Author Topic: 1SO vs. All the Directors  (Read 85507 times)

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Howard Hawks
« Reply #370 on: April 30, 2018, 10:51:38 PM »
I'm not that far behind, but I happened to peek at who's up next and it got me very excited so I started looking for titles to watch.


#128 Howard Hawks Ranked List

With 7 titles on my Essentials, Hawks is definitely a favorite and his films are often a joy to watch. I could go the full Curtiz, throw in a bunch of re-watches and make most of a month of this, but I won't have much new to say about His Girl Friday, Ball of Fire and El Dorado. Plus some of these will come up in Corndog's Westerns Marathon. I'm hoping to watch...

Paid to Love (1927): I wanted to see something from early in his career and this has William Powell
A Girl in Every Port (1928): Sounds like typical Hawks, plus Victor McLaglen and ICM recommended
The Dawn Patrol (1930): Familiar with the title, very highly rated on IMDB and a great cast
The Criminal Code (1931): Almost watched this Walter Huston vehicle today
The Crowd Roars (1932): Re-watch of a Cagney I've wanted to revisit. Also with Joan Blondell.
Sergeant York (1941): Only seen it once and liked it a lot.
Land of the Pharaohs (1955): The other ICM pick. Risky, but goes nicely with my last Curtiz being The Egyptian.

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - John Huston
« Reply #371 on: May 04, 2018, 10:12:17 PM »
#129 John Huston Ranked List

The definition of a classic director. Strong in many genres, the scripts he directs or often great and at least very interesting (Beat the Devil). Even The Misfits, which I despise is the kind of hate I can only have for a filmmaker who knows what they're doing.

While I kept myself from going on a full tear of Hawks films, that's even harder to stop with Huston, and some titles are in need of a rewatch. I saw Moby Dick (1956) before I even knew what a director did, and I keep going back and forth on Prizzi's Honor (1985)

As for new watches...
Let There Be Light (1946): One of his most highly acclaimed is a documentary on PTSD
Moulin Rouge (1952): Already on my list this month for Music of May
The Roots of Heaven (1958): African adventure starring Errol Flynn
The Night of the Iguana (1964): On my Watchlist for years
The MacKintosh Man (1973): Same, but with Paul Newman


That's plenty, but I'm also considering We Were Strangers (1949) for John Garfield, The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) for John Wayne and a re-watch of Victory (1981) because I liked it as a kid.

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Alejandro Jodorowsky
« Reply #372 on: May 12, 2018, 03:19:27 PM »
#130 Alejandro Jodorowsky Ranked List

I should do my own list and not just copy Martin. When I was learning about cinema, El Topo had a reputation much like a snuff film, except I hoped one day to see the film. I purchased a bootleg and loved it, while also being frustrated by it. That's Jodorowsky. Love the vision while finding it to be too much to take in a large dose.

I always planned on watching Fando and Lis (1968) next and during that delay he's released  The Dance of Reality (2013), which I'd also like to see. I may also watch The Holy Mountain again just for the visual ingenuity.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #373 on: May 12, 2018, 08:56:25 PM »
The Dance of Reality is not up to the quality of El Topo or The Holy Mountain, but it has a nice meta aspect, given that Alejandro's son is playing Alejandro's father. It is very much a surreal film, but not entirely.

1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors - Krzysztof Kieslowski
« Reply #374 on: May 14, 2018, 10:42:53 PM »
I hope the timing of my posts aren't confusing. I often enter the evening with one film left to watch from the previous director, but I hate posting these in the middle of the night where they're less likely to be read.


#131 Krzysztof Kieslowski Ranked List

My first Kieslowski was Decalogue, which I didn't appreciate because it was after reading a bunch of writing about it being the greatest thing ever and I went in expecting a more direct series about The Ten Commandments in modern life. At the time, the only one I really liked was Thou Shall Not Kill, mostly because of its unique colors. Years later, I liked A Short Film About Killing about the same while I liked A Short Film About Love even more, largely because I had watched Three Colors by then.

Of the Three Colors, I can understand White being seen as the weak entry, but the story's unpredictability and the dynamic of the lead's perception of wife, how that poisons their dynamic and the events that put them on equal footing hit me in a place few films go... my very soul. As a writing exercise, I did an adaptation of the film, making some alterations to fit in my own personal thoughts on such a situation. It's one of my favorite things I ever wrote, though I understand it's the work of an inexperienced screenwriter in his early 20s.

Kieslowski has made such an impact on modern cinema I was surprised to learn he's directed so few features. I wasn't able to find No End, but I can and will watch Blind Chance (1987).

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Buster Keaton
« Reply #375 on: May 17, 2018, 09:03:14 PM »
#132 Buster Keaton Ranked List

My first Buster Keaton was the 2nd half of a Double Feature. First was Chaplin's The Gold Rush, which I liked. Then it was The General, which blew me away. I've seen everything Keaton was involved in (except for a few sound pictures) because over one weekend American Movie Classics played it all in a Marathon I recorded on VHS tapes, getting up during the night to change the tapes.

I don't enjoy silent film comedy as much as I used to, so I'd rather move on than revisit something that might not hold up as well as I remember.

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Jane Campion
« Reply #376 on: May 17, 2018, 09:09:33 PM »
#133 Jane Campion Ranked List

The thread for Jane Campion is unusually long because with OAD as my guide I did a thorough Marathon of her work back in 2014.

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Henri-Georges Clouzot
« Reply #377 on: May 17, 2018, 09:16:51 PM »
#134 Henri-Georges Clouzot Ranked List

I've only seen three features? That surprised me, though he doesn't have that many credits for how famous he is. Also, like with Jean-Pierre Melville, I don't like as films as much as it seems like I would.

I've been looking for Quai des Orfèvres (1947) for years, one of my biggest Shames. I will try again. Also, I just love the title The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942). I'll look over a few more titles and probably come up with 3-5 to watch.

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #378 on: May 17, 2018, 09:35:20 PM »
A restoration of Quai des Orfèvres is currently making the arthouse rounds. Its two-week run in LA ended earlier this month. Geez, sometimes it’s like you’re not even trying! lol

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1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #379 on: May 25, 2018, 11:02:33 PM »
I am cutting my losses and abandoning my exploration of Henri-Georges Clouzot. I watched The Murderer Lives at Number 21 and Quai des Orfèvres, and I just don't like the way Clouzot tries to be sneaky about his genre. Instead of giving effective tension and suspense, Clouzot uses comedy (Number 21), music and character drama (Orfèvres) so that the thriller elements can... surprise us? That seems like a real reductive way to make a thriller, lower our expectations and then give us crumbs. Perhaps Clouzot is too subtle or too sophisticated for my tastes. Either way, I'm moving on. 

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