sineast

Maybe a DVD/VCR combo would be a good Christmas present. The problem is I'd never find the time to watch most of the movies I recorded, and I'd have a stack of unwatched videos to go with a stack of unread books and not-listened-to-enough CDs. I'll just wait for Love Letters to show up again. I would like to see it, but I won't get the vapors if I don't. Thanks for the offer though.

Fatboy Slim with a rather single-minded take on Kalifornia. fmt=18

I just have a VCR which I haven't even bothered to hook up because I wouldn't use it very often anyway.

I was planning to watch The Man from Planet X last night, but then Summer of Sam popped up on another channel. Since I have never seen it, I decided to go with SOS. Instead of focusing on the serial killer, the film focuses on a group of down and outers from the outer boroughs. Richie the punk introducing his new style to his buddies, nice. Buddies crossing over to CBGBs, priceless. I did catch a few minutes of Planet X and though it isn't fair to judge a complete movie after only watching a few minutes of it, this looked like a typical grade Z sci-fier. Maybe the natives should have used a force field of haggis soaked in Johnny Walker to repel the invasion. I believe that was the gist of the post before Uncle Joe came on the scene.

No I didn't. I'll try to catch it next time it's on TCM.

Calling Barranca! Calling Barranca!: Sorry, Wrong Number Next: Shopworn

Holly, I'm guessing that the earlier the decade, the more movies have been lost. That is a shame, but I don't have enough time for the good ones that remain, so I'd probably never have time to see the lost ones anyway. I would like to see Love Letters again, since it's been a while since the last time I saw it. It's hard to mess up a solid script, though some directors would add more to it visually than others. And when you're stuck with a dog of a screenplay, the visual aspect can only do so much. First things first.

I'm sure it's been mentioned many times before, but what we now consider classic movies were probably a small part of the production of any one year. 1945 probably had as large a share of routine movies that don't merit much attention as any other year. Maybe one of the advantages of having fewer films produced now is that there is more opportunity to see the good ones, and having to wade through fewer stinkers. O, Brother, etc had its share of violence, but it was rather cartoonish in comparison with No Country. And I enjoyed them both, even if they came from opposite ends of the spectrum. Just like Mary Shelley, just like Frankenstein.

As they say in the real estate game, location, etc. People who don't live near a big city, or in a college town, etc. will probably not get as wide a selection of films as those that do. In many areas all you get is the usual studio fare, with very little independent or foreign film opportunities. No modern films can quite capture the WWII era like those old blacks and whites from that period. I too saw No Country For Old Men a few weeks ago on either IFC or Sundance. Very good flick. There might have been some plot holes, but most movies have some. One possible mitigating circumstance is that the story took place in a very sparsely populated area that probably had a low law enforcement profile. The guy with the $2 million bought a jacket from a kid before he hit the border crossing and snuck through, partly on his veteran status. Stuff happens.

It's been many moons since I last saw Love Letters and it was a fine production, but it was a production that reflected the culture of its time, so it would be a little naive to expect that a movie sixty years later could duplicate it. Contemporary pictures will, to whatever extent, reflect this time, just as Love Letters reflected 1945. That's the way of the movie world. With so much info out there about what is playing at the twelveplex today, it should be fairly simple to avoid pictures you are pretty sure you won't like and to attend those that you might find entertaining. One can't eliminate the risk of wasting time and money, but it surely can be decreased. Halloween XIV: Michael Meyers Collects Social Security should give most people a heads-up on what kind of picture it will be.

Lou Reed launching a Satellite of Love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUTq-WLI7RA fmt=18

Il n'est pas ma faute que cet site est merdeux. A demain.

Tres regrettable.

Sacre bleu dahlia.

Et moi aussi.

Sacre bleu dahlia.

Pardonnez-moi

Sacre bleu dahlia.

Pardonnez-moi

Sacre bleu dahlia.

One little noted aspect of Pickup on South Street was the environmental theme of the movie. Widmark finds multiple uses for old newspapers, and uses the natural cooling effects of the river to keep his brews cold. This was quite an early example of green consciousness in a crime film when such things were unusual for the genre and the time period. Of course, in some respects, Widmark was simply building on a theme already glimpsed in his earlier role as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. In this previous movie, Widmark sports a generously proportioned hat that, when turned upside down, doubles as a lunch pail and an early version of the European carry all. And Udo's given profession made him an early practitioner of reducing individuals' carbon footprint. Since Widmark was a well-known liberal, it shouldn't be surprising that he was willing to bring these issues into the film world. Some French critics have even started to dub these films that combine crime drama and environmental awareness film vert.

It's funny how each individual remembers and takes away unique things from the movies they've seen. Pickup on South Street is a nifty little flick, but I don't recall all the details of Thelma Ritter's character. Richard Widmark was the star, of course, and he is better remembered, though not all the nuances can be recalled. On the other hand, Jean Peters' performance is vividly etched in memory, starting with the first scene in the subway car, which is an obvious metaphor of the film's characters and the milieu they exist in, underground, unconcerned with the bourgeois values that are part of the culture above them. In short, I like Candy.

Go-Gos, just a little late for a Vacation fmt=18

Belle de Jour: Et nuit aussi Next: Viridiana

From the deep slag pits of British metal, with a vein of deviltry. Black Sabbath performing, what else, Black Sabbath. Very 70s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akt3awj_Ah8 fmt=18