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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
hey @Zotis, would you know if Perfect Blue was hand painted or Computer Graphics, or a mix of both?
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e.t.: the extra terrestrial

i never watched this movie as a kid because my parents found it too cheesy and would groan any time it was brought up, so i've always been prejudiced against it and assumed it was a classic i could comfortably overlook, even though my tolerance for cheese is immeasurably higher than that of my parents. but while spielberg has never been a personal favorite director and i'm receptive to arguments that he's ruined the art of cinema by inventing the crowd-pleasing modern blockbuster, i have enormous respect for his raw filmmaking talent, especially in his early work. until now, my four favorite films of his were the first four he made, with the underrated duel at #1. while this movie didn't hit me as hard as it does for most who saw it as children, it still has some pretty wonderful moments. the things spielberg does with lighting here are genuinely amazing, maybe better than any movie i've ever seen. not only beautiful use of shadow like the silhouette of e.t.'s outstretched hand on elliott's face as he points to the sky, but just like... the way windows look in this movie is unlike anything else. it's clearly a continuation of what he was doing in close encounters, which was already a formally perfect (albeit thematically iffy) film, but here he approaches transcendence in this one specific aspect. the film as a whole didn't have that effect on me but i can see why it would on someone. not all of the kid's antics worked for me but they also never got on my nerves, and i appreciated that they didn't make the older brother into a lazy narrative obstacle and instead he turns out to be very helpful and cool. the ending was beautiful, although i could've done without all that handwringing over e.t's supposed death but that's because i'm a human living in 2020 so of course i know e.t. doesn't die. good movie imo

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seen A Clockwork Orange. In all honesty, the movie was weird and silly
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hey @Zotis, would you know if Perfect Blue was hand painted or Computer Graphics, or a mix of both?
That's such a funny question. I try to avoid thinking in those terms. I "prefer" it to be whatever it actually is. I believe it is mostly hand drawn, but they probably used computers for some stuff. It was released in 1997, and I don't know how much computers were used in animation back then, but a lot of the lines do look hand drawn.

Take this random image as a point of observation:



The thing that looks like it's obviously not hand drawn is the glass on the door behind her. And I'd put money on computers being used for the color and certain effects.



In this shot, notice the color transition on the tiles, that kind of effect I'm fairly certain requires computer software, and the glow in the water. To get light so vibrant that it glows must require a computer.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
That's such a funny question. I try to avoid thinking in those terms. I "prefer" it to be whatever it actually is. I believe it is mostly hand drawn, but they probably used computers for some stuff. It was released in 1997, and I don't know how much computers were used in animation back then, but a lot of the lines do look hand drawn.

Take this random image as a point of observation:



The thing that looks like it's obviously not hand drawn is the glass on the door behind her. And I'd put money on computers being used for the color and certain effects.



In this shot, notice the color transition on the tiles, that kind of effect I'm fairly certain requires computer software, and the glow in the water. To get light so vibrant that it glows must require a computer.
Thank you Zotis! Very much appreciate your input. I do remember at that time that computer graphics were being added to a number of hand drawn work for such effects including lighting.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
e.t.: the extra terrestrial



E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial has been one of my favorite movies ever since the first time I saw it in the movie theater. It's one of the few movies that after I saw it, I immediately went back in to see it again.

I was considering nominating it in the current Fantasy HoF, but for some reason, neither IMDB or Wikipedia list it as a "fantasy" movie.
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I'm not saying it's a bad movie, it might be great, but it wasn't suited to my taste.
That sounds reasonable enough, but it also seems like a thin veil draped over your evaluation of the movie.

The mystery of someone stalking her worked OK too, though I didn't really need that in the story as Mima's soul searching journey was more than enough for me.
This is the part where I think your review stopped being a review. It became about you instead of the movie. From here onwards I had a nagging feeling while reading your review. I often get this feeling when reading your reviews. It's easy to spot, but it's a very broad issue, so it's kind of hard to talk about. I think a lot of reviews include some personal stuff from the author, and some evaluation of what they're reviewing, but that stuff is anecdotal. I think the actual reviewing itself should be at least 51% of the review to really even consider it a review.

I can resonate with things like wanting the movie to have focused on the realistic drama of Mima's life behind the scenes as a singer and actress. I also would love to see that hypothetical movie, but not instead of the movie we got. I always want to see any great work of art, like Perfect Blue, unchanged and in its original state as the artist intended. I'm grateful for its existence, and almost offended at the mere suggestion of altering it in any way shape or form.

Anyway, to conceptualise reviewing, for the purpose of reviewing art, I like to conceptualise reviewing something that is not art. My favorite example for myself is a building plan. It's the most abstract thing I can think of.

If you make a work of art, and show it to someone, do you want to know if they like it or not?

When I post my art, I like it when people give insightful feedback or constructive criticism, but I don't care if they like it or not. I really don't want to hear someone say, "Oh, I don't like painting." Or, "I'm not really into abstract art." People who say those kinds of things... I stop showing them my art. Like my parents for example. I don't show my parents my art, or rarely. Because art has to be appreciated and encouraged. I don't want to hear, "I don't like that kind of art."

I'm tempted to ramble on about this forever. And I'm not saying that I'm good at writing reviews, because I'm not. I'm also not trying to say I'm particularly good at not being too anecdotal or at not saying things I shouldn't say about other people's art.

But I also think this ties into the whole subjective vs objective quality debate. I think I'm starting to see a bit more of the puzzle, and I'm going to have to explore this topic more.



I’ll try and hunt it down, yeah, but it may take awhile.
How much does it differ from the anime I wonder? It was such an intriguing anime, and definitely is one that bears rewatching.
It's very different from the anime. If it didn't have the same title I probably would have thought, "That was an interesting movie. It kind of reminds me of Perfect Blue." I've read that the live-action version is closer to the book than the anime.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

A very fine pre-nouvelle vague french film but where you can see some traits of the movement already.
First of all, the soundtrack is one of my favourites on this HoF, you can't go wrong just applying a full Miles Davis album to a movie but this film goes a step ahead and use it in a really smart way.
It's essentially a film about contrasts and that's perfectly portrayed by the sound scape. You have hectic fast paced scenes with Louis and Véronique with a cool soundtrack contrasting with absolutely silent scenes on the elevator contrasting again with the mellow and seductive melodies everytime the beautiful Jeanne Moreau is on screen.
I didn't care for some of the actors, especially the young couple, but Julien and Florence were great characters that were beautifully brought to life by Maurice Ronet and Jeanne Moreau.
The movie drags in some times, as often happens with french films from this period, but the fact that the plot is presented so early kept me invested on what was going to happen.




The trick is not minding
Watching Adaptation now. I had always meant to watch this when it was first released in theatres and even almost bought tickets for it, but passed on it for some reason. Every year since, I kept saying “I need to finally watch Adaptation.” Every year I put it off or forgot about it.
Today I finally cross it off my list



I remember not having strong feelings one way or the other about Elevator to the Gallows, but I can't remember a damn thing about what I saw on screen.




A man goes searching for his son in Chile after he goes missing in the Cou of 1973. The film is quite interesting on a thematic level. Our main character is a true American patriot, so we learn throughout the film he is suspicious of his son's leftist activities. Soon his search for his son makes him learn some hard truths, that America might not be as good as he thought and that his son might've been right. It's also a good metaphor for real life; As social norms and views change through generations, people tend to think VERY differently from their parents. Despite what they may think, their parents still love them very much.

On a technical level the film is very good. Vangelis's electronic music may seem like a strange choice for a historical film but it works well and heightens the emotions in the few scenes it is in. Jack Lemmon is definitely the best actor in the film; any scene where he is crying truly feels like you're watching a real father fret for his son. The colours in the film are quite expressive; They remind me of those old Italian and French films. The film contains lots of haunting and symbolic imagery and there are many scenes where the framing is very good. Lemmon and Spacek's characters are both very well written and their different beliefs lead to good conflict and character moments despite the fact that they both have the same goal.

Very good film, I'll check out more by this director.
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(Hopefully I find the time to watch Strange Days tomorrow and do what I should've done 4 days ago)



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
I remember not having strong feelings one way or the other about Elevator to the Gallows, but I can't remember a damn thing about what I saw on screen.
Guy kills the husband of his girlfriend. Guy gets trapped in elevator when escaping. Young guy steal his car and kills old guy. Girlfriend looks for guy. The rest is spoilers xD



I've not heard of Missing before, but it sounds pretty cool. I'm betting that's a Siddon or Cricket choice for you.

Yeah I picked the wrong Costa-Gavras film for the 22nd



The trick is not minding
Oh wow ok, that escalated quickly, seems harsh but of course I don't know what was said 'behind the scenes'.
Not looking to derail the thread, nor dump on him any further, but I must say I won’t miss him. The man had an oversized ego. It’s a shame because, and I said this previously, but I liked reading his reviews. That’ll be the last I have to about him.