1965: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Tue, 06/01/2004 - 01:16
Tags:
Loved
The Battle of Algiers
... Best docu-drama ever? Better than Z. Better than Bloody Sunday. Other contenders? Sadly, oh-so-topical today. I imagine such a movie is always topical.For a Few Dollars More
Red Beard
... As much as I've been flexing my primeval cinematic cortex, and as much as I like Kurosawa, I still approached this one with some trepidation. In feudal Japan, a young arrogant intern is assigned to a clinic for the poor, where he chafes under the tutelage of the head doctor for three hours. Boooor-ing, right? Wrong. It's brilliant (but you knew that). Beautiful wide B&W cinematography, and the individual vignettes that underscore the hardships of the villagers lives are beautiful and moving. The last collaboration between Kurosawa and Mifune, and it's not to be missed. If you don't get a lump in your throat at least once, I'll give you a dollar. Or I'll be outraged at your inhumanity and stiff you. I'll decide later. In any case, don't you want to see the film that paved the way for Doc Hollywood? Sorry, couldn't resist.Really Liked
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Repulsion
... A perfect example of why you should always watch a movie to the end. By the 45-minute mark I was bored off my rocker and on the verge of falling asleep. Got up, made myself some popcorn, and brought it back with a book figuring I could easily multitask through this one. I didn't get too far into my popcorn though when the first scare hit. Out of the blue, perfectly punctuated by the score, and over before you know it. You almost want to rewind just to catch it. No taking your eyes off the screen after that one, and the movie goes places I really wasn't expecting after trudging through the first act. A goodly thriller, and the excellence of Catherine Deneuve's performance only becomes apparent as it is given time to unfold. And ugh, that rabbit...Thunderball
Glad I Saw
The Great Race
The Shop on Main Street
... Great movie. I can discern only one flaw: I didn't really get into it.The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
... The spy genre is crammed with gadgets, car chases, lusty women, and show downs. This one strips all that away and leaves Richard Burton, given an assignment to fit a piece into a jigsaw puzzle. But he lost the box so he doesn't know what the picture looks like, he doesn't have all the pieces, and has to rely on other people to tell him who might have the pieces he needs. And who knows if they can be trusted not to slip him pieces from other puzzles? The whole movie is kinda like a jigsaw puzzle: boring and complicated at the beginning, but oh-so-satisfying when that last piece fits into place.Guilty Pleasures
- None Yet
Could Have Missed
Doctor Zhivago
... I hate not liking a movie as much as I should. Zhivago has a broad scope: war, romance, life during turbulent times, and more. The first half almost had me, but then I started to slip away after intermission. The length became palpable, at which point I was completely disengaged. The cast was uniforming good, except for Rod Steiger who was great. I think the main problem for me was that we really get no sense of what drives our three main characters; we see what they do, but we don't really know why. A specific example: we have no idea why Zhivago and Tonya marry, except that they are both good people (you almost get the sense that their marraige is arranged, but if that's the case you'd expect more emotional tension). The Zhivago/Lara affair works a bit better, as at least we can see how they could grow close while caring for the wounded. In short, the film is impressive but it really didn't rock my boat (also see this thread).The Sons of Katie Elder
... Not one of my favorite John Wayne movies, but still fairly enjoyable, when it's not being too damn long. At a mere two hours that's kinda damning criticism, but it's still interesting to watch the four sons grapple with trying to pay their respects to their deceased mother, and trying figure out how they'll stick it to the weaselly bad guy at the same time.Should Have Missed
- None Yet
El Sucko Grande
- None Yet
Cloned From:
I like The Great Race too. Curious plot though: part Around the World in 80 Days and part The Prisoner of Zenda. (Idea for a novel list: find out how many movies have used the PofZ plot. Must be at least six, probably more.)
Y'know, I've never seen The Prisoner of Zenda. Should I?
Yes! You should see the 1937 version starring Ronald Coleman. According to IMDb other versions were made in '13, '15, '22, '52, '79, '84(BBCmini), and '88(animated). But lots of other movies have borrowed the plot and given it another title.
Alrighty, it's on my "to see" list. Unfortunately Netflix doesn't carry it so it might be awhile.
Ahh, so you counter my gushing over Yimou's flicks by going after a brilliant Kurosawa film and loving it? Good man!
I was hoping you'd read this. I believe this ended up in my queue after noticing it was your favorite movie for 1965. Thanks so much!
Well...I rented Red Beard on your concise and effective review. So it better be good, your rep's on the line. (allow at least three days for tardy watching stook to get around to watching) |:?)
T'ho
:?)
Au contraire mon ami, it is not my but YOUR reputation that is on the line! This is an unassailable Kurosawa movie, after all. Bwaa ha ha, you've fallen right into my trap!
:-)
Hope you like it, and I can't wait to read your review!
Agh! how could I have been so gullible not to see the trap within a trap! :?)
T'ho
:?, <----besmurched stook
Well I watched Red Beard and to (probably) noones suprise I thought it was fantastic. My rep remains intact it seems. Bwahahahahaha.
Actually I didn't write a review, since yours about summed it up. So I just added an addendum to yours. :?)
T'ho
:?)
Whew! Glad I didn't steer you wrong (this time, anyway).
Which part of Repulsion was it that got to you? I haven't seen it in 7 or 8 years, but I remember
when one of the woman's phantom attackers busts his way into her room,
boy, that seriously freaked me out. I remember it being presented so matter-of-factly, that it made it even more nightmarish. Also
the photo at the end
still gives me chills. Oh, and when I first tried to watch it a few years before that, I didn't make it more than 20 minutes in.
Oh yes, the photo at the end was perfect, and a perfect ending. The thing that first made me sit up and take notice was the scene where she closes the medicine cabinet door and you get just the briefest glimpse of somebody behind her and a jolt of music - even though it's cliche now, it's so effective coming so out of the blue, and by her continuing the door swing past the reveal, rather than staying on it as is so common these days.
I've tried to watch it twice and never gotten past the half-hour mark. Suddenly, I'm inspired to try again... :-)
Yeah, definitely give it another shot. The movie is at least 45 minutes of setup, some of it agonizingly slow ("cripes, how long are we going to watch her walk around the city? how long are we going to watch these two sit in the car saying nothing?") before it gets watchable, and it becomes progressively more watchable as time advances from that point.
I'm guessing is similar to Audition?
(If Jim doesn't mind me jumping in...)
I'd say that's a pretty good comparison, at least in terms of pacing and structure. I would say that Audition's slow parts are more interesting than Repulsion's, though.
Don't mind at all, and you wrote what I would have written, pretty much word-for-word.