FILM 1809: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF

FILM 1809: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF 

Los Angeles Plays Itself is a video essay by Thom Andersen, finished in 2003, exploring the way Los Angeles has been presented in movies. Consisting almost entirely of clips from other films with narration, the film was not initially released commercially. The film was only seen in screenings presented by Andersen, occasional presentations at American Cinematheque and copies distributed via filesharing and other person-to-person methods. In 2014, it was announced that the film would finally be released officially by Cinema Guild.

Andersen stated that the film idea occurred to him after a lecture he gave at the California Institute of the Arts, where he talked about his objections to L.A. Confidential, the 1997 Curtis Hanson film adapted from James Ellroy's novel.

In the film, Andersen argues that the influence of Hollywood overshadows Los Angeles and is one of the reasons the city's name is frequently abbreviated. He makes the case that directors have a distaste for modernist architecture, which is regularly used for villain's homes.

(Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Plays_Itself)

FILM 1226: URBAN LEGEND

TRIVIA: The killers outfit is based on the fact that the film was originally planned to be set in the middle of winter. When the weather was too warm it was decided to drop the winter aspect of the storyline, rather than fake snow in all the outdoor scenes and dress all the extras in winter outfits, but they kept the killers costume.

At the end of the movie, students from an unnamed college recount the movie's events as an urban legend. They joke about the tale's validity, and one says, "And I bet Brenda was the girl from the Noxzema commercials." Actress Rebecca Gayheart, who plays Brenda in the film, did indeed appear in several commercials for Noxzema.

The car driven in the beginning was originally supposed to be a Land Rover. It was changed to the Ford Expedition (the largest 4x4 available at the time) because the filmmakers discovered they couldn't swing an axe inside a Land Rover.

The book sitting on the desk in Professor Wexler's desk in his class is "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," which is one of the seminal texts on urban legends.

The author of "The Encyclopedia of Urban Legends" is Charles Breen. The doctor on Tosh's bottle of lithium is a doctor Charles Breen. Charles William Breen is the production designer.

The last name of Natasha Gregson Wagner's character is 'Mancini'. Don Mancini is the name of the writer of all the "Child's Play" films, and the other actor that is featured in the beginning of the film, Brad Dourif, does the voice of Chucky.

FILM 1172: LIFE ITSELF

A documentary film that recounts the inspiring and entertaining life of world-renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert.