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bitterandtwisted posted:7) (Horror) Blair Witch Project (1999) The film that launched a whole subgenre Remember...it's a real documentary! Freaks - It went by very quickly as it's only an hour long and fast-paced as well. Most of the film revolves around circus performers and their relationship problems (and one woman trying to steal a fortune). It's a familiar dynamic in a less common setting and with even rarer players. The eponymous freaks mainly have microcephaly, dwarfism and some are missing appendages. Hans (who's in a relationship with Frieda) begins cheating on her with another woman. They get married and have a falling-out immediately after the wedding ceremony. The freaks gather around for a communion but the new bride wants no part of it and she tries to poison her new husband. Eventually they bring knives and guns to settle the score and the true villain is turned into a chicken/duck woman. Early on in the film someone says "they're monsters!" referring to the freaks. But things aren't that simple and by the end it brings about the concept that one cannot tell real monsters merely by appearance. It's a shame the original version is probably lost forever. James Bond versus Godzilla (28/64 completed): Godzilla vs. Megalon - Godzilla vs. giant cockroach/beetle. 3/9/18 Esquire's 75 Movies Every Man Should See (73/74 completed): #66 Run Silent, Run Deep - Supposedly a premier submarine film. 10/20/17 Premiere’s 25 Most Dangerous Movies (23/25 completed): #3 Romper Stomper - I remember this being a favorite of people many years back. 2/3/18 #23 In the Company of Men - #MeToo the movie? 3/16/18 Academy Award for Best Directing (82/91 completed): 1949 A Letter to Three Wives - Sounds like a polygamist classic. 2/27/18 new 1937 The Awful Truth - Cary Grant in another screwball comedy. 3/27/18 1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - I have seen the remake from 2002 starring Adam Sandler and Winona Ryder. 3/13/18 1932 Bad Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_KbwEVBjU 3/23/18 1929 The Divine Lady - A love story of some sort. 2/27/18 1928 Two Arabian Knights - A WWI comedy. 2/20/18
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Mar 28, 2018 05:43
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Zogo posted:
Blair Witch Projext (1999) Three people go on a miserable camping trip. The found footage aspect felt mostly believable, and didn't leave me thinking "why would anyone be recording this" that is now a cliche of the subgenre. The interviewees at the start felt like real locals. The falling out between the three as the trip gets worse is very realistic and is really the meat of the film. I'd like if we'd had a chance to get to know them better when they're in town as friends. One Irrationally Irritating Movie Moment I had was when they're lost and try going south only to end where they started. They have a compass. Is there something supernatural going on? Is Heather an idiot who can't use a compass? No one asks either question, so why not lose the compass with the map and have them best-guessing where south is? I have to admit the film dragged quite a bit and felt way longer than its mere 81 minute runtime, but I can see why it was a hit at the time. $250m gross on a $60k budget  My List: 1) (highest ranked imdb) Life is Beautiful 2) (classic comedy) Annie Hall I've never seen a Woody Allen film 3) (animation) The Lord of the Rings (1978) The books and Jackson's films were favourites of my childhood/teenage years and I'd like to see this oddball one. 4) (Academy Award winner) The Sting It sounds like a fun caper 5) (foreign language) Bicycle Thieves It's been kind of on my radar for a while 6) (war) The Bridge on the River Kwai I haven't seen much of Alec Guinness' that wasn't a comedy or a star wars. 7) (Horror) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Possibly the first horror film 8) (sci fi/fantasy) Forbidden Planet Robbie the Robot looks adorable 9) (epic) Ben Hur (1959) Probably the first thing that comes into my head when I think of the term 'epic film' 10) (wildcard) Deliverance  Watched (17): Taxi Driver; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Iron Giant; Platoon; American History X; City Lights; My Neighbour Totoro; Rashomon; Duck Soup; Friday 13th (1980); Birdman; Frankenstein (1931); Time Bandits; Carrie (1976); King Kong (1933); Das Boot; The Blair Witch Project (1999)
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Mar 30, 2018 12:46
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bitterandtwisted posted:One Irrationally Irritating Movie Moment I had was when they're lost and try going south only to end where they started. They have a compass. Is there something supernatural going on? Is Heather an idiot who can't use a compass? One of those ambiguities that's open to interpretation. They aren't experts IIRC so one could say that got lost. Or perhaps the Blair Witch has hexed them into confusion. Or both.
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Mar 31, 2018 23:21
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bitterandtwisted, see The Sting. It's a fun movie. Just saw Lost in Translation. Not sure what to think of it. It had good cinematography, and Tokyo looked gorgeous in the film. Strange ending, though.Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson did a great job as two lonely people not sure where they fit in with the culture of Japan and really made you feel for their characters. My List: The Shootist - Feel like it's time for another John Wayne movie. The Aviator - I don't know anything about this movie. NEWEST Jabberwocky - Following up one Terry Gilliam movie with another. The General - Never saw a Buster Keaton movie. The Cocoanuts - Working my way through the Marx Brothers movies. This is their first movie. The Cat Returns - Need to see some more Studio Ghibli. Sequel to Whisper of the Heart OLDEST Stray Dog - Starting to run out of Kurosawa films. What a great director. Oklahoma - Don't know anything about it. Next on my musicals list. Die Nibelungen - Interested in seeing another Fritz Lang picture. To Catch a Thief - More Hitchcock here. King Creole - Adding a new slot here for Elvis, Sinatra, Beatles movies. Starting with one of Elvis'. Movies Seen: Seven Samurai, Dune, Singin' in the Rain, Animal Crackers, Once Upon a Time in the West, Amadeus, Double Indemnity, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 12 Angry Men, Ed Wood, Sunset Boulevard, The Dark Knight, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Brazil, Rashomon, Yojimbo, No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, M, Duck Soup, The Princess and the Frog, Sanjuro, The Hidden Fortress, Dracula, It's a Wonderful Life, Lawrence of Arabia, Ikiru, High and Low, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Kagemusha, Best In Show, Modern Times, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Red Beard, Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Cars, Cool Hand Luke, The Public Enemy, Time Bandits, Adaptation, The Producers, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gone With The Wind, My Fair Lady, City Lights, A Christmas Carol(1951), Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, West Side Story, Caddyshack, My Neighbor Totoro, Throne of Blood, The Phantom of the Opera, Yellow Submarine, Little Caesar, The Third Man, The Godfather, Persepolis, The Godfather Part II, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Invisible Man, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Bridge on the River Kwai, A Beautiful Mind, The Kid, Fiddler on the Roof, The Gold Rush, Metropolis, Rear Window, Enter the Dragon, Horse Feathers, The Great Dictator, Despicable Me, The Bad Sleep Well, The Wolf Man, Nosferatu, Patton, Howl's Moving Castle, The King and I, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Kiki's Delivery Service, The King's Speech, Grave of the Fireflies, Porco Rosso, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, The Graduate, Whisper of the Heart, The 39 Steps, Ran, Notorious, True Grit, North By Northwest, Rope, Dersu Uzala, Vertigo, Avatar, Gangs of New York, House of Wax, Wall Street, Life of Pi, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,The Big Lebowski, Dial M for Murder, V For Vendetta, King Kong, Dodesukaden, Labyrinth, Reds,Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,Strangers on a Train,The Fast and the Furious, Faust, Eraserhead, A Day at the Races,The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Shadow of a Doubt, Lost in Translation
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Apr 4, 2018 01:35
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Dmitri Russkie posted:The General - Never saw a Buster Keaton movie. Time to watch this one. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - Gary Cooper plays the folksy and indifferent guy who isn't that interested in a $20,000,000 inheritance. That's ~$358,000,000 in 2018 USD. Most of the people surrounding him confuse his honesty and sensibility with an acute case of naïveté. Jean Arthur plays the conniving reporter who eventually turns into a sad and regretful sidekick to Mr. Deeds. It's very similar to the 2002 film at times although the 2002 version neuters many of the economic problems that Frank Capra is known to focus on. In this more sinister version a crazed and hungry poor man confronts Mr. Deeds. He's then inspired to donate nearly all of his wealth to the poor and unemployed. So naturally all of the greedy vultures (who want a cut of the $$$) accuse him of being clinically insane and put him on trial. The trial segment goes predictably and things end up well. Mr. Deeds definitely reminded me of some of the characters in Harvey (1950) and You Can't Take It with You (1938). Also watched: Romper Stomper - The easy/simple comparison would be to that of American History X (1998) with Russell Crowe in place of Edward Norton although he and most of the cast are even more violent, undistilled, unfiltered and somehow even more *xenophobic. Also, the liberal preaching and argumentation is non-existent. If you're a minority you have a beatdown incoming as the police seem mostly absent until stuff really goes bad. A little into the film a long and impressively escalating battle between skinheads and Vietnamese immigrants takes place and it's a war movie for a time. It's like a rigamarole of Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Warriors (1979). One character that stood out was Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie). An incest victim who plays an integral role as things progress. *There's a scene with the neo-Nazis gathering around a Japanese car, scoffing at it and then smashing it to smithereens. James Bond versus Godzilla (28/64 completed): Godzilla vs. Megalon - Godzilla vs. giant cockroach/beetle. 3/9/18 Esquire's 75 Movies Every Man Should See (73/74 completed): #66 Run Silent, Run Deep - Supposedly a premier submarine film. 10/20/17 Premiere’s 25 Most Dangerous Movies (24/25 completed): #23 In the Company of Men - #MeToo the movie? 3/16/18 Academy Award for Best Directing (83/91 completed): 1949 A Letter to Three Wives - Sounds like a polygamist classic. 2/27/18 1937 The Awful Truth - Cary Grant in another screwball comedy. 3/27/18 new 1935 The Informer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yGvypBwyA 4/4/18 1932 Bad Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_KbwEVBjU 3/23/18 1929 The Divine Lady - A love story of some sort. 2/27/18 1928 Two Arabian Knights - A WWI comedy. 2/20/18 Notebooks on Cinema's 100 Most Beautiful Films in the World (68/100 completed): new #100 Napoleon – TrixRabbi has told me and others to watch this one a few times. I almost watched it many years back on VHS but didn't get around to it. 4/4/18
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Apr 5, 2018 05:12
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Marjorie Prime It's not a sad film, in the traditional way. And it's gripping, but it's not intense. It's more that the emotions are so deep, that the way they pour off the screen is so enthralling and moving, that we feel like we're entombed in mourning. It's hard for me to pinpoint this emotion as being visible in similar films - the wrenching passage of time has a similarly melancholic effect in The Man Who Fell To Earth, and much of the central concept, of the construction and making-flesh of memories owes a great deal to Solaris, both versions. The visual style perhaps reflects the glittering, lonely bittersweetness of Never Let Me Go, or the hazy clouds of Stanley Kubrick's more pensive scenes. All these elements, disparate, original, and/or borrowed, come together and produce a movie so richly felt that I can't immediately come up with words to describe it. It's also not a showy movie by any means, I'm sure every review calls it a "chamber drama" but that does a disservice to the actual construction of the film, which capture the sense of an interior and make it a reflection. The way the camera moves through an old folk's home, or the way the light washes out a backlit character, or the sudden intrusion of a striking, eerie pillow shot of the sea create an alien mood that verges on the disturbing, but doles out just enough sentiment to keep us entranced. And I don't use sentiment in a cheap way, either - much of the film's dialogue is the recollection of memory, and sentiment - both as a concept of emotion and as a concept of a viewpoint - is a major element. How do we remember? What does it mean to share a memory, or be locked out of truly bridging the gap between yourself, your experiences, your mind and thoughts and brain, with those of others? It's the film's most unsettling aspect, and director Michael Almereyda does a stunning job of capturing those uncrossable borders. There is trust, as there must be, but the way his camera probes the faces of characters, the way they're lit, the way they speak betrays their own vulnerabilities, paranoias, and reticence. There's no way to cross the shadowland between two people. And yet it remains beautiful. Why? Why do we find sadness beautiful? Why is it so appealing to approach the edge of understanding like this? Why watch a movie about death, forgetting, mourning? It's like looking up at the surface from under the water and being able to feel how you could die down here, with so much sunlight so far up. But then you rise, and you swallow a bucket of air, and you haven't died. The characters in Marjorie Prime approach the dead to find comfort, acceptance, and closure. They approach them in search of understanding, and we watch movies like Marjorie Prime in search of understanding. We watch them for that beautiful cloud of empathy that descends when a movie like this does its job, that takes us to a truly strange place and alters our way of thinking. It's nothing short of breathtaking. 10/10 shamezone 1) A Poem Is A Naked Person - more blank 2) Tampopo - ヌードル映画 3) No End - poland 1 4) The Pillow Book - greenaway 5) The Spirit of the Beehive - bee movie 6) Ugetsu - tspdt 1000!! 7) Ex Machina - recent rave 8) Veronika Voss - plowing forward with fassbinder 9) Harlan County USA - documentary 10) Desert Hearts - sand movie [full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10 (total: 141) edit: Zogo gets Napoleon Magic Hate Ball fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Apr 5, 2018 |
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Apr 5, 2018 07:50
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This looks cool, go withMagic Hate Ball posted:7) Ex Machina - recent rave The Sting A small time grifter tries to pull a big con on the local racketeer. Robert Redford is a solid lead with clear, personal motivation to get even with the crime lord. This contrasts with Paul Newman's character Shaw, a semi-retired professional conman, who is in it for the love of the craft. Newman can charm the birds from the trees and every scene with Shaw in character as a high flying arrogant drunk is hilarious. There are numerous scenes through the film where a con, or aspect of one, is revealed to the audience like a magic trick and they are all great and build up to the elaborate Big Con finish. The costuming was nicely done, for example the garish outfit Hooker (Redford) buys after his first score versus the sharp grey suit he wears while playing a role as Shaw's lackey. The title cards and ragtime were a nice touch. Enjoyed this one a lot. My List: 1) (highest ranked imdb) Life is Beautiful 2) (classic comedy) Annie Hall I've never seen a Woody Allen film 3) (animation) The Lord of the Rings (1978) The books and Jackson's films were favourites of my childhood/teenage years and I'd like to see this oddball one. 4) (Academy Award winner) The English Patient Voldemort in Love 5) (foreign language) Bicycle Thieves It's been kind of on my radar for a while 6) (war) The Bridge on the River Kwai I haven't seen much of Alec Guinness' that wasn't a comedy or a star wars. 7) (Horror) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Possibly the first horror film 8) (sci fi/fantasy) Forbidden Planet Robbie the Robot looks adorable 9) (epic) Ben Hur (1959) Probably the first thing that comes into my head when I think of the term 'epic film' 10) (wildcard) Deliverance Watched (18): Taxi Driver; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Iron Giant; Platoon; American History X; City Lights; My Neighbour Totoro; Rashomon; Duck Soup; Friday 13th (1980); Birdman; Frankenstein (1931); Time Bandits; Carrie (1976); King Kong (1933); Das Boot; The Blair Witch Project (1999); The Sting
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Apr 5, 2018 11:10
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bitterandtwisted posted:2) (classic comedy) Annie Hall I've never seen a Woody Allen film Film #19. Napoleon - This was originally planned as the first part of a larger series. But the funding was never reached to complete what would've been a crazily ambitious sextology. Still at almost six hours long this thing is already three movies for the price of one. The level of filmmaking is off the charts for its time. Battle maps, hand-held cameras, so many shooting styles and effects I don't recall seeing used prior to this. It's a technical tour de force. Also, Abel Gance wrote, produced, directed and acted here. The rare quartet. He pushed the envelope all over the place. The film starts off with a snowball fight as the hero proves himself a military prodigy as he defeats two bully classmates on the field. Ender's Game (2013) has a similar dynamic running throughout as well with a young tactician proving his superiority. Later on Napoleon travels back to his home in Corsica and gets entangled in a proxy war there. He has to flee by turning the flag of France into a sail which portends things to come. A storm rages as we're shown scenes of tons of people going to the guillotines. The revolution against the idle rich AKA the monarchy is now burgeoning in France. This revolution (led by the "three gods" AKA Danton, Robespierre and Marat) contains both foreign and domestic battles. And also a lot of people awestruck over generic speeches. Silent films kind of lack specificity at times because they only have intertitles at their disposal. We follow along as Napoleon shows his competence in waging small-scale battles (both offensively and defensively). I was reminded of Gettysburg (1993) in that the revolutionary leaders are kind of deified and lionized at times. This is a violent and bloody revolution and some of the leaders maintain long execution lists. Things go predictably: more beheadings via guillotine, more political infighting and more scenes with Napoleon arguing with generals who try to belittle his ideas and call him names like "Captain Cannon." However, the battles aren't shown in their actuality as things never get too bloody or gruesome. Another section of the film delves into the domestic family life as Napoleon gets married and this part definitely feels like a thread that would've been explored much further in a later film. His wife is lonely and mainly stares at a shrine she has created to her husband as he's away. The film ends with Napoleon winning yet another decisive battle in Italy and this is the famed and very rare 4:1 aspect ratio/triptych segment. I've seen thousands of films but nothing quite like this before. The Hateful Eight (2015) reached 2.76:1 but that's still a far cry from 4:1. There's a ton of history and politics I won't delve into but in general revolutions are cyclical in that the popular revolutionaries that survive end up being the new villains in due time once discontent settles in. Things end up the same...stratified, stultified and bureaucratized. In short, Napoleon had to abdicate his titles when the people got fed up with him. He then tried to give his son the titles but that didn't work. Napoleon, like most military leaders, wanted more power and more land. He had a vision to fuse Europe together and unite its countries. Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan and others have tried but no one has conquered the whole planet. And it's never enough anyway. It's interesting how time can change and soften things because this portrayal would've been a lot more controversial had a few centuries not passed by 1927. MUCH more could be said about this long and dense film...but this is a movie reaction not a treatise so I will stop typing and finish this with a music video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4 James Bond versus Godzilla (28/64 completed): Godzilla vs. Megalon - Godzilla vs. giant cockroach/beetle. 3/9/18 Esquire's 75 Movies Every Man Should See (73/74 completed): #66 Run Silent, Run Deep - Supposedly a premier submarine film. 10/20/17 Premiere’s 25 Most Dangerous Movies (24/25 completed): #23 In the Company of Men - #MeToo the movie? 3/16/18 Academy Award for Best Directing (83/91 completed): 1949 A Letter to Three Wives - Sounds like a polygamist classic. 2/27/18 1937 The Awful Truth - Cary Grant in another screwball comedy. 3/27/18 1935 The Informer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yGvypBwyA 4/4/18 1932 Bad Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_KbwEVBjU 3/23/18 1929 The Divine Lady - A love story of some sort. 2/27/18 1928 Two Arabian Knights - A WWI comedy. 2/20/18 Notebooks on Cinema's 100 Most Beautiful Films in the World (70/100 completed): new #99 Scarface (1932) – The 1983 film is memorable but I've always put off watching this one. 4/14/18 Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Apr 15, 2018 |
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Apr 15, 2018 05:55
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I'm interested in this oneZogo posted:
Annie Hall Romantic comedy with Woody Allen as neurotic comedian Alvy Singer. The film questions the nature of love, Jewish identity and why New York is great and LA sucks. There's a lot of fourth wall breaking. Alvy will often talk to the camera, or a scene will turn into some absurd skit, for example: Alvy is annoyed by a film bore so he magically produces Marshal McCluhan from behind a poster board to call out his BS. He asks strangers the secret of love and they give the sort of answer you expect he already believed - the young attractive couple just say they're dumb and shallow. These flights of fancy are windows into Alvy's mind and are some of the funniest bits, but they don't detract from the core of the story which is the relationship between Annie and Alvy. The film takes this seriously and the two people are well defined. It's easy to see why they work together as a couple and also why they don't, and the chemistry between Allen and Diane Keaton is great. My List: 1) (highest ranked imdb) Life is Beautiful 2) (classic comedy) The Producers (1967) I've loved 50% of Mel Brooks' films that I've seen 3) (animation) The Lord of the Rings (1978) The books and Jackson's films were favourites of my childhood/teenage years and I'd like to see this oddball one. 4) (Academy Award winner) The English Patient Voldemort in Love 5) (foreign language) Bicycle Thieves It's been kind of on my radar for a while 6) (war) The Bridge on the River Kwai I haven't seen much of Alec Guinness' that wasn't a comedy or a star wars. 7) (Horror) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Possibly the first horror film 8) (sci fi/fantasy) Forbidden Planet Robbie the Robot looks adorable 9) (epic) Ben Hur (1959) Probably the first thing that comes into my head when I think of the term 'epic film' 10) (wildcard) Deliverance Watched (19): Taxi Driver; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Iron Giant; Platoon; American History X; City Lights; My Neighbour Totoro; Rashomon; Duck Soup; Friday 13th (1980); Birdman; Frankenstein (1931); Time Bandits; Carrie (1976); King Kong (1933); Das Boot; The Blair Witch Project (1999); The Sting; Annie Hall
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Apr 16, 2018 12:02
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bitterandtwisted posted:6) (war) The Bridge on the River Kwai I haven't seen much of Alec Guinness' that wasn't a comedy or a star wars. The Birds  I have loved almost every Hitchcock movie I've watched, and this movie is undoubtedly very good. Unfortunately, I cannot say I got to enjoy it much... As I am currently recovering from knee surgery, I figured this would be a great time to catch up on movies, but my first two attempts to watch The Birds were aborted, first by pain, then by drowsiness. I finally got to finish it today, but, alas, a movie only gets one first watch. Even so, I can appreciate the craft and mastery on display here. Hitchcock is a master of tension and suspense, and it is used effectively here. Making the viewer afraid of birds is a tremendous storytelling decision--to take the mundane and ubiquitous and turn it into the weapon of death is dastardly. Birds are benign, as one of the characters in the film even explicitly states: "they bring beauty into the world". And yet, we are watching them terrorize the town for seemingly no reason. I appreciate Hitchcock not feeling the need to explain the hostility of the birds. The mystery makes the whole affair more terrifying, as it seems irrational. There is no easy fix, there is no villain to fixate upon. This brings the horror down to the personal, as well, as the characters search for the explanation; one citizen even settles upon our protagonist, Melanie Daniels, as the cursed source of all the madness. The scenes in the diner bring to the forefront all the human chaos wrought in crisis. Even as everyone can see the problem, they cannot agree on a solution, and so turn on each other. The character work here is... Interesting. I did not like Melanie Daniels for the first bit of this movie. She seemed callous and rude. Perhaps she is supposed to feel that way; I can only assume so, given that I know Hitchcock generally to be in control of his story. Even so, didn't love her. However, on the whole, the family dynamics here are interesting--and familiar territory for Hitchcock. There is some obvious symbolism involved with Melanie's arrival and the insanity of the birds; obvious in that I can tell there is supposed to be some symbolism, though I'm not sure what it is. Melanie's arrival upsets Lydia, Mitch's mother, who appears to be strongly attached to her two children (Mitch, and the much younger Kathy). This movie might be about the chaos wrought by outsiders, how relationships are thrown into upheaval by the presence of newcomers, and new relationships must be formed. Or perhaps it is about the chaos of new love, as marked by the caged lovebirds (and perhaps this is the key to the end, as Kathy asks to bring the lovebirds in the car as they escape, seeing as "they haven't hurt anybody"). The ending is ambiguous, and actually threw me for a loop. I was not prepared for the movie to end when it did. There is, really, a lot that is unconventional about this movie. Hitchcock's monster movie is good. I think. My judgment, not so clear. That I know. EXTRA SHAMEFUL As I'm laid up, I managed to watch a few other movies from my list as well. Here are my brief reviews. A Few Good Men  This movie was very good. I was prepared to love this movie, and I did. I spent the whole movie waiting for the one line I knew was coming, and I was not disappointed when it did. This movie did not have to do a lot to win me over, and it did enough and more. This movie is not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. The first two thirds of this movie feel a little hackneyed. The dialogue is sharp, but in the sort of Sorkin-West-Wing kind of way (which makes sense, obviously). The characters are a little bit flat, and more like caricatures. There are holes in the plot and in the emotional story, as well. But drat if it isn't well made, and drat if it isn't compelling. This movie was made in a different time, and I lament that this movie could probably not exist today; or, if it came out today, it would get absolutely roasted on a spit. I am not the first to lament the death of the $40mil movie, but I will add my voice. Because this movie didn't have the weight of the entire industry on its back, it was allowed to be a little cheesy, and to be entertaining. It doesn't have to be perfect. It can play fast and loose. And it is more memorable for it, in my estimation. The characters are a little weird. The dialogue is a little over the top. But that is why this movie is fun. I will totally watch this movie again. Out of Sight  Here is another movie I was totally ready to love... And strangely, I didn't. It's Soderbergh, it's a heist movie, it's got a strong cast, it's highly recommended by people I trust. But it just didn't strike me in the right ways. It does a lot of things right. The performances are strong (Clooney is good, Ving is good, even JLo does okay), the story is relatively interesting, and the scenarios are fun. The visuals are strong, and there are some compelling sequences here, and compelling dialogue. But the movie just lacks verve. It doesn't feel alive. It's like Soderbergh couldn't decide whether he wanted this movie to be serious or funny, and in his indecision, hampered this movie's ability to do either. It is moderately funny, it is mildly serious, and it is lightly sexy. It's just underwhelming. It's certainly not a bad movie, and I am not sad to have watched it, but it really did not live up to the hype I had allowed to build around it. THE WATCH LIST Days of Heaven (1978): Seeing as Tree of Life is one of my favorite films, and I've seen none of his other movies, I should probably get started. This seems a good a place as any. Tokyo Story (1953): I keep seeing this all over "Best Films Ever"-type lists, and I hadn't even heard of it until a few years ago. Seems like a good candidate. Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964): I like musicals, but have seen tragically few of them--and mostly Hollywood musicals, at that. This comes highly recommended. Le Samouraï (1967): The origin of cool. Or so I hear. The Red Circle and Army of Shadows are also on my list, so I guess I need to move on some Melville. Zodiac (2007): One of my buddies swears by this as one of the best movies of the last 20 years. Ikiru (1952): In general, I've seen too little Kurosawa. A Serious Man (2009): I'm a Coen brothers fan, and Chili tells me I need to watch it so we can discuss it. So here it is. Perfect Blue (1997): Loved, loved, loved Paprika, and I need to expand my animation repertoire, especially outside of the realm of Ghibli. Boogie Nights (1997): I've seen 3 of PTA's films, and with Phantom Thread coming out, seems like the right time to include this here. The 400 Blows (1959): I've never seen any Truffaut. I hear this brought up a lot, and it's another one that doesn't excite me on its face, so it lies with one of you to push me forward. The Watched List: Paths of Glory; The Apartment; Solaris; A Touch of Zen; Apocalypse Now; The Iron Giant; Psycho; Cape Fear; Kill Bill: Vol. 1; My Neighbor Totoro; The Outlaw Josey Wales; Before Sunset; The Graduate; A Few Good Men; Out of Sight; The Birds (16 total)
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Apr 17, 2018 07:59
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The Birds is just a weird movie from all angles. You keep turning it around expecting it to make sense but all the angles are just wrong somehow, which makes it even more unnerving because so much of it seems sort of semi-conventional, and then suddenly it takes a bizarre turn that cracks the approachable facade.
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Apr 17, 2018 08:12
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What's up buddy who watched The Birds while feeling the effects of surgery? I saw the edited for TV version in a hospital after (or was it awaiting) surgery for inguinal hernia repair when I was a kid (10 maybe?) and I agree it certainly enhances the fever-dream effect.
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Apr 17, 2018 08:48
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BeefSupreme posted:
What plot holes, out of curiosity?
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Apr 17, 2018 12:13
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BiggerBoat posted:What plot holes, out of curiosity? Ehh, plot holes is maybe not the right phrase. Plot weaknesses? Why does nobody ask for the murder weapon, the rag? Why does nobody order a proper autopsy, since the doctor is not a coroner? Why does Dawson take the stand, and not Downey? Why is Jessup so absolutely engrossed in the idea of proving nobody would disobey him, considering proving that is the only way to implicate him in the mess at all? There is a lot that isn't so much 'plot holes' as it is movie bullsh*t. Which, hey, this is Aaron Sorkin, and this is the movies.
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Apr 17, 2018 19:45
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BeefSupreme posted:Ikiru (1952): In general, I've seen too little Kurosawa. Yup yup yup Carol (2015)  Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman. This is all very well made and sharp, and just like Haynes other Sirk melodrama Far From Heaven it looks the part. Yet it's so dull. Restrained, though the best way to describe it, it's heavily repressed, which fits the matter of the film itself but I just don't find it engaging at all. The few moments where all the sexuality and love the two woman feel for one another finally bursts through are genuinely touching, but it's not worth the endless scenes of knowing stares and the constant double meaning dialog(which is bizarrely explained and justified by a character early on the film) Rooney Mara was the stand out here, as Cate Blanchett sleepwalks through these kind of icy woman roles. Kyle Chandler is just a caricature, and poor Sarah Paulson has the absolute miserable role of "the lesbian friend/former girlfriend". Just a waste. Film reminded me most of Mad Men, probably got green-light because of it too. The giveaway is the dumb times reporter guy, whom as mentioned explains the central theme and issues of the film in the most blunt way possible(several times too), which is something Weiner would do, especially in the earlier seasons. Though Carol is more lame S1/2 Mad Men instead of good S3/4/5 Mad Men. "I'm taking notes on what the characters say on how they really feel." NO! SHAME Part III The Director's Cut: Rio Bravo John Wayne nooooooooo The Crime of Monsieur Lange Renoir Pickpocket More French stuff Paisan Keeping my voyage through Italy with another Scorsese favourite Tristana The other Bunuel and Deneuve collaboration Sullivan's Travels Was quite cold on The Lady Eve so hoping this is better Cairo Station Going completely blind on this Wag the Dog So I can understand all those Trump wagging dog headlines I Am Cuba  The Deer Hunter 183 min Have watched so far 78 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, Branded to Kill, In Bruges, Black Swan, The White Diamond, The Sting, Romeo + Juliet, Bronson, The Magician, 2046, Witness for Prosecution, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I Vitelloni, Sonatine, Ivan's Childhood, Week End, Ninotchka, Gone Girl, Inside Llewyn Davis, Under the Skin, The Thin Blue Line, Withnail & I, Manhunter, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Carol.
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Apr 17, 2018 20:05
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Electronico6 posted:Pickpocket More French stuff 1. Dancer in the Dark - Dogme 95-ish look to this has turned me off in the past, couldn't get through it, but heard it's quality and I enjoyed Europa lots 2. Scanners - love the poo poo out of Videodrome 3. Phase IV - Saul Bass, why not 4. Blood Simple - I dig Sonenfeld's kids movies, figured this would be worth checking out 5. Kill Baby Kill- I went through a huge Argento kick last year, saw Bava mentioned quite a bit as another Italian horror icon 6. Jacob's Ladder - I've seen this mentioned many times as a massive influence on Silent Hill 7. Blow-Up - Something I was assigned for a film course but never got around to watching 8. Trainspotting - All I know is that it's about electronic music and drugs, two things I love 9. The Holy Mountain - Adan Jodorowsky has hosted screenings of this at the repertory theatre in my city a few times now but I always end up missing them 10. Castle in the Sky - The run time of this has intimidated me out of giving it a shot yet even though I enjoy Ghibli stuff
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Apr 19, 2018 09:08
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Ex Machina Hapgood has no answers or suggestions Only a lot of questions We like questions! I kept thinking about the explanatory youtube videos my roommates watch all the time while I was watching this, where a perky millennial describes via example something like "the secret chord that makes Christmas music sound Christmassy" or "Why box fans are better than air conditioning". They're very pleasant to watch, because they're immediately gratifying and you come away with a new, sudden insight. Ex Machina has a similar patness - the film guides you from idea to idea, serving you concepts and never letting anything get too nebulous. But it bends it with a technothriller twist and uses that doling-out of information to lead the audience along, so it's the sort of handholding that works, like being led through a haunted house. We can see the machination, but we're happy to play along because the little nuggets that follow each other in a neat line are so appetizing and we want to gain access to the big mystery, even if we know it's probably a room filled with severed heads. Oh, poo poo, is that a theme from the movie? Of course it is! Anyways, the big star of the movie is the cinematography. The location is so beguiling and Alex Garland's use of an anamorphic lens gives it that fun 70s thriller look, it's very sleek and bowed and fuzzy. There's a great bit at the end where the dopey programmer is gazing through a glass, through a terrarium, barely visible through reflected light, and I was just like, ah! That's nice! All the chatter and tension is in service of the visuals in this respect. Not that it's not entertaining or tense, at a certain point I had to defocus because I was getting too anxious, but through the haze of nervous talk and fraught silence comes these lovely geometries, almost as if the dialogue and fear were simply a supporting soundtrack to a series of pleasurable abstract images. It's very novel in that regard. The ending had a nice gut-punch. I really did feel bad for Caleb, and the way the movie mocks the viewer for rooting for the white knight was extremely refreshing. But the strains of Edenic imagery, leaves crashing across the screen like waves on jagged sea cliffs, that was really something. That neat little dance of imagery and concept as we struggle to decide where we stand - the stab of bleakness tempering the lush breath. 8/10 shamezone 1) A Poem Is A Naked Person - more blank 2) Tampopo - ヌードル映画 3) No End - poland 1 4) The Pillow Book - greenaway 5) The Spirit of the Beehive - bee movie 6) Ugetsu - tspdt 1000!! 7) Colossal - recent rave 8) Veronika Voss - plowing forward with fassbinder 9) Harlan County USA - documentary 10) Desert Hearts - sand movie [full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10 (total: 142) warez gets Dancer in the Dark
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Apr 20, 2018 08:08
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Magic Hate Ball, I'm completely unfamiliar with all your choices, so I asked Google's random number generator to pick. You get:Magic Hate Ball posted:2) Tampopo - ヌードル映画 The Bridge on the River Kwai POWs are made to construct a bridge for the Burma Railway. Guiness is the indomitable Lt Colonel Nicholson. No upper lip has ever been stiffer. He radiates dignity in every line he speaks, even when parched with thirst and imprisoned in a tiny cage. His interactions with Colonel Saito and his gradual gaining control of the bridge project are engaging, though Saito comes across as rather weak at times and by the end he's acting basically subordinate to Nicholson. As a kid, I watched The World at War (imo the greatest documentary series on WW2 ever made) and the episode on Burma was one of the most harrowing. Around a hundred thousand people, mostly civilians, died constructing the railway. I don't think you could do a film on this subject today and shy away from the atrocities that took place, which this film largely does, apart from including a number of shots of grave markers. A particularly effective one was when Nicholson persuades the walking wounded to join him to work on the bridge and the upbeat march plays as the camera pans past rows of crosses. The other main thread of the film is William Holden's escapee, Commander Sheers. A classic reluctant hero who has to return and destroy the bridge. NIcholson's pride in 'his' bridge is relatable even as his subordinate and the squad tasked with destroying it are questioning his sanity and loyalty. I live in Edinburgh and was pleased to see the titular bridge is totally the Forth Bridge in wood form. Also watched from my list: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari A series of murders begin after the mysterious Dr Caligari arrives at the fair with his new attraction: a sleepwalker, or somnambulist, named Cesare whom only he can wake. The visuals are the most famous aspect of the film and they didn't disappoint. The sets have painted canvas backgrounds and buildings with shadows and windows painted on in broad strokes and odd angles. The makeup on Caligari and Cesare makes them fit in this world more than any other character. Their surreal nature made total sense given the framing device. The off kilter style has been much imitated by the likes of Tim Burton. I wasn't expecting the reveal of Francis being a patient in an insane asylum ran by "Caligari" but it was set up just enough at the start when the story is framed by Francis telling his tale in the garden. 98 year old spoiler tagged! I'm swapping out the war category for monster movies just because I've realised there's a whole bunch of iconic monsters I've never seen. My List: 1) (highest ranked imdb) Life is Beautiful 2) (classic comedy) The Producers (1967) I've loved 50% of Mel Brooks' films that I've seen 3) (animation) The Lord of the Rings (1978) The books and Jackson's films were favourites of my childhood/teenage years and I'd like to see this oddball one. 4) (Academy Award winner) The English Patient Voldemort in Love 5) (foreign language) Bicycle Thieves It's been kind of on my radar for a while 6) (Monster) Godzilla (1954) I've only seen the Roland Emmerich Godzilla 7) (Horror) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Never saw the whole film 8) (sci fi/fantasy) Forbidden Planet Robbie the Robot looks adorable 9) (epic) Ben Hur (1959) Probably the first thing that comes into my head when I think of the term 'epic film' 10) (wildcard) Deliverance Watched (21): Taxi Driver; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Iron Giant; Platoon; American History X; City Lights; My Neighbour Totoro; Rashomon; Duck Soup; Friday 13th (1980); Birdman; Frankenstein (1931); Time Bandits; Carrie (1976); King Kong (1933); Das Boot; The Blair Witch Project (1999); The Sting; Annie Hall; The Bridge on the River Kwai; The Cabinet of Dr Caligair bitterandtwisted fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Apr 21, 2018 |
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Apr 21, 2018 13:06
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bitterandtwisted posted:6) (Monster) Godzilla (1954) I've only seen the Roland Emmerich Godzilla Time to rectify this... enjoy! Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte Robert Aldrich is responsible for one of my favourite opening sequences in all of cinema with 1955's Kiss Me Deadly. He did similarly great melodrama with 1962's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, with Bette Davis & Joan Crawford dueling it out in a war of reclusive sisters that was just as interesting off-screen. Just 2 years later, Aldrich is here again with Bette Davis with an all-star ensemble cast of screen legends - Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway, Mary Astor - and minor rules for soon to be greats in George Kennedy and Bruce Dern. This cast is stacked. The cinematography is equally great from Joseph Biroc, using that black & white to full effect to paint this suspenseful gothic portrait of a recluse hiding away with a deep family secret. While ultimately it's pros far outweigh the cons, there's a feeling that even in melodrama, Davis comes across as too wide-eyed and over-the-top, and a score to match, making some moments less shocking and more cartoonishly sadistic. The same can be said for Agnes Moorehead as the servant Velma who hammed it up all the way to an Academy Award that year. Olivia de Havilland, though, is an absolute standout here, finding just the right balance. Now, Magic Hate Ball said to watch as a triple feature, and maybe it's been too long since seeing 'Baby Jane, but I remember that film much more fondly. Mommie Dearest is soon to follow! LIST Animal Crackers [1930 - 97mins] - (2018.03.14) - time to dive into the Marx Brothers set a bit further (blind-bought boxsets) Avanti! [1972 - 140mins] - (2017.06.07) - keeping a Jack Lemmon film on here with another Billy Wilder collaboration. (Jack Lemmon) Cactus Flower [1969 - 103mins] - (2017.04.28) - my Walter Matthau choice, and with Ingrid Bergman! (Walter Matthau) Grizzly Man [2005 - 103mins] - (2018.03.17) - one of Herzog's best... so I've heard. (documentary) In the Heat of the Night [1967 - 109mins] - (2018.03.01) - adding one more "Best Picture" winner - this one by a Canadian director ... [too late now] (unwatched DVD) The Last Emperor [1987 - 163mins] - (2018.02.18) - adding a lengthy Best Picture winner to hopefully get this in before the Oscars ... [too late now] (Criterion) The Little Foxes [1941 - 115mins] - **NEW** (2018.04.21) - from one of Bette's later roles in 'Sweet Charlotte to one of her earlier ones. (Bette Davis) My Darling Clementine [1946 - 97mins] - (2017.09.02) - Westerns still aren't a top priority, even after loving just about every one I watch. (western) Paprika [2006 - 90mins] - (2018.03.23) - I've only watched Millennium Actress from director Satoshi Kon... I want to see more. (animated) Wings [1927 - 144mins] - (2018.02.18) - adding the first Best Picture winner to hopefully get this in before the Oscars ... [too late now] (unwatched bluray) De-shamed Pt2: True Romance (4/5), The Right Stuff (3/5), Syndromes And A Century (4/5), Still Life (3/5), My Cousin Vinny (2.5/5), Doctor Zhivago (3.5/5), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4.5/5), Peeping Tom (4/5), Shadow of a Doubt (4.5/5), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (4.5/5), Only Angels Have Wings (4/5), Umberto D (4/5), Anatomy of a Murder (4.5/5), Only God Forgives (1.5/5), Missing (3.5/5), Howl's Moving Castle (4.5/5), Rio Bravo (4/5), Cloud Atlas (3.5/5), Children of Paradise (4/5), That Obscure Object of Desire (5/5), The Fountain (3/5), Malcolm X (4/5), Warrior (4/5), American Movie (4/5), Being There (4/5), Leaving Las Vegas (4.5/5), Rope (4/5), Ed Wood (4.5/5), American Hustle (2.5/5), The Man Who Knew Too Much (3.5/5), Mister Roberts (4/5), Charley Varrick (4/5), A Face in the Crowd (4.5/5), Farewell My Concubine (3.5/5), Slacker (3.5/5), Drugstore Cowboy (4.5/5), Love and Death (3.5/5), Fantastic Mr. Fox (4.5/5), A Scanner Darkly (4/5), Marketa Lazarova (5/5), A Clockwork Orange (4.5/5), The Fly (5/5), Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (5/5), King Kong (5/5), Gilda (3.5/5), Airplane! (4/5), Nobody Knows (4.5/5), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (4.5/5), Dark Victory (3.5/5), Dead Man (4.5/5), Shane (4/5), Fail-Safe (4.5/5), It Should Happen To You! (4/5), I Killed My Mother (4/5), Bringing Up Baby (5/5), Happiness (1/5), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (2.5/5), Russian Ark (4/5), Don't Look Now (3.5/5), Rome Open City (4/5), Let the Right One In (4.5/5), Woman in the Dunes (5/5), Brief Encounter (4.5/5), Night of the Living Dead (5/5), My Dinner with Andre (4/5), Inland Empire (1/5), A Matter of Life and Death (4.5/5), Broadcast News (4.5/5), The Last Detail (4/5), Run Lola Run (4/5), Chimes at Midnight (2/5), The Conformist (4.5/5), Castle in the Sky (5/5), Watership Down (4/5), Sophie's Choice (4/5), Ordet (2/5), Born on the Fourth of July (3.5/5), The Young Girls of Rochefort (4.5/5), Patton (4/5), Mon Oncle (4.5/5), The Big City (4.5/5), Only Yesterday (5/5), The Silence (4.5/5), Life Itself (4/5), Chicken Run (4/5), Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (4/5), [Total:186]
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Apr 22, 2018 07:39
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BeefSupreme posted:Ehh, plot holes is maybe not the right phrase. Plot weaknesses? Why does nobody ask for the murder weapon, the rag? Why does nobody order a proper autopsy, since the doctor is not a coroner? Why does Dawson take the stand, and not Downey? Why is Jessup so absolutely engrossed in the idea of proving nobody would disobey him, considering proving that is the only way to implicate him in the mess at all? Those are pretty strong points that never occurred to me. Been a while since I watched it. The Jessup angle to me is just pure hubris and ego. Plus, he fell into a trap once Cruise started playing off it. Man, I'd like to get involved in this thread since I have a rather shameful list but I have so little time to watch movies anymore. Am I allowed to chime in on recommendations without participating? I gather I'm not. Edit: This thread tackles some of the issues you raised http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/AFewGoodMen
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Apr 22, 2018 16:19
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BiggerBoat posted:Those are pretty strong points that never occurred to me. Been a while since I watched it. The Jessup angle to me is just pure hubris and ego. Plus, he fell into a trap once Cruise started playing off it. Man, I'd like to get involved in this thread since I have a rather shameful list but I have so little time to watch movies anymore. Am I allowed to chime in on recommendations without participating? I gather I'm not. Generally it’s okay to discuss other people’s movies, you just can’t force anyone to watch anything without making your own list.
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Apr 22, 2018 16:38
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friendo55 posted:The Last Emperor [1987 - 163mins] - (2018.02.18) - adding a lengthy Best Picture winner to hopefully get this in before the Oscars ... [too late now] (Criterion) Next one for you. Scarface - Someone shot BIG LOUIS! He was so nice... Well, that leaves a vacancy in the strong-arm beer delivery service  . Pitting Chicago's north side against its south side. Some Italians and some Irish are competing in the booze delivery business. It's a booming enterprise to say the least. At times I was reminded of State of Grace (1990).Paul Muni plays the smart enforcer who ends up biting off more than he can chew. He excels in the underground world filled with dirty rats and various lunkheads. The film puts forth a very straightforward story and dialogue and isn't quite as elaborate as the 1983 remake. If you've seen the newer film just swap out the cocaine with beer and Miami with Chicago. For 1932 this thing has an unexpected crazed violence and bluntness to it. Machine guns shooting every direction. Also, referencing actual events like the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre and generic Chicago-style hospital murders (to finish botched jobs). 1932 and 1983: An uncommon instance where both are great. Even some of the characters in the two look similar. The DVD also provides an alternate courtroom ending that was shot to appease the censors. Gladly this lame and preachy ending was not used. One of many memorable segments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g49C4wVpXrw I waited too long to watch this one. Also watched: Run Silent, Run Deep - Clark Gable plays the crazed submarine Commander out for vengeance against the Japanese and those who destroyed his last submarine. He subordinates the Lieutenant (Burt Lancaster) who expects to be running the mission and quickly decides to go into treacherous waters against the agreed plan. So they share a feud and this leads some of the crew to attempt mutiny against the Commander at one point. The Commander is a slave driver and puts the crew through tons of reckless and unconventional drills on the Nerka. Eventually the crew is impressed by his strategies. Highlighting submarine strategy and tactics it's like a precursor to The Boat AKA Das Boot (1981). The crew must avoid planes, destroyers, other submarines, tons of depth charges and a few errant torpedoes etc. After the Commander gets a concussion the Lt. takes over again and based on new evidence and some luck is able to use the new methods to blow up many Japanese targets. PS this was Don Rickles first film. Early one for Jack Warden too. That's the end of that list. The joke of Esquire's 75 Movies Every Man Should See is that it only contains 74 movies. James Bond versus Godzilla (28/64 completed): Godzilla vs. Megalon - Godzilla vs. giant cockroach/beetle. 3/9/18 Premiere’s 25 Most Dangerous Movies (24/25 completed): #23 In the Company of Men - #MeToo the movie? 3/16/18 Academy Award for Best Directing (83/91 completed): 1949 A Letter to Three Wives - Sounds like a polygamist classic. 2/27/18 1937 The Awful Truth - Cary Grant in another screwball comedy. 3/27/18 1935 The Informer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yGvypBwyA 4/4/18 1932 Bad Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_KbwEVBjU 3/23/18 1929 The Divine Lady - A love story of some sort. 2/27/18 1928 Two Arabian Knights - A WWI comedy. 2/20/18 Notebooks on Cinema's 100 Most Beautiful Films in the World (71/100 completed): new #34 House of Pleasure AKA Le Plaisir - I haven't seen many of Max Ophüls' films. 4/22/18 new #54 Some Came Running - Vincente Minnelli must've been busy in 1958 as he directed this one the same year as Gigi. 4/22/18
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Apr 23, 2018 01:09
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Zogo, you're only one away from finishing a list of 25? Well, I can't resist that- watch In the Company of Men. The Stepford Wives is an extremely 70's piece of film, but it holds up pretty well. The movie is low budget and mostly consists of people talking to each other, but the acting is creepy and the shots hold on certain images long enough for them to be uncomfortable. It's similar to other paranoid horror stories of the era like Rosemary's Baby [edit: apparently they had the same screenwriter] or The Wicker Man, which deal with conspiracies in small communities and spend most of their runtime with the viewer unsure how much is real and how much is imagined. I already knew going in what the big twist was, but it still worked based on the characters. I saw the twist of the main character's friend turning docile, thus ratcheting up the fear coming from a mile away, but maybe that's not a fair complaint since I already knew where things were heading. Though I didn't know that the bad guys would win in the end. Aside from the style of filmmaking, the story is also clearly anchored in the Second Wave Feminism of the 70's, and characters are frank and direct about their sex lives and politics. The comparisons to Get Out are accurate- the stories and structure are similar, they just are informed by different sociopolitical issues. Rating: 3.5/4 124. The Rules of the Game- I opened the They Shoot Pictures list, and this is number five. I've never even heard of it. 132. Five Easy Pieces- Continuing the Ebert list, I somehow skipped over this one. 135. Man with a Movie Camera- Fourth wall? Never heard of it. 139. Birth of a Nation: Oh, boy, this is the big one. This is not a movie you watch for fun, but it's a movie that needs to be seen by anyone who cares about film history. 140. Inland Empire: Want some more David Lynch. 141. Drag Me to Hell: A horror film by Sam Raimi. I like both of those things! 144. Eraserhead: David Lynch hasn't let me down yet. I saw parts of this with some friends once- seemed very weird and abstract, almost like German expressionism. 145. The Birds: Hitchcock is usually good, but the concept of this one always seemed too silly to be scary. I've seen Birdemic... 146. Bride of Frankenstein: Like I said, Frankenstein was disappointing, and I don't think the monster would have become an icon without the sequel that is supposedly much better. 147. Stalker: Tarkovsky was a Russian who made a lot of movies. Okay, tell me what I'm watching! Shame relieved: The Godfather: 3.5/4, The Godfather Part II: 4/4, Taxi Driver: 4/4, Casablanca: 4/4, Duck Soup: 2/4, Pulp Fiction: 4/4, Barton Fink: 3.5/4, Annie Hall:3/4, Rashomon: 4/4, Blade Runner: 3.5/4, Chinatown: 4/4, Nashville: 3.5/4, Goodfellas: 4/4, The Seven Samurai: 4/4, Superman: 2/4, The Exorcist: 3/4, A Face in the Crowd: 3.5/4, The Seventh Seal: 2.5/4, Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 3.5/4, Apocalypse Now: 4/4, 2001: A Space Odyssey: 2.5/4, The Deer Hunter: 3/4, Schindler's List: 4/4, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: 3/4, Young Frankenstein: 3.5/4, Yojimbo: 3.5/4, Brazil: 3.5/4, Hamlet: 4/4, The Aviator: 4/4, Rocky: 3.5/4, Gandhi: 3.5/4, City Lights: 4/4, Battleship Potemkin: 3.5/4, Predator: 3/4, Easy Rider: 1.5/4, Platoon: 3.5/4, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: 4/4, Get Carter: 3.5/4, Full Metal Jacket: 4/4, My Dinner with Andre: 4/4, Lethal Weapon: 3/4, 3 Women: 4/4, Ikiru: 4/4, The Maltese Falcon: 2.5/4, Midnight Cowboy: 3/4, Gattaca: 4/4, Gone with the Wind: 3/4, Jaws: 4/4, The Bicycle Thief: 3/4, Sophie's Choice: 2/4, On the Waterfront: 4/4, North by Northwest: 3.5/4, Stagecoach: 3.5/4, E.T.: 2/4, Nosferatu: 4/4, Lawrence of Arabia: 4/4, Dirty Harry: 1/4, Vertigo: 3.5/4, Rebecca: 4/4, The Pink Panther: 3/4, Children of Men: 4/4, Wings of Desire: 3/4, Metropolis: 3.5/4, Born on the Fourth of July: 4/4, The Bridge on the River Kwai: 3.5/4, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 4/4, Being John Malkovich: 3/4, Adaptation: 4/4, Bonnie and Clyde: 4/4, Goldfinger: 3/4, A Streetcar Named Desire: 4/4, Dog Day Afternoon: 3.5/4, Leon: The Professional: 4/4, 8 1/2: 3/4, Mulholland Drive: 4/4, 12 Angry Men: 4/4, Safety Last: 3.5/4, Dogville: 4/4, The Rapture: 2/4, Blue Velvet: 3/4, Irreversible: 4/4, Airplane!: 3.5/4, Tokyo Story: 2.5/4, Big Trouble in Little China: 3.5/4, American Psycho: 3.5/4, Dr. Zhivago: 3/4, Leaving Las Vegas:4/4, The Bourne Identity: 4/4, Out of Africa: 3/4, The Usual Suspects: 3/4, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: 4/4, Rain Man: 3.5/4, The Lost Weekend: 3.5/4, Ratatouille: 3/4, City of God: 4/4, Ed Wood: 4/4, Top Gun: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Bleu: 3.5/4, The Hidden Fortess: 3/4, First Blood: 4/4, The Ten Commandments:3.5/4, Patton: 3.5/4, The Bourne Supremacy:3.5/4, King Lear (1983): 2.5/4, Repo Man: 2.5/4, King Kong: 3.5/4, Wall Street: 3/4, The Blues Brothers: 2/4, Trois Couleurs: Blanc: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Rouge: 3.5/4, Animal House: 1.5/4, Ben-Hur: 3.5/4, Gojira: 4/4, Sunset Boulevard: 3.5/4, Falling Down: 4/4, The Night of the Hunter: 3.5/4, Ran: 4/4, The Battle of Algiers: 4/4, Z: 3/4, The Great Escape: 2.5/4, Cries and Whispers: 4/4, Enchanted: 3.5/4, Judgment at Nuremberg: 4/4, Cool Hand Luke:3/4, Scenes from a Marriage: 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): 3.5/4, The Bourne Ultimatum: 3.5/4, F for Fake: 4/4, Spartacus: 4/4, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang: 4/4, Sunrise: 3.5/4, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: 1.5/4, Cloud Atlas: 4/4, Throne of Blood: 2.5/4, Forbidden Planet: 3/4, The Day the Earth Stood Still: 2/4, Frankenstein (1931): 2/4, The Straight Story: 4/4, Boogie Nights: 3/4, Dracula: 4/4, The Stepford Wives: 3.5/4 Jurgan fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Apr 24, 2018 |
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Apr 24, 2018 03:12
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The premise may sound hokey but hey, it's HitchcockJurgan posted:145. The Birds: Hitchcock is usually good, but the concept of this one always seemed too silly to be scary. I've seen Birdemic... Godzilla (1954) A giant radioactive monster fucks poo poo up. This is the first film I've seen from Japan that has a contemporary setting and was released within a decade of the war, and the war hangs heavily over it. It's played very straight. Godzilla is a force of nature, destroying indiscriminately and people are scared and desperate, villagers even suggesting human sacrifice. He's said to symbolise the atom bomb, and I found it interesting he is defeated by another weapon of mass destruction, the Oxygen Destroyer, only this weapon's inventor refuses to give up the secret and takes it to his grave. There's friction between the lead and his girlfriend's dad over whether to kill Godzilla and I'm not entirely sure how that plays into the bomb allegory. The dad doesn't want to use Godzilla, he just doesn't want to end this incredible creature's life. The effects and miniatures are pretty good for the most part, though many of Godzilla's scenes are in darkness, which hides some of the seams I've seen clips and images of later Toho monster films with the likes of Mothra and Mechagodzilla and kind of assumed they were aimed at younger children based on their appearance. Is that a fair assessment? My List: 1) (highest ranked imdb) Life is Beautiful 2) (classic comedy) The Producers (1967) I've loved 50% of Mel Brooks' films that I've seen 3) (animation) The Lord of the Rings (1978) The books and Jackson's films were favourites of my childhood/teenage years and I'd like to see this oddball one. 4) (Academy Award winner) The English Patient Voldemort in Love 5) (foreign language) Bicycle Thieves It's been kind of on my radar for a while 6) (Monster) The Creature from the Black Lagoon So this guy's a sex symbol now right? 7) (Horror) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Never saw the whole film 8) (sci fi/fantasy) Forbidden Planet Robbie the Robot looks adorable 9) (epic) Ben Hur (1959) Probably the first thing that comes into my head when I think of the term 'epic film' 10) (wildcard) Deliverance Watched (22): Taxi Driver; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Iron Giant; Platoon; American History X; City Lights; My Neighbour Totoro; Rashomon; Duck Soup; Friday 13th (1980); Birdman; Frankenstein (1931); Time Bandits; Carrie (1976); King Kong (1933); Das Boot; The Blair Witch Project (1999); The Sting; Annie Hall; The Bridge on the River Kwai; The Cabinet of Dr Caligari; Godzilla (1954) bitterandtwisted fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Apr 24, 2018 |
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Apr 24, 2018 12:55
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bitterandtwisted, you've been getting a lot of horror picks as of late so I'll switch it up and give you Bicycle Thieves. Cairo Station (1958) dir. Youssef Chahine Impossible to talk about this one without major spoilers. Kinawi is a disabled man working at a train station in Cairo under his father, selling newspapers. He is a meek man, awkward and unsure of himself around women to the point of obsession, lining his bedroom with cutouts of scantily clad models from pin-up calendars and magazines. His particular obsession is Hannouma, a young drink vendor who is engaged to luggage porter Abu Siri, a handsome, muscular man with a boisterous personality who is caught in a battle with his boss to unionize the workers. Hannouma, thinking Kinawi to be harmless, flirts and teases with him. He proposes to her by offering her his mother's necklace, but she rejects him. Kinawi soon hears about a grisly murder committed nearby wear a woman was dismembered and her limbs thrown in a trunk, the killer still on the loose. With Hannouma unobtainable, Kinawi hatches a plot to lure her to a secluded warehouse and murder her, but the twist comes when the wrong girl shows up. Kinawi believes he has killed her and places her in a trunk, which he gives to Abu Siri to transport. When the woman is found -- hanging on within an inch of her life -- Abu Siri's superiors at work first attempt to pin the crime on him, before the girl is able to accurately name Kinawi as her assailant. Hannouma, unaware she was nearly murdered, goes with Kinawi to pick up a bucket she left with him. He attacks her in a prolonged struggle, but ultimately he is thwarted by the police, his father, and Abu Siri and he is dragged away in a straight jacket. It is hard not to think of Cairo Station in a modern context, in light of the Me Too movement and in light of the growing awareness of disgruntled young men whose entitlement and dissatisfaction explode into violence. Kinawi is what today we'd call a "Nice Guy," effectively stalking a woman who considers him a friend and fetishizing her, refusing to recognize her own humanity and autonomy. In one shot, after Kinawi learns of the nearby murder, we see that he has cut up one of his pin up girls, neatly decapitating the picture. Hannouma, to him, is one of his pin up drawings to be hung on his wall. While there is a degree of sympathy for this man, it is from a place of pity, looking at him as a misguided and ill person driven to violence by his own inert frustration. He is at once terrifying and pathetic, much the same way the men responsible for the harassment campaigns during GamerGate are immensely dangerous. Hannouma herself is a complex character. She could be considered a little cruel to toy with Kinawi, but she is also never blamed for what happens to her. She is a vibrant, happy woman, excited for her wedding. She is a bit vain, but self-determined and assured. Her fiance, Abu Siri, is sometimes a braggart and makes at least one snide, somewhat sexist remark. But he is also a labor organizer and a hard worker, while he bosses Kinawi around he never comes across as contemptuous. Ultimately, this is in large part a story of toxic male obsession and the danger of dehumanizing women. It seeks to understand these men, but it does not forgive them. Chahine in the climax recognizes the tragedy of the entire scenario. There is no triumph or joy in Kinawi's capture, only a seering wound that he has torn open in this community. My List: Ciao! Manhattan (1972) - Another Warhol star, featuring Edie Sedgwick shortly before she died and released posthumously. (Added 4/23/2017) Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989) - No RDJ in this one, eh? (Added 5/6/2017) The Blot (1921) - Saw clips from this in my silent film course in college but I never got around to actually watching the whole movie. (Added 6/24/2017) Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (1978) - From the ever underrated master, Chantal Akerman. (Added 7/6/2017) Legend (1985) - The Ridley Scott Slot. Started it once but it was very cheesy and I was tired. Will Tom Cruise defeat Satan and gently caress a unicorn? There's only one way to find out! (Added 7/16/2017) La Pointe-Courte (1955) - I've seen a handful of Agnes Varda films but not her major works, so let's start at the beginning. (Added 8/20/2017) Society (1989) - Never go rear end to mouth. But what if your rear end was your mouth? (Added 2/20/2018) The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) - A major silent era classic that's been a blindspot for me for too long. (Added 3/13/2018) Sansho the Baliff (1954) - I should get more into Mizoguchi, I've only seen Ugetsu and even that was a long time ago. (Added 3/24/2018) Audition (1999) - A light romp. (Added 4/24/2018) Watched: Fort Apache; Damnation; Ran; Ordet; Purple Rain; Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages; Napoléon; Yi Yi; Faces; The Blood of a Poet; The War Room; Sanjuro; The Testament of Dr. Mabuse; Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key; Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace; Flooding with Love for the Kid; Soylent Green; The Most Dangerous Game; Street Trash; The Avenging Conscience; The Spook Who Sat By the Door; Bringing Up Baby; The Life of Juanita Castro; The Hour of the Furnaces; Au hasard Balthazar; Surname Viet Given Name Nam; Seconds; My Dinner with Andre; The Thin Man; What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?; All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace; The Passion of the Christ; Grand Illusion; Fanny and Alexander; Passages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake; Starship Troopers; Little Lord Fauntleroy; Last Summer; Total Recall; The Blood of Jesus; I Shot Andy Warhol; Manchester by the Sea; Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome; The Viking; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Of Gods and the Undead; The Hitch-Hiker; Nerves; The Phantom of Liberty; As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty; The Duellists; Kiss Me Deadly; Heat; The Civil War; Forbidden Planet; Cairo Station (TOTAL: 57)
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Apr 25, 2018 04:22
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TrixRabbi posted:Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989) - No RDJ in this one, eh? (Added 5/6/2017) Yi Yi - 3 hours, no real narrative, and still it almost feels too short. Yi Yi is life, every stage of it from birth to death demonstrated beautifully by one family. The one part that most stood out to me was the mirroring as we see the father reconnect with his first love after many years and while they work through what that means with their lives now, while the teenage daughter is having her first romance, and then also the young son beginning to feel attraction. It's all focused on the mundane every-day experiences that make up our lives. There is one dramatic plot thread, but crucially it happens next door, only adjacent to the family the movie is following. Maybe there's a version where the same problems dealt with by the family are presented more dramatically, but the perspective in Yi Yi is too close for that. I think that's why I found it so easy to connect with and familiar; life as we actually experience it is generally a series of mundane moments, the drama only exists with a little bit of distance. 5/5 List: Early Summer - watched Late Spring earlier this year and really need to catch up on Ozu Goodbye, Dragon Inn - been watching a lot of Taiwanese films lately, I should probably check out Tsai Ming-liang. Also it's probably not too relevant, but I loved Dragon Inn Rio Bravo - know the song, never saw the film The Music Room - probably not the recommended place to start with Satyajit Ray, but I bought it and should really watch it Les Vampires - need to watch more silents and I just saw Irma Vep and loved it Gates of Heaven - documentaries Funny Games - who's this Haneke? Fitzcarraldo - I've seen Aguirre, but that's it so far for Herzog Tremors - horror Tristana - Buñuel is one of my all time favorites, but I still have a few to watch Completed(24): A Nightmare on Elm Street [4/5], Vertigo [5/5], Repulsion [4/5], Last Year at Marienbad [5/5], Blade Runner[4/5], Akira [5/5], Rear Window [5/5], A Brighter Summer Day [5/5], Rosemary's Baby [5/5], Close Encounters of the Third Kind [4/5], The Godfather Part 2 [5/5], Citizen Kane [5/5], Godzilla [5/5], Psycho [5/5], The Exorcist [4/5], The Blair Witch Project [4/5], Cléo from 5 to 7 [5/5], Faces [4/5], North by Northwest [4/5], Moonlight [5/5], The Act of Killing [5/5], Adaptation [5/5], Ran [5/5], Yi Yi [5/5] letterboxd
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Apr 25, 2018 06:19
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Have you seen any of his other films? A Brighter Summer Day is even better. edit: I watched Tampopo and I loved it but I'm tired so I'll write more about it tomorrow: edit 2: Tampopo is a lot of adjectives and silly descriptors mushed together. It's an effervescent fantasmagorical Pythonesque kaleidoscopic Bunuellian exploration of food culture, plowing through genres and jumping from narrative to dotty sketches and back with Hausuian recklessness. What's funny is that the central narrative is, on its own, engaging - in the current market of endless foodie shows and deep dives into the creation of restaurants and outre chef menu assemblages, Tampopo seems more relevant than ever. We want to see Tampopo succeed, and we want to know how she'll succeed, and we want to know why she's not succeeding and what she could be doing to make her succeed, and the movie does a great job of filling us in on all levels. What makes a good broth? How thick should the meat be cut? There are moments of dense culinary verbage but they're offset by a perpetual tongue-in-cheek vibe - in one scene, Tampopo and her Indiana Jonesy trucker friend categorically take down everything that's bad about an opponent's ramen, and not only does it make sense, but it's amusingly performed and develops their relationship. Like good ramen, Tampopo successfully manages many things at once while never feeling thin or transparent. There's a weird heart in the middle of it, and without it, it would fall apart. The earnestness lifts the satire, just as the sketches divert while successfully highlighting different elements of how food is approached by people, society, and culture. There are some flavors I like to think of as bottomless - you can't tell where the flavor ends, like swimming in a deep pool at night - and there are some movies where the mood is bottomless. There's no edge or limitation to the creation of Tampopo. 10/10 shamezone 1) A Poem Is A Naked Person - more blank 2) Pickpocket - I don't like Bresson but okay 3) No End - poland 1 4) The Pillow Book - greenaway 5) The Spirit of the Beehive - bee movie 6) Ugetsu - tspdt 1000!! 7) Colossal - recent rave 8) Veronika Voss - plowing forward with fassbinder 9) Harlan County USA - documentary 10) Desert Hearts - sand movie [full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10, Tampopo 10/10 (total: 143) fancymike gets funny games preferably the german version (also please watch the music room it's very good and then watch the big city and also charulata and Magic Hate Ball fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Apr 25, 2018 |
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Apr 25, 2018 06:34
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A Brighter Summer Day is incredible and easily makes my short list of best movies of all time. Taipei Story is very good as well. Terrorizers is on amazon so I'll probably watch that one soon. I really want to see Mahjong as well, but it looks like the only way to do that is renting it on vcd. I'm not too familiar with the New Taiwan Cinema, but I've got the Masters of Cinema Early Hou Hsiao-hsien set ordered and it looks like amazon has also put up a couple Hou films I haven't seen yet so I'm working on it.
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Apr 25, 2018 15:26
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Magic Hate Ball posted:2) Pickpocket - I don't like Bresson but okay Oh boy! Pickpocket (1959)  Michel takes up picking pockets as a hobby, and is arrested almost immediately, giving him the chance to reflect on the morality of crime Not only is Bresson asking of me to stomach his very austere style, the terrible amateur acting, but also to imagine petty larceny as a crime worth getting worked about. It just doesn't work for me. Getting your watch pinched is the most bougie anxiety, not the kind of crime that is the basis of a sinful confession, or intimate psychological character study. If it wasn't for how severe and resolute Bresson is, this could pass off as a dark comedy about a criminal who is very much full of himself and is a major cretin. The pickpocket montages are all nice, almost wild for Bresson, which offer a great change of pace and make the film actually watchable. It's very brief runtime also means that it was over before I really started to sour on it. SHAME Part III The Director's Cut: Rio Bravo John Wayne nooooooooo The Crime of Monsieur Lange Renoir Paisan Keeping my voyage through Italy with another Scorsese favourite Tristana The other Bunuel and Deneuve collaboration Sullivan's Travels Was quite cold on The Lady Eve so hoping this is better Cairo Station Going completely blind on this Wag the Dog So I can understand all those Trump wagging dog headlines I Am Cuba The Deer Hunter 183 min Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind animes Have watched so far 79 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, Branded to Kill, In Bruges, Black Swan, The White Diamond, The Sting, Romeo + Juliet, Bronson, The Magician, 2046, Witness for Prosecution, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I Vitelloni, Sonatine, Ivan's Childhood, Week End, Ninotchka, Gone Girl, Inside Llewyn Davis, Under the Skin, The Thin Blue Line, Withnail & I, Manhunter, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Carol, Pickpocket
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Apr 25, 2018 17:48
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Pickpocket ahhh ehhh ehhhnh all three Bresson films I've seen have made me want to take a nap. Pickpocket has some virtuoso sequences where we get to watch the process of pickpocketing, and it's always fun to learn something in a film, but I just can't detect the depth that everyone else seems to be so enamored with. In his review, Ebert says of the main relationship in the film: "Bresson never supplies motives. We can only guess." He makes this point as a positive, but it only strikes me as a hindrance. Is being informed of what's happening such a crime? We get the point eventually, and in some ways it almost feels beleaguered - Michel has a certain arrogance about him, a way of packing himself out of society. Much like the ending of American Psycho, he craves certainty and judgement, and it seems as if he would rather work against everyone around him than bow down and be merely mediocre. At least, he seems to think, a crash would really be something, preferable to puttering along respectably. And crash he does, asking himself in dry voiceover why he ignored so many obvious clues. Of the three Bressons I've seen, this is the most actively engaging. That's not saying a lot, but in comparison to the other two this is like a Hitchcock film. The fetishization of theft, the dizzying need to break against normalcy, and the desire literalize the bars he's put between himself and others, these are interesting psychological concepts. But then the movie is just so nothing. It's like a song slowed down so much that you can't find the tempo, and I say that, as a fan of ambient music, as a criticism. Bresson's fascination with crumbling the constituents of a narrative into dry rubble does nothing for me and I don't understand it. 4/10 shamezone 1) A Poem Is A Naked Person - more blank 2) Shoah - i will try 3) No End - poland 1 4) The Pillow Book - greenaway 5) The Spirit of the Beehive - bee movie 6) Ugetsu - tspdt 1000!! 7) Colossal - recent rave 8) Veronika Voss - plowing forward with fassbinder 9) Harlan County USA - documentary 10) Desert Hearts - sand movie [full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10, Tampopo 10/10, Pickpocket 4/10 (total: 144) Electronico6 gets the deer hunter
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Apr 25, 2018 23:16
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Magic Hate Ball, watch the essential Harlan County, USA. Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto In David Lynch's Eraserhead, we are immersed in the horrific world of industrialization. Lynch's vision of alienation among a soundscape of factory noise pollution and visuals of a city where visual beauty has been devastated by manufacturing has long resonated as an indelible image of America filtered through nightmare dream logic. In Tetsuo, the Iron Man, Shinya Tsukamoto shows a vision where a businessman's physical body has been invaded and perverted by industrialization. It is not just his surroundings that have been perverted, he himself is being torn apart from the inside by steel rods, wiring, and shrap metal that shreds his flesh to transform him into a husk of cybernetic gore. Tsukamoto achieves this vision by combining new wave editing techniques with splatter horror effects, crafting his own nightmare vision of modern Japanese society. The anxieties produced by television, video games, and general modernization become Cronenbergian psychosexual body horror, climaxing in an anime-esque battle between two metal men. The brief 67 minute runtime of Tetsuo is the perfect length for this cult classic, which in its mania manages to narrowly avoid wearing out its welcome. But this is the kind of wild underground filmmaking I live for. Perhaps if I saw it in high school it'd be an instant favorite. As it stands, I like the movie a lot and am impressed by what Tsukamoto achieved on what must be a very small budget. My List: Ciao! Manhattan (1972) - Another Warhol star, featuring Edie Sedgwick shortly before she died and released posthumously. (Added 4/23/2017) The Blot (1921) - Saw clips from this in my silent film course in college but I never got around to actually watching the whole movie. (Added 6/24/2017) Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (1978) - From the ever underrated master, Chantal Akerman. (Added 7/6/2017) Legend (1985) - The Ridley Scott Slot. Started it once but it was very cheesy and I was tired. Will Tom Cruise defeat Satan and gently caress a unicorn? There's only one way to find out! (Added 7/16/2017) La Pointe-Courte (1955) - I've seen a handful of Agnes Varda films but not her major works, so let's start at the beginning. (Added 8/20/2017) Society (1989) - Never go rear end to mouth. But what if your rear end was your mouth? (Added 2/20/2018) The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) - A major silent era classic that's been a blindspot for me for too long. (Added 3/13/2018) Sansho the Baliff (1954) - I should get more into Mizoguchi, I've only seen Ugetsu and even that was a long time ago. (Added 3/24/2018) Audition (1999) - A light romp. (Added 4/24/2018) Point Break (1991) - Ok, seriously how haven't I seen this one yet? (Added 4/25/2018) Watched: Fort Apache; Damnation; Ran; Ordet; Purple Rain; Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages; Napoléon; Yi Yi; Faces; The Blood of a Poet; The War Room; Sanjuro; The Testament of Dr. Mabuse; Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key; Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace; Flooding with Love for the Kid; Soylent Green; The Most Dangerous Game; Street Trash; The Avenging Conscience; The Spook Who Sat By the Door; Bringing Up Baby; The Life of Juanita Castro; The Hour of the Furnaces; Au hasard Balthazar; Surname Viet Given Name Nam; Seconds; My Dinner with Andre; The Thin Man; What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?; All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace; The Passion of the Christ; Grand Illusion; Fanny and Alexander; Passages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake; Starship Troopers; Little Lord Fauntleroy; Last Summer; Total Recall; The Blood of Jesus; I Shot Andy Warhol; Manchester by the Sea; Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome; The Viking; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Of Gods and the Undead; The Hitch-Hiker; Nerves; The Phantom of Liberty; As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty; The Duellists; Kiss Me Deadly; Heat; The Civil War; Forbidden Planet; Cairo Station; Tetsuo, the Iron Man (TOTAL: 58)
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Apr 26, 2018 02:05
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Magic Hate Ball posted:Pickpocket
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Apr 26, 2018 02:40
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Coaaab posted:So you've seen Balthazar, now Pickpocket, and...? If you haven't, you should eventually check out A Man Escaped, that's his real Hitchcock film as far as entertainment value is concerned. And you nailed it on the head when talking about those particular psychological concepts because every feature film Bresson's ever done is about prison, which I might attribute autobiographically if those rumors about him being a gigolo in his younger days were ever substantiated. Diary of a Country Priest, which I gave an "inquisitive" 7/10 and thought was "haplessly classical and redundant" because I didn't know who Bresson was or that that was just his thing. I think I may have actually napped during it. My problem is that I just don't enjoy or connect to what he's doing, so I get stuck in the awful place of watching it academically with absolutely no emotion, which is basically the worst.
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Apr 26, 2018 03:03
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Magic Hate Ball posted:Diary of a Country Priest, which I gave an "inquisitive" 7/10 and thought was "haplessly classical and redundant" because I didn't know who Bresson was or that that was just his thing. I think I may have actually napped during it. My problem is that I just don't enjoy or connect to what he's doing, so I get stuck in the awful place of watching it academically with absolutely no emotion, which is basically the worst.
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Apr 26, 2018 03:14
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TrixRabbi posted:Legend (1985) - The Ridley Scott Slot. Started it once but it was very cheesy and I was tired. Will Tom Cruise defeat Satan and gently caress a unicorn? There's only one way to find out! (Added 7/16/2017) I shall miss seeing this tag line. Perhaps the greatest tag line ITT's history. bitterandtwisted posted:I've seen clips and images of later Toho monster films with the likes of Mothra and Mechagodzilla and kind of assumed they were aimed at younger children based on their appearance. Is that a fair assessment? There's a little bit of that trend but each one is their own thing. The first two are serious and then things kind of soften. King Kong vs. Godzilla started injecting some humor/farce into things. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep gets silly at times. The eighth film Son of Godzilla is also a very lighthearted family issues film. The only one I've seen so far that definitely felt like an after school special was the tenth film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Monsters_Attack Some of the others I haven't mentioned from the 1960s will scare younger kids as they do have explicit violence/death in them. The last couple I've seen (the 1971 and 1972 films) actually have a strong environmentalist message behind them. In the Company of Men - Its mean-spirited premise is both prescient and timely in certain ways. Basically two jaded men fed up with being screwed over by women decide to exact revenge on an unsuspecting deaf coworker. They both begin dating her with the intention of breaking it off in a cruel way. It has a little of American Psycho and a little of Fight Club in it. But it's more down-to-earth and practical in attitude and dialogue. There's also a larger cast of characters who are mainly bitter corporate workers and management guys on power trips. As things progress it isn't 100% clear whether the two guys are actually falling for her or are just acting (one is and one isn't). The other side of the coin is that she willingly goes along and strings both guys along herself. Love is dangerous. It's lower budget fare and features only static shots. Also, there's a lot of scenes thrown in that reference cursory office jibber-jabber and it comes across as filler. Generic dog-eat-dog corporate stuff. I don't hold that against it too much though. The twist ending is that Chad (Aaron Eckhart) actually wasn't screwed over by a woman and was in a relationship all along. In the end it's even worse...Chad's a poseur and making excuses to cheat on top of his other dastardly deeds. I have survived the 25 most dangerous movies. James Bond versus Godzilla (28/64 completed): Godzilla vs. Megalon - Godzilla vs. giant cockroach/beetle. 3/9/18 Academy Award for Best Directing (83/91 completed): 1949 A Letter to Three Wives - Sounds like a polygamist classic. 2/27/18 1937 The Awful Truth - Cary Grant in another screwball comedy. 3/27/18 1935 The Informer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yGvypBwyA 4/4/18 1932 Bad Girl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_KbwEVBjU 3/23/18 1929 The Divine Lady - A love story of some sort. 2/27/18 1928 Two Arabian Knights - A WWI comedy. 2/20/18 Notebooks on Cinema's 100 Most Beautiful Films in the World (71/100 completed): #34 House of Pleasure AKA Le Plaisir – I haven't seen many of Max Ophüls' films. 4/22/18 new #50 The Story of a Cheat - I've never seen a Sacha Guitry film. 4/26/18 #54 Some Came Running – Vincente Minnelli must've been busy in 1958 as he directed this one the same year as Gigi. 4/22/18
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Apr 26, 2018 06:24
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I find it interesting to compare Bresson and Dreyer. They're quite similar in many respects; both very Christian filmmakers, both very austere in their directing style, both far more concerned with existentialist than materialist themes. And yet I'm lukewarm on the former while the latter is one of my favourite directors. No idea why, honestly.
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Apr 26, 2018 17:33
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Eh, I think Bresson's intensive focus on grasping hands and making sound equal in weight to image precludes him from being a non-materialist.
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Apr 26, 2018 17:44
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Bresson often seems as if he's detaching himself emotionally from his characters and his actors deliver lines dry and with defeat. Dreyer is often rapturous in his passion and paints each shot in mystery, horror, or ethereal ascendence.
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Apr 26, 2018 18:14
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Harlan County USA A succession of voices and faces, each calling out their own stories, one then the other. It's temping to call this a rugged film or a jagged film or a dusty film, something to evoke the location and the events and the facts of the film - coal mining, tatty shacks in misty valleys, scraggly multipurpose rooms littered with folding chairs - but the element that sticks out most is the wealth of humanity, experience, and expression. These are people with a community, and they all have something to say. What's particularly engaging is the battle of the women, the miner's wives and mothers and daughters, who fight almost more fiercely than the men do, going up and out at pre-dawn to lie down in front of the scab cars and being dragged off to jail. And those faces, and their emotions and expressions, are so intriguing and open. Their toil, their pain, their heartache, and their fury is dashed across the screen - teeth bared, eyes crinkled. I love these people. I love that the movie does such a good job of putting us in company with them, illuminating them, and organizing them into a perpetual roiling wave of blistering effort. They go up one side of a day, and down the other. I won't comment on the politics because there's really nothing to be said, is there? When the big men come down from their executive suites, they have faces as glassy and unfeeling as their big-city buildings. An economic big-shot arrives from Washington, and everything he says is pre-packaged, like he has to take the cellophane off his words before rolling them blandly into the microphone. What does he care? Kopple takes us into the mines more than once, the low rocky ceilings jutting and flashing inches from the lens. The glimpses of the work itself are brief but invigorating - it's hard. We see the dust, we see the arcs of the backs. We see people at home, breathing into machines to help with their black lung. Another executive states, as if it were the plainest truth, that there is no connection between breathing coal dust and getting black lung. The wall between reality and executive engineering feels very nearly physical during these moments. Somebody's body is turning into ash, and somebody else is writing it off on a piece of paper. 10/10 shamezone 1) A Poem Is A Naked Person - more blank 2) Shoah - i will try 3) A Short Film About Killing - poland 4) The Pillow Book - skin movie 5) The Spirit of the Beehive - bee movie 6) Ugetsu - tspdt 1000!! 7) Colossal - recent rave 8) Veronika Voss - fassbinder continued 9) Heaven's Gate - dirt movie 10) Desert Hearts - sand movie [full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10, Tampopo 10/10, Pickpocket 4/10, Harlan County USA 10/10 (total: 145) zogo gets le plaisir
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Apr 27, 2018 01:11
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Magic Hate Ball posted:5) The Spirit of the Beehive - bee movie Here you are! And for the record, I echo your sentiments re: Pickpocket and Bresson in general. Balthazar similarly left me cold. A Man Escaped is very good, though. I watched Young Girls of Rochefort, which I expected to strongly dislike based on my difficulties with Umbrellas of Cherbourg (it's fine, but I find it very...cheesy, like the music actively gets in the way of the story, which is often an issue I have with musicals), but I freaking loved this. I think it's the combination of how self-aware it is and how silly, yet refined, all the musical sequences are. It's breezy (Perhaps a little too breezy with the murderer subplot. I loved it, how it was handled, but I can see that seeming tonally unsettling. Not for me! I laughed so hard about how nonchalant they were reading the paper and then discovering the identity of the killer later.) It also works super well because of how well the choreography is filmed. The camera doesn't sit back and let it all happen within its frame. The camera is very active. The action feels alive and every shot seems intricately framed and staged. My partner said if Wes Anderson made a musical it would probably evoke Jacques Demy, and it's hard to argue that. Also...Gene Kelly was in his mid-50s here!? He must have had really excellent...genes (HAR HAR). LIST O SHAME 1) Cléo From 5 to 7 - I've seen a few from Demy, but only one from Agnes Varda (Vagabond...twice). Let's go! 2) The White Ribbon - It's taken me a long time to get into Haneke, but I want to keep going. 3) Paprika - Anime from the creator of Perfect Blue, which I was a fan of. Figured I should see another. 4) The Exterminating Angel - I've barely dipped my toe into Bunuel's filmography. 5) Sansho the Bailiff - Classic Mizoguchi. 6) Harvey - Always thought this looked super hokey...but I like Jimmy Stewart and this is generally beloved, but I need a push. 7) Topsy Turvy - Ahhh Mike Leigh, looks less downtrodden than some of his work, but I'm still generally a novice with him. 8) Joint Security Area - I've seen, and loved, most of Park Chan-wook's movies, but haven't seen this one. 9) All That Jazz - Bob Fosse is a blind spot. 10) La Silence de La Mer - Jean Pierre Melville is excellent. I've liked everything I've seen. SHAME BE GONE (PART DEUX): Top Secret!, Yi Yi, New York New York, Rio Bravo, Dogtooth, Song of the Sea, The Fog, A Touch of Zen, Walkabout, Starman, Young Girls of Rochefort (Total: 11)
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Apr 27, 2018 04:29
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