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Author	Topic: The Essentials: Hamlet/Hand of God/Happy Man/Hard Day's Night
Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 10/12/06 4:12pm Subject: RE: The Essentials("10";100 Best Loved Poems" Bab Ballads" Breaker Morant" Because Cowards Get Cance
	0 for 5, I'm afraid.
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TheBoogieMan Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 10/13/06 9:34am Subject: RE: The Essentials("10";100 Best Loved Poems" Bab Ballads" Breaker Morant" Because Cowards Get Cance
	Breaker Morant is one of my favourites. I should dig up my Australian Movies thread again...
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 10/24/06 7:21pm Subject: RE: The Essentials("10";100 Best Loved Poems" Bab Ballads" Breaker Morant" Because Cowards Get Cance
	Back to the F's: First Indian on the Moon (1993) - Sherman Alexie The finest Native American writing today, Alexie is a poet with a knack for tapping into real bitterness, real anger and real bittersweetness. This slim volume of poetry contains what is, I think, his finest work, a series of poems called Tiny Treaties; they are, beautifully, about mixed race relationships. Tiny Treaties . . . God . . . so much just right there in that title. The First Wives Club (1994) - Hugh Wilson I may call into question my heterosexuality with this pick, but Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton are quite simply hilariously funny in this witty film about shudder female empowerment. Surprisingly good. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Charles Crichton/John Cleese As brilliant as one would expect; Jamie Lee Curtis continues to prove herself the most fearless comedienne of her generation with her scenery chewing performance and Kevin Kline is non stop hilarity. As for Cleese, Palin and Crichton, well, that turns out to be an absolutely fantastic trinity (not quite holy . . . no smiting yet, please). One of the funniest films ever made. Is it number one? Well, no . . . it's a tie! Flag Series: England (1996) - Various Artists A collection of the great English composers; while other countries, like France and Spain and Germany, seem to have no shortage, many great English composers are often forgotten. Elgar gets trotted out quite a bit of course, but most of the others are just brilliant enough to make you want to start digging some more. Flight 714 (1968) - Herge Late Tintin and exceedingly odd (not to say Deus Ex Machina), but Herge seems to be master of every genre and this one flies all the way, from the hilarious coot Lazlo to the reappearance of Skut to the surprisingly spacy conclusion to that exceedingly bizarre sign off . . . no jokes here, just a muse on the nature of television and the media and then things start again . . . was Herge ever a nihlist? Doubtful, but this begins to be existentialist in places. -----signature----- Lotta water under the bridge Lotta other stuff too Don't get up, gentlemen I'm only passing through
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 10/25/06 12:46pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	First Indian on the Moon (1993) - Sherman Alexie Not read it. The First Wives Club (1994) - Hugh Wilson Haven't seen it, but Hawn and Keaton are both skilled comediennes. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Charles Crichton/John Cleese Great film, and everybody rises to the occasion. Flag Series: England (1996) - Various Artists Haven't seen this. Flight 714 (1968) - Herge Late and a bit tired in plot, but Herge's sense of humour and characterization make up for a lot. He'd obviously read "Chariots of the Gods", too.
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TheBoogieMan Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 10/25/06 10:43pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	Rogue1-and-a-half posted: A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Charles Crichton/John Cleese Wanda, do you have any idea what it's like being English? Being so correct all the time, being so stifled by this dread of, of doing the wrong thing, of saying to someone "Are you married?" and hearing "My wife left me this morning," or saying, uh, "Do you have children?" and being told they all burned to death on Wednesday. You see, Wanda, we'll all terrified of embarrassment. That's why we're so... dead. Most of my friends are dead, you know, we have these piles of corpses to dinner. Great, great film. A pity the sequel wasn't as good.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 10/26/06 12:21pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	It's a great pity Curtis didn't get more chances like that, she really has the comedy chops.
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TheBoogieMan Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 10/26/06 11:53pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	I don't know. I actually think she was the weakest link in both Wanda and Fierce Creatures. She really only succeeds because she's surrounded by two of the funniest Brits ever born, and an American who is really on top of his game in the original.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 10/27/06 8:32pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	I thought she was hilarious in Fish. And she's sidesplittingly good in True Lies as well. But then even Tom Arnold was funny in True Lies, so that movie was truly, like, I don't even know the word . . . miraculous, maybe? -----signature----- Lotta water under the bridge Lotta other stuff too Don't get up, gentlemen I'm only passing through
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TheBoogieMan Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 10/27/06 9:31pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	Or godawful, perhaps?
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 10/30/06 7:14pm Subject: RE: The Essential: First Indian on the Moon/First Wives Club/Fish Called Wanda/Flag Series/Flight 71
	Okay, if you don't like True Lies, you are finally, utterly, completely dead to me. Floor Cake (1962) - Claes Oldenberg Is it art? Is it a scam? Is it a practical joke? Is it an installation piece? Well . . . it's a piece of cake. On the floor. Kudos. Modern art has always been particularly humorless; thanks to Oldenberg for changing that, however briefly. Is it art? It makes me laugh. The Fly (1986) - David Cronenberg Jeff Goldblum is fantastic in this, one of the few remakes to be worth your time. The transformation from human to fly stands in for Cronenberg's biggest theme: the flesh and the frailty thereof. A metaphor for debilitating disease, the film is both repulsive, tragic and ultimately deeply painful. A rare feat. Flying Blind (1997) - Frank Peretti Yet another entry, the final one, in Peretti's Dr. Cooper adventure series, this one finds Cooper's son . . . well, blinded while flying a small sport aircraft. Great literature it ain't, but fun it is. Pulp, as I've heard said, is fine as long as its honest pulp. Forbidden Planet (1956) - Fred Wilcox Leslie Nielson and Walter Pidgeon seem to be battling for who can be the most self-righteously serious, but the film takes flight around them. The burbling electronic score (the first fully electronic score in film history), the invisible monster, the final revelation of the monster's identity, that flaming door, ripped off countless times . . . and, yeah, let's be honest . . . those miniskirts. One of the finest sci-fi films ever made. And can we drop all those comparisons to The Tempest please? Force of Arms (1951) - Michael Curtiz William Holden, Nancy Olson and the often forgotten Frank Lovejoy take a story by war journalist Richard Tregaskis and make it sing. It's dark, but Holden shines a light. There's scene in a truck that should be romantic, but instead, it's deep; Holden's voice grates in all the right places, but his face never changes as he talks about the men he's watched die. Often forgotten war film; when it's remembered, it's often called an adaptation of Farewell to Arms. It shouldn't be forgotten, any more than it should be called Hemingway. -----signature----- Lotta water under the bridge Lotta other stuff too Don't get up, gentlemen I'm only passing through
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 10/30/06 10:30pm Subject: RE: The Essential: Floor Cake/The Fly/Flying Blind/Forbidden Planet/Force of Arms
	0 for 5. Again.
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TheBoogieMan Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 10/30/06 10:32pm Subject: RE: The Essential: Floor Cake/The Fly/Flying Blind/Forbidden Planet/Force of Arms
	Rogue1-and-a-half posted: Okay, if you don't like True Lies, you are finally, utterly, completely dead to me. Heh. Consider me dead, then. Possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. Sorry. As to the others - 0 out of 5, again.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 11/3/06 12:48pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Floor Cake/The Fly/Flying Blind/Forbidden Planet/Force of Arms
	Forty Licks (2002) - The Rolling Stones You can quibble with what's been left off (because of course, these guys have made more than forty great songs), but hardly ever with what's been included. The starting place for Rolling Stone obsession; even the new songs are great, particularly a ravaged cabaret tune in Keith Richard's growling Losing My Touch. One of the all time great career retrospectives. Forty-Ninth Parallel (1941) - Michael Powell Propaganda, yes, but in these skillful hands even propaganda becomes incredibly entertaining; Leslie Howard plays to type and Laurence Olivier puts out the most ludicrously off the wall French Canadian accent ever put on film, but the cast of German characters is pitch perfect, particularly Portman and Lovell. Intensely exciting. Fountain (1917) - Marcel Duchamp And modern art begins; a pity most of it doesn't have half this wit. Always makes me laugh. The Four Seasons (1723) - Antonio Vivaldi Most of these are instantly recognizable; they've been cribbed for films and trailers out the wazoo. But that doesn't take away from the rare accomplishment. Striking and always effective. Fox Trot (1988 - ?) - Bill Amend One of the few modern comic strips that begins to ascend to the level of the lost masters (Peanuts, Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes). With young computer nerd Jason, hysterical teen girl Paige, macho teen jock Peter, overreactive moralizing mother Andy and midlife crisis technophobe father Roger, this comic strip essentially lampoons every single American in some way. It's the perfect deconstruction of the infamous average American household and when it lampoons things like Andy's ridiculous fears that Roger is having an affair or Jason's nerdish costuming to match every hit movie, well, the strip is talking my language. It's also surprisingly mature at certain times; Peter dated, for quite some time, a girl who was unapologetically blind, one of the few times a disability hasn't been exploited in art, either for cheap laughs or cheap sentiment. ("You have a date?," Peter's friend crowed, not knowing of whom Peter was speaking. "She gotta be either ugly or blind as a bat." Yes, you laugh.) And then there's Jason's iguana, Quincy, who, in a daring break with comic strip tradition, is just a normal iguana; now thought ballons, no anthropomorphizing, just a regular iguana. It was Bill Watterson, I think, who said, just for that it goes down in history. Yes, for that, but not just for that. Hopefull, when Amend finally wraps it up, we'll get the Complete Fox Trot, as we have with Peanuts, Far Side and Calvin. We can hope. -----signature----- Lotta water under the bridge Lotta other stuff too Don't get up, gentlemen I'm only passing through
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General Kenobi Title: Administrator Emeritus Registered: Dec '98	Date Posted: 11/3/06 3:32pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: 40 Licks/49th Parallel/The Fountain/Four Seasons/Fox Trot - Date Edited: 11/3/06 3:34pm (2 edits total) Edited By: General Kenobi
	I disagree with making a "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" type of restrosepctive an "essential" for an artist whose medium was really albums. Yes, the Stones had a lot of hit singles, but I would list thier essesntials as their pure album works. For sure: Beggars Banquet Let It Bleed Sticky Fingers Exile On Main Street Probably include: Goat's Head Soup Some Girls Emotional Rescue Tattoo You Steel Wheels Plus some earlier albums. Okay, if you want to have an early hits package, like Big Hits and Through The Past, Darkly (ok, or Forty Licks - but I'd start with their epic albums.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/4/06 8:09am Subject: RE: The Essentials: 40 Licks/49th Parallel/The Fountain/Four Seasons/Fox Trot
	Given that this is probably the source of Andy Warhol, et al., I am not as happy about it as you are. "49th Parallel" I saw most of this on TCM recently, and despite the silly accents and the equally silly notion of Canadians, it is entertaining, though the Germans appear to be the only ones with any brains. "Fox Trot" This is the first time anybody suggested to me that this was anything but a generic strip.
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