Omar
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Post by Omar on Oct 16, 2006 18:44:36 GMT
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints(2006/Dito Montiel) [First Viewing] A teenager struggles with life in 1980's New York; years later he returns to help his dying father.So far, the best film I've seen all year. It is a coming of age story told in such an unstructured and unique way. Very much in the style of John Cassavetes or Spike Lee, the film is very profound and intense, and the acting is extraordinary. A friend I saw this with complained that he didn't like the story, but I found that there was no need for a formatted story. The film just sort of flows parallel to the lives of it's characters. I was mesmerized.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Oct 17, 2006 0:44:19 GMT
Kiss Me Deadly Robert Aldrich 1955 US 1st time; big screen A private eye investigates when a girl he happened across is killed, and he himself narrowly escapes… Fifties noir, but not; you can't help but look a little puzzled when it all turns a bit sci-fi, or even sigh (or smile) once you realise the narrative, with all its new faces and false leads, is going nowhere. Shot in absolutely hypnotic black-and-white, and played straight by Ralph Meeker as the hero, it is a bleak, though not humourless, piece of work, and a very enjoyable one.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Oct 17, 2006 0:45:20 GMT
Saying nothing. Saying that Austin Powers in Goldmember is Jay Roach's 5th or 6th best movie is saying next to nothing, considering its supposed superiors aren't even that good. Okay, fair enough; but try arguing the same point without using a comedy as an example.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 17, 2006 1:25:12 GMT
Why does that make it more difficult?
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Post by Michael on Oct 17, 2006 2:06:10 GMT
Capo, I think you've misunderstood MistaMista. Re-read what he wrote:
"A masterful film for my favorite director, perhaps his 5th or 6th best. And he's one of the few directors where that's actually saying something."
He was emphasizing the fact that it's rare when a director's 5th or 6th best film is a masterpiece.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 17, 2006 4:49:13 GMT
Hhmm. I'm confused.
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Marty
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Post by Marty on Oct 17, 2006 14:28:43 GMT
Kiss Me Deadly Robert Aldrich 1955 US 1st time; big screen A private eye investigates when a girl he happened across is killed, and he himself narrowly escapes… Fifties noir, but not; you can't help but look a little puzzled when it all turns a bit sci-fi, or even sigh (or smile) once you realise the narrative, with all its new faces and false leads, is going nowhere. Shot in absolutely hypnotic black-and-white, and played straight by Ralph Meeker as the hero, it is a bleak, though not humourless, piece of work, and a very enjoyable one. A very clever film from a very clever (and frankly under-rated director) that turns one's expectations entirely upside down. For me it's more akin to many modern multi genre films than 50's noir per se, but always worth a watch.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Oct 17, 2006 15:38:29 GMT
Mista, forgive the misunderstanding. I thought you were saying "Martin Scorsese makes films that say something, whereas Jay Roach makes films that say nothing."
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 17, 2006 22:55:46 GMT
I really enjoyed Singin' in the Rain as well. Especially the one sequence where the film descends into a dream sequence of some sort within a musical. I don't quite remember, but agreed on everything you said.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 18, 2006 1:26:20 GMT
The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928/Florey & Vorkapich)Interesting silent short, telling the story of a man who comes to Hollywood to find fame and fortune but instead finds nothing but failure and despair, and he seems to descend into psychosis and depression. The setting is depicted here in hellish shadows and stark lighting contrasts courtesy of Citizen Kane's Gregg Toland. Add in some primitive, frantic hand-held sequences and the film produces a wonderfully terrifying sense of futility and dehuminization for our main character. In an early scene, he is branded across the forehead with the number 9413, signifying his worthlessness among the masses of Hollywood hopefuls, and it is only upon his eventual death and ascension to Heaven that he is freed from his worldly confines and his enthusiastic smile returns. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928/Watson & Webber)Foreboding and indistinct, nothing clear is really transmitted here, although you know that's how the directors wanted it. Fuji (1974/Breer)Really enjoyable short, mixing quick cutting camera work containing fleeting a sense of nostalgia, with simplistic stop motion animation, all focusing on the ominous Mount Fuji as it passes by through a train window. The only soundtrack is the coming and going sounds of the train over a rickety track. It all adds up to form what seems like a glimpse of someone's distant memories projected onto the screen. Great little piece of work.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Oct 18, 2006 19:28:41 GMT
The Last King of Scotland(2006/Kevin Macdonald) [First Viewing] A young Scottish doctor journeys to Uganda in the early 70's, and soon becomes the physician to the country's dictator.Less of a biographical film or a historical account, and more of a thriller. In that genre though, it works quite well in some parts. Forest Whitaker's performance as the devilish Idi Amin is both enjoyable and frightening. He perfectly captures the charismatic side of the man that lead people to him, and also reveals the devil inside of him. Though we never really do get the sense of the horrors Amin did to his own country. Man of the Year (2006/Barry Levinson) [First Viewing] A comedian/political commentator decides to run for President.The perfect definition of an uneven film. Levinson's confused script doesn't know whether it wants to be a Robin Williams vehicle, a political satire, or even a political thriller. Williams is good though, and so is a well meaning supporting cast, especially Jeff Goldblum as a corporate snake.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Oct 18, 2006 20:22:59 GMT
Betty Boop's Ker-Choo Dave Fleischer 1933 US 1st time; big screen Betty Boop shows up a motorcar race with a cold, and the sneezes help her win. A short animation developed from a series of repetitions: a queue of people entering the race-track, crowds taking their seats in the stands, and the cars themselves, all illusions created by repeating the visuals over and over again. Even the race itself is built upon this same visual repetition: the cars' wheels are all round, racing round a circular track. Delightful.Duck Amuck Chuck Jones 1953 US 1st time; big screen Daffy Duck begins to narrate a story, and finds himself at the mercy of his own animator's pen… Fantastic; a must see. Short enough to be watched again and again, and colourful enough to fall in love with the first time. It's a trick of animation; self-reflexive, certainly, with the painter's brush painting broad strokes and winks to the viewer, a kind of break-neck-speed tour of how to animate a character and put him in a credible setting. And not without a clever "twist" at the end...Iris Richard Eyre 2001 UK/US 1st time; big screen As she descends into the depths of Alzheimer's, novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, cared for by her clumsy, loving husband John Bayley, remembers her younger years at Cambridge. A rather bleak film, seemingly obsessed with the unavoidability of death, though it is nevertheless a celebration of humanity's love. The narrative has a shape to it, with Winslet as the young Iris intercut with Dench as the older one, and the two compliment one another beautifully. Mundanely shot, but it's not about the visuals at all, really; as a kind of recording of Memory as the lasting result of an intimate marriage, it's effective, and worth watching once.Dahong denglong gaogao gua Raise the Red Lantern Yimou Zhang 1991 Hong Kong 1st time; big screen In 1920s China, a nineteen-year-old becomes the forth mistress of a wealthy clan-leader, and in-fighting and jealousy erupts. The pace of this film seems to be dictated by the methodic, orderly way of tradition of the characters, a narrative embodiment of the raising, lighting, and transporting of the red lanterns which hang outside the in-favour mistress' house. There is an overwhelming symmetry in the visual composition, most of which comprises static shots of framing devices such as doorways, in which characters are filmed in long-shot, drowned by the walls and suggested fortress around them. It is a slow film, and one you probably don't want to watch again, but the use of colour, mostly red and contrasting blue, is extraordinary. Interestingly, for the first hour and a half, there is a sense of squareness, of everything being of four (four mistresses, recurring shots of empty door frames and courtyards); but it is overlong, and the final quarter runs a little askew.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 19, 2006 8:10:48 GMT
Dazed and Confused (1993/Linklater)Fantastic. I love how Linklater's films are all so different.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 19, 2006 17:16:26 GMT
Mothlight (1963/Brakhage) A "found foliage" film composed of insects, leaves, and other detritus sandwiched between two strips of perforated tape. Interesting experiment in expanding the parameters of what is considered cinema. Personally, I saw it as a comment of sorts on the invisible hyperactivity in nature, that what may appear soft and slow and gentle, at its micro-levels, is hectic and rapid-fire. We viewed Window Water Baby Moving after this, which is just a silent film showing the birth of Brakhage's daughter, but I couldn't quite bring myself to watch.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Oct 19, 2006 17:44:35 GMT
Such a coincidence in our film-watching schedules, Mista.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 19, 2006 19:58:13 GMT
Yeah, I was surprised to hear we were watching this a day or two after you reviewed it. We had a pretty intense argument going in our class prior to the viewing, debating whether such an abstract piece of art was worth giving any attention to. Personally, I enjoyed the expierience.
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Post by bobbyreed on Oct 19, 2006 20:38:39 GMT
Yeah, I was surprised to hear we were watching this a day or two after you reviewed it. We had a pretty intense argument going in our class prior to the viewing, debating whether such an abstract piece of art was worth giving any attention to. Personally, I enjoyed the expierience. Prior to?
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Oct 19, 2006 21:40:28 GMT
Prior to viewing the film.
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Post by bobbyreed on Oct 19, 2006 22:10:58 GMT
Yeah, but people were arguing against any merits the film might have before even seeing it?
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