ago. What innovation!

Check this out if you love film and film history. Check this out if you want to see a film from a bygone age where you can marvel at the simplicity of its execution and brilliance. Again, this is the first ever sci-fi film here people! Enjoy this weeks dose of short form goodness in, La Voyage dans la lune.

Movie Talkback - The Complete Metropolis!!!

In a world of a mythical and terrible apocalypse, if only one movie survived, if only one movie could be watched over and over, I would hope it would be Fritz Lang's 1927 silent German experimentalist sci-fi classic, Metropolis. I could write a whole dissertation on the film (and sadly I have) so I won't belabor the fact. But if you like Blade Runner, the Matrix films, Star Wars, Lost, the films of Tim Burton, Tron, Robocop, my personal favorite The Fifth Element or nearly every single sci-fi fantasy film/tv show, you owe a huge debt of gratitude to this film as they are all heavily influenced by this monumental and orgasmic creation.

If you've never seen the film or have only seen the truncated "missing" version of the film like everyone else, it's time to rejoice and thank the heavens. Back in 2008 a nearly complete copy of Metropolis was found at the Buenes Aires Museo del Cine (the film museum of Buenes Aires). The found copy contained an additional 25 minutes of lost footage which comprises a fifth of the films original running time. It took nearly a lifetime to find this 147-minute version, so I feel confident in saying that this may be the most complete version of the film that will ever be found.

All this comes to a head at the end of 2010, as Kino releases the dvd and blu-ray version of the newly-restored Metropolis. Not just that, but in celebration of the re-release, Metropolis is hitting theaters in all major markets in the US and Canada. If you live in NY like I do, the film is hitting my favorite spot in NY, The Film Forum starting May 7th. If you live in other cities or want to find out more information about the film and it's re-release check out Kino's site: here.

So as film lovers around the world let out a collective gasp in awe at their good fortune here's a newly released trailer that showcases what we can all expect starting May 7th. If you don't have a smile at the end of the 2-minute trailer, well, there's no saving you. Enjoy.

What I Think Of: The Big Sleep (1946)

Bogey and Bacall, Bogey and Bacall- just their mere presence can transform a good film into a great film. This was the second of four films the on/off-screen pair starred in together. There are two different versions of this film, the 1946 theatrical release and the 1945 pre-release. While the 1945 pre-release makes the film a more straight forward detective story, the theatrical release, while being confusing as all hell, has nearly 18 more minutes of Bogey and Bacall. The problem for most people is that the theatrical release changes a simple whodunit story, into a non-linear, "what the hell is going on story"- but you know what? I'd prefer more scenes of Bogey and Bacall together than any sensible and more coherant story. So yeah, this is a true film noir classic and is one of the few instances where things sizzle on the screen. Bacall looks enchanting as always and Bogey, well he's every guys hero- the gumshoe who answers to no one but himself, who stays one step ahead of the villians and who always gets the girl, no matter how femme fatale she is, and no matter how many they may be. I love this film so much, the picture to the left is my desktop background on my laptop. Bogey and Bacall!