RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 3, 2006 14:37:21 GMT
Performance Nicolas Roeg/Donald Cammell 1970 GB 1st time A London gangster moves in with a retired rock musician.A complex blanket of identity and character-switching; it conjures up a sordid world of nastiness with hallucinatory ease, and gets better as it goes on. Shit. I meant to watch that. Isn't Stephen Lack's performance in Scanners just the most pathetically wooden thing you've ever seen?
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 3, 2006 15:42:27 GMT
All this time and I still can't get around to seeing at least one Herzog film. I'm hoping TCM airs one, or I'll somehow be able to see Grizzly Man.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 3, 2006 19:29:51 GMT
Kinski is amazing in Fitzcarraldo, Woyzeck and Nosferatu.
I haven't watched Cobra Verde yet.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Jan 3, 2006 19:42:00 GMT
Murderball (2005) Documentary about the sport of full contact rugby at the Paralympics. The story primarily follows the U.S. teams best player, Steve Zuppan, and the coach of the Canadian National Team, a former U.S. star in the sport, who is seemingly getting payback for being cut years before. Very good, especially some of the segments near the end where Zuppan is promoting the sport. Only real complaint is that I wish itd had been somewhat longer (Hoop Dreams style). Theres probably a lot more on the subject that couldve been said and shown (particuarily, they should have showed a bit more of the actual gameplay in my opinion)
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 3, 2006 20:28:12 GMT
Isn't Stephen Lack's performance in Scanners just the most pathetically wooden thing you've ever seen? Throughout I kept wondering if it was meant to be cardboard, perhaps tongue-in-cheek. I decided late in the day that even if it was, it was disgusting. I began to watch Crash before, but my sleeping pattern right now is dismal (having watched four films since last night), and I had to turn it off to sleep. I'm making my way through the few Cronenberg films I have, figuring the best, most logical way to get through my unwatched films mountain is to go by directorial links. Alas, much to my bewilderment, it seems another of my VHS tapes have gone walkies, and I am now missing Dead Ringers without ever having watched it. I think so, yes. While the films themselves don't add up to as powerful a whole as Aguirre ( Nosferatu too dry, Fitzcarraldo too long, Cobra Verde too impersonal; though Woyzeck is a masterpiece) the lead performances are all fantastic. I don't think Kinski was the best of actors in terms of versatility, but he had the greatest screen presence I've ever witnessed. Streetcars ahead of Brando at least. That boxset I linked you to also contains the documentary My Best Fiend, made in 1999 by Herzog about his filmmaking relationship with Kinski. It has one of the funniest opening scenes of archive footage ever, and for the most part, the rest is a treat to behold. But I bought that boxset initially for the director's name, not the actor's. Herzog is now one of my favourite, most inspirational filmmakers.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 4, 2006 3:12:56 GMT
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Post by Mike Sullivan on Jan 4, 2006 16:04:21 GMT
RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World Directed by: Assorted Directors Rating: [/i] A facinating, engrossing look at the creation of the 1933 classic, "King kong". Peter Jackson is to be praised for helping produce this and for his efforts to demonastrate not only the method of stop-motion animation ala Will O'Brien, but for reconstructing the spide pit sequence, lost to time. Really, a must see. Makes the King Kong DVD the disc of the year.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 4, 2006 21:08:39 GMT
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes Aguirre, the Wrath of God(1972/Werner Herzog) Thanks to the unique performances from the cast, you often feel you are watching a documentary. And, ironically, when you watch Herzog's documentaries, you often feel like you're not. I recommend his documentaries to anyone. Incidentally, I have Invincible ready to go, which was his first feature film for a decade or so, with documentaries inbetween. I haven't watched Invincible yet; all reviews are strictly negative, and at over two hours, it's not an appropriate duration for me right now. I think I prefer his documentaries. And that's saying something. By the way, Omar, instead of quoting you, I originally modified you post. Clumsy fucker. I tried to mend it as best as possible. Sorry.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 4, 2006 21:59:55 GMT
King Kong Peter Jackson 2005 New Zealand/US[/color] 1st time; big screenA filmmaker and his cast and crew are caught on Skull Island, where a giant gorilla falls in love with the leading actress. They capture him and take him back to New York to cash in.[/size] The kind of remake nobody seems to be making--a passionate homage and aesthetic transcendence of the original; it is also an exhilirating piece of filmmaking, and a convincing portrayal of the both the human condition and artistic principle.
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Post by Mike Sullivan on Jan 5, 2006 0:02:08 GMT
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 5, 2006 14:44:43 GMT
Crash David Cronenberg 1996 US/Canada 1st time A married couple become involved with a group of people with an overwhelming fetish for car crashes.This is a film which is, at times, impossible to take seriously, despite its intentions; an almost surreal sense of desire and obsession underline this disturbing essay on eroticism and its close relationship with death.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 5, 2006 17:22:45 GMT
Zerkalo Mirror Andrei Tarkovsky 1974, Soviet Union[/color] 3rd viewing; DVD- A film intelligible only to its creator? Tarkovsky weaves his childhood memories, his nation's memories, his father's poetry and his ambitious film theories into a deeply esoteric, personal exploration and evocation of the collective unconscious. Amazing, it recalls like a dream. Tarkovsky's best (I'm tempted to say by far, but I need to rewatch Nostalghia). Mirror is the pure definition of cinema as art. Fall over yourself to see this.[/size] The Stranger Orson Welles 1946, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- Welles' least favourite of his own projects and his most overlooked. It's not revolutionary, not even especially experimental. It's his 'straightforward' movie. Basically one of Hollywood's and America's cathartic revenge stories immediately following World War II, purging imaginary Nazis from their idyllic (also imaginary?) small towns, and allaying their own unease at their nation's morally dubious victory. I can certainly see Franz Kindler's ironic and grisly death eliciting a response something akin to a furious "Fuck yeah" from a 1946 audience. It seems Welles saw the swarming bugs in the manicured lawns 40 years before David Lynch. I give this a full three stars, because I did really love it. I'm not well-versed in 40s noir, however, so I don't know how it compares. I'd like to hear others' opinions.[/size]
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Jan 5, 2006 17:42:21 GMT
Garden State (1st Time) Highly overrated, probably because it is among the most creative films the majority of its target audience will see. I feel movies such as Donnie Darko get the same treatment, only Darko is quite a bit better then this at least. Beginning is fun, but the movie gets fairly boring once Natalie Portman makes her appearence, then never picks back up. Rumor Has it (1st Time, Big Screen) Pretty awful for the most part. Aniston doesnt really provide anything all that great as the lead role. Its also hard to buy that Costner is old enough to be her father (they are 50 and 36 in real life). The one star I have given it is entirely for the obvious love Reiner shows for some classics, namely Casablanca and the Graduate. Im a sucker for a tribute to an old favorite.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 5, 2006 18:35:19 GMT
Dirty Harry Don Siegel 1971, USA[/color] Nth viewing; DVD- Hollow glorification of machismo and violence? Yes. Brilliantly edited piece of pop cinema? Also yes. It's films like these that prompted Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham to make their impressive and too often dismissed Last House of the Left (1972), depicting violence as a damaging thing, not a hoot. Not that it personally bothers me, but it's always interesting to consider what it is that so appeals to us about violence for its own sake, because that's what this is: vigilante vindication and 'get the bastard' fist-pumping. Anyway, as I said, the editing is fantastic: cutting for a few frames to the inside of an oncoming car, then chucking the image as the car swerves and becomes narratively irrelevent, or cutting to a shot that probably took all day to get, way up on the concrete crucifix looking down, holding only long enough to impress scale and isolation. Very confident, very inventive. Other than that, I like this film, but I don't really know why. I think the much-quoted dialogue is atrociously delivered, especially his little 'Do you feel lucky' speech. It may just be bloodlust...[/size]
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 5, 2006 19:26:57 GMT
Les morts de la Seine Death in the Seine Peter Greenaway 1989, France[/color] 1st viewing; download- Another little piece of genius. Greenaway establishes a handful of visual motifs, then layers and sequences them to create a sort of belated coroner's report on the bodies of 26 people pulled out of the river Seine in the late 18th century. Exceedingly clever and inventive, as is to be expected, but also surprisingly tender, with a ruminative coda in which the narrator considers what it means to be remembered. A very rare moment of humanism for the generally misanthropic Greenaway.[/size] M Is for Man, Music, Mozart Not Mozart Peter Greenaway 1991, UK[/color] 1st viewing; download- An absolutely beautiful piece of visual art. Greenaway was hired to make a film about Mozart for the 200th anniversary of his death. What he's created is nearly indescribable. Reminiscent of Prospero's Books (1991), but more visually eclectic (shot on video), it's a combination of modern dance, Mozart's music, complex overlaid text and colour, like virtual crayon scribblings and animated geometric symbols, and a story, delivered via song, about the gods inventing man, then teaching him movement, then music, then inventing Mozart. Essential.[/size]
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 5, 2006 19:42:45 GMT
I like how you've started posting Proviews for every film you see. I can't wait to get into Greenaway's work. I've been reading a bit of his own film theory here and there, and am intrigued and inspired by it.
How would you rate The Pillow Book as an introduction to his work?
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 5, 2006 20:22:25 GMT
It should be okay. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is the ideal entrance point, though.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 6, 2006 0:43:37 GMT
Creature from the Black Lagoon Jack Arnold 1954, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- Seemingly a big influence on Jaws (the underwater photography and even the score bear a strong resemblance), it's a pretty effective monster movie, though mostly of camp value. The creature, a reptilian man with a hilariously dopey looking fishface, ill-equipped for underwater movment, unable to breathe on land, but with a fully developed set of vocal chords, is an unimaginative, goofy design. It's very amusing when the scientists converse for the viewer's benefit, explaining evolutionary theory to eachother like they're all stupid. There's even a Fool character who asks what we're supposed to be wondering, so you get dialogue replete with stuff like, "But doctor, everyone knows fish can't such-and-such..." "Ah, but no. You see..."[/size]
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 6, 2006 1:29:16 GMT
Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein Scream of Stone Werner Herzog 1991, Canada / Germany / France / Belgium[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- Disappointing. Two climbers attempt to scale Cerro Torre, the most challenging mountain in the world. An exploration of humans at the edge of their abilities doesn't work very well if the actors can't even portray convincing humans, the cast runs the gamut from sleepwalking to wooden, and only Brad Dourif impresses. There's also a problem with its structure. Herzog spends the first third of the film attempting to establish the mountain as something otherworldly and imposing ("It's not a mountain... it's a scream of stone"), but he juggles that with an attempt to characterise the two mountaineers beyond mere diametric opposites (young and reckless/old and cautious) and unfortunately succeeds at neither. Then the rest of the film goes towards playing off the foundations he never laid, examining each climber's relationship with the mountain. The climb itself, the final 15 minutes, is exhilerating. Also worth noting is that Herzog himself plays the director of the indoor climbing exhibition at the beginning, perhaps a nod to the artificiality of the film we're about to see.[/size]
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 6, 2006 3:31:59 GMT
The Invisible Woman A. Edward Sutherland 1940, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD - Funded by a millionaire playboy, a scientist researches invisibility, experimenting on a young female volunteer. Mildly amusing 'screwball' comedy. No narrative link with the previous films, and is no technical advancement.[/size]
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