Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Totenkindly]

I didn't like it. I found it boring. I got the fact that Nike was down on its luck. They didn't need to paint the fact ad nauseam.

Yeah, I get that opinion. I don't think I would ever watch it twice, and this morning I was wondering how folks could spend two years putting it together because it seems like if I working on a film for a long time, I'd rather work on something else.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I'm constantly stumbling across a new film noir movie, just when I think I heard of them all. It looks like all those German Expressionist filmmakers fleeing the Nazis really left their stylistic mark on Hollywood. (And thank god for it. Usually I like film noir. I'm just starting to think it's the orange-and-teal of the 40s and 50s)

 

[Red Herring]

I'm constantly stumbling across a new film noir movie, just when I think I heard of them all. It looks like all those German Expressionist filmmakers fleeing the Nazis really left their stylistic mark on Hollywood. (And thank god for it. Usually I like film noir. I'm just starting to think it's the orange-and-teal of the 40s and 50s)

I know, right?

The list is even longer when you look at German exile movie people in general which includes awesome directors like Billy Wilder who did make a noir in America but was neither an expressionists nor specialized in that genre). Robert Siodmak wasn't an expressionist but made great noirs.

There were German emigrés contributing to American cinema even before the nazis. Wilder's great idol Ernst Lubitsch moved there in the 20s and basically founded the romcom genre. F.W. Murnau also moved to the US in the 20s were he kept making silent movies until his untimely death. The horror genre was greatly influenced, if not founded, by Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Studios and producer of Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummie, and who had emigrated from Germany in 1884 (around the same time the Wonsal brothers left Poland and anglicized their Ashkenazi names to Harry, Sam, Jack and Albert Warner).

And those are the one that decided to stay and become Americans. Then there is another list of artists and intellectuals that created "Weimar on the Pacific" in California but never really warmed up to the place, also needed the German language to work as thinkers or writers (Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Thomas Mann, Alfred Döblin, Bertold Brecht, etc). They still left a footprint (I love the scene in Hail, Caesar! with the Marxists script writers with their accents that seems like a loving reference to the Frankfurt School).

My peak noir phase was before I had kids (more time) but I still a have a little DVD collection I like to go back to once in a while. Any recommendations?

 

[The Cat]

I know, right?

The list is even longer when you look at German exile movie people in general which includes awesome directors like Billy Wilder who did make a noir in America but was neither an expressionists nor specialized in that genre). Robert Siodmak wasn't an expressionist but made great noirs.

There were German emigrés contributing to American cinema even before the nazis. Wilder's great idol Ernst Lubitsch moved there in the 20s and basically founded the romcom genre. F.W. Murnau also moved to the US in the 20s were he kept making silent movies until his untimely death. The horror genre was greatly influenced, if not founded, by Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Studios and producer of Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummie, and who had emigrated from Germany in 1884 (around the same time the Wonsal brothers left Poland and anglicized their Ashkenazi names to Harry, Sam, Jack and Albert Warner).

And those are the one that decided to stay and become Americans. Then there is another list of artists and intellectuals that created "Weimar on the Pacific" in California but never really warmed up to the place, also needed the German language to work as thinkers or writers (Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Thomas Mann, Alfred Döblin, Bertold Brecht, etc). They still left a footprint (I love the scene in Hail, Caesar! with the Marxists script writers with their accents that seems like a loving reference to the Frankfurt School).

My peak noir phase was before I had kids (more time) but I still a have a little DVD collection I like to go back to once in a while. Any recommendations?

If you liked Hail, Caesar! (Fantastic flick) and noir, if you havent seen it, check out Miller's Crossing.

 

[Red Herring]

If you liked Hail, Caesar! (Fantastic flick) and noir, if you havent seen it, check out Miller's Crossing.

Not my favorite Coen brothers movie, but maybe I should give it another chance. It's been a while. The Big Lebowski is one of my all time favorites and I liked Blood Simple (both neo noirs, in a way) but was also slightly disappointed by The Man Who Wasn't There.

 

[The Cat]

Not my favorite Coen brothers movie, but maybe I should give it another chance. It's been a while. The Big Lebowski is one of my all time favorites and I liked Blood Simple (both neo noirs, in a way) but was also slightly disappointed by The Man Who Wasn't There.

Snatch is another good one, though its more modern. Chinatown is one of my favorites

 

[Red Herring]

Snatch is another good one, though its more modern. Chinatown is one of my favorites

Any classic noir recommendations?

 

[The Cat]

Any classic noir recommendations?

The Big Sleep, Maltese Falcon, To Have and Have not, Dark Passage(I enjoy Bogart and Bacall) another good one more modern but one you might have missed, the Ice Harvest, Lucky Number SLevin, back to classic, Strangers on a Train, The Postman always Rings Twice, Touch of Evil, and Sunset Blvd.

 

[Totenkindly]

Well, this is nice.

Angela Bassett Finally Gets Her Oscar as Academy Announces 2023 Honorary Winners, Including Mel Brooks

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars at this year’s Governors Awards, announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In addition, the Sun…

variety.com

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Any classic noir recommendations?

Well, you've already seen The Big Sleep which is essential.

Last year, I saw The Big Clock which endeared itself to me by having this gigantic cool Art Deco clock.( I like clockwork mechanisms and tions.)

But I think i will also say in its favor (the gear thing being a bit niche, although I think the Coens did a homage to it in The Hudsucker Proxy) that the movie has Charles Laughton. In my opinion anything Charles Laughton had anything to do with is worth a watch. Here he plays a midcentury media tycoon that seems to be inspired by Time magazine magnate Carl Luce. The movie also seems to take place in some sort of alternate reality and it's hard to say if that's just because someone being a massive captain of industry based on magazines seems a little improbable now. But it's fascinating. I love movies with atmosphere and this has it in spades.

Elsa Lancaster also has a very memorable part in this that I remember being a lot of fun.

 

[Red Herring]

The Big Sleep,

seen that a dozend times, love it, great dialogue

Maltese Falcon,

seen that, almost as good but Mary Astor keeps reminding me of my grandmother. I have a hard time taking her seriously as a femme fatale here. On the other hand, Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet. Yay.

To Have and Have not,

seen it ... say, you ever got stung by a dead bee?

Dark Passage(I enjoy Bogart and Bacall)

as do I ... seen that one as well

another good one more modern but one you might have missed, the Ice Harvest, Lucky Number SLevin,

I've heard of Lucky Number Slevin, but not of Ice Harvest, will look into it, thanks!

back to classic, Strangers on a Train, The Postman always Rings Twice, Touch of Evil, and Sunset Blvd.

seen all of those as well.
Strangers On A Train - good, though he's made better ones
The Postman Always Rings Twice - liked it
Touch Of Evil - the whole brownfacing is a bit cringe by today's standards, but you can tell the Midas hand of Welles in this one and I do like Welles a lot. Oh, that reminds me, have you seen The Third Man or its sister film Odd Man Out (both by Carol Reed)? I prefer The Third Man (another one in my Top Ten) over Odd Man Out, but both are excellent.

 

[Red Herring]

Well, you've already seen The Big Sleep which is essential.

Last year, I saw The Big Clock which endeared itself to me by having this gigantic cool Art Deco clock.( I like clockwork mechanisms and tions.)

But I think i will also say in its favor (the gear thing being a bit niche, although I think the Coens did a homage to it in The Hudsucker Proxy) that the movie has Charles Laughton. In my opinion anything Charles Laughton had anything to do with is worth a watch. Here he plays a midcentury media tycoon that seems to be inspired by Time magazine magnate Carl Luce. The movie also seems to take place in some sort of alternate reality and it's hard to say if that's just because someone being a massive captain of industry based on magazines seems a little improbable now. But it's fascinating. I love movies with atmosphere and this has it in spades.

Elsa Lancaster also has a very memorable part in this that I remember being a lot of fun.

I have seen The Big Clock a few years ago and liked it a lot. I'm also a great fan of Charles Laughton.
Seeing as we seem to be in sink here, may I ask if you have seen Laughton's only work as a director: Night Of The Hunter? It's got awesome cinematography and Robert Michum at his best. Another one of my all my all time favorites.

I also liked The Big Combo, DOA and Out Of The Past, to give you some idea of the kind of noir I'm looking for.

 

[The Cat]

seen that a dozend times, love it, great dialogue

seen that, almost as good but Mary Astor keeps reminding me of my grandmother. I have a hard time taking her seriously as a femme fatale here. On the other hand, Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet. Yay.

seen it ... say, you ever got stung by a dead bee?

as do I ... seen that one as well

I've heard of Lucky Number Slevin, but not of Ice Harvest, will look into it, thanks!


seen all of those as well.
Strangers On A Train - good, though he's made better ones
The Postman Always Rings Twice - liked it
Touch Of Evil - the whole brownfacing is a bit cringe by today's standards, but you can tell the Midas hand of Welles in this one and I do like Welles a lot. Oh, that reminds me, have you seen The Third Man or its sister film Odd Man Out (both by Carol Reed)? I prefer The Third Man (another one in my Top Ten) over Odd Man Out, but both are excellent.

I kinda figured that would be the case, there's such a finite number of movies most people who are into it have already eaten up most of the black and whites. Lucky Number Slevin is a fun one, and Ice Harvest, Connie Neilson and John Cusack slay. Ice Harvest is a great modern noir. As Wichita Falls so falls Wichita Falls.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Funny because I posted about a week ago in an RLM Facebook group discussion on this very film that I never minded the character of Willie—she’s supposed to be annoying and serves as a sort of insert character for the audience. Who wouldn’t react the same way when Indy was about to cut the rope bridge, or to be being covered in ginormous insects? If you hate that character because she’s whiny or not capable, then I guess that’s the whole point?

This film is such a throwback. If Raiders was an homage to golden age gumshoe adventure epics like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon (while serving dual purpose as Spielberg’s Jewish revenge epic), Temple was the love letter to the old adventure serials and B movies produced during the dying throes of colonialism—it’s rife with the anxieties of post colonial sensibilities. It’s offensive and culturally insensitive as hell, but it’s still damn entertaining and holds up as solid adventure that many films since have tried to replicate and fallen short in recreating that exact recipe. It’s essentially an exploitation film made with a big budget and lots of love. Maybe Spielberg was checked out and didn’t care, but I think that contributed to this being an even more entertaining film than Raiders, if lacking in the depth and epic scope of that one and Crusade. This one is the lovable black sheep of the series (Crystal Skull is the disappointing dropout drug addict nephew)

Personal favorite moment is when Indy tries and fails to recreate the gun vs sword moment from Raiders and Williams’ score echoes the basket chase music from that film.

Sorely underrated and if not the best in the series, it’s always been my absolute favorite. Agree with them that a lot of the pop culture tropes associated with Indy originated from this film and not Raiders or Crusade.

Also one of John Williams’ best scores of all time. He just had a lot of fun with it. Williams is the last standing of that old guard of Hollywood composers (RIP Goldsmith, Morricone, Barry, Poledouris, Horner, Jarre) who always gave their best, even when the films didn’t necessarily deserve such great scores.

 

[Totenkindly]

For a brief and absurd change of pace, I watched Evil Dead Rise last night. (I think I preferred the 2013 version to this (in terms of modern sequels). It was a very different environ for this film series, although the structure had a lot of ambiance. As typical for Evil Dead, it was so over the top and ridiculous that I had to laugh a lot at things happening in the film, although some of the lines were rather flat. Of course there's a random chainsaw involved. I think I best appreciate it when it's all very self-aware and way over the top -- the ridiculous opening was pretty much on par with Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" (he and Campbell I think were marginally involved with this). Casting Alyssa Sutherland in the lead, well, she's got this really angular face that only made things so much horrific.

Also one of John Williams’ best scores of all time. He just had a lot of fun with it. Williams is the last standing of that old guard of Hollywood composers (RIP Goldsmith, Morricone, Barry, Poledouris, Horner, Jarre) who always gave their best, even when the films didn’t necessarily deserve such great scores.

Yeah, Williams has always been committed and I love how despite a subsection of blockbusters that are identifiably him he's also done some totally unexpected work (like his A.I. soundtrack) to show the full range of his chops. I think the only soundtrack I really didn't like was TROS, but we all know how that was chopped to crap and the cues misappropriated in the film.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

For a brief and absurd change of pace, I watched Evil Dead Rise last night. (I think I preferred the 2013 version to this (in terms of modern sequels). It was a very different environ for this film series, although the structure had a lot of ambiance. As typical for Evil Dead, it was so over the top and ridiculous that I had to laugh a lot at things happening in the film, although some of the lines were rather flat. Of course there's a random chainsaw involved. I think I best appreciate it when it's all very self-aware and way over the top -- the ridiculous opening was pretty much on par with Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" (he and Campbell I think were marginally involved with this). Casting Alyssa Sutherland in the lead, well, she's got this really angular face that only made things so much horrific.



Yeah, Williams has always been committed and I love how despite a subsection of blockbusters that are identifiably him he's also done some totally unexpected work (like his A.I. soundtrack) to show the full range of his chops. I think the only soundtrack I really didn't like was TROS, but we all know how that was chopped to crap and the cues misappropriated in the film.

His score was also chopped quite a bit for Phantom Menace. That kind of had to happen for it to fit the crazy editing in that film.

I really like Empire of the Sun, the first three Indy scores, ET, Jurassic Park. For SW, I think Empire Strikes Back is the obvious best, although he did some really nice themes for the Prequel Trilogy. Temple of Doom or Empire of the Sun would probably be my favorites if I had to choose just from the Spielberg-Williams collaboration. I can't think of a lot of other great director-composer pairings that produced as many great scores....maybe Hitchcock-Herrmann? Goldsmith and Joe Dante? Anderson and Mothersbaugh? Morricone and Sergio Leone? Carpenter and Carpenter lol

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

His score was also chopped quite a bit for Phantom Menace. That kind of had to happen for it to fit the crazy editing in that film.

Well, at least there were some memorable themes in that film that still stand out. Duel of the Fates will live forever.

I really like Empire of the Sun, the first three Indy scores, ET, Jurassic Park. For SW, I think Empire Strikes Back is the obvious best, although he did some really nice themes for the Prequel Trilogy. Temple of Doom or Empire of the Sun would probably be my favorites if I had to choose just from the Spielberg-Williams collaboration. I can't think of a lot of other great director-composer pairings that produced as many great scores....maybe Hitchcock-Herrmann? Goldsmith and Joe Dante? Anderson and Mothersbaugh? Morricone and Sergio Leone? Carpenter and Carpenter lol

Not as much time and Julyan is more ambiance than identifying themes, but Nolan/Julyan or Nolan/Zimmer have done a few great things. I think the music for Interstellar is actually consistently better than the film itself (which has some really great moments + also a few ho-hum ones).

Also Aronofsky/Mansell.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Poledouris (and sometimes Goldsmith) and Verhoeven worked well together. Also Poledouris' score for Cherry 2000 is really brilliant and elevates that film more than it deserves. That's not a Verhoeven film but it felt a little like Verhoeven-lite, what with the general quirkiness and subtle attempts at satire.

 

[The Cat]

The timeline in Seven doesn't add up. The package shipping....that was an improvised kill. How did he ship the clean package while covered in blood...there's a least one more body out there posed for wrath out there in the city.