This week marks a huge accomplishment on my film journey—I have now watched 300 movies from my list! Considering that I began in June 2017 and had only watched about 80 movies, this is quite an accomplishment. As such, this week’s post will be a catch-all for recent movies I enjoyed, all for different reasons. I’ll discuss Scream [IMC DVD 791.4361 S433 1996], Hero [IMC DVD 791.4365 H559 2004], and Stand by Me [IMC DVD 158.25 S785 2000].
Scream is a movie made for moviegoers—the movie is scattered with actor names, horror film titles, and common movie plot twists. However, there is a sense of irony that is a good balance to the amount of violence shown in the film. The film also managed to still have an interesting twist ending, even though it purposefully followed the typical horror film script. I liked that it didn’t take itself so seriously, but had a storyline that was fairly interesting, scattered with several familiar actors’ and actresses’ faces.
Hero was by far one of the best movies I have watched recently. It tells the story of a man who bested the three greatest assassins in China, who were all attempting to kill the King of Qin. The whole movie is him recounting his story to the King, so we see it all happening in real time. However, the movie is far deeper than that—it recounts the poetry and philosophy of martial arts and many of the scenes are art themselves. The use of color and music is stunning, and one can’t help but become completely immersed in his story.
Finally, my 300th movie—Stand by Me. This is a coming-of-age film that was recommended to me from our DVD display, and I ended up really enjoying it. Each of the boy characters is wrestling with something in their life and throughout the movie, we see them turn to each other for support. Yet this movie is even more, thanks to some good editing and film framing. One scene that stood out to me was when Vern is under his porch and hears two older boys talking about the dead body that they found. The viewer is shown the boys as Vern sees them, with a diamond-shaped frame from the porch latticework. The camera then switches over to a shot of Vern from outside the house, with the latticework framing his face. The similar shapes ensure a wonderful transition, and a unique framing opportunity for the shot. This film was based on a novella by Stephen King and does a wonderful job translating King’s unique writing style to the screen.
The IMC is featuring a director-specific DVD display this month, showcasing Woody Allen’s and Martin Scorsese’s films. Stop by and check it out! And as always, follow along on your own film travelogue at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/by/release/ .
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