Today’s post will be a lot briefer because I’m resting my wrist

The Sweet Smell of Success

Directed by Alexander Mackendrik, Written by Ernst Lehman, and Clifford Odets

Film

I appear to be on a bit of a Burt Lancaster kick recently, with The Killers and The Leopard both under my belt within about the last month. In this he plays one of the slimiest(this is alledgedly the correct spelling but I have my doubts) characters I’ve seen, a press agent willing to do just about anything to stay in the good graces of his columist associates. The world of “journalists” and those under their thrall is cut-throat, their influence distancing them from consequences and giving them impunity to act out. Repeatedly rules are bent and laws are broken before they even have to provide veiled threats, and Sidney(Burt’s character) is right in the thick of things. It would be a crime to not mention the razor sharp dialogue that makes the best films of this era stand out so much. This movie rules.

I’m not sure if I’m reading into it too much but in my mind this almost reads a proto-feministic film, bringing up explicitly the male characters viewing their female counterparts as mere objects to be fought over or acted upon. I’m sure this basic reading could be extended by anyone actually well versed in the theory, but since I am not I wont elaborate. It’s kind of redundant to expound on the thematic contents because anyone who doesn’t have a good idea what its saying past reading my shitty rundown earlier or from reading the like imdb tagline will probably not get it. Sometimes you want subtle stuff, and sometimes you wanna watch technically not illegal manipulative toying with people’s lives you know.

I should really stop running into bangers so often, people are going to think I’m going soft from giving out all these 10/10s. I should go on a rant about the fact that since I mostly watch films that I think I’m going like, my scores are shifted upwards from the distribution they “should” have, and the unspoken assumption that that distribution should be roughly normal. Grrr.

Teleglitch: Die More Edition

Test 3 Projects

Video Game

Fun, hard, great + unique visual presentation, surprisingly interesting concepts gestured at, and controlled well. Idk what to say this was great to play for today but probably not gonna return to it due to overwhelming quantity of things I need to play.

Hellboy: The Island, Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea

Written by Mike Mignola, Into the Silent Sea co-written and then drawn by Gary Gianni

Comic Book One-Shots

Finishing off the second Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places, we have two so-so shorts of the end of the hellboy mythos I don’t care for. Unexplained things just kinda happen and resolve themselves here in a way I can’t remember happening prior and hopefully isn’t a sign of what’s to come. That being said it is contextually justified, and maybe it just hit me the wrong way. Guest art was very striking and Mignola’s work as always ruled. The coloring is so good that I probably should be crediting the colorist because he almost defines Hellboy as a strip than the inks or writing.

Modern Times

Written and Directed by Charlie Chaplain

Film

I don’t often bring it up but I’m a huge fan of silent comedies like Chaplain and his contemporaries – special fondness for Harold Lloyd and of course Buster Keaton. This was probably the largest glaring ommision from my viewings and it was great stuff. Full of imaginative and hilarious situations while remaining fresh, with the exception of a few gags that go on too long, I can’t really say anything new about this film, the factory scenes are consistently the best but there is a great mix throughout. It isn’t my favorite Chaplain, probably City Lights is my pick and I haven’t seen the Great Dictator, but this was definitely a worthy send off to the beloved Tramp.

PS: Inam walks like Chaplain, do with this information what thou whilst

Still working on The Book Thief, but less so due to my wrist being kind of funky. Funny to say “resting my wrist” and then write those chunky boys above, but I’m nothing if not a contraditction.

I keep saying I should write about X or Y, but I think I might actually look into doing something on silent comedies at some point – we’ll see if that ever comes to pass.