The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Resurrecting the Movies thread...
MaineWriter:
--- Quote from: southendmd on January 09, 2008, 09:31:37 am ---Leslie, can you say more about what "stunned" you with Days of Heaven? I'd really like to know.
Since I saw it, I've read a bunch of reviews that, besides mentioning the great cinematography and music, didn't really tell me what they connected with. The narrator? The struggle of poverty?
--- End quote ---
I think it was the totality of the experience. The images that totally filled the screen, the music, the evocation of the time...I felt like I was there. I could have been one of the people riding on top of the train, or working in the wheat field, that's how much I felt like I was in the movie.
I also, at that time, had never seen a movie like that before. I was 23 and although I liked movies and had seen plenty, I had pretty much been watching mainstream movies at the mall theater. I hadn't yet discovered indie movies at the local art theater. Days of Heaven was a totally different experience for me and gave me an idea of what a movie could "do" to you.
The last piece that was special to me was the narration. I really liked Linda Manz' voice in this, and what she said. Again, I am not sure I had ever seen a movie before that used that technique and I thought it worked perfectly in this film. I read that Malick edited her narration from 60 hours of her speaking! But then again, it took him two years to edit the movie.
L
MaineWriter:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on January 09, 2008, 10:51:17 am ---I know. I've had the experience of going back and watching a movie I'd loved years ago, and being disappointed -- not only because I've changed, but because movies themselves have changed. For example, I rented Raiders of the Lost Ark to watch with my kids. If there's ever a movie that struck me, at the time, as being vibrant and dynamic and action-packed and exciting, that was it! But when my boys and I watched it, a few years ago, it was ... slow. I couldn't believe it! They were bored. In the years since then, action movies have just sped up so much that the difference was really noticeable.
--- End quote ---
I remember the first time I saw The Pink Panther after a many year hiatus, I thought it seemed very slow. But then, I let myself relax and got into the pacing and I enjoyed it just like I did in the old days.
I really can see what the zoom-zoom-zoom pace of life has done to my attention span!
L
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: ineedcrayons on January 09, 2008, 09:35:45 am ---I thought he was great in The Prestige, too. Especially when you get to the end and think back, and realize that ... well, I'll say no more. But those who've seen it know what I mean.
Christian Bale also very good in Rescue Dawn. I rented that over Thanksgiving. It's kind of a grueling film, which I'd known going in, though somehow I found it a bit disappointing. But Christian Bale is good in it.
--- End quote ---
I read that Bale got put thru the wringer by Werner Herzog when this film was shooting in ...Thailand, was it? Between that and 3:10 to Yuma, he had quite a bang-up year!! Wonder if he'll be nominated for an Oscar. Wonder if there'll be an Oscar night this year?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on January 09, 2008, 01:40:25 pm --- Wonder if there'll be an Oscar night this year?
--- End quote ---
I sure hope the strike will have been settled by then. I don't know how much longer I can stand watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert wing it without writers.
Kd5000:
I feel sorry for the GOLDEN GLOBES having to resort to a one hour telecast as it stands now. The Oscars, I think they might postphone it. If the Academy is looking for a blockbuster to bring up the ratings at this year's Oscar, all I can say is good luck because nothing is doing it for them.
I saw BROTHERS (the Danish version which is titled Brødre) yesterday. I enjoyed it, but it's another heavy film. Jakey G, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman are starring in the remake.
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