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Film Flam

Started by Dimocritus, October 15, 2009, 11:07:07 PM

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#15
Quote from: ☂Faust☂ on October 18, 2009, 01:01:27 AM
Quote from: Z³ on October 17, 2009, 09:29:03 PM


The Sci-fi version is closer to the book, but is a constant wave of climax/anti-climax that gets really really old after a while. The cast is nowhere near as good, and the special effects are ok, but still that cheesy made-for-tv cgi that still wasnt that great at the time. On the plus side, it does cover children of dune, which is cool. Makes it all the way up to the part where Leto II becomes that weird sand god thing, which truthfully, is about where you should stop reading the books. God Emperor of Dune was crap. 400 pages of the SAME FUCKING CONVERSATION OVER AND OVER AGAIN, not to mention overt homosexual overtones between Leto II and the various Duncans. I mean, it would be hilarious to set that book in an office, where Leto II is just the gross morbidly obese boss that CONSTANTLY sexually harasses the same underling.


I disagree. I found God emperor to be the strongest of dune books because of its focus on the political intrigue rather then sci fi. I didn't see you're overt homsexual overtones, I saw him trying to get duncan to be subservient to his women through sex as Duncans flaw was supposed to be a glad eye for women.
If you had kept with the series the control of males through sexuality is actually a huge part and it was already an established bene gesserit thing to do.

The focus on homosexual overtones might not be too valid, really just me trying to make fun of  the book, however I do feel that it is the same conversation for the whole book.

(but, having read the book, you dont think Paul II wasnt gay for Duncan. SRSLY?)

Faust

No, if anything the pomp was shown to fall apart when confronted with actual attraction to a person with Hwi. His very small capacity to love was shown as the last shred of his humanity, sexuality was long since lost.
I mean I suppose it could be looked at that way, he has the memories of all his female geniality but I just don't see what you are describing, I saw all the duncan Leto conversations as either self important and condescending, or sadistic and manipulative... maybe these are characteristics you associate with sexuality, I'm not one to judge.
Sleepless nights at the chateau

Quote from: ☂Faust☂ on October 18, 2009, 11:38:19 PM
I'm not one to judge.

Of course not. Anyway this is my least favorite dune book, and apparently your favorite, I doubt we'll reach anykind of consensus.

Corvidia

7
Boondock Saints
The Crow
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist!
Kung Fu Hustle (because who doesn't enjoy an axe dance?)
Tropic Thunder
Zodiac
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
American Gangster
District 9
The Incredible Hulk (the most recent one)
The Three Lives of Thomasina (my favorite movie as a kid)

Aaaand there's more but I can't think of them atm.

Quote from: Dimocrates KSC on October 16, 2009, 04:25:25 AM
...and was kind of disappointed. Though I always have a problem with watching movies intended for a younger audience. I tend to judge them based on the same standards I would judge a movie intended for a more "sophisticated(?)" audience, it's a bad habit.
I tend to judge them based on the book itself. It's why I never went to see The Dark is Rising even though it was one of my very favorite books EVER as a kid. They cast a damned American kid for the main character. He's BRITISH. KEEP HIM THAT WAY.
Also, it's why I was unhappy with Book 3 in the Harry Potter series. Liked the most recent one, though. Did a better job of setting up Harry/Ginny than Rowling did.
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

#19
I feel like doing a couple more reviews, lets move down the list.

Eraserhead
Shit, where do I even start with this one. Anway, this is one of those classic art film. Those people who expect something easy to interpret or follow from this film will be completely lost, and the atmosphere throughout the entire film is that of total oppression, dread, and simply being ill at ease. I think that one of the most amazing things about this film is that it god made at all, this was his first major film, and he made it with a 10,000 dollar grant from the AFI (this was not sufficient, so private donations and odd jobs were necessary as well.) It took six years to make, but I believe this is including a two-three year hiatus (because the movie was shot sequentially, there is a segment where henry is about to open a door, and then the scene following this is filmed a year later).

I feel that its important to note the attention to detail on the part of Lynch. Every single aspect of every shot, most notably the sound (lynch is the head sound editor for every one of his films), is slaved over by Lynch. You can tell by watching this, that he micromanaged everything. Being that he had total creative freedom with this film, he was probably setting himself up for the heartbreak he would suffer over Dune. While his next movie after this one is Elephant Man, it uses a lot of similar elements to build its ethos.

This movie is visually stunning, and sucks me into a whirlpool every time I see it. Its also one of the only movies that my girlfriend will refuse to watch under any circumstances, ever. Which, if you were still interested in this after I said 'Art Film' you're probably ok. There is a lot of material about this movie as well, as Lynch has talked about it in frequent interviews, and even written about it in his book. The Wikipedia article on this movie isnt that bad, either.

Another thing I like, is the DVD menu. Pretty much all of the David Lynchs' DVD's contain long interviews about the films, these are meant to substitute for commentary tracks, as Lynch doesnt want anythign interfering with the ambience of the movie. Seriously, the guy wont even allow chapter titles and breaks in his films, as they break the continuity, so if you just want to skip to a particular part of the film... you either have to just watch most of the movie in fast forward, or just watch the whole fucking movie. I kind of like Lynch for his idiosyncrasies, but a lot of people despise them. Lynch IS pretty pretentious, but its because he approaches films as art, rather than purely entertainment. I appreciate that the film can have that much meaning for the director, but I'm sure a lot of people would be more happy watching GI JOE.

Also:
David Lynch vs Iphone
This is a short clip from the interview track on Inland Empire. Just an example of one of David Lynchs' many idiosyncrasies.
response to lynch vs iphone
a response, obviously made by someone familiar with lynch. anyway, I was laughing.
Also, I feel that Lynch would make an excellent Riddler for a Batman film, although the chance of that happening is virtually nil.

Battles Without Honour or Humanity
Jingi Naki Tatakai


Most people are familiar with the director, Kinji Fukasaku, for the more recent film Battle Royal (not the craptastic sequel that he died during filming, and was finished by his son). Some people may even remember that he was the director for the japanese segment of Tora! Tora! Tora!. He also directed a whole fucking slew of yakuza films in the seventies, although this one is in my opinion easily the best.

This is the first in a series of five movies following the development of the yakuza, starting with the american occupation of japan post world war two. Most of the reviews of the series focus on one element of these films, the lack of jingi (translated in the films title as Honor & Humanity) amongst post war yakuza. This is accurate enough, although its worth noting that the main character is a counterpoint to this, representing (at least in the first film) the concept of Giri (I can only think to describe this as a sense of duty or obligation to ones boss). So, to start, the movie has a driving concept... this is good. The true value in the movie, however, is just how fucking gangster everything is... seriously, from Toshiaki Tsushimas fucking AWESOME soundtrack, down to what is possibly one of the most epicly gangster endings of all time (up there with scarface, easily). Bunta Sugawara is just a fucking bad-ass though this whole movie, somehow he manages to preserve this even though he's just continually being ruthlessly shat on throughout the entire series. I cant really talk about this too much without giving anything away, but its definately worth a watch.

Fukasakus other yakuza movies of the period are ok, but they tend to focus specifically on characters who have absolutely no redeeming value to society, villians who do nothing but draw out the contempt of the audience towards everything they do. I dont think this is a bad format for a film (I'm looking forward to talking about Bad Lieutenant), but of Fukasakus yakuza films Battles Without Honor and Humanity is really the only one that creates any sympathy for the main character, and it does this well.

Oh, a note on the title, some people may have noticed that its the same as a popular song on the Kill Bill soundtrack. It is very likely that this is intentional on the part of Tomoyasu Hotei, as the films were extremely iconic in japan. I've even heard story (from an exchange student) that one of the reasons they were so popular, and I'm not sure if this can be confirmed/disconfirmed, is that the yakuza were happy to see themselves being portrayed in cinema (in any context) so they would actually go around forcing people to see them (IE buy these tickets from me or I'll kick your ass). Toshiaki Tsushima did work on the Kill Bill soundtrack as well, since obviously, Tarantino is a huge asian cinema nerd.



Jenne

Finally watched "Into the Wild."   SPOILER ALERT















Compelling notion of a stubborn dipshit who died too young.  Cool story, interesting how he was epic fail at killing and eating huge game, but in the end so wasteful the way he died.  If he'd just taken someone with him, he'd probably have survived better once he got to Alaska.

Jenne

Quote from: ZAlso:
David Lynch vs Iphone
This is a short clip from the interview track on Inland Empire. Just an example of one of David Lynchs' many idiosyncrasies.
response to lynch vs iphone
a response, obviously made by someone familiar with lynch. anyway, I was laughing.

That was pretty fucking awesome.  And now I need to go and rent "Lost Highway" goddammit all to hell and back!

Quote from: Jenne on October 19, 2009, 06:13:42 PM
Quote from: ZAlso:
David Lynch vs Iphone
This is a short clip from the interview track on Inland Empire. Just an example of one of David Lynchs' many idiosyncrasies.
response to lynch vs iphone
a response, obviously made by someone familiar with lynch. anyway, I was laughing.

That was pretty fucking awesome.  And now I need to go and rent "Lost Highway" goddammit all to hell and back!

I need to get Twin Peaks back, I lent the entire series to a coworker of my girlfriend... and he's taking his sweet time with it. I mean, I know it gets pretty bad for the first part of season two, but the end is worth it.

Jenne

Quote from: Z³ on October 19, 2009, 06:20:07 PM
Quote from: Jenne on October 19, 2009, 06:13:42 PM
Quote from: ZAlso:
David Lynch vs Iphone
This is a short clip from the interview track on Inland Empire. Just an example of one of David Lynchs' many idiosyncrasies.
response to lynch vs iphone
a response, obviously made by someone familiar with lynch. anyway, I was laughing.

That was pretty fucking awesome.  And now I need to go and rent "Lost Highway" goddammit all to hell and back!

I need to get Twin Peaks back, I lent the entire series to a coworker of my girlfriend... and he's taking his sweet time with it. I mean, I know it gets pretty bad for the first part of season two, but the end is worth it.

I has it.  And I had this TP fetish last year where I not only recorded epis off the Chill channel but also watched the DVDs...and the movie is permanently on my TiVo.  I refuse to erase it.  It's my default movie for some reason.

Cramulus

:mittens: to Z3 for these reviews. Well thought out, well articulated.

Cramulus

from the Eraserhead wikipedia entry:

QuoteGeorge Lucas was a fan of the film and, after seeing it, wanted to hire Lynch to direct Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Lynch declined, fearing it would be more of his own vision rather than Lucas'.[13][14] The directorial duties eventually went to Richard Marquand.

:aaa:

can you imagine Return of the Jedi directed by Lynch? that would have been very interesting

Quote from: Cramulus on October 19, 2009, 07:11:12 PM
from the Eraserhead wikipedia entry:

QuoteGeorge Lucas was a fan of the film and, after seeing it, wanted to hire Lynch to direct Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Lynch declined, fearing it would be more of his own vision rather than Lucas'.[13][14] The directorial duties eventually went to Richard Marquand.

:aaa:

can you imagine Return of the Jedi directed by Lynch? that would have been very interesting

I admit, this is difficult for me to imagine. I'm having a difficult time figuring out what Lucas was thinking, I mean Eraserhead is very fucking impressive from a technical aspect so its obvious to anybody in film that Lynch has some serious talent, its also pretty fucking far from Star Wars in terms of its thematic elements. Lynch would have made a hilarious Palpatine though. I laugh just thinking about him saying "DARK SIDE" in his somewhat nasal loud-ass voice.

The Good Reverend Roger

Fear and Loathing
Dark City
City of Lost Children
Fight club
Anything by Guy Richie
The Godfather (ONLY the FIRST one)
ANYTHING by Kurosawa.
Bulldada flicks (Old Godzilla, Gammorah, Breakin' II Electric Boogaloo, etc)

Everything else is garbage.  Everything.  We should drop a nuke on Hollywood, or feed them all to wild boars.

That is all.  There is no debate on this subject.

[/Roger Prime]
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on October 19, 2009, 07:54:50 PM
Fear and Loathing
Dark City
City of Lost Children
Fight club
Anything by Guy Richie
The Godfather (ONLY the FIRST one)
ANYTHING by Kurosawa.
Bulldada flicks (Old Godzilla, Gammorah, Breakin' II Electric Boogaloo, etc)

Everything else is garbage.  Everything.  We should drop a nuke on Hollywood, or feed them all to wild boars.

That is all.  There is no debate on this subject.

[/Roger Prime]

Can we ignore "Swept Away"?

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: LMNO on October 19, 2009, 08:02:53 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on October 19, 2009, 07:54:50 PM
Fear and Loathing
Dark City
City of Lost Children
Fight club
Anything by Guy Richie
The Godfather (ONLY the FIRST one)
ANYTHING by Kurosawa.
Bulldada flicks (Old Godzilla, Gammorah, Breakin' II Electric Boogaloo, etc)

Everything else is garbage.  Everything.  We should drop a nuke on Hollywood, or feed them all to wild boars.

That is all.  There is no debate on this subject.

[/Roger Prime]

Can we ignore "Swept Away"?

Yes.  And that Gone With The Wind shit, too.

Orson Wells is cool, though.  Almost forgot Citizen Kane.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.