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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:32 pm
by rain Bard
Big Magilla wrote:But Four Sons, only 9 out of 10, Brian? I give it a full 10, one of two great discoveries for me from the Ford set released around this time last year. The other was Pilgrimage, an atypical Ford film in which the mother, unlike most Ford mothers, is mean and unforgiving for most of the film and I might add, brilliantly played by the under-appreciated Henrietta Crosman.
I was very tempted to give it a full 10, but hesitated because I've only seen it once, on a laptop, and I'm extremely stingy with 10's (I think I've used it less than a dozen times out of my thousands of imdb ratings). I do hope to see Pilgrimage relatively soon.
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:51 am
by Big Magilla
I've been busy watching some obscure titles for next week's DVD report.
You'll have to read the report to find out which ones and what I think of them, but here's a teaser...two of them are recent treacly Christmas themed films, one is a lovely British-Irish co-production, one an equally lovely Canadian production, one a quirky but charming American independent film and one a rare 1940s film noir made in color, produced by one of its stars and co-directed by two others, one of whom is uncredited.
To weigh in on Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, I haven't seen it in a while and don't recall much about it but I remember liking it when I saw it.
But Four Sons, only 9 out of 10, Brian? I give it a full 10, one of two great discoveries for me from the Ford set released around this time last year. The other was Pilgrimage, an atypical Ford film in which the mother, unlike most Ford mothers, is mean and unforgiving for most of the film and I might add, brilliantly played by the under-appreciated Henrietta Crosman.
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:31 am
by Reza
Penelope wrote:Well, if Oscar can get it wrong, then so can César!
You have a valid point.
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:16 am
by Penelope
Well, if Oscar can get it wrong, then so can César!
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:13 am
by Reza
Penelope wrote:Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998; Patrice Chéreau) 6/10
What is with movies like Rachel Getting Married and this one: a bunch of great actors giving great performances, but at the service of a ridiculous, pretentious script that never really makes any sense, and offers characters that are so distasteful you keep hoping Jason Vorhees will turn up to bring it to a quick end. That said, the last few minutes are breathtaking.
Really??? I guess 11 Cesar nods don't mean a thing then!
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:12 am
by dreaMaker
Horton Hears a Who!
8.5/10
I don't know when did i last laugh and cry at the same time while watching a movie.. Hillarious moments!
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:08 am
by dreaMaker
El Orfanato
8.5/10
Sad, scary, melancholic
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:10 am
by Sabin
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998; Patrice Chéreau) 6/10
This movie is maddening. Just an anxiety attack. I'm ashamed to say that despite being bowled over by the force of the thing, I've yet to sit through it in its entirety. In my efforts to fully absorb the post-New Wave French cinema, I've purchased it alongside the Andre Techine box set and I can't get into the thing. It's just too much. I have to finish it but it's like 'Magnolia' where I just want everybody to take a lithium nap.
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:14 am
by rain Bard
Four Sons (John Ford, 1928)
Watched because I read that it was Ford heavily influenced by Murnau. This film may use some of the same sets, lighting and camera techniques as Sunrise, but it's the furthest thing from a pale imitation that I can imagine. It puts the German style to a completely different purpose- on that is wholly Ford's; various moments reminded me of other Ford films, from Bucking Broadway to the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Though of course this is not a Western like those films, but rather a World War I weepie set mostly in Europe, it's just as much an examination of the nature of America as anything else Ford made. The final reel or so are absolutely amazing, even if the image quality on the Fox DVD is not so hot in some of the late sequences. I'd love to see this on the big screen some day.
9/10
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:13 pm
by Penelope
Beloved Enemy (1936; H.C. Potter) 6/10
Romantic melodrama set during the Troubles, as a Michael Collins-like rebel (Brian Aherne) falls for an English lord's snooty daughter (Merle Oberon); stars are out-acted by the supporting players.
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:32 pm
by Penelope
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998; Patrice Chéreau) 6/10
What is with movies like Rachel Getting Married and this one: a bunch of great actors giving great performances, but at the service of a ridiculous, pretentious script that never really makes any sense, and offers characters that are so distasteful you keep hoping Jason Vorhees will turn up to bring it to a quick end. That said, the last few minutes are breathtaking.
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:52 am
by rain Bard
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008)
Truly a lovely film. Desplechin adds a Bergman (at his least dour) influence into his mix and it makes for a wonderful dynamic. I had to avert my eyes during some of the most graphic medical/hospital materil because I'm extra-squeamish about that stuff, but I still want to see the film again. And to revisit Kings and Queen, which had rubbed me the wrong way back in 2005.
8/10
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:32 am
by criddic3
Santa Claus: the Movie (1985)
A strange film in some ways. On the one hand, it's an elaborately designed and expensive fantasy film. On the other it's a mismash of sweet-natured (but often distant) Santa, a somewhat dialed-down Dudley Moore as an elf and an over-played executive-wants-to-ruin Christmas played by John Lithgow. The wierd thing is that, for all of the visuals and activity, it never feels important. Not a terrible movie, really, but I rarely felt anything for any of the characters who get lost in all the costumes and effects. Also, the songs are lackluster at best. For a family Christmas film, it should have been more lively and charming. More like the much-less expensive Elf or The Santa Clause, which may not have been grandiose, and were somewhat sitcomish, but they had more consistent charm factors than this one does. Miracle on 34th Street it's not.
I'd give it a ** out of four stars.
Edited By criddic3 on 1226554456
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:09 am
by dws1982
Yesterday I watched John Ford's They Were Expendable, partially in observance of Veteran's Day, but also because it had been sitting on my shelf for awhile and I wanted to see it again. (It had been over five years.) I still think it's one of Ford's three or four greatest films, even though he said in some interviews with Lindsay Anderson (who was a great admirer of the film) that he didn't like it, although he indicated that he hadn't watched it, and just resented that the film tore him away from his unit. A few years later, he told Anderson that he had watched it and that he (Anderson) was right about it, although several years after that, he claimed not to like it. Either way, it's a masterpiece, one of the most heartbreaking war movies ever made.
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:26 pm
by Penelope
Rachel Getting Married (2008; Jonathan Demme) 6/10
Terrific performances by Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie Dewitt barely compensate for the amateurish script and an 8 year old cinematographer who found dad's stash.