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| Marj |
 Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:45 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Quote: Hi Marj, I gotta believe it's available on VHS, but IMDb is usually pretty accurate, so I'm not sure. The other night I was privy to a 16mm print of it shown at a friends loft. This friend was a friend of Jean-Pierre Gorin's (Poto & Cabengo's director) way back in the 70's when Gorin was breaking off his working relationship with Jean-Luc Godard. Gorin was blamed by some for being a "bad" influence on Godard when they were both members of the Dziga Vertov Group. Now with this new info of yours I feel even more priveledged to have seen this interesting work. I quite often go down to SOHO to see films that my friend likes to screen the old-fashioned way. As is usually not the case, the sound with his 16mm projections is excellent. He also quite frequently gets me into screenings of new films, good friend, nice film connection !
Hey Censored - Aren't you glad I asked? Of course it doesn't get me one wit closer to ever seeing this film. Fudge! |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Marj wrote: "I thought it was only OK. But I really dislike Will Farell and I kept wishing as much as I like Radha Mitchell -"
I feel the same about both actors, Marj. But I expected to like Radha more....I guess a Judy Davis was necessary. Farell, I have never liked in anything...........but I actually think he was the one good thing in this. (I just finished watching the end and that was where he shone.)
SPOILERS: The look in his eyes when he happily catches his wife in an affair. The time he's spying on Radha and gets his robe caught in the door. His amorous moves on the conservative blind date who wants to jump out the window. The only laughs in the film were some of his lines. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:36 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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Stop! STOP!!! Stop reminding me of the 1 hour and 40 minutes I'll never get back!  |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 1:33 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Would anyone recommend Bertolucci's Partner (1968)? Apparently in the Godard mode of the time-- arty, political, and non-linear. Can't get a good grasp from IMDB or AMG whether this is something best left forgotten or is worthwhile. I really don't know enough about Bertolucci to judge.
Also, is anyone familiar with Rene Laloux's sci-fi animation films? Look interesting. [Now I have to go back to the dvd shop and see which films are there (there is a 2-disc set, which might/might not have English)].
And while I'm asking, how about Save the Tiger (1973, w/ Jack Lemmon)? Does this film still hold up today? Is it worth watching? |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:07 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1168
Location: Chicago
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| Gromit I sure hope so!! I really enjoyed it when. I was wondering if there would be any market for Poto& Cabengo over there, what do you think? It does sound intriguing doesn't it? |
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I'd like to continue the argument we were having before. What was it about? |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:03 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: not far away
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| Thanks for the info on Poto & Cabengo-- I recall being fascinated by it when it played on PBS nearly 30 years ago. It was, I think, a NOVA that also included some additional info as well as the documentary. Really flabbergastingly good-- wish I could see it again. |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:35 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Chicago
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I'd like to continue the argument we were having before. What was it about? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:54 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Quote: Gromit I sure hope so!! I really enjoyed it when. I was wondering if there would be any market for Poto& Cabengo over there, what do you think?
Shane, your enthusiasm is clear, but the meaning didn't make it through. What we talking about?
The discussion of P&C put me in mind of that one Vonnegut book where the two siblings function together in their own world and own way, but when separated appear to be imbeciles. The same book in which the Chinese have surpassed the US in science (despite Thomas Friedman's recent lame columns). So the advanced Chinese have figured out a way to shrink their people down to miniature scale, thus eliminating the problems of over-population, pullution, food shortages, limited resources, etc.
(Is that God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater? I often mix up the titles of Vonnegut books) |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:07 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 2428
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gromit wrote: Would anyone recommend Bertolucci's Partner (1968)?
And while I'm asking, how about Save the Tiger (1973, w/ Jack Lemmon)? Does this film still hold up today? Is it worth watching?
i can't speak to PARTNER specifically but i've found anything by bertolucci to be worth the time in some respect...
SAVE THE TIGER has basically timeless themes and, if you like great acting, look no further than lemmon's performance in this film. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: not far away
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| gromit: That was Vonnegut's Slap Stick. It was made into one of the VERY WORST films of all time, starring Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn. If you haven't seen it, you don't know just how bad a movie can be..... |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:31 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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How bad was it? Here's a blurb from the All Movie Guide listing:
Slapstick of Another Kind is a dreadful mess of a movie — and unfortunately not the kind whose badness inspires at least a modicum of entertainment. Kurt Vonnegut books are very difficult to translate to the screen, but the novelist deserves none of the blame for the film, as it is a travesty of his work, taking only the bare-bones premise and a few sequences from the first part of the book. Most of the film is entirely the work of Steven Paul, and it is difficult to say which is less appalling, his writing or his directing. There is nothing resembling wit in the screenplay, and precious little resembling coherence. His direction is incompetent when it is not haphazard, and he displays no feel for comedy. Under the circumstances, it is perhaps unfair to criticize the actors; however, it still must be said that Jerry Lewis' performance is frequently painful and Madeline Kahn seems lost and gives a dull performance. Only Marty Feldman and Pat Morita are able to rise a half-notch or so above the material, and they give the film the few bright spots that it has. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:08 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Thanks, Bocce. Save the Tiger sounds worth getting. Even an Oscar win for Lemmon. Not sure why I've never heard of the film before.
(though I'm not a big Lemmon or Mathau fan).
Tire, Vonnegut doesn't transfer to film well. I guess Pat Morita plays a super-intelligent Chinese visitor. I certainly don't want to see Jerry Lewis and M. Kahn sniff at each other's groins under a table. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Mr. Brownstone |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 7:20 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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I have a feeling Vonnegut's God Bless You, Eliot Rosewater would translate well to the big screen. Of all his books that I've read, I'm surprised no one has actually attempted an adaptation of Rosewater.
Or have they? |
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"My name is Gunnery Sergeant Major Highway. And I have drunk more beer, pissed more blood, banged more quiff and knocked more skulls than all you numbnuts put together." - Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:07 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: not far away
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| The best adaptation of Vonnegut was done by the man himself, in the 1970s PBS production "Between Time and Timbuktu." Starring Bob and Ray, along with William Hickey as Stony Stevenson and Kevin McCarthy as Bokonon, it mashed up all sorts of themes from short stories in "Welcome to the Monkeyhouse" and Bokononism in "Cat's Cradle" and really caught the flavor of his worldview... understandable, since he wrote it. As Stony's tombstone says (after he goes thru the chrono-synclastic infundibulum), "Everything Was Beautiful. Nothing Hurt." |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:05 am |
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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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Mrs Broad, much to the ire of my two daughters, unsubscribed from a TV entertainment pack that which included, amongst others, a whole slew of music channels including Scuzz and Kerrang. Instead she signed us up for family pack, which, shorn of some of the more interesting corners of the satellite TV world, she considered a more wholesome. This included the delights of the Disney Channel.
Although, their films have misfired as often as not in recent years, I retain a deal of affection for the much maligned Disney channel. Throughout the eighties and nineties they consistently, produced excellent animated features, which succeeded particularly in terms of the quality of the story telling and song writing. A success they managed to maintain latterly through their tie-up with Pixar.
Therefore, it was something of a shock to see how awful their television output was. There modern day cartoons, all rounded corners and clunky moralising, are reassuringly child safe…for parents who think the Taliban were onto something. They have none of the parent discomfiting subversion, anarchy and invention of the better fare on the Cartoon Network.
Worse are their teen dramas. Almost invariably they feature cute (in an unthreatening, chubby, way) sassy (but not too street) African-American (but not too black) kids who can’t act in contrived and faux, suburban dramas. The dramatic equivalent of large chocolate milkshake and fries, they leave you craving for a plot line with a mini-shredded wheat’s worth of fibre, that, or one involving a crazed maniac with a high calibre, automatic rifle. They make the Olsen twins seem like Thelma and Louise.
Me and the kids are going to have to hatch up a plot to get our Indie rock back.
That said, I watched Freaky Friday on Sunday and, though it had many of the same faults as Disney’s dire day time dramas, it wasn’t dumbed down and the performances, generally, for the material, understated, were excellent. The overloaded ended aside, I really enjoyed it. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
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