What Movies DO I like, Then?
A continuation of my previous bland post - as if that one had not been enough.

Movies I Loved and Think Accomplished Everything The Filmmaker set Out To Do:
(I don't critisise cross-niche, so to speak - if the film is supposed to be a light romantic comedy it doesn't need to be in the ring with Fitzcarraldo - the intent was different, the niche is different, etc.)
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Raging bull
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control
Queen Margot
Women In Love
Amarcord
Endless Summer
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
War Photographer
The Fast Runner
Stevie (about Stevie Smith)
Dogtown and Z-Boys
The Business of Fancydancing
Red, White, Blue
The Pillow Book
Orlando
Dance Me Outside
King of Hearts
All About My Mother
Memento
Lawrence of Arabia
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
The Straight Story
Rabbit-Proof Fence
(or in a funny typo, Rabbi-Proof Fence)
Being John Malkovich
Fitzcarraldo
Seven Beauties
About Schmidt
My Architect: A Son's Journey
and many, many, many more.

Movies Which Were A Bit Much (even for me)
Requiem for a Dream
Dancer In the Dark
Lttle Otik
Office Killer
The City of Lost Children
Natural Born Killers
I liked them in a way, but have no desire to try to recreate the experience.

Movies I suspect Might Be A Bit Much
City of God
Touching the Void

Movies Which Were Not Enough (a bit too fluffy for me)
Whale Rider
The Royal Tenenbaums
Amelie
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Run Lola Run
Chocolat
Bladerunner
The Truman Show
I liked them somewhat, but there was not enough "there" there.

Movies Which I Consider Boring Crapola
(Short list as I can usually spot them ahead of time and not go)
Pirates of the Caribbean (went with friends who thought it was fun: not fun at all)
Star Wars sequels (I don't know - maybe I saw 2 - who knows?)
New York, New York (only movie I ever walked out on - and I have sat through a double bill of Heaven's Gate + Kagemusha, so my stamina is unquestionable)

Movies I Think I've Seen But Am Not 100% Sure
Happiness (99.99% sure but the preview looked weird)

I could start another category - films I was horrified to discover (after the beginning scene) had been made from books I'd read and considered simplistic, but it would only have 2 on it, so I won't. (Ice Storm and Ordinary People)


Sometimes (my mother explained this to me when I was a child) a very slight little book or story can make a good film, like My Man Godfrey or What's Eating Gilbert Grape? I come from a line of women who watched a lot of movies. My mother's mother was RIGHT THERE in her seat when movies were invented, and my mother said she grew up in cinemas. She told me how, as a small child, the usherette would show her to where her mother was sitting when my mother went to her after school (frequently). My mother remembered seeing the first talkie. She was highly traumatised by The Blue Angel as a wee one (7-ish). I remember being traumatised by a movie called Atlantis (which had a death ray that turned people to skeletons) when I was about the same age.

Labels: Bland Post Alert