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| Ghulam |
 Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Hungarian director Bela Tarr's last film "The Turin Horse" (2011) is a stark and austere depiction of an old sick man living with his hard working daughter and his old sickly horse in an isolated hut on a windy hill. It is shot in very appropriate black and white. Each scene is slow, at natural pace, the camera staring at the old man and his daughter unharnessing the horse, or the old man eating his potato, the only food they eat, or the daughter washing clothes. There is an aura of a slow apocalypse, their deprivations slowly getting worse. There is no sentimentality or dramatization. There is very little dialogue. The camera just observes what transpires. A memorable film. Got 5 international awards.
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:51 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: It's probably my favorite among the WB backstagers.
Really wish the novel 42nd Street was based on would get reprinted. Not only very different from the movie, but an early example of gay lit.
Never knew that. I would love to read it. How did you get to do so?
Oh I never have. It's recounted in a book on early gay novels that I read. One copy was available on Amazon for an ungodly amount. The book was only released once, shortly after the movie (though it isn't a novelization; the book came first and Warner Bros. bought it before publication). The director and the juvenile lead are lovers, that's why the director is working so hard to make the show work, because the actor will leave him in the show isn't a hit. The scene in the movie where the director is worn out after a hard day and tells the stage manager "Stay with me tonight. I don't want to be alone" is sexual in the book. The story continues after the show opens, and what happens to the Ruby Keeler character is something akin to what happens to Katherine Hepburn in Morning Glory. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 5:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe--That sounds fascinating. Maybe with gays being in the spotlight, they'll reissue it.
Can't remember what happens to Katharine (with an "a") Hepburn in Morning Glory. Can you remind me? I always get that and Stage Door mixed up. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 5:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote:
I was truly disappointed they didn't combine the two bands and call themselves The 39 Steps.
"The Defiant Ones" would also work. Movie sounds like something I want to see. I see that it's streaming on Netflix and will be one of my next viewings. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 6:36 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| "Identity Theft" is a decent comedy vehicle for Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. It has some heart, and the ending leans more toward sweet than cynical. Bateman has that whole Everyman thing going on, which means that his range is limited but his choices are many. There are some moments resonant with "Horrible Bosses," and Jon Favreau has a small but fun scene as a horrible boss. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Revisited Keane for the first time in years, and found Damian (Homeland) Lewis's performance as a severely mentally damaged man to be even more powerful than before. In fact, Lewis has now taken his place on my "top five male movie performances of all time" list. He is supported excellently by Amy Ryan as a worn-out woman and brilliantly by Abigail Breslin as her daughter, who shares the second half of the movie with Lewis after a 45-minute one-man show. Signs and Keane marked Breslin as an actress to watch, even at the age of ten or so, and she has come through.
In any case, Keane, directed by Lodge Kerrigan, is a great film. It streams on Netflix and must be seen. But be warned: it's tough to take, thanks to the great Damian Lewis. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:46 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Keane is pretty impressive.
Check out Kerrigan's first film Clean, Shaven (1994), which is like a low budget dry-run for Keane a full decade before. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:56 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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gromit wrote: Keane is pretty impressive.
Check out Kerrigan's first film Clean, Shaven (1994), which is like a low budget dry-run for Keane a full decade before.
Keane didn't have much of a budget either. Kerrigan knows how to get a lot of bang for his buck. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: Joe--That sounds fascinating. Maybe with gays being in the spotlight, they'll reissue it.
Can't remember what happens to Katharine (with an "a") Hepburn in Morning Glory. Can you remind me? I always get that and Stage Door mixed up.
It's a terrific movie. She's a woman dedicated to becoming an actress. She sleeps with a producer at one point (Adolphe Menjou, of course) and thinks she has it made--but he takes off for the Coast or something, leaving her with little more than breakfast in his Manhattan flat. Suddenly she's thrust into the leading role of a Broadway show, and she performs to acclaim. Her dresser warns her not to lose control now that she's a star, not to be a morning glory who withers with the dawn. But we realize by her behavior that that's exactly what she's going to be. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:27 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| "Warm Bodies" may cause me to reverse my position on the zombie genre. Sweet and funny, with an antic wit that delivers a nice-crafted metaphor about the awkwardness and alienation of youth, and first love. The focus on a forbidden infatuation between zombie boy and normal girl, rather than blowing zombie brains out, is quite refreshing. John Malkovich does a fine job as the scary father whose first instinct is to splatter the BF's brains on the wall. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 9:03 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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I finally finished up the final season of The Twilight Zone. There's a good deal of story repetition including copping from the very first episode of a man in an empty town. This time it's a couple and the reveal is that they are the playtoys of a giant alien little girl in "Stopover in a Quiet Town."
There's another in which small aliens pretend to be Big, which i remember seeing before. Which should sound familiar
I liked "Come Wander with Me" where a rockabilly singer goes to a small town tries to buy a mysterious folk tune which presages his demise.
I noticed towards the end of S5, it's 1964 and in keeping with the times, The Twilight Zone discovers black people, who have minor roles in a few episodes. Season 5 is quite good with plenty of classics, but like most years kind of limps towards the finish a bit, though maybe not as pronounced as in some other years.
One extra feature has a bunch of TZ alum old and grey at a panel discussion. And it's nice to see Richard Matheson seated right next to George Clayton Johnson. Though I think in the 10 minute or so clip, GCJ speaks a fair amount, but Matheson just nods.
The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents and all those sponsored theater (Kraft, Hallmark, Playhouse 90, etc) shows really provided some excellent television in the 50's and 60's and gave a lot of actors nice short showcases for their talents. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:17 am |
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The Defenders was an excellent series from the 60's. Coincidentally, when I was in NY in the summer of '61 I was hanging out in Washington Square Park one afternoon. I left to walk to 7th Ave. and on the way I came across a scene being shot, on 5th or 6th street. The cameras were being placed and the director and two male leads were standing around. One of them looked familiar. He was E. G. Marshall and the other guy was Robert Reed. I asked the director what they were shooting. He said it was a new TV series, The Defenders, and would be starting in the fall and I should watch it. I said I would.  They were waiting for the scene that had them going down a few stairs to a door with a sign that said Psychiatric Ward or something like that. I watched for that scene in every episode but it was never used. I was very disappointed. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 12:47 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Gromit, season five might be my favorite....Black Leather Jackets, RingaDing Girl, Owl Creek Bridge, NA20KF, Stopover, Come Wander, and several others. BL Jackets is a hoot.
Playhouse 90 was also a great series, what I remember, and IIRC was also steered by Serling in some capacity.
The Defenders is mostly dim fragmentary images in my head - my parents watched it for a while, which says something, given that they were generally anti-tv. Was Shatner on that series for a while? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:01 pm |
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"Was Shatner on that series for a while?"
If I remember correctly, he played a prosecutor a few times. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 9:37 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I'm watching Gene Kelly talking to "Lola" on the phone and keep expecting him to break into "Chantilly Lace." |
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