Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Best Friday Night at the Jersey Loews





There was this time I had been in San Francisco and I needed to get back to San Marino.
I recognized the opportunity I had to take the 1 home along the coast wasn't sure if I wanted to make the extra time commitment . . . couldn't I take the scenic route some other time.  I mulled it over for a bit, recognized that "some other time" might be in a pretty long time, and took advantage of the opportunity.  It was long, but it was good, I'm glad I did it and I haven't had another chance to do it ever since.

Friday night Barry Lyndon was playing at the Jersey City Loews.  I'd never seen it, I was curious to see it, but I also felt like just going home.  I mulled it over a bit, recognized this might be my one opportunity to ever see it on the big screen, and took advantage of the opportunity.  It was long, but it was good, and I'm glad I watched it.

The film plays out in two halves.  The first half might be my favorite movie of 2011.  I thought it was very funny . . . I'm not sure if it was supposed to be funny, no, there was definitely a sense of humor at play.  Definitely.  Second half: Not necessarily as funny and I certainly thought less of Barry, but what a final duel!

Anything you ever read about Barry Lyndon mentions how Kubrick wanted to film it without the aid of electrical light, meaning many an interior scene illuminated only by candlelight.  For these scenes he used a specially rigged camera with a 50mm Zeiss f/0.7 lens.  I did not want this little post on Barry Lyndon to be without that data.  And now that I understand apertures a little bit, the existence of an f/0.7 lens just boggles my mind.

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