Since I’m behind the curve on most items in this Konsum roundup, the soundtrack for today’s post is provided by Talking Heads, performing “The Great Curve” in Rome in 1980. You can download a DVD of the entire show from Dimeadozen. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days As apparently the last critic in New [...]
Night on Earth
How do we relax from the New York Film Festival‘s two-movies-a-day schedule? With an old classic, of course, courtesy of the Criterion Collection. Jim Jarmusch’s episodic 1991 taxi cab confidential moves around the globe while Tom Waits growls and hasn’t lost a bit of its spirit and charm. Especially after seeing a film as cynical [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/09/22/night-on-earth/
Greeks, Romans
The new Greek and Roman Galleries at the Met — and Frank Stella on the roof. More from the Times.
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/07/04/greeks-romans/
Cleopatra
For some reason I was under the impression that Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra was silent, but of course it’s not. How else could Claudette Colbert trade cheesy come-ons with noble Romans? Production design is sumptuous, and since this film is much shorter than Mankiewicz’s 1963 version with Liz Taylor (or Rome, for that matter), the [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/05/16/cleopatra-2/
Julius Caesar
Friends, Bloggers, Countrymen: I come to praise Brando, not to link to a YouTube clip of his posthumous performance in Superman Returns. This star-studded 1953 production–directed, like Cleopatra, by Joseph L. Mankiewicz–provides everything you’re looking for in a Shakespeare adaptation: statues, togas, striking profiles, and superhuman eloquence. James Mason plays moody Brutus, John Gielgud his [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/04/23/julius-caesar/
Cleopatra, Sith, Death Proof
Prompted by the grand finale of Rome, we took another look at Cleopatra, which is one of those movies I can rewatch every few years. Compare-and-contrast is a fun enough game, and Marcy, who was never entirely sure which of the HBO characters were fictional, was entertained by noting differences in motivation and plot. Every [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/04/10/cleopatra/
Rome, Season 2
It’s rare that a TV show ends before it has outstayed its welcome. Rome, which offered equal parts history, soap opera intrigue, gore, and soft porn, has run its course now, and the adventures of Vorenus and Pullo will be missed. The series covered the events of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ Cleopatra — one half per [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/04/04/rome-season-2/
Rome
After December’s mad movie binge, we’re catching up with some TV. This HBO show, which carries the names of John Milius and Michael Apted in the credits and is shot in Cinecitta, improves vastly on the production values of I, Claudius, though not necessarily on acting and drama. It begins earlier–season one tells of Julius [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/01/08/rome/







