The Screengrab : faisal a qureshi

Martin Scorsese's The Key to Reserva

Peter Smith — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:00:00 GMT

Freixenet champagne has put up a short Martin Scorsese piece, an homage to Alfred Hitchcock apparently based on fragments of a Hitchcock script. Scorsese claims this has has never been done before, but then, there's always A.I., Steven Spielberg's attempt to preserve Kubrick's last project, or the 1998 version of Ed Wood's I Woke Up Early The Day I Died, allegedly made in the style of the cheapo "auteur" himself. Anyway, The Key To Reserva isn't mentioned in the Hitchcock books I have (Hitchcock's Notebooks and the Spoto and McGilligan biographies) and what Scorsese has are just fragments of a scene. But what he accomplishes with it is good fun, paying homage to the Saul Bass titles, the blonde leading ladies, the Bernard Herrmann music and even the obviously faked blue screens. — Faisal A. Qureshi

Enter the Moviedrome

Peter Smith — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:45:00 GMT

British cineastes love Alex Cox for his BBC series Moviedrome, which highlighted cult films. Until its demise in 1994, it was required viewing on a Sunday night, when Cox would pop up and introduce a couple of short films that he felt were neglected, interesting or screwed-up. This was when "cult" didn't have that sniffy sense of intellectual superiority. A lot of filmmakers cite Cox's excellent Moviedrome introductions as kicking off their interest in cinema. Unseen since their original broadcast, they've now popped up on YouTube. The very first Moviedrome introduction, above, for The Wicker Man, also features Cox's definition of cult. Others have included Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Halloween, a film he's reluctant to praise. Hopefully his more enthusiastic intros to Mishima, The Parallax View and Django will make it onto the net soon. — Faisal A. Qureshi

Fan Flicks In Jeopardy

Peter Smith — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:00:00 GMT

The BBC reports on how a group of German filmmakers operating under the name Damnatus recently had their fan feature based on the popular wargame Warhammer 40,000 nixed by the game's creators, Games Workshop. Even though the 110-minute feature was on Damnatus's website for free, Games Workshop felt that the filmmakers infringed on their intellectual copyright and denied them permission to show the feature anywhere.

This isn't the first time this has occurred. A Spanish fan adaptation of Dune by Mediteatro Productions was halted by lawyers from the Frank Herbert estate; the trailer was even pulled from YouTube. The filmmakers now have a petition going, though the last time I checked, it had only got six-hundred signatures. Given the rumours of a Peter-Berg-helmed adaptation, you can't blame the estate for being vigilant in safeguarding its intellectual property.

Fan filmmakers, though, point to two successful film franchises whose creators and copyright holders have been more flexible. George Lucas is more than happy for fans to make Star Wars spinoffs, and the best ones are usually to be found on Atom Films. Paramount seems to have no problem with the existence of Star Trek: New Voyages, a high-budget affair by Star Trek fans that has involved cast members from the original show. And the TV show Battlestar Galactica encouraged fan films to tie in with their series, even providing visual FX footage and sound effects from the show.

For the studios, Star Wars and Star Trek fan flicks are useful for keeping a fan base alive when there's nothing for them to throw on screen. But neither Games Workshop nor the Herbert estate have had the luxury of a long-running successful TV or film franchise, so perhaps it's understandable that they'd like to develop their own look and feel for their properties before fans beat them to it. — Faisal A. Qureshi

Video of the Day: The Glitch

Peter Smith — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:00:00 GMT

I've had some nightmare dates in my time. In first place is still being compared to Hitler but paying for the meal; the second is having my date's ex turn up and take her home. But this is nothing compared to Jason Biggs' suffering in this short film, The Glitch. — Faisal A. Qureshi