February 28, 2005
This Weekend in Movies
Wow, this year's Academy Awards was the most boring I have seen in quite some time. The musical performances were dull and didn't show much variety, having Beyonce do practically every performance. Blah. Chris Rock made one funny joke: going to the Magic Johnson Theatre and talking about movies to the moviegoers, whose favorite movies of the year were White Chicks and Chronicles of Riddick. Otherwise, he was absolutely boring and absolutely unfunny. The results were all boringly predictable too. Most of the dresses were pretty boring too. Oh well. I have hope for this coming year, but so far it's only a little bit. I still think they should bring David Letterman back. Was I the only one who thought he was a funny host?
So, I got my kicks watching some Netflixed features this weekend:
8 1/2 (1963)
Woo. Started watching 8 1/2 while very tired. My initial response was, "What the heck is going on here?" Once I tried again, fully awake, I really enjoyed it. I'm not too great at describing what I like about movies a lot of the time. Suffice to say this movie was filled with dreams, memories, fantasies, and everything in between, all a part of a famous director trying to create a movie. It's so full of creativity and confusion - loved it.
Rashomon (1950)
Also very enjoyable. I rented this one because I kept hearing the phrase "Rashomon complex" in reviews of Hero. In this movie we see four people's stories of how a man was murdered. Each story is seen with no confirmation of which story is actually true. Kurosawa made spectacular use of this film being made in black and white. With so much play in lighting I could hardly imagine it translating as well into color. The story is compelling and I was actually getting into the fighting sequences more than I expected I would for a 55 year old movie.
Well, while the Fall season of movies has come to a close out in the theatres, it gives me a chance to catch up with some old classics. I have a huuuuuuuuge list of movies in my queue