Yes, a forerunner, but I doubt that TWB would have been any different without Sanjuro.
Kurosawa had also 2 or 3 slo mo shots of falling bodies in 7 Samurai.
In retrospective it is incredible that film needed nearly 70 years to use slo mo on a regular basis for action scenes.
[url]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/judou711x1024kopie.jpg/[/url] [size=12pt]JU DOU[/size] (1990)
Co-directed by Zhang Yimou (and usually considered to be a genuine Zhang Yimou movie), starring Gong Li as a young woman who is bought by an old, impotent dyer, who still hopes she can give him a son. Out of frustration he starts tormenting and humiliating her, but she makes the old manâs adopted son her lover and protector. An heir is born, but itâs the adopted son whoâs the father and when the old man becomes partially paralized, they decide to turn him into a cuckold husband, forced to endure all possible humiliation. But the old man fights back âŚ
A wonderfully shot, often oppressive melodrama, with great performances by all actors. However, the oppressiveness (and the unpleasant characters) may work on some peopleâs nerves.
There was a nice introduction of Alex Cox about this scene on BFIâs disc. Yes, it looks impressive (probably the best thing about the flick aside from Mifune), but overall⌠a bitter disappointment after excellent Yojimbo.
overall... a bitter disappointment after excellent Yojimbo.
Same idea here.
I think Yojimbo is great, but otherwise Iâm not the greatest Kurosawa fan. I think Seven Samurai is an enjoyable movie, but by no means the immortal masterpiece some have made of it. His later so-called masterpieces like Kagemusha or Ran are beautifully looking, elegantly staged, sumptous movies, but not the kind of movies I go back to on a regular base.
I donât like Kurosawa that much too.
He was a good director and capapble to make great stuff, but there are too many parts in his films which I aesthetically donât understand. And I often donât like the acting in his films. But thatâs a general problem with films from the far east.
First time that I hear about a co-director of Ju-dou. Is the other one credited?
Yang Fengliang
I didnât know it either, but discovered it this morning, when I read a few articles on the movie. Feels 100 % like a Zhang Yimou movie.
My favorite Kurosawaâs movies are Seven Samurai, Ran and Drunken Angel which are masterpieces for me. Other Iâve seen are The Throne Of Blood (great, but not a masterpiece) and Stray Dog (very good).
I donât have the urge to include Kurosawa in the list of my most favorite directors yet.
[quote=âscherpschutter, post:9046, topic:1923â]Yang Fengliang
I didnât know it either, but discovered it this morning, when I read a few articles on the movie. Feels 100 % like a Zhang Yimou movie.[/quote]
Well, it most likely is.
Question is whi did what? And why?
I like Yojimbo and it deserves itâs place in cinema history simply for the line âItâll hurtâ, which is just pure genius. Seven Samurai, however, I love and felt that it was a genuine âepicâ in the fullest sense of the word, with final battle scene one of the best action scenes Iâve ever seen. Kagemusha is a good film, my first Akira Kurosawa film and the first film I ever bought on DVD (I still have it), but not a movie I exactly return to. Overall though, I rate him as a fine director, just not one of my own personal favourites.
Stanton Quote:
And I often don't like the acting in his films. But that's a general problem with films from the far east.That's interesting and to a certain extent I too find it hard to properly judge acting in Eastern films because their society is so different from ours that what we interpret as good acting isn't necessarily theirs and vice versa. For instance, I was confused when watching Ozu's [b]The Only Son[/b] (1936) why characters were [i]grinning[/i] all the time until I read that in the Far East, people smile when delivering bad news to try assuage the recipient.
Stanton Quote:
Too much theatre acting, too much playwright dramatics. Brando is good though.Theatre acting? I thought it was one of the breakthrough films after [b]A Streetcar Named Desire[/b] to really use method acting in an interesting way.
THE RAVEN (2012)D.James McTeigue, with John Cusack.
Watched this as a curio and it didnât disappoint. Itâs nothing special really, but itâs good for a watch. J.Cusack is alright as E.A.Poe, who teams up with a detective to find a serial killer. The pacing is good, thereâs some violence and gore and the visuals are nice. It was entertaining IMO. 7/10
[b]THE VERDICT/b Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre.
I love old classics and this is one of them. Great murder mystery in a ghothic atmosphere, with great performances by all. Of all the films that iâve seen with Greenstreet and Lorre, this is the best one by far, great stuff. 9/10.
I lIke Kurosawa one of the best directors for me, favourite movie from him, maybe Dersu Uzala
Hmm, I guess I have to buy Dersu Uzala as soon as possible.
Iâve just watched Martin Scorseseâs first movie Whoâs That Knocking at My Door (1967) with Harvey Keitel (it was his first too).
Movie started as Scorseseâs final film school project but over time evolved in full feature, with added storyline, scenes, etc., so in the end filming stretched over 4-5 years.
For the most part movie had almost no budget, it was shot at grandmaâs house, etc.
Looking at the final product that patchwork method is not noticeable at all unless you pay close detail.
Movie is bittersweet young personâs story of love, âmystery danceâ and catholic guilt.
The part when the magic kicked in for me, so you notice youâre watching special talent, is scene at ferry station: Harvey sits next to a girl and starts talking to her (about John Wayne and The Searchers, later on he will talk about Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance!). Dialogue between them is fantastic as are camera angles. Dialogue continues while we spill in another scene where we see Harvey in a bar. Dialogue continues until one of the guys in the bar yells âIs somebody listening to me?â - so you realize Harvey was daydreaming about the girl and their conversation. Great stuff!
Thatâs exactly the problem. There is a big cultural gap which makes those Asian films more tricky to understand for me.
Theatre acting? I thought it was one of the breakthrough films after [b]A Streetcar Named Desire[/b] to really use method acting in an interesting way.
But method acting came from the theatre.
Brandoâs acting still feels fresh, but the others acted too heavy handed. At least this is how I remember it.
But there was a lot more wrong for me with On the Waterfront. Kazanâs next films Baby Doll and A Face in the Crowd are much better.
Method acting often feels a little overdone to me. If it works, it can be great, but if it doesnât, it looks awful.
Thatâs probably the biggest problem for method actors: after a while theyâre offered lesser roles, roles that donât fit their style of acting too well, but they find it hatrd to change.
Brando is by the way a good example, he was great in a few roles, but became increasingly ridiculous afterwards.
Watched Fincherâs version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO the other night. Didnât really feel like it brought anything new to the table. Not really sure why they bothered to make this version. Suppose it would be fine for people who didnât bother with the Swedish version.
I thought Fincherâs one was better.
These were my thoughts on the two versions (and the novel):
[size=12pt]The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo[/size] (2011, David Fincher)
I had read the book and seen the Swedish made for TV adaptation (and wasnât very fond of either of the two), so normally I wouldnât have bothered, but I got an invitation for a special screening in Antwerp.
This is what I wrote about the Swedish movie:
[i]Quote from: scherpschutter on January 06, 2011, 10:53:17 PM
![http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/judou711x1024kopie.jpg/[/url]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/judou711x1024kopie.jpg/%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
Män som hater Kvinnor (Millennium 1)
The first part of the Millennium trilogy, based on Stieg Larsson's immensely popular novels
The first novel is actually the only one I read, which made it a bit difficult to judge the movie, after all it's a thriller
I wasn't too fond of the novel, although I admit it's a cleverly plotted thriller with the triple-s ingredients: sex, sentimentality and social comment. Clever because we all love sex, the average reader loves sentimentality, and critics love social comment. Apart from all this Larsson knows how to tell a story - a quality many other contemporary writers lack - but he's not my kind of writer, it's all too easy, too smooth, too superficial.
The film is a little like the book, a good time filler, but not much more than that
If it were a spaghetti, I'd say it was a solid 3 star effort, so:
3 out of 5[/i]
Did Fincher really add a new dimension to the material?
No, not really. Itâs a better movie, but the story material keeps getting in the way and I also thought Fincher didnât really put much of himself into the movie, except for some of his well-known potential visuals. In the first movie the actors at least spoke Swedish, here some of them have been given a funny accent, suggesting they speak Swedish. I thought we were past that.
I was too totally annoyed with fake Swedish accent. Iâve watched all 3 Swedish movies (havenât read the books) and to me only first one was interesting. Other two lack who-done-it mystery of the first one and only deal with Lisbeth story so you just wait for the good guys to finally kick bad guysâ asses. Maybe the books are better but 2nd and 3rd movie were disappointment after the first.
[quote=âscherpschutter, post:9055, topic:1923â]Method acting often feels a little overdone to me. If it works, it can be great, but if it doesnât, it looks awful.
Thatâs probably the biggest problem for method actors: after a while theyâre offered lesser roles, roles that donât fit their style of acting too well, but they find it hatrd to change.
Brando is by the way a good example, he was great in a few roles, but became increasingly ridiculous afterwards.[/quote]
But I think that is true of any School of Acting - it only works in certain situations. The best examples, characters played by Brando or De Niro say, are when the approach fits the movie.