1) A little thread. There is an essential principle in Catholic dogma (thus you may choose to refute it or embrace it) that serves as a narrative backbone: Grace and salvation emerge from pain and suffering. It is in this passage that you find salvation.

https://twitter.com/TheGMcConnachie/status/1705746286324896006

2) NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU. You will save yourself through this. You can find it in the Book of Job- In Jonah in the whale and in fact in many other religions. The world- the essence of it- is a paradoxical composite of destruction and creation.

A small story about William Friedkin (may take a moment): I had the privilege to sit all day by the side of the master as he shot The Caine Mutiny. Day after day diring the shoot and a couple of times in preproduction. From call to wrap… During preproduction he made it clear to cast and crew that the schedule (very tight) would demand everyone to come in fully prepared - and that he would not consider many more takes than one. Everyone that steppd into the set had to be able to have “the full book” ready.

GAMERA #1 GAMERA #2 The colors (I will use Gold and Bronze for highlights)

1/3 Todo mundo viendo el partido, pero lanzo esto. Sin entrar en política. Para buscar soluciones y mantener los Arieles para aquellos que hacen un cine que propone y que da presencia a México: Ofrezco personalmente cubrir el costo total de las estatuillas del Ariel- 2/3 Ofrezco ayudar a la ceremonia tanto como sea posible. Y pido dialogo entre @AcademiaCineMx y @alefrausto para ver que mas falta. La academia y las películas que estimula, NO son las que los bots usan como argumento- son las que pelean por tiempo en pantalla y que mantienen-

I very, very seldom post anything contradictory here- but- the amount of misconceptions, sloppy innacuracies and hostile adjectives not backed by an actual rationale is offensive, cruel and ill-intentioned. This article baited them traffic, but at what cost?

https://twitter.com/TheCriticMag/status/1577931824248004611

To be clear: If God offered to shorten my life to lengthen Scorsese's- I'd take the deal. This man understands Cinema. Defends Cinema. Embodies Cinema. He has always fought for the art of it and against the industry of it. He has never been tamed and has a firm place in history.

Extremely hard to execute. Pure, masterly clockwork precision and a lot more complex than "seamed" shots or steadicam-to-crane "relay" shots. Baffling, virtuoso- but one of so, so many shots that make the camera "dance" with each musical number.

https://twitter.com/ShaneM_Anderson/status/1497423759783100419

There are some of the dance number shots that are extremely (if not impossible) to decipher and almost all of them require brain-surgery levels of precision. I was elated from the purity of his audiovisual painting strokes-

I was thinking about suggesting here some books, movies, stuff and art (present, past, random) you may find cool to discover as the year is birthed. Ready? Follow this thread... SERENADE by James M Cain. This is lesser-known Cain but a really dark hardboiled story of passion, desire and murder. There is a scene in a colonial church that is unbelievably visual and twisted.

Abro hilo @mario_delgado @dolorespadierna La mayoría de los trabajadores de la industria CInematografica necesitan continuidad. Viven de una producción a otra. El nivel de calidad a nivel técnico y artístico se ha disparado a lo mas alto. Desde hace tiempo, nuestro cine ha sido instrumento y voz de nuestra cultura y embajador de el talento de nuestra gente a nivel masivo y mundial. Ha conquistado espacios internacionales que ya se habían perdido o nos estaban vedados.

1/3 Alright- here we go- just a few ideas: I hope this can be about things we love. Not about things we hate or things we are weighed down about. We cannot answer questions out in the open but please read and respond to each other as much as possible. We will be here a little bit and the first few questions are: What are you reading? What are you watching? What are you listening to? And How many days have you been indoors?

1/13: 13 Tweets about Scorsese's The Irishman: First- the film connects with the epitaph-like nature of Barry Lyndon. It is about lives that came and went, with all their turmoil, all their drama and violence and noise and loss… and how they invariably fade, like we all do… 2/13 “It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarrelled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now." We will all be betrayed and revealed by time, humbled by our bodies, stripped off our pride.

BEAUTIFUL, powerful image by Eleonor Piteira on Shape of Water. I'd love to think that it is a PRE-FILM scene (probably in the Amazon ) and the creature stands before a sunken temple in which Elisa has been prophesied.

10 personal musings about ROMA.

1) The opening shot suggests that earth (the shit-infested ground) and heaven (the plane) are irreconcilably far even if they are joined -momentarily- and revealed, by water (the reflection). All truths in ROMA are revealed by water. 2) These planes of existence, like the separation within classes in the household cannot be broached. The moments the family comes "closer" are fleeting... "She saved our lives" is promptly followed by "Can you make me a banana shake?"

Watching @mang0ld 's LOGAN again I am struck by the Zen-Western, elegiac poetry of its script and the spartan brutality of its action. It's that rare breed of film that enhances the mythology it closes. It betters the films that preceded it. One of the very best of its kind. The way @mang0ld stages action is extremely intricate but he makes it all feel deceivingly raw- the craftsmanship in said staging - and its technical difficulty - goes by most viewers unnoticed -as it should be - but, without ever being vulgar and showy it is, however, superb.

1/2 SCREENPLAYS I have developed, fully written or co-written that have gone unproduced (so far):
THE WITCHES, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, THE COUNT OF MONTECRISTO, MEPHISTO'S BRIDGE, PACIFIC RIM 2 (very different), 2/2 SECRET PROJECT (UNTITLED), SUPERSTITIOUS, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, HAUNTED MANSION, THE HULK pilot, THE BURIED GIANT, THE COFFIN, DROOD, LIST OF 7 (Mark Frost) and a few others...