Movies

Never judge a book by its movie. (anon.)

Yes, I know. Television is behind the yellow curtain and movies are here, behind the red one. What can I say? I get a bit fanatic about tv series but my approach to movies is somewhat different. They are all about sensual pleasure (and some about intellectual pleasure as well but hey, it would be too much of a pain to put some movie things behind the blue curtain and some here). So no cracks about cultural dualisms, ok? It's all entertainment here in the Masquerade anyway.

I used to think of movies in quite an auteur way and I can still name a few directors I respect a lot. Still, movies are more and more a group effort and the studios and producers have always had quite a say in the projects. Also, the perspective I have grown most comfortable with in my studies is more text (and less author) oriented. This affects the way I interpret movies and other media texts, even when I do it for entertainment and not for analysis (well, mostly not, for analysing isn't exactly a thing I turn on and off).

As a tribute to the listings (and, well, the contents, too) I used to have on the previous incarnations of my homepages where movies were listed by the director, I'll mention some names that are sure to raise my interest: Luis Buñuel because of his style, Tim Burton because of his imagination and aesthetics, Jane Campion because of her vision, Federico Fellini because of fantasies, Milos Forman because of strong stories, Terry Gilliam because of surreal, Alfred Hitchcock because of thrills, Peter Jackson because of his diversity and devotion, Stanley Kubrick because of his genius, David Lynch because of dreams, Auli Mantila because of the strong characters,Hayao Miyazaki for general excellence in weaving fantastical tales and images and Quentin Tarantino for his rhythm, drive and love of the art.

Naturally, I watch all sorts of crap, too. In fact, my taste in movies is quite broad. Generally I dislike the kind of movies that provoke nothing; no thought, no controversy, little room for interpretation and understanding. It bugs me if the plot is thin and/or the dialogue sucks. Depending on my mood I go for most genres, although I tend not to enjoy comedy (perhaps my sense of humour is too skewed) and for a safe choice I'd pick quality scifi.

My movies stuff

• Our DVD collection

Movie links

• IMDb is by far the movies site I most frequently visit.
• Everyone's a Critic does "practical recommendation".

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