EWB Film Club

[Monkey D. Lars]

I'm either going to watch: 8½, Anatomy of a Murder, Charade or Bringing Up Baby. Or just simply a Universal Horror film. 

[Jimmy]

I'd be interested to see what you think of 8 1/2, I'm still trying to figure out what I thought from the screening I went to months ago: I think it's magical in fragments, but occasionally found it hard to engage with, possibly couldn't shake the film's reputation. I've only seen a couple of Fellini films and haven't been in love with either yet, it's definitely something I want to push on with when I get the chance. 

Charade is great, though. I think you'd like that a lot, Cary Grant's on top form. 

Edited November 8, 2016 by Jimmy

[Benjamin]

19 hours ago, Gigan Lars said:

I'm either going to watch: 8½, Anatomy of a Murder, Charade or Bringing Up Baby. Or just simply a Universal Horror film. 

I like Charade a lot, but I'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fanboy. Walter Matthau steals that one, though, he's delightful as always. Cary Grant was probably the creepiest part of that film, he's so slimy. 

[C-MIL]

Anyone got recos on a comedy that fits the theme? I could use a laugh.

[Your Mom]

I've been distracted for obvious reasons but Metropolis was amazing. I mean the pure scope of what they managed to pull off in 1927 is insane. The craziest thing to me was it was about a world 100 years in the future and now that's only 10 years away! Pretty sure it wont be anything like the movie though  

[GoGo Yubari]

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

watched over the course of election night and then, once election night became too unbearable for my sobriety, the last ten minutes were watched on the morning after. I thought it was very good.The performances by Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Khigh Deigh, and especially Angela Lansbury were wonderful. I think I'd say most of my favorite stuff happened early on, though, and I would have liked to have spent more time with the effects it had on the soldiers who came home, though all the stuff filling in Shaw's backstory was really good. My least favorite part of the movie was probably Janet Leigh's character, who felt really superfluous, as if a producer had said "this movie's lacking romance, dammit!"

Spoiler

Or, at least, romance that doesn't end in absolute tragedy.

The reveal that Shaw was at the party convention to kill the Iselins and not the president was pretty good, also, and the reveal that Shaw's mom was his American handler made me go "wait is this going where I think -- fuck!"

 

[Jimmy]

7 minutes ago, C-MIL said:

Anyone got recos on a comedy that fits the theme? I could use a laugh.

The Awful Truth or It Happened One Night are both great screwball comedies. 

[I Don't Mind]

5 hours ago, C-MIL said:

Anyone got recos on a comedy that fits the theme? I could use a laugh.

 

[Benjamin]

9 hours ago, C-MIL said:

Anyone got recos on a comedy that fits the theme? I could use a laugh.

I will always recommend a Wilder film:

One, Two, Three (1961) has Cagney in it and is super fun for me.

The Fortune Cookie (1966) isn't exactly great, but it's only famous Matthau / Lemmon films I've seen, and I liked it due to their really amazing chemistry together.

[DFF]

I ended up watching To Kill A Mockingbird. Flipping heck, what a good, powerful film! Gregory Peck was his usual quality self, but some of the other performances were even better (particularly for a couple of characters on stand during the trial part). The child actors, whose eyes we see the film through, we pretty darn good too. I can't recommend this film enough.

[Jimmy]

I'm hoping to potentially watch something a little more significant as well before the deadline, but I ended up watching Elephant Boy (1937) a film a co-directed by Robert J. Flaherty (Nanook of the North). The narrative and celebration of British colonialism obviously feels dated, but the debuting Sabu (no, not that Sabu) is an incredible discovery, a young boy who has the charm and charisma to drive scenes, as well as great chemistry with real elephants. That's the most impressive thing, any sequences with the elephants are outstanding -- it takes a somewhat documentary approach towards them (not surprising considering who is involved) and the film captures some absolutely stunning footage which holds up today. It really reinforces how much more thrilling and alive things feel when using real elements in favour of CGI, which is obviously a retrospective opinion, but those sequences have an irreplaceable energy to them because they're so obviously real. 

[Benjamin]

Watched Funny Girl (1968), a film loosely based on the second marriage of Fanny Brice with Nicky Arnstein, a gambler. Her first marriage isn't mentioned, and it's a typical rom com but gets pretty heavy in the third act, which is actually the best part. Barbara Streisand is electric, she's so different than anything I've seen in films made before this, if you don't count silent films. It's overproduced and overshot to hell, though, and the first two acts are a drag, even the musical numbers because they're way too elaborate and draggy. Omar Shariff is sexy as fuck, though.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I can still watch my film tomorrow right?

[Jimmy]

 

52 minutes ago, Gigan Lars said:

I can still watch my film tomorrow right?

Right!

 

Edited November 11, 2016 by Jimmy

[MDK]

4 hours ago, DFF said:

Flipping heck Gregory Peck 

Fucking cockneys. Speak English.

[Your Mom]

What's the next one? I want to watch something else!  

[apsham]

I'd like to jump in on this whenever possible.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I've watched Charade (1963), I don't want to give anything away from the plot but damn Cary Grant is amazing, Hepburn is beautiful and classy and the film is loads of fun!

[Jimmy]

Still 6 hours to do this one. 

Or catch up respectively. 

But to keep this ticking, it's a @GoGo Yubari pick! 

[GoGo Yubari]

I have two ideas, one less-creative but maybe a little easier and one more-creative but maybe a little harder.

Less Creative: Oscar Best Picture winners.

More Creative: A movie that either features an actual US President as a character (not necessarily the main character) or that an actual US President appeared in.