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Author Topic: Top 100 Club: 1SO  (Read 51300 times)

1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #60 on: July 28, 2018, 01:00:46 AM »
Cagney firing off commands like a machine gun is the most fun I have watching him perform.

I remember reading that it was those scenes, that gave Cagney so much trouble during the shoot, that he decided to retire after the film was completed. He felt he was losing his touch.
I'm familiar with this story, though you can't tell there's a problem when he gets going. It like Michael Jordan saying he needs to retire because he was only scoring 30 points a game instead of 32. Looking through his work, everything between White Heat (1949) and this can be considered lesser, though I'd still recommend many of them.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #61 on: July 28, 2018, 06:17:09 AM »
For this month's program I will be starting with a few short films.

Kustom Kar Kommandos (1970 Kenneth Anger)

A short fetish film. Gently rub a fluffy cloth over the shiny body as it glistens in the studio lights. Dream Lover plays in the background. Finally you stop the rubbing, your ready, you get in, no shoes, just socks and start the engine. It was an interesting film, but I am not sure why it is essential.

One Man Band (2005 Andrew Jimenez)

Delightful "fight" between 2 one man bands' for the coin of a little girl. It keeps a nice pace to deliver it's punch line.

The Saga of Biorn (2011 Benjamin Kousholt)

A mighty warrior seeks death in battle, but it will not happen. A lovely little 7 minute joke. I have seen a lot of this style of short (e.g. One Man Band), largely silent, with a build up to a punchline and I do like them.

The Sandman (1991 Paul Berry)

This short did not fit the mould provided by One Man Band and The Saga of Biorn, rather it was a waking nightmare. The stop-motion animation style fitted very well to the creepy horror of the story.

And now for the feature presentation....

Dawn of the Dead (1978 George Romero)

One of the most talked about horror films. A film whose special effects I remember reading about when I first started getting into special effects. I particular remember mentions of the helicopter head chop and the screwdriver into the brain. So it is nice to have finally been able to muster up the courage to watch this film. While in the past I would not have been able to watch it, now after many years of desensitisation I am to watch it with no problem (ok, I closed my eyes a few times).

Once again Romero has a black man as a central character, with no mention of his colour. It is a shame the female lead had so little to do, I wish she had not been relegated to more of a filler character. The setting of a shopping mall for the majority of the film was inspired, providing a range of scenes and some hidden surprises. I have read about the social commentary aspects of this film, and I can see some of them, the trouble is the film drags in several places, most notably in the TV studio, and about half way through the time in the mall. At over 2 hours long, it could do with 30 minutes cut.

I am not sure if it was just the older style of filmmaking, but for large parts of this film I felt like I was watching this play out through CCTV. Not from the image, rather the diminished connection I had for the characters.

I liked that generally the characters behaved intelligently, and overall the lead performances were good.

It was interesting to see that Dario Argento did some work on this film.

Rating: 74/100

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #62 on: July 28, 2018, 08:50:01 AM »
Still haven't heard from 10 people. I know Sam has been working on Shoah and jdc is traveling.

Writing a review of Perfume tomorrow.
I'll be writing about Shoah sometime this weekend. Most likely tomorrow.

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #63 on: July 28, 2018, 08:51:31 AM »
Still haven't heard from 10 people. I know Sam has been working on Shoah and jdc is traveling.

I’m traveling for another week, so my review of It’s Love I’m After (which I already watched) will likely be late. Hoping to make time for Excalibur, too.

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1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #64 on: July 28, 2018, 09:09:47 AM »
Kustom Kar Kommandos (1970 Kenneth Anger)

A short fetish film. Gently rub a fluffy cloth over the shiny body as it glistens in the studio lights. Dream Lover plays in the background. Finally you stop the rubbing, your ready, you get in, no shoes, just socks and start the engine. It was an interesting film, but I am not sure why it is essential.
Our culture is rife with stories that sexualize a person's love for their automobile. J.G. Ballard's Crash does it rather directly, as does Cronenberg's movie, but I felt both missed that connection. There's the Judas priest song "Turbo Lover" which speaks of sex in drag racing terms. (And that song took on new layers when lead singer Rob Halford came out.) I think Kustom Kar Kommandos does it best, and in a way that's more loving than sexual, and it makes the point with the most basic techniques - careful framing, glossy lighting, the right song.


One Man Band (2005 Andrew Jimenez)

Delightful "fight" between 2 one man bands' for the coin of a little girl. It keeps a nice pace to deliver it's punch line.
The music is by Michael Giacchino, and I see this as the point where he went from working for Pixar to showing what he could contribute to making a story better. I also like the creativity in making the two musicians completely different in style and then decking out their arsenal to a way that's extreme, but still plausible... as animation. (In live action it would look terrible.)


Don't have much to add on the other two shorts, but it seems you enjoyed them plenty.


Dawn of the Dead (1978 George Romero)

Once again Romero has a black man as a central character, with no mention of his colour. It is a shame the female lead had so little to do, I wish she had not been relegated to more of a filler character.
In Dawn of the Dead, Romero had a lot of infighting with his group of strangers. With Dawn, he takes the Howard Hawks approach of everyone working together, doing what they do best. Peter emerges naturally as the leader, so his color is never an issue. Meanwhile Fran proves to be more capable than Stephen. That's what's so great about her character. The soldiers see Stephen looking cool in his flyboy outfit, piloting the helicopter and they assume Fran is just his girl, someone they're going to have to get out of trouble. But she wins them over, proving her worth to the group, while Stephen reveals himself to ONLY be good at flying. I would say bland, blonde, white Roger is more of a filler character.


The setting of a shopping mall for the majority of the film was inspired, providing a range of scenes and some hidden surprises.
Never better.

I have read about the social commentary aspects of this film, and I can see some of them, the trouble is the film drags in several places, most notably in the TV studio, and about half way through the time in the mall. At over 2 hours long, it could do with 30 minutes cut.
One of the things that puts Dawn so high on my list is that section before the finale when they have the mall and they settle into a boring, suburban existence. It's THE all out zombie movie and Romero has a section where you feel the emptiness of this group living day-to-day to where the mall, their castle becomes their prison.



It was interesting to see that Dario Argento did some work on this film.
He also has his own cut of the film, though I've never been interested in watching it. Love the synth music he contributed with Goblins.
Do you know he also has a Story credit on Once Upon a Time in the West? Argento, Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci. Three names you wouldn't expect to find working together.

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #65 on: July 28, 2018, 10:26:53 AM »
Still haven't heard from 10 people. I know Sam has been working on Shoah and jdc is traveling.

I've had Romancing the Stone sitting here for a couple of weeks, waiting for the right time for Carrie and I to watch it. I'll try to get to it soon but we have a busy weekend. It may not be until next month.

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #66 on: July 28, 2018, 05:20:42 PM »
Perfume: Story of a Murderer

I picked this one because I have been reading a book about magical realism and the novel this is based on is one of the author's primary texts to write about, especially as the genre (or mode?) expands beyond its Latin American roots. So, since I kind of knew the general direction of the story, the question became how far the movie would go in depicting the increasingly weird events of the plot. Well, I'm happy to say that it goes all the way, at least as far as I know. Grenouille, played by Ben Wishaw, has super smelling powers that soon lead him into the perfume business as a way to learn how to capture scents for all time. He wants to recreate the smell of one particular woman who he smelled on the street of Paris one day and whose smell he fell so rapturously in love with that he kills her. Over the course of the (overly long) movie, he experiments with distilling and combining scents and finds that virgin young women will give him the properties he needs. The real fireworks, though, come once he has created his masterpiece. I don't want to spoil it, but it's over-the-top in the best way. I just wish it got there a little quicker.

I can't think of how to change this up without ruining the story that leads up to that ending, but I found myself checked out as the film takes almost half its length to get to the good stuff. Some of that build-up is necessary, Grenouille has much to learn and Tom Tykwer has to figure out how to communicate scent through visual and aural information. But both men are up to the job. Tykwer accomplishes his goal by using quick insert shots and pumped up sound effects to give the audience a one-two punch of sensual data to imitate a third. That's cool. He maintains some of the books language in the form of a voice-over provided by John Hurt that I could have done with more of, especially since Grenouille doesn't talk all that much. And though he is sometimes opposite formidable actors like Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman, he's also sometimes acting with people who just aren't quite up to the weird task that is this film's odd tone. But that's magical realism for you. Too much in one direction or another and the whole thing goes to pot. It can turn into bad melodrama quickly, and I think this movie skids here and there into that territory before ultimately righting itself for a fantastic conclusion that justifies the heavy buy-in that the movie requires of you. Not a favorite of mine, but I appreciate it and I can see why one (ess-oh) would love it.

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1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #67 on: July 28, 2018, 09:42:58 PM »
One thing that can often be said about me is that I hate when movies are moving slower than they need to, but here is the 2nd film this week where the pacing was a problem.


Perfume: Story of a Murderer

I picked this one because I have been reading a book about magical realism and the novel this is based on is one of the author's primary texts to write about, especially as the genre (or mode?) expands beyond its Latin American roots. So, since I kind of knew the general direction of the story, the question became how far the movie would go in depicting the increasingly weird events of the plot. Well, I'm happy to say that it goes all the way, at least as far as I know.
Yeah, if that was your question then you have to like the answer. One of my favorite things about the story is that it literally goes to the farthest possibilities. There's a lag for me somewhere around Alan Rickman's introduction, but the final two events are masterful and make up for the few scenes right before.

This might be agreeing with you to where I'm giving the impression the film is so high on my list because of the ending, but I love the methodical approach to what is a person with a super power. The Dustin Hoffman scenes are like Remy looking to prove his mastery of cuisine in Ratatouille, and I love the mysterious destruction Grenouille leaves behind him. It's like how energy can only be transferred and his gift comes with a terrible cost he's largely unaware of, that increases as his powers increase. Something that ties into that finale.

1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #68 on: July 28, 2018, 10:01:33 PM »
Stage Door
I liked it even more, inching up my Essentials to #116. Katharine Hepburn seems to be playing her persona so acutely - acting with her intelligence and learning how to bring emotions - I had to look up who played the part on stage. It was Margaret Sullavan (The Shop Around the Corner) which is a great choice, though not as hand-in-glove perfect at Hepburn.

It's pretty close to a perfect screenplay. I was even thinking of Powell's seduction technique as a bit of a sit-com idea, but the contrast between the two scenes is marvelously executed. (I have to think young Hepburn sometimes found herself in a similar situation and I bet the men didn't know what they were in for trying that on her.) One moment that I wish wasn't missing is Ginger Rogers reaction to the big dramatic event and the build-up to her confronting Hepburn. We get the big scene between them, but it undercuts Rogers performance a little to not see her get herself worked up. That said this is still one of my favorite performances by Rogers.

While I think of Barbara Stanwyck as the best actress of Hollywood's Golden Age, there are more Ginger Rogers performances that I like. I've seen 49 by Rogers (74 by Stanwyck) and the standouts are...
1. Stage Door (1937)
2. Storm Warning (1951)
3. Star of Midnight (1935)
4. The Major and the Minor (1942)
5. Chance at Heaven (1933)

Plus:
Monkey Business (1952)
Tales of Manhattan (1942), where she stars in a segment with Henry Fonda
and those films where she gave Fred Astaire sex appeal


One day I'm going to do a rewatch Double Feature of Stella Dallas (Stanwyck) and Kitty Foyle (Rogers).

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Re: Top 100 Club: 1SO
« Reply #69 on: July 29, 2018, 12:32:06 AM »
Stage Door

After skimming the talk above, I decided to go for it.  I mean, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball in the same film?  Then adding in Eve Arden and Phyllis Kennedy to support?  It must be rollicking!

And it is.  A pretty smart script, Gold Diggers of 1933 without the music and an ending we wouldn't expect, it is full of fast talking' wise crackin' too smart for their own good women, just the way I like it.  Then when Rogers and Hepburn are in a room alone, the wit is so sharp, I thought they were juggling knives at first.  I laughed hard and the end twisted me around just right. The casting couch scenes were a wonderful two subversions of a trope, and I thought Weinstein would harm those scenes, but instead I can see him getting his comeuppance.

Unfortunately, I think that while Andrea Leads hit exactly the right tone and Rogers became appropriately demure, Hepburn couldn't carry it to the end.  In my opinion, she missed the proper tone and pulled me right out of the film when I was ready to go through it.  Now that I read the notes from Sandy and 1SO, I see that I'm in the minority here, but I calls it like I sees it.


Despite that, it's a great one and I'll keep it in mind when I just need a pick me up.  I agree that the script is fantastic and will easily be my favorite female ensemble.  Ginger Rogers is starting to become my female Jimmy Stewart, the person I will always watch just because she's in the film.

4/5

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