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March 01, 2009
Watching DVDs with Jason
“What’s the difference between plot and narrative?”
-student in Jon’s class, The Savages
Jason and I had one of our DVD marathons yesterday. We were *way* overdue. This is what we watched:
The Savages
This was the first and best film of the day. It made me laugh and think, and three cheers for Buffalo on the big screen! RAH, RAH, RAH!
The Strangers
I have been back-and-forth over whether or not I was going to watch this film for months. I’ve been trying to avoid realistic horror movies (as opposed to fantasy horror movies) because sometimes they really scare me, and the previews for this were totally creepy… but also very intriguing. I caved. We watched it early in the day so I’d have a lot of time to forget about it, but, of course, when I went to bed, it was the first thing I thought about. Of course, I went to bed around 4:00am, so then I thought, “Well, even crazy people are in bed by now.” BUT THEN I REMEMBERED THAT THE EVENTS IN THE MOVIE STARTED AT ABOUT 4:00AM! This was not so good. No more home-invasion movies for me. No, sir.
Fantastic Planet
I know I’m supposed to learn to appreciate French film, but the only French film I’ve ever truly appreciated was Amélie. According to IMDB, Fantastic Planet is based on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. I did not get that from watching the film. Originally released in 1973, the animation has an interesting surreal visual style, but the storyline just isn’t very engaging. Characters kept dying and I kept thinking things like, “There’s still an HOUR left?” Allegories are sadly often misguided. And boring.
The Washingtonians
This episode in the Masters of Horror series is about a vast historical conspiracy to cover up the fact that George Washington was a cannibal. It was directed by the dude who directed Species II. That’s all you need to know.
Cigarette Burns
This episode in the Masters of Horror series was directed by John Carpenter. It had a Ring-esque plot, but was different enough to not seem like a total copycat. And when they finally showed The Movie that Was Causing All the Problems, I was freaked out enough that I didn’t watch half of it.
Dead Moon Rising
This film led to one of our favorite recurring conversations: what, exactly, is the worst film Jason and I have ever watched together? Yesterday, we came up with a list of eleven candidates, including this one. The production values are abysmal. The sound was really bad, and the quality of the film looked approximately like what you could have gotten on a camcorder in 1992. I mean, it’s a low-budget film, and you have to work with what you have to work with—but they could have done a little more with things like writing and timing. They don’t take money, and they make a lot of difference in the viewer’s experience of a film.
Man on Wire
Ah, yes, another documentary about strange people doing strange things. In this case, we have the story of a French acrobat who decided to walk a high-wire strung between the World Trade Center’s not-quite-finished Twin Towers in 1974. The film consists mostly of interviews with the people involved, and it’s fascinating how much planning had to go into this. I mean, it doesn’t take a brainiac to figure out this was dangerous, but the film explores a number of dangers you wouldn’t expect, including emotional fallout. Thought-provoking.
This American Life, Season One
I thought the first episode was more like an illustrated version of the radio show than an entity in its own right, but they used their visuals much more effectively from the second episode forward. I really liked episode four, “The Cameraman,” about a guy who decided to film his family, documentary-style.
Posted by adrienne at March 1, 2009 09:01 PM
Comments
I love The Savages. You're a brave woman for watching The Strangers. I wouldn't do it for lots and lots of money.
Posted by: jules at March 2, 2009 09:22 AM
Kelly and I thought the same thing about Season 1, Episode 1 of TAL, and agree that they got better at doing things that required a camera after that. "The Cameraman" really made me appreciate that everyone in my family is rational at least most of the time.
Posted by: chuck at March 2, 2009 11:32 AM
Jules, Philip Seymour Hoffman is a local boy, so I have to extra-extra-love The Savages.
Chuck, It was kind of comforting, and oddly touching at the end. Do you know if they're doing more eps?
Posted by: adrienne at March 2, 2009 06:13 PM
A friend recommended your blog to me because we both live in a certain arctic upstate NY city, and because you wrote about the Edward Gorey house. Now I have learned, though, that, despite those similarities, we differ in taste regarding psychedelic French animation of the 1970s. Is this a symptom of a greater schism between us?
Posted by: Personal Demon at March 2, 2009 11:26 PM
How many of these movies have I seen? ZERO. Weird.
Posted by: Little Willow at March 3, 2009 01:28 AM
I admire your movie-watching prowess. That's a lot for one day!!
Posted by: Olivia at March 3, 2009 07:04 AM
Personal Demon, I feel that a shared love of Edward Gorey has to transcend our differences over Fantastic Planet. I sometimes wonder if that horrible, horrible French I class I took at 8:00am on M,W,F in college hasn't had some long-term negative effects on me that I should be dealing with.
Little Willow, Well, a lot of them are kind of oddball choices.
Olivia, That it was.
Posted by: adrienne at March 3, 2009 09:35 AM
My name is Jason, and I approve this blog entry.
I believe there is a season 2 of TAL. I don't think it's available on DVD yet, though. Was there only one disc of season 1?
Also, have you watched Weird USA yet? Is it any good?
Posted by: jp at March 6, 2009 12:22 AM