Another Motherload...

Mirror(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
Second time is a charm.
**** out of ****
Stalker(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
**** out of ****
A Prarie Home Companion(dir. Robert Altman)
It started off pretty slow, but when it reached the point where you discover who the woman in the white trenchcoat is, everything seemed to fall in place. Definately not his best, but still good.
*** out of ****
The Man From Laramie(dir. Anthony Mann)
Definately better than The Naked Spur and Winchester '73. Quite possible be my favorite western.
**** out of ****
Rio Grande(dir. John Ford)
*** out of ****
The Searchers(dir. John Ford)
**** out of ****
Hondo(dir. John Farrow)
**** out of ****
Ten(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
I absolutely loved this movie.
**** out of ****
A Better Tomorrow(dir. John Woo)
The plot is pretty bad. Theres not that much action. It's still a decent movie just for its style.
*** out of ****
Notre Musique(dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
I didn't really understand what it was trying to convey. I read other reviews of it and they talk about the idea of how being the victim in a war is better than being the victor. That makes sense and the film definately goes over that, but it was not that interesting. The best parts were the Hell portion where he uses footage from movie and creates a bizarre and somewhat scary view of war and his speech on shot and reverse shot.
** out of ****
Three Times(dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
This movie is extremely uneven. The first "time" is the best portion of the film. It had an innocent romantic charm that worked well with it, while the others just pretty much fall flat. The second "time" is interesting because its silent, but this stylistic choice is basically a gimmick. The third "time" is sort of interesting. The characters seem like those "dark" people on LiveJournal where they make up poems and other artistic things to show how intelligent and creative they are. Just like those people, I could care less about the characters in this part.
** out of ****
Rebels of a Neon God(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
**** out of ****
The Wrong Man(dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
*** out of ****
Winter Light(dir. Ingmar Bergman)
The first Bergman that I actually enjoyed.
**** out of ****
What Time is it There?(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
I absolutely loved it.
**** out of ****
Goodbye, Dragon Inn(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
It came together at the end.
**** out of ****
Days of Being Wild(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
It was good, but the ending was pretty bad. He could have ended it probably three times before the ending and I would have been happy. It is interesting how different this film feels from his later ones.
*** out of ****

The Verdicts

The Sacrifice(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
It achieved a dream-like feel better than probably any movie I have ever seen. The story is kind of vaguely told which helps create this feel. The way the lines were delivered were very soothing almost like music. They say this is his most Bergmanesque film which I kind of understand since the characters feel like they baring their souls and are very venerable. I however actually loved this film unlike any of the Bergman films I have seen.
**** out of ****
Little Miss Sunshine(dir. ?)
I think I realize now that I am a sucker for films about "dysfunctional" families. The Royal Tenenbaums is probably my favorite movie and thats all about a "dysfunctional" family. This film is amazingly funny, but in a way that is both intelligent and emotional. It shows a family coming together on a vacation through hardships and bad situations and plays it for laughs. It seems very honest and I loved it.
Night on Earth(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Taxi Cab Confessions as done by Jim Jarmusch. This is my second favorite by him because the stories are interesting and funny. It is most like Mystery Train in the sense it is a collection of stories. This however has a constitent quality to it compared to Mystery Train where the first story was the best one and the others were lacking.
**** out of ****
The Long Goodbye(dir. Robert Altman)
This could be considered an anti-noir just like McCabe & Mrs. Miller is considered an anti-western. I have very similar feelings to this as I do for McCabe & Mrs. Miller. I thought it was really good, but its not as good as some of his other work. Elliot Gould is still the man so that makes it even better than McCabe.
**** out of ****
Choose Me(dir. Alan Rudolph)
Alan Rudolph was Robert Altman's assistant director on the film above. I thought that was interesting since it was unintentional that I would watch this movie after I've seen the film above. It feels like Altman made a romantic film and this is the product. It was definately alot better than his other film I saw called The Secret Life of Dentists. I loved it.
**** out of ****

Week in Review #1

I'm gonna watch a movie a day except Sundays and read a book a week. I am then gonna review all of it on here.
Book:

Breakfast of Champions By Kurt Vonnegut
The book was interesting, but I was never stirred up emotionally. This book however is beyond criticism since it realizes this in the book itself. Kurt Vonnegut wrote himself in the book and talked about books that explain everything are stupid. This book describes everything about everyone in it from past to their measurements. It was pretty entertaining and better than Cat's Cradle, but definately worse than Slaughterhouse-five.
*** out of ****
Movies:
I'm gonna rank the ones from best to worst of this week.
1. Landscape in the Mist

I love these types of movies that seemed grounded in realism, but have surreal events and images that occur in them. One particular scene deals with a hand coming out of the water which was eerie yet brilliant. It reminded me of La Dolce Vita when the helicopter took it away. It was the longest movie I saw this week, but seemed to go by fast. This was my first film by Theo Angelopoulos and I hope to see more by him.
**** out of ****
2. Kanal

Andrjez Wajda directed one of my favorite films, Ashes and Diamonds. This film is considered one of his masterpieces and some prefer this to Ashes and Diamonds. I prefer Ashes and Diamonds still, but I can easily understand people's preferences. This is one of the grimmest depictions of war I've ever seen which seems rather odd with the lack of violence compared to modern films. It showed war as dehumanizing and degrading. A group of resistance fighters have to take to the sewers or they die. They all die anyways which makes it even worse. It was amazing.
**** out of ****
3. The Virgin Suicides

Sofia Coppola is one of my favorite modern directors just because of Lost in Translation. Some thought it was boring, but I loved the style and atmoshphere the film had. I expected more out of this film, but I wasn't too disappointed. The style and atmosphere was almost as enjoyable, but from the previews and pictures, I was just expecting more. The soundtrack was pretty bitching. It was really good and I was glad I bought it.
**** out of ****
4. Punch-Drunk Love

Paul Thomas Anderson failed me on this one. He seemed more interested in his style than actually presenting a story. There was some scenes I cracked a smile, but I think this just went over my head. I'll probably rewatch in a couple of weeks because a reviewer at DVDEmpire said he didn't like it the first time so I'll give it another try later. For now its....
** out of ****
5?. Mirror

This film is directed by Andrei Tarkovsky who directed Andrei Rublev. This film just seemed way too difficult for me. It didn't seem indulgent just too difficult. It was a new type of cinematic language that I have never seen before. There is a plot somewhat built off of his memories and so on. I definately need to rewatch it.
**? out of ****

Andrei Rublev

Recently I watched a film called Andrei Rublev directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Andrei Tarkovsky is a Soviet filmmaker known for films that are intensely spiritual and very slow and meticulous. His films can either be enjoyable or boring as hell. This is one of the most unique experiences with a film I have ever had. At the beginning, I felt bored and basically restless. I turned the movie off about an hour into it and decided to watch it the next day. The next day I turned it on and I was still bored. After maybe twenty minutes, I turned it off again. I tried again the same day and it basically clicked. I felt like I engaged myself into the story. I began to enjoy it more and it felt really rewarding. I probably did not get the full experience the film can provide, but it challenged me as a film viewer. I want to see more Andrei Tarkovsky films in the near future. I strongly recommend viewing Andrei Rublev. The film will not tell the story for you, you must think and analyze while viewing this film. Most movies these days are like books on tape and this film would be considered a written novel. It supplies the words, but you have to read them yourself.