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| knox |
 Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 1:11 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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| Befade: You mean Elegy, I'm guessing. It rose above the usual old guy's wet dream of having a fling with a college girl (which so many films in that genre fail to do, IMO). Kingsley did a great job showing the guy's insecurities and lack of maturity (to the point where it made me cringe). Cruz seemed a little too wise for a college girl, but that was the point -- that was who she was. A film I admired but wouldn't necessarily choose to see again. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:36 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Knox.........I'm so happy you're here to strike the cords that my aging memory fails to hit. Yes, Elegy was a sweet......if imperfect movie. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:54 am |
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Lonesome Cowboys, a movie i saw in 1971. It was playing in Valley Stream, Long Island where I had an unpainted furniture store at the time. Valley Stream could be considered the redneck capitol of Nassau County, the home of the Nazi Bund pre-WWII. My ex and I went to see it one night and I was surprised how many people were in the audience. And how they laughed so much at the funny parts. Looking around and I could see that they weren't exactly hippies, more like teamsters.
I don't remember a lot of scene from the movie, but I remember liking it very much. Seemed like they were making it up as they went along and it had a wild free-wheeling charm, or as some would consider, grossness. I've read some reviews of the film while I was looking up the cast etc. and they were at best, not very complimentary. They were wrong. This was a good movie, sort of like a Stan Brakhage coked up. The commenters complained that it was too long and hard to sit through. I had the opposite reaction. It moved right along for me, and it is what I would call a gay (comic) masterpiece, though I might be alone in this evaluation. The last scene has one of the characters, Eric, played by Eric Emerson, full face giving a soliloquy that is brilliant and ends the picture beautifully.
I did a search to find out who the actor was who played Eric, because a strange thing happened a week after I saw the film. My ex and I went with a friend to Max's Kansas City for dinner. Our waiter came up and it was the guy who played Eric. I was more than happy to tell him how terrific he was in that closing scene. He was a very nice guy and we talked at length all during our dinner. I think he told me that the soliloquy at the end was improvised.
In my search I found out that Eric was a ballet dancer, the singer in the Glam Rock Band, The Magic Tramps they played often at Max's Kansas City and a stage actor among other things. He was very energetic and effusive and everyone liked him. He seemed to have bedded more women than guys. He had a number of children with some of the women. He was known by everyone in that part of New York. He road his bicycle all over Manhattan and was killed in a hit and run on his bike in 1975. He would have been 30. They had his wake at Max's and I read some of the testimonials. Extremely touching. I teared up. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:48 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| This was my first viewing of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943). It is one of his best, a film noir which is suspenseful from the first scene to the last. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:59 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Shadow of a Doubt is one of Hitchcock's best.
I was disappointed by Visions of Light, which is a documentary on the history of cinematography. I thought it made few points that weren't obvious. ( Sunrise was influential? Well, duh.) went through a lot of forgotten films where the film would be remembered if the film was memorable, then climaxed with Do the Right Thing. What I remember of Do the Right Thing is the acting and story were fine, but the cinematography came close to ruining the film. As far as cinematography goes, He Got Game, 25th Hour and Inside Man were far better. Hell, Girl 6's cinematography was better.
EDIT: Okay, maybe not Girl 6. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Skip Mamma Mia. Usually we think of Meryl Streep's presence as a face, a voice......not a body. In this film she was a flailing jumping jack in farmer pants. I don't like films where people burst out in song whenever they think it's a "happy" moment. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote:
I was disappointed by Visions of Light, which is a documentary on the history of cinematography. I thought it made few points that weren't obvious. .
Right on. This is to cinematography what Food Inc. is to food. Boring, obvious, a "duh" from start to finish.
Shadow of a Doubt IMO is in Hitchcock's second rank; very, very good but not one of his best. Though reportedly Hitch's own personal favorite. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:44 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Such is the case, Billy. At least according to those at TCM.
Meanwhile I just had the happy experience of seeing The Men Who Stare at Goats. I do think one needs to have a particular Clooneseque sense of humor to enjoy this. I do. In fact, I think it's one of the better movies I've seen this year. And does anyone see a kind of riff on the Coen Brothers here? I doubt it was intentional but nonetheless, it does have that certain flavor. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:49 pm |
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| The movie tastes like Matzo Balls? |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:01 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:33 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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marantzo wrote: The movie tastes like Matzo Balls? |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 11:25 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Marj wrote:
Meanwhile I just had the happy experience of seeing The Men Who Stare at Goats. I do think one needs to have a particular Clooneseque sense of humor to enjoy this. I do. In fact, I think it's one of the better movies I've seen this year. And does anyone see a kind of riff on the Coen Brothers here? I doubt it was intentional but nonetheless, it does have that certain flavor.
From Jan 23:
Quote: Men Who Stare at Goats is very good. It felt very much like a lost (but recent) Coen Bros. film, which is praise in gromitland. I like Clooney in serio-comic roles, when his character takes himself seriously but is rather goofy (think O Brother).
It's an intriguing and amusing story, and as the film says, much more of it is true than you'd think. A fun movie to wiki and google after you've seen it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Earth_Battalion
The film spoofs on Full Metal Jacket at one point and in one scene Kevin Spacey looks suspiciously like Peter Sellers' Capt. Mandrake. Goats shouldn't be missed. |
Last edited by gromit on Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:42 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| Thanks Gromit. We were indeed on the same page here. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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After watching This is It, I have a greater appreciation for Michael Jackson. I've never been a fan......but I was impressed with the creativity and passion on display in this film. The fact that the performances in London never happened does seem tragic.....because it obviously would have been a spectacular show.
I'm comparing MJ's performance to Seal's on PBS. I've never seen Seal live but I like him. His performance was lacking in pazzazz.......and the back-up was so heavily orchestrated that it was bland. I think Seal jacked-up would be wonderful.........then again......maybe he was 10 years ago. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:31 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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In that case, I will put This is It onto my queue.
Meanwhile, has anybody here seen a film called Hilary and Jackie? It's a biopic of the classical cellist, Jacqueline DuPre taken from a book A Genius in the Family, written by her sister and brother, Hilary and Piers DuPre.
I have to review it for the magazine I write for and am curious as to how others felt. I have mixed feelings about the film and realize that much of this is due to the fact that I'm not crazy about Emily Watson's performance. But I have to do a lot more thinking about this particular movie before writing about it. |
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