The Screengrab : gwynne watkins

The Gay Pride Top Twenty (Part One)

Andrew Osborne — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

It’s Gay Pride Month, the 10th Annual Provincetown Film Festival kicks off this weekend and George “Mr. Sulu” Takei and Ellen DeGeneres are getting married (though not to each other, of course) in California (hooray California! And what’s taking you so long, New York and Vermont and Washington and Hawaii and Illinois and...y’know, all the rest of the country?)...

...so, anyway, to help celebrate, we here at the Screengrab thought it would be a good time to salute some of the highpoints in gay (and lesbian and bisexual and transgender) cinema with our very own rainbow collection of Queer Nation classics (not that there’s anything wrong with that)!

ANGELS IN AMERICA (2003)

"Hey, wait just a cotton-pickin' minute!" the purists among you may cry. “I thought this was a list of Gay Pride films, not TV shows!” Well, for starters, Mike Nichols’ all-star, six-hour, multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winning adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning rumination on homosexuality, homophobia and the better angels of human nature wasn’t TV...it was HBO. But more importantly, in a media landscape of generally low ambitions, lowered expectations and lowest common denominator multiplex landfill, it’s hard to ignore a six-hour celluloid phantasmagoria of staggering audacity, master class filmmaking, sharp dialogue, potent visuals, timely thematic resonance and knockout performances (including a multi-tasking Meryl Streep, future Weeds costars Justin Kirk and Mary-Louise Parker, Jeffrey Wright, Patrick Wilson, Emma Thompson, James Cromwell, Ben Shenkman and Al Pacino, using his late-career bluster to good effect as prototypical self-hating conservative closet case Roy Cohn). Sure, it gets a little silly sometimes, but who would've thought a movie about the AIDS pandemic (as depicted through intertwining tales of two infected men haunted by ghosts and other celestial messengers) would find time for so much humor, imagination and hope...and, as opposed to, say, a certain lengthy, operatic, sometimes silly (but Oscar-winning) big-screen multi-part epic about heroic bravery in the face of faceless evil, lethal apathy and looming death, the cultural and political battles depicted in Angels in America are no fantasy, and continue to rage on and on and on...

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001)

The most original film musical of the decade began as a drag act at Squeezebox!, a weekly gay performance event in mid-90s New York City. Performer and creator John Cameron Mitchell based his iconic character Hedwig on details from his own life: his childhood in East Berlin, his idenitification with queer rock stars, his struggles with being the gay son of a military general. The crux of Hedwig's character is both a fiction and a metaphorical truth: she is the victim of a botched sex change operation, leaving her a little bit male and a little bit female. Fueled by the anti-showtunes of Stephen Trask and Mitchell's gender-bending charisma, the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a glam-rock spirit quest: Hedwig begins as a self-loathing wannabe rock star looking to complete herself through sex, and by the end of the story, she is walking naked into the world, stripped of makeup and bitterness, finally learning to love herself. If that's not pride, then what is?

FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002)

Though he’d established himself since Poison, his first major feature, as the most talented director to come out of the so-called ‘New Queer Cinema’ movement of the 1990s, it wasn’t until Far From Heaven that Todd Haynes' talents were recognized by the mainstream media. His previous films had been too controversial, too oblique, too postmodern; but with this 1950s period piece, Haynes finally gained widespread acceptance and, with it, four Oscar nominations. Ironically for one of the most original filmmakers in Hollywood, the movie that gained him this recognition was a pure throwback. With its high melodrama, ginger treatment of interracial relations, and gorgeous color palette, it was unmistakably reminiscent of the films of the melodrama king of the fifties, Douglas Sirk; and with its highly stylized acting, uncomfortable emotional weight and unapologetic addressing of gay sexual desire, it likewise conjured the films of Sirk’s most famous devotee, Ranier Werner Fassbinder. In a way that blends the fantastic, romantic sensibilities of Sirk and the gritty, rich realism of Fassbinder – and with a freedom to frankly address issues of racism and homosexuality that were denied to them both – Haynes manages to make a film that’s both moving and incredibly frustrating. Always able to coax winning performances out of his actors, he also gets Dennis Quaid to deliver an exceptionally sensitive performance in a role where both understatement and overreaching could have been a disaster.

MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (1985)

For obvious reasons, European cinema was several decades ahead of the curve when it came to addressing homosexuality (or, for that matter, any sexuality) on screen. It’s impossible to even conceive of an American film in 1985 – let alone one with the relative high profile of Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette – being as frank, and as frankly erotic, about a gay couple. Like Far From Heaven, it succeeded largely by not making its focus too narrow; the story of young Pakistani Omar and his white lover, a former skinhead played with verve by a young Daniel Day Lewis, is made especially lively and vital by placing it within the context of a broader story of the British immigrant experience at the peak of Thatcherism. Deftly blending issues of race, class, culture and economics with a star-crossed romance, My Beautiful Laundrette owes much to a top-shelf script by Hanif Kureishi; but what shouldn’t be overlooked is its intensely erotic scenes, which were among the first in mainstream film to illustrate that gay sex on the big screen could pack as much power as its heterosexual counterpart. Gordon Warnecke as Omar is a real find in his big screen debut, and Daniel Day Lewis, in only his third film, already shows signs of being the titanic actor he would eventually become.

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991)

Gus van Sant has always specialized, at least in his personal films (that he finances with tripe like the Psycho remake and Good Will Hunting), in convincingly portraying the sad, proud lives of lowlifes, drifters and people with no real home to go to, whether by choice or by circumstance. He also has a particular talent for showing us characters who desperately need the love of someone, but who are none too wise in selecting who that someone should be. Those two themes come together with audacity and depth in My Own Private Idaho, the story of two hustlers – the poverty-stricken, vulnerable, narcoleptic Mike Waters (played by the late River Phoenix) and the slumming, proud, arrogant Scott Favor (played by Keanu Reeves who, God bless him, at least seems to be trying). For a movie so charged with homosexual love, it’s strangely lacking in sex, and not in the self-denying, passionless way that’s required from most gay characters on the big screen: rather, sex for the two of them is a largely joyless professional operation reserved for the making of money or the killing of time. This doesn’t mean they don’t need love, though, and therein lies the movie’s great tragedy: Mike wants the love of only Steve, and Steve wants the love of only his estranged, wealthy father. All of this plays out with an aesthetic derived not from Warhol’s cool surface gayness, or Fassbinder’s melodramatic near-camp: it’s given a thick sheen of the classics, drawing directly from Shakespeare. This can be both its damnation (several of the openly Shakespearian scenes come across as contrived and hokey) and its salvation (framing the entire struggle in the trappings of real tragedy gives it dramatic depth and resonance it might otherwise lack), but it’s a movie that certainly can’t be faulted for its ambition, and whatever its flaws, it’s a worthy step forward in the mainstreaming of gay characters in American cinema.

Click here for Part Two, Part Three and Part Four

Contributors: Andrew Osborne, Gwynne Watkins, Leonard Pierce

The Screengrab Presents: The Five Kinds of Twist Endings

Gwynne Watkins — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:15:00 GMT

With M. Night Shyamalan's latest opus on the horizon, our thoughts are drifting to one of the best and worst things ever to happen to movies: the twist ending. True, the twist ending hit oversaturation in the early '00s, when it seemed like every film ended with a tacked-on revelation that all the characters were dead or the same person or characters in a giant videogame or something. But film history is so full of con games, double-crosses and startling last-minute revelations that it would be a shame to lose the twist ending entirely. Here's an affectionate guide to the 5 kinds of surprise endings. And yes, many films fit into more than one category. Call it a twist. -- Gwynne Watkins

#5 The Twilight Zone
In The Twilight Zone, something seems wrong or off-kilter for the entire film, but it's not entirely obvious what that thing is. When the twist is revealed, it creates a shift in perspective that can be easily explained in one sentence (such as the classic Twilight Zone example, "To Serve Man -- it's a cookbook!") Films that do The Twilight Zone well include The Others, Soylent Green and Swimming Pool. But when it's bad, it's very very bad; look no further than The Village, a cautionary tale for screenwriters everywhere.

#4 The Scooby Doo
This is the twist ending that reveals all prior events in the film to be part of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the characters. And they would have gotten away with it, too! It's most commonly seen in con man movies -- The Game, Matchstick Men, The Sting, The Spanish Prisoner -- although it's cropped up to abysmal effect in "gotcha!" films like Basic and The Life of David Gale.

#3 The Donald Kaufman
Named for Charlie Kaufman's fictional screenwriter brother in Adaptation, The Donald Kaufman is the big twist that ostensibly explains everything, but in fact, makes no sense whatsoever. The Donald Kaufman most often takes the form of "They're both the same person!" or "It was all a dream!" Identity, High Tension and Femme Fatale are recent examples.

#2 The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth is the sucker punch of twist endings: a revelation that turns the main character into a tragic figure. Think Luke Skywalker screaming "That's not true! That's impossible!" in Empire Strikes Back, or the final shot of Rosebud in Citizen Kane. At best, it's dramatically satisfying (see Donnie Darko, Memento or Seven); at worst, it makes you want to slap the filmmaker for being a total sadist (see The Mist).

#1 The 20/20 Hindsight
The hardest kind of twist ending to pull off successfully, The 20/20 Hindsight requires the viewer to sit through an entire movie without realizing that a twist ending is coming. Then, after what seems like the film's resolution, the rug gets pulled out from under them. The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects are the classic examples; both have a fake-out ending that's quite satisfying, then a last-minute revolution that turns the whole film on its ear. Others include Fight Club, Planet of the Apes and Saw.

Watch it for Free: This Film is Not Yet Rated

Gwynne Watkins — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Ever wondered who those people in the MPAA are, and what kind of criteria they're using to distinguish between a PG-13 and an R? Well guess what -- nobody knows. That's because the MPAA is, quite literally, a secret organization, whose members are anonymous and whose voting methods are entirely arbitrary. But if you want to know more, Kirby Dick has uncovered as much as humanly possible in his anti-censorship documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated.

Dick's film combines director interviews, MPAA-censored clips and private investigator footage, all with the goal of showing how the MPAA is stifling the filmmaking industry. The film would have been stronger if Dick had scored more face time with big-name directors; their first-hand stories of ratings warfare are just unbelievable. (What the MPAA deemed obscene in Boys Don't Cry -- not the violence, but the close-up of Chloe Sevigny's face during an orgasm -- is extremely telling.) Equally effective is the montage that juxtaposes identically shot sex scenes, one gay and one straight, while contrasting the films' ratings. Although the private eye scenes are less compelling, the PI's eventual discoveries about MPAA members' identities are sobering; in short, everything the MPAA has said about its members is a lie, and their appeals board seems jury-rigged against edgy and independent filmmakers.

Stream or download the whole film here.

And Now, Movies With People in Bear Suits

Gwynne Watkins — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:00:00 GMT

This week, Ames, Iowa resident Daniel Stender posed the following question to Roger Ebert's "Answer Man" column:

I am a fine arts student at Iowa State University. Currently I'm painting a series depicting movie scenes with people in bear suits. So far I have painted a scene from The Shining and a scene from the The Science of Sleep. I am really proud of what I have created so far, but I've hit a creative road block; I can't think of any more movies with people dressed as bears.

Not to worry, Danny — The Screengrab has got your back!

Here are some off-the-cuff suggestions from our bloggers:

Paul: The Avengers. That scene, bad as it is, is sort of unforgettable.

John: Jackass and Encino Man, both of which involve panda bears. Given Jackass’ status as a serious documentary, I’m not sure it counts. However, Pauly Shore and Caveman-Brendan Frasier slapping around a guy in a panda costume in a theme park most certainly counts.

Matthew: The more recent version of The Wicker Man, as in:

For the record, Answer Man suggested Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game. I'm personally gonna go with Grizzly Man. Damn those bear suits looked real.

Extremely Sad Breaking News: Heath Ledger Has Died

Gwynne Watkins — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:34:00 GMT

Twenty-eight-year-old Heath Ledger, one of Hollywood's most promising young actors, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment two hours ago, reportedly surrounded by sleeping pills. Ledger started out his career as a teen heartthrob, garnering young fans and critical derision with pap like A Knight's Tale — but like Leonardo DiCaprio and James Spader before him, Ledger quickly dropped the pretty-boy act for edgier fare that showed off his true range. His breakthrough performance as a taciturn gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain garnered him a slew of Best Actor nominations, including a bid for the Oscar (which he lost to Philip Seymour Hoffman). Ledger had plenty of cinematic prospects ahead: his interpretation of The Joker in The Dark Knight is already the year's most buzzed-about performance, and he was slated for the lead in Terry Gilliam's next film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. His death is a great loss for his generation of actors. (Speaking of which, between Ledger and Brad Renfro, we're starting to get seriously worried. Ryan Gosling, please tell us you're doing okay.)

Your Thoughts, Please: Digital Copy for iTunes

Gwynne Watkins — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Earlier this week at MacWorld, 20th Century Fox announced that select DVDs will now include an additional digital copy of the film that can be transferred into iTunes. Will this totally change our expectations for what we get in a DVD box? Is it silly and redundant, destined to be a short-lived trend? Does anybody even care? Give us your take in feedback.

Screengrab Presents: The Hollywood Guide to Pregnancy

Gwynne Watkins — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:00:00 GMT

A pregnancy test is not an etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet. See: Juno

Pregnancy instantly propels the father-to-be into a mid-life crisis. Luckily, women never panic about being pregnant. Women love babies! See: She’s Having a Baby, Nine Months

During your pregnancy, dreams are unusually vivid and strange. Especially when the father is a giant mutated insect. See: David Cronenberg’s The Fly

If you’re not sure who the father is, tell everyone you’ve ever slept with it’s theirs. Babysitters for life! See: Three Men and a Baby

Be sure to get adequate prenatal care, on the off-chance you’re carrying the spawn of Satan. See: Rosemary’s Baby, Village of the Damned, It’s Alive

Virgin pregnancies are only possible in three places: the Bible, Tatooine and Kevin Smith movies. See: Nativity Story, Dogma, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

The appropriate thing to yell when your water breaks is "Thundercats are go!" See: Juno

If you live in a totalitarian regime, and you get knocked up, don’t worry; your kid is probably the savior of humankind. See: Children of Men, Terminator, Willow, The Seventh Sign

Need a bomb to drop during an argument? You can’t go wrong with "I secretly aborted your child!" See: The Godfather Part II, The Anniversary Party, Cabaret

Abortion? What’s that? See: Knocked Up, Boys on the Side, Saved!, The Station Agent, Match Point, Circle of Friends, Dreamgirls, For Keeps?

If you’re pregnant and married to a police detective, you should probably leave town for a while. If you’re pregnant and you are a police detective, just keep doing what you’re doing. See: Se7en, Fargo

Pregnancy in the Deep South never ends well. See: Gone with the Wind, Steel Magnolias, A Place in the Sun, A Streetcar Named Desire

Make sure that the hospital you’ve chosen has all the latest technology, specifically the machine that goes ping. See: Monty Python’s Meaning of Life

The delivery room is a good place for: last-minute apologies, marriage proposals, David Hyde Pierce. It is a bad place for: fist fights, Bette Midler. See: Knocked Up, Lover Come Back, Addams Family Values, Nine Months, Beaches

Wouldn’t it be funny if men could get pregnant? Oh wait. See: Junior, Rabbit Test

— Gwynne Watkins

Previous Hollywood Guides:
The Hollywood Guide to Drinking
The Hollywood Guide to Office Romance
The Hollywood Guide to Infidelity

Watch It For Free!: The Celluloid Closet

Gwynne Watkins — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Any day now, I'll start taking it for granted — but for the moment, every time I discover a great film streaming free online, it feels like a visit from Santa. Today's free movie is the eye-opening 1996 documentary The Celluloid Closet, which caters not only to film buffs and gay culture aficionados, but to anyone with a short attention span. Based on Vito Russo's groundbreaking history of homosexuality in the movies, the film shows us how there have always been gay characters in films, literally from the beginning, with one of Edison's first reels. Sometimes these references were subtle (the "sissy" archetype in films like The Gay Divorcee) and sometimes overt (Greta Garbo smooching a lady in Queen Christina), as The Celluloid Closet demonstrates through a jaw-dropping series of film clips. Which brings us to that short attention span bit; it's impossible to change the channel (or open a new browser window, as it were) during this film. You want too badly to see the next clip.

Film clips are interspersed with Lily Tomlin narration and celebrity interviews about the progression of gay characters in film, for better and for worse: the censored flirtation in Spartacus, the landmark gays-are-people-too sensibility of The Boys in the Band, the psychotic queer murderers of '90s horror films. Rumor has it that the filmmakers deleted a segment on biopics that turn gay characters straight, because they couldn't retain rights to the film clips; says Roger Ebert in his review:

Richard Burton's estate refused the rights to show scenes from "Alexander the Great.'' Goldwyn wouldn't license clips from ``Hans Christian Andersen'' (Epstein says "somehow they got the idea we were outing Danny Kaye as opposed to Hans Christian Andersen''). Lawyers stepped in at the possibility that the film would identify Cole Porter as homosexual (!). And Charlton Heston refused permission to use scenes from "TheAgony and the Ecstasy'' ("because he'd done a lot of research for his role andhe assured us that Michelangelo was not homosexual'').

Watch the film in its entirety here.

(Also streaming for free: The Lavender Lens, a documentary montage of film clips featuring queer characters.)

Do the Wright Thing

Gwynne Watkins — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:00:00 GMT

It's the little things in life that make us happy. Like when Jeffrey Wright make headlines for reprising his role as a CIA agent in the next James Bond film, Bond 22. Wright is one of those actors who's received extraordinary critical praise throughout his career, yet has mostly been relegated to character roles, meaning he's not yet a household name. Among film enthusiasts, he's best known for the title role of Basquiat and for reprising his stunning Broadway performance as Belize in Mike Nichol's Angels in America. The Bond film just started shooting today, but fans can next catch Wright in the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival entry Blackout, which will see a DVD release in February.

Franco Enjoys Interview

Peter Smith — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:00:00 GMT

Here's James Franco talking about his film Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee. And by "talking," we mean "laughing," "appearing to be high," and "not actually answering a single question." I have to say, I feel for this MTV News reporter. If this was a Nerve Film Lounge interview (typically conducted over the phone), I would be banging my head on my steel desk within sixty seconds. On the other hand, if I were actually interviewing James Franco face-to-face, and he was smiling at me like that. . . I might just chalk the interview up as a success. (Hat-tip: Jezebel.) — Gwynne Watkins

Update: the embed's not working on some browsers, so here's a direct link.

Oprah's Favorite Things Include Watching Road House

Peter Smith — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:00:00 GMT

We're not so into this trend of giant DVD box sets; they tend to be padded with lots of half-baked featurettes, useless production stills, and other things you'd never pay money for if they weren't all packaged together in a pretty box with a movie you really like. But United Artists just took it to the next level with its 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection — a massive 110-disc set that features ninety films from seven decades. Oprah just named it one of her Favorite Things, which means it will sell like hotcakes. $870 hotcakes to be exact. But let's look at exactly which ninety movies are featured, shall we?

First off, the box set starts with the '40s, leaving out the opportunity to include earlier United Artist benchmarks like Broken Blossoms (1919), The Gold Rush (1925) and Stagecoach (1939).

The '40s/'50s selection, including Marty, Night of the Hunter and Some Like It Hot, is fairly solid — although Rebecca and The African Queen are among the missing.

The '60s brings a bunch of Bond films and some second-tier Billy Wilder. Good picks: The Apartment, In the Heat of the Night, Satyricon, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Midnight Cowboy. Questionable: It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Battle of Britain, I Could Go On Singing. Notable omission: The Graduate.

The '70s has some interesting stuff: Rocky, Annie Hall, The Last Waltz, Carrie, Manhattan, Last Tango in Paris and Lenny would make for a quality weekend of film-watching. But The Pink Panther Strikes Again? Equus? And how much James Bond do we really need? Missing in action: Network and Being There.

By the '80s, things are getting a bit random. Enjoy a triple feature of Heaven's Gate, WarGames and Child's Play! Or alternately, Baby Boom, Raging Bull and Road House! Top it off with the most unnecessary Bond film of them all, the Timothy Dalton vehicle The Living Daylights. No big omissions here, unless you want to count I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Finally we reach the '90s-'00s, a short selection featuring Bowling for Columbine, the little-seen Pieces of April, The Birdcage, Hotel Rwanda, Leaving Las Vegas, and five others. What, no Showgirls?

Overall, the set feels like a stranger's DVD collection: a few classics, a few childhood favorites, a few questionable selections they probably got for $5 at the drugstore. But it doesn't feel like the collection of a movie buff, nor does it have any particular coherence beyond the name of the studio. If an alien landed on Earth and asked me how to quickly amass an American film collection, I might advise him to get this box set. However, if you live on this planet, you can probably find a better use for your $900. Like, for example, buying forty-five copies of Network. — Gwynne Watkins

Kid-Lit Juggernaut Continues Conquest of Realm

Peter Smith — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:00:00 GMT

Determined to crank out as many Harry Potter films as possible before the lead actors have mid-life crises, Warner Brothers has announced casting for the sixth installment. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will add Jim Broadbent and Helen McCrory to the franchise's collection of Notable Brits, as well as introducing four new child actors (all of whom, unlike Daniel Radcliffe et al, are still actually children). David Yates of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix fame will return as director, dashing our dreams of Alfonso Cuaron coming back to the fold. The film is slated for November 2008 and is projected to make fourteen hundred bazillion dollars on opening weekend. — Gwynne Watkins

The Ten Best Deleted Scenes of All Time, Part 2

Peter Smith — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:00:00 GMT

THE CHIP REMOVAL SCENE, TERMINATOR 2

The premise of Terminator 2 is that Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, a cyborg who spent the whole first film trying to assassinate future revolutionary Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), has now been reprogrammed to protect her family. In other words, he's the same soulless killing machine, but on a humane mission instead of a lethal one. So how does he acquire emotions, attachments and embarrassing slang words over the course of the film? That mystery is explained in this deleted scene, in which Sarah removes an inhibitor chip from the Terminator's head. (Fun fact: given the limits of special effects in 1991, the mirror effect was achieved by having Linda Hamilton perform surgery on a dummy head, while Hamilton's twin sister — seriously — stood on the other side of the mirror with actual Arnold.) The scene also includes a confrontation between Connor and her son which fundamentally changes the dynamic of their relationship, allowing him to take over as leader. (In the director's commentary, Cameron says he "agonized" over cutting this scene.)

"THIS BULGING RIVER", WAITING FOR GUFFMAN

We'd kill to spend a day sifting through Christopher Guest's cutting room floor. Guest films hours and hours of documentary-style footage for his improvised comedies, only a fraction of which end up in the final film. The DVD versions of This is Spinal Tap (which he co-wrote but didn't direct), Best in Show and A Mighty Wind are loaded with hilarious (and sometimes shockingly dark) deleted scenes. But our favorite is this giddy extended climax from Waiting for Guffman. Guffman follows a small-town community theater troupe as they cast, rehearse and perform an original musical, all the while increasingly convinced that they're heading to Broadway. This deleted musical number is an ingenious musical theater parody — with production values that are comparable to actual Broadway.

THE HOTEL CONFESSION SCENE, SUPERMAN II

Director Richard Donner had filmed more than half of Superman II when the producers removed him from the project, replacing him with Richard Lester. The theatrical version of the film is a hybrid of Lester and Donner scenes, and for years after its release, rumors swirled that a better film — the Donner cut — was buried in the Warner Brothers vaults. When the Donner cut finally came to DVD in 2006, it was a mixed blessing: on one hand, it's very clearly an unfinished film. On the other hand, it contains some marked improvements over the theatrical release. This scene, in which Lois cleverly forces Clark to reveal his identity as Superman, is one of those improvements. It packs far more of a dramatic wallop than the "oops-i-dropped-my-glasses-in-the-fire" reveal from the Lester version. Perhaps the ultimate deleted scene, this one was never actually filmed; it was edited together from Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder's separate screen tests.

DAVID DUNN AND THE PRIEST, UNBREAKABLE

Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan's hushed, atmospheric follow-up to The Sixth Sense, tells the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a stressed-out family man who survives a horrific train crash. When David realizes that he was the only survivor — and no one can offer him an adequate explanation — he begins to explore the possibility that he may be something other than an ordinary human being. It's a clever premise, and Unbreakable is an underrated film, but there are some serious gaps in logic — i.e., how has David passed his fortieth birthday without ever realizing he's invulnerable? This deleted scene offers some much-needed insight. It also toys nicely with the stock character of the cinematic priest; we expect him to talk about fate and God's plan, which he does, but not in the way you're thinking.

THE PUMPKIN CARVING SCENE, DONNIE DARKO

The Donnie Darko DVD contains miles of deleted footage, much of which made it into Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut — and most of which, frankly, makes the film overly complicated and heavy-handed. The original theatrical release has a pervasive sense of mystery, and the film's unanswered questions are part of its appeal. That said, every new scene between Donnie and his family deepens the impact of the film's time-twisting climax. This one is our favorite. It's an ordinary moment between Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his sister Elizabeth (real-life sibling Maggie Gyllenhaal), that reveals the affection in their relationship yet hints of ominous things to come.

— Gwynne Watkins

The Ten Best Deleted Scenes of All Time, Part 1

Peter Smith — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:00:00 GMT

"STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN," ALMOST FAMOUS

Depending on your feelings about Cameron Crowe, this is either the ballsiest or the most pretentious deleted scene ever released on DVD. Either way, Almost Famous would have been ten minutes and eleven seconds longer if Crowe had secured the rights to "Stairway to Heaven," which plays over this scene in its entirety. Here's the set-up: it's the early '70s, and high-school music critic William Miller (Patrick Fugit) has been offered the opportunity to accompany his favorite rock band on tour, but his mother (Frances McDormand) believes that rock n' roll is the devil's music. In order to convince her otherwise, William sits his family down and makes them listen to "Stairway." And they listen. And we listen. And we watch them listen. For eight minutes. The most amazing thing about this scene is that it works : it's a battle between William's youthful enthusiasm and his mother's skepticism, played out in facial expressions and body language. When McDormand's character reaches her decision, it's perfectly clear how she got there.

THE SPIDERWALK, THE EXORCIST

For all its grotesque make-up, bodily fluids and levitation effects, The Exorcist gets the most scare mileage from scenes in which possessed adolescent Regan (Linda Blair) does something that almost seems human — but is, in fact, frightening and impossible. The scene in which her head turns completely around is a bone-chilling example. This infamous deleted scene, achieved with the aid of a contortionist body double and suspension wires, is another. Director William Friedkin cut the spider walk from the theatrical release of The Exorcist, believing that it showed "too much" too soon. It later became the most talked-about inclusion in the director's cut, and it ranks among the film's most notable scenes for sheer creepiness.

THE RECORD-SELLING SCENE, HIGH FIDELITY

For record store clerk/owner Rob Gordon (John Cusack), romantic passion and musical passion are completely intertwined. If he were to lose faith in either one, life would not be worth living. That sentiment is perfectly encapsulated in this deleted scene from High Fidelity, in which a jilted wife (Beverly D'Angelo) attempts to sell Rob her husband's priceless record collection at an obscene discount. Most collectors would pounce on the deal, but Rob is thrown into a moral quandary — almost as if he's afraid of hurting the records' feelings. In addition to its endearing portrait of Rob's unique personal ethics, this scene forshadows his pivotal realization later in the film: that he actually kind of loves the job he spends his life bitching about.

THE PHONE CALL HOME, BIG

The '80s were a decade of body-switching comedies, but Penny Marshall's Big was a cut above the rest. Twenty years later, it's still fresh, believable and funny, mostly because Marshall eschews bloated gags and focuses on the small, day-to-day difficulties of being a child in a middle-aged world. There's a dark edge to the film's best moments, which inevitably emerge from Josh's fear, bewilderment and naiveté. This deleted scene takes place after Josh (Hanks) has received his first adult paycheck ("One hundred and twenty dollars!" he exclaims, having never seen that much money before) and spent it gorging on junk food. Up all night with a stomachache, the only thing Josh can think to do is call his mother — who, of course, doesn't recognize his post-puberty voice. The newly released extended version of Big includes this scene, and it's a moving counterpoint to the giddy junk-food-and-silly-string orgy that precedes it.

"MERCY" (THE LAIR SCENE), ALIEN

This gut-wrenching scene, cut from the theatrical release of Alien, contains a startling revelation: with the exception of John Hurt's character (whose chest was memorably split open), none of the alien's victims are dead. Instead, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) discovers the half-alive bodies of her friends being devoured, slowly and painfully, by the alien's offspring. In addition to being a great scene for Weaver — you can see her humanity leaking away as she aims that flamethrower — it's one of the more horrifying visuals that the filmmakers created, and it contains a stunning H. R. Giger set piece that didn't make it into the theatrical version.

— Gwynne Watkins

Check back tomorrow for Part 2!

Paul Norris, 1914 - 2007

Peter Smith — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:00:00 GMT

We got word from the folks at DC Comics this morning that artist Paul Norris, co-creator of the character Aquaman, has died at the age of ninety-three. While Aquaman has yet to show up in movie theaters, rumors of a forthcoming "screwball comedy" based on the character started circulating in 2004, then began afresh last year with the success of the fake-Aquaman-movie plot on Entourage. For now, Norris' memory is honored by this failed WB pilot, as well as countless episodes of Super Friends. — Gwynne Watkins

From the Nerve Film Issue: Censory Perception

Peter Smith — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Today in Nerve's Film Issue: Gwynne Watkins tests your ability to identify a film by its objectionable content, with the help of ScreenIt.com's comprehensive lists of film no-nos ("Some characters have bad attitudes for wanting to conquer all others by invading and killing them.") What MPAA rating best describes you? Find out here.