11/5/07: Veronica Lake's on the take!

SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS
1941, written & directed by Preston Sturges

Since we recently saw Day for Night, I thought we might watch another of the classic "movie-about-a-movie" movies, Sullivan's Travels. This film should help explain why Adam Sandler continues to get work.

Mac vs. PC

So, now that a higher percentage of us have had the pleasure of viewing this blog on both Mac OS and Windows (Francisco, Austin, and Brittany have made the switch), I feel I can finally comment on how much crappier this site looks on PC.

The text looks like total shit.

It's something I've thought for a while, but only now choose to verbalize for personal reasons.

10.29.07 Movie Night

Hey. Movie Night is at my place tomorrow. We're gonna watch the 1955 film Pather Panchali, directed by Satyajit Ray. This is the first film in Ray's acclaimed "Apu Trilogy". We'll be watching a bootleg DVD that I ordered online because it is not currently in print in the States. Why did I pick this movie? Two reasons. One is that I have been wanting to see it for a while - many directors and critics hold it in very high regard so I want to see what all the fuss is about. Two is that if Cinematheque Houston is truly about "presenting significant films from around the world" then India, with the second-highest population of any country in the world, has been under-represented so far and I wanted to rectify that.

See you on Monday at 8 pm.

Funny review on The Darjeeling Limited

Funny and insightful, unlike Ebert and Roeper:


and on Superbad:

see you at Joe's at 8 pm on Monday.

Free Screening: No Country for Old Men

Hey, guys. I just wanted to let you know that there will be a free screening of the new Coen brothers film, No Country for Old Men, at 11 a.m. Tuesday (tomorrow) at Angelika.

10/22 - La Nuit américaine

as in Day For Night in English

The title refers to the technique for filming night scenes during the day with the use of filters or other measures. It is Francois Truffaut's tribute to filmmaking.

Wes Anderson has paid homage to this film in his American Express Commercial, which features the music from La Nuit americaine:

Speaking of Wes Anderson, here is one of the few new commercials he made:

10/15 - White Cane Safety Day

Celebrate the achievement of blind people, who cannot watch a movie.

That's mean.

To make it worse, we're going to have a movie night.

I think it is my turn this week. But the mystery remains, what are we going to watch?

Is it...

a) an American independent cinema classic
b) a foreign family comedy
c) a movie about making a movie

You decide.

This is da bomb!

with a 82-page book. Available on Tuesday.

10/8: The Power of Nightmares (parts 1 and 2)

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "The Phantom Victory" are the first two parts of Adam Curtis's three-episode documentary about terrorism and its "truthiness" (to borrow from Stephen Colbert).

I would show all three parts, but they are 59 minutes each. So, for my next selection, I'll show part three and a short film.