Author Topic: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper  (Read 37981 times)

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #110 on: January 17, 2018, 09:42:25 PM »
A lovely review. Would you consider Die Hard a "Christmas movie"? (I do)

I do now! :D It's all mixed up with other Christmas stories in my head.

oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #111 on: January 18, 2018, 12:12:24 AM »
I'd like to see a mashup of Die Hard and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

"What is Christmas all about anyway?"

"Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho"
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #112 on: January 18, 2018, 04:55:33 PM »
Dave, sorry for showing up late here. :-[

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)

This movie is called The Wheel Of Life here in Sweden and in a way such a title sums up what this is all about in a better, but less poetic way. A small boy grows up (spring), discovers his sexuality and goes out in the world (summer) and then returns, disillusioned and a little tarnished (fall). He then succeeds the old master who gave him his education (winter) whereupon he gets a novice on his hands himself (spring). There is a pattern that repeat itself regardless of time or place. We call it life I suppose.

This was slow and meditative in a good way but i feel it gives a too simplified and schematic description of Eastern thought systems, or life itself if you want. The photography is very picturesque, but the script itself never challenged the actors in a deeper way. That makes the characters somewhat unpersonal and less purposeful to identify with. There is some depth here but the movie still feels a little shallow.
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #113 on: January 25, 2018, 03:31:40 PM »
The Proposition

*Spoilery*

Knocked Out Loaded: We don't have a history of immigrants like you have, or Australia for that matter. They all were immigrants. Most immigrants to Australia were convicts, right?
Sandy: Perhaps, or a great many. The bushrangers were escaped convicts, or thieves who didn't want to be part of civilized society.
Knocked Out Loaded: The three Burns Brothers must have been convicts?
Sandy: I think so, or the oldest one and then the younger ones followed suit.
Knocked Out Loaded: Funny then, how ordinary people had to live among felons. I wonder how all that was organized.
Sandy: Lawless in many ways I bet. I wondered that too, did they send them to prisons in Australia, or just let them off the boat?
Knocked Out Loaded: I have no idea!
Sandy: I should read up on that, curious about how it all played out.
Knocked Out Loaded: We can pass the question to our Australian contingent.
Sandy: Very good! I hope they read this and will reply.
Knocked Out Loaded: so.... do you think this was a Western? It usually is counted as one.
Sandy: It's a Western in my book. I don't have strong criteria: horses, old-timey, dust, guns. How about you?
Knocked Out Loaded: I never got any Western vibes, really. This was much more profound in many ways, like Shakespeare on acid.
Sandy: That about sums it up! You also mentioned earlier that is was a mood piece, existential.
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, that would be a good way to describe it.
Sandy: I’ve seen Shakespeare done as a Western. This is a Shakespearean Australian bushranger Western. :D
Knocked Out Loaded:  This could be set anywhere.
Sandy: A tale of lawmen and revenge.
Knocked Out Loaded: in Sicily, in Japan....
Sandy: It could be a gangster flick, or Shogun.
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, it deals with these eternal questions, revenge, bloodlines.... and it becomes stupid in a way. It is a very male world. As a woman, how do you relate to all this?
Sandy: It is not something I understand, personally. The brutality and thirst for power.
Knocked Out Loaded: Not me either, that is why I think it is a stupid world view… It also deals with those patriarchal structures, the oldest knows the best.
Sandy: And he dictates his wishes, making them law. It was a brave move for the other brother to walk away. I wasn’t sure what the oldest brother was trying to accomplish, his overall goal. Does insanity even allow for an overall goal?

How?' said the sun that melted the ground
and 'Why?' said the river that refused to run

and 'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun

'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan

'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone
  -- "The Rider" by Nick Cave

Sandy: …We’ve talked about how Captain Stanley and his wife didn't belong in this world, yet he didn't belong in England either. He may have represented a transitional place and hoped his wife could fit in. She was pretty strong, really, living in that dusty place, trying to grow roses. I never heard her complain.



Knocked Out Loaded: She persisted for her husband's sake. But basically, they both were out of place, too progressive, too modern. Ahead of their time in a way.
Sandy: Too ethical as well.
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, you are right. I think that we have the good and the evil face to face here and even if the middle brother stepped up, I am not sure the good won.
Sandy: But the better stopped the worse, perhaps.
Knocked Out Loaded: This is simplified, but it boils down to, we got to a little less evil point maybe, but the evil persists.
Sandy: In agreement, never ending struggle, and not always a foreseeable positive.
Knocked Out Loaded: And it is hard to see how the couple should continue.
Sandy: Do you think he will live? His injuries are severe.
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, but with severe scars mentally.
Sandy: This place has broken both of them.
Knocked Out Loaded: The movie feels like part of an eternal story, but I can't come up with anything that reminds me of it.
Sandy:  Maybe Biblical. But, I can’t think of a brother’s story quite like this though.
Knocked Out Loaded: I liked the movie some, but I don't think it will stay for long. The characters never got under my skin, it was more like watching tin soldiers or something.
Sandy: Ah, perhaps that was Nick Cave’s point after all. “On the bloody morning after, one tin soldier rides away.”  The pointlessness of this stupid world view.

Some Australian history, and today is Australian day/Invasion Day. The first settlers arrived about 60,000 years ago, then in the 1700's Europeans showed some interests in the continent and on January 26 1788 England landed its first fleet which was a bunch of convicts and their guards from the over crowded English prison system. Over the next 80 years additional convicts were sent. Also arriving were free settlers. Bushrangers were a range of people from escaped convicts to the Australian born.

The roses, I saw this as a reflection of the Europeans trying to make Australia like "home", but the land was not that keen on the idea, so you get attempts to grow roses in the desert.

Shakespeare on acid, :)

Thank you both for watching the movie.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #114 on: January 25, 2018, 03:40:15 PM »
Dave, sorry for showing up late here. :-[

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)

This movie is called The Wheel Of Life here in Sweden and in a way such a title sums up what this is all about in a better, but less poetic way. A small boy grows up (spring), discovers his sexuality and goes out in the world (summer) and then returns, disillusioned and a little tarnished (fall). He then succeeds the old master who gave him his education (winter) whereupon he gets a novice on his hands himself (spring). There is a pattern that repeat itself regardless of time or place. We call it life I suppose.

This was slow and meditative in a good way but i feel it gives a too simplified and schematic description of Eastern thought systems, or life itself if you want. The photography is very picturesque, but the script itself never challenged the actors in a deeper way. That makes the characters somewhat unpersonal and less purposeful to identify with. There is some depth here but the movie still feels a little shallow.

No worries about the late. The Wheel Of Life is a good title for the film. I agree the film does feel shallow, but for me that works, it allows for a more peaceful meditative appreciation. Adding more depth risks pushing me from that calm place into a more chaotic and argumentative place, as I internally debate. I did a couple of years ago catch a bit of this film again and the it may slip in my rankings, perhaps because of the shallowness. When I first saw this that calm appreciation was what I wanted, now, I am not so sure.

Thank you for watching the film.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #115 on: January 25, 2018, 03:55:08 PM »
Well that is it for the Dec 2017 round, thank you all.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #116 on: January 25, 2018, 10:37:19 PM »
Some Australian history, and today is Australian day/Invasion Day. The first settlers arrived about 60,000 years ago, then in the 1700's Europeans showed some interests in the continent and on January 26 1788 England landed its first fleet which was a bunch of convicts and their guards from the over crowded English prison system. Over the next 80 years additional convicts were sent. Also arriving were free settlers. Bushrangers were a range of people from escaped convicts to the Australian born.

The roses, I saw this as a reflection of the Europeans trying to make Australia like "home", but the land was not that keen on the idea, so you get attempts to grow roses in the desert.

Shakespeare on acid, :)

Thank you both for watching the movie.

Thanks for a great month, Dave. :) And thanks for the history lesson. Just a small snapshot, but what a rich and varied history Australia has!

pixote

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #117 on: June 23, 2018, 07:07:04 PM »


Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory  (Mel Stuart, 1971)

I thought I'd already reviewed this film, but I guess not, so apologies for being half a year late and not remembering all that I wanted to say.

Having almost always heard this movie spoken of in glowing terms, I'd always pictured it as a huge, very polished production that out-Disneyned Disney. It was completely shocking, therefore, to learn what an independent production it was — and one financed by the Quaker Oats Company at that! I still haven't come fully to grips with that disconnect between my preconceptions and the reality; and it almost certainly impacted my viewing. Despite some (perhaps inevitable) amateurish moments, however, I think that the movie's ramshackle origins eventually work in its favor, lending it a charm that a major studio production likely would have lacked. (I'm picturing the Dr. Doolittle version of Dahl's book and shivering.)

I'm actually not much of a fan of the source material (nor of the Tim Burton film adaptation), but I'm happy to report that I did actually enjoy this film. A lot of the credit there — as everyone seems to agree — belongs to Gene Wilder. I don't think he gives a perfect performance, but he repeatedly elevates some otherwise ordinary moments with the smallest nuance of voice, look, or gesture, and whenever he's at the center of things, the result is rather delightful. I still have some problems with the story, but there are enough other good elements here to make up for that.

How was Wonka never mentioned in this thread?

Grade: B-

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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #118 on: June 25, 2018, 07:17:12 AM »
Yes Gene Wilder is a major credit to the film and for me a large part of why the film is in my top 100. There is a lot of broad brush strokes with the characters, but for me that adds to the charm, rather than detracts. I did not know about the Quaker Oats connection and there is definitely a lower budget feel to the film. It is interesting to read what you imagined the film would be like. Do you think the shock affected your assessment of the film positively or negatively, or are you still undecided on that?

I am glad to have read your take on the film. Thank you for watching the film.

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Re: Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper
« Reply #119 on: June 30, 2018, 06:14:36 PM »
Do you think the shock affected your assessment of the film positively or negatively, or are you still undecided on that?

I think it added to the experience. It turned a heavily hyped film into more of an underdog.

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