bullshit rankings: pt. one

lists are dumb, i know.  i haven't really given one much thought in many years.  but while trying to tell a younger co-worker what i though the few good kubrick movies were when he was talking about clockwork i thought it might be fun to occasionally post ranked lists of the filmes i've seen from some of the bigger names in the cannon and probably some random directors as well.  this is mostly for fun and with little thought.  i will however try and be as upfront as possible both in my preferences and in the often embarrassing gaps in what i've seen.  hopefully this and the cinema round up will happen a few times a month.

so lets start with kubrick:

- eyes wide shut
- dr. strangelove
- barry lyndon
- the killing
-
- 2001
-
- clockwork orange
- paths of glory
- the shining
-
- full metal jacket
- killers kiss

still haven't seen lolita or spartacus.









and two others that are easier due to sparse output

terrence malick:

- days of heaven
- the tree of life
- the new world
-
- thin red line
- badlands

andrei tarkovsky:

- stalker
- the sacrifice
- mirror
-
- solaris
- andrei rublev
-
- nostalgia

haven't seen ivan's childhood or the steamroller & the violin











and one more that will pair well with the next roundup, as the top film is also one i just finally watched:

steven soderbergh:

-schizopolis
-solaris
-
- the limey
-
- oceans 11
- out of sight
-
-sex lies and videotape
-
- bubble
- oceans 12
-
- oceans 13
- traffic
- che

12 movies i haven't seen (only interested in a few - like kafka)





-johnathon

something is wrong with everything

-johnathon

cinema roundup: 2 films with adult breast feeding and some others

i am going to try and revive cinema roundup from the old blog.  i will try and mention most films i watch.  i  probably won't ever say a ton about them, at least not in the roundup, and i will also use a slightly arbitrary and completely personal rating system based on a 0-100 scale.  enjoy:

Tabloid by Errol Morris (70)

this was certainly a fun movie and worth a watch for people who like morris.  i just felt like he didn't do much with the material and it felt incomplete in a way.

Black Moon by Louis Malle(82)

i enjoyed watching this and felt like i got at least some of what it was hitting at, but on a beat for beat level, much of this movie baffled me.  feels like something to revisit later.

World on a Wire by Rainer Fassbinder(97)

this will likely tie with "in a year of 13 moons" as my favorite fassbinder film.  somehow it takes ideas that i've seen dealt with before and makes you actually feel them.  it also is wonderful how his idiosyncrasies and maybe even faults are so congruent with the material that everything seems to click.  i will hopefully write a more in depth reaction later.

a new print is currently touring.  DONT MISS IT.  or there is always hulu.

Essential Killing by Jerzy Skolimowski (91)

this is my first skolimowski film, so i mostly saw it through the eyes of a vincent gallo lover and what a treat it is.  it's funny that a man who's breakout as an actor was the endless words of billy brown when he has proved amazing in near speechless roles in this, brown bunny, and trouble every day.  in fact in this one gallo doesn't utter a word, but he is completely captivating the entire time.  there is talk that his most recent film as writer/director/actor... (promises written on water) will never be publicly shown after the two fest appearances it had.  apparently this is a choice gallo has made after the idiocy that brown bunny caused.  i can't say i blame him, but i would love love love to see more work from him.

WR: Mysteries of the Organism by Dusan Makavejev (73)


after loving sweet movie to death i was a bit let down by this.  whereas sweet somehow magically pulled together it's strands this just felt lumpy and not as melancholic.  still some of the isolated moments were great.   

the abyss

more tree of life crap today.  hopefully these posts will culminate in the form of a review, or response at least, to the film after i see it on wednesday.



news has come forth that 12 seconds of scott nyerges' experimental short "Autumnal" were licensed to be used in the creation sequence in malick's film.  it is unclear right now if other external works were incorporated in this way.  luckily nyerges freely shares his work on his site.  the few pieces i've watched so far are great and certainly are worth watching even without the malick context.

you're so shiny

gq has a wonderful oral history of malick's badlands that is worth checking out.

it has always been my least favorite of his movies, but reading this really makes me want to go back and revisit it.

seems like a good way to prepare for the impending treee of life.

-johnathon

you're just a little boy in my bath tub

Alexandre Desplat - Birth OST

my favorite soundtrack by mr. desplat for one of my favorite films from the 00s.

-johnathon

dance music for wheat fields

Alexandre Desplat - The Tree of Life OST

today will be a soundtrack day. listening to this as i count down the days til i get to bask in malick.

-johnathon

too crazy for boys town, too much of a boy for crazy town

The Chemical Brothers - Hanna OST

hanna:the movie - this was a very schizophrenic movie watching experience for me. on the one hand there were wonderful moments of stylization and technical prowess that had my inner cinephile tickled. on the other hand i cared little about what was actually happened in the movie, found most of the action sequences tedious, and found cate blanchett obnoxious (as usual). if you wanted to be positive you could say that as far as modern holywood action movies go, this was very good. but i'm not the positive type. the shallowness of a majority of the films shows even the better parts for what they really are, flashy bullshit and allusions to much better movies.

hanna:the soundtrack - the music is probably the most memorable thing about the movie and in parts i think it really lifts the material up. i've always been medium on the brothers o' chemical, but in this case they do a wonderful job of combining the fairy tale aspects of the movie with more traditional action movie music and in a sense create a microcosm for what the movie seems to be attempting that is much more successful.

-Johnathon

he's gonna puke

is it possible for a documentary film maker to be undeserving of their subject? Barry Blaustein's "beyond the mat" sure makes a compelling argument for this. in the film he seeks to flesh out the depiction of professional wrestlers to show that they are like everyone else. the only problem is that they aren't like everyone else. blaustein seems uninterested or maybe unable to truly get a grasp on even a hint of motivation behind the larger than life figures he encounters. the closest he comes to this is through "jake the snake" who has a penchent for a kind of self pitying rambling that is revealing, but which the film maker seems unsure what to do with. in a scene where jake has smoked crack after reuniting with his daughter blaustein seems hell bent to ruin all of the inherent drama with cheesy law and order music and trippy editing, but still somehow the vulnerability shines through. the whole film seems like a continual series of missed opportunities. never does what is shown in the film benefit from being in this context and so ultimately the best thing you can say about the director was that he was there and had a camera. certainly the "then X called me and we hung out" structuring adds nothing but a sense of monotony and overall lack of purpose. stories are set up as if they will matter and then forgotten just as quickly. again, these people and these situations are powerful and there is no doubt an amazing film could have and maybe still could be made in this world, but this is not it.

-Johnathon