GWJ Film of the Week

Oh my goodness everyone. Snow Trail is incredible! Here are some things I figured out after watching it: it's Toshirô Mifune first acting role. He's sooooo young and hardly recognizable. He was 27 at the time of this movie! That's crazy. The cinematography is absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately, the cameras used aren't great, so you have to look past that aspect. There are some very nice film noir and german expressionist qualities to it. Lots of great shadow work going on. Also, the mountaineering aspects are really interesting and filmed quite well.

Anyways, on to the crazy stuff. Here is Toshirô Mifune in Snow Trail, his first acting role at age 27:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Ua5ZwB9l.jpg)

And here is Toshirô Mifune in Seven Samurai, just seven years later:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Ui8VEfHl.jpg)

Note: I did not intend to try and match those shots/facial expressions when I took those screenshots. I am tickled pink that it ended up that way, though.

Here is Takashi Shimura in Snow Trail:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/JDzwjnpl.jpg)

And here Takashi Shimura in Seven Samurai (Person on Left):

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/CGwnv1pl.jpg)

The soundtrack is actually quite amazing too. It's fairly typical for a Japanese movie of this period in a great way. There's this one moment where the group is drunk and a couple of them dance to a record playing "Oh, Susanna!" It's a very touching moment. There's also a bit where a woman is burying a pigeon. The simple piano piece played really grabbed me.

Ultimately, it's not a great movie because the story and character development are somewhat bland. However, it's just a real surreal experience watching this movie from 1947 with some big name actors in early roles. Highly recommended!

[size=30]GWJ Film of the Week #12[/size]

[size=20]A Late Quartet[/size]

IMAGE(http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTM3MDc3MzIzNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjkwNTU0OA@@._V1_SX214_.jpg)

Release Year: 2012
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Writer: Seth Grossman (screenplay), Yaron Zilberman (screenplay)
Notable Actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, and Catherine Keener
Synopsis (Netflix): Tempers flare, old jealousies reignite and new passions are sparked when the members of a world-renowned string quartet are preparing to celebrate their 25th anniversary and learn that their leader must step down due to a grim medical diagnosis.

This movie is available to watch on Netflix.

A Late Quartet was pretty good and highly engaging although a bit depressing. The actors did a decent job of imitating playing violins, viola, and cello. I expected to be annoyed with that aspect.

[size=30]GWJ Film of the Week #13[/size]

[size=20]Night on Earth[/size]

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/lNx3KUK.jpg)

Release Year: 1991
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Writer: Jim Jarmusch
Notable Actors: Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Lisanne Falk & Roberto Benigni
Synopsis (IMDB): An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

This movie is available to watch on Hulu+.

I like Jim Jarmusch movies but haven't seen this one.

Well, Night on Earth is a masterpiece. I was truly impressed from the moment Tom Waits started singing at the beginning until he sang at the end. There are so many things to love about it.

It's not necessarily my favorite section, but it's the most utterly hilarious part because Roberto Benigni is hilarious. You have to watch it. Pumpkins.

Pumpkins.

Edit: I think it might now be my favorite Jim Jarmusch over Coffee and Cigarettes and Down by Law.

I'll probably do Halloween type movies for the rest of the month. Anyone want to pick this week's? I'm going to be fairly busy at work today so I won't have time until this evening to pick something. Anything spooky and/or scary would work!

John Carpenter's The Thing!

Rad!

ccesarano wrote:

John Carpenter's The Thing!

Well, it's not very HALLOWEEEEEEEEEN, but it certainly fits the spooky/scary bill. I'm down. I'll post it later today.

I would say Exorcist for celebrating 40 years, but we've kinda been discussing it in the horror thread.

My vote is Ravenous, but not sure if its on Hulu or Netflix.

ranalin wrote:

I would say Exorcist for celebrating 40 years, but we've kinda been discussing it in the horror thread.

My vote is Ravenous, but not sure if its on Hulu or Netflix.

Ravenous looks interesting, and I haven't seen it. I'll check on that, maybe we can do it for Halloween week.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
ranalin wrote:

I would say Exorcist for celebrating 40 years, but we've kinda been discussing it in the horror thread.

My vote is Ravenous, but not sure if its on Hulu or Netflix.

Ravenous looks interesting, and I haven't seen it. I'll check on that, maybe we can do it for Halloween week.

It's pretty entertaining. I recommend it.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'll probably do Halloween type movies for the rest of the month. Anyone want to pick this week's? I'm going to be fairly busy at work today so I won't have time until this evening to pick something. Anything spooky and/or scary would work!

There's always The Evil Dead. (on Netflix)

Rosemary's Baby? Paranorman? Both on Netflix

Ravenous is great. Almost as good as Rad. Good soundtrack, too.

Tanglebones wrote:

Rosemary's Baby? Paranorman? Both on Netflix

ParaNorman would be an interesting pick. The story is so-so, but the animation is some of the best I've seen for stop motion.

Blargh, The Thing isn't on Netflix Instant Watch anymore, so I'm going to have to pick something else. I'll come up with something tonight. I'm thinking Paranorman would be good because I haven't seen it and loved Coraline.

Oh good. I've been thinking about watching ParaNorman, anyway.

[size=30]GWJ Film of the Week #14[/size]

[size=20]ParaNorman[/size]

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/ParaNorman_poster.jpg)

Release Year: 2012
Directors: Chris Butler, Sam Fell
Writer: Chris Butler
Notable Actors: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Synopsis (IMDB): A misunderstood boy takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

This movie is available to watch on Netflix.

Since The Thing, The Exorcist, and Ravenous aren't on Netflix, we'll just go with this suggestion for this week.

Tanglebones wrote:

Rosemary's Baby?

I took my wife to Film Forum in 2008 on the 40th anniversary of the movies' release to see a brand new 35mm print on the big screen. It was by far one of the best movie experiences in my life. Afterwards we went up to Central Park West to see the Dakota building in person. Pretty cool day, that.

Ravenous is a great movie.

Spoiler:

He was LICKING MEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

I found ParaNorman to be incredibly sweet. The animation is the real standout, of course. Absolutely gorgeous.

I enjoyed it. The animation was outstanding.

Spoiler:

I'm a big fan of stop motion animation and figuring out which materials were used to make different effects. I cannot figure out how they created the witch's face in the clouds and the tendrils of smoke on the ground.

And I absolutely loved the split-bodied electric witch girl at the end. Amazing.

One really interesting aspect of the production is that they used 3D printers for the various facial expressions. It apparently really helped cut down on production times and costs.

And as a cultural aside, a standout line of dialogue to me:

Spoiler:

"You should meet my boyfriend." Just casually tossed out at the end of a kids' movie like it's not a big deal. Cultural progression, ho!

Loved that movie. Just watched it with Alexis tonight; I knew about the line Clock spoiled going into it, but kept the spoiler from her; she really, really enjoyed that specifically.

Watched it this morning. That was just delightful. Delightful I say! I think I liked Coraline a little better just because it has a special quirky charm to it, but ParaNorman was great, too.

Spoiler:

I loved the Halloween ring tone reference and the Friday the 13th hockey mask homage. There were probably quite a few other references to slasher/horror movies that I missed. That intro movie was hilarious.

Anyways, good call on that one for this week's movie, Tanglebones.

[size=30]GWJ Film of the Week #15[/size]

[size=20]The Frighteners[/size]

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/yVWvmoql.jpg)

Release Year: 1996
Directors: Peter Jackson
Writers: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Notable Actors: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson
Synopsis (IMDB): After a tragic car accident that killed his wife, a man discovers he can communicate with the dead to con people but when a demonic spirit appears, he may be the only one who can stop it from killing the living and the dead.

This movie is available to watch on Netflix. I've never actually seen it, so I'm excited to finally watch it!

I haven't seen that since it was new. As I recall, the initial critical reception was that it had really good special effects for its time and budget but was otherwise a hit or miss affair. It's funny to see early work from now big name directors.

It aged pretty well; I saw it for the first time about five years ago.

Extra Credit: Find Peter Jackson's cameo.

Grenn wrote:

Extra Credit: Find Peter Jackson's cameo.

Thanks for reminding me. Yeah, I'm interested to watch one of his early movies. I've always meant to check them out.

Heavenly Creatures is really good.