Archive for April 6th, 2007

Film Recommendations

Friday, April 6th, 2007

Do any of you have the same problem that I do? I keep trying to find a decent film to watch, and just about everything that’s coming out is useless crap.

I don’t know about you, but when watching a film I’d like to be challenged. I’d like to see something worth thinking about. Something that I can learn from. Films like this are few and far between, especially when the biggest blockbusters usually consist of the latest contrived horror film, or a Will Ferrell disaster. It amazes me how many people would waste their hard earned money to see a film like “Blades of Glory” or “Talladega Nights.”

I don’t want to come down too hard on Mr. Ferrell, because he does have talent. He just doesn’t have the talent to be able to pick out his scripts. I don’t understand – he seems like a reasonably intelligent man, doesn’t he read these scripts? Or is he just like everyone else in Hollywood who will appear in any piece of garbage film because he knows you’ll put money into his pocket.

I don’t want to bitch too much here. It’s a well-known fact how I feel about the entertainment industry nowadays. They’ve dumbed down everything so much it all starts to blend together. I do want to recommend a couple of films, however:

1.) Running With Scissors – based on the memoir of the same name by Burroughs, this is a film that actually works better than the book. I read the book, and honestly didn’t care for it. The characters were to wacky for me to believe. But when you see them portrayed on the screen, it becomes powerful. It’s definitely something worth watching.

2.) Tideland – I’m not gonna write anything much about this one here, because I reviewed the book earlier in this blog. Go read that. The movie is faithful to the book, and is one of director Terry Gilliam’s best works to date. Do yourself a favor – next time you’re at Blockbuster and are thinking of renting Anchorman, smack yourself in the forehead and go rent this instead.