cinemetal
-
Posts
219 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Posts posted by cinemetal
-
-
That's precisely what I love about Fuller, Slappy, that the boundaries of moral rectitude are blurred in his films. As he had said on more than one occasion, there are no heroes, there are no villains. For much the same reasons I also enjoy films by Louis Malle, Luis Bunuel, Martin Scorsese, etc.
And The Flight of the Phoenix is molto underrato, as are many other Aldrich films.
-
Drop lines, kids, on anyone you feel doesn't receive his/her due as often as s/he should. Here are a few whose quality of output surpasses the rate at which they are discussed.
By genre:
Western: Burt Kennedy, Budd Boetticher
Crime: Sam Fuller, Phil Karlson
Romantic comedy: Gregory La Cava (getting an all-day focus in March, as I hoped!), Jack Conway
Horror: Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman (a very stylish director), Freddie Francis
Thriller: Robert Siodmak
Action: Robert Aldrich, Raoul Walsh
Message films: Lewis Milestone
-
These Three/The Children's Hour?
-
True masters of B&W photography.
George Barnes
Lee Garmes
Billy Bitzer
Victor Milner
Sol Polito
Gregg Toland
Nicholas Musuraca
John Alton
John Seitz
James Wong Howe
Gordon Willis
-
I've often said much the same myself, heh.
-
Can't say I read much Ebert, but I do know that Maltin's video guide is great for unearthing so-called underrated flicks. He routinely gives out 3-and-a-half-star ratings to many films overlooked by casual movie poll. Some which come to mind:
The Body Snatcher (1945, R. Wise)
The Ruling Class (1972, P. Medak)
Brute Force (1947, J. Dassin)
-
Worst of all, it's not even shown letterboxed!!
Heh heh, cjrogan, lighten up! It's not on THAT much, is it? Characters without conscience? Sounds like most film noir to me. Graphic sexuality? Sometimes it actually has a purpose, in addition to being good and titillating. And Kazan's worst movie was The Arrangement, heh.
We can be Republicans without being Puritans.
-
Other movies which are ABSOLUTE MUSTS in B&W photography:
All seven of the Sternberg-Dietrich collaborations (The Blue Angel, Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, The Devil is a Woman), photographed gorgeously by Lee Garmes.
The Sign of the Cross and Cleopatra, 1932 and 1934 respectively, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and shot by Victor Milner.
Citizen Kane, 1941, shot by Gregg Toland.
Hud, 1963, directed by Martin Ritt, phot. by James Wong Howe.
All of the Val Lewton RKO thrillers of the 1940s directed by either Jacques Tourneur or Robert Wise.
All of the Universal horror cycle of the 1930s.
M, 1931, Fritz Lang
Scarface, 1932, Howard Hawks, phot. by Lee Garmes.
Anything with Jean Harlow. Her platinum blonde 'do was born for B&W.
All film noir, natch!
-
Though I certainly didn't know Brandis personally and don't want to be considered insensitive at his passing, he certainly could have had more to look forward to in life even with the stalled entertainment career. Go out, see the world, take some business courses, read some Moliere, get laid, and life isn't half bad.
Speaking as a fan of movies and actors, however, I always knew the day would come for him, career-wise, when his lack of talent and propensity to choose the dumbest, most short-minded career goals would catch up with him. Child actors would do better to take the examples of people like Haley Joel Osment, Natalie Portman, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, River Phoenix (apart from speedballing), Tom Cruise and the like, kids who avoided the short-term benefits of starring in inane teen-oriented flicks and instead served apprenticeships in more mature films, working with more experienced directors and older actors who could a)provide sound career and technical advice b)make them look better by association c)expose them to more than just the Tiger Beat crowd.
-
Not sure what your criteria for critical underratedness are. What era of movies are we referring to, and by what sorts of critics? If we're talking about mainstream pop scribes, then movies like Borzage's History Is Made at Night or Sam Fuller's Forty Guns would be underrated, but among more well-versed historiological and genre critics, the respective melodrama and Western are well-regarded. If we're speaking about films usually considered excellent but that are simply less discussed, then The Parallax View and Broken Blossoms might both qualify.
-
A child actor in the early 90s who was in a couple of dumb movies and the TV series "Seaquest DSV."
-
Forgot the bonus: Harry Connick, Jr.
-
Little Man Tate, directed by Jodie Foster.
-
Props to whoever mentioned Laird Cregar!
I have to add Marilyn Miller and Jeanne Eagels to the list.
-
Ask Jonathan Brandis, heh.
-
As for the topic...I don't think that there are NO good movies anymore, but as someone already mentioned, the decline of the classic studio system had an irreversible effect on the studios' ability to churn out product with a consistent "style" to it. I do think that today's good films originate more from the talents and wills of determined filmmakers (directors, screenwriters, set designers, et al) than any studio inteligentsia. For instance, Peter Jackson spent over twelve years trying to put together the backing for the Tolkien trilogy, Scorsese announced Gangs of New York back in 1977, the rights to Schindler's List were picked up in, I believe, 1982, and Mike Nichols was first slated to direct the two-part Angels in America back in 1994! Things can occasionally get done, but it takes a long time and there is often no infrastructure and support system to quicken the process.
As for the happy meal tie-ins, that can be annoying, but consider the fact that EVERY studio is now part of a larger media conglomerate, where it makes full sense to capitalize on all possible marketable facets of a given property. If additional revenues can be made by releasing a soundtrack, publishing the screenplay, creating licensing deals, etc., it would be foolhardy not to take advantage of at least SOME of those avenues for money. Where the line between sensible business acumen and outright greed exists might differ from one person to the next, or perhaps one film to the next, but it's not a black-and-white issue for me, as I am certain that it is not for at least a few of my fellow BB members here.
-
Robert Taylor was at MGM.
Alan Ladd was at Paramount.
Errol Flynn was at Warners.
Tyrone Power was at Fox.
-
Directors F.W. Murnau, Francois Truffaut, Paul Leni, Jean Vigo and Steve Gordon.
-
It was definitely The Pink Panther. See it, and the sequels!
Well, SOME of 'em.
-
My only problem with Pollack on this show is that he tends to ramble frequently, going on and on about the movie of note without really saying anything insightful. And at this point, many of the Essentials are being repeated. Dump him and program something new on Sundays at 6.
Still, liberalism aside, Pollack has a handful of truly great films to his credit (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; The Way We Were; Tootsie).
-
The important character developments Catherine learns at the end of the film are assertiveness and defiance, two traits she had lacked throughout much of the story. In spiting both her father and Morris, she may have doomed herself to a lonely existence in Washington Square, but she has finally managed to carve out an identity all her own, not one that is lived in the shadow of a dominating male. In that respect, she is far better off.
-
Vivement Dimanche! (AKA Confidentially Yours), Truffaut's final film.
-
The Iceman Cometh?
-
Start writing reviews/essays/criticism in your spare time and then, when you feel your critical edge and grammatical skills are up to snuff, farm out your talent to local magazines and newspapers. Get some feedback along the way.
For the record, the term is "should've" (as an abbreviated form of "should have"), not the much-mistaken "should of," which is clearly a bastardized translation from how it sounds.
Oh, and "critique" is not a verb, only a noun.
Just tryin' to be helpful!
March schedule
in General Discussions
Posted
There are more sexual situations in The Smiling Lieutenant than there are in Jerry Maguire. Nor is it profane by post-1967 standards, if you ask me. Plus, its writing is far crisper, funnier and more insightful than anything by Nora Ephron since When Harry Met Sally... and Heartburn.
One of Cruise's best performances, Renee Zellweger's first hint of star wattage, cinematography by Janusz Kaminski (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan), and Cameron Crowe's second-best script (Almost Famous is my tops), not to mention the conversation-important trivia nugget that the human head weighs eight pounds...bring on Jerry Maguire!