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Critics' picks serieses (your choices); topic titles not long enough, kemosabe
Topic Started: Mar 4 2005, 07:58 PM (1,575 Views)
TBickle
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Mustache Dreams
I didn't care much for Borgman, but I agree Jan Bijvoet was brilliant. I was intrigued for the first half, but ultimately its class commentary became a bit too muddied and obtuse that I'm not sure it had much of substance to say. I could see a second viewing turning me around - I know several other people who have seen and loved it.
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Kevin Harvey
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Another deserter....
1. Direction: sleight-of-hand
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)

2. I might not care for sports, but I kinda liked this film…
Ali (Michael Mann, 2001)

3. A significant injustice
Snowden (Oliver Stone, 2016)

4. A preponderance of semiotics
I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007)

5. This is why I love road movies
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones, 2005)

6. How editing can really tell the story
Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1966)

7. Performances: against type
Most of the cast of Cloud Atlas (Tom Tykwer & the Wachowskis, 2012) at some point.

8. Musicals for people that don’t like musicals
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (Trey Parker, 1999)

9. Best use of a wordsmith
The Coens' work on Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg, 2015) maybe?
Hard not to just say Citizen Kane or something....

10. Films that require multiple viewing(s)
The End of Evangelion (Hideaki Anno & Kazuya Tsurumaki, 1997)
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vornporn
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A Ryan Seacrest type.
Dr. Raskolnikov,Sep 23 2016
10:32 AM
1. Direction: sleight-of-hand
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)


Good choice, almost picked this.
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YancySkancy
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Dr. Raskolnikov,Sep 23 2016
12:32 PM
8. Musicals for people that don’t like musicals
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (Trey Parker, 1999)

Can't believe I didn't think of that one!
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Kevin Harvey
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Another deserter....
Hummed and hawed over the sleight-of-hand category for awhile, but once I finally got my cross-hairs on Lynch (duh), this seemed the most pointed option.

And Yancy, I almost didn't go with it, for fear it was too obvious! :) (My fall-back, though, was Peyton Reed's Down with Love, which basically isn't a musical, until the closing credits, so I figured I'd better suck it up and go with the big, bad, bold, brash, coarse-language song-extravaganza.)
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Continental Op
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5. This is why I love road movies
Meek's Cutoff (just came to mind)
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Karim Amir
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Continental Op,Sep 23 2016
02:39 PM
5. This is why I love road movies
Meek's Cutoff (just came to mind)

I could have chosen from a long list of road movies, as it is one of my favorite genres. Went with the one for which I'm the only PRO, and the only vote: Jump Tomorrow

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Russ
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Bark! Go away
Continental Op,Sep 23 2016
10:39 PM
5. This is why I love road movies
Meek's Cutoff (just came to mind)

I haven't seen that one! Road movies is a really good category, so much excellence to choose from. I could have gone ultra-obscure and said Goodbye Pork Pie, a terrific entry from New Zealand that's worth tracking down.

But, I ultimately listed my very favorite: Rubin and Ed. It has a slightly notorious reputation as the film from which Crispin Glover made his infamous David Letterman appearance totally in-character. He's great in the film, but is actually bested by an excellent Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP). This film gets a very high recommendation from me (and you can order a copy directly from Trent Harris's website). It's worth it!

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EDIT: Go to the IMDb entry and read the quotes. If that doesn't convince you, nothing will. :)
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Russ
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Bark! Go away
vornporn,Sep 23 2016
06:16 PM
Dr. Raskolnikov,Sep 23 2016
10:32 AM
1. Direction: sleight-of-hand
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)


Good choice, almost picked this.

Curious about the sleight-of-hand aspect -- is it because of the subliminally darker tone beneath the otherwise "normal" narrative?
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Russ
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Bark! Go away
:P

[dohtml]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ltjw-LiwOiQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/dohtml]
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Dirt
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After all.....
Karim Amir,Sep 22 2016
06:54 PM
1. Direction: sleight-of-hand - Road to Perdition

I considered this title for "love road movies" and "against type" categories. I also considered all the Hope/Crosby "Road to" movies because I'm a fan, but they really aren't road movies in the strictest sense. I'm surprised (but not) that nobody chose The Road...perhaps too obvious? Or even Harry and Tonto. But yeah, there are a ton of road movies to love. Dr. R's The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was a great choice that I had not thought of.

My first choice for "semiotics" was Natural Born Killers. Another possibility was Eraserhead. It's such a inexact category though. Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure could easily have been on my list. For what it's worth, a study on the perception of the personalities of rocks won an "IG Noble" prize last night. Here's a link. The prize was in the Economics category about branding but the tone and results, I think, fit this category as well.

Mary Poppins almost won my "sleight-of-hand" pick. Not so much for the great Poppin's magic effects, but for creating an entire city (and movie) on a sound stage... and the beautiful use of matte paintings.
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Russ
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Bark! Go away
Dirt,Sep 24 2016
01:03 AM
It's such a inexact category though.

To me, this is the really fun part about making these these lists -- agonizing over how to interpret some of the cryptic "categories", I think everyone submitted a standout effort.

I encourage others to revive this thread from time to time with their own unique categories. After all, we love lists, right?
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Karim Amir
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Dirt, I almost picked RtP for those two categories, too! I guess the sleight-of-hand choice had to do with my years of teaching the movie in my literature class and listening to Mendes' commentary. I've always found it to be a magical movie, hence, "sleight-of-hand."

For what it's worth, it's the only Mendes movie I've liked.
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Kevin Harvey
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Another deserter....
Russ
 
Curious about the sleight-of-hand aspect -- is it because of the subliminally darker tone beneath the otherwise "normal" narrative?

For sure, and the darker tone signals something very real at the core of the movie, which, like every proper Lynch film, is actually about the lies we tell ourselves in order to live. The fact that it plays like a Hallmark card only makes it that much more sinister.

Here's Tim Kreider's classic close reading, which pretty much lays it all out.
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Dirt
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After all.....
For the "against type" I also considered Jerry Orbach as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast (1991)...but animation may be too easy a target for the category. But still ....

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