Thursday, February 21, 2019

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

One of my favorite film experiences was years back seeing Buster Keaton's The General accompanied by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Despite enjoying this 1926 (ranked on imdb.com as the the 159th best movie of all times), it wasn't until now that I've caught Sherlock Jr. (current 172 on imdb.com, and on my list I had not yet seen).

Sherlock Jr. is a joy. Nearly a century old, the cinematic gags surrounding a projectionist who wants to be a detective who falls into a surreal dream like state to solve a mystery is pure delight.

There are special effects, stunts, and camera tricks that are simply enjoyable nearly a century later -- it's exciting in 2019, I can only imagine how exciting this might have been to original viewers.

Not to mention, this film's contemporary edit is around 45 minutes (Hollywood, how about that! It's the perfect length for a simple story chock full of effects).Glad I caught this, and you can too, tracked it down on YouTube.


Wednesday, February 06, 2019

Dangal (2016)

There's a handful of Aamir Khan films in the IMDb top 250 I haven't watched, but this recent one, Dangal, is one had been on my radar that I gravitated towards watching first. This based-on-a-true story of a father who's aspirations for his unborn children (a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in wrestling) are dashed when his family is filled with daughters instead of boys is an incredibly compelling film. In the spirit of great sports movies, the film does it all right.

My wife and I split the film experience into three sessions (at over two and half hours long), but in watching it I regretted earlier on we hadn't included our 10 year old daughter in the watching experience, but have since shared it with her as well. Our younger boys haven't watched it, because of subtitles, but otherwise would expect they'd enjoy as well. Although the heart of the film, resonates with some parental experiences, but also champions some powerful concepts. Powerful scenes include the turning point for Geeta and Babita talking to their friend who was married off at a young age, some fantastic scenes of perseverance and training (my daughter likened it to Rocky) and so many other powerful scenes from start to finish.

Glad I watched it and can cross it off the list of IMDb top 250 films I haven't seen.