Documentry Review: Art and Craft

I think I'm back into doing this blogging thing. I've got enough material to keep me going for a while and time on my hands - not all of which needs to be spent binge-watching Arrow.

Art and Craft follows the story of one of the most infamous art forgers in the U.S.: Mark Landis. But he doesn't do it for profit - he does it for kicks, convincing museums that he has originals, donating them and getting them to put his fake work on display. The documentary also follows the people who were working on stopping him, and how for one man Landis became a sort of obsession.

The documentary isn't purely about forgery, it also touches on the theme of metal illnesses. Mark Landis is schizophrenic among other things, and that's part of the reason he does what he does. The man who was chasing him developed OCD while chasing Landis. The documentary does a good job showing how it effects their lives and what they do.

The feature also does a good job showing what goes into making the forgeries. One of my favorite parts of the film was getting to see Mark "sell" a painting to a library. They believed him and he donated it to them, leaving it hanging on the library wall.

One of my main problems with the documentary is that the crew appears to be intruding on Landis' life. He seems like the kind of guy who just wants to be left alone, and is even reluctant to go to a gallery displaying his work.

My other issue is the editing. It's made clear Landis watches a lot of television, so the filmmakers decided to insert occasional shots of TV shows that were at times random and confusing. Sometimes they made sense but others just threw off the pace of the movie.

Overall rating: 2.5 out of four stars. It is dull at parts, but overall it's pretty good.

Reference scale:
Dogfights of the Future < Art and Craft < The Battered Bastards of Baseball.

Tomorrow:
TV Season Review: Arrow Season One

Movie Review: Lawrence of Arabia

I'm back, and I've got another oldie for you. A classic, in fact.

Lawrence of Arabia stars Peter O'Toole in what, incredibly, is his debut performance. He is stellar in the role of T.E.  Lawrence, a irreverent and somewhat cynical officer in the British Army during World War One. He's sent to Arabia on what seems like an impossible mission to rally the Arab tribes against the Turkish invaders. At more than three and a half hours long, it is a true epic in both scope and story.

Now, I've reviewed some pretty dark movies on this blog. But I think Lawrence of Arabia takes the crown. I like to describe Lawrence's character arc as "In the beginning, he was weird but everyone else thought he was crazy. In the end he was crazy but everyone thought he was weird." He goes from a somewhat lackadaisical soldier to a cold blooded killer with a God complex, and you get to watch his path into darkness.

The acting is fantastic. Peter O'Toole is fantastic as Lawrence, and although he is the star, he steals the show anyway. All around, the acting is great, from Alex Guinness as Prince Fiesal to Jack Hawkins as General Allenby.

The direction is also amazing, with extreme long shots and some incredible action and dramatic sequences. I think it would be cool to be able to see this movie on the big screen, so you could more appreciate the detail, the little dots on the horizon, and all those small details that come together to make a great movie.

The one problem I did have with this movie was that the editing was a bit sloppy in some places, especially the audio. But that was far overshadowed by all the great things this movie has to offer.

Overall rating: 4 out of four stars. One of my top ten favorites of all time.

Reference scale:
Ben-Hur < Lawrence of Arabia < Nothing (in my opinion, this is the greatest historical epic ever)

Tomorrow:
Documentry Review: Art and Craft