28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[MadMan]

I haven't seen The Professionals, but the director's cut of this is an early example of Peckinpah's mastery as a director and specially at getting incredible performances out of his actors. Of course, it's a classic Hollywood film compared to the movies with crazy editing and excessive violence that made him famous.

Also, for someone recently asking about Charlton Heston's good movies, this is one of them, and one of his better performances, too, considering he wasn't that good of an actor.Yey! Someone who saw the film! I think you would dig The Professionals.

As for "Dundee" I agree that it really was Peckinpath's more traditional styel of film making, although I think it did contain some of the harsh violence and raw style that appeared in his later films. So far I've only seen two of his films: one (The Wild Bunch) that is a masterpiece, the other (Major Dundee) that is great.

Oh yeah Heston is excellent in the film, although I think Richard Harris gives the more deeper, satisifying performance. I think that Heston's real strength lay in the fact that he had the charisma to do different roles. I may be the only one around here that thinks he's a good actor.

[Mysterious Dude]

Man, I thought Major Dundee was an extremely uninteresting film.

[MadMan]

Man, I thought Major Dundee was an extremely uninteresting film.Huh. Perhaps it bolls down to whether or not you love the western. I do. *Shrug*

Good to see I'm not the only who found the 1931 version of Dracula to be less than steller. A friend of mine who's into cinema as much as I am couldn't believe I didn't like the film. He cited its place in cinema and all that jazz. I told him I didn't give a shit about that, and that all of it was really moot considering that it was a medicore film elevated by a good Bela Lugosi performance. Although I'm not sure his entire argument was about is place in film history....regardless I disagreed. Most of the time we have similar thoughts however.

[Qrazy]

I try to limit my criticism of effects to instances where the film itself is bad. For example, I thought the cgi baby in Children of Men was kind of shoddy, but the film itself was a stand-out. It was easy to overlook. Bad effects in a mediocre or poor film however... of course I'm going to mention the gravy on the crap sandwich!

Ehh... that was a great sfx.

[megladon8]

I agree with monolith.

Both times I saw Children of Men I thought the baby effect was pretty bad.

[Qrazy]

I agree with monolith.

Both times I saw Children of Men I thought the baby effect was pretty bad.

They do have it move around a bit more than necessary and stretch it's arms out farther than newborns usually do, committing that cardinal sense of drawing attention to the effect itself rather than having the effect just play out naturally (although in only showing it briefly they are circumventing that sin on a larger scale). The skin rendering and skin is fantastic though.

[origami_mustache]

I just saw that they are planning a remake of Short Circuit. All of this Hollywood 80s revival stuff is making me feel old.

[Derek]

Man, I thought Major Dundee was an extremely uninteresting film.

Indeed. I love westerns, even saw it in the theater and still thought it was a slog. *shrug*

[Sven]

I thought the windshield shattering during the inside-the-car thing was also pretty jarring. Not nearly as bad, though, as the shot in The Bourne Ultimatum where he jumps through the window.

[dreamdead]

Finally got to Old Joy after weeks of regret for skipping it since its '05/'06 release. This is a film far more concerned with the interiority of its characters, and it thus only offers us fleeting glimpses into their psyches. At times its slightness feels a touch too overdetermined, though it largely avoids critique. It's really best as a pensive study of the chasms that grow between friends of different "communities," as it successfully charts the differences that are becoming more pronounced. I love the bit with the cell phone in the diner. So it's not quite the masterpiece I had hoped it would be, but it's generally solid and worthwhile. Nice minimalistic score by Yo La Tengo as well...

[Ezee E]

No problems with any CGI in CoM.

Ladder 49 is pretty silly. It's basically a 2-hour movie that raves about the courage of firefighters, never showing firefighters making mistakes or going through a burnout stage. It's a very positive movie, which is nice, but it all felt like a really long montage.

[EvilShoe]

No problems with any CGI in CoM.

Ladder 49 is pretty silly. It's basically a 2-hour movie that raves about the courage of firefighters, never showing firefighters making mistakes or going through a burnout stage. It's a very positive movie, which is nice, but it all felt like a really long montage.
Best to stick with Rescue Me.

[Mysterious Dude]

Good to see I'm not the only who found the 1931 version of Dracula to be less than steller. A friend of mine who's into cinema as much as I am couldn't believe I didn't like the film. He cited its place in cinema and all that jazz. I told him I didn't give a shit about that, and that all of it was really moot considering that it was a medicore film elevated by a good Bela Lugosi performance. Although I'm not sure his entire argument was about is place in film history....regardless I disagreed. Most of the time we have similar thoughts however.
I actually like the Bela Lugosi version, though it's been a while since I've seen it. The one in my signature is actually the Spanish-language version that was released at the same time. It used all the same sets, but was about a half hour longer, and most of that extra half hour was just talk, talk, talk.

[Rowland]

Not nearly as bad, though, as the shot in The Bourne Ultimatum where he jumps through the window.That wasn't special effects though, all practical.

[number8]

Ladder 49 is pretty silly. It's basically a 2-hour movie that raves about the courage of firefighters, never showing firefighters making mistakes or going through a burnout stage. It's a very positive movie, which is nice, but it all felt like a really long montage.

I fucking hated that movie, and I paid to see it in theaters too.

Rah rah rah firefighters are fantastic heroes and wonderful human beings oops we die SURPRISE wah wah wah cry for us.

[Ezee E]

I fucking hated that movie, and I paid to see it in theaters too.

Rah rah rah firefighters are fantastic heroes and wonderful human beings oops we die SURPRISE wah wah wah cry for us.
exactly.

The only thing I can say that's positive about the movie is the excitement/nervousness that Joaquin Phoenix has in his first few days as a rookie. I can recall similar feelings, and most likely, the mannerisms he has.

But the movie is awful.

I'm betting Rescue Me is the only good one so far.

[Ezee E]

Best to stick with Rescue Me.
ha

[Qrazy]

I don't think there's been a good firefighting movie yet... I watched the first 10 minutes of Backdraft on TV once and it seemed bland as hell... it's a genre ripe for a Cassavetes-esque, low budget, gritty approach to come in and show Hollywood how it's done.

[D_Davis]

Johnny To's Lifeline is pretty cool.

[SirNewt]

No problems with any CGI in CoM.

Ladder 49 is pretty silly. It's basically a 2-hour movie that raves about the courage of firefighters, never showing firefighters making mistakes or going through a burnout stage. It's a very positive movie, which is nice, but it all felt like a really long montage.

I found the music that plays when Pheonix is at his first fire distracting. It was the kind of music you'd here on a public access fishing show. In fact, I found the entire film pretty trite and abomidable except for one scene in which

Travolta steps from behind his desk without any pants. It mad me chuckle.

[DavidSeven]

I don't think there's been a good firefighting movie yet... I watched the first 10 minutes of Backdraft on TV once and it seemed bland as hell... it's a genre ripe for a Cassavetes-esque, low budget, gritty approach to come in and show Hollywood how it's done.

Backdraft is terrible. Worst montage sequence ever.

[trotchky]

Despite its laid-back script, “Smiley Face” is as prankishly political as Mr. Araki’s “Doom Generation,” evincing a deep unease with the media-saturated capitalist nation that Jane crawls inside her bong to escape.

The film depicts Jane’s habit as pathetic even as it plays for laughs. At the same time, though “Smiley Face” suggests that the “straight” characters Jane encounters — the casting director (Jane Lynch); a bullying beat cop (Michael Shamus Wiles); a college professor’s wife (Marion Ross) from whom Jane steals an original copy of Marx and Engels’s “Communist Manifesto”; a couple of amiably clueless meat delivery men (Danny Trejo and John Cho); the humorless Brevin (John Krasinski of NBC’s “Office”), who likes getting his teeth cleaned because it makes him feel “prosperous” — are in thrall to an even more powerful drug: the myth of the American dream.

At one point Jane, who has somehow ended up at the meat-packing plant that employs the delivery men, deflects a supervisor’s ire by claiming to be a union organizer, then fantasizes launching into a Marxist soliloquy about industrial oppression of labor. Mr. Araki intercuts Jane’s rant with unsettling close-ups of meat being sliced, ground and liquefied.

The film’s title is drawn from a scene in which Jane envisions the sun as a smiley face. The implication is subtle but clear: Americans fancy themselves free-willed strivers who live in the best of all possible worlds, but they’re really sentient vegetables, rooted in comfort and nourished by manufactured images of bliss. Jane’s apathy-as-rebellion recalls a quotation from Stella Adler: “A junkie is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.”

That sounds awesome. I really wish the movie I saw resembled that description.

[Qrazy]

Johnny To's Lifeline is pretty cool.

Yeah, I've heard it's mostly mediocre but one sequence really stands out as excellent... yes, no?

[D_Davis]

Yeah, I've heard it's mostly mediocre but one sequence really stands out as excellent... yes, no?

Yeah, about. It's not super great or anything, but its a fun watch.

[Stay Puft]

I actually like the Bela Lugosi version, though it's been a while since I've seen it. The one in my signature is actually the Spanish-language version that was released at the same time. It used all the same sets, but was about a half hour longer, and most of that extra half hour was just talk, talk, talk.

Yeah, the Spanish version is pretty weak.

I like the Lugosi version, too. I also watched it with the new Philip Glass score, which was excellent.

[megladon8]

There is actually a significant number of people who insist the Spanish version is better.

[MadMan]

I actually like the Bela Lugosi version, though it's been a while since I've seen it. The one in my signature is actually the Spanish-language version that was released at the same time. It used all the same sets, but was about a half hour longer, and most of that extra half hour was just talk, talk, talk.For the record I still gave the Lugosi version a 70 and I felt that was sort of generous. I had no idea there was a Spanish language version of the film.

Eh I thought Ladder 49 was decent for what it was. I hardly remember the film however so that probably attests to something.

[Stay Puft]

There is actually a significant number of people who insist the Spanish version is better.

I know. They're crazy.

[Raiders]

I think both versions are pretty lame.

[Ezee E]

Gremlins 2 has been on Starz a lot lately.

And I keep watching it.

A bit annoying at times is the only thing keeping it from being a great movie actually.

[Sven]

That wasn't special effects though, all practical.

Get out! The glass shattering? It looked so fake! Maybe it was a shutter speed thing or something. Hmmm...

[Yxklyx]

There is actually a significant number of people who insist the Spanish version is better.

The Spanish version does do some things better but overall it's worse.

[megladon8]

I haven't watched the Spanish version yet.

I was pretty disappointed with the English one.

Not that it's bad, but it has porbably aged the worst of all the Univeral monster flicks.

[Rowland]

The Apatow team gets a lot of shit for their aesthetic (or lack thereof), but after watching Superbad again, I really like the look and feel Mottola bring to the movie. And I love seeing a mainstream comedy embraced by so many people that is so unabashedly cock-centric.

[trotchky]

And I love seeing a mainstream comedy embraced by so many people that is so unabashedly cock-centric.

Aren't they all?

Or is "unabashedly" the operative word?

Actually, speaking of Smiley Face, it's the only recent mainstream comedy I can think of that isn't completely cock-centric.

[Qrazy]

The Apatow team gets a lot of shit for their aesthetic (or lack thereof), but after watching Superbad again, I really like the look and feel Mottola bring to the movie. And I love seeing a mainstream comedy embraced by so many people that is so unabashedly cock-centric.

Ehh... nah all their films are pretty god damn aesthetically incompetent. A penchant for solid comic timing and semi-original laughs (not in content but in style/execution) saves their work from the trash can.

[origami_mustache]

The continuity in Superbad is more abhorrent than the cock humor.

[Watashi]

I think Talladega Nights is one of the best looking comedies of the last decade. I'm not one to be fawned so easily over pretty pictures, but the cinematography in that film was quite stunning.

[Rowland]

The continuity in Superbad is more abhorrent than the cock humor.Continuity? *waves hand dismissively*

[Qrazy]

I think Talladega Nights is one of the best looking comedies of the last decade. I'm not one to be fawned so easily over pretty pictures, but the cinematography in that film was quite stunning.

Jesus.

[origami_mustache]

I think Talladega Nights is one of the best looking comedies of the last decade. I'm not one to be fawned so easily over pretty pictures, but the cinematography in that film was quite stunning.

nah...300

[Watashi]

Jesus.
I'd say Jesus is more dramedy/tragedy than full-out comedy.

[Mysterious Dude]

For good-looking comedies, I'll go with Shaun of the Dead.

[MadMan]

The last thing I think about when I'm watching a comedy is how good looking the damn film is. I'd rather watch an ugly looking comedy that's funny than an non-funny, well shot and pretty looking comedy.

[MacGuffin]

The last thing I think about when I'm watching a comedy is how good looking the damn film is. I'd rather watch an ugly looking comedy that's funny than an non-funny, well shot and pretty looking comedy.

But then you get something like Playtime or Rushmore that gives you the whole package, and you truly can see the difference between a comedy like that and a comedy like The 40 Year Old Virgin.

[MadMan]

But then you get something like Playtime or Rushmore that gives you the whole package, and you truly can see the difference between a comedy like that and a comedy like The 40 Year Old Virgin.Yeah, you are right (and even Dr. Strangelove, which features some of the greatest set design ever, mostly in the War Room, also qualifies). I may love a comedy like The 40 Year Old Virgin more, but in the end I'll praise a comedy like Rushmore and think higher of it. Plus that's the one I'll more likely buy as well.

[MacGuffin]

Yeah, you are right (and even Dr. Strangelove, which features some of the greatest set design ever, mostly in the War Room, also qualifies). I may love a comedy like The 40 Year Old Virgin more, but in the end I'll praise a comedy like Rushmore and think higher of it. Plus that's the one I'll more likely buy as well.

I... can't comment on Dr. Strangelove. :confused:

[Melville]

I... can't comment on Dr. Strangelove. :confused:
For fear of being lynched, or because you haven't seen it?

[MacGuffin]

For fear of being lynched, or because you haven't seen it?

I haven't seen it yet.

[trotchky]

I haven't seen it yet.

Me neither. No interest.

[Eleven]

David Bordwell had a good blog post last September on how shots and framings can be funny in themselves (http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=761), using Playtime and Shaun of the Dead, among others, as examples. Strangelove is shot pretty straightfacedly, I think, which makes the insanity and absurdity come out even more.

[megladon8]

Dr. Strangelove is a film I've never been able to love. Strange.

While I do agree with MadMan on the whole - in a comedy, the funny factor matters much more than the "oh, look how beautiful shot that is" factor - there are many comedies that nail both and are all the better for it.

[Rowland]

A shot doesn't have to be beautiful to be funny in the formal sense.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I love Strangelove, it's one of the few films I saw when I FIRST got into films that I still truly adore.

Good looking comedies? Not essential, but I do think that many feel a comedy only has to be funny to succeed, or be worth noting. I thought Lubitsch's films looked pretty damn good, his use of editing notably makes the picture look and feel extra special. Catch-22 is among the best looking films I've ever seen, I think it's hella funny too. Mmm... movies with laughter.

[dreamdead]

Weekend:

The Naked Kiss (since Netflix finally sent me the flick)
Samurai Cop (first viewing, with friends accompanying my presumed pain)

[number8]

Dr. Strangelove is a film I've never been able to love. Strange.

Arghh. COME ON!

[megladon8]

Arghh. COME ON!


Is your anger directed towards my terrible pun, or the fact that I don't like the movie?

[number8]

Is your anger directed towards my terrible pun, or the fact that I don't like the movie?

You need to ask? BOTH.

[megladon8]

You need to ask? BOTH.


I'd probably say it's my number 8 least favorite of all time.

:rolleyes:

[MacGuffin]

Eh, personally I think a movie needs to be well filmed, well edited, etc. otherwise that sort of defeats the purpose of a movie, whether it's a comedy or not.

[MadMan]

:lol: you two. Match-Cut spats are always entertaining.

Weekend:

Maybe I'll finally get to The Bourne Ultimatum. Or not. I really donno honestly. This weekend could either be very interesting or very boring, but either way I'm not going to be watching too many films.

[Philosophe_rouge]

WEEKEND!

I feel bad, I've missed at least one week of weekend postings. I like doing it. Strange satisfaction

Captain Blood
The Long Goodbye (rewatcch)
Ballad of a Soldier
The Age of Innocence
Leatherheads

[Spinal]

Playtime was well-shot and not very funny.

The 40 Year Old Virgin was adequately shot and consistently funny.

I liked the funny one better.

[Spinal]

Weekend: Stardust

[Boner M]

Playtime was well-shot and not very funny.

The 40 Year Old Virgin was adequately shot and consistently funny.

I liked the funny one better.
NEG RAPE.

[Melville]

I thought Lubitsch's films looked pretty damn good, his use of editing notably makes the picture look and feel extra special.
Indeed. I've only seen The Shop Around the Corner, but damn was it slick.

[MacGuffin]

Playtime was well-shot and not very funny.

It was more heh funny, but consistently heh funny at that.

[Melville]

It was more heh funny, but consistently heh funny at that.
I thought it was more grinning-at-its-lively-cleverness funny.

[Spinal]

NEG RAPE.

Why does this always happen to me?

[MacGuffin]

I thought it was more grinning-at-its-lively-cleverness funny.

I tend to put that and heh basically in the same category. As far as The 40 Year Old Virgin goes, it's what I call "headache humor".

[Boner M]

Why does this always happen to me?MY MONKEY SLICES YOUR MONKEY TO DEATH.

But anyway, I agree that Playtime, whilst one of the greatest films ever, is not particularly funny. It makes me smile and feel warm all over, and blows my mind, but it does not make me laugh. In fact, outside of a few scenes in Mon Oncle (the dog sweater big, esp.), I can't remember laughing at a Tati film, even though he's one of my favorite directors. Hmm.

[Melville]

MY MONKEY SLICES YOUR MONKEY TO DEATH.

But anyway, I agree that Playtime, whilst one of the greatest films ever, is not particularly funny. It makes me smile and feel warm all over, and blows my mind, but it does not make me laugh. In fact, outside of a few scenes in Mon Oncle (the dog sweater big, esp.), I can't remember laughing at a Tati film, even though he's one of my favorite directors. Hmm.
Really? I laughed quite a few times during Playtime. The scene where we look at two apartments through their huge windows had me laughing at its sheer ingenuity, and the whole scene in the restaurant at the end had me pretty consistently laughing at its (and the characters') footloose-and-fancy-free breakdown of the rigidity of the preceding scenes.

[Boner M]

As for my weekend, I posted the list a few days ago, not realising how early in the week it was. But anyway, since I have a monster lineup, I'll post it again!

The Neon Bible
My Brother's Wedding
Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things
Good Men, Good Women
An Actor's Revenge
Daisy Kenyon
The Face of Another
The Music Room
Lars and the Real Girl
the rest of The Best of Youth

And I might head off to see a Bill Viola exhibition; never seen any video art in its proper context.

[Boner M]

Really? I laughed quite a few times during Playtime. The scene where we look at two apartments through their huge windows had me laughing at its sheer ingenuity, and the whole scene in the restaurant at the end had me pretty consistently laughing at its (and the characters') footloose-and-fancy-free breakdown of the rigidity of the preceding scenes.
It makes me smile a lot, and think 'that's funny', but it's all perhaps a little too obsessive to really tickle me. I think its 'gawp in a astonishment' factor undermines the potential for laughter.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Indeed. I've only seen The Shop Around the Corner, but damn was it slick.
I think editing is the most important aspect of comedy, knowing when to cut, when to hold, etc. It's such a tricky science! Lubitsch had it down pat though, you should really see more of his films. They're all (nearly) so lovely :pritch:

[Eleven]

I don't laugh at everything I think is funny, and what I laugh at need not necessarily be very funny. I find Tati films to be quite ingenious, demanding, and, yes, funny. I also laugh at the opening to Full Metal Jacket because I find it quite funny, and disturbing and uncomfortable as well.

[Melville]

I think editing is the most important aspect of comedy, knowing when to cut, when to hold, etc. It's such a tricky science! Lubitsch had it down pat though, you should really see more of his films. They're all (nearly) so lovely :pritch:
Agreed. One of the things that bothered me about Knocked Up was how all the scenes seemed stretched out past their point of greatest effectiveness. Both the actors and the editing seemed to linger unnaturally long on every bit of dialogue.

I'll definitely try to see some more Lubitsch.

[origami_mustache]

NEG RAPE.

I was thinking the same haha.

The 40 Year Old Virgin isn't very funny.


I don't laugh at everything I think is funny, and what I laugh at need not necessarily be very funny. I find Tati films to be quite ingenious, demanding, and, yes, funny. I also laugh at the opening to Full Metal Jacket because I find it quite funny, and disturbing and uncomfortable as well.

I agree, the kind of comedy in Playtime or the elaborate gags in Chaplin's films may not always be laugh out loud funny, but they stick with me a lot more than the fleeting shock humor in most modern comedies.

[Sycophant]

Me neither. No interest.*balks*

[origami_mustache]

Me neither. No interest.

Dr. Strangelove just might be my favorite film if I had to choose, but I don't so I won't.

[Rowland]

I hope I watch something this weekend... at the very least, Southland Tales.

[Rowland]

The mine-shaft gap is one of my favorite jokes, ever.

[Spinal]

I was thinking the same haha.


This is not a good trend.

[Spinal]

Three of the greatest comic performances of all time in one film. What more do you want?

[Rowland]

Three of the greatest comic performances of all time in one film. What more do you want?Sellers/Scott/Hayden?

[Spinal]

Sellers/Scott/Hayden?

Indeed. Not necessarily in that order.

[Rowland]

Indeed. Not necessarily in that order.Probably blasphemy, but Scott > Hayden > Sellers. All great.

[Qrazy]

David Bordwell had a good blog post last September on how shots and framings can be funny in themselves (http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=761), using Playtime and Shaun of the Dead, among others, as examples. Strangelove is shot pretty straightfacedly, I think, which makes the insanity and absurdity come out even more.

Yeah, the Coens use shot selection, editing and pacing wonderfully to create humor.

[Qrazy]

Playtime was well-shot and not very funny.


Um no, it's hilarious.

[Qrazy]

I hope I watch something this weekend... at the very least, Southland Tales.

What the hell people, why torture yourselves?

[Ezee E]

WEEKEND:
The Ruins
The Mist or The English Patient (whatever netflix sends)
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The House on Telegraph Hill

[Yxklyx]

Weekend:

The President's Analyst
The Blue Dahlia (maybe)

[Boner M]

Couldn't get into An Actor's Revenge, as much as I tried. It's stunning to look at, but the self-conscious artificiality of it all meant that I never engaged with what was going on. None of the characters aside from the protagonist really registered. But yeah, amazingly beautiful looking and I could see myself liking it more on a repeat viewing.

[Spinal]

Um no, it's hilarious.

I've seen three Tati films and I don't recall laughing out loud so much as once.

[balmakboor]

I've seen three Tati films and I don't recall laughing out loud so much as once.

I don't laugh out loud at those either. I just spend the whole movie smiling -- and that's good enough for me. What makes people laugh can be so surprising. I laugh myself to death over the stupidest things like Naked Gun and The Gods Must Be Crazy.

[Qrazy]

I've seen three Tati films and I don't recall laughing out loud so much as once.

Hilarious.

[Morris Schæffer]

Dr. Strangelove is a film I've never been able to love. Strange.

Same here. Perhaps it's too dry, too docu-like for my tastes. Or too visual. The sequences in the bomber were fairly boring while the shot of Slim Pickens riding the nuke iconic, but not really funny. Perhaps it's a product of its era what with the cold war and all. I'm sure somewhere in some underground base in some godforsaken spot on the earth there's a bunch of nukes stashed away waiting for the day they'll be launched, but it doesn't feel like a sword of damocles that hangs over me.

[Ezee E]

The Ruins starts off pretty great actually. Very promising, then the self-mutilation begins, and it wraps itself up too quickly I think.

[Qrazy]

I said it in my Death Note thread but all of you anime fans really ought to check out Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, just an incredibly fun, fantastic series (27 eps)... from Gainax (studio behind Neon Genesis Evangelion), it's a debut work by Hiroyuki Imaishi who has done some other animation work with the studio.

I don't think it has an american release (no english subs) so your best bet is to torrent it... it's also available in full on youtube but there's a watermark on most uploads, a few eps have audio/visual sync problems and because it's youtube the resolution just isn't great quality... still that's where I watched most of the episodes and it was still fantastic.

[Rowland]

The Ruins starts off pretty great actually. Very promising, then the self-mutilation begins, and it wraps itself up too quickly I think.I'm really curious about this myself. Jeremy Heilman (http://www.moviemartyr.com/) just gave it a 77/100, which is really high for him, and probably insane, but it has still sparked my interest.

[MadMan]

Same here. Perhaps it's too dry, too docu-like for my tastes. Or too visual. The sequences in the bomber were fairly boring while the shot of Slim Pickens riding the nuke iconic, but not really funny. Perhaps it's a product of its era what with the cold war and all. I'm sure somewhere in some underground base in some godforsaken spot on the earth there's a bunch of nukes stashed away waiting for the day they'll be launched, but it doesn't feel like a sword of damocles that hangs over me.To me Dr. Strangelove still has great relevance. Not only because of the fact that we still have nuclear weapons, but also because we still have idiot world leaders.

Also I'd go with Sellers>Scott>Hayden, although you can't go wrong with any of those performances. At times though Pickens> or = Hayden's performance though.

Recently I re watched the trailer for Southland Tales and it only made me want to see the film even more. I chalk up the fact I haven't seen it to laziness, although other factors may be involved.

[Sven]

In a couple of weeks, Paul Mazursky is coming to speak to one of my film classes. Anyone have any questions you want me to ask?

[Grouchy]

Me neither. No interest.
And why the fuck not, if I might ask? Why wouldn't you be interested in watching an important, classic film you haven't experienced?

[Sycophant]

I've seen three Tati films and I don't recall laughing out loud so much as once.I have nearly busted my gut during all four of the Tati films I have seen. Probably less so in Playtime, but that might have just because I was too awestruck to laugh much.

[Yxklyx]

Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962) - 9.5
Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi, 1967) - 10

Well, I much preferred Harakiri which plays like a legendary fable as opposed to Samurai Rebellion which has a story that I felt I've seen before - plus that final duel in Harakiri was breathless.

[Spinal]

Netflix is sending me The Freethinker, a 4-and-a-half hour Peter Watkins film about August Strindberg. I am both excited and intimidated.

[eternity]

Sessue Hayakawa is fantastic in Three Came Home.

[Yxklyx]

The President's Analyst (1967, Theodore J. Flicker) is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. Typically comedy doesn't age well, but this one is so prescient that it's probably funnier now than when it came out. There are several scenes that had me physically laughing out loud enough to wake the neighbors. It's not silly gag laughter that you will usually find from films of the 60s - it's a very intelligent film with some humor taking up to an hour to setup. James Coburn is magnificent - his teeth are right out of a comic book. The movie is also a sharp snapshot of the 60s and 50s. Everyone needs to see this! 9/10

P.S. DON"T read Ebert's review - he gives away too much.

[Derek]

Couldn't get into An Actor's Revenge, as much as I tried. It's stunning to look at, but the self-conscious artificiality of it all meant that I never engaged with what was going on. None of the characters aside from the protagonist really registered. But yeah, amazingly beautiful looking and I could see myself liking it more on a repeat viewing.

NEG RAPE!

[Spinal]

That's it. I'm buying a neg rape whistle.

[MadMan]

That's it. I'm buying a neg rape whistle.Be sure to blow it loudly when neg rape occurs. :P

[Philosophe_rouge]

Even though action/adventure type films have never truly captured my interest, I can't say I ever tire of watching Errol Flynn onscreen. Captain Blood is hardly exceptional, it's heavy handed, cheaply made and poorly plotted but damn if I don't love watching Flynn being Flynn. Plus, there is Olivia De Havilland who is adorable times ten. In these early films she's a glowing presence of beauty and delicious humour and really as her career progressed she became one of my favourite actresses with roles in GWTW, The Heiress and the Snake Pit. The final scene makes the film worthwhile. Just so much fun.

[Derek]

That's it. I'm buying a neg rape whistle.

Here's what Wilford Brimley has to say about your neg rape whistle:

http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/3815_Brimley-Wilford.jpg

Not a goddamned thing.

[dreamdead]

Paprika is a much richer experience on the second go-around. I rather enjoy its digressions about reality, dreams, and the internet (and they work better as digressions than as profundities, to my eyes), and its interrogation of genres works delightfully well (even as it recapitulates those same genres), specifically with the shift in love interest. Love how invested the film gets in its themes, exploring the cinema and its existence as both cathartic as well as chronic spectacle.

And that soundtrack... so hypnotic.

[Raiders]

That's it. I'm buying a neg rape whistle.

Studies show this doesn't work. Yell "fire" instead.

[MadMan]

Here's what Wilford Brimley has to say about your neg rape whistle:

http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/3815_Brimley-Wilford.jpg

Not a goddamned thing.I'd like to see a battle between Brimley and E Emmett Walsh.

http://www.artandeth.com/Gallery2/ActorsW/17868-2028.gif

I'm sure "I'lllll KEEEEEELLLL YOOOOOUUUU!!!" would come into play at one point.

[Spinal]

Ah, man. Stardust ... what a great, great story. I think it could be a better film though. It has its funny moments, but it never quite reaches the levels of comedy, drama and romance that would make it as great as something like The Princess Bride, which it seemed to model itself after in places. Danes seemed to be the chief offender in holding the film back, as she is never a convincing match for the material. Her performance is more reminiscent of a school play than it is of anything worthy of her character's lofty status. The DeNiro section also kind of loses steam, although the idea is funny in theory. I loved the section at the makeshift inn, the whole bit with the conniving brothers and also Pfieffer's performance in general. I was also moved by the ending, even as I wished it had been more of a knockout. A fun time all told.

[Rowland]

Ah, man. Stardust ... what a great, great story. I think it could be a better film though. It has its funny moments, but it never quite reaches the levels of comedy, drama and romance that would make it as great as something like The Princess Bride, which it seemed to model itself after in places. Danes seemed to be the chief offender in holding the film back, as she is never a convincing match for the material. Her performance is more reminiscent of a school play than it is of anything worthy of her character's lofty status. The DeNiro section also kind of loses steam, although the idea is funny in theory. I loved the section at the makeshift inn, the whole bit with the conniving brothers and also Pfieffer's performance in general. I was also moved by the ending, even as I wished it had been more of a knockout. A fun time all told.I gave it three stars as well. A fun movie, all told. I thought Vaughn put together some really impressive action sequences for the climax as well, and unlike you, I thought Danes was fantastic.... a little shaky at first, but by the end I was totally digging her performance.

[Qrazy]

Here's what Wilford Brimley has to say about your neg rape whistle:

http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/3815_Brimley-Wilford.jpg

Not a goddamned thing.

I see your Brimley and raise you this Brimley.

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/2/2/8/22894657cfb0c8046369923d7c4607 dd.jpg

[Sven]

I liked the book of Stardust a lot... probably my favorite Gaiman novel. I saw the trailer to the movie and it looked so terrible, so phony. I have a copy that someone burned for me, so maybe I'll see it eventually, but I'm not expecting much.

[dreamdead]

Fuller's The Naked Kiss is interesting as a study of gender politics and small-town discrimination of the outsider, though it simultaneously exists as the least of Fuller's films I've seen thus far (this is #4). I attribute this largely to the ruinous use of Charlie, an inanimate object that female lead Kelly talks to and to which confesses her feelings of the man she loves. It's a cumbersome technique of allowing interiority to be exposed, and the film never quite recovers from "Charlie's" introduction. Much better, of course, is the degree to which Fuller interrogates typically controversial material such as prostitution, abortion, and pedophilia. Though it's far from perfect, this is a film that best succeeds in the margins as an examination of obscenities in small-town communities.

[Qrazy]

Fuller's The Naked Kiss is interesting as a study of gender politics and small-town discrimination of the outsider, though it simultaneously exists as the least of Fuller's films I've seen thus far (this is #4). I attribute this largely to the ruinous use of Charlie, an inanimate object that female lead Kelly talks to and to which confesses her feelings of the man she loves. It's a cumbersome technique of allowing interiority to be exposed, and the film never quite recovers from "Charlie's" introduction. Much better, of course, is the degree to which Fuller interrogates typically controversial material such as prostitution, abortion, and pedophilia. Though it's far from perfect, this is a film that best succeeds in the margins as an examination of obscenities in small-town communities.

I dunno, I'd rate it even lower myself. I found Fuller's style much too pulpy, reductive and simplistic both here and with Shock Corridor to be at all revealing. In many ways the simplicity was almost insulting to the themes under examination. The Steel Helmet and Pickup on South Street worked best for me, particularly the latter, where the pulpiness of the proceedings mesh much more effectively with his taught visual stylings.

[origami_mustache]

Well, I much preferred Harakiri which plays like a legendary fable as opposed to Samurai Rebellion which has a story that I felt I've seen before - plus that final duel in Harakiri was breathless.

I felt the opposite. I pretty much knew where Harakiri was going all along, as it was very similar to Rashômon and Hero, whereas I thought Samurai Rebellion switched gears in the second half of the film after a much restrained start.

[dreamdead]

Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues is a perplexing film. Visually, it's breathtaking in its construction of color and camera techniques, and Lee seems best suited to these stories of an ethical divide between friends/lovers. Some of the scenes are truly inspired narratively, especially those that explore Denzel Washington's character, Bleek, and the concurrent dialogue between he and his two lovers, so that both interrogate him at once. It's a thoroughly cinematic film, and I love how Lee explores recesses of New York that typically go unexplored elsewhere in his work. However, some of the female dynamics (namely, why does Indigo really take Bleek back) are slightly suspect in terms of character psychology, and at its heart the film is still just another bildungsroman, which is a bit unfortunate given the technical prowess behind the work.

I could easily see this film becoming one of my top 2 films from Lee; I could also see it fading from memory (save for a few visuals) fairly quickly. Is anyone else similarly conflicted with this one?

[Sven]

I think Dickerson's photography in Mo' Better Blues is probably the best thing he's ever done.

Yeah, he's basically falling for his characteristic phallocentric schtick. In most of his earlier work, women often get the shaft (his questionable handling of feminine psychology is bluntly revisited in She Hate Me). As a piece about jazz and its roots in the male psyche, it's fairly good. Mostly I found it a rather bland (save for the impeccable production) story of friendship/romance, but its photography and music and masculine tumult give it an edge.

[dreamdead]

I found Fuller's style much too pulpy, reductive and simplistic both here and with Shock Corridor to be at all revealing. In many ways the simplicity was almost insulting to the themes under examination.

Hmm, the more I contemplate your points here with regard to The Naked Kiss (though I remember Shock Corridor having an aesthetic stream of consciousness that dovetailed with its theme of alienating psyches), the more I find myself aligning with your viewpoint. Though it mentions ideas of prostitution and abortion bluntly, it seems unsure of how to handle these themes. That is, Kelly is still merely the hooker with the heart of gold, so there's little in the way of character complexity to her. Fuller fails to wrangle the fullest from this material, then, precisely because he simplifies complexities of psychology. And though one might contend that the abortion storyline is peripheral to the story and doesn't demand such rigorous attention, I do agree that it feels too cursory as it stands right now. Kelly really is just too bland of a lead character; I'm not sure if that's due to the actress or due to Fuller, but someone needed to pull more from the character frame.

I'm curious how Fuller's pulpy feel translates to The Big Red One, which will be next in the queue.


I think Dickerson's photography in Mo' Better Blues is probably the best thing he's ever done.


I need to see more of the man's work because it really was visually arresting. Lots of patterned colors, lots of "classical" shots that reveal something new in the margins in the frame. Any suggestions on other places to see his work, or does he primarily work with Lee?


Yeah, he's basically falling for his characteristic phallocentric schtick. In most of his earlier work, women often get the shaft (his questionable handling of feminine psychology is bluntly revisited in She Hate Me). As a piece about jazz and its roots in the male psyche, it's fairly good. Mostly I found it a rather bland (save for the impeccable production) story of friendship/romance, but its photography and music and masculine tumult give it an edge.

I hadn't considered how seldom we see a strong, nonmotherly female in his work but you're right. It's a shame, too, because this film had a strong start, and in the middle I had high hopes. But the end shatters some of that euphoria once its narrative arc becomes more familiar and about the circularity of art. There was something there about the impotence of art/life when Snipes' has Washington join him onstage with Clark, and that would have allowed the film to chronicle a road-less-traveled bildungsroman, but the film opts instead to create a circularity of eras and generations that feels artificially contrived.

[Sven]

I need to see more of the man's work because it really was visually arresting. Lots of patterned colors, lots of "classical" shots that reveal something new in the margins in the frame. Any suggestions on other places to see his work, or does he primarily work with Lee?

Here's a very brief rundown (I'm a pretty big fan):

As a cinematographer, his work with Lee is more or less perfection. This, Do the Right Thing, and Malcolm X (which I didn't like as much as I liked the photography), being the highlights. Very colorful, very alive with light and texture. He also shot Sayles's Brother from Another Planet, which has an appropriately grungy fantasy feel about its picture,which may be more indicative of the film's budget than anything else. But it works! It's a wonderfully captured film (though Sayles ups the ante with Wexler in his next film, Matewan--Wexler is not a force to be trifled with).

As a director, nearly all of his films are zesty. Even Demon Knight, which kind of underplays as a horror film (which I think is typical of the Tales from the Crypt series), is a visual delight. Juice is really great, and I think that Never Die Alone is one of the finer rap-star-as-actor vehicles ever. Lately he's been doing a lot of television work, sadly, and I've only seen one of his episodes of the Wire (the second to last in the second season), but it was damn exciting.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Raging Bull was amazing. First viewing yesterday, and it's still in my head. Killer cinematography.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Ballad of a Soldier (1959) was wonderful, incredibly beautiful and charged with incredible emotions. I'm ashamed to being so unschooled in Russian cinema, I think off hand this is my third from the country. I love in particular the editing style, which is somewhat fragmented but incredibly effective from an emotional standpoint.

[Bosco B Thug]

I thought Into the Wild was really really good. I saw it a couple days ago and I can't seem to formulate anything very substantial and lucid about it now, but I'd say it was rather 'Gone Baby Gone'-like in its informal, "homegrown" directing used to evoke an American environment (or multiple ones). Those opening credits are something for example, and I dunno, I thought Penn's consistent eccentricity behind the camera consistently worked. Also, its portrayal of his WASPy parents was particularly powerful for me - the opening section on his graduation and past and present family life really sealed the deal for me craft-wise on the film early on. That very first moment of the film, when we see McCandless' picture and here him whisper and then we find out what it means, seems to be really sticking with me.

[number8]

Raging Bull was amazing. First viewing yesterday, and it's still in my head. Killer cinematography.

I'm surprised.

[Qrazy]

I'm curious how Fuller's pulpy feel translates to The Big Red One, which will be next in the queue.



Ah yeah, I'd forgotten about this one. I'd say it mostly works. I'd put it after Pickup but before Steel Helmet.

[Qrazy]

Ballad of a Soldier (1959) was wonderful, incredibly beautiful and charged with incredible emotions. I'm ashamed to being so unschooled in Russian cinema, I think off hand this is my third from the country. I love in particular the editing style, which is somewhat fragmented but incredibly effective from an emotional standpoint.

A very similar film which I'd venture is the better of the two (by a solid margin) is The Cranes are Flying. Since you liked Ballad I recommend checking it out.

[balmakboor]

I must say Rob Zombie exceeded all expectations I had and turned his Halloween remake -- in this time of sorry horror remakes -- into a horror masterpiece. It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Turning this remake into a film that both breathes new life into a horror francise and pours much needed new energy into the stale bio-pic genre was a masterstroke.

[Ezee E]

I must say Rob Zombie exceeded all expectations I had and turned his Halloween remake -- in this time of sorry horror remakes -- into a horror masterpiece. It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Turning this remake into a film that both breathes new life into a horror francise and pours much needed new energy into the stale bio-pic genre was a masterstroke.
The Ruins is ten times that of Halloween and is simply a mediocre movie as its negative points is what the remake of Halloween was all about.

[balmakboor]

The Ruins is ten times that of Halloween and is simply a mediocre movie as its negative points is what the remake of Halloween was all about.

I'm sorry. I simply can't parse what you just said.

[D_Davis]

I must say Rob Zombie exceeded all expectations I had and turned his Halloween remake -- in this time of sorry horror remakes -- into a horror masterpiece. It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Turning this remake into a film that both breathes new life into a horror francise and pours much needed new energy into the stale bio-pic genre was a masterstroke.

Interesting.

I need to see this still.

[Ezee E]

There aren't any birds! (http://www.martijnhendriks.com/?page_id=114)

[Philosophe_rouge]

A very similar film which I'd venture is the better of the two (by a solid margin) is The Cranes are Flying. Since you liked Ballad I recommend checking it out.
The person who recommended me Ballad also recommended me Cranes, but I had no idea they were similar. I'll make it a priority now.

[Bosco B Thug]

It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Whoa! I'm interested in some extended thoughts on this one!

Biopic genre, eh? I didn't love or hate the film and I don't think any, I dunno, "textural idiosyncracy" (?) really shines through ultimately... but Rowland had some good thoughts on it as a "lurid family melodrama" and I could see where you're coming from with the "biopic" angle. So I agree the film has the strength of its kind of ham-fisted convictions and might have something there beneath its surface. I for one thought its teenage slasher-flick final third was well-done, too, even if it can hardly compare with the original.

[Spinal]

A very similar film which I'd venture is the better of the two (by a solid margin) is The Cranes are Flying. Since you liked Ballad I recommend checking it out.

It's better from a technical standpoint, but I think when it just comes down to the story, I prefer Ballad. Both are 4-star films though.

[Qrazy]

General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.

[dreamdead]

Hm, I freely admit that Woody Allen's filmography has some real turkeys in it, but his strongest work (Manhattan and Husbands and Wives for me) obviates most of those mistakes. Linklater is all over the map for me, though. Love Before Sunset but I really hope I never again have to watch Slacker, even though I recognize its value in 90's independent cinema.

Otherwise, Kitano, Leigh, and Hitch all have plenty of films that I happily treasure...

[MadMan]

I must say Rob Zombie exceeded all expectations I had and turned his Halloween remake -- in this time of sorry horror remakes -- into a horror masterpiece. It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Turning this remake into a film that both breathes new life into a horror francise and pours much needed new energy into the stale bio-pic genre was a masterstroke.:eek: And I thought I really liked it.....wow. I almost feel this is an over reaction, but hey I guess someone on this site or elsewhere had to feel that the Halloween remake was a great film. TCM is far superior, if only because it doesn't any weak acts at all; I still need to see Last House on the Left, if only due to the fact that it receives a good deal of hate both here and on the Axis.

[balmakboor]

:eek: And I thought I really liked it.....wow. I almost feel this is an over reaction, but hey I guess someone on this site or elsewhere had to feel that the Halloween remake was a great film. TCM is far superior, if only because it doesn't any weak acts at all; I still need to see Last House on the Left, if only due to the fact that it receives a good deal of hate both here and on the Axis.

I'm a huge fan of the original TCM and I think RZH borrows as much if not more from it than from the original Halloween. I haven't seen Last House for nearly 20 years but one scene in particular has stayed with me. One of the killers sadly plays with the remains of one of the victims like she is a toy he has broken and can no longer enjoy playing with. RZH has a scene where MM pauses to twirl one of his victims in an attempt to still play with him.

By fleshing out MM's backstory, Zombie has turned the film into a blow-by-blow bio-pic (or possibly parody of bio-pics such as Walk the Line which has been on TV constantly lately) and it really made the MM character vastly more interesting to me than he was previously. The best thing RZ gets out of this structure though is an opportunity to create parallels between MM's extremely working class white trash (as only RZ can do it) upbringing and the white collar home of his baby sister's upbringing. I knew RZ knew exactly what he was doing when he set a climactic encounter in a drained and long out of use swimming pool. What a great symbol for the loss of the American dream. (It is the same sort of parallels that are drawn between the laid-off slaughterhouse workers and Franklin's family of slaughterhouse owners in TCM that causes me to make the comparison.) I think the ending is even very similar to TCM only possibly even more effective.

The one thing I don't like about TCM is half of the acting. It feels like Hooper put all of his energy into the family of killers and had nothing left to offer the "good" characters. I thought the acting was very good across the board in RZH.

I haven't seen House of 1000 Corpses yet, but Halloween and Devil's Rejects are so clearly torn from the same cloth. I didn't like DR at first -- it was just too completely nihilistic for my tastes -- but I've since come around to its particular strengths. Halloween is very much a continuation of its ideas.

(Someone called Zombie's directing hamfisted. I couldn't disagree more. I was actually marvelling throughout at how skillfully and beautifully shot it is.)

[Philosophe_rouge]

General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.
Interesting question, I think I'm going to have to lean towards the former... I tend to gravitate heavily towards a directors style, or approach and therefore tend to favour most of their films highly. Most filmmakers with more than one film in my top 50 or so (Hitchcock, Hawks, Powell, Miyazaki, Leone, Wilder, and Lubitsch), I'd say are consistent in quality, although I'm the first to admit most of them have at least a few duds (well, from that bunch, only Wilder and Hitch do in my books... from what I've seen). Still, with someone like Hitchcock, I've seen nearly 30 of his films I'd consider only one or two outright bad, for me that's a fairly strong filmography in my books. There are a fair share I'd consider more scattered and all over the place though, Truffaut, Carol Reed, John Ford and Godard (among others) strike me as having some very strong work, mixed in with a lot of very weak/personally uninteresting stuff. I would argue, they're more the minority on my list though. Then there is a large group that I couldn't properly judge at all.

[Duncan]

Most of my favorite films are made by consistently great filmmakers, though I'm sure they each have their weaker moments.

[MacGuffin]

General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.

One time I came up with a theory where if I liked one director's movie, then I had to like them all, because the director uses thoughts that obviously came from the same place. His or her movies incorporate ideas from the same person, and I figured if I like one director's movie, I had to like all of his of hers'. Now I think this is a slightly bullshit theory.

[balmakboor]

General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.

My current top films list from my blog:

Sans Soleil - Chris Marker
Berlin Alexanderplatz - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Scorpio Rising - Kenneth Anger
Playtime - Jacques Tati
Slacker - Richard Linklater
Contempt - Jean-Luc Godard
Phantom India - Louis Malle
WR: Mysteries of the Organism - Dušan Makavejev
Gummo - Harmony Korine
Even Dwarfs Started Small - Werner Herzog
F for Fake - Orson Welles
Day of the Dead - George Romero

Since none of these directors would very likely place another film in my top 50 (except Fassbinder and Herzog who'd probably place two or three other films each), I'd say I just look for films that fire my imagination regardless of who helmed them.

[megladon8]

fasozupow, it's cool seeing that Day of the Dead is your favorite of Romero's original zombie trilogy.

I quite often see peoples' top film lists including either Night or Dawn, but I think this is the first time I've seen Day in that spot.


EDIT: And I like what you said here...


Since none of these directors would very likely place another film in my top 50 (except Fassbinder and Herzog who'd probably place two or three other films each), I'd say I just look for films that fire my imagination regardless of who helmed them.

I feel the same way.

If a film really strikes my fancy, the people involved don't really have any effect on where I would place it on a "favorites list".

If Uwe Boll made a movie that I thought was, genuinely, one of the best movies I'd ever seen, I'd have no problem putting it up there. But I would never say that he has an impressive filmography.

[Spinal]

General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.

Films in my top 25 that were made by directors that I do not consider to have "very strong filmographies":

3. The Vanishing (Sluizer, 1988)
7. Life of Brian (Jones, 1979)
11. This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984)
23. The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)

Need to see more to make an evaluation:

4. Walkabout (Roeg, 1971)
8. The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan, 1997)
21. The Bicycle Thief (De Sica, 1948)

[Qrazy]

Films in my top 25 that were made by directors that I do not consider to have "very strong filmographies":

3. The Vanishing (Sluizer, 1988)
7. Life of Brian (Jones, 1979)
11. This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984)
23. The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)

Need to see more to make an evaluation:

4. Walkabout (Roeg, 1971)
8. The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan, 1997)
21. The Bicycle Thief (De Sica, 1948)

What's wrong with Laughton's filmography? One for one. ;)

Out of the four I"ve seen from Roeg, Walkabout is the only one I can even tolerate. It's a shame because he obviously has visual skill and a unique talent but he employs it in such an irritating way.

[Ezee E]

DeSica has a great filmography. I imagine you'd like more of his work. Have you seen Umberto D?

[Qrazy]

DeSica has a great filmography. I imagine you'd like more of his work. Have you seen Umberto D?

I dunno, I love The Bicycle Thief and Umberto D... Shoeshine is very good and Miracle in Milan is fantastic for the first two thirds. Two Women and The Children are Watching Us were above average but also somewhat bland. Indiscretion of an American Wife and The Garden of the Finzi Continis have more weaknesses than they do strengths. I'd still like to see Marriage Italian Style and Sunflower.

[Mysterious Dude]

My top 50 contains at least one film by some very prolific filmmakers: D.W. Griffith, Chaplin, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles, Vittorio De Sica, Kurosawa, Fellini, Truffaut, Godard, Buñuel, Scorsese, Spielberg and David Lynch.

It also has some films by some undoubtedly talented directors but whose filmographies are less impressive somehow (either in quality or quantity): Georges Méliès, F.W. Murnau, Roberto Rossellini, Satyajit Ray, John Cassavettes, Arthur Penn, Mike Nichols and Terrence Malick.

There are also quite a few directors who are pretty much unknown. We may know who some of them are, but I bet when you see the name, you'll know which one film they represent on my list (if you recognize the name at all). Not to say they're bad directors, but they definitely don't very strong filmographies: Robert Wiene, Abel Gance, Victor Sjostrom, Leontine Sagan, Charles Laughton, Don Siegel, Herbert J. Biberman, Nanni Loy, Gillo Pontecorvo, Peter Watkins, Costa-Gavras, Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, Masahiro Shinoda, Tobe Hooper, René Laloux, Lynne Littman, Frédéric Back, Elem Klimov and Larry Clark.

And there are a few very recent films by directors who are well-known right now, but I doubt they will ever reach the level of Kurosawa or Spielberg: Richard Linklater, Darren Aronofsky, Fernando Meirelles and Alfonso Cuarón.

[origami_mustache]

TCM and the Silent Theater are presenting a restored print of Abel Gance's La Roue tonight with new orchestral score. I should go, but I don't know if I'm in the mood to sit through a 4 and a half hour silent film in those uncomfortable seats.

[Qrazy]

TCM and the Silent Theater are presenting a restored print of Abel Gance's La Roue tonight with new orchestral score. I should go, but I don't know if I'm in the mood to sit through a 4 and a half hour silent film in those uncomfortable seats.

What's with that guy and making really long films?

On another note, can you imagine how much it must have sucked to be Von Stroheim... studio holds onto your extended cut for a long time and then years later finally destroys it... that's like spending years sculpting David only to have his dick chopped off and then finally destroyed years later.

I can't think of another artistic profession that fucks with the artist more than filmmaking.

[Spinal]

DeSica has a great filmography. I imagine you'd like more of his work. Have you seen Umberto D?

Yes. Great film.

[Spinal]

I think Peter Watkins' filmography is pretty extraordinary actually.

[megladon8]

The Bicycle Thief was one of the very first foreign films ever recommended to me.

It was the lady working at the library when I was about 12 or 13, and I had begun taking movies out there.

Yet to this day I still haven't seen it.:cry:

[origami_mustache]

What's with that guy and making really long films?

On another note, can you imagine how much it must have sucked to be Von Stroheim... studio holds onto your extended cut for a long time and then years later finally destroys it... that's like spending years sculpting David only to have his dick chopped off and then finally destroyed years later.

I can't think of another artistic profession that fucks with the artist more than filmmaking.

:sad: yeah it's a little shocking to think that film preservation didn't become a major issue until the 80s.

[Qrazy]

The Bicycle Thief was one of the very first foreign films ever recommended to me.

It was the lady working at the library when I was about 12 or 13, and I had begun taking movies out there.

Yet to this day I still haven't seen it.:cry:

http://www.motherandthedoctor.com/images/fail.jpg

[balmakboor]

The Bicycle Thief was one of the very first foreign films ever recommended to me.

It was the lady working at the library when I was about 12 or 13, and I had begun taking movies out there.

Yet to this day I still haven't seen it.:cry:

I watched Bicycle Thief for the first time about 3 1/2 years ago at a time when I was laid-off with four mouths to feed and a mortgage. It sure packs a wallup under those conditions. I got it from the library.

[Mysterious Dude]

I think Peter Watkins' filmography is pretty extraordinary actually.
You may be right. I've only seen two of his films, and they were both fantastic. I guess I was separating the directors based on how prestigious I interpreted them to be, and Watkins still isn't very well known -- only one of his films has over a thousand votes on IMDb (whereas the majority of Billy Wilder's filmography can claim such status).

[Melville]

I laugh myself to death over the stupidest things like Naked Gun.
By my estimation, Naked Gun is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. Non-stop hilarity.


Fuller's The Naked Kiss is interesting as a study of gender politics and small-town discrimination of the outsider, though it simultaneously exists as the least of Fuller's films I've seen thus far (this is #4). I attribute this largely to the ruinous use of Charlie, an inanimate object that female lead Kelly talks to and to which confesses her feelings of the man she loves. It's a cumbersome technique of allowing interiority to be exposed, and the film never quite recovers from "Charlie's" introduction.
I thought Charlie was a purposely ridiculous technique that worked well with the film's campy tone.


Fuller fails to wrangle the fullest from this material, then, precisely because he simplifies complexities of psychology.
But the themes weren't being examined through psychology. They were being examined through formal techniques that contrasted the lurid storyline and pulpy style with the small-town Americana and its usual Hollywood presentation. The two stunning scenes with the children's song are the pinnacle of this stylistic contrast. Too much psychology would have disrupted the tone.


General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.
A few of my favorite films are the only things I've seen from their respective directors, and a few are by directors with otherwise mediocre filmographies, but the majority of my favorites are by directors who consistently make films that I appreciate.

[Bosco B Thug]

I'm a huge fan of the original TCM and I think RZH borrows as much if not more from it than from the original Halloween. I haven't seen Last House for nearly 20 years but one scene in particular has stayed with me. One of the killers sadly plays with the remains of one of the victims like she is a toy he has broken and can no longer enjoy playing with. RZH has a scene where MM pauses to twirl one of his victims in an attempt to still play with him.

By fleshing out MM's backstory, Zombie has turned the film into a blow-by-blow bio-pic (or possibly parody of bio-pics such as Walk the Line which has been on TV constantly lately) and it really made the MM character vastly more interesting to me than he was previously. The best thing RZ gets out of this structure though is an opportunity to create parallels between MM's extremely working class white trash (as only RZ can do it) upbringing and the white collar home of his baby sister's upbringing. I knew RZ knew exactly what he was doing when he set a climactic encounter in a drained and long out of use swimming pool. What a great symbol for the loss of the American dream. (It is the same sort of parallels that are drawn between the laid-off slaughterhouse workers and Franklin's family of slaughterhouse owners in TCM that causes me to make the comparison.) I think the ending is even very similar to TCM only possibly even more effective.

The one thing I don't like about TCM is half of the acting. It feels like Hooper put all of his energy into the family of killers and had nothing left to offer the "good" characters. I thought the acting was very good across the board in RZH.

I haven't seen House of 1000 Corpses yet, but Halloween and Devil's Rejects are so clearly torn from the same cloth. I didn't like DR at first -- it was just too completely nihilistic for my tastes -- but I've since come around to its particular strengths. Halloween is very much a continuation of its ideas.

(Someone called Zombie's directing hamfisted. I couldn't disagree more. I was actually marvelling throughout at how skillfully and beautifully shot it is.) I said his dramatic convictions were ham-fisted (in line with the "parody of biopics" idea?). :P The scene where Sheri Moon Zombie cries and watches home videos I found kind of sillily overproduced. I did very much like the mental hospital scenes, though Not his directing, which I'd love to agree with you on, but I'd need to watch it one more time.

That said, I love your "social class parallel" reading. I wish the film made more out of it, but I could feel it lining the film.

[Spinal]

You may be right. I've only seen two of his films, and they were both fantastic. I guess I was separating the directors based on how prestigious I interpreted them to be, and Watkins still isn't very well known -- only one of his films has over a thousand votes on IMDb (whereas the majority of Billy Wilder's filmography can claim such status).

Here's what Michael Atkinson (Village Voice) said in 2004 in reference to a Watkins retrospective:

No cinephiles, if asked to enumerate the world's greatest living filmmakers from their front-brains, would think to conjure up the cry-in-the-wilderness presence of Peter Watkins. And yet there may be no one in the medium as honest, independent, intellectually rigorous, politically prescient, and utterly intolerant of cinema's systemic compromises. Certainly, only Godard could be considered as protean an interrogator—of both social power structures and the sign-and-meaning experience of film itself.

[Benny Profane]

I think my expectations for The Apartment might have been too high. It was a fun breezy romantic comedy, but I guess I just don't care for those types of contrived films all that much.

[Qrazy]

Here's what Michael Atkinson (Village Voice) said in 2004 in reference to a Watkins retrospective:

No cinephiles, if asked to enumerate the world's greatest living filmmakers from their front-brains, would think to conjure up the cry-in-the-wilderness presence of Peter Watkins. And yet there may be no one in the medium as honest, independent, intellectually rigorous, politically prescient, and utterly intolerant of cinema's systemic compromises. Certainly, only Godard could be considered as protean an interrogator—of both social power structures and the sign-and-meaning experience of film itself.


Yeah... neither Godard or Watkins do that much for me.

[balmakboor]

I said his dramatic convictions were ham-fisted (in line with the "parody of biopics" idea?). :P The scene where Sheri Moon Zombie cries and watches home videos I found kind of sillily overproduced. I did very much like the mental hospital scenes, though Not his directing, which I'd love to agree with you on, but I'd need to watch it one more time.

That said, I love your "social class parallel" reading. I wish the film made more out of it, but I could feel it lining the film.

Ooops! I guess I misunderstood the "ham-fisted" remark.

I actually loved the home videos scene and found the ending very satisfying. It is certainly in tune with the melodrama reading. What was it about the mental hospital scenes that you didn't like from a directorial standpoint?

I thought Zombie made quite a bit out of the social class parallels. It was the entire basis of the ending for instance (the very end that is). In TCM, Franklin's family and the Leatherface family are drawn very precisely as doubles, one a dark mirror of the other. But Franklin shows all the potential of Leatherface and the hitchhiker. In RZH, the same level of precision is used to the same effect. MM's family and his sister's adopted family are similarly on different ends of the social class spectrum but are drawn to be mirror images, parallels during the breakfast scenes, parallels in the boyfriends of the daughters, parallels in how MM kills the family. To me the ending of RZH is the unleashing of the potential for evil that was lurking in the "good" version of the family all along.

Now, I'll step back for a moment and admit that all of this is quite obvious from watching the film. I don't think that Zombie has executed this with as much skill and certainly not as much subtlety as Hooper. It's still a matter of Hooper being the master and Zombie being the pupil.

I would actually describe RZH as something of a Once Upon a Time in the West of slasher films. The genre has reached a place with this film where the tropes take on a "bigger than life" life of their own. That original Halloween music, screaming woman fleeing from house and falling down with her shoe coming off, a killing taking place in the woods, the killer lurking outside of windows looking in (we know they're there but not the characters, killer revealed behind a door, ... And damn that mask is one of horror film's most iconic images.

[Raiders]

I must say Rob Zombie exceeded all expectations I had and turned his Halloween remake -- in this time of sorry horror remakes -- into a horror masterpiece. It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Turning this remake into a film that both breathes new life into a horror francise and pours much needed new energy into the stale bio-pic genre was a masterstroke.

Better than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Sheesh. That doesn't seem like something I'm going to agree with at all, but this really does inspire me to give this film a go.

[Boner M]

I watched the first half of Zombie's redux at work the other day and couldn't be bothered finishing it. Just seemed like lame fan-fiction with added verite portent. Will prolly watch the rest sometime this week tho.

[balmakboor]

Better than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Sheesh. That doesn't seem like something I'm going to agree with at all, but this really does inspire me to give this film a go.

There was something about the scope and ambition of RZH that left me more satisfied than TCM. As I mentioned in my last post, I still think that Hooper is the master. For some reason, I've never watched anything else by Hooper except Poltergeist (which doesn't really count). Should I?

[balmakboor]

I watched the first half of Zombie's redux at work the other day and couldn't be bothered finishing it. Just seemed like lame fan-fiction with added verite portent. Will prolly watch the rest sometime this week tho.

I'd say fan fiction is certainly accurate. But you say "lame" while I say "game."

[Raiders]

There was something about the scope and ambition of RZH that left me more satisfied than TCM. As I mentioned in my last post, I still think that Hooper is the master. For some reason, I've never watched anything else by Hooper except Poltergeist (which doesn't really count). Should I?

I think there's a lot of good stuff in Lifeforce that pierces through the inanities and camp, but many others disagree. I've also heard some good things about his TCM 2 and The Funhouse. I think after the mid-80s though, the man really just went downhill fast. I haven't actually seen anything by him from the 90s on, but judging from his two entries into the Masters of Horror series, he is only a shell of what he once was.

[Sycophant]

General Film Discussion Question: Do the majority of your favorite films say top 25-50 come from director's with very strong filmographies (in your opinion) or are their filmographies all over the place, or is that pretty much their one fantastic film and the rest is average?

I would surmise it's mostly the former but I'd be interested to find out.
It is mostly the former, though in my top ten, there are two films the represent the directors' sole features. A good number of my top 100 are actually films from directors I greatly admire and are almost more representative selections.

[Spinal]

Yeah... neither Godard or Watkins do that much for me.

Godard is hit or miss for me. His good stuff is glorious. His bad stuff is unbearable.

After seeing all of his major work except for La Commune (I'm halfway through The Freethinker now), I'd put Watkins in my top five living directors, which would go something like this:

1. Lars von Trier
2. Peter Greenaway
3. David Lynch
4. Peter Watkins
5. Michael Haneke
6. Werner Herzog
7. Zhang Yimou
8. The Coens
9. Ki-Duk Kim
10. Catherine Breillat

[Watashi]

Top Ten Living Filmmakers?

1. Steven Spielberg (Minority Report)
2. Brad Bird (The Incredibles)
3. Martin Scorsese (The Last Temptation of Christ)
4. Michael Mann (The Insider)
5. The Coen Brothers (Miller's Crossing)
6. Woody Allen (Annie Hall)
7. Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke)
8. Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou)
9. Sydney Lumet (Network)
10. Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line)

[Sven]

Mine would look something like:

1 Werner Herzog
2 Takeshi Kitano
3 John Boorman
4 Paul Verhoeven
5 David Lynch
6 Peter Weir
7 Mike Leigh
8 Bernardo Bertolucci
9 Norman Jewison
10 Neil Jordan

Or thereabouts.

[Sycophant]

I'd put Watkins in my top five living directors, which would go something like this:Four of those I haven't seen anything from. We need the embarrassed smiley back.

[Raiders]

1. Jean-Luc Godard
2. Todd Haynes
3. Wong Kar-Wai
4. Atom Egoyan
5. Eric Rohmer
6. Bela Tarr
7. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
8. Terrence Malick
9. Werner Herzog
10. Jonathan Demme

There are quite a few who I have only seen a couple films by that have a shot at cracking the list (Marker, Rivette, Tsai, the Dardennes, and so forth). This also reminds me I MUST see something, anything, by Claire Denis.

[Watashi]

Mine would look something like:

1 Werner Herzog
2 Takeshi Kitano
3 John Boorman
4 Paul Verhoeven
5 David Lynch
6 Peter Weir
7 Mike Leigh
8 Bernardo Bertolucci
9 Norman Jewison
10 Neil Jordan

Or thereabouts.
No Woody Allen?

[Spinal]

This also reminds me I MUST see something, anything, by Claire Denis.

I think you are going to love Claire Denis. Just a hunch.

[Watashi]

I also need to see something by Claire Denis, but I have a hunch I won't like her.

[Sycophant]

Off the top of my head.

1. Takeshi Kitano
2. Woody Allen
3. Wes Anderson
4. Isao Takahata
5. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
6. Takashi Miike
7. Hideaki Anno
8. David Lynch
9. Stephen Chow
10. Joel & Ethan Coen

Something like that, anyway.

[Sven]

No Woody Allen?

Nah. His later stuff has been rubbing me the wrong way. I'm just not as passionate about his stuff as I used to be, despite loving quite a few of his movies.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I am so bad with modern cinema, I just see these lists with people I haven't heard of, let alone seen any of their films!

1. Hayao Miyazaki (Nausicaa and the Valley of the Winds)
2. Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men)
3. Steven Soderbergh (The Limey)
4. Woody Allen (Crimes and Misdemeanors)
5. Werner Herzog (Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night)
6. Terrence Malick (The New World)
7. Errol Morris (The Fog of War)
8. David Lynch (Blue Velvet)
9. Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver)
10. Sofia Coppola (Marie Antoinette)

[Watashi]

Nah. His later stuff has been rubbing me the wrong way. I'm just not as passionate about his stuff as I used to be, despite loving quite a few of his movies.
He's a hell of a lot better than Neil Jordan.

[Spinal]

I also need to see something by Claire Denis, but I have a hunch I won't like her.

I have that hunch too. :)

[dreamdead]

My list balances the Bonerian and iososian fellacio...

1. Eric Rohmer
2. Takeshi Kitano
3. Terrence Malick
4. Mike Leigh
5. Hong Sangsoo
6. Claire Denis
6. Jean-Luc Godard
7. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
8. Peter Greenaway
9. Dardenne Bros.
10. Paul Thomas Anderson

[megladon8]

Miyazaki's new film, My Neighbour Cthulhu...

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9766/neighborcthulhulw5.th.jpg (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=neighborcthulhulw 5.jpg)

[Bosco B Thug]

Ooops! I guess I misunderstood the "ham-fisted" remark.

I actually loved the home videos scene and found the ending very satisfying. It is certainly in tune with the melodrama reading. What was it about the mental hospital scenes that you didn't like from a directorial standpoint? Whoops, sorry. I just looked at my previous post and I seem to have ignored any sense of logical flow, not to mention a period. The "Not his directing..." sentence should have followed the smiley, not the sentences about the specific scenes. My bad. The mental hospital scenes surprised me, they're pretty affecting.


I thought Zombie made quite a bit out of the social class parallels. It was the entire basis of the ending for instance (the very end that is). In TCM, Franklin's family and the Leatherface family are drawn very precisely as doubles, one a dark mirror of the other. But Franklin shows all the potential of Leatherface and the hitchhiker. In RZH, the same level of precision is used to the same effect. MM's family and his sister's adopted family are similarly on different ends of the social class spectrum but are drawn to be mirror images, parallels during the breakfast scenes, parallels in the boyfriends of the daughters, parallels in how MM kills the family. To me the ending of RZH is the unleashing of the potential for evil that was lurking in the "good" version of the family all along.

Now, I'll step back for a moment and admit that all of this is quite obvious from watching the film. I don't think that Zombie has executed this with as much skill and certainly not as much subtlety as Hooper. It's still a matter of Hooper being the master and Zombie being the pupil. I like! Makes me wish the film had been more judiciously plotted and trimmed fat like the Danny Trejo and Ken Foree scenes.


There was something about the scope and ambition of RZH that left me more satisfied than TCM. As I mentioned in my last post, I still think that Hooper is the master. For some reason, I've never watched anything else by Hooper except Poltergeist (which doesn't really count). Should I? Well, I'm not sure if you should take my word on it, but... YES. You see, I'm probably the biggest Tobe Hooper fan there is. :) I've read literature on him (meaning two books from my school's library... one of which is Italian, meaning I didn't read it). I think he's mad brilliant. The great: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Funhouse, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Poltergeist; the uneven but incredibly well-crafted: Eaten Alive (which is very Altman-esque); the schlocky but still incredibly well-crafted: Toolbox Murders, The Mangler, and Mortuary. I even kind of enjoyed his 1st season Masters of Horror episode. And I've still yet to see Salem's Lot, Lifeforce, and Invaders From Mars, all of which I hear some positive (and negative) things about. He's 8/8 for me, if I forget about his 2nd season Masters of Horror episode which was completely awful and crushed the high expectations I have for the Hooper.

And okay, now, this is for everyone... is it really common notion to completely discredit Tobe Hooper as a major creative force behind Poltergeist? In the vast readings I've done on him (sarcasm), I have to insist it's much more complicated an issue than that and that if anything, credit needs to be shared between Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg equally in directorial cannon. The aforementioned scholarly texts tell me the issue of contention arose from an unfortunate media blitz that took note of Spielberg's more integrated role as a producer. And I've recently harvested a grudge against Zelda Rubenstein for her recent comments about the controversy, decrying Master Hooper. :evil: :P I wish they'd just lay it all out in full disclosure for us in a Making of documentary, which the 25th Anniversary release failed to do. I do think I read in a magazine interview with Hooper regular William Finley that he was supposed to be in Poltergeist but Spielberg took him off it.


Miyazaki's new film, My Neighbour Cthulhu...

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9766/neighborcthulhulw5.th.jpg (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=neighborcthulhulw 5.jpg) Now I would like to see that, definitely. Kinda creepy alteration, thinking about it.

[Sven]

He's a hell of a lot better than Neil Jordan.

What have you seen of Jordan's other than The Brave One?

[Raiders]

He's a hell of a lot better than Neil Jordan.

No.

[Watashi]

I want my own Catbus.

http://tkey.net/blog/images/catbus2.jpg

[Watashi]

What have you seen of Jordan's other than The Brave One?
Mona Lisa and The Crying Game, both are great films, but they don't touch anything of Allen's masterpieces.

It's not a hard choice.

[Watashi]

No.
You are better than this.

[Raiders]

You are better than this.

OK. Hell no.

[Spinal]

The Catbus seemed a lot more magical in the movies. I would not board that particular Catbus. You'd probably end up at Burning Man or something.

[Sven]

Mona Lisa and The Crying Game, both are great films, but they don't touch anything of Allen's masterpieces.

It's not a hard choice.

To me, Jordan makes beautiful, visual dream-like thrills, and continually delivers on the basis of craft alone, albeit I like him most when he reflects political import through his characters' consciousnesses.

Allen can be a bit one-note... too many of his films are identically motivated, and he never achieves half of the same delirious effect that Jordan regularly does.

[megladon8]

I like Neil Jordan.

Hell, I even think Interview With the Vampire is quite good.

[Beau]

Hello. I have heard this forum is quality. I hope I have not heard incorrectly.

[megladon8]

Hello. I have heard this forum is quality. I hope I have not heard incorrectly.


Welcome!

Hope you enjoy your stay.

We're an eccentric bunch, but if you like talking about movies, this is certainly the place to be!

[Beau]

Welcome!

Hope you enjoy your stay.

We're an eccentric bunch, but if you like talking about movies, this is certainly the place to be!

Well, I certainly like movies. That's for sure.

[megladon8]

Well, I certainly like movies. That's for sure.


Awesome! You should be golden, then.

[Beau]

Awesome! You should be golden, then.

Ha! I'll try my best to contribute and add to the forum in a positive fashion.

[number8]

We talk about movies here?

[Beau]

We talk about movies here?

They do at the top of this page. Unless that was an anomaly.

[Spinal]

They come for the movies. They stay for the grabass.

[Raiders]

Hello. I have heard this forum is quality. I hope I have not heard incorrectly.

We luv muvees! Welcome to our site!!! Roxxorrs!!! LOL

[Qrazy]

I got Beau to join Match-cut? I win at internets.

[Beau]

I got Beau to join Match-cut? I win at internets.

Here, have a metaphorical cookie.

[Raiders]

Actually, it appears you have yet to pass the hazing ritual. You must rattle off five boner jokes and be neg raped. After that, you can post anywhere you like.

[Scar]

I must say Rob Zombie exceeded all expectations I had and turned his Halloween remake -- in this time of sorry horror remakes -- into a horror masterpiece. It is in the same spirit as such 70s landmarks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, but out-distances even them. Turning this remake into a film that both breathes new life into a horror francise and pours much needed new energy into the stale bio-pic genre was a masterstroke.

Surprisingly, I really got into the Halloween remake. Its hard for me to explain, but it worked really well with me. I could've done without the rape in the prison cell, but it still worked.

[Scar]

We luv muvees! Welcome to our site!!! Roxxorrs!!! LOL

This has signature written all over it.

[Beau]

Actually, it appears you have yet to pass the hazing ritual. You must rattle off five boner jokes and be neg raped. After that, you can post anywhere you like.

I'm not sure this hazing ritual is to my liking. I also have the strange imperceptible feeling that you just made it up a few minutes ago. I am prepared to make boner jokes, however, if they are required. They will be the only boner jokes I will ever make on this site. Or any other site. I think.

[Qrazy]

I'm not sure this hazing ritual is to my liking. I also have the strange imperceptible feeling that you just made it up a few minutes ago. I am prepared to make boner jokes, however, if they are required. They will be the only boner jokes I will ever make on this site. Or any other site. I think.

For the sake of clarity:

1. Boner M is a poster here.
2. Neg rape = Neg rep = Something people here say when someone says something they disagree with... will become clear as time goes on.

[Raiders]

For the sake of clarity:

1. Boner M is a poster here.
2. Neg rape = Neg rep = Something people here say when someone says something they disagree with... will become clear as time goes on.

:|

NEG RAPE!

[Beau]

For the sake of clarity:

1. Boner M is a poster here.
2. Neg rape = Neg rep = Something people here say when someone says something they disagree with... will become clear as time goes on.

I have much to learn. But, I am willing to learn. So this will be a fortuitous combination.

[DavidSeven]

Welcome, Beau. As you may have already gathered, Raiders is sort of the bad apple/black sheep/problem child of the group. Keep your distance.

[Watashi]

I was neg raped once before.

The doctor told me I had 6 weeks left to live.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Is there really such thing as positive rape

[Beau]

Is there really such thing as positive rape

No.

Hello Rouge!

[Philosophe_rouge]

No.

Hello Rouge!
Hello my French-username-compatriote :pritch:

[Raiders]

Is there really such thing as positive rape

Well, sure, not if you ask the victims.

[Qrazy]

I was neg raped once before.

The doctor told me I had 6 weeks left to live.

Really? My doctor is more optimistic. He told me the pain in my ass would go away in 6 weeks.

[Melville]

Well, sure, not if you ask the victims.
Pos rape.

[Qrazy]

Well, sure, not if you ask the victims.

Irreversible II: Reversible.

Plot Synopsis: The bastard from the first film proceeds to the local golf course, where the Funny Games killers knock his head off, with a golf ball.

[number8]

Is there really such thing as positive rape

If you're optimistic enough, all rape is positive rape.

"Well, sure, it was terrifying, but hey, I got laid."

[Sycophant]

Welcome, Beau. You'll be pleased to know that your arrival has prompted the greatest outpouring of tasteless, crude jokes that I can remember in these parts.

[Philosophe_rouge]

If you're optimistic enough, all rape is positive rape.

"Well, sure, it was terrifying, but hey, I got laid."
If you put it that way, I guess you're right :P

[DavidSeven]

Welcome, Beau. You'll be pleased to know that your arrival has prompted the greatest outpouring of tasteless, crude jokes that I can remember in these parts.

Indeed. Most inappropriate welcome ever.

[Beau]

Welcome, Beau. You'll be pleased to know that your arrival has prompted the greatest outpouring of tasteless, crude jokes that I can remember in these parts.

Hey, I come from RT. Used this sort of behavior, I am.

[Raiders]

Yeah, you'll have to excuse some people at this site. They're way immature.

[Rowland]

a/s/l

[Watashi]

a/s/l
17/f/wherever u at

call me?

[origami_mustache]

a little late but... my top ten living filmmakers (in no order):

Werner Herzog
Ming-liang Tsai
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Michael Haneke
Guy Maddin
Shinya Tsukamoto
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Wong Kar Wai
Coen Brothers
Woody Allen

[Spinal]

Whenever I'm trying to make a first impression, I just leave the word 'rape' out altoghether. Dating ... job interviews ... random traffic stops ... It's just my policy.

[Raiders]

Whenever I'm trying to make a first impression, I just leave the word 'rape' out altoghether. Dating ... job interviews ... random traffic stops ... It's just my policy.

Thus why I am the ruler and you are my "yes" man.

[DavidSeven]

The new avatar has done strange things to Raiders' head.

[Beau]

The new avatar has done strange things to Raiders head.

So this is a new "phase" for him?

[Spinal]

The new avatar has done strange things to Raiders head.

It probably doesn't help that I have a monkey av right now.

[Spinal]

Hey Raiders, I noticed you have Breaking In queued up on Netflix. If you ever get around to watching it, my wife is in it. She has a brief scene with Casey Siemaszko.

[Boner M]

Reading Raiders' last posts here whilst looking at his av is very amusing.

[monolith94]

I like Neil Jordan.

Hell, I even think Interview With the Vampire is quite good.

At the very least, it was an improvement on the book!

[Philosophe_rouge]

At the very least, it was an improvement on the book!
I loved the book when I was 13, it must be great.

[Qrazy]

I like the scene where the vampire is jumping around him with his fast motions and then he cuts him in half.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Literally speaking, La ronde is a ride in an amusement park. Colloquially it can also apply to a dance, where the couple well… they spin around (you’re lucky you have me to enlighten you on these subtleties). Ophuls’ film is based on a play of the same name, that was about class and the spreading of syphilis through a series of rencontres sexuelles. Sounds like an absolute riot. Ophuls drops the disease, and most of the class issues in his interpretation of the work. Instead he opts to examine the intricacies of these relationships. In his world, even what may seem to be the most meaningless sexual encounter leaves a mark on those involved, and in a sense everyone else they touch…. not in a disease-y way though.

The film is (as can be expected) stunning to look at, and also plays into ideas of filmmaker and spectator. It's not quite his best work, but if you're a fan well worth the time.

[MadMan]

Whenever I'm trying to make a first impression, I just leave the word 'rape' out altoghether. Dating ... job interviews ... random traffic stops ... It's just my policy.
[Harry Callahan has to explain why he shot a man]
Harry Callahan: Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy.
The Mayor: Intent? How did you establish that?
Harry Callahan: When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross!
[walks out of the room]
The Mayor: He's got a point.

Welcome Beau. I'm sure you've noticed the sign above the door saying "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."

Best living directors? Shit man I couldn't tell you who the best directors of all time are. I haven't seen films from many of the so called "Masters."

Also I am really happy that for one of his four-five films he selected to be screened tonight on TCM, Alex Trebec choose The Professionals. Awesome stuff indeed, and I hope that because of it more people saw the film and enjoyed it. Even though the movie got nominated for Oscars, was directed by Richard Brooks, features an all star cast and Conrad Hall worked on it I never see it mentioned in film circles. This is strange to me and should be rectified. Great, fantastic western.

[megladon8]

I loved the book when I was 13, it must be great.


Ditto.

When I was a pre-teen / young teen, I loved Anne Rice.

I haven't read anything by her since then, and I am content with leaving my fond memories as they are.