This is supposed the be the beginning of the time of year where I can stop dreading what’s next at my local cineplex. Sadly that isn’t true for me. Still have a few more weeks before some of those anticipated films of 2013 start lighting up my screen. So instead of that dross, here’s what I watched:
FORT APACHE (1948)
I feel I might be growing as a movie lover. This film by John Ford (which I will be writing about in further detail) feels to have a lot of the visual and narrative motifs that were present in Stagecoach, that I remember being kept a distance by, but somehow I ended up on the other end of the movie liking it a lot. I’d like to attribute it all to my now affirmed love for John Wayne, but that might be stretching.
THE SIMPSONS: THE LONGEST DAYCARE (2012)
A great little short. It’s amazing what someone can do with film without relying on the crutch of exposition but rather allowing the viewer to interpret all the emotions that these characters experience through action alone.
THE BRASS TEAPOT (2013)
I had high hopes. If I recall it may be the Mamo fellows who told me about this movie while I was at TIFF and they made it seem like an odd premise which led into one of the most fun little executions of the festival. Well I’m here to say that it hurt. This movie is painfully bland to the point of being obviously unmemorable.
REWATCHED
I decided to have a Duncan Jones weekend and revisit his films Moon & Source Code and I find it interesting how my opinion on them haven’t changed since my initial viewing when they were first released. Moon I still feel is a great character piece and Source Code a fun science fiction thriller which steps one too far into the realm of science fiction in the last five (or so) minutes. Honestly, Source Code had a great ending… and then they had to just cut it off there. Maybe the ending I wanted would’ve made it more into a serial that would allow for a lot of sequels that I would’ve never wanted to see so Jones intentionally cut that hope down immediately, but it feels so weird with that last turn for me.
In need of something fun and light I rewatched Freddie Wong’s Video Game High School — which is available in its entirety on Netflix Instant. The film was initially released in small short episodes online for free (and I’m glad he’s currently working on Season 2) and I’m willing to posit that it’s best consumed in that manner. As one concurrent film there are a couple of scenes (shorts) to the later half where they are forced to place in “previously on” and “next time” in order to set up a change in style that I love but pulls me out of movie mode and pushes me into an episodic TV mode and I think I’d just prefer if they had left it as 10 (or however many) short episodes rather than a two hour movie.
Did I mention needing fun? Well then John Woo’s Face/Off does the trick and does it splendidly. While revisiting the film I felt a twinge of cynicism leaking in where I want to complain about some of the action sequences in how they’re shot nothing can beat my love for John Travolta and Nicolas Cage‘s performances of utter craziness that we get in this movie.
Last, but not least, I rewatched The Master for the first time since TIFF. I believe in my review I was very vague in my love for the film as I knew I probably wouldn’t get the chance to rewatch it last year and I wanted to get it down on paper (or screen?). The reason for the vagueness is I knew that there was something I didn’t quite get, or at least I felt that there was more to see than what I caught onto in my first watching of the film. After watch #2 I can honestly say that I still have that feeling, but also still adore the movie. I have a sneaking suspicion that while Jesse Plemmons has a minimal role I think he is a bit of a key to it all, but this is just a theory at this point… possible further pontification required. However, Corey Atad wrote a great essay on the film which I feel you should all check out and consider.
My count for the year of 2013 is updated to 44 First time watches (7 from 2013); 27 Rewatches; 71 Total Films