Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing and other highlights from our colleagues across the Internet — and, occasionally, our own writers. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
The American Genre Film Archive has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help save endangered 35mm film prints with advisors Nicolas Winding Refn and Paul Thomas Anderson.
At The Dissolve, David Fear explores six films featuring past futures that cast light on their then-presents:
When most of us talk about the world of “the future,” we’re usually referring to (or mentally picturing) a vintage notion of what science-fiction movies, TV shows, novels, and comic books suggested those nebulous to-be-determined days ahead would be like: flying cars with Chrysler tail-fins; Mr. Roboto-like servants and/or besties, perhaps named Robbie or Rosie; jet-packs, specifically the ones we were promised. Dystopias, the reigning de rigueur crystal-ball trend, may have replaced the Eisenhower era’s utopian optimism as the default science-fiction setting circa 2014, but essentially, every non-worse-case-scenario look at the future still forms something akin to Jetsons kitsch in our mind’s eye. When we think about tomorrow, we still think about Tomorrowland.
Listen to director Lars von Trier, editor Anders Refn, and location scout Anthony Dod Mantle discuss Breaking the Waves:
Read James Schamus‘ top ten Criterion films.
At Nonfics, Dan Schindel counts down 7 parkour films to watch instead of Brick Mansions:
To some, the new film Brick Mansions is notable as one of the final projects starring recently-deceased actor Paul Walker. Others know of it as a remake of the French film District B13. Or, you might not be familiar with it at all, given the somewhat muted promotional push. Like the original, the movie acts as a showcase for parkour, the physical discipline of getting from one point to another as quickly as possible, often utilizing impressive acrobatic techniques. But if you want better examples of the sport in action, then it’s best to turn to a documentary. After all, the stunts in these nonfiction films aren’t performed by doubles and there’s no safety apparatuses in play. That’s much more in the true spirit of parkour.
Listen to David Bordwell discuss Carl Theodor Dreyer’s early silent comedy Master of the House and read our essay on the Criterion release:
Zero Motivation, Keep On, Keepin’ On, Point and Shoot, Manos Sucias, and more top the Tribeca Film Festival 2014 winners.
i09 looks at 12 beloved movies that were originally about something very different:
Our favorite science fiction and fantasy films seem to have burst into existence fully formed, already perfect. So it’s weird when you realize that a lot of the best movies had the biggest false starts and dead ends. Here are 12 much-loved movies that had very different storylines early on in their creation.