Mid Shift Second Night

John Ford back to back action

First up is the undeniable classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin and Vera Miles in a entertaining and intelligently composed western about legends and truth. SO GOD DAMN GOOD. UGHHH! "There is nothing to good for the man who shot liberty Valance" last line. Watch the damn flick

5/5

They Were Expendable was next with Wayne and Ward Bond and the girl from White Christmas Donna Reed. Its got a few decent scenes but its over long and muddled as hell in the middle. Probably the worst John Ford movie I've ever seen.

2/5

hopefully tonight I can sneak 8 1/2 in while the other guys arent looking. But I doubt it.

Mid Shift First Night

1941- Steven Spielbergs WW2 paranoia comedy. It's Crap. It's a big budget explosion laden disaster with a joke success ration of about 1 in every 20. Makes for an annoyingly long and boring ride

2/5

White Heat - James Cagney as a cold blooded gangster with mommy issues. Lots of twists and turns and Cagney is fun to watch. Deserves the Departed treatment to really capitalize on some of the grit the story has but washes over.

4/5

True Dat: !!!!!!!

Screw Superhero movies till the die. I think i'd rather watch a pg-13 teen slasher flick then another damn b-grade marvel comics flick. Not that I really saw many of them but about ten minutes of fantastic four 2 set me to a tiff for about 3 hours. Stick with your A-game and leave all this hulk bullshit in the gutter.

There Will Be Blood

There will be Blood out on DVD today. Dont even try to call yourself a cinephile without it in your collection.

David Gordon Green's Snow Angels

Snow Angel's is the new film from personal favorite David Gordon Green. I have to say that out of his films this is probably my least favorite All the real Girls being #1.

Snow Angels tells the story of 3 different couples Teens/20ish/50ish all of which sort of sentimentally play off each other. The film has a very organic feel (common to all DGG) that makes it very involving. The style of the film is a highlight filled with emotive music and matching slick camera angels.

The downside of the film is the odd feeling the ending causes. It feels somewhat out of place but there is no real reason to say why so. Also the acting by Kate beckinsale is ok at best and is quite underwhelming for such a dramatic part. All in all its still a good watch from one of the best young talents in american film.

3/5

theplaylist.blogspot.com

This site is pretty hip. Check out this soundtracks made with certain directors in mind. I'm part way through the david gordon green list and a tear came to my eye once already.

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/search/label/Playlist%20Soundtrack%20Series

A slight revelation

Upon my recent rewatching of Amelie I realized that it is the reverse of a minimalist film. In pickpocket or l'enfant everything is so passive and and emotionless until the climax when all the passion pours out. Amelie is in your face constantly until the climax when all the overtly emotional music and cinematography dissapears and Amelie gets her make out on with no flash a all. It still functions the same way though, the films condition you to a particular style and then supplant them in the emotional climax throwing you for an emotional whirl.