Phantom Thread and Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

Phantom Thread is Daniel Day-Lewis’s final film before retirement, and I can't quiet figure out how I feel about it. Both him retiring, and the film.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and is the second collaboration between Day-Lewis and Anderson, following 2008’s oil-boom drama There Will Be Blood. As with that film, the music for Phantom Thread has been composed by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.

The simple answer to this movie is, "Yes," even if it looks a bit depressing. Because he's retiring, and because of the film.

This fascinating new documentary from American Movie director Chris Smith does several things at once: it is a portrait of two of the most inspired and original comic performers of the last half-century; an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at an actor's total immersion into an exceedingly challenging role; and a personal, heartfelt homage from one genius mischief-maker to another. Get ready to laugh. And squirm (via).

And I can't wait.

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Movies Inspired by Art

Vugar Efendi has put together "three chapters" that explore the relationship between films that have been inspired by famous paintings.

Some of them are spot on perfect, others are beautiful adaptations, but all show a deep and strong respect for the craft, the artist, and the long held understanding that good artists borrow, but great artists steal.  

"An aspiring filmmaker with immense love for film, music and art in general," Vugar Efendi has  been acknowledged by the likes of: Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Elle, BBC, Canal +, and Indiewire.

You can see more of his inspiring work here, or follow his blog and catch Trailer Tuesday where he, you guessed it, posts trailers of different movie from all around the world. 

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Three movies worth watching

I posted a bit ago about a few movies I was looking forward to watching and perhaps brewing coffee for. One of them was The Big Sick, and tonight, Josey and I finally got a chance to sit and watch it. We loved it.

Over the past few years, the role of conflict within literature has been a major focal point in my teaching. More recently, however, it's truths and lessons have jumped from the pages and fled from the classroom, attaching itself to my everyday life and opening my eyes to its simple truth: the purpose of conflict is to reveal truth. For the individual, and for the community.

The best of stories us conflict to reveal something about ourselves. 

"Love isn't easy. That's why they call it love"

This movie is brilliant. 

I'm terrified to see this movie. The book was so crazy good that, one of the best I've ever read, because the conflict of good and right and innocence and "best for he child" is just so poetic and raw that I found my stomach literally in knots. I think I even threw the book a couple times, I was so angry and sad and frustrated and unable to hold such beautiful and difficult pages. If this movie botches it even slightly, it will ruin the everything. Especially my breakfast.

In a world of "Tiny Homes" and #vanlife, a movie that takes downsizing to the greatest extreme seems brilliant - especially since it will probably (and hopefully) deal with much more than the idea of simply living smaller, because, "sometimes you think you're living in the real world, and then something happens, and you realize, you're not."

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Paterson : A favorite of the year

I watched this on the flight back to the US and frigging LOVED it. The slow pace, the dichotomous characters, and the simplistic message of life and love. The beauty of small town living. 

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Some movies to consider and perhaps brew coffee for

I'm not really a movie person. In general, they tend to be too long and I'm too tired because we won't start watching till after the kids go to bed, which means play won't even be pressed till around 8/8:30 and, well, with a bedtime around 9:30, it's a struggle.

Also, after watching a trailer and thinking, "Yes, that looks GREAT!" I forget about them and end up never watching them, or watching them too late. After everyone else has moved on.

I think I'm older than I think I am.

Anyway. Here are a few movies I'm either intrigued enough to stay up the extra hour or so for to give it a good hardy try, or I'm going to brew another pot of coffee for because, damn, it looks good and I have to watch it.

Make Coffee:  This is either going to be a knock-down, heart wrenching, artistically brilliant, beauty of a movie, or the complete opposite of that. And I'll be ticked because I'll have wasted good coffee. And I love my coffee.

Intrigued: This seems a bit darker than I normally like, but I'm a sucker for anything portraying brothers as bothers should be - loyal. And this one could be one of those. 

Make Coffee: When Owen Wilson plays characters that aren't Owen Wilson, often, they're pretty good. Throw in Julia Roberts and a kid being bullied for being different but overcoming and changing the school and surrounding community . . . coffee please. And some Kleenex.

Intrigued, with coffee on hold: Not because I don't think it will be a fully entertaining movie, in the shallowest sense of the world, but because racial movies make me nervous. Movies that attempt to tackle racial tension, especially when they bring light to a difficult and misunderstood moment in history, are golden. But movies that don't can be horrifically damaging.  So, I'm nervous. But also intrigued.

Intrigued:  Like movies that portray brothers as brothers should be, I'm also a sucker for any movie where old people figure out life, reconcile with family, and head into their final days with their heart at peace. This could be one of those. Or it could be super cheesy and drastically unrealistic. It might be best to watch this one on a Sunday afternoon so I can end the weekend well, either with a feel-good movie, or a great nap.

Make Two Pots of Coffee: Out of them all, this one seems to be the most sure-fire. To the point that I might not even need coffee for the movie, but for the hour or so afterwards where I'll want to sit and talk or think or write about how powerful and funny and beautiful it was. And then I'll watch it again with friends. And then again with family over Christmas or Thanksgiving. And then again, several years from now when I can quote it and laugh at it and cry with it, even before the scenes and lines come. I'm pretty stoked about this one.

If you have any suggestions, write them in the comments. I'd love to hear it! 

I look forward to talking about them, over coffee, preferably before 8:30pm. 

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The Last Jedi, and a tribute to Carrie Fisher

I've never been a huge Star Wars fan, but I have always enjoyed them - especially the oldest and the most recent - and I'm pretty pumped about this one.

As it's opening day creeps closer, it seems only fitting to pay tribute to one of the great originals.

In November of 2016, I listened to this podcast, from NPR's "Fresh Air" and connected with her thoughts on oversharing. "I think I do overshare," Fisher says. "It's my way of trying to understand myself. ... It creates community when you talk about private things."

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There was an (ahem) operations error and it didn't go through (sorry about that).

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Books, Music, Movies : Best of the past 1000 years

Back in 2000, Amazon ran a poll asking their customers what they thought were the best books, music, and movies of the past 1000 years. The results were archived by the Internet Archive.

. . . The lists include works by Shakespeare, Stephen King, and Ayn Rand; music by the Beatles, Mozart, and Miles Davis; and films such as The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, and Star Wars. (It bears noting that the Bible received the most votes among books, but we had to leave it off our list because it was not written within the past 1,000 years.) We've also compiled tallies for the top author, musical artist, and director, based on the total votes each received for their various works. Dig deep and enjoy!

The winners in each category (and links to their works) were:

Author of Millennium: J.R.R. Tolkien with runner up Ayn Rand

Artist of Millennium: the Beatles with runner up Pink Floyd

Director of the Millennium: Steven Spielberg with runner up George Lucas

 

Here are the full top 10 lists:

Books
1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
3. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
4. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling
6. The Stand - Stephen King
7. Ulysses - James Joyce
8. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
9. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
10. 1984 - George Orwell

See all 100 winners

 

Music albums
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2. The Beatles (The White Album) - The Beatles
3. Millennium - Backstreet Boys
4. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
5. Abbey Road - The Beatles
6. Thriller - Michael Jackson
7. The Joshua Tree - U2
8. The Wall - Pink Floyd
9. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis
10. Nevermind - Nirvana

See all 100 winners

You can listen to the top ten albums here. 

 

Movies
1. Star Wars
2. Titanic
3. Citizen Kane
4. Gone With the Wind
5. The Godfather
6. Schindler’s List
7. The Matrix
8. Saving Private Ryan
9. Casablanca
10. Braveheart

See all 100 winners

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