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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 21, 2017 22:50:16 GMT -5
One of my favorite Soderbergh movies is pretty much a cult film: Kafka, with Jeremy Irons. Franz Kafka toils away, working for an insurance company, writing weird stories on the side. He has few friends and doesn't socialize well. he is bullied by a company functionary (Joel Grey) and his boss (Alec Guinness) pushes him to be more involved, to work for promotion opportunities. He becomes involved with a mystery surrounding the file for a dead man, croses paths with a mysterious woman, tied to a rebellious political faction, and the Castle, where the government operates. The film is in black and white, until he enters the Castle, when it turns to color. It's a dark movie, reflecting the source. Essentially, Kafka is put within a story that reflects the paranoia and mystery of his writing, such as The Trial and The Castle. Jeroon Krabbe , Ian Holm, Theresa Russell, Alec Guiness, Joel Grey, and Armin Mueller-Stahl co-star. That sounds really interesting. I added it to my watchlist on Letterboxd as a reminder to watch it later. Keep in mind it is very much like Kafka's writing; lot of weird things going on and hazy storytelling. You are not going to get a straightforward story. You end up interpreting a lot of things. Me, I don't mind that, so long as they give me some decent pieces to put together. It got pretty mixed reviews; but, I suspect that was because critics don't like to think (as witnessed by numerous reviews of sci-fi films that require some thought). There is a very Terry Gilliam-esque quality to a lot of it, though a far more subdued version of it.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 22, 2017 11:31:03 GMT -5
codystarbuck have you seen the Orson Welles adaptation of The Trail? I remember watching it a few years ago and being impressed by it although I haven't read the Kafka book.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 22, 2017 11:42:36 GMT -5
Dog Soldiers (2002) A group of British soldiers playing war games in the Scottish Highlands come across a special ops team that's been massacred and soon find themselves being hunted. The action scenes are exciting and well executed. The special effects makeups are high quality and the werewolves are pretty impressive looking. Notable actors are Sean Pertwee (who plays Alfred on Gotham) and Liam Cunningham (who plays Davos on Game of Thrones).
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 22, 2017 12:45:41 GMT -5
codystarbuck have you seen the Orson Welles adaptation of The Trail? I remember watching it a few years ago and being impressed by it although I haven't read the Kafka book. I've seen it; but, it is ponderously slow. It's great for ominous shots in black and white, but, the nature of the story is very hard to make visually interesting and the dialogue is not the most engaging. It's all very paranoid and mysterious and it never gets resolved, leaving you frustrated. The novel is much the same way. A man is accused of a crime, but never told what the crime is. He is basically a prisoner of a bureaucratic system that never seems to end. It is mostly a metaphor for how complicated legal and government systems end up being a maze that leads back to the beginning. All very philosophical; but, not quite satisfying as a mystery or a drama. Kafka's strength lay in his ideas, more than the quality of his writing. He wrote paranoia and a sense of alienation well; but, he struggled with the human condition and interaction, a key component of any drama. Kafka's writing was a big influence on the original Prisoner tv series, which used elements of it (and things like orwell and Alice in Wonderland) quite well. None of that really made it into that bland remake, from a few years ago. It dumped it for New Age mumbo-jumbo.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 22, 2017 12:50:18 GMT -5
Dog Soldiers (2002) A group of British soldiers playing war games in the Scottish Highlands come across a special ops team that's been massacred and soon find themselves being hunted. The action scenes are exciting and well executed. The special effects makeups are high quality and the werewolves are pretty impressive looking. Notable actors are Sean Pertwee (who plays Alfred on Gotham) and Liam Cunningham (who plays Davos on Game of Thrones). Watched this a few years back, after it hit dvd. Good film, done on a budget, with some imagination. There is a scene where Kevin McKidd's character demonstrates that Super Glue was originally developed to seal wounds; but, the scene ends up a bit of a joke, as he squirts the stuff all over the abdomen of someone who has been gutted, like it will seal wounds at that level. The stuff worked on lacerations, but not major wounds, which is why it was never employed in a large capacity. This is where I first saw Liam Cunningham, who also did Prime Suspect 6, as a journalist friend and ex-lover of Helen Mirren's Jane Tennant. It was also my first encounter with Sean Pertwee, who looks rather like his father (far more than David Troughton looked like Patrick). Kevin McKidd was known as Tommy, in Trainspotting and was one of the early contenders to play Thor.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 23, 2017 15:06:22 GMT -5
Westworld (1973) Watched this one again because I'm planning to watch the first season of the HBO television show and I hadn't seen this in probably 20 years. Super fun premise with decent execution by first-time director Michael Crichton. Brynner is menacing as the Gunslinger, though he's not given a lot to do. Benjamin and Brolin are likable. But the film is really about the concept more than the story or the acting. I do find it interesting that a lot of people see it as a film about technology going rogue when it's really about the greed of corporations. Good fun.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2017 15:39:29 GMT -5
Westworld (1973) Watched this one again because I'm planning to watch the first season of the HBO television show and I hadn't seen this in probably 20 years. Super fun premise with decent execution by first-time director Michael Crichton. Brynner is menacing as the Gunslinger, though he's not given a lot to do. Benjamin and Brolin are likable. But the film is really about the concept more than the story or the acting. I do find it interesting that a lot of people see it as a film about technology going rogue when it's really about the greed of corporations. Good fun. I rewatched this for the first time in forever last year. I agree great fun and that most people miss the point of it entirely, but then that doesn't surprise me anymore. -M
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 23, 2017 22:12:08 GMT -5
Westworld (1973) Watched this one again because I'm planning to watch the first season of the HBO television show and I hadn't seen this in probably 20 years. Super fun premise with decent execution by first-time director Michael Crichton. Brynner is menacing as the Gunslinger, though he's not given a lot to do. Benjamin and Brolin are likable. But the film is really about the concept more than the story or the acting. I do find it interesting that a lot of people see it as a film about technology going rogue when it's really about the greed of corporations. Good fun. Well, a little from Column A and a little from Column B (technology going rogue and the greed of corporations. Now, Future World is very much about the greed of corporations, as this unnecessary sequel proceeds to lose anything interesting in the original and deliver a truly disappointing movie, even as a generic thriller.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 24, 2017 13:30:55 GMT -5
I rewatched Westworld (1973) recently as well because of the HBO series and I've been looking for a copy of Futureworld (1976) to watch since. People forget that Yul Brynner was the original Terminator.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 24, 2017 13:38:58 GMT -5
New Jack City (1991) This holds up incredibly well and it's kind of crazy to think about how highly influential it's been over the past few decades. This was one of my favorite movies as a teenager and it still is. Arguably it's just as relevant today as it ever was. The production quality is high, the direction is strong and there are some exciting action scenes. The writing for the most part is excellent and there is some really memorable dialogue. The casting is great and there are some strong performances throughout, especially Chris Rock who is particularly moving in his role as Pookie. It's interesting looking back at some of the actors seeing their success and the longevity of their careers.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 24, 2017 13:53:36 GMT -5
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Some excellent casting in this and a few brilliant performances. It's an interesting story that at times feels like paranoid anti Communist propaganda. That's an oversimplification though as it's actually a satire of that cold war era paranoia and there's even a character that's clearly a parody of senator Joe McCarthy. It also may be one of the earliest depictions of PTSD on film as some of the characters started to experience symptoms as they began to reject their implanted memories. There's some amazing dialogue in this and I wonder whether some of the more memorable lines originated in the novel or were changed for the screenplay. The use of tension that builds during the climax is superb and just when you expect it will end one way there's a twist. Sadly the idea of foreign interests subverting an American election is more poignant today than it was post McCarthyism. I'm definitely interesting in reading the book this is based on.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 25, 2017 0:21:14 GMT -5
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Some excellent casting in this and a few brilliant performances. It's an interesting story that at times feels like paranoid anti Communist propaganda. That's an oversimplification though as it's actually a satire of that cold war era paranoia and there's even a character that's clearly a parody of senator Joe McCarthy. It also may be one of the earliest depictions of PTSD on film as some of the characters started to experience symptoms as they began to reject their implanted memories. There's some amazing dialogue in this and I wonder whether some of the more memorable lines originated in the novel or were changed for the screenplay. The use of tension that builds during the climax is superb and just when you expect it will end one way there's a twist. Sadly the idea of foreign interests subverting an American election is more poignant today than it was post McCarthyism. I'm definitely interesting in reading the book this is based on. You may be shocked by the book, as the Mother/Son relationship is more than a little twisted, beyond what you see in the film.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 26, 2017 13:02:20 GMT -5
Brubaker (1980) Robert Redford plays a newly appointed prison warden who goes undercover as an inmate to expose corruption. Some good casting in this with a few decent performances including Yaphet Kotto, David Keith and in a small roll Morgan Freeman. The story shows the cruelties of incarceration while commenting on the necessity of reform as well as the importance of treating prisoners like human beings. Similar themes are used in another of director Stuart Rosenberg's films Cool Hand Luke (1967).
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Post by Jesse on Aug 26, 2017 13:10:58 GMT -5
Diabolique (1955) I rewatched this as it aired on TCM recently and I rank it in my top 10 favorite thrillers. The ailing wife and mistress of an abusive schoolmaster conspire to murder him. After executing their plan they leave the body in the school's pool to be discovered as an accidental drowning but later they find that it has mysteriously disappeared. There's a great use of suspense and intrigue especially in the later half of the film building up to the climax and a brilliant twist ending. I thought Véra Clouzot gave an incredibly convincing performance.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 26, 2017 13:21:04 GMT -5
Innocent Blood (1992) Arguably one of John Landis' lesser efforts it's no less watchable if you're a fan of his other work. It has the same sense of humor and reverence towards the genre. This one was actually filmed and set in my home town. A sexy vampiress who only feeds on criminals reluctantly teams up with an undercover Pittsburgh cop to stop a mob boss turned vampire. The premise is ridiculous and the mobsters are a bit cliche but the practical special effects are decent. There are a ton of really fun cameos including Sam Raimi, Frank Oz, Dario Argento and Tom Savini. I think this is worth watching for the Don Rickles death scene alone. There's also a bunch of clips used from classic horror movies.
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