Rocky Balboa

I think that's it. I'll probably watch it tonight.

Do we already have a dedicated thread for this topic?

I'm confused. Is the topic Rocky Balboa or is the topic what you're watching this weekend?

-s.

Leave it me to screw up something that should've been easy.

Rocky Balboa is the answer to the question of the thread title. I was hoping others would chime in with their own weekend-viewing plans.

I remembered a long-dead thread in which critics mentioned which films they had been assigned to see in the coming week and had through we might already have a comparable thread for the idea I was getting at.

So, Stef: What's on tap for viewing in the Great Lakes state this weekend?

Do they call this place the "Great Lakes State?" Cool.

Well, I am out the door in 5 minutes to go back to Chicagoland. The church there has had a hard time finding someone to replace me, so I go back about every other weekend to help them out. (I don't have a job yet, they don't have a replacement yet, we're all friends and we like to help each other out...) Some weeks I take the wife and kids to see the Grandparents too, and this weekend is one of those.

We won't be watching any movies, unfortunately, but I hope to listen to lots of music. And I hope the kids don't whine the whole way there. We are picking up suckers. Suckers help.

-s.

I plan to watch the first two Spider-Man films, in preparation for chapter 3 next Friday night. I got advance tickets for me and a friend for $3 each because I'm a reservist at my local comic book shop. Well, actually, they're generic passes, but the comic shop has reserved a block of seats for the 7:00 PM screening next Friday.

I had heard that Rocky Balboa was pretty good, a crowd-pleasing comeback for the franchise.

I thought it was very weak. Wish I had something positive to say, but nothing comes to mind.

As for today, my plans are shot. One daughter was sick Thursday, got better yesterday, but now the other daughter is down for the count, scuttling our plans to visit the grandparents and run some errands.

There's always the lawn to mow and trim.

And Micah just woke up. Time to give him a bottle.

Saw Jindabyne yesterday. Maybe megaplex today for Fracture or Hoax. Maybe Black Book tomorrow.

I watched Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! on TCM's underground.

The Invisible last night (cuz I have to review it).

The usual kids' videos today, during the day, peppered with excerpts from that Sigmund Freud vs. C.S. Lewis PBS video.

Doubt I'll get to watch anything tomorrow. But I really WOULD like to re-watch the first two Spider-Man movies, in anticipation of Monday night's preview of the third film.

Darrel, I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on Jindabyne. My review's going up at CT soon.

The Taste of Tea is showing here now, but I've got an overcrowded weekend, so I doubt I'll get out to see it.

I'm also curious about Diggers.

Wait Until Dark, one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn films, is showing at midnight at the Egyptian. Tempting....

Most likely I'll skip the big screen and stay home to watch The Wind Will Carry Us, from Netflix, if I find two open hours before I go back to the office on Monday. I also checked out the original The Day the Earth Stood Still from the library, and I may watch that for the first time. It'll depend on how tired I am. I have to feel wide awake and sharp to take on Kiarostami, but I imagine the latter makes for a good late-night selection when I have little or nothing left.

Saw The Wind That Shakes the Barley last night. Going to see Fracture tonight.

Captain Blood (1935). Now them's what I calls pirates of the Caribbean. Arr--except I don't recall any of them actually saying that. One of the pirates quotes scripture at irregular intervals, having been a former Puritan minister. I discovered that this was Errol Flynn's first Hollywood starring role, and Olivia DeHavilland's. I'm not sure he was ever better than this.

BethR wrote:
: I discovered that this was Errol Flynn's first Hollywood starring role, and Olivia DeHavilland's. I'm not sure he was ever better than this.

It's been so long since I saw Captain Blood, I can't comment on Errol Flynn's performance per se, but I DO think the script serves him better in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), a film that has many of the same elements as Captain Blood (de Havilland, a swordfight with Basil Rathbone, etc.). Both films have scenes in which de Havilland says, "You speak treason!" If memory serves, in Captain Blood, Flynn replies, "Oh I hope I'm not obscure." But in Robin Hood, he merely says, "Fluently." Less is definitely more.

Planning to watch Adam's Apples tonight. Watched The Banquet on Friday night. This bit of awesomeness arrived recently, so I hope to be working through that for many weekends to come.

How was The Banquet? I was hoping to catch it in Toronto last year, but it played after we left.

Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave

Classic.

Answered here.

I've got a backlog of titles right now. The only sure bet is 28 Days Later, which I've seen before but want to watch again before the sequel screens next week. Also in the stack:

Flags of Our Fathers
Out of the Past
Anytown USA
Children of Men
3 Women
Anatomy of a Murder (watched most of this last weekend, but fell asleep; would like to rewind the tape and watch it again from the beginning)
Shaun of the Dead

COM and Flags are due back soon, so I may prioritize those. However, I've seen both before, in the theater, and so may opt for a title I've not yet seen.

If I see anything this weekend, it'll be The Host (finally) during a late, late show at the $3 theater.

I'll be watching Following Sean --

Netflix "At A Glance":

In 1969, writer-director Ralph Arlyck filmed an intimate conversation with 4-year-old Sean Farrell -- the son of free-spirited parents living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district -- who talked openly about smoking marijuana and walking among speed freaks. Revisiting his subject 30 years later, Arlyck finds a much-changed man with thoughtful reflections about his childhood, his parents and the contradictions of the 1960s.

Netflix is sending us an Altman movie: Thieves Like Us. Other than that, no idea if we'll have the chance.

Most likely Spider-Man 3 and Bertolucci's Il Conformista this weekend.

Darrell: I'd love to hear your thoughts on "Thieves." I own a copy, but have watched it just once, after determining there was too much "Bonnie and Clyde," and not enough Altman in it.

That was years ago. I wish I could say I didn't know any better, but I did, even then. Still, as the years have gone by, I've been thinking that I sold that film WAY short and should watch it again soon.

OddOne: In college, I heard nothing but lavish praise for "The Conformist," but after graduating, it somehow seeped into my system that the film was a Marxist apologetic! I suppose that means ... well, next to nothing. But do let us know if it's strictly political allegory (I doubt it), or in other ways seems dated.

Husker: That film sounds very interesting. I've not heard a word about it. How was it.

Jeff: So, would a former horror-film fan who doesn't much care for horror films any longer enjoy "The Host"? Speaking of political allegories (is that the right term? hmmm...), I've read some interesting interpretations of what "The Host" is actually about, and "horror" -- in the genre sense -- doesn't figure into those readings.

I will let ya know ... might get to it this afternoon with the chance for rainy weather, too windy to golf either way

Not as good as I'd thought it might be ... a little bit Stones of Summer-ish, but not as good. I may try to write more later.

Looks like there's no thread for The Conformist. I don't really think the film was pro-Fascism. It was more a character-study about a Fascist ... but the film implies that he's only a Fascist for reasons one could glean from the film's title. I've read commentary on it saying it was Bertolucci's best *and* Trintignant's best. I don't know enough about either artist to say, really, and the film mostly just confused me. There are some epic scenes that I'm sure are great moments in the history of cinema, though, so I'm glad I've finally seen it after all this time.

There's another reason to praise this film, though... Vittorio Storaro. Cinematographers don't get a lot of credit, it seems, but cinematography is the first discipline that really got me interested in film, so I take an interest in the works of highly regarded cinematographers like Nykvist and Storaro. There's a reason that multiple scenes from Il Conformista are in every cinematography text... because the entire movie is filled with visual brilliance. Storaro won Oscars for his work on Apocalypse Now, The Last Emperor and Reds, but this may very well be his best work.

So yeah, it's a film that doesn't really leave you... it reminded me of The Godfather a bit in that respect. But it's not something I think I'll ever fully understand. All in all, a great piece of cinematic history, and well worth seeing.

NOW you've got me interested! I never did see this film in the 1990s, when it was one of the frequently requested titles for release on laserdisc, IIRC. There was no letterboxed version of the film on VHS, and we letterbox aficionados were instructed no to watch the film panned-and-scanned, because the cinematography was so integral to the film.

Now that you mention it though, what was the aspect ratio? Was it the European 1.66:1? If so, that's not much more picture info than the standard NTSC aspect ration of 1.33:1. Still, I'm sure it's essential to see the film as it was intended to be seen. I'll see if the library has a copy on file.

IMDB says 1.66:1. The DVD I got from Amazon was anamorphic widescreen, so I'm sure it was the correct ratio.

theoddone33 wrote:
: IMDB says 1.66:1. The DVD I got from Amazon was anamorphic widescreen, so I'm sure it was the correct ratio.

The anamorphic format on DVDs etc. is 1.78:1, so a 1.66:1 movie in the anamorphic format would have vertical black bars on the sides. (The first example that comes to mind of a DVD in my collection that does this is the "collector's edition" of Disney's Tarzan.) If the film was originally 1.66:1 but the picture fills the entire anamorphic frame, then either the sides have been "opened up" to reveal more picture than people saw in theatres, or the top and bottom of the image have been shaved off to fit the DVD format.

Sure enough: http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm

I regret my cool reaction (maybe "non-reaction" is a better term) many months ago to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. I watched it again last night, finishing it this morning, and it's one of the best horror movies of recent years.

I realize I'm late to the party, but I wanted to correct the record.

I'll just respond here, since it's not really worth its own thread. I didn't think it was too much Bonnie and Clyde. As to it's place in the Altman corpus, I'd say it has more kinship with M*A*S*H than with things like Nashville, Gosford Park or PHC in that it is more of a linear story than various intersecting stories. Pleasurable enough. Interesting to see everyone so young.

Help me decide;

Black Book
Jindabyne
The Page Turner
Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont
Everything's Gone Green
Reign Over Me
Grindhouse
Hot Fuzz

And, if you've got a minute, why?

Ron

P.S. I love this thread!

I've seen only "Reign Over Me" from your list, and thought highly of it. Right now I have "Shaun of the Dead" in my DVD stack, hoping to get some relief after having just seen "28 Weeks Later," but also a way to prime the pump for "Hot Fuzz," about which I hear great things.

I've only seen 3 of these, but recommend:
Jindabyne if you want some great performances within a fairly compelling story.
Black Book if you want some tension/release/tension/release fun.
(links to my reviews of both of these can be found on my viewing list.)

As for me, I have Freedom Writers at home. Want to rewatch Pirates2 soon before seeing 3 in a few weeks, so maybe I'll actually hit Blockbusters (unless it's been turned back in at the library). We've been wanting to get to Fracture, so maybe we'll fit that in.

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont is the most unassuming film on your list. Give it a chance.

This weekend, me and some friends are doing a marathon of the Die Hard thrillogy...I haven't seen parts two and three, but I've heard negative things. Still, there are some things that you just have to see at least once.

Today I expect we'll be seeing either Waitress or Away from Her (and likely may see the other before the weekend is out). Monday I see Pirates otC 3.

I'll list my DVDs by order of interest (I've already seen "Freedom Writers," but Sarah hasn't). Do I need to re-prioritize these?

1. Half Nelson
2. Fast Food Nation
3. Shaun of the Dead
4. Out of the Past
5. Freedom Writers

Not "this weekend", exactly, but yesterday I watched Hustle & Flow during one of the kids' naps (I had booked it at the library a few months ago after seeing Black Snake Moan and deciding that I needed to familiarize myself with the director's work), and then in the evening D and I watched the Videomatica.ca copy of Music and Lyrics that had arrived in the mail the previous day. And then I realized that BOTH of these films were about song-writing and -recording -- the kind of films where dialogue informs lyrics and lyrics inform dialogue, which must be a big challenge both artistically (e.g. when do you change the script to match a good song? if you already have the song, how do you capture the spontaneity of creativity in a way that informs the characters of the song-writers themselves?) and legally (e.g. who gets the royalties for what?).

Um, yes. Out of the Past should be at the very top!

Remember that old Sesame Street tune?

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Hmm, something called Black Book is playing nearby and sounds interesting. I'm sure there's already a thread on it. I may go see that. Otherwise I have a host of DVDs to pick from... just thinking through ones I may want to watch, I'm coming up with this list:

Sunrise(Murnau)
The Battleship Potemkin
Wild Strawberries (or one of about 29 other Bergman films I haven't seen)
All Quiet on the Western Front

One or two of those will probably happen, any priorities?

Two DVDs on tap for the long holiday weekend:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Mrs. Henderson Presents

--I still have watched only one of the VHS tapes I ordered from New York/Facets, so maybe I'll dig into one of those films.

If we don't get to it tonight, we watch Old Joy over the weekend. Probably get to either The Valet or Angel-A on Sat. And may get to either Shrek or Spidey sometime over the long weekend.

Darrel, which of Veber's other films have you seen? I was reading Jon Podhoretz, who called Veber's "The Dinner Game" a "perfect" movie. I saw that movie years ago, during its theatrical run, with my then-fiance (now wife), and neither of us remembered thinking it was *all that* funny. Cute, but not uproarious. Which makes me think French farce just isn't my cuppa.

Would another Veber film convince me otherwise?

I'm planning a double feature of The Searchers and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope for Friday night. (30th anniversary of the latter's release, and 100th birthday of John Wayne.)

EDIT - Actually his birthday is Saturday, but close enough.

This weekend I intend to watch "Laura" (Otto Preminger), "The Woodsman" and "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada". The last film I watched was "Little Miss Sunshine" which was dreadful.

Last 1/2 hour of "Ran" (again, because the wife skipped out on it last week), and maybe "Howard's End." Netflix is making a killing off us this year.

Mr. Zoom, have you already seen "The Searchers?"

I hope to see Waitress, which is finally opening in our little backwater of America. May also watch American Desi (for Kal Penn pre-Namesake) and some episodes of Keen Eddie on DVD. Hey--it's summer--my brain is tired.

It was one of the films that was screened in my film appreciation class during my freshman year in college.

That was 18 years ago, and the only time I've seen it.