Author Topic: 1SO vs. All the Directors  (Read 85590 times)

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Takashi Miike
« Reply #200 on: January 15, 2018, 01:01:10 AM »
I'm 50 Directors down. 79 films. Seems too early for any overall analysis.


#51. Takashi Miike Ranked List

23 films, which only scratches the surface. I give a pretty detailed opinion of Miike at the start of the thread. What most people don't get is that Miike's filmography has a lot of variety. The boundary/button-pushing fare tends to grab the attention, but he's made family films and restrained art pieces as well.

Figuring out what to watch is as steady as playing hopscotch during an earthquake. There are a lot of options and it's going to depend on what I'm in the mood for. Availability is going to be a factor too. Looking at my blind spots, I'm most interested in...
Agitator (2001)
Negotiator (2003)
Crows Zero (2007)
Ace Attorney (2012)

and possibly
Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000)
Zebraman (2004)
Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
Blade of the Immortal (2017)


I streamlined the poll, removing some of the more obscure options that have yet to receive a single vote.

pixote

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors - John Frankenheimer
« Reply #201 on: January 18, 2018, 02:00:07 PM »
#50. John Frankenheimer Ranked List

We should both revisit The Train to see if I've been overrating it or you've been underrating it.

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1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Stanley Donen
« Reply #202 on: January 19, 2018, 12:52:15 PM »
#52. Stanley Donen Ranked List

I'm a huge fan and would call him one of the most under-appreciated entertainers of cinema. Even if you take away the films he co-directed with Gene Kelly, many of his solo efforts are the best kind of crowd pleasing star vehicles. (Something you can't say of Mr. Kelly's solo work.) I noticed I tend to rate his films slightly higher than their IMDB ratng (extremely rare) and I've mostly watched his highest rated work, so perhaps I've been lucky.

I will definitely be re-watching Two For the Road, the one exception. (I like it. It's fine.) As for new stuff, I have a lot to choose from. While they're not highly rated, my raised opinion of Donen will probably hold up. Here's what I haven't seen, ranked by the chance that I will seek it out.

1. Give a Girl a Break
2. Kiss Them For Me
3. Movie Movie
4. Deep in my Heart
5. Once More, with Feeling!

Surprise Package
Fearless Fagan
Love is Better Than Ever
The Little Prince
Lucky Lady
Saturn 3
Staircase


I'll probably also rewatch The Grass is Greener because I own it and I like it a lot.

Sandy

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #203 on: January 19, 2018, 04:55:38 PM »
I haven't seen any of these, except for a little bit of The Grass is Greener. I own Two for the Road, so that will probably be my next Donen film to watch. I'm glad to see Arabesque not get a green color on your linked list. I can't stand that movie!

Looking forward to hearing how these watchlist films fare with you.

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Kazan, Elia
« Reply #204 on: January 21, 2018, 12:41:12 AM »
#53. Elia Kazan Ranked List

Though he doesn't make the kind of films I'm drawn to, he's such a good director that I usually end up surprised by how much I like his work. (I think of him as Sam Mendes if Mendes was American Beauty good all the time.) Among the ones I've seen, Gentleman's Agreement stands out as an early example of the Academy rewarding a film and filmmaker for one of their worst, and America America is such a personal project and so far outside his usual I wish I was more of a supporter.

There are 5 titles I haven't seen and while my current impulse is to watch them all, I should probably choose wisely and move on. I'm open to recommendations for...

Pinky (1949): racial dramas from this long ago tend to be a live wire
Man on a Tightrope (1953): highest-rated among those I haven't seen, but this is the most likely for me because of Gloria Grahame
The Arrangement (1969): Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Deborah Kerr and Richard Boone. But this one makes me the most nervous.
The Visitors (1972): looks intense, plus it's based on the same incident that inspired Casulties of War
The Last Tycoon (1976): I hear nothing but bad, but the cast in incredible, it's Kazan's final film and the amount of negative word about makes me even more curious

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Otto Preminger
« Reply #205 on: January 21, 2018, 11:27:15 PM »
#54. Otto Preminger Ranked List

I don't have much of an opinion of Preminger, whose films tend to fall somewhat short of expectations. I've seen 15 of his movies, all in the last 8 years, and while I liked almost half of them, they've all left me unsatisfied in part or whole. That means there is a lot I haven't seen, but nothing stands out as one I've been meaning to get to.

ICM and IMDB suggest...
Bonjour tristesse
The Moon is Blue
The 13th Letter
The Cardinal
Exodus

The 13th Letter is also recommended by MartinTeller, so I'll certainly watch that and probably move on.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2018, 11:07:49 PM by 1SO »

MartinTeller

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #206 on: January 22, 2018, 08:26:22 AM »
I recall the "M*A*S*H" episode where everyone is all excited to see The Moon is Blue because they think it's a dirty movie and they have to sneak around to see it and it turns out to be really tame.

1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #207 on: January 22, 2018, 09:40:28 AM »
That’s stuck with me all these years. The big reason why I don’t want to see that film.

roujin

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors - Kazan, Elia
« Reply #208 on: January 22, 2018, 11:01:32 AM »
#53. Elia Kazan
The Visitors (1972): looks intense, plus it's based on the same incident that inspired Casulties of War
The Last Tycoon (1976): I hear nothing but bad, but the cast in incredible, it's Kazan's final film and the amount of negative word about makes me even more curious

The Visitors is very good.

1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #209 on: January 22, 2018, 12:16:51 PM »
I read your review and I was hoping to agree with it. It didn’t work for me as a portrait of America and the strange embrace you mention along with most of the grandfather’s actions I could not believe. Disapproving of the son-in-law he sees as a coward I get, but taking it to embracing the creepy strangers left me confused.