a lot of films

so unfortunately, this blog has become semi-defunct, though I am constantly running across bits or ideas that I think that I should stick up here. Anyway, given my current interests, I think it is going to shift a bit to a bit more traditional form of my reflections on whatever media is impressing me at the moment, rather than a stream of ideas and excerpts, though I hope to add those, occasionally, too. In any case, I will try to be more regular, at least for the sake of my own writing ability and clarity of mind, if not my phantom-readers (who knows, maybe you exist). I always do find reading small blogs of people I know to be a titillating view into their minds.

I have been watching an enormous amount of film lately, partly due to my own interest in it, partly due to the convenience of NetFlix, and partly because it offers a much needed reprieve from job-hunting. A partial list of what I have watched lately, from most to least recent, jumbled a bit:

• Ninotchka
• The Great Dictator
• Aliens
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• Che, Part 1
  
• Carne Tremula
• The Losers
• Notorious
• The Purple Rose of Cairo
• Day For Night
  
• Munich
• Habla con Ella
  
• 12 Monkeys
• Toy Story 3
  
• She's Out of My League
• The A-Team
• Stomp the Yard
• The Pianist
  
• Eros
  
• My Blueberry Nights
  
• Brazil
• 2046
• The Green Zone
• Ondine
  
• A Touch of Zen
• Solaris (1972)
  
• The Rules of the Game
  
• Gosford Park
• A Single Man
• The Seven Year Itch
  
• Hot Tub Time Machine
  
• Nashville
• As Tears Go By
• New Moon
  
• Twilight
  
• Kick-Ass
  
• Ashes of Time Redux
• Factory Girl
• Black Orpheus
  
• Rebecca
• The Bounty Hunter
  
• Chungking Express
• Baby Face
• Iron Man 2
  
• In The Mood for Love
• Fitzcarraldo
• The Seventh Seal
  
• Aguirre, the Wrath of God
• Throne of Blood
• Yojimbo
• Rashomon
• Ran
• Sawdust and Tinsel
• Fanny and Alexander
  
• Smiles of a Summer Night
• Ikiru
• Crazy Heart
• Invictus
  
• Cries and Whispers
• Winter Light
• Amores Perros
• Modern Times
  
• The Silence
• Precious
  
• Volver
• Through a Glass Darkly
• Blow-Up
• Taxi Driver
• Julie & Julia
• Nine
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• The Princess and the Frog
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox
  
• A Fistful of Dollars
• A Serious Man
• An Education
  
• Alien
• Up in the Air
  
• La Notte
  
• L'Avventura
• Reservoir Dogs
• Inglorious Basterds
• The Blind Side
  
• The Hurt Locker
  
• The Elephant Man
  
• City Lights
• Avatar
• Coraline
• Sherlock Holmes
  
• Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
  
• Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors (1922)
  
• Juliet of the Spirits
• Vampyr
• The Informant!
  
• Amarcord
• Double Indemnity
  
• The Shining
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
  
• Wild Strawberries
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  
• Rififi
  
• Satyricon
• Nights of Cabiria

Mm, so that list ended up being a bit longer than I anticipated, and reaches back months and months now, omitting a lot of important – and more unimportant – ones I have forgotten. This is all part of a larger project to extend my experience of films beyond the five or so years I have really been watching, and to ground my film knowledge in the classics, new and old, while keeping abreast of what's happening now. Frankly, it's a large and unending task.

Things that have stuck out: my love for Fellini, Bergman, and Wong Kar-Wai, despite the fact that each only has one movie that I truly love without reserve; a patience with commercialized trash (yes, I love both The A-Team and The Silence); a vague dislike for French New Wave and Antonioni; a feeling that Soderbergh bests Scorsese for best living American director, despite general opinion; that Wong Kar-Wai is without doubt at the top of international cinema at the moment; and that I have a lot left to watch.

I have been working from the IMDb Top 250 (I've now made it through 97 of the top 100; still missing Inception, Once Upon a Time in America, and The Green Mile), the All-TIME Top 100 Movies list by Corliss and Schickel, the Oscar nominees for the major awards, and my own inclinations.

Anyway, the purpose of this re-opening post is to set the stage a bit for what is hopefully to follow: meditations on the media occupying me at the moment. If you're still reading, what are you consuming at the moment? Let me know!