Author Topic: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film  (Read 64427 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26795
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #290 on: February 22, 2017, 03:16:55 PM »
It's a fascinating film for sure. Makes me think a lot of The American.

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #291 on: February 22, 2017, 03:50:10 PM »
That's one I really must get to.
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

smirnoff

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26251
    • smirnoff's Top 100
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #292 on: February 22, 2017, 06:31:50 PM »
I could stand to see that again. :)

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #293 on: February 22, 2017, 08:38:27 PM »
A very good, unique movie.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #294 on: February 22, 2017, 10:46:51 PM »
I'm really surprised that Day of the Jackal is likely to end up on the Communal Watchlist this week. Seems like a film that more people would have sought out by now.

Antares — 9.3
1SO — 10.0
Jared — 9.0
smirnoff — 8.0
AAAutin — 5.5
Sandy — 7.0
Shadrik — 8.0
MartinTeller — 7.8
pixote — 8.0
PeacefulAnarchy — 9.0

By now, I wasn't sure what film you had from me to watch. The Day Of The Jackal is my #22 of All Time, and I'm pretty sure you've watched everything above it, except for maybe Prep & Landing. It seems the popular choice for highest ranked film people haven't seen yet is The Silence of the Lambs, which is almost as hard to believe as the reactions to it that don't worship it as a Masterpiece.

What strikes me most about your review isn't that we agree, and that we largely agree for the same reason, but that it's a treasure that most continue to avoid. I would love for this spark to ignite a flurry of people to see the film out. I would love to see it on at least 5 lists of Discoveries at the end of the year. There are two sequences so unnecessarily drawn out that they bring down the tension of the film, one at the beginning and one at the very end, but I seem to be the only person bothered by the lapses in pacing.

The rest I would passionately defend, but it's the same reason everyone loves Day of the Jackal, the marvelous attention to the process which generates tension by getting you to root for both sides to succeed, and an ending that manages to satisfy the expectations built up in the viewer. I still have never found another film like it, one that excites me through details and intelligence.

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #295 on: February 23, 2017, 04:24:08 AM »
I've never watched it before it is barely on my radar at all. I had never heard of it before I started looking at movie lists, and even so, it is not a movie that pops out. It is not talked about much around here or by the film fans I know, and since I avoid reviews of things I haven't watched, I know literally nothing about it. I believe your month's coming up, so I suppose I have my work cut out for me.

(On the other hand, I was made aware of Top Gun at an early age, because there is no justice.)
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

Corndog

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 17025
  • Oo-da-lolly, Oo-da-lolly, golly what a day!
    • Corndog Chats
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #296 on: February 23, 2017, 08:36:57 AM »
Thinking more about this film. I gave reasons why I liked the film in my review, and there are reasons, but sometimes there are movies that are just good. Just good. And while I may try to explain what that means, or what makes it good, sometimes the best description of a movie is that it's just good. The Day of the Jackal is one of those. If that makes any sense.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Corndog

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 17025
  • Oo-da-lolly, Oo-da-lolly, golly what a day!
    • Corndog Chats
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #297 on: February 27, 2017, 01:30:57 PM »
worm@work
Charulata (Satyajit Ray, 1964)

Satyajit Ray has long been a major blindspot for me. His work regularly appears in the Top 100 Club, a project I am, regrettably, too often unable to keep up with because of my own projects (like this one). Someday I will rectify this, but with wow's favorite film from her 2010 list, Charulata, I am able to at least break the ice. Part of me is also thankful it is not a part of the Apu Trilogy, otherwise I would feel compelled to watch all three, yet likely fail to do so. That should be my next endeavor, however, given the qualities I appreciated so much from Charulata. While it was not a film that floored me start to finish in my first viewing, it is one which has stayed with me, and certainly floored me at times throughout.

I had no idea what to expect. I wouldn't know what to expect with the Apu Trilogy either. When I said blindspot, I meant blindspot. I have not heard whiff of these films and what they are about, other than the fact that Ray was a wonderful director who made amazing films. That being said, I very much enjoyed the experience of Charulata and evrything it had to offer. More precisely, I found the film to be a marvel to look at. I was lucky enough to get a Criterion DVD from my library system (the Blu would probably look that much better), and the picture quality was superb, which really highlighted the tremendous cinematography throughout, which is quite remarkable given the rather domestic story being told here. Really sharp image with some great imagination behind the camera as well. The shot on the swing is an all-timer for me. But the merits of the film go much deeper than simply technical.

The film is also emotionally fulfilling, with a rather simple and mundane domestic tale of a newspaper man who is more concerned with his business than he is his talented and curious wife. The blossoming of Charu is a sight to behold throughout, mostly due to a brilliant performance from Madhabi Mukherjee. Although Charu may never have blossomed the way she did without the neglect of her husband, or the encouragement of his cousin, I believe she could have carried any movie. That being said, it was a movie which took its time, and regrettably I don't think I was in the perfect mindset to watch this film. I powered through, nonetheless, and as a result I have been able to appreciate the film more in its reflection than perhaps I was in the moment. If I were smart, I would plan a more extensive exploration of Ray's filmography and include this film for a rewatch, to see which moments stick out to me once more, if there was anything I may have missed in my relative disinterest, as I am sure there was something.

Indian cinema escapes my cinematic history. With this film I have taken my first dip. With Band Baaja Baaraat I shall take another, more modern dip. I really should try harder to explore world cinema and all the delights it has to offer.

*** - Very Good
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Sam the Cinema Snob

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26795
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #298 on: February 27, 2017, 01:50:16 PM »
It's a great Ray, but there are some better ones for sure.

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: Corndog Watches Your Favorite Film
« Reply #299 on: March 03, 2017, 06:12:43 AM »
1SO
The Day of the Jackal (Fred Zinnemann, 1973)

***1/2 - Great

I can agree with most things in this review and still not like the movie much. I recognized all of its strengths but at the same time too much bothered me to come out positively on it.
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

 

love