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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Earl wrote: On a related topic, I tried to watch 8-1/2 the other day. About thirty minutes into it I quit. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
You got twenty more minutes into it than I did recently. It reminded me how little I liked it when it was first released. Sorry, but who cares about the problems faced and angst suffered by a fabulously talented and admired filmmaker with his pick of women? Grow up, Federico!
La Strada and La Dolce Vita remain my by-far-favorite Fellinis. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:15 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote: Earl wrote: On a related topic, I tried to watch 8-1/2 the other day. About thirty minutes into it I quit. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
You got twenty more minutes into it than I did recently. It reminded me how little I liked it when it was first released. Sorry, but who cares about the problems faced and angst suffered by a fabulously talented and admired filmmaker with his pick of women? Grow up, Federico!
La Strada and La Dolce Vita remain my by-far-favorite Fellinis.
I've watched 8 1/2 a couple of times and enjoyed it immensely. But I was surprised watching it the first time because I didn't know beforehand it was a comedy. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:24 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Finally caught The Insider and enjoyed it immensely. Russell Crowe is fine as usual in the first of his three consecutive Oscar nominations (and I think he should have won the two he lost and lost the one he won--and should have gotten another two or three nominations over the years). Al Pacino is also solid, but Crowe's better.
It's also an exciting story, both for Wigand's title character, and about the richest portayal of journalism I've seen in a movie. It makes Good Night, and Good Luck look shallow. It really helped this time that I didn't know 60 Minutes role in the story, and it wasn't what I expected (although more than a few of the events involving Lowell Bergman are fictionalized). |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:04 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| Nights Of Cabiria is my favorite Fellini. But, I love so many of his films. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I could never make it through Cabiria. Not sure which Fellini is my favorite. Probably I Vitelloni. I like Satyricon, even though it misses the whole point of Petronius' work. Nevertheless, Fellini did achieve his own aim of creating "a science fiction work set in the past." |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:34 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Earl wrote: On a related topic, I tried to watch 8-1/2 the other day. About thirty minutes into it I quit. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
Glad to see you finally caught up with it, though. I'm not crazy about 8 1/2, but I do find Fellini's style captivating. Along with Citizen Kane, it stands as a movie I don't really like, or find entertaining, but keep returning to every few years or so. I think that can be read as a compliment.
I'll call or PM you about a movie (still the same trouble with your phone?). This damn semester has me worn out and ridiculously antisocial. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:06 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| I love Satyricon. A real mindbender when I saw it back in 1969. I was 18 years old. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Though I sometimes bristle at Citizen Kane being constantly overrated, I can't imagine not liking it. As Pauline Kael said (somehing like this), it's one of the most entertaining "great movies" ever made. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Marc wrote: Nights Of Cabiria is my favorite Fellini. But, I love so many of his films.
I'm sure most people know this, but for those who may not:
The musical Sweet Charity is based on Nights of Cabiria and borrows its ending from the Fellini. In Fellini's case the "sad ending" was warranted. In the case of Charity, it comes out of nowhere and is unearned and unjustified. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: Fans of musicals, fans of Joss Whedon, go to Netflix and watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Now.
I'm not much of a Joss Whedon fan, but--as you know--I am a fan of musicals, so I took your advice. It's a delight. A weird amalgam of Little Shop of Horrors and Phantom of the Paradise, and smart enough to keep it short, get in and get out in 41 minutes. Tuneful, strange, hilarious, and even sort of scary. Will be watching it again, and soon. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I was really wanting you to enjoy it, Billy. I'm glad you did. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:06 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Watching Hope and Glory, I remembered the scene with the German parachutist, especially afterward when everyone is going after the parachute (good fabric's hard to come by), but I'm surprised I'd forgotten the air raid that takes place close to it in the movie. For a movie with so much humor (often against a stark background), the terror in that scene is powerful. The movie is erratic (John Boorman's middle name is erratic) and the movie in a sense is plotless, but when it's good, which is often, it's very, very good.
One that struck me is when one of the children's mother is killed, some of the kids are acting excited and one of them asks her if she wants to play. (The answer is no.) The kids are often seen using bombed-out houses as playgrounds, scavenging or collecting shrapnel.
For the man who directed Deliverance, Excalibur and The Emerald Forest (the last of which I intensely disliked), this is something different.
I'm a little surprised the kid who's the lead actor in this never apparently made another film, and the girl who plays his little sister only made one more. The biggest name in the cast is Sarah Miles, or maybe Ian Bannen. Sammi Davis, who plays the big sister, was one of the stars of the series "Homefront" and got a Golden Globe nomination for it. But in general, this isn't a film driven by familiar faces. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:14 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| One of the moments you can definitely tell it was filmed by the director of Excalibur, Deliverance and The Emerald Forest is when they are punting down the river with the kid's grandfather. The photography there and in all the other river scenes is incredibly beautiful. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:28 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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| Hope & Glory is an all time favourite film of mine and easily one of Boorman's best. I understand that it is semi-autobigraphical and, accordingly, feels authentic. It somewhat undermines the 'Spirit Of The Blitz' image that the British hold of their experience in the Second World War. However, it would be too strong to call it revisionist; rather, infused with affection and humour, Hope & Glory just allows that stiff upper-lip to quiver a little, painting a more humane and believable picture of Britain at war. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
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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. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:29 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Boorman would have aged from six to twelve during the war. It looks to me like he halved the difference and made Bill nine rather than take six years making the movie. Boorman's from Surrey which was right in the middle of the Blitz. He might well have been in London during the war. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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