screening update

Sorry it's been nothing but screening updates lately but since nobody but my Mother-in-law reads the blog I'm sure there's not really that much of an uproar about it. Hi Kathy!!

Viewed since the last entry

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Casino Royale
Spellbound
Vampyres
The Disney Davey Crocket Films
Candleshoe
Taxi Driver
Get Smart
Sin City
Quantum of Solace
Mister Foe
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (Ties with the first for the best )
Gonzo: Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

What I've watched since the last update.

Who’s That Knocking on My door?
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection
Guilty By Suspicion
Ghost Town
The Satanic Rites of Dracula
The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires
The Curse of Frankenstein
The Flesh & Blood Show
The House of Whipcord
Die Screaming Marianne
IT (1966)
Boxcar Bertha
Sometimes They Come Back
Gremlins
Dracula (1931)
Strip Nude For Your Killer
The Revenge of Frankenstein
Salem’s Lot (2004)
The Shining (1997)
The shining (1980)
Nosferatu
Shadow of the Vampire
Frightmare
Mean Streets
La Dolce Vita
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Quarantine
Night Of The Living Dead
Fright Night
Scream of Fear
City of Ember
Needful Things
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
The Evil of Frankenstein
Frankenstein Created Woman
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
The Horror Of Frankenstein
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Sold Out: a Threevening With Kevin Smith
Who Saw Her Dies
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child

screening updates

OK I started this post a week ago and since have added almost 20 more films so I am going to try and be a little briefer this time. In fact in probably half or more of the films I'm just posting a grade.

Mirrors: C

It’s only been a few weeks but I’ve already almost entirely forgotton this film, good idea, execution was a off, should have been better than it was. A few too many plot holes to overlook.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona: B

Another strong showing from Woody. Javiar Bardem shows his range from last years Oscar winning Socio path to this performance which can only be described as cool incarnate. Scarlet Johansson redeems herself from what I saw as a contuniual slide in recent projects into a selfconciousness that never allowed her to inhabit characters. The real attraction her though is Rebecca Hall as Vicky, she’s one to watch for in the future. This is one of those films that you have things to say and discuss afterward.

The Adventures of Robin Hood: B+

Good old Errol Flynn, Gracie wanted to watch this after loving Robin Hood: Men in tights, this is what a Robin hood movie should be.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: A

This was the next film in Ali and I's game, the link was interacial romance from "Flirting"


In the Heat of the Night: B+

Next in the game link from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was Sidney Poitier

3 Days of the Condor: B+

Hamlet 2: B+

Don't worry you don't have to rewatch Hamlet before going to this it isn't really a sequel it's actually a comedy about an incredibly inept high school drama teacher who's one chance to save the drama program is his musical sequel to Hamlet. The great British comic actor Steve Coogan is perfectly cast. Rock me sexy Jesus!!!

Good Night and Good Luck: A

Next in the game this is the weakest link so far, the link is the word Night in the title.

Without a Clue: B-

Disaster Movie: D-

This is terrible, and why Alex doesn't pick the movies anymore. Watching it though you wonder why they don't even try and be good. Can something be this bad without consciously deciding to be?

Salo: F

Criterion collection read it was controversial, I can see why. It's also pretty gross and unpleasant.

The Verdict: B

Solid, just catching up on a classic here that slipped through my fingers until now.

Riding the Bullet: C+

War of the Worlds: B-

Disturbia: B

Definitely something about Labouf.

A Shock to the System: B+

Interesting Michael Caine thriller from the 80's. He really is always an interesting actor to watch. Great to see his career back in high gear.

Children of the Corn: B-

I had always been terrified to watch this film, having seen it now....I don't see why. It's pretty tame but fun to see Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton before they were famous or stopped being famous.

Sleepwalkers: C

Pretty dumb Stephen King original

The Horror of Dracula: B+

The first in the British Hammer films studio Dracula series. Gracie and I are watching them all, though she gets rather bored with half of them at least. They are great fun though, not too scary but full of heightened atmosphere and ridiculous plots.

The Brides of Dracula: B

Second in the Hammer Dracula series though no Dracula this time around just some of his leftovers and Van Helsing.

Frequency: A-

I love a good time travel film, showed this to the kids for the first time, Gracie was pretty lost.

Roshomon: B+

Finally catching this classic from Kurosawa, feel that I'll get more out of it with repeated viewings. One of those films that obviously made an enormous impact on cinema which years later it can be hard to recognize because it's innovations are now standards. Jane Austen Perfected the unreliable narrator in literature with Emma, Kurosawa does it for film with Ro

The Fifth Element: B-

Not nearly as good as I remembered still fun, Alex liked it I think though he spent a lot of time playing with guys during it.

The Iron Rose: C+

French horror film from the 70's. Interesting idea but cheap budget and it felt very padded, would have worked better as a short.

Dracula Prince of Darkness: B

Next film in the Hammer series and this time Dracula is back. fun stuff but ridiculous ending in which Dracula is defeated by running water, ooooooo!!!

And Now the Screaming Starts: B

Interesting British horror film by Hammer rival Amicu, unlike Hammer they were usually set in modern times, though this is one of their rare forays into Period set films. Terrible title but not a bad film. again not really scary but not really the point.

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave: B

Um they are all starting to run together now.

Pet Sematary: B-

Another film I'd always been too afraid to watch, another what was I scared of? (pale green pants with nobody inside them).

Taste the Blood of Dracula: B

The Scars of Dracula: B

Transsiberian: B

Thriller that's more dread then thrills, more suspense based then action. Featuring the always lovely Emily Mortimer (definitely on the list)

Bram Stoker's Dracula: A-

It has it's flaws but it's like an old Hammer film minus the cheese all atmosphere and brilliantly cinematic. Ethan and Alex kept Mystery Science Theatering it and ended up going upstairs to play. I still think it works, though still not Keanu Reeves best performance. Some great lines, "Take me away from all of this death"!

Run Fat Boy Run: A-/B+

OK unabashed Simon Pegg fan here, also huge on British comedies, the film is filled with cameos from British comedy greats that no one else in America has any idea who they are. I liked it a lot!!

Asylum: B

Another Amicus production, very fun, they book ending framework actually works better than the anthology shorts that comprise the middle section.

Dracula 1972 AD: B

Frankly it's all getting a bit silly not but we do get Van Helsing back in the form of Peter Cushing who'd been absent from the series since The Brides of Dracula. This entry also has one of the better endings in the bunch.

Lips of Blood: C

This was disappointing low budget French art house/horror film from the 70's, supposedly a classic and it was interesting but a bit overlong at 90 minutes.

2008 so far...

OK Jason asked me to work on this so I thought it would make a quick update to the long neglected blog.

Tied at 1st place until I see them both again

1. The Dark Knight & Wall*E
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
3. Iron Man
4. Tropic Thunder
5. In Bruges
6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
8. Hamlet 2
9. Kung Fu Panda
10. The Incredible Hulk

Quick reviews

Some quick reviews of films screened since the last entry

The Dark Knight A

This is the only film this year that is in the running to unseat WALL*E as the best film of the year. I hope to do a more exstensive blog on this film (including spoilers) after I see it for a third time so I will leave further comment on the film until then.

Superhero Movie C

Saw this in the hotel room with Alex and he laughed his butt off which elevated this to a C, anything that gives your kids pleasure it's hard to be too rough on. Others wise a somewhat lazy effort as all these films tend to be better than Epic Movie, but that isn't saying much.

National Treasure II: Book of Secrets C-

Actually a little bit better than the first one, which to my mind was unwatchable, this is still pretty ridiculous, seeking logic look elswhere.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D B-

This is fun, especially in 3-D, I was expecting to enjoy the 3-Dness of it but be pretty bored by the story. What I found was that they were actually fairly clever on the story front, they had a nice entry into the story, this isn't a remake of an earlier version but a new way to explore the novel.

Space Chimps C-

Yeah better to just not, it's not so bad it's offensive but it also isn't really worth your time.


The Age of Innocence A

This is part of Ali and I's linking film game, the previous film was a Room With a View, the link between the films is actually multiple, Daniel Day-Lewis is a link, also adaptations from novels, period films with the class system as a theme. When I first saw this film upon it's initial release at the Century Seven theatre in Fargo I was underwhelmed. My initial feeling was that the voice over narration did not work, and the the film seemed devoid of any real emotion. Then a few years later I rewatched it on laserdisc and was astonished at how different my reaction was. This is a great film, the voice over narration is pitch perfect, and it is all about emotion, and the burying of it. Great film, fantastic performances throughout.

Next film in our linking game was....

The Dead Poets Society B+

Link here being Robert Sean Leonard who appears at the very end of The Age Of Innocence. Films holds up fairly well, I had not seen it since it's release in theatres, when Robin Williams first came on screen I got a little worried that this would be with hindsight a Patch Adams performance, thankfully not, this is Williams the actor not williams the Ham. Also very good was Robert Sean Leonard and Josh Charles. The one thing that struck me was the lack of story arc for what seemed at times to be the main character played by Ethan Hawke. He had some scenes that seemed to sort of deal with his issues but he didn't really seem to be the focus of the film most of the time and then also seemed at times that he was supposed to be the character through whose eyes we experienced the story. That part didn't really seem to come together, but that is a minor quibble.

The next film was ...

Flirting A-

The link being a boys school. I remember it was around new years 1993 Scott, Dawn, June, and I were in MPLS to celebrate the holidays with my Mom and little brother Aaron, we went to a screening of Peter's Friends at the Uptown theatre. Before it was saw two trailers that I remember to this day, Strictly Ballroom, and Flirting. Neither of which I was ever able to see until they came out on home video both of which I owned on laserdisc and now on DVD. This film is actually a sequel to a film The Year My Voice Broke and is actually the second in a planned trilogy, the third installment of which seems destined never to be made. Flirting is one of the best films about young love ever made. It perfectly captures the growning love and respect between two individuals it acknowledges the importance of the sexual feelings of characters at this age but also shows it as more than just hormones. You have a genuine desire for these two people to get together, and you can only hope that someday down the road they will find each other again. The film does a great job of rounding out the supporting characters with very little effort or screen time, no one outside the main characters really has a story arc and yet you feel like you know them, at least as well as you know the people you went to school with. It captures so many things about adolecence besides first love, like the cruelty of kids that age towards each other, and how ridiculous adults can be.




X-Files: I Want to Believe B

I'm a fan of the show, I'm a fan of the characters, I liked it. I can understand why some people would be expecting Aliens or something that played into the x-files mythology more, but I didn't have a problem with that chance. I thought the story was engaging, and creepy. but really what I was there for was the Scully Mulder dynamic and I thought it gave us a nice little. update on that.

The Tracey Fragments D+

yeah, I like Ellen Page too, I like her a lot, and she's does what she can here, but this is just a mess that really doesn't seem to go anywhere and it's derailed by it's overbearing technique, fractured screens to the tenth power, almost unwatchable I found myself constantly checking the time elapsed to see if it was almost over.

The Martian Chronicles C

This is a made for early 80's TV miniseries and it shows, the best parts are the ideas which come from master story teller Ray Bradbury, but pretty much everything else is cheese on toast. Interesting but this production did not age well.

Torn Curtain B-

This is one of the few Hitchcock films I had never seen before, finally got around to it and I can see why it isn't considered a classic, but it's still true Hitchcock, and there are many scenes that work very well. This is definitely one I would check out again.

Topaz D+

One of the other Hitchcock's I had never seen, this one will not be veiwed again it was a tough screening. There was one scene that felt like classic Hitchcock and that was the opening sequence. Beyond that it really felt like a mess and the ending is terribly anticlimatic, something you do not expect from Hitch.

Smart People B

This was a much more enjoyable outing from Ellen Page. Thomas Haden Church is also very good here, the less effective performance is that of the lead Dennis Quaid, he made one wrong choice in his performance and while it doesn't ruin the film or even his contribution it is unsuccessful, it is the choices he made to physicalize his characters conceitedness. the raised nose and affected speech patterns in certain scenes were just off otherwise it was good.

Tropic Thunder A-

This is very funny very enjoyable time at the movies. Great comedic performances from Steve Coogan, Robert Downey Jr. and Jay Baruchel in particular. In fact performance wise the only not pitch perfect one was Ben Stiller, who was still good, he just seemed to be playing it a little broader than the rest of the cast. Tom Cruise also give a completely original performance as an obnoxious bald foulmouthed studio exec.

OK OK

Ok, decided I should do something even if it is late So Top 10 favorite directors (living/working). (no Particular order)

1. Kenneth Branagh
2. Woody Allen
3. Kevin Smith
4. Martin Scorsese
5. Wes Anderson
6. David Fincher
7. Judd Apatow
8. Quentin Tarantino
9. Paul Thomas Anderson
10. Cameron Crowe

Once again that is totally off the top of my head, OK Ok I did go over and glance at the DVD shelves.

Top 10 favorite directors (Dead/not working). (no Particular order)

1. Alfred Hitchcock
2. Frank Capra
3. Charlie Chaplin
4. Howard Hawks
5. Robert Wise
6. Buster Keaton
7. David Lean
8. John Ford
9. Preston Sturges
10. Elia Kazan

long time no blog.

Well sorry. It's been nearly a month since we returned from our trip and I haven't written a single blog entry. Well I will try and write a full blown blog entry over the weekend for now I just wanted to get on and make some excuses. Busy at work, busy with family, I've been sick for over a week now, avalanche stranded us in our car, kidnapped by the tooth fairy who claims I still owe her two teeth, rhubarb. Some combination of the above is too blame. I'll go in now and update the 2008 viewing list and then try and get something out this weekend with a quick word on each.

On Vacation

Just a qick update to let any readers know that I will be on vacation from July 4th to July 21st. In the meantime feel free to read older posts and make comments. Happy 4th of July everyone.

Wall-E A+

Last Sunday I saw Wall-E and I doubt that I will see a better film this year. I'm trying to think of my favorite films from last year and as far as I can recall it tops every one of them. I must say I was fairly well shocked at my reaction to this film. I thought the trailers looked fun, but I really didn't think I would really connect with it. When I think of Pixar the company behind probably 90% of the greatest animation in the last decade or more, I wonder why I thought Wall E would some how fall below the others. Maybe it's because it's about robots, maybe I was expecting a manipulating romance about characters I wouldn't care about if they weren't contriving reasons for me to care. Whatever my reasons I suspect that that theory of lowered expectations would have come into play, would have that is if the film needed them, but it doesn't. I'm not going to spoiler the movie for those who haven't seen it. I also don't want to overpraise it, though again I doubt the film could fall victim to that phenomenon either.

There are so many levels on which Wall-E succeeds. Visually it is as astonishing as anything animation I have ever seen. there is a scene in which Wall-E is crushed by an entire Grocery store's worth of shopping carts within the scene focus shits the camera jostles and there is something so real about it that it was amazing to me not that they could compose and exicute such a shot but that they thought to, that they realized this shot filmed as it is.... but wait it isn't filmed is it it's all designed in a computer, but it feels like it's filmed. Take Toy Story for example, that has some really great animation in it but it always looks like a cartoon. This film begins to look like a cartoon only after they arrive on a ship in space that contains the human race or what it has become. In other words they wait until we have completely bought into the reality of this world before they remind us it's a cartoon, but that doesn't break the magic it amplify's the wonder at what they have done.

Character wise I need to be careful because this could easily lead to spoilers. I'll say that not since E.T. has something so asthetically uncute been so endearing. The heart of this character and his personality shine through this robot exterior and this animated robot who resembles a human less than any other robot I can think of comes off as one of the most fully realized characters I've seen this year. In fact Wall-E is one of the most human characters in film history.

Speaking of humans, again while trying to avoid spoilerville, the humans in this film mirror our deapest laws and show us what could easily happen to us as a species. But, the film also shows what is greatest about the human spirit. This is a film that isn't content to give us one lesson to take away like most animated films do this is a film bursting with ideas and themes. It is not only a great animated film but a great science Fiction film as well, for it does what alll great science fiction does it uses the distance of time and space to address the world in which we live now.


I don't want to over inflate everyone's expectations, but I laughed, I cried, it was a part of me. A+

The best so far!!

It seems like a good time to recap the best films of 2008 so far. We are half way through the year and the thing that strikes me is that it has been a very good year for blockbuster films. Usually the big summer films with the explosions and larger than life charaters are good for one thing and that is mindless entertainment. this year the big summer blockbusters seem to be a notch or two above any other year. I suspect this is due to the influnce of a few films in recent years, those that were critical as well as commercial sucesses, those that were good even while blowing things up. What are these films that began to attract talent to the franchises? For it is the talent of the creative teams that is raising the bar. for some reason big stars and good directors are getting into the block buster business and from what they are turning out it wasn't just for the payday. The Bourne Franchise and the Spider-man films are what led the charge. Those were hit's as well as critically well received, perhaps it even goes back to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, when a blockbuster fantasy film cleaned up at the Oscars as well as the box office. Also look at Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Daniel Craig as James Bond, and Christian Bale as Batman. These are great actors taking leads in franchise, blockbuster films. In the last few decades you had your great actors and you had your action stars, we kept them in seperate drawers and they rarely ever got to the same table. But now we have great actors taking on the roles of action stars. But the interesting thing is they are not just taking the roles they are altering them into more than just action stars they are turning them into action characters. Now this year we have Robert Downey Jr. as Ironman, Edward Norton as the Hulk, Harrison Ford as .... OK well somethings never change, and that's ....OK, cause Harrison Ford is active enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it people like him. So before I go any farther down this road and before we cast our eyes forward to the rest of 2008 and the Dark Knight, and Quantum of Solace, let's look at the first 6 months and I'll tell you what I think the 5...well 6 best films have been so far.

1. Wall E
2. Iron Man / The Incredible Hulk ( I know kind of a cheat)
3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
4. Kung Fu Panda
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

My prediction is that by the end of 2008 Wall E will still be #1 a short review will appear at this blog in the next two days.

Top 10 novel adaptations

In honor of Emma, in no particular order and off the top of my head. Two qualifiers I have to have read the book, and no author's can appear twice on the list.

1. The Harry Potter films (kinda cheating I know but deal with it)
2. Hamlet (1996)
3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Ditto)
4. The Haunting
5. Stand By Me
6. Bridget Jones Diary
7. The Hitchickers' Guide to the Galaxy ( I hear your booing and don't care)
8. About a Boy so so tied with High Fidelity
9. To Kill a Mockingbird
10. Casino Royale

Please send comments with your own top 5's!!!

Quick Screening updates and a word (not one of the seven) on George Carlin

George Carlin passed away on Sunday. Carlin was a groundbreaking and envelope pushing comedian and actor. Some highlights from his career on DVD include his hosting of the first ever episode of Saturday Night Live, more recently a nice turn in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl.

OK, been a week since my last update and I've seen quite a few things so just a brief word on eacc

The Lady Vanishes: This was from the Criterion disc, part of my Father's Day gift. I love this late British era Hitchcock film, along with the 39 Steps it's truly his best pre American film, full of great oddball supporting characters and a nice dose of humor and wit. Charming yet thrilling A-

The Third Man: Also Criterion disc, also part of Father's Day present. Great post WWII thriller, with Orson Welles at his Orsoniest. Glorious Black and White photography, wonderful sets and spectacular use of vienna locations. One of the gretest entrances by a character ever, about an hour into the film the man everyone is talking about finally appears. Beautifully shot and edited, both visually and audiolly climax in the sewers of Vienna. A-

Terror of the Tongs: Throwback to a Saturday afternoon in my childhood, early 60's Hammer Studio film about Red Dragon Tongs in Hong Kong, If not for the nostalgia, would probably not be worth watching. I've always remembered the Tongs torture of the main character by using a very fine needle inserted at the chest to scratch the bone of his breast plate. Tame by any days standards but atmospherically shot, that always being stronger in Hammer films than the actual story or acting. C

The Wind That Shakes the Barley: Very powerful film from last year about the start of the troubles in Ireland. Brutal, and beautiful, strong performances all around particularly from Cillian Murphy. Films makes you feel the frustration and in justice that led to the violence, so tragic and yet so inevitable from this perspective. A-

Year of the Dog: No idea what I think of this film, it wasn't boring but I'm also not sure what it was. If you love animals and are socially retarded, it may be your favorite film. C

A Room With a View: This was the next film in Ali and I's veiwing scheme, her pick, the link to Dangerous Beauty being Italy. Nice film, really funny for a period film about acting proper. Another gorgous looking film, and well acted by all, though Julian Sands is not quite up to the standards of everyone else. B+

Emma: OK I just finished the novel, Andrea at work wanted to have a book club so four of us were going to read Emma, they have set October as the date to have it read by I finished it last week. The book club if it happens will also include a screening of the film, I figure A. it will likely never happen, and B. if it does I'll watch it again I like the film. I liked it better before I read the book. As so frequently happens they have to leave so much out to fit the story to two hours that you lose a lot of what made the book so great. That said Gwenyth Paltrow was perfect casting, the scene where she is being scolded by Knightly for her cruel remarks to Miss Bate's is amazing. B

North By Northwest: We are going on a road trip begining July 4th to among other places Mount Rushmore, need I saw more to explain why we watched this? This is one of Hitchcock's most entertaining films, many are deeper and darker, but few compare for sheer excitement and delight. Cary Grant brings the perfect wit and charm to the role of a man mistaken for a spy who has to chase the vilians South by Southwest ( or was it North by.....Holy cow I just got the title!!) in order to prove his innocence. Full of Double Entredres and double crosses, so much fun!!! Brings me right back to winter night in our cul de sac playing on the snow plow piles in the front yard like they were the face of the presidents on Mount Rushmore. A+

The Onion Movie: OK this is very politically incorrect, very vulgar at times, and full of profanity, it's also very funny. I laughed out loud many many times. it's basically just a bunch of skits many masquarading as fake news stories on the Onion News Network. The less said the better from that description, you'll know if it's for you or not. B+

Dangerous Hulk and the Incredible Beauty

So that's a really lame attempt at a eat blog title where I quickly give my thoughts on two films I watched in the last couple of days. Dangerous Beauty which we watched Sunday night and the Incredible Hulk which we just got back from taking the kids too.

Dangerous Beauty as noted before is part of Ali and I's veiwing game the link between Moulin Rouge and Dangerous Beauty being Courteseans. Dangerous Beauty is a favorite film of mine, I love the romanticism of it and the grand poetic nature of the speach. It also contains two great performances those of Catherine McCormack and Rufus Sewell as the star crossed lovers kept apart by their stations in life. The speaches they both make at the end of the film are the type of unabashedly nonrealistic deeply felt declarations that I swoon for. The sort of speaches that in the wrong hands are laughable but in the right hands sore off of the screen and into your chest. McCormack in particular is fine in this moment of bold and Inquisition defying speach, but is equally impressive and effective in quieter scenes. One scene in particular has her display on her face without words various looks and feelings as her Mother describes them. This is a bold, and sensous film highly reccomended A-.

The Incredible Hulk, I've been hearing some more or less it doesn't suck but it's no Iron Man reactions to this one. Maybe that helped, because I was pleasantly surprised. I liked this quite a bit, it's better than Ang Lee's version that is for sure. Is it as good as Iron Man, not quite, but it doesn't fall too far short of it either. Liv Tyler is the weak link performance wise, but it doesn't really hinge on her and she isn't terrible. Smartly this Hulk completely ignores the first film and creates a new backstory which is given during the opening credits, the great thing about this is it's closer to the old TV series than the last movie in fact the sequence has shots and bits that are almost identicle to the series opening sequence. There are other nice homages to the series, quite obviously the studio has chosen to distance this film from the previous and try instead to associate it with the popular TV series, a wise move. The CGI work in this one is also much better, it's still CGI but it feels more real. I think this is much much closer to the film fans were expecting and wanted 5 years ago. It's a cross between the comics and the old TV Series as opposed to the comics and a Haiku.
B

Stan Winston

Special effects and Makeup master Stan Winston passed away on Sunday. Stan had a hand on numerous TV and film projects over the last three plus decades, from Roots to Edward Scissorhands to Jurassic Park to this summers Iron Man. Winning four academy awards in the process and making the movies a little more magical. One of my favorites is the not so classic Monster Squad from the late 1980's. Where he had to recreate the look of the classic Universal Studios monsters while varying them enough so as not to incur a lawsuit from Universal who had their makeup designs for the monsters copyrighted. Hollywood has lost a true artist and craftsman, the type that no computer can replace, though they have been trying for years.

Cloverfield and the theory of lowered expectations

Just watched Cloverfield with Alex. You know what? it was pretty good. How can that be you ask? Well there is no real answer to that question, but there is a theory.

THE THEORY OF LOWERED EXPECTATIONS AND OVERHYPAGE: TM Basically one theory that cuts both ways. This usually happens with "good" films not "great" ones or "terrible" ones. On the one hand if everyone you know tells you that a movie they just saw was one of the greatest movies of all time, chances are you wont think so. Your expectations have been raised so high that no film, but one of the greatest films of all time, I mean literally one of the top three films ever made, could satisfy your expectations. On the flip side, If everyone you know tells you a film is terrible, 1. have a good reason for watching it anyway, and 2. chances are that if there are any redeeming qualities to the film at all you're more likely to see them. Your friends watched it expecting a great movie and it wasn't, so they say it was bad. You then watch it expecting a bad movie, and to you it's good, because you were expecting terrible. Expectations can really mess with your viewing experience.

Two recent examples The Mist and Cloverfield. And I didn't have a ton of friends tell me much of anything about either of these but the general critical response and buzz in general is that they were both subpar. I think horror films are particularly suseptible to the theory, in that those who like horror films are always looking for the one that measures up to the things in their head that make them afraid and it's very rare for something to succeed when it's competeing with the active, altering and adaptive human brain. The other thing is if you go to a horror movie you expect to be scared if you are not you are disappointed, you were expecting to get scared. Now you go to a horror movie that you heard wasn't very scary you really aren't looking for that anymore you are looking for what else might be of interest.

Now both The Mist and Cloverfield had advantages to being watched at home on DVD. The Mist on the 2 disc special edition DVD has a black and white version of the film, this is the director's perferred version of the film and for me it really worked. It also really worked for Alex, while not a particulalry gory film there is some blood, well in glorious black and whute blood looks a lot like ink, which isn't nearly as scary and red blood. With Cloverfield one of the big complaints from people seemed to be that because it's all shot from the perspective of a handheld video camera it shakes a lot. People in the theatre were getting motion sick and naseous. On the small screen it didn't bother me one bit. I remember a similar complaint about Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives, I saw it on the small screen too, no problem. So one of the things that really seemed to turn a lot of people off right away was e,iminated in my view on a DVD screening as opposed to a theatrical screening.

When you hear something isn't very good I think you tend to stop watching for what it isn't doing and see what it is doing. The Mist is really a pyschological story about the nature of mobs, and it does that very well. When you stop looking at it as a monster movie and more in that vein, there are actually some scary things happening, they just aren't gross or what Alex calls poppy outy. Cloverfield too, if you take it for what it is, and can avoid vomiting, you might just find it entertaining.

You know what else helps, get a ten year old boy who hasn't seen it all a hundred times before and whatch it with him. If he likes it I guarentee it will improve at least a letter grade in your book.

Cloverfield B
The Mist B+

Everybody should be Kung Fu Panda viewing

Took the kids Friday night to Kung Fu Panda. This is a winner! The animation is top notch, and the voice talent actually works instead of being a stunt, which happens far too frequently lately. Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane and Jack Black particularly bring more than just a voice to their characters. They help to complete a performance. If you have kids, get thee to Kung Fu Panda. If you don't have kids, borrow one. A-

Spectacular spectacular!!

Above all things this is a story about Love!

Moulin Rouge is filled with moments that remain in my brain long after the film is over. This is one of my favorite films, which in itself would be reason enough to watch it. But let me tell you how we came to watch it Friday night. As anyone who's anyone knows, I love lists and along with lists go schedules and along with schedules go trains...but we are getting off point here. Another thing I love is formulating a reason for watching a movie. With so many films in the world, and even more than that in my personal collection, sometimes it's hard for me to decide what to watch. So I'll get myself on little marathons to eleminate some of the choice or at least to narrow it down (i.e the large number of John Wayne films recently consumed or the Stephen King festival). This dates back 4 or 5 years when we had Alfred Hitchcock month. Ali and I have come up with a new viewing strategy. We alternate choosing films, so I began with Cassandra's Dream, which we watched Thursday night. Friday night Ali chose Moulin Rouge, via the connecting tissue of Ewan McGregor. In the next few nights hopefully we will watch Dangerous Beauty, my choice, with the connecting tissue Courtesans. We are alternating choosing the films but the chooser has to have a connection to the previous film. It can be a cast or crew member, theme, genre, or any other reasonable connection. Silly old Dunkelbergers.

One day when I was bored, I came up with this idea of creating a Christmas present that I would send out to friends and family if I won the lottery and could afford to do this. I made a list of the 10 films I would most like to share, possibly my 10 favorites films, although let's be honest, there are probably 30 to 40 films vying for placement on that list and the finalists would vary depending on the day. So the gift would be these 10 films on DVD. They would come in a box set, the outer packeging of which I would design and have manufactured. Inside there would be a glossy booklet with an introduction and an essay on each of the films that I would write. Here is the list of films.

1. Hamlet (1996)
2. Moulin Rouge
3. Life is Beautiful
4. My Neighbor Totoro
5. Citizen Kane
6. It's a Wonderful Life
7. Annie Hall
8. Goodfellas
9. Sunrise
10. North By Northwest

Here is a first run at the Moulin Rouge essay that appears in the booklet in my head.

"THE GREATEST THING YOU'LL EVER LEARN IS TO LOVE AND BE LOVED IN RETURN"

When Ali and I were married, Alex was on his way. I said to Ali in our wedding vows that I knew that she would be the right person to help me teach our son how to love. One of the greatest struggles we have and one of the most important things we do in life is to love. Often when we are young we love too brightly so that we blind ourselves to all other cares in the world. Or we love too shallowly and dwell too much on the pleasures of love. This is a great movie and that is a great statement that comes from it. Because it should be the goal of each of us to struggle throughout our lives to learn how to love, not too much, not too little, and also how to accept love.

The great thing about Moulin Rouge is, not only is it about Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and above all other things Love, but it also captures the feelings of all of these things. There is something about the history and emotions behind the lyrics of the songs and the no holds barred, aim for the bleachers aspect of the visuals, that not only show that these characters are in love, but allow us to feel it as well. This is a production where everything came together in perfect harmony and created something that feels like more than a film. It is an experience. At times there are moments that feel like they have existed since the dawn of cinema, moments that feel like memories, like moments of deja vu. The first time you see them, you are not sure if you saw them in another film or if you lived them, but you feel you know them almost by heart. There are shots or scenes in this film that felt, the first time I saw them, as powerful and familiar as Julie Andrews spinning on a mountaintop at the opening of the Sound of Music.

The music is fantastic, there are times where certain songs become the soundtracks to our own lives. Moulin Rouge uses music in the same way, using for the most part existing songs, as we do in our own lives. Who doesn't have personal memories attached to songs? You're the Inspiration, We've Got Tonight, Lady in Red all bring back a flood of memories when I hear them, along with many others. Moulin Rouge uses songs to conjure up the memories of our own lives and to inform the story more rapidly or in a unique way. The Elephant Love Medley is a perfect example, for here not only is it an existing song our young lovers are signing, but snippets from at least a dozen songs, all of which we recognize and many of which every audience member will bring their own set of matching luggage complete with carry on tote to.

The cast is perfection from the leads Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, who look perfect and sound perfect, to the suporting cast, particularly Jim Broadbent as Harold Zidler and Richard Roxburgh as the Duke. But the person most responsible of the magnificence of Moulin Rouge is the co-writer and director Baz Luhrmann, a favorite since I first saw Strictly Ballroom over 15 years ago. It is his sense of style and creativity and asthetic that gave birth to Moulin Rouge, and before you roll your eyes, birth is the right word, for Moulin rouge is a living breathing work of art. It is also, above all things, a story about love. What worthier material could there be? It is, in two words, spectacular spectacular!

A+

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead

So I've watched a few other movies besides this one in the last week, but they were films I've already watched this year - The Orphanage and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Finally did pop in something new the other night, one I had tried to get to last year in the theatre but just couldn't get there. BTDKYD, for the sake of my fingers and time, is directed by the legend Sidney Lumet. The man has been directing films for 50 years. His first feature was in 1957 with 12 Angry men, a favorite. He has directed several classic films, among them Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network. He also directed a guilty pleasure of mine - Running on Empty - which resulted in an Oscar nomination for the Late River Phoenix. That's a beautiful little film that I recommend you take a look at. On the other hand, in the "everyone has their Hook" vein, he directed the Wiz, which is almost unwatchable - I tried a year ago.

So BTDKYD, where does it fall? Well it isn't Hook, but it's no 12 Angry Men either. It's a well directed film, a very well acted film, but it's a film about everything going wrong for a group of people that, frankly, everything should go wrong for. They aren't the people you hate so much that as things start going wrong you enjoy it, but they are not sympathetic enough to make you feel bad for them either. It's like watching a very well organized and choriographed train wreck for 2 hours. Well made but not terribly engaging. And then, much like Two Lane Black Top, it just ends. And when the credits roll you aren't saying to yourself, "boy I didn't like that ending" or "I wonder what happens next with these characters?". You're saying to the screen, "Um... you forgot to wrap up that story...there are still characters that have not had their arcs resolved". This is a C.

Harvey Korman RIP

Harvey Korman passed away this week. I remember him for his great comedic performanaces on the Carol Burnett show, which in the memory of my childhood, seems to have played in the early evening every weeknight. I doubt that is true but sometimes that's how memory works. He was best when teamed with with Tim Conway, usually the straightman to Conway's idiot savant. He was also great in some of Mel Brook's comedies: High Anxiety, Blazing Saddles, and The History of the World Part 1. A funny and very likeable man.

Two Lane Black Top AKA WTF?

Two Lane Black top stars James Taylor and one of the Beach Boys as drag racing drifters. It's from that period in the seventies when they made really deep pictures about who we all were and where we were going and what it meant to be free. This picture is soooooo deep. Too bad it wasn't a little deeper though - then it might not have been found. The most astonishing thing about this film is that it's been released on DVD by the Criterion collection. I imagine the reason that the film might be considered by anyone to be important is due to the last frames, in which rather than resolve the story (not that there is much of one), it shows the film getting jammed in the projector and melting. If you boil the story down to it's simplest nugget, then you'd have to say that plot-wise the film is a race between the drifters and a compulsive liar for the pink slips for their cars. Of course the film ends before the race does, so the only conventional aspect of the narrative that the audience has to grasp onto is left unresolved. By the end you don't really care - the real reward is that it's over. I think it wants to be the car version of of Easy Rider, with James Taylor in the Peter Fonda role, and the Beach Boy [a Wilson, but not Brian (that's how much I care about this movie. I can't even be arsed to look that detail up on IMDB.)] in the role of Dennis Hopper. Some other guy who they are racing to D.C. must be some sort of Nicholson surrogate. The twist is the female hitchiker, whom they also compete for (why I have no idea - she barely talks and seems like a nuisence). Story wise it's no Easy Rider. Of course what made Easy Rider so great for me was the feeling it achieved about what it's like to cross the country on a motorcycle (close as I'll ever get - Ali wont let me have one). Now imagine those shots in cinemascope of America and Captain America on thier bikes, riding through it...now picture that through a muddy windshield. Not really the same feeling at all. D+

Movie Reviews - Or More Aptly - Comments.

Just a quick post here to say that I intend to do what I did the other night with all future screenings. I'll probably pop on right after a screening or for sure with in a day or two, maybe commenting on two or three films at a time - say on a Sunday night if we watched a couple of things over the weekend. I'm not going to go back and comment on past films from the list, but if you want to place a comment about previous films, request a response about a film, or post a opinion or review of your own, I'll keep an eye on your comments.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Woo Hoo's!!!

How can you possibly critique the return of Indiana Jones after almost 20 years offscreen? I can't. It's Indiana Jones for god's sake!! What was it like? It was like an Indiana Jones movie. It is the very embodiment of a popcorn movie - it's there to entertain. After seeing it we were wondering how it ranked compared to the others. You realize you've seen the others 10 times each - how can you possibly compare a film you just seen once to ones you've seen 10 times? I will be able to rank it once I've seen it 2 maybe 3 more times and have a least a year under my belt. First off, it would have had to be incompetent not to seem great on the first viewing, simply because it's Indiana Jones, back after almost 20 years. And let's face it, Speilberg has had a couple of films that weren't great. As the phrase he inspired goes, "Everyone has their Hook". But incompetence isn't really something he's capable of. The man has more than his share of masterpieces under his belt. So what can I say about it that wont be a spoiler? It's fun - damn fun. You know what else... for 65, Harrison Ford is amazing. He pulls it off. If there was anything that made me hesitate about this film before I saw it, it was Harrison's age and this theory I have that he secretly had a stroke about 15 years ago... but that's fodder for another blog.

Sydney Pollack... Solid

So you wanna direct movies? You know who directed movies? Sydney Pollack. You know what happened to him? He's dead!!!!

Fan's of Freaks and Geeks will know what I talkin(sic) about, everybody else, what are you waiting for? That's a great show and it's on DVD, and there are only 18 episodes so it's not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer where between Buffy and Angel there are 254 episodes... course you should still be watching that too. Hey! I just looked up Tangent in the dictionary guess what it said?

Tangent: Fan's of Freaks and Geeks will know what I talkin(sic) about, everybody else, what are you waiting for? That's a great show and it's on DVD, and there are only 18 episodes so it's not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer where between Buffy and Angel there are 254 episodes... course you should still be watching that too.

Weird huh?

Sorry anyway, God that's sounds really unsympathetic. "Anyway" just talking about an person's death, I mean gee whiz. Anyway ARRGGHHHH!!

Sydney Pollack died Monday, He was what I call a solid director. some people would consider that a slight, I mena it as a compliment. Solid to me means, he's always good. His films show a craftsmans like quality, always solid scripts, and always solid performances. You know... solid. As an actor, which he also was, Solid. He had the gravity to potray someone with authority, he needed to be on the screen only for a few minutes and you sensed intelligence and authority. Gravitas. There's a word that perfectly captures Pollack's screen presence. The first time I remember seeing him on screen was also the first time I'd seen a film he directed, that was Tootsie and I saw it at the Safari 7 theatre in Moorhean MN. (oh yeah that's another weird thing about me I can usually remember where I saw a film and who I was with). The next time I'm concious of him is as an actor in Woody Allen's Husband's and Wives. That is a great performance I can see him telling his younger girlfriend to get in the car, it's a moment that feels so real, you can feel his frustration his embarrassment, his inability to cope with this moment he can't control. As a producer her was also... solid. He's actually one of the very few people that if I see he produced it , it means something to me. I've always felt based on interviews seen and read and comments of actors and directors who have worked with him that he is concerned with quality that he works hard to make sure his projects are... well solid!!

Top 5 performances as an actor:

1. Husbands and Wives
2. Michael Clayton
3. Eye's Wide Shut
4. Tootsie
5. The Interpreter

Top 5 films as director:

1. Tootsie
2. Three Days of the Condor
3. The Firm
4. The Way We Were
5. The Interpreter

Really need to see Jeremiah Johnson, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, The Electric Horseman, Out of Africa, Random Hearts, Absence of Malice, Havana. In truth I've seen half of those but can basically remember that I've seen them but not enough to rank them.

Some quick comments on recent veiwings.

My good friend Darin out in L.A. who should have been listed in the last blog as an inspiration had suggested that I need only make a few brief comments on the films I see not write long reviews. Darin for those who don't know him is a very talented writer who's blog I will try and get permission from him to link to from my front page. Darin doesn't update as often as he should but I think you'll find that true of any blogger who has a job and in my case a family or in Darin's access to alcohol. I thought I should finaly take Darin up on his great suggestion, so here I'll write a couple of lines down on the last few items I've added to the Films Viewed in 2008 entry.


First off you've probably noticed if you look through the list some weird trends. First a lot of John Wayne movies. Why? Well as Nancy at work says "you're such a girl" so I started watching John Wayne films to up my macho quotent. Of course on further reflection that doesn't really help I think if you asked 10 gay men what they wanted to have at their birthday party a clown or a cowboy, 9 out of 10 would say cowboy. Anyway all that aside I've really been on a John Wayne kick, discovering why he was so popular for so many years. And really learning to overcome my own prejudices, I grew up in the age of wayne parodies. I grew up in a world that did not take him seriously and thus I considered him a joke, and the clips that would air on awards shows or shows about movies would seem to be evidence of a man who talked one way and who was the same in every movie. Not let's be fair, Wayne didn't have a huge range, but neither does Cary Grant, why has he faired better in pop culture memory. I think because in the time I was growing up and first getting into movies the 80's and 90's romantic comedies were big business, that genre of films at which Grant excelled, was popular and so his movies were referenced in current movies and aired on cable a lot. Hell one of the more memorable films of the that genre of the 90's Sleepless in Seattle was actually a play on his An Affair to Remember. In Wayne's case Westerns were certainly not popular in the 80's or 90's. I've watched probably 30 John Wayne films in the last two years maybe more, I get it now. I get why he was so popular, and I get why people made fun of him. People say "oh yeah John Wayne was great in that one role, you know the one he played in every one of his films." Kinda like the way you'd say "oh yeah Tommy's great if you like a guy who just throws touchdowns all the time." You know with a twinge of jealousy, unfortunately once you were removed from having seen the material, all you had were peoples jokes and it became more or less common kowledge, I always thought why see that John Wayne movie? I know how it will be even if I haven't seen it. Well I'll tell you what, yeah he acts very similiar in a lot of the films, but that's OK because he's really appealing, and the films are actually very good over all. Sure of the thirty some I've seen now there have been a couple of bad ones, but I have yet to see a bad performance from Wayne. The Shootist , his last film is a great example of the sort of performance he was caplable of even within his limited range, I definitely reccomend it.

Another disturbing trend is the sudden insurge of films based on Stephen King's works. It's getting late so I'll make this briefer. Well you know what? some are great! Doubt me? flip in Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, Or Misery. A lot of them...well they are kinda crap, but in a good way. You know what? if you watch a film expecting greatness you are frequently disappointed, if you watch a film for what it is sometimes you can get a lot more enjoyment out of it than you really have any right too. When I'm making my top 10 lists for the year, I know I'm not considering these types of films, but you know what? A lot of the time we are looking for something to entertain us as best it can for a little while. I've been finding these films to fall under that category a lot of the time. Besides and more importantly, Alex is having a blast with them, and that's why we are watching them. So when I get through them all I'll do a top ten of Stephen King films but we are only about 1/4 of the way through, and some he's just not ready for, anyway.

So as promised hours ago, literally for me, probably only feels that way to you, unless your reading chapter books still, in which case, good for you keep it up!! My thoughts breifly (is that even possible for this guy?) on some recent screenings.

State and Main: I just like this little Mamet film, William H. Macy is great as a film director who talks the talk and keeps things moving at all costs, when he and his film company take over a small town in Maine. You gotta love the performances from Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, and Sarah Jeesica Parker as well. Great little ensemble film, with a real quaint feel and some great Mamet lines. B+

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Definitely in the top 20 to 30 films of all time, certainly in the top 5 action films, possibly number 1, but I don't have the energy right now to think of the other great action films and compare them. The Role Harrison Ford was born to play. Watching the original trilogy in anticipation of seeing the new film tomorrow afternoon. Having watched all three again you really feel how this one seems more real than the others, they seem more like real people and real places and real stunts. They are all fun but this is the best! A+

Rose Red: Sort of a retelling or at least strongly inspired by The Haunting of Hill House, Shirly Jackson's novel that was the basis for The Haunting the film by Robert wise. I can't say I found it to be really scary... but Alex did. I did enjoy it though, Julian Sands is really good and sympathetic, that guy should get more work. Nancy Travis is a bit iffy but not too bad. Production values were really quite good for a television mini-series, and the thing about King's best work is that the character developement is usually the strength, at 254 minutes, that attribute is given time to develope as it needs to in order to be truely effective. B

Inspirations and partialities

Is it a Blog entry or a newly discovered lost Jane Austen novel? Well what do you think? It's sort of like thinking that a Discovery channel special on the Loch Ness Monster is really going to contain conclusive evidence that the monster exists. If that happened it would be major breaking news, they would not reveal it in a little watched Discovery channel episode. So if you didn't follow along there, yes it is a new post. Sorry it's been over a week I'll try not to let that happen again.

So Inspirations, not "the Inspiration", which aside from being a wonderfully sappy and memory laden song, (ahh Tracy and bobbi what ever happened too you?) would indicate that there is only one inspiration and that is not so. Writing inspirations, certainly Roger Ebert, the only film critic I regularly read. I don't always agree with him, but like my friend Jason whom I don't always agree with, I like him, I really like him. Having read him fairly religiously, for film is indeed my religion, for around 5 years, and watching him for probably close to 30 on T.V. I feel as though I know him. I rememeber watching Siskel and Ebert as a child with my Dad, we both liked Roger best, maybe because we agreed with him more often or maybe because in the early days he was pretty heavy, just like dear old Dad. I grew up watching Siskel and Ebert discuss, and best of all argue about movies. I think I liked to see them argue best because arguing about films is not really in my nature. So it was sort of a vicarious pleasure to watch them really go at it. I rarely argue about movies, either because I'm embarrassed to voice my opinions or because I believe deep down that we like what we like, and I like everyone to have a good time at the movies, even if I didn't with a particular film. Someone has to like the Musketeer!! I'm more likely to tease you about liking a film I didn't then argue with you over it, and then only if I'm comfortable with you. I remember the day I heard Gene Siskel had died, I was on the way to a hardware store with my Father-in-law and we heard the news on the radio, Ali and I had just moved to MPLS and Andy and Ann had come to help us get settled in our new apartment, and help with some projects. Now Ebert has been battleing his illnesses, and it all reminds me of Dad. I feel more and more like I know him, and more and more that I can't stand for him to die. I've already lost one movie buddy to a throat cancer I realy don't want to go through that again. In a way it always felt like Dad was there watching with me when I was watching Ebert and Roeper. Somehow I think I've transfered some of Dad into Roger, and when he goes that part of him will be gone for good.

Roger wrote recently in his own blog about a piece of writing advice that was given to him when he was first starting out as a journalist, he said, and I'm paraphrasing here, Don't think about writing, write. The muse visits while you are writing not before. This is why I connect with the man. I have not written much in my life, the odd Christmas letter, the occasional attempt at a script or short story, papers for classes, now obviously a blog. When I do write I write as he suggested I just sit and type, which is probably obvious if you are reading these blogs. It results in a sort of stream of conciousness form that can lead anywhere and rarely leads where I intend or start off for at the outset. Now if this were for publication I would obviously go back and do a second and third draft, but it isn't so what I write is what you get. It's great advise though, and advise that I write by. the thing is though I didn't need Ebert to tell me that, I already did that, and knew that. Which is why it's just another thing like the nature of his recent health issues that gives me a connection, when I read that the muse visits while you are writing, I knew he had put into words exactly what I had always known, but...more elegantly then I ever could. So there is Ebert, as an inspiration others would be the prose work of Woody Allen and Stephen Fry, I think they both represent influences on my sense of humor, for good or bad.

In terms of taste or just love of movies there are two huge influences, my Dad and Ted Larson, my film instructor, and friend from MSU. Unfortunately they are both gone now. but to honor them I try and get my kids interested in Buster Keaton and The Man of La Mancha. Interesting side bar here, my brother Scott and I actually slipped a DVD of The Man of La Mancha into Dad's coffin before he was buried. I hope when I go someone slips in a DVD (or as my Dad would say a hologram thingy) of Hamlet for me to take with on my journey to the Undiscovered Country. He was always convinced that before too long the DVD's would be replaced with (and this is a technical term) Hologram thingy's. Which was an odd stance for a man who's DVD buying habits rivaled my own. Holy cow I just realized Ted was pretty heavy too. Are fat people more insightful about movies or do they just become fat because they spend so much time eating popcorn at the theater? Man, Dad liked the popcorn, I do too, but he really liked it, he'd get the big bucket eat it before the film started and then go back a fill it up again. Then half the time get it filled again to take home and throw away there. But that's a whole nother issue. Anyway see what I mean about stream of conciousness? Dad used to take me to double features at the Fargo theatre I remember seing The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid one time on a double bill. He also introduced me to a lot of movies that are probably very poorly regarded in general but that have a special place in my heart. The aforementioned Man of La Mancha, Somewhere in Time (almost directly responsible for my daughter Grace), Same Time Next Year. But he also introduced me to some real undisbuted classics like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Ted showed me the magic of silent films, the Kid, The General, Sunrise. And a true appreciation of films I had seen and dismissed when I was too young to understand them, such as the Graduate and 2001: a Space Odessey.

Now Partialities, which is possibly a ficticiousy word, which in itself may not entirely exist in the human language as it was known before I began blogging. So what am I partial too? Three guesses first two don't count. Kenneth Branagh, to help you understand how deep that runs let me point out that I dyed my hair blonde last fall to go trick or treating with my children as his interpretation of Hamlet (see above photo). I, while your doing that will die of embarrassment. Fantastic!!! Aside from that ... woody Allen, Time Travel, Musicals, Hitchcock, John Wayne (this is new and there will probably be a blog soon addressing this alarming development), Horror films, particulary older black and white (monster fiilms) and films of the Hammer studios in the 60's. But also lately the Italian Giallo style films, Bava, and Argento. The Apatow for lack of a better word clique. Cameron Crowe, Whit stillman, Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith, John Cusak, Charlie Kaufman, Mickey Rourke (before all the plastic surgery and one can only assume brain damage) Tarantino, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Tim Burton,,,, yeah OK now I'm just rambling.

I would like to close out by saying thanks to Sara for the comments keep them coming. I think there will need to be a future blog dedicated to You and Me and Everyone we Know, I actually know other people who have seen it, mostly at my urging, and they wont leave me alone with their children anymore. To the best of my knowledge you and me and Ali and Roger Ebert are the only people who like this film. let me know if there is anything you'd like me to write about or if there is a top 10 you'd like me to compile please feel free to comment on anything I write with your own views or your own top 10's.

Paging housekeeping to the Blog, housekeeping to the Blog please!

Some housekeeping type items.

1. Am I supposed to respond to "comments" with a "comments" of my own? Well I'm going to play that by ear I think I may just respond in subsequent blogs. Feel free to chime in with your opinions though, if I should be responding to you in "comments" we can do that as well.

2. And this is more of a FYI. I am more in need of a proofreader than any man in history. Sorry about that. I will whenever possible have Ali proofread before I post when not possible hopefully she can retroactively proofread and make the appropriate adjustments. But let's be real here for a second these are blogs, it's not for a grade so let's try and just have fun and overlook the odd typo and even odder punctuation.

3. I have added a blog entry that contains the list of films I have seen in 2008, I will continue to update that as I see films so please check it out from time to time I am unsure of a better way to do that so if anyone has another suggestion please let me know. I was on track for about 1 a day but aside from the three I watched with the kids this last week I haven't actually watched anything on my own one reason is the blogging, I find it a fair trade off.

4. I am finding this to be a creative outlet, something that I now realize has been missing from my lifee for awhile. It's refreshing and fun, I'd like to keep doing it. I know this about myself though, if I think no one but Ali and I are reading it I'll eventually stop because what's the point in wrtiting if no one is reading. So if you are reading please stop back regularly and please please write comments so I know you're there.

Films Viewed in 2008

I will attempt to keep this list updated weekly, feel free to ask in comments about any of the films I see.

Eastern Promises
A Mighty Heart
The Namesake
As You Like It
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Atonement
Blade Runner
Take the Money and Run
Sunshine
Bananas
Sweeney Todd
Mighty Aphrodite
Cassandra’s Dream
The Orphanage
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Omega Man
Match Point
Once
There Will Be Blood
La Vie en Rose
The Golden Compass
Val Lewton – The Man In the shadows
Shoot em Up
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Remains of the Day
The Ten
Love and Death
Groundhog Day
Zorro
The Savages
Transformers
Enchanted
The High and the Mighty
Scenes of a Sexual Nature
Fort Apache
The Long Voyage Home
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Hondo
The Brave One
Gone Baby Gone
Elizabeth
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
In the Valley of Elah
Into the Wild
Charlie Wilson’s War
American Gangster
Surf’s Up
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Cinderella
Justice League: The New Frontier
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie for Theatres
Meatballs
The Fugitive
The Water horse
Force 10 From Navarone
The Darjeeling Limited
Death at a Funeral
Defending Your Life
The Sons of Katie Elder
American Beauty
Big Jake
Dan in Real Life
This is England
Horton Hears a Who.
Rio Bravo
Across the Universe
The Informer
Mother
El Dorado
All That Jazz
Innerspace
Working Girl
Lost In America
Tommy Boy
National Lampoons’ Vacation
Double Indemnity
The Four Feathers
Laura
Sleuth
Magnolia
Lust; Caution
Smiley Face
The Mist
Red Eye
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
It
The Green Mile
Monty Python’s the Life of Brian
Crocodile Dundee
The Shawshank Redemption
Once Around
Michael Clayton
Misery
Silver Bullet
Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s Twelve
Ocean’s Thirteen
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The good Night
The Sasquatch Gang
Carrie
The Langoliers
Salem’s Lot (1979)
Nancy Drew
I am Reed Fish
Juno
The Telegraph Trail
August Rush
I Want someone to Eat Cheese With
Secret Garden
Rocket Science
The War Wagon
The Stand
The Wings of Eagles
Lars and the Real Girl
Back to Bataan
Hulk
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Ironman
Speed Racer
The Forbidden Kingdom
Creepshow 2
Sands of Iwo Jima
Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Scoop
Raider's of the Lost Ark AKA Indiana Jone's and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Mr. Holland's Opus.
Cat's Eye
Quicksilver Highway
State and Main
Rose Red
The Dead Zone
Indiana Jones and he Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls
Two Lane Black Top
Before The Devil Knows Your Dead
Moulin Rouge
Kung Fu Panda
Cloverfield
Dangerous Beauty
The Incredible Hulk
The Lady Vanishes
The Third Man
Terror of the Tongs
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Year of the Dog
A Room With a View
Emma
North By Northwest
The Onion Movie
Batman Begins
Strange Wilderness
In Bruges
Wall E
Nim's Island
Be Kind Rewind
The Dark Knight
Superhero Movie
National Treasure II: Book of Secrets
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
Space Chimps
The Age of Innocence
X-Files: I Want to Believe
Dead Poets Society
The Tracey Fragments
The Martian Chronicles
Torn Curtain
Smart People
Flirting
Topaz
Tropic Thunder.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Grace is Gone.
Robin Hood:Men in tights
Mirrors
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
In the Heat of the Night
3 Days of the Condor
Hamlet 2
Good Night and Good Luck
Without a Clue
Disaster Movie
Salo
The Verdict
Riding the Bullet
War of the Worlds
Disturbia
A Shock to the System
Children of the Corn
Sleepwalkers
The Horror of Dracula
The Brides of Dracula
Frequency
Roshamon
The Fifth Element
The Iron Rose
Dracula Prince of Darkness
And Now the Screaming Starts
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave
Pet Sematary
Taste the Blood of Dracula
The Scars of Dracula
Transsiberian
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Run Fat Boy Run
Asylum
Dracula 1972 AD
Lips of Blood
Who’s That Knocking on My door?
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection
Guilty By Suspicion
Ghost Town
The Satanic Rites of Dracula
The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires
The Curse of Frankenstein
The Flesh & Blood Show
The House of Whipcord
Die Screaming Marianne
IT (1966)
Boxcar Bertha
Sometimes They Come Back
Gremlins
Dracula (1931)
Strip Nude For Your Killer
The Revenge of Frankenstein
Salem’s Lot (2004)
The Shining (1997)
The shining (1980)
Nosferatu
Shadow of the Vampire
Frightmare
Mean Streets
La Dolce Vita
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Quarantine
Night Of The Living Dead
Fright Night
Scream of Fear
City of Ember
Needful Things
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
The Evil of Frankenstein
Frankenstein Created Woman
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
The Horror Of Frankenstein
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Sold Out: a Threevening With Kevin Smith
Who Saw Her Dies
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Casino Royale
Spellbound
Vampyres
The Disney Davey Crocket Films
Candleshoe
Taxi Driver
Get Smart
Sin City
Quantum of Solace
Mister Foe
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Gonzo: Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Year of the Dragon
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Pete's Dragon
Little Woman
The Desperate Hours
Hellboy II
The Phantom of the Opera
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
City of Lost Children
New York, New York
About a Boy
Leatherheads
Teen Wolf
Stalker
Step Brothers
Meet the Parents
Meet the Fockers
Your Friends and Neighbors
Woodstock
1969
Valkyrie
Synedoche, New York
Milk
A Christmas Carol
Love Actually
Elf
The Last Waltz
Beautiful Girls
The Polar Express
A Christmas Story
It's a Wonderful Life
Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romny Marsh
Role Models
Let the Right One In
The Castle of Cagliostro
Snow Angels

"Once" More With Feeling.

One of the best films of 2007 was a little film that despite winning an Oscar for best Original Song and providing the highlight of the Oscar telecast many people have never seen or heard of. I love this film and it's music. In the dictionary under the word Chemistry, there is a definition of the word Chemistry. What there should be, is a still of the two leads of Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Would the film work with the actors but without the music? Probably not. Would the film work with the music but different actors in the rolls? Again probably not. Would an avacado make a good political leader, Once more probably not. There are two essential elements that make Once a masterpiece. They are the music and the chemistry between Hansard and Irglova. The story is very simple, almost a non story just a week in the life of two strangers who connect over music.

In film in the last year, hell possibly the last decade, maybe forever, but probably not, there has not been two more naturally charming and captivateing performers. Hansard and Irglova are not trained actors they are musicians and they wrote all of the music for the film. What they have onscreen, and apparently now offscreen as well, is something real couples, real actors have trouble with. It is an ability to transfer onto film, not the appearance, but the feeling, the belief, the altogether knowinglyness that you belong together. You watch these two on screen and literally want to take them both home with you give them a nice hot bowl of soup and tuck them in for the night. I mean honestly, were there two more appealing, natural, and charming performances last year? If so I wish someone had captured them on film, because I promise you they didn't.

Now chemistry is all fine and good and will in itself take you a long way, but it can't do everything. For example it can't boil an egg and it's Groucho Marx impersonation is so-so at best, and It can't create a masterpeice on it's own. As charming as these two performers are and as much chemistry as they have they still needed something else to elevate Once frome a good film to a great film. That was the music. When they sit in a music shop and play Falling Slowly together, that is one of those moments that you see and never forget. It's one of those moments when you remember, though you'd forgotten for a bit, that you do believe in magic, you do you do!!

Soooo....Music and chemistry, that all ya got? Well no, it also has the most tangibly real feel to it I can remember in a fictional film, particulary for a musical. This thing feels more real than most documentaries. How did they do this? How did they pull this off? They are not trained actors, the director, John Carney, hasn't really done anything you would have heard of before he's the former bassist and vocalist in Hanards band The Frames. They did it with passion, they believed in it and it shows. The music is so great because they wrote it themselves they are not just lipsynching someone elses's words, these are their own words and I believe them to be passionate about them. At least after Wednesday night I do. Ali and I saw the Swell Season (this is Glen Hansard, and Marketa Irglova and their backing musicians) Wednesday night. We both agreed it was one of the best live concerts either of us has ever seen. Why? Well, music and chemistry, and passion, heeps of passion. After the opening act they do some more set up and then Hansard comes on stage. He's alone, and everyone cheers, and then he doesn't step up to the microphone, he steps in front of it, with his guitar unplugged, and sings the first song without the assistance of amplification. And it is amazing. I will not go on and on about every song and every cool thing that happened, you sort of had to be there. I'm just gonna say this, those people made you feel like they hardly ever do this and it's as much fun for them as it is for you. They make you feel the passion, God do they make you feel the passion. If you haven't seen Once, what the hell are you waiting for? I'd say netflix that baby, but I think you'd be mad at me, because you'll know after you watch it that I should have told you to pop out and buy a DVD, because this is a film you'll watch again, you might as well buy it.

So in what has become a tradition, if you'd call doing something you've done once before a tradition. Here are the top ten moments of perfect cinema, moments that I will put a DVD in and just watch. They may be a shot, they may be a scene, they may be a musical cue, they maybe something that ryhmes with pickle. But they are all perfect moments, moments that stay with me long after the film has ended and perhaps even the plot of the film has faded from my mind. Again for traditions sake this is in no particular order and is comprised entirely of things I can think of sitting on the couch at 11:00 PM.

1. Once: The singing of Falling Slowly.
2. Henry V: (Branagh obviously) The kings speach before the battle of Agincourt.
3. Flirting: The begining of the Dance (With a Girl Like You by the Troggs begins to play)
4. Moulin Rouge: (Sooo Many to choose from) I'm going with the Elephant Medley All you need is Love!
5. Life Is Beautiful: "Buon giorno, Principessa! " shouts Guido as he plays music through the loud speaker at the concentration camp so that Dora knows he and their son are still alive.
6. Hamlet: (just assume from now on it's Branagh OK?) Hamlet to Ophelia (his eyes filling): "I Did love you Once"
7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Spock's Death
8. Beautiful Girls: The skating Rink AKA Hey Pooh!
9. It's a Wonderful Life: Ummm, I'm gonna go with the whole fucking movie here.
10. Somekind of Wonderful: Watts tests Keith's kissing skills, While "She Loves Me" plays on the soundtrack.

Ok as I made this list I realized I could make ten of these, these may not be the ten best but they all fit the bill.

Why me? Who me?

What qualifies me to write a blog on film? Absolutely nothing, my understanding though, is that is the point of a blog. People who really have no qualifications on an issue spouting off about it. Why do they do this? And by they I must of course include myself. I think we do it for one of two reasons. Either we think we are incredibly interesting on a topic and all will read on the edge of their seats awaiting the next entry with baited breathe, or because we are passionate about something. I hope I fall into the later category but I suspect all bloggers fall into both camps. I'm going to be nice to myself and say I'm in it 3/4 passionate, 1/4 I must be incredibly fascinating who wouldn't want to read what I think. But aside from this maybe there is another reason, a more personal reason. Maybe it isn't about sharing my thoughts with other so much as sharing them with myself.

"With his self did he say? What's this all about? What's he up too?"

Please, please bear with me here I'll explain my meaning, and I believe after I have written the post and posted it you'll have a chance to post comments so please refrain from blurting things out again. Thank you ever so much.

Yes with myself. I don't believe I am the first person to come up with the thought that we solidify ideas by making them real, we make them real by expressing them. I'm not sure who first thought this up, probably Aristotle, Socrates, Issac Newton or perhaps Al Gore. Anyway I doubt very much that it is a new thought but one I believe in completely. When I was a TA in film classes at Moorhead State University I came to realize that if you simply lectured to students they tended to disengage, if you included them in discussion they developed thoughts and ideas. For me it is much the same with writing, surely everything I write I am thinking or believe, but until I actually write it out, make it concrete it's just an ambigious half thought floating around inside my head getting jumbled together with memories of first kisses and weightWatcher points. So I think one of the attractions of blogging for me is to stop thinking random thoughts and haveing sort of half baked beliefs about film, the type that are just right in my head but still a bit gooey in the middle when cut open, and to actually formulate the theory/idea/thought. To fully bake it as it were. Now, that's not to say that we will actually approach anything on the order of a theory in this blog but I think you get the drift yes?

Hello?

Oh, right you are waiting until I post to reply, very considerate thank you.

So that's Why Me? Who Me? now that's another question, thus the use of a second question mark, see it's really not that difficult to follow if you watch for those little clues. Well if you are reading this blog I imagine you are doing so because you know me and are afraid I'll ask if you have, so no point in going into biography here, chances are very good that you know me peripherally at least, possibly well, almost certainly sexually. Instead I will say that to me film is essential, not to say that my body would die without it, but at times I suspect my mind would, or perhaps it is my heart. That gets to the "heart" of the matter actually. For me a great film or indeed even just a good film is a film that makes me feel something. Emotion, sometimes so hard to express in real life. Often it's hard to verbalize what we feel and if we cannot acknowledge it, the emotion can be like the idea that is never writen out or spoken, vague and sometimes frustrating. But we select a film and we watch it and it moves us and we feel the emotion, we don't have to make it concrete ourselves it is there, it exists outside of ourselves but also within. Response to a film can be deeply personal and unique, which is why I may love "Moulin Rouge" and someone else cannot sit through it. We all experience a film in our own way, and it can affect the way we see the world or ourselves or each other.

So Here's what I like a film to do; make me laugh, make me cry, turn me on, scare me, make me question, make me think, make me dream, make me 12 again (actually I think I prefer 14). Remind me what it feels like to fall in love for the first time, or to face something I don't think I can overcome. Show me what a father should be, a husband should be, a friend should be, and almost as important what they should not be. Sometimes life can be kind of depressing and frustrateing and messy, and when your feeling like that the best thing to do is to put in a movie. In movies, in the best movies they get it right, which is so hard in life. Sooooo to end on a positive note here's the 10 best films (that I can come up with spontaneously at 11:30 PM) to put in when you need to see something just right. In no particular order.

1. Flirting
2. Say Anything
3. Juno
4. Me and You and Everyone We Know
5. Mr. Hollands Opus
6. Shadowlands
7. Once
8. Beautiful girls
9. Dangerous Beauty
10. Annie Hall

Until next time.....

Statement of intent.

This blog is not a place where I will review every film I see. I have watched over 120 films so far in 2008 and there is no way I can possibly write a review on each one of them. If that were to be my intent I would fail and quickly. I will likely keep an onging list of what I have watched, and post reviews and or comments on the ones I feel so inclined to. I enjoy making lists, compiling lists, and reading lists, and believe in my heart of hearts that my list of top ten films on young love will someday save a life, assuming of course that I create it. Expect lists - I can definitely commit to lists. I believe in lists the way others believe that Kraft is the Cheesiest - wholeheartedly.

I imagine that I will from time to time see something and, while not having the time or desire to write a full review, I will want to comment on some aspect of it, some trend, even just a theory. I will probably write down some thoughts on my favorite this and thats... whatever those are. As we lose important or not so important people in film I will probably say something, a full out tribute? possibly, doubtful, but one never knows. A list of their best films and a brief comment on their passing... seems a bit more likely doesn't it? Now if say Red Buttons died, I don't think I would really have much to say...actually for all I know he is dead....yep, IMDB confirms Red is no longer with us, and as I suspected I really don't have anything to add to that. Now if Kenneth Branagh dies, you'll probably want to not check in for awhile as I'm likely (assuming I can bring myself to post{is that what they call it?}) to go on and on and on about it for days, months, years, from that day until the ending of the world!!!

Which brings me to two final points. On my next post (again is that what they call it?) I will try and explain my likes and dislikes, my loves and my hates, my thoughts and feelings about film. So that you the non-existent reader will have a better understanding of me and my tastes. Thus giving yourself the tools with which to judge whether reading this blog is what you really want to do with your imaginary freetime or if you'd rather spend it doing other seemingly less wasteful things. The second point is that I really have only the slightest idea what a blog is and how to use it. I know it has something to do with typing in thoughts so that others can read them and respond, and possibly there's a goat involved, but that as with all things technical is where it gets a bit fuzzy on me. So I will attempt to keep this updated regularly, would greatly appreciate your response or Comments as I belive they are called in the world of blogging. I will also attempt to post links and add lists and things but let's face it... it'll be kind of a miracle if I can find the blog again!

For now that is all I will try and be back soon.
Rob