The theater was showing Citizen Kane yesterday and I went because I hadn't seen it before. I was suitably impressed and it seems to deserve its reputation. Orson Welles was a great actor.
He also directed a visually stunning Othello, though as I recall it was underwhelming in other ways. Hey, sometimes great visuals are enough.
(I added a video to the above post for anybody who's already read it) Reminds me of Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible And one of my all-time favorites for cinematography (and just about everything else) Joseph Von Sternberg's Scarlet Empress:
And while I'm on the topic of my favorites, there's not much that tops Marketa Lazarova for sheer power of cinematic experience:
I don't know a lot about them, but there are several I really like. What I'm into I guess is early films, including silents, that are beautiful and powerful—poetic I suppose, and you get a lot of that from the slavic countries.
I've been watching a lot of Buster Keaton films on youtube lately. Aside from learning how much of modern physical comedy, from Bugs Bunny to Jackie Chan, that he flat-out invented I'm really interested in the details that aren't there for comic effect, but are just part of life in 1920. Things like crank-starting a car are just part of what you need to do to get on the road, and before that a man needs to pack fresh sets of paper collars and cuffs so he'll look decent when he arrives. There are no jokes attached to this, just as our era will show someone drinking bottled water with no comic effect.
When I was studying animation I was told to watch a lot of silent comedy to learn how to express ideas through movement and timing alone, with no need for dialogue or explanation. Lol, it's animation's form of show don't tell. Keaton was my favorite.
Damn. I'd drop everything to go see that in a theater. Not because it's the greatest movie ever or anything, but it's Citizen Kane in a theater! I remember them showing Alien at a drive-in and kicking myself for having missed it. Not my fault... I didn't see the telephone pole poster until a few days after it aired. There was no social media then, but I suppose there are no "telephone" poles now, either.
I saw the Godfather Trilogy for the first time at a retro cinema screening. Was worth waiting for that rather than rush and watch on TV / Video / DVD. Same with Psycho. That was cool.
Oh, yeah, love me some psycho. That's a movie that isn't dated at all (though some will probably bemoan the fact that the film doesn't address the real issues of wanting to become one's mother). Seen Godfather I and II probably more than any other movies. Probably annoy everyone in earshot by recting them verbatim if I was in a theater.
My weirdest experience was Braveheart. The first time I saw it was only a tiny shit TV, so when outdoor cinemas first started here as a gimmick (it's yearly now) they were showing Braveheart on the big screen. Then during the scene where William is courting Murron and it's raining, the heavens opened up with a drenching rain "slightly to the side like". I loved it. It was true 3D.
The only other person in the theater was an old man in the back row, mumbling along to a lot of the lines. It made me wonder how many times he’d seen Citizen Kane before.
Never seen any of the Gpdfather films. Bought the box set a couple of months ago but I can’t motivate myself to sit down start watchOmg them.
Blessed. It reminds me of when I always ranted to people not to watch 'The Final Break' of Prison Break. They never listened, but always agreed in the end. I dunno, there was just something to be learned about respect and interacting appopriately to my ten year old self from the first two godfather films. Pretty cringe worthy divulgence but yeah
I’ve heard enough not-so-good things about the third one that I don’t think I ever will see it. The first two films were so perfect. Plus, Duvall isn’t in it.
I felt the urge to rewatch the scene in Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country when Captain Sulu (he commands his own starship in the film) races the Excelsior to reinforce/rescue Kirk, Spock, and all the others onboard the Enterprise. The dialogue when Sulu's helmsman warns him he'll fly the Excelsior apart, and Sulu responds with, "Fly her apart then!" is perfect. One of the most iconic moments for the character imo. The movie isn't perfect mind you, but that exchange is.
Interesting that both Christopher Plummer and Christopher Lloyd played Klingon villains in the original movie series.
I watched The Old Guard (Netflix original movie) last night and was amazed that it didn't suck. It was a good, solid low-low fantasy (or maybe SF?) about a small group of immortal human beings who serve as kind of mercenaries. It drew a bit on The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson. One thing that I didn't realize until most of the way through was that they'd managed to make a good action flick with two female MCs, one of them Black, and an M-M gay couple without it being a flag-waving diversity film, at least IMO. Diversity is good, but sometimes there are books/films/TV series where it seems forced. I call it Benettonization. This one managed to tick a lot of boxes without unchecking others. Made me happy.
