71 countries had net declines with Trump’s America leading the way in the West. This is the 12 year of the current downward trend.
“Democracy’s basic tenets–including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law–are under siege around the world.”
–Michael J. Abramowitz
(continued to top film critics’ lists into the 1990s)
Recent movies have tended to be loud, formulaic, preadvertised (trailers usually give away all of a film’s essentials), very commercial, flawed, dumb, crass, pointless, and geared toward What Faulkner called “the glands” and the lowest common denominator. That said, in the past several years, I’ve enjoyed Redford’s All is Lost, Branagh’s Macbeth (a filmed live performance), and movies from the past five years like The Social Network, Barney’s Version, and The King’s Speech.
I taught film in my classes–works like Citizen Kane, Dr. Strangelove (which should have been included on the following list), and North by Northwest. Later, I did a three-year stint at Alberta Film Classification, happily leaving in 2005 because 90% min. of films I saw were crap, flawed, and often very weak and limitedly commercial.
I used to be quite into film and amassed a collection I am very happy with of favorites and classics. After long absence, I came back to my list of movies yesterday and went through it, picking out films I consider to be great or classics. It is fairly obvious which directors have impressed the most–Welles, Huston, Allen, Coppolla, Kubrick, Lumet, Lean, and Hitchcock. Likewise, strong acting performances from the likes of Cary Grant, Welles, Bogart, Newman, Kelly, Hopkins, to name several. (For the record, favorite actresses have included Hepburn, Kerr, Binoche, Bergman, and Thompson.)
As I peruse the list before printing it, it is obvious that I enjoy good scripts and writing, great character acting, certain moods and atmospheres, irony and wit, romance, real comedy (not that crap that comedy has become today), mystery and intrigue, good lines, dialogue, and conversation, great scenes/moments of being, and a wide range of beauty and truth as conveyed by film.
(ps/I will add that The Last Picture Show should have been included in the original draft.)
–All About Eve–an incredibly witty ’50s comedy with numerous great performances, best of all by George Sanders & Bette Davis. Ironic, cynical views of relationships and theatre.
-a Hitchcock–Psycho, unquestionably. But Rear Window, Frenzy, Vertigo, and North by Northwest are all worth the viewing time, too.
-a Woody Allen–Love and Death (a riotous take on 19th century Russia), Midnight in Paris or Annie Hall
–The Best Years of Our Lives— 3 post-WWII relationships; “Love conquers all”
-a Godard–either Breathless (which takes apart the romance conventions) or Pierrot le Fou which breaks nearly every movie convention
–Playtime–Jacques Tati’s comic masterpiece; one of the great French films; a childlike sense of humor
–Casablanca–corny and omnipresent, but great performances and lines; a romance classic
–Citizen Kane–light years ahead of its time in so many departments; easily Welles` best
–Don`t Look Now–Nicholas Roeg`s dark classic– a thriller with spooky atmosphere galore; incredible cinematography
–Godfather II–still the best of the 3–Pacino`s best performance and amazing cross-cutting between a family`s past and present
–A Hard Day`s Night–all the fun that the Beatles once were and represented; the 1st significant young person`s ‘musical’ on film–should have won an AA for its music
–Henry V (Branagh)–came from out of nowhere; still powerful, maybe the most powerful Shakespeare on film; a resonant atmospheric film
–In the Heat of the Night–for the performances of Steiger and Poitier–their relationship; film captures how it was in the mid-60s down south; a breakthru film on race and race relations, made by Canada’s top filmmaker Norman Jewison
–Lawrence of Arabia–best seen in a widescreen theatre–epic atmosphere bigtime; and 3 nutcases at play–Lean (the director), O`Toole (the lead) and Lawrence (the protagonist); stunning music and atmosphere
–The Maltese Falcon–very witty, sarcastic, cynical John Huston flick–Bogart`s best as Sam Spade; top film noir ever–numerous plot twists and mystery
–My Dinner with Andre–proof that 2 guys talking could be more interesting than 80% of the films that have been made. About ideas, consciousness, choices.
-an Altman–Nashville or Short Cuts–both with large casts and multiple intersecting plots. Ironic and funny social commentary. Strong use of music and improv scenes
-a Redford family film–Ordinary People (best film about dysfunctional family and a modern teen) or A River Runs Through It (a brother study–Brad Pitt`s best as Redford ringer appearance-wise)
–Remains of the Day–another 2 character/actor piece: Hopkins and Thompson`s best (a close Hopkins` 2nd best–Shadowlands)
–Singin`in the Rain–best musical comedy
–2001: A Space Odyssey–huge when it came out–mostly for the cinematography and mood; man vs. machine`s top movie moment–see on widescreen; amazing end sequence
–The Third Man–Welles` best, charismatic role–he makes evil attractive and very likable. Great cinematography & score. The sewer & ferris wheel scenes are bigtime classics.
–The Verdict–great performances–Newman, Rampling & others; great Boston atmosphere; directed by the great Sidney Lumet; study of alcoholic lawyer in the trial of his life against all odds (a close Lumet second–Dog Day Afternoon)
–Wings of Desire–very different; the black & white cinematography is a knockout; Falk steals the show unexpectedly in a movie convention breakdown; captures the pain, suffering and angst of humanity as well as the glorious possibilities of love
Mixed-media painted wooden plaque by local artist-teacher-friend Don Pimm, which graces our front hallway. He also did a painted representation of E.E. Cummings’ “In Just springtime” which hangs in my daughter’s house, a gift from me.
The Red Wheelbarrow
So much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
–William Carlos Williams
“For us, there is only the trying”; found object conceptual art by Richard Davies
(quote from T.S. Eliot, “East Coker”, Four Quartets)
A favorite preferred image–a spoken word record album cover which hangs on my bedroom wall. (Dylan Thomas often wrote of the inner child and childhood, especially its freedoms.)
Note: Quite Early One Morning LP cover by Caedmon, on my bedroom wall
“Starting in my childhood, I believed that anything is possible and open to choice. And I still do. (You haven’t seen everything yet.) Beyond that, a good attitude is crucial in dealing with whatever change, obstacle, problems, misery, and sufferings.”
She concurred, having just gone through a death which appears to have happily freed her and made her much happier. She has become a greatly changed person.
Anything is possible example. For instance, I never believed I would own a very rare signed Virginia Woolf (in purple ink no less), but knowing it was possible despite the significant expense, I chose to.
Often the forgotten part of our lives is, simply, the sky–the ever-changing backdrop to our days on terra firma. Places and contexts may remain relatively the same or slow-changing, but the skyscapes and cloudscapes come and go with some regularity. Which is why, incidentally, it is a little bleak to go weeks on end as we have recently in Edmo winter without a good extended opportunity to see even sun or sky. Same effect in Vancouver’s version of rainy winter.
But–and I always come back to the brilliant summer skies in the evening or magic hour when the light has certain je-ne-sais-quoi effects–when the skies and the very heavens open up after a rain, one can see worlds within worlds played out in heavenly vistas. Or strange magical blues, oranges, or pinks along the horizons of these unreal, ephemeral, privileged moments.
At other times, it may simply be the wonder of just looking up at the beauty of puffy passing clouds on sky-blue in August or September. And one again is a shepherd boy in Thomas Gray’s time, lollygagging and wondering at the majesty of Nature–its large, deep, usually solitary pleasures. It is from such moments as the latter, that I feel again as I did at 17, when starting out, feeling the potential of life and the urge to move, and to write something equally memorable.
But those heavenly summer vistas, with their splendiferous roads upward into other worlds, other larger imaginative possibilities–which once spurred Turner to paint his numerous wild sky and cloud abstracts. No question the passion of one’s life could be simply creatively expressing or recording what is above one’s head most of the time. A beauty one will never find on a smartphone screen, or in a conventional company of revellers.
When I was 18, those same skies bespoke to me and said, Romantically, “This is It. This is true Beauty. This is Vision. This is the only God you will ever need to satisfy something so deeply and essentially you in your unique path through Life.” And that became a personal standard or ideal, so to speak, by which I measured all else, and the myriad possibilities of Nature, Beauty and Poesy.
The pained dream consumes itself.”
(quote by W.B.Yeats, “Two Songs from a Play”)
He is not a star for you to follow.
He is just a man walking away down the road,
the one who took the fire with him.
No. He is a son of God, a vast conception of self.
He is a wisp of air, a greatness of imagination.
He is true to his dream and will honour it forever.
There is a greatness to his style and gestures.
His arms reach out before him, to hold his dream again.
In that brief moment, he is crowned with stars
and lives in eternity’s sunrise.
“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves aware, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.”
The hijab, scissors-attack girl.
A great way to get attention. Her story went international and even King Selfie commiserated with her.
I remember a story I once used in one of my books called “Cancer” about a young woman lying to get attention using lies about sickness as a means to get sympathy. Some actual women have actually done this since to get lots of money.
Could any of the “Me Too” accusations fall into the same category?
Can and do some women lie? Or are they always victims who only tell the whole or accurate truth?
I also remember, in 1980, the Catholic church refusing to authorize one of my textbooks in NL, saying that priests never lie. (Story: Morley Callaghan’s “A Sick Call”, the kind of edgy issues selection I often chose to create discussion in senior high English classrooms). Well, I guess we’ve seen how that issue plays out in the history of that church over the last 37 years regarding child abuse.
No, anything is possible and some/many claims or presumptions have to always be taken with a grain of salt. Again, Follow the agenda.
