Thursday, February 28, 2013

David Fincher

Top 5 Fincher films

1. Seven
2. Zodiac
3. Social Network
4. Fight Club
5. Panic Room

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Books bought in Bologna

1. Come Le Strisce Che Lasciano Gli Aeri by Vasco Brondi and Andrea Bruno
2. Lezioni di Anatomia by Nicolo Pellizzon

Unfortunately, I don't read Italian, but they're worth having just for the drawings.

Colour inks 2

Monday, February 25, 2013

Wise man 2

-Honorable wise man! - I am rich, I have a swimming pool and a house in the country, yet I am unhappy. Life has no meaning. -What should I do? -You must run from your materialistic shadow, let your soul break your imprisoned hourglass... -Throw away all your earthly possessions, and step into the light as a naked, newborn baby. -Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?! -Yahoo! Free at last! -Need to shorten the sleeves a bit...

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wise man, old strip

Somewhere in the Himalayas... -Honorable wise man! -I've travelled a long distance to know the answer of a question that has been on my mind a long time... -What is the meaning of life? -The Meaning of Life? Isn't that a Monty Python film?

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Parallax View

Warren Beatty investigates the assassination of a senator. Then witnesses start dying. Directed by Alan J. Pakula.

Another conspiracy thriller from the 70s, with cinematography by Gordon Willis, so there are the same deep, black shadows as in The Godfather. This was back in the days when they made movies for adults - you actually have to pay attention, or you're lost. There is a car chase and explosions, like in cinema today, but it's not the only thing going on. There is a creepy and tension filled ending that refuses to give any easy answers. And hey, there's even a glimpse of Jack Kirby's Thor!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Serge Clerc

A Serge Clerc website: http://www.memoiresdelespion.blogspot.ca/

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Jonathan

I'm re-reading my Jonathan albums by Swiss cartoonist Cosey, bought in the early eighties, and also Voyage en Italie that was published as In Search of Shirley in English.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Minority Saddles

Minority Report:
It's an uneven Steven Spielberg film. The car factory scene, with Tom Cruise in the end escaping in a brand new car is a fun sequence and Spielberg at his best. At the same time, it seems he's afraid that the film is too dark, so he puts in some groaninducing attempts at humour. To give the film a noir look, the colours have been bleached, and it works sometimes, but looks really ugly other places, like in the hothouse scene. And he can't help but give the film a happy ending, where actually, Cruise locked up, dreaming about his lost son, would have been the perfect way to end it.

Blazing Saddles:
A 70s parody of 50s Westerns, it's slightly dated, the comedy is sometimes a bit too broad, but it's still a fun film. I wish I had seen it when I was twelve. I'm sure I would have found it hilarious and my mind would have been blown away by the ending. It's rather Monty Python and The Holy Grail, at age twenty, that had that honor.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

One-Eyed Jacks

Marlon Brando has spent five years in prison and wants revenge on his ex bankrobbing partner Karl Malden who has become a sheriff. Also starring usual Western suspects Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens, directed by Marlon Brando.

From the opening shot of this film, Marlon Brando eating a banana, you know it's not going to be a typical Western. The story takes mostly place in Monterey, California, so you will have images of Brando practicing his gun drawing with the waves of the Pacific crashing in the background. I find this film a lot more interesting than Django Unchained. For one thing, there is more ambiguity, with no easy separation between the bad guy and the good guy. Both Brando and Malden have sympathetic qualities, leading up to a climax that is truly unpredictable. There is also the great, natural performance of Pina Pellicer as Malden's stepdaughter that Brando falls in love with. It's a slow and moody film, a small masterpiece, I'd say, so it's a shame the picture quality on my dvd is really weak; there should be a remastered version of this film.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Films of 2012

It seems like I saw eight films from last year, some in the cinema, some on dvd. In order of preference:

1. Moonrise Kingdom
2. Holy Motors
3. Looper
4. Dark Knight Rises
5. Django Unchained
6. Cabin in the Woods
7. Prometheus
8. The Avengers

Which means I haven't seen Argo, Amour or Lincoln, and so on. Holy Motors was a strange film. I think even David Lynch would say, Gee, that was a weird film. It's about madness, beauty, death and cinema. I guess. That we're all actors? Maybe. It has no rules. It's a film to experience if not to understand, so I should probably have seen it on a screen and not on my tv.

Seventh Seal Sketch