Last Movie You Watched

[longears]

Watched The Day of the Jackal last night. Very slick film. 9/10     

A classic in the genre.  (I trust you mean "slick" in the '50s/'60s slang sense = good, rather than in the perjorative sense as in "slick Hollywood movie.")

[sidoze]

another entertaining cinema verite release from Second Run, this time a mockumentary of a Godard-loving young man from '60s NY trying to capture as much of his daily life on film as possible. Quite funny, though not compelling enough for me to sit through McBride's follow-up on the same DVD, My Girlfriend's Wedding.

[Kullervo]

[Solitary Wanderer]

This is the best Bond movie since the '70s! Its still like a cartoon, and less like a Bond flick, but it was very well done as a classy action/thriller. The ironic lines didn't work so well as the new Bond is too serious and I had a job getting used to a blond Bond, but it was an exciting adventure albeit pretty dumb.

[sidoze]

l'idee by Berthold Bartosch. Thanks Corey, it was worth seeing and the Honegger score is indeed excellent. I'm not sure if you've seen any animations by Norstein but I would recommend Tale of Tales to you (severeal times voted worldwide as best animation ever made). It is available on YouTube, but the picture quality is exceedingly poor and instead you can download it for free from this Russian site and see everything in bright full colour and detail. Only catch is that downloads are available from 4am - 10am Moscow time, so that would be from 8pm your time. http://multiki.arjlover.net/info/skazka.skazok.avi.html

[Kullervo]

l'idee by Berthold Bartosch. Thanks Corey, it was worth seeing and the Honegger score is indeed excellent. I'm not sure if you've seen any animations by Norstein but I would recommend Tale of Tales to you (severeal times voted worldwide as best animation ever made). It is available on YouTube, but the picture quality is exceedingly poor and instead you can download it for free from this Russian site and see everything in bright full colour and detail. Only catch is that downloads are available from 4am - 10am Moscow time, so that would be from 8pm your time. http://multiki.arjlover.net/info/skazka.skazok.avi.html

Glad you liked it. Tale of Tales looks gorgeous but I can't figure out how to download it. I clicked on what appears to be the download link, but Firefox doesn't recognize it.

[sidoze]

on the top left Windows Media icon (just underneath the title Сказка сказок) just right-click and Save as (or Save link as). That should do it, but it's a bit early still. The file is slightly under 500m.

[Kullervo]

Oh, all right, thanks. Can you read Cyrillic?

[sidoze]

read it yes, understand it, not really

[Harry]

This one! I am a bit confused by the beautiful acting of Claire Danes, and the mediocre film.
Barrington Pheloung wrote the fine music which he did for Inspector Morse, but in this film it did not work.
At times nice camerawork.

[Lethevich]

This one! I am a bit confused by the beautiful acting of Claire Danes, and the mediocre film.
Barrington Pheloung wrote the fine music which he did for Inspector Morse, but in this film it did not work.
At times nice camerawork.

I've never understood how Steve Martin managed to so comprehensively lose the ability to be funny. I haven't seen it happen anywhere near that badly to any other good comedian

[DavidW]

I saw a couple of awesome movies, just loved 'em--





Those movies were awesome!  Oh man, I hope I don't have to wait ten years for the next installment.

The first movie was charming in a very Gaiman-esque way (it feels like one of his stories with an Anansi like character (in fact who else would be more like Anansi than Henry Fool?) creating chaos in the lives of people sunk into mediocrity), but Henry Fool is very Marquis de Sade like.  And the second movie departs in such an interesting, crazy direction, but as far as I can tell does not contradict what was in the first movie.  In fact the first movie seems to hint at some of the things about Fool's past.  Loved 'em both, way thumbs up.

[Drasko]

I'm not sure if you've seen any animations by Norstein but I would recommend Tale of Tales to you (severeal times voted worldwide as best animation ever made). It is available on YouTube, but the picture quality is exceedingly poor and instead you can download it for free from this Russian site and see everything in bright full colour and detail. Only catch is that downloads are available from 4am - 10am Moscow time, so that would be from 8pm your time. http://multiki.arjlover.net/info/skazka.skazok.avi.html

And after you get Tale of Tales click on the link saying Вернуться к списку мультфильмов, second from the bottom left. That'll open a list of over 2000 animated films have no idea if all these are available for download (4 AM Moscow time is in about 2 hours, if my counting is right, so we'll see).

If those are downloadable you can get the complete works of Yuri Norstein and tons of other superb goodies. I'll list some by numbers (easier to navigate than cyrillic)

Norstein:

44 - 25-е, ПЕРВЫЙ ДЕНЬ (25 TH – THE FIRST DAY) (1968)
1862 - СЕЧА ПРИ КЕРЖЕНЦЕ (THE BATTLE OF KERJENETS) (1971)
1158 - ЛИСА И ЗАЯЦ (FOX AND RABBIT)  (1973)
2136 - ЦАПЛЯ И ЖУРАВЛЬ (HERON AND CRANE)  (1974)
692 - ЕЖИК В ТУМАНЕ (HEDGEHOG IN THE FOG) (1975)

here is the overview

25 TH – THE FIRST DAY (1968) co-director with Arkadi Tyurun (10 minutes).
Norstein's first film and his personal salute to Russia's leading avant-garde and post revolutionary artists. The name of the film refers to the first day of the October Revolution. He combines poetry of V. Mayakovsky, with motifs of K. Malevich and images from K. Petrov-Vodkin, A. Deneka, V. Tatlin, S. Chehonin, P. Filonov, N. Altman, Yuri Piminov, The score is taken from the 11th and 12th symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich. Both the art and music had been banned in the 20s as 'too formalistic.' Forty years later Norsten's elegant film - edited in the style of Sergey Eisenstein -- was also banned as 'too formalistic' and politically weak (Many of the politcal posters used by Norstein in this film emphasize promises made, but not kept, by Lenin.). This film has rarely been seen in Russia or the West.

THE BATTLE OF KERJENETS (1971), co-directed with Ivan Ivanov-Vano (10 minutes).
This film depicts the struggle of Russian people against foreign invaders. Ivanov-Vano recognizing Norstein's talent, gave his young protégé considerable artistic freedom during production of this film and a co-directing credit. Fresco and icon paintings in the traditions of the ancient masters are combined with music from Rimsky Korsakov's opera Tale of the Invisible City Kitezh.

FOX AND RABBIT (1973) (12 minutes)
Based on an old Russian fairy tale, this film was commissioned by a now defunct European television distributor who changed the music and effects. This version includes Norstein's original soundtrack, previously unavailable outside the former USSR . The animation is based on the folk art and colorful images found on ancient Russian prialkas, which were used for carding wool. Like BATTLE AT KERZHENETS and Norstein's first solo film, 25th -First Day, FOX AND RABBIT was animated using levels of glass, a method that Norstein would hone to a high level of sophistication in his next films. The music written by a regular member of the Norstein team, M. Meyerovitch, was inspired by folk tunes. Norstein's wife, Francesca Yarbusova, was the main artist. According to Norstein, FOX AND RABBIT is a story about the destruction of belief, justice, honesty and fear which has "big eyes"

HERON AND CRANE (1974) (10 minutes)
Norstein 's third feature is based on a Russian fairy tale. It marked the first of several collaborations among Norstein, his wife, the artist Francesca Yarbusova, and a cameraman Alexander Zhukovsky. To achieve Norstein's artistic vision, they invented a special piece of equipment which allowed them to animate on layers of glass. Norstein's original script was not approved by the studio administration. Veteran director Roman Kachanov was assigned to serve as project "supervisor" and write an acceptable script. Unbeknownst to the studio administration, Norstein filmed the original script. Thanks in great part to support from Fyodor Khitruk, Norstein's HERON AND CRANE - with Norstein credited as co-writer - was approved for distribution after numerous additional clashes with the studio management. Very Popular in the former USSR , the film also won many honors abroad.

HEDGEHOG IN THE FOG (1975) (10 minutes)
After Heron and Crane, Norstein and his team thought about making an "easy" film. Writer Sergey Kozlov brought a "a little fairy tale" about a hedgehog who one evening, as usual, went to see his friend the bear cub and count the stars. The more Norstein thought about the script, the more difficult became the creative and artistic demands of the material. And although the Norstein team consisted of only three persons (Norstein, Yarbusova and Zhukovsky), the studio imposed on them the same production schedule given to films with large crews of 30 or more. By the day the film was due to be delivered to the studio, Norstein had only 20 percent completed. The director of Soyuzmultfilm was enraged and decided to shelve the project. He sent Norstein and Zhukovsky to a Communist Party committee meeting (as members of Soyuzmultfilm) to be reprimanded for disgracing the studio. Neither Norstein nor Zhukovsky were party members, but many of their friends were. Zhukovsky arrived early with a bottle of vodka and convinced a projectionist to stay late. He insisted that members of the committee see what Norstein had accomplished before making a final decision as to the fate of the film. The sixty meters the committee viewed were so impressive that all agreed to allowNorstein to complete the film. Seen widely abroad and within the USSR .

TALE OF TALES (1978) (29 minutes)
Named the "Best Animated Film of All Time" by the Los Angeles (USA) Olympic Arts Festival, the film weaves threads of realism and nostalgia with consummate artistry. At its core are a popular Russian lullaby, Pablo Picasso's minotaur, and images of the lost glories of Alexander Pushkin and the golden age of Russian literature.

Also see if can get these two:

732 - Rastko Ciric - Tower of Babel
758 - Dusan Vukotic - Surogat (Ersatz)

Ciric is my favorite Serbian animator and this is probably his finest piece while Vukotic was the first to get an Oscar for short animated film as non-american (in the 60s) with exactly this one - Surogat.

[Papageno]

[sidoze]

That'll open a list of over 2000 animated films

[Hector]

I saw this horror show on TV as part of a season celebrating the work of the Mayles'.

Highly recommended.

'Shaun of the Dead' again. So much to enjoy,  the use the surviving zombies are put to at the end, for example!

[Harry]

My workout film today

[George]

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

Good, not great. 

[dtwilbanks]

HOLLYWOODLAND

Not bad. Affleck surprised me.

[Kullervo]

I saw this horror show on TV as part of a season celebrating the work of the Mayles'.

It was both terrifying and hilarious. Fascinating to see how far aristocracy can fall — It's like something out of Balzac.