Heads Up: The Stranger

"The Stranger" is a public domain film that I have had on dvd for years, but for some reason only recently got around to watching it.  It came out in 1946, and is directed by and features the great Orson Welles.
The story is about a detective on the trail of a nazi who was one of the masterminds behind concentration camps and then disappeared without a trace after the war.  It is an interesting yarn, and a good noir story.  It puts a bit of a spin on classic noir form, in that it takes place in a small suburban town in New England, and is set against the back drop of political intrigue, as opposed to traditional noir's urban crime drama.
It is filmed in Welles' typical dynamic style; full of stunning lighting and really stylish compositions.  There are some really brilliant camera moves.  While watching it, I wondered how film can so often use Welles' style as a starting point, and yet carry none of his stylish technique.
The acting of the main character, the detective, is regrettably bland.  I wasn't aware that he was the main character until a good ways into the movie, because he just seemed like a supporting role.  Especially when competing with Welles on screen, who delivers a tremendously compelling performance.
This is a very stylish and well put together noir.  For anybody interested in Orson Welles it would be worth your while to track down this movie.  As it is currently public domain, you should be able to find it on the internet without too much hassle.  Till then, Excelsior, I suppose.

News: something to be aware of.

Many websites such as wikipedia are blacked out to protest censorship.  SOPA and PIPA are laws being discussed in congress that would restrict free speech and unfairly censor the internet.  I don't know a ton about the topic, but as it stands support them in their protest.  I'm not for piracy, but all signs point to this law being the wrong way of going about it, and limit the freedom of the last free media front.  What do you think? 

googles description of the topic, and what can be done.
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
wikipedia co-founder discusses why this bill is a problem.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/01/17/erin-wales-wikipedia-sopa.cnn#/video/bestoftv/2012/01/17/erin-wales-wikipedia-sopa.cnn

Heads Up: Eyes Wide Shut

I'm a big Stanley Kubrick fan.  I usually cite him as being my favorite director.  "Eyes Wide Shut" was his final film, and was completed only shortly before he died, and then released posthumously.
It is not a movie I can recommend to everyone.  If you don't know already whether or not you are the type of person to whom I would recommend it, hopefully you will by the end of this heads up.
This movie is about sex.  In the best, most intelligent and mature way possible.  Sex as a theme is explored in a variety of really interesting ways throughout the films odyssey like proceedings.  It begins by addressing ideas of fidelity, and discussing the topic of human sexuality in various ways film as a medium rarely touches.  I was already on board at this point, when the film takes a drastic turn and evolves into something much bigger.  This turn is handled in such a well crafted way that I didn't even realize the turn had been taken until reflecting on the film as a whole afterwords.  The film begins focused on Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's characters, and their relationship.  It expands those ideas to encompass something more epic in scope, and yet still focusing on the concept and relationship established in the opening scenes.
Although not abundantly apparent at the films offset, stylistically "Eyes Wide Shut" is thoroughly a Kubrick film.  Especially by the time we get to the surreal, ritualistic worship sequence it is clear that the brilliant hand of Kubrick is crafting a masterpiece.  The film takes place in opposing environments; either lush, luxurious, baroque settings, or filthy urban settings.  Both are as exquisitely chosen and filmed as you would expect from this famed perfectionist.  The composition, too, is as just as brilliant as any Kubrick film, consistently creating stunningly beautiful, and haunting images.  The music, and overall sound design also deserves a mention, as it wonderfully supports the story and the images.  In every way a film can be, this film is truly an artistic accomplishment.
I was a bit surprised at how engaging the story was in addition to that.  I wasn't expecting such a dramatic and intense film, but I was really drawn in to the story.  Performances are great all around, and the casting was clearly very deliberate (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman being as close to statuesque perfect human forms as there could have been).

So in the end we have a film that is really stunningly beautiful as a piece of art, thorough in its exploration of extremely delicate themes, and even tells a thrilling story.  So from that end, it is recommendable for just about every reason you would want to watch a movie.  If you are up for it, don't deprive yourself, but if a unabashed, graphic film about human sexuality is not your idea of a good time, go ahead and pass this one, and jump back to my heads up about "The Killing".

Heads Up: Forbidden Planet

Hoorah!  Another heads up.  It would have been nice to get a few suggestions to you for the holidays, but I was back home, and the internet isn't provided in Fangorn forest where my parents live.  I hope you all watched the Star Wars Holiday Special for Christmas, or for Life Day, if you don't like to shave.

Anyway.  Today I wanted to give you a heads up about the 1956 science fiction film "Forbidden Planet."  This film is based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest," kind of, and tells the story of a crew sent on a mission to a far away planet to investigate the disappearance of the last ship that went there.  The story is really quite interesting and builds to a thrilling conclusion.
Enough with the pleasantries, though.  This movie is great because of how it looks.  It came out in 1956, and I haven't come across a better looking sci-fi that came out until Star Wars, two decades later.  This movie looks incredible.  I really like the style of 50's and 60's sci-fi effects, so it only takes a good space ship model or matte painting of an alien planet to get me giddy anyway, but this movie presents so many more cool images in ways that are still completely riveting.  This movie broke ground in ideas for animation, music and included the first substantial robot since Metropolis.  It deserves mentioning that the robot's name was "Robbie the Robot," and his career really tanked after this movie; appearing in some really low quality b films.  Back to point: this movie simply looks incredible.  Even now in 2012, which as far as we know might be the last year films are ever made by mankind if the Mayans and Roland Emmerich are right, this film has incredible visuals.  From start to finish the special effects are creative and varied and brilliantly implemented to create a wonderfully engaging sci-fi world including ancient ruins of an advanced civilization, ray guns vaporizing tigers, and giant invisible monsters.  It's great stuff.
The music is also really noteworthy.  composed by Louis and Bebe Barron, it is the first all electronic score, and predates the invention of the MOOG synthesizer by almost a decade.  They essentially invented synthesizers for this movie, because nothing like that existed yet.  The score creates a nervous, foreign and completely alien atmosphere, and I love it.
Oh yeah, and the movie stars Leslie Nielsen, before he started doing comedy.  That's interesting.
So, in the end, you should watch this movie, probably.  It is a super cool science fiction story wrapped up in an incredible science fiction film.  Still, all these decades later, completely mind blowing, so much so that Robbie just can't help but give himself an oil-job when he thinks about it.

Album of the Month: Cartography (2008)

I decided I wasn't probably going to get in more than one film related post a week, and because I want to focus more on film than music, I loosened up the music posts to be Albums of the Month as opposed to weekly.  All in favor?  Good.

So this month I'll talk about Arve Henriksen.  He is a classically trained Norwegian trumpet player who, highly influenced by the Japanese shakuhachi flute (i have to look up the name ever time, I promise I'm not making it up), has an incredibly unique tone quality.  His trumpet is ethereal, and he often uses the instruments sounds, such as breathing and valve sounds, for a sound completely unique to him.
The album I specifically want to talk about is 2008's "Cartography," which is, as far as I am aware, his most current album of four (all of which I enjoyed).  "Cartography" is simply one of the most beautifully constructed albums I have ever listened to.  It is tends to be mellow, drawing on ideas of ambient music, so it's good for reading or homework.  When I first listened to it, though, I would often have to pause to marvel at the shear beauty of the sound, and I'm not exaggerating for melodramatic effect.
On display here is a blend of Henriksen's complete arsenal.  Obviously his mastery of the trumpet takes center stage, but his angelic falsetto comes through at times, while smart electronic manipulations subtly give the musical landscape borders so immense they feel like they never end.  The Album itself is constructed like a novel, or like Jewish scripture, and features a sort of chiasmus that helps each song flow naturally, like a receding wave or a naturally orbiting moon.
The second and the penultimate track contain spoken word pieces by David Sylvian, of Japan, and are fascinating even in their seemlessly doubled presentation (I can't explain it, just listen).  My favorite track is probably halfway point "Recording Angel" but every track can be a highlight.
This album is simply gorgeous.  It's a beautiful piece of truth through music.  It's bold and unique, but still enjoyable and accessible.  It has been said about Brian Eno's ambient work that it is like an exquisite painting, in that in enhances the beauty of a room whether or not you pay attention to it, but when you carefully study it more depth and craft becomes aware.  So it is with this album.
Again I would recommend all of Arve Henriksen's albums, I find him fascinating.