Dracula
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Post by Dracula on May 11, 2018 21:49:01 GMT -5
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-this is my nightmare. Part 43. Let's talk abut YOU, Dracula? What would YOU like to see? Name a sci-fi film, I've probably seen it. Seen Passengers yet? That's a bit better than it looks! How about Alphaville, that's obscure and pretty good. I, uh, kind of watched Passengers when you recommended it to me back in round 173... and Alphaville is a Jean-Luc Godard movie... it's decidedly not obscure in my world. Let's see, on this rather strange list of the 100 greatest sci-fi movies I have not seen: Solaris (2002), Buckaroo Banzai (1984), Fantastic Voyage (1966), The Damned (1963), The Andromeda Strain (1971), World on a Wire (1973), Flash Gordon (1980), The American Astronaut (2001), Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968), Quatermass and the Pit (1968), Dune (1984), Dark Star (1974), and La Jetée (1962) On this list of the 100 greatest sci-fi movies I have not seen: The Black Hole (1979), Dreamscape (1984), Outland (1981), Ikarie XB-1 (1963), Day of the Triffids (1962), Altered States (1980), When Worlds Collide (1951), 1984 (1984), and Abre Los Ojos (1997) Not sure how many of those are readily available and can't promise I can watch all of them, but that's food for thought.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 11, 2018 21:52:50 GMT -5
Drac's never seen La Jetee? That's surprising.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 11, 2018 22:18:20 GMT -5
Yeah, or Flash Gordon.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on May 11, 2018 23:12:24 GMT -5
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-this is my nightmare. Part 43. Let's talk abut YOU, Dracula? What would YOU like to see? Name a sci-fi film, I've probably seen it. Seen Passengers yet? That's a bit better than it looks! How about Alphaville, that's obscure and pretty good. I, uh, kind of watched Passengers when you recommended it to me back in round 173... and Alphaville is a Jean-Luc Godard movie... it's decidedly not obscure in my world. Let's see, on this rather strange list of the 100 greatest sci-fi movies I have not seen: Solaris (2002), Buckaroo Banzai (1984), Fantastic Voyage (1966), The Damned (1963), The Andromeda Strain (1971), World on a Wire (1973), Flash Gordon (1980), The American Astronaut (2001), Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968), Quatermass and the Pit (1968), Dune (1984), Dark Star (1974), and La Jetée (1962) On this list of the 100 greatest sci-fi movies I have not seen: The Black Hole (1979), Dreamscape (1984), Outland (1981), Ikarie XB-1 (1963), Day of the Triffids (1962), Altered States (1980), When Worlds Collide (1951), 1984 (1984), and Abre Los Ojos (1997) Not sure how many of those are readily available and can't promise I can watch all of them, but that's food for thought. Round 173? No one knows when that was, that could have been YEARS ago! How do you feel about The Andromeda Strain? I used to watch that all the time.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on May 12, 2018 0:37:54 GMT -5
I, uh, kind of watched Passengers when you recommended it to me back in round 173... and Alphaville is a Jean-Luc Godard movie... it's decidedly not obscure in my world. Let's see, on this rather strange list of the 100 greatest sci-fi movies I have not seen: Solaris (2002), Buckaroo Banzai (1984), Fantastic Voyage (1966), The Damned (1963), The Andromeda Strain (1971), World on a Wire (1973), Flash Gordon (1980), The American Astronaut (2001), Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968), Quatermass and the Pit (1968), Dune (1984), Dark Star (1974), and La Jetée (1962) On this list of the 100 greatest sci-fi movies I have not seen: The Black Hole (1979), Dreamscape (1984), Outland (1981), Ikarie XB-1 (1963), Day of the Triffids (1962), Altered States (1980), When Worlds Collide (1951), 1984 (1984), and Abre Los Ojos (1997) Not sure how many of those are readily available and can't promise I can watch all of them, but that's food for thought. Round 173? No one knows when that was, that could have been YEARS ago! How do you feel about The Andromeda Strain? I used to watch that all the time. It was last April. You watched 20th Century Women. I'll give Andromeda Strain a rent.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on May 12, 2018 13:21:22 GMT -5
Round 173? No one knows when that was, that could have been YEARS ago! How do you feel about The Andromeda Strain? I used to watch that all the time. It was last April. You watched 20th Century Women. Kidding. I will go with Hoop Dreams.
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Deexan
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Post by Deexan on May 14, 2018 5:38:19 GMT -5
Anomalisa
This was an interesting little curio of a film, albeit one that I was fully expecting given its stop-motion stylings and the fact that it was from the mind of Charlie Kaufman. It had an interesting affect on me, in that I wouldn't say it was a particularly enjoyable watch, eliciting little emotion as a viewer (I'm sure this was partly the point), but it maintained my full fascination throughout. In usual Kaufman style, through semi-surrealism he captures more eloquently what it means to exist than any number of more "grounded" movies could dream of. David Thewlis gives a perfect turn here as the lead and brought yet more realism into play with some very English idiosyncracies, which, now that I do think about it, I did enjoy picking up on as I watched. 7.5/10-------- NiladeAnnihilation (2018) Mute (2018) Solaris (2002) Dead Man's Shoes (2004)
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 14, 2018 17:01:59 GMT -5
Deex, fixed your post so now it has Nilade tagged.
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Nilade
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Post by Nilade on May 15, 2018 0:37:37 GMT -5
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Nilade
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Post by Nilade on May 15, 2018 0:38:13 GMT -5
Nilade Annihilation (2018) Mute (2018) Solaris (2002) Dead Man's Shoes (2004) I'll give Mute a shot.
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Deexan
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Post by Deexan on May 15, 2018 1:30:24 GMT -5
I'll go with The Outsider.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 19, 2018 12:10:55 GMT -5
Walkabout (1971)
The opening text of Walkabout defines a 'walkabout' as a rite of passage for Aboriginal boys in Australia where they wander the wilderness for months living off nothing but their own abilities and instincts. Other cultures over the years have had similar traditions where boys make that clear, definitive jump into manhood, something that we don't really have in modern western culture save for simply turning 18. Walkabout gives us a clash of these cultures as two white, 'western' Australian youths get stranded in the wilderness after a picnic gone horribly wrong. When their father brings them to the desert for a picnic he begins shooting at the both of them, sets the car on fire and finally shoots himself. This leaves his teenaged daughter and even younger son left to fend for themselves as they make their way back to civilization. Along the way and almost dying of thirst they come across a native Australian who is enduring his 'walkabout.' They're able to communicate their plight and the three of them set off to find help. They live off the land, hunting and scavenging and doing whatever they can to survive while keeping their wits about them.
After watching Walkabout it was a little hard to pinpoint definitive themes that the movie was trying to convey. It's both subtle but at the same time packed with imagery and allegory, depending on your interpretation. What might make people most uncomfortable are the several shots of animals being hunted, killed and cleaned. Kangaroos, birds, oxen, we see a lot of animals meet their end in a non-fictionalized and pretty graphic manner. At the same time though there are many shots of the Australian outback, of the wildlife and terrain and environment that makes up what the characters are experiencing. It's done very effectively and is often intercut with shots of the city to which they're trying to return. Doing some digging into the movie I read Roger Ebert's review where he says one of the main themes is communication. The native boy can't understand the two siblings throughout the movie yet they're able to convey their needs and later their feelings toward each other despite the immense language chasm. For a movie that's as straightforward as this it's pretty incredible how much is written between the lines. Although it's a rather strange movie to contemplate after watching it's definitely one that's been sitting with me. I've said before that my favorite movies are the ones you can rewatch again and again and find something new each and every time. I could be wrong since I've only seen it once but Walkabout seems like exactly that kind of movie.
A- so says Doomsday
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 19, 2018 12:43:25 GMT -5
Nice. Walkabout had a similar effect on me (thank you Drac for listing it in your top 100). It's both a very simple and obvious movie while also being very deep and mysterious. Beautifully put together too. I'm already keen to revisit it.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on May 19, 2018 15:00:29 GMT -5
That girl, Jenny Agutter, is in a few MCU films, btw. Like Captain America: Winter Soldier. She even kicks a few asses when Black Widow is disguised as her.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 25, 2018 17:37:00 GMT -5
Will everyone be watching theirs this weekend?
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Deexan
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Post by Deexan on May 25, 2018 18:04:22 GMT -5
Yup.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on May 25, 2018 18:39:01 GMT -5
Watched mine last night. Review soon, I think.
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Post by Jibbs on May 25, 2018 20:04:52 GMT -5
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hoop Dreams is a documentary released in 1994 that follows the lives of two boys from Chicago, mainly through their high school years as they aspire to one day make it the NBA. The two boys are named William Gates and Arthur Agee, and they carry a lot of baggage including poverty, troubled families, injuries, pressure from schools, colleges and coaches, and the pressure to perform. The documentary is 10 minutes shy of a full 3 hours, but it's well edited between the two separate stories (I missed how these two were chosen or if they knew each other beforehand...), as well between family life, school life, and actual basketball footage allowing the viewer to absorb it all like one bingeing a compelling TV show.
Let's start with that. I think what most made Hoops Dreams compelling and enjoyable was this place it found between a scripted sports movie and "real life." Hollywood movies where the player makes the big shot at the buzzer are exciting, but cheap, while documentaries and real life are mundane and "boring." I can only assume they didn't follow the lives of 100 boys and showed us the most exciting two after 5 years, so there's a lot of trepidation and excitement in the choices these two make, for better or worse. Will Gates' injury end his career? Is the shot he makes at the buzzer going to go in? (Will they go to the NBA...) We honestly don't know. I could just as well be describing a season of baseball or basketball and the joy of watching sports, and it is akin, but with a documentary we are invested in it personally in a way that we only like to pretend with sports because we follow the star on Twitter. Of course we don't really know Arthur and William, but to follow the personal highlights over a few years, it certainly feels that way. But even early on, there is a sadness to this and a bit of cynicism, as we know they will not be huge stars. What are the odds?
After three hours, you even get a feel for the "supporting characters." The mother, who ostensibly most wants her boy to make it big, but lets off an interesting reveal for her son's 18th birthday: "He lived to see 18. That's good." The cliché deadbeat father, only he's real. And an older brother who lives vicariously through his younger brother, as his own hopes for a basketball career were cut off short. And speaking of clichés, Gates' coach was quite a character. I'm sure there's something to be said for being hard on the kids (I never did sports in school, so I can't compare), but we get to experience his over-the-top tirades and cut-downs, weighted heavily toward Gates over the other boys.
I thought the financial aspects of it were interesting. There wasn't just pressure to perform in basketball and choose the right school, but this horrifying scene near the end showed Arthur heavily pressured into signing to a school because if he didn't, their family would be "in a hole" financially, as his father put it. I've never seen someone so trapped. Earlier on, and probably intentional, they cut from one story where the power had been cut off because of failure to pay bills, to the other boy getting surgery on his knee, almost certainly being paid for by the school. These boys lives are riding on a game with almost every facet of their lives, and I thought this documentary did a great job to bring to light this peculiar corner of our "education process," let's call it.
***.5/****
I'll discuss this after the official review as it pertains to their lives after it was released, but considering the movies are about whatever happens to them and that some rather amazing circumstances have come to pass, it' s impossible not to discuss them. Almost immediately after watching this, I looked both William Gates and Arthur Agee up. I don't really know basketball, so for all I knew, one or two of them actually did make it to the NBA. Instead I found tragedy left and right. William's brother was murdered in 2001 (a day before 9/11, no less), and Arthur was arrested in 2017 for "aggravated battery for punching a woman." Obviously I'm not privy to the details, but it's hard to not take that with a heavy heart as the movie touched on how his own father was abusive and Arthur resented his father through the whole thing. As for his father, he was murdered in 2004.
OK, maybe there's a reason people like Hoosiers.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on May 25, 2018 20:21:54 GMT -5
Glad you liked it. The two subjects weren't "chosen" exactly. The movie was initially supposed to be a 30 minute PBS short about a school playground that they two played at as well as the kids' home life but one interesting thing after another kept happening and next thing you know the filmmakers had been following them for eight years.
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Nilade
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Post by Nilade on May 25, 2018 22:22:25 GMT -5
I'll be out of town this weekend. Will try to have mine up early next week.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 25, 2018 22:49:09 GMT -5
I'll be out of town this weekend. Will try to have mine up early next week.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 26, 2018 7:42:48 GMT -5
Will everyone be watching theirs this weekend? Tonight while the girlfriend's at work.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 27, 2018 20:27:38 GMT -5
Watched Duck, You Sucker. I'll offer some quick thoughts before posting a longer review later. The short version is I liked it a lot, though I do understand why it isn't held in the same regard as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West.
In for next round.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 28, 2018 9:59:25 GMT -5
Duck, You Sucker
Duck, You Sucker, aka A Fistful of Dynamite, aka Once Upon a Time...the Revolution, aka Sergio Leone's forgotten Western epic. I do understand why Duck, You Sucker isn't held in the same high regard that films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or Once Upon a Time in the West are. The film isn't the perfect storm of epic set-pieces that the former is, nor does it feature the sheer virtuoistic filmmaking of the latter. Additionally, while the characters are pretty strong, there's nothing as iconic as the trio of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or as interesting as the collection of personalities in Once Upon a Time in the West.
That all said, those two Westerns are two of the greatest ever made, and placing too much comparison on Duck, You Sucker isn't entirely fair. Taken on its own merits, Duck, You Sucker is a rock solid movie. Sergio Leone remains as capable as ever behind the camera, transforming the West into a near mythic battleground through sheer force of filmmaking. The way Leone characterizes Mexican bandits contrasted with the wealthy white travelers in the opening scene is a particular strong example of great filmmaking, with Leone able to craft clear tones and conflict through mostly shot selection, close-ups, and audio design. The performances are really good too, especially Rod Steiger. Also, while the film isn't as action heavy as some of Leone's other Westerns, the moments of violence here are very well-rendered and equal parts brutal and very exciting. The movie also has a pretty good sense of humour, perhaps best exemplified when Juan realizes the bank heist isn't working out the way he had planned.
All that said, I do think Leone stumbles here in a few places. The flashbacks echo those of Once Upon a Time in the West, but the saccharine melodrama of the flashbacks are so overdone through the slow-motion and bright lighting that it becomes downright comical. Some of Leone's other flourishes, like the bank sign hovering over John are just...weird. Finally, I think the film's pacing is a bit off. Leone's films tend to learn towards the hefty side and that really doesn't bother me usually, but here, I really do think the pacing could have been tighter.
I think one of the other elements that has kept Duck, You Sucker relatively obscure compared to Leone's other epics is the sheer pessimism on display. Leone always made movies about anti-heroes, but Juan is a straight up scumbag at points. Additionally, while films like Once Upon a Time in the West can be understood as a critique of Western violence, Duck, You Sucker goes even further, criticizing the very idea of fighting and dying for a cause. The film's central thesis seems to be that revolution is largely pointless, as the oppressed are ultimately the ones who have to give their lives and similar power structures as before are merely recreated. Even when the film feels like it's going to present an act of heroism and embrace the cause, Leone undercuts this with more brutality and random violence, leading to a gut punch ending that openly questions notions of patriotism and fighting for a cause.
A-
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on May 28, 2018 10:11:50 GMT -5
In war, the poor fight for the interests of other people. Obviously, there are exceptions to that, like WWII, which Leone himself live through, but this movie was made in 1972, during Vietnam.
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