Recent movie reflections

L'Avventura and Aguirre: amazing premise, disappointing experience

Northman, Wolf of Wall Street, American Psycho, Mad Max: straightforward, adequate

In the Mood for Love, The Book Thief: you can't really complain, nor can you cheer

Parasite, The Menu: at least it tried something

Watching so many movies in such a sprint leaves me searching. I get the sense no movies out there truly tap the medium's potential. What comes closest? I'm feeling epics. Not epics like what Wikipedia calls Boyhood and The Irishman. Those are just lengthy stories. I'm talking medieval, space, high fantasy,... I also had a recent image of a movie filmed from an alpine bird's perspective. Not relaxing bird business, nor Pixar drama, but like actual bird drama, fighting the elements and migration and other birds. That sounds epic, in visuals and story. It sounds more satisfying than any other movies I'm watching. Why doesn't something like that exist? It doesn't have to be birds -- it just has to be epic and inspiring and immersive.

Things that came closest for me in recent years: GoT, Harry Potter, Interstellar, LotR,... lot of fantasy in there. Oh and Synecdoche with its grandiosity and magical realism. I suppose magical realism promises something for me, if it shoots higher than Murakami. Even The King, a basic movie, operated on the right sphere. Les Mis yes, Napoleon for some reason no. Wicked yes, albeit a little too juvenile.

300 looks too hedonist, Lawrence of Arabia too dry, Ten Commandments too old. 2001 works. Magnolia works, in length, breadth, and magical realism, even though it's highly human. I like humans fighting greater forces, which may be true there, but the forces are too hidden.

What do I need?

Someone other than Nolan to do The Odyssey. Scorsese and Leo? PTA? I have no idea.

Dune 3

GoT expansion. Winds of Winter, for one. Not spinoffs but extensions, like what happened to everyone afterward.

That bird movie idea I mentioned.

Artsier Troy. Someone super respectable to try The Iliad.

Authoritative King Arthur. I've never seen or read anything on him, but it seems promising.

Authoritative Divine Comedy. Same, never seen any adaptations of this. I'm going to imply "authoritative" for all of these actually. Peter Jackson's LotR was authoritative, no need to redo those. They were big-budget, critically acclaimed, and popular. That's authoritative. They expanded the canon of the original.

Paradise Lost? Okay, you know what I'm saying -- epic adaptations of rich classics.

But not just adaptations. I want some original stuff too. I just don't have the patience to try imagining that right now.