Author Topic: The Completist Marathon  (Read 7622 times)

oldkid

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The Completist Marathon
« on: January 15, 2015, 11:20:22 PM »
There are a handful of directors that I am relatively close to finishing all of their feature films.  I'd like to finish them off and then be able to have complete ranked lists of their filmographies.  I am not listing the directors or films in order of me watching them.  I'll do this as I have time and ability.  But the completist in me wants to finish these directors, whom I seen most of their work and feel that it wouldn't take too much effort to finish.

Tim Burton
Sleepy Hollow
Big Eyes
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children


Steven Spielberg
Duel
Always
Bridge of Spies
The BFG

David Lynch
Wild at Heart
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Inland Empire

Danny Boyle
Shallow Grave
A Life Less Ordinary
The Beach

Richard Linklater
It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books
SubUrbia
The Newton Boys
Bad News Bears
Fast Food Nation
Me and Orson Welles

Stanley Kubrick
Fear and Desire
Lolita
Sparticus
Killer’s Kiss

Kathryn Bigelow
The Loveless
Near Dark
Blue Steel
Strange Days
The Weight of Water
K9: The Widowmaker
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 10:37:14 AM by oldkid »
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1SO

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2015, 11:54:40 PM »
I like seeing another Marathon. Looking at what you have left, I'd say Spielberg will be the easiest to complete. I like Bigelow, and there are 2 great ones left, but that list should come with flashing yellow lights.

Junior

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2015, 12:03:39 AM »
Agree with 1OS (get it) that the Bigelow will have some issues, but two of those are among the most interesting here. Duel is a lot of fun, Sleepy Hollow isn't great but I've seen it like 6 times, and that's about it.
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Bondo

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2015, 12:05:42 AM »
Of those Duel and The Newton Boys are the ones I have the fondest memories of, though The Newton Boys was long long ago.

I'd have to check but Bad News Bears may be my lone Linklater oversight.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2015, 08:27:13 AM »
Ooooo, Duel is a fun one. You're in for a treat.

MartinTeller

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2015, 10:19:43 AM »
Inland Empire
The Loveless
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Killer’s Kiss
Near Dark
Duel
(haven't seen it for a long time, though)
Always
Lolita

Spartacus
Wild at Heart
SubUrbia
Fear and Desire



oldkid

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2015, 10:34:25 AM »
Yeah, I'm probably looking forward more to Lynch's films and Linklater's.   Duel, of course, is one I've missed for a long time.  I understand that some of these films will be a drag to go through, but I'm hoping to have a better idea of these artists' approach to art and the message (if any) they are intending to give.
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oldkid

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2015, 10:51:26 PM »
Kathryn Bigelow: Strange Days

December 1999 was a crazy time: riots all throughout LA, cops everywhere, and a little technology that "wires" videos straight from one brain to another.  Of course, it's mostly used for porn, but Lenny, a purveyor of such goods, hates the snuff/violent stuff that's out there.  But he runs across a "tape" of a friend of his, a hooker, who is killed in a snuff film.  When his ex-girlfriend is involved he knows he has to do something.

Even as I'm writing the synopsis, I'm bored.  It all seems to have been done before.  Even the new technology was in an 80s film called Brainstorm, which does more interesting things with the technology than this film does.  The characters are kinda dumb, and the dialogue is terribly written.

But one thing that captivates me are the main themes of police brutality, race oppression and technology addiction.  That's pretty cool.  And the final scenes are so powerful for 2014 that it amazes me that they were made in 1995.  If Bigelow, in full possession of her powers as a director were to remake this film and release it today, it would be crazy controversial, charged with all kinds of politicization.  Instead of being a twenty year old sci-fi, it would be a modern day social commentary.  Spot on. 

3.5/5
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Junior

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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2015, 11:59:25 PM »
Hmm, not quite the reaction I was expecting, or at least not entirely the reaction I was expecting. The sci-fi noir elements never struck me as a case of "been there, done that." What strikes me about the movie is the same as what worked for you. The final third or so is pretty crazy and, as you said, prescient. Though maybe that says less about the movie than it does about our society.

I do think that the dialogue is often on the nose, though that kinda worked for me within the genre, or at least I didn't hate that element of it.
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Re: The Completist Marathon
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2015, 01:34:24 AM »
Probably no surprise that I really like Strange Days. I like how the plot is structured without a direct A-B-C, though all the side streets converge into the main story pretty smoothly. I saw Strange Days opening day in the theater, and there's a moment that I'd like to talk about. For a good while, I was watching a popcorn movie. Fun, cool mix of sci-fy, sex, violence and mystery. The comes the rape, which is extra harsh because...

A) Bigelow cast an beautiful, voluptuous actress and uses nudity to make the viewer uncomfortable. By that I mean, we're just watching a movie so we can use the filter of this is an actress who was paid to be naked for this film. However, we're seeing things through the eyes of the attacker which makes us complicit in her exploitation, in her rape.
B) The technique of plugging the girl into her own rape. Making her experience the rapists emotions.

Needless to say, after that scene I was watching an entirely different film. Visual metaphor of letting the last piece of popcorn fall from my open mouth and never moving till the credits rolled. I still think that scene helped kill it at the Box Office.

 

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