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Zogo, I haven't seen anything on your list, but Nightbreed has been on there the longest, so you get that. F Stop told me to watch 8 1/2. I'll be honest, this film would have driven me crazy a year ago, due to the general aimlessness of (almost) the whole thing. Now, I wouldn't have it any other way. How else would you shoot a movie about a director who has no idea what his next movie (that he's already making) is about? It's a great film about sincerity, with the various lies and stalling tactics making Guido's life worse, and finally telling the truth taking huge piles of stress out of his life. I also really liked the near total lack of transitions between the real world and various fantasies and flashbacks, which really gave me a feeling for how the director's been moving through his life. The more I sit back and think about what I watched, the more I like it. Also watched: Casino. "In the end, we hosed it all up." Yes, yes you did. Full-on "everything gets destroyed because of the main characters' flaws" tragedies seem pretty rare in major Hollywood stuff, so seeing one that's a festival of bad decisions was an interesting change. The movie managed to have relatively few on-screen deaths, but made sure all of them had an impact. It also knew when to break up the tension, like with the various ridiculous phone conversations between Ace and Nicky. As for the acting, it was all solid. Seeing stand-up comedians in serious roles took some getting used to, though. Sharon Stone was really the stand-out here, solely for those scene-stealing freakouts she had. Overall though, I think Goodfellas was a little better, though I can't put my finger on exactly why. _________________________ My Shame List, in order of length of time on the list: 1) Starship Troopers: Robocop was great, for the opposite of the reasons the person who recommended it to me said. Let's try another Verhoeven. 2) The Exorcist: Catching up on classic horror. 3) Stagecoach: I've never seen a "classic" western. The Man who Shot Liberty Valance doesn't count. 4) Unbreakable: A few of my friends have called this the best superhero movie ever made. Let's see if they're right! 5) Triumph of the Will: Super influential Nazi propaganda? Seems like I should watch this just to keep an eye out for people using its techniques. 6) Oldboy: Pretty much going into this blind, aside from knowing 7) Nosferatu (1922): More German Expressionism! 8) Forbidden Planet: A Sci-fi adaptation of Shakespeare? Sounds fun. 9) The Big Lebowski: (new) Not just a dumb comedy? 10) Drive: (new) A new member of the Goon Canon. De-Shamed (19) [Top 5 in bold]: The Thing, Casino Royale, Blue Velvet, Metropolis, Unforgiven, The Rock, Jurassic Park, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Shining, Videodrome, Inglourious Basterds, Con Air, Mulholland Dr., The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Taxi Driver, Prometheus, Pan's Labyrinth, 8 1/2, Casino
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Apr 25, 2013 10:53
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Nightbreed - It's kind of like an adult version of Little Monsters (1989). I could dissect and pick apart the story but it's a big mess. I saw some themes and concepts coming out that were similar to other Clive Barker works. I haven't read the source material but the film seems like its edited wrong and the story unfolds confusingly and it's mostly lame. Good stuff: Some of the monsters are interesting characters. The protagonist is shot and killed 1/3rd through the film. At least it was a surprise. IMDb (247/250 completed): new #44 Django Unchained - The glorious burden to finish this list carries on. 4/25/13 #187 Life of Pi - Looks visually interesting. 4/24/13 Academy Award for Best Picture (76/85 completed): 1938 You Can't Take It with You - More of that star power. 3/13/13 1937 The Life of Emile Zola - A boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1936 The Great Ziegfeld - A slightly less boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty - I remember seeing some clips from this on an AFI program. 4/6/13 Procrastination (45 completed): #46 Any Steven Seagal film - I've never seen one of these and I'm not sure where to start. 4/6/13 #47 Days of Heaven - I recently bought a Roku and am going to begin an attack on my Netflix Instant list. 4/12/13 #48 The Golden Age AKA L'Age d'Or - Been on my radar. 4/12/13 #49 Last Year at Marienbad - I keep hearing about this one. 4/24/13 Nolanar posted:1) Starship Troopers: Robocop was great, for the opposite of the reasons the person who recommended it to me said. Let's try another Verhoeven. Tough list to choose from since I like so much on it.
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Apr 25, 2013 22:36
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Zogo from one Buñuel to another, you get L'Age d'Or Simon of the Desert(1965) by Luis Buñuel With Claudio Brook and Silvia Pinal  Simon(Claudio Brook), is a deeply religious man and wishes to be nearer to God, so he lives on top of a column, where he fights a struggle against the temptations offered to him by Satan(Silvia Pinal). Simon of the Desert at is a bunch of Bible-parable stories, compacted into a 45 minute film, which was never completed, as funding fell through midway. However those 45 minutes are just near perfect. It's darkly funny, gorgeous to look at, and you get the full Buñuel package in a short burst; a bit of the surrealism, religious parody and satire, cheeky nudity, and a whole lot of venom towards the Church. There's even the petty bourgeois man! Buñuel takes very little mercy on Simon and the cult around him. Simon is a man who has absolutely nothing better to do with his life, other than sit atop of a column, and the people who surround him are all hypocrites and free-loaders, who prey on Simon's self-sacrifice. However beneath all the parody and satire, there seems to be some form of respect for Simon and his quest. He mocks him, but respects him at the same time. It sounds odd, but the film (magical) ending puts it quite perfectly, as Simon rejects the music and the dancing, but sticks around to hear and watch it. Despite what the runtime might suggest, and the austere look of the film, it's quite rich in detail and feeling. Also, Silvia Pinal as the tempting Satan is some brilliant casting, and makes up the films greatest joke, as who's being tempted isn't actually the main character. 'We' took a peak, while the stoic Simon doesn't. It's funny, and a cruel move by Buñuel as he sets us to fail the ascetic test. 95(Excellent) SHAME Part III: To be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch comedy about them nazis. The Great Silence A Western of the spaghetti variety. Delicious. Winchester '73 James Stewart and the Old Wild West. A Foreign Affair Billy Wilder Romeo + Juliet(1996) Oh dear The Magician Been awhile since I had a Bergman film in this list. I Vitelloni More Italian films that Scorsese has spoiled for me. Branded to Kill I hear this one is even crazier than Tokyo Drifter. The White Diamond Herzog goes on an airship to South America and to discover a lost world. Bronson Masculine violence and anxiety by Nicolas Winding Refn Have watched so far 54 movies: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Fallen Angels, The Shop Around the Corner, La Strada, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Rescue Dawn, All About My Mother, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Long Goodbye, Vampyr, Mon Oncle, The Exterminating Angel, Jules et Jim, Sorcerer, The Darjeeling Limited, Close-up, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Host, Zelig, Koyaanisqatsi, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Last Picture Show, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Killer, Anatomy of a Murder, The Trouble with Harry, Don't Look Now, L'Atalante, Cache, The Leopard, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Dancer in the Dark, How Green Was My Valley, Vivre sa Vie, Harvey, The Earrings of Madame de..., The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Tokyo Drifter, The Player, Intolerable Cruelty, The Insider, Late Spring, Munich, Juliet of the Spirits, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, La Chienne, Le Cercle Rouge, The Lady Eve, Primer, Roma, città aperta, Black Narcissus, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Simon of the Desert
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Apr 26, 2013 00:18
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I like Billy Wilder so go with A Foreign Affair. City Lights is probably one of the most interesting films I've seen from my list. Being a silent film with dialogue cards isn't interesting, but how few of them were present was. I have gained a lot of respect for Chaplin in that he understood that not everything necessarily need to be said, that if put forth enough strong performances and ideas, his audience could keep up with body language and expressive faces. I think it's fairly obvious that if you take Chaplin's physical humor out of this film, you're essentially left with nothing. The story is simple and without much intrigue, but it didn't really matter. Overall, the film sort of became set piece after set piece where Chaplin could just be funny. And he was, of course. The thing is almost a hundred drat years old but it still got me laughing out loud, and also though this is a bit of a personal bias, my birds started freaking out at a scene with a lot of whistling and that made the movie even funnier. Anyway, for how old it was the film gave me a lot to think about (a blind woman in a silent film is already a pretty strong jumping off point) and managed to entertain me. I don't know how inclined I'd be to watch it again, but I'm certainly interested in seeing more of Chaplin some time. 8.5/10 1. California Split - Alright, Mr. Altman, you've got ONE more chance. One of my good friends who is a big Altman buff said this would be the film of his that I would most enjoy, considering I'm big on gambling. 2. *NEW* Aguirre: The Wrath of God *NEW* - I have a very limited exposure to Herzog. I know this is supposed to be insanely good. I'm game. 3. When Harry Met Sally - I'll have what she's having, right? 4. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans - Nicolas Cage  5. The Fall - Heard it's good from a friend, trailer looks pretty. 6. Chop Shop - With his passing, which really bummed me out, I think I'm going to dedicate slot number 6 now to Roger Ebert and his list of great movies. This one looks pretty good, though I know next to nothing about it. 7. Love Actually - Certainly not a film in my genre of choice, but I've heard enough good things about it (and I want my mom to stop bugging me about seeing it). 8. Barton Fink - #8 on my list will remain a Coen film until I see all of them, I'll go in chronological order. I've only got a handful left. 9. Following - Nolan Completion once I see it. Hooray! 10. The Exorcist Not a fan of the genre at all, but I know this is too important to pass up. 56 Total De-Shamed Yojimbo 7.5/10, Aliens 6.5/10, Brazil 8/10, Cool Hand Luke 9.5/10, 28 Days Later 6/10, Predator 8/10, Blade Runner 7.5/10,Crimes and Misdemeanors 9/10, Vertigo 7/10, Being There 7.5/10, Psycho 10/10, Apocalypse Now 7.5/10, Citizen Kane 8.5/10, Dr. Strangelove 7/10, Close Encounters of the Third Kind 8.5/10, The Bicycle Thief 7/10, Raging Bull 8/10, Ikiru 10/10, Terminator 2: Judgement Day 7/10, The Night of the Hunter 8.5/10 How to Train Your Dragon 6.5/10 There Will Be Blood 8/10, Manhattan 7/10, Rashomon 8.5/10, Unforgiven 8.5/10 The Third Man 9.5/10 Requiem For A Dream 4/10, Charade 5.5/10 Sunset Blvd. 8/10 , Badlands 6.5/10, Dead Man 8.5/10, On The Waterfront 9/10, Mad Max 6/10, Singing' In The Rain 9.5/10, Sleeper 7.5/10, Enter The Dragon 6.5/10, The Hustler 8/10 , The Town 9/10, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 5.5/10, Boogie Nights 7.5/10. Hanna 8.5/10, The Conversation 7.5/10, Serpico 8/10, Hoop Dreams 9/10, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 8/10, Blood Simple 7.5/10, Roman Holiday 8.5/10, Miller's Crossing 8/10, M 7.5/10, Moonrise Kingdom 6.5/10, Rope 7/10 Tiny Furniture 1/10, On The Town 5.5/10, Gosford Park 5.5/10, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, 8.5/10, City Lights 8.5/10
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Apr 26, 2013 04:50
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Chili posted:10. The Exorcist Not a fan of the genre at all, but I know this is too important to pass up. Watch the director's cut of the film if possible. The Golden Age - I had a feeling this would be confusing. I watched it a few hours ago and it's already becoming an hourlong haze of a film. Like the other two Buñuel films I've seen (An Andalusian Dog and The Exterminating Angel) I can't really make anything out of the story without feeling like I'm projecting a lot. Individual scenes are odd enough that they're hard to forget. Some examples from this one: -Man shoots kid. -Scorpion attacks rat. -Man kicks and destroys violin. -Man throws burning tree, Catholic priest and giraffe out window.  -Woman licks statues toes. It's perplexing and memorable but I can't say I'm itching to see more from Buñuel (but I know I will). IMDb (247/250 completed): #44 Django Unchained - The glorious burden to finish this list carries on. 4/25/13 new #191 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Looking back the trilogy was kind of bloated and overbearing at times. I liked The Two Towers the most. The immense struggle to complete this list moves forward! 4/27/13 #193 Life of Pi - Looks visually interesting. 4/24/13 Academy Award for Best Picture (76/85 completed): 1938 You Can't Take It with You - More of that star power. 3/13/13 1937 The Life of Emile Zola - A boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1936 The Great Ziegfeld - A slightly less boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty - I remember seeing some clips from this on an AFI program. 4/6/13 Procrastination (46 completed): #46 Any Steven Seagal film - I've never seen one of these and I'm not sure where to start. 4/6/13 #47 Days of Heaven - I recently bought a Roku and am going to begin an attack on my Netflix Instant list. 4/12/13 #49 Last Year at Marienbad - I keep hearing about this one. 4/24/13 Zogo fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Apr 27, 2013 |
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Apr 27, 2013 23:50
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Zogo posted:Watch the director's cut of the film if possible. Do you know if, by chance, that's the same thing as "The Version You've Never Seen" that was re-released in 2000? This one: http://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Version-Youve-Never-Seen/dp/B0000524CY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1367107428&sr=8-4&keywords=the+exorcist I have access to that, and the original.
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Apr 28, 2013 01:03
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Chili posted:Do you know if, by chance, that's the same thing as "The Version You've Never Seen" that was re-released in 2000? Yea, it has many names: The Exorcist: The Extended Director's Cut The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen The Exorcist: Restored Version 132 minutes.
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Apr 28, 2013 01:21
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Zogo posted:Yea, it has many names: Perfect, thanks!
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Apr 28, 2013 01:31
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Zogo, you can watch Last Year at Marienbad. Hope you like French people being utterly impenetrable! It's been 25 months since I was given Solaris to watch. Was it worth it? Kind of. I put it off for ages expecting it to be slow and ponderous and it wasn't quite as slow and ponderous as I'd been expecting. Something I liked about Stalker was how the discussions between the characters in that film would kind of sketch around the ideas that the film was playing with and leave you to draw that in yourself. Solaris does similarly but there's far too little of it to give anything but the vaguest idea of what the film is putting across. It's a very well made film with a great sense of atmosphere. But it's no Stalker. It makes me like the Soderbergh version even less though; it's apparent that he never even tried a fresh adaptation so much as making a glossier and more direct version of this one that just doesn't work. Also managed to watch a whole 1 (one) other film on my list, Pigs and Battleships, which owns. Though I still like Imamura's later films better - this feels like he's still trying to find his feet and imitating the styles of established directors while tying to find his own. Sullivan's Travels - Another film about Hollywood since I enjoyed Sunset Boulevard so much, and I've heard it's pretty funny. Belle de Jour - I bought a Buñuel box set a year ago and still not watched a single one of them yet. The Rules of the Game - I don't really know anything about this but I see it so exalted so often that I feel I'm going to have to watch it sometime. In the Mood for Love - Haven't seen anything by Wong Kar-wai except Chungking express which I liked but not enough to seek out anything else. I've heard good things about this though? Day for Night - Love the last Truffaut film I saw and despite being generally not disposed towards films and making films I'm really interested in seeing this. The Draughtsman's Contract - Need to watch more Greenaway since I've loved what I've seen so far. Bicycle Theives - Same as Rules of the Game, really. The Maltese Falcon - More Bogart/Huston that I haven't seen. Ashes and Diamonds - Picked this up on Bluray and know little about it other than it's supposed to be one of the greatest Polish films. Andrei Rublev - Tarkovski did so few films, getting through his oeuvre should be a breeze!
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Apr 28, 2013 01:58
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Noxville posted:
Do not wait 25 months to watch this! Everything worked in Days of Heaven. From the score to every single image placed on screen. The sparse narrative helps weave a dreamlike quality as could only be seen through the eyes of our childlike surrogate narrating the film. Nothing is wasted. The locust scene is breathtaking, like the rest of the film entirely. A terrific experience worth revisiting time and again. I watched it with a friend who hasn't seen many movies from the 70s, she's not much of a film buff. After the locusts struck, she said "I never want this movie to end." It is amazing when you watch a movie with another party when it is obvious that both of you are getting so much out of it. It enhances the entire experience. We were in awe at the photography of the whole production. No scene has filler. Malick and company cut the fat to the bone creating a simple, streamlined and beautiful film. What a pleasure; a feast for the senses. LIST O SHAME: 1920s - Nosferatu (1922) - I saw Herzog's remake and I saw Shadow of the Vampire. Time to see where it all began. [b[1930s - A Night at the Opera (1935) -[/b] I really didn't like Duck Soup all that much so I've been wary of the Marx Brothers. Figured I should give them a second go. 1940s - Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - Later Chaplin, I've heard mixed things. 1950s - Mon Oncle (1958) - I liked M. Hulot's Holiday more in hindsight and I want to see more of Tati's work. 1960s - The Naked Kiss (1964) - Let's get into some Samuel Fuller ya'll. 1970s - The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni is one of those auteurs I've been meaning to catch up with. I've seen Blow Up and...nothing else. 1980s - The Killer (1989) - Woo's Hong Kong work is better than his American work...right? 1990s - Europa (1991) - Lars von Trier is a fascinating filmmaker and I would like to see more of his earlier work. I've caught Anti-Christ, Melancholia and Dogville but his only pre-2000 work I've seen is The Kingdom. 2000 and up - Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - I love Miyazaki and I've been told this is pretty good. Bonus/Random - The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) - This just oozes cool from what I've read. I keep meaning to see it. SHAME BE GONE:Wild Strawberries, Sunset Blvd., The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Our Man in Havana, Breathless, Phenomena, Withnail & I, 12 Angry Men, The Cranes Are Flying, Fitzcarraldo, Amadeus, Paths of Glory, Blow Out, Cronos, Hausu, City Lights, Easy Rider, The Lives of Others, Salo, In the Bedroom, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Cars, Brand Upon the Brain!, The Great Dictator, Double Indemnity, Point Blank, Cool Hand Luke, 127 Hours, Black Narcissus, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sting, A Woman is a Woman, Life of Brian, Last Picture Show, The Company of Wolves, Tree of Life, Life is Beautiful, Young Frankenstein, Cinema Paradiso, Some Like it Hot, Shotgun Stories, Singin' in the Rain, Precious, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Rules of the Game, Frost/Nixon, All About Eve, Bronson, The Searchers, Bicycle Thieves, American Graffiti, A Christmas Story, The Phantom Carriage, The Changeling, Repulsion, Kagemusha, Irreversible, The Virgin Spring, The Red Shoes, Deconstructing Harry, Metropolis, Che, The Island of Lost Souls, Revanche, Black Moon, Stalker, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Badlands, The Long Goodbye, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Apartment, All About My Mother, Tokyo Story, Chungking Express, This is Spinal Tap, On the Waterfront, Grave of the Fireflies, Rebecca, The Sweet Hereafter, Peeping Tom, Drunken Angel, Duck Soup, Key Largo, Witness for the Prosecution, The Lady From Shanghai, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, Safety Last!, King Kong, Anatomy of a Murder, In a Lonely Place, Safe, Bad Day at Black Rock, The General, The Magnificent Ambersons, Five Easy Pieces, Porco Rosso, Mystery Train, Rififi, The King of Comedy, The Straight Story, The Kid, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carlos, Onibaba, It Happened One Night, Sherlock Jr., Lone Star, Foreign Correspondent, The Last Detail, Young Mr. Lincoln, Rope, Mr. Hulot's Holiday, The Man Who Laughs, Husbands and Wives, Reds, Sweet Smell of Success, Shadow of a Doubt, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The African Queen, The Lower Depths, Frankenstein, Broadcast News, La Strada, The Last Laugh, Stagecoach, Alexander Nevsky, Don't Look Now, Fish Tank, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Days of Heaven (TOTAL: 130)
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Apr 28, 2013 15:19
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Watch The Killer, which is a masterpiece, and yes, better than Woo's American work (though I'll defend Face/Off all day). Adaptation - This managed to be somehow more and less self-reflexive than I expected. It never completely disappears up its own rear end and its metafiction never gets too abstract or abstruse, but the way Kaufman writes his fictional screenplay into the "real" events we're watching is very clever and breathes a lot of life into what otherwise could've been an absurdly indulgent exercise in whining about writer's block. Which isn't to say it's not indulgent, but it's never stuffy or self-serious about it, and Kaufman recognizes the absurdity and self-importance of the whole enterprise. Cage is great as both Kaufman and his more naive brother Charlie, and the insanely clichéd screenplay he works on throughout the film provides some of its funniest moments. (I also felt reflexively guilty for having read Robert McKee's Story, though Kaufman at least recognizes that his own writing principles are every bit as dogmatic and allows for different strokes.) The most pleasant surprise was Chris Cooper, who I wasn't even aware was in the film but provided what I felt was its strongest performance as the vulgar-yet-poetic botanist. An excellent film; I should make a point of seeing Being John Malkovich sometime soon. 8.5/10 I also watched Gommorah since I couldn't resist, and...bleh, what a disappointment. While I appreciate the film's aim to portray organized crime as a life of monotony punctuated by senseless violence, the structure (breaking the film into four stories that don't much overlap), while succeeding in stripping the lifestyle of any glamour, also greatly harms its ability to inspire any empathy at all for any characters but those minor civilians who barely get any screen time. And there's virtually no arc to speak of for most of the principals, with the exception of the young boy who joins up with a local faction and finds himself in way over his head. I was briefly affected by the death of the two brash hotheads who got killed for stealing guns at the very end, but by then it was too late to much make me care. I can respect what the film was going for, and the skillfullness with which it was made, but it left me cold. 6.5/10 New list: Short Cuts - I swear this is like my white whale. Ostensibly I really really really want to see it. I just...haven't. I got it from Netflix and let it sit for literally a year (I eventually cancelled my disc service because of poo poo like that). So. Somebody yell at me to watch it already. Tokyo Godfathers - I've seen very little anime, but all of Satoshi Kon's other films, and loved each of them. This is the only one left. Kieslowski's Three Colors - I love The Double Life of Veronique. I think The Decalogue is great. I own this trilogy on blu-ray. Why haven't I watched it? Your guess is as good as mine. Plus, if you pick this, three films for the price of one. Malcolm X - Admittedly, I've kind of meant to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X before seeing this, but I doubt watching this first would at all impede my enjoyment of the book later down the road. Gates of Heaven - I still haven't seen any Errol Morris, years and years after being exposed to him by Ebert's review of this film. Having just put down my cat of 17 years yesterday, there's probably no better time to watch this film. Blue - The Derek Jarman film. The conceit of this film alone fascinates me, though I imagine it's every bit as easy to hate as to love. Of Jarman's work, I've only seen Caravaggio, but it's excellent. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - One of the more glaring holes in my lineup of unseen westerns. I actually started to watch this years ago but the DVD kept skipping, and I have yet to revisit it. United 93 - Seems hard to stomach, but I imagine it's rather essential. NEW! Metropolitan - I've wanted to see this ever since hearing about the gag of a character who reads literary criticism but not literature. NEW! The Glass Shield - Long overdue to see more Charles Burnett.
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Apr 29, 2013 03:34
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Criminal Mindedgets Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It's definitely an essential western. _____________________________________________________ The first thing I noticed about Some Like it Hot was that it was shot in black and white. This movie came out a few years after The Seven Year Itch, which was in color, and given that that movie had the same director and star, I was expecting a similar visual presentation. That's fine though, as this is a movie that has a strong sense of comedy, and my initial surprise wore off quite quickly. Billy Wilder understands comedy, as his film strikes a nice balance of visual gags and comedic dialogue. The premise of two guys in drag isn't played for laughs as much as you think it would be. Some obvious jokes are made, but the film doesn't use it's premise as a crutch. I should add their appearance is pretty funny though. It's such a low effort look, and even though they still clearly looked like men, I just thought gently caress it, If the characters in the movie buy it, then so do I! Mad props to the three main leads in this one. Marilyn Monroe put in a way better performance than in Itch, as I found her too naive in that one. Tony Curtis really did a wonderful job, and he had Groucho-like timing with his dialogue, especially when he was pretending to be a millionaire. I'm not going to go into plot details or anything like that. It's a movie about two guys in drag and the situations they find themselves in as a result. You've probably seen a million sitcoms that have done the same things, which is fine. This one gets by on impeccable comedic timing and really good acting. And awesome jazz music throughout. _____________________________________________________ The List of Shame 1. Witness for the Prosecution: More courtroom drama 2. Lolita: I've seen almost all of Kubrick's offerings, but I have not yet seen this teen sex romp. 3. Gaslight: This is one of the more famous noirs, so I feel I need to see it. 4. Ocean's Eleven (1960): I've seen the remake a bunch of times - let's see how the original one is. 5. The Magnificent Ambersons: I enjoyed Citizen Kane, so I should see more works from Welles. 6. True Lies: This is kind of different from the rest of the list. I really like Arnie's movies from around this time, but I can just never bring myself around to watch this. 7. Life is Beautiful: 90's movie about a guy who brightens his son's day with comedy. Sounds great. 8. Amelie: I recall seeing this one in the video stores (back when those existed) but despite it's eye catching cover I never had the desire to rent it. 9. Cinema Paradiso: I should probably see the movie the forums are named after. 10. Snatch: I might have rented this at one point, but I can't really remember. Netflix always recommends it to me as well, and we all know that they are never wrong with their recommendations. Un-shamed in 2013: The Grapes of Wrath, Yojimbo, The Sixth Sense, Forbidden Planet, Cool Hand Luke, Easy Rider, It Happened one Night, Donnie Brasco, Fargo, Enter the Dragon, The Big Sleep, Adam's Rib, Animal House, Quiz Show, The Man with the Golden Arm, Strangers on a Train, Singin' in the Rain, The Philadelphia Story, The Time Machine, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, The Seven Year Itch, The Deer Hunter, City Lights, The Prestige, Five Easy Pieces, Some Like it Hot
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Apr 29, 2013 04:04
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I tend to recommend the movies I consider to be most fun. By that metric, go with Snatch. The Exorcist had a lot of ambition, talent, and problems. Let's start with the bad. If you're going to call a movie The Exorcist, and bill it as a horror movie, it would stand to reason that the barrage of things you try to do to the girl who has SOME UNKNOWN PROBLEM are likely not going to work. This was textbook "the audience knows but the characters don't" which is fine for a moment or two, but not an entire hour of a movie. I was bored, very bored, very early on. I expected the bulk of the movie to consist of the exorcism. Perhaps an unfair expectation, but whatever. I liken this to Psycho, a horror movie I loved so much that I gave it full marks. The highest praise I gave it was due to pacing. Whereas with this, there is virtually nothing to keep us guessing or worried, we know the inevitable. The drat movie is title based on the events of the last 25 minutes of the film... Now, I recognize that thematically, there's an awful lot more going on in The Exorcist than there was in Psycho or any convention horror film for that matter. This was a movie about a man's journey more than it was anything else. Father Karass' faith is called into question and the answers he seeks out ultimately lead him down a path of... something or other? I don't quite know what the agenda is here, but it certainly felt like there was one. Clearly the girl who plays Reagan was something of a phenom. I don't quite know how much of that was her and how much of it was some extreme poo poo going, but she was utterly convincing. Apart from that... I don't know. I wasn't ever scare really, which is fine. I don't think that horror has to necessarily "frighten", but if it's not going to do that it really oughta leave me with something other than a spinning head and a very unconvincing front half. I'm sure it was well ahead of its time with what it was willing to say and where it was willing to go, but I watched it now, and it didn't do much for me at all. Whatever, it's not like I'm, averse to classics, I just watched City Lights and I liked that, so maybe it's not just me. 6.5/10 New List 1. California Split - Alright, Mr. Altman, you've got ONE more chance. One of my good friends who is a big Altman buff said this would be the film of his that I would most enjoy, considering I'm big on gambling. 2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God - I have a very limited exposure to Herzog. I know this is supposed to be insanely good. I'm game. 3. When Harry Met Sally - I'll have what she's having, right? 4. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans - Nicolas Cage 5. The Fall - Heard it's good from a friend, trailer looks pretty. 6. Chop Shop - With his passing, which really bummed me out, I think I'm going to dedicate slot number 6 now to Roger Ebert and his list of great movies. This one looks pretty good, though I know next to nothing about it. 7. Love Actually - Certainly not a film in my genre of choice, but I've heard enough good things about it (and I want my mom to stop bugging me about seeing it). 8. Barton Fink - #8 on my list will remain a Coen film until I see all of them, I'll go in chronological order. I've only got a handful left. 9. Following - Nolan Completion once I see it. Hooray! 10. *NEW* The General *NEW* I have no Buster Keaton exposure, and I could use some levity. 57 Total De-Shamed Yojimbo 7.5/10, Aliens 6.5/10, Brazil 8/10, Cool Hand Luke 9.5/10, 28 Days Later 6/10, Predator 8/10, Blade Runner 7.5/10,Crimes and Misdemeanors 9/10, Vertigo 7/10, Being There 7.5/10, Psycho 10/10, Apocalypse Now 7.5/10, Citizen Kane 8.5/10, Dr. Strangelove 7/10, Close Encounters of the Third Kind 8.5/10, The Bicycle Thief 7/10, Raging Bull 8/10, Ikiru 10/10, Terminator 2: Judgement Day 7/10, The Night of the Hunter 8.5/10 How to Train Your Dragon 6.5/10 There Will Be Blood 8/10, Manhattan 7/10, Rashomon 8.5/10, Unforgiven 8.5/10 The Third Man 9.5/10 Requiem For A Dream 4/10, Charade 5.5/10 Sunset Blvd. 8/10 , Badlands 6.5/10, Dead Man 8.5/10, On The Waterfront 9/10, Mad Max 6/10, Singing' In The Rain 9.5/10, Sleeper 7.5/10, Enter The Dragon 6.5/10, The Hustler 8/10 , The Town 9/10, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 5.5/10, Boogie Nights 7.5/10. Hanna 8.5/10, The Conversation 7.5/10, Serpico 8/10, Hoop Dreams 9/10, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 8/10, Blood Simple 7.5/10, Roman Holiday 8.5/10, Miller's Crossing 8/10, M 7.5/10, Moonrise Kingdom 6.5/10, Rope 7/10 Tiny Furniture 1/10, On The Town 5.5/10, Gosford Park 5.5/10, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, 8.5/10, City Lights 8.5/10, The Exorcist 6.5/10
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Apr 30, 2013 07:53
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Chili, take a gamble and watch California Split. -------------------- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: If most/all westerns are like this, I may have to watch more of them. A great tale about three men trying to make a dishonest living and learning of a big pot of unclaimed gold coins. I'm a little confused by the Good, Bad and Ugly tittles for the three main characters. While the BAd and the Ugly titles fit their characters, I don't think the Good title really applies to "Blondie". He is good relative to the other two, but he is still a bad person that operates outside the law to make a living. I never realized how many western movie stereotypes and pop culture references come from this movie: shooting the hang-man's noose, the wa wa waaa music, shooting people's hats off and more. My favorite scene was the scene where Tuco and Blondie are carrying a box of explosives through a war zone on a stretcher and pretending to be medics. When actual medics pass nearby, they put down the stretcher and pretend to be moving someone onto it, but then they quickly drop the body and continue on their way once the real medics pass by. 95/100 -------------------- Army of Darkness - Saw the first two Evil Dead films at a showing in college. Tried to track down AoD but could not easily find a way to rent it. Godzilla (1954) - Watched the first few minutes on Crackle once, then got distracted by other things. The Silence of the Lambs - Same with westerns, I don't usually go for psycho-killer thrillers, heard this one is great too. Any Indiana Jones except the one where they look for the Holy Grail (Last Crusade?) - Just...haven't bothered. Saw most of the Last Crusade on TV a while ago though. The Sixth Sense -The big twist has been spoiled for me since long ago so I never really bothered, especially after seeing Fight Club already knowing the big twist. I just spent all my time thinking "If Tyler is a figment of the Protagonist's imagination, what is actually going on in this scene?" Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - saw the first 30min or so years ago before the library DVD I was watching it on started skipping all over the place. Total Recall (1990) - recently saw the remake and I wonder what he original was like. Mad Max - My mother has actually personally shamed me for not having seen this or any other Mad Max films. New Additions: Die Hard Lethal Weapon Other than the fact the first of each of these series came out a year or two before I was born, I have no idea why I have never seen any of these. Which ones of each series are worth watching and are there any I should avoid?
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Apr 30, 2013 16:08
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Machai posted:I never realized how many western movie stereotypes and pop culture references come from this movie: shooting the hang-man's noose, the wa wa waaa music, shooting people's hats off and more. Of those, only the music is unique to GBU, the others you mentioned are borrowed from earlier films.
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Apr 30, 2013 18:26
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Chili posted:Father Karass' faith is called into question and the answers he seeks out ultimately lead him down a path of... something or other? I don't quite know what the agenda is here, but it certainly felt like there was one. His crisis of faith is solved when he decides to sacrifice himself to save the girl. He realizes that despite the fact that the world is horrific and cruel, he can still choose to be good-willed, and that is humanity's victory over Kull the Conqueror fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Apr 30, 2013 |
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Apr 30, 2013 21:02
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Machai gets Total Recall. Can't imagine there's too many people out there who'll have seen the remake first, though you should note that it wasn't exactly a remake. I love this film, hope you enjoy it. Also: plenty of fun stuff to look forward to on your list. _____________________________ Magic Hate Ball gave me Shame. Which was very good. Michael Fassbender stars as Brandon, a sex addict, whose private addiction is complicated when his sister Sissy, played by Carey Mulligan, shows up unannounced to stay with him. The film shows sex addiction in a more interesting way than I had anticipated, Brandon isn't shown as some junkie desperately needing a fix, he's shown as someone who is permanently tortured by addiction, it's constant and it rules his life. I was very impressed by Steve McQueen's directorial debut Hunger and again here he has made a great, very focused film. I didn't expect the film to draw attention to the sexual activities of other people with Sissy's supposed emotional dependency following sex and Brandon's boss David's infidelity and apparent total distancing of himself from the act afterwards showing two, albeit rather polar extreme, alternatives. It's an intelligent and quite restrained film, showing you a person in these circumstances, without some grand moral to be learned or judgement made. Minor Points: It's revealed that Brandon (& presumably Sissy) are originally Irish, I'm Irish, and I've never met nor heard of anyone named Brandon. It should've been Brendan, loadsa Brendans around. And I assume this line about Brandon being Irish was to explain Fassbender's accent, which I didn't think was necessary, he sounded fine. I watched this the same day as seeing Iron Man 3, and James Badge Dale has supporting roles in both. and he's good in both too. Notoriously Not Minor Point: Huge. List of Shame: (minus Shame) 1 - Dreams - One of the few Kurosawa films I've not seen, not a fan of anthology films. 2 - A Prophet - Heard almost nothing but good things about this, and prison films are usually interesting. 3 - The Evil Dead - Loved Evil Dead 2 for years but never got the urge to watch its predessor. 4 - Ronin - It was February's CineD Movie of the Month, never really caught my attention but apparently good? 5 - LA Confidential - Seemingly a modern classic. Often pops in this thread & seems to get high marks from deshamers who land it. 6 - The Untouchables - Sean Connery's accent has offended me away from this. It seems to have gotten worse since Darby O'Gill... 7 - The Right Stuff - I don't think I even heard of this film until a few years ago. The late Roger Ebert's film of the year for 1983. 8 - The Host - South Korean monster movie. teenage love triangle featuring a monster based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. 9 - Glory to the Filmmaker! - A Kitano comedy... but hopefully it follows on more from Takeshis' than harking back to Getting Any? [Catching up with Kitano 1/4] 10- The Master - new - New Paul Thomas Anderson film. Not sure why I haven't rushed to watch this, absolutely love several of his films. Shame No More: [14] Psycho | The Third Man | The Long Goodbye | Harakiri | The Silence of the Lambs | Pi | Jaws | Panic Room | Black Swan | Star Trek II | The Brothers Bloom | Hugo | Badlands | Shame Chewy Bitems fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Apr 30, 2013 |
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Apr 30, 2013 23:50
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Chewy Bitems, you get LA Confidential. Great cast, and the way the narrative is delivered is excellent. I'd like to get in on this! I'm a lit crit student, interested in learning more about film in general. Most of the stuff I watch for fun is sci-fi and horror, particularly anything with a small scale and dealing with psychological horror or the sublime - I love things like Moon, Cube, Alien etc. I also enjoy drama films but am generally reluctant to watch them; I really love Mulholland Drive and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. I haven't watched many classics or international films outside of j and k-horror. I am more than willing to put a lot of effort into thinking about films! So, here are a bunch I've been meaning to watch (though I would also love recommendations for films to add to the list): Stalker - I've never watched any Russian films, and both the setting and aesthetic look right up my alley. The length and apparent complexity have so far put me off committing to this. Nausica valley of the Wind - I've never seen a Studio Ghibli film, this one looks really great. Enter the Dragon - I love Jackie Chan, but realised I have never watched a Bruce Lee film. Seems like the best place to start. Rear Window - I've seen countless parodies and adaptations but not the original. Blue Velvet - I'm hit and miss on Lynch, but as I mentioned above I really liked Mulholland Drive. This seems to be considered his other best film. Jacob's Ladder - I've heard great things about this, but keep settling on watching a lighter film instead. Metropolis - Never seen an expressionist film, easing myself in with something sci-fi seems like a good bet. I'm a cyborg but that's OK - Korean rom-com, good reviews, I've only seen Korean horror before. Unbowed - Same as above but a courtroom drama. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring - Another Korean film, I'm not sure but the screenshots look breathtaking, and I love things about asceticism.
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May 1, 2013 01:26
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Go with Rear Window, great loving movie. I'm afraid I didn't really get California Split. I liked the dynamic between Gould and Segal just fine, they were a pretty solid duo... but that was about it. I feel like setting a movie in a gambling context is somewhat wasted if you don't actually get into it a bit. There was no tension, no plot, no real substance. Just a couple of guys doing some things. I would have been fine with that purity, but then why through in a bookie and a gambling debt? Who cares if they're just gonna go off hit a hot streak, and then at the end suddenly get depressed about it? For what it's worth, I did enjoy watching the movie, but it's certainly not something I'd go and watch again. 7/10 New List 1. *NEW* Tombstone *NEW* - It's been too long since I've seen a western. 2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God - I have a very limited exposure to Herzog. I know this is supposed to be insanely good. I'm game. 3. When Harry Met Sally - I'll have what she's having, right? 4. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans - Nicolas Cage 5. The Fall - Heard it's good from a friend, trailer looks pretty. 6. Chop Shop - With his passing, which really bummed me out, I think I'm going to dedicate slot number 6 now to Roger Ebert and his list of great movies. This one looks pretty good, though I know next to nothing about it. 7. Love Actually - Certainly not a film in my genre of choice, but I've heard enough good things about it (and I want my mom to stop bugging me about seeing it). 8. Barton Fink - #8 on my list will remain a Coen film until I see all of them, I'll go in chronological order. I've only got a handful left. 9. Following - Nolan Completion once I see it. Hooray! 10. The General I have no Buster Keaton exposure, and I could use some levity. 58 Total De-Shamed Yojimbo 7.5/10, Aliens 6.5/10, Brazil 8/10, Cool Hand Luke 9.5/10, 28 Days Later 6/10, Predator 8/10, Blade Runner 7.5/10,Crimes and Misdemeanors 9/10, Vertigo 7/10, Being There 7.5/10, Psycho 10/10, Apocalypse Now 7.5/10, Citizen Kane 8.5/10, Dr. Strangelove 7/10, Close Encounters of the Third Kind 8.5/10, The Bicycle Thief 7/10, Raging Bull 8/10, Ikiru 10/10, Terminator 2: Judgement Day 7/10, The Night of the Hunter 8.5/10 How to Train Your Dragon 6.5/10 There Will Be Blood 8/10, Manhattan 7/10, Rashomon 8.5/10, Unforgiven 8.5/10 The Third Man 9.5/10 Requiem For A Dream 4/10, Charade 5.5/10 Sunset Blvd. 8/10 , Badlands 6.5/10, Dead Man 8.5/10, On The Waterfront 9/10, Mad Max 6/10, Singing' In The Rain 9.5/10, Sleeper 7.5/10, Enter The Dragon 6.5/10, The Hustler 8/10 , The Town 9/10, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 5.5/10, Boogie Nights 7.5/10. Hanna 8.5/10, The Conversation 7.5/10, Serpico 8/10, Hoop Dreams 9/10, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 8/10, Blood Simple 7.5/10, Roman Holiday 8.5/10, Miller's Crossing 8/10, M 7.5/10, Moonrise Kingdom 6.5/10, Rope 7/10 Tiny Furniture 1/10, On The Town 5.5/10, Gosford Park 5.5/10, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, 8.5/10, City Lights 8.5/10, The Exorcist 6.5/10, California Split 7/10
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May 1, 2013 05:39
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Chili posted:
Was going to give you Bad Lieutenant, but this needs to be seen. Both are Herzog, anyway. The Killer is easily my favourite John Woo experience to date. I liked Face Off, but hated Paycheck, MI:2, and Broken Arrow. While some action movie lapses in logic irk me, which they always do (like infinite bullets only to be reloaded when there's a specific beat), it didn't take away from most of this. Ah Jong's motivation to pursue a career change is well depicted. The first gunfight (of many) has him damage the eyes of a singer with one of his gunshots. He says later that he only ever wanted to kill bad guys, but the lines had started blurring together. It seems through aging, maturity, and maybe a bit of 'getting too old for this poo poo syndrome' Ah Jong wanted a break. Now there wouldn't be much of a movie if he rode smoothly off into the sunset. He's pursued by a reckless (perceived this way by his bosses) and less than respected cop as well as the Triad gang he's trying to run out on. The tension is well established and maintained. The gunfights are ridiculous but serve their purpose mostly. I do find that the older I get the less interested I am in action sequences. They are often void of the emotion or human qualities that hook me in cinema. Here, they mostly feel derivative of each other. Ah Jong faces an endless supply of foot clan and never gets a scratch on him. Of course this demonstrates his expertise but still. The romance actually holds it together. It doesn't feel superfluous. It's tender and not as one dimensional as more tacked on romantic supblots are. Overall, it's enjoyable with a few things that bothered me but it's worth a look. The leader of the Triad that wants him dead is a great cartoon villain. Also: doves, slow motion and a mega-synth 80s score. How is Hard Boiled in comparison? LIST O SHAME: 1920s - Nosferatu (1922) - I saw Herzog's remake and I saw Shadow of the Vampire. Time to see where it all began. 1930s - A Night at the Opera (1935) - I really didn't like Duck Soup all that much so I've been wary of the Marx Brothers. Figured I should give them a second go. 1940s - Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - Later Chaplin, I've heard mixed things. 1950s - Mon Oncle (1958) - I liked M. Hulot's Holiday more in hindsight and I want to see more of Tati's work. 1960s - The Naked Kiss (1964) - Let's get into some Samuel Fuller ya'll. 1970s - The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni is one of those auteurs I've been meaning to catch up with. I've seen Blow Up and...nothing else. 1980s - The Natural (1984) - It's baseball season! I've seen many of the big baseball movies but not this one. 1990s - Europa (1991) - Lars von Trier is a fascinating filmmaker and I would like to see more of his earlier work. I've caught Anti-Christ, Melancholia and Dogville but his only pre-2000 work I've seen is The Kingdom. 2000 and up - Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - I love Miyazaki and I've been told this is pretty good. Bonus/Random - The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) - This just oozes cool from what I've read. I keep meaning to see it. SHAME BE GONE:Wild Strawberries, Sunset Blvd., The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Our Man in Havana, Breathless, Phenomena, Withnail & I, 12 Angry Men, The Cranes Are Flying, Fitzcarraldo, Amadeus, Paths of Glory, Blow Out, Cronos, Hausu, City Lights, Easy Rider, The Lives of Others, Salo, In the Bedroom, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Cars, Brand Upon the Brain!, The Great Dictator, Double Indemnity, Point Blank, Cool Hand Luke, 127 Hours, Black Narcissus, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sting, A Woman is a Woman, Life of Brian, Last Picture Show, The Company of Wolves, Tree of Life, Life is Beautiful, Young Frankenstein, Cinema Paradiso, Some Like it Hot, Shotgun Stories, Singin' in the Rain, Precious, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Rules of the Game, Frost/Nixon, All About Eve, Bronson, The Searchers, Bicycle Thieves, American Graffiti, A Christmas Story, The Phantom Carriage, The Changeling, Repulsion, Kagemusha, Irreversible, The Virgin Spring, The Red Shoes, Deconstructing Harry, Metropolis, Che, The Island of Lost Souls, Revanche, Black Moon, Stalker, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Badlands, The Long Goodbye, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Apartment, All About My Mother, Tokyo Story, Chungking Express, This is Spinal Tap, On the Waterfront, Grave of the Fireflies, Rebecca, The Sweet Hereafter, Peeping Tom, Drunken Angel, Duck Soup, Key Largo, Witness for the Prosecution, The Lady From Shanghai, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, Safety Last!, King Kong, Anatomy of a Murder, In a Lonely Place, Safe, Bad Day at Black Rock, The General, The Magnificent Ambersons, Five Easy Pieces, Porco Rosso, Mystery Train, Rififi, The King of Comedy, The Straight Story, The Kid, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carlos, Onibaba, It Happened One Night, Sherlock Jr., Lone Star, Foreign Correspondent, The Last Detail, Young Mr. Lincoln, Rope, Mr. Hulot's Holiday, The Man Who Laughs, Husbands and Wives, Reds, Sweet Smell of Success, Shadow of a Doubt, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The African Queen, The Lower Depths, Frankenstein, Broadcast News, La Strada, The Last Laugh, Stagecoach, Alexander Nevsky, Don't Look Now, Fish Tank, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Days of Heaven, The Killer (TOTAL: 131) Ratedargh fucked around with this message at 11:55 on May 1, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 11:34
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Ratedargh, watch Nosferatu. So His Girl Friday was fantastic. I haven't seen too many screwball comedies but I get the feeling this isn't the norm. It's almost like a screwball noir for how dark it's willing to go. Cary Grant is fantastic as a fast talker and he clearly had a big influence of Jim Carrey's persona. I also watched Marat/Sade since it was going off Netflix and that's another one that took me by surprise. I didn't expect it to be like a filmed play, let alone have musical performances. Still, it was a bit too wordy and I was lost at times, especially with the "play within a play" format. Heavy handed and kind of outstayed it's welcome an hour in but still pretty good. My List: Rio Bravo - John Wayne's not my favorite but I've heard only good things so I'll give it a shot. (Added 7/7/2012) A Woman Under The Influence - Is this a good place to start with Cassavetes? I've never seen any of his films. (Added 7/23/2012) Jules et Jim - Started to watch this about a year ago but I was really tired so I took a nap instead. Never got back to it. (Added 10/5/2012) L'Age D'or - Some early Bunuel. I think Dali was involved with this too so I'm on board. (Added 3/11/2013) The Grapes of Wrath - I should probably go for a classic western given the discussion, but I'm gonna go with a different John Ford film. (Added 3/15/2013) Strike - I've loved the Eisenstein I've seen so far. (Added 3/19/2013) Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Rewatching Jurassic Park made me remember I still haven't seen this. Need some more Spielberg in my life. (Added 4/21/2013) Tokyo Story - Highest on the TSPDT Top 1000 that I haven't seen. Make me cry, Ozu! (Added 4/24/2013) Stroszek - Dedicating a spot to all the films that I own on DVD but still haven't seen. Picked up the Anchor Bay Herzog sets awhile ago and I still haven't watched all of them. (Added 5/1/2013) Triumph of the Will - I find propaganda fascinating and I've never seen anything by Riefenstahl. So about time I see the most notorious propaganda film ever made. (Added 5/1/2013) Watched: Harold and Maude; The Third Man; Inland Empire; Godzilla; Big Trouble In Little China; Y Tu Mamá También; Marathon Man; Hunger; A Woman Is A Woman; Black Narcissus; A Hard Day's Night; Scarface; Le Doulos; On The Waterfront; Rocky; 3 Women; Airplane!; Duck Soup; Clash of the Titans; Singin' In The Rain; The Cow; Straw Dogs; Stop Making Sense; Bad Timing; Once Upon A Time In America; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Robocop; Shane; WALL·E; The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin; The Man Who Fell To Earth; Mr. Smith Goes To Washington; Divorce Italian Style; Some Like It Hot; To Kill A Mockingbird; An American Werewolf In London; Buffalo '66; Lawrence Of Arabia; Manhattan; Cul-De-Sac; The Birth of a Nation; Braveheart; Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Malcolm X; Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai; The Passion of Joan of Arc; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Le Samouraï; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Marat/Sade; His Girl Friday (TOTAL: 51) TrixRabbi fucked around with this message at 00:58 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 00:55
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TrixRabbi posted:A Woman Under The Influence - Is this a good place to start with Cassavetes? I've never seen any of his films. (Added 7/23/2012) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ So, it's almost been a year. The Leopard - Sumptuous. For a film about the decline of the Sicilian aristocracy in the wake of a united Italy, it sure loves to revel in their wealth and opulence, from the verdant fields and billowing fabrics in the opening scene to the extravagant ball in the extensive final scene, with the implicit assumption that such a lifestyle was unsustainable. For an actor who's voice we never actually hear, Burt Lancaster gives a commanding and surprisingly appealing performance as Prince Fabrizio, cynical about the state of Sicily and knowing all-too-well his time is over (there's a pair of contrasting shots in a church that shows the congregation of Donnafugata in all their vivaciousness followed by a tracking shot of the Prince's family, all ashy and statuesque, relics of days past). However, Fabrizio is too pragmatic to openly complain about it and even schemes to control a tiny bit of Sicily's future through his charming nephew, wherever it's going; the Prince takes it all in with a stiff lip, poise, and dignity. Don Diego's ball is just a stunner. Paradoxically, Visconti uses the palatial spaces, deep focus, and mise-en-scène cluttered with finely and colorfully costumed aristocrats to invite a democratic eye to this monarchical ritual, where individual audience members can pick and choose what to look at in a shot, perhaps a harbinger for something like the restaurant scene in Play Time albeit less sophisticated. Fabrizio just wants to take it all in and observe and not let go, from the way he betrays a certain wistfulness when calling the children of inbred marriages a bunch of monkeys to his focus on a painting of a man on his deathbed to his final glorious waltz. Of course, the party has to end sometime. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ An Autumn Afternoon - I've burned through nearly all of the single Ozu releases, as well as the Silent and Late Ozu boxsets. Let's finish up what I have (until I inevitably buy that combo-pack of The Only Son/There Was a Father). Berlin Alexanderplatz - Who has the balls to give me 15 hours of Fassbinder? Cutter's Way - A critic I enjoy reading said this was his favorite film of the 80s. I probably won't agree with him, but it's obscurity intrigues me and hey, Jeff Bridges. The Element of Crime - Early Trier, go go go. Far From Heaven - Now for something inspired by Douglas Sirk. Leningrad Cowboys Go America - I love that self-loathing, fatass director. The Magnificent Ambersons - Welles is always worth a watch, even if compromised. The Roaring Twenties - Has Cagney AND Bogart, so nothing wrong with that, right? Se7en - Yeah yeah, I haven't seen this yet. Wooden Crosses - I blind-bought the Bernard Eclipse set on the basis that this obscure French film about WWI was some kind of hidden gem. Now, I'll be motivated to see if this was true or not. Shameless: Days of Heaven, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Sansho the Bailiff, Ikiru, L'Avventura, 3 Women, Ace in the Hole, Rashomon, My Dinner with André, La Dolce Vita, The Thin Red Line, The 400 Blows, Throne of Blood, Wild Strawberries, Zodiac Coaaab fucked around with this message at 04:57 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 04:52
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a radii hike posted:
Watch Far From Heaven. Not my favorite of Todd Haynes' work, but well worth watching. By far one of my favorite Dennis Quaid performances and makes you really reevaluate him as an actor and wonder why he chooses such lovely roles. Ok, I scratched my old list from over a year ago and starting anew: From the IMDB Top 250: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) From the Netflix Top 100: Robot & Frank (2012) From the Janus Arthouse Essential Collection: Umberto D. (1952) In memoriam, From Roger Ebert's Top Films of All Time List: Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) Best Movies of All Time based on the Tomatometer (sigh) Score: Laura (1944) AFI 100 Years 100 Movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) List of films considered the best, Wikipedia: La Règle du Jeu (1939) The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, NY Times: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) Best 100 Movies Ever Made, TIME Magazine: Nayakan (1987) The 500 Greatest Moves of All Time, Empire Online: Andrei Rublev (1969) York_M_Chan fucked around with this message at 19:06 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 16:27
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York_M_Chan posted:The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) This is one of my favorite movies, so I have to assign it to people whenever I can. 12 Angry Men is a masterpiece. For the sake of not just having one sentence, here's a couple of aspects I really loved: 1) The long takes that pan around the whole room, moving between conversations and individuals. I love extended takes, and these were some of the best I've seen. 2) The progression of sweat. Everyone grows more visibly sweaty and disheveled as everything goes on and it is fantastic. 3) The simple but effective characterization. In only ninety minutes of screentime, all the jurors are developed at least a little and by the end we have something of an idea about what each one of them are like. This is a really really good movie and I'm disappointed in myself for taking so long to finally see it. - RandallODim's Wall of Shame: Vertigo (1958) - I haven't watched an awful lot of Hitchcock, but I've liked what I've watched, so I'm looking forward to more. The Rules of the Game (1939) - Wikipedia says it's a comedy about the French upper-class just before World War II. Sounds interesting. Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) - Blind bought the Criterion. Looks like it's gonna be beautiful, but don't know anything else other than monkey in a space suit. 8½ (1963) - Let's keep the Fellini train going with a movie about making a movie, shall we? Stagecoach (1939) – Not sure I've watched a John Ford film before, and it's a faux pas to start with The Searchers, so Stagecoach it is! Tokyo Story (1953) - Gonna get me some pre-1980s Japanese cinema that isn't just Kurosawa! Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - Real estate! Always Be Closing! Mamet! Sunrise (1927) - It's the last thing in the TSPDT Top 10 that I haven't seen and that isn't on my list, and I dug Nosferatu, so let's do it! (It's nothing like Nosferatu is it) Sunset Boulevard (1950) - I was told I had to put it on my list, so I guess I'm ready for my close-up. The Bicycle Thief (1948) - Another that I know for a fact I've been told I need to see, but just haven't yet. RandallODim's Shame Was Reduced By 8: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sanjuro, La Strada, The Seventh Seal, Solaris, The Godfather Part II, The Shawshank Redemption, 12 Angry Men
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May 2, 2013 19:58
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RandallODim posted:Vertigo (1958) - I haven't watched an awful lot of Hitchcock, but I've liked what I've watched, so I'm looking forward to more. Try this one. Last Year at Marienbad - I can't say I enjoyed it that much because halfway through it became repetitive but it did leave some kind of impression. The film opens with repeating narration that describes the atmosphere of the hotel until the characters seem insignificant. In this regard the characters mainly become like those found in The Shining. The relationship between A and X struck me as a monumental battle of wills between the ultimate stalker and the ultimate woman playing hard to get (didn't realize she was married at first). How many hours can he skulk around the hotel trying to convince this woman that he's telling the truth in this exercise of futility while blaring organ music plays in the background? Are they both amnesiac? They come across like a match made in hell. The woman was so docile I wish she'd called hotel security and gotten rid of this creep. I was ready to scream at my TV for one of them to change the subject. X: "For the thousandth time...I know you!" A: "That's strange...I don't remember." PS The style, atmosphere and subject matter of the film reminded me of the much shorter and to the point  music video by Duran Duran known as The Chauffeur.Also watched: You Can't Take It with You - This one is about a family full of eccentrics who clashes with rich war profiteers (due to kids wanting to get married) right before the outbreak of WWII. The eccentrics are pretty good at assimilating others into their fold and don't care much about money. They encourage people to follow their dreams rather than working at things they don't like. Naturally the other family (Kirby's) are completely the opposite. Lionel Barrymore does a complete 180 and plays a character that couldn't be much farther from Potter in It's a Wonderful Life. My favorite scene was Grandpa Martin Vanderhof (Barrymore) arguing with the IRS man about taxes. The humor in the film was similar to that found in The Three Stooges (whether it was grown adults wrestling or the house being blown up by fireworks). If there's one fault it's that every Capra movie tends to end with a magical resolution (at least all the ones I've seen). I'm not sure why this one isn't more popular. IMDb (247/250 completed): #44 Django Unchained - The glorious burden to finish this list carries on. 4/25/13 #191 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Looking back the trilogy was kind of bloated and overbearing at times. I liked The Two Towers the most. The immense struggle to complete this list moves forward! 4/27/13 #193 Life of Pi - Looks visually interesting. 4/24/13 Academy Award for Best Picture (77/85 completed): 1937 The Life of Emile Zola - A boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1936 The Great Ziegfeld - A slightly less boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty - I remember seeing some clips from this on an AFI program. 4/6/13 Procrastination (47 completed): #46 Any Steven Seagal film - I've never seen one of these and I'm not sure where to start. 4/6/13 #47 Days of Heaven - I recently bought a Roku and am going to begin an attack on my Netflix Instant list. 4/12/13 new #50 All the President's Men - Seems to be important. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-btTHxEMTw This reminded me I needed to see it. 5/3/13 new #51 JFK - Supposedly a good film but I never felt like watching it. I've seen a lot of documentaries on the Kennedy's. I'm actually kind of tired of the "Kennedy Mystique" and Camelot and all that junk. I guess I never got into the infatuation and cultish behavior people have toward them. 5/3/13
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May 3, 2013 23:34
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Zogo I don't know why you want to watch Steven Seagal films, but you get Days of Heaven which has no Steven Seagal in it. A Foreign Affair(1948) dir. Billy Wilder With Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, and John Lund  In occupied Berlin, an army captain(John Lund) is torn between an ex-Nazi cafe singer(Marlene Dietrich) and the U.S. congresswoman(Jean Arthur) investigating her. As the film opens, while the congress people fly over bombed Berlin, one of them talks about how food packages without american stickers on means humanitarian aid, and with the stickers means Imperialism. Though, he doesn't really talk about what the presence of American soldiers wearing american uniforms in the midst of the ruins of Berlin means. With that note Billy Wilder takes us through a quite cynical and bitter view of the immediate post-war Germany. But somehow he managed to make it quite funny, and occasional catches some glimpses of real humanity in the ruins. After a bunch of strange situations that bring the two together and alone in the middle of rubble, Dietrich tells Arthur that her "home is just a couple of ruins away", there's some inherent sadness to the line itself, but Dietrich delivers the line in a great deadpan manner, that you end up laughing at it, and become oddly attached and sympathetic to her character. The weak links, ends up being the leading man, John Lund, who is hopelessly outmatched by his co-stars and that the man just isn't very funny. The other weak part is the crushingly bad, tacked on Hays Code, ending. Just awful, made more egregious because the scene that comes before is a perfect moment of tension, that would fit in the best films of Hitchcock. 87(Great) SHAME Part III: To be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch comedy about them nazis. The Great Silence A Western of the spaghetti variety. Delicious. Winchester '73 James Stewart and the Old Wild West. Romeo + Juliet(1996) Oh dear The Magician Been awhile since I had a Bergman film in this list. I Vitelloni More Italian films that Scorsese has spoiled for me. Branded to Kill I hear this one is even crazier than Tokyo Drifter. The White Diamond Herzog goes on an airship to South America and to discover a lost world. Bronson Masculine violence and anxiety by Nicolas Winding Refn In Bruges Irish on the loose in Belgium, or something I dunno. Have watched so far 55 movies: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Fallen Angels, The Shop Around the Corner, La Strada, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Rescue Dawn, All About My Mother, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Long Goodbye, Vampyr, Mon Oncle, The Exterminating Angel, Jules et Jim, Sorcerer, The Darjeeling Limited, Close-up, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Host, Zelig, Koyaanisqatsi, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Last Picture Show, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Killer, Anatomy of a Murder, The Trouble with Harry, Don't Look Now, L'Atalante, Cache, The Leopard, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Dancer in the Dark, How Green Was My Valley, Vivre sa Vie, Harvey, The Earrings of Madame de..., The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Tokyo Drifter, The Player, Intolerable Cruelty, The Insider, Late Spring, Munich, Juliet of the Spirits, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, La Chienne, Le Cercle Rouge, The Lady Eve, Primer, Roma, città aperta, Black Narcissus, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Simon of the Desert, A Foreign Affair.
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May 3, 2013 23:56
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Electronico6 posted:Zogo I don't know why you want to watch Steven Seagal films, but you get Days of Heaven which has no Steven Seagal in it. He's some kind of icon and you have to take the good with the bad. Try Branded to Kill next, and yes it is crazier. Days of Heaven - Bill (Richard Gere) has a knack for getting into fights and it is ultimately his downfall. There's a certain slowness and casualness that I've seen in The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line and Badlands. This film has the same thing. No detail is too small and no animal or insect is too insignificant to get its own fifteen second closeup. Decent amount of still life as well. And watching the process of people do old style farming was interesting. I was reading the plot after watching the film and I somehow didn't realize that the The Farmer said he was going to die. Did I miss some scene where he detailed this? Anyway the plan that Bill and Abby had makes more sense now and seems a little less crazy and desperate (but still pretty reckless). I liked Brooke Adams in this and I'm surprised she isn't known to me. My favorite segment was the locust invasion and subsequent fire disaster. The narration by Linda was kind of confusing and I'm not sure if it was supposed to be her "Days of Heaven" or Abby's or whose exactly. IMDb (247/250 completed): #44 Django Unchained - The glorious burden to finish this list carries on. 4/25/13 #191 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Looking back the trilogy was kind of bloated and overbearing at times. I liked The Two Towers the most. The immense struggle to complete this list moves forward! 4/27/13 #193 Life of Pi - Looks visually interesting. 4/24/13 Academy Award for Best Picture (77/85 completed): 1937 The Life of Emile Zola - A boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1936 The Great Ziegfeld - A slightly less boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty - I remember seeing some clips from this on an AFI program. 4/6/13 new 1933 Cavalcade - Some call this the worst Best Picture winner. A 6.2 rating on IMDb kind of backs that up. 5/4/13 Procrastination (48 completed): #46 Any Steven Seagal film - I've never seen one of these and I'm not sure where to start. 4/6/13 #50 All the President's Men - Seems to be important. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-btTHxEMTw This reminded me I needed to see it. 5/3/13 #51 JFK - Supposedly a good film but I never felt like watching it. I've seen a lot of documentaries on the Kennedy's. I'm actually kind of tired of the "Kennedy Mystique" and Camelot and all that junk. I guess I never got into the infatuation and cultish behavior people have toward them. 5/3/13
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May 4, 2013 22:19
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Days of Heaven:Zogo posted:I was reading the plot after watching the film and I somehow didn't realize that the The Farmer said he was going to die. Did I miss some scene where he detailed this? Anyway the plan that Bill and Abby had makes more sense now and seems a little less crazy and desperate (but still pretty reckless).
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May 5, 2013 01:39
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Zogo watch All The President's Men, it's a must watch for the film itself as well as for the story it tells. PS - for your Seagal film, if anyone ever does pick it and if they don't suggest one for you when they do (I'm sure they will though), I'd say go with Under Siege, it's the Seagal film with the largest cultural impact remaining these days, it still pops up on TV compared to any of his other films, and it's got Tommy Lee Jones in it too, which is a nice bonus. _____________________________ field balm gave me LA Confidential. Which was pretty brilliant. Much better than the period piece police procedural that I had always assumed it to be. Set in 1950s Los Angeles the film focuses on a three quite different police officers and as much on the city in which they live and work. There's the rough old school cop, Bud White (Russell Crowe), the up and coming by the book sort, Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), and more unique to the LA, the Hollywood style celebrity cop, Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). The film shows them as separate individuals and to varying degrees gives develops their characters, but their stories feel connected by the richness of the setting not just because they all work in the same line of work with their own interests in one specific crime. The cast is excellent, I'm surprised that Guy Pearce's career didn't take off the way Russell Crowe's did after this, though that might've been down to Guy Pearce's choices himself. Crowe is the standout, with his character given the most attention of the three.The other two, Spacey & Pearce, don't get an awful lot of personal baggage beyond Exley's motivation for his careerism and a couple of very nicely subtle suggestions about Vincennes' personal life. White's character, behaviour, and motivation is spelled out a little too neatly with the story of his abusive murderous father, one incident in his childhood shaping everything about him, but the seriousness of that incident and his extreme reactions to similar situations come across as insight into the character rather than just an explanation. Kim Basinger was fantastic too, not given an awful lot to do or say but every second she's on screen she is great, one moment in particular blew me away, White's comment about her being more beautiful than Veronica Lake, could have been a simple swoon from Basinger at the compliment but she played it as absolutely touching affecting. It was just a second of an expression but it was wonderful. I'm a sucker for a brief wordless moment of acting like that. Great to see Danny DeVito in a not outright comedic role, actually great to see him in any role, and James Cromwell is great too, his Irish accent is shakey but that actually makes sense, given that he's clearly lived in America for most of, if not nearly his entire, life. The plot and how all the various cases come together is a litte too neat with aspects of coincidence coming detracting from it a bit. It's about police detectives but a significant lead for White comes from his chance encounter with one of the victims of the NiteOwl Cafe murders and him recognising her despite her own mother not while when he seen her for a few minutes she had two black eyes and a broken nose. The story, and indeed, the solving of the case doesn't hinge on White's discovery, it merely puts him into contact with Basinger but it still sits uneasy with me when a great deal of the plot was crafted better. It's a bit of a case of it being a big city but, a little disappointingly, quite a small world. List of Shame: 1 - Dreams - One of the few Kurosawa films I've not seen, not a fan of anthology films. 2 - A Prophet - Heard almost nothing but good things about this, and prison films are usually interesting. 3 - The Evil Dead - Loved Evil Dead 2 for years but never got the urge to watch its predessor. 4 - Ronin - It was February's CineD Movie of the Month, never really caught my attention but apparently good? 5 - The Untouchables - As an Irish person, Sean Connery's accent has offended me away from this. It seems to have gotten worse since Darby O'Gill... 6 - The Right Stuff - I don't think I even heard of this film until a few years ago. The late Roger Ebert's film of the year for 1983. 7 - The Host - South Korean monster movie. teenage love triangle featuring a monster based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. 8 - Glory to the Filmmaker! - A Kitano comedy... but hopefully it follows on more from Takeshis' than harking back to Getting Any? [Catching up with Kitano 1/4] 9 - The Master - New Paul Thomas Anderson film. Not sure why I haven't rushed to watch this, absolutely love several of his films. 10- The Player - new - More LA stuff! also: only seen one Altman film, The Long Goodbye, should see a more typical film of his. Shame No More: [15] Psycho | The Third Man | The Long Goodbye | Harakiri | The Silence of the Lambs | Pi | Jaws | Panic Room | Black Swan | Star Trek II | The Brothers Bloom | Hugo | Badlands | Shame | LA Confidential Chewy Bitems fucked around with this message at 01:54 on May 5, 2013 |
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May 5, 2013 01:51
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Chewy Bitems posted:PS - for your Seagal film, if anyone ever does pick it and if they don't suggest one for you when they do (I'm sure they will though), I'd say go with Under Siege, it's the Seagal film with the largest cultural impact remaining these days, it still pops up on TV compared to any of his other films, and it's got Tommy Lee Jones in it too, which is a nice bonus. I'd give him Executive Decision, just to gently caress with expectations.
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May 5, 2013 05:03
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Go with The Right Stuff. I almost could have watched Nostalghia with my eyes closed, because the sound was so wonderful, but it was the extent to which the background noises and the music did or did not carry on between scenes or recur in similar places that gave the sound such an impact, so I suppose it's a good thing I'm not blind. The way people would end up in the frame as the camera panned over them, after having just moved out of the frame as the camera panned away (so as to appear as if they teleported or something) is great. It brings to mind memory, since it happens in the imaginative/flashback/"we're back in Russia now" scenes that are lacking color and context and a sense of reality - memory calls to mind salient factors and as they pop into one's mind they pop into the frame, regardless of logic; but since it happens just as much (perhaps more) in the 'actual' world depicted in the film, right now I'm thinking of it more as a technique that suggests salience that comes not from what we choose to or happen to remember but from happening upon things in the more pedestrian sense of simply moving through the world and making discoveries. From the camera's constant, almost restless motion, to the beginning scene full of discoveries great and small (that there's this cool piece of art she wants to see - that she cannot or will not kneel - that there are birds?) to the constant revelations, tiny and large, scattered throughout the film (which are all gifted with increasing significance from the inevitable scramble to make sense of a movie that doesn't just feed you stuff on a platter) and the way the sound knits everything together but always sounds a note of dissonance (dogs barking, some machine grinding, and water dripping and sloshing are the three main linking themes, but they are almost always misplaced and they bleed over various scenes) we end up with a movie that (at least 15 minutes after having seen it for the very first time) I've decided is about the context in which discoveries (or more specifically, personal and interpersonal revelations) take place. The limited cast and the blurring between Russian homeland and Italy that reaches an apotheosis with the unforgettable final image, and the shrinking of the former into the latter, suggests a very limited context for all of this. Few people, few places, little differentiation. And once again, the sound reinforces that. Now I have to work the dogs into it somehow. This review brought to you courtesy of adding every loving earlier post into my "deshamed" list at the bottom of this post and realizing that most of my reviews suck, mostly because I end up writing them late at night after having finished the movie at which point I'm tired. I am making a commitment here and now to try to do better in the future. Hopefully every movie I watch will be deserving of at least either a reading or some kind of analysis - not everything's going to be Tarkovsky quality, I fear... 1) The Maltese Falcon (1941) - I don't know where I get off pretending to like noir without having seen this. 2) Out of the Past (1947) - For reasons that are unfathomably impenetrable to me, the title of this movie always makes me think of that classic Brendan Fraser vehicle Encino Man. So despite the fact that this movie is apparently amazing, I'm going to need a little push from this thread to get around to watching it. 3) Union Station (1950) - It has William Holden, right? So I should probably also check it out. 4) Stalker (1979) - As of adding this entry I have two Tarkovsky movies on the list. Endless shame etc. 5) Body Heat (1981) - I want to see some Lawrence Kasdan that isn't Lucas-related. 6) Hard Eight (1996) - This thread gave me There Will Be Blood, which I enjoyed, so I think I'll be going through Paul Thomas Anderson chronologically, because I haven't see any of his other movies. 7) Amores Perros (2000) - When I was in college, one of my roommates watched this with some friends of ours. I was nearby but not paying attention (I had headphones on) but afterwards I caught their reaction - our friends sounded uncomfortable by what they had just seen, and my roommate thought it was pretty good. My roommate has good taste and likes weird stuff, and these friends are ones that don't really go for the more out-there stuff, so on the off chance I dislike this at least it will potentially be interesting. 8) Almost Famous (2000) - I think this is about teenagers or something. 9) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) - I've seen... two? Romanian films and enjoyed them both, so based on statistic extrapolation, I will enjoy every Romanian film. 10) Waltz with Bashir (2008) - I've heard good stuff. Deshamed (Total - 43): In a Lonely Place (98), The Seventh Seal (97), Full Metal Jacket (96), Last Year at Marienbad (95), Seven Samurai (95), Heathers (94), Lawrence of Arabia (93), There Will Be Blood (93), The Brothers Bloom (92), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (92), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (92), Sweet Smell of Success (91), Nostalghia (91), Play Time (91), Schindler's List (91), The Long Goodbye (91), Blue Velvet (90), Once Upon a Time in the West (90), 8 1/2 (89), City of God (89), Badlands (89), Das Boot (88), Videodrome (88), The Exterminating Angel (87), 99 River Street (87), Goodfellas (87), M (86), High Fidelity (86), A History of Violence (86), Rififi (84), Midnight Cowboy (84), Crimes and Misdemeanors (84), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (84), Touch of Evil (83), The Social Network (83), The Last King of Scotland (82), City Lights (82), Slacker (82), Vertigo (81), Breakfast at Tiffany's (81), Unforgiven (81), The Man Who Fell to Earth (79), Raising Arizona (77), The Lady Vanishes (76), Boyz n the Hood (76), The Man Who Knew Too Much (60)
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May 5, 2013 07:32
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TychoCelchuuu posted:
Stop pretending! On top of that, it's a great film. Enjoy. Ben-Hur I think it's safe to say I got spoiled by seeing this for the first time on bluray. From beginning to end, throughout its 3hr 42mins runtime, this film was incredibly beautiful to look at. It's a massive epic film, the sets are large with plenty of extras - there's just too many beautiful shots in this film to count. At nearly any moment you could pause this film and hang it up on the wall. The film is long, but it all feels necessary as characters are developed, the story gets richer and the battle lines are more finely drawn. The film does veer off in a different direction towards the final act, but it doesn't take too much away for me. The famous chariot race is one of the coolest things I've ever seen and I immediately rewound it to watch the scene again. That alone is worth seeing this film, and on the biggest screen possible. I couldn't imagine watching this on a laptop, tablet, or cell phone. I was intimidated for the longest time to sit down and watch Ben-Hur, and I'm glad I finally did. It's a grand, emotional melodramatic epic of a movie that really doesn't happen like this anymore. It deserves the reputation it has, and I'm happy I can get this weight lifted off my shoulders (pun intended). Bug Well, if the plan was to get a good night's sleep, that's just not gonna happen! What an intense fiery batshit crazy film! I don't watch horror movies all that much, and now I remember why! Claiming to be a huge Michael Shannon fan I was near ashamed I had not known he was in this. Not only is he in this, he performed the Tracy Letts play 'Bug' on Broadway for years prior! It was William Friedkin who had went multiple times to watch the play and demand Michael Shannon continue his role in the movie. This immediately reminded me of Christian McKay's incredible portrayal of Orson Welles in Linklater's "Me & Orson Welles". I wasn't expecting to have these two films discussed together, but here we are! There are scenes in this film I may never forget. In certain moments I'm scared for the actors because it's all so maniacal and intense. Some scenes take it a tad too far for my tastes (similar to Letts' other stage adaptation Killer Joe), but that may just be the initial shock not wearing off yet. This isn't a family film. There are moments of real disturbance and horror, and it shouldn't be something you watch before you go to bed! *Note to self* But I can't praise Shannon's performance enough as it's really the heart of this film and worth seeing for him alone. But now it's time to watch something happy and cheer myself up - like Care Bears, Looney Tunes, or the scene where Chris Tucker gets shot in the face in a certain Tarantino film. LIST All The President's Men (2013.03.28) - one of those classic films I continue to avoid for no good reason. The Aviator (2013.04.11) - getting back on track with the Scorsese 'director-completion' thread. Not sure how I missed this when it came out. Duck Soup (2013.03.09) - Marx Brothers. I hear good things. The Leopard (2012.09.18) - blind purchase during a B&N sale & haven't had any strong desire to see it (probably the runtime). The Magnificient Ambersons **new** (2013.05.04) - I claim to be a big Welles fan yet have not watched his follow up to Citizen Kane. The Music Room (2013.01.29) - I have to yet see anything from Satyajit Ray. The Sting (2013.02.19) - I get told often to watch this. I want to get told once more. The Taste of Cherry **new** (2013.05.04) - I've loved Close-up & Certified Copy. I want more! Through a Glass Darkly (2013.01.18) - just picked up the Bergman trilogy and I want to do this in order. Werckmeister Harmonies (2013.03.28) - I apparently started off on the wrong foot with Bela Tarr, seeing The Turin Horse first. I'm giving Tarr another try. De-shamed: Aliens (4.5/5), The Bridge on the River Kwai (5/5), La Dolce Vita (4/5), The Hustler (5/5), Blue Velvet (4.5/5), Close-Up (4.5/5), The Lady Vanishes (4.5/5), Grave of the Fireflies (5/5), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (3.5/5), Oldboy (4.5/5), Gattaca (3.5/5), Children of Men (5/5), The Great Dictator (4.5/5), Diabolique (4.5/5), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (3.5/5), Rashomon (4.5/5), Singin' in the Rain (5/5), Le Samourai (5/5), Hiroshima, Mon Amour (5/5), Battleship Potemkin (4/5), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (3.5/5), Network (5/5), Once Upon A Time In The West (5/5), Sleeper (2.5/5), Y Tu Mama Tambien (4.5/5), Lawrence of Arabia (3.5/5), Amadeus (4/5), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (4.5/5), The Postman Always Rings Twice (3.5/5), Ben-Hur (4.5/5), Bug (4/5), [Total:31]
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May 5, 2013 08:15
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friendo55 go with All The President's Men. No reason to avoid this classic any longer. _____________________________ TychoCelchuuu gave me The Right Stuff. Which was quite good. And thankfully entertaining throughout its three hour runtime. The story of Chuck Yeager and the first seven American Astronauts in the process of going from trying to break the sound barrier to chasing the USSR in the space race. The film doesn't give a huge amount of depth to the characters of Yeager or the Astronauts and should be a much worse film than it is really. Its long and fairly plodding as it spends much of the first hour with Yeagar, to the point I was thinking I was wrong that this was about Astronauts at all. That first hour feels disconnected to the rest of the film despite it periodically showing brief scenes with Yeager as he reacts to news of the Astronauts. The wide focus of the film works against it rather than centering on one part of the space race or even one Astronaut. Its doesn't drag and has some excellent scenes such as Yeager's Mach 2+ flight and Glenn orbiting the Earth in particular standing out. Both these scenes also get a bit more into the wonder of reaching such achievements while the rest of the film tends to be very matter of fact about events, though not in a cold procedural way. The enjoyment I got from those scenes of wonder really made me wish the rest of the film had a perspective on why people want to go to these lengths and how impressive such feats can be. Made me want to see a space race film more like that, or at least rewatch The Wings of Honneamise. The scenes with the Astronaut wives and the two surprisingly comedic(in a good way) government officals played by Harry Shearer and Jeff Goldblum are nice changes of pace which I found more interesting/entertaining that any of that first hour. (I'm not a fan of that first hour though I do think I'll ease up on it over time as it did set the scene of the time but I still don't think it was necessary for it to be so substantial.) It was a decent film, just a bit of a messy one. Also:  & boo! those sure were some evil Soviet space rockets, dunno it that was to set the attitute of the 50s or that this was made during the Cold War.List of Shame: 1 - Dreams - One of the few Kurosawa films I've not seen, not a fan of anthology films. 2 - A Prophet - Heard almost nothing but good things about this, and prison films are usually interesting. 3 - The Evil Dead - Loved Evil Dead 2 for years but never got the urge to watch its predessor. 4 - Ronin - It was February's CineD Movie of the Month, never really caught my attention but apparently good? 5 - The Untouchables - As an Irish person, Sean Connery's accent has offended me away from this. It seems to have gotten worse since Darby O'Gill... 6 - The Host - South Korean monster movie. teenage love triangle featuring a monster based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. 7 - Glory to the Filmmaker! - A Kitano comedy... but hopefully it follows on more from Takeshis' than harking back to Getting Any? [Catching up with Kitano 1/4] 8 - The Master - New Paul Thomas Anderson film. Not sure why I haven't rushed to watch this, absolutely love several of his films. 9 - The Player - I've only seen one Altman film, The Long Goodbye, figure I should see a more typical film of his, & a Hollywood setting will be interesting too. 10- Assault on Precinct 13 - new - Interesting premise & got a good interesting review earlier in the thread too. Shame No More: [16] Psycho | The Third Man | The Long Goodbye | Harakiri | The Silence of the Lambs | Pi | Jaws | Panic Room | Black Swan | Star Trek II | The Brothers Bloom | Hugo | Badlands | Shame | LA Confidential | The Right Stuff
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May 5, 2013 23:10
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Chewy Bitems gets The Evil Dead. Fair warning: It is not similar in tone to ED2 ______________________ I can't really say that Snatch was my type of movie. The opening heist was well done, but I lost interest as it went on. The comedy ended up being stronger than the action and crime scenes. Everything involving Sol and the gang was good, and the film gained a lot of momentum towards the end, but I was still ultimately unsatisfied. I don't regret watching it, but I can't see myself watching it again. I can see myself listening to it's kickass soundtrack at some point though. _______________________ The List of Shame 1. Witness for the Prosecution: More courtroom drama 2. Lolita: I've seen almost all of Kubrick's offerings, but I have not yet seen this teen sex romp. 3. Gaslight: This is one of the more famous noirs, so I feel I need to see it. 4. Ocean's Eleven (1960): I've seen the remake a bunch of times - let's see how the original one is. 5. The Magnificent Ambersons: I enjoyed Citizen Kane, so I should see more works from Welles. 6. True Lies: This is kind of different from the rest of the list. I really like Arnie's movies from around this time, but I can just never bring myself around to watch this. 7. Life is Beautiful: 90's movie about a guy who brightens his son's day with comedy. Sounds great. 8. Amelie: I recall seeing this one in the video stores (back when those existed) but despite it's eye catching cover I never had the desire to rent it. 9. Cinema Paradiso: I should probably see the movie the forums are named after. 10. The Seventh Seal: I've watched a few Bergman films lately, but I haven't seen what is arguably his most well known film yet Un-shamed in 2013: The Grapes of Wrath, Yojimbo, The Sixth Sense, Forbidden Planet, Cool Hand Luke, Easy Rider, It Happened one Night, Donnie Brasco, Fargo, Enter the Dragon, The Big Sleep, Adam's Rib, Animal House, Quiz Show, The Man with the Golden Arm, Strangers on a Train, Singin' in the Rain, The Philadelphia Story, The Time Machine, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, The Seven Year Itch, The Deer Hunter, City Lights, The Prestige, Five Easy Pieces, Some Like it Hot, Snatch
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May 5, 2013 23:15
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Days of Heaven: I'll need to rewatch the early sections on Netflix again to find that point. Jurgan posted:I'd give him Executive Decision, just to gently caress with expectations. Chewy Bitems posted:PS - for your Seagal film, if anyone ever does pick it and if they don't suggest one for you when they do (I'm sure they will though), I'd say go with Under Siege, it's the Seagal film with the largest cultural impact remaining these days, it still pops up on TV compared to any of his other films, and it's got Tommy Lee Jones in it too, which is a nice bonus. I'll keep those in mind if I get tired of seeing it on my list. Chewy Bitems posted:I'm surprised that Guy Pearce's career didn't take off the way Russell Crowe's did after this, though that might've been down to Guy Pearce's choices himself. I really liked his character in this film. I've seen him in six films post-L.A. Confidential and all those others just don't stick out or do anything for me for various reasons.
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May 6, 2013 00:49
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Watch True Lies. I think there is so much to be said about that movie that a book would have trouble doing it justice. That's not to say it's good, although it has some stuff with a jet plane that will go down in the record books. The Maltese Falcon was very good. I tend to shy away from detective/noir stories that are less naturalistic and more "what is the most interesting plot that the writer could think of" but this film mostly just uses the plot as an excuse to get in snappy talking rather than to fellate itself about how awesome Humphrey Bogart's character is, so I don't mind. I also tend to prefer my noir to be darker and gritter (something that is tougher to pull off the less naturalistic the movie is) but in this case the film worked just as a straight up detective story (tonally, I mean - it's hardly a whodunit). The most noir-like part, and the most naturalistic part despite, paradoxically, being so cold and clinical and unrealistic, was the dynamic between Bogart and Mary Astor over whether, why, and how they loved each other. It's also the meatiest part of the movie thematically - "greed is pretty nuts, yo" is the rest of what you get. As for their relationship, the line that struck me the most was when Bogart said something along the lines of "the biggest reason I'm not going along with you is because I want to so much." The juxtaposition of his (callous? learned? savvy? needless? noble?) self-sacrifice with what he and she ostensibly get from love and the denial of it (he gets revenge, or something like it, and she gets protection that she can turn into a backstab when needed) suggests that the movie's message is one of ambivalence towards the transcendence of love. A step beyond "gently caress bitches, get [x]," The Maltese Falcon wants to say that no matter how good your reasons are for shunning love, in the end, the best reason is that you don't want to. This is a much more mature take on the rejection of love than we usually get. Typically it's all about being logical or detached or smart or sexually free or otherwise free and not tied down or one of the many other reasons that have been given over the centuries. Or, it's much worse: a blind assertion of privilege on the part of those lucky enough to do without it ("frankly, my dear, I don't give a drat") with little evidence that those with the privilege understand that privilege in any meaningful manner (certainly not emotionally). Bogart, though, feels it, and when we hear him say he'll be torn up for a few weeks after sending Astor to jail, we're not sure if he's lying to himself, or her, or whether he's not even sure. All we know is that there's something there, and it is only by taking it head on, by owning it and letting it churn him up, that Bogart can do the right thing with it. 1) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) - This movie always reminds me of Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, a self-righteous documentary by one of the "little guys" who, a while after the documentary was made, was convicted for violating federal election law and lying about it. So hopefully Jimmy Stewart won't be as much of a letdown. 2) Out of the Past (1947) - For reasons that are unfathomably impenetrable to me, the title of this movie always makes me think of that classic Brendan Fraser vehicle Encino Man. So despite the fact that this movie is apparently amazing, I'm going to need a little push from this thread to get around to watching it. 3) Union Station (1950) - It has William Holden, right? So I should probably also check it out. 4) Stalker (1979) - As of adding this entry I have two Tarkovsky movies on the list. Endless shame etc. 5) Body Heat (1981) - I want to see some Lawrence Kasdan that isn't Lucas-related. 6) Hard Eight (1996) - This thread gave me There Will Be Blood, which I enjoyed, so I think I'll be going through Paul Thomas Anderson chronologically, because I haven't see any of his other movies. 7) Amores Perros (2000) - When I was in college, one of my roommates watched this with some friends of ours. I was nearby but not paying attention (I had headphones on) but afterwards I caught their reaction - our friends sounded uncomfortable by what they had just seen, and my roommate thought it was pretty good. My roommate has good taste and likes weird stuff, and these friends are ones that don't really go for the more out-there stuff, so on the off chance I dislike this at least it will potentially be interesting. 8) Almost Famous (2000) - I think this is about teenagers or something. 9) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) - I've seen... two? Romanian films and enjoyed them both, so based on statistic extrapolation, I will enjoy every Romanian film. 10) Waltz with Bashir (2008) - I've heard good stuff. Deshamed: In a Lonely Place (98), The Seventh Seal (97), Full Metal Jacket (96), Last Year at Marienbad (95), Seven Samurai (95), Heathers (94), Lawrence of Arabia (93), There Will Be Blood (93), The Brothers Bloom (92), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (92), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (92), Sweet Smell of Success (91), Nostalghia (91), Play Time (91), Schindler's List (91), The Long Goodbye (91), Blue Velvet (90), Once Upon a Time in the West (90), 8 1/2 (89), City of God (89), Badlands (89), Das Boot (88), Videodrome (88), The Exterminating Angel (87), 99 River Street (87), Goodfellas (87), M (86), High Fidelity (86), A History of Violence (86), The Maltese Falcon (85), Rififi (84), Midnight Cowboy (84), Crimes and Misdemeanors (84), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (84), Touch of Evil (83), The Social Network (83), The Last King of Scotland (82), City Lights (82), Slacker (82), Vertigo (81), Breakfast at Tiffany's (81), Unforgiven (81), The Man Who Fell to Earth (79), Raising Arizona (77), The Lady Vanishes (76), Boyz n the Hood (76), The Man Who Knew Too Much (60)
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May 6, 2013 03:03
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TychoCelchuuu posted:
I might as well stick with the same genre - have fun! All The President's Men "JUNE 1, 1972" The film opens with an extreme close-up of a typewriter giving the date Nixon returns home from China. Sixteen days later would be the break-in at the Democratic National Committee - Watergate complex in Washington. The typewriter works with great effect, like gunshots, and does so throughout the film. Safe to say I don't think a laptop or cellphone would have the same impact... I love these types of films, a procedural that moves at such rapid pace it feels like a Hitchcock thriller! A Separation comes to mind as well as The Social Network; half the fun is trying to keep up. All The President's Men features some amazing performances and some great screenwriting. Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) are two unknown reporters at the Washington Post hungry to bust open the Watergate scandal leading up to the Nixon re-election. With no other papers reporting, and half the country unaware, they're going to whatever lengths it takes to open this up big. Jack Warden goes to back as chief editor Harry Rosenfeld, and Jason Robards deservedly won Best Supporting Actor as executive editor Ben Bradlee. Hal Holbrook plays the mysterious informant "Deep Throat" and would almost feel like a cheap movie cliche if we didn't know it was already true! The closing moments of this film end the way they began, exemplifying its tight execution from start to finish. It's an incredible story and is unraveled beautifully for someone like me going in knowing very little. LIST The Aviator (2013.04.11) - getting back on track with the Scorsese 'director-completion' thread. Not sure how I missed this when it came out. Duck Soup (2013.03.09) - Marx Brothers. I hear good things. The Leopard (2012.09.18) - blind purchase during a B&N sale & haven't had any strong desire to see it (probably the runtime). The Magnificient Ambersons (2013.05.04) - I claim to be a big Welles fan yet have not watched his follow up to Citizen Kane. The Music Room (2013.01.29) - I have to yet see anything from Satyajit Ray. The Sting (2013.02.19) - I get told often to watch this. I want to get told once more. The Sweet Hereafter **new** (2013.05.05) - I loved Egoyan's "Exotica" which is the only other film of his I've seen. I hear this is pretty good. The Taste of Cherry (2013.05.04) - I've loved Close-up & Certified Copy. I want more! Through a Glass Darkly (2013.01.18) - just picked up the Bergman trilogy and I want to do this in order. Werckmeister Harmonies (2013.03.28) - I apparently started off on the wrong foot with Bela Tarr, seeing The Turin Horse first. I'm giving Tarr another try. De-shamed: Aliens (4.5/5), The Bridge on the River Kwai (5/5), La Dolce Vita (4/5), The Hustler (5/5), Blue Velvet (4.5/5), Close-Up (4.5/5), The Lady Vanishes (4.5/5), Grave of the Fireflies (5/5), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (3.5/5), Oldboy (4.5/5), Gattaca (3.5/5), Children of Men (5/5), The Great Dictator (4.5/5), Diabolique (4.5/5), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (3.5/5), Rashomon (4.5/5), Singin' in the Rain (5/5), Le Samourai (5/5), Hiroshima, Mon Amour (5/5), Battleship Potemkin (4/5), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (3.5/5), Network (5/5), Once Upon A Time In The West (5/5), Sleeper (2.5/5), Y Tu Mama Tambien (4.5/5), Lawrence of Arabia (3.5/5), Amadeus (4/5), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (4.5/5), The Postman Always Rings Twice (3.5/5), Ben-Hur (4.5/5), Bug (4/5), All The President's Men (4.5/5), [Total:32]
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May 6, 2013 04:34
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friendo55 posted:Through a Glass Darkly (2013.01.18) - just picked up the Bergman trilogy and I want to do this in order. This movie is phenomenal. Hiroshima mon amour (1959): This feels a lot like a logical extension of the ideas presented in Night and Fog in that it's an earnest attempt to explore how we, as individuals, process unconscionable human suffering without wanting to kill ourselves. The film approaches this concept almost playfully, opening its searing "indictment" of humanity with the newsreel footage of Hiroshima's aftermath within the context of intimate lovemaking. It's a perfect contrast; not a day goes by these characters don't think about their traumas instigated by war, but they're not about to concede what they still have in life. It's just such a smart way to approach the content. The film isn't judgmental. It acknowledges just how much of this chaos is out of anyone's hands, and that much like the bomb's aftermath, these wounds aren't going anywhere. Emmanuelle Riva is absolutely superb in this. 80/100 1. The Double Life of Véronique: I don't know a lot about this other than that it's by Three Colors dude. 2. The English Patient: Elaine sure didn't like it but then again I don't think I'm on the same page with her about Sack Lunch. 3. Ace in the Hole: I'm way the hell behind on my Wilder, but everything I watch I love. 4. The Best Years of Our Lives: I go where Myrna goes. 5. The Bad Sleep Well: There's always more Kurosawa, until there isn't, I guess. 6. Faust: I was thinking the other day about how cool I thought Murnau was despite having only seen two of his movies. 7. Harlan County, USA: I was sick the day they showed this in college and I always regretted missing it. 8. La Dolce Vita: Sweet Christ, this is long. 9. The Battle of Algiers: I've neglected this one despite various recommendations from lots of trustworthy folk. 10. Red River: I'm pretty sure I've seen this, but I was probably 6 or 7 and don't remember a thing about it. Watched - The Godfather Part II (95), City of God (95), Paths of Glory (85), North by Northwest (95), The Bridge on the River Kwai (90), Fanny and Alexander (100), 8 1/2 (85), The Rules of the Game (80), His Girl Friday (75), The Wages of Fear (90), Rashomon (95), Stroszek (90), The French Connection (85), Singin' in the Rain (95), Cries and Whispers (90), Grand Illusion (95), Gaslight (85), Aliens (80), Wild Strawberries (90), Scenes from a Marriage (85), M (75), Tokyo Story (80), Blue Velvet (80), Nashville (90), The Great Dictator (85), Forbidden Planet (100), Satantango (85), The Apartment (70), Shane (85), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (90), Harakiri (90), Mulholland Dr. (90), The Hidden Fortress (85), Three Colors: Blue (90), Nostalghia (85), Throne of Blood (90), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (90), The Color of Pomegranates (70), Yi Yi (85), The Exterminating Angel (80), L'Atalante (90), Hiroshima mon amour (80)
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May 6, 2013 21:37
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My Night At Maud's I'm embarrassingly unfamiliar with the non-secular world. Sure, there are facts and figures that come to me, some knowledge of legends and fables but it never stops seeming really foreign to me, it's always just as weird and perplexing as it was six months ago or last year or before I took ancient lit and had to read Genesis. It's just a way of thinking that was never put upon me and that I've never had to immerse myself in, which makes a significant portion of My Night At Maud's difficult for me to parse. I can follow the philosophical conversations because Rohmer is careful to clearly delineate the topics at play but then there are two long scenes at a church in which we're made to hear parts of a sermon and I've already forgotten the subject and I have no idea how they tie into the rest of the film. It just goes over me. Fortunately, as Roger Ebert says (said? ugh.), the film is about four things and only one of them is "being a Roman-Catholic". The other three interest me deeply: love, body language, and the games people play. In a way My Night At Maud's is almost a proto-Cassavetes film, trailing its characters through lengthy, stark interactions that grow and exist only from them, and are not forced to a point or conclusion or allegory for the sake of the script. The eponymous central scene is riveting in its casually hypnotic conversation and it's extremely easy to sink into it and be lead where it goes. It's also an insanely good-looking film, with the same powdery, airy lightness of Godard's Breathless but with more grounded, squared-off, almost photographic cinematography. Rohmer paints locations with light and they come alive with texture, which is a huge boon to the script because it means the whole film breathes. 10/10 this list is as shameful as michael fassbender's penis 1) Weekend - Traffic jams, cannibals, and something about the language of cinema? 2) The River - I know almost nothing of Jean Renoir. 3) The Naked City - noir, noir, apple 4) Stray Dog - More modern-day Kurosawa can't be a bad thing. 5) The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - Lang, the influential. 6) Dogtooth - Black comedy about an isolated family? 7) Four Lions - I love black comedy, the blacker the better. 8) The Sacrifice - A merry fellow he was, that Tarkovsky. 9) La Haine - This seems like something I should be obligated to see. 10) Night And Fog - uh oh Jules et Jim 6/10, Saving Private Ryan 9.5/10, Fitzcarraldo 9/10, The 39 Steps 7/10, Notorious 7/10, Run Lola Run 8/10, Downfall 7.5/10, The Searchers 7.5/10, Tokyo Story 7/10, Gone With The Wind 10/10, Touch Of Evil 9.5/10, Ikiru 7.5/10, The Apartment 7/10, Bicycle Thieves 7/10, Moon 7/10, The Color Purple 7.5/10. The French Connection 9.5/10, The Leopard 8/10, Yojimbo 8.5/10, Sanjuro 8/10, Das Boot 8.5/10, The Conformist 8/10, Breathless 9/10, Where The Wild Things Are 7.5/10, Vertigo 9/10, Raging Bull 10/10, Ordet 7/10, City Of God 9/10, The Wages Of Fear 9/10, Aguirre, The Wrath Of God 9/10, The Mirror 9.5/10, Through A Glass Darkly 10/10, On The Waterfront 6/10, The Straight Story 9/10, Lawrence Of Arabia 8.5/10, Dial M For Murder, 8/10 Winter Light 10/10, The Silence 9/10, Badlands 8/10, The Wrong Man 7/10, In The Mood For Love 9.5/10, Secret Honor 10/10, Gosford Park 10/10, Viridiana 7.5/10, The Exterminating Angel 9/10, Seven Samurai 10/10, Rashomon 9/10, The Godfather: Part II 10/10, La Dolce Vita 10/10, The Princess Bride 9/10, Bringing Up Baby 7/10, City Lights 9/10, Baraka 7/10, Au revior les enfants 8/10, Bonnie And Clyde 6.5, Hiroshima mon amour 8/10, Lost In Translation 10/10, The Piano 8/10, La Strada 7/10, Safety Last! 10/10 Vivre sa vie 9/10, Band Of Outsiders 8/10, Diary Of A Country Priest 7/10, Mommie Dearest 8/10, Once Upon A Time In The West 10/10, L'Atalante 7/10, All About My Mother 7/10, Shoot The Piano Player 8/10, Faces 10/10, The Passion Of Joan Of Arc 10/10, The Wild Bunch 6/10, Harold And Maude see my review, Pink Flamingos 8/10, Heat 10/10, Raising Arizona 7/10, L'Avventura 2/10, Atlantic City 9/10, The Magic Flute 9/10, Cleo From 5 To 7 9/10, Down By Law 10/10, Hoop Dreams 10/10, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her ¿8/10?, La jetée 9/10, Night Of The Living Dead 9/10, Cool Hand Luke 6/10, Pather Panchali 10/10, The Terminator 6/10, The Trial 10/10, Exit Through The Gift Shop 10/10, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 7/10, The Phantom Carriage 10/10, Au Hasard Balthazar 3/10, The African Queen 10/10, My Night At Maud's 10/10 (total: 94) Kull the Conqueror gets The Double Life of Véronique
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May 7, 2013 01:55
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Magic Hate Ball gets The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, since I haven't heard of anything on that list. Lottery pick! Starship Troopers: How did anyone not catch that this is satire? Between the "Mobile infantry made me the man I am today" paraplegic, the fantastically over-the-top propaganda interludes, and Neil Patrick Harris in an SS uniform, it's kind of hard to miss. I really liked them pretty much making a standard "yay military!" sci-fi action movie that periodically kills a major character pointlessly and brutally. It gets its message across. The effects held up surprisingly well, considering the movie's age. Also, the costuming was well done. Were the dress uniforms actual Nazi uniforms with the patches changed around, or just (really strongly) inspired by them? _________________________ My Shame List, in order of length of time on the list: 1) The Exorcist: Catching up on classic horror. 2) Stagecoach: I've never seen a "classic" western. The Man who Shot Liberty Valance doesn't count. 3) Unbreakable: A few of my friends have called this the best superhero movie ever made. Let's see if they're right! 4) Triumph of the Will: Super influential Nazi propaganda? Seems like I should watch this just to keep an eye out for people using its techniques. 5) Oldboy: Pretty much going into this blind, aside from knowing 6) Nosferatu (1922): More German Expressionism! 7) Forbidden Planet: A Sci-fi adaptation of Shakespeare? Sounds fun. 8) The Big Lebowski: Not just a dumb comedy? 9) Drive: A new member of the Goon Canon. 10) 12 Angry Men: (new) The classic courtroom drama, apparently. De-Shamed (20) [Top 5 in bold]: The Thing, Casino Royale, Blue Velvet, Metropolis, Unforgiven, The Rock, Jurassic Park, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Shining, Videodrome, Inglourious Basterds, Con Air, Mulholland Dr., The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Taxi Driver, Prometheus, Pan's Labyrinth, 8 1/2, Casino, Starship Troopers
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May 9, 2013 02:26
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