Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts

The Maltese Falcon

So I finally finished reading Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh) that I'd been reading for an inordinate amount of time and then.... well basically I was in shock for a while. Yes. The book was horrifying in the most ordinary way and so i followed it up by watching the film. While the film was jarring and visually assaults the audience attempting to do justice to the novel, the monstrous images that grow in your mind from the words you are forced to read cannot be visually portrayed because everyone knows somebody like what is described, or has heard of someone like whose story you're witnessing, in real life. But everyone knows Begbie to look differently. Everyone has heard of a Mark but he doesn't necessarily look like Ewan McGregor....

Next adventure: The Maltese Falcon. The path I took to discover this mystery novel was a little odd and took many months to get there though i didn't know i was going there at the time. I re-purposed my super movie watching mission and added several more films to the list- one of which was the movie Brick (2005). I loved the style of the film so much that i went to the director's site to learn more about his inspiration and reason for stylizing it the way he chose. Then through a forum, I was led to more reviews and more discussions of this film. Which led me to the vocabulary words "film noir," "hammett," "chandler," and a few others that I have chosen to study a bit of. Researching "hammett" in conjunction with "film noir" led me to "Sam Spade" which led me to "The Maltese Falcon" which happens to be on my Ultimate Reading List as WELL as one of the additional lists of films to be watched and categorized. Bam and bam, wheeeee!!

As you can imagine, i've been knocking several things off of many lists and that makes me abundantly happy (see "wheeeee" above).

What does not make me happy is that The Maltese Falcon story was very much less exciting than I had hoped it would be based on my exciting and fruitful journey that led me to that end. Perhaps it is that being written in 1930, and I being of very late 1980's, I just expect a different kind of mystery novel. However I will say this I have never read a mystery novel that has so much mystery and such precise development and plot revelation as this novel.  There were so many details that just never led anywhere and i guess having details like "i'll ring the bell four times long short long short" and then not ever having it occur or come to light is what confuses me. I've read most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mysteries and I've been spoiled by the champ at tying up every loose end and seemingly detached detail. This novel seemed a little loosely created and very quickly twisted to come to a clean ending where Sam Spade is bad ass private detective of the century.

And boy is he!

When I finished reading The Maltese Falcon the next logical step was obviously to track down the original film rendition of the novel and hellooooooooooooooo Humphrey Bogart :)


Well. The film was no different. Which speaks volume of the film for being so true to novel without making a mockery of film or novel. But the sense of unfinishedness and "wtf" was also still there from the novel. And Humphrey Bogart was very bad ass as Sam Spade although.... kind of short? Strange. Either way watching this film some deem the first of the film noir era and watching the novel come to life in a time that I have never seen for myself was definitely something for a Sunday afternoon.

You know what I like doing?

I like making lists. (I know I know... everyone likes making lists.) But I mean it in the literal sense. I like writing lists. It's never just good enough to print out a list and then cross things off, if I see a list I want to make a sheet of paper with properly spaced rows and columns and write them in by hand.

Today my list is of the Top 100 Canadian Films as picked by the Possible Worlds Film Festival people.  They've got the list online, but I've now got my OWN list. the same list in the same order and even with LESS information than the fancy reviews and summaries that are on the site. But it's mine and it's in my hand and for some reason the list is more real because I can touch it. Like the 100 films that have been put down onto three sheets of paper are now a unit and it belongs to yours truly. I've just now finished it.

see?


Yeah but what about those other lists that I've put on my blog? You better believe that I've got that shit on paper, stored away, and preserved in its greatness.... Even the list of Empire's 500 movies. Written out. By hand.... That one actually hurt my wrist....

The one I'm working on next is Time Out Paris Top 100 French Films. Can you see a trend here?

Who is Starbuck?



Only $6 and a 40 minute drive :P


During my busy yet incredibly lazy weekend I had the pleasure of watching a really fantastic movie featured by the Ellensburg Film Festival. While it was a little bit of a drive to get to the show it was definitely worth it.


The film that I chose to see was "Starbuck" (2011) directed by Ken Scott starring Patrick Huard. I walked in about 2 minutes late (see drive time above) and let me tell you. I had a flash of "oh shit is this the wrong movie??" because I had no idea it was all going to be in French!! Good thing I'm learning French so I was able to understand.... NONE of it. But it makes sense. This movie had to be in French. Because it's from Quebec. And the French was 20% of why it was so good- not because French is awesome, but because this movie would not have had the same rhythm and vibe if it were in another language. Before I went to the festival, I read a super short description of a man who donates a ton of sperm and now his kids want to know who he is. I can honestly say I had no idea what it was that made me decide I want to go see this but I liked the name and I thought it'd be cute. Obviously my movie choosing method is really in depth and thorough...



look at this face. look at that name. how could you not?
You can read all about the details on the Wikipedia page (click on the link above) but whatever you read, this movie has very little to do with a man who has fathered 533 children as a sperm donor and more to do with a very human way of dealing with things that seemed like a good idea at the time... or maybe not even a "good" idea, just- an idea.

"Starbuck" gives the viewers a glimpse of what it means to be connected in the most random ways and what it makes a family. Sounds corny, huh. But how many movies have you seen where "family" refers to 533 people who were created by a man who wanked himself into a cup? And even better, 142 of those people find each other and form a family bonded by one question- who is our father; who is Starbuck?  David thoughtlessly says to one of his foundling sons "I have a real family you know" and the son's curt retort is "and what are we then?" This man who doesn't have the maturity to keep his own life in order is also the father that 142 people seek to meet and understand. He has been part of their family the whole lives of the children as the person who gave them life but none of these offspring were anything to David beyond the $35 dollars received and spent. Does that make them less than family? How does that work? With the one connecting factor as Starbuck, 142 people who were strangers living completely separate lives and all of those intimately involved in David's "real" life come together and form a ginormous family. It was beautiful. It made me think "how far really, is the degree of separation between us all as strangers and loved ones?" One random common factor can take anybody in the world from being an unknown existence in our lives to someone we someday cherish closest to our hearts. And as weighty as that sounds, this movie was hilarious. For these two reasons "Starbuck" gets a 10.

Plus, the cast was brilliant. And real. Maybe I'm just not used to Canadian cinema but I was surprised at how well the wit was integrated into the plot. None of those random one-liners that make you think "wow the writer must have heard this somewhere and was dying to make this work somewhere in the script." Patrick Huard was great. I wish he spoke English so my love for him could have even one less degree of separation (but no worries there Huard, I am learning the French!!)  Antoine Bertrand does the token best friend beautifully with a purpose in the film as something other than "lead's best friend with quirky pips."

I cannot imagine this film in any other language or setting. I stress this again because I've just read now that this film will be done in a Bollywood version as well as a Dreamworks version starring Vince Vaughn. Why? Can't this movie be left as it is and appreciated as it was made? Any american version of this movie will remove all quaintness from the storyline and what will remain is another giant penis joke as America is good for. Why go there? That's like trying to remake Amélie. Why. Go. There? I leave you with the trailer below and the hope that you'll watch the film. Then tell me if this movie can be done any better.


The Bucket List....

I am changing the nature of this blog. Whatever it was, is no longer.

As of today, I am setting out on a mini-journey that will only exist insofar as I record it here for the next three years.  What is the mission?  To accomplish. Things.  I guess "accomplish" may not be the appropriate term as some of these really have very little point other than occurring for the sole purpose of me selfishly being able to answer "yes" if anybody ever asks if I've ever ____.

I'm having a thought: Maybe life would be simpler if you do something just for the sake of doing it and attribute a meaning to it after-the-fact instead of trying to find a purpose in order to determine whether or not to do it.  Maybe...

So yes. Grand gestures and deep meanings aside, this list was developed in the course of two hours at a menial part-time job, being paid $8.25 an hour to hang out with two aspiring actors, in NYC, at the (nicer) gym offered by my jailer institution NYU, approximately one month after entering the 22nd year of my life (and incidentally, approximately one month before my pseudo-freedom of graduation), just so that by the time I am 25, I will feel slightly more adequately equipped for life because I have these specific "stuffs" under my belt, than I would have had I not guilted myself along for three years to do them. <<< most exhaustive and yet informative single sentence. ever.

So what is this "stuffs" you ask?

1) Knife-throwing
     Honestly, I have always felt that once I perfect the art of knife-throwing, my life will be 50% complete. Without sounding too ambitious, I would like to kill a fly by knifepoint. Needless to say, countless hours will show me ludicrously throwing sharp objects at a wall with more clattering noises of knives dully dropping on the floor than the satisfying "thud" of the point embedding nicely into the wall... but we'll see who's ludicrous when I'm able to school anybody in a knife-throwing showdown one drunken night when I'm out with some friends. Three years of preparation for that one night is a completely reasonable justification. Totally.

2) Date a British/Irish/Scottish boy
     Well, ok. This one is completely superficial because I want to just spend some time being washed in any one of these accents conversing for hours on end.  I will be realistic though.  Most likely I will not be washed in the accent because I'll probably be talking so much they won't have room to show off the accent but whatever. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.  Because we will get there....

3) Be mysterious
     Some say an impossibility.  I say, catch me on a day when I'm seriously traumatized and there is a tiny possibility that I can fake it.  Mystery = Hidden/Secretive/Enigmatic and let's be real. I'm none of those. But perhaps, I will have my day when I am spacing out and in that brief accidental silence, somebody sees me and thinks "wow, she's so mysterious..." Note to self: develop an effective formula for creating "shroud of mystery" and apply until successful. 

4) Get a small tattoo
     Despite the "oh sure, be like everybody else and get a tattoo, skank" attitude that freely floats around out there in this wonderfully kind world... I don't see the harm in this.  Given, the tattoo will need to be well placed and well planned.  Tramp stamp is not what I am going for so I feel the skank factor reduces significantly at that point.  I have an idea, but as this will be on me forever I give myself three years to truly contemplate.  However at the end of three years, the decision will not be "to tat or not to tat" because as you can see by the subheading, it is to actually get a tattoo therefore by three years, I will have had to figure out what image will grace my body for the next 60 years of my life. No pressure.

5) Be in a film
     Now you're really scoffing.  Hear me out.  Nowhere does it say a "famous" film. So shut your disbelieving negative mouth.  I figure, I'll just make an appearance in a friend's mini film project and it will forever be out there in the universe.  Particularly awesome because it will be in my prime, before I start getting all old-people haggy.  I think it's a pretty excellent idea {pat self on the back} yeah.... 

6) Become certified for scuba-diving
     The motivation for this is simple.  I want to be somewhere with piercingly blue waters, for long enough to hang around all day in the water looking at awesome fish, and have somebody sign a document stating that should I ever want to purchase a ridiculous amount of equipment and take it with me every time I go on vacation, I am able to go exploring abandoned pirate ships without a babysitter.  Like I said, simple.

     I have compiled an ultimate reading list that I shall post at a later date.  It consists of a little over the titled "250" and is comprised of literature from throughout history ranging from the classics to all-time popular favorites.  Most are guaranteed to be tedious and extremely difficult, but that will make the easy reads all the more sweeter when I cross it off the list.  I'm thinking I'll emerge out of my 24th year as a kind of Genius. Yes, with a capital "G."

8) 100 days of Happiness
     No, this is not me being "rainbows and sunshine." That's actually the end-goal.  I am challenging myself to blog everyday for one hundred days documenting one thing about that day that I am grateful for and happy about.  This is my deliberate attempt to stop from being such an aggressive and cynical human being.  While I love myself no matter how I feel, I tend to love myself exponentially more when I'm in a loving mood.  So it'll be a kind of "Where's Waldo" game with myself where everyday I'll have to actively look to see "Where's the Happiness" from that day.  My hope is that by the time I can tick this off my Bucket List, I will be able to take notice of everything I am happy about and grateful for like second nature.

9) 300 days of new recipes
     One day I will be so adept at cooking and mixing flavors that I'll come up with 300 new recipes but it won't be in the next three years.  This is just to make a habit of getting in the kitchen and truly indulging in a favorite, yet underdeveloped, hobby of mine.  So the challenge is to find 300 different recipes and make an active effort of cooking all of the new and interesting recipes in three years.  That shouldn't be too bad... if I count desserts.  I haven't decided on that yet....

10) Learn a new language
     Of course everybody has this on their Bucket List.  So what makes me think I'll be able to do it when so many people fail? Three words: Pirated Rosetta Stone.  That's right, when I've got a copy of the most successful language teaching software at my fingertips in 26 different languages for free, I figure I'm at a huge advantage compared to those who put this on their Bucket List, realize it's going to cost them a pretty penny and change their minds.  The only difficulty will be to remain diligent and keep up.  But that applies to most of these "stuffs" so therein lies the challenge, and the point of this blog.

So there are the "stuffs" that will be consuming my hours when my hours are not being consumed by eating, sleeping, and earning money somehow to facilitate the eating and sleeping.  "Too difficult" you cry! "Impossible" you shout! "You'll burn yourself out" you warn.  You may be right, but then again, you really don't know me very well do you?