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7 Apr 2010 01:35 PM
Man! It’s been above 20 degrees in Ontario? I think it’s safe to say that it is summer. And, since it’s hovering around twenty, this means it’s technically beach weather as well.
This post isn’t about beaches, but it is all about the feel-good freedom of summertime…maybe a summer involving a road trip? Motorcycles? With Mardi Gras and some illegal cocaine smuggling thrown in there (please note that I don’t actually advocate that last part)? And let us not forget, people, that you will need some good, good music to go along for the ride.
It’s music from the soundtrack that got me thinking about the fantastic film Easy Rider of 1969, the era that marked the Hollywood renaissance. It’s one of the greatest periods that Hollywood experienced, in my opinion, because it’s a perfect merging of the spectacle of a Hollywood film with the intellectual depth of...
19 Mar 2010 02:29 PM
There are some movies that you watch simply because they are so bad that they are, thus, made good again. Strangely, these are not the ones that you watch by yourself, but rather with a clan of equally nerdy friends, the sort who share your occaisional bad taste.
Then, when these movies are shared by a lot of nerdy people, they become a cult icon of bad taste, being paraded in its lecherous glory. All hail The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). The Big Lebowski (1998). It can go on.
But these films, and your attendance to them (in full costume) can be explained because the badness that transfers from the images onscreen and thus onto you is not necessarily a reflection of your personal taste – it’s the choice of the masses (you know, the choice of the unidentifiable “other” that decided this film was good in the first...
9 Feb 2010 08:30 PM
Before I begin, I need to warn anyone who hasn’t seen Avatar that there are some spoilers in this post, so make your choice as to continue reading, or not.
There is some funky magic going on in Avatar. I’m pretty sure I sat in the exact same position for the majority of the film without even moving a finger. I was pretty damn stiff by the end of it all.
This can only mean one thing; I was totally captivated by this movie. I want to look at it critically, trust me, I really do, but it’s so much harder to do so with this film for reasons that escape me.
Maybe it’s because this was my first 3D experience, and it was, in a word, mindblowing. The created world of Pandora is nothing short of beautiful, and what could one possibly hate about a race of...
9 Feb 2010 08:29 PM
For me there’s a strange gap between the world of the film critic and the average movie-goer. Movies are such a huge and common part of our culture, but I feel like a lot of people only get a fraction of the possible meaning and effect from any given movie simply because we’ve forgotten, or have never been taught, how to watch a movie.
That might sound like a very dumb statement, but let me elaborate. You get so much more out of your music if you understand the artist behind it and their history and intentions and passions, and the same can be said of books and painting and sculpture and any other art form in the world. A great way to learn the seemingly overlooked ability of really watching a movie is to just read reviews.
As someone who would love to be a critic, I read reviews...
9 Feb 2010 08:29 PM
This past weekend I resurrected one of my childhood films. It was A Boy Named Charlie Brown.
I’m sure tons of you out there know this movie. It was great. I love Linus and his blanket and his fainting episodes when the said blanket is missing.
The movie as a whole was just better than I remembered, and of course it brought me back to the first time I watched it (I had just gotten a black eye playing T-ball…yes, tiny-kid baseball that doesn’t even involve proper throwing) and my dad showed me this movie.
It was comforting, and the humor was awesome (even if I didn’t completely grasp the full excellence of one of the song sequences where Lucy and the other girls literally dance in circles around Charlie Brown and call him “Failure-face” or when Lucy projects slides onto a screen, and each one points out another one...
9 Feb 2010 08:29 PM
Entry I: Meet my blog!
Welcome to my blog. It’s all about movies, and nothing else. If film didn’t exist I’d just be sitting around picking at my fingernails (well, okay, I’d probably be sitting around reading a book and thinking, “Man, this thing needs some sweet visuals to liven it up!”).
Here I will talk about anything and everything about movies, from what I hate and love about them, to a bit of film history (I’ll try not to bore you, but don’t worry, film history is good), to my opinions about the workings of the film industry.
But if I’m dishing out my opinions, you have to give me yours; even if it’s full of anger or apathy. Of course, I would definitely welcome some positive comments as well.
Since this is our first meeting, I’d like to introduce you to a taste of the kind of...
