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Marsellus_H

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Posts posted by Marsellus_H

  2. Posted

    Filmspotting is pretty fantastic.

     

     

    Good news! If you loved the Dissolved, (most of) the writers have a new podcast out there - The Next Picture Show. It is also fantastic.

     

    Hey, I wanted to suggest exactly the same podcasts. These are awsome shows. I used to listen to Filmspotting when Matty Ballgame was still part of it... I enjoy Josh and Adam, but that guy was a league of his own... I tend to prefer the sacred cow episodes, and sometimes the marathon episodes, where they get really into the deep matter of things.

     

    As for the Next Picture Show, Apart from being a great show, I really enjoy the extremely convoluted and elaborated intros into the different segments. It's worth listening for that alone.

     

    Otherwise, I enjoy listening to (and watching) Half In The Bag. Granted, not every episode is great, and sometimes the in-jokes are a bit tedious, and I'm not always in the mood for bro-humor... but when they dig a bit deeper, they often come up with some pretty smart and original opinions, as shown in the Jack And Jill episode and the Boyhood discussion.

    • Like 2

  3. Posted

    Well made movie, iffy twist, bad themes, bad influence.

     

    But can we agree that Brad Pitt's abs deserve a place in the canon? So, I'd actually suggest a Fight Club vs. Troy, or Selma & Louise, or A River Runs Through It, or wathever.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    I voted for Some Like It Hot. My main argument is about the stakes: In SLIH the two main characters are fleeing the mafia, because they witnessed a massacre. They have a clear motivation, and we get a sense of urgency throughout the picture. This makes the comedy and the one-liners all the more effective. In GPB the two main characters... uh. have problems finding the right guy to get married? Are disappointed, because the Olympic team doesn't want to engage enough with them? Even when they end up supposedly broke in stock-footage Paris, they straight away get hired as the headline of a show with a billion chorus players! You know, if you are in dire straits, maybe getting rid of a couple of these human chandeliers could solve your money problems? I know, I supposed to suspense my disbelieve, and I definitely see where Amy's coming from, and yes, I did enjoy some of the dialoge and the performances, but I really never was more than mildly amused during most of the film. Maybe it will grow on me, and we'll see about the next rebound episode if GPB can get another chance, but right now I am on team Devin.

     

    Edit: As for the LGBT subject in Some Like It Hot: I don't think it takes necessarily a point for or against it. I think the film is about two characters forced to step outside of their comfort zone. Now, that's naturally a plot that can be attributed to a lot of romps. In my opinion, what elevates this one, is that these characters aren't stupid, as they would be in, for example, I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, and actually make a number of pretty smart decisions, while keeping an open mind about their situation. As Jazz musicians, they kind of improvise their way through life. They get to know a new side of themselves, and you watch them deal with that. I didn't feel that the script or the directorial choices judge any of their sensibilities - the two protagonists do judge each other constantly, though. And that's kind of discussions we still are facing today... To me, that they manage to keep up their friendship throughout all this, is kind of a touching thing and the main point I take away from this.

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

     

    I can't stand Birdman. And I'm far from alone on that. It's the film equivalent of the "cool" professor in a leather jacket trying to "blow your mind" with reality. And probably to cheat on his wife with a student.

     

    Jup, my feelings as well.... somehow that film always reminds me of that SNL high school theatre scene....

  10. Posted

    Uh, The Artist. Don't let me get started on this one...it's such a weird little movie to come out at the time, and it made a splash way too big for what it is. Of all the French indie movies to come out every year, how did just this one ending up getting all the prizes? I guess it's to film what an 80s one hit wonder is to music.

  13. Posted

    If we talk about this specific decade, I think it's important that the canon movies reflect the zeitgeist of our times. Therefore, I'd say stuff like Melancholia or Nightcrawler don't have that much of a chance, since they could've been made 20 years ago and would be just as impactful. Therefore, I'd be more in favor of stuff like the Lego Movie, Her, The Social Network, and maybe Scott Pilgrim vs. The Rest Of The World.

  15. Posted

    Very soft yes. As mentioned in the homework forum, I agree with Amy and Devin that the script is tight and the characters are fun to watch since the performances are throughout good-to-great. Honestly, I don't care about that plot twist too much. I think, there are better plot twists in movies throughout history, be it Caligari or The Sixth Sense. I think here the twist a nice icing on top of the cake, however, it doesn't transform the cake in a meaningful way. It's fun, but doesn't add or subtract much from the performances and the script.

     

    Where I deviate from you guys is in Bryan Singer's work. I find most of the staging choices you've mentioned in the discussion a bit obvious, and on the nose. I'd say especially the scenes in which the cops discuss their further steps are staged pretty boringly and soak a lot of the energy out of the film. Also, Verbal Kint just sitting in that chair doesn't seem like the genius decision you argue it is to me, more of static and boring. To illustrate my point, here's a video-analysis of a simple exposition-scene from Vertigo:

     

    You couldn't make such a deep analysis of any of the scenes in Usual Suspects. That doesn't mean that every thriller needs to be a Hitchcock, but at least put some effort and originality into your fim, if 60 pecent of all scenes in your film are "one guy explaining stuff to another guy". Watching this always makes me kind of sad of the film that could've been the Ususal Suspects, because the potential is clearly there.

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    I just found out Amy gave THERE WILL BE BLOOD a rotten score! I wonder if she feels any differently now. This could be an interesting episode after all.

     

     

    I really enjoyed watching THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but at the same time it's so easy to make fun of it.... It's by no means a perfect fim, I guess. To me, it goes on for about half an hour too long, and I'm not sure about Paul Dano's performance - I honestly think it's a bit one-note. (I guess the same thing could be said about Mr. Day-Lewis, but he's got just enough fucking crazy charisma to pull off such a manieristic performance).

     

    Actually, what I really would love to hear is: THERE WILL BE BLOOD VS. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. We need to answer the eternal yet unsolved question, which bleak 2007 desert epic about the demise of the american dream actually IS the one true metaphor for the last Bush years, and therefore shall be inducted into the Pantheon of great films that is the canon.

  17. Posted

    First, I'd like to point out that this is an awsome idea, and I remember vaguely it being already around back in the days of the old forum.

     

    Second, if I have to chose between Citizen Kane and Vertigo, it's pretty clear which one the only just answer is: Bicycle Thieves.

  18. Posted

    Hey, I just revisited it. Good news: It is actually pretty tightly plotted and constructed, and way shorter than I remembered. The bad news: Bryan Singer doesn't know where to place that fucking camera. He makes the most boring and clichéed choices, which ads extremely to the predictability of the story. To me, the film works despite and not because of his directorial work.

    • Like 2

  19. Posted

    I personally like the idea that versus episodes can be a sophie's choice either way. Whether you love both films or hate both of them, you have to vote one in and one out. If we're adding a "neither" option we might as well add a "both" option and then we might as well get rid of versus all together.

     

    I don't think a "both"-option would make any sense, there I agree with you. That would suck out all the tensions, wouldn't it? And I do believe that versus episodes are ideallly a Sophie's Choice. But let's see into this a bit more precise: In the film, Sophie has to choose that only one can survive, either your son or our daughter, not that either one HAS to survive. The Nazi in the film points out specifically, that if Sophie doesn't make her choice, they both are going to die. So technically, it's the choice is either of the siblings, or neither.

     

    Now, that is a terrible thing to choose from, and the neither-option obviously doesn't stick to you when you wathch the film, given the horrible circumstances. But, we are not talking about human beings, we are discussing films here. People make mistakes. And really, if you see through the list of the films added to the canon, and you read: "500 blows", "it's a wonderful life", "nights of the cabiria", "annie hall", "the godfather 1 + 2" and "animal house", can you point to the one that feels a bit awkward? I'm not saying in any way that animal house doesn't have its merits, or doesn't belong to the canon, I simply think a "neither"-option would enrich the conversation.

  23. Posted

    I'm somwhere in between Amy and Devin on this one. For one, I can see some historical importance to this film, and I enjoyed some stuff while watching it. On the other hand, I can't help but think that there were other films that made the same points about this film's subject more convincingly and better crafted. I enjoyed the prologue and the ending, as well as the mentioned performances. The stuff in between didn't always work for me that well. It's funny, but just like Devin I had to think about porn as well, mainly because of that saxophone score that just seems to ramble on without having much intention. If we didn't include The Hurt Locker which can be read in a similar vein as an ok film about an important subject comming out at the right time, I think it'd we only consequential to not include Boyz N' The Hood neither. A soft no from me.

  24. Posted

    BUH???

    I didn't even think!? What themes are conservative?

     

    Well. It's nostalgic for idealized conservative-hierarchical structures in a lot of ways. The whole plot is basically set in a society that has to face change (war, communism) but doesn't want to. To me, the film's message was basically "look how bad it is that we had to change, when we could have just ignored society's problems and continued to live in a suger-coated dreamscape-bubble that is the Grand Budapest." The Grand Budapest basically can be red as Ronald Reagan's shiny city on a hill.

     

    Then, there's Zero's work-ethics, which is very ideal towards this whole "Good stuff happens to hard-working people."

     

    Also, I'd argue the fact that this film is much more in love with things than it is with peole, like the "Boy With The Apple" painting, or the hotel itself, speak for some pretty materialistic values.

     

    In this sense its message can be red as conservative, in my opinion.

    • Like 4

  25. Posted

    I was just wondering if anybody in here has watched recently this British Cannes winner and if you think it's discussion-worthy. I've watched it about a year ago and it really stuck with me for some reasons I can't quite put the finger upon. I think it would make for a great discussion, if not during a show then at least in here... after all: this is the film that gave us Malcolm McDowell.

    • Like 2
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