In lieu of a fancy pants intro, I'll just remind everyone that we'll be starting Vision of Escaflowne in the Anime Club this week. If you've wanted to see it, or you want to re-watch it, then watch it with us Saturday!
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): Really good Alfred Hitchcock thriller with an awesome climax. I'm still in awe at how well done it is -- the scene has no dialogue at all, with an orchestra playing in the background (it's in a music hall), where the tension is through the roof due to an attempted assassination. Before that scene I liked the movie but didn't love it; however, that makes it jump another level for me. I'd say the movie is worth seeing just for that scene.
Changeling (2008): Clint Eastwood, whether acting or directing, usually delivers the goods, and this is no exception. Changeling is a great meshing of two stories -- a mother's child disappears one day, and the corrupt LAPD return a lookalike to her, so she has to fight so that they will rectify their "mistake" (while they just try to make her look crazy, hoping the problem will disappear), while the other story is about a very disturbed man. It isn't readily apparent how the two stories connect, but once they do connect, it's fantastic. The only major flaw in the movie is that the last third or so moves a bit too quickly; there's too much happening, and it feels slightly unnatural, considering that the first two-thirds unfolds at such a deliberate pace. That pace really works in heightening all the feelings of the story, too: The fear of losing a child, the terror of being powerless (especially for women), the outrage of corruption, and so on. This really works in Angelina Jolie's favor, because she is pitch perfect as a normal mother who is desperately trying to hold things together and just wants her son back. I think this movie elicited some mixed feelings when it first came out, but I am in the camp that loves it.
Shadows and Fog (1992): Eh, I really like the style of this movie (it's inspired by German Expressionism, which in turn inspired the distinct look of film noir), but the story never really goes anywhere. It's too oblique to be a gripping plot and not substantial enough to override that by offering interesting insights into anything. This is based off Woody Allen's play, "Death," but there are some scenes added, and they seem kind of tacked on to me. They just don't fit at all.
On the queue for this week: Chicago (2002) and Into the Wild (2007)
Total Movies: 71 (Gaslight, The Last King of Scotland, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Darjeeling Limited, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Diary of the Dead, Bullets Over Broadway, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, The Professional: Golgo 13, Lars and the Real Girl, Lolita, Quills, Hamlet, Iris, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Savages, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Stranger, Love and Death, Harold and Maude, Spartacus, Scarlet Street, Sabrina, Zelig, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Stardust Memories, Barry Lyndon, Be Kind Rewind, Radio Days, Deconstructing Harry, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Creating Rem Lazar, Undefeatable, Ninja Terminator, Ninja Dragon, Rumble Fish, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, In Bruges, The Bank Dick, Marathon Man, Clannad, Air, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, MirrorMask, Slither, It's a Gift, Splendor in the Grass, Waitress, North by Northwest, Monkey Business, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Bringing Out the Dead, Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen, There Will Be Blood, Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Spellbound, Frenzy, Anatomy of a Murder, Clue, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Changeling, Shadows and Fog)
