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Enjoyed your review...admire your guts to talk honestly about a film that it is sacrilege to say anything bad about around here.
Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review
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What do you think about my calling Taxi Driver and King of Comedy "bookends"? 
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Hey, I thought about you saying that when I watched it...And yeah, they are bookends in that both times DeNiro in both films is obsessive, intense, disillusion stalker.
WARNING: "Potential Spoilers:" spoilers below
Both characters, although they put themselves in situations that could have very easily ended in absolute disaster, end up okay. In fact they both kind of meet goals - for Ruppert, he absolutely achieves his goal as his dream is ultimately fulfilled, and for Travis, he kind of finds stability through his perception of the scales of justice becoming somewhat more balanced due to his intervention, and personal stability may have been what he was really longing for all along. Both movies are kind of "success" stories of very misguided and deluded individuals.
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And...
WARNING: "Potential Spoilers:" spoilers below
Both characters, although they put themselves in situations that could have very easily ended in absolute disaster, end up okay. In fact they both kind of meet goals - for Ruppert, he absolutely achieves his goal as his dream is ultimately fulfilled, and for Travis, he kind of finds stability through his perception of the scales of justice becoming somewhat more balanced due to his intervention, and personal stability may have been what he was really longing for all along. Both movies are kind of "success" stories of very misguided and deluded individuals.
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I hadn't thought about that angle, but yes, very true.
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Most stories contain a moral or a lesson, but in these two instances it seems Scorsese wanted to tell stories of two very misguided (and potentially dangerous) individuals who got very lucky not because of, but despite, some of the things they did. And that may be part of what makes them interesting: we have "protagonists," but are they heroes, villains, anti-heroes? It's hard to figure out what to call them... and that takes them away from simplistic black and white style storytelling.
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Did you like Taxi Driver?
I believe I remember it being quite engaging... and violent... (but a very different feel of movie than King of Comedy as it didn't have that delicious "cringeyness" of those scenes showing the interplay between DeNiro and Jerry Lewis!)
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The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Director: Val Guest
Writers: Wolf Mankowitz & Val Guest (screenplay)
Cast: Edward Judd, Janet Munro, Leo McKern
Genre: Sci-fi
About: After both the U.S. and Soviet Union unknowingly test powerful Hydrogen bombs and detonate them at the exact same time...the Earth's axis of rotation is dangerously altered and the planet is sent spiraling towards the sun.
Review: British sci-fi flick that relies on an intelligent script rather than kitschy special effects. Call this one the thinking man's sci fi. For the time period in which it was made, it was a cut above the rest in it's attempt to include realism in the story.
Mostly we don't see disastrous scenes, but we focus on a disgruntled newspaper man who's trying to uncover why a solar eclipse has happened 10 days too early.
Writers: Wolf Mankowitz & Val Guest (screenplay)
Cast: Edward Judd, Janet Munro, Leo McKern
Genre: Sci-fi
About: After both the U.S. and Soviet Union unknowingly test powerful Hydrogen bombs and detonate them at the exact same time...the Earth's axis of rotation is dangerously altered and the planet is sent spiraling towards the sun.
Review: British sci-fi flick that relies on an intelligent script rather than kitschy special effects. Call this one the thinking man's sci fi. For the time period in which it was made, it was a cut above the rest in it's attempt to include realism in the story.
Mostly we don't see disastrous scenes, but we focus on a disgruntled newspaper man who's trying to uncover why a solar eclipse has happened 10 days too early.
When the special effects of a doomed world do appear, they're nicely done with matte paintings. The dense fog that covers London is no doubt in reference to the deadly smog that hung over London in 1952 reportedly killing 12,000 people. My favorite doomsday effect was the dried up Thames River, with boats left high and dry in the mud. It looked pretty darn real too.
Can't say I was a fan of Edward Judd who seemed like a poorman's version of Richard Burton right down to the surly mood and drink in hand. He got on my nerves to tell you the truth. But making up for that was the charming Janet Munro, who is the most likeable person in the movie. She even has a bathtub scene.
I got to say I like the ending. I won't tell you why, you'll just have to see it.
I got to say I like the ending. I won't tell you why, you'll just have to see it.
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 11-27-17 at 01:07 PM.
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Arthur (1981)
Director: Steve Gordon
Writer: Steve Gordon
Cast: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Multi-millionaire Arthur (Dudley Moore) is single and going nowhere in life. He spends his days in a drunken stupor telling bad jokes and spending money like there's no tomorrow. His only friend is his butler (John Gielgud).
The problem is Arthur's family has had enough of his drunken shenanigans and has given an ultimatum to him...shape up and marry Susan, who's from a rich family...or be cut off from his inheritance. Arthur wisely decides to marry Susan, who he doesn't love, but then he runs into a harebrained waitress (Liza Minnelli) and falls in love with her.
This was funny! But oddly enough the parts that were suppose to be funny: a drunken Arthur falling all over the place, wasn't all that humorous. What was funny, in a special way was John Gielgud as the smug butler who actually cares for Arthur like a father would. I thought John Gielgud as Hobson the butler, was outright amazing in this, and made the film!
Don't get me wrong I really liked Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli both were spot on and when not drunk I liked Dudley Moore's character. And who knew Liza was so good at comedy?
I thought the very ending with Arthur getting drunk after a month of being sober and then falling all over the wedding party, was a very weak way to end it. I read that the film's ending was in question and they shot a different ending that focused on Arthur and the wedding. I would have preferred the ending to focus on Arthur and Hobson.
Writer: Steve Gordon
Cast: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Multi-millionaire Arthur (Dudley Moore) is single and going nowhere in life. He spends his days in a drunken stupor telling bad jokes and spending money like there's no tomorrow. His only friend is his butler (John Gielgud).
The problem is Arthur's family has had enough of his drunken shenanigans and has given an ultimatum to him...shape up and marry Susan, who's from a rich family...or be cut off from his inheritance. Arthur wisely decides to marry Susan, who he doesn't love, but then he runs into a harebrained waitress (Liza Minnelli) and falls in love with her.
This was funny! But oddly enough the parts that were suppose to be funny: a drunken Arthur falling all over the place, wasn't all that humorous. What was funny, in a special way was John Gielgud as the smug butler who actually cares for Arthur like a father would. I thought John Gielgud as Hobson the butler, was outright amazing in this, and made the film!
Don't get me wrong I really liked Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli both were spot on and when not drunk I liked Dudley Moore's character. And who knew Liza was so good at comedy?
I thought the very ending with Arthur getting drunk after a month of being sober and then falling all over the wedding party, was a very weak way to end it. I read that the film's ending was in question and they shot a different ending that focused on Arthur and the wedding. I would have preferred the ending to focus on Arthur and Hobson.
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I 
Arther 
Arther
__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha
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Yay, some love for The Day The Earth Caught Fire - that was my #16 for the sci-fi countdown and a seriously underrated movie it is too. I wish more people would give under-seen movies like it a chance.
Haven't watched Arthur for years but remember it quite well and Gielgud is indeed great in it, Moore hams it up a bit too much at times for my taste but it's still really funny in places.
Haven't watched Arthur for years but remember it quite well and Gielgud is indeed great in it, Moore hams it up a bit too much at times for my taste but it's still really funny in places.
Yay, some love for The Day The Earth Caught Fire - that was my #16 for the sci-fi countdown and a seriously underrated movie it is too. I wish more people would give under-seen movies like it a chance.
Haven't watched Arthur for years but remember it quite well and Gielgud is indeed great in it, Moore hams it up a bit too much at times for my taste but it's still really funny in places.
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Exactly. I guess I'll be watching the sequel to it...and maybe, must maybe the new reboot. I'm not sure about watching the reboot
I really enjoyed Arthur. And You're right - it's Liza Minnelli show. She is cute, funny and cheerful.
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Arthur (1981)
[left]Director: Steve Gordon
Writer: Steve Gordon
Cast: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud
Genre: Comedy, Romance
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Taxi Driver (1976)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Genre: Crime Drama
So I watched this for the very first time and I was totally impressed with Robert DeNiro! His performance was worthy of the Oscar, indeed he was nominated Best Actor. I mean he was the character! He immersed himself into the role, it was really quite an amazing feat of method acting. ...
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Writer: Paul Schrader
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Genre: Crime Drama
So I watched this for the very first time and I was totally impressed with Robert DeNiro! His performance was worthy of the Oscar, indeed he was nominated Best Actor. I mean he was the character! He immersed himself into the role, it was really quite an amazing feat of method acting. ...
...
In '76, Taxi Driver had a profound effect on audiences of the day. I was mesmerized all the way through the film, and I thought about it for days afterwards. The sparse near-perfect score by Bernard Hermann (his final score before his death) perfectly captured the threatening but yet boring sleaze of NYC, along with Bickle's bizarre notions and semi-schizophrenic personality.
The themes and action were new and shocking for the day. Sam Peckinpah's films may have paved away for the blood/gore scenes, but Scorcese's depictions were beyond the pale. In fact he had to tone it down in order to get an "R" rating. He reportedly lightened the color of the blood, and cut or softened some of the scenes. But to me the whore house scenes were almost dream-like in effect: hazy and ethereal despite the violence.
But today's audiences might find the graphic scenes in TD pretty tame, even silly. And in general all the themes in the movie have been well copied and imitated in the intervening 40 years.
Of course that's the tendency for many earlier classics. It surprises me that younger audiences can pooh-pooh a great film like Citizen Cane or Intolerance-- their 2017 lenses unable to focus on the innovation and freshness of those films that they had in their day.
Still, I think it's hard to view TD and not come away with a heart felt reaction.
~Doc
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@GulfportDoc
Have you seen Dog Day Afternoon? I just watched that too and I thought that was head and shoulders over Taxi Driver. Though like I said in my review DeNiro was Oscar worthy and the first hour was exceptional. But I was very impressed with Dog Day Afternoon.
Have you seen Dog Day Afternoon? I just watched that too and I thought that was head and shoulders over Taxi Driver. Though like I said in my review DeNiro was Oscar worthy and the first hour was exceptional. But I was very impressed with Dog Day Afternoon.
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A Quiet Passion (2016)
Director: Terence Davies
Writer: Terence Davies
Cast: Emma Bell, Sara Vertongen, Rose Williams
Genre: Biography, Drama
Poor attempt at telling the life story of American poet Emily Dickinson. The girl who played the young Emily could not act, at least in a period piece, so was sooooo 21st century. So was one of Emily's woman friends, who came across to contemporary to allow me to be immersed in the past.
This is a very uneven movie, the actress who played the older Emily Dickinson, pictured above, was good. I liked the way she got across her growing reclusiveness and isolation from the world. Eventually even refusing to meet people face to face.
The script writing was uneven, inspired and interesting at times, and at others it felt like it was being padded with what-ever just to fill the movie out to the 2 hour mark.
If you love seeing someone die in a long and painful way....I swear the dying scenes went on and on and on, well then this movies for you! I've never seen such long scenes on someone having tremors. I bit of editing could have helped, but not at lot as this wasn't that great of a movie.
Writer: Terence Davies
Cast: Emma Bell, Sara Vertongen, Rose Williams
Genre: Biography, Drama
Poor attempt at telling the life story of American poet Emily Dickinson. The girl who played the young Emily could not act, at least in a period piece, so was sooooo 21st century. So was one of Emily's woman friends, who came across to contemporary to allow me to be immersed in the past.
This is a very uneven movie, the actress who played the older Emily Dickinson, pictured above, was good. I liked the way she got across her growing reclusiveness and isolation from the world. Eventually even refusing to meet people face to face.
The script writing was uneven, inspired and interesting at times, and at others it felt like it was being padded with what-ever just to fill the movie out to the 2 hour mark.
If you love seeing someone die in a long and painful way....I swear the dying scenes went on and on and on, well then this movies for you! I've never seen such long scenes on someone having tremors. I bit of editing could have helped, but not at lot as this wasn't that great of a movie.
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Will give this miss