Meta tags:
description=Documenting my goal to watch every Criterion film, from Á NOS AMOURS to Z.;

Headings (most frequently used words):

criterion, the, to, film, affection, 29, picnic, at, hanging, rock, 849, his, girl, friday, 387, la, jetée, 565, great, dictator, 833, cat, people, 501, paris, texas, 821, dr, strangelove, or, how, learned, stop, worrying, and, love, bomb, close, up, podcast, 667, seconds, 544, head, post, navigation, documenting, my, goal, watch, every, from, nos, amours, menu, tally, follow, subscribe, links, other, fans, inspired, art, tags,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (91), and (72), film (29), that (22), #criterion (19), for (17), this (14), with (13), but (11), comment (10), posted (10), dialmformichele (10), from (10), about (10), united (9), tagged (9), reviews (9), illustrations (9), all (9), one (9), states (8), 2016 (8), are (8), leave (8), who (8), been (8), even (7), what (7), more (7), like (6), they (6), can (6), time (6), has (6), back (6), her (6), affection (5), other (5), 1960s (5), art (5), out (5), was (5), there (5), still (5), year (5), story (5), rock (5), makes (5), you (5), his (5), woman (5), com (4), subscribe (4), have (4), now (4), wenders (4), kubrick (4), 1940s (4), close (4), films (4), their (4), everyone (4), comedy (4), those (4), later (4), happy (4), could (4), how (4), without (4), wordpress (3), email (3), join (3), australia (3), list (3), far (3), hard (3), while (3), just (3), help (3), also (3), first (3), tell (3), into (3), mysterious (3), hudson (3), family (3), because (3), man (3), only (3), podcast (3), recently (3), than (3), peter (3), every (3), favorite (3), humanity (3), want (3), american (3), landscape (3), together (3), halloween (3), cat (3), people (3), new (3), great (3), which (3), 2018 (3), watch (3), girl (3), friday (3), get (2), design (2), site (2), website (2), name (2), required (2), comments (2), log (2), sign (2), subscribed (2), 105 (2), subscribers (2), free (2), blog (2), von (2), trier (2), gilliam (2), germany (2), france (2), 1980s (2), 1970s (2), shelf (2), heroes (2), fans (2), posts (2), watched (2), monkees (2), set (2), make (2), were (2), not (2), else (2), reconcile (2), pure (2), head (2), war (2), satire (2), miss (2), fun (2), may (2), some (2), relevant (2), basically (2), 60s (2), eye (2), when (2), heard (2), movie (2), last (2), sci (2), starring (2), got (2), say (2), seconds (2), tells (2), given (2), opportunity (2), starting (2), over (2), again (2), course (2), style (2), striking (2), cinematography (2), use (2), men (2), themes (2), performance (2), life (2), thinking (2), had (2), hell (2), announcement (2), here (2), super (2), talk (2), lot (2), well (2), times (2), strangelove (2), sellers (2), three (2), world (2), viewings (2), influence (2), iconic (2), lately (2), plot (2), delightful (2), excellent (2), paris (2), texas (2), vast (2), empty (2), desert (2), harry (2), dean (2), stanton (2), slowly (2), long (2), always (2), heart (2), really (2), look (2), respect (2), each (2), project (2), take (2), horror (2), simone (2), simon (2), young (2), she (2), husband (2), monster (2), sound (2), lends (2), atmosphere (2), era (2), instead (2), going (2), chaplin (2), dictator (2), talking (2), future (2), jetée (2), watching (2), monkeys (2), better (2), work (2), relying (2), famous (2), photographs (2), beautiful (2), very (2), hand (2), russel (2), grant (2), determined (2), hilarious (2), battle (2), same (2), equal (2), attempts (2), tame (2), picnic (2), hanging (2), documenting (2), goal (2), nos (2), amours (2), started, write, loading, collapse, bar, manage, subscriptions, view, reader, report, content, privacy, already, account, create, kingdom, tati, sweden, sturges, spain, soviet, union, roeg, powell, netherlands, melville, kurosawa, japan, italy, iran, godard, denmark, czech, republic, china, canada, buñuel, bergman, 2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1950s, 1930s, 1920s, tags, silver, screen, society, postcards, alphaville, inspired, organic, mechanic, reflections, brain, contraption, confessions, collection, haiku, cast, cinema, gadfly, complete, links, updates, address, rss, follow, 249, 900, illustrated, tally, older, post, navigation, 1968, forgetting, strictly, speaking, artists, notorious, commercial, flop, followed, final, nail, coffin, careers, flummoxing, ignored, tragedy, joy, structure, cyclical, series, loosely, connected, vignettes, ranging, music, videos, psychedelic, dreams, anti, stoner, sketch, hit, sure, overall, effect, bizarre, try, break, away, television, personas, hamming, camera, goofy, performances, dampen, artistic, merit, watchable, years, beneath, slapstick, genuinely, interesting, cinematic, experiments, commentary, pop, culture, artifice, entertaining, counterculture, filmmaking, gets, glad, exists, despite, bad, idea, keep, cameos, frank, zappa, dennis, hopper, coscreenwriter, jack, nicholson, 544, sometime, couldn, believe, psychological, thriller, why, did, existed, finally, hands, met, high, expectations, then, john, frankenheimer, middle, aged, banker, rather, gently, coerced, company, puts, him, under, knife, emerges, painter, living, malibu, friends, obligation, should, fairytale, unfolds, nightmare, consistently, sinister, claustrophobic, saul, bass, unnerving, opening, credits, liberal, distortion, odd, angles, ups, tale, biting, critique, reinvention, feels, extremely, mad, revisited, decades, gives, phenomenal, quite, finds, himself, leading, roll, understood, 667, rest, listen, episode, ever, wondered, voice, sounds, don, nice, guys, dislike, thanks, aaron, mark, inviting, whole, absolute, favorites, count, case, anyone, hasn, seen, stanley, cold, black, nuclear, annihilation, separate, roles, perfect, squeezing, bit, humor, fact, our, safety, rests, handful, either, petty, incompetent, unbalanced, terrifyingly, realistic, chain, events, seems, funny, start, finish, fifty, easily, rattle, off, jokes, expound, matched, deliberate, explore, broad, imagery, giving, thought, singular, play, range, parts, yet, two, characters, earth, pressed, another, root, especially, goddamn, less, illustration, originally, appeared, issue, zine, 821, learned, stop, worrying, love, bomb, west, rarely, beautifully, captured, wim, german, director, somehow, knows, exactly, along, city, crossing, expanses, filling, emptiness, opens, wandering, sunburnt, dehydrated, mute, revealed, brother, son, somewhere, wife, begins, put, pieces, everything, pacing, gradual, feeling, stagnant, silent, stretches, generally, filled, acting, surprise, wonderful, human, connection, carefully, explored, enjoyed, entire, thing, candy, think, aspect, character, screenwriter, sam, shepard, sucker, any, conflict, villains, sorry, slow, update, mostly, working, never, ending, side, interested, queerportraits, 501, celebrating, classic, val, lewton, jacques, tourneur, famously, low, budgeted, stars, riveting, irena, serbian, believes, intimate, consumed, ancient, curse, turned, murderous, panther, lauded, creating, cheap, effective, shadows, imagination, rightfully, direction, elevates, beyond, bargain, perfectly, utilized, sets, clever, editing, gorgeous, dramatic, lighting, right, spooky, setting, strikes, precarious, balance, between, victim, villain, knowing, context, influenced, genre, during, cheesy, creature, features, thoroughly, enjoyable, delivers, requisite, thrills, 833, quote, full, review, indulgent, simply, copy, paste, speech, end, charlie, tramp, role, audaciously, silly, scathing, takedown, hitler, loathe, involved, reminder, uncertain, 565, chance, revisit, after, terry, adaptation, chris, marker, influential, science, fiction, short, remembered, pretty, good, too, loose, narrative, enslaved, apocalyptic, present, sent, past, preparation, seeking, elements, remaining, ambiguous, evocative, visuals, clear, explanations, almost, entirely, disjointed, picture, book, quality, themselves, stark, amazing, job, building, showing, little, similarly, atmospheric, comes, toward, moving, conclusion, proving, constraints, creativity, 387, concerned, best, romantic, unscrupulous, news, room, rosalind, quintessential, fast, reporter, leaving, editor, cary, order, real, married, dopey, insurance, agent, lure, juicy, scoop, soft, spot, begin, unrealistically, witty, dialog, its, rapid, fire, repartee, truly, timeless, doesn, dip, most, hated, topes, sexes, pitted, against, equals, wits, though, odds, clearly, playing, enjoying, manipulative, games, running, circles, around, incredibly, refreshing, today, finding, satisfaction, receiving, colleagues, smart, 100, workload, forced, hiatus, near, dear, much, draw, completionist, disease, obsessive, unable, let, bring, 849, describing, weir, involves, teenage, girls, vanishing, volcanic, landform, valentine, day, 1900, examine, metaphors, wilderness, victorian, budding, sexuality, women, obvious, mystical, aura, hangs, foreboding, undercurrent, white, flowing, dress, passing, through, harsh, secluded, rare, find, successfully, held, mood, alone, leaves, ponder, unanswered, questions, wanting, answer, them, haunting, recommended, virgin, suicides, search, menu,

Text of the page (random words):
criterion affection documenting my goal to watch every criterion film from á nos amours to z criterion affection documenting my goal to watch every criterion film from á nos amours to z menu about list search for 29 picnic at hanging rock i m going to have a hard time describing peter weir s picnic at hanging rock i could tell you about the plot which involves three teenage girls and one woman vanishing at a mysterious volcanic landform on valentine s day 1900 i could examine the metaphors of man s attempts to tame australia s wilderness and the victorian era s attempts to tame the budding sexuality of young women i could also go on about the film s obvious influence on the virgin suicides but all i really want to talk about is the atmosphere of the film the mysterious mystical aura that hangs over a foreboding undercurrent like a white flowing dress passing through a harsh secluded landscape it s rare to find a film that is so successfully held together by mood alone or a story that leaves me to ponder unanswered questions without wanting to answer them beautiful haunting and very recommended posted in illustrations reviews and tagged 1970s australia on 08 21 2018 by dialmformichele leave a comment 849 his girl friday hi everyone i m back miss me last year my workload forced me to take a long hiatus but criterion affection has always been near and dear to my heart and there s still so much more i want to draw the completionist disease that makes me obsessive about watching criterion is the same one that makes me unable to let go of a project so i m determined to bring back the blog for 2018 starting with one of my all time favorite films happy new year his girl friday is as far as i m concerned the best romantic comedy of all time you heard me set in an unscrupulous news room rosalind russel is iconic as the quintessential fast talking reporter who is leaving her ex husband and editor cary grant in order to be a real woman married to a dopey insurance agent but her ex is determined to lure her back with a juicy scoop now i have a soft spot to begin with for unrealistically witty dialog and his girl friday is famous for its hilarious rapid fire repartee but what makes this film truly timeless for me is that it doesn t dip into one of my most hated topes the battle of the sexes instead russel and grant are pitted against each other as equals in a battle of wits even though they re at odds they are clearly playing and enjoying the same manipulative games running circles around everyone else and it s incredibly refreshing even today to watch a woman finding equal satisfaction in her work and receiving equal respect from her colleagues smart delightful and still hilarious 100 viewings later posted in announcement illustrations reviews and tagged 1940s united states on 01 18 2018 by dialmformichele leave a comment 387 la jetée i recently had the chance to revisit la jetée after watching terry gilliam s adaptation 12 monkeys for the first time and chris marker s influential science fiction short film is even better than i remembered 12 monkeys was pretty good too the loose narrative tells the story of a man enslaved in an apocalyptic present who is sent back to a woman in the past in preparation for seeking help from the future the sci fi elements work all the better for remaining ambiguous relying more on evocative visuals than clear explanations and of course the film is famous for relying almost entirely on still photographs which lends it a disjointed picture book quality the photographs themselves are beautiful and stark and do an amazing job of world building even while showing very little the sound design is similarly atmospheric and it all comes together toward a moving conclusion proving that constraints and creativity go hand in hand happy new year everyone here s to the future posted in illustrations reviews and tagged 1960s france on 12 30 2016 by dialmformichele leave a comment 565 the great dictator charlie chaplin s the great dictator is a film i ve been thinking a lot about recently the tramp s first talking role it s an audaciously silly and scathing takedown of hitler back when the us was loathe to get involved and a reminder of what art can do in uncertain times instead of a full review i m now going to be super indulgent and simply copy and paste chaplin s speech from the end of the film more posted in illustrations quote reviews and tagged 1940s united states on 12 05 2016 by dialmformichele leave a comment 833 cat people happy halloween this year i m celebrating with a horror classic val lewton and jacques tourneur s famously low budgeted cat people it stars the riveting simone simon as irena a young serbian woman who believes that if she is intimate with her new husband she ll be consumed by an ancient family curse and turned into a murderous panther the film has been lauded for creating a cheap but effective monster out of shadows sound and imagination and rightfully so the art direction elevates the film well beyond that of a bargain monster movie with perfectly utilized sets clever editing and gorgeous dramatic lighting that lends just the right spooky atmosphere and it s a great setting for simone simon s performance which strikes a precarious balance between victim and villain even without knowing the context of cat people and how it influenced the horror genre during an era of cheesy creature features it s still a thoroughly enjoyable film that delivers all the requisite halloween thrills posted in halloween illustrations reviews and tagged 1940s united states on 10 31 2016 by dialmformichele leave a comment 501 paris texas sorry i ve been slow to update lately it s mostly because i ve been working on my other never ending side project take a look at queerportraits com if you re interested the american west has rarely been as beautifully captured as it is in wim wenders paris texas the german director somehow knows exactly how to use the vast empty landscape of an american desert along with the vast empty landscape of an american city to tell the story of crossing those expanses and filling in that emptiness the film opens on harry dean stanton wandering the desert sunburnt dehydrated and mute slowly it s revealed that he has a brother and a son and somewhere a wife and slowly he begins to put those pieces of his life back together everything about the film s pacing is gradual without feeling stagnant if there are long silent stretches they re generally filled in with excellent acting no surprise because harry dean stanton is wonderful always and striking cinematography and the themes of family and human connection at the heart of the film are carefully explored i really enjoyed that the entire thing is pure eye candy to look at but i think my favorite aspect is the humanity and respect given to each character by wenders and screenwriter sam shepard i m a sucker for any story that has a conflict without villains posted in illustrations reviews and tagged 1980s germany united states wenders on 09 20 2016 by dialmformichele leave a comment 821 dr strangelove or how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb this illustration originally appeared in issue d of the excellent film zine shelf heroes well what can i say about this film it s one of my absolute all time favorites and i ve watched it more times than i can count in case there s anyone who hasn t seen it dr strangelove is stanley kubrick s cold war black comedy about nuclear annihilation starring peter sellers in three separate roles as satire it s basically perfect squeezing every bit of humor out of the fact that our world s safety rests with a handful of men who are either petty incompetent or unbalanced and as terrifyingly realistic as the chain of events seems to be it s also funny as hell start to finish even fifty viewings later i could easily rattle off a list of favorite jokes or expound on how kubrick matched his deliberate style to comedy or explore the broad influence of the film s iconic imagery but lately i ve been giving more thought to the film s singular plot peter sellers may play a range of parts yet this is a film with only two characters the earth and humanity and i d be hard pressed to name another film that makes me want to root less for humanity especially one this goddamn delightful posted in illustrations reviews and tagged 1960s kubrick united states on 07 24 2016 by dialmformichele leave a comment criterion close up podcast ever wondered what my voice sounds like now you don t have to i recently got to join the super nice guys at criterion close up to talk on their podcast about art film and my dislike of von trier thanks again to aaron and mark for inviting me on it was a whole lot of fun listen to the episode here and subscribe to the rest of the podcast while you re at it posted in announcement on 04 01 2016 by dialmformichele 2 comments 667 seconds when i first heard of this movie sometime last year i couldn t believe it a sci fi psychological thriller starring rock hudson why did no one tell me this existed finally i got my hands on it and i m happy to say it met my high expectations and then some john frankenheimer s seconds tells the story of a middle aged banker who is given the opportunity or rather gently coerced into the opportunity of starting all over again a mysterious company puts him under the knife and he emerges as rock hudson a painter living in malibu free from friends and family and obligation but what should be a fairytale of course unfolds like a nightmare the film s style is consistently sinister and claustrophobic from saul bass s unnerving opening credits to striking cinematography that makes liberal use of distortion odd angles and close ups the tale s biting critique of reinvention in the 60s feels extremely relevant and not just because mad men has revisited those themes decades later as for rock hudson he gives a phenomenal performance as a man who can t quite reconcile who he is with the life he finds himself leading a roll i can t help thinking he understood if only he had been in more films like this one hell if only there were more films like this one posted in illustrations reviews and tagged 1960s united states on 03 29 2016 by dialmformichele leave a comment 544 head in 1968 the monkees set out to make an art film forgetting that they were not strictly speaking artists the notorious commercial flop that followed was the final nail in the coffin of their careers flummoxing their fans and ignored by everyone else but it s hard to reconcile all that tragedy with the pure joy that is head the film s structure is a cyclical series of loosely connected vignettes ranging from music videos to psychedelic dreams to anti war satire to stoner sketch comedy it s hit or miss to be sure but the overall effect is bizarre and fun even while the monkees try to break away from their television personas they just can t help hamming it up for the camera those goofy performances may dampen the film s artistic merit but they are also what make it watchable 50 years later and beneath the slapstick there are some genuinely interesting cinematic experiments and a still relevant commentary on pop culture and artifice basically this is as entertaining as 60s counterculture filmmaking gets and i m so glad it exists despite what a bad idea it was at the time keep an eye out for cameos from frank zappa dennis hopper and the film s coscreenwriter jack nicholson posted in illustrations reviews and tagged 1960s united states on 01 26 2016 by dialmformichele 1 comment post navigation older posts the tally watched so far 249 out of 900 illustrated so far 96 follow subscribe rss posts email address email updates join 105 other subscribers links complete list of criterion films other criterion fans cinema gadfly criterion cast criterion close up criterion collection as haiku criterion confessions criterion contraption criterion on the brain criterion reflections organic mechanic film inspired art postcards to alphaville shelf heroes silver screen society tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s australia bergman buñuel canada china czech republic denmark france germany gilliam godard iran italy japan kubrick kurosawa melville netherlands powell roeg soviet union spain sturges sweden tati united kingdom united states von trier wenders create a free website or blog at wordpress com subscribe subscribed criterion affection join 105 other subscribers sign me up already have a wordpress com account log in now privacy criterion affection subscribe subscribed sign up log in report this content view site in reader manage subscriptions collapse this bar loading comments write a comment email required name required website design a site like this with wordpress com get started