Serious Movie Discussion XXXVIX

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I'm struggling through French Connection right now. I like Friedkin's movies and this one has a great reputation but I can't get into it.

Anyone have any opinions on it?

I think maybe I'm just not in the mood for it right now.

It's so good I need towels after.

Love the shit out of that movie.

Fuck it, getting the Bluray out now.

Finish it. It's one of my favorite movies where the characters have no arc.
 
I'm struggling through French Connection right now. I like Friedkin's movies and this one has a great reputation but I can't get into it.

Anyone have any opinions on it?

I think maybe I'm just not in the mood for it right now.

It's a fine film but a little bit minor in his filmography. It's just his cleanest effort, and doesn't really have the odd sense of humor or off center characters of what I consider his best work. Obviously though a couple classic scenes in there.
 
So - in-between watching B-movies, I sometimes watch good movies too!


I saw The Third Man for the first time (Yes, I've never seen The Third Man before today. Hark away). I agree with what everybody before me has said. Amazingly stylish visuals. Superb acting. The twists in the story had been kinda ruined for me through popular culture though...

I was kinda suprised how lighthearted it felt. It didn't feel very hardboiled at all in its mood and athmosphere (a diffrent story with the plot though). It had that rather wimsical music going throughout that presented the movie more like a fun series of escapades rather than a dark, grim murder mystery.

I was also suprised how morally reprehensible the female love-intrest came across. In most Noir films it feels a bit more ambivalent, yet here she wholeheartedly supports a freaking child killer! Her only really saving grace is that she's beutiful. Still, the movie did a very good job luring you into a sympathetic disposition towards her before the cards were turned.

Orson Wells
 
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Heresy. The Third Man is one of the best films ever made.

Ah, The Conqueror. A film that killed off a good chunk of the cast and crew. Wasn't even worth making, which is just rubbing salt in the wounds.
 
Heresy. The Third Man is one of the best films ever made.

Ah, The Conqueror. A film that killed off a good chunk of the cast and crew. Wasn't even worth making, which is just rubbing salt in the wounds.

yeah remember reading facts about how many people contracted cancer after being involved in that film because it was filmed around an old nuclear testing site. Absolutely horrendous waste of life to make a movie that was widely panned and bombed.
 
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Here is a picture of The Conqueror crew using a Geiger counter during shooting. They knew that they where in a radioactive hotzone. John Wayne even invited his son over to see the results for himself! So yeah...

All in all - I actually kinda enjoyed watching the Conqueror. The production values are spectacular. And it tries to invoke the values and customs of a society long extinct - unlike most historical films which just applies modern sensebilities to a historical period.

Still... every time John Wayne opened his mouth I laughed. That's says a lot... but at least I wasn't bored!
 
Fig.-1.jpg


Here is a picture of The Conqueror crew using a Geiger counter during shooting. They knew that they where in a radioactive hotzone. John Wayne even invited his son over to see the results for himself! So yeah...

All in all - I actually kinda enjoyed watching the Conqueror. The production values are spectacular. And it tries to invoke the values and customs of a society long extinct - unlike most historical films which just applies modern sensebilities to a historical period.

Still... every time John Wayne opened his mouth I laughed. That's says a lot... but at least I wasn't bored!

Howard Hughes also transported soil from the area to use on set.
 
So - in-between watching B-movies, I sometimes watch good movies too!


I saw The Third Man for the first time (Yes, I've never seen The Third Man before today. Hark away). I agree with what everybody before me has said. Amazingly stylish visuals. Superb acting. The twists in the story had been kinda ruined for me through popular culture though...

I was kinda suprised how lighthearted it felt. It didn't feel very hardboiled at all in its mood and style (a diffrent story with the plot though). It had that rather wimsical tune going throughout that presented the movie more like a fun series of escapades rather than a dark, grim murder mystery.

I was also suprised how morally reprehensible the female love-intrest came across. In most Noir films it feels a bit more ambivalent, yet here she wholeheartedly supports a freaking child killer! Her only really saving grace is that she's beutiful. Still, the movie did a very good job luring you into a sympathetic disposition towards her before the cards were turned.

Orson Wells
 
I could tell I was watching something special with the Third Man, but I just couldn't connect with the film in any emotional way. Welles is top notch however.
 
I think Touch of Evil kind of outdoes all of those, in a way.
 
For a movie that gets nothing but shat on, Super Mario Bros. was a nice surprise. Was it the first "gritty, realistic" interpretation of a fantasy series? It was dark for a movie based on a kids video game.
 
just finished watching Whiplash for the first time. how the hell did Birdman beat it at the Academy Awards. The last 20 minutes... just wow.
 
For a movie that gets nothing but shat on, Super Mario Bros. was a nice surprise. Was it the first "gritty, realistic" interpretation of a fantasy series? It was dark for a movie based on a kids video game.

It gets shat on for good reason.
 
For a movie that gets nothing but shat on, Super Mario Bros. was a nice surprise. Was it the first "gritty, realistic" interpretation of a fantasy series? It was dark for a movie based on a kids video game.

When you hire the makers of Max Headroom to create your video game flick... then what do you expect will happen!?:icon_chee

Besides, the original story for Mario Bros is so ludacrisly simple and cartoony that it's basically impossible to do a straight real-life adaption. Only by doing something "far out there, man" can you really take the material and produce something with it. Which is what the did. The movie is... eh... below-avarage.
 
For a movie that gets nothing but shat on, Super Mario Bros. was a nice surprise. Was it the first "gritty, realistic" interpretation of a fantasy series? It was dark for a movie based on a kids video game.

There are some elements of it that are visually and narratively interesting in my opinion at least but the overall execution and product is pretty damn bad. I also liked the Leguizamo/Hoskins pairing but it's one strange mess.

I think Leguizamo said in his book that he and Hoskins knew they were in a shitty film and basically boozed a lot on set to help them get through it. Pretty funny if true.

Video game movie adaptations are by and large horrific. I think Mortal Kombat is probably easily one of the best ever and it's not even particularly good; it's just that it is at least fun and enjoyable.


In recent memory, I remember Maxx Payne boring my tears and making me question why I shelled out money to watch it.
 
I liked that they, whoever they are, had the balls to do it that way. I liked the sets. It reminded me of a more realistic Tim Burton.

I can't believe we've spent this much time talking about it lol.

Max Payne had some good action. That's all I remember from it.
 
If Max Payne had just put together the story from the game minus all the running up and down streets and hallways it could have been a decent movie.

Also I'll say this for The Third Man, I've spent a long time looking for another movie like it and have never really succeeded in finding one.
 
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