Film
How closely should the movie follow the book?
Last time I discussed the basic problem of adaptations and the idea that “the book is always better than the movie”. I came to the conclusion that each must be evaluated by different criteria and making blanket statements about the relative quality of one over the other (assuming, of course, that they were both created…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – July, 2009
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in July. Stats Movies watched – 31 Movies that were new to me – 26 Percent Romantic Comedies watched – 52% Monthly Masterpieces – Henry V, Shanghai Express, It Happened One Night, Paris Texas, Rebecca, The Wages of Fear July 31 Celebrity (1998) – As a pastiche of loosely connected…
Read MoreIs the book really always better?
There is a natural urge to create adaptations with film. Film, after all, is still a relatively new art and audiences have not yet lost their childlike wonder at its ability to convey alternate realities so realistically and convincingly. Who hasn’t read a thrilling scene from one of their favorite books and thought “man, it would be awesome to see a…
Read MoreRomantic Comedies – Stop the Hate
While watching It Happened One Night for the umpteenth time the other night I was reminded just how old the romantic comedy “formula” is. Guy meets girl, guy gets girl, guy loses girl, guy gets girl back, the end (with assorted whacky situations in between)(also, spoiler alert). That formula has probably been used more than…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – June, 2009
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in June. Stats Movies watched – 25 Movies that were new to me – 16 Romantic Comedies I was embarrassed to review – 4 Monthly Masterpieces – His Girl Friday, Scarface , The Dark Glow of the Mountains , Pickpocket June 30 Pickpocket (1959) –…
Read MoreHigh Sierra and the Evolution of the Doomed Gangster
The “gangster film” is a true American creation. There were of course many early foreign films with elements of “crime” in them (Feuillade’s Les Vampires, or Lang’s Dr. Mabuse to name just a few), but the European crime films seemed more preoccupied with secret societies and grand Bond-villain-like master plans. Early American gangster films were all…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – May, 2009
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in May. Stats Movies watched – 20 Movies that were new to me – 11 All time favorite movies rewatched – 4 Monthly Masterpieces – White Heat, Z, The Awful Truth, In a Lonely Place, Morocco, Our Hospitality, Stagecoach, Dazed and Confused May 31 The Big…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 11 – Nosferatu (Werner Herzog, 1979)
It is astonishing how different Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night is from Murnau’s classic silent horror film considering it is an almost scene for scene remake. To be sure, both versions share the fixation with the natural world, the inhumanity of Dracula, and the underlying sense of terror and dread. But Herzog’s version of Dracula (the true heart…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 10 – Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
Silent films get a bad rap. Even among film snobs there is the attitude that “yes, they are important, but come on…wouldn’t you rather watch something a bit more polished?” However, while the acting is not always as naturalistic as we are used to (a style developed due to the lack of sound), the silent…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – April, 2009
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in April. Stats Movies watched – 39 Movies that were new to me – 27 Supposed classics I’d never seen that were just ok – 7 Monthly Masterpieces – Cabin in the Sky, The Godfather II, Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror, Nosferatu, Phantom of the Night…
Read More