Film is like music in pictures. I'm a visual thinker/learner, and I categorize my world by visions. Film gives me the same sense of satisfaction that music gives other people, I think. I don't see nearly enough of it, but getting the megatastic telly was, for me, like getting a really decent sound system would be for other people. I don't not appreciate music, but I'm not that bothered if I don't hear it. I actively miss film if I don't see it, and I know that one of my favourite experiences is to go to the cinema and just drown in the visuals and almost-thereness of the large screen.
Film to see? Not Magnolia, obviously. One of my favourite films is The Man Who Would Be King. I'm not saying that's a good film, necessarily. I think that absolute judgement can be passed on very little, and certainly not something that is as subjective as film, or music. It's a film that means a lot to me - I came across it by accident and the story hoovered me up. Caine and Connery ham it up all over, and it works as a master class in being a hammy old actor as much as anything. Something in the story, which others may consider hackneyed (wrongly so) also resonates with me. The story it came from is a Rudyard Kipling story, and he was a recidivist (am I using the word right?) old racist using every ounce of patronization the Empire could bring to bear upon the witless natives with which he populates his imagination. Nonetheless, it is a rollicking good watch. It's probably the film equivalent of Mamma Mia, and I defy anyone not to enjoy it, however snobby they get about whether or not one should appreciate it upon its artistic merit.
There's an awful lot of crap written about film, and an awful lot of stylistic posturing and tribal status involved in liking 'this' film or 'that' film. I tend to go, as my recent reviews demonstrated, for well done populist choices - A Knight's Tale, as opposed to Magnolia.
Also: ,i>Gross Pointe Blank, and Get Shorty. 'Gansta' movies are a short hand for fairly witty dissertations, long on the one liners cockeyed philosophy, cartoon violence, and short on plot. I blame Tarantino. Get Shorty is a real, real treat.
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Film to see? Not Magnolia, obviously. One of my favourite films is The Man Who Would Be King. I'm not saying that's a good film, necessarily. I think that absolute judgement can be passed on very little, and certainly not something that is as subjective as film, or music. It's a film that means a lot to me - I came across it by accident and the story hoovered me up. Caine and Connery ham it up all over, and it works as a master class in being a hammy old actor as much as anything. Something in the story, which others may consider hackneyed (wrongly so) also resonates with me. The story it came from is a Rudyard Kipling story, and he was a recidivist (am I using the word right?) old racist using every ounce of patronization the Empire could bring to bear upon the witless natives with which he populates his imagination. Nonetheless, it is a rollicking good watch. It's probably the film equivalent of Mamma Mia, and I defy anyone not to enjoy it, however snobby they get about whether or not one should appreciate it upon its artistic merit.
There's an awful lot of crap written about film, and an awful lot of stylistic posturing and tribal status involved in liking 'this' film or 'that' film. I tend to go, as my recent reviews demonstrated, for well done populist choices - A Knight's Tale, as opposed to Magnolia.
Also: ,i>Gross Pointe Blank, and Get Shorty. 'Gansta' movies are a short hand for fairly witty dissertations, long on the one liners cockeyed philosophy, cartoon violence, and short on plot. I blame Tarantino. Get Shorty is a real, real treat.