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| Firstly, I love classes that make me watch my favorite films (e.g. Sunset Boulevard) If you talk about silent films at great length with someone, that film is bound to come up during the course of the conversation.
Anyways, I recently Through a Screen Darkly by Christian critic Jeffrey Overstreet, who I greatly admire. In his book he mentioned having a wonderful experience watching a 2004 documentary called The Story of the Weeping Camel. It's the type of film that if I had known nothing about, I would have seen it at Blockbuster, noticed the National Geographic logo, and walked on. It's actually a surprisingly good film, and I highly recommend watching it. It's a Mongolian documentary about nomads living in the Gobi desert and their camels, which mean a lot to their society. The landscapes are beautiful, and the camera is handled in such a way that you barely know that there even is a camera at all. It's a quiet, contemplative film that isn't too preachy. If it had gone over the ~90 minutes, however, it would have been too much I think.
4.5/5 Stars.
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|  | Currently Watching
Persona
By Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Bj�rnstrand, J�rgen Lindstr�m
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Espinazo del diablo, El (2001) Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
I saw this film over the Summer and instantly fell in love with it. Having seen del Toro's later films already, I was expecting a decent film. This is, in fact, an amazing film. Guillermo del Toro has a very strong visual sense and this is evident in the overall look and feel of his film. It's also great how del Toro mixes his genres so well. It's a horror/ghost film, and it's also a character film as well.
5/5 Stars.
Hellboy (2004) Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Disclaimer: I haven't read or watched anything to do with Hellboy before watching this film. That said, this is a very fun action/superhero film.
3.5/5 Stars.
Laberinto del fauno, El (2006) Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
I'm very glad that I got to see this on in the theater last year. Easily my favorite del Toro film to date. The acting in this is superbly realistic, the cinematography/editing is very well done, and I love the themes of the film. It's one of the few films (that I know of) that succeeds in blending fantasy and reality together to the point where both are believable. It also has an amazing score by Javier Navarrete.
5/5 Stars.
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| It's been a while since I've been on here. I've seen quite a lot of films this Summer, so I've got plenty to choose from. It's been a while since I watched these, so we'll see how much I remember. Let's start off with the Edward Norton films...
The Painted Veil (2006) Directed by John Curran. Starring: Edward Norton and Naomi Watts
To give you a quick impression, The Painted Veil is cinematic perfection. It's a romantic, dramatic film that doesn't rely heavily on romance and drama. It's a wonderful story of love and duty, and even in hard times there is beauty. The acting from Norton and Watts was very good, and it was great seeing Diane "Emma Peel" Riggs as Mother Supreme. She still has that twinkle in her eye. It's hard to believe that The Painted Veil wasn't mentioned at the last Academy Awards. From what I hear not many people even knew that the film existed, which is a terrible shame.
5/5 Stars.
Down in the Valley (2005) Directed by David Jacobson. Starring: Edward Nortion and Evan Rachel Wood
I thought that this was a very well done film. The music, the scenery, and Norton combine to make this a worthy film. Evan Rachel Wood was great, and I really liked David Morse' character. It was nice to see a film that deals with teenage rebellion, but it doesn't make the father figure out to be a demon. He does make some wrong decisions in the film, but you know that he just wants what's best for the kids. He's trying to keep them safe, but he's not sure how to do that. And there is one scene involving a donut that was the highlight of the film for me. In some ways, Down in the Valley reminded me of an obscure film called Koyaaisqatsi in both a thematic and visual sense.
4/5 stars.
The Score (2001) Directed by Frank "Yoda" Oz. Starring: Robert De Niro and Edward Norton.
This was a good heist film. It was predictable to me, but it's probably not a fault of the film. It means that I've seen enough heist films to know what's going to happen. This was also Marlon Brando's last film. He only had a small role, and I felt a little sad watching him in it. I read an interesting interpretation of The Score recently. The basic idea is that the film is kind of a "passing of the baton" onto the next generation of actors, or specific actors. Marlon Brando<>Robert De Niro<>Edward Norton. The scepter, which is what they're trying to steal, could be seen as the 'baton'. Something interesting to think about at least.
3.5/5 Stars.
And here's my Summer list that I'll (hopefully) be working through here...(all first time views FYI)
The Lookout
Ikiru
The Lives of Others
The Bourne Ultimatum
Heavy
Black Snake Moan
The Fisher King
Zoolander
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Apartment
Double Endemnity
Hot Fuzz
Shaun of the Dead
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Rope
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Breach
Wings of Desire
Ratatouille
Shooter
Blades of Glory
Ghost Rider
Road Hogs
Reign Over Me
Night at the Museum
Being There
Silent Movie
Sherrybaby
Almost Famous
Bonnie & Clyde
The Color of Money
High Noon
Elizabeth
Brief Encounter
Strangers on a Train
Reservoir Dogs
The Man Without a Face
Knocked Up
Shrek 3
Lady in the Lake
Stir Crazy
Titanic
The Virgin Spring
Wild Strawberries
Rebecca
Love Actually
Say Anything
Catch-22
The Fountain
The Holiday
All the King's Men
The Good German
Apocalypto
Steel Magnolias
Notes on a Scandal
Little Children
The Island
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Spider-Man 3
Scent of a Woman
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Easy Rider
13 Conversations About One Thing
One Hour Photo
Final Cut
Apocalypse Now
Curse of the Golden Flower
Amadeus
Serpico
Smokin' Aces
Grindhouse
Lake of Fire
The Queen
Children of Men
The Departed
Identity
Copland
It Happened One Night
From Here to Eternity
The Last King of Scotland
The Lake House
Colditz
Sunset Bldv.
The General
Steam-Boat Bill Jr.
Casino Royale
Four Brothers
Fun With Dick & Jane
Primal Fear
As Good as it Gets
Charlotte's Web
American Splendor
The Black Dahlia
Chinatown
The Conversation
Die Hard
Eddie and the Cruisers
Iron Monkey
Jackie Brown
Little Miss Sunshine
Mr. Deeds (Sandler)
A Prairie Home Companion
The Prestige
Rush Hour
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Surf Nazis Must Die
Swordfish
Thank You For Smoking
Babel
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|  | Currently Watching
Little Miss Sunshine
By Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Marc Turtletaub, Jill Talley, Brenda Canela, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Chuck Loring, Justin Shilton, Gordon Thomson, Steven Christopher Parker, Bryan Cranston, John Walcutt, Paula Newsome, Dean Norris, Beth Grant, Wallace Langham
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Invincible (2006) Directed by Ericson Cole. Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, and Elizabeth Banks. Knowing beforehand that this was a sports movie made by Disney, I wasn't expecting too much from it. It's been said that if you've seen one sports film you've seen 'em all, but Invincible, while still suffering from this truth, did manage to be a good movie. In short, it was a sports movie on steroids. After watching the movie it felt like there just had to be something more there. At first I thought it was a bad choice because the relationship between the couple wasn't fleshed out that much, but in retrospect, it was an excellent decision that reminded me of Seabiscuit. Both movies shared a common theme, and they both showed it in different ways. The theme that I'm referring to is how sports has a positive impact on the spectator and that they love to root for the underdog. 3 1/2 (yes, half stars are so cool) out of 5 tackles
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| James Mangold is now one of my favorite directors. I hadn't realized until now that he had directed a few of my favorite films. After watching Girl, Interrupted (Great film) I had to see what else he had directed: Kate & Leopold and Walk the Line were the other films of his that I had seen and absolutley loved. I'm now really looking forward to his next film, 3:10 to Yuma, which is going to be a western film starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. It sounds like it will be a great film.
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