Five Favorite Films

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Cameron shared his five favorite films (okay, six) with Rotten Tomatoes recently. Here they are in no particular order.

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Local Hero (1983)
Bill Forsyth, come back!  It’s hard enough to create a movie this deeply funny, so odd and so memorable… but to have a score like Mark Knopfler’s, too? Come on. This is the holy grail of personal filmmaking with a distinctive directorial touch. Also check out Forsyth’s other films like Comfort and Joy and Gregory’s Girl for his trademark touch: the random moment that has no reason to be in the movie, except it’s everything you think about later.

 

Quadrophenia (1979) and Control (2007)
Quadrophenia and Control. Franc Roddam and Anton Corbijn’s films both accomplish the rarest thing; they capture the feeling in the music of the bands that they’re covering. To watch these two great movies is to geek out on cinematic portraits that remind you exactly why you first fell in love with a Townshend power chord, or discovered Ian Curtis’ bleak genius. Character to look for: Steph (Leslie Ash), the scene-stealer from Quadrophenia.
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The Rules of the Game
(La Règle du jeu) (1939)
Jean Renoir puts on a master class in ensemble comedy-drama. Period.
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The Royal Tenenbaums (2002)
The Royal Tenenbaums is a mood masterpiece. Everything about Wes Anderson’s film is perfect; it immediately transports you to a world only he could create. Part Salinger, part idealized New York, but mostly Wes’ pleasantly devastating view of this family’s life, Tenenbaums succeeds on great writing and extremely particular filmmaking. Put this together with a score and a soundtrack for the ages, and you have a film that operates like the best of Hal Ashby or even a filmmaker like Miyazaki. It feels so good, it’s almost like a drug. Also, the Rolling Stones have never been used better in film history, and that’s just one of the movie’s many wonderful marriages of music and cinema. And then there’s Gene Hackman…
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The Apartment (1960)

You really can’t beat The Apartment for finding laughs and heartache and triumph in the life of a morally compromised schnook of an insurance salesman. The great Billy Wilder was at one of his many career peaks here, finding unforgettable depth in Shirley MacLaine as elevator operator Fran Kubelik, and pulling a delicious Mitt Romneyesque-bad-guy performance out of an unlikely casting choice, the Disney leading man from FlubberFred MacMurray.

The high-water mark in romantic comedy, this movie is so assured of its tone that even an attempted suicide is never far from a big laugh. It’s all wrapped up in giddy melancholy and — in a rare move — the Academy gave this comedy a whole bunch of Oscars too. Viva Wilder!

 

Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes – January 4, 2017

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Jerry Maguire – Complete Guide to Filming Locations – Part 2

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We are back with Part 2 of the Complete Guide to Jerry Maguire Filming Locations. Let’s dig in!

  1. Cushman’s House – (Morehart Mercantile, 9016 Mupu Road, Santa Paula)

“You know, I told myself, ‘He shows up, we stick with him.’” – Matt Cushman

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Matt Cushman (Beau Bridges), whose word is stronger than oak, makes a verbal agreement to keep Jerry as his son Frank’s agent while in the living room of his Odessa, Texas ranch house. Filming actually took place at a home on the sprawling grounds of Morehart Mercantile, a feed and farm supply company in Santa Paula.

  1. Jerry, Ray and Dorothy’s Airport Goodbye – Terminal A Entrance, John Wayne Airport (18601 North Airport Way, Santa Ana)

“Jerry, do you know the human head weighs eight pounds?” – Ray Boyd

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 Dorothy and Ray drop Jerry off at the airport before the NFL Draft outside of the entrance to Terminal A at the John Wayne Airport. While there, Dorothy fondly watches a father say goodbye to his wife and young son.

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Jerry Maguire – Complete Guide to Filming Locations – Part 1

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In honor of its 20th anniversary, I’ve teamed up with the amazing Lindsay Blake, to uncover and compile a complete list of all of the film’s shooting locales, as well as some insider tidbits. As always, many of these locations are private residences or businesses, so please don’t trespass. So, without further ado, we present The Complete Guide to Jerry Maguire Filming Locations – Part I. Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow!

  1. Opening Montage

“So, this is the world and there are almost 6 billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It’s hard to keep up.” – Jerry Maguire

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The movie’s opening, in which successful sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) introduces the audience to several of his young clients, was shot at various athletic facilities across L.A., mainly in the San Gabriel Valley. The “Indiana” Basketball Court where Clark Hodd (Michael James Johnson), the best point guard in the country, shoots hoops is Robinson Park, located at 1081 North Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. The area where Clark plays in the segment was remodeled in the mid-2000s and the number of courts reduced from four to two, so it looks a bit different today. Erica Sorgi (the All-American diver played herself) – “You’ll see her in the next Olympics!” – skips across the living room of a house at 972 Cornell Road in Pasadena before hurling off a diving board a few miles away at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center at 360 North Arroyo Boulevard. Dallas Molloy (also playing herself), whose lawsuit, as Jerry tells us, helped paved the way for women boxers everywhere, throws jabs in the boxing gym at Villa-Parke Community Center at 363 East Villa Street, again in Pasadena.

The “Indio” baseball field where Art Stallings (Jordan Ross) shows us what pure joy looks like is Pote Field at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park. The “Great Frank Cushman” (Jerry O’Connell) tosses a pigskin at what is supposed to be an Odessa, Texas stadium, but, in reality, he is at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at 3911 South Figueroa Street in Exposition Park. And Brookside Golf Course at 1133 Rosemont Avenue in Pasadena is where a young golfer (Brandon Christianson) throws a club at his coach.

 

  1. NFL Owners Meeting – The Westin Los Angeles Airport (5400 West Century Boulevard, Westchester)

“Now I’m the guy you don’t usually see. I’m the one behind the scenes. I’m the sports agent.” – Jerry Maguire

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Following the opening, the scenery shifts to an NFL owners meeting taking place in the bustling lobby of what was then the LAX DoubleTree Hotel, but today is The Westin Los Angeles Airport. There, Jerry wheels and deals for his various clients, trying to secure a $14-million-per-year/5-year offer for one player. Hey, no one said winning was cheap!

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Jerry Maguire – Behind the Scenes Pics

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We’ll have a special post tomorrow to celebrate Jerry Maguire‘s 20th Anniversary, but thought we’d start things today with some previously unseen Behind the Scenes pictures. Enjoy!

 

 

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Jerry Maguire 20th Anniversary Blu-ray is Coming!

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To celebrate the 20th anniversary, Sony will be releasing a brand new edition of Jerry Maguire on blu-ray on January 3rd. It will feature a beautiful new transfer (from 4K), a new collection of extras from the Vinyl Films vault, plus all the legacy extras from previous blu-ray and 2 DVD special edition (inlcuding the video commentary with Cameron, Tom, Cuba and Renee). The newly created extras include a 40 minute retrospective documentary, Jerry Maguire: We Meet Again. The documentary features unseen behind the scenes footage, rehearsals, dailies and vintage interviews with the cast and crew. This doc is complimented by a new audio interview with Cameron and Tom discussing the film. It will be a Best Buy exclusive and also include a copy of the soundtrack on CD. We think you will really enjoy this look back at the film.

The disc is also packed with nearly an hour of newly uncovered Deleted/Alternate/Extended Scenes, a booklet with the Mission Statement (plus an intro by Cameron), a new photo gallery and the theatrical trailer.

Release Date: January 3, 2017
BD Disc Size: 50 GB Disc
Region Code: Region A
Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Sound:

  •  5.1 (English)
  •  5.1 (French), (Spanish),(Portuguese)

Extra Features:

  • Jerry Maguire: We Meet Again Documentary
  • Nearly one hour of never before seen deleted and extended scenes
  • Photo Gallery
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Legacy Bonus Features
    • Picture in Picture (PIP) commentary by Cameron Crowe, Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Jr. & Renée Zellweger
    • Deleted Scenes
    • Rehearsal Footage
    • My First Commercial with Rod Tidwell
    • Drew Rosenhaus: How to be a Sports Agent
    • Secret Garden Music Video by Bruce Springsteen
    • Making of Featurette

Finally, here’s a look at the entire package with the Mission Statement Booklet, etc.

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Marvin Gaye: Trouble Man

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Four years ago, Cameron wrote the liner notes for the 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition of Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man soundtrack. Enjoy!

A quick snapshot of Marvin Gaye, May 1971: Sylmar, California. It’s a rarely documented time in the artist’s life. He’d just finished What’s Going On, and hopped a flight from Detroit to Los Angeles to begin a co-starring role in an earnest film about a young Green Beret. He’s 32, newly shorn of the iconic beard that would characterize his creative gestation. In the summer of ’71, Marvin Gaye is an actor.

The film was not going swimmingly, the director uncommunicative with him, and Marvin was adrift in a world he’d known only as a fan, unaccustomed to set-politics, but ready to learn. It’s no surprise where Gaye found a homeon the camera truck, helping with the film operators, being close to the artistic creation of the film’s feel and look. Most of the camera crew was unaware of Gaye’s recorded work.

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Leon Russell: 1942 – 2016

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The Master of Space and Time

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Happy Birthday Joni

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Mitchell on Lake Mendota. 1976. ©Joel Bernstein

Today is Joni Mitchell’s birthday. Let’s celebrate this Monday with a few Cameron penned items.

Joni Mitchell Interview – Rolling Stone – July 26, 1979

Joni Mitchell Dreamland Liner Notes – September 14, 2004

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