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Post by angra on Jul 20, 2012 10:54:17 GMT 10
In praise of musicals. High Society is my all time favourite, closely followed by 42nd Street and The Harvey Girls. Hollywood keeps returning to the format - maybe it's addictive. Here's the great Judy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioQlOml6vvA
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Post by littlemaths on Jul 20, 2012 19:10:12 GMT 10
My favourite musical is 'West Side Story'. Songs and knife fights and Russ Tamblyn. You can't go wrong.
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Post by angra on Jul 20, 2012 19:15:00 GMT 10
littlemaths - agree, and it's Shakespeare too!
Forget to mention Fred. Genius. Anything by him.
(Astaire that is)
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Jul 21, 2012 9:27:32 GMT 10
There's probably something wrong with me, but I don't really have a single favorite film. I have had films that I've watched and awful lot at various times - I could once just about quote the entire dialog from "crimson tide" and "spy game".
I do like Casablanca. I think that really is a good film. It's a bit schmaltzy, but that's ok. It's a great film for discussion, too - everything from the cast being largely jewish refugees to, to the fact that everyone in it was just a studio-system wage slave to the mercurial personality of rick to the visual elements carefully designed to evoke a prison (searchlights, shadows of bars on windows, people whispering to avoid being heard) ... to the fantastically quotable dialog. It can be re-watched.
I've liked every version of The 39 Steps that I've seen (I've seen three different versions - I hope they keep remaking it). I like Sexy Beast a fair bit. It's the movie I most recommend to people, because nobody's seen it and I can guarantee they'll be surprised that such a good film could be unheard-of.
I like just about everything that hitchcock makes, because he doesn't have any "extras". All of his characters have a purpose, and they're all three dimensional. And he wrote some brilliantly strong roles for women - even audrey ("Do you know what's wrong with you? Absolutely nothing").
I watched The Big Lebowski last weekend. I'm still processing that one :-)
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Post by fakeheadlines on Jul 21, 2012 9:31:39 GMT 10
Mark it 8, Dude.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Jul 21, 2012 9:36:34 GMT 10
Oh, john goodman is so beautifully unhinged. And mostly he's just a right disaster for everyone ... until the penultimate scene in the carpark, where he steals the show by going right off of the rails.
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Post by angra on Jul 21, 2012 19:27:00 GMT 10
And what do you get if your cross John Huston with Rudyard Kipling?
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Jul 21, 2012 19:52:01 GMT 10
A kid with two daddies?
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Post by angra on Jul 30, 2012 18:57:35 GMT 10
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Post by angra on Aug 8, 2012 13:40:12 GMT 10
Before Blazing Saddles there was Carry On Cowboy.
Must have the highest count per minute of puns, innuendoes and silly jokes of any film made.
A masterpiece! One example -
Belle (Joan Sims) on meeting Rumpo (Sid James) walking into her saloon.
"Hey mister, hand over your gun, we don't allow them in here."
Rumpo does so.
Belle handles it lovingly "My that's a big one!"
Rumpo "Ma'am, I'm from Texas, we all have big ones."
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Post by angra on Aug 8, 2012 13:41:57 GMT 10
MoC - above post.
The Man Who Would be King.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Aug 12, 2012 10:52:29 GMT 10
I've been listening to Ed Keupper's "Character Assassination". I've had it since, dunno, probably when it was released. It's really good.
I've decided that it's time to buy a second Ed Keupper CD. I don't like rushing into these things, as you can see.
Can anyone suggest which one I should go with? I might even stretch it to more, if there are some good suggestions. As I understand it, he was recording another one every second tuesday, for a while, so there should be plenty to choose from.
Any suggestions?
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Post by angra on Aug 18, 2012 21:08:12 GMT 10
Best TV drama series? Callan. Brilliant ITV spy series from the '60s/'70s starring Edward Woodward. Forget Bourne, Bond or Smiley (although I think it owes a lot to Le Carre). A disenfranchised spy/killer with a conscience. Here's a taste - www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8kQyZ76mCk
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Post by angra on Aug 20, 2012 10:44:57 GMT 10
There's some deep political insight involved in this episode of Shaun The Sheep, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Who is the bull, who the pigs? And why red paint? The sheep of course are us. www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/814798
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Post by jack on Sept 7, 2012 22:31:43 GMT 10
Here's one you don't hear much about these days: Blood and Roses (1960), the English version of the French/Italian production Et mourir de plaisir (And Die With Pleasure). It's a vampire flick rather loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novel Carmilla (which predates Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula). Le Fanu's novel has inspired further screen adaptations, notably The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Lesbian Vampire Lovers (2009). B&R was directed by Roger Vadim of blessed memory, with cast including dapper Mel Ferrer and enchanting Elsa Martinelli. The other point in the love triangle was played by Vadim's second wife Annette Strøyberg, who looks uncannily like Vadim's first wife, Brigitte Bardot. From what I can gather Blood and Roses is only available on VHS (Amazon has several used copies listed). But someone apparently has digitally transferred from VHS and posted the entire film on youtube... www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yGTLJwZ28If you can live with the poor quality it's maybe worth 75 minutes of your time to watch this classic of the vampire genre. Interestingly, the hauntingly evocative score by Jean Prodromidès, with Irish Harp played by acclaimed Elena Polanska, is now available on iTunes. So perhaps a digitally restored Blood and Roses may be on its way (he said hopefully). The main Thème de Millarca has also been posted as a 'music video' on youtube... www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCn_MrYLshgAnd, more trivially still, I guess I'm the only one here who'll recall that Jon English had a minor (somewhat unimpressive) hit in 1980 with his song 'Carmilla', also inspired by Le Fanu's novel.
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