#30 - The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell / Emeric Pressburger)


This movie was really interesting because it was a musical without any singing! We've got an idealistic dancer, the composer she loves, a tyrannical director, backstage drama, everything you'd expect from the Dream Factory except the tunes. Of course, I generally am apathetic about the tunes so this is cool with me. Except that most of this movie left me wanting more, it's pretty light on actual drama and the like.

But OH MAN, the mid-film ballet sequence!! Only the best fifteen minutes of film EVER!!!! I'm totally a sucker for any supposed stage performance that utilizes crane shots, superimposition and montage. You know, just like the real ballet. I'm not kidding though, this and all those awesome Busby Berkley numbers rule so hard because they do so much that theater can't offer. If only there were more ballet films like this! I wish the whole thing was ballet. I guess I should see The Tales of Hoffmann, that's a full opera in this style. I hope it is.

new #100:

#57 - The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch)

This was cute. I liked it.

new #100:

#37 - Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967, Jean-Luc Godard)

I love me some Godard but this was a mess. I really couldn't tell what it was about. Was it the story of a young suburban housewife working part-time as a prostitute? An experiment about what people really are thinking during day-to-day small talk? An indictment of consumerism? Something to do with Vietnam? There were a lot of big ideas, all just glossed over with no unifying theme. Cinematography was outstanding, however. Still, I dunno... this seems to be the moment Godard loses me. Weekend is an absolute masterpiece though. I still need to see La Chinoise.

new #100: Terra em Transe

#46 - The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)


Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated. I actually watched this about a week ago but I've been way busy with essays and visiting my sister in Pittsburgh. This movie is excellent, by the way. I'm sure I'm the last person on Earth to see it, but yeah. Gene Hackman is incredible. It was a thrill watching his conscience take over as he found himself unable to separate himself from his work any longer. I also found it interesting that we never really discovered the importance of the conversation in the park, or rather, we found out that it wasn't what they were saying, but that they were saying anything at all. Great cinematography too, especially the shots that looked like Blue Note jazz covers.

new #100: Aliens