Hays Code

I think that Angels with Dirty Faces does break some of  the rules of the Hays code. I feel bad for all the directors that had there creativity stifled by such rigid rules. Hays code limited what directors could do at the time. I'm pretty sure there were movies that could've been made if there hadn't been a code. Nowadays I think it's easier to make a raunchy film.

Gangster Films

I haven't watched many gangster films so I'll just try to remember as many as I can

The Departed. It's a gangster movie right?

Breathless

And that's about it.

Genre Podcast

Anime

Japanese anime gives an interesting look into japanese culture. Japan, being on the other side of the world, has developed separately from the rest of the world. Much of it looks weird to a western audience, but that's just how things are over there. Anime is by no means a clear window into their society. Like any cartoon, anime is often a distortion of real life. As western cartoons like disney draw from fairytales, anime draws from japanese stories with archetypal characters. Archetypal characters, I think, are a mainstay of anime. To a western audience, this may seem derived and unoriginal. But that's a japanese thing that can not be explained through western logic.

Sci fi
Star wars is a highly debated movie. Some say that Star Wars is not even a sci fi. It's true that the movie has more in common with fantasy. In Star Wars, you have a kind of magic, the force, a wizard, kenobi, the hero's journey, and a lot of other elements. Also, much of the technology the people deploy in the movie go unexplained, which is uncommon in other sci fi movies.

Disney
Yeah, Disney.

Musicals

I've never really watched or payed much attention to musicals. I feel like a lot of musicals would work better as broadway productions and not be translated on to the screen. I feel many musicals lack the subtlety of other genres.

Women in Hawk's movies

The women in his movies tend to play hard to get and usually act aloof. They're also suspicious of the other women in the main mens' lives. They're also sort of crazy. in Rio Brazo, Feathers test John Wayne's character love for her. I suspect that this is something common in Hawk's films. The women also tend to talk a lot.

Stagecoach

I Thought this was a pretty good movie. Storywise I think it's well developed. The characters are based off historical figures, but ford doesn't rely on this fact to make his characters interesting. Each character must deal with his or her own problem and ultimately overcome them. All of them overcome their problems eventually, since the heroes usually do, but it's somewhat hard to foresee this because so many sacrifices were made by the time of the end of the movie.

I also thought the use of the door shots were interesting. I remember seeing something similar in the samurai film Good Samaritan: Zatiochi.

Western I've Seen

Westerns are considered a dying genre, but some have been made in recent years. I have not seen many westerns. I don't know why. The only recent western I've seen was True Grit. I'm still kicking myself since I've never seen There Will Be Blood. I'll get around to seeing more eventually.

Hong Kong Action Movies

fact 1: Chinese cinema didn't take off until around the 70's and 80's

fact 2: A lot of Chinese movies are dubbed over in Vietnamese. I know this because my mom has hundreds.

fact 3: buy a suitcase fool of vietnamese bootlegs. none of them work.

fact 4:  China is to action movies as Korea is to soap operas.

fact 5: Stephen Chow is awesome director in the present and you should watch all his movies.

Amélie

That was the best accordion music I've ever heard. Besides that, I also like the rest of the movie as well. It's very comedic and fun. It really focuses on all the little quirks of the characters.  The editing really reminds me of Edgar Wright. I fell like this kind of filmmaking fill catch on.

San Jose Film Festival

I'm really excited about the festival. I hope we stay for more than one, because a lot of the movies look really interesting. I can't really make a detailed list of which movies I'd like to see because that'd be pretty long

Bad Behaviour

Small Town Murder Songs

The Dead

Super Hero Party Clown

22nd of May

Here's the Kicker

Madly in Love

The World According to Ion B

Favorite Directors

I like directors that understand film is a storytelling medium. The plot shouldn't suffer from the director's decisions. The director needs to clearly communicate his ideas as well. It's absolutely fine to throw in a little  pizazz as well.

Quintin Tarantino

His dedication to irony is admirable.

Stanley Kubrick

I liked Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangelove. Not to mention 2001: a space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut; my netflix que is about to get a little busy.

Akira Kurosawa

The only guy that was able to sit me down for a three and a half hour movie.

Film Society of Lincoln Center's review on True Grit

This review is a positive review of the movie True Grit. It puts emphasis on the character of Mattie Ross' importance to the film, like many other reviews I've read had as well. It also notes the lexicon the characters spoke in and how it differs from the 1969 version of the film, which John Wayne starred in, and the serialized novel by Charles Portis. I enjoyed the film personally. The review does seem to wrap up my own thoughts pretty well. I think the internet is a good medium for a typical film magazine. It's general purpose is the spread of information. The review can be found here:

http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/jf11/truegrit.htm