Shameless Plug

Never Mind the Bats has rekindled my love affair with the writing medium typically known as the weblog, or more colloquially known simply as a “blog.” So from here on out, you better get ready for some cogency, and more importantly, coherence, in my writing. That is… as soon as I see Hot Fuzz on Friday.

Two Kubrick Films

I’d wanted to see more Stanley Kubrick movies after being enthralled with A Clockwork Orange and horrified by distant memories of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to mention Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which not only opened my eyes to Kubrick, but introduced me to Peter Sellers, one of my favorite all time actors.

The Shining was the kind of movie that scares you more after you watch it, and besides, it was more about the atmosphere and how it made the viewer feel. But as far as the horror factor goes, Nicholson was the only one who could’ve played the Jack character, he made the film what it is. None of this is really new though, this movie’s been around forever. My only thought was that it’d be a completely different movie if the music were to be changed.

Next, a classic New York film noir. The Killing, made in 1956 (the “classic” era for film noirs), is astonishing. I think of all movies from that long ago as more akin to books than a movie by today’s standards. I say this because you get dropped right into the action, not knowing who people are or what role they play until you figure it out for yourself. This movie builds suspense like none other, not nervous suspense, but of the anxious kind. The end is not what you think it’ll be, but I haven’t seen enough film noir to determine whether this is normal.