General Movie Thread

[Stupornaut]

Just as a heads-up, Kent McKenzie's THE EXILES is on TCM @ 9:15 tonight. It's a low-budget look at 24 hrs in the aimless lives of young Native Americans in Los Angeles' long-gone Bunker Hill neighborhood of the early 60's.  It's a fascinating document of a side of the city that Hollywood was never much interested in (as  cited repeatedly in the doc LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF), and that now no longer exists.

I second this. It's got this weird sort of pseudodocumentary feel to it (apparently some dialogue was dubbed over after the fact) but it manages to get some amazing atmosphere out of people just hanging out at bars, driving around, playing cards in sketchy apartments and so forth. Visually it's somewhere between cinema verite and film noir.

[jbissell]

Thanks for the heads up. I've heard a lot about it over the years but it's tough to track down.

[waltkellysghost]

Not sure why it took me so long, but I finally saw the Roky Erickson doc "Your Gonna Miss Me". I loved it.

The footage of him blanking out on stage totally ripped the heart right out of me.

[fonpr]

Not sure why it took me so long, but I finally saw the Roky Erickson doc "Your Gonna Miss Me". I loved it.

The footage of him blanking out on stage totally ripped the heart right out of me.

And the skipping! 

Come on  P. Revess!

[Chris L]

Watched a very cynical samurai film I downloaded months ago called THE BETRAYAL.  The ending features the craziest swordfight I've ever seen, with the protagonist taking on about a  couple hundred people by himself.  At one exhausted point his sword breaks and he has to pry his fingers one by one from the hilt to grab a new one. 

[Paul DePhiladelphia]

I rewatched Capturing the Friedmans the other day.
I think when I first saw it years ago I was on a Paradise Lost/West Memphis 3 and wanted to believe they were innocent and this and that. Then upon viewing it a second time I pretty much hate myself for that thinking. These guys are really awful humans. I guess I sort of blocked out the fact that they found magazines in this man's home. And the way the son's are laughing outside the courthouse after the trial just makes me indescribably sick.

[dave from knoxville]

Newsweek on Trash Humpers: "You will want to shower afterwards." So it's just like Transformers 2.

[Chris L]

Newsweek on Trash Humpers: "You will want to shower afterwards." So it's just like Transformers 2.

Looking at some of the other movie options near my hotel in San Francisco Friday night - your Shreks, your Princes of Persias, your Sexes and the Cities 2's - Trash Humpers started to look pretty good.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Newsweek on Trash Humpers: "You will want to shower afterwards." So it's just like Transformers 2.

Looking at some of the other movie options near my hotel in San Francisco Friday night - your Shreks, your Princes of Persias, your Sexes and the Cities 2's - Trash Humpers started to look pretty good.

Although I was not a huge fan, what if I told you that I actually found the ending of Trash Humpers quite moving?!  There's a lot to dislike there (I have already sounded off on it in this thread I believe), but it definitely has me still thinking about it.

[JonFromMaplewood]

I watched "The Battle of Algiers" for the very first time last night.  Holy shit.  Why am I just finding this 41 years into my life? 

Without exaggeration, I can safely say that it is one of the best films I have ever seen.

[Martin]

It's a powerhouse, for sure. Watched it years ago on a worn VHS with less-than-ideal subtitles. Thought it was good if a bit confusing. Then I watched a new print in Bristol two-three years ago, at a film festival with all manners of historians and academics attending, lots of introductions/Q&As, etc. That was the point it really took off for me. One of those screenings I'll never forget.

[Stupornaut]

I watched "The Battle of Algiers" for the very first time last night.  Holy shit.  Why am I just finding this 41 years into my life? 

Without exaggeration, I can safely say that it is one of the best films I have ever seen.

I had the same revelation(s) earlier this week with M and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The good thing about slacking off in catching up with the Great Movies canon is that you eventually get to see them for the first time and you get that combination of fresh-eyed wonder and "so that's what the big deal is" getting-it.

[JonFromMaplewood]

What also floored me was the fact that time had not lessened its impact at all.  So many classics lose their potency simply because other films have taken their formula and amped it up a notch.  Not so with The Battle of Algiers.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and was amazed at the filmmakers' ability to remain almost totally neutral on the subject of their film. If they did hold an opinion, they kept it to themselves (my understanding was that many different and conflicting opinions went in and they pretty much canceled each other out).

[Martin]

Gillo Pontecorvo was personally clearly on the side of the resistance, however.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Gillo Pontecorvo was personally clearly on the side of the resistance, however.

I thought the close-up shots of French faces in cafes - including women and children - just before the bloodletting helped tone down that sentiment.  Or at least, it seemed to say "Yeah, the French should not have been there, but we're not saying slaughtering innocents is cool."