Have you seen a movie in the last year that you can recommend? Have you seen one that is the equivalent of watching paint dry or hearing chalk scrape against a blackboard? Describe a movie you have seen recently and, more importantly, what makes it good or abominable.
I recently saw The Straight Story for the first time. David Lynch is probably my favorite director, and now that I've seen TSS I've finally seen every feature length film he's done with the exception of Dune (which I intend to avoid at all costs), plus Twin Peaks which is, like, the greatest TV show ever. He's pretty weird. If you had Hawkes for English last year, I think he showed you the beginning of Mulholland Drive, which is probably my favorite of his...Inland Empire is weirder, essentially a three-hour surreal nightmare that scared me to the core, more so than any horror ever has, including The Shining in a packed theater recently...Wild At Heart was given an NC17 for violence before he doctored one shot in post-production to tone it down to an R...Blue Velvet has strong sadism/masochism themes...
Anyway, The Straight Story, directed by said pervert David Lynch, is a G-rated Disney film. (If he can do it, anybody can.) It follows a dying man from a rural town who decides he needs to see his brother. The two brothers haven't spoken in years, not since a bad fight. He can't afford a car or the bus or anything, and with the blessing of his (autistic, I think?) daughter, he rides his lawn mower hundreds of miles down the interstate. The film is essentially about this man's resolve, and the way that his resolve touches the people that he meets. It's about reconciliation, facing one's past, the strength of family. Cheesy G-rated Disney things like that.
The movie is pretty slow. Long takes of Alvin riding his lawnmower, and then conversation between Alvin and somebody he meets, and then more riding. But it's not boring. The pacing is almost meditative, and (not surprisingly, given that David Lynch is behind the camera) the images are stunningly beautiful. Extreme long shots from above of Alvin riding through yellow cornfields under a big, blue sky are accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti's rich, understated country music score. (I'm going to start listening to it now, I think. It's extremely calming.)
In the end, the film resonated with me a great deal. I love movies that elicit an emotional response without lassoing it out of you--subtle movies. No soaring violins and copious weeping during the emotional scenes--that's a turn-off, and it's rare to find a flick that lets you feel what you want to feel without manipulating you. The Straight Story did that. Take the ending. He reaches his brother's home after weeks of travel. He calls his brother's name. After some time, a grizzled old Harry Dean Stanton comes out (which is awesome). He says something like "You came all the way here just to see me?" and Alvin says "Yep" or something as simple. That's all it really takes. No tears, no hugs, no soaring violins. David Lynch slowly points the camera toward the sky, the simple upward movement as liberating as any embrace between the brothers would be, and the film is over.
About a month ago, I saw "He's Just Not That Into You." I was very excited for this movie and believed it would be funny, entertaining, cute, and romantic. As the movie began, I was very excited until I realized that all of my expectations would be severely let down. The movie starts out with an adorable scene of a little girl getting made fun of by a little boy. The narrator then tells the viewers something about the whole "he's only mean to you because he likes you" statement is a big lie. After this, the movie gets progressively worse. There are far too many different subplots to follow without one clear main plot. None of the many plots are developed and the movie becomes very bland very quickly. The movie is broken down into subsections with slides titled phrases such as "if he does not call you back, then he's just not that into you". Each subsection felt like an hour in itself (and there were about six of these subsections). After about a half an hour I found myself checking my watch to see what time it was every five minutes. Whatever you do, do not see this movie (unless you are looking for something to put you to sleep). By the time the end credits rolled in, I could not be more excited to leave the theater.
About a month ago I saw "Last chance Harvey" I expected this movie to be really good, mainly, because of the cast. It stared Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, two actors that I really enjoy, I mean who doesn't love the re made Parent Trap?. I was, however, very diapointed. The plot of the movie was that Hoffmans character, Harvey, looses his job and is then replaced by his daughters step dad to walk her down the isle. Basically his life sucks. Then he meets Emma Thompson's chracter who turns everything around. Sounds like it could be a promising plot right? wrong. It seems like it takes half the movie to get Harvey to meet Emma Thompson, it's so boring! When Emma Thompson's character is finally intoduced there is some humor and you feel happy for Harvey, but thats about the climax of the film, from there, it all goes down hill. Theres no more plot development and personally, I was ready to leave the theater. It ends nicely I guess, with Harvey showing up to his daughters wedding with Emma Thompson saying how much he messed up in his daughters life but how much he loves her, and gets his job back, but turns it down to stay with Emma Thompson. A cute ending I guess, but the entire movie left me wanting much more.
Over winter break I saw an excellent film called Downfall. It is a German drama, which depicts the final twelve days of Adolf Hitler’s life in his Berlin Bunker, and the fall of the Third Reich to the Soviets. It was actually nominated for an Oscar in 2004. The film was based on several memories of key people, who were actually in the bunker with him, historians, and books. Here is a short summary of the plot. The movie is mainly narrated from the point of view of Hitler’s secretary Traudl Junge. It beings with Hilter’s secretary awakening to a lose noise and it takes her a view minutes to realize that the noise is from Soviet artillery. Hitler is safe underground in his bunker and his last birthday is celebrated amongst his close friends. He tries futilely to order counterattacks that will never be carried out, and command armies that exist only on his maps. It is evident that Hitler’s physical and mental states are quickly deteriorating. Hitler continues to preach the idea of a Greater Germany and blames his failures on the German people for the weakness and lack of resistance. Eventually the Red Army destroys all resistance in Berlin and captures the city. Hitler now feeling that all is lost decides to marry Eva Braun and commit suicide.
However, what makes this film extremely interesting is it also narrates a sub plot of ordinary citizens and their struggle with this ordeal. One sub plot follows the story of Peter Kranz, a twelve year old Hitler Youth soldier, who has volunteered against his parent’s wishes to fight and defend the front lines of Berlin. It effectively depicts the plight of ordinary citizens who were caught up in a horrific situation. It draws sympathy from the audience when they see young children being sent out to fight a war that is completely futile. It effectively captures the horrors of war and how ordinary citizens are affected the most, because we are shown scenes of Hitler Youth soldiers committing suicides, doctors operating without sufficient equipment on screaming soldiers, and soldiers beating citizens who are trying to flee the city. It portrays the chaos of Berlin at the time and how a lack of order and structure followed by Hitler’s lack of concern for his own people created multiple tragedies and misfortunes for the citizens of Berlin.
(I had to give a very short synopsis for various reasons if you want a full synopsis of the film here is the link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/synopsis)
In Economics class we were shown the first half of a German movie from 1998 called Run Lola Run. The opening sequence of the movie was extremely unusual because it starts with the sight and sound of a swinging pendulum. It then shows a large crowd of people and the camera cycles through to a few individuals who are actually the main characters of the movie. A policeman then grabs a soccer ball, throws it into the air and the camera follows it. You then see the crowd from an aerial POV and it forms the words Run Lola. From there, it cuts into a cartoon sequence of a red haired woman running through a tunnel. (To see the opening sequence: copy and paste this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y382Z602DTw )
The plot of the movie it revealed via a phone call that takes place in the first few seconds: Lola's boyfriend has just lost $100,000 in money that he was supposed to deliver to his mob boss and will certainly be killed unless Lola can find $100,000 in 20 minutes.
The entire movie is fast paced because it is set to techno/futuristic music. The movie itself is the story of how she tries to come up with the $100,000 in 20 minutes. There are three alternate realities that occur when a different set of events happen. The first is when she fails to reach Manni in time and they decide to rob a supermarket. The second is when she holds up a bank to get the money, and the third is when she gambles to get the money.
The music and the editing in this movie are amazing. I was surprised when I found out that it was made in 1998 because it has the look and feel of a movie made in this decade. The movie has short sequences of animation that are interspersed throughout which at first seem weird but then seem to fit the film. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. I am sure most people in our class will enjoy it. (The full movie is on Youtube, search Lola Rennt.)
One movie I have seen that I would recommend is the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Though the movie may be long, it is definitly worth watching. The whole story delves into life, and how one views time, life and loss. Viewers Beware: this movie will spark thinking in the viewer. There is no way to watch this movie without reflecting on your own life, the way you view time and the chances you take in life. This movie is both watchable and thinkable, probably not a word but its all good. To be honest watching the academy awards I was pulling for Benjamin Button all the way. the movie was just that good. If youre looking for action, and intelligence coupled in a film I would for sure recommend the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Semi-recently I saw the movie Smart People. I figured it might be good, it has Juno’s star Ellen Page, among other A-listers such as Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker, plus it was shot at Carnegie Mellon, so I thought of it as an easy way for a campus visit, but it didn’t do a very good job at selling the school or the plot. In a nut-shell, this is about a self-centered professor who is forced to be dependent on those around him by an injury that he imposed on himself by, you guessed it, being self-centered. This movie is predictable, the scenes in this movie have no contrast from one to another, and it is shot on the same boring tone. The actors were pretty monotone as well. By the end of the movie when you realize what the conclusion is, it just leaves you irritated and cheated because after about an hour and a half you haven’t gained anything but a loss of time. Sometimes I like the indie-feel movies, but this one you can definitely skip.
Just saw Watchmen. I don't really know what to say other than that it's about what I expected, a visually interesting comic book flick that kept me entertained for 2 1/2 hours. In the end I think the most that it did is make me want to read the source material--I've never read a full-length graphic novel but by all accounts Watchmen is supposed to be the top of the pack. I liked the premise--retired superheroes in a world about to destroy itself, totally out of their league--and the climax of the story definitely went somewhere ethically I wasn't expecting it to. But it was all dragged down somewhat by wooden acting and uninteresting characters (though I did like Rorschach) to the point that the plot didn't even matter to me anymore, and I just resigned myself to watching the visuals and the stylized violence. I figure that the filmmakers just misprioritized a bit and focused too much on framing every shot to look like it came off the pages of a comic book. So I'm willing to bet the original graphic novel is a little more intriguing story-wise. That's what everybody says, anyway.
I did enjoy the soundtrack, old fogey music played out of context to emphasize how out of context the Watchmen are. The opening credits under Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' were well done, I thought, filmed especially comic-bookishly, and there was a really hot sex scene accompanied interestingly enough by Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. (Lenny beats out Jeff Buckley any day. It's still Leonard's song!) Still, Altman used Cohen better as I think we're supposed to find out later this semester...
(This isn't meant to be one of the graded comments. Just figured I'd share here 'cause I feel like putting my thoughts down in writing, and I really don't want to start packing.)
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ReplyDeleteI recently saw The Straight Story for the first time. David Lynch is probably my favorite director, and now that I've seen TSS I've finally seen every feature length film he's done with the exception of Dune (which I intend to avoid at all costs), plus Twin Peaks which is, like, the greatest TV show ever. He's pretty weird. If you had Hawkes for English last year, I think he showed you the beginning of Mulholland Drive, which is probably my favorite of his...Inland Empire is weirder, essentially a three-hour surreal nightmare that scared me to the core, more so than any horror ever has, including The Shining in a packed theater recently...Wild At Heart was given an NC17 for violence before he doctored one shot in post-production to tone it down to an R...Blue Velvet has strong sadism/masochism themes...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, The Straight Story, directed by said pervert David Lynch, is a G-rated Disney film. (If he can do it, anybody can.) It follows a dying man from a rural town who decides he needs to see his brother. The two brothers haven't spoken in years, not since a bad fight. He can't afford a car or the bus or anything, and with the blessing of his (autistic, I think?) daughter, he rides his lawn mower hundreds of miles down the interstate. The film is essentially about this man's resolve, and the way that his resolve touches the people that he meets. It's about reconciliation, facing one's past, the strength of family. Cheesy G-rated Disney things like that.
The movie is pretty slow. Long takes of Alvin riding his lawnmower, and then conversation between Alvin and somebody he meets, and then more riding. But it's not boring. The pacing is almost meditative, and (not surprisingly, given that David Lynch is behind the camera) the images are stunningly beautiful. Extreme long shots from above of Alvin riding through yellow cornfields under a big, blue sky are accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti's rich, understated country music score. (I'm going to start listening to it now, I think. It's extremely calming.)
In the end, the film resonated with me a great deal. I love movies that elicit an emotional response without lassoing it out of you--subtle movies. No soaring violins and copious weeping during the emotional scenes--that's a turn-off, and it's rare to find a flick that lets you feel what you want to feel without manipulating you. The Straight Story did that. Take the ending. He reaches his brother's home after weeks of travel. He calls his brother's name. After some time, a grizzled old Harry Dean Stanton comes out (which is awesome). He says something like "You came all the way here just to see me?" and Alvin says "Yep" or something as simple. That's all it really takes. No tears, no hugs, no soaring violins. David Lynch slowly points the camera toward the sky, the simple upward movement as liberating as any embrace between the brothers would be, and the film is over.
About a month ago, I saw "He's Just Not That Into You." I was very excited for this movie and believed it would be funny, entertaining, cute, and romantic. As the movie began, I was very excited until I realized that all of my expectations would be severely let down. The movie starts out with an adorable scene of a little girl getting made fun of by a little boy. The narrator then tells the viewers something about the whole "he's only mean to you because he likes you" statement is a big lie. After this, the movie gets progressively worse. There are far too many different subplots to follow without one clear main plot. None of the many plots are developed and the movie becomes very bland very quickly. The movie is broken down into subsections with slides titled phrases such as "if he does not call you back, then he's just not that into you". Each subsection felt like an hour in itself (and there were about six of these subsections). After about a half an hour I found myself checking my watch to see what time it was every five minutes. Whatever you do, do not see this movie (unless you are looking for something to put you to sleep). By the time the end credits rolled in, I could not be more excited to leave the theater.
ReplyDeleteAbout a month ago I saw "Last chance Harvey" I expected this movie to be really good, mainly, because of the cast. It stared Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, two actors that I really enjoy, I mean who doesn't love the re made Parent Trap?. I was, however, very diapointed. The plot of the movie was that Hoffmans character, Harvey, looses his job and is then replaced by his daughters step dad to walk her down the isle. Basically his life sucks. Then he meets Emma Thompson's chracter who turns everything around. Sounds like it could be a promising plot right? wrong. It seems like it takes half the movie to get Harvey to meet Emma Thompson, it's so boring! When Emma Thompson's character is finally intoduced there is some humor and you feel happy for Harvey, but thats about the climax of the film, from there, it all goes down hill. Theres no more plot development and personally, I was ready to leave the theater. It ends nicely I guess, with Harvey showing up to his daughters wedding with Emma Thompson saying how much he messed up in his daughters life but how much he loves her, and gets his job back, but turns it down to stay with Emma Thompson. A cute ending I guess, but the entire movie left me wanting much more.
ReplyDeleteOver winter break I saw an excellent film called Downfall. It is a German drama, which depicts the final twelve days of Adolf Hitler’s life in his Berlin Bunker, and the fall of the Third Reich to the Soviets. It was actually nominated for an Oscar in 2004. The film was based on several memories of key people, who were actually in the bunker with him, historians, and books. Here is a short summary of the plot. The movie is mainly narrated from the point of view of Hitler’s secretary Traudl Junge. It beings with Hilter’s secretary awakening to a lose noise and it takes her a view minutes to realize that the noise is from Soviet artillery. Hitler is safe underground in his bunker and his last birthday is celebrated amongst his close friends. He tries futilely to order counterattacks that will never be carried out, and command armies that exist only on his maps. It is evident that Hitler’s physical and mental states are quickly deteriorating. Hitler continues to preach the idea of a Greater Germany and blames his failures on the German people for the weakness and lack of resistance. Eventually the Red Army destroys all resistance in Berlin and captures the city. Hitler now feeling that all is lost decides to marry Eva Braun and commit suicide.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what makes this film extremely interesting is it also narrates a sub plot of ordinary citizens and their struggle with this ordeal. One sub plot follows the story of Peter Kranz, a twelve year old Hitler Youth soldier, who has volunteered against his parent’s wishes to fight and defend the front lines of Berlin. It effectively depicts the plight of ordinary citizens who were caught up in a horrific situation. It draws sympathy from the audience when they see young children being sent out to fight a war that is completely futile. It effectively captures the horrors of war and how ordinary citizens are affected the most, because we are shown scenes of Hitler Youth soldiers committing suicides, doctors operating without sufficient equipment on screaming soldiers, and soldiers beating citizens who are trying to flee the city. It portrays the chaos of Berlin at the time and how a lack of order and structure followed by Hitler’s lack of concern for his own people created multiple tragedies and misfortunes for the citizens of Berlin.
(I had to give a very short synopsis for various reasons if you want a full synopsis of the film here is the link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/synopsis)
In Economics class we were shown the first half of a German movie from 1998 called Run Lola Run. The opening sequence of the movie was extremely unusual because it starts with the sight and sound of a swinging pendulum. It then shows a large crowd of people and the camera cycles through to a few individuals who are actually the main characters of the movie. A policeman then grabs a soccer ball, throws it into the air and the camera follows it. You then see the crowd from an aerial POV and it forms the words Run Lola. From there, it cuts into a cartoon sequence of a red haired woman running through a tunnel. (To see the opening sequence: copy and paste this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y382Z602DTw )
ReplyDeleteThe plot of the movie it revealed via a phone call that takes place in the first few seconds: Lola's boyfriend has just lost $100,000 in money that he was supposed to deliver to his mob boss and will certainly be killed unless Lola can find $100,000 in 20 minutes.
The entire movie is fast paced because it is set to techno/futuristic music. The movie itself is the story of how she tries to come up with the $100,000 in 20 minutes. There are three alternate realities that occur when a different set of events happen. The first is when she fails to reach Manni in time and they decide to rob a supermarket. The second is when she holds up a bank to get the money, and the third is when she gambles to get the money.
The music and the editing in this movie are amazing. I was surprised when I found out that it was made in 1998 because it has the look and feel of a movie made in this decade. The movie has short sequences of animation that are interspersed throughout which at first seem weird but then seem to fit the film. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. I am sure most people in our class will enjoy it. (The full movie is on Youtube, search Lola Rennt.)
One movie I have seen that I would recommend is the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Though the movie may be long, it is definitly worth watching. The whole story delves into life, and how one views time, life and loss. Viewers Beware: this movie will spark thinking in the viewer. There is no way to watch this movie without reflecting on your own life, the way you view time and the chances you take in life. This movie is both watchable and thinkable, probably not a word but its all good. To be honest watching the academy awards I was pulling for Benjamin Button all the way. the movie was just that good. If youre looking for action, and intelligence coupled in a film I would for sure recommend the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
ReplyDeleteSemi-recently I saw the movie Smart People. I figured it might be good, it has Juno’s star Ellen Page, among other A-listers such as Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker, plus it was shot at Carnegie Mellon, so I thought of it as an easy way for a campus visit, but it didn’t do a very good job at selling the school or the plot. In a nut-shell, this is about a self-centered professor who is forced to be dependent on those around him by an injury that he imposed on himself by, you guessed it, being self-centered. This movie is predictable, the scenes in this movie have no contrast from one to another, and it is shot on the same boring tone. The actors were pretty monotone as well. By the end of the movie when you realize what the conclusion is, it just leaves you irritated and cheated because after about an hour and a half you haven’t gained anything but a loss of time. Sometimes I like the indie-feel movies, but this one you can definitely skip.
ReplyDeleteJust saw Watchmen. I don't really know what to say other than that it's about what I expected, a visually interesting comic book flick that kept me entertained for 2 1/2 hours. In the end I think the most that it did is make me want to read the source material--I've never read a full-length graphic novel but by all accounts Watchmen is supposed to be the top of the pack. I liked the premise--retired superheroes in a world about to destroy itself, totally out of their league--and the climax of the story definitely went somewhere ethically I wasn't expecting it to. But it was all dragged down somewhat by wooden acting and uninteresting characters (though I did like Rorschach) to the point that the plot didn't even matter to me anymore, and I just resigned myself to watching the visuals and the stylized violence. I figure that the filmmakers just misprioritized a bit and focused too much on framing every shot to look like it came off the pages of a comic book. So I'm willing to bet the original graphic novel is a little more intriguing story-wise. That's what everybody says, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the soundtrack, old fogey music played out of context to emphasize how out of context the Watchmen are. The opening credits under Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' were well done, I thought, filmed especially comic-bookishly, and there was a really hot sex scene accompanied interestingly enough by Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. (Lenny beats out Jeff Buckley any day. It's still Leonard's song!) Still, Altman used Cohen better as I think we're supposed to find out later this semester...
(This isn't meant to be one of the graded comments. Just figured I'd share here 'cause I feel like putting my thoughts down in writing, and I really don't want to start packing.)