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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Barbelith Film Classics Club

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16:02 / 18.12.05

Addendum: I like Die Hard. Is Die Hard a classic? I like Die Hard. Can we consider discussing Die Hard?

03:08 / 19.12.05

It's looking to be The Haunting (which I've voted for) thus far.
But it's a case where we can watch Ran or 7S somewhere down the line or directly after isn't it?

Well everyone seems to be up for Kurosawa, and they would be probably his two most popular films.... so I'd say so.

11:19 / 19.12.05

Cripes, we could do an All-Kurosawa Film Club: I mean, what about Rashomon? Talk about insanely influential...

22:35 / 19.12.05

Ikuru, Yojimbo, Dersu Uzala, Red Beard, The Hidden Fortress....

22:41 / 19.12.05

I'm not hearing a roar of approval for Die Hard....
*thinks* someone must be forcibly silencing them, but why?

00:23 / 20.12.05

I'm reading you loud and clear, Alex. But (he said, sounding like the educator he always fancied himself to be) one of my criteria for a "classic" film is not only that it be a damn good movie—which all of kurosawa's are—but also be, in some way, significant : technically innovative, or prototypical, or emblematic of its time.

Seven Samurai and Rashomon may not even be Kurosawa's *best* movies, but they're certainly his most influential—much imitated, never duplicated. People namecheck Rashomon who've never seen the film: filmmakers rehash Seven Samurai who've never watched the original. Ran is a great picture, but it's more a summation of a lifetime of filmic technique than a groundbreaker.

Without Samurai or Rashomon, the history of film would have been very, very different. Without Ran? Harder to say.

01:07 / 20.12.05

yeah I guess its all a matter of hairsplitting really. Kurosawa, being the auteur that he was, had such a distinct and consistent vision that I can see his films' influence almost everywhere. eg. Can you imagine Sergio Leone making films the way he did without Kurosawa? A Fistful of Dollars is pretty much Yojimbo re-hashed and made Italian. I guess you have to draw the line somewhere, but damnit I love em all!

And it seems, apart from The Seven Samurai and Ran, everyone has a different favourite Kurosawa film. I watched The Hidden Fortress the other night, and in the "special" introduction by George Lucas, he lists Ikiru as his favourite after Seven Samurai.

(Incidentally, he spends more than half of the introduction trying to play down all the similarities between the hidden fortress and star wars. I like watching a rich wanker squirm

)

I think its an interesting question about the influence of Ran though. To me it stands on such a high artistic pedestal (which it more than deserves) that any attempts to imitate or pay homage to it would be cheap and tasteless.

03:37 / 20.12.05

I definitely mimic the need for Kurosawa... I'd probably have a lot to say about all of the movies mentioned since I've spent some serious time with them. Though Seven Samurai is the classic, I would respond more to the personality in Yojimbo. Less Hollywood predecessor and more a story of man and his wits.

But yeah, let's go on to some more classics... I should the getting Chaplin's The Kid tomorrow and that's supposed to be one of his best. I did care quite a bit for City Lights too. Anyone game for any of this man's work?

06:17 / 20.12.05

So its The Haunting. Shall we say till 2 January to watch?

But yeah, let's go on to some more classics... I should the getting Chaplin's The Kid tomorrow and that's supposed to be one of his best. I did care quite a bit for City Lights too. Anyone game for any of this man's work?

Yup for sure. I'd also be really interested in watching a Buster Keaton movie.... I saw The General a few months back, and it is unbelievable. Sound is for chumps.

10:01 / 23.12.05

Now wouldn't it be handy if The Haunting was on tv over christmas...

10:06 / 23.12.05

I was going to suggest Bringing up Baby or Mildred Pierce as they were on BBC2 Wednesday and Thursday. BuB is an excellent film missed it this time though. Still, may have it on video somewhere. Does the Haunting still get regular rotation on TCM?

11:41 / 23.12.05

Ask and ye shall receive: IMDb says The Haunting is showing on on Turner Classic Movies UK at 1:55 AM New Year's Day. Ring in the New Year, then settle in for a few shivers.

US viewers, you're SOL. Rent or borrow from the library, I guess.

Should we make it a rule for the Film Club that first preference goes to movies showing on TV during the viewing window? Cos that's really going to restrict our choices, particularly trying to coordinate it transAtlantically. I mean, the IMDb is of some help in finding movies on TV, but...

12:58 / 23.12.05

I guess if a film is particularly hard to get and there is a practical alternative or problem at the time, someone should bring it up. TV edits can also affect the flow and content of a film and we should be mindful of that.

I do think that the 2ish week window to obtain and watch a film is reasonable enough to get to a video store, borrow it from a library, grab it from netflix, etc. Anyone have alternative thoughts? I'd gladly handle any distribution to people in the Philly area if something is hard to come by.

05:27 / 03.01.06

so moving on.... which film shall we watch next?

I'd still like to watch Ran, but it would be good if I got to play around with online voting again

00:52 / 05.01.06

No-one has any films they want to nominate?

I can think of heaps of films that would be good to discuss.... but if no-one suggests anything I assume we're watching Ran.

06:22 / 05.01.06

Any others we should throw into the polling thingamajig besides Ran?

06:37 / 05.01.06

oh fer fuck's sake. what i meant to say, were i sober, was that I've been interested in The Battle of Algiers and Sunset Boulevard.

06:47 / 05.01.06

*lol*

I'll do a poll then...

06:56 / 05.01.06

17:09 / 05.01.06

Hi, I'm not around Barbelith much at the present, but would like to participate in the future.

12:49 / 08.01.06

I would also very much like to participate at the moment, especially to The Haunting thread which raises some very interesting points but other commitments have left me too busy to contribute.

01:05 / 09.01.06

Close voting tomorrow? Its looking close so far...

Btw - I should've put Seven Samurai in there too. I forgot... sorry.

23:26 / 12.01.06

I get sick, come back and its a tie?!?!?!

What do we do now?

On another note - whilst having 4 days off work, I managed to get through a few movies which would definitely be good for discussion.

Cul-De-Sac
Repulsion
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Stray Dog
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

05:09 / 13.01.06

Without wishing to transgress the rules of the BFC I might give good old Die Hard a thread of its own anyway. Might as well as I'm interested in discussing it and it may get some replies.

10:54 / 13.01.06

So is this going to be a "classic" films thread, or an "influential" films thread?

I mean, I can see that Blow up might have had a great degree of influence, but I wouldn't want to watch it over and over (though I do, just for the bit with the Yardbirds). Should we use this thread as a means to force others to watch truly great bits of cinema? Or maybe to open eyes to cult gems?

My dollar goes to; chinatown cos' it's just so well put together, bad taste as it has such manic energy and Peter Jackson is rather popular now I hear, Affliction- a great film and superb performances drawn from Nick Nolte and James Coburn, Point Blank, maybe, because it has also been done to death and the whole "morally dubious revenger" is big right now...

aw shucks, chuck in Evil dead 2, just because of all the "how did they do that?" camera moves.

Any thoughts?

04:24 / 14.01.06

Should we use this thread as a means to force others to watch truly great bits of cinema? Or maybe to open eyes to cult gems?

Well yeah. I guess the idea is to watch fucking good movies in a group and discussing them. Anyone can suggest a movie, and then "sell" it.

I think any or all of the above could work. I'm especially up for something by Antonioni, as the two that I've seen of his (Blow-up and L'avventura) were really distinct and interesting. Oh, and Polanski always rubs my nads the right way.

It doesn't matter what any one person thinks anyway - democracy rules! Although maybe we should try to limit the poll to five films though....

07:30 / 14.01.06

I recently discovered that there were people in this world who had never seen Evil Dead 2... Obviusly this is a situation that cannot be permitted to continue...

06:47 / 17.01.06

ok its still a draw, and nobody has suggested anything. I say we watch Ran, and then The Battle of Algiers after that.

So discussion on Ran begins 30 January.

I've been looking forward to this.

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