Short Story Long What astounds me is how things change. Here’s a film that was celebrated in its day. In fact, I remember my third grade class in the DC area taking the day off to go to this. (The year previously, we had gone to see a Cinerama movie in the same theater.) We… Continue reading Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Tag: p2006
Comments first posted in 2006
Archangel (1990)
Eisenstein’s Smooth Stones of Forgetfulness I only know a few of Maddin’s projects. This seems to be the earliest available. I’m really beginning a deep appreciation of this man’s visual soul. While this project didn’t change my life, it demonstrated the power to do so, like a strutting policeman among weak minds. What I like… Continue reading Archangel (1990)
Arabian Nights (1974)
The Story of the Story Pasolini is a wonderful, wonderful adventure. Welcoming him into your heart is not without cost; he’s a friend who is brilliant on one side and captive to banality on the other. The bad? Well, its tolerable for me because it is so flamboyantly obvious. The man has a triple curse:… Continue reading Arabian Nights (1974)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Walk this Way The conventional wisdom is that a classic is something that is so well formed initially that it serves well for a long time. So classic films, for instance, are seen like classic car engines, well engineered things that still work. But I think with art, most of the effect is due to… Continue reading After the Thin Man (1936)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
The Soul of the Movie Sometimes a movie enters you while you watch it. These days a movie often enters you well before you pay to see it, the soul of the thing having been conveyed to you by too-long trailers and saturation advertising. But is sometimes the case that a movie — especially one… Continue reading Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Inside Deep Throat (2005)
Momentus “Deep Throat“ is an incompetent movie that had a phenomenal effect. So I guess it is appropriate that a documentary on some of those effects be less than competent as well. Here’s the interesting thing. No one should live without understanding a few basic things about themselves. Film is a large factor in how… Continue reading Inside Deep Throat (2005)
Kinsey (2004)
The Wrong Interview Here’s a major problem in drama: you want to deal with big issues, great disembodied, cosmic sweeps of things. Things that people love or make them suffer. This is why people come. But the tools we have to display these things are humans, usually. So the dramatist has to invent or find… Continue reading Kinsey (2004)
Flightplan (2005)
Oceans 2 Well, I suppose we all have to decide what it means to be a powerful or effective actress. And whether Jody is capable of delivering this. In this case, the project, at least the first half, depends on us believing her panic and resulting tenacity. I didn’t. Set that aside. What we have… Continue reading Flightplan (2005)
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Nixon Wins This is a huge failure as a movie, but an interesting one in a way. At least for someone my age who lived through the period appropriated here. Here’s the basic challenge in showing a love story: how do you cinematically show the pulls on the heart? The usual solution is to fold… Continue reading A Walk on the Moon (1999)
A Jolly Good Furlough (1943)
Home not Attractive I’ve been watching propaganda movies recently. I don’t think we appreciate the government influence on the industry. It is easiest to see here. In this case, the message seems to be that GIs can be relatively happy away compared to home. The story is that Popeye comes home to his girlfriend and… Continue reading A Jolly Good Furlough (1943)