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| gromit |
 Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 12:09 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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bartist wrote: I have to admit I have not seen Brand Upon the Brain! (just wiki'd this, oh I must see this!) or Paper Will be Blue, but that's what lists are for, to pique interest, so now I'll look for them.
Brand Upon the Brain is a Guy Maddin gothic fever dream. A son goes back to an island lighthouse which functions as a pan-opticon for his dying mother. It used to be an orphanage where strange goings-on went on when he was a boy. While his father is a mad scientist type. B&w and largely silent except for voice-over, complete with intertitles. Bizarre, perverse, hypnotic -- familiar Freudian Guy Maddinisms, done at a high level on a low budget.
The Paper Will be Blue is a Romanian fog-of-coup film. I like how the main characters prepare for action but then are almost immediately taken hostage and put out of action, only to get involved again later on. It's about time I re-watched this.
I already had a 2000-2009 list. And a 2010-2014 list, so I just combined them quickly, and confirmed that I didn't like anything from '15 or '16 nearly enough to crack the list. I adjusted the order slightly but then went with 33 which meant no hard choices had to be made. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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I note Dargis and Scott debating which of three Coen Brothers movies to put on their list, which is foolish since the answer is clearly ALL THREE.
For what it is worth.... My top movies of the Century so far. Other than #1, I have not put them in order:
1. A Separation
About Elly
No Country for Old Men
A Serious Man
Inside Llewyn Davis
Labyrinth of the Faun
Adaptation
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sideways
American Splendor
Sita Sings the Blues
Winter's Bone
In Bruges
The White Ribbon
Goodbye Solo
The Summer Hours
Life of Pi
The Hurt Locker
(500) Days of Summer
Up
Once
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Zodiac |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:54 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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The NYTimes "Best of the Century" list is a disaster. I've admittedly only seen 13 of the 25, but of those I only loved one, liked four others, and disliked or hated five.
My list:
1) Boyhood
2) A Separation
3) Sita Sings the Blues
4) Sideways
5) Mulholland Dr.
6) A Serious Man
7) Chicago
8. Selma
9) Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days
I thoroughly detested There Will Be Blood and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Inside Llewyn Davis was by far the worst of the Coen movies since 2000. Wendy and Lucy was totally forgettable. Million Dollar Baby was thuddingly mediocre. And so on.
Hillary Swank, incidentally, is the new Luise Rainer. Two Oscars and out. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 2:12 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Seems like Sita, A Separation, and A Serious Man keep popping up on lists here. I had the first 2 on mine, and A Serious Man would be just below the cutoff. I probably should see it a 3rd time.
Whisk reminds me I should re-watch White Ribbon. I recall it being powerful with a strong visual style.
American Splendor, Once and Labyrinth were all good.
Could probably use revisiting as well.
I've still never seen Chicago, which is odd.
And didn't see Selma yet either. |
Last edited by gromit on Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:30 am; edited 1 time in total
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 7:57 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote:
Inside Llewyn Davis [/i]was by far the worst of the Coen movies since 2000.
It has grown on me,
Other than the horrible gefect in judgement that allows you to adore Mulholland Dr. while hating Eternal Sunshine,,,, Boyhood is streaming on Netflix. I started watching it but I was distracted. I need to have at it again.
Speaking of streaming on Netflix, I decided to have a go at The Prestige, It jumped around so much I could not figure out which timeline I was in, and realized suddenly I did not give a fuck. Maybe it ended better, but I'll never know. Also, I hate Christian Bale. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 2:39 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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Didn't sit through The Prestige? You are dead to me.
seriously, it does get better, as the narrative progresses.
in a way, the contrast between the 2 magicians seems like a good metaphor for current politics in the U.S. (this becomes clearer towards the end) |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:33 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Wait a second. Netflix has David Attenborough's "Natural Curiosities"? See you in a couple of weeks!
I saw the one on parthenogenesis (i.e., reproduction without males) on Netflix, and was going quite well. knowing, for instance, that lizards stranded on islands in the Pacific often cloned themselves, then he blew my mind when I discovered what one of those lizards was. And that it parthenogenetically produced males. Sort of like Mary and Jesus, only scalier and with much bigger teeth.
You know, you could do Jurassic Park without the frog genome fix to allow dinosaurs to reproduce. Just use our natural world. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:50 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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| The penultimate scene to A Serious Man was so original and worked so well that I thought of it for days after. That wizened old rabbi should go on the road. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:22 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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bartist wrote: Didn't sit through The Prestige? You are dead to me.
seriously, it does get better, as the narrative progresses.
in a way, the contrast between the 2 magicians seems like a good metaphor for current politics in the U.S. (this becomes clearer towards the end)
One or both have identical twin brothers; the guy dropped into the water at the start was the twin that Jackman was getting rid of. I suspect Jackman was also the mysterious nobleman who sent Roger Rees to buy Bale's stuff. And the movie's aim is to keep us confused by simply not telling us important things for no real reason except to keep us confused. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:50 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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| Well, not quite. The trick used by Jackman is different from the one used by Bale, and reflects how much he will sell his soul for glory. As for not revealing certain important things, well, it's a movie about magicians, so that's a natural part of the narrative. Try it as allegory, and it may improve. No guarantees. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:58 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Didn't care much for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
I thought the opening 5 minutes were terrible [and rather phony] which was worrisome. A number of things didn't really add up for me. If the lead character feels he's socially awkward and doesn't like himself, would he really make the effort to ingratiate himself with every social group in the school? That's a lot of work. Generally those kind of misfit kids do the opposite, keep their heads down and avoid the groups. Really it's a pretty impressive skill to meet and know everyone in a big high school (and in my experience, tracking means you tend to have the mostly the same kids in your classes, so it takes real effort to get to know the other kids/groups in a largish high school). In any case, the complications and pay off from that facade cracking was rather flaccid.
The other phony elements: the general lack of social media. He wants to learn about leukemia, so he asks his history teacher, to get a brief generic description, instead of going online, and hitting up wiki. Of course it's just a clunky plot point for him clumsily letting others overhear that Rachel has cancer. And I thought the huge book of colleges seemed way out of date. Do they even print such things anymore? Of course college listings are all online as well, and it's just another phony entry into a plot point.
It's the kind of movie where I wasn't surprised that the cancer girl was very attractive and has a face so she even looks cute bald (though complaining about looking ugly, which a young cute girl might do, but still comes through as annoying). I also wondered why this nice attractive girl didn't seem to have any other friends who rallied around her or spent time with her when she was ill. I can understand the film wanting to concentrate on the lead character's interactions with Rachel, but the whole exclusion of other friends of hers made it seem as if they abandoned her, or that she barely had any friends which was unlikely. But it goes to a bigger problem -- how underdeveloped all of the other characters are -- his parents, the stereotyped kids at school, and even the dying girl! -- they're all barely sketched in placeholders.
I didn't like when mid-film, the camera work switched to handheld shaky work. At times seemed the film tried hard to be quirky and indie and outsidery at times, and I couldn't help wondering if teenagers would see right through those patchy attempts.
Overall it seemed like this was written by someone who was young but much older than the kids he was trying to depict, leading to a lot of unconvincing moments (and inappropriate level of social media).
I didn't totally hate the film, but I can't come up with anything I liked about it. I guess the hidden talent Rachel had was interesting, but again it was so clunky to get to it, that I downgraded that. Besides, what's the film's message, that everyone has a hidden artistic talent? If so, that just isn't true. And the "sappy message" the film does explicitly posit -- that we can continue learning about people even after they die -- is possible but not usually true, and fairly limited in any case, as memories fade and the dead inevitably fade form memory. [Besides, I think we're just as likely to learn negative things about someone after they have passed than positive ones. Sometimes you start hearing shady things after someone passes, the kinds of secrets that were kept when they were alive] |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:30 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Ava DuVernay’s documentary "13th" (referring to the 13th Amendment to the U.S.Constitution) is a powerful documentation of racism and injustice in America. It presents a graphic picture of mass incarceration and police brutality. It leaves a haunting memory in one's mind. Ava DuVernay, who directed "Selma", is emerging as an outstanding narrator of Black American history. It was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, but lost to a worthy rival, "O.J.: Made in America"
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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bartist wrote: Well, not quite. The trick used by Jackman is different from the one used by Bale, and reflects how much he will sell his soul for glory. As for not revealing certain important things, well, it's a movie about magicians, so that's a natural part of the narrative. Try it as allegory, and it may improve. No guarantees. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:37 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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Hehe. I have no good answer to that.
You could distract yourself by looking at the heterochromia in Tesla's eyes, or simultaneously watching High Society and You Don't Know Jack, and spotting which has a flawed syllogism and which has Blanche run over by an avalanche.
Well, did you evah?
What a swell party this is!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7kq1JQUhwVQ |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:41 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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Hint: comparable bad syllogism....
P1: All men are humans.
P2: Some humans have ovaries.
C: Therefore, some men have ovaries.
Hoo-aw!
Say hello to my little syllogism! |
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