Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky’s famous film; and
A Star Is Born (new version, directed by Bradley Cooper)
Stalker, like Tarkovsky’s other famous film “Solyaris,” shows that it is possible to make an innovative movie and sustain some narrative tension with a very low budget. For me personally, I think the story is filled out and sustained in a more interesting way in the novel “Roadside Picnic” (Boris and Arkady Strugatsky), upon which Stalker is based, although the Strugatsky’s also wrote the screenplay for the movie. That doesn’t mean Stalker is not worth seeing, for movie fans. It is a classic for a reason, and very well done for a very low budget film that tries to get at a lot of philosophical issues about life, work, art and other topics, in the context of a science fiction story. Solyaris, which is based on a novel by Polish author Stanislaw Lem, had more emotional impact for me, but that of course might not be the case for everyone.
I admire the way A Star is Born is put together. Bradley Cooper did a great job of directing, especially for his first major movie directing job. I thought the last few scenes were particularly well done. Lady Gaga was terrific, as was Cooper, in the main acting roles. I think Sam Elliott and Andrew Dice Clay also added a lot to the movie. Elliott in particular deserves a lot of credit he probably won’t get, for his performance. I don’t think this version of the movie adds anything substantive to the story or themes of the previous versions, but it was very well done. A bonus for me in the movie is the introduction of Lady Gaga’s character as she belts out “La Vie En Rose” at a bar, which is a song Edith Piaf made famous.
Something Wicked This Way Comes - I hadn’t seen it in years and had forgotten that Jonathan Pryce (the High Sparrow from GoT) played Mr. Black. His exchanges with Jason Robards are fantastic.
Watched “The Mule” with Clint Eastwood. I really enjoyed the movie, I spent time owning and operating a Daylily farm in my youth. Was central to this movie as well.
I just caught “Ronin” on teevee again last night. Almost as convoluted if not incomprehensible as “To Live And Die In LA” unless you watch ’em like 30 times to try to figure out (with scorecard) wotnahell’s going on.
