not Art of Film related

The Labowski coen brothers

The Labowski coen brothers;

I am going to focus on the movie 'The Big Labowski' the fist time I saw this movie, I had no idea what to think about what I had just seen - after watching it the 2nd and subsequent times, both alone and with friends who have also seen it, I have noticed more and more things about it. The first viewing, you brain is just trying to make sense of what you are seeing, not really paying attention to the sheer amount of detail the movie posesses.

the main character "The Dude" played by Jeff Bridges fits the part to a tee starting with him in a shot in a grocery store in the dairy asile opening a carton of half and half and smelling it, cutting to him writing a check for 63 some off cents.

the dude is in a bowling league with Donnie and Walter, two of my favorite actors playing roles that really fit them.

if you haven't seen the movie, it is a must see even if you dont plan on watching it again, its just one of those movies that will be popular for a long time, and will be referenced well into the future.

ALtMAn

Robert Altman's unique style is not the easiest thing to track through all of his movies. the 3 movies we watched that were directed by Altman were back in the era where directors really did have almost total creative control over their movies, and it shows, fewer gaps in logic, and more clearly defined unique traits.

Altman's most noticeable trait that is used throughout at least 90% of his films is a moving camera; capturing many different scenes of action, or characters without cuts, giving a very different feel when watching an altman flick.

One other trait that I noticed, and yes - it was the only other similarity I noticed and it cant apply to his crap (Black and White) movies is a very rich color palette and very saturated colors.

The Revolution Against B&W Film

In Art of Film this year we have watched all but 1 movie in black and white format - these movies all strike a cord with me, not a good one mind you. it beggs the question, if these movies had updated sets and they were color, would they be good in my eyes? The answer is a resounding 'no' the plot of a 40s or 50s movie is just not realevant, I admit I am a stiff critic of movies, and these are not in my top 100 range.

If one were to do the opposite of updating and colorizing a movie, say making it black and white and change sets to old props, would they be good? probably yes, the reasoning behind that goes to cultural relevance, if the language is relate able then the movie fits.

tear me to shreds or agree, but this is how I feel about why black and white movies arent inherently bad - but the dialogue behind them is wretched.

-Berger

Bringing up Baby.

This movie is still culturally realevant becaus its essentially a romantic comedy, and that genre is Timeless. The movie is about a paleontologist who is persueing a 1,000,000 dollar donation from a wealthy older woman, little does he know, the psychopath woman he spends a whole day with inadvertantly is the niece of the older woman - after realizing this, he becomes much nicer to her, but always was attracted to her even though that doesnt surface till later in the movie. I hate this movie just because I am now Bias against black and white movies, and some of the jokes and screw ball comedic moments dont carry after 70 or 80 years.

Postlude -- Unit 1

After completing unit one in AofF1, I decided that I was going to watch more movies this year. Since movies keep getting more expensive just to keep breaking box office records it hasn't seemed vital to keep going to the theater to watch movies when I can just get them on BD when they come out and watch them on my own 115" 7.1 1080p theater.

movies that I am looking forward to watching are not plentiful as it seems that hollywood is a refuse-factory churning out useless garbage that is the same story that they told 5 times last year in the same fashion.

the ones that look good;
1.)Religouous:
2.) An American Carol:
it looks funny, but I dont like its far right wing message.
3.) Burn after reading:
4.) Max Payne:
superb game, probably a good movie

Other than that, movies that came out in the past, I still need to see slapshot, fargo, and bourne supremacy.

This blog is now art of film

I like movies, and I hate movies. Pulp fiction and the big labowski are the best films of all time guaranteed.-- the bell rung so its not a good paragraph