movies

March.

Movies Watched
1. The Fountain
2. Take Shelter
3. Pi
4. Forrest Gump
5. Adaptation
6. Dead Poets Society
7. Reality Bites
8. Before Sunrise
9. Before Sunset
10. Synecdoche, New York
11. The Hours

Books Read
1. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I have an obsessive personality, and I find that I tend to get fixated on directors, writers, actors and want to consume their entire bodies of work. I’m almost done with the filmographies of Stephen Daldry, Darren Aronofsky, Charlie Kaufman, and Quentin Tarantino, oh haay. 

Anyways, so Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich are two of my favorite movies, but jesus-fucking-christ, I could not handle Synecdoche, New York. The movie felt like 2 hours of Charlie Kaufman jacking himself off, it was just so over the top and pretentious. Which, I guess, was the intended effect, but fuck. Still. Cannot handle Charlie Kaufman’s psyche unbridled. 

PS, my hair is purple now. 

Clint Mansell & The Kronos Quartet // The Last Man 

So I watched The Fountain earlier this week, which was a pretty whatever movie. Despite being visually stunning, the movie suffered from a case of trying-too-hard, which, at least in my opinion, led to its lack of real substance. It was just so all over the place, it was hard to pull any significant meaning from it and feel truly moved by its many themes. 

The Fountain - The Tree of Life

That being said, the movie was beautifully made. In addition, Clint Mansell did a fabulous job with the soundtrack, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop as the perfect background music to the rain and fog passing through San Francisco. This song in particular just has such a haunting quality to it, a sadness that settles deep in my chest. 

I don’t know what it is about the rain that makes me silent, makes me drift away from the company of others and demand a certain level of distance, but tonight is definitely one of those stay-at-home-cook-frozen-pizza-and-watch-a-movie-alone-in-bed kind of nights. 

February

Movies Watched
1. Into The Wild
2. Mystic River
3. The Illusionist
4. The Prestige
5. A Beautiful Mind
6. True Grit
7. Trois Couleurs: Rouge
8. Billy Elliot
9. A Better Life
10. The Help 

Books Read
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten
2. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain  

So the fact that I’ve watched 34 movies in the last 3 months is cool and all, but the pile of untouched magazines building in the corner of my room (I’m subscribed to about 5 or 6 different magazines for the sole purpose of cutting out the ads and turning them into collages), makes me feel like I should focus my free time on other creative pursuits. 

March, here I come.