Monday, November 06, 2006

Random stuff

Jim Emerson has a post up taking Anthony Lane and Armond White to task for their lame reviews of Borat, but I was actually more fascinated by the reader comments, many of which make some great observations about the movie. Check it out.

Also, one of the commentors links to a piece by Noel Murray at the A.V. Club blog which makes almost the exact same point I made in my review of Borat, namely, that it's not really the crackerjack social commentary it's being billed as.

Finally, I'm starting to get into a groove here with my blogging, like, actually posting on a semi-regular basis. Careful readers will have noticed that LeaJo's presence has been slight these past two months, but this is due to the fact that she actually takes her higher education seriously and doesn't goof around on the blog wasting time like I do. Despite its continuing damage to my grades, my blogging will not be abated. The future of the blog (hopefully) will include the following:

* A series of posts analyzing adaptations of British lit classics (these will not be the usual suspects, however, instead I'll be focusing on made-for-tv BBC versions and lesser-known, less-canonical works such as Douglas McGrath's Nicholas Nickleby)

* A series on my favorites from childhood, many of them considered "bad" by mainstream critics (Troop Beverly Hills, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Howard the Duck, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking); some I will be watching for the first time since seeing them as a child, so it'll be interesting to see how they hold up

* Detailed analysis of several of my favorites including: Gone with the Wind, Libeled Lady, Gypsy, Ball of Fire, Stage Door, Waterloo Bridge, Dazed and Confused, and t.v. shows Freaks and Geeks, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Venture Bros., and Aqua Teen Hunger Force (no links for these, 'cause I'm tired of looking up titles on IMDB)

* A year-long (at least) retrospective of fantasy films (fantasy here being restricted to fairy tale or High fantasy or magical-world fantasy, not It's a Wonderful Life fantasy); I've long been a fan of fantasy as a genre, but fantasy films haven't really gotten the attention other genres of the fantastic like horror and sci-fi have gotten and I'd like to see if I could remedy that; I plan on looking at everything from silents to sword and sorcery stuff from the 80s, from live action to animation, from American to Japanese, from French to German, everything -- it's going to be a huge undertaking, and it'll take a long time, but I'd like to think it will be one of the defining features of this blog

And one last note: I've been totally digging Squish's Hitchcock series, mostly because he doesn't treat Hitch like some untouchable god of filmmaking, never to be criticized -- his views are fresh, unique, and funny. What's great is that Squish doesn't just parrot the accepted views on these films or on Hitchcock, and even while I don't agree with every rating (Suspicion is one of my all-time favorites, Squish gives it a 70%), I appreciate the critical eye he applies to these "canonical" movies.

4 comments:

Lea said...

"Careful readers will have noticed that LeaJo's presence has been slight these past two months, but this is due to the fact that she actually takes her higher education seriously and doesn't goof around on the blog wasting time like I do."

Hahaha. Yeah, that's it exactly. :)

Oooh, I can't wait for you to waste more time on the blog talking about your childhood favorite movies. That should be fun. Also, tell me when you're going to start posting stuff about fantasy films. I want to be a part of that.

The Derelict said...

Well, the fantasy films stuff is going to be on-going -- I printed up a list of movies from wikipedia that is like five pages long, so it's going to be an extended project. Some of the early films from the 10s, 20s, and 30s aren't available on dvd, but I'm going to try to find VHS copies if I can at libraries and stuff. If you want to watch some of these films let me know (also, we might be able to find some at the UM video library in Shapiro). When Danny and I went on our little shopping adventure the other day I was looking for one of these movies but couldn't find it.

Just a warning, these childhood movies run from real bona fide classics to really horrible stuff -- or so the critics say. I loved it all, of course.

Lea said...

Oh dude, I've been known to love some really horrible movies in my childhood days (Hook, anyone?), but that's why it's so fun (please tell me your going to talk about Pee Wee's Big Adventure)!

So you're going old school with the fantasy stuff? That's cool. I think I really just have an urge to post hundreds of posts claiming my undying love for The Lord of the Rings. You know I could to.

The Derelict said...

Pee Wee is definitely on the list! And don't worry, LOTR will be the pinnacle of the fantasy film fest.