Yesterday, I watched a movie for the first time in ages. I honestly don't even remember the last film that I watched. It has been a while...
In fact, if I check my Letterboxd history, I haven't watched a movie in 3 months!
https://letterboxd.com/vinfilm/films/diary/
I just went to my MUBI 'Viewing History' and discovered I have only watched some fragments of movies since Early March. Am I going crazy? As a guy who studied film ( 2000 to 2007 ) - who is a filmmaker at times - three months without watching an entire movie is pretty exceptional. Those of you who have followed my blog ( and life ) will know the reason though: camping life and the renovation of my house are the main culprits.
Now I think of it, I believe I have seen Disney's 1940 Pinocchio, with my twin sister, nephew and 3 year old niece ( who left the room to play in the garden, after an hour or so ). My sister and I found out that the whole scene where Pinocchio's nose is growing ( when he lies ) wasn't in there. Not sure if it was cut out, or if we confuse it with a couple of pages in a children's book.
We watched the film on watchcartoononline so it wouldn't surprise me if this was a shorter version of the original.
I just double checked and it seems to be the same length as the original. If anyone who reads this can tell me if the nose-growing scene is in the movie, please let me know in the comments. Memories can be deceiving :>)
Now Back to Yesterday Night...
After about 110 days ( the 10th of February ), I was finally able to spend the night in my house again. A place that now can proudly be called 'home', or house 2.0.
In the night, I felt like watching a movie.
I visited MUBI.com and discovered that there were a couple of hours left to watch John Carpenter's They Live ( 1988 ), a film I had enjoyed in the past.
I remembered very little of this film. I've only seen it once and it must have been 15 years back. I am a fan of the work of John Carpenter though and I remembered this to be a fun flick, almost a comedy, comparable to very enjoyable Big Trouble in Little China.
After a second watching, I discovered that it's somewhat similar in theme to Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead, a zombie movie that can be seen as a parody on the consumer industry. The 1988 They Live ( Yes! The 1980s were a fun decade for movies ) isn't about zombies, but it definitely talks about people being brainwashed into consumption, obeying authority, serving the riches and so on and so forth. It's more of a sci-fi film though, as it talks about aliens that have taken over the earth and who make us serve them, with the majority of people being blind to this 'truth'.
Anyhow, I didn't want this to be a review, I was merely excited that I'm back to watching movies ( I might watch another film tonight ) and I felt like sharing this with you.
P.S. John Carpenter might be one of a handful of directors of whom I like quite a lot of movies, here's my favorites, in chronological order:
Halloween ( 1978) The Fog ( 1980) Escape From New York ( 1981 ) The Thing ( 1982 ) Starman ( 1984 ) - Should rewatch that! Haven't seen it in ages. Big Trouble in Little China ( 1986 ) - see the above comment. Prince of Darkness ( 1987 ) Recently gave this a second watch. It's quite dark for a Carpenter flick. In the Mouth of Madness ( 1994 ) Would really love to see this one again...
What about you? Do you like the work of John Carpenter? If so, what are your favorites and do you have a story to share about them?
