Favorite Films: 2016

These are the films that I watched and most  enjoyed in 2016 and would like to view again.  The first group are those films I watched for the first time, and probably not for the last time either.  As you can see, there were 20 film which I would like to view again some time, but only four of them were films I had viewed for the first time.  Sixteen of the twenty were films I had already viewed in the past, viewed again in 2016 and would like to watch again some time in the future.

First Viewings:

Symphonies of Beethoven 
a Teaching Company set of 48 lectures on Beethoven's symphonies.  The only downside was that they were too short.  It's on my "must watch again" list.
 

The Martian   
a very realistic depiction of being marooned on Mars.  

 

 Love and Friendship  
a marvelous transformation of Jane Austen's novella, _Lady Susan_.  It is the best adaptation of a work by Austen that I have ever seen.  Why they changed the name, I don't know.
 
Ken Burns: The Dust Bowl  
Ken Burns' usual production, which would be extraordinary for anyone else--a great and moving documentary on a sad period in our history.  




Repeat Viewings:

THX 1138
George Lucas' first film, directed when he paid attention to character and plot and kept the action sequences at the appropriate level--but, as usual, he just had to get a car chase sequence in there.

Museum Hours
a great film, simple plot and two main characters.  The sights and scenes of Vienna are matched by the dialogue and paintings in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  This is a link to my post on this film.  http://tinyurl.com/hjdjakl

Man from Earth
one of my favorite SF films--John Oldman tells his friends that he's over 10,000 years old.  What follows is their attempt to determine if he is lying or deceiving them.  They of course rule out the possibility that he's telling the truth.  This is a link to my post on this film:  http://tinyurl.com/z85ebjc

The Name of the Rose
a limited but excellent adaptation of Umberto Eco's great novel of the same name--a mystery set in an isolated monastery in Italy?  moody and dark, an interesting mix of religion and politics, and religious politics. 

Witness for the Prosecution

my all-time favorite  courtroom drama film: strangely, I liked the film better than the Christie story it was based on.



The Qatsi Trilogy
all photography, with no dialogue or plot; the  sound track of music composed by Philip Glass is an integral part of the overall effect.  Must be seen and heard to be appreciated.


---Koyaanisqatsi 
pure graphics, no computer cgi, time lapse photography is the only special effect: -a contrast between wilderness and urban settings--the viewer decides

--Powaqqatsi

again, pure graphics, no computer cgi, time lapse photography is the only special effect:  the contrast is between the developing parts of the Southern Hemisphere and the still undeveloped parts

--Naqoyqatsi
--Life as War is a rough translation of the title.  Released some 14 years after the first two--the technology wasn't available at the time.  This is almost all digitized photography. 

Brideshead Revisited
an excellent adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel.  Seeing this on PBS Masterpiece Theatre got me to go and read the novel.
 

Wages of Fear
one of the most tense and nerve racking films I've ever watched.

 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Smiley's People

two great BBC adaptations of the Smiley novels by John le Carre'
Alec Guinness is in top form here


The Big Sleep (Bogart and Bacall)

It's Bogart and Bacall in a film adaptation of a novel by Raymond Chandler.  What else need I say?.



If you're in the mood for a film and don't have anything particular in mind, try one of these, and let me know what you thought.  They are all great films and well worth the time spent.

Favorite DVDs viewed during 2015

Following are some of the DVDs that I watched during 2015.  Since I don't watch TV, I have considerable time now to read and to watch films in the evening.  Some of the DVDs I have viewed were originally TV shows that are now available at the local public library or on Netflix.  While I might be a year or more behind the world on the TV shows, I figure I've actually gained time by not having to watch the commercials, whether they are marketing products or politicians.


FILMS

Foyle's War,  S8.
A great mystery series set in England first during WWII and then during the Cold War.  It's one of few "must watch" shows on TV.  It's BBC, naturally.

Nemesis:
Another great TV series from BBC--featuring Agatha Christies's Miss Marple.  I re-watched all of the Jane Marple episodes this year (with Joan Hickson naturally) and consider this one to be the best of a great series.

Murder on the Orient Express:  (two versions)
This, of course, is based on Agatha Christie's novel of the same name.  I watched the 1974 version and the recent (sorta) BBC version with David Suchet as Poirot. The two versions are quite different.  The 1974 version has a cast list that almost empties out Hollywood and is much lighter in tone.   It is the longer of the two versions, so it includes more of the story than the BBC version.  The BBC version is much darker and shorter, so the questioning sessions of the suspects are shortened or eliminated.
Watch both.

Predestination:
This film is based on a short story by Robert A. Heinlein, "All You Zombies."  I have no idea of the relevance of the title to the story, so don't ask me.  It is very close to Heinlein's story, but it is set in a frame that has nothing to do with Heinlein's tale.  However, the core of the main character's machinations through the use of time travel remains the same.  All I will say is that the story, and therefore the film, plays games with the paradoxes of time travel to an extent almost unique in SF.  The myth of the Ouroboros has come alive.


The Hound of the Baskervilles:
In a rut here.  It's the BBC dramatization of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's best known Sherlock Holmes' novel, with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke  (naturally).
Again, I spent time re-watching many of the Brett versions during the past year and consider this to be the best of a great series.  I have a few more to go, so there may be another one listed for 2016.

Solaris:
This is another one I've watched before and decided it was time for another viewing.  It's based on Stanislaw Lem's enigmatic novel of the same name.  It's an SF First Contact novel and film, but calling that doesn't do it justice.  It's one of those films that needs and rewards several viewings.  It's the version directed by A. Tarkovsky.  There's another version out, and I will look around for it.

The Dirty Dozen:
A great fantasy war film that stars Lee Marvin, one of my favorites, along with Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown.  George Jaeckel, Richard Kennedy, and a host of other familiar names.  Sheer fun.  This is at least my second and probably my third viewing.  I think the cast enjoyed making the film as much as viewers enjoyed watching it.

In Harm's Way:
Another WWII film set in the Pacific this time, rather than in Europe.  It features John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Carroll O'Connor, George Kennedy (again), and a host of other familiar names.  Great fun.  And, no, it's not a guilty pleasure film, for I see no reason for feeling guilty about watching it.  It's probably my third? fourth? viewing, and it won't be my last.

To Have and Have Not:
WWII again--the first film starring Bogart and Bacall.  That says it all.  Again, I've seen this one several times before and most likely will chalk up one or more viewings.

Tron:
Another re-watching.  Special effects says it all.  I watched the sequel, but I think they made a mistake when they moved closer to matching the real world and lost that startling digital effect.  



 DOCUMENTARIES

Glass: A Portrait of  Philip Glass in Twelve Parts:
A documentary on the minimalist composer Philip Glass--a very well-done  film on Glass and his compositions through the years.  Major problem is that it's too short,  as the good ones always seem to be.

Into Great  Silence:
Life in a French Carthusian monastery--hypnotic, with images doing the talking.
It took sixteen ears for the German filmmaker Philip Groning to get permission to make the film, with certain conditions:  no narration, no artificial lighting,  and no crew.  If one knows nothing about the Carthusian order, then a little research would be useful prior to viewing the film.  The film is two hours and forty-nine minutes long, but it didn't seem that long to me.

History of World Literature:
A Teaching Company Production: a series of lectures on world literature which includes Asian, European, African, South American literatures.  It inspired me to read The Dream of the Red Chamber (aka The Story of the Stone) last year.  And, this year I will dust off my copy of The Tale of Genji.  Again too short.

Comparative Religion:
Another Teaching Company Production.  The title says it all--a comparison of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism--their differences and similarities.

Dark Energy:Dark Matter--
Yet another Teaching Company Production-cosmologists have come to the conclusion that estimates of the visible matter in the universe indicate there isn't enough to explain the makeup of the universe. So, they postulate a form of energy and a type of matter that are invisible in order to explain the composition of the universe and its increasing rate of expansion.

The Three Tenors: The Original Concert in Rome:
Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras singing individually and together great arias and popular songs.  A feast for the ears.  The human voice at its best.
The first of several concerts.

The Seville Concert: John Williams
Great music for the guitar played by one of the best guitarists in the world.  The visuals aren't bad either.


It must be significant that seven of the ten favorite dramas (not including documentaries) were actually a second or third or even a fourth viewing last year.  What does this say about the more recent productions?