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AlmostAGhost

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Posts posted by AlmostAGhost

  2. Posted

    I enjoyed this too, especially Amy Adams and the songs.  Had some good laughs, esp. when she showed up in New York by emerging out of a sewer manhole.  Haha.  

    But as I wrote on Letterboxd, I agree with Snakes saying there are lost opportunities here.  This could have been a really sharp satire, the premise is perfect for it -- wouldn't even have to be mocking at all, it could just be an insightful look at these Disney tropes.  I have a sense it started that way, and then they decided to take it straight, and now it's just another Disney princess musical like all the others.

    • Like 2

  3. Posted

    I think I said this somewhere else in the past, but I think they should just lose the 'one band' focus and just talk about music.  They could do a Radiohead episode, a couple of Prince ones, a "favorite songs of the 80s," Adam's wedding mix, "favorite concerts we've been to," etc. etc.  There's a million themes/ideas they could easily delve into and be entertaining and see how their lists clash and the show could last as long as they felt like it.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    5 minutes ago, Ludofl3x said:

    Maltese Falcon has to be on this list, too, right? 

    It is, yea.  It's placed in a virtual tie with Double Indemnity.  (DI is #29, Maltese is #31.)

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    Well then let's go the other way.  What makes this 5 star perfection?  What differentiates this from Swing Time?  (Besides, the black face scene haha.)

    Everyone seems to be like, well some scenes are long or unrelated, or it doesn't hold up to thinking about it, or Debbie Reynolds isn't quite good enough, or whatever.  But then, at the same time, it's 5 star ratings all around and Paul, for example, concludes it should be even higher than number 5.  

    What connection am I missing?

    • Like 2

  8. Posted

    It's hard to be a the one dissenter sometime, I don't want to sound like I'm just crapping on stuff people like. I know we're all here to discuss! It's just a line that's hard to get right, and I'm uber-aware of it (as someone who runs a FB music fan group and have to deal with that sometimes).

    The colors thing was basically an oversimplification - the best thing to me was the art/direction of the film, I'll add.  But some of those art things just feel very nostalgic, as opposed to remotely fresh - I'm thinking the colors, the songs, the costumes, the sets. Even the dancing, really. It's all just old.  If this movie came out 20 years earlier, I think the reception would be more apt.

    (Though I was interested to learn and note from Paul and Amy how Kelly directed the dancing was unique, comparing it to dancing with the camera.)

     

    • Like 3

  9. Posted

    21 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

    Ha! I was waiting for you to show up because I was curious. What would you say your major complaint is?

    I guess mainly the idea that the songs came first, before the story.  That rubs me the wrong way, and I don't think it's me, I think it shows in the film - that's why most of the songs don't really fit at all (e.g., why we're immediately discussing the Broadway Melody scene). It's a fine movie, but top 5 of all time?  TOP 5?  It never feels that unique to me.  Yes, it is charming and the dancing is awesome.  That's why I gave it 3 stars.  But 1952 is way too late to be all wowed by colors in a film.

    And no, I don't hate joy.  Everyone's all "it's so happy"... but is it?  It is about destroying a good actress' reputation, and there seems to be a message that the audience is dopes ("to save this bad story we'll put songs in it" and then, yup, everyone loves it).  I'm pretty sure The Dancing Cavalier was the Titanic of its day.

    Anyway, I was mainly joking about AMA -- I really don't want to take over a thread when everyone else is feeling it.

    • Like 3

  22. Posted

    33 minutes ago, Quasar Sniffer said:

    One really underrated film noir is an early Anthony Mann film from 1948 called Raw Deal. It's one of the first times a theremin was used as a method of scoring a movie, so it has this very bare, spooky soundscape to it. It also features a fantastic turn as a villain in Raymond Burr, who would go on to play Perry Mason on TV for... forever and become one of the most liked actors in America. Seeing him in a totally different context, much like Fred MacMurray before My Three Sons, is great. He's a malicious monster in this film and it's a wonder he didn't make a career out of playing gangster heavies.

    That sounds great!  Especially the spooky theremin.  

    • Like 3

  23. Posted

    Yea that's certainly the main theme of the whole thing - a sort of secret double life.  Regular insurance salesman or murderer?  Even just the idea of double indemnity is this sort of secret thing: the contract on its face says they'd pay one amount, but it can be doubled in some situations.  Shadowy crime taking place in sunny Los Angeles?  I think I read somewhere that was why they gave Stanwyck or sort of off-putting, cheap wig, to emphasize her phoniness/facade.

    It's a fun theme to explore, and noir is a good way to do that. I'd change Danny's requirement for noir being 'caught up in a criminal underworld' though to just being 'caught up in a crime.'  That's all a noir really needs.

    Also, does anyone have any other favorite noir I should watch?

    • Like 3

  24. Posted

    13 hours ago, CameronH said:

    What was everyone’s favorite Noir line?

    Mine was: “They’ll hang you just as sure as ten dimes will by you a dollar, and I don’t want you to hang, baby.”

    It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?

    and

    Norton: That witness from the train. What was his name?
    Keyes: His name was Jackson. Probably still is.

    and this one took me a second to get it haha:

    Phyllis: I was just fixing some iced tea. Would you like a glass?
    Neff: Yeah, unless you got a bottle of beer that's not working.

    • Like 4
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