![\"breathless\"](\"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/breathless.png\" "\\"breathless\\"")
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nBreathless<\/strong><\/p>\n This 1960 French film is often touted as a very influential film.\u00a0 I\u2019ll agree that it was ahead of its time, because it was like a bad YouTube video.\u00a0 It tells the tale of a young man who kills a cop, and the rest is pretty much filler.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t get it.\u00a0 And the jarring cuts are annoying, as even in these YouTube days, they draw way too much attention to themselves.\u00a0 Maybe with the lack of an interesting story, that\u2019s OK?<\/p>\n The Bad and the Beautiful<\/strong><\/p>\n This 1952 film starring Kirk Douglas tells the tale of a film producer who alienates his best friends in the pursuit of his craft.\u00a0 While it may not be entirely accurate in its depiction of Hollywood\u2019s inside (not that I would know), it makes some interesting points on the creative philosophy of the business.\u00a0 Fun movie.\u00a0 (I don\u2019t know why the poster makes it look like a romance.)<\/p>\n The Secret World of Arrietty<\/strong><\/p>\n This came out in Japan in 2010, I think, but it just came to US theaters last month (though I prefer subs to dubs).\u00a0 It\u2019s based on those \u201cBorrower\u201d books that American audiences should already be familiar with from other adaptations.\u00a0 This was a wonderful film, full of a simple honesty and reflectiveness that is lacking in so many of today\u2019s fast-paced bing-bang-boom-zip let\u2019s-be-funny-with-randomness animation.\u00a0 Great movie.<\/p>\n Beauty and the Beast 3D<\/strong><\/p>\n The first film I ever remember seeing in theaters was either Disney\u2019s Beauty and the Beast<\/em> or An American Tail: Fievel Goes West<\/em> when I was five or six years old.\u00a0 They both came out in November 1991, so which one I saw first, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Theaters were so big back then.\u00a0 Anyway, I didn\u2019t want to miss the chance to see the film again in 3D.\u00a0 The result?\u00a0 Meh.\u00a0 The backgrounds looked awesome in 3D.\u00a0 The characters themselves looked a bit wonky.\u00a0 But I guess I was prepared for that after seeing The Lion King 3D<\/em>.\u00a0 Still fun to see it in theaters once again.<\/p>\n The Last Emperor<\/strong><\/p>\n This 1987 film tells the tale of . . . that guy.\u00a0 I forget his name now.\u00a0 You know, that last emperor of China.\u00a0 Except he never really had much power; he was a figure constantly being used by other forces as a symbol.\u00a0 Not a very fun life.\u00a0 An interesting movie; educational, at least, if one can be forgiven for not remembering Chinese names very well.<\/p>\n The Grand Illusion<\/strong><\/p>\n This 1937 French film from director Jean Renoir tells the story of a prisoner escaping from prison during World War I.\u00a0 It was quite a good movie, even if its depictions of war probably now seem dated after the horrors of World War II.\u00a0 Great camera work as well.<\/p>\n The Children Are Watching Us<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s another great tragic tale from Italian director Vittorio de Sica.\u00a0 Along with Shoeshine<\/em> and Bicycle Theives<\/em>, I think de Sica has a little trilogy of tragic masterpieces.\u00a0 This 1947 film tells the story of a couple\u2019s marriage falling apart from the point of view of their child, who perhaps doesn\u2019t quite understand everything<\/em>, but can piece together enough to understand the tragedy of the situation.\u00a0 Tragic but great film.<\/p>\n 12 Angry Men<\/strong><\/p>\n This popular 1957 film was boring.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t get why it\u2019s so popular.\u00a0 A bunch of people sit around a table and talk for a while.\u00a0 I guess what they say should be deemed philosophically important and we can pat ourselves on the back for understanding how wrong prejudice is, but storytelling-wise it makes for a boring film.\u00a0 They could\u2019ve portrayed the same themes much more dynamically.<\/p>\n Running on Empty<\/strong><\/p>\n Another film from director Sidney Lumet, this 1988 film starring River Pheonix tells the story of a prodigious piano player who\u2019s family is on the fun from the law.\u00a0 When River\u2019s character falls in love, it creates quite a difficult situation.\u00a0 I thought the story and acting were great, but something about the way it was shot and edited makes it look like an old cheesy made-for-TV film.<\/p>\n Sunday in the Park with George<\/strong><\/p>\n This really isn\u2019t a film, it\u2019s a recording of the 1985 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, of whom I became a fan after discovering Sweeney Todd<\/em> back in 2007.\u00a0 I knew a lot of the songs from the musical from the album, but I didn\u2019t know how they all fit together until I saw this recording.\u00a0 Great show.\u00a0 The songs Finishing the Hat<\/a><\/em> and Move On<\/a><\/em> awesomely describe some of the struggles of the creative process.\u00a0 All artists should check out the musical.<\/p>\n Logan\u2019s Run<\/strong><\/p>\n This 1976 sci-fi film is quite cheesy by today\u2019s standards, but there\u2019s something rather charming about that.\u00a0 If it weren\u2019t for pointless use of nudity.\u00a0 Anyway, great score by Jerry Goldsmith.<\/p>\n Hugo*<\/strong><\/p>\n I had to rewatch this Martin Scorsese film for a third time when it came out on blu-ray.\u00a0 It does not get boring; to me, it really inspires creativity.\u00a0 I especially love getting to see some old Melies work in 1080p.\u00a0 The movie\u2019s not as good in 2D though.\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 Still a great movie to have on blu-ray.<\/p>\n The Rules of the Game<\/strong><\/p>\n Another film from Jean Renoir, this one from 1939.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say it really has much of an effect from my cultural view.\u00a0 Interesting use of rabbit-killing though.<\/p>\n The Lorax<\/strong><\/p>\n A guy cuts down trees (which I don\u2019t think would be capable of photosynthesis anyway), and runs out of trees because he\u2019s not thinking long-term.\u00a0 Problems ensue.\u00a0 This 2012 animated film was interesting, I guess.<\/p>\n The Boys: The Sherman Brothers\u2019 Story<\/strong><\/p>\n It seemed like a good time to watch this 2009 documentary after Richard Sherman passed away.\u00a0 (Yes, I did know who they were before he died.)\u00a0 Great and insightful documentary.<\/p>\n Evening Primrose<\/strong><\/p>\n A made-for-TV musical from 1966 with songs and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.\u00a0 The music was great.\u00a0 The story was rather bizarre.<\/p>\n THX 1138<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been wanting to see this film from 1971 for a while since it was George Lucas\u2019s first feature.\u00a0 It tells the story of THX 1138, who decides to escape from the world of his mundane controlled dystopian life.\u00a0 I must say, unlike Logan\u2019s Run<\/em>, it does not show it\u2019s age quite so much.\u00a0 Of course, part of that is because it\u2019s been touched up; Lucas likes to touch up, you know.\u00a0 But even so, the story and the way it\u2019s told feels much more real than the other sci-fi features from that time (not that I\u2019ve seen very many).\u00a0 And I\u2019ll resist the strong urge to make a Jar-Jar Binks joke at this time.<\/p>\n Paths of Glory<\/strong><\/p>\n From 1957, this Stanley Kubrick film tells the story insane stupid war-leaders making insane stupid war decisions, and then punishing the soldiers when they don\u2019t obey.\u00a0 It does raise the age-old soldier-philosophy question: when is it right and wrong to disobey orders?\u00a0 But instead of exploring that question, the film just shoots you in the face because war is bad.\u00a0 Thanks a lot.\u00a0 I used to think war was good, but now I understand the truth!<\/p>\n Au Revoir les Enfants<\/strong><\/p>\n Warning: there be spoilers ahead.\u00a0 This French 1987 film tells the story of a young student, Julien, at a Catholic boarding school in occupied France.\u00a0 The school brings in a few Jewish students to hide them from the Nazis, one of them named Jean.\u00a0 Julien and Jean slowly form a friendship.\u00a0 And here\u2019s the spoiler, if you\u2019re still reading: at the end of the film, the Gestapo raids the school and captures Jean, several other Jews, and the head of the school who hid them there.\u00a0 You never get to see what happens to Jean, but as the Gestapo lead him away out the gates of the school, the narrator says something like: \u201cThat was the last time I saw Jean.\u00a0 He died in Auschwitz.\u00a0 I never forgot that day.\u201d\u00a0 As an audience member, I didn\u2019t need to be reminded of the horrors of Auschwitz for that to be perhaps the most tragic and depressing ending of a World War II film I\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 The entire film forms such a strong and realistic friendship between the characters that just seeing one of them being led away, and you know they he doesn\u2019t realized he\u2019s being sent to his death, and then being told he died in Auschwitz . . .<\/p>\n X-men: First Class<\/strong><\/p>\n From 2011.\u00a0 I was curious.\u00a0 I\u2019m not curious anymore.<\/p>\n Dream House<\/strong><\/p>\n A man moves into a house with his wife and daughters and then learns it might not be real.\u00a0 Is he just imagining things?\u00a0 Are his wife and kids really dead?\u00a0 Did he murder them?\u00a0 A fun psychological thriller from 2011.<\/p>\n The Bridge on the River Kwai*<\/strong><\/p>\n I bought this 1957 film on blu-ray a few months ago when it was on sale at Best Buy.\u00a0 I had already seen it a few years before on DVD.\u00a0 A great film, and looks great blu-ray.<\/p>\n Umberto D.<\/strong><\/p>\n Another film from Vittorio de Sica, this one from 1952.\u00a0 An old poor man does stuff.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really get it.<\/p>\n Youth Without Youth<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a Francis Ford Coppola film from 2007 starring Tim Roth.\u00a0 A man gets struck by lightning, becomes young again, and gets the sorts of special powers I think we all wish we had.\u00a0 The movie gives you a lot to philosophically think about, even while the story itself was too bizarre for me to really understand.\u00a0 I mean, I understood what was happening, I just didn\u2019t always understand the why<\/em>.\u00a0 But an interesting film.<\/p>\n Abduction<\/strong><\/p>\n From 2011.\u00a0 A young man discovers his parents are not his parents after a life of not realizing they don\u2019t even look alike.\u00a0 He must then go on the run as bad people with guns chase him to try to abduct him because his real father is out there and would not want him to be abducted and oh what a complicated mess!\u00a0 The rest of my family was watching it so I stuck around and watched it.\u00a0 And now I have watched it.<\/p>\n Trespass<\/strong><\/p>\n This was also from 2011, starring Nicolas Cage.\u00a0 Some bad guys with guns trespass into a guy\u2019s house, hoping to steal his jewels.\u00a0 But does he even have jewels?!\u00a0 Watch and find out!<\/p>\n The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing<\/strong><\/p>\n This documentary from 2004 discusses the art of film editing.\u00a0 A good documentary for those interested in the subject.\u00a0 The Walter Murch excerpts are particularly informative.<\/p>\n Bonnie and Clyde<\/strong><\/p>\n The 1967 classic looks great on blu-ray.\u00a0 The violence is nothing by today\u2019s standards, but I think the overall story still stands, and the editing and acting are wonderful.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n