Motorcycles and big sinking ships...

Morning all! It's about seven degrees outside right now, so I was kind of surprised to hear all these birds chirping outside my window...aren't they supposed to be down south? I guess if we Granite Staters were as smart, we would be too! But hey, we love a challenge.

So, while I wait for my car to thaw, I thought I'd bring you guys up to speed on my AFI film project. Since my last update, I watched the ultimate 60's counterculture film, Easy Rider, and the '97 blockbuster Titanic. Vastly different films, with really only means of transportation at the center of them.

You all may not believe this, but this was my first time seeing Titanic. Honestly, I was never really all that interested in watching it and that Celine Dion song was enough to keep me away forever. But, I was determined to see this AFI project through, so I gritted my teeth and put it in. My verdict? Eh. It's certainly not the worst movie I've ever seen. Yes, it's formulaic and I still will never understanding the casting of Billy Zane, but it does have it's good points. The special effects are pretty impressive, and though I could have taken or left the love story, I did enjoy hearing about the historical aspects of the voyage (though I don't know how true to history they really were). And, if the Celine Dion song is keeping you away from the film too, don't worry. Even though it's in several scenes, it's only in instrumental form - no Celine singing until the credits :)

So, from ocean trips to acid trips, I watched Dennis Hopper's directorial debut, Easy Rider next. Hopper and Peter Fonda star as two buddies on a road trip to Louisiana after a big cocaine deal (the opening scenes contain almost no dialogue, and though you see Hopper and Fonda right away, they don't even say anything until almost 10 minutes into the film). They run into all the usual 1960's road trip situations: small town hicks, weird hippie commune people, and Jack Nicholson as an ACLU lawyer (he's awesome in this, by the way). Though much of the dialogue is punctuated with what seemed like an endless amount of "man's", it really is worth watching, if only for the ending, which is a shock (you were right, mom!). I won't spoil it for you here, though I will say that it seemed like the symbolic death of the hippie generation (the film came out in 1969 - by the next year, the hippie subculture was on its way out).

Have you seen either movie? What's your take on them? Feel free to let me know in the comments section!

Next in my film queue: Platoon, The Apartment, and Spartacus