tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post5643553078027773638..comments2024-03-22T05:48:33.690-07:00Comments on Uncensored John Simon: Danielle DarrieuxJohn Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876490457067235124noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-17116325093006807392017-11-12T05:47:47.245-08:002017-11-12T05:47:47.245-08:00Also just viddied Werner Herzog's documentary ...Also just viddied Werner Herzog's documentary 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly' (1997) --- the story is so amazing that I have trouble believing it. And 'The Heartbreak Kid' (1972), another good one in which Eddie Albert shines and Cybill Shepherd glows.noochinator2https://www.blogger.com/profile/12384475422528811780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-83788955932433453152017-11-11T16:36:32.930-08:002017-11-11T16:36:32.930-08:00Thanks. I need to revisit that one. It's been ...Thanks. I need to revisit that one. It's been awhile. I'm jotting it down on my list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-76001418649793749562017-11-11T13:40:45.227-08:002017-11-11T13:40:45.227-08:00U.K., I watched 'Attack' (1956), it was gr...U.K., I watched 'Attack' (1956), it was great! Thanks so much for recommending it!noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-51287009110458586392017-11-06T13:11:07.218-08:002017-11-06T13:11:07.218-08:00Thanks, Joe Carlson -- Bertolucci is a proud Itali...Thanks, Joe Carlson -- Bertolucci is a proud Italian Communist, but Italian Communism seems much kinder and gentler than other countries' brands. And thanks for mentioning Rita Moreno, you motivated me to discover her 2014 memoir which I look forward to perusing!noochinator2https://www.blogger.com/profile/12384475422528811780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-3229989406363489682017-11-06T06:33:24.113-08:002017-11-06T06:33:24.113-08:00Noochinator, thanks for making the effort and taki...Noochinator, thanks for making the effort and taking a bullet for the team. I will definitely check out 1900 now that I’ve been warned to keep my expectations well below the TANGO level. Sounds perfect for the long, delayed viewing you recommend. For what it’s worth I pass on this note about a 1950’s western:<br /><br />GARDEN OF EVIL (1954)<br />What a pity the film doesn’t live up to the title. Henry Hathaway and Milton Krasner achieve some striking visuals with the CinemaScope widescreen format that was new at the time. Early on Bernard Herrmann’s music does a note-by-note imitation of his later VERTIGO (1958) score and throughout maintains a Hitchcockian note of dread. But as the convoluted plot gets more tangled the dialogue gets more banal. For the life of me I’ve never understood the appeal of Susan Hayward. Yet here all the men go gaga. While the very young, very desirable Rita Moreno sings torch songs and bats her eyelashes. Throughout Gary Cooper looks lost, confused.The superb Richard Widmark does his best but much of what he’s made to do makes little sense. That said CinemaScope forced filmmakers to challenge themselves in new ways. Here, there, Hathaway/Krasner meet the challenge to produce some astonishing landscapes. Hathaway’s later westerns include NEVADA SMITH, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, and TRUE GRIT.<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJDtznLn2hYJoe Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925042164233399553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-48819902478445887842017-11-05T09:16:07.502-08:002017-11-05T09:16:07.502-08:00After viddying '1900' over several nights,...After viddying '1900' over several nights, I'd say it's definitely a work of art, and definitely worth watching (but with your b.s. antennae out: artistic truth seems sometimes sacrificed in order to make political points). One critic compared the film to "a delicious pasta salad, ruined with intermittent slabs of Velveeta cheese,” and probably every viewer will have his own take on what elements of the film comprised the Velveeta.<br /><br />http://www.tvguide.com/movies/1900/review/126315<br />noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-4845288173285892622017-11-01T09:04:11.921-07:002017-11-01T09:04:11.921-07:00If you're hooked on the DVD format, Netflix is...If you're hooked on the DVD format, Netflix is good, but they lack some essentials. Facets is great, but it takes longer for the DVDs to arrive than w/N'flix. Over the past few months, I've watched DVDs of these films, all of them titles N'flix doesn't have:<br />'Burroughs: The Movie' (superb doc.!)<br />'The Wife' (dir. Tom Noonan)<br />'The End' (w/ Burt Reynolds et al.) <br />'The Devil's PLayground' (dir. Fred Schepisi)<br />'That's the Way of the World' (w/Harvey Keitel)<br />'Last Orders' (dir. Fred Schepisi, w/M. Caine et al.)<br />'Race with the Devil' (w/P. Fonda, W. Oates)<br />'The Tenant' (nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more, say no more)<br />'Of Freaks and Men' (great arty Russian S&M movie!)<br />'The Seven-Ups' (w/Roy Scheider)noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-36908667340222741442017-10-31T15:11:33.095-07:002017-10-31T15:11:33.095-07:00I'm getting frustrated with Netflix. I may try...I'm getting frustrated with Netflix. I may try Facets.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-30941705095968825482017-10-31T15:01:48.327-07:002017-10-31T15:01:48.327-07:00Netflix has the DVD of 'Attack!' listed, b...Netflix has the DVD of 'Attack!' listed, but they don't have the DVD --- it's in the "Saved" section of my DVD queue, which means they probably won't ever get it. But Facets has the DVD for rental, along with many others that Netflix doesn't have!<br />http://www.facetsmovies.com/user/homeNewUser2.php<br />noochinator2https://www.blogger.com/profile/12384475422528811780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-33702758390564996782017-10-31T09:17:40.000-07:002017-10-31T09:17:40.000-07:00It's pretty good. I wouldn't put it with h...It's pretty good. I wouldn't put it with his very best films (Dirty Dozen, Kiss Me Deadly, The Longest Yard), but well worth a watch. Netflix has it, and so does YouTube.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-1923437959763696512017-10-31T00:21:37.526-07:002017-10-31T00:21:37.526-07:00Thanks, U.K, I'd never heard of 'Attack...Thanks, U.K, I'd never heard of 'Attack' (or 'Attack!') from 1956, it looks terrific!noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-70124938972036102672017-10-30T15:38:59.015-07:002017-10-30T15:38:59.015-07:00Aldrich was a wonderful director. Albert was in &#...Aldrich was a wonderful director. Albert was in 'Attack' as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-1107903216672323822017-10-30T14:50:42.777-07:002017-10-30T14:50:42.777-07:00Joe Carlson, I haven't scoped out '1900...Joe Carlson, I haven't scoped out '1900' yet, but I did look at 'Luna' (1979) last week, with Jill Clayburgh as an American opera singer with a heroin-addicted teenaged son. I enjoyed it b/c I had at hand an interview with B.B. in which he explained what he was trying to get across (which wasn't too clear from viewing the film)---but I didn't viddy it a second time. The venerable movie critic Leslie Halliwell (1929-1989) wrote that 'Luna' was "pretentious claptrap", and I can see where he's coming from. <br /><br />Bertolucci has said in interviews that he pushed to have '1900' released in two parts, but the distributors said no, preferring to cut the film from five hours to four. Apparently the version released on DVD is the five-hour version. Watching it all at one sitting would be agony for me, like drinking a gallon of wine in a single evening. From what I'm gleaning from online comments, '1900' seems to have a whiff of 'Heaven's Gate'-syndrome about it, i.e., director given carte blanche after the wild success of his previous film.<br /><br />U.K., for me the optimal length of a film is 80 minutes, but then I'm a bit of a philistine. As proof of that, I watched 'Hustle' (1975) last week, and loved it! Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve (as his prostitute girlfriend!), Eddie Albert as a perverted lawyer who sometimes hires Deneuve (and who busts Reynolds' chops about it by telling him, "The brilliant whores become courtesans when they get older"), Ben Johnson, Paul Winfield, et al. Direction by Robert Aldrich, script by Steve Shagan. If you were curating a film festival on American manliness in early 1970s films, this would have to be included, along with 'The Longest Yard' (1974) and 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle' (1973).<br /><br />Eddie Albert was the Ed Harris of his day, good in everything he was in, even if the film was shite. I don't remember ever seeing him in a bad performance.<br />noochinator2https://www.blogger.com/profile/12384475422528811780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-12797592370381347742017-10-30T09:01:57.389-07:002017-10-30T09:01:57.389-07:00Simon loved 'The Sorrow and the Pity'. Ove...Simon loved 'The Sorrow and the Pity'. Over four hours. Personally, I like 'em under 2 1/2. Even more under 2. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-80029700475766727672017-10-30T06:27:20.078-07:002017-10-30T06:27:20.078-07:00Simon doesn’t like “long stuff.” Tolstoy, Proust, ...Simon doesn’t like “long stuff.” Tolstoy, Proust, Thomas Wolfe, Mailer, Beethoven, Wagner, etc. Yet he makes an exception for Mann’s MAGIC MOUNTAIN! Nor, I suspect, does Simon like “big stuff.” With all the references in his writing to other art forms I can’t think of a single nod to architecture, which by its nature is sizable. John Updike found St. Peter’s basilica not admirable, not stunning, not overwhelming, but “appalling in its immensity.” Bet Simon does too. Neither would be “big” on Michelangelo.<br /><br />Noochinator, I admire TANGO, CONFORMIST less so, but haven’t seen 1900. Most critics including Simon thumbed it down. Suppose now’s the time to check it out since one can watch for a while then come back later rather than get stuck in a theater. But do you recommend it?<br />Joe Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925042164233399553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-3708785060327641872017-10-29T13:20:12.077-07:002017-10-29T13:20:12.077-07:00It's funny, films that have much good in them ...It's funny, films that have much good in them were slaughtered by film critics who were held captive for torturous lengths of time. Yet now those movies can be watched at home over several nights. White elephants like the Robert Redford 'Great Gatsby' and the Lucille Ball 'Mame' are pure poison when consumed in one sitting, but afford pleasure when spread out over 72 to 96 hours.noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-15368634428231906512017-10-29T13:18:25.640-07:002017-10-29T13:18:25.640-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-28620580224764486632017-10-29T10:36:20.146-07:002017-10-29T10:36:20.146-07:00Lol! It needs a lot of work.Lol! It needs a lot of work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-67624304331995931572017-10-29T09:53:12.424-07:002017-10-29T09:53:12.424-07:00Re: "...irritation at sitting in an uncomfort...Re: "...irritation at sitting in an uncomfortable theater seat for four-plus hours." <br /><br />Have you heard the stat about parole officers being more lenient after lunch than before? Jacques Barzun declared Western Civilization dead because we had reached the limit of self-consciousness and "rights." Seems we have only scratched the surface. Scott Whittakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03968186273740791074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-35748948776724441012017-10-29T09:51:07.526-07:002017-10-29T09:51:07.526-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Scott Whittakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03968186273740791074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-86095270590146216882017-10-29T09:30:39.115-07:002017-10-29T09:30:39.115-07:00Nice vignette. Your Coney Island?
MY your versio...Nice vignette. Your Coney Island? <br /><br />MY your version changes "grabbed" to "grab," "our" to "their"; drops "toilet" and "Joe. Finnigans Wake was in my fist and I." <br />Scott Whittakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03968186273740791074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-73789432257847360892017-10-29T02:45:49.978-07:002017-10-29T02:45:49.978-07:00It's Kerouacian!It's Kerouacian!noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-17005849412099378502017-10-29T02:45:12.094-07:002017-10-29T02:45:12.094-07:00Eclipse me ever!Eclipse me ever!noochinatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12584058407655395128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-81705998677302746522017-10-28T20:20:48.121-07:002017-10-28T20:20:48.121-07:00I was going to write something about white and bla...I was going to write something about white and black, but I was watching the World Series and wrote down this poem instead. I have no idea what it means.<br /><br /><br /><br />Joe Smokes A Fag On The Beach<br /><br /><br />grabbed a handful of sand <br /><br />and let it rush through my fingers <br />like you curl your lip. They’re <br />in the front pocket. Out <br /><br />they come. <br /><br />Pack it Joe, against <br />your lighter, and raise <br />that right eyebrow. <br />Flash! Whew! You’re <br />hip now and GOD himself <br />knows it. Trendy, some <br />might say. Gravy. Nifty. <br />That butt hangs strategically <br />out the corner of your mouth. <br />Raise the eyebrow again, <br />Joe! Suck it in. Blow it <br />in our faces. Toss the <br />red hot butt in a trash can <br />full of toilet paper. Walk away <br />happy, Joe. Finnigans Wake <br /><br />was in my fist and I<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3752457333383090137.post-34250720129676417792017-10-28T06:39:29.971-07:002017-10-28T06:39:29.971-07:00Sorry, boys, Duke and Marshall settled it decades ...Sorry, boys, Duke and Marshall settled it decades ago!<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf5SgPArT9Y<br />Joe Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925042164233399553noreply@blogger.com