Iron Giant this Saturday

I have wanted to see this movie for a long time. I just googled it and found out it is based on a novel by Ted Hughes, which I found suprising. I didn't even know he wrote children's stories. Might be worth checking out the rest of his writing.

 

Anyway, we will definitely be attending this movie, and would love to meet other families there. Send and email to mike at citykin dot com if you want to meet-up.

We saw Edward Scissorhands last week. I hadn't seen it since it was originally released in 1990. It was better than I remembered, but a bit too mature for little kids, especially the part where the neighbor tries to seduce Edward. They mostly ignored the film and ran around.
Edward Scissorhands suburban scene as seen on FS:

 

I thought it was interesting that this mother brought a crib to the square for the movie. She was offering face painting, I believe:

 

Not, "my spoon is too big", but a similar intermission cartoon:

 

Sprawling from Grace

Sprawling from Grace, is probably a movie that I will never see. The movie includes an interview with Jan Gehl, and I would like to see it for that reason alone:


The Director of the movie says:

...I grew up in the suburbs. ....We would gather on the fringe of our suburban subdivision, smoking cigarettes atop the hills of newly excavated earth, earth that gave way to the construction sites where the next tier of suburbia was to be built. We would gather in the basements of each other’s suburban homes playing Atari games, listening to rock and roll, raiding our parent’s liquor cabinets, and experimenting with drugs that dulled our senses into acceptance of this mundane existence. One day bled into the next without distinction. Our lives mirrored the homogeneity of the communities we lived in. And so, we emulated the architecture that surrounded us. There were no stores, cafes, or arcades to gather in. No jobs for teens within walking or biking distance. No place to meet someone new and interesting, outside of those neighbors who lived close by. Just, row upon row of neatly kept houses that only varied in appearance every third house. And so, we bided our time, waiting for that magic age. Sixteen. Freedom. If only I could drive...

Another movie from 2006 that also looks interesting: Manufactured Landscapes.

...a thought-provoking investigation of photographer Edward Burtynsky's legacy, with its aesthetic studies of industrial landscapes. But Baichwal's documentary probes deeper than a mere surface-level glimpse of Burtynsky's life and work. It uses the topic of Burtynsky as a springboard, segueing, from there, into a protracted exploration of "the aesthetic, social and spiritual dimensions of industrialization and globalization." Whereas Burtynsky's photographs reveal human beings dwarfed by the massive industrialized landscape that surrounds them, Baichwal (much as Louis Malle did in his Humain, trop Humain) sheds a light on the tedium and monotony suffered by workers who are assigned small components of huge manufacturing processes, and must endure the repetitive work that it entails.

The Point

An innocent little movie from 1971, narrated by Ringo Starr, with music by Harry Nilsson, about a little boy, Oblio, and his dog Arrow, who are outcast. The movie is about acceptance and the inherent value in each person. The best part is the sweetness shown between boy and dog to the tune "Me and My Arrow". I liked it, but was a bit suprised that the kids liked it as much as they did. They keep wanting to re-watch it.