Sunday, November 25, 2012

Movie Acquisition Madness

I spent approximately too much money thanks to online retailers being jerks and putting things that are normally really expensive on sale so they were only mildly expensive and making releases that are normally reasonable dirt cheap. The good news is I will have a lot of movies to watch in the next few months. Here's what I scored so you can laugh at me when I talk about how they're still in plastic wrap a year from now.
  • 9 (that's the animated movie, not the musical "Nine")
  • Barry Lyndon
  • Being There
  • Captain America
  • Die Nibelungen (this is two movies)
  • The Double Life of Veronique
  • Excalibur
  • Faust (F.W. Murnau) 
  • Les Vampires (not a movie about lesbian vampires, but a French serial about a crime syndicate. 10 installments for a 400 minute total runtime) 
  • Quo Vadis
  • Scarlet Street 
  • Way Down East 
  • When Horror Came to Shochiku (Eclipse Boxset, four movies)

A truly excellent job by me choosing several silent and foreign movies to ensure that I will be too tired after work most nights to watch.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Preliminary Revival Attendance Schedule Through December

A very matter-of-fact post title for a very matter-of-fact post. Here's are the movie revivals I'm planning to go check out through the end of the year. It's a combination of record keeping for myself and being able to point people at a page when I am asked about my plans.

Please don't stalk me and other disclaimers.

Date Movie Venue
November
Sunday, the 18th The Black Pirate Film Forum
Wednesday, the 21st The Man in the White Suit Film Forum
Wednesday, the 28th The Virgin Spring BAM Rose Cinemas
Friday, the 30th Big Trouble in Little China The Anthology Film Archives
December
Saturday, the 1st Conan the Barbarian BAM Rose Cinemas
Tuesday, 4th Tess Film Forum
Friday, the 7th The Exorcist BAM Rose Cinemas
Saturday, the 8th The Conformist Film Forum
Sunday, the 9th Three Colors: Red
Confidentially Yours
Film Forum
Tuesday, the 18th Trans-Europe Express
The Man Who Lies
Film Forum
Sunday, the 23rd Robin Hood Film Forum

Other stuff under consideration includes any of the Douglas Fairbanks movies showing at the Film Forum.

General stuff of interest going on in the area November/December includes

Monday, November 5, 2012

Quick Hits - His Girl Friday

Cary Grant plays a newspaper editor who is determined to get his ex-wife (Rosalind Russell) back. She is his former ace reporter who divorced him because he cared about the job more than her and is set to get married to a much less interesting and strong man than himself, of course.

These kind of Cary Grant vehicles are always interesting to watch because he is such a scum but he's also the hero of the affair, more charming than anyone ever, and everything he thinks is true. Russell's fiance is boring and kind of dumb and she should keep going with hew newspaper career because she is good at it and she enjoys it. It is impossible not to root for Grant.



Russell is tough enough to stand nose-to-nose with Grant--which is why he likes her so much--and foils most of his plots but of course his scheming eventually works and she gets roped back in.

After it's absolutely clear how things work out for the romantic leads in the film it transitions into a critique of politicians using tragedy for their own electoral good. At this point the screwball elements are still present but the subject matter is much more serious, however it's handled in a way that it slips in there without changing the actual tone. This is a sneaky movie that comes off as light material at first but has a clear contemptuous voice for the powers that be.