wtf ppl loving F is for Fake?― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, September 13, 2010 9:35 PM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark
Yeah seriously, it's like repping for Jade as the best Friedkin.
― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 13 September 2010 22:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
because it's one of the most wonderfully grand, sly and overwhelming depictions of artifice in cinematic history? plus it has the chartres cathedral bit which is proper hairs-on-neck-stand-up material
― acoleuthic, Monday, 13 September 2010 22:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
F is for Fake is fine, but I can't rewatch it like I can Ambersons, TOE, or Chimes of Midnight.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 September 2010 22:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
I've seen Touch of Evil both pre- and post-restoration, and I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly: the opening shot in the original comes with jazzy music (great) and credits overtop (distracting), while the restoration loses the credits (good) but also, to its detriment, the music? It's been a while--is that right?
Yup. Also: the Grande-Suzie stand-off and the walk across the Mexican border in the first third play out in natural time without cross-cutting. Not an improvement, in my view.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 September 2010 22:41 (2 years ago) Permalink
Which may or may not say something about the limitations of the auteur theory. The music was presumably a crass, studio-imposed contrivance. It's great.
― clemenza, Monday, 13 September 2010 22:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
lol duh at confusing the bergman and the haneke (they're both horror movies!)
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 13 September 2010 22:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
the music may be great but the ambient soundtrack is great also
not sure it matters ~that~ much anyway
― nakhchivan, Monday, 13 September 2010 23:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
Chimes at Midnight srsly handicapped by Keith Baxter and the fly-by-night financing. My three fave Welles remain Othello, Kane, Lady from Shanghai.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 00:22 (2 years ago) Permalink
man no ambersons?
― balls, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
The first 2/3, yeah. We really don't have his film.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:44 (2 years ago) Permalink
*Keeping fingers crossed that Metropolis guy in Argentina can find some footage*
― glengarry glenn ross campbell (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
See, Baxter's terrific; it's Welles who's the trouble.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
Truncated Ambersons is better than intact Kane.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 14 September 2010 03:02 (2 years ago) Permalink
eric h = eric hearst
― balls, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 03:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
don't wanna know what rosebud equals
― glengarry glenn ross campbell (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 03:08 (2 years ago) Permalink
shocked at noodle vague picking the most reactionary Carry On!
They're all pretty reactionary :) Convenience just shows it more clearly cos of the contemporary setting, which is one of the reasons I love it + more or less ideal Carry On cast + hugely moving & nostalgic portrayal of a chunk of working class life that's more or less dead dead dead + genuinely sweet unrequited love story between Sid and Joan Sims.
― Eejit Piaf (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 06:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
It seems like insanity to put up Ambersons on these lists to me. The ending is atrocious.
― a cankle of rads (Gukbe), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 15:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
Well, it's not Welles' ending at least.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 15:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
besides, lots of the finished films on this list have more problems than Ambersons.
Fires on the Plain
watched it yesterday - great stuff!
― Zeno, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 15:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
It's a shame that it got butchered and the studio changed the ending, but it's still the film we've got. xpost
― a cankle of rads (Gukbe), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 15:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
Tim Holt is about the least interesting lead actor in a Welles film 'cept maybe the Mr Arkadin guy
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 16:08 (2 years ago) Permalink
I know that Holt's performance is generally considered a major flaw, but I always found him oddly effective. His tentativeness and awkwardness, like he never quite seems to know what's going on around him, fits George Minifer.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 16:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
so he's Kim Novak Amberson
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 17:09 (2 years ago) Permalink
Which is preferable to Ruth Gordon Anderson.
― When Redd Turns To Blecch (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 17:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
― a cankle of rads (Gukbe), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 16:49 (2 hours ago)
don't watch the ending then
― Chinedu "Edu" Obasi Ogbuke (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 17:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
perhaps that's the best approach.
― a cankle of rads (Gukbe), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 18:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
i think most fans (me included) sorta mentally tune out the ending.
― ryan, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 17:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
my boring, pedestrian list:
VertigoLolitaMulholland DriveAlienLove and DeathManhattanTaxi DriverAll About EveFantasiaRosemary's Baby
― Darin, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
Lolita
Which verzh?
― Eejit Piaf (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
Kubrick - I forgot about the other one
― Darin, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
I was joking.
― Eejit Piaf (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
straight down the lyne
― Chinedu "Edu" Obasi Ogbuke (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
ha! xp
― Darin, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
My take on the two Lolitas:
Swain > LyonWinters > GriffithIrons = Mason
(Don't really remember Langella's perf in the '97 version, so can't compare him to Sellers.)
― jaymc, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
Kubrick >>>>>>1 Billion>>>>>>> LyneNabokov >>>>>>>>> Infinite >>>>>>>>> Schiff
― Eejit Piaf (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 September 2010 20:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
my take on jaymc
you = fucking crazy dude
― balls, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 23:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
About a year away now I think. It's a little sad how excited I am for this.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Sunday, 7 August 2011 18:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
"this" = Vertigo finally overtaking Kane
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Sunday, 7 August 2011 18:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
you think so? i remember last time there was so few films from 1975 to 2002 that they had a separate poll, which Apocalypse Now won. Will be interesting to see if that's any different this time.
― ryan, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
I don't remember that--are you sure it was S&S, and if so, do you have a link for it online?
― clemenza, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
I remember that (and being glad something other than Raging Bull won).
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
about the the 1975-2002 poll? yes here's the link: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/63
― ryan, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
oh it says "last 25 years" so i guess it was 77 to 02
― ryan, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
tbh almost none of those films deserve to be in the overall top 10, Do the Right Thing excepted
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
id consider Yi Yi and Apocalypse Now
― ryan, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
though i haven't seen A Brighter Summer Day so maybe that's a more worthy Yang
― ryan, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
Thanks--I have the issue, so I guess I forgot about that. Not sure what to say about the list, other than I can think of many films I'd rather see on there instead (including a documentary or two).
― clemenza, Sunday, 7 August 2011 19:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
looking beyond the 2002 top ten is interesting: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics-long.html
I predict: the likes of Antonioni, Dreyer, Bresson, Mizoguchi will (sadly) fall, if not drop off entirely. I expect some recent US auteurs, like prob PT Anderson or Fincher, will place pretty high. I think a Malick movie will place in top 50 (Days of Heaven?).
― ryan, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 22:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
malick probably a lock. be interesting to see where TWBB ends up... maybe nowhere. think zodiac has developed a following.
― full on... mask hysteria (history mayne), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 22:35 (1 year ago) Permalink