i like movies becuase they can make you feel things you didn't think you could.

because while he's a nazi that killed 350+ men..

you still ache for fredrich zoller.

because while he lied to her about his wife..

you still are hurt when david (an education) drives off.

direction.. for i see a fork ahead.. but can straight between be the answer?

looking again and again and reading steven's blog. it's not just of a different calaber, it's a different direction. a direction of intellectualism and detail beyond the wisps of thoughts in my head.

hmm.. direction. a nemisis of mine. for i've learned in many-a english assignments that i have no skill whatsoever of direction, i cannot for the life of me write a story that actually progresses. i can tell the moment, a make you feel that moment. but that can only take you so far.

but anyways, back to my direction.

the direction towards steven, towards critics, towards academia.

i just dont know.

i dont think i want that. i want to embrace my movies, to call them by name in times of crisis. i want to shamelessly watch and enjoy movies, movies like aquamarine and sky high. i said it, i like them. no matter how bad, cheesy, and plain stupid they may be, they are still escapes, still worlds to explore. still calling my name.

i want to watch quality movies... and my share of dcoms. and not feel like im lacking of taste, ya no?

and the directions towards exclamation points, and emotions, and excerps, thats where i feel i belong. relating me, my take, my thoughts. my memories with them, my experences.

maybe it's my age, or maybe it's my internal rays of sunlight, that tend to burst out and take restraint to hold back. i don't want to slash films, this, i know, i know. i dont want to tair down works, i don't have to heart for that.

maybe what i'm feeling is the emotional side of it. i want to praise the angles and writing and the message along with the hot actors, cheesey quips, and predictable happy endings.

the merit, AND the joy.

i do not want to loss the joy.

is that possible?

i want to praise my cheesey low-budget musicals, that i found for the actors but kept for the love. i want to frolick in the wonderful mush, however predictable it may be.

but, i want meanings tooo. i want insights to life, through film.

i want. both.

harold and maude

as i pulled the dvd from the netflix sleeve, i exhaled.

"ok, im really gonna watch this, strange, strange sounding movie. an 20 year old that falls in love with a 80 year old? um.. gross. and i have to wake up early tom.. well, okay i'll start it. it must be a little good, people seem to like it.."

oh harold and maude.

with that introduction i've probably scared a lot of you off...

well, im as shocked as you are when i say i loved this movie. it was so cute.

first off, with a score written and performed all by cat stevens, how could it be that bad right? i personally think that was a wonderful choice, i love when one band or musician does all the music. it really sets the tone for the movie. like in the graduate, it's so great.

anyways.. side tracking myself.

harold and maude. right.

harold is this strange little death obsessed baby-faced boy, with this totally oblivious mom. he fakes his death multiple times, and when asked what he does for fun, he says he goes to funerals. at said funerals he meets this older lady named maude who is quirky and poetic and such a fun character. she basically does whatever she wants, an offbeat little flower child :) together, they make a bizarre team and very strong bond. she shows him how to live, how to love.

oh.. i love this movie. i wanna be maude when i'm eighty. she's so fun, and so full of life.

the scene when they are picking flowers, i this is one of the most beautiful things i've ever scene. i just wanted to melt.

Maude: I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They're so tall and simple. What flower would you like to be?
Harold: I don't know. One of these, maybe.
Maude: Why do you say that?
Harold: Because they're all alike.
Maude: Oooh, but they're *not*. Look. See, some are smaller, some are fatter, some grow to the left, some to the right, some even have lost some petals. All *kinds* of observable differences. You see, Harold, I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are *this*,
[she points to a daisy]
Maude: yet allow themselves be treated as *that*.
[she gestures to a field of daisies]

harold's mom is so horrid. ick. i love that he just keeps killing himself, and she doesn't even 2x take anymore.. its so crazy.

well, im tired. as u can probably tell from my fragmented chains of thought. i might write more later when im more conscious, but, idk.

this is just wat comes to mind.

the last lines of harold and maude, are so, just, beyond amazing.

harold: i love you. i love you!

muade: oh harold. thats wonderful. go and love some more.

get ready, for i fear an obsession is about to resurface.. :D

for my birthday, one present i got from my friend alison was a 3-dvd box set of leo dicarpio movies.. something any teenage girl would be quite happy with :) one of the movies was man in the iron mask, and as i flipped the box over to discover this, i let out a reminisful (i know its not a word, wateve) sigh and i could see the camera screen of my life beginning to fade out for a flashback.

this movie, i watched over and over and over again when i was a tough little grade school tomboy. i was (and still is) completely and udderly smitten with the heroes and damsels, the swords and the long hair, the white puffy shirts and the planet sized bustles, the noblemen and the kings. i love all of that.. so so much. it's addicting, it's transporting, it's magical.

man in the iron mask picks up about twenty or thirty years after the story of The Three Musketeers (another old obsession of mine). it is 1662 in Paris, France, in the court of Louis the 14th, who just happens to be leo dicaprio.

jeremy irons, gerard depardieu, and john malkovich are our famous three musketeers, just a little more aged, but this aging seems to be of the same effect as vintaged wine, for to me they seem to have become all the better. they all are still themselves, with the same quirks and personas, still causing drama and mayhem in the castle of the king :)

i watched this movie three nights ago, thus reopening a previous closed chapter of my life. inviting back all those fabulous heroes, who still, ten years later, manage to make me swoon. i'm not sure if this was in fact a smart movie on my part, for i fear an old obsession starting to resurface. this movie has been on my mind and on my heart almost constantly from that night, and i know myself, and know i will be watching it again tonight.. :D

so goodbye for now, and

'all for one! and one for all!'

ransom

ransom, along with AI and the biggest loser, is something i suggest you watch alone. that way, you can get as emotional as you want without being self-conscious :)

the other morning, i was home alone for a few hours because my brother had a swim meet i choose to skip. i pulled up ransom from my tivo bar, a place it's been waiting for a quite a while, and pressed play.

quick summary to getcha up to speeed:

ransom is a ron howard movie about a little boy who gets kidnapped and is held from his parents (mel gibson and renee russo) at a 2 million dollar ransom. the boy's father jumps through hoop after hoop for the kidnappers, until coming to the conclusion that they will never give up his son, money or not. so, instead, he takes the 2 million and turning the table, using it as a public bounty on the heads of the kipnappers.

bn: even if the technical merit of the movie wasn't up to par, i think this plot alone is enough to keep you interested.

now, im not saying he's up there with hans landa, but gary sinise makes a fabulous baddie. i just loved him in this movie. he's the mastermind of the kidnapping, and the only one without scees

hints of humanity. (as opposed to his softhearted acomplice who you just ake for; i have no idea why he's in on this kidnapping.. he's the one telling the kid bad jokes and buying his frankenberries :P ) i love his whole thing about the time machine (which im reading in english right now) and beyond all the technical things, he's just fun to watch :)

movie club episode unus

i heard on the announcements that today was movie club, something i've wanted to be in for a while, so i chose to try it out. after bringing it up multiple times without any bites, i decided to venture there alone. i turned down that back math hallway, the creepy one with the old lockers and the occasional tumbleweed, and just kinda loitered around for a bit. when i first got there, there were two people, including the teacher. finally, these two guys came, and we all walked in together. i had some friends :)

so for movie club this year, we want to watch all these famous comedies. so, the teacher printed out AFI's 100 funniest american movies. the plan is to go through some of the key ones on the list (only the school aproppriate ones, which generorously diminishes the total) we starting at the 20s, and making our way to now, two movies and 1 decade a month.

today we watched, the navigator, a 1924 silent black & white staring buster keaton. it was relatively cute, moderately predictable, and supplied more frequent chuckles than i would have ever expected in a room with 6 or 7 high schoolers. will it be less awkward round duos? will anyone show up again?? tune in next time to find out!

septem pontus pro septem frater

seven brides for seven brothers. my great love. pop it in and life seems.. great. just fine, or rather, just dandy. it's my number 1, all time, super duper, desert island choice, forever and always ultimate pick. its... its... wonderful. it's cheesy, it's silly, it's down right ridiculous. but, it's mine, and i think it's fantastic.

today is my third day home from school, out with a sinus infection. i feel gross, and all i really want to do is watch milly make gentlemen out of those pontipee brothers :) it's hard to pinpoint exactly why this movie touches me so much, and so frequently. i could watch it everyday and still love it.

ahh i wish a pontipee brother would kidnap me...

thats horrible isn't it? well, i dont know. but, it's true so whatever.

adam, benjamin, caleb, daniel, ephraim, frank and gideon. frank's my favorite, with gideon as a close second. my mom thinks benjamin's the best... she's a crazy lady :P

this movie starts with adam pontipee, the elder brother, who goes into town one day set on finding a wife, and, indeed he does. he returns home a few hours later to his farm w/ his 6 brothers, along with the wife he met earlier that day. well, i'm not telling anymore, but with a beginning like that its gotta be good, haha.

seven brides for seven brothers (oregon territory 1850) glossary:

viddles - food

lick me - beat me up

chicken-hearted lick spittles - cowards (haha, prob my fav line in the flick..)

slumachy - dirty

bread basket - stomach

jackadandies - proper gentlemen