Multiple Cinegasms

[dieblucasdie]

Wait, John Huston isn't considered an auteur?  Fuck that shit.

[alistarr*]

watched The Guru last night.

really all i want to say is that it's a pretty awful film, but the more i think about it the more i know it's not true. there's nothing "bad" about this movie, there's simply a whole blank expanse where the "movieness" (if i can call it that) ought to be. this is the closest thing you can get to a non-film without just, y'know, not watching a film.

there were crazy capers. there were dance scenes. there were at least three jokes which made me "laugh out loud" (in the parlance of our times). there was love. there was drama. i just didn't get the feeling that any one scene had much to do with any of the others. and i didn't care about any of the people in it. i mean, they were likeable. i don't know. "non-film" is the only thing i can think of to describe it.

but if you press me to review this movie with more brevity, i'd have to just say that it was a bad film you don't need to see. even if you might enjoy it (like sitting in a nice chair and not thinking).

[auto-da-fey]

My main beef with the canonization of American cinema is the way it's been structured like Sarris "The American Cinema". That is to say the prizing of Sarris' notions of the auteur as the be all-end all. Which of course means that awesome metteur films like Huston's "Wiseblood" get largely forgotten about, and only the works of the pantheon directors get held up and stay up.

I don't have a ton of interest in the auteur debate, but I think this is commensurate with how I feel. Either that, or I just wanted to add: and Fat City!

Although, while I don't want to overstate my disagreement, I still don't entirely see the De Palma thing. I've re-watched Body Double and Raising Cain in the past nine months, and the only context in which I could see them as radical would be in contrast to the Hollywood mainstream, which is a pretty low bar to set. I do like them, though, the former more than the latter.

[auto-da-fey]

Just watched The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, which is one of the most satisfying gialli I've seen--sharp plot, visual flair, copious sleaze, and an unrelenting sense of foreboding. Sing, you were OTM regarding Sergio Martino.

[hannah]

i hate 100 movies

[hannah]

do u want me to list em

[Greg Nog]

Actually, that could be a really entertaining list.  Especially if the reasons for some of them are just incoherent swearing.

Which, by the way, was the most substantive critique I could make after I saw Bruce Almighty.

[dieblucasdie]

Oh man, that lead me to go look at my 1-star list on Netflix.  It's pretty brutal.  (And there's way more than 100)

[das kranke Tier]

Man, I haven't even been rating anything I've been getting lately.  I should rectify that.

[hannah]

i am afi

hear me roar



"meow"

[On Reflection]

What are Jean-Pierre Melville films like, and will I enjoy "Le Cercle Rouge" considering I don't watch films that much and I'm not that good at critically evaluating films. Also I understood 1% of the last three pages. Also also, I've seen Whit mention Alain Delon before and he is in this film, is he good, I am at sea here.

[guavacris]

More later, but this was GREAT.  I don't know how it would be for someone who is not a total Spanish Civil War nerd, but for me it was like a two hour long orgasm, essentially.

'Cept the end, which was a major bummer. 

Now I have to check this out. Have you seen Land & Freedom? I remember really liking it though it was basically Homage to Catalonia with some kind of love story. But I loved that too!

[jebreject]

I haven't seen that!  I'll see if it's on Netflix.  Thanks, dude!

Are you pretty into the Spanish Civil War too?  I wouldn't have guessed that.

[auto-da-fey]

What are Jean-Pierre Melville films like, and will I enjoy "Le Cercle Rouge" considering I don't watch films that much and I'm not that good at critically evaluating films. Also I understood 1% of the last three pages. Also also, I've seen Whit mention Alain Delon before and he is in this film, is he good, I am at sea here.

You'll enjoy it! It's a great caper movie--very icy and emotionally detached in its demeanor, but it draws you in regardless. Melville idolized American gangster movies, and he refracts them through a French New Wave sensibility that really adds to the pictures. Delon is great, here and pretty much everywhere else except the real world, where he's a coldhearted bastard, apparently.

[girl]

In my head, I think the entire decade of the 70's is overrated,

I couldn't disagree with this more, but I don't have time to respond thoughtfully now. Maybe if the argument continues tomorrow. 

Well yeah . . . a:  you know, drinking and b:  you only quoted part of what I said.  The intent of what I said was that when I think about the 70s as a decade, I feel like it's overrated, but when I actually think about some of the movies that came out of that decade, there actually are some of the best movies ever made.  (I stand firmly behind my love of the 40s, though.) 

[dieblucasdie]

Also you should of heard how big a douche Scorcese sounded like on that special.  Not as big a douche as Shamalayan or Speilbergo, but still pretty bad.

Also it's weird that a-d-f was just talking about Friedkin, because they interviewed him a bunch, kinda surprisingly.

[auto-da-fey]

(I stand firmly behind my love of the 40s, though.) 

Agreed here. My movie-lovin' is no zero-sum game, even if the 70s are my favorite.

[slow west vultures]

Also you should of heard how big a douche Scorcese sounded like on that special.  Not as big a douche as Shamalayan or Speilbergo, but still pretty bad.

Also it's weird that a-d-f was just talking about Friedkin, because they interviewed him a bunch, kinda surprisingly.

my roommates were watching raging bull with the guy who replaced me as roomie the semester i was abroad - and who was a huge scorsese - and one of my roomates was like

"why is this movie in black and white?"
"because scorsese is a genius"

that became one of my roommates favorite replies to say to things. 

[YojimboMonkey]

Would anyone like to recommend me some noir?  I've been interested in watching some, and I've already rented a few, but if any of you have personal favorites you think I should definitely hit, whether they're established classics of the genre or overlooked lesser-known films, I'd sure love to hear about them.  I think I might hit the video store in a bit here, return Chinatown and some other stuff and grab a flick.

[Andrew_TSKS]

i've got a few noir recommendations, based entirely on noir movies i've been watching lately: "out of the past", "the setup", "the asphalt jungle", and "touch of evil". i could probably recommend a bunch of shit that i haven't seen yet but am pretty sure i will like when i do see it, but that feels a little irresponsible. so we'll stick with those four.

[auto-da-fey]

I'll pass the LPTJ recommendation torch on with something martin van buren suggested for me: Night and the City. Impeccable in its bleakness, and noir to the bone.

[girl]

You've seen Double Indemnity, right?  Because if not, start there.  Andrew's list is good.  I'm also fond of Detour (1945 (?) with Tom Neal), The Killing (mid 50s, not exactly a noir, but an excellent caper film), I Wake Up Screaming (1941 Victor Mature and Betty Grable), The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth), also, if you're fond of Rita Hayworth, Gilda. . . I could go on for a while, actually.  Noir that's where I'm a viking.

[YojimboMonkey]

Ooooh, Viking Noir, I think you're on to a new genre there!

[girl]

 

How could I have failed to mention Kiss Me Deadly?!  Unforgivable oversight there!  Also, The Big Sleep, while quite possibly the most convoluted movie ever, is highly entertaining. 

[joseph scott]

The Third Man is excellent.

And I second The Big Sleep and Double Indemnity and The Killing.