One down... Do you know what I did to watch all these movies because I can't afford going to a theatre and we cancelled our cable? The library. Why did I not think of this before? It's free!
Here are the great films I've watched so far this month!
I've seen Rebel Without a Cause many times before but it was a first time for the other three. I could go on and on about it but I'll spare you. Let me just say that I love James Dean (I own three posters of his face) and this film is the quintessential teenage angst film. From the costumes and the dramatic camera angles to the dialogue, Rebel Without a Cause is so cinematic. It's the right mixture of overdramatic (helloooo Natalie Wood's opening scene) and real emotion (James' now famous "You're tearing me apart!"line) and entertaining as anything. Leather jackets, knife fights, a brooding James Dean, teenage angst and falling in love in the early morning hours. Heck yeah. Sign me up.
Shakespeare in Love is a visual masterpiece that makes you want to fall in love with a poet and go rummage around for those Shakespeare plays you know you have somewhere. Tom Stoppard's screenplay is perfection (Can you love a fool? Can you love a player? Why yes, yes I can Mr. Stoppard) and the characterization of the major and minor actors is spot on. Luxurious costumes, Romance, intelligent comedy and one Dame Judi Dench. Need I say more? Get thee to a Blockbuster.
I love all three lead actresses and have known about this film for quite sometime (Basically, I prowl on IMDB) and have even recommended it to people without seeing it because I just knew it was good from the reviews I've read. After watching it, I now see that I completely underestimated this film. Reading reviews, looking at pictures and watching the trailer repeatedly over the years did nothing to prepare me for the emotional roller coaster that is The Hours. It put me in the most beautiful melancholic mood.
The Hours is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen.
I watched An Education just this afternoon, actually. The film and the cast deserve all the accolades they received. Carey Mulligan is always an absolute pleasure to watch on the silver screen; she has a long career ahead of her, that's for sure. The soundtrack by Paul Englishby and the costumes by Odile Dicks-Mireaux certainly deserve a mention for helping to create the world of the film. I still haven't quite mulled it over, but I can definitely say that An Education is an excellent work of film.
Recently I was talking with an old friend I haven't spoken to in a while, and as we were getting reacquainted he asked, "What is your favorite medium of art?" I thought about how much I love Fashion, how I live for it. All the songs that have shaped me and saved me came into my head. The images that have risen from the pages of magazines and books and lodged themselves somewhere into the makeup of my being. Art I have created, purchased, dreamed about and touched. Beautiful words I have read.
My answer shocked myself a little bit. I wasn't expecting for my subconscious to whisper "Film" but it did. I suppose Film is the greatest culmination of all mediums of art. It really can transform you, if you let it. That's the reason why I want to watch more films. I would like to be transformed this year.
