28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Grouchy]

Made myself a classic Hollywood Western/War double feature today.

While I hate to use the word, Three Violent People felt dated. Since the whole dramatic conflict is about Anne Baxter trying to hide from her Civil War hero husband the fact that she used to be a whore, but the script can't mention that fact out loud, well, the situation gets pretty goofy at times. Specially an early love scene between Heston and Baxter when they decide to marry on the run that belongs in the screwball genre, and the movie never picks up the tone of that particular scene again. The performances are adequate, and the Charlton Heston brand of machismo is always cool to see. However, for all the drama heights the movie achieves, the resolution is comfortable, overly neat and predictable. Compare that to the way the redemption scene plays out in Ride the High Country.

The Bridges at Tokio-Ri is an anti-war statement from the '50s. This one made me ponder that William Holden is one actor that always seems to be playing psychologically complex and very human characters, even when the movie (like Damien: Omen II) happens to be fluff. The director is Mark Robson, and I recognized the name from Val Lewton films like Bedlam and Isle of the Dead. While obviously a studio hand and in no way an auteur, he was a very skilled director. The closing scenes are very suspenseful and the outcome unexpected. The movie also has Grace Kelly and a funny performance by Mickey Rooney as the token brawling Irishman. While some of the culture clash scenes (like the one with Holden and family in a Japanese bath house) feel forced by today's standards, it's nice to see a war movie so open-minded being made during one of the most patriotic decades of American cinema.

[monolith94]

Wow. The longer it goes on, the more disturbing it kind of gets, especially the religious stuff. This is a very strange clip. I wonder why/how it was released. I'm still getting a feeling of it being a constructed gag. It's a bit on-the-nose.

Edit: I'm thinking this is a creative audition tape.

On further consideration, something like this seems likely. Still, I can easily imagine parents who are assholes.

[MacGuffin]

Some negative thoughts on Fellini's Amarcord (sorry for the lack of caps, I quickly typed this while watching the movie and really looking at the keyboard):

negatives on fellini's amarcord:

poor editing, feels like a series of skits with no meaning. some good stuff here, some bad. like selected pieces from two separate puzzles, nothing adds up and you're left with a lot of irrelevancy considering the "themes".

does fellini like his hometown? considering it's a movie about nostalgia, i could only imagine so. so why does this movie make it look like ass? for example, the party scene at the grand hotel. it was probably filmed on a set, but couldn't he have at least used some sort of background instead of just black? a seaside? maybe? this is a seaside town. it's shit like this that really makes me question this movie's authenticity. it's other little things too like the lack of shot depth. the camera distances itself from the characters, but doesn't give us much else to look at. some trees if you're lucky, maybe a building or something too. there's only a few good shots in the entire movie towards the end that aren't boring.

so safe and unchallenging. when the character who could've very well have represented fellini appears onscreen, it takes the role of the "coming of age comedy" it claims to be, but, like the television show south park or the movie rushmore, never has anything to say regarding what the characters are going through; it merely portrays events. it may only exist to show how "quirky" his town was (i.e. the guy in the tree who kept shouting how he wanted a woman).

I watched Amarcord last night and I feel like I have to be missing something. I think giving it two stars would be generous. I didn't really like much at all. Some of the set pieces were impressive but weren't given time to develop. And the whole thing didn't seem to add up to much. I'm disappointed because I was expecting it to be great and I've loved the Fellini I've seen so far.

Yeah. You say it better than I do regarding the lack of development. It was just too poorly edited and quick. 100% agreed on everything.

Amarcord is a masterpiece. Obviously, if you don't like "disjointed" movies, you're not gonna like it. It's as disjointed as disjointed gets.

I don't have a problem with disjointed movies, I have a problem with disjointed movies where half the fragments don't mean anything and the rest add up to nothing relevant to what the movie seems to be exploring.

[origami_mustache]

You shouldn't dismiss the scenes as meaningless just because they don't mean anything to you personally. I didn't see this so much as a coming of age story at all, but more of collected fragments of life, ranging from all sorts of emotions that make it worth living.

[MacGuffin]

You shouldn't dismiss the scenes as meaningless just because they don't mean anything to you personally.

I only meant to dismiss certain scenes (mostly anything not related to a character who could've been Fellini, like the witch burning scene) as meaningless with regards to what the movie was trying to do.

[Sven]

I didn't. I dismissed certain scenes (mostly anything not related to a character who could've been Fellini, like the witch burning scene) as meaningless with regards to what the movie was trying to do.

If the film is presenting you with scenes that don't have anything to do with the Fellini surrogate, chances are great that what the film is trying to do extend past the Fellini surrogate.

[MacGuffin]

If the film is presenting you with scenes that don't have anything to do with the Fellini surrogate, chances are great that what the film is trying to do extend past the Fellini surrogate.

Well, that's just unfocused. I for one was just as confused as those three ladies in the movie as to the relevancy of the witch burning sequence. I think I would have let it by if there was some sort of commentary involved. But no, all of those "extensions" just seem to exist to highlight the town's individualism.

[Sven]

Well, that's just unfocused. I for one was just as confused as those three ladies in the movie as to the relevancy of the witch burning sequence. I think I would have let it by if there was some sort of commentary involved. But no, all of those "extensions" just seem to exist to highlight the town's individualism.

It seems to me that "individualism of a town" is a focused topic. I mean, "town" is a broader communal entity than "individual" or "family". But I think much of Fellini's nostalgia, as with all of us, extends past himself and encompasses the lives of the people he knows. I don't see how this is bad at all. If only more films had such a strong sense of community.

[MacGuffin]

It seems to me that "individualism of a town" is a focused topic. I mean, "town" is a broader communal entity than "individual" or "family". But I think much of Fellini's nostalgia, as with all of us, extends past himself and encompasses the lives of the people he knows. I don't see how this is bad at all. If only more films had such a strong sense of community.

If only this particular film had that said sense of community. For one thing, the editing makes it so that each scene feels a bit like a vignette. The problem isn't that though, it's that they are so loosely tied together, that even though Fellini examines aspects of this community, they're a) shown with a lack of perspective. The narrations by the townspeople are humorous, but why not a narration by Fellini? Or maybe his character? b) examined individually. The classroom scenes introduce us to the teachers, but we never see these teachers together except in a snapshot. The cigarette shop lady is examined in one scene literally isolated in her shop away from the community, and her interaction with the young man ends without any perspective. The episode with the priest is interrupted by obtrusive and pointless flashbacks. His interactions with the young men are limited to a few lines. The witch burning scene is probably the only scene where the whole community is viewed together as a whole, but the extent of community interaction is one man's refusal to give the ladder to another man atop the bonfire. Even the wedding sequence at the end when they're all back together takes the same distant stance away from the community only approaching to see the woman in her wedding dress.

[origami_mustache]

In my opinion, Fellini's intent is not so much to show the community as in harmonious unity, but rather through the vignettes, he shows how different people within it influenced and affected one another. There is more of an unspoken bond, between characters and I see it more as a tribute or thank you to the forgotten ghosts of his childhood. The film almost has a magical feel to it as the memories and the characters within become exaggerated caricatures, distorted over time. I also love the juxtaposition of humor and a festive passion for life with more serious issues like the Fascist politics of the time and the death of family members.

[MacGuffin]

In my opinion, Fellini's intent is not so much to show the community as in harmonious unity, but rather through the vignettes, he shows how different people within it influenced and affected one another. There is more of an unspoken bond, between characters and I see it more as a tribute or thank you to the forgotten ghosts of his childhood. The film almost has a magical feel to it as the memories and the characters within become exaggerated caricatures, distorted over time. I also love the juxtaposition of humor and a festive passion for life with more serious issues like the Fascist politics of the time and the death of family members.

I didn't see how special this town was since Fellini made it so hard to see past the crassness he throws at the audience.

[origami_mustache]

Why are there so few Roberto Rossellini films available on DVD?

I have seen The neorealist trilogy, will be watching The Flowers of St. Francis, and also have The Rise of Louis XIV and RoGoPaG downloaded.

What else should I seek out?

[soitgoes...]

Why are there so few Roberto Rossellini films available on DVD?

I have seen The neorealist trilogy, will be watching The Flowers of St. Francis, and also have The Rise of Louis XIV and RoGoPaG downloaded.

What else should I seek out?

I've only seen the trilogy as well, but I've heard some positive things about Europa '51 and Stromboli.

[soitgoes...]

Come Drink with Me was somewhat of a disappointment compared with Hu's exceptional Dragon Inn. Since it's such a groundbreaking film, I suppose some slack is needed. Cheng Pei-pei's fight scenes were the weak point. It seemed as if she was learning as she went. I did love the scene where Drunken Cat is introduced to Golden Swallow. A great use of song to help the plot along. Also it's rumored that a little Jackie Chan is in the scene, which is pretty cool if true. Next up on my Hong Kong binge is Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, which also either sports one of the coolest film titles or one of the worst.

[soitgoes...]

Variety Lights (Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada, 1950) - 7

I watched the Lattuada film Mafioso a few weeks ago. Some funny stuff. You might want to check it out if you haven't yet.

[happ]

I just want to say that There Will Be Blood's soundtrack was fantastic. The track "Prospectors Arrive" was so haunting; it's a beautiful piece of music but I can't listen to it without thinking of the film, and it makes me sad. The way the melody was played near the end of the film as Daniel remembers back to the time when HW was still a boy is very emotional.

To me, TWBB was a good example of how to use music in a film. Like Bresson theorized, if music is used in a film, the best way is to use it as a "refrain," the best example in Bresson's films being the use of Mozart's Kyrie from the Mass in C Minor in A Man Escaped. Tarkovsky did the same thing in Solaris with Bach's Chorale-Prelude. But Bresson was always reluctant about music in films, knowing that film music can easily become a crutch for the images, to make the audience feel the right emotions for the scene. He even goes so far as to say that there should be no music in cinema, except that being played by instruments (or on the radio, etc.). He breaks his own maxim several times, so I don't know how serious he was, but still, I tend to agree that music should be used sparingly.

[balmakboor]

Some negative thoughts on Fellini's Amarcord (sorry for the lack of caps, I quickly typed this while watching the movie and really looking at the keyboard):

negatives on fellini's amarcord:

poor editing, feels like a series of skits with no meaning. some good stuff here, some bad. like selected pieces from two separate puzzles, nothing adds up and you're left with a lot of irrelevancy considering the "themes".

does fellini like his hometown? considering it's a movie about nostalgia, i could only imagine so. so why does this movie make it look like ass? for example, the party scene at the grand hotel. it was probably filmed on a set, but couldn't he have at least used some sort of background instead of just black? a seaside? maybe? this is a seaside town. it's shit like this that really makes me question this movie's authenticity. it's other little things too like the lack of shot depth. the camera distances itself from the characters, but doesn't give us much else to look at. some trees if you're lucky, maybe a building or something too. there's only a few good shots in the entire movie towards the end that aren't boring.

so safe and unchallenging. when the character who could've very well have represented fellini appears onscreen, it takes the role of the "coming of age comedy" it claims to be, but, like the television show south park or the movie rushmore, never has anything to say regarding what the characters are going through; it merely portrays events. it may only exist to show how "quirky" his town was (i.e. the guy in the tree who kept shouting how he wanted a woman).



Yeah. You say it better than I do regarding the lack of development. It was just too poorly edited and quick. 100% agreed on everything.



I don't have a problem with disjointed movies, I have a problem with disjointed movies where half the fragments don't mean anything and the rest add up to nothing relevant to what the movie seems to be exploring.

"I quickly typed this while watching the movie and really looking at the keyboard"

I don't think this is the most effective way of launching into a critique of a film.

I haven't cared much for the few later period Fellinis I've seen -- Satyricon, Amarcord, and And the Ship Sails On. He moved toward a very theatrical, artifice heavy approach that just didn't work for me. And I generally love artifice in my movies. The Tales of Hoffmann, Marnie, and One From the Heart are all personal favorites. Fellini almost gets away with it with Ship Sails On because the vision is so whimsical and unhinged (the first 15 minutes of the film is possibly my favorite thing Fellini ever did) but Amarcord really needed something different. I thought it needed to be much more grounded in reality like a neo-realistic return to I Vitelloni territory.

Or, in short, I don't care for Amarcord very much either.

[origami_mustache]

I didn't see how special this town was since Fellini made it so hard to see past the crassness he throws at the audience.

I find it a little odd you weren't a fan of Armarcord, considering how much you like Gummo, which is in many ways very similar in my opinion.

[balmakboor]

I find it a little odd this film you weren't a fan of Armarcord, considering how much you like Gummo, which is in many ways very similar in my opinion.

I love Gummo. Maybe I should give Amarcord another chance.

[origami_mustache]

I love Gummo. Maybe I should give Amarcord another chance.

Gummo is much more grounded in reality, which is what you felt was missing in Amarcord....so maybe your opinion wouldn't sway much. Clipper felt that meaning was lacking in certain segments, so I don't see how Gummo differs much from that stance.

[Bridget Jones]

More news about the Ebert/Roeper departures:

Disney announced that E! critic Ben Lyons and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz have signed on to co-host the new show.

Uh...

[Wryan]

More news about the Ebert/Roeper departures:

Uh...

/has stinging pain run up and down his arm like an LSD-addled gerbil having Nam flashbacks

[Teh Sausage]

(Stupid site wouldn't log me in for 15 minutes, gah...anyway)

so safe and unchallenging. when the character who could've very well have represented fellini appears onscreen, it takes the role of the "coming of age comedy" it claims to be, but, like the television show south park or the movie rushmore, never has anything to say regarding what the characters are going through; it merely portrays events. it may only exist to show how "quirky" his town was (i.e. the guy in the tree who kept shouting how he wanted a woman)

In an interview, Fellini stated that he believed that Fascism and the Catholic Church's repressive ways put people in a kid of 'perpetual adolescence'. these may only appear to be small elements in Amarcord but, as Bondanella explores in The Films of Federico Fellini, the film shows how living under them has so affected the way people live their lives. I don't see the guy in the tree as an example of 'quirkiness': his immature cries of wanting a woman reveals how one can sink to such a state due to sexdual repression, and the nun who gets him out of the tree represents the institutuon which caused him to become this way.

[Duncan]

Out of Africa - Went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Streep, man, she's really good. But I didn't like how her v/o had a heavier accent than her normal speaking voice. Anyway, it was kind of a serene way to spend a few hours. I think if I had been in a different mood I may have hated it. But as it stands I was content to see pretty landscapes and animals and stuff filmed classically and competently.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - One of the more stylish horror flicks I've seen. I guess I understand the appeal, but it's not for me. But that guy in the wheelchair, wow, comedy gold. Every thing he said or did was hilarious.

Also watched an hour of Celine and Julie Go Boating...I might finish tonight. Might not.

[Spinal]

Also watched an hour of Celine and Julie Go Boating...I might finish tonight. Might not.

It gets better.