Author Topic: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob  (Read 19536 times)

oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #30 on: October 25, 2018, 12:09:34 AM »
Scream

This is where Wes Craven gets his movie fetish out.  Let's see if I can remember the references:

Nightmare on Elm Street
Bad Seed
Halloween
Psycho
Friday the 13th
Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Carrie

I know there was more, but I ran out.  And if you have seen all these films, then you would probably be ready to overlook all the blood and just appreciate the humor.  But if you avoided all these films, then this film would be horrific.  Sorry, Sandy. :(

When I saw it before, I knew it was funny, but this time it was just hilarious.  The opening scene is a classic for a reason, but the climatic scenes just degrades into a hilarious chaos.  Probably there were too many times that the references were standing in for actual cleverness, but there is enough cleverness and great camera work to make this a horror classic.  So much fun.

4.5/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #31 on: October 25, 2018, 02:21:40 PM »
@1SO

-Glad to see The Man Who Planted Trees landed on your essentials! Such a beautiful film.
-I think the reason I prefer Night and Fog over Shoah/Schindler's List is that more arthouse feel.
-One Froggy Evening is one of those shorts that just hits me with the comedic timing every single time. Maybe one day it will quit working for me. If I ever get back to that Loony Tunes marathon perhaps I'll find myself reevaluating it in the larger context of shorts.
-Not surprised at all that you have that reaction to The House is Black.

@oldkid

Yes, it's a film that very much benefits from having seen its man inspirations. I'd have to watch it again to see if it layers on the references too heavily as I've seen a lot more horror classics now that I had when I last watched it.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #32 on: October 27, 2018, 01:53:44 AM »
The Adventures of Robin Hood



"Life and the movies have their compensations, and such a film as this is payment in full for many dull hours of picture-going. A richly produced, bravely bedecked, romantic and colorful show." Frank Nugent in The New York Times



Knocked Out Loaded: tbh, Is there much to say about Robin Hood?

Sandy: Well, there was a continual dual between the actors and the music for top billing.

Knocked Out Loaded: That, and the colors. ;D 

Sandy: Ha! Yes, the colors wanted center stage too! They didn’t blend into the forest very well, making them easy to pick off with arrows… Is it about what you expected it to be?

Knocked Out Loaded: I thought it was sillier than expected.

Sandy: It did play up the comedy. They are merry men, after all.

Knocked Out Loaded: Right, it played like a bona fide matinée.

Sandy: All through the film, I kept thinking of other renditions: Disney’s, Kevin Costner’s, Men in tights, Star Trek... Maybe the forum could do a marathon, like they did with The Three Musketeers.

Knocked Out Loaded: That would be cool.

Sandy: I’d join in!

Knocked Out Loaded: The Wikipedia list of Robin Hood movies is impressive. You would stage a long marathon!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_and_television_series_featuring_Robin_Hood

Sandy: :)) I might not survive that!

Knocked Out Loaded: ;D I only have watched the Costner hood, and recently the Crowe one.

Sandy: I haven’t seen the Crowe one.

Knocked Out Loaded: It is grittier. As I saw it not long ago, it weighed a bit on this one.

Sandy: I can imagine! This one was pretty pageantry. You went from one extreme to the other. Actually, Men in Tights would be the most extreme away from the Crowe’s rendition.

Knocked Out Loaded: The Adventures of Robin Hood is 80 years old, I can give it that.

Sandy: 80 years! Wow. After I got past the brightness, and bigness, I was pretty enamored with the cast and how they played the characters. I can't think of better choices who could fill these roles.




Sandy: Errol Flynn is Robin Hood in my psyche.

Knocked Out Loaded: I like him better as a pirate, I think.

Sandy:  He is a perfect pirate too.

Knocked Out Loaded: Here Basil Rathbone was the better player.

Sandy: Oh! Normally I would dissent, but he was perfectly cast too… Flynn was born in Tasmania. Pretty exotic.

Knocked Out Loaded: He was?

Sandy: Yep

Knocked Out Loaded: That is awesome trivia.

Sandy: I read his biography when I was a teenager. I think it was the title which caught my eye, “My Wicked, Wicked Ways.” :D

Knocked Out Loaded: He usually is the good guy, isn’t he?

Sandy: Yes, but a bit of a scoundrel too.

Knocked Out Loaded: In some ways I felt like I was watching a western. The music, how the men came riding in in horses.

Sandy: I bet all the horses and stuntmen were borrowed from the western set next door. And! I bet the pitch to the executives was, A Medieval Western!

(This is Trigger in his film debut. :) )

Knocked Out Loaded: that would be a good pitch! And few westerns are as merry as this one?

Sandy: I can’t think of any at the moment, except for straight out comedies.

Knocked Out Loaded: Maybe on tv?

Sandy: Like Bonanza?

Knocked Out Loaded: Bonanza always was rather upbeat.

Sandy: Jinx! You owe me a soda.

Knocked Out Loaded:  It is one of my earliest tv memories.

Sandy: Mine too.

Knocked Out Loaded:  I always was so impressed over how they came riding through a burning map

Sandy: A great visual! We got to go to the location and brought home a souvenir metal cup. I remember using it a lot… I’d like to think that show took some inspiration from the mood of Robin Hood.

Knocked Out Loaded: 

Sandy: What are your thoughts on Claude Rains?

Knocked Out Loaded: Was he Prince John?

Sandy: Yes. Hard to recognize him in his wig. :D

Knocked Out Loaded: It is not a funny role to play. He was alright. I think that Joaquin Phoenix did some studying of him before doing Gladiator.

Sandy: Oh, now that is interesting trivia!

Knocked Out Loaded:  :D That is no trivia.

Sandy: It’s not?

Knocked Out Loaded: That is how I feel about the acting.

Sandy: Oh! Haha! Now I want to see Phoenix’s acting in Gladiator again. I can hardly remember the film.

Knocked Out Loaded: It has a great opening battle. Phoenix is almost always good in anything.

Sandy: I’m in agreement. I’m a Phoenix fan, and remember him being intriguing in it, but the details are lost to me.

Knocked Out Loaded: I’d watch Crowe’s Robin Hood again rather than Gladiator.

Sandy: A good endorsement of that Robin Hood! I thought Gladiator was his flagship performance.

Knocked Out Loaded: I might even prefer Noah to Gladiator. Crowe has done so many of these alfa men, that when you see him in a suit it looks unreal.

Sandy: I haven’t seen Noah either. Maybe I should do a Crowe movies marathon.

Knocked Out Loaded: I saw Noah recently too. It has a stupid addition to the plot, but apart from that it was an interesting movie.

Sandy: When and if I get to that movie, I’ll see if I can notice this “stupid addition to the plot.” :) …Rains is one of my favorite character actors, but this role was a bit of an anomaly. The hair was hard to take seriously, and the character itself is pretty one note, but I see Raines and his charm peeking through. How about Maid Marian? Does Olivia de Havilland fit the bill for you?

Knocked Out Loaded: There was not left much for her except looking cute.

Sandy: Sadly yes. She’s got depth as an actress, but not much to work with here. A message sent here and there, but mostly ornamental.

Knocked Out Loaded: It is as you said.

Sandy: She is Maid Marian in my psyche too, though and I compare all the others to her.

Knocked Out Loaded: For the looks or for the acting?

Sandy: I was a child when I saw the film, so I wasn’t very discerning. Her looks and demeanor mostly. Now I know more what de Havilland is capable of. She is understated here, but still lovely.

Knocked Out Loaded: Here I think Winona Ryder reminds of her, eyes like saucers and all that.

Sandy: :) I like that comparison.

Knocked Out Loaded: There is little left to do for an actress in that role. Cate Blanchett never shone in Ridley Scott's version. I guess women played that part then, many still do I’m afraid.

Sandy: Yes, I’m afraid so. Women’s roles in film tend to be secondary. On a happier note, de Havilland does get to make a brief, fiery speech. It a glimpse into how much she has to offer a role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4c_pbp8Hvw

oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #33 on: October 28, 2018, 07:22:10 PM »
Spirited Away

I'm sure you'll be relived to know that it is still the best movie ever made.

10/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #34 on: October 29, 2018, 03:21:17 PM »
Nice.  :D

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #35 on: October 31, 2018, 10:18:28 PM »
I'm watching Silence, will try to have a review up tomorrow.

Teproc

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #36 on: November 01, 2018, 05:23:26 PM »
I haven't been watching movies, but I'll get to Daisies in the coming days.
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Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #37 on: November 01, 2018, 10:25:21 PM »
An American Werewolf in London



Hail to old school edited dismemberment à la Ponda Baba’s in the cantina! And, all hail to pre-CGI transformations and good ole’ makeup skills! Just coming off the heels of Alien, I’m having an abundance of appreciation for puppetry and “think outside the box” mechanics. Mother necessity meet your creative inventions!

Enjoying the DIY spectacle, I am again left with this weird dichotomy of humorous and horrific and don’t quite know what to do with myself. Is laughing amidst the mayhem grotesque? Of course it is! The absurdity is not lost on me and I end up laughing at myself instead and then surrender to the cognitive dissonance. I think I’m getting the hang of this horror thing.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2018, 06:17:43 PM by Sandy »

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #38 on: November 08, 2018, 09:42:31 PM »
Pan's Labyrinth



Miss a step, trip and fall
Miss the path, meet the wall
Miss the way, miss a turn
Getting lost is how you learn
  - "It's A Maze" from The Secret Garden

Missteps galore. A mother trusts a monster, because she is lonely. A daughter awakens another monster because she is hungry. Feelings without thought are surefire ways to disaster. Emotions are not trustworthy alone. They just aren't, for who, or what, can you really trust at face value? Secrecy and hidden agendas are difficult to decipher without careful consideration, and perfunctory beliefs blind us to the realities (and abstracts) around us. Everyone is at least a little lost, but those who contemplate the unreliability of emotion, yet allow themselves to be guided also by intuition, will navigate the complexity. The doctor has the best line in the film. "To obey without thinking­-just like that. Well that's something only people like you can do, Captain." Food for thought.
­

oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sam the Cinema Snob
« Reply #39 on: November 08, 2018, 11:34:31 PM »
Pan's, much like Spirit of the Beehive, is about Franco's fascism.  It seems that they both indicate that you can't live casually in a fascist society, following your emotions.  You must live deliberately and carefully.  And always have a plan, or you will be a victim.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

 

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