THFM

hahaha

NoirFan

Watched this last night. Pretty much a pretentious mess, especially the tedious and inconsequential courtroom scene, which included the worst dialogue of the entire film. A voodoo orgy, totally irrelevant to the plot, is included, it seems, merely for shock value. Theresa Russell, so remarkable in Roeg's Bad Timing, gives an excruciating performance here. Since Roeg hasen't bothered to make us care about any of the characters, there is no tension as we near the climax. Nice cinematography, as usual from Roeg, and there are a handful of his trademark cryptic visual associations and the usual vague psychic connections between people and events, but nothing to rival his earlier masterpieces. He even steals a line from Melville's Army of Shadows!

Dr. Mantle

Well, I'm always open to criticism. Have at it.


My DVD collection

Yakuza Bengoshi

Elemental is not going to be happy.

The most surprising title in your collection to me is Andrei Rublev. I'm glad you liked it and Solaris. Speaking of Solaris, since you liked both versions of the film, did you also read the original book by Polish sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem? It's very enjoyable too.

I see you have Duguay's Joan of Arc. If you like the tale, I'd recommend checking out the the prior versions by Carl Th. Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc), Robert Bresson (The Trial of Joan of Arc), and Jacques Rivette (Joan the Maid), all of which I think you may find superior.

Gobear

Are you sure you're not merely working from an unconscious anti-Hollywood prejudice? Several of the jidai-geki films you've praised, especially Katsu's Zatoichi series, are mere action films. They're immensely entertaining, but they don't require much thought to be enjoyed. I get the feeling that you hold Hollywood films to a higher standard than you do foreign films. I love chambara films like Kill! and The Sword of Doom, but I'm under no illusions that they contain some hidden profundity merely because their dialogue is in Japanese.

Equilibrium is a dreadfully stupid film employing hackneyed sci-fi cliches that insult the intelligence of viewers, but it also has shirtless Christian Bale flexing his biceps, and that excuses a great deal (Alas, Taye Diggs and Angus McFadyen don't take off their clothes).

I'm sure the straight film buffs here make the same allowances for sleazy and brainless Laura Antonelli vehicles from the 70s.

I just rewatched Z Channel: A Dangerous Obsession last night, and among the many films it mentioned, there was a Klaus Kinski film, The Most Important Thing is to Love, which doesn't seem to have had an R1 release, and I'm disinclined to blind buy an expensive R2 disc. Have you seen it? Any good?

NoirFan

There was a review on DVDTalk a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=31422&___rd=1

This was one of many titles that Z Channel piqued my interest in. It's $20.99 from Exploited Cinema, which isn't too bad.

Yakuza Bengoshi

I do have a prejudice, but it is not unconscious. My previous statement about action films, “I can still be won over, but these films have to work twice as hard,’ is applicable to Hollywood films generally. So many of them are bad that I tend to view them all skeptically. However, I’d say that I hold other genres of film in nearly as much skepticism, and accept no film blindly based merely on the conditions under which it was made.

As I remarked in post 154, the Zatoichi films are actually my wife’s. I probably wouldn’t own them on my own, but as I later said, they are “good popcorn fun.” The Zatoichi films are all reworkings of only a handful (if that) of minor plot variations, and their enjoyment relies completely and utterly on one’s appreciation of Katsu’s performance. In no way do they have merit beyond as a mere vehicle for his comedy. So, yeah, I can watch a mindless flick every now and then if it has something that really carries it (in this case, Katsu), but I’d never want to own more than a handful of such simple pleasures, and I’d want to space them out the same way I would rich desserts.

I’m aware of the tendency to treat that which is foreign as better merely because it is exotic. I think bad anime (as opposed to good anime) often still gets a pass by many because it is foreign. However, I think you’re being too hard on Kihachi Okamoto’s films. I read Okamoto’s films to be good political criticism wrapped into popular entertainment, especially so with Sword of Doom. The code of the samurai, Bushido, is always at, or beyond the point of breaking in his films. Tsukue, in Sword of Doom kills not out of duty or necessity, but out of compulsion for violence. He does not kill reluctantly, or even passionately, but rather with cold-hearted calculation. Okamoto’s films are, for me, interesting criticisms of Japan’s martial past and an expression of Okamoto’s politics generally. I could go on and expand on that but I’ll spare everyone another page-long feeble effort at film criticism. I’ll just leave it at this, I find value in Sword of Doom beyond the base pleasures of seeing violence.

That’s an extra-textual reason for liking the film, much as my enjoyment of Katsu’s performances is for Zatoichi films, and I can appreciate it as such. As I said previously, we all have films that others would question.

No, I haven’t seen it, but I find Kinski endlessly fascinating since I saw Mein liebster Feind: Klaus Kinski. However, as I understand it, his role in that film is a supporting character, and the film itself seems to get mixed reviews. I would recommend seeing The Great Silence for Kinski’s performance there.

Dr. Mantle

I have read Lem's book (and a few of his other works) and it's quite interesting to compare it with each movie. Soderbergh's film follows the book much closer, but Tarkovsky's film (despite an added 50 minute sequence on Earth) seems to have better captured the feel of the novel.

Also if you like Lem, try reading The Futurological Congress. It's a truly bizarre work about a society where almost every person is constantly hallucinating because of the effects from drugs in the air, water, etc.

And I have seen The Passion of Joan of Arc. I'll try to check out the other two.

Jonno2006

No one has answered my question. I'm really curious as how someone has the time to look at every single title someone has. Like how would you rate my collection if i had over 600 titles? Would you look at every title i have and rate it then?

Enlighten me please!

Yakuza Bengoshi

I like your observations here. The bigger point of Lem's book was that meaningful communication between two truly alien civilizations would be effectively impossible, and Tarkovsky pursues this line and Soderbergh does not.

Thanks I'll check it out. I've read other Lem, but Solaris is my favorite to date.

I don't think anyone responded because nobody took your question seriously. What's so hard about looking through 600 titles? Most of the titles will be familar by their covers alone, or a brief glance at the title, and, rating isn't rocket science. You don't have to give every title a mathmatical value, then determine the mean, mode and median or anything like that to rate a collection.

I look at all the titles, do a bit more research on the one's that look particularly interesting, them make some generalizations about the collection based on the titles. Whole process can be done in a few minutes.

THFM

This thread has seriousyly been an honor for me to make! haha

Lemdog

Solid -A. would had been an A but you had Dogville in your collection.

cguardado

sheesh...SOMEONE is full of themselves haha

Dr. Mantle

That's cool. I can't say I really like Dogville, but I admire how experimental it is. And Lars von Trier was actually my favorite filmmaker for a while (around the time Dancer in the Dark came out). He just seemed like he was more willing to take chances than anyone else. And for most of his filmography, all those risks paid off. But then with Dogville, it was like he was just interested in experimenting, and whether or not the experiment paid off was irrelevant.

His last two films, Manderlay and The Boss of It All, I haven't even bothered to see yet.

THFM

Yes I am and you can't stop it!

THFM

Some New Movies:

Head of the family
Naked Gun Box Set
Back To The Future Box Set
Childs Play Box Set
Final Destination 1,2,3
Strapped
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Wishmaster 3

I bet you guys REALLY hate it now huh?

Yakuza Bengoshi

THFM, all threads eventually die, but don't worry they go to a far, far better place. It's time to let this one go. It'll be okay.

cguardado

Agreed

Cosmic Bus

Aww, maybe one more? My collection, in towering jpg format stitched together from the MediaMan organizer since I don't use any of the online database sites.

I must say, I've really enjoyed reading Yakuza's commentary in this thread and there's been some interesting (to me, at least) discussion over the last couple of pages. I'll be checking out the Futurological Congress for sure...

Yakuza Bengoshi

You waited too late for my review. I'm on my way out the door for 5 days in sunny Cancun and I don't plan to be checking this thread while I'm there.

Thanks.

Hasta la vista, all. It's been fun.

acubfaninmd

As long as people keep coming in here to have their collections rated this thread will go on for a long time.

macnorton

Anyone want to take a crack at mine? I am curious to see what people think, since my collection overlaps a lot of people who responded here.

See the link in my signature (and keep in mind, I update it frequently, new software+moving into a new house...it has taken awhile).

whitetigeress

It really is you who is holding this thread together

If anything it is Yakuza Bengoshi who should get credit for this thread. Not you.

Elemental

Half of the time I see the "looking up" emoticon being used, I feel like kickin' the poster. This is one of those times.
Let the OP be giddy and happy about the thread he started Tigeress.
Cheers.

THFM

I give your collection a C. You have some movies I like, but a lot I don't. You like a lot of TV shows that I hate. That's why I offset it with a C.