Movie Notes
I revised my review of The Doors documentary for Counterpunch, and I'm pleased with the end result.
Also, I want to take a moment to briefly note movies I've seen (at least the ones that immediately come to mind) that I have yet to write about:
Richard Kelly's The Box: I saw this in the theater at a very busy time, so I never wrote a review of it. I really loved it, though, and have tons to say about it, just couldn't write about it at the time. I was just thinking of how much I like Richard Kelly's films because I was thinking about how much I'm probably not going to like Christopher Nolan's Inception. Actually, l was thinking about how I usually don't like those kind of alternate reality, paranoid pseudo-sci-fi films because they're usually just so damn pretentious or they bore me. They're high on ideas and low on interesting production values (or at least production values that interest me). But I was also reminded of how much love Fassbinder's World on A Wire which is one of those films. But, World on a Wire's production values -- its sets, its sense of "realness" and "hyper-realness" combined, and its direct/immediate delivery makes it so much more likeable to me. This led me to think of how I also like Richard Kelly movies even though they are a genre which I'm usually not too interested in. Again, I think Kelly's movies share an affinity with the Fassbinder. They're very much grounded in "reality" of the now yet projected onto another world that is seemingly encased inside the present world. All of this led me to think that now that The Box is out on DVD, I'll watch it a second time and write a review for Counterpunch. So that's on my list.
The A-Team: I actually saw this on opening night, following Harry Brown. It was the perfect antidote to Harry Brown. Not only is it riotously funny, but it is also unabashedly left wing in its politics. I've just never motivated myself to write about it, and at this point, I'm still not sure I ever will. So let me just say right here that it is really funny watching someone fly a tank.
Meet Me In St. Louis: I saw this Vincente Minneli movie with Bean at the Fox Theater. I'd never seen it before. Like all of the Minneli movies I've seen, it walks a bizarre and sometimes hallucinatory line. It also seems to strangely market in a weird pedofiliac fetish tendency and has some of the most hilariously kinky lines in it, like when Judy Garland's character beats up the boy next door, and he asks longingly if she'll come over and beat him up again. The Halloween sequence is a prelude to Bad Trip movies of the 60s, completely bizarre, scary, creepy, menacing and strange. Apocalyptic children in costume burn an enormous bonfire made from furniture (chairs, tables, desks) and then terrorize the neighborhood for fun. Its sexual deviance of course is heavily coded, so while I picked up on it, Bean was oblivious (thank you very much). We had lots of fun seeing it. Great songs, great costumes, and a bittersweet ending.
I Am Love: Tilda Swinton's newest vehicle is an Italian melodrama. I can't go wrong with a melodrama and Tilda Swinton. I saw it last Friday night. It's markedly a woman's film (a genre I adore). I plan to write on it but need to see it a second time first. Or maybe not. In any case, I'll write about it sometime this next week.
Life and Death of a Porno Gang: This Serbian film has become my newest film obsession, right up there with the movies of Bela Tarr. I watched it the first time last weekend and was utterly enthralled. I have written copious notes on it, but want to see it a second time before I work the notes into a review. I may or may not publish it on Counterpunch. This is one of the most fascinating movies I've seen in a long time and is infinitely interesting to think about. It definitely walks us into a completely new realm of cinema (albeit a realm that will make a lot of people uncomfortable).
I'm sure there are a few more I need to add to this list, lots of noirs I've seen and not to mention my comparison between representations of Rita Hayworth in Lady From Shanghai and Gilda. I'm taking Bean to see Gilda projected in 35mm on the big screen at The Fox Theater tomorrow night (yay), so I'm sure I'll work this essay up sometime in the near future. Bean has seen Gilda before and loves it (go Bean), so she's also really looking forward to tomorrow night.
That's it. Notes movie notes to myself or others if you want to know.
Also, I want to take a moment to briefly note movies I've seen (at least the ones that immediately come to mind) that I have yet to write about:
Richard Kelly's The Box: I saw this in the theater at a very busy time, so I never wrote a review of it. I really loved it, though, and have tons to say about it, just couldn't write about it at the time. I was just thinking of how much I like Richard Kelly's films because I was thinking about how much I'm probably not going to like Christopher Nolan's Inception. Actually, l was thinking about how I usually don't like those kind of alternate reality, paranoid pseudo-sci-fi films because they're usually just so damn pretentious or they bore me. They're high on ideas and low on interesting production values (or at least production values that interest me). But I was also reminded of how much love Fassbinder's World on A Wire which is one of those films. But, World on a Wire's production values -- its sets, its sense of "realness" and "hyper-realness" combined, and its direct/immediate delivery makes it so much more likeable to me. This led me to think of how I also like Richard Kelly movies even though they are a genre which I'm usually not too interested in. Again, I think Kelly's movies share an affinity with the Fassbinder. They're very much grounded in "reality" of the now yet projected onto another world that is seemingly encased inside the present world. All of this led me to think that now that The Box is out on DVD, I'll watch it a second time and write a review for Counterpunch. So that's on my list.
The A-Team: I actually saw this on opening night, following Harry Brown. It was the perfect antidote to Harry Brown. Not only is it riotously funny, but it is also unabashedly left wing in its politics. I've just never motivated myself to write about it, and at this point, I'm still not sure I ever will. So let me just say right here that it is really funny watching someone fly a tank.
Meet Me In St. Louis: I saw this Vincente Minneli movie with Bean at the Fox Theater. I'd never seen it before. Like all of the Minneli movies I've seen, it walks a bizarre and sometimes hallucinatory line. It also seems to strangely market in a weird pedofiliac fetish tendency and has some of the most hilariously kinky lines in it, like when Judy Garland's character beats up the boy next door, and he asks longingly if she'll come over and beat him up again. The Halloween sequence is a prelude to Bad Trip movies of the 60s, completely bizarre, scary, creepy, menacing and strange. Apocalyptic children in costume burn an enormous bonfire made from furniture (chairs, tables, desks) and then terrorize the neighborhood for fun. Its sexual deviance of course is heavily coded, so while I picked up on it, Bean was oblivious (thank you very much). We had lots of fun seeing it. Great songs, great costumes, and a bittersweet ending.
I Am Love: Tilda Swinton's newest vehicle is an Italian melodrama. I can't go wrong with a melodrama and Tilda Swinton. I saw it last Friday night. It's markedly a woman's film (a genre I adore). I plan to write on it but need to see it a second time first. Or maybe not. In any case, I'll write about it sometime this next week.
Life and Death of a Porno Gang: This Serbian film has become my newest film obsession, right up there with the movies of Bela Tarr. I watched it the first time last weekend and was utterly enthralled. I have written copious notes on it, but want to see it a second time before I work the notes into a review. I may or may not publish it on Counterpunch. This is one of the most fascinating movies I've seen in a long time and is infinitely interesting to think about. It definitely walks us into a completely new realm of cinema (albeit a realm that will make a lot of people uncomfortable).
I'm sure there are a few more I need to add to this list, lots of noirs I've seen and not to mention my comparison between representations of Rita Hayworth in Lady From Shanghai and Gilda. I'm taking Bean to see Gilda projected in 35mm on the big screen at The Fox Theater tomorrow night (yay), so I'm sure I'll work this essay up sometime in the near future. Bean has seen Gilda before and loves it (go Bean), so she's also really looking forward to tomorrow night.
That's it. Notes movie notes to myself or others if you want to know.