Today started with a screening of Young@Heart which happens to be the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. I had an almost constant smile on my face the whole time and even cried once or twice. The first 14 years of my life were spent taking care of ailing grandparents, so the film really resonated with me. I immediately hopped over to Panera and struck up a review … it’s posted at MovieZeal.
Later on the in the afternoon was a panel on film criticism with critics Jim Ridley, Joe Leydon, Scott Foundas, and Steven Gaydos. They had some very insightful comments, but the best quote I walked away with was this one from Scott Foundas:
In order to be a film critic, you have to understand why Ratatouille is a masterpiece and Shrek 2 is a piece of junk.
Well spake. At the end they told us their favorite films and I was surprised to see lots of love for The Wild Bunch and Smokey and the Bandit. Looks like I need to rewatch those two.
The evening brought on the weirdest film experience I have ever had: Roy Andersson’s You, the Living. In the beginning, I was taken in the by the extremely unique visuals that seemed like a cross between Luis Bunuel and Terry Gilliam, but sadly, the film lost me after about thirty minutes becuase I wasn’t looking at it the right way. 2/3 of the way through, it reeled me in again when I realized that it was quietly challenging every perception I’ve ever had of humor and making some profound conclusions about life as well. I don’t feel like I can write intelligently about it now … I really need to watch it again. Needless to say, it is a very unique film and does things I’ve never ever seen a film do before. And they say originality is dead. Psh.
Tomorrow, Werner Herzog does Antartica with Encounters at the End of the World.
1 Comment
April 29, 2008 at 12:16 am
“In order to be a film critic, you have to understand why Ratatouille is a masterpiece and Shrek 2 is a piece of junk.”
Huh. I didn’t know there was an entrance exam.