Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

I'm not sure if I'll like If, but it's got me very curious. I'm looking forward to watching it in the next couple months.

I watched one of your recommendations-The Hired Hand

I just posted my thoughts on it here-

http://www.movieforums.com/community...20#post1213920

I like Malcolm McDowell in other movies, but I may be the only person here who hates the movie A Clockwork Orange.

There's a few people here who hate A Clockwork Orange. I'm not one of them.

I liked A Clockwork Orange when I was young. I guess it appealed to my idea of being rebellious as someone in their early 20s might think. I suggested one day in a college critical thinking class that we watch the movie. So we did. I never heard so many groans from my fellow students, especially the girls. I'm surprised they didn't run me out on a rail.

Now that I'm much older I'm not sure how I feel about the film. I haven't watched it in years as I know my wife will hate it.

Thanks for the link to the Hired Hand post. I'm glad someone watched it!

If.. is a great film. Anyone who thinks that Clockwork is teen rebellion should watch If... Of course, McDowell still looks a little too old for the role, but nothing like as old as he does in Clockwork.

Also, Blow Up is the first film in the UK to have full frontal nudity.

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

From IMDB trivia on IF....

"Features the first instance of a full-frontal female nude passed by the British Board of Film Classification. Previously there had been instances of flashes of nakedness - notably in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966) - but "If..." had a prolonged shot of featured nudity."

I like If much more than Clockwork Orange

So I was right.

Cleopatra (1963)

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Length: 248 minutes
Film Process: 70mm Todd-AO

Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison
Martin Landau, Hume Cronyn, Roddy McDowall

A few years ago I watched The Ten Commandments and was duly impressed. Then I set out to watch other epic historical movies from the 1950-60s. One that I watched was Cleopatra. I found it lacking in action and nothing like The Ten Commandments...The other night I watched Cleopatra again. This time I was impressed. Yes, it's 4 hours long and yes there's not much action or heroic adventure.

What Cleopatra offers is an exploration of the personal dreams and aspirations of it's three main characters: Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra. The film was originally planned to be 6 hours and shown in two different movies: Caesar and Cleopatra to be followed by Antony and Cleopatra, each film would be 3 hours in length. Cleopatra might have been a master piece had the original two movie plan been done. With the removal of almost 2 hours of film, the details of the characters lives and motivations is partially lost. Still it's a moving story told in a subtle Shakespearean style.


Right at first the film drew me in with the scene of Caesar landing in Alexandra. In a way, Rex Harrison with his nasally voice and cerebral 'know it all' attitude seemed like an odd choice for the powerful Caesar. However he's a fine actor and added a dimension that I didn't expect. His Caesar was portrayed full of melancholy and angst over his aging life and missed opportunities. It was Cleopatra's belief in him that gave him a new strength of will. Her dreams became his, this was her power.

Elizabeth Taylor added depth to the legendary Queen. She was royal and yet human and of course stunningly beautiful in her 65 different costumes. Her most fabulous costume being the 24-carat gold cloth regally dress with cape and head piece, shown in the photo above.

In the second part of the film, Mark Anthony (Richard Burton) comes to Egypt. Like Caesar before him, he needs the wealth of Egypt to back his personal campaigns in his bid to seize control of the Roman Empire. On screen, like off screen, Taylor and Burton had a tremulous relationship. At first Anthony will have nothing to do with the Queen, even though he secretly loves her. His pride is far too strong to bend a leg to her and that's what she demands, his bowing...on his knees and in his will. Like Caesar before, Cleopatra beguiles Anthony and embarks him on a perilous plan for control of Rome.

The film plays out like a classic Greek tragedy with shades of a Shakespearean drama.The beauty is in the love triangle and the diction of noble spoken words.

Some people seem to dislike this film. But I find the epic telling of unbridled love and what it can do, compelling. If you watch this don't forget to appreciate the sets. Most of the Egyptian sets and especially Roman sets were actually built for the movie, they are huge. This film looks great.

I'm rating Cleopatra against other historical epics of the time period.

Attachments

   

I saw Cleopatra but I was so young that I don't remember it very well. I was interested in watching it again, but I skipped it for the time being since I could watch two 1963 movies instead. Your review and rating makes it sound promising.

I am looking forward to Cleopatra, I will definitely get to it as part of my 60's viewing. I just have to set aside the time. Probably some Saturday when nothing is going on.

__________________
Letterboxd

Cricket and Sean, there are at least two versions of Cleopatra that very in length.

3 hr 12 min (192 min) This is the older cut of the film.
4 hr 8 min (248 min) (roadshow) This is what I seen and is the most complete to date.

5 hr 20 min (320 min) (director's cut) As far as I know this one doesn't actually exist?

People say Cleopatra was a flop but according to what I read it was one of the highest grossing films of the 1960s and was sold out for months after it first opened. Audiences seemed to loved it, but it was panned by the critics. My guess is the bad publicity surrounding the film due in part to cost overruns and production problems and the highly publicized affair of Taylor and Burton who were both married to other people at the time, left a bad taste in some mouths.

I watched Cleopatra a few days ago, but I don't think I reviewed it here because I'm not really a fan of epic movies, and I didn't want to give it a bad review that it probably doesn't deserve.

Unfortunately for me, I found it long and boring. The story is okay, but there are better ways for me to spend four hours. Like Cricket said, I probably should have skipped this movie and watched two other 1963 movies instead, but I wanted to give it a chance because I've heard so much about it over the years, and it has a great cast.

GBG, I've learned from my time at MoFo that people really have varied taste, so I can understand what you're saying. Before watching Cleopartra I had a dim view of it. I actually told my wife, 'be prepared it's going to be long and boring.'

But I think because I was focused on the film and in the mood to watch a 4 hour epic, I seen something in it that I hadn't before. I liked it so much that I was looking for the directors cut, all 6 hours. But it looks like I will have to settle for the Blu Ray.

Sunshine (2007)

Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Cinematography: Alwin H. Küchler
Production and Shooting: UK

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Mark Strong, Cliff Curtis, Benedict Wong, Hiroyuki Sanada, Troy Garity


Sunshine presents a fascinating idea that maybe there's something spiritual within sunlight. The scene in the sun observation room where a crew member opens the huge observation window thus blasting himself with intense sunlight, were intense. Sunshine has a subtle, metaphysical idea that within the deadly sunshine is a hidden truth. It's a truth so worth knowing that a person would risk their life by staring into the blasting sunshine, just to get a glimpse of that truth.

Sunshine has an R rating for violence and there's a sub plot twist which involves some graphic horror like scenes, though that's not what the film is about and it's a small part of the film in the third act. I'll rate the decision to include the horror elements a 0. But the rest of the film is amazing.

Sunshine has a great look to it, good pacing and interesting premise. I liked the characters. Their interactions and personal conflicts makes the movie as does the mystery contained within sunshine.

Attachments

 

I've heard a lot of good things about Sunshine, but there's not much Sci-Fi I like.

One thing I didn't mention in my review as I thought no one would care....In the beginning of the movie they use what's called a 'screen wipe' to transition to another scene. I thought that was really neat as it's an old technique from the 1930s, though it was used even before that. I bet it was done to pay homage to the old Flash Gordon serial movies, they used the swipe a lot too. But so did other film makers.

I really need to see Sunshine.

The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)

Director:Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Glenn Ford, Ron Howard, Shirley Jones, Stella Stevens,Dina Merrill
Production Studio: MGM

A fun and sometimes bitterly terse movie about a recent widower Tom Corbett (Glenn Ford) and his young son Eddie (Ron Howard). As the father returns to his job and life after becoming a widower, his son Eddie, thinks it's time for dad to remarry.

Glenn Ford plays the father with a lot of pent up anger. It's quite different than the TV version with Bill Bixby. I'm not sure if the producers wanted that type of character, perhaps that's just the way Ford played it.


Across the hall lives a pretty young woman who has been a friend to the Corbett family since little Eddie was born. Elizabeth (Shirley Jones) is sweet, kind and cares deeply for both Tom and little Eddie.

But dad is too blind to see it...Or perhaps as Elizabeth was his wife's best friend he doesn't want to see it. In a couple of scenes he's particular cynical towards her, accusing her of climbing over Eddie to get to him. If ever a man needed a reality check it's Tom.


First potential mommy that Eddie spots is Dolly (Stella Stevens). He likes her red hair and thinks she's pretty...smart kid. He wants Dolly to live with them, but dads not so sure, so he pawns her off on his friend (Jerry Van Dyke).


Dad then spots a rich fashionable lady, Rita (Dina Merrill) and falls for her. She's not the mother type and little Eddie will have no part of it. He pouts and runs away from camp, scuttling Dad's plans for happiness.

With a little help from the housekeeper, the pretty lady from across the hall is back in the picture.


The story line is sometimes uneven. We don't really see what motives Glenn Ford to be so nasty towards Shirley Jones, but we can guess the reason. It's like a few scenes are missing. At 118 minutes, perhaps the producers decided the movie was long enough.

One high note of the film is director Vincente Minnelli. As with most Minnelli films the art direction is stunning. Vincente in his earlier years had worked as a costume, set designer and art director. The color pallets he uses and the care in matching everything from wall color to the women's coordinated dresses...to the smallest details, is sublime.

The Courtship of Eddie's Father has a lot to offer, just don't expect to see the gentle father-son TV show relationship in this movie.

Attachments