list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Bicycle Thief 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_Bicycle_Thief/3137/default.aspx Title: The Bicycle Thief
Year: 1948
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Plot: This landmark Italian neorealist drama became one of the best-known and most widely acclaimed European movies, including a special Academy Award as "most outstanding foreign film" seven years before that Oscar category existed. Written primarily by neorealist pioneer Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio DeSica, also one of the movement's main forces, the movie featured all the hallmarks of the neorealist style: a simple story about the lives of ordinary people, outdoor shooting and lighting, non-actors mixed together with actors, and a focus on social problems in the aftermath of World War II. Lamberto Maggiorani plays Antonio, an unemployed man who finds a coveted job that requires a bicycle. When it is stolen on his first day of work, Antonio and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) begin a frantic search, learning valuable lessons along the way. The movie focuses on both the relationship between the father and the son and the larger framework of poverty and unemployment in postwar Italy. As in such other classic films as Shoeshine (1946), Umberto D. (1952), and his late masterpiece The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971), DeSica focuses on the ordinary details of ordinary lives as a way to dramatize wider social issues. As a result, The Bicycle Thief works as a sentimental study of a father and son, a historical document, a social statement, and a record of one of the century's most influential film movements. ~ Leo Charney, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 27
Number of Lists: 47
Number of blog posts: 7
Number of discussion threads: 5
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:50:57 GMTThe Bicycle Thief1948Vittorio De SicaThis landmark Italian neorealist drama became one of the best-known and most widely acclaimed European movies, including a special Academy Award as "most outstanding foreign film" seven years before that Oscar category existed. Written primarily by neorealist pioneer <a href="/players/P___117861/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Cesare Zavattini</a> and directed by Vittorio DeSica, also one of the movement's main forces, the movie featured all the hallmarks of the neorealist style: a simple story about the lives of ordinary people, outdoor shooting and lighting, non-actors mixed together with actors, and a focus on social problems in the aftermath of World War II. Lamberto Maggiorani plays Antonio, an unemployed man who finds a coveted job that requires a bicycle. When it is stolen on his first day of work, Antonio and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) begin a frantic search, learning valuable lessons along the way. The movie focuses on both the relationship between the father and the son and the larger framework of poverty and unemployment in postwar Italy. As in such other classic films as <a href=/films/31124/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Shoeshine</a> (1946), Umberto D. (1952), and his late masterpiece <a href=/films/12983/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>The Garden of the Finzi-Continis</a> (1971), DeSica focuses on the ordinary details of ordinary lives as a way to dramatize wider social issues. As a result, The Bicycle Thief works as a sentimental study of a father and son, a historical document, a social statement, and a record of one of the century's most influential film movements. ~ Leo Charney, All Movie Guide27Tag Target (>10)47754http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/u26354h6a1e.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Bicycle_Thief/3137/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/risselada/archive/2009/7/20/43199.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 7/20/2009 1:50:57 PM
Body: This is the fourth feature length film I've seen by director Vittorio De Sica. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing. Una breve vacanza (A Brief Vacation) My previous three film experiences from Vittorio De Sica were from his earlier and probably most acclaimed neo-realism period of the late 40s/early 50s, specifically Shoe-Shine, The Bicycle Thief, and Umberto D. All of them being fantastic, the latter two being perfect masterpieces. Jump a couple decades into the future with this, his second to last film. I'm not sure what a lot of his films in between were like. I suspect some of them may have been a bit livelier since many are billed as comedies, in which case this may have been a bit of a return to form. The beginning of the film seems very familiar setting in a simple and somewhat impoverished abode. Despite this, it's hard to like or feel much sympathy for the protagonist Clara or anyone else at the beginning of the film. She seems so upset, although we can't quite tell if her attitude is justified yet. Soon however we see what a rather kind hearted person she is and how much she has to put up with. Actually there are a lot of cases in this film of feeling one way towards a character when we are first introduced to them and then completely different by the end. For instance, the rich and egotistical woman singer is completely obnoxious and unlikeable at first. I thought I would hate the movie because of her and that fact that I was so annoyed whenever she appeared on screen. Shocking to find that she would be one of the most sympathetic characters by the end. Unfortunately a few characters came off a bit one dimensional and almost unbelievable unlikeable for the purpose of producing specific emotions. The portrayal of the Clara's annoying and selfish family was almost as bad as the girl boxer's family in the horrible Million Dollar Baby. Like films like The Bicycle Thief, this film does a great job at showing a rather harsh world of working class Italy. Unlike most of that film however, we at least get a brief vacation. Brief because by the end of the film it's over and we are thrust back into that world once more. Vittorio De Sica:Total feature length films seen: 4Previous average film score: 9.6667New average film score: 9.25 Rating: 8/10
]]>Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:50:57 GMTRisseladaRisselada Blog7/20/2009 1:50:57 PMThis is the fourth feature length film I've seen by director Vittorio De Sica. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing. Una breve vacanza (A Brief Vacation) My previous three film experiences from Vittorio De Sica were from his earlier and probably most acclaimed neo-realism period of the late 40s/early 50s, specifically Shoe-Shine, The Bicycle Thief, and Umberto D. All of them being fantastic, the latter two being perfect masterpieces. Jump a couple decades into the future with this, his second to last film. I'm not sure what a lot of his films in between were like. I suspect some of them may have been a bit livelier since many are billed as comedies, in which case this may have been a bit of a return to form. The beginning of the film seems very familiar setting in a simple and somewhat impoverished abode. Despite this, it's hard to like or feel much sympathy for the protagonist Clara or anyone else at the beginning of the film. She seems so upset, although we can't quite tell if her attitude is justified yet. Soon however we see what a rather kind hearted person she is and how much she has to put up with. Actually there are a lot of cases in this film of feeling one way towards a character when we are first introduced to them and then completely different by the end. For instance, the rich and egotistical woman singer is completely obnoxious and unlikeable at first. I thought I would hate the movie because of her and that fact that I was so annoyed whenever she appeared on screen. Shocking to find that she would be one of the most sympathetic characters by the end. Unfortunately a few characters came off a bit one dimensional and almost unbelievable unlikeable for the purpose of producing specific emotions. The portrayal of the Clara's annoying and selfish family was almost as bad as the girl boxer's family in the horrible Million Dollar Baby. Like films like The Bicycle Thief, this film does a great job at showing a rather harsh world of working class Italy. Unlike most of that film however, we at least get a brief vacation. Brief because by the end of the film it's over and we are thrust back into that world once more. Vittorio De Sica:Total feature length films seen: 4Previous average film score: 9.6667New average film score: 9.25 Rating: 8/10 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/tenenbaums/archive/2009/1/27/39969.aspx Post By: Tenenbaums
Post To: Tenenbaums Blog
Post Date: 1/27/2009 2:28:04 PM
Body: Last week, I told you about the best film of 2008. Today, I'll tell you about the worst.This particular stinker has the distiction of being on several critics' year-end Best Of lists (including both Adam and Matty from my beloved Filmspotting) and of earning a score of zero on the Metacritic score from the honorable A.O. Scott of the New York Times, thereby placing it in the ranks of the worst of all time. The film is cloaked as a high-brow commentary, meant to inspire dialogue strumming up the brilliance of its writer/director. It is also a shot-by-shot remake of the German original from 10 years ago, translated to English so that the original target audience can experience the message without subtitles. And it is a huge failure. The film is Funny Games.A film isn’t brilliant because it tells viewers that it’s brilliant. Audiences should not allow a filmmaker to convince them that a film is masterful, that it’s meant to challenge them and the conventions of Hollywood by playing with their emotions and viewpoints on violence. Writer/director Michael Haneke is a talented filmmaker, but it's excruciating to see worthy issues of cinema and audience preconceptions invalidated by patronizing.A startling creepiness factor is noticeably present in the film's opening half hour or so, in which two young men (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet), dressed in white complete with white gloves, terrorize a wealthy family (Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and Devon Gearhart) at their lakeside vacation home. But when the violence begins, the audience is in for a forced lesson so telling in style that it robs itself of any legitimacy.Haneke plays with suspense-film standards that audiences have come to accept. Instead of graphic scenes of violence, all such scenes take place off camera and are replaced with long, close-up reactionary shots of the survivors; Pitt's character talks directly to the audience multiple times, ironically checking in on their natural responses; A scene runs beyond its tolerable length, thereby drawing attention to itself; When the payoff of good defeating evil occurs, a scene so satisfying that the audience is nearly salivating for it, Haneke provides that gratification and then immediately erases it. Haneke has been banking on the audience's thirst for justice from the first scene of discomfort, and though the message is effective, it is immediately lost in the filmmaker's out-of-control ego.All of Haneke's devices are noteworthy in theory, but his execution is beyond heavyhanded. Contrastingly, Stanley Kubrick (with the help of Anthony Burgess' novel) achieves true brilliance with his handling of ultra-violence in A Clockwork Orange. In that film, the institutional dismantling of protagonist Alex's sadistic past through prolonged exposure to drugs and that very same ultra-violence pulls the audience along through the treatment. These scenes are intense and difficult, but the film up to that point has meticulously prepared the audience for such a redemption by fire. Kubrick is inviting the audience, after enduring some of the most brutal scenes they've ever seen, to decide whether the transformation is effective. Based on the resulting heartbreak of the rehabilitated Alex, the film stands a giant success without being preachy. In Funny Games, the audience is given no such freedom, leaving to question whether Haneke respects his viewers' intelligence at all.Additionally, instead of an intelligent meditation on film audiences' perception of violence and thrillers, the brutal, pointless cruelty evoked by the torturers is the primary message to shine through. Haneke is working with the above brand of terror that rivals that of The Dark Knight, yet he fails to provide any accompanying thought or escapism. This is full-throttle malice with no parachute, and though such safe refuge is not required in film (see The Bicycle Thief or most classic European cinema), Haneke's approach comes off as pointlessly damaging. Combined with the filmmaker's overstated contrivances, the film overall provides nothing other than frustration. There is an authentic feeling of wasted time and empty manipulation felt at the conclusion of Funny Games, and that gut reaction is what the film deserves. The abundant cruelty, however depicted, is the film's legacy along with the ever-present strings of a puppetteer. The tools for brilliance are there, but Haneke is just too damn smart to make the film work.
]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:28:04 GMTTenenbaumsTenenbaums Blog1/27/2009 2:28:04 PMLast week, I told you about the best film of 2008. Today, I'll tell you about the worst.This particular stinker has the distiction of being on several critics' year-end Best Of lists (including both Adam and Matty from my beloved Filmspotting) and of earning a score of zero on the Metacritic score from the honorable A.O. Scott of the New York Times, thereby placing it in the ranks of the worst of all time. The film is cloaked as a high-brow commentary, meant to inspire dialogue strumming up the brilliance of its writer/director. It is also a shot-by-shot remake of the German original from 10 years ago, translated to English so that the original target audience can experience the message without subtitles. And it is a huge failure. The film is Funny Games.A film isn&rsquo;t brilliant because it tells viewers that it&rsquo;s brilliant. Audiences should not allow a filmmaker to convince them that a film is masterful, that it&rsquo;s meant to challenge them and the conventions of Hollywood by playing with their emotions and viewpoints on violence. Writer/director Michael Haneke is a talented filmmaker, but it's excruciating to see worthy issues of cinema and audience preconceptions invalidated by patronizing.A startling creepiness factor is noticeably present in the film's opening half hour or so, in which two young men (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet), dressed in white complete with white gloves, terrorize a wealthy family (Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and Devon Gearhart) at their lakeside vacation home. But when the violence begins, the audience is in for a forced lesson so telling in style that it robs itself of any legitimacy.Haneke plays with suspense-film standards that audiences have come to accept. Instead of graphic scenes of violence, all such scenes take place off camera and are replaced with long, close-up reactionary shots of the survivors; Pitt's character talks directly to the audience multiple times, ironically checking in on their natural responses; A scene runs beyond its tolerable length, thereby drawing attention to itself; When the payoff of good defeating evil occurs, a scene so satisfying that the audience is nearly salivating for it, Haneke provides that gratification and then immediately erases it. Haneke has been banking on the audience's thirst for justice from the first scene of discomfort, and though the message is effective, it is immediately lost in the filmmaker's out-of-control ego.All of Haneke's devices are noteworthy in theory, but his execution is beyond heavyhanded. Contrastingly, Stanley Kubrick (with the help of Anthony Burgess' novel) achieves true brilliance with his handling of ultra-violence in A Clockwork Orange. In that film, the institutional dismantling of protagonist Alex's sadistic past through prolonged exposure to drugs and that very same ultra-violence pulls the audience along through the treatment. These scenes are intense and difficult, but the film up to that point has meticulously prepared the audience for such a redemption by fire. Kubrick is inviting the audience, after enduring some of the most brutal scenes they've ever seen, to decide whether the transformation is effective. Based on the resulting heartbreak of the rehabilitated Alex, the film stands a giant success without being preachy. In Funny Games, the audience is given no such freedom, leaving to question whether Haneke respects his viewers' intelligence at all.Additionally, instead of an intelligent meditation on film audiences' perception of violence and thrillers, the brutal, pointless cruelty evoked by the torturers is the primary message to shine through. Haneke is working with the above brand of terror that rivals that of The Dark Knight, yet he fails to provide any accompanying thought or escapism. This is full-throttle malice with no parachute, and though such safe refuge is not required in film (see The Bicycle Thief or most classic European cinema), Haneke's approach comes off as pointlessly damaging. Combined with the filmmaker's overstated contrivances, the film overall provides nothing other than frustration. There is an authentic feeling of wasted time and empty manipulation felt at the conclusion of Funny Games, and that gut reaction is what the film deserves. The abundant cruelty, however depicted, is the film's legacy along with the ever-present strings of a puppetteer. The tools for brilliance are there, but Haneke is just too damn smart to make the film work. http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_November_3_The_Movies_in_the/625/36950/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 11/4/2008 1:35:28 PM
Body: When I first saw the subject of this weeks discussion I thought we would be talking about fictional films within fictional films, not actualy films in fictional films. So the first thing I thought of was The Player with the the compromised film they eventually make at the end staring Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts where he saves her from the electric chair I think it is. But then it only took me a moment to think about it longer and this is actually the ULTIMATE example of movies in this category. There are people talking about all kinds of specific movies left and right. There are posters for other real movies everywhere. And people actually going to see some real movies. I think The Bicycle Thief is one that they watch in the theatre and is constantly referenced as sort of an idea of classic unadulterated good film. There are also several actors in this film who are playing themselves talking with the fictional characters. This always makes me wonder what kind of world they live in. For instance this is a world where Burt Reynolds, Andie MacDowell, Nick Nolte, and countless others are all real people who exist. Yet there are characters in the movie who are played by well known actors as well. So I wonder in the world of this movie are Tim Robbins and Peter Gallagher real people, and if so, so the characters they play just happen to look exactly like them? And if so, how come no one ever comments on this? Ok, these are the strange things I think about sometimes.
]]>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:35:28 GMTRisseladaWeekly Theme11/4/2008 1:35:28 PMWhen I first saw the subject of this weeks discussion I thought we would be talking about fictional films within fictional films, not actualy films in fictional films. So the first thing I thought of was The Player with the the compromised film they eventually make at the end staring Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts where he saves her from the electric chair I think it is. But then it only took me a moment to think about it longer and this is actually the ULTIMATE example of movies in this category. There are people talking about all kinds of specific movies left and right. There are posters for other real movies everywhere. And people actually going to see some real movies. I think The Bicycle Thief is one that they watch in the theatre and is constantly referenced as sort of an idea of classic unadulterated good film. There are also several actors in this film who are playing themselves talking with the fictional characters. This always makes me wonder what kind of world they live in. For instance this is a world where Burt Reynolds, Andie MacDowell, Nick Nolte, and countless others are all real people who exist. Yet there are characters in the movie who are played by well known actors as well. So I wonder in the world of this movie are Tim Robbins and Peter Gallagher real people, and if so, so the characters they play just happen to look exactly like them? And if so, how come no one ever comments on this? Ok, these are the strange things I think about sometimes. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/16/35197.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/16/2008 2:01:08 PM
Body: I’m probably the least financial-minded person there is, and I’ve never owned a stock, bond or whatever else people invest in. But I am an expert on being broke, being poor, being frugal and, most importantly, putting things into perspective. What I mean is, whenever I feel like things just can’t get any worse for me money-wise, I think of the people who are or were actually worse off than I am. And by people, I mostly mean characters from the movies. So, as you may be worrying about your finances after Black Monday, consider dropping by the video store on your way home from the office (or job interview) today. Invest a few bucks into your own sanity and happiness by renting one of the following movies. Don’t worry, I’ve tried to make the selections rather common and accessible. If you’re like any of the financial guys and girls I know, you’re not likely the sort to go for obscure or difficult cinema. And if you are of the sort, then you probably don’t need this list anyway. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Let’s begin with one of the basics, a movie that will make you glad you at least aren’t living through the Great Depression. There are tons of films from and about the era, but this is perhaps the definitive example, adapted from John Steinbeck’s definitive story of the Okie migration. At times I’ve felt like I can identify with the financial hardships of the Joads, particularly when I’ve been after a job that tons of other people are after, too. But there’s really no comparison, and you’re likely to agree. After seeing the family’s struggle, you’ll be glad you don’t have it so bad. But you’ll also hopefully be lifted up by the conclusive speeches of both Tom and Ma Joad, who inspire us all to keep on keeping on, no matter what the setback. American Madness (1932) Going back a little earlier, here’s another film dealing with the Great Depression (though not as directly), and one that’s more relative to the current situation of bank failures. Its plot deals with a bank that is robbed and then rumored to be out of money, leading to a withdrawal panic. Released one year prior to the creation of the FDIC, it may be a comforting reminder of how much more secure your deposits are today. (Even if it is a potential problem that the FDIC doesn’t exactly have as much money as it insures against.) Nine Queens (2000) A lot of films dealing with cons can be watched to ease the suffering of financial woes. But then you have to realize that while you may be better off than the victim who has lost all his savings or seen his casino vault emptied, you’ll still want to hate the con artist who gets away with the fortune. With Nine Queens, there is indeed one of those guys you’ll be upset with in the end, but the film has an extra level to it than most movies about a long con, because it’s set amidst Argentina’s economic collapse at the turn of this century. Like the desperate bank run scenes from American Madness, a similar scene involving a crisis at a Buenos Aires bank should leave you a little more optimistic about the current situation in the U.S. Surely we could never experience as critical an economic failure as they did in Argentina, right? One more thing: don’t dare rent the inferior American remake, Criminal, which just doesn’t have the same relevance. I Served the King of England (2006) You won’t find this in the video store just yet, but hopefully it’s playing in a theater near you (currently it’s on 37 screens). I’ve so far contrasted your possibly upsetting financial situation with that of sufferers of the Great Depression and of the Argentine economic crisis. Now, here’s the worse-off situation of the Czechs under Nazi occupation and then communism. Filled with irony and wit, this film should, unlike some of the rest, put a smile on your face while also making you thankful that you didn’t have the misfortune of becoming a millionaire right on the brink of your nation’s change to communism. If there’s anything worse than losing your fortune, it’s losing your fortune and being sent to prison for having such a fortune. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) On the other side of the coin, you may want to watch this documentary about the Enron scandal if you are more angry about your economic situation and would rather see a villain sent to prison for corruptly amassing a great fortune. Of course, while the protagonist of I Served the King of England is a lot more lovable, his riches aren’t exactly free from sin, either. And if you’re completely averse to watching either a doc or a foreign film, you could just watch Wall Street again and take out your frustration on Gordon Gekko. Bicycle Thieves (1948) Hopefully you’re not against foreign films, though, because anyone experiencing a financial crunch should take a look at this Italian neorealist classic. Any time I’ve felt helpless due to unemployment or lack of money, I remember that at least I have a certain level of education and skill to fall back on, unlike poor Antonio, who can’t get work after his bicycle is stolen. Films with similar stories inspired by DeSica’s masterpiece, including Cyclo and Man Push Cart (but probably not Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), may also be worth a look. Grey Gardens (1975) Also, hopefully you aren’t completely against watching a documentary, especially one that’s a little more lighthearted than Enron. Of course, watching two nutty former socialites living in squalor and allowing a once-beautiful mansion to fall apart could possibly make you just as irate. Just be glad that your own riches to rags story doesn’t involve tons of feral cats and a seemingly oblivious daughter who will one day be a poster girl for drag queens. Trading Places (1983) Despite whatever happens with the current economic disaster, America will always be a place where one can get rich as quickly as one can lose it all, and no movie focuses on that truth as well as this comedy, about a bet to see how easily a bum can be made a millionaire, and a millionaire can be made a bum. Plus, it’s always nice to watch the greedy Duke brothers get their just deserts in the end. Just don’t watch Coming to America afterward, so as to pretend they never come back. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) A lot of people are too cynical to enjoy this movie, but when you’re down in the dumps, especially financially, it’s a good pick-me-up, both for the uplifting story and the general American dream idea that one can truly rise from such poverty to such success as the real Chris Gardner did. Of course, given the current events, getting excited about a man struggling for a career in the financial world may not be so easy. I wonder if there are any good movies about working hard and making it big that don’t involve finance, sports or the entertainment industry. The Gold Rush (1925) In the Depression-set movie Sullivan’s Travels, it’s realized that audiences struggling with financial difficulties and other real-life woes would rather watch comedies than serious films focused on social problems. In that film, it’s a Disney cartoon called Playful Pluto that gives evidence of this, but it’s widely known that Preston Sturgis intended to use a Chaplin picture instead. So, as the final movie selection for the economically depressed, here’s one of the more fitting Chaplin features. While any film involving the Little Tramp could possibly serve to relatively lift you up, there’s just nothing better than watching Chaplin eat his boot and then being thankful for what you’ll be eating for dinner tonight. Now, I must address the possible outcry over the idea of making oneself feel better through the suffering of others. Yes, it’s terrible what people have had and still have to go through, both in America and around the world. Poverty is no joke, and it’s not exactly something that exists merely to balance out the brattiness of those not living in and with such poor conditions. So, I encourage you to, after watching whatever movie lifts your spirits up, find it in your heart to also be inspired to help someone less fortunate than yourself. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:01:08 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/16/2008 2:01:08 PM I’m probably the least financial-minded person there is, and I’ve never owned a stock, bond or whatever else people invest in. But I am an expert on being broke, being poor, being frugal and, most importantly, putting things into perspective. What I mean is, whenever I feel like things just can’t get any worse for me money-wise, I think of the people who are or were actually worse off than I am. And by people, I mostly mean characters from the movies. So, as you may be worrying about your finances after Black Monday, consider dropping by the video store on your way home from the office (or job interview) today. Invest a few bucks into your own sanity and happiness by renting one of the following movies. Don’t worry, I’ve tried to make the selections rather common and accessible. If you’re like any of the financial guys and girls I know, you’re not likely the sort to go for obscure or difficult cinema. And if you are of the sort, then you probably don’t need this list anyway. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Let’s begin with one of the basics, a movie that will make you glad you at least aren’t living through the Great Depression. There are tons of films from and about the era, but this is perhaps the definitive example, adapted from John Steinbeck’s definitive story of the Okie migration. At times I’ve felt like I can identify with the financial hardships of the Joads, particularly when I’ve been after a job that tons of other people are after, too. But there’s really no comparison, and you’re likely to agree. After seeing the family’s struggle, you’ll be glad you don’t have it so bad. But you’ll also hopefully be lifted up by the conclusive speeches of both Tom and Ma Joad, who inspire us all to keep on keeping on, no matter what the setback. American Madness (1932) Going back a little earlier, here’s another film dealing with the Great Depression (though not as directly), and one that’s more relative to the current situation of bank failures. Its plot deals with a bank that is robbed and then rumored to be out of money, leading to a withdrawal panic. Released one year prior to the creation of the FDIC, it may be a comforting reminder of how much more secure your deposits are today. (Even if it is a potential problem that the FDIC doesn’t exactly have as much money as it insures against.) Nine Queens (2000) A lot of films dealing with cons can be watched to ease the suffering of financial woes. But then you have to realize that while you may be better off than the victim who has lost all his savings or seen his casino vault emptied, you’ll still want to hate the con artist who gets away with the fortune. With Nine Queens, there is indeed one of those guys you’ll be upset with in the end, but the film has an extra level to it than most movies about a long con, because it’s set amidst Argentina’s economic collapse at the turn of this century. Like the desperate bank run scenes from American Madness, a similar scene involving a crisis at a Buenos Aires bank should leave you a little more optimistic about the current situation in the U.S. Surely we could never experience as critical an economic failure as they did in Argentina, right? One more thing: don’t dare rent the inferior American remake, Criminal, which just doesn’t have the same relevance. I Served the King of England (2006) You won’t find this in the video store just yet, but hopefully it’s playing in a theater near you (currently it’s on 37 screens). I’ve so far contrasted your possibly upsetting financial situation with that of sufferers of the Great Depression and of the Argentine economic crisis. Now, here’s the worse-off situation of the Czechs under Nazi occupation and then communism. Filled with irony and wit, this film should, unlike some of the rest, put a smile on your face while also making you thankful that you didn’t have the misfortune of becoming a millionaire right on the brink of your nation’s change to communism. If there’s anything worse than losing your fortune, it’s losing your fortune and being sent to prison for having such a fortune. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) On the other side of the coin, you may want to watch this documentary about the Enron scandal if you are more angry about your economic situation and would rather see a villain sent to prison for corruptly amassing a great fortune. Of course, while the protagonist of I Served the King of England is a lot more lovable, his riches aren’t exactly free from sin, either. And if you’re completely averse to watching either a doc or a foreign film, you could just watch Wall Street again and take out your frustration on Gordon Gekko. Bicycle Thieves (1948) Hopefully you’re not against foreign films, though, because anyone experiencing a financial crunch should take a look at this Italian neorealist classic. Any time I’ve felt helpless due to unemployment or lack of money, I remember that at least I have a certain level of education and skill to fall back on, unlike poor Antonio, who can’t get work after his bicycle is stolen. Films with similar stories inspired by DeSica’s masterpiece, including Cyclo and Man Push Cart (but probably not Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), may also be worth a look. Grey Gardens (1975) Also, hopefully you aren’t completely against watching a documentary, especially one that’s a little more lighthearted than Enron. Of course, watching two nutty former socialites living in squalor and allowing a once-beautiful mansion to fall apart could possibly make you just as irate. Just be glad that your own riches to rags story doesn’t involve tons of feral cats and a seemingly oblivious daughter who will one day be a poster girl for drag queens. Trading Places (1983) Despite whatever happens with the current economic disaster, America will always be a place where one can get rich as quickly as one can lose it all, and no movie focuses on that truth as well as this comedy, about a bet to see how easily a bum can be made a millionaire, and a millionaire can be made a bum. Plus, it’s always nice to watch the greedy Duke brothers get their just deserts in the end. Just don’t watch Coming to America afterward, so as to pretend they never come back. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) A lot of people are too cynical to enjoy this movie, but when you’re down in the dumps, especially financially, it’s a good pick-me-up, both for the uplifting story and the general American dream idea that one can truly rise from such poverty to such success as the real Chris Gardner did. Of course, given the current events, getting excited about a man struggling for a career in the financial world may not be so easy. I wonder if there are any good movies about working hard and making it big that don’t involve finance, sports or the entertainment industry. The Gold Rush (1925) In the Depression-set movie Sullivan’s Travels, it’s realized that audiences struggling with financial difficulties and other real-life woes would rather watch comedies than serious films focused on social problems. In that film, it’s a Disney cartoon called Playful Pluto that gives evidence of this, but it’s widely known that Preston Sturgis intended to use a Chaplin picture instead. So, as the final movie selection for the economically depressed, here’s one of the more fitting Chaplin features. While any film involving the Little Tramp could possibly serve to relatively lift you up, there’s just nothing better than watching Chaplin eat his boot and then being thankful for what you’ll be eating for dinner tonight. Now, I must address the possible outcry over the idea of making oneself feel better through the suffering of others. Yes, it’s terrible what people have had and still have to go through, both in America and around the world. Poverty is no joke, and it’s not exactly something that exists merely to balance out the brattiness of those not living in and with such poor conditions. So, I encourage you to, after watching whatever movie lifts your spirits up, find it in your heart to also be inspired to help someone less fortunate than yourself. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog 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/Friends_of_Foreign_Flicks/Re_Foreign_Gems/591/30056/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: unclefestering
Post To: Friends of Foreign Flicks
Post Date: 5/27/2008 11:06:25 PM
Body: If we are going for obscure but accessible I'd have to put in a pitch for Alex De La Igelsia's 800 Bullets. It is a great, funny story about a boy who runs away from home to live with his grandfather, an old drunk stunt man who along with his friends, used to work on Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. But since the movies left, they have been stuck putting on an Old West show for the ever dwindling number of tourists. The boy brings the news with him that a company has bought the property they have been squatting on and want to turn it into an amusement park, leaving the stuntmen with no livelihood. They go into town and buy up all the bullets they can (guess how many) to hold off the company, the police and the 21st Century. It is a funny, touching and irreverent movie. Another obscure but amazing film is The Icicle Thief (1989). The movie is a satiracle spoof of The Bicycle Thieves. The premise is the after they fail to get the rights to broadcast the Bicycle Thieves, an Italian TV station gets the simlilar, but lesser Icicle Thief to show in it's place. They also get the gassbag director to talk about his movie. Things go off the rails though when the characters from the movie start interacting with characters from the TV station's commercials.
]]>Wed, 28 May 2008 03:06:25 GMTunclefesteringFriends of Foreign Flicks5/27/2008 11:06:25 PMIf we are going for obscure but accessible I'd have to put in a pitch for Alex De La Igelsia's 800 Bullets. It is a great, funny story about a boy who runs away from home to live with his grandfather, an old drunk stunt man who along with his friends, used to work on Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. But since the movies left, they have been stuck putting on an Old West show for the ever dwindling number of tourists. The boy brings the news with him that a company has bought the property they have been squatting on and want to turn it into an amusement park, leaving the stuntmen with no livelihood. They go into town and buy up all the bullets they can (guess how many) to hold off the company, the police and the 21st Century. It is a funny, touching and irreverent movie. Another obscure but amazing film is The Icicle Thief (1989). The movie is a satiracle spoof of The Bicycle Thieves. The premise is the after they fail to get the rights to broadcast the Bicycle Thieves, an Italian TV station gets the simlilar, but lesser Icicle Thief to show in it's place. They also get the gassbag director to talk about his movie. Things go off the rails though when the characters from the movie start interacting with characters from the TV station's commercials. http://www.spout.com/groups/Friends_of_Foreign_Flicks/Re_Why_I_got_into_foreign_films/591/27906/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Friends of Foreign Flicks
Post Date: 4/28/2008 2:03:50 PM
Body: [quote user="csprague"]Yeah, World Cinema. Oh Carl Plantinga:) I love that man. He was brilliant, and yet some how out of the loop. I actually had him for my first film course ever, it happened to be an interim that did a brief overview and examination of the hollywood system. I took it on a whim, thinking I would rather spend the month watching movies than reading books. It changed my major to Film Studies:) I guess good profs do that. or maybe just good films.[/quote] Yeah that's awesome! I love that guy. I think it was in the middle of that class that the big movie theater in the new building on campus opened up. Many movies we watched I had seen before, but I don't see many movies on a big screen like that, especially older ones. You can't imagine how much more I loved some of my favorite movies after seeing them in there such as Bicycle Thieves, The Seventh Seal, and Seven Samurai.
]]>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:03:50 GMTRisseladaFriends of Foreign Flicks4/28/2008 2:03:50 PM[quote user="csprague"]Yeah, World Cinema. Oh Carl Plantinga:) I love that man. He was brilliant, and yet some how out of the loop. I actually had him for my first film course ever, it happened to be an interim that did a brief overview and examination of the hollywood system. I took it on a whim, thinking I would rather spend the month watching movies than reading books. It changed my major to Film Studies:) I guess good profs do that. or maybe just good films.[/quote] Yeah that's awesome! I love that guy. I think it was in the middle of that class that the big movie theater in the new building on campus opened up. Many movies we watched I had seen before, but I don't see many movies on a big screen like that, especially older ones. You can't imagine how much more I loved some of my favorite movies after seeing them in there such as Bicycle Thieves, The Seventh Seal, and Seven Samurai. http://www.spout.com/groups/Friends_of_Foreign_Flicks/Re_Why_I_got_into_foreign_films/591/27773/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Friends of Foreign Flicks
Post Date: 4/24/2008 7:22:07 PM
Body: I took 3 years of Spanish in high school & I can probably get about a third of most spanish movies. My Spanish teacher taught us European Spanish (which doesn't make a lot of sense in Phoenix, Arizona). But I completely agree, first and foremost I am a fan of films and specifically filmmaking as an artform. There are plenty of great films from this country, I am just a little extra exited about being able to see a story told from a sometimes drastically different point of view. I especially like to see foreign films made or that take place during the era of European socialism, such as ,The Tunnel, The Bicycle Thief or Pan's Labyrinth. It's interesting to see if the filmmaker is condeming or condoning any one philosophy and what the general sentiment was in that country during that time.
]]>Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:22:07 GMTleeroy711Friends of Foreign Flicks4/24/2008 7:22:07 PMI took 3 years of Spanish in high school &amp; I can probably get about a third of most spanish movies. My Spanish teacher taught us European Spanish (which doesn't make a lot of sense in Phoenix, Arizona). But I completely agree, first and foremost I am a fan of films and specifically filmmaking as an artform. There are plenty of great films from this country, I am just a little extra exited about being able to see a story told from a sometimes drastically different point of view. I especially like to see foreign films made or that take place during the era of European socialism, such as ,The Tunnel, The Bicycle Thief or Pan's Labyrinth. It's interesting to see if the filmmaker is condeming or condoning any one philosophy and what the general sentiment was in that country during that time. http://www.spout.com/blogs/jakestevens/archive/2007/10/9/20522.aspx Post By: JakeStevens
Post To: JakeStevens Blog
Post Date: 10/9/2007 1:42:04 AM
Body: Ladri Di Biciclette (properly translated to "Bicycle Thieves" in the new Criterion Collection release) is a beautifully sad tale about a man's heart-breaking quest to find his stolen bike in post-WWII Italy. The Image DVD that I bought is a little frustrating, as characters would be singing in the background, or extended dialogue would continue between characters, and the subtitles would never appear. I'd like to see the Criterion Collection version with improved subtitles, as I'm sure I missed plenty. Wonderfully shot in and around Rome, I found myself completely engaged by the characters, time frame, and frustrations of the protagonists. At one point, I found myself fearing for the lives of the father and son (no spoilers here). Again, highly recommended (many consider this to be one of Italy's finest films), but not for the "popcorn movie" crowd.
]]>Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:42:04 GMTJakeStevensJakeStevens Blog10/9/2007 1:42:04 AMLadri Di Biciclette (properly translated to &quot;Bicycle Thieves&quot; in the new Criterion Collection release) is a beautifully sad tale about a man&#39;s heart-breaking quest to find his stolen bike in post-WWII Italy. The Image DVD that I bought is a little frustrating, as characters would be singing in the background, or extended dialogue would continue between characters, and the subtitles would never appear. I&#39;d like to see the Criterion Collection version with improved subtitles, as I&#39;m sure I missed plenty. Wonderfully shot in and around Rome, I found myself completely engaged by the characters, time frame, and frustrations of the protagonists. At one point, I found myself fearing for the lives of the father and son (no spoilers here). Again, highly recommended (many consider this to be one of Italy&#39;s finest films), but not for the &quot;popcorn movie&quot; crowd. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Classic/MemberTagFilms.aspxClassic
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