Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I know this isn't a movie, but we Netflixed it, and it's not interesting enough for it's own thread, but:

We finished the TV series the Prisoner, and man, that show should have quit while it was ahead. The last two episodes were so painful....so absolutely pointless and horrible and full of themselves it was sickening. I can't believe the show got THAT bad.

Eventually I'll be able to watch the early episodes again but it'll be a while.

Aw the last episode has got to rank as one of the classic ways to end a series - total devolution into chaos, and the Beatles

[Alex]

Went and saw Miami Vice tonight.

It was about as good as such a movie can be but if nothing else it reaffirms the visual genius that is Michael Mann. I'm just blown away by the nighttime look he is getting shooting digital (it was even better than for Collateral and that was awesome).

[innerSpaceman]

Well, I Netflixed The Libertine and I want those two hours of my life back.

Now I know why it was in theaters for all of ten minutes. Johnny Depp, John Malcovich, Samantha Morton .... what were such talented people thinking??????


* * * * *


Oooooh, a film we were talking about briefly - omg, so 12 pages ago in this thread - - is coming out on DVD after all. The Girl Can't Help It, the Jayne Mansfield, early rock'n'roll classic!! I'm so happy.

Of course, it's part of a set, so I have to buy Rock Hunter and some other movie I've never even heard of just to get Girl Can't Help It, but it will be worth it.

And heck, I had to buy all the Airport movies just to get the first one.


* * * * *

Speaking of disaster movies involving airplanes .... I saw World Trade Center tonight. I'll have more to muse about it later ... but my initial reaction is 'meh.'

There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it certainly didn't hit me emotionally. I was very moved and upset and emotional in reaction to United 93 earlier this year, but the Oliver Stone movie left me pretty dry. It's not simply that a subject matter calling out for OliverStonisms ironically had none .... it's that, even on its own terms of a very focused story of 2 of the merely 20 WTC survivors, it just wasn't very involving or emotional or upsetting.

Feh.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

Aw the last episode has got to rank as one of the classic ways to end a series - total devolution into chaos, and the Beatles

Meh, it was pseudo-intellectual wannabe-psychadelic drivel. The series took a sudden turn from unique, interesting weirdness to hack pretentiousness, starting with the western episode.

[BarTopDancer]

I watched TransAmerica tonight.

Maybe it was the victem of being the first movie I watched after Brokeback Mtn (which I will be buying becuase it was that amazing*, but while good, I was not captivated. Felicity Huffman deserves every single award she received, the acting of everyone was supurb, but I don't know. I may put it back on my Netflix list and watch it after something not so amazing.

I own about 15 dvds, so to buy one means it was pretty frelling amazing

[mousepod]

Gotta chime in in defense of The Prisoner finale here. The show was shot in 1967, and what might be written off as pretentious today, was daring and unique back then. Personally, I found the ending extremely satisfying. I refer you to a 1977 interview with McGoohan where he talks about the show, the ending, and even the motivation for the Western episode.

[Stan4dSteph]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Went and saw Miami Vice tonight.

It was about as good as such a movie can be but if nothing else it reaffirms the visual genius that is Michael Mann. I'm just blown away by the nighttime look he is getting shooting digital (it was even better than for Collateral and that was awesome).

I was thinking I should go see this in the theater just because of the visuals. That's what the original series was all about.

So would you recommend seeing it in the theater?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by mousepod

I refer you to a 1977 interview with McGoohan where he talks about the show, the ending, and even the motivation for the Western episode.

From the interview:

"But I thought I wasn't going to pander to a mentality so low that it couldn't perceive what I was trying to say..."

But that's exactly what he DID do. I mean, he talks about the point of the series being about the Village trying to break down the individual. And I GOT that from the 14 "normal" episodes. And I got it without the blatant, "Hey look, we're breaking down the individual" contrivances of the last handful of episodes. My English teacher in Jr. High used to call it "Show; Don't Tell". The show was artfully and masterfully able to convey that message of No. 6 fighting for his individuality without being literal about it. In the end, it just became too literal.

As for it being better having been viewed in 1967, might I remind you that there were protests and letter writing campaigns. And I don't think it's just because people "didn't get it", as McGoohan claims. I think people saw exactly what I saw.

[mousepod]

Perhaps, GD. I guess this is just one where we'll have to agree to disagree. Having seen the entire series several times since my first exposure to it in high school, I can't imagine it ending any other way. I enjoy the absurdity of the finale, the same way I enjoy the ending of The Magic Christian. I hope that you and CP will be able to revisit the other 14 episodes at some point in the future and enjoy the show without the taint the finale puts on it for you.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Stan4dSteph

I was thinking I should go see this in the theater just because of the visuals. That's what the original series was all about.

So would you recommend seeing it in the theater?

It is hard to say for sure. His use of digital gives the night time scenes a visual grittiness that is also visceral. I don't know how this translates to TV since I haven't ever watched my Collateral DVD.

The movie itself is fond of very abrupt transitions. One thing Mann does several times is cut immediately from dark nighttime scene to bright daytime scenes. It creates a physical reaction that I think he wanted. Similarly in terms of the action he goes from extremely moody and contemplative to extremely violent and intense. The former makes up the bulk of the film and maybe doesn't have the right balance.

It is nothing like the TV show (or, at least, nothing like I remember of the TV show which I haven't watched since it was originally on TV and then not often). Other than being in Miami and having characters named Crockett, Tubbs, and Castillo, it is more like Bad Boys (though much more thoughtfully made).

I guess I'd lean towards seeing in the theater but you might want to consider a matinee to save a few bucks. And make sure you pick the best theater possible, insufficient lighting at the projector would ruin the visual impact.