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Zotis's Avatar
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11-24-17
I always found Close Encounters of the Third Kind extremely boring.

I've only seen three Bergmans: The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander, and Cries and Whispers. I give them all
. While I love The Seventh Seal and consider it a timeless classic, I do think Fanny and Alexander and Cries and Whispers are better. Cries and Whispers has such incredible cinematography and acting. Every shot is beautifully composed with brilliant use of color. The acting is full of long shots with such intense performances that it's actually mind blowing. I think one scene in particular might be the most brilliant expression of pain that I've ever seen in cinema, ever! The woman is laying in bed dying of cancer and goes from a state of relative comfort to excruciating agony, screaming, and crying, in a very long shot with no cut. But when I watched Cries and Whispers it was very hard to absorb because its so intensely artistic, and besides the artistry and brilliance of the performances there is no "entertainment" factors to hold the interest of anyone who doesn't love high art.



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11-24-17
The Children's Hour




I kinda loved this mostly because it's so dated. It plays out like a horror film as if Lesbianism is the most horrifying thing you can imagine, the horror music coming on when Mrs Tilford was being told everything pretty much summed it all up. Actually dated might not be the right word because even though it's exaggerated with the horror music accusations like this could have ruined your life during this time. It managed to be pretty powerful as all the think of the children stuff was so hilarious at first then it took a dark turn when we saw the consequences. Shirley MacLaine was excellent i had no clue what this was supposed to be about before watching and yet i picked up on lesbian vibes and attraction to Audrey from her right away. Audrey was fine, still not a big fan of her. I liked the girl who played Mary alot too she was convincingly conniving and kinda evil, the only bad performance for me was the other main kid she was godawful. Anyway i liked this alot.

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11-25-17
River's Edge




Man this film was nuts. So many of the characters made no sense and a few of them were absurd yet i liked it quite a bit anyway. I do kinda think this film brushed things aside to keep the film going as it didn't make sense that it hadn't all been wrapped up at various points. For example i have no clue why the detective treated Keanu with such hostility, Keanu reported it and took them to the body that shows that he knows what happened and that he doesn't feel right about it or in other words the perfect witness to close this case with. But no obviously we are going to treat him like an a-hole and try to scare him for no good reason so he flees and ends up with Layne again, it's difficult to accept that a detective wouldn't calmly get his statement and assure him he did the right thing regardless of any suspicions so he can use him at trial later, the last thing you'd want is him possibly ending up with the guys involved in the crime. Then even ignoring that Layne makes no sense either, i get John is his friend and possibly there'd be an urge to help him but John has either lost his mind or he wants to be caught so why on earth would you get yourself in the middle of this when the guy you are helping is so clearly unstable. Don't get why anyone was scared of him either he was a scrawny goofball, i accept that could be down to bad casting. Except it doesn't make sense in the story either, the only person who supports what Layne is doing (including John himself) is Matt's four year old brother it's not as if there's a gang of people they'd go against it's literally Layne and the child. Then no the brother turns against Matt because he gave up John and Layne but he's actually doing his own thing independent of Layne for some reason. I dunno alot of it was nuts and made no sense. Matt (and John actually...kinda) was the one who made the most sense, he saw something completely awful had a conscience and went to the police, everyone else was acting insane around him; Layne, his brother and the detective especially.

John was great wasn't sure if he was insane or had had a death wish or both but either way he was intriguing and very unnerving. He completely embodied disinterest at first, it didn't feel like an act or a defence mechanism; it seemed like he felt he was totally justified in what he did and that was that. If that continued i think he would have gotten boring but they really built him up well with the talk of him boasting to everyone without us really seeing it, as soon as John ended up with Feck he turned very intimidating. He had clearly lost it and he now seemed angry, it was always on my mind if he was regretting it at this point too. The most insane thing about the film was that Feck and John were actually pretty sympathetic even though they were monsters. Despite what he did i felt bad for John throughout. Layne was the one i hated in that situation because if it wasn't for him they may have been able to convince him to hand himself in and get help, it seemed like there was a strong possiblity he would have, maybe even wanted to hand himself in. If not then he at least wouldn't have been given safe haven and he most likely would have been caught before he went further off the deep end. Don't get me wrong he was a monster, the scene where he explains what he felt while killing her was messed up. Dennis Hopper's performance just oozed regret to me and i don't even know if it was intentional, before the film started trying to get you to feel for him a bit i already did. Of the other performances i think i liked Keanu but i also think i was supposed to get stuff from him that i didn't like him feeling...well anything about the death, he just kinda said he did i didn't pick anything up from him; he wasn't bad though. Really have no clue what to say about Crispin Glover, i want to say he was atrocious but he was weirdly watchable.

I definitely enjoyed watching this but i'm not sure how much i actually liked it. All of the dumb plot things weren't that big a deal i can ignore that, i think the film bordered on unlikeable though as it was very cynical and pessimistic. The teacher near the end and his "people only show empathy for a moral high ground" rant felt like the goal of the film to me, of course a character dismisses him in that scene as "full of sht" but the characters actions match up with that. Even though he was wrong Layne's actions were the only ones that had emotion behind them, his "Jamie is dead, John is alive" thing in a twisted sense was a positive outlook on life. The rest weren't at all, Clarissa literally asks Layne "wasn't Jamie our friend shouldn't we feel bad for her?" rather than ya know emoting and the disinterest at the funeral really hammered things home. Anyway, insane film.

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11-25-17
Rear Window (1954) Re-watch

My personal favorite Hitchcock movie that's mostly set in L.B. 'Jeff' Jefferies' (James Stewart) apartment. He's got a broken leg and confined to a wheelchair most of the time and gets very bored. He has a care worker, Stella, (played with great humor by Thelma Ritter) to help him work on his muscles for the duration while he heals. Visiting him frequently is his beyond-beautiful, high society girlfriend, Lisa, played by the, again, beyond-beautiful Grace Kelly. Why he's bored when he's got her is a mystery that I doubt even Hitchcock could solve.

Jefferies begins to watch his neighbors in the surrounding courthouse of the apartment complex. He uses his photographic zoom lens and binoculars when he can't see the tiny details, which become important over time. It is summer and in the 50's, even in New York City, apparently everyone left their doors unlocked and their windows open. Jeff is glad of this as it gives him a front row, or "rear window" seat to watch everyone and build his own stories around them. There's Miss Lonely Hearts, who seems to be pining her life away waiting for a lover who may never come; Miss Torso, who exercises constantly and has a stunning figure; the piano player who plays beautiful music almost as a soundtrack to all the business going on in Jeff's view; the newlywed couple, with the husband trying to take a break by leaning out the window only to have his new wife call him back to the bedroom; the middle-aged couple who sleep on their mattress out on the fire escape and let their little dog down in a rope basket to do his business.

These are just a handful of the people who live in Jeff's view, but the one who interests him the most is Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who constantly fights with his invalid wife who seemingly laughs at him and puts him down, although Jeff can't hear what they say. One night Jeff hears a scream in Thorwald's darkened apartment and his wife goes missing (to Jeff, who doesn't see her anymore). With Lisa and Stella helping him, Jeff begins his investigation into Mrs. Thorwald's disappearance. It's completely fascinating to watch the women try to track down clues as Jeff conducts from his apartment, then the three of them trading mental notes as to what could be happening. They're convinced Thorwald killed and cut up his wife's body and has been carrying it out of the apartment or shipping it out in a trunk. They don't know for sure but they're on the right track. Jeff tries to get his old war buddy, Detective Doyle (Wendell Corey) to help, but Doyle is less than convinced as to Thorwald's guilt.

As Hitchcock films Jeff spying on his neighbors, he makes him a voyeur, and in turn makes US the voyeurs, as we see what he sees. But Jeff isn't doing his spying for any prurient reasons---he's simply bored and lets himself become involved in his neighbors' lives. We, like Jeff, come to care what becomes of these people and if the murder will be solved. We really know it will but Hitchcock wouldn't have been the genius he was if he didn't plant some doubt in our minds. This is a masterful work from the Master of Suspense and this movie shows why the director earned that title. Absolutely recommended without reservation. A must-see and a must-own.



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11-25-17
Der blaue Engel [The Blue Angel] (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)

Repression to possession to depression, none of us are immune



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Welcome to the human race...
11-25-17
Wild at Heart -


play a drinking game every time there's a Wizard of Oz reference and get ready to f*cking die
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



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11-25-17
The Problem With The Problem With Apu

No image this time.

Even though some others made some okay points, Hari was so full of himself and made it look like the people behind Apu had vicious intents when all they wanted to do was create a funny character to entertain people. And while Apu might be stereotypical, he's not in the least comparable with minstrel shows, which directly were made to ridicule minorities. People making fun of Indians by comparing them to Apu, I'm sorry but that's not the show's fault. It's the fault of racist bigots who would have found some other way to make fun anyway. And the weirder part is, Hari states that he think Apu (and Manjula as well) are directly erasing his parents' history. Hari's parents are asked to voice their thoughts on Apu themselves, expressing that they see what he means, but they don't think it's a problem. Of course though, Hari dismisses this pretty easily. He also only briefly mentions how Apu has been developed over the years, forgetting how he became so much more than just a stereotype, an actually fleshed out character. He brings it up so briefly it wouldn't even have mattered if he didn't at all, since he's only interested in focusing on the early years of the show, and even in season 5 Apu had already become a three-dimensional character.

Hank especially didn't have any bad intent (and has even expressed afterwards he understands the complaints about his character), so for Hari to try to force him to stop voicing the character he loves just behind he personally can't stand him comes off as pretty selfish, more so than Azaria himself was. Azaria was even polite when declining to appear, saying he's proud of what he's doing, but Hari still got mad at him. Plus why first now? Why after 28 years? Did he really expect the people behind the show to replace him with another voice actor so late?This speaks to me of Hari not giving the benefit of the doubt that sometimes people are not as bad as you want to paint them up to be. Dana Gould was very polite and respectful as well talking to him, but he still got mad at Gould too, and tried to make it look like he demeaned minorities. The worst part is the ending where he punches clipboard outcuts of Hank Azaria and Apu, and saying this:

"You might love your grandfather, but you still know he has some racist tendencies. So if he doesn't change, maybe it's best he DIES."

And when I got to that line, I wanted to tell him "**** you!"
My grandfather is not racist and doesn't deserve to die, so screw you Hari.

Maulik Pancholy showed some intellectual intelligence, plus never acted angry in the way Hari did. If he did the documentary instead, it could have been okay. But unfortunately, Hari is the star.


Last edited by mattiasflgrtll6; 05-28-18 at 01:29 PM.



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11-25-17
The 'Burbs (1989)
Dir: Joe Dante


Potential Spoilers Below


Tom Hanks broke "big" just about the time of this release from Joe Dante - the guy who almost makes it to delivering a brilliant film, but somehow always drops the ball 3 feet from the goal line.

With Hanks' participation, along with Bruce Dern and Rick Duccomen, this movie mostly is a bona fide classic in every sense. From the amazing opening shot of the Universal logo into the back lot neighborhood, to the creepy Klopek house and the often very funny interplay between the stars (including a hilarious Sergio Leone moment involving a poodle), this movie is damn good, there's no mistaking that.

What always kind of knocks it down from being perfection is that ending. I've seen the alternate endings, and to be honest - not one of them works from a story standpoint. There is no real zinger for The 'Burbs, no matter which ending you go with. Hanks delivers his manic speech about normal suburban folks being the real threat to harmony, but even if the film ended on that note, it still would not have worked completely because, let's face it - that's a bit heavy for a film like this.


Enter Joe Dante. Dante has made many decent films. He truly has a love for camp cinema and the guy knows what he is doing to elicit an agreeable cast and wrangling chemistry moments to make his films work for comedy. He also hires very good crew members who round out the collaboration for such films to be grade "A" B-material. Unfortunately, Joe Dante has never really made a film with a great ending. He always seems to run out of ideas. Maybe it's the script he gets, maybe it's something else. I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that he's 7/8ths an awesome film maker - but those last few lines on the tape measure of quality are always shaved off.

I would think, as a director, you are responsible for making a script with a problem or two, especially the end - work. Writing your own twist or resolution. Endings are very important because they are the resonant element that you remember about a film a lot of times. With The 'Burbs, it's just a messy guessing game. The twists are stupid and don't pack any punch, and having Corey Feldman say the last line of the film, especially a line like "I love this street" is so beyond dumb. Even Ghostbusters was pushing it, but at least the ending of that movie had some good character wrap ups.

I love The 'Burbs. I watch it every couple of years. It's the kind of movie you can just pop on and always be entertained by. It's very funny, looks amazing, and is a great ensemble piece of film making. It's just that the ending, though not a deal breaker, is just so limp and nonsensical. I can't give this the highest rating because I feel like Dante's sensibilities just weren't there. I can't forgive as easily as I could another film that may've slightly "blown it".

Seemed like an easy fix. I mean, end the movie with something like The Klopek's being guilty of something, just nothing anyone can prove. Flash forward a few months and everyone is BBQ'ing together, including the Klopeks. Make the scene even more uncomfortable and awkward than the one earlier in their creaky old house, but also change the tone of the movie to where it was heading, anyway...down the road of the killer ice cream man. Have that mood happening before the credits start. There could be some gold funny moments in there that are unsettling at the same time. Everyone makes nice, but the frustration remains on Art's face at the BBQ that something isn't right. Ray has resigned from exhaustion so he's only into learning how to keep his burger meat together on the grill without losing clumps of meat to the charcoal below.

Anyway, sorry. Still love the movie. Most of it.






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11-25-17

Taxi Driver (1976)

*spoilers*

So I watched this last night for the very first time. I was very impressed with Robert DeNiro!. His performance was worthy of a
I mean he was the character! He immersed himself into the role, it was really quite an amazing feat of method acting.

And I'm guessing it's DeNiro as the mentally unstable taxi driver that people love. Sure I could see this movie being a cult classic, but one of the all time great classics? Nah, I don't think so.

The first act, which ends after he takes Cybil Shepard to a porn film was all amazing. The intensity and oddness of the taxi driver, along with the ultra realness of the gritty world that he inhabited, was powerful stuff. It felt like I was there! I'd give the first act a
+

But when the director Martin Scorsese appears in the film for the second time, things went downhill. As soon as I spotted him it took me right out of the film's world and made me acutely aware I was watching a movie. Worse than that, I realized as Scorsese set in the cab talking about shooting his cheating wife...his dialogue...and his body language was a duplicate of the taxi drivers. That took me out of the film even further...and it reminded me of Tarantino's stale choice to insert himself into Django Unchained. Neither director is a great actor, so leave the acting to the professionals.

In the final act I was hoping the relationship between Jodie Foster's 12 year old prostitute and her would be hero, the taxi driver, would be dynamic and would power the last part of the film. Unfortunately we only get one good scene between them in the restaurant, that develops their bond.

And while it can be said the prostitute was what triggered him to go on a shooting rampage, there wasn't enough about their relationship to bring the movie to a fevered pitch. Instead the final act of the shooting rampage just seems to be rushed. It's like there needed to be another scene before the ending.

As it was I found the ending emotionally unsatisfying, as I the viewer hadn't sufficiently been primed by the movie to hate the pimp and the hotel manager enough to really want to see them dead.

But I'm surprised I enjoyed the shooting spree as entertainment. I found it kind of funny/entertaining when he blows his fingers off, it was kind of comically filmed. But it lacked utter seriousness in the way it was filmed and so didn't deliver an emotional wallop like I would have hoped for.

Even the sound effects for the guns seemed muted and the camera angles got all artsy during the shooting. It was like Scorsese made a conscious decision to downplay the violence...especially in his choice of ending music score with an overbearing harp, of all things.


My rating of Taxi Driver



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11-25-17
Taste of Cherry - 9/10

Seems like those who have seen this movie, love it..... but I've never seen anything written about it, and I can understand why - the description itself is a SPOILER, so avert your eyes!!!

I saw this movie twice before, and loved it every time, but it's not a movie you can re-watch... Ebert called this one of his most hated movies.. I don't like bad pace, but there was always something happening. There's a pretty good amount of dialogue, but yeah, a guy is driving alone, looking for someone to help him do something quite serious.

What did you think about the main character. My only criticism of the movie is that we don't know much about him, but that's also the interesting part.. Sometimes it was just the face, the eyes that told without telling. At times, I felt he was saying by his silence, "Look, I've thought about these things my entire life, I know myself by now, I'm a middle-aged man"

And why did he want to kill himself? I'm not sure if he was a homosexual, and that's the first vibe I (and many others) got. So with a further viewing, I could pay attention to other things besides "what's gonna happen". I thought to myself, he's in Iran, and it's frowned upon there. Long hair wasn't common in Iran in 1997, either, so maybe that was his way of revealing himself without jeopardizing his life..... I even thought, perhaps in the beginning he was using the money to buy a prostitute, and after he witnesses either people not wanting to talk to him, or one guy threatening to punch his face in, just because he asked if he needed money, and persisted... Pride, or maybe it was because he assumed something?




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11-25-17
Originally Posted by Camo
I did here - https://www.movieforums.com/communit...30#post1742530

Kinda just rabble on. I thought a few of the same things you did.
Nice - a long review! I'll restart and read it... Did you find it interesting how snarky he was? Darn good writing and acting.

Now I remember when I first saw it, because you had just seen it, and told me to watch "Close-Up" and I loved that almost as much. For some reason, I always have him in mind, but just never finished a movie - once it was pace, another time it was the video quality, with the embedded subtitles.



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Lone Wolf
11-25-17
Originally Posted by matt72582
Taste of Cherry - 9/10

Seems like those who have seen this movie, love it..... but I've never seen anything written about it, and I can understand why - the description itself is a SPOILER, so avert your eyes!!!

I saw this movie twice before, and loved it every time, but it's not a movie you can re-watch... Ebert called this one of his most hated movies.. I don't like bad pace, but there was always something happening. There's a pretty good amount of dialogue, but yeah, a guy is driving alone, looking for someone to help him do something quite serious.

What did you think about the main character. My only criticism of the movie is that we don't know much about him, but that's also the interesting part.. Sometimes it was just the face, the eyes that told without telling. At times, I felt he was saying by his silence, "Look, I've thought about these things my entire life, I know myself by now, I'm a middle-aged man"

And why did he want to kill himself? I'm not sure if he was a homosexual, and that's the first vibe I (and many others) got. So with a further viewing, I could pay attention to other things besides "what's gonna happen". I thought to myself, he's in Iran, and it's frowned upon there. Long hair wasn't common in Iran in 1997, either, so maybe that was his way of revealing himself without jeopardizing his life..... I even thought, perhaps in the beginning he was using the money to buy a prostitute, and after he witnesses either people not wanting to talk to him, or one guy threatening to punch his face in, just because he asked if he needed money, and persisted... Pride, or maybe it was because he assumed something?

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...064#post881064

Be kind. I love Kiarastomi.
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