All Purpose NYC ILX Film Snob Thread

OK, it was pretty painful to watch until the last twenty minutes when Burl Ives was holding court. Niece of screenwriter Budd Schulberg was there and said her father producer Stuart Schulberg had to take over direction of the film because Nick was so strung out at the time.

Will try to see at least one of the double features next week. After that they are bringing in a Brit Noir series that looks pretty good.

can't remember which ones are playing as the double bills - i wish i'd caught the one with humphrey as a lawyer. this series has been fun. brit noir's kind of a turn off for me but the carol reed picture looks o k.

probably headed to Ray's Party Girl at 5:30.

anyone seen Loren Cass?

Nope.

Nick Ray's daughter introduced the 9:30 yesterday. In the audience were such luminaries as piano player/movie lover Anthony Coleman and film critic Gavin Smith.

RIP Cinemaniac Roberta Hill

oh no. Roberta obit? she seemed full-tilt bozo but i never imagined she was mortal.

Party girl was nice. Cinemaniac Bill was there.

oh no! RIP roberta. she would sometimes just come in to the AFA building when i worked there, before they even opened the box office, and just hang around. i'll always remember her complaining about the air conditioning in that downstairs theater

and her acccordion folder full of movie passes.

once spied her eating Spam out of a can.

Brit noir series is on now at FF. Would have liked to have seen The Small Back Room yesterday, but didn't make it.

The Criterion edition is excellent.

So bummed--almost checked out The Small Black Room from the Flushing Library, but went with multiple Chaplins instead. In the summer time, I just don't feel like spending so much time in movie theaters. As a type this, it sounds strange, as many people go just for the ac.

Two technicolor Brit Noirs tonight look kind of interesting.

They didn't do much for me (well, Valerie Hobson was a standout -- but the Stewart Granger wife-killer one was directed by the guy who helmed most of "Mr. Ed").

James Mason noirs prob at 7:50 for me, when it's barely cool enough to leave the house.

I probably liked them a little more than you did, but I think you've got it about right.

why is there separate admission for tonight's single Mason feature AND Edward Dmytryk's Obsession? Not very recession-friendly, Film Forum.

Headless Woman.
classic or dud?

might see today

might see tommorow

the Anonioni comparsions making me curious.
though i'm not one of Antonioni's biggest fans - films from the pov of a mentally unstable character are always interesting, at least from the technichal aspect of directing.

"Holy Girl" is one of my fav films of the past 10 years (and La Cienega is excellent too), so I have high hopes for this one.

dug headless Woman! Need to see it again, I know some stuff got by me. It's like Haneke without the bullshit, ie not that much like Haneke.
Antonioni comp mostly due to mystery/ambiguous-reality element, her film doesn't look like his.

liked La Cienaga a lot, Holy Girl not so much.

If yer interested in next Thursday's single screening of Brit whatzit No Orchids for Miss Blandish at Film Forum, I advise buying an online ticket now:

http://www.filmforum.org/films/britnoir.html#orchids

i liked Headless Womam, though it looks more like an exercice in directing style than an actual "film". she uses the same shooting ideas most of the film over and over again, so you kinda get the point after a while,
(till of course the twist in the end, a-la Bunuel, which wraps everything nicely).
regardless, it's a good,original exercise in the combination between the camera use and the riddley storytelling,which together makes the viewer think,digging deep into the movie,trying to understand it - story and "message" wise.after all, thats the power of great cinema.

from the NY Times:

HILL-- Roberta, died on July 18, 2009 shortly after her 73rd birthday. Roberta was born in Washington, DC to Dorothy Dyar Hill and Robert Lindsay Hill. She was a consummate collector and animal lover. When she moved to New York in 1983, her love of cinema took center stage. She has been a fixture at almost every film festival and movie house in the City ever since, as captured in the film Cinemania (2002). She was a true New York character and will be missed by many.

A friend was told she had known her illness was terminal for months, but continued going to films.

400th-best film of all time (per TSPDT) showing @ Reade tonight:

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/watershed/thecloudcappedstar.html

i don't know how much of this i can make but i would see everything i could. w/andersson in person:

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/990

Daaaamn, that's hot.

Think I'll finally see this Monday:

http://www.filmforum.org/films/mason.html#pandora

also, NYFF tix on sale to gen public tomorrow. Only 2 films for me, pending increase in income.

AFA's fall schedule is up: directed by jerry lewis retro in november!

also roger corman, ulrike ottringer, warhol (inc. chelsea girls)

Last day of Odd Man Out.

Fat City and Claire Denis this week.

35 Rhums is one I've liked more than any of hers in years.

Did you like Nenette and Boni back in the day?

yes (google review of the recent disc)

Ah. Did you know that VBT was J4ck 4nstr31ch's ideal woman? At least back then.

(Misspelled his name anyway. Doubly g00gleproofed)

You don't have to G-proof him as long as he's doing stuff like this:

http://1linereview2.blogspot.com/2009/06/jack-angstreich.html

Still haven't made it to the FF this week. Wen to see Paradise at MoMA last night instead.

I'm trying to get to that when I'm twiddling my thumbs @temp sinecure.

35 Rhums is easily the best movie of the year.

it's hard to find something negative to say about it, which is another way of saying it's a masterpiece.

Denis is the best user of imageries in current movie making, and her subtle,silent humanity here ranks high as Ozu, (more than Koreeda in Still Walking - which look more like an Ozu film,but falls apart at the end of his movie with banality and over-written dialouges),with other influences as wide as The Dardenne brothers,

the rare,complex combination between abstract,realism and humanism is what make the film so great,along with the quiet and assured pacing which avoid social problems almost entirely,cause "they closed anthropology" (as oppose to what the Dardenne Brotehrs would have make with such a story - another clear influence on Denis here)

the Commodores dancingnsequence, the father-daughter horse riding on the train tracks, and the pots at the end are things to cherish.

I like it fine -- but I thought the depressed metro retiree subplot didn't quite work.

Still haven't seen it- it was held over so hopefully can go soon- so trying not to read about it on this thread.

i think it worked fine as a cmparison to the father soon-to-become-state, and how to deal with it.
the sequence that didnt work for me is the ellipse sequence in Germany. the film did rush in the end, with his sudden lapses of time, but it's a minor fault i think.

the best surprise about this film:
inserting yet a new blood for the we've-seen-it-all-family-drama movies

anyone seen Sirk's A Time to Love and a Time to Die? Two-plus hours of John Gavin seems dicey! At BAM tom'w, I may go to the 3pm because of baseball.

Saw it back at the Public many years ago. You gotta go!

Tarr-nation!

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-10-20/film/s-aacute-t-aacute-ntang-oacute-turns-15-moma-throws-serious-party/

I recommend that you all see LOOT today (Monday) at IFC: http://stfdocs.com/films/loot/

It's a fantastic, strange, emotional, eery documentary...