Jedi Council Forums - The Essentials: Hamlet/Hand of God/Happy Man/Hard Day's Night

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Author	Topic: The Essentials: Hamlet/Hand of God/Happy Man/Hard Day's Night
Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 3/3/07 7:13pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: The Gold Rush, Gone with the Wind, Goodbye Mr. Chips
	The Good Earth (1931) - Pearl Buck English emigre to China, Buck became a chronicler of the lives of the people there. Post-colonialism, she's lost some lustre, but this book is a great one no question, flowing with a deep sympathy and understanding of the farmer's plight. The earth becomes a link in the chain, the strength, the mother, the father. A beautiful book, with one of the greatest endings of literature. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Ennio Morricone One of Morricone's finest soundtracks; the heartwrenching Story of a Soldier shouldn't share space with the frenzied Ecstasy of Gold. Nor should the nightmarish electric guitar fuzz of The Transgression bump up against the primal force of the title track. But this is Morricone and it works; how it works. Goodfellas (1990) - Martin Scorsese Far from Scorsese's best work and burdened with a script so packed with profanity as to become literally laughable, this film still packs a punch. De Niro is good, per usual, in a supporting role, but it's Ray Liotta who defines this film with what may stand as his finest performance, as the utterly sociopathic and insane Henry Hill. Pesci got the raves at the time; Liotta looks better with time. But a striking film. Good Morning, Vietnam (1979) - Barry Levinson Williams at his most manic and his most legitimately funny. The supporting cast is equally brilliant. Bruno Kirby has one of his best roles as the painfully unfunny Lieutenant Steve and Forrest Whittaker is a hoot as Williams' best friend. There are the occasional jarring shifts in tone; did we really need a bombing in here somewhere? But the film works incredibly well and is sidesplittingly funny when Williams is given free reign. There's a moment after the first bit when he's turned on the microphone and absolutely raved for five minutes without a breath. He switches it off and swivels in his chair. "Too much?" God, no. The Good Omens - Rene Magritte A sunburst of inspiration; the muse,hope for the future, all beautiful things. A powerful and passionate image from the usually sedate painter. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 3/5/07 11:50am Subject: RE: The Essentials: Good Earth, Good the Bad and the Ugly, Goodfellas, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Om
	The Good Earth (1931) - Pearl Buck Haven't read the book, being put off it by the MGM movie. Ze list. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Ennio Morricone Fantastic. Goodfellas (1990) - Martin Scorsese It's not a good as he thinks, but good for any other director. Good Morning, Vietnam (1979) - Barry Levinson If Williams cans the pathos, he can be brilliant. The Good Omens - Rene Magritte Now tell me honestly, Rogue, would you have the same opinion if it was a Hallmark card? Because that's what it looks like to me. [ducks]
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General Kenobi Title: Administrator Emeritus Registered: Dec '98	Date Posted: 3/5/07 3:56pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Good Earth, Good the Bad and the Ugly, Goodfellas, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Om
	Good Morning Vietnam is a great film - released in 1987, not 1979. Williams gets on a roll as good as any comedian around.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 3/12/07 8:16pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Good Earth, Good the Bad and the Ugly, Goodfellas, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Om
	Good Will Hunting (1997) - Gus Van Sant Still a bracing film, with good nature and warmth to spare. Look quick; Affleck gives a moving and resonant performance; it's also understated. Damon and Williams are excellent as well. Good Will Hunting (1997) - Various Artists One of the strongest compilation soundtracks in recent memory. Weighted down with the work of late singer/songwriter Elliot Smith, a simple acoustic guitar style reminiscent of Paul Simon and an achingly honest voice, the album has resonance and beauty to spare. Catchy melodies and deep emotional wells abound. But the incidental tracks are strong too; The Waterboys' devestatingly hopped up Fisherman's Blues is pure joy and Jeb Nichols' As the Rain is pure folk blues with an electrifying jolt of passion and angst. And it's hard to argue with Al Green and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. The Good Woman of Setzuan (1943) - Bertolt Brecht Classic play from a master. A witty and ultimately satisfyingly unresolved tale of a woman who must pass herself off as a man in order to make good business. A fairly ludicrous premise (and a hoary one) gets a great work out. Classic. Gorillas in the Mist (1988) - Michael Apted Perhaps Sigourney Weaver's best (non-sci-fi?) performance and Bryan Brown is excellent in support as well. The troubling story of a fanatical conservationist who was heroine of sorts, but with a troubling darkness at her edges and the mysterious death that ended her career in Africa as a researcher of gorillas and crusader for conservation. Gothic (1944) - Jackson Pollack Yes, yes, I know. I like it. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 3/13/07 11:44am Subject: RE: The Essentials: Good Will Hunting, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Gorillas in the Mist, Gothic
	It's better than some of his, no question:
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 3/23/07 7:55pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Good Will Hunting, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Gorillas in the Mist, Gothic
	Grace (1994) - Jeff Buckley Exorcising his father's ghost with an album of deep, plaintive emotion, Jeff Buckley proved he had the chops, the passion and the genius it took to create a masterwork. His life, like his father's, was far too short. An album of deep devestated loneliness, of pain, of beauty. It's his cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah that gets most of the press; oddly enough, that's entirely just. It's perhaps Buckley's finest vocal performance and one of the greatest covers of all time. Graceland (1986) - Paul Simon An always interesting and melancholy songwriter collides with the sound of Africa and suddenly the boundaries between rock and world music don't seem quite such a big deal anymore. A sprawling album; the title track is one of Simon's finest moments as a lyricist ("as if I didn't know my own bed," the narrator snaps at one point) and the zydeco romp That Was Your Mother is pure poetry and pure joy mingled. If this is my prayerbook, Lord, let us pray. Amen, brother Paul, amen. The Graduate (1967) - Mike Nichols Featuring the rather devestating Katherine Ross (this isn't the only great movie she nearly ruins all by herself; check out Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), this film still works. Nichols' direction is insular and tragic; Hoffman proves himself a star already and Bancroft caps a great career with a myth busting performance. An American tragedy; the first time, it's a comedy. On repeated viewings, the essential bitterness and mental sickness at the heart of the film come to the top. A bitter pill, but a great one. The Graduate (1967) - Simon & Garfunkel A masterful soundtrack, arguably the first to include modern rock songs as the backbone of the music. The atmospheric and melancholy music is key to the film's mood and works equally well on soundtrack; the bitter and empty Sounds of Silence is the perfect reflecter of a generation adrift and the catchy Mrs. Robinson (only a chorus and bridge here, not the complete song that would appear on Bookends soon enough) are only the standouts. The Grapes of Wrath (1939) - John Steinbeck An American epic of bitterness and poverty. Alternating poetic chapters of historical import with tragic images of the destitute Joad family on the road. Everything great in the film comes right from the book and there's a lot great here that didn't make the transition. A brilliant book; the final image is somehow life-affirming, chilling and nihlistic all at once. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 3/24/07 11:56am Subject: RE: The Essentials: Grace, Graceland, The Graduate, The Grapes of Wrath
	Some great stuff this week; though I agree re Katherine Ross--she can't say a line. I will have to do some adding to ze list.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 4/1/07 1:40pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Grace, Graceland, The Graduate, The Grapes of Wrath
	Playing catch up: Eat a Peach (1972) - The Allman Brothers Band Duane Allman was dead by the time this album hit the streets, but he lives on in three sizzling live cuts from the infamous Fillmore East concerts (more can be heard on the Allman's prior release Live at the Fillmore East), including the rampaging One Way Out and the slow cooked thirty minute Mountain Jam. The studio tracks are brilliant as well, particularly the acoustic and beautiful Melissa and the Dickey Betts vocal showpiece Blue Skies. Endlessly: The Best of Brook Benton (1993) - Brook Benton A sadly forgotten soul singer with charm that absolutely murders the opposition. He drops lines with wit and brilliance; there are two fantastic duets with Dinah Washington on this album and by the end of the second one, Benton is laughing out loud between lines; so was I. Even a rather ridiculous song like Boll Weevil somehow works, coming across as charming and winning. Other standouts include the famous Rainy Night in Georgia and the gospel romp Shadrach. Rediscover the forgotten master. F for Fake (1975) - Orson Welles Welles' free form documentary about Elmyr De Hory, an infamous art forger; irony on irony piles on. The only definitive book written about De Hory was written by Clifford Irving who has since been discovered to be a fraud himself with his fake biography of Howard Hughes. This is opportunity for Welles to leap into the art world with both feet, exploring the nature of what makes art art and what makes art real. What is 'genuine' and 'fake?' Which is Welles, anyway (there's a brilliant extended sequence about Welles' early career: "I started at the top and have been working my way down ever since," Welles deadpans to the camera). What is authorship? Welles muses on the Chartres Cathedral, an unsigned masterpiece in a luminous bit of cinema magic. It's a film that raises more questions than answers, but by the time Welles spins a story about an aging Picasso confronting a dying art forger at the close of the film, you've forgotten any objection. A devestating documentary; the final film by a troubling master. Face to Face (1966) - The Kinks Britpop at its finest; Ray Davies has an ear for great lyrics and melodies. The bleak Rainy Day in June is as dark as britpop ever got. Little Miss Queen of Darkness and Sunny Day both take standard plots and reinvigorate them with hopping musical arrangements and great delivery. And if Davies' snarling Dandy isn't the best put down song until Dylan's Idiot Wind, I don't know what is. Glen Falls Sequence (1946) - Doug Crockwell Avant garde cinema finally gets interesting; a sequence of colors, shapes, images that fire the imagination. Only eight minutes in length, entirely silent, but somehow there's beauty in the way the shapes melt into each other, the way the colors run around like soup. By the time, the formless shapes meld, for just an instant into a cross on a hill, light radiating from behind it, you realize that this is the new spiritual art; this is the new poetry. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 4/1/07 9:34pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Eat a Peach, Endlessly, F for Fake, Face to Face, Glen Falls Sequence
	Eat a Peach (1972) - The Allman Brothers Band Ze list. Endlessly: The Best of Brook Benton (1993) - Brook Benton One of Elvis Presley's favourite singers was Benton. And I love "The Boll Weevil Song" F for Fake (1975) - Orson Welles I generally lost interest in Welles after he got Credit Hog Fever (after his second movie). I have never seen this one, though. Face to Face (1966) - The Kinks "Sunny Day" and "Dandy" are both good songs. Glen Falls Sequence (1946) - Doug Crockwell Not seen it.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 4/6/07 6:39pm Subject: RE: The Essentials: Eat a Peach, Endlessly, F for Fake, Face to Face, Glen Falls Sequence
	The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford It's a better film if you see it before you read the book; most every good thing in it is right from the book and quite a few good things get dropped. But one can hardly fault the film for this kind of faithfulness; Fonda is magnificent and Darwell is equally good. Grease (1978) - Randal Kleiser One would hardly call this deeply moving cinema, but it's a load of fun. The music is stomping and loads of fun and Travolta proves himself, great actor or no, to have loads of energy and charisma to burn. There are moments of pure joy, like the dance on the bleachers, and the central school dance at the gymnasium is as balls to the walls fun as it gets. Grease (1978) - Various Artists Setting aside the disco beat of the title track, what we have here is an album of fake 'classic' and the classic we have here is so great that even fake works pretty well. Amazing how much fun this music is, even divorced from the visuals. A hopping great soundtrack. The Great Adventure (1992) - Steven Curtis Chapman It's not Chapman's best, though I seem to keep hearing that; Signs of Life is much better as is Speechless, but this is Chapman at his least experimental; acoustic guitar anchors the simple folk rock of this album and if he reaches better musical heights when he stretches to include blues, rock, country and bluegrass, well, this is still great music. The Great Dictator (1940) - Charles Chaplin In the pantheon of forgotten landmarks; Chaplin makes a sound film and it absolutely kills. It's remembered today because it dared to lampoon Hitler when lampooning Hitler was getting a lot of people quietly marched into corners and shot in some places while in other places everyone was still trying to be diplomatic. Whether Chaplin was a visionary or not is debatable; what isn't debatable is that he's funny as heck. It's still a great comedy, no matter the social import. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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JediTrilobite Registered: Nov '99	Date Posted: 4/6/07 8:50pm Subject: RE: The Essentials:Grapes of Wrath, Grease, Great Adventure, Great Dictator
	Rogue1-and-a-half posted: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford It's a better film if you see it before you read the book; most every good thing in it is right from the book and quite a few good things get dropped. But one can hardly fault the film for this kind of faithfulness; Fonda is magnificent and Darwell is equally good. Grease (1978) - Randal Kleiser One would hardly call this deeply moving cinema, but it's a load of fun. The music is stomping and loads of fun and Travolta proves himself, great actor or no, to have loads of energy and charisma to burn. There are moments of pure joy, like the dance on the bleachers, and the central school dance at the gymnasium is as balls to the walls fun as it gets. Grease (1978) - Various Artists Setting aside the disco beat of the title track, what we have here is an album of fake 'classic' and the classic we have here is so great that even fake works pretty well. Amazing how much fun this music is, even divorced from the visuals. A hopping great soundtrack. I've only seen and heard the first three. Grapes of Wrath - yes. Great movie. Grease, eh, I've never been a fan of it, but it's certainly a classic. The soundtrack, yes. -----signature----- Ever wonder what happened during the clone wars? Visit: http://www.theclonewarz.net My Blogs: http://www.jeditrilobite.com , http://tk3220.wordpress.com TK-3220, NEG VT Rep
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 4/7/07 9:30am Subject: RE: The Essentials:Grapes of Wrath, Grease, Great Adventure, Great Dictator
	"The Grapes of Wrath" has dated a good bit, but there are still very powerful moments, and Fonda obviously believes in his role deeply. I've actually never seen "Grease" (ducks) but I have heard the main songs, which are a lot of fun. I'm a fan of folk rock, so "The Great Adventure" goes on ze list. "The Great Dictator" is Chaplin sound film with great bits: the globe ballet (Chaplin was insanely graceful), the Mussolini figure, and the fact that the Chaplin figure actually gets the girl.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 4/14/07 4:50pm Subject: RE: The Essentials:Grapes of Wrath, Grease, Great Adventure, Great Dictator
	The Great Grotto (1593) - Bernardo Buontalenti A masterpiece of decoration, sculpture and engineering. Stunning. The Great He Goat (1823) - Francisco Goya One of the infamous dark paintings of Goya's last days; a nightmarish image of a dark god and his worshippers. Still terrifying. The Green Mile (1997) - Stephen King A serialized novel that manages to be as great a book as King has yet written. Told with his trademark brisk prose, it's a book both beautiful and enthralling with a tinge of incredible darkness. I still remember vividly my first read through; I closed the book and quite literally burst into tears. A beautiful masterpiece. The Green Mile (1999) - Frank Darabont A pitch perfect film adaptation; Doug Hutchison is a revelation as Percy Wetmore, the feral prison guard and the always brilliant David Morse is equally brilliant in his supporting role. A beautiful film. The Green Stripe (1905) - Henri Matisse Founding painting of the Fauve movement; color suddenly didn't have to make sense anymore. The portrait goes surreal. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 4/15/07 11:41am Subject: RE: The Essentials: Great Grotto, Great He Goat, Green Mile, Green Stripe
	The Great Grotto The Great He-Goat The Green Line The Great Grotto is indeed very beautiful. Goya's one of my favourite artists. Not a great fan of "The Green Line." And I can't agree re "The Green Mile" book or movie.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 4/18/07 9:19am Subject: RE: The Essentials: Great Grotto, Great He Goat, Green Mile, Green Stripe
	Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) - Bruce Springsteen One could say that Springsteen has done better since and certainly be correct, but that would be giving short shrift to what remains one of the best debut albums of all time. By the time the first verse of Blinded by the Light is over, you're in over your head and swimming for your life in music more passionate than anything you've heard in ages. Lost in the Flood gives direction; Springsteen's songs would only become bleaker and more hopeless over the next few years. Raw, passionate, visceral; a great album. Greetings, indeed; and the start of a beautiful friendship. The Grey Tree (1912) - Piet Mondrian An artist more known for his abstract line paintings, many of which I find quite brilliant in their own way, turns his sight to the landscape around us and finds in that landscape a bleak tapestry of lines to rival anything he could come up with out of his own head. And if you see a little something of the White Tree of Gondor here . . . you're right. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) - George Armitage The always edgy and likable John Cusack is a hitman headed home for a high school reunion and if that premise alone doesn't make you want to see this movie, try this: Alan Arkin as the hitman's terrified psychiatrist, Dan Ackroyd turning in his finest comedic performance as a rival hitman and a winning Minnie Driver as the love interest Cusack left behind. And, oh, yes, a pre-stardom Jeremy Piven in support, the always fantastic Hank Azaria and perennial brilliance from Joan Cusack as well. It's a witty film, quite funny and at times gleefully over the top; Arkin's performance is career revitalizing and Cusack and Ackroyd are pitch perfect. A brilliant and often overlooked comedy of the nineties. Groundhog Day (1993) - Harold Ramis Perhaps the pinnacle of Bill Murray's career, certainly the best performance of McDowell's. Through in Stephen Tobolowsky and Chris Elliott in support and you have a film comedy that maintains, ironically enough, it's charm and hilarity even on repeat viewings. Gutbustingly funny, warm and charming, this is a must see. Group on a Balcony (1810) - Francisco Goya Goya's brooding menace looms large over this innocuously titled painting; two society girls whisper with their heads together, but what of the two dark figures lurking behind them. A horror story waiting to happen; darkness behind beauty, which is, after all, perhaps the primary motif of Goya's entire career. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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