aaronBsmith

Member since 12/29/2005, last signed in last week.

Interested in: Adventure, Avant-garde / Experimental, Culture & Society, Drama, Epic, Family & Personal Relationships, Fantasy, Reality Show [TV], Science Fiction, Spirituality & Philosophy, Visual Arts

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The Poughkeepsie Tapes

synopsis error
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"I am pretty confident the synopsis on this page for The Poughkeepsie Tapes is the wrong one. " [More]

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

still
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"I still have images from this film burned into my brain. Who can forget the phallus with the spiked rotating head, or the girlfriend who is killed by it during an erotic tryst. So much blood, rendered in black and white. The stop motion animation in the film stays with me to. When the movie was over, I said to my friends, "I think this must be what it's like to be Japanese." " [More]

The Isle

exhilarating and blinding
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"I didn't realize till after watching this film and I was digging around on imdb that this film was directed by the same man who made, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ...And Spring. I had a sense that there was something connected between the two films - the imagery of houses floating on water, the sights and sounds of a lake throughout the seasons. I was in a state of denseness that did not allow me to see clearly that this was a work from the same artist. As confounding as it was to me, in terms of its symbolism and allegory, I was spellbound by this film. It's so beautiful and so carnal. It's almost as though this film is attempting to capture the moment of ecstasy during sex where you don't know if you can stand how good it feels, to the point where it is excruciating in a way that is exhilarating and blinding. There are moments in this film like that. You want to hide you eyes, yet you can't look away. It's all so beautiful. " [More]

The Moustache

quality french cinema
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"This film did an excellent job of getting you to empathize with the protangonist, so much so that you are willing to watch him ride the same ferry boat over and over again when he detours to china. " [More]

The Bicycle Thief

Sad, so sad
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"This movie broke my heart. Why did I wait so long to see it?It communicted it's message with so much stylistic constraint. I love it when a movie does that. I love it that movies can do that. " [More]

Babel

Complete
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"I have this sense as well, that something was lacking from this film at least in comparison to Iñárritu' s previous little opuses. Maybe there is nothing lacking. Maybe these movie is so true to its attempt to convey the disconnect between cultures, language, and lack of language that it cannot be completely understood until we can empathize to some degree with the different cultural and linguistic contexts the characters are in.Maybe until we've herded sheep in Morocco (or wherever they were) or experienced deafness or been an illegal alien we can't really begin to understand Babel. But is that what Iñárritu intended? Part of me thinks he wanted to portray characters that we all could relate to in some way, despite their and our differences. I don't think he pulled this off though.So maybe I am just making excuses for Iñárritu because I don't want to admit that he may have faltered in some way on Babel. Maybe too ... " [More]

The Pursuit of Happyness

Then a couple a' guys who were ...
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"I miss the 80's.I don't miss the fresh prince.Will Smith made me cry in the end. damn him. But something was missing from this film to make it truly amazing. But what? " [More]

The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made

D. Anderson Gave This To Me
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"Ok, yeah, I have actually seen this DVD. Here's the story: I teach at this little film school in the city I live in, Grand Rapids, Michigan. (It's where Paul Schrader is from, the guy who wrote Taxi Driver and the Last Temptation of Christ adaptation). At this film school, there is this other teacher, D. Anderson. D., was at Fry's Electronics in LA this week and he spotted, The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. He bought it and brought it home with him. So Today, (wed, April 18) he is telling me about these awesome film history books he found at this book store, and how much these books will help with me with the classes I teach, but he can't remember the names of the books (he is getting kinda old), so that bums me out and I don't really hide very well that I am frustrated that he can't remember and then I feel bad for being dick. Then, he hands me this DVD. He says, "I think we can learn from this too." I am intrigued, so I rip it open and start ... " [More]

300

What is the point?
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"This movie was a feast for my eyes, but not my mind. The real drama seemed to lay back home with the battle to convince the Senate to bring more forces against the Persians. They seemed to ignore this fact in favor of eye popping action sequences and crazy CG sillyness. Pretty pictures do not a great film make. I wonder if they could have told the story of the battle of Thermopylae with a little handycam like the ones they used to shoot, The Celebration? Good writing, great acting, and well drawn characters make for better cinema, don't they? But then, I suppose this was not the point of this latest version of the Battle of Thermopylae. But if that wasn't the point, then what was? " [More]

Stranger Than Fiction

i resisted but then gave in
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"Things got off to a bit of a slow start in this film. I think I may have even rolled my eyes once early on. But, I began to fall in love with the characters. By the end, tear or two sprung forth from my beleaguered eyes. i liked it. " [More]

The Last King of Scotland

Saw it At Telluride
By aaronBsmith in The Savant Speaks
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"The Last King of ScotlandAt the center of the Last King of Scotland is Forest Whitaker's performance as the irascible, insane, love-able, paranoid Idi Amin. Seeing the premiere of this film at Telluride was both electrifying and terrifying. Whitaker's transformation into one of the worst madman dictators to rule an African nation (in recent history) was truly breath taking to behold and has oscar nomination written all over it. Who would have guessed, that Whitaker who typically plays the sensitive teddy bear type (even as a Samurai assassin in Ghost Dog) would ever offer up such a potent and frightening performance.But the Last King of Scotland is more than just a vehicle for Whitaker's performance. The film is a powerful demonstration of all the trappings of power. James McAvoy as a young, naive doctor, Nicholas Garrigan who becomes the personal physician to Amin in the film, serves to drive this point home as he is seduced by Amin's charm and his offering of vast amounts of ... " [More]

The Last King of Scotland

Films I saw at Telluride
By aaronBsmith in Telluride
"At Telluride, I saw:The Last King of ScotlandSeverenceJindabyneCatc h a FireDirected by John FordThe ItalianVolverInfamousI would be interesting if anyone out there has seen the original version of Directed by John Ford. It came out in 1971. The version I saw at Telluride was more or less the same, but with more interviews from current filmmakers and actors as well as restored clips from many of John Ford's films. " [More]

Lists

Films I've seen (828)
Films I've seen

Films I want to see (41)
Films I want to see

I own it (65)
I own it

The Films I Teach (14)
This is a list of films from the class I teach at <A href="http://compassacade my.org&qu ...

Bergman (5)

My favorite films (22)
My favorite films

Documentaries (7)

I Wish I Had Never Seen It (5)

The 70's (127)
Hollwood Rennaisance

Woody Allen (15)

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