Actually,
@IronWaffle, you can. Trust me, you can.
Unlike most here, I actually don't enjoy watching movies.
Therefore, the movie needs to be exceptionally good - in basic intelligence, story-telling, cast, soundtrack, cinematography, - to justify my even watching it. It would be nice, too, if women were not merely portrayed as moronic eye candy.
It was a reference to my own normal consumption.
Coming up in my queue: Kor-Eda's latest (
After the Storm). I count two of his prior films,
After-Life and the love letter to Ozu,
Still Walking among my absolute favorites by any contemporary director. It's also time for my annual revisit of Kieslowski's
Three Colors Trilogy. I'd re-watch his seminal
Dekalog but I have yet to pick up the upgrade. I also recently splurged on the British film
45 Years. Staid and all the more heartbreaking for it, I'm not ready to rewatch it but I'm excited to listen to the commentary, on which the director apparently discusses many of his cinematic choices and his approach to adapting the source material. Among other recent indulgences is Chantal Akerman's
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles but I'm saving that to watch with one of two friends who also appreciates such contemplative and understated works.
I'm also planning a double feature of the Dardennes'
Kid with a Bike, which was the film which five years ago reinvigorated my love of cinema. I'm planning to pair it with the Korean film
Poetry which, while quite different in most aspects, is likewise observational and more drama than melodrama but which does have a few similar elements I've wanted to contemplate but couldn't since
Poetry had been inaccessible. I recently found it very inexpensively so I finally get to indulge. Then there are a few Bressons. I just acquired his last film,
L'Argent on DVD. I've yet to see it at all, but it's deeply intriguing to me and it's the only place to hear the commentary. That I'll have to do alone. I've yet to meet in person anyone who can sit through his grim films such as
Mouchette and
Au Hasard Balthasar (probably my favorite of his)... except
A Man Apart since, though it is French it has very little dialogue, and, though it is "slow", it is ostensibly a "prison escape" film that can maintain the attention of even those uninterested in political subtext.
There are more, but like that never-ending unfinished stack of books and albums, I can't seem to find the time... and with turbulent news so frequently in my mind... the mindspace for arthouse. It's probably been a month or so since I've even tried. Tonight,
Guardians will be nice because I really need to escape the seriousness and it was an easy way to get a few people over.
Edited to add...
Re: women as moronic eye candy... that's deeply frustrating. My understanding is it's not
so bad in this movie; certainly easier than when I sometimes reach for some classic
Star Trek original series episodes. Those are painful. I can't abide most popcorn flicks. I utterly
despise Michael Bay on too many principles to go into. I absolutely didn't mean "eye candy" in terms of women. Specifically in production design, sound design, overall execution, etc.
