TV/Movies Megathread

[Viking]

anyways, that show worked because ww2 veterans had reached the age of dads army. The actors mostly served in WWII, some in WWI, one actually was in the home guard during the war  after serving with the BEF in france in WWII. The audience either served during the war or had parents who served. I got it on re-runs in the 1980s.

Yep. The writers and the actors and the audience knew about Britain in the 1940s. This will almost certainly end up saturated in irony and knowing winks to the audience about what people were like back then

I see it more likely being a failed attempt a humorous hagiography of "the greatest generation".  Which, given the show had some pretty interesting bits about nepotism, corruption, imperialism and the downright inability of the british to field an army in late 1940. One of the things we really need to credit Churchill for is his courage in placing his only available army in late 1940 in egypt and going on the offensive.

[Viking]

I'm sort of hoping they get michael bay to direct it so I can dismiss it without considering it at all.

Mikey Bay's a good director now.  Get with the program.

Edit: well, we'll find out in June if he is anyway.

I once read your reviews with interest. Now? Never again. Bay was good from 1995 to 1996, never again.

[Ideologue]

I've been on a Japanese cinema kick today.

The Bad Sleep Well (1957).  Toshiro Mifune engages in class warfare from the inside as a man whose father was forced into suicide to hide the corruption of the powerful.  Now an adult, he's changed his name, forged a university degree, married the big boss's daughter, gotten a job at The Public Corporation, and begun a campaign of psychological and physical terror upon his enemies.  But is he using the young woman he's wed, or has he really fallen in love?

Not the best thriller in the world, since until the last half hour Mifune's Nishi is fifteen steps ahead of his enemies, but a bleak ending that proves the aptness of the title redeems it.

B+

Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965).  Despite featuring one of fim's most lurid titles, this orphaned Toho kaiju film isn't in print on DVD, isn't on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, or even on Youtube.  But I have my ways.  We begin in Frankfurt, with Frankenstein's (monster's) still-beating, immortal heart.  This is the end for Germany, and the vital artifact is soon delivered by u-boat to Japan.  Takashi Shimura is in this movie for five minutes as the scientist on the receiving end of Frankenstein's heart, because that guy was in every Japanese movie from 1935-1981, and that's only because he was within a month and a half of being dead.  However, he's not important, an assertion evidenced by the fact that, moments after he appears, he is incinerated in the Hiroshima bombing.  Do you think in a decade or so Americans will be able to build our own crazy sci-fi movies around 9/11, an event that involved a fraction of the damage and horror?  Probably not; thus, for all its other fine qualities, Frankenstein Conquers the World demonstrates how truly worthless and weak we've become.

By 1965, that heart has regenerated the body of a boy around it (just roll with it, it's important to the plot).  Scientists find him; their number includes Japan's favorite white man, Nick Adams (Invasion of the Astro-Monster, Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero, The Great Monster War).  Cluing in to his origins, the scientists realize that his crazy electrified stem cells may hold the key to immortality.  Except for Sueko (a female, obviously), they are otherwise not terribly concerned with his fate; and even she doesn't care that much.  They take him to their lab, but he keeps growing.  Eventually, he grows monster-sized, and in a nod to King Kong, breaks out amidst a barrage of photography.

Meanwhile, the monster Baragon is wrecking shit, but it's blamed on Frankenstein.  Eventually, they fight against the apocalyptic backdrop of a raging forest fire, and we get one of the longer and most kinetic kaiju fights ever filmed, not least due to the simple expedient of one of the stunt actors just having to wear a wig, makeup, and a gross dental prosthetic (er, one hopes, anyway); it permits him far greater agility than the more traditional heavy rubber suit.  They both die (or do they?! Frankenstein doesn't, there was a sequel) when the ground gives way beneath them.

Cool miniatures present effective visual cues to Frankenstein's uncanny growth and to his final titanic size.  Frankenstein himself is tremendously sympathetic for a kaiju, even going so far as to save his most-sociopathic scientific pursuer purely out of the goodness of his weird heart: the tragedy of the source material remains (although it is obviously about all that's left).  Baragon, naturally, sucks.  His suit has the goofiest cartoon eyeballs bar Godzilla's son Minya in Toho history, if not all kaiju films period--even the sleepy-eyed Guiron and whatever the fuck Viras' eyes are doing in their respective Gamera films look less silly.  However, I do like it when they put Baragon's suit on a catapult and launch it at Frankenstein to represent his ability to bound like some kind of Batroc; that was pretty cool.

Overall, a fine film, and if you ever do get a chance to see it, I recommend it highly.

B+

Kwaidan (1964).  I'll be reviewing at some point as part of the Masaki Kobayashi series I decided just now to start doing.  For now, let's ask the obvious question: is Takashi Shimura in it?  Just take a wild guess!

Next up:  Frankenstein's sequel The War of the Gargantuas and Kobayashi's The Thick-Walled Room.  " A World War II veteran imprisoned for murdering under orders is given a temporary release in order to attend his mother's funeral, and takes the opportunity to find the man who turned him in. "  Neat!

[Ideologue]

I'm sort of hoping they get michael bay to direct it so I can dismiss it without considering it at all.

Mikey Bay's a good director now.  Get with the program.

Edit: well, we'll find out in June if he is anyway.

I once read your reviews with interest. Now? Never again. Bay was good from 1995 to 1996, never again.

If you read my reviews, you know Pain& Gain was my second favorite movie of 2013.

[celedhring]

anyways, that show worked because ww2 veterans had reached the age of dads army. The actors mostly served in WWII, some in WWI, one actually was in the home guard during the war  after serving with the BEF in france in WWII. The audience either served during the war or had parents who served. I got it on re-runs in the 1980s.

Yep. The writers and the actors and the audience knew about Britain in the 1940s. This will almost certainly end up saturated in irony and knowing winks to the audience about what people were like back then

I haven't seen the original show (we got 20000000000 reruns of Allo! Allo! instead), but the creative team behind Johnny English Reborn doesn't particularly instill confidence.

[The Larch]

You guys--particularly Ide--should check out a wonderful little documentary on John Cazale, I Knew It Was You.  Taken far too quickly.

That guy was amazing. Only starred in six movies and all of them ended up nominated for Best Picture. How he got to appear in The Deer Hunter is really moving, major props to Meryl Streep for that one.

[celedhring]

You guys--particularly Ide--should check out a wonderful little documentary on John Cazale, I Knew It Was You.  Taken far too quickly.

That guy was amazing. Only starred in six movies and all of them ended up nominated for Best Picture. How he got to appear in The Deer Hunter is really moving, major props to Meryl Streep for that one.

Aptly titled doc, too. He's probably the kind of guy everybody recognizes but nobody can name. Fantastic actor he was, such a pity his career was cut so short. Fredo has always been one of my favorite characters in the Godfather trilogy.

[Capetan Mihali]

I watched Tokyo Story last night.  I feel certain Sav reviewed it on here, but couldn't find it in a search. 

It was pretty great, but very much a slow-paced, stationary camera (but still good cinematography) type of B&W subtitled film, so not everyone's cup of tea (even though cups of tea appear about a hundred times during the film )

[Savonarola]

I watched Tokyo Story last night.  I feel certain Sav reviewed it on here, but couldn't find it in a search. 

It was pretty great, but very much a slow-paced, stationary camera (but still good cinematography) type of B&W subtitled film, so not everyone's cup of tea (even though cups of tea appear about a hundred times during the film )

Check out "Make Way for Tomorrow," which is Ozu inspiration for the film.  Leo McCarey won the 1938 Oscar for best director for "The Awful Truth," but thought he really deserved it for "Make Way for Tomorrow," made the same year.  I agree, "The Awful Truth" is a great screwball comedy; but "Make Way for Tomorrow" is something better and bolder.

[Savonarola]

I saw a collection of Charlie Chaplin knock-offs from the 1920s.  The little tramp was such a popular character that he spawned dozens of imitators.  Harold Lloyd's first character, Lonesome Luke, and Stan Laurel's early solo works are essentially Chaplin clones (Stan Laurel had been Chaplin's understudy in Fred Karno's Army.)

This collection started with the most brazen Chaplin rip-off.  Pat Sullivan (of Felix the Cat fame) made a series of "Charlie" cartoons which featured a tramp named Charlie.  Those went underground after a series of lawsuits.  The collection then had the most successful of Chaplin imitators, Billy West.  Those shorts featured a young (and mustache free) Oliver Hardy as the villain.  West had a decent run; then developed his own comic character, which bombed miserably.  The last Chaplin imitator the series featured was Charlie's half-brother Syd Chaplin, who made shorts at Sennet Studios after Charlie left; essentially playing Charlie's role. 

The collection closed with a Syd Chaplin feature, a silent adaption of the play "Charlie's Aunt."  Syd did have talent.  I think he was miscast as a clown and might have been a successful romantic lead.  He was probably more successful as Charlie's business manager, though.

[Capetan Mihali]

I watched Tokyo Story last night.  I feel certain Sav reviewed it on here, but couldn't find it in a search. 

It was pretty great, but very much a slow-paced, stationary camera (but still good cinematography) type of B&W subtitled film, so not everyone's cup of tea (even though cups of tea appear about a hundred times during the film )

Check out "Make Way for Tomorrow," which is Ozu inspiration for the film.  Leo McCarey won the 1938 Oscar for best director for "The Awful Truth," but thought he really deserved it for "Make Way for Tomorrow," made the same year.  I agree, "The Awful Truth" is a great screwball comedy; but "Make Way for Tomorrow" is something better and bolder.

Neat.   I don't think I've seen any of McCarey's movies.  Or ever really heard of him as a director, I have to admit.  Oh wait, I did see Duck Soup a long time ago, but didn't know who directed it.

[celedhring]

IIRC McCarey himself said that they should have given him the Oscar for Make Way for Tomorrow during his acceptance speech. I personally like The Awful Truth more, though, but I love a fine screwball comedy. I don't think he clicked as much as a director when he went all serious and did more drama later in his career.

Ozu is great, but it certainly is an adquired taste. Most Japanese I met find him terribly boring and old-fashioned, and since they are Japanese they are able to say so without looking an ignorant Westerner. I still remember when I was at film school, and our Modern Cinema teacher asked "what happened" in Tokyo Story. One of my mates said "nothing", and there was a bout of laughter. The professor, unmoved and unflinching, with very deep voice, growled - "No, time is happening, TIIIIIIIIIIMEEEEE".

[Ideologue]

They still look like a young punk.  I mean, everyone jumps on my ass for insufficiently positive reviews of The French Connection and The Conversation.  And there's even more old people per capita in Japan.

[MadImmortalMan]

I've been on a Japanese cinema kick today.

Well, I've got this dvd from Netflix today called Onmyoji 2. The nice thing about having a ridiculously-long queue I guess is that stuff shows up you put in there years ago and forgot about. Anybody ever see this?

[garbon]

Aww Veep and Stanford.