Tag: Band of Outsiders

Favorite Films, One Letter at a Time

On November 7, 2008

I rarely organize my collections alphabetically, at least not as the major organizational tool, since the letter the title starts with is usually less meaningful than the year it was made or the genre that it’s in. But there’s a meme going around film blogs (starting with Blog Cabins) to choose one favorite film that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Forcing you to pick something from each letter is generating some interesting results, so I thought I’d give it a try. (Other entries I’ve seen include: Only the Cinema, Film Doctor, The House Next Door, and Spoutblog.)

Shameless self-promotion – this task was made a lot easier since I recently completed a full list of all the films I’ve ever seen over at my archive site. Still working on the ancillary lists organized by year and rating, but the by title one is done.

A – The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938; Michael Curtiz & William Keighley)
B – Band of Outsiders (1964; Jean-Luc Godard)
C – City of Lost Children (1995; Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
D – The Double Life of Veronique (1993; Krzysztof Kieslowski)
E – Election (1999; Alexander Payne)
F – The Fountain (2006; Darren Aronofsky)
G – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953; Howard Hawks)
H – A Hard Day’s Night (1964; Richard Lester)
I – In a Lonely Place (1951; Nicholas Ray)
J – JFK (1991; Oliver Stone)
K – Key Largo (1948; John Huston)
L – Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998; Guy Ritchie)
M – Mulholland Drive (2001; David Lynch)
N – The Naked Kiss (1964; Samuel Fuller)
O – O Brother Where Art Thou (2000; Joel & Ethan Coen)
P – Persona (1966; Ingmar Bergman)
Q – The Quiet Man (1952; John Ford)
R – Rear Window (1954; Alfred Hitchcock)
S – Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927; F.W. Murnau)
T – The Thin Man (1934; W.S. Van Dyke)
U – The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964; Jacques Demy)
V – Vertigo (1958; Alfred Hitchcock)
W – The Women (1939; George Cukor)
X – X-Men (2000; Bryan Singer)
Y – Young Frankenstein (1974; Mel Brooks)
Z – Zodiac (2007; David Fincher)

Anyone else reading this, please feel free to post your own. Consider yourself tagged.

Jean-Luc Godard – a course in cinema

By Jandy

On July 11, 2007

In Film

I’ve still only seen a small percentage of Jean-Luc Godard‘s total number of films, which I regard as a good thing, because it means I will have many future wonderful Godard film experiences. If you’d asked me two months ago whether François Truffaut or Jean-Luc Godard were the better filmmaker (or at least my favorite filmmaker), I would have said Truffaut without batting an eye. But the decision would have been hasty, and after Breathless, Band of Outsiders, A Woman is a Woman and My Life to Life (and Contempt, but I need a rewatch on that one) I’m pretty much a Godard fangirl. In addition to his films being enjoyable on their own terms, they’re also like mini-courses in cinema technique and history. Which I suppose is unsurprising for a filmmaker who started as a cinephile at the Cinématheque Française and critic for the Cahiers du cinéma.

Video clips and discussion of Band of Outsiders, A Woman is a Woman and My Life to Live after the cut. Yes, I should’ve included something from Breathless as well, but it’s been a while since I saw it, so I would be less competent at choosing and discussing clips. Incidentally, July 11 has apparently been declared Fair Use Day, and the use of film clips for purposes of criticism and education falls under fair use, so even though I’ve been planning this post for a few days, it’s appropriate that it worked out for me to post it today.

April 2007 Reading/Watching Recap

By Jandy

On June 22, 2007

In Books and Reading, Film, Reviews

Guess what! I finally finished April’s recap! I know, right? April was the month in which I rediscovered Turner Classic Movies during a few weeks of relative dead time at school and, between that and an active month of Netflixing and theatre-going, watched a total of 24 movies. I think that’s a record. And that’s not even including the four or five rewatches. So without further ado, here are my reactions to Marie Antoinette, Band of Outsiders, Kiss Me Deadly, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, The Lives of Others, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Through a Glass Darkly, Hot Fuzz, and many others. Plus some books.