Hey, nice weekend?
We saw Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock on Sunday, which I enjoyed much more than I expected to. (I have had enough Woodstock nostalgia to last me until …well, forever.) Apparently a lot of the crowd scenes were filmed in Brattleboro, which is basically populated with Woodstock extras…so it makes sense.
Friday, we watched to Sean’s first football game, kind of discouraging because a) he didn’t play because it was varsity and b) they lost 47-0 and c) their best player got a season-ending injury on the third play. But on the bright side, as long as Sean doesn’t play, he can’t get injured, right?
We rented 2001: Space Odyssey, which I enjoyed very much, but Sean thought was kind of slow and the Ligeti music freaked him out. On a somewhat related tack, I got to page 550 of The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross’ absolutely brilliant history of 20th century classical music…I knew a lot of the composers in the early chapters and I’m getting to the point (Cage, Reich) where I recognize names again, but lots to do about the middle.
Oh yeah, and my not very positive review of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra’s 3 ran on Friday at Dusted.
Here’s a video of “Palpatine’s Dream”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I love the "clean, eerie economy" (great turn of phrase!) of Melody Mountain, but your review and that video suggest I'm in the same boat as you with the new one. Shame.
Yes, too bad, I was looking forward to it and then really didn't care for it.
Heard anything good lately?
Taking Woodstock and 2001 - good combo. How's the Alex Ross book? Is it awful because there aren't any female composers in it? It's one of my favorite books, but his chapters on Strauss and Messiaen were the best parts especially since they're favorite of mine.
I found the Ross book fascinating. I'm not bringing a lot of knowledge to it, though, so if there's stuff missing I might not catch it. I think he made an effort to include women and minorities, but there just weren't any early on.
My son's taking film this term, so we're seeing a lot of movies on the AFI list.
Good luck to your son then. Film is endlessly fascinating to me. I hope that he can see Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen. Like 2001, it begs to be seen in the theatre.
We actually saw the new 70 mm print of Lawrence of Arabia on a big screen last fall and it was amazing...one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. There were only four people at the theater, and three of them were us... it was like our own private showing. (though there's something to be said for a big crowded theater full of people, too.)
When I saw it two weeks ago, the place was crowded. It was a huge auditorium filled with college age guys with dates (!) and just as plentifully older viewers too. It was inspiringly multi-generational. It was obviously a crowd that dug the film and not just a bunch of trainspotters. Omar Sharif's entrance is certainly the best reason to see the film theatrically - I love that scene! The spectacle of it all still works well in a home viewing (imo) but the inner drama is better theatrically. I've got a lot more respect for O'Toole now after this.
That's a great scene.
It's such a wonderful, twitchy, difficult performance by O'Toole.
We went to see District 9 last night, which was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. (And also, frankly, disturbing.) I'm guessing that will turn into a cult classic at some point, if it hasn't already.
Post a Comment