The Gold Rush | The ALASKAthon

The Gold Rush is the last new-to-me film in the ALASKAthon, which means that my gap year is coming closer. This, I hope, is a good enough excuse for this review being somewhat rushed. There really aren't enough hours in the day, especially when in some of them, you get to see your friends for the last time in a year.

It might interest you that my aversion towards silent films has lessened quite a bit during the last year. From vehemently stating that "I hate silent films" to finding them okay to actually finding myself enjoy them once in a while, I have undergone what some call "a snobformation". Jokes aside, Chaplin delivers another heart-felt and fun comedy on a serious enough topic in this film. He once more shows off his physical skills and talent for physical comedy, while the story - of course - isn't complicated at all. The sets are amazing and the pieces that were actually filmed in real snow are rather impressive too. Sadly, Chaplin outshines most of the other actors, and the girl in particular doesn't get a very important or rememberable role. His "cabin friend" makes for a funny side character though, and he and Chaplin play off each other very well.

I'm happy I watched The Gold Rush, since it makes for an interesting change in the many recent films I watched for this blogathon. It seems that Alaska was never very popular among filmmakers but Chaplin saw its charm already in the dawn of the days of filmmaking. Again, I'm sorry if this review seems rambly and short. There was no other way.

SPECIAL ALASKATHON MOVIE BREAKDOWN

How capturing/ engaging/ interesting is the film? (out of 5 northern lights)

How gorgeous does the film - or the Alaska in it - look? (out of 5x Timothy Treadwell's hair)

How much does the film itself make you want to go to Alaska? (out of 5 sledges)

THE GOLD RUSH

1925 • USA • English

director Charles Chaplin

author Charles Chaplin

★ Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray

Alone in the Wilderness | The ALASKAthon

The wish to just pack up our dearest belongings and burn or leave the rest, to wander off into the wilderness and start a new life without the complications of modern society - I think most of us have felt that wish one or several times in our lives. It's something that I've always associated Alaska with - the goodbye to society, that crazy breed as Eddie Vedder calls it in one of his songs. In the course of history, there have been a number of women and men who succumbed to this wish, which I do not doubt burnt much harder in them than it does in most of us who have not succumbed to it.

Mystery, Alaska | The ALASKAthon

-Note!- My blind spot entry for this month will be posted on Letterboxd.com, as was last months (12 Angry Men). I want to get used to and make you get used to my blind spot entries and possible (mini) reviews appearing on that platform. Just wanted to make sure you know.

Even though it should be the cinephile's highest aim to be able to approach each genre and subgenre without prejudice, we all have our own little preferences when it comes to the films we watch. Last year, I started keeping a diary on what decades I watch most films from and what suffer most of my ignorant teenage - of course I found my viewing habits concentrated on the last 5 or so centuries. With the 2000s and 2010s taking a lead that is much too strong in my eyes. But it's not only that (sub-contious) skirting of old films that dictates my film viewing habits - much more prominently and, I have to admit, self-consciously, I omit war and sports films.

Benvenuti to Cannes 2014 | 8½

Yesterday was the first day of Cannes and it was the first time I saw a film with the intriguing title of 8½.

I'm not talking about that blending mode or the amount of films Fellini had made up until 1963 - or am I? 8½ premiered at the Cannes Film Festival that year and it became an instant success. 41 years after its release, it was honored by being selected for the official poster of the festival and it became one of the two films I decided to watch in order to forget I wasn't attending the festival. 8½ is a strange film that plays with your perception of reality and the world of dreams and also is fully aware of its sexiness as a black-and-white Italian film. Never again have the screens of our cinemas experienced such stylishness and they perhaps never will. Marcello Mastroianni strolls the hotel hallways, Dolce Vita beaches and film sets in a film set like a God who just so happens to pay us peasants a visit while also maintaining an oddly fragile flavor in his character. Obviously (question mark?) he represents director Fellini himself, who - according to film bibles - directed himself out of an existential crisis with this film. Fellini blends the oddity and dreaminess of La Strada with the hedonism from La Dolce Vita into some of the most delicious, intriguing cinematic mush I have tasted yet. (Or did I just say that because those are the Fellini films I have seen?). Beside the clever script, abstract imagery and intellectually stimulating dialogue, it's also, surprisingly, the sound that makes 8½ stand out in cinematic history. Whether it's the buzz from the door, the clicking of polished heels on marble or that all-Italian beach swoosh, the sound of this film sweeps you away and draws you in at the same time. 

I think I know what the title stands for now: the 8½th heaven.

8½

1963 • Italy • Italian/ English/ French/ German

director Frederico Fellini

authors Frederico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi

★ Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee

FINAL FRAME

„What is this flash of joy that's giving me new life?“

Blind Spot Fixed: Léon, The Professional

Life has taught me that it's always easier to just give your thumbs up to something than to back off and share your doubts on it. Add to that the fact that I can't really get angry - like, ANGRY angry - and think fighting is sort of useless, and you have me slightly afraid of the reactions to this post. Let's cut to the slack: I wasn't the biggest fan of Léon, my April entry to the Blind Spot series. It's a movie I've been aware of for a long time now and I've been close to picking it up several times on flea markets and the like. As all of the movies I chose for this blogathon, it's one of the highest ranked films on IMDBs Top 250 that I haven't seen until now - and this is a list I have only had good experiences with so far. Not that Léon was a bad experience. In fact, I acknowledge it to be a good, solid film with an unusual story and great characters. Still, I'm not a fan.

Short Break | No Time

A long time before the days of Requiem For a Dream and Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky was "just" one of the most promising graduates from the directing program at the American Film Institute. Apparently, the most important short from his days of studying, Supermarket Sweep, became an actual National Student Academy Award finalist! However, neither this nor his other two AFI shorts Fortune Cookie and Protozoa, are available to common peasants like me. With no time on my hands and a strong desire to participate in French Toast Sunday's amazing director months, I tracked down the last of Aronofsky's short films. It is named, ironically No Time.

If your impression of Aronofsky so far has been that of a highly intelligent director who makes slightly depressing movies - including what is probably the most depressing movie of all time - you will think again once you've seen the precious 1994 short No Time. Where to start? It's pure mayhem from the beginning and then 22 minutes onward until the end. Consisting of several short episodic sequences that bear close resemblance to those sketch shows that seem to have disappeared from [Danish] television, this film is as different from the other two Aronofsky films I've seen, as the black swan is from the white swan. If anyone could've told that this was an Aronofsky film without knowing, I will quit being a semi-critic and watch 1000 more movies before I start writing about them again. 

The protagonists of the short are four friends that may or may not be living together, and whose entertainment options have narrowed down - however, we only find out what has happened in the middle of the short. Anyway, the try to bide their time by playing charade and also going on individual adventures such as playing basketball and fishing. If this sounds pretty basic; yes, it is, but Aronofsky manages to fill every sequence with enormous amounts of slapstick and situational humour that is pushed to an almost grotesque level in the end. This kind of humour is certainly dangerous and not universal at all, even for me, it can go either way. But within minutes, I found myself laughing louder than what is probably appropriate when your sister is trying to fall asleep next-door. No Time worked just as well for me as Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan have, although on a completely unexpected, ridiculous level. I can't wait to finally watch his other three - well, actually four now - movies soon. If you would like to see No Time for yourself, scroll down and hit |>.

All month long, FTS will be highlighting the work of Darren Aronofsky and also posting other related articles and links from around the web. Post your links and find banners here, send an email to lindsay@frenchtoastsunday.com for help and use the hashtag #DarrenAPRILofsky for tweets. 

Big League Blogathon | Field of Dreams

What makes a life truly worth living? Few people living a privileged first world life - and I'm not talking about the top 10.000 - are satisfied by simply existing. Most of us, if not all of us, want to be remembered in some way, go down in history you may say. We want to be someone, to fulfill some sort of purpose in our life, a reason for a different future than one lacking a past that included us. 

Field of Dreams is a movie about this strange human struggle for validation and how people often have very different views on what makes a life worth living. In the middle of the attention, there's hippie-turned-farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) who has built up an idyllic existence with his born-and-bred country girl wife Annie (Amy Madigan) and their daughter Karin. One day he hears a voice telling him to build a baseball field in his back yard, which he does - and as if things couldn't become stranger, the ghosts of old baseball players start appearing on the field. Confused, Ray goes on a quest to find his all-time favorite author Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) to help him understand the messages he's receiving and the purpose of his Field of Dreams. Terrence Mann was an activist writer back in the 60s and 70s and so certainly lived a life worth living in many ways, however he retreated from the public when he felt people weren't listening to him anymore.

Blind Spot Fixed: American History X

I can't discuss American History X - which, just to give you an impression, should land somewhere up in my Top 10 films of all time - without discussing my initial expectations for it. Along with Once Upon a Time in the West, this was the movie from blind spot list that I expected least from, mainly because I knew the least about it. The title had always made me think of some slightly preachy yet solid, typical 'universally good movie' about Malcolm X and black oppression. At least I was slightly right about that last one, but surprisingly there is no trace of Malcolm X in this movie at all. Lincoln may have been mentioned, which brings me to my first point: Movie buffs have been talking a lot about racism in the last two years with Lincoln and 12 Years a Slave being released and overall cherished. These were two movies that left me very cold and didn't trigger much of the aspired emotional reaction in me, which has convinced quite a few people I talk to about movies that I am a racist (jokingly... I hope). For example, one of these people was very surprised when I told him that I had actually fairly enjoyed this year's Fruitvale Station, me being a racist and all. I can't wait to tell him what I think of American History X (hint: it begins with M and ends with ASTERPIECE)*.

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.

Guest post: Aesthetic similarities between The Nightmare Before Christmas and German Expressionist Art

There's a first time for everything, right? ...The lovely Brandon Engel, a blog-less blogger it seems, approached me with some ideas for articles he would like to have featured on my blog and they sounded so great that I couldn't reject him. Even if this article will make my own scribblings seem less original than ever. Here it is then, the first guest post on Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions...

It takes oddballs like Tim Burton and Henry Selick to infuse all of the macabre, sinister aesthetics of post World War I German Expressionist filmmaking into a Christmas film. You have to hand it to them, though! Consider the public response to the film. Audiences have been so receptive that even 20 years after the film’s initial release, the film is still heralded as a classic, and there is more Nightmare merchandise floating around than any goth teenager could ever possibly fit in their bedroom. Just consider all of the animated films that were produced over the course of the past twenty years...how many of them have completely fallen off the face of the earth? Nightmare has stood the test of time.

My Heroes: Ellen "Get-away-from-her-you-bitch" Ripley

A Bechdel test rating for movies has just been approved by the Swedish government, I finally have the chance the catch a screening of the hyped sci-fi epos Gravity tonight and Halloween is just around the corner - what better to write about these days than one of the coolest female characters that has ever kicked cinematic asses, first appearing in 1979s groundbreaking sci-fi/ horror flick Alien?

Dynamic Duos Blogathon: Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom in LIMELIGHT

Originally, I wrote a longer, more insightful post on the relationship between Calvero (Charlie Chaplin) and Terry (Claire Bloom) in Limelight but now at 2AM I find out that it's somehow been deleted by blogger. Well, (sh)it happens.

Briefly, what I had written was how Limelight is my favorite Charlie Chaplin movie because it's so beautiful and thoughtful and amazing, and that I love the various facets of the relationship between the descended star and the ascending star. If, for whatever reason, you haven't seen the movie yet, do so soon. Here's a little sneak peak:

My Heroes: Scott Pilgrim (or whatever)

I met Scott about a year ago, when I was on my summer holidays in Denmark. It was a hot summer night and stuff, at least for me - he was chilling up in Toronto. Chilling as in "it was cold". My initial plan of the night certainly didn't include Scott, but then again I didn't know him before that night - how could I have known that he would win me over in a second? My telly-companion that night wasn't as enchanted by Scott, however. Every other minute a sigh or differently disapproving sound escaped from her lips until she finally left me alone. Alone with Scott.

Braindead: A ballet of braaaaaaains

That brainy little bastard. Somehow, Peter Jackson - who managed to completely bore and disgust the hell out of me with his first feature gore feast Bad Taste - won my heart (and liver, and... ribs) with his third blood bash Braindead aka Dead Alive.

It's a movie very similar to the former, fully living up to my expectations of an illogical and unimportant plot, a good portion of black gore movie humour and some cool effects. But this already sets it apart from Bad Taste, for even though that one did have all of these qualities, it didn't have them in great quantities. Braindead was never afraid to go for it with everything it had, featuring the stupidest characters making the stupidest choices, saying the worst and hence funniest lines, and ripping each other apart in the most inventive and disgusting ways I have ever seen in a movie of the genre. It's not a big surprise Lord of the Rings had such great effects, when you take a look at the awesomely executed battles of Braindead. Their setting in a huge cottage in New Zealand instead of, well, Middle Earth, doesn't make them any less original and fantastic. Keeping in mind that all of these effects were done without the help of computers only adds more joy to the experience. In that way, this was a very technically interesting movie to me - I kept wondering how they did this and that, where the blood was coming from, whether somebody gargled with water in order to produce the matching sound effects... and so on. Still, Braindead is more than just a technical experience. Its over-the-top-ness in every aspect that you can possibly believe, makes me want to compare it to the extravaganza we see in for instance Baz Luhrmann flicks. It takes a big portion of self-conciousness and commitment to produce something so ridiculous and pure, and I can't help but admire Jackson for that. 

Gore-fans, like me, should keep in mind that Braindead isn't a movie for everyone. The people who cried out in disgust when we watched Fight Club in philosophy class (I know... it's sad) definitely shouldn't search out this one. But if you do enjoy or don't mind a lot of blood, Braindead is probably straight up your alley. If you live in Germany, there's another good reason to watch it, since the original uncut version was, and still is, banned here.

FINAL FRAME

STRAWBERRY

Mixtape Movies: Coming of Nostalgia

The awesomest of all awesome blogathon-creators, Andy from Fandango Groovers, once again saves me from thinking up ways to fit a lot of movies I want to write about into one post. His latest creation is the Mixtape Movies blogathon, where we can assemble 6 movies that have something in common - a theme - and write about that. One of the 6 movies is a wildcard, a movie that stands out from the rest in some way or another.

This blogathon just came out of nowhere into my blogroll and truly saved my day of blogging. I just don't find the time to write about all of the awesome things I'm watching and the moment, and find it incredibly difficult to fit them all into one post that's not just a series of mini-reviews. So here we have the perfect solution for my misery. I guess I'm sort of cheating in a way anyhow, since 5 of these movies are connected in a  very obvious way, but who cares - let's get started. Oh, and since my poor sister, who's in the hospital at the moment, borrowed my laptop, you're not going to get any photoshop in this post.

Mette's Movie Mixtape:

Coming of Nostalgia

My list is inspired by my several viewing of the ingenious 2010 teen-rom-com Easy A, a glorious weekend of watching (almost) all the movies mentioned in it and my chronic suffering from the Peter-Pan-Syndrome.

Watching The Star Wars Trilogy - For the First Time in My Life

Yes, it's me. The only person who hadn't seen Star Wars... until a few days ago! I have had the trilogy in the back of my head for years, but simply couldn't get over my idea of sci-fi not being "my piece of cake". In fact, I had been very fascinated by Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, so I don't know why the hell I couldn't accept that sci-fi was indeed one of the thickest layers in my piece of cake. But prejudice isn't easy to overcome, and I had to wait for the right kind of Doctor to arrive until I finally got it.

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Films of January 2013

The first year with four different numbers since 1987 has begun.

And with it, Award-o-mania, which took hold of me as soon as the Oscar nominations were announced. Having seen each film that's nominated for more than 1 of the precious statues, except for the ones that will be coming to our theaters in February, I'm kind of fed up with 2012 movies right now. It was a rewarding experience though, to watch all these films I had been anticipating, and most of them turned out quite all right. I'm also playing with the idea of hosting a little blogathon about award snubs, something I've been wanting to try for a long time now, except I'm a bit of a coward. If you all promise to consider joining I would take it up on Sunday though.

Otherwise I discovered an awesome tv series this month, with the side effect of me not wanting to watch movies anymore until I've finished the series. Furthermore, I just bought an HDMI cable today, so I'll be able to watch the rest of the series on my TV which is so cool! Not so cool for all the films that want to be watched, but whatever. 

At least I did manage to squeeze in a lot of them last month...

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

A Journey in Kubrick or: Kubrick's Cube

January 2012 marked my first visit to the violent, ruthless and magic world of Stanley Kubrick's movies. 

„Here you are, sir, main level please.“ were the cold welcoming words that drew me into a film that I have declared to be one of my favourites - without having seen it another time since then. And now, almost a year later, I happen to have seen all there is to see of Kubrick's work, my journey ending with a word equally precise as the welcoming ones: „Fuck“.

The two quotes are, as you might know (if not, you've missed two great films), from the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Open - respectively. The ironic side of this is that they share the rank of being my favourite Kubrick films. 

"Kubrick". Just listen to the sound of that name. It's a name I've associated with crazy brilliancy even before watching one of his movies. And each movie I saw before accepting the challenge of watching his whole filmography, confirmed this association. The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon - all great films. All favourites. 

It shouldn't come as a surprise then, that I wasn't able to develop the same feelings towards the remaining Kubrick films I watched in the last few weeks. Out of 13 feature films and three shorts, some must be less brilliant than the others. Indeed, only three of those recently watched films are ones I consider to be exceptional or brilliant; Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket and Lolita.

Has my picture of Kubrick being some kind of holy God-like film master changed? Yes, it has. I've seen his (not very impressive) beginnings, development of an own style and voice, as well as I've seen his brilliant side. But while my admiration may have faded a little, my fascination has grown. For Kubrick is one of the most fascinating filmmakers I know - and so are his films.

Perhaps every filmmaker becomes fascinating or interesting once you dig a little deeper - I think this is true for many things in life.

What you should know is that I haven't been researching a lot on Kubrick's personal life. I know that he wasn't good in school, and that he was a friend of Kirk Douglas, until they had a big fight. He also became more independent through his career, but that's not very unusual. And he disappeared for many years.

I'm sure all these things and many more are interesting, but what I want to focus on in this post is really Kubrick's work - his films - not his private life.

Those who haven't seen many of Kubrick's movies and want to be surprised, beware of spoilers, while those who have seen many of Kubrick's movies might think I'm just repeating stuff I've read on the internet - which I haven't. I intentionally haven't researched on the movies, because so much has been written about it and I am afraid of just repeating some of that massive material. 

Whatever, bla bla, here's what Kubrick's movies have touched, moved or provoked in me.

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.“

Happy New Month: Films of December 2012

2012 is coming to an end, but I still don't have the feeling that it is...

I was just browsing through all the posts I wrote this year... it was definitely a good year. One of the best years ever. A beautiful year with many wonderful journeys, some new friends, a lot of great new art (movies, books etc.). 

And also blogging-wise, I think it was successful. There were of course times when I had to go on hiatus for a while, I even seriously considered closing the blog but then... I just couldn't. This is the only place where I can express myself without boundaries, writing-wise. Well, except for that novel I'm working - yeah, I said it. It was meant to be a secret but then I though I might as well share it with you... I don't know what the outcome is going to be, but I hope to write about two pages everyday from now on. That would mean the novel would be finished in about three months - I guess.

It's funny you know... just when I was thinking of letting go of that pressure to write something "big" (meaning "long(er)"), just waiting for the right feeling to come on a sports game (Murakami) or on the train (Rowling), the idea just came right out of nowhere. 

But enough about that... let's just see what the future will bring, shall we.

And until then, let's talk about movies.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

200 Motels (1971) Tony Palmer, Frank Zappa - USA

I really don't wanna know how many drugs went into the production of this movie... but at least now I have a quite exact idea of what it's like to be stoned. Watch it if you want something completely confusing and ridiculous.

5.0