i've seen 31. most of the 19 i haven't are "foreign" films, including a number i'm embarassed to admit i've avoided over the years:
8½Battleship PotemkinL’AtalanteLate SpringAu hasard BalthazarMirrorL’avventuraLe MéprisOrdetShoahTokyo StoryBicycle ThievesJeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 BruxellesThe 400 BlowsLa Règle du jeuJourney to ItalyGertrudHistoire(s) du cinémaThe Battle of AlgiersSunrise: A Song of Two HumansUgetsu monogatari
― contenderizer, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:20 (eleven years ago) link
oh man – what I'd give to watch The Rules of the Game or Sunrise for the first time.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
I try not to fetishize first screenings of anything, because a lot of my favorite movies were "meh" on first watch.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
True but not those two I mentioned.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:25 (eleven years ago) link
certainly the case with Tokyo Story though
love a lot of the films people are taking shots at itt. the searchers is fantastic, one of the most visually striking and flat-out entertaining westerns i've ever seen. i prefer bande a part to breathless, but the latter's still pretty damn great. la dolce vita is kind of exhausting, but that's clearly the point, and it's so spectacular, strange and colorful that my attention never wandered.
satantango is a chore though.
― contenderizer, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:26 (eleven years ago) link
I saw Rules of the Game a couple years ago. Good movie, but it didn't wow me or anything.
― Trewster Dare (jaymc), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:27 (eleven years ago) link
Just looked at the upcoming screenings at the Siskel Film Center and the Music Box, and now I'm excited to catch Celine and Julie Go Boating in a couple of weeks.
― Trewster Dare (jaymc), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:28 (eleven years ago) link
This is a good point -- I'm too hardwired to follow surface-level plot/text, and don't get into subtext, context and interesting technique until repeat viewings, though I'm trying to train myself to be a better film-watcher.
― Your sweet bippy is going to hell (WmC), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:29 (eleven years ago) link
I only became comparatively "meh" on Tokyo Story when I saw some of Ozu's other variations and liked them more.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:31 (eleven years ago) link
Exactly my reaction, I can't see what I'm missing.
― don't slip in mud (Matt #2), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:32 (eleven years ago) link
I'll take Early Summer over both TS and Late Spring, although I confess to using Wiki to remember which is which.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
love a lot of the films people are taking shots at itt
Down low.
Too slow.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
I've had films sneak up me over time, of course, but I do carry around in my head the overwhelming experience of certain first-screenings in my life: Taxi Driver, the two Godfathers back-to-back, the three Apus in a row, Raging Bull, On the Waterfront, Crumb, a few others.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
Late Spring is my pick, along with its reboot An Autumn Afternoon. Equinox Flower was another I remember liking a whole lot.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
Of the 49 I've seen, by far the one that leaves me cold is Le Mépris. Bad marriage on the Rivieria, zzzzzzzzzzz.
And after 2 viewings of Celine and Julie Go Boating, done with it as well.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
and The End of Summer.
As for The Rules of the Game it wears its mastery lightly, so I can see how on first glance it's amiable enough.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:37 (eleven years ago) link
My problem is that I so rarely watch things more than once -- I'm sure films I shrugged at would gain something upon repeat viewings, but there are too many movies that I haven't seen at all to catch up with. To preemptively answer clemenza, I'm not a Paulista, just a pragmatist.
― Trewster Dare (jaymc), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:37 (eleven years ago) link
I think Paulistas are the Libertarian wing of the Paulettes.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
And Armond is a member of the Tea Pauly.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:42 (eleven years ago) link
pauly vous paulette?
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:43 (eleven years ago) link
Paulista!: the legendary unreleased 4-disc concept album about film criticism by The Clash.
― Jeremy Spencer Slid in Class Today (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:44 (eleven years ago) link
what would P.K. have voted for besides The Godfather and The Manchurian Candidate? Is there any record of her participating in '62-92?
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:45 (eleven years ago) link
Pretty sure she eschewed participation, but surely Nashville and Last Tango would be joined by Shoeshine and Intolerance.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe Rules of the Game too. Can't quite remember if that got the treatment.
she loved L'avventura and Joan of Arc.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
A bunch of us made some guesses on the Kael thread a year or two ago. Other than that one cage-match of a film-critics circle she belonged to, I don't think she ever dealt in awards or lists of any kind ever.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
The thing that makes the "too many movies" problem manageable is that the contemporary American films that are lauded by the MSM are worse than ever, so you can skip most of those.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
Sarris always participated (this time I don't know); Kauffmann did in '72 and I think maybe '82, then dropped out; Simon, never.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
Well, Simon couldn't actually come up with 10 movies he even liked, so much loved.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:50 (eleven years ago) link
he liked a lot of Bergman.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
if Simon doesn't concentrate hard enough he can't help but imagine Barbra Streisand's nose in every movie.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
Actually, he did compile a favourites list at the beginning of one of his first two collections...I'm willing to make the trip downstairs to retrieve it, if anybody cares enough.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
Babs has a new film at Christmas. Maybe he'll blog about it. xp
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:52 (eleven years ago) link
wow, I've only seen one of those movies
― frogbs, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:52 (eleven years ago) link
guessing which one could be a poll
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:53 (eleven years ago) link
xposts and Liza Minelli's eyes and (lack of) jawline
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:53 (eleven years ago) link
Haha, OK: proving my point that I'm not one.
― Trewster Dare (jaymc), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:53 (eleven years ago) link
In the introduction to his first collection Simon got pissy because Kael included The Lady Eve in her list of great American movies; it was merely "sound, solid entertainment...nothing to sneeze at," he wrote.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
Confusing Paulettes with Paulistas is probably a sign of good mental health.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
from a John Simon blog post on tennis in June. He is... the same.
Being a fan, for me, is definitely tinged with sexuality where women players are concerned. Steffi Graf was the great tennis star of my younger days, but all I could summon up for her was respect. Perhaps her nose was too big. She definitely lacked charm, though she clearly had intelligence. But Hingis had both. Lacking a powerful serve, the Achilles heel of many a female player, was certainly also Hingis’s, although she also lacked the brute force of certain current players, e.g. Serena Williams—and a good thing too....
But women’s tennis today is full of conspicuous athletes, and very poor lookers. Just try to feel sexual about Kvitova or Azarenka, let alone Kuznetsova. I would as soon dine on goat excrement. There is today only one woman player about whom I have strong feelings, Julia Goerges. She is beautiful and gifted, and has a terrific serve (125 miles), but not quite great. One rarely sees her on television, being German rather than American. If only she could be black or at least butch, but no such luck.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
http://photoshopcontest.com/images/fullsize/84382039498619fe3bb45697d4bfc8fbe8ef12f166654.jpg
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
I hope I can keep my mind off eating goat shit when I'm 87.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:01 (eleven years ago) link
TS: Christgau vs Simon, which critic is the most creepy?
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:02 (eleven years ago) link
By absolutely no popular demand whatsoever, John Simon's pantheon circa 1967 (from Private Screenings): Smiles of a Summer Night, Les Enfants du Paradis, Forbidden Games, Kanal, The Rules of the Game, The White Sheik, I Vitelloni, L'avventura, The Seven Samurai, The Naked Night, and, a sop to the rubes, Citizen Kane. Films I associate him with from subsequent books: Badlands, Swept Away, Melvin and Howard...I'd have to check back; he didn't go overboard very often.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:04 (eleven years ago) link
Back to Rules of the Game... Kael put it well when she said that the thrill of this film is that it seems to unfold right in front of you. It's so spontaneous and alive that its formal perfection is dazzling to see. For me it's also about the perfect arrangement of the final scenes, from the furious energy of the party to the grace and melancholy of the ending.
― jim, Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link
the movie takes its cue from Dalio and the maid's performance: smiling, flustered, unable to be serious for a moment.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:11 (eleven years ago) link
Effervescence isn't incredibly high up on my list of qualities I seek in movies, but Rules does it so impressively that, yes, it's clearly one of the all-time greats.
― Eric H., Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:13 (eleven years ago) link
I have seen 37 of them. These I haven't seen:
Sunrise: A Song of Two HumansL’AtalanteAu hasard BalthazarPersonaLe MéprisOrdetShoahJeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 BruxellesSátántangóJourney to ItalyGertrudHistoire(s) du cinémaUgetsu monogatari
― pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:19 (eleven years ago) link
pretty stoked to have seen exactly half!
― 69, Thursday, 2 August 2012 17:23 (eleven years ago) link