Thursday, January 10, 2008

Being an Account of Ben and Jordan's Night at the Movies



Me and Ben went to see THERE WILL BE BLOOD tonight. And maaaaaaaannnnn........I could tell you how awesome it was and why, but why force you to read my gushing praise when there are thousands of other, vastly superior web sites out there devoted to the task? All you need to know is that right after it ended I looked a lot like this crazy Oregon fan.

(I fucking love this picture by the way. I....I just don't get it. Is he making this face because he's winning? What?)

I know that isn't descriptive enough. Let me just say that the score, done by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead fame, was amazingly apt, and that if Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't win the award for best actor from every award-giving body than I'm going to spit. You know what? just...just......just go. Leave now. If it's after midnight break into a movie theater and set up the projector. The night in jail you'll spend with Dirty Ears Bill will be worth it, trust me.

That having been said, 2007 was a really strong year for films wasn't it? I mean, I don't think anyone saw this coming, but every month delievered at least 2 or 3 (and moreso as we approached 2008) "I-gotta-see-that!" movies. Sadly I haven't seen too many myself, but my must-see list has nearly tripled in size. (If anyone wants to buy me a Netflix subscription, then please, be my guest.) I originally planned to make this post about how memorable this year will be in the cinematic history of things, but then I realized how little of this year's movies I've seen and that I'd probably just end up making an ass of myself. That having been said, based simply on hype, criticisms, praise, etc. (and what I've seen personally) I really believe that 2007 year will be considered a landmark cinema year in the future.

It's getting late, but let me wrap some things up with some random links and good time ha-ha laughs.

Maybe some of you know a comic that shows up in alternative weeklies called "Perry Bible Fellowship"? If you haven't then believe you me you are missing out. It's kinda hit and miss, but when it hits, it's damn good. Here are two of my favorites to introduce the uninitiated...

http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF222-Gamblin_Man.jpg

http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF186-Guntron_Alliance_Force.jpg


And lastly, another great sports picture:




Whoever took this picture deserves a Pulitzer. I mean...just an innocuous, random slice-of-life shot of the fans during the LSU--OSU championship game...and you get this? This fucking...perfection? I mean, what's the best part? Is it the fact that the LSU fans have the balls to just mock these guys right next to them? Is it the fact that the OSU fans are too depressed to fight back?.........No it's gotta be the faces of the two LSU fans on the right. This is probably the best example of a picture that could just never, ever, anywhere be staged. Ahhh the joys of victory......we at Maryland will have to wait a while longer to taste it, but kudos to LSU.

(Do I have to give credit for these things? Uhh....let's just say it was the AP or Reuters. Good enough.)

2 comments:

R.L. said...

The only person I can get to show any interest in There Will Be Blood is Kenny, who would go see Daniel Day-Lewis in just about anything. I'm definitely going to see it, since we both know you can't go wrong with the combination of Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson.

2007 has been a great year for movies... I've seen a lot of the ones that I'm guessing will be Oscar-bound, but I'm still catching up. A Netflix subscription is a good investment. I've got Eastern Promises, 3:10 To Yuma, and Bourne Ultimatum queued up as we speak.

Not sure where you're living these days, but seeing in that I live with Neal and he won't see something unless it's less than 90 minutes or involves Mel Gibson fighting a large-scale army, I definitely need another person to go to the movies with. I like the blog idea... keep it up.

Ben said...

This film looks better, sounds better and tastes better than anything I encountered in 2007. This film is damn near perfect.

I've been saying that "perfect" line about No Country for Old Men, and while I do think it applies to that Coen Brothers film in the sense that no scene or line is out of place, while watching it I often was thinking to myself "man, what a great shot/piece of dialogue/set piece/music." That's something that often happens to me when I'm watching a Coen Brothers film or previous P.T. Anderson films, the latter of which have been show-offy to put it mildly.

By contrast, watching TWBB was an exercise in total horror-stricken submersion. By the third act my brain had turned to so much corn chowder from the sheer force of performance by every single on- and off-screen artist involved in this film.

Only in the following days could I process it as a work of art.

Also SMALL SPOILERZ:

Jordan and I played a little "spot the reference" after seeing this. Jordan, I did not think of this then but it later struck me that the first and last shots in the film are both pretty direct references to two really affecting Kubrick film scenes.

Finally, remember that homeless guy who helped you parallel park your car outside the theater?