Return of the RECENT VIEWING

..and why not?
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Snarfyguy
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Snarfyguy » 28 Nov 2018, 22:52

Matt Wilson wrote:No one knows the outcome of a film project when they agree to do it. I've heard many actors say that they went into the role with the best intentions but circumstances outside their control conspired to make the end result disappointing. Endless rewrites to the script, the studio taking away the picture and tacking on audience-pleasing endings, the director not choosing the best takes of a scene, weird editing, etc. Since so many people are involved with the final product, I don't blame one actor for a film not working, when there's usually a multitude of reasons involved.

Not to mention virtually every great artist has been responsible for sub par work. To say "Oh, that guy's no good because he made shit films along with the great ones" shows a lack of appreciation for the film medium itself, or, at best a naivete regarding the process of movie-making.

Oh come off it, you just want an excuse to like Patch Adams.

;)
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Goat Boy » 28 Nov 2018, 23:05

Williams choices were sometimes evidence of a cloying sentimentality that inevitably led to some terrible movies. Whether this was related to his sadness, melancholy, depression, I don’t know but I’m struggling to think of a Great Williams movie. Some films are clearly turkeys from the off and Williams didn’t seem to have much discernment.

I recognise his talent and his comedic brain but I didn’t find him particularly funny either and his movie career was largely a disappointment.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby naughty boy » 28 Nov 2018, 23:10

Dead Poets Society
Good Will Hunting
The Fisher King
Good Morning Vietnam
Awakenings
Insomnia


and I believe he's also really good in

Mrs Doubtfire
Moscow on the Hudson
One Hour Photo
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Goat Boy » 28 Nov 2018, 23:22

Fisher King seems to be the one most people really rate. I haven’t seen it nor a couple of others but the rest are no great shakes even if he is sometimes very good.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism

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algroth
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby algroth » 28 Nov 2018, 23:39

My favorite film starring Williams in any role would be The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but he does play a smallish role in it. The Fisher King is great and I recall really liking both One Hour Photo and Insomnia as well - though it's been ages since I've seen them.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby $P.Muff$ » 29 Nov 2018, 01:27

He isn't bad in Dead Poets Society. As far as inspirational teacher type films go, it's probably one of the better ones. I just wish it wasn't about rich-ass white kids.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Geezee » 29 Nov 2018, 09:47

Matt Wilson wrote:
Geezee wrote:I wonder about that - what's the evidence for him being a once-in-a-generation comic genius? He certainly had his moments. But I wonder how docs like that handle the undeniably saccharine, awful side of his work. We saw the Whitney Houston doc recently and while it does occasionally highlight the fact that she was effectively producing sugary, meaningless pop, there is no real critical appraisal of this - instead just her fans lavishing praise on her brilliance and plenty of talk of the records she broke. I can imagine something similar with Robin Williams. I mean do they in any way delve into the fact that this man is responsible for some of the worst movies of all time?


Why would he be responsible for them? He didn't write the parts. Plenty (all?) of great actors have made shit films. Does that make them 'responsible?' Filmmaking is a collaborative process and no one has a perfect record of successes.


He is responsible because he really consistently went for the same role. It's what he went for, and what he was typecast as - a sentimental, well-meaning, empty blaaghhh. The vast bulk of his movies really are the worst of what Hollywood can produce, and the fact that he consistently sought those movies is ultimately up to him. Yes he sought to diversify towards the end but the movies seemed pretty generic to me and were only remarkable in that they could promote it by saying "Look at this! Robin Williams is playing a dark role!". None of his movies would likely features in my top 500 movies of all time - and many would feature at the very bottom. Even his roles in movies like Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets are problematic to me.

But absolutely, I recognise the uniqueness of some of his qualities - the almost exhausting quality of his energy. And in some ways I admire that, including when I see it in others. But I did find his comedy was typically very bland (someone put up here - likely when RW passed away - several examples of his comedy, including some sketch on golfing in Scotland or something like that, as evidence of his supreme talent and I found it completely generic observational comedy).

I almost certainly will watch the documentary though.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby naughty boy » 29 Nov 2018, 10:45

Do that.

'generic observational comedy' is absolutely NOT what he was about, whatever other faults you might find in him
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby ` » 29 Nov 2018, 10:46

Matt Wilson wrote:And then there's the notion of an artist taking on a commercial project simply because he wants to pay the bills. There's that story of a reporter asking Michael Caine about one of his more dubious choices (was it a Jaws sequel?), the guy asked Caine if he'd even seen the picture. "No," said Caine, "but I've seen the house that film paid for and it looks quite nice, thank you."


To also quote St Michael: "To maintain a very high standard of living, it is sometimes necessary to do a very low standard of film".

Does any one here remember the Spitting Image episode where he kept on popping up in people's wedding videos (sadly can't find on YT)?

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby ` » 29 Nov 2018, 10:50

algroth wrote:Image

Just watched Widows myself. I was worried from the previews that it'd play out as a Snowman/Counsellor-type affair where a lot of talent was poured into what ultimately plays and looks like your average heist thriller, but I'm glad to inform, it's a Steve McQueen film through and through, it shares basically the same feel for pace, framing and almost lyrically fluid montage that the rest of his work has, and is paired with that effortless sensibility to it all that makes his stuff feel so unique and genuine in a moment where most contemporary 'auteurs' seem so driven by their search for style and cinematic virtuosity that their works feel plastic and overwrought in comparison. I like that it's at once something of a crowd-pleaser heist film, but at the same time has a way of capturing the American setting in a way that is very unfiltered, replete with all the warts, idiosyncracies and grotesqueness that makes it feel very genuine and rooted. This is proper political filmmaking through and through, even if at times the film may suffer due to wearing some of its commentary as overtext, and the odd farfetched story beat which, to be frank, is just about what you'd expect from a script that comes from the author behind Gone Girl. But these few missteps hardly affected my enjoyment of the whole, and the end result is thoroughly engaging, imbued with a propelling energy, and simply unmissable. Worth a watch on the big screen.



The film of Roget's Thesaurus sounds terrific, but what was Widows like?

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby driftin » 29 Nov 2018, 13:31

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Dunno how a film this violent, this well-made, with this much plot and all from the director of Hell or High Water can be so booooring.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby driftin » 01 Dec 2018, 04:33

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I can not gush over this enough. Absolutely wonderful in every way.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby The Modernist » 01 Dec 2018, 09:19

Goat Boy wrote:Williams choices were sometimes evidence of a cloying sentimentality that inevitably led to some terrible movies. Whether this was related to his sadness, melancholy, depression, I don’t know but I’m struggling to think of a Great Williams movie. Some films are clearly turkeys from the off and Williams didn’t seem to have much discernment.

I recognise his talent and his comedic brain but I didn’t find him particularly funny either and his movie career was largely a disappointment.


He was an extremely limited actor. He just hammed it up most of the time.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 02 Dec 2018, 13:28

Continuing our Black n White watching. We watched Double Indemnity. It never puts a foot wrong. Wilder at the top of his game.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Tom Waits For No One » 02 Dec 2018, 21:08

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Well worth two hours of your time.
Give a shit or be a shit.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Samoan » 03 Dec 2018, 19:07

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Featuring a faux-Scottish Hungarian American and a bona fide Soviet Russian -

Image

Well worth 111 minutes of anyone's time.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 03 Dec 2018, 20:24

and a Time Lord
So Long Kid, Take A Bow.

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Samoan
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Samoan » 03 Dec 2018, 20:28

There is...

" Now would anyone like some more potatoes? "
Nonsense to the aggressiveness, I've seen more aggression on the my little pony message board......I mean I was told.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 03 Dec 2018, 21:05

...is it worthwhile calling the vet?
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Matt Wilson
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 06 Dec 2018, 01:09

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Sympathy for the Devil

All of Godard's sixties films before this are pretty much essential to an understanding of French pictures of that era. After this he would enter into a difficult phase of personal movie-making which mostly leaves me cold but I must confess I have seen very few of his seventies films. The Black Panther stuff and the scene where he has a woman representing democracy are period pieces only and are to me, more quaint than penetrating in their analysis (if you can even call it that) of then modern mores of late '60s (French) culture. What is really interesting to the BCBer are the Stones sequences where they're working on "Sympathy for the Devil." Fortunately, this comprises a decent amount of screen time and the new restoration is stunning. Brian was fully present for the development of this song and even though he contributes nothing more than rhythm guitar (not even present on the finished master), it's still fascinating to watch the original five Stones working for the last time on a classic.


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