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Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Magic Hate Ball, you get my favorite doc of all time, Grizzly Man.

A Brighter Summer Day
Edward Yang, 1991
The Criterion Channel



I had difficulty staying constantly engaged with this. Sometimes it grabbed me, other times it felt kinda dull. The languid pace and 4-hour runtime might have been the culprits. But I appreciate the film's thoughtful handling of its characters and story. At first I was overwhelmed with all the characters, and I found it difficult to keep them all straight. But as enough time passed I came to understand the inter-relationships better and things started to click. A rewatch will likely remedy this issue. The main thing that struck me about this is the incredible sparseness of its presentation. Yang uses no (non-diegetic) music, as few cuts as possible, and very little camera movement. It reminded a bit of Ozu.

3/5


My List:

----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? -----
118. Beau Travail (1999) - I know nothing about this - 10/27/20
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
144. The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni has been hit or miss for me - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20

----- They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? -----
77. Kwaidan (1964) - Supposed to be slow and spooky - 10/27/20
80. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) - One of the few adaptations of this I haven't seen - 10/27/20
81. Onibaba (1964) - I've been admiring the Criterion artwork for like 15 years - 10/27/20
111. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - Supposedly some incredible performances - 10/27/20
116. Witchfinder General (1968) - Vincent Price is the best - 10/27/20

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Nov 7, 2020

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Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
Grizzly Man

This is quite good! Herzog's narration style long ago entered the realm of parody, so some of his blunter statements here made me chuckle - as I was watching it, I thought repeatedly of Errol Morris's Gates of Heaven, which covers similar (if less deadly) territory, but without any overt interjection from Morris. I feel like Herzog would make a point via the construction of the narrative, and then come thudding in saying something about the cruelty of nature. On the other hand, I also know that Herzog is a raconteur, and given that this is a documentary about a guy accidentally making a revealing autobiographical documentary, it makes some sense that Herzog would also reveal elements of himself.

Herzog's actual crafting of the narrative is terrific. He immediately confronts Timothy's death, retracing his steps to where he was murdered ("a human ribcage", as the pilot who found what remained of his body called it) and letting the audience rubberneck, because we're all here, first off, because he got killed by a bear and we want the gory details. But then he unspools the oddball persona of Timothy himself, and it keeps adding new layers to his death, which is aided by the fact that so much of the film is Timothy himself, a strange, off-kilter figure with a sort of childlike voice and a frequently unhinged attitude. There were a few parts where he's ranting violently at the camera that I found hard to watch.

One of my favorite sequences acts as a tidy microcosm for the rest of the movie. It starts with an introduction to the foxes that Timothy was living with (I think on the summer of his death), one of whom is playing with his baseball cap. Timothy films this, talking to the fox, which is kind of endearing, before the fox runs away with the cap and Timothy chases it. His voice curdles with disappointment, and then boils into manic rage, as he realizes that the fox has taken his cap into its den, and he'll likely never get it back.

Later in the movie, he's prompted to return, late in the season, to stay with the grizzlies again after getting into a fight with a flight attendant at the airport. Once he's back in the wild, he finds that all of the bears he spent the summer with, the bears that had become familiar with him, had already gone off to hibernate, leaving only the desperate stragglers, one of which would be the one that kills him. It's a chilling moment of narration, and the fact that it's precipitated by an airport spat over plane tickets is painful irony.

Herzog makes no bones about stamping his disapproval of Timothy's actions on the film, and essentially calls him deluded, and it's extremely true that what Timothy was doing was harmful for both himself and the bears. At one point, Herzog interviews the indigenous curator of a museum far north in Alaska, and the curator says that indigenous people had lived around bears for 7,000 years, always maintaining separation. Timothy, throughout the film, befriends other animals, including the foxes, but becoming familiar with bears is a different matter - making them used to humans makes them much more vulnerable, and becoming used to them, anthropomorphizing them, opens you up to hapless death.

It's a bit tidy, but Timothy felt that his saving of the bears was what was also saving him from his history of drinking, and was making him a better person, but you can't separate yourself from yourself like that. He had focus and passion, and the ability to last thirteen summers, but I can't imagine coming away from this movie without feeling a little bit ashamed for him.

9/10

shamezone

1) Cries and Whispers - red movie
2) Evil Dead - cabin movie
3) One Sings, The Other Doesn't - varda!
4) Cache - hidden movie
5) The Tree of Wooden Clogs - mike leigh's favorite
6) Last House on the Left - violent movie
7) Salesman - real movie
8) Don't Look Now - venetian movie
9) Alexander Nevsky - ice movie
10) A League Of Their Own - baseball movie

[full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10, Tampopo 10/10, Pickpocket 4/10, Harlan County USA 10/10, The Spirit of the Beehive 10/10, Heaven's Gate 4/10, A Short Film About Killing 9/10, The Pillow Book 6/10, Desert Hearts 9/10, Alice in the Cities 10/10, Yi Yi 10/10, Rififi 9/10, Children of Paradise 10/10, A Poem is a Naked Person 8/10, Late Autumn 8/10, Chimes at Midnight 10/10 Watership Down 9/10, Ugetsu 9/10, Veronika Voss 9/10, The Hidden Fortress 7/10, Close-Up 10/10, Journey to Italy 10/10, L'Eclisse 7/10, Andrei Rublev 11/10, Vagabond 9/10, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 9/10, Shoplifters 10/10, Escape From New York 10/10, Die Hard 10/10, The Last Picture Show 9/10, Mr Smith Goes To Washington 8/10, Saturday Night Fever 9/10, First Blood 7/10, Mad Max 7/10, Come and See 10/10, Friday the 13th 7/10, Predator 5/10, Sicario 10/10, Grizzly Man 9/10 (total: 179)

Spatulator bro! gets What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? ("But you are, Blanche!")

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!


drat that was a great write up. I'm glad you liked it!

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Magic Hate Ball you get to enjoy some Michael Haneke weirdness with Cache.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Robert Aldrich, 1962
The Criterion Channel



For some reason I was expecting something more like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - a dialogue-centric quarrel between two strong personalities. What I got instead was a mix between Sunset Blvd. and Misery, and it had me enthralled from the start. This film's reputation for its great performances preceded it, and it absolutely lived up to it. Joan Crawford is very good, but Bette Davis is miraculous. Throughout the film she transitions back and forth from depressive to diabolical. She does this through subtle variances in her facial expressions, her vocal inflections, even the way she carries herself as she walks. Then on top of that we have her ghoulish white face and dark eyes and lips, which makes her mere visage a frightening sight. What a great character. Bette Davis was only 54 when this was released, yet she looks 84 (and a rough 84 at that). It's hard to imagine very many Hollywood actresses being willing to do this.

Awesome movie. I loved it.

4.5/5


My List:

----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? -----
118. Beau Travail (1999) - I know nothing about this - 10/27/20
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
144. The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni has been hit or miss for me - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20

----- They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? -----
77. Kwaidan (1964) - Supposed to be slow and spooky - 10/27/20
80. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) - One of the few adaptations of this I haven't seen - 10/27/20
81. Onibaba (1964) - I've been admiring the Criterion artwork for like 15 years - 10/27/20
116. Witchfinder General (1968) - Vincent Price is the best - 10/27/20
119. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - As a fan of silent horror it's a travesty I haven't seen this yet - 11/12/20

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Nov 12, 2020

Dmitri Russkie
Feb 13, 2008

Spatulater bro! Haven't seen any on your list, so RNG says to see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Just saw Meet Me in St. Louis. Fun musical. Loved the costumes and scenery. This musical just feels very homey and comfortable, kind of like a Christmas movie. Judy Garland does a great job, and I rally enjoyed the banter between the two youngest girls.

My List:
Fort Apache - This will be my John Wayne spot for now.

Mean Girls - My teenage daughter is shocked that I've never seen this movie.

Jabberwocky - Following up one Terry Gilliam movie with another.

The Cocoanuts - Working my way through the Marx Brothers movies. This is their first movie.

Sunrise - A friend of mine who likes silent movies recommended this one. Looking forward to seeing it.

Pelle the Conquerer - Big fan of Max Von Sydow. Need to see more of his work.

Transformers: The Movie - Taking a break from Studio Ghibli. Not the Michael Bay movies. The animated movie from the 80's.

Holiday Inn - NEWEST

Die Nibelungen - Interested in seeing another Fritz Lang picture. OLDEST

Arsenic and Old Lace - Another Cary Grant picture.

Ocean's 11 - A slot here for Elvis, Sinatra, Beatles movies. This is the original with Frank Sinatra.

Dmitri Russkie fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Nov 16, 2020

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
Cache

I really like Haneke. He reminds me in many ways of Lars von Trier, mostly in that both create films that could be described as bleak, impish, and ruthlessly misanthropic, focusing on innate human cruelty and bitter disappointment, but where von Trier is pulpy (Nymphomaniac is one of the most entertainingly catty films I've ever seen), Haneke is methodical and reserved, often overtly formalized. Many years ago, when I was seventeen or eighteen, I watched Cache on a DVD at my dad's house, but I think I was too young to understand it, and the TV was too small to pick up on the visual details that form the narrative.

It's a simple story, but Haneke's treatment of it elongates the mystery, and leaves a number of questions unanswered. Who, for example, sent the tapes? It could have been either one of them. Or it could have been neither - in fact, I almost like the idea of the tapes simply appearing and being sent of their own accord, a physical manifestation of guilt, much like I enjoy the idea of Anna in L'avventura literally disappearing into the big rocky island, physically melding with it. The tapes enter the story gradually, accompanied by brief memory flashbacks that clue us in, and about halfway through the movie we have a fairly clear picture of what happened and why, which means that the narrative then shifts to peeling apart the element of shame and denial.

Haneke really likes to explore the guilt of the bourgeoisie, and for good reason. In The Seventh Continent, for example, he spends much of the opening act framing the main characters as just sets of groping, hungry limbs, intent on endlessly consuming products. Consume, buy, spend, use. Later, the reverse happens, with the total destruction of objects, which is then followed by a group suicide that is troubled and frustrated by annoyingly human things like regret and pain. Funny Games suggests that fascism can and will work its way into the safest of spaces, including the theatre the viewer is sitting in, a movie that seems absurdly prescient given the issues with "decorum" we all seem to be having. And Cache focuses on the punishing machinations of time and memory, and the explicit divisions of society.

Cache means "hidden", and it means a lot here. Who is hidden from whom, for example? On the one hand, you have the broader allegory of the lower classes, particularly non-white, being separated from the well-to-do upper society. George Laurent, the protagonist, lives in a house that is so obfuscated that it's not even recognizable as a domicile. From the street, it's just a huge, square bush, a short section of fencing, and, behind that, a row of tall, industrial windows. Majid, who is, for all intents and purposes, the film's victim, lives in a similarly anonymous public housing apartment, one of dozens of identical dingy blue doors in a dank little hallway. George chooses the anonymity of his house, while Majid has no choice but to be stuffed away and forgotten.

There is also the concept of hidden cultural memory. I wasn't aware of this until reading about the movie after watching it, but the police massacre Majid's parents died in was essentially erased from public memory (hidden, if you will) for several decades. Elsewhere in the film the characters constantly have the TV turned on to the news, to the ever-present mid-2000s spectacle of the war in the Middle East. A scene in which George and his wife panic over the disappearance of their son is shared with their television, which is placed directly in the centre of the frame, the volume turned up, displaying a succession of human rights violations. It reminds me of that Onion headline that's like, "The equivalent of three Americans die in Afghanistan".

So we never know for sure who was wreaking revenge on George, but, really, most oppressed and subjugated people are not aware of who exactly is raining havoc and misery on their lives. Majid spends a lifetime suffering the consequences of the discomfort of a spoiled six-year-old boy, and perhaps it's worse that he knows this. Would we all be happier if we knew for sure who was the cause of our suffering? A relative handful of people crush the rest of us. Perhaps they should suffer, too.

10/10

shamezone

1) Cries and Whispers - red movie
2) Evil Dead - cabin movie
3) One Sings, The Other Doesn't - varda!
4) The Deer Hunter - wedding movie
5) The Tree of Wooden Clogs - mike leigh's favorite
6) Last House on the Left - violent movie
7) Salesman - real movie
8) Don't Look Now - venetian movie
9) Alexander Nevsky - ice movie
10) A League Of Their Own - baseball movie

[full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10, Tampopo 10/10, Pickpocket 4/10, Harlan County USA 10/10, The Spirit of the Beehive 10/10, Heaven's Gate 4/10, A Short Film About Killing 9/10, The Pillow Book 6/10, Desert Hearts 9/10, Alice in the Cities 10/10, Yi Yi 10/10, Rififi 9/10, Children of Paradise 10/10, A Poem is a Naked Person 8/10, Late Autumn 8/10, Chimes at Midnight 10/10 Watership Down 9/10, Ugetsu 9/10, Veronika Voss 9/10, The Hidden Fortress 7/10, Close-Up 10/10, Journey to Italy 10/10, L'Eclisse 7/10, Andrei Rublev 11/10, Vagabond 9/10, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 9/10, Shoplifters 10/10, Escape From New York 10/10, Die Hard 10/10, The Last Picture Show 9/10, Mr Smith Goes To Washington 8/10, Saturday Night Fever 9/10, First Blood 7/10, Mad Max 7/10, Come and See 10/10, Friday the 13th 7/10, Predator 5/10, Sicario 10/10, Grizzly Man 9/10, Cache 10/10 (total: 180)

Dmitri Russkie gets Mean Girls

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

My favorite part of Cache is the very last shot where the credits roll. It's very revealing if you watch it closely.

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
Just guys being pals!

Jurgan
May 8, 2007

Just pour it directly into your gaping mouth-hole you decadent slut
TWO YEARS LATER, I’M BACK! Inland Empire is oddly hard to find- it’s not streaming anywhere and the DVD’s are stupid expensive. Though there is a reasonably priced Blu-Ray, it must have just been released. Once I did finally find a way to watch it, I’d sort of fallen out of the habit, but I can finally check it off my list. So…

My best guess at how Inland Empire came to be is that Mulholland Drive was a success and Lynch said “okay, next time I make a sexually-charged crime story set in Hollywood and named after local geography, I’m gonna do it my way.” The film is an example of what happens when an auteur director is given free rein, and I’m unsure whether that’s a good or bad thing. There are all sorts of Lynchian touches, like awkward small talk during serious situations, uncomfortable framing of people in hostile environments, super-close-up shots of sweaty people, and just straight up bizarre sequences that go unexplained (the gently caress was up with the rabbit sitcom?). Any producer would have insisted on cutting some of the shots of people sitting together in silence for long periods of time. Large sections seem to have been shot badly on purpose. There’s a lot of shot/reverse-shot conversations and grainy, unfinished footage. Some of the domestic sequences are so awkwardly shot and full of such flat expository dialogue that I felt like I was watching a Neil Breen movie. The difference is that Lynch is a proven director, so I’m sure he did all this for a reason, but I can’t quite say what effect he was going for. The film is very moody, and to that extent it succeeds- I definitely felt uncomfortable even if I couldn’t quite follow the non-linear plot. And it really came alive during the various musical numbers. There are themes of loss of identity that vaguely remind me of 3 Women, plus some stuff about the phoniness and corruption of Hollywood. But all that’s been done in Mulholland Drive, which was a much more focused film. I’m not sure adding an extra half hour and removing what structure that film had was an improvement.

Rating: 3/4

Magic Hate Ball, you're watching Evil Dead, though if it were up to me I'd say watch Evil Dead 2 immediately after. It's the really iconic member of the franchise.

124. The Rules of the Game- I opened the They Shoot Pictures list, and this is number five. I've never even heard of it.

132. Five Easy Pieces- Continuing the Ebert list, I somehow skipped over this one.

135. Man with a Movie Camera- Fourth wall? Never heard of it.

139. Birth of a Nation: Oh, boy, this is the big one. This is not a movie you watch for fun, but it's a movie that needs to be seen by anyone who cares about film history.

144. Eraserhead: David Lynch hasn't let me down yet. I saw parts of this with some friends once- seemed very weird and abstract, almost like German expressionism.

146. Bride of Frankenstein: Like I said, Frankenstein was disappointing, and I don't think the monster would have become an icon without the sequel that is supposedly much better.

147. Stalker: Tarkovsky was a Russian who made a lot of movies.

148. Notorious: More Hitchcock, one of his most... well-known? Infamous? What's the word I'm looking for?

149. The Goonies: So it's like Stand by Me, but with a treasure instead of a corpse? This doesn't sound great, but I'm constantly hearing it referenced.

150. Requiem for a Dream: A light-hearted romp that's fun for the whole family.

Okay, tell me what I'm watching!

Shame relieved: The Godfather: 3.5/4, The Godfather Part II: 4/4, Taxi Driver: 4/4, Casablanca: 4/4, Duck Soup: 2/4, Pulp Fiction: 4/4, Barton Fink: 3.5/4, Annie Hall:3/4, Rashomon: 4/4, Blade Runner: 3.5/4, Chinatown: 4/4, Nashville: 3.5/4, Goodfellas: 4/4, The Seven Samurai: 4/4, Superman: 2/4, The Exorcist: 3/4, A Face in the Crowd: 3.5/4, The Seventh Seal: 2.5/4, Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 3.5/4, Apocalypse Now: 4/4, 2001: A Space Odyssey: 2.5/4, The Deer Hunter: 3/4, Schindler's List: 4/4, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: 3/4, Young Frankenstein: 3.5/4, Yojimbo: 3.5/4, Brazil: 3.5/4, Hamlet: 4/4, The Aviator: 4/4, Rocky: 3.5/4, Gandhi: 3.5/4, City Lights: 4/4, Battleship Potemkin: 3.5/4, Predator: 3/4, Easy Rider: 1.5/4, Platoon: 3.5/4, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: 4/4, Get Carter: 3.5/4, Full Metal Jacket: 4/4, My Dinner with Andre: 4/4, Lethal Weapon: 3/4, 3 Women: 4/4, Ikiru: 4/4, The Maltese Falcon: 2.5/4, Midnight Cowboy: 3/4, Gattaca: 4/4, Gone with the Wind: 3/4, Jaws: 4/4, The Bicycle Thief: 3/4, Sophie's Choice: 2/4, On the Waterfront: 4/4, North by Northwest: 3.5/4, Stagecoach: 3.5/4, E.T.: 2/4, Nosferatu: 4/4, Lawrence of Arabia: 4/4, Dirty Harry: 1/4, Vertigo: 3.5/4, Rebecca: 4/4, The Pink Panther: 3/4, Children of Men: 4/4, Wings of Desire: 3/4, Metropolis: 3.5/4, Born on the Fourth of July: 4/4, The Bridge on the River Kwai: 3.5/4, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 4/4, Being John Malkovich: 3/4, Adaptation: 4/4, Bonnie and Clyde: 4/4, Goldfinger: 3/4, A Streetcar Named Desire: 4/4, Dog Day Afternoon: 3.5/4, Leon: The Professional: 4/4, 8 1/2: 3/4, Mulholland Drive: 4/4, 12 Angry Men: 4/4, Safety Last: 3.5/4, Dogville: 4/4, The Rapture: 2/4, Blue Velvet: 3/4, Irreversible: 4/4, Airplane!: 3.5/4, Tokyo Story: 2.5/4, Big Trouble in Little China: 3.5/4, American Psycho: 3.5/4, Dr. Zhivago: 3/4, Leaving Las Vegas:4/4, The Bourne Identity: 4/4, Out of Africa: 3/4, The Usual Suspects: 3/4, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: 4/4, Rain Man: 3.5/4, The Lost Weekend: 3.5/4, Ratatouille: 3/4, City of God: 4/4, Ed Wood: 4/4, Top Gun: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Bleu: 3.5/4, The Hidden Fortess: 3/4, First Blood: 4/4, The Ten Commandments:3.5/4, Patton: 3.5/4, The Bourne Supremacy:3.5/4, King Lear (1983): 2.5/4, Repo Man: 2.5/4, King Kong: 3.5/4, Wall Street: 3/4, The Blues Brothers: 2/4, Trois Couleurs: Blanc: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Rouge: 3.5/4, Animal House: 1.5/4, Ben-Hur: 3.5/4, Gojira: 4/4, Sunset Boulevard: 3.5/4, Falling Down: 4/4, The Night of the Hunter: 3.5/4, Ran: 4/4, The Battle of Algiers: 4/4, Z: 3/4, The Great Escape: 2.5/4, Cries and Whispers: 4/4, Enchanted: 3.5/4, Judgment at Nuremberg: 4/4, Cool Hand Luke:3/4, Scenes from a Marriage: 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): 3.5/4, The Bourne Ultimatum: 3.5/4, F for Fake: 4/4, Spartacus: 4/4, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang: 4/4, Sunrise: 3.5/4, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: 1.5/4, Cloud Atlas: 4/4, Throne of Blood: 2.5/4, Forbidden Planet: 3/4, The Day the Earth Stood Still: 2/4, Frankenstein (1931): 2/4, The Straight Story: 4/4, Boogie Nights: 3/4, Dracula: 4/4, The Stepford Wives: 3.5/4, The Birds: 2/4, Drag Me to Hell: 3/4, Inland Empire: 3/4

Jurgan fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Nov 15, 2020

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Jurgan get comfortable, clear your mind and let Stalker wash over you.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Rouben Mamoulian, 1931



This was an extremely pleasant surprise. When I think of early '30s horror I mainly think of the Universal monsters. I love those films but they're decidedly stagey and rigid. Early talkies tended to be this way. But not so with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The camera pans, sweeps, pushes in and out and all around. We get POV shots and creative scene transitions. The look of this film reminds me more of a late 20s silent film than an early 30s sound one. Very nicely done.

The story of the dual-natured scientist is executed spectacularly. Fredric March is suitably convincing as the tortured soul fighting to overcome his unabated evil nature. The movie went to places that surprised me. There's some seriously dark stuff here. Not to mention tons of thinly veiled sexuality. Boy do I adore pre-code film.

This is an essential watch for any fans of classic horror. It's right up there with the best of them.

4/5


My List:

----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 476/1000 -----
118. Beau Travail (1999) - I know nothing about this - 10/27/20
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
144. The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni has been hit or miss for me - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20

----- They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? Progress: 542/1000 -----
77. Kwaidan (1964) - Supposed to be slow and spooky - 10/27/20
81. Onibaba (1964) - I've been admiring the Criterion artwork for like 15 years - 10/27/20
116. Witchfinder General (1968) - Vincent Price is the best - 10/27/20
119. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - As a fan of silent horror it's a travesty I haven't seen this yet - 11/12/20
145. Martin (1977) - My experience with non-zombie Romero is embarrassingly sparse - 11/16/20

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Nov 18, 2020

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Spatulater bro! posted:

118. Beau Travail (1999) - I know nothing about this - 10/27/20

"This is the rhythm of the night. The night, oh yeah. The rhythm of the night."



Limelight - It's not every day that one sees a film in which an old drunkard rescues a woman committing suicide. It's kind of like the familiar A Star Is Born story although with one role being more parental in nature.

Calvero (Charles Chaplin) and Terry (Claire Bloom) form a codependency that benefits them both. At times Calvero comes across as a sage philosopher and at other times a narcissistic showboat who can't let go of the past. Many see him as a has-been with a poisonous name. Scenes featuring him yelling at the sad ballet dancer who's essentially a cripple come across oddly.

Some similar films that came to mind:

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Now, Voyager (1942)
Talk to Her (2002)


James Bond versus Godzilla (40/64 completed):

Godzilla vs. Mothra - Mothra is back after a long hiatus. 9/28/20

Hesitation (39 completed):

#31 Orange County - A star-studded cast. 4/7/20

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

new #43 The Omen - An acclaimed horror film I keep forgetting to watch. 11/18/20

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (91/100 completed):

The Golem - A superhero made out of clay. 10/30/20

They Live by Night - Another esteemed one by Nicholas Ray. 10/30/20

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Nov 19, 2020

Jurgan
May 8, 2007

Just pour it directly into your gaping mouth-hole you decadent slut
Zogo, hope you enjoy Orange County.

Stalker was certainly different, and I’m not sure what I think of it. The pacing was deliberately slow at every moment (“sculpting in time,” indeed), like when they ride on a rail cart for several minutes. The sets were all grimy and run-down. It reminded me of Metro 2033 (a game I didn’t play much of, but I really liked the aesthetic). Though the first thirty minutes are in washed-out sepia tones, and I was shocked when we got outside the city and things were in color. Tarkovsky definitely watched The Wizard of Oz. I think we’re set in a post-apocalyptic world where there’s some sci-fi genie in the center of a dangerous “Zone,” and three characters without names attempt to reach it. Does the “genie” (actually a room of some sort) even exist? Who knows. The Professor wants to destroy the room with a nuke he smuggled in, but I’m not sure what the Writer wants. They have an argument about whether the Stalker is helping people or exploiting them. Mainly, I feel the plot of this is pretty simple, but the characters and themes are deep. They feel like archetypes in a way, but I can’t really place them in an obvious fashion. Like I said, I’ll have to think on it. I enjoyed it enough to recommend, but I’ll leave some space in case I end up seeing another that I liked better.

Rating: 3.5/4

124. The Rules of the Game- I opened the They Shoot Pictures list, and this is number five. I've never even heard of it.

132. Five Easy Pieces- Continuing the Ebert list, I somehow skipped over this one.

135. Man with a Movie Camera- Fourth wall? Never heard of it.

139. Birth of a Nation: Oh, boy, this is the big one. This is not a movie you watch for fun, but it's a movie that needs to be seen by anyone who cares about film history.

144. Eraserhead: David Lynch hasn't let me down yet. I saw parts of this with some friends once- seemed very weird and abstract, almost like German expressionism.

146. Bride of Frankenstein: Like I said, Frankenstein was disappointing, and I don't think the monster would have become an icon without the sequel that is supposedly much better.

148. Notorious: More Hitchcock, one of his most... well-known? Infamous? What's the word I'm looking for?

149. The Goonies: So it's like Stand by Me, but with a treasure instead of a corpse? This doesn't sound great, but I'm constantly hearing it referenced.

150. Requiem for a Dream: A light-hearted romp that's fun for the whole family.

151. Pi: As a mathematician, I'm required to watch this, though personally I prefer e.

Okay, tell me what I'm watching!

Shame relieved: The Godfather: 3.5/4, The Godfather Part II: 4/4, Taxi Driver: 4/4, Casablanca: 4/4, Duck Soup: 2/4, Pulp Fiction: 4/4, Barton Fink: 3.5/4, Annie Hall:3/4, Rashomon: 4/4, Blade Runner: 3.5/4, Chinatown: 4/4, Nashville: 3.5/4, Goodfellas: 4/4, The Seven Samurai: 4/4, Superman: 2/4, The Exorcist: 3/4, A Face in the Crowd: 3.5/4, The Seventh Seal: 2.5/4, Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 3.5/4, Apocalypse Now: 4/4, 2001: A Space Odyssey: 2.5/4, The Deer Hunter: 3/4, Schindler's List: 4/4, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: 3/4, Young Frankenstein: 3.5/4, Yojimbo: 3.5/4, Brazil: 3.5/4, Hamlet: 4/4, The Aviator: 4/4, Rocky: 3.5/4, Gandhi: 3.5/4, City Lights: 4/4, Battleship Potemkin: 3.5/4, Predator: 3/4, Easy Rider: 1.5/4, Platoon: 3.5/4, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: 4/4, Get Carter: 3.5/4, Full Metal Jacket: 4/4, My Dinner with Andre: 4/4, Lethal Weapon: 3/4, 3 Women: 4/4, Ikiru: 4/4, The Maltese Falcon: 2.5/4, Midnight Cowboy: 3/4, Gattaca: 4/4, Gone with the Wind: 3/4, Jaws: 4/4, The Bicycle Thief: 3/4, Sophie's Choice: 2/4, On the Waterfront: 4/4, North by Northwest: 3.5/4, Stagecoach: 3.5/4, E.T.: 2/4, Nosferatu: 4/4, Lawrence of Arabia: 4/4, Dirty Harry: 1/4, Vertigo: 3.5/4, Rebecca: 4/4, The Pink Panther: 3/4, Children of Men: 4/4, Wings of Desire: 3/4, Metropolis: 3.5/4, Born on the Fourth of July: 4/4, The Bridge on the River Kwai: 3.5/4, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 4/4, Being John Malkovich: 3/4, Adaptation: 4/4, Bonnie and Clyde: 4/4, Goldfinger: 3/4, A Streetcar Named Desire: 4/4, Dog Day Afternoon: 3.5/4, Leon: The Professional: 4/4, 8 1/2: 3/4, Mulholland Drive: 4/4, 12 Angry Men: 4/4, Safety Last: 3.5/4, Dogville: 4/4, The Rapture: 2/4, Blue Velvet: 3/4, Irreversible: 4/4, Airplane!: 3.5/4, Tokyo Story: 2.5/4, Big Trouble in Little China: 3.5/4, American Psycho: 3.5/4, Dr. Zhivago: 3/4, Leaving Las Vegas:4/4, The Bourne Identity: 4/4, Out of Africa: 3/4, The Usual Suspects: 3/4, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: 4/4, Rain Man: 3.5/4, The Lost Weekend: 3.5/4, Ratatouille: 3/4, City of God: 4/4, Ed Wood: 4/4, Top Gun: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Bleu: 3.5/4, The Hidden Fortess: 3/4, First Blood: 4/4, The Ten Commandments:3.5/4, Patton: 3.5/4, The Bourne Supremacy:3.5/4, King Lear (1983): 2.5/4, Repo Man: 2.5/4, King Kong: 3.5/4, Wall Street: 3/4, The Blues Brothers: 2/4, Trois Couleurs: Blanc: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Rouge: 3.5/4, Animal House: 1.5/4, Ben-Hur: 3.5/4, Gojira: 4/4, Sunset Boulevard: 3.5/4, Falling Down: 4/4, The Night of the Hunter: 3.5/4, Ran: 4/4, The Battle of Algiers: 4/4, Z: 3/4, The Great Escape: 2.5/4, Cries and Whispers: 4/4, Enchanted: 3.5/4, Judgment at Nuremberg: 4/4, Cool Hand Luke:3/4, Scenes from a Marriage: 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): 3.5/4, The Bourne Ultimatum: 3.5/4, F for Fake: 4/4, Spartacus: 4/4, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang: 4/4, Sunrise: 3.5/4, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: 1.5/4, Cloud Atlas: 4/4, Throne of Blood: 2.5/4, Forbidden Planet: 3/4, The Day the Earth Stood Still: 2/4, Frankenstein (1931): 2/4, The Straight Story: 4/4, Boogie Nights: 3/4, Dracula: 4/4, The Stepford Wives: 3.5/4, The Birds: 2/4, Drag Me to Hell: 3/4, Inland Empire: 3/4, Stalker: 3.5/4

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Jurgan it's time for you to experience Eraserhead. Just cut 'em up like regular chickens.

Beau Travail
Claire Denis, 1999
The Criterion Channel



I've often said that plot is one of the least important elements of a movie, and Beau Travail reassures my confidence in that philosophy. The movie speaks volumes about jealousy, masculinity, sexual repression, remorse and internal freedom, all with a "plot" that can be summed up in about 10 words. The method here is to provide images (gorgeous ones, by the way) and music to communicate theme and to elicit feelings. And it loving WORKS. The term "tone poem" gets thrown around a lot, but if there were ever a film to which it applies, it's this. We get mere glimpses of scenes, just enough to piece together the simple story (with the help of some narration), but more importantly to become hypnotized by the film's tone. It moves along with a steady entrancing rhythm like few others. With the help of the wonderful score, the film feels operatic, like a singular crescendo building to... what was that exactly? I have some ideas but I'm still mulling it over. Speaking of "rhythm"... Good lord what an ending.

4.5/5


My List:

----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 478/1000 -----
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
144. The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni has been hit or miss for me - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
147. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - I've never seen a Powell/Pressburger film, for shame - 11/22/20

----- They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? Progress: 542/1000 -----
77. Kwaidan (1964) - Supposed to be slow and spooky - 10/27/20
81. Onibaba (1964) - I've been admiring the Criterion artwork for like 15 years - 10/27/20
116. Witchfinder General (1968) - Vincent Price is the best - 10/27/20
119. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - As a fan of silent horror it's a travesty I haven't seen this yet - 11/12/20
145. Martin (1977) - My experience with non-zombie Romero is embarrassingly sparse - 11/16/20

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Nov 23, 2020

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
If you haven't seen any other Denis films, definitely do so! White Material and High Life are both stunning. Also, the music in the film is from Benjamin Britten's opera Billy Budd, the story the movie is based on, so operatic indeed!

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

¡Hola SEA!


If you're suggesting a Denis film to a horror fan, it's hard not to start with Trouble Every Day

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Yeah, I actually had Trouble Every Day on my watch list for ages (I've honed in on it via the "French Extremity" angle), and it wasn't until I watched Beau Travail that I made the connection with Claire Denis. Anyway, I just watched Trouble Every Day and it kinda blew my mind. I'm SO glad I watched Beau Travail first, because it acclimated me to the sort of director Denis is. Take the minimalist style of Beau Travail and add some hosed up sexual cannibal horror, and you've got a movie that's tailored made for me. I am pleased.

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Spatulater bro! posted:

144. The Passenger (1975) - Antonioni has been hit or miss for me - 10/27/20

"What are you running away from?"



Orange County - Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) goes from being a surfer to writing a novella and has aspirations of attending Stanford University. But due to a transcript mix-up his application is rejected. He then goes on a quest to right this wrong.

The film doesn't take itself too seriously as there are plenty of embarrassing situations and over-the-top pratfalls. Jack Black plays Shaun's older brother and he's perpetually drugged-out and causing havoc. Actually many of the characters are under various states and modes of inebriation. And living out their postmodern lives.

Midway through the film there's a funny moment where Jack Black's character burns down some of Stanford's offices. This isn't the full clip but it'll have to suffice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5wdXytgRLI

A turning point occurs with Shaun's realization that Stanford is populated with immature students just like those found in his high school. And that he doesn't need to go to a renowned university to become a bona fide writer. So by the end things have come full circle.



James Bond versus Godzilla (40/64 completed):

Godzilla vs. Mothra - Mothra is back after a long hiatus. 9/28/20

Hesitation (40 completed):

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

#43 The Omen - An acclaimed horror film I keep forgetting to watch. 11/18/20

new #44 Europe '51 - There are still many Roberto Rossellini films I haven't seen. 11/28/20

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (91/100 completed):

The Golem - A superhero made out of clay. 10/30/20

They Live by Night - Another esteemed one by Nicholas Ray. 10/30/20

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:50 on Nov 29, 2020

Jurgan
May 8, 2007

Just pour it directly into your gaping mouth-hole you decadent slut
Zogo, random.org says you're watching Godzilla vs. Mothra.

Eraserhead is a simple story in a strange environment. As far as I can tell, it’s some near future dystopia where deformities and mutations are common in infants. This is the 70’s, so it’s either a nuclear apocalypse or environmental catastrophe. The story isn’t much more than a troubled marriage that forms from an unplanned pregnancy and ends in infidelity. There’s a whole bunch of Cronenberg style stop motion weirdness and Tarkovsky style long shots of people silently moving through their environments (the subtitle track ended over ten minutes before the movie ended, because it ran out of dialogue). Yet somehow this felt longer than Stalker even though it was an hour shorter. Maybe that’s on me, but I had trouble staying awake for this one. It just wasn’t all that interesting to me. It has some of the key Lynchian moments, especially the chipmunk-cheeked girl singing on stage (there’s usually a musical performance in Lynch movies), but the thing really fell apart at the end. Someone’s head popped off, then got turned into erasers literally. I don’t know what that was about, and I’m sure someone can explain it, but by that point the Eight Deadly Words had occurred. This was a learning experience for Lynch, and I can respect it on that level, but I don’t think I’ll want to watch it again.

Rating: 2.5/4

124. The Rules of the Game- I opened the They Shoot Pictures list, and this is number five. I've never even heard of it.

132. Five Easy Pieces- Continuing the Ebert list, I somehow skipped over this one.

135. Man with a Movie Camera- Fourth wall? Never heard of it.

139. Birth of a Nation: Oh, boy, this is the big one. This is not a movie you watch for fun, but it's a movie that needs to be seen by anyone who cares about film history.

146. Bride of Frankenstein: Like I said, Frankenstein was disappointing, and I don't think the monster would have become an icon without the sequel that is supposedly much better.

148. Notorious: More Hitchcock, one of his most... well-known? Infamous? What's the word I'm looking for?

149. The Goonies: So it's like Stand by Me, but with a treasure instead of a corpse? This doesn't sound great, but I'm constantly hearing it referenced.

150. Requiem for a Dream: A light-hearted romp that's fun for the whole family.

151. Pi: As a mathematician, I'm required to watch this, though personally I prefer e.

152. Mean Girls: This thing is referenced all the time. I think I avoided it because I assumed it was glorifying the things that it critiques.

Okay, tell me what I'm watching!

Shame relieved: The Godfather: 3.5/4, The Godfather Part II: 4/4, Taxi Driver: 4/4, Casablanca: 4/4, Duck Soup: 2/4, Pulp Fiction: 4/4, Barton Fink: 3.5/4, Annie Hall:3/4, Rashomon: 4/4, Blade Runner: 3.5/4, Chinatown: 4/4, Nashville: 3.5/4, Goodfellas: 4/4, The Seven Samurai: 4/4, Superman: 2/4, The Exorcist: 3/4, A Face in the Crowd: 3.5/4, The Seventh Seal: 2.5/4, Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 3.5/4, Apocalypse Now: 4/4, 2001: A Space Odyssey: 2.5/4, The Deer Hunter: 3/4, Schindler's List: 4/4, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: 3/4, Young Frankenstein: 3.5/4, Yojimbo: 3.5/4, Brazil: 3.5/4, Hamlet: 4/4, The Aviator: 4/4, Rocky: 3.5/4, Gandhi: 3.5/4, City Lights: 4/4, Battleship Potemkin: 3.5/4, Predator: 3/4, Easy Rider: 1.5/4, Platoon: 3.5/4, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: 4/4, Get Carter: 3.5/4, Full Metal Jacket: 4/4, My Dinner with Andre: 4/4, Lethal Weapon: 3/4, 3 Women: 4/4, Ikiru: 4/4, The Maltese Falcon: 2.5/4, Midnight Cowboy: 3/4, Gattaca: 4/4, Gone with the Wind: 3/4, Jaws: 4/4, The Bicycle Thief: 3/4, Sophie's Choice: 2/4, On the Waterfront: 4/4, North by Northwest: 3.5/4, Stagecoach: 3.5/4, E.T.: 2/4, Nosferatu: 4/4, Lawrence of Arabia: 4/4, Dirty Harry: 1/4, Vertigo: 3.5/4, Rebecca: 4/4, The Pink Panther: 3/4, Children of Men: 4/4, Wings of Desire: 3/4, Metropolis: 3.5/4, Born on the Fourth of July: 4/4, The Bridge on the River Kwai: 3.5/4, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 4/4, Being John Malkovich: 3/4, Adaptation: 4/4, Bonnie and Clyde: 4/4, Goldfinger: 3/4, A Streetcar Named Desire: 4/4, Dog Day Afternoon: 3.5/4, Leon: The Professional: 4/4, 8 1/2: 3/4, Mulholland Drive: 4/4, 12 Angry Men: 4/4, Safety Last: 3.5/4, Dogville: 4/4, The Rapture: 2/4, Blue Velvet: 3/4, Irreversible: 4/4, Airplane!: 3.5/4, Tokyo Story: 2.5/4, Big Trouble in Little China: 3.5/4, American Psycho: 3.5/4, Dr. Zhivago: 3/4, Leaving Las Vegas:4/4, The Bourne Identity: 4/4, Out of Africa: 3/4, The Usual Suspects: 3/4, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: 4/4, Rain Man: 3.5/4, The Lost Weekend: 3.5/4, Ratatouille: 3/4, City of God: 4/4, Ed Wood: 4/4, Top Gun: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Bleu: 3.5/4, The Hidden Fortess: 3/4, First Blood: 4/4, The Ten Commandments:3.5/4, Patton: 3.5/4, The Bourne Supremacy:3.5/4, King Lear (1983): 2.5/4, Repo Man: 2.5/4, King Kong: 3.5/4, Wall Street: 3/4, The Blues Brothers: 2/4, Trois Couleurs: Blanc: 2.5/4, Trois Couleurs: Rouge: 3.5/4, Animal House: 1.5/4, Ben-Hur: 3.5/4, Gojira: 4/4, Sunset Boulevard: 3.5/4, Falling Down: 4/4, The Night of the Hunter: 3.5/4, Ran: 4/4, The Battle of Algiers: 4/4, Z: 3/4, The Great Escape: 2.5/4, Cries and Whispers: 4/4, Enchanted: 3.5/4, Judgment at Nuremberg: 4/4, Cool Hand Luke:3/4, Scenes from a Marriage: 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): 4/4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): 3.5/4, The Bourne Ultimatum: 3.5/4, F for Fake: 4/4, Spartacus: 4/4, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang: 4/4, Sunrise: 3.5/4, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: 1.5/4, Cloud Atlas: 4/4, Throne of Blood: 2.5/4, Forbidden Planet: 3/4, The Day the Earth Stood Still: 2/4, Frankenstein (1931): 2/4, The Straight Story: 4/4, Boogie Nights: 3/4, Dracula: 4/4, The Stepford Wives: 3.5/4, The Birds: 2/4, Drag Me to Hell: 3/4, Inland Empire: 3/4, Stalker: 3.5/4, Eraserhead: 2.5/4

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Jurgan posted:

146. Bride of Frankenstein: Like I said, Frankenstein was disappointing, and I don't think the monster would have become an icon without the sequel that is supposedly much better.

"Smoke. Good. Good."



Godzilla vs. Mothra - The film starts out with a segment inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). It also contains elements from both Mothra (1961) and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). Villainous developers are once again disregarding environmentalism. And they have no qualms about stealing those little singing fairies again.

There's lots of exposition concerning the history of the planet and where the monsters fit into place. And we get the familiar and futile military interventions. The fighting features an extended underwater duel between Battra and Godzilla. Battra is kind of like a malevolent Mothra. Eventually the fighting turns into a truel when Mothra joins in.

Mothra is more folkish and mystical than most of the monsters. It kind of reminds me of King Caesar from earlier in the series. When Mothra and Battra both reach their imago stage (and can fly) they're able to subdue Godzilla with their combined powers. So Godzilla was defeated for a change.




James Bond versus Godzilla (41/64 completed):

Hesitation (40 completed):

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

#43 The Omen - An acclaimed horror film I keep forgetting to watch. 11/18/20

#44 Europe '51 - There are still many Roberto Rossellini films I haven't seen. 11/28/20

new #45 Roger & Me - Somehow I missed seeing Michael Moore's original film. 12/5/20

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (91/100 completed):

The Golem - A superhero made out of clay. 10/30/20

They Live by Night - Another esteemed one by Nicholas Ray. 10/30/20

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Dec 6, 2020

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Zogo you get The Omen. Look at me Damien. It's all for you!

The Passenger
Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975



At first this seemed like it was going to be much more plot-centric than other Antonioni I've seen. It does have a great plot. Switching identities with a dead guy just for the hell of it and totally abandoning your old life? Oh, and the guy you switched with turns out to be a criminal drug runner? That's good stuff.

But about halfway through the film, when a more typical movie would have shifted the plot into high gear, the Antonioni-ness of The Passenger starts to become clear. There's not going to be any shootouts or exciting plot twists. This is a film about people meandering through life without those exciting elements. It's about a guy who wants a new life and finds... nothing. He might as well not even exist.

The final shot is incredible. I won't spoil it, but it's one of the most technically interesting long takes I've seen. I seriously have no idea how he pulled it off. And it culminates in the best moment of the film.

This movie didn't blow me away, but I liked it a lot and it's definitely at the top of my Antonioni list.

3.5/5


My List:

----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 483/1000 -----
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
147. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - I've never seen a Powell/Pressburger film, for shame - 11/22/20
150. Come and See (1985) - Apparently this is an extremely upsetting war film - 12/17/20

----- They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? Progress: 546/1000 -----
81. Onibaba (1964) - I've been admiring the Criterion artwork for like 15 years - 10/27/20
116. Witchfinder General (1968) - Vincent Price is the best - 10/27/20
119. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - As a fan of silent horror it's a travesty I haven't seen this yet - 11/12/20
145. Martin (1977) - My experience with non-zombie Romero is embarrassingly sparse - 11/16/20
160. Mad Love (1945) - Ooooh Peter Lorre! Sign me up - 12/14/20

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Dec 20, 2020

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Spatulater bro! posted:

150. Come and See (1985) - Apparently this is an extremely upsetting war film - 12/17/20

"Make room for the cow!"




The Omen - The film starts off with a secretive adoption and it feels like a continuation of Rosemary's Baby (1968) in some respects. It has a bleakness throughout as defenestration, decapitation and other nasty stuff happens to those who cross paths with the ominous kid known as Damien. It also channels the parental fears and anxieties found in films like Don't Look Now (1973).

Anyway, Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) embarks on a quest for answers with a photog (David Warner) to figure out what's really going on. This pursuit does not go too well to say the least.

It brings to mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKN2HEAr1VU


Also watched:

They Live by Night - It had more more romance than expected as we see a few domestic tragedies play out. Bowie (Farley Granger) must choose between his wife and his fellow convicts. Innocent love starts with a rushed $20 wedding followed by an unpleasant life on the run. This wedding did not portend a happy ending.

This one really gets into the worldview of crooks. It features great characterization as they're richly drawn and cynical people. It doesn't showcase the bank robberies too much but I was reminded of the later released Gun Crazy (1950) at times.




James Bond versus Godzilla (41/64 completed):

new Die Another Day - The one with Halle Berry. 12/20/20

Hesitation (41 completed):

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

#44 Europe '51 - There are still many Roberto Rossellini films I haven't seen. 11/28/20

#45 Roger & Me - Somehow I missed seeing Michael Moore's original film. 12/5/20

new #46 Death is a Caress - Norwegian noir sounds like a novelty and a rarity. 12/20/20

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (92/100 completed):

The Golem - A superhero made out of clay. 10/30/20

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Dec 21, 2020

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Zogo you get The Golem. I'm assuming you're referring to the 1920 version. There's also a 1915 version which I haven't seen.

Come and See
Elem Klimov, 1985
The Criterion Channel



I've seen a lot of films that present the horrors of the Nazis in a realistic, upsetting way (most of which were made after Come and See, for what it's worth), but I've never seen one that nails subjectivity like this one. We witness a character witnessing the atrocities. Flyora's face tells the entire story as it gradually degrades from naïve optimism to a level of fear and anguish that no human - let alone a young boy - should ever experience.

The movie paints war the way it (presumably) really is: confusing, chaotic, confounding, and hopeless. Even the best "anti-war" films give the audience some semblance of hope. But not here. There's no silver lining amongst the poo poo. It's just poo poo.

And few other films of this ilk capture the humanity behind the evil so well. At some point near the end of the film a train of thought crossed my mind: each individual German soldier who committed these atrocities was just as evil as Hitler himself. Evil is a function of both individual corruption plus opportunity (read: political power). If any one of these Nazis had had the opportunity to rule a country the way Hitler had, would things have been any different? Hitler gets the infamy due to being at the top of the food chain, but every single soldier under his arm who "followed an order" is just as much a piece of human filth.

Why did the film conjure that thought in me? I don't know precisely, but I know it has to do with the way the film presents these horrors through the lens of human beings. It's astounding how effective that approach is.

5/5


My List:

----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 488/1000 -----
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
147. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - I've never seen a Powell/Pressburger film, for shame - 11/22/20
151. Spring in a Small Town (1948) - I just realized I've never seen a Chinese film from the 20th century! - 12/26/20
156. Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) - A 4.5 hour documentary from Godard? I'm not super excited... 12/26/20
159. The Red Shoes (1948) - Another Powell/Pressburger film that gets loads of praise - 12/26/20
160. Chimes at Midnight (1965) - More Orson Welles is always welcome - 12/26/20
165. Black Narcissus (1947) - These Powell and Pressburger dudes sure seem to dominate this list - 12/26/20
168. The River (1951) - Jean Renoir has impressed me so far - 12/26/20

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Spatulater bro! posted:

160. Chimes at Midnight (1965) - More Orson Welles is always welcome - 12/26/20

"There lives not three good men unhanged in England, and one of them is fat and grows old."

Spatulater bro! posted:

Zogo you get The Golem. I'm assuming you're referring to the 1920 version. There's also a 1915 version which I haven't seen.

Yeah, I watched the one from 1920. The earlier two are considered lost films AFAIK. There's a good copy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB4h_cyB0ds

PS It looks like you and I may run the table for the whole month of December.



The Golem - Antisemitic decrees are being made by the local ruler. This alarms a Rabbi so he uses Jewish demonology to conjure up a clay golem guardian. This monster lumbers around doing a few good things for his master but eventually runs amok.

The creation of the monster feels very seminal to so many later monster and superhero films. Films from the 1920s and earlier feel like academic exercises for the most part but this one still has some memorable images.

The tinting used in this era always sticks out as well. I wonder what it'd look like if done in films today.



James Bond versus Godzilla (41/64 completed):

Die Another Day - The one with Halle Berry. 12/20/20

Hesitation (41 completed):

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

#44 Europe '51 - There are still many Roberto Rossellini films I haven't seen. 11/28/20

#45 Roger & Me - Somehow I missed seeing Michael Moore's original film. 12/5/20

#46 Death is a Caress - Norwegian noir sounds like a novelty and a rarity. 12/20/20

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (93/100 completed):

new A Man Escaped - The only film in the current TSPDT top 100 I haven't seen. 12/30/20

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Dec 31, 2020

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

¡Hola SEA!


Zogo posted:

They Live by Night - It had more more romance than expected as we see a few domestic tragedies play out. Bowie (Farley Granger) must choose between his wife and his fellow convicts. Innocent love starts with a rushed $20 wedding followed by an unpleasant life on the run. This wedding did not portend a happy ending.

Have you seen altman's version of the same story, Thieves Like Us ?

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

DeimosRising posted:

Have you seen altman's version of the same story, Thieves Like Us ?

No, not yet. I still have many Altman films to see.

Short Cuts (1993) is one of the better films I've seen in recent years.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Zogo you get A Man Escaped. It's Bresson's minimalism at its finest.

Chimes at Midnight
Orson Welles, 1965
The Criterion Channel



At the risk of sounding like an illiterate philistine, I confess that the authentic Shakespeare dialogue presented an enormous hurdle for me. I understood the plot in its broad strokes (with the aid of some online resources), but the nuances of each scene were nearly entirely lost on me. I'm the first to admit this is my own failing. But at the same time I'm not going to pretend like it wasn't an issue for me.

But with that said, I enjoyed this at the 1,000-foot vantage point from which I was able to view it. The brilliance of Welles' depiction of Falstaff cut through the comprehension barrier enough to make me laugh on a few occasions. Seeing him trot around in that fat man suit of armor during the battle gave me a chuckle.

And speaking of that battle, holy GOD what an incredible display. It's very much the centerpiece of the film and worth the price of admission alone.

I know deep down that merely comprehending the dialogue at 100% efficiency would hugely increase my enjoyment of this film. There's so much going for it that I'm almost inclined to study up on Shakespearian dialogue, and the plays on which the film is based, and revisit it soon, this time more well-equipped. It's obvious there's a ton to love here, if only me feeble brain was up to the challenge.

3/5


----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 490/1000 -----
123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
147. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - I've never seen a Powell/Pressburger film, for shame - 11/22/20
151. Spring in a Small Town (1948) - I just realized I've never seen a Chinese film from the 20th century! - 12/26/20
156. Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) - A 4.5 hour documentary from Godard? I'm not super excited... 12/26/20
159. The Red Shoes (1948) - Another Powell/Pressburger film that gets loads of praise - 12/26/20
165. Black Narcissus (1947) - These Powell and Pressburger dudes sure seem to dominate this list - 12/26/20
168. The River (1951) - Jean Renoir has impressed me so far - 12/26/20
170. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) - I've seen The Young Girls of Rochefort and enjoyed it - 1/1/21

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Jan 2, 2021

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Spatulater bro! posted:

165. Black Narcissus (1947) - These Powell and Pressburger dudes sure seem to dominate this list - 12/26/20

"You can't order me about. You have nothing to do with me anymore."




A Man Escaped - This is based upon a true story so we get a look at a prison where thousands of people were executed. It's bare-bones and minimalist but it works with its heavy dose of narration. It's also very insulated in that it strictly focuses on the escape plans and the escape itself. The insulation reminded of the underwatched Moonlighting (1982). Another film where we're stuck in the protagonists head.

It eschews violence and torture and other nasty prison stuff. Only making references to firing squads through the sound of gunfire. But there's plenty of tension throughout. Prison films like Escape from Alcatraz (1979) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994) are indebted to this one.

Much more could be said...


James Bond versus Godzilla (41/64 completed):

Die Another Day - The one with Halle Berry. 12/20/20

Hesitation (41 completed):

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

#44 Europe '51 - There are still many Roberto Rossellini films I haven't seen. 11/28/20

#45 Roger & Me - Somehow I missed seeing Michael Moore's original film. 12/5/20

#46 Death is a Caress - Norwegian noir sounds like a novelty and a rarity. 12/20/20

new #47 The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter - There are many Lau Kar-leung films I still need to see. 1/5/21

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (94/100 completed):

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

¡Hola SEA!


Zogo posted:

No, not yet. I still have many Altman films to see.

Short Cuts (1993) is one of the better films I've seen in recent years.

It's a less melodramatic take, with a lot more quiet study of domestic life and the rural US at the time. I prefer it but They Live By Night is dope too.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

I'm feeling sadistic, so Zogo you get Die Another Day.

Black Narcissus
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, 1947
The Criterion Channel



Nineteen forty-goddamn-seven. Coulda fooled me. If you showed me a scene from this - any scene - and asked me to guess what year it was made, I'd probably go with 1972. The vibrant colors, the brilliant use of shadow and light, the striking compositions. 40s movies just don't look like this.

Early into the film I thought to myself, "I bet the Catholic church despised this movie". And sure enough, the Catholic National Legion of Decency condemned it upon its release. It's a damning exploration of how we all long for freedom from our prisons, even the self-imposed religious ones. Give us the right environment and we just might get too much exposure to the things we truly want.

I loved everything about this. It's the sort of brilliant, exciting, ahead-of-its-time filmmaking that reminds me why I watch movies.

5/5


----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 492/1000 -----

123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
147. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - More Powell/Pressburger please - 11/22/20
151. Spring in a Small Town (1948) - I just realized I've never seen a Chinese film from the 20th century! - 12/26/20
156. Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) - A 4.5 hour documentary from Godard? I'm not super excited... 12/26/20
159. The Red Shoes (1948) - Another Powell/Pressburger film that gets loads of praise - 12/26/20
168. The River (1951) - Jean Renoir has impressed me so far - 12/26/20
170. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) - I've seen The Young Girls of Rochefort and enjoyed it - 1/1/21
171. Rocco and His Brothers (1960) - Ah, the director who made The Leopard. Cool. - 1/8/21

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jan 9, 2021

Bullbar
Apr 18, 2007

The Aristocrats!

Spatulater bro! posted:

151. Spring in a Small Town (1948) - I just realized I've never seen a Chinese film from the 20th century! - 12/26/20

An entirely arbitrary selection for you.

It's been a hot minute since I participated in this thread, but I finally got around to watching Nashville. I'm so glad I did! I was kind of put off by the length, admittedly, but that was honestly the breeziest 2h40m of my life. It kept me engaged and entertained the whole time and I wanted more when it was over. What a great film! It goes from chaos to laser-focused in the blink of an eye and all these characters seem like absurd caricatures until the moment they become fully-fledged real-rear end people right in front of your eyes. Loved it to bits.

Ran
Moonlight
Boyhood
Persona
Tokyo Story
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
The Wages of Fear
M
La Dolce Vita - Just one of those movies I've always meant to see and never gotten around to, constantly pops up on lists of great movies and I haven't seen any Fellini

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Bullbar posted:

The Wages of Fear

"Watch the bumps!"





Die Another Day - It's another somewhat fresh Bond story dealing with genetic modification and identity theft. After Bond is tortured in North Korea for a year or so he's released and forced to go rogue once again as in Licence to Kill (1989).

His latest task is to eradicate an Elon Musk look-a-like who wields a weapon that looks similar to an NES Power Glove. I find that many Bond films have decent twists but they lose some of their luster when each film pulls two or three big ones. There are the usual spectacles (this time involving hovercrafts) and it kind of jests at how governments lie to their citizens. I suppose a more serious contemporary of this film would be Joint Security Area (2000).

When Madonna appeared in the film I remembered back to the missed opportunity of A View to a Kill (1985) not having a Duran Duran cameo.

PS I remember reading that Halle Berry almost got her own Jinx spinoff. I suppose I would've watched it.


Also watched:

Death is a Caress - It's another romantic noir. It's a predictable film but it's more explicit than the standard 1940s fare from the US. This time a mechanic becomes ensnared in an adulterous relationship with a wealthy temptress. They share a painful relationship that features fights followed by reconciliations over and over again. Couples who have different priorities make for a great and natural way to ignite brawling. In short, she's a socialite and he's not. At times I was reminded of the underwatched A Place in the Sun (1951).

The couple ends disastrously with a presumed abortion followed by a violent murder. The courtroom defense is weak and the judge doesn't buy it. I'm paraphrasing but the murderer justifies himself in this manner: "Your Honor, this woman was too sexy and too argumentative. That's why I strangled her."

Free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2n8-U-lAgE




James Bond versus Godzilla (42/64 completed):

Hesitation (42 completed):

#38 To Have and Have Not - From what I've heard this one sounds similar to Casablanca. 8/27/20

#41 Frankenstein Conquers the World - Another big monster film. 10/9/20

#44 Europe '51 - There are still many Roberto Rossellini films I haven't seen. 11/28/20

#45 Roger & Me - Somehow I missed seeing Michael Moore's original film. 12/5/20

#47 The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter - There are many Lau Kar-leung films I still need to see. 1/5/21

new #48 Heroes of the East - Japanese martial arts vs. Chinese martial arts. 1/12/21

new #49 Police Story 2 - The first film was great with a capital G. This one should be good if it's anywhere close to the original. 1/12/21

BBC Culture: The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films (94/100 completed):

#88 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum - I haven't seen a Mizoguchi film in years. 12/7/19

#98 In the Heat of the Sun - Going into this one blindly. 10/23/19

DVD Beaver's Top 100 Desert Island Films (94/100 completed):

Too Late for Tears - An interesting title. 5/27/20

Woman on the Run - Apparently an underwatched film noir. 6/16/20

Zogo fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Jan 13, 2021

gohuskies
Oct 23, 2010

I spend a lot of time making posts to justify why I'm not a self centered shithead that just wants to act like COVID isn't a thing.

Zogo posted:


Die Another Day - It's another somewhat fresh Bond story dealing with genetic modification and identity theft. After Bond is tortured in North Korea for a year or so he's released and forced to go rogue once again as in Licence to Kill (1989).

His latest task is to eradicate an Elon Musk look-a-like who wields a weapon that looks similar to an NES Power Glove. I find that many Bond films have decent twists but they lose some of their luster when each film pulls two or three big ones. There are the usual spectacles (this time involving hovercrafts) and it kind of jests at how governments lie to their citizens. I suppose a more serious contemporary of this film would be Joint Security Area (2000).

When Madonna appeared in the film I remembered back to the missed opportunity of A View to a Kill (1985) not having a Duran Duran cameo.

PS I remember reading that Halle Berry almost got her own Jinx spinoff. I suppose I would've watched it.



Perhaps the kindest review of Die Another Day ever written!

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Zogo you get The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. I haven't actually seen it yet but it's been on my martial arts radar for years.

Spring in a Small Town
Fei Mu, 1948



There's a lyrical, poetic quality running quietly through this film. I love how every now and then a shot will fade out and then fade back into the same scene. And the narration is sparse and effective. This film's level of subtlety, restraint and emotional complexity is incredible, especially when you consider it was made in the 40s. Films of this era tended to douse you over the head with melodrama, but not here. It's superficially simple, but with an abundance of humanity.

4/5


----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 494/1000 -----

123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
147. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - More Powell/Pressburger please - 11/22/20
156. Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) - A 4.5 hour documentary from Godard? I'm not super excited... 12/26/20
159. The Red Shoes (1948) - Another Powell/Pressburger film that gets loads of praise - 12/26/20
168. The River (1951) - Jean Renoir has impressed me so far - 12/26/20
170. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) - I've seen The Young Girls of Rochefort and enjoyed it - 1/1/21
171. Rocco and His Brothers (1960) - Ah, the director who made The Leopard. Cool. - 1/8/21
175. Mouchette (1967) - A Robert Bresson film I haven't seen. Hell yeah. - 1/15/21

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
The Evil Dead

This was a lot all at once all of the time, and it seemed to come, sweaty but fully-formed, entirely from a single, feverish imagination. It's always such a joy to see a movie that's so entirely its own like this, unhindered by normal rules of "competent" filmmaking, because it allows for the really alien stuff to come out. And while there are definitely a few points in this that are incompetent (more than one shot is totally out of focus), it's in the same freewheeling style of John Waters, where the fact that it's so loose and sometimes ragged only makes it more endearing and engaging.

One thing that really took me by surprise is how doggedly inventive it is. Nearly every shot is heavily stylized in some way - trick shots, forced perspectives, wide angles, expressive lighting, etc dominate nearly the entire movie in a way that reminded me both of Zazie dans le metro or Citizen Kane (world's weirdest triple feature?). Much like Zazie, this makes it overwhelming and borderline exhausting. Every shot demands your full attention, every moment is expressionistic, which means there's almost no breathing room like there is even in movies like Hausu. But almost every single moment of visual expressionism is completely successful, which gives it an awesomely disturbing atmosphere of queasy, progressive madness.

The plot is minimal and the pacing is bizarre, but these elements merge with the perfectly handcrafted high-octane creativity to form a sort of slapstick nightmare. It's like the opposite of Friday the 13th, which felt like the "wrong" side of a horror film - all breathing room with rote killings. This is just shock and trauma and sugar-rush idea-spinning. I'm very curious to see the second one.

9/10

shamezone

1) Cries and Whispers - red movie
2) Tetsuo: The Iron Man - body movie
3) One Sings, The Other Doesn't - varda!
4) The Deer Hunter - wedding movie
5) The Tree of Wooden Clogs - mike leigh's favorite
6) Last House on the Left - violent movie
7) Salesman - real movie
8) Don't Look Now - venetian movie
9) Alexander Nevsky - ice movie
10) A League Of Their Own - baseball movie

[full list] Floating Weeds 9/10, Daisies 8/10, Stray Dog 8/10, Victim 6/10, Man Bites Dog 9/10, Night and Fog 10/10, Weekend 8/10, Jubilee 10/10, Sans Soleil 10/10, Candidate 8/10, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 10/10, The Freshman 5/10, Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers 10/10, Branded to Kill 8/10, In Heaven There Is No Beer? 10/10, Blood Simple 10/10, The Marriage of Maria Braun 7/10, A Day In The Country 7/10, A Brief History of Time 10/10, Gates of Heaven 10/10, The Thin Blue Line 10/10, The Fog of War 10/10, My Beautiful Laundrette 10/10, Blind Chance 8/10, My Winnipeg 10/10, The River 7/10, Odd Man Out 8/10, The Passion of Anna 9/10, Brute Force 10/10, The Rite 5/10, The Piano Teacher 10/10, Ashes and Diamonds 7/10, Meantime 9/10, Carnival of Souls 8/10, La Notte 10/10, Frances Ha 10/10, L'avventura, Again 10/10, A Room With a View 9/10, Laura 8/10, Marjorie Prime 10/10, Ex Machina 8/10, Tampopo 10/10, Pickpocket 4/10, Harlan County USA 10/10, The Spirit of the Beehive 10/10, Heaven's Gate 4/10, A Short Film About Killing 9/10, The Pillow Book 6/10, Desert Hearts 9/10, Alice in the Cities 10/10, Yi Yi 10/10, Rififi 9/10, Children of Paradise 10/10, A Poem is a Naked Person 8/10, Late Autumn 8/10, Chimes at Midnight 10/10 Watership Down 9/10, Ugetsu 9/10, Veronika Voss 9/10, The Hidden Fortress 7/10, Close-Up 10/10, Journey to Italy 10/10, L'Eclisse 7/10, Andrei Rublev 11/10, Vagabond 9/10, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 9/10, Shoplifters 10/10, Escape From New York 10/10, Die Hard 10/10, The Last Picture Show 9/10, Mr Smith Goes To Washington 8/10, Saturday Night Fever 9/10, First Blood 7/10, Mad Max 7/10, Come and See 10/10, Friday the 13th 7/10, Predator 5/10, Sicario 10/10, Grizzly Man 9/10, Cache 10/10, The Evil Dead 9/10 (total: 181)

Spatulater bro!, please enjoy A Matter of Life and Death

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Magic Hate Ball posted:

I'm very curious to see the second one.

Hahaha, oh gently caress yes. Watch it tonight.

Jurgan
May 8, 2007

Just pour it directly into your gaping mouth-hole you decadent slut

Spatulater bro! posted:

Hahaha, oh gently caress yes. Watch it tonight.

The second one is much better. I've also been surprised at Evil Dead's influence. Rewatched Tremors and realized the POV of the tentacles racing along the ground is straight out of ED.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Magic Hate Ball you get Tetsuo. Hold on tight.

A Matter of Life and Death
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, 1946



It's profound without being austere (there are lots of comedic touches), and fantastical without being cheesy. The special effects are dazzling and bold. The transitions from color to b/w are my new favorite use of this technique. Much like Black Narcissus, this film feels way ahead of its time, both in terms of visual presentation and narrative. It's an audacious, visually arresting masterpiece and I can't wait to watch it again soon.

5/5


----- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Progress: 495/1000 -----

123. Yi Yi (2000) - Always on many best of the 21st century lists - 10/27/20
129. Rome, Open City (1945) - Rossellini's Journey to Italy was good - 10/27/20
146. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) - The only over Pasolini I've seen is Salo - 11/6/20
156. Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) - A 4.5 hour documentary from Godard? I'm not super excited... 12/26/20
159. The Red Shoes (1948) - Another Powell/Pressburger film that gets loads of praise - 12/26/20
168. The River (1951) - Jean Renoir has impressed me so far - 12/26/20
170. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) - I've seen The Young Girls of Rochefort and enjoyed it - 1/1/21
171. Rocco and His Brothers (1960) - Ah, the director who made The Leopard. Cool. - 1/8/21
175. Mouchette (1967) - A Robert Bresson film I haven't seen. Hell yeah. - 1/15/21
177. Imitation of Life (1959) - My first Douglas Sirk movie - 1/21/21

TrixRabbi
Aug 20, 2010

Time for a little robot chauvinism!

Hot Take comin' in: Die Another Day is the best of the Brosnan films. By a mile.

Dmitri Russkie
Feb 13, 2008

Spatulater bro! Haven't seen any of yours, so RNG says to see The River

Saw Mean Girls. Fun High school movie. Reminded me a lot of Can't Buy Me Love. Lindsay Lohan seems to do a pretty good job when she focuses on the story. Easy story to get into and enjoy.

My List:
Fort Apache - This will be my John Wayne spot for now.
The Departed - Don't know much about this movie. NEWEST
Jabberwocky - Following up one Terry Gilliam movie with another.
The Cocoanuts - Working my way through the Marx Brothers movies. This is their first movie.
Sunrise - A friend of mine who likes silent movies recommended this one. Looking forward to seeing it.
Pelle the Conquerer - Big fan of Max Von Sydow. Need to see more of his work.
Transformers: The Movie - Taking a break from Studio Ghibli. Not the Michael Bay movies. The animated movie from the 80's.
Holiday Inn -
Die Nibelungen - Interested in seeing another Fritz Lang picture. OLDEST
Arsenic and Old Lace - Another Cary Grant picture.
Ocean's 11 - A slot here for Elvis, Sinatra, Beatles movies. This is the original with Frank Sinatra.

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smitster
Apr 9, 2004


Oven Wrangler
I’ve always eyeballed this thread, but since I’ve basically seen all the horror essentials from that thread I’m gonna finally jump in to this and knock some really shameful omissions off my watch list - hope I’m doing it right!

Dmitri Russkie - you get Arsenic And Old Lace because it’s a very enjoyable hoot.


My List:
12 Years A Slave - a well-regarded recent best picture I never did get around to seeing
Solaris (1972) - I have a feeling I’ll like it, but Tarkovsky always seemed like it would be a slog and I never want to commit to it
My Neighbor Totoro - I’m him, I’m the goon that has seen very little Miyazaki
Manhattan - I’m just not a fan of Woody Allen, though I know his movies are important so I’d like to become at least a little more familiar with them
Stagecoach - I need to watch more classic Westerns
Breathless - It always seemed like I would find it boring so I avoided it forever. That should change!
Paths Of Glory - Don’t tend to watch war movies but this shows up all the time
Paris, Texas - This seems right up my alley and yet I’ve never brought myself to see this neo-noir. That should be fixed.
Scarface - I’ve seen clips, just never got around to watching the whole thing
Wild Strawberries - Need to see more Bergman

Deshamed:

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