A while back, there was a discussion on Broken Forum about the films of Alfred Hitchcock. After the usual talk of ranking his best films, eventually someone mentioned how Marnie is possibly the most misogynistic film he’d ever watched. When I told my wife this, she became curious and so we added this to our list of films to watch. This one stars Tippi Hedren, who is most famous for The Birds, as the titular character and Sean Connery. I believe that this is the only Hitchcock film in which Connery appears.
Koei seems like a company that makes a living making nothing but games based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I’d played both its signature strategy game as well as stuff like Nobunaga’s Ambition early in my PC-gaming career, but I’ve never actually played anything in its Dynasty Warriors series though I understand that this is where the bulk of their sales in the modern era comes from. Since a PC port of one its newest versions is now available on Steam, I thought I’d give it a shot.
Once again I must confess that not only is this the first time I’ve written about a Federico Fellini film in this blog, it’s also the first time I’ve ever watched a film by this grandmaster of cinema. At least La Strada makes for a great pick to start things off with. It received a mixed reception when it was released but over time its reputation improved until it is now widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Moreover, Fellini himself came to see this as his most representative work though directing it was an exhausting experience for him.
Utopia came to my notice as one of the most highly regarded documentaries of 2014 but after realizing who its auteur is, I’m sure that it would have gained plenty of attention in any case. It was directed and written by John Pilger, who to many of us in Southeast Asia is probably most well known for Death of a Nation. This is the 1993 documentary about East Timor that is credited with helping to end Indonesian occupation of the territory and allowing it to gain independence.
Inside Out only started showing in Malaysian theaters a couple of days ago while it’s US premiere was back in June. Since blockbusters generally try pretty hard to have near-simultaneous releases worldwide, I think this is a good indication that our local distributors don’t expect this to be a big hit on our shores. Still, this gap means that there’s been plenty of time to build up anticipation since this film is being heralded as Pixar’s return to form after several years of lackluster projects.
My wife wanted to visit Kluang last week to attend a small arts event organized by local Chinese writers and artists. In particular, she wanted to listen in on a couple of talks, the first one featuring a trio of local writers and the second one by Tan Chui Mui. I hadn’t heard of her before this but she is apparently considered one of Malaysian’s greatest rising directorial talents, especially as a woman, by dint of winning a bunch of international film awards.
Paul Thomas Anderson is today considered one of America’s great directors. He was hailed as a wunderkind in the 1990s, his reputation forged by Boogie Nights and this very film. I note that through no active effort on my part, I have now watched almost all of his feature films that are released to date, which is pretty unusual for me. The only films I’m missing are his most recent one Inherent Vice and his debut film Hard Eight.
