Last Movie You Watched

[Cato]

That I can well imagine! 

W.C. Fields is perfect!  I have read that he pushed heavily to get the role, yet there is another claim that he replaced Charles Laughton, who quit after feeling that he was not right for the role.

Either way, things worked out for the movie!

[AnotherSpin]

I am reminded of what I read I don't remember where, I don't remember when, I don't remember by whom, wrt dissonant modernism: Your reaction to world's ugliness and insanity is to write ugly and insane music. My reaction to world's ugliness and insanity is to listen to Bach and Schubert.

I would say that ugly music is not a reaction to an ugly world. The world is ugly as a consequence of ugly music, which is composed and persistently promoted not without intent.

As for the film, true, there are some very explicit episodes in the film, but they don't make up the main point. By the way, the film's director, Emerald Fennell produced the second season of Killing Eve. Those who remember the series can trace the analogies.

[Florestan]

I would say that ugly music is not a reaction to an ugly world. The world is ugly as a consequence of ugly music, which is composed and persistently promoted not without intent.

Renaissance music was all harmony and sweetness. This did not prevent brutal wars, violent rulers, cruelty and injustice from being the norm.

[AnotherSpin]

Renaissance music was all harmony and sweetness. This did not prevent brutal wars, violent rulers, cruelty and injustice from being the norm.

That's right. Obviously in the Renaissance, money was not crucial force. And there was no one to propagate ugly music that was divorced from tradition and ideal. See Der Ring for reference.

[Cato]

Renaissance music was all harmony and sweetness. This did not prevent brutal wars, violent rulers, cruelty and injustice from being the norm.

You remind me of the Orson Welles character in The Third Man, who talks about the Florentines, and Italians in general, warring constantly, while Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other great artists were creating masterpiece after masterpiece, while the Swiss, enjoying peace and prosperity, create the cuckoo-clock! 

[Florestan]

You remind me of the Orson Welles character in The Third Man, who talks about the Florentines, and Italians in general, warring constantly, while Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other great artists were creating masterpiece after masterpiece, while the Swiss, enjoying peace and prosperity, create the cuckoo-clock! 

Ah, yes, that famous quip. To which Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn replied that the Swiss actually influenced the world to a much greater degree than they are generally credited to, citing as evidence Rousseau and Calvin (French-born but Genevan by adoption). 

[Karl Henning]

I hope at least one of the libraries has it!

I've placed a hold!

[steve ridgway]

I am reminded of what I read I don't remember where, I don't remember when, I don't remember by whom, wrt dissonant modernism: Your reaction to world's ugliness and insanity is to write ugly and insane music. My reaction to world's ugliness and insanity is to listen to Bach and Schubert.

Dissonant modernism is in the ear of the beholder .

[SonicMan46]

Seabiscuit (2003) - synopsis below w/ main cast on the cover art - seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture but winner of none - Susan's pick - we both love 'horse movies', so recommended to fans of this genre.

Woman of the Year (1942) - first of 9 Hepburn & Tracy films (over a 25 year period) - the scenes of her being explained baseball at a game and her trying to cook him breakfast are still hilarious even after a half dozen or so watches over the decades - if a fan of this 'acting duo', highly recommended if not seen before (and if seen!).  Dave

Seabiscuit is a 2003 American sports film co-produced, written and directed by Gary Ross and based on the best-selling 1999 non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film is loosely based on the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked Thoroughbred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the United States during the Great Depression. At the 76th Academy Awards, Seabiscuit received seven nominations, including Best Picture, but ultimately lost all seven, including six to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. (Source)

Woman of the Year is a 1942 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film was written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin, and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film's plot is about the relationship between Tess Harding—an international affairs correspondent, chosen "Woman of the Year"—and Sam Craig—a sportswriter—who meet, marry, and encounter problems as a result of her unflinching commitment to her work. (Source)

 

[Madiel]

One YouTuber's Ten Worst Oscar Wns

There are very clearly times that people win not for the current film, but because of the narrative that it's someone's turn when they haven't won before.

[Christo]

Last night: Maestro (released Sept. 2023), about Leonard Bernstein. Starring director Bradley Cooper himself as Lenny. Peerless, what acting, what scenes. Counterpart Carey Mulligan as Felicia is also exceptional class. Highly recommended - and that on Netflix! 
      You have to love music, though: Bernstein's own music is sublimely woven through the story. Entire pieces of West-Side Story, On the Town, On the Waterfront, the Mass, Chichester Psalms, symphonies 2 and 3, Candide (during the credits). Delightful! A highlight is his conducting of Mahler 2 in Elly Cathedral: seven blistering minutes. Also some Beethoven, Schumann, Mahler, Walton (Facade), and so on.
      But what comes in most is the personal story, the marriage of Lenny and his Felicia - and their children. Human, all too human, right through all the glamour and successes. We had never seen such convincing acting - and that in our old age.

[Karl Henning]

This ever happen to you?

Tonight I slid Murder, My Sweet into the tray. I know I've seen it once before, but the opening baffles me entirely. After a while (not too long, but long enough) I know I've seen it. The screenplay then lets me meditate on the difference between knowing I've seen a movie before and knowing what to expect next. Whatever else, it's been a good cognitive puzzle. Snatches of really exceptional scoring, too.

[SimonNZ]

Excellent debut film by Belgian director clearly influenced (apprenticed?) by the Dardennes' brothers style of social realism on the subject of school bullying.

[SimonNZ]

Finally found a Crtierion edition of The Third Man, and the picture quality is certainly much clearer than ant I'd seen before. To the extent that I'd always thought it was starting to snow in the long final shot, but I realize now it is leaves falling.

Oddly no commentary track when much could have been said about historical context and accuracy and the use of locations, just for starters.


In a leaflet in the case for recent Criterion releases along with the titles you might expect from a company dedicated to making the best editions of the best in international cinema is...Armageddon. Directors cut with extra scenes and two different commentary tracks and an extra disc of bonus material. Seriously, guys...wtf? How would the original dvd release not given every Michael Bay fan as much as they wanted? What was bumped back in favor of this?

[ando]

Finally found a Crtierion edition of The Third Man, and the picture quality is certainly much clearer than ant I'd seen before. To the extent that I'd always thought it was starting to snow in the long final shot, but I realize now it is leaves falling.

Oddly no commentary track when much could have been said about historical context and accuracy and the use of locations, just for starters.


In a leaflet in the case for recent Criterion releases along with the titles you might expect from a company dedicated to making the best editions of the best in international cinema is...Armageddon. Directors cut with extra scenes and two different commentary tracks and an extra disc of bonus material. Seriously, guys...wtf? How would the original dvd release not given every Michael Bay fan as much as they wanted? What was bumped back in favor of this?

Not completely following you. Do you have an older edition the CC release? Two commentary tracks are on the Criterion Channel. Perhaps the Stephen Soderbergh/Tony Gilroy track will provide some interesting insight that I've missed. Much prefer Reed's Odd Man Out, particularly the first third of it than this later (by 2 years) film.

[Brian]

Two commentary tracks are on the Criterion Channel. Perhaps the Stephen Soderbergh/Tony Gilroy track will provide some interesting insight that I've missed.

Wow, I might subscribe just for this.

[SimonNZ]

Not completely following you. Do you have an older edition the CC release? Two commentary tracks are on the Criterion Channel. Perhaps the Stephen Soderbergh/Tony Gilroy track will provide some interesting insight that I've missed. Much prefer Reed's Odd Man Out, particularly the first third of it than this later (by 2 years) film.

Ah...it looks like you're right: there's a second CC edition I now need to find, darn it, with this cover:



https://www.criterion.com/films/236-the-third-man


edit: knowing that occasionally random commentary tracks turn up on Youtube, I just checked and they do, for now, have the Soderberg/Gilroy (audio only with a still frame) but not the other one by Dana Polan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am8yWkUOW4I

[Cato]

Isle of Dogs from Wes Anderson.  Wonderful movie, satirical, with very witty lines!  Percussive, quasi-Japanese sounding (Kabuki Theater?)* score by Alexandre Desplat.




At the end of the credits, Mrs. Cato exclaims: "Why did Wes Anderson thank Brian De Palma at the end?"

I knew that De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola and others of that generation (born c. 1940) get together to critique each other's movies in the making.

I did not know that Wes Anderson's mentor has been Brian De Palma.

"...Brian De Palma has given you a lot of guidance over the years. How much has he inspired the way you approach filmmaking?

You could always say that De Palma follows Hitchcock's path, but a lot of people have followed De Palma's path. His point of departure from Hitchcock's influence is so strong. I have tried to do bits like a De Palma scene, setting up a sequence like De Palma would, but it's almost impossible for me to do. Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson have done scenes where they set things up like De Palma and do it well. Not me. I had to find other things in his work. There are certain things he does that I certainly steal but others that I can't steal, because I'm not capable of it...."

See:

https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/wes-anderson-interview-asteroid-city-1234874967/


And if you have Netflix, find The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl as imagined by Wes Anderson.

We can recommend that too!


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16968450/



* I saw "Kabuki Macbeth" once: there were very many drums and all kinds of shouting!   

[Karl Henning]

Isle of Dogs from Wes Anderson.  Wonderful movie, satirical, with very witty lines!  Percussive, quasi-Japanese sounding (Kabuki Theater?)* score by Alexandre Desplat.




At the end of the credits, Mrs. Cato exclaims: "Why did Wes Anderson thank Brian De Palma at the end?"

I knew that De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola and others of that generation (born c. 1940) get together to critique each other's movies in the making.

I did not know that Wes Anderson's mentor has been Brian De Palma.


See:

https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/wes-anderson-interview-asteroid-city-1234874967/


And if you have Netflix, find The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl as imagined by Wes Anderson.

We can recommend that too!


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16968450/



* I saw "Kabuki Macbeth" once: there were very many drums and all kinds of shouting! 

Drums and shouting suits Macbeth. It was that play taught me the word alarum.

[SimonNZ]