sineast
-
Posts
758 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Posts posted by sineast
-
-
Maybe a DVD/VCR combo would be a good Christmas present. The problem is I'd never
find the time to watch most of the movies I recorded, and I'd have a stack of unwatched
videos to go with a stack of unread books and not-listened-to-enough CDs. I'll just wait
for Love Letters to show up again. I would like to see it, but I won't get the vapors if
I don't. Thanks for the offer though.
-
Fatboy Slim with a rather single-minded take on Kalifornia.
fmt=18 -
I just have a VCR which I haven't even bothered to hook up because I wouldn't use
it very often anyway.
-
I was planning to watch The Man from Planet X last night, but then Summer of Sam
popped up on another channel. Since I have never seen it, I decided to go with SOS.
Instead of focusing on the serial killer, the film focuses on a group of down and outers
from the outer boroughs. Richie the punk introducing his new style to his buddies, nice.
Buddies crossing over to CBGBs, priceless. I did catch a few minutes of Planet X and
though it isn't fair to judge a complete movie after only watching a few minutes of it,
this looked like a typical grade Z sci-fier. Maybe the natives should have used a force field
of haggis soaked in Johnny Walker to repel the invasion. I believe that was the gist of the
post before Uncle Joe came on the scene.
-
No I didn't. I'll try to catch it next time it's on TCM.
-
Calling Barranca! Calling Barranca!: Sorry, Wrong Number
Next: Shopworn
-
Holly, I'm guessing that the earlier the decade, the more movies have been lost. That is a shame,
but I don't have enough time for the good ones that remain, so I'd probably never have time to
see the lost ones anyway. I would like to see Love Letters again, since it's been a while since
the last time I saw it.
It's hard to mess up a solid script, though some directors would add more to it visually than
others. And when you're stuck with a dog of a screenplay, the visual aspect can only do
so much. First things first.
-
I'm sure it's been mentioned many times before, but what we now consider classic movies
were probably a small part of the production of any one year. 1945 probably had as large
a share of routine movies that don't merit much attention as any other year. Maybe one of
the advantages of having fewer films produced now is that there is more opportunity to see
the good ones, and having to wade through fewer stinkers.
O, Brother, etc had its share of violence, but it was rather cartoonish in comparison with
No Country. And I enjoyed them both, even if they came from opposite ends of the
spectrum. Just like Mary Shelley, just like Frankenstein.
-
As they say in the real estate game, location, etc. People who don't live near a big city,
or in a college town, etc. will probably not get as wide a selection of films as those that
do. In many areas all you get is the usual studio fare, with very little independent or
foreign film opportunities. No modern films can quite capture the WWII era like those old
blacks and whites from that period.
I too saw No Country For Old Men a few weeks ago on either IFC or Sundance. Very
good flick. There might have been some plot holes, but most movies have some. One
possible mitigating circumstance is that the story took place in a very sparsely populated
area that probably had a low law enforcement profile. The guy with the $2 million bought a
jacket from a kid before he hit the border crossing and snuck through, partly on his veteran
status. Stuff happens.
-
It's been many moons since I last saw Love Letters and it was a fine production,
but it was a production that reflected the culture of its time, so it would be a little
naive to expect that a movie sixty years later could duplicate it. Contemporary pictures
will, to whatever extent, reflect this time, just as Love Letters reflected 1945. That's
the way of the movie world.
With so much info out there about what is playing at the twelveplex today, it should be
fairly simple to avoid pictures you are pretty sure you won't like and to attend those that
you might find entertaining. One can't eliminate the risk of wasting time and money, but
it surely can be decreased. Halloween XIV: Michael Meyers Collects Social Security
should give most people a heads-up on what kind of picture it will be.
-
"Oh Charles, I've been hurt so many times in the past. I guess you could say
I'm a little gun shy when it comes to men. But I have a different feeling about you.
I know deep down in my heart I can trust you."
-
-
Il n'est pas ma faute que cet site est merdeux. A demain.
-
Tres regrettable.
-
Sacre bleu dahlia.
-
Et moi aussi.
-
Sacre bleu dahlia.
-
Pardonnez-moi
-
Sacre bleu dahlia.
-
Pardonnez-moi
-
Sacre bleu dahlia.
-
One little noted aspect of Pickup on South Street was the environmental theme
of the movie. Widmark finds multiple uses for old newspapers, and uses the natural
cooling effects of the river to keep his brews cold. This was quite an early example of
green consciousness in a crime film when such things were unusual for the genre and
the time period. Of course, in some respects, Widmark was simply building on a theme
already glimpsed in his earlier role as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. In this previous
movie, Widmark sports a generously proportioned hat that, when turned upside down,
doubles as a lunch pail and an early version of the European carry all. And Udo's given
profession made him an early practitioner of reducing individuals' carbon footprint.
Since Widmark was a well-known liberal, it shouldn't be surprising that he was willing
to bring these issues into the film world. Some French critics have even started to dub
these films that combine crime drama and environmental awareness film vert.
-
It's funny how each individual remembers and takes away unique things from the movies
they've seen. Pickup on South Street is a nifty little flick, but I don't recall all the
details of Thelma Ritter's character. Richard Widmark was the star, of course, and he
is better remembered, though not all the nuances can be recalled. On the other hand,
Jean Peters' performance is vividly etched in memory, starting with the first scene in
the subway car, which is an obvious metaphor of the film's characters and the milieu
they exist in, underground, unconcerned with the bourgeois values that are part of the
culture above them. In short, I like Candy.
-
Go-Gos, just a little late for a Vacation
fmt=18
TCM, O Brother you got to be kidding !
in General Discussions
Posted
O, Brother, etc. was playing quite a bit on cable for a while, but I don't see the harm
in TCM running it. It will still be commercial-free and uncut, unlike AMC. And it's a fine
movie with a fantastic song track and an unconventional take on the period. Time to buy
Dapper Dan's before the shortage hits.