Author Topic: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films  (Read 51196 times)

zarodinu

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #70 on: April 14, 2010, 06:21:37 PM »
Whaaaaaa?!?! It was soooo bad and needlessly drawn out. I'm gonna give the theatrical a fair shake though.

The Redux is what I watched first because it was what I had on hand. It blew me away completely. I have since watched it many times and I cannot imagine any piece being cut out and the film still having the same effect on me.

Interesting take on the film. I saw the theatrical cut first and its the one I love the most. I really like the redux except the French village scene always kind of bothers me. I dont quite get what it is getting at.
Yea, I quit watching at that exact point. It was just so indulgent and excessively unnecessary.

That sequence destroys any fluitity to the film (and it doesn't have any normal fluidity to begin with) and almost acts as it's own short. It's a dreamy interuption within an already dreamy film. And after that point it also gets even more crazy.

I have to interrupt the hate parade.  The French sequence is amazing.  Showing the surreal holdouts of Western colonialism in the middle of the jungle hell, absolutely amazing.  It is sad and surreal and beautiful.  Reminded me of the scene in Downfall where Hitler is crowing over architectural plans of enormous temples and pseudo-roman coliseums he wants to build in Berlin as the city around him burns.

I think that once you saw Redux its impossible to go back to the original.
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FroHam X

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #71 on: April 14, 2010, 06:54:21 PM »
Whaaaaaa?!?! It was soooo bad and needlessly drawn out. I'm gonna give the theatrical a fair shake though.

The Redux is what I watched first because it was what I had on hand. It blew me away completely. I have since watched it many times and I cannot imagine any piece being cut out and the film still having the same effect on me.

Interesting take on the film. I saw the theatrical cut first and its the one I love the most. I really like the redux except the French village scene always kind of bothers me. I dont quite get what it is getting at.
Yea, I quit watching at that exact point. It was just so indulgent and excessively unnecessary.

That sequence destroys any fluitity to the film (and it doesn't have any normal fluidity to begin with) and almost acts as it's own short. It's a dreamy interuption within an already dreamy film. And after that point it also gets even more crazy.

I have to interrupt the hate parade.  The French sequence is amazing.  Showing the surreal holdouts of Western colonialism in the middle of the jungle hell, absolutely amazing.  It is sad and surreal and beautiful.  Reminded me of the scene in Downfall where Hitler is crowing over architectural plans of enormous temples and pseudo-roman coliseums he wants to build in Berlin as the city around him burns.

I think that once you saw Redux its impossible to go back to the original.

Actually, I was on the side of the French plantation sequence. It may not have sounded that way, but it's only because I think the film's perfection comes from its mess.
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ferris

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #72 on: April 14, 2010, 06:56:28 PM »
(not meant at anyone specifically)

This thread needs less chit-chat and more reviews!!!!!!!

(I keep getting excited when I see that there are new posts)
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Corndog

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #73 on: April 14, 2010, 06:58:04 PM »
(I keep getting excited when I see that there are new posts)

I'm absolutely the same way, especially considering one of my current marathons.
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oldkid

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #74 on: April 14, 2010, 07:13:52 PM »
Whaaaaaa?!?! It was soooo bad and needlessly drawn out. I'm gonna give the theatrical a fair shake though.

The Redux is what I watched first because it was what I had on hand. It blew me away completely. I have since watched it many times and I cannot imagine any piece being cut out and the film still having the same effect on me.

Interesting take on the film. I saw the theatrical cut first and its the one I love the most. I really like the redux except the French village scene always kind of bothers me. I dont quite get what it is getting at.
Yea, I quit watching at that exact point. It was just so indulgent and excessively unnecessary.

That sequence destroys any fluitity to the film (and it doesn't have any normal fluidity to begin with) and almost acts as it's own short. It's a dreamy interuption within an already dreamy film. And after that point it also gets even more crazy.

I have to interrupt the hate parade.  The French sequence is amazing.  Showing the surreal holdouts of Western colonialism in the middle of the jungle hell, absolutely amazing.  It is sad and surreal and beautiful.  Reminded me of the scene in Downfall where Hitler is crowing over architectural plans of enormous temples and pseudo-roman coliseums he wants to build in Berlin as the city around him burns.

I think that once you saw Redux its impossible to go back to the original.

Actually, I was on the side of the French plantation sequence. It may not have sounded that way, but it's only because I think the film's perfection comes from its mess.

To continue the hated chit-chat:

I loved the French sequence.  In the original book, Heart of Darkness, there is a steady progression of insanity, culminating in the climax of Kurtz making himself a god in the deepest hear of Africa (it was originally on the Congo River).  In the theatrical cut, I felt that the insanity actually climaxed with Duvall's scene on the beach.  The rest was kind of anti-climax.  In Redux, the pacing is re-set, with the realization that the true insanity is less happening in outward appearance, but in people's denial of reality.  The French plantation scenes set that up.
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ferris

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #75 on: April 14, 2010, 07:20:42 PM »
To continue the hated chit-chat:

Yes....sorrry...As you were :)
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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Clovis8

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #76 on: April 25, 2010, 04:40:05 PM »
Before Sunset (2004)

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN BOTH FILMS!



Great art becomes part of one's life. It effects us in ways we cannot describe. We carry it with us, like an emotional touchstone. In some cases we measure our lives against it. For me, no painting, sculpture, novel, or film can measure up to Before Sunset, in this sense. Celine and Jesse's relationship has become part of my life in the same way as my own, and those of my closest friends.

I feel bad for those who did not view this film, and it's prequel Before Sunset, when they first came out. I dont think it can ever become part of you, like it has for me, if you did not see the original as a 20-something, wait 10 years for the sequel, and see it as a 30-something. Your life must parallel Celine and Jesse's.

This is the only film I love unconditionally. I cannot see flaws in it. Perhaps they are there, but they are forever invisible to me. Like a new lover, it is perfect.



The film opens with its ending, a structure which I only began to appreciate on multiple viewings.

It opens with Jesse on the last stop of a book tour. He has written a novel about he and Celine's first encounter. During the question and answer period a reporter asks him why his books ends on an ambigious note. He replies that it is a litmus test which will tell the reader whether they are a cynic or a romantic. This is same test we are put to while watching the film. In fact, this may be one of the greatest such tests ever put on film.  

As he is answering questions, he is stopped suddenly when Celine appears. He stammers, unable to keep his train of thought; unable to conceal his fear and joy at seeing her.



They spend the next hour walking around Paris, in real time. At first they are both coy but she wastes little time getting to the question we all need to ask; "Did you show up Vienna?". He answers no. We feel both saddened but a little relived. We cant decide which is better; them having not met again, or them having met and having a doomed relationship.

Celine pretends she is not a romantic. She covers herself with cynicism. She pretends to have forgotten that night. When she says she cant remember it, you can see Jesse deflate. How can she not remember it? It meant so much to us.



They take a boat ride on the Seine and Jesse tells my favorite apocryphal story of all time about how the Germans were ready to blow up the major landmarks in Paris. They had the Notre Dame Cathedral wired, leaving behind a soldier to push the button, but he couldn't do it. It was simply too beautiful.

Slowly their mutual walls begin to fall. They stop lying and expose themselves. She wants to touch him so badly but cant do it.



She finally gets up the courage to hug him, covering her desire with a friendly gesture.



"I wanna see if you stay together or if you dissolve into molecules."

The films ends with my favorite final scene and line of all time.



"Baby, you are going to miss that plane"



" I know"

We are not told if they get back together, but of course they do. They must, for I am a romantic, and this relationship means too much to me for it not to succeed.

Some people have seen these films and suggest that Jesse is too pompous or Celine is too neurotic. These are some of the very qualities that make me love them both. They are real. They are not perfect. They are human. To love someone is to love the good and the bad. Sure Jesse is pompous but he is also intelligent, loving, charming and a romantic. Celine may be neurotic but she is also tender, funny, and filled with passion.

The idea of a third film scares some but I want to meet up again with Celine and Jesse in the same way I want to see an old lover or friend. Their absence lessens me.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2010, 11:22:12 PM by Clovis8 »

Bondo

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #77 on: April 25, 2010, 05:18:21 PM »
Since I was 21 when Before Sunset came out, I obviously cannot abide by your ideal timeline. What saddens me is when I first watched Sunrise I probably would have imagined they show up and Sunset that they stay together. Now if I could go back to Sunrise (without knowing Sunset) I would think they wouldn't show and in Sunset that they wouldn't stay together. It's not been a good 5-6 years where romantic idealism is concerned. Anyway, I really really need to watch these again (I own them so it isn't hard, just priorities). Maybe this time around I'll come to your Sunset > Sunrise view. Either way, both are top 25 all time.

'Noke

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #78 on: April 25, 2010, 05:26:22 PM »
I have not seen this movie yet. I hear it's good.
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

Clovis8

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Re: Presenting Filmspotters Favorite Films
« Reply #79 on: April 25, 2010, 05:28:29 PM »
I have not seen this movie yet. I hear it's good.

DONT READ MY WRITE UP!