Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 31, 2006 6:22:56 GMT
The Shining (1980/Kubrick)My 2nd viewing, this time on the big screen. Nicholson and Kubrick are masters of their respective arts. This is one of the very few films which I feel benefits from being shown in fullscreen for some reason. I get the sense Kubrick just knows how to make better use of the frame. Also really enjoyed the score much more this time around, especially the Tangerine Dream opening number. The Exorcist (1973/Friedkin)Didn't live up to the hype for me. Repetitive and predictable, the thrills are cheap and drama is forgettable. Maybe it just paled in comparison, since I saw it directly after The Shining, but this just didn't do it for me. For any fans of this film, I was watching the "Version You've Never Seen." Is the theatrical release any better? Six Shooter (2005/McDonagh)Winner of the Best Live Action Short Oscar last year, Filmed and set in Ireland, comical and yet morbid, reflecting the traditional Irish pessimistic point of view on life. McDonagh revels in the awkward silences. Well worth a watch on Youtube if you've got the time.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 31, 2006 18:33:30 GMT
The Black Imp (1905/Méliès)Enjoyable Méliès piece, notable for its use of cinematic innovations to create humor. He uses some of the same effects here as he does in A Trip to the Moon. A Corner in Wheat (1909/Griffith)My introduction to Griffith. Decent. The Lonedale Operator (1911/Griffith)Griffith moves into more complex editing and scene framing techniques. Interesting to see the films that would come to define the informal set of rules by which films are still shot and edited to this day. This film contains one of the first ever instances of a moving camera, as one shot is taken from a moving train.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 1, 2006 7:13:12 GMT
OctoberBusy month. 44 viewings, 24 features, 41 for the first time, 4 on the big screen.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 1, 2006 16:48:01 GMT
This film contains one of the first ever instances of a moving camera, as one shot is taken from a moving train. Does that mean the camera's moving, or the train?
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 1, 2006 17:06:10 GMT
On the Town Gene Kelly / Stanley Donen 1949 UK 1st time; big screen Three sailors dock in New York for 24-hours, and fall in love. The opening sets up these three sailors in such exuberant fashion you can't help (even if you wanted to resist, and why would you?) but fall in love with the colours, sets, songs and dance routines which this dazzling musical beats out. The sailors' imaginings of Miss Turnstiles, early on, before having even met her, with a yellow background and Vera-Ellen dancing as the woman of anybody's dreams, is fantastic. In fact, the women steal the show here.Creature from the Black Lagoon (3-D)Jack Arnold 1954 US 1st time; big screen Scientists on a fossil expedition on the Amazon happen across an amphibious killing machine. Not even interesting on the "so bad it's good" defence, it shows its creature too early and too much, though whenever it is seen Joseph Gershenson's signature score, as melodramatic and corny as it is, is likely to make the film at least laughably funny, and even likeable for as long as it lasts. The narrative is a cheap repetition of events, and the dialogue is beyond belief. [The 3-D wasn't all that good, really.]
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 1, 2006 18:08:27 GMT
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 1, 2006 19:16:57 GMT
This film contains one of the first ever instances of a moving camera, as one shot is taken from a moving train. Does that mean the camera's moving, or the train? The train is moving, but I'm just quoting my professor. It is still supposedly considered one of the first instances of a "moving camera."
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Post by Michael on Nov 1, 2006 19:30:22 GMT
OCTOBER The Breakfast Club 1985, John Hughes; 2nd viewing Dazed and Confused 1993, Richard Linklater; 1st viewing Il Conformista 1970, Bernardo Bertolucci; 1st viewing Le Mepris 1963, Jean-Luc Godard; 1st viewing Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet; 1st viewing Solyaris 1972, Andrei Tarkovsky; 1st viewing Stranger Than Paradise 1984, Jim Jarmusch; 1st viewing Der Siebente Kontinent 1989, Michael Haneke; 1st viewing Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes 1972, Werner Herzog; 4th viewing Vivre sa Vie: Film en Douze Tableaux 1962, Jean-Luc Godard; 2nd viewing[/b]
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Nov 1, 2006 23:36:35 GMT
What's the origin of the word "proview"? I've been meaning to ask this for about two years. Does it have anything to do with the word "preview"? And does the "pro" denote positivity or professionalism? OCTOBER 37 films. 32 first viewings. 4 on the big screen. United 93 Paul Greengrass 2006, France / UK / USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Ali Michael Mann 2001, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Torn Curtain Alfred Hitchcock 1966, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Topaz Alfred Hitchcock 1969, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV / download[/size] The Departed Martin Scorsese 2006, USA[/color] 1st viewing; big screen[/size] 2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick 1968, UK / USA[/color] 3rd viewing; DVD[/size] The Element of Crime Lars von Trier 1984, Denmark[/color] 3rd viewing; DVD[/size] Fantastic Four Tim Story 2005, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] McCabe & Mrs. Miller Robert Altman 1971, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] I Walked with a Zombie Jacques Tourneur 1943, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] A Prairie Home Companion Robert Altman 2005, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] Samaria Samaritan Girl Ki-duk Kim 2003, South Korea[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Spoorloos The Vanishing George Sluizer 1988, Netherlands / France[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Suchwiin bulmyeong Address Unknown Ki-duk Kim 2001, South Korea[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Company Robert Altman 2003, Germany / USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] The Frighteners Peter Jackson 1996, New Zealand / USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Tetsuya Nomura / Takeshi Nozue 2005, Japan[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] World Trade Center Oliver Stone 2006, USA[/color] 1st viewing; big screen[/size] Anima Mundi Godfrey Reggio 1991, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] Destricted Marina Abramovic / Matthew Barney / Marco Brambilla / Larry Clark / Gaspar Noé / Richard Prince / Sam Taylor-Wood 2005, UK / USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] Rebecca Alfred Hitchcock 1940, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Midnight Run Martin Brest 1988, USA[/color] 1st viewing; TV[/size] Hae anseon The Coast Guard Ki-duk Kim 2002, South Korea[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Spirit of Christmas Trey Parker / Matt Stone 1992, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] Marie Antoinette Sofia Coppola 2005, USA[/color] 1st viewing; big screen[/size] Zahrada The Garden Jan Svankmajer 1968, Czechoslovakia[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Don Sanche Don Juan Jan Svankmajer 1969, Czechoslovakia[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Otrantský zámek The Castle of Otranto Jan Svankmajer 1979, Czechoslovakia[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Irréversible Irreversible Gaspar Noé 2002, France[/color] 3rd viewing; DVD[/size] The Devil's Rejects Rob Zombie 2004, USA / Germany[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Last Kiss Tony Goldwyn 2006, USA[/color] 1st viewing; big screen[/size] American History Chris Graves / Trey Parker 1992, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] Your Studio and You Trey Parker 1995, USA[/color] 1st viewing; download[/size] The Awakening Nacho Cerdà / Ethan Jacobson / Francisco Stohr 1990, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Shane Black 2004, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD[/size] The Terminator James Cameron 1984, USA[/color] Nth viewing; DVD[/size] The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Tobe Hooper 1974, USA[/color] Nth viewing; DVD[/size]
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 2, 2006 0:42:53 GMT
What's the origin of the word "proview"? I've been meaning to ask this for about two years. Does it have anything to do with the word "preview"? And does the "pro" denote positivity or professionalism? An old member we had, Pherdy (I think you remember him), came up with it a very long time ago, as an alternative to the thread being called, "Movies You Just Watched". Back then, we didn't post any insight on the films, but rather just posted our rating. Pherdy wanted to encourage us to write more about the films we saw, to be more professional in our film viewing. Thus, the world proview emerged. I wonder how he's doing.... Anyway, this might be a lot to ask, but could I hear your thoughts on "A Praire Home Companion" and "Marie Antionette"?
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Nov 2, 2006 1:18:08 GMT
I know it's been several weeks, but here's those requested elaborations (with some benefit of hindsight I mightn't have had if I'd responded earlier ). Safe was an excellent film. I would've preferred it had taken a different direction in its final half-hour, I thought it remained far too lucid and sort of floundered toward the end (before picking up again with a respectabley ambiguous close), but it's a thematically fascinating movie and Julianne Moore's performance, on which the entirety of the film is hinged, is perfect. I know this is the sort of script I'd be very attracted to if I was a filmmaker. Fanny and Alexander would've been a suitable final film, incorporating as it does most of the themes Bergman had explored over his career, and many recurring motifs. It's a sprawling movie, stuffed with details. It's hard to get a handle on the film's centre: Alexander is the film's protagonist and the primary narrative strand concerns his relationship with his stepfather, but there's a lot of meat on those bones. The first segment, in which we observe the extended Ekdahl family's Christmas celebrations, introduces a gaggle of peripheral characters, most of whom serve no significant purpose later on, some of whom have largely irrelevent side-stories of their own. Bergman is such a fantastic director that the whole five-hour thing is compulsive viewing, even when the narrative stands still and we simply kill time with his characters, but its overloaded, meandering shapelessness is apparent when compared to his tighter, more deliberate earlier films. One thing that I love about Bergman that I've never seen discussed is his use of dream sequences and surrealism. I've never seen dream sequences like the nightmares in Autumn Sonata and Cries and Whispers, he evokes the real sense of dreaming, and of what's frightening in a nightmare, not the literal events of the dream, but its indescribable weight and texture, better than anyone else. In Fanny and Alexander there's a scene involving the rescue of the children which ebbs completely outside the frame of logic with absolutely no explanation provided; it's never placed in a coherent context. It's astonishing, and it reportedly infuriated members of the cast and crew. There are other scenes, too, involving hallucinations, flights of imagination, ghosts and, toward the end, magic or telekinesis. They simply exist in this otherwise grounded reality. Fellini is a director whose theories on cinema I'm generally in accordance with; his "cinema of dreams" strikes me as an appealing idea, in theory. His own realisations of those theories, however, are mixed bags. Amarcord and Satyricon are episodic collages, narrative tapestries, like Altman's Nashville but chaotic and directionless. Fine. It's then a matter of the episodes: some are memorable, a few are beautiful, some are forgettable, some are ugly. They range from lewd skits and visual gags to moments of almost holy reverence. He has a predilection for enormous, grotesquely "done up" women and cackling, motormouthed belligerence that I find totally, flat-out annoying. Both films just flash by, hoping that through the sheer volume of "dreams" and "memories" being thrown at the viewer that some will stick. Some do. From Amarcord: things like the villagers greeting the ocean liner, the guy who won't come out of the tree, the pathways through the snow, and the peacock (an incredible image). Capo pretty much summed up my views on Children of Men in his Proview. I think it's the best film of the year. Some of the long-takes are monumental achievements in themselves, and the unbroken perspective in the battle scenes is gruelling. The trailer really didn't do the film justice; there's no clunky voiceover, and the dialogue is excellent - that goofy exchange between Caine and Owen in the trailer ("Why do you think we can't make babies anymore?") is in the context of a joke Caine is telling. It's a beautiful film, I can't wait to see it again, and I'm going to watch the first two Harry Potter movies just so I can get to Cuáron's. Little Miss Sunshine is of a type of film that's becoming very popular, "indie" as an actual genre. It's similar to Me and You and Everyone We Know, but nowhere near as creative. It's all pseudo-edgy. Take something like Palindromes by comparison - the uncomfortably eroticised child beauty pageant is about as "edgy" as Little Miss Sunshine gets. I've since dropped my rating to 1 star. Enjoyable enough, I thought. Quite funny, never very. Wedding Crashers was very funny. That's about it. Its awkward attempts to counterbalance its own fairly militant chauvinism by pretending it's not there and having a character learn a lesson about it are probably best overlooked. "Make me a bicycle, clown!!!" "Wh-why are you yelling at me?" Funny stuff. It's almost totally a dialogue film. Will Ferrell's "funeral crashing" was priceless. I already posted about The Black Dahlia.
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Post by Vercetti on Nov 2, 2006 1:21:01 GMT
"MAAAA, THE MEAT LOAF, FUCK."
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 2, 2006 1:35:23 GMT
Thanks very much for those Wetdog.
And I, if wouldn't mind, am interested in hearing your thoughts on McCabe and Mrs. Miller and United 93. They can be brief if you like, just wanted some explanation behind the ratings. And just for context, I've seen United 93 and loved it, and I haven't seen M&Mrs.M. Thanks in advance.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Nov 2, 2006 3:20:11 GMT
An old member we had, Pherdy (I think you remember him), came up with it a very long time ago, as an alternative to the thread being called, "Movies You Just Watched". Back then, we didn't post any insight on the films, but rather just posted our rating. Pherdy wanted to encourage us to write more about the films we saw, to be more professional in our film viewing. Thus, the world proview emerged. Cool. The more you know... Marie Antoinette is the surprise hit of the decade with me. I enjoyed it SO much more than I was expecting to. I have a general distaste for biopics, I have little to no interest in the history of French monarchs, and I'm not fond of Kirsten Dunst. As the lights went down I even thought, "Ugh... what am I in for." But it was really good. Beautifully photographed and very funny (Jason Schwartzman's character especially). With all the musical and linguistic anachronisms (which grant the film so much individualism), I imagined the film as a modern-day girl's imagining of what her life would be like if she were Marie Antoinette. The ending was gorgeous. If A Prairie Home Companion (which I got so impatient waiting for I had to just download) turns out to be Altman's final film (which it probably won't), he's not only chosen the ideal subject matter, he's gone out on a wonderful high note. It's a sincere, melancholy movie about death and the end of things, and the metaphorical fabric of the film is really quite sad, drenched in nostalgia. The narrative is cleverly constructed, with us placed in the audience watching the last performance, and then eavesdropping backstage, with our presence not unlike Virginia Madsen's (spookily credited as Dangerous Woman). When did Altman start moving his camera like he does here? An impulsive, fickle, floating eye. Great film, I loved it. The songs are cool too, "Bad Jokes" in particular. Thanks very much for those Wetdog. And I, if wouldn't mind, am interested in hearing your thoughts on McCabe and Mrs. Miller and United 93. They can be brief if you like, just wanted some explanation behind the ratings. And just for context, I've seen United 93 and loved it, and I haven't seen M&Mrs.M. Thanks in advance. United 93 is interesting in that it's basically an exercise in just how long dramatic irony can be sustained. Throughout the whole film we know what's happening before any of the characters, but we still cut from one group of baffled government personnel to another and another, watching each and every piece of information be reacted to and acted upon. That's interesting conceptually. Aesthetically it would've been far more interesting if the entire film took place on Flight 93. Don't you think? The scenes on the plane were very good. Watching the suits at NORAD scratching their heads and stroking their chins isn't quite so engaging. The real-time conceit was wasted this way, it was suspect and, more crucially, unnoticable. It would've been easier to do that on the single set. In McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Altman sets out to demythologize the Old West, with his low-key, unsensational protrayal of an isolated community in winter. He contrasts the majestic, icy mountain exteriors, the vast, dormant forests betraying occasional flashes of life, lone animals scurrying to shelter as if startled by the camera's gaze, with the cosy, crowded interiors. Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue is employed to great effect in these scenes, the camera granting an indifferent attention to several conversations, which we can still overhear after it cuts away to the next. Leonard Cohen's beautiful songs act almost as a narration of emotions, underscoring an atmosphere of such overwhelming loneliness and longing, such a sense things lost, of the passage of years and lives, marked only by the seasons.
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Post by Valenti on Nov 2, 2006 10:57:24 GMT
I really enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine, and wetdog about summed it up. I'm glad to see you like Children of Men...it's my favorite film of the year.
And Wedding Crashers is great. It's a good film to quote...good laughs.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 2, 2006 19:01:57 GMT
The New York Hat (1912/Griffith)One of the more complex Griffith films we've seen thus far, with increased use of title cards. The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912/Griffith)Perhaps considered the first gangster movie, with Griffith's first variation from the simple "good triumphs over evil" theme. The Lonely Villa (1909/Griffith)
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 3, 2006 2:19:59 GMT
And so begins November. Last year I saw 57 films this month. The Proposition John Hillcoat 2005 Australia / UK 1st time; big screen A lawman in nineteenth century Australia an outlaw is sent to fetch his brother, a brutal murderer, to a lawmanin charge of a town in which a family was pillaged and killed. Unusually fantastic film, unusual in that it doesn't quite add up to much as a whole, fantastic because it reaches such intense heights that it must be seen by all. As a series of episodes involving dirty-looking, rather savage men conversing with one another in a theatrical tone, it develops effectively, with each individual scene having a poetic weight to it. It's very well-written, almost novelistic (John Hurt's turn as a bounty hunter is brief but brilliant), and viciously acted. Becoming increasingly violent as it progresses, not only suggestively but visually, the fact that director Hillcoat isn't afraid to show these moments of brutality in all their bloody gore without succumbing to satisfaction of blood-thirsts is telling of some potential. Fully absorbing.Back to the Future Part II Robert Zemeckis 1989 US 1st time; DVD Marty and the Doc travel to the future to save the former's son from trouble, and end up having to go back again to 1955 in order to save 1985 from destruction. An even more dense film than the first, both in terms of narrative confusion and the emotional complexities which would probably result from time travel. It is sometimes a mere retread of setpieces done in the first, but adapted to different contexts, which in itself becomes fun to watch, such as the way a skateboard in 1985 has evolved into a hoverboard by 2015. In the latter stages of the film, when the narrative returns to the events of the first film, we get a very clever bringing-together of two parallel stories at their climax, one we've already been told, and one we're being told, though the latter injects new interest into the former because it has the capability of changing it...though its goal is to maintain it....Decided that Part II actually enhances the first film, which I've bumped up to three.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 5, 2006 1:19:29 GMT
Reds(1981/Warren Beatty) [First Viewing] An American journalist documents the Russian Revolution, and tries to establish a Communist Party in the United States.Well photographed, well acted, and a generally well done film. There is something about it's ambition that makes it less successful than similar films, and the script at times blurred the focus between the love story and the main story, instead of successfully combining the two.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 5, 2006 18:53:10 GMT
Amores perros (Love's a Bitch)(2000/Alejandro González Iñárritu) [First Viewing] The lives of several people in Mexico City connect with a car accident.Shocking, gritty, in-your-face debut, feels at times heavily inspired by Tarantino (mainly "Reservoir Dogs"), but eventually overcomes those comparisons and surpasses the films that inspired it. All three segments are beautifully done, and wonderfully tide together with coincidence and the ongoing theme of dogs. The opening is fast and intense, but the final moment, with El Chivo walking off into the horizon, is extremely beautiful.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 6, 2006 0:27:55 GMT
21 Grams(2003/Alejandro González Iñárritu) [Second Viewing] A dying mathematician, a "converted" ex-con, and a junkie turned housewife are all brought together by a car accident.When I first watched this film, I thought it was interesting, but felt the non-linear time-line didn't benefit it. Now I don't think the film would have worked any other way. The three main performances are extraordinary, and each character's story and there ability to relapse into their past selfs are so fascinating and moving. A film full of themes that are fully supported by the observant visual style.
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