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Thread: 28 Film Discussion Threads Later

  1. #251
    Montage, s'il vous plait? Raiders's Avatar
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    Keaton's best short is The Playhouse. I don't know if that really has much story or plot either, nor can I say it has any resonance outside the brilliance of its stunts and visual gags, but it is ridiculously clever and hilarious, precisely what it wanted to be and what it should be. Plus, I think there are some good undercurrents regarding the roles within the production that allow for more than mere watching.
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  2. #252
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    I re-watched Ettore Scola's The Dance, which is kind of a silent movie (albeit filled with music) that tells the story of a dancing club as the decades go by. It's a very simple movie and there's not much to say other than that it's extremely well done and I love watching it again from time to time.

    I also watched You Only Live Twice, part of my project to catch up on every Bond film I haven't seen yet. This is, chronologically, the first time the producers decided to piss on the original novel and re-write a completely different storyline for the movie adaptation. It didn't work badly this time around, since the novel, aside from being a sequel to another novel not yet adapted, is kind of passive until the last three or four chapters, with the story advancing slowly and without any opportunity for an action scenario. What they did was basically Thunderball in Japan, with enough characters, girls, set-ups and double agents for a lifetime of shock and adventure. This also marks the beginning of the escalating goofiness in Bond movies, although the silliest part (Bond disguises himself as a Japanese fisherman) comes straight from the book.

    All in all, the most disappointing of the Connery movies (I haven't seen Diamonds are Forever yet) but still good entertainment. Curiously, the director (Lewis Gilbert) and the writer (no less than Roald Dahl) are more famous than Bond filmmakers usually are, but they made a lesser movie than the no-names behind classics like From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.

  3. #253
    Too much responsibility Kurosawa Fan's Avatar
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    Seems The Darjeeling Limited will last an entire week in my town. That's to be expected. I mean, where would we be without P2 and three prints of Fred Claus?

    Anyway, I'm going to try to see it by Thursday, but it's not looking good.

  4. #254
    These latest Stanley Kubrick releases bother me a bit. Well, only his last three films actually. There has been so much whining about the prior DVD releases being full screen (despite that being what Kubrick desired according to Leon Vitali in this interview http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...interview.html) and yet the real whining should be about the new releases which claim to be as seen in the theater.

    Kubrick composed his three final films with three audiences in mind: England at 1.66:1, America at 1.85:1, and DVD at about 1.33:1. The aspect ratio on the new DVDs is 1.78:1 which, if you are keeping track, is none of the above. They are fobbing off an aspect ratio that Kubrick never composed while ignoring two theatrical ones that he did.

    Are they planning a fourth boxset down the road with the really true American aspect ratios and a fifth with the really true British ratios?

  5. #255
    Evil mind, evil sword. Ivan Drago's Avatar
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    Raiders, check your PMs, if you haven't already.
    Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)

    The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
    Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
    Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
    M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
    Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
    Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5

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  6. #256
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting fasozupow (view post)
    Kubrick composed his three final films with three audiences in mind: England at 1.66:1, America at 1.85:1, and DVD at about 1.33:1. The aspect ratio on the new DVDs is 1.78:1 which, if you are keeping track, is none of the above. They are fobbing off an aspect ratio that Kubrick never composed while ignoring two theatrical ones that he did.

    Are they planning a fourth boxset down the road with the really true American aspect ratios and a fifth with the really true British ratios?
    I think they're trying to reach a consensus between both ratios. Which, I agree, is pretty silly. I'd pick one of the theatrical options.

    But, keep in mind, Kubrick couldn't have planned an aspect ratio for DVD for The Shining or Full Metal Jacket. The reason he wanted 1.33:1 for home video was that the other option in VHS was pan and scan. He wanted to have control over how everyone would look at their films. Now that home audiences are used to other ratios in TV thanks to DVD, it seems unnecessary to keep releasing those movies on 1.33:1. I'm not sure about what he intended for the release of Eyes Wide Shut.

    EDIT: Read the Vitalli interview now. Now I understand your confusion.

  7. #257
    I think far more films are getting cropped from 1.85 to 1.77 or 1.78 than we realize. However, that's not something I'm willing to go to the frontlines for, because that probably puts us at about the same place we would on a widescreen television with overscan, or in a theater with a standardly bad projectionist.

  8. #258
    Quote Quoting Grouchy (view post)
    I think they're trying to reach a consensus between both ratios. Which, I agree, is pretty silly. I'd pick one of the theatrical options.

    But, keep in mind, Kubrick couldn't have planned an aspect ratio for DVD for The Shining or Full Metal Jacket. The reason he wanted 1.33:1 for home video was that the other option in VHS was pan and scan. He wanted to have control over how everyone would look at their films. Now that home audiences are used to other ratios in TV thanks to DVD, it seems unnecessary to keep releasing those movies on 1.33:1. I'm not sure about what he intended for the release of Eyes Wide Shut.
    Actually, I was reading a bit more and it seems that The Shining is in its American theatrical ratio of 1.78:1 (really?) and Full Metal Jacket is as well at 1.85:1. So maybe I'm mostly full of it. Eyes Wide Shut is 1.78:1 though instead of 1.85:1.

    Wouldn't you know that the only one I cared about -- because of the absense of the digital additions to the orgy -- is the only one not in its true theatrical aspect ratio?

  9. #259
    Quote Quoting Sycophant (view post)
    I think far more films are getting cropped from 1.85 to 1.77 or 1.78 than we realize.
    Actually, isn't it more like un-cropped?

    I know what you mean though about the state of projectionists.

  10. #260
    Derek, thoughts on Control plz.

    So glad about the mediocre response it's getting here.

  11. #261
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Boner M (view post)
    Derek, thoughts on Control plz.

    So glad about the mediocre response it's getting here.
    A 5 is like an 8 in TBicklenese
    Sure why not?

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  12. #262
    Quote Quoting fasozupow (view post)
    Actually, isn't it more like un-cropped?
    Most likely, you're right. They're not very prone, I'm sure, to crop that miniscule amount off the sides.

    Still, I worry about the future as 16:9 televisions become more popular. We've seen Kung Fu (the series) cropped from 1.33 to 1.77, while Gilliam's Tideland was released 1.77 instead of 2.35. I hope the industry won't go down that path.
    Quote Quoting fasozupow (view post)
    I know what you mean though about the state of projectionists.
    I've watched an inordinate number of films on curtains lately.

  13. #263
    Quote Quoting Watashi (view post)
    TBicklenese
    :|

    Anywaaaaay... that's an awesome av you got at the moment.

  14. #264
    A Bonerfied Classic Derek's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Boner M (view post)
    Derek, thoughts on Control plz.

    So glad about the mediocre response it's getting here.
    I've gotta head out for the afternoon/night, but I'll get some thoughts up tomorrow. The short of it - it's basically an "artisier", b&w version of Walk the Line with better music...no offense meant to Johnny Cash. I s'pose most Joy Division fans will find it satisfying for hitting all the right biopic notes, but it's surprisingly vanilla.

    Quote Quoting Watashi (view post)
    A 5 is like an 8 in TBicklenese
    I didn't realize I had my own language! I guess it comes from the absurdity of, you know, giving bad films low scores and mediocre films medium scores...a novel idea!

    I have had a rough stretch of moderately bad/mediocre films, which will fortunately come to end with a rewatch of Darjeeling Limited later tonight. And I should be getting to Killer of Sheep soon too, which I've been dying to see for some time.

  15. #265
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Watashi (view post)
    A 5 is like an 8 in TBicklenese
    That's one of the many MatchCut languages I don't speak. I feel like I need a translator when I post here.

    I just finished watching El Mariachi. While it does have some of the markings and trappings that accompany most first time films, it also manages to be raw and entertaining. The action scenes have a sort of low budget, frantic energy to them that would only be dressed up later on in Robert Rodriguez's bigger budget, longer films set on a more larger scale. I actually like that the film is low key and is rather trimed down to a brisk 81 minutes due to financial restraints. Overall its pretty satisfying, although I felt that the relationship between the Mariachi and Domino was pretty underdeveloped. If anything else this movie can be compared to the Alien and The Evil Dead films in that it shows how extrodinary circumistances end up changing a person into a big time badass, going from being helpless to badass status. A fantasy that I'm sure has emerged many times in cinema.

    Oh and I think its better than the other two films, if only because Desperado lacked a satsifying ending and Once Upon a Time in Mexico was too bloated in some aspects. I do like the trilogy a good deal though, and I own #2 and #3 in the series.
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  16. #266
    Body Double Doclop's Avatar
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    I saw Juno last week and actually thought it was pretty decent. I remember someone here hating it. True?

    At first, I really didn't like it and could not get past the annoying that is Ellen Page, but it actually won me over and earned its sweetness. It completely indulges in that sense of humor, but I found it a little more nuanced and clever than a film like, say, Napoleon Dynamite. It's certainly a crowd-pleaser and has potential for a Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine-type break-out, but ignoring the surrounding hype, I thought it was a breezy, likable, rapid-fire comedy that hit more than it missed.

    Oh, and I hated Thank You For Smoking.

  17. #267
    Quote Quoting Doclop (view post)
    Oh, and I hated Thank You For Smoking.
    This line sold me on seeing this film. Thanks.

  18. #268
    Quote Quoting Doclop (view post)
    I saw Juno last week and actually thought it was pretty decent. I remember someone here hating it. True?

    At first, I really didn't like it and could not get past the annoying that is Ellen Page, but it actually won me over and earned its sweetness. It's completely indulges in that sense of humor, but I found it a little more nuanced and clever than a film like, say, Napoleon Dynamite. It's certainly a crowd-pleaser and has potential for a Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine-type break-out, but ignoring the surrounding hype, I thought it was a breezy, likable, rapid-fire comedy that hit more than it missed.

    Oh, and I hated Thank You For Smoking.
    Yeah, two Arrested Development cast members and I still can't muster any enthusiasm for the flick.
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  19. #269
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Doclop (view post)
    I saw Juno last week and actually thought it was pretty decent. I remember someone here hating it. True?
    That was NickGlass. Nothing new there.

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  20. #270
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    So, at the fire station, I was watching Night at the Museum for a while. We got a call in the middle, and when I came back, it seemed like a completely different type of movie. It started off as a good fun kids movie. Then it just got... strange. Not sure what happened in the middle.

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  21. #271
    Screenwriter Philosophe_rouge's Avatar
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    Doing a presentation on Ida Lupino tomorow for a class, so I thought it might be a good idea to at least see one of her films (I'm going to see if I can fit in another tonight). I watched Outrage (1950), which is no better or worse than I expected. It is somewhat dated and stagey, but I admire what Lupino was trying to accomplish, and it is refresing to see an alterior viewpoint in noir. It's somewhatIt's an anti-thesis on many of noir's themes/stereotypes while exemplifying just as many. The first half hour is the best as tension is established, and the film is at it's most visually interesting. It loses steam afterward but is still an engaging film, although I imagine unless you're a noir completist it won't hold too much interest. The best scene is early on in the film before the "attack" (the word rape is never mentioned in the film because of the production code), as a mundane/unimportant conversation goes on but in the foreground we have the hands of the rapist as he washes a dish. It's off putting, and effectively works to create the sense of tension of what lies ahead.

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  22. #272
    can recall his past lives origami_mustache's Avatar
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    Does anyone else feel it unnecessary to see the remake of Funny Games? From what I gather it's basically shot for shot with the original aside from a few minute changes. It's an interesting exercise and bold statement from Haneke, but I can't muster any enthusiasm to see it, even though I love Haneke's films.
    In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo, 2021) - 6
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    True Mothers (Naomi Kawase, 2020) - 8
    Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy - (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021) - 7
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    The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021) - 9
    Don't Look Up - (Adam McKay, 2021) - 4
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  23. #273
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    So, at the fire station, I was watching Night at the Museum for a while. We got a call in the middle, and when I came back, it seemed like a completely different type of movie. It started off as a good fun kids movie. Then it just got... strange. Not sure what happened in the middle.
    The movie started out pretty good, and then got extremely lame, cloy and annoying. Which is a damn shame because the premise is pretty cool if you think about it.

    I loved Thank You For Smoking. One of my favorite films from 2006.
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  24. #274
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting origami_mustache (view post)
    Does anyone else feel it unnecessary to see the remake of Funny Games? From what I gather it's basically shot for shot with the original aside from a few minute changes. It's an interesting exercise and bold statement from Haneke, but I can't muster any enthusiasm to see it, even though I love Haneke's films.

    I think feeling that way is OK. The film is probably mostly for people who would not watch the German version.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
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    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  25. #275
    Screenwriter Philosophe_rouge's Avatar
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    I rewathed the Awful Truth ritch: Nothing legal should make me feel this good ritch:
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