Finally saw it (all movies, and spoilers to boot)

[Equipoise]

I remember seeing In Cold Blood in the theater. We lived on a farm in Kansas, just a mile away from the Kansas State Penitentiary where Perry Smith and Richard Hickock met, and died. I was a toddler when the crimes happened, and 9 when they were executed so I wasn’t really aware. The movie came out when I was 11 and my parents took my brother and me to see it, and I was shocked that all this happened “near” me (at the time I didn’t realize how far away Holcomb was, but it was in Kansas, and I lived in Kansas, on a farm!, and Kansas City was in the movie, and I’d been there, and I passed by the prison almost every day because it’s right on the main road going into town). It was terribly frightening and I had nightmares for weeks. Reading the book after seeing the movie was actually theraputic. I’ve seen it a few more times, and seeing it again as an adult made me appreciate the film-making and acting.

1967 produced a lot of good-to-great-movies. In Cold Blood, Bonnie and Clyde, In The Heat of the Night, Cool Hand Luke, The Graduate, Camelot, Wait Until Dark, To Sir, With Love, Barefoot in the Park (shut up, I love that movie), Belle de jour, Far from the Madding Crowd, Hells Angels on Wheels, Devil’s Angels, The Born Losers (ok, those last 3 are shit, I know, but I have very fond memories of them because it meant going to the Drive-In with my dad, who was into motorcycles), among others.
I’ve seen 3 previously-unseen undisputed classics at the Gene Siskel Film Center in the last week plus. I saw Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood a little over a week ago. I liked it a lot, though I would have gotten more out of it if I hadn’t been a cultural illiterate and were more familiar with Macbeth than just what I’ve gleaned from cultural osmosis. I’ve never read the play or seen any of the movies based on it. Well, now I have. As Rita said in Educating Rita, “His wife was a COW!”

Friday night I went to see The Bicycle Thief (or Bicycle Thieves, which is the more correct translation). It’s a very simple film but I can see why it’s so highly regarded. It’s so soul-numbingly depressing that I’m not sure I ever want to see it again.

Earlier this afternoon I finally, FINALLY, saw Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai and oh my god it was SO GREAT! I can see myself watching it over and over and over. I’ve spent the last few hours reading reviews and comments and trying to re-live the movie. I not only want to see it again, I’m wanting now to see The Magnificent Seven, which is semi-loosely based on The Seven Samurai.

I read that a shortened version had been released in the US, but I saw the long version, there was even an honest-to-goodness intermission! It was a serious movie, but I was surprised at how humorous much of it was. I laughed out loud several times. I can tell that it’s also a movie that the more I see it, the more I’ll cry too. I only had one problem with it. I just don’t understand why the samurai didn’t steal the horses, but then there probably wouldn’t have been a movie.

I’m so glad I saw it for the first time in the theater, front row center. Seven Samurai makes 17 movies I saw in the theater in May, and the 80th movie I’ve seen in the theater so far this year.

[Taomist]

@Talon_Karrde

I also just saw Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas recently. It was my first time seeing it and I had just read and enjoyed the book for a literature class, but the movie was a disappointment. It seemed really faithful to the book, but for me it just worked a lot better on the page than on screen.

Maybe part of it is that I could interpret the book as not an account of things that really happened, but an exaggerated interpretation to create a mood, but in the film everything was literally there onscreen and a lot less charming than the way I had read it.

Yar, I loved the book and had a chance to listen to tapes of Hunter Thompson actually vocalizing the book, ie an audio book <this was about 15 years ago, so maybe a bit before actual audio books were popular>

Anyway, the book rocked, the tapes rocked…I do not want to see the film. I’m convinced Depp can pull it off, but…yah. There are times that one’s own mental atmospherics are preferable to watching someone else’s interpretation, and this is one of those times.

[gladtobeblazed]

I just finished watching The Star Wars Holiday Special (Rifftrax version). Holy shit, that was bad. The Rifftrax crew were hilarious, as always, but the special itself was just so incomprehensibly terrible.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

I very, very rarely walk out of a movie, but I walked out of Kurosawa’s Ran, which I saw at our local cinematheque on Friday. Some amazing visuals, with Japanese warriors racing here and there across beautiful landscapes, but the story just plodded and the lead actor was melodramatically bad, IMHO (and yes, I understand the conventions of Noh drama).

[Bosstone]

It’s not exactly old, but I finally got around to seeing Ratatouille. Fairly enjoyable. The first half of the movie built very slowly, but solidly enough that the climax of the movie had me howling with laughter, especially the health inspector. I also really liked Anton Ego, who was a far deeper character than the other “villain” Skinner. It didn’t strike me as one of Pixar’s stronger offerings, but even the worst Pixar movie is still a great deal of fun.

[Sir_T-Cups]

To the people regarding Stranger Than Fiction the ending of keeping him alive ties in with the speech that’s being written/narrated at the end.

All of the little things that seem to be killing us and are mundane and pointless (dope reference!) are actually on par with the things that are keeping us alive. And so it was that a wristwatch saved Harold Crick.

God I love that move.

[tr0psn4j]

I just went through a two week long 80s action movie marathon. Started out as a lot of fun but I was really getting tired of it towards the end.

Then, I went straight from watching those action movies to watching all of Glee. Not very many likable characters in there but it’s sort of interesting I guess. They could sing some more manly music though.

[Maggie_the_Ocelot]

I just watched Fargo for the first time yesterday. It was…wow. Really good, lived up to the hype. I was just so embarrassed for everyone in the film (except Marge).

Also, I’ve been watching the Taylor/Newman Cat on a Hot Tin Roof lately. I know, I know, changed the ending, not true to the play, etc etc. But DAMN those two burn up the screen! Both beautiful, incredibly talented actors in their prime, with amazing chemistry. I really should buy it (and I never buy movies!)

[Equipoise]

I’ve never seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I want to, and I will, at some point. Newman and Taylor at their prime? SWOON

I just saw 2 previously-unseen films in the last couple days. I just got back from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, a direct inspiration for Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, with Toshiro Mifune playing the Man With No Name. Ok, well, someone asks him his name, and he makes one up, “Sanjuro” and Clint Eastwood’s Man was named Joe. It was fantastic, serious but with a lot of humor and now I’m officially in love with Toshiro Mifune. He was great! It wasa a beautiful print and it was shown in the big theater at the Gene Siskel Film Center in all its widescreen glory.

Kurosawa made a lot of money from Leone’s film. According to the Fistful trivia page:

A remake of Yôjinbô (1961), which itself was based on the as yet unadapted 1929 novel “Red Harvest” by Dashiell Hammett. In fact, the film’s US release was delayed when “Yojimbo” screenwriters Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright. Kurosawa and Kikushima won, and as a result received 15% of the film’s worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Kurosawa said later he made more money off of this project than he did on Yôjinbô (1961).

Last night I went to the Music Box where they have $5 Mondays, and saw the most recent restored version of Metropolis by Fritz Lang, incorporating footage found in Argentina in 2008. I believe it’s within 5 minutes of being the cut that Lang showed at the premiere. I had never seen any version before, so I wouldn’t have been able to tell what was new or not, except that the new footage looked like crap. The regular print looked great, so it was jarring to go back and forth from pristine to rough. I’m sure they did the best they could with what they had and it’s better to see the missing footage than not see it. There were so many important scenes that looked rough I kept thinking, too bad for people who saw previous versions so I guess I’m glad I wasn’t one of them. Now I do want to see one of the previous version (NOT the one with the crappy 80’s music!) to see what other people saw.

The rough quality of the added scenes didn’t matter that much anyway, because I was enthralled by the movie. I went in having no idea what the story was, and my only cultural osmosis knowledge was that it had a robot woman and a futuristic city in it. Other than that, clueless. It was interesting watching the story unfold. It takes some getting used to the arch acting and title cards. It’s frustrating when you see their lips move with several complete sentences and then the title card comes up with one or two short sentences. Hey, I want to know what he/she really said! But, what can you do. That happens all the time in foreign-language films subtitled in English even today. Your imagination fills in the gaps.

I have more previously-unseen Kurosawa coming up. This weekend is Dodes’ka-den, Sanjuro (the sequel to Yojimbo), and Kagemusha (anyone know how that’s pronounced?). Still coming up is I Live In Fear, and High and Low. I’m definitely on a Kurosawa binge!