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Author Topic: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film  (Read 64401 times)

1SO

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #140 on: August 11, 2010, 09:17:13 AM »
I needed two viewings to appreciate Unforgiven.  I went in expecting another Clint Eastwood as badass western, not a denconstruction.  The whole time I'm waiting and waiting and meanwhile everybody's talking on and on.  The finale was too little too late.  (I blame the marketing.)

After it got the Oscar buzz and I read a couple of articles and went back in.  It's now in my Top 100.  What was my least favorite scene, Gene Hackman in the jail destroying the mythology created by writers, is now my favorite scene.

Bondo

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #141 on: August 11, 2010, 09:26:09 AM »
I don't discount the ability of a film to rise from dislike to like on further viewing. Over the course of three viewings Moulin Rouge moved from a 1/5 to 3/5 to 5/5 and on my top-100. Theoretically Rear Window went from a lower score to a top-100 position (if only because I slept through most of it the first time like ten years ago, but I don't really count that as a watch). But I'd say Moulin Rouge had a lot more going for it to suggest I'd like it than Vertigo does.

Zhankfor

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #142 on: September 03, 2010, 10:29:33 PM »
Looks like I've returned to the boards just in time, I'm up next!

Corndog

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #143 on: October 17, 2010, 04:29:54 PM »
Emiliana
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)

Traditionally I have avoided musicals because I just assumed as a guy I would not like them much. But recently I have been slowly discovering that I just might be a fan of musicals. Cabaret is something that would have totally been off of my radar had it not been for this particular marathon idea and for that I am thankful because I finally did check this out. While I will not say that I was blown away or will it be in my Top 100 anytime soon, Cabaret is a film that is just good.

In addition to my newfound interest in musicals, the film is also somewhat historical, taking place in Germany as the Nazi Party makes its rise to power. To me this makes the perfect backdrop for the film. The acting and performances are all quite good. I especially loved watching the MC. Liza Minelli was somewhat annoying at first, but I really warmed to her character and everything else that was happening in the film.

Cabaret gives me hope for musicals. Hope that they too can not only be good, fun entertainment, but also that they can be the type of film that is able to comment on history and make a story with songs, not songs with a story. If anything, this film has made me appreciate the art form that much more, for the least I can say is that pretty much every musical I have seen has had great sets, great costumes, and great cinematography.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #144 on: October 17, 2010, 04:44:13 PM »
flieger
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)

This is the type of movie that you don’t really see coming. Of all the things I had heard about it, of all the things I had heard about Maria Falconetti, I never expected this. Honestly, the movie itself was not that compelling, and maybe that is because I made the choice of listening to nothing instead of the music that is optional to go with it. See, I am a lover of music scores, so maybe it would have helped. But with that said, Falconetti was worth my time, all the time. She gives such a performance that cannot be overrated, as I almost expected with the praise I had heard going in.

Joan of Arc is an important and well known figure in history and her story is one worth telling, but I would have thought it more interesting than this. It is purely set up as a stage for Falconetti to show us her emotions, which is fine, but I feel like I wanted more from the story. While I love watching acting and the ability of an actor to show the audience such emotion, I also would have loved to see something more than the courtroom and her jail cell. It seemed bland to me past the performance.

This is a film that is well worth watching and great if not just for Falconetti. It is the type of film that is worthy of its legendary status in film history, especially after learning of its complicated resurrection thanks to the Criterion Collection. A performance such as this deserves to be seen and saved for future generations too.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #145 on: October 17, 2010, 04:57:02 PM »
tinyholidays
My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964)

I had this from Netflix for the longest time, struggling to find time to fit the 3 hour runtime into my schedule. I began dreading the day when it would come for me to watch it finally. Well, today I made the time, and to my surprise, it did not feel as long as the runtime suggests. Yes, it may be three hours, but it is three hours of fun entertainment. I have proclaimed to people that I am a fan of Audrey Hepburn, but as a confession, Roman Holiday is the only film of hers that I had seen before this. I think, however, that this gives ample ammo to make my case now.

What is strange, though, is that at first I was massively annoyed by Hepburn and her flower girl routine. She was too loud, too over the top for my liking, but then I got to know the character and where she was going. I got to know the Professor and the Colonel. I got to know what the film was all about. It was a slow developing film, but it was not slow moving. The plot took its time, but that was mostly because of the extensive music and songs throughout. The English language is a great thing and I love using vocabulary, and so too does Henry Higgins. His songs are the most ridiculous and the most fun.

By the end of the film I was so glad I had made time for the film and also so glad I had stuck with Audrey after her flower girl start. The film is funny and joyous really, which is often my favorite type of film. Although it is a long movie, I can completely see revisiting this from time to time, and liking it better and better with each viewing.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #146 on: October 17, 2010, 05:18:48 PM »
zarodinu
Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)

I expected to love the crap out of this movie, and maybe that was my fault. Also, maybe it was my fault for only seeing it once and not giving it sufficient reflection at the time because it was a complex and heady type of movie. The concept and the cinematography are astounding. A man is conned into living with a woman who must dig up sand in order to keep her house from being swallowed by it. Like I said, obviously there are going to be some philosophical things going on here, but I am afraid to say that I missed them.

Hard as I tried, the runtime and the dry, sparse dialogue had me struggling to pay attention, and that is my fault and I know I need to go back at some point and visit this, give it another chance. I mean, they were literally digging themselves into a hole to stay alive! And like I said, the look of the film was magnificent. I could look at it all day and that was one of the major draws of the film to me since I was not very riveted otherwise.

There is something here, I am convinced of it, I just happened to have missed it the first go around. This is something that I am disappointed about, but also something that will happen from time to time, we just have to deal with it, we have lives other than movies and don’t always have our head in the game so to speak. One day I will revisit this film, love everything about it, and come back here and give it a glowing review, I just can’t do that right now.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #147 on: October 17, 2010, 07:16:14 PM »
Zhankfor
The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai is both a famous book, which I read and enjoyed in High School, and a very famous film by famous epic filmmaker David Lean. A common thread in this marathon seems to be history. History is, of course, my favorite subject, and is going to be my career, so it does not amaze me that all of these favorite films are historically based. History, I have always felt, is just one long story, and that is why I love it so much, and also why I love movies so much: I love stories! And what a story this is.

You have the British POWs from World War II in Burma helping the Japanese build a very important strategic bridge over the River Kwai. What’s not to love? You have the common British defeatist thread: a bunch of captured guys taking pride in being prisoners and taking pride in their duty as soldiers to their King, their commander, and their captor commander. Now, you can make fun of the British all you want, and I’ll admit, that is kind of what I was doing there, but the fact of the matter is that they are very noble in general, and do have a great pride in their country and their duty and it is a very admirable trait. It comes trough in this film and is a great thing to see unfold as they race to meet the deadline of building the bridge, even when it means starting over because the location the Japanese chose sucked.

David Lean, Oliver Twist notwithstanding, is a director that I very much respect and have always enjoyed watching whatever he has to offer. The Bridge on the River Kwai is no different. The performances, the cinematography, the feel of the movie are all spectacular. I guess my one gripe would be the length, which Lean is known for having long films. But in this case there were moments here and there that were unable to hold my attention and I felt that was because it was such a long film. This, again, is something that I will wish to revisit in the future so that my appreciation of it might grow and grow.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

sdedalus

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #148 on: October 17, 2010, 07:42:04 PM »
The camp commander in that film was a longtime Hollywood actor named Sessue Hayakawa.  His second most famous performance is in Cecil B. DeMille's great 1915 film The Cheat.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #149 on: October 17, 2010, 10:15:55 PM »
Hum, well I always find The Passion of Joan of Arc riveting and powerful. It gets so much out of the close up and I usually hate films made up of mostly closeups.