28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Russ]

A close second might be Sean Kilkoyne (of the above mentioned, heavily-narrated Baldwin films).

He come off as a cross between Brian-Doyle Murray and Lewis Black.

[MadMan]

I want someone to tell me if anyone has a cooler voice than Orson Welles in F For Fake. It seems impossible that there could be a better voice.

F For Fake made realize that I could listen to Orson Welles narrate even a phone book. Great movie, too.

[Spun Lepton]

Nope, he has objectively the best voice ever.

Pee-Wee Herman?

(*ducks*)

[Dukefrukem]

Knowing (Proyas, 2009) – The lukewarm-to-downright negative response to this film greatly surprises me. The material frequently wavers across the line of ridiculousness (the white-haired men are very silly) and certainly such a premise could have used a little more levity. But when so many Armageddon films treat the end of the world with a lot of winks, jokes and silly dramatics (I’m looking at you Roland Emmerich), it is somewhat refreshing to see a film that treats the idea with a large dose of freaked-out over-seriousness. .

Every Cage movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Excluding Ghost Rider.

[Spun Lepton]

Every Cage movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Excluding Ghost Rider.

Raising Arizona is no guilty pleasure. And on a more modern note, neither is Bad Lieutenant: Port of of Call New Orleans.

[Barty]

Knowing (Proyas, 2009) – The lukewarm-to-downright negative response to this film greatly surprises me. The material frequently wavers across the line of ridiculousness (the white-haired men are very silly) and certainly such a premise could have used a little more levity. But when so many Armageddon films treat the end of the world with a lot of winks, jokes and silly dramatics (I’m looking at you Roland Emmerich), it is somewhat refreshing to see a film that treats the idea with a large dose of freaked-out over-seriousness. There are few actors who play edge-of-sanity better than Nicolas Cage (so well in fact he often derails into it unnecessarily) and his paranoid, loud-soft-crazy-loud routine is perfectly in-line with his surrounding context. Proyas’ work is also pleasant to see; the sense of ominous momentum he builds is fantastic and his images frequently linger--including the centerpiece of the film: the three-minute unbroken take of the aftermath of the plane crash as Cage wanders from burning, screaming body to the next, a series of images fitting the impending destruction of mankind. The religious overtones to the end of the film were handled better than I expected; it was inevitable for Cage to embrace the un-scientific theories of his father and the Christian faith, but I was glad that the moment was brief and tender, the focus more on the family than the beliefs. The last few minutes, up until the intriguing final shot, are laced with a kind of haunting futility and the moment looking down on Cage and the cut to the brief weightlessness around him were dynamic moments of an Earth-stuck man witnessing the fateful decision by some unnamed, unseen force. It’s a starkly Christian moment but undercutting its own religious ideas my centering the drama strictly from a lost human perspective. Uneven film, but more films should be imperfect like this.

Bravo. Very underrated and interesting film.

The sequence you highlighted with the plane was one of the best of the year.

[Dukefrukem]

Raising Arizona is no guilty pleasure. And on a more modern note, neither is Bad Lieutenant: Port of of Call New Orleans.

Added to queue.

[megladon8]

Raising Arizona is no guilty pleasure. And on a more modern note, neither is Bad Lieutenant: Port of of Call New Orleans.

Hellz yeah on both accounts.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans took my by surprise. That was one of my favorite movies of the year.

[Spun Lepton]

Added to queue.

Just remember: It's a comedy.

[megladon8]

Yeah, it's a dark comedy much more than it is a police drama.

If you go into it expecting Se7en with Nicolas Cage, you're going to be very "WTF??" when the credits roll around.

[Raiders]

I was inspired by the Fake Movie Trailer thread to post what, I guess, are essentially "fake movies" (but very fun ones, nonetheless).

Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America (Craig Baldwin, 1992) 6.5/10
Spectres of the Spectrum (Craig Baldwin, 1999) 7.5/10
Mock Up On Mu (Craig Baldwin, 2008) 7.0/10


Anyone here familiar with the films of Craig Baldwin? I'm thinking that they would be cinematic catnip for any of us older 'cold-war' babies (not too many of us on this site) or who are fans of collage/experimental cinema that takes it's cue from musical/cut-up, sonic terrorists like People Like Us and/or Negativland (Baldwin produced a documentary about them called Sonic Outlaws).

Basically, I'm talking about taking hundreds (perhaps thousands) of clips of science/sci-fi/50's and 60's z-budget films/early kinescopes of forgotten material, running them through the proverbial blender and attaching loosely fitting narrative comprised of conspiracy theories, lots of humorous narration, and some newly shot footage in sometimes vain attempts to tie it all together. The resulting mash-up can be compellingly addictive -- but I couldn't tell you since I chose to sample these films in smaller portions over a few days. The hyper-editing, along with the frequent use of intertitles (sometimes subliminal) certainly recall (or foreshadow?) Guy Maddin's work, but the heavy reliance on archived media detritus gives it a unique flavor all its own. I would definitely recommend these films to those predisposed to such material...but, how many of you are out there?

I know this is where the "bal" comes from in balmakboor's username. I personally find most of these found-footage films to be hit-or-miss. I like Tscherkassy (well, the three I have seen) but have been lukewarm to Martin Arnold. Bruce Conner remains a sad blind spot.

[Russ]

Have either of you seen Alexander Kluge's The Big Mess? (supposedly, this film is said to be a big influence on both Baldwin and Maddin).



I know the percentage of people who will be attracted to these films is quite small. That's not to dismiss them, mind you. Just sayin'.

I'm incredibly fascinated by them.

[megladon8]

Saying anything influences or is like Maddin makes me instantly interested.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Tribulation 99 is well constructed, a good satire and amusing. It also goes on for about half an hour too long. Wears on especially on the second viewing.

[Bosco B Thug]

I've seen Tribulation 99 and Mock Up on Mu. Unfortunately I don't remember them enough to have anything to say about them, but I remember Mock Up on Mu being pretty funny, and my being less resentful of it because it has a good amount of original footage. I think I had fun with that one.

[megladon8]

How does everyone here rank the Monty Python films?

If I remember correctly we have a pretty good group of Python fans here...

It's interesting to me reading that John Cleese always flat-out disliked The Meaning of Life. It's by far my least favorite the films as well.

I was watching And Now for Something Completely Different last night, and you know, it may be my favorite. I'm not sure. I need to watch Holy Grail again.

[Raiders]

Well, ...And Now for Something Completely Different is just a collection of Flying Circus shorts, but yeah, moment-for-moment it may be the funniest. Life of Brian is still likely my favorite. The Meaning of Life I haven't bothered to re-watch in a long time, but I remember it being very disappointing as a series of loosely-connected sketches that just never had much comedic momentum.

[Spinal]

The Meaning of Life is only disappointing in the sense that it's not one of the greatest comedies of all-time like the other two are. It's still pretty damn hilarious.

[megladon8]

I think my opinion of The Meaning of Life is tainted by my last viewing of it, which was about 3 years back and was with my family.

My dad is rather...conservative.

The sex ed portion was very uncomfortable.

[balmakboor]

Yeah, I love Baldwin's stuff. Part of what makes Tribulation great is that it consists of nothing but found footage. I think my favorite is Sonic Outlaws which is his most conventional, documentary-like film. I haven't seen all of Mockup on Mu yet. Baldwin sent me a burned copy and it froze about 2/3 of the way through. He sent me another copy and it froze and 3/4 of the way through. I didn't have the heart to ask for a third copy. I'll Netflix it some day.

[balmakboor]

Back when I was watching a lot of Baldwin and reading a lot of Burroughs, I started a blog. Of course my mind jumps around as fast as a Baldwin film and I didn't do much with it for long.

http://mycutups.blogspot.com/

[Boner M]

Flying to the Adelaide Film Festival for the next week, my schedule at the moment:

Four Times, The
Arbor, The
Harmony and Me
Nostalgia for the Light
Illusionist, The
Mysteries of Lisbon
Snowtown
Bill Cunningham: New York
Here I Am
Brother from Another Planet
Lola
Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow
Troll Hunter
Useful Life
Hail
Microphone
Honey
Incendies

Mostly leftovers from the other fests, but it'd be nice if a few of the Aussie titles turned out to be gems.

[baby doll]

Flying to the Adelaide Film Festival for the next week, my schedule at the moment:

Lola

1. Demy?

[Boner M]

1. Demy?

Demy, but I coincidentally just borrowed the Demy from my library.

[baby doll]

Demy, but I coincidentally just borrowed the Demy from my library.

Cool. If you're wondering why there's a number one in front of Demy, I was going to say something unrelated about Incendies, but decided against it.