Film Snobs VII - Revenge of the Snobs

"Put the book back on the shelf: Literary works that should never be adapted to film or TV again"

http://www.avclub.com/articles/put-the-book-back-on-the-shelf-literary-works-tha...

Agree:
Anything Dickens. Let Trollope roll!
Actually, I agree with about all of these suggestions for anti-, but not as many of the pro-.

One book I think is ripe for a film remake is Fahrenheit 451. I watched the 1966 film not too long ago on AMC (or whatever it was) and I gained an appreciation for the Truffaut version, which I've always hated, but I still want a new one. A better one.

Not a fan of Truffaut's "451" either...then again, a remake would probably star Keanu Reeves and Paris Hilton (directed by Roland Emmerich or Michael Bay)...

The Truffaut version is excellent. No remake could ever match it. The book is shite, though.

I recently mentioned this thread to my wife, citing some of my "Most Hated" movies and she said: "You included 'On Golden Pond', of course".

Jesus, how could I forget that one?!!!

And then she rang off some of the other flicks I've ranted and fulminated about in the quarter century she has endured my tirades:

"Out of Africa"
"Forrest Gump"
"Ordinary People"
"Kramer Vs. Kramer"

Any one of those movies triggers my gag reflect. Cited collectively, it's...they...

Ack! Ack!

So, any film that's won the Oscar then...

And "Braveheart"--I fucking HATED that dungpile.

"The Last Emperor"--dull, dull, dull.

Hey, they won Oscars too, didn't they? Ian, you might be onto something there...

Gene, I think you mentioned "Hiroshima, Mon Amour"--Christ, I despised that movie.

Cliff, for my money the dullest, most self-pretentious piece of angsty French bullshit I've ever seen: "Hiroshima, Mon Amour". Yes, my love, we have "Braveheart" now, but we will always have "Hiroshima, Mon Amour". What an absolute stinker. Why did people like this back in the day? Give me a good old rain-filled, gloomy, black and white like "Seance on a Wet Afternoon", any day. Now that was a movie!

Dear Amazon:
Please send one copy of "Seance on a Wet Afternoon".

****
Edited after much thought. You're welcome.

Too lazy to go far enough to see Avatar IMAX 3D or two collections of Oscar nominated shorts, I went to the local multiplex and saw Shutter Island. I would like to own the island and the means to support a lavish island lifestyle.

A recent thread at LibraryThing asked what books had major unforeseen twists. Shutter Island was one response. Knowing that there was likely to be a twist in the movie too I guessed it maybe a third of the way in in a general sense; no other twist occurred to me, so either I lack imagination or we are set up for it.

I know that some people were entertained by this movie. My take was that it was a very well crafted movie that failed to entertain. Curiously watching the craft was not especially entertaining (except for my fantasy about owning the island).

Robert

#9 WARNING: Spoilery rant for Shutter Island and other BIG TWIST!(tm) movies or books.

I read Shutter Island (I think it was an airport purchase) and figured it out in about the first 20 pages. The "it's really the protagonist" BIG TWIST!(tm) is the first thing I think of, which means I figured out The Usual Suspects, The Sixth Sense, that one crappy JOhnny Depp movie based on a Stephen King story that I can never remember the name of, The Others, etc. etc. etc.

Why haven't most people figured this out? I mean, they're all the freaking same! How is it that people still find this to be a "twist?!!!!!"

for classic, gloomy, and good B&W film..it's hard to fault (although you may be depressed for the next week) "the Pawnbroker" w/ Stieger (sp)as the lead.

I've wanted to see "The Pawnbroker" for awhile. Back to back with Chayefsky's "Marty"...

The ultimate twist book IMO is Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. There may be other books that use this particular conceit, but I haven't read any. Post Ackroyd the author would have to be ignorant that it was already done, or not care that a major plot element is lifted whole from another book. Of course writers do this all the time. In fact, Christie may have stolen this from someone else, herself.

#13 That's the first place I encountered it, too. I was 12. And it blew my mind! But since most BIG TWIST plots use a variation of it, it pretty much ruined BIG TWIST plots for the rest of my life. Thanks, Agatha.

I still don't get why people fall for BIG TWIST again and again. Any theories?

14 and 13 and above, I was just thinking about this because I have seen many of these types of movies and I am usually totally taken in by the "big twist" and was this time with Shutter Island, which is why I enjoyed it. I also have read hundreds of mysteries and can still be surprised by it.

There are other types of film that completely don't work for me because I cannot suspend my disbelief. For example, some films that try to blend different time frames so that people wear period costumes but talk and act like 20th century people (Moulin Rouge for example) are just completely unwatchable for me.

Also, a lot of slapstick comedies don't work for me because the premises are so unbelievable that I can't even find them funny, therefore I really can't enjoy the movie.

However, plot twists can often catch me off guard. Which is a good thing for enjoying the movie, even if it means I am not a very sophisticated viewer.

Re: Message #12

Looked in a bargain bin today and found "Marty" for five bucks. Just one of those things. Also a DVD of David Cronenberg's "Scanners" to replace my ancient VHS copy...

I'm one of those guys who usually spots the twist--"Sixth Sense" bored me for just that reason. That's the trouble with most of Shyamalan's films, they're built around a gimmick and if you don't buy into it (I usually don't), it's a waste of 110 minutes...

#17 Glad it's not just me.

Saw "Repo: The Genetic Opera." Visually stunning, but the lyrics had a lot to be desired. It wasn't in the same league as "Reefer Madness: the Musical: the Movie."

Come on, is this catchy or what?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zFbc5MzAxk

In the last 24 hours I've purchased two hard-to-find films through on-line venues:

"The Saragossa Manuscript"

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37824/saragossa-manuscript-the/

& "Manon"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041634/

These two have been on my "to watch" list forever...

20: I have the book "Saragossa Manuscript", looks fascinating. Although not to be confused with the film "Wide Saragossa Sea."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAzC5gSKM6E

NSFW, obviously. On the plus side, I has the scrumptious Karina Lombard and it is rated NC-17.

Saw the "Big Lebowski" for the first time last night. Very good movie. Of course watching it from the Dude's POV made it that much more interesting.

One of the faves around Casa Burns, Gene. Can't watch "Lebowski" without laughing my ass off. Jeff Bridges is magnificent...

A link to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's web site:

http://jpjeunetlesite.online.fr/

He has a new film, first one since "A Very Long Engagement". Take a look.

Kitten leapt out of my lap. I took that as a sign that I should get up and go away.

I saw both the live and the animated series of Oscar nominated shorts. Among the live action ones, the Danish entry was in English; all the others were subtitled except the Australian one, and it needed it.

I have popcorn left over. I suggest that you wait until they are available on YouTube or not.

Robert

In case you missed it, the Dude on his favourite film (in The Guardian last week):

Tellingly, he admits that the character he played in The Big Lebowski remains the one that's closest to his heart. This shambling, genial slacker likes smoking weed and going bowling and dislikes responsibility and the hard grind of the nine-to-five. The actor, who rarely revisits his old movies, will always make an exception for the Coen brothers' comedy. "It's just such a great movie, you know? Each time it comes on TV, I think 'Oh OK, I'll just watch a few scenes. I'll wait until Turturro licks the bowling ball and then I'll turn it off'. But I never do. Lebowski, man. That's the one that hooks me."

Jeff Bridges has been SO good for SO long. Remember him in "Thunderbolt & Lightfoot"? "Fat City"? But, yeah, The Dude is the one he should be remembered for. As my lads say, he "owned" that role...

If you like the original, I recommend Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. I believe a Broadway production is being considered. They have a facebook page, too.

Watched David Cronenberg's "Scanners" last night--first time in at least a decade.

It holds up well--what impressed me most this time through was Cronenberg's use of SOUND. Added an extra, creepy dimension to the film...

#27 I agree, Jeff has been excellent for a long time. "The Last Picture Show" was made in 1971, and he nailed that one right out of the gate.

I think one of his best early performances though, has to be in the little known "Cutter's Way", that he made with John Heard and Lisa Eichhorn in 1981.

I saw it again recently, and it still holds up well. It has a very effective score that I had forgotten about.

"The Big Lebowski" is a movie I have seen countless times. It inspired me to try drinking White Russians, which I find dreadful.

"Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here!"

I recall "Cutter's Way" --a very good novel too, by Newton Thornburg. I think Heard chewed the scenery too much in the movie version but, I agree, it's one of those little known gems. Another one that comes to mind is "Straight Time", which features Dustin Hoffman's best, most under-stated performance.

Just watched "Let the Right One In". Very good.

"Gilligan's Island": The Movie:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/03/03/gilligan-island-remake.html

God, Alice in Wonderland was horrible! It was like some 6-year-old only saw the pictures and made up a story to go with it, after seeing Harry Potter, LOTR and Narnia movies. Wait, no, a 6-year-old would have had more fun with it.

The costumes were nice, but otherwise total shite.

Thursday afternoon I happened not to want to spend any more time at Borders, and the IMAX theater was between me and home. It was the last day for Avatar in IMAX 3D there, so I went. It remained rich, new, and compelling. I still don't know how their tails came out of their trousers. I am sad that it is the last time I will ever see it. If it wins a best film Oscar I believe it will be on merit, although I would prefer that Precious win.

There was a power failure at the theater during the big final battle. We were given passes to the IMAX theater in compensation. A friend wanted to see Alice in Wonderland last night, but I passed on it and don't know that that is how I will spend my pass.

Robert

Saw "Castle in the Sky" by Hayao Miyazaki (of "Princess Mononoke" fame). It was glorious! A cartoon for kids that wasn't utter trash or condescending, inoffensive swill. Made in 1986, it has everything: proto-steampunk vehicles (before the genre became a bloated Victorian cliche), air pirates, and compelling characters.

34: Watch some Miyazaki to wash that CGI Tim Burton awfulness from your mouth.

Oooh good idea, I love Miyazaki.

My lads grew up on Miyazaki--"Howl", "Spirited Away" and, when they was real young 'uns, "Totorro"...

Watched the film adaptation of Atomised last night. Was surprised to discover it was German - a German film of a French novel I read last year in English... Anyway, an excellent adaptation, although I think it flubbed the epilogue a bit.

Popped in a western, "El Dorado", the other night--derivative, uninteresting. "A movie by old men", as David Thomson put it and I agree. All the principals (Howard Hawks, John Wayne & Robert Mitchum) were past their prime.

Another round-up of the books I've read and films I've see since, er, the last time I did one - see here.

Jesus, I wish I had your ability to stretch 24 hours, Sales. It defies the laws of physics, it does...

9> There is a second twist in Shutter Island, right at the end. I liked it!

We have just about all of Miyazaki on dvd, excepting his last two. Howl's moving castle was as close to a dud as he's ever come, albeit a gorgeous piece of work, but then "Ponyo by the Sea" was quite fetching. "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" is weirdly great, though my favorite probably is still "Kiki's Delivery Service". For something completely different - check out his Porco Rosso (sic), featuring the anti-fascist porcine aviator/hero of pre-WWII Italy.

Settled in with a nice Merlot and watched 'A Good Year' for the third time. I'll watch anything with Albert Finney in it.

Even "Annie"?

46> I have not seen that one, but anything with a cast like this will capture my attention:

Albert Finney...Daddy Warbucks
Carol Burnett...Miss Hannigan
Tim Curry...Rooster Hannigan
Bernadette Peters...Lily St. Regis

I enjoy a bit of theatre, so I imagine it will not be too hard to swallow. A DVD does allow the privilege of turning it off, if it displeases. Thanks for the tip.

Stay away from "Annie". Dear God.

Here's a short film from the Auteur.com site--"Puppetboy". Very, very funny. Kind of a Michel Gondry-like scenario.

http://www.theauteurs.com/films/23979/watch

Enjoy, folks!

I feel I should have been more expansive - and effusive - about "Let the Right One In". (#32)

So ... if you'd like to see a touching vampire film, crossed with a tale of adolescent bullying and growing up in 1980s anywhere (although in this case, specifically, it's suburban Stockholm), that makes this humdrum housing estate look like an Ikea-ised version of Dracula's castle ... watch this.

Oh watch it anyway. You'll be surprised.

Warning: may contain subtitles.

At the thrift store downtown I found a couple of gems--on VHS tape, for those of you old enough to remember pre-DVD days.

The first was a box set of the three "Sinbad" movies, with special effects (of course) by the great Ray Harryhausen. "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" is the best by far, but "Golden Voyage" has some neat scenes and even "Eye of the Tiger" has its moments. Also found the 1940 version of "Thief of Baghdad"--I saw the earlier, silent version with Douglas Fairbanks but I've never seen this one. Good, old time movie watching ahead...

Korda's "Thief of Baghdad" is bonkers, in a good way. Michael Powell directed some of it. I warn you, though, there's a song in it performed by Sabu which will be stuck in your head for days afterwards...

A song?!! Good Christ...

Well, we suffer and endure. If I can put up with the theme song of "El Dorado", I can take anything.

Worst movie theme music ever? How about "Ladyhawke"? If Richard Donner re-dubbed the crappy synthesizer score with one by James Horner, it would improve a cute little movie by about 600%.

Worst theme song? If I even THINK of Joan Baez trilling the theme for "Silent Running", I get a bad case of Montezuma's Revenge.

51: My kids and I love that movie - as did all the family back in Egypt. It's funny and schmaltzy at the same time.

You mean the song about the sailor, don't you? Yes, it's a real earworm.

>52 CliffBurns: - I always blame the Ladyhawke soundtrack on Tangerine Dream which is a bit unfair since it'snot actually by them. (It's by someone called Andrew Collins, who was an arranger on lots of 1970s albums Cockney Rebel, Al Stewart, etc and produced by Alan Parsons).

Re - El Dorado was Hawks and Wayne effectively remaking Rio Bravo, which was a superior film.

A Werner Herzog primer:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/werner-herzog,39109/

(Gracias, Gord)

That piece doesn't mention "Fata Morgana", which is just plain weird. Or "Heart of Glass", in which all the cast were hynoptised, and is also bloody weird. Nor "Stroszek", or Herzog's other "muse", Bruno S. But it's not a bad start.

And thank God it doesn't mention "The Wild Blue Yonder", which is just plain BAD.

Did y'all read the article? It mentions all of those films. Try page 2!

Aha. So he does. The article seemed to end, so I never noticed the second page.

Me neither. Sales is a dope but I don't know what my excuse is...

You're even doperer?

Ladies and gentleman, Ian Sales: master of the English Language.

P.S. Your dumberer then I thot.

At least it's my language...

our library won't take commercial vhs tapes anymore. we have some family documentary tapes that we were all set to convert to dvd..when it turned out our vcr player now eats tapes.

Just finished "Thief of Badhdad" (1940). Conrad Veidt was never slimier--very cute movie but disjointed and episodic (indication of multiple directors?). Nonetheless, great fun and lots of charm...

James Cameron needs more of your money:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/03/13/avatar-rerelease.html

There is no fucking way I'm going to see this piece of garbage, in ANY version. If you watched it back to back with the new "Star Trek" movie, your brain would turn to grey pudding...

66: Maybe he'll include all the scenes that give the characters more depth and make the plot less of a condescending Ayn Rand-via-New Age shrill lecture to the converted? Or not, he'll probably just add more shiny blue stuff.

I stand by my conviction: I didn't see this film (Do I really need to with Cameron's thin as rice paper plots?) and it's crap. My belief was reinforced when I finally saw Titanic -- aka, "Why do I have to wait so long to see Kate Winslet's boobs?"

Before I saw Titanic: "This movie is utter crap!"

After I saw Titanic: "This movie is utter crap! I want those three hours of my life back."

If Avatar plays the IMAX theater in my area I will see it again, perhaps more than once. The added scenes don't seem very important to me; in fact they might add up to too much of the Jake Sully character, but the movie is rich enough on screen for me to enjoy it several more times.

Robert

Remember Cliff, there's always Rifftrax. I'm sure they'll give Avatar a much needed lambasting.

Alice in 2d is probably next.

I am currently watching "Schindler's List" - over a couple of evenings as it's 3 hours long. Never seen it before. I'm not a big fan of Spielberg, but I'm finding it hard to see why this film is so lauded. I guess it must be the subject matter... Fiennes plays a comedy Nazi. Neeson isn't too bad - although it seems a bit much to make a hero out of a man who is so venal and corrupt.

>71 iansales: - I thought the opposite: Fiennes good (but how difficult is it to sneer and be really evil?), Neeson giving his usual performance as timber.

Saw The Wrestler. It's basically just an updated, downbeat version of Rocky. Watching Nolte and Tomei I suddenly realised that in a few years all Hollywood films will be like Noh dramas, with actors faces botoxed and tightened so much they can barely express anything.

My son Sam, 14 years old and a budding film buff, found "Alice" o-kay...but said all the emphasis was on the visuals (sound like another superficial multi-billion dollar earner, anyone?).

I've held off on seeing "The Wrestler" for just the reason you described--likely a very good performance (from Rourke) surrounded by a dime a dozen story. Read the book SCHINDLER'S LIST, which I found curiously unmoving, despite its subject matter, but have yet to see the film. I despise Spielberg, especially when he imagines himself a film-maker of real significance, instead of a mere popular entertainer. You're not Kubrick, Steve-O, you're fucking Walt Disney, and don't forget it...

>72 Jargoneer: - Nolte? Nolte? What the hell am I on about? I obviously meant the former boxer, Mickey Rourke.

I really thought Schindler's List was crap, too, but it was very difficult to say so when it came out. People thought I was antisemitic. Quite the contrary, the holocaust deserves a better treatment.

I did like the actual people at the end, tho.

Saw "A Single Man" the other night. A beautiful film, but I'm sure you snobs won't diss it just because it is beautiful, as it was also quite a moving tale. Colin Firth was superb (I've liked him in everything but the BBC "Pride and Prejudice" adaptation - he wasn't bad in it, but no one can match up to the Mr Darcy in the book for me).

It had some slow moments, which probably meant it wasn't the best choice of movie for a Friday night, after a week of work. But that's my fault, not it. Must go and dig up some Christopher Isherwood books.

I rather like Spielberg. He can tell a great story, and "Jaws" was a great rollicking tale, even though it was the start of the horrible "summer blockbuster" mentality. But he does rather insist on pushing the emotional buttons, and I get all stubborn and sulky when movies start flashing "cry now" neon lights (so to speak), and it turns me off. And I may never forgive him for the last Indiana Jones movie, although when I had to read the comic book adaptation to Mr Bear (*sigh*), doing Cate Blanchett's "moose und squirrel" accent was a heap of fun.

Saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Some decent actions scenes, but even my Marvel Comics-loving girlfriend thought the filmmakers picked the dumbest storyline. Although Ryan Reynolds was great as Deadpool Oddly fitting for a sarcastic motormouth anti-hero.

Spielberg's 'Munich' was awesome.

"Munich" had its moments and didn't avert its gaze from cold-blooded killing...but I never got over that bizarre scene where the main character is having sex with his wife and reliving those horrible moments on the runway in Munich. It was a macabre juxtaposition and it just did not work. Certainly a better film than average (for Spielberg) but, to my mind, there isn't an "awesome" film in his entire canon. It's very hard to take him seriously as a capital "A" Artist; he's more like the cinematic equivalent of Stephen King...

John Le Carre documentary:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/03/18/f-john-le-carre-documentary.html

79> Yes, that sex scene was awful and overdone, but other than that it was a great movie. Awesome with a capital "A".

MY SISTER'S KEEPER.

If you're going to make a movie based on a book, DON'T EDIT OUT ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS!!

Secondly, don't kill the wrong person at the end.

Naz

Local video store was going out of business. Was about to snatch up some keepers:

Taxi Driver
Eraserhead
"Batman" -- the Tim Burton one with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.
Touch of Evil -- Marlena Dietrich, Orson Welles (in Mr. Equator-like proportions), and Charleton Heston as a Mexican. The Greatest B-Movie Ever Made(TM). "I'm just the Night Man."

Touch of Evil makes up for the negative hole that is Eraserhead. I just wish I had had the cotton concession for Eraserhead. Taxi Driver, meh. I can take or, mostly, leave DeNiro.

Bruce McCulloch understand Eraserhead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTOuzn5tmvU

An article about the Criterion film collection. Pricey, but these people know their films:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/03/19/f-criterion-collection.html

That was pretty interesting; I've wondered whether I should spring the extra cash a Criterion release demands.

I chased down the site referenced in the article, The Auteurs. It appears to have serious potential.

Robert

Yeah, I've bookmarked Auteurs too. And don't forget Hot Docs, they have a couple of Allan Zweig flicks you can watch for free (among other things):

http://www.hotdocslibrary.ca/dsr/#/en/home

Films at this year's "Hot Docs" film festival. In-teresting roster (avec clips):

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/03/23/hotdocs-launch.html

We've loved the Criterion edition DVDs. Perhaps my favorite of both the ones we've seen and the ones we own is "The Harder They Come" with commentary both by Jimmy Cliff and the director Perry Henzell.

Watched Tim Burton's "Batman" for the first time in a long, long while. A touchstone film of my childhood. A pure nostalgia trip. Jack Nicholson isn't bad either. And no stupid CGI to muck things up. Miniatures, models, and animation. Gotta love the Gotham City as Fritz Lang's Metropolis meets Roger and Me post-industrial Detroit. Back before Tim Burton spent all his creative capital re-making every damn thing.

My God, Ian, have you see this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/mar/25/3d-buck-rogers-paul-ws-ander...

Our old friend Paul Anderson is being allowed behind the camera again--this time with a "Buck Rogers" movie. I keep thinking cinema can't sink any lower and then...

I am boggled. My gast has been well and truly flabbered.

Orson Welles to narrate animated film from beyond the grave:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/orson-welles-to-narrate-upcoming-animated-filmfro...

Bet he was jealous of Laurence Olivier's posthumous cameo in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Never mind futureworld, I find "presentworld" weird enough. Thanks, Karl...

http://www.avclub.com/articles/culture-that-makes-you-feel-old,39572/

The kids these days with their texting and whatnot.

Doesn't this film sound interesting:

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Great-Silence-Two-Disc-Set/dp/B000OYNVOY/ref=pd_sim_b...

Can't wait for them to release the soundtrack...

But yes, it looks like it'll be an interesting one.

well..went to see Alice for a second time - this time still in 2d, but w/ a much better projector and sound. I've been pleasantly surprised by this film; the acting and atmosphere were both v. good. Though the plot was about as straightforward as could be, by making the movie a sequel, of sorts, rather than going by the books, Burton and company, avoided a lot of potential pitfalls. Rather creepy in parts for an all ages film - but, then, again, not nearly as creepy as "Alice."

Both Patty and I thought that Mia W., as "Alice," was excellent; her lack of affect at the film's start reflected a young woman of her era depressed by the inevitability of a banal fate - and she grew into Alice very adroitly and appealingly. Helana Bonham Carter chewed up her scenes with gleeful viciousness and Johnny Depp was surprisingly restrained as the Hatter - which was all to the good in this case.

But.someday, some director will cast a male actor w/out a chin as a heroic, or at least not an obviously dis-likable character.

I have seen Into Great Silence in a theater (a small but real one). It is one of the few movies I've seen in a theater that I have acquired on DVD as well, although I haven't watched the DVD yet. I know only a few people who have seen it, but everyone of them, including an uncloistered nun, has been enthusiastic about it.

It is dry in construction. The monks lead a life devoted to the extra-worldly. They pattern their days to the rigors of obedience. But it is a tremendously living depiction of some fascinating people.

I recommend it.

Robert

Screenwriter's apology for Battlefield Earth movie:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/apology-for-battlefield-earth-somehow-worse-than-...

Never mind that the source material for "Battlefield" was crap in the first place...

This weekend I watched "2001: A Space Odyssey" again and found it as superb as ever. Kubrick's shot compositions, lighting, everything to do with the technical side of film-making, is perfect and aesthetically so well-developed. But I swear to God there was an extra second or two of "Star Child" footage at the end that wasn't in previous versions I've seen. Have to go downstairs and haul out my VHS version (10 years old) to make a comparison. If I'm right, who added the footage?

102: The Monolith added the footage.

I love 2001 The cold technical filmmaking matches the cold brutalities of empty space. The long shots, the combination of classical and avant-garde film scoring, and the lives of the astronauts struggling to survive is the very antithesis of the CGI-saturated, pop culture reference-strewn intellectual wasteland that makes up "space movies" today. Kubrick directs like Beckett writes. Like some combination of Waiting for Godot and the Unnameable ... IN SPACE! The movie is stark, challenging, long, and hallucinatory. I love it!

That said, I read Childhood's End in high school and I thought it sucked.

War on Drugs film festival:

Proposed films:

Borders and Capital:

"Touch of Evil" (dir. Orson Welles)
No Country for Old Men (dir. Coen Bros.)
"Traffic" (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
"Goodfellas" (dir. Martin Scorsese)

Are you experienced?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (dir. Terry Gilliam)
Requiem for a Dream (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
"The Trip" (dir. Roger Corman)
"Easy Rider" (dir. Dennis Hopper)

The Academy Award winning short animated film. Now available for free viewing:

http://vimeo.com/10149605

This is...extraordinary.

Watched "For All Mankind" last night. Bloody excellent.

More remakes from the Hollywood garbage factory:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/clash-of-the-titans,39758/

Depressing. The absolute dearth of originality out there...

Release the Crap!

"The Last Song," another Nicholas Sparks adaptation comes out tomorrow. Wasn't it just yesterday that "Dear John" was released? The guy makes movies like James Patterson makes books.

Cheeseball romance + fatal ailment + Southern setting = Any Nicholas Sparks movie.

Saw "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence." Spectacular visuals, abundant literary references, and a great storyline. Wong Kar-wai meets Bladerunner.

Rewatched "To Catch A Thief" the other night. It's Hitchcock fluff, but that still means it's put together than 90% of films. Cary Grant's teabag tan is a bit off-putting, but Grace Kelly is excellent. It really needs a new restored transfer, though - some of the landscape shots are blurry and washed out.

105> Excellent vid. Thanks for the link.

Check out A Prophet, if you can find it. The best prison movie I've ever seen. French.

Watched "Force of Evil" again this afternoon (to reward myself after some back-breaking yard work). Fantastic film noir. Featuring two talented men later destroyed by the black list: Abraham Polonsky (director-writer) and John Garfield. Check out some of the shots in this film, the way Polonsky uses the camera. And a savage performance from Garfield. What a flick...

An interesting perspective on the Incredibles:

http://www.spikemagazine.com/0105theincredibles.php

can Kenneth Branagh, Robert De Niro, Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham-Carter, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Celia Imrie, Chris Barnes totally screw up a film? Yup...Kenneth Branagh's way, way over the top "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Maybe some funny walks would've helped.

Branagh's "Frankenstein" is brutally bad--belongs on any Golden Turkey roster. And Coppola's overblown "Dracula" wasn't much better. I suspect "Wolfman" is another clunker, as was "The Mummy"--and that's a clean sweep as far as the all-time great horror monsters are concerned.

Another epic review: this time "Attack of the Clones."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBhi6qqFLA

Anyone for pizza rolls?

Saw "Biggles: Adventures in Time." I remember seeing it as a kid. Pure nostalgia factor. Turns out to be a lot like France, in that it contains about 500 kinds of cheese.

Wouldn't you say, Algie and Ginger?

"How to write a Nicholas Sparks movie"

http://www.cracked.com/funny-4725-nicholas-sparks/

The more you know ...

I made time in town yesterday afternoon to see the movie Zen about the life of Dogen. I was very moved by it, and I liked the settings. This might be one to get on DVD just because it is good enough just to have around.

Robert

Saw David Fincher's Zodiac tonight. Wow! Pretty amazing film. Nice to see Fincher reining in his stylistic excesses and crafting a taut, edgy intellectual thriller.

Finally saw "Zombieland"...the horror, the horror (it really sucks!)

Why would Bill Murray do a cameo in it?

Zombies, I'm tired of freakin' zombies. And horny pubescent vampires.

On the other hand, here's a little feature on the making of "Naked Lunch", oddball offering from oddball director David Cronenberg. Too many people gave this one a pass--I think, with some reservations, it's a very worthy adaptation, certainly better than Cronenberg's take on Ballard's CRASH:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/cronenberg_burroughs_on_na...

I prefer Cronenberg's Crash to that other Oscar-winning piece of shrill drivel also titled "Crash."

"I can think of at least two things wrong with that title!" -- Nelson Muntz on seeing Naked Lunch with fake IDs.

Read the book and saw the movie when I was still in high school. Cauterized my brain and made me the upstanding decent humanitarian I am today. Zoink!

#125 "Sean of the Dead" ...best zombie movie ever, and they can quit with zombie movies after that one.

Yeah, my sons like that one and "Fuzz", by the same folks...

Me ol' pal Gord knows of my affection and respect for Werner Herzog. He passed this one to me--Werner's next film concerns another of my enthusiasms, cave art. Have a glance:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/apr/13/werner-herzog-cave-art-docum...

The writing in that article is awesome:

"Herzog will narrate the film himself, which comes as welcome news. His familiar Teutonic brogue adds so much enthusiastic flavoursome fervour to his documentary films, and the interviews suggest that we're in for another uniquely skewiff vision."

Uniquely skewiff vision? Yes, please!

http://www.wordnik.com/words/skewiff

Something to think about when you're spring cleaning this year:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/04/14/lincoln-film-barn-cleanup.html

Saw the French documentary "Microcosmos" about bugs and such. Lots of fun.

Children of Men = awesome.

The mainstream has been pretty dry, but we've had some Asiatic movies through here. Today I took in The Warlords. It took eight people to write a pile-the-the-bodies-high movie with minimum, albeit moving, plot; it think that was probably because it was in Chinese.

Some generals with rough roots have considerable success at war against the Taiping rebellion, but they have no success at politics. It rains at the end of the movie.

Robert

Oh, I got out to see the adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo the other night. A solid adaptation of a book I did enjoy (with various provisos that could probably be summed up with "get an editor!"). You know you're absorbed in a movie when you don't even notice the subtitles.

Thank you for reminding me. I have to cross town to see that one, and I don't want to miss it from not staying alert. Ebert or somebody said that it is good and sure to be better than the American version that is certain to be made.

Robert

Saw "Chronicles of Riddick." A cool, well-imagined film that's not Star Wars Extruded Product(TM). Dame Judi Dench does add some cool cache as well.

"Grizzly Man" by Werner Herzog. Also very cool. A fascinating look at the Alaskan wilderness and the power of Nature.

Nathan Rabin on the film career of Lindsay Lohan:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/career-and-beatlekilling-case-file-161-i-know-who...

And this great quote:

When I rented I Know Who Killed Me at a small independent video store that is so not Blockbuster, the goateed clerk behind the counter perked up and guilelessly enthused, “This is actually really good. It’s essentially an American version of giallo, like something Dario Argento would have done.” I smiled, nodded, and thought, “Sure it is. I would love to hear your cinephile defense of Saw IV as a contemporary version of a Val Lewton thriller.”

#136> ...sure to be better than the American version that is certain to be made.

It's listed as being in pre-production already: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/

No details as yet (unless you've signed up for IMDB Pro), and it is subject to change, naturally. (A lot of these pre-prod movies never seem to get off the ground, as I'm sure you're all already aware. Where's my J. Michael Straczynski adaptation of World War Z??)

And, agreed. I'm never quite sure why Hollywood has such a fetish for remaking perfectly good European cinema. (Okay, yes, your average movie goer isn't keen on subtitles, and Hollywood's about making money. But they so rarely seem to do anything *better* or at least as well as the original. All dull copies.)

138: This quote further on was even better: "Sivertson might very well have set out to direct a gothic, Grand Guignol giallo-style atmospheric thriller. Instead, it comes like V.C. Andrews with a terrible hangover."

>139 wookiebender:. A question. What European movie that was remade by Hollywood has ever been as good as the original? Seriously. I've never seen one.

Watched about half of Serenity last night and eager to watch the rest tonight. Whedon is amazing.

#141> I can't think of any either! But I left it vaguely worded in case someone with better knowledge of cinema could come up with an example.

Was Luc Besson's "Leon" a remake of one of his french movies? Although that may not count anyhow, since he's not a Hollywood director.

I do actually like the American adaptation of "The Office" better than the British original. But it's definitely the only one I can think of, and I think one TV adaptation does not count.

#142> Oh, Serenity is excellent fun. We introduced a friend to "Castle" the other night, and found for him on YouTube the scene for the Halloween episode where Castle dresses as a "space cowboy". Great stuff.

I thought Castle dressed as a space cowboy for halloween was just over the top cool.

As I say, just about everytime this kind of thing comes up, I would like to see David Bellisario do an episode of NCIS in which Ducky is unexpectedly called away by the United Nations Command for Law Enforcement, and he and Napoleon Solo have an adventure. I think that would be just too cool, as well. In fact in about the third or forth episode of NCIS the question did arise of who Ducky reminded one of the team of, the answer of course was Illya Kuryakin.

#143 No, Léon was a film made in the US by Besson. The director's cut was only recently released on DVD in the UK, although it's been available in France for more than a decade.

Even when European directors remake their films for the US markets, they're worse - e.g., The Vanishing, or The Visitors.

Yes, the original, Dutch The Vanishing was chilling, and the Hollywood version crapped it up.

The only thing Hollywood does worse than remake foreign films is remake Hollywood films. I'm gathering that the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street is a joke. None of the psychological terror of the original with way more buckets of blood. The last movie I've seen in a theater was District 9. I just don't have any desire to spend 12 bucks for the privilege of knowing for two hours or more that I just got ripped off by some no-talent, cynical, asshole, laughing all the way to the bank

Give me The Third Man or Public Enemy or Passport to Pimlico or Seance on a Wet Afternoon or even (or maybe especially) Gold Diggers of 1933. Dick Powell sure could sing and dance. And lo and behold, who woulda thunk it: the boy could act, too. Imagine that!

#146 yes, and it was the same bloke who directed both, too.

Some Hollywood remakes are better than the originals. Many of Sirk's films are remakes, and superior to their originals.

Watched Robert Bresson's "Diary of a Country Priest" last night.

Wonderful. Affecting and powerful; hard to present films that deal effectively with matters of faith and spirit but this one is even better than I'd imagined.

By the way, count me as another fan of the original "The Vanishing"--one of the most harrowing cinematic experiences I've ever had. Didn't see the remake, didn't bother.

"I just don't have any desire to spend 12 bucks for the privilege of knowing for two hours or more that I just got ripped off by some no-talent, cynical asshole, laughing all the way to the bank."

I'm with you, Gene. You should see if you can lay your hands on a copy of the Bresson flick I just wrote about--might be right up your alley.

I second that sentiment on Diary of a Country Priest, and can't help but mention my favorite Bresson: Pickpocket.

I have that one too--and "Mouchette" as well. Have you read Bresson's little book on film-making (NOTES ON CINEMATOGRAPHY)? It's quite magical...

I'll make a note of it, thanks, Cliff. And have you read Manny Farber's Negative Space? Not to everyone's cinematic taste, I'll admit, but unique. Manny wrote for Art Forum in its heyday (has an aesthetic take on things), died last year.

I've got a collection of Manny's reviews--he's bang on in his piece on Val Lewton, that's one of my faves. He's like Agee, an acquired taste. Sometimes he rambles too much and his judgement isn't perfect (whose is?). For instance, I noted on my film blog that I thought he was condescending toward Samuel Fuller. I like ol' Sam and so do folks named Tarantino and Scorsese. Just 'cause he made B pictures (like Lewton) doesn't mean he wasn't a serious film-maker, with serious, mature themes.

Well, 'nuff said...

Overnight planning went awry, and I saw only one of the two movies I had hoped to catch yesterday afternoon; The Good, The Bad, and The Weird got postponed.

I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Great, intricate but lucid story telling with some bitter details left me crying at the end. I bought the book The Girl Who Played with Fire before I left the shopping center.

The Metropolitan Opera is up for today, but maybe I can catch the other movie and City Island next week.

Robert

PS The touchstone for The Girl Who Played With Fire is __ct.

R

This month's VideoVista is up, with my reviews of "Maroc 7" (see here) and "Hellbride" (see here).

Fun films--may have seen "Maroc 7" years and years ago but "Hellbride"? That one's new to me...

Watched John Sayles' "Brother From Another Planet" last night.

What a sweetheart of a movie. Joe Morton gives a fine performance in the lead (non-speaking role but his FACE says volumes). A bit talky at times (a problem, especially with the early Sayles flicks) but I love that Sayles has never shied away from utilizing multi-ethnic casts, yet never resorts to stereotyping. He really is a remarkable film-maker (and writer)...

That movie lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "keep an eye on it".

You remembered! Very funny. And Sayles and David Straithairn as the two bounty hunters, the way they moved and shrieked like cats--hysterical.

Who wants some summer blockbusters?

http://www.avclub.com/articles/marmaduke-and-39-other-blockbusters-coming-out-be...

Considering all but a handful of the other 39 sound like crap, this is an amazing take down of Marmaduke.

Is this the first flush of media exposure for Marmaduke? Remember Greathouse's Law of Entertainment: the quality of the entertainment is inversely proportional to the amount of hype preceding it.

I oughtta write a book about Greathouse's Inverse World.

Ah, well. I'm in a rotten mood, so I might as well say it: I agree with everything John Sayles has to say, socially, politically, and otherwise. But he just flat out cannot make a decent film. His movies are clunky, graceless, strain for effect. He is an awful movie maker.

I am sadly looking forward to the latest adaptation of "Robin Hood". Mr Hood was one of my childhood heroes, and I'm getting rather excited at the idea of seeing him on the big screen.

It has to be better than the Kevin Costner version; although I'm not expecting to like it as much as the Errol Flynn version.

Saw on "At the Movies" last night a review of "The White Ribbon". I think they said it did well at Cannes (I'm out of touch). At any rate, the snippets they showed completely caught my attention. (Which is tricky, considering the TV was behind me, and it was all in German. Usually I'm only half-listening to At the Movies while catching up on LT, and just try to catch the summary of ratings at the end.) I feel the need to make an effort to go and see it.

I disagree on the R. H. thing. I am a real RH fan since early childhood - it was the main role playing thing of my childhood and I went to see the Disney movie in the theatre and memorized all the dialogue. (I love Peter Ustinov!)

I loved the E. Flynn verison because it was funny. I loved the Disney version because it was funny. I tolerated the Men in Tights spoof because it was (mildly) funny in places (it could have been a lot funnier though). But I can't stand the thought of RH being played by actors who take themselves as seriously as Costner - I just think RH has to be humorous or it does not work. I could not stand the Costner movie and I am not looking forward to seeing Crowe who is about as humorless as Costner. Come on, get a funny actor! Aren't there any good comedy actors out there to do it?

I'm with you, Anna. I loved the Errol Flynn version. But I go further on Costner: I can't stand him in anything.

#164> How could I forget the animated Robin Hood! I own it on DVD, and subject the children to it whenever they can't agree on what to watch. Great stuff.

I haven't seen "Men in Tights", and have no wish to. Mel Brooks can be brilliant (Blazing Saddles!), but he had a bad slump. (Although I do think it's amusing that it's the only one with an English actor playing RH; no, wait, IMDB tells me the RH in the Disney movie is also an English actor.)

I dislike Crowe on a number of levels, but it's the Ridley Scott name that's got me thinking more positively about this movie than it probably deserves. He's not always the best director, but he makes more hits than misses in my book.

And it's Robin Hood. I'm still there.

On sequels:

http://www.cracked.com/funny-4662-movie-sequels/

Sayles' films are clunky, I'll grant you that. And preachy (especially "Matewan"). But "City of Hope" features a terrific, multi-ethnic, ensemble cast. I also liked big chunks of "Eight Men Out", "Lone Star" (Kristofferson is chilling) and, yup, "Brother From Another Planet". "Return of the Secaucus 7" has its moments. I'm sure I'm missing some...

I saw a preview in the theater today for an upcoming Robin Hood. It looks serious and overdone.

The movie I was there to watch was The Good The Bad The Weird, a violent Korean comedy. As far as I'm concerned there isn't enough violent Korean comedy.

I went from there to City Island. When I was pretty young, visiting an aunt and uncle in New York City, my family went to City Island where my mother had some raw shellfish which she told me I wouldn't like. I sampled it and liked it. My mother was often wrong about what I would like; her decisions were based mostly on her convenience. So I remembered City Island as a place with piers and fresh sea food counters, but it is also a residential community. That a movie about family affection could be both warm and very well done is a surprise. This is my current big recommendation, but if you find yourself near a theater and need violent Korean comedy, go for The Good...

Robert

I find Sayles a bit hit and miss. "Lone Star" is an excelent thriller, but "Silver sity" is a bit too strident. "Limbo" feels like two films badly welded together. "Honeydrippers" is pretty good. "The Secret of Roan Inish" is horrible - and was ruined for me because the main character had a Belfast accent instead of a Southern Irish one. I don't like baseball so "Eight Men Out" I found dull and uninvolving. His early stuff is interesting, if a little rough around the edges. Having said all that, Sayles has a much more varied output than Scorsese, who just makes the same bloody film over and over again, interspersing it with the odd art film...

As for Robin Hood... Since I'm actually from Robin Hood country - there's a plaque in Mansfield commemorating a tree which was allegedly the dead centre of Sherwood Forest - every celluloid version strikes me as laughable. And yes, I've visited the Major Oak. You've not been allowed inside it for decades, but you could when my dad was a kid. He says the interior smelled of piss.

Well, okay, I have to admit I haven't seen all John Sayles's movies. But life seems short, particularly when you get older, and my approach to movies (as well as books), is to give a director (and actors too), two, maybe three chances to show me what they've got, and then either give up on them or become a loyal follower ... until they clunk it up three or four times, appear to lose whatever it was that made me a follower. Scorsese, for instance, and Al Pacino, used to be among my Must Sees, and now fall into my Avoid at All Costs category. As for Sayles, I crossed him off a while ago.

170: I'm adding a pilgrimage to Mansfield to my "bucket list" now. Even if they won't let us inside the tree.

If you were told that you would be paid as much as you like to make a celluloid version of RH, what would yours be like? A modernized urban gang of street toughs a la Guy Richie (sp?)?

The Major Oak is actually in Edwinstowe. There's not much to see.

I think if I did Robin Hood, I'd go for Dark Ages outlaw, and lots of blood.

Robin Hood looks like Gladiator with a bow. Doesn't R. Scott have anything better to make?

174: How about car commercials? One thing R. Scott and Michael Bay seem to be good at.

Reminds me an awful lot of South Park's commentary on Lucas and Spielberg.

Perhaps they can be added to the list.

"And he (Rhood) hit the sheriff of Nottingham, again" - (on RH's deathbed...see 1066 and all that. - sans reference, unfortunately.)

The decline of action movie stars:

http://www.cracked.com/funny-4723-sam-worthington/

Coming soon to your theatre, ON THE ROAD, the movie:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/adaptation/kristen_stewart_stars_in_jack_ke...

Iron Man 2 opened today, and it's in IMAX!

Also remaining to be seen in local theaters: The Unbroken and The Harimarya Bridge.

I have the recent teevee The Prisoner on DVD which I'd like to watch soon. And the tenth episode of V should be available through Hulu. So much to do.

Robert

Saw "Croupier" with Clive Owen and Alex Kingston (or "ER" fame). A dark witty little British noir. Owen plays an author working as a croupier to research his book. Good stuff.

I agree. Nifty little noirish film.

Watched King Lear, with Michael Hordern in the title role. It's a bit bloody grim. Some good stuff, and several lines that had all the grace of those lead boots deep sea divers wears. But I still think it was good idea to stick those Shakespeare plays on my DVD rental list...

Saw Iron Man 2 with a friend, and of course it is crap. Apparently only wealthy corporations and their egocentric super-genius CEOs with the help of super secret organizations can keep us safe. So we should now actually praise the military industrial complex.

And sorry women, unless you belong to said secret superhero organization, it looks like you'll forever be destined to clean up the messes of your lovable corporate boyfriends, and when it comes to actually running the day-to-day company stuff and identifying what a ticking time bomb looks like, you'll be forever swamped and have to be rescued by said boyfriend. With all that technology, they haven't designed a female suit yet.

One disturbing aspect of the movie was that the only time you're shown people dying was when Scarlett J. was cleaning up; because, ya know, showing bombs killing people, especially when it's in a city, is so not startling compared to judo chops.

Just another stupid revenge movie, this time with more people in armor repeatedly hitting each other and expecting to make a dent, not realizing they're wearing armor.

Black Widow is a pretty good barometer of comics' attitude to women - just check out her career: seductress to fishnet-clad heroine to mad revenge-driven virago to daredevil love-interest... Sad to hear she's not used well in the film.

"fishnet-clad heroine to mad revenge-driven virago"

Where do you MEET these women, Sales?

You want the URL?

184: I saw it too and I had the same reaction as you. Except I probably hated it more. Special effects do not a movie make. Also, misogyny. Did you catch the part where the dad tells the kid "You are my greatest creation"? I guess he was cloned or something? Ick.

I'm SO excited for The Runaways.

Saw The Secret in Their Eyes yesterday, which got the Oscar for best foreign film. Has what I think of as a Buenos Aires noir feel, and begins well, if somewhat slowly. Has a few terrific scenes, nice acting, lots of close head shots (which I like), but ultimately--for me--too many unbelievable (as in "suspension of disbelief") plot elements to support the denouement.

I actually like almost all of the actors in Iron Man 2. Samuel L. Jackson even drops in for a drink, but none of the actors have much to do...such a waste of talent. However, I am already tired of Mickey Rourke after sitting through this mindless marketing epic. Time for the comeback to be over. Can he please go back?

I went because my 14-year old son wanted to see it. Although he is the demographic, he hated it too.

#184 post nailed it. It was pure shite. Bloated, stupid, and of course profitable!

Watched "My Best Fiend", which documents the bizarre, dysfunctional, explosive, intimate, magical relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski.

Hilarious and frequently chilling. Kinski was a ghastly individual. Working with the man for weeks/months at a time...

Ay yi yi.

David Cronenberg is set to make a film adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/david-cronenbergs-cosmopolis-signs-up-colin-farre...

Set the snob phasers to "awesome."

In-teresting. Not the sort of project I would associate with Davey C. but let's hope it works out well.

New collection of Barbara Stanwyck movies was just released:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-barbara-stanwyck-collection,41057/

I bet there will dames and gams in it.

The new Ridley Scott "Robin Hood" movie reviewed:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/05/13/f-robin-hood-review.html

Not going near this one with a five foot quarter staff...

Did I say it would be too serious? Did I? :)

My various male family members are all champing at the bit to see it, so I guess I will tag along. At least it sounds boring but not enraging like Iron Man.

The current ad campaign, at least in the Atlanta area, teases with "the untold story". Now, the only way the 27 times told story of Robin Hood has an untold component about it is if they make shit up. If they make shit up, it ain't Robin Hood.

We should make a list of all the times this tale, or some part of it has been told.

I'll start with:

Ivanhoe - book
Maid Marion - movie with Sean Connery
Men in Tights - movie
The Adventures of Robin Hood - movie with Erroll Flynn

There are others, let's have 'em.

Watched Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" last night.

Man vs. Nature. Nature wins...and proceeds to eat man.

198:

Uncle Walt's version

"Oo-De-Lally Oo-De-Lally
Golly what a day"

200: Damn, you beat me to it.

Also: Prince of Thieves, with K. Costner (movie)

Howard Pyle's Adventures of Robin Hood (book)

TH White's Once and Future King has a chapter with our hero (but he's called "Robin Wood")

At least some of our so-called stars are realizing their shite movies aren't fooling anyone.

What's funny is, the last Indiana Jones film was universally panned, called terrible even by devoted fans....and made three quarters of a billion dollars. The "Transformers" movies are reviled as jokes...and make twice as much. The problem ain't Hollywood, it's the assholes who'll blow ten bucks to sit down and watch the worst shit imaginable and find this an ordinary, acceptable state of affairs.

Sickening, innit?

#202 what a man. Takes home millions of dollars and then says he failed to make the movie "come alive". So it's all his fault. Best give back the money then.

Good points. If only there were a measurable basis on which people could collectively get refunded their money based on the quality of the movie or actors could get paid based on an anticipated level of crappiness. There could be defcon levels of audience expectations. Or just not going to the theater as Cliff mentioned.

Everyone knows the film was shit. LaBeouf claiming it was his fault is just false modesty. He gets to look like a stand-up guy and his career is unaffected.

Oh everyone, just lighten up. As if movie stars should be held to such a high standard. Just look at Hollywood's sister city, DC, rife with corruption, money lost, and monumentally horrible people. What happens when a politician is found to have squandered the tax payers' trust, wallowed in corruption, and done nothing of consequence? The voters re-elect said politician.

Studios have marketing down to a art these days. They postively feed off of their audience's desire to be current on pop-culture fads. The majority of people who see films like "Transformers" or "Avatar" do so because everyone else is watching it—never mind if it's any good or not.

208: I made my SO sit through "Office Space" so he would understand the references I constantly make to it.

What?

#208: Sociologists refer to it as the "I'm just another dumb fucking lemming" syndrome.

And, ironically, lemming have the reputation they do from all that running off a cliff... which was faked by a Disney film crew for a nature documentary. The whole lemming thing is a Disney-created myth.

Anna, so do you award yourself new flare when you make reference to "Office Space"? I'll bet your chest looks like a Soviet General reviewing the troops from the Kremlin heights on May Day.

210 and 211: So I guess there's a corresponding "I'm just a condescending but dumb fucking sociologist who believes in Disney nature flicks" syndrome.

212: (darkly) The Nazis used flair too, you know.

Another medal for me! :)

Ooh, another medal! You got me: Flair not Flare! How could I do that. What's that law Muphry's or something?

With its bland modular office units, memos, prized stapler, the fast food lunch place next door, etc., Office Space lulls you into a pleasantly guilty American languor, but meanwhile it's a remarkably, gloriously scornful film about modern working life whose subtext is: "Burn the fucken place down!" And then it happens. Power to the people!

216: That's why we all love it so.

215: I'd say we were even, except that you never (even jokingly) said that you don't make grammar (or in this case spelling) mistakes. So it is OK for you to make them.

"Well, I wouldnt say "I've been missing it""...

Well, this sad Robin Hood fan went and saw "Robin Hood". ($17.50 a ticket! Jeez, no wonder I never go to the big multiplexes unless I have no other choice.) The CBC review (posted by Cliff, #196) is fairly spot on, although I was more forgiving of Crowe. Mark Strong makes an excellent bald baddie, William Hurt wasn't on screen nearly enough, and there's some botoxed woman behind Eleanor of Acquitaine in one scene who gets screen time for some unfathomable reason, because whenever they showed her I nearly screamed "BOTOX!!!" at the screen. My husband reckons that she must have been one of the producers wife/lover. (He also failed to notice her completely, Botox is obviously my issue, not his.)

I also have "My Little Pony" movie on high rotation, due to a sick child home from school today. Kill me now.

If anyone is feeling excessively chirpy, I can recommend "Frozen Land" (Paha Maa), a Finnish film directed by Aku Louhimies. Finnish films are not especially happy at the best of times, but this is the grimmest, bleakest and most miserable one I've seen for a while. It's also very good.

I liked it too: Frozen Land.

From what I've seen I can attest to the Finnish film sentiment. I caught Kaurismaki's Lights in the Dusk on IFC one night and thought it was particularly weird yet consistently bleak. Apparently it's part of what's dubbed as a "Loser Trilogy". Loser referring to the main character and not the series itself.

That was certainly true in Frozen Land, though with the air of resignation in frozen climes (in Norwegian and Swedish films too), the "loser" doesn't always actually lose.

Watched "Night of the Following Day"--accompanied by a fascinating commentary by the director. He and star Marlon Brando did not get along and Brando did his best to scuttle the picture at various points. The director must have been afflicted with throat cancer or something because his entire commentary sounds like a gurgling version of a Stephen Hawking lecture. Weird.

Brando is quite bad in the movie, it's clear he has no interest or grasp of his character and literally walks through the role. The supporting cast are terrific, the great Richard Boone, Rita Moreno and Pamela Franklin. The movie itself isn't first rate and the ending doesn't work but if Brando had really pushed himself, he could have raised the film up a notch or two, from mediocre thriller to...pretty good thriller.

That's curious about Brando. He was criticized as phoning in his performance for Don Juan DeMarco. I reckoned that if that was a phone in, then he has to be a terrific actor. A friend, a local drama critic of sorts, agreed, and we both agreed that the notion that middle aged people could have romance in their lives was well portrayed -- it was his portrayal.

On the other hand I enjoyed The Missouri Breaks, Brando's dress and all.

I get the feeling that he must have been acting as an awful actor to be so bad in The Night of the Following Day. I wonder whether I want to see it for that.

Robert

See it for Richard Boone and Rita Moreno--they are terrific. I love Boone, one of the all-time great bad guys.

"Missouri Breaks" was a case where the director, Arthur Penn, let Brando get out of control and made no attempt to rein him in. That atrocious Irish brogue. Nicholson is far better in that film. Brando was notorious for "testing" directors and was contemptuous of Penn, saying so in no uncertain terms afterward. To my mind, his greatest performance is in "Last Tango". Bertolucci knew how to channel him, (no one could really control him, which is why Kubrick walked away and let him direct "One-Eyed Jacks"). Brando swaggers right up to the edge in that film ("Tango"), stares into the abyss...and never dared to venture that close again, no matter how much money the guys in suits fed his ego.

Nathan Rabin has a hilarious appraisal of Brando's career choices. If one imagines that he got advice from The Great Gazoo, the alien character in the Flintstones, then it starts to make a little more sense:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gazoo

I collaborated on a short film with my wife and we've just embedded it over on my site. If you've got five minutes to kill:

http://cliffjburns.wordpress.com

What can I tell you? The woman is a genius...

Saw Great Expectations -- the one with Ethan Hawke -- mainly because one of the locations was a historic house in Florida where I had a museum internship. Not a bad movie.

Watched Douglas Sirk's "There's Always Tomorrow". Excellent. Fred MacMurray plays the owner of a small toy company, happily married, three kids, comfortably middle class, in Los Angeles. Barbara Stanwyck turns up on his front door - she used to be his designers 20 years before, but is now a glamorous clothes designer. He's happy to have a bit of excitement in his life, but his teenage kids think he;s having an affair... An amazingly subversive melodrama.

I saw Iron Man 2 yesterday in IMAX. Rockets, robots, machinery, weapons in huge screen high definition: it was great. I am tired, though, of men being portrayed merely as the manipulable, simplistic violent type that has become common. Women dancing can sell weapons. While Iron Man dukes it out, his aide, become CEO, picks up after him. A male security type fights long and hard while the woman outsmarts everybody by her skillful martial arts. Men are crude dupes; women are special. Bah, humbug.

I went to another movie theater to see a high definition presentation of the play The Habit of Art from the National Theater in London. The play was written by the same fellow who wrote The History Boys. I am not sure what it captures, although I have a new appreciation for both Auden and Britten. Earlier in the season I saw Shakespeare in the same series. These are not properly movies, but come in the same venue and so are similar enough that I can recommend them here; I hope that my community provides enough customers to keep them here. Relevantly: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive

Robert

Iron Man 2 was pure drek.

hope to see the girl with the dragon tattoo tomorrow.

Can't recall if I've posted this previously. Roger Ebert on why he dislikes 3-D movies:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/237110/output/print

Yeah. And I don't like special effects either.

Talkies kind of overdo it, but I've gotten used to it because there's just so little available in silent movies anymore.

I saw one drek in Iron Man 2, the expression of affection by the father in the movie he made for his son. I saw some near drek in the presumed superiority of the women over the men; they are so clever they should be running the world using masculine brawn to effect their will.

That the evil were routinely evil but really sleazy while pretty successful is a twist on Hollywood characterization that I thought was good.

The machinery, the buildings, the action were all eminently watchable.

Robert

Bob, I think you are in for a treat at The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Although the heroine is a little different from the heroine of the books, she is a very special character.

Robert

Saw Perfume last night. Visually sumptuous and stylistically ambitious, plus Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman at their best. The hysteria caused by the murders played like a metacommentary of the War on Terror.

David Lynch and the Maharishi:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/19/flying-yogis-and-%EF%AC%82ying-millions/

Weird, man...

The Harimaya Bridge may not be the best movie of the year, but I sure am glad I didn't let it slip out of town without my having seen it. Advertising played up Danny Glover's role in it, but his role is a cameo.

An American boor is taught civility by the Japanese, but the universality of familial affection despite our differences is what pulls tears in this movie. The movie is set in a lush part of Japan that I did not see in person and wish I had. The women are all beautiful and richly characterized. The boor is a little flatter but believable enough.

Robert

Saw "The Final Sacrifice" on Mystery Science Theater 3000 Clearly the worst thing to come out of Canada since Gordon Lightfoot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgKwPrm7DYQ

well..a little bummed (in re movie going)...for whatever reason i slept until 2:00 pm this afternoon and any and all plans for doing anything went for naught. Listened to Phillip Pullman's narration of The Golden Compass for 90 minutes while sitting on our exercycle. He reads well, probably should have done the dialogue as well as some (not all) of the voice actors were a bit disconcerting. Maybe tomorrow if the weather breaks. I finished the girl who kicked the hornets nest the other night w/ 2 weeks still left on the hold so passed it on to a friend who's library system would have him ~ 22nd in line.

Just as a general fyi...if you find a tick that's been on you overnight - may as well start on doxycycline - at least in the American SE.

A tick, Bob? Christ, I hate those things. And leeches. Brrr...

Check out the bot fly some time...the most vile insect parasite I have ever encountered.

It makes a leech seem altruistic.

The outdoors is one reason I spend as much time as possible indoors.

Back to films - my honey and I went out to a cheapo local theater and saw Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes which was made in 1938. We loved it. It was very funny. I had not expected it to be so full of humor. It is so great to see old films in a movie theater. I recommend it to everyone.

PS My son has beat me for snobbery. He says he hates the classic old film "Lost Horizons" because "it is nothing like the book!"

There's a book?

Yeah, who knew? He said they changed everything, even the name of the character who was Hugh in the book and in the movie he was George...
He is taking an SF/Fantasy course in his senior year of high school and this is apparently one of the foundational fantasy novels of the 20th century...

How cool, that they give such a course.

#245 Eric,

And also speaking of books, you've got to check out the story called "Jerry's Maggot" in Tropical Nature. Of all the works in the entire New-Naturalist-Encounters-a-Botfly canon, this one's the best.

I've had no fewer than two naturalist acquaintances tell me (over warm Imperials I'm sure) that they've hosted botflies, just to see how the domestic relationship turns out.

#251

That last line is too funny... I have it on good authority, that the best way to host a bot fly is to stay drunk, as this keeps the bot fly drunk too, and renders it inert (a domestic arrangement to be sure).

Back to the cinema, I am watching Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" tonight. Thank God for Netflix.

And I will be reading "Jerry's Maggot". Thanks for the tip!

Saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno Funny stuff. No Jean Seberg, but it had Elizabeth Banks. Close enough.

I saw the pleasant but unnecessary Princess Ka'iulani today. It was touching in a few ways and showed a little the nasty white guys taking advantage of the honorable natives, but the story was pretty thin. Theo Davies looks like a nice guy aristocrat; they didn't mention that he would have addicted all of China in order to sell opium to them. If the movie is historically accurate, then Ka'iulani was responsible for quasi-universal suffrage in the islands as they became a territory of the United States.

Robert

"If the movie is historically accurate..."

And that's a mighty big IF, isn't it, Robert?

Given what movies have done with history it is a necessary 'if.' The movie had plenty of consultants, and apparently the history was kept, so the possibility is not farfetched. I seem not to be interested enough to dig deeply into the question, though.

Robert

The Unbroken doesn't reach for technical verisimilitude in its opening scene, but that opening scene with the cinematic metaphor interwoven is hugely moving. If you don't want all three hours and twenty minutes of this movie, watch just the beginning. The movie is about man's inhumanity to man, but in the civilized world, not in one of the great twentieth century tyrannies. I saw it today.

Once in a great while there is a great soul, and that soul is hard to recognize. Once in a great while justice is served, but so much gets stolen while we wait. Then there are the people who wish something could be done and who make ineffectual or slight attempts at moving the world; they are even harder to recognize.

On with the day by day.

Robert

While at the video shop (why aren't they "DVD Shops" in my mind yet?) Miss Boo was taken with "Ponyo", the latest Studio Ghibli creation. And she sat down on the weekend and watched it, completely gobsmacked.

Had to watch the version dubbed in English, as she's only just starting to learn to read. (Mr Bear could mostly read the subtitles when they were on, and was rather taken with the concept of *reading* a movie).

While I didn't think it was as good as other Ghibli movies ("Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away" are my two favourites, both of which I got to see on the big screen with Japanese language/English subtitles*), its lack-of-really-scary-set-pieces made it an excellent introduction for a five year old.

Mr Bear asked questions constantly, as is his wont. 99% of them were answered with "it's magic, okay".

* I can't speak Japanese, but I always prefer original language wherever possible. I'm used to subtitles, and I find dubbing never quite matches the voice and always makes actors look like really bad actors. (Exception that proves the rule is Burt Lancaster in "The Leopard".) Or animated characters not quite well enough animated.

Ah, Miyazaki...

From today's New York Times:

Jim Thompson’s gritty novels keep tempting filmmakers. Now comes a screen adaptation of The Killer Inside Me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/movies/06killer.html?th&emc=th

260: The Killer Inside Me should make an interesting impact on American culture, especially one in love with Dexter Morgan and Hannibal Lecter

***

Saw Zoot Suit, based on the play by Luis Valdez. It starred a very young Edward James Olmos. An artful exploration of the Zoot Suit Riots The trial was a horrifying miscarriage of justice, nothing new in the American jurisprudence system.

With the Arizona immigration law causing a furor and our Middle Eastern Forever War in full swing, it might be worth putting on a revival of the play.

Ah, Jim Thompson. Love that guy. Those Black Lizard editions are lovely. I have a collection of his essays and uncollected stuff and in one of them he writes of the encounter with the Sheriff who inspired KILLER INSIDE ME. Chilling, man...

Agree that Ponyo wasn't Miyazaki's best..but it WAS a nice return to form after Howl's Moving Castle which, to my surprise, didn't really do justice to a the book..though the movie was gorgeous. Has anyone seen Miyazaki's son's movie,
an adaptation of Tales from Earthsea?

Not me, pal, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

I did miss the Miyazaki (Jnr) version of Earthsea. I wanted to see it, but it had such a limited run here!

Mr Bear's best mate had his 7th birthday party on the weekend. I got to be a Helper Mum and we all went and saw "Prince of Persia". Hardly snob material, but pretty with the eye candy.

Hoping to get out to see "Animal Kingdom" sometime rsn.