Friday, December 30, 2011

Filmcap: The week of Oct 30-Nov 6


La Haine, and the first season of The Wire make up the whole of this short post. It's pure coincidence that this post has a sociopolitical theme in which the crummy lives of the poor and how the police respond to that are examined. One is set in France and the other in Baltimore, USA. Two entirely unique locales, but both reveal that the lower classes and minority races are very marginalized in society. Both La Haine and The Wire reveal a bit about the other. La Haine is helped by The Wire because the side of the police is not addressed with as much importance as it is in The Wire, and so it helps to understand the police and the problems they have themselves. The Wire is aided by La Haine in the sense that it gives the The Wire a more international perspective instead of the show being purely about America. La Haine shows that the problems of urban life in Baltimore displayed in The Wire are not just exclusive to America. Anyways, both of these are pretty important and I highly recommend both. 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Filmcap: The week of Oct 23-30


Don't Look Now, Hoop Dreams, and Morvern Callar are some of the highlights from this productive week of movie watching. In this post you'll two "adaptations" of classic novels by two very different authors, two mesmerizing movies about the different ways people deal with grief, and also a movie with a typewriter that is a bug. Many more reviews of 2011 movies that I'm catching up with coming in the coming posts. Now that it is winter break I hope to catch up a bit with these posts. Also, the movie posters for the movies this week are all pretty good (except for the In Time one).

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Filmcap: The week of Oct 16-23


Vagabond, The Constant Gardener, and The Messenger are some of the movies reviewed this week. There's also a little bit of a World War II theme with Resnais' Night and Fog and Truffaut's The Last Metro, both French films coincidentally. In this post you can also find some words about how people view free spirited people, how we can avoid another Holocaust, and the different ways we all grieve. 

Friday, December 2, 2011

Filmcap: The week of Oct 9-16


Rumble Fish, Germany Year Zero, and the epic fourth season of Breaking Bad. Only three things this week, but they're all very top notch. Only one week after the long Deadwood Season three post, I come back with an even longer post that is almost as long The Tree of Life post, but still not quite. The review of Breaking Bad has no detailed spoilers at all, and there are some statements about the trajectory of the show, nothing should be that bad. If you want to be completely pure of any and all spoilers, like some of the complex characteristics of Walt, then you may want to stay away. Otherwise I hope it will convince most of you to watch the show. For those who have seen the show, I point you towards the last paragraph for my thoughts on what the show is about on a macro level.