28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[EyesWideOpen]

As of today:

Match Cut's Top Ten Highest Rated Films of 2013 (10 minimum ratings)

1. No - 100%
2. Behind the Candelabra - 100%
3. Before Midnight - 96.3%
4. Mud - 91.67%
5. Like Someone in Love - 90.91%
6. The Place Beyond the Pines - 87.50%
7. Much Ado About Nothing - 85.71%
8. This is the End - 85.19%
9. Frances Ha - 85%
10. Side Effects - 83.33

Match Cut's Lowest Ten Rated Films of 2013 (10 minimum ratings)

1. A Good Day to Die Hard - 6.67%
2. Gangster Squad - 20%
3. Only God Forgives - 28.57%
4. Oz The Great and Powerful - 33.33%
5. The Great Gatsby - 37.5%
6. G.I. Joe: Retaliation - 45.45%
7. Man of Steel - 51.72%
8. The Last Stand - 52.94%
9 (tie). Trance - 54.55%
9 (tie). Pain & Gain - 54.55%

[dreamdead]

Looking forward to No and the TPBtP, so the consensus update is cool. Thanks, EWO.

Kramer's The Wild One feels like the epitome of a film important for its cultural impact rather than its success as a film. Rebel motorcyclists cause havoc and then learn a moral lesson, even as the town's own prejudices are revealed. It's overbearing in performances, and often trite in its script. When Johnny is needed to stand for something, it's only false profundities, and the dependence on square/rebel language does the film no favors. Toward the end Kramer relies on close-ups to convey meaning, and those instances feel more natural and lived-in than almost any element of the script, as the girl is just too underdeveloped.

One can see why Scorpio Rising concentrates on the aesthetic so much, since the aesthetic is richly suggestive. But the free-form nature of Kenneth Anger's film privileges the iconic imagery of Kramer and forgoes the empty rhetoric that this film channels. Interesting to see Brando play the role, but nothing really exciting here.

[Ezee E]

Trance and Pain & Gain are in my top five of the year, heh.

[Qrazy]

As of today:

Match Cut's Top Ten Highest Rated Films of 2013 (10 minimum ratings)

1. No - 100%
2. Behind the Candelabra - 100%
3. Before Midnight - 96.3%
4. Mud - 91.67%
5. Like Someone in Love - 90.91%
6. The Place Beyond the Pines - 87.50%
7. Much Ado About Nothing - 85.71%
8. This is the End - 85.19%
9. Frances Ha - 85%
10. Side Effects - 83.33

Was my vote able to bump Side Effects off in favor of something else?

[dreamdead]

Really need to get around to Samsara. It's one of my biggest regrets from '12.

Campion's In the Cut was really fascinating. Not sure why I put it off for so long. Wonderfully adult in its approach to messy sexuality, with characters who are utterly trying to understand themselves, moving fluidly between relationships and identities (Ruffalo especially seems like one giant mash-up of detective profession and sexual obsession). And solid (seemingly?) legitimate location shooting. NYCity actually feels like a character here, and not another city existing as a stand-in for it. The film's messiness keeps it from perhaps framing one idea cleanly, but the skill of the cast and production make this stand out from other thriller fare.

[EyesWideOpen]

Was my vote able to bump Side Effects off in favor of something else?

The next movie is Iron Man 3 so no I will not allow it.

[Qrazy]

The next movie is Iron Man 3 so no I will not allow it.

Oof, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[baby doll]

Fuck Yeah Udo Kier.

[MadMan]

Fuck Yeah Udo Kier.

Following.

[Lucky]

E, are you trying to build anticipation for MC's best/worst of 2012 list or what?

[Ezee E]

E, are you trying to build anticipation for MC's best/worst of 2012 list or what?

Damnit. I hunkered down and I tallied this.

[Grouchy]

E, are you trying to build anticipation for MC's best/worst of 2012 list or what?

Does this exist anywhere?

[dreamdead]

A rewatch of The Emperor's New Groove confirmed that its lunacy remains captivating. More abrasive than most Disney films about amounting to more than its moral, more fun in sidestepping narrative logic than most, and Gronk remains a delight. It's clear that the film had multiple and competing visions, but this one captures the troubled energy of its narrative well.

[Grouchy]

The Yakuza (Sydney Pollack, 1974) is a film I was really looking forward to see, and frankly... it wasn't that good. Mitchum is excellent, of course, and within his range he's incapable of a bad performance, but, surprisingly, it's Pollack who shines the most at directing the action sequences instead of famous writers Paul Schrader and Robert Towne, who, quite frankly, did a bore of a screenplay. I didn't have my stopwatch near but I swear every single character spends five minutes delivering painfully obvious exposition or otherwise reminiscing about "Japan". I realize there is an overarching theme at work here but several scenes like this stop the narrative dead on its tracks. In a way it reminded me of the picture I had in my head while reading You Only Live Twice (the original Ian Fleming novel) which is also a bit like this - a character piece about a Western hero blending in the Japanese world of honor. Anyway, this film's main claim to fame besides the pedigree involved is that it features an Asian actor in a prominent lead role, unusually before the '70s and arguably after that. I read that it was originally intended to be directed by Robert Aldrich, now that might have been something.

[dreamdead]

Fell into a rewatch of Hoop Dreams yesterday. That was magnificent, and far more nuanced and class-conscious than my brain remembers from 1996. The level of critique leveled at the predatory institutions on these kids, in addition to the kids themselves who wade through the classes thinking that their game will save them, are powerful. Oddly, I found myself appreciating the filmmakers' editing juxtapositions the most--Arthur's mom finishes a nursing school and attends the graduation despite little fanfare, while the next shot details a high school basketball court filled to the brim with cheering fans. Interesting appraisal of what's valued.

[MadMan]

Hoop Dreams is fantastic. Its run time was at first a bit daunting to me, but once I started viewing it I was completely hooked and finished the whole thing in one viewing.

[Bosco B Thug]

If King of New York is middle-tier Ferrara, then that bodes well for his other films. A bit of a gimmicky gangster pic, but Ferrara's directing is lush.

[Ezee E]

I'm watching JFK. I'm convinced this is the best edited movie ever, and gets back into my top ten of all time.

[B-side]

If King of New York is middle-tier Ferrara, then that bodes well for his other films. A bit of a gimmicky gangster pic, but Ferrara's directing is lush.

I'd call it lower-tier Ferrara, and I still enjoy it.

[Qrazy]

I'm watching JFK. I'm convinced this is the best edited movie ever, and gets back into my top ten of all time.

Agreed, the editing in that film is ridic.uluous.

[Bosco B Thug]

I'd call it lower-tier Ferrara, and I still enjoy it.

See? No way.

I failed to mention it, but I thought it was essentially close-to-great.

[B-side]

See? No way.

I failed to mention it, but I thought it was essentially close-to-great.

I am in a minority, though, so take my word with an extra helping of salt. Not merely a grain, but more like a tablespoon.:P

[Rowland]

Ferrara's Ms. 45 is pretty fucking great. I watched King of New York for a film studies class several years ago, back before I was familiar with Ferrara, but I recall liking it. Bad Lieutenant is a good movie that I wish I loved (I might prefer the Herzog edition), 4:44 is deeply flawed but undervalued all the same, and his Body Snatchers is alright, if not anywhere near the same league as Philip Kaufman's masterpiece.

[B-side]

I'd place Ms. 45, The Driller Killer, Mary, Body Snatchers and The Addiction all well above King of New York.

[Bosco B Thug]

I am in a minority, though, so take my word with an extra helping of salt. Not merely a grain, but more like a tablespoon.:P

All I'm seeing is these very reserved pro stances from the internet, when it seems like such a "Distillation of the filmmaker's sensibilities" film and, having just seen De Palma's Body Double, I expected similar sorts of disproportionate praise for an obscured curiosity. So come on, own your place in the majority!

Ferrara's Ms. 45 is pretty fucking great. I watched King of New York for a film studies class several years ago, back before I was familiar with Ferrara, but I recall liking it. Bad Lieutenant is a good movie that I wish I loved (I might prefer the Herzog edition), 4:44 is deeply flawed but undervalued all the same, and his Body Snatchers is alright, if not anywhere near the same league as Philip Kaufman's masterpiece.

Seen Ms. 45 and remember being into it, but that was way before my tastes refined. Bad Lieutenant I really liked and I can sense is a more advanced film than King of New York.

I'm most interested in his late-period (most alienating?) work. He's making rounds with his Strauss-Kahn flick and I'm reading his very recent interviews, and he's clearly a crazy MF.