shadokitty

I know what you mean about Encore. We have it, and I enjoy it too. This was for the cable package in my bedroom.

davidh777

I watched The Rock this month--very entertaining as a pure action movie. It's the Michael Bay film that's OK to like!

Mondo Kane

I'd pick Cinemax. There's still some good stuff to be found on Showtime (Like my viewing of Fruitvale Station last night) but it still remains a mirror to HBO thanks to it's sports and TV shows.
Can't be sure, but I think Cinemax has been cutting back on their own TV shows (Banshee is the only one that I can think of)

popcorn

After falling asleep the past few nights on other foreign films, I'm finally checking out Lola Montès. The only Max Ophuls film I've ever seen prior was The Earrings of Madame du… which I loved. After listening to the Ophuls marathon on Filmspotting earlier this year, I knew I had to watch more this month. Next up: Le plaisir.

Travis McClain

I'm afraid from your phrasing and the balance of your remarks that you interpreted my reaction to the film as being apathetic or even negative, and that wasn't the case. I concur with you entirely about Walbrook's performance, the titular ballet sequence, and the sheer visual look of the film - not just Cardiff's celebrated cinematography, but the production design and costumes, too.

I had an instant admiration for the craftsmanship of the film. I even liked it. I just didn't fall in love with it, as I fell in love with, say, Casablanca or Amelie, or even Certified Copy, which I saw for the first (and, to date, only) time during last year's Criterion Challenge.

flansered

I don't think that's wrong at all. When I was younger, I wasn't that fond of Life of Brian but loved Holy Grail. As I have gotten older they've flipped and I find it harder to sit through Holy Grail but I can watch LoB or episodes of Flying Circus anytime and enjoy them. I think that a lot of it has to do with how much attention that has been given to MPatHG over the years, and it kind of burned me out on it. I

shadokitty

I think that might be the case with me as well.

shadokitty

Watched The Rock to start things off this morning. I have to say as a retired military veteran, I actually felt for Ed Harris' character. Then this afternoon I caught a couple episodes of Tanner '88 on Hulu Plus. I like the fact that every episode seems to have a celebrity in it.

shadokitty

For those who have Flix, Being John Malkovich is on tomorrow night at 8:00 PM EST. I've got my DVR set to record it.

ntnon

You aren't alone.

Also, it sounds like you have the same sense/luck I do... I've blind-bought many a title because it's been on (massive) sale. So far (touch wood), I've enjoyed them all!

Obviously I do try to only get things I think I'll enjoy, however tempting the savings... but I feel a bit smug to be proven "right" time after time.

Case in point: Being John Malkovich. I read about it in passing, decided it sounded interesting, ummed and ahhed for years, then it got added to the Criterion Collection, so I got it on sale a couple of years ago. Watched it a few days ago, and it was even better than I'd hoped. So... back to my far-too-long list of November hopefuls........

ntnon

Sorry to read that.. I'm hoping to finish it tonight, but barring a ghastly ending, it's been very enjoyable to me. Intrigue, mystery and wonky reality are things I like, though.

I'm fairly sure I've never seen it before, but the plot seems very familiar. Is it a remake, or has it been remade/copied on TV, or something...? It seems so familiar.

ntnon

...."gorgeous"..?! Packaging, irony, not-PD...?

ntnon

For shame!

The thing that never seems to be brought up when these debates occasionally happen is that, basically speaking, Life of Brian is a FILM with a PLOT, while ...Holy Grail is a series of SKITS around a THEME. Which I know some debate, but I tend to think is both accurate and moderately obvious.

The reasoning is sound - after all, the "original" tales of the Knights of the Round Table are tales, not a connected here-to-there narrative - and it doesn't really necessarily detract from the enjoyment, but I think that that line of reasoning explains much of the underlying reason for people preferring one over the other.

Also, Brian doesn't really have musical interludes; Grail does. Grail is very self-aware, breaks the fourth wall a couple of times and is extremely self-referential and self-mocking. Brian (besides Idle & Gilliam's "normal" jailer conversation, the alien escape and the in-between spoken parts of the closing song) is much 'straight'er in terms of staying within the proper timeframe and focus of the film aside from, obviously, the comedy thrusts.

I like them both. And the TV series. Even most of Meaning of Life isn't as bad as it's often believed to be...

LJG765

I watched "Holy Grail" fairly recently along with "Life of Brian" otherwise all this talk would make me want to watch them again. I like them both, but lean towards the "Grail" as my favorite. I think it has more lines that are quotable for me. Also, I saw "Spamalot" and loved it. I was only about 3 seats away from getting to go on stage, too! If you like musicals, it's one to check out. I think it's actually a little smoother than the movie and they still include the Black Knight!

LJG765

Watched "Powaqqatsi" tonight and I enjoyed it more than "Koyaanisqatsi." It was a lot lighter, both the visuals and the music. I also watched the short documentary "Anima Mundi" which wasn't too bad either. That one was all about animals. I'd say between the two Qatsi films, watch "Powaqqatsi."

LJG765

I was able to finish the third in the box set, "Naqoyqatsi." Not my favorite. Quite odd. This one they did a whole bunch of effects to what they filmed and it was just a little too...something for me. Glad to be done with them, though.

Mondo Kane

Just wanted to say that I still can't pull the trigger on renting a certain Criterion title:


I'm just still so embarrassed to recieve an email saying, "Has THE PORNOGRAPHERS arrived yet?"

Gobear

It's on Hulu, so you can watch it without embarrassment.

Ash Ketchum

I went to Barnes & Noble in Manhattan and bought it during a Criterion sale. No embarrassment whatsoever. Still haven't watched it though.

shadokitty

Ran into a stumbling block as far as Tanner '88. As soon as I found out they were going to be talking about the drug problem, I quit watching the show. I always hated the heavy handed drug episodes of shows when I was a kid.

ntnon

Hulu currently has the wrong order for the Bulldog Drummond films - it has a 1/1/37 date down for ..Revenge, placing it second, rather than.. fifth? - so I watched it out of order. Which is hardly the end of the world, but it's irritating... I also found that the Internet Archive does not have ..at Bay, or the earliest Hulu title ..Returns (which seems to pre-date the thirties run proper). Doubly odd. Oh well! I really hope they get the full treatment at some point, because they're quite fun. And with the ten listed, plus the surely-easy-to-get-on-disc earlier public domain titles (presuming they're still extant), it'd be a nice five-or-six disc set. It'd only need the one spine number (c.f. Zatoichi), and it'd be a nice early British-ish set with a decent cast (EE Clive, John Barrymore). Hopefully before #800.

I've watched a lot, but haven't had much chance to comment. Still pushed for time - and the computer seems to be dying - so this might be brief, but...

A Canterbury Tale (1944) I watched last year, and it's the same sort of interesting-but-slight film as it was then. Semi-uplifting, a little bit preachy, a bit meander-y... and as such a fitting "Canterbury Tale".

A Night to Remember is very good - and thus damning - although I didn't have much chance to dig into the supplements, so I am unsure how much of it was 'accurate' and how much license was taken with the events. Certainly if it was "true," the reverse-snobbery of the nearest boat's crew is... well. Deplorable.

The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) is fun, and the dialogue and performances wonderful (although I'm less taken with the actress playing Earnest's prospective wife). Interesting that it was framed by theatre curtains.

Finally saw both Trainspotting and The English Patient. I was expecting to squeam through the first, and snore through the second. In fact, the first was interesting and not so druggy as to be unwatchable. But not so interesting to necessarily be top of my re-watch list in the future. It's an interesting sort of anti-hero message, though, so maybe it does bear more thought. Patient started exactly as I'd expected: dull. But then swiftly turned around, and became rather fascinating and enthralling. The juxtaposing the present with flashbacks was well done; the various sub-plots all melded well, and the twists worked smoothly. I quite liked that everyone didn't wind up as you might hope - it seemed a little daring, and much more realistic than a lot of films. I'm glad I've seen it.

Rushmore (1998) was brilliant, and the MTV shorts were quite amusing, too. I was hooked the whole time, even if was a very strange little film! Excellent work from everyone involved.

The Lady Eve is just wonderful - Barbara Stanwyck is superb, and Henry Fonda looks genuinely embarrassed half the time! Unfaithfully Yours was a new one to me, and... not as good as I would have hoped. However, the multiple versions of the story were really fascinatingly portrayed. I didn't really believe any of the cast in their roles, and the slapstick seemed overdone, but the subtleties of their performances were marvelous.

Sling Blade was very interesting, if entirely predictable, and Pulp Fiction is both great and a little too arch and smug in places. I like it, but I think it should be better than it is... Singin' in the Rain on the other hand gets better every time I see it. This time, I actually began to enjoy the rather-dull diversion in the middle! It's practically perfect.

In Which We Serve was really good, but very odd. It's really rather harsh and downbeat in many places, which is decidedly odd for what must have been a wartime propaganda film. It points out the harsh realities of being married to a seaman - and not just in wartime. It shows some of the horrors of war. It's "the story of a boat," but it's not really a positive one... Great film, though.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a very small and seedy film, and does a lot to smear all sides in the criminal vs. criminal vs. police triangle.

How to Get Ahead in Advertising, I'd never seen and was really looking forward to, because Richard E. Grant is in it! Better, Richard Wilson turned up, too. But I think the messages and satire might actually have been better without the diversions into visual madness. Not showing the second head may have made a better film. Maybe..?

David Holzman's Diary was on Amazon, and Criterion laserdisc, so I watched it. Strange. Possibly pioneering, and quite wise in how it essentially dissects 'reality' programming and points out both the flaws and the dangers. So the message is great, and seems spot on. The film I wasn't as keen on.

I also found Two in the Wave on Amazon, which is about Goddard and Truffaut, but not really Criterion-y except that it talks about the two of them. I hoped it'd give me great insights into the personalities and people, and I expect it does... if one speaks French. Even with subtitles, I think I missed about half of the biography and history... but the half I took in was worth knowing.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold reminded me very much of The Sandbaggers (or, in the opposite order, but...) in it's attempt to treat the cold war spy game accurately and thus capture the death and defeat and also some of the mundane alongside the spy heroics. The ending is bleak (almost a running theme, after Eddie Coyle, Advertising, etc.), but feels right. Which is bleaker still.

This is Spinal Tap is hilarious. And the music is better than 90% of "real" music. Which is either to it's distinct credit (probably) or a damning comment on modern music (also probably). I like mockumentaries. I like satire. I like musical(s). And I like this film a lot - for those reasons, but also because it's just a very good film!

I realised after I began Broadcast News that I probably watched it last year, too, and almost changed to something else, but... it's a good film. Not good enough to watch every year, but good enough to not mind that I did.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is also superb. Can't say enough good things about Wes Anderson. It's surreal. It's truthful. It's really, really enjoyable.

The House of Games had Ricky Jay in it, which was a great selling point for me. Otherwise, it seemed a lot like The Sting, but without the strong central performances. Maybe some of the twists would have seemed more surprising without that comparison, maybe not. It was well done enough, but it seemed like a bit of a tired plot.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was pretty good. Again, I had the sense that it should have been better, but I can't quite decide how or why.

More later...

shadokitty

Just watched Watership Down. It wasn't a first time view, but I had forgotten that Art Garfunkel's song 'Bright Eyes' was featured in the movie. Nice to know now that Hulu Plus has something that would work for an Animation/Critierion Crossover period.

LJG765

It's funny, I've never heard of this movie before a couple months ago, yet I've run into it several times since then. I saw it at icheckmovies.com on at least one of their lists and that's why I rented it last month for the Animation challenge. I also do Sporacle quizzes and it's been popping up a LOT the last few weeks and now I'm seeing it here.

And while I can kind of see why it is popular, I'm not a huge fan. I am glad to have watched it so I know what people are talking about, though. I just think it's funny that I went from never hearing about it to hearing about it a ton.

Trevor

The film is decent, but the novel is my favorite book.

popcorn

If you haven't checked it out yet, the new transfer of Scanners is pretty good. I watched it last night because I had no memory of the movie besides the ending and, of course, the exploding head. David Cronenberg really had a great run of movies in the early 80's.