Risselada Blog

Under discussion:

Catch-22  (1970)

Children of Men  (2006)

Catch-22

Would I have liked this as much if I hadn't read the book?  That's hard to say.

In some situations where you've read the book before you see the movies, you sense that you would have liked the movie more if you hadn't.  Sometimes you get the sense that you would have liked the movie less.  And it doesn't seem to have anything to do with how much you actually liked the book.  Oh well it's an old argument.

In this situation I LOVED the book.  It's one of the best books I've read in a while.  You know I'm maybe even thinking it's the best book I've ever read.  It blends absurd humor and gritty realism in the most affecting way.  I feel like I'm tapping into the core of humanity when reading it.  It takes repetitive events and pushes the repetitiveness so often that it goes from amusing and silly, to unbelievable and annoying, back to something endearing and brilliant.  I've never felt such strong duel emotions as the horror and joy of the absurd humor I felt as when reading the chapter where it is finally revealed what fully happens with Yossarian when he is with Snowden in his final moments.

I'm not sure that a movie could ever capture the same feeling.  And much of it is because of the same reason most movies based on books can't.  The amount of events in the book is just too long to show on screen.  But I was amazed at both the quality of the acting, and especially at the amount of money that was put into the money to film some of the most elaborate sequences.  And many of them are done all in one long take!  I was just commenting on how well this was done in Children of Men recently, but that wasn't even a comedy!

Quite an unusual movie for Mike Nichols as he comments on in the DVD commentary.  The stuff about the front screen projection is pretty interesting as well if you are curious about technical stuff like that.  The scenes in the aircraft really are gorgeous.

I think the casting of the movie is near perfect too.  And John Voight would have been dead on perfect as Milo except that I was missing the so often mentioned big red moustache from the novel.

Rating: 9/10

Under discussion:

Landscape in the Mist  (1988)

This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”.  To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.

Topio stin omichli (Landscape in the Mist)

Oh Theo Angelopoulos.  All the bad things I heard were true.  All the good things were false.

You're movie is very pretentious, it's true.  It lacks any feeling and holds no interest.  I can't imagine how anything that is such an empty shell of an outline for a stereotypical arty foreign film could really be considered to be one of the best.

One thing that was too bad, I don't think the DVD transfer that is out there shows the correct aspect ratio or the full frame of the original film.  Although seeing the full extent of the original film might have made it slightly more impressive, I think that overall cannot make up much for the lack of any other interesting elements in the film.

The sense of undeserved pretense here is just so overpowering, it sours any potential.  Is there anyone out there who has seen this movie and agrees with me, but would otherwise recommend any of Angelopoulis' other movies?  Otherwise I'm probably not making any effort to see any of his other work.  Not any time terribly soon at least.

Rating: 3/10

Under discussion:

Der 7. Kontinent  (1989)

Funny Games  (1997)

This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”.  To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.

Der Siebente Kontinent (The Seventh Continent)

This movie takes one direct line from beginning to end.  And it's interesting to me, but I'm almost more interested in other people's reactions to it than to the movie itself.

The fact that it is based on a true story makes it a big more intriguing, but mostly I didn't find it to be as shocking as many seem to.  Apparently at some of the screenings people were most appalled by the part where money is flushed down the toilet.

It's been a few months since I saw it now and it's hard to remember whether the movie was cathartic or depressing.  I could connect with how monotonous and autonomous the lives of the characters were, but I think even with what the movie was trying to do, there needed to be at least one moment where we could enjoy life with them before the final downward spiral.  The ending didn't mean as much to me since it seems like their lives were lost from the beginning.

I think this is a movie about people who realize that life is meaningless without God, but somehow don't get to the next step of realizing there is hope with God.

I still much prefer Haneke's Funny Games.

Like I said I'm more interested in people's reaction to this movie than the movie itself, so if you have any opinions, please leave comments.

Rating: 7/10