Category archives: movies

 

 

Pretty in pink is one of my favourite films

I’ve linked to this amazing embroidery project before, but this piece just blew my mind and stole my heart to the point that I’m hoping I can snatch it when it goes on sale. Everybody knows how important teenage films are in my life.

 

Marlene Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution

 

Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen, 2011)

Hi there! It’s me again! I like this blog so much that I take every opportunity to pop in here. No, this time I’m not going to talk about another travelling experience. This time I’m going to write a review about the latest movie by Woody Allen: Midnight in Paris.

First, let me tell you what I told to Andrea when I proposed this guest post (talk about self-promotion, right?). The fact is I adore Woody Allen and his movies never disappoint me. I don’t know why, that just happens. So, I immediately told Andrea that this was going to be a biased review. And now I’m telling that to you. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Sitting down at the movie theatre with no popcorn in sight, I waited. And then came the opening sequence. Paris in it’s sublime beauty, come rain or shine. Woody has a masterful ability of working with light and photography, and we can see that in every single shot. The opening sequence just prepares us for that. Much like what he did in many of his movies shot in New York, we first meet the city and then the characters. And here, Paris is a character in her own right.

We then meet Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams), an American couple who are engaged to be married in the fall, and decide to join Inez’s parents on their business trip to Paris. Gil is passionate about the city, and always dreamt of living there. He often thinks of Paris in the 1920s, a bustling city of thinkers, artists, writers and bohemians. To him, the most amazing period in History just had to be the 20’s.

One night, feeling restless, he goes for a walk. He walks the dark streets of Paris not knowing where they might lead him and, of course, he gets lost. What happens next is puzzling, to say the least. When midnight strikes, an old car, a very old car, appears at a distance, and when it stops, the people inside it look like they are going to a themed party – a party set in the 20’s. Gil is invited in, and steps into the most amazing adventure of his life. Does he really meet illustrious people such as Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali? Or are they just a figment of his imagination?

midnight in paris

Of course, I wont tell you what happens next, because I really want you to see the movie. What I will say is that this has to be one the most light-hearted and hopeful movies by Woody Allen I’ve ever seen. There’s this tangible feeling of promise.

Many may argue this is just another pretentious movie, filled with cultural references that most people cannot understand. I think the most pretentious is to assume that people don’t want to be challenged when they see a movie. Being passive is comfortable, but taking time to notice the subtlety of a very well written joke or even learn something new is better.

Call me pretentious. I love Woody.

 

Guest post by Inês from Aramar, a crafty lady and photographer from Portugal.

 

My feelings illustrated by a bunch of gifs

I am a child of the technological generation. I barely remember a time when there wasn’t a computer in my house and among the most painful memories of my teenage years is the fact that the internet used to be really slow and I was only allowed to get online for a limited amount of time each day. I usually make mixtapes and playlists to match my feelings, but today I’m giving up that nostalgia-induced habit in favour of one that matches the times; a quick google image search.

Today marks the day when I finished writing my Master’s thesis, and I would like to thank the internet for making this process easier by providing me with instant access to everything John Cusack has ever said, allowing me to watch terrible 1980s teenpics and helping me out with big words. Thank you internet, without you I wouldn’t feel like this:

Anthony Michael Hall gif

High Fidelity Barry gif

Saved by the bell dance gif

Clerks gif

bush dance gif

Sarah Palin gif

hitler dancing gif

dancing cat gif

family guy dance gif

gif3

Over half of these gifs are actually related to my thesis. Do I get double points for that?

 

 

 

 

** Andrea Presents ** "Say Anything"

 

Alice in Wonderland (1903)

Yesterday I came across this 1903 version of Alice in Wonderland and I find it truly fascinating. I have to admit that I don’t watch many silent films because I mostly find them boring and have to watch them in several sittings (if any of my professors are reading this, I’m sorry, but it’s true), but when I do I am always blown away by how quickly the conventions of narrative film evolved and how so many techniques used to tell a story through moving images have remained in use for an entire century regardless of all the technological advances. I mean, my great-grandmother was a KID when this was made. Amazing.
You should give the video a go, it’ll only steal 8 minutes of your precious time.

 

 

I wouldn't mind living in The King's Speech

I know I’m a bit late here, but I had totally forgotten to post about this film. I watched The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, 2010) when it came out in my failed attempt to watch every film nominated for an Academy Award and it left me wanting a time machine (and a job in London, some money, etc.) so I could live in this house.

If you’re lucky enough to have a house to decorate (a complete luxury nowadays) and want to try this look, here are some similar wallpapers from Retrovilla and Farrow & Ball.
Retrovilla
Farrow & Ball

    Liked this? Try:

 

The Executioner (Luis García Berlanga, 1963)

 

I watched The Executioner (Luis García Berlanga, 1963) for the first time last weekend. It’s amazing how clueless I am when it comes to Spanish cinema. Set in 1960s Spain, during the last part of Franco’s dictatorship, the film shows a country that appears to be going through a metamorphoses. The executioner’s daughter, who has trouble to find a husband due to her father’s job, hooks up with a gravedigger, who has the same problem. Everything appears to be going fine in this morbid love story until they learn that, because the executioner is retiring, they are going to lose their flat. With a baby on the way, the only option left for them is to continue the family tradition in order to keep the flat, and so the gravedigger reluctantly becomes the new executioner in hopes that he will never have to kill anybody. And so the call for his first execution comes and the whole family travel to Mallorca, allowing us to see the peak of Spain’s development as a major tourist destination and the blatant contrast between the modern foreigners who holiday abroad and the bleak lives of Spanish people, who want to go abroad in search of a better life. The film successfully exposes the contradictions of Franco’s Spain and makes a statement against death penalty without losing for a second its entertaining black humour. Highly recommended.
And you know what else is great about this film? The title sequence. Please don’t miss the music that goes with it.

 

Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959)

I took Elizabeth Taylor’s death as an excuse to revisit some of her films last weekend. Some of them were mediocre at best, but this one is high up there with the great ones. Just look at this pair of ladies.

Are you more of a Katharine Hepburn person or a Liz Taylor one?
I love Elizabeth, but my heart’s definitely with Katharine.