tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post7370494305661936373..comments2024-01-21T11:18:54.087-05:00Comments on Lost in the Movies: Remembering the Movies, Dec. 3 - 9Joel Bockohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-14188791403955169652010-12-11T10:30:44.084-05:002010-12-11T10:30:44.084-05:00I haven't seen Min and Bill yet but viewings o...I haven't seen Min and Bill yet but viewings of The Champ and Dinner at Eight a few years ago lodged Wallace Beery as one of my favorite actors.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-91255245678234988202010-12-04T14:21:38.640-05:002010-12-04T14:21:38.640-05:00JPK, this is definitely my favorite selection so f...JPK, this is definitely my favorite selection so far.<br /><br />There are a million compelling factors with Gimme Shelter but what finally puts it over the edge for me is that it so fully captures "the sixties" - right at that moment when the era peaked and disintegrated. That footage from the crowd at Altamont is endlessly fascinating to someone like me, who was born 14 years after the movie came out - my parents' generation, not mine, but close enough in time to enthrall. It's like the portrait of a zeitgeist.<br /><br />I also love two lesser-known Maysles "celebrity" films, the short Meet Marlon Brando and the great What's Happening! which has been re-edited (and diluted) on DVD as "The Beatles' First U.S. Visit."Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-69760185764804024532010-12-04T13:37:02.904-05:002010-12-04T13:37:02.904-05:00Wow, what a great range of interesting movies. I w...Wow, what a great range of interesting movies. I was largely indifferent to Cast Away, this was in the middle of Tom Hanks's period of being vastly overrated I think. Edward Scissorhands I had to be talked into seeing after being so disappointed in Burton's Batman. I thought it was a nice tonic and thoroughly redeemed Burton. Never saw Flash Gordon as I have little use for such efforts (campy B-movie takeoffs).<br /><br />Gimme Shelter is really one of the great documentaries, I think, and your reproduction of some of the back and forth between Kael and the Maysles is particularly apt. It also catches the Stones on the sharpest upturn of their career, an amazing historical moment. But mostly it's the straightforward yet jaw-dropping capture of everything that made Altamont the disaster it was that makes the movie so great, not least of course the murder itself. But I think it's particularly instructive to see how afraid the bands, such as Jefferson Airplane principals, were of the bikers. I think it's absolutely chilling and great filmmaking all the way through.<br /><br />Have never seen The Thief of Bagdad, but your screen cap (great, as always) has definitely pushed it much higher up my to-see list.<br /><br />Great bunch this week, Movie Man.Jeff Pikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17148737647138431543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-37658304493144434782010-12-03T23:00:55.909-05:002010-12-03T23:00:55.909-05:00Jaime, "bad" as in unethical or incompet...Jaime, "bad" as in unethical or incompetent (probably both, though maybe the second negates the first)? I'll admit to liking Nightmare Before Xmas, but there's definitely a nostalgia factor there.<br /><br />Joe, Muti reminded me of Scarlet Johannsen - she was probably the best thing about the movie. As for Thief, put me firmly in the Fairbanks category.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-858979832903956102010-12-03T22:42:18.020-05:002010-12-03T22:42:18.020-05:00This was an interesting variety of movies. I avoi...This was an interesting variety of movies. I avoided "Cast Away," which just didn't sound very interesting. <br /><br />I saw "Edward Scissorhands" on television and was impressed. I suppose it was my first Tim Burton movie. Johnny Depp could have done very well in silent movies. <br /><br />"Flash Gordon" could never replace the Buster Crabbe/Jean Rogers serials in my affections, but Ornella Muti was good as Princess Aura. <br /><br />Some people debate whether the Fairbanks or the Korda "Thief of Baghdad" is better. Each is great in its own way. <br /><br />I'd like to see the Florence Turner movie. Here is one she did a few years later when she was working in the UK:<br />http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/FT/405/about-the-film-daisy_doodads_dialJoe Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14165780971886135575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-5382314475838382582010-12-03T08:47:04.644-05:002010-12-03T08:47:04.644-05:00"Cast Away" I've seen pieces of it, ..."Cast Away" I've seen pieces of it, the start, the middle, never the ending. This one was used by my Ethics teacher as a bad example of Product Placement.<br />"Edward Scissorhands" is a classic, while it's not my favorite Burton, it's pretty damn close, but I kinda hate the fanboys it has, they seem to be the same that cheer for 'Nightmare Before Christmas', a movie that isn't that good.<br />I saw 'High Note', hilarious.Jaime Grijalbahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00175192502767519362noreply@blogger.com