As I recall, Sword of Doom looked like a filmed play. I think it was all done on a set. I'd suggest Sword of the Beast if you're looking for a cool title to rival Sword of Doom. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker
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As I recall, Sword of Doom looked like a filmed play. I think it was all done on a set. I'd suggest Sword of the Beast if you're looking for a cool title to rival Sword of Doom. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGhp...R1j3xA&index=4Quote:
Originally Posted by Yxklyx
Looks like good amount of outside shots to me. Good movie.
Maybe it was just some night scenes. Oh, Tatsuya Nakadai is the lead in that so it's Tatsuya Nakadai vs Toshiro Mifune!Quote:
Originally Posted by Skitch
I've only seen a couple of Cassavetes, but I can't say that I'm a big fan of him so far; I mean, I just straight-up disliked Chinese Bookie and the empty incoherency of its overall experience, and Influence, while pretty good on the whole, was still held back from greatness by some bloat, and a somewhat problematic ending. Out of those other choices though, The Cranes Are Flying, is really, really good, with some beautiful cinematography that isn't just there to show itself off, but also to heighten the underlying emotion of its story (so I'm afraid I can't disagree with baby doll on that one).Quote:
Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker
I haven't seen Closely Watched Trains, although I didn't much care for the two Menzel films I've seen so far (Larks on a String and I Served the King of England), and The Cremator is bad. I'd recommend Chytilovás's Something Different or Jaromil Jires' The Joke instead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker
Solid recs. I'll keep my eye on them since Daisies and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders are relative bright spots for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by baby doll
How dare you. :) I haven't seen as much as Baby Doll, but Cassavetes is a top ten director for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by StuSmallz
Top ten director for me too but I didn't think much of the Chinese Bookie film. His earliest are the best, like Shadows, Faces, and Too Late Blues. On a different director, I liked both Closely Watched Trains and The Cremator.Quote:
Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker
The great thing about Cassavetes' films is that they require the spectator to suspend judgement of his characters, who are continually (re)inventing themselves on a moment-by-moment basis. Is Mabel Longhetti a saint or a nut? Is Cosmo Vitelli a holy fool or just an ass-hole? Cassavetes purposefully withholds the information that would allow the spectator to arrive at a definitive judgement, which keeps his films perpetually open, alive, and fascinating.
Sure, but that still doesn't make the half hour breakfast scene in Under The Influence any less tedious to sit through...Quote:
Originally Posted by baby doll
Personally I don't find any of the scenes in that movie tedious to sit through. The length of a scene in minutes and seconds has no bearing on whether it's tedious or not. The difference between the long scenes in a Cassavetes film and the genuine tedium of a film like Blue Is the Warmest Colour is that Cassavetes' scenes develop and build and Kechiche's don't. But perhaps more to the point, Cassavetes' scenes need to be long in order to show characters in a perpetual state of becoming and to give spectators the time to reconsider and revise their initial impressions of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by StuSmallz
41. Film Noir -- The Naked Kiss. Another tonal curio from Samuel Fuller that, unlike White Dog and Shock Corridor, never hits its stride. The editing should bear a bulk of the blame, with unclear time jumps, awkward throwaway shots, and a general tendency to abruptly end scenes one or two beats early. To progress so quickly from violent prostitute to World's Most Beloved Nurse (for disabled children, no less) is to lay on the madonna/whore dichotomy a little thick -- and this is even before Fuller doubles down with a bizarre musical moment at the hospital that surely had Sarah McLachlan and the ASPCA licking its proverbial chops. It has its moments visually, but overall this "feminist" film (in which the lead condescends to every other female character but is nevertheless treated as the town hero by film's end) is neither as socially progressive nor as darkly entertaining as it needs and wants to be. Two stars.
42. Samurai -- Samurai Rebellion. Masaki Kobayashi had already eviscerated Bushido propriety five years earlier with Harakiri, but strong direction plus Toshiro Mifune is more than enough to overcome any thematic redundancies. Those looking for samurai hack-and-slash will be rewarded for waiting through ninety minutes of characters politely making outrageous requests while sitting very still. Had Tatsuya Nakadai as the friend/border patrol been given a few more scenes (and the mother character been given any complexity whatsoever) this climax may have broken through the stratosphere, but Mifune very nearly manages it on his own. Three stars.
Next up:
43. A film featured in the "Queersighted: Queer Fear" series -- It's time for me to see Hellraiser.
44. A film featured in the "New Korean Cinema" series -- Kinda tough. I think my best chance to love something is Mother, but it's been far longer since I've seen something from Park Chan-wook, so Lady Vengeance or Mr. Vengeance are options as well. Leaning Mother.
I know that; that's why I liked the heist in Rififi as much as I did, because it was riveting the entire time, even though it was a half hour-plus sequence without a single line of dialogue, or even one note of music. Because this isn't a matter of me looking at the length of a scene, and randomly deciding that it's too long once it's reached some arbitrary length; that breakfast scene could've lasted the entire movie, and I wouldn't have minded if it had been sufficiently engaging. But, it just didn't engage me enough to justify the large amount of screentime it took, and, while it could've been a great scene on the whole, I still feel that there aren't many filmmakers that could make a half hour of people arguing on-and-off while eating breakfast 100% effective, and based off the final result in Influence, Cassavetes, IMO, just wasn't one of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by baby doll
I haven't seen the film in a few years so I can't be very specific, but my memory isn't that the characters argue on and off. Rather, when Peter Falk turns up with his buddies and expects Gena Rowlands to cook breakfast for all of them, rather than getting upset as most wives would, she overcompensates by acting as if she's delighted to be cooking for all these guys and telling them how much she loves them until it becomes uncomfortable and Falk tells her to knock it off. In other words, the scene is about two kinds of obtuseness: Falk's (socially acceptable) obtuseness regarding his wife's feelings and Rowlands' (socially unacceptable) obtuseness towards the feelings of the one black guy on Falk's work crew. The scene needs to be long for all of its nuances to register (including the unspoken racial subtext), especially since it's difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint the exact moments when Rowlands' happy housewife routine ceases to be acting and becomes sincere, and when her behavior crosses the line. In other words, for much of the scene it's ambiguous whether Rowlands' behaviour is eccentric but harmless or whether it's really too much, and part of the achievement of the scene is to draw out that ambiguity for an extended period, to make the viewer sit with ambiguity and force them to really think about how they feel about the characters' actions and to reconsider their judgements as the scene unfolds.Quote:
Originally Posted by StuSmallz
Short thoughts tonight.
43. A film featured in the "Queersighted: Queer Fear" series -- Hellraiser. This poor wretched soul, damned to an eternity of unimaginable torture at the hands of a demonic new wave band, somehow manages to return to the mortal world one pulsating globule at a time. With great effort the being slowly reconstructs itself (American Werewolf in London-style, or Nazis from Raiders but in reverse) -- are those arms? Legs? No, a spine. There's the arms. And that must be the brain. God help us all, the thing has a face.
The damnable abomination speaks: IT'S ME, FRANK.
I had a good time. Solid final girl. Three stars.
44. A film featured in the "New Korean Cinema" series -- Mother. Detective stuff is not my favorite. The mother angle made it slightly more interesting. Solid if unexceptional acting, directing, music, visuals, everything. A well-enough-made movie that I will be fine to never watch again. The third act would be more ethically challenging if it weren't so predictable. I'm sure many cinephiles would claim Bong Joon-ho hit a grand slam with Parasite but was hitting homeruns long before... sorry to you early adopters, I understand your plight, but Parasite is far and away his best. The mildest of yays. Three stars.
Next up:
45. Directed by Ingmar Bergman -- Summer with Monika and The Passion of Anna seem like decent options, but I'm leaning Shame because I've owned the dvd forever and never watched it. And who can turn down a Bergman movie called Shame?
46. Directed by Agnes Varda -- Le Bonheur or One Sings, the Other Doesn't. Leaning Le Bonheur due to length.
A Passion is one of Bergman's two or three best films.
Le Bonheur is one of Varda's very best. L'une chante, l'autre pas is good but not great.
Next year's challenge. You bet I'm doing it again.
Yeah, I'm gonna commit to this next year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Idioteque Stalker
I went with the Baby Doll special on this one, with good results.Quote:
Originally Posted by baby doll
45. Directed by Ingmar Bergman -- The Passion of Anna. Everything you want and expect from late-60s Bergman is here: a legendary cast, probing characterization, and hefty doses of psychological violence centered around suffering, fear, and isolation. There are a few odd cinematic choices to spice things up as well, such as a fairly explicit sex scene spliced into the main story (but featuring none of the leads -- possibly a visualization of the novel Liv Ullmann's character is translating) and some quick, pseudo-behind-the-scenes interludes in which the four actors provide insight into the characters they depict (as if the DVD extras were accidentally placed within the film itself). What you may not want or expect is numerous counts of animal violence, and some curious narrative rhythms that skip over swathes of relationship development to get to the juiciest bits of confession and cruelty. It should've been longer -- or maybe it's actually beneficial to watch it, along with The Hour of the Wolf and Shame, as a real trilogy. I say good luck to anyone brave enough to do such a thing. Three stars.
46. Directed by Agnes Varda -- Le Bonheur. The "everyone's favorite artsy grandma" narrative that developed during Varda's twilight years belies just how subversive her films could be. This one is all vibrant colors and Mozart on the surface, brutal vivisection of pretty much all men underneath. Like when you look up from smelling the flowers just to realize you've been complicit in fueling a toxic patriarchy. Four stars.
Next up:
47. Based on a book -- The Cloud-Capped Star or An Angel at My Table.
48. Foreign-Language Oscar Winners -- I fell asleep in Roma. I guess it's time for a rewatch. Pretty slim pickins for me on this one.
Can anyone else here with Criterion check out the first few minutes of The Music Lovers because the streaming quality is awful and I want to know if it's my connection or just a bad transfer.
41. Nightmare Alley (1947) - I probably won't bother with the Del Toro one after watching this, knowing that GDT made it a longer story. Its not very interesting for me - guy aims high and ends up ruining himself. As a picture, its well made, good performances with twists at every turn (even when we as a modern audience know they're coming). I'd say watch this regardless of your affinity for GDT and whatever he does with the same story. 7.5/10
34. Death in Venice - I’m all for a sad, plodding misery picture… yet this was quite flat for me. Its not as creepy as it could be, though this kind of fascination picture feels awfully dated in the present. Images are fine. I’m very interested in its related documentary. 4/10
27. Toby Dammit - This is now in the Fellini set, so it counts. Its really too bad Terence Stamp never had any weird children to pass on his incredible presence and face. Its a quick one, but plays wonderfully on the same stuff you've seen in 8 1/2 and others... though with a darker twist. Great photography and use of sound. 7.5/10
47. Based on a book -- An Angel at My Table. Better than your average biopic because Campion doesn't shy away from the awkwardness, sexism, and general hardship central to Janet Frame's atypical life story. Aside from that, however, we've all seen this type of thing a hundred times. Three stars.
48. Foreign-Language Oscar Winners -- Roma. For the first half all I could think about was Cuaron's hand at work, all the arthouse tropes he was compiling into an oh-so-respectable cinematic fakery. For instance, there are no fewer than three distinct moments in which the psychology of a character is juxtaposed with a discordant surrounding (sad woman surrounded by marching band, party animal sings into the void amid a raging forest fire and, most egregiously, family realizes daddy's not coming home next to a wedding celebration). Like dude... reel it in a little! It takes some real tragic shit to finally bring the characters into the spotlight, and fortunately that's when the movie clicks. Despite my early annoyances, the emotions in the second half are pretty much undeniable. Three stars.
My friend and I are probably not gonna get around to The Killing of a Chinese Bookie before the new year, so:
39. Directed by John Cassavetes -- Husbands. It takes a great director to make a movie this irritating. It's as if these actors were instructed to "loosen up with some improv, but make it as obnoxious, spiteful, and moronic as possible." I don't care if you're going through some type of collective mid-life crisis because your friend died -- nobody behaves like this. With acting, as with life, if you're unsure what to say next, it's okay to just keep your mouth shut instead of laughing or yelling for no reason. Empty, ugly, undisciplined, and thoroughly unpleasant. I hated every minute of it. One star.
It looks bad to me too, like digital distortion or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yxklyx