My project that was Summer of Film 2005, where I had set out to watch 100 films in less than 100 days never fully materialized. Life intervened. This is not to say that I did not perform well; quite the contrary. Over and above the 29 films I partially reviewed I watched the following:
Read More »So put your little hand in mine…
Today was Groundhog Day in the United States, which is too silly to explain; unless of course you are a film fan, in which case the film by the same name is much more silly, fun and deep. And it stars Bill Murray.
Radio Open Source, which is a Boston-area public radio program and web podcast that is fantastic, had an episode on the film today. TRO assembles their programs based on suggestions on the blog, and one of my comments was brought up on the show today. On today’s Groundhog Day episode my comment comparing Groundhog Day to Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha was brought up (at about 11:10 into the show) and discussed. Very cool stuff. Read More »
Terrible idea. Terrible, terrible, terrible… terrible idea.
Let me elaborate. The story is that certain groups (read: theatre owners), with the intention of rescuing the film industry from the depths it has descended to, are pushing the FCC to block rude behavior by jamming cell phone signals in movie theatres.
What? In the first place, I was under the impression that jamming may be illegal, so what they really may be talking about is permission to circumvent the law in order to “rescue the ailing film industry”. I have two issues with this logic: —>
And the Prophet said, ‘And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead.’
King Kong is a glorious film- it succeeds just as gloriously as it fails. The best thing Peter Jackson has going for himself here is that he respects Kong. The scenes between Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and King Kong (Andy Serkis in a Gollum-suit) are magic; they play like a beautiful romantic silent film. The two sunsets and a poignant playful ice dance between them are pure movie magic. The choice of actors is perfect- Jack Black, Colin Hanks and Adrian Brody are just right.
The trouble is that the middle act suffers from Lost-World-itis; a disorder of directors of creature flicks who have been told that their creatures make their movies great. They believe that more creatures will make it greater. It is the juvenile, sugar-high, Tarantinoesque obsession with more. Tarantino usually gets away with his distractions; mainly because his films are entirely distractions strung together until they gel into a coherent mess. Not so with King Kong. The middle act on Skull Island involves multiple creatures over and over and over and over and over…
There were 2 hours of the best film this year hidden in 3 hours of mess.
UPDATE: The script/program to get your Netflix Ratings is now ready for others to use. It is still in very early stages of development, but it has worked for a lot of people. Enjoy!
One of the things I love about my Netflix account is my ratings. As of now, I have 1323 DVDs (not all DVDs are films, but most are) rated there. This is a tremendous resource about my preferences that Netflix (and I) have. The trouble is that the only way I can get at them is by going to the website, logging in to my account, clicking through 2 pages to get to my ratings page. —>
Summer of Film #29 of 100
Wonder Boys is a screenplay written to convince the writer that being a writer is actually a very cool thing. And while this is noble enough- the mistake it makes is in what it defines as coolness. I can the writer’s thought process now… Read More »
Summer of Film #28 of 100
But for the machismo, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull could be described as a ballet or an opera. It is a strange dance all men dance to a certain extent; one that we don’t like to talk about and would rather that it stay hidden behind the facade of who can grunt louder or spit farther or generally be more macho than his pears. Read More »
Summer of Film #27 of 100
Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories is the film equivalent of a mid-life crisis; I guess the appropriate description would be a mid-career crisis. However, instead of the flashy extravagance, Allen opts for moody instrospection as a character not unlike himself- a director who is trying to look for deeper meaning in his career. Why does he make films? Why does it matter that he does? Will it matter more if he make serious ones? Read More »
Summer of Film #26 of 100
The Deer Hunter, starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage and John Cazale, uses Russian roulete as an allegory for the war in Vietnam. While this is an engaging and harrowing ploy that makes for an engrossing second act, the crutches that it rests on- i.e. act one and three- do not provide adequate support. We do not know the characters well enough and when we do, their actions contradict what we would expect them to do. Considering the fact that it is a 3 hour film, this is a significant inadequacy. Read More »
Summer of Film #25 of 100
Before Night Falls reminds me of the old Einstein line
“If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.”
The gay community all over the world have been subjected to the same brand of hypocrisy in modern times. In Before Night Falls, the Cuban poet Reynaldo Arenas (played by Javier Bardem) goes from a wide-eyed, young artist to a decaying middle-aged man before our eyes. We sense that but for a different sexual predilection he would have been a national hero. Read More »
