Random Film Thoughts: As we start a new...

[Jeff Beachnau]

I am going to see Swept Away.

[Blasty]

Some Like It Hot is my first movie memory! I musta seen it when I was about 4 years old. There is just something so magical and perfect about it. It is truly a genius film. I love everything about it.

[Timmer]

Some Like it Hot = greatest final line ever.

[BBKing44]

Compliance is so-so, but I have to say that all this "Ann Dowd for supporting actress" talk is ridiculous. She's definitely the lead (and very good, too).

[haqyunus]

The Madonna version?!

Lol, no, the original one. Rage Colored Glasses is attending an 'International Women Directors' class and saw some Wertmuller. Having said that, I am not ashamed to admit I have seen that other one too

[bryan1311]

Some Like it Hot = greatest final line ever.

YES.

Speaking of great comedies...I just finished watching Mel Brooks' The Producers. It's not as great as some of the other Brooks films I've seen such as Young Frankenstein (next up for me is Blazing Saddles...which I've seen parts of, but not in its entirety. ), but the opening sequence is hilarious and I loved the bits when Ulla "works". Mostel and Wilder were both terrific. In lesser hands the characters could have come off as buffoonish (in a bad way), but they're both perfect.

[Jonathan]

YES.

Speaking of great comedies...I just finished watching Mel Brooks' The Producers. It's not as great as some of the other Brooks films I've seen such as Young Frankenstein (next up for me is Blazing Saddles...which I've seen parts of, but not in its entirety. ), but the opening sequence is hilarious and I loved the bits when Ulla "works". Mostel and Wilder were both terrific. In lesser hands the characters could have come off as buffoonish (in a bad way), but they're both perfect.

I go back and forward between The Producers and Blazing Saddles as my favorite Mel Brooks movie. Saddles is probably funnier overall, but Producers is a lot tighter. I remember first watching it when I was 13, and as a fan of Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (Again, I was 13) I was thrown off by the slowish pace near the beginning, but it gains and gains and gains momentum until the "Springtime for Hitler" number, which had me laughing harder than I have had before, and (In my opinion at least) it still manages to carry that momentum to the end, which is incredible. I would rank both movies among my favorite comedies any day though.

"I'm Easy" in Nashville. Always gets me.

That also brings me back to being 13! I watched it all the through once, and after I finished it (It was like 10:00 or 11:00) I started watching it again from that scene. So wonderful. Though I also started there because then I got to see Gwen Welles' striptease again (It wasn't until a complete second viewing that the horribleness of that plotline really hit me though; an underrated part of a sprawling movie)

Total masterpiece. Love it.

[guany]

The Remains of the Day is a lovely and quietly devastating film, and it contains Anthony Hopkins' best performance imo.

Seeing as how I loved it, Howards End, and A Room with a View, I need to check out more Merchant/Ivory. I'm thinking of watching Maurice next (Rupert Graves! ).

[haqyunus]

The Remains of the Day is a lovely and quietly devastating film, and it contains Anthony Hopkins' best performance imo.

Seeing as how I loved it, Howards End, and A Room with a View, I need to check out more Merchant/Ivory. I'm thinking of watching Maurice next (Rupert Graves! ).

Don't forget The Bostonians (of course I'm a bit biased here but seriously worth it). In fact watch that first. Also, it was not that well received like most of their recent works but i liked The Golden Bowl too. Relatively strong new M-I. Maurice is fine but didn't ring true to me. It has certain unrealistic superficiality too it.

[Blasty]

The Remains of the Day is a lovely and quietly devastating film, and it contains Anthony Hopkins' best performance imo.

Seeing as how I loved it, Howards End, and A Room with a View, I need to check out more Merchant/Ivory. I'm thinking of watching Maurice next (Rupert Graves! ).

OMG Maurice!!! I love that film so much. Very underrated. There's something very poetic and dream-like about the film - I really love the mood it creates - the score is so so evocative as well - love Richard Robbins. And oh dear, I just googled him now and see he died just over 2 months ago!?!?! WTF. We should have had a thread for him. Great composer.

[bryan1311]

Sonofabitch. I just popped in Stagecoach...and it's cracked.

[Dally]

So, two from 1962:

Quite enjoyed Le Doulos (Melville). It's a visual noir/New Wave feast, for sure! The use of light and dark is wonderfully extreme, pure hyper-reality that nonetheless seems very definite. That approach adds certainty to a crime story that straddles a narrative between two protagonists. Still, the story is murky and at times very convoluted, even by noirish standards. The aesthetics probably mask inadequacy in the actual plot and I can't say there is much in the way of meaning but knowing what Melville is building towards in his next films makes Le Doulos entertaining at least.

Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker is better than I recollected. Both Patty Duke and especially Anne Bancroft are wonderful! I forgot how much the film feels like a "kitchen sink" drama. I can't say that Penn totally loses its stage bound origins but the film doesn't ever really need to "open up" much anyway. The approach to Anne Sullivan's flashbacks is of interest: Penn layers these literally over present day moments with a grainy opacity meant to evoke the teacher's blindness. Sometimes this device is haphazard but I found it impactful. The performances, though, are what ultimately make the film a success.

[xxyy]

The Badeer Meinhof Complex, is like really bad - how did this get oscar attention?

[Timmer]

Blazing Saddles is a bit rough around the edges, but once Brooks breaks the fourth wall in the later section, it becomes sheer genius.

[Anthony_X]

Shoud I start campaining for Gael Garcia Bernal in No for next year's INOCA? What a riveting performance.

[Largo]

Holy fucking God. Some Like It Hot. THAT ENDING.

"Well, nobody's perfect."

I can't remember the last time I've laughed that hard at a movie. I wanted to write a full review but fuck it, that was glorious and there are no words.

[bryan1311]

Holy fucking God. Some Like It Hot. THAT ENDING.

"Well, nobody's perfect."

I can't remember the last time I've laughed that hard at a movie. I wanted to write a full review but fuck it, that was glorious and there are no words.

Yes. The whole thing is perfect (has there have ever been a better screenwriter than Billy Wilder?!), but that last line is just the ultimate cherry on top.

[erikdean]

My #1 comedy of all time.

[bryan1311]

I go back and forward between The Producers and Blazing Saddles as my favorite Mel Brooks movie. Saddles is probably funnier overall, but Producers is a lot tighter. I remember first watching it when I was 13, and as a fan of Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (Again, I was 13) I was thrown off by the slowish pace near the beginning, but it gains and gains and gains momentum until the "Springtime for Hitler" number, which had me laughing harder than I have had before, and (In my opinion at least) it still manages to carry that momentum to the end, which is incredible. I would rank both movies among my favorite comedies any day though.

I just watched Blazing Saddles with my dad and quite liked it, although I'm not sure if I liked the last fifteen minutes. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun (in a very silly way), but I think the first 75 minutes is much, much funnier. That being said, I still think that Young Frankenstein is my favorite of the Brooks films I've seen.

[RRA]

Mel Brooks' best was SPACEBALLS.

FOOLED YOU!

Actually it is YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, followed by BLAZING SADDLES and then I guess either THE PRODUCERS or HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 or SPACEBALLS in my book.

"Did you see anything?!?"
"No sir, I didn't you playing with your dolls again."