WES ANDERSON

After the post on Hitchcock, I thought I'd do a few posts on my favourite directors. Wes Anderson's films skillfully combine dry humour and bizarre characters with unusual yet poignant plot lines. They often feature eccentric and precocious younger characters (Max in Rushmore; Richie in The Royal Tenenbaums), bastard old men (Royal Tenenbaum; Herman Blume in Rushmore), dysfunctional families (The Tenenbaums; the Whitman brothers in The Darjeeling Limited), and...well just plain weirdos (Margot in The Royal Tenenbaums; Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic). All films have brilliant soundtracks and phenomenal casts.

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Life Aquatic

The Darjeeling Limited

Rushmore

Fantastic Mr. Fox

HITCH

I'm going to make a bold statement and say that to this day, few directors have been able to portray the same level of nail-biting suspense and sheer horror as Alfred Hitchcock. His films frighten the audience not through goriness, although the infamous shower scene in Psycho was pretty gruesome, but through their effects on the audience's psyche. For example, in Psycho after Norman Bates has found the corpse of Marion Crane, he wraps up the body in the shower curtain and, along with all her possessions, places it in the trunk of his car and sinks it in the swamp. Bates watches anxiously as the car slowly descends the murky water, and, for a heart-stopping moment, bobs up again, threatening not to go under. The audience, now just as nervous as Bates, becomes horrified in this moment too - and have subconsiously aligned their feelings with him, even though he is clearly creepy and a now criminal for disposing the body.

Rear Window is another favourite of mine - the premise is genius and so simple. James Stewart plays a photographer who has broken both his legs and spends his days recovering looking through the rear window of his apartment into the windows (and lives) of his neighbours, each serving as a window or reflection in to some aspect of his own life. With the help of Grace Kelly as his glamorous girlfriend and Thelma Ritter as his nurse, he uncovers a murder mystery in one of the apartments. The plot is so brilliantly executed, and it provides suspense in a way that I have never before experienced through film. In an aside note, Grace Kelly's wardrobe is absolutely stunning, and everyone would probably agree that she is pretty well out of Stewart's league in this one.

Psycho

Rear Window

Vertigo

The Birds

EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A CAT

The Aristocats

More Disney genius. Awesome songs, dope drawings, wonderful story. Also shamelessly racist in a few places.

Georges

Abigail, Amelia and Uncle Waldo

 

 

Edgar

Toulouse, Marie and Berlioz

The alley cats

Duchess and Thomas O'Malley

Napoleon and Lafayette

Roquefort

PEDIOPHOBIA

Mannequins from first aid training

VOSS NOW!

Voss now is a pretty remarkable website - a series of photos taken from different viewpoints of Voss, the city where my Norwegian family lives, is uploaded every day of the year. At the moment, there are beautiful snapshots of a frozen winter wonderland as Norway settles in to the colder part of the year. Voss is a small municipality a little out of Bergen with a population of less than 14,000. Our farm and the properties of our relatives are featured in the photos quite regularly so it's a good way to keep updated.

IMMORTALISED

The King of Pop may be gone but he is most definitely not forgotten. Michael Jackson fans will have the chance to see his spirit come to life once more in a Cirque du Soleil spectacular inspired by Jackson's music and career. Writer and director Jamie King explains that the 90 minute extravaganza will feature hits such as 'Bad' and 'Beat It' as well as some unreleased material which was recorded in the years before Jackson's death last year, plus giant holograms and videos of the star and his distinctive choreography, all remixed and mashed-up as world class circus performers turn the pop legend's fantastical world and unique energy literally upside-down.

King, who has previously worked with Jacko among various other pop icons, promises a larger than life multi-media spectacle set in the infamous Neverland, and says the show will journey into the curious enigma that is Michael's head, an ambitious undertaking in itself. Jackson's presence will be felt in every possible way, as King so eloquently puts it, 'Even though he's not there physically, you will feel him spiritually and emotionally because of what you're visually seeing and hearing.' (My ears are ringing from an overdose of superfluous adverbs.)

Cirque du Soleil

Canadian punters will have the first opportunity to see the Immortal World Tour in Cirque's home country, with the tour making its way through North America starting at Montreal in October next year, and ending in Atlanta in June 2012.

This is a project of epic proportions, and fans of the Gloved One would expect nothing less. If executed in a non-cliched, non-cheesy way, I'm expecting it has the potential to be a down-right Thriller. How's that for cheesy.