Finished Arrow Season One and now am working my way through a lot of movies that seem to involve our astronauts landing on planets inhabited by scantily clad women. It's not me, I'm not choosing them. It's Netflix.
Saw the Great Gatsby. It was just OK. DiCaprio was great and the party scenes were suitably over-the-top, but Luhrmann's story lacked in any sort of subtlety. He just keeps hitting you over the head with the theme and ideas without letting the story take care of it (which is a shame because some individual scenes translate perfectly from the book).
Case in point. The opening lines of the books are:
Quote
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
And in the movie they're:
Quote
In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice. "Always try to see the best in people," he would say. As a consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all judgements. But even I have a limit.
Which is a little too on the nose for the story to come.
Been catching up with American Horror Story: Coven on demand the last couple of nights. Never caught the first two series of AHS, but hearing a lot of buzz over Coven convinced me to check this one out.
Glad I did--it's pretty damn cool! I probably would have done so sooner if I'd realized all the talent behind the cameras involved such as Tim Minear & Doug Petrie (both from Buffy & Angel), Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) and Glen Wong (X-Files).
It's a pleasing mix of melodrama, gross-outs and humor wrapped around an interesting and engaging story. Highly addictive!
I had my doubts about the season at first, but it's been really excellent. The interplay between Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange has been amazing. Also, they really outdid the Walking Dead in the last episode by going for broke with:
I've been going through a "Swinging London" phase lately, watching a bunch of movies from the "Mod" period of 60's English cinema.
I've always sort of avoided these because I considered them sort of silly and inconsequential. I think my opinion was colored by the fact that a long time ago I had seen the supremely horrible 1967 James Bond parody, "Casino Royale," and had decided it was the "worst movie I'd ever seen". That - combined with that style being further parodied in the later Austin Powers movies just left me with a real aversion to the whole thing.
But...
It turns out I've been doing myself a real disservice. When I actually sat down and started watching some of the more "legitimate" films from the era, I realized that behind the all stylistic parodies, this era actually has some great gems that really capture a world on the verge of a cultural shift - one ready to start addressing issues that had never been portrayed in the movies.
I've recently watched the Richard Lester film, "The Knack... and How to Get It" - on the surface a madcap romp in the vein of his earlier "A Hard Day's Night" - but with disturbing overtones of sexual coercion and rape; the Michael Caine vehicle, "Alfie" - a subversive film that initially introduces the title character as a simple rogue, and then gradually
- culminating in a hastily arranged illegal abortion for the wife of his friend that he impregnated -
shows you just how abhorrent a person he really is; and "Georgy Girl," with the amazingly charming Lynn Redgrave playing what I am convinced is a gay-coded role.
Seriously, not a bad flick in the bunch, and really quite a progressive run.
Up next in the queue, "Blow-Up," with David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jane Birkin. Looks like another good'un!
Another round of "Swinging London" cinema this past week.
First up was "Blow-Up" with David Hemmings as a mod photographer who - while idly taking some shots in the park - accidentally captures evidence of a murder. Or does he? Yeah... actually, it seems that he does. Or does he??? Whatever the case, that whole bit - while interesting - is really just a maguffin to show the alienation of our hero, whose modern lifestyle has made him so dead inside that only an event of this magnitude can make him feel alive. I imagine that - for its time - it was really a revolutionary theme, but it's really become such a standard trope that - even if this was the first film to show it in this way - I still came away from it feeling like I'd seen it 100 times. There is a nice bit at the end as Hemmings watches a group of mimes play an imaginary tennis match... throwing them their imaginary ball back as it imaginarily goes over the fence. I felt like that scene captured the entire point of the movie in microcosm, but I wish I hadn't had to spend so much time to get there. P.S. ... cameo appearance by The Yardbirds!
Next was "To Sir With Love," a more mainstream type film about a rowdy group of urban schoolkids who are shown their potential by a caring teacher who treats them with respect. I know, I know... again a theme that has been done over and over in modern times, but (shrug) it's Sidney Poitier, who - in my experience - elevates just about any role, and this was no exception. Not an earth-shattering film, but really enjoyable. Plus... this:
Guh-roo-vy!
Speaking of groovy... although the next film I watched - the spy-genre spoof "Modesty Blaise" - had a super-groovy op-art look about it, just about everything else about was decidedly dull! I'm calling it a "spoof" because it seems that's what they were attempting to do but - I don't know - there didn't seem to be anything actually... you know... funny about it. It's not simply a matter of me not understanding the references the film was making (I'm fairly versed in the Bond films) it's just that the movie seemed to have zero interest in being coherent. No sense of plot, pacing, dialog... anything. It really seems nothing more than the impression of a movie. Terence Stamp, who I usually enjoy, was completely wasted in this flick. The single nice thing I can say about it is that it introduced me to the actor Dirk Bogarde, who I'd always heard good things about and was a bit amusing here as a fey "Ozymandias" type villain.
The final thing I watched is a bit off theme - being not at all "mod" or, for that matter, even a cinematic release - but, since it was from the same period, and the story is one of my personal favorites - I thought I'd group it in. This was the 1966 BBC presentation of "Alice in Wonderland".
Ho...ly... crap!
Hyperbole time (but trust me... not too much), but this is one of the best adaptations of any work... ever!
Featuring an impressive cast of classical English actors (Michael Redgrave, John Gielgud), as well as contemporary, for the time, comedic actors (Peter Sellers, Peter Cook), director Jonathan Miller dispensed with the sense of "whimsy" that usually accompanies any "Alice" work (including any animal costumes) and, in doing so, created - to my tastes, at least - a pitch perfect adaptation that captures both the sense of somber melancholy and the dreamlike surreality that Lewis Carroll intended.
I'll be frank... this might not be everyone's cup of tea (heh). Although it only runs just a hair over an hour, it can be very slow (intensified by the fact that it is scored in an other-worldly fashion by Ravi Shankar). But... if you accept that the pace is entirely intentional and give yourself over to the dreamlike rhythm, I think you'll find that the sensation created by this film mirrors (again... heh) that of the book.
So, all that being said... although I personally loved it... I know it's a bit of a hard sell...
...except, that is, to Dave Hackett.
Dave, knowing some of your taste through our shared fondness for Grant Morrison... and for David Lynch (particularly "Mulholland Drive")... I would - without hesitation - say that you should stop what you are doing and watch this immediately:
I greatly enjoyed the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special today. I only came onboard halfway thru Matt Smith, but I've really come to enjoy what I've seen of the mythos. A very well-done, humorous, emotional and enjoyable telecast.
Gonna miss Matt Smith, though. I both anticipate and dread the upcoming Christmas special.....
Finished Hemlock Grove. Very satisfying. I like how it maintained tone but kept subverting expectations (and steadfastly refused to spoonfeed anything). A lot of setup for next season that seems to denote a more "generic" supernatural show, but given how well this one was handled, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Thanks for posting about Hemlock Grove. It wasn't showing up on my "recommendations."
I like how so far they haven't just told the watcher everything about everybody but they don't drag it our either. Gives just enough reward in each ep to make me want to keep watching.
Avatar: The Legend of Korra Season 2. I heard that its focus becomes very different from that of the first season, and certainly very far from the first series.
A few more flicks in my ongoing foray into "mod" cinema of the mid 60's - this time a trio of psychological thrillers from 1965:
- "Bunny Lake is Missing" is a late-career Otto Preminger film that seemed to be attempting to tap into the progressive themes of English New Wave cinema, but - in my opinion - falls a bit short, definitely feeling like it belongs to an older film-making style. "Bunny Lake" tells the story of an American woman, newly arrived in the UK, who goes to pick up her daughter from day-care, only to find that she's not there... and that no one in the school has any knowledge of her. Has the girl been kidnapped, or is she just an invention of the woman? Enter methodical investigator Laurence Olivier, creepy landlord Noel Coward, and uber-creepy brother Keir Dullea (of "2001" fame), each providing clues in a shifting narrative which - despite keeping the viewer engaged for a bit, coming up with different theories as to what the truth is - eventually just ends in a very disappointing way, with one of the weakest portrayals of mental illness I've ever seen.
- "The Collector" - So good. Just so good. Terence Stamp (who I'm liking more and more with each film I see him in), in this William Wyler film, portrays a quiet reserved collector of butterflies... and other things. Things, for instance, like... Samantha Eggar, the beautiful woman that he's long admired from afar and - now that he's purchased an isolated house complete with a soundproof, lockable basement - he's decided he must have. Very much a precursor to the "Silence of the Lambs" type thriller, Stamp is just amazingly intense in this role. A nice twist to the whole set up is that, as the film progresses, you realize that he doesn't want to kill the girl he's kidnapped... he doesn't want to rape her... all he wants is to have her. And that makes it so much worse.
- "Repulsion" - I... I... don't know how to feel about this one. It doesn't quite feel right to say I enjoyed this film... but I was absolutely riveted by it. The first English language film by Roman Polanski, he directs Catherine Deneuve in a very disturbing portrait of a young woman descending into a schizophrenia-induced psychotic episode. Although there are the requisite "big events" that occur within this week long fugue (it is a movie, after all), the more fascinating bits are the "in-between" scenes, when she is just quietly performing acts that - to her mind - seem absolutely reasonable, but are clearly the result of her skewed perceptions. "Repulsion" is - in my opinion - an amazing film, but not an easy one. Great direction, great acting, and absolutely gripping tension but... would I recommend it? As a "sit back and chill with good movie" flick... absolutely not - but, if you are interested in the art and development of cinema, "Repulsion" seems almost required viewing.
- "Repulsion" - I... I... don't know how to feel about this one. It doesn't quite feel right to say I enjoyed this film... but I was absolutely riveted by it. The first English language film by Roman Polanski, he directs Catherine Deneuve in a very disturbing portrait of a young woman descending into a schizophrenia-induced psychotic episode. Although there are the requisite "big events" that occur within this week long fugue (it is a movie, after all), the more fascinating bits are the "in-between" scenes, when she is just quietly performing acts that - to her mind - seem absolutely reasonable, but are clearly the result of her skewed perceptions. "Repulsion" is - in my opinion - an amazing film, but not an easy one. Great direction, great acting, and absolutely gripping tension but... would I recommend it? As a "sit back and chill with good movie" flick... absolutely not - but, if you are interested in the art and development of cinema, "Repulsion" seems almost required viewing.
One of my favorite movies. I've never sunk into madness to the extent that Catherine Denueve's character does, thank God, but I've been to the edge and back for sure.
My DVR is full of old TV shows like Lost in Space, F Troop, Smallville, Sanford and Son, Wagon Train, Green Hornet, Rifleman ,The 1960's Batman and College Basketball.
I tried to rip their soul out.I tried to make them forget Superman. But they won't.
I have heard that DC is really backing this show this year. Barry Allen is yet another hero they're introducing this season. I have heard that there are plenty more on the way .... including Batman, very soon!
We're on Season 3 of Justified, and it's definitely picking up so far. While Season Two was defined by the Bennets, and they were great villains, I'm glad we're putting a bit more focus back on Raylan and Boyd. I like how they've brought back the idea that Raylan's a really angry guy and this season seems to be pushing his buttons. I also like how they've stopped glossing over Boyd's skinhead past and are making that a complication for him. We're about 5 episodes in and I'm digging that it's a complex plot (Quarle vs. Dickie vs. Limehouse vs. Crowders with the Marshalls caught up in it).
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Not a perfect series, but very, very good.
