Author Topic: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)  (Read 111716 times)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #410 on: September 02, 2017, 07:46:03 AM »
Here's an extra review and there is a couple of more coming up. I shall not stop until pixote dies from exhaustion.

To Have and Have Not
Howard Hawks (1944)


Who cares about plot when you have dialogue this good? Bogart and Bacall together are explosive, like two chemical compounds that start sizzling even before you even mix them together, despite your teachers advice to the contrary. Bogart sports his usual snarky tough guy persona but Bacall is so good she makes me want to rewatch The Big Sleep. There had rarely been this bewitching a woman on a screen and it has nothing to do with her perfectly sized waist.

The old sailor can be a bit of fun but he is mostly annoying and the story really isn't anything to write home about. I wish they had scrapped the whole thing up and just shot the two leads talking to each other for a couple of hours. Now what a movie that would be.

7.5/10

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1SO

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #411 on: September 02, 2017, 08:35:05 AM »
Thank you KOL. At first I thought I was just blindsided by the experimental nature of it, but it's going for something I was just unable to grasp.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2017, 08:48:52 AM by 1SO »

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #412 on: September 02, 2017, 10:23:31 PM »

If I had known ahead of time exactly which movies from my list people were going to watch, the one I probably would have been most excited about was PeacefulAnarchy's selection of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. And yet, of course, that was the least successful of the three films you watched for this month. Funny how that goes. There seems to be a lot of overlap to our tastes, and I would have bet money that Mazursky's debut would be a 9/10 hit for you like it was for me. Then again, this is one of the experiences I alluded to previously where I got to see a beautiful 35mm print of the film in a packed theater, conditions which gave the film the best possible chance to succeed with me. I still think maybe you'll like the film more if you ever get around to giving it another chance. As I mention in the comments attached to my list, I found the film surprisingly modern and relevant; it might even be a better film now than it was at the time of its release. I have Johnny Got His Gun sitting here to watch (inspired by your Top 100 list), and I'm going throw these words back at you when I watch it: "It's very clearly a relic of the the late 60s which hampers its current day relevance, but that distance also makes it easier to appreciate its internal dissonance as a product of its time." Also, you forgot to mention explicitly that Elliott Gould is a prince, but we forgive you.
I saw it in HD and it looked quite nice. A good audience might have helped set the mood, even if I'm not one who puts much stock in the theatre experience, but the free love 60s isn't really a subject I can connect with so in retrospect the film was always going to struggle to win me over. I like Gould a lot, but I don't think he's that great here. Not his fault, his character just isn't given enough depth. Same with Cannon, both of them are mostly foils for the other two. Wood on the other hand is really wonderful. She nails the tone of the film better than her counterpart in Culp, who does the comedic and genuine parts of his character well, but doesn't tie them together the way Wood does. Consider how they each react to the revelation of the other cheating. With Wood you see a reaction and internal beats as she processes not only the revelation but also her own reaction, tying the comedy directly to her character's personality. Culp, on the other hand, shows little inner processing. He overreacts and then just as suddenly underreacts, and the comedy is purely about how silly the situation is, you don't get the same sense of a person underlying the decisions I'm not sure what my point is here.

Johnny isn't a relic of the 60s in the same way this is, but I wouldn't be surprised by a reaction along those lines, it's a very idiosyncratic film that even I'm a bit hesitant to go back to.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #413 on: September 04, 2017, 05:39:03 AM »
When you've seen how big the world is, how can you make do with this? If you want me, I'll be sleeping in, sleeping in throughout these glory days.

I'm no less exhausted than yesterday, despite a rousing Brewers victory just now, but here goes nothing. Or everything. We'll see. (God, is this coffee even caffeinated? Could've fooled me.) Focus, pix, focus. It's twelve moves away, but it's there. Right, DarkeningHumour? I'm so glad my list was an impetus for you to watch Searching for Bobby Fischer and ever happier that you liked it about as much as I do. I disagree, I think, about the "main flaw of the movie" being the murkiness of Josh's motivation as it relates to chess. He's a kid who doesn't completely know his own mind, and I think it's a virtue of the film that it doesn't ink him with a dark outline, oversimplifying his youthful reality. You should know, too, that the film is an adaptation of a book written by the sportswriter father, Fred Waitzkin — which helps explain, perhaps, why he's the most fully realized character. I don't think Josh is without his own arc, though. For him, the story is a search for balance between the potential of his own genius and the threat of imprisonment inside obsession. His quest is to find a way to ride bikes and play baseball without ignoring his talents; to remain a well-rounded kid; to maintain his good heart. (My mom wasn't as cool as Joan Allen when it came to tolerating my tendency to invite homeless people from the park to sleep over.) I could probably talk about this movie all night, celebrating all the great little moments. I'll just mention one of my favorites: late in the movie, when the dad goes to see Ben Kingsley and tells him that Josh is getting much better, and Gandhi replies, "How would you know?" Oh, the shade, the lovely and accurate shade. It's beautiful. Anyway, good job liking both a sports movie and a kids movie. You deserve a certificate. You want a certificate? I've got a briefcase full of them. They mean nothing.

pixote

About Josh's arc:

I agree that that is all there. My issue with his arc was not that it did not exist, or that it was ill defined or poor, but rather that where Josh stands at any one point in that arc is a muddy issue. What the journey is is very clear, but the GPS coordinates of the character never are except for the very beginning and the very end. I always know where his father is in his head because the movie makes it transparent. I seldom know what Josh is thinking. When he gets rid of all those distractions in his room, how much of his reasons for doing so were to make his father love him, how much of it was because he was getting genuinely more competitive? The murkiness of the movie on these matters makes it a bit more difficult to relate to Josh.
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pixote

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #414 on: September 04, 2017, 07:37:42 PM »
Everyone walks the same, expecting me to step the narrow path they've laid. They claim to walk unafraid. I'll be clumsy instead.

I need to finish this up today so that I stop stepping on Knocked Out Loaded's month. Not sure I have the energy, but we'll see. I also have to get back to watching and writing about movies, especially since I revisited a film last night that I need to restore to my Top 100. I was partly distracted during that screening by the discussion between smirnoff, Sandy, and Knocked Out Loaded near the end of their In the Name of the Father chat about trends in my Top 100. I've not thought about myself being particularly drawn to "big moral/justice issues", and I'm stumped trying to figure out if there's really something to that. I think it's likely that I'm more just drawn to films with a documentary impulse (whether in fiction or non-fiction films), and there's a lot of overlap in that style with the aforementioned themes. Thematically, I'l probably drawn to (adolescent) coming-of-age stories above all else, but I don't think the story of Gerry Conlon quite fits into that bucket (despite maturation being a big part of his arc). Instead, In the Name of the Father fits the trend of my favorite films that are fully cinematic — that attack the spectrum of my senses with emotion and delight and humor and tension. It starts with a good story, like anything else, and then structure and characters. And then virtuoso performances and strong editing and perfect use of music. And finally ... moments. Those shots and scenes that affect me deeply and make my viewer's heart scream yes yes yes. In the Name of the Father has its fair share of those moments, highlighted most obviously by the last fifteen minutes, with Emma Thompson asking if you know this man and giving me chills down my spine that I'm feeling as I type this even though I haven't seen that scene in at least a year; and Daniel Day-Lewis, fantastic throughout, quoting the film's title in a way that makes me want to cry. (Reading back through the chat now and remembering the bits of flame outside the prison cells and getting more chills. Surprised to read that that reaction wasn't shared.) And now I'm laughing thinking about how the father/son relationship here makes for a perfect early-90s double-feature with Quiz Show ... only to remember Sandy's reaction to the latter. I probably agreed with you all about the final courtroom scene feeling rushed the first time I saw the movie, but on subsequent viewings it felt perfect, getting to the root of the arbitrariness of the justice on display (something which the film's structure taps into nicely, I think). The movie denies us that full sense of satisfaction at the end because we shouldn't be satisfied. We should feel cheated and inspired to action and change, which Gerry's speech on the steps brings home. (Postscript: I liked 12 Angry Men a good deal, but not quote Top 100 anymore; maybe with a little more documentary grittiness. And The Poseidon Adventure is fun, of course.)

You're staring at the sun. You're standing in the sea. Your mouth is open wide. You're trying hard to breath.

I'm glad that Bondo, MartinTeller, and Knocked Out Loaded all watched Keaton's The Scarecrow for my month, though I probably would have lost a bet trying to predict who would like it the most. I might have made that money back on Johnny Guitar, though, which was watched by Bondo, oldkid, and Dave the Necrobumper. That's a film I haven't yet had a chance to see on 35mm with an audience, but I hope you'll all join me when the time comes. I think we'll all get even more out of the film then. I wish I had a full review to refer back to, but I think my "I really want to have sex with a gun right now" comment speaks to the camp, fetishistic, overheated joys of the film. Dave, I laughed when you wrote that "the performances occasionally touched on the melodramatic" because that seems to my memory some awfully humorous understatement.

The big fish eat the little ones. The big fish eat the little ones. Not my problem, give me some.

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on Before Sunrise, Teproc, and I anxiously await hearing what you have to say about Before Sunset a few years from now. You might well be the first person to speak of Before Sunrise just as a film of ideas, with nary a reference to its status as a romance. I'm curious whether that's how you experienced the film or just what you happened to focus on in your write-up. And I think Linklater's ability to balance the un-written and the written — a sense of natural spontaneity inside and a deliberate and specific structural and thematic design — is his main gift as a director (apart from his knack for scheduling).

Twenty-five years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of hope, for a destination.

There seems to be some confusion about which movie in the Before series is the best. That's perhaps a tribute to the films and their multi-faceted appeal. But it's also crazy talk because Sunset is clearly the answer. It's perfection. (smirnoff introduces Exhibit A.) Linklater's filmmaking is at its most assured, with no wasted moments. Sunrise and Midnight never quite find the same balance between character and idea and theme and cinema; Sunrise fumbles a bit with its episodic nature and Midnight labors too much in its quest to be real to the characters established by the first two movies. Sunrise lives in the sweet spot between the two, a cinematic delicacy.

If they think you got it they're going to beat it out of you, through work and debt, whatever all else there is. You gotta watch your own back.

Sandy, you can argue, I think, that even lies are autobiographical truths. The story you choose to tell, even if embellished, still tells a story about you. Everything is autobiographical just like everything is political. My to-do list for today says to finish responding to Top 100 reviews and then to fix my life. Both remarked un-crossed off at present. My problems revolve around an unending war at the extremes between apathy and desire. That I haven't spent time in Eastern Europe is also a problem. I don't believe that a lack of desire would lead to an avoidance of unhappiness because I'd feel the lack. It's the age-old argument about having good without evil. I'll take the good and suffer the consequences. So, no, not a buddhist, but I did of course keep journals as a kid. Let's drink this rye and I'll read aloud from selected passages. We'll do a shot every time the embellishments seem more autobiographical than the facts. The idea of our having set points makes me sad, going back to that idea of lack of evolution. I suppose it can go both ways, though. You can reread those old journals and smile at the fact that you're still the same person; or you can react with horror that the script of your life was written long before you want to admit. There might well be ghosts and spirits and reincarnates around us, but they've been slow to introduce themselves to me. I met someone once who, based on my zodiac, quickly summed me up in unsettling fashion, providing the strongest argument for astrology I've encountered to date. If it was all was going to end today, we'd still talk about the possible tomorrows and the missed opportunities of yesterday.

You've been riding down the road, chasing nighttime, but you know, no matter how fast you go, I'll be grown up when you come home.

pixote
« Last Edit: September 05, 2017, 04:17:26 PM by pixote »
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smirnoff

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #415 on: September 04, 2017, 10:46:57 PM »
And finally ... moments. Those shots and scenes that affect me deeply and make my viewer's heart scream yes yes yes. In the Name of the Father has its fair share of those moments, highlighted most obviously by the last fifteen minutes, with Emma Thompson asking if you know this man and giving me chills down my spine that I'm feeling as I type this even though I haven't seen that scene in at least a year; and Daniel Day-Lewis, fantastic throughout, quoting the film's title in a way that makes me want to cry. (Reading back through the chat now and remembering the bits of flame outside the prison cells and getting more chills.

I am jealous of your enjoying these moments so much, but am very much glad to hear which moments they were. Watching any film from anyone's top 100 I always imagine such moments must exist, but when I don't happen to experience those same feelings I always wonder which moments they may have been. :)


Bondo

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #416 on: September 05, 2017, 02:57:21 AM »
Back in the country after 10 days (more about that to come elsewhere as I get my life back in order) but I owe Sandy some answers before I move on to the current month:

What are you reading? The Great Debate by Yuval Levin
Describe for me your first sexual feelings towards a person. I basically was girl crazy from the cradle. Not sure at what point this fascination becomes a sexual feeling really. Even today I'm not always sure. But I reckon Stephanie Tanner on Full House was my first celeb crush.
Have you ever been in love? Either a few times in my life, or a few times per week.
What's something(s) that really pisses you off? Men who succeed in life by taking advantage of women.
What’s a problem for you? Crippling anxiety and social awkwardness.
Do you believe in reincarnation? Nope.
Have you ever heard of this artist (Kath Bloom)? Nope.
Do you know anyone who is in a happy relationship? Probably.
Do you want your palm read? No thanks.
What would be the first thing about [you] that would drive [someone] mad? Taking things too literally.
Are you dating anyone? Maybe?!?
We don't understand anything about women. They act strange, the little I know of them. Don't they? They are perfect and divine...perfect and divine puzzles.

My Rooster Prick Poem

Just one rooster prick
Now a prisoner for life
Drawn back to the pain

Do you consider the book to be autobiographical? Which book, but yeah.
Isn't everything autobiographical? Yep.
Tell me, what are you doing? What are you up to? Pretending to be cooler than I am.
So, what are your problems? (Ah, a repeat question!) Jet lag.
Have you ever spent time in Eastern Europe? No.
Desire is the fuel of life. Do you think it's true that if we never wanted anything, we'd never be unhappy? We'd never be unhappy, but we'd never be happy. Only sometimes do I think that would be worth it.
So what are you a Buddhist or something? No, but I appreciate a lot of the principles.
Did you ever keep a journal when you were a kid? I think I had a month or so.
People don't want to admit it, but it's like we have these innate set points and nothing much that happens to us changes our disposition. You believe that? Absolutely.
Sometimes I worry I'll get to the end of my life feeling I haven't done all I wanted to. Well, what do you want to do? I want to have a family.
Do you believe in ghosts or spirits? Nope.
What about reincarnation? (another repeat!) Only if I get to be a cat next.
So then, astrology? Just because I'm such a Capricorn doesn't make it legit.
If today was our last day? What would we talk about? What would you tell me? To the filmspotters? I think it'd be much like if it wasn't the last day.

First love, do you even remember who it was? Yes. I reckon I do.
Have you seen On the Waterfront? Yes
Why does any woman waste time getting mad at, or bother trying to change a man? For the same reason I waste time getting mad at or bothering trying to change women I expect.
Are your parents still together? Yes.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2017, 02:59:21 AM by Bondo »

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #417 on: September 05, 2017, 05:11:48 AM »
Sunrise lives in the sweet spot between the two, a cinematic delicacy.

pixote

Yes, it is.

Honestly however, if anyone's going to talk about any of these movies as films of ideas, can we agree that the ideas in question, and the characters voicing them by extension, are pretty dumb?
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #418 on: September 05, 2017, 05:36:56 AM »
I might have made that money back on Johnny Guitar, though, which was watched by ... Dave, I laughed when you wrote that "the performances occasionally touched on the melodramatic" because that seems to my memory some awfully humorous understatement.

The performances spent the time near or over the border, well several of them, but not too often over the border. Still it was all part of its charm.

Bondo

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #419 on: September 05, 2017, 06:24:31 AM »
For Knocked Out Loaded I had a lot of choices. From what I've seen on his list there are a number I strongly like and a number I strongly dislike so it certainly presents a mystery.

Ultimately I am going to try for:
Little Fugitive
Border Radio
Amour Fou

 

love