Published on
August 22, 2007 in
Movies.
I have begun working my way through Yasujiro Ozu’s films with the goal of extrapolating some common themes and styles from his work. Thus is the peril of Netflix - browse at your own risk, you will find yourself going off on tangents and ending up with a full movie queue.
Late Autumn, filmed in 1963, is a quiet drama set in the then modern-day Japan. If this film were a food, it would be a cup of tea. It is quiet and understated with depths that need to be found through relaxation and reflection. There is humor, but it is dry and not found unless looked for.The movie provides an interesting view into the Western incursion into traditional Japanese style, attitudes and culture. The older generation is markedly different from the younger, both in dress and attitude. The Western American stereotypes of traditional Japanese culture are so strong that the “modern” dress and language of the younger generation in the film seems to be more affectation than reality.
Ozu seems to concentrate more on composition and rhythm rather than acting. Actors address the camera overmuch, walk on and off of the scene and things come off like you are watching the film adaptation of a play. While somewhat disconcerting, the formalized structure of the film allows you to pay attention to the smallest details.
One of the most interesting photographic composition elements from a Western viewpoint is that the camera is often at the viewpoint of someone sitting on the tatami rather than in a chair.
Here is a much better writeup than mine.
Published on
August 6, 2007 in
Movies.
I stumbled across the digital remake of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis on the Internet tonight. The originally re-assembled movie is one of my all-time favorites and I had no idea it had been digitally remade with the original score.
Metropolis is not for mass media entertainment. It’s silent, overacted and not a relaxing film. However, anyone who likes science fiction must see this movie to learn where the entire SF film industry came from. A movie from 1926 with 25,000 extras is something to see! Read Roger Ebert’s review for lots of detail.
If you do watch this, remember, Fritz was inventing the visualization of science fiction in film with no previous work to build on. Looking at the city scenes, you can see where Blade Runner and Dark City came from. Guess this is something to move to the top of the Netflix queue!
Published on
August 6, 2007 in
Movies.
I have been impressed by the work of Hayao Miyazaki over and over. Tonight I watched The Cat Returns, which is nowhere near as good as his later movies such as Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. In this movie, Miyazaki contributes the story concept, but not the actual direction. Some of his style comes through in the story, but the direction is quite different.
Published on
September 29, 2004 in
Movies.
amazing movie. solid all around. this movie has nothing extra. no fluff. its pure content.
the characters are original, the plot doesnt relate to a formula, and the topics follow no stereotypes. kick ass. its about regular people, put in irregular situations.
linus likes the trains. he always likes the trains. and this movie has a lot of them. train buffs rejoice, you have a theme movie to watch on popcorn night.
Published on
September 29, 2004 in
Movies.
so. i have watched more than a few movies in the past couple of days. six to be exact. most were good. a couple were damn good. but one stood out from the rest. its name is, “dummy”.
milla jovovich is garage punk slut and she is awesome. this is real acting. anything other than beautiful for milla is work. hard work.
Published on
September 19, 2004 in
Movies.
in a world of sit-com crap, brit-com rules. black adder is a britcom series starring rowan atkinson. “black adder 1″ is classic limp-wristed, lukewarm, greasy rowan. “black adder 2″ is better. “black adder 3″ is the best of the 3 seasons i have seen. the writing excellent, the political humor outrageous, and the humor dry as sand.
just my style.
Published on
September 10, 2004 in
Movies.
still another japanese import by way of disney. this movie is beautiful. there is a back-story, and a plot. a rare thing these days. this is on the same level as spirited away.
a detailed post-steampunk, dirigible-tech universe. no computers here. an obsession with flight, architecture, and the bones of both. bare airplane wings, robot bones, a city as an empty tomb, abandoned mines as living earth. all are stripped to show the underlying skeleton and form. parallels to da vinci and china mieville’s perdido street station.
Published on
September 10, 2004 in
Movies.
made in japan, redubbed in english by disney. linus approves. for adults this lacks depth, both visual and storyline. japanese animation cannot do caucasian faces. the characters think like paper dolls. most developed actor? the cat.
worth seeing to scope janeane garofalo in the extras. rowr.
Published on
September 10, 2004 in
Movies.
rammstein. what more to say? rammstein is itself. 1998 concert dvd in berlin. cold rage and real energy. i relate to it well. linus liked it for couch-jumping. then he was bored and played elsewhere. not bad for a 3 year old. i watched again. excellent audio engineering. the video quality is good. pyro action abounds.
rammstein is simple. distill it down to power chords and more powerful lyrics. a virtuoso gets lost in the details. rammstein has none. the forest is the trees. rammstein polarizes. hate, condemn, love, idolize. myself, i identify. probably too much. this is dangerous to have in the house. migrate to black clothes. put the piercings back in.
Published on
September 7, 2004 in
Movies.
the movie that started it all! i got this dvd a couple of years ago and watched it regularly. think mad max, elvis, wolfman jack, crazy russians, good surf music, and “kick-ass choppity chop swordplay”.
my 3 year old got ahold of the disc and watches it (along with ghost in the shell) every few days. he calls it “jack”, which is his generic term for any chop-socky movie that lines up with his obsession with the “samurai jack” cartoon. then he discovered the red elvises music videos on the dvd, now he is wearing grooves in the thing.
the star, jeffrey falcon is very popular overseas with 17 asian flicks under his belt and pals like stanley tong and jackie chan. he really should be picked up by tarantino.
