Top 100 Club: Teproc

[Teproc]

Decided to go with the highest ranked one, which is obviously a more personal taste choice than the others. Still, I've never seen an Astérix & Obélix movie. It was much as I expected in tone and style, but held together better than I could have guessed. A lot of the jokes fell flat for me, there's a big variety from puns to modern day references to silly slapstick but for as much as a lot didn't really work for me none of it was really bad, just the kind of thing that makes you go "I wish I found that funny, but eh." Also, maybe it's my bias against Depardieu, Obélix was kinda boring and one note and Depardieu definitely seemed to be phoning it in. Everyone else, though, was pretty enjoyable. The movie really captures that unique comic book feel in a way I'm not sure I've seen another film do. It's a heightened reality where everything is absurd, but it's grounded in its own sense of self. It's hard to explain but it has a consistency in tone, characterization, and visual style that is hard to achieve in a live action film, where everything is obviously fake but it doesn't feel fake. That helps carry it through the ups and downs of the comedy, helped by a story that is pretty straight forward but still has just the right hooks to keep a viewer engaged. A pleasant, imperfect, viewing.

Glad you had a good time with it. To me, the film is a miracle, a combination of very different comedic sensibilities that shouldn't work together yet do, between Clavier and Depardieu, Debbouze and Chabat. The result should not feel like it has a consistent tone, and at times Clavier and especially Depardieu do seem somewhat out of place in their own movie, but still, it's remarkable how Chabat managed to mix his absurdist tendencies with Debbouze's manic energy (I don't know if "manic is really the right word but oh well) and Clavier/Depardieu's more classic routines, all along with the original material's referential pun-based humour. That it all feels of a piece is nothing short of  wondrous to me, and it still makes me laugh every time I revisit it. I personally have a bias in favore of Depardieu rather than Against, but I can see where you're coming from: he is kinda phoning it in as opposed to Clavier who, for better or worse, is always game. Darmon as the bad guy is the highlight for me though, he's having so much fun.

It is by far the best of the live-action Astérix & Obélix movies, I would not recommend watching another one. The animated ones from the 70s are pretty good though, especially the original ones live The 12 Tasks.

Just a small thing I love and want to highlight: there's a throwaway joke in this film where Edoaurd Baer plays a scribe, and answer the simple question of "what's that position like ?" with a long pseudo-metaphysical rant that's typical of his own comedic persona. It's pretty funny on its own (and an improv on his part), but it gets much funnier when you know that Astérix asks the exact same question in the original comic, and the scribe simply answers "Assis" which means "Sitting". I don't know how well that translates, but I just love that tidbit: Baer's answer is entirely his own thing, anyone familiar with him would recognize it as 100% his shtick, and it's the direct opposite of Goscinny's humour... and yet it's in there, and it works, at least for me.

[PeacefulAnarchy]

Just a small thing I love and want to highlight: there's a throwaway joke in this film where Edoaurd Baer plays a scribe, and answer the simple question of "what's that position like ?" with a long pseudo-metaphysical rant that's typical of his own comedic persona. It's pretty funny on its own (and an improv on his part), but it gets much funnier when you know that Astérix asks the exact same question in the original comic, and the scribe simply answers "Assis" which means "Sitting". I don't know how well that translates, but I just love that tidbit: Baer's answer is entirely his own thing, anyone familiar with him would recognize it as 100% his shtick, and it's the direct opposite of Goscinny's humour... and yet it's in there, and it works, at least for me.

Yeah that may have been my favourite part. It did feel at odds with the style of the movie, but not out of place. I guess because at its core it's the same absurdist humour, even if it has a different perspective and intent. Anything of his you'd recommend?

[Teproc]

Just a small thing I love and want to highlight: there's a throwaway joke in this film where Edoaurd Baer plays a scribe, and answer the simple question of "what's that position like ?" with a long pseudo-metaphysical rant that's typical of his own comedic persona. It's pretty funny on its own (and an improv on his part), but it gets much funnier when you know that Astérix asks the exact same question in the original comic, and the scribe simply answers "Assis" which means "Sitting". I don't know how well that translates, but I just love that tidbit: Baer's answer is entirely his own thing, anyone familiar with him would recognize it as 100% his shtick, and it's the direct opposite of Goscinny's humour... and yet it's in there, and it works, at least for me.

Yeah that may have been my favourite part. It did feel at odds with the style of the movie, but not out of place. I guess because at its core it's the same absurdist humour, even if it has a different perspective and intent. Anything of his you'd recommend?

He had a movie out in 2016 which he directed and starred in, called "Ouvert la nuit" (Open at Night), which is about him being a theater manager (not a movie theater, don't know how you make this distinction in English) and having to deal with various things to save his theater over a course of one night in Paris. Audrey Tautou is in it too, but it's basically the Edouard Baer show. It's pretty grounded as far as things go, but quite fun. His previous films (La Bostella and Akoibon) are supposedly much weirder but I haven't seen them so I can't really recommend them. He's mostly a theater, TV and radio guy, though he pops up in a lot of French movies in small roles.

He actually played Astérix in one of those movies... I haven't heard good things, though, and he does not seem like a great fit for the role.

[Sandy]

Only Yesterday



5th grade, I remember it well. Or I should say, I'm recalling it, as I watch Taeko bringing forward her own memories, one after another. So many parallels, it becomes a type of universal shared experience: the crush, the maturation class, the moment when a parent lets you down, the hopes, the embarrassments... On and on they wash over me.

My daughter calls this film slow. And I say "Yes, thankfully." There is no hurry needed when it comes to daydreaming about the past. Taking time to sort through childhood, whiled trying to make sense of the present, can lead to a deeper understanding, because that child is the innocent, unfiltered self and has a lot to say about so called adulthood.

[Sandy]

Burn After Reading



Woohoo! I'm now officially down to 3 unseen Cohen Brothers' directed movies (The Man Who Wasn't There, Ladykillers, Blood Simple). I've been making it a point to see them when they show up on a top 100 list and I'm now in spitting distance!

You'd think by now, I'd know the drill. But no, I get caught off guard with the weight of the talent on screen, thinking there will be Hamlet level character complexity. None of that here. Cohen comedy must have a bunch of doofuses running around, so these A-listers dig down deep and gather up all their thespian tricks, 'cause playing convincingly dumb is hard!

I'm repulsed by the amoral idiocy, but I can't look away; much like a train wreck - a circus train of clown cars careening into each other. What have I learned here? Cox was onto something, Don't be "part of a league of morons." Point taken.

[Teproc]

Only Yesterday

5th grade, I remember it well. Or I should say, I'm recalling it, as I watch Taeko bringing forward her own memories, one after another. So many parallels, it becomes a type of universal shared experience: the crush, the maturation class, the moment when a parent lets you down, the hopes, the embarrassments... On and on they wash over me.

My daughter calls this film slow. And I say "Yes, thankfully." There is no hurry needed when it comes to daydreaming about the past. Taking time to sort through childhood, whiled trying to make sense of the present, can lead to a deeper understanding, because that child is the innocent, unfiltered self and has a lot to say about so called adulthood.

I don't know how the original manga goes, but I think of this film (or the flashbacks parts at least) as being mostly comprise dof idle thoughts of someone on a train. Well, maybe not that idle as it all certainly coheres into something, but it does have that pace. I love the watercolor look of the childhood parts.

Burn After Reading

Woohoo! I'm now officially down to 3 unseen Cohen Brothers' directed movies (The Man Who Wasn't There, Ladykillers, Blood Simple). I've been making it a point to see them when they show up on a top 100 list and I'm now in spitting distance!

You'd think by now, I'd know the drill. But no, I get caught off guard with the weight of the talent on screen, thinking there will be Hamlet level character complexity. None of that here. Cohen comedy must have a bunch of doofuses running around, so these A-listers dig down deep and gather up all their thespian tricks, 'cause playing convincingly dumb is hard!

I'm repulsed by the amoral idiocy, but I can't look away; much like a train wreck - a circus train of clown cars careening into each other. What have I learned here? Cox was onto something, Don't be "part of a league of morons." Point taken.

Burn After Reading took a lot of people for a wild ride, given that it came out just a year after No Country for Old Men. People should have known from some of the Coens lighter films (most of which are about deeply stupid people), but they mostly didn't expect something this... zany ? It's hard to say which, of this and No Country, is the more pessimistic about the human race, but I like this tone better, and I love it as an answer to every conspiracy theorist out there: the answer is almost always stupidity.

[Sandy]

A train ride watercolored daydream. I like that image very much!

And Teproc, I like your take on conspiracy theory! haha! If I were choosing to watch No Country for old Men, or Burn after Reading, I'd pick Burn after Reading. I need my nihilism peppered with dark comedy.

[Sam the Cinema Snob]

I think No Country is hopeful in its final scene. Especially in the context of McCarthy's worldview as a writer, he often looks for hope in the bleakest of human conditions.

[Sandy]

I think No Country is hopeful in its final scene. Especially in the context of McCarthy's worldview as a writer, he often looks for hope in the bleakest of human conditions.

That flickering light ahead. Sometimes that's all there is to hold onto.

I had forgotten the ending.

[Sandy]

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead



"Just a minute .... I admit....all this is very subjective....but this is my conception of the world." - The Bald Soprano

Theatre of the Absurd, argh! It becomes a test of wills, seeing who will back down first. Well, you didn't best me Tom Stoppard! I took your onslaught of ridiculous verbal sparing and came out victorious! I'm exhausted, but feeling pleased with my fortitude. I knew you were going to vex me and take me to the brink of insanity, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve to stave off the impending doom.

I like words, A LOT, so you don't overpower me when you alliterate away, or patter on with your parallelisms. Bring it on, Mr. Wordsmith. I can take it! I'm also VERY familiar with dreaming, especially dreams where I'm dropped into the middle of a story and have to figure out what is going on. Dream drop all you want, 'cause I'm unflappable when it comes to nonsensical sequences. And lastly, I REALLY dig Hamlet, so when things go so off kilter, I can fill in the blanks while those poor souls, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, stumble around in their confusion. Their stupor doesn't have to be mine!

“But, orderly to end where I begun," (Hamlet) this subjective take on side characters is rather genius. Limited "conception of the world" with confused purpose gives us Keyhole Hamlet, which is as unique of a take on the old story as ever there was one.