movies

[Arthur Dent]

I saw "A Serious Man" last night. It's the Coen Brothers at the top of their craft. I can't even say too much about it without gushing. Just go see it.

this makes me happy.. we have free passes and will use them soon

I'll second zeus and hold my tongue so as not to spoil anything. Go see it ASAP.

[SHOW]

I didn't understand the tornado at first. But then my friends and I talked about the movie, and we realized the connection to the Book of Job. So I read the wiki page on Job and now I get it. I love this movie now, and really respect that the Coen's didn't dumb-down or even offer explanations on a lot of fairly obscure Jewish religious and cultural references

[SHOW]

So what's the deal with the intro bit?

[G. Keenan]

I saw "A Serious Man" last night. It's the Coen Brothers at the top of their craft. I can't even say too much about it without gushing. Just go see it.

this makes me happy.. we have free passes and will use them soon

I'll second zeus and hold my tongue so as not to spoil anything. Go see it ASAP.

[SHOW]

I didn't understand the tornado at first. But then my friends and I talked about the movie, and we realized the connection to the Book of Job. So I read the wiki page on Job and now I get it. I love this movie now, and really respect that the Coen's didn't dumb-down or even offer explanations on a lot of fairly obscure Jewish religious and cultural references

[SHOW]

So what's the deal with the intro bit?

[SHOW]

Yeah, I'm not quite sure what to make of it either. At first I thought it was going to be some sort of original sin type moment in his bloodline but I wasn't sure that they were meant to be related.

[JL21]

I have a free movie coming my way. Which should I see- the Coen brothers movie, or Zombieland?

[Freed Roger]

I'm going to subject GRB to too much info here, but what the hell. Been into Turner Classic movies since getting a DVR recently. uncut no commercials- awesome. Have more old movies to watch than time:

"High Noon" -greater than I remembered. The ballad of High Noon play throughout "do not forsake me oh my darling..." the best.

"Suspicion" a lesser Hitchcock but a classic nonetheless. excellent characters. I wish Hitchcock would have gotten the ending he wanted.

"Niagara" liked that pretty well too- great setting and noir. Marilyn Monroe was strong and smokin. Joe Cotten.

"Grapes of Wrath" Never read the book. but movie was OK. henry fonda was great, and all the characters. liked the journey west, but would have preferred it not have a happy ending with the govt paradise.

"Beat the Devil" John Huston flick, with Humphrey Bogart Gina Lollabrigida in a great locale. I really wanted this to be a hidden classic, but i couldn't stick with its convoluted plot. some annoying characters -and had trouble understanding what lollabrigida was saying without a subtitle feature available. I punted on it midway through.

DVR'd for future viewing
Seen b/f:
Vertigo
The Birds
Psycho
North by Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt

Never seen B/f:
Gaslight
Easy Rider -for some reason I'm in no hurry to watch this.

[heyzeus]

I saw "A Serious Man" last night. It's the Coen Brothers at the top of their craft. I can't even say too much about it without gushing. Just go see it.

this makes me happy.. we have free passes and will use them soon

I'll second zeus and hold my tongue so as not to spoil anything. Go see it ASAP.

[SHOW]

I didn't understand the tornado at first. But then my friends and I talked about the movie, and we realized the connection to the Book of Job. So I read the wiki page on Job and now I get it. I love this movie now, and really respect that the Coen's didn't dumb-down or even offer explanations on a lot of fairly obscure Jewish religious and cultural references

[SHOW]

So what's the deal with the intro bit?

[SHOW]

Yeah, I'm not quite sure what to make of it either. At first I thought it was going to be some sort of original sin type moment in his bloodline but I wasn't sure that they were meant to be related.

[SHOW]

So, the Coen brothers apparently decided they don't need to offer any explanation on things like this, that would be useful for 99% of the population to know. The question in that opening sequence is whether the guy is a dybbuk. A dybbuk is the oldworld jewish/yiddish combo between a ghost and a curse; if you invite the dybbuk into your house, you are essentially fubar for life.

I think there are two purposes to this sequence. One, the big question of the movie, asked by Larry repeatedly, is "Why Me? I didn't do anything." He's just trying to be a good dad, a good professor, etc, and then horrible things happen to him. It's a big question in Jewish theology: if we're God's chosen people, just trying to be good, why does all of this bad [expletive] keep happening to us? The man in the opening sequence just invites an old man who helped with his wagon into his house, and now he's cursed? Or about to be a convicted murderer? Why me? Second, I think the scene is supposed to make us contemplate whether the visitors to Larry's home, who were invited in and seem to curse him, are dybbuks themselves: Sy and brother Arthur. Sy even reappears later as a malevolent ghost in his dream. Which raises the question of predetermination v. fate/chance/luck. Is Larry cursed? Or do bad things just happen all the time to us for no reason?

My two cents!

[JL21]

"High Noon" -greater than I remembered. The ballad of High Noon play throughout "do not forsake me oh my darling..." the best.

Other than Eastwood's "Unforgiven", that's my favorite western. Cooper owns that role. I need to re-watch it now that I've seen a lot more of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s work because the first time I saw 'High Noon', I really had no idea who Chaney, Jr. was.

"Grapes of Wrath" Never read the book. but movie was OK. henry fonda was great, and all the characters. liked the journey west, but would have preferred it not have a happy ending with the govt paradise.

John Carradine in a serious role. Wild, huh? Anyway, I watched that one about a year ago for the first time, right as the economy was moving to the forefront of everyone's consciousness. It was prescient timing.

"Beat the Devil" John Huston flick, with Humphrey Bogart Gina Lollabrigida in a great locale. I really wanted this to be a hidden classic, but i couldn't stick with its convoluted plot. had trouble understanding what lollabrigida was saying without a subtitle feature available. I punted on it midway through.

Wow, I've never heard of this, but I freakin' love John Huston films.

DVR'd for future viewing
Seen b/f:
Vertigo
The Birds
Psycho
North by Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt

"Vertigo" rules. Only Hitchcock could make a crazy movie that's subtly about necrophilia. I just bought my parents a copy of "North by Northwest" (and "Rear Window") for a Christmas stocking stuffer.

Easy Rider -for some reason I'm in no hurry to watch this.

It's notable for two things- a young Nicholson, and the historical context about rebellion. Beyond that... meh.

[KyCardinalFan]

I have a free movie coming my way. Which should I see- the Coen brothers movie, or Zombieland?

I don't know about the Coen movie, but my husband and I saw Zombieland over the weekend. We each felt it was funny, but more of a rental movie funny than in-the-theater funny.

[Freed Roger]

"High Noon" -greater than I remembered. The ballad of High Noon play throughout "do not forsake me oh my darling..." the best.

Other than Eastwood's "Unforgiven", that's my favorite western. Cooper owns that role. I need to re-watch it now that I've seen a lot more of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s work because the first time I saw 'High Noon', I really had no idea who Chaney, Jr. was

.

I hadn't watched it in over 20 years. I had it pegged wrong in my head as an old schmaltzy Western , which its far from. and yes, Cooper nailed that part. original 3:10 to Yuma is similar, but not quite as good

"Grapes of Wrath" Never read the book. but movie was OK. henry fonda was great, and all the characters. liked the journey west, but would have preferred it not have a happy ending with the govt paradise.

John Carradine in a serious role. Wild, huh? Anyway, I watched that one about a year ago for the first time, right as the economy was moving to the forefront of everyone's consciousness. It was prescient timing.

the timeliness thing was what got to me as well. "Of Mice and Men" is also on cue to DVR.

"Beat the Devil" John Huston flick, with Humphrey Bogart Gina Lollabrigida in a great locale. I really wanted this to be a hidden classic, but i couldn't stick with its convoluted plot. had trouble understanding what lollabrigida was saying without a subtitle feature available. I punted on it midway through.

Wow, I've never heard of this, but I freakin' love John Huston films.

I regret bailing (and erasing), but I kept dozing off and was impulsive with so many other movies to watch. from what I saw, it was beautiful use of locale - and filmed in that Huston way.


One other film I forgot to mention was "Paths of Glory" excellent on several levels. not as climactic as most war films (anti-war in this case).

[The Third Man]

"High Noon" -greater than I remembered. The ballad of High Noon play throughout "do not forsake me oh my darling..." the best.

Other than Eastwood's "Unforgiven", that's my favorite western. Cooper owns that role. I need to re-watch it now that I've seen a lot more of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s work because the first time I saw 'High Noon', I really had no idea who Chaney, Jr. was.

"Grapes of Wrath" Never read the book. but movie was OK. henry fonda was great, and all the characters. liked the journey west, but would have preferred it not have a happy ending with the govt paradise.

John Carradine in a serious role. Wild, huh? Anyway, I watched that one about a year ago for the first time, right as the economy was moving to the forefront of everyone's consciousness. It was prescient timing.

"Beat the Devil" John Huston flick, with Humphrey Bogart Gina Lollabrigida in a great locale. I really wanted this to be a hidden classic, but i couldn't stick with its convoluted plot. had trouble understanding what lollabrigida was saying without a subtitle feature available. I punted on it midway through.

Wow, I've never heard of this, but I freakin' love John Huston films.

DVR'd for future viewing
Seen b/f:
Vertigo
The Birds
Psycho
North by Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt

"Vertigo" rules. Only Hitchcock could make a crazy movie that's subtly about necrophilia. I just bought my parents a copy of "North by Northwest" (and "Rear Window") for a Christmas stocking stuffer.

Easy Rider -for some reason I'm in no hurry to watch this.

It's notable for two things- a young Nicholson, and the historical context about rebellion. Beyond that... meh.

I agree with everything in this post. High Noon, Grapes of Wrath and Vertigo (and Hitchcock in general) rule. Easy Rider not so much. And I've been meaning to see Beat the Devil for years. Bogart said of it "Only phonies like it."

[Freed Roger]

I must admit, I like the before and after banter with Robert Osborne and guests on TCM. In fact, I wouldn't mind if they went a little longer with it.