NP - This Xmas Season's Movies

Wed Jan 4 04:05:04 CST 2017

I still think highly in memory of Who's That Knocking at my Door? Fresh, real, I love the non-polish and have remembered it as a cousin to Mean Streets not an earlier born twin. 
Yes to that scene and I think, as I do, Martin takes himself a little too literally with that Italian-American remark: yes, I'm sure he's right, although I'm not Italian-Amercan, but the movie contains, historically, other Ethnic-Americans of this period easily. They were all around me and in me in Pittsburgh then. 
I want to see it again. now. ( I would leave out a couple later Scorceses if I wasn't able to be a completist) 

Sent from my iPad

> On Jan 3, 2017, at 9:11 PM, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> It's a film that's divided opinion, which has to be better than being inoffensive but unmemorable.
> 
> The BFI are running a Scorsese season at the moment in London, so I took the opportunity to catch Scorsese's debut Who's That Knocking At My Door? It's very much for completionists only, but if you like Scorsese then there's plenty to chew on. It's effectively the same film as Mean Streets with less polish and without Robert De Niro's star power. Scorsese's abiding themes are immediately in place - the Italian-American family, petty hoodlums in New York, Catholic guilt, self-destructive masculine violence, cinephilia's transcendent capabilities - and Thelma Schoonmaker's already a substantial editor, combining rapid fire close up cuts with well judged slow motion sequences. There's one revelatory scene, which I'm not going to spoil for those of you who are interested in watching this, save to say it was 'borrowed' for a more famous film in later years. It's an accomplished work of someone who's found his voice if not yet his best stories or characters - Scorsese himself says tche film was a lot of trouble to make but he's primarily proud of it because it was one of the first films to realistically portray Italian-Americans. Anybody on the P-List who fits that description?
> 
> A couple of other new UK releases: A Monster's Call is a touchingly underplayed self-adaptation of Patrick Ness's story of a young boy struggling with inner demons as his mother faces a terminal cancer diagnosis. It suffers slightly from the use of rather rickety CGI animation for the child's psychological monster, but I found it quite moving - I'm aware that films about terminal illness can play to the galleries a little, but in my opinion this captured the scenario more realistically than other maudlin efforts; Toby Kebell has a strong cameo as the absent father attempting to explain with a dark edged humour how life is about to get a lot tougher - reminded me of how the renowned 'English sense of humour' is often a reversion to the comforting terrain of flippant dismissal to avoid deeper examination. The book is reportedly far superior to the film, in which case the film makes a fairly good case for the book. There's probably a parallel world or two where A Monster's Call is a huge sleeper hit.
> 
> There's also likely an entire parallel multiverse of Godforsaken planets where Assassin's Creed is a box ofe in the worst possible world, so Assassin's Creed has failed miserably. It's a dismal couple of hours of poorly plotted, vainly posturing mock historical-time travel fantasy combining a botched projected metaphor about the battle of Freedom of Thought and Speech which lies at the heart of both America in 2016 and Spain in 1492, alongside cliched skling villains in dark shadows and action sequences so forgettable I'm not even certain they occurred. Please don't make me time-travel back to double check. 
> This is all the more infuriating because Justin Kurzel has directed a good film before (the darkly menacing Snowtown, which benefits from being a familiar true story from Kurzel's native Australia, as well as not providing him with a massive budget and accompanying perogative to throw money at pyrothechnics for 120 minutes), although he's already blotted his copybook with last yeat's Macbeth, another gore-tastic empty spectacle. Michael Fassbender, an actor of talent but also of variable performances, delivers a bland leading role; Marion Cotillard is completely wasted, as are most of the cast. It's even got Ariane Labed, and I love Ariane Labed more than I love apple pie and custard, but it's still not enough to redeem the film. AVOID.   
> 
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>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 5:46 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> The witty and ironic Allan B.'s laugh led me to think that MAYBE what I wrote (about recommendation) was
>> perceived to be ironic---or snarky, that shadowy dissolute cousin.  
>> 
>> Well, it wasn't. 
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>> Those fine words seeing SILENCE so seriously and interestingly, even with fault-finding, just made me more convinced that
>> it is a Scorcese worth seeing and feeling--even if it is imperfect with the highest judgment. 
>> He usually has been---although a couple left me, maybe, more unhappy than Marr's review left him but dunno. 
>> 
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>>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 7:02 AM, Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> HaHaHa!
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>>>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 6:54 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Thanks for the recommendation. 
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>>>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 4:55 AM, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Scorsese's Silence reminded me of a former girlfriend: very beautiful, devoutly Catholic (whilst acknowledging plenty of doubts) and a lot of hard work at times. I happen to think The Last Temptation of Christ is one of his underrated works so I'm not adverse to one of his spiritualist epics, or for a sincere examination of faith, but I found this buckles under the weight of its own solemnity. If you're going to be this humourless then you need to an extra level of profundity or transcendence, which Silence provides all too rarely. Andrew Garfield's central performance is too blank - he never convinced me as a man of existential depth - and the film lapses into Scorsese's usual faults - women are marginalised, non-white characters are shady and distrustful and an lingering sense of sadomasochism left this viewer feeling punished (perhaps suitably). Still, to evoke a lesser Wagner symphony, there are a couple of moments of rapture, particularly on the occasions when the Buddhist priests test the Catholics' faith, and the visual design is sumptuous throughout, applying an Old Dutch Master palate to contemporary historic setting, but not enough to rescue a laboursome effort. At least my ex could be a lot of fun.
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>>>> On Friday, December 30, 2016, Keith Davis <kbob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Looks good.
>>>> 
>>>> Www.innergroovemusic.com
>>>> 
>>>>> On Dec 29, 2016, at 8:04 PM, Rob Miller <robcmiller at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Anyone here seen Fences? Been meaning to go see that...
>>>>> On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 9:19 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Yes.  The ending of OA sucked, and started sucking in the 2nd to last episode.  This is too bad, because it probably coulda have had more Seasons.  It had painted itself into a corner, but in Scifi and comic books, it is always possible to overcome the impossible with more fantastic new premises.  But then, ultimately, the goose has to come home to be cooked...  Unless it doesn't ever do that, ie. come home.
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>>>>> David Morris
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>>>>> On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 8:01 PM, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>>> A poorly- constructed sentence on my part. I was referring to the ending of The OA, not the ending of Manchester By the Sea.
>>>>> 
>>>>> LK
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
>>>>> 
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>>>>> Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> The ending of MANCHESTER-by-the-Sea is perfect. Thematically resonant as tubular bells. 
>>>>> REAL Chekhovian likeness, so to speak. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Dec 28, 2016, at 5:56 PM, "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Most of the reviews warn that the ending sucks, but on Mr. Morris's recommendation, I've been watching The OA, on Netflix. Enthralling story-telling, even if it turns out to be just a shaggy-dog story.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> LK
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Re: Manchester by the Sea. 
>>>>>> while it qualified for my highest accolade (I didn't leave the auditorium to pee even once even though I was in an Alamo theater) I was so perplexed (or underwhelmed?) by the ending that I'm not recommending the film 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> But i sure enjoyed Casey on SNL the other night!!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Looking forward to the new tv Sherlock next week!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Allan in WV
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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>>>>>> On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 10:38 AM kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>>>> The trailer certainly makes it look like a by-the-numbers guy-weepy (ya know, like Shawshank Redemption). Is it drastically different from what's shown in the previews? I stay far, far away from weepies of any variety.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Laura
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Jim Frame <jbframe at aol.com> wrote:
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>>>>>> Not everyone liked it.
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>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
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>>>>>> From: Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com>
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>>>>>> To: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
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>>>>>> Cc: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>>>> 
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>>>>>> Sent: Wed, Dec 28, 2016 2:31 am
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>>>>>> Subject: Re: NP - This Xmas Season's Movies
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>>>>>> Why is the title misleading or ironic? It's the name of a town.
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>>>>>> On Mon, Dec 26, 2016 at 11:23 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
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>>>>>> I just saw Manchester by the Sea.  It is a finely-crafted tale that jerked many tears from this sap.  Beside the great acting, its best feature is the telling of its story via seamless meshing of past with present.  This meshing makes us quickly love and care for all the characters presented, but especially for the main one, a deeply broken man who always soldiers on through his great pain.  Highly recommended.
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>>>>>> The film's title is a misleading irony.  It is a spoof.  This ain't Masterpiece Theater. 
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