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Author Topic: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller  (Read 20663 times)

Junior

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #40 on: June 04, 2018, 11:46:01 AM »
Stop Making Sense

I don't have a whole ton to say about this one. I'm not a huge Talking Heads fan so some of the songs just kind of washed over me to the point where I only really appreciated the visuals. I guess that's fine, though, because Jonathan Demme does a great job filming this show. This might be the defining motion picture, because everything except the ground the performers are standing on is constantly moving. The camera moves, the singers move, the instrumentalists (lol) move. There's a certain energy here that's hard to deny. Highlights for me include the opening performance of "Psycho Killer", the strobes during whatever song that was, and all of "Take Me To the River". Byrne is mesmerizing to watch, and if I had some greater attachment to the music this would probably be on my Top 100 list too.

B+
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1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #41 on: June 04, 2018, 12:27:52 PM »
I'm not a fan either, but the filmmaking... I'll probably watch SMS 3 times in my lifetime, mostly for the filmmaking which gets me to like the songs more than I ever had before.

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #42 on: June 04, 2018, 12:35:46 PM »
Stop Making Sense

I don't have a whole ton to say about this one. I'm not a huge Talking Heads fan so some of the songs just kind of washed over me to the point where I only really appreciated the visuals. I guess that's fine, though, because Jonathan Demme does a great job filming this show. This might be the defining motion picture, because everything except the ground the performers are standing on is constantly moving. The camera moves, the singers move, the instrumentalists (lol) move. There's a certain energy here that's hard to deny. Highlights for me include the opening performance of "Psycho Killer", the strobes during whatever song that was, and all of "Take Me To the River". Byrne is mesmerizing to watch, and if I had some greater attachment to the music this would probably be on my Top 100 list too.

B+

If the music just doesn't do it for you, then yeah, there's only so far this movie can take you. I'm glad you appreciated its energy.

At least you didn't say something insane like there's no point to watching musical performances or whatever nonsense that was.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #43 on: June 11, 2018, 08:55:46 PM »
Imitation of Life




You got me. I thought I had made it through, prepared for how the story was going to play out and planned on letting it unfold while I sat with an air of detachment, but when Mahalia Jackson wails “Trouble of the World,” the tears start to flow. By the time Sarah Jane buries her head in the white roses, I lose my composure completely and give myself up to the moment.
 
I know this is a Lana Turner vehicle and she looks like she’s playing herself in many ways, which would normally be engaging, but my attention is elsewhere. I like her. I appreciate her presence, but I’m not all that interested in her character’s story. It’s Sarah Jane and her mother Annie who I hone in on. They’re intersecting in impossible ways, with no good resolutions available and only love to connect daughter to mother, which at times feels as flimsy as floss. Annie’s love on the other hand is as roots to a tree. There is no mistaking her depth of feeling.

Youth may as well be a synonym for regret. What is learned during this time is beyond difficult and “make or break,” shapes us and becomes the building blocks we carry the rest of our lives. Annie’s daughter can now construct herself with the hard-earned lesson, “Without love you're only living an imitation of life.”

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #44 on: June 11, 2018, 10:02:53 PM »
Shoot I forget how this Movie Club thing works.  Do I pick a (few) movie(s) from your top 100 that I haven't seen and review it (them)?

Do I not pick something someone else has already picked? 


(I've not seen Tree of Life or Scenes from a Marriage yet. Both been on my todo list for a while)
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PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #45 on: June 11, 2018, 10:42:33 PM »
You pick anything you haven't seen and then review it, doesn't matter if others have reviewed it or not.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #46 on: June 11, 2018, 11:21:16 PM »
You pick anything you haven't seen and then review it, doesn't matter if others have reviewed it or not.

Also! I was late getting my review in for Martin, so it's really PeacefulAnarchy's month now. We've decided to make a thread for each participant. Here's PA's thread and lists.

http://forum.filmspotting.net/index.php?topic=14798.msg889272#msg889272

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #47 on: June 11, 2018, 11:30:54 PM »
Imitation of Life




You got me. I thought I had made it through, prepared for how the story was going to play out and planned on letting it unfold while I sat with an air of detachment, but when Mahalia Jackson wails “Trouble of the World,” the tears start to flow. By the time Sarah Jane buries her head in the white roses, I lose my composure completely and give myself up to the moment.
 
I know this is a Lana Turner vehicle and she looks like she’s playing herself in many ways, which would normally be engaging, but my attention is elsewhere. I like her. I appreciate her presence, but I’m not all that interested in her character’s story. It’s Sarah Jane and her mother Annie who I hone in on. They’re intersecting in impossible ways, with no good resolutions available and only love to connect daughter to mother, which at times feels as flimsy as floss. Annie’s love on the other hand is as roots to a tree. There is no mistaking her depth of feeling.

Youth may as well be a synonym for regret. What is learned during this time is beyond difficult and “make or break,” shapes us and becomes the building blocks we carry the rest of our lives. Annie’s daughter can now construct herself with the hard-earned lesson, “Without love you're only living an imitation of life.”

Spot on! Yes, the Lana Turner story has some fine bits to it (if it was a complete loss I don't know if I could include the film in my top 100) but it's Sarah Jane and Annie who provide the movie's true brilliance. Juanita Moore's performance remains one of my all-time favorites, but I can't overlook Susan Kohner either. It's her guilt and grief at the end that really turn on the waterworks. One of the best films for getting a good cry on.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #48 on: June 11, 2018, 11:42:48 PM »
Spot on! Yes, the Lana Turner story has some fine bits to it (if it was a complete loss I don't know if I could include the film in my top 100) but it's Sarah Jane and Annie who provide the movie's true brilliance. Juanita Moore's performance remains one of my all-time favorites, but I can't overlook Susan Kohner either. It's her guilt and grief at the end that really turn on the waterworks. One of the best films for getting a good cry on.

:) Love when this happens. We had a very similar experience with the film.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #49 on: June 16, 2018, 06:34:00 AM »
b]Linda, Linda, Linda[/b] (2005 - Nobuhiro Yamashita)

A reflection on the drifting with some idea of a direction, but not really sure. The 4 leads in this film are high school students that do not seem to study, they drift quietly between places. However their drifting has a direction, playing in the school festival.

On paper this would seem to be a boring movie, but it is not, these characters draw you into their world and you are pulled along with the slow moving current.

The soaking wet ending is lovely. This was not the style of film I was expecting (I was expecting a more raucous film), but I am very pleased to have experienced it.

Rating: 75 / 100

P.S. Sorry it has taken me so long to write this review up.