State Theater: February 2016

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Grand Prix

I was thinking about watching and writing about every movie I can find that has an intermission, but after watching Grand Prix (1966) via DVD, I decided that I really only want to do this if I can get a chance to see the movies at a theater. And particularly if the movie is widescreen, and otherwise really benefits from a big screen and a theater around it.

But seeing how I watched this movie and have some stills that are interesting, I'm going to briefly consider it here. Directed by John Frankenheimer, Grand Prix came out in 1966. That's when I saw it at a theater, though I don't recall at that time if it started with an overture. I do remember the title credits and opening, which is as spectacular as any movie I can think of, with a combination of documentary style and split screen, multiple screens, and then seriously loud engine noises leading up to the the Grand Prix of Monaco.

Within minutes we get the background for the whole movie, the backgrounds for the characters—at least the drivers—and it happens as we watch the race—which is to this day my favorite auto racing depiction in a movie. On-board cameras, aerial shots, great editing—besides being exhilarating, it's easy to know exactly what is going on—leading up to a tragic accident that is truly horrifying.

The movie then follows the drivers through a Formula One season, with interconnecting dramas, intrigue, and romance. Unfortunately, it's all a bit overwrought and over-explained, and you're eventually just hoping for more action like the first scene. Not crashes, death, and destruction, necessarily, but the conciseness. But it's not concise. It is, I'm afraid, in some parts, boring.

As a side note, I have a vinyl copy of the soundtrack album which is pretty easy to find; they must have made a ton of them. It opens up, has a page inside with a lot of interesting notes and great pictures. Unfortunately, the score itself is pretty uninspired, particularly the main theme. I can't listen to it.

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Welcome to the State Theater

State Theater is a journal of writing about various movies that I have remembered, seen recently, watched again, reconsidered. In some cases, movies that I am obsessed with. In some cases, movies that have let me down. In some cases, movies that I have rediscovered. In some cases, movies that cannot be currently located.

I am also working on various lists, such as my 2012 list of my 100 Favorite Movies of All Time.

The old State Theatre, in Sandusky, Ohio, was one of the most important places to me while growing up.

Air France

100 Favorite Movies of All Time: Introduction

In 2012 I made this "100 favorite movies" list just for myself just to see what I'd come up with, but it kind of became obsessive and more work than I'd imagined, so I thought I'd share it here, just for fun, but also so a reader might see where I'm coming from. So here's a few disclaimers and rules I made for myself.

I decided not to include movies I worked on or made by anyone I remotely know. Also, these are generally "feature" length films, both dramatic and documentary. I made the decision to exclude the silent film era, just because, to me, the difference between sound and silent films is so profound, it seems like an entirely different discussion. I love a lot of the silent films I've seen, but have also seen too few. Anyway, excluding them altogether just seemed to simplify things.

The 1930s is often considered the greatest decade for of the cinema, and I know I've often felt in agreement with that, but making this list I realized I had excluded that decade completely, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because my list is more about "favorites," it seems to be weighted toward the contemporary. Also, I have tended to try to not go too heavily with one director and spread the wealth around a little, even though I do have my favorites!

Most of all, this is a very personal, "favorite" movies list, and not what feel should be considered the "greatest" or "most important" films—there are plenty of those lists out there, and sometimes they just make me tired. This list could almost be considered "guilty pleasures," though there is nothing guilty about it. The order, too, of course is something that could easily change from day to day, as would the list itself, but for now (as of 2012) I have picked this one, these films, put them in order, and I am living with it for awhile. Hopefully it's interesting, maddening, laughable, and fun.

#63 - THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES

The first film I ever saw by Abbas Kiarostami, Through the Olive Trees (1994) affected me in a subtle and unexpected way and still has a mythical place in my mind. Its use of low-key, mundane action and dialogue, and vast landscapes, ultimately has a hypnotic quality. Part of the unofficial “Koker Trilogy” - if you watch it in conjunction with Where Is the Friend’s House (1987) and Life, and Nothing More… (1992) - it has an even greater impact because of the ways the three films fit together with shifting, alternate points of view.

#68 - SALAAM CINEMA

#71 - SHAMPOO

#73 - LA CIENAGA

#75 - DO THE RIGHT THING

On paper it sounds like a drag, but Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989)—about the tragic death of a young man, at the hands of the police, which leads to a riot, told over the hottest day of summer in Brooklyn—is equal parts sadness and joy when you actually watch it. That's because love ultimately overcomes hate, and the love is that of Spike Lee, for his characters, the art of filmmaking, and people in general. If all difficult questions were approached this way, we (people) might get somewhere.