My mama told me 'bout days like these
As a film major, there are certain things you do to keep your passion for film alive outside of the classroom. Now, you might think that watching movies as your schoolwork is a pretty sweet deal. This is, alas, not entirely accurate. Institutionalizing a passion for film, art, math, or anything somehow inevitably destroys that passion. Maybe it's the negative association with the work involved. I don't know. That's not my point.
As a film major, there are times during which I just watch movies all day. I can't do it all the time, or I'd feel unproductive. When I lived at 705, I used to get fevers pretty bad and fairly often. When I'd get fevers on Fridays, I'd usually skip class and lie on the couch all day waiting to get better. While I was on the couch, I'd flip between IFC, Sundance, HBO, and the Encore stations looking for movies that I hadn't seen. These were the kind of days I'd live for because I was doing something I loved all day. The best thing about it was applying what I learned in my classes to what I saw. Each time my appreciation for film would grow as I learned more about film in my classes.
Today I had my first one in a long time. As you probably know, I had a really tough week last week. I had so much work, I couldn't concentrate on any one thing, and I had to turn in a lot of assignments that were half-assed just because I couldn't get around to putting all the effort I wanted into them. Yesterday I had my first free day, and I spent it shedding sobriety, watching
The Mighty Ducks and
D2: The Mighty Ducks Do America, and picking apart all of the cliches in them. I won't list them. That would be a post by itself. I
will say that
The Matrix stole a scene from them, and so did
The Sixth Sense. I won't spoil the surprise. Watch them yourselves, and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Today I went to see free movies. I woke up and ten in the morning for some reason, and I thought that would be a good time to just go ahead and start my day right. I took a shower and watched Mission to Mars. It turns out I started my day wrong after all, but after a bus ride involving an antagonistic drunk man and a superhuman bus driver, Naomi and I arrived at the Virgina Theatre no worse for the wear and ready to watch some free Asian films.
The first was
Iron Monkey. As many of you might recall, Iron Monkey was released in the States just after Crouching Tiger. To me, it looked like a blatant rip-off, even though Iron Monkey had actually been released in 1996 in other countries. The film is great. Picture a more action-packed but not as visually refined Crouching Tiger with more intense fight scenes. It's directed by Woo-Ping, a man who should need no introduction if you've been alive the past few years, and one of the stars is Donny Yen, the gentleman responsible for choreographing the sword battles in
Blade 2. This time, however, he's doing it all himself and, Wesley Snipes be damned, this man is
good. See it. Love it.
The second movie was
Blue Gate Crossing. I will say no more than: Best Date Movie Ever. It's so cute and sweet. You love every character, and you want them to love each other. Guaranteed first kiss if you take a girl to see it. Honest. The end is so bittersweet, you'll
have to hold someone on the walk out. So sweet. So true. So nostalgic. Rent it if you can find it.
After that I had an Indiana Jones drinking game. We watched
Raiders of the Lost Ark and
Last Crusade. We figured if we were going to miss a movie, it should be
Temple of Doom with The Annoying Girl and The Kid. I think we chose wisely.
Now I'm watching
Stolen Kisses as I go to sleep. This is another great date movie, and the second feature-length entry in the Adventures of Antoine Doinel. The first is
The 400 Blows. A must see if you haven't already. With that, I'm out. I won't bother with a Listening/Watching section because I think I've already got that covered. Trust me on these. You will like them, guaranteed. With that, I'm out. Have a good night.
D
