Friday, August 19, 2011
dork fu
Dork Fu is the dark art of dorkery practiced by clandestine clans in Perry County, Pennsylvania. Thwart practitioners of dork fu at all costs.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Criterion top 10
After reading list after list of top 10 criterion films on their website, I've decided to create my own. In no particular order:
1) Salo: This film made me fall in love with cinema again. It is uncompromising in its view. It reminds us that the sad reality is that if we are forced to eat crap long enough we'll start to enjoy it, even insist upon it.
2) Seventh Seal/Wild Strawberries: Although any Bergman film could easily make this list, these two really strike a chord with me. They're both lamentations on death one fearful, the other wistful.
3) Viridiana: Bunuel really captures the absurd. He begs the question--why do we look at things in a particular way? It is a theme in even his most rudimentary films.
4)The Orphic Trilogy: Cocteau is just a master of the image. Even when he's working with nothing in the first part of the trilogy, he makes a snowball fight seem earth-shatteringly important.
5) Ordet: I had no expectation for this movie, but Dreyer surprised me with a character who comes in and ruins every scene. It makes me wonder if he is insane or the voice of reason.
6) Juliet of the Spirits: There is something about this film, and all of Fellini's works, that touches me in a profound way. It has nothing to do with the words of the characters, but the impression they leave on me. This one in particular is so carnal with its frolicking trysts of desire just feels like I have finally been understood.
7)The Human Condition: This film really does deal with the struggle of ethics in human existence. When is it right to kill? What are our loyalties? Can we ever escape the inevitable suffering that has been dealt to us?
8) Dodes'Ka-den: Kurosawa is the great philosopher of film. Any of his films could have made this list, and Ikiru or Rashomon were probably the strongest competition. This film best combines images with ideas to make a compelling story about the human condition. It's his first color film and for the nothing budget it had, he more than makes up for it. It is the only film that I didn't have to pause for a break. I couldn't.
9)Elevator to the Gallows: This film reminds me of Tarantino to some extent in that it is supposed to be an action suspense film, but then there are moments of pure comedy that remind me to enjoy film for what it is supposed to be--entertainment.
10) The Last Temptation of Christ: This film best depicts Jesus as how I see him. The sermon on the plain is so modest, I suspect this is probably what is was really like. Best of all, is the point that is made--who cares if the story is even partly true, it gives people hope and that is powerful in itself. Anyone who dares to steal another person's hope should be ashamed.
Films I wanted to include but didn't have room
1 Woman in the Dunes
2 Jeanne Dielman
3 Sweet Movie
4 Antichrist
5 If...
6 Head/Last Picture Show
7 By Brakhage
8 Silence of the Lambs
9 The Naked Kiss
10 Three Colors Trilogy
11 Delirious Fictions of William Klein
12 The Red Balloon
13 Brand Upon the Brain
14 Make Way for Tomorrow
15 When a woman ascends the stairs
16 Blood for Dracula
17 Jigoku
18 Onibaba
19 House
20 Good Morning
21 Last Year at Marienbad
22 The Third Man
23 Umberto D.
24 Ornamental Hairpin
25 All that Heaven Allows
Films that have no business in the Criterion Collection
1 Anything by Wes Anderson.
2 Anything by Michael Bay.
3 Anything by Kevin Smith, who I actually really like.
4 Anything by Jane Campion
5 Anything by Pedro Costa
6 A Christmas Tale
7 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8 Grey Gardens
9 Downhill Racer
10 Cria Cuervos
11 The Mikado
12 The Tin Drum
13 The Killers
14 Traffic
15 Anything by Whit Stillman
16 Solaris
17 Anything with Jacques Tati
18 Everlasting Moments
19 Mala Noche
20 Robocop
21 Senso
22 Yi Yi
23 Cronos
1) Salo: This film made me fall in love with cinema again. It is uncompromising in its view. It reminds us that the sad reality is that if we are forced to eat crap long enough we'll start to enjoy it, even insist upon it.
2) Seventh Seal/Wild Strawberries: Although any Bergman film could easily make this list, these two really strike a chord with me. They're both lamentations on death one fearful, the other wistful.
3) Viridiana: Bunuel really captures the absurd. He begs the question--why do we look at things in a particular way? It is a theme in even his most rudimentary films.
4)The Orphic Trilogy: Cocteau is just a master of the image. Even when he's working with nothing in the first part of the trilogy, he makes a snowball fight seem earth-shatteringly important.
5) Ordet: I had no expectation for this movie, but Dreyer surprised me with a character who comes in and ruins every scene. It makes me wonder if he is insane or the voice of reason.
6) Juliet of the Spirits: There is something about this film, and all of Fellini's works, that touches me in a profound way. It has nothing to do with the words of the characters, but the impression they leave on me. This one in particular is so carnal with its frolicking trysts of desire just feels like I have finally been understood.
7)The Human Condition: This film really does deal with the struggle of ethics in human existence. When is it right to kill? What are our loyalties? Can we ever escape the inevitable suffering that has been dealt to us?
8) Dodes'Ka-den: Kurosawa is the great philosopher of film. Any of his films could have made this list, and Ikiru or Rashomon were probably the strongest competition. This film best combines images with ideas to make a compelling story about the human condition. It's his first color film and for the nothing budget it had, he more than makes up for it. It is the only film that I didn't have to pause for a break. I couldn't.
9)Elevator to the Gallows: This film reminds me of Tarantino to some extent in that it is supposed to be an action suspense film, but then there are moments of pure comedy that remind me to enjoy film for what it is supposed to be--entertainment.
10) The Last Temptation of Christ: This film best depicts Jesus as how I see him. The sermon on the plain is so modest, I suspect this is probably what is was really like. Best of all, is the point that is made--who cares if the story is even partly true, it gives people hope and that is powerful in itself. Anyone who dares to steal another person's hope should be ashamed.
Films I wanted to include but didn't have room
1 Woman in the Dunes
2 Jeanne Dielman
3 Sweet Movie
4 Antichrist
5 If...
6 Head/Last Picture Show
7 By Brakhage
8 Silence of the Lambs
9 The Naked Kiss
10 Three Colors Trilogy
11 Delirious Fictions of William Klein
12 The Red Balloon
13 Brand Upon the Brain
14 Make Way for Tomorrow
15 When a woman ascends the stairs
16 Blood for Dracula
17 Jigoku
18 Onibaba
19 House
20 Good Morning
21 Last Year at Marienbad
22 The Third Man
23 Umberto D.
24 Ornamental Hairpin
25 All that Heaven Allows
Films that have no business in the Criterion Collection
1 Anything by Wes Anderson.
2 Anything by Michael Bay.
3 Anything by Kevin Smith, who I actually really like.
4 Anything by Jane Campion
5 Anything by Pedro Costa
6 A Christmas Tale
7 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8 Grey Gardens
9 Downhill Racer
10 Cria Cuervos
11 The Mikado
12 The Tin Drum
13 The Killers
14 Traffic
15 Anything by Whit Stillman
16 Solaris
17 Anything with Jacques Tati
18 Everlasting Moments
19 Mala Noche
20 Robocop
21 Senso
22 Yi Yi
23 Cronos
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)