PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Apr 17, 2021 19:02:07 GMT -5
I can guarantee you will not change my mind on this. You had your chance to watch 365 Days. You have no one to blame but yourself. Does it have a rockin soundtrack?
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Apr 17, 2021 20:24:49 GMT -5
You had your chance to watch 365 Days. You have no one to blame but yourself. Does it have a rockin soundtrack? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Let's just say the soundtrack is one of the most noteworthy things about it.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Apr 18, 2021 11:03:52 GMT -5
The Agony and The EcstasyHaving an opening narration or scroll at the beginning of a movie isn't very common these days but it's not hard to come by when watching older films. Usually it's a couple minutes or a few lines to help set a location or scenario without spending time doing it in the film or leaving it to the audience to figure out. I imagine a lot of filmmakers see it as a dated or even lazy technique nowadays and leave it to viewers to piece things together for themselves. The Agony and The Ecstasy though might have the longest intro I've ever seen. 12 entire minutes dedicated to introducing us to Michelangelo and his most renowned works. Most are sculptures as he fancied himself as a sculptor more than anything, according to the narration. While a 12 minute introduction might sound tedious it was in fact quite interesting as it made me realize how little I know of the artist outside of his work in the Sistine Chapel around which this movie is based. It certainly gave me an appreciation for what he did and also delved into why some of his works seem unfinished albeit intentionally while others are refined with great and almost tedious detail. While perhaps overlong it was a great setup to the drama that was about to play out. Charleton Heston plays Charleton Heston as Michelangelo. Once you get to Heston you're given a proper briefing on Mike as I said already. I enjoy Charleton Heston as much as the next guy, I'm a big fan of Planet of the Apes, Touch of Evil, Ben-Hur and can respect the guy's place in film history but has there been someone as notable with such limited range? I suppose he comes from the John Wayne school of acting in that casting directors pay for him and not the thespian chops he brings to the table. That isn't to say that he's a bad actor because he's not and he's actually quite good here. Opposite Heston is Rex Harrision as Pope Julius II, the so-called 'warrior pope' who commissions Mike to paint the Sistine Chapel, a years-long labor of love that puts him at odds with the Pope throughout the film. Harrison is the show stealer here giving an affably sinister performance. I was surprised to see he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar but it probably makes sense given that he had won for My Fair Lady which was released the previous year. Every scene with these two actors is powerful and electric which makes you wonder why there were other side plots or characters at all. I read that this was based on a play and I would imagine at some point in the writing process someone though 'what if we just made this a two-man show?' It certainly would have been more laser focused on what made this a good story but it would have been tough to do as well given the time and setting. Overall The Agony and The Ecstasy is an effective and engrossing look into the life of a tortured artist and the powers that move him unwillingly toward historical achievement. I've seen plenty of Charleton Heston performances but it made me realize I haven't seen much of Rex Harrision outside of My Fair Lady and PG Cooper favorite Doctor Doolittle. I'll have to see what else he has in his filmography worth seeing. All said and done, I really enjoyed The Agony and The Ecstasy and look forward to watching it again down the road. A- so says Doomsday
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Apr 18, 2021 11:58:35 GMT -5
The Agony and The EcstasyCharleton Heston plays Charleton Heston as Michelangelo. Nice.
Glad you liked it.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Apr 19, 2021 15:42:21 GMT -5
I’ll listen to your Shang-Chi/Demon Slayer/Mortal Kombat podcast. But if you could do a video podcast and put it on YouTube, that’s be even better.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Apr 19, 2021 15:50:21 GMT -5
I’ll listen to your Shang-Chi/Demon Slayer/Mortal Kombat podcast. But if you could do a video podcast and put it on YouTube, that’s be even better. That wasn't the deal. I watched the movie, you listen to the podcast.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Apr 19, 2021 16:06:16 GMT -5
if you could do a video podcast you listen. Alright. I’ll listen to your Shang-Chi/Demon Slayer/Mortal Kombat podcast.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Apr 24, 2021 13:31:16 GMT -5
Why are you so resistant?
Dooms, I am just waiting for Harakiri fro the library
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Apr 24, 2021 16:43:52 GMT -5
thebtskinkI'm literally two minutes into VelociPastor and I saw the words "VFX: Car on Fire" and was like "Okay, I think Skink wins."
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Apr 24, 2021 22:07:09 GMT -5
thebtskinkI'm literally two minutes into VelociPastor and I saw the words "VFX: Car on Fire" and was like "Okay, I think Skink wins." Watched Money Plane tonight. I'll have to write my thoughts tomorrow before watching Ouija Shark. It was an experience.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Apr 24, 2021 22:41:20 GMT -5
thebtskink, I finally watched Harold & Maude this afternoon. What a delightfully odd yet endearing movie. I'll get my review up for it tomorrow most likely.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Apr 24, 2021 22:48:40 GMT -5
Watched Money Plane tonight.[...] It was [the greatest] experience. Reading between the lines.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Apr 25, 2021 12:16:10 GMT -5
The VelociPastor thebtskink lied to me. He said we were exchanging trashy movies. That son of a bitch slipped this masterpiece onto the list he gave me instead. I had initially seen a trailer for this movie a while back, but for the life of me couldn't recall anything about it. Then Skink kept bringing this movie up and I kept remembering "Oh yeah, I heard of that." So I decided to check it out and see if it lived up to his recommendation. This is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. This film tells the story of a pastor who witnesses the murder of his parents, and in his grief he is instructed to go to "where God won't follow" to see if God finds him. So he goes to China (LOL) and is handed a mystical tooth by a dying woman that infects him with the spirit of "the Dragon Warrior." He returns home and finds himself turning into a dinosaur at night and murdering bad people. He befriends a hooker that helps him wield this power. I love multiple things about this movie. First of all, it is definitely made with affection for trashy movies. Aspects of the film reminded me of films I would see on MST3K, as his transformation scenes sometimes evoked the overnight transformations in Werewolf and the dinosaur scenes were usually a close up shot of a puppet snapping at people right next to the camera, like in Future War. But what I really love about this movie is that I found myself comparing it to films like Airplane!, Top Secret, and The Naked Gun, because the movie is done with a certain brand of humor of absurdity unfolding around these characters. What VelociPastor gets right that movies like Scary Movie and Meet the Spartans get wrong is that the thing that makes those movies funny are the stoic, earnest performances of their casts. The movie around them is stupid, and the cast is in on the joke, but they're playing it deadly serious. The characters are the straight man to the tone's comedic foil. The film doesn't really look that much more expensive than Ouija Shark. It feels like this crew just had access to film equipment and just had enough money to hire some actors, a crappy dinosaur suit, and go to town. It very much feels like a movie you could make at home under the right circumstances and with your tongue planted firmly in your cheek. The movie's only request of the audience is that you understand what it's doing. That might be a tall order for some, but those who get it will absolutely adore it.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Apr 25, 2021 17:08:39 GMT -5
A round late, but better late than never.
Harold and Maude (1971)
Harold and Maude is one of those movie titles I'd seen brought up a couple times over the years, but never really looked into what it was actually about. Once I did, however, my interest in finally seeing it rose considerably. It's about a young man named Harold (Bud Cort) who's suicidal/obsessed with death, constantly trying to find new and creative ways to kill himself...much to his mother's annoyance as she goes around looking for a woman to finally marry Harold off to. One of Harold's hobbies is attending different funerals, and it's at one of those where he meets a soon-to-be-80 old woman named Maude (Ruth Gordon), someone who has her own eccentricities and unique outlook on life. The two strike up an unusual friendship/bond, and the rest of the movie charts their experiences together.
The first thing that struck me about this movie was its dark/morbid and wicked sense of humor, and how committed it is to it. It's the type of film where you can tell within the first ten minutes whether or not you're going to be onboard with it, but fortunately I was. The way it throws you into Harold's everyday existence/mindset is a strong example of dark/black comedy, and from there, the movie adopts a tone that's so unique and delightfully odd that you're constantly going, "This shouldn't work," and yet, it does. And the key to that is how it maintains a heart in the midst of all its craziness. Not only do Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon make Harold and Maude such unique and interesting characters on their own, they also have great chemistry and a surprising sweetness to their relationship in the scenes they share together. Again, on paper, this seems like something that...well, could qualify as creepy, but in the hands of these two actors, director Hal Ashby and screenwriter Colin Higgins, it miraculously comes off more as sweet and endearing. The movie does a good job of selling the dynamic between the two and making their friendship/connection feel believable. On top of that, the film is often pretty hilarious with its humor. And an exclusively Cat Stevens soundtrack works surprisingly well. For most of the running time, I was really digging Harold and Maude...but I felt it lost some of its steam in the second half and by the time it got to the end...not that I felt the ending was horrible, it just felt like there was maybe a stronger ending being left on the table somehow? I don't know. Regardless, though, Harold and Maude is a surprising, charming and very strong film with a unique quality to it that feels even fresher in today's Hollywood.
***1/2 /****
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Apr 25, 2021 18:31:19 GMT -5
I think you hit on my same feelings. I wish the movie had ended differently, but the journey there with the Cat Steven's is real charming.
The script being a dudes master's thesis is just out of this world to me.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Apr 25, 2021 19:15:53 GMT -5
I think you hit on my same feelings. I wish the movie had ended differently, but the journey there with the Cat Steven's is real charming. The script being a dudes master's thesis is just out of this world to me. Yeah, with the ending...the more I think about it, the more it's an issue of the one they went with feeling like the expected/easy one. But it's hard to really come down on it too much when everything that came before was so endearing.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Apr 26, 2021 12:01:49 GMT -5
One week left.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Apr 26, 2021 22:17:34 GMT -5
I'm at the mercy of the public library system
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Apr 28, 2021 8:14:50 GMT -5
I'm at the mercy of the public library system Check your messages homey.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Apr 28, 2021 10:11:20 GMT -5
I watched Seventh Seal on Sunday. Review coming soon.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Apr 28, 2021 10:13:07 GMT -5
I watched Seventh Seal on Sunday. Review coming soon.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Apr 28, 2021 13:52:43 GMT -5
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Apr 28, 2021 14:27:51 GMT -5
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Apr 28, 2021 15:31:45 GMT -5
Best thing I've seen all week.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on May 2, 2021 17:15:28 GMT -5
The Seventh Seal (1957)
When you call yourself a film fan, there are inevitably going to be some highly-lauded "heavy hitters" that may not necessarily be movies you'd seek out on your own time, but are ones you'll be obligated to see due to their importance; The Seventh Seal is one such film. I mean, a black and white Swedish expressionist drama from 1957 isn't exactly my typical milieu, but as I do with every movie, I sat down to watch it with an open mind -- and also maybe more than a bit of reticence, if I'm being honest. But you know what? Turns out, I really went for this!
I think, most of all, it's because the film has an overall pretty accessible story at its core. A disillusioned knight (Max von Sydow) returns from the Crusades to find his home in the grips of the Black Death and challenges Death himself to a chess match for his soul, a game that plays out over the rest of the film as the knight travels across the land, both to try to avoid the inevitability of his own fate and to try to help as many people as he can. Look, I can't really sit here and give a deep analysis on the themes and ideas that writer/director Ingmar Bergman is playing with here, other than the obvious ones of mortality, the inevitability of death/fate, etc. and that those are clearly handled in a thoughtful fashion that doesn't get in the way of the story being told. I can just say that the story and characters themselves really did engage me a lot more than I thought they would, and that Ingmar Bergman's skill behind the camera and as a storyteller in general enhanced them rather than come off as overly pretentious, like I feared it would. The story moves at a very good pace and each of the characters get ample time to shine and feel fleshed out. Max von Sydow anchors this thing very naturally, and seeing scenes like the ones he shares with Death throughout the film really provide the movie with a lot of its personality. And that's another thing -- The Seventh Seal never really comes across as stilted or anything like that. The story and the characters have a certain naturalness despite the period/foreign setting and the approach of the film itself. There are maybe certain scenes/conversations scattered throughout that do have that air of pretentiousness that I was worried about, but it's not as much, considering everything. So, yeah... I'm not quite sure I'd go so far as to rank The Seventh Seal among my new favorites or anything, but it's undeniably a strong piece of filmmaking that remains accessible even when considering its intentions and status.
***1/2 /****
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