Conversations 2010 #10

Conversations 2010 #10

Spike posted his 50!
http://spikedunn.blogspot.com/2010/04/spikes-50-favorite-movies.html

I've only seen 58% (29/50) of the list.  

Not too long after my brief Ikiru post I read this:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010/03/ikiru-akira-kurosawa-1952/

That's how I wanted to feel about Ikiru, but I didn't and I don't and I can't fake it.
  
It's funny that you mention Fearless.  I saw it at a fairly young age (14/15) and "it wrecked me," to borrow a phrase from the Ikiru post I just linked to.  Fearless would probably just miss being in my top 50, too, but it might make the cut depending on the day.  

Peter Weir is one of my favorite directors.  I grew up loving his films way before I'd ever heard that silly word auteur.  Try to find a torrent for The Plumber.  I think you can find it if you search for "freakyflicks The Plumber" on the Pirate Bay or try to find the freakyflicks message board.

I can't knock you for including Sound of Music.  I'm trying to overcome my bias against musicals, but really I just avoid them whenever I can.  

C.S. Lewis wrote somewhere that he hated romances involving children, that he had an almost unnatural revulsion toward them.  He pointed out that therefore he was probably entirely untrustworthy when it came to reviewing any such stories.

So?

Don't trust a thing I write or say about dudes singing and dancing.

I have to ask: Really?  New Hope over Empire?  Over Return?   

I just bought a copy of Gates of Heaven at the great Hollywood video closing sale.  I had no idea that you love it.  I've never seen it.  It's one of those films that gets mentioned only infrequently and even then usually only about its budget or length and not its content.

Never mind.  I just checked.  I was thinking of Hraven's Gate.  Gates of Heaven is the Errol Morris pet cemetary picture.  That's different.  For the record, I've seen and enjoy Gates of Heaven.  Which means I'm up to 60%.

M*A*S*H is the only film that I actively dislike on your list.  It has always felt a bit too mean-spirited to me.  Okay, I also dislike Royal Tannenbaums.  It annoys me.  Oh, and High Fidelity disappointed, but I haven't seen it again since opening night.  

I really need to re-watch Joe vs. the Volcano.  I loved it as a child, but I haven't seen it since.  I also loved Overboard with Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn and I'm absolutely frightened to ever watch it as an adult.

I can't remember what our first film conversation was about, but I remember pretty early on being shocked at your devotion to Meg Ryan.  Around that same time, I saw her in HurlyBurly and I was flummoxed.  Meg Ryan?    

I'd love to read Spike's Appreciation of Meg Ryan.  In my mind, you've already written it.

Anyhow, I'm hoping for more film writing to appear on your blog.

I can't remember if you said you had seen it or not or if we even talked about it, but here's the link to my top ten (thirty) post from last year.
http://chasingpictures.blogspot.com/2009/06/for-bgg-film-guild.html

Brandon, I haven't seen Superbad yet.  My offhand comment was based on its reputation and me having seen a 10-year-old-or-so boy wearing a MacLovin (is that right? Something like that) t-shirt.  I might love it.  Based on what I know of it, I just don't think it's good for children.   

Jason and Brandon, I don't have much to add to your war posts at the moment.  I do think that The Hurt Locker is essentially an Army recruitment tool in the same way that almost all "anti-war" films are, but I don't feel like putting the energy into writing enough to back up that claim right now.  Buy me a beer sometime and I'll talk your ear off.  

It's been way too long since I've seen any of those Vietnam films and I've never seen Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket.

Rambo:First Blood may be my favorite Vietnam war film.

As far as "pro-war" films go, John Ford's When Willie Come Marching Home is one of the best films I've seen so far this year.

Jason, Brandon and I did put up Top 10 War Film lists last year if you want to check them out.

My list: http://chasingpictures.blogspot.com/2009/07/waltzing-with-bashir.html

Brandon's list: http://poopnoises.blogspot.com/2009/07/war-hoooo-what-is-it-good-for-top-ten.html

Finally, some one sentence reviews.

She-Wolf of London
I can't write about this movie without swearing.

Good Hair
Chris Rock lovingly exposes the insane hair practices of black women in one of the best ignored films of last year. 

Lost
I love and cherish Lost after episodes like Everybody Loves Hurley.

Star Trek: Man Trap
Is every episode of the original series about sex?

Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass succeeds as a summation of every wrong and stupid impulse in today's developmentally arrested middle age comic book culture and fails in just about everything else.

Peace.