This is Water

Here's a really good college commencement speech given by one of my favorite authors ever, David Foster Wallace. Definitely worth checking out.

Attention! Attention! (30/100)

Attention general public and blogging population! Today I bring your attention to an absolutely wonderful 1986 BBC mini-series called The Singing Detective. It's a six-part television program that isn't technically a film, but it's on the Times top 100 list, and I'm willing to consider it a film as well. If you consider is a film it's easily in my own personal top five movies of all time, and if you consider it a TV show, it's hands down the best I've seen. Make no mistake, TV show or movie or whatever you label it, The Singing Detective is absolutely brilliant.

Written by Dennis Potter, and largely considered to be autobiographical (though Potter denied this), The Singing Detective tells the story of a bedridden hospital patient reliving his pulp magazine detective stories he wrote as well as various childhood memories through various hallucinations and some very clever storytelling. It's told in a way that might be confusing to some viewers as a lot of seemingly random scenes are interspersed throughout the narrative, but as we learn more and more about the characters and their back-stories, pieces start fitting into place. It's almost like a detective story! And while viewers are left to form their own conclusions when it's all over, it becomes clear that Potter did everything very intentionally.

So, you ask, whatever did The Singing Detective do to deserve such lavish praise? It does just about everything I can think of that a film can do right... well, right. The acting is superb: Michael Gambon (you might recognize him as Dumbledore from the more recent Harry Potter movies) gives an amazing performance and has some of the best dialogue I've heard. His character is bitter and cynical and completely nasty, but I also found him extremely likable. All the other actors and very good as well and there's definitely some top-notch acting going on here.

I won't goon much longer other than to reiterate that you watch this as soon as you can. It's masterful. It's art. It's cinema perfected as far as I'm concerned. Thank you Times for introduction me to this wonderful piece of work.

Also, there's awesome 1940s crooner music and characters occasionally bursting into song!

Star Wars (28/100*)

If there's one set of movies I've put off seeing for far too long it's definitely the Star Wars franchise. I mean, the franchise is essentially a staple of pretty much every boy's childhood, right?

Well not mine. It's not something I particularly regret. On one hand I guess I did always feel a bit left in the dark when playground conversation turned to serious matters like Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. But on the other, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure whether this is a good thing, but a childhood without Star Wars allowed me to watch the movies today with an unbiased mind and without donning the rose-tinted goggles of nostalgia. I think an objective viewpoint is generally the best kind of viewpoint, and all too often nostalgia gets in the way of qualities I really value in cinema.

And I'm sorry Star Wars fans, I know what the series means to you, I just didn't enjoy it. A New Hope was pretty good (and that the only movie in the series the Times list explicitly stated I must watch), but it definitely went downhill in episodes V and IV.

Maybe part of it was the fact that the infamous plot twist in episode V had been spoiled for me (and just about everyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past 30 years) a hundred times over. I could literally quote that and a few other scenes word for word, and this mind you in a movie I had never seen before. I'm not joking.

I didn't watch the prequels, but considering Star Wars fans hate them, I doubt I'd get any enjoyment out of them. I might watch them one day, but I have no particular desire to do so at present.

* Yeah I know I'm a few movies behind on the whole review thing. I'll get around to them eventually.

Chungking Express and Double Indeminity (23/100)

I also watched first two Godfather movies, but everybody knows about them already, right? I think they're overrated, but they're still pretty darn good.

Chungking Express (1994) 

A really unique movie with one of the coolest intro themes I've ever heard:

I think it's a really suitable song for this movie and it's visual style. The movie itself is a Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai, but it's  bit hard to classify it as one genre or another. It's a romantic drama, but it's not really a film that work because of it's plot. This movie is mainly for people who just really love film in general. Quentin Tarantino is quoted to have said: "I just started crying. Not because the movie was sad, but I'm just so happy to love a movie this much.'' And damn, if that isn't good enough praise for you I doubt anything I can say here will convince you to watch it. The whole atmosphere kind of reminded me of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction actually, if only because of it's charm.

It's a really subtle film. I've only seen it once, but I aim to revisit it soon because I can tell there are a lot of things I missed. The movie itself is divided into two essentially unrelated story arcs with characters only briefly coming into contact with each other. I was a bit confused by this and didn't realize that the story arc had changed for quite a while (due to my incompetence or just not paying attention remains up to question). It's not a casual film, and it's not really a film with any very serious message (none that I've found at least), but it doesn't try to be. It's a celebration of film and a pretty damn good one at that.

Double Indemnity (1944)

For some reason, I can't for the life of me see why, I never really got into detective films. What little of the genre I've seen I've loved, and there's just something about the film noir style that I find irresistible. Maybe it's all the snarky cynical characters, or the cat-and-mouse detective work, but I just love the genre.

It's about a love affair between a life insurance salesman and a married woman who plot to pull off the perfect murder by killing her husband and get away with the insurance money, but obviously things don't work to plan, and well, you'll have to see it for yourself.

Anyway, I sincerely urge you to watch this movie ASAP. It's one of the most entertaining works of cinema I've seen in a while. I found myself watching with a huge stupid grin on my face the whole way through. It's an amazing film with a clever plot and some awesome dialogue. It's barely aged and it's still remains exciting it all the intense parts, and if you're looking for a movie to watch over the weekend make it this one.

Oh, just some Canadian indie bands

Just thought I'd drop these here. I apologize in advance for my indie/alt-rocky musical tastes if that's not what you're into. People tend to be picky about these things.

Anyway, the 100 movie thing is now up to 22/100, I'll be posting some reviews in the next few days.

100 movie challenge progress: 20/100

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

Casablanca is probably one of the movie perfect movies I've ever seen. In case you don't know, it's a 1942 romantic drama directed by Michael Curtiz about a love triangle between the main actress and two lovers, one of whom she had assumed to be dead but turned out to not be, which complicates things quite a bit. It's a classic movie and it's not hard to see how much of an impact it's had on cinema in general. The screenplay and onscreen choreography are just superb. There's always something happening, there's not a dull moment. I honestly don't have any complaints. A lot of people consider old movies slow and boring to watch but Casablanca is pretty much the antithesis of that stereotype. I highly suggest everyone watch this movie at least once.

Metropolis on the other hand, I didn't enjoy as much. It's a 1927 German Expressionist silent film by Fritz Lang, and in case you didn't know, one of the most iconic science fiction films in cinema history. It's a fine movie, and an amazing technological achievement (for the time of course), but I'm just not a fan of movies that rely to much on symbolism. I think it's a historically important film, but I doubt I'd watch it again. On a side note I'm fairly certain that it's the oldest movie I've ever seen.

Next up: The Godfather Parts 1 and 2!!!

Times 100 movie challenge!

Any cinema buffs here? I'm planning on watching all of the "ALL-TIME top 100 movies" over the next few months. I'll probably post a review for each new one I finish. If anyone has any suggestions on what I would watch right away I'd be glad to hear.

Here's the list. I'll update it as I finish each movie. I've seen 30/100 so far.

Movie	Year(s)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God	1972
The Apu Trilogy	1955, 1956, 1959
The Awful Truth	1937
Baby Face	1933
Bande a part	1964
Barry Lyndon	1975
Berlin Alexanderplatz	1980
Blade Runner	1982
Bonnie and Clyde	1967
Brazil	1985
Bride of Frankenstein	1935
Camille	1936
Casablanca	1942
Charade	1963
Children of Paradise	1945
Chinatown	1974
Chungking Express	1994
Citizen Kane	1941
City Lights	1931
City of God	2002
Closely Watched Trains	1966
The Crime of Monsieur Lange	1936
The Crowd	1928
Day for Night	1973
The Decalogue	1989
Detour	1945
The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie	1972
Dodsworth	1936
Double Indemnity	1944
Dr. Strangelove	1964
Drunken Master II	1994
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial	1982
8 1/2	1963
The 400 Blows	1959
Farewell My Concubine	1993
Finding Nemo	2003
The Fly	1986
The Godfather, Parts I and II	1972, 1974
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly	1966
Goodfellas	1990
A Hard Day's Night	1964
His Girl Friday	1940
Ikiru	1952
In A Lonely Place	1950
Invasion of the Body Snatchers	1956
It's a Gift	1934
It's a Wonderful Life	1946
Kandahar	2001
Kind Hearts and Coronets	1949
King Kong	1933
The Lady Eve	1941
The Last Command	1928
Lawrence of Arabia	1962
Leolo	1992
The Lord of the Rings	2001-03
The Man With a Camera	1929
The Manchurian Candidate	1962
Meet Me in St. Louis	1944
Metropolis	1927
Miller's Crossing	1990
Mon oncle d'Amerique	1980
Mouchette	1967
Nayagan	1987
Ninotchka	1939
Notorious	1946
Olympia, Parts 1 and 2	1938
On the Waterfront	1954
Once Upon a Time in the West	1968
Out of the Past	1947
Persona	1966
Pinocchio	1940
Psycho	1960
Pulp Fiction	1994
The Purple Rose of Cairo	1985
Pyaasa	1957
Raging Bull	1980
Schindler's List	1993
The Searchers	1956
Sherlock, Jr.	1924
The Shop Around the Corner	1940
Singin' in the Rain	1952
The Singing Detective	1986
Smiles of a Summer Night	1955
Some Like It Hot	1959
Star Wars	1977
A Streetcar Named Desire	1951
Sunrise	1927
Sweet Smell of Success	1957
Swing Time	1936
Talk to Her	2002
Taxi Driver	1976
Tokyo Story	1953
A Touch of Zen	1971
Ugetsu	1953
Ulysses' Gaze	1995
Umberto D	1952
Unforgiven	1992
White Heat	1949
Wings of Desire	1987
Yojimbo	1961

Videos that make me fuzzy inside

Oops, haven't posted in the past week

I suppose everyone and their dog has seen that last one, but it's still a good one.

Next time: real content!

Videos that make me laugh

 

That last one will only make sense if you've seen The Shawshank Redemption, which you should if you haven't, cause it's the bomb.