Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

I watched The Women for the umpteenth time last night, still wonderful, still funny and still makes me laugh and smile. Mary Boland and Roz Russell do steal the picture. That is all.

I think one of the reasons I love this film and films like His Girl Friday, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Stage Door is that the machine gun pace of the dialogue of these films match the way my brain moves: fast and bitchy.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Yeah, who would want to immortalize one of the most tragic events in history for? No need to remember all that.

Oh, were that boy and his sister some sort of legend? Sorry, I never heard about them other than in this film.


If you're talking about the greater situation that provoked their tragic circumstances, I don't see why there couldn't have been 1000 or that there haven't been 1000 other films with that as a background to a far better drama.

I found nothing theatrical, storytellingness, cinematic about the STORY. It was just a series of depressing events. This is just my opinion, but the story was weak. A series of events is not necessarily a story worth telling.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

I watched The Women for the umpteenth time last night, still wonderful, still funny and still makes me laugh and smile. Mary Boland and Roz Russell do steal the picture. That is all.

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

I think one of the reasons I love this film and films like His Girl Friday, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Stage Door is that the machine gun pace of the dialogue of these films match the way my brain moves: fast and bitchy.

Has anyone else seen the trailer for the new version of The Women? It really looks bad...

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Has anyone else seen the trailer for the new version of The Women? It really looks bad...

Yes, I posted it here some time back. It made me afraid, very afraid (and made me throw up a little, too)

[Pirate Bill]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

3PO and R2 are HEAVILY ripped off from influenced by Hidden Fortress, as I recall from my viewing.

The one bonus feature the disc had was Lucas talking about Hidden Fortress. He pretty much completely admits to using the 2 peasants as "inspiration" for 3PO and R2, but any other similarities are "only coincidence." I call BS. Having now read the synopsis and story of the early drafts of Star Wars, it seems to me that ol' George was having trouble coming up with a story and copied Hidden Fortress. But through a number of rewrites the story changed.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I found nothing theatrical, storytellingness, cinematic about the STORY. It was just a series of depressing events. This is just my opinion, but the story was weak. A series of events is not necessarily a story worth telling.

It was based on a semi-autobiographical novel, the author of which did lose a sister to malnutrition during the war and blamed himself.

What I found striking about the movie was how authentic its emotions were, how starkly it portrayed the pride-centric Japanese mentality, how well it depicted the collateral horrors of the war.

It was one of the most tangible and believable cinematic portrayals of grief and loss I've ever seen.

[innerSpaceman]

something about the little girl bugged me so much, i was almost glad she died.


Anyway, different takes on it. I was urged and urged to see it, so obviously many people feel it's good, and powerful and well done. I'm happy to concede that my minority opinion is likely way off base.

[flippyshark]

Not that it might have made any difference, iSm, but did you watch Grave of the Fireflies in a dubbed version, or in its original language? (Just wondering if the little girl's voice was an annoyance factor, or if she bothered you for other reasons.)

As for me, I haven't cried any harder for any other movie, ever. I don't plan to revisit this one anytime at all, but I was sure blown away by its raw emotional power, and startled by the simple beauty of the art and animation. But, a second viewing would either put me through the wringer again, or might not be as effective, in which case, that would kind of suck as well.

[innerSpaceman]

i can't recall if her voice was part of the problem, and frankly i can't recall if i watched it dubbed or not .... but chances are I did.

[lashbear]

Stoat & I are going to see Get Smart tonight... we'll keep you posted