Spring Break Tarkovsko-thon: Andrei Rublev

I came into Andrei Rublev with great expectations. I was fully prepared to love it as much as I loved Ivan’s Childhood and Solaris (the only Tarkovsky film I’ve actually seen before this week).  What I ended up getting was something not that interesting to me. I never really connected with Andrei as a character in the way I connected with Ivan or Kris, the spiritual elements seemed to be relegated to discussions of God, rather than a larger attempt to show the supernatural in the composition of the images.

Even though I found this movie a little boring, I’d like to talk about a feature of Tarkovsky films that I’ve noticed among the three I’ve already seen, the prologue.

Spring Break Tarkovsko-thon: Ivan’s Childhood

SPRING BREAK!

Anyway, I’ve finally got time to engage on a little project. Apart from having two rowing practices per day, I have a whole lot of nothing to do for the next seven days. In the past, I’ve used this opportunity to shotgun entire TV series in one shot.

It would be really cool to do reviews of, like a whole week of teen party movies to mark the occasion. I could see Spring Breakers and give my opinion and laugh at how terrible From Justin to Kelly is. It would be great.

But that would be too obvious.

Instead, I’ll be talking about the opposite of spring break: Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky (or, as I sometimes incorrectly call him, Andrei Tartarkovsky). Every day I’ll be looking at a new film of his in chronological order. Today, I’ll be starting in 1962 with his debut feature Ivan’s Childhood.

Peter’s Favorite Movies #1 : Sherlock Jr.

I’m going to try a project out. This year, I’ll be recommending my favorite movies. It’s a pretty rudimentary idea, but I need a way to get off my ass and write something every week. Let’s start with my favorite silent comedy: Sherlock Jr.

Every cinephile can be categorized according to their favorite silent comedian. Do you admire Charlie Chaplin’s physical grace and social themes more than the innovative camerawork of Buster Keaton? Or do Howard Lloyd’s sheer balls wow you more than either of them?  In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a Buster Keaton guy.

Here’s the main element of what makes Buster Keaton such a fun, engaging presence in movies to me. You can it best in my favorite silent comedy: Sherlock Jr.

This guy never gets beyond the table of contents of this book. (And don’t worry, that’s a fake mustache.)

Catagorized Film Recs: Lars Von Trier edition

Don’t you ever get that feeling that you’d rather be watching a Lars Von Trier movie?

Oh, just me. I expected as much…

Anyway, I’ve been thinking that this blog needs a new post, so why not focus on the films of my favorite working filmmaker.  I was inspired to do this specifically when I saw Django Unchained.  I can’t get into why it did as that would spoil a major reveal, but let’s start with the first one.

This is the face of a man plotting his next prank.

The 10 Reasons Why Claire Kincaid from Law and Order is Awesome

If you ask a Law and Order geek, if you can find one, what their favorite lineup of the original Law and Order is, they will gladly talk your ear off explaining who the best A.D.A was^[1].  So, in the interest of contrast, here are the reasons Claire Kincaid from is the best A.D.A.

Dead Alive is Basically a Rom Com

Today, I’d like to talk about this little movie from New Zealand called Dead Alive (at least that’s what it’s called in this part of the world, it’s known in New Zealand and the rest of the world as Braindead.) and how it’s basically a romantic comedy.

Artify This: Detective Kitty O’Day

Artify This is an ongoing column in which I take something trashy, cheap, or otherwise not-arty and make it into a modern art movie. This time, I will be looking at the cheepo Monogram Pictures detective film Detective Kitty O’Day.

Deathmatch: Film Trilogies

In Deathmatch, I’ll be comparing a few related things to each other in a full out death match (get it?) to see which one is victorious.  They’ll compete in a contest of opinion, with me as the judge! Answers will be scored in the inverse list format (In that 1st place is worth 4 points and 4th place is worth one point) and crown the winner!  Today, I’ll try out this with film trilogies.

Citizen Kane Would Have Been Great in 3D

Last night I went to go see The Hobbit at midnight with my mom and sister in 3D.   Because I like money and don’t want to waste it, I’ve only been to four 3D movies since the current boom has begun.  One of them was, obviously, Avatar, and another as said before was The Hobbit.  The other two were the awesome Nicholas Cage vehicle Drive Angry and the pretty decent The Green Hornet[1].  However watching The Hobbit last night gave me a new insight into what 3D might be used for, and what modern filmmakers are doing wrong when they use it.

 

But first, Citizen Kane and Stagecoach:

Wikipedia-less: Sweethearts of the U.S.A. (1944)

I watch a lot of Turner Classic Movies at my house.  In fact, if I’m watching TV late at night, its a pretty good bet that I’m watching an foreign classic movie. Turner Classic Movies is my go-to TV channel, the way people tune into TBS or TNT, because there’s a good chance Family Guy or Law and Order are on at any given time.  Sometimes I’ll tune in and they’ll be playing Days of Heaven or Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and sometimes they play these little oddities that don’t even have as much as a Wikipedia page, maybe they have a single mention on the page of their stars. Anyway, this is one of them I saw today, and it was so insane that I just had to write about it. So: Sweethearts of the U.S.A.

This is the only relevant picture that comes up when you search “Sweethearts of the USA movie.”