Films
I realized I haven't been to the movies much in the past year. In fact, I think the last one I actually went to the theatre to see, was Slumdog Millionaire over two months ago. Before that Australia, and before that... um. I can't remember.
Why is that? I used to love going to the movies, at one time I had an average of twice or thrice a WEEK!
A factor might be my increasing intolerance of dubbing. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. Maybe it's because I got so much better at English, to the point where watching anything in this language doesn't even faze me (I can naturally switch from one language to another in conversation without missing a beat, as we tested in Berlin, sometimes without even realizing I'm hearing English and not Italian - I'm not being a smug SOB, just a statement of fact). Seriously, I can tell so clearly when the dialogue doesn't fit or it's a bad translation or the tone of voice of the dubber isn't quite right, it takes all the enjoyment out of the movie... I just end up waiting for films to become available on the interwebs and then watching them in English.
Also, I don't know, I haven't really been in the mood. My movie!buddy, Chiara, has been in Vienna for the past two months (hey, in fact, she's the one I went to see Slumdog with...), so there's no one to drag me by my ears, and as all the movies worth seeing that got out recently have been very depressing (Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler, Gran Torino...), I didn't really feel like having my insides scooped out with a spoon...
And I guess I've really been devouring tv-shows. I've been looking more and more for my favourite part of storytelling, i.e. character development, and a tv-show, if done well, with all the hours at its disposal has the possibility of exploring that much better that a 2-hour movie can. I'm not arguing low-art against high-art and all that, I'm just saying.
For example, as I said before, I liked the Terminator movies well enough (well, the first and the second), but there were too many car-chases and fights for my taste, and my favourite part, what really intrigued me, was the timey-wimey-ness of the circumstances of John Connor's birth, and the characters. Their feelings, their choices, their changes. And the tv-show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles allows us to explore exactly that in the kind of depth that the movies never could.
On the other hand, I'm really looking forward to the Far East Film Festival, a festival on popular asiatic movies, that's taking place in my town from April 24th to May 2nd. I'm volunteering again this year (don't know yet in which capacity), which will grant me free access to all the shows, and hopefully I'll get back into movie-watching mood.
And, next weekend I'm going to go see Louise-Michel, which I've been told is hilariously ironic, so there's that.
Did this post even have a point? If it did, I missed it somewhere in the middle... oh well. Just rambling away. I'm blaming the late hour.
Why is that? I used to love going to the movies, at one time I had an average of twice or thrice a WEEK!
A factor might be my increasing intolerance of dubbing. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. Maybe it's because I got so much better at English, to the point where watching anything in this language doesn't even faze me (I can naturally switch from one language to another in conversation without missing a beat, as we tested in Berlin, sometimes without even realizing I'm hearing English and not Italian - I'm not being a smug SOB, just a statement of fact). Seriously, I can tell so clearly when the dialogue doesn't fit or it's a bad translation or the tone of voice of the dubber isn't quite right, it takes all the enjoyment out of the movie... I just end up waiting for films to become available on the interwebs and then watching them in English.
Also, I don't know, I haven't really been in the mood. My movie!buddy, Chiara, has been in Vienna for the past two months (hey, in fact, she's the one I went to see Slumdog with...), so there's no one to drag me by my ears, and as all the movies worth seeing that got out recently have been very depressing (Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler, Gran Torino...), I didn't really feel like having my insides scooped out with a spoon...
And I guess I've really been devouring tv-shows. I've been looking more and more for my favourite part of storytelling, i.e. character development, and a tv-show, if done well, with all the hours at its disposal has the possibility of exploring that much better that a 2-hour movie can. I'm not arguing low-art against high-art and all that, I'm just saying.
For example, as I said before, I liked the Terminator movies well enough (well, the first and the second), but there were too many car-chases and fights for my taste, and my favourite part, what really intrigued me, was the timey-wimey-ness of the circumstances of John Connor's birth, and the characters. Their feelings, their choices, their changes. And the tv-show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles allows us to explore exactly that in the kind of depth that the movies never could.
On the other hand, I'm really looking forward to the Far East Film Festival, a festival on popular asiatic movies, that's taking place in my town from April 24th to May 2nd. I'm volunteering again this year (don't know yet in which capacity), which will grant me free access to all the shows, and hopefully I'll get back into movie-watching mood.
And, next weekend I'm going to go see Louise-Michel, which I've been told is hilariously ironic, so there's that.
Did this post even have a point? If it did, I missed it somewhere in the middle... oh well. Just rambling away. I'm blaming the late hour.