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gromit |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:31 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Watched most of The Right Stuff last night. Strangely I'd never seen it before. I don't like the style much at all. There's a weird hokey joking vibe throughout, largely in the characters of Jeff Goldblum and his partner. But the odd humor directed at gov't officials and throughout the film rather turned me off. The editing and sound seemed rather obvious to the point I could tell when a matching edit was about to occur. Just a weird tone and different vibe than I expected or seemed to fit. |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:45 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I never much cared for The Right Stuff either, and always wondered what all te shouting was about. |
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gromit |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:19 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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It was pretty dang long too.
I just finished the last 15 minutes, and the ending seemed disorganized.
It seemed like the film had a view of the late 50's early 60's as this earnest naive retro-time. And look what they were able to accomplish despite being so goofy. Didn't do much for me. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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Syd |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:41 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12934
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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I think it's one of the best movies of the 80s. Certainly the best film of 1983. |
_________________ 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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carrobin |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:47 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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I haven't seen it since it came out, but I liked it. Especially Ed Harris. |
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bartist |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:09 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6964
Location: Black Hills
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Copy that. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Ed Harris was good in it. Very good. But that's about it for me. In the area of NASA movies, Hidden Figures is where it's at. |
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Syd |
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 9:07 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12934
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote: Ed Harris was good in it. Very good. But that's about it for me. In the area of NASA movies, Hidden Figures is where it's at.
The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 and Hidden Figures are all great films. I've seen several documentaries, too, but I prefer those films. |
_________________ 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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bartist |
Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:03 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6964
Location: Black Hills
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2139851/
"End of the World" came out the same year as the similar Seth Rogen apocalypse comedy "This is the End." This is a very low-budget Canadian production (for the SyFy channel), and has some rough edges, but I still found it amusing, as the heroes use ideas from all the apocalypse movies they've seen (they run a video store) to save the Earth. Lots of easter eggs, for genre movie buffs. As usual, the state of Oregon is played by the province of British Columbia. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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gromit |
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 7:41 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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required film-viewing listfor Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, dir. John Huston)
Viva Zapata (1952, dir. Elia Kazan)
The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo)
The Apu trilogy (1955-1959, dir. Satyajit Ray)
Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987, dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
I guess many of us are affected the most by films we saw when young and impressionable. Somewhat of a macho, male-dominated list, but quite good. Also mostly gritty films dealing with largely real events or real people or autobiographical works, and moral issues. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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gromit |
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:23 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Watched Borderline a 1950 noir starring Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor. Trevor was in lots of noirs, but here she at times seems to be on the verge of screwball comedy. It's a bit odd, especially as her character is supposed to be an undercover cop infiltrating a Mexican drug ring. Which is the same for MacMurray, except he sticks to hard-boiled dialogue. The duo aren't aware that they are both cops smuggling heroin around while bad guy Raymond Burr chases them. Unfortunately, there isn't much payoff when they both discover the situation and the end is rather pat. The costumes are good, but Mexico frequently looks like a backlot version.
I guess they were trying to mesh crime drama, comedy and romance and weren't able to get the tone right. The title is appropriate as the film is on the borderline between good and bad. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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bartist |
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:04 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6964
Location: Black Hills
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Started the Apu trilogy, with "Pather Panchali" (1955) last night. Don't know how I have missed this. Hypnotic, compelling, immersive, beautiful, and compassionate without being preachy. And possibly the only film I've seen about rural Indian life that wasn't well-stocked with pilfering monkeys. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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Ghulam |
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 2:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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No problem with Werner Herzog's list even if it is highly arbitrary.
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Syd |
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:54 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12934
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Netflix apparently doesn't know about the Kiarostami. Sierra Madre and Battle of Algiers are on my best films list, so maybe I should check out the others. Really should have seen the Apu trilogy but I didn't really like Ray's Tagore biography. |
_________________ 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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gromit |
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:51 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Ray is a great filmmaker. The Music Room and Charulata are impressive. Never saw the Tagore doc, but it sounds like an outlier for Ray, both being a documentary and a short. also it was officially commissioned. Tagore won an early Nobel Prize for literature, and his stories were the basis for a few of Ray's films, but he's largely unknown in the West. I'd like to see that.
The Apu Trilogy is powerful and applies the lessons of Italian neo-relaism to rural India with very good results. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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