A Short Update on my Movie List

There’s this silent film called “Greed” that’s supposed to be all that and a bag of chips. It’s been on my list for ages. I don’t normally watch silent films because they’re a bit jammy and a bit clangy, but this one interested me as it’s about how a winning lottery ticket ruins the lives of those involved (this timely moral goes back to 1924). It was on TCM recently and I taped it, so I’m watching it in chunks when I go to bed. The original was NINE HOURS long, but the studio cut it down to two. Back in the day, film that was cut was recycled for the silver in it, so ‘restored’ films were few and far between. However in this case, a film afficionado made a four hour version using stills. It’s a little annoying to go from film to watching the Ken Burns effect, but I only just started the film last night, and maybe I’ll become accustomed to it. One thing that occurs to me…now that we have the technology, let’s recut all silent films so instead of watching the actors mouths move and wonder what they’re saying, and then go to a full screen board with text on it…may I recommend English subtitles? Sacrilege? Or brilliance? You decide. I’ve actually been watching DVDs with the English subtitles on, even when it’s a film in English. I find that it has three benefits:

1. You never mishear anything that’s mumbled, or when a biker goes by outside your window;
2. It’s way easier to pick up on proper names;
3. You never get too much reading.

Try it and let me know how it goes. You may be surprised. I’ve found that movies I’ve seen a few times, seeing everything in print along with it adds some new information.

Oh, and The Simpsons Movie is worth watching if you haven’t seen it. I give it a 7.79/10. And it’s playing at my fave theater – THE RIO on Broadway! Yay! They got a couple of new staff there, including a courteous and fetching Asian number in braces.

In other news, my mom is on Facebook.