Did anybody see “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” when it first came out? I saw two versions: the real ending and the ending in the police station where we learn that the government believes our protagonist. The original was scary as hell.
There’s a difference between high camp and scary. Coppola’s Dracula is the former, Deliverance is the latter. When I saw Exorcist I didn’t feel a bit scared just unhappy I paid to sit there. The Innocents is really a very creepy movie and very sexy: watch the face of the nanny when the boy kisses her on the lips. It’s momentary, but the sex is there. And it’s scary.
About two years ago I asked this same question. No answers.
My impetus was a book by Michael Onndanje in which he interviews Walter Murch. You should all take a look at this book because Murch is the real McCoy having edited, mixed and even directed a (lousy) film.
This topic seems a bit foolish. There are so many.
How about “plan 9” (an old perennial), “The Devils” (of Loudon) or, on a different level, “The Naked Sky”. All terrible movies.
Two only: Barry Lyndin and All that Jazz. The latter has some wonder dancing and choreography— the mother daughter dance is perfect— but its self-indulgence was too much. When heart attack came he was on the gurney and we in the aisle.
I agree with Mr. Mr. Harding. There is, however, a difference between Leni Riefenstahl and Elia Kazan. The former lent her name a not inconsiderable talents to promoting and etherializing the most despicable political regime the world has ever seen. I think it is her attempt to make Nazism and what it sponsored something of a religious experience that I find most repellent, but chacun a son gout. As for Kazan “Waterfront” was his putative apologia for his crummy actions. Bando’s performance is very good— admit it— almost as good as his in "Viva Zapata (a better movie by far), but the movie as a whole left me sickened when I saw it when it was released.
By the way, it may appear that these issues are now dead, but they’re not. Look around you.
Leni Riefenstahl was invited to make “Triumph of the Will” and subsequently “Olympia”. Both films celebrate the human body and the etherial experience of living. Both films are terrifying examples of propaganda on the most powerful level. Prior to her Hitlerian period she was an okay UFA actress in “mountain films” (mentioned above) and Heimat films, both of which were anti-modern and traditionally Romantic (two/three hankie) weepers. Her connexion with Hitler made her famous and ultimately destroyed her. These films should be watched. See how she handles the clouds from the ’plane and the morning rise of the men in “Triumph” and compare them to the opening of “Olympia” and later the naked running men in (all white, by the way). She may have become repelled by what she saw on the Eastern Front, but at no time did she repudiate Hitler. She is scary.
Art is entertainment. Fashion is entertainment as much as sculpture. Entertainment when it works takes our soul and squeezes it with joy or sorrow or enlightenment. A motion picture is by its very heritage entertainment. You can watch the KKK scene in “Birth of a Nation” and be horrified and thrilled at once. That’s art and entertainment. Then there’s Michael on the steps of the church being informed that his enemies are dead and knowing what he has to do next. You can’t help but feel an exhiliaration and a depression. Great art does that. It relieves and enhances you as a person.
“Black Orpheus” is a charming rereading of the myth, and I usually enjoy these a great deal. I just watched “O, Brother Where Art Thou” and had a fine time, having taught the “Odyssey” many times. Both movies take the tale and transpose it into a context that fits it but is so far removed from the original that you have to know the story to appreciate the movie. In “Black Orpheus” the people are,almost without exception, beautiful; in “Brother” with the exception of the Sirens and a couple others, they are anything but beautiful. The visual creation fits the subject. I liked “Orpheus” but recognize its deficiencies.
“Black Orpheus” is a charming rereading of the myth, and I usually enjoy these a great deal. I just watched “O, Brother Where Art Thou” and had a fine time, having taught the “Odyssey” many times. Both movies take the tale and transpose it into a context that fits it but is so far removed from the original that you have to know the story to appreciate the movie. In “Black Orpheus” the people are,almost without exception, beautiful; in “Brother” with the exception of the Sirens and a couple others, they are anything but beautiful. The visual creation fits the subject. I liked “Orpheus” but recognize its deficiencies.
Well, let’s see. Have any of you folks read Vogue lately? If you contemplate the fashions in it you are seeing Terminator 2, in the fashion world of course. High tech, low taste.Nobody would or probably could wear most everything in the magazine, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t entertained by it, enjoy it, and maybe even get something more out of it.
Poor Mickey thrown in bed with Jackie Collins. Mickey could, on occasion, write; Jackie could never do that. How about the Bible and James Patterson?
Rogert Ebert is dying. His will be a loss. I think a lot of people dislike him because he knows that film is pre-eminently a narrative art and, like all good art, can give us more than we expect. That’s why I didn’t like pedant Yalie Siskel; he wanted movies to say something. That’s death— as one person noted above.
I first saw him in “Peggy Sue Got Married” and couldn’t figure out why she married him. He is very good in “Leaving Las Vegas”. But I’ve never quite got over my feelings about him from “Peggy Sue”.
It’s like Live Music. There’s nothing to replace going to a movie theater and seeing a film on the big screen. Paya has it right. But so does Giselle, alas. Have any of you seen “Purple Rose of Cairo” on the big screen?
Nothing is sacred. Mad comic book did a parody of Picasso; Homer Simpson nailed Carlos Castaneda; Fanfan la Tulipe did to swashbucklers what needed to be done. But these are parodic and serious only in their humor. If you want to parody Seven Samurai, that would be fine with me; it could be pretty funny. But to remake the film (like Psycho) is a travesty. But Mr. Bedaw is right; it will come, and it will go.
The child is the only complete innocent in the film. Innocents appear out of blue and jerk us up back to who and what we are. The voyeuristic story is over; the listeners have participated in the ‘real tale’ just by telling and listening to the story. The child is a deus ex machina— it supplements the story and restores order.
That rather corny B movie “Tarantula” had deformed animals, grotesqueries and a lab with many of them ended up burned to death. You couldn’t really relate to the animals, though, and that’s probably why nobody thinks of it. Besides, it’s a Big Tarantula that gets fried by Clint Eastwood, forsooth!, in the end.
The scariest or most disturbing film you have EVER seen. over 3 years ago
Did anybody see “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” when it first came out? I saw two versions: the real ending and the ending in the police station where we learn that the government believes our protagonist. The original was scary as hell.
There’s a difference between high camp and scary. Coppola’s Dracula is the former, Deliverance is the latter. When I saw Exorcist I didn’t feel a bit scared just unhappy I paid to sit there. The Innocents is really a very creepy movie and very sexy: watch the face of the nanny when the boy kisses her on the lips. It’s momentary, but the sex is there. And it’s scary.
Go to Comment
Books about film. over 3 years ago
About two years ago I asked this same question. No answers.
My impetus was a book by Michael Onndanje in which he interviews Walter Murch. You should all take a look at this book because Murch is the real McCoy having edited, mixed and even directed a (lousy) film.
Go to Comment
WHAT IS YOUR PICK FOR THE WORSE MOVIE EVER MADE? over 3 years ago
This topic seems a bit foolish. There are so many.
How about “plan 9” (an old perennial), “The Devils” (of Loudon) or, on a different level, “The Naked Sky”. All terrible movies.
Go to Comment
MOMENT OF TRUTH: HAVE YOU EVER GONE TO THE MOVIES AND FALLEN ASLEEP DURING THE FILM? over 3 years ago
Only once. Half way through the first part of Barry Lyndon. My wife and I left quickly at half-time.
Go to Comment
Which Movies Have You Walked Out On? over 3 years ago
Two only: Barry Lyndin and All that Jazz. The latter has some wonder dancing and choreography— the mother daughter dance is perfect— but its self-indulgence was too much. When heart attack came he was on the gurney and we in the aisle.
Go to Comment
I used to think this movie was great, but i don't anymore over 3 years ago
“The English Patient”.
Go to Comment
Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
I can’t take the time to read all the entries.
“Viva Zapata”, “Zazie dans le Metro”, and Sanjat Ray’s “Apu”.
Go to Comment
ELIA KAZAN AND THE HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNT over 3 years ago
I agree with Mr. Mr. Harding. There is, however, a difference between Leni Riefenstahl and Elia Kazan. The former lent her name a not inconsiderable talents to promoting and etherializing the most despicable political regime the world has ever seen. I think it is her attempt to make Nazism and what it sponsored something of a religious experience that I find most repellent, but chacun a son gout. As for Kazan “Waterfront” was his putative apologia for his crummy actions. Bando’s performance is very good— admit it— almost as good as his in "Viva Zapata (a better movie by far), but the movie as a whole left me sickened when I saw it when it was released.
By the way, it may appear that these issues are now dead, but they’re not. Look around you.
Go to Comment
THOUGHTS ON LENI RIEFENSTAHL over 3 years ago
Leni Riefenstahl was invited to make “Triumph of the Will” and subsequently “Olympia”. Both films celebrate the human body and the etherial experience of living. Both films are terrifying examples of propaganda on the most powerful level. Prior to her Hitlerian period she was an okay UFA actress in “mountain films” (mentioned above) and Heimat films, both of which were anti-modern and traditionally Romantic (two/three hankie) weepers. Her connexion with Hitler made her famous and ultimately destroyed her. These films should be watched. See how she handles the clouds from the ’plane and the morning rise of the men in “Triumph” and compare them to the opening of “Olympia” and later the naked running men in (all white, by the way). She may have become repelled by what she saw on the Eastern Front, but at no time did she repudiate Hitler. She is scary.
Go to Comment
Do you consider films to be a form of entertainment? over 3 years ago
Art is entertainment. Fashion is entertainment as much as sculpture. Entertainment when it works takes our soul and squeezes it with joy or sorrow or enlightenment. A motion picture is by its very heritage entertainment. You can watch the KKK scene in “Birth of a Nation” and be horrified and thrilled at once. That’s art and entertainment. Then there’s Michael on the steps of the church being informed that his enemies are dead and knowing what he has to do next. You can’t help but feel an exhiliaration and a depression. Great art does that. It relieves and enhances you as a person.
Go to Comment
Thoughts on 'Black Orpheus'? over 3 years ago
“Black Orpheus” is a charming rereading of the myth, and I usually enjoy these a great deal. I just watched “O, Brother Where Art Thou” and had a fine time, having taught the “Odyssey” many times. Both movies take the tale and transpose it into a context that fits it but is so far removed from the original that you have to know the story to appreciate the movie. In “Black Orpheus” the people are,almost without exception, beautiful; in “Brother” with the exception of the Sirens and a couple others, they are anything but beautiful. The visual creation fits the subject. I liked “Orpheus” but recognize its deficiencies.
Go to Comment
Thoughts on 'Black Orpheus'? over 3 years ago
“Black Orpheus” is a charming rereading of the myth, and I usually enjoy these a great deal. I just watched “O, Brother Where Art Thou” and had a fine time, having taught the “Odyssey” many times. Both movies take the tale and transpose it into a context that fits it but is so far removed from the original that you have to know the story to appreciate the movie. In “Black Orpheus” the people are,almost without exception, beautiful; in “Brother” with the exception of the Sirens and a couple others, they are anything but beautiful. The visual creation fits the subject. I liked “Orpheus” but recognize its deficiencies.
Go to Comment
Do you consider films to be a form of entertainment? over 3 years ago
Well, let’s see. Have any of you folks read Vogue lately? If you contemplate the fashions in it you are seeing Terminator 2, in the fashion world of course. High tech, low taste.Nobody would or probably could wear most everything in the magazine, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t entertained by it, enjoy it, and maybe even get something more out of it.
Poor Mickey thrown in bed with Jackie Collins. Mickey could, on occasion, write; Jackie could never do that. How about the Bible and James Patterson?
Go to Comment
stupidest things ever said in a movie over 3 years ago
How about that oldie but goodies: “Tomorrow is another day.” [Music swells, tears flow]
Go to Comment
Roger Ebert/ Worst Critic EVER! over 3 years ago
Rogert Ebert is dying. His will be a loss. I think a lot of people dislike him because he knows that film is pre-eminently a narrative art and, like all good art, can give us more than we expect. That’s why I didn’t like pedant Yalie Siskel; he wanted movies to say something. That’s death— as one person noted above.
Go to Comment
Age / Level of education? (An informal poll) over 3 years ago
70. PhD in Classical Philology
Go to Comment
Who else dislikes Nicolas Cage? over 3 years ago
I first saw him in “Peggy Sue Got Married” and couldn’t figure out why she married him. He is very good in “Leaving Las Vegas”. But I’ve never quite got over my feelings about him from “Peggy Sue”.
Go to Comment
Importance of Seeing a Film in Theatres? over 3 years ago
It’s like Live Music. There’s nothing to replace going to a movie theater and seeing a film on the big screen. Paya has it right. But so does Giselle, alas. Have any of you seen “Purple Rose of Cairo” on the big screen?
Go to Comment
What films have you walked out on and why ? over 3 years ago
“All That Jazz”, at the moment of his heart attack: what a lot of egotistical tommy-rot. And, “Barry Lyndon”, snore.
Go to Comment
People against the seven samurai remake over 3 years ago
Nothing is sacred. Mad comic book did a parody of Picasso; Homer Simpson nailed Carlos Castaneda; Fanfan la Tulipe did to swashbucklers what needed to be done. But these are parodic and serious only in their humor. If you want to parody Seven Samurai, that would be fine with me; it could be pretty funny. But to remake the film (like Psycho) is a travesty. But Mr. Bedaw is right; it will come, and it will go.
Go to Comment
Recommend some Light Hearted/Uplifting/Feel Good FOREIGN Movies over 3 years ago
Fanfan le Tulipe; Divorce Italian Style; there are others, but that’s a start
Go to Comment
Rashomon over 3 years ago
The child is the only complete innocent in the film. Innocents appear out of blue and jerk us up back to who and what we are. The voyeuristic story is over; the listeners have participated in the ‘real tale’ just by telling and listening to the story. The child is a deus ex machina— it supplements the story and restores order.
Go to Comment
silent films that deserve to be on Criterion. over 3 years ago
Sunrise
Go to Comment
what actors do you consider creepy? over 3 years ago
Christopher Walken
Kathy Bates
Peter Lorre
Jack Palance
To name a few
Go to Comment
Remember that poor ox in APOCALYPSE NOW? The treatment of animals in film. over 3 years ago
That rather corny B movie “Tarantula” had deformed animals, grotesqueries and a lab with many of them ended up burned to death. You couldn’t really relate to the animals, though, and that’s probably why nobody thinks of it. Besides, it’s a Big Tarantula that gets fried by Clint Eastwood, forsooth!, in the end.
Go to Comment
The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" Poll over 3 years ago
Okay, I’m in.
Go to Comment
Performances That Took Over A Film almost 2 years ago
Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite
Go to Comment
CINEMATIC ANNOYANCES, INCONSISTENCIES & BLUNDERS almost 2 years ago
“Airplane” gets a number of annoyances just right.Go to Comment
Best film you've never see and sometimes hate to admit it almost 2 years ago
Shawshank Redemption.
Go to Comment