Wait, what?
(Full Review on Cinematic Revue during the week)
Replacing it will be No.58 Terrence Malick’s The New World
87 DVDs/263 Days
One of two Mike Leigh films in my to watch list, Happy Go Lucky is arguably the lightest film I have watched yet in this venture. Poppy, a school teacher, is eternally happy and conducts her life in a carefree way that is to the chagrin of many of those around her. Always looking on the bright side she eventually clashes with her driving instructor, an emotional, at times creepy conspiracy theorist who does not take to Poppy’s happiness.
The first half of the film plays a delicate balance between appreciating Poppy to out right getting annoyed by her. And to a degree her lack of seriousness in certain situations can rub you the wrong way. But in the second half you learn that this is the films point. You are unsure about Poppy, but when you then you realize there is a certain humanity within her, someone who is caring, fun, and thankfully, in love by the end of the film.
So we end up falling for Poppy, and while the film is premised on a happy go luck feel, it does have its serious and dark moments. Sally Hawkins is fantastic, as is Eddie Marsan. Suggested watch if you need a happiness injection.
Now, to watch Blue Velvet…
The randomizer has selected No. 79: Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line
Along with Choke
88 DVDs/283 Days
Well it has taken a week but it has now finally been ‘seen’. Like climbing Everest the sheer boredom that came with Barry Lyndon only made me more afraid to keep watching, leading to several days of ‘accidentally’ leaving it at other locations and having to watch Tron instead. Nonetheless as with all things movies large and cumbersome you eventually have to get out of its way.
Barry Lyndon follows the young Irishman Redmond Barry, whose cunning sees him ascend the class structure from simple farm boy to marrying a Lady. Of course a story as simple and straightforward as this is compounded my arduously long scenes.
Kubrick is clearly a master director, and here shows it in a sweeping epic that charts the Greek tragedy of the protagonist’s life. And it is visually stunning, with fantastic cinematography and costume design.
But the film fails in its lack of brevity, something that begins to play on the viewers patients. While this could easily be seen by some as the films strength, the overarching feeling I could have watched an entire film in the time taken up by longing stares and awkward pauses.
Still if you are a fan of Kubrick it is a film to fatten your film watching repertoire. But be sure to tell me if you had that same pang of anxiety when you hit the intermission, knowing that it is only half over.
The randomizer has spoken and the next film added onto the pool is:
No. 14: David Lynch’s Blue Velvet
This with: Choke and Happy Go Lucky
90 DVDs/289 Days
My esteemed collegue Michael mentioned the fact he enjoyed Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone. While I certainly enjoyed aspects of the film, there were elements which made me somewhat reticent to say I completely love the film. For the most part I have narrowed down my concerns to the fact I have, advertantly or inadvertantly, consumed a considerable amount of information regarding the Iraq War. As a result many moments that make reference to controversies within Iraq are but glimpses of enormous stories.
For instance: Miller’s investigation of WMD sites was analysed with considerable detail in the documentary Shifting Sands which looks at failed U.N. investigators attempts at entering suspect facilities in Iraq in 1998 just before a concerted U.S. Bombing campaign.
Occasional shots of armed men with sunglasses is a reference to Private Military Contractors, namely Blackwater who have been linked to a series of controversies. Jeremy Scahill’s novel Blackwater looks directly at this issue, as well as The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
A quick shot of looters and the chaos brought about by the removal of the Iraqi army and the Baathist party is covered in considerable detail in the documentary No End in Sight, as well as Green Zone’s alleged source material Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandresekaran.
The prison, interrogation rooms, torture: Taxi to the Dark Side, the Academy Award winning documentary, looks at torture administered by American’s against Afghanis. Other documentaries: Road to Guantanamo and Standard Operating Procedure.
It is because of this source material that my movie going experience may have been unduly effected. Which does not mean it is a bad film, but that I myself have developed a level of cognitive dissonance which makes it seem rathe arbritary.
Still if you are a fan of the Bourne series and light political discourse, go right ahead.
Strange Days, in dedication of Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar win for the Hurt Locker. And today I bought Midnight Cowboy, the academy award winning film of 1969. Two steps forward, three steps back.
Its late, I am tired, but I have finished Videodrome. And it is cerebral, and insane, and in many ways makes his more recent films seem normal. And thats saying something given Eastern Promises features a naked, tattooed Viggo Mortenson fights two Chechyan’s in a bath house.
Videodrome sees Max Renn (James Woods), a TV programmer who specializes in porn, torture and humiliation, entertainment which seems to have become the norm. However, he somehow uncovers a mysterious program called Videodrome, where the television seems to take the viewer over.
Videodrome, like other Cronenberg films of the 80’s has a body horror vibe, with technological elements mixing with biological elements. It invokes imagery from The Matrix, where there is a symbiotic relationship between the imagination and machine meld together.
The film is, as a whole, a metaphor for the heightened influence of television in our lives. Of course, like horror and science fiction, this analogy is taken to the logical extreme. The influence of video will actually control you, and elements of hypnosis, hallucination, and mind control and brought together.
The dystopian world which it creates is not too dissimilar to a lot of landscapes created in the 80’s. It was a time of considerable change, where the influence of the media was uncertain. In this case it pained a lewd, amoral society which welcomes and embraces the more disturbed fantasies we may have.
Of course, the impact of such a prophecy is diminished as we now live in that purported future. Arguably we have become more desensitized to violence and sex, but to say we are to the point of social collapse is a facetious claim.
So in the near future we have Barry Lyndon and Happy Go Lucky. But, to round up the three the Randomizer has selected No. 20 Choke, based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel.
90 DVDs/42 Cinema Films/298 Days
Having been recently forced at gunpoint to watch The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, my reprieve was short lived as I was then made to watch Once Upon at Time in the West. Granted that was several months ago, but the residual good memories of first film meant it was not an entirely hard sell.
Once Upon a Time in the West centers around the cold blooded murder of a family. The reasons are relatively unknown, but several characters have pieces of the puzzle to the actual mystery. There is Harmonica, the man with no name character who appears in town seemingly for the side of good, Cheyenne the bandit who is revered by the townsfolk and Jill, the widowed wife trying to find the reason for her husbands death. On top of this is the films baddy Frank whose goal is to reclaim the land to reap the financial rewards of a new rail line.
The score, as you would expect from a Leone western, is superb, jarring in your ears as the tension mounts on screen. The story is greatly elongated, and in may ways unsubtle in showing the dichotomy of good and evil, and the characters need for revenge.
It is difficult to chose which of these two films is better, as each has their own strengths. Once Upon a Time is defiantly grittier, yet The Good is a lot more light hearted and comical. But why chose between great choices when you can watch both.
Next up is Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, and following that according to my randomizer is:
No. 87. David Cronenberg’s Videodrome
No. 42. Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky
91 DVDs/42 Cinema Films/300 Days
The Final Tabulated List
1. 24 Hour Party People
2. 3 Days of the Condor
3. 8 Femmes
4. A Simple Plan
5. Ae Fond Kiss
6. After the Wedding
7. Amadeus
8. Avalon
9. Away from Her
10. Bad Education
11. Baraka
12. Barry Lyndon
13. Betty Blue
14. Blue Velvet
15. Bonnie and Clyde
16. Boogie Nights
17. Brazil
18. Breakfast on Pluto
19. Bullitt
20. Choke
21. Coma
22. Control
23. Cool Hand Luke
24. Crash
25. Crying Game, The
26. Cypher
27. Dark Star
28. Dave Chappelles Block Party
29. Dawn of the Dead
30. Day the Earth Stood Still, The
31. Dead Presidents
32. Doubt
33. Duelist
34. Edukators, The
35. English Patient, The
36. Exiled
37. Experiment, Das
38. Frida
39. Ghost Dog
40. Godfather Part 3, The
41. Guns of Navarrone, The
42. Happy Go Lucky
43. Head On
44. Hunting and Gathering
45. Im Not There
46. JSA
47. Lars and the Real Girl
48. Lawrence of Arabia
49. Lolita
50. Lookout, The
51. Lust Caution
52. Man Who Fell to Earth, The
53. Master and Commander
54. Memories of Murder
55. Mongol
56. Monsoon Wedding
57. My Summer of Love
58. New World, The
59. Ninja Scroll
60. Once Upon a Time In America
61. Once Upon a Time in the West
62. Orphanage, The
63. Owning Mahowny
64. Paris Je Taime
65. Planet Terror
66. Player, The
67. Psycho
68. Public Access
69. Punch Drunk Love
70. Raging Bull
71. Rescue Dawn
72. Ring
73. Raising Arizona
74. Savage Grace
75. Serpico
76. Silent Running
77. Silmido
78. Spirited Away
79. Thin Blue Line, The
80. Thomas Crown Affair, The
81. Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The
82. Tora! Tora! Tora!
83. Tsotsi
84. Unforgiven
85. Vera Drake
86. Vertigo
87. Videodrome
88. War Within, The
89. Water
90. Whitnail and I
91. Yiyi
92. Young Adam
Got sidetracked with The Thing, something I always love watching, in the background to allow me to step in whenever someone horrifically transforms. Was blown away to learn Ennio Morricone did the music, I did not know that.
