Tell the impressions and ideas you got from Jarrett, especially of what’s involved in making movies.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
besieged
March 2, 2012What do you think about Kinsky and Shandurai? Does their relationship involve love? In what ways are they giving people who just make mistakes or maybe just don’t know how to give? Could they have handled things better, or is the action we see perhaps the best we can hope for? In what ways is Kinsky representative of European attitudes towards the displaced people of Africa?
Top Ten of 2011
January 2, 2012Last year, I kept a log of all my fim viewings at theaters, in classes, or on TV or dvd at home. My total for the year was 115. I’ve decided now to post my personal Top Ten for the year for the first time ever. My list is naturally limited to just the films I saw, but also includes anything I saw for the first time. Thus, films from the past can make the list. See what you think and offer your responses and lists if you’d like.
Tom Slater’sTop 10 for 2011:
1. Take Shelter.
2. J. Edgar
3 True Grit (Coen Bros., 2010)
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kauffman, 1988).
5. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
6. Disgrace (Jacobs, 2009)
7. From Morning to Midnight (1920)
8. The Descendants
9. The Trip
10. The Muppet Movie
What does this all add up to? I don’t know. I’m not going speculate on trends or what these titles say about me or my viewing. I’ll just say that while some critics talk about 2011 as an average year or whatever, I think there’s a lot of great artists putting a lot of dedicated effort into their work and I really enjoyed these films and many more. Ten titles is an arbitrary limit anyhow, but it works. There’s much more I wish I could’ve seen, and if anyone happens to look at this list and wonder about any titles not present, it could just be that I didn’t have a chance to see them. If you want to talk about any titles here or not here or offer your own list, please join the conversation so we can have some fun with this and get ready for seeing a lot in 2012.
On the Six O’Clock Series
December 29, 2011On April 23, 2012, the Six O’Clock Series will be showing Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story with a special appearance by Kathy “Gidget” Kohner Zuckerman.
Watch the trailer below and please join us in April!
A Screening of “Take Shelter”
November 18, 2011On November 11th, I had the opportunity of participating in a screening of the film Take Shelter. It was a great experience and film, so I decided to share the trailer below and a brief description here.
Are you intrigued? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
in service
February 25, 2010Throughout the country, service people have been returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with tons of video footage and accompanying commentaries on their experiences. Still, few of us have an idea of what the war looks like for them. Nothing can completely capture that experience, of course, or help us feel the fears and exhilerations, joys and sorrows they feel. As a result, we go about our daily lives not caring about their sacrifices, barely even aware that fighting is going on. The reason is that this lack of attention to the wars seems to suit the purposes of the government and the major media outlets. But it doesn’t serve our interests. So we in the Pittsburgh region are very fortunate that people here have thought to collect this footage, interview the vets about what it means to them, and present it to us. Filmmaker Ralph Vituccio undertook the monumental task of editing 75 hours of raw footage into a one hour film that powerfully relates the experiences and feelings of local vets and others involved in the fighting and helping us care for them as individuals doing their best in impossible circumstances. Productions like this can help us come together, listen to each other, and find our way through this ordeal. In Service: Iraq to Pittsburgh shows the courage and wisdom of those who’ve been asked to give the most. It’s time that we listened. I hope you feel like sharing what in the film had meaning to you.
screenwriting
September 4, 2009Jason, What’s the topic or plot of your screenplay? Would you be willing to share some of your work with English classes next semester? Thanks,
Tom
