list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Last Laugh 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/The_Last_Laugh/19705/default.aspx Title: The Last Laugh
Year: 1924
Director: F.W. Murnau
Plot: F.W. Murnau's German silent classic The Last Laugh (Der Letze Mann) stars Emil Jannings as the doorman of a posh Berlin hotel. Fiercely proud of his job, Jannings comports himself like a general in his resplendent costume, and is treated like royalty by his friends and neighbors. The hotel's insensitive new manager, noting that Jannings seems winded after carrying several heavy pieces of luggage for a patron, decides that the old man is no longer up to his job. The manager demotes Jannings to men's washroom attendant, and the effect is disastrous on the man's prestige and self-esteem. Logically, the film should end on a note of tragedy, but Murnau (either because he was ordered to by the producers or because he just felt like it) adds a near-surrealistic coda, wherein Jannings, having suddenly inherited a fortune, returns to the hotel in triumph. The Last Laugh was a bold experiment for its time: a film told entirely visually, with no subtitles save for the semi-satirical explanation of the climax. In a sense, Karl Freund's camera is as much a "character" as anyone else, commenting upon Jannings' rise and fall via then-revolutionary camera angles, jarring movements and grotesque lens distortions. Many historians credit The Last Laugh as the vanguard of the "German invasion" of Hollywood during the mid- to late-1920s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 2
Number of Lists: 7
Number of blog posts: 2
Number of discussion threads: 4
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:56:20 GMTThe Last Laugh1924F.W. MurnauF.W. Murnau's German silent classic The Last Laugh (Der Letze Mann) stars <a href="/players/P____35211/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Emil Jannings</a> as the doorman of a posh Berlin hotel. Fiercely proud of his job, Jannings comports himself like a general in his resplendent costume, and is treated like royalty by his friends and neighbors. The hotel's insensitive new manager, noting that Jannings seems winded after carrying several heavy pieces of luggage for a patron, decides that the old man is no longer up to his job. The manager demotes Jannings to men's washroom attendant, and the effect is disastrous on the man's prestige and self-esteem. Logically, the film should end on a note of tragedy, but Murnau (either because he was ordered to by the producers or because he just felt like it) adds a near-surrealistic coda, wherein Jannings, having suddenly inherited a fortune, returns to the hotel in triumph. The Last Laugh was a bold experiment for its time: a film told entirely visually, with no subtitles save for the semi-satirical explanation of the climax. In a sense, Karl Freund's camera is as much a "character" as anyone else, commenting upon Jannings' rise and fall via then-revolutionary camera angles, jarring movements and grotesque lens distortions. Many historians credit The Last Laugh as the vanguard of the "German invasion" of Hollywood during the mid- to late-1920s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide2Slightly Tagged (1-5)7243http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t10807zb24v.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Last_Laugh/19705/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_May_4_Express_Yourself/625/42230/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 5/11/2009 12:58:19 PM
Body: [quote user="Risselada"] You guys have mentioned Fritz Lang's M and Metropolis, but no one has yet mentioned Der letzte Mann, presented in the United States as "The Last Laugh" but the actual translation is "The Last Man". I think this film may be even more expressionistic than the other two, and possibly even better from my standpoint. Also largely because I find Emil Jannings to be one of the greatest silent film actors. The film actually presents several distored point of view shots explicitly stating that this is how the character is seeing the world emotionally. Although sometimes he is drunk, so we know that can have some effect on your perceptions as well. Coincidentally I actually have Lang's Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler right at the top of my Netflix queue. I assume this will have some expressionistic tendancies in it as well, so maybe I'll pop back in once I've viewed that. [/quote] Guys, I fucked up here! The Last Laugh was definitely by Murnau, not Lang! The two luminaries of German cinema at the time. I'm sorry I got their works confused! Anyways I finished watching Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler this weekend, and it's largely a realistic movie with certain great expressionistic effects when people are under hypnosis. This movie is actually more appropriate for the 3+ Hours discussion I discovered. I'll go post something over there right now!
]]>Mon, 11 May 2009 16:58:19 GMTRisseladaWeekly Theme5/11/2009 12:58:19 PM[quote user="Risselada"] You guys have mentioned Fritz Lang's M and Metropolis, but no one has yet mentioned Der letzte Mann, presented in the United States as "The Last Laugh" but the actual translation is "The Last Man". I think this film may be even more expressionistic than the other two, and possibly even better from my standpoint. Also largely because I find Emil Jannings to be one of the greatest silent film actors. The film actually presents several distored point of view shots explicitly stating that this is how the character is seeing the world emotionally. Although sometimes he is drunk, so we know that can have some effect on your perceptions as well. Coincidentally I actually have Lang's Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler right at the top of my Netflix queue. I assume this will have some expressionistic tendancies in it as well, so maybe I'll pop back in once I've viewed that. [/quote] Guys, I fucked up here! The Last Laugh was definitely by Murnau, not Lang! The two luminaries of German cinema at the time. I'm sorry I got their works confused! Anyways I finished watching Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler this weekend, and it's largely a realistic movie with certain great expressionistic effects when people are under hypnosis. This movie is actually more appropriate for the 3+ Hours discussion I discovered. I'll go post something over there right now! http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_May_4_Express_Yourself/625/42069/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 5/6/2009 4:05:39 PM
Body: You guys have mentioned Fritz Lang's M and Metropolis, but no one has yet mentioned Der letzte Mann, presented in the United States as "The Last Laugh" but the actual translation is "The Last Man". I think this film may be even more expressionistic than the other two, and possibly even better from my standpoint. Also largely because I find Emil Jannings to be one of the greatest silent film actors. The film actually presents several distored point of view shots explicitly stating that this is how the character is seeing the world emotionally. Although sometimes he is drunk, so we know that can have some effect on your perceptions as well. Coincidentally I actually have Lang's Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler right at the top of my Netflix queue. I assume this will have some expressionistic tendancies in it as well, so maybe I'll pop back in once I've viewed that.
]]>Wed, 06 May 2009 20:05:39 GMTRisseladaWeekly Theme5/6/2009 4:05:39 PMYou guys have mentioned Fritz Lang's M and Metropolis, but no one has yet mentioned Der letzte Mann, presented in the United States as "The Last Laugh" but the actual translation is "The Last Man". I think this film may be even more expressionistic than the other two, and possibly even better from my standpoint. Also largely because I find Emil Jannings to be one of the greatest silent film actors. The film actually presents several distored point of view shots explicitly stating that this is how the character is seeing the world emotionally. Although sometimes he is drunk, so we know that can have some effect on your perceptions as well. Coincidentally I actually have Lang's Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler right at the top of my Netflix queue. I assume this will have some expressionistic tendancies in it as well, so maybe I'll pop back in once I've viewed that. http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Polls/Re_Which_of_these_film_movments_have_produced_film/657/40557/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 2/19/2009 3:15:26 PM
Body: [quote user="pippin06"] This is out of my league too. I consider myself an average to above average filmgoer/viewer but am not sure if I've seen anything in any category (maybe I have and I didn't know it...but maybe not). Like I said, I saw a lot of French films in college, but who knows if they fall under New Wave or something like that... ...but maybe we could somehow start a discussion somewhere where people schooled in these film schools could make recommendations for beginners. That would be cool, right? Or, maybe it's already somewhere...anyone know? [/quote] Ok, well I'll try to give some insight on what I know about them and any recommendations I may have. Czechoslovakian New Wave may be one of the lesser movements listed here. It kind of started in the 60s. A discription from wikipedia says "Trademarks of the movement contain long unscripted dialogues, dark and absurd humour, and the casting of nonactors." I don't know if I've actually seen any, but some of the more popular ones are available from the Criterion Collection like The Shop on Main Street (which people have mentioned on Spout before), Closely Watched Trains, and lots of Milos Forman's (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Man on the Moon, Amadeus) early work like Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman's Ball. Dogme 95 was an official movement started by Lars Von Trier and a few other Danish filmmakers that had specific rules about it. You could actually submit your film to them to be labeled as an official Dogma 95 film. You can probably find the rules online somewhere, but it involved using only digital film and found locations, props, and costumes. You aren't supposed to add any special effects. The full rules are of course available at good old wikipedia. The most famous of the films would probably The Celebration, The Idiots, and my favorite, Julien Donkey-Boy. The French New Wave is a pretty broad movement usually referring to the iconoclastic filmmakers from France. I think the tail end of the 50s is really when this started to get into full swing. Like Tennenbaums mentioned earlier, Jean Luc-Godard and François Truffaut are often the most identifiable filmmakers with the movement, although there are probably dozens if not more who have been lumped into this movement. SkyPilot mentioned Jean-Pierre Melville's Bob le Flambeur. I have seen that one and was disappointed. I've also seen Godard's Breathless and Truffaut's Jules and Jim both of which I did not enjoy. Truffaut's The 400 Blows I appreciated a bit more, but still not a favorite. Some people throw Éric Rohmer into this category as well, although some argue his style is considerably different and stems from somewhere other than many other of the French New Wave filmmakers. I have enjoyed what little I've seen of his work. Expressionism was a movement in Europe in the early 20th century. It stressed intense emotion conveyed through exaggerated and distorted style and forms. The Germans took this movement and put it in film. I'm sure you recognize famous directors like F. W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. Some of these films had extremely expressionistic and highly unrealistic visuals like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Some like The Last Laugh were just more more distorted versions of reality. With all the Dracula talk that has happend on Spout at times I'm guessing you've also heard of Nosferatu. Some of Lang's works that came a bit later that are well known might also count like M and Metropolis. When I looked into it, I can't really define Iranian New Wave any better than just saying it's basically films that were made in Iran. I guess the most popular filmmaker is Abbas Kiarostami. Look him up and you may recognize a lot of his films. Maybe not. I have seen two films from Majid Majidi and would recommend The Color of Paradise. It's kind of recent though so I don't really know if it's a good representation of the first wave of the Iranian New Wave. Italian neorealism is what it probably sounds like. Italian films that stressed trying to give a realistic depiction of every day working class people. They did this by shootings things on location and often with non-actors. And a lot of the the "boring" action of normal life that might not find it's way into other films is here. Although I sure don't find it boring. The time frame we are looking at is the later forties. The most famous example is Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief which I would highly recommend, although De Sica's Shoeshine and Umberto D are also amazing. Other big name directors are Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini. The Japanese New Wave like the French New Wave were a bunch of iconoclastic filmmakers that started with works being released around the end of the 50s through the 70s. You could put Seijun Suzuki in this category who is one of my favorite directors. Tokyo Drifter, Fighting Elegy, Branded to Kill, and Youth of the Beast are all fims of his that I love and are available on the Criterion Collection. Hiroshi Teshigahara also has some of his movies released through Criterion, one of which, Woman in the Dunes, I just saw recently and is amazing. Shohei Imamura also has some of his movies available through Criterion (this is basically just a big Criterion ad). Nagisa Oshima is probably the biggest name from this moment in my mind and I'm rather embarassed to say I still haven't seen any of his films. Mumblecore core is the newest term on this list and has gotten a lot of press on Spout, so maybe you've heard of it. I don't know if I've really seen any movies that would fit this category hardcore, but you probably recognize the trend in independent cinema. I think it has a lot to do with young adults living in big cities. Very low budget. Lots of slang and hip music and culture references with a realistic style. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. Joe Swanberg had a short film series on Spout for a while I think. New French Extremity is the other really new term here. I just came across the name recently to refer to a recent wave of confrontational French films ove the past decade or so. You know how we had a group here on spout called "extreme films"? Well a lot of these would probably fit in nice there. They show you the extreme fifth, cruelty, and violence of humanity often in graphic detail. You may recognize a lot of these names. Gaspar Noé's Irreversible is one of the most well known state side I think. It's the one that runs backwards. I've seen his I Stand Alone and let me say it's pretty striking and depression, very confrontational to the dark and depressing side of the human condition. Other examples are some of Claire Denis' and Leos Carax's recent work, Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus, Humanité), Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl). Maybe you have also heard of the infamous Baise-moi (Fuck Me). If you listen to a lot of the horror fans we have on the site too you may hear them rave about many of the violent horror films comming out of France recently. These could probably fit in well too. The most well known now being High Tension. As for New German Cinema, you've heard of Werner Herzog right?? He's one of my favorites (check out The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Stroszek, Fitzcarraldo). Well he and some other German folks such as R. W. Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, The Marriage of Maria Braun, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (the guy made well over fourty films in a span of sixteen years including the fifteen hour long Berlin Alexanderplatz)), Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas), Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum) and several others started making the first original movies starting in the late 60s since before the rise of the Nazis (Werner Herzog even made a remake of the classic German film Nosferatu). Finally Germany was a force in the world of Cinema making original and revolutionary films again. Anyone have anything to add?
]]>Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:15:26 GMTRisseladaMovie Polls2/19/2009 3:15:26 PM[quote user="pippin06"] This is out of my league too. I consider myself an average to above average filmgoer/viewer but am not sure if I've seen anything in any category (maybe I have and I didn't know it...but maybe not). Like I said, I saw a lot of French films in college, but who knows if they fall under New Wave or something like that... ...but maybe we could somehow start a discussion somewhere where people schooled in these film schools could make recommendations for beginners. That would be cool, right? Or, maybe it's already somewhere...anyone know? [/quote] Ok, well I'll try to give some insight on what I know about them and any recommendations I may have. Czechoslovakian New Wave may be one of the lesser movements listed here. It kind of started in the 60s. A discription from wikipedia says "Trademarks of the movement contain long unscripted dialogues, dark and absurd humour, and the casting of nonactors." I don't know if I've actually seen any, but some of the more popular ones are available from the Criterion Collection like The Shop on Main Street (which people have mentioned on Spout before), Closely Watched Trains, and lots of Milos Forman's (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Man on the Moon, Amadeus) early work like Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman's Ball. Dogme 95 was an official movement started by Lars Von Trier and a few other Danish filmmakers that had specific rules about it. You could actually submit your film to them to be labeled as an official Dogma 95 film. You can probably find the rules online somewhere, but it involved using only digital film and found locations, props, and costumes. You aren't supposed to add any special effects. The full rules are of course available at good old wikipedia. The most famous of the films would probably The Celebration, The Idiots, and my favorite, Julien Donkey-Boy. The French New Wave is a pretty broad movement usually referring to the iconoclastic filmmakers from France. I think the tail end of the 50s is really when this started to get into full swing. Like Tennenbaums mentioned earlier, Jean Luc-Godard and Fran&ccedil;ois Truffaut are often the most identifiable filmmakers with the movement, although there are probably dozens if not more who have been lumped into this movement. SkyPilot mentioned Jean-Pierre Melville's Bob le Flambeur. I have seen that one and was disappointed. I've also seen Godard's Breathless and Truffaut's Jules and Jim both of which I did not enjoy. Truffaut's The 400 Blows I appreciated a bit more, but still not a favorite. Some people throw &Eacute;ric Rohmer into this category as well, although some argue his style is considerably different and stems from somewhere other than many other of the French New Wave filmmakers. I have enjoyed what little I've seen of his work. Expressionism was a movement in Europe in the early 20th century. It stressed intense emotion conveyed through exaggerated and distorted style and forms. The Germans took this movement and put it in film. I'm sure you recognize famous directors like F. W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. Some of these films had extremely expressionistic and highly unrealistic visuals like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Some like The Last Laugh were just more more distorted versions of reality. With all the Dracula talk that has happend on Spout at times I'm guessing you've also heard of Nosferatu. Some of Lang's works that came a bit later that are well known might also count like M and Metropolis. When I looked into it, I can't really define Iranian New Wave any better than just saying it's basically films that were made in Iran. I guess the most popular filmmaker is Abbas Kiarostami. Look him up and you may recognize a lot of his films. Maybe not. I have seen two films from Majid Majidi and would recommend The Color of Paradise. It's kind of recent though so I don't really know if it's a good representation of the first wave of the Iranian New Wave. Italian neorealism is what it probably sounds like. Italian films that stressed trying to give a realistic depiction of every day working class people. They did this by shootings things on location and often with non-actors. And a lot of the the "boring" action of normal life that might not find it's way into other films is here. Although I sure don't find it boring. The time frame we are looking at is the later forties. The most famous example is Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief which I would highly recommend, although De Sica's Shoeshine and Umberto D are also amazing. Other big name directors are Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini. The Japanese New Wave like the French New Wave were a bunch of iconoclastic filmmakers that started with works being released around the end of the 50s through the 70s. You could put Seijun Suzuki in this category who is one of my favorite directors. Tokyo Drifter, Fighting Elegy, Branded to Kill, and Youth of the Beast are all fims of his that I love and are available on the Criterion Collection. Hiroshi Teshigahara also has some of his movies released through Criterion, one of which, Woman in the Dunes, I just saw recently and is amazing. Shohei Imamura also has some of his movies available through Criterion (this is basically just a big Criterion ad). Nagisa Oshima is probably the biggest name from this moment in my mind and I'm rather embarassed to say I still haven't seen any of his films. Mumblecore core is the newest term on this list and has gotten a lot of press on Spout, so maybe you've heard of it. I don't know if I've really seen any movies that would fit this category hardcore, but you probably recognize the trend in independent cinema. I think it has a lot to do with young adults living in big cities. Very low budget. Lots of slang and hip music and culture references with a realistic style. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. Joe Swanberg had a short film series on Spout for a while I think. New French Extremity is the other really new term here. I just came across the name recently to refer to a recent wave of confrontational French films ove the past decade or so. You know how we had a group here on spout called "extreme films"? Well a lot of these would probably fit in nice there. They show you the extreme fifth, cruelty, and violence of humanity often in graphic detail. You may recognize a lot of these names. Gaspar No&eacute;'s Irreversible is one of the most well known state side I think. It's the one that runs backwards. I've seen his I Stand Alone and let me say it's pretty striking and depression, very confrontational to the dark and depressing side of the human condition. Other examples are some of Claire Denis' and Leos Carax's recent work, Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus, Humanit&eacute;), Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl). Maybe you have also heard of the infamous Baise-moi (Fuck Me). If you listen to a lot of the horror fans we have on the site too you may hear them rave about many of the violent horror films comming out of France recently. These could probably fit in well too. The most well known now being High Tension. As for New German Cinema, you've heard of Werner Herzog right?? He's one of my favorites (check out The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Stroszek, Fitzcarraldo). Well he and some other German folks such as R. W. Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, The Marriage of Maria Braun, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (the guy made well over fourty films in a span of sixteen years including the fifteen hour long Berlin Alexanderplatz)), Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas), Volker Schl&ouml;ndorff (The Tin Drum) and several others started making the first original movies starting in the late 60s since before the rise of the Nazis (Werner Herzog even made a remake of the classic German film Nosferatu). Finally Germany was a force in the world of Cinema making original and revolutionary films again. Anyone have anything to add? http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/7/16/32630.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 7/16/2008 3:00:59 PM
Body: Though I first buzzed about an Academy Award nomination for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight more than a month before his death, I now want to take it all back. I feel all the talk of Ledger’s posthumous Oscar chances will cloud my mind when I finally do see it, and it will probably also cloud the Academy’s judgment, too. Six months from now, when the nominations are announced on January 22 (coincidentally the one-year anniversary of Ledger’s death), if Ledger is not recognized for his role as The Joker, there will surely be an uproar — actually, Hollywood might just up and self-implode. I’m not the only one annoyed by all the Oscar buzz. Terry Gilliam, who directed Ledger in The Brothers Grimm and the upcoming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is calling “bullshit” on the whole thing, particularly against Warner Bros., which Gilliam accuses of exploiting Ledger’s death and chance of a posthumous Oscar for publicity purposes. Considering most Oscar campaigns for live actors are really just part of movie marketing, he has a good point. Sure, I would love to see Ledger honored. I’ve believed in his Oscar worth since 10 Things I Hate About You . But in February, if he receives a posthumous award, it will surely feel, at least in good percentage, that it’s because he died young. In that case, why not also give supporting noms sight unseen to Rob Knox for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Brad Renfro for The Informers? Despite the more than 10 posthumous nominations in Oscar history, however, it’s not obligatory for the Academy to hand out such accolades every time someone dies before his final movie is released. Just check out the following list of talent who probably deserved posthumous Oscar recognition as much as Ledger does: Jean Vigo for L’Atalante - One of the greatest, most influential films of all time, L’Atalante premiered in France in 1934, a few months before Vigo died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. It eventually made its way to the U.S. 14 years later, just in time for the debut of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. And considering the first recipient, Vittorio De Sica (for Shoeshine), would win again two years later (for Bicycle Thieves), the Academy should have recognized Vigo’s film, even if it was more than a decade old. Unfortunately, it would be many decades before L’Atalante received the kind of esteem it deserves. James Dean for Rebel Without a Cause - Dean starred in only three feature films, one of which, East of Eden, was released prior to his death. He received posthumous Oscar nominations for that film and his final appearance in Giant, which came out a year later. But wouldn’t it have been wonderful if he’d also been nominated for his most iconic role in Rebel Without a Cause? Sure, he’d have posthumously gone up against himself in 1956, but that’s what movie gods like him were made to do. Richard Harris for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Not only should Harris have received a nomination, he should have won, too. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t the greatest performance by the actor, who’d previously been nominated for 1963’s This Sporting Life and 1990’s The Field. It’s that Harry Potter fans would have tuned in and saved that year’s telecast from being the least-watched in years. Just imagine how many people will be tuning in to next year’s show just because of the (inevitable) Ledger nom. Heather O’Rourke for Poltergeist III - I know that I’m only one of maybe three people who like the third Poltergeist movie, but even if you think the movie itself is bad, you have to give little Heather O’Rourke credit for being giving creepily terrific performances throughout the series. Compare her talent to some other young actresses who’ve been nominated. Especially Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine. And had she lived, she’d probably be a better actress today than Oscar-winner Anna Paquin. F.W. Murnau for Tabu - His Sunrise was pretty successful a few year earlier, at the 1st Academy Awards, but he wasn’t even nominated. In fact, the man who also gave us Nosferatu, Faust and The Last Laugh was never nominated for an Oscar, a fact that might have been different had the Oscars been founded a decade earlier or had he not died tragically in a car accident at age 43. I’m sure, at least, that Floyd Crosby, when winning for his cinematography work on Tabu, raised the statue to the sky and said, “this is for Murnau.” Peter Sellers for The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu - Whether or not you believe the Academy hates on comedic actors, you should agree that Sellers should have won an Oscar before he died. Or after he died. If he’d been nominated for this critical and commercial failure, though, it would of course have been one of those “he deserved it for ______, but this will do” kind of situtations. Stanley Kubrick for Eyes Wide Shut - If Scorsese can finally win with The Departed, Kubrick should have finally won posthumously with what is often thought of as his worst film. If anything, he at least deserved to be nominated instead of M. Night Shyamalan. Adrienne Shelly for Waitress - Didn’t it seem like a sure thing the writer-director-actress, Shelley, would get the nomination this year? Considering Diablo Cody had already (unofficially) won the actual Oscar before the nominations were even announced, could it have hurt to include the tragically murdered screenwriter? Or were there already too many ladies on the screenwriting ballot this year? Thelma Ritter for What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? - If ever there was a supporting actress who should have won an Oscar, Ritter was she. After six nominations (four of them consecutive), a posthumous seventh should have come with this movie (even if I’ve never personally seen it, I bet she’s great as usual). Unfortunately, the ballots were likely already in when she had her heart attack in February 1969. Also, she probably would have lost to Ruth Gordon anyway. Brandon Lee for The Crow - Laugh all you want, but in a crazy year that saw John Travolta recognized with a nomination and Tom Hanks recognized with a win for one of his silliest performances ever, would it have been so strange if the Academy had given Lee the slot filled by Morgan Freeman (obviously Oscar had little love for The Shawshank Redemption as it was)? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:00:59 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com7/16/2008 3:00:59 PM Though I first buzzed about an Academy Award nomination for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight more than a month before his death, I now want to take it all back. I feel all the talk of Ledger’s posthumous Oscar chances will cloud my mind when I finally do see it, and it will probably also cloud the Academy’s judgment, too. Six months from now, when the nominations are announced on January 22 (coincidentally the one-year anniversary of Ledger’s death), if Ledger is not recognized for his role as The Joker, there will surely be an uproar — actually, Hollywood might just up and self-implode. I’m not the only one annoyed by all the Oscar buzz. Terry Gilliam, who directed Ledger in The Brothers Grimm and the upcoming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is calling “bullshit” on the whole thing, particularly against Warner Bros., which Gilliam accuses of exploiting Ledger’s death and chance of a posthumous Oscar for publicity purposes. Considering most Oscar campaigns for live actors are really just part of movie marketing, he has a good point. Sure, I would love to see Ledger honored. I’ve believed in his Oscar worth since 10 Things I Hate About You . But in February, if he receives a posthumous award, it will surely feel, at least in good percentage, that it’s because he died young. In that case, why not also give supporting noms sight unseen to Rob Knox for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Brad Renfro for The Informers? Despite the more than 10 posthumous nominations in Oscar history, however, it’s not obligatory for the Academy to hand out such accolades every time someone dies before his final movie is released. Just check out the following list of talent who probably deserved posthumous Oscar recognition as much as Ledger does: Jean Vigo for L’Atalante - One of the greatest, most influential films of all time, L’Atalante premiered in France in 1934, a few months before Vigo died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. It eventually made its way to the U.S. 14 years later, just in time for the debut of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. And considering the first recipient, Vittorio De Sica (for Shoeshine), would win again two years later (for Bicycle Thieves), the Academy should have recognized Vigo’s film, even if it was more than a decade old. Unfortunately, it would be many decades before L’Atalante received the kind of esteem it deserves. James Dean for Rebel Without a Cause - Dean starred in only three feature films, one of which, East of Eden, was released prior to his death. He received posthumous Oscar nominations for that film and his final appearance in Giant, which came out a year later. But wouldn’t it have been wonderful if he’d also been nominated for his most iconic role in Rebel Without a Cause? Sure, he’d have posthumously gone up against himself in 1956, but that’s what movie gods like him were made to do. Richard Harris for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Not only should Harris have received a nomination, he should have won, too. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t the greatest performance by the actor, who’d previously been nominated for 1963’s This Sporting Life and 1990’s The Field. It’s that Harry Potter fans would have tuned in and saved that year’s telecast from being the least-watched in years. Just imagine how many people will be tuning in to next year’s show just because of the (inevitable) Ledger nom. Heather O’Rourke for Poltergeist III - I know that I’m only one of maybe three people who like the third Poltergeist movie, but even if you think the movie itself is bad, you have to give little Heather O’Rourke credit for being giving creepily terrific performances throughout the series. Compare her talent to some other young actresses who’ve been nominated. Especially Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine. And had she lived, she’d probably be a better actress today than Oscar-winner Anna Paquin. F.W. Murnau for Tabu - His Sunrise was pretty successful a few year earlier, at the 1st Academy Awards, but he wasn’t even nominated. In fact, the man who also gave us Nosferatu, Faust and The Last Laugh was never nominated for an Oscar, a fact that might have been different had the Oscars been founded a decade earlier or had he not died tragically in a car accident at age 43. I’m sure, at least, that Floyd Crosby, when winning for his cinematography work on Tabu, raised the statue to the sky and said, “this is for Murnau.” Peter Sellers for The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu - Whether or not you believe the Academy hates on comedic actors, you should agree that Sellers should have won an Oscar before he died. Or after he died. If he’d been nominated for this critical and commercial failure, though, it would of course have been one of those “he deserved it for ______, but this will do” kind of situtations. Stanley Kubrick for Eyes Wide Shut - If Scorsese can finally win with The Departed, Kubrick should have finally won posthumously with what is often thought of as his worst film. If anything, he at least deserved to be nominated instead of M. Night Shyamalan. Adrienne Shelly for Waitress - Didn’t it seem like a sure thing the writer-director-actress, Shelley, would get the nomination this year? Considering Diablo Cody had already (unofficially) won the actual Oscar before the nominations were even announced, could it have hurt to include the tragically murdered screenwriter? Or were there already too many ladies on the screenwriting ballot this year? Thelma Ritter for What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? - If ever there was a supporting actress who should have won an Oscar, Ritter was she. After six nominations (four of them consecutive), a posthumous seventh should have come with this movie (even if I’ve never personally seen it, I bet she’s great as usual). Unfortunately, the ballots were likely already in when she had her heart attack in February 1969. Also, she probably would have lost to Ruth Gordon anyway. Brandon Lee for The Crow - Laugh all you want, but in a crazy year that saw John Travolta recognized with a nomination and Tom Hanks recognized with a win for one of his silliest performances ever, would it have been so strange if the Academy had given Lee the slot filled by Morgan Freeman (obviously Oscar had little love for The Shawshank Redemption as it was)? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/groups/Silent_Film/Re_Favorite_silent_films/589/29826/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Silent Film
Post Date: 5/23/2008 1:23:54 PM
Body: Buster Keaton's The General for sure! Also Chaplin's Modern Times, but like City Lights it's not technically a silent movie. It has a score, but just no real diagetic sound. I also LOVE Georges Méliès. I've rented all kinds of his collections. So many of his films are still fascinating today. The Magic of Méliès is a fantastic documentary on him. The whole DVD that it comes on is great actually. A few other of my favorite silent films are:The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariOur HospitalityNanook of the NorthGirl ShySherlock Jr.The Last Laugh I think I'd probably love anything with Keaton, I just haven't seen all of his films yet. I'm on a course to see a bunch of silent movies that are coming up in my queue. This might be an active group for me soon.
]]>Fri, 23 May 2008 17:23:54 GMTRisseladaSilent Film5/23/2008 1:23:54 PMBuster Keaton's The General for sure! Also Chaplin's Modern Times, but like City Lights it's not technically a silent movie. It has a score, but just no real diagetic sound. I also LOVE Georges M&eacute;li&egrave;s. I've rented all kinds of his collections. So many of his films are still fascinating today. The Magic of M&eacute;li&egrave;s is a fantastic documentary on him. The whole DVD that it comes on is great actually. A few other of my favorite silent films are:The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariOur HospitalityNanook of the NorthGirl ShySherlock Jr.The Last Laugh I think I'd probably love anything with Keaton, I just haven't seen all of his films yet. I'm on a course to see a bunch of silent movies that are coming up in my queue. This might be an active group for me soon. http://www.spout.com/blogs/cinemarian/archive/2008/5/14/29120.aspx Post By: CinemaRian
Post To: CinemaRian Blog
Post Date: 5/14/2008 1:12:20 AM
Body: I found it completley impossible to write about this film without revealing key plot details. This is the kind of film where the less you know about going in, the better, so don't read this if you plan to see it. SPOILERS EVERWHERE! ________________________________________________________ While looking up reviews for this film before writing about it, I found the critics at the time of its release acclaimed as the greatest film ever made. Some now consider it Murneau's best film. So, yes, my friends, this is another movie like Vertigo, 8 1/2, Pulp Fiction, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nashville and Yojimbo that I just do not see what the big deal is. I could lie and say I liked it to look smart, but honesty prevents me from going further. I stated in the preface to this review that if you are going to see the film not to read this. I'm serious. The less you know about this film going into it, the better. From this point forward, I am assuming that you have either seen the film or are not planning to. You've been warned. The premise is certainly simple. Emil Jannings plays a doorman (none of the characters are named) who looses his job and is forced to work as a bathroom attendant. Everyone around him thinks he's a loser and laughs at him. He goes mad with depression, gets kicked out of his house, is forbidden from seeing his own daughter. Then, in a complety unexpected turn of events, he comes upon a fortune and gets the last laugh of the title. While watching the movie, I couldn't help but think of the films of Vittorio De Sica. His masterpiece Umberto D. has a similer premise: a poor old man desperatley trying to cling to a shred of dignity. The crucial difference is that in De Sica's film we really get to care about the old man, it's no so much that he is a character in the movie than he is an actual person. In this film, I never got involved with the doorman's plight. I also found the reactions of the characters to be hard to beleive. Everyone suddenly hates him because he lost his job? I mean, I know that people will respond to you differently when that happens, but the extent of the isolation the character feels in such a short legnth of time in this film is kind of rediculous. Although the cover of the Kino DVD calls it "F.W. Murneau's masterpeice of German expressionism", aside from a few dream sequences, most of the film is about as close the silent cinema can get to realism. This is not Murnau's strong point. He's best when he goes way out into formulist expressionsim, a la Nosferatu and Faust. I give him credit for trying somethiggn new, but most of thes attempt doesn't work. With the lack of intertitles he tries for a Griffith-like quality, but it just comes off as confusing. I was unsure what the character relationships were. And then there's there is the ending. It's totally unexpected and is not at all in keeping with theme or style of the rest of the film. Some could argue that it's the doorman's insane fantasy, but an intertitle (the only one in the film) seems to state that it's real, at least withing the boundries of the movie. The ending is very funny- the image of Emil Jannings wearing a bib and pigging out at the hotel while people wait on him is downright hilarious. But funny as it is, it's inapproiate. It turns the rest of the movie into a very long set up to a very funny joke. I could beleive it in a Chaplin film, but I don't buy it here. One source I looked at says the studio forced Murnau to add a happy ending, another said Murnau may have desired it himself. Either way, it's all wrong. I am reminded of a similer story about the studio forcing King Vidor to add a similer endnig to The Crowd, but preview auinces founded it stupid and Vidor was given the ending he wanted. The Crowd is also simler to this film, but that movie had charcters I could care about and interseting ideas, it was a real masterpiece. I don't know why The Last Laugh is so well respected. Could somebody please tell me? The Last Laugh (1924)
]]>Wed, 14 May 2008 05:12:20 GMTCinemaRianCinemaRian Blog5/14/2008 1:12:20 AMI found it completley impossible to write about this film without revealing key plot details. This is the kind of film where the less you know about going in, the better, so don't read this if you plan to see it. SPOILERS EVERWHERE! ________________________________________________________ While looking up reviews for this film before writing about it, I found the critics at the time of its release acclaimed as the greatest film ever made. Some now consider it Murneau's best film. So, yes, my friends, this is another movie like Vertigo, 8 1/2, Pulp Fiction, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nashville and Yojimbo that I just do not see what the big deal is. I could lie and say I liked it to look smart, but honesty prevents me from going further. I stated in the preface to this review that if you are going to see the film not to read this. I'm serious. The less you know about this film going into it, the better. From this point forward, I am assuming that you have either seen the film or are not planning to. You've been warned. The premise is certainly simple. Emil Jannings plays a doorman (none of the characters are named) who looses his job and is forced to work as a bathroom attendant. Everyone around him thinks he's a loser and laughs at him. He goes mad with depression, gets kicked out of his house, is forbidden from seeing his own daughter. Then, in a complety unexpected turn of events, he comes upon a fortune and gets the last laugh of the title. While watching the movie, I couldn't help but think of the films of Vittorio De Sica. His masterpiece Umberto D. has a similer premise: a poor old man desperatley trying to cling to a shred of dignity. The crucial difference is that in De Sica's film we really get to care about the old man, it's no so much that he is a character in the movie than he is an actual person. In this film, I never got involved with the doorman's plight. I also found the reactions of the characters to be hard to beleive. Everyone suddenly hates him because he lost his job? I mean, I know that people will respond to you differently when that happens, but the extent of the isolation the character feels in such a short legnth of time in this film is kind of rediculous. Although the cover of the Kino DVD calls it "F.W. Murneau's masterpeice of German expressionism", aside from a few dream sequences, most of the film is about as close the silent cinema can get to realism. This is not Murnau's strong point. He's best when he goes way out into formulist expressionsim, a la Nosferatu and Faust. I give him credit for trying somethiggn new, but most of thes attempt doesn't work. With the lack of intertitles he tries for a Griffith-like quality, but it just comes off as confusing. I was unsure what the character relationships were. And then there's there is the ending. It's totally unexpected and is not at all in keeping with theme or style of the rest of the film. Some could argue that it's the doorman's insane fantasy, but an intertitle (the only one in the film) seems to state that it's real, at least withing the boundries of the movie. The ending is very funny- the image of Emil Jannings wearing a bib and pigging out at the hotel while people wait on him is downright hilarious. But funny as it is, it's inapproiate. It turns the rest of the movie into a very long set up to a very funny joke. I could beleive it in a Chaplin film, but I don't buy it here. One source I looked at says the studio forced Murnau to add a happy ending, another said Murnau may have desired it himself. Either way, it's all wrong. I am reminded of a similer story about the studio forcing King Vidor to add a similer endnig to The Crowd, but preview auinces founded it stupid and Vidor was given the ending he wanted. The Crowd is also simler to this film, but that movie had charcters I could care about and interseting ideas, it was a real masterpiece. I don't know why The Last Laugh is so well respected. Could somebody please tell me? The Last Laugh (1924) http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/betrayal/MemberTagFilms.aspxbetrayal
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