skimpole

A link to past stars of the month so we shouldn't repeat them would be useful.

I saw three movies last week. Hill 24 Doesn't Answer is not a bad film by any means, and it's an interesting movie. But it says something about how Israel perceived and perceives itself that a Nazi mercenary gets more time to articulate his views than any of the Arabs the characters are fighting. Death by Hanging was clearly the movie of the week, a distinct example of the theatre of the absurd, but cinematically and thematically involving. A Korean condemned to hang for rape and murder survives his hanging, but in such shock that he loses his memory. The execution officials goes to increasingly elaborate and absurd measures to restore it so that they can hang him. Finally Broken Flowers is so dead-pan, audiences may forget to laugh. Yet it's more emotionally convincing that all but a few Hollywood films.

Here's an interesting topic: what great novelists have been ill-served by film? I'm going to start off with Flaubert. I haven't seen the Chabrol or Renoir versions of Madame Bovary, but the Minnelli version does soften Flaubert's uncompromising realism. Neither A Sentimental Education or "A Simple Heart" have been filmed, at least not in English, let alone Flaubert's three more difficult novels. I would add that Booth Tarkington has been incredibly lucky to have Orson Welles adapt The Magnificent Ambersons.

I saw four movies last week: Saludos Amigos is a rather short feature film, little more than forty minutes, and its four sketches are cute, but not nearly as interesting as its sequel The Three Caballeros. The Black Power Mix-Tape, a documentary from Swedish journalists about the black power movement, is only intermittently intelligent, and could be a lot more critical about its subjects. The 1994 Little Women is worth watching, and I suppose I should see it and the 1933 version to see why I wasn't moved by it as by the Cukor version. Finally Millions is a charming movie that isn't quite substantial enough for me. I wonder why.

Definitely A Night to Remember.

Did anyone catch On Approval last night? I had never heard of the movie (hardly surprising since it was the only movie its director actually made), but I noticed it being praised in the Self Styled Siren's twitter feed. So I started watching it and it did seem very amusing, but half an hour in the broadcasting became erratic, stuck and ultimately stopped altogether.

Barry Lyndon

Yes, I'd like to second the Guitry films. Have we shown Paris, Texas before or was that something promised but cancelled, or something promised by not allowed for Canadians? I hope we get to see Brighton Rock this time. I'm not clear what the Friday night spotlight is.

The thing about The Birth of a Nation is that it doesn't really have much to say about the 1910-1919 period except indirectly. The idea isn't the movie of the decade, but the movie that defines the decade. The Bonfire of the Vanities isn't the right decade (it was made in 1990) and while the novel might define the decade, the movie is just an expensive flop.

I saw three movies last week. The Glass Key starts off interestingly, and it does have its qualities. On the other hand there are too many twists with the ending. Wild Boys of the Road is an interesting depression era movie that is actually about the depression. I'm not sure about the start, since most Americans, and therefore most poor Americans, didn't have the opportunity to go to high school in the thirties. And the ending isn't the most profound. But in between there is something worth seeing. The Three Caballeros is actually quite a surprise. Often it is rather inventive and imaginative, and it belies the ideas that only Tex Avery cartoons emphasized lust. While clearly this is not the most thoughtful or profound look at Latin America, it's well worth seeing. This is clearly the movie of the week.

The concept of a decade is a curious one. The idea that any particular ten year period has a common unity that differs it from what came before and after is a relatively recent one. The twenties were particularly important here, as encouraged by the fact that no one thought to give a name to the previous two decades. The fact that the Wall Street Crash and the start of the Second World war took place in the last year of the decade made the concept especially popular. With this in mind, what movie best defines a decade? Of course there are no shortage of movies that deal with issues that actually took place then. For many people, going to the beach, having fun, and not having sex was an important memory from the sixties. But one suspects beach blanket movies don't really define the sixties. There are three qualifications: first, the movie has to come from the decade in question, and second, it has to be about the decade in question. For example Louise Brooks may exemplify the "new woman" of the twenties more than any other actress, but Pandora's Box takes place in the 1880s. Third, the movie actually has to be good. One could think of no shortage of movies that encapsulate what one didn't like about a decade. The point of this thread is to think about movies which best define a decade. They deal with a crucial aspect of the decade, while also being important in the development of film. Here's my list: 20s: Man with a Movie Camera 30s: Modern Times 40s: The Best Years of Our Lives 50s: All that Heaven Allows 60s: Masculin/Feminin 70s: The Mother and the **** 80s: Blue Velvet 90s: Chungking Express 00s: West of the Tracks

It's obviously too late to provide my list. But had I been aware what exactly it was it was asking, I would have given this list 1. Casablanca 2. The Magnificent Ambersons 3. The Philadelphia Story 4. Double Indemnity 5. The Grapes of Wrath 6. Citizen Kane 7. The Red Shoes 8. It's a Wonderful Life 9. Great Expectations 10. The Great Dictator 11. Miracle on 34th Street 12. The Maltese Falcon 13. Yankee Doodle Dandy 14. The Heiress 15. The Best Yeas of our Lives 16. Suspicion 17. Mildred Pierce 18. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 19. The Letter 20, A Letter to Three Wives

Let's try and rank Best Actress winners Best Performance of the Year: Leigh (2), Smith, Minnelli, Keaton, Field (1), Foster (2), Sarandon, Swank (1), Roberts, Deserved to be nominated for an Award: Gaynor, Leigh(1), Fontaine, Crawford, de Havailand (2), Taylor (2), Streisand, Fonda (1), Burstyn, Spacek, Tandy, Thompson, Hunter, Theron, Mirren, Cotillard, Portman, Blanchett Deserved to be nominated for an Award only because there are so few good performances for women: Garson, Loren, Bancroft, Andrews, K. Hepburn (3), Streep (1), Maclaine, Cher, Paltrow, Lawrence Deserved to be nominated for best supporting actress: Neal, Fletcher, Haven't seen: Pickford, Dressler, Hayes, Davis (1), Jones, de Havailand (1), Young, Wyman, Booth, Kelly, Bergman (2), Jackson (2), Fonda (2), K. Hepburn (4), Page, Foster (1), Bates, Lange, Hunt, Berry, Witherspoon, Streep (2) Competent/Bland performances: Shearer, K.. Hepburn (1), Colbert, Rainer(1), Rainer (2), Davis (2), Bergman (1), A. Hepburn, Woodward, Hayward, Signoret, Jackson (1), Dunaway, Matlin, McDormand, Swank (2), Give this woman an oscar for God's sake: Rogers, Halliday, Taylor (1), H. Hepburn (2) Undeserving performances: Magnani, Christie, Field (2), Kidman, Winslet, Bullock,

I've seen five movies in the last two weeks. Frozen is indeed the best non-Pixar animated since Aladdin, though since Lilo and Stitch the only one I've seen is Tangled. It's generally more competent than that movie, with better songs, slightly more complex characters and even though it's not really a version of "The Snow Queen," allusions to that oddly enough go a long way for me. Bombshell is a classic screwball comedy, and I should try to see it again next month when TCM rebroadcasts it. Boyhood is the critical favorite of the month, and it is worth watching. It's not the greatest movie that some critics are calling it. It takes a lot of time for Mason Evans Jr., to develop a proper personality: Linklater is better with adolescents than small children. I'd also point out something Armond White alluded to in his yet unread critique: these are people in the top 20 percentile who think they're in the top 50. The Brick and the Mirror is even better, and important since it shows that Iranian cinema didn't start with the Iranian revolution, or even with the 1970 feature The Cow. Like many Iranian films that critics admire, it shows the strong influence of Italian humanist neo-realism. The story is about a cab driver who finds that a passenger has left her baby in his cab. The movie then shows how 1965 Teheran goes out of its way to help him with his problem. Just kidding! Almost everyone is extremely unhelpful. The movie also alludes to more sex that post 1979 Iranian movies. Finally there is My Summer of Love, about a teenage lesbian romance in Britain. While thoroughly competent, one finds that its restraint hides a lack of depth.

Movies about the past often make allusions that flatter people in the present, such as Kate Winslet's character in Titanic not only knowing who Freud is, but also bringing along Demoiselles D'Avignon, where it is presumably now at the bottom of the ocean. To quote James Wood: "But there is now a large gulf between, say, the beginning of this century and the beginning of the last, and into this breach may run our quivering self-consciousness. For nowadays we know how acute our historical separateness is, and it is this knowledge that is so dangerous to the unthinking freedom of fiction. It is this knowledge that lends a certain desperate quality to the detail that writers of historical fiction choose to mention. Of course, they do not really choose their detail; it chooses them. If a writer is painting London or New York in 1900, we must be told about coachmen and dandies with canes, or 1900 will not have been evoked. And the characters in historical fiction--especially the minor characters--are not free either, for they are continually being forced to say things like, 'Have you seen The Tramp yet?', just so that we know that it is 1915. Such characters can end up sounding like the paradoxical mathematician described by Plato, who, when counting numbers that he must already know, 'sets out to learn from himself anew something he must already be familiar with.'" With these thoughts in mind, I have an idea of a parody. I've thought of making a respectful parody of The Remembrance of Things Past and as part of it would have a character, probably Bloch, say something like this: "I believe that this new century will be a wonderful century, that the problems that have plagued mankind for millennia will be decisively vanquished. For example, I boldly predict that Nagasaki, a small Japanese city that I have no reason to distinguish from dozens of other Japanese citizens and have no reason to pay the slightest attention, will not be devastated by a weapon of unimaginable power that I have no reason to believe will ever be invented in a war I believe will never happen. Similarly, I see no reason to think that thousands of soldiers of the Polish army, which as of yet does not exist, will be slaughtered by a Communist regime, which as of yet also does not exist in, to choose a spot completely at random, in Katyn forest. And as for the Jews, completely clear sailing. No problems for them whatsoever."

The Telluride and Satyajit Ray movies are very much worth seeing. I can't miss Richard Linklater introduce Fanny and Alexander.

Fonda-Coming Home Niven-Seperate Tables OR Death on the Nile OR Stairway to Heaven Pidgeon-Probably Man Hunt Garland-The Wizard of Oz or Ziegfeld Follies Stanwyck-Double Indemnity Muni-The Valiant Stewart-Out of many possible choices, we really could have The Man from Laramie more often Moreau-Chimes at Midnight or Mr. Klein orThe Last Tycoon W. Powell-Another Thin Man Lombard-Swing High, Swing Low Brando-The Missouri Breaks Smith-The Adventures of Mark Twain Grant-As a Canadian, I'd love to see Notorious again, but we haven't had Charade for some time Chaplin-Limelight Dunaway-The Towering Inferno Marshall-Five weeks in a Balloon Hodiak-I've got nothing Colbert-The Palm Beach Story Newman-The Hustler or The Verdict or Mr. and Mrs. Bridge Ritter-All About Eve Tracy-The Best Man Hepburn-Two for the Road (but I am curious how Bloodline turns out) Borgnine-The Black Hole George-Valiant is the word for Carrie D. Powell-Gold Diggers of 1933 Loren-A Special Day O'Brien-The Barefoot Contessa Dahl-I've got nothing Cotten-Shadow of a Doubt is the obvious choice, but I've never seen Caravans Grable-This Lady in Ermine Ladd-Saskatchewan

1.Grand Illusion 2.The Wizard of Oz 3.Top Hat 4.The Thin Man 5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 6. Little Women 7. Sunrise 8. The Gay Divorcee 9. The Adventures of Robin Hood 10. I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 11. The Crowd 12. One Hour With You 13. Stagecoach 14. Ninotchka 15. All Quiet on the Western Front 16. The Awful Truth 17. Stage Door 18. Gone with the Wind 19. It Happened One Night 20. A Tale of Two Cities 21. Mr. Deeds goes to Town 22. Dodsworth 23. The Champ 24. The Smiling Lieutenant 25. Dark Victory 26. The Love Parade 27. A Midsummer's Night Dream 28. Libeled Lady 29. Captain Blood 30. Pygmalion This list in in clear order of quality (#1 is the best, #30 is the least). Are there are any lists for Best Picture nominees after the forties?

I saw four movies over the last four weeks: Point of Order is an interesting documentary about the Army-McCarthy hearings. The Wedding Banquet is, like most of Ang Lee's movies, a manipulative crowd-pleaser. Snowpiercer is a much better movie, which gets more interesting as it proceeds. The Lego Movie is amusing and clever in places, even if it hits too many Hollywood screenplay beats a bit too neatly.

I'd have scheduled Murder on the Orient Express myself. Still it's certainly not an inconvenient as other TCM tributes.

Yes it is very annoying, and it appears that given the quality of the replacements, that TCM is being paid to show them.

Let's try and rank the Best Actor winners: Actors who actually gave the best performance of the year: Cagney, Scofield, De Niro, Kingsley, Irons, Brody, Day-Lewis (2), Actors who deserved to be nominated for best actor: Gable, Tracy (2), Cooper (2), Brando (1), Harrison, Scott, Hackman, Nicholson (1), Penn (1), P.S. Hoffman, Penn(2), Day-Lewis (3) Actors who deserved to be nominated for best supporting actor: Brando(2), Hopkins, Whitaker, Actors who gave good performances: Beery, Laughton, Muni, Donat, Stewart, March (2), Olivier, Ferrer, Bogart, Holden, Guiness, Lancaster, Peck, Steiger, Wayne, Carney, Abraham, Day-Lewis (1), Cage, Spacey, Washington, Foxx, Dujardin Actors whose performances I haven't seen: Jannings, Baxter, Colman, Brynner, Niven, Poitier, Lemmon, Dreyfuss, Voight, Fonda, Duvall, Nicholson (2), Bridges, Actors who are merely competent: Arliss, Barrymore, March (1), McLaglen, Cooper (1), Lukas, Milland, Crawford, Borgnine, Robertson, Frinch, Douglas, D. Hoffman (2), Hanks (2), Rush, Benigni, McConaughey Actors who benefited from the "give this guy an Oscar already": Crosby, D. Hoffman (1), Newman, Pacino, Hanks (1), Firth, Actors whose performances really aren't that good: Tracy (1), Heston, Schell, Marvin, Hurt, Crowe, In this list I think 1959 and 1974 are particularly egregious: there was much greater performances in both years.

TCM has also shown The Story of Three Loves, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Lord Jim, Mayerling, and The Last of Sheila. I'm fairly sure they've shown The Verdict, but the TCM database isn't cooperating. Are you joking Hamradio about Julius Caesar? It is of course based very closely on the Shakespeare play, and Marlon Brando's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech is remarkable. And Mason is pretty good.

I don't know if I've every ended any conversastions, let alone with a quote. But here's some quotes: "Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot. But don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot." "I'm sorry to differ with you, sir, but you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here." Vizzini: He didn't fall?! Inconceivable! Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

As for me, I don't want to miss Hill 24 Doesn't Answer. The second week of September would be fine for a tribute.