I haven't seen any of the Oscar nominated films this year. I thought Sideways was quite good, so I'll probably end up watching The Descendants at some point, if I find a used dvd, and I'm a bit curious about Midnight in Paris. In the meantime I'm mostly re-watching 70s movies these days, one of them being Three Days of The Condor. CIA researcher Robert Redford finds his co-workers dead and goes on the run, not certain who he can trust. Also starring Faye Dunaway and Max Von Sydow, directed by Sydney Pollack.Ah, the paranoia thrillers of the seventies. This film is maybe one of the more commercial ones, but it's still good. It has a small connection to comics since Dick Tracy is namedropped. The setup with the dead co-workers was later ripped off in a season of 24. I loved the little detail of Redford removing the smoldering cigarette from the dead body. There's some nifty spy stuff involving a telephone, the computer stuff is maybe slightly dated. There's a fight scene where you can actually see what is happening. Redford is good, but his hair is always annoyingly perfect (that goes for pretty much all his films) . He's on the run, without a hair conditioner, for chrissake! And hey, Max Von Sydow! What's a tall Swede to do in Hollywood? Play bad guys, of course.
I think you might enjoy Midnight in Paris. And you don't get too hung up on the magical time travel stuff. :-)
ReplyDelete"There's a fight scene where you can actually see what is happening." That's how you know it's an old movie..!
ReplyDeleteMidnight in Paris is actually similar to some of your work, insofar as it's like a high concept short story or novella. Similar to some other Woody Allen films, too (The Purple Rose of Cairo, Alice, etc.), as well as stuff like The Last Musketeer, I Killed Adolf Hitler, etc.
I think you might find The Artist charming as well, and I expect you'd be especially interested in it as a throwback silent film. Really smart visual storytelling in there, and some great gags.
Michael Avolio