I'll miss you, Roger.

I don't have a lot to say that hasn't been said. There have been some truly beautiful words written about him, which he is so deserving of. I think it's something that I might need a while to really get my thoughts together about. Especially to be relevant to this blog at all.

I'm going to miss him so much. Roger Ebert was a really great man - a fantastic film great, a unbelievable writer, a genuinely good person who cared deeply for others, and an awesome inspiration.  

Had one for Ebert last night. Not sure if it was as good as he remembered it to be - but as someone who didn't eat meat for the last 13 years and only started again about a week or so ago...that was a damn good burger. 

Rear Window

Hey, a real post! So, Rear Window, directed in 1954 by Alfred Hitchcock, is what I ended up watching today. If I was doing this in any sort of order, I would have watched The Leopard, but that's long and I'm tired and my back is feeling wonky, so I had the internet pick something shorter. Plus, I sort of felt like watching this way more.

Probably we all know the plot of this movie. It's been referenced and remade many times. Two notable examples being Body Double (which I think I watched simply because of how much it's referenced in the book American Psycho) and Disturbia (which I didn't see but looked like it was about as awesome as a box of farts). Even though Rear Window is familiar, I personally have always found that it's still really tense and exciting to watch. I mean, I know what happens in the most tension-filled scenes, and I still find it makes me squirmy. We all know Hitchcock is amazing at tension. Can I contribute something new to this discussion? We will find out.

Nashville

This is literally going to be the worst post ever because I didn't learn, apparently, that I need to post about a movie right after I watch it. I seriously finished watching this movie last Monday night and I've put off writing about it, because I don't really know what to say and I really have no reason to rush. That's pretty awesome to say, though - I could take like, over an entire week to write a post because whatever. 

So, forever ago I watched Nashville, directed by Robert Altman in 1975. I sort of hated and sort of loved the movie. I hated it because I hate country music, especially the kind that I had to listen to for three hours over the course of the film. I liked the ending of it, though, where all the different characters came together and interacted. It's one of those things where I wouldn't have the satisfying ending if I didn't sit through the rest of it, but I still just didn't really care too much about it overall. I feel really lazy saying I just didn't really care for the music so I didn't care about the movie, but eh, it's pretty much how I feel.

Tonight.

I thought I'd skip (i.e. watch over the weekend or at the end of the project) tonight's long-ish movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, because Ebert was signing his memoir someplace vaguely in my area. I got there early and lazed around, but I was expecting it to be like the last one I went to - in the upstairs part of the B&N, which it wasn't, so I didn't get into line until a bit later than I wanted to. It was really cool to see all the people who came out, it was a really diverse group.

Proof of the lazing.

It was pretty good - I'm always stoked to see someone I admire so much, and having books signed by him is really meaningful to me. It was a little disappointing, though. It felt really rushed - you sort of had time to say half a sentence and by that point, the B&N employees were giving him another book to work on. I had hoped to get a picture with him, but by the time I had explained that I was some dope from the intarwebs, he got handed another book and I didn't want to rudely cut into someone else's time, like "No! I'm important, I'm from the internet!" I feel a little let down, just because the other book signing I went to felt a lot more intimate and we all seemed to get more time to be chatty and goofy with him, and I was hoping to have that experience again.

Yay!

But it's ok. I didn't start this blog to get his attention. I did it because it means something to me. Because I wanted to take on a project and see it to the end (I can't count how many times I thought I'd do something different in my life and stopped after a few weeks or months). I wanted to keep learning about film, and keep myself writing and working while I was unemployed. And to connect, on some level, with someone I look up to. To be honest, doing this has changed my life. There are plenty of reasons why the signing could have gone how it did - maybe he wasn't feeling well, or hell, he's probably such a fan that he was a little embarrassed and star-struck about it. You never know, right?

The Grapes of Wrath

Maybe I feel really meh about all movies lately. I don't really feel too excited about today's movie, either. It's another film where I can tell it's masterfully made, but it's not really something I find myself getting too worked up about. Today I watched The Grapes of Wrath, based on the Steinbeck novel of the same name. It was directed in 1940 by John Ford. He's a really talented director, you can tell he has a great eye and vision. I just didn't find myself getting as involved in the story as I probably should have been.

This will probably be a shorter post, since I don't really know what to say about movies where I feel so unenthusiastic. 

Goldfinger

Let me just apologize in advance for how negative this post is. I just really didn't like this movie. I think most people have noticed by now that I really like most movies. I tend to forgive them for dullness or meandering because I liked parts of them. It generally takes a lot for me to actively hate something, so I hope you'll just accept this as a rare moment where I actually actively hate something. It's not personal or anything, this is just my opinion. 

I hate James Bond. I hated this movie. I hate this movie poster that has a picture of a dead body on it and proclaims "Everything he touches turns to excitment!". Like sexy dead ladies! Even Ebert's essay has the dead, gold-covered girl as his still image, Bond stroking her sexily. This is dumb. "Not every man would like to be James Bond," he says, waxing poetic, "but every boy would." I hope not.
This is one of those movies that ruins my day. That the less I say about it, the better, because I know that no one will agree with me and it's not even worth how taxing arguing about it might be.

Five Easy Pieces

I think I'm actually sunburned from being outside so long yesterday. That's crazy! I really had such a nice day, just relaxing with my extended family. I always feel so lucky that we all live so close together and have such easy, nice relationships. Love you guys <3

Today's movie is Five Easy Pieces, directed in 1970 by Bob Rafelson. I really loved this movie. It's one of the movies that was part of New Hollywood, when American cinema changed greatly. I've written about it before, and this is such a great example of it. I have a hard time believing that I never really heard about this up until now, who knows. I'm so glad a got a chance to watch it. It has all those great characteristics that I love about this period - the focus on a blue collar hero dealing with everyday problems, a character that viewers can personally relate to. This was pretty out of the norm for so long. Movies were about epic stories or fantastical people, not guys like you and me. I know a lot of people I know will be interested in this movie because of Jack Nicholson, and hey, he's actually incredible in it! You've got to see this movie if you haven't.

The Fireman's Ball

Happy Mother's Day, to all the wonderful mom and grandmas out there! It's a great day - perfect for sitting outside and eating bratwurst, which is the plan for the rest of my day. Of course, I had to stay inside for about an hour to watch a movie, but it was a short, great comedy, and I was more than happy to watch it.

Today I watched The Fireman's Ball, directed by Milos Forman in 1967. It was pretty fantastic. Forman directed this movie in the Czech Republic, right around when there was an uprising against the Soviets. Directors and films like this on were banned, seen as subversive and as an attack on the Soviet system. Like many directors who lived in the Czech Republic during this time, he found great success in America. He had a great career, and directed some of my favorite films like Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I really loved this movie. It has fascinating historical meaning, but it still is funny and interesting today.

The Fall of the House of Usher

Such a fun day today - got my hair did, and of course, it looks amazing. I love my stylist, she seems to understand what I want even though I always think I describe things really vague and badly. I keep getting it a little lighter and blonder each time I go in (it was basically black, or has had black mixed in, up until a few months ago). I only think that's worth mentioning because the movie I watched today reminded me a lot of the many years of my life I spent dressed in gothy clothes. I still listen to the same horrible goth and metal music (some of the time) but my style has changed a lot form the days of huge platform boots and smudged black eyeliner.

Today when I got home, I watched The Fall of the House of Usher, directed by Jean Epstein in 1928. It's obviously based on the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same name. Not only do I love morbid, dark, things, I love literature - and predictably, I am a pretty huge fan of Poe. When I was in high school I'd listen to music, light candles, and read Poe or Lovecraft in my bedroom. Their fascination with twisted dark, and often sad things seemed to match my own obsessions. With Poe, you can just feel his torment seep from the pages of his writing. Not that I was anywhere near as tormented, but yunno, 15-year-old girls think they are.

The Earrings of Madame de...

We've been having a new roof put on our house, which is overly loud. Ah well. I don't really care too much when the weather is so nice. I went out today to get plants for my garden - lots of different peppers, patty pans, tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, kale, and even leeks! I'm really excited, I love having fresh produce, there is nothing that compares to it.

Today's movie was The Earrings of Madame de... directed by Max Ophuls in 1953. I really liked it, it was shot really well, with so many long scenes (which are such a feat). I liked the plot as well, it was different than I thought it would be. I had some vague impression that it would be about a pair of earrings be passed from woman to woman, thus the "Madame de..." part of the title. However, it's more about how one pair of earrings kept coming back to one woman.

Don't Look Now

Movies like this are why I love doing this project. I never heard Don't Look Now, directed by Nicolas Roeg in 1973. I like that Ebert doesn't just pick the films that everyone sort of expects - he embraces so many different genres and styles. Today's movie is a sort of horror movie, one that focuses on the creepy side of the occult. I like horror movies, but I'm always afraid to say I'm a big fan or something, since I'm so picky about the ones that I like. Anyway, because I sort of love them, I was happy to see that he gave some attention to the genre.

The film also really made me think of David Lynch, which I know is pretty film school 101 of me, but I sort of love him. There were a few scenes that really made me think of some stylistic elements that I've seen him use before (like using distorted noises). I really liked seeing that element. I'm not an expert, but the internet says his first feature was in 1977, so maybe he saw this movie and was a little inspired? It's interesting to think that, although I'm obviously not sure.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

I was pretty excited to watch this movie today, because I really liked the other films I've seen that Luis Bunuel directed. It's actually a little hard to write about, because it's sort of similar to one of his other films, The Exterminating Angel. In Angel, a group of people become trapped in a house for no explainable reason after a meal. In Charm, a group of wealthy people go from place to place attempting to eat dinner but are unable to. Of course, they're also not the same at all, but the plots are similar, and have the same strange sense of humor.

I really liked this movie - I've pretty much been in love with all the other Bunuel films that I've seen, and this one is no exception. It's really odd, but it works really well. It has a sort of prodding humor in it. It's not your normal laugh-out-loud kind of comedy, but it's more sly, and a bit absurd. I like that about it. Plus, I like his style, the odd surrealism and how everything is a little off-kilter.

Cries and Whispers

I really am finding it hard to write about today's movie - Cries and Whispers, directed by Ingmar Bergman in 1972. I fully understand why this is a masterpiece, but I just...wasn't in the mood for this. I really appreciate what Bergman did in this movie. To be able to film scenes that capture pain and torment so perfectly is incredible. It makes you feel different after watching it. It just was frustrating to me to have to watch it when I wasn't really wanting to see more depressing and confrontational things. I don't mean this as like, a "Boy do I love to pretend that negative emotions don't exist!" sort of thing. It was more just like, "Man, crap is happening to people I love and it sucks, I'll do whatever I can for them but I need some time to not obsess about bad feelings." I hope that makes some kind of sense.

Unfortnately for me, Bergman's movie is a study of bad feelings. It's hard when I can see a movie that is clearly a great work, but can't say that I liked it. It just didn't work with my mood today, but I could see why it is so famous, and it clearly is a masterpiece. I think the perfect way to put it is that although I loved it, I didn't enjoy it.

The Conversation

I spent most of the day sitting outside and reading, which was fun. I came in once it got chilly to watch today's movie - The Conversation, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1974. I'll be honest, I never heard of this movie before. I watched it by myself, but when Anthony came over, he said he had never heard of it either. I feel pretty suprised that we haven't! I would assume that for our...generation....thing...it gets overshadowed by Coppola's other works. No one wants to tell there friends to watch a serious thriller like this film - it's much more exciting to watch mafia movies or Vietnam movies. Well, maybe it's not, but that's my best guess.

I really loved this film. It was such a perfect slow burn, building up to the tense scenes with so much care. I love that sort of style, so this just worked so well for me. There was so much time to get involved in the plot and get to know the characters that when the action picked up a little, it was so exciting and tense! I could tell that some parts of it were inspired by Blow Up (and later I'm sure helped to contribute to the inspiration behind Blow Out). Loving both of those movies, I pretty much melted instantly for this film.

The Color Purple

Another beautiful, fun day. It was warm and sunny, perfect weather for grilling while sipping some tasty brews. Anthony and I went to see Werner Herzog's new film The Cave of Forgotten Dreams today as well. It's a documentary about the oldest cave paintings ever discovered, and the whole thing is shot in 3-D. It sounds sort of dull but it was incredible, and we kept talking about it for the rest of the day. It was stunning.

Enough about Herzog. Today I watched The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985. I read the book my senior year of high school, and I really liked it. I never saw the movie, though. Ebert mentions it has some meh parts - like how negatively it portrays all of the black men in the film. The movie, though, is not a big statement about how all people act. It's just one story, one person's life story, and I think in that respect it works really well.

A Christmas Story

It was a beautiful day today - 70 degrees out, sun and a light breeze that picked up a lot at night. It was pretty unfathomable that I had to watch A Christmas Story in that kind of weather! The movie was directed by Bob Clark in 1983, and was not received very well. Now, it's pretty much a classic, a staple of the holidays that is notorious for airing in 24 hour blocks.

To try to make the movie viewing more...Christmasy, I had my friend Barry over. I put up some little Christmas trees and made some cheap cookies from Target with red and green sprinkles. It didn't really make it feel Christmasy at all - not even with the movie on - which was sort of shocking to me! Anthony and I usually put this movie on whenever we put up Christmas decorations, so I always associate it with strong feelings of the holidays. I still like the movie, but it didn't make me yearn for Christmas like it normally does.

Children of Paradise

There was actually sort of sun today, and blue skies! I wanted to go read outside, but I realized that my movie, Children of Paradise, directed by Marcel Carné in 1945, was over 3 hours long. I was pretty saddened by this news, at first. Who wants to sit in a cold basement when they could be outside in the sun? Not me, at least.

When I finally sat down to watch it, I became pretty involved in the film. It's really long, yes, but it has a great story. It's sort of an epic length romance, marketed to American audiences as "The French answer to Gone with the Wind". It sounds stupid, but it makes a certain amount of sense. There are strong female women at the center of both of these films, trying to get what they want out of life - but it doesn't always go their way. A lot of the story revolves around theater performances (Wikipedia says that "Paradis" is a French colloquial name for the balcony in theaters), which is added a really interesting dynamic. I really enjoyed this movie, despite all of my earlier reservations.

Buster Keaton/College

Well, my migraine-addled mission tonight was to watch a Buster Keaton film. I seem to get bad headaches and then watch silent films, and end up feeling sort of soothed by them, since they are easy on the eyes and ears. I didn't have to watch a particular film - Ebert simply had an entry in his book for Buster Keaton. I really like him, though, so instead of just skipping it, I decided to watch one of his films. I sort of just selected on at random that was streaming on Netflix, and I ended up watching College, directed by James W. Horne in 1927. It seems that according to IMDB, "In an interview with author Kevin Brownlow, Buster Keaton said that he directed almost all of this film and that credited co-director James W. Horne did virtually none of it. Keaton said that his business manager talked him into using Horne, but that Horne proved "absolutely worthless to me... I don't know why we had him."  Something interesting to consider.

For this, I'll write a tiny bit about the movie I watched, but I'll give more time to Keaton himself. Thus the famous picture of him from The General :)

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia

I'm just going to try out this post using a jump, I think it's a good idea, but now is the time to tell me if you hate it, before I update the older entries!

I somehow let so much of the day get away from me - I didn't even eat dinner until 9pm. I found some time to watch Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, directed by Sam Peckinpah in 1974.  This was my first time watching this movie, and I was really excited to see it, since I love The Wild Bunch so much. I know that critics, and the public, really hated this movie when it came out. It is disturbing and violent, especially for 1974. Roger Ebert's defense of the film has become almost legendary - he was pretty much the only critic to support it when it came out. Over time, people have come around and given this film the credit that I think it deserves.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Today I obviously watched The Bridge on the River Kwai, directed by David Lean in 1957. I haven't seen this movie until now, and I was moderately excited to watch it. Moderately because it's almost three hours long, and I was tired and pouty. Ebert's essay sounds sort of unenthusiastic about the whole thing, but I really loved this movie. I was just so interested in the characters and plot, it didn't feel that long to me at all. I always heard mumblings about how so many people love this movie, and I really understand why now. After I watched it, my mom told me it was one of my her dad's favorite films. I miss him, but it felt really nice and special to watch it and think of him :)