Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 17, 2006 22:09:46 GMT
Well, I'm not that much of a fan of this kind of music. It isn't nice on the ears, but, with the help of visuals, the passion seeps through; I doubt I could listen to an album of it. Kind of like Nashville, or even Woodstock to a lesser extent.
Not that I don't appreciate the music. I do, and Scorsese, thankfully, has no theatrics with editing: it's the performances that count, and he keeps the camera on them with passionate awe. The hgihlight for me was Mavis Staples' song.
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Post by thug on Jan 17, 2006 22:27:47 GMT
Mulholland Dr. (2001/Lynch) SPOILERS 75% of this movie is a dream of Naomi Watt's character, Diane, which allows for the audience to get endless details on this character and how they think; personally, I find this to be one of the finest examples of character development in all the cinema. This movie is not without flaws; it was originally a TV pilot and some loose ends are left which probably would've been cleared up in the series (the guy who is having nightmares!), and, additionally, there's some content which just seems to be odd for odd's sake (the like film executive, I think it is, who just sits alone in the room). But, this is Lynch at his finest, and from what I've seen, none of his works top this. Naomi Watts is brilliant.
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Post by ronnierocketago on Jan 17, 2006 23:12:20 GMT
EXCALIBUR (1981) - ****
Magical and engrossing retelling of the King Arthurian myth by Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Boorman. Full of violence and sex that most such fantasy projects are neither willing or able to feature, and featuring early career work for future featured actors like Liam Neeson, Gabriel Mann, and Patrick Stewart. This takes a giant s*it on Antoine Fuqua's quite lame KING ARTHUR summer blockbuster bomb.
OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001) - ***
Enjoyable mega-box-office hit all-star picture with Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and gang trying to rob three casinos with $160 million. Soderbergh makes for his major commercial success, and Andy Garcia is fun as the villain. Nothing great, but Soderbgh did admit that he made the picture as "simply pleasurable from beginning to end". He did that.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 17, 2006 23:32:51 GMT
it was originally a TV pilot and some loose ends are left which probably would've been cleared up in the series (the guy who is having nightmares!) Funny you should say this. I was always interested in the character of the cowboy. I wish he had been in the film more, but he probably would have been seen again if it were a series. The nightmare scene scared me to death when I first saw it.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 18, 2006 0:00:23 GMT
I don't know that it would've been cleared up. Nothing in Twin Peaks was.
Anyway, I think the way characters are introduced and then discarded creates a much more accurate sense of a dream consciousness.
And I think the whole thing is a dream, or, not a dream per se, but the cinematic evocation of a dreamstate. It can't be a dream if we never meet the dreamer, and at no point do I think we see a 'reality' or 'waking world', something to contrast with or give order to the rest of the film. I think the whole thing is unapologetically chaotic and unwieldy, beautifully without logic.
What 25% of the film do you think is a waking state, Thug?
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Post by thug on Jan 18, 2006 0:19:39 GMT
What 25% of the film do you think is a waking state, Thug? When the cowboy says "Wake up," and the characters change from Betty and Rita to Diane and Camilla. In what I perceive to be "reality," Diane wanted to be a star and wanted to be with Camilla. In what I perceive to be the "dream," Diane is with Camilla and the director has an obvious fascination with her. There are brief hallucinations in the "reality" segment and Diane looks pretty beat up, so its fairly obvious she's abusing some substance. The story, on the whole, is quite easy to pick up after multiple viewings and isn't nearly as odd or incomprehensible as many have made it out to be. So the criticisms I found, I feel, stick out from the rest of the film.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 18, 2006 0:42:42 GMT
Yeah, "Time to wake up, pretty girl." I remember that.
I never thought it literally indicated an awakening to a concrete 'reality', though. What follows is every bit as surreal and convoluted as what comes before, so I took it more as signifying a shift in the dreamstate. It's a self-referrential dream, anyway, the dream protagonist visits and observes the dreamer. That's how Lynch gets past the problem of dream worlds only existing within real worlds, by returning, within the dream, to the generative point of the dream in the real world, he just implies the real world without ever having to visit it. It's kind of a much more intelligent version of the Nightmare on Elm Street conceit, where they nod off, only to 'wake up' in a dream about trying to stay awake in the place they just unknowingly fell asleep. But anyway, I think he gets to have us treat his whole narrative like a dream, and therefore have us assume things about the dreamer and those of whom she dreams, by just implying the real world that contains the dream. He gives us the dreamstate so we can invent the reality.
I'm going to rewatch Mulholland Drive very soon. I haven't seen it in such a long time.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Jan 18, 2006 1:13:40 GMT
Cool Hand Luke (1967/Rosenberg) 1st Viewing Catch Me if you Can (2002/Spielberg) 1st Viewing O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000/Coen) 1st Viewing
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 18, 2006 2:20:56 GMT
Gates of Heaven(1978/Errol Morris) [First Viewing] A documentary about a pet cemetery in southern California.An always interesting and unique film. There are quite a few revelations throughout that are worth remembering, but otherwise, it's not what I had thought it would be.
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 18, 2006 3:17:16 GMT
Foreign Correspondent - (Alfred Hitchcock;1940;USA) Near WW2, an American reporter is sent to England where he witnesses an assassination that he tries to investigate.A great thriller for it's time and although it drags somewhat in the middle, Hitchcock makes up for it. There are several memorable moments, especially the plane crash, which had great special effects for it's time, very Titanic-esque. It also has a great ending, depicting something before it happened in real life. Aside the dragging it turns out to be a taut thriller, supported very well by it's cast. Not only a great film, but a call for help regarding America's neutral position on WW2. Classic Hitchcock.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 18, 2006 13:29:48 GMT
Vercetti, Foreign Correspondent was my first ever Hitchcock film, and remains, by memory, one of his best (though I have yet to revisit it). It's just one memorable setpiece after another: the chase through the umbrellas, the windmill, the airplane crash. A masterpiece of editing and storytelling. Glad you enjoyed it.
Regarding Mulholland Dr., I find it to be a kind of further exploration of the world Lynch brought us in Lost Highway. That is, an aesthetic blanket, with no linear pattern to be deciphered, but an intangible, shapeless mass filtered onto an artistic canvas. The first time I watched it, I got lost in trying to decipher it. The second time, I let myself get lost in its surface references and deeper, possible meanings, most of which I exhaust myself even trying to ponder. Some may say this is a lazy thing, to not want to dissect the narrative into a comprehendible form; I have no problem with this. Like Lost Highway, it's a remarkable piece of poetry interested only in itself, (poetry) not storytelling.
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 18, 2006 19:26:21 GMT
The two most memorable moments for me are the plane crash and final scene.
SPOILERS The sound of bombs dropping as the camera slowly fades out. Excellent scene. SPOILERS
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 18, 2006 20:26:47 GMT
Glad you liked it, though I think it's one of the best portraits of an artist in cinema, definitely better then most of these biopics coming out every year.
The best moment for me is the "Judas" scene where he finally overcomes his divided fans and tells his band to play louder.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 18, 2006 20:30:36 GMT
"I don't believe you."
Yeah, fantastic stuff. When he's in press conferences and such, giving deliberately cryptic answers, and parrying and mirroring stupid questions, I am captivated completely.
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 18, 2006 20:37:38 GMT
I agree. I thought the first half was a bit long but important in establishing his beginnings and inspirations. It generally got better as it went along to me.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 18, 2006 21:16:16 GMT
Alright, with all this talk of Dylan, I'm going to rewatch "No Direction Home" this weekend.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Jan 18, 2006 23:25:30 GMT
The Lady Vanishes (1938/Hitchcock) I really liked this movie, suprised to see it among the worst reviewed in the director thread for Hitch. The beginning act is somewhat difficult to bear, but once the characters are on a train its classic Hitchcock stuff
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 18, 2006 23:49:02 GMT
Alright, with all this talk of Dylan, I'm going to rewatch "No Direction Home" this weekend. Did you or anyone else see this?
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 18, 2006 23:55:58 GMT
Yes Vercetti, I did. And from memory, I enjoyed it even more. A great fly-on-the-wall perspective that shows Dylan in the middle of his transformation. I also wish to rewatch that soon.
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