Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 1, 2006 19:22:35 GMT
July recap 32 films; 20 features. 24 first viewings. 3 on the big screen. Raging Bull (1980/Scorsese) Groundhog Day (1993/Ramis) Fight Club (1999/Fincher) Last Year at Marienbad (1961/Resnais) Eyes Wide Shut (1999/Kubrick) The Devil Wears Prada (2006/Frankel) Dekalog, jeden (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, dwa (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, trzy (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, cztery (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, piec (1988/Kieslowski) Old School (2003/Phillips) Wedding Crashers (2005/Dobkin) A Woman Under the Influence (1974/Cassavetes) Thelma & Louise (1991/Scott) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986/Hughes) Dekalog, szesc (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, siedem (1988/Kieslowski) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968/Kubrick) Dekalog, osiem (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, dziewiec (1988/Kieslowski) Dekalog, dziesiec (1989/Kieslowski) Dekalog (1988/Kieslowski) The Elephant Man (1980/Lynch) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972/Buñuel) What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963/Scorsese) The Big Shave (1967/Scorsese) A Scanner Darkly (2006/Linklater) Citizen Kane (1941/Welles) Dinner Rush (2000/Giraldi) Miami Vice (2006/Mann) Rollerball (1975/Jewison) Survive Style 5+ (2004/Sekiguchi)
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Boz
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Posts: 1,451
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Post by Boz on Aug 1, 2006 19:41:15 GMT
Stealing Harvard 2002/McCulloch Much funnier than I had remembered it. Consistently laugh-worthy throughout with some suprisingly solid direction from Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall fame. What ever happened to Tom Green?
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Aug 1, 2006 22:07:31 GMT
La Grande illusion (The Grand Illusion)(1937/Jean Renoir) [First Viewing] Two French soldiers during WWI attempt an escape from a P.O.W. camp.Renoir's extremely smart form of silent protest, that inadvertently started a whole sub-genre of prison escape films. Though behind the excitement, Renoir has a lot to say about war and the visions of honor that spring from it. Though unlike some of his other films, he is more subtle in his viewpoints, and lets the film speak for itself. And what speaking it does.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Aug 2, 2006 1:14:49 GMT
JULY 38 films. 36 viewings. 1 on the big screen. Black Rain Ridley Scott 1989, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Black Hawk Down Ridley Scott 2001, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Dial M for Murder Alfred Hitchcock 1953, USA[/color] 3rd viewing; TV[/size] Derailed Mikael Håfström 2005, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Legend Ridley Scott 1985, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes Stephen Quay / Timothy Quay 2004, Germany / UK / France[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Metropolis Fritz Lang 1926, Germany[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Mat i syn Mother and Son Aleksandr Sokurov 1996, Germany / Russia[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] Killer's Kiss Stanley Kubrick 1954, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] They Live John Carpenter 1988, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] 4 Ilya Khrjanovsky 2004, Russia[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Mummy's Hand Christy Cabanne 1940, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Superman Returns Bryan Singer 2006, Australia / USA[/color] 1st viewing; big screen[/size] Eva Gaspar Noé 2005, France[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] The Mummy's Tomb Harold Young 1942, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Scener ur ett äktenskap Scenes from a Marriage Ingmar Bergman 1973, Sweden[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Tempo di viaggio Voyage in Time Andrei Tarkovsky 1982, Italy[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Nashville Robert Altman 1975, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Serpent and the Rainbow Wes Craven 1987, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman Roy William Neill 1942, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Son of Dracula Robert Siodmak 1943, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Satyricon Federico Fellini 1969, Italy / France[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Mummy's Ghost Reginald Le Borg 1944, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Wide Awake M. Night Shyamalan 1995, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] North by Northwest Alfred Hitchcock 1959, USA[/color] 3rd viewing; TV[/size] Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick 1975, UK / USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Le locataire The Tenant Roman Polanski 1976, France / USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] House of Frankenstein Erle C. Kenton 1944, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Witness Peter Weir 1984, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Marnie Alfred Hitchcock 1964, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Viva la muerte Long Live Death Fernando Arrabal 1970, Tunisia / France[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Straw Dogs Sam Peckinpah 1971, UK / USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Mummy's Curse Leslie Goodwins 1944, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Duck Soup Leo McCarey 1933, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Gods and Monsters Bill Condon 1997, UK / USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Elgar Ken Russell 1962, UK[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Eraser Chuck Russell 1996, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] House of Dracula Erle C. Kenton 1945, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size]
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Post by Michael on Aug 2, 2006 3:08:59 GMT
I anticipated you'd hate Barry Lyndon, wetdog...glad to see I was wrong.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Aug 2, 2006 3:25:25 GMT
La Bête humaine The Human Beast(1938/Jean Renoir) [First Viewing] A train conductor gets jealous of his wife's infidelity.Intense and captivating psychological drama, almost in the vain of Hitchcock. Themes of obsession and character's with distorted pasts make this a fascinating and extremely entertaining film. Renoir directions it very good, giving the film a great sense of spontaneity.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 2, 2006 9:40:03 GMT
Wild Strawberries 1957/Bergman My first Bergman. I had been really looking forward to this one as its themes seemed to hold potential for true greatness. The final product was decent, exploring some deep ideas, and Bergman does draw up some interesting symbolism at times. Overall, the only parts that really shined were the surreal dream sequences. Otherwise, average.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 2, 2006 9:51:33 GMT
Wetdog, I've recently been interested in seeing Black Rain. I've come to like Ridley Scott and feel like Black Rain might hold the same kind of intensely 80's type thing that Thief had going on. What'd you think of it?
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Aug 2, 2006 12:50:58 GMT
Wild Strawberries 1957/Bergman My first Bergman. I had been really looking forward to this one as its themes seemed to hold potential for true greatness. The final product was decent, exploring some deep ideas, and Bergman does draw up some interesting symbolism at times. Overall, the only parts that really shined were the surreal dream sequences. Otherwise, average. I remember feeling rather underwhelmed by it when I saw it for the first (and only) time. I own it, so I'm likely to revisit it. Check out "Persona".
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Jenson71
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Post by Jenson71 on Aug 2, 2006 16:14:36 GMT
I've seen Wild Strawberries a few times, Omar and mistamista. It's a film that, at least in my opinion, you can get really comfortable with the story and characters after repeated viewings. It's one that I always "go back to". Sleepless in Seattle 1993 Directed by Nora Ephron A widower's son attempts to find his lonely father a new wife, even if the woman is on the other side of the country.This is a great date movie, maybe my favorite. Definitely one I would like "going back to". I like Tom Hanks, and him and his son have a lot of good moments/scenes in this movie. You quickly think about the great chemistry between Hanks and Meg Ryan, but they only spend a few minutes together on-screen, kind of like, Heat with Pacino and DeNiro. I like Meg Ryan. I guess she's getting too old for Hollywood standards, but she was a fine star back in her day.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Aug 2, 2006 17:10:38 GMT
I've never seen "Sleepless in Seattle", but about a month ago when I was actually in Seattle, I was on a boat tour, and we saw the house that Tom Hanks lived on in the movie.
Everyone on the tour was really excited and took lots of pictures. I felt like an idiot, having no idea what the big deal was.
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Jenson71
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Post by Jenson71 on Aug 2, 2006 17:20:38 GMT
That's pretty cool. Nobody lives in the house now? I'd say half of the movie is set in that house, or the dock part of it. Well, now you have to watch it.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Aug 2, 2006 17:33:03 GMT
Wetdog, I've recently been interested in seeing Black Rain. I've come to like Ridley Scott and feel like Black Rain might hold the same kind of intensely 80's type thing that Thief had going on. What'd you think of it? It's an okay genre movie, nothing to get excited over. It is visually coherent, though - lots of steam, whirling fans and tight angles (like Alien, actually).
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Aug 2, 2006 18:07:08 GMT
That's pretty cool. Nobody lives in the house now? No, actually some guy who's high up in T-Mobile bought it in the mid 90's for $600,000....and now it's worth something like $3.2 million.
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Jenson71
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Post by Jenson71 on Aug 2, 2006 18:18:58 GMT
Wow, you'd have to be a pretty big Sleepless in Seattle fan to buy that one.
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Post by Michael on Aug 2, 2006 19:20:46 GMT
Are We Still Married? (Stille Nacht II)At only 3 minutes and 20 seconds in running length, this packs more punch than many full length features I've seen. An amazing sequence of surreal and dreamlike images that evoke feelings of nostalgia and amazement.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Aug 2, 2006 20:38:48 GMT
One Man Band Mark Andrews/ Andrew Jimenez 2005 US 1st time; big screen Two multi-instrument musicians compete for the single coin in a toddler's hands; their greed gets the better of them. Witty Pixar short, which runs just about short enough for the charm to come off; any longer, and it might just grate.Cars John Lasseter 2006 US 1st time; big screen Lightning McQueen, a racing car, wants to make it big, but first has a lesson or two to learn from an old abandoned town on what used to be a busy route 66. Decidedly American affair, oddly nostalgic and neglecting character for sentiment; Pixar has always brought such gusto to facial expressions in its characters, but this freedom doesn't translate well to automobiles. It isn't as succinct as their other efforts, but stands as a visual triumph in its own right, far away from the studio's previous worlds of superheroes, the ocean and a bedroom full of toys.Wolf Creek Greg McLean 2004 Australia 2nd time; TV Three backpackers, an Australian male and two English tourists, get stranded in the Outback, and take the offered help of a seemingly genuine local. Effective, confident piece of filmmaking; it looks marvellous, presenting beautiful images of the Australian landscape as if from a postcard, which are contradicted by the brutal violence. The opening hour is a subtle lesson on how to absorb and ultimately wrong-foot the audience; the second hour is a tremendously sustained gore-fest reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.Professione: reporter The Passenger Michelangelo Antonioni 1975 France/Italy/US/Spain 1st time; big screen A reporter in Africa assumes the identity of a gun-runner who dies of a heart attack in the hotel room next to him. Thoroughly unpredictable, meandering film without any kind of foreseeable character or narrative arc, presented as a kind of extended travelogue which goes on far too long and burns at too slow a pace; Nicholson's performance is tame and his character is simply uninteresting. The cinematography is fantastic early on, and there are some brilliant cinematic touches throughout, the best of which comes at the very end of the film, where a camera seemingly moves, at a snail's pace, through a barred window, slowly turns around, and is somehow outside the hotel room in which it started its movement.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Aug 2, 2006 22:28:26 GMT
By the way, Wet Dog, I was surprised by your low rating of Witness and high rating of Straw Dogs. I hold the opposite view on both; but haven't seen either for years, and have only seen each one once.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Aug 2, 2006 22:36:34 GMT
Dramolet (Stille Nacht I) Timothy Quay / Stephen Quay 1988 UK 1st & 2nd time; YouTube A puppet overlooks a room being invaded by a strange hair-like substance. The first in the Quay brothers' Stille Nacht series, a visually unsettling piece of work with much atmosphere bursting out of its minute-long duration.Are We Still Married? (Stille Nacht II) Timothy Quay / Stephen Quay 1991 UK 1st & 2nd time; YouTube Synopses are dangerously reductive to the Quay Brothers' work: a rabbit mimics a small child's foot movements…? The visual influence of the two is clear throughout: are those opening white-on-black eyes not the same as Papa Lazarou's in The League of Gentlemen? The filmmakers pay homage to films, too, with reference to The Wizard of Oz in particular, with a pair of heeled shoes paid especial attention to, as a rabbit tries to mimic the "human" movements. Lynch's Rabbits, anyone? It's all pretty surreal, creepy stuff, not least due to the music.Can't Go Wrong without You (Stille Nacht IV) Timothy Quay / Stephen Quay 1993 UK 1st time; YouTube Death pulls a string through a key-hole, on the other side of which sits a rabbit in a deck-chair. More stuff of visual interest, hauntingly surreal and about nothing in particular; you can search for all the allegory you want in this, but in the end it is far more interesting as a work presenting only itself.Dog Door (Stille Nacht V) Timothy Quay / Stephen Quay 2001 UK 1st time; YouTube A dog masturbates over a spread-eagled doll. Probably the most narratively coherent of the series, with the most blatant symbolism too; a rather violent take on sexuality, with the dog's hand movements particularly (and suitably) crude. You get the feeling that with a bigger budget the Quays could make something really profound, both weird and rational, along the lines of their Street of Crocodiles, instead of films which can be defended simply as "dream-like" or Dadaist...though they are impressive to watch.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Aug 2, 2006 22:46:38 GMT
La Règle du jeu The Rules of the Game(1939/Jean Renoir) [First Viewing] Infidelity and chaos occur one weekend at a French estate.Renoir wonderfully combines slapstick humor with surprisinly witty and sharp social commentary. His direction carefully observes the flaws of the bourgeoisie, and how those same flaws are found in everyone. The fights at the masquerade party is one of the best and funniest sequences in all of his films. Despite the amount of characters and various storylines, the film does not lack power.
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