Blind Spot Fixed: Apocalypse Now

Choosing 12 films out of the hundreds of 'must-sees', 'masterpieces' and 'classics' that waited like blank sheets of paper for me to put my stamp of opinion on was a difficult task in itself. The fortunate person I am, the first film I chose proved even more difficulties. The main one: there exist two versions of it, the shorter one being 'only' 153 minutes long. Still, the 200+ minutes 'Redux' (what does that word even mean) cut might be much better than the original one, think of Blade Runner. Luckily, my helpful blogathon host Ryan McNeil immediately responded with the wise recommendation of the shorter cut - apart from the expected 'You're in for a treat', which he knew because everyone except me has seen these films already. In I went then, used to the 90-110 minute features I have stuffed myself with this whole past month. And you know, I've come to realize that watching movies is quite similar to doing sports - you've got to alternate. Now I do ballet, so 'Don't just do the allegro and ignore the adagio' would be my personal interpretation of the lesson that the Apocalypse Now experience taught me. I guess it translates to 'Don't forget to build up your muscles when training for a marathon'. 

Apocalypse Now is not just a long film - it's  a long war film. Happy times. War films need to be long, seems to be the general consensus. I don't think so, actually, I think war films can work perfectly fine with a running time below 2h. But indeed, Apocalypse Now is a movie that needs room to unfold itself in order to build up its eerie and disturbing atmosphere. Surprisingly, the plot isn't that important - nor are its holes. Basically, it's about great actors delivering great performances in an impossible environment, framed in the most fascinating way you can imagine (Oscar nod: deserved). If you really *have* to have a synopsis though; half-crazy Captain Willard (Michael Charlie Martin Sheen) is sent on a secret mission to exterminate Colonel Kurtz's (Marlon Brando) insane reign over a group of insane people near the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. The film currently ranks #1 at the website moviemistakes.com and deservedly so. You can't expect anything else from a cut-down from more than 200h worth of filmed material, filmed in 16 months though. Famous production history? I didn't know S about this film's production history. However, it was one of the most interesting things I read since researching Blade Runner.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying

a HOW I LIVE NOW review

Growing up 21st century's Europe has its perks - technology redefines the limits of communication, consumerism and culture, we can travel without having to do little more than showing our passports and politicians seem busy sustaining peace in our own little world as well as the Middle East. It becomes difficult to differentiate between documentations of the World Wars and movies like Independence Day, both depicting horrible, life-threatening situations and ending on a happy note (more or less). I for one find it incredibly hard to believe that my own grandmother fled (mainly by horse waggon) from what was once Pommern (the eastern part of Germany) to the north, and had to work under more or less slavery-like conditions for the Russians. Hell, I can't even fathom there was once a great wall separating Eastern and Western Germany - that fell only 6 years before I was born! However, once in a while, I am reminded of the actual danger that still surrounds every living creature in this world; the animal-esque war of survival that is hidden beneath health care, unemployment benefits and supermarkets. Watching How I Live Now was one of those experiences that made me realize there is a threat of war in my life and the lives of the people surrounding me, and that our little bubble of peace, equality and freedom of the mind could burst any day. 

1001 Movies: Finishing Kubrick

185 - 187

Slowly, my Kubrick-film-feast is going to an end... Having watched all sixteen feature and short films of the late director, I feel full of knowledge and enlightenment. That doesn't mean I loved or even liked all of his films - but we'll dive further into that matter when I write my big, grand Kubrick Post with a capital P. All you're going to get for now is three short reviews of my last three Kubrick-adventures, one that disappointed me and two that are officially on the list of my favourite Kubrick-opuses.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

„THE COMPUTERS THAT TAKE THE SITUATION BEYOND HUMAN INTERVENTION HAVE ONLY BECOME MORE CAPABLE. BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.“

Praise The Hobbit

USA/ New Zealand, 2012

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Directed by Peter Jackson

Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro

★ Too many great people to choose three of them

                

What has not been said about The Hobbit yet, I wonder? 

With all the praise (along with a tiny dash of criticism) wandering around the media and blogosphere, is there at all any way to defend your action of writing a review on this movie? Shouldn't we highlight lesser known arthaus gems that could change the world?

Why is Dil Se my favorite movie? or All the things I love about Dil Se..

"Philosophy is not about finding the answers, it's about asking the questions".

- My philosophy class book.

Dir. Mani Ratnam | India
★ Shah Rukh Khan - Manisha Koirala - Preity Zinta

          

Any great movie could be my favorite one, a thought that made me shiver of fear when I first tried to put together my 100 Favorite Films list. But it happened to not just be any movie, but a movie that had followed me through many years and that has never stopped intriguing me every time I watch it. 

Having finished the list, there was suddenly no other movie I could imagine, that could be my favorite. The thought surprised, even unsettled me - after all, I hadn't actually seen Dil Se.. for about two years. It was time to finally re-watch it with eyes that are quite different from the ones of my 13-year old predecessor. 

I was scared but also excited. And you know what? I feel I admire and love this film even more than I did before. Dil Se.. is not flawless, objectively speaking - so what makes it so special to me?

That's what I want to find out in this post, namely by listing all the things I love about this film. Of course I won't be able to fully understand and explain the greatness of this film, I know that - but it's an attempt that I have to do. And an excuse to make a lot of screencaps.

ALL THE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT DIL SE..

The name's Rango

Rango (2011)

Dir. Gore Verbinski

★ Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant

After the release of Jackson and Spielberg's TIN TIN, the odds that RANGO, like many cinegoers have previously predicted, is going to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature are descending. I haven't seen TIN TIN yet, for reasons that many of you know and that I want to overcome, but I can say that much: RANGO does not deserve an Oscar.

This year won't go down in history as belonging to the golden age of animated features (if there is one yet) – if that's Pixars fault is a question I don't want to discuss here. As both RANGO and TIN TIN are not part of the Disney/ Pixar group that has somewhat held a monopoly on the animated film sector, though, this year is very likely to down in history as the one in which Pixar didn't produce a winner.
Getting back to RANGO. The story of a lonely lizard who gets thrown into an unfamiliar, rural environment, where people don't like strangers, and realizes the opportunity to invent a new life for himself and be popular for a change. Except for a few adjurations, nothing new here. Applying human emotions, values and behaving onto animals is nothing new either, but most previous animated fables haven't pushed it as far as RANGO does – which, believe it or not, is one of this films biggest strengths. Furthermore, the animation is fabulous, every little detail being perfect to bits. This is especially seen on hand of the clothing, and the single scene in which a human appears (“the spirit of the west” to be precise, but let's call him a human). Only after a mentionable amount of seconds had passed, I realized that this wasn't a real actor but an animation, and it took me some time to convince my sister too: “Look there, you can see it's animated from that tiny detail...”. If there's anything Pixar can learn from here, this must be it.

There is a lot of situation comedy in RANGO, and I remember laughing out loud a few times. Mostly I was just smiling though, so you shouldn't expect a proper comedy. If you don't expect more than a little entertainment, you won't be disappointed, and maybe you'll be shocked by some of the scenes that are actually funny, because they're hilarious to be honest. And that's where Johnny Depp steps in. I know that many people say he's become a parody of himself lately, and I can understand why they feel that, but in my opinion all he needs is to play some more serious roles. Let's face it, he's great at comedy, but if he continues this way, his career is slowly going to drop down – even though, as I said, RANGO wouldn't be near as good without him.
A big weakness of the film is the development of the story and the final showdown/ ending. I don't want to spoil anything here, so let me just say: predictable and poor. I found myself slowly drifting away, and when I found my way back to the film again, I could tell what would happen so I drifted away again. Also, and I know Americans and people who watch the dubbed versions won't consider this a problem, but I found it extremely hard to understand Beans. That accent was really extreme – if I ever watch it a second time, I'll turn the subtitles on. And that's what I would recommend others like me to do.

Very authentic by the way... I've been to Mexico a few times.

So what is left to say, and what can I conclude about RANGO?Well, I think that RANGO is a decent film, but the only reason it got that much praise must be this years poor choice of animated features. Compared to the other animated films I've seen, RANGO does have strengths and improvisations that others can learn from, but the amount of things it can learn from other films is much larger. It won't hurt watching it, but it won't hurt not watching it either. In a few years, few people will remember RANGO, for it's neither mainstream nor childish nor ingenious enough to fully satisfy anyone.

Rating: 6.85