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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 2:24 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Not to mention the shitty A Chorus Line movie. He actually told interviewers the show was about "young kids trying to break into show business." He was directing the fucking thing, and he didn't even know what it was about. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 5:56 pm |
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Joe Vitus wrote: Not to mention the shitty A Chorus Line movie.
Except that I just mentioned it. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 6:57 pm |
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Never saw the movie A Chorus Line, but it reminded me of The Boy Friend movie. What a piece of crap. My ex and I walked out about half way through. The only good thing in the movie was Tommy Tune. Of course Ken Russell made the movie, so it fit his mostly ridiculous crappy movies.
The first thing I saw by Ken Russell was the Isadora Duncan documentary TV movie. It was very good. 1966 I think. He should have stuck to TV documentary movies. His imagining in his movies were gaudy and stupid. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:57 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Our TV, aka "The Cutting Edge of 1997 technology", finally gave up the ghost so I am a proud possessor of a new 70" flat screen TV that really ties the room together. Laterally, we changed satellite providers and are enjoying the benefits of several free months of movie programming. So, along with my being home bound for the prep of what sadly turned out to be a Quadrennial rather than Decennial procedure....
Lincoln - Despite my extreme interest in the Civil War, I had to date only seen the final hour or so of it before. Luckily, I knew how it all came out before, so knowing the ending was no big deal. Anyways. I was whelmed by the movie. The acting was fine - I do not always enjoy DDL - even in his universally praised Oscar winning turns - but I liked him as Lincoln. Liked but did not really like Sally Field. Tommy Lee Jones was my favorite, although the real Thaddeus Stevens was if possible even more brutal but less directly so (His most famous bit, when asked if he thought Lincoln's first, famously corrupt, Secretary of War, Cameron, would steal, responded "I do not think he would steal a red hot stove". When Cameron objected, Stevens recanted with "I do not think Cameron would not steal a red hot stove." Those were the days!) Thought some of it reeked of stunt casting, and am not sure the script captured the real Lincoln: even in his jokes he was too dour.
Which is OK, the movie gets to create its own Lincoln without any obligation to reflect my understanding. The problem was, it was too flat and talky, and seeing as how most people in the audience knew that slavery was outlawed, it needed something else to drive the movie besides the plot, a more thorough examination of Lincoln's character.
Anyway, the MoviPrep kicked in right at the moment Lincoln walks away to the theater remarking how he had to go though would rather stay.... And I realized I had by accident (no, I did not literally have an accident. No pun meant.) made a better ending and as a result a stronger movie than Spielberg had.
I Am Love - was interesting, though I kept thinking about Hundred Foot Journey throughout. Some similarities: food porn deluxe, beautifully shot countrysides. (Imagine if Mirren had boned Hassan. Better movie.) Both of which it did better, despite the director's odd decision to cut from two people passionately humping to a grasshopper on a stalk to the humpers to a flower.... Anyway, nothing great. Swinton does Italian very well, according to my wife, who has lived there.
Seems Like Old Times - Which I had seen probably 1980 when it came out. Liked it then. Now.... Chevy Chase is not Cary Grant. You need charming for the screwball rogue. When he is smarmy, the movie simply does not work.
The General - Alone refutes any claim that there is nothing on Netflix. There is nothing this movie does not provide, except recorded dialogue and color, and if you require those, that is your loss. It remains after maybe 7 viewings one of the touchstone movies for me. Comedy, romance, action, adventure, special effects.... And what is one of my all time favorite sequences in movies, when Keaton directs a box car up a siding, only to have it reappear in front of his engine when his back is turned... and disappear again as soon as he looks away. All Keaton does, really, is blink, but it remains one of the funniest things in movies, even now. Great beyond measure. Anyone who has not seen it Must. See It. Now. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 8:02 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: Attenborough was a fine actor, but as a director he was wildly overrated. The fact that Gandhi and he beat out not only E.T. but also Tootsie for the Oscar was a travesty IMO. And his desecration of A Chorus Line is one of the worst stage-to-film musical adaptations in movie history. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 8:03 pm |
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| As an actor, he is always either Pinky or The Big X for me. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:24 pm |
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You're wrong, Gary. The Boy Friend is a wonderful movie. It was severely cut in first release, so you probably didn't see it under the best conditions. But the dances are wonderful, the jokes are hysterical, Twiggy is adorable (and dances quite well), and the musical arrangements better and more authentic sounding than any version of the stage play. A hugely underrated movie.
But comparing the two adaptations is apples and oranges as ACL was meant to be a faithful film version of the stage show, and TBF is a complete re-imagining of the source material, changing a parody of twenties stage musicals into a parody of Busby Berkeley movie backstagers. |
Last edited by Joe Vitus on Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:25 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: Not to mention the shitty A Chorus Line movie.
Except that I just mentioned it.
Sorry, was reading right before a class.  |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:07 pm |
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Joe, it stunk. Period. If you liked it, fine.
The dances with Tommy Tune were good, because of him. The big screen faces were ridiculously stupid. Another dumb idea by Russell. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:52 am |
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marantzo wrote: Joe, it stunk. Period. If you liked it, fine.
The dances with Tommy Tune were good, because of him. The big screen faces were ridiculously stupid. Another dumb idea by Russell.
What are "big screen faces"? You didn't get the movie, fine. It's a good one. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 9:09 am |
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| I finally caught up with Louise Brooks and "Pandora's Box," which is an excellent movie in which Lulu's (Brooks) life becomes a train wreck (and incidentally wrecks all those around). Brooks is really lovely and a great femme fatale. She carries the movie. All things considered, the prison sentence would have been a better career move for Lulu. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:27 am |
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Quote: . So, along with my being home bound for the prep of what sadly turned out to be a Quadrennial rather than Decennial procedure....
Not sure what this means, but hope you are going to be okay.
What you said re The General. A masterpiece. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:44 am |
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bartist wrote: Quote: . So, along with my being home bound for the prep of what sadly turned out to be a Quadrennial rather than Decennial procedure....
Not sure what this means, but hope you are going to be okay.
What you said re The General. A masterpiece.
Am told I can view it if I want. I need to see what else os on Netflix first. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:03 am |
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The General is one of the finest movies ever made.
Also agree with whiskey about DDL, who I find really overrated. He was great in My Left Foot, but There Will Be Blood and Gangs of New York were (IMO) simply awful. In Lincoln he was excellent. (So was Sally Field IMO.) |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:58 pm |
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My favorite DDL performance remains A Room With a View.
I did not thnk him horrible in TWBB, but mannered and annoying and the reason the movie has not held up for me. |
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