The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I'm starting this blog a little late (after midnight), so I'm going to try to keep my post a little short so I can get some sleep. I have a lot going on at work right now, and it's a little stressful since it's all so new still! I want to make sure I actually get enough sleep so I can function.

Today's movie was The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by John Huston in 1948. It sounds like an adventure movie (and we all know how I feel about those), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually depressing, to some extent, and not at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be some sort of blah, Indiana Jones adventure or something, but I guess I should have known that Bogart was above that. It's gritty and dirty, and ends like some of my favorite movies - by proving that everything the main characters were doing was sort of pointless. Amazing.

Touch of Evil

I keep staring at this blank screen and not writing. I'm not sure if I'm just tired or if I'm at a loss for words. Probably a little bit of both. Today's movie is Touch of Evil, directed, written by, and featuring Orson Welles. It was one of the last film noirs ever made, and pretty much marked the end of Orson Welles' career for the studio system, as well. The beginning of the film told me that the studio badly cut the film, and released it with a bunch of weird inserted scenes and cuts. Welles was so angry that mere hours after being shown the new version, he wrote a 58 page letter to the studio pleading his case.

Unfortunately for Welles, they never listened, and the film was released as the second part of a double feature, despite it's famous cast. Only recently did anyone attempt to restore the film to comply with Welles' wishes. I'm glad I never had to see the weird version, and I got to watch the one that tries to stay true to how Welles wanted it. I really liked it - not so much for the confusing plot, but for the directing and the characters. Didn't I just say this last night about a different movie?

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

Well, our power came back on at about 2 a.m. last night, but the internet is being wonky. It's so late and I'm sleepy so I'm not really up to running around trying to get it to work. I'll find a coffee shop or some such thing tomorrow and post this for you guys.

The storms were not so horrible by my house, but it was terrible by work! I drove right into it on Monday, and a lot of my coworkers are out of power. It's really sad because it's been pretty hot here, and I know how tough it can be after my stint without power for 4 days. I hope that everything will be up and running soon for everyone.

Today's movie is Touchez Pas au Grisbi,  directed by Jacques Becker in 1954. which Ebert says translates to “Don't Touch the Loot”. The movie is similar to other French crime films that I've seen – sort of a slow burn, but with so much style. It's not full of action, but it has really interesting characters who are totally original. I will admit I found parts of it to be a little slow (tired today), but overall, I was able to stay engaged with the film because I was so interested in the characters.

Welp.

Power is out again at my house, and much of the surrounding area. There was a bad storm this morning (and I was lucky enough to get to drive through the high winds, white-out rain, and falling branches on the tollway!) and I guess we lost power quickly. Figures.
The news says that  over 700,000 people are now without power, the most following any storm in the last half-decade. Ugh!

An update from Tom Skilling - "Commonwealth Edison says the loss of electricity this "derecho" (the term for squall which holds together over a long path producing damage all the way) has produced is the worst in at least a decade and among the 3 worst on Com Ed's books here. It may end up the all time worst, says the company. It's t-storms towered to 61,000 ft. which is swept across the metro area producing gusts of 80 mph at some locations." 

I'll probably try to do the whole generator-to-watch-movies thing again, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to post or not. If it's quiet around these parts again, you know why.

This is Spinal Tap

I was so happy to see today's movie on Ebert's list - This is Spinal Tap, directed by Rob Reiner in 1984. It's one of my favorite comedies, and I never get tired of seeing it. I love that Ebert loved this movie enough to include it - it was sort of unexpected, but great.

I've watched this film many times, and every time it's amazing. It's so well written, and well-acted. The actors all seem to just have fun being their characters and made them seem totally real. There's so many little touches and moments that make it feel like a real documentary. I love that it just perfectly gets its subject matter - enough so that many rock stars have not been able to see the humor in the film, because too many things in the movie had really happened to them.

It's hard to write about a movie like this that you've seen so many times...for me, at least. I sort of know it so well that it's hard to point out every reason why I love it so much. I'm weird.

The Thin Man

I had a pretty nice, relaxing day today. I went out with Anthony to go see Horrible Bosses, which I thought was really funny. I loved Kevin Spacey so much in it, he was great! I was on the fence about it for a while, but Ebert's review pushed me into going, and I'm so glad that I did.

Today's movie was The Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke in 1934. It's a really charming movie, an adaptation of a Dashiell Hammett novel. I loved the chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy, and the witty banter was amazing. The dialogue was so quick, funny, and intelligent, and the actors just delivered the lines so naturally. It felt very easy and relaxed. My mom read somewhere, and Wikipedia confirms it, that this film was only shot in 12 days! I never would have guessed that from how laid back the actors seemed to be. I also loved the dog in this movie - I love all dogs, so watching a cute one help with detecting was great. Daw!

A Tale of Winter

Please pardon me if my post is a little short - it's Anthony's birthday today and we started the movie pretty late after going out to dinner and all of those sorts of fun things.

Today's movie is A Tale of Winter, directed by Eric Rohmer n 1992. For some reason this movie was difficult to find, and I ended up buying a cheap VHS of it. I don't know why it was such bad quality, it isn't that old of a movie. Ah well. I was glad that I got to see it, despite the quality. It was a really interesting film, full of great writing and really engaging characters. I liked that it was a romantic film but it didn't feel like a strange fantasy or anything. It just focused on how normal people deal with relationships. I mean, people were a little obsessive, but overall, it felt very...normal.

Sunrise

It's hard to write about a silent film that did something groundbreaking with visuals. Today's Movie, directed by F.W. Murnau in 1928, did just that. It did a lot of things that were new and exciting, but they are so commonplace now that it's hard to ever catch them. Ebert does a great job writing about the cinematography, and his essay is a good read.

Not knowing any of that before I watched it, I was surprised at home awesome this film is! I loved the story, and there were many scenes that were really impressive. The camera seemed so light and full of movement, which I'm not used to seeing in silent films. Sometimes (all the time, in my experience), silent movies can make people fall asleep or feel really tired. This sometimes happens to me, too. This movie really kept my attention and even with barely any intertitles, it was so easy and engrossing to watch.

A Sunday in the Country

Hmm, it figures that after watching a few good movies in a row, I'd get to one I felt really meh about. Today's movie - A Sunday in the Country, directed by Bertrand Tavernier in 1984 - is sort of slow and meandering, a French Ozu. It's a story focused on just a French family and their doings one afternoon. It just didn't work for me tonight, when I felt so sleepy, and like I've been fighting a cold or something. You know how it gets. A sleepy little movie was just not what I was interested in tonight.

I feel frustrated writing this because I can see that this movie is great for all the reasons that Ozu's films are great. I just...didn't like this one. I didn't like the characters, I found the story to be too mundane and normal. Watching people nap and climb trees was a little too tiring and I just wasn't feeling it. I don't get why I love Ozu and this fell flat for me, but alas, such is life.

Stroszek

Today's movie is certainly an odd one. I've had a bit of a long day, so forgive me if I keep this short. I watched Stroszek, directed by Werner Herzog in 1977. I found this film to be more strange to watch than...well, I don't know what to compare it to. It's like nothing else. It's not trying to be a random, bizarre film, and you never feel like it's trying to do anything. It's just sort of running on, following the story, and we're just tagging along.

I love Herzog. I always wonder what it would be like to be him, for just one day. What's it like to experience such a different world view, to look at everything in a different light? I love that you can just see his obsessions and inspirations in all of his films, and that all the plots of his many works are so diverse. He wanders from subject to subject, seeming to obsess over it madly for a bit, and then move to something new and exciting. I loved seeing another one of his films, and I felt sort of obsessed with the characters, location, and story.

Strangers on a Train

I totally lost track of how much time I spent outside today. I went out thinking I'd just be there for a little bit while I waited for Anthony to come over, and somehow I ended up staying out there relaxing until almost 5:00pm. And I ended up looking like I might be rather sunburned, ugh. It took me longer to watch Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951, because I had to pause it towards the end to make an emergency run to Walgreen's for some aloe. They make aloe with lidocaine in it! I had no idea of this genius invention.

Enough about me. I really liked today's movie, but I like all of the Hitchcock films that I've seen. I love his style, and I really like the tense thrillers that he directs, and this one was no different. I thought the story here was especially cool as well. It was a fun movie to watch, and even more fun to watch in the A/C, with fans blowing on my disgusting red knees and arms. :p

Solaris

It was hard to watch today's movie - Solaris, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972. It's such a long and slow movie, and I had to find time to watch it today when we were having family over for a cook out. Despite the hassle, I still really liked this movie. It's so slow, but somehow, I liked that about it at points. At times it was frustrating for me, but overall, I liked the story and the whole experience of watching it. It was not a lazy, unedited movie, but a deliberate movie. I ended up really enjoying the style of the whole thing, and the really rich atmosphere that it created.

I never saw this film, or the 2002 remake with George Clooney (which is what everyone I spoke to thought I was watching today). I also honestly didn't know anything about the story at all, so it was nice to go into it totally blind. I always heard that it was some sort of vaguely important or famous movie, but otherwise, I knew nothing about it. I like it when that happens, and you can actually watch a movie without any thoughts about it yet.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Having had my dislike of Disney movies well-documented, I feel sort of awkward to say that I...er, liked a Disney movie. I'm not in love or anything, don't worry. But I did really enjoy watching this film, and I thought it was a nice, well-written story with incredible animation. Today's movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed in 1937 ( I always forget how old it is!) I watched it with Anthony and my parents, which was really fun. My dad never saw it, and he ended up really enjoying it as well.

I got the Blu-ray from Netflix, and it looked amazing! I thought the restoration was so well done, and I loved that you could just see that every frame of this movie was hand crafted. I don't remember the movie looking so hand-drawn ever before. However, the last time I watched this was when I was a kid, and kids can't really notice any differences in animation quality. Not because kids are dumb, but because everything is new - they haven't really seen enough movies to compare.

I went into this a little skeptical, but I ended up enjoying myself. I liked the plot, and wasn't traumatized like I was by other Disney movies. I also really just loved the animation. The animals were so cute, and it was awesome to see how beautiful each frame was.

Shane

I am so glad that it's the weekend and I can get some time to sleep in and relax! Today when I got home from work I saw that my local newspaper had run an article about me and my blog. It was really cool! Maybe I'll scan it later and post it so you guys can check it out, it's really well-written and flattering, if I might say so :)

Today after a long day of work I watched Shane, directed by George Stevens in 1953. I feel bad, but I honestly just wasn't very into this movie. I will say that this is probably largely based on my mood. I felt like going out and doing something, and I was a little resentful that I had to watch a long, meandering movie instead. I usually like meandering, but this just felt a little off to me. What's so frustrating is that there are many parts that I actually liked, but they often were followed by something I really disliked - and that little scene I hated seemed to stand out more. These are more faults of myself than of the film, though. It's another one of those movies where I can so clearly see what it's masterful, but just didn't personally feel anything for it.