A Great Movie
I went running with Phil and Anna after work - uphill and at about a 9 minute pace. It was hot out and I lost steam (or actually started producing way too much of it) when we were in Volunteer Park and had to take a little walk break. Anna runs faster than I'm used to sustaining for that long. After running after work I rode home accompanied by Justin. This is maybe only our second ride together of the year. It's been too long. I also was on a tow hour tour of the Moore Theatre this morning at work. It was a decidedly slow day there.
Do you all know how nice it is to be completely surprised by a movie? There are various reasons why that could occur, but in general it seems like we usually have some idea of the plot of a movie before we see it. Either we've seen trailers or read reviews or heard friends talk about it. Why else we would even go, right? I've seen 21 movies in theaters so far this year (much better than recent years) and several of them that I enjoyed most I went into blind (except maybe seeing a good score on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes or from Roger Ebert, but I don't read reviews before watching). I loved Flight and The Sessions and The Impossible. Those all had Oscar nominations and I knew nothing about them. I also loved Skyfall and Wreck-it Ralph but not for surprising reasons. At least I had heard of half those movies before watching.
Tonight, on a whim, I went up to the Crest to see a late show of Blancanieves which, for some reason, I thought was "white snow." I went specifically because Ebert gave it 4 stars in a posthumous review and I read the words "silent film." I won't reveal much about the movie here although I suspect you've already read enough to make you not want to see it. It's a masterful piece of cinematic storytelling that sparkles on the screen from the opening credits to the stunning final shot. It is one of the most rewarding new movies I've ever seen with my film student eyes. It looks like it came straight out of 1927 in the best possible way. Oh, and there is bullfighting and little people! Go see it if you can then let's talk about it. I've already earmarked it as a movie I want to go back to tomorrow night if I can. It was that good.
Do you all know how nice it is to be completely surprised by a movie? There are various reasons why that could occur, but in general it seems like we usually have some idea of the plot of a movie before we see it. Either we've seen trailers or read reviews or heard friends talk about it. Why else we would even go, right? I've seen 21 movies in theaters so far this year (much better than recent years) and several of them that I enjoyed most I went into blind (except maybe seeing a good score on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes or from Roger Ebert, but I don't read reviews before watching). I loved Flight and The Sessions and The Impossible. Those all had Oscar nominations and I knew nothing about them. I also loved Skyfall and Wreck-it Ralph but not for surprising reasons. At least I had heard of half those movies before watching.
Tonight, on a whim, I went up to the Crest to see a late show of Blancanieves which, for some reason, I thought was "white snow." I went specifically because Ebert gave it 4 stars in a posthumous review and I read the words "silent film." I won't reveal much about the movie here although I suspect you've already read enough to make you not want to see it. It's a masterful piece of cinematic storytelling that sparkles on the screen from the opening credits to the stunning final shot. It is one of the most rewarding new movies I've ever seen with my film student eyes. It looks like it came straight out of 1927 in the best possible way. Oh, and there is bullfighting and little people! Go see it if you can then let's talk about it. I've already earmarked it as a movie I want to go back to tomorrow night if I can. It was that good.