Category: Movies

Movies

The Force Awakened, but Originality Slept In

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There’s this movie you might have heard about. I’ve already written about the experience of seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens — the first of the three times I saw it was probably the most fun I’ve had at a movie theater in thirty years.

But what about the movie itself — was it any good? (Warning, lots of spoilers. Although if you haven’t seen the movie already, you’re probably not going to.) I’m not going to write a proper review, since it’s far too late and you didn’t need a review to decide whether to go see it, anyway. But I will share a few thoughts before we talk about the important stuff.

Movies

Help Wanted, Experience Preferred

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In late 1966, a young guitar player who had toured with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard came to England. He was managed by a former member of The Animals, who quickly recruited a bass player and drummer to form a new three-piece band. After going with Pete Townsend to hear them play, Eric Clapton said, “I thought that was it, the game was up for all of us, we may as well pack it in.”

Movies

On Top of the World

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It’s rarely a good idea to review a movie when you’re emotionally invested in the story; it’s seldom a good idea to even see the movie. LoTR is perhaps the only time that’s turned out well for me, and there are dozens of times it hasn’t.

Like millions (literally) of others, I was turned into an armchair mountaineer by Jon Krakaeur’s Into Thin Air. It was therefore with some trepidation that I entered the theater to watch Everest.

Read my review at Truth On Cinema.

Movies

Movies You Can’t Refuse, Part II

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This is Part II of our journey through nine decades of film, choosing one movie from each that any student of film should see; Part I is here.

70’s

You know which one this is going to be, it’s the one that sparked this conversation. The Godfather was Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of a bestselling pulp novel. The backstory on the making of the movie is almost as interesting as the movie itself.

But only “almost,” because the movie itself, as I wrote elsewhere, rivals Kane as the peak of American filmmaking. There had been “gangster” movies before, but Godfather changed everything – it portrayed people with depth, with emotion and families and idiosyncrasies, and it did so in a story that was almost operatic.

Movies

Movies You Can’t Refuse, Part 1

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A friend of mine, Dan, is a movie critic, with his own web site and everything. Imagine my surprise (and consternation) when last week he posted that he had just watched The Godfather for the first time. At least one person told him that was un-American (if McCarthy were alive he’d have been arrested), and while that is slightly (but only slightly) hyperbolic, it’s certainly a situation far less than ideal.

Dan’s reply was that they don’t ask what you’ve seen or haven’t seen before they give you a press pass. Yes, and that and the lack of Bluebell and the clown car that is Trump for President are a huge part of what’s wrong with this country.

Movies

Both Sides Now1

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My wife and I have been working our way through a several-year-old TV show on Netflix, the place where old TV shows go to die. This particular show titles all of it’s episodes “The <something> Job,” and last night was “The Rashomon Job”. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Oooh, the Rashomon job.

Her: What’s Rashomon?

Me: Oh my. Honey, I have clearly failed you. Akira Kurosawa?

Her: Who?

Me: Oh my.