Seen at: AMC Promenade in Westminster, Sunday evening.
I was delighted to accept my sister's invitation to see this with her daughters while I was staying down in Westminster at their house over Christmas.
Neither of us was looking forward to it that much as a movie. The trailer had looked atrocious. But thankfully, like so many trailers, it misrepresented the nature of the story.
Alice---of course I thought of you, not just because of the particular angular letter in the name of the main character, or because it's about a young woman held prisoner for eighteen years (seriously, really?), or because of her huge emerald eyes that remind me of a pair of contacts you once owned. It was all of those things, and more. Perhaps I just see you everywhere lately.
The story is more of a family reunion (girl reunited with parents) than a love story, and thus it was a bit deficiency. The romantic hero didn't really win her at the end. He wasn't put through enough trials. For example, there is no scene in the movie in which the hero thinks he has lost her entirely. It is in that black moment that we learn that he will do anything to get her back. That is how true love is tested.
In any case, it worked on enough levels to not be offensive. On the way home in the van, with the girls zonked out in their car seats, I told my sister about the movie. We both liked it better than we thought. We both agreed that the horse stole the show (second movie in a row for me). The idea that hero and horse are at odds with each other through much of this story says a lot about our culture. Horses are physical manifestations of human virtues. In this case the horse embodies the dogged unswerving tenacity that the hero lacks. For the hero to be a true hero, one who wins the heroine fully as his true love, the hero and horse have to be united. He must be as tenacious as the horse was, in this movie.
I also told my sister that I loved the idea that a man's hand can be healed by touching the hair of his true love. That's very romantic. But her true healing power doesn't come from her hair. That's not enough to bring him back to life. Instead it's her tears of mercy that do it, even if her hair has turned brown---or any other color for that matter.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Secretariat
Seen at: Cinema Saver 6, last night.
Alice---thought of you while seeing this movie, for obvious reasons, if you ever see it.
The movie unfortunately is rather dreadful---an amateur screenplay and textbook clumsy direction. You can really see the cast straining at the lines they are having to say. It's rather reactionary and cloying in the not-good sort of way, while simultaneously endorsing the worst of postmodernism.
The most interesting scenes were the close-ups of the horses themselves. They should have done more of that, I think---made the whole movie from the horse's point of view.
Nevertheless, I rooted for this movie. I remember the headline from the Triple Crown horse race that summer in banner type on the front page of the Des Moines Register. And that photo of that one horse, all alone, gallopping across the finish line to victory. Thirty one lengths---The number always stuck in my mind.
That's the way I thought of the world back then, that I was living in a perfect time, when the greatest of everything was happening, and that the wildest kinds of magic were possible, and that there was no reason I couldn't be a part of it too.
And the epilogue---that was freaking hilarious---snow angel hilarious.
Alice---thought of you while seeing this movie, for obvious reasons, if you ever see it.
The movie unfortunately is rather dreadful---an amateur screenplay and textbook clumsy direction. You can really see the cast straining at the lines they are having to say. It's rather reactionary and cloying in the not-good sort of way, while simultaneously endorsing the worst of postmodernism.
The most interesting scenes were the close-ups of the horses themselves. They should have done more of that, I think---made the whole movie from the horse's point of view.
Nevertheless, I rooted for this movie. I remember the headline from the Triple Crown horse race that summer in banner type on the front page of the Des Moines Register. And that photo of that one horse, all alone, gallopping across the finish line to victory. Thirty one lengths---The number always stuck in my mind.
That's the way I thought of the world back then, that I was living in a perfect time, when the greatest of everything was happening, and that the wildest kinds of magic were possible, and that there was no reason I couldn't be a part of it too.
And the epilogue---that was freaking hilarious---snow angel hilarious.
Despicable Me
seen at: Cinema Saver 6, about seven weeks ago, I think...
Smitty---has it really been less than two months since we saw this together? Then you went and did what?
So glad you had a great visit out to Coop and Betty's. Too bad about the cell phone. But you saw what mine looked like. I took your cosmic hint and got a new one too.
We both liked Despicable Me, as I remember. Wasn't that a good movie? Suprisingly so. I thought the trailers were dreadful, but it turned out they highlighted the worst part of the movie. The rest was almost charming.
Definite surprise of the year for me.
So glad you're back in town. What do you want to see next?
Smitty---has it really been less than two months since we saw this together? Then you went and did what?
So glad you had a great visit out to Coop and Betty's. Too bad about the cell phone. But you saw what mine looked like. I took your cosmic hint and got a new one too.
We both liked Despicable Me, as I remember. Wasn't that a good movie? Suprisingly so. I thought the trailers were dreadful, but it turned out they highlighted the worst part of the movie. The rest was almost charming.
Definite surprise of the year for me.
So glad you're back in town. What do you want to see next?
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Metropolis (restored version)
Seen at: Lyric Cinema Cafe, last month.
When I mentioned that this was coming to the Lyric, my dad said he really wanted to go. So for the second time in a year, I found myself going to a movie with him. I even got to introduce him to Ben, who was working the counter that night.
On the way there, my dad mentioned that the restored version was considered to have a very strong Nazi message. I had seen the old American recut version on TCM a few years back and thought it was a masterpiece. I wondered just how a re-editing could make it a Nazi movie.
After the movie was over, on the way home, we both agreed that there was no question what made this a Nazi movie.
The key to understanding it is to realize that we have essentially been fed a load of malarkey about what Nazism was about. We've been conned into thinking it was all about anti-Semitism, which in fact was a side issue in the main philosophy of the Third Reich.
Metropolis had to be lost and destroyed in its original version, I think, because it shows what the real philosophy of Nazism was about, especially in regard to the bloodline-based hierarchical and authoritative organization of society. It is the part of Nazism that survived the war intact, and was proffered to us as the New International Order after World War II. In order words, this movie shows how even though Germany lost the war, the Nazis triumphed.
But other than that, it's a brilliant movie. One of the greatest masterpieces of all time. It was a pleasure to watch every scene. My father thought it was "overly theatrical" like an old movie. I had to tell him that was part of German Expressionism at the time---the exaggerated sets and gestures, as well as the lingering camera shots.
I'd see it again and again, even if I get cold chills seeing the older Federson and his henchmen, who provided the textbook lesson in how to act like a Nazi for many members in the audience. The reason this is not an American movie is simple---the bad guys suffer no downfall. There's no revolution at the end. It turns out they were the good guys after all. They just needed to realize that it takes an upper-class scion of a powerful family to save us all. Gee, where have I heard that before?
When I mentioned that this was coming to the Lyric, my dad said he really wanted to go. So for the second time in a year, I found myself going to a movie with him. I even got to introduce him to Ben, who was working the counter that night.
On the way there, my dad mentioned that the restored version was considered to have a very strong Nazi message. I had seen the old American recut version on TCM a few years back and thought it was a masterpiece. I wondered just how a re-editing could make it a Nazi movie.
After the movie was over, on the way home, we both agreed that there was no question what made this a Nazi movie.
The key to understanding it is to realize that we have essentially been fed a load of malarkey about what Nazism was about. We've been conned into thinking it was all about anti-Semitism, which in fact was a side issue in the main philosophy of the Third Reich.
Metropolis had to be lost and destroyed in its original version, I think, because it shows what the real philosophy of Nazism was about, especially in regard to the bloodline-based hierarchical and authoritative organization of society. It is the part of Nazism that survived the war intact, and was proffered to us as the New International Order after World War II. In order words, this movie shows how even though Germany lost the war, the Nazis triumphed.
But other than that, it's a brilliant movie. One of the greatest masterpieces of all time. It was a pleasure to watch every scene. My father thought it was "overly theatrical" like an old movie. I had to tell him that was part of German Expressionism at the time---the exaggerated sets and gestures, as well as the lingering camera shots.
I'd see it again and again, even if I get cold chills seeing the older Federson and his henchmen, who provided the textbook lesson in how to act like a Nazi for many members in the audience. The reason this is not an American movie is simple---the bad guys suffer no downfall. There's no revolution at the end. It turns out they were the good guys after all. They just needed to realize that it takes an upper-class scion of a powerful family to save us all. Gee, where have I heard that before?
Angelina Jolie as the New Role Model
Sure got a big kick out of this TED talk, as one might imagine. Towards the end, it degenerates into a celebration of almost everything about postmodern pop culture that I have come to find as disgusting as drinking sewer water.
AJ as the new James Bond, indeed---a soulless psychopathic agent of the global elite, remorsely killing to keep the powerful in their powerful places. My ideal woman---NOT!
Well, to be fair, I should have thought of that before I spent 200,000 years oppressing and enslaving the women of the world!
AJ as the new James Bond, indeed---a soulless psychopathic agent of the global elite, remorsely killing to keep the powerful in their powerful places. My ideal woman---NOT!
Well, to be fair, I should have thought of that before I spent 200,000 years oppressing and enslaving the women of the world!
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