rate the last movie you saw

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Eric Paddon
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1156 Post by Eric Paddon »

The Robe (Blu-Ray)
=First time I saw this on Blu-Ray and the transfer is stunning. But jeers to them for not including the standard ratio cut as well when they could have. Instead, they give us this picture within picture item for comparison purposes, but I found that incredibly distracting and hard to navigate, not to mention the fact that there appears to be audio for some kind of documentary on the small window but I'm damned if I can find the track for it! This is one film that should be redone with the two cuts of the film so we can do our own comparisons the right way.

=I'm not going to rehash the film itself, because I've done that before and my concerns about the film's unauthentic depiction of both early Christianity and ancient Rome shouldn't be recapitulated again. But the film is really on the whole in the second-tier of outstanding Biblical/ancient epics, ranking far behind the likes of "Ben Hur", "Quo Vadis" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" for me.

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1157 Post by AndyDursin »

I found DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS -- which I reviewed in this week's new column -- to be a much more entertaining film than THE ROBE. It's silly, but it's livelier and also a half-hour shorter on top of it. 8)

sprocket
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1158 Post by sprocket »

Moon 8/10

Fascinating because it doesn't follow SF conventions (yes, I've been around long enough to call it SF and not Sci-fi). Also for one actor creating two distinct characters.

It was hard for me to accept Sam Rockwell's dual performance since using the same actor twice in a scene can only be done through F/X, but as it goes on, you do forget that it is the same actor playing both parts.

One slight disappointment was that I didn't think Kevin Spacey brought enough charisma in his role as the robot.

PS - Oh, and Duncan Jones' short film Whistle in the extras is worth a look. "Coming soon to a street near you." :shock:

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1159 Post by AndyDursin »

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
5/10

I had to sit through this again because a) I didn't see it in HD the first time and b) I found the dialogue hard to understand. Unfortunately, watching the Blu-Ray made me more sensitive to the film's shortcomings. Yes, I realize the picture is probably the epitome of "cool" for 18-25 year old guys, but otherwise, I was repelled by the subject matter (the rape scene is disgusting, pure and simple), and confounded as to what people find appealing about the material. The mystery isn't compelling, the dialogue is muttered in this Euro-accented whisper that's hard to understand, the film goes on forever...who am I supposed to care about? Why? Not even the second time around did the film connect for me.

As for the film's failure at the box-office -- it's perfectly understandable. Beyond die-hard readers of the books (many of whom were apparently satisfied with the Swedish versions), the film couldn't have come out at a worse time -- but it's also, simply, not very good. I credit the wintry cinematography and the performances (Mara is so submerged that when she shows up wearing a wig near the end, it's like, "hey, there's Rooney Mara"), but the picture is a misfire, an unpleasant, long, and to me pointless affair with a plot that's ridiculously convoluted. I've seen episodes of Matlock with a mystery that was more interesting.

One more overhyped "event" that wasn't...and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended it right here based on how much of a letdown the film was commercially.

Eric Paddon
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1160 Post by Eric Paddon »

King Of Kings (1961) 7 of 10
Had to watch the Blu-Ray, which is a stunning transfer. This was the first time I'd seen the film in a few years and my reasons for why I don't watch it regularly at this time each year were evident again. Basically the film suffers from the same problem "The Robe" does with me, and that's a not overly authentic picture of the birth of Christianity even though the production is sincerely trying to be reverent and not offensive unlike some movies of a later era that will remain nameless. "Greatest Story Ever Told", "Jesus Of Nazareth" and "Passion Of The Christ" which are the three best for me, don't give me an incomplete picture of the story the way KOK and The Robe do. KOK is less bothersome in this regard because you at least don't have the total dismissal of the Jewish authorities existence, but even so I feel like I'm getting only half the story. Certain fictionalizations that were unncessary like making Pilate's wife the Emperor's daughter don't help either, and the film's final cut it is clear is missing a key scene establishing the Centurion Lucius played some role in not going after Mary and Joseph when the infant slaughter takes place. This clearly explains his remark to Jesus later, "For some reason, I feel like I've favored your mother once before", but there's no sign of this as far as I can tell in the final cut.

And I guess the bigger problem for me is the film just doesn't strike the right tone of emotional depth the way the other three films do. There are some good moments, but I feel overall compared to those three, KOK reminds me more like a big-budget version of the kind of dramatization I'd see the amateur members of a church congregation put on for the season. For something like that, you don't look for in-depth accuracy but I think because I've seen it done better in other big-budget epics, that's why my standards are a bit higher here. Rozsa's score is glorious, but that's for me the best part of the film ultimately.

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1161 Post by AndyDursin »

don't give me an incomplete picture of the story the way KOK and The Robe do.
Personally, I found THE ROBE -- reservations I have with the film notwithstanding -- to be essentially a Hollywood melodrama played out with the Christ story as a backdrop. I wouldn't judge the film with the same standards as King of Kings, Greatest Story Ever Told, etc., which are (closer to) straight accounts of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. It has its own failings, but they're different films trying to accomplish different things.

I found King of Kings very well made and scored, if somewhat dull. I've never been able to generate much enthusiasm for Greatest Story Ever Told. Portions of the picture are quite effective, but on the whole I find it incredibly overlong and with some very clunky passages on top of it. If it had a better HD release I might have found it more compelling the last time around, but it's not one of my favorites I admit. I respect it, but don't particularly care for it.

I like PASSION and JESUS OF NAZARETH the best myself -- I'm hopeful we'll see a Blu-Ray release of the latter, seeing as it's been issued in Germany and Mexico already (and apparently looks good, albeit missing some scenes from what little I've read).

Eric Paddon
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1162 Post by Eric Paddon »

I agree, "The Robe" is more melodrama in that sense. I think in that context, it's better to compare it to "Ben-Hur" which I will be the first admit isn't wholly authentic in its depiction of where the Gospel accounts cross-over but the difference between "The Robe" and "Ben-Hur" is even more stark in terms of acting and storytelling. With "Ben-Hur" the contextual inauthenticity doesn't bother me one whit.

I've resisted getting GSET on Blu-Ray because of the negative things I've read about the transfer and that I'd be getting no difference at all from my regular DVD. I have to admit my appreciation for GSET went up when I finally could watch it on a widescreen TV for the first time and it was easier to study the details of composition than at any time in the past and some directorial touches became evident that I'd never noticed before.

Passion Of The Christ just arrived in the mail on Blu-Ray and I will be watching that on Good Friday evening as is my tradition but in this version for the first time.

On KOK, I think one other problem is that Hunter just lacks the powerful presence I felt from Cavaziel, Von Sydow and Powell.

mkaroly
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1163 Post by mkaroly »

It has been a while since I saw these films; between JoN, KoK, and GSET I liked JoN best, then GSET, then KoK. However, I liked the score for KoK the best. For me the one sticking point in films about Jesus is how Judas is portrayed.

KoK is definitely lighter, but I think I liked it less than the other two because of its portrayal of Judas. I may be wrong on this, but wasn't KoK the film that portrayed Judas as a revoltionary who thought he was doing the right thing in turning Jesus over to the authorities? If so, that really bothered me. I was also bothered by how little Caiphas was in the film, as he was a major player in the gospels. Nor did I think the Barabbas side plot worked well.

GSET was definitely more "heavy" and solemn of a movie, and Newman's score is highly dramatic but somber. At least the Jewish authorities were more of a presence in the film in their responsibility in getting Jesus crucified, but I don't remember how Judas was portrayed. I seem to recall thinking it wasn't very accurate.

JoN I think came closest to getting Judas right of the three, but not quite; none of the films really addressed Judas' greed as a motivating factor in his betrayal of Jesus, which I think is a shame.

POTC is the best of them all and the one that most moved me. It is also the one I find most difficult to watch as I think it really captured the depth of Jesus' suffering for humanity.

Well, trying to remember all this stuff has made me want to see all these films again so I can be better prepared to join the discussion! :)

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1164 Post by AndyDursin »

POTC is the best of them all and the one that most moved me. It is also the one I find most difficult to watch as I think it really captured the depth of Jesus' suffering for humanity.
Has anyone watched the "Passion Re-Cut" version? I've never gotten around to it, but it is on the Blu-Ray.

Eric: I agree with you, THE ROBE is closer to BEN-HUR from a tonal/narrative standpoint, and like you said, certainly inferior in many respects. That said, after I watched DEMETRIUS last week, I've gone back to my ROBE Blu-Ray and have started rewatching it over the last few nights. It's entertaining in its own way, just not a GREAT film. I do find it superior to THE EGYPTIAN which I really don't care for.

Also, to reference something else you mention, the transfer on GREATEST STORY... is one of the worst in the format. I believe it is truly standard-def upconverted...no need to buy it, no matter what size TV you have.

mkaroly
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1165 Post by mkaroly »

I have not watched the re-cut version.

Eric Paddon
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1166 Post by Eric Paddon »

I haven't seen the recut version either.

I don't think any version prior to POTC depicted Judas as evil and greedy other than DeMille's KOK. There has always been this tendency to depict him, even in the best of the later films, as someone who thinks he's giving Jesus a chance to prove himself before the authorities by betraying him. This is the crux of Jesus Of Nazareth where it is the fictional Sanhedrin member Zerah (Ian Holm) who is the real evil figure that manipulates Judas on this point.

On JON, it is outstanding but there are several weak points there overall I felt:

1-The scene of the Temptation in the desert was cut from the final project. Zeffirelli reportedly felt that it didn't fit the overall tone of the film.

2-The aforementioned use of the Zerah character.

3-Rod Steiger as Pilate. It's not the performance so much as the fact that this version of Pilate is completely off-target. Pilate is shown as a totally bored bureaucrat so anxious to leave, that he's gone from Jerusalem before Jesus is buried, which doesn't square with the Gospels. This also results in eliminating the character of Pilate's wife, who according to Matthew sent him a note "have nothing to do with that innocent man". One of the things Gibson nailed perfect was Pilate and the fact that he understood the gravity of the situation based on the fact that if he gave the Jewish authorities cause to protest to Rome (hence the meaning of the line, "If you free this man you are no friend of Caesar") he likely would have faced the wrath of Tiberius big time in light of his previous clashes with the Jews (events recounted by the Jewish historians Philo and Josephus).

4-Zefirelli eliminates the scene from the Gospels where Pilate has Jesus sent before Herod Antipas instead. This would have made for a great scene between Powell and Christopher Plummer who IMO is the best Antipas there's been on-screen.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1167 Post by Paul MacLean »

Petulia

A truly odd film directed by Richard Lester, about a divorced middle-aged surgeon (George C. Scott) who has a fling with a married woman half his age (Julie Christie), against the backdrop of 1960s San Francisco.

It's a genuinely watchable film, with a lot of praiseworthy elements -- superb acting from the entire cast (Richard Chamberlain and Joseph Cotton are among the supporting players, arresting photography by Nicholas Roeg (I strongly suspect Roeg had a lot more influence of the visual style than a DP normally does). Use of locations is also very striking and there is some unique and inventive editing as well.

Scott's character, burned-out and having left his wife, now finds it difficult to relate to a culture that has radically changed since his greener days, and is now dominated by whimsical, narcissistic young people. Christie's character is a sincere, but spacey, non-comital airhead, in love with Scott but too stupid to leave her mentally-unbalanced, abusive husband (Chamberlain). There is also a weird subplot involving a Mexican boy Christie and Chamerlain bring back to America.

A scene early in the movie features the likes of Janis Jopland and the Grateful Dead playing themselves at a concert, which adds a distinctive verisimilitude to the film. However, Dead members Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh show-up again later in the film, as curious onlookers when Christie is taken away in an ambulance, making for a truly surreal moment. :?

John Barry's score is effective, and one of my more-well-liked of his, but very subdued in the way it is used in the picture.

It is also interesting to see San Francisco interpreted by London filmmakers, when you consider the latter's dominating influence on pop culture was rapidly giving-way to the former's as the 60s drew to a close.

It is an unsettling story, and the "syntax" of Lester's narrative is odd, but it is also a strangely compelling film.

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1168 Post by AndyDursin »

I had the same reaction when I saw it...it was certainly watchable but had an unpleasant, uneasy feeling about it, which I guess was the point as well. Fine Barry score.

Eric Paddon
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1169 Post by Eric Paddon »

A Night To Remember (1958) 10 of 10.
=Got the Blu-Ray Criterion today and with the 100th anniversary of the sinking approaching it was time to look at a new transfer that is absolutely stunning. When you can practically feel the texture of the costumes when you watch, that's an exceptional transfer. I also noted how the greater clarity meant that I could make out how the name "Californian" is reversed on a port side shot of the ship at one point, indicating that they were using a "flipped" shot for that one moment.

=This Criterion edition is once again the "British" cut of the film that has the scroll at the end, "But this is not the end of the story......" but they have also restored to the film the brief scene of a dead child being handed to Lightoller at Collapsible B that was snipped from the British cut but was present in the American cut (which lacked the scroll at the end, and was the version released on VHS by Paramount).

=And once again, a reminder of how this remains the best of all Titanic movies, bar none. I'd love to see a modern version done with better FX and showing us elements of the story not depicted previously like the ship's near collision with the liner New York as it left Southampton, but until that comes this remains it. (A certain other film of more recent vintage I don't acknowledge)

Eric Paddon
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#1170 Post by Eric Paddon »

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) 9 of 10

=Continuing with my film festival of appropriates classics for the season (I forgot to acknowledge watching "Quo Vadis" on Blu-Ray the other day). This film again validates my earlier judgments from previous reviews here about improving with age. Stevens I know had to feel heartbroken by the drubbing the film got, but honestly I think what we saw happen in terms of the critics reaction was more the earliest manifestation of critics revealing their own peculiar biases about the subject matter. This was the first film about the life of Christ that tried to connect the narrative not with some overly fanciful fictional narrative like KOK did, or in the trappings of melodrama that were written by people who didn't know the subject matter particularly well (see "The Robe"), but by trying to stick to the text. This was literally the first time on-screen so many familiar passages of New Testament scripture were spoken, and I suspect that for many of the critics their ignorance of the NT as it is actually written was what caused them to be so easily bored when most congregations would know right away what's going on.

=Not to say that Stevens does it perfectly, and I will be the first to concede that Zefirelli handled the connective narrative and flow better, but Zefirelli had the luxury of doing his project for television with the flexibility of knowing he had six hours guaranteed at his disposal, while Stevens in doing it for the big screen was in a sense taking on the more formidable task. I would certainly like to know what the original cut of the film was like in terms of what else was depicted and especially if the parts for those who you can miss if you blink like Angela Lansbury as Pilate's wife Claudia or Richard Conte as Barabbas were more extensive. I fear alas, we may never get satisfied on that point.

=Having seen "The Robe" last week, it was also with a fresh perspective that I could compare Stevens' recycling of Newman's "Robe" music for the raising of Lazarus. I have to admit, strangely enough, it works better in GSET for the tone of what Stevens was going for, though I can't understand why we didn't see one close-up of a risen Lazarus throughout the entire sequence. The use of Handel IMO is intrusive as the Act I closer and Newman's own chorus should have been retained for that, but it does work for the end of the film with the Resurrection. Those who complain that the Handel is 100% out of the place in the film are overlooking the fact that many of the passages of Scripture to be found in "The Messiah" are spoken at various points throughout the film, and thus, to hear Handel is only in the end validating the audience's instinct.

The film got a bum rap it didn't deserve for too many years and today, it's strengths more and more become apparent.

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