Monday 18 April 2011

Dear Ndugu


I took my own advice and watched About Schmidt again. It's been a few years.

And despite my efforts, I found myself wiping tears from my eyes. Embarrassing? Who cares. That last letter to Ndugu that Schmidt narrates (after all the ironic, hilarious letters thoughout the film) is just gut-wrenching and then when you least expect it, sheer happiness sneaks in, the yearned-for cure, and finally causes the man to break down and weep. It's powerful stuff via understatement and you have to appreciate it.

Which got me thinking about other films that cause grown men to revert to sobbing boys. I'm curious to hear what others have to suggest before I list a few that I love and that have affected me blubberingly over the years.

Confessions?

Wednesday 13 April 2011

The How About Project Part 8 (of 26)

Oops. Forgot about "the project".

So an easy one for me this time around. My three favourite Jean-Luc Godard films. Considering I haven't touched on the French New Wave yet, it seems a better than right thing to do.

3: Le Mepris (Contempt) (1963, with Bardot in full colour)
2: Les Carabiniers (The Riflemen) (also 1963, in black and white)
1: Alphaville: Une Etrange Aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965, with Anna Karina in black and white)

Ah, Bardot and Karina. Two of the most gorgeous women ever to grace the silver screen. The french knew how to cast films, and still do.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

48 fps


That's right folks. Peter Jackson is filming The Hobbit at 48 frames per second. (And in 3D which won't bother me as long as I have the option of seeing it in 2D.)


Even clearer and and more astounding visuals in our genre flicks? Yes, please. Let's just hope that the theatres are able to keep up with the tech. I've read elsewhere that other tech-savvy filmmakers are aiming at a 60 fps rate. How cool would that be?

It may even mean the invention of a new home entertainment format to replace blu-ray. Who knows.

The Hobbit keeps getting more and more exciting...

Sunday 10 April 2011

How Great Is This Behind the Scenes Photo?

I love me a quiet evening of Kurosawa, and Toshiro Mifune was the man. I'm pretty sure this is a pic from the filming of Sanjuro, although it could be from Seven Samurai. Let me know if you know. For now, let's just enjoy its coolness.

Saturday 9 April 2011

R.I.P. Sidney Lumet


A great director has passed away. Best remembered for his astonishing films from the 70s, including Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, and Network, which I recently watched for the first time and loved, he made a good number of other gutsy films over the decades which we should all seek out and watch. Deathtrap is first on my list, with a very non-supermanish Christopher Reeve. Any other recommendations?

Wednesday 6 April 2011

The Cure For Sequelitis

Part sequel, part homage, part satire, part spoof. I'll say nothing else about what's embedded below except that I'd like to see more of this kind of thing if it means sidestepping the actual making of unnecessary sequels.