Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5998229 times)

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32950 on: June 22, 2010, 11:47:35 PM »
Chicago 10.

Thanks to a Filmspotting recommendation from a while ago I was always interested in checking this out. The mix of animation for court-room scenes and archival footage for the rest sounded like an interesting way to present this story, a story which I had no knowledge of before this film.

I'm glad I watched it. The technique works and by the end of the film I was moved by the situation at hand. There was on part of the court-room scenes that just made my jaw drop. That something like this could happen is just wrong.

Watch it. It's short, interesting infotainment.

A.
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Bondo

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32951 on: June 23, 2010, 12:04:15 AM »
Bluebeard


This one looks nice, but unfortunately the rest of the film looks pretty average.

So I have no familiarity with the fairy tale underlying this film so I can't really speak to the effectiveness of the adaptation or the importance of any changes made by the director. What I can comment is about the story presented here, and I have to say, it doesn't really work. I hung in there for a while, accepting the premise of these two girls, poor due to the untimely death of their father, living near the castle of a rich man whose previous wives have all gone missing. One of the girls is picked to be his next wife. This creates a natural state of tension. I'll even tolerate the frame story where one little girl reads the Bluebeard fairy tale to another with its occasional toying with realities to intertwine the two stories.

But the set-up deserves a better pay-off. It all unravels so quickly I am left unsure what it is really meant to mean. Fairy tales are noted for having strong moral messages so this seems a rather big gaping hole. It is hard to go into any detail without spoiling it, but I guess it is telling women not to approach the world with fear? It is all rather frustrating. Perhaps it would all work better if the main female character, Marie-Catherine, wasn't an emotional black hole. Every delivery here (not just from her), excepting the two young girls in the frame story, feels so flat.

Lines of Beauty and Grace

This documentary about controversial (well, to some) photographer Jock Sturges was pretty effective in capturing his outlook on art and making you appreciate what he tries to do. I can think of a few points where his pictures could be used more effectively to illustrate points. At one point he talks about how important the relationship with a model is (compared to when he is hired to shoot a supermodel on a one off basis) in really bringing out the quality and talking about the benefit of coming back and shooting the same models over the years and how looking at the aging provides depth. This is very interesting concept, and it seems having a slide-show of such a progression would help make it come alive a bit more.

One thing the documentary doesn't do, for better or worse, is talk about the controversy about his pictures (he shoots among naturalist communities including pictures of children) and it seems to in fact avoid a lot of his work that would be more controversial. I feel you can still get a good view of his approach without this, but it does probably make it less effective a portrait of the artist.

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32952 on: June 23, 2010, 12:08:33 AM »
Chicago 10.

Thanks to a Filmspotting recommendation from a while ago I was always interested in checking this out. The mix of animation for court-room scenes and archival footage for the rest sounded like an interesting way to present this story, a story which I had no knowledge of before this film.

I'm glad I watched it. The technique works and by the end of the film I was moved by the situation at hand. There was on part of the court-room scenes that just made my jaw drop. That something like this could happen is just wrong.

Watch it. It's short, interesting infotainment.

A.

Listening back to the review it wasn't much of a recommendation. Mine still stands. It's not perfect, but that's not what an A means to me.
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Bondo

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32953 on: June 23, 2010, 12:14:35 AM »
Chicago 10.
I'm glad I watched it. The technique works and by the end of the film I was moved by the situation at hand. There was on part of the court-room scenes that just made my jaw drop. That something like this could happen is just wrong.

I'm writing about this (well, protest films in general) for my next Adventures in Poliwood column. This is one film where I couldn't get past the politics of it because it seemed to be taking a pretty clear point of view. And I didn't like the politics on display. Based on the film I have a fairly high degree of contempt for "the ten."

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32954 on: June 23, 2010, 12:19:21 AM »
Chicago 10.
I'm glad I watched it. The technique works and by the end of the film I was moved by the situation at hand. There was on part of the court-room scenes that just made my jaw drop. That something like this could happen is just wrong.

I'm writing about this (well, protest films in general) for my next Adventures in Poliwood column. This is one film where I couldn't get past the politics of it because it seemed to be taking a pretty clear point of view. And I didn't like the politics on display. Based on the film I have a fairly high degree of contempt for "the ten."

There is certainly a POV on display in this film. And the 10 are, in places, annoying and wrongheaded. But the gagging is kind of enough to get me on their side. They are, on the whole, a bunch of arrogant jerks, but they're going against the worst kind of people.
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GothamCity151

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32955 on: June 23, 2010, 01:27:47 AM »
Just finished the first half of my new 80s matchup: Streetwise. Will watch 2nd half tomorrow. Verdict will be up tomorrow as well.

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32956 on: June 23, 2010, 02:16:42 AM »

The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
A case of one generation literally CINECASTing over the next, The Graduate is half farce, half satire, and there is an oddness and ambiguity at the core of this film that on some days probably makes it seem scarily prescient, and on others half-baked and rather calculated. This incongruity probably stems from the ferocious relentlessness of Bancroft's Mrs Robinson, who utterly dominates the first half, and the clever numbness and purity displayed by Hoffman's Benjamin. After the first half, the film teeters when Hoffman switches to Elaine (Katharine Ross), Mrs Robinson's daughter. From numbed passivity to a pursuing suitor, Hoffman's action seems to stem from impulsiveness, and the need to do something. Rather than a generational break, or a radical departure from what has gone before, it seems to dawn on Benjamin that this sort of sh*t has been going on long, long before his generation. The bus drives on, but clearly he has no idea what he's gotten himself into.
It's a vibrant, zippy, calculated film though. Just when you get bored, or the narrative troughs, Nichols does something that enlivens the screen. The plasticky, nouveau vague goodness onscreen belies an essential lack of depth that none of the players can overcome. The sheen is there, and it's great, but I'm left a little like Benjamin at the end, wondering if I haven't been here before, and had a better time with someone else.

chardy999

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32957 on: June 23, 2010, 06:27:04 AM »
Giving the story too much credit. The film falls to pieces after about 40 minutes.
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dedpool1979

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32958 on: June 23, 2010, 07:01:41 AM »

The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
A case of one generation literally CINECASTing over the next, The Graduate is half farce, half satire, and there is an oddness and ambiguity at the core of this film that on some days probably makes it seem scarily prescient, and on others half-baked and rather calculated. This incongruity probably stems from the ferocious relentlessness of Bancroft's Mrs Robinson, who utterly dominates the first half, and the clever numbness and purity displayed by Hoffman's Benjamin. After the first half, the film teeters when Hoffman switches to Elaine (Katharine Ross), Mrs Robinson's daughter. From numbed passivity to a pursuing suitor, Hoffman's action seems to stem from impulsiveness, and the need to do something. Rather than a generational break, or a radical departure from what has gone before, it seems to dawn on Benjamin that this sort of sh*t has been going on long, long before his generation. The bus drives on, but clearly he has no idea what he's gotten himself into.
It's a vibrant, zippy, calculated film though. Just when you get bored, or the narrative troughs, Nichols does something that enlivens the screen. The plasticky, nouveau vague goodness onscreen belies an essential lack of depth that none of the players can overcome. The sheen is there, and it's great, but I'm left a little like Benjamin at the end, wondering if I haven't been here before, and had a better time with someone else.
Excellent review. I recently re-watched this as a double feature with Juno. They're both movies I go back and forth on with my opinion about them. I think The Graduate is a little too cold and Juno is a tad too precious, but they're both very much films of their time and a lot of what makes them work lies in their final scene. Seeing them together makes you realize how far youth has come in thirty years. Ben and Elaine think they are ready to start their lives, the house in the suburbs, the picket fence, the job, the marriage, the 2.5 kids, everything they think they need to make a life. But that look of doubt as that bus pulls away, as the weight of their choices dawn on them, it's just brilliant. And, with Juno it's almost the exact opposite, it's a girl making some really bad choices, but weighing her options and doing what she thinks is best. She's making adult decisions, but she knows she's not ready to face an adult life. She is a child who does the right thing and in the end we get her and Paulie, sitting on that step outside, in almost the same kind of shot that ends The Graduate, only they're doing what kids should be doing, pretending like they've got their entire lives to figure out who and what they want to be, even though they're far more mature than they realize.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32959 on: June 23, 2010, 09:31:37 AM »
Giving the story too much credit. The film falls to pieces after about 40 minutes.
What?!?! This is madness. The story is so good throughout the entire film. It's a lot more character focused, which might be why you think it falls apart (even though it doesn't at all).

 

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