Showing posts with label Heat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heat. Show all posts

Friday, September 27, 2013

The Encyclopedia of Cinematography (G-H)

Just as a reminder: in the spirit and thrust of this series, the names beside the titles are of the PHOTOGRAPHER of the film, and not of the director.  

Gallipoli (Russell Boyd, 81) 
The sandy dunes of WWI Turkey, set opposite the vast spread of Australia, with only dupes as its players.

Giant (William C. Mellor, 56)
This, amongst many in George Stevens' film, is one of the king images in all of American cinema. Taking this single shot in, it's impossible to think of anything other than America's hugest possibilities, and its bitter downfalls. Giant is filled with such luminous work. 

Gimme Shelter (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Gary Weis, 70)
The blood red of it all; the last of an era; the perfect shot.  The ultimate in documentary cinematography. 

Glory (Freddie Francis, 89)  
This particular image...it's like a stupefying painting--as are many in this landmark, underrated film, shot by an unconditional master of the art form.

The Godfather (Gordon Willis, 72)
This says it all. I mean...it changed the look of movies forever.  Still, to this day, in movies, darkness is treasured over brightness because of this one title.  Willis was a true maverick and, while he profited from his willingness to go there, he suffered, too. 

The Godfather, Part II (Gordon Willis, 74)
This says it all, too.  In both sections of this massive mob tale, Gordon Willis made history, and set a deeply felt visual tone for decades of subsequent filmmaking.  And this is an understatement. 
 
Gone with the Wind (Ernest Haller [and Lee Garmes], 39) 
Though it's really a product of special effects, this combination of live action and matte painting somehow illustrates everything one needs to know about this landmark film. 

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Tonino Delli Colli, 66) 
A threesome, at each other's throats, and out for blood.  One stupendous film, in one single shot. 

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Tonino Delli Colli, 64)
A rebel, amongst a band of followers.  And a movie that stands as an inspiration, with its astounding photography as one of its greatest attributes. Still, Delli Colli might be the least talked-about genius of motion picture photography.
 
The Graduate (Robert Surtees, 67)
With this, the veteran Surtees never matched his mastery of bright and dark.  His athletic playfulness here with lighting and focus is something of wonder, even for a photographer as well-versed as he.  

Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki, 2013) 
A absolutely unbeleiveable melding of so many diverse filmmaking crafts, all with the immaculate look of the film as the ultimate goal.  The greatest 3D movie ever made; it makes you feel as if you've never really experienced the whole of the process before. And the attention to cinema detail is just incredible, in all moments.  
  
Great Expectations (Guy Green, 46)
The blending of lights and darks, of art direction and costuming--it's all the evocation of impressive, deeply felt emotion towards and adoration of Dickens' story well told. 

The Greatest Story Ever Told (William C. Mellor and Loyal Griggs, 65)
Widescreen at its most inconceivably brilliant (even if the film is extremely difficult to get through). 

The Green Ray (Sophie Maintigneux, 86) 
A woman's crippling loneliness, seen at its dazzling pinnacle, and then at its brilliant relief.  In my opinion, director Eric Rohmer's most seriously affecting achievement.
 
The Grey Fox (Frank Tidy, 82)
An old cowboy, in a new land. Every wrinkle in our lead's face tells a tale. 

Gun Crazy (Russell Harlan, 50)
One of the great early indie movies, and one that still resonates more than 60 years later as an influence on modern photography.   Its famous single shot of a bank robbery (taken outside the bank) remains a marvel.  

La Haine (Pierre Aim, 95) 
Street thugs in France, in snappily framed black-and-white. Extra exciting! 

 Hair (Miroslav Ondriecek, 79) 
All sides of the late 60s, seen with a dreamy, dynamic feel.

Harakiri (Yoshiro Miyajima, 62) 
The ultimate in samurai epics, transmitted with suitably breathtaking imagery.
 
Hard Boiled (Wing-Hung Wong, 92)
Action cinematography at its very best. Pure chaos. 
 
The Haunting (Davis Boulton, 63)
Indescribable terror.  In each and every shot, Boulton's lighting works in tandem with the expertly insane art direction to convey an overwhelming sense of unrest. 

 Heat (Dante Spinotti, 95)
Law and order battle it out, with a light-dappled L.A. as background.  
 
Heaven’s Gate (Vilmos Zsigmond, 80)
All the way through, even with the negative buzz, one has to marvel at its look!

The Heiress (Leo Tover, 49) 
Absolutely unforgettable in its dark portrayal of a stolen life. 
 
The Hill (Oswald Morris, 65)
Stark and driven, with a perfect use of wide lenses and a stunning sense of of lighting.  

Holy Mountain (Rafael Korkidi, 73)  
Scene after scene, this is one movie that offers the sort of bizarre images that we can barely even dream of.  
 
The Honeymoon Killers (Oliver Wood, 69)
An indie masterpiece, perhaps chiefly because of Wood's grainy, stupendously lit tableaus. 

Hope and Glory (Phillippe Rousselot, 87) 
Britain in WWII splendor, with an appropriately dialed-down color palette.  
 
Hour of the Wolf (Sven Nykvist, 68)
Nykvist pulls out all of his tricks, in service of an insurmountable horror show. 
 
The House of Mirth (Remi Adefarasin, 2000)
This is a trip back in time, all the way through.

Howards End (Tony Pierce-Roberts, 92) 
A painting in movement. 

How Green Was My Valley (Arthur Miller, 41)  
How gorgeous is this? And the entire movie reaches this peak.

Hud (James Wong Howe, 63) 
Oh my god...Howe's work here is beyond reproach, all the way through...absolutely one of the best black-and-white movies ever filmed. 

Hugo (Robert Richardson, 2011) 
Turn-of-the-20th-Century, in Paris, regal and in sumptuous 3D

The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd, 2008) 
The perfect blend of shaky-cam documentary-style and a more grounded narrative-aimed photography. 

The Hustler (Eugene Shuftan, 61) 
A man minus pluck, arriving to shoot against his most respected rival.  Shuftan's expressive widescreen black-and-white photography here is without equal. 

Friday, May 6, 2011

CINEMA GALLERY: 50 New Frames

As always, click on the photo you love to see it full screen:

A telephone call rushes through the wires and connects two distant people at the beginning of Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 94).

The scam is on in Grand Slam (Giuliano Montaldo, 67).

Mrs. Dalton appears behind the movie screen, with Everett Sloan making a cameo via Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai, in Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen, 93).

Laughing at a plan gone wrong in Sleuth (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 72).


A friend lies dead on the dance floor, and gunshots ring out as eulogy, in City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002).

Toecutter is beyond shocked in Mad Max (George Miller, 79).


Lefty (Al Pacino) does his part in Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 97).


The assault. Heat (Michael Mann, 95).


Speeding through the Paris streets in Rendezvous (Claude Lelouch, 76).


The tension makes us sweat in Deep Red (Dario Argento, 75).


Spencer Tracy delivers a karate chop to Ernest Borgnine's neck in Bad Day at Black Rock (John Sturges, 55).


The dead are dancing in Under the Volcano (John Huston, 84).


Shadow puppets. The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir, 82).


Miles finds hope in a gathering of berries. Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004).


Spectacular lovemaking atop a wartime balloon in Map of the Human Heart (Vincent Ward, 93).


A mother, jailed, cradles her child in Dumbo (Walt Disney et al, 41).


"Shake, shake, shake, Zenora." Winona Ryder finds happiness in Beetlejuice (Tim Burton, 88).


"They're so slippery." Amy Adams shows off her braceless teeth to Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg, 2002).


Dennis Christopher, creepy as an ursatz Hopalong Cassidy, in the underrated Fade to Black (Vernon Zimmerman, 80).


She's a goner. La Ceremonie (Claude Chabrol, 95).


A son (Jackie Earle Haley) cries out for his mother in Little Children (Todd Fields, 2006).


One more time down the stairs for Laurel and Hardy in The Music Box (James Parrott, 32).


Don Knotts commands the ship in The Reluctant Astronaut (Edward Montagne, 67).

Stanley Kubrick surveys his work in Making The Shining (Vivian Kubrick, 80).


Memories catch fire on the hot plate in Hapax Legomena I: Nostalgia (Hollis Frampton, 71).

Flight. Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 70).


Perhaps the most hilariously preposterous shot I can recall: Sam Elliott hangs on a landing strut, high up above NYC, as he attempts to down the bad guys in Shakedown (James Glickenhaus, 88).

America explodes in Zabriskie Point (Michelangelo Antonioni, 70).


One of my favorite lines in movie history: "Please, God, don't let the invisible fire burn my friend." John C. Reilly rushes to Will Farrell's aid in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Adam McKay, 2006).

Drunken doings in the Oscar-winning short Special Delivery (Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon, 78).


"Hiya, Moxie. Hot, ain't it?" T-Men (Anthony Mann, 47).


The title characters at odds in The Duelists (Ridley Scott, 77).


Lee Remick's beauty, scarred, in Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 59).


Here's betting this shot makes this my most visited post: the young, nude Helen Mirren models for painter James Mason in her debut film, Age of Consent (Michael Powell, 69).


Pamela Tiffin dances sexily on a rich man's diving board in Harper (Jack Smight, 66)

The finest caveman performance of all time: John Lone in Iceman (Fred Schepisi, 84).


This lunch is over. Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 70).


Fire consumes the prom in Carrie (Brian De Palma, 76).


The Senate hearing room, now empty after history has taken its course, in Point of Order (Emile De Antonio, 64).


The Leader has had it. Sleeper (Woody Allen, 73).


The final big screen appearance of the Twin Towers, caked in ice and still standing, eons later, in A.I Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001).

Making it through the "choppers" in Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot, 99).


The very picture of comfort. Buffalo 66 (Vincent Gallo, 98).


A truly satisfying screen kiss, between Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall, at the end of Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 32).


The creaminess of sexual congress. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 77).


The war is escalated between Oscar and Felix in The Odd Couple (Gene Saks, 68).

"Stop steamin' up my tail! What are ya tryin' to do, wrinkle it?" Bully for Bugs (Chuck Jones, 53).


A poor king is anointed in Jean de Florette (Claude Berri, 87).


George Roundy watches his future disappear down the avenue at the end of Shampoo (Hal Ashby, 75).

The final shot from 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 57).