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I want to rewatch the film again but this time with the commentary track, to hear if Corbijn makes any mention of Fleming and/or Bond. I'd also just be fascinated by what he has to say.
I'll dream up a thread for it. I think I'll start off gauging interest, as we did with the Bondathon, then go from there. I know some here would have some great film suggestions for us all.
Welcome to the club, @DaltonCraig007. It makes me happy to see that a film such as that can be appreciated for what it is as a different kind of filmmaking than modern expectations would feed you. It's how movies used to be made in a greater number, and I like it when directors can reignite that wavering craftsmanship.
If you end up joining this film club I'm starting, The Hunter wouldn't be a bad suggestion on your end. I've yet to see it but have heard great reviews. That could be the push I need to pop it in.
I picked this up on a whim (like 99% of the rest of my DVD collection that isn't Star Wars, Bond, zombies or Marvel) only to discover a decent disaster flick, even if it is a found footage type of movie. Luckily, the movie itself seems to forget this at several points and there are scenes where there are literally no cameras around that could catch certain moments.
The whole movie centers around a small town being ravaged by a tornado. A big f*cking tornado eventually, but mostly a bunch of smaller tornadoes. The characters are decent. The only ones I really cared about were a father (played by Richard Armitage) and his two camera-toting sons (one of which played by Nathan Kress formerly of iCarly fame; and yes, I watched that show). There's a group of storm chasers (one of them Sarah Wayne Callies of Prison Break fame and The Walking Dead infamy) who I honestly cared all of nothing about because they received such little characterization. There was also a third strand centered around a couple rednecks who wanted to make it big on the internet. (Mild spoiler: They survive. It annoys me.)
The good thing about the minor amount of characterization some of the characters get is that the movie looks gorgeous, and the destruction and carnage all throughout is simply stunning. You could watch this movie for the tornado sequences alone, ignore the plot and not feel like you lose anything.
I didn't actually expect to enjoy this movie. I love disaster movies, but found footage movies often annoy me. This one's actually pretty good.
I'm now of the honest opinion that Which Way to the Front is a very funny film for about three quarters of its running time. It looks cheap and TV-ish, but it's full of gags that are quirky, surreal and very amusing, such as the one in which the protagonists try to imitate another character's walk, or when said character is kidnapped in a castle full of soldiers that don't seem to notice what is happening right in front of them. Also, Lewis' lack of consistency in terms of period detail (the film is set in 1943) somehow works to the film's favor, in that it comes across as so ridiculous it's almost brazen.
The vignettes at the beginning showing why the main characters are joining the army are very amusing, and the supporting actors are very funny; they are given their moment to shine and they elevate the film, make it more lively and engaging --especially John Wood. Lewis, playing a more mature part, is for the most part solid, but I find his fake voice during the last quarter of the film grows grating and goes on for too long. After the medal presentation scene, for about twenty minutes it's mostly just him shouting. That's when the film goes downhill for me, even though a couple of gags do work, and the presence of Hitler --complete with slow motion dancing, The Great Dictator style-- adds a jolt of energy.
The music score is catchy, too.
There is a documentary about Euan Lloyd on the Arrow Video of Who Dares Wins Sir Roger is in the documentary along with Bridget Bardot and John Glen.
The Golden era of Hollywood is fascinating, Euan talks about pre Bond Cubby
Fascinating Euan talks about how Connery was persuaded to star in Shalako I really did not expect this documentary on this disk. Arrow Blurays are superb
Buy this Arrow Bluray, Wild Geese fans will love the documentary on this disk
Very realistic but not very entertaining.
An interesting film. In simple terms, I didn't love it, but it got me thinking.
Any safari story that's post-Hemingway unavoidably has a little Hemingway in it. There's a little of Hemingway in Howard Hawks, too, but that's not so much unavoidable as it is a coincidence of interests. It's a fairly unoriginal and perhaps even obvious comparison, but it must be said that the two men share, beyond a certain sensibility for the virile, an appreciation for directness. In Hemingway's prose this means plain speak and austere grammar. In Hawk's direction it means a lot of medium shots and solid blocking — Classic Hollywood, more or less.
Hemingway died in '61, and took some of Hawks's shared sensibilities with him; when Classic Hollywood died is another matter and debatable, but considering that Hawks released HATARI! in 1962 within a month of when John Ford (another Classic Hollywood vet) released THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE—a wistful glance at not only the nation's past but also Hollywood's—there must have certainly been then at least a large sense that something was passing on. At times HATARI! seems like its Hawks's great effort at trying to prevent this something from departing, as though he's trying to preserve some of his and Hemingway's world in sending it away to Africa, capturing it forever on film, and lopping it off the trajectory of the culture.
It is this utopic, oasis-like quality that makes the film worthwhile. There's enough of a script to fool the audience into a story, but what HATARI! really is is Hawks's own heaven in Africa, and Hawks's heaven is one of doing. The studio-bound comic bits entertain and suffice well enough, but HATARI! is a film that comes most to life in its depiction of making stuff happen. When Wayne's character Sean Mercer snags an animal, that's Wayne himself snagging it with lasso and pole. That's him seated on the hood of the vehicle. You are at once watching Wayne lasso and his character Mercer lasso, at once watching what was filmed and how it was filmed — meaning you're not so much watching either Wayne or Mercer with the lasso as you are watching a man lasso. All distinctions between performer and character are obliterated, leaving only the action performed.
This spirit of doing soaks through the film in its best moments. It's the same spirit with which Ken Adam created the volcano lair in YOLT or with which Tati built himself a city for PLAYTIME or with which men showed up and built the Brooklyn bridge. It's the same spirit that sent Coppola and Friedkin into the jungle or Shackleton into the Antarctic. It's a spirit of action. Hemingway would've approved. A piece of it was lost with him. Hawks tried to save his own piece in the oasis of HATARI!, and he succeeded.
Did you guys like his A Most Wanted Man (based on the John le Carré novel, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman)? Those who liked The American should probably check it out if they haven't already.
Btw, I remember in December last year, in Stockholm (he had a wonderful exhibition of his photography there) he mentioned that he's hoping/trying to get another movie made, but getting financing and stuff is difficult... That doesn't surprise me at all. In any case he didn't reveal what it would be about or anything. Whatever it is, I hope he gets to do it - both because I'd like to see it, and because he's such a lovely guy one just hopes all the best for them in anything. Not that he's lacking work, movie or no movie, and I love his other work, but anyway...
***
The French Connection (1971)
You all probably love this. I don't, but it wasn't bad.
The Day Of The Jackal (1973)
A re-watch, I didn't remember it was somewhat boring (or I didn't find it that way the previous time I watched).
High Plains Drifter (1973)
I was thinking "eww" within the first few minutes, but finished watching anyway. (I usually do.) But yeah, didn't like it.
The Great Gatsby (1974)
This is so much better than Baz Luhrmann's garish 2013 version. This has much better music, too (well, that's an easy feat, but still). Obviously no Tobey Maguire here, which is always a plus. And Robert Redford is far more charming than DiCaprio as well. And for those of you interested, there's Lois Chiles here. I don't think it's a great movie or anything, but I definitely liked this one much more of these two versions.
The Eiger Sanction (1975)
I had forgotten that I had seen this. Didn't like.
Three Days Of The Condor (1975)
A re-watch. Apart from the silly, unnecessary and unconvincing romance I liked this.
Network (1976)
This is good, and chilling.
All The President's Men (1976)
I don't know how many times I've seen this, but quite a few, and I always enjoy it.
The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
David Bowie, obviously. This is weird and both funny and silly and tragic and sometimes a bit boring, but on the whole a fascinating watch.
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
The cast is impressive and all (including Sean Connery as you probably know), but I found the movie kinda meh.
You found The Day of the Jackal boring? I thought it was gripping.
Must get to All The President's Men again sometime.
I love Three Days of the Condor & Network.
The French Connection is one I haven't seen.
Neither did I. At the time I though it was massively overrated trendy 1999 rubbish. That said, I bet I'd appreciate it more now, having not seen t since it was released. Same with The Matrix. Though I was entertained, I didn't exactly fall overwhelmingly in love with it the way most my friends had.
PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
1973 version I watched last night. A Dan Curtis Production starring Shane Briant as the eternally youthful Gray, whose portrait ages in his place. Nigel Davenport is his devilish mentor influencing his actions which bring consequences.
I haven't. Would be happy to.
I have an endless movies-to-watch (or re-watch) list. And it just keeps getting longer no matter how many movies I watch. And they keep making new ones all the time, too, geez... I've lost count of how many I'm currently looking forward to (whenever I'll get a chance to see them - many not in theatre since thy won't come to where I live, but anyway...).
It's bleak and sort of depressing, but... well, Corbijn and PSH and...
Which one reminded you of The Eiger Sanction?
Gripping was sort of my memory of The Day Of The Jackal, but this time it wasn't...
Regarding The Day of the Jackal: It has a sort of documentary flavour to the way it's filmed. When I was younger I thought I was watching a re-enactment of historical fact.
I didn't like this either.
Maybe it was a hot film in the 70's but now it looks overrated.
The American
I found this so boring. Maybe Clooney fans will like it.
A majority? :)) That's cool on one hand, but on the other... I so often disagree with majority I can't support the idea that majority is somehow important in matters of movie taste. :)
Hmm... Okay. Maybe so. But in any case I liked one and not the other. Of course, that was not a pacing thing for me, but story and character issue. Pacing-wise you may be correct, I didn't think of that. I agree on TDOTJ on the style.
Childhood memories and a profound love for older movies is why. Also, I have seen the musical 'Wicked' in London twice now. Lastly, "Over The Rainbow" was used so well in SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, which I revisited recently, and so I made up my mind about going back to this classic.
What can I say? It's cute, well performed, a child of its time. The remastered version plays beautifully well on a modern screen. Judy Garland is a fine Dorothy. The music hasn't yet lost too much of its charm either. A movie for the younger crowd, or for those who, like me, are quite susceptible to a bit of nostalgic sentimentality.
I love that movie. Awesome classic, great for all ages.
Rewatched Parallax View last year great thriller it's up there with The Manchurian Candidate and All the Presidents Men It's very cinematic, I remember the first time I watched the film was shocked by the ending.
I first saw it in my High School film class- our great teacher would pause it to point out how the camera was not centered on actions during dodgy stuff underscoring the 'parallax', or slightly skewed perspective of the events. Brilliant.
It is clever certain interactions as the film progresses made me suspicious, some great set pieces in the film the Seattle opening looks fantastic in HD, the fight in the river and the final set piece all brilliant. The film is currently free on UK Netflix though been trying to get it on BD for sometime, curious to watch any documentarys or Commentary on the making of the film.
It's a furiously emotional piece of film-making IMO. still,
Agreed it's very dark, in the 70s Hollywood were a great deal braver with there films.
I came across the film initially with this introduction by director Alex Cox, he had a show called Moviedrome where he did introductions to cult movies. He discusses the parallels the film has with the Kennedys in this intro...