A lot of Lynch...

Sunday night introduced my lady friend to more...Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks pilot

Monday afternoon, I watched Eraserhead and then went to see Inland Empire again that evening..

Purchased some DVDs too...Three Kings, A Room With A View 2 disc edition, Ride With The Devil (finally buying that Ang Lee film) and pre-ordered The Prestige on E-bay, The Departed and Babel should arrive from Amazon around the 25th...looking at maybe buying Paths of Glory by Stanley Kubrick and the 2 disc edition of Brokeback Mountain  

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Bleep you, & bleep the establishment, and bleep all of you who are trying to make me part of the unestablished establishment.

Bleep you, & bleep the establishment, and bleep all of you who are trying to make me part of the unestablished establishment.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Tried to watch a low-budget digi-vid (is that redundant?) horror film last night, but between straining to see the faces in the murkiness and to make out the words through the muffled sound, it became too frustrating. We gave up a third of the way into it. I think it might have even been good were it not for the horrible lighting and sound.  Film is an audio-visual medium but when neither is working, the entertainment factor vanishes and it becomes just a struggle. I just knew I'd end up resenting the time spent if we had gone the distance.  I'll have the decency to not mention the film's title. Who knows?  It may be distributed one day and I wish it well.

The next feature was a happy surprise -- Baby Face starring Barbara Stanwyck, 1933. There were two choices on the menu -- the pre-released version or the actual theatrical release. Since the pre-release version was highlighted first, we watched that one.

Later I found out why there were two versions. Seems there had been four salacious minutes that didn't make it past the censors of the day. One copy of the pre-released version languished in the Library of Congress, where it had been sent (as is always done) for copyright purposes. It was discovered in 2004! This was a racy movie, so much so that clean cut Walter Brennan asked that his scenes be completely cut fearing the negative publicity would damage his reputation. The request was honored. by 1934, the Hays Commission was widely implemented.

Baby Face is the story of Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck), a struggling Erie, PA bar-maid who worked in her father's sleazy bar populated by the "boys" from the adjacent steel mill. On occasion, she was known to go the extra mile and provide more personal service for the leering gents. One of the censored parts established that her father had first sold her out as a prostitute when she was a mere 14 years old.

Lily respects only two people -- her black co-worker and loyal girlfriend, Chico, and an elderly German intellectual who frequents the dive. The German sees Lily as a project and tries to get her to read Nietsche! Yes! Is it too wonderful!

A lucky accident allows Lily make lemonade from lemons, and so her rise to the top begins when she sets off for the Big Apple! The tagline for the film was "She climbed the ladder of success -- wrong by wrong."

A classic! Just wonderful!!! Hollywood made woman movies aplenty in the 30s and 40s and this one is well worth your time. Plus, it's only 76 minutes long. Pure economy of storytelling! Come on, now. Rent it! Have I ever led you astray?

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

That sounds like a swell anthropological find, Susan.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

We are required to watch a romantic comedy this week for film class. The choices they provided us with range from the predictable (Sleepless in Seattle) to the rather unique (The Princess Bride) to the downright unsettling (Sweet Home Alabama?!). I picked this one, specifically because it's unlike any of the others. Also, it's a favorite, so it makes for some pretty painless homework.
Watching Jim Carrey in this film, you wonder, "What took him so long?". Then again, from there he did turns in Lemony Snicket and Dicking around with Jane (or whatever it was called), so it sort of ebbs and flows, I guess.

A Hard Day's Night

The first and best film vehicle for those cheeky long-haired lads from England, Herman's Hermits. Excuse me, that's "The Beatles".
Put into context, it's fascinating to see the effect of its unique editing style on films made since then. As director Richard Lester explains in one of the special features, he once received a letter that described him as "the father of MTV", to which he replied with a request for a paternity test.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

Bleep you, & bleep the establishment, and bleep all of you who are trying to make me part of the unestablished establishment.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Babel

Wonderful performances by all involved.  So I guess this is my pick for "Best Picture" Sunday night, although I haven't seen "The Queen" or "Letters..." yet. 

I don't know about you, Chris, or anyone else, but I've had it up to here with the obligatory vomit scenes in films.  The last time I loved a vomit scene was in Team America. 

(note to self: Idea for a new thread - Favorite Vomit Scenes in Films) 

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Casablanca

Well, the first thing I noticed about it was that it was in black and white, so I knew it was going to be pretty boring.
Overall, it's all right, I guess. It's no Con Air or Herbie Fully Loaded but it's good for what it is, an old movie. The DVD was a big disappointment, though. For one thing, it's not even in widescreen! I'm thinking of taking it back to Wal-Mart and going, "Hey! You need to label this with a full-frame sticker! Gosh!"
The other major problem I had with this movie is that no one threw up at all in it. I mean, they're all sitting around, drinking like fish, and not one of them has to upchuck. I was expecting at least one scene in which Ingrid Bergman ralphs in the alleyway behind Rick's while Peter Lorre holds her hair for her. But, no go.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

LogicHat, that was HILARIOUS!!!! Lots of time when people say LOL they are big liars. They are not really LOLing. I read your Casablanca review and LOLed for real! Most excellent movie review with just the right amount of depth!  Plus I now know fer shure to take this crappy movie off my Netflix queue. 

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

That was the point at which the beverage I was attempting to swallow took an unanticipated detour. 

A review of movie which points out how it lack vomitude that then induces one to spew...priceless.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Okay, so I watched Babel last night. I couldn't believe it! Unless I left the room at the wrong time, no vomiting! Sure, peeing in pants and then later, into a pot, but even put together they don't add up to the impact of a spewing upchuck. What can I say? Well, clearly Babel did not have it all even with its hefty 143 minutes.

I thought this was a near great film. It could have very easily gone the distance and have been great, too, had it not been for the calculatedly self-righteous, wrong-headed political points the filmmakers could not resist. (ie 16 years in the US and summarily deported kindly, loving, better than their own parents, nanny or the Oh, those crazy Americans -- everything is a terrorist to them)

I was a big fan of Amores Perros; missed 21 Grams and really liked this one. Almost love.  Not quite. 

Hey, didn't Brad Pitt look a lot like George Clooney in this film? I thought so.

Was that the worst travel incentive for anyone considering a trip to Morocco? I've never seen it look so... barren. Where were all the tiled buildings?  Haven't seen so many bad teeth since the last Mike Leigh movie I watched -- what was it called??? Secrets and Lies.

Won't be the best picture tonight but I really wouldn't be overly surprised if Miss Sunshine pulls out a giant upset. Also, I almost changed my pick of Babel for best editing after watching it and went with United 93. Still, I keep reminding myself "Academy voters, Academy voters..." They're gonna love those cuts between Morocco, Mexico and Tokyo.

Gotta go -- the Red Carpet is well underway! 

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin