Sunlight Reading Challenge: December 2012

December 11th

Day 346, 10 pages
51.046 read, +3.052
Ulysses 1494-1499
Ulysses Annotated 88-91

December 7th

Day 342, 41 pages
51.036 read, +3.168

Ulysses 1477-1493

Ulysses Annotated 64-87

December 6th

Day 341, 30 pages
50.255 read, +3.169

Ulysses 1463-1476

Ulysses Annotated 48-63

December 5th

Day 340, 36 pages
50.225 read, +3.181
Ulysses 1445-1462
Ulysses Annotated 30-47

December 4th

Day 339, 86 pages
50.189 read, +3.187
We 157-220, 224-225, 6-20
Ulysses 1440-1444

I'm reading Ulysses from an e-book omnibus of "The Complete James Joyce", hence why it starts on page 1440.

December 3rd

Day 338, 13 pages
50.103 read, +3.143
We 144-156

Film Challenge Review - Week 15: The Magnificent Ambersons

1942

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

It being Orson Welles who made Citizen Kane and hearing that it was a forgotten masterpiece, I expected more from this film. It is good though, but I wouldn't put it in masterpiece range, though perhaps I'm being too hard on it. Still an interesting drama filmed really interestingly and well, with a standout performance by, of course, Agnes Moorehead, as Aunt Fanny.

Film Challenge Review - Week 14: The Sound Barrier

1952

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

A British film that I hadn't heard of before, but turned out better than I expected. It's about a pilot who marries into a rich family whose patriarch produces aircrafts and is working feverishly on creating one that will break the sound barrier. But it's not just about that; it's also a complex family drama about the individual characters and it has some good footage of aircrafts of this time period.

Film Challenge Review - Week 13: American Graffiti

1973

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

More fun than I was expecting with some great oldies music, starring an ensemble cast headed by a cute Ron Howard, and a small role by a young Harrison Ford, among others.

Film Challenge Review - Week 12: Dead Poets Society

1989

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

I'm usually a sucker for college/school/coming of age stories and especially boarding schools and especially stories with an emphasis on intelligence, learning and culture. So this one seemed tailor-made for me. I did like this one and it had some beautiful campus/woods scenery and shots, but it wasn't quite as wonderful as I was hoping it was going to be (As an aside, there's a smaller, more recent film called The History Boys that's somewhat similar and that I really liked). Still this one was very enjoyable though. Interesting to see a young Ethan Hawke. I'm still considering the rating on this one...at the end of the day it might move up to a 4 out of 5 stars.

Film Challenge Review - Week 11: La Terra Trema

1948

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

An amazing, beautiful Italian film that's sort of a neorealist docu-drama. It's a fictional story, but just barely, and it's filmed with actors who are non-actors who are all really residents of the small poor and hard coastal village where the film takes place.

There's one scene in particular that's among my favourite film scenes of all time. The village is based on fishing, and so the men and even the young and little boys must go out on dangerous fishing expeditions daily and get very little money for it and put their lives at risk, being that the waters here are unfriendly, rocky and turbulent.

There's a bad storm, and some of the main characters' boat doesn't return when it should. The women in the family, old and young, walk in black to the huge rocks and boulders at the shore and walk/climb to the edge to look out to the sea and there they stand in the wind, stark and sad, hoping for a return ship.

It reminds me of sort of a reverse scene from the Iliad, where Achilles' sea goddess mother Thetis and her sisters walk and rise from the waves to the shore to mourn.

What's especially potent about the scene is knowing that the actors are real poor people from that area, who may really do this and who may really have done this before. I don't know if pictures will do it justice. Truly magnificent scene.

Film Challenge Review - Week 10: Rebecca

1940

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Great atmospheric Hitchcock film with a wonderful performance by Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers, and a great ending.

Film Challenge Review - Week 9: Braveheart

1995

Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

Takes liberties with history but overall an enjoyable Scottish historical epic.

Film Challenge Review - Week 8: Swing Time

1936

Rating - 2 out of 5 stars

I'm not a big fan of musicals, especially old musicals, so this didn't rate so highly. But it's a piece of fluff and I did find it funny and charming in a few places, especially with the supporting cast.