Third Eye Film Society ~ View topic

Author

Message

< Third Eye Film Forums ~ Couch With A View

whiskeypriest

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:01 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 6916 Location: "It's a Dry Heat."

Watched Au hasard Balthazar last week; maybe something longer about it this weekend, if I get the chance to watch it again, because right now I am just not sure if it was farking great or, well.... something else.

_________________
I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed?

grace

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:53 am

Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 3214

Last night we stayed up late, but not for fun. So while winding down, we flipped around and settled on the 1970 flick Awakening of the Beast. Mostly it wasn't settling on it as much as staring and saying "Wha..." which I guess is part of the intended effect. It's a classic exploitation flick, possibly surreal (I think), which is a total waste on me because I'll take a pretty landscape over a Picasso any day.

Anyway, Awakening of the Beast is (I think) a series of vignettes depicting the effect of LSD (I think) on different people in a variety of situations. The one with the schoolgirl, complete with knee socks, smoking weed and succumbing (willingly) to a group of not that young men, ultimately to be penetrated by a large tree limb (shown via shadow on the wall) -- well, ouch. And yet we kept watching.

So while I'm not sure I would watch Awakening of the Beast again, and I definitely didn't enjoy the flick, I stayed with it for a good while. Go figure -- I guess in a way it was riveting and therefore might have achieved its goal.

bart

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:28 am

Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 2381 Location: Lincoln NE

Your praise of the film has a quality I would describe as "faint."

_________________
Former 3rd Eye Member

grace

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:43 am

Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 3214

bart wrote:

Your praise of the film has a quality I would describe as "faint."

Well, I'm sure it's a classic, as it was part of a "Coffin Joe" series of films IFC showed last night -- so I wouldn't dare say it sucked or anything, because it's a classic case of "it's not you, it's me." Unfortunately, the classic was wasted on me. And the hubby.

But -- while not appreciating this film (Awakening of the Beast) at all, yet feeling compelled to stick with it instead of continuing to look for something like Benji, I think that says something about the film. (G'head, parse that sentence!)

I'm not sure I can use the word "good" (and what is good, anyway?) in good conscience, but there was something there that got your attention and held it. Besides the nudity, the spectacle, and the general "okay what next?" factor.

Last edited by grace on Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

Rod

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:54 am

Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 2944 Location: Lithgow, Australia

You all know my love of classic Horror and perversity but the Coffin Joe films flatly suck. Jose Mojica Marins is a legend for his attempts, not his results.

_________________
A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space.

yambu

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:04 pm

Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area

billyweeds wrote:

....Whoever talked about the British films--Kind Hearts and Coronets was indeed great, but Tunes of Glory was a photo-finish second, and for Guinness, an undisputed first. Too bad he had just won for the good but less-than-Tunes perf in Kwai. His Tunes perf was therefore a little underrated.

Thanks for the recommend, Billy. I watched Tunes last night. What a treat to see, after all these years, one of my favorite actors at his very best. I loved his character every bit as much as the men who served with him.

_________________
That was great for you. How was it for me?

marantzo

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:33 pm

Guest

Saw Tunes of Glory many years ago and I love the pipes so even if it weren't as good as it is, I would have enjoyed it.

I watched A Child of Manhattan the other day and just loved it. It's a 30's serio/comic romance movie with all the usual unbelievable plot turns. It had some very humourous moments. The heroine's sidekick surrogate mother is played as Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe and besides using some funny Yiddish terms (mamzer for example which means bastard) keeps mangling American colloquialisms, but very near the end of the movie she says, "So he is the coloured man in the woodshed?" I cringed.

But it's definitely true what they say; They don't make 'em like that anymore. And I'm not talking about the racially tainted joke at the end, I'm taking about the loony fairytale plot that is told with all seriousness. And the characters are lovable. And.....I wasn't even born then but I seem to have a thing for 30's women.

ehle64

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:31 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 7149 Location: NYC; US&A

Tobi(sp?) Jones in Infamous.

BLECH!

_________________
It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is.

jeremy

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:02 pm

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)

Deleted - wrong forum.

Last edited by jeremy on Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.

ehle64

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:21 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 7149 Location: NYC; US&A

y'all know how rapidement I am @ giving thoughts. . . (especially if a LapTop is around) BUT! I am extremely annoyed that I, as a film lover, have to put up with two competing Truman Capote BioPics in a year or two. I mean, first of all, the man was FAR more than In Cold Blood. Oh dear me, why do I bother, most of the people in here would rather quibble over movie times, $$$, and gossip than actually go and see a fucking film. Remember b4 u press send, that I said "most".

_________________
It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is.

Marj

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:19 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 10497 Location: Manhattan

ehle64 wrote:

Wade -- I happen to agree. I'd love to see a movie about the whole man. Which is why I read the book. It's very detailed but I think you'd like it. And b4 you press "send," remember I said, I think ...

gromit

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:46 am

Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9010 Location: Shanghai

Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven does indeed kick ass.
There's a few moments where things are a little overdone, but that's a minor quibble. It's fun to meet Clint initially as a down-and-out pig farmer. Actually I initially thought Skinny, the whore-house proprietor we first meet pulling a gun on an out-of-control patron, was in fact Clint. And I wonder if that was intentional, so as to contrast the tough take-charge initial impression we get of Skinny, with the bumbling sloppy Clint we soon meet.

The writing is quite good, and especially how the story focuses on one event and its consequences, on one town and a few outsiders. I liked how the tale of the cut-whore gets exaggerated as it is repeated. I also like a few small touches throughout the story: like how there is never any overt racism directed towards the black character, how we never know what the cut-whore really thinks about the whole proceedings, how the partner of the knifeman is implicated in the killings and nobody really thinks twice about that.

Both Clint and Hackman are very good. I wouldn't have really thought of Hackman in such a role, but he's makes a superb sociopathic lawman. Only problem is that when he has his hat off, I kept being somewhat reminded of the coach in Hoosiers. There are some lovely scenes,, usually brief, of the Western landscape as well. The mood, feel and look of the film all come together really well.

I'm probably one of the last here to see this, and not really sure why I waited so long to pick it up.

_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.

yambu

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:55 am

Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area

gromit, yours is a good look at one I should see again soon. Another nice touch - Hackman the house fixer-upper.

Nancy

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:04 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4607 Location: Norman, OK

Unforgiven is an outstanding film, and an interesting examination of the nature and effects of violence. I must see it again too. BTW, my last 3 hours of college credit were for a journalism course on the Films of Clint Eastwood.

_________________
"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."

Isaacism, 2009

jeremy

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:25 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)

The Unforgiven is the ultimate deconstruction of the Western and to a lesser extent Clint's own screen persona, ironically one that overturned a previous vision of the Western hero. Deflating the bombast of Richard Harris's bounty hunter, cutting low the hubris of Hackman's lawman, making us hate the venal barman, making the young gunslinger all but blind and casting scorn on the sheeplike posse, it turns cherished stereotypes on their head. However, Clint's macho vanity - he just can't help but play the traditional Western hero whose qualities only become apparent in extreme adversity - means it s a long way from being a feminist vision. Why is it my favourite Eastwood Western? One of its strengths is devoid of any sentimentality with has a burning desire to immolate any myth left standing, but best of all is Eastwood's willingness to share the stage with his brilliant ensemble cast, whi fill and enrich the film.

Last edited by jeremy on Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.

All times are GMT - 5 Hours

View next topic View previous topic Page 1175 of 2427 Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 ... 1174, 1175, 1176 ... 2425, 2426, 2427 Next Third Eye Film Society Forum Index ~ Third Eye Film Forums

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum