Buster Keaton
The fist time I ever laughed outright at a silent film was when I happened to watch a Buster Keaton film on TV. It's hard enough for any comedy movie to make me laugh let alone a comedy from seventy years ago. Sure, Charlie Chaplin is the famous one, but he's not funny at all. In fact, his humor is downright childish and doesn't even make me smile. Chaplin's movies were often on TV when I was a kid, and I just thought they were really pathetic. So, I therefore take back my previous words and say that his movies really were not childish, for that would be insulting a child. I will just stick to saying that they 'sucked'.
 Taken fromKnowTV |
How could I compare Buster to someone of today... well I would have to say that he's a combination of Jackie Chan and Mr. Bean, or something to that affect. Not only is he funny, but he'll blow your mind with an amazing or death defying stunt. I was lucky enough to see most of the Buster Keaton film festival when it came to town at my favorite theatre, "Pacific Cinematheque". I, along with everyone else, was laughing and there were a lot of comments intertwined such as, "Holy shit!" "Wow" "How'd he do that!" "Woah!". There are things that you might compare to a Jackie Chan movie, but in Buster's movies things are more clear, easy to see, and often uncut -- I mean, you can see that there are no camera tricks or stuntmen. He, like Jackie (I should say, "Jackie, like him" since Jackie was influenced by him) is the stunt man.
 Taken fromProject Buster |
Another thing I love about these movies, and I suppose other oldies too, is that they are like a time machine to another place. I take great interest in seeing the way things were. The clothes people wore, furniture, buildings, and all those little things that were common place back then but are extinct now or only in antique collections. Imagine if films had been around for five hundred years or even thousands. Imagine people watching today's movies over seventy years from now. www.busterkeaton.com
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Pure fantacy and fairytale wonderland. A storybook come to life. A Russian children's book, much in the same ranks as Mother Goose here, turned into a massive film that was, for a short time, the most expensive movie ever made. I didn't get to see this in the theatre, and I haven't been able to see it in a widescreen format yet, but one day I will, and it's true visual luster will shine.
Here's a list of other movies from the same director that I got somewhere. I wonder what incomplete means? Does it mean he didn't finish the movie, or that the final realease has been edited. From the ones I've seen, I like these ones '*' the most. Those Monty Python movies... I really don't see much humor in their wit. Maybe I'm just not British enough...
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Terry Gilliam's filmography:
And Now For Something Completely Different - 1971
Monty Python And The Holy Grail - 1974
Jabberwocky - 1977
Monty Python's Life Of Brian - 1979 - [incomplete]
*Time Bandits - 1980 - [incomplete]
Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life - 1983
*Brazil - 1985
*The Adventures Of Baron Munchousen - 1989 - [incomplete]
The Fisher King - 1991 - [incomplete]
Twelve Monkeys - 1995
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - 1998
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The movie that I laughed the hardest at in my life was Raising Arizona. My friend and I have the same sick, perverted, and warped sense of humor so every little thing in this movie would set us off on a laughting fit. I literally couldn't breathe at one point I was laughing so much. We're the type to start laughing at each other in school for no reason anyway, so give us a reason and we won't be able to control ourselves. We watched it twice, and twice the same thing. Uncontrolable laughter. So, if you have a friend like that, and a good sense of humor as we do, then watch this with oneanother. Unfortunately we didn't see Fargo together, but I'm sure we'd be just howling - especially at the woodchipper scene. I just saw the Hudsucker Proxy, and it was interesting. I thought is was missing something though. Barton Fink, well... it was OK. The others, I haven't seen.
The Coen brothers filmography:Blood Simple - 1984
*Raising Arizona - 1987
Miller's Crossing - 1990
Barton Fink - 1991
The Hudsucker Proxy - 1994
*Fargo - 1996
The Big Lebowski - 1997
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Not only is this a great movie, but it's a great book. J. G. Ballard wrote the book of the same title that this movie was based upon. This is one of the few movies that stays as close to the book as possible. One reason may be because Ballard himslef was used as a reference to how the actual events in the book -- that is based largely upon his own life -- took place. I found this film very moving (for males, at least. I find males and females tend to cry at totally different things). I think you can enjoy the book(s) (The story continues on into The Kindness of Women) and the movie no matter which one you partake in first. Each will leave you wanting more.
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Always delves into life, friendship, bravery, love, and death. Althought not one of the top movies of all time, it is a really good from-the-heart film. If you are depressed (althought it's not a requirement), then this is a great reason to let it all out. I should note that the above (Empire) and others on my list are just as accepting of a good cry too. This is a truely high quality film with great acting and cinematography. The director so wanted everyone to see this movie to it's fullest potential that all videos were in widescreen format (a first, as far as I know).
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The director of this film, Terrence Malick, is apparently very well known, especially amongst people in 'the business', but I, being not of a generation old enough to be familiar with his work, have never heard of the guy until recently, and even now I cannot recall his name or any titles of other works of his. Nonetheless, I succumbed to his apparent popularity and became very curious of this movie, particularly after seeing a few clips which gave me a hint that this would be a good film. Beforehand, I read the little blurb about the film in Pacific Cinematheque's (theatre) paper and well knew that this was a war film, but I didn't let that deter me -- seeing that most war fims are not very good. The first comment that I came away with from the theatre was that it's a must see on the big screen. It's a very wide panoramic movie. A TV will not carry the cinematography very well at all. There were moments that I felt right in the action and in one moment I even ducked down reflexively to avoid getting hit by a bullet flying over our my head. This is to say, that the cinematography was very good. I found that the the images were very clear and not dark or grainy as I often am annoyed by in other films. This film wasn't so much about a broad epic detail-filled story, but more about an experience. Apparently many actors were vying for a part in the film so much so that almost every character was a familiar face to me. You know when a film is to be special when you see famous actors willing to take a small part in a it where they are only to get blown-up soon after you first see them.
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This movie was totally unknown to me before I saw it. I was surprised as how excellent it was. This epic anti-war story is as poetic and involved as The Thin Red Line. This is another film that will leave thoughts and images in your mind long afterwards.
More to come....
