brad

Member since 12/23/2005, last signed in awhile ago.

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Through a Glass Darkly

self esteem tatters
By brad in Brad Movies
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"I just finished watching "Through a Glass Darkly" by Ingmar Bergman this evening. It left me deep in thought. I suppose that is not a surprise, considering that it is Bergman. I know much has been written on this film. I can only say that it is intimidating to watch a film like this with it's simple setting, cast of 4 people, Bach score and natural lighting and wonder how I can even imagine that I can make films? Not that I have made much in the way of film, a few animated shorts, a few 24 hour film festival tries. Yet, even at 43 I aspire to making films. As I have all my life. It seems closer then ever, I am currently working on Tannerwolfe.com in exchange for Tanner to shoot a short film for me that I am penciling in for next summer after I finish my latest animated short. After watching this film it's hard to not want to pack it up and quit before I make a fool of myself ( or an even bigger fool). The dialog and the writing is what always hits me when I watch Berg ... " [More]

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind

Inspirations
By brad in Brad Movies
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"Like many animators, I am inspired by the works of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. For me, he exemplifies what the capability of animation is. His stories are engaging, his characters honest and searching. His vision true. As great as his works are, I think that the art form of animation is still in its Infancy. Winsor McCay created some of the first animations, and envisioned animation as the next great art form. In my estimation, It has yet to make good on it's capabilities. When I look at what has been done in animation, I don't see work that comes close to the emotional and lasting impact of the rest of cinema. Even with work such as Disney's "Dumbo", "Fantasia", "Triplets of Belleville", "Akira", "Graveyard of Fireflies", "The man who planted trees", and awesome works from Japan, Canada, Russia, Italy. I see artists who struggle to create great work often without support or supplies. Or caught in a system that sets it's expectations at slap-stick humor or cliched acti ... " [More]

Re: Four Eyed Monsters
By brad in GR Movies and Happenings
"I have been a fan since Rick a friend of mine suggested I take a look. I voted to have it shown here. If enough people vote, they will put together a showing in our city. brad " [More]

The Passenger

For film loving friends: The Pa ...
By brad in Brad Movies
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"I was asked by my friend, Paul, to list several movies I would consider giving to my favorite film-loving friend for Christmas this year. Paul and I used to get together once a week to watch films. Since he was asking the question, I decided to make him my subject. This past year, I’ve watched several films I thought, "Man, I wish I had been able to see this with Paul." The Passenger was one of these. I would like to say upfront that beyond the bullshit that I have written below, I just plain loved the movie so much I wanted to share it with my friend. David Locke (Jack Nicholson) steps out of a stranded Land Rover in the desert, sand in every direction. He's just come back from a fruitless search for a militia. He is a reporter with a stranded vehicle and a stranded life. He comes across a fellow English traveler who has died in his sleep in the room next to his. Remarkably this man looks a  lot like him. David makes an impulsive decision and changes identities with the dea ... " [More]

La Dolce Vita

Nina Rota
By brad in Brad Movies
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"Sometimes, just hearing the music to a certain movie puts me into the mood for the experience of watching a film. I rented a collection of Nina Rota's music from the library the other day and lost myself in the tastes of Rota's stylings. Besides creating the score for "The Godfather" films, he also did "Romeo and Juliet", "Death on the Nile", and many Fellini films. After listening to all that great music, I was influence to watch "La Dolce Vita" tonight. For those of you who don't know, the story surrounds Marchello Mastroianni as he vainly tries to make sense of his life in the swirl of a series of events set in Rome. As in many Fellini films, music is essential and Nina Rota helped create that vision for 15 of Fellini's films. Many directors have their favorite musical authors, Hitchcock had Bernard Herman, Spielberg - John Williams, Tim Burton - Danny Elfman. Music is part of the emotion of a movie and directors seem to gravitate to a particular voice that relates ... " [More]

Movies that have never made it ...
By brad in We'd buy these if we could...
"How about we discuss a few of these jems that are still on the back catalog of the studios. Such as: John Huston's "The Dead" Twin Peaks Season Two etc. " [More]

Re: Here's one that should be f ...
By brad in We'd buy these if we could...
"We bought the book for our youngest daughter and she has really loved it. I had no idea it had been made into a film. cool. " [More]

Re: How can Yellow Submarine no ...
By brad in We'd buy these if we could...
"It must be out of print. It looks like used and new copies are going for 46 dollars and up on Amazon. Thankfullly, I personally have this in the collection. " [More]

Re: What's a Selkie?
By brad in Selkies Anonymous
"I never knew what I was till now. Thanks for putting a name to that inner voice that kept asking for sushi. I am proud to be apart of this group. " [More]

Howl's Moving Castle

Metaphor and Mystery
By brad in Drawn@24FPS
"This is a movie that bears repeated viewing. I would not say that it is the greatest movie that Hayao Miyazaki has made, but he takes risks and challenges the viewer with a complicated story line and and unconventional plot twists. Instead of sticking a safe, simple plot. For example examine the story telling around the character of Howl and his Heart. 1. He is dying from the loss of his heart. 2. He voluntarily gave up his heart. 3. The witch of the waste wants his heart (and his love) 4. He is very powerful and yet trapped by fear. 5. He traded his heart for power. 6. He would like to love Sophie but is unable because of no heart. At the same time he and all of the rest of the characters are not whom they seem to be. Each has a face they wear and a hidden truth of who they really are. Each is under some kind of curse or spell. I know that I am only catching a few of the surfaces that this film has. Like a jewel created by a master craftsman, it has many facets to explore. " [More]

Bambi

Drawing Animals
By brad in Drawn@24FPS
"I needed to get some sense of birds and how they duct their heads while sleeping. I pulled out the DVD that my family got me for my birthday last year and once again was stunned by the movement of this amazing piece of art. Just watching how Bambi lies down next to his mom is jaw dropping. " [More]

Chariots of Fire
By brad in Brad Movies
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"Yesterday, my first Spout purchase arrived, "Chariots of Fire SE" With great anticipation I popped it into the DVD player. Anticipation that had been building since the beginning of the DVD format. Sure, Chariots had been available on DVD since the format began. Infact it was one of the early releases to the format. Unfortunately, it was originally released in a piss poor pan and scan edition. Out of rebellion to the idiots who took it upon themselves to release an Academy Awarded "Best Picture" film in pan and scan, I refused to rent or purchase it. Satisifying my craving by watching it on TCM when it would bubble to the top of the programming schedule. Finally, this year it was released with a restored anamorphic widescreen print and an extra disk of documentaries. It definately was worth the wait. The image and sound quality are the best I have seen since it's debut in the theater in 1981. Except for the quality of the opening running sequence which also bookends the ... " [More]