The Young Girls Of Wilko (Panny z Wilka) (1979) 8/10
My Queen Karo (2009) 6/10
Yesterday I saw two films. The first was The Quest with Jean-Claude van Damme who also directed it. It also had Roger Moore in it. I'm not going to pretend that this was a great film, but on its own terms, it was quite watchable and was closer to a Jackie Chan film rather than the typical van Damme film.
The second was Quantum of Solace which I found to be nothing other than a series of hyperactive action sequences, with no humour, little story, and little character building. Although better made thaan The Quest, I much preferred The Quest.
The Quest carries an 18 cert in the UK, but a PG-13 in the States. Quantum carries a 12 cert (PG-13 in the States). There is nothing in The Quest to justify an 18 cert - it was no more violent than Quantum, no sexual content, and a PG level of swearing. A 12 would not have been out of place, and it looks as if the BBFC decided to give it an 18 as it had Jean Claude van-Damme in it.
Force Of Evil (1948) 9/10
Originally Posted by jackassfan:
Force Of Evil (1948) 9/10
A film which I have never seen, in fact I don't think I have ever seen a John Garfield film, and that includes The Postman always rings twice, and Gentleman's Agreement (though I have that in my DVD collection).
Originally Posted by El Loro:
Originally Posted by jackassfan:
Force Of Evil (1948) 9/10
A film which I have never seen, in fact I don't think I have ever seen a John Garfield film, and that includes The Postman always rings twice, and Gentleman's Agreement (though I have that in my DVD collection).
I have seen The Postman Always Rings Twice, but i have yet to see Gentleman's Agreement
The Wages Of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) (1953) 10/10 2nd viewing
Your Name Is Justine (Masz na imie Justine) (2005) 8/10
Originally Posted by jackassfan:
The Wages Of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) (1953) 10/10 2nd viewing
I totally agree with you, heart-stopping tension. For sheer suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot should really be regarded as the greatest master of suspense for this film and Les Diaboliques. Hitchcock is generally regarded as the greatest, but I think Clouzot just beats him.
Originally Posted by El Loro:
Originally Posted by jackassfan:
The Wages Of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) (1953) 10/10 2nd viewing
I totally agree with you, heart-stopping tension. For sheer suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot should really be regarded as the greatest master of suspense for this film and Les Diaboliques. Hitchcock is generally regarded as the greatest, but I think Clouzot just beats him.
Les Diaboliques is brilliant, but the 2 others i have seen of his Le Corbeau and Quai des OrfÃĻvres are good but far from the greatness of the other 2 films
Originally Posted by El Loro:
I saw Lost in Translation for the first time yesterday. A good film, and nice to see that Americans can still make good films without any special effects, car chases or violence.
Lost In Translation is a brilliant film, i love the slow moving not much happening kind of films
Incendies (2010) 8.5/10
Skeletons (2010) 6/10
The Ox (Oxen) (1991) 8/10
Embargo (2010) 5/10
Son Of Babylon (2009) 8.5/10
If I ever get the chance, I will try to see Ministry of Fear (1944) and Man Hunt (1941) together to compare the two. With the mists of time, I tend to get the two films confused as both are about a man being chased by Nazis, and both are directed by Fritz Lang. I suspect Man Hunt is the better film.
Jean Renoir's La Regle de Jeu (1939) (AKA The Rules of the Game) is on Film 4 this Sunday night starting at 1.20 am. Essential viewing for anyone who is seriously interested in international film. The book Halliwell's Top 1000 films places this as the 2nd greatest film ever made.
I saw Trading Places again last night. A few weeks ago I saw an early Buster Keaton film The Saphead - this is not typical Keaton - I would classify it as a serious comedy with virtually no slapstick. Both films are set in the world of stockbrokers, both have the leading man fall from a wealthy lifestyle to poverty by being wrongly accused and fall into disgrace, both films end with the leading man recovering his fortune by trading on the floor of the stockbrokers. The final trading scenes in both films are very similar.
Originally Posted by El Loro:
Jean Renoir's La Regle de Jeu (1939) (AKA The Rules of the Game) is on Film 4 this Sunday night starting at 1.20 am. Essential viewing for anyone who is seriously interested in international film. The book Halliwell's Top 1000 films places this as the 2nd greatest film ever made.
I saw this about 4-5 years ago and it was a great film, but i dont rate it as highly as most do though
Great Expectations (1946) 9.5/10
Madchen In Uniform (1931) 8.5/10
1:1 (2006) 6/10
Originally Posted by El Loro:
How did you manage to get hold of Madchen in Uniform? I didn't think it was available apart from on VHS tape. (I'm assuming you didn't buy the only DVD option on Amazon as that is an import at a mere cost of ÂĢ2,999 
).
I saw the film on youtube (click cc button for the subtitles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-DT9ikrtTM
Most of the old obscure foreign films i see are on youtube
Heres some of the best channels on there at the moment (some great uploaders have been banned over the years due to their videos getting mulitple copyright complaints)
http://www.youtube.com/user/PyccoTypucmo#g/p
http://www.youtube.com/user/Arigatosanflicks
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrStrangeflick
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrStrangefilm
http://www.youtube.com/user/Ig...g/c/DE5D983DD8AA6FB9
http://www.youtube.com/user/imageinconnu#g/p
http://www.youtube.com/user/memoirevisuelle#g/p
The Station Agent (2003) 9/10 3rd viewing
Tirza (2010) 4/10
Thanks for those links - as you say, there must be some doubt over copyright with some of the films there.
One chanel I found on Youtube has an extraordinary collection of silent films.
http://www.youtube.com/user/earlycinema
Some of them are fairly well known such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Greed, Metropolis,and various Buster Keaton films.
Probably the most important film there is Cabiria (1914). Not available on DVD here other than by import (NTSC). I believe that this is the first major full length film ever made and pre-dates Birth of a Nation.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ea...#p/u/104/FcDtfWjFl3c
Even very obscure films get deleted due to copyright claims, which i dont agree with as they are very hard to come across
I came across that early cinema channel a few days ago while film searching on youtube
I still havent seen any silent films, but i will get to doing so sometime soon
The length of copyright is very complex, particularly as different laws will apply around the world.
The States law is:
95 years from publication or 120 years from creation whichever is shorter (anonymous works, pseudonymous works, or works made for hire, published since 1978)
95 years from publication for works published 1964â1977; 28 (if copyright not renewed) or 95 years from publication for works published 1923â1963 (Copyrights prior to 1923 have expired.)
The UK says:
50 years after release or if not released 50 years after making (sound recordings) or 70 years after death. And to expand on this as far as films are concerned:
The copyright in a film expires 70 years from the end of the year following the death of all of the principal contributors to it, for example: the author of the screenplay; the author of the dialogue; the composer of music specially created for and used in the film.
As a film is likely to contain material other than the film itself, there will be multiple layers of copyright contained within it. If the producer has not sought copyright permissions from all of the film's principal contributors, you can only be fairly certain that the copyright of the film has expired 70 years following the death of all those involved.
Westerplatte (1967) 8.5/10
Le Petit Soldat (1963) 4/10 - I probably should give up watching Jean-Luc Godard films
Izzat (2005) 7/10
Originally Posted by El Loro:
Of the French New Wave directors, I never took to Jean-Luc Godard and think that the likes of Francois Truffaut and Louis Malle were much better.
I agree, Truffaut and Malle have done some great films and dont stick to the same style that Godard has done in all the films i have seen of his
Solstorm (2007) 5/10
Small Town (Kasaba) (1997) 7.5/10
Last Night (2010) 6/10
In the past few days I have reseen 2 of the major classics - Sunset Boulevard and The Magnificent Ambersons. The Magnificent Ambersons only exists in a heavily cut version. IMDB says:
There are three alternate version to The Magnificent Ambersons, none exist any more:
- the original version, Welles' first cut is the only one that has any type of record that exists. It was 132 minutes long. It included an extended Ball sequence. An extended sequence of Jack and George in the kitchen, a completely different ending, as well as other cuts to numerous to mention. The original last part of the movie was (in order): George and Jack at the Rail Station, George's walk home and comeuppance, Fanny at the boiler, Bronson's office, Eugene and Lucy in the garden, George in accident, Eugene hears of accident, Eugene visits Fanny in the Boarding house. The cutting continuity, which was recorded five days before the first preview, is included in the book, The Magnificent Ambersons- A Reconstruction.
- The first preview audience saw the original cut for the most part. Welles ordered small cuts and one major cut prior to preview but no record of what they were exists. The movie ends the same way except the scene of Eugene and Lucy in the garden was dropped.
- The second preview audience saw version that ran about 110 minutes. Twenty minutes of footage was scrapped and the ending went: George and Jack at the railroad station, Fanny's breakdown, Bronson's office, George's walk home, Eugene and Lucy in garden, George hit by car, Eugene hearing about accident, (shorter version of) Eugene visits Fanny in Boarding House.
- When the previews still weren't to the studios satisfaction, the film was cut over and over, a new ending was filmed (not by Welles) and the film was finally released at its current run of 88 minutes.
That means that one third of the film is missing. The majority of the cutting was done while Welles was out of the country in Brazil working on a film called "It's All True" which is one of those films which Welles never actually completed.
I have found Orson Welles' first film on Youtube - The Hearts of Age (1934). This is a short 8 minute experimental film, and is possibly influenced by Cocteau's Blood of a Poet. It is more than a bit wierd, but there is a strange hypnotic effect to it.
Treeless Mountain (2009) 8.5/10 2nd viewing
I resaw Hitchcock's Spellbound the other day. That's the one with the dream sequence on which Salvador Dali worked on. Budgetary constraints meant that the sequence is shorter than intended.
I think Spellbound which is in black and white has the shortest colour scene (I think there are 2 frames) ever.
The last two films I have seen are very different
Nanny McPhee - it's one of those children's films which adults can enjoy - a sort of cross between Mary Poppins and Roald Dahl.
The African Queen (reseen) The version shown on Film 4 recently is the recently restored version. An excellent film.
I suppose I should also add What Happens in Vegas, only watchable because Cameron Diaz was in it. It's the sort of film which makes one look back with fondness on the screwball comedies with the likes of Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night) or Katherine Hepburn (Bringing Up Baby and in particular the films with Spencer Tracy).
Yesterday I watched Ridley Scott's first feature film The Duellists. It is set in Napoleonic times and is about a 15 year grudge match between two officers played by Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel. Scott had hoped to have Michael York and Oliver Reed, but they were not available. A strong list of supporting actors in small roles - Albert Finney, Edward Fox, Tom Conti, Alun Armstrong and also Pete Posthlewaite in his feature film debut.
The film was made 2 years after Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and there are similarities between the two films to make me think that Scott was heavily influenced by Barry Lyndon.
The Duellists is based on a story by Joseph Conrad and is supposedly a true story. It is a slight story, but what makes the film stand out is the cinematography. The final scenes were filmed at ChÃĒteau de Commarque. It's located in Dordogne between Sarlat and Les Eyzies, in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil. And the final shot has to be one of the most beautiful shots ever put to film.
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Dusk (Schemer) (2010) 7.5/10
Let's erm .... be normal and chat normal movies that most people actually see LOL 
I saw ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) it was a great romp but nowhere near as good as Shaun of the Dead. At times i wondered wot messages it was sending out.
This could have been a coming of age kinda comaraderie (sp?) movie but the ending was quite a let down and fizzled to nothing.
Fun at the time but forgettable. Shame. 6/10
By-the-way ... y'know those SAW movies, yeah?
Well they shud never have been called SAW 2, 3 etc .
We shud have had more imagination spent on the names - let me demonstrate . . .
SAW then . . .
SEEN then . . .
NOTICED then . . .
RECOGNISED
Ha ha ha ha . . . .
- and as a prequel we could have had
GLIMPSED lol
THOR (2011) was mega - funny AND spectacular
Thor is cast down to Earth for being naughty and to teach him a lesson
He hears a "hammer shaped meteor" hadbeen found and decides to go find it
he walks through town and sees a pet shop full of dogs ad birds,
He says, "I need a horse!!!"
Owner, "We only have dogs"
Thor, "Well - one big enough to ride"
LOL
The Set-Up (1949) 9/10
I saw Vinyan (2008) last night (Emmanuelle Beart and Rufus Sewell. Although it seems to be advertised as a horror film, that gives the wrong impression. It has a couple of horrific scenes, but is more of a psycholgical study of a journey of a couple who lost their son in the Boxing Day tsunami and set out in the hope they can find him. The sense of foreboding which hangs over the film right from the start leaves you in little doubt that the journey can only end with death or a descent into insanity.
Comparisons can be made with Don't Look Now, Apocalypse Now, and ultimately Lord of the Flies.
Although the film is in English, the feel of the film is more European. Emmanuelle Beart is excellent as one would expect. Rufus Sewell does seem a bit of an odd choice, I would guess the producers wanted an English actor so that the film could be marketed as an English speaking film rather than a French speaking film.
Limitless (2011) 4/10
Alpine Fire (Hohenfeuer) (1985) 8.5/10
Le Amiche (1955) 7.5/10
Play (2005) 6/10