Ebert

Also this fantastic article about Roger Ebert from Esquire Magazine.

Nerd Alert! I just discovered this site and I'm sure I will be reading it more over the next few weeks but if you like title sequences, I'm sure you'll find something interesting to read on here!

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

I will write more about Vertigo in the future because this movie is amazing. It is one of my favorites, and certainly my favorite Hitchcock. I went to San Francisco last fall and had to make a trip down to the Golden Gate Bridge just to take a shot emulating that great moment from the film.

This movie is so dreamy and mysterious, full of anxiety and uncertainty, and went on to inspire Chris Marker to make his fantastic short film La Jetee, which in turn inspired Terry Gilliam to make 12 Monkeys.

Anyways, James Stewart delivers one of his most intense and dynamic performances, as does Kim Novak. Its really great, it is a definite must see for anyone remotely interested in Hitchcock or mysteries or thrillers or whatnot. Excellent score by Bernard Herrmann, and titles by the legendary Saul Bass.Fort Point, 1958.Fort Point, Nov 2009.

Okay, so I've only posted two things on here and I'm pretty sure that -0 people have seen this thing, but that's okay because I'm still figuring out what I want it to be. Also I've been so retardedly busy lately with the Olympics that I haven't had time to watch and then talk about movies! My friend Andy and I have been talking about watching The Hurt Locker for seriously 2 months now and I just haven't had time even though the DVD is sitting on my desk... right there! So that's kinda true, although I have watched a couple movies late, still trying to decide whether I'll talk about everything I see or just things I like or... what! But I've decided, inspired by Andy's awesome sex & robots that I'm just going to make this about movies that I love and anything I find interesting whether its pictures, movie posters, trailers, movie news, or whatever. So its multi-purpose. Stay tuned!

Au revoir les enfants (1987)

"What? Inglourious Basterds, yeah I've seen it. It was a'ight. It's a bit jumbled. But you want a World War 2 era movie that isn't so jumbled? Well, okay, you see that one on my shelf over there? No, no--to the left. That's the one. Au revoir les enfants. It's from 1987, Louis Malle. Yes, it's a french film. It means 'Goodbye, les children.' Do you know about Louis Malle? He's great. He might even still be alive. Or maybe not. No. I don't know. He made some great movies. One of my faves is L'Ascenseur vers l'echafaud. Yeah it's French too. That was before he moved to America. It means Elevator to the Gallows, in French. It was his feature debut. Very awesome. He was pretty eclectic. But this one, Au revoir les enfants, is good. It's about a boys boarding school in occupied France during the war. There's this new kid who comes to the school and gets picked on because he's the new kid, but then this other kid befriends him sort-of because he's also a sort-of outcast. They both like books. Yeah I know, it's a different era, kids don't read so much now. But back then it was important. Like Peter Falk says in The Princess Bride 'When I was your age television was called books!' Yeah that's an awesome movie too. But Au revoir les enfants is good too, for different reasons. Where was I? Oh yeah these two boys become friends. There's lots of tension in the air because there are French collaborators, loyal frenchmen, and then the Nazis who show up periodically. And it takes place in the French school system, which is at best quite harsh. But it's fun to see the boys joking around and taking pleasure in the little things like eating sugar cubes, secretly reading Arabian Nights and looking at centrefolds, and playing with marbles. Never really understood how the marble thing worked. Have you seen The 400 Blows? By Truffaut? Those kids are up to no good. It's great. It's kind of like that at times. Anyways, you should see this, I think it was even nominated for a Best Foreign film at the Oscars for that year. Check it out sometime! Later!"

Control (2007)

"Oh hey, how's it going? What, Control? Yeah it's good. I just watched it. It took me a couple nights to watch the whole thing, y'know cause I put it on late and got tired so had to finish it the next day. You know how it is. Yeah, it's about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division. You know Joy Division? Later to become New Order? Well they were Joy Division until Ian Curtis committed suicide. Yeah, super sad. He had a wife and a kid, and he was only 23! He also had epilepsy. Yeah right, like that helps eh? Plus he was super depressive. Like, you kind of just want to shake him and be like 'Lighten up!', but y'know, that's not really how it works. He's on the brink of tears for most of the movie, it's rough. But it's well done. And Samantha Morton plays his wife. Yeah, the Irish girl. I'm pretty sure she's Irish. She was in Minority Report, like the Pre-Cog that Tom Cruise rescues. Also Morvern Callar, which is excellent and also worth seeing. Yep, it's in black and white. But it looks good. It's not gimmicky. It was shot on colour apparently, but they printed it on black and white. But it works. It just makes the bleakness more... bleak? Also the director used to be a photographer and he shot Joy Division all the time. He probably shot in black and white too. So... y'know. Anyways, check it out. If you want to see the flip side of this movie, and by which I mean the comedic side that tells some of the same story, check out 24 Hour Party People. It's awesome. Super funny. Steve Coogan is the man, he plays Tony Wilson who founded Factory Records which Joy Division was a part of. But I'll tell ya all about that one another time. You're going to go with Control? Sweet. Okay man, see ya later!"

HELLO

For all you people who never made it to the video store I worked at, consider this blog a virtual staff picks that you find in a video store just like my old one. Why should you be reading this? You shouldn't! There are plenty of great movie websites out there but this is an attempt to expose some great older films that everyone should see (or shouldn't, if it sucks! Or should, if it sucks! There are some fabulous crap movies!). Why should you listen to me? Well because you want to, and I like movies! And films. And also cinema. And you, if you are still reading this, probably like all that too! In fact you very well like them more than I and have suggestions for movies I should see and I invite you and let me know! Or comment if you feel I'm full of crap! This is 2010 after all, The Year We Make Contact.

The concept conveniently (read: not) came to me 2 hours after I finished my last shift at a video store in Vancouver. There, I had a "Dan" shelf were I could put movies up that I had recently watched and made me look smart. I had unlimited access to 30,000 free movies and after I leave the job I have the great idea. 20-20 hindsight and all that.

I invite you to read the posts of the coming days, and I will do my dandiest to keep it up to date! Happy viewing/reading!

THANKYOU.
DAN