It still holds up! One time I was eating at a diner in the Upper West Side of Manhattan around 3am and kept hearing this guy sitting in the booth next to mine talking about Sheboygan to this young lady. I look over and it was none other than Jackie Mason. I was like "holy shit Harry Hartounian is sitting next to me!" He then asked if he could borrow my cellphone to call a car for his lady friend because neither of them had any credits left on their phones. I duly obliged.
I can remember starting to watch this movie as a younger teen and recognizing that it was too real for me and turning it off after the first stretch. I just couldn't relate at all. Don't know why it took me so long to get back to watching it, but holy f*ck was that good and weird. I kept wondering what the shoot (production) would have been like. Liz and Richard in particular are off the charts great. Feels like Eggers was trying to capture their energy with The Lighthouse, and I've never had much of a reference point for that one.
I can remember starting to watch this movie as a younger teen and recognizing that it was too real for me and turning it off after the first stretch. I just couldn't relate at all. Don't know why it took me so long to get back to watching it, but holy f*ck was that good and weird. I kept wondering what the shoot (production) would have been like. Liz and Richard in particular are off the charts great. Feels like Eggers was trying to capture their energy with The Lighthouse, and I've never had much of a reference point for that one.
Well, that was intense. I really enjoyed it. I am impressed what was done with a simple premise and only four actors and how Liz was de-beautified to play an alcoholic twenty years her senior. It's amusing that the "controversial, obscene" dialogue would be considered mild by today's standards. I laughed at Burton's smartass barbs he sneaks into conversation once in a while ("...the apple of our three eyes, Martha being a cyclops...", "Martha is one hundred eight...years old", etc). Speaking of other movies I have seen before which tried to emulate this film, I immediately thought of Cassavetes' "Faces". It was released only two years after, is also shot in black-and-white, about troubled relationships and involves party-killing awkward moments.
I also saw John Coney's "Space Is The Place" from '74, at a Dublab screening at the 'Philosophical Research Society' in nearby Los Feliz. I'm sure most of you have seen it already, but if you haven't: it's a satisfyingly bizarre showcase of Sun Ra's music and philosophy inserted into a narrative film, starring him, which mixes "Seventh Seal", blaxploitation tropes and comedy. Recommended.
I'm going to watch Hideo Gosha's "The Wolves" tonight.
I watched Death Wish 2 and Cobra. They were hilariously awful but so watchable. There was definitely a theme there. Crime in the 80s must have been terrifying!
Trying to watch all the Friedkin's I haven't seen yet and, speaking of crime in the 80s, I just saw To Live and Die in LA. For all it's faults, I really enjoyed the ride. Like Cobra, it has an OTT car chase.
Just watched Breaking the Waves, which was a brutal toke. I mean it's good but it's one of those I'm not sure I'll watch again. A movie about sex that's actually about faith, and from an atheistic perspective, still held me totally gripped.
Also Wim Wenders' The American Friend, with Dennis Hopper. I liked it more than I thought I might I thought it was cool that Wenders basically told Highsmith he was a fan but that the Ripley novels he wanted to adapt to film were already optioned, so she just offered him her new Ripley book she was about to publish. Did not feel like the Ripleys I've known, but ruled.
Saw Breaking The Waves as a teen and was instantly scarred/a fan of Von Trier. The soundtrack is really good too - I still pop the CD on in the whip from time to time.
Just saw The Conversation on big screen on a 35mm print for the first time ever. I kind of think it's the perfect movie, I might've said before. It is so fucking good. Every time I watch it there's some new detail and bit of perfection in character development, or location, or the SOUNDTRACK which I felt like I never appreciated properly before. It makes me ashamed for modern movies. We must do better
It makes me ashamed for modern movies. We must do better
Are you saying we need a MCU adaptation of The Conversation? Maybe that's the next IP well they'll start digging into. "Who's Afraid of Viriginia Woolf?" but with Ant Man. "Running on Empty" but Peter Parker in place of River Phoenix. "My Dinner with Andre" but it's Krang and Wario.
The score is killer too, I'm surprised it hasn't been sampled.
It has...the horns and bass.
The soundtrack never had an original release so the VHS had to be sampled, I guess. As for the movie, I loved every minute of it. The early 70s were truly the pinnacle of film. Check out "Charley Varrick" and "The Laughing Policeman" for more of Matthau at his best during those two years.
Eric Rohmer meandering around a friendship between a country girl and a city girl. It was fine, but I wouldn't revisit. Not sure I get Rohmer, from the few of his I've seen. He knows how to get characters talking about big ideas but he doesn't wrap it up in story very well.
La Soufrière
Werner Herzog and a couple cameramen hanging out in the abandoned city of Basse-Terre and on the side of the Soufriere volcano, all evacuated and ready to blow. Classic Herzog. It's been too long. They find a couple dudes remaining, waiting to die, basically. We need more psychos like Herzog whose first reaction hearing "the island of Guadeloupe is going to be destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption" is to dash there with a crew and get images and thoughts you can't get any other way.
The Endless Summer
I don't have an original thought about this, just wanted to revisit it. Reminds me of my long gone uncle and how insanely formative it was for Californians of his generation.
"La Collectionneuse" is the only one I have seen from Eric Rohmer. I remember enjoying it but I too didn't get any emotional impact. It was like eavesdropping on people while on vacation.
"Endless Summer": I am a born-and-raised Californian and while I have never seen it (?!?), I am familiar with the inspired documentaries that followed, including, of course, Bruce Brown's "On Any Sunday". A side note: I read that The 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" was supposed to be the theme to a follow-up about hot air ballooning but the producers opted for a film about motorcycle culture instead, considering Steve McQueen's patronage.
Yeah I saw La Collectionneuse recently as well - similar vibe. It had much more forward plot motion than Reinette and Mirabelle, which wasn't helped by being episodic. But yeah definitely feels a bit like replaying (generally pretty interesting) conversations that the director had in real life, mapped across characters.
I keep hitting play on his movies because they're summery and I like a bit of French countryside summer in a movie. Same thing happened when I revisited high school French class classics Jean de Florette and Manon de la Source, I just wanted to vibe in the setting. But those ones turned out to be, counter to my school experience, really fucking good stories.
Next on my southern Europe summer movie playlist is Il Gattopardo, with Burt Lancaster, which takes place in Sicily during Italian unification.
And I am also a born-n-raised Californian but I think as a kid I saw the 90s' Endless Summer II way more than the original. I'd forgotten most of the first movie except the classic term "el rolo". I'll have to check out "On Any Sunday" because his skillset from the surfing movies I've seen of his seems so specifically tailor-made to surfing. It'd be interesting to see how he tackled any other subject.
Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources are incredible stories. Those, with Subway and Betty Blue got me hooked on French cinema and that's probably the best way of getting the culture unless you get to live there. Emmanuelle Béart is soooo beautiful as Manon, I could watch it without the subs and not understand a word but consider it time well-spent.
You know, I can't even remember if it had any bangin' at all because the story and setting were so memorable. For a movie I first watched in high school that is high praise
I just saw "Endless Summer". Great doc, although the goofy commentary, particularly about Ghana, wore out its welcome. I want to see the second part.
"Winter Kills": The screenplay and all-star cast couldn't save it from a troubled production and aborted release, but this was an absurd, darkly humorous parallel to the JFK assassination. Jeff Bridges really tried his best and John Houston, as a Joseph Kennedy Sr.-type political father figure, has the best lines.
Saw Watchmen (2009) for the first time having never read the comic. I watched the Ultimate Cut fwiw, which is 3.5 hours long. After some initial discomfort about the gratuitous violence, I settled into it like someone who failed Funny Games, and it ended up being a really good epic superhero flick. Very intricate in terms of design, especially considering how many different "textures" there are across the storylines.
By the way, I'd say I failed Funny Games when I watched it the first time (UK version). I stopped watching the American remake partway through.
Comments
Not in public, of course.
John did pop in on here years back but the search function doesn't seem to work @RAJ
I can remember starting to watch this movie as a younger teen and recognizing that it was too real for me and turning it off after the first stretch. I just couldn't relate at all. Don't know why it took me so long to get back to watching it, but holy f*ck was that good and weird. I kept wondering what the shoot (production) would have been like. Liz and Richard in particular are off the charts great. Feels like Eggers was trying to capture their energy with The Lighthouse, and I've never had much of a reference point for that one.
Well, that was intense. I really enjoyed it. I am impressed what was done with a simple premise and only four actors and how Liz was de-beautified to play an alcoholic twenty years her senior. It's amusing that the "controversial, obscene" dialogue would be considered mild by today's standards. I laughed at Burton's smartass barbs he sneaks into conversation once in a while ("...the apple of our three eyes, Martha being a cyclops...", "Martha is one hundred eight...years old", etc). Speaking of other movies I have seen before which tried to emulate this film, I immediately thought of Cassavetes' "Faces". It was released only two years after, is also shot in black-and-white, about troubled relationships and involves party-killing awkward moments.
I also saw John Coney's "Space Is The Place" from '74, at a Dublab screening at the 'Philosophical Research Society' in nearby Los Feliz. I'm sure most of you have seen it already, but if you haven't: it's a satisfyingly bizarre showcase of Sun Ra's music and philosophy inserted into a narrative film, starring him, which mixes "Seventh Seal", blaxploitation tropes and comedy. Recommended.
I'm going to watch Hideo Gosha's "The Wolves" tonight.
I have work for that.
It has...the horns and bass.
The soundtrack never had an original release so the VHS had to be sampled, I guess. As for the movie, I loved every minute of it. The early 70s were truly the pinnacle of film. Check out "Charley Varrick" and "The Laughing Policeman" for more of Matthau at his best during those two years.
"Endless Summer": I am a born-and-raised Californian and while I have never seen it (?!?), I am familiar with the inspired documentaries that followed, including, of course, Bruce Brown's "On Any Sunday". A side note: I read that The 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" was supposed to be the theme to a follow-up about hot air ballooning but the producers opted for a film about motorcycle culture instead, considering Steve McQueen's patronage.
And I am also a born-n-raised Californian but I think as a kid I saw the 90s' Endless Summer II way more than the original. I'd forgotten most of the first movie except the classic term "el rolo". I'll have to check out "On Any Sunday" because his skillset from the surfing movies I've seen of his seems so specifically tailor-made to surfing. It'd be interesting to see how he tackled any other subject.
Is this the film where a lady gets banged by a farmhand next to a pond? If so, I concur that knowledge of French isn’t necessary.
I've seen a few movies with similar, uh, scenes... Just one farmhand? Yeah, that could be it.
"Winter Kills": The screenplay and all-star cast couldn't save it from a troubled production and aborted release, but this was an absurd, darkly humorous parallel to the JFK assassination. Jeff Bridges really tried his best and John Houston, as a Joseph Kennedy Sr.-type political father figure, has the best lines.