Because cluegirl is making me!

[amanuensis1]

1) Total number of films I own on DVD/video:
112 DVDs, 18 boxed set DVDs (a lot of these are TV shows, though), and there's no way I can count all the videotapes.

2) The last film I bought:
Just bought Pocahontas Tuesday. One of the lesser of the Disney Renaissance films, but still beautiful, and a great score, and worth owning.

3) The last film I watched:
Watched House of Flying Daggers yesterday! Wonderful film. As good as Hero though neither quite measure up to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

4) Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:
Let's see...not necessarily my top 5 all-time films, but on the list of favorites, and likely to make for interesting discussion: 2001, A Space Odyssey, because that's what SF should be, to me--something that explodes the way you see things; Memento, because I love creative storytelling; Duck Soup, because watching collective comic genius at work makes everything right with the world; The Company of Wolves, because retelling fairy tales is a literary pleasure for me like eating pizza is a food pleasure; Watership Down, because sometimes it IS possible to do a perfect movie adaptation of a book.

Finally, tag five people to do this meme:
fabularasa
maeglinyedi
venivincere
_hannelore
violetisblue

Comments

[fer-de-lance.livejournal.com]

Ack, ack, ack! Pocahontas? I weep. The entire movie made me weep. When I was young, I thought Pocahontas was awesome; I read all the books I could find about her. I knew the history, the places, the dates. Watching Disney butcher it into a remake of Romeo and Juliet made me weep for the children; they'll NEVER learn history if Disney is allowed to tell it. I think her name was the only accurate part of that whole (blessedly short) movie... Although I admit to liking some of the songs. Sigh. I feel as though I've betrayed every history professor I've ever had. :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead and detest Pocahontas if you will--there is much about it that is detestable. I find its worst sin is in being boring, more than for being historically inaccurate. So little actually happens, and the great climax at the end is so overblown it's annoying. Pocahontas's intervention at the execution left me cold, saying, "You know, this should all have been dealt with last bleeding night, when P. was a witness to the death not being Smith's fault, hello?"

I'm bothered by the pains the animators took to show all the Native Americans as noble and handsome and solemn in such a way that it made them all a superficial stereotype, you know? None of them had depth the way the British were allowed to have depth, by being brave, cowardly, good, greedy, ignorant, in all its variety.

Grandmother Willow wouldn't be so bad except her introduction comes during that stupid "Pocahontas has had a dream that we must show to be PROFOUND," scene. God, I hate that scene.

And why is the sun rising in the north, that fateful morning?

Strangely, I find myself defending Pocahontas for being a beautiful film, when I would usually say--as I have about AotC, for example--that that's not enough, never enough excuse for not having a plot. But there's something about the way that the silent, beautiful moments are meant to tell part of the story--tell a lot of the plot better than the script does. Such as the moment Smith first sees P. on that rock. And how they look at each other. And how you feel what they're thinking without a word being said. And the score is wonderful--not the songs as much as the score, though Colors of the Wind in its original non-pop-tune version is one of the best songs ever written for a Disney film. In fact, I remember seeing the preview for Pocahontas on the Lion King video release (it was Lion King, right?), and the preview consisted of the entire CotW sequence, and I remember how blown away all of us were. Oh, if Pocahontas could have measured up to that one sequence in its entirety, it'd have been one of the most amazing films. Sigh.

I think her name was the only accurate part of that whole (blessedly short) movie
And, of course, "Pocahontas" isn't even her name; it's her nickname! I think the early version of the script did try to preserve that (I read it somewhere), but it got cut. Oh, well.

[fer-de-lance.livejournal.com]

Yes, the whole, "It is NOT JUST a dream! It is MEANINGFUL! It is IMPORTANT! I hope you're paying attention to this dream because it is a SIGNIFICANT DREAM!" was a bit much. But then, I've run into far, *far* too many 'profound dreams' in plots ranging from pro novels to HP/SS smut that I think I'm just burnt out on them in general. ((laughs))

It is a lovely film in many ways; I liked the animation, just because it seemed subtly different than the Disney average. And the JS-meets-P on the rock scene was nice, at least until she answered his question asked in English. I suppose it's a natural enough guess, that a total stranger would want to know your name, but something about it just sort of made me giggle. Until they spoke, though, it was really an amazing scene.

Oh, yes! Until you mentioned it, I'd quite forgotten the COTW sequence! If only the entire movie could have lived up to it. Hmm, now I have the urge to listen to that song again. :D (Definitely the non-pop version.)

Yes, the noble-handsome-stolid characterisation was, well, heavy. On the other hand, it makes a change, at least, from characters emoting all over the screen... Would have been nice to have at least a token "bad guy" on the Native Americans' side, though. It makes me think of Pratchett's Jingo, the conversation between Vimes and the Klatchian copper-equivalent.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

One of the things I like best about that movie, tongue-in-cheek a little here: it always provokes in-depth, thoughtful discussions on "what was wrong with that film and where it could have been better." In a non-frothing-at-the-mouth manner.

The understanding-English: you know, I'm okay with that because they set it up so carefully. They put a supernatural element into the film so that P. would know what to do, how to "access the magic" when the moment came for her to become the bridge between the two cultures. I can certainly agree that things were handled more cleanly in Tarzan, where Tarzan learns English because he's taught it, over time, but in Pocahontas, they wanted to force a shortcut. For choosing a shortcut, it wasn't too badly executed.

[djin7.livejournal.com]

OMG.
Watership Down is a friggin classic! Damn, girl. I've only just re-read the book recently, and I watch that movie so often my friends make fun of me for it.

I guess I'm not alone.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

No, it's an amazing adaptation! Score, cast, script, the very adult nature of the violence...I adore it. Both it and the book make me cry, every time.

[satanbaker.livejournal.com]

*points at Pocahontas* I remember when I like.. worshipped at that movie.

And me and my sister had a strange thought process about a like... live-action version of Watership Down filmed kind of like Dogtown. Heath Ledger would be Bigwig.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

(See above for my more intricate thoughts on all that was good and bad in Pocahontas.)

Oh, lord, now you're going to have me trying to cast a live-action WD myself. Heath Ledger's too young for Bigwig in my mind. I could see him as Strawberry.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

House of Flying Daggers was quite a fun ride.

I've been tagged! I suppose between this and the music meme, I'd best do it...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, do! I want to see!

[lilka.livejournal.com]

I envy you so much for owning Company of Wolves. I love that film, and I can't find it on Region 2 DVD anywhere...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And I'm pretty clueless about DVD regions. Don't some computers, the first time you insert a DVD, ask which region you want to make it? And they'll let you rename it a few times if you change your mind?

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

House of Flying Daggers - oh, I so want to see that film! But the DVD hasn't been released here yet (I asked for it at the video store just a couple of days ago), and I somehow missed it when it came to the theaters. I absolutely love CTHD and Hero.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

If you like those, you're sure to love HoFD! Do check it out!

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

Watership Down, because sometimes it IS possible to do a perfect movie adaptation of a book.

I <3 you so! The best part about the movie, I think, are the voices. They are so absolutely perfect, like. So. Perfect. Every rabbit. Eeeee! *fangirl dissolving*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*tries not to do embarassing, wet-self dance over presence of GG after soooo long, partly suceeds*

*bowls you over running* HI, SWEETIE!! *gives big wet kisses* How are you?? God, yes, Watership Down's voices are utterly perfect. Bigwig's all macho, Hazel all leaderly, Fiver timid... Woundwort is one of my favorite bad-asses in film!! "Embleer Frith! I'll blind him; I'll BLIND him!" *dies eeping*

[fabularasa.livejournal.com]

Whoops, missed my tag!

I will get busy.

Isn't House of Flying Daggers cool? I swooned over the fabrics. And the greens! God, all the greens.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Every action sequence I liked better than the last. Though it was hard to top the Echo Game at the beginning.

(And you get the Steven icon just because.)