Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

A very interesting and quiet album. Two or three extremely beautiful songs on there - my favorite at the moment seems to be "Courage Up" closely followed by "Kidney Shaped Pool" Guitar based, very quiet songwriting-centric music. Absolutely down tempo-ish.

A drug addicted artist tries to give his life meaning and within all his misery stumbles onto something that might give him hope. I really liked the film, shot mostly in Bulgaria and a little bit in Istanbul. On a personal level I gained a little bit of insight on how living over there must be, something I never got around to see when I had the chance. Music was great - especially the upbeat stuff. (Nasekomix?)

The rebellion of a battleship's crew becomes the symbol of the struggle of a suppressed people. Watching this film in the restored version was quite a nice surprise. The images are strong, although the editing, still in its infancy, uses some rather clumsy techniques compared with what became standard only a couple of years later. The story is highly propagandistic obviously and the death of the "leader" of the revolt in the second part strips the film of a figure that is easy to follow - i found it hard to see a battleship as an emotional symbol. The lighting on the faces is very interesting, usually very strong sidelights. Probably achieved with reflectors. The new music was nice, and even had some comical elements, which I thought was surprising, but nothing as groundbreaking as the film. I hope they will restore movies. It is definitively worth it.

A eccentric speech therapist tries to cure the stammer of King George VI. The acting and the camera were somewhere between good and breathtaking. All the actors did a marvellous job (although I couldnt figure out why the chose Guy Pearce - maybe from a historical resemblance - he seems way younger than Firth) It somehow caught on the hype wave for the oscars, and ... why not? There have been many (!) considerations for the trophy that were much worse... About the camera: the use of either extreme wide angle and tele was quite refreshing. And the lighting was superb in many of the images.

An estranged couple tries different distractions to avoid facing their marriage problems while on a tour through and around Naples. A very "constructed" film, which makes it interesting, but I couldn't relate enough to the situation the couple was in. At some point she says out that she really regrets that she didn't want to have children. In the opening scene in the car they mention that it's a shame that xx and xx couldn't come along - which I assumed were their children. I suppose that this false trail was dropped on purpose, but maybe I missed something. Some beautiful shots of sculptures, especially the scene where the camera travels around the huge marble hero/god (?) revealing the stones that he carries hidden in his back hand.

A projectionist wannabe-detective is mistaken as a watch thief and dreams of solving the crime in a dream based on the film he is screening. Finally got around to see this one. There are many amazing things in this short piece: First, the film-in-film scenes are outright fantastic. So many ideas in so little time make this worth a repeated watching. Second, and quite obviously, the slapstick precision and some of the stunts are simply amazing. What struck me is the variety of sophistication of gags - a very simple "banana peel" gag can come within seconds of an extremely elaborate, complicated and dangerous stunt. This makes the films even more appealing.

A polish theater troupes leading lady amorous little sidestep leads to a chain of unexpected trouble. Although it has some dated humor in there it is quite funny to watch and the sexual undertones of the dialogue especially when the young pilot is trying to get to Miss Tura are quite amusing to watch. Especially noteworthy are the killing of the professor in the theatre, with the curtain going up in just the right moment and the Shylock performance just before the end. Noted that Lubitsch uses mostly the Americaine for camera.

Definitively my favorite Bergman movie so far. A visual feast and a great story. I couldn't understand all the "supernatural" moments such as the dead kids lying in the top room on the floor, while Jacobi with rescuing them in the big chest. This scene opens and is part of the a surreal dream-like part towards the end of the film, which also seems referenced in the recital of Stringbergs "Dreamplay", which I'm not familiar with. There are some interesting things done with the music and the choice of instruments seems to be of importance - the piano in the saloon, was there music at the funeral?, the flute of the bishop and the cembalo that played some simple notes here and there towards the end. The ticking clock is a fixture in the sound background.

An interesting album for electronica, I would call it electreasy listening. Definitively a little bit warpish. The Smiths cover is fantastic - I have tried to sell it numerous times for commercials but I never get anywhere (although everybody seems to like it - the antics of the commercial world I guess). Doesn't come close to my favorite Schneider TM album Pac Man Shopping Cart, etc...

It's not really getting better. Way more film references. Cartman and Bubble have really developed as characters, then maybe Kyle also. Stan - not so much, but I guess he's always supposed to be the "straight man" - and Kenny... well he's still in there and sometimes even gets killed, but generally he's just there to balance (out) the frame. Only maybe ten to go. I think I'm happy when its over :)

This one was quite funny to begin with, but started to wander off into strange directions and in the end was disappointing. I've expected a comedic setup that goes completely crazy at the end but it didn't happen here. The photography is impressive and I generally liked the actors very much. I kept asking myself during the movie if the political message is really such a blatant one or - again - am I too dumb to grasp the hidden layer of meanings in there. My fellow watchers assured me that there is no secret in this movie.

The animation is breathtakingly well executed. The pacing of the story is too uneven. Several times during the second half I was wondering if I had missed an important story point. Many of the things make sense at the end of the movie. The overwhelming detail also seems to suggest that this movie will really start to payoff on its second viewing. I'm just not sure if I'd feel like watching it a second time.

The scripts are not getting much better, but I still appreciate how they try new forms. I think they are starting to rely to heavily on pop culture movie references which start to cloud the actual storytelling - style over content.

The working in of the flashbacks made a big impression. They were not necessarily in historical correct order, but as the woman remembers them. The flashbacks always revealed enough of the story in Nevers, that kept you busy trying to slowly piece together what happened. I remember having an expected pay-off moment, when the villagers cut her hair. There was also dirt around her mouth in that scene, which I couldn't figure out, maybe the dried blood of her lover. Beautiful music and editing. The documentary part in the beginning was rather shocking and finishing with a view from "space" talking about the delta of the seven rivers.

Quiet interesting in terms of acting. I like how the characters were set up. In terms of story I guess it's safe to say (SPOILER) Time of the Wolf meets Rosemary's Baby...