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Post by Michael on Jun 18, 2006 12:29:14 GMT
Once Upon a Time in America Mindblowing film that flawlessly intertwines elements of friendship, betrayal, guilt, time, and memories, fueled by great performances, beautiful cinematography, and wonderful music. Unlike other films that run nearly 4 hours, Once Upon a Time in America never drags on, due to the non-linear narrative structure that works beautifully within the film, and the fact that every scene is as intense and provocative as the one before it. Phenomenal film.
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Post by Michael on Jun 18, 2006 12:33:59 GMT
Wow, I haven't written a proview in quite a while.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 18, 2006 14:42:26 GMT
Sweet Land(2005/Ali Selim) [First Viewing] A German immigrant faces discrimination in 1920 Minnesota.A nice little love story. The cinematography toward the second half of the film evoke imagery from Malick's "Days of Heaven", but the content between them both is very different. It takes awhile to get going, but the final moments make it interesting. The Little Death(2006/Morgan K. Nichols) [First Viewing] A man comes to L.A. to find something hidden in the walls of his father's old apartment.Quite a unique film, shot with hardly any budget, it combines comedy and mystery in the vain of Hitchcock, while also paying homage to the noir genre. It doesn't always explain what's going on, but leaves it all open to interpretation. A little film that might not ever make it anywhere, but not one I'm soon likely to forget.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 19, 2006 22:08:33 GMT
The Fallen Idol(1948/Carol Reed) [First Viewing] The young son of an ambassador unknowingly helps his caretaker cover up an affair.An interesting look at infidelity and adult confusion through the eyes of a child, thanks to Graham Greene's script and Carol Reed's inspired direction. The final fifteen minutes are very suspenseful. I had the luxury of viewing this on the big screen, so far the oldest film I've seen in a theater.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 19, 2006 23:11:17 GMT
I have the chance to catch Lawrence of Arabia and Don't Look Now on the big screen next month.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 20, 2006 2:50:32 GMT
I've heard the big screen is the only acceptable place to view "Lawrence of Arabia". Enjoy.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 20, 2006 20:52:11 GMT
The Third Man(1949/Carol Reed) [Nth Viewing] A man travels to post-war Vienna to visit his mysterious friend.The quintessential Film Noir, who's greatness is brought together by all involved. Carol Reed's stylish direction, using off center angles and real Vienna locations, gives the film a unique sense of destruction and of an apocalyptic world of corruption. All of this is set to Anton Karas's upbeat score and Robert Krasker's cinematography, which makes haunting use of shadows and darkness. And then there's Orson Welles. Despite his limited screen-time, he is able to steal the film with his charm and ab-libbed genius. The final image of Joseph Cotten standing alone on the cemetery road is one of the best in all of cinema, coming from a film with more than it's share of priceless cinematic images.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 21, 2006 3:11:46 GMT
The Usual Suspects(1995/Bryan Singer) [Nth Viewing] The only survivor of a massacre recounts the events to the failed drug deal.An excellent throwback to the hard-boiled Noir films of the past. The script is fast paced and requires the viewer's attention, and Kevin Spacey's performance is very convincing, especially in the film's now famous final moments. I might be one of the few that thinks the film still provides something on repeat viewings.
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Post by Mike Sullivan on Jun 22, 2006 5:49:21 GMT
Ok Been sometime since I've written these. Here's just an idea of what I've been watching: The Seachers (1956/Ford)[/i] The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962/Ford)[/i] Catch-22 (1970/Nichols)[/i] The Thin Red Line (1998/Malick) [/i] Vertigo (1958/Hitchcock)[/i] I Wake Up Screaming (1941/Humberstone)[/i] Fallen Angel (1945/Preminger) [/i] Mission Impossible: III (2006/Abrams) [/i] Magnolia (1999/Anderson)
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 22, 2006 13:21:05 GMT
What are your thoughts on "Catch-22", Mike?
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Post by Capo on Jun 22, 2006 14:57:58 GMT
Waiting for Godot TVMichael Lindsay-Hogg 2000 Ireland 1st time; DVD Two tramps question their existence while waiting by a road for Godot, who never shows. Beckett's play has been interpreted as a religious allegory, though his preoccupations with form merit discussion of Godot as the narrative convention the two characters wait for. In the meantime, its hollow ponderings, quite ingenious in the play, are horribly transferred to film: badly shot, and the sound is terrible.Not I TVNeil Jordan 2000 Ireland 1st time; DVD A mouth spits out a monologue about nothing in particular. One of the few adaptations in the "Beckett on Film" series that feels specifically suited to film, and not simply a filmed play, this is shot entirely in close-ups of Julianne Moore's mouth, delivering Beckett's original monologue with mounting despair. It's brilliant stuff; fourteen minutes of speech, to the point where the words don't look like they're coming from the mouth anymore, but have become abstract, almost detached from one another. Only the opening shot, which contextualises what we're about to see, detracts.Ohio Impromptu TVCharles Sturridge 2000 UK 1st time; DVD A man reads from a book to a listener, who happens to be the same person. Cinematic in-joke: Jeremy Irons plays the dead ringers here, one of whom talks the whole time, the other simply knocking on the table. If it tries for a tragic tone, it doesn't quite succeed, though there are pleasures to be found in the camera trickery--though most of the time, admittedly, there's no need for it, with match-cutting detaching us from what could have been a far more intimate adaptation.Rough for Theatre I TVKieron J. Walsh 2000 Ireland 1st time; DVD A and B, two tramps who may or may not be the last people on earth, struggle to get on. The problem with this anthology is most evident here; the directors simply aren't good enough, and although this short has one of the more authentic settings of the Beckett adaptations, the actors are far too animated, far too humane, far too recognisable, to evoke the playwright's abstraction.36 Quai des Orfèvres 36 Olivier Marchal 2004 France 1st time; big screen Two rival cops try to nab a gang of thieves before the other, in order to get the top job in the service. Both are bent, but one is dirtier than the other. So entrenched in seediness is this thriller, so determined to establish a world of rotten cops, that the ridiculous narrative arc, the mounting body count, and the convenient twists of injustice can't help but entertain. Depardieu and Auteuil, France's two best-known actors, go head-to-head in a battle reminiscent of Mann's Heat (1995), and the gusto with which both performances are captured drives this film along satisfactorily to its predictable climax. A dark, loud film void of the emotion it strives for, which ultimately turns out to be as black-and-white as it doesn't want to be.I also watched half of Vertigo, but gasped in horror as it started breaking up midway through. It's a copy of a region 1 disc. Iffy stuff. I hardly slept all night having only watched half a film.
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Post by Mike Sullivan on Jun 23, 2006 1:08:39 GMT
What are your thoughts on "Catch-22", Mike? I may bump the score up to two and a half stars. It's not the book. It has some great moments like the attack on the airfield amoung others but really, it isn't the book. Alan Arkin wasn't who I'd picture as Yossarian to begin with. I really would have liked a much younger William Holden. The film just can't capture the insanity of the novel. Nichols' direction isn't up to par either. You may like it more than I did but myself, the highest I can give it is two and a half stars. At least I got it in a bargin bit with Liberty Valence. Worth a watch anyhow. They Were Expendable (1945) First Viewing Directed by: John Ford Raiting: [/i] One of those essential war films, made at a time where most films of its nature were recruiting tools and propoganda; yet Ford, a man with true hutzpha stands aside and shows the war as it was. He focuses on the stories of a PT boat squadron in the US Navy and their experiances in the Philipines and the South Pacific during the early days of the war. It's a story about getting the crap beaten out of you and still coming back. It's what you've gotta do, you see. WAyne does well here and I'm sure DV would love to see this.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 23, 2006 21:29:29 GMT
I've always been interested in "Catch-22" because it was Nichol's followup to "The Graduate". Glad to see you posting regularly again, Mike. "The Lost City" opened in Atlanta today. I'll be seeing it soon.
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Post by Mike Sullivan on Jun 24, 2006 0:16:52 GMT
Catch "The Lost City" then. Bumped my rating of it to 2 and a half stars on my adopted five star scale... so perhaps it isn't really a rise but an adjustment. Nevertheless, I think it was a bit better than I had thought it when I posted my proview.
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Post by Vercetti on Jun 24, 2006 2:57:25 GMT
Things I've watched in the last few weeks. Casino The Sopranos: Season 1 [no rating] The Sopranos: Season 2 [no rating] The Sopranos: Season 3 [no rating] The Sopranos: Season 4 [no rating] The Roaring Twenties
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 24, 2006 21:22:17 GMT
Equinox(1970/Jack Woods) [Nth Viewing] Four students go into the California mountains in search of their missing professor.Cheesy little film that has a lot of charm and some genuinely disturbing elements. What started out as a student project by Dennis Muren was later taken over by veteran film technician Jack Woods and re-shot and re-edited. The results make for a campy classic.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 25, 2006 15:20:07 GMT
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang(2005/Shane Black) [Second Viewing] A thief turned actor gets caught up in two mysteries in L.A.A little disappointing among a second viewing, but most comedies are, aren't they? The cleverness and unique ideas I noticed the first time around don't seem so fresh, but Robert Downey Jr.'s comedy is better than ever, especially matched with the humor of Val Kilmer.
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Post by Vercetti on Jun 26, 2006 5:26:59 GMT
Ask if you want a detailed proview. The Shining
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Post by jrod on Jun 27, 2006 5:04:27 GMT
A Few new first viewings So I Married an Axe Murderer Resident Evil (0) Animal House Blazing Saddles Born on the Forth of July
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Post by Capo on Jun 27, 2006 16:54:46 GMT
King Kong Merian C. Cooper / Ernest B. Schoedsack 1933 US Nth time; TV A film crew travel to Skull Island in search of a giant ape, and bring it back to New York to make profit. Fast-moving, succinct film which works on two principal levels; a suspense film, not least in the camera trickery during the scenes in which Kong fights his prehistoric rivals, and a romance, not least in the fact that the ape is the only character provided with sufficient enough emotion to touch the audience.Die xue shuang xiong The Killer John Woo 1989 HK 1st time; TV A hired assassin falls for a singer he accidentally blinded on the job, and, with both his employees and the cops after him, does one last job to make enough money to pay for new corneas for her. There is something irresistable in the way Woo creates his world of flying white doves and death-defying heroes that, for all the ridiculous one-liners and crude montage edits, there lies a sort of fascination in how it will all pan out. [Dubbed version.]A Night at the Opera Sam Wood 1935 US 1st time; TV Otis B. Driftwood associates with three stowaways on a voyage from Europe to America, and havoc ensues when they arrive there. Up there with the Marx's best work; there's hardly a delay in Groucho's introduction, Chico and Harpo delight with musical interludes that lend a lasting weight to a lightweight affair. One memorable scene after another, and the villains' undoing at the hands of the Brothers was never as sweet.Son of Kong Ernest B. Schoedsack 1933 US 1st time; TV Carl Denham returns to Skull Island and happens across King Kong's benign son. A quickly-made sequel to King Kong, pleasant enough, but neither here nor there as regards duration or purpose; Denham's ambitious profiteer, the real bad guy in the original, is here redeemed as the romantic hero. The effects are just as impressive as the first film.
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