After a week away on holiday with the Family in sunny Dorset, I’m back and raring for action.
Not much has happened while I’ve been away. Ken has acquired the services a guy to do a final polish up job on Greetings on his Flame system and I’ve been slowly working my way through the Trimes.
Been catching up on a few movies too…
Transformers: I was pleasantly surprised by this one, I didn’t expect a lot from it and apart from some annoyance at the very dodgy plotting, I quite enjoyed it. Much more watchable than Bay’s previous films in terms of cutting.
The Machinist: Wasn’t sure whether to feel cheated or what by this film. Sure, Christian Bale went far more than the extra mile, and there is some sterling performances and some solid directing, but by the time I got to the end I just felt a bit… empty. My immediate thought was that it was just a glorified short film. Interestly, the ‘book-end’ plotting is very similar to the change Chris has suggested for Tolerance, which is good as I think it worked well in the Machinist.
The Double Life of Veronique: Kieslowski really is the master, but I must be honest and say I didn’t really get it, not in the same way I got the Three Colours trilogy. Some of the character motivations felt a bit contrived at times, especially the puppeteer, and the whole thing was never really satisfactorily explained (or did I miss something – I was really tired when I watched it?).
Alien and Kingdom of God: I’m really into Ridley Scott now. I’m starting to get where he’s coming from as a director and I really like it. I’d read a lot of bad press about Kingdom of God when it first came out, and having been stung by Troy I’d given it a miss until now, which is a shame as I really liked it. Orlando Bloom almost acts for once and although it’s not quite up there with Gladiator, it’s not half bad. I think more than anything I liked it as Orlando’s character really summed up my attitude towards religion quite nicely. As for Alien, that just gets better with every watching. It’s head and shoulders above the other three.
Got a couple of classics lined up next, North By Northwest and Citizen Kane… been waiting on these for a while now.
3 comments
Bill Coughlan says:
August 13, 2007 at 3:36 am (UTC 1 )
Odd coincidence — I’m watching _North by Northwest_ with my daughter right now (well, not _right_ now, as we’ve had to take an intermission for the evening — bedtime calls). It’s nice that she’s finally old enough to appreciate some “Daddy films.”
Of course, as she’s just eleven, _Alien_ is still of the table for a while.
Alexandre FABBRI says:
August 13, 2007 at 9:18 am (UTC 1 )
>> The Double Life of Veronique: Kieslowski really is the master, but I must be honest and say I didn’t really get it…
>> A bit contrived… especially the puppeteer… ???
Perhaps it was a particular answer you were looking for? ‘Ask Jeeves’ is good. You type in the question. And presto! The answer.
Seriously though, 17 viewings on your own of The Double Life of Veronique may help you more than reading Zizek until you fall asleep.
Have you tried room 281…?
joe perez says:
August 14, 2007 at 12:34 pm (UTC 1 )
searched google for “filmmaking blog” and found yours. looks good. i’ll be back. (i’m in the process of finishing version 2.1 of my first screenplay m.s.)