The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
#76
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Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Watched a vintage-porn double feature yesterday: Lovelace and American Hustle. Neither is a fun watch, but I liked the gritty feel of Lovelace compared to the sanitized Hustle, though I always like Amy Adams.
#77
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Tuesday, I watched Primary to distract myself from our current antics. The film basically follows Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy during the 1960 Wisconsin primary. It's a candid look at the campaign trail and all its tedium and complexities.
Yesterday, I watched Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Silence de la Mer. The few Melville films I've seen have been excellent, and this one was one exception. It follows a Frenchman and his niece as they stalwartly ignore the Nazi commander living in their house during the occupation.
#78
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Thread Starter
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Just finished The Finest Hours, the recent Coast Giard rescue film about perhaps the most amazing rescue in Coast Guard history. Pretty standard hollywood, but enjoyable, and it appears to have followed the real event very closely.
#79
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I just finished a good first time view on Encore, called Lay the Favorite. It's about a former stripper who goes to work for a professional gambler in Las Vegas. The movie stars Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, and Catherine Zeta Jones, and is based on the memoirs of Beth Raymer.
Last edited by shadokitty; 06-09-16 at 06:01 PM.
#80
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Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I'll have to give it a watch. I'm a fan of musicals (even bad ones) and have a ridiculous love of Tom Cruise. Jukebox musicals remind me of the Astaire/Rogers musical of the 30s and 40s - there's just enough "story" to keep it from being a collection of staged songs.
I watched a bunch of their films for a MYOC then ran out of time and watched The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle because that's the only one that counted for May.
I'm not much on musicals but the two films she did with Fred Astaire are among my favorite song and dance films. But then I could watch just about anything with Astaire in it as well so the pairing is pretty much perfect in my book. I think they're as good as, if not slightly better than, the Astaire/Rogers pairing.
#81
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I've seen a number of great films for this challenge (see #26 on the list thread), some repeat viewings, some first-time, but I really lucked out today.
I bought an R2 PAL DVD of Kenji Mizoguchi's PRINCESS YANG KWEI FEI (1955) in Paris two summers ago and I finally got around to watching it. It's much more intimate than most Mizoguchi films and the camera moves much closer to its pair of lovers (the Emperor and his new concubine) than most Mizoguchi films. Their relationship causes a number of disruptions at court that lead to a major revolt by the army.
This was later remade in Hong Kong by Shaw Bros. as THE MAGNIFICENT CONCUBINE (1960) and that's a bit more of a spectacle and also worth seeing.
Then, on TCM-HD this evening, I watched Delmer Daves' 1956 western, JUBAL, with the powerhouse cast of Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine (fresh off his Best Actor win for MARTY), Rod Steiger (who'd played Marty on TV), Charles Bronson and Jack Elam. It's a grand melodrama about a cattleman, an unfaithful wife, a jealous cowhand, manslaughter, a posse and a wagon train filled with true believers seeking a promised land. It's got an over-the-top performance by Steiger whose southern accent here makes his character in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT look like a genteel southern gent. It was shot in Cinemascope in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and every outdoor frame is just gorgeous.
Interestingly, the star of YANG KWEI FEI, Machiko Kyo, would appear with the star of JUBAL, Glenn Ford, in a Hollywood film, TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, the same year as JUBAL. I love coincidences like that.
I bought an R2 PAL DVD of Kenji Mizoguchi's PRINCESS YANG KWEI FEI (1955) in Paris two summers ago and I finally got around to watching it. It's much more intimate than most Mizoguchi films and the camera moves much closer to its pair of lovers (the Emperor and his new concubine) than most Mizoguchi films. Their relationship causes a number of disruptions at court that lead to a major revolt by the army.
This was later remade in Hong Kong by Shaw Bros. as THE MAGNIFICENT CONCUBINE (1960) and that's a bit more of a spectacle and also worth seeing.
Then, on TCM-HD this evening, I watched Delmer Daves' 1956 western, JUBAL, with the powerhouse cast of Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine (fresh off his Best Actor win for MARTY), Rod Steiger (who'd played Marty on TV), Charles Bronson and Jack Elam. It's a grand melodrama about a cattleman, an unfaithful wife, a jealous cowhand, manslaughter, a posse and a wagon train filled with true believers seeking a promised land. It's got an over-the-top performance by Steiger whose southern accent here makes his character in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT look like a genteel southern gent. It was shot in Cinemascope in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and every outdoor frame is just gorgeous.
Interestingly, the star of YANG KWEI FEI, Machiko Kyo, would appear with the star of JUBAL, Glenn Ford, in a Hollywood film, TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, the same year as JUBAL. I love coincidences like that.
#82
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I just finished an interesting episode of How Booze Built America, on AHC. It was about alcohol in the colonial times. I never knew how big a part alcohol played in the start of the American Revolution.
#83
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
For anyone who enjoys jazz and blues, HBO is showing Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, an adaptation of the Broadway production about Billie Holiday, starring the amazing Audra McDonald.
Last edited by Gobear; 06-13-16 at 06:22 PM.
#84
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I just finished an interesting episode of Big Ten Icons, on the Big Ten Network. It was all about Iowa's only Heisman winner, Nile Kinnick, and how he saved Iowa's 1939 season.
#85
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
This month I've watched three documentaries about various liberation and power movements during the 60s and 70s: Vito, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, and She's Beautiful When She's Angry. It's heartening to see just how much these movements impacted and changed our society and the way that various minority groups are treated. Unfortunately, they also show just how much further we have to go. Recent history is littered with too many dead, innocent African-American, anti-LGBT laws, and rape victims. Too many tragedies, big and small. I can get very discouraged about our current world. However, these documentaries show the resilience of humanity, and our willingness to fight for our rights, fight to make the world a better place. All three are available through Netflix Instant, and I would highly recommend them. If anyone has any other documentary suggestions on this topic, please let me know.
#86
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
#87
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
George Washington is a character in one of the films I saw for this challenge: WHEN THE REDSKINS RODE (1951). He's Colonel Washington in it and it's the lead-up to the French and Indian War and he's working with the local Delaware tribe to try and get them to side with the British. James Seay plays him and he's something of an action hero. Low-budget, but fast-paced and full of action and incident.
I've seen a lot of great films for this challenge. Please check out post #26 in the list thread.
#88
Moderator
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Over the weekend, I binged Houdini & Doyle: Season One and Ripper Street: Season One. I wasn't crazy about H&D, but Ripper Street was very good. I might continue watching Seasons 2 & 3.
Last night I switched gears and did an Iraq/Afghan War marathon:
The Hurt Locker (2008)
American Sniper (2014)
The Lone Survivor (2013)
Last night I switched gears and did an Iraq/Afghan War marathon:
The Hurt Locker (2008)
American Sniper (2014)
The Lone Survivor (2013)
#89
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Since I'm getting excited about my upcoming trip to Airventure in Oshkosh, I broke out my Oshkosh: Best of the 80s DVD. Seeing the Concorde arrive in 85 must have been a sight to behold.
#90
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I looked it up, and Airventure looks like a blast! I hope you have a wonderful time! I live close to the University of Oklahoma and drive by their airfield almost daily, so I get to see a lot of small planes take off and land. It always give me a thrill.
#91
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
I just watched this. Very stiff and creaky film that really needed some Lin-Manuel Miranda on the soundtrack. And you are right about Arliss being far too old to play Hamilton.
#92
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Thanks. This will be my fourth year in a row, and I love it every year.
#93
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Right before Green Pastures, I thoroughly enjoyed Cyrano de Bergerac.
All three were excellent. AH perhaps didn't have as much plot, and GP was only hazily applicable this month (but charmingly-then-"modern" biblical myth-tory seems fair enough), but I will definitely look forward to seeing all three again sometime.
Last edited by ntnon; 06-14-16 at 09:26 PM.
#94
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Reading about him was fascinating, too.
#95
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Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Finally watched the last episode of the first season of Rome, after watching the first 10 for last year's historical challenge!
#97
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
Quite by chance I've seen six films from 1956 so far for this challenge, four of them westerns: THE SEARCHERS, LUST FOR LIFE, JUBAL, RAW EDGE, DAKOTA INCIDENT, and ATTACK!
I've got others from 1956 I want to see for this, all previously seen but not in decades: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and ALEXANDER THE GREAT, with AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS as a possibility also.
Four of them are among my favorite movies: TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE SEARCHERS, LUST FOR LIFE, ATTACK! It was a good year for movies.
I've got others from 1956 I want to see for this, all previously seen but not in decades: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and ALEXANDER THE GREAT, with AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS as a possibility also.
Four of them are among my favorite movies: TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE SEARCHERS, LUST FOR LIFE, ATTACK! It was a good year for movies.
Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 06-16-16 at 06:18 AM.
#98
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
After watching Robert Drew's Primary last week, I finally finished the other documentaries that are part of the Criterion set. Here are my belief thoughts:
ABD Close-Up!: Adventures on the New Frontier: This is basically a day-in-the-life of President Kennedy who was such a fan of Primary that he invited Drew and company into the Oval Office. It's a wonderful look at Kennedy's various duties. At one point, his sister shows up to get some photographs autographed, and he meets with the Secretary of Labor about a strike. It's a compelling piece of cinema, and you can see that Drew and Kennedy are basically inventing a narrative form that still persists. In fact this is very much like Weiner without the devastating sex scandal.
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment: This is so very, very good! The documentary follows President Kennedy and Governor George Wallace as they clash over integration of Alabama's state universities. Robert Kennedy plays a key role, and the documentary makes him seem a lot nicer than he is reported to have been. I was intrigued and repulsed by Wallace who is certain that denying African-Americans entry is morally and ethically right. He betrays no doubt about his stance. When Kennedy overrides him, Wallace sets himself up as the reasonable pacifist against a brutish despot. It's easy to draw parallels to current politics, especially the opponents of LGBT rights. I look at hard-nosed politicians like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and I think that if they are remembered by history, it won't be fondly.
Faces of November: The set ends with this 12 minute short, compiled of footage from Kennedy's funeral without any commentary. Drew's camera focuses on distraught faces in the crowd, some familiar and some not. It's a moving piece of cinema about a nation in mourning.
All of the documentaries are worth checking out, and I'm glad that Criterion decided to put out this set.
ABD Close-Up!: Adventures on the New Frontier: This is basically a day-in-the-life of President Kennedy who was such a fan of Primary that he invited Drew and company into the Oval Office. It's a wonderful look at Kennedy's various duties. At one point, his sister shows up to get some photographs autographed, and he meets with the Secretary of Labor about a strike. It's a compelling piece of cinema, and you can see that Drew and Kennedy are basically inventing a narrative form that still persists. In fact this is very much like Weiner without the devastating sex scandal.
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment: This is so very, very good! The documentary follows President Kennedy and Governor George Wallace as they clash over integration of Alabama's state universities. Robert Kennedy plays a key role, and the documentary makes him seem a lot nicer than he is reported to have been. I was intrigued and repulsed by Wallace who is certain that denying African-Americans entry is morally and ethically right. He betrays no doubt about his stance. When Kennedy overrides him, Wallace sets himself up as the reasonable pacifist against a brutish despot. It's easy to draw parallels to current politics, especially the opponents of LGBT rights. I look at hard-nosed politicians like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and I think that if they are remembered by history, it won't be fondly.
Faces of November: The set ends with this 12 minute short, compiled of footage from Kennedy's funeral without any commentary. Drew's camera focuses on distraught faces in the crowd, some familiar and some not. It's a moving piece of cinema about a nation in mourning.
All of the documentaries are worth checking out, and I'm glad that Criterion decided to put out this set.
#99
Moderator
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
do we get 'wild cards' for this challenge?
saw the 4K DCP of 'Excalibur' last night and wasn't sure if I can include it.
saw the 4K DCP of 'Excalibur' last night and wasn't sure if I can include it.
#100
Re: The Seventh Annual Historical Appreciation Challenge Discussion - June 2016
^I'd count it without a wild card and do the same for any movie about the Aurthurian legends.