and a bonus dvd disc--to two bands of dreams that twist back that puny, artless head?
For those interested in such things, here are some of the DVDs I've watched recently:
Dark Passage. Back when we were in high school, my friend non-LJ Jenny and I used to search the TV listings for any movies with Humphrey Bogart in them. Even if the movie was shown at 3 a.m. on a school night, I would get up in the dark to watch it (lucky Jenny's family had a VCR (Betamax)). This is the only one of the Bogart/Bacall movies I never saw before this year, and it may well be the weakest of the four. But even if it's not a piece of cinematic greatness, it's still well worth watching. After all, no movie in which Lauren Bacall has a perfectly legitimate reason to tie Humphrey Bogart to her bed could be all bad.
The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze). This is a piece of cinematic greatness. A film made in Communist Czechoslovakia about the kinds of choices people made during the Nazi occupation of Slovakia, it is also fairly depressing.
Television Under the Swastika. A TV documentary about the world's first broadcast TV network: the one run by the Nazis.
Kestrel's Eye. Birdies! If you like watching birds, you will like this movie; if you are uninterested in birdwatching, this will bore you to tears.
Jesus Camp. I'd heard from secular and non-charismatic Christian viewers that this documentary was creepy, frightening; and I'd heard similar things from folks who grew up in environments similar to that of these kids. As someone who grew up as part of a liberal mainline Protestant church, what I wasn't expecting was that I'd sympathize so much with the people running the camp. The filmmakers did a good job of documenting a lifestyle that was obviously alien to them, and the bit with Ted Haggard is a fascinating look at the face of sheer cynicism.
Eyewitness Video: Monster. From the same people who put out Eyewitness Books for children, this is a fun half-hour survey of scary creatures--mostly real but some mythical--with all the pretty visuals you'd expect. Small children probably love this. Reactions among people old enough to have developed phobias are undoubtedly more mixed.
Blade Runner. A reminder that my monitor is really rather dark.
Nova: Venus Unveiled: The Magellan Space Probe. PBS program from 1995, rather good. My only complaint is that the soundtrack seemed to feature more of "Mars: The Bringer of War" than "Venus: The Bringer of Peace."
Nova: Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension. Fractals are always nifty, and I liked learning more about Benoit Mandelbrot himself.
Ultraviolet. When my non-LJ friend Rory used to take me to movies, she was almost always the one who chose what we would see. Turns out I still have a high tolerance for silly action flicks like this. (Note to IMdB reviewers who say you've never run across a movie worse than this one: You obviously haven't been trying hard enough.)
Dark Passage. Back when we were in high school, my friend non-LJ Jenny and I used to search the TV listings for any movies with Humphrey Bogart in them. Even if the movie was shown at 3 a.m. on a school night, I would get up in the dark to watch it (lucky Jenny's family had a VCR (Betamax)). This is the only one of the Bogart/Bacall movies I never saw before this year, and it may well be the weakest of the four. But even if it's not a piece of cinematic greatness, it's still well worth watching. After all, no movie in which Lauren Bacall has a perfectly legitimate reason to tie Humphrey Bogart to her bed could be all bad.
The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze). This is a piece of cinematic greatness. A film made in Communist Czechoslovakia about the kinds of choices people made during the Nazi occupation of Slovakia, it is also fairly depressing.
Television Under the Swastika. A TV documentary about the world's first broadcast TV network: the one run by the Nazis.
Kestrel's Eye. Birdies! If you like watching birds, you will like this movie; if you are uninterested in birdwatching, this will bore you to tears.
Jesus Camp. I'd heard from secular and non-charismatic Christian viewers that this documentary was creepy, frightening; and I'd heard similar things from folks who grew up in environments similar to that of these kids. As someone who grew up as part of a liberal mainline Protestant church, what I wasn't expecting was that I'd sympathize so much with the people running the camp. The filmmakers did a good job of documenting a lifestyle that was obviously alien to them, and the bit with Ted Haggard is a fascinating look at the face of sheer cynicism.
Eyewitness Video: Monster. From the same people who put out Eyewitness Books for children, this is a fun half-hour survey of scary creatures--mostly real but some mythical--with all the pretty visuals you'd expect. Small children probably love this. Reactions among people old enough to have developed phobias are undoubtedly more mixed.
Blade Runner. A reminder that my monitor is really rather dark.
Nova: Venus Unveiled: The Magellan Space Probe. PBS program from 1995, rather good. My only complaint is that the soundtrack seemed to feature more of "Mars: The Bringer of War" than "Venus: The Bringer of Peace."
Nova: Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension. Fractals are always nifty, and I liked learning more about Benoit Mandelbrot himself.
Ultraviolet. When my non-LJ friend Rory used to take me to movies, she was almost always the one who chose what we would see. Turns out I still have a high tolerance for silly action flicks like this. (Note to IMdB reviewers who say you've never run across a movie worse than this one: You obviously haven't been trying hard enough.)