28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Mysterious Dude]

Aren't all of De Palma's films fairly "commercial"? The guy's not exactly Antonioni.

[Izzy Black]

Bonfire of the Vanities underrated

[Grouchy]

De Palma has always strived to straddle the line between personal and commercial filmmaking for me. When it doesn't work for him, it's usually the commercial aspect that fails - Bonfire of the Vanities, Mission to Mars and all his "flops".

[dreamdead]

Well, The Snake Pit was a surprisingly harrowing experience. While the film operates a little too heavily in the period-specific -psychoanalysis of a person's originary trauma, and was oddly mundane for so traumatic of an experience, Olivia de Havilland is magnificent in it throughout. The whole psych ward community felt richly populated and each individual had moments of lucidity that further emphasized the fragile nature of hospitalizing someone in this time period.

My biggest frustration, which actually more accurately records the social mores of the era, is how the film records the female nurses as almost uniformly insensitive to the patients, with Nurse Davis the standout, and seemingly a forebearer to Kesey's Nurse Ratched. There's never really any mention of men being anything other than professionals trying to understand these women, whereas the women are emotional, flighty, and--in the case of Nurse Davis--exploitative of the authority granted to her by dint of her employment. The way that she punishes the lead, Virginia, for her suggestion that the nurse is in love with the main doctor, a punishment that goes unnoticed by the men in the film and is never punished, is both interestingly nuanced and more generally a commentary on the ill effects of women in positions of power.

[Spun Lepton]

Re-watched Star Trek: Generations for the first time since it was in theaters. It's astonishing that a film featuring so many strategic "wow" moments could end up so "meh." One of those "wow" moments (the Enterprise crashing), was unnecessary and underwhelming. And Kirk's end was more frustrating than bittersweet. That said, it had a number of very enjoyable moments. Many of them revolving around Data's new-found emotions. 6/10

[Qrazy]

Ninotchka was so vapid. I'm actually a little surprised Wilder penned this.

[Spun Lepton]

Star Trek: First Contact was a small improvement over Generations, but was a lot more problematic than I remembered. One moment has Picard murder somebody in a panic, which is so unlike Picard that I nearly turned it off. In the end, it's a moderate success, but nothing any number of episodes did better. 6/10

[Spun Lepton]

Star Trek: Nemesis is the strongest of the three Next Generation movies I've seen so far, but not by much. Some moments play like an extended episode of the series and others play like some studio head was making decisions without ever having seen the show. For example, I find it really hard to believe Picard would drive the Enterprise into another ship. I was also surprised by the choice to put Riker and Troi together again, almost as if the writers were saying, "Yeah, the Warf/Troi thing was a dumb idea." And Data's death was expected, since I'd already known Brent Spiner was burned out on the character.

After doing some follow-up reading on the movie, it turns out the DIRECTOR was the suspected "studio head making decisions without ever having seen the show."

[Qrazy]

Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Holy shit this is the worst movie I've seen in ages, so terrible.

[Derek]

Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Holy shit this is the worst movie I've seen in ages, so terrible.

Thank you Armond White of MatchCut. That was good for a laugh.

[MadMan]

Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Holy shit this is the worst movie I've seen in ages, so terrible.Heh.

[Dukefrukem]

Star Trek: First Contact was a small improvement over Generations, but was a lot more problematic than I remembered. One moment has Picard murder somebody in a panic, which is so unlike Picard that I nearly turned it off. In the end, it's a moderate success, but nothing any number of episodes did better. 6/10

Oh man. This is my favorite Star Trek by far.

[Qrazy]

Thank you Armond White of MatchCut. That was good for a laugh.

It's the most shrill, lazily shot and bizarrely convoluted experience I've witnessed in ages. All the characters are insufferable. And I have a high tolerance for shrill as I quite enjoyed Arsenic and Old Lace the other day. In terms of Sturges I've enjoyed every other film I've seen from him... Unfaithfully Yours, Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve so I didn't expect this to be such a piece of filth.

So go Armond yourself.

[baby doll]

It's the most shrill, lazily shot and bizarrely convoluted experience I've witnessed in ages. All the characters are insufferable. And I have a high tolerance for shrill as I quite enjoyed Arsenic and Old Lace the other day. In terms of Sturges I've enjoyed every other film I've seen from him... Unfaithfully Yours, Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve so I didn't expect this to be such a piece of filth.

So go Armond yourself.Witnessing an experience definitely has an Armond-ish ring to it.

As for the Sturges film, I don't think the characters were meant to be very likable. Incidentally, I found Arsenic and Old Lace thoroughly dreadful, not so much because it's broadly played as because the material is so thinly conceived that it can't be played any other way; every scene is pitched to the peanut gallery.

[Qrazy]

Witnessing an experience definitely has an Armond-ish ring to it.

I have no idea what this means. As in the act of watching a film is something Armond also does?


As for the Sturges film, I don't think the characters were meant to be very likable. Incidentally, I found Arsenic and Old Lace thoroughly dreadful, not so much because it's broadly played as because the material is so thinly conceived that it can't be played any other way; every scene is pitched to the peanut gallery.

Fair enough with Old Lace. I liked it well enough but it's not that interesting a film ultimately. In terms of Morgan's though I think you could easily take your criticism of Arsenic and apply it to that film as well.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my most hated films. What a miserable experience. Not funny in the slightest.

[Qrazy]

Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my most hated films. What a miserable experience. Not funny in the slightest.

Haha I knew it's mention would bring you out.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Haha I knew it's mention would bring you out.

:D

I can't resist. I pretty much detest screwball for the most part, but that one in particular got under my skin like no other.

As for Miracle of Morgan's Creek, it's easily my least favorite Sturges, but I don't loathe it nearly as much as you.

[baby doll]

I have no idea what this means. As in the act of watching a film is something Armond also does? It just sounds like a sentence Armond would write. (How does one witness an experience?)

Speaking of whom, this (http://www.out.com/entertainment/armond-white/2014/03/16/zack-snyder-re-invents-epic-erotic-300-rise-empire) is pretty much the best thing ever.

[Qrazy]

It just sounds like a sentence Armond would write. (How does one witness an experience?)

Speaking of whom, this (http://www.out.com/entertainment/armond-white/2014/03/16/zack-snyder-re-invents-epic-erotic-300-rise-empire) is pretty much the best thing ever.

Ah I see, that was sloppily expressed but also said after he brought up Armond. I still think it makes sense but yeah, could have been phrased better.

experience (ɪkˈspɪərɪəns)

— n
1. direct personal participation or observation; actual knowledge or contact: experience of prison life
2. a particular incident, feeling, etc, that a person has undergone: an experience to remember


verb
past tense: witnessed; past participle: witnessed
1.
see (an event, typically a crime or accident) take place.

[Ivan Drago]

I finally saw Akira for the first time ever last week. Fucking amazing film.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I finally saw Akira for the first time ever last week. Fucking amazing film.

It's incredible. One of my all-time faves.

And, inevitably,

TETSUOOOO!

[dreamdead]

Magic Mike has some pretty cinematography sequences, where the blue hues of the dance club underscore the artificiality present. Otherwise, though, the script is surprisingly pedestrian for Soderbergh, focusing too often on noxious people without finding anything interesting or compelling in their circumstances. Our main lead, significantly not Mike, is cast without any real details as a drifter, and his sister lacks any legitimate reason to be ready to be wooed by Mike. Intermittently effective because of the grandiose playing by McConaughey and Tatum, but frustrating on many other levels.

Finally got around to A Separation. So good, with wonderfully understated yet complex characters that mingle with their culture in significant ways. I want to see more of Farhadi's features, but this balances gender, class, and religion in compelling ways and makes for several reappraisals as more narrative details unfold.

[Derek]

It's the most shrill, lazily shot and bizarrely convoluted experience I've witnessed in ages. All the characters are insufferable. And I have a high tolerance for shrill as I quite enjoyed Arsenic and Old Lace the other day. In terms of Sturges I've enjoyed every other film I've seen from him... Unfaithfully Yours, Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve so I didn't expect this to be such a piece of filth.

So go Armond yourself.

I suppose shrill is a matter of taste. I'm with KF in finding Arsenic & Old Lace one of the most obnoxious and annoying films of its era. Miracle at Morgan's Creek is far more interesting to me and while its humor is a matter of taste (you either love Eddie Bracken in this and the equally great Hail the Conquering Hero or you hate him), there's an undeniably fascinating social commentary of wartime America going on (male identity crisis, gender roles, sexual and moral hypocrisy) that gives it a depth absent in most screwball films.

For more Sturges, you should give Palm Beach Story a look. I think you'd enjoy that one.

[Qrazy]

I suppose shrill is a matter of taste. I'm with KF in finding Arsenic & Old Lace one of the most obnoxious and annoying films of its era. Miracle at Morgan's Creek is far more interesting to me and while its humor is a matter of taste (you either love Eddie Bracken in this and the equally great Hail the Conquering Hero or you hate him), there's an undeniably fascinating social commentary of wartime America going on (male identity crisis, gender roles, sexual and moral hypocrisy) that gives it a depth absent in most screwball films.

For more Sturges, you should give Palm Beach Story a look. I think you'd enjoy that one.

I mostly just had contempt for his character, someone who would love someone no matter how poorly they treated him. The dynamic between the two leads rubbed me the wrong way. Grow a backbone Bracken! I can't remember if I've seen Palm Beach or not. I feel like I have but really not sure.

[Winston*]

Went to see a documentary about the colour restoration of A Trip to the Moon, followed by itself. The documentary spends a bunch of time showing the painstaking effort it took to get all the frames and brushstrokes accurate to what they would have been in the early 20th century. Then when they finally play the restoration, it's saddled with this awful modern electronic score by Air that's extremely loud and overbearing. Inexplicable.

[baby doll]

I mostly just had contempt for his character, someone who would love someone no matter how poorly they treated him. The dynamic between the two leads rubbed me the wrong way. Grow a backbone Bracken! I can't remember if I've seen Palm Beach or not. I feel like I have but really not sure.Obviously he's a pathetic character but that's the whole point. The movie is uncompromising in its detestation of him.

[Spun Lepton]

Big Night is a decent if somewhat predictable indie comedy with a dry sense of humor and obnoxious musical cues.

[Qrazy]

Obviously he's a pathetic character but that's the whole point. The movie is uncompromising in its detestation of him.

Not really. It keeps putting him through the ringer but ultimately it seems to suggest his selfless love is a good thing. Plus she's contemptible as well. And it's okay to tell a story about two contemptible people if it's in some way interesting or revealing but this isn't.

[Melville]

Miracle at Morgan's Creek and Arsenic and Old Lace are both garbage.

[MadMan]

I thought that Miracle At Morgan's Creek was delightful, funny, satirical, and entertaining. I don't think I've seen anything else from Preston though. He's on the infamously long viewing list.

[Winston*]

Nicholas Roeg's Eureka is pretty awesome.

[baby doll]

Not really. It keeps putting him through the ringer but ultimately it seems to suggest his selfless love is a good thing. Plus she's contemptible as well. And it's okay to tell a story about two contemptible people if it's in some way interesting or revealing but this isn't.Yeah, I didn't get that vibe, personally. I saw it more as an attack on small town hypocrisy, wherein the appearance of moral behavior is ultimately the only thing anyone cares about.

[Qrazy]

Yeah, I didn't get that vibe, personally. I saw it more as an attack on small town hypocrisy, wherein the appearance of moral behavior is ultimately the only thing anyone cares about.

Please elaborate because the only thing people cared about was the immoral behaviour initially followed by 'the miracle'. Do you mean hypocrisy because they forgave the crimes in the face of 'the miracle'? I don't see how there's much if any bite to the satire here.

Also in terms of his selfless love he's so unrelenting with it that eventually she falls for him and he gets what he wants so I'm not sure how his selfless love is not a good thing.

[baby doll]

Please elaborate because the only thing people cared about was the immoral behaviour initially followed by 'the miracle'. Do you mean hypocrisy because they forgave the crimes in the face of 'the miracle'? I don't see how there's much if any bite to the satire here.

Also in terms of his selfless love he's so unrelenting with it that eventually she falls for him and he gets what he wants so I'm not sure how his selfless love is not a good thing.He gets the girl but she isn't much of a prize, and to an extent she's forced upon him by the political boss because without a father the "miracle" would simply be a scandal.

[Qrazy]

He gets the girl but she isn't much of a prize, and to an extent she's forced upon him by the political boss because without a father the "miracle" would simply be a scandal.

She isn't much of a prize to you or me but she is to him and the film endorses his love by having her reciprocate it by the end and giving them a happy ending. The boss doesn't force him on the girl he merely clears up their legal trouble which doesn't really make a great deal of sense anyway.

[baby doll]

She isn't much of a prize to you or me but she is to him and the film endorses his love by having her reciprocate it by the end and giving them a happy ending. The boss doesn't force him on the girl he merely clears up their legal trouble which doesn't really make a great deal of sense anyway.I dunno about you, but having to marry a skank and raise her six kids isn't my idea of an unambiguously happy ending.

[Qrazy]

I dunno about you, but having to marry a skank and raise her six kids isn't my idea of an unambiguously happy ending.

The end title is... "But Norval recovered and became increasingly happy or, as Shakespeare said: 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.'"

[baby doll]

The end title is... "But Norval recovered and became increasingly happy or, as Shakespeare said: 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.'"I saw that title as being fairly tongue-in-cheek. On the one hand, you could argue that he gets everything he wants; on the other, it's not really worth having, and his happiness consists of resigning himself to a rather sordid set of circumstances. Obviously being a comedy the film needed a fairy upbeat ending, but there's still a certain tension between what the film shows us and what the title tells us.

[Qrazy]

Does Dr. Strangelove have an upbeat ending? Just because a film is a comedy doesn't mean it has to have an up beat ending so I don't fine it all that obvious. If you want to go further back much of Chaplin's work, The Circus for instance isn't all that up beat. The film shows us Norval freaking out again as he does often throughout the film before he once again expresses his everlasting devotion to the girl. It's a repeated pattern for him and there is no cause to take the title card at anything other than face value.

[baby doll]

Does Dr. Strangelove have an upbeat ending? Just because a film is a comedy doesn't mean it has to have an up beat ending so I don't fine it all that obvious. If you want to go further back much of Chaplin's work, The Circus for instance isn't all that up beat. The film shows us Norval freaking out again as he does often throughout the film before he once again expresses his everlasting devotion to the girl. It's a repeated pattern for him and there is no cause to take the title card at anything other than face value.Well, if you want to go all the way back, in Ancient Greece there's only comedy and tragedy, comedy being broad enough to encompass any play or narrative poem with a happy ending (more recently, The Divine Comedy is hardly a laugh riot).

As for Sturges' film in particular, I think the title is a bit like the use of "We'll Meet Again" at the end of Kubrick's film: It lightens the mood without reversing the story's darker implications. The hero gets what he wants but also what he deserves.

[Izzy Black]

I think Sturges film is a comedy along conventional terms too.

The interesting thing about the Shakespeare quote is that the original context of it was patently ironic. That's another function of comedy (at least in terms of structure). Fittingly, in classical terms, we often got comedies with "happy endings" that were loaded with irony.

[Qrazy]

Well, if you want to go all the way back, in Ancient Greece there's only comedy and tragedy, comedy being broad enough to encompass any play or narrative poem with a happy ending (more recently, The Divine Comedy is hardly a laugh riot).

This doesn't really demonstrate your point that as a comedy the film must have an upbeat ending. There are plenty of filmic comedies which do not go this route even from before Sturges' time period. In regards to Ancient Greece in your haste to prove an inconsequent point you've forgotten the third dramatic category, the Satyr play. Regardless, the shittiness of this film is not contingent upon it's happy ending.


As for Sturges' film in particular, I think the title is a bit like the use of "We'll Meet Again" at the end of Kubrick's film: It lightens the mood without reversing the story's darker implications. The hero gets what he wants but also what he deserves.

That's a Herculean stretch.

[baby doll]

This doesn't really demonstrate your point that as a comedy the film must have an upbeat ending. There are plenty of filmic comedies which do not go this route even from before Sturges' time period. In regards to Ancient Greece in your haste to prove an inconsequent point you've forgotten the third dramatic category, the Satyr play. Regardless, the shittiness of this film is not contingent upon it's happy ending.To return to the main point then, I don't think the happy ending validates the hero's infatuation with the girl, given (as Izzy points out) that the ending is laced with irony.

[Qrazy]

The irony here is that these children have been 'thrust' upon him first by the thrusting of another man and then by the forceful arm of the state. Of course this is misleading since ultimately despite his freak out at the end we know he is not being thrust into this. It is his choice to father these children, as being with this woman has been his choice all along (not that the film provides sufficient justification for why he should care about her). However, the statement in regards to his happiness is not a part of the original phrase nor is there any reason to doubt it's sincerity as you are suggesting.

But as I also said my problems with the film go very far beyond the ending.

[MadMan]

Happy endings are overrated

[Spinal]

Happy endings are overrated

That's what my masseuse said. :sad:

[MadMan]

:lol:

[Sycophant]

That's what my masseuse said. :sad:

I'd like to think she said that while she was giving you one, detached from the moment and voicing her professional and aesthetic skepticism to the practice.

[dreamdead]

Got an abstract on Patrick Wang's In the Family accepted into the national MLA conference panel in Vancouver in January next year. New summer goal: actually watch In the Family and hope that it matches up with my sweeping strokes of what it talks about.

[dreamdead]

Sophie Fiennes The Pervert's Guide to Ideology. The conceit of integrating Zizek into filmic space as he lectures is still worth a giggle every time Fiennes places him into a new environment, but some of the ideas fell less developed than they did in their earlier coverage in ...Cinema. The Last Temptation of Christ ideas especially felt inchoate concerning its atheism given how that film closes--an idea that at least needs broached.

Loved the footage of the Russian film about WW2, and some of the material on They Live is also thoroughly convincing. Some of the theorizing on the recent riots (Arab Spring, Occupy Movement) needed a little more consideration to fully resonate with his thesis, though.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Baraka just blew out my brain. I need to go sleep it off.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Baraka just blew out my brain. I need to go sleep it off.

Fricke?

Yes yes yes yes. God, that movie. It's one of the movies.

[Watashi]

I WANT. (http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/1055-the-essential-jacques-demy)

[baby doll]

I WANT. (http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/1055-the-essential-jacques-demy)Looks swell, but where the hell is Model Shop?

[MadMan]

I'm bummed that they choose Scanners. Shivers, Rabid and Crash would make for much better Criterion selections from Cronenberg's work out of the ones already on Criterion. Also I wish they would put Dead Ringers back into print.

[Skitch]

Guys and gals, 85,000 films from the British Pathe Archive (https://www.youtube.com/user/britishpathe) are now on YouTube. It truly is a great age to be a cinema fan. We have so much access...I just love it.

[MadMan]

I've watched some movies already on YouTube that were not on Netflix Instant Viewing. Its nice not having to wait for DVDs in the mail.

[dreamdead]

Kinda interesting to watch Crank 2 and Taken 2 pretty much back to back. The former is much more idiosyncratic and basically embraces all of its misogyny, which occasionally doesn't always feel tongue-in-cheek (see the gay couple with the dog collar), but it's also more alive and exciting, even if it's ultimately about so little. Surprised that Amy Smart continues to do these since she's pretty much humiliated throughout. Bai Ling suffers the most, though she's also the one who the film most self-consciously acknowledges as being a caricature.

Taken 2 succeeds most in the actual balance of Neeson's daughter being given things to do. Once it's all down to Neeson against the terrorists, it's pretty rote.

[Pop Trash]

Mauvais Sang proves Godard could still make a pretty good film back in '86. Mostly I enjoyed seeing Lavant, Binoche, and Delpy in their salad days.

[Izzy Black]

It's Godard's best film.

[Qrazy]

Wut.

[Boner M]

Mauvais Sang proves Godard could still make a pretty good film back in '86.
If this means what I think it means, fuck off.

[Pop Trash]

If this means what I think it means, fuck off.

http://ilarge.listal.com/image/835384/968full-a-woman-is-a-woman-screenshot.jpg

[Derek]

If this means what I think it means, fuck off.

Let's all unite and just post videos of French people dancing in Godard and Carax films to piss Qrazy off.

[Dukefrukem]

Kinda interesting to watch Crank 2 and Taken 2 pretty much back to back. The former is much more idiosyncratic and basically embraces all of its misogyny, which occasionally doesn't always feel tongue-in-cheek (see the gay couple with the dog collar), but it's also more alive and exciting, even if it's ultimately about so little. Surprised that Amy Smart continues to do these since she's pretty much humiliated throughout. Bai Ling suffers the most, though she's also the one who the film most self-consciously acknowledges as being a caricature.

Taken 2 succeeds most in the actual balance of Neeson's daughter being given things to do. Once it's all down to Neeson against the terrorists, it's pretty rote.

Taken 2 is on HBO everyday and I always turn it on during the grenade scene, which I still think is the best part of the movie. The rest is junk.

[Dukefrukem]

Serious question: Do MCers prefer auto motion plus (AMP) and the other vendors equivalent? Or do you prefer this turned off?

[Grouchy]

Serious question: Do MCers prefer auto motion plus (AMP) and the other vendors equivalent? Or do you prefer this turned off?
You mean in high definition tellys? Turned off all the way. That's just useful for sports.

[Dukefrukem]

You mean in high definition tellys? Turned off all the way. That's just useful for sports.

I know it's great for sports. But I had company over this weekend and they kept telling me that it looks awful on 100% of the time. And I just don't see it. I love it on, and I think it makes the picture 2x better. Smoother. Crisper. Makes everything look like it was shot on film.

[Sven]

All of the monitors in Hell are rigged with smoothing displays. They're atrocious.

[Henry Gale]

It's not the worst thing ever, but it's close. I mainly see use for it with the aforementioned sports broadcasts but it can also make things like first-person video games less straining on the eyes (though for games I usually play them on a really decent and still lively flatscreen tube that seems to deal with colour-richness and clarity of frame-rate movement better than most HDTV's I've seen).

But for anything narrative (which I'm pretty sure 99% of all things are shot and meant to be 24 frames per second) absolutely no. Oh god no.

It's something I fear will be pitched to the public as some sort of norm, especially with people like Cameron and Jackson advocating FPS 3D and that being misconstrued as something "better" when nothing other than a few things like The Hobbit even currently exists that way natively. I don't think it has any place outside of those rare theatrical exhibitions. I see TV commercials applying the 60hz look to themselves and all I can do is yell "WHHYYYY" on the inside.

[Mysterious Dude]

Makes everything look like it was shot on film.To me it makes everything look like it was shot on video, like a soap opera or a sitcom. No matter what I'm watching, it becomes fake-looking.

[Derek]

To me it makes everything look like it was shot on video, like a soap opera or a sitcom. No matter what I'm watching, it becomes fake-looking.

This. It's the worst except for sports.

[Grouchy]

To me it makes everything look like it was shot on video, like a soap opera or a sitcom. No matter what I'm watching, it becomes fake-looking.
Exactly. It's the complete opposite of what Duke is saying. It makes everything look like video.

[Dukefrukem]

Exactly. It's the complete opposite of what Duke is saying. It makes everything look like video.

"Shot on video". What does that even mean?

[Grouchy]

The movements in movies look all wrong with that thing on. It literally cheapens the value of the cinematography.

[Neclord]

"Shot on video". What does that even mean?

Like shot on video tape, like a soap opera or live television? I thought that was common shorthand.

[Kurosawa Fan]

To me it makes everything look like it was shot on video, like a soap opera or a sitcom. No matter what I'm watching, it becomes fake-looking.

Yep. It accentuates the artificial aspects of the filmmaking process. The costumes look like costumes, the sets look like sets. Any chance at losing myself in the verisimilitude of the film or show is lost.

[Dukefrukem]

Like shot on video tape, like a soap opera or live television? I thought that was common shorthand.

I've taped a lot of home video (TAPE) in the 90s, and it's never looked like a soap opera. So I just want to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

Live TV (or documentaries) on the other hand, does look like home video TAPE.

[Derek]

DIGITAL video has now replaced video TAPE, so when people refer to shooting on video these days, they're usually not referring to VHS or Betamax.

[Dukefrukem]

But people do say they're shooting digital correct?

[Derek]

But people do say they're shooting digital correct?

I suppose most people would call it "shooting digital(ly)" rather than shooting on video, but it's usually interchangeable. Tape would be a whole different animal these days since it's still used a lot in post, but only for the storage, transport and conversions of digital files.

[Dukefrukem]

Gotcha. In any event, I think the AMP looks great. Weird thing is, when I watch movies/TV on my other TVs (without AMP) I can notice the difference, but it doesn't bother me because they're smaller TVs.

[Skitch]

I don't know anything about this enhancement you guys are discussing, but it is something that could vary in quality depending on television? Or satellite provider? Or combinations of both?

[Derek]

I don't know anything about this enhancement you guys are discussing, but it is something that could vary in quality depending on television? Or satellite provider? Or combinations of both?

It's the same, or similar, to the higher frame rate Jackson released the two Hobbit films in (I believe those were 48fps). I only saw the first one that way and it looked like a $300 million soap opera (read: shit) that distracted me from how bad it was by how awful it looked. The effect is great for sports because of the fast movements and the fact that our eyes are trained to watching sports with a tv look, rather than a film or projected DV look, but for movies, it has the bizarre effect, at least for a lot of people, of creating a soap opera look that renders everything false and sucks you out of whatever reality the film is creating. I actually think it's even more harmful for fantasy/sci-fi/superhero films than anything else.

[Lazlo]

"Shot on video" has to do with frame rates, not medium. Until roughly 10 years ago, video couldn't do sound-speed 24fps, the rate at which which film shoots sound-speed. Video shot sound-speed at 30fps (really 29.97), which contributes to smoother motion. 100 years of 24fps film look vs. 50 years of 30fps video look conditioned us to view the film look as signifying higher quality.

Motion smoothing duplicates frames to give an artificial smoothing effect not intended to exist in anything shot at 24fps, regardless of it being shot on film or video (Arri Alexa, RED Camera, etc.).

[Skitch]

It's the same, or similar, to the higher frame rate Jackson released the two Hobbit films in (I believe those were 48fps). I only saw the first one that way and it looked like a $300 million soap opera (read: shit) that distracted me from how bad it was by how awful it looked. The effect is great for sports because of the fast movements and the fact that our eyes are trained to watching sports with a tv look, rather than a film or projected DV look, but for movies, it has the bizarre effect, at least for a lot of people, of creating a soap opera look that renders everything false and sucks you out of whatever reality the film is creating. I actually think it's even more harmful for fantasy/sci-fi/superhero films than anything else.

Interesting. Thanks. Applying how I felt about the HFR of the first Hobbit film (first time 3D action didn't seem to slip visually, but agree with rest of film looking really weird), I would probably think golf and football would look awesome and everything else odd. :) But who knows...like I said, I have no basis to compare these things until I see them. I swore I would never buy a plasma over a LCD or LED...until I found the plasma I've owned for years now. It still looks stunning, even more than any other plasma I've personally seen at friends houses and such.

[EyesWideOpen]

You would immediately notice it. Me and my wife would go over to one of her friends to watch Dexter as it aired and they had a new Sony and had it on and it looked ridiculous.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, looks pretty bad indeed. I remember this look starting in Public Enemies. A mobster movie with a DV look. Ugh, still sucks to see that in the movie, because it's an amazing movie otherwise.

[Mal]

I saw Boyhood on friday and it's still bothering me that the whole 12-yrs-filming bit is a total gimmick, a wasted opportunity by Linklater. UGH.

[Winston*]

Yeah, looks pretty bad indeed. I remember this look starting in Public Enemies. A mobster movie with a DV look. Ugh, still sucks to see that in the movie, because it's an amazing movie otherwise.

I didn't like the movie much otherwise, but I kind of liked the DV look. It was interesting to see a historical drama shot in such a contemporary manner, rather through a nostalgic filter.

[Dukefrukem]

Yeah, looks pretty bad indeed. I remember this look starting in Public Enemies. A mobster movie with a DV look. Ugh, still sucks to see that in the movie, because it's an amazing movie otherwise.

I agree, that looks like garbage. Miami Vice as well.

But watch Prometheus with it and it's brilliant.

[dreamdead]

I saw Boyhood on friday and it's still bothering me that the whole 12-yrs-filming bit is a total gimmick, a wasted opportunity by Linklater. UGH.

Huh. Any chance on elaborating, maybe in the Boyhood upcoming thread section?

[Dukefrukem]

I frame rate is really crappy, but I thought this was well done.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N5KyjM5v0c

[MadMan]

I finally saw 8 1/2 so I can check that off the infamous to see list.

[dreamdead]

What was your favorite part of 8 1/2?

[Ivan Drago]

The original Oldboy. Holy fucking crap, that twist. That sound design. That story. That entire fucking movie was incredible. My mind is still blown.

[MadMan]

What was your favorite part of 8 1/2?Probably Guido floating over the cars in the beginning. I'll have to watch the film multiple times before I know for sure.

[Winston*]

Highly recommend Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction. Great documentary.

[Rowland]

The original Oldboy. Holy fucking crap, that twist. That sound design. That story. That entire fucking movie was incredible. My mind is still blown.First-time viewing? I've been meaning to give it another look to see if it still holds up, after being disappointed by the tame Spike Lee remake.

[Yxklyx]

Probably Guido floating over the cars in the beginning. I'll have to watch the film multiple times before I know for sure.

Yeah, it takes a second viewing. First time I saw it, it was all so new I had no idea what I had just seen.

[MadMan]

Yeah, it takes a second viewing. First time I saw it, it was all so new I had no idea what I had just seen.That's how I feel. So mesmerizing too. The visuals, the use of music, the magical realism. All woven together in a magnificent film. I'm guessing that Guido committed career/movie suicide and not actual suicide by refusing to make the movie. The guy was too much in love with himself.

[Ivan Drago]

First-time viewing? I've been meaning to give it another look to see if it still holds up, after being disappointed by the tame Spike Lee remake.

Yep, first time viewing. It may be in my top 10 of all-time, but that depends on a re-watch as well. I have no interest whatsoever in the remake.

On a different note, can we do another ultimate movie fantasy draft? The one time we did one was really fun!

[Yxklyx]

My favorite scene is the one where the kids are put to sleep.

[MadMan]

My favorite scene is the one where the kids are put to sleep.It reminds me of the times when my cousins and I would stay up taking to one another.

[Pop Trash]

I like tacos.

[MadMan]

I love lamp.

[D_Davis]

Watched the 2nd GI Movie this weekend, and, like the first one, I really enjoyed it. It thoroughly embraces its cartoon roots, and is totally insane, inane, stupid, fun and funny. The action set-piece on the side of the cliff with all the ninjas is totally bad ass, and Cobra's plot to take over the world is one of the most ludicrous things I've ever witnessed in a movie; that the filmmakers pulled it off without a hint of irony or wink-wink comedy makes it all the better. I've found both of these movies to be better than just about all of the new Marvel and DC films (except for Ang Lee's Hulk) and genuinely find them to be some of the better genre entertainment of recent years. They totally remind me of the insane and crazy films from Hong Kong during the 1990s.

[MadMan]

What I saw of the first GI Joe looked awful to me. The sequel has promise though.

[Yxklyx]

I'll be one of the few dissenters - I didn't like The Act of Killing at all. I thought it was ponderous and meandered too much - it just didn't keep my interest. The subject matter is somewhat interesting - I just didn't care for the presentation.

Elaine May's A New Leaf was very nice. Loved both leads in this one.

De Palma's The Fury has to be his worst film I've seen. What's with the scene of the lead actress trying to get a frisbee from a dog's mouth. If the entire movie had been like that it might have been one of those "so bad that it's good" movies. Casual misogyny just thrown in here and there though... Blech.

Really liked The Spectacular Now, one of the best teen films I can recall seeing - it has some missteps here and there (for instance, it seems like the accident was not needed at all) but very accomplished, especially with how alcohol is portrayed.

Also liked Gravity. Nice to seem a space based film grounded in reality - without aliens, etc.... I thought Bullock was excellent - never had much of an opinion of her before this film. Had to look her up and see what else she's been in.

Disappointed in Soderbergh's King of the Hill. It was OK for what it was but way too schmaltzy and sugar coated for me. There are many better "growing up in bad times" films out there.

[Irish]

Watched the 2nd GI Movie this weekend, and, like the first one, I really enjoyed it. It thoroughly embraces its cartoon roots, and is totally insane, inane, stupid, fun and funny. The action set-piece on the side of the cliff with all the ninjas is totally bad ass, and Cobra's plot to take over the world is one of the most ludicrous things I've ever witnessed in a movie; that the filmmakers pulled it off without a hint of irony or wink-wink comedy makes it all the better. I've found both of these movies to be better than just about all of the new Marvel and DC films (except for Ang Lee's Hulk) and genuinely find them to be some of the better genre entertainment of recent years. They totally remind me of the insane and crazy films from Hong Kong during the 1990s.

I'm surprised you enjoyed this as much as you did. It's an improvement on the first, and pretty well written, light, breezy entertainment but there's a whole subtext to it that I found disturbing.

They took a kid's cartoon that was faux-violent and made it almost blood thirsty. They depicted Islamic terrorism and more US style illegal "intervention" as a matter of course. On one hand, sure, that's topical. On the other: This was a cartoon where shots were fired but nobody ever got a scratch. Here, in the film, a shitload of people die.

It kinda brainlessly goes about its plot, which is fine, but there I think it's different from a lot of HK and Asian actioners. GI Joe 2 has nothing at all to say about anything where even the most lighthearted Asian film will usually have some comment on its darker aspects. At least, they acknowledge them.

Also: One woman in the movie & her entire role comes down to either (a) being heavily sexualized or (b) getting a shit ton of grief from Bruce Willis. What the hell was that about? (Nevermind the late scene where Willis shown literally having weapons in every drawer in his house. That was like some kind of NRA product placement).

The politics around this movie are fucking gross. After this, I imagine the TMNT reboot will show blood splatter and open wounds.

[D_Davis]

The violence actually did surprise me, and I did think it was a problem.

[Pop Trash]

Happy Taco Tuesday ya'll

http://www.tacospin.com/

[dreamdead]

Started The Last Picture Show this morning. Lordy, Cybill Shepherd is gorgeous in this. That is all.

[BuffaloWilder]

I can't wait until the movie I DPed and did sound mixing on last year is finally finished, so we can all talk about what a horrible piece of shit it is. There is every possibility this might never happen.

[dreamdead]

Gray's We Own the Night is brilliantly directed and performed. It suffers a bit in that the script and narrative cues are still a teensy bit rote, but the craft and dedication of the work makes up for the weaker elements. That closing chase through the tall grass is almost as exciting as the rain car chase.

Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead isn't much different in my reaction--it's good genre filmmaking, with characters hitting each beat exactly and expertly. This one's closing is likely the weakest element to it, as the first half of the film I thought I was watching a masterpiece. Tomei's character was just a bit too one-dimensional in her change--I would have been interested in more of seeing her colluding with Hoffman's plans, since it's clear that she understood the gist of it. Also loved that Hawke actually handled Hoffman and Finney's performances beat for beat, when I expected those latter actors to dominate.

The Last Picture Show's the kind of film that I think I'm underrating. I could watch more of those characters for hours--really interested after seeing it in at least reading how the rest of the novels take these characters.

[Dukefrukem]

I watched 4 terrible movies over the weekend.

Project A2 *
The Shadow *
Area 407 ½
Paranoia *

And one good movie.

Falling Down ****

[bac0n]

Boredom got the best of me and I was looking for something dumb and 'splodey on Netflix Instant, and GI Joe 2 was on so I said what the hell, and it scratched that itch well enough.

My only disappointment was that I was waiting for Roadblock to ask "Who wants a body massage?", but he never did.

[Sven]

My only disappointment was that I was waiting for Roadblock to ask "Who wants a body massage?", but he never did.

...body massage.

[Mara]

So I've decided to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe films in order. I have seen a couple of them previously, out of order, and parts of others (even worse!) But my roommate took me to see The Winter Soldier and I really dug it, so I decided to give this the old college try.

Thus far:

Iron Man: *** I did see this one back when it came out. Great mix of an exciting origin story and great casting. Downey has chemistry with freaking everyone, including his computer and a couple of robots. As far as obligatory love interests go, Potts is smart and fun. I think I might be alone on this, but I don't think Terrence Howard is a very skilled actor. He gets accolades, but everything out of his mouth feels mannered and false to me. Overall, though, a very strong entry.

The Incredible Hulk: * What the hell happened here? I didn't see the 2003 film, but as far as I can tell this wasn't a sequel to it; but it wasn't an origin story either. In fact, I am at a loss what exactly was supposed to have "happened" in Hulk's development in this film. Norton is a total miscast, looking like he's going to pee himself every time we are supposed to think he's getting angry. Tyler was whispery, whiney, and weepy. I guess she's supposed to be a scientist, but doesn't show much capacity for rational thought. The film is littered with characters whose motivations are either unknown, ill-conceived, or changeable. I really have no idea what I was supposed to get out of this.

Iron Man 2: **.5 My biggest disappointment with this film is that I thought it would fill me in on Black Widow, but she's a big fat cipher. She shows up all sneaky and full of possibilities, and then... nothing, really. The reveal that she is SHIELD is underplayed to the point of being boring, and she just kind of hangs around for the rest of the film. Zero insight into her thought processes or motivations. Not even really any clarity on her personality, since she's pretending to be someone else for half the running time. This film also did not touch on her superpowers, and since I've seen The Avengers and The Winter Soldier, I don't think anyone has any interest in telling us much about her. She's the only female Avenger and she's a total after-thought. She's not going to get her own film, is she? Bunch of assholes.

Other than that, it was okay. Cheadle was a great replacement for Howard. This film spent a little more time on Stark's self-destruction, and as a character his flaws are his most interesting aspect. Several of the action sequences were excellent.

Thor next. I've only seen pieces of it.

[EyesWideOpen]

Black Widow doesn't have any superpowers. She's just a kickass spy.

[Mara]

Black Widow doesn't have any superpowers. She's just a kickass spy.

Wikipedia and number8 say otherwise.

[EyesWideOpen]

Wikipedia and number8 say otherwise.

I just checked Wikipedia and I guess you're right. I've read tons of Black Widow comics and I've never seen a mention of any superpowers.

[Mara]

I just checked Wikipedia and I guess you're right. I've read tons of Black Widow comics and I've never seen a mention of any superpowers.

Apparently they are such a huge secret they don't think the viewers/readers should know about them. Seriously, it's kind of weird.

[bac0n]

So, I've taken off Friday to watch Godzilla. To psyche myself up, I've been watching my favorite Daikaiju films. Tonight is Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. Man alive, if the new Godzilla can even touch the 90s Gamera flicks, it's gonna be something fierce.

[Dukefrukem]

Iron Man 2: **.5 My biggest disappointment with this film is that I thought it would fill me in on Black Widow, but she's a big fat cipher. She shows up all sneaky and full of possibilities, and then... nothing, really. The reveal that she is SHIELD is underplayed to the point of being boring, and she just kind of hangs around for the rest of the film. Zero insight into her thought processes or motivations. Not even really any clarity on her personality, since she's pretending to be someone else for half the running time.


That's 100% accurate.

[Dukefrukem]

So, I've taken off Friday to watch Godzilla. To psyche myself up, I've been watching my favorite Daikaiju films. Tonight is Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. Man alive, if the new Godzilla can even touch the 90s Gamera flicks, it's gonna be something fierce.

Your post is inspiring me to do the same. I've never taken off a day of work to watch a movie before. Video games yes, but I feel like I could go to the movies at 11am, and still end up going to work for a half day or something.

[Mara]

Marvel Films, cont.

Thor: **.5 I had seen pieces of this before, but not all the way through. It's imperfect, but actually does pretty well if you consider how radically the tone needs to shift between high fantasy, magical world, LOTR-type epic battles; and petty earthly hijinks with pop-tarts and silly jokes. Obviously, Loki is easily the best villain we've had in the Marvel universe, and the casting of Hiddleston was genius. He's in full Iago mode here, complete with diabolical insight into how to manipulate the weaknesses of heroes, and plenty of courtly intrigue. Jane is pretty solid in the sadly obligatory female love interest role, and Portman has a winsome charm, but I feel like we missed the scenes showing her and Thor actually developing a connection. For that matter, it's implied that Jane was instrumental in converting Thor from cocky jerk-wad to selfless hero, and I'm not sure we saw that journey at all. Thor landed on earth, had a few funny scenes, breathed some dust, and voila! Redemption. Good on you, Thor. Way to grow.

Darcy doesn't have much to do, but hooray for having a single female character in any Marvel film who isn't a love/sex interest. First Marvel film to pass the Bechdel test? I'm pretty sure.

Hawkeye showed up for thirty ill-lit seconds. I know I was complaining about Black Widow before, but Hawkeye is totally the red-headed step-Avenger, isn't he? Poor guy. I guess this is all we saw before The Avengers, when he is brainwashed for half the running time, but is interesting and solid in his other... oh, three scenes. Unless he shows up in Iron Man 3, that's all the Hawkeye we have, and that's just pathetic. Jeremy Renner is a good actor. Give him something to do. If you don't want to give him his whole film, he could play second fiddle in someone else's (see Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: Winter Soldier.)

Captain America: The First Avenger: *** I had thought I heard that this one was missable, but I totally enjoyed it. Mostly because Steve is a surprisingly winning hero, and Evans does a great job in the role. I've seen Evans in a handful of pictures and never thought he was more than passable, but for whatever reason I think he really has a handle on making Steve gentlemanly and brave without being boring. Baby Steve was totally adorable, and the CGI they used was top-notch, but I wish they had pitched up Evans' voice a little. He sounded like a man with two lungs the size of duffel bags the entire time.

Pacing could have been better. They wanted to fit in so much story (Baby Steve, the transformation, the pin-up phase, the hero phase, the time-traveling phase, etc.) that some arcs were abrupt and didn't feel cohesive. But each story, individually, was interesting enough.

The supporting cast was great, too. I like Stanley Tucci, Richard Armitage, and Hugo Weaving in anything.

But Peggy. Peggy is my queen and my life. I really did not expect to like her as much as I did, and I thought she was the absolute best. I heard that they're making a spin-off show just about her in the fifties and yes please.

[Ivan Drago]

The Dance of Reality is coming to my town late next month.

Hell. Fucking. YES.

[MadMan]

I like all of the Avengers movies that I've seen so far. The last ones I need to see are the new Thor and Captain America ones.

[bac0n]

Last night's featured Road to Godzilla Kaiju Spectacularrrr selection was Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, aka Invasion of Astro-Monster, which was basically a rematch of Godzilla & Rodan vs. King Ghidorah. This movie is notable in that it was one of the last movies starring Nick Adams, who's face was locked in the furrowed-eyebrow I-told-you-so expression the entire film.

This film has Godzilla acting like an overly sugared five year old boy. All he wants to do is rassle and make a mess, and I don't think he really hates Ghidorah or bears him any ill will. He just wants to play. And also, contrary to later films where he's monolithic and just lumbers showly forward, this Godzilla is pretty quick on his feet, even doing some Ali leg shuffles once in awhile.

This movie also is notable that it is the only Kaiju film where Godzilla actually dances. It's such cheesey fun, I love it. I think tonight, I' gonna get a sixpack and watch me the shit out of Pacific Rim.

[angrycinephile]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming to Blu-ray in July.

It will feature 90(!) minutes of deleted footage.

Here's a trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/watch-90-minutes-of-delete-twin-peaks-scenes-coming-to-blu-ray-in-july

[Spun Lepton]

So, I was lent the Blu-ray for this movie called The Raid: Redemption, but it looks like it has subtitles, so obviously it's a bad movie. I don't even know if I'm going to try watching it. I mean, subtitles? Seriously? If they ain't speaking American I have no use for it.

[MadMan]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming to Blu-ray in July.

It will feature 90(!) minutes of deleted footage.

Here's a trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/watch-90-minutes-of-delete-twin-peaks-scenes-coming-to-blu-ray-in-julyHell yes. Great film.

[Yxklyx]

Hell yes. Great film.

It's alright - has some cringeworthy moments for me though...

Does the Dodsworth DVD really need to be priced at $94 om amazon! I rented this once from Netflix and loved it. I wish it were available again at a reasonable price.

[Mara]

Marvel, Cont.

The Avengers: ***.5 This I had seen before, but I wondered if it was better having seen the previous films. Answer: yes. It does a good job filling in newbies, but there are little nods and emotional notes that ring more true with background. And Whedon really does know what we want from the film: emotional connections between the characters, great action set pieces, heroics, clever one-liners, sentimental moments...

...but most importantly, he knows that yes, we want the Avengers to fight some aliens, but more importantly, we want the Avengers to fight each other. It is super important to us to know who would win in a fight: Thor or Iron Man. Or Thor or Iron Man or Captain America. Could Thor's hammer pierce Captain America's shields? We have to know this. Thor and The Hulk: personal favorite.

But that brings me around to another point: the fight between Black Widow and Hawkeye was fine, but I remember in the theater thinking that it would probably resonate better if I had seen the previous films and known their emotional history. It turns out, there is no history given to us. So why should we care?

Hawkeye gets mild-melded two seconds into the film, is stony and wears uncomfortable contacts for a little over an hour, then finally gets fixed up, has one nice emotional scene with Romanoff (three minutes) and then is comfortably heroic for the rest of the running time. That's it.

Romanoff fares a little better. Her one scene interrogating Loki gives wonderful insight, not just into her past, but also into her skills and the way she thinks. We get more into her head right there than in all of IM2.

Overall, though, this was everything a superhero film should be.

Iron Man 3: *** This settled better the more I thought about it. I went in with pretty high expectations, because I had heard good things, and it wasn't quite what I expected. This really was about Iron Man without Iron Man: the guy (arrogant, heart-broken, sarcastic) behind the suit. I've said it before, but RDjr owns this role. (Is it just me, or do we not see him drinking at all in this film? Is he off the sauce?) There is a nominal villain and crisis, but this is more about subverting what we expect from a superhero film. Our hero is not confident. He is not thinking clearly. He is not even brave. Tony is a hero in spite of himself. (We even have fun skewering the jaded-hero-meets-adorable-munchkin trope. Kid: So you're just going to leave me here? Like my dad? Tony: Yeah.)

We also have several female characters, on a spectrum of morality, contributing substantially to the plot. I think we're getting some progress.

Favorite moment: the poor lackey in the firefight who doesn't even like working here. Everyone is so weird.

[Marley]

Does anyone happen to have an extra invite to Karagarga? I seem to have lost my account. This would be greatly appreciated.

[dreamdead]

Pleasantly surprised by The Great Escape. Very much a less sophisticated but "cool" take on Renoir's The Grand Illusion, replete with honor among nations at war and attempting to cause disruption. What startled me was Sturges's ability to undermine the amiable score with the denouement, via the firing squad, which powerfully undoes the almost ease of WW2. While watching it I kept having thoughts of how no one seems to comprehend the atrocities simultaneously being done to the Jews, but then that moment hit and I was surprised at how effective the delay was.

[EyesWideOpen]

I find it amusing that the cover for Beneath the Planet of the Apes has Roddy McDowall as Cornelius even though this was the only Apes film where someone else played Cornelius.

[Sven]

Over the weekend, K and I watched Outrage and Beyond Outrage. I'd seen the first, and a second viewing only solidifies it as one of the funniest damn movies I've ever seen. It's practically perfect from frame one: simultaneously brutally straight and hysterically convoluted, it's Kitano concentrate. A picture built on an immaculate geometry of mannered violence.

Beyond Outrage, unfortunately, is pretty much just a footnote to the narrative function of the first film, unimaginatively structured, which is a shock. Absent even the visual designs and intricacies of the first, outlying from the rest of the filmmaker's oeuvre with its thoroughly conventional cinematography. Lazy, though Kitano's Otomo does galvanize interest a bit.

[Dukefrukem]

http://vimeo.com/96558506

[Spinal]

"Lightly-edited improv"

God, yes. That was a fun watch.

[Rowland]

So, I just spent $65 on this (http://www.toufaan.com/collections/mondo-visions-limited-edition/products/possession-limited-edition-2000-numbered-copies) limited edition blu-ray release of Zulawski's Possession. It was worth it!...? *shrug*

[Bosco B Thug]

So, I just spent $65 on this (http://www.toufaan.com/collections/mondo-visions-limited-edition/products/possession-limited-edition-2000-numbered-copies) limited edition blu-ray release of Zulawski's Possession. It was worth it!...? *shrug* Yeah, surprisingly worth it.

[Bosco B Thug]

Mostly I just love their description for it:


DEEP-CUTTING CINEMA THAT REACHES THE SOUL

A spiral staircase movie, a never-ending metaphysical game of cat-and-mouse, a moral aspiration to the Heavens, a “spotlight” on God, a scornful detective movie, a horror movie and frightful, high-octane baroque work – Possession is all of that at once.

[Gittes]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming to Blu-ray in July.

It will feature 90(!) minutes of deleted footage.

Here's a trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/watch-90-minutes-of-delete-twin-peaks-scenes-coming-to-blu-ray-in-july

I don't know if I'm more eager to acquire this or The Twilight Zone Blu-ray set. I haven't seen a single episode of either one and I'm so very interested. Both of these sets are little pricey, unfortunately.

[Mysterious Dude]

(how to do visual comedy)
This is a good video. I think the concept behind it applies to all films - not just comedy. Almost all filmmakers choose the laziest way to film a scene, and it's been that way forever.

[transmogrifier]

Ten years on, no film has been released that is better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It is almost perfect.

[Dukefrukem]

Ten years on, no film has been released that is better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It is almost perfect.

I can name 561 movies that are better.

[transmogrifier]

Why would you want to be wrong 561 times? You a masochist or something?

[Dukefrukem]

Why would you want to be wrong 561 times? You a masochist or something?

Maybe you misread my post? I'll rephrase.

There are a minimum of 561 movies that are better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, that I have seen to date.

[transmogrifier]

Well, I'm not sure what to say. Maybe they are 561 films that I haven't seen? Or maybe we have different tastes in movies? Or maybe, just maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the most exquisitely heartfelt paeans to the transient nature of both attraction and memory, and has one of the most insanely optimistic, beautiful endings of all time.

It doesn't bother me that you don't think so, but if I were you, I'd wonder how you got this far in life with a missing heart. :)

[Mysterious Dude]

You're both wrong. There are exactly four films released since 2004 that are better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I have a citation (http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showthread.php?3227-MC-Decade-Consensus-2000s&p=294459#post294459) to prove it.

[transmogrifier]

You're both wrong. There are exactly four films released since 2004 that are better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I have a citation (http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showthread.php?3227-MC-Decade-Consensus-2000s&p=294459#post294459) to prove it.

I shall not be swayed by such things as evidence.

[baby doll]

Judging by Transy's top ten, he and I must be about the same age because most of the movies on his list came out between the time I entered kindergarten and my second year of art school, and aside from La Haine (which I belatedly caught up with last year), are all movies that I saw for the first time between the ages of fourteen and nineteen.

[Grouchy]

How many of you knew that Harold Lloyd had a huge interest in 3D photography?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6167/6171528968_bc04e8f091_b.jpg

[transmogrifier]

Judging by Transy's top ten, he and I must be about the same age because most of the movies on his list came out between the time I entered kindergarten and my second year of art school, and aside from La Haine (which I belatedly caught up with last year), are all movies that I saw for the first time between the ages of fourteen and nineteen.

Possibly. Cinema started in 1969, didn't you know?

[Qrazy]

Well, I'm not sure what to say. Maybe they are 561 films that I haven't seen? Or maybe we have different tastes in movies? Or maybe, just maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the most exquisitely heartfelt paeans to the transient nature of both attraction and memory, and has one of the most insanely optimistic, beautiful endings of all time.

It doesn't bother me that you don't think so, but if I were you, I'd wonder how you got this far in life with a missing heart. :)

I didn't see the ending as optimistic at all, quite the opposite. Granted Gondry opts for more ambiguity than Kaufman's original script but that repeating image of them running along the beach echoes the initial script where they continue this cycle of falling in love, falling out of love, getting their memories erased and repeating this process ad nauseum. One of the themes of the script is that these two are not actually ultimately that great for each other, they experienced love but their personalities clash too much so that ultimately love isn't enough to keep them together.

[transmogrifier]

What is optimistic is that they know all of that, but are willing to re-experience the highs again because that's the ultimate point of life. And they would rather remember (or in this case, re-experience) the low points than forget all the good that comes with being in love.

[Qrazy]

What is optimistic is that they know all of that, but are willing to re-experience the highs again because that's the ultimate point of life. And they would rather remember (or in this case, re-experience) the low points than forget all the good that comes with being in love.

Right but I'm saying they don't actually do that. That's what their final dialogue suggests they do but the final shot is a repetition of them running along the beach again and again and then fading gradually into obscurity. I don't see it as optimistic, I see it as bittersweet tending primarily towards bitter. Perhaps I've been biased by the original script but I'm inclined to believe they keep getting their memories wiped again and again and as such are unable to move on and find someone that better suits them.

"The original script featured a cut beginning and ending sequence that took place in the future. In the end, an older Clementine comes in to have the procedure done and a look at her screen shows that she's had the procedure done multiple times and all of them involved Joel. At the very end of the script, an older Joel calls Clementine to ask why she hasn't called, but the technicians performing the procedure erase his message."

To be clear I'm not saying the current film ending is bad, just that I don't think it's optimistic.

[Mysterious Dude]

I recall thinking "maybe it'll work this time." It didn't occur to me that they'd do the same thing again. I'm kinda glad they didn't go with that ending.

[Qrazy]

I recall thinking "maybe it'll work this time." It didn't occur to me that they'd do the same thing again. I'm kinda glad they didn't go with that ending.

Why would it work this time though? They're still fundamentally conflicting personalities. Their love (for as long as they experienced it) had value certainly but it's just as likely that in due time they will start grating on each other and fall out of love again. I recall reading an interview with Kaufman somewhere where he spoke about amongst other things (in relation to the film) the value of memory in helping us learn from past mistakes.

[Dukefrukem]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BT_6p4OHA#t=138

[Morris Schæffer]

Man, feels like every new major release is met with great reviews nowadays, even the dubious ones. Edge of Tomorrow, 22 Jump Street etc... Good times!

[Ezee E]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BT_6p4OHA#t=138

:lol:

[Grouchy]

You know, at first I thought that was hilarious but pretty random. I knew it had to be a parody of something that actually existed.

Then I did a search for "unboxing" videos and beheld the true horror of existence.

[MadMan]

I think the ending of Eternal Sunshine is properly bittersweet. It's still my #1 of 2004 for better or for worse.

[MadMan]

Time Bandits is a weird movie. Bizarre yet amusing and sort of delightful. I didn't like the ending but Ian Holm as Napoleon was all kinds of entertainment.

[Dukefrukem]

Don't ask me why, but I just paid $4 to rent Battlefield Earth.

[MadMan]

Don't ask me why, but I just paid $4 to rent Battlefield Earth.Why? I imagine its good for laughs I guess.

[Irish]

Does anyone here subscribe to Mubi? Worth it?

[Dukefrukem]

Does anyone here subscribe to Mubi? Worth it?

No, I just removed them from my bookmark bar. Letterboxd and icheckmovies for me.

[Ezee E]

I got a free membership to Mubi when I worked at the AFI Fest. I watched maybe 3-4 movies on it. Meh.

[Melville]

Does anyone here subscribe to Mubi? Worth it?
Definitely worth it if you don't have another easy way to legally get your hands on non-English-language classics (and assuming you'd rather get things legally if possible). Sometimes a month or two can go by with nothing interesting popping up, but usually there are several movies available that I'm interested in seeing. However, if you have a good video store nearby, if you use Netflix the old-fashioned way (i.e., by mail), or if Netflix streaming in the US has a good selection of foreign films (it's worthless here in the UK), then there's probably no reason to sign up with Mubi.

[Wryan]

remastered Jurassic Park score on vinyl on sale at Mondo, super limited copies/time:

http://www.mondotees.com/Jurassic-Park-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack-Version-A_p_1545.html

this version is the only one left as of this writing.

(Got mine woot!)

[Dukefrukem]

Badass Super Cut


http://vimeo.com/96173712

[Spun Lepton]

Re-watched Kung-Fu Hustle last night. So silly. Love it.

[MadMan]

remastered Jurassic Park score on vinyl on sale at Mondo, super limited copies/time:

http://www.mondotees.com/Jurassic-Park-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack-Version-A_p_1545.html

this version is the only one left as of this writing.

(Got mine woot!)
I guess I'll just enjoy my CD copy until it dies.

[EyesWideOpen]

Re-watched Kung-Fu Hustle last night. So silly. Love it.

It sucks that the only version available on bluray is the edited one.

[Spun Lepton]

It sucks that the only version available on bluray is the edited one.

The wha ... ? What was edited?

[EyesWideOpen]

The wha ... ? What was edited?

The US theatrical version was edited and that was the version originally released on dvd and then re-released on bluray. The only unedited release in the US is the Ass Kicking Edition on dvd.

[Spun Lepton]

The US theatrical version was edited and that was the version originally released on dvd and then re-released on bluray. The only unedited release in the US is the Ass Kicking Edition on dvd.

I have a new item for my bucket list. Thanks EWO.

[Gittes]

It looks like September will be a great month for Criterion releases:


http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4289-f1f21af2ed145fd712d4bf20e34ab8 2e/198_BD_box_348x490_original.jp g
http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4287-b9e035ad1c459886abb50cf655aa84 72/728_BD_box_348x490_original.jp g
http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4285-79a26d316a4d445e6e9b3315b19a2e 74/727_BD_box_348x490_original.jp g
http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4283-132b463f30d655daad578e33c7ef3f 50/726_BD_box_348x490_original.jp g
http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/4281-f6c79a12cecf09d0149adb3ecf6f2b 5b/725_BD_box_348x490_original.jp g


Out of the titles listed, I've only seen Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. I'm especially interested in Macbeth, Eraserhead, and The Innocents (I love The Turn of the Screw, so I've been wanting to watch Clayton's film since I first heard about it).

[Ezee E]

I'm surprised Criterion acquired Eraserhead. I figured David Lynch was keeping it for himself since the only way to get that movie was to buy it off his website.

[Gittes]

I'm surprised Criterion acquired Eraserhead. I figured David Lynch was keeping it for himself since the only way to get that movie was to buy it off his website.

It's also been available to rent and purchase on iTunes (and, I'm assuming, Hulu) for several months now.

[MadMan]

I found Medium Cool on Criterion at my public library today.

Oh and that Polanski is a priority. As is The Innocents. I like Eraserhead but not as much as others do.

[Rowland]

I'd love to see an HD remaster of The Grandmother packaged along with Eraserhead. And oohh, The Innocents and Macbeth. :cool:

[Gittes]

I'd love to see an HD remaster of The Grandmother packaged along with Eraserhead.

It looks like you'll be getting that and more. See the third bullet point:




DIRECTOR-APPROVED EDITION:


New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
“Eraserhead” Stories, a 2001 documentary by David Lynch on the making of the film
New high-definition restorations of six short films by Lynch: Six Figures Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee, Part 1 and Part 2 (1974), andPremonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995), all with video introductions by Lynch
New and archival interviews with cast and crew
Trailer

[baby doll]

I'm surprised they're retaining the "Eraserhead" Stories documentary since it's wildly self-indulgent, uninformative, and goes on forever (it's longer than the movie being discussed). Clearly Lynch put it together himself without any editorial input from anyone else whatsoever.

[Mara]

I've been trying to watch my language recently, but seriously, fuck you, Disney. (http://www.avclub.com/article/yep-disney-giving-woods-sanitized-disney-treatment-205973)

/goes off to sulk

[Winston*]

How Many Of These Noir Films Have You Seen? (http://www.clickhole.com/quiz/how-many-these-noir-films-have-you-seen-331)

[Dukefrukem]

How Many Of These Noir Films Have You Seen? (http://www.clickhole.com/quiz/how-many-these-noir-films-have-you-seen-331)

Zero.

[Winston*]

Zero.

You haven't seen Woman Road??

[Qrazy]

What a cinema noob.

[Neclord]

Two Dames, A Devil, And Five Murders is my favorite Jacks Turner film.

[Mysterious Dude]

I've been trying to watch my language recently, but seriously, fuck you, Disney. (http://www.avclub.com/article/yep-disney-giving-woods-sanitized-disney-treatment-205973)

/goes off to sulkI've been thinking about this lately. Into the Woods is a great play, but in many ways, it's very theatrical and decidedly uncinematic. For example, one song -- "Giants in the Sky" -- is a perfectly good song on stage, but I think it would be awkward in a movie for Jack to just stand there by himself and sing the song, and I don't think it would be any better to show flashbacks of the story he's telling, since it goes so fast. To make it work on film would require some creativity and not necessarily faithfulness to the source material.

[MadMan]

Zero.Never even heard of any of those film noirs.

[Dukefrukem]

You haven't seen Woman Road??

No but I've seen all 5 Resident Evil movies.

[Mara]

I've been thinking about this lately. Into the Woods is a great play, but in many ways, it's very theatrical and decidedly uncinematic. For example, one song -- "Giants in the Sky" -- is a perfectly good song on stage, but I think it would be awkward in a movie for Jack to just stand there by himself and sing the song, and I don't think it would be any better to show flashbacks of the story he's telling, since it goes so fast. To make it work on film would require some creativity and not necessarily faithfulness to the source material.

I completely understanding modifying the theatrical elements to be more cinematic (the narrator, for instance, and his interactions with the plot would be tricky to translate to screen) but what I'm seeing in the changes their making is sanitizing the plot to make a toothless, happier story. It looks like it's going to be "Once Upon a Time-- The Musical!" which is just a travesty.

What makes Into the Woods such a brilliant, challenging experience is that it is deeply critical of the stories we tell children. It is a story with two endings: the happier, easier one halfway through, and the bloodier, more complex one by the end. It is a show that deliberately tells us to beware a happy ending, because that is likely not the true ending.

I would argue that the thematic climax of the show is the song "Children Will Listen" which bludgeons home, again and again, how destructive it is to only give easy answers. The modifications they are discussing to the plot completely change that message, and it pisses me off. It sounds like they are taking a story that is supposed to be about how adults interact with children, and making it a children's story. It's infuriating.

Also, Rob Marshall is a crappy director.

[EvilShoe]

How Many Of These Noir Films Have You Seen? (http://www.clickhole.com/quiz/how-many-these-noir-films-have-you-seen-331)
Since when are Murder Doll and Shadows of People considered to be film noirs?

[Dukefrukem]

Hahahaha.

[Yxklyx]

Last Night was very good. Netflix recently added it to their DVD section - is this on Instant?

[dreamdead]

Watched the 1936 film Things to Come, an adaptation of H.G. Wells's sci fi story. Throughout the special effects are wonderfully clear and precise and there are several spots where I just marveled at the sophistication that developed between Metropolis and this one. The story is fairly standard science vs. warmongering, as it anticipates WW2 but as it keeps propelling itself into the future, the film interestingly begins suggesting that an appeal to science must contain within it the extremism of war just as stridently. It's a fascinating shift, becoming something other than the duality that it initially ministers to. It's likely more interesting for the special effects than a prediction of the future, but I was pleasantly surprised.

[Spinal]

I've been trying to watch my language recently, but seriously, fuck you, Disney. (http://www.avclub.com/article/yep-disney-giving-woods-sanitized-disney-treatment-205973)

/goes off to sulk

How did this end up in Disney's hands to begin with? They are the primary target of the original musical's critique. It's maddening.

[dreamdead]

Anyone seen films from this list (http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-essential-lgbtq) and able to recommend some lesser known LGBTQ films for more than their political import?

Already seen Happy Together, Brokeback, The Kids are All Right, Bound, Boys Don't Cry, and Frida...

[baby doll]

Anyone seen films from this list (http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-essential-lgbtq) and able to recommend some lesser known LGBTQ films for more than their political import?

Already seen Happy Together, Brokeback, The Kids are All Right, Bound, Boys Don't Cry, and Frida...I haven't seen The Birdcage but I did recently see La Cage aux folles, which was enjoyable (especially the campy gay houseboy). Poison is also good but nowhere near as great as Safe, Far From Heaven, and I'm Not There.

Incidentally, I've never really understood all the fuss about Brokeback Mountain, which isn't a significantly better movie than, say, The Bridges of Madison County. Also, Happy Together is minor Wong; I liked Boys Don't Cry when I saw it but have no desire to watch it again; The Hours is forgettable, undistinguished Oscar-bait; and The Kids Are All Right is just a terrible movie and liberals need to stop giving it a pass because it makes them feel broadminded to praise just a blandly PC movie.

In short, like all other lists of the best/essential/most important gay movies, this one makes the idiotic mistake of placing political correctness above form and style (which is presumably why the author makes no mention of the hilariously un-PC I Love You, Phillip Morris). And no Mulholland Dr.--what's up with that?

[Winston*]

Anyone seen films from this list (http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-essential-lgbtq) and able to recommend some lesser known LGBTQ films for more than their political import?

Already seen Happy Together, Brokeback, The Kids are All Right, Bound, Boys Don't Cry, and Frida...
My Beautiful Laundrette is great.

[Irish]

My Beautiful Laundrette is great.

Seconded. Also add High Art

[Qrazy]

Incidentally, I've never really understood all the fuss about Brokeback Mountain, which isn't a significantly better movie than, say, The Bridges of Madison County.

No.


Also, Happy Together is minor Wong.

No.

[Russ]

Anyone seen films from this list (http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-essential-lgbtq) and able to recommend some lesser known LGBTQ films for more than their political import?

Already seen Happy Together, Brokeback, The Kids are All Right, Bound, Boys Don't Cry, and Frida...

From that list, I think your best bets are Parting Glances and Friedkin's Boys in the Band. For international fare, check out the West African film, Dakan.

[Mysterious Dude]

Is Kenneth Branagh considered a good director? I never really liked Henry V, but I assumed it was because I didn't really like the play. But I just watched Frankenstein and it was awful. Turn the fucking music down.

[Irish]

And speaking of teh gay, really looking forward to this --


http://youtu.be/blu_6d-KdDk

Two of my favorite actors.

[Milky Joe]

Garage sale VHS wonderfuls:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqszoFYCEAEy5L6.jpg

The Euro cover for Megaville has the following tagline: "A World of Megadeals, Megabucks, and Meglomania." Heck yeah.

[MadMan]

I just finished Felicia's Journey. I'm not sure how to feel about it overall, especially with how it ended. Still Bob Hoskins was fantastic (as usual) and the movie has some elements of Psycho and Peeping Tom. Simple complexity shouldn't be possible, right? Yet I think it fits here.

[Irish]

The Euro cover for Megaville has the following tagline: "A World of Megadeals, Megabucks, and Meglomania." Heck yeah.

With Daniel J Travanti! :lol:

Great finds.

[dreamdead]

From that list, I think your best bets are Parting Glances and Friedkin's Boys in the Band. For international fare, check out the West African film, Dakan.

Watched Parting Glances off Netflix, which was wonderful. Nuanced and focused on character, tracking divergences of trust and emotion and love within the mid-'80s NY gay community. The film admirably tries to encompass more than the white, middle-class representation of gay life, but while that doesn't always receive the most depth, the distinction that writer/director Bill Sherwood gives to the different generations, charting the innocence of the 1970s but also the ways in which the college generation of the 1980s looks at coming out so differently and matter-of-factly. So frustrating to learn that Sherwood wasn't able to see any other project to fruition before dying of AIDs...

Read a review linking themes of this one with Araki's The Living End, so that one will happen in the next few months.

[Stay Puft]

Anyone seen films from this list (http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-essential-lgbtq) and able to recommend some lesser known LGBTQ films for more than their political import?

Already seen Happy Together, Brokeback, The Kids are All Right, Bound, Boys Don't Cry, and Frida...

From the "Another 25" list I've seen Transamerica and Keep the Lights On. The former is a formulaic road trip movie and not terribly interesting (pretty much exactly the kind of film baby doll was describing) but I really enjoyed Keep the Lights On. Ira Sachs has a new movie coming out, which Irish just posted the trailer for, so I figure I should at least mention Keep the Lights On and recommend it if you haven't seen it.

[monolith94]

Is Kenneth Branagh considered a good director? I never really liked Henry V, but I assumed it was because I didn't really like the play. But I just watched Frankenstein and it was awful. Turn the fucking music down.

I quite liked his adaptations of Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing.

[Gittes]

Is anyone planning on watching Jaws this weekend?

[Dukefrukem]

Is anyone planning on watching Jaws this weekend?

Next weekend.

[Spun Lepton]

Oh, Jackie ...

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

[Dukefrukem]

Is that from Supercop? That's one of my favorite Jackie Chan movies.

[Spun Lepton]

I stumbled across the GIF on Reddit, I'm not sure. It does make me want to watch one of his films again. Haven't seen Project A in forever.

[Dukefrukem]

I just watched A2 the other day. It's not that good, except for the unnecessary hot pepper scene.

[Gittes]

Next weekend.

That's what I should have typed.

[Irish]

Janus is re-releasing A Hard Day's Night into theaters across the US this weekend:

http://janusfilms.com/harddaysnight/index.html

If you've never seen this on the big screen, you owe it to yourself. It's a helluva great experience.

[Raiders]

God... I have like thirty films watched since I last was here. I want to comment on them and no idea where to begin.... it's too much. I'mma leave again.

[BuffaloWilder]

So, I decided to get back into the swing of things and hit the ground running. Right now, I have two long-in-the-works behind-the-scenes articles that I'm still gathering material for, one dealing with Steven Soderbergh's CHE and its gradual transformation from being a Terrence Malick film for so many years into what it eventually became, and what remained of it in Soderbergh's film (more than you would think) - I'm actually going to try to talk to Malick for it at some point, since we're living in the same town. The other is for Happy Feet (of course), because it's pretty familiar territory for me, dealing with its inception, the development of its narrative, tone and naturalist aesthetic (and the drama at Animal Logic that resulted), and the various things that were cut from the film. I've been interviewing concept artists, production designers and collecting material for the past two months, and still going. I really want to talk to Warren Coleman at some point, or even Miller, but that's farther off. I've basically seen the alternate ending that everyone's been talking about, but I don't really know what the copyright legality is of releasing those images online are, ten years later, yet. So.

I'm also in the beginning stages of co-writing and producing a Cronenbergian body-horror film with my brother and a few others, and I'm just at the beginning of researching investment and funding options, since it looks like it actually will cost a little more than the shoe-string budget that we had planned for it, initially. This is going to be fuuuuuun.

So, that's where I'm at.

[BuffaloWilder]

Also, Under The Skin might be one of the most visually beautiful films I've seen recently, but there's just so much distance placed between the audience and any meaningful emotional register that it comes off as just a purely intellectual exercise. Which is fine I guess, but it's not my thing. I admire it more than like it, and it'll probably be while before I watch it again.

[dreamdead]

God... I have like thirty films watched since I last was here. I want to comment on them and no idea where to begin.... it's too much. I'mma leave again.

What were the 5 best films of that set?

[Irish]

God... I have like thirty films watched since I last was here. I want to comment on them and no idea where to begin.... it's too much. I'mma leave again.

I thought of you the other day. Not for very long, but I thought of you ;)

It's good to see you back.

[MadMan]

Get back here Raiders :P

[MadMan]

Also lately I've been using Netflix to either revisit old favorites or find new films to champion. Over the last couple of weeks I enjoyed Night of The Creeps again (they have the special edition ending), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Top Secret (both way better than I remember). Also this week I really enjoyed Johnny Mnemonic for the first time and reminded myself why I dig The Last Action Hero. Not sure what I'll watch tonight.

[Irish]

Armond White is now writing for the National Review. I mean, on one hand that kinda sorta makes sense. On the other, WTF?!

[MadMan]

That just means he trolls the Internet on the weekends.

[Dukefrukem]

This is the same guy who did the Edgar Wright "How to do successful comedy" video...

Great stuff.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2THVvshvq0Q

[Spun Lepton]

So, I put The Adventures of Baron Munchausen on Netflix last night while I was cleaning. When I finished cleaning, I decided to finish the movie. I was considerably disappointed, since my memories held the film is very high regard.

In fact, I had several complaints this time around.

Overall, the story seems like a group of disjointed and barely related scenes. Munchausen's success relies completely on his servants and his luck. He himself rarely has any affect on the course of events and he mostly fucks this up, (e.g., climbing down from the moon, enraging Vulcan and getting thrown out of the volcano). Robin Williams needed to be reeled in. When I was younger and Williams was one of my idols, he could do no wrong. In this, Williams is being as self-indulgent as Gilliam and it's overbearing.

Gilliam was also one of my idols at the time, so I missed the whole self-indulgent aspect of it. I know Gilliam went way overbudget on it and it definitely shows. But, it seems misplaced, now. He cannibalizes himself. There are moments so reminiscent of Time Bandits that I started to get a little sad near the end. Some of the comedy lands with a wet thud. And for all its self-important grandeur about the endearing spirit of the imagination, the theme never full coalesces. Instead, the ending fizzles so badly it's almost like a middle-finger to the audience.

So, my rating dropped from 8/10 to 6/10. There are still things to like about it. All of the scenes with the servants using their superpowers are fun. I still think Berthold's introduction is the most inspired part of the movie.

[Grouchy]

Overall, the story seems like a group of disjointed and barely related scenes. Munchausen's success relies completely on his servants and his luck. He himself rarely has any affect on the course of events and he mostly fucks this up, (e.g., climbing down from the moon, enraging Vulcan and getting thrown out of the volcano).
Eh, that's just a faithful translation of the book.

[MadMan]

I actually prefer Adventures over Time Bandits, although its very slightly. I really think both are quite really good, maybe even near great, but they suffer from length problems and a dependence on a level of silliness that is a bit too hard to maintain in a properly good way, if that makes any sense.

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas is superior to both, and of course Brazil is arguably his masterpiece. I still need to see more from him, mainly all of 12 Monkeys (I've only seen a small chunk of it on TV), the rest of his Monty Python stuff and Jabberwocky. I loved Monty Python and the Holy Grail but I don't know if you can count him as a director of that movie-more like a co-director of sorts.

PS: The Fisher King is really a great, wonderful film with a surprisingly low key performance from Williams and a usually excellent Jeff Bridges turn.

[MadMan]

The other night I viewed Heavy Metal (1981). The teenager in me loved it, the adult liked it a bit despite having some reservations, and I just combined my rating from the two just because why not? "Den" and "B-17" are really great segments and the last episode was pretty epic. I like how it does a fairly quality job of combining fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and film noir. And that soundtrack is awesome. Fucking awesome. "Loc Nor" would be a great name for a band if it hasn't been used as a band name already.

[Irish]

Gilliam was also one of my idols at the time, so I missed the whole self-indulgent aspect of it. I know Gilliam went way overbudget on it and it definitely shows. But, it seems misplaced, now. He cannibalizes himself. There are moments so reminiscent of Time Bandits that I started to get a little sad near the end.

This is, I think, Gilliam's biggest weakness. Great ideas. Great images. Great humor. But he's too quick to repeat himself. There are visual motifs and themes in Fisher King that are straight out of Brazil, for instance. He stole more stuff from Brazil for 12 Monkeys.

Have you seen the trailer for his latest? It looks awful. Too self consciously a Terry Gilliam's Greatest Hits album.

[Spun Lepton]

Eh, that's just a faithful translation of the book.

I ... had no idea. This further complicates my opinion on the film.

[Spun Lepton]

Have you seen the trailer for his latest? It looks awful. Too self consciously a Terry Gilliam's Greatest Hits album.

I haven't seen it, but I will. I'm sure I'll watch the movie, eventually.

[Mysterious Dude]

I rewatched Dr. Strangelove. One scene kind of stuck out to me. In most films, a scene that show a conversation between two people would just cut back and forth between over-the-shoulder shots. There's a standard way to do most kinds of scenes, of course. Lately, I've been interested in films that do things a little differently. This scene between Captain Mandrake and General Ripper opens with a long shot (three minutes) on Mandrake, as he explains to Ripper that there is no Russian attack in progress and slowly realizes that Ripper has ordered an attack against Russia without provocation.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--xbJ85imp--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_63 6/18expyawgrk37jpg.jpg

It's only after he realizes that no one can recall the planes except Ripper that the scene finally cuts to Ripper, and it's a very different kind of shot:

http://www.dodaj.rs/f/2B/UV/3izq83xX/sterling-hayden.jpg

Even though he's sitting down and is physically on a lower plane than Mandrake, the camera looks up at him. It's a way to show that this is the man who is in control right now. It may not be a huge thing, but it's a striking moment, and I think it shows a real filmmaker who knows what he's doing. The scene would not be nearly as effective if it was filmed in the usual back-and-forth way.

On a different note, I noticed the long table with food that appears in the war room a few times (first when the Russian ambassador joins them). I'm aware that the film was supposed to end with a food fight, but the scene got cut. Still, the table with food is there, and it's almost like Chekhov's gun. It teases you by suggesting that something is going to happen with it, but it never pays off.

[Irish]

Psst ---> http://imgur.com

Hot linking sucks. (Mitty, all your images are broken, denied by the host)

[Gittes]

Ah, thanks for letting me know, Irish. Sorry. I can definitely appreciate the distaste for hot linking, but it didn't cross my mind when I created that post. To add insult to injury, I also neglected to explicitly credit the source (http://www.cinemasquid.com/screenshots/sets/war-of-the-worlds/c946e3c0-dbf9-470a-a989-f6bafc0a2ef2) (a great resource for Bluray screen shots). For some reason, when I edited the post and replaced the image links with my own, they were significantly cropped at the edge of the previewed post. I think this has happened before, and I'm not sure why, as I'm linking to the exact same images. I could only get them to appear uncropped by creating a new post. Anyway, the original post, sans the egregious hot linked images, is below:

There is something about the distinctly burnished, grainy, bloom-intensive photography of War of the Worlds that I find very appealing.

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I've always been so enamoured with this film. It's yet another testament to Spielberg's immense virtuosity, as well as a trove of haunting, indelible images (see spoiler section, below). I recently picked up a collection of Geoffrey O'Brien's film criticism (Stolen Glimpses) and I absolutely love some of his comments on the movie. The following excerpt is especially wonderful and is an exemplary piece of criticism: remarkably sensitive to the significance and pleasures of the film, beautifully conveyed, etc.



"The aura of virtual historical reality that Spielberg laboured to create for the ghetto takeover in Schindler's List or the Omaha Beach landing in Saving Private Ryan or the slave ship scenes in Amistad is here imparted to an invasion that might as well be historical: the devastation of twenty-first-century New Jersey by illustrations from a Victorian scientific romance. These almost fussily perfect vistas, like the moment when the alien machines are seen from a distance standing knee-deep in the Hudson to feed on their human prey, bring to mind a peculiar kind of history painting: Landscape with tripods, perhaps, an exercise in the Spielbergian sublime, where what devastates us does, from a certain angle, possess an undeniable abstract beauty. These spacious setups have a gaudy splendour far removed from the cramped dullness of the ordinary world on which the aliens intruded"

His piece on War of the Worlds is also the first time I've seen someone thoughtfully consider Dakota Fanning's character and her valuable role in the whole experience. Having said that, I haven't substantially pored over all the criticism on this movie, and I haven't looked at anything recently outside of O'Brien's piece. So, I'm primarily comparing his work to the numerous message board reactions I've observed over the years. After reading countless variations on the same tired complaint about Fanning's screaming, O'Brien's thoughtful consideration of her contributions was so refreshing.

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[Dukefrukem]

I love the build in War of the Worlds and I agree with everything you posted ther Mitty. The deus ex machina ending is what absolutely loath. I don't care if he was true to the source material.

[Yxklyx]

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) ****

Yep, very unique film that I need to watch again.

Saw Goulding's The Razor's Edge from '46. If you liked Nightmare Alley (same director next year) you should like this one. A very odd film considering when it was made. Love seeing Elsa Lanchester in anything even if it's just for 60 seconds.

[Mysterious Dude]

A comprehensive list of American independent films I've seen that feature bits of public domain cartoons:

Snow Angels (2007)
Ballast (2008)
Daddy Longlegs (2009)
Short Term 12 (2013)

[Gittes]

I love the build in War of the Worlds and I agree with everything you posted ther Mitty. The deus ex machina ending is what absolutely loath. I don't care if he was true to the source material.

I actually don't mind the ending. It doesn't really feel like an off-putting deus ex machina, or something especially unmotivated, lazy, or easy. It feels inevitable and right. After all, the aliens are set up as this colossal, implacable threat. Their downfall couldn't be brought about through human obstinance and ingenuity. While Ogilvy tells Ray that the Japanese have apparently taken down a few tripods (suspect information, given the source, but it's certainly possible, especially given Ray's near-kamikaze gambit later), it's still clear that the humans are woefully outmatched. As Ogilvy dramatically insists, "this is not a war any more than there's a war between men and maggots."

The only plausible way to bring about the defeat of these aliens is through their own error. In this case, that error is their lack of foresight regarding Earth's inhospitality, and their failure to appreciate the biological evolution and endurance of humankind, which has succoured present-day humans from the bacteria that fortuitously destroys the aliens.

I also like the way that this natural spurning of the alien menace is foreshadowed in the first act of the film, when Rachel tells her dad that her body will eventually push the splinter out of her hand.

Although, with regards to the source material, O'Brien brings up an interesting point in his piece. I haven't read Wells' book since the movie came out in 2005 and I didn't remember this, but, apparently, he specifically indicates the possibility of a Martian reprisal and foregrounds the idea that humankind's decimation may have only been deferred. Following this, O'Brien contends that Spielberg's ending fails to convey the fact that, in actuality, the humans have lost. They have only been granted a "reprieve," as Wells put it.