Patiently Watching Movies

[Patience]

Fury (1936) (400, 500) Very interesting film. Fritz Lang's first in the US. Spencer Tracy as always is wonderful. Interesting to see him get a bit wild. The other main characters were ok, but so much was over the top and overly dramatic. The 500 is as a court room drama. The courtroom scenes are not terribly dramatic or special. Mob mentality justice is very hard to watch and this film shows it as graphically and as disturbing as I have ever seen. Facinating angle of the "lynched" man following the trial of his murder. Also starred the dog who would play Toto. As a "lynch" movie not as good as Ox Bow incident and as a covering up for the mob mentality not as good as Bad Day At Black Rock. Mostly because those movies kept more from us to make them more intriguing. Though takes on another interesting twist at the end as he is tormented to do the right thing regarding his death.

[banshun]

I liked Fury OK. There's an interesting side to it, also, with Lang just having left Nazi Germany & the mob mentality there.

Spoiler:

Those peanuts were a bit of a coincidence! Really, though, that's OK, as coincidences happen all the time around us, but they're just not as vital usually to our future as those peanuts were to him.

[Patience]

Originally Posted by banshun

I liked Fury OK. There's an interesting side to it, also, with Lang just having left Nazi Germany & the mob mentality there.

Spoiler:

Those peanuts were a bit of a coincidence! Really, though, that's OK, as coincidences happen all the time around us, but they're just not as vital usually to our future as those peanuts were to him.

another side note was IMDB said Lang didn't like the ending kiss and would have preferred it end with the ending speach, but was over ruled. I agree with him, the relationship wasn't that important to the film, but overplayed a bit.

Spoiler:

The memento thing was a bit annoying as well. Something with a more commonly used word would be better, especially when he was already constantly corrected

[Patience]

two non-listers

Julie and Julia - I always figure if it has Streep it is worth the time, and I find Child an intriguing character. I liked the movie, but found it slow and like many true stories, when you know how it all ends, it needs to work much harder at keeping it interesting (I thought Apollo 13 did a particularly good job at that).

Lost Boys - another $4 film and some curiousity. Very campy, with some stuff that didn't work at all for me. The ending was just too random

Spoiler:

how Ed Hermann was killed. How did Bernard Hughes even know what was going on?

The teenage vampire hunters. Abd they were prepping for a battle. Why not holy water - water balloons? Booby traps, not just poorly working squirt guns?

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

Originally Posted by Patience

[spoiler]how ** ******* was ******. How did ******* ****** even know **** *** ***** **?[/spoileor]

Glad this one wasn't on my list.

[Patience]

Originally Posted by Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax

Glad this one wasn't on my list.

oops

[Patience]

The 400 Blows {1959} (1001, ARoTS 100*, IMDB 250**)

* I will spoil important parts of movies on ARoTS list. and yes I added it as a category, though most were already on my 1001 anyway.

** Not on the 250 when I made my list. Actually quite a move up for a film made 50 years ago

most of this need not be spoiled, though I doubled spoiled the true plot issues

Spoiler:

I find many foreign films to be overdramatic and over emotional and over acted. This was not. Actually quite the opposite. The young star was perfectly unemotional, except for one tear

Spoiler:

in the police wagon

. This movie is a perfect guide for how not to raise a child. Not abused like in Precious, more subtle, but oh so obvious. Though even those who meant well, only can show so much patience. This isn't one of those circumstances taking the person placed beyond his control. He makes his choices, with some peer pressure, but this isn't life spinning out of control, a farce of continuity.

Three scenes seem so out of place, but are incredibly amusing. The little boy who keeps messing up and tearing out pages. The Gym teacher taking the students for a walk. and the puppet show and the incredible expressions on the kids faces.

The one normal family moment comes at the cinema. Love the line as the dad says "it wasn't very funny" and the son replys, "yes but it had depth". But due to

Spoiler:

the mother thinking she fixed all with petty bribes. and he tried, but obviously didn't know how to write originally - he couldn't just turn it on

This is a story that could have been told in any inner city setting, which made it so universal in message. The ending is bit disappointing

Spoiler:

but I took it as meaning there is no end for him. Life will go on and he needs to just keep going along as well

I enjoyed this on many levels

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

Originally Posted by Patience

* I will spoil important parts of movies on ARoTS list. and yes I added it as a category, though most were already on my 1001 anyway.

Heh, flattered. Can't wait to come back and read this one.

[banshun]

The 400 Blows

Spoiler:

Glad you saw this and liked it. Spielberg is a fan of Truffaut fan and cast Truffaut in a small part in CE3K. You can see that they both have a strong affection for the children that populate their movies. The 400 Blows is the most complex movie dealing with life from a kid’s perspective through 1959, and I’d stack it against anything that’s come next. It was quite autobiographical for Truffaut. Love the scene in the police station as Antoine explains his perspective on the pressures he’s under. The last scene has really grown on me.

Spoiler:

Antoine has run away as far as he can, reaching the shore. The camera catches him in one of the most famous freeze frames in film history, a close-up on his eye, catching him at the key moment in which his life can proceed one way or another. We're left to ponder what thoughts are going on in that head and what path he will take.

It’s not a very tidy ending but it makes you think long after the movie’s over. Plus, there are sequels so you can see how his life unfolds if you’re curious. This movie was the big one to kick off the French New Wave, in which some French critics took matters into their own hands to make the kind of movies that they wanted, rather than the uninteresting ones they critiqued weekly.

[Jonas Grumby]

Originally Posted by banshun

The 400 Blows

Spoiler:

Glad you saw this and liked it. Spielberg is a fan of Truffaut fan and cast Truffaut in a small part in CE3K. You can see that they both have a strong affection for the children that populate their movies. The 400 Blows is the most complex movie dealing with life from a kid’s perspective through 1959, and I’d stack it against anything that’s come next. It was quite autobiographical for Truffaut. Love the scene in the police station as Antoine explains his perspective on the pressures he’s under. The last scene has really grown on me.

Spoiler:

Antoine has run away as far as he can, reaching the shore. The camera catches him in one of the most famous freeze frames in film history, a close-up on his eye, catching him at the key moment in which his life can proceed one way or another. We're left to ponder what thoughts are going on in that head and what path he will take.

It’s not a very tidy ending but it makes you think long after the movie’s over. Plus, there are sequels so you can see how his life unfolds if you’re curious. This movie was the big one to kick off the French New Wave, in which some French critics took matters into their own hands to make the kind of movies that they wanted, rather than the uninteresting ones they critiqued weekly.

Spoiler:

The ending of that movie made me so wistful, which is probably what Truffaut intended. I did wonder for years after seeing it what people made of it at the time. The ambiguous ending is a lot more familiar now than it was then...did some critics complain? Did the public balk? Or was all that cahier du cinema output never aimed at the broad public? I'd like to read a good book on the topic if you know one. All I have is Hitchcock/Truffaut, which is entertaining but uninformative.