SF Film/Cinema Thread

^^^ i would but i don't feel inspired to watch that movie started watching Mean Streets yesterday but was too damn tired so i stopped halfway through.

any of you seen the 1950s film SECONDS by John Frankenheimer? it's the most unusual film of the period in my view and watches like a master episode of the twilight zone. Stars style icon Rock Hudson, too!

Paolo
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http://gentrystyle.com/

Originally Posted by PCabrelli

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any of you seen the 1950s film SECONDS by John Frankenheimer? it's the most unusual film of the period in my view and watches like a master episode of the twilight zone. Stars style icon Rock Hudson, too!

Oh my, yes. Great film. And certainly a contender for the most downbeat ending ever...

Originally Posted by topbroker

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Last night I watched the legendary French horror movie Eyes Without a Face, which lives up to its amazing reputation. I don't want to put in spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it, so I'll speak very generally. Stephen King in his excellent book on the horror genre, Danse Macabre (you should read this!), theorizes the "gross-out" as a key component of modern horror. I think he's spot on about that, although I will admit that in the era of Takashi Miike and Eli Roth, the gross-outs have gotten harder and harder for me to stomach -- and maybe, just maybe, less stategically employed: wall-to-wall gross-out runs the risk of becoming ho-hum ("Look, there's another intestine!"). Georges Franju, the director of Eyes Without a Face, clearly knew how to stage gross-outs for maximum effect, and all within the context of poetic art-house horror, which makes those moments all the more startling. John Waters, another accomplished theorist of these matters, stipulates that the line between art and exploitation is an exceedingly fine one; this is one movie that rides that line with unerring precision. And, unlike many horror films that deflate in the third act, it has a great and surprising ending.
Fantastic film! I had the good fortune of seeing this on film in a theater. My wife had to cover her face during certain parts, and she's seen her share of horror flicks. The soundtrack is incredible. YEAH!

I love Eyes Without A Face. I get a funny feeling everytime I listen to that Billy Idol song now. Let's see...two weeks ago, I saw No Country for Old Men, an great film I'm still trying to fully digest. Last week I saw Hitman which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be though the original train station sequence is much better than the sword fight in the final cut. Then I saw Sleuth which was hoo-hum. Jude Law sure knows how to rock a pair of Levis in the third act though. I also saw the future Speed Racer show off his chops in Spicolli's impressive directorial debut Into the Wild. Two days ago I bought the Le Cercle Rouge Criterion Collection DVD and boy did it not disappoint! On my to watch list I have La Haine Love/Juice (about two Japanese lesbians) Breathless Man Bites Dog Atonement Wristcutters: A Love Story He Was A Quiet Man Breaking and Entering

I saw "Deer Hunter" for the first time ever. I find that all those "classics" that I managed to miss over the last 30 years usually fall into "crap" category. It works in mysterious ways.
5 Oscars should have been enough of a warning.

I saw that recently, too. My wife had the same reaction. I really liked the picture. Love seeing the Western Pennsylvania industrial town and the blue collar/outdoorsman steez. And Walken always seems to justify price of admission, IMO.

Watched Romance & Cigarettes last night. Found it bizarre.

Originally Posted by landho

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Watched Romance & Cigarettes last night. Found it bizarre.

I found it delitfull, witty and overall very special film.

Originally Posted by denimdestroyedmylife

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Love seeing the Western Pennsylvania industrial town and the blue collar/outdoorsman steez. And Walken always seems to justify price of admission, IMO.

I was impressed by nature of Washington State or national park. I definitely visit it one day, it looked like a scaled model of Himalayas. Breathtaking Godness.

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

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I found it delitfull, witty and overall very special film.

It's funny; my main beef with it was that it wasn't bizarre enough. If a film is going to be strange, I think it needs to crank it up to the next level. R&C ended up staying at the same level of bizarreness throughout.

Warning: spoilers

Also, I thought that the ending was inapt; a more natural stopping point would have been after the big fight in the snow, but instead it takes this weird melodramatic turn in which Nick Murder develops lung cancer and dies and ends with the requisite clichà of his wife listening to a recording of him singing a song to her in happier times.

The film did score points for achieving genuine pathos when Nick breaks up with Tully down by the river. Cate Blanchett was pretty damn good in the film.

Originally Posted by landho

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It's funny; my main beef with it was that it wasn't bizarre enough. If a film is going to be strange, I think it needs to crank it up to the next level. R&C ended up staying at the same level of bizarreness throughout.

Warning: spoilers

Also, I thought that the ending was inapt; a more natural stopping point would have been after the big fight in the snow, but instead it takes this weird melodramatic turn in which Nick Murder develops lung cancer and dies and ends with the requisite clichÃ

of his wife listening to a recording of him singing a song to her in happier times.

The film did score points for achieving genuine pathos when Nick breaks up with Tully down by the river. Cate Blanchett was pretty damn good in the film.

True, ending was melodramatic (it is a musical) ,but it was not sappy it was short and he had to die and the music had to stop.
I don't think I saw a musical that I can call a musical with men's perspective (as funny as it is).

Over the past couple of nights I watched Ju-on: The Grudge, not to be confused with two earlier Ju-on movies; one subsequent and another planned; and American remakes of this one and the sequel -- all linked, all directed by Takashi Shimizu. If you're not confused enough already, this film is narratively fractured and the scenes are completely out of chron order. It winds up being like a modernist take on Poltergeist. The house in this movie is not merely haunted, but seriously messed up, just like the house in Poltergeist. (Remember Zelda Rubinstein's spurious pronouncement: "This house is clean!" Ha!)

Over the past week or two I watched...

The Sea Inside
Before Night Falls
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Hiroshima Mon Amour
The Battleship Potemkin

Javier Bardem is an incredible actor, whereas Johnny Depp is a ******* joke.

Tonight I'll probably watch Fitzcarraldo, after John Adams.

Originally Posted by juicemakesugar

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I love Eyes Without A Face. I get a funny feeling everytime I listen to that Billy Idol song now.

Let's see...two weeks ago, I saw No Country for Old Men, an great film I'm still trying to fully digest. Last week I saw Hitman which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be though the original train station sequence is much better than the sword fight in the final cut. Then I saw Sleuth which was hoo-hum. Jude Law sure knows how to rock a pair of Levis in the third act though. I also saw the future Speed Racer show off his chops in Spicolli's impressive directorial debut Into the Wild. Two days ago I bought the Le Cercle Rouge Criterion Collection DVD and boy did it not disappoint!

On my to watch list I have

La Haine
Love/Juice (about two Japanese lesbians)
Breathless
Man Bites Dog
Atonement
Wristcutters: A Love Story
He Was A Quiet Man
Breaking and Entering

Interesting list. BTW love/juice is pretty good and somewhat raw looking, a surprised when contrasted with current japanese cinema infatuation with popping colours and ultra-processed cutesy images.

I haven't see wristcutters, what is it?

Coooooooooool. Layer Cake on tv now. Awesome film.