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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 17, 2022 18:38:07 GMT -5
I have no memory of this at all, and neither does my dad. Thanks for posting this! It's very well done, not a "kiddie" version at all. It was from the period where Jones was producing a lot of literary projects, like A Cricket in Times Square, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Tiki-Tiki-Tavi. He also had the short lived Saturday Morning tv series, The Curiosity Shop.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2022 18:41:46 GMT -5
They are hit and miss.
Kenneth Johnson “did not come up for air” during his commentary for the Hulk pilot, but I learnt so much, from Richard Kiel’s turn as the Hulk, to how Johnson wanted the Hulk to be red.
At other times, a director has struggled to find something to say - or has just redundantly stated what is on the screen. As I said in my previous post, Ang Lee went silent for many moments.
The commentary for Supergirl was done by Jeannot Szwarc and a consultant called Scott Michael Bosco. Szwarc probably would have struggled on his own, it did seem like Bosco had to really push him to reveal or comment on stuff, so thank God that Bosco was there. Great commentary, as is their commentary on Santa Claus The Movie.
I did listen to the commentary for a couple of episodes of The Simpsons, but they were too chaotic. I didn’t feel like I was learning anything, as there were too many interruptions. Understandable when you have a lot of friends together, but a moderator would have been good.
By the way, a friend told me that he listened to one commentary - not sure if it was Patton - and that whoever did the commentary just stopped talking and seemingly left halfway through! I did try and Google for details. I can only find Blu-ray reviews, which state that Francis Ford Coppola did the commentary, and I am sure he didn’t walk out; this must be referring to a commentary when DVDs first became a ‘thing’.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 17, 2022 20:45:37 GMT -5
I used to listen to commentaries quite a bit. I would decide in the first five or ten minutes if I really wanted to listen to the whole thing.
I remember really liking:
The Runaways, with Kristen Stewart, Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning
Resident Evil, with Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez
The Return of Dr X. This is a movie from the 1930s. There’s a great interview with the director that really gives you a taste of working in 1930s Hollywood. And there’s also a section where a historian is reading some of Humphrey Bogart’s letters to the studio executives about how much he hates being assigned to movies like this.
I also remember liking the commentary to such classics as Yojimbo, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Big Sleep, stuff like that.
But I almost never listen to dvd commentaries anymore.
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Post by berkley on Dec 18, 2022 0:57:13 GMT -5
I used to listen to commentaries quite a bit. I would decide in the first five or ten minutes if I really wanted to listen to the whole thing. I remember really liking: The Runaways, with Kristen Stewart, Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning Resident Evil, with Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez The Return of Dr X. This is a movie from the 1930s. There’s a great interview with the director that really gives you a taste of working in 1930s Hollywood. And there’s also a section where a historian is reading some of Humphrey Bogart’s letters to the studio executives about how much he hates being assigned to movies like this. I also remember liking the commentary to such classics as Yojimbo, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Big Sleep, stuff like that. But I almost never listen to dvd commentaries anymore.
I've never been into them myself, though I like the idea of hearing the creators' insights into the work and their memories of the film-making experience, and so on. It's just that the format doesn't appeal to me: if I'm watching the film I want to be immersed in that viewing experience, not distracted by a commentary that pulls me out of the story. I think perhaps I'd prefer it if they'd present the same material as a straight interview, with occasional clips for illustration if necessary.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2022 10:30:22 GMT -5
I feel I’m done with audio commentaries because having not enjoyed 90% of them, it’s a lot of time to waste. I’d rather just check IMDb’s trivia page or seek out an interview with the director.
I did enjoy the commentaries the late Roger Moore did for his Bond films (well, I’ve only heard two of them). At least he’s reacting to what we’re seeing, often in a self-deprecating way. But this “John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation is here to introduce each participant” is tedious. What little I heard of The Living Daylights didn’t even match what was on the screen. I’m sure Timothy Dalton and John Glen, sitting together and recording at the same time, might have been better.
I’m not saying they’d have to provide major insight during each scene, sometimes it can be banter or just the fun of someone saying, “Oh, I remember this filming location, we were up all night and it got so cold I was consuming too much coffee.” But I have zero patience for spliced-together comments held together by redundant intros from a moderator.
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Post by Calidore on Dec 18, 2022 11:47:41 GMT -5
I like behind-the-scenes stuff and so have always enjoyed commentaries. I do prefer live commentary to edited interviews, but as long as it's interesting, I'm fine. And sometimes the latter is the only possible way to go, like with The Wizard of Oz.
Favorite single commentary moment: Michael Palin during Monty Python's Life of Brian, the Biggus Dickus scene. When Palin's Pontious Pilate is daring the soldiers to laugh, Palin on commentary mentions that the soldier making the strained funny faces is actually a friend of his who was trying to make him laugh. And succeeds. Palin's narration of his on-camera struggles to hold his composure, ending with him finally breaking on camera, is much funnier than the scene itself.
Another unexpected favorite is the complementary commentaries on two releases of The Grudge--one featuring the American cast talking about working in Japan with a Japanese crew, and the other featuring the Japanese director and a couple of others talking about working with an American cast and for an American studio. Hearing about this cross-cultural experience from both sides was very interesting.
Lots of good stuff out there, though. I know I've overall enjoyed many more commentaries than I haven't.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2022 8:19:46 GMT -5
I like this:
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Post by berkley on Dec 21, 2022 2:23:03 GMT -5
Just watched The Scarlet Empress (1934): Joseph von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, together again for the 2nd last time. Sort of bio-pic/historical drama about Catherine the Great. Apparently a box-office failure at the time, but extremely interesting for any film-fan, I would say. Not that it doesn't have problems, dramatically: I think it spends too much time and places too much emphasis on Catherine's early years as a young, wide-eyed innocent (according to the film), so that when she suddenly becomes the ruthless political intriguer in the last third, the change feels too abrupt. Also, Dietrich is simply not believable as a naive girl, so it isn't until she becomes more knowing and self-assertive that her performance starts to work for me. Dietrich is great once she is able to be Dietrich, more or less the last 40 minutes or so.
But visually, this is pretty amazing, with Russia portrayed, probably very unfairly, as a kind of Gothic-nightmare with all kinds of grotesque statues and architecture, reinforcing the script, which paints it as a barbaric hinterland - Vladimir Poutin would have a field day with this movie as an example of how the West has slandered and misrepresented his country. But as a work of th imagination it works tremendously well in this respect.
There was a surprise for me in the actor who played Alexei, the Russian aristocrat who is sent to Germany to bring Sophie (her original name, changed to Catherine upon her marriage) to Russia. I'd never heard of him before but his name was John Lodge, and he was extremely effective in his role as a semi-barbaric (compared to the stodgy Germans, in this film similar to our usual idea of the French or British of the same era) Russian envoy, with long, dark hair (as opposed to the powdered wigs of the Germans), heavy furs, showy military medallions, etc. He had the right kind of face to pull all this off and knew how to use his body language. His speech was a little more hit and miss - there was the odd moment when his American accent came through a bit too noticeably for the character he was playing - but the misses were few and far between. Looking up his wiki article afterwards, it seems he was a fluent French-speaker and worked a lot in Europe and England, so perhaps that had something to do with his ability to play this character.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 22, 2022 22:43:34 GMT -5
I saw Scarlet Empress maybe 30 years ago and I didn’t think much of it. But I don’t remember why.
I saw Morocco last week, and I saw Shanghai Express a few months ago, and I’m finding that I like Marlene Dietrich more than I used to. So I’m thinking I should give Scarlet Empress another try.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2022 10:52:04 GMT -5
Apparently, there’s a 007 Magazine, which began in 1979. I’ve never read it, but there’s a bibliography of issues. If i have it right, the magazine was published by an official 007 fan club (I say “an” in case there were more than one). I know not how many club members they had, but the April 1979 issue polled its members about which was the best Bond film. Diamonds are Forever, which I personally consider to be the WORST Bond film, was named the favourite Bond film. Four months later, the August 1979 issue did the same poll, but The Spy Who Loved Me was named the favourite film. Quite a change in four months, right? Did they gain an influx of new members who loved that film, or did existing members’ opinions change? This is why I loathe polls, particularly political polls. Polls will be banned if I am world president (not CCF polls, though). Polls are only ever a snapshot in time of members’ opinions. And just a small number of members, I’m sure. Obviously, in April 1979, people went with Diamonds are Forever, but it’s interesting that four months later, they went with The Spy Who Loved Me. Besides, everyone knows the best film is The Living Daylights. Source: www.007magazine.co.uk/bibliography.htm
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 25, 2022 11:22:16 GMT -5
The best Bond film is Dr. No.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2022 11:24:51 GMT -5
The best Bond film is Dr. No. May have to challenge you to a battle (arm-wrestling, wrestling, boxing, street fight, up to you)…
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 25, 2022 11:48:41 GMT -5
The best Bond film is From Russia With Love.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 25, 2022 11:49:50 GMT -5
Also, day before yesterday I watched the greatest Christmas film ever, Die Hard. As is tradition at my home.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 25, 2022 12:25:09 GMT -5
Also, day before yesterday I watched the greatest Christmas film ever, Die Hard. As is tradition at my home. Here's a question I pose to that debate: if Die Hard is a "Christmas Movie," then what about Lethal Weapon?
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