Last movie you saw and rate it

@San: AGREED

Conversation Piece 7/10

The Decalogue
my rating: A-
Some episodes much better than others, but the whole thing is a staggeringly effective work.

Yeah raging bull really doesn’t do it for me, so far be it for me to judge!

Love High & Low. Kurasawa 4 life.

White Fire (1984)

best bad movie I’ve seen in a LONG time

daisan no kagemusha (the third shadow aka third shadow warrior) (1963)
director: umetsugu inoue (aka umeji inoue)

oddly, this director has 64 titles listed on imdb but this is the only one listed here. anyway, this film is available on criterion hulu plus channel and it’s one of the most entertaining things i’ve seen so far this year!

fantastic 9.5/10

yeah, i don’t get how seven samurai is boring. that’s a gateway film for many, certainly one of the first subtitled films i ever watched and if i spot it on tv i still get sucked in today. it led to a life long love of samurai films for me xD

btw, my favorite kurosawa is throne of blood

Throne of Blood, great choice. My personal favorite of his is Ran.

I still have trouble getting into Raging Bull. I can appreciate the amazing performance, but the character doesn’t interest me all that much.

The Devils 10/10

“I don’t think High and Low is complex to the point of bein inaccessible. Plus, if “oldness” is an issue, High and Low doesn’t have that problem (unless films from the 60s is also too old).”

Not necessarily complex, but there’s that odd shift in the narrative of HIGH AND LOW that can be off-putting, I know people who can’t/don’t appreciate the second half of the movie. Make no mistake, I think HIGH AND LOW is one of Kurosawa’s greatest.

THRONE OF BLOOD rocks the universe.

And for what it is worth, there are great classics that I’ve never been able to get into. GRAND ILLUSION, for one, has never interested me, I always switch it off about fifteen minutes in. I hope the new restoration making the rounds will help me see what the fuss is about. And I was really underwhelmed by CHILDREN OF PARADISE, and AU HASARD BALTHASAR and DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST and and and and and.

@Roscoe: Ive watched all of Renoir’s Grand Illusion and I found it incredibly boring and underwhelming. Bresson’s Pickpocket left me a bit cold, but wow Balthazar floored me. I can see how Bresson’s movies don’t work for some people, he deliberately sucks the life out of each performance. In a way, that Donkey may be the best performance he has ever produced.

Oh, uh, what was I gonna say…. Oh yeah, THRONE OF BLOOD 4 LIFE

Totally agree, Grand Illusion was a major blank and I can’t get into Bresson. Not to say I can’t respect what he was trying to do, but for me it doesn’t work.

Give me a decent Kurosawa any day. Almost every Kurosawa film I’ve seen ranges from “very solid” to “god’s gift to cinema” so the man can do no wrong, but it’s that soundtrack that Yojimbo sports, it can’t be beat!

alright u guys are nuts, grand illusion rules! pickpocket is the BEST! the rules of the game and lancelot du lac are the ones i don’t really get. prolly need to try again tho. kurosawa couldn’t write decent female characters but he’ll do i guess :P

I’m enjoying this discussion, which was instigated by me simply saying “I couldn’t get into Seven Samurai”.

To feed the beast, here’s another one: Grand Illusion didn’t do much for me either.

hehe

19 (Kazushi Watanabe, Japan, 2000) 9/10

For any help finding other films directed by Watanabe I’d be very grateful.

I saw Grand Illusion in college. I thought it was going to be a prison escape film done in a Hollywood style. Boy, was I disappointed. It’s one of the films I want to watch again.

Ruby, I’m with you on Rules of the Game. I see that listed in the top five of all time greatest movies, and that leaves me scratching my head—although I feel the same way about Vertigo, so maybe I just lost all credibility. :)

Roscoe, I loved Children of Paradise! It’s one I hope to watch again to see if I still feel the same.

I always get The Ruling Class, Rules of the Game, The Most Dangerous Game mixed up.

I blame Criterion.

Woah Woah Woah, Jazz, you don’t get “Vertigo”? I mean I know Santino launched us on a bit of a tangent here, but that’s just going too far. It’s one thing to bash The Grand Illusion, it’s something else entirely to bash Vertigo!

Also, just watched “The Searchers”, my first John Ford. Meh. Ain’t no Leone, I’ll tell you that.

I got RULES OF THE GAME from the first time I saw it — I just fell right in. I got major points with my film teachers because I was heard laughing out loud at it.

Yeah, I’m not sure how anyone can not like Vertigo. That’s like saying you hate puppies. :(

Im just gonna say Vertigo is the best movie master Hitchock ever made, PERIOD. Bashing it is like saying you sympathize with… Nah forget it…

Mysteries of Lisbon
my rating: B

I’m not bashing Vertigo nor am I saying that I didn’t like it. It kept my attention, and I enjoyed it for the most part. But I don’t get the fact that many—especially directors—consider it in the top three films (if not the top) of all time.

I hate the last minute of Vertigo. Other than that, I’m good with it.

It’s not my favorite Hitchcock but it’s still neat.

@Nathan

But do you think it’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films of all time?

I would not fault anyone who had Vertigo in their top 10 all time! It’s in my top 20 currently. I think it has a really good shot at number 1 for this decade’s Sight and Sound.

HOWEVER I do not fault you Jazz for not thinking it’s the best movie ever, everyone has those couple of closet universally acclaimed films that just don’t resonate. I mean, Santino doesn’t like Seven Samurai, so…. yeeaah…

Oh, no no no no.

For the record, If I’m ranking my Hitchcock (I know I’m back on Mubi now), I’d go something like this:

1. Rear Window
2. Notorious
3. Psycho
4. I Confess
5. Strangers on a Train

Vertigo is a fine movie, but the ending really kills it for me.