No.331158[View All]
Just saw Scaramouche (1952). An 18th century revenge tale about a man who plays a clown in a theater troupe by day as he plots to kill a heartless aristocrat by night to avenge the death of his best friend and foster brother.
The film feels very ahead of its time both visually and in terms of writing. This is probably because it blends elements of several different genres, which seems to have confused the critics of its day. It's essentially a swashbuckler but with a lot of time dedicated to political drama and comedy. It's also very risque for its time. As incongruent as this sounds, it actually balances these aspects rather well. The biggest weakness in the story is the ending, which feels somewhat underwhelming after everything building up to it and the final plot twist is more than a little hard to swallow. That being said, I don't think it detracts from the film too much.
The characters, even the side ones, are fairly strong and memorable and the acting is quite good as well. A few of the actors even act more like French actors than American ones. The villain is especially great. The only one of the main cast who feels like a typical Hollywood actor from the 50's is Janet Leigh but she's still adequate in her role.
The visuals, like I said, are ahead of their time. Only by a about a decade or so though; it certainly doesn't look modern. The most famous thing about this movie is the 5-minute long swordfight at the end. Despite its length, that fight scene is able to maintain a high level of excitement and tension throughout which is quite a feat since you know the hero is going to win in the end. There are many other swordfights in the movie too and they're all used pretty intelligently to serve the plot. What's nice about the fight scenes is that there's very little music in them and the silence helps tremendously.
Overall, I give Scaramouche an 8/10.
142 posts and 73 image replies omitted. Click reply to view. No.345057
>>345028That's some transformation, considering those films were only what, 5 years apart?
No.345067
>>345059What if the Griswald's were actually just lost in the desert for six months before they finally made it to Wally World?
No.345080
>Mildred Pierce
I've heard that noir films were simply called melodramas in the days when they were actually being made. Mildred Pierce fits that description better than any other noir I've seen. The murder that the film begins and ends with is typical noir, but everything else is pure melodrama. I don't mean that as an insult, I mean the story something straight out of the literal melodramas from the 19th and early 20th century. Complete with the stock character types: the spoiled, materialistic daughter, the lecherous millionaire playboy, etc. That's not to say it's bad, though. As far as melodramatic movies go, it's probably one of the best. The story never goes too over the top and the acting elevates the parts that would otherwise come off as cheesy.
>The Sea Wolf
Pretty good sea adventure with lots of great black and white cinematography. I liked the story and the characters. Edward G. Robinson plays a sea captain who almost seems like a wannabe Captain Ahab at first, but turns out to be more like the average image board user. The film is obviously a novel adaption that had to condense much of the plot. It feels like it just goes from climax to climax without any room to breath. And some of the events feel like too much of a coincidence. I haven't read the novel, but I assume the screenwriter had to take multiple different events and roll them all into one for the sake of time. Still, it's worth watching if the idea of a psychological drama set in the middle of the pacific ocean sounds interesting to you.
No.345291
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>Pretty in Pink
It's kind of odd how similar Some Kind of Wonderful was to this in terms of plot considering that John Hughes was involved with both and that Some Kind of Wonderful followed only a year after. I consider Some Kind of Wonderful to be the better movie though. Duckie just comes across as an annoying twerp orbiter, which makes him harder to sympathize with. I also felt like the movie was pulling my leg in the scene where Andrew McCarthy's character is introduced like he's some dreamboat. I guess Some Kind of Wonderful is also easier for me to project onto. Putting myself in the shoes of a male lead with this kind of story feels more natural, and that one felt like less of a chick flick because of it.
Pretty in Pink isn't bad, but it's kind of standard.
>Risky Business
I wasn't really sure what to make of it while I was watching it, but I feel more positive about it now. The way Risky Business explores the theme of a straight-laced young man getting corrupted by the love of money distinguishes it from other movies of its type. The plot's not exactly believable, and I found myself thinking what an idiot Joel Goodsen is, but Risky Business is more than a vehicle for wish fulfillment for horny teenage boys.
I'm not really a Tangerine Dream fan, but their music also adds a lot to the experience. I liked how "In the Air Tonight" is used too, which brought to mind the way it was utilized in Miami Vice.
What undermines Risky Business for me is the lack of consequences for any of the shenanigans that occur. The tacked-on theatrical ending also doesn't help in that department, although it does have the better closing line.
Overall I thought it was pretty good.
>Breakfast at Tiffany's
This is the kind of movie I watch just because I feel like I should be familiar with it. It wasn't really my cup of tea. I thought the ending was touching and all, but I guess I feel like a lot of the draw of the movie is Audrey Hepburn being rich, cutesy, and an early '60s fashion icon. Personally speaking, that's not the kind of thing that pulls me in. I also couldn't put myself in Paul Varjak's shoes. Holly Golightly seems like the kind of flaky woman that would just end up breaking your heart down the line, but he's completely smitten with her. I guess I just don't like seeing that kind of relationship start.
It just ended up being another title crossed off a list for me.
No.345325
>>345059What's that anime-like movie John Candy is in?
No.345326
Pretty sure it falls under the isekai category
No.345792
Just finished The Color of Pomegranates. I know very little of Armenian history and even less of Armenian culture, so a lot of this movie went right over my head. I don't understand what the carpets, the chickens, the dances, the gestures, or even the pomegranates are supposed to symbolize. Pomegranate juice, I assume, represents blood. Does that mean the pomegranates themselves are supposed to represent the heart? Or life in general? I assume not every single thing was meant to have a deeper meaning and that some things were just meant to create a certain atmosphere or provoke a particular emotional response, but the movie is still heavily symbolic, and I have no idea what most of the symbols mean because I'm not Armenian. That's a pretty big obstacle for being able to appreciate film.
From what I could piece together, it's about the life of an Armenian poet who grows up in a 18th century (I think; the note at the beginning of the film said it's 18th century, but it also used the term Medieval) Armenia, falls in love with some noblewoman, is forced to become a monk when their affair is found out, then spends the rest of his life living in misery and woe because of all the evil and destruction in the world, and then dies. The film doesn't tell you even that much explicitly, I'm just guessing.
Overall, I think I would have liked it a lot if I understood it.
No.345793
>>345792I watched the movie on Skanderbeg and since I knew a bit more about Albanian history I appreciated it more.
No.346319
>>346306>Part of that is because the Zorro story is already similar to the Robin Hood storyThe actual historical figure was much more related to Batman than Robin Hood. Pretty cool overall
No.347274
>>347271How does it compare to ex-machina
No.347278
>>347274Way better. In AI Rising the robot functions correctly until the human tries to get creative, even then the robot doesn't have any tendencies to want to destroy/control humans.
No.347293
>>347290So you gave up on a French film?
No.347294
>>347290>She's like every fanfiction.net original characterthis is now the reference we will use instead of manic pixie dream girl.
No.347334
This showed up in my jewtube feed today. Almost 3 hours long. It's in the perspective of Sammy "The Bull" to complete the direct to video trilogy of the story between Big Paulie, Gotti, and Sammy. I highly recommend Boss of Boss of Bosses 2001, Gotti 1996, and Witness to The Mob 1998.
No.347449
>>347294The character isn't really a manic pixie dream girl. She's like a 12 year old girl's idea of a cool biker chick. The film starts with her riding around on her motorcycle, looking at various statues of lions and pumping her fist. She carries a pocket knife that she always opens by pulling the blade out with her teeth. She goes around stealing things and cutting the eyes out of posters for no reason. There's a scene where she wakes up in the morning and does these autistic martial arts poses while yelling.
I can't find any videos of it on YouTube or else I'd post it.
No.347460
>>347449Romanticization of the crusty girls; sounds familiar.
No.349481
>>349479>they just aren't one-dimensional cartoons like you expect in these moviesIt's top 5 Bond but the villains were much more cartoony than before, what are you talking about
>joke characters you're supposed to laugh atYeah this is correct, both good actors but given trashy scripts, if they had combined the roles it would've been great, a soviet double agent doing smuggling stuff like Trevelyan did. After all not farfetched, some ruskies did stuff like that and even Zukovsky's character later in the series is an inspiration from that.
Bond was more human due to Dalton doing a good job and getting a decent script that tried to pack too much for its own good to be fair.
>A lot of segments went on longer than they probably should haveThis i disagree with, there were too many and some short to be decent, it's two movies mixed into one. Awesome music, has one of the best action sequences in the series too.
No.349503
>>349498The chick flick of war movies.
No.349505
>>349503I'm not that into love stories, but I liked it in spite of it basically being a romance. It focuses more on the way war affects people and communities than strictly portraying specific events from the Civil War.
No.349508
>>349481>what are you talking aboutI meant more so Bond, the girl, and some of the other "good" characters.
No.349583
>>349508Oh, yeah i agree with that, the snow Aston Martin i think is a good example of your idea, very goofy alla Moore when previously there was this tension about smuggling the girl out.
Also shit-tier decision not to stay with Gogol as the entire context of Bond's relationship with the KGB director is with him, not Rhys-Davis.
TLD has many spot-on decisions and many bad ones, it packs too many things.
>>349557Another movie that was all over the place due to trying to do many things but had a memorable ending, also great OST
No.349682
>>349583My guess is they knew people would complain about Dalton's seriousness, so they added the goofy stuff to compensate.
>Also shit-tier decision not to stay with Gogol as the entire context of Bond's relationship with the KGB director is with him, not Rhys-Davis.According to Wikipedia, it was supposed to be Gogol originally, but the actor who played him was ill. They could have just recast him though since they were already recasting Bond and Moneypenny.
No.349685
>>349682>My guess is they knew people would complain about Dalton's seriousnessNigger cattle audience always ruining things, ironically the next movie is hard as nails compared to TLD due to being compared to american action films.
>it was supposed to be Gogol originally, but the actor who played him was illHe appeared in the movie anyways as a cameo, supposedly they didn't agree on the fee which is silly as he was a pretty active actor, my guess is that they wanted a new younger face, same with Leiter who was recast again in the next movie.
Broccoli was all over the place with the castings and retarded whim decisions, that was well-known even back then particularly in the 80's
No.349900
>>349898Loved her then
Love her now
Simple as!
No.349929
>>349898Ending was one of the very best in the series, surprised you didn't think so
>the ninjasQuite grounded compared to Moore era shenanigans
>head popping in the submarine podNot only realistic it still is more subdued than Live and Let Die's balloon death
I though you would like it as much as TLD or similarly
No.350055
>>349929I guess I just prefer the globetrotting Bond films.
No.350058
>>350055what was the bond movie where it was revealed the girl was a tranny years later
No.350115
>>350055That's understandable, i like it too but Bond movies where you can somewhat think it could happen are my meal, even when the overcomplicated set pieces are my most enjoyed bits (TWINE's london boat chase, OHMSS's embassy papers retrieval, TLD's defection & KGB extraction)
>>350058IIRC it was a bikini party girl in For Your Eyes Only, in a party where Bond meets/sees the henchman.
In that movie the producer did a lot of questionable decisions, not only in allowing the tranny but also making Bond refuse and deny a fit blonde teen from having fun time with him TWICE on the script, also switching Gian Maria Volonte for Topol because the producer's wife had a great evening with the latter despite the role being written with the former in mind, also because both culprits were hardcore jews.
Doesn't help the main Bond girl was pretty cute but had a mustache shadow, and despite all of this the movie was quite decent if a bit grounded for Bond, shame it could've been considerable better. Also introduced Max the Parrot and behind the scenes the producers got to meet Pierce Brosnan who was then placed as a major candidate for successor; he appeared on the radar because he visited his first wife who played a woman who gets banged and indirectly killed by Bond.
No.350466
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lol classic
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