Movie Tab II

(Robert Altman, 1975)



Absolutely fantastic film that blew me away upon viewing. I liked Short Cuts when I saw it but I feel like I need to watch it again and see if it gives me the same emotional reaction as this did. Altman isn't for everyone, but he's definitely for me. Everything comes together beautifully as this film captures something that few do, a fascinating look at humans and life. Some fantastic scenes that I can't help but think of when I talk about the film, Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy" is beautiful and moving, and it's irony sums up the film perfectly.

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(Terrence Malick, 1978)



Very good, but not great. If anything I might be overrating this one, I know it has its fans on here but I didn't love it. Great visuals and score, but the story I thought was weak and the editing was poor, so much is packed into one and a half hour and I really felt it needed a lot more for it to work emotionally.

+
(Luis Buńuel, 1972)



My first Buńuel film, really great film that works brilliant as a satirical comedy of humans and how the act within society. Not so much laugh out loud humour, although it definitely has its moments, it's fascinating in its frustrating layout, a number of great scenes that you can't help but smile it and I definitely want to see more Buńuel.

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(Sam Peckinpah, 1971)



Great thriller from Sam Peckinpah who I definitely really like so far as a director. Fantastic performance from Dustin Hoffman as the honest man who has to defend his home against the disgusting townspeople. I like British films and enjoyed the rural setting, with the dirty environment and people really getting under your skin and help develop your hatred and thus build up suspense.

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(John Carpenter, 1978)



A lot of people seem to love this recently, but I didn't think it was that great. Has good cinematography and atmosphere through direction, but that doesn't make it a very good film. Pretty simple and the ending was pretty silly.


(Brian De Palma, 1976)



Suffers from what I call "Mad Max syndrome" in that the description of your film you're bound to have read spoils 80% of it. Nothing really happens for that time, most of the characters are annoying, the whole thing seems pretty unrealistic and over the top, and when she goes on a rage it lasts about 5 minutes and the ending goes weird again. De Palma tries out all sorts of tricks and that but there's nothing consistent that makes it compelling or at all scary.

I love Nashville Daniel. I like all the music for different reasons but I'm Easy is the only song I can see me listening to independent of the movie. That's probably my favorite scene in a movie that has many great ones.

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Letterboxd

Nashville was brilliant. I am trying to be more strict on my ratings, and not give movies over 4 on first viewing, but I really did love it. I've listened to that song so many times since too, it's great.

Love Carrie, really enjoy Discreet Charm and Nashville, appreciate Days of Heaven but it's a pretty difficult film underneath the magnificent visuals. Have you seen my favourite Altman, Gosford Park?

We're all going to laugh at you, Daniel.

Nope, not yet. Been meaning to for ages but now it's 70s time, I will after

lol @ Daniel M

> horror movie
> "it's unrealistic"

...
!!!

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

This post doesn't really make any sense and isn't correct either. Why does it being a horror movie mean that it shouldn't attempt to be realistic and reasonable in its plot and characters, most films are. Obviously her having powers and that is the unrealistic bit you have to accept, and I have no problems with that, mainly just the whole school thing, the people there and what they plan to do, it's the same repetitive thing over and over again for 80% of the film.

Sounds like an Altman film.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Nope. Altman films feel realistic, like were actually watching a slice of life within a certain community. We can feel the characters as they interact and impact on others. I think Ebert sums it up nicely with what he says about Nasvhille:

"...after I saw it I felt more alive, I felt I understood more about people, I felt somehow wiser. It's that good a movie."

Obviously the premise of something like The Long Goodbye is deliberately unrealistic, a 50s noir detective dropped into the 70s, but it's the reactions to him and his own reactions to others that feel realistic, genuine and like a human journey.

And also the plots all make sense even if taking a back seat to characters, and in no way do I think the films are repetetive, it feels like we're watching something live and develop, go on a journey, McCabe & Mrs. Miller is an obvious example of this, life of a man and town. Nashville and Short Cuts feel like they're constantly moving, and heading towards an earthquake ( ), and when it all comes together at the end it's great.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - Elia Kazan
One of those movies that I have always heard about but never watched until now. Most of what I had heard, particularly in regards to Brando's performance, was true. -

Stroszek (1977) - Werner Herzog
All I can really say is ... odd.

The Pawnbroker (1964) - Sidney Lumet
Still can't work out what happened to Lumet in the 80s after the career he had in the 50s, 60s and 70s. This is one of my favourites of his.

Black Narcissus (1947) - Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger
Has a fantastic last 40 minutes but the previous hour, which may as well have been a different movie, was kind of tedious - in fact I stopped watching it but thankfully I went back to it the next day.

Wonder Boys (2000) - Curtis Hanson
Good script, good performances, good movie.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - Wilfred Jackson/Ben Sharpsteen/David Hand/William Cottrell
Very impressive animation and a likeable bunch of characters. What stopped me rating it higher is that story was told in a weird way - much of the movie was just scenes of Snow White interacting with animals or whatever whilst the story progressed in extremely brief moments throughout the film - like the ending that seemed to wrap things up in the last 30 seconds after she ate the apple. +

Delicatessen (1991) - Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro
Perhaps not as much character depth as I would have liked but still great looking and funny with a nice romance at its heart. -

Birth (2004) - Jonathan Glazer
I really liked Glazer's Sexy Beast but didn't have high expectations for this. Turned out to be a really good movie with a great performance by Nicole Kidman. A really interesting look at eternal love and re-incarnation. I enjoyed it.

Frankenstein (1931) - James Whale
Pretty good but a bit all over the place. Needed to be about half an hour longer to connect events rather than having them just happen IMO.

Mister Lonely (2007) - Harmony Korine
Movie about a Michael Jackson impersonator meeting a Marilyn Monroe impersonator ... and Werner Herzog and nuns. Don't worry, it's not supposed to make sense. +

Asian Movie Challenge Movies:

Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray +
The World (2004) - Jia Zhang Ke
Garden of Words (2013) - Makoto Shinkai

Goldfinger


Recent Watches:
Garden State (Braff, 2004)-
Suspiria (Argento, 1977)-
Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2012)-
Fantastic Planet (Laloux, 1973)-
X-Men: Days of Future Past (Singer, 2014)-
The Ninth Gate (Polanski, 1999)-
Goldfinger (Hamilton, 1964)-
Snowpiercer (Bong, 2013)-
Show me Love (F##king Amal) (Moodysson, 1998)- -
Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr, 2000)- +

Rewatches:
The Graduate (Nichols, 1967)- +
The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008)- -

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What are the chances Mr Minio does not notice that?

This was a recommendation of Derek Vinyard and I was happilly surprised. The whole movie happens in a coffin and it's still really thrilling and entertaining, the ending is very shocking and you care for the character. What Cortez achieves here is to put a human being in the worst situation possible and to a certain extend watching this movie makes us want to live, go outside and enjoy our freedom.

That wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't laugh and I didn't get the point of the film. Maybe the fact that I haven't seen the 1930's Frankenstein movie made it impossible for me to comprehend the film.

That one really surprised me, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It wass actually really funny, and a great social critique about how greedy and how ridiculous life is to a certain extend. Loved it!

I wasn't looking forward to this movie at all. I had to watch it for the HOF and I really thought it would be 3 hours and 20 minutes of torture, but it really wasn't. I prefered this movie by far to Lawrence of Arabia. It's an intelligent, subtle look at the Bolchevik revolution. I loved the line that Rod Steiger said in the first part of the film. It was something like: There are 2 kind of man, those, like your husband that are pure and those like me who lives. You're definitely the second kind of women. It was intelligent and made a lot of sens. It's not an entertaining movie that I would rewatch 5 times, but it's a beautiful and very intelligent movie.

A surprisingly good low budget period piece. The obsession of Harvey Keitel's character and the respect of that code of honor by Keith Carradine was really interesting. I wouldn't say it's an enjoyable movie, but it's an interesting look at obsession.

A purelly 70's movie. A thriller not based on action, but on tension, suspense and mystery. Also a great social satire mostly with the character of the mayor. Walter Matthau is not your typical thriller hero. He's a lazy, slow not physical man, almost your everyday man in his 50's which is nice and original. I really liked it a great entertainment.

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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages

I love The Taking Of Pelham One, Two, Three. I watched the remake last night. The only way it really compares with the original is that it too is very much a product of its time. Sadly, whilst it was enjoyable enough, that's not a compliment.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I might've already mentioned some of these films in my previous post, but even if I did I wrote more about them this time.

I watched all Guy Maddin shorts and some other short films I'm too lazy to write down here. The highest rated and most interesting ones will be here, though.


He's a ninja, you see! Even the band says that!

High Plains Drifter (1973) - (as he worked with Leone Eastwood learned a lot about filmmaking to finally put it to good use with his directional debut that repeats the old good formula of a stranger in town and very common in the genre theme of revenge, an impressive film, especially for a debut)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989) - (Adrienne Shelly is amazing and it's too bad she only starred in this and Trust, I really liked Burke as well; of course the film is full of quirkiness and good dialogues, but for intellectual talk you have to wait for Hartley's next production - or in this case for my write up about it)
Ninja Commandments (1987) - (an amazing kitschy flick that looks like a bunch of guys bought a video camera and decided to wear some ninja suits and make a movie; if not for some acrobations (obviously not made by "actors", but, em, stuntmen?) it would be just like I said. It's basically a revenge flick with a bad guy who killed good guy's master and now the good guy fighting with other ninjas making his way to the "boss". The fights are intersected by short scenes with the master reciting the ninja commandments. The acting is pretty much the worst I've ever come across, but paradoxically it makes the movie better, because not only does it make it funny, but also sorta 'feel good'. There's a nice old fighting games feel to it with opponents collapsing in slow motion with a characteristic sound to it. As far as the final fight ended, the movie also abruptly ended leaving me with my jaw on the floor. Freakin' amazing)
Treevenge (2008) - (I don't like splatter films that much, but the film idea is simply genius, I give it that and it's the director who made Hobo with a Shotgun I now want to see as well)
The Heart of the World (2000) - (second best Maddin short I've seen. It's stylized to look like a 20's Soviet film and it succeeds in it. It's got killer montage with some takes lasting for less than half a second and a crazy story involving a woman scientist and two guys who love her. One day she realizes the heart of the world is going to stop beating, or something and from that moment on the movie is so chaotic yet so awesome it's not possible to put it into words. And one of the guys is Jesus. Well, he plays Jesus in a play. And bears cross in one scene (lasting like one second). That's quite a lot for a 6 minute short.)


I think I share Maddin's love for silent cinema.

My Dad Is 100 Years Old (2005) - (not sure how much actual credit goes to Maddin and how much to Rossellini, because it's without a doubt her film. It's about her father, a famous director, and her memories about him and his movies. She's almost constantly on screen and plays various characters: from herself, through her mother - Ingrid Bergman, film directors Chaplin, Fellini and Hitchcock and a producer Selznick, the last three having a nice conversation about cinema)
Surviving Desire (1991) - (next Hartley effort; no Shelly There's Donovan I liked and the random scene with him dancing was pretty cool. Hartley's obsession with Dostoyevsky is pretty evident with characters talking some intellectual stuff and being depressed and sad and stuff, but damn it's a nice film)
Умирающий лебедь [The Dying Swan] (1917) - (the ending is the best thing ever, the rest of the movie is just okay)
Последняя охота [The Last Hunt] (1982) - (a very sad Russian animation)
Night of the Living Bread (1990) - (just when I thought Treevenge idea was original)


Makes me wanna read Dostoyevsky and become an over-intellectualized snob.

Mistrz tańca (1969) -
Ślepy tor (1968) -
Szach i mat! (1967) -
Pożarowisko (1969) -
Half hour Polish horror/thriller films. I already saw 'Ja gore', yet another entry of the series two years ago, or so and now decided to watch the rest of them. I especially liked 'Mistrz tańca' with Łapicki - a great Polish actor - walking around giving visiting cards that say "Memento mori" and looking like a vampire and 'Szach i Mat!' with Łapicki again this time playing a chess master imprisoned and forced to play chess.


Clint likes to harass animals by spitting on them.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) - (this time Clint makes a more of an adventure western; he has a young boy and then an Indian guy as his side-kicks, so he's not really a lone stranger he was in his debut, there's still a revenge theme, but a lot of other subplots kick in and Eastwood is being a badass as always)
Вепри суицида [Suicide Monsters] (1988) -
весна [Spring] (1987) -
Two very disturbing shorts by Yevgeny Yufit. He's known for his necro-realism films and yeah... the corpses really look like corpses in this film. Freakin' realistic. Can't wait to watch a feature film of his.
Un dollaro tra i denti [A Stranger in Town] (1967) -
Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola [The Stranger Returns] (1967) -


Just look at this beast of a gun.

Oh wow. The first part was pretty good, if not generic spaghetti, but the second was simply amazing. The best spaghetti I've seen in a long time. Some thoughts I wrote up when I was watching the second installment:

> he has pink umbrella (maybe it inspired Jodorovsky in El Topo, he had black umbrella there, tho)
> calls his horse "pussy"
> just like in Leone's films there's music that constantly plays unless characters have a conversation or we have a moment of suspense
> soundtrack sounds like Morricone on acid, or... just like Morricone, there's a moment or two when the exact same notes in a row are played only to change to something else to avoid simple Morricone rip-off.
It's pretty interesting as Morricone himself used first couple of notes of Beethoven's (5th?) symphony and Fur Elise theme for one of numerous soundtracks he made (just to throw in some different notes afterwards).
All in all it looks like some kind of a mockery, not sure if it was conscious, tho. It was conscious in another western I love - Tears of Black Dragon, tho.
> there's a very short flute melody (four notes?) when the main hero is seen just like in For a Few Dollars More (van Cleef and Eastwood had different little sounds for them)
> "come on pussy, come on" when the protagonist just wants his horse to gallop
> The Stranger is more cocky than badass (like Terrence Hill) but pretty likeable
> he gets beaten, tricked etc. so he's not a demigod no one can win with
> he's a sneaky kinda guy and not Rambo type of char
> he finds an awesome duster (sorta like in Once Upon a Time in the West's and Le Samurai's coats combined) and later wears it to pretend he's somebody else
> he doesn't wear the duster no more
> an amazing preacher side-kick
> FOUR-BARREL SHOTGUN ACTION TIME!
> freakin' amazing ending and music

Now I have to watch the final installment of the trilogy involving the hero going to Japan and fighting samurai! I can't wait!

Play Misty for Me was Eastwood's debut, Minio.