TV/Movies Megathread

[Queequeg]

So how great was The Americans premiere?  Really great.

[jimmy olsen]

[crazy canuck]

When watching  the Walking Dead has anyone noticed that all the neighbourhoods have well kept lawns and yards?  I wish I could have a self maintaining yard like that.

[Grey Fox]

Yes there's alot of sheeps in the post human world grazing in people's yards.

[Savonarola]

King Kong (1933).  Made out a lot during a beginning, so I have to give it an incomplete.  However, the last hour is just balls-to-the-wall awesome Willis O'Brien stop motion animation.  A+ for the last hour, for sure.

It was Hitler's favorite film too.   



Son of Kong (also 1933) is worth seeing for all the lawsuits Robert Armstrong is involved in at the start of the film as a result of the events of King Kong.  Harold Ramis might have gotten some of his ideas for the beginning of Ghostbusters II from that (though Ramis's premise is more fully fleshed out.)

M (1931).  Lacks humanity other than the scenes where Peter Lorre is allowed to act, but otherwise an interestingly shot, reasonably engaging procedural about crime lords tracking down a child murderer.  Far less garbagey than Metropolis.  B

Further proof that the introduction of sound was ruinous.  Even Germany's first masterpiece of the sound era can't get a B+ from Ide.   

[celedhring]

M is a great film for being an early talkie; Lang's camerawork is very agile and atmospheric given how stagey early talkies were due to technological constraints (and creative laziness once dialogue removed the need to convey stuff through image). I love how he plays with the audience making Lorre such a vulnerable character towards the end, when chased by the mobsters. It almost forces you to sympathize with the murderer, particularly since the "justice" is administered by very crooked individuals. I agree the plotting is too mechanical up to that point, though.

I would consider Der blaue Engel or Das Testament des Dr Mabuse better talkies from the interwar era, though. Again, it wasn't the best of times for German film. 

[Savonarola]

M is a great film for being an early talkie; Lang's camerawork is very agile and atmospheric given how stagey early talkies were due to technological constraints (and creative laziness once dialogue removed the need to convey stuff through image). I love how he plays with the audience making Lorre such a vulnerable character towards the end, when chased by the mobsters. It almost forces you to sympathize with the murderer, particularly since the "justice" is administered by very crooked individuals. I agree the plotting is too mechanical up to that point, though.

I think it's clever that sound provides the vital clue that leads to Peter Lorre's capture (and that by a blind man.)  It's a very good use of the new technology.

I would consider Der blaue Engel or Das Testament des Dr Mabuse better talkies from the interwar era, though. Again, it wasn't the best of times for German film.

Leni Riefenstahl had a couple masterpieces...   



The silent era was strong for German films.  By the time that the damage the introduction of sound had caused had been overcome almost all the creative types in German film had fled to Hollywood.

[celedhring]

Indeed, thought of Riefenstahl's films too, but they are not narrative so wasn't sure about including them. I probably should have.

I sort of think that German film adapted to sound better than Hollywood did, actually. German talkies of the early 30s (the ones I have seen at least), display a much better command of the technique and more creativity than the stagey early American counterparts. It was the nazis that did most of the damage, and Hollywood ended up benefiting from it.

[Savonarola]

Indeed, thought of Riefenstahl's films too, but they are not narrative so wasn't sure about including them. I probably should have.

I sort of think that German film adapted to sound better than Hollywood did, actually. German talkies of the early 30s (the ones I have seen at least), display a much better command of the technique and more creativity than the stagey early American counterparts. It was the nazis that did most of the damage, and Hollywood ended up benefiting from it.

It does seem that way, but I'm not sure if that's because the German film industry was more advanced, or if it's because more Hollywood films survived (so we're more familiar with the duds) or if it's because Hollywood cranked out so many more films that there were bound to be some turkeys.  There were some masterpieces out of Hollywood in the early days of sound (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, for instance, both come from 1931); but there were indeed many that felt stage bound and there were some Hollywood directors with a... different vision (The Great Gabbo, Madame Satan or Just Imagine, for example.)

[celedhring]

Indeed, thought of Riefenstahl's films too, but they are not narrative so wasn't sure about including them. I probably should have.

I sort of think that German film adapted to sound better than Hollywood did, actually. German talkies of the early 30s (the ones I have seen at least), display a much better command of the technique and more creativity than the stagey early American counterparts. It was the nazis that did most of the damage, and Hollywood ended up benefiting from it.

It does seem that way, but I'm not sure if that's because the German film industry was more advanced, or if it's because more Hollywood films survived (so we're more familiar with the duds) or if it's because Hollywood cranked out so many more films that there were bound to be some turkeys.  There were some masterpieces out of Hollywood in the early days of sound (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, for instance, both come from 1931); but there were indeed many that felt stage bound and there were some Hollywood directors with a... different vision (The Great Gabbo, Madame Satan or Just Imagine, for example.)

The reason, I think, is related to what you're saying in the fragment I bolded. Early Hollywood had a very factory-like conception of film production. The studio was a plant, and given the technological problems of shooting with sound, to maximize output the most efficient way was to make talkies very stagey. Long wide takes required less editing (sound mixing and editing was extremely arduous back then), less setups, and no camera movement. Plus just having characters tell the story with words was actually a very economical way to make a film, instead of an elaborate mise-en-scène.

Of course, as you say, there's exceptions. For example Warner's condition as a low-budget, low-volume studio allowed - even forced - them to take more risks (that's why it was them that introduced talkies, afterall), which enabled stuff like Little Caesar and Public Enemy.

[Ideologue]

M (1931).  Lacks humanity other than the scenes where Peter Lorre is allowed to act, but otherwise an interestingly shot, reasonably engaging procedural about crime lords tracking down a child murderer.  Far less garbagey than Metropolis.  B

Further proof that the introduction of sound was ruinous.  Even Germany's first masterpiece of the sound era can't get a B+ from Ide.   

I'm extremely cold on Fritz Lang, anyway.  I need to watch some Murnau and/or Lubitsch and/or Stroheim and/or Ophuls to determine if Germans suck, or just one of them.

What M reminded me of a lot was the last hour of High and Low--which is to say, more damningly, it reminded me a lot of an episode of Law & Order (in this case, I suppose, SVU).  However, it's not as good as even the second half of High and Low, which despite being weaker still managed to present--gasp!--characters which we could follow, so as to become more thoroughly invested in the procedural elements.  Lang's effort courts active disinterest because no one, other than Lorre, matters; and Lorre is rarely onscreen.

And it's uneven in terms of pure content: or every pretty cool part involving sinister whistling to Edvard Grieg, there's a dull part of barely differentiated hoods talking at a table; for every tense part where Lorre is hiding in an attic while an army of criminals bears down on him, there's a thoroughly retarded scene where a "defense attorney" argues with a kangaroo court made of that same army.  Seriously, where did they even get this guy? why is he so into his pointedly pointless role? why ask questions about his motivations, when it's a character that's shown up an hour and thirty minutes into a an hour and forty minute feature?

Finally, since--as noted--the film rarely focuses on Lorre's character, I was never "sympathetic" to him, as so many apparently managed to be.  He's not exactly Norman Bates--hell, I don't even remember if he had a name.

Like celed, I did like the blind man catching him, though, that was cool.

Honestly, a B could easily be more than it deserves; and it may be benefiting from a slight bias due to its "classic" status and the fact that I don't want to get yelled at for shitting on a canonical work again.  But it's dangerously close to being a "bad" movie.  It's barely good, thanks to the innovative and surprising camerawork C mentioned, Lorre's performance, some fine images (like Lorre's shadow), and its good use of sound.  Plus it has a really interesting premise, which can carry a movie a long way with me, even if it winds up largely wasted on cyphers.  Perhaps one day a really good remake will come out.

[Habbaku]

I never watched God and Generals, is it as good as Gettysburg?

It's as good as your skill with the English language.

[Ideologue]

Oh yeah, and "different vision" is a pretty great summation of Just Imagine.  That movie is fucking nuts.   Also somewhat terrible.  It's just about charming enough to get one through the end, but scarcely more.

It does have one amazing joke, though--the Martian Expedition recruiter spending his days waiting on the Brooklyn Bridge for the perfect candidate is pretty funny.

[Tonitrus]

When watching  the Walking Dead has anyone noticed that all the neighbourhoods have well kept lawns and yards?  I wish I could have a self maintaining yard like that.

That's all the legless zombies grazing to stay alive.

[Ed Anger]

I enjoyed the Vikings season 2 premier.