movies

[heyzeus]

I'm continuing my quest to see all of the movies that came out before my time and are on the AFI top 100 but that I've been oblivious to all my life.

Last night, after it became clear that the Cardinals were pooping the bed and then rolling around in said poop, I watched 2001, A Space Odyssey.

My thoughts:

- I was totally rooting for those apes who picked up bones to use as clubs. I was hoping for a lot more ape-clubbin' action.

- It's extremeeeeeeeely slow. Most of the movie is extended establishing shots of spaceships landing. I know that was Kubrick's intention: space is a cold dark place, man's journey from ape to astronaut and creation of sentient machines is full of awe and forboding, etc. But to the twitchy modern audience (ie, me) it is painfully slow. An audience of its own era probably would be more awed by the space imagery; after all, it came out a year before man walked on the moon.

- The movie stands up incredibly well. Given the sophistication of the computerized effects, I thought it was made in the late 70s. Nope, came out in 1968.

- I love the HAL 9000 storyline. It's a concept that makes even more sense today than it did 42 years ago: What if we create a computer so sophisticated that it becomes a threat to us because it realizes that we are a threat to it? That's something we're only really approaching now, technologically. It's a testament to Arthur C. Clarke and Kubrick's vision that they hit the head of a nail that wouldn't even really exist for another 30+ years.

- The end of this movie? Wow. It would probably only make sense after ingesting several blotters of acid. I really don't even begin to understand what happens "beyond jupiter" or what it all means. I think I'm going to have to go read an article about this now.

Overall, I see why it's a masterpiece, but it's also not the most viewer-friendly film. It gets 3.9 Taguchimakers out of 5.

[Radbird]

- The end of this movie? Wow. It would probably only make sense after ingesting several blotters of acid. I really don't even begin to understand what happens "beyond jupiter" or what it all means. I think I'm going to have to go read an article about this now.

I saw the movie in 1968 and the ending made perfect sense.

[JL21]

- The end of this movie? Wow. It would probably only make sense after ingesting several blotters of acid. I really don't even begin to understand what happens "beyond jupiter" or what it all means. I think I'm going to have to go read an article about this now.

I saw the movie in 1968 and the ending made perfect sense.

lol

Zeus, I agree with your sentiments. Actually, the inaccessibility of the ending is the #1 reason I didn't like that movie.

What do you have left off of the AFI Top 100? If you haven't done it yet, I very, very, very highly recommend "Sunset Boulevard". It's probably my favorite American movie. Or at least, if I made a short list of my 4 or 5 favorites, it's the first one I'd think to include.

[heyzeus]

- The end of this movie? Wow. It would probably only make sense after ingesting several blotters of acid. I really don't even begin to understand what happens "beyond jupiter" or what it all means. I think I'm going to have to go read an article about this now.

I saw the movie in 1968 and the ending made perfect sense.

lol

Zeus, I agree with your sentiments. Actually, the inaccessibility of the ending is the #1 reason I didn't like that movie.

What do you have left off of the AFI Top 100? If you haven't done it yet, I very, very, very highly recommend "Sunset Boulevard". It's probably my favorite American movie. Or at least, if I made a short list of my 4 or 5 favorites, it's the first one I'd think to include.

1. Rad, where the hell did you find a joint-smoking rainbow-afro'd dancing banana icon? I...I think I love it.

2. Just added Sunset Boulevard to my netflix queue, thanks JL.

3. As far as movies I have left on the top 100...oh, that would probably be about 70 of them, especially the older stuff. I'll just start with the top ones I haven't seen, and you can offer your shame and judgment:

Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, On the Waterfront, Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Blvd, Bridge on the River Kwai, Some Like It Hot, All About Eve, African Queen, Psycho, Grapes of Wrath, Maltese Falcon, raging bull, Bonne and Clyde, Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Yep, those are just the movies in the top 30 I haven't seen.

I've probably read every book in the top 50 lists, but I have a big blank on movies, and I'm trying to fill it.

[JL21]

Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, On the Waterfront, Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Blvd, Bridge on the River Kwai, Some Like It Hot, All About Eve, African Queen, Psycho, Grapes of Wrath, Maltese Falcon, raging bull, Bonne and Clyde, Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Ok, let's see... I'm missing a few of those myself.

-Raging Bull is Scorsese. You can never ever ever go wrong with Scorsese. It's always about socially awkward, often violent male outsiders, and Raging Bull is a great example there.

-I was unimpressed with Bonnie and Clyde but I suppose it's cinematically relevant because of the way it employed anti-heroes, something that hadn't been done much in American cinema prior to that. And especially not in the years leading up to it. It dovetailed nicely with the anti-establishmentarianism of the 60's.

-Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Maltese Falcon, and African Queen are all John Huston films. Huston was a rebel at his very core. And thus, you find hard-core anti-greed themes in both Treasure of the Sierra Madre and the Maltese Falcon. The Maltese Falcon is also an excellent noir- oddly enough, influenced heavily (visually) by the classic Universal monster movies, of all things. Lots of rain, lots of dark imagery, etc...

-Lawrence of Arabia is long. (sorry, that's just about all I can offer on it; it didn't stick with me all that much beyond how incredibly long it was)

-I saw The Grapes of Wrath for the first time when the economy really went south a few years ago. The timing was prescient. Henry Fonda is excellent in it.

-If you're feeling really, really, really adventuresome, do a double feature of Casablanca with either Pépé le Moko or Grand Illusion (both 1930's French poetic realism films). Both had an influence. I sort of wish I'd seen the two French films before I'd seen Casablanca because it helps give it some cinematic context. But, obviously, it's not mandatory.

-Bridge on the River Kwai is incredible. It's a bit long but didn't feel like an epic at all (compared to Lawrence of Arabia, which sort of felt like an endurance test).

-Psycho is mandatory watching. And in fact, I'd almost say that if you're going to do the Hitchcock films off the Top 100, you'd be better off starting with Rear Window (themes of voyeurism and celebrity worship) or Vertigo (necrophilia). But you absolutely can not go wrong with any Hitchcock.

Moving beyond the top 30, I'd say that "High Noon" is my favorite Western (tied with Unforgiven), and has an awesome subtext about McCarthyism (from the point of view of the accused). To Kill a Mockingbird is fantastic- the Southern Gothic tradition put to film. The Third Man is incredible. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is hard to watch in a good way, primarily because it's sort of harsh to watch a married couple treat each other the way this pair treats each other. And then there are the classic comedies- Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera (Marx brothers films) are hilarious, and Keaton's The General is near and dear to my heart. The stunts he performs in The General (or any Keaton film, really) are mind-blowing. The guy pretty much put his life in peril hundreds of times over with the sole purpose of making people laugh. And that's awesome in ways I can't even begin to describe.

/film geekery

[lukethedrifter]

Last night, the kid and I watched A Night in Casablanca. Very funny stuff. She's now a huge Harpo Marx fan.

Excellent. The Marx Brothers are severely under appreciated by kids these days; good to hear you're giving your kid a firm foundation in the classics.

We took a break from housecleaning yesterday to watch a movie. She wanted some more Marx Bros so we found The Big Store on netflix. The length of the musical numbers caught me by surprise but they were really good. Slapstick nonsense with awesome special effects. I loved it.


Next up, I'm going to see if I can get her interested in old westerns.

[JL21]

Have you watched "Horse Feathers" yet, luke?

[lukethedrifter]

Have you watched "Horse Feathers" yet, luke?

Not yet. Nor Duck Soup.

[JL21]

Both excellent choices. Horsefeathers would be a good one to watch once football season starts up.

[redbirdjazzz]

Both excellent choices. Horsefeathers would be a good one to watch once football season starts up.

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