wikky wikky wild wild.

doctorzombie @ 2005-12-25T23:50:00

2005-12-26T06:24:49Z

So, for those of you wondering, the fuss in my last entry was a threefold.
First, what I was talking about was finishing Angel (mostly). It's been a huge influence on my life and being over makes me think of all the other things that are ending, and, of course, the show provided me some sense of escape, and that's sort of gone now.
Second, there is a situation with a girl that has caused trouble since this summer, but I'm not going to get into that really.
Third, I don't really like to spend time with my parents, and Vassar's holiday break is a month, so it tends to strain. But I'm doing ok.

I've basically just been watching movies from when I wake up until when I go to sleep. I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire tonight with my family. It's actually really saddening how little I enjoy watching films with them especially because they mean so much to me. My mom's response to almost anything on screen is a laugh or a nervous laugh. We watched How to Get Ahead in Advertising the other day on my recommendation, and even though she loved it, it pained me when she would laugh at stuff that was breaking my heart. My dad never gets engaged by any film, and my brother's favorite film is Boondock Saints. It's sad, especially, to know that if I ever make something I'm proud of one day that it won't really mean anything to them except that it meant something to me.

I even enjoyed Harry Potter (despite watching with the fam) although it had lots of problems. For instance, I still think the scriptwright is hitting the plot points rather than the emotional points. Rather than spend time on character, the director spends time on story. And rather than present the world as our world with a bunch of weird magic, they always present it as so strange and over the top that it seems entirely unconnected to ours. I also think they really failed in making Voldemort terrifying, probably even for little kids. Is it really that hard to make someone frightening? I guess so. John Carpenter did it time and time again in my opinion.

I had a couple post ideas in my head, but I'm not gonna get to them in order to watch more movies and do a couple other things I'd like to do over this break. But I am getting close to finishing my top 100 memorable film moments, and because I fear how few movies I've seen will keep me from making a great list, I'm going for quantity instead of quality and doing a bonus thing that few if any of my lj_friends will appreciate, but I'm doing it because I love lists.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday or a nice Sunday if they hate the holidays.

Peace.

It's over.

2005-12-20T07:43:19Z

Colin and I finished Angel tonight. Jacob came over and watched the last 4 episodes with us. I cried during the 2nd to last and last one again. My housemates have been talking about how a weight has been lifted off them because they finished their theses, and I feel like one has been placed on me because such a significant chapter of my life has ended.

I'm driving home tomorrow, so I'll be gone for two days while I'm on the road. Well wishes are appreciated.

I'm not ok.

peace.
reuben.

doctorzombie @ 2005-12-13T21:51:00

2005-12-14T03:15:36Z

92) Une Femme Est Une Femme - Godard's "musical," I use that term lightly because Godard, as is to be expected, plays with every convention, every notion of a musical. If you are into Godard, it is definitely worth a watch. In some ways though, if you have seen one of his "light" films you have seen them all. Band of Outsiders, Breathless, and A Woman is a Woman (the ones I've seen) all have a similar taste to them, which is both an asset and a fault. I guess it makes sense that Godard was an advocate of the auteur theory. It's a nice film with some wonderful moments.

93) The Way We Laughed - The first 30 minutes or so of this film were amazing. I was really getting into it, and I love another film of Amelio's called Stolen Children. But it stalled. I loved the introduction of the characters, but I felt like in some sense the whole film was introduction. The conflict never opened up, the actors never fully inhabited the characters, they were always on their way. I kept waiting for it to start, and it never did. I can't recommend this film really unless you are what we call a cinephile.

94) Time Indefinite - The coveted 10.0, I updated my ymdb and placed this film in the #2 spot. The best way to describe this movie is that it is more full of life than any film I've ever seen. It just keeps building, like a life, until it is so full and dense and thoughtful and heartwarming. You get to share love, which is just not something I can say for that many films. Again, I always feel silly discussing a film that has affected me this much. It's such a lovely film. I can never understand why stuff like this doesn't get talked about more.

I'm back.

2005-12-11T23:04:01Z

I haven't reviewed a couple in my line of films because I felt shitty, but here are reviews again.

88) Babe - This is a beautiful movie. I saw it a long time ago, and I probably didn't notice the first time around that the cinematography in it is gorgeous. It's the type of movie that I wish Tim Burton could make, but I don't think he is skilled enough to do so. It has the atmosphere of a fairy tale without being ridiculous or too forward about it. And like the second one (which I also watched the same night), all the sets are a little surreal, like how Farmer Hoggett is too tall for every door in his own house. Also, the animatronics and the special effects still look pretty amazing to me 10+ years later. I'm sure most people have seen this, so not much reason to gush, but it's a wondeful film.

89) Babe: Pig in the City - Wow. At first I was a little disappointed because the story here isn't as tightly constructed, the characters are too numerous to actually be completely fleshed out until I realized this movie wasn't about the story or the characters at all. It's about how surreal children's stories are and even a comment on the types of liberties one might take while writing one (pay close attention to how incredibly bizarre the city itself is). While Babe is certainly a more enjoyable film in my eyes, Pig in the City might be the better constructed of the two.

90) Le Million -Fun light nice entertainment from Rene Clair, again with gorgeous cinematography. Better than A Nous La Liberte in my opinion at least because I could see the influence of the abstract and the influence of dance in this film unlike the other. Worth a watch.

91) A Boy and his Dog - Bizarre post-apocalyptic picture about a nomadic and horny boy (played by Don Johnson, woah) and his telepathic dog searching for food and sex post World War IV. Well shot and well paced, it went by quite quickly in my opinion. The underground community is one of the creepier ones I've seen committed to celluloid, and the ending of the film is definitely a classic.

This weekend was nice for some fairly light fare, nothing too strenuous but all get approval for a viewing by me.

peace out.

Is LiveJournal Falling Apart?

2005-12-07T18:07:08Z

I just got a bunch of e-mail notifications for comments I got weeks ago that I already got notified about?

Anyone else having any LJ weirdness issues?

doctorzombie @ 2005-12-04T20:37:00

2005-12-05T01:37:39Z

You scored as Artistic. Congratulations, you scored Artistic. You're looking for the unique movie in the bunch. You've probably watched a lot of movies that nobody has ever heard of, and good for you. You also know good filmmaking when you see it. You just get it, no questions asked. Check out: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Amelie, Garden State, Lost in Translation.

</td>

Artistic

100%

Mindless Action Flick

80%

Drama/Suspense

60%

Sadistic Humour

50%

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

50%

Mindfuck

20%

Romantic Comedy

15%

Movie Recommendation.
created with QuizFarm.com

movies no one has heard of like Garden State...
right.

From Greencine's article

2005-11-29T22:12:05Z

"We have to understand what we mean by realism. It's important not to confuse it with naturalism, or with fake verismo, not to confuse it with investigative journalism, with reality television, or even with the television news. The job of realism is to find the connections between one problem and another, not to indicate solutions to these problems, but to dig inside these connections between various aspects of reality. Coming out of a film like Stolen Children, the audience should have questions, not consolations, not simple and banal solutions to problems.

In all my films, including Stolen Children, it looks at if the action is improvised, as if the scenes are stolen from the street, but that's not at all true. They're highly constructed films, very elaborate, but I try to make all of that invisible." ~ Gianni Amelio

Just thought this was nice.

Meme 2: The Bloodening

2005-11-27T02:37:47Z

Doctorzombie in Unsavoury Shapes

In this cinematic kill-fest, doctorzombie (John Malkovich) is an undercover prisoner with a mission. He is forced to track down abeilles (Lucy Liu) before the vile msnvwls (Wayne Knight) gets to her. Following a conversation that seems to justify all violence, he sneaks into the haunted basement, twenty-two days too late. Guns, women, and no plot—this movie has it all.

Produced by ianiceboy

My College Years

2005-11-27T02:17:50Z

My first update in a long time that is actually about my life rather than just a list of films I've seen. I have something to say, but it will take me several paragraphs, as is my style, to actually get there. We start off this story Freshman year (for those unfamiliar, I am in my senior year at Vassar now).

I came to college and was pretty unhappy. I liked college itself, but I'm the kind of person who usually takes a while to get close to anyone (which is probably why I don't date often), and I had a great group of friends in High School and I didn't just bond with people instantly like some did Freshman week or whatever. But within a couple weeks I became really good friends with a guy on my hall and ended up moving in with him as we both had issues with our roommates.

Anyways, we had some great times then basically he just stopped wanting to be friends with me, and the only two other friends I had (who I had introduced him to) decided they would rather spend time with him. He was still my roommate at this time of course, and he wouldn't even talk to me. He'd kind of grunt when he came in the door if I had anyone over. It was pretty terrible, and I was in a flux.

I started reaching out to all sorts of people that I knew in order to find someone to spend time with. I ended up spending some time watching skate videos and playing tony hawk 2 with this guy named Jacob. It was fun, and we were becoming friends, but I think the thing that soldified us as best friends was I said to him, basically, you've shown me some stuff you like, i think you might like watching this: Sports Night (for those who don't know a late 90's TV show). We were also going through similar issues (he also felt snubbed by someone he considered a close friend), and we became best friends thereafter.

Freshman summer I go home and now I miss college, I don't get a job very quickly and my parents are always bugging me, and I get fired from the one job I do get, which isn't a self-esteem booster. I start watching a lot of TV again, and I watch a couple episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Wanting to know why a certain strange thing happened in the show, I end up buying all the previous seasons and watching them. I'm sure it sounds corny, but I will always associate that show with me coming out of depression, so whenever I am sad I can watch a couple eps and come out of it.

I come back sophomore year, and I tell Jacob (who, like me, was sad when we finished Sports Night) that I have a new show for us to watch. And over the course of sophomore year, Jacob and I, now just two doors away from each other, become closer and watch all of Buffy as well. When we finish it, it feels like the end of an era almost. It felt like such an accomplishment that we watched every episode together (even if I had seen them all before).

We start watching Angel but only get through season 1 before the school year ends (I ended up watching Angel that summer while Jacob watched it by himself later on). Then it's junior year, and Jacob is gone. He is spending the whole year in England, and as he was, at the time, pretty much my one really great friend and my only link to social interaction, I become pretty frightened. But I am in filmmaking, and my partner (not in a gay way...well, actually very much in a gay way) is Colin who I sort of knew but not really.

Colin and I talk about film and have a great time, and I start to mention my enjoyment of Buffy (at this time having seen both Buffy and Angel). He basically says that it always kinda seemed like crap to him. He saw a couple episodes sometimes when he'd come back from swim practice, and they never looked good. So I am just like fine whatevs you are still my BFF. I tell him about Jacob and things above, and he says maybe we should watch Sports Night together. This is towards the end of first semester junior year, so I say let's start when we get back.

We come back, and I am still kinda talking about Buffy, and he says fuck it. Let's watch some of that since you love it so much. So I say well do you want to start where it gets good or just watch some of season 3 or what, and he says no, let's just watch it. Now with Jacob, it was a less hard sell since he loves both horror and cheesy melodrama, but Colin is pretty much a cowboy. He doesn't really like the drama in his life. And he wasn't too into it at first. He didn't even really like 1st season. But we keep watching anyway.

Skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead. Towards the end of junior year, we are taking a break from editing by watching an episode of Angel. A friend of ours looks over and is like what's that, and we tell him, and he kinda scoffs or whatever. And I don't even need to defend my babies b/c Colin says, y'know I thought that at first too, but after having watched all these, I think that these are pretty much the best written characters I've ever seen for film/TV. Needless to say, it brought a little tear to my eye (Jacob said something similar a little later, which was really nice too, although I was a little happier about Colin since he didn't even want to be into it).

Well Colin and I kept watching, and we saw each other a couple times over the summer too and picked it back up senior year (including watching Joss' other show Firefly and the film Serenity together). And we get to the point of this really long post.

Colin and I have 5 episodes left of Buffy and 27 episodes left of Angel. That's still a little ways, but I can now see the end. There's a good chance before we leave for this winter break, that we'll be done. Now let's do some math here.

144 episodes of Buffy
110 episodes of Angel
15 episodes of Firefly
+1 movie......
=269 episodes and 1 movie
at slightly less than 3/4 of an hour/episode + 2 hrs/movie is roughly 202 hours of viewing that we've shared. Somewhere around 188 of it, just within the same "universe." To most, this will seem like a waste of time, but to me it looks like a huge accomplishment. To set apart time this often to spend together (not including all the times we've talked about it or laughed about it).

I am sad. I am already nostalgic for the amount of time we've spent in these worlds, silly as it may sound. We will move on to other things, and it just kind of hit me how much this relates to how I'm feeling about college now. As much time as it was, it just wasn't nearly enough, and we'll be moving on and moving apart and losing contact. And I guess I'll always associate those shows and that huge amount of time with this time in my life. And now I guess I have to grow up.

peace.

LJ Meme.

2005-11-26T19:46:49Z

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your Livejournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

The Flatlanders - Right Where I Belong
Bellwether - Miss You Twice
The Bland Allisons - Saint Sebastian
50 Cent - P.I.M.P. (Snoop Dog Remix)
The Grifters - Fixed in the Sky
The Be Good Tanyas - Horses
Bill Withers - Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?

I doubt I have seven LJ friends who will respond, but let's see Merissa, Chris (diptych), Donald, franklinshepard, msnvwls, joel, and urkels_beaker.
What are you guys listening to?

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-26T00:51:00

2005-11-26T05:52:18Z

no reviews this week
here are the by the numbers

74) The Bird People of China

75) In a Lonely Place

76) Underground

I wish I had updated last night before I got to be in a sucky mood. And I was on such a streak, I absolutely adored everything from Loves of a Blonde up until Underground, which my whole reaction to can be summed up as such: what the?

oh i watched 3-Iron again, and i moved it ahead of The Straight Story. it is one of my favorite films of all time.

peace.

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-24T13:05:00

2005-11-24T19:25:48Z

71) Loves of a Blonde - One of Milos Forman's (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) first films (also back when he was in Czechoslovakia). It is, apparently, considered one of the most important films of the Czech new wave (for those who did not know, pretty much every country had their own couple of years of new wave film, not just France), and I can just hope some of the others from this period are as good. It's the story of a girl who meets a travelling piano player and despite her best intentions sleeps with him, then travels to Prague (where he lives) to see him. My only complaint might be that it has a similar feel to a lot of the French new wave films (at least the ones that I've seen) though this film resonated with me more personally perhaps because it was in some ways slower, more structured, more about the movement of the actors than the filmmaking technique. It's definitely very close to the top of the films I've seen since I started this experiment.

72) Love Me Tonight - Thanks to franklinshepard for this recommendation (I found it on your application through intense lurking). This is an amazing film. My second favorite American musical and my third favorite musical from anywhere (after Singin' in the Rain and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). It concerns Maurice Chevalier as a tailor (named Maurice) attempting to get the money owed to him by a noble ("the best dressed man in France"). When he goes to the nobleman's castle, he meets Jeanette MacDonald (who is a Princess named Jeanette) whom he instantly falls in love with. It's not only a shame that it was passed over for something like AFI's Top 100 films but also for AFI's Top 100 Comedies (story about this list at the end of the post). The scene where the horses tiptoe away is one of the funniest in film. If you are into musicals, laughter, charming frenchmen or great films, check this one out.

73) Knife in the Water - This has been a good entry for film. This was probably my least favorite of the three this week, and I really liked it. Much like Milos Forman, I've always liked One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, just like I've always liked Chinatown, but I also felt like they could do something more interesting. And they did! Hooray! Knife in the Water starts off with an affluent couple arguing in the car when a hitcher forces them to pull over by standing in the middle of the road. The husband convinces the hitcher to join them on their sailing trip, which goes off in all sorts of story/emotional directions. Has anyone noticed how many European movies there are about affluent people being jerks on boats (L'avventura, Plein Soleil to name two more?)

Story: At work and out of boredom, my friends and I decided to take AFI's top 100 films, take the ones we had seen, and put them in the order that we enjoyed them. It was a very frustrating experiment. I had only seen 66, but among those, there were only 13 I considered great films. Less than that that would make my 100 greatest films of all time if there were no restrictions (foreign, documentaries, post-1996, and non feature length allowed). By the end of my list, I was shocked to find how many of AFI's list I absolutely despised. Only about half of the ones I had seen did I even genuinely enjoy. I went to the 400 nominated list, and there were several that I couldn't believe did not make the list (i.e. Alien !?!?). I guess that's what happens when you make a top 100 list by sending ballots out to Tom Hanks and Hillary Clinton. And I even liked Big.

peace and kittens.

p.s. searching for "loves of a blonde" with google images gets you a lot of porn.

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-22T00:50:00

2005-11-22T06:00:26Z

68) Distant (Uzak) - To be perfectly honest, I am wary about the transition from film to digital. However, while I did not love this film, it does give me hope that living, breathing compositions can be made in the video format. The story concerns two distant relatives and their inability to communicate on any meaningful level, the "distance" between them. Some nice moments and a nice film but nothing to write home about.

69) The Fog - I guess I am a John Carpenter fanboy. This man can do no wrong. While I still Like The Thing better, this is not only the best shot horror film I have seen, but simply one of the best shot films of all time. A lot of complaints are made about the story or the acting, but personally, when I'm watching a film that is this interestingly shot, all that stuff fades away. I'm not sure how they did the fog effects, but they are impressive also for the time. I like the "symbolism" of the fog, separating people in the thickness of it. I like how the tainted history of the town is represented by the fog, which invades everything. It's just a great film.

70) Don't Look Now - This movie was silly and not worth my time. Sorry Nicholas Roeg fans. Julie Christie was hot though.

Guggin Hymen

2005-11-19T07:11:55Z

Highlights included this painting:

A painting called Future Pilots, which I cannot find a picture of.

And a sculpture of a man on a subway with a newspaper covering his face. It reminded me of film noir.

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-17T23:44:00

2005-11-18T04:47:36Z

63) The Saddest Music in the World - As it turns out I had actually watched a movie by Guy Maddin last year without knowing it called The Heart of the World and while that was an amazing short film, this one was entertaining but not great. It was really funny, sometimes touching, but while the style worked really well in the short film, it was overused and often unnecessary in this one. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't floored.

64) Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... Spring - This film had some striking moments, but again not a great film. From what I've seen Ki-duk Kim's films have gotten better chronologically, so I'm very excited to see Hwal (The Bow), his film from this year. I do love the scene in this where the man carves the symbols into the raft. I feel like that is exactly the type of scene that Ki-Duk Kim does perfectly, and it was a perfect scene.

65) Donkey Skin - I've always wanted to see a film that starts off like this and becomes more filmic over the course of it. Start off stagey, booky, a little fake looking and become more and more cinematic over the course of the film. My hopes aside, it was pretty adorable. Jacques Demy definitely has interesting thoughts on the musical, and this was pretty frikkin enjoyable. I love some of the places he takes the film, but I think this could have been amazing and was instead just really good.

66) Kagemusha - I enjoyed this film as well. It's been a pretty middle of the road week so far. Everything is good but not great. I like the story: it's about a Japanese warlord who is killed in battle and a thief who looks exactly like him takes his place to help keep his enemies at bay. Some amazing scenes, but there is a reason that people call this the trial run version of Ran.

67) The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Best film so far this week. It is actually probably the best shot musical I've seen, I love the tracking shots, the moving camera. I think the story and the songs are completely wonderful. My one issue is this, I feel like at least in part the musical is about the moment before a person breaks into song. What leads them to this? Why did these thoughts need to be expressed in song rather than in prose? Because this film is all singing, all music, all the way through, it can't comment on this. While it is an interesting conceit, I feel like the film may have been stronger if people broke into song. It is pretty wonderful as is, but I know that one of my favorite moments in all of cinema is right before Gene Kelly begins his "Singin' in the Rain" dance number, and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg could have had that but did not. I saw The Young Girls of Rochefort a long time ago and did not like it, so I feel like I should rewatch it now.

peace.

Top Whatever List

2005-11-14T04:19:55Z

I also put all the films I've watched since I started this crazy experiment in my preferential order and divided them into neat categories:
Bad, OK, Pretty Good, Real Good, Awesome, Holy Shit, and Get the Fuck Out
which go from worst to best

Here it is. I am prepared for people to yell at me a lot based on this order:

Bad
In Harm’s Way
Fiend Without a Face
Peeping Tom
The Sea Inside
Little Monsters
Throne of Blood
Ed Wood
In the Mood for Love
The Isle

OK
The Celluloid Closet
Shadow of a Doubt
Blue Velvet
Brokeback Mountain
George Washington
Dead-Alive
Dead Birds

Pretty Good
The Experimental Films of Man Ray
High School
Squirm
Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain
Sunrise
Withnail & I
Electric Dragon 80000v
Purple Noon
Coffee & Cigarettes

Real Good
They Live!
Josie & the Pussycats
The Warriors
Steamboat Bill Jr.
Le Trou
The Brood
Videodrome
Dark Star
Samaritan Girl
The Vanishing
The Squid & the Whale
Billy Liar
The Bad Sleep Well
Humanity & Paper Balloons
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

Awesome
It’s Alive
Robocop
Report
Au Hasard Balthazar
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The High and the Low
Sleepaway Camp
Crazed Fruit
El Topo
Paris, Texas
Isle of Flowers
Red Beard

Holy Shitfuck
Battles Without Honor & Humanity
Los Olvidados
Once Upon a Time in the West
John Carpenter’s The Thing
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
The Cranes Are Flying

Get the Fuck Out
3-Iron
The Straight Story
Stolen Kisses
Wings of Desire

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-13T22:10:00

2005-11-14T03:45:00Z

So I guess as it turns out, going over my list, I noticed that I never listed Videodrome, which I watched.

So...

57) Videodrome - In my opinion, this was more along the lines of what I want David Lynch to be. I can't put my finger on what exactly the difference is, but I find Cronenberg's creepiness to be considerably more creepy than Lynch's. Not much to say though as 25 films or so later, it's a bit out of mind.

58) Josie & the Pussycats - This has replaced Charlie's Angel as my favorite piece of recent Hollywood trash. Not so surprising, it's by the same people who did Can't Hardly Wait, which is the best dumb teen film in my opinion. The only problem with the film was that it started with its funniest part then got slowly less funny throughout the course of it. The last 20 minutes were like almost every other crappy film, yet the pacing and the jokes in the first hour or so were usually pretty spot on. It was really almost brilliant. And I loved Parker Posey and Alan Cumming.

My friend and I did a crazy triple feature friday evening. We watched Steamboat Bill Jr., El Topo, and Los Olvidados in that order, and they worked surprisingly well together despite their disparate nature. The physical comedy of Buster Keaton (the idea of injuring one's self for laughs) was in my opinion an influence on El Topo. And Jodorowsky's crazy visuals and surreal landscape were a good preparation for the more muted surrealism of Los Olvidados.

59) Steamboat Bill Jr. - Again, a movie that starts off slow but is genius for like the last 40 minutes. It was actually kind of disappointing (not the film) but when the storm hit, Colin (my friend) and I realized that we had already watched the whole storm sequence, which is the best part of the film. I somewhat wished we had watched another Buster Keaton film instead, but god, it was pretty wonderful to watch that sequence again. There's something beautiful about Buster Keaton that I don't think Chaplin has. Chaplin is a better director in my opinion; his films move better, but Buster Keaton just seems so interesting...maybe even tragic? I'm not sure. The film was wonderful.

60) El Topo - This is a brilliant film. It's always hard to discuss a surrealistic film without sounding completely ridiculous in my opinion. Why is this surrealist film good and that one bad? You can't really discuss character or plot so much although El Topo has loads of both. Colin said that El Topo begins where The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ends. I haven't seen that film, but I kind of know what he means. El Topo (the character) starts the film off as the most amazing gunfighter. Although still in very surreal situations, the first section of the film is a straightforward western. He saves a girl from an evil gang and takes her away from them. Then, my friend Colin pointed out, Jodorowsky asked what now? What's better or stronger than being a bad ass gunslinger? And he kept pushing the character to the next level. El Topo calls himself God at the beginning of the film, but is he God by the end? Possibly.

61) Los Olvidados - This was my favorite film of the night and one of my favorite films of all time so far. Bunuel is a genius and part of what makes him a genius is that I can't exactly put my finger on what makes this movie so much better than others. Of all the directors I love, he seems to make the most total finished product. And what I mean by that is each shot adds to the next. Each line adds to the next. Each moment helps build upon everything seen before. Even if I don't like a shot from outside the context of the film, if I say to myself oh I would've shot that this way, or I would have cut here instead, then the next shot or the next moment seems to make the shot or cut I didn't like--work surprisingly well. That, to me, is amazing. It says to me that Bunuel just knows film. He knows how it works; he knows better than anyone else. It just makes sense to him. He can just feel exactly what should be done in every situation. This was definitely a top 20 films of all time contender in my opinion. I guess I should see all the Bunuel that my library has now.

62) Little Monsters - A kids' movie that I remembered from my childhood and wanted to watch again. It was striking only in its odd morals. The part of the film you are supposed to enjoy the most is when Fred Savage and his monster friend Maurice are ruining little childrens' lives. Was worth the rehash but not to anyone who can't remember loving this film as a child. Also Frank Whaley actually does a wonderful and creepy job as the head monster. He should be creepy in more roles.

peace.

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-11T02:15:00

2005-11-11T07:35:49Z

53) Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain - Everyone needs a little kung fu in their life. This movie is just a lot of fun to watch. I need to see more kung fu/wuxia because it's just pure entertainment.

54) Paris, Texas - Wim Wenders is just amazing. I wasn't as in love with this as Wings of Desire, but this film was gorgeous and heart-breaking. I think that it was a film about Wim Wenders interpretation of America, and despite his being German, I feel like it captured the highs and the lows, the comedy and the tragedy of this hodgepodge I like to call home. This film confirmed my need to see every Wim Wenders film.

55) Once Upon a Time in the West - I loved this film. Loved this film. It was just cartoony and cheesy but in all the right ways. It was ridiculous but ridiculously awesome. I kinda hated Charles Bronson, but I loved Jason Robards. Just one of the most enjoyable films of all time for me. I can't gush enough about it.

56) Samaritan Girl - Ok, I believe in Ki-duk Kim again. I liked this film. It is kind of a crazy plot but, but I guess that is like the "in" thing these days. Better shot, better acted, and just plain better than The Isle in my opinion. I can see much more in this film where 3-Iron came from. It is strange though (well not really) that this film's plot was more intense, yet I felt like the film was less intense than 3-Iron. It just goes to show how much more weight I put on form than content I guess. I really like Ki-Duk Kim's style. I'll be watching Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... Spring soon.

peace.

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-10T12:36:00

2005-11-10T18:01:36Z

47) Humanity & Paper Balloons - As if I needed more convincing that Japanese people were master filmmakers. The first 20 minutes of this 1937 film are the liveliest I've seen of that time. It starts off in such a joyous way that I have honestly not seen any film from around this period that was as immediately engrossing. Then there is a long slow period in the film. The fun of the film somewhat ceases. Things just did not seem as well shot or as well edited to me, but I think the director was just lulling me into believing that that is what the film was like. Then he knocked me out with the ending of the film, which was one of the most powerful endings I have ever seen.

48) Withnail & I - Not as strong as How to Get Ahead in Advertising in my opinion but still brilliant at moments. The film seems a bit patchier, but I think that is a British style of filmmaking, highs and lows, to have things drop off for a bit and then return with a moment of slapstick or a bizarre scene. Very funny, worth a watch but not the kind of insane frustrating brilliance that How to Get Ahead in Advertising was in my opinion.

49) Bruce Conner's Report - See this film. I am pretty sure that Bruce Conner only lets his films out on 16mm print, that they're not anywhere on VHS or DVD. If a Bruce Conner festival is coming through, or if a local university has a print, see the screening. For those who do not know, Bruce Conner is a found footage filmmaker. He would go to an archive of footage and using only what he had access to, he would make a film. A Movie was his first, uniquely linking sex and violence and voyeurism in film. I liked that film, but in my opinion, Report blew it away. It is Bruce Conner's take on the Kennedy assassination--it is assaulting, comedic, tragic, and in the best way possible at times completely unwatchable. The best short film I've ever seen and the best experimental film as well. I need to see lots more of both of course, but this was absolutely brilliant.

50) Dead-Alive - Watching Peter Jackson's gorefest put LOTR in a whole new perspective for me. The slapstick made a little more sense, the ridiculousness made a little more sense. It all kind of fell in place. None of these four films are great, but I think I enjoy all of them now that I know Two Towers is what I always thought it was--a joke.

51) It's Alive - This has been a good week for me. This is one of my favorite if not my singular favorite horror film. It concerns a mutated baby that kills people, but what was fascinating to me was how little the baby was in the film. There is something disturbing about the entire world that has nothing to do with this mutant baby. Unsettling and tense throughout.

52) The Sea Inside - Almost completely a waste of my time BUT. There was one shot in the film that I found to be entirely amazing and striking. And it was just the nephew reaching out for a hug of his uncle towards the end of the film. I was momentarily reminded how much I love film when one great shot made up for 2 hours of boring everything. I was happy to have seen one great moment even if it meant sacrificing 2 hours that could have been dedicated elsewhere.

Also, I saw Grizzly Man again, which I enjoyed again and got to hear the editor talk about crazy Werner Herzog, which was nice.

it's trick to rock a rhyme.
Reuben

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-07T15:10:00

2005-11-07T20:29:33Z

40) Stolen Kisses - This is the second perfect Truffaut film for me. I honestly give it a 10.0, and I don't give that out very often (Wings of Desire, Ran, Ikiru, and The Straight Story are the only 10.0s that I can think of off hand). It was very refreshing to watch a film that was both perfect and charming. My only possible complaint could be that this is a film that everyone will love (meaning in some ways it is not unique) but if anything, that is more of a testament to it. I also noticed watching this that Francois Truffaut is similar to Woody Allen, only with a better visual style, more intelligence, and more charm.

41) Red Beard - Kurosawa and I are getting close to the end. I've got 4 more films by him to be watched for my seminar. This also was refreshing. Along with Yojimbo and One Wonderful Sunday, this is one of Kurosawa's lighter films but still incredibly thoughtful and interesting. For a three hour film, the time flew by. One of the most entertaining films I've seen yet brilliant as well.

42) Purple Noon - An earlier adaptation of the Mr. Ripley book. Beautiful, interesting. Not a top 100 film in my opinion but maybe top 250. Very good. I thought the main guy (Alain Delon) was quite good and that the film was very suspenseful. Taut, you might say. Not anything I didn't feel like I hadn't seen before though.

43) Sunrise - I liked this film. There were parts of it that were amazing. But I feel like I'm seeing a trend in some of the films that are supposed to be great that I'm going through: moments of brilliance couched by long periods of not so great stuff. Some of the stuff in this film was so striking (the peasant dance, the first time the man meets the woman from the city, the moment when the man and his wife kiss) while some of it seemed rather turgid (pretty much everything from when the man takes his wife out in the boat until when they go to the fair). Good but not great in my opinion.

44) Coffee & Cigarettes - My first foray into Jarmusch. Real fun movie. Well, it's not really a movie. But it's a fun something. I particularly like the Cate Blanchett and Alfred Molina sections. They both do a really good job. My only real complaint is that the film, visually, was kind of bland. Everything looked the same. Maybe that was commentary. I thought it was a nice piece with some interesting themes.

45) Dark Star - John Carpenter's film before Halloween. This film was enormously funny. One of the funniest films of all time. Yet I felt like it actually still managed to hit on some of the issues in say, 2001, with integrity. Yet it was so light-hearted and great. At only 68 minutes long, it is definitely worth a viewing (or 2 or 3).

46) In the Mood for Love - I'm not going to talk about this movie here. I have I guess a little rant. As much as I love films, one of the worst feelings in the world for me is to be let down. When I see a movie like this and don't enjoy it (I didn't), I feel idiotic. Like the whole world around me gets something that I don't. I keep trying to get into it. I keep trying to see what other people enjoy about it, and I can't. Everyone seems to love this film. I've seen it appear on top ten films of all time lists, and I would maybe give it a 6.1 or so. I felt like this was somewhat similar to but paled in comparison in every way to 3-Iron. I could not believe it watching it that people even liked this film much less gave it these high accolades. I wish that I got it. I don't though. And now I feel dumb.

I've checked out Withnail & I in the hopes that it will reinvigorate me. If not, I may have to take a break from watching so many films. Not being able to get into a movie other people consider amazing always depresses me greatly.

Reuben out.

edit: I've realized that my movie reviews are pretty woeful at this point. I think I might temporarily move to the grading system, but it seems so much worse even than just saying good, great, or amazing. Thoughts?

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-03T13:33:00

2005-11-03T18:57:52Z

34) Electric Dragon 80000v - This movie is punk RAWK. I don't mean that lame Blink 182 shit, I mean the movie kicks ass like its soundtrack. It is remarkably well shot too. If a director can make a scene of someone walking around looking for a lizard look totally awesome, you are talented. GUITAR!!!!!!!

35) The Isle - While this definitely showcases Ki-duk Kim's talent, it is not nearly as good as 3-Iron. There are some shots that are just strikingly beautiful, but this film seems to be following the aesthetic that if it is fucked up, it's well done. Not a particular aesthetic that I ascribe to but some do. In my opinion, not really worth a watch except for shock factor.

36) The Experimental Films of Man Ray - "Emak Bakia" : Good, liked the nails. Wish I could've seen all these films in nice prints rather than a crappy VHS but what can you do. The part with the eyes was great. "L'etoile de Mer" : gorgeous. It was like an impressionist film. Some parts of it were just amazing. "Retour a la Raison" : the best of the four even though the shortest. There was a beautiful light pattern that he created in one shot that was astounding. "Les Mysteres de Chateau du De" : The most boring of all these. Ok but not great.

37) The Vanishing - Great film. Very well done, some shots in it were just gorgeous. I felt like it was kind of a response to L'Avventura. While Antonioni's film is about how horrible it is that we just forget people who were once important to us, this film is about how horrible it is to remember. Kind of the flip side but interesting. The only problem was that it had about the shittiest score that ever shat in my ears.

38) Battles Without Honor & Humanity: Part 1 of The Yakuza Papers - Best film so far this week. Intense and amazing. Clearly an inspiration for Kill Bill except I like this much better. I love Shozo's tattos. I love the way that when a character dies it says his name and the date like it is a newspaper. This is a movie that is just testosterone.

39) The Passion of Joan of Arc - Real good film. Real good. There were parts where I was completely captivated by a single shot. It's always hard to get into silent films, and I wish that they would do a version where it wasn't title cards but just text over the images so as not to ruin the flow. I plan on seeing more Dreyer soon.

doctorzombie @ 2005-11-02T19:41:00

2005-11-03T00:40:36Z

So since I never use this thing for anything but movie updates, here's a personal one.

Halloween:
The more sober I got the more I hated everything.

Ok, time to watch more movies.

Love,
Reuben

doctorzombie @ 2005-10-29T14:15:00

2005-10-29T18:30:07Z

They Live! - One of the most entertaining pieces of cinema ever. It's either hilarious, totally awesome, or really well done throughout. Saw some of the plot points coming, but it didn't matter. It was really great stuff. Beautiful fight scene between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David.

The High and the Low - I really liked this movie until it went completely jingoist. I still kind of like it, but I was really surprised how go go capitalism, it became. The scenes in the dope den though were amazing and reminded me of the Elijah Wood scenes in Sin City but better.

The Brood - One of Cronenburg's first undertakings. Interesting, pretty good. I am guessing that it influenced The Shining, but it was better in pretty much all aspects. I was worried that Croneburg might be like Lynch for me in that while weird stuff was going on screen, the way it was shown would be kind of boring. Cronenburg not only has fucked up things on the brain but a unique way of showing them.

Dead Birds - Recommended viewing. I ended up really enjoying this though after the first thirty minutes I didn't think I was going to. There were certain shots in it that I thought were gorgeous, which made me sad that the whole film wasn't that way. My main complaint would be the presence of "horror music" no matter what was happening on screen.

The Thing (John Carpenter) - It seems that 1980's John Carpenter can do no wrong in my eyes. I think Halloween might be slightly better because of the ending, but this film was a little bit tighter, and I really liked the sets and special effects too. Creepy, fun, really awesome. I need to see everything Carpenter did in the 80's.

peace.

getting out the message

2005-10-27T02:02:26Z

white power??

WTF??

more films and things

2005-10-26T00:08:54Z

The Bad Sleep Well - Another great Kurosawa film. It's an adaptation of Hamlet, and actually one of the first films where I was more impressed with Toshiro Mifune than Takashi Shimura and made me at least partially understand the Toshiro Mifune love when Shimura is so much more interesting in my book. Also, of note, Kurosawa's second cinemascope picture, and it shows how much widescreen works for him better than standard. I also really liked the Japanese Ray Liotta.

Brokeback Mountain - As far as omg OSCAR movies go, this one's not bad. I always enjoy Ang Lee's work, and the stuff between Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams is surprisingly delicate and touching (uhm that sounds odd). It's well shot to boot. I love the really over the top intense shot of Heath Ledger surrounded by fireworks. A lot of it was kinda enh for me, Jake Gyllenhaal and Randy Quaid for instance. Overall worth a watch, but I personally liked Hulk better, and CT, HD much better.

Peeping Tom - This film is like offal in my mouth. I would write a really scathing review (especially about the incredibly poor use of sound, the hackneyed Peter Lorre rip off by Karlheinz Bohm, and the pedantic editing) except that after how angry this film made me last night, I saw another film today that made me so happy I forgot it.

3-Iron - This is my first Ki-duk Kim movie, and it will not be my last by a long shot. This is maybe in the top ten films I've ever seen. Again, I feel kind of silly talking about a film that I thought was this beautiful and perfectly done, so I'll just talk about how even the opening credits are beautiful and set up a lot of the themes of the film. The film opens with a shot of a statue and a little net in front of it. Suddenly, golf balls start flying into the net. One gets the sense that there's something beautiful just barely being protected from being torn apart. That a huge amount of violence just boils underneath the surface and is restrained by this very thin net. Beautiful film, amazing, completely recommended.

peace and kittens.