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RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:22:02 PM

Olaf

Posts: 23390
Joined: 26/2/2007
From: 41�N 93�W

Edward Scissorhands is a brilliant film though.

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Post #: 3721

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:23:26 PM

paul_ie86

Posts: 11224
Joined: 4/1/2007
From: Chelsea Hotel #2

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson
Popular was excellent�too

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Post #: 3722

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:28:37 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

Popular is pretty much the only reason I've stuck with Glee, as it took a good way through the first season to decide the teen crap wasn't the way to go and turn ever so slightly odd. But right now it's pretty much Kurt that's keeping me watching Glee.

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Post #: 3723

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:38:05 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

Yeah, Kurt, right, that's my favourite part of the show too. Nothing to do with Rachel, lord no.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

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Post #: 3724

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:44:23 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

Having just seen the Grease moment in the trailer, I don't see your manwhore tendencies being helped any

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Post #: 3725

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:48:29 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

It's not being a manwhore, it's having an appreciation of beauty.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

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Post #: 3726

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 7:59:51 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

Do you think they cast someone with that nose deliberately to make the Streisand allusion?

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Post #: 3727

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 8:40:22 PM

fernetcontonica

Posts: 8183
Joined: 29/4/2007
From: Everywhere

quote:

ORIGINAL: swordsandsandals

quote:

ORIGINAL: fernetcontonica

26. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005) 5?/10

*pats swordy on his back*

Sincerely, it was quite hard to go through for me, firstly, emmm, bearwise, it wasn't quite what I expected, and the guy the docu revolves around is.. emm... very hard to empathize with, and for moments it was plainly quite hard standing him

Still, it has its intrest since grabbing a character this complex is quite a task.
One thing I found extremely shocking in the wrong way was seeing Herzog adbicing a woman to destroy a document. it really hit me like a bucket of cold water

Anyways, some comments on the list films I was writing yesterday when my comp misteriously shat down

1. Singapore Sling
This is one of my favourite films (see my avatar) and it's been quite long since I last watched it. In one hand, it is highly referencial to Premminger's "Laura", while being pretty much a classical greek tragedy not short of decadence at all. The actualization is quite a bit harsh, and the film can result to be extremely weird and hard to stand for some people, but if you're familiar with classical tragedies you'll surely find the shock easied. The film portraits so much immoral behaviours is almost unbelievable it can be shown with so much style. It uses a noirish atmosphere and a beautiful cinematography, and constantly reminds you to a dramatic piece (you have the actresses speaking to trhe public in aside speechs, for example).

2. Black cat, White Cat
Probably one of the best things about this one is this world of country people and colorful characters and situations where everything is mostly beautiful, sometimes in a very ridiculous way. It's a very fun film with lots of love and frienship and a very good touch of stupidity, with beautiful and odd spaces and with a music that just makes you feel good.

3. Conspirators of Pleasure
Another very cool film by Svankmejer which revolves about self-pleasure and the artisany the characters put into fullfilling their, emmm, needs. You go through the whole process of this and you witness how the characters get the elements they want to use, how they transform them and then, how they use them. The animations are not used too much and are practically relegated to the moment of... emmm... fullfilling, which gives a bit of a sense of irreality quite reminiscent to the idea of how things are seen different on sex.

9. Paranoid Park
Paranoid Park is a bit hard probably, the editing is brilliant, but truly effective, sometimes the visuals and the music get so soothing, so dreamy, your head gets simply, hmm, Puff! gone, and that kinda hinders it structurally. The story is generally a bit weak, if not secondary, I feel this is the kind of film where what is told is not by any chance as important as how the things are told.

10. A Home at The end of the World
a home at the end of the world is quite strange, it portraits the relationship of two guys which is something like a brotherhood with a sexual thing through the years. The first parts are the most intresting and hooked me to the film, as it portraits the early life of the kids and how the relationship between them grows. and we have Sissy Spassek smoking pot too

. When they grow up we get to see how the guy's thing went. one is gay, the other kinda stuck and hadn't grew up past the teens and they both get somehow involved with Clare, who develops a strange relationship with both guys (who already have a strange relationship between themselves). All around a bit weird but it plays out with a very strange easiness and the tagline does a good justice to the film.

11. Dawn of the Dead
This one is quite an effective zombie film, and highly rewatchable, it must be like the sixth or seventh time I watched it, since it's been popping up a lot on cable last years. The zombie action is mostly very cool and it has its share of fun too. All around a nice one when you're in the mood for zombies.

13. Pandorum
When Pandorum is cool, is very cool, when not, well, it gets a bit dumb. The first part is the best for me, when you have that feeling of not knowing what the fuck and where the fuck is going on, and it builds a good tension and a nice clautrophobic atmosphere, but then when information starts to pop up it get a bit silly but nevertheless entertaining given the violence and the strangeness. I can't help wondering how awesome it could have been if they had stuck to the opening mood

20. Mean Girls
A bit different from most high school films, this one deals with a different level of silliness, and have some pieces of cast you just love to see.

21. Jeepers Creepers 2
Quite surpased my expectations, this has in one hand the great and glorious decision of not having a main character and all around some good crafting in the sense of having some cool action scenes and getting the juice of the vast setting where the bus is trapped. All around a very good sequel if we take into account most seem to suck, but in some ways it feels like it runs a bit out of gas.

22. Blade: Trinity
Quite cool if you're up to some dumb action with cool music, but a bit unfulfilling. io found Ryan Reynolds quite annoying and even unnecesary but the film carries enough fun with it.

24. The First Wives Club
A film glorifying resented women!!!

It can be quite fun at times but I don't quite got it, two things I liked was how Sarah jessica Parker played the dumb blonde and how Goldie Hawn played something like a caricature of herself.

25. Avatar
I didn't watch it in 3D which could have made the experience better, and one the biggest problems for me was its lenght. An hour and a half into it I was quite bored, but the last part luckily lifted it up quite a bit, still, didn't quite made out for the first part. The work in the visuals is very well carefully done, but gets less and less cool as the film goes, and it fails in being involving. I don't know how much do the animations do good to it. What I really found a bit cheap in contrast to the image was the sound and mostly the music: that "ehhh ehhhh ehhhhhhh eeeeeeeeeeeehh" music ran for probaly a fifth of the film

This really needed to be shorter

< Message edited by fernetcontonica -- 9/3/2010 9:59:25 PM >

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Post #: 3728

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 8:58:07 PM

DCMaximo

Posts: 992
Joined: 5/1/2007
From: Nottingham via Aidy Boothroyd's Palace of Wisdom

New entry:

21. The Comancheros (1961, Curtiz) 8/10
Michael Curtiz's final film feels like a western by way of a Bond film, as Texas Ranger John Wayne goes undercover to find the secret base of a society of gunrunners. The first hour nicely sets up the partnership between Wayne and Stuart Whitman's suave gambler, and the two men share an easy chemistry. The second hour is more action packed and, in typical Curtiz style, is shoot on a grand scale. A fine final film for an underrated director.

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Post #: 3729

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 8:59:14 PM

Gram123

Posts: 5666
Joined: 19/1/2006
From: Reino Unido

quote:

ORIGINAL: Pigeon Army
09. Juyuso seubgyuksageun (Attack the Gas Station!) (1999, Kim, SKR) - 4.5/5*
This is the second time that my unwavering love of a film has suffered on a rewatch this year

So.......... it wasn't actually "unwavering", then, huh.
Glad you still liked it though, even if it was slightly less than before.

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RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 9:45:28 PM

Pigeon Army

Posts: 14611
Joined: 29/1/2006
From: Pixar HQ, George Lucas' Office.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gram123

quote:

ORIGINAL: Pigeon Army
09. Juyuso seubgyuksageun (Attack the Gas Station!) (1999, Kim, SKR) - 4.5/5*
This is the second time that my unwavering love of a film has suffered on a rewatch this year

So.......... it wasn't actually "unwavering", then, huh.
Glad you still liked it though, even if it was slightly less than before.

It was unwavering. It isn't now.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Rinc
She's supposed to be 13! I'd want her to be very attractive though

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Pigeon Army
Stop being mean to Deviation

No.

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Post #: 3731

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 9/3/2010 9:45:49 PM

Miles Messervy 007

Posts: 6870
Joined: 11/2/2009

Features:

2. The Godfather Part II (1974, Coppola)

Yeah, call me a philistine, but I fail to see how The Godfather/Part II are anything but some of the greatest films ever. Maybe it's just sentimentality. Well, I re-watched the original last month, and it turns out we're doing it in Film Studies, so instead of re-watching it yet again, I re-watched the sequel. Good thing I did, because I underappreciated it the last time I watched it in full, mumbling about how De Niro didn't do much, rendering the flashbacks pointless. God, how wrong I was... This is a simply incredible film - brilliantly paced, and yet containing enough to keep you thinking. Yes, one could say it's full of cliches - revenge, family, etc., but it's the way it's done that makes it so great. Fantastic cast - Pacino's performance is one of the greatest ever, Cazale is incredible, De Niro is used brilliantly, and the supporting cast delivers as always - Keaton, Duvall, Shire, etc. We also get some peeks of future stars like Danny Aiello and Harry Dean Stanton. The score may trump that of the first film, which is indeed an achievement; Willis's hyper-dark cinematography is essential to the film, and although its structure compares unfavourably to the original (a lot of the same plot points but instead of going from 'good' to 'bad', the protagonist goes from 'bad' to 'very bad', there are some iconic scenes and lines which work better every time I think about them, let alone watch them. Safely in my top 25, though I prefer to group this together with the first film, as unfair to other films as it may be. 10, naturally.

15. Le rayon vert [The Green Ray/Summer] (1986, Rohmer)

My 6th Rohmer, and I finally strike gold. Like I said before, the Comedies and Proverbs films just keep getting better, but this was a bigger leap in quality than I could have expected. I realised that what stopped me from loving his other films wasn't the fact that the female was unlikeable, but rather artificial. Even though he apparently allowed improvisation in many of his films, it's obvious here, and it makes the film great. Also, loneliness is a common theme in his work, but none of the other ones presented it in such a pure form as this. It's interesting that amongst the usual talk talk talk, the director inserts relatively brief but extremely potent scenes of the protagonist, alone, confronted by nature. It improves the flow of the film massively. Same with the sparingly used non-diegetic music. The conversations between the characters cover a wider range of topics, and this is another reason why this works so well. The scene in which the heroine attempts to assert her vegeterianism is painful to watch, but in a good way. And the ending... <3. A 9, but on a re-watch I feel it could easily become a 10.

21. Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux [My Life to Live] (1962, Godard)

Interesting film. My 3rd Godard and I certainly want to see more, even though I expected slightly better things from this. What I liked about it was the cinematography, Karina's performance, and the fact that it's a great social realist film that manages to avoid the problems that I have with some films that attempts to tackle social problems. Specifically, it makes me care about the character, and thus doesn't seem heavy-handed at all. Godard's style is full at work here. I don't think it works as well here as in Une femme est une femme or even Breathless, but I certainly don't mind it, either. The ending is great, but I think the film's episodic structure, while making it more unusual, slightly works against it - I realise Godard sought to alienate the audience, but the film just didn't leave the impact on me I hoped it would. It has a lot going for it though, so another 8.
PS. I also like it as an intertextual work - direct reference to Jeanne ... a quote lifted by Tarantino in Pulp Fiction...

33. Angst essen Seele auf [Ali: Fear Eats the Soul] (1974, Fassbinder)

Amazingly simple in its idea and execution. I haven't seen any Sirk, to whose films this is apparently a homage to, but it was great anyway. Natural acting, brilliant claustrophobic camerawork, and a facile but potent script. It was not amazing, but I certainly want to see more Fassbinder now. 8

Shorts:

21. Der Stadtstreicher [The City Tramp] (1966, Fassbinder) {11 mins}

Was on the Ali DVD. Almost silent, which creates a great atmosphere. Recommended. 8

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quote:

jamesbondguy:
Miles is clearly the finest film theorist of his generation

quote:

Deviation:
if it isn't ham, I'll eat a living pig.

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Post #: 3732

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 6:14:23 AM

Gimli The Dwarf

Posts: 73572
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Central Park Zoo

14. Alice In Wonderland (1st view, 2010, Tim Burton) - 4/5*

1. District 9 (2nd view, 2009, Neil Blonkamp) � 4/5
2. Kick Ass (1st view, 2010, Matthew Vaughn) - 4/5*
3. Shutter Island (1st view, 2010, Martin Scorcese) � 4/5*
4. Green Zone (1st view, 2010, Paul Greengrass) - 4/5*
5. Alice In Wonderland (1st view, 2010, Tim Burton) � 4/5
6. Battle Cry (1st view, 1955, Raoul Walsh) - 4/5*
7. Battleground (1st view, 1949, William A. Wellman) - 4/5*
8. Get Smart (1st view, 2008, Peter Segal) - 4/5*
9. The Hangover (1st view, 2009, Todd Phillips) - 4/5*
10. Mission: Impossible 3 (3rd view, 2006, J.J. Abrams) - 4/5

11. The Duchess (1st view, 2008, Saul Dibb) � 4/5*
12. Doubt (1st view, 2008, John Patrick Shanley) - 4/5*
13. Joe Kidd (1st view, 1972, John Sturges) - 4/5*
14. Last Chance Harvey (1st view, 2008, Joel Hopkins) - 4/5*
15. The Most Dangerous Man in America (1st view, 2009, Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith) - 4/5*
16. Hot Rod (1st view, 2007, Akiva Schaffer) - 4/5*
17. 30 Days Of Night (2nd view, 2007, David Slade) � 4/5
18. Rendition (2nd view, 2007, Gavin Hood) - 4/5
19. Mission: Impossible (5th view, 1998, Brain De Palma) - 4/5
20. The Thief (1st view, 1962, Russell Rouse) - 4/5*

21. Julie and Julia (1st view, 2009, Nora Ephron) � 3/5*
22. Mission: Impossible 2 (4th view, 2000, John Woo) - 3/5
23. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (1st view, 2008, Nicholas Stoller) � 3/5*
24. Jennifer's Body (1st view, 2009, Karyn Kusama) - 3/5*
25. The Boat That Rocked (1st view, 2009, Richard Curtis) � 3/5*
26. The Strangers (1st view, 2008, Bryan Bertino) - 3/5*
27. The 40 Year Old Virgin (2ns view, 2005, Judd Apatow) � 3/5*
28. The Cross of Lorraine (1st view, 1943, Tay Garnett) - 3/5*
29. Before Winter Comes (1st view, 1969, J. lee Thompson) - 3/5*
30. Son Of Rambow (1st view, 2007, Garth Jennings) � 3/5*

31. From Paris With Love (1st view, 2010, Pierre Morel) � 3/5*
32. Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (1st view, 2009, Patrick Tatopoulos) � 3/5*
33.Chaos (1st view, 2005, Tony Giglio) - 3/5*
34. Good (1st view, 2008, Vicente Amorim) - 3/5*
35. Closing the Ring (1st view, 2007, Richard Attenborough) - 3/5*
36. Lonesome Jim (1st view, 2005, Steve Buscemi) - 2/5*
37. Inside Deep Throat (1st view, 2005, Fenton Bailey/Randy Barbato) - 2/5*
38. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (1st view, 2009, Steve Carr) � 2/5*
39. Race To Space (1st view, 2002, Sean McNamara) - 2/5*
40. Sea Of Sand (1st view, 1958, Guy Green) � 2/5*

< Message edited by Gimli The Dwarf -- 1/4/2010 11:05:55 AM >

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So, sir, we let him have it right up! And I have to report, sir, he did not like it, sir.

Fellow scientists, poindexters, geeks.

Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!

Much more better!

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Post #: 3733

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 1:06:55 PM

swordsandsandals

Posts: 12569
Joined: 6/1/2006
From: A magical forest

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gimli The Dwarf

14. Alice In Wonderland (1st view, 2010, Tim Burton) - 4/5*

Well, that's surprising.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Rawlinson

Swords is right about everything.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hood_Man

Swords smells like bum.

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Post #: 3734

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 2:22:09 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

quote:

ORIGINAL: elab49

Do you think they cast someone with that nose deliberately to make the Streisand allusion?

...

That was a bit harsh.

I think they cast her because she's talented and has a lot of stage experience.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to elab49)

Post #: 3735

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 2:55:50 PM

Gram123

Posts: 5666
Joined: 19/1/2006
From: Reino Unido

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson
Glee is great.....

See, you've been banging on about how awesome you supposedly are, and in one stroke you've shown yourself to be the polar opposite of awesome.
The thesaurus tells me that the antonym of "awesome" is "unamazing".
Rawlinson, you're unamazing.

I'll be honest, I've only seen one episode of Glee, a recent one.
It was the single most painful thing I've seen in ages. I don't think I have enough expletives in my vocabulary to adequately review it.

Watching it produced physical stress reactions within me. The nearest thing I can compare it with is the heightened cravings for cigarettes in the early stages of quitting smoking. It made me irritable, edgy, anxious, moody, impatient and occasionally nauseous. It made me desperate for relief - but rather than desperation for a cigarette, it was desperation for a TV show to stop being on my telly.

I endured it for the sake of others. I hope I never have to do so again.
Fucking really horrible.

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Post #: 3736

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 3:02:02 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

You should try another episode.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to Gram123)

Post #: 3737

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:01:08 PM

FritzlFan

Posts: 4778
Joined: 19/11/2008
From: Bristol

rawlinson hasn't been this wrong since he praised Primeval. Or How I Met Your Mother. Or Nux Vomica. Whichever was latest.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Miles Messervy 007

Child labour is necessary in the short term

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Post #: 3738

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:03:03 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

You're just upset because Aguirre didn't make the final.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to FritzlFan)

Post #: 3739

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:09:22 PM

FritzlFan

Posts: 4778
Joined: 19/11/2008
From: Bristol

Indeed.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: Miles Messervy 007

Child labour is necessary in the short term

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 3740

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:14:20 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: FritzlFan

rawlinson hasn't been this wrong since he praised Primeval. Or How I Met Your Mother. Or Nux Vomica. Whichever was latest.

Fritzl has obviously missed the outing on Supernatural.

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Films watched 2012

Annual Poll 2012 Countdown Started.

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Post #: 3741

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:17:05 PM

FritzlFan

Posts: 4778
Joined: 19/11/2008
From: Bristol

I've not seen any episodes of Supernatural, although I imagine it's dreadful going by the adverts.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: Miles Messervy 007

Child labour is necessary in the short term

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Post #: 3742

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:19:16 PM

matty_b

Posts: 13121
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Outpost 31 calling McMurtle.

Murder By Death (Robert Moore)

SPOILERS Moore's adaptation of Neil Simon's murder mystery spoof is hugely amusing throughout. No famous detective (with maybe the exception of Holmes) is exempt with Peter Falk's piss-take of Marlowe or Spade the highlight. Or maybe David Niven's and Maggie Smith's spoof of Nick and Norah. Or Peter Sellers' glorious take on Charlie Chan. Or - Oh, to hell with it, the whole cast is great including the cameo from Truman Capote as the host of a mysterious party who challenges the detectives to solve a murder by midnight (his, as it turns out) and win one million dollars, or risk being exposed as frauds. It gets a little too clever for itself by the end with an ending perhaps deliberately designed to make as little sense as possible, but other than that it's very funny stuff. Best quote? "I'm not a Frenchie - I'm a Belgie!" (8.5/10)

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Post #: 3743

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:20:12 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

I absolutely adore Murder by Death - it's brilliant comfort viewing. Backing up by Clue.

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Post #: 3744

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:21:41 PM

matty_b

Posts: 13121
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Outpost 31 calling McMurtle.

CLUE, YES! That is also wonderful.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Cool Breeze
Mattyb is a shining example of what the perfect Empire Forum member is.

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Post #: 3745

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 4:39:40 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

quote:

ORIGINAL: FritzlFan

I've not seen any episodes of Supernatural, although I imagine it's dreadful going by the adverts.

Ok, I get it, you're all just jealous of my brilliance. It's ok. None of you can be me, but you can sunbathe in the glow of my awesomeness.

I'm also humble.

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quote:

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ORIGINAL: matty_b

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Post #: 3746

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 5:17:30 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

Bill Douglas Trilogy (1972 � 1979)

As Terence Davies did, Douglas seems to be trying to locate his youth and development through these 3 inter-connected films � My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home.

Two young boys are living with their gran in an impoverished mining village near the end of WWII. The children live in quite hard-breaking poverty with the younger (Jamie) rooting through heaps outside the mine for bits of coal for the fire. Jamie, not in school for some reason, has as his only friend a German POW working in fields round the village, to whom he is teaching English. Their mother is in an asylum and it is clear that their gran blames the elder's father for it � his visit to the boys, claiming it is the elder's birthday, is not welcomed. We later discover a local man is Jamie's father.

The films follow Jamie through his maternal grandmother's death, a short stay with his father's family (with his paternal grandmother providing one of screen's great monsters, no matter how pitifully she ends up), before a respite in a home under the care of what seems to be a genuinely good man. With some toing and froing back to the village and old patterns of behaviour (and one heartbreaking dream of a normal domestic life, with his own little house), Jamie ends up in Egypt on National Service and finally meets someone who starts to convince him that his existence might not be so pointless, and death not be such a desired release.

While one might think Lindsay Anderson must throw the phrase around, having tagged it on Humphrey Jennings, he also called Douglas a screen poet, and deservedly so. His skill behind the camera, locating and repeating images and symbols, and connecting them throughout the 3 films is tremendously impressive, and the black and white images of the world round the village are often quite stunning. We see the ambulance coming down the hill, matched to the hearse going back up it. The repetition of pearls and apples, the birds and planes escaping and that solitary hunched stance in the corner, cringing away from the world, with a child unable to engage.

From young Stephen Archibald (who ages from 12-19 in real life during the filming, was almost as damaged as his character and who looks so painfully young as an adult � Douglas apparently cast both young actors when they tried to cadge cigarettes off him at a bus-stop), Douglas has coached arguably the greatest child performance on screen, and leaves you with the frightening thought that much might not be performance � that this morose young actor with the pinched face was acting out his passage in life as much as Douglas's. Like 400 Blows, both young children constantly run to escape, well, pretty much everything � both brothers race the train and stand circling on the bridge as the steam surrounds them, with Jamie going further and finally jumping. But the train, with its brief moment into the sun, seems only to be going in a circle as well.

Douglas's trilogy is sometimes difficult to watch (you want little more than to hug these children, let them see some kind of human compassion to that little boy sneaking in and out at the back of the ongoing lives with no-one giving a damn about him). The black and white shots of city and village, and the final trip to Egypt, are crafted by a master, in films that are so clearly personal it makes the nearly 3 hour length a painful, intense and absolutely necessary watch. Possibly the greatest Scottish film ever made.

An Actor's Revenge (Ichikawa, 1963)

I've rarely had such a strong reaction to a film on first viewing � but it shouldn't be that surprising when the film is a masterpiece.

I don't know enough about Kabuki to comment knowledgeably enough on a lot of this. What is clear though is that the lines between film and theatre are very very blurred - I can't remember the last time I saw a film that so obviously understood and played with the conventions of both. Shakespeare is the normal touchstone for us for these things and it is recognising conventions from that kind of staging that you begin to see what Ichikawa is doing - the monologuing, the commentary to the side - all seamlessly included within the story that moves from set shots to scenes which could be on a stage in front of you (eg the long wall of Dobe's palace). The lighting manipulates the shots constantly, zeroing in on individuals, making it seem like shadow play at times as people move in and out. The editing is superb (the flashback to the hanging is a beautifully flowing series of shots). The music isn't the normal period Japanese plinky plonk but sounds more like 50s melodrama - certainly Namiji (an extremely beautiful young woman) is shot like a character our of Pillow Talk.

I feel very dumb as it was only in the last minutes that I realised the roles played by the lead - Japanese idol Kazuo Hasegawa who played the same parts in the original film from 1935 (one I hope to be able to dig out of somewhere for a comparison). Apparently Ichikawa was forced to do this film � his 'one for the studio', so he dialed up the camp notch as a form of revenge. I can only wonder if he realised that in letting go in this way he ended up making the best film of his career?

It is just an absolutely amazing film. I put it in my top 100 on first watch and it has cemented its position there on every subsequent viewing. Everyone should see it.

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Post #: 3747

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 5:25:10 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40612
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

How do you rate Comrades, E'?

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I would plough my way through MonsterCat

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ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

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Post #: 3748

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 5:32:33 PM

matty_b

Posts: 13121
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Outpost 31 calling McMurtle.

I Know Where I'm Going! (Powell and Pressburger)

I've always believed this to one of P&P's most underrated films, and a great shame it never gets mentioned alongside the likes of Blimp or Canterbury Tale as it's a terrific example of their ability to find the poetry in the everyday. Wendy Hillier and the always-great Roger Livesey are a superb romantic couple, defying the elements and centuries of tradition around them to fall in love. The opening titles are a marvel, the atmosphere of the Scottish wilds is madly evocative and the climax revolving around a whirlpool is superbly realised. It may be a relatively minor work for P&P, but it's a lyrical delight. (8.5/10)

The Battle of the River Plate (Powell and Pressburger)

Unfortunately, the same can't be said here. The most interesting aspect to it is the positive representation of the Germans, but that was something done much, much better in Colonel Blimp. It's nicely shot and acted, but all a little dull as if their hearts weren't really in it. (5/10)

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RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 10/3/2010 5:38:46 PM

elab49

Posts: 52022
Joined: 1/10/2005

Fascinating. I do like the way he wanders round the trial, focussing on the people who'll go on trial and their lives, and Alex Norton weaving in and out with all his magic/illusions - I particularly like Robert Stephens. Last time I watched it was about the same time I watched Winstanley, and it did seem like that could have been a bit more convincing it if had laid off the polemic and gone with Douglas's more lyrical approach. It just seemed more convincing. And it looks amazing.

The reactions to the diorama(?) and the interaction of that travelling stuff to the village reminded me in some ways of one of my favourite books which helped - Unsworth's Morality Play. While it is a mystery too, it goes into a lot of detail about the travelling group and how they are perceived by the places they go.

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Films watched 2012

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Post #: 3750