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Post by lola on Sept 15, 2010 14:37:04 GMT
I have GOT to see that.
Having the house to myself the past few weeks, I've wallowed maybe overmuch in the small screen, trying to watch BBC DVDs I doubted my husband would like. He might even go, though, for
The Way We Live Now, 2001, based on the Trollope book about the dawn of the capitalist era. David Suchet plays Augustus Melmotte, who has London at his feet buying his stocks. FInancial bubble ensues. Matthew MacFayden is great as the impoverished lord who courts Melmotte's daughter.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 16, 2010 6:42:35 GMT
Survivor Nicaragua, which just began tonite.
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Post by lola on Sept 23, 2010 13:52:20 GMT
In a Paris-centric mood I suppose, and happening upon it at the library, we watched Paris 36 over the past couple of nights. (Maybe Faubourg 36 originally.) It's a mess, but a cute mess in spots. The period details are fun.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2010 10:03:23 GMT
Survivor Nicaragua, which just began tonite. I don't watch it, but the French version which also just started is currently Survivor Vietnam. I am just so tired of people standing on posts in the water or hanging on to a branch until they drop. Who cares? And all of their bickering about why they are starving to death while the other team just won a lobster dinner gets on my nerves.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2010 10:05:28 GMT
In a Paris-centric mood I suppose, and happening upon it at the library, we watched Paris 36 over the past couple of nights. (Maybe Faubourg 36 originally.) It's a mess, but a cute mess in spots. The period details are fun. "Cute" is definitely the word for Faubourg 36 -- it just tried too hard to be cute, but it did have some good scenes, and the young singer most definitely has talent.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 26, 2010 5:02:21 GMT
Also cute, and extremely fun -- Saving Grace, which I just watched and highly recommend for the next time anyone wants a pleasant, light video. The performances are extremely good, and it's almost worth watching just for the scenery.
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Post by lola on Oct 2, 2010 15:23:40 GMT
We watched Inside Man last night, a Spike Lee- directed 2006 cops n robbers film. Really fun, not too violent. Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and a lot of amusing characters. Good sense of humor.
Hooray for the Netflix algorhythm, by the way. We've found many enjoyable movies we otherwise wouldn't.
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Post by lola on Oct 2, 2010 15:45:15 GMT
In a Paris-centric mood I suppose, and happening upon it at the library, we watched Paris 36 over the past couple of nights. (Maybe Faubourg 36 originally.) It's a mess, but a cute mess in spots. The period details are fun. "Cute" is definitely the word for Faubourg 36 -- it just tried too hard to be cute, but it did have some good scenes, and the young singer most definitely has talent. The girl was very good. It's too bad the French dislike musicals, or otherwise there'd be a way for someone who's beautiful and can act, dance and sing to show what she can do.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 4, 2010 14:50:36 GMT
We watched A Single Man last night. Enjoyed it right up to the rather abrupt (and dissatisfying) ending. Then during the credits our speakers emitted a giant pop - we thought the house had been shot and expected glass to fall out of the windows. Turns out there is something called a Bitstream Bomb that affects Onkyo receivers. Yikes!
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 4, 2010 15:40:56 GMT
Your last sentence reads like science fiction to me, Kimby! Does your tv still work?
The acting in that movie is truly great, by all accounts. I haven't seen it yet.
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Post by lola on Oct 4, 2010 15:53:40 GMT
I liked the odd ending, oddly enough. Well, didn't LIKE it, but found it fitting with the whole Job thing.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 4, 2010 19:33:26 GMT
Your last sentence reads like science fiction to me, Kimby! Does your tv still work? Everything seems to be working, fortunately. And I didn't even pee my pants when the "bomb" went off in the speaker I was sitting right next to!
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Post by Kimby on Oct 11, 2010 13:31:38 GMT
Watched The Ghostwriter on Blu-Ray last night (no bitstream bombs, fortunately). Enjoyed it very much.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2010 11:30:15 GMT
I've been watching Royal Pains, the series about the defrocked doctor in the Hamptons. It does not tire out my brain.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 21, 2010 13:58:55 GMT
We watched The Hurt Locker on Blu-Ray last night. For the second time, though I didn't realized we had seen it before when I rented it. We concluded that the first viewing happened while I was down with the 4-day stomach flu, and I only remembered two scenes from the whole movie: shooting the snipers in the block house out in the desert, and the attempting to save the man with the suicide vest on. Fortunately, Mr. Kimby wasn't adverse to seeing it again, as I enjoyed it much more this time!
There was another smaller "bitstream bomb" but this one wasn't as startling. Somehow we were expecting explosions this time. ;-)
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Post by Jazz on Nov 1, 2010 19:28:56 GMT
I missed it the week it was in Toronto, couldn’t find it to rent and finally found it at the library. Séraphine is the story of a painter, 1864-1942, whose work was discovered by an art collector, Wilhelm Uhde. Once a shepherdess, she was now a servant at his country home in Senlis, France and in her early 50’s when he became aware of her art. It is a beautiful and sad film, a work of art in itself. I was fascinated by the details of the life of a servant woman at this time. Yolande Moreau was superb as Séraphine and made her very real to me, simple, brilliant in her art, stubborn and isolated. The scenes of her painting with her fingers in her garret room are memorable. She shared with Camille Claudel a lack of appreciation of their work and a losing and moving struggle with mental illness.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2010 3:40:57 GMT
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Post by patricklondon on Nov 2, 2010 6:39:31 GMT
Coming late to this, if I can refer back to bixa's earlier post about Morris - if you enjoyed that, you might like some Victoria Wood, who among many other things you can see on Youtube, has done some memorable skits on TV shows for her Christmas specials:
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 11, 2010 6:08:41 GMT
They really got each detail down pat, Patrick! Amazing stuff. Is anyone else watching The Big C? I had to be nagged into by a friend, and am now hooked. Just watched the penultimate episode of Season One. Whew! (& sniffle) If you watched it, this is the song playing in the background during the last part of the episode: www.playlist.com/searchbeta/tracks#I%20Fold%20Sharon%20Van%20Etten/all/1
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 14, 2010 5:20:28 GMT
Just finished watching Holy Smoke, with Kate Winslett and Harvey Keitel. At one point, I thought the movie had lost its way, but overall, it really succeeded and offers some fine acting and food for thought.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2010 8:42:55 GMT
I just watched Wings of Desire, a 1987 film by Wim Winders. What an absolutely beautiful piece of work this is! It is simultaneously moving and happy. The small but profound surprises will have you smiling one moment, and with your eyes filling the next. The script has to be experienced for the full measure of its beauty. To give an idea, this poem weaves in and out throughout the entire film. ( Here is the German version.) I was wishing desperately that I understood German, so that the movie could wash over me as it was intended, without having to read the subtitles. The sound, including the voices, ambient noise, music, everything, was perfect, completely of a piece with the film. The cinematography, casting, & acting were also astounding. There are sections of the movie I'd love to watch over and over -- the scene with Damiel and Cassiel in the convertible, for instance, if you've seen the movie.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2010 11:45:35 GMT
Yes, that was indeed a fantastic movie. However, the American remake with Nicolas Cage was a piece of shit. Bruno Ganz has always been one of my favorite actors (he was also great in 'Circle of Deceipt' filmed in Beirut, but I confess that I did not go to see the movie where he played Hitler).
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2010 15:11:09 GMT
When I looked up the movie and read that there was a remake, I winced violently. What possible motivation could there be to remake such a delicate fable, much less in a Hollywood version? I don't think I've seen Bruno Ganz in anything else, not counting the innumerable youtube videos with funny captions put to the bunker scene. The subtlety of the acting in Wings of Desire, with the camera lingering on the faces of Ganz and Otto Sander (his friend angel) is such a big part of the film's appeal. The two actors are asked in essence to do the same thing over and over and to keep it fresh and interesting, which they brilliantly achieve. Then there is the further subtlety of the framing, camera work, and lighting as the film quietly directs us to consider the spiritual spark in every individual and how it imparts beauty to a human being. Can you imagine how heavy-handed and hokey that might have been in other hands? (ug -- I guess people who have seen the remake don't have to imagine.) When I looked up Bruno Ganz just now, I came across this movie. Look at the actors, the writers, the director, and the subject matter! Has anyone seen this?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2010 18:05:32 GMT
Yes, The American Friend was a big hit when it came out in France, early in the career of Wim Wenders. It is a great movie and even has scenes filmed in La Défense (well, the RER station) when La Défense was brand new.
Another excellent Bruno Ganz movie is Bread and Tulips. It is about a woman who is forgotten by her husband and children at an autostrada service station. She is somewhat miffed about this so she hitchhikes to Venice and meets interesting people, including a strange florist and an Icelandic waiter (Bruno Ganz!) and has a lovely time, staying in a hotel and just about forgetting her family. One of the best things about the movie is that it takes place in the "real" Venice where people live -- I don't think you see a single canal in the movie, but it is a charming place anyway.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2010 20:50:43 GMT
Thanks for the recommendation. I think I can watch that online. Will report back.
That's one of my favorite things about foreign films (a relative term, if there ever was one) -- it's that you have a chance to see places as they really are, not as travel posters. (see Vicky Cristina Barcelona for a particularly egregious example of that, golden light and all.)
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Post by lola on Dec 2, 2010 15:51:18 GMT
We watched parts of Seabiscuit, 1993, the other day. I was struck by what would now be considered the socialist tone of the movie, where the WPA, CCC, other Depression era relief programs were praised for putting people back to work. This sort of thing would not fly now.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 2, 2010 16:01:21 GMT
In the early seventies, there was a wonderful theater in New Orleans that only showed double-features of old movies. I remember seeing quite a few from the 30s that had a strong socialist message.
I've never seen Seabiscuit, and you're the first person I know who has mentioned that aspect of it. Because of my complete lack of interest in horse racing, I always gave the movie a pass. Now I would like to see it!
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Post by lola on Dec 2, 2010 16:08:32 GMT
William H. Macy alone is worth price of admission.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 2, 2010 16:34:52 GMT
Uh, you said, "We watched parts of Seabiscuit..."
Why only parts?
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Post by lola on Dec 2, 2010 16:58:32 GMT
We had seen it years before with horse-mad sister in law. We skipped some parts that promised to be too tearjerkery. Also it got late, and the DVD was due back at the library the next day. It's worth watching through, I think, even with no interest in racing. The period details are fun, and Tobey Maguire is winning. (pun intended)
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