Arabia and the 8th Dimension
Aug. 18th, 2009 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishDavid Lean (dir.), Lawrence of Arabia
I've not seen a movie fail the Bechdel Test this badly in a very long time. Maybe not ever. I think I saw a bunch of women cheering on the departure to Aqaba but it's hard to tell: they were wrapped head-to-toe in black and there weren't any close-up shots. And there may have been a woman or two at the opening funeral.
Also, holy crap, Alec Guinness in nigh-blackface. Did they just not have any Arabian actors available?
With that out of the way. . . it's quite an impressive film. Takes its time telling its story, doesn't compact or rush anything. Big scenic vistas (mostly of sand), lots of camels and Bedouin. Everything about this movie feels /big/, vast and ponderous. Even the characters are larger than life.
I'm not certain that everyone ought to see this movie in particular, but I think that the Epic Movie Experience is not to be sniffed at. And, well, they don't make 'em like this so much anymore.
Also, the AFI Silver's Theater 1 is one of the best theatres I can think of to see a four-hour film in.
W.D. Richter (dir.), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
This movie is awesome.
Not necessarily "good," or "worth watching," but "awesome." The eponymous hero is a brilliant neurosurgeon who's taken up particle physics and (with the help of his rock band) saves the world on occasion. And that's just the intro crawl text.
Really, it defies explication. There's a plot involving two varieties of lizard aliens that are all named John. There's a genuine mad scientist, the long-lost twin sister of Buckaroo's dead wife, and the President. ("Which President?" "The President of the United States." "Oh.") Plus John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd doing their thing, and Jeff Goldblum in a cowboy outfit that includes wooly chaps.
And I can't even say that it makes no sense. There is, sort of, usually, a thread you can follow from one point to the next. It's when you look at the big picture that it all collapses into absurdity. It's not quite so far over the top that you can't even see the top from where it is, but the top is definitely just a tiny speck in your vision.
Awesome.
I've not seen a movie fail the Bechdel Test this badly in a very long time. Maybe not ever. I think I saw a bunch of women cheering on the departure to Aqaba but it's hard to tell: they were wrapped head-to-toe in black and there weren't any close-up shots. And there may have been a woman or two at the opening funeral.
Also, holy crap, Alec Guinness in nigh-blackface. Did they just not have any Arabian actors available?
With that out of the way. . . it's quite an impressive film. Takes its time telling its story, doesn't compact or rush anything. Big scenic vistas (mostly of sand), lots of camels and Bedouin. Everything about this movie feels /big/, vast and ponderous. Even the characters are larger than life.
I'm not certain that everyone ought to see this movie in particular, but I think that the Epic Movie Experience is not to be sniffed at. And, well, they don't make 'em like this so much anymore.
Also, the AFI Silver's Theater 1 is one of the best theatres I can think of to see a four-hour film in.
W.D. Richter (dir.), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
This movie is awesome.
Not necessarily "good," or "worth watching," but "awesome." The eponymous hero is a brilliant neurosurgeon who's taken up particle physics and (with the help of his rock band) saves the world on occasion. And that's just the intro crawl text.
Really, it defies explication. There's a plot involving two varieties of lizard aliens that are all named John. There's a genuine mad scientist, the long-lost twin sister of Buckaroo's dead wife, and the President. ("Which President?" "The President of the United States." "Oh.") Plus John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd doing their thing, and Jeff Goldblum in a cowboy outfit that includes wooly chaps.
And I can't even say that it makes no sense. There is, sort of, usually, a thread you can follow from one point to the next. It's when you look at the big picture that it all collapses into absurdity. It's not quite so far over the top that you can't even see the top from where it is, but the top is definitely just a tiny speck in your vision.
Awesome.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-19 04:09 am (UTC)Banzai
Date: 2009-08-19 05:24 am (UTC)Re: Banzai
Date: 2009-08-19 02:14 pm (UTC)(My favorite bit, though, is Lord John Whorfin's speech to the Red Lectroids. "Where are we going?" "Planet X!" "When?" "Real soon!")