July 2010
29 posts
“Besides its science fiction theme, Inception’s roots are in old-fashioned...”
– NPR’s Kenneth Turan nails it in explaining why Inception gets away with so much of what it does.
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Inception (2010)
When I first saw the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Inception, I wasn’t expecting much. A summer action/mind-trip that seemed prepared to arrive in theaters with little fanfare. Then, almost over night, people went apeshit for it. What was the draw? Good, young actors? Nolan’s reputation? The CGI? I couldn’t stand the hype that was growing around the film, so I broke down...
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Just as promised: Chattin' about "My Life To Live"
Chris, from Ghost or Balloon, joined me in watching My Life To Live by Jean-Luc Godard. What follows is our discussion of the film.
Abby: So, we watched My Life To Live. This was my second time and your first.
Christopher: Right.
Abby: First impressions?
Christopher: Well, first of all, I kind of watched it in the context of having seen a few other Godards already this week— A...
I review 50 Movie Packs: I Eat Your Skin (1964) →
I Eat Your Ski … er… Skin!, 1964, 82 Long Minutes (With Excellent Digital Transfer)
I spent about twenty seconds or so glancing through titles in this DVD pack and I Eat Your Skin was an easy choice as the first movie to be reviewed. I mean, it’s a catchy title, right?
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“I had never as a young writer realized that you still had an obligation to make...”
– -David Foster Wallace, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
on Blue Velvet and Brazil
(via ghostorballoon)
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What Should I Watch Next?
Ok gang, I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries lately, as I’ve been writing a paper about them (to be posted sometime next weekend, probably) and have forgotten what fictional cinema was like. What would you like to me write about? I am taking all suggestions. If I’ve already seen it, maybe I’ll watch it again. If it’s gross… I’ll think about it.
...
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Cry-Baby (1990)
John Waters once said that Hairspray (1988) was the family film he never intended to make. I mean, I can even remember watching it as a kid and being pretty surprised that my parents were ok with it. If that’s the case then Cry-Baby has to be his attempt to re-sully his good name. The two aren’t entirely dissimilar - rockus teen romps through the post war era. The music is suitably...
Jean Painleve's Ten Commandments of Film-Making
ghostorballoon:
Aside from making infinite movies of underwater things, Painleve was a huge patron of cinema and a close friend to a lot of early luminaries. He grossed out Bunuel, gave stunt cameos to Artaud, and was compared to a vision of the virgin Mary by Eisenstein. When Man Ray needed some fresh starfish footage, who do you think he turned to? He was basically hot shit. So, you should...
ghostorballoons asked: Abby your tumblr looks extra cute this way. Good look for it.
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Why "Breaking Dawn" Should Be A Film →
Thanks to @jupitersun for the link!
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Slavoj Žižek on "Children of Men" →
Žižek reviews one of my favorite films, Children of Men. He’s ridiculous and over the top sometimes, but I agree with his assessment of the film 100%. It’s masterfully made and is a textbook example of how mise-en-scene can absolutely make a film. Žižek is right, most of the film deals with the tension between foreground and background and it does it beautifully. If you haven’t...
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Film Industry By The Numbers →
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Cinema Redux →
Created in January 2004, Cinema Redux explores the idea of distilling a whole film down to one single image.
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“The machine, there were two inspirations for it. One was a machine I saw that a...”
– Joel Cohen on the origins of the sex machine in Burn After Reading.
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a bright wall in a dark room.: Beverly Hills... →
THEY ALL LOOK SO CUTE IN THEIR LITTLE OUTFITS
by Elisabeth Geier
Beverly Hills Chihuahua used to be on my list of “things I will never watch/read/think about/do,” along with Twilight, Jay Leno, and skydiving. Recently, however, it came off that list for the following reasons:
Someone…
I’m so happy someone took the time to break down Beverly Hills Chihuahua so that none of us...
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abbylovesfilm asked: funkyassdicegame replied to your post: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Good stuff here. Question: were the subtitles on the version you watched almost laughably incoherent? I eventually just got fed up with it and shut the movie off.
Good stuff here. Question: were the subtitles on the version you watched almost laughably incoherent? I eventually just got fed up with it and shut the movie off.
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie. I usually associate the popular mystery novel genre with little old ladies who also enjoy Miss Marple and their cats. Now, that’s a pretty unfair judgement, but after working in a library for many years, and seeing who checks out what, I can say with experience that I saw a lot of people check out The Girl With the Dragon who were over...
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A State of Mind (2004)
Welcome to North Korea via film. There are twenty something documentaries about the most secretive country in the world and most appear to be about how little we actually know about the country. Daniel Gordon’s film begins with the disclaimer that even though the film’s crew were equipped with a state hired translator and minder/guide, they were pretty much allowed to do as they...
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Recommend Me? →
I think people read this blog and I think people like it too. If you agree with this statement, consider recommending me to other Tumblr users via this link!
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TiMER
There are plenty of problems with the romantic comedy genre, no matter which way you decide to look at it. Women and men are reduced to the basest of stereotypes, driven by their desires to have sex or get married or whatever. The scripts are usually terrible and the acting half-assed. Sure, there are romantic comedies I like; When Harry Met Sally has some fun dialog and Love Actually (though some...
“It’s very easy for the music to become a kind of security blanket, for the...”
– Martin Scorsese (via funkyassdicegame) 