| Author |
Message |
|
| yambu |
 Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:30 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
|
Saw La Strada for the first time. The impish Giulieta Masina is sold to Anthony Quinn, and their journey is their way along his dumpy traveling road show. Quinn is amazing as the hard-bitten tough, totally beyond redemption. He, Quinn, was raised in Chihuahua, but his Italian was convincing, although it may have been with a Mexican accent. I would love to know.
The landscape reminded me of Waiting for Godot. Nothing in the environment held promise for his captive waif, so full of good life. |
|
|
| Back to top |
  
|
| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:12 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
|
| Saw My Cousin Vinny for the 7th time. Or was it the 8th? But it will not be the last. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| yambu |
| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 12:00 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
|
Allegro Non Troppo, a musical term for "not too fast", is said to be a spoof of "Fantasia", but I forgot all about the Disney work shortly after the first of six animation segments began. The music is Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Sibelius, Vivaldi and Stravinsky.
As Bolero begins, a timid creature from inside a discarded coke bottle takes shape, and growing in strength and numbers, ultimately encounters an apocalyptic Christ/Anti-Christ.
There are hilarious live action sequences that set up all the animated episodes. Laurel and Hardy be-alikes show up.
I hope I dream about this one. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:13 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
I am so there, if only for the music. And the timid coke sprite.
Avoid "The Sensation of Sight," a 2006 indie w/ David Strathairn, a plotless and vague attempt on man's search for meaning, turgid with moments of pseudo-profundity. Got through 45 minutes last night, had to bail. For some reason, Strats has stopped teaching college English and decided to cope with a family loss by selling encyclopdias from a little wagon he pulls down the street. There may be a deep explanation for this, but I just don't care. And neither will you, is my prediction. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marj |
| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:36 pm |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
|
God, Bart, I'm amazed you made it through 45 minutes, and I'm a real David Straithairn fan.
I had to come back here to find the title of Yam's film. I might as well. I've been catching up on 'British Masterpiece Theaters,' since I have about six or seven films waiting that just say, "Very Long Wait." It's never been this bad before. I think I've been waiting on The Help since before Thanksgiving. |
|
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 1:54 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12905
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
yambu wrote: Allegro Non Troppo, a musical term for "not too fast", is said to be a spoof of "Fantasia", but I forgot all about the Disney work shortly after the first of six animation segments began. The music is Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Sibelius, Vivaldi and Stravinsky.
As Bolero begins, a timid creature from inside a discarded coke bottle takes shape, and growing in strength and numbers, ultimately encounters an apocalyptic Christ/Anti-Christ.
There are hilarious live action sequences that set up all the animated episodes. Laurel and Hardy be-alikes show up.
I hope I dream about this one.
I've seen that several times. They used to show it regularly on campus. I identify with the poor aging faun. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:54 pm |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12905
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
| Osaka Elegy. This is a 1936 Mizoguchi about a switchboard operator who becomes her boss's mistress in order to get him to pay off her father's debts, then gets another man to give her money for her brother's tuition, then wonders why, after getting herself and would-be fiance arrested, wonders why he and her family rejects her. Subtle as a mallet and the print I saw was murky and not-well preserved; it didn't connect with me at all except via annoyance. One of those movies that seems to last three hours when it's seventy minutes long, but it proves Japan could do pre-Code type movies, too. |
Last edited by Syd on Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:55 am; edited 1 time in total
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marj |
| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:10 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
|
| Syd - I laughed out loud at your review, and I hardly ever do that! |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:01 am |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12905
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
| Fortunately I liked the other three Mizoguchis I saw, which were from later in his career. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:42 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
| "My Week with Marilyn," is a well-done slice of her life, during the shooting of a film with Olivier (Branagh) and Sybil Thorndyke (Dench). The film's POV is a 3rd Director's Asst. who befriends Monroe while she finds herself at odds with the stage-trained British cast and new husband, Arthur (and based on a memoir the 3rd wrote in the 90's). The ensemble is great and Williams does a good job as Monroe, better than what is suggested in the trailer. The only distraction for this viewer is that I never found the original Monroe attractive (sorry, just not my type), whereas Williams....sigh. Not a great film by any stretch, but might be worth a rental for the amusing collision between the discipline and method of the British stage and a pure Hollywood product. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:32 am |
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
|
| You should follow that up with My Dinner with Marilyn, more properly known as Insignificance with Theresa Russell |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:34 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
gromit wrote: bartist wrote:
I'd like to see a "My Dinner with Andre" treatment of Marilyn....maybe she dines with Wallace Shawn's father and they debate the Apollonian vs. the Dionysian or something like that.
It's called Insignificance, and Marilyn explains relativity to Einstein ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insignificance_(film)
edit: you have to copy and paste the link, because the end part in parenthesis gets cut off and you don't get to the film.
The posting, from a guy named "Gromit," had already set me in motion to tracking this down. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:09 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| If you're willing to do a little research, there are hidden gems to be found streaming on Netflix. Last night we saw a simply wonderful little 2011 movie called A Little Help, starring Jenna (The Office) Fischer in a masterpiece of a performance as a somewhat narcissistic but very likeable potential alcoholic housewife on Long Island who is forced through (spoiler-ridden) circumstances to grow up. Bolstered by a strong supporting cast including Brooke Smith, Ron Leibman, Rob Benedict, and Chris O'Donnell, Fischer paints an indelible portrait. This movie came in under the radar and stayed there through poor distribution and mixed reviews ranging from raves to damning-with-faint-praise. Yet it's better than three-quarters of the releases I saw last year. The director is Michael J. Weithorn, whose credits are mostly in television (he produced and directed The King of Queens) but who deserves a big-screen career. |
Last edited by billyweeds on Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:13 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
We also watched another excellent underseen movie, Leaves of Grass, starring Edward Norton as identical twin brothers--one an intellectual giant of national prominence, the other a pot farmer in trouble with drug thugs. It's like a Coen brothers movie but more earnest, which is either a virtue or a fault depending on your taste for Coen cynicism. I really liked Leaves of Grass and Norton's performance, but prefer Blood Simple, for instance. (LoG is directed by Tim Blake Nelson, who also costars.)
What a wealth of under-the-radar gems you can find on Netflix streaming. Next up: Lymelife starring Alec Baldwin. It's got a great reputation, all of it underground. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:42 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
|
Want to see Leaves of Grass - Norton seems to have a knack for duality roles.
[deleted, moved to next page] |
Last edited by bartist on Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
