A FAVORITE SCENE from A FAVORITE MOVIE

Homage to Peter Falk, who died this past summer.
We saw Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire* in 1987. Back then, Columbo was famous in the States, so this role was a revelation to us. Falk's character was world-weary, had seen it all--not unlike Detective Columbo. But this character had seen it all, so he knew to believe it all. We found ourselves hoping for an ingenuous nature 25 year later. Almost there.
*remade as City of Angels in the US. no art at all, just plot.

Scenes I Will Never Forget

And this why I hated Jon Cryer playing second fiddle to Charlie Sheen:

TWELVE MONKEYS, FOUR TIMES

SO I have seen 12 Monkeys at least four complete times. It is still hard to describe, and harder still to judge. I know that I cannot look away any time it comes on TV. Bruce Willis is a time traveler, sent from the future to undo a single terrorist act that demolished the human race. Brad Pitt plays the insane terrorist with straggly hair and a ravaged face. His cause? A PETA-on-steroids plan to punish man for his mistreatment of animals. I was dazzled the first time by Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis as well as the double views of Philly now and in the corrupt future. The twin plots: the quixotic quest of Bruce Willis to stop the terrorists that end humanity from the future and the present unfolding of the plot to stop the animal terrorists from achieving their goal. Both characters become doppelgangers of themselves, and I could argue that they are doppelgangers to each other as well.

I always love director Terry Gilliam's style. Every future scene with Bruce Willis and his jailers/doctors is terrifying in its bleakness and its exhausting detail. The panoramic scenes of the city ruled by the animals are iconic: they are as dreamy and beautiful as the present day scenes of the wintry city are ugly, begrimed by mass transit and too many people. So dark, so lush, so beautiful. I believe it, every time.




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NOT ALWAYS EASY TO WATCH...

but worth it every time. Even as a college kid, I knew his films were different, better, something to approach with respect. Watch this:

HOMAGE TO KUBRICK

link is gone! I think it was Spartacus.

Futuristic Movies Everyone Should See

I think about this topic, future movies, or dystopian movies, a lot. I am obsessed with them, but have never  been able to get them into one list. I tend to experience media--books, movies--randomly, so they do not "add up" for a long time. Works for me. Imagine my delight in reading this great list yesterday from  John Whitehead. I have not seen Land of the Blind, but all the others are on my list. Some of them are better movies than others. For instance, one should only view They Live when the need for schlock supercedes the need for artistic experience, as A Clockwork Orange is (my opinion). I do love art of ideas. It is not always successful, but satisfies me on certain days. Many would argue that Brave New World is a better novel than 1984, but I will always love 1984 more. Maybe this is my version of Dryden's essay in which he confesses that he admires Jonson, but loves Shakespeare. We love what we love. Here is the list of dytopian, futuristic movies I love:

Fahrenheit 451
2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet of the Apes
THX 1138
A Clockwork Orange
1984 (1984 version)
Brazil
They Live
Soylent Green

Blade Runner
The Matrix
Minority Report
V for Vendetta
Children of Men
Land of the Blind  

I would only add one movie and that would be TWELVE MONKEYS.




from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/dystopian-films_b_901579.html

TOMBSTONE: NEW CLASSIC

Our last movie of the year in Film Club was Tombstone, 1993. We had planned on a Western series, but started too late, so when we had time for just one more movie, I suggested this one. I struggled between this and some of the REAL classics like Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Searchers, anything with Clint, or maybe even The Magnificent Seven, but decided in the end that this was a good first Western for my young friends. If they liked it, it would lead them directly to OK Corral, and then they would be hooked.
What a good choice! They loved it: the story, the actors (who's not to like), the music, the guns, even the moustaches. What I had forgotten was the look of the film: just as you could not miss the defiant stance of Kurt Russell or the slimy swagger of  Powers Boothe, the sharp blue sky and long shots of men on horseback defied cliche as well as defined it. When I first saw the movie, I found myself evaluating the performances of some of my favorite actors unconsciously because I loved them all: Kurt Russell, Sam Elliot, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Dana Delany, Bill Paxton, Stephen Lang.......the kids reacted the same way. They asked if these guys were famous!

I love behind the scenes........

it is almost as if watching the film itself in the theatre is trompe d'oeil. It looks so real, but what I am seeing is only a piece of the whole picture: everything you see is imagery and metaphor: meta-phor. This may be one of the reasons that seeing movies is one of my favorite activities. All of it requires metacognition, so I often feel as if though I could let myself become absorbed by the story, but I won't, because is it just as  much fun to think about what the director imagined and then how he or she decides to communicate that image to me. I love my movies.