FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Andy on March 30, 2008, 11:09:47 AM
-
recommend some. I am trying to restock my blockbuster queueueue. I'm tiring of documentaries for the minute. I 'm not that into love stories.
-
Too bad about documentaries, I've just seen a couple of pretty good ones...
L'avocat de la terreur / Terror's Advocate (Barbet Schroeder, 2007) (fascinating about the bewilderingly complex and contradictory Jacques Vergès, defender of dictators and terrorists)
My Kid Could Paint That (Amir Bar-Lev, 2007)
Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney, 2007) (the one that won the Oscar)
The Camden 28 (Anthony Giacchino, 2007)
Street Fight (Marshall Curry, 2005) (an election year must-see)
Slasher (John Landis, 2004) (after Patton's The Famous Flamer; meat-and-potatoes doc but what a goddamn character)
-
Across 110th Street (http://imdb.com/title/tt0068168/)
-
Point Blank (http://imdb.com/title/tt0062138/)
Let's Do It Again (http://imdb.com/title/tt0073282/)
-
I'll see your Across 110th Street, which is great, and add the completely underrated and totally awesome...
Detroit 9000 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069966/)
-
Two-Lane Blacktop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-lane_Blacktop). You may want to turn it off after that scene where James Taylor tries to have this awkward conversation with some girl about cicadas, but keep going. Warren Oates = the man.
-
I'll see your Across 110th Street, which is great, and add the completely underrated and totally awesome...
Detroit 9000 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069966/)
Wow - I gotta check that out - the tagline is amazing: "Visit the murder capital of the world--where the honkies are the minority!"
-
It's pretty amazing. Good in a real, gritty way, not in a typical blaxploitation way, even though it's obviously promoted as such (this was a little bit before the genre went completely bonkers too). Shot in Detroit, they make great use of the locations. I did a write-up a couple of years ago, but I can't find it now.
Great call on Two-Lane Blacktop, Stupornaut. One of my all-time favs.
-
The Man Who Fell to Earth. I need someone to tell me what happened.
If any movie is calling out for a remake, it's this one. Actually, I heard one is in the works, and Andy Milonakis and Jandek are duking it out for the Thomas Jerome Newton role.
-
The Man Who Fell to Earth. I need someone to tell me what happened.
If any movie is calling out for a remake, it's this one. Actually, I heard one is in the works, and Andy Milonakis and Jandek are duking it out for the Thomas Jerome Newton role.
I love that movie! I think it's mostly my David Bowie obsession, but who cares?
-
Lets see TL, Crimestick, Stupornaut, and Masterofsparks have all beaten me to the punch with some of their recommendations.
I'll thrown in Prime cut watch it with a Vegan you love. Make it a double feature with Point Blank because you can never have enough Lee Marvin in your life.
Also don't forget for you Two Lane Blacktop fans, Monte Hellman also made a great version of Cockfighter with Warren Oates.
-
I'll thrown in Prime cut watch it with a Vegan you love. Make it a double feature with Point Blank because you can never have enough Lee Marvin in your life.
(http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8884/primecutmy4.jpg)
I love that movie.
Michael Ritchie is an underappreciated director (or just unknown to most). He's hit-and-miss, but check out this awesome 1-2-3 punch he made in the early seventies:
Prime Cut (1972)
The Candidate (1972)
Smile (1975)
To make those three amazing, wildly different films back-to-back-to-back is quite a feat. (Consider them all recommended.)
-
I just saw Rocket Science and loved it. I am toughing my way through Lake of Fire, and recommend it, but it's a documentary (150 minutes on the abortion debate.)
-
Michael Ritchie is an underappreciated director (or just unknown to most). He's hit-and-miss, but check out this awesome 1-2-3 punch he made in the early seventies:
Prime Cut (1972)
The Candidate (1972)
Smile (1975)
To make those three amazing, wildly different films back-to-back-to-back is quite a feat. (Consider them all recommended.)
You totally left out probably one of the best sports movies ever the original The Bad News Bears
-
For a good reason - haven't seen it! :o
-
I don't think Blockbuster Online has Two Lane Blacktop. At least they didn't when I used it. It's still on long wait on Netflix as well. I really want to see it but can't.
-
I don't think Blockbuster Online has Two Lane Blacktop. At least they didn't when I used it. It's still on long wait on Netflix as well. I really want to see it but can't.
It's well worth the money for the Criterion DVD of it. It's jam packed with things including the complete screenplay.
-
I actually wasn't that impressed with Prime Cut. The fact that there's a bad guy named Weenie gave me hope, but I never really got that interested. Great to see Hackman and Marvin together, but that was about it.
Another recommendation for Two-Lane Blacktop right here. It's everything Easy Rider should've been.
-
One more from me:
The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (http://imdb.com/title/tt0072251/)
See it now before the Tony Scott remake comes out.
-
One more from me:
The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (http://imdb.com/title/tt0072251/)
See it now before the Tony Scott remake comes out.
Also the movie ending is better then the books. But the book gives you a whole lot of who is who on the subway car.
-
Michael Ritchie is an underappreciated director (or just unknown to most). He's hit-and-miss, but check out this awesome 1-2-3 punch he made in the early seventies:
Prime Cut (1972)
The Candidate (1972)
Smile (1975)
To make those three amazing, wildly different films back-to-back-to-back is quite a feat. (Consider them all recommended.)
You totally left out probably one of the best sports movies ever the original The Bad News Bears
Has anyone seen Downhill Racer? It's a 1969 Ritchie skiing drama starring Redford and Hackman, so I suspect it's one the best films ever made. As far as I know it's never been released on DVD.
-
I just saw Rocket Science and loved it. I am toughing my way through Lake of Fire, and recommend it, but it's a documentary (150 minutes on the abortion debate.)
i saw lake of fire at a festivus last year and walked out after first abortion aftermath. too gross for old grimlock. went to the bathroom, put some water on the head, did some breathing, went back in, and the punk rock girls were doing dirty coat hanger dances. then toothless priest from 1940s talks some crazy shizzit. then peter singer is interviewed with kid gloves. then 90 more minutes.
booed.
a beautifully shot, hideously muddled film.
-
Michael Ritchie is an underappreciated director (or just unknown to most). He's hit-and-miss, but check out this awesome 1-2-3 punch he made in the early seventies:
Prime Cut (1972)
The Candidate (1972)
Smile (1975)
To make those three amazing, wildly different films back-to-back-to-back is quite a feat. (Consider them all recommended.)
You totally left out probably one of the best sports movies ever the original The Bad News Bears
Has anyone seen Downhill Racer? It's a 1969 Ritchie skiing drama starring Redford and Hackman, so I suspect it's one the best films ever made. As far as I know it's never been released on DVD.
It's on my wanted list! Sounds great, doesn't it?
EDIT: It's actually out on R2 DVD!
(http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/263/51vtfbvfkflxt5vp9.jpg)
-
(http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1663/littlemurders1314f7235ub1.jpg)
I hereby recommend Little Murders (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067350/) (1971). One of the darkest, most twisted comedy-dramas produced in the early 70s - an era filled with dark, twisted comedy-dramas. The setting is New York City, "now", only things are slightly off. There's an end-of-the-world vibe in the air; society is cold and cynic, human relations are strained, rooftop snipers cause paranoia with seemingly random killings. And in the middle of this, an emotionally numb photographer played by Elliot Gould is invited to his girlfriend's home to have dinner with her parents. What follows is an absurd social interaction almost worthy of Ionescu.
It's directed by Alan Arkin(!), who also turns up as a neurotic detective about midway through it. Written by Jules Feiffer (from his play), who the same year also wrote Mike Nichols little-seen misanthropic masterpiece(/mess, depending on who you ask) Carnal Knowledge (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066892/).
-
The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3
See it now before the Tony Scott remake comes out.
Oohhhh. I want so badly to believe that that's a joke, but I know better.
I've always had a soft spot for Morituri - an atmospheric WWII potboiler from the 60s with double-agent Marlon Brando trying to sabotage the Nazi cargo ship that Yul Brynner is captaining. Features Marlon Brando trying to pass as a German, doing his best cheesy Churr-mannn accent.
And incidentally, after seeing just that screenshot, I am SOLD on Little Murders.
-
While we're on all these gritty, pre-Giuliani NYC movies, can I take it way back to black and white and toss The Incident (http://imdb.com/title/tt0061814/) into the ring? These two street toughs, seemingly right out of "West Side Story" (one of them is the young Martin Sheen), turn out to be actually "tough," if not downright sociopathic, and hold a subway car hostage, physically and psychologically messing with all the passengers, one by one, none of whom will lift a finger to challenge these guys, which only pisses them off more - it's a gut wrenching hour and a half.
-
I watched Prime Cut for the first time last week, and although I loved the first 45 minutes, I was disappointed in the rest. At a certain point it turned into a "hooker with a heart of gold" story, and that is my #1 peeve. Don't get me wrong, any time spend with Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman is time well spent, but it was a let down after Point Blank.
I rented The Assasination of Jesse James at the Hands of the Coward Robert Ford this weekend and loved it. It takes it's time, so make yourself comfortable, but it's worth it.
Side note: don't watch it for the Nick Cave cameo! You will have to wait hours! I put a shot out and named it My Nick Cave Shot... and that shot and I stared at each other for the duration of this 2.5 hour movie.
I like the guts,
Chris
-
I rented The Assasination of Jesse James at the Hands of the Coward Robert Ford this weekend and loved it. It takes it's time, so make yourself comfortable, but it's worth it.
YES! I liked this a lot. It's practically an honorary 70's movie.
PRIME CUT is pretty crazy. Hackman literally keeps his hookers in stables and hauls their drugged bodies around like slabs of meat.
-
I three-quarters heartedly recommend the horribly-named "Duck You Sucker" by Leone, the middle one of his second trilogy. It's a good weird western in the Leone style, with the revolution-era Mexican government standing in for the Nazis. Rod Steiger's accent is embarrassing. James Coburn is good but I kept wanting to say "Good... lauck..." every time he got in a stagecoach.
The name stuck because Leone insisted (over Steiger and Coburn's repeated objections) that Duck, You Sucker was a common American phrase. Some places you'll see it called "A Fistful of Dynamite."
-
I recently saw Little Murders, as I am a big fan of both Gould and Arkin. Ooooh boy. It does NOT age well. It was just way too stagey for me, and "wacky" to boot, a lethal combination. I wanted to like it, but just couldn't. Maybe I better never plan to go to a BS meet-up.
-
I also watched PAYDAY starring Rip Torn a couple of nights ago. It's a much seamier, more realistic glimpse at the country music biz of the 70's than NASHVILLE. Torn is as good as you'd expect as a violent, pill-popping egomaniac. There's also a scene where his big dumb ox of a driver advises a distressed groupie about the proper way to make omelettes.
Original tagline: "If you can't drink it, snort it, spend it, or love it... forget it!"
-
I also watched PAYDAY starring Rip Torn a couple of nights ago. It's a much seamier, more realistic glimpse at the country music biz of the 70's than NASHVILLE. Torn is as good as you'd expect as a violent, pill-popping egomaniac. There's also a scene where his big dumb ox of a driver advises a distressed groupie about the proper way to make omelettes.
Original tagline: "If you can't drink it, snort it, spend it, or love it... forget it!"
I rented this and watched the first hour of it. I liked it, but I was tired.
Between Payday and The Man Who Fell to Earth (which I watched this weekend), is there any 70s Rip Torn movie where's he not just fucking everything?
-
Between Payday and The Man Who Fell to Earth (which I watched this weekend), is there any 70s Rip Torn movie where's he not just fucking everything?
Nope, he's either fucking it, snorting it, drinking it, spending it, or attacking it with a hammer.
-
I also watched PAYDAY starring Rip Torn a couple of nights ago. It's a much seamier, more realistic glimpse at the country music biz of the 70's than NASHVILLE. Torn is as good as you'd expect as a violent, pill-popping egomaniac. There's also a scene where his big dumb ox of a driver advises a distressed groupie about the proper way to make omelettes.
Original tagline: "If you can't drink it, snort it, spend it, or love it... forget it!"
I saw this years ago and loved it. I mostly remember the final scene and Rip Torn's absolutely crazy eyes. I don't want to spoil anything, but you have to see those eyes.
-
While we're on all these gritty, pre-Giuliani NYC movies, can I take it way back to black and white and toss The Incident (http://imdb.com/title/tt0061814/) into the ring? These two street toughs, seemingly right out of "West Side Story" (one of them is the young Martin Sheen), turn out to be actually "tough," if not downright sociopathic, and hold a subway car hostage, physically and psychologically messing with all the passengers, one by one, none of whom will lift a finger to challenge these guys, which only pisses them off more - it's a gut wrenching hour and a half.
That sounds great, TL. Gritty and creepy, right up my alley. I'll definitely check it out.
-
I also watched PAYDAY starring Rip Torn a couple of nights ago. It's a much seamier, more realistic glimpse at the country music biz of the 70's than NASHVILLE. Torn is as good as you'd expect as a violent, pill-popping egomaniac. There's also a scene where his big dumb ox of a driver advises a distressed groupie about the proper way to make omelettes.
Original tagline: "If you can't drink it, snort it, spend it, or love it... forget it!"
I rented this and watched the first hour of it. I liked it, but I was tired.
Between Payday and The Man Who Fell to Earth (which I watched this weekend), is there any 70s Rip Torn movie where's he not just fucking everything?
Cross Creek?
-
Switching gears: here's a big reco for The Swimmer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063663/) (Frank Perry, 1968).
This is a great, very odd piece of work. I'm lazy, so here's something I wrote about it a couple of years ago:
At a pool party in beautiful, upperscale Connecticut, Ned Merrill (an aging, swimsuit-clad Burt Lancaster) sets out to "swim his way home" by using the pools of his neighbors, thus working his way through the county back home to his house and family. As he moves on, pool by pool, we gradually learn of his past, present and future - and all is not well. Odd and daring in both premise and execution, The Swimmer features an impressive performance by Lancaster, and the film is in perfect tune with his shifting mood and gradual disorientation of the world around him. At first I thought that Merrill's persona combined with the superman physique (for a middle-aged man) was a bit narcissistic and self-indulgent, but it makes sense, as the reason for focusing on his body becomes increasingly ambivalent and revealing; in the end, Merrill has nowhere to hide.
This is essential viewing, but also a painful experience - watching Lancaster emotionally deteriorate as he progresses through the lush garden parties and expensive pools is tough; little is given back to him in terms of sympathy or triumph. However, for the viewer The Swimmer is rewarding, and should be sought out by anyone interested in existential, allegorical dramas dealing with the journey inwards (with some excellent camerawork and posh locations to boot). An uncredited Sydney Pollack directed one of the best segments of the film, when Lancaster confronts an old mistress.
-
I saw that movie when I was very young and absolutely loathed it. I've wanted to see it again for a while now. Someday.
I didn't care for Little Murders, either. I had high hopes for it when it came out--I grew up on Jules Feiffer cartoons--and was very disappointed. I still don't like it much, but I'm kinder to it now that I don't expect as much.
-
The Cheever story The Swimmer is based on is a nice short read.
-
The Cheever story The Swimmer is based on is a nice short read.
reading and/or thinking about John Cheever makes me want to fall off a ski lift.
-
To each his own, I guess.
-
I've never seen the movie!
And it's not that I hate his writing. I really like it, actually. It just completely extinguishes any tiny bit of hope I could possibly have about life or the human race or anything.
-
Sorry, I was responding to Sarah. I don't know a thing about Cheever, never read anything by him.
-
Mystery Train
-
The thing is, I'm curious to see the movie now, because I might like it better. Someday it'll turn up on TCM, and I'll check it out.
-
Lets see TL, Crimestick, Stupornaut, and Masterofsparks have all beaten me to the punch with some of their I'll thrown in Prime cut watch it with a Vegan you love.
For watching with the Vegan you love, I suggest the weird lovable Buddy Boy. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/buddy_boy/#synopsis
-
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
Plot Synopsis
A troubled teenage girl and her two pals decide to vent their repressed and roiling emotions via a punk rock band, the Fabulous Stains. Though utterly devoid of talent, the Stains manage to get a gig touring with another punk band, the Looters (comprised of former-Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones, Clash bassist Paul Simonon, and Tubes vocalist Fee Waybill). Thanks to clever promotions of their agent, the Stains become popular, even though they never waxed a single. The agent then exploits their popularity at every turn and transforms the talentless Stains into national sensations and causing them untold stress and inner turmoil.
Its on Youtube!
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i3KlvT2kUwQ&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com
-
Well since my cable was completely knocked out all of yesterday. I caught up on some movie watching.
Finally watched the Danish film PUSHER now that film is all kind of kick ass.
Other movies watched:
House of Dark Shadows - in ninety minutes they summed up three seasons of that show.
Street Law- Franco Nero going all revenge style of a group of robbers who almost killed him.
-
Bruce, there are two sequels to PUSHER, both are pretty great - they take place in the same world, but with somewhat different characters than in the first one.
Hey, Jules Dassin died today at 96 (guess he waited for Widmark to kick it - Dassin won). For anyone unfamiliar with his work, start with Rififi, then work your way through Night and the City (featuring Widmark's arguably best perf), The Naked City, Thieves' Highway, and the rough prison drama Brute Force. These are all very good films, but lots of his post-Blacklist stuff is ho-hum (including Never On Sunday, which various news outlets today dubiously refers to as his "most famous film").
-
I know of the sequels Crimestick Pusher II is sitting waiting to be watched. But I heard the third one is not so great
-
Yeah, to be fair #2 is good, #3 is alright.
-
Three O'Clock High (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094138/)
one of my favorites.
(http://kickthebobo.com//B0000A98ZO.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1057092785_.jpg)
-
Buddy Revell seems like a Gorch in training
-
personal favorite.... Bab Boy Bubby
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106341/
aims high, hits it's targets (mostly) and rewards!
also I'll throw The Cincinnati Kid into the gritty 70's film love pile.
(I also liked The Swimmer for what it's worth)
-
It didn't get any harder or tougher than Jules Dassin. I am saddened to hear that (although I didn't think he was alive either).
For a jewish kid from the Bronx who gave up on MacCarthey's america before america gave up on him, Daddy didn't do too bad.
C
-
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
Plot Synopsis
A troubled teenage girl and her two pals decide to vent their repressed and roiling emotions via a punk rock band, the Fabulous Stains. Though utterly devoid of talent, the Stains manage to get a gig touring with another punk band, the Looters (comprised of former-Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones, Clash bassist Paul Simonon, and Tubes vocalist Fee Waybill). Thanks to clever promotions of their agent, the Stains become popular, even though they never waxed a single. The agent then exploits their popularity at every turn and transforms the talentless Stains into national sensations and causing them untold stress and inner turmoil.
Its on Youtube!
I believe that "You're fiyered!" is Brent Spiner, no? (Also appears briefly in 1980's Woody Allen project "Stardust Memories.")
-
Jules outlived his son by a lot of years. Poor Joe. Jules? I bet he was ready to go.
-
I three-quarters heartedly recommend the horribly-named "Duck You Sucker" by Leone, the middle one of his second trilogy. It's a good weird western in the Leone style, with the revolution-era Mexican government standing in for the Nazis. Rod Steiger's accent is embarrassing. James Coburn is good but I kept wanting to say "Good... lauck..." every time he got in a stagecoach.
The name stuck because Leone insisted (over Steiger and Coburn's repeated objections) that Duck, You Sucker was a common American phrase. Some places you'll see it called "A Fistful of Dynamite."
Yes. I love it. I believe its third aka is Once Upon a Time in the Revolution to go along with the other two Once Upon a Times.
-
personal favorite.... Bab Boy Bubby
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106341/
aims high, hits it's targets (mostly) and rewards!
also I'll throw The Cincinnati Kid into the gritty 70's film love pile.
(I also liked The Swimmer for what it's worth)
This movie is great if you turn it off after the first twenty-five minutes.
-
Something I recently saw that I very much enjoyed:
Little Otik.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qdLUrC6copM
A Czech film that (I think) is about the permanence of narratives.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0228687/
-
Connect Four!
-
Speaking of Little Otik, pretty much everything Jan Svankmajer's done since the sixties is gold, especially his short films (available on a couple of DVD collections; I'm sure you can find a bunch of them on YouTube aswell). They might not be for everyone, but I love them. Not overwhelmed by his latest though (Lunacy), but it was alright.
-
I watched this recently and was blown away.
(from wikipedia)
The Five Obstructions (Danish: De Fem benspænd) is a 2003 film by Lars Von Trier and Jørgen Leth. The film is a documentary, but incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films produced by the filmmakers. The premise is that Lars Von Trier has created a challenge for his friend and mentor, Jørgen Leth, another filmmaker. Von Trier's favourite film is Leth's The Perfect Human (1967). Von Trier gives Leth the task of remaking The Perfect Human five times, each time with a different 'obstruction' (or obstacle) given by Von Trier.
-
I watched this recently and was blown away.
(from wikipedia)
The Five Obstructions (Danish: De Fem benspænd) is a 2003 film by Lars Von Trier and Jørgen Leth. The film is a documentary, but incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films produced by the filmmakers. The premise is that Lars Von Trier has created a challenge for his friend and mentor, Jørgen Leth, another filmmaker. Von Trier's favourite film is Leth's The Perfect Human (1967). Von Trier gives Leth the task of remaking The Perfect Human five times, each time with a different 'obstruction' (or obstacle) given by Von Trier.
I hate lars von trier but I'm gonna say i was pretty entertained by five obstructions.
can't say the same for the film that inspired it, ew boy....
-
I three-quarters heartedly recommend the horribly-named "Duck You Sucker" by Leone, the middle one of his second trilogy. It's a good weird western in the Leone style, with the revolution-era Mexican government standing in for the Nazis. Rod Steiger's accent is embarrassing. James Coburn is good but I kept wanting to say "Good... lauck..." every time he got in a stagecoach.
The name stuck because Leone insisted (over Steiger and Coburn's repeated objections) that Duck, You Sucker was a common American phrase. Some places you'll see it called "A Fistful of Dynamite."
Yes. I love it. I believe its third aka is Once Upon a Time in the Revolution to go along with the other two Once Upon a Times.
Even worse, it was "Once Upon a Time... The Revolution." Because Americans love ellipses in their titles.
Hey no underbites, is "Once Upon a Time in America" worth the incredible slog it must take to watch it?
-
I just now got around to seeing Cooley High, and it was all the more fun to pretend I was watching Mayor Clarence Royce as a horny teenager.
-
Hey no underbites, is "Once Upon a Time in America" worth the incredible slog it must take to watch it?
You didn't ask me, but....no.
-
I just watched Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows and thought it was really, really good. It's a WWII French Resistance movie, but it doesn't really use any WWII/Resistance movie cliches (I think Melville was actually in the Resistance for the reals). If you want something that's a little more fun, I like Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. It's a Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges proto-buddy-action-heist movie. Pretty weird.
Oh, and I slogged my way through Once Upon a Time in America, and Pat K is right. It's not that good. Actually, I really like all the stuff about when the characters are kids, but that's only like 30 minutes of a 9 hour movie. Oh well.
-
Yeah, I'll agree with what's been said about Once Upon a Time in America. The kid scenes are great, but not really worth wading through the rest of Noodles' life for. I think Leone was just getting really old at that point. Watching it made me glad he turned down the offer to direct The Godfather.
-
personal favorite.... Bab Boy Bubby
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106341/
aims high, hits it's targets (mostly) and rewards!
also I'll throw The Cincinnati Kid into the gritty 70's film love pile.
(I also liked The Swimmer for what it's worth)
This movie is great if you turn it off after the first twenty-five minutes.
Yes, the first 25 minutes alone would have AP Mike in stitches.
-
Bad Boy Bubby looks like exactly the kind of movie I like. And thanks to the wonders of the torrenting, soon I'll find out whether this is true. I'll also be able to decide for myself whether Mark on Top Chef was misguided when he proposed creating a dish inspired by this movie.
-
I just saw Shine a Light. Not quite as good as the first night of the 1981 Tattoo You tour at the Spectrum - available soon on WaWa Records! - but pretty solid nonetheless. And I'm no Stones fan, but I definitely enjoyed it.
-
"I Am Cuba"(1964, Mikhail Kalatozov). A propaganda film made by Russians for Castro. It tells the story of the Cuban revolution through portraits of various characters. Shot using infrared black and white...the cinematography is stunning. It's a long haul. However I think it is worth it, pictures are amazing. The acting can be a little troubling at times, watching Russian actors play American sailors. It's interesting to see how the east portrayed the west during the cold war.
-
"I Am Cuba"(1964, Mikhail Kalatozov).
I second that emotion. A must-see for anyone who likes looking at images.
-
I just saw Shine a Light. Not quite as good as the first night of the 1981 Tattoo You tour at the Spectrum - available soon on WaWa Records! - but pretty solid nonetheless. And I'm no Stones fan, but I definitely enjoyed it.
I almost went to go see that this weekend. I've never seen a concert film in a theater before, so I figured it'd be an interesting movie to see, but then I remembered that I'd be plunking down the better part of ten bucks to see a group of 65-year-olds play "She Was Hot". In the end, I stayed in and watched Christopher Walken on SNL, which was equally depressing in its own right.
-
I just saw Shine a Light. Not quite as good as the first night of the 1981 Tattoo You tour at the Spectrum - available soon on WaWa Records! - but pretty solid nonetheless. And I'm no Stones fan, but I definitely enjoyed it.
I almost went to go see that this weekend. I've never seen a concert film in a theater before, so I figured it'd be an interesting movie to see, but then I remembered that I'd be plunking down the better part of ten bucks to see a group of 65-year-olds play "She Was Hot". In the end, I stayed in and watched Christopher Walken on SNL, which was equally depressing in its own right.
I like the everybody-does-Walken-impersonation sketch.
-
The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism / Death Smiles on a Murderer (featuring Klaus Kinski!) - available April 29th on Netflix.
Anyone seen these? I have not and wondering if their worth queuing up, they seem quite Straussian which is INTIRGUING TO ME?
-
(http://www.criterion.com/content/images/full_boxshot/428_box_348x490.jpg)
Oh man, Criterion really unearthed a gem here. BLAST OF SILENCE is a 1961 microbudget noir that's as misanthropic as the genre gets for the period. The plot about a New York hitman ("Baby Boy" Frankie Bono) returning home from Cleveland for one last job is standard stuff. What distinguishes BLAST right away is how it attempts to place the viewer in the mindset of its sullen, brutal loner of a protagonist, which writer/director/star Allen Baron primarily and surprisingly accomplishes through the use of second-person narration. The shrapnel-voiced narrator constantly reminds Frankie of his beefs with the world, in terms both existential ("Remembering, out of the black silence, you were born in pain") and trivial ("You HATE parites!"). The on-location shooting during Christmastime in NY ("Christmas gives you the creeps!") also adds immeasurably to the atmosphere.
This unique one-off features just the kind of black-hearted themes that neo-noir revisionists heighten when they revisit the genre, and Patton Oswalt and others consider it to be something like the CARNIVAL OF SOULS of noir. A sadly missed opportunity: Peter Falk was supposed to play the lead but dropped out for a better-paying gig. Definitely a must-see if you like this kind of stuff.
-
Wow, that sounds amazing.
-
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, I cannot stand idly by and let you people slander the amazing ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. To those who haven't seen it, do not pay attention to the haters -- it's easily one of the most beautiful films ever made. Okay, it's 4 hours long, but if that's automatically a problem for you I suggest you see your doctor to get your attention span checked. It is not boring for a minute. Challenging, yeah; it doesn't coddle its audience. Mysterious, evocative, sumptuous, moving. These adjectives ain't even doing it justice. Come on people. If nothing else, at least watch the first part of the film when the De Niro and Woods characters are young boys growing up in the hood life...that stuff is perfectly accessible and probably the stuff that stayed with me the most.
-
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, I cannot stand idly by and let you people slander the amazing ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. To those who haven't seen it, do not pay attention to the haters -- it's easily one of the most beautiful films ever made. Okay, it's 4 hours long, but if that's automatically a problem for you I suggest you see your doctor to get your attention span checked. It is not boring for a minute. Challenging, yeah; it doesn't coddle its audience. Mysterious, evocative, sumptuous, moving. These adjectives ain't even doing it justice. Come on people. If nothing else, at least watch the first part of the film when the De Niro and Woods characters are young boys growing up in the hood life...that stuff is perfectly accessible and probably the stuff that stayed with me the most.
it is pretty terrific - a great bookend to leone's career. not something i'd watch everyday - or even more than once probably - but i'm glad i put the time in as it's one of the best crime epics ever put on film. a little overly-ambitious maybe - but well worth a viewing.
-
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, I cannot stand idly by and let you people slander the amazing ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. To those who haven't seen it, do not pay attention to the haters -- it's easily one of the most beautiful films ever made. Okay, it's 4 hours long, but if that's automatically a problem for you I suggest you see your doctor to get your attention span checked. It is not boring for a minute. Challenging, yeah; it doesn't coddle its audience. Mysterious, evocative, sumptuous, moving. These adjectives ain't even doing it justice. Come on people. If nothing else, at least watch the first part of the film when the De Niro and Woods characters are young boys growing up in the hood life...that stuff is perfectly accessible and probably the stuff that stayed with me the most.
I didn't mean to totally trash it. I'm glad I watched it, but, as Andrew said, I found it a little overly-ambitious. Leone is still one of my top ten directors of all time, though; and he's not even number ten!