LawrenceA

http://forums.tcm.com/forum/32-classic-film-dvd-reviews/

Yeah, La La Land was included...but not The Long, Long Trailer!!!

Yeah, I love Magnolia (I gave it a 10/10), but it doesn't seem to be maintaining it's standing like I thought it would. One thing to keep in mind about the movies in this book (and all lists are subjective, anyway), is that these aren't intended to be the best movies ever made, but movies that are noteworthy for some reason. Maybe they kick-started the movie renaissance in some country or another, or had groundbreaking FX, or caused a major cultural discussion, or were a "first" of some kind, or have developed a substantial and influential cult following. And yeah, some of them the writers just think are good. With that in mind, I can usually pinpoint why a movie was chosen for inclusion. But with The Greatest Showman, I have no clue, unless it was because the soundtrack sold well.

The latest edition of the 1001 Movies You Must See book has been released, and here are the newly added titles: The Greatest Showman (2017) Phantom Thread (2017) Avengers: Infinity War (2018) BlacKkKlansman (2018) Capernaum (2018) Crazy Rich Asians (2018) The Favourite (2018) Hereditary (2018) Roma (2018) Sorry to Bother You (2018) A Star Is Born (2018) Vice (2018) I haven't seen A Star Is Born or Capernaum. There's only one among the others that I'd include. The inclusion of The Greatest Showman is baffling. I hope to read the book entry to see why they included it.

I did!

Them's is choice goodies.

That's Life is not in B&W. They weren't releasing too many B&W features in 1986. I thought the movie was pretty awful, but die-hard fans of the stars may like it more than I did.

I've seen it. I recall liking it, but I'm an Edward G. Robinson fan. It's in the public domain, so there are a lot of terrible copies around that can dampen the movie's enjoyment.

I'd normally just post this in the DVD section, but I thought more people would be interested in this here: Flicker Alley, the Film Noir Foundation, and UCLA Film & Television Archive are proud to present a brilliant new restoration of Richard Fleischer s gripping (and nearly lost!) film noir Trapped (1949), starring Lloyd Bridges and Barbara Payton, in a deluxe Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition. Before making Hollywood epics such as Tora! Tora! Tora! and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, director Richard Fleischer started his career with a series of low-budget B-features, often taking ripped-from-the-headlines crime stories and spinning them into noir gold... of which an exquisite example is 1949's endlessly entertaining Trapped. A young Lloyd Bridges stars as hardboiled hood Tris Stewart, a convicted counterfeiter doing time in the Atlanta pen. When a fresh batch of fake bills starts circulating, treasury agents bail Stewart out to help lead them to the maker of the fake plates. But Tris double-crosses the Feds, hooking up with his gun-moll sweetie (22-year-old Barbara Payton in her breakout role). They plan to heist the plates and hightail it across the border. With the Feds closing in and the double-crosses piling up, Stewart finds himself between a rock and a hard place... and this time, he may be trapped for good! Although long sought by the Film Noir Foundation, Trapped was believed to have suffered the unfortunate fate of many B-films of the era: oblivion. But when a private collector deposited a 35mm acetate print at the Harvard Film Archive, the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive (with support from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Charitable Trust [The HFPA Trust]) sprang into action, restoring the film. The result, presented in a Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition by Flicker Alley, honors the pitch-perfect performances, assured direction, and gorgeous cinematography of this edge-of-your-seat, noir classic. BONUS FEATURES: Freeing Trapped a documentary on the film s creation and history, featuring interviews with Eddie Muller, Donna Lethal, and others. A Sedulous Cinderella: Richard Fleischer Remembered a remembrance of the man, the director, and the father, by his son, Mark Fleischer. Audio Commentary Track Featuring author Alan K. Rode and film historian Julie Kirgo. 24-Page Souvenir Booklet Featuring rare photographs, poster art, and commentary by Czar of Noir Eddie Muller. Trapped will be released on Blu-ray/DVD December 31st.

I'm sorry to hear that, Dr. I'm guessing it's from the wildfires? Best of luck to you, and I hope they get things under control soon. Hopefully someone will post the Julie Andrews stuff on the TCM site or on YouTube for you.

Some excerpts for those who don't click links: I’ve been thinking about how people generally think and talk about classic films because earlier this month, an interview that ran in Esquire with pop culture writer Shea Serrano about his new book “Movies (And Other Things)” sparked some back and forth on the topic of these films and their value (or lack thereof). Serrano isn’t a film critic — he is best known for his writing about hip-hop and basketball — and it was specifically his comments about older films that touched a nerve on social media. He was interviewed by Esquire’s politics editor Jack Holmes, who noted that Serrano’s book focuses on movies from the ’80s and beyond and asks: “Are you like me in that you don’t see a ton of appeal in movies older than that?” Serrano replies: “I’m with you on that. I watch old movies and I’m like, ‘No thanks.’ They’re not fun. It’s clear that they were still trying to figure out how to do things. Some of them, of course, were undeniable, like a ‘Jaws’ or ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Indiana Jones.’ You watch those and you go, ‘Oh, I see in this the bones of what eventually became whatever action franchise.’ Or ‘Alien.’ [But mostly], they’re just not that fun to watch.” And... Nearly all these movies are in black and white and I think for many, that’s the ultimate turnoff. But there are other reasons. “There’s the concept of: Older movies are racist, they’re misogynist and there’s no way I see myself in those movies,” Lopez said. “And that’s a valid critique. Not all classic films are that way, but there’s this heavy history of, this is what Hollywood spent a lot of those decades doing. So if you’re a person of color who wants to see yourself represented in classic cinema, it’s very difficult. As a disabled woman, I don’t often see myself represented in classic cinema, but I talk a lot about ‘Freaks’ from 1932 as this landmark that we have not seemed to improve upon on the decades since.”

Thelma is an unusual Norwegian drama about a sheltered young woman (Eili Harboe) who goes off to college, much to the concern of her parents. The stress of a new, alien environment and the obstacles of social interaction which Thelma is poorly equipped to deal with lead her to begin experiencing strange sensations and visions. Is she losing her mind or is something more sinister going on? This kind of story has been done a lot, but this film utilizes a quiet, slow-burn tension that is very successful. Harboe is perfectly cast, and the "supernatural" elements are handled mostly with subtly, without the typical flash and noise one would find in a Hollywood tale on the same material. A few of the regional critics groups (Denver, Houston) names this as the best Foreign Language Film of the year. Before I watched several more 2017 films last week, Thelma had been my choice for favorite foreign language film of the year. I still recommend it.

Saturday Night Live has had several sketches that reference TCM. I watched a movie titled Under the Silver Lake (2018) a few days ago, and the dialogue features a conversation about a Janet Gaynor movie showing on TCM.

I'm not certain, but I think Force of Evil was the first John Garfield film that I ever saw. It was on VHS as part of a collection of films presented by Martin Scorsese, which is why I rented it at the time (or took it home for free; I worked at the store). I liked it, and it was a good introduction to Garfield, but I haven't seen it in 20+ years. Since then I've seen all of Garfield's other films, and count several others as my favorites of his, but I still have fond memories of Force of Evil.

Winners of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar that I have not seen: Monsieur Vincent (1948)* Sundays and Cybele (1962) War and Peace (1968) Black and White in Color (1976) Madame Rosa (1977) Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980) Mephisto (1981) To Begin Again (1982) Dangerous Moves (1984) The Official Story (1985) The Assault (1986) Journey of Hope (1990) Mediterraneo (1991) Belle Epoque (1993) Burnt By the Sun (1994) Antonia's Line (1995) Kolya (1996) Character (1997) In a Better World (2010) A Fantastic Woman (2017) * Years listed are the year for which the films won, not necessarily the same year as their release.

I watched this one last week. Most of it is in Swedish/Danish. Maybe 40% or less is in English. It's a very long, unusual, but entertaining movie. I recommend it.

So if someone watches a video at 150%, the audio will not change pitch? The examples you cite are off-screen voice overs. How will that work when you are watching the characters' mouths move while speaking dialogue? Is the pitch-correction something that's done in real-time via a program, or will the provider (Netflix for example) have to post each film/TV show with different audio tracks, one for normal speed and one for increased speed but adjusted for pitch and to match the mouth (no Godzilla dubbing effect)? And btw, the one example that I've heard of an audio book sped up, the voices were higher pitched. Not Alvin high, but higher than normal.

I wanted to mention something about one of my "also seens". One Cut of the Dead is a Japanese horror-comedy about a film crew going to the Philippines to make a cheap zombie movie, only to encounter real zombies. The film plays around with structure, although I won't go into much detail to avoid spoilers. I will say that much of the film's second half is about the making of a movie, with lots of inside-the-industry jokes. I thought it was pretty terrible, neither funny nor horrifying, as well as being too-broadly acted and full of cliches. However, I seem to be in the minority with this opinion. Like the previous movie I mentioned above, this film premiered in its home country in 2017, going on to play the film festival circuit and open in various Asian markets throughout 2018, but not opening in the US until this year. As such, some sites consider this a 2019 release, including Rotten Tomatoes, which lists this movie as the highest rated movie released in 2019 thus far, with a 100% Fresh rating!

Tigers Are Not Afraid is a Mexican drama that utilizes supernatural elements in a "Magical Realism" way. A group of young orphan kids are living on the streets of a violence-ravaged city under the control of the drug cartels. One of the kids has stolen a phone from a gangster that has sensitive information on it, and the kids are hoping to use it for profit. Meanwhile, the newest member of the orphan group (the title is their rallying cry) is a young girl whose mother has gone missing. The girl believes that the spirit world has granted her three wishes to use to find her mother and seek justice. I thought this movie was fantastic, a real surprise. It's dark, but has heart and finds humor at times. There is very effective use of special effects in subtle ways. The viewer is left uncertain if what they've seen is really supernatural or the wishful imaginings of a child in horrific circumstances. Recommended.

2017 Tigers Are Not Afraid, Issa Lopez, Mexico The Other Side of Hope, Aki Kaurismaki, Finland The Square, Ruben Ostlund, Sweden Thelma, Joachim Trier, Norway In the Fade, Fatih Akin, Germany Blade of the Immortal, Takashi Miike, Japan The Villainess, Byung-gil Jung, South Korea Outrage Coda, Takeshi Kitano, Japan I've also seen: Revenge, Coralie Fargeat, France Ravenous, Robin Aubert, Canada Cold Hell, Stefan Ruzowitzky, Germany Mon Mon Mon Monsters, Giddens Ko, Taiwan Veronica, Paco Plaza, Spain One Cut of the Dead, Shin'ichiro Ueda, Japan Errementari, Paul Urkijo Alijo, Spain (Basque) Before We Vanish, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan China Salesman, Tan Bing, China

This thread reminded me of an article I read earlier today. It seems Netflix is considering adding an option to watch movies at 50% faster speed, so that impatient viewers can get through movies and shows faster. Sure the voices will be sped up, and the pacing and direction of everything will be totally ruined, but it'll be faster! This is a trend that has taken off with audio books in recent years, with people opting to listen to them at quicker speeds. I thought it all sounded like the further decay of western civilization, but maybe you guys will like this kind of feature? Netflix Testing Variable Playback Speed Netflix is reportedly testing out variable playback speed of its content, allowing viewers to watch film and TV titles at anywhere from 50% speed to 150% speed. Android Police broke the news, indicating the streaming service has seemingly been testing the ability on Android devices only at this point. It’s not clear if Netflix will adopt this concept for other platforms. Faster speed playback has been in common use for audiobooks and podcasts for years, video is a different kettle of fish though YouTube has had variable Playback Speed options available for a while. http://www.darkhorizons.com/netflix-testing-variable-playback-speed/

I'm not an expert on his situation. He can feel free to chime in if he wants to and elaborate further. All I know is that he's broke and can't afford anything new. I'm not sure why I even posted on the matter. It's not like I know Nipkow's living arrangements, or really even care if he watches TCM or not. Personally this whole thing means nothing to me, really. I don't have TCM anymore, but I rarely ever watched it anymore anyway. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched or recorded anything on the channel. I have a few thousand movies on disc, and anything else I want to see I can find online (you know what I'm talking about), including hundreds of titles that TCM never shows. So losing TCM was no great tragedy for me, except for the principle of Comcast pulling a **** move.

#22 - I Bury the Living (1958) Is #14 - Black Sabbath (1963)?

You're assuming that he was directly paying for his cable access. Some people have cable via the place that they live. As in, it's included with the rent. Think group homes, nursing homes, and other government-subsidized housing. Meaning he wasn't paying for cable in the traditional sense like with a contract and monthly bill. Nipkow often talks about getting his meals from food banks, and he scrounges stuff out of the garbage. I don't think he has $30 to spare, and if he did, it would go to food and clothing. And I mean that with all due respect to Nipkow and his situation, which many people are in.

You're assuming he has the money to buy a streaming device. And many areas don't have OTA the television as an option, or a very limited availability of channels. The options people keep recommending are good, and will work for most people, but not everybody. And I get the feeling that Nipkow is one of the latter.