skimpole

Now it's 1969. Here is Best Adapted Screenplay: Jorge Semprum, Costa-Gavras, Z, based on the novel of the same name by Vassilis Vasillikos Jean-Pierre Melville, Army of Shadows, based on the memoir of the same name by Joseph Kessel Yuri Nagibin, Mikhali Kalatazov, Richard L. Adams, Ennio De Concini, The Red Tent based on the novel of the same name by Nagibin. Sergei Parajanov, The Color of Pomegranates based on the poems of Sayat Nova Barry Hines, Ken Loach, Tony Garnett, Kes, based on Hines' novel A Kestrel for a Knave And here is Best Original Screenplay: Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrei Tarkovsky, Andrei Rublev Luis Bunuel, Jean-Claude Carriere, The Milky Way Walon Grey, Roy N. Sickner, Sam Peckinpah, The Wild Bunch Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti, The Damned William Goldman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid I have not seen Goodbye Columbus (adapted)

Several of those movies are little more than soft-core porn.

Looking at this list, I would think The Thing is the one movie with enough critical reputation that TCM will eventually show it. Most of these movies had a major movie release, but critical reception ranged from unenthusiastic to awful. Altered States is one movie I suppose I'd see, even though I'm not wild about Ken Russell, and I loathe William Hurt. Paradise is basically The Blue Lagoon in the Sahara. It's not surprising TCM isn't showing the Bond movies. Some of these movies, Body Heat and An Officer and a Gentleman may be too racy for TCM's taste. I thought Tex was a Disney movie, which means that I may show up eventually. Inside Moves got an oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, so perhaps it may show up on oscar month. Perhaps in a couple of decades, there'll be enough curiosity about the period TCM will show it. I was mildly curious about Taps when it came out. Now I suppose it's "The Christmas movie starring oscar winner Timothy Hutton in a military academy that critics were unenthusiastic about." I suppose TCM programmers are going to wonder why show this and not rebroadcast Prince of the City or Possession again.

The movie certainly got a wide release. I've never seen it, but I remember it coming to my small-town (about 2500 people) theater when small towns still had move theaters. But critics didn't like it. Leonard Maltin dismisses it in his guide and this London Time Out review is fairly typical: The appeal of this adaptation of Muriel Spark's novel The Abbess of Crewe rests precariously upon one slim idea: resetting Watergate in a nunnery. Once the initial idea has been planted - Glenda Jackson out to get elected abbess at all costs - the audience is made to look awfully hard for laughs. The 'political' gags, like Mercouri's Kissinger-type roving nun, are often abysmal (only Sandy Dennis' impersonation of John Dean deserves to escape criticism); and with increasing desperation, the humour depends on the nuns' monotonous displays of venal ways (smoking, swearing, boozing, even shacking up with the Jesuits down the road). It's all terribly predictable and tame.

theyshootpictures.com top 1000 1965 Pierrot le fou Jean-Luc Godard, France #65 Alphaville Jean-Luc Godard, France #541 Loves of a Blonde Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia #541 Juliet of the Spirits Federico Fellini, Italy #866 Not Reconciled Jean-Marie Straub/Daniele Huillet, West Germany #882 Simon of the Desert Luis Bunuel, Mexico #892 Le Bonheur Agnes Varda, France #930 Subarnarekha Ritwik Ghatak, India #947 The Saragossa Manuscript Jowciech Hus, Poland #964 Red Beard Akira Kurosawa, Japan #985 Jonathan Rosenbaum top 1000 movies 1965 Alphaville Jean-Luc Godard, France Brick and Mirror Ebrahim Golestan, Iran The Enchanted Desna Julia Solntseva, Soviet Union Masculine Feminine Jean-Luc Godard, France Not Reconciled Jean-Marie Straub / Daniele Huillet, West Germany Note dates are not exact

Among films nominated by their country, but not chosen by the Academy for its final five were Pierrot le Fou (France) and Gertrud (Denmark).

Instead of watching three movies last week, instead I watched four! All of which dealt with women under pressure. Something Wild (not the Jonathan Demme movie, but an independent movie made a quarter-century earlier) was perhaps the most disappointing. It starts off grimly with Carroll Baker being raped, and then having a miserable time afterwards. I thought there was something off in the way that everyone around her is unnecessarily unhelpful around her. And then there's the major plot twist involving Ralph Meeker. I can agree that Baker is suicidal and disoriented at this point, and there is such a thing as Stockholm syndrome. But there have been enough movies made after this with the same theme that such things appear like excuses for two underwhelming actors and an insufficiently well thought out script. Star 80 is much easier to judge. If it weren't for the copious nudity, and for Bob Fosse's prominent place in the movie canon, you'd think this was a cheesy exploitation made for TV movie. Indeed the relationship appears inexplicable, since Eric Roberts is such an insufferable pimp even at the best of times, and you'd think someone would make it clear to Dorothy Stratten, even if Mariel Hemingway portrays her as a complete nitwit. Mrs. Parkington is another movie in one of the odder Hollywood couples, that of Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. It's not clear to me why Hollywood thought American women were looking for a movie star as uninteresting as their own husbands. To be fair, Pidgeon actually has some personality in this movie, and the relationship has a little spice in it, even if the relationship is undercut by the fact that we see her descendants are all spoiled wastrels. Raw is an interesting French movie about a young woman and strict vegetarian who goes to veterinarian school where her older sister is already a student. She both encounters an elaborate hazing culture, one which bullies people about sex, and also encounters meat. The result is a movie where sexual desire and guilt are conflated with cannibalism. It is, as I said, interesting, and the performances are good, but one can't help but wonder if this is just a bit ludicrous.

1. Pierrot le Fou Jean-Luc Godard, France 2. Le Bonheur Agnes Varda, France 3. Tokyo Olympiad Kon Ichikawa, Japan 4. Alphaville Jean-Luc Godard, France 5. The Brick and the Mirror Ebrahim Golestan, Iran 6. Yoyo Pierre Etaix, France 7. The Coward Satyajit Ray, India 8. The Saragossa Manuscript Wojciech Has, Poland 9. Not Reconciled Jean-Marie Straub/Danielle Huillet, West Germany

I thought conservatives did win the day in Advise and Consent. The ex-Communist is defeated in his chance to become Secretary of State, and the sinister Liberal pacifist is humiliated and rebuked by everyone.

Now it's 1968. Here's Best Original Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey Sergio Donati, Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in the West Franco Solinas, Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers David Sherwin, If... Mel Brooks, The Producers And here's Best Adapted Screenplay Lee Mindof, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, Eric Segal, Yellow Submarine based on the songs of the Beatles. Vernon Harris, Oliver! based on the musical of the same name book by Lionel Bart and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Roman Polanski, Rosemary's Baby based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin Jean-Marie Straub, Danielle Huillet, The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach based on the music and correspondence of Johann Sebastian Bach. Francois Truffaut, Claude de Givray, Bernard Revon, Stolen Kisses, sequel to the film The 400 Blows I have not seen Hot Millions (original)

Now it's 1967. Here is Best Original Screenplay: Jacques Tati, Jacques Lagrange, Art Buchwald, Playtime Jean-Luc Godard, Weekend Frederic Raphael, Two for the Road Jacques Demy, The Young Girls of Rochefort Jean-Pierre Melville, Le Samourai And here is Best Adapted Screenplay: Frantisek Pavlicek, Frantisek Vlacil, Marketa Lazarova, based on the novel of the same name by Vladislav Vancura Robert Bresson, Mouchette, based on the novel of the same name by George Bernanos Luis Bunuel, Jean-Claude Carriere, Belle de Jour, based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel Sergei Bondarchuk, Vasili Solovyov, War and Peace, based on the novel of the same name by Leo Tolstoy Buck Henry, Calder Willingham, The Graduate, based on the novel by the same by Charles Webb I have not seen Divorce American Style, The War is Over (original) or Ulysses (adapted).

One might think watching Ernst Lubitsch's suave urbane comedies that nobody would be better for them than one of the greatest of all actors, the impeccably stylish and superbly comic Cary Grant. Truly it would be a match made in heaven. It was certainly not a match made in Hollywood, since they never worked together (even though Grant was considered for the lead in Ninotchka). This leads me to wonder what other great movie partnerships could have happened, but never did.

theyshootpictures.com top 1000 1964 Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer, Denmark #83 The Gospel According to Saint Matthew Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy #151 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy, France #172 Black God, White Devil Glauber Rocha, Brazil #232 Red Desert Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy #303 I am Cuba Mikhali Kalatozov, Soviet Union #347 Woman in the Dunes Hiroshi Teshagahara, Japan #359 Charulata Satyajit Ray, India #412 Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors Sergei Parajanov, Soviet Union #507 Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard, France #600 Kwaidan Masaki Kobayashi, Japan #959 Jonathan Rosenbaum's top 1000 movies Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard, France Before the Revolution Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy Black God, White Devil Glauber Rocha, Brazil *Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer, Denmark I Am Cuba Mikhail Kalatozov, Soviet Union The Married Woman Jean-Luc Godard, France La peau douce Francois Truffaut, France Red Desert Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors Sergei Parajanov, Soviet Union

Also nominated by their countries, but not by the Academy Black God, White Devil (Brazil) and Dry Summer (Turkey).

Once again, I saw three movies this week. Girl Crazy was part of my quest to find ten great movies from 1943 (I only have seven, and the best one was made in 1942). It doesn't help that Mickey Rooney starts off playing a ladykiller who's distinctly shorter than most of the women he surrounds himself with. The movie is basically hi-jinks about a cow college, and the high point is a rodeo version of "I got Rhythm." The Princess and the Pirate is much more enjoyable, with Bob Hope at his best as the weaselly protagonist. It does show that, contra Christopher Hitchens, that he had genuine talent. Coco starts off with a somewhat predictable opening, and the overlying metaphor of the value of family is not very thoughtful in the end. On the other hand, the metaphor works better than Zootopia, another movie which it share good action sequences and considerable visual style. It's not as innovative or amusing as Inside Out, while Moana does more with a considerably more spartan set design.

I hope they show it again, since I'll be busy tomorrow, and not confident in my ability to record it properly.

1. The Gospel According to Saint Matthew Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy 2. Charulata Satyajit Ray, India 3. Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer, Denmark 4. Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard, France 5. Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors Sergei Parajanov, Soviet Union 6. I am Cuba Mikhali Kalatazov, Soviet Union 7. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy, France 8. Kwaidan Masaki Kobayashi, Japan 9. Black God, White Devil Glauber Rocha, Brazil 10. Hamlet Grigori Kozintsev, Soviet Union 11. Onibaba Kaneto Shindo, Japan

theyshootpictures.com top 1000 movies 1963 8 1/2 Federico Fellini, Italy #7 Contempt Jean-Luc Godard, France #40 The Leopard Luchino Visconti, Italy #78 El Verdugo Luis Garcia Berlagna, Spain/Italy #236 High and Low Akira Kurosawa, Japan #383 Barren Lives Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Brazil #419 Muriel Alain Resnais, France/Italy #461 The Silence Ingmar Bergman, Sweden #520 Jonathan Rosenbaum top 1000 movies About Something Else/Something Different Vera Chytilova, Czechoslovakia Adieu Philippine Jacques Rozier, France Contempt Jean-Luc Godard, France 8 1/2 Federico Fellini, Italy The Leopard Luchino Visconti, Italy Mediterranee Jean-Daniel Pollet, France Muriel Alain Resnais, France Note dates are not exact

Among the movies nominated by their countries, but not chosen by the Academy, were Le Feu Follet, The Silence and My Name is Ivan/Ivan Childhood's. Full list can be seen here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submissions_to_the_36th_Academy_Awards_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film

Again, I saw three movies this week. These three were more interesting than last week's. Besieged is about a love affair that blooms between an English pianist and an African refugee working as a maid in the pianist's home in Rome. David Thewlis himself is somewhat understated, except for a scene near the end where he juggles. The movie stands on fall on Thandie Newton's performance as the refugee whose husband has been imprisoned back in her country. As it happens, her performance is very good indeed. Sorry to Bother You achieves what Get Out only promised. Whereas the latter played on paranoia and fear and the plan itself did not entirely make sense, Sorry to Bother You shows more invention and a more coherent critical outlook. This doesn't mean there isn't a certain facile touch to the proceedings, but on the whole it works better. Finally, On a Beach at Night Alone is an interesting drama about a young actress trying to get over her affair with a married man. Kim Minhee, my second favorite actress from The Handmaiden, gives a subtle performance in a movie with long takes and almost stationary shots. The result is not as catharitic, or even as interesting, as one might expect such a drama to be. On the other hand, it works better than the last Hang Sangsoo movie I saw.

1. The Leopard Luchino Visconti, Italy 2. Winter Light Ingmar Bergman, Sweden 3. The Organizer Mario Monicelli, Italy 4. Contempt Jean-Luc Godard, France 5. Vidas Secas Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Brazil 6. High and Low Akira Kurosawa, Japan 7. The Silence Ingmar Bergman, Sweden 8. Muriel Alain Resnais, France 9. Bay of Angels Jacques Demy, France 10. Le Joli Mai Chris Marker, France 11. The Big City Satyajit Ray, India 12. Les Carabiniers Jean-Luc Godard, France

Now it's 1966. Here is Best Adapted Screenplay: Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons, based on his play of the same name Alexander Kluge, Yesterday Girl, based on his story "Anita G." Ernest Lehman, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, based on the play of the same name by Edward Albee Janet Green, John McCormick, 7 Women, based on the short story "Chinese Finale" by Norah Lofts Jiri Menzel, Closely Watched Trains, based on the novel of the same name by Bohumil Hrabal And here is Best Original Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman, Persona Robert Bresson, Au Hasard Balthazar Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Jean-Luc Godard, Masculin Feminin Vera Chytilova, Ester Krumbachova, Pavel Juracek, Daisies I have not seen A Man and a Woman, Khartoum, The Naked Prey (original) or The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming (adapted). Oddly enough Blowup got an original screenplay nomination despite it being inspired by a story by Julio Cortazar. Also Made in USA is based on a novel called The Juggler. But Godard didn't pay for the adaptation rights, which meant the movie was long unavailable in the United States.

Now it's 1965. Here is Best Original Screenplay: Marc Behm, Charles Wood, Help! Natto Wada, Yoshio Shirasaka, Shintaro Tanikawa, Kon Ickikawa, Tokyo Olympiad Agnes Varda, Le Bonheur Roman Polanski, Gerard Brach, David Stone, Repulsion Ebrahim Golestan, The Brick and the Mirror Jean-Luc Godard, Pierrot le Fou, based on the novel Obsession by Lionel White Lukas Heller, The Flight of the Phoenix based on the novel of the same name by Elleston Trevor Orson Welles, Chimes at Midnight, based on the history plays of William Shakespeare Robert Bolt, Doctor Zhivago, based on the novel of the same name by Boris Pasternak Jean-Marie Straub, Danielle Huillet, Not Reconciled, based on the novel Billards at Half Past Nine by Heinrich Boll I have not seen Casanova'70 (original). The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was nominated the previous year.

The Incredibles

theyshootpictures.com top 1000 movies 1962 Jules et Jim Francois Truffaut, France #85 L'Eclisse Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy #108 Vivre sa Vie Jean-Luc Godard, France #126 The Exterminating Angel Luis Bunuel, Mexico #139 An Autumn Afternoon Yasujiro Ozu, Japan #283 Cleo From Five to Seven Agnes Varda, France #349 Ivan's Childhood Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet Union #370 Salvatore Giuliano Francesco Rosi, Italy #382 Winter Light Ingmar Bergman, Sweden #492 Harakari Masaki Koboyashi, Japan #692 Knife in the Water Roman Polanski, Poland #870 Mamma Rosa Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy #943 Jonathan Rosenbaum's top 1000 favorite movies: An Actor's Revenge Kon Ichikawa, Japan *Eclipse Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy The Exterminating Angel Luis Bunuel, Mexico Le rendez-vous de minuit Roger Leenhardt, France An asterisk (*) means the movie is one of Rosenbaum's top 100 movies. Note that dates are not exact.