/fılm/ n. a. a film strip containing an ordered set of pictures or photographs of objects in motion projected onto a screen so rapidly as to give the appearance that the objects or actors are moving. b. a story, event, etc., recorded in such a way and shown in a cinema, on television or video, etc. c. films in general. d. the creative art of film-making.
The other day, I watched a DVD at my sister’s house. It was a French film called Mon Oncle (“My Uncle”). This was the latest in a series of movies we’ve seen over recent months, and, to his credit, my brother-in-law Doug has done a pretty good job of recommending films which have been right up my alley.
(Ironically,) Mon Oncle was recommended by Doug’s uncle, and so what I’m about to say shouldn’t really count against Doug’s excellent record: We didn’t enjoy it. In fact, we didn’t even finish watching it — after sitting through the first hour and realising there was another hour to go, we decided to switch it off.
This incident in itself wasn’t enough to prompt me to revive my dusty, cobwebbed blog. Today, however, I did read the Wikipedia article on Mon Oncle, and I’ve pasted the link here, in case you want to read it yourself. If you’re not so keen on navigating between pages, let me summarise by saying this film has received praise for its criticism of clean, modernist (but inconvenient) 1950s French living, and the sacrifice of family and relationships for the sake of “keeping up appearances”. I guess I can see the elements of that in the part of the film we saw … but it was so buried in drawn-out pantomime and inane activity that the impact was lost on me (Not to mention the annoying “buzz” of every mechanised appliance in the house from the oven timer to the phone to the automatic gate opener … and that damn fish fountain!). Since I figured my frustrated ravings probably wouldn’t last long on a “respectable” site like Wikipedia, I decided I’d become my own movie critic. I like to think I know a little about what makes a good or a bad movie, and with my eclectic tastes I thought it’d be nice to share a little about why I like what I like.
So, over the next few weeks (and in completely random order; I shuffled the movie titles around in a bag and pulled them out one by one!) I’ll try and promote some of my favourite movies, explaining why I like them. Perhaps you’ll disagree with me completely on any number of these. If that’s the case, add a comment and let me know what you think, or send me an e-mail — I’m always keen to hear others’ opinions. On the other hand, maybe you’ll watch one or two of these gems, and perhaps add them to your own “favourites” list.
Cheers,
Andy
The other day, I watched a DVD at my sister’s house. It was a French film called Mon Oncle (“My Uncle”). This was the latest in a series of movies we’ve seen over recent months, and, to his credit, my brother-in-law Doug has done a pretty good job of recommending films which have been right up my alley.(Ironically,) Mon Oncle was recommended by Doug’s uncle, and so what I’m about to say shouldn’t really count against Doug’s excellent record: We didn’t enjoy it. In fact, we didn’t even finish watching it — after sitting through the first hour and realising there was another hour to go, we decided to switch it off.
This incident in itself wasn’t enough to prompt me to revive my dusty, cobwebbed blog. Today, however, I did read the Wikipedia article on Mon Oncle, and I’ve pasted the link here, in case you want to read it yourself. If you’re not so keen on navigating between pages, let me summarise by saying this film has received praise for its criticism of clean, modernist (but inconvenient) 1950s French living, and the sacrifice of family and relationships for the sake of “keeping up appearances”. I guess I can see the elements of that in the part of the film we saw … but it was so buried in drawn-out pantomime and inane activity that the impact was lost on me (Not to mention the annoying “buzz” of every mechanised appliance in the house from the oven timer to the phone to the automatic gate opener … and that damn fish fountain!). Since I figured my frustrated ravings probably wouldn’t last long on a “respectable” site like Wikipedia, I decided I’d become my own movie critic. I like to think I know a little about what makes a good or a bad movie, and with my eclectic tastes I thought it’d be nice to share a little about why I like what I like.
So, over the next few weeks (and in completely random order; I shuffled the movie titles around in a bag and pulled them out one by one!) I’ll try and promote some of my favourite movies, explaining why I like them. Perhaps you’ll disagree with me completely on any number of these. If that’s the case, add a comment and let me know what you think, or send me an e-mail — I’m always keen to hear others’ opinions. On the other hand, maybe you’ll watch one or two of these gems, and perhaps add them to your own “favourites” list.
Cheers,
Andy
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