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| marantzo |
 Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 3:52 pm |
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Funny thing, I saw Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner when I lived in Paris and saw Tom Jones when I took a trip to London from Paris on Christmas and New Years time.
I liked Tom Jones at the time, but it was sort of silly. Loneliness of the Long Distant Runner was terrific! |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:17 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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I think Tom Jones is pretty awful. Richardson is always hurling images at the screen, always pushing the manic. It doesn't fit the breezy, digressive nature of Fielding's (great) novel at all. Watching it gives me a headache.
Richardson also screwed up The Loved One, but at least he screwed it up in such a unique, fascinating and at times hilarious way it's kinda a classic. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 3:20 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Watched The Waiting City (2009, an Australian indie film -- in more ways than one, as an Aussie couple go to India to adopt a baby. The couple has a slight gender role switch as the wife is a high-powered lawyer (never terribly convincing as she says things on the phone such as "Yes, I'm 100% certain. Go with that.") and the husband is a musician/slacker who whips out his guitar and jams with Indians all over the place.
It somewhat overplays the exoticism of India (ironaically in a familiar way -- like many a Mardi Gras scene). While a couple of the couple's conflicts are overplayed. Of course they also run into bureaucracy and eager to please locals. And the film has a bit of a twist at the end. Overall an enjoyable film. I assume if this was an American Indie/Indy film, it would have done all right and been heard of. It could have been trimmed down a little, but mostly it makes a lot of smart choices and flows along well. And of course India is pretty photogenic.
A good film for Jeremy to catch on NZ cable ... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 3:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Joe Vitus wrote: I think Tom Jones is pretty awful. Richardson is always hurling images at the screen, always pushing the manic. It doesn't fit the breezy, digressive nature of Fielding's (great) novel at all. Watching it gives me a headache.
Richardson also screwed up The Loved One, but at least he screwed it up in such a unique, fascinating and at times hilarious way it's kinda a classic.
Sorry, we are poles apart on this one. As flawed as Tom Jones may be, its woes cannot hold a candle to the horrendousness of The Loved One, one of the worst, most offensive and yet somehow dullest movies of my lifetime. That the same man could have made TLotLDRunner and The Loved One is hard to wrap my head around. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:47 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| No worries. And in this case, I totally get where you're coming from, whether I agree or no. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:46 am |
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Gee, I never saw The Loved One.
A best friend of mine who lives in Palm Springs now, came to Winnipeg a couple of days ago We went out to lunch yesterday and talked about some movies. We usually like all the same movies. He said that he hasn't seen many good movies lately. I asked him if he saw Lucy. He said he thought of going but wasn't very interested. Of course I told him to see it, because it was a pleasure to watch etc.etc. He's is planning to see it now when he gets back to PS. I'll be interested to find out what he thinks of it. He saw A Most Wanted Man and liked it. I'll be seeing it next week. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 3:44 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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I'd been meaning to see Mongolian Ping Pong for a long time. And had heard good things about it. But found it just okay. The scenery is pretty fantastic. Mongolian nomads are interesting to us non-Mongolian nomads. One of the boys has rather unusual eyes.
But the pace is rather slow. Which I can forgive because the pace of their lives is also slow. The concept of a ping pong ball being so unusual to them is stretched rather thin and overdone. It seemed like the gentle racism of Chinese. Imagine a film showing an American Indian stumbling upon a baseball and at first wondering if it were an animal's egg, and then licking it to determine what it might be. Wow, these folks are super-remote if they have no idea what a ping pong ball is -- something that is iconic Chinese and known to every Chinese. Besides these folks aren't dumb, they have plastic bottles in their yurt, and even a moped made with plastic parts. i think they could figure out fairly quickly that it is made of some sort of plastic.
But more than that, the child actors aren't that good. And their exploits not terribly interesting. The dialogue seemed rather basic and dull. I found myself more interested in the father, who has little screentime, but caught my attention more. Or even the daughter. I would have preferred if the children were just one element and the father had a bigger role and the daughter's romance or other dealings were explored as well.
Some of the compositions are lovely. I liked how the boys stuff all sorts of hings into their robes -- a baby sheep, a beer bottle, etc. And when the children run into a group of slightly older bullies and two of them settle their quarrel with wrestling and throwing the other to the ground. While the adults passively watch, signaling approval/acceptance. The idea of the suitor coming by with exotic items such as a coffee pot and tv seemed like a good idea, but kind of fizzled. It seemed intended for comic relief and maybe was hilarious to Chinese who are all well-attached to western material goods, and probably missed the irony that they've done the same process of discovery only very recently.
Anyway, it seemed there was much more that could have been done here. I would have had it as s eries of vignettes with the ping pong ball being merely one episode. And more of the father and daughter. Maybe the grandmother too. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:18 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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marantzo wrote: Gee, I never saw The Loved One.
I'd really enjoy reading your response. Hope you catch it sometime. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:03 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Revisited World's Greatest Dad in homage to Robin Willliams's passing. He was excellent in this extremely interesting, largely successful attempt at very dark comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait, whose standup comedy lost me but who I love as a filmmaker. An asshole teenager dies due to autoerotic asphyxiation and his dad writes a suicide note for him which goes viral and turns the son into a posthumous hero. It's weird and sometimes very funny and ultimately rather profound. Definitely worth checking out; an almost unseen little gem. And IMO Williams's best performance and movie of them all.
For another black comedy from Goldthwait, see Sleeping Dogs Lie. Terrific. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 12:33 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12893
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. Well, that was certainly different. Not bad, mind you, but different from other movies. The Marquis de Sade actually did direct plays at Charenton, and this one allows us to compare and contrast two radically different viewpoints while watching the chaotic production. Judy Collins recorded a selection of the songs, which is great if you want to understand the lyrics, and are fun to sing. ("Down with all of the ruling class/throw all the generals out on their ass.) The woman who plays Charlotte Corday has a lovely singing voice, even if I couldn't understand a word she was singing (which didn't seem to have anything to do with the plot anyway). She's also pretty hot, which seems to be historically accurate.
I was half expecting the play to end with the actor playing Marat to actually be murdered, but the play went with the other ending I suspected.
I should mention that in the Marat/Sade arguments, I come out on the side of Charlotte Corday. I think she's comparable to the people in the Hitler assassination plot, with the addition that she actually succeeded in killing a monster. In the short run, she made the Reign of Terror even worse, but in a longer run, she helped end it quicker. Unfortunately, Napoleon came along and got more people killed than she saved.
Really beyond ratings, but 7.5 of 10 maybe. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:00 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I recall seeing Marat/Sade when I was about 15, and thinking Glenda Jackson was reallly hot. So, acknowledging that possible introduction of bias in my thinking, I would also come out on the side of Ms. Corday. Saw the film again, about 5-10 years ago, and still liked it, but found it too stagey to make a good film. Then again, there are some plays I will never make it to a theatre to see (unless the local dinner theater does Marat/Sade....figuring low probability event there), so I'm glad of the opp. provided.
Saw "Hero," the 1992 dark comedy with Dustin Hoffman, and really enjoyed it, both as a satiric take-down of media sensationalism and for the curious and quirky character arc of the low-life thief/con artist that Hoffman provides. There's a bit of resonance with "Being There," in terms of people seeing what they want to see, as they hope to find a saint to worship. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 6:02 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Last night i watched "Three Days of the Condor" on TCM, remembering little about it except the office massacre scene near the beginning and that it was a good paranoid flick. It's still a fine thriller, and the CIA plot made me think of "Person of Interest," especially in the way that Redford was tracked and the way he turned the tables. Even in the mid-seventies, they had remarkable tools. The World Trade Center looming over the action made the plot seem particularly sinister today. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12893
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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bartist: I like "Hero" a lot, too. Interesting take on the dubious hero. It got mixed reactions at the time, partly because of the dubiousness of its hero.
I hadn't realized that was Glenda Jackson in "Marat/Sade," though now I'm hitting my head. No wonder I thought she was hot. I've always been easily seduced by her. Who played the female clown who always had the big smile? |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:11 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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I finally caught up with A Bronx Tale, about the 60's there, which is when I grew up there. It's a simple, well told story of how bus driver Robert De Niro is pulling his young son back from local hood Chazz Palminteri. The story, the music, the dramatic overlay will remind you of Goodfellas.
It has an authentic feel, being filmed in front of Mt. Carmel Church on 187th St, though as Irish kids we never went into Italian areas, and vice-versa. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:36 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12893
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Mulan. This had been sitting around the house for a long time but for some reason I'd been reluctant to watch it. At first, I thought I was right, because there are some problems getting into it, but it picks up when she goes into basic training, and when the group of misfits goes to war, it gets really good. I was half expecting the movie to turn her into some kind of super swordswoman, but actually her chief assets are her intelligence and power of observation. There was a misstep in having Eddie Murphy voice the dragon, but that's largely because his character here reminds us of Donkey in the Shrek movies. Mulan came first, so it's a historical accident, but I wish someone else had taken the role.
My favorite moment is when the misfit troops are singing a jaunty song about impressing the girls at home, and the song suddenly stops, as they see a town sacked and burned by the Huns and realize their best army has been annihilated. And now the defense of China is on their shoulders. Mulan's homecoming really moved me.
Trivia: The singer on the song, "I'll Make a Man Out of You" is none other than Donny Osmond.
I have to wonder why the Emperor of China looks like a Taoist sage. It could simply be to explain why he wasn't leading the defense of his realm himself. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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