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photo: hangdog via Flickr
I took some time away today to go and see a movie with my son. I’ve owed him some personal parent-kid time for a while; sometimes these kinds of activities are less-than-happy, like going to a sporting event. I grit my teeth and smile a lot; he pretends he’s concerned I’m bored, and we choke through the time together.
But today we’d both agreed more than a month ago we wanted badly to do this together. We went and saw Inception, for a second time.
It was a blast. I think my son’s finally grown up enough that he can tackle some very complicated topics and really chew on them. The first time we’d seen the movie we must have talked for two hours straight afterward, confused and excited by what we’d seen.
Today was different only because he’d brought a friend — and the friend liked the movie, but didn’t understand much of it. So our post-movie discussion was dampened.
Tomorrow I expect he’ll be chattering away about the movie once his friend leaves for home after an overnighter. (They’re playing video games and yacking with a friend in Korea right now, not thinking about the movie at all.)
But I’m still thinking about the movie, still unable to put some pieces together even after seeing it twice. My son already asked me on the way home to put it on my list of DVDs to buy as soon as it’s released so we can see it again.
What about you? Has there been a movie you wanted to see more than once? Has there been one which you shared with family and still enjoyed? And how do you spend quality time with your loved ones — does it include seeing a movie in a theater?
And if you saw Inception, what the hell happened to Saito? I still can’t figure that out!
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rayne!
Spoiler alert: he was left in limbo so the kid from Titanic has to go there and bring him back — hence the scene at the end where they’re all awake on the plane and looking at each other. He can’t be awake there and also in limbo. However, note that the film ends before the spindle stops.
I conclude that I may well be dreaming about America this year, due to FDL-induced sleep. It’s not really that bad, and as soon as I fall off the roof, All Gore will still be President.
If you’re still confused about the movie “Inception”, I think this infographic (warning, spoilers) will explain to you everything you need to know. After I watched it, I realized this was the easiest way to explain the writers’, producers’ and director’s intent.
Where to start? I haven’t seen Inception but now I’m intrigued. Out of the many, many movies I’ve paid to see more than once, oddly Star Wars is not one of them. I used to see movies with loved ones but most of my family is long gone and the last two movies I saw in a theater, I saw them alone, (which explains why I don’t see a lot of movies in the theater these days).
Hi Rayne! :)
Hmmm…sounds kinda like Dreamscape but way better and without Eddie Albert.
Just home from seeing “The Horse Boy” for the third or fourth time, this time on DVD with my book group. Next month we’re reading the book and having the author in for the discussion. I love the movie. And love the book. It was totally different seeing this with the book group from the other times I’ve seen it. It’s about a family with an autistic child who live in the country outside of Austin. The movie is about their trip to Mongolia to see the shamans for healing for their son. It’s intimate and beautiful visually. Everyone enjoyed it.
Aloha, Rayne…! I just posted a new diary… Debunking George Will…
It’s like shooting fish in a barrel…! ;-)
I liked the part where they just did something horrible with his genitals and he screams, “FREEEEEEEEEEEDOM!”
Ten years ago I could have a whole conversation about Family Time. Today, not so much. I haven’t see Inception, and I don’t watch many movies — never at the theater — but, more often now, since our dinosaur tv died and we bought the kind that almost everyone else has been watching. HD is pretty cool, actually. We re-watched Avatar the other day to see the great special effects. That’s all I got…
Hey Rayne!
That sounds like a book I’d enjoy. Thanks gw!
Suz!
Scarecrow — [spoiler alert!] nah, I don’t buy that. We never see how Cobb gets to Saito’s level (which is the characteristic of a dream); we never see him emerge from that level with Saito (again, characteristic of a dream); and yes, the totem in the form of a tiny top or spindle never falls, characteristic of unreality. I think Cobb dreamed he saw Saito, dreamed that Saito suggested the only way remaining to settle the obligation and remain unscarred by the loss Cobb had experienced was to go deeper, where Cobb would be able to see his children — forever. But that’s what I’m thinking right now, might change with a third viewing.
greenwarrior — thanks for that, sounds like a nice holiday DVD selection!
Evening all. There are several movies that I enjoy repeatedly. One in particular is Wang Kar-Wai’s Ashes of time.
More than once:
2008 BBC Sense and Sensibility (maybe best JA adaptation ever)
Off the Map (funny, sweet, great flick about oddball people in New Mexico)
More than once movies: Brazil, What Dreams May Come,Monty Python’s Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, A Man Facing SouthEast, 1930′s mysteries,A Clockwork Orange, 2001, 2010,Topper.
“Has there been one which you shared with family and still enjoyed?”; only family is friends so, yes, much easier than with a kid.
“And how do you spend quality time with your loved ones — does it include seeing a movie in a theater?” ; sometimes, more often in mine or a friends house to save some bucks and not be concerned with others.
If you want to explore consciousness further, see here. Quite a contrast to the racist law passed there isn’t it?
Inception; the dream of a butterfly taken to extremes.*G* “Last night I watched a TV program called “Finding My Mind.”
Rayne…
Maybe a bit dated, but I remember taking my children to go see Close Encounters of the Third Kind…it was a hoot when it first came out, and immediately thereafter the whole family got into a major rap about life on other universes…it went on for hours…the following weekend we went back and saw it again!!…and that was pre CGI and all the techno wizardry we now see…
All that unseen stuff is just [not] there for suspense, and besides, they were already 3 bathroom breaks too long. That’s why you have to see it twice.
2001: A Space Odyssey is another of mine.
Oh yes, our family too.
One film I and my sons used to watch often was The Never-Ending Story.
We saw Inception the day it came out and haven’t stopped talking about.
Clearly we need to see it again. It’s on my list to buy, too.
My favorite part was the signal La Vie En Rose, with the actress who played Edith Piaf in another film.
Galaxy Quest!
Ooooh. Marion Cotillard!
Rayne…
you may have ignited a fav movie nite post, exclusive as well as inclusive of Inception!! Have not caught it yet…
Doc, Margot,
2001: A Space Odyssey and The Never-Ending-Story…both classics in their own right! My family enjoyed both several times over…
Best Star Trek movie in years.
It’s that good, Teddy…? ;-)
I seem to be fading fast so I think I will toddle off. Take care all.
g’nite dr dick
Marion apparently has done an intense documentary: The Congolese Rainforests…have not seen it yet but I am sure she brought something special to the production…
Niters Doc!
We are huge movie theater buffs, and are not above seeing the local dollar movie as well as the top shop local indie selection. Our indie theater often has openings with stars — so much fun. I have to admit that we are partial to Ivory Merchant type films. We took our kids to lots of them, and being francophiles, that includes subtitled films. Funny that they loved them, being only ten and twelve! I have many favs, but Amelie is a real love of ours. I’m just such a romantic. But, even so, MrCE and I love the Director’s cut of Das Bot! I almost ripped the arms off the chair I was sitting in!
Pleasant dreams. I’m right behind you.
Boo! No, not literally. Laters, All.
g’nite demi
Das Boot…seriously intense!!! You can feel the sweat!
G’nite demi…pleasant dreams to you also…
First the regular cut, and some years later the director’s cut. I LOVE Das Bot.
ubetchaiam — Brazil is one of my favorites, have watched it many times, but it doesn’t engage the kids. Monty Python, though, is a different story; my son has the Knights of Ni skit memorized!
edve — we just watched Close Encounters again this past week. It does generate some discussion, gets the kids thinking.
Scarecrow — you are the perfect candidate for that website, RunPee.com. Heh.
DrDick — 2001 is another family favorite, on my list to buy for my daughter who is completely entranced by Arthur C. Clarke materials.
Teddy — The only other movie I have spent as much time talking about besides Inception is The Matrix (the first one). My son and I talked about that one a lot, in part because there are overlapping themes between the movies. I think I need to get Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation to help sort all of this out.
Have not seen Jurgen Prochnow in any thing recently…he was riveting in Das Boot!
“Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring” we love. Still, MrCE and I watch regularly on cable all the Bourne movies, and we are crazy about “The International” with Clive Owen. Actually, we love Clive Owen in everything!
When I was six I saw Broken Arrow eight times. The movie theater was only a block away, on Church Avenue. I lived on East 21st Street in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. A few years later I saw Stalag 17 and went back to see it again. Truffaut said he discovered movies’ importance when he saw Stalag 17 for the second time. The first time was when he was cutting school. Later that week his aunt (stand-in mom) took him to the cinema, where Stalag 17 was playing, but he couldn’t dare say anything. Thus are bufferies born. I don’t think a movie not worth seeing twice is worth seeing once. This is firedoglake, so I’ll recommend Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool from 1969.
Symbols, society, and reality…now that’s a whole night’s worth of sorting out…may the force be with you Rayne! :–)
Planet of the Apes
“It’s a long way from Tipperary…”
Manon…beautiful period piece!
White, then Blue, and then Red. In that order. Could watch Red fifty times.
I mean to get those. I am sooo remiss.
Rayne, you hit a weakness with me and film. Others I love are “Room with a View,” “Remains of the Day” and “Gosford Park.” We do love these quiet films. And MsCE loves them, too.
I recall coming home late one night from a date during a college break, and my dad was watching the end of “Fail Safe.” It was the last ten minutes of the movie, which he chuckled quietly through. I’d also seen it before, and as the credits rolled, I asked him, “Why were you laughing?” He replied, “Because that could never happen.” I told him that the only person I would believe that from was the person who designed the Fail Safe system at Strategic Air Command; he looked at me sideways, and said, “You’d better sit down. Remember when you were little, and thought I worked at Idlewild Airport, and your second grade teacher sent a note home to your mom to ask her to make it clearer to you where I worked? And she called the teacher and said ‘I wish I knew! We drop him off at Idlewild on Sunday night and pick him up Friday nights; he calls Wednesday evening but I haven’t a clue where from. That’s why our son thinks he works at the airport, I guess.’ That’s when I became qualified to opine on the fiction of the movie we just watched.”
It’s been one of my very favorites ever since; despite being a period piece, it’s quite timely and will be until the last nuke is decommissioned.
CLASSIC!… and to think Wolfgang also directed Never Ending Story, The Perfect Storm, and Troy!
Yes. Did you know that Juliette Binoche trained as a clown? We love her!
Some Like It Hot is underrated. You have to watch it a second time and just watch Tony Curtis when someone else onscreen has the lines or work.
Ah shit, Teddy, I absolutely have to get Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation.
Baudrillard posited that we have replaced much of life with symbols or representations of the real; he also theorized four levels or states of simulation, each further removed from reality.
There were four levels in Inception, below reality itself.
Plane > reality
Van > first level, very nearly real simulation
Hotel > second level
Snow world > third level
Cobb’s world > fourth level — and at this point, the relationship to reality is extremely tenuous.
Beyond that, reality ceases to exist at all; how would one find their way back?
Howdy ‘pups.
One day of classes (my heavy day, five contact hours today — this is why I’m not a high school teacher!) down, some more to go.
I’ve had my fill of stupid questions for the academic year. I was walking down the stairs on my way to run off some things for class, and I saw two very lost looking shredder-types (skateboards included). I asked them if I could help them. “Uh, yeah. Can you tell me where Econ is?”
It was my turn to look lost. “What do you mean, where is Economics?”
“Yeah, where is Econ, man?”
“Oh. The Department Office is across this quad, on the East side of the second floor.”
“No, man. Where is Econ?”
I said, “Do you mean where is your Economics class?”
“Yeah, man. It’s in the Business Complex, and we can’t find it anywhere here.”
“Oh. This is not the Business Complex. The Business Complex is that building across the quad.” Just for reference, there are large signs on all the doors into this building pointing out that this is not the Business Complex, which is across the quad.
“Thanks, man.”
Maybe I’m getting too curmudgeonly for this job.
Movies worth seeing more than once: Doctor Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Rear Window, Notorious, and High Anxiety.
WOW! Teddy…that’s almost surreal!!!…no that is surreal!
Oh! I didn’t realize that!
My fav: Chocolat!
The actress in Manon, E. Beart. is in several other great ones. A favorite is Un couer en hiver — but tough to watch.
Can be offset by Intimate Strangers.
Mel Brooks is in a class all of his own…funny dood!
I just saw Room With A View a few months ago for the first time (wonderful). Remains Of The Day I watch at least once a year now. Emma is God.
Well Teddy! Secrets in all our families…
Oh. Speaking of Manon, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is unspeakably beautiful. But get the recent remastered version. On a high-def set, the cinematography is to die for.
Yes…I always thought she was excellent at portraying a smoldering fragility!
Love Amelie, another one worth watching many times. Watched it with my daughter a couple of weeks ago, and her reaction throughout the movie was a treat in itself, like watching a second parallel program.
And Gosford Park, another fave. I should put that one in my Netflix queue.
Avatar.
First movie I’d seen twice in the theater since high school.
So much so that we visited the town where it was filmed! It was so fun as the town was having a village fete. We met the owner of the local candy maker, and had a wonderful afternoon. I wrote not long ago here, about how wonderful the cows were (on Art on Saturday).
No, but it explains why she’s so fetching in some roles — that silly thing with Steve Caroll? — mixup with the brother? — she made that work.
I’ve never seen the original, so I will look for the remastered version. Thanks!
Juliette Binoche in The Unbearable Lightness Of Being OMG.
Never caught ‘Un couer en hiver’, is the subject matter the reason it is tough to view?
I love her, really, she makes me laugh and cry.
If you like Amelie, get A Very Long Engagement.
OMG, MrCE’s favorite. “Take off your clothes.” nuff said.
No. It’s just that one of the characters is too close to real.
We did, we liked it, but it made us very sad.
Christine…that must have been an absolute treat! I will have to comb the writings to read what you commented on…
*heh* I do recall being on the ‘hotseat’ for a Patriot Bn in the FRG, when RayGun authorized the Libyan ‘airstrike’…! We were locked down Nato-wide for two weeks afterwards…! ;-)
Becca — did you get to see Avatar in an IMAX theater? I hear they may re-release it to IMAX only; if so, I’m going to see it at the closest one.
Scarecrow — Great movie, A Very Long Engagement. We watched it together last year in part to help my daughter with her French.
BargainCountertenor — you know, I should put Young Frankenstein in my Netflix queue, too. That’s one movie I know the kids haven’t seen yet that they’d probably love. Of course I ought to just break down and buy a collection of Mel Brooks’ works.
I love the cows! Look for Masaccio’s Art Saturdays.
Understood…I have seen portrayals in a movie that were so real and so much reminded me of an acquaintance, that I had a difficult time separating the real and the acting!
I first saw it on a late-night broadcast, and the colors were pretty faded, watching it on a standard def set didn’t help. I thought it was nice, but a shame the photography was so lackluster. I saw it again a few years ago, on DVD. Wow. And I’ve seen it once more since we got the high-def set. Wow-to-the-wow.
Warning: The dialog is all sung — it’s opera-on-film. I Will Wait For You and Watch What Happens are from the film.
Loved Amelie as well. Dead Again was a very memorable, striking film worth seeing again. Kenneth Branagh became an insta fav because of it. Many great movie tips in this thread … I’m making mental notes … thank you all. :)
I don’t truly have much to offer but nostalgia and some reminders. I stopped going to the movies, I’ve never rented one (except when I taught and those were 16mm prints), don’t do Netflix, don’t get any premium channels, only record some off TCM. I do buy DVDs. An Education I bought last month and can’t possibly recommend it high enough (it’s so much about me at that very time). Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona is the first movie I’ve seen with deep acting that matches the acting in Dance With A Stranger. Stop me before my fonts wear out…
If you buy the collected works of Mel Brooks, you need both versions of The Producers.
I didn’t get the sense Cobb came back; the top never fell.
One of the most traumatic moments I’ve had in film was watching the Deer Hunter, in Paris, on May 1, 1979. We were in a theater on the Champs’ Elysees. When the lights went up, everyone was crying. Me especially.
I *used* to lend movies to my older sister: “You have some very strange tastes”.
Wow, a college campus with signage. How, um, odd.
Doesn’t matter. That’s the level he wanted to get back to.
Okay, I’m going, it’s coming back next week here.
How about something off the beaten track, but visually stunning…anyone see ‘Baraka’?
Our college’s advising office occupies the ground floor. They tire very quickly of telling students where the Business Complex is. So the signs (large ones) go up at the start of every semester.
It’s definitely not a university thing.
Yep. The song scene got me — first time after coming back from VN. That whole sense of realizing no one else could understand where you’d been. Never watched it again; didn’t watch another war movie for about 15 years.
Ooh! Dead Again is GREAT!
Everyone should see movies in Paris. Everyone should eat croissants there. And kiss many people on both cheeks. And be kissed likewise.
Not surprising…an absolute emotional tour-de-force!
The music made me bawl, and I did until MrCE dragged me out. I watched it 20 years later, and it still upset me. Still,I love/hate it. BTW, we were at the Rodin Museum that week too, and guess who was in the same room? Meryl Streep!
I’ll watch any Luc Besson movie over and over. Notables of his are: The Big Blue (the pacing of the movie matches the free diving), La Femme Nikita (the opening sequence is unforgettable), Léon: The Professional (Jean Reno at his absolute best), The Fifth Element (visually mind-boggling).
I haven’t seen Angel-A yet, that’s supposed to be great as well.
Yes, yes, and YES!
2001, The Fountainhead (for the comedy), Mommie Dearest (for the camp), Beaches, The Beach, Koyanasqaatsi (for the music) and The Hunger (for the hotness)
I found watching The Deer Hunter a tad grueling. One of those movies you know is good but would be hard pressed to say you enjoyed watching. I feel the same way about Taxi Driver. A Clockwork Orange on the other hand, while really intense, has enough black humor that I quite enjoy it. Probably seen it half a dozen times over the years. My 6th grade teacher’s husband was a professor at the University of Illinois and featured the novel prominently in one of the courses he taught. Of course he hated the film. A little too close to the subject in my opinion. Kubrick’s work always had to be assessed on it’s own terms. Probably better with most movies not to have read the novel first.
On the other hand there have occasionally been surprisingly good film treatments of novels I’d have considered impossible to adapt to the screen. Catch-22 and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for example.
Cavatina
An excellent suggestion. I’ve proposed an FDL Convention in Paris, but Jane has doubts enough of us would come back. We almost lost masaccio this summer.
I’m pretty sure that into the early 1980s (and the triumph of cheap VHS machinery) 2001: A Space Odyssey was playing in a theater somewhere in the US every day since its release.
I would like to see Barry Lyndon again. I wonder how it’s held up.
That’s two more of my faves, The Professional and The Fifth Element. I’ve watched The Fifth Element at least 50 times, never gets old, a classic hero archetype. And I do want to see his most recent, no idea when it will play here.
Meryl Streep? Another you can only watch it once movie: Sophie’s Choice
I dated the author of Beaches in high school, but didn’t read it or see the movie.
I’m there every other September for four days — 2011, 20013…you get picture.
Children of Men is the best movie I’ve seen recently. I’d recommend it to anybody, it’s great. See it!
Don’t watch the trailer on youtube though, it both misrepresents the movie, and is a spoiler. Hard to pull that off.
Oh Teddy, I love Barry Lyndon. The Chiefton’s music is a favorite.
Only once, and dissolve.
It gets better – if you’ve the attention span. I always viewed it as what the modern world was like just before it sped up. It showed life more or less as it had been lived for 2000 years but would never be like that again.
Angel A…Viva Rie Rasmussen…she really tears it up in that one!
Oooh, sounds de lovely and I am putting it on my “To Do” list.
OK, now there are too many excellent movies selections … :)
Oh, yes, I agree, anything Luc Besson …
Check out Like Water For Chocolate. It’s a very, very funny film set, I believe, in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. You get a great sense of the richness of Mexican humor with the way it is told.
We loved the Professional — can you believe Natalie Portman was just a child? I don’t know the Fifth Element, and think that I should…
I think (perhaps) the only Kubrick movie that isn’t harmed by reading the novel first is 2001. That’s probably because Clarke and Kubrick worked very closely on the novel and the script.
Got a library for a list, but several of its stronger entries have multiple cites on this post —maybe great minds really do think alike. Actually I’m minutes away from a planned late-night showing of Brazil.
Others: All About Eve, Vertigo, The Apartment, and Mulholland Drive. To smoothe ruffled feathers while still providing reason for thought: Daughters of the Dust, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Straight Story. To ruffle those feathers, D.O.A. (1950), The French Connection, and Day of the Jackal.
And one suggestion. See your favorite movies on a big screen whenever possible. You’ll be amazed at how much more detail comes through, and how important you’ll decide some of it is.
IMHO…Meryl is simply the best!
I liked the first half of Koyanasqaatsi but the second half featuring urban decay left me a tad depressed. Back then I typically went to movies while taking acid so the first part was REALLY exhilarating and the second was REALLY depressing. Watching Blade Runner in the theater on two hits of blotter left quite an impression. I still wince recalling the scene of Rutger Hauer breaking Ford’s fingers one by one. Of course Hauer’s soliloquy was wonderful, despite being complete nonsense. “I’ve seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion…”
fun rock music movie: The Commitments
Any fans of Four Friends? (Steve Tesich screenplay, Arthur Penn direction)
Oh, and in the works for filming this year: a remake of Carousel. Hugh Jackman as Billy Bigelow and Natalie Portman as Julie. I think I’d rather see Hugh Laurie as Billy but that’s me.
Oh YES! BIg screen always. Day of the Jackal — another favorite of ours.
When I read The Shining I could understand why Kubrick preferred the hedge maze to animated hedge animals moving about the hotel grounds. Would have been difficult to pull that off without it seeming comical.
This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen so many fans of Brazil. Congratulations to us!
MrCE loved Children of Men. Me, I suffered.
A 1080p HD screen and Blu-ray DVD. It’s like being in the theater without the annoying teenagers.
Kinda campy sci-fi with Bruce Willis and a young Milla Jovovich (the model) and Gary Oldman…
Hey Rayne,
This has been a bullet train!
I think we’ll see some remakes to make ‘the movie of the novel’ as CGI animation improves. The Shining is one candidate…
I’m interested to see how they handle Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I suspect that rather taking reasonable license they’ll pay for the CGI to make the movie of the book.
Riordan’s Percy Jackson series seems to me to be written set up for screen treatments.
Great movie with great music…recommended!
Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of old favorites on such a screen w/Blue Ray, and it was like seeing many parts of them for the first time. Movies you see a 100 times, like Lord of the Rings, are more interesting, stunning.
David Thomson’s book Have You Seen … (he writes about 1,000 movies everyone must see, even some mediocre ones) is a wonderful reference.
I would disagree about the digital image quality, but we’re all chums here.
I’ve mentioned the Commiments a few times here over the years. Love, love them.
“Blacks of Dublin” and more.
Try to catch ‘City of Lost Children’ very Parisian fantasy with a whimsical twist!
Sorry I arrived late for a movie thread but time to go. Splendid evening to all.
Well, Alan Parker. He’s in the Pantheon.
ratfood — That’s one I haven’t cracked the cellophane on, have a special edition Blade Runner that I should watch this weekend.
Of course I should also crack open my Kurosawa limited edition collection, bought it something like 7 years ago and never touched it. My son is probably old enough to appreciate it now — and we finally have a big screen to watch it on, too. Next time it’s rainy I think we’ll have a Kurosawa marathon.
I don’ know this — will look into it.
I really hope the current 3D trend is short lived. Yet another elevation of style over substance (sigh).
The Internet Movie Database is good site for all kinds of information on individual movies. It has reviews, plot summaries, discussion boards and lots of trivia on each movie. Check it out.
http://www.imdb.com/
G’nite rat…
One winter snow day, I watched my first Kurosawa film, and was amazed. That is all I have.
It’s probably a safe bet that everyone here has seen Terrence Malick’s entire ouevre.
Yes, agree, The Fifth Element is very campy, but a lot of fun. I love the colors, the action, and the cast was incredibly good for a relative nobody at the time.
I never saw the “Director’s Cut” of Blade Runner but read some scathing reviews. The original release is purported to be better. Saw an interesting documentary that noted how filming of Blade Runner was delayed by the actors strike, which gave the designers MONTHS to work on the sets… with fantastic results.
Thanks for a great LN post Rayne.
I agree about the 3D weak tea…but it might be a hoot to have ‘holographic’ movies
“Destination Anywhere” to Scarecrow
Maybe so. There is a caveat: almost everything being shot today is shot digitally.
Analog isn’t all that and bowl of chips, either. I cited Umbrellas of Cherbourg earlier. Demy shot it on Eastmancolor stock, which degraded quickly. If you read the reviews of the original release, one of the major emphases is the cinematography. When people were seeing it 15 or so years later, you were left wondering what all the fuss was about.
Fortunately, Demy knew that his stock wasn’t stable. He had color separations made (like Technicolor) on monochrome stock. That was the source used in remastering the film.
If Demy hadn’t had the foresight to store stable versions of his film, we would never see it as he intended.
I wish I had a watchable copy of the original Blade Runner with Dekkard’s voiceover. I have the ‘Director’s Cut’ without it. I dream of Rachel every night though.
Me too. I can’t watch 3D stuff — it gives me a horrid headache.
Oh I very much agree, it is a big time fun flick…I own it on DVD and is part of the collection!
OMG– Bladerunner is forever burned on my brain. Because of it, I later felt compelled to drag an NIHer to Jurassic Park just so I could do a post-movie cross-examination regarding the validity of the science represented. Branaugh’s version of Frankenstein RULES. Still have yet to see The Gods Must Be Crazy.
Must attend to critters now. Nighty, night all. :)
I loved “Hero” by Zhang Yimou. Entertaining story but I was particularly blown away by the cinematography (Christopher Doyle). I have difficulty imagining a film featuring such visual artistry being made in the US.
Someday, read Tim Dirk’s essay/review of Casablanca at filmsite.org. It’s virtually watching the movie itself, but with wonderful insights throughout.
It is wonderful to see how many of us love all sorts of film. Hey Pups!
Blade Runner is an interesting film on lots of levels. One is that it’s based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The other is the plethora of editions that are available. I don’t know that anyone has a clue what the ‘official’ version of the film is. It’s kind of like the situation with Bernstein’s Candide Lenny futzed around with that score for forty years, and there were three major productions. Lenny recorded the score in London a few years before he died, and he recorded almost every note he jotted down for it. So, when you want to do Candide you’ve got the problem of figuring out what ‘doing Candide‘ means.
I saw it when it came out. Then I began to watch it on TV decades later. Yikes.
“Whiter Shade of Pale.”
What a kwinkydink! I saw “Inception” today with my daughter, who is an adult. I really liked it. I thought that Saito was old because he went to Limbo and more time passed for him than it did for the others who were still on the next level up. My daughter and I both agreed that the end was purposely ambiguous. We weren’t supposed to know for sure if it was still a dream. I chose to think they all got out alive.
As with all technologies, the sad part is that even with digital, the classics of today may have limited shelf life…there are countless hi-tech stories online about how the surfaces of DVD’s and Blue Rays will definitely breakdown over time rendering the movie data useless…everything changes…that’s the way it goes!
The most amazing thing about Casablanca is that it was obviously not seen as a cultural-icon-in-process. But the cinematography is so spot-on, color would have ruined it.
The DVDs may (and probably will) die. But the masters are on hard-drives that are backed up regularly.
And if you’re worried about the life of your DVDs, you have the right to back up the media. Crack the security (not difficult at all) and make your copy. Then make copies on a regular basis.
But I still like Procol’s version…all good!
They should hold up pretty well if you handle them carefully. I handle all media the way I did back in the time of primitive friction devices (vinyl records) by the edges only and all my dvds are in great shape. I rent from Netflix and clearly many people are not so nice to discs.
I was 9 when it came out. I didn’t see it until I was in graduate school, about 20 years later.
Ted Turner ruined it with ‘color’. Ilsa’s teeth were blue.
When you watch it again, check out the edit-cuts when Rick knocks over his glass just before Ilsa appears at the flung-open door. It’s ‘blocked’ so her appearance is stunning and so we can see it straight-on from Rick’s POV. Incomparable artwork.
Agreed…truth is by the time the media gets fuzzy and unusable, we will probably be on another media format anyhow…I sincerely hope they keep backing up the masters…the hard dives fail also…it is a moving target.
I think the concern is less about the surface of the disks (it’s a high impact polycarb plastic) because scratches can be pretty easily polished out. The concern is the stability of the dyes used to capture the bitstream. They are not stable in the archival sense.
I’ve never seen the colorized version. I thought that was a Bad Idea the first time I heard it mentioned.
Show of hands from all who miss Pauline Kael
Goodnight All!
Wasn’t that an incredibly beautiful film, Hero? I think that it’s probably not fair to expect a film like it to be made here; it’s quintessentially Asian.
Ditto for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which made Hero more widely accepted in an American market. Perhaps not quite as stunning in cinematography as Hero, CTHD was phenomenal in its use of wu xia. (God but I love wu xia…too bad there wasn’t more wu xia in the industry at the time to influence Kurosawa’s works, would have been incredible.)
Good night CE, glad you could join us!
I totally agree…DVDs, CD, and the like suffer from our naturally moist fingers, not even taking into account that some folks handle disks while they are munching on some food item…that simply is a no no!
The only reason I watched the colorized version was because I wondered if Turner would make an edit with Ilsa and Victor kissing on the mouth.
G’nite Christine…pleasant dreams!
Later CE, Be Good To MBP!
Mrs. Dr. BC and I saw it week before last on TCM. In monochrome on the high-def set. It was like being at the movies…
Worried about what Captain Outrageous would do to it, huh?
Pups..it’s been great fun…
Thanks so much Rayne…
Rest well all and most pleasant dreams…hopefully in technicolor! ;–)
I’m tempted to upgrade my Time-Warner basic cable only to receive TCM in HD.
The repertory house in Pittsburgh screened Casablanca every year, but I wouldn’t go a second time. Everyone made it a Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Have you read the book? It’s quite different and equally worth the time.
Thank you for your suggestion.
I read Dirk’s essay/review of Casablanca and it was excellent
Best colors to ya!
Actually, that’s a good point, I really should watch Blade Runner with the kids this weekend, even if it is the director’s cut edition. That it was based on a Phillip K. Dick novel is pretty important, might encourage them to try reading some of his work.
The kids and I have been talking for a couple years now about Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, in relation to other movies portraying robots — like I, Robot, or Bientennial Man, or AI: Artificial Intelligence.
Blade Runner would be a nice extension to that conversation, whether androids are robots and what their limits should be.
Oh, yes, Mulholland Drive.
Also Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead, all of the Lynch.
Can you believe Lucas wanted Lynch to direct Revenge of the Jedi???
“I had next-to-zero interest”
My pleasure!
Ten years ago Dirks let me add a paragraph to his 2001: A Space Odyssey essay/review. I was sooo flattered!
We’re on DirecTV, and we pay an outrageous price for it. But we do get a bunch of stuff that I want in HD (you haven’t seen Blue Planet until you’ve seen it in HD) so I guess it’s worth it.
I have not, but I will seek it. Thank you.
: )
Revenge of the Sith, or Return of the Jedi?
Sounds to me like Lucas just wanted to take another slap at Spielberg. Spielberg would give his left nut to do a StarWars film…
Good night, ‘pups.
A very funny 5 minutes. I lmao every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKczZnfwYC4
: )
‘Night, BC. I’m afraid I’m right behind you, need to be up in a scant five hours from now.
Hope I see few more movie recommendations when I get back on line, has been a good night for replenishing my Netflix queue already.
Dune. Me and two kids I was weekend sitting for, he was 11 she was 9, went to see Dune with three tons of expectations. Me only for Sean Young. After, at the deli, we each admitted that we each wanted to walk out early but wouldn’t say anything, figuring the other two wanted to stay. The first movie I ever waked out of was Blue Thunder. I always felt it was sinful to walk out of a movie. I wished I could have gone back to see Woody’s Interiors so I could walk out of that.
GN, BC. Stay well!
Thanks for the great thread!
great post & thread, Rayne, thanks
Wow SUZ, I kid you not your are so good at getting those 100′s it is hilarious. I am sorry!
The first minute I surfed to this outrageous The End Of Nations commentary my first thought was FDL’s visitors absolutely should be able to comment on this! http://hubpages.com/hub/Global-Union-The-End-Of-Nations
I found Inception to be
I found Inception to be intolerably dull. The dreams were just as stubbly and sweaty as the waking world. When I’m in a dream, I expectr to see a white rabbit or two. Nolan is a brilliant man–Memento is one of my all-time favorites–but he seems to have a serious lack of visual imagination.
I’ve seen lots of movies multiple times. Blade Runner is a perennial favorite. The movie I’ve seen more than any other is a 1969 film called Performance, directed by Nicolas Roeg. One of the great mind-blowers of all time.
The page at that link seems a bit light and heavy on advertising, like an SEO biz page. Upon further research, the author of the post at that link appears to be an email marketing specialist prone to spouting a lot of right-wing talking points on sites in order to drive traffic for advertising $$.
Thanks for the suggestion about Performance. Jeepers, a movie featuring Mick Jagger? wonder how readily I can get a copy…
I’ve seen Inception three times. I’ve shifted back and forth many times on what I think–but I still think the wedding ring is a tell–he wears it when dreaming.
Anyway…this week?
Piranha 3D!!!!!!!
82 percent on RottenTomatoes.
Can’t wait.
I walked in very late last night on this thread.
What’s the common thread between D.O.A. (1950) and Blade Runner (1982)? The Bradbury Building in Los Angeles. Speaking of which, http://www.hulu.com has made available several more episodes of Outer Limits from both the original series and the new 1. The new episodes include Demon with a Glass Hand with Robert Culp and written by Harlan Ellison from the original 2nd season. Made mostly in the Bradbury Building. The special effects in some of the 1960s episodes may make you laugh. Also, for example, the pilot from the new series is available.
D.O.A. is great looking noir. Especially the scene with Edmond O’Brien and Neville Brand revolving around a drugstore at night in LA in 1950. Beautifully lit. Rudolph Mate, who directed, was the cinematographer on The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928).
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005789/bio
Performance was put out on DVD rather recently. Very easy to get a copy. Very difficult film to understand if you don’t have the background information. For that get Colin McCabe’s BFI book on it.
Performance is the first British gangster film. All the overpraised others spring from it. The Krays were still very much in power when it was made — in 1968. It took another two years for it to get released.
While Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg share directorial credit, it’s really Cammell’s film. He did a few others afterwards — the best being White of the Eye — but his life and career were plagued with problems. Some of his own making, some not. Hence his suicide. Met him once. He was a very sweet man. Met his widow too (she witnessed the death.) Very beautiful and strange too — as one might expect.
gvandergrift — thanks much, will have to look up DOA. Love the work the first gen of film did, so much more challenged when it came to lighting, would love to see how it shaped Mate’s direction in second-plus gen film.
Cellar47 — the background about Jagger’s backstory wrt to Performance is intriguing enough, really looking forward to viewing this one.
Here’s a note of bipartisanship. I loved Inception, and yes I hope to see it again and this time take the family.