Friday

So many of the days from this past week have just blurred together into one big mass that I don’t even really know what day it is anymore. Ironically enough I’m writing this at 1am on Friday night, so it’s technically Saturday morning?Wedsnesday my History of Cinema class got to go on a field trip to the Silent Movie Theater in L.A. I have to say, that was a treat. There was a live pianist doing the acoompiment just like there would have been way back in the day. Apparently he didn’t have any sheet music, but just improved the music to go along with what was on screen. THAT is how good this guy was. and he was NINETY years old!! I’m telling you, it was amazing.The man who was doing all the presenting pointed out something to the audience that night. “You’re really appreciated two pieces of art, one is the movie that was made here, and the other is our live pianist”. So while we were at the silent movie theater I had to keep reminding myself that the music was being made up as the movie went along. I didn’t realize how much I took for granted the music that is recorded for a film. It was amazing.

So most of the week I spent not sleeping, because we decided to make our own short historical movies in the style of the era we were discussing. So I was up till 4am one night and 3am the next editing. Wedsnesday night is the kicker, I didn’t go to bed that night…at all. I took a nap at like…5am for maybe half an hour. Drank a lot of coffee, gave my presentation, studied for my midterm, took my midterm…and ironically enough, wasn’t tired. so I hung out, took another half hour nap, ate, played games watched a movie (only dozed a bit) and finally at 2am went to bed. What the heck? I mean..that’s hardly an hour of sleep, and not even a consecutive hour. Of course I slept for like…12 hours thrusday night, but how was I functioning? Some girls have this theory that you function off the previous days sleep, not the sleep from the night before. Personally I disagree, it just doesn’t seem to fit. Of course the girls on the hall seem to think that once you lose sleep there’s no getting it back. so my sleeping 12 hours to make up for one night of lacking wont do any good. Again, I disagree. I always figured I could catch up. sleep light on the weekdays, sleep in on the weekends. I like to think that, justifies sleeping in late.

Anyways, being gone for a few days I’ve got a few movie reviews to catch you up on. I’ve decided i’m gonna go ahead and review stuff I’ve seen previous to the night, so long as it’s the first time i’ve posted it here, that way you may all know if the film is good or not regardless of how old it is. On that note, I start you with the silent films.

Felix Gets the Can (1925)- A Felix the Cat short. Now, I’m not a big follower of Felix, so honestly I don’t know how this compares to the other stuff. But I will say that watching early animation is quite fun. When it comes to the earlier stuff I’ve found the plot tends to be a little more open to the impossible, I mean, the overall story line anyways. Ending was absurd for real life, but works in animation. Actually, a lot of it would have been absurd in real life. What Interested me was the way in which the animation reflected the live action films of the time. Pretty much done entirely in wide shots, just like live action movies were early on. I also thought it was funny that instead of cutting in to see what Felix saw, they drew a dashed line on the screen between the object and his eyes.

Liberty (1929)- A Laurel and Hardy short, one of their last silent ones I believe. These guys are pretty awesome. I’ve never seen them before, and only knew their names vaguely but dude, awesome. Story line was good. And I didn’t think it was too ridiculous of a situation. I mean, yes the jokes were dragged on a little long. There really weren’t that many of them either. But I still quite enjoyed it.

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)- Okay, so a Mary Pickford movie. Mary Pickford, for those of you that don’t know is one of the first in the industry to become a Star. America’s Sweetheart, who might I add, was actually Canadian. She made over 200 movies, feature length and shorts. Predomintly if I recall, in the silent era. Now this movie is a little advanced for it’s time. Mary Pickford was both the mother, and the son. Yes, you read that right, Son. I never believed she was a boy. It’s glaringly obvious. They didn’t even cut her hair. Now I know that the hair thing is a historical superstition (boys died more than girls so they kept the hair long so the death angels would think the baby was actually a girl and pass on by), promise. But anyways, If you are going to cast a girl as a like..12 year old boy, cut her stinking hair. I mean the superstition thing only went untill like age 5 or 6 and then they cut it…but hey. The movie did an amazing job putting the two characters in the same frame with the options of the time period. I mean, wow, that is a pretty daring undertaking. However. The story line kinda reminded me of Annie and the Princess Diaries, only with a boy as the lead…and it made me bored, another one of those “when will this end” movies.

Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998)- Haven’t watched this in ages, and only once when I did. We got into too much depth trying to analyze the geneology of the different lions. But the movie- I like Lion king. And I feel as if this Disney sequel was pretty good. Music was good, I love baby lions, they are soo cute. The story felt very similar to the original. Overprotective Dad, Adventurous young un, “accidently” ending up in the bad area, plotting death, falling in love, happily ever after. Okay, so there was more to it than that…a LOT more to it. But generally. Seriously though, I LOVE the Lion King, it’s one of my favorite original Disney movies and the first out of the vault for me to own. Love Simba, LOVE Nala (Who IS a Disney Princess BTW). LOVE Lion King. So Basically, I heart this movie too. Ps-Some of the music has a very Pirates of the Carribean theme. Hans Zimmer, who you all know did POTC also worked on Lion King. Small world.

The Departed (2006)- Now this is the one I watched with less than an hour of sleep from the night before, so cut me a break (but I have seen it before). Never realized how much the F word was used in this movie untill last night. I mean, I remember it being extensive, but It’s just like…wow. I seemed to pick up on it every SINGLE time they said it. It was fun watching with people who had never seen it before. But know this, if you are watching a movie with me that you haven’t seen and I have, I’m NOT going to tell you the ending. NOT. Speaking of ending, the girls I watched it with HATED the ending. I’ll admit, it’s like…Whoa. when you first see it. But now that I’ve seen it a few times, I realize why they wrote it that way. and I think it’s amazing. Glad it won best picture last year.

No Country for Old Men (2007)- Best picture for this year…now I haven’t seen all the other nominees, but this didn’t seem glaringly obvious as to why it won best picture. I’ll be the first to admit however, LOVED the screenplay. I believe this was adapted from a book…now I haven’t read the book, but the story was presented amazingly well. The actual plot on the other hand…I’m not as sure about. It’s basically following a serial killer, but we never really get inside his head, get around to the way he thinks. Never really understand him. But maybe that was the point? It’s hard to know for sure. The Coen brothers have their own set of rules I guess. There’s a lot of blood in this movie. No where on par with Sweeny Todd, but if blood upsets you, don’t see it. Lots of beautiful wide shots. This really cool sound edit I picked up on even though sound is usually the LAST thing I notice. Distinct lack of soundtrack overall. I’m not sure I would purchase it, but I would watch it again, if the mood is right, it’s depressing.