the movies
i love the damn movies. they make me laugh, they make me cry. they make me think, about life, what i am doing, what i'm not doing, and on and on.
still feeling a bit jetlagged from my trip back to the states last week, and given that fact that it was raining too hard to do much outside, i decided that i'd go town on the movies this weekend.
i don't have a dvd player (come on, i live in a frickin stone cottage, for crying out loud!), so that means my selection is limited. plus i like to patronize the smaller, independent video shops (NO blockbuster for me!), which limits my selection further. so i pretty much always go to the videosyncratic store on cowley road in east oxford. i like the clerks there - they're all about mid-twenties, into wearing black t-shirts with unintelligble sayings or logos from punk-looking bands, and every one of them has the driest sense of humor on earth. must be part of the interview process: if you crack a smile while viewing a monty python flick, you're out.
it costs 3 quid for a single film, whether dvd or vhs. and if you rent 2, you get one free. that's the only deal they offer. i've asked about a frequent rental thing, like a rewards program, you know, to develop customer loyalty... but they just sort of shake their heads at the thick american (me). oh, and you get ONE day for new releases and TWO days for everything else. that's it. man, even blockbuster allowed 5 days for older flicks. and every day you're late is another 3 pounds per film (even blockbuster claimed to have got rid of late fees earlier this year). so i usually just get one film; i mean, 3 films in 48 hours is a serious commitment!
however, given the rain, and my needing to just rest my bones, i opted for the trio: saturday night i watched women on the verge of a nervous breakdown and frida, and this afternoon was the marathon long cinema paradiso.
women was the second pedro almodovar film i'd watched in a month, having seen all about my mother recently. i really like almodovar's eye, his camera angles, the shots he chooses. and his sense of humor; he embeds humor even in the deepest tragedy. on the other hand, i never feel like i really know the characters, who tend to be either flippant, potted, or, um, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. but overall, the plot twists are clever, and he provides a multitudinous array of characters desperately seeking some solace somewhere, and so you are sucked in, rooting for this character and now that one. grade: B+
set in spain and spoken in spanish, almodovar's films are subtitled. it was therefore an interesting juxatoposition to then watch frida, a high-budget hollywood (miramax) film, set in mexico, but spoken in english. indeed, some of the songs were sung in spanish - deepening their emotional effect - but somehow i kept thinking the characters should have been speaking in the native language also. there were some GREAT songs in this film, and some excellent dancing. selma hayek kicks absolute ass in the role of frida; great acting - such attitude! - plus she's gorgeous: a winning combination. it's basically a biography; i find it is hard to cover someone's entire life in a measley 2 hours and do it any justice, but the writing here is solid, with a good support cast (geoffrey rush does a good trotsky). the accident scene where frida gets her spine crushed on the bus was rather tim burton-esque, but it worked. in all, a deeply moving film. it is mind-boggling how some people can overcome such pain and tragedy, or rather how they can work THROUGH the pain, transcend it and use it as a source of passion. while i am not such a huge fan of her art style (i like the bold colors but care not for the graphic anatomical elements), frida's is truly an inspirational story. grade: A
side note 1: antonio banderas plays secondary roles in both of the above films. in neither is he given a decent haircut or wardrobe. (better looks for him are here.)
side note 2: here is a pic of an artist whose style i do like. his work was all over this mexican restaurant christy & i ate at and where they served killer margeritas, which was across the narrow cobblestone street from the szabo marzipan museum, in Szentendre, Hungary (about 40 min north of budapest). i didn't write down the artist's name, sorry!
painting of two fish kissing, 13aug2005
in my efforts to catch up films from the 80s, next up was the italian cinema paradiso, an emotionally lush film about films... and love/unrequited love... and about moving away from one's home town and coming back to find... that everything/nothing has changed. very soon into this film the sun had come out, and so i began itching to go for a bike ride. only then it dawned on me that this film was 3 HOURS LONG! there is some setting on the remote for my little 13" Sony combo tv-vcr that for the life of me i cannot figure out how to fix: i pressed something one night and now whenever i watch a video, in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen it displays how much time has elapsed and also a bright little yellow bar indicates how much of the video is left to play. i've hit every button in every combination on that remote, but cannot get that elapsed time and indicator bar to diappear. (no, i don't have the manual either.) anyway, i loved paradiso, despite its length, though did feel it could have been shorter or chugged along a bit faster at times. nevertheless, it was very moving, with some great dialogue. the cute, curious, impish young Salvatore/Toto is irresistable, and his mentor Alfredo equally charming. a touching scene with the older salvatore and his mom; family can be great for their thoughtfulness and unconditional love. i laughed, i cried. grade: A-
before this last film ended, as i was mentally preparing for a late afternoon cycle down the two path along the Thames, a friend called and invited me, sure enough... to the movies! oliver twist. well, just to keep up with some new releases, i went along. surely i read the book as a kid, but this rendition is fresh enough, nailing with precision the feel that Dickens portrays of the streets of london and their swirling tug of war between good and evil. with some fabulous acting by (and makeup on) ben kingsley... i didn't even recognize him until his second or third scene! i didn't remember a dog having a central role in the original story, but there is in the movie, and that scores instant points in my book. and sure enough, it's the dog that saves the day! i looked through all the breeds on the akc site, but can't quite figure out what breed that dog is. he looks most like a bull terrier, but that site says they're between 28-38 lbs, while the pooch in the movie is more like 58-68 lbs. anyone know what breed it is?? (i think it is also the same breed of the dog in Bombon el Perro, an Argentinian film out earlier this year, which is unfortunately not listed in the IMDB site! now what's up with that?!)
note about the movie houses in england: they serve 2 kinds of popcorn: salted and sugared. i tried the sugared once. yuck. it's like bob dylan's voice, you'd need to acquire a taste for it. (which oddly enough i have.)
speaking of animals, here's a majestic kitty spotted on my way to the cinema...
majestic kitty, 9 oct 2005 (click to enlarge)
still feeling a bit jetlagged from my trip back to the states last week, and given that fact that it was raining too hard to do much outside, i decided that i'd go town on the movies this weekend.
i don't have a dvd player (come on, i live in a frickin stone cottage, for crying out loud!), so that means my selection is limited. plus i like to patronize the smaller, independent video shops (NO blockbuster for me!), which limits my selection further. so i pretty much always go to the videosyncratic store on cowley road in east oxford. i like the clerks there - they're all about mid-twenties, into wearing black t-shirts with unintelligble sayings or logos from punk-looking bands, and every one of them has the driest sense of humor on earth. must be part of the interview process: if you crack a smile while viewing a monty python flick, you're out.
it costs 3 quid for a single film, whether dvd or vhs. and if you rent 2, you get one free. that's the only deal they offer. i've asked about a frequent rental thing, like a rewards program, you know, to develop customer loyalty... but they just sort of shake their heads at the thick american (me). oh, and you get ONE day for new releases and TWO days for everything else. that's it. man, even blockbuster allowed 5 days for older flicks. and every day you're late is another 3 pounds per film (even blockbuster claimed to have got rid of late fees earlier this year). so i usually just get one film; i mean, 3 films in 48 hours is a serious commitment!
however, given the rain, and my needing to just rest my bones, i opted for the trio: saturday night i watched women on the verge of a nervous breakdown and frida, and this afternoon was the marathon long cinema paradiso.
women was the second pedro almodovar film i'd watched in a month, having seen all about my mother recently. i really like almodovar's eye, his camera angles, the shots he chooses. and his sense of humor; he embeds humor even in the deepest tragedy. on the other hand, i never feel like i really know the characters, who tend to be either flippant, potted, or, um, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. but overall, the plot twists are clever, and he provides a multitudinous array of characters desperately seeking some solace somewhere, and so you are sucked in, rooting for this character and now that one. grade: B+
set in spain and spoken in spanish, almodovar's films are subtitled. it was therefore an interesting juxatoposition to then watch frida, a high-budget hollywood (miramax) film, set in mexico, but spoken in english. indeed, some of the songs were sung in spanish - deepening their emotional effect - but somehow i kept thinking the characters should have been speaking in the native language also. there were some GREAT songs in this film, and some excellent dancing. selma hayek kicks absolute ass in the role of frida; great acting - such attitude! - plus she's gorgeous: a winning combination. it's basically a biography; i find it is hard to cover someone's entire life in a measley 2 hours and do it any justice, but the writing here is solid, with a good support cast (geoffrey rush does a good trotsky). the accident scene where frida gets her spine crushed on the bus was rather tim burton-esque, but it worked. in all, a deeply moving film. it is mind-boggling how some people can overcome such pain and tragedy, or rather how they can work THROUGH the pain, transcend it and use it as a source of passion. while i am not such a huge fan of her art style (i like the bold colors but care not for the graphic anatomical elements), frida's is truly an inspirational story. grade: A
side note 1: antonio banderas plays secondary roles in both of the above films. in neither is he given a decent haircut or wardrobe. (better looks for him are here.)
side note 2: here is a pic of an artist whose style i do like. his work was all over this mexican restaurant christy & i ate at and where they served killer margeritas, which was across the narrow cobblestone street from the szabo marzipan museum, in Szentendre, Hungary (about 40 min north of budapest). i didn't write down the artist's name, sorry!
painting of two fish kissing, 13aug2005in my efforts to catch up films from the 80s, next up was the italian cinema paradiso, an emotionally lush film about films... and love/unrequited love... and about moving away from one's home town and coming back to find... that everything/nothing has changed. very soon into this film the sun had come out, and so i began itching to go for a bike ride. only then it dawned on me that this film was 3 HOURS LONG! there is some setting on the remote for my little 13" Sony combo tv-vcr that for the life of me i cannot figure out how to fix: i pressed something one night and now whenever i watch a video, in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen it displays how much time has elapsed and also a bright little yellow bar indicates how much of the video is left to play. i've hit every button in every combination on that remote, but cannot get that elapsed time and indicator bar to diappear. (no, i don't have the manual either.) anyway, i loved paradiso, despite its length, though did feel it could have been shorter or chugged along a bit faster at times. nevertheless, it was very moving, with some great dialogue. the cute, curious, impish young Salvatore/Toto is irresistable, and his mentor Alfredo equally charming. a touching scene with the older salvatore and his mom; family can be great for their thoughtfulness and unconditional love. i laughed, i cried. grade: A-
before this last film ended, as i was mentally preparing for a late afternoon cycle down the two path along the Thames, a friend called and invited me, sure enough... to the movies! oliver twist. well, just to keep up with some new releases, i went along. surely i read the book as a kid, but this rendition is fresh enough, nailing with precision the feel that Dickens portrays of the streets of london and their swirling tug of war between good and evil. with some fabulous acting by (and makeup on) ben kingsley... i didn't even recognize him until his second or third scene! i didn't remember a dog having a central role in the original story, but there is in the movie, and that scores instant points in my book. and sure enough, it's the dog that saves the day! i looked through all the breeds on the akc site, but can't quite figure out what breed that dog is. he looks most like a bull terrier, but that site says they're between 28-38 lbs, while the pooch in the movie is more like 58-68 lbs. anyone know what breed it is?? (i think it is also the same breed of the dog in Bombon el Perro, an Argentinian film out earlier this year, which is unfortunately not listed in the IMDB site! now what's up with that?!)
note about the movie houses in england: they serve 2 kinds of popcorn: salted and sugared. i tried the sugared once. yuck. it's like bob dylan's voice, you'd need to acquire a taste for it. (which oddly enough i have.)
speaking of animals, here's a majestic kitty spotted on my way to the cinema...
majestic kitty, 9 oct 2005 (click to enlarge)
posted by Joel Bassuk at 11:58 PM
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