movie marathon

post-published from late may/early june 2010...
i'm glad this blog hasn't completely died. trying to bring myself back from hiatus
i've packed in more movies in the last 2 days than possibly the last semester. no school + food poisoning = movie marathon. a quick rundown-

Criminal: A forgettable but entertaining enough remake of the Argentinian, "Nine Queens." Wish I had known about the original before watching this one. Dig the indie feel.




Breathless: The Goddard Classic which warrants its own lengthy discussion that I am not yet ready to write. gorgeous f-ing light!



Departures: A Japanese dramedy that I'm not ashamed to say made me cry. ok, i am. "It's fine."

The Host: The Korean Godzilla of the sea. Combines the monster movie, family drama, and slapstick into a great popcorn movie.


Hollywoodland: aka, how Ben Affleck woulda ruined LA Confidential. haha, actually it wasn't so bad. nice look-i love feeling like i'm in old seedy hollywood. coulda used better casting.


I really wanted to watch Oldboy, but the netflix instant watch only had the dubbed version, so i decided to wait.

Avatar

Possibly the greatest film ever

Books and Flicks - any recommendations

I have forgotten how to write. It is a lost art in the coming of the age of technology. Where once we thought technology was supposedly created to improve communication with all - but what is the real outcome is bad grammar [in my case], lost of vocabulary [in my case], and the ever shortening sentences broken down in acronyms. LOL! WTF.

I had a brief conversation with a friend on the folks with the pure ability to write words, to paint a thought. Is it a skill or is it a god given ability? I'm not sure - maybe a hybrid of both. I know this for sure - I used to blog when I lived in SF, and when I moved to LA... then I stopped. This is the longest blog entry that I have written in years.

Even with so much technology - we must never lose that ability to write a letter with meaning. I will write more, but please do not judge me on my vocabulary, my grammar, my loss of words.

#! /bin/sh
##############################

echo "Hello World"

Re-reading and reading Dracula

I threw on my DVD of Bram Stoker's Dracula a couple of weeks ago, and realized that I had forgotten how sexed-up that movie is. I remember feeling somewhat uncomfortable watching it in the theatre with my parents as a kid, but I had forgotten specifics, aside from certain scenes [Lucy and the wolf, Keanu's three-way with Monica Bellucci (!!!) and Co., Mina and the Count groping each other in a silent moviehouse]. Watching it again, I see that the film is crammed wall-to-wall with sexual imagery. No wonder I felt funny.

Though I missed a few levels of it, I thought the movie was awesome. In-camera effects, insane production design and costuming, Annie Lennox, and Anthony Fucking Hopkins.
(I do remember thinking, "Keanu Reeves? Cary Elwes? Really?" I would have liked to see a version in which their roles had been switched.) It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was messy and disturbing, which I like.

I'm ashamed to say I've never read Dracula. I've picked up my copy several times, intending to read it, but never followed through. Luckily, the good people over at the group reading project Infinite Summer are reading Dracula for the month of October. On their schedule, they will finish by Halloween. They've got forums, guest writers, and Stoker's great-grand-nephew. The time seems right. Who's with me?

Losing his touch?

This post is not about Brad Pitt. He is not losing his touch. Tis a little bitter sweet for me to say that, because, due to his largess, I feel like I'm supposed to want him to start losing his touch. I feel almost anti-American for not disliking him. Isn't that what being American is all about? Striving for success and disliking anyone who has it ahead of you? Well despite that, despite his huge gobs of it... I can't dislike him. He's too good. He's the star of hit movies year after year, and still i can't dislike him. Not even when he got Jennifer Aniston. Not even when he got Angelina Jolie! Whoever-the-dude that knocked up Alba, is still not forgiven, yet Pitt gets a pass for Jolie. I can't quite understand it. My only guess is becuase he's just too good. His role in films like Snatch, Ocean's 11/2/3, and Fight Club are just too entertaining. And in this movie, he's just as good. But I digress. This post is not about Brad Pitt. He is not losing his touch. But I think, perhaps, Tarantino is.

Now I'll make this clear right up front. Inglourious Basterds is an enjoyable movie. If you have 2 and a half hours to spare, you could find many worse ways to spend it than watching this movie. That is not exactly a glowing statement, but it is exactly accurate. Its a fun film that is glaringly Tarantino.

When he dropped Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction, and even the Kill Bills, he brought a unique style of story telling that let the viewing public know that it is possible, even preferable, to make a film that does not prescribe to any set formula of story telling. Each movie had its own character and felt like no other movie before it. That is precisely where Inglourious Basterds falls short. It feels like a Tarantino movie. It follows a Tarantino formula. There is nothing new about it.

No doubt about it, the man can make a movie. When his movie making career is over, this one will not be listed as Tarantino masterpeice. It will be another title on the list, a footnote, a 'by the way, he also made..."

John Hughes made me feel like I had teen angst, at 9 years old. May he find peace beyond the ills of puberty. We won't forget about you.

thumbs up

terminator salvation.

come on. gotta love the terminator. even if it sucked. i don't care.