Martin polishes off the TSPDT Top 1000 list

[MartinTeller]

Ah shit, I just realized... The Art of Vision is still on the list (down to #819 from #800) meaning I'll still be unable to reach 100%.  I love Brakhage, but right now I must shake my fist at him. 

I wonder why netflix never took in his 2nd anthology...I enjoyed the first one, but cant justify spending that much money on the collection.

but yeah, I really hope they do a third collection including the Art of Vision and Anticipation of the Night

The collection is one of my prized possessions.  Volume 2 is a little more uneven than Volume 1 (I could do without the "Visions in Meditation" series entirely) but it's definitely worth having the entire collection on Blu-Ray.

I'm not very fond of Anticipation, but I was surprised they didn't include Text of Light.  I doubt they'll ever do Art of Vision.  It's a hard sell, especially since it's just Dog Star Man broken down into its un-superimposed images.

[Jared]

how did you watch anticipation?

[oldkid]

Martin, I have a personal question.  I noted that you were signed up with Cricketer, which I was interested in and started working on.  It's a lot of fun.  But the ranking is 1-100.  Most of my ranks would probably fall between 50-100, and I tend to rank by tens (which matches my stars, with halves).  But you, you have some at 44 or 78.  How do you do that?  Are you ranking, or are you just pulling out a number-- "Hmm, that seems to be a 82.75... no, make that .76"  That is more specific than I think I can do... unless I'm ranking.

[MartinTeller]

how did you watch anticipation?

Found it online.

Martin, I have a personal question.  I noted that you were signed up with Cricketer, which I was interested in and started working on.  It's a lot of fun.  But the ranking is 1-100.  Most of my ranks would probably fall between 50-100, and I tend to rank by tens (which matches my stars, with halves).  But you, you have some at 44 or 78.  How do you do that?  Are you ranking, or are you just pulling out a number-- "Hmm, that seems to be a 82.75... no, make that .76"  That is more specific than I think I can do... unless I'm ranking.

I doubt I can put it into words.  It's a lot of gut feeling, sometimes comparing to other things I've already rated.  On the lower end it's rather arbitrary, but higher up the smaller gradations mean a little more.

[MartinTeller]

Moving on....


Tale of the Taira Clan (Shin heike monogatari) - This just dropped off the TSPDT 1000 list, but I've resolved to complete the 2010 edition (as much as possible) anyway.  Besides, I adore Mizoguchi so I would have gotten around to it regardless.  This really isn't his thing, though.  It's a fairly entertaining story with some complex (i.e., hard to follow) politics.  Lots of clans and factions and matters of honor and respect... man, living in ancient Japan must have been a bitch.  You always have to know who to kowtow to, and it's always changing.  It flows along well with enough interesting moments, and it has good music and some dynamite shots... including crowd scenes, a rarity for Mizoguchi (and like Princess Yang Kwei Fei, is in color).  But there isn't a whole lot of passion in it.  It's similar to his take on the 47 Ronin tale, lacking in real human insight.  Not bad, just not great.  As a sidenote, I can't help but think the runaway popularity of Rashomon influenced the multiple tellings of Kiyomori's parentage.  Rating: 7

[Antares]

I'm not ecstatic about any of those additions, but I definitely don't like seeing The Ox-Bow Incident fall off.

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Or You Can't Take it with You and Chloe in the Afternoon for that matter.

[MartinTeller]

By the Bluest of Seas - If Happiness was a novelty as a Soviet comedy, then what do you make of a romantic comedy?  And with a few brief musical interludes, no less!  This unusual little flick from Boris Barnet follows the adventures of two strapping young men in love with the same girl, who also happens to be the leader of their Communist island collective.  There's nothing really great here and not much to comment on, but it's a very pleasant film with a few neat tricks, likeable actors, and propaganda that doesn't feel too blunt.  Rating: 7

[pixote]

I'm curious to know what your "Top 10 discoveries from the TSPDT list" are ... that is, films you watched specificaly because they were on the list.

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[MartinTeller]

I'm curious to know what your "Top 10 discoveries from the TSPDT list" are ... that is, films you watched specificaly because they were on the list.

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Ha, just last night I was thinking I would post such a list when I'm done.  Along with a bottom 10, of course.

It's a little tricky, of course, because it's hard to say what I might have discovered on my own, or from doing other lists.

[smirnoff]

I wouldn't worry about what you might've discovered, just what you did discover. That's a list I'd like to see as well.

[MartinTeller]

Okay, this is a little premature, but if anything changes I'll update it.  I included some films that I discovered from doing the Sight & Sound 2002 list on another forum (i.e., every film that got more than 2 votes in the 2002 poll) but excluded some that I surely would have sought out on my own (e.g., The Conformist).  I guess in general I'm looking for films that don't often appear on other "top XX" lists, and films by directors I wasn't previously into (or aware of).

Top 10 Discoveries from the TSPDT Top 1000 List:
1. Time of the Gypsies
2. Revenge of a Kabuki Actor
3. Napoleon
4. The Dead
5. The Cameraman
6. Touki Bouki
7. A Moment of Innocence
8. Limite
9. Sweet Smell of Success
10. War and Peace


This list was considerably easier...

Bottom 10 Movies I Wish TSPDT Didn't Make Me Watch:
1. Tobacco Road
2. Limelight
3. Amarcord
4. The Fountainhead
5. The Party
6. It's a Gift
7. W.R. - Mysteries of the Organism
8. Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
9. Leolo
10. Not Reconciled

[pixote]

Bottom 10 Movies I Wish TSPDT Didn't Make Me Watch:
9. Leolo

Boo!

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[smirnoff]

Sweet Smell of Success looks like one I could get into.

[MartinTeller]

Yesterday Girl - An early example of the New German Cinema, but I really don't know what to make of it.  At times it seems to be about opening and coping with old wounds, picking at the scab of the Third Reich, dredging up things that most are trying to ignore.  Or it could be about dealing with a new Germany, one torn between economic prosperity and Communism.  But then it also indulges in a lot of non-sequitur, or at least what appeared to be non-sequitur to my eyes.  Alexander Kluge, in his debut feature, is wallowing far too much in the newness of his cinema, too eager to introduce one Godardism after another, that he seems to forget what he's doing.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it has the potential to be exciting.  Instead I just felt lost and a bit bored... either I wasn't "getting it" or there wasn't enough to be gotten.  Either way, I ceased to be engaged after a while.  Rating: 5

[MartinTeller]

The Sign of Leo - Rohmer's first feature is more New Wave-y than his usual naturalistic style (although the focus on fortune and the Zodiac look forward to The Green Ray).  I kind of like him in this mode, though.  It reminded me a great deal of early Malle.  I felt a kinship for Pierre, despite finding him not very sympathetic.  The thought of working for a living never seems to cross his mind no matter how bleak his outlook, but Rohmer makes us perfectly aware of this character flaw.  So even as your brain is screaming "Get a job!" you still feel for him as his situation becomes more and more desperate.  The middle section is particularly engrossing, with some really fantastic location work and a performance from Jess Hahn that never lowers itself to the showboating it would be in lesser hands.  I could have done without the little ironic moments, which threaten to cheapen the whole thing.  But the film ends on a clever ambiguous note which suggests that Pierre has learned nothing at all... but perhaps has finished his sonata at last.  Rating: 8


Too Early, Too Late - Oh joy, another unbearably dull experiment from Jean-Marie Straub and partner-in-tedium Danièle Huillet.  Once the novelty of the juxtaposition between the narration and the image wears off (which takes about 10 minutes), I was left with the same feeling I had from Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach -- that this doesn't need to be a film.  I've read Jonathan Rosenbaum's comments about this film (he is exceedingly effusive about it) and while I certainly don't have the criticism chops to dispute any of them, I'll just say I was not as enraptured as he was.  Is it original?  Sure, and I'll give it credit for that.  But beyond the basic thrust of the concept, I don't feel like it sufficiently exploits cinema as a medium.  Distribute a pamphlet instead.  The Soviets made incredibly exciting, entertaining movies about revolution because they were trying to sell it to the people.  Straub and Huillet's navel-gazing piece apparently is only interested in preaching to the converted (and the exceptionally tolerant converted at that).  Leave it to the French to make revolution so CINECAST!ing boring.  Rating: 3

[FarfetchFilm]

just looked at list, first film I found that I hadn't see, was #355 which is Man of Aran 1934, looked at bottom 100 and hadn't seen about 20 in the bottom 100 or so.

If you ever intent to do 1001 MYSSBYD list give my a DM, I did that list, this list however seems more consistent and maybe even more to conquer, so how many did you have to go now, with about 2 months till update right (that's when I start, give it a 12 month cycle to skim off 20-50 films)

[MartinTeller]

just looked at list, first film I found that I hadn't see, was #355 which is Man of Aran 1934, looked at bottom 100 and hadn't seen about 20 in the bottom 100 or so.

If you ever intent to do 1001 MYSSBYD list give my a DM, I did that list, this list however seems more consistent and maybe even more to conquer, so how many did you have to go now, with about 2 months till update right (that's when I start, give it a 12 month cycle to skim off 20-50 films)

The list was updated last week (see page 2 of this thread).  I have 12 more to go on the 2010 list, plus an additional 11 for the 2011 list.

According to ICheckMovies, I've seen 820 of the MYMSBYD list.  I will not be tackling that list any time in the foreseeable future, although there are several movies on that list I want to see.  My next goal is finishing off the 250 Quinessential Noirs list.

[MartinTeller]

Gunga Din - I can set aside most of the offensive things about this film, because it's a product of its time, and heaven forbid I get branded as "P.C." because caring about things is stupid or something.  The one "P.C." thing I will mention that really stuck in my craw is that this is one of those movies that presents violent conflict as a rip-roarin' good time.  I guess I can't complain too much about it, since the tone isn't too far removed from the Indiana Jones movies (which were undoubtedly influenced by this).  So let's get to the real problem: this just isn't very entertaining.  Even with Cary Grant in the cast, the comedy is rather unfunny (I think I chuckled once).  The action scenes are put together quite well, though... some clever moments and nicely photographed.  But there's not enough action to make up for all lame humor, especially in the dull middle section.  It all adds up to a whole lot of meh.  Rating: 5

[flieger]

8yo flieger weeps. flieger is no longer 8, though.

[MartinTeller]

One person voted it as his/her favorite George Stevens film, and sdedalus named it his #2.  So I expect to get some flak over this review.