Author Topic: The Top 100 Club (Sept 2015 - May 2017)  (Read 329245 times)

Jeff Schroeck

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2015, 08:07:48 AM »
As usual with these lists there's much more I haven't seen than have, so I won't make a list of all of them, but what I am thinking of watching is:

Marty
The Phantom Carriage
Sunset Boulevard (I don't know why I keep putting this off)
Last Year At Marienbad
The Red Shoes
Casablanca (somehow have avoided this for 30+ years)

chardy999

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2015, 08:28:34 AM »
Woman in the Dunes just came onto Mubi and will be prioritised.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2015, 08:36:59 AM »
The Red Shoes
Casablanca (somehow have avoided this for 30+ years)

You're going to have a hell of a time.
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Bondo

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2015, 08:57:48 AM »
@1SO: Boys In The Band is already flagged for next month.

RE Rohmer, after the success of A Summer's Tale a couple months back, I had targeted Summer, but it isn't really available through my regular sources.

Jeff Schroeck

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2015, 09:05:24 AM »
The Red Shoes
Casablanca (somehow have avoided this for 30+ years)

You're going to have a hell of a time.

Can't wait!

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #15 on: August 30, 2015, 12:40:05 PM »
Haven't seen:

Dance, Girl, Dance   
The Singing Detective
Head-On
Salvador   
Missing   
Cross of Iron
Good Bye Lenin!
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear
Flesh and the Devil
Hail the Conquering Hero
Kingdom of Heaven
The Crow
Deux jours, une nuit
Maynila: Sa mga kuko ng liwanag
C'était un rendez-vous
The Decisive Moment
Angano... Angano...


Gonna be kind of a crazy month for me, but I'll try to get to something.  I already have Two Days One Night on hold at the library, it's possible that will come in before the month is up.  Otherwise, maybe Flesh and the Devil or some of the shorter films.
I only just watched Two Days One Night earlier this month, if you like the Dardennes it should be a great choice.

It has gotten very hard for me to get my hands on movies so I do not know what I will be able to watch. I do have Kiki's Delivery Service on me at the moment as well as Two Days One Night possibly so I will be able to meet the month's requirement. I will try to get something from the Top 100 though.

I love that you have Garden State on there.
I'd forgotten Kiki's Delivery Service was on there. Haven't seen that in a decade so I may have to rewatch. It's my favourite Miyazaki.
I used to be a bit embarrassed by having Garden State on there, but I rewatched it a couple of years ago and it really held up for me. It certainly has flaws but sometimes that doesn't matter.

A lot of films I want to see on that list, but the two that immediately jump out to me are Léon and Hotaru no Haka (aka Grave of the Fireflies), and those should be pretty easy to find.
Be prepared that Grave of the Fireflies is very sad. Léon is fun.

Thanks for the guidance.
I liked Rohmer when I was in college - Claire's Knee was a favorite - but recent attempts have not been interesting.
I like stagey films. By that I mean, I don't like them as a rule, but there are a lot of favorites that fit within that category. (Have I mentioned The Boys in the Band? Because I will again next month.)

I made a Private list on Letterboxd of the films I haven't seen, and as I was entering the titles I noticed a number of them I have scattered around various Watchlists, mostly as titles I should watch but don't necessarily want to. The truth we both know is that we don't often see eye-to-eye on films, but with such a variety I'm hoping the search will yield a success or two. That is why I wanted to theme your list and not just pick a couple of safe bets.
What were the recent attempts? I saw your review of La collectionneuse in the director's thread. That's my least favourite Rohmer. Even though his style is pretty consistent in general terms, pre and post 1980 are still noticeably different, and being so character focused sometimes your sympathy, or lack thereof, for the characters can affect the experience.

I think I remember you mentioning The Boys in the Band, maybe I'll watch that for your month. Stagey films can be good or bad like anything else, but as long as the fact that it's talky and the fact that the writing is noticeable and there's not a great variety of sets isn't inherently a problem then A Raisin in the Sun has a chance. It's just the usual Hollywood type of stagey like Steetcar Named Desire, Inherit the Wind, Detective Story etc.

As usual with these lists there's much more I haven't seen than have, so I won't make a list of all of them, but what I am thinking of watching is:

Marty
The Phantom Carriage
Sunset Boulevard (I don't know why I keep putting this off)
Last Year At Marienbad
The Red Shoes
Casablanca (somehow have avoided this for 30+ years)
There's some good variety there, covers both my love of talky films and the kind of striking visuals that I enjoy.

Woman in the Dunes just came onto Mubi and will be prioritised.
I hope you like it.

@1SO: Boys In The Band is already flagged for next month.

RE Rohmer, after the success of A Summer's Tale a couple months back, I had targeted Summer, but it isn't really available through my regular sources.
I don't know what your sources are, but it's been released on DVD and BluRay (in Europe) so surely it must be available in some way. Its availability should be the same as A Summer's Tale. Maybe I can help if you PM me.

1SO

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #16 on: August 30, 2015, 01:32:57 PM »
Before La collectionneuse there was My Night at Maud's, which was an uninteresting sit. I also tried the short The Bakery Girl of Monceau, thinking perhaps Rohmer would work better in a smaller dose.

There's a list of films primarily (though not exclusively) set in one room, and on that list I greatly enjoy...
12 Angry Men
Rope
Rear Window
Sleuth (1972)
Wait Until Dark
Deathtrap
The Breakfast Club
Dial M For Murder
A Streetcar Named Desire
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
An Inspector Calls
Talk Radio
Reservoir Dogs
Death and the Maiden
Oleanna
Pontypool
Closet Land

A number of these are in my list of Essentials.

oldkid

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #17 on: August 30, 2015, 03:01:42 PM »
I am offline this September.  I will post a review first day of October for this month, and that will hopefully retain my place in the rotation.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Bondo

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2015, 03:35:03 PM »
I am offline this September.  I will post a review first day of October for this month, and that will hopefully retain my place in the rotation.

I think that would fall under "good faith" participation.

oldkid

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Re: The Top 100 Club (v2)
« Reply #19 on: August 30, 2015, 11:51:10 PM »
Ha!  I've got really "good faith"!  I'm posting my September review tonight!

A Summer's Tale

Typical Rohmer: Almost all dialogue, young people talking about love on the beach.   That's good, I knew what I was getting into there. 

So we have Gaspard, a young hot blooded French male who is being flirted with a waitress, but he is being faithful to his girlfriend, who said she would show up at a certain time in a certain city, but she seems pretty flighty, because she never gave him a specific address and she's late.   Should he hook up with the waitress?  Oh, no, because she's being faithful to her boyfriend, who isn't there.  But Gaspard ends up spending a day and night with another girl who seems to be really into him.  His original girl is many days late... maybe he should hook up with her?

In the end, we have a comedy of errors about what it means to be faithful, and what exactly is everyone being faithful to?  It isn't so funny, except for the major declarations and major drama when everyone seems to expecting something out of their intended which they aren't ready to give themselves.  It is all so very high school... and perhaps that's part of the point.  Do any of these people really understand anything about love? 

Apart from some amusing dialogue and a section about shanty songs, it all seems much ado about nothing.  I much preferred My Night at Maud's.  Still, it wasn't a waste of time.

3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky