Track the Films You Watch (2005) - Page 50

Haggai · 08-25-2005, 01:15 PM

On Approval sounds interesting, Steve. Did you watch the Image DVD? How's the transfer? Oh, and happy birthday.

Ray H · 08-25-2005, 05:56 PM

I'll have to update my list for the first time in two months.

SteveGon · 08-25-2005, 08:45 PM

Quote:

On Approval sounds interesting, Steve. Did you watch the Image DVD? How's the transfer? Oh, and happy birthday.

The transfer is decent enough - average for Image.

One more year and it's the big 40 for me.

Joe Karlosi · 08-25-2005, 09:10 PM

007, ANYONE?
I don't even know if this will fly here or not, but I thought I'd give it a shot. What do you fellas think about joining in watching all the James Bond films over the course of the next, oh, 20 months or so? I got this hairbrained idea of watching all the films in order, one film per month, and if anyone's game and either owns them or can rent them, we can all watch the same film during the same month (doesn't matter when so long as it's from the 1st to the 31st somewhere). I thought it might be interesting for a lot of us to watch the same films at the same time and come back and discuss them, within the same month. Of course, if you're not much of a 007 fan, forget it!

If anyone's game, we'd begin with DR. NO for the month of September. Any takers?

John Bryant · 08-26-2005, 04:24 AM

Red Eye -

Cillian Murphy stole the show for the second time this year. What a fantastic performance. Of course, the plane scenes were a lot more intense (by nature) than after the fact, but I guess the movie couldn't have worked with the entire thing on the plane. This one isn't going to challenge your brain at all, but it's good at what it aims to be.

Constantine -

1/2
This one just didn't connect with me, on any level. Probably my least favorite comic book movie. The pacing was off, the story was disjointed, the acting was subpar. All in all nothing that hasn't been done much better in the past and a waste of my two hours.

The Ox-Bow Incident -

3/4
Henry Fonda turns in another fantastic performance in this Western that ends all too quickly. I'm not the biggest fan of the genre in the world, but this worked for me. I could see where it was going a mile away, but that didn't lessen the emotional impact of the final scene at all.

Gunga Din -

1/2
Cary Grant, Victor McGlaglen and Sam Jaffe were just great in this movie. The look on Gunga Din's face in the Thuggee temple,

.

I can see where Temple of Doom got a lot of it's scenes from, but at least they borrowed some of the better ones. I watched this on TCM, so it might have just been their copy, but the print for this film was terrible. Does anyone own the dvd? If so, how is that print?

Panic in the Streets -

1/4
I liked this a bit better than Joe did, but I do agree with him about one thing: the plague never felt like a huge threat. I think most of the reason for this is because the public did not know about it. I still thought it was an excellent film, and Jack Palance really was terrific. The Fox Film Noir series has been a blessing. One thing I did want to note is that this movie had an excellent transer, or at least I thought so.

Haggai · 08-26-2005, 09:22 AM

I have the DVD of Gunga Din, and I thought the transfer looked pretty good, so I'm surprised to hear that it looked bad on TCM. It sure is a fun movie, and surprisingly moving in the last few scenes. I also like Doug Fairbanks Jr. in it, he held his own quite nicely with Grant and McLaglen. My favorite line is when Fairbanks tells the other two that he's getting married and going into the tea business: McLaglen says, "Married?" with surprise, and then Grant yells "TEA BUSINESS!?!" with a totally classic tone of utter fury.

Joe, I might be interested in a monthly 007 viewing, I haven't seen any of the older ones in forever. I've never seen the DVDs--do they generally have good transfers? I think I've heard mixed reviews of them in that department.

Haggai · 08-26-2005, 10:08 AM

Shall We Dance (1937) 8/10
Lots of Gershwin standards and some solid comedy make this one a strong entry in the Fred and Ginger series. Their roller skating dance to "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is fun, and they take a hilarious fall at the end of it. The misunderstandings and scandals of the are-they-aren't-they-married plot leads to a nice character integration of "They Can't Take That Away From Me." The plot drags a bit in the first half, but the second half moves better, and the title-song ending number is an inspired character-related high-concept routine, the best ending of any Astaire/Rogers film I've seen. "Slap That Bass" is another good high-concept number, with Fred dancing in rhythm to the machines in an ocean liner engine room.

Top Hat (1935) 9/10
It's easy to see why this is generally considered to be the most popular Astaire/Rogers movie, as the whole thing zips along like a well-oiled machine, an extremely smooth blend of humor and great musical numbers. The usual dynamic of their first meeting scene, where Fred is smitten with her while Ginger is annoyed with him, has an inventive twist here, with Fred's dancing itself being the source of her irritation.

Swing Time reaches a higher plane in terms of pushing the emotional and character-related boundaries of the musical genre, so that's probably why it's generally the favorite of critics, but it has its slow parts, while Top Hat clearly has better pacing. Both great movies, in slightly different ways.

The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) 8/10
Fred and Ginger's reunion in MGM Technicolor, a decade after the last of their 9 RKO movies, pairs them as a husband-and-wife team of musical comedy theater stars. And with more than a few real-life parallels to their own careers: Ginger wants to break away and do serious dramatic roles, while Fred wants to stick with song and dance. Their familiar chemistry makes an easy transition into the bickering husband-and-wife comedy of the Comden & Green script, with some good numbers mixed in, particularly a reprise of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" that has a slightly different dynamic from its original use in Shall We Dance. A couple of superfluous numbers slow things down a bit, and Ginger's big scene in her serious stage-play comes off awkwardly because of her bad French accent (though she was certainly a great actress, generally speaking). But overall, it's a nice final chapter in their legendary collaboration.

A Better Tomorrow (1986) 7/10
A re-visit for me of the first big hit collaboration between John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat, which I didn't enjoy very much when I first saw it at a campus screening in college, but I liked it more this time. The story is simple but effective, with several good characters and strong performances. Kind of surprising how relatively little action there is: two very good shoot-outs along the way, but they don't last too long, and a big brawl down the stretch which is good, but doesn't involve much gunplay. Of course, the ass-kicking blow-out finale on the pier provides plenty of explosive bullet-flying thrills. Woo's trademark over-the-top dramatics are a little too much for the good but conventional story, and the frequent presence of music that ranges from bad to horribly bad is another problem. But, it's a fun ride that I was happy to see had held up better than I thought. I should see the sequel now, which apparently has an incoherent script but more wall-to-wall action, definitely my preference when it comes to Woo. Also looking forward to a re-visit of The Killer at a museum screening this weekend.

Brook K · 08-26-2005, 01:51 PM

A Better Tomorrow 2 doesn't have an incoherent script. It isn't meant to have any real dramatic weight. AB2 is a parody of the first film, complete with a soap operaish "twin brother" for the Chow-Yun Fat character so he can reappear. It is wall-to-wall action though. Just crazy and so over-the-top that it plays as pure comedy. Almost Buster Keaton with Uzi's.

You want to watch a bunch of Rohmer or Fassbinder movies, I'm there. James Bond? I'll take a pass.

george kaplan · 08-26-2005, 01:55 PM

James Bond? I'll take a pass.

Just curious Brook. How many James Bond films have you actually seen?

Haggai · 08-26-2005, 02:06 PM

Quote:

AB2 is a parody of the first film, complete with a soap operaish "twin brother" for the Chow-Yun Fat character so he can reappear. It is wall-to-wall action though.

Over-the-top comedic effect + wall-to-wall action = what I love about John Woo movies, so I'll definitely have to check it out.