Just Jim
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- The wrong end of Nebraska . . . .
Needed a bit of escapism this weekend, so I watched the John Carpenter trilogy: Escape from New York, Escape from LA, and Ghosts of Mars. I hate three-day weekends.
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, a 2017 production which is described as ".. biographical romantic drama" and deals with the last years of actress Gloria Grahame and her younger than her own kid Brit lover. I was not that familiar with the films of Grahame- other than her role as Violet Bick in It's a Wonderful Life. I enjoyed the film: perhaps our Miss Lizzie or someone else who is more familiar with her career than I am can tell me how accurate of a portrayal it was.
"Technicolor Color Consultant" Natalie Kalmus strikes again. You want to use their cameras, you do things her way.
This picture was made not long after the Kalmus' relationship had foundered for good, even though Natalie was still on the company payroll, and I've always wondered if perhaps some of the more eye-watering Technicolor films of this period were Nat's way of telling Herb to get stuffed.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut for a film group discussion along with Blade Runner 2049 (which I haven't watched yet) next week.
Okay, let me put this right out there: I didn't think Blade Runner was the masterpiece it was considered back in the eighties, and I still don't. Sure, its visually brilliant. Sure, it was the first gasp of future-noir-cyberpunk whatever. Sure, it was amazingly influential. Sure, Phillip K. Dick was way ahead of everyone else. Sure, Roy's final speech is something. Yada yada yada.
So it's been recut several times by Ridley Scott and others, but whether it has the voiceover narration and unicorn dream or not... it still leaves me cold.
Whether he's supposed to be a replicant or not, Harrison Ford sleepwalks through the part. There's no trace of his usual easy audience identification, he's a total cypher with zero characterization (what comes after "alcoholic ex-cop"?) Sean Young can't act. The other actors - Edward James Olmos, Joanna Cassidy, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, James Hong - are all too familiar from other things to easily accept in these parts. As amazing as the futuristic cityscapes are, for really gutsy visionary imagination I'll stick with Metropolis from way back in 1926. The then-cool electronic score is damn annoying. Nothing about this future makes sense, and now that reality signifiers like Atari are long gone - and L.A. isn't turning into an overcrowded half-Asian city with massive pyramid buildings anytime soon - it's all just window dressing. Most importantly, whatever the film is trying to say about the reality of human experience is totally confused.
For me, neither time nor editorial changes have improved a film that looks tremendous, but has always been pretty disappointing otherwise.
(Ducking in advance of avalanche of angry replies.)
The revival meeting scene will stay with me forever. I've lived through this many times as a kid. Sinner's brought down to the "Mourner's Bench" with song and prayer, moved to kneel and give themselves over to Christ. The scene still gives me chills or tears because it rings so true not for religious reasons but as a remembered experience.Sergeant York. First time to see this (no, I don't know why!), and Gary Cooper most definitely deserved his Oscar award for his performance.
The revival meeting scene will stay with me forever. I've lived through this many times as a kid. Sinner's brought down to the "Mourner's Bench" with song and prayer, moved to kneel and give themselves over to Christ. The scene still gives me chills or tears because it rings so true not for religious reasons but as a remembered experience.
Worf