Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Excalibur is frequently ludicrous, but it's got a visionary craziness that stamps it 100% the work of John Boorman (for similar cases, see also Zardoz and Exorcist II - visually lavish but WTF and "you've GOT to be kidding me" on so much more). Whereas, for example, great as it is, I think Deliverance could have been made by someone else (doing the book was pretty much going to produce the results you saw on the screen). Boorman certainly brought a lot to the party (so to speak), but that movie is also very much James Dickey.
I should also say, I'd rather see the work of a nutball visionary than a competent journeyman any day, much as I appreciate the skill that a journeyman director brings to the job.
Deadwood fans: We just watched the last two episodes last night. Did they know the show hadn't been renewed when they were shooting? Was that ever mentioned? I'm feeling like that wasn't what I expected for a series finale, and yet it works anyway, given the sort of iconic last shots of most of the characters.
Deadwood fans: We just watched the last two episodes last night. Did they know the show hadn't been renewed when they were shooting? Was that ever mentioned? I'm feeling like that wasn't what I expected for a series finale, and yet it works anyway, given the sort of iconic last shots of most of the characters.
Originally there was going to be a fourth season, which was reduced down to a TV movie (or movies), which HBO ultimately never came through on, so they were given hope they'd do more, but I suspect they also knew it might never come to pass.
Damn that stupid John from Cincinnati. Want more Deadwood!
Oh, exactly, Glam. I haven't fallen that hard for a show in a long, long time. Every characterization and portrayal was so dead on, and there were just so many characters I wanted to see more of. Not to mention the sheer poetry of the dialogue.
::crawls away to grieve::
I lurved
Excalibur
when I was 15. Two friends and I watched it so often I still know the spell to bring the dragon's breath. When I saw it on sale for $11 recently I snapped it up and ran home to watch it. What a rude awakening that was. See also:
The Prince of Pennsylvania.
I don't think classics and perfect are the same
Sorry, that was horribly unclear of me. I probably should have put the last sentence first. I didn't mean classic = perfect, because then almost nothing would qualify.
From googling around today, apparently a lot of people do think it's great, so maybe I'm wrong about that.
Laga, I'm with you, I can't remember if I saw Excalibur first in junior high or high school, but I really loved it. Now, not so much. I don't think it needs to be redone though.
Question: is there a movie you'd really LIKE to see remade. What would it be?
I would really like the Star Wars prequels completely redone. That is probably my fondest hope.
I saw
District 9
this afternoon.
Wow.
Marvelous CGI that was not jaw-dropping only because I didn't remember it was CGI until after the movie was over.
Several twists I didn't see coming.
And a grim, cynical, and sadly realistic portrayal of how awful humans can be.
Inglourious Basterds: pretty awesome. It's essentially a series of tense conversations, punctuated with bursts of violence. It actually reminded me of No Country For Old Men with the prolonged suspense. But this has more catharsis, thank goodness.
So I'm worn out now. At one point in the movie I jumped in my seat because someone suddenly knocked on a door. And it was in no way a suspenseful moment; I was just that keyed up.
Oh, and there is some gore. Mostly like the head-shot in Pulp Fiction, so suddenly you're peering through your fingers and giggling at the same time.
Question: is there a movie you'd really LIKE to see remade. What would it be?
I know there are movies where afterward I thought, "Y'know, someone should redo this and fix [the ending, or the casting, or whatever]." Of course I can't think of any in particular right now. I'll have to ponder.
