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Liz has been teaching a writing workshop all week, so she’s taking a break from the music blog—which means you get an Eloisa Movie Blog!  (OK, this is only issue #2, but I do love movies.) The problem is that I’m no expert, the way Liz is about music.  In fact, I’ve only recently started to figure out just how important a director is to a film.  Yeah, go ahead, laugh.  I’ve been watching movies for years, and enjoying them—but never bothered too much about who the director happened to be.

Until last week.  I was visiting a friend who proposed a Robert Altman marathon.  I’ve heard of Robert Altman, though before last week I couldn’t have told you what his movies were.  We started at the beginning, which meant I now know three of Altman’s earliest movies (then I had to return to NJ, where there are children, jobs and very little movie-watching time). 

It’s fascinating to watch one director’s movies in a row!  Has anyone else done this?  By focusing on who directed a movie, you learn their quirks—the way Altman overlaps the dialogue, for example, and his idiosycratic, hysterically funny take on life.  My two favorites from the movie marathon:

MASH.  I guess I knew this was a movie, but I thought of it as a TV show.  There’s no love story here, but the tale of three bad but brilliant boys fighting to save people’s lives has an inherent sexiness that I adored.  I fell in love with all three of them.  If you haven’t seen this ever or recently—watch it!

THE WEDDING.  This is a wild, crazy, insane wedding.  I loved it.  In fact—I’m going to write it.  My own Altman homage...coming to you in Georgian period dress!

Has anyone else ever done this?  What directors are worth glomming onto and spending a whole Sunday watching?