I didn’t do too well with my plan to watch classic romance films in February. I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the first time and loved it and then didn’t really watch any others. That’s okay. For March I decided to go with a film category that it is one of my favorites: documentaries.

So far I’ve watched:

and

Grizzly Man is the true story of Timothy Treadwell who went and lived up close and personal with Alaska’s wild bears for thirteen summers in a row but that ended tragically when he and his girlfriend were eaten alive. It’s a traditional documentary that combines Treadwell’s own footage with narration of the story and interviews with those people who were involved in some way.

Awful Normal reminds me a bit more of some of the experimental documentaries I watched a little of in January. It’s the true story of two adult women who were molested as girls by a family friend and their journey to go confront him to get closure. There are some odd film moments such as when they turn the camera off at the man’s request but keep the audio rolling so you only see a black screen. All in all, I felt like it was a powerful documentary with truth at the heart of it.

Tags: awful normal, documentary, films, grizzly man

Although I do watch a lot of TV I’m trying to see more movies instead of just shows. Last month I delved into experimental films a little bit. I have to say that although it was an interesting genre, it was a little too odd for me to get really wrapped up in it. This month, since it’s Valentine’s and all, I’ve decided to go with romance. More specifically, classic romance. I’m going to watch all of those love stories that everyone else has seen but I haven’t ranging from truly classic (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) to modern classics (When Harry Met Sally). We’ll see how this adventure goes.

Recapping the Experimental Films

I watched at least part of each of these films:

• The Eyes of Me. A documentary of students at a school for the blind. I actually didn’t see what was so experimental about this. It had a little animation in it but nothing too strange. It was a decent movie.
• Santa Sangre. A weird film I mentioned here before.
• Alice. Based on the characters of Alice in Wonderland.
• Queer as F**K. Which I didn’t get far into.
• Poison. Which I reviewed here earlier.
• Room. Couldn’t get into this either.

Starting in on Romance

I’m about to watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s now. We’ll see how this goes. Any classic romances movies you want to recommend for me this month?

Tags: classic romance, experimental film, film

Last night my sister and I decided to walk up the street to Clay Theater. It’s a one-movie theater and the film playing was My Week with Marilyn. I ended up really enjoying the movie.

Michelle Williams as Marilyn

My sister with the movie poster

I have to confess that I’ve had a soft spot for Michelle Williams ever since her role in Dawson’s Creek. Her character was more complex, interesting and likable than Katie Holmes and I’ve kind of adored her ever since. She plays a lovely Marilyn Monroe. She gets her voice and flirtatiousness down pat and is a joy to watch on screen as an actress playing an actress.

Marilyn’s Tortured Side

The film does a terrific job of looking at Marilyn Monroe’s tortured side, focusing almost entirely on her insecurities and her neediness of the men in her life. To be honest, I guess I don’t know all that much about Marilyn Monroe. I have some general knowledge that somehow seeped in through basic pop culture awareness and I definitely knew about these insecurities but I haven’t seen her movies or read long biographies of her so my knowledge is a little limited. This portrayal of her made me more interested in reading up on her in the future.

The Love Story

Ultimately this film is a story of young love. It’s about a twenty three year old man who gets lured in by the combination of Marilyn’s stunning beauty and her apparent need to be saved by a man. Their affair (reportedly a true story) lasted only a few days and was a really juvenile, innocent affair. However, the man’s feelings were certainly strong and it gives great insight into that intensity and wonder and passion that accompanies young love, the kind of time in life when it’s totally okay to feel completely consumed by another person and want to change your entire world for them.

Conclusion: Definitely a film worth watching. Lovely acting. Lovely story. Honest, touching without being melodramatic.

Tags: films, marilyn monroe, movies, my life with marilyn

I decided on a theme for January’s at-home movie watching. I’m going with indie films, emphasizing experimental films. I’ve pretty much never watched experimental films in my life so this will jumpstart me on the goal of exposing myself to new types of movies. Experimental films are really different, though, so I didn’t want to limit myself only to that genre. That’s why I opened it up to the broader category of indie films. I use to really enjoy watching indie films but have kind of gotten away from that in recent years and wanted to see what I’ve been missing.

Yesterday, I watched two films on Netflix, one of which was experimental.

Poison, Experimental Film

Poison is a 1991 drama that consists of three entirely separate stories that are played together throughout the film, moving back and forth between the three different stories. The three stories are called Hero, Horror and Homo. What ties them together is the fact that they are each about a main male character and have a theme of exploring the border between sexuality and violence. Each short film within the film is set in a different time period and has a different style of photography.

Hero is about a 7-year-old boy who has killed his father and then apparently “flown away” according to reports by his mother. It is set in the 1980′s and has the kind of grainy color that movies of that time sometimes have. This fictional story is set up consisting just of interviews with the boy’s mother and various other family members who reveal more and more about the boy so that we can learn what happened.

Horror is about a scientist who is researching sex hormones and accidentally ends up ingesting something in his lab. It turns him into a leprous sex fiend. Despite this, a female doctor falls in love with him the way that he is. The film is basically about him going crazy and her trying to love him anyway and the tragedy that occurs as a result. This film is done in black and white with lots of shadows and close-up shots. There’s not too much dialogue but what exists is mostly between them. I’m sure that there’s a name for this style of film but I’m not sure what it is. Film noir comes to mind but I don’t know if that’s right. Hopefully as this year continues I’ll learn more about different styles of film and be able to explain this stuff better!

Homo is about two men in prison who had known each other previously in a boys’ school. We learn about their shared past through various scenes. The other scenes are the two of them in prison developing a relationship of sorts. It’s set in the 1940′s and has muted coloring. There is dialogue between the two characters as well as some supporting characters and we can also sometimes hear the main character’s thoughts.

It took me awhile to get into the film. I’m used to the fast-paced dramas of television and mainstream movies. I tend to strongly prefer dialogue-rich movies (don’t watch much action) so it took me some time to slow my pace and really pay attention to the wordless details on the screen. Once I got into it, though, I ended up kind of liking the film so I’m looking forward to learning more about experimental films as the month continues.

Sabah: A Love Story

The other film I watched was a much more straightforward indie romance called Sabah: A Love Story. It’s a Canadian film about a traditional Muslim family. The main character, Sabah, is a forty-year-old unmarried woman whose role it is to take care of her mother. She ends up meeting a non-Muslim Canadian man and falling in love with him. Fairly predictable family drama ensues and there’s a happy ending. I was kind of indifferent to this movie. It’s cute enough. There were parts that were enjoyable. Mostly I found the guy that she falls in love with to be terribly unlikeable and couldn’t get into it because of that but that’s just a personal preference thing. It’s worth seeing if you like movies with this type of plot.

Do you watch indie films? Experimental films?

Tags: experimental films, indie films, movies

The first week of my +EW42W- project has kicked off with a goal of not watching TV for two weeks. I have discovered that this is even more challenging than I expected. In fact, I think I may have an actual addiction to television watching.

The first day of the challenge was Sunday. I had decided that the rule would be that I could watch one movie and nothing else and I knew that needed to be at the end of the day or I’d get sucked in and not be able to stop watching. The morning part wasn’t too challenging. I do sometimes work in the mornings without the TV on. I put on my Pandora radio while I worked and that was fine. By the afternoon, however, my mind was totally reeling. I’m going through a bunch of stuff right now and my mind just felt nutty with thoughts that weren’t drowned out by the background noise of the television.

But this is the point – to get to a healthier emotional place in life by working through the tough stuff. So P did persevere through. Made some phone calls to family for distraction. Did some other online work that I could get engrossed in. And eventually it was about nine pm and I went to go crochet while watching my movie. I learned that I have a terrible time trying to pick a movie. I basically watch the same types of TV shows over and over so no major decisions need to be made to find new ones. But movies are different. What type of movies do I like? It’s time to learn!

I put on “On the Outs” because it was a Netflix recommendation. As soon as I did, though, I realized that I think I’ve seen it before or seen part of it before. And I didn’t want to watch something I might have seen before. So I tried to find something else and ended up defaulting to a common favorite of mine, which is biographical documentaries or docudramas about artists. I chose Kurt & Courtney. I’m not a huge Nirvana or Hole fan (not that I don’t like them, I’m just kind of indifferent, really) and I was slightly young to feel the impact of Cobain’s death that many felt when it happened. Nevertheless, I am totally drawn to stories about people’s relationships as well as stories about the tortured artist genius so this fit the bill.

The documentary, honestly, is kind of weird. It poses some possible theories about Kobain’s death (namely that some people believe Love murdered him) and then basically concludes that the theories are not correct but that leaves you with the sense that the storyline itself is kind of pointless. And two things irked me about following the documentarian along on his journey:

1. Almost everyone he interviewed looked completely stoned and out of it and did not make a good interviewee.
2. His questions seemed incredibly leading.

Tags: +EW42W-, television, TV addiction

Continuing on with the A-Z Blogging Challenge … N is for Netflix … Here are some of the things I’ve watched recently:

Philly – because I love all crime and courtroom dramas!

Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century – terrific short documentaries about creative contemporary artists

30 Days – I wish this show had stayed on longer. Love the premise!

Felt totally inspired by this fashion film documentary

Saw this in the theater ages ago. Love the colorful cinematography. Wanted to see it again.

Milk of Sorrow – Watched this because I’m always trying to watch more Spanish language films. I didn’t actually love it but it’s interesting.

Loved the book, thought I’d try the movie. Did enjoy it but probably wouldn’t have liked it so much if I didn’t already know the book.

What are you watching these days?

Tags: a-z blogging challenge, movies, netflix

A new movie about Hitler is being produced in Bollywood and some people there hope it can help take the Indian movie scene in a new direction. Some information for the discerning smart chick about this new film:

• It is titled Dear Friend Hitler in reference to letters written to Hitler by Mahatma Ghandi. Interestingly, the actor who was supposed to play Hitler (Anupam Kher) has also played Ghandi in a previous role. There seems to be something ironic about this, doesn’t there? Negative press about the issue has recently caused the well-known actor to back out of the role.
• The film is intended to depict the final days of Hitler’s life. It is supposed to be a highly emotional piece that looks at his relationship with wife Eva Braun as well as some of the insecurities and pressures he may have been dealing with in those final days. Does this mean we’re looking at a sympathetic portrait of Adolf Hitler?
• The film is intended to be highly stylistically different from most Bollywood films. Although it may contain some musical numbers, they will be limited and will not include the main actors in the film.
• Some Indian film producers hope that this film can help add a new level of serious movie-making to Bollywood. In recent years, filmmakers in India have tried to escape the pigeonhole of the cheesy musical but have not been very successful. Hard-hitting films about serious issues just don’t do well in the nation. There is some hope that this new movie will be the turning point for that, allowing for a new serious genre of movies to come out of India in upcoming years.
• Should the film gain international attention, it may raise awareness of the fact that many people in India are not as highly educated about the issues surrounding Hitler’s reign as say the average person in Germany or America. This is not to suggest that the people there are ignorant of the issues but rather that there is not the educational emphasis on World War II there that exists in the countries that were more primarily affected by that war. It has been suggested that the film will depict Hitler’s love for India which could lead to some controversy depending on the chosen portrayal.

Tags: bollywood, controversial entertainment, hitler movie

Sometimes I browse through the instant movies that are available on Netflix and I don’t find anything at all worth watching. Sometimes I start a movie and get bored a few minutes into it. A lot of times I keep a movie on in the background while doing something else and never really get into it. But every once in awhile, I easily pick a movie that looks good and it turns out that it actually is. That was the case with Echo of Murder (Who Killed Atlanta’s Children?)

This is a fascinating movie that essentially tells the story of two situations in one. First, there is the case of over 30 murders that took place in Atlanta around the same time in the early 1980′s. These were all murders of black children, both girls and boys. A man was convicted of two of the crimes and loosely linked to the rest by questionable evidence and then the case was dropped. That’s the first part of the story.

The second part of the story is that the first story was picked up by two journalists at SPIN magazine in 2000. These two journalists got wind of the tale and figured that it was loosely related to their music magazine because the man who was convicted of the crimes had been involved in the recording industry. They did their research and brought out the tale that hadn’t yet been told. The second story revealed in the movie is of their journalistic approach to uncovering the first story.

It’s an interesting movie. Is it a stunning cinematic presentation? Not really. There are some things that could have been done better. But that’s not the point. The point is that the film manages to touch on a number of different explosive topics and to reveal some great insights into all of them. The main topic was the racism behind the murders themselves, the way they were covered up and the way that people dealt with the journalists as they were trying to uncover the story. Another topic was the approach to journalism itself, how you uncover facts and what responsibilities you have to the public when telling a story like this. Another was about the justice system and how sometimes easing the public’s mind becomes more important than finding the truth about a crime.

The story itself is, of course, horrifying. All of these children died and no one actually knows who the real killer was. There may have been 30 deaths that were all related or there may have been twice that many. They may have been committed by the KKK or by a serial killer or by someone else entirely. We just don’t know. And the fact that most of us didn’t even know about this case is horrifying in and of itself.

Definitely worth a Netflix rental!

Tags: echo of murder, good movies, who killed atlanta's children

One of the things that I love about being in my hometown is that it’s a good time for me to go to the movies. I don’t go out to movies all that often when I’m in San Francisco. This is due mostly to the cost of seeing a full-priced movie there (actual cost plus transportation cost etc.) compared to hitting the matinee with my mom in Tucson. It’s also due to the fact that there are so many other cheap/free/similarly-priced events and activities to enjoy in San Francisco so it seems like a waste to spend that time and money on a mainstream movie. And I suppose it’s due a bit to the fact that I don’t ever find it all that easy to find a friend in San Francisco who also wants to spend the time and money on the same mainstream movie that I do. So going to the movies is something I don’t do much anymore but still love to do when I’m back with my family.

I wouldn’t say that we typically see the smartest movies although some of the ones that we go watch are certainly smart. I’m just as happy to see a dumb chick flick with my mom and sister as to see the latest smart indie film. It’s more about the experience and the time spent together than the film itself. So I wasn’t necessarily expecting much from Blind Side which we went to go see this morning. All I really expected was that it would be a decent story with decent actors and that we’d have a good time together just hanging out at the theatre. We did have a good time together but Blind Side ended up being better than I’d expected it to be.

For those who don’t know, the movie is based on a book which is based on the true story of a teenager who grew up in the ghetto and ended up homeless when he’s taken in by a rich white family. The story is fairly predictable … they become his family, they help him with school, he ends up succeeding and gets a football scholarship. It’s a pretty straightforward story line.

However there were definitely some smart things about it that I liked. The main thing was that the movie depicts the fact that these rich white Republicans have some self-doubt as to their own motivations for taking this kid in. They wonder if they’re doing the right thing and if they’re doing it for the right reasons. Are they just getting a feel-good kick out of helping someone out? Are they pushing their own expectations on to him? Although the movie doesn’t delve deeply into these feelings, it poses the questions and acknowledges the fact that this is an issue that people in their position would have to deal with internally. Although I think that we often see characters in films having to deal with this issue externally (which we see here as well when the mother’s friends question her choice and consider it a charity act) we see it less often in terms of how people themselves question their own motives. It’s a smart twist even if it’s not explored in depth.

There were certainly some aspects of the storyline that I wondered about. The movie depicts this seventeen-year-old kid just naturally fitting in fairly well with this new family. I find it difficult to believe that the transition into a family was easy for him at that point. Based on my own experience working with foster children, there’s just a lot of wariness and a period of adapting that we don’t see in the film. In that way, I don’t think that the film revealed enough about the issues that the characters must have dealt with. So it falls short of what my full expectations would be if I were going to write the film but it exceeded the expectations that I had of it as a mainstream movie.

Mostly I guess I the movie captured my attention less for what it showed than what it didn’t show. It got my curious about the life of Michael Oher and how it all really played out for him as compared to what the movie depicted. I am particularly interested in learning more about how college went for him, how difficult it was to adjust to leaving his new family as soon as they’d adopted him and how hard the transition was to living on his own on a college campus. I am curious about the politics behind the NCAA investigation of his choice to attend the alma mater of his new foster parents – why did the NCAA do this and what other cases similar to this have there been. The movie interested me because it left this questions open which makes me inclined to do more research into the topic now that I’ve left the theater.

Is Blind Side worth seeing? I probably wouldn’t have bothered in San Francisco but I’m glad that I saw it while back at home. If you saw it, I’d love to know what you thought about it! Leave it in the comments.

What other bloggers have written about Blind Side:

• Televisual – Interesting thoughts on why the movie is making so much money
• Be Happy NYC – Sums up the movie and talks about the fashion in it
• Online Film School – “Overall this film is full of inspiration”
• Scrap with Suzy – A visual post

Tags: blind side, diary of a smart chick, entertainment, films, movies

Every year I try to pick an actor or actress to study to learn more about their films. I always try to pick a star that is truly unique in the choice of characters and the way that those characters are presented. It’s actually not that easy to do. Most movie stars get typecast into certain roles and don’t really do much beyond that single type of character.

Last year I studied the films of Ryan Phillippe. I failed to pick a star to study this year but I’m thinking that I may start late and study up on Johnny Depp. He’s a really unique actor who plays very different types of roles than what most people are playing. And even with those roles that are stereotypical, he manages to spin them in a unique way.

I’ve seen some of his films. Ones I particularly liked were From Hell and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. But I’m interested in checking out more of what he has to offer. I’ve heard that he’s playing The Mad Hatter in an upcoming release of Alice in Wonderland and I think that’s going to be an amazing role to see him in so I’d like to gain some insight into his work before that comes out.

Any suggestions on the best Johnny Depp films to make sure to see?

Tags: actors, depp, films, hubpages, johnny depp, kathryn vercillo, movies