How are all of YOU? Are you good? How's your grandmother? How's the new job treating you? Thinking about retirement? How's school going? Did you ever get that package I sent you?
Enough of that... As a man of film, I must say that I love watching movies (way to state the obvious jackass!) but one thing that I find really cool is this distribution company called The Criterion Collection. Basically, this company sells some of the most important and beloved films from all over the world... and makes sure they get to places that they may not get to normally. I think this is awesome, they remaster and distribute hundreds of films, some of the most important films ever. The company was founded in 1984 and started a lot of standards for DVDs, like commentary and bonus features (so thank them for what we know of DVDs). The company is awesome and I love what they are doing, their films are a bit more pricey, usually ranging from $30-40 as opposed to $15-20, this is the one pitfall, BUT you CAN find some films with Criterion that you can't find otherwise (I still can find Harold and Maude OR Citizen Kane anywhere *sad face*). Here's the official website though... http://www.criterion.com/, it includes a list of their over 500 films (I'm sorry Chris but Antichrist is one of their films).
I recently purchased a Criterion Collection film, Richard Linklater's Slacker, I haven't watched it yet, but I shall let you know if it is any good. Here's a trailer... http://www.criterion.com/films/408-slackerWhat you may or may not know is that it's one of the films that inspired Kevin Smith to make Clerks, so I'm interested in seeing it.
In keeping with the whole Criterion Collection theme, they generally change their cover art, I personally like what they do with the art, however, I suppose it can get a bit pretentious and "artsy" and often doesn't do much to explain the film, but most of it looks totally awesome and a lot more like a collector's item then just another movie, it looks like something you'd wanna show off in a collection. I actually just got distracted by the website haha. This post will probably take me longer than I expected. Now, I'm going to go curl up next to the girl of my dreams, I'll start again tomorrow.
Yet another day of blogging. I'm actually quite disappointed with my most recent posts, they don't really meet my standards and I doubt they meet yours either. I feel like I had much more to say when I started this blog for some reason. Maybe it was because it was new, maybe I'm running out of subjects I know a lot about, but that's the whole goal, for myself to learn along with maybe teaching you all something also. My last post on HUAC could have been much longer and more in depth too, with that one I felt like I was running out of time though. I'll attempt to return to a high standard with my posts in the future. If I can't deliver then feel free to abandon my blog, you don't deserve to settle for less.
You may or may not know that I love a good story. The top things that make a movie for me aren't action and sex, but acting and plot. A movie could have not action whatsoever, but as long as it has a good story and is acted well, it's still a good film in my book. With this, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite writers, Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman is a writer, director and producer, his films span many genres like drama, fantasy, biography, but generally stays in the realms of comedy. I love Kaufman's writing, I think he's very clever and intriguing. His writing has depth and generally gets complex. One of my favorite Kaufman films is Synecdoche, New York, I COULD explain the film, but it's something that you should see, explain it on your own. I WILL say though that the story follows a playwright named Caden Cotard (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), who's life is coming apart. He eventually starts to cast and direct a play of his life that grows so big that it includes all of New York and a play adaptation of the play. Plot Synopsis! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383028/plotsummary That's his style, he does these films that go extremely in depth and moves the story around a lot, but, unlike SOME writers, it all makes sense in the end. I respect that, I hope I can do stories like that some day. Stories that have some meaning, that go in depth and focus on psychological manners, but do it in a good way. A way that makes sense. This little viral trailer shows some of the things that Kaufman has written, gives a look at his style... http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3579511321/ then, just for shits and giggs, here's the theatrical trailer too... http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2617835545/
Kaufman started writing for television in 1991 after writing for comedy magazines like National Lampoon. His first film, Being John Malkovich, won him an Oscar nomination and the BAFTA award and really gave him some mainstream notice. Kaufman is from New York City and attended NYU Film School and currently lives in Pasadena, California. There are many reoccurring themes in Kaufman's movies and a lot of references to his favorite writers.
As much as I love Kaufman's writing, I must say that there was one thing that I didn't like about Kaufman's second film Adaptation., and that is the fact that the ending becomes an action film of sorts, complete with a chase scene through a swamp. It would have been an excellent movie, had it not been for that scene. Here's a synopsis for that film too though... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268126/plotsummary
Here's Kaufman's filmography:
Being John Malkovich (1999, writer, producer) (directed by Spike Jonze)
Human Nature (2001, writer, producer) (directed by Michael Gondry)
Adaptation. (2002, writer, producer) (directed by Spike Jonze)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002, writer) (directed by George Clooney)
Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind (2004, writer, producer) (directed by Michael Gondry)
Synecdoche, New York (2008, writer, director, producer)
I think that's all I have for you this time and it only took me 2-3 days haha. Anyway, today is a special day (I love you Samantha) and I hope you all have a good day too. Peace.
I've felt the exact same way about my blog lately. As for "Anti Christ" I seem to be the only person on the planet who doesn't thing it's Trier going on a douchey farce, but whatever. I liked this post, excellent job ole' chap.
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