Friday, January 22, 2016

I have watched more movies than I can count in the 6 years since my last post!

Hahahaha, I think the title goes without saying. I have watched all the Marvel movies, plus with a Netflix subscription I have watched more random foreign movies and old TV shows that I can count. I am going to try to Update this more often than every six years. Now that this site it being completely overhauled it is about time I get things in order and try an dedicate a little bit of time to blogging. However, I can guarantee that this will never be an daily or even weekly posted blog. It will be a when I can remember blog which since I am incredibly busy I will mainly post when I remember. I apologize in advance and I hope you will forgive me. On January 10th, I lost my lifelong hero: David Bowie. He was my very first crush and my inspiration for my whole life. With him passing and then two days later the head of my assigned house Alan Rickman passing away, I have been having an Alan Rickman and David Bowie marathon. First up was The Man Who Fell to Earth. I had been meaning to see this movie since I was 13 and never got around to it, so it was about time I did.

The Man Who Fell to Earth 

If you are a massive Bowie fan, like myself, you will love this movie. It is weird, artistic and best of all has a lot of nude Bowie. There is a great soundtrack and while the acting can be a bit jerky at time with the main female lead being almost nails on chalkboard bad, it picks up at the end. The story is based around an alien who comes to earth to make money to save his family. If I am perfectly honest, the story, while interesting and VERY artistic, is sometimes a bit hard to follow. Luckily for the viewer, as everyone else ages and time passes, Bowie who play an alien named Newton, stays his same gorgeous self. Bowie has stated that he does not remember this movie at all due to all the drugs he did. He was quoted with
"I'm so pleased I made that [movie], but I didn't really know what was being made at all" and 
"I just threw my real self into that movie as I was at that time. It was the first thing I'd ever done. I was virtually ignorant of the established procedure [of making movies], so I was going a lot on instinct, and my instinct was pretty dissipated. I just learned the lines for that day and did them the way I was feeling. It wasn't that far off. I actually was feeling as alienated as that character was. It was a pretty natural performance. ... a good exhibition of somebody literally falling apart in front of you. I was totally insecure with about 10 grams [of cocaine] a day in me. I was stoned out of my mind from beginning to end"
Personally, as an artist, I really enjoyed this movie. It has a great use of color and an interesting use of camera angles. I know it is hard to believe me since I am a massive Bowie lover and always will be but if you have never seen it, you really should check it out. You can rent it on Amazon.

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 I also started an Alan Rickman Marathon. It has to be spread apart because of things like updating this site and finding a new job and handling the charity's online raffle as well as all the other big things in my life this year but so far we have re watched two movies


Galaxy Quest 
GREAT movie, ridiculously funny and Alan Rickman is supurb as always. The movie is centered around a cast of an old tv show who are now doing comic con circuits and store openings. When a group of aliens show up, the main character, played by Tim Allen, assumes they are in cosplay. However, after he arrives back on their ship he realizes that they believe the show to be real and refer to it as the 'historical documents' He then has to go back to get his crew and show them. His crew is an all start cast with Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell. The movie is very funny and keeps the viewer entertained until the last moment. If you did not see this when it came out in 1999 you should watch it now. It is available on Netflix as of this posting.

CBGB

I watched CBGB back in November when it was showcased on Netflix but I watched it again for this marathon so Rich could see it. The movie stars Alan Rickman as Hilly Kristal- the Godfather of punk. The CBGB club is world famous for being the jumping off point for many punk bands and this movie documents many of them perfectly including the Ramones, the Talking Heads, and Blondie. Plus at the end of the movie during the credits they show real life footage of the Talking Heads thanking the real life Hilly for all that he has done and you get to see him. Plus there are lots of photos during the credits as well. I have never been a huge punk fan, I have always liked stupid punk - like Goldfinger- and while I like all the major bands shown in this movie, I would never call myself a punk super fan. In fact, if it hadn't been for Alan Rickman playing a badass Jew I would never have even watched this movie when I found it on Netflix. I am so very glad I did though, Rickman really shows his range on this piece. He skillfully does annoyed but caring and even though you know what happens with these major music players, the viewer is still engrossed in what will happen to Hilly. It is so very funny and has a massively talent cast including Rupert Grint, Stana Katic, and Ashley Greene

Overall three really great movies that I highly recommend!