28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Winston*]

Anyone familiar with Asghar Farhadi's work outside of A Separation? There are upcoming screenings of his previous four films and I was wondering what to prioritise.

[Russ]

The Big Night {Joseph Losey, 1951) pro

This followup to Losey's other 1951 films, M and The Prowler was an interesting, if uneven, film, and it's one of the more unusual part-film noir/ part-coming-of-age films you'll likely see. John Drew Barrymore is very earnest, but otherwise mostly convincing as the awkward youth who seeks revenge against the man who savagely beat his father. With the entirety of the narrative taking place over a 24 hour span, it seems to presage later, similar works (ie, Scorcese's After Hours), if not in content, then in structure. Barrymore gets a lot more than he bargains for in his quest, and is more than ably supported by a wonderful supporting cast, with Preston Foster (as the father), Joan Lorring (as a female companion) standing out, but especially Howard St. John, as the 'heavy', Al Judge (a crippled sportswriter). Yeah, this is one odd duck, alright, but it's also a pretty good one.

Losey adds some interesting touches, prominent among them a brief observation of a particular social issue regarding race (and it's a terrific scene featuring Barrymore's meeting with a nightclub singer played by Mauri Lynn). It's a very brief moment in the film that I will remember long after I’ve forgotten everything else about it. While Barrymore searches for the man who had beaten his father, he is taken to a nightclub, where he becomes fascinated by the club’s singer (Lynn). After the show, Barrymore goes outside where he encounters Lynn (she’s black, and you get the impression that he doesn’t have much social experience with people of a different race). Starstruck, he stammers and politely introduces himself and says, “I want you to know what I think. You’re the most wonderful singer in the whole world.” Lynn smiles radiantly and thanks him. He continues, “That isn’t all. ‘Cause also, you’re…so beautiful.”

“Even if you are a…”, and he catches himself, but it’s too late; the damage has been done.

The look on Lynn’s face when she hears those words, changing from one of pure joy to one of immense sorrow and sadness, was devastating. Even Barrymore’s apologetic pleas (“I didn’t mean to say it”) do nothing to erase the pain that Lynn has experienced.

This brief encounter, which is essentially a throwaway scene lasting less than a minute, lent nothing to the main plot, but it was Losey’s way of making a big statement on the state of race relations at the time the film was made. It’s a very powerful and emotional moment and did more to drive it’s point home than some entire movies devoted to the topic.

The film is on Netflix Instant, but I believe it will be expiring at the end of this month.


Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese, 1954) pro

The only copy I could find was a sub-sub par n'th generation print whose awful video was only surpassed by the dreadful audio accompaniement (a pristine copy might've easily garnered a top rating) - suffice to say, what we have here is taut and economical storytelling, centered around a prison death-row escape and its aftermath (including the recovery of $200k that has been socked away by one of the escapees).

No great shakes on the narrative, as it holds the usual staple of hostages (priest, doctor, reporter, prison guard, innocent girl) that are thrust front and center in the more stage-bound second half, where the gang is trapped in their warehouse hideout.

However.

Edward G. Robinson, as a brutal and uncompromising kingpin is SUPERB. He has never been better, and everyone else (including the spirited but lesser-talented Peter Graves) feeds off his energy. It's really something to see. Fregonese's inspired direction (espcially during the first half-hour inside the prison), and the magnificent shadowy cinematography by Stanley Cortez (Night of the Hunter, The Magnificent Ambersons) drive this film, with the performers capably adding to the mix.

Again, give me a great print of this and I'm likely in cinema heaven. Yes, it's a definite B-movie with a really low budget, but don't let that stop you from seeing this film. Just don't try to watch the one currently available thru torrents and such.

[Derek]

Anyone familiar with Asghar Farhadi's work outside of A Separation? There are upcoming screenings of his previous four films and I was wondering what to prioritise.

I've heard great things about Fireworks Wednesday, but don't know much about his other films.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Anyone familiar with Asghar Farhadi's work outside of A Separation? There are upcoming screenings of his previous four films and I was wondering what to prioritise.

Fireworks Wednesday is really great. The one with Dust in the title (Dancing in Dust?) is good.

[Boner M]

Everyone says About Elly is good.

Also, why hasn't Spinal seen A Separation?!

[B-side]

Anyone familiar with Asghar Farhadi's work outside of A Separation? There are upcoming screenings of his previous four films and I was wondering what to prioritise.

Basically, all four of his previous films are pretty well regarded, so if you're into him, maybe try and see all four?

[Raiders]

Everyone says About Elly is good.

It is. Very good actually. If you like A Separation, pretty sure you'll like it as well. Farhadi is an amazing storyteller. Every angle, every glance, every moment, just feels so well-informed and subtly important to the overall view of Iranian life and customs. I hesitate to say after two films, but his is as powerful a vision as Panahi's for me.

[Morris Schæffer]

A Pierce Brosnan retrospective:

http://www.empireonline.com/features/film-by-film-pierce-brosnan

oh sweet lord, that last entry, page 14, is astounding.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Guerin's Innisfree...anybody seen it? What a crazy film.

Some viewings:

Innisfree: Guerin's cinema has been a bit obtuse for me based on only one film I had seen (Train of Shadows) but Innisfree despite being absurdly dense and experimental in form is unbelievably absorbing and moving. 5/5

Trial of Joan of Arc: Not my favorite Bresson and a bit too basic in style (obviously Bresson makes basic an art form in many of his stronger films). The lead actress is great in her unemotional intensity and the film really picks up towards the end of its brief runtime but something felt a bit lacking about the whole experience. 4/5

King of Ads: Disc 1: A 2-disc collection of television ads made by famous filmmakers. This disc was astounding and had more of a consistent theme amongst the selections including the revelation that Hugh Hudson may be among the greatest filmmakers to ever put his skill to advertisements. Each Hudson commerical on this disc was astounding. 5/5

Drowning By Numbers (3rd viewing): Showed some friends this one when they asked for some Greenaway. It sunk a bit in my books on this viewing but its still a remarkable film - I would still consider this film part of the four masterpieces Greenaway has made (Zed, Cook, Prospero's, Drowning). The Fish Beach scene still gets me all emotional and the youngest Cissie's immortal words in an early scene to her suitor ("I'll marry you on two conditions. One, you learn to swim and two, you never ever take me from the front") still crack me up. Greenaway has an acutely crude sense of humor throughout his films, coupled with his meticulous eye for composition. 5/5

[Derek]

Guerin's Innisfree...anybody seen it? What a crazy film.

Been meaning to check out more Guerin after loving In the City of Sylvia a few years ago. Boner called it something like an academic Tati film which sounds pretty awesome to me, though I think he meant it more as a shot. Lovely film and a wonderful, formally inventive take an otherwise slight premise.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Been meaning to check out more Guerin after loving In the City of Sylvia a few years ago. Boner called it something like an academic Tati film which sounds pretty awesome to me, though I think he meant it more as a shot. Lovely film and a wonderful, formally inventive take an otherwise slight premise.

Boner called Innisfree Tati-esque or In the City of Sylvia? Innisfree reminded me most of something like 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her or maybe even a Vertov film. I am really excited to see more of his work. I thought Train of Shadows was good but it never got me anxious to see more like Innisfree did.

[Winston*]

Watched Badlands at the cinema. Didn't remember how funny this film is, with the deliberate banality of the dialogue and Spacek's voiceover. It's almost a comedy.

Spacek: "That's Montana over there."

Sheen: "I never been to Montana... Acquaintance of mine has, but I
hadn't... Never had any reason to."

*pause*

Spacek: "State bird's a meadowlark."

[Izzy Black]

Definitely. Like a Flannery O'Connor short.

[Ezee E]

I rewatched Jaws for the first time in probably ten years or so. I never realized how Hitchcockian it is with its shark attacks.

I was also always a fan of Scheider in the movie, but it's Robert Shaw that absolutely steals any scene he's in. I couldn't imagine this type of movie being a summer headliner nowadays. 470 million, back in the 70's? Holy crap.

[Boner M]

Watched Badlands at the cinema. Didn't remember how funny this film is, with the deliberate banality of the dialogue and Spacek's voiceover. It's almost a comedy.

Spacek: "That's Montana over there."

Sheen: "I never been to Montana... Acquaintance of mine has, but I
hadn't... Never had any reason to."

*pause*

Spacek: "State bird's a meadowlark."
"Somebody dropped a bag on the sidewalk."
"If everybody did that, the whole town'd be a mess."

[wigwam]

Tonight I saw a movie called Gimme the Loot. It's a really good laidback comedy where 2 graffiti writers scheme their way thru a naturalist filthy and cluttered New York City. It feels as scripted as it is, and there's some iffy acting by the main guy and a white girl who looks like Amy Adams and talks like Greta Gerwig (down to the slight lisp) but the main girl is amazingly good with the layers to her character's persona (also she has similar facial expressions to AnnaSophia Robb, which endeared me immediately). The characters' relationship and how they go about negotiating their relative marginality is like a much better version of The Whole Shootin' Match, much less those Safdie Brothers NYC mumblecores. Also the music is awesome and lends the film the perfect vibe to match the visual modesty. Instead of the expected hiphop it's all this rocksteady-ish 60s soul/R&B stuff, another relaxed choice in a film filled with them and comprising a really fun surprise.

[Ezee E]

Figured this may get more people to see Trance, and is more beneficial here then that thread:

Full-frontal Rosario Dawson. Multiple times.

[B-side]

Train of Shadows is brilliant. Aesthetically, probably one of the best films ever made. I have Innisfree. Kinda wanted to wait until after I'd seen The Quiet Man, and now that I have, I can watch it.

[Russ]

(film title maybe nsfw)

The Dog Star Man Has A Too Big Flaming Cock For The Sheba Queen (Fredéric Charpentier, 1991) PRO

Experimental porno deconstruction presented as loving Brakhage tribute. As essential as it sounds.

[Yxklyx]

Mike Leigh's Hard Labour (1973) is one of the bleakest films I can recall seeing. Nothing is more depressing than watching two loveless old people getting old together. There is no humor to be seen anywhere as in Leigh's later films. Reminded me a bit of one of Lynne Ramsay's early shorts. Was very cool to see a very young Ben Kingsley and Bernard Hill (Theoden from LOTR) in small effective roles. Excellent cast and acting from everyone - felt like I was watching a documentary.

[Russ]

Bibliothèque Pascal (Szabolcs Hajdu, 2010) PRO

Comparisons to Fellini, Kusturica, Gilliam and Lynch are all warranted in another one of those films where fantasy and reality are seemingly at odds in conveying the real story beneath the surface. A woman attempts to regain custody of her child, whom she left in the care of an aunt, while she went abroad under dubious circumstances to make money to support them. She uses a fairy tale-like fantasy to relay the backstory to the social worker in charge of the case and to mask her own personal pain resulting from her misguided choices. Bright colors do little to hide the dark material contained herein. Think Amelie as a character in A Clockwork Orange.

You can view it on Amazon instant video for $3.99. It's worth it. Some will like it, others will hate it. If the above synopsis piques your interest, go for it.

The director's wife, Orsolya Török-Illyés, is a study in controlled emotion in a demanding and courageous performance. Big thumbs up.

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/astrojester/biblio_zps701d6ebc.png

[Sven]

Mike Leigh's Hard Labour (1973) is one of the bleakest films I can recall seeing.

You really ought to try Bleak Moments. Good grief.

[Derek]

You really ought to try Bleak Moments. Good grief.

Ironically, despite the title, I found Hard Labour to be the bleaker film. Bleak Moments had a few flashes of Leigh's dark humor even if it's still depressing as hell. Hard Labour is just brutal every step of the way.

[Winston*]

Speaking of Leigh. In retrospect I think Another Year might be my favourite film so far this decade. It's definitely the one I think about the most.

[wigwam]

Pain & Gain is top of the line, primo craftsmanship (albeit derivative of Tony Scott as Bad Boys and pretty much all of Bay's stuff is, but "steal from the best" as they say) and the sheen and clarity of the colors popping and the dutchangles locking aren't just eye candy but visual crackrock and the editing is both breakneck and nano-precise in ways that few movies (successfully) are. The humor, characterwork and performances are hilarious and intoxicating and career-bests for most involved (not that there's much competition in certain cases, but Whalberg's career-making intensity from Fear and career-solidifying humor from later works are synthesized here to an awe-inspiring degree). There is a shot where The Rock is in a strip club, staring stonefaced in a non-reaction to something his character doesn't understand, and the staccato lights and their oscillating colors ricocheting off his bald head is some of the finest cinema pur since ...well To the Wonder the other night, or Spring Breakers weeks ago (I actually prefer this club scene to those of Spring Breakers who were sorta sub-Hype Williams to me), and while in reference/association mode I should also own up to feeling echos of GoodFellas, Boogie Nights and Badlands at different points in the 2nd half of the movie (when the cocaine and high-living get going; naturally my favorite part of the film).


The reality of the source material fluctuates in relevance and believability countless times throughout the movie, and the coda showing real pictures of the individuals did import some gravitas to what had only been levity or entertaining suspense, but even without such a device, the choices and scope Bay works with here are so impressive, effective and admirable, on their own but especially in context with his past "sins" if you will (and you will): the best moment for me was a climactic moment articulating the realness of the situation with a single drop of blood bouncing onto an apron, a moment so thrilling, gutpunching, darkly hilarious and just plain cool in ways that all the Decepticons punching all the CGIscrapers in all the Digiopolises never ever were, could or will be.

[Watashi]

Is wigwam a clone of Brightside?

[MadMan]

Figured this may get more people to see Trance, and is more beneficial here then that thread:

Full-frontal Rosario Dawson. Multiple times.I thought it looked decent or maybe even good, but um you have now fully convinced me to go see it. When or if it comes to my area.

[Yxklyx]

Speaking of Leigh. In retrospect I think Another Year might be my favourite film so far this decade. It's definitely the one I think about the most.

Yeah I loved that one too. My favorite Leigh after Naked.

[B-side]

Is wigwam a clone of Brightside?

He'd likely resent the comparison.

[wigwam]

I'm flattered but I'm fatter and apathetic and clinical

[Pop Trash]

Off to see Steven Soderbergh give his "state of cinema" speech at SFIFF today. I am excite!

[Russ]

Divá Bára / Child of Nature (Vladimir Cech, 1949) pro (+)

A mother dies during childbirth amidst a roiling storm, leaving behind a widowed shepherd husband and the film's titular child, who grows up to be known as the "wild child", shunned by the superstitious village residents, who see her cunning and wile as proof of a "witchly" heritage. The fact that all the young men of the village are attracted to her at the expense of the family's marriage-arranged daughters of the village only feed their frenzy in alienating her. In actuality, Bara is strong, sensible, and wise beyond her years, in addition to spending her time helping the villagers with their workloads (at no charge) and swimming nude in the local "haunted" swimming hole, Lake Ugly.

Extensive outdoor locations are utilized to great effect, and there's at least one major talent discovery here (beautiful Vlasta Fialová as the tile character). Vladimir Cech is no slouch behind the camera either, with numerous strikingly shot sequences standing out (especially one in which the heroine, ridiculed for not knowing how to dance, is selected for a solo dance and remarkably picks up some nifty steps very quickly). The film is quaint and mostly-good natured, tho painted with all-too broad brush strokes, especially when the narrative needs to move the film along (at one point the villagers, convinced of the girl's evil ways, pursue her with torches and pitchforks!). This is a very good film that could easily have been a great film with a bit more nuanced approach to the story. Hard to fault the director tho, when the film looks as amazing as it does.


http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/astrojester/vlcsnap-2013-04-27-17h38m08s168_zps15f0703c.png

[B-side]

Set in the fictional country of Eldorado, Entranced Earth (or "Land in Anguish" or a number of other interpretations; I decided to go with the IMDb display title and what seems to be recognized as its international title) like Black God, White Devil, is aggressively political, its claws buried deep in a time and country most are not intimately familiar with -- including myself. This is assuredly a disadvantage, and I'm acknowledging this as an obstacle that likely prevents me from fully appreciating this film, the other Rocha I've seen, and a virtual cornucopia of other films I've seen and am yet to see. Historical context is not necessary to appreciate a film, but it can be and very much is a compass guiding you toward symbols and intricacies that would otherwise be lost or at best very vague to you. Entranced Earth, in a very basic sense, deals with a country in political transition -- a "land in anguish", if you will -- and the politicians who vie for authority with false promises and empty populist sentiment, wielding God like a weapon of war. The protagonist is a poet whose loyalty is torn between the two competing powers. As he struggles to reconcile his commitment to the people and his two friends, the film reveals the deep rift between the people and those who claim to represent them. In a post-9/11 and post-Citizens United America, it's a pretty topical film. The conservative candidate uses mega corporate money to retain power and influence the public, while the "democratic" candidate speaks of the concerns of the poor with his bourgeois friends and large home. "The people" is a buzzword; something casually mentioned over wine with wealthy friends and when figuring out a way to stem the tides of revolution just enough to keep the citizenry out of the political sphere. Characters address the rarely stagnant camera as if attempting a coup from beneath the mask of entertainment. The legend of El Dorado is a European one, propagated through rumor and hearsay that South American chieftains in what is now known as Colombia would be inaugurated in Lake Guatavita by being bathed in gold and jewels. Eventually, this location became generalized as some unknown region in South America home to untold riches. It's easy to see where this myth fits into the narrative of the film. Unfortunately, this one doesn't make me any more enamored with Rocha overall. He's a unique filmmaker, which is always appreciated, but there's an incontrovertible distance between his films and me. He doesn't so much invite you in as he does a crazy political dance with a camera and hands it to you in hopes you'll find something to enjoy. There's nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but I find it impossible to be passionate about his work. I can and would recommend this and Black God, White Devil, but I can't do much more than that.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.

The fuck did I just watch?

[Qrazy]

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.

The fuck did I just watch?

A man shamefully eating ham.

[Dead & Messed Up]

A man shamefully eating ham.

I can sympathize. Nobody had a meal the entire movie. I'd go for the ham too.

My favorite bit was the sergeant genially downplaying the war outside. It's almost like a scene thieved from the climax of Duck Soup.

[Sven]

Hey, MC, I need to host a movie night in about half an hour. I need recs for a recent movie that is escapade-centric that is awesome.

[dreamdead]

Hey, MC, I need to host a movie night in about half an hour. I need recs for a recent movie that is escapade-centric that is awesome.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies? Sonatine? Election (Johnnie To)? Exiled?

[Rowland]

Escapades... umm, The Brothers Bloom. I dunno.

[Sven]

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies?

Definitely wanted to see this.

[Raiders]

Fantastic Mr. Fox

[Dead & Messed Up]

Chicken Run!

[Irish]

Hey, MC, I need to host a movie night in about half an hour. I need recs for a recent movie that is escapade-centric that is awesome.

Missed the window, but: "The Man From Nowhere."

[Yxklyx]

A movie made from atoms:

http://techland.time.com/2013/05/01/tiny-toon-ibm-makes-a-movie-out-of-atoms/

[Irish]

So the guy who was the basis of Sam Neill's character in "Jurassic Park" (and also consulted on the film) wants to make a dinosaur by reverse-engineering a chicken:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/09/ff_chickensaurus/all/

[Winston*]

Seeing the Lawrence of Arabia restoration on the big screen this weekend. Excited.

[Pop Trash]

Computer Chess is something else. I could tell half of the audience I was with was really hating it but I found myself stifling laughs. It gets surprisingly surreal as it moves along, almost to the point where I couldn't quite figure out if the film just turns into an extended dream sequence by the end. There's a bit of Comic Book Guy and Tim & Eric, but mostly it's a unique beast.

Put it to you this way: someone kept letting out stinky farts near my seat and somehow that only added to the verisimilitude and made the movie even funnier.

[Morris Schæffer]

http://www.empireonline.com/features/peter-stormare

Peter Stormare's gallery of rogues, in the man's own words.

[baby doll]

Seeing the Lawrence of Arabia restoration on the big screen this weekend. Excited.I just saw Sans soleil on 35mm and yesterday I saw a digital restoration of Vertigo so pristine you could read the headlines on the newspaper that Jimmy Stewart reads in his car while waiting for Kim Novak to come out of her apartment. Tomorrow Loin du Vietnam, Sunday Rio Bravo.

In other words, eat my poop, bitch.

[Qrazy]

I just saw Sans soleil on 35mm and yesterday I saw a digital restoration of Vertigo so pristine you could read the headlines on the newspaper that Jimmy Stewart reads in his car while waiting for Kim Novak to come out of her apartment. Tomorrow Loin du Vietnam, Sunday Rio Bravo.

In other words, eat my poop, bitch.

Such an angry old man.

[MarcusBrody]

Seeing the Lawrence of Arabia restoration on the big screen this weekend. Excited.

I saw it at AFI's Silver Theatre once. It was one of my all-time favorite cinema experiences. Hope you enjoy it equally!

[D_Davis]

Off to see Steven Soderbergh give his "state of cinema" speech at SFIFF today. I am excite!

Just read it. Very good stuff. I also need to read that new Rushkoff book he mentions.

[Irish]

Why would Quentin Tarantino, of all people, buy into such a frozen, shopworn image of Ford and the pre-Sixties Western genre, an image that is now six decades old and more of an antique than anything Ford ever directed?

Nicely thought out & researched response to QT's particular brand of idiocy.

http://filmcomment.com/article/intolerance-quentin-tarantino-john-ford

[Pop Trash]

Nicely thought out & researched response to QT's particular brand of idiocy.

http://filmcomment.com/article/intolerance-quentin-tarantino-john-ford

Wow. Ten gallon hats off to Kent Jones. And I'm a Tarantino fan.

[Sycophant]

Finally saw Die Hard and Die Hard 2 the other day. Die Hard is wonderful, and I thought especially so for its concern with the human being in body and soul and the conflict between work, institutions, and individuals. There's a physicality to the ludicrous action sequences that is truly impressive, and Alan Rickman's cold cash grab is a wonderful foil for McClane's actions.

Die Hard 2 is an episode of the Saturday morning cartoon version of John McClane, an almost strictly by the numbers action film that cost a lot of money for 1990, with a black hole of a political villain and accomopanying plot, an immortal murder-happy hero, and a narrative that hits a lot of the structural and plot requirements for what was quickly established as a franchise with none of its thematic interestingness. Seems to me as if it's a reasonably efficient explosion delivery mechanism, but in a year that also made Bullet in the Head (it seems that while these films may have had some inspiration to Woo's Hard Boiled, that film possesses enough exhilaratingly choreographed action scenes to put the boring, repeated Hollywood fist fights of Die Hard 2 to shame), I'm pretty unimpressed. It's kind of funny that while "Die Hard on a..." has become shorthand for action movies set in single, often small locations, Die Hard 2 is set mostly in the seemingly endless sprawl of an international airport.

This is a minority opinion around here, I gather. Especially when I bring in my preference for contemporary Woo's brand of operatic, brother-lovin' slaughterfests, I'm sure. But those were the reactions I've been dwelling on the last few days.

[Pop Trash]

I agree with you. Speed is a better (and , hell, maybe even Under Siege) "Die Hard on a..." movie than
Die Hard 2.

I do think the original Die Hard is one of the best movies of the 80s, irrespective of genre.

[Stay Puft]

I'm right there with you, Syco. I never liked Die Hard 2.

[Sycophant]

I do think the original Die Hard is one of the best movies of the 80s, irrespective of genre.

It's a little too recent a viewing for me to feel confident in calling it the same, but I see nothing to object to in this statement.

[Milky Joe]

What's the minority opinion? I thought it pretty standard to think Die Hard 2 pales in comparison to the first one.

I'm just amazed there are still people who haven't seen Die Hard! I'm kind of envious.

[Sycophant]

The minority opinion being that Die Hard 2 is kind of a bad film. The only references I could really find to it when searching Match Cut were people proudly affirming that it's a better film than Die Hard 3, so I gathered that it has a pretty decent rep around here.

There are some advantages to growing up with a sheltered childhood and missing out on all the cool movies everyone likes. Such as, you get to see them for the first time when you're thirty.

[D_Davis]

I can't think of anyone who likes Die Hard 2. It's a pretty terrible movie, especially as a follow up to an all-time classic.

[transmogrifier]

Die Hard 2 is better than the third one, for sure.

[Milky Joe]

^ Disagree entirely. Die Hard with a Vengeance is way better, and the only other DH film to approach the first one.

[Derek]

Die Hard 2 is better than the third one, for sure.

Eww, no. McTiernan >>>>>>> Harlin

[transmogrifier]

Eww, no. McTiernan >>>>>>> Harlin


Spielberg >>>>>>> Rob Reiner, yet When Harry Met Sally >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 1941

[Derek]

To put it another way, the worst John McTiernan film I've seen is better than the best Renny Harlin film. Die Hard With a Vengeance is a pretty big step down from the original, but it's definitely better than the second. It's biggest fault is being a Die Hard film in name only, but change the title and McClane's name and you still have a pretty solid action film.

[B-side]

Nicely thought out & researched response to QT's particular brand of idiocy.

http://filmcomment.com/article/intolerance-quentin-tarantino-john-ford

I was gonna post this here. Best piece of writing I've ever read on Ford's work and the naive attempt to mold history. This is for everyone who insists on reading their modern moral idealism into classic film and history.

[Winston*]

Seeing the Lawrence of Arabia restoration on the big screen this weekend. Excited.

So good, guys.

[Qrazy]

To put it another way, the worst John McTiernan film I've seen is better than the best Renny Harlin film. Die Hard With a Vengeance is a pretty big step down from the original, but it's definitely better than the second. It's biggest fault is being a Die Hard film in name only, but change the title and McClane's name and you still have a pretty solid action film.

Are you forgetting the manhole sequence? Die Hard III has it's fair share of crapola. I might give it the edge to Die Hard II but just barely and mostly for the comedy Sam Jackson brings to the table.

[Winston*]

To put it another way, the worst John McTiernan film I've seen is better than the best Renny Harlin film.

I, for one, would like to assert that Mindhunters is a superior motion picture to Rollerball!

[Derek]

I, for one, would like to assert that Mindhunters is a superior motion picture to Rollerball!

I did mention "that I've seen". I assumed it went without saying that I had more sense than to ever watch Rollerball. ;)

[Winston*]

I've only ever seen bits of it TBH. Seemed like boring garbage, whereas Mindhunters is hilarious garbage.

Does Harlin have any of the same contrarian auteurist fans of a Paul W.S. Anderson?

[Rowland]

Mindhunters > Cliffhanger

Predator > Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard > Die Hard 2

Predator 2 > Lincoln

[Rowland]

Does Harlin have any of the same contrarian auteurist fans of a Paul W.S. Anderson?He used to, but the last decade has seen his standing fall considerably, which a quick glance at his IMDB profile justifies. I caught some of his John Cena vehicle 12 Rounds on cable a few weeks ago, and it was definitely more boring than hilarious, let alone competent, in addition to lacking even so much as that polished swagger he brought to something like Mindhunters (which I enjoy a great deal). Lots of badly executed shaky cam and such, it was really kinda sad.

[transmogrifier]

Mindhunters > Cliffhanger

Predator > Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard > Die Hard 2

Predator 2 > Lincoln

No.
Yes.
Yes.
Don't care enough to check.

[Stay Puft]

I'd also give preference to the third Die Hard, because of the strength of its summer blockbuster material (I like the concept, Sam Jackson, the first half has some good energy... this is a good vehicle for Willis and Jackson, full stop) but as a Die Hard sequel it's committing the worst Hollywood sins of any entry in the franchise (the call backs to the first film are terribad). It's a decent action film with a horrible Die Hard sequel stapled to its face.


Predator > Die Hard

I noticed I'll flip flop depending on whichever I've seen recently (I hadn't seen Die Hard in a long time, watched it again last year, loved it so much), but in the long run I think this holds true for me, too. It's a shame what happened to McTiernan's career, I'd put both of these among the best of what American action cinema can offer.

[Raiders]

If you want a real minority opinion, I think The 13th Warrior is McTiernan's best film.

And Renny Harlin is the absolute pits. I wasn't aware he had many auteurist fans even back in the day. His films are so workmanlike and humorless. PWSA, who I realize I am the biggest fan of here, has much more inspiration behind the camera than I have ever seen from Harlin.

Mindhunters is among the worst films I have ever seen.

[Sven]

PWSA, who I realize I am the biggest fan of here...

Hmmm, actually I think B-Side has vied hard enough for the position that he wins.

[Stay Puft]

If you want a real minority opinion, I think The 13th Warrior is McTiernan's best film.

I liked it upon release but never revisited it. I'd fire it up right now if it was on Netflix.

[Boner M]

Harlin is shitty but The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea are good times & the opposite of humorless.

[Rowland]

I remember his Nightmare on Elm Street sequel being a hoot as well, haven't seen it in years however.

[Boner M]

I remember his Nightmare on Elm Street sequel being a hoot as well, haven't seen it in years however.
Beyond Freddy being resurrected by flaming dog urine, I found it a bore.

[Pop Trash]

I remember his Nightmare on Elm Street sequel being a hoot as well, haven't seen it in years however.

I must have watched it a dozen times on VHS when I was a kid. Not sure if that means anything.

However, I'll defend Dream Warriors as being good shit.

[dreamdead]

Bonello’s House of Pleasures luxuriates in sensory detail. Focusing on a turn of the 20th-century French bordello, the film studies how class, age, and ethnicity create currency in the market. However, it also works as a hallucinatory ode to imagination, with flourishes of expressionism woven throughout. Those dreamlike moments, so central to constantly undercutting any sense of a staid naturalism, add to the power and help situate the contemporary approach to the film. Certainly Bonello’s music cues aid that, but so do so many of the film's visual touches, which adhere to a split screen or phantasmagorical emphasis. Most interestingly, Bonello makes us question the state of prostitution in France today, a concern that broadens the scope here and enables the film to move beyond the veneer of the past.

Meticulously framed and designed.

[Yxklyx]

Watched The Long Kiss Goodnight for the first time a couple of years ago and thought it was a decent action flick - wouldn't mind watching it again.

[MadMan]

Watched The Long Kiss Goodnight for the first time a couple of years ago and thought it was a decent action flick - wouldn't mind watching it again.I like it a lot. If you view it as a campy 90s feminist oriented action movie with tons of good old fashioned violence and a funny SLJ performance than its worth a damn. Otherwise you probably won't like it. I liked it.

I enjoyed Die Hard 2, but its the worst sequel of the first 3. I prefer the 4th film over it, but I like the 3rd a lot. The first is of course great, but I have little desire to see the latest one in theaters-and yes its still playing where I live. I get that instead of Lords of Salem :|

[MadMan]

PS: Paging Morris to the thread. He likes-maybe even loves-Die Hard 2. Paging MS...

[Li Lili]

Has any of you seen any Lina Wertmüller's films ? She's an Italian director, she started as an assistant-director for 8 1/2 by Fellini. I've recently seen 3 of her 70s films (Seven Beauties, Love and Anarchy, The Seduction of Mimi), loved them. Anyone ?

[Dukefrukem]

Die Hard 2 is better than the third one, for sure.

For years I thought this to be true too.


^ Disagree entirely. Die Hard with a Vengeance is way better, and the only other DH film to approach the first one.

But then I realized how incredible the chemistry between Jackson and Willis was. It's follows the sequel rules perfectly.

[Qrazy]

Has any of you seen any Lina Wertmüller's films ? She's an Italian director, she started as an assistant-director for 8 1/2 by Fellini. I've recently seen 3 of her 70s films (Seven Beauties, Love and Anarchy, The Seduction of Mimi), loved them. Anyone ?

What board do you think you're on here? Of course we have. :)

I've only seen Seven Beauties though, love that intro.

[Li Lili]

What board do you think you're on here? Of course we have. :)

I've only seen Seven Beauties though, love that intro.

cool !
"The ones who don't enjoy themselves even when they laugh. Oh, yeah...." :)

I saw them because they were screened at the cinema, and it was the first time I saw her films, it was a delight! I directly loved it. These three films star Giancarlo Giannini, he's so great. In The Seduction of Mimi, there is one scene, and that's definetly very worth watching it on big screen, which includes a close-up on an enormous bottom of a fat naked woman, it's really impressive on big screen!

[Li Lili]

Other films I've recently watched and loved : A Humble Life and Mother and Son, both by Alexander Sokurov.

[Qrazy]

Other films I've recently watched and loved : A Humble Life and Mother and Son, both by Alexander Sokurov.

Check out Days of Eclipse by Sokurov, that's easily his best in my book.

[EyesWideOpen]

I've seen Swept Away and it was not very good.

[Russ]

I've pimped this one (http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showthread.php?14-28-Film-Discussion-Threads-Later&p=476568&viewfull=1#post476568) pretty recently, and hope that people will take advantange of its availability via Amazon. Apparently, it should appeal to fans of Big Fish (which I didn't care for) or Life of Pi (which I haven't seen), at least from what I read. I wanted to share this very cool trailer (although much of the footage is NOT included in the film, and neither is that Beatles cover -- a real shame). Still, highly recommended.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1CPPhg4vEis

How long will I remain the only one who has seen this fabulous film?

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/astrojester/biblio315_zpse0876d2a.jpg

[Yxklyx]

I've seen Swept Away and it was not very good.

Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August is one of my favorite films. Love it from start to finish.

[Li Lili]

Check out Days of Eclipse by Sokurov, that's easily his best in my book.
I will. I saw some of his other films years ago (and saw Faust last year), but with A Humble Life and Mother and Son, one a documentary and the other one a fiction, there are some similarities, somewhere remote in a countryside, characters living in a very simple life, quite austere though, one is about an old Japanese lady, the other one a dying mother. Both, nostalgic, melancholic, importance of Nature, beautifully shot with a very great sense of composition, there is something quite eery, fantasy in the way he shot, very slow, but never long (both of them only last about 70 minutes).
I'm doing a kind of challenge on letterboxd (30 films, 30 countries) and have lots of films to watch (20 left though), but after that I'll watch and rewatch his other films, for sure.

[Li Lili]

As for Lina Wertmüller, her 70s films (I don't know about her later films), it's quite grotesque, exuberant, very talkative, tragi-comedy, and I guess it may not for everyone's tastes, I love the way the films are shot too, with many close-up, a special range of colours and so on. And Giancarlo Giannini is so excellent, each time in 3 different roles, in Love and Anarchy, he's very playing a young anarchist during the Duce era, quite awkward, shy, very idealist, doesn't talk as much, very different from the other 2.
Haven't seen Swept Away, but I'm pretty sure will like it very much.

[Qrazy]

I will. I saw some of his other films years ago (and saw Faust last year), but with A Humble Life and Mother and Son, one a documentary and the other one a fiction, there are some similarities, somewhere remote in a countryside, characters living in a very simple life, quite austere though, one is about an old Japanese lady, the other one a dying mother. Both, nostalgic, melancholic, importance of Nature, beautifully shot with a very great sense of composition, there is something quite eery, fantasy in the way he shot, very slow, but never long (both of them only last about 70 minutes).
I'm doing a kind of challenge on letterboxd (30 films, 30 countries) and have lots of films to watch (20 left though), but after that I'll watch and rewatch his other films, for sure.

Yeah, I've seen Mother and Son. It's interestingly shot but overall doesn't do that much for me. It has it's place though I just don't connect with it. I also really like The Second Circle from him.

[Derek]

Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August is one of my favorite films. Love it from start to finish.

Yeah, Swept Away is great.

As for Sokurov, Mother & Son is far and away the best I've seen from him. I haven't seen Days of Eclipse or Spiritual Voices though, both of which I've heard great things.

[Winston*]

Anyone seen The Wrong Guy with David Foley? Watched it without any expectations and was amazed by how funny it was.

[Sycophant]

Anyone seen The Wrong Guy with David Foley? Watched it without any expectations and was amazed by how funny it was.

Haven't watched it since it was released on DVD in like 2003. Really liked it then. Should watch it again.

[Winston*]

Haven't watched it since it was released on DVD in like 2003. Really liked it then. Should watch it again.

Can't remember the last time I laughed as hard in a movie as the discovery / escape from the office building sequence. Foley is incredible in this.

[Winston*]

This is a really bad film review.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/sightseers,97488/

[Ezee E]

What a difference 17 years makes...

Also, how old does it make you feel that Romeo + Juliet is 17 years old? Jeebus.

A much hated movie from me initally, for its hyper activity and bizarre approach is completely welcome to me this time around. The movie takes its approach head on, and never looks back. Luhrmann has so much confidence with his style, that it's no wonder it leads to Moulin Rouge a few years later. On top of that, every actor embraces it too. DiCaprio and Danes are pretty remarkable, but it's Pete Postlethwaite who shines here. Wow. I even challenge the Shakespeare snobs that hate this movie to criticize his performance.

[baby doll]

The last time I saw Romeo and Juliette was in 2008 just before Australia came out and I pretty much hated it. Postlethwaite and possibly the black dude from Oz are the only actors who give bearable performances; everybody else is just shouting their heads off, which gets real monotonous real fast. I suppose DiCapprio's performance looks better now in light of his even more monotonous performances in Shutter Island and Inception, but back in '08, my memories of Catch Me if You Can, The Aviator, and even Blood Diamond were still fairly fresh.

[Ezee E]

The best scene in the movie might be where DiCaprio doesn't say anything at all. I'm talking about the scene where he first sees Juliet, can't take his eyes off her as he's escorted out of the party. It's a wonderful "love at first sight" scene.

[Raiders]

It's true though that my recollection of the film is people shouting Shakespeare's dialogue to the non-existent rafters while trying to use cinematic emotionality and framing. Very awkward.

[Watashi]

Speaking of modern Shakespeare, I just saw Michael Almereyda's Hamlet. It was an... interesting take. I had no idea Bill Murray was Polonius. Murray should do more Shakespeare. The best scene was probably Hamlet meeting the Ghost. Sam Shepard's performance really elevated the role and almost felt Lynchian. Not a fan of how they modernized (and basically excluded) the Players.

[Ezee E]

I can't really defend the shouting in Romeo + Juliet, except say that it simply didn't bother me. To me, it usually occurred in a setting where the characters were being egotistical with each other, and being boisterous made a little sense.

[Winston*]

I thought Ralph Fiennes did a better job modern-daying Shakespeare with Coriolanus than Lurhmann or Almereyda.

[Mara]

After a few people mentioned that I should finally see Avatar to make sure it's not too close to the premise of the book I'm writing, I finally watched it this weekend.

I didn't expect to like it very much.

But, actually, I found it kind of horrifying. So many problems.

[Dead & Messed Up]

After a few people mentioned that I should finally see Avatar to make sure it's not too close to the premise of the book I'm writing, I finally watched it this weekend.

I didn't expect to like it very much.

But, actually, I found it kind of horrifying. So many problems.

Proceed.

[MadMan]

I should probably watch Romeo + Juliet again at some point. The last time I saw it I was a freshman in high school. I liked it back then, and yes I agree with Ezee that Pete Postlethwaite is perfect as the priest, at least based on my memory.

[Yxklyx]

Just rewatched The Piano. It was funny to see a performance from little girl Anna Paquin that is nearly identical to the one she did in Margaret. All the facial expressions are the same - and she's playing a mischievous little brat as well.

... and La Strada brought on the manly tears...:(

[Dead & Messed Up]

Finally wrote some words on Ray Harryhausen's exit. Up on the blog, now here as well.

Neither positive nor negative, the reality of the computer effects landscape today is simply too enormous to dismiss. Computer effects offer enormous latitude to filmmakers, allow storytellers to imagine larger than ever before, and provide audiences with sights that would be unfathomable only a few decades ago. Viewers can now peer into fantasy worlds of impossible complexity and realism. Worlds of Earthly (and Middle-Earthly) warfare, an outer space overpacked with interstellar shootouts, revenging avengers, wizard duels, spindly blue cat-people, and of course, countless disaster pictures that now have to destroy the entire planet (2012, Knowing) to feel significant at all.

The trade-off, it seems, is that fantasy spectacle, for so long a precious commodity in cinema, is now so constant and overwhelming that it verges into tedium.

One of the most important elements of Ray Harryhausen's talent was its rarity. There was nobody else who could do what he did, with his imagination and his love for the the monsters he made, and that made his movies worth celebrating. Not only did he painstakingly bring puppets to life by manipulating them frame-by-frame - Ray imbued his puppets with a genuine sense of character. They react. They consider. Some of them have character arcs, communicated entirely through body language, as with the alien in 20 Million Miles to Earth and the baboon in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. While Ray was turning his skill into an art, the rest of the world retreated to more cost-efficient, less time-consuming special effects like "slurpasaurs" (modern-day lizards, usually with sails taped to their backs) and rubber men-in-suits.

The films Ray crafted with the help of producing partner Charles Schneer weren't always winners. His early sci-fi efforts, like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and It Came From Beneath the Sea, rely too heavily on his creations. There's no human element to the stories and, more importantly, little of the exuberance to be found in his later fantasies, where the swashbuckling cheeriness allow his imagination a better sense of place. The grim atomic fears of something like The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms dampened his creative spirit. The tales of Greek and Arabian myth set him free and resulted in genre classics: Jason and the Argonauts, his Sinbad trilogy, and swan song Clash of the Titans.

After Clash, Ray retired from the cinema, right around the time that Industrial Light and Magic was planting the seeds of the digital revolution, using computers to generate monitor displays in films like Star Wars, Alien and Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.

As a child, I grew up hearing the name Ray Harryhausen, along with names like Dick Smith, the makeup artist who made the devil come to life in The Exorcist. And Willis O'Brien, who brought beauty to a beast in King Kong. Stan Winston was another. Carlo Rambaldi. Rick Baker. Phil Tippett. Dennis Muren. Tom Savini. Lon Chaney. Jack Pierce. The men who gave us gods and monsters. More importantly, the men who took the lifeless and gave those creations a sense of soul. These men were heroes to me, and learning how they accomplished wonders was one of the key moments in my life of cinema.

Much of these artists' work has transitioned, over the years, to the computer bank, to the heavily staffed production house and that's okay. Few of these men worked exclusively by themselves - Stan Winston founded his own studio, after all. And I don't mean to diminish the thousands of effects artists who work every day to bring dreams to life. I just hope the children watching movies today can be as excited as I was. My worry is that they'll grow bored by the excess of creatures and dreamscapes, or that they'll say "Oh, computers did it." Seeing the men behind the curtain made the movie magic more special to me. Fantasy, sci-fi, and horror creations became a gift from one fan to another, and that personal connection could help lead to the next great generation of effects wizards.

I hope kids, both boys and girls, see something that blows their minds, something that makes them skim the credits and jump online and learn a name like Ray Harryhausen, or Rick Baker, or Richard Taylor, or Henry Selick. I hope some of those kids learn how to bring their toy dinosaurs to life, one frame at a time. I hope they experiment with flip books and mix corn syrup with red food dye. And if they have access to it, I also hope those kids goof around with After Effects or Maya and see what they can do with modern technology.

And I hope that they know that it's okay if a special effect is a little ragged around the edges, so long as it's made with love and imagination.

[B-side]

The striking geometrical frames of Paradise: Love are alive and abundant 11 years prior in Dog Days. Seidl has a knack for making that which is "ugly" beautiful. In this way, he's a lot like Korine. Korine's form is much looser; his characters less tied to the naturalism that helps make Seidl's work so trenchant. Dog Days examines a multitude of bodies. Bodies which encompass one or more of the following features: aged, anorexic, obese and overall what would generally be considered unseemly. It's clear Seidl has little interest in anthropological idealism. Though the title is a fair indication of the parade of misery, misogyny, violent emotions and domestic strife on display, it speaks little to the experience of actually enduring these episodes throughout the film. What is at first miserable, hateful, misogynistic activity slowly develops a third dimension. There's a creeping humanism beneath. A hint of true love; of compassion; of genuine decency, as masked and buried as it may seem at a glance. It's there, but it requires you to allow for decency to exist side by side with psychopathy or otherwise damaging behavior. The film's emotional apotheosis -- the scene in which that humanism and genuine decency comes to a head -- happens when a young man, having fallen in love with a middle aged woman he watched, and encouraged his friend to, beat and be otherwise incredibly aggressive and exploitative with, takes both him and the woman at gun point and forces her to repay him the humiliation he had visited upon her for two years prior. It's so close to cathartic, but Seidl refuses to grant it. The woman is just as much a victim in her forced revenge as she was in enduring the other man's abuse. After the younger man leaves, livid that his plea for her love did nothing, the woman and the abuser seem closer and more genuinely in love than in any scene prior. This is the symbolic hurdle and contradiction that is the driving point behind the film and what will ultimately alienate a vast majority of viewers. Thankfully, I'm not a vast majority of viewers. It's a pretty terrific film.


http://i.imgur.com/UQhpd8r.png

http://i.imgur.com/OHxiA91.png

[dreamdead]

Well, Cool Hand Luke could have been self-aggrandizing, but the film maintains a tone that lets it work on multiple registers, allowing it to testify to existential waywardness as well as prison drama and buddy film and self-sacrifice. The ability to harmonize with each of these movements allows it a unique sense of power. Not sure Rosenberg is anything close to a great filmmaker, but this film works on so many textural angles that an average directorial vision doesn't harm it.

[Yxklyx]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - 7.5

Anyone catch the Reddit AMA from Gillian Anderson? Anyway, she mentioned she'd like to play in this one (I assume in Liz Taylor's role) - would love to see that.

[B-side]

How long will I remain the only one who has seen this fabulous film?

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/astrojester/biblio315_zpse0876d2a.jpg

I've had it bookmarked for a long time, but now it's too mainstream since you've already seen it, so I can't watch it now.

[Stay Puft]

There's a mini Chris Marker retrospective in Toronto atm. Yesterday I saw:

La Jetée - Still one of my favorites. Breathtaking on the big screen. Those photographs ooze so much atmosphere, and the minimalist soundscape (heartbeats, whispering) both unnerves and entrances. The scene with the girl in bed never loses its power; I was struck this time by how precisely the format reflects the man's plight. The first time it's a surprise, but on a repeat viewing it's transcendent: a moment of pure presence, quickly lost (the man is immediately thrust back to the lab), never recaptured... or is it even a memory at all, but rather a reconstruction, however brief, that is in itself a total reality (the man finally reaching the other world, the experiment's success... which will also be his demise). Regardless, all that ultimately remains are the fragments (the still photos), never fully assembled or understood, forever lost in time. No kidding, this might be the best science fiction film ever.

Remembrance of Things to Come - Best title for a Marker film ever, and great to see that the man never lost his wit or insight over time. This even feels like a loose remake of La Jetée at times, some forty(!) years later, but comprised entirely this time of still photographs by the artist Denise Bellon. The film is about time travel in its own peculiar way, as Marker pushes Bellon's work through time, taking pre-war photos of France and musing on how they now echo wartime and post-war realities. It becomes a mini-narrative of France's history of sorts, rendered in Marker's familiar essay style, and has some surprising historical tidbits and some great humor (the bathtub film reel collection is out of this world), but also, like La Jetée, is another rumination on the shifting sands of memory. However, I found the soundtrack distractingly cheesy, and video doesn't do Marker's aesthetic justice (he was made for film, it seems); it was a bit of a distraction in itself, seeing this video piece projected between two stunning works of celluloid (La Jetée and The Sixth Face of the Pentagon).

The Sixth Face of the Pentagon - A much more direct, perhaps conventional route for Marker: not at all in his typical, philosophical film essay style, but constructed as a straightforward political document about a specific moment in American history. The subject is the student march on the Pentagon to protest the war in Vietnam, and the film has a specific thesis, a call to "direct action" that Marker finds and celebrates in the protestors. And yet Marker has little interest in the outcome of the march itself, because he insightfully locates in the totality of the event a moment of transformation, culturally and politically in the student body, from a passivity or apathy into a state of perpetual resistance. Here begins real, long lasting change. This is then an essay in its own way, a forcefully asserted political argument, and you know Marker means serious business when he doesn't even make time for any cats (seriously, I think this might be the only Chris Marker film that doesn't even have one, not a single reference to a cat, and this dude was fucking obsessed with cats).

Today, I'll bounce from shorts films to a single, four hour essay epic: A Grin Without a Cat. Place bets on how long I last before unwittingly falling asleep. Conversely, a drinking game: take a shot every time there's a cat, pray I make it to the credits without alcohol poisoning.

[MadMan]

I'm really jealous that you got to see La Jetee on the big screen.

[Stay Puft]

And I'm upset that I've now missed Sans Soleil twice. Sigh...

[Irish]

The guy who wrote "Armageddon" and "Alien vs Predator: Requiem" has made some kind of tell-all documentary about JD Salinger. Harvey Weinstein is distributing it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/18/jd-salinger-secret-life-exposed-documentary

[EyesWideOpen]

Rewatching Big Fish today made me realized I hadn't seen Alison Lohman or Billy Crudup in awhile. Lohman hasn't acted since 2009 when she was the only bright spot in the mediocre Drag Me to Hell and also was in Gamer. Crudup hasn't had a major role since 2009 either when he was in Public Enemies and Watchmen.

[Grouchy]

Rewatching Big Fish today made me realized I hadn't seen Alison Lohman or Billy Crudup in awhile. Lohman hasn't acted since 2009 when she was the only bright spot in the mediocre Drag Me to Hell and also was in Gamer. Crudup hasn't had a major role since 2009 either when he was in Public Enemies and Watchmen.
Well, IMDb shows Crudup in various movies since 2009... most of which I'd never heard of.

[Stay Puft]

He's in Guillaume Canet's new movie, which looks interesting. James Gray co-wrote it.

[EyesWideOpen]

Well, IMDb shows Crudup in various movies since 2009... most of which I'd never heard of.

That's why I said he hasn't had a major role.

[Winston*]

Lohman had a kid with one of the Crank guys in 2010. Would think that was the reason she hasn't been acting.

[baby doll]

Lohman had a kid with one of the Crank guys in 2010. Would think that was the reason she hasn't been acting.I didn't know she was addicted to crank. That's terrible.

[megladon8]

Miike's 13 Assassins was good, but as Jen put it after the film finished, "I felt like there was a better movie hiding in there somewhere."

The depth of character that the 6 or so main protag's were able to achieve with a fairly threadbare script and plotting was quite impressive. Koji Yakusho's "Shinzaemon" was a particularly striking man, his crisis of honor (to one's master, or to one's people?) feeling like a tumultuous internal battle.

But I found the cinematography quite boring for the most part, purely functional. If the film had been more deftly plotted and scripted then I could somewhat understand the cinematography taking a bit of a backseat, but in a film like this where the story is moving at a breakneck pace the style felt lacking.

The final 40 minute action set piece is impressive, for sure, but again the way it is shot feels purely functional. Long sequences of dizzying quick-cutting, a few (literally) explosive images, and nothing overly memorable.

I feel like I am spending a lot of time on the shortcomings for a movie I would definitely give a "yay" to, but glimpses at something with Miike's signature perversity (the strikingly shot reveal of the mutilated woman) feel few and far between in a fairly by-the-numbers samurai actioner that happens to offer some very well acted characters.

[Stay Puft]

In the City of Sylvia (GuerÃ*n, 2007) A-

http://i.imgur.com/opKe8S9.gif

[Rowland]

http://i.imgur.com/opKe8S9.gifIt was particularly refreshing amidst a string of mediocre Mummy-related movies. The DVD also includes a documentary GuerÃ*n made around the same time, a companion piece titled "Some Photos in the City of Sylvia," which sounds like a more Marker-esque piece. Seen it?

[Stay Puft]

No, I haven't seen anything else GuerÃ*n has done yet. I do have a copy of the documentary he did after that, though, the one he filmed while touring film festivals with In the City of Sylvia.

[Winston*]

After the other 3 miserable Claire Denis films I've seen, didn't expect to come out of 35 Shots of Rum smiling. Good shit, bros.

[Wryan]

My roommate is watching the Major League sequel where they go to Japan or something.

Because apparently someone has to?

[Dead & Messed Up]

He's the viewer we need, but not the one we deserve.

...

I just finished Steamboat Bill Jr.. This Keaton guy, I swear. I enjoy each film of his I see more than the last. Along with the broad, awesome gags, like when the tools spill out of the loaf of bread (I cackled), there are these effortless little moments, like when he leapfrogs down deck after deck of the steamer during the rescues at the end.

Next up, Ace in the Hole.

[Winston*]

Next up, Ace in the Hole.

It rules.

[Boner M]

After the other 3 miserable Claire Denis films I've seen, didn't expect to come out of 35 Shots of Rum smiling. Good shit, bros.
The scene at the bar with "Nightshift" playing, gotdamn.

Apparently her new film - The Bastards - is the grimmest and most miserable thing she's made, according to a buyer I know who saw it. Premieres at Cannes in the next few days, might be at NZ festivals this year.

[Winston*]

The scene at the bar with "Nightshift" playing, gotdamn.

Apparently her new film - The Bastards - is the grimmest and most miserable thing she's made, according to a buyer I know who saw it. Premieres at Cannes in the next few days, might be at NZ festivals this year.

Skimmed the synopsis. Doesn't sound that appealing. None of that sweet postcolonial goodness. I want to see Chocolat next.

[MarcusBrody]

Finally saw The 400 Blows and enjoyed it a lot. It feels like a gaping hole in my film education has been filled. It was definitely one of those movies that I always meant to see, always almost saw, but never quite did.

Everything I've read about the film describes the young protagonist as misunderstood and I certainly agree. I'm not sure i understood him though. There were moments when I felt like the film was trying to give us insight into what really made him tick (the Balzac scene), but it seemed a bit out of nowhere to me. I never really felt like I had a grasp on what he was about and why he makes the decisions he does.

This isn't really a critique, just a reason that I feel I need to watch it again.

[Irish]

I decided to revisit "The Running Man." This was a mistake. I turned it off about half way through and put on the original "Predator" instead. (I needed some kind of Arnold fix after all the recent Conan rumors.)

Could they have been less imaginative with executing King's original story? There's no costuming, barely any set design, and every actor outside Richard Dawson is freaking terrible.

Looking at it now, though, I'm a little surprised this hasn't been 'rebooted.' Seems ripe for it.

[Rowland]

Looking at it now, though, I'm a little surprised this hasn't been 'rebooted.' Seems ripe for it.I'd argue that Neveldine/Taylor's underrated Gamer already did.

[MadMan]

My roommate is watching the Major League sequel where they go to Japan or something.

Because apparently someone has to?You should get him to register here, heh.

The Running Man is campy as hell, and that's how I enjoy it. If I thought about it as an actual movie and an adaption of King's story (which I haven't read but I know well enough about) I would probably hate it. Which feeds into my idea for a thread about my grade inflation where I discuss a movie and then post what rating I gave it and what rating I should have given it. If that makes any sense.

[Dukefrukem]

I've got a question for those that know film production:

When composing a score, how does the composer know in what manner the current piece will be used? In other words, how does the director speak to the composer on what they are trying to accomplish on screen? And even further, how does the music sync with the images on screen? I'm assuming obviously a lot of the syncing comes with the editing of the scenes... but how does this communication work?

You have the director communicating a vision to both the editor and composer? And the composer creates something... the director listens to it and says "yeh that will work" or "no go back and change this part..." and when they have a final copy, the director talks to the editor and says "this is what i have in mind... go do your thing"?

Because in some cases a lot of freedom was given to the editor, like with Sally Menke.

I'm just trying to understand how communication flows through all these creative minds....

Thoughts?

[Yxklyx]

I've got a question for those that know film production:

When composing a score, how does the composer know in what manner the current piece will be used? In other words, how does the director speak to the composer on what they are trying to accomplish on screen? And even further, how does the music sync with the images on screen? I'm assuming obviously a lot of the syncing comes with the editing of the scenes... but how does this communication work?

You have the director communicating a vision to both the editor and composer? And the composer creates something... the director listens to it and says "yeh that will work" or "no go back and change this part..." and when they have a final copy, the director talks to the editor and says "this is what i have in mind... go do your thing"?

Because in some cases a lot of freedom was given to the editor, like with Sally Menke.

I'm just trying to understand how communication flows through all these creative minds....

Thoughts?

I recall a very good documentary featuring Howard Shore on the LOTR EE DVDs where he detailed the process. In fact, the documentaries and commentaries on those disks give a very comprehensive insight into the entire filmmaking process.

[Dukefrukem]

I recall a very good documentary featuring Howard Shore on the LOTR EE DVDs where he detailed the process. In fact, the documentaries and commentaries on those disks give a very comprehensive insight into the entire filmmaking process.

Hey! I own those movies!

[Yxklyx]

Hey! I own those movies!

I distinctly recall him talking about the process of re-scoring the music for the EEs. It's possible though that the more informational doc is on the DVD of the theatrical version.

[Lurch]

The Running Man is campy as hell, and that's how I enjoy it.
Exactly. It is definitely one of Schwarzenegger's lesser 80's films, but still has some entertaining moments.

[Irish]

Some of you will be relieved to know "ManBorg" is now available to rent on iTunes .. in HD.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It rules.

It does.

Good lord, what a prescient movie. My stomach was in knots, then double-knotted, then Gordian knotted by the end. Douglas was incredible. And the film's brick-by-brick build. Gah. The sign that displays the entrance fee is perfect. The insurance salesman who takes the opportunity to pass out his card. That horrifying scene of people leaping off the train and racing for the carnival.

I'm not sure how I feel about Chuck Tatum getting stabbed by the dame, but the fatalism of the wound ties so firmly into the movie's tone that I can't outright reject its presence. It's Wilder literally twisting the knife.

Wow.

[Irish]

Okay, did everyone else know about this?

John McTiernan ("Diehard," "Red October," "Thomas Crowne") is in federal prison right now!?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/exclusive-the-tragic-imprisonment-of-john-mctiernan-hollywoo

[Grouchy]

Okay, did everyone else know about this?

John McTiernan ("Diehard," "Red October," "Thomas Crowne") is in federal prison right now!?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/exclusive-the-tragic-imprisonment-of-john-mctiernan-hollywoo
No, I didn't know about that!

I don't know if the whole "frustrated actor's revenge" allegations are true, but in any case it looks like a case of wanting to make an example of somebody more than anything else. I didn't even know lying on an interrogation was a federal crime in the US. That's fucked up.

[Qrazy]

No, I didn't know about that!

I don't know if the whole "frustrated actor's revenge" allegations are true, but in any case it looks like a case of wanting to make an example of somebody more than anything else. I didn't even know lying on an interrogation was a federal crime in the US. That's fucked up.

Plus that article suggests he 'lied' at the end of a phone call with someone who identified themselves as a federal agent. That doesn't exactly sound like a situation where you have be honest. In front of a grand jury for instance, there you could face perjury charges. Also how does changing your plea result in a perjury charge? What the fuck?

[MadMan]

Okay, did everyone else know about this?

John McTiernan ("Diehard," "Red October," "Thomas Crowne") is in federal prison right now!?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/exclusive-the-tragic-imprisonment-of-john-mctiernan-hollywooYeah I know, and it sucks. Although I heard that Rollerball was godawful, and based on word of mouth the guy wasn't making good movies anymore. Its still a bummer that he's in jail. He could have made Die Hard 5 at least worthy of my time, maybe.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Picked up Ugetsu and Walkabout from the library today. Will be first-time views. Trying to keep the streak of awesome going.

[Dukefrukem]

Okay, did everyone else know about this?

John McTiernan ("Diehard," "Red October," "Thomas Crowne") is in federal prison right now!?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/exclusive-the-tragic-imprisonment-of-john-mctiernan-hollywoo

Yeh 8 posted this news in the Die Hard 5 thread I think. Crazy.

[Qrazy]

Picked up Ugetsu and Walkabout from the library today. Will be first-time views. Trying to keep the streak of awesome going.

Ugetsu is awesome. Walkabout is probably the best thing Roeg has done but is still only quite good.

[B-side]

Qrazy is incorrect. Walkabout is great, and not the best Roeg has done. That would be Bad Timing.

[Qrazy]

Qrazy is incorrect. Walkabout is great, and not the best Roeg has done. That would be Bad Timing.

Bad Timing is one of the most dramatically incompetent films I've ever seen. Garfunkel and Russell are terrible in that film and I actually quite enjoy Garfunkel in his Mike Nichols turns.

[Pop Trash]

That would be Bad Timing.

Oof. No.

[B-side]

It's OK. You guys can both be wrong at the same time.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Ok guys, so you all agree that Walkabout is worth watching?

Excellent!

[B-side]

Mandabi is one of those compounding misfortune films. The ones that tend to be comic in their escalation, or horrifying in the case of something like The Trial in which it seems the entire system is against you. This isn't so much horrifying or nightmarish as it is simply tragic. There is an element of humor -- mostly subdued satire -- but it's ancillary to the primary narrative in which the simple act of sending remittances from abroad becomes the utter downfall of a Senegalese family. Of course, this description elicits notions of privileged white people feeling charitable and throwing some cash toward an African nation to mitigate a little white guilt. And there is that element, but in this case the titular money order comes from a nephew working as what is essentially a street sweeper in Paris. He left to pursue employment and higher education, and his money order of 25,000 francs to his uncle leads to a series of insurmountable bureaucratic obstacles that ultimately leave the man and his family in over their heads in debt. The uncle needs an ID to cash the money order, but he needs a birth certificate to get the ID, but he can't read and he doesn't even know his own date of birth. By currying favor all over town and falling victim to the predatory instincts of criminals and the desperation of the poor around him, his debts and personal crises compound endlessly until it becomes difficult even for the viewer to handle the increasingly frustrating circumstances. Being that this is a film directed by Ousmane Sembene, there's a special fondness and sympathy for the women. In a perfect bit of irony, after being given a small amount of rice to feed his family, a friend of the uncle's walks away dissatisfied and decries the dominance of the women who informed the uncle that they simply couldn't spare anymore rice. The uncle is no jewel as he exerts patriarchal authority over his two wives that scares them into submission. The women are given their moment to shine when they step in to help the uncle as he is under pressure to repay a debt to a store owner and rebuff the owner's aggressive attitude with their own boisterous assurance of honor. Great stuff.

[Pop Trash]

You guys: the Bones Brigade doc. is so so rad!

[MadMan]

Ok guys, so you all agree that Walkabout is worth watching?

Excellent!Yes. Its a great film, and I should probably buy it on Criterion at some point. I'll have to rent Bad Timing.

[Russ]

The Executioner (Juan Garcia Berlanga, 1963) PRO
The Cremator (Juraj Herz, 1969) pro

Yes, yes, I see what I did there. However, that is the only relationship these films bare.

The Cremator is a film filled with interesting ideas and stylistic flourishes behind the camera, but is ultimately so horrific as to be downright off-putting. Rudolf HrusÃ*nský's extraordinary performance gives new meaning to the word demented, as he plays the Nazi-era Czech cremator, whose calling he sees tied to the encroaching Third Reich forces, though fortunately he is blessed with "true German blood" and and affinity for tthe Tibetan Book of the Dead -- and also (unfortunately) a Jewish wife, and their "less than pure" son and daughter. And...I think you can imagine where this is going. Descents into madness are rarely so artfully portrayed -- or as unpleasantly. HrusÃ*nský channels a fair amount of Peter Lorre into his sick characterization. Recommended, but with reservations.

No such reservations for Berlanga's The Executioner, another inspired classic from the Spanish master. At a time when only undertakers shared as reviled a profession as gallows executioners (or in this case, the electric chair), the protaganist (an undertaker, naturally) falls for and marries the daughter of an elderly, and retiring, state executioner. However, to keep the modern state-subsidized apartment that the outgoing executioner and his daughter (along with new husband and infant child) enjoy, there has to be a passing of the torch. The undertaker husband is absolutely mortified at the prospect, but is all but guaranteed that such executions rarely occur, and when they do, are almost always put off because of state pardons. Best to stay in the lovely apartment and keep your mouth shut, you see? Until, that is, the inevitable fateful, call comes. This is a very sharp and satiric film, perhaps even moreso than Berlanga's Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall. Some scenes, such as the wedding, offer scathing class indictments AND big laughs. All in all, it's a marvelous, and marvelously entertaining, film. Best of all, if features the incredible José Isbert (the mayor in Mr. Marshall) as the elderly executioner nee father-in-law. He's a standout, a terrific presence in an underseen comedy classic.

[Dukefrukem]

Alec Baldwin can travel through time!

http://also.kottke.org/misc/images/fillmore-baldwin.jpg

[Derek]

Before Midnight (Richard, Linklater, 2013)

Gone is the elegant flirtatiousness, the curiosity and the magic of (re)discovery of connection, all of which is replaced by the weight of time, responsibilities, guilt, regrets and all the other effect of marriage and long-term relationships. Obviously, Before Midnight had to be a different film and a much more different film from Sunset than that film was from Sunrise, but fortunately, Linklater, Hawke and Delpy stay so true to the characters that the drastic shift in content and tone is a rather seamless transition. Unsurprisingly, the scenes between Hawke and Delpy alone are the more engaging and enlightening, particularly the car-ride near the beginning and the painfully real extended fight near the end, both of which subtly catch us up on the previous 8 years and examine the various issues that have creeped into their lives as these two strong-minded individuals attempt to share a life with one another. If there are sequences or exchanges outside of these two scenes that remain lackluster (the lunch scene at the old writer’s house adds little compared to its extensive length, although it successfully establishes how the two function as a couple within a group setting), they at the very least add flavor to the film, creating a balancing levity that prevents the heavy drama of the aforementioned sequences from weighing the film down too much.

The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1948)

The setup is pure Hawks, focusing on the camaradarie, rivalry and oneupmanship of a group of seamen aboard their vessel, but the sensibility is all Ford. With Gregg Toland lensing his second Ford film of the year, this is not only among Ford's most beautiful films, but one of the most beautiful of the era as well. Ford's typical melding of playfully broad humor with the high drama fueled by the dangerous responsibilities of the characters’ positions is the perfect setting for some of Toland's most experimental use of lighting, which features everything from meticulously composed gothic lighting to elaborate long shots that capture the ships atmosphere. For a film featuring a fairly large cast, it’s nearly 6-minute silent opening is especially remarkable and highlights Ford’s sheer economy of expression, beautifully establishing the major players and the various aspects of seafaring life that the film examines. It’s one weakness, stemming from the fact that it was adapted from 4 separate Eugene O’Neill plays, is the narrative that occasionally feels a tad patched together, but Ford ties the storylines together with a delicately compassionate touch that gives equal weight to the raucous, in-the-momentness of their sailing and landbound adventures and the inevitable tragedies that occur within such a lifestyle.

Fort Apache/She Wore a Yellow Ribbon/Rio Grande (John Ford, 1948/49/50)

John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy takes a close look at the daily grinds of U.S. cavalrymen in post-Civil War America. The films share similar settings with the same actors playing similar roles (Victor McLaglen's whiskey-loving curmudgeon the most obvious) yet each present different shades of camplife on the frontier. The first of this loose trilogy, Fort Apache is the best and most complex entry, pitting the stately, by-the-book Col. Thursday, played with subtly menacing composure by Henry Fonda, against the more grizzled veteran, Capt. York, played by Wayne, who has a deeper understanding of the Native Americans. While the latter two films in the trilogy present the Indians rather bluntly, simplistically, and, in the case of Rio Grande, at least a tad racistly as drunken savages, Fort Apache presents both the white men and Native Americans as widely varying, layered, and complex individuals. Along with presenting Thursday's complete disregard for Native American rights and bull-headed, mindless following of US Government codes and laws as both naive and harmful, Ford also shines an even harsher light on the frontier tradesmen who illegally sells weapons and near-poisonous whiskey to the Native Americans, implicating the white man not only in the escalation of violence on the frontier but in the moral decline of the Native Americans as well. It's condemnation of America's mythification of the West - a claim, not completely unfounded in some cases, that many would lay against Ford himself - is equally damning in its final act reversal that shows how a poor military decision responsible for the senseless death of many on both sides can be transformed into a celebration of heroism, the act itself (and the man himself) remaining far less important than the ritualistic celebration of sheer force in the face of impossible odds in furthering the imperialistic cause.

The subtle yet powerful implications of the U.S. government and military present in Fort Apache are nowhere to be found in the latter two films of the trilogy, although both contain well-drawn, multifaceted portraits of the cavalry camps; She Wore a Yellow Ribbon focusing on a nearly retired veteran general who never attained the glory he had hoped for along with a comical love triangle, Rio Grande, more dramatically centered on a general whose estranged wife shows up at camp to pull their son, who after failing out of West Point is assigned to the general’s station. Ford’s typically deft handling of romantic drama, bonding of the soldiers, and comic relief make both films compulsively watchable and while Yellow Ribbon’s dual storyline more than makes up for its one-dimensional portrayal of Native Americans, Rio Grande fairs a bit worse in never developing much compelling drama outside of the central storyline and its even greater gap between the Americans honor and the Native Americans pure savagery. But taken as a whole, even Rio Grande adds to the trilogy’s examination of the U.S. cavalry and the complicated ways its own unique codes can at times run counter to that of the U.S. government.

[Izzy Black]

Plus that article suggests he 'lied' at the end of a phone call with someone who identified themselves as a federal agent. That doesn't exactly sound like a situation where you have be honest. In front of a grand jury for instance, there you could face perjury charges. Also how does changing your plea result in a perjury charge? What the fuck?

Yeah. The facts of this case are very strange. I'm actually surprised that McTiernan wasn't able to retain better legal representation. And what's really pathetic is that the nature and implications of the alleged lie are so insignificant and negligible that it's hard to believe a man is serving a year in prison for it.

[Boner M]

After 15 minutes or so, I was convinced Onibaba would be one of my favorites; then it felt like those same 15 minutes on repeat over the rest of the film. Still pretty good, but can't help feel a little dispirited.

Granted, it's worth mentioning that I've been a terrible film-watcher as of late.

[Raiders]

After 15 minutes or so, I was convinced Onibaba would be one of my favorites; then it felt like those same 15 minutes on repeat over the rest of the film. Still pretty good, but can't help feel a little dispirited.

Granted, it's worth mentioning that I've been a terrible film-watcher as of late.

YES!

My thoughts: http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showthread.php?14-28-Film-Discussion-Threads-Later&p=220273

[Boner M]

YES!

My thoughts: http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showthread.php?14-28-Film-Discussion-Threads-Later&p=220273
Nice, esp. the comparison Woman in the Dunes. I also thought of The Loneliest Planet and how the (near-identical) landscape shots take on a new meaning at every reappearance because of the changing emotional temperament between the characters, which I didn't feel here.

[ledfloyd]

So Pitchfork is forming film site, titled the Dissolve, and featuring all the writers that left the AVClub a month or so ago plus Matt Singer.

http://pitchfork.com/news/50949-introducing-the-dissolve-a-new-film-site/

[Izzy Black]

Yeah I saw that, but is it actually Pitchfork's site, or are they just announcing it?

[Winston*]

Yeah I saw that, but is it actually Pitchfork's site, or are they just announcing it?

Pitchfork's site.

The dissolve is no match cut.

[Winston*]

Did anyone know that after Phone Booth and Cellular, Larry Cohen wrote a text messaging movie?

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m75csfq2lw1qjb5jwo1_500 .jpg

[Rowland]

He also wrote Captivity around that same time, which isn't as bad as its infamous reputation suggests.

[Boner M]

He also wrote Captivity around that same time, which isn't as bad as its infamous reputation suggests.
As a movie that exists?

[Derek]

As a movie that exists?

I remember when that movie was decried for hours after it came out.

[Rowland]

Captivity came out at the height of the torture porn backlash, so it had an inordinate amount of scorn slung its way, with think-pieces decrying its existence being published before it was even released. Anybody else remember the billboard controversy? And more importantly, why do I?

[Watashi]

And more importantly, why do I?

Because you're Rowland.

[Spinal]

What I wrote (http://filmepidemic.blogspot.com/2009/07/onibaba-shindo-1964.html) about Onibaba a few years ago.

[Grouchy]

Did anyone know that after Phone Booth and Cellular, Larry Cohen wrote a text messaging movie?
I subscribed to Larry Cohen on Facebook and he keeps pimping his J. Edgar Hoover movie as a more honest alternative to Eastwood's. I've downloaded, but haven't seen it yet.

[Rowland]

I spent most of my latest viewing of Onibaba a few months back luxuriating in its exceptionally stylish and feverishly seductive atmosphere, which was utterly intoxicating when projected in a theater accompanied by that hysterical score blaring from the speakers. It's probably a little overlong and redundant at points, but whatever.

[Qrazy]

Onibaba is amazing. Fuck the haters.

[MadMan]

Because you're Rowland.And that's why Rowland is awesome. I'd love to see a movie with him, but I've given up all hope of this ever happening.

[transmogrifier]

Screw it, I think I'll actually watch a movie tonight.

[Mysterious Dude]

I got my Stan Brakhage DVD from Netflix last night and I started watching Dog Star Man. About halfway through Part 1, the picture starts to get blurry (to be specific, the red and blue seemed to be separated). I figured it was some kind of artistic choice by Stan. It took me about a half-hour to realize it was a problem with my TV.

[Spinal]

I got my Stan Brakhage DVD from Netflix last night and I started watching Dog Star Man. About halfway through Part 1, the picture starts to get blurry (to be specific, the red and blue seemed to be separated). I figured it was some kind of artistic choice by Stan. It took me about a half-hour to realize it was a problem with my TV.

"A friend of mine gave me a Philip Glass record. I listened to it for five hours before I realized it had a scratch on it." - Emo Philips

[transmogrifier]

Screw it, I think I'll actually watch a movie tonight.

Yeah, this didn't happen.

[Yxklyx]

I love Onibaba. I don't understand how anything negative could be said about it.

Rewatched Sayles' Men with Guns. Amazing film!

[MadMan]

Yeah, this didn't happen.Now you know what it is like to be MadMan during this year. I haven't even cracked 30 total movies viewed yet and its May.

[transmogrifier]

Now you know what it is like to be MadMan during this year. I haven't even cracked 30 total movies viewed yet and its May.

To be fair, I did watch the first three Arrested Development episodes. Wish I'd chosen the movie now.

[Watashi]

Wanna read one of the worst things ever? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-movie-critics-wont-tell-you-2013-05-31?pagenumber=1)

[Boner M]

Could be an Onion article, especially the Tarantino part.


Still, not every critic has been swayed by the bad boy of American cinema: Florida reviewer Erstein calls Tarantino “extremely overrated” and says his more recent pictures haven’t matched up to his early ones. “It’s a mystery to me,” he says of the critical cult of Quentin.

:lol:

[Derek]

Wanna read one of the worst things ever? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-movie-critics-wont-tell-you-2013-05-31?pagenumber=1)

Martin Lawrence already laid out this view of film criticism more succinctly and eloquently:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpXKnusOuns

[Ezee E]

Some of that's true.

[Derek]

Some of that's true.

And yet most of it's not, so unless you care to elaborate that's about as far as this conversation can go...

[Sven]

The article states that the body of mainstream film critics are irrelevant, elitist, quote-whoring, studio-appeasing Tarantino fans who'd rather be watching television. This does not seem disputable to me. Poorly written, the perspective is off and the research is perfunctory, but at its heart, I see truth.

[transmogrifier]

To me, the biggest problem with modern film criticism in that reviewers these days react less to the films themselves and more to each others opinions. Essentially they are all just reviewing each other.

[Derek]

The article states that the body of mainstream film critics are irrelevant, elitist, quote-whoring, studio-appeasing Tarantino fans who'd rather be watching television. This does not seem disputable to me. Poorly written, the perspective is off and the research is perfunctory, but at its heart, I see truth.

I might agree with some of that had the article specifically targeted "mainstream film critics" which it doesn't, but even then the terms you use are at odd with each other. Most often, quote whores are promoting lowest-common-denominator films and sadly I see them being relevant in shaping a good chunk of potential audiences minds about what films they see. This hardly makes them elitist. It throws all critics (internet-based, academic, newspaper, etc.) in the same boat which is silly. Personally, I find much of mainstream film criticism is anti-elitist and anti-intellectual, desperately railing against what they see as pretentious films in favor of bloated, high-budget popcorn fare. I could buy a potential argument that film criticism is overrun by two camps - the anti-intellectual quote-whoring dummies and the elitist snobs - but that still leaves out a number of thoughtful, intelligent critics that are able to bridge that gap and the arguments hashed out in that article don't take that into account at all. In fact, I highly doubt anyone involved in that article has actually digged deep into the best criticism on web, picked up a Film Comment (or heard of it) or read Kent Jones, Manohla Dargis, Hoberman, Rosenbaum, Foundas, MZS, etc.

Ebert's death was a reminder of the death of a certain kind of mainstream film criticism, but not the death of it. Because of the internet, there are no one or two critics that have even close to influence that Siskel & Ebert did in their heyday, which may also be why there's more work necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. I think viewing "film criticism" as some sort of monolith is not only incredibly misguided and ignorant, but antithetical to the direction it's been moving, which is more towards numerous smaller tribes (accounting for some of the more self-involved infighting trans complains about) who are connected by shared tastes, interests, specialties, etc. The biggest problem I have with that article is that it appears that it's looking specifically at the dying portion of film critics, ie, that portion who still have the biggest backing names (ironically, the newspapers that no one actually reads anymore, rather than looking towards specialty magazines and lesser known, but more highly regarded critics on the web. Film criticism is still in state of change, in that there's no one centralized group, like the big city papers, that automatically commands the respect of the public. Instead, you have to go looking for it a bit more and the people who want to (ie, us MatchCutters) do so by going to the AV Club, Slate, Slant, FilmComment, Cineaste, wherever, but these are places that much of the public isn't keenly aware of because most people only know the "big" names and publications and might only be browsing places like Rotten Tomatoes to get a quick overview of what the critics think and are extended this brief glimpse to film criticism as a whole. It's precisely because the perspective of that article is off and the research all but completely lacking that it's conclusions are complete crap. There's still plenty of great criticism still out there and while you may have to search for it a bit more carefully than in the past, the fact that it's a bit more fragmented into various circles and lines of thought makes it more exciting to dig through (at least for me) and easier for people to find like-minded critics who they can trust and be enlightened by. People like the author of that article, don't want to dig. They just want to make conclusions based on what other people have written before them because they're not concerned with actually examining the state of film criticism since they have no stake. They clearly don't believe in the potential value of it, so why not burn it down, you know, since Ebert's dead now.

[Watashi]

Also they posted this:


Consider how critics described 2012’s “The Master” not just as a religious-themed drama, but also as a roman a clef (aka a story using thinly veiled fictional surrogates for real people and events). Or how they referred to the mise-en-scene (a vague term that often speaks to the way things are arranged in front of a camera) in films ranging from “The Hunger Games” to “Do the Right Thing.”

I can't believe someone actually gave the A-OK to publish this.

[Ezee E]

To expand:
I think the death of Ebert has made it so that there really isn't a handful of critics that actually have a recognizable influence over general audiences. It takes a little bit of dedication to find a critic that you like, to which it'll lead to many of the criticisms that are mentioned in the article. It's much easier to just go to metacritic or rottenttomatoes and see the overall consensus from critics, with a sampling of quotes.

I'm trying to find a few that I like as well, but haven't found one that I like. Tweets between certain critics are pretty interesting to read, something that wasn't possible back in the day.

I would like something in print to read. How is Film Comment?

[Sven]

I definitely think there's an inherent elitism in the brand of populist, thoughtless mainstream film reviewing this article skewers. It is not an elitism of ideas or intelligence, but one of privilege. Even in the hackiest of hack reviews, I find myself battling with unmerited tones of authority and exemption.

I definitely don't deride criticism as a concept. And of course there're good ones. But can you say that 20% of the aggregated reviews on rottentomatoes are from "critics" that are worth even one damn? I know that I cannot.

[Dead & Messed Up]

My big takeaway from that article is that I plan to take nothing away from that article.

[Boner M]

Film criticism has been useless since I stopped writing it.

[B-side]

I can't believe someone actually gave the A-OK to publish this.

Wow.

[Rowland]

Blech to all of this.

There's a Criterion sale going on at Best Buy, so I just splurged by ordering some of my all-time favorites on Blu-ray, including The Night of the Hunter, Blow Out, High and Low, Rosemary's Baby, and for the adventure of it, a blind purchase of 3 Women that I hope pans out.

[baby doll]

I think the death of Ebert has made it so that there really isn't a handful of critics that actually have a recognizable influence over general audiences.I still have no idea why we're all supposed to be sucking on the clitoris of influence as if that were relevant to anything. Somebody can be a good reviewer and have no mainstream visibility whatsoever, or have lots of influence and be terrible.

[B-side]

sucking on the clitoris

Interesting choice of words. But baby doll's always been about gender equality.:D

[Ezee E]

I still have no idea why we're all supposed to be sucking on the clitoris of influence as if that were relevant to anything. Somebody can be a good reviewer and have no mainstream visibility whatsoever, or have lots of influence and be terrible.

Agreed. I think some of it may be that the reviewers that actually are good, tend to be horrible interviewers, or aren't granted to do any interviewing at all. Ebert was great at both.

[Qrazy]

Film criticism has been useless since I stopped writing it.

Did you? When/why did you stop?

[ledfloyd]

The only mainstream critics I have any use for these days are Scott and Dargis. Outside of that I mostly read people that review for online outlets. Kenny, MZS, Ebiri, Uhlich, Vishnevetsky, Rizov, Emerson, Kevin B. Lee, etc. So I guess if you're talking about your average Rotten Tomatoes critic, sure, most of them are pretty lousy. But that doesn't make that article any less terrible.

[Boner M]

Nick Pinkerton's probably my favorite critic today.


Did you? When/why did you stop?
Remember that incident in which Leigh Whannell registered under his gf's account to troll my Insidious pan (http://sydneyfilmhappenings.blogspot. ca/2010/09/tiff-john-carpenters-ward-and-james.html) (more mixed, tho) during TIFF 2010? I tweeted the link, and then the editor of a local Sydney alt-weekly (Drum Media) saw it, let me write a few reviews, and eventually I became their chief critic for the next few years. I've stopped writing cos I moved to Toronto a few months ago.

Granted, I make no great claims for any of the reviews that I wrote; I just hoped they were accessible and readable enough without compromising my basic reading of the film in question. I did get quoted on the Australian poster for Tabu recently though (and the trailer for the Aussie movie Hail), so that was cool.

[Watashi]

I can't stand that one critic who writes for Slant. I think his name is Nick McCarthy. Soooooo pretentious.

[ledfloyd]

I can't stand that one critic who writes for Slant. I think his name is Nick McCarthy. Soooooo pretentious.
Slant in general is pretty pretentious. I still follow The House Next Door out of an allegiance to the MZS/Uhlich era, but I don't visit Slant proper too often.

[dreamdead]

Slant in general is pretty pretentious. I still follow The House Next Door out of an allegiance to the MZS/Uhlich era, but I don't visit Slant proper too often.

Their year-end blurbs are a bit combative and/or dismissive toward other films, but I find the actual examination of a film upon initial review to be thorough and engaging, even if I don't agree with it.

I assume that led knows the whole Nick/NickGlass thing...

[MadMan]

To be fair, I did watch the first three Arrested Development episodes. Wish I'd chosen the movie now.I liked the first three AD episodes. Funny enough that's what I've been doing instead of watching multiple movies. I did just view The Last Stand last night however. It was pretty good-love Arnuld.

As I stated in the Only God Forgives thread I use Match-cut for opinions about film these days instead of critics (and sometimes the Corrie, although I hardly venture into the Recently Seen Thread anymore). Although there are still a few I actually like.

[ledfloyd]

I assume that led knows the whole Nick/NickGlass thing...
Well, this is embarassing...

And, for whatever it's worth, I haven't read any of Nick's reviews for Slant.

[Ezee E]

Good news. I'll be an assistant manager at a theater for the Telluride Film Festival. I'll be there for ten days, getting paid. Wahoo.

[Winston*]

Cool. Probably doing some ushering again for my film festival this year. Only get paid in films, though.

[Ezee E]

Cool. Probably doing some ushering again for my film festival this year. Only get paid in films, though.

Still a great gig. How many movies do you usher in a day? I don't know if I could do it for 7-9 hours.

[Winston*]

Still a great gig. How many movies do you usher in a day? I don't know if I could do it for 7-9 hours.

Shifts are only 1-2 movies for volunteers. I ushered I think 13 movies total over the two weeks last year.

[megladon8]

The Chaser was impressive, and I enjoyed it a great deal more than the disappointing I Saw the Devil.

Completely unpredictable and ultimately devastating.

Doesn't reach the masterful level of Memories of Murder, but certainly represents one of the stronger crime films to come out of the wave of high-level South Korean stuff from the past decade.

[transmogrifier]

The Chaser was impressive, and I enjoyed it a great deal more than the disappointing I Saw the Devil.

Completely unpredictable and ultimately devastating.

Doesn't reach the masterful level of Memories of Murder, but certainly represents one of the stronger crime films to come out of the wave of high-level South Korean stuff from the past decade.

The director's follow-up, The Yellow Sea is just as good, I think.

[Winston*]

The director's follow-up, The Yellow Sea is just as good, I think.

Yup. Better, maybe.

[Ivan Drago]

Hey guys quick question, the indie theater I regularly go to will be showing a movie called House (1977) at midnight on a weekend this month, and when I saw Frances Ha today they were promoting the shit out of it. I saw a trailer for it, not sure if it was an official one, but I'm asking because I'm intrigued, what makes this a midnight movie and would it be something I'd enjoy?

[EyesWideOpen]

Hey guys quick question, the indie theater I regularly go to will be showing a movie called House (1977) at midnight on a weekend this month, and when I saw Frances Ha today they were promoting the shit out of it. I saw a trailer for it, not sure if it was an official one, but I'm asking because I'm intrigued, what makes this a midnight movie and would it be something I'd enjoy?

Dude you better watch that movie!

[transmogrifier]

House is great!

[Yxklyx]

Hey guys quick question, the indie theater I regularly go to will be showing a movie called House (1977) at midnight on a weekend this month, and when I saw Frances Ha today they were promoting the shit out of it. I saw a trailer for it, not sure if it was an official one, but I'm asking because I'm intrigued, what makes this a midnight movie and would it be something I'd enjoy?

It's definitely a must see. I watched it after seeing it recommended in the now defunct New Cult Canon:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/house,46899/

Lots of fun - perfect for midnight.

[MadMan]

I would love to see House (1977) on the bigscreen. I'd watch it with nachos and beer, of course.

[Sycophant]

Saw it when it played theaters in the States a few years back. Do not miss it. It's wonderful.

[B-side]

Crazy, silly movie. I imagine it'd make a good theatrical experience.

[Wryan]

I keep hearing thuds and slurred dialogue from the living room. I think my roommate is watching another Rocky movie.

[NickGlass]

I can't stand that one critic who writes for Slant. I think his name is Nick McCarthy. Soooooo pretentious.

Oh, yeah. Total asshat.

[NickGlass]

Hey guys quick question, the indie theater I regularly go to will be showing a movie called House (1977) at midnight on a weekend this month, and when I saw Frances Ha today they were promoting the shit out of it. I saw a trailer for it, not sure if it was an official one, but I'm asking because I'm intrigued, what makes this a midnight movie and would it be something I'd enjoy?

Just go. Don't ask anymore questions or do much more research. Just go and have a blast. Promise.

[Ezee E]

Turning 30 at the end of the month... I'm thinking I should do a list of some sort. HMMMM...

[MadMan]

Turning 30 at the end of the month... I'm thinking I should do a list of some sort. HMMMM...Favorite 1970s porno films? :P

[dreamdead]

Huh. Didn't expect Mean Streets to be so episodic. Or mundane. Or disinterested. The first thirty minutes have a lot of fascinating subtext about Catholicism and the mob, and it's so direct that it basically attaches to the text itself. After that, though, Scorsese felt like he was roaming around without much anchoring the narrative. There is a skillful lived-in quality here, and seeing 1970s NY is always intriguing, but I didn't expect to come away from the film so apathetic.

[Irish]

@dreamdead - What did you think of "Who's that Knocking at My Door?" and "Goodfellas"? Specially in comparison to "Mean Streets."

[MadMan]

I think that Mean Streets is great, but I do agree that its a bit unfocused at times. I haven't seen Who's That Knocking At My Door yet. Goodfellas is a masterwork.

[dreamdead]

@dreamdead - What did you think of "Who's that Knocking at My Door?" and "Goodfellas"? Specially in comparison to "Mean Streets."

Haven't seen the former film. I haven't rewatched Goodfellas in years--I think the last viewing was '01 or '02. Nonetheless, that film is anchored by Liotta's narration in a way that is energetic, self-reflective, and focused, whereas the narration starts disappearing halfway through Mean Streets, suggesting that Scorsese wasn't sure how necessary it was (or that Kietel's character is less internally motivated after seeming anchored in the beginning).

I'm bewildered by why I didn't think this works...

[Qrazy]

Haven't seen the former film. I haven't rewatched Goodfellas in years--I think the last viewing was '01 or '02. Nonetheless, that film is anchored by Liotta's narration in a way that is energetic, self-reflective, and focused, whereas the narration starts disappearing halfway through Mean Streets, suggesting that Scorsese wasn't sure how necessary it was (or that Kietel's character is less internally motivated after seeming anchored in the beginning).

I'm bewildered by why I didn't think this works...

Because it doesn't. The film succeeds partially because De Niro gives an astounding performance and there are a couple remarkable scenes in the film as a result. Taken as a whole though it's just a dress rehearsal for his later better films.

[Winston*]

Lost in America was fantastic. So funny and sharp. My first Albert Brooks film.

[Wryan]

Michael Shannon is predictably awesome in The Iceman, and he's joined by Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta and David Schwimmer (playing just about the only character you can imagine David Schwimmer playing in such a movie, but doing it well). It has a few shades of Goodfellas, I suppose, but it's a nice study of this man and his world.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Watched Quadrophenia. It's a reasonably successful depiction of Jimmy (Phil Daniels, excellent) and his frustrations as a go-nowhere mod in 1960's England, and the decision to background The Who's rock opera is an intriguing one, but given that the LP is one of my absolute favorites, I was kinda bummed out that it didn't get as much attention. There are a few times where the alienation is palpable and compelling, especially during a violent riot on the streets and Jimmy's eventual rock-bottom: after losing the girl, the home, and the friends, he loses his motorcycle in a car accident, and someone calls him "lucky" for surviving. Not the right thing to say.

Also, personal note, Daniels reminded me so much of my younger brother, who looks similar and went through similar growing pains, that it hurt to keep watching at times.

Anyway, the flick is a good ways better than the garish film version of Tommy, but it's not as confidently insane as The Wall, which is still my favorite rock opera adaptation.

[Mara]

Just a quick off-topic reminder to anyone who wants to submit a ballot (or finish their ballot) for the Cutties. The more nominations we get, the better they reflect MC! Don't worry if you haven't seen too many shows: basing it on what you watch is fine.

[Derek]

My first Albert Brooks film.

This is surprising. He has a bone-dry sense of humor that I think you'll continue to love. Check out Modern Romance and Real Life asap. I still haven't seen Lost in America, but I'll rectify that soon.

[Winston*]

I love how he delivers all these great comedic lines as throwaways. His breakdown at his office is the best.