February Break

Well, this break was definitely much needed. Unfortunately however, I spent the majority of it getting sick and knocked unconscious. I started the break off strong by watching The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957). They were two of Kubrick's earlier attempts and they both are notable movies. They both struggled with creating memorable or lasting characters I felt. But I recommend them to any cinema buff or Kubrick fanatic. Their influence, especially The Killing's can definitely be seen in modern cinema today. I was picking out so many things in The Killing that clearly influenced Tarantino's earliest works (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown).  The use of a broken narrative was one that stood out the most, but I could even see similarities between some actual plot points from this film and Tarantino's early projects. I had the pleasure of watching Paths of Glory with Josh Wahl while he recorded me and Connor Tremblay watch the movie for his 20% Percent project.

But, for as strong I started the week off, I ended it just as poorly. I came down with a stomach bug late Tuesday night that put me out of commission for two more days, I was in no condition to actively watch a movie. Then when I was pretty much better on Saturday, I ended up getting a nasty head cold that I still have right now. Which is why I'm not in school. But anyways, yesterday while me and my Dad were both trying to rest off our sicknesses I watched two more movies. I watched Kubrick's legendary 18th century time piece Barry Lyndon (1975) and Quentin Tarantino's take on a blaxploitation film Jackie Brown (1997). While both tell the respective stories of their titular characters, that's where the similarities end. Barry Lyndon tells the story of Barry Redmond, a poor English farm boy, and how he rises to English nobility and then back into the life of a commoner. It's a moving and beautiful film and I recommend it to everyone. I can't decide if this or The Shining is my favorite Kubrick movie now. Jackie Brown is about a flight attendant that gets caught up in a drugs and weapons smuggling scheme that lands her in trouble with the law. It's a fun, exciting watch and Samuel L. Jackson's performance as Ordell Robbie is what makes the movie for me. I've already seen Jackie Brown, but actively watching it was an eye opening experience. I started to really pick up on Tarantino's directing and writing style in the movie and it's really cool to be able to make these connections that I would have never made without taking note of it.

There's no existing image of Samuel L. Jackson's Ordell Robbie and Ryan O'Neal's Barry Lyndon together on the internet so I whipped up a quick photoshop of them.