Adorable

Mila’s Daydreams, the joint effort of adorable newborn Mila and her mother Adele Enersen. As the new mother describes the blog as “This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it.” The result is one of the sweetest, cutest website I’ve come across in awhile and it’s little wonder that many other websites have taken note. I find the project very inspirational, though I can’t imagine myself managing such an amazing creative exercise when baby Van comes along, (and I may as well tell you now, readers that Brix Picks will be on indefinite hold at that point- but a personal blog will arise).

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Posted on August 1, 2010

directed by Terry Gilliam (1981)

Time Bandits was a huge favorite of mine as a kid. A child’s wild adventure through the time of Napoleon, Robin Hood, Agamemnon, the Titanic, all while being pursued by both The Supreme Being and Ultimate Darkness, there’s little not to love for an imaginative youngster. Roger Ebert wrote, “the only live-action movie I’ve seen that literally looks like pages out of Heavy Metal magazine, with kings and swordsmen and wide-eyed little boys and fearsome beasts” which is pretty accurate. Gilliam is definitely hit or miss lately, but this, right in the middle of his most creatively satisfying period is one of, if not his very best.

Visually, there are images that are unforgettable as well as great performances by a studly Sean Connery, David Rappaport and personal lifelong obsession (and this week’s hunk) David Warner. If you missed this the first time around, or have a kid that isn’t too squeamish (the ending is surprisingly pitch black) be sure to give this gem a try.

Click here for the rest of Time Bandits

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Posted on April 4, 2010

Children’s Books Through the Eyes of Werner

I adore anything to do with Werner Herzog so the idea of him lending his existential fatalism to children’s books makes me happy. I kind of wish they had gotten the actual Herzog, just because I adore his voice and even a decent impersonation doesn’t compare, still that’s splitting hairs, and comedian Ryan Iverson does get the language right as he expounds on the maturing rituals of young French girls. By the way I also found this video of Herzog shrugs off a bullet wound mid interview. The man is insane and wonderful!

Click here for the rest of Herzog Reads Madeline

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Posted on March 7, 2010

Children Can Die In So Many Ways

It would seem that the goal of the latest local public service announcements is to make us sick to our stomachs with the consequences of our indulgent lifestyles (fingerless smokers or sodas made with human, bulbous, bile filled, reddish fat anyone?) but in Britian back in the 1970s they had their sights on the nation’s children, who time and again were shown the myriad ways they could be killed in every day situations.

The Apaches, a particularly gruesome film about a group of kids dying in various ways on a farm is a bit of a cult classic but the threatening drowning film “I Am the Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water” is a favorite of mine (and I beg anyone with a heavy metal band to do a song with that title). There are tons of these on youtube (type in “British Public Information Films”); I’ve included some stills below/after the jump.

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Posted on February 21, 2010

directed by Wes Anderson (2009)

Wes Anderson’s movies have a particular hipster artistry that sometimes yields poignant and aesthetically pleasing magic (Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore), other times it results in slightly annoying, self satisfied quirkiness (Steve Zissou, and, so I’ve heard, Darjeeling Limited). Fantastic Mr. Fox falls squarely on the magical side, not only in terms of the plot and the story (by Roald Dahl, which Anderson and screenwriter Noah Baumbach greatly expanded on for the film), but the stop motion animation is simply amazing.

The set, character, and costume design (I love Mr Fox’s cord suit and his son’s home made super hero get ups) is unerringly charming and whimsical and I hope it inspires more delicately thoughtful stop motion features in this era of crass computer animation (Pixar excluded, of course). Drastically unlike those churned out kid’s flicks, Fantastic Mr. Fox is far more stylized and perhaps  even more delightful for stylish parents than their children (wacky sing-a-longs with Jarvis Cocker, anyone?), and the tone is decidedly more subtle, sophisticated, and bittersweet than usual talking animal fare. I went with my office after an exhausting season of late nights and we all walked out like a bunch of kids with big smiles on our faces.

Click here for the rest of Fantastic Mr. Fox

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Posted on December 20, 2009