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Posted
On 10/2/2024 at 6:26 PM, odessasteps said:

Just saw a story that the Indiana Jones movies moved from Disney to Paramount, despite Disney owning Lucasfilm, since Paramount was the original distributor. 

Obligatory physical media post.

Paramount always owned the original four. They licensed it to Disney for a year around the release of Dial, and now the deal is up.

Posted

In the past 2 days I've watched Megalopolis, Joker 2 and Killer's game... I need your thoughts and prayers as I go through this difficult time. Seriously all awful. Big Dave will want to sweep that one under the carpet as he tries to turn to dramatic roles. Joaquin and Driver need palette cleansers too.

  • Haha 2
Posted
On 9/28/2024 at 10:38 PM, Andrew POE! said:

I still don't know if I'm qualified to say it's any good.

Dude you watch so many films, of all qualities and genres, that of all people I would take your opinion over anyone else. 

Reading your review made me think of what Coppola's best film is, and besides Apocalypse, The Conversation and... y'know, the other two... it might just be Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm not joking, or just being a horror-head. It's the best Dracula besides Nosferatu or Horror of Dracula, and that's a long list of movies. The fact that he just made it for the cash gives it twenty extra points in my book too. Why in the hell would you make something that crazy and iconic just so you could make some trash like Godfather III? 

This also made me look up Mishima who I thought was Coppola and was Schrader instead. LOVED that movie. 

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Posted

I've gota soft spot for the Jack Palance Dracula but for all the wrong reasons. I mean, it is Jack Palance as Dracula after all

James

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Posted

It’s pretty cool that Marvel’s Dracula was based on Palance. The castle location in that movie always stuck with me as one of the best in any Dracula production.

Palance also made a cheap Jekyll and Hyde movie in the 80s that’s enhanced by his weird energy. 

Posted

First Nosferatu even though the Herzog is one of the most direly depressing movies ever made, which of course appeals to me.

The Frank Langella/Donald Pleasence Dracula is my choice for the underrated one. I don't think I've seen the Palance. The underground scene in the Langella is an all-timer. Another one I can remember is Count Dracula with Sir Christopher Lee sporting a mustache, and ALSO had sick maniac Klaus Kinski in it, directed by Jess Franco. IIRC, it was about as good as you can imagine from a Franco film. I was like a nine year old kid when it was rented for me and even then I was like "this sucks". 

Here's a (giant ass) photo of Sir Lee in it:

Spoiler

Jesús Franco's "Count Dracula" | Horror

Now I really really want to see Franco's Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein... just because

Posted
1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

Dude you watch so many films, of all qualities and genres, that of all people I would take your opinion over anyone else. 

Reading your review made me think of what Coppola's best film is, and besides Apocalypse, The Conversation and... y'know, the other two... it might just be Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm not joking, or just being a horror-head. It's the best Dracula besides Nosferatu or Horror of Dracula, and that's a long list of movies. The fact that he just made it for the cash gives it twenty extra points in my book too. Why in the hell would you make something that crazy and iconic just so you could make some trash like Godfather III? 

This also made me look up Mishima who I thought was Coppola and was Schrader instead. LOVED that movie. 

I appreciate the vote of confidence on my opinion.

I probably should have clarified and said that I'm not sure the movie could be qualified to be any good. It has so many negative stars it's a positive five stars.

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Posted

Movies seen today. Not as many as usual since two are from Nobuhiko Obayashi and are over 2 hours long.

The Lady From Shanghai (Criterion Channel, leaving this month) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

To be honest, the first 30 minutes or so had some ADR issues (for me) where it didn't look like the people talking were actually physically there and were being dubbed in (if that makes sense). In a lot of ways, Orson Welles did some really innovative things with location shooting in this movie although there were some scenes that were from sets too (but it's harder to tell from where) . Glenn Anders as George Grisby is really unhinged even for 1940s movies. I didn't like Orson Welles' Irish accent and wished he just stuck with his standard "we know a remote farm in Lincolnshire" accent.

The last 20 minutes is some terrific filmmaking - the escape through San Francisco and the funhouse scenes with the mirror shootout was used in some later movies I've seen.

Casting Blossoms To The Sky (Criterion Channel, leaving this month) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

"Is there still time until a war?"

This movie is absolutely bewildering to watch. At times, it seems to almost collapse under the weight of what it is trying to do - it's a romantic drama, it's a documentary, it's a historical re-enactment, it's a video essay, it's a stage play, it's a woman recounting her history at a school, it's recorded footage of actual events. It talks about a romance between two characters - Reiko Endo (Yasuko Matsuyuki) and Kenichi Katayama (Masahiro Takashima) with interviews and memories of the United States attack on Nagaoka in World War II, memories of 2004 Chuetsu earthquake, staging and production of fireworks, and a crazy penultimate scene where the fireworks go off during the stage play. Also, the real life people involved appear in the movie too.

What I thought interesting was the name Hana meaning "flower." Hana is brought up as the linchpin of the story due to the mother carrying her during the bombardment only to see her die. Fireworks are then considered to be flowers - hence the movie's title. The correlation of fireworks to bombings is another interesting idea (this came up in a scene with bombers dropping bombs only for them to turn into fireworks). Japan and US then use the mutual love and affection for fireworks to mark the December 8 bombing of Pearl Harbor - while honoring the dead in both Nagaoka and Pearl Harbor bombings.

One interesting phrase that was mentioned was using the 'peace sign' to mean "Victory" that was used by Winston Churchill.

From an acting standpoint, there are loads of standout scenes - the woman who lost her child recounting those events.

What I can say as a drawback is some of the technical aspects weren't as good. The CGI for the planes and bombings looked very cheap and not as good as they should be otherwise. Some of the acting was a bit off and appeared unnatural (it's possible that non-actors were used but I don't know). Additionally, if you aren't prepared for this to take nearly 3 hours to complete, then it will be a rather taxing viewing.

Seven Weeks (Criterion Channel, leaving this month) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Compared to the earlier movie in Obayashi’s anti war trilogy, Seven Weeks is a bit uneven. The first hour or so had a ton of green screen usage and uneven cinematography with the dialogue resembling Preston Sturges/Howard Hawks screwball comedies in its pacing.

The movie settles in after that to a melodramatic family drama as the family recalls and remembers Mituso.

At some point, the movie resembles Tarkovsky/Bergman as Mituso remembers a specific incident during a bombing and seeing the death of Ayano.

The ending sequences have the family members talking about what they are doing in the future.

Movie honestly doesn’t have that many memorable characters or acting performances. What carries the movie is more the atmosphere and tone; as I mentioned, it doesn’t really have a groove until half way through the movie.

We Live In Time (saw at the theaters) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

We Live In Time does the same non-linear narrative framing that The Outrun does, but not as good as The Outrun. Except in this case it's the tracking a relationship between Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield).

Almut and Tobias have probably picturesque perfect lives, although Almut works in the cutthroat world of restaurants as a chef. Because we see their lives 'out of order,' it's harder to make connections to both as characters. Tobias is practically a blank slate and almost a Mark Sue. The only thing we know about him as a character is he got a job in IT with Weetabix and got divorced. Almut has the more interesting life even outside of Tobias. She's a chef and she had been a figure skater and had a past relationship with a girl. Almut and Tobias' relationship seems to be a give and take - with Tobias possibly giving more than Almut and Almut appearing to be a bit selfish with her character choices. It's understood and appreciated that Almut has cancer and Tobias doesn't, so she is allowed to be selfish a bit. Other than Tobias' time and his trying to overcome being a bit shy, I never really got the sense that Tobias had to sacrifice much to be in a relationship with Almut.

What makes We Live In Time shine are the relatable little character moments thoroughout the movie. These moments make Almut and Tobias seem more like actual people than archetypes that a writer used. It's little moments like Tobias getting a haircut from his dad then in a later scene Tobias gives Almut a haircut. It's the subtle way that Almut changed how she cracked eggs - earlier in the relationship, she just cracks the egg and puts the yolk in the bowl. Later in the relationship when she and Tobias are in a cottage/farm, she cracks an egg but sloshes the egg back and forward in a shell before putting it in the pan.

For the most part with the movie, it sticks with a relatively standard cinematography although I really loved the Wong Kar Wai like slow motion scenes during Almut and Tobias' visit to an amusement park.

In all likelihood, this movie will get an Oscar nomination for John Crowley as Best Director and Florence Pugh as Best Actress.

 

Posted
2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Dude you watch so many films, of all qualities and genres, that of all people I would take your opinion over anyone else. 

Reading your review made me think of what Coppola's best film is, and besides Apocalypse, The Conversation and... y'know, the other two... it might just be Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm not joking, or just being a horror-head. It's the best Dracula besides Nosferatu or Horror of Dracula, and that's a long list of movies. The fact that he just made it for the cash gives it twenty extra points in my book too. Why in the hell would you make something that crazy and iconic just so you could make some trash like Godfather III? 

This also made me look up Mishima who I thought was Coppola and was Schrader instead. LOVED that movie. 

Thought you might say Dementia 13 was his next best movie.

id be tempted to say Rumble fish  or the outsiders. Although I’ve not seen Peggy Sue Got Married since 1989, so nit sure how it’s aged. 

Posted
3 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Thought you might say Dementia 13 was his next best movie.

id be tempted to say Rumble fish  or the outsiders. Although I’ve not seen Peggy Sue Got Married since 1989, so nit sure how it’s aged. 

I dig Dementia a lot, and given my taste I grant that's a possible slam dunk, but not considering the rest. The theme will forever stick in my head though. 

Rumble Fish I tried to watch and got through about half an hour. It just didn't click. Outsiders was far better at that '50s high school/greaser vibe, even if was more straight-laced and less artsy. Maybe because of that, even. Neither of them capture it like Stand By Me though. 

Posted (edited)

Mask - This movie is impossible to find streaming, so I had to resort to an actual DVD copy. I was 13 when I first saw this during spring break of 1985. I want to say I saw it at Murray Hill Cinema on 34th street but my foggy memory is telling me I saw it at the theater on 2nd Ave between 65th and 66th street (the same place I saw WRATH of Kahn with my Dad and cried my 10 year old eyes out).

I cried when I saw Mask as a 13 year old. It's a very emotional movie and everyone in it is just great. Eric Stoltz should've been a bigger star I feel. He really is great as Rocky Dennis. Cher is phenomenal, but it's Cher and you expect nothing less of her. Between this and Silkwood you just knew she was getting an Oscar eventually. I feel we should've gotten more Sam Elliott. I fremember first seeing him on "The Yellow Rose", a 1 season NBC drama with David Soul. Hell, you can see his graying chronologically if you watch that, Mask, Fatal Beauty and Road House in succession.

I didn't straight up cry this time but I still was moved to the point that I didn't pause the movie to go pee. I held it in to the end. Maybe we can get a Criterion to get a Blu-Ray because it really is a wonderful movie

James

 

Edited by J.H.
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Posted (edited)

M.A.S.H. Goodbye, Farewell & Amen

You can sit and argue with me about this being a movie or just an extended TV  episode. IIt's a TV movie and I dont think it has ever been released theatrically but give Fathom Events time and I'm sure they'll make it happen

Look, this is a very emotional and deep two hours. There is Hawkeye's story, which let's face it, has been building more and more over the last 2 seasons of the series. The incident with chicken/baby was just that bubble finally popping. It was fitting that Alan Arbus returned as Sidney Freidman. He was one of those recurring characters that always enhanced whatever episode he was in. It feels like if we didn't say goodbye to him, it would be somehow incomplete.

There is also Hawkeye needing to get back to say good-bye to BJ, because he never got to say goodbye to Trapper John. There is a sense of urgency to that.

In the end, everyone gets to say their goodbyes. Almost every major recurring character appears and gets sent off on their way. It all builds until the principle 6 characters have to say there goodbyes. Margaret and Hawkeye being the last 2 from episode 1 still on the show made their kiss especially poignant. The final salute BJ and Hawkeye give Col. Potter feels like genuine gesture, that's how much these characters feel lived in. The final shot of Hawkeye flying away feels so damn final and perfect, it makes curse CBS for hoisting After-M.A.S.H. upon us.

The entire 2 hours is a finale that brings me to tears. It amazes me how so many shows seemed to fumble at the goal-line. I think only Newhart has an ending as good as this.

James

Edited by J.H.
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Posted

Movies today....

Apples (Mubi, leaving at the end of the month) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is rather dry metaphor for a global pandemic although there isn't as much drama as other movies similar like Little Fish. To cope with memory loss, Aris (Aris Servetalis) is taken to a hospital and has to do what is instructed on tape and takes Polaroids to document the event.

Cinematography is adequate with a lot of usage of out of focus shots with the main character in frame. The shot coloring is very autumnal throughout the movie. I liked the scene where Aris goes to a Halloween party as an astronaut and meets a woman but doesn't seem to continue to engage with her.

I found that when Aris meets a woman at a showing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and later they discuss the plot to Titanic to be interesting. Movies have a way to be a shared memory; oftentimes, when we walk to others about something that happened in a particular year, it's usually an event (like a pandemic) or cultural events such as films or music or even video games.

For the most part, Christos Nikou is somewhat similar to Yorgos Lanthimos in his absurdity but is a bit more humanistic like Mike Leigh. You don't really come away feeling like Aris as a character has a background or a history, but that may be the point.

Hanagatami (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This movie is probably the best and most focused of Nobuhiko Obayashi's anti-war films.

The movie focuses around Toshihiko Sakakiyama (Shunsuke Kubozuka) going to a school in Karatsu and visiting with Mina Ema (Honoka Yahagi). A lot of the movie talks about the inevitability of war and how war leads to death for younger people. Blood comes up a lot as a theme within this movie - which is an extension of war. War leads to blood and leads to death.

A lot of the characters were better written versus Obayashi's previous movies in this trilogy. I felt that the characters went on a journey from the start of the movie to the end. Toshihiko's journey is especially painful given the last 5 minutes of the movie.

What I noticed as well was the sense of same sex love that was unspoken and not acted on and just love in general that was unspoken and not acted on. Toshihiko rode on a horse naked with Ukai (Shinnosuke Mitsushima) and they actually hugged while both were naked - oftentimes, I felt like Toshihiko had stronger feelings towards Ukai versus towards Mina. Chitose (Mugi Kadowaki) and Keiko Ema (Takako Tokiwa) kiss in a garden. Toshihiko experiences unrequited love with Mina as does Ukai with Mina. This made me wonder if the characters weren't sure of their feelings or the time that they lived in made them unsure of their feelings.

I would say some of Kubozuka's acting annoyed me a bit, but I settled into the movie and it wasn't bad. Also, Kira (Keishi Nagatsuka) is a bit of a psycho.

On a technical level, some of the acting in front of green screens was a bit off-putting, but it wasn't preventing me from finishing the movie. The side "left to right" transitions for scenes felt a bit bad and seemed like something found in a PowerPoint presentation.

Look Back (saw at the theaters) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Much of the action of Look Back is with the characters' back to the camera. For me with anime movies, I have a tendency to loathe most of them. Most of them seem to consist of characters shouting Japanese loudly with lines whizzing by in the background or trying to make it 'cutsy' so that children can watch it.

Look Back does something unique - it feels like a 'film that happens to be animated' rather than an 'animated film.'

Yumi Kawai plays Fujino, a confident headstrong girl living in Japan who does a manga column in her school paper. She has everyone tell her she's great until another student Kyomoto (Mizuki Yoshida) starts submitting her work to the column. "I guess your work isn't special, huh?" Fujino becomes obsessive with becoming better and eventually quits submitting work for the column. She then gets asked to take the graduation diploma to Kyomoto.

Isolation, loneliness and creative arts seem to be something that are hand-in-hand with all three. There's a lot of stories about teenagers who become adults that were afraid to face the world and face other people becoming painters, musicians, actors, even film directors. Kyomoto's story in this movie is not unique, but it is unique in Japanese animation and in animated films. When Kyomoto meet Fujino, Kyomoto is almost scared and in awe of Fujino.

One of the scenes I loved was Fujino skipping through the water; it seemed like a scene that would have been in conventional live action movies in its spontaneity. I loved the scenes where Fujino and Kyomoto explore the world after winning the contest; Fujino has Kyomoto by the hand and exuberantly leads her on with Kyomoto being a bit distant but still happy to go along for the adventure.

Kyomoto and Fujino's argument about breaking up is a great bit of acting. Kyomoto, even though she's fearful and scared, wants to go to art school and refine her craft better. Fujino, jealous, tries to talk Kyomoto out of it.

The second half of the movie has Fujino finding out about Kyomoto being murdered due to a maniac attacking Kyomoto's school. In a powerful scene, we see Kyomoto's photo, which silently tells us what happened. Fujino goes through scenarios in her mind and it involves not slipping a manga strip under Kyomoto's door. Fujino even thinks she saved Kyomoto and in a darkly funny bit, a manga strip has Fujino karate kicking the ax handler then the ax is lodged in her back.

The movie ends where it started - with Fujino's back to the camera. This time, she's older and now a full time artist. The childhood pursuit has become a professional pursuit with the manga strip over the window.

What I can complain about is the movie is a tad short, but if it were any longer, it would lose some of its magic.

I really hope to see what Kiyotaka Oshiyama does next.

Nosferatu In Venice AKA Vampires In Venice (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 1/5 star

Spoiler

I'm not sure this qualifies as a movie. Klaus Kinski 'plays' Nosferatu but really his 'acting' is his walking around looking like a rock star and like he came from Chanel Sauvage's commercial. I expected him to bury jewelry in a desert and stare at a coyote and play an electric guitar riff. Oh and he grabs attractive women and rips their clothes off and fondles their breasts. I mean, he got paid for this somehow.

Christopher Plummer is about the only one who at least does something with the material regarding acting. His character decides he would rather drown than be in this movie anymore. He got to escape this movie, the rest of us didn't.

There are scenes I guess where people act but that's like the first 30 minutes of the movie (except for a scene later where Christopher Plummer's character confronts Kinski's Nosferatu). The rest of the movie is B-roll. Nosferatu rides a boat menacingly. Other people ride a boat while kick-ass synths are playing (it's like they are in Venice Vice). A blonde woman that we never see again runs away from Nosferatu only to get her clothes ripped off. Some local people to the region engage in traditional dancing while Nosferatu just walks through them.

I will say an unintentional funny scene had Kinski nicely lead an old lady to a window, open the window and somehow throw her out the window.

This isn't a horror movie. This isn't even an art film. If it were an art film, there might have been a point. If you squint hard enough, it's a shorter version of Death In Venice. Death In Venice may be a better movie to watch than this.

Somehow some way someone got paid to make this movie. It doesn't get half-a-star because I liked Christopher Plummer's acting and Anne Knecht has really nice breasts (got look for the positives somehow).

 

Posted

Sending Klaus Kinski off with a second unit team to direct himself in all of the scenes where’s he’s attacking women was certainly a choice. 

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Posted
On 10/5/2024 at 5:00 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Dude you watch so many films, of all qualities and genres, that of all people I would take your opinion over anyone else. 

Reading your review made me think of what Coppola's best film is, and besides Apocalypse, The Conversation and... y'know, the other two... it might just be Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm not joking, or just being a horror-head. It's the best Dracula besides Nosferatu or Horror of Dracula, and that's a long list of movies. The fact that he just made it for the cash gives it twenty extra points in my book too. Why in the hell would you make something that crazy and iconic just so you could make some trash like Godfather III? 

This also made me look up Mishima who I thought was Coppola and was Schrader instead. LOVED that movie. 

No love for Jack?

On the subject of Coppola I'm currently reading Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather. really good so far with lot so fun details

Posted
6 hours ago, (BP) said:

Sending Klaus Kinski off with a second unit team to direct himself in all of the scenes where’s he’s attacking women was certainly a choice. 

Yeah, it certainly hasn't aged well. Oftentimes during the movie, Kinski would walk towards the camera and it was obvious he was going around the camera to walk out of frame. From what I read, he refuse to take direction, so he pretty much did what he wanted.

Posted

Joker made a billion at the box office. Joker: Folie a Deux is a massive box office bomb. Variety:

"Joker: Folie à Deux” suffered an even worse box office debut than initially expected. The film brought in a tragic $37.8 million in its first weekend of release. By comparison, the original “Joker” earned $39 million on Friday alone in 2019.

---

Warner Brothers are going to lose a ton of money here. In addition to the above, Morbius ($39 million), The Marvels ($46.1 million) and The Flash ($55 million) earned more in the OW than Joker: Folie a Deux. Absolute disaster for Warner Brothers. David Zaslav should be fired this week.

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Posted (edited)
11 hours ago, zendragon said:

No love for Jack?

Haven't seen it. But of course I love the crazy old man I saw doing one-armed pushups at the Academy Awards as a kid. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Posted
15 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Haven't seen it. But of course I love the crazy old man I saw doing one-armed pushups at the Academy Awards as a kid. 

Believe it …. Or not. 

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Posted
22 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Haven't seen it. But of course I love the crazy old man I saw doing one-armed pushups at the Academy Awards as a kid. 

Well he is my number one... guy!

James

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Posted

Because of the Joker sequel I now know the term "humiliation ritual" and am cackling at all the people freaking out on twitter

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