Four movies you have to at least watch…
Blake Edwards 1922-2010
Yet another passing which saddens us. Thank you for so many movies, so many laughs, and more.
Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, he will be terribly missed.
“The girl with the dragon tattoo”: dark and potent Swedish roast
“The girl with the dragon tattoo” – (2009, Sweden, 152 minutes – rated R)
This is a foray into the monstrosities men commit, with an unusual protagonist who herself has been mauled by such, yet has the brass to fight back…
A previous Swedish film, “let the right one in”, got us curious about cinema from that part of Europe: Sweden, Denmark, Norway and their neighbor to the Southwest, the Netherlands.
Watch the trailer:
We catch episodes of the police drama “Wallander”, either the Swedish version or the British production with Kenneth Branagh in the title role on a local station.
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Another cool video: aesthetics in ballistics
This video’s not very recent, it was made by a German company manufacturing professional measuring equipment. It depicts high velocity ammunition impacting various materials in very slow motion.
At 10 minutes it may seem a bit long, but it has a strangely soothing quality. Enjoy…
De Felis Catus Mysterii
Reincarnation:
1
a : the action of reincarnating : the state of being reincarnated b : rebirth in new bodies or forms of life; especially : a rebirth of a soul in a new human body
2
: a fresh embodiment with tuna breath…
Hmmm….
Midnight Movie Madness: “Sukiyaki Western Django” avatar of Yojimbo
“Sukiyaki Western Django” – (2007, Japan, 121 minutes – rated R)
A gunfighter arrives in a small town divided between two powerful and vicious clans, the Whites and the Reds. You’re right: you’ve seen this before in “Yojimbo”, “last man standing” and others…
Watch the trailer:
What sets “Sukiyaki western Django” apart, then, is director Takashi Miike’s style. Visually, it looks like a very colorful dream, with that “photoshopped” quality many movies have nowadays, with high contrast and bright hues.
It has been called visually stunning, but I think that’s overstating it, just as “Avatar” felt to me like watching a fancy screensaver for almost three hours.
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It’s a bird, it’s a turkey: it’s Lastech on a plane!
I don’t like flying, it makes me nervous and cranky… I hadn’t flown since, oh, 2002. You’d think perhaps I would bring a book onboard and try to distract myself, but no…
I prefer to let my mind wander about the aircraft. How long has it been since they banned smoking on planes? Sometime in the ‘80s, wasn’t it? So why do they still have the “no smoking” icon overhead? And no flat screen TVs, old cathode tube units instead. Hmmmm. Just how old are those planes, anyway, I wondered, glancing nervously at the wing flexing at 39000 feet.
In this 1960’s décor of cream and gray plastic, I tried to imagine myself as Dave Bowman on the shuttle to the moon, but no dice.
Funny how some pilots are smoother than others, and how you can tell by the way they land and take off.
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Felis Catus’ visual acumen: the Wayfarer-Oakley effect
Research continues into the extremes of violence demonstrated by Mazuzu Whang whilst at play.
I have posted before in “Dance Hall Days” about his tendency to not only chase a laser dot on the floor, but to absolutely obliterate it. I’ve also observed his disregard for human comfort or safety when chasing or being chased by Tito, bouncing off us at high speed while we sleep…
I now think we may have an explanation for this Clockwork Orange level of violence.
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“Mother”: Korean neorealism?
“Mother” – (2009, South Korea, 128 minutes – rated R)
The film opens with “Mother” (Hye-Ja Kim) walking through a field, stopping and then dancing to a theme by Byeong-woo Lee, a remarkable composition of musical motives evoking works by such diverse artists as Nino Rota, Roque Banos, Nick Cave or Frank Tetaz.
Byeong-woo Lee playing the piece live:
It starts with a cinematic work of art, further enhanced once it is revealed what Mother just did.
Nostalgia and wonderment: revisiting “forbidden planet”
Science fiction has always appealed to my imagination, for as far back as I can remember, and my favorite sub-genre remains the space opera.
Both in film and book forms, it allowed me to escape and hope the future would be better and more exciting than the present.
“Forbidden planet” is still the single most vibrant example of pure sci-fi for me, as Leslie Nielsen’s passing reminded me this week. This post isn’t intended as a review of the movie, rather it’s a look back on how it influenced me personally.
When someone like Leslie Nielsen passes on, it is difficult not to feel a pang of loss, so familiar was he to so many of us. Not just from films but from countless TV appearances over the years. It wasn’t uncommon to see him in an episode of some show before he’d appear again later the same evening on another.
He was one of those faces we grew up with, and he was never tabloid material. As young as I was when I first saw “forbidden planet” I knew Walter Pidgeon (another Canadian, like Nielsen) from various films and Earl Holliman from TV appearances, but I didn’t recognize Nielsen until years later, when I had an “aha!” moment.
I also believe my taste for electronic music (Orbital and such) stems from the fascinating soundtrack of the film, as does my love of open spaces which ultimately drove me westward.
Everything about the film, from the foreboding skies, ambient sounds and design of the underground city raised the bar for future movies, and for me there aren’t many space operas worth the time. I’ve never been a fan of the “Star Wars” series, so it’s slim pickings out there. I imagine younger viewers might find it hokey by now, but on the other hand, there are some undeniable qualities to this old pre-CGI favorite, after all theater also remains a popular art form. It still takes me back.
