Richie Allen wrote:Scored at our new library. Black Narcissus, Ikiru, Red Beard, Naked City and Children of Paradise. All Criterion/Janus DVDs. I've only seen Black Narcissus before.
I'm pretty surprised you haven't seen the two Kurosawas. They're both really good, though not in my top tier of Kurosawa films. That's more an endorsement of how good his best films are rather than an indictment, though. And I still haven't seen at least a handful or two of his major films.
Naked City is...okay. Kinda dull. Very pretty to look at, but a pretty stiff police procedural with some really goofy/superfluous second-person narration (a gimmick handled much better in Blast of Silence, I thought). I've heard the show it spun off is great, though. Been meaning to check it out.
Haven't seen the other two. Children of Paradise is a minor priority for me.
Yeah, the three I mentioned in the Kurosawa thread (or maybe this thread where we discussed him), Red Beard, Ikiru and Throne of Blood, will finally all be seen this year. I had trouble tracking them down over the years. Absolutely loved Throne of Blood (withstood a rewatch with commentary) and I'm hoping I like these other two as well. Which leaves the Hidden Fortress as the main Kurosawa I've yet to see.
Watched part 1 of Children of Paradise and like it a lot so far.
Richie Allen wrote:Yeah, the three I mentioned in the Kurosawa thread (or maybe this thread where we discussed him), Red Beard, Ikiru and Throne of Blood, will finally all be seen this year. I had trouble tracking them down over the years. Absolutely loved Throne of Blood (withstood a rewatch with commentary) and I'm hoping I like these other two as well. Which leaves the Hidden Fortress as the main Kurosawa I've yet to see.
Watched part 1 of Children of Paradise and like it a lot so far.
I'm with you...I thought Throne of Blood was incredible. I'll be honest, the ghost was 10x more scarier than anything Hollywood can do today.
Watched three movies this weekend: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, rewatched Tron: Legacy, and Machete
Rare Exports was just awesome fun...I think that will crack my top 3 best Christmas movies of all time
Tron:Legacy...ok, I'm a sucker for SciFi & Computers. I like this movie for whatever reason...CGI, darkness, the dude and his zen. It's cotton candy.
Machete was everything I thought it would be (big Mexican with a Machete)...and I was happy.
TimeForGuinness wrote:Rare Exports was just awesome fun...I think that will crack my top 3 best Christmas movies of all time
There's a copious amount of old man wang in that movie. But it's awesome anyway.
Swirls, Joyeux Noël is very good. There's been a History Channel special about the events in that movie. Actually, you may already know that it's based on a true story:
Hulu+ is full of Kurosawa and Bergman movies. I think all the Criterion stuff is on there, or at least a big chunk of it. I'd like to watch the ones I've missed but I don't get 2-3 hour stretches of quiet anymore unless I stay up late.
Also - watched Troll Hunter and was kind of disappointed. It was impressive in many ways, but it's been spoken of so highly maybe I was expecting too much. For some reason I had the impression it would be funnier. Didn't really understand the need for the "this footage was found.... they were never seen again" set up. All it served to do was remind me (negatively) of Blair Witch, and it didn't have a creepy enough feeling for it to have any effect.
Watched "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" last week, and that was a letdown too. Seemed to have enough going for it - Del Toro producing, familiar story with a unique twist, atypical horror villain, Katie Holmes was even pretty good - but they just didn't pull it off. There were some major plotholes to look past, so that didn't help.
Yeah, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was pretty middling at best. I wanted to like it more, but come the hell on... you can't make a movie about evil tooth fairies.
I loved Troll Hunter but never once found it even remotely creepy or scary. But then, I didn't feel like that was the idea behind the flick, either. I did find it funny, though. Very funny, actually.
JL21 wrote:Yeah, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was pretty middling at best. I wanted to like it more, but come the hell on... you can't make a movie about evil tooth fairies.
I loved Troll Hunter but never once found it even remotely creepy or scary. But then, I didn't feel like that was the idea behind the flick, either. I did find it funny, though. Very funny, actually.
I didn't think they intended it to be scary, it just made the whole framing device odd to me. It had it's moments. Mostly I think it was just too long and they maybe could've cut about 15-20 minutes out. Seemed like the parts about the government/cover-up didn't really add anything, other than explaining away questions that weren't that important to me.
