list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around La jetée on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/La_jet_e/109497/default.aspx Title: La jetée
Year: 1962
Director: Chris Marker
Plot: The movie that inspired Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, Chris Marker's La jetée is a landmark of science-fiction filmmaking, a 28-minute masterpiece told almost entirely in still frames. Set in a post-apocalyptic near-future, it tells the story of an unnamed man whose vivid childhood recollections make him the perfect guinea pig for an experiment in time travel. After a lengthy and nightmarish period of conditioning, he is sent into the past, where he falls in love with a woman whom he once saw on a pier. At the experiment's conclusion, he is visited by an advanced race, who offer him the opportunity to journey into their future world, but he instead requests that they send him permanently into the past, where he can remain with the woman of his dreams. A singular experience. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 9
Number of Lists: 24
Number of blog posts: 4
Number of discussion threads: 3
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:29:55 GMTLa jetée1962Chris MarkerThe movie that inspired <a href="/players/P____91577/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Terry Gilliam</a>'s <a href=/films/92804/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>12 Monkeys</a>, <a href="/players/P___101279/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Chris Marker</a>'s La jetée is a landmark of science-fiction filmmaking, a 28-minute masterpiece told almost entirely in still frames. Set in a post-apocalyptic near-future, it tells the story of an unnamed man whose vivid childhood recollections make him the perfect guinea pig for an experiment in time travel. After a lengthy and nightmarish period of conditioning, he is sent into the past, where he falls in love with a woman whom he once saw on a pier. At the experiment's conclusion, he is visited by an advanced race, who offer him the opportunity to journey into their future world, but he instead requests that they send him permanently into the past, where he can remain with the woman of his dreams. A singular experience. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide9Taggedy Taggged (6-10)24434http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/v75251t48h1.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/La_jet_e/109497/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_August_24_Shorts/625/43785/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 9/3/2009 4:52:54 PM
Body: Just saw a pretty interesting short last night Les escargots (The Snails). Funky French animation from the 60s. It was on the DVD with Fantastic Planet which is some weird stuff! I think maybe the most famous short film I know if is La jetée (The Pier) which is almost entirely a series of strange photographs (until the very end) with voice over narration. It was the inspiration for the wondeful Twelve Monkeys. There are some pretty hilarious shorts by Don Hertzfeldt. Has anyone seen Rejected? Scene after memorable, outrageous scene! Has anyone seen An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge? I've read the story and heard this is one of the best shorts around ever too. It was sold to the Twilght Zone and aired as an episode once.
]]>Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:52:54 GMTRisseladaWeekly Theme9/3/2009 4:52:54 PMJust saw a pretty interesting short last night Les escargots (The Snails). Funky French animation from the 60s. It was on the DVD with Fantastic Planet which is some weird stuff! I think maybe the most famous short film I know if is La jet&eacute;e (The Pier) which is almost entirely a series of strange photographs (until the very end) with voice over narration. It was the inspiration for the wondeful Twelve Monkeys. There are some pretty hilarious shorts by Don Hertzfeldt. Has anyone seen Rejected? Scene after memorable, outrageous scene! Has anyone seen An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge? I've read the story and heard this is one of the best shorts around ever too. It was sold to the Twilght Zone and aired as an episode once. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/16/35192.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/16/2008 12:01:20 PM
Body: (Image: Hisaharu Motoda’s “Neo-Ruins” via Pink Tentacle) The latest news from Wall Street seems to indicate that a complete financial meltdown is only a few weeks away. Before you violently horde every morsel of food from your local supermarket or begin a hostile take-over of your corner gas station, there are several movies you should watch in order to prepare for life after the downfall of Western civilization. There have been plenty of films in which the world we know is nothing but a burned out shell of its former glory. Nuclear holocaust and virulent plagues are common Earth-clearing disasters, but there’s no reason to think that a global economic collapse would be any less destructive. Let’s not forget that one of history’s most common causes for war is a desperate grab for resources during tough times. So without further ado, seven lessons from the movies, essential for surviving our impending doom: 1. Hoard gasoline! Plenty of people are already getting a jump on this one, apparently upping demand to the point where falling oil prices are not translating to the pump. If you think waiting 15 minutes in line to buy gas at $4.50 a gallon is bad, watch The Road Warrior again. From the opening sequence where Mel Gibson gingerly harvests every precious ounce of fuel from an abandoned vehicle to the final deadly battle over a tanker truck, it’s clear that in a post-apocalyptic world, gas is gold. Sure, we’re working on becoming less dependent on the stuff, but what good is a Chevy Volt going to do you if the power grid is in shambles? 2. Learn a trade that’s useful regardless of available technology! Farmers, builders, doctors, these people will always be useful, even if your society’s currency consists only of the teeth of your enemies. If your skill set is of a less practical variety, don’t worry, people will still need entertainment. One good model is Kevin Costner’s character in The Postman. Before he takes on the titular role as a letter carrier, he makes his way from town to town as a traveling minstrel. The Pony Express-style mailman gig he eventually gets is a good job as well, but it tends to be quite dangerous. 3. Do not take a job at a butcher shop! I can’t stress this one enough. History has unfortunately proven that when times get extremely tough, people will eat one another, it’s a natural consequence of human depravity. If you see an ad in the paper for a general labor position with a high turn-over rate at a deli specializing in fresh meat, don’t be foolish like Dominique Pinon’s character in Delicatessen. The dark comedy, from Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, tells the story of a former circus performer who lands a job at a butcher shop with a less than wholesome supply chain. If McDonalds is still open when New York’s financial district is nothing more than a smoking ruin used to house gladiatorial death matches, be suspicious. 4. If you are fertile, be careful with your precious seed! The human race is notoriously tenacious, so don’t think the collapse of society means the end of our fair race––we’ll survive, somehow. But when things get really crazy, potential candidates for the new Adam and Eve need to be on guard. Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is an excellent example of how post-apocalyptic citizens can go baby crazy. There are also a number of examples of post-apocalyptic fiction where a fertile man is a highly sought-after commodity in a female-dominated dystopia. A Boy and His Dog and Hell Comes to Frogtown both feature walking sperm banks charged with saving womankind (played by Don Johnson and Rowdy Roddy Piper, respectively). Also, SciFi Wire reported yesterday that Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso’s next film will be an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s amazing graphic novel Y the Last Man. The film will (presumably) star Shia LaBeouf as Vic, who is, you guessed it, the last human male on earth. 5. For God’s sake, save the library! This tip doesn’t concern personal survivability so much as a general service to humanity. When I was in school I was forced to watch the 1960 film adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine for some reason. I loved it. But I was also terrified by its vision of the future. My most vivid memory of the film is when our hero finds that future generations have not maintained the library, letting the entire record of human history literally turn to dust. It’s a good thing that people like Wired magazine founding editor Kevin Kelly are doing cool things like The Long Now Project, because digital storage of information is almost comically transient. Also, if you don’t think things this important can really be lost, watch the 2007 Iraq war documentary No End in Sight. The part about the looting of the National Museum and the burning of the Iraqi National Archives made me cry. 6. If you live in a temperate climate, head South! This one is simple enough, and it’s the premise of Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road, the film adaptation of which will be in theaters this November, starring Viggo Mortensen. The story dispenses with the typical global catastrophe story line common to most post-apocalyptic tales, and focused instead on a man and his son attempting to avoid danger as they head South for the winter through a blighted landscape. This is the film I most look forward to this fall; it takes the genre in a very serious direction, so don’t expect any Mad Max-like car chases. For our purposes here, The Road really teaches two valuable lessons: one, even something seemingly simple, like heading South, can be potentially deadly; and two, it gives some great tips on scavenging through buildings that have already been picked over by looters. 7. If given the opportunity to travel back in time to thwart the collapse of civilization, do not fall in love! If you are the one chosen to save humanity via time travel, it’s important to avoid the retro sex appeal possessed by the single people of the past. This is no time for love! Two films illustrate this, one is a remake of the other. The 1962 French short film La Jetée uses a montage of stunningly beautiful black and white stills to tell the story of a time traveler distracted from his mission by romance. It’s one part French New Wave, one part killer sci-fi, and an absolute classic. Terry Gilliam expanded the story with his 1995 adaptation, 12 Monkeys. If you’ve seen either film you know that the missions to the past are not exactly successful, although it’s debatable whether or not romance is to blame. Nevertheless, if the future of humanity is in your hands, stay on task! Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:01:20 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/16/2008 12:01:20 PM (Image: Hisaharu Motoda’s “Neo-Ruins” via Pink Tentacle) The latest news from Wall Street seems to indicate that a complete financial meltdown is only a few weeks away. Before you violently horde every morsel of food from your local supermarket or begin a hostile take-over of your corner gas station, there are several movies you should watch in order to prepare for life after the downfall of Western civilization. There have been plenty of films in which the world we know is nothing but a burned out shell of its former glory. Nuclear holocaust and virulent plagues are common Earth-clearing disasters, but there’s no reason to think that a global economic collapse would be any less destructive. Let’s not forget that one of history’s most common causes for war is a desperate grab for resources during tough times. So without further ado, seven lessons from the movies, essential for surviving our impending doom: 1. Hoard gasoline! Plenty of people are already getting a jump on this one, apparently upping demand to the point where falling oil prices are not translating to the pump. If you think waiting 15 minutes in line to buy gas at $4.50 a gallon is bad, watch The Road Warrior again. From the opening sequence where Mel Gibson gingerly harvests every precious ounce of fuel from an abandoned vehicle to the final deadly battle over a tanker truck, it’s clear that in a post-apocalyptic world, gas is gold. Sure, we’re working on becoming less dependent on the stuff, but what good is a Chevy Volt going to do you if the power grid is in shambles? 2. Learn a trade that’s useful regardless of available technology! Farmers, builders, doctors, these people will always be useful, even if your society’s currency consists only of the teeth of your enemies. If your skill set is of a less practical variety, don’t worry, people will still need entertainment. One good model is Kevin Costner’s character in The Postman. Before he takes on the titular role as a letter carrier, he makes his way from town to town as a traveling minstrel. The Pony Express-style mailman gig he eventually gets is a good job as well, but it tends to be quite dangerous. 3. Do not take a job at a butcher shop! I can’t stress this one enough. History has unfortunately proven that when times get extremely tough, people will eat one another, it’s a natural consequence of human depravity. If you see an ad in the paper for a general labor position with a high turn-over rate at a deli specializing in fresh meat, don’t be foolish like Dominique Pinon’s character in Delicatessen. The dark comedy, from Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, tells the story of a former circus performer who lands a job at a butcher shop with a less than wholesome supply chain. If McDonalds is still open when New York’s financial district is nothing more than a smoking ruin used to house gladiatorial death matches, be suspicious. 4. If you are fertile, be careful with your precious seed! The human race is notoriously tenacious, so don’t think the collapse of society means the end of our fair race––we’ll survive, somehow. But when things get really crazy, potential candidates for the new Adam and Eve need to be on guard. Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is an excellent example of how post-apocalyptic citizens can go baby crazy. There are also a number of examples of post-apocalyptic fiction where a fertile man is a highly sought-after commodity in a female-dominated dystopia. A Boy and His Dog and Hell Comes to Frogtown both feature walking sperm banks charged with saving womankind (played by Don Johnson and Rowdy Roddy Piper, respectively). Also, SciFi Wire reported yesterday that Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso’s next film will be an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s amazing graphic novel Y the Last Man. The film will (presumably) star Shia LaBeouf as Vic, who is, you guessed it, the last human male on earth. 5. For God’s sake, save the library! This tip doesn’t concern personal survivability so much as a general service to humanity. When I was in school I was forced to watch the 1960 film adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine for some reason. I loved it. But I was also terrified by its vision of the future. My most vivid memory of the film is when our hero finds that future generations have not maintained the library, letting the entire record of human history literally turn to dust. It’s a good thing that people like Wired magazine founding editor Kevin Kelly are doing cool things like The Long Now Project, because digital storage of information is almost comically transient. Also, if you don’t think things this important can really be lost, watch the 2007 Iraq war documentary No End in Sight. The part about the looting of the National Museum and the burning of the Iraqi National Archives made me cry. 6. If you live in a temperate climate, head South! This one is simple enough, and it’s the premise of Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road, the film adaptation of which will be in theaters this November, starring Viggo Mortensen. The story dispenses with the typical global catastrophe story line common to most post-apocalyptic tales, and focused instead on a man and his son attempting to avoid danger as they head South for the winter through a blighted landscape. This is the film I most look forward to this fall; it takes the genre in a very serious direction, so don’t expect any Mad Max-like car chases. For our purposes here, The Road really teaches two valuable lessons: one, even something seemingly simple, like heading South, can be potentially deadly; and two, it gives some great tips on scavenging through buildings that have already been picked over by looters. 7. If given the opportunity to travel back in time to thwart the collapse of civilization, do not fall in love! If you are the one chosen to save humanity via time travel, it’s important to avoid the retro sex appeal possessed by the single people of the past. This is no time for love! Two films illustrate this, one is a remake of the other. The 1962 French short film La Jetée uses a montage of stunningly beautiful black and white stills to tell the story of a time traveler distracted from his mission by romance. It’s one part French New Wave, one part killer sci-fi, and an absolute classic. Terry Gilliam expanded the story with his 1995 adaptation, 12 Monkeys. If you’ve seen either film you know that the missions to the past are not exactly successful, although it’s debatable whether or not romance is to blame. Nevertheless, if the future of humanity is in your hands, stay on task! Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/7/11/32422.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 7/11/2008 9:00:56 AM
Body: This week we’re taking movies with fans, colleagues, and friends. An e-mail from a listener gets us thinking critically about our love for post-apocalyptic movies, and watching the amazing 1962 French short, La Jetée (pictured above). Kevin talks with David Chen and Devindra Hardawar from /Filmcast about podcasting, Roman Polanski, and really good cartoons. Later we check in with Karina Longworth, where she tells us about overlooked Japanese classic When A Woman Ascends the Stairs and a whimsical WWI quasi-musical, La France. 0:00 - Intro, post-apocalyptic movies, La Jetée 8:00 - /Filmcast’s David Chen and Devindra Hardawar 19:50 - Karina’s Media Diet (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) filmcouch-78 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:00:56 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com7/11/2008 9:00:56 AM This week we’re taking movies with fans, colleagues, and friends. An e-mail from a listener gets us thinking critically about our love for post-apocalyptic movies, and watching the amazing 1962 French short, La Jetée (pictured above). Kevin talks with David Chen and Devindra Hardawar from /Filmcast about podcasting, Roman Polanski, and really good cartoons. Later we check in with Karina Longworth, where she tells us about overlooked Japanese classic When A Woman Ascends the Stairs and a whimsical WWI quasi-musical, La France. 0:00 - Intro, post-apocalyptic movies, La Jetée 8:00 - /Filmcast’s David Chen and Devindra Hardawar 19:50 - Karina’s Media Diet (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) filmcouch-78 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/7/8/32292.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 7/8/2008 3:01:14 PM
Body: (photo: La Jetée, Hellboy II: The Golden Army) Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters this Friday. Del Toro is a rare filmmaker who, despite his unique vision, often works on projects based on material from an outside source (Pan’s Labyrinth being a notable exception). Assuming all the legal issues get ironed out,  he’ll next direct a two part film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the most prestigious property to date to get the del Toro treatment. Here are seven either failed or unjustly obscure movies ripe for being remade by Hellboy’s father. 1. Spawn - Todd McFarlane’s comic about a Hell-trotting anti-hero indebted to the Devil opened my young eyes to genuinely dark storytelling. While the 90s were a simpler time in terms of comic to movie adaptations, I was already dreaming about a big screen adaptation after reading the first issue. Unfortunately, my dream came true in 1997, when Mark A.Z. Dippé’s god-awful Spawn slumped into theaters. 2. The Never Ending Story - If you were to describe Pan’s Labyrinth as a story about a little girl with a cruel stepfather who escapes into a fantasy world with fairies and magical pan, it could sound like many tame children’s movies of the ’80s. The Never Ending Story del Toro style: the gnome is evil (or a least a little sadistic), the giant flying dog thing eats at least one sentient being, and the kid dies in the end. 3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - This 1920 German Expressionist classic is one of the first horror films, and maybe the first ever movie with a twist ending. A black and white sound version was made by David Lee Fisher in 2006, where green screen was used to incorporate the original backgrounds. I picture del Toro’s version in color, with a few added plot flourishes. Who knows, maybe it could be the genesis of a new genre: Mexican Neo-Expressionism. 4. Jim Henson’s The Storyteller (watch the video, sorry it won’t embed)- While compiling this list, Adam Forrest started telling me about an episode of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller called The Heartless Giant. It felt like he was describing nightmares I had when I was seven (turns out the nightmare was actually a memory I had of watching this very episode). While still slightly goofy at times, it’s Henson at his creepiest, and I’d love to see del Toro pick up where the puppet master left off. Other freaky Henson classics like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth (keeping David Bowie in the cast, of course) would also be great, but I picked The Storyteller because del Toro could really kill in this semi-episodic TV format. 5. La Jetée (entire 27 minute film is embedded above)- This 1962 French short film consists only of a series of black and white photos accompanied by narration. It’s a stunning post-apocalyptic downer and an absolute must-see. Terry Gilliam already remade it as Twelve Monkeys, where he added a lot of story content in addition to quadrupling the original run time. I’d like to see del Toro build something different, but equally good, using La Jetée’s bare-bones structure. 6. Dungeons & Dragons - In 2000, the undisputed king of tabletop role playing games became the undisputed king of shitty movie adaptations. There are inherent problems in adapting a game like D&D to the screen, for one thing, the game is really just a rules system, the players provide the story. That being said, there have been countless supplemental “campaign settings” published which describe immensely imaginative worlds. I would particularly like to see what del Toro would do with Keith Baker’s fantasy-noir Eberron. 7. The Wizard of Oz - It would be pretty ballsy of del Toro to take this one on. In 1985 Walter Murch, known mostly for his stellar editing work, directed the wonderfully dark Return to Oz. While not a perfect film, it exploited the more disturbing dimensions of the Oz story, namely a lost girl in a strange world targeted by a supernatural evil. If all goes well with del Torro’s take on The Hobbit, I think the world will be ready to go back to an Oz where munchkins hanging themselves would no longer be confined to shadowy backgrounds. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:01:14 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com7/8/2008 3:01:14 PM (photo: La Jetée, Hellboy II: The Golden Army) Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters this Friday. Del Toro is a rare filmmaker who, despite his unique vision, often works on projects based on material from an outside source (Pan’s Labyrinth being a notable exception). Assuming all the legal issues get ironed out,  he’ll next direct a two part film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the most prestigious property to date to get the del Toro treatment. Here are seven either failed or unjustly obscure movies ripe for being remade by Hellboy’s father. 1. Spawn - Todd McFarlane’s comic about a Hell-trotting anti-hero indebted to the Devil opened my young eyes to genuinely dark storytelling. While the 90s were a simpler time in terms of comic to movie adaptations, I was already dreaming about a big screen adaptation after reading the first issue. Unfortunately, my dream came true in 1997, when Mark A.Z. Dippé’s god-awful Spawn slumped into theaters. 2. The Never Ending Story - If you were to describe Pan’s Labyrinth as a story about a little girl with a cruel stepfather who escapes into a fantasy world with fairies and magical pan, it could sound like many tame children’s movies of the ’80s. The Never Ending Story del Toro style: the gnome is evil (or a least a little sadistic), the giant flying dog thing eats at least one sentient being, and the kid dies in the end. 3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - This 1920 German Expressionist classic is one of the first horror films, and maybe the first ever movie with a twist ending. A black and white sound version was made by David Lee Fisher in 2006, where green screen was used to incorporate the original backgrounds. I picture del Toro’s version in color, with a few added plot flourishes. Who knows, maybe it could be the genesis of a new genre: Mexican Neo-Expressionism. 4. Jim Henson’s The Storyteller (watch the video, sorry it won’t embed)- While compiling this list, Adam Forrest started telling me about an episode of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller called The Heartless Giant. It felt like he was describing nightmares I had when I was seven (turns out the nightmare was actually a memory I had of watching this very episode). While still slightly goofy at times, it’s Henson at his creepiest, and I’d love to see del Toro pick up where the puppet master left off. Other freaky Henson classics like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth (keeping David Bowie in the cast, of course) would also be great, but I picked The Storyteller because del Toro could really kill in this semi-episodic TV format. 5. La Jetée (entire 27 minute film is embedded above)- This 1962 French short film consists only of a series of black and white photos accompanied by narration. It’s a stunning post-apocalyptic downer and an absolute must-see. Terry Gilliam already remade it as Twelve Monkeys, where he added a lot of story content in addition to quadrupling the original run time. I’d like to see del Toro build something different, but equally good, using La Jetée’s bare-bones structure. 6. Dungeons & Dragons - In 2000, the undisputed king of tabletop role playing games became the undisputed king of shitty movie adaptations. There are inherent problems in adapting a game like D&D to the screen, for one thing, the game is really just a rules system, the players provide the story. That being said, there have been countless supplemental “campaign settings” published which describe immensely imaginative worlds. I would particularly like to see what del Toro would do with Keith Baker’s fantasy-noir Eberron. 7. The Wizard of Oz - It would be pretty ballsy of del Toro to take this one on. In 1985 Walter Murch, known mostly for his stellar editing work, directed the wonderfully dark Return to Oz. While not a perfect film, it exploited the more disturbing dimensions of the Oz story, namely a lost girl in a strange world targeted by a supernatural evil. If all goes well with del Torro’s take on The Hobbit, I think the world will be ready to go back to an Oz where munchkins hanging themselves would no longer be confined to shadowy backgrounds. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_June_30_Post_Apocalyptic_Funt/625/31937/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 6/30/2008 9:22:14 PM
Body: [quote user="mercurial"] 12 Monkeys & La Jetee Delicatessen & The City of Lost Children Those straddling the line with extreme lovers and haters: Reign of Fire Tank Girl [/quote] I was wondering if anyone would bring up Tank Girl. I thought I may have been the only one that liked it. As For La Jetee, I think I've seen it. Is it told entirely through still shots. I really can't remember if I liked it or not or if I maybe just saw part of it on the special features or 12 monkeys.
]]>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:22:14 GMTleeroy711Weekly Theme6/30/2008 9:22:14 PM[quote user="mercurial"] 12 Monkeys &amp; La Jetee Delicatessen &amp; The City of Lost Children Those straddling the line with extreme lovers and haters: Reign of Fire Tank Girl [/quote] I was wondering if anyone would bring up Tank Girl. I thought I may have been the only one that liked it. As For La Jetee, I think I've seen it. Is it told entirely through still shots. I really can't remember if I liked it or not or if I maybe just saw part of it on the special features or 12 monkeys. http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_June_30_Post_Apocalyptic_Funt/625/31934/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 6/30/2008 7:28:13 PM
Body: So many fun little features to choose from, where ever shall I begin? Undeniably the best (or just the most pervasive) films about living in a post-apocalyptic society are: Battle Royale The Matrix Mad Max, The Road Warrior & Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 12 Monkeys & La Jetee Delicatessen & The City of Lost Children Those straddling the line with extreme lovers and haters: Reign of Fire Tank Girl The Omega Man I Am Legend The Day After Tomorrow Waterworld Akira Doomsday Southland Tales The Matrix Reloaded & The Matrix Revolutions And those that have been cast into the gallows of film history: Titan A.E. Aeon Flux (the movie, not the television series) The Postman Teenage Caveman Battlefield Earth Lastly, Wall-E, which is apparently the best movie ever. I haven't had a chance to see it yet. And The Road, which has yet to come out yet, but after having read the book I am utterly certain the film will be incredible.
]]>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:28:13 GMTmercurialWeekly Theme6/30/2008 7:28:13 PMSo many fun little features to choose from, where ever shall I begin? Undeniably the best (or just the most pervasive) films about living in a post-apocalyptic society are: Battle Royale The Matrix Mad Max, The Road Warrior &amp; Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 12 Monkeys &amp; La Jetee Delicatessen &amp; The City of Lost Children Those straddling the line with extreme lovers and haters: Reign of Fire Tank Girl The Omega Man I Am Legend The Day After Tomorrow Waterworld Akira Doomsday Southland Tales The Matrix Reloaded &amp; The Matrix Revolutions And those that have been cast into the gallows of film history: Titan A.E. Aeon Flux (the movie, not the television series) The Postman Teenage Caveman Battlefield Earth Lastly, Wall-E, which is apparently the best movie ever. I haven't had a chance to see it yet. And The Road, which has yet to come out yet, but after having read the book I am utterly certain the film will be incredible. http://www.spout.com/blogs/risselada/archive/2008/4/4/26964.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 4/4/2008 3:20:25 PM
Body: There was a stretch a couple years ago when I was a bit more interested in exploring the world of short films. I had rented several DVDs in the series simply called "Short" released around 2000, primarily because it was the only DVD I knew of that had La Jetée on it. Anyways I find that short films can rarely achieve the kind of lasting effect that is usually more possible for feature length films. However it is a different art form in a ways, and has it's own separate challenges and benefits that I'm interested in exploring.Spout sent me a collection called Shorts! Volume 1. The result was pretty much what I expected. A fair mix of the good and the bad. Maybe a bit better than what I expected now that I think about it. I think the main problem most short films make is trying to tell a story in anywhere near the same way a feature film would. You can't expect to achieve meaning in a short film with the same methods used in a feature film because there isn't enough time. You can fill it with exposition, but it doesn't matter if we don't have time to get to know the characters or the mood of the film. And exposition generally only serves to get to a certain place that can't be reached in a short film anyways. I think short films for this reason will more generally lend themselves to comedy, but as you can see most of the films selected for compilations like this take themselves way too seriously.Anyways, that's some of my feelings about short films in general. Here are just a few short opinions on each of the films on this particular DVD set.What's Wrong With This Picture? - As the first film they are throwing at us, this film is pretty worthless. In the commentary the director boasts that the total budget was only a few dollars for a cookie and a DV tape. There's nothing original creative at this point about a stick figure that come off the page. Such "special effects" are not impressive and the premise is the kind of thing that someone seems to think is funny but they can't explain why. At least it's one of the shortest films in this set.Chinese Wall - I liked this one better in reflection. I'm not sure if it could have been executed better. I'm not that excited by the idea to think of more effective scenarios for the "surprise." I enjoy the simplicity of it at least. I don't see enough Dutch films though. Such tall people!Dreamscapes - Something akin to a short version of Waking Life. The filmmaker asked many people to recount their memories of particular dreams. Then he took segments of a few of them and animated each of them in different animation styles. Interesting to recognize the different kinds of dreams people have and the way they perceive them, and also to see some different styles of animation. This short is nothing too substantial, but generally kept my attention without going too long.In Absentia - Essentially a stylistic exercise. There is extensive use of backwards footage, sped up footage, and other visual filters. No dialogue from what I can recall. I didn't realize what I was watching the first time around until listening to the commentary, but we are essentially seeing a suicide in reverse. The effects and mood sustain interest, and again the running time is nice and short enough.John and Mia - This is one of the longer shorts on this disk, and maybe the best one. I suppose I have a penchant for laconic films from Scandinavia which helps. To be rather candid I've had struggles with pornography and was affected by the main character. The actor has a compelling face. This is one of the rare short films that I really wish had been longer.The World of Interiors - Another animated piece which doesn't present anything too original. The squiggly drawing style is notable only for a strange almost cubist style. But the constant moving of the lines tended to make me somewhat physically ill. I understand the theme. Sometimes you just can't leave your house. But I feel like something more substantial could have been achieved even with this premise.Dad's Dead - I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It's a narrated piece with just a few strange little stories about a guy and one of his old "friends". The film has so many visual effects that are so varied and fit perfectly with the stories and atmosphere. And the effects are so artistic in a way that they are even more fascinating than something you may see in a big budget special effects film.Ready - This one feels quintessentially British. There aren't too many recognizable actors in most of these films, but this one features fairly well known actress Imelda Staunton. This is another one of the longer shorts in the set and can get a bit boring, but I think part of the mood is that it's supposed to be boring.Tenth - This is my least favorite of all the films in this set. I'm sick enough of short films about the World Trade Center attack, but this one has absolutely nothing to say. In fact it has nothing to say about anything. Luckily it's short at just over three minutes. That's probably about the same amount of time the filmmaker put into thinking the idea up for the film.Pishadoo - This is the third of the films that exceed twenty minutes. And it is my least favorite of the three. Maybe it has more appeal to Italian Americans or people living in the Bronx. But I felt like the whole idea could have been conveyed in half the time. By stretching it out it just reveals how little of a story there really is.Sleep - A young man finds out he has cancer and not long to live. We see his reaction and how his family and friends react as well. It's not the most original idea, but the film is just the right length and takes just the right approach. The main character is always silent except for a big of off screen narration. We see the reactions of two different types of friends, the mother, and the father along with just the right amount of scenes of the main character alone between interactions. Any longer and this film would have been too long. But the ending seems just right as well.Fish Never Sleep - An animated piece which is interesting for it's selective use of color. Mostly black and white with red. But there are a few other colors here and there used rarely enough that it's part of a strategy. The other colors really stick out and make a point when you see them. The director commentary is one of those worthless commentaries where they just tell you exactly what's happening on the screen without any background information or insight.Coda - One of the nicer looking films in this set. The compositions are very clean and structured, just like the world of the private boys school that it is portraying. With the occasional contrast of footage shot on grainy video from different locations outside of this world. I enjoyed the contrast, and the short explorations into just small pieces of the lives of the people who live in this world. Everything was simple and didn't linger too long.Non-Abductees Anonymous - For some reason I feel like everyone in this film is familiar. I feel like they are all part of some sketch comedy team that I've seen somewhere before, either on TV or live. But after doing some slight research I really don't think I've ever seen any of them before. I've just been so immersed in the world of comedy ensembles that I feel like I know so many people who could make a movie just like this. On the commentary the director says they are all friends from the same theatre so this makes sense. This is pretty much the only straight up comedy movie in this set, which is kind of disappointing that there weren't any more in retrospect. Why do short films always have to be so dour and pretentious? This film also features someone prominently wearing a They Might Be Giants t-shirt, something I have done in one of my own films now. I thought it was cool at the time, but now I realize how incredibly dorky it seems!Earthquake! - The set starts and ends with two very short and simple films. This film is basically just a few puppets shaking around in a supposed earthquake. Mere novelty.
]]>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:20:25 GMTRisseladaRisselada Blog4/4/2008 3:20:25 PMThere was a stretch a couple years ago when I was a bit more interested in exploring the world of short films. I had rented several DVDs in the series simply called &quot;Short&quot; released around 2000, primarily because it was the only DVD I knew of that had La Jet&eacute;e on it. Anyways I find that short films can rarely achieve the kind of lasting effect that is usually more possible for feature length films. However it is a different art form in a ways, and has it&#39;s own separate challenges and benefits that I&#39;m interested in exploring.Spout sent me a collection called Shorts! Volume 1. The result was pretty much what I expected. A fair mix of the good and the bad. Maybe a bit better than what I expected now that I think about it. I think the main problem most short films make is trying to tell a story in anywhere near the same way a feature film would. You can&#39;t expect to achieve meaning in a short film with the same methods used in a feature film because there isn&#39;t enough time. You can fill it with exposition, but it doesn&#39;t matter if we don&#39;t have time to get to know the characters or the mood of the film. And exposition generally only serves to get to a certain place that can&#39;t be reached in a short film anyways. I think short films for this reason will more generally lend themselves to comedy, but as you can see most of the films selected for compilations like this take themselves way too seriously.Anyways, that&#39;s some of my feelings about short films in general. Here are just a few short opinions on each of the films on this particular DVD set.What&#39;s Wrong With This Picture? - As the first film they are throwing at us, this film is pretty worthless. In the commentary the director boasts that the total budget was only a few dollars for a cookie and a DV tape. There&#39;s nothing original creative at this point about a stick figure that come off the page. Such &quot;special effects&quot; are not impressive and the premise is the kind of thing that someone seems to think is funny but they can&#39;t explain why. At least it&#39;s one of the shortest films in this set.Chinese Wall - I liked this one better in reflection. I&#39;m not sure if it could have been executed better. I&#39;m not that excited by the idea to think of more effective scenarios for the &quot;surprise.&quot; I enjoy the simplicity of it at least. I don&#39;t see enough Dutch films though. Such tall people!Dreamscapes - Something akin to a short version of Waking Life. The filmmaker asked many people to recount their memories of particular dreams. Then he took segments of a few of them and animated each of them in different animation styles. Interesting to recognize the different kinds of dreams people have and the way they perceive them, and also to see some different styles of animation. This short is nothing too substantial, but generally kept my attention without going too long.In Absentia - Essentially a stylistic exercise. There is extensive use of backwards footage, sped up footage, and other visual filters. No dialogue from what I can recall. I didn&#39;t realize what I was watching the first time around until listening to the commentary, but we are essentially seeing a suicide in reverse. The effects and mood sustain interest, and again the running time is nice and short enough.John and Mia - This is one of the longer shorts on this disk, and maybe the best one. I suppose I have a penchant for laconic films from Scandinavia which helps. To be rather candid I&#39;ve had struggles with pornography and was affected by the main character. The actor has a compelling face. This is one of the rare short films that I really wish had been longer.The World of Interiors - Another animated piece which doesn&#39;t present anything too original. The squiggly drawing style is notable only for a strange almost cubist style. But the constant moving of the lines tended to make me somewhat physically ill. I understand the theme. Sometimes you just can&#39;t leave your house. But I feel like something more substantial could have been achieved even with this premise.Dad&#39;s Dead - I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It&#39;s a narrated piece with just a few strange little stories about a guy and one of his old &quot;friends&quot;. The film has so many visual effects that are so varied and fit perfectly with the stories and atmosphere. And the effects are so artistic in a way that they are even more fascinating than something you may see in a big budget special effects film.Ready - This one feels quintessentially British. There aren&#39;t too many recognizable actors in most of these films, but this one features fairly well known actress Imelda Staunton. This is another one of the longer shorts in the set and can get a bit boring, but I think part of the mood is that it&#39;s supposed to be boring.Tenth - This is my least favorite of all the films in this set. I&#39;m sick enough of short films about the World Trade Center attack, but this one has absolutely nothing to say. In fact it has nothing to say about anything. Luckily it&#39;s short at just over three minutes. That&#39;s probably about the same amount of time the filmmaker put into thinking the idea up for the film.Pishadoo - This is the third of the films that exceed twenty minutes. And it is my least favorite of the three. Maybe it has more appeal to Italian Americans or people living in the Bronx. But I felt like the whole idea could have been conveyed in half the time. By stretching it out it just reveals how little of a story there really is.Sleep - A young man finds out he has cancer and not long to live. We see his reaction and how his family and friends react as well. It&#39;s not the most original idea, but the film is just the right length and takes just the right approach. The main character is always silent except for a big of off screen narration. We see the reactions of two different types of friends, the mother, and the father along with just the right amount of scenes of the main character alone between interactions. Any longer and this film would have been too long. But the ending seems just right as well.Fish Never Sleep - An animated piece which is interesting for it&#39;s selective use of color. Mostly black and white with red. But there are a few other colors here and there used rarely enough that it&#39;s part of a strategy. The other colors really stick out and make a point when you see them. The director commentary is one of those worthless commentaries where they just tell you exactly what&#39;s happening on the screen without any background information or insight.Coda - One of the nicer looking films in this set. The compositions are very clean and structured, just like the world of the private boys school that it is portraying. With the occasional contrast of footage shot on grainy video from different locations outside of this world. I enjoyed the contrast, and the short explorations into just small pieces of the lives of the people who live in this world. Everything was simple and didn&#39;t linger too long.Non-Abductees Anonymous - For some reason I feel like everyone in this film is familiar. I feel like they are all part of some sketch comedy team that I&#39;ve seen somewhere before, either on TV or live. But after doing some slight research I really don&#39;t think I&#39;ve ever seen any of them before. I&#39;ve just been so immersed in the world of comedy ensembles that I feel like I know so many people who could make a movie just like this. On the commentary the director says they are all friends from the same theatre so this makes sense. This is pretty much the only straight up comedy movie in this set, which is kind of disappointing that there weren&#39;t any more in retrospect. Why do short films always have to be so dour and pretentious? This film also features someone prominently wearing a They Might Be Giants t-shirt, something I have done in one of my own films now. I thought it was cool at the time, but now I realize how incredibly dorky it seems!Earthquake! - The set starts and ends with two very short and simple films. This film is basically just a few puppets shaking around in a supposed earthquake. Mere novelty. http://www.spout.com/groups/Totally_Over_rated/Re_12_Monkeys/170/3861/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: quint
Post To: Totally Over-rated
Post Date: 11/28/2006 5:06:20 PM
Body: Every seen La Jetee? Nuff said.
]]>Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:06:20 GMTquintTotally Over-rated11/28/2006 5:06:20 PMEvery seen La Jetee? Nuff said. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Loved-It/MemberTagFilms.aspxLoved-It
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