Movies, movies and more movies 2018

The majority of my free time is spent watching movies. In between that time I try to stay busy around the house and work on some art. It's been so hot that I don't want to chance getting out into the yard and have a heat stroke.

In the last few weeks I've seen several movies from my collection and that I found at the library.
I watched a documentary on Annie Leibovitz the famed photographer which I found very interesting. There was another on the films of Ken Russell I've watched Elgar about the composer, The Debussy Film based on the famed composer Claude Debussy and Any Given Sunday about the painter Henri Rousseau. All are quite interesting in their depiction of the subjects and the artistry. Actors portray the subjects, but in The Debussy Film is a movie within a film telling the story of the composer. They are all shot in black and white.

I have to do some research because I think there is another film maker named Ken Russell and I don't think they are the same person. (I just checked Independent Movie Data Base and it is the same person.) You know how you don't expect people to look a certain way because of the work that they put out? That's what happened here. I have three more of his documentary/movies to watch. I did complete all of the movies on the DVD.

I watched the series American Horror Story: Freak Show and I was absolutely engulfed in the season. I definitely want to watch it again before I return it to the library. It's hard for most people to see the beauty in people who are different than they are. We make assumptions without asking questions. If you watch this season you would be amazed to find out that there are actually actors who are disabled. The actors are really good and I hope to see them in something else. Even those that had never acted before are doing an incredible job.

I tried to watch Asylum, but the DVD wasn't playing properly. It seems interesting, but I have noticed I do have an issue with movies and television shows that poke fun at the catholic church sometimes.

October is the month that is dedicated to horror movies. I've been trying to see movies I've not seen before or in many years as opposed to the same movies over and over. I started at the end of September watching The Walking Dead which is a television series on AMC. I then watched A film by Alfred Hitchcock called Murder. It was filmed in black and white and it reminded me of some of his later work which I've recently scene. There's was a little of Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho all rolled into one with the theatre as the backdrop.

I watched Rosemary's Baby which I haven't seen in quite some time. I usually watch it on VHS, but the library had a copy on DVD. I always like watching the making of sections on the DVDs or Blu rays because it fills in the blanks sometimes as to why a movie is the way it is. There were a few clashes on the set between Roman Polanski and John Cassavetes since they were both directors. John also liked to ad lib and Roman likes to stick to the script. Mia Farrow was the youngest person on the set and Ruth Gordon was more of a method actress and stayed to herself. It was fun to learn that Mia Farrow and Sharon Tate were friends. The Hollywood connection was quite interesting back then. I didn't realize that Mia Farrow was getting a divorce during the filming because he really wanted her to do a film with him. But really in the entertainment business you have to be able to deal with the fact that sometimes one career is up and the other is down and the ego has to be stroked just right to make a relationship work.

28 Days Later - I don't recall when I saw my first zombie movie, but the idea of being scared is something I enjoy, but there is a thresh hold of how intense a movie can get. I don't particularly care for the horror movies that tack on jokes unless its realistic. There are certain things in real life that we may laugh at to not show that we are scared. Cillian Murphy, Naomi Harris and Christopher Eccleston star.

28 Weeks Later - Robert Carlyle stars in the sequel to the above movie which is just as exciting. The movie also stars Jeremy Renner, and Harold Perrineau. The zombies move at a faster pace which keeps you on the edge of your seat.

World War Z - starring Brad Pitt and David Morse some of this movie was filmed in New Orleans as have been many movies since Katrina. Once again the zombies move at a faster pace and seem to still have some brain matter because they are able to figure out if they stand on top of each other they can climb over the wall or any other obstacle.

Only Lover's Left Alive - This is an art film by Jim Jarmusch released in 2013, about vampires, music, science and love. It stars Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleton, Anton Yelchin, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt and Jeffrey Wright. It's a very slow moving film that allows you to really get to know the characters in my opinion.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake)- starring Jessica Biel, Johnathan Tucker and Eric Balfour

Dawn of the Dead (remake)- starring Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber,, Mehki Phifer, Michael Kelly and Ty Burrell

Halloween - The original movie by John Carpenter is a classic. And like Alfred Hitchcock John does a great job creating suspense. There's not a lot of gore and it set the bar for a new generation of film makers. The opening sequence took us to a place we never saw coming. Most horror films have a few inconsistencies, and so they try to tie those up in a sequel.
I've often had trouble with the timeline of Halloween, but it's set in a town I'm not familiar with.
I always thought perhaps the kids got out of school around 3 PM because when I was in elementary school that was the time the school bell rang to go home.
By the time Jamie Lee Curtis' character gets home from High School, the kids in the neighborhood are already trick or treating and it's still daylight. We always went out when the street lights came on.
So once it does get dark you figure it's around 6 PM pr 7 PM and they are watching scary movies on TV. The Thing is the first feature it's about two hours on television. So it would have been about 9 PM  or 9:30 PM when it went off. Then once Jamie Lee's character thinks something is wrong that takes about 30 to 40 minutes. But none of this means anything until the sequel in which we find out what time it is when Ben Trammer is killed when they mistake him for Michael Meyers. It's about 11:30 PM when that takes place.