The Searchers

I unashamedly love today's movie - The Searchers, directed by John Ford in 1956. It has everything that I normally hate, like John Wayne and John Ford, but it's one of my favorite movies. It's shot incredibly well, and so many shots are just breathtaking. It also is not a traditional role at all for John Wayne - he plays a character who is racist and suspicious, who can't really function well in normal society.

I feel like I've watched The Searchers at least once a year, which is sort of funny because some director or another I liked once said that he does the same. I haven't meant to watch it so much - I just always saw it for classes in college, or later, worked it into my essays that I was writing (even a poetry essay!) I don't feel tired of it, though. To me, it always stands apart from other westerns, and I always enjoy watching it.

Scarface

I always seem to have the hardest time writing about famous movies. I think it's because I've already read and heard so much about them, that I feel like there's not so much left to say that's new. It's hard to go into a movie as infamous as Brian De Palma's 1983 Scarface and look at it fresh, even if you haven't seen it. You know the movie just because of popular culture, and you take that with you when you watch it.

I can't remember the last time I saw this movie, and I loved watching it again today. It's so over the top and so different than most crime movies. Pacino is so incredible. He has such a great range as an actor that during this movie it almost looks physically impossible that he is the same person who later put on big glasses and a cardigan for You Don't Know Jack (Ebert reminded me of it today on Facebook, as he has just watched it). There are way too many actors who just succeed on playing similar characters, often themselves. It can be funny for a while, but I get sick of it quickly, and it's always so great to see an actor really lose himself in a role like this.

Say Anything

It's sort of funny that I was reminiscing about movies I loved in high school (that were also about high school) last night, and today I had to watch a classic high school movie - Say Anything, directed by Cameron Crowe in 1989. To be honest, I never saw this move before! I guess I just spent most of my time sulking around watching Ghost World and The Crow or something, who knows. I feel like I had already seen this, though - I think everyone knows the famous boom box scene, and of course "I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen."

I can't say that this is number one on my list of romantic comedies or high school movies, but I think it might have made the list. The main plot was somehow very realistic (at least to me) and I thought that the two characters relationship was believable. The best part was how well-written the support characters were - they felt familiar, like people I knew, and I really got a kick out of them.

Saturday Night Fever

I don't think I can write too much about this movie because I just disliked it so much. I didn't hate it, I guess - I just disliked it. I can see why it might be a really appealing movie, but for me, it just did not work at all.

Today I watched Saturday Night Fever, directed by John Badham in 1977. I wasn't a fan of the main character, so I didn't care what happened to him. It was weird, because I remember everyone who I ever spoke to about it acting like it was this great, happy comedy or something. I wish I had known that it was such a dark movie, because I might have liked it more. But only maybe. It seems like some kind of failure on someone's part that people only remember this as a happy, dancey movie, and not the dark parts of it (which are plentiful).

The Rules of the Game

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Today's movie is The Rules of the Game, directed by Jean Renoir in 1939. I kept putting off watching it all day. The title made it sound exciting, but the plot summaries I kept reading sounded boring - some dull comedy about rich French people or something.Then, suddenly, on the way back from some errands, I thought I remembered this movie. "Isn't this the one," I said frantically to Anthony, "where all those French people stay in a chateau together, and they go hunting, and there's this really extended scene of them killing rabbits?" I could not think of any other plot details other than "kill rabbits", and I could not, no matter what, remember the title. "I hope that what I'm thinking of is the movie for today," I mused.

And it was! I think I saw this in a history of film class, and I remember being shocked that something that sounded so blah could actually be so awesome. The movie is funny, sad, and totally engrossing. I don't really understand a lot of the social commentary, but I still find it to be so funny and interesting.

Romeo and Juliet

 

I really thought that I would hate this movie - not only did it sound meh, I was sick of movies and writing from too much posting today. When I was done running errands, I sat down to watched Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968. I was rolling my eyes about five minutes in and complaining that I didn't need to watch a movie that just word for word, read out of the play I had read 5303093 times as an English major. I really do feel burned out on this story. It was a few years ago, but it feels like only months ago, since I wrote a really long essay on how, structurally speaking, Romeo and Juliet is not a traditional tragedy and actually resembles Shakespeare's comedies. Snore.

Since I haven't said I hated the movie yet, I'm sure you've already guess that magically, the movie was great and I was proven to be wrong - it was actually awesome, and I really enjoyed watching it. It was very well cast and well directed, and even though I felt so sick of the play, I found this movie version to be really interesting and an engaging watch.

The Right Stuff

I ended up being able to get this to work over Netflix Instant, which is pretty great considering we were running it off of a generator! I'm glad that the power is back on, but mostly because I have a brief slew of movies that are all on Instant coming up, and it will be nice to be able to watch them without so much hassle.

Last night I watched The Right Stuff, directed by Philip Kaufman in 1983, adapted from the Tom Wolfe (white suit Tom Wolfe) novel of the same name. I never read the novel, although I want to read it now, because I sort of love that author, secretly. It's a really long movie, but it's pretty great. The topic sounds like it could be so boring and overly-technical, but it was very focused on great and memorable characters. While there were times that the whole "space race" felt a little hard to understand (for me, having not lived through it or anything), I cared so deeply about the characters that I felt excited for them and was cheering them on, just because I wanted them to succeed because I liked them and felt so close to them.

Rififi

Power is finally back, but I'm hanging out at a B&N for a while just because. Sometimes I work better when there are less distractions, and my house is full of them. Everything is a mess in my room because I couldn't see where to put anything away for the last few days, so I know if I was at home, I'd be cleaning and screwing around, not focusing.

The other night, I hooked up the TV and Blu-ray player to the generator and watched Rififi, a French crime film, directed in 1955 by Jules Dassin. Because I used the TV upstairs, my parents either had to watch the foregin, black and white film, or go to bed - so they watched it with me. I think this is maybe the first time that anyone other than Anthony has sat and watched an older, foreign film with me, so that was sort of fun. It was a really great movie - we all loved the story and the style, and it reminded us of all of our favorite heist films. It had a much more noir style, though, than other heist movies. It was great because it wasn't just about the crime - it was also about the characters and the consequences.

Another Update

Still without power here. The guys at ComEd told us that there were only 19 homes left in our area without power...and mine is included in that number. :/ They said they have no idea why we are still out, which means we really have no idea when it could be back!

Last night I diverted some power from the generator and watched Rififi by candlelight. Maybe tomorrow I'll venture out with my netbook and get a post up for you guys. I miss doing my project!

Currently, we're all huddled upstairs around candles in the dark, about to dive into some deep dish. Out of boredom we're trying to see if we can get power to the wireless router with the generator because the only way I can watch my movie for tonight is over Netflix Instant. It seems really crazy to use the generator we got to save the two fridges full of new groceries and fish tanks to watch movies, but it's sort of a fun little adventure :)

Oddly enough right now my netbook can get a wireless signal, but not the Blu-ray player. Man, this has been a weird week.

Well, expect a post about Rififi soon, and hopefully The Right Stuff as well...but no promises, it's been pretty crazy! I just wanted to keep you guys updated.

An update!

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know why I haven't been posting the last few days. We had really horrible storms (like, 80mph+ winds out of nowhere) in my area, and the power went out on Tuesday night. Currently, it's still out at my house, and I'm not too sure when it's going to be back on. You know how it is - the estimates always change so much! Fortunately our house and cars were not damaged, so we are mostly just inconvenienced.
We do have a generator so that my fish tanks and our fridges are up and running. If it's possible, I might see if I could watch tonight's movie on generator power, but I probably wouldn't be able to post about it until the electricity is actually back.

For the two movies that I had to skip, Rashamon and Rear Window, I'm just going to put them at the bottom of the list, and I'll watch them at the end of the whole project.

I can't really take any more time to write at the moment, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven't vanished or stopped my project or anything like that.
Hope everyone is doing well!

Ran

I remember the first time I ever rented Ran. I got it from the local library when I was in high school after hearing from some source or another that it was a good movie. I had just received a new laptop, for college, and I set it up at a desk and watched Ran on it, stuffed into an uncomfortable desk chair. I remember being astonished by the color and beauty of the beginning, but unfortunately after that, I managed to fall asleep sitting in the awful desk chair.

Because I was so dumb the last time I tried to watch this movie, I felt excited to watch it today - even though it's so long! It was directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1985. He actually directed it when he was 75, which seems to me to be an impressive feat. I was really tired from work today, but I was still really interested in and fascinated by this colorful and unique movie. I never read King Lear, the Shakespeare play the film is based on, but I still loved the plot and the amazing directing. Kurosawa inspired so many of my favorite directors, and for good reason. His eye for beautiful compositions and amazing fight scenes was simply just amazing, and his films always feel and look like no other.

Raise the Red Lantern

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. My family and I had a celebration on Saturday - a wonderful cook out with my aunt and uncle. Today, I mostly ran errands (got some cute office supplies for my desk at work), but I got home for some grilling and raspberry tart with my parents.

I will admit, I was a little less than enthused to watch today's movie. It is Raise the Red Lantern, directed by Zhang Yimou in 1991. The title gave me the impression that it was some sort of bland historical film, or at least something boring. I read a brief plot summary before I watched it, and immediately became so much more interested in the film - and relieved to find out it wasn't another 3 hour epic like I had imagined.

The movie is beautiful to look at, and a little unsettling to watch. It's got a really fascinating plot, and incredible acting. I was immediately drawn into the film in the first few minutes - the look of it was so awesome that I immediately wanted to keep watching and see more.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

I honestly can't remember the last time that I saw today's movie - Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1981. I think the last time that I saw this was probably the first time. I always seem to catch the more dopey sequels on TV, and I think those were in my head when I started to watch this movie today. I kept dreading watching this movie. "I don't like Indiana Jones," I continually said, thinking of movies like Temple of Doom. Everyone I mentioned this to reacted with displeasure, certain that I hated fun.

I tried to watch this movie again with an open mind, and it seemed to work. I found myself actually having fun watching the movie and enjoying myself. It was pretty enjoyable adventure movie, which is saying a lot, coming from me. I would have rather been watching Aguirre or something, but I still thought this was entertaining. What's cool about this film, though, is that there's actually a pretty neat story buried under the traditional adventure plot.

The Producers

Today's movie is another famous comedy that I have never seen before, somehow - Mel Brooks' The Producers, which he wrote and directed in 1968. I knew what it was about, but I just never watched it before. I was glad that I did! I found my first week of work to be really exhausting - so much stuff to learn, people to meet, and things to do! I really like my job so far, but it's been a hard adjustment! I was glad that Ebert put two great comedies back to back, since it was energizing and fun to have some hilarious movies to watch in the evening. I'm not sure I could have mustered up focus for something more serious.

The acting and writing are totally over the top in this movie, but it was so funny. Mel Brooks is not really known for his subtly. I had a lot of fun and laughed a lot during this movie - it was ridiculous but also awesome. Plus it had Gene Wilder, who I love out of some strange version of Stockholm syndrome, after being so traumatized as a child by his role as Willy Wonka. Who would cast him for that part, seriously?