Seeing the poster for Intolerable Cruelty reminded me of two things:
1 - that movie exists
2 - the crush I had on CZJ was immense
Seeing the poster for Intolerable Cruelty reminded me of two things:
1 - that movie exists
2 - the crush I had on CZJ was immense
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I still have not seen that one.
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
Guys, how do you search for silent films Criteron? Struggling here.
Probably best to just go by date, and go to the earliest ones.Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
There's probably only a handful of silent stuff in the collection that are outside of the 1910s/20s. Maybe some stuff by Guy Maddin.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Some recommendations, off the top of my head:Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöström, 1921)
Body and Soul (Oscar Micheaux, 1925)
The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925)
The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg, 1928)
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
Die Büchse der Pandora (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
À propos de Nice (Boris Kaufman/Jean Vigo, 1930)
I Was Born, but... (Ozu Yasujiro, 1932)
Every Night Dreams (Naruse Mikio, 1933)
Japanese Girls at the Harbour (Shimizu Hiroshi, 1933)
Window Water Baby Moving (Stan Brakhage, 1959)
It's a little surprising how many major silent directors aren't represented on the Criterion Collection at all: nothing by Dovzhenko, Feuillade, Griffith, Keaton, Kuleshov, Murnau, Pudovkin, Stroheim, and only sound films by Eisenstein, Lang, Mizoguchi, and Lubitsch (unless you count Das Fidele Gefängnis, which is included as a bonus feature on the DVD of Trouble in Paradise).
Last edited by baby doll; 01-07-2021 at 12:21 AM.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
Damn off the top of your head?Quoting baby doll (view post)
Thanks for this. Searching for variety has been hard.
ZOMGZ Criterion Channel works for me!!!!
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
That's quite a list of names -- I'd say more than a little surprising.Quoting baby doll (view post)
Also, I'd like to see Duke's review of Window Water Baby Moving.
Luckily there are other companies, notably Flicker Alley, that are committed to distributing silent films. (Incidentally, when Criterion does put out silent films, they're often re-issues of discs put out by companies in Europe: their box set of Ozu crime films, for instance, is a repackaging of a BFI set of the same films, and I'm sure there are other examples of this sort of thing.) Maybe this is a financial thing (Criterion decided at some point that silent films don't sell) or maybe it's a lack of expertise in this area. The real problem--and one reason I'm reluctant to sign on to a Criterion challenge, other than being busy--is that people talk about the Criterion Collection like it's all of film history, or at least all of film history worth knowing. I remember seeing a listicle a few months back of classic films by black directors that aren't on Criterion but "should be," nearly all of which were available from other companies. Why do we need a Criterion edition a movie that's already available when we can't see Larry Clark's Passing Through or Bill Woodberry's Bless Their Little Hearts anywhere? [Correction: Woodberry's film is available from Milestone.] At the end of the day, it's just a brand.Quoting Idioteque Stalker (view post)
Last edited by baby doll; 01-07-2021 at 08:06 PM.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
I watched Love Streams for the first week.
I'm thinking of going with Kagemusha this week; it's been on my list to watch for over a decade and I always put it off.
Second film is Wildlife, representing the 2010s. Wife gets to pick that category, so she's taking care of the low hanging fruit.Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
How have I never even heard of this movie before now?Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I hadn't either until I showered her the 2010 list.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
heh, I've been avoiding it. Don't care for Mulligan, especially don't care what Dano does for directing.
Blood Simple
This was really like seeing it for the first time. I think I was 14/15 when I saw it and I remembered nothing except the presence of McDormand and Walsh.
But, I did remember not liking it much.
Happy to report that I kind of loved it this time. The Coens' dialogue is always so great. Snappy, full of character, wonderful moments of dark comedy.
I loved the moments that felt unscripted but were obviously carefully planned. One stand out is when Hedaya and Getz are speaking while Hedaya is sitting on the back porch, and an electric bug zapper snaps and crackles beside him. There are a couple of great uses of the zapper to both visually and audibly punctuate the drama of the conversation.
Walsh is a wonderful sleezeball. And true to form for him, he elevates everything he does. Fantastically gross, scummy and evil.
The tension of the finale is still so brutal. I loved it.
Great movie. Great start to this series.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Re: Blood Simple
[]
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
Agreed, that was horrific.Quoting DFA1979 (view post)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I love how Blood Simple and Raising Arizona both firmly represent the two sides of the Coen Brothers filmography before Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink made them really famous.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
I went with Stray Dog for week two. Despite a few earnest (if flimsy) attempts to philosophically lump everyone -- criminals, law enforcement, civilians -- together into a big sweaty stew of people "just trying get by," this is one of Kurosawa's more boilerplate genre movies (in this case detective noir, not typically my favorite). Even still, not a scene goes by without some sort of visual brilliance: intricate blocking, dutch angles, and superimpositions galore. I was scared Mifune would spend the entire movie looking handsome and little else, but he's allowed some moments later on that add range to the performance. Very striking opening credits, weak final scene. Not top tier Kurosawa, but as far as I can tell the man never made a bad movie. Easy to recommend to fans of detective noir. Three stars.
Wow that's weird. I was just coming in here to say that Jen and I selected Stray Dog for our Kurosawa title!
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Stray Dog is a badass film.
Week 2 I think I have to go with a classic: The Hidden Fortress. A truly entertaining and very influential movie.
Also makes me bummed that KF couldn't be around for this. He's one of the reasons I got into Kurosawa's work.
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
Stray Dog is cool. I haven't seen it in years so it begs for a rewatch. I still need to see The Bad Sleep Well and Throne of Blood.
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
Yay! Also, its main theme is one of my favorites:Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Yes, the theme is nice. Definitely had it in my head the rest of the night.Quoting StuSmallz (view post)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."