Hubby and SnakeLady Film Festival Update

Hubby and SnakeLady Film Festival Update. The original idea was to go through the AFI’s top 100. We’re getting there slowly with a few lively diversions. Here’s where we are so far:

• Citizen Kane (oh, I get it after watching the commentary. It’s considered the greatest movie ever made because of the cinematic techniques. Just watching the movie I was like, “What? No, seriously, what?”)
• The Godfather, Godfather Part 2 (hah, combine technique, plot and exceptional acting and there, you have the greatest films ever made.)
• Dog Day Afternoon (so recommend it if you haven’t seen it – true story about a bank robbery gone terribly, terribly, terribly awry in that way that makes you groan and laugh and watch slack-jawed at humanity’s inept, pathetic side. then it gets all totally 21st century with the gender thing and you’re like, oh my god)
• Freaks (1930s movie about side show circus “freaks.” technique on this one is questionable – the movie has some flaws as a film (ok, I heard someone else say that and I’m just repeating it, I don’t really know what “flaws as a film” is supposed to mean exactly) – but the subject matter is so profound that none of that matters. i was emotionally and physically sickened by the lack of respect to human dignity that this film portrays so well. a commentary on humanity.)
• The Searchers (a Western with John Wayne. that a Western would be considered by the AFI as one of the greatest movies ever made shocked me. I mean, Westerns? Isn’t that just the equivalent of pulp fiction? I like my Star Trek novels and all but I don’t kid myself about their literary merit. I heard somebody say that supposedly this film wasn’t racist but to me it seemed like an astute portrayal of white society’s defense of the ideal of white womanhood, the portrayal of Native Americans as bloodthirsty rapists, and a cruel, insane, single-minded display of that whole “shore to shore” philosophy. I could be wrong about the artistic merit of Westerns. But I would have to be convinced.)
• Annie Hall (THAT’S what Woody Allen is all about? THAT’S what all the “ooooooooo, Woody Allen, what a genius” is about? oh please.)
• The Graduate (first time I’d seen it. don’t understand why the girlfriend/wife is considered such a hero. i mean, she’s barely a whole character – just somebody for Dustin Hoffman’s character to use to better display himself and his motivations. God, Anne Bancroft is gorgeous.)
• Double Indemnity (when they say “bleach blonde” they so mean it on Barbara Stanywick . couldn’t get past Fred MacMurray’s tacky macho attitude. Just couldn’t take it seriously, such a charicature. Feel free tell me I can’t appreciate the art of another era due to my clinging to modern sensibilities. Mostly I can’t appreciate film that doesn’t come to me. If film doesn’t reach me emotionally, grab me with plot, or impress me in some way that is not technical because I don’t know enough to notice technique, I’m not really interested: I am a film barbarian. I don’t study films, I enjoy them and I expect to be moved, enlightened, and entertained. Plus popcorn. Here’s where I’ll try to act cool and sophisticated and redeem myself by saying I find most films coming out today to be boorish, with storylines that don’t hold water, acting that is dependent on sexual appeal – Brad Pitt excluded from this particular criticism based on sheer quality – and where production dollars take the place of meaning. And no, I don’t take film as seriously as I do literature. I consider most movies to be a story with eye candy for lazy people, myself included (notable exceptions noted). Of course, a lot of books are the equivilant of a Hershey’s candy bar, too. I guess I just respect the medium more. I also “get” books better, I know technique, I know history, I recognize literary references and in-jokes, and I can appreciate it even in “uneven” books. Literature major, here, in case you couldn’t tell. Oh, librarian, too.)
• Flight of the Phoenix (whole man-against-man and man-against-nature plot. basic, core, well done)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchcock version) (Ok, could Doris Day stop smiling in those tailored suits for like 30 seconds please? love that que sera sera song and love Jimmy Stewart. did he ever do anything badly? not my favorite Hitchcock. Favorite Hitchcocks are The Birds and Rebecca and Spellbound. Hitchcock claim to fame: Have a cousin named Marnie after Hitchcock’s Marnie.)