Classics

Escape from New York
Director:John Carpenter
Carpenter's vision of New York as a prison is very dark. Some how only given 18 hours in the city 15 hours are in the dead of night. I'm not sure how that works, but it seems to me he just wasn't able to build a large enough set. The gladiator pit is dumb, and the bridge full of mines is easily crossed. I didn't like this movie. And I think Kurt Russell is trying to be Mclean, but will never be Mclean.

It Happened One Night
Director: Frank Capra
Clark Gable is a bit over the top with bad lines when he gets on the bus, but as the movie goes on he becomes less of a gag machine. He is funny without the lines, and its his actions like hanging the sheet between the two beds and calling it Jericho, or pretending to be a shouting married couple with the female lead that make this movie work. Good humor, good flick.

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
Director: John Huston
I love Robert Mitchum like a drinking buddy. Some bits of this movie are a bit hokey, Mitchum never struggles with fighting, only with love. He has no problem stabbing fish from the sea with a large bamboo spear. Yet there are moments in this movie that Mitchum is a marine and only a marine. The set up is alright too, 'lets put a nun and a marine on a deserted island and then fill it with japanese, then remove the japanese, then fill it with japanese again, and finally fill it with americans.' Golden.

Notorious
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant is too cold for me in this movie, but everything else as everyone knows is perfect. I love rear projection, and this movie has it in almost every shot.

3 more in Black and White

Night of the Hunter
Director: Charles Laughton
I love this movie, its perfect. I wish Laughton made more, this is his only one he directed. I love it, I love it. From the openning shots from a plane to the 'leaning scene'.


Lady of Burlesque
Director: William Wellman
1943 Barbara Stanwyck vehicle with Michael O'Shea as a Mickey Rooney type comedian. Its worth a watch, lots of one liners and talk, but the direction is spot on. Also the production design is terrific, and the stage geography is clean and simple. Its a set that you could do anything with. I loved it.

Small Town Girl
Director: William Wellman
I loved this movie for its scene where the male lead, a brain surgeon in the 1930's, does surgery on a little boy who shot himself in his own face with his fathers shotgun. The male lead is also a drunk who accidently marries the lead girl. They have to stay together for 6 months until they can quietly divorce, so that he won't loose his job and social standing. It has some great moments.

3 more

Sweeney Todd
Director: Tim Burton
The music works, the production design is amazing, the photography is far too dark, and the story is predictable. Above all its a gore fest, and I hated all of the violence. It was sick and unnecessary, who needs to see that many throats slit and that many necks broken, and for what? We already get that Todd is killing people, and he wants to kill more. I think the biggest problem is by the ending we don't relate to him. I prefer Taxi Driver.

L'Enfant
Director:Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Great film, won the Cannes grand prize a few years ago. Its very french, wandering the streets, bohemian movie, akin to Breathless but less chic. Gritty and young. Its shot loose and it moves loose. Its all very loose but it hits plot points very hard and it keeps together. Its a bit too much hand held/stedicam for me. Like Law and Order these days.

Helvetica
Director: Gary Hustwit
Type is type. It was fun to learn about the history of type in design but the people who take it so seriously was a little sad. I don't know too much about graphic design, but when it works its nice and when it sucks it is tragic. I just don't see anyway to win, unless you have some good words to write, but you know me, I don't know nuthin' bout that.

A few updates

Suspicion
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
I didn't like this movie. I don't like the set up and the feeling through out is gnarly. I don't like Cary Grant as a liar, hes not charming, I don't understand why she falls for him. The milk scene is amazing, but too short. And the ending is dumb. Cary Grant's friend Beaky is great.

Boxcar Bertha
Director: Martin Scorsese
This movie is very scattered. It has a great scene at the ending where David Carradine is nailed to a boxcar like Jesus and out of know where Bertha's friend comes out and kills all the bad guys. I couldn't help but think that even the backwards bumpkins wouldn't nail David Carradine to a boxcar like Jesus, its the Bible belt for goodness sake. Even they would not want to portray their enemy as a martyr. I can't think that Scorsese didn't know this, I think he was just doing it in a 'thats right I'm nailing him up to the boxcar just like Jesus' sort of way. Whats wrong with being obvious? I don't know.

The shooting sequence is the best shot and edited scene in the whole horrible movie. It really shows the skill that his next film, Mean Streets is so good at.

North by Northwest
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
I actually remember this film being better in my memory. Better is probably not the right wording, more like more modern. I love this movie, who doesn't love this movie. But as far as the mastery of its cutting and filming, I think Psycho is stronger, and I watched Psycho again yesterday. Psycho has the timing down much more.

Its all hard to really say because compared to everything else coming from this time period it is far beyond in his control. I was recently thinking how many similarities the Big Lebowski has to North by Northwest. Same sort of set up, and it uses alot of the same props and layouts, I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this.

Phantom of the Opera
Director: Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle, Edward Sedgwick
This movie isn't all that great, but the sets are amazing and Lon Chaney is the best. I love the layout of the opera house and all of the sets underneath. I can't believe they built it all. It doesn't have great characters, and the story is weak, but the adventure is high. Also the color works so well in the 1929 version, I love the dyeing they did to the various scenes as well as the red and green process. I wish we still had red and green film or any Technicolor for that matter. Ink of film looks like heaven.

Psycho
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
I watched Psycho the other day on HDnet, on an HD tv. It looked great. It was much more obvious to me which shots used rear projection because the grain was much stronger. There is also a great shot where Bates moves his head to look at the registration book with the P.I. and he dives over the camera like a bird. I love this movie, who doesn't love this movie. This movie is a rock to stand on.

Rear Window
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
I saw this one on HDnet too. It looks great. The color is perfect. This movie is perfect. Its like a peep show for only you and Jimmy Stewart. When Jimmy falls asleep we are still watching attached to our seats with both legs stiff.

back again a year later

The Killing
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Art Director: Ruth Sobotka Kubrick
DP:Lucien Ballard

Kubrick's first feature, the Killing is simple and basic as well as beautiful. From what I understand Kubrick was very young and on one of the first days of shooting got into a fight with the DP, Lucien Ballard. Ballard was a veteran and wanted to shoot easy shots. Kubrick planed these dolly shots that move across interiors and he wanted to shoot them with short lenses so that the distortion would be limited. Ballard moved the dolly track and started setting up an easier shot. Kubrick said that he could do the shot his way or be on his way. Kubrick was in his mid twenties. What I like about this movie is that Kubrick's first movie is his simplest, and clearest plot. There are no risks in this movie, its all very simple and beautiful. It moves at a very steady pace and uses American stereotypes and there is no guessing. I love this movie, I own it and so should you.



Pioneers in Ingolstadt
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
DP: Dietrch Lohmann
Production Designer: Kurt Raab

I am a big Fassbinder fan. I mean I love this shit. Pioneers in Ingoldstadt is a simple movie about men in the service building a bridge over a river in a small town, and a few girls trying to figure out what is in their best interest. I really love this movie, the only part I don't like is when they try to throw in this bit about a broken bridge and a captain falling over. Something is a bit off about it. Definetly worth watching and thinking about.

The Niklashausen Journey
Director:Michael Fengler and Rainer Werner Fassbinder
DP:Dietrich Lohmann
Production Designer:Kurt Raab

This film is very political. I didn't like it, it is all about communism and walking and talking. It is very cheaply made and it just comes off as too intellectual for my taste. I like the parts with the girl and the profit figure. Where she keeps asking to touch him, and he says that he is too pure for that business. That is what the movie should have been about instead of this politic thing.


Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
Director:Rainer Werner Fassbinder
DP:Michael Ballhaus
Production Designer: Kurt Raab

This is a gentle Fassbinder film about an old woman who looses her purpose. It has one of the most complex endings I have seen in a while. In fact it has two endings and I can't figure out which one is better. One of them was made for the American audiences, but I can't tell if they showed them both for the American audiences like they do on the dvd, because if they did I thimk it is brilliant. This movie is very very clever, worth a watch or two.

Love is Colder than Death
Director:Rainer
Werner Fassbinder
DP: Dietrich Lohmann
Production Designer: Rainer Werner FAssbinder, Ulli Lommel

Fassbinder's first film is amazing. I don't know what else to say its perfect. Its everything a cheap movie can be and should be.

Dear Readers.. I mean Reader.

Dear Wendy
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Written by Lars Von Trier this movie is about a couple of losers who decide to carry guns to make them feel more confident. Of course in the end they use their guns. I think the casting could have been a bit stronger and the directing was a bit too stylized and watered down. It has its moments and I will watch any Von Trier flick. Bill Pullman is fantastic as the sheriff.

I'm going to take a break from my movie watching until after my painting show on April 17. Its at Pratt in the East Hall and the openning is on the 17 from 6-9.

More Pianos Means More Skin

The Piano
Director: Jane Campion
This movie was up for best picture as well as alot of other awards in 1994. Its a simple movie with an exotic setting. I liked it, but it wasn't nearly as intense as I thought it could be. Anna Paquin plays the Holly Hunter's daughter and is excellent. Hunter is okay, but her part doesn't call for much else than looking cute and being distant. Harvey Keitel is awesome as always, and he has face tattoos like Mike Tyson, for some reason which is never explained in the movie. Also Sam Neill has the most screen time he's had since the first Jurassic Park. This movie's worth a watch just because it is so beautifully shot. Someone in this movie has a strong sense for color and cool lighting. The piano music could be more catchy or moody. Oh and there is lots of skin, and alot of it is male. There is really no surprises, but who says you can't do the obvious if you know its obvious.

I think I liked the Piano Teacher better. The Pianist was okay, but I think Adrien Brody is a bad actor.

I know I'm missing a few but I can't remember

Legal Eagles
Director: Ivan Reitman
Kinda dumb. This eighties Robert Redford flick was only worth watching because its about the art world. I love to hear people to talk art in movies because it is like they are talking medicine in a hospital. Yes sir, this painting is the right prescription. Also there is this crazy scene where Daryl Hannah does a performance art piece with fire. Redford went to Pratt for a few classes in the early eighties, so that makes it interesting too. Redford is so subtle in this movie, but everything is lousy around him.

All the Kings Men
Director: Robert Rossen
Rossen also directed The Hustler, which is one of my favs. All the Kings Men is a great movie for the late forties, but sometimes it is so obviously made in the forties it is hard to watch. There is no humor in this movie. It has a classical drama structure with a Gatsby edge but its far from being as good as Touch of Evil. It is really good for its time, but I don't think it goes too far beyond that.

It looks like they are about to put out a remake with some big names in it. I hope it is good, but its probably going to be as bad as the new Manchurian Canidate. This type of movie that derives from stage plays need a certain amount of theatricallity which todays directors and studios don't believe in. It is like they believe that one convention is more real than another, but both are just conventions. That is hard to explain, and I don't feel like writing that much. This movie is worth a watch.

How To Get The Mans Foot Outta Your Ass
Director: Mario Van Peebles
I loved this movie. Photo is such a different thing than drawing and painting because ugly people can paint beautifully but they can't be models in photos. Like look at Sally Mann's photos, if her children weren't such stark cherubs she would be photographing something else. As is the intriguing relationship of Mario Van Peebles and his father Melvin Van Peebles. This movie is a sort of bio pic of Melvin made and starred in by his son, Mario. Melvin directed and stared in Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song back in the late sixties, early seventies. Both movies have great leading men, which is so damn ironic it makes my brain hurt. These movies would both sink without great leads and yet they both did very well. Its too damn hard to explain, but you should definetly see this movie.

Finally something worth watching

Palindromes
Director: Todd Solondz
Wow. Its hard to make a movie with such strong themes without it becoming an illustration or caricature, yet Todd Solondz has finally done it. His past few movies include: Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, and Storytelling. In each, well maybe not so much the Dollhouse, but the latter two he takes a concept and illustrates it using a narrative. Happiness is about not being happy, and Storytelling is a self concious look at fiction and exploitation.

Palindromes's ideas are more hidden. There are the obvious issues of abortion, but Solondz doesn't particularly take a stand, instead he just lets the story wander around the issue. There are some great moments of parenting irony that are well written and well acted. Plus I haven't even mentioned the way the main character changes actors about a half dozen times. This allows for an examination of our own prejuduces, whether about racism, age, weight, or even height. The technique is confusing, but in a good way, because it allows us not to worry about the narrative so directly. I really think this is Solondz's best work to date. This is the best film I've seen in months.