Author Topic: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon  (Read 75430 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26795
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #430 on: March 31, 2011, 01:52:05 PM »
See, I always figured The seventh Seal was Bergman for people who don't like Bergman, and Wild Strawberries was for people who'd probably like the rest of his stuff.  But that's just because The Seventh Seal is the only one of his I like.
Yea, pretty much. I do like Winter Light a lot, too, though.

Antares

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 5013
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #431 on: March 31, 2011, 03:00:49 PM »
I've only seen two...The Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal. I liked the former, the latter, which surprised me because I've heard such glowing praise, did nothing for me. I plan on re-visiting it in the distant future.
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #432 on: March 31, 2011, 03:29:29 PM »
This discussion on the different reactions to Bergman has been excellent, but there's always another movie!


Exit Through The Gift Shop



Art is often important due to the story behind it.  Some believe that Exit Through The Gift Shop is another excellent Bansky set up.  But the story within the film tells something different, something interesting.  Many of the events in the film are documented, like Mr. Brainwash’s big art exhibition in 2008.  But this doesn’t mean that the story is necessarily true.  Perhaps this is Bansky thumbing his nose at the art world establishment?  Or is it the true, sad tale of a man who just didn’t “get” street art?

Technical—4/5—Like most documentaries, the film isn’t beautiful.  But the editing is excellent, and the story is fantastic.

Interest—5/5—This film is an education in street art, what it is, how it is done, some of the people involved and also what it isn’t.  But what is best about this documentary isn’t what we learn, but how the story is told.  Bansky remains important throughout the story, but he isn’t the focus, just how he likes it.  And we see street art through someone being introduced to it and is influenced by it, and finally misunderstands it completely.  That is a unique approach to documentary, because it focuses on a side story of the main subject, but still communicates the important facts, without you hearing them as facts.



Tension—3/5—There is some tension to the film, about how the exhibitions would be received and who this Bansky really is, but every tension point is passed by matter-of-factly.  As if it wasn’t such a big deal after all.

Emotional—3/5—Not a lot to get emotional about, but there were a lot of jovial moments.



Characters—4/5—Bansky and Thierry are shown off well.  Whether Thierry is a “real” person or not, he is a fun character.  And Bansky, despite his hidden nature and face, comes off as wise and mysterious, just as his art communicates.

Theme—4/5—I think that the film is really about street art, what it is and is not.  Perhaps there is a little competition between street art and commercial art, but its really all about street art.  Thierry isn’t an artist, at first, because he doesn’t care about the audience.  Then, he isn’t a street artist because he’s not actually producing it all himself.  He is the anti-artist all throughout the film.  How wonderful all the street artists are portrayed as mystified about Thierry—which says much about street art right there.
 


Ethics—2/5—I don’t think that Exit really deals with ethical questions, which is a shame because there are so many that could have been discussed or at least referred to.  What is the difference between street art and graffiti?  How has street art been used to change people’s perception of the world? 

Personal—3/5—As a dumpster diver and homeless advocate, I also can appreciate the edge of legality and the necessity to sometimes cross over the line.  However, I am not an artist and so that area is still a mystery to me.



This is one of the most entertaining documentaries I’ve seen.  It’s not deep, but tells a good story in a unique way.  I don’t think it will make my top 100, but I am much more likely to rewatch this film than almost any other documentary I’ve seen.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

'Noke

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 11799
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #433 on: March 31, 2011, 03:37:22 PM »
I don't think Banksy is interested in the question between street art and graffiti, for a couple of reasons. It's already one which has been covered time and again, in news outlets and docs and by people who are agaisnt street art, that making a documentary with bits of street art is already dealing with that question in some way. Also, this is a personal documentary for Banksy, about himself and the street art world, and the people who deal with that question are those of us who watch it and pay attention to it. Banksy already knows his answer to that question, and the questions he asks are the ones he doesn't know his answer to. That's how I viewed it, anyways.
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #434 on: March 31, 2011, 03:39:59 PM »
I don't think Banksy is interested in the question between street art and graffiti, for a couple of reasons. It's already one which has been covered time and again, in news outlets and docs and by people who are agaisnt street art, that making a documentary with bits of street art is already dealing with that question in some way. Also, this is a personal documentary for Banksy, about himself and the street art world, and the people who deal with that question are those of us who watch it and pay attention to it. Banksy already knows his answer to that question, and the questions he asks are the ones he doesn't know his answer to. That's how I viewed it, anyways.

I'm sure it's not an interesting question for Bansky.  I'm talking about what's interesting for ME.   Most of my great films deal with ethical questions.  If there was an ethical question that the film dealt with, instead of just aesthetics, I might have put it on my top 100.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

'Noke

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 11799
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #435 on: March 31, 2011, 03:45:14 PM »
I don't think Banksy is interested in the question between street art and graffiti, for a couple of reasons. It's already one which has been covered time and again, in news outlets and docs and by people who are agaisnt street art, that making a documentary with bits of street art is already dealing with that question in some way. Also, this is a personal documentary for Banksy, about himself and the street art world, and the people who deal with that question are those of us who watch it and pay attention to it. Banksy already knows his answer to that question, and the questions he asks are the ones he doesn't know his answer to. That's how I viewed it, anyways.

I'm sure it's not an interesting question for Bansky.  I'm talking about what's interesting for ME.   Most of my great films deal with ethical questions.  If there was an ethical question that the film dealt with, instead of just aesthetics, I might have put it on my top 100.

That's fair, I was just kinda talking about how I saw this movie. The ethical question for me is the idea of art, and what is good art and how should we judge good art, and snobbery and whatnot, which is more interesting to me personally then the questions about graffiti. I would love to saee a movie which dealt with the graffiti question specifically though.
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #436 on: March 31, 2011, 04:00:43 PM »
I don't think the film specifically deals with what is 'art' generally.  Technically, the McDonald's logo is art.   I think My Kid Could Paint That deals with value in art and F is for Fake deals with imitation and art.  Here I think it's really more specific about street art.  What Mr. Brainwash did was art, but was it "street" art?  Did it have as much value as street art?  There's no comparison with other kinds of recognized art at all.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #437 on: March 31, 2011, 04:28:17 PM »
Ethics—2/5—I don’t think that Exit really deals with ethical questions, which is a shame because there are so many that could have been discussed or at least referred to.

I thought it raised a great ethical question about art exhibitions. The street art movement sprung up when talented artists couldn't get their work displayed in a gallery. There was no outlet through the usual channels, so they started posting in the street for free. This is illegal, but it did bring them the attention and acclaim they deserved and ultimately led to some of them getting proper showing.

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #438 on: March 31, 2011, 07:32:59 PM »
Ethics—2/5—I don’t think that Exit really deals with ethical questions, which is a shame because there are so many that could have been discussed or at least referred to.

I thought it raised a great ethical question about art exhibitions. The street art movement sprung up when talented artists couldn't get their work displayed in a gallery. There was no outlet through the usual channels, so they started posting in the street for free. This is illegal, but it did bring them the attention and acclaim they deserved and ultimately led to some of them getting proper showing.

I don't consider this an ethical question, but a business one, and a community decision.  In other words, there is an art community and they decide what is art.  What the street artists have done-- and could have done any number of different ways-- is simply build up an alternative community, one that is more populist in nature.

However, one way or the other, I don't know that this is a question addressed by the film.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #439 on: April 01, 2011, 04:00:42 PM »
Finding Nemo



My son, on his 18th birthday this last December decided to celebrate this first step into adulthood by inviting a couple of his friends to our home to watch Finding Nemo while eating homemade Portal Cake (recipe changed from the original).  This was a marvelous idea and a great opportunity for me to reevaluate one of my favorite movies of all time.

When I first watched Finding Nemo, my reaction was much like a comment made recently on the forum, “A talking animals movie—how unique!”  The story was simple, and while Dorry is hilarious, overall the impression it left me was “meh”.   After watching it with my children more times than I can count, my appreciation for this film knows no bounds.  This is a deep film, a touching film, a truly human film that has to be told in the sea, for only the sea has the complexity of human society.  Yeah, it’s played for laughs—a lot of wonderful, freeing, joyous laughs—but it isn’t just a funny film.  It’s a film about love and relationships.



Technical—5/5—Amazing.  This is one of the peaks of Pixar’s art.  Every plant, every tentacle, every fin is perfectly realized.  The characters are completely fish and completely human, much in the way Disney has done at their best.  This is a marvel of computer animation.

Interest—5/5—How can I turn away from this film?  Every second is interesting.  It’s funny, then tense, then touching, then funny again. 



Tension—5/5—This is the first film I remember Mercy and I watching together.  We saw it in the theatre, she was three, and was scared to death.  The sharks, the lantern fish, the whale… it was all too intense for her (she still gets nervous about too much tension).  She wanted to leave, but I just held her in my lap and told her to shut her eyes if it was too much.  By the end of the movie she loved it, but it was touch and go for a bit.  Sure, it’s not really scary for adults, but the lantern fish still creeps me out a bit and the jellyfish scene still makes me tense.

Emotional—5/5—Yeah.  When the Pelican tells Nemo the story of his dad braving all of the dangers of the ocean to find his son, I get tears in my eyes.  Heck, they are there right now, just thinking about it.



Characters—5/5—This is the best.  Rarely is character better shown through plot than in this film.  The prologue which establishes the reason for Marlin’s fears, but especially the time taken for Marlin’s attempt at humor.  He can’t tell the joke because he needs to over explain everything, and that tells us everything we need to know, and we can see from the beginning how this damages his relationship with his son.  And instead of Dory and Nemo just being “the funny one” and “the object of desire”, they are given character arcs as well, where all three of them learn to trust.  Marlin learns to trust his son, Dory learns to trust a family and Nemo learns to trust himself.  Brilliant.



Theme—5/5—There’s a lot going on in the film, as it is a quest movie.  Most quest stories rely on the next thing coming to keep the interest, as does FN.  But this is the most human of quest stories, because it is about relationships and how trust is essential.  It isn’t just that the father needs to give the son more freedom (like the shallow Little Mermaid), but that they all needed to trust each other, and to trust the love that they have for each other.  And the way to develop trust is to see each other (and oneself) in crisis.  After the worst has happened and every acted heroically, there is no more need for fear.   This is simple, a child could get it.  But there’s enough in the telling of it that a psychologist or ethicist to spend hours on it, understanding how it works.

Ethics—5/5—Fear leads to overprotection, trust—even dangerous trust—builds love.  That’s powerful.



Personal—5/5—Despite it’s depth, its hilarity, its ethical nature… Finding Nemo is a story about parenting.  We all have a tendency to overprotect as parents (unless we are so wigged out on addiction we don’t notice our children).  It is interesting that a significant part of the story is Nemo learning from Gil what Marlin couldn’t teach him.  It isn’t that Marlin didn’t get Nemo back, but Gil is just as important to Nemo’s growth as Marlin was.   Letting go, in parenting, often means letting others teach what you cannot.  That is real trust.  It is hard to let our children go, and necessary.  These are all lessons I am still learning.

Okay, yeah.  It still belongs in my top 5.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

 

love