The first movie(s) you watched this year?

On 1 Jan 2006 20:08:50 -0800, "moviePig"
wrote:

>John Harkness wrote:
>> On 1 Jan 2006 19:10:13 -0800, "Nick Macpherson"
>> wrote:
>>
>> >2046--like In the Mood for Love, it's as meticulous, obsessive and as
>> >boring at times as a Bryan Ferry solo record but perfect viewing for
>> >the early hours of the new year. Caught Infernal Affairs 2 earlier in
>> >the day and Carina Lau's a terrific actress.
>> >
>> >Napoleon Dynamite--hadn't seen it yet. I suppose it's alright but I've
>> >waited so long to see Napoleon Dynamite I can't separate what works and
>> >doesn't work in it with the stature its gotten as something between a
>> >contrived, manufactured cult hit and a sincere cult hit for junior high
>> >kids.
>>
>> Where The Sidewalk Ends, Kiss of Death and The Dark Corner --
>> finally got my last group of Fox Noirs... (Fallen Angel due in March!
>> now, if we can just get Warner to include Angel Face in their next
>> noir box...)
>>
>> Enjoyed Eddie Muller's commentary on WtSE, which is both appreciative
>> of Preminger's style and the subtlety of Andews' performance and
>> comicly dismissive of Tierney's stunning ability to register exactly
>> one emotion at any given time.... I'd forgotten that Kiss of Death was
>> Hathaway -- where in his rather dull career did this picture come
>> from? It's just flat out nasty, though a lot of that has to do with
>> Widmark's unblinklingly weird performance as Tommy Udo.
>
>I too watched a noir, DETOUR... (coincidentally on Nick's
>recommendation). Unfortunately, it was a bare-bones dvd... and, for
>this movie, I'd happily have browsed a c.t. had one been available.
>Pretty good, regardless (especially once I'd channeled a 1945 mindset)
>...but I'm struck again at the former free use of flagrantly mismatched
>cuts, i.e., to a degree unacceptable nowadays for even minimally
>budgeted movies. I suppose audiences then just didn't notice...


What audiences? Detour was an exceedingly marginal picture.

I tried to persude my father on Detour -- he was born in 24, and had
a lot of years of movies behind him (and was astute enough to look at
A Passage to India and dismiss it as "just another David Lean train
movie") -- couldn't sell it to him -- "cheap looking B movie, you can
almost see the sets shake whenever anybody walks. We didn't go to this
sort of picture -- I don't know who would have seen a picture like
this."

John Harkness
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 05:07:41 +0000 (UTC), Paula Vitaris
wrote:





That's very cryptic.

John Harkness
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

Around the Bend (DVD). Not bad, with Christopher Walken, Michael
Caine,
and Josh Lucas, but it didn't seem so unusual as to justify the ten
years that
the author spent on the screenplay (not full time of course). It
involved four
generations (there was a little boy too) of father/son relationships,
and it was
well enough made to maintain interest, but no really strong impression
was
created.

-cr

There were some nice western highway scenes.
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

On 2 Jan 2006 06:56:39 -0800, "moviePig"
wrote:

>John Harkness wrote:
>> On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 05:07:41 +0000 (UTC), Paula Vitaris
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> That's very cryptic.
>
>(...and pungent. I also watched AU HASARD BALTHAZAR on dvd, with a
>Bresson interview wherein he stated, "Ideally, of course, the camera
>would show nothing...".)
>
>Re your father's dismissal of 1945's DETOUR, many half-century-old
>movies are watchable for their time-travel aspect (...i.e., "movies
>used to feel like this"). Watching one probably *should* register
>differently on natives of an era. (I didn't notice shaky sets, but I
>could swear that the hero's perpetual five-o'clock shadow was part
>charcoal...)

Well, my dad liked old movies -- he grew up in the 30s and 40s, and
had a remarkable recall of films he'd seen decades before -- I'd be
watching some oddity on the late show when visiting my parents out
west -- and he'd walk by glance at the screen and usually identify the
picture, with about 90% accuracy if it was a western or a crime film.
within a minute.

To him, Detour was just a cheap B on the order of "Why watch this when
you could watch Double Indemnity or The Big Sleep?" Hhe was, I think,
a little horrified that my expensive graduate school tuition was in
part letting me study films like Detour.

John Harkness
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

On 2 Jan 2006 07:44:06 -0800, "moviePig"
wrote:

>
>John Harkness wrote:
>> On 2 Jan 2006 06:56:39 -0800, "moviePig"
>> wrote:
>>
>> >John Harkness wrote:
>> >> On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 05:07:41 +0000 (UTC), Paula Vitaris
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> That's very cryptic.
>> >
>> >(...and pungent. I also watched AU HASARD BALTHAZAR on dvd, with a
>> >Bresson interview wherein he stated, "Ideally, of course, the camera
>> >would show nothing...".)
>> >
>> >Re your father's dismissal of 1945's DETOUR, many half-century-old
>> >movies are watchable for their time-travel aspect (...i.e., "movies
>> >used to feel like this"). Watching one probably *should* register
>> >differently on natives of an era. (I didn't notice shaky sets, but I
>> >could swear that the hero's perpetual five-o'clock shadow was part
>> >charcoal...)
>>
>> Well, my dad liked old movies -- he grew up in the 30s and 40s, and
>> had a remarkable recall of films he'd seen decades before -- I'd be
>> watching some oddity on the late show when visiting my parents out
>> west -- and he'd walk by glance at the screen and usually identify the
>> picture, with about 90% accuracy if it was a western or a crime film.
>> within a minute.
>>
>> To him, Detour was just a cheap B on the order of "Why watch this when
>> you could watch Double Indemnity or The Big Sleep?" Hhe was, I think,
>> a little horrified that my expensive graduate school tuition was in
>> part letting me study films like Detour.
>
>I would've riposted something deep, maybe about cave-drawings and the
>Sistine Chapel... while relying on laws against child-abuse...

the difference between Double Indemnity/Detour and Sistine Chapel/cave
paintings is that the Sistine Chapel and the cave paintings are not
contemporary. Though when I was in Rome in September, I quickly came
to the time saving conclusion that I wasn't all that interested in
Roman ruins -- it was mostly a bunch of broken old stuff. (I recall
the sign by an excavation of something or other, where the sign said
that they were continuing to dig in hopes of finding more marlble
shards and I'm thinking "Why? is there a shortage?")

John Harkness
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

Sadly, it was 'Into the Blue'. :-) But I did rent 2046 at the same time for
tonight.....


"Nick Macpherson" wrote in message

> 2046--like In the Mood for Love, it's as meticulous, obsessive and as
> boring at times as a Bryan Ferry solo record but perfect viewing for
> the early hours of the new year. Caught Infernal Affairs 2 earlier in
> the day and Carina Lau's a terrific actress.
>
> Napoleon Dynamite--hadn't seen it yet. I suppose it's alright but I've
> waited so long to see Napoleon Dynamite I can't separate what works and
> doesn't work in it with the stature its gotten as something between a
> contrived, manufactured cult hit and a sincere cult hit for junior high
> kids.
>
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

John Harkness wrote:
> On 2 Jan 2006 06:56:39 -0800, "moviePig"
> wrote:
>
> >John Harkness wrote:
> >> On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 05:07:41 +0000 (UTC), Paula Vitaris
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> That's very cryptic.
> >
> >(...and pungent. I also watched AU HASARD BALTHAZAR on dvd, with a
> >Bresson interview wherein he stated, "Ideally, of course, the camera
> >would show nothing...".)
> >
> >Re your father's dismissal of 1945's DETOUR, many half-century-old
> >movies are watchable for their time-travel aspect (...i.e., "movies
> >used to feel like this"). Watching one probably *should* register
> >differently on natives of an era. (I didn't notice shaky sets, but I
> >could swear that the hero's perpetual five-o'clock shadow was part
> >charcoal...)
>
> Well, my dad liked old movies -- he grew up in the 30s and 40s, and
> had a remarkable recall of films he'd seen decades before -- I'd be
> watching some oddity on the late show when visiting my parents out
> west -- and he'd walk by glance at the screen and usually identify the
> picture, with about 90% accuracy if it was a western or a crime film.
> within a minute.
>
My parents are like that with British character actors from the
30s-50s. They can watch an old British black and white movie and name
single cast member without hesitation ("Hey? Isn't that Nigel Stock?")
but even though they watch modern films, they couldn't tell you who
Christopher Walken or Steve Buscemi was if their lives depended on it.
I should show them Detour just to get their reaction as film fans who
started going to the movies in the forties (plus it's short, so I'm
not commiting to anything too time consuming). A recent viewing of
Lady from Shanghai didn't go down too well.
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

moviePig wrote:
> Nick Macpherson wrote:
> > 2046--like In the Mood for Love, it's as meticulous, obsessive and as
> > boring at times as a Bryan Ferry solo record but perfect viewing for
> > the early hours of the new year. Caught Infernal Affairs 2 earlier in
> > the day and Carina Lau's a terrific actress.
>
> Finally saw 2046, and continue to think that Wong Kar-Wai has a
> legitimate and unique vision... but can't help wondering if he'd
> survive as an American filmmaker.

I'm not sure he'd want to. He's in a position most American filmmakers
would envy--shooting a movie until he gets a movie, letting plot
develop as it ambles along (and a lot of us who were with him right
from the beginning wish he'd go and shoot something quickly with a
workable script). In an interview Wong Kar-Wai sarcastically mentioned
the possibility of a Chungking Express remake with Tom Hanks and Meg
Ryan so maybe that was an offer at one point. But as he famously said
once, he'd rather get his financing from the triads than the studios,
though those days are probably gone for good.

The main problem with 2046 is that I could've watched the science
fiction segments all night, but the bulk of the movie was set in the
1960s and looked like more of the same of In the Mood for Love (an ol'
Wong sure has gotten a lot of mileage out of that "bird that has to
keep flying or it dies" story from, was it, Band of Outsiders?).

>
> > Napoleon Dynamite--hadn't seen it yet. I suppose it's alright but I've
> > waited so long to see Napoleon Dynamite I can't separate what works and
> > doesn't work in it with the stature its gotten as something between a
> > contrived, manufactured cult hit and a sincere cult hit for junior high
> > kids.
>
> Alas, I think that much of ND's success lay in becoming an "in" movie,
> much of whose in-ness is that nothing happens... (as if that were
> somehow new...)
>
It's a teenybopperfied art film. Static camera shots, not much
happens, a lot of non sequitors visual and otherwise, but there's
nothing in there that's going to shake anyone up. I'm still not sure
if ND is a legit fad, beloved cult item or a manufactured thing with
all the merchandising and such. But then I don't know anyone in that
age group. When someone raved about Garden State, and I said I hadn't
seen it or Napoleon Dynamite, he nearly hit me for drawing a
comparison. (Now that I've seen both, he's right--there isn't a
comparison.)
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

John Harkness wrote:

> On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 05:07:41 +0000 (UTC), Paula Vitaris
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> That's very cryptic.


Shades of Andy Warhol.
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

Brokeback Mountain. Yesterday. Good way to start the year.

Then I watched Serenity for the fourth time at home.
--
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

Nick Macpherson wrote:
> 2046--like In the Mood for Love, it's as meticulous, obsessive and as
> boring at times as a Bryan Ferry solo record but perfect viewing for
> the early hours of the new year. Caught Infernal Affairs 2 earlier in
> the day and Carina Lau's a terrific actress.
>
> Napoleon Dynamite--hadn't seen it yet. I suppose it's alright but
> I've waited so long to see Napoleon Dynamite I can't separate what
> works and doesn't work in it with the stature its gotten as something
> between a contrived, manufactured cult hit and a sincere cult hit for
> junior high kids.
Stealth. Liked it even better the 2nd time.
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

On Thu, 5 Jan 2006 11:30:29 -0500, "bob smith" wrote:

>>>
>>>You never know - It could have been because of the Hot PG-13 Paul Walker
>>>action, baby! :-)
>>>
>>>
>> Not that there's anything wrong with that.
>>
>> But if that was the case, you'd probably have been lined up for
>> Brokeback Mountain.
>>
>> John Harkness
>
>I'll go see it right after Larry David does.
>
>re: 2046 - Faye Wong makes for a pretty hot android.....
>

I think you've inadvertently described most of the female characters
in Wong Kar-Wai's films.

John Harkness
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year? 

On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 10:34:35 -0600, King Of Brawl Hall
wrote:

>
>Nick Macpherson Wrote:
>> 2046--like In the Mood for Love, it's as meticulous, obsessive and as
>> boring at times as a Bryan Ferry solo record but perfect viewing for
>> the early hours of the new year. Caught Infernal Affairs 2 earlier in
>> the day and Carina Lau's a terrific actress.
>>
>> Napoleon Dynamite--hadn't seen it yet. I suppose it's alright but
>> I've
>> waited so long to see Napoleon Dynamite I can't separate what works
>> and
>> doesn't work in it with the stature its gotten as something between a
>> contrived, manufactured cult hit and a sincere cult hit for junior
>> high
>> kids.
>
>What sort of moron hasn't seen Napoleon Dynamite?

I haven't. Never saw any need to.

Saw the trailer. Not interested.

John Harkness
 >> Stay informed about: The first movie(s) you watched this year?