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Author Topic: Top 100 Club: Sandy  (Read 56527 times)

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #220 on: May 09, 2020, 03:37:53 PM »

What's Up, Doc? - The title and the "Looney Tunes" insert at the end make this movie's intentions clear: Barbra Streisand is going to be a reckless engine of madcap chaos, like Bugs Bunny. Or like Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. Peter Bogdanovich revives slapstick and screwball for the 70's, with mixed results. A lot of bits are really quite funny, thanks largely to such a sparkling cast. Streisand is, let's be honest, adorable... this is actually the first movie I've ever seen her in! I find she has a sweetness and vulnerability here that makes her intrusive antics a bit easier to swallow than Hepburn's. Ryan O'Neal holds his own as the beleaguered straight man/Cary Grant role. Always a delight to see Madeline Kahn, no one does woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown better. There's also a host of recognizable character actors who are all game: Sorrell Booke, Randy Quaid, Kenneth Mars, Liam Dunn, John Hillerman, et cetera. Mel Brooks MUST have been a fan of this movie considering how much he drew from the cast.

Problem for me is this: a lot of it was pretty annoying to me, or at least missed the mark. I hate a situation that would be cleared up easily if someone just said the thing any normal person would say, as in the dinner party scene. I also frankly couldn't stand Hepburn's bullshit in BUB and I'm not a fan of Streisand's bullshit here. I admit I'm a person who does not take sudden change easily, and the idea of someone messing with my life the way she does to O'Neal is infuriating to me.

Also, it felt really weird that were was no scoring during the lengthy (and very impressive) car chase climax. It seemed like it needed a little extra punch.

I would say I enjoyed this film despite the fact that I find some of its core mechanics irritating. And that's an achievement. Rating: Good (72)

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #221 on: May 13, 2020, 06:44:35 PM »
Hello, hello! Saw two films that have definite meaning in my life, one an adaptation of a book I love (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and the director of one of my favorite films of all-time (Cary Joji Fukunaga).

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

It gets the fast and frenetic pace of the book generally right. Almost too right, I think it'd be hard to keep up with all of the details unless you have prior knowledge of the first book. My favorite scene is the planet factory within Magrathea, I think Garth Jennings and crew nail both the visual effects and the mood. The biggest drawback for me was the sound design, which is made for a grand spectacle, but I think detracts from the off-beat intellectualism of the book. I just found it loud and bass-y for the sake of being loud and bass-y. Mos Def/Yasiin Bey and Sam Rockwell were also miscast, the former too one-note, the latter even more cartoonish than Zaphod Beeblebrox is in the book. Overall, I think the adaptation puts more emphasis on the bizarre and the spectacle than the book, which is smarter and doesn't have the burden of incorporating sound. I bet it's an absurdly difficult work of literature to film, anyway.

Jane Eyre

The first act had me, especially the opening sequence. Fukunaga pulled out all the shots to show Jane's harrowing escape from Thornfield Hall, with an especially grand wide angle shot or two plus tracking and close-ups. Flashing back to Jane as a young girl and the cruelty she experienced was also breath-taking. The second act is more like a standard Austin/Bronte love story, with rivals, misdirection, and finally the connection we'd all been waiting to see between a man and woman who were so obviously going to be together.  I love the natural lighting, of course, and Fukunaga does great with the big reveal by not making it seem as big or dramatic as he could've. A good show of restraint. The final act was a little under cooked for me, and the final scene as expected but nothing greater. Admittedly, I don't know the story of Jane Eyre like I do Hitchhiker's Guide, so I'm not sure how it does as an adaptation, but it's a middling period romance for me. It did cause me to look up the value of 15, 30, and 20,000 English pounds from 1847 in today's value. I also got to think how I wouldn't mind being a governess - or whatever the male equivalent might be - so much. Live in a house of wealth, small class sizes, enough time probably for a hobby or two. Might not be so bad.
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #222 on: May 13, 2020, 08:27:51 PM »

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

It gets the fast and frenetic pace of the book generally right. Almost too right, I think it'd be hard to keep up with all of the details unless you have prior knowledge of the first book. My favorite scene is the planet factory within Magrathea, I think Garth Jennings and crew nail both the visual effects and the mood. The biggest drawback for me was the sound design, which is made for a grand spectacle, but I think detracts from the off-beat intellectualism of the book. I just found it loud and bass-y for the sake of being loud and bass-y. Mos Def/Yasiin Bey and Sam Rockwell were also miscast, the former too one-note, the latter even more cartoonish than Zaphod Beeblebrox is in the book. Overall, I think the adaptation puts more emphasis on the bizarre and the spectacle than the book, which is smarter and doesn't have the burden of incorporating sound. I bet it's an absurdly difficult work of literature to film, anyway.


I'm not so sure that the movie is a direct adaptation of the book.  Douglas Adams wrote the radio show first, then the BBC TV show and then the novel.   There are certain visuals I recognize from the TV show-- part of Zaphod's look, for instance-- and certain sounds-- like inspiration for Marvin's voice, although Alan Rickman is almost chipper compared to that Marvin-- from the radio show.   It seems to me that the writers took elements from all of the different forms and added a lot of their own, to make something that represented yet another version of the whole Hitchhiker's Guide media.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #223 on: May 13, 2020, 09:02:12 PM »
I still hold the radio broadcast as my favorite iteration, but they're all entertaining in their own ways.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #224 on: May 14, 2020, 12:21:19 AM »
What's Up, Doc?
...I would say I enjoyed this film despite the fact that I find some of its core mechanics irritating. And that's an achievement. Rating: Good (72)

I keep smiling while reading your review. Yes on Streisand being adorable and yes about Kahn's pitch perfect performance. And also yes on Judy wreaking havoc on Howard's life. I can't stand people/characters like that! Only Streisand could make me look past it and like her anyway. (I don't really like Bringing up Baby. Hepburn is intolerable in it.)

Do you think you'd be interested in seeing more Streisand movies? There are three of them in my top 100 and a handful more I enjoy watching. She didn't make that many, so the odds of her being good and likable are high, in my book. Admittedly, there are a few clunkers in there. If you don't mind musicals, Funny Girl showcases her talents in a big way.

What's Up Doc? is an early memory for me, comedy wise and also for trying to understand what all my older siblings and parents seemed to get. Each time it was on, I'd try so hard to keep track of the suitcases, like it was important to the plot, and for me to be sophisticated enough to "get" it. As an adult, I empathize with my young self because of the impossibility of that task.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #225 on: May 14, 2020, 01:12:26 AM »
Hello, hello! Saw two films that have definite meaning in my life, one an adaptation of a book I love (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and the director of one of my favorite films of all-time (Cary Joji Fukunaga).

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

It gets the fast and frenetic pace of the book generally right. Almost too right, I think it'd be hard to keep up with all of the details unless you have prior knowledge of the first book. My favorite scene is the planet factory within Magrathea, I think Garth Jennings and crew nail both the visual effects and the mood. The biggest drawback for me was the sound design, which is made for a grand spectacle, but I think detracts from the off-beat intellectualism of the book. I just found it loud and bass-y for the sake of being loud and bass-y. Mos Def/Yasiin Bey and Sam Rockwell were also miscast, the former too one-note, the latter even more cartoonish than Zaphod Beeblebrox is in the book. Overall, I think the adaptation puts more emphasis on the bizarre and the spectacle than the book, which is smarter and doesn't have the burden of incorporating sound. I bet it's an absurdly difficult work of literature to film, anyway.

I'm glad oldkid and Sam chimed in about the other iterations of this story, because I don't have any other experience with this other than the movie and book, and the book I read way back in high school. I think smirnoff recommended the movie to me, probably because I was hesitant to see it. He knew what's what, because it went right into my top 100. The humor and the actor's delivery really worked well for me. Since I didn't have the book clearly in my head, the things that didn't work for you didn't occur to me. :) I agree about adapting it to film. It was a very bold move.

My favorite line in the movie is in your favorite scene.  "Doing the coast lines was always my favorite. And, we used to have endless fun doing the little fiddly bits around the fjords."

Quote
Jane Eyre

The first act had me, especially the opening sequence. Fukunaga pulled out all the shots to show Jane's harrowing escape from Thornfield Hall, with an especially grand wide angle shot or two plus tracking and close-ups. Flashing back to Jane as a young girl and the cruelty she experienced was also breath-taking. The second act is more like a standard Austin/Bronte love story, with rivals, misdirection, and finally the connection we'd all been waiting to see between a man and woman who were so obviously going to be together.  I love the natural lighting, of course, and Fukunaga does great with the big reveal by not making it seem as big or dramatic as he could've. A good show of restraint. The final act was a little under cooked for me, and the final scene as expected but nothing greater. Admittedly, I don't know the story of Jane Eyre like I do Hitchhiker's Guide, so I'm not sure how it does as an adaptation, but it's a middling period romance for me. It did cause me to look up the value of 15, 30, and 20,000 English pounds from 1847 in today's value. I also got to think how I wouldn't mind being a governess - or whatever the male equivalent might be - so much. Live in a house of wealth, small class sizes, enough time probably for a hobby or two. Might not be so bad.

Not bad at all!

Is Sin Nombre the film you love? If so, I'll try and get to it, when you have your movie club month. This film sits at the top of my list in big part because of Fukunaga's interpretation and structuring of the story. I'm not a big fan of flashbacks, but here he made the right choice. Without it, the story comes to a dead stop and then drags for a bit. What he did is really quite brilliant and I love him for it. :D

Yes, the ending is a bit flat. I've seen other versions which buoy it up a bit more, but I'm so impressed with the everything up to that point, I'm okay with it. My favorite Jane is actually Charlotte Gainsbourg, but the whole of the 2011 version makes Fukunaga's unbeatable. 

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #226 on: May 14, 2020, 08:28:07 AM »
What's Up, Doc?
...I would say I enjoyed this film despite the fact that I find some of its core mechanics irritating. And that's an achievement. Rating: Good (72)

I keep smiling while reading your review. Yes on Streisand being adorable and yes about Kahn's pitch perfect performance. And also yes on Judy wreaking havoc on Howard's life. I can't stand people/characters like that! Only Streisand could make me look past it and like her anyway. (I don't really like Bringing up Baby. Hepburn is intolerable in it.)

Do you think you'd be interested in seeing more Streisand movies? There are three of them in my top 100 and a handful more I enjoy watching. She didn't make that many, so the odds of her being good and likable are high, in my book. Admittedly, there are a few clunkers in there. If you don't mind musicals, Funny Girl showcases her talents in a big way.

What's Up Doc? is an early memory for me, comedy wise and also for trying to understand what all my older siblings and parents seemed to get. Each time it was on, I'd try so hard to keep track of the suitcases, like it was important to the plot, and for me to be sophisticated enough to "get" it. As an adult, I empathize with my young self because of the impossibility of that task.

Yeah, I don't like BUB at all, I agree about Hepburn.

I wouldn't object to more Streisand.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #227 on: May 14, 2020, 11:20:07 AM »
Is Sin Nombre the film you love? If so, I'll try and get to it, when you have your movie club month.

That is the one.  :) I'm a big Beasts of No Nation fan, too. I go again in about ten years, so if you maybe decide to see it before then, I won't call it cheating if you see it sooner and write about Sin Nombre later.

That being said, thank you for having me along in your movie club. I think I may still try that Powell & Pressburger.
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

colonel_mexico

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #228 on: May 14, 2020, 01:03:30 PM »
FUNNY FACE (1957) - There are quite a few things I do like about this film, though overall I'm not sure I thought it was the best of the great Miss Hepburn's work.  The opening sequence reminded me so much of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and I loved the "Think Pink" number, it's so true on many levels!  I did like to see a woman as the head of the department, though she did seem to take a backseat to Fred Astaire during the latter parts of the film.  I love the premise of turning a nerdy-school girl into a beautiful swan, particularly because of her funny face, but Audrey is so striking so gorgeous that I felt the magical transformation was not that amazing. Granted I am likely spoiled by movie magic where can take Anne Hathaway (PRINCESS DIARIES) and complete a stunning reveal with amazing hair and makeup.  I did enjoy the songs, especially the "Bonjour Paris" anything about travel always excites me and it seemed like the little group all had their own aspects of the city they were looking forward to.  The issues I found were I didn't feel much chemistry between Hepburn and Astaire, the "plain"-ing down of her made her look really young and Fred looked a bit old to be pursuing her seriously.  I also really liked her empathicalism philosophy and in the beginning it had very noble and profound underpinnings, but when we get to her renowned professor the film pokes fun of the academic philosophy by making him out to be a lothario in professor's clothing (and probably on many levels a truthful stereotype, but still felt like it was making fun).  To be totally fair I bought the age difference more in MY FAIR LADY then I did here and perhaps I was just unimpressed because I like Rex Harrison more than Fred Astaire and am being unfair.  I think there were some great shots, especially the pictures of her modeling at the landmarks (the chapel was really special too, simple but elegant and beautiful). And the dance numbers were interesting, but I just wanted a bit more out of the story.  Still an enjoyable watch overall!
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Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #229 on: May 15, 2020, 12:22:42 AM »
Yeah, I don't like BUB at all, I agree about Hepburn.

I'm not sure why exactly, but I like hearing this. Sometimes when I don't like a famous movie, I wonder if it's just me and if I'm missing something. :)

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I wouldn't object to more Streisand.

I look forward to hearing about any discoveries you might make. She's a singular talent.

 

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