1977: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by stooky on Sun, 06/27/2004 - 12:58
Tags:
Great
- Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
- The Goodbye Girl
- Julia
- Soldier Of Orange
- Star Wars
- Suspiria
- An Unfinished Piece For The Player Piano
- **I’ve always been disappointed by film adaptations of Chekov because of the perplexing stolid nature of most of the films, they elicit no joy or entertainment value beyond their obviously excellent dialogue; Vanya On 42nd Street being the obvious contradiction of this rule. Yet “Unfinished Piece” remains the best of these Chekov translations because it balances the complexity of language with quick pacing and vibrant, luminous camerawork. The director is aided by an exceptional nuances in a performance by Alexander Kalyagin as Misha, a complicated character rendered with elegant skill by Kalyagin who uses his eyes and malleable face to evoke every passing emotion. Misha Platanov visits a country estate with his wife for a weekend vacation, unprepared for meeting a long lost love, now married to a dim aristocrat. He finds that his passion has not quelled in the long years of her absence and seeks to rekindle the love affair. Director Nikita Mikhailkov’s adaptation is full dazzling cinematography, using a startlingly rich colour palette to emphasize brash camera-angles and beautiful still shots; the camera moves like liquid through the corridors of the old house, interacting with the characters as they move. I have seldom seen a movie that is so aware of visual appearance of people, able to communicate their mass onscreen. These parts coalesce magnificently, creating a completely satisfying movie experience, and certainly the best Chekov adaptation you’re likely to see.
Very Good
- 3 Women
- Annie Hall
- Black Sunday
- The Duellists
- **A slow-moving, minimalist action film about two men fighting an ongoing duel for a long friggin' time. What would seem like a thin plot is stretched into 90 minutes comfortably; obviously due to Ridley Scott at the helm. He puts a sense of forward motion into each scene by cutting them short, precisely structuring the story to eliminate unessential fodder. As such the movie stays fresh, while Scott creates his characteristic breath-taking visuals (The colors and texture of land-scapes reminded me of Ran). As the end draws close the story slows, not losing any interest but simply de-accelerating the story for the following climax. This is done for reasons that'll be obvious when you watch. A strong film (Scott's first motion picture) with simple narrative, a good choice for a young director, that serves as an obvious warm-up for his next two masterpieces.
- Jabberwocky
- The Last Wave
- Pete’s Dragon
- Slap Shot
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- That Obscure Object Of Desire
Good
- Dona Flor And Her Two Husbands
- Freaky Friday
- The Hills Have Eyes
- Madame Rosa
- Pumping Iron
- **Hilarious and fascinating documentary (perhaps mocumentary) featuring the showdown between Arnie and Lou. Arnie is an semi-venil, manipulative, sex-addicted bodybuilder and Lou is the sweet young hero. It's funny, silly and entertaining as all heck. Watch the outtakes too.
- Sorcerer
- **Wages Of Fear is a brilliant film striking a delicate balance between elegance and brutality with astonishing clarity. Sorcerer negates the elegance in favour of an overwhelming pessimism, creating characters molded by criminal behaviour and forced to come together to finish their task. An idea that undermines some of the scenes but overall plays well enough. Clouzot’s version also manages to place one great scene after another until it’s spectacular climax. Sorcerer seems redundant in that movies' wake, but still manages moments of greatness. The major scene is a slow crossing of rickety bridge, which is one of best scenes of pure suspense ever filmed as the gigantic trucks suspended and waving slowly grapples across. A tremendous moment that devastates anything that comes after and buries everything before it. The problem comes down to the inconsistency of this movie, that sits in doldrums when moving the story along then shifts into high gear with it’s action scenes. Sorcerer is a good film that offers the viewer great set pieces if they can get through the other stuff.
- Smokey And The Bandit
Guilty Pleasures
- Andy Warhol’s Bad
- Demon Seed
- Exorcist II: The Heritic
- The Gauntlet
- The Incredible Hulk (TV)
- Shock Waves
Average
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- The American Friend
- **Peculiar Wim Wenders adaptation of Ripley’s Game which both succeeds and fails for exactly the same reasons, Dennis Hopper presents a neurotic, twitchy Ripley which is a considerable departure from the book; both good and bad. His moments of idiotic introspections and hyperactive violence seek to outwardly show Ripley’s inner struggle (which is fascinating in the book) but completely obliterates any semblance of Highsmith’s character. Sufficed to say I was irritated. Bruno Ganz on the other hand makes an exquisite foil, perfectly embodying his dull, dying framer seized in a grip of panic that turns his life upside down. Wenders’ obscure style doesn’t fit the material well, much like a fat man in a tiny sports coat; meaning: the story is muddled by pretension and the choice to direct in a very realistic style makes the entire enterprise boring and long-winded. As an adaptation it’s a miserable failure. Taken as a completely original piece of art the film succeeds are far more levels. Hopper and Ganz have good chemistry; their scenes together are the best in the film aided by a solid script. The direction, if not totally compelling, is always interesting using unusual settings for action scenes and character dispositions. I suppose I would have liked it better had I not read the excellent book, but the same could be said for countless films. I think the main problem was the aloof quality of the entire film, constantly keeping the viewer at arms length with an uneasy morbidity. Frankly, it’s just really damn sleazy, which doesn't fit Tom Ripley or the story very well.
- Agatha
- Kentucky Fried Movie
- Oh, God!
- The Rescuers
- Saturday Night Fever
Dissapointing
- Dead Of Night
- The Hobbit
- Kingdom Of The Spiders
- New York, New York
- Wizards
Cellar Dwellers
- Airport ‘77
- The Deep
- Empire Of The Ants
- Maniac!
- Orca
- Semi-Tough
The Big Stink
- Looking For Mr. Goodbar
- Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger
- Tentacles
Unfortunately Haven’t Seen
- Allegro Non Troppo
- Between The Lines
- Black & White In Color
- The Lacemaker
- The Late Show
- Man Of Marble
- Padre Padrone
- Short Eyes
- Stroszek
- The Turning Point
Cloned From:
Alright, jokes over, move Annie Hall up to the Great tier. We've all had a good chuckle...
I'll consider it.
bwahahahahaha
Tallyho
:?)
Please tell me you are BWAHAHA!ing about The Gauntlet, one of Clint's silliest movies. At least move it to Guilty Pleasures; it is most certainly not very good.
Okay, I'll take your advice on Ze Gauntlet (the corn is truly green in that movie) but it was so darn entertaining. Clint acts drunk and feeble, Clint beats bikers, Clint sleeps with the lady, Clint finds his courage. It's like a bad beer commercial:
Buying a bottle of whiskey to stay drunk: $25
Living in a cave for 2 days: $2
Wearing nasty looking jeans: $5 at a thrift shop
Finding the will to fight after some fine, fine lovin': Priceless
But down it goes. :?(
As for Annie Hall, I'm going to re-watch next week.
Tallyho
:?)
Wasn't Empire of the Ants a great film? Giant ants, brilliant actors, an excellent screenplay, a first-class direction... :-)
P.S.: When I think about that film, one (laughable) scene comes to my mind: then I see a giant ant sitting in a small office...
Oops! I hope I didn't spoil this must-see film now for other listologists.
Ha! Indeed, a dork-classic of dumbness that mixes every type of silly pulp genre into the ultimate...something. The strangest thing is I couldn't stop watching, it was like being hypnotized to the screen, but that doesn't mean I'm going to change the rating. :?)
:?)
Yeah, hypnotized is the right word. Usually I just turn off, but here it was impossible.