Top @ MindSay

January 2008

Top Movies this month:

1. Angèle (1934) An exceedingly powerful Marcel Pagnol film (responsible for Jean de Florette the novel). It seems that everything he writes is amazing. Definitely check it out!
   
2. Femme du boulanger, La /The Baker's Wife (1938)
   
3. Johnny Apollo (1940) I really enjoyed this father and son / gangster film noir.
   
4. Secret Beyond the Door... (1948) Wow, I really loved this one from start to finish. They showed it at a local theater recently, but I chose not to go bc I was sick. I'm glad they had a VHS copy at my video store. Basically, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is one of my favorite books and every movie adaptation has ruined it. Weird, because my favorite director is Hitchcock. However, Fritz Lang takes this Rebecca-esque story and the delivery is flawless. This has great potential to be one of my favorite films of all time. However, I really want to rewatch it sometime. However, I'm not sure when I'll get a chance. Really, too bad. A lovely story, great acting, and Fritz Lang goes above and beyond in directing this. I'm forever in his debt.
   
5. Vieil homme et l'enfant, Le /The Two of Us (1967) Very nice Criterion edition with a great booklet and short film from the director, Claude Berri (see shorts)
   
6. Schpountz, Le (1938) Amazing movie. I'm loving everything I'm seeing by Marcel Pagnol. Amazing.
   

The rest:

1. À coeur joie / Two weeks in September (1967) Brigitte Bardot & supplemental documentary Not as bad as the 3.4 rating on IMDB, it's actually not that bad, but loses steam near the end.
   
2. Bal, Le (1983) Weird strange "mime" movie.
   
3. The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) In this movie there was a scene that Bunuel laid out for producers that they rejected. They ended up using the scene in the film and Bunuel was going to sue Warner Bros., but the legal team was so powerful. On Wiki it says that Bunuel came up with the idea for the movie, instead of just one scene. ?? Remade into The Hand (Oliver Stone).
   
4. Du skal ære din hustru / Master of the House (1925) Silent A decent film from Carl Theodor Dreyer.
   
5. Édith et Marcel (1983) Kind of like a poor man's La Vie en Rose. I was moved at the end, but only because of the translation to the song "L'hymne d'amour" - never knew the words and they were beautiful.
   
6. Léon Morin, prêtre (1961) Nothing like a sassy priest movie. Pretty good.
   
7. The Miracle Woman (1931) A good Frank Capra movie. Maybe too over the top, but Barbara Stanwyck's performance is strong.
   
8. Moderato cantabile (1960) Strong performances by Jeanne Moreau and J.P Belmondo and an intriguing story.
   
9. Vie de château, La (1966) Excellent Deneuve/Rappeneau collaboration. 
   
10. Comment ça va? (1978) This Godard movie fails to be interesting, but the idea is adorable at least.
    
11. Dance of the Vampires/ The Fearless Vampire Killers (USA)(1967) Not the greatest movie by Polanski by any means. I'm not sure if it was worth a watch.
    
12. Événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune, L' /A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973) I thought this Demy movie was good, despite its absurdity.
    
13. A Guy Named Joe (1943)
    
14. The Man Who Laughs (1928)
    
15. Plaisir, Le (1952)
    
16. Toute une vie / And Now My Love (1974) Interesting film about passages through time.
    
17. Classe de neige, La/ Class Trip (1998) A disappointing "horror" film that wasn't very scary.
    
18. Cosa avete fatto a Solange?/The School That Couldn’t Scream Solange (1972)
    
19. Buddy Buddy (1981) Was supposed to be terrible, but I moderately enjoyed it due to Billy Wilder's direction.
    
20. Blade af Satans bog /Leaves from Satan's Book (1921) Not as interesting as some of other Dreyer's movies, this goes over too familiar territory. It was ok.
    
21. Hélas pour moi/Woe is Me (1993) I was very fatigued BY this movie. At least Gerard Depardieu is in it. It was weird and dealt with identity.
    
22. Szerelem/Love (1971) This film was okay.
    
23. Generale della Rovere, Il (1959) Good Rossellini movie.
    
24. Guerre est finie, La/The War is Over (1966) Alain Resnais
    
25. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) Altman, so bad it was amusing
    
26. Killer of Sheep (1977) A good watch. I'll post a review separately.
    
27. Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle) / My Sex Life (1996) Really funny, semi-racy.
    
28. Kontroll (2003) Pretty darn good movie.
    
29. Cassandra's Dream (2007) (Theater)
    
30. Music and Lyrics (2007)
    
31. Wild River (1960) Not Elia Kazan's best movie. Quite a wonder why it was so long and so esteemed.
    
32. Act of Violence (1948) I don't know why, but I don't tend to like Fred Zinneman's movies.
    
33. J'accuse! (1938) Wow, an excellent movie from Abel Gance. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by it. Wonderful dead people - you'll see.
    
34. Vengeance d'une femme, La / A Woman's Revenge (1990) A low budget movie with Isabelle Huppert and Beatrice Dalle (?!), it's mainly talky and in one room. But whatever. Hard to track down, but I wasn't even trying, mysteriously came across it 
    
35. Armored Car Robbery (1950) A really good film noir.
    
36. These Wilder Years (1956) Cagney and Stanwyck have some great moments.

Michelangelo Antonioni:

1. Cronaca di un amore/ Story of a Love Affair (1950) Antonioni's first film so I didn't adore it as much as the rest of his films.
   
2. Amiche, Le (1955) A good Antonioni movie exploring some relationship issue. Something was missing from it, but overall a "girl" movie which is weird coming from this director.

Fritz Lang:

1. Frau im Mond Woman in the Moon (By Rocket to the Moon) (1929)
   
2. Rancho Notorious (1952) Fritz Lang does a western! It was ok.
   
3. Müde Tod, Der /Destiny (1921) Pretty interesting. Alfred Hitchcock's favorite film. Not mine, but there was some interesting imagery.
   

Andrzej Munk:
A discovery. I saw #1 and kept going, because I enjoyed his work.

1. Zezowate szczescie/Bad Luck (1960) A very interesting and good Polish film.
   
2. Eroica (1958)  War movie about a drunk draft dodger.
   
3. Czlowiek na torze/Man on the Tracks (1957) Might be my favorite or #1 might be my favorite. I'm undecided.
   
4. Pasazerka /Passenger (1963) Unfinished film and unfortunately, it wasn't great because it wasn't put together the way the director intended. Munk died in his early forties due to a car accident (very unfortunate).
   

Marcel Pagnol:

see Top Movies for additional Marcel Pagnol films

1. Topaze (1951) This movie was good, but not as good as the rest of the Marcel Pagnol movies I've seen lately.
   
2. Fille du puisatier, La / The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940)
   
3. Lettres de mon moulin, Les /Letters from My Windmill (1954)
   
4. Marius (1931) Going through Marcel Pagnol's filmography, this was another enjoyable movie.
   

Jacques Rivette:

1. Amour par terre, L' / Love on the Ground (1984) A really good Rivette movie.
   
2. Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976) Second favorite. It was way better than Noroit.
   
3. Noroît (1976)
   
4. Paris nous appartient / Paris Belongs to Us (1960)
   

Bela Tarr:

1. Werckmeister harmóniák (2000) My first Bela Tarr film. I didn't like it and thought it was boring so I'm glad the next one was better.
   
2. Kárhozat/Damnations (1988) Another wonderful surprise. Bela Tarr had only bored me thus far. It is great to know that he has done this great movie.
   

Omnibus film:
Paris vu par... /Six in Paris(1965) None of the following was written by me except the commentary in bold. I used what was written as a guide to keep track of what I thought.
Six vignettes set in different sections of Paris, by six directors. St. Germain des Pres (Douchet) ok a little boring, Gare du Nord (Rouch) ok /was some annoying screaming, Rue St. Denis (Pollet) ok the younger guy was annoying, are stories of love, flirtation and prostitution; Place d'Etoile (Rhomer) pretty good and Montparnasse et Levallois (Godard) concerns a haberdasher and his umbrella I had seen this before and it was not bad but far from the best ; and La Muette (Chabrol), a bourgeois family and earplugs this one is my favorite, it was well-done and exceptional and funny but morbid A+. Except for the idiotic Godard segment which just plain sucks this guy is exaggerating it wasn't that bad, all the other directors did a **** of a job shooting these 16mm short films.

Click here for more commentary: http://imdb.com/title/tt0059565/#comment

Alfred Hitchcock:

1. The Pleasure Garden (1925) Not bad for Hitchcock's first feature. I enjoyed it.
   
2. The Lodger (1927) Early Hitchcock
   
3. Secret Agent (1936)
   
4. The Manxman (1929)
   
5. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Big Switch (#1.15)" (1956) Incredibly Good.
   
6. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: You Got to Have Luck (#1.16)" (1956)
   
7. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Older Sister (#1.17)" (1956)
   
8. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Shopping for Death (#1.18 )" (1956) Started out strong, but became a matter of "so what?" so soon.
   
9. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Derelicts (#1.19)" (1956)
   
10. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And So Died Riabouchinska (#1.20)" (1956)
    
11. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Safe Conduct (#1.21)" (1956)
    
12. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Place of Shadows (#1.22)" (1956)
    
13. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Back for Christmas (#1.23)" (1956)
    
14. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Perfect Murder (#1.24)" (1956) The best episode out of the ones I've seen recently.
    
15. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: There Was an Old Woman (#1.25)" (1956)
    
16. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Whodunit (#1.26)" (1956)
    
17. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Help Wanted (#1.27)" (1956)
    
18. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Portrait of Jocelyn (#1.28 )" (1956)
    
19. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Decoy (#1.37)" (1956) Not as impressive as the other episodes weirdly enough.
    
20. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Creeper (#1.38 )" (1956)
    
21. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Momentum (#1.39)" (1956)
    
    
22. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Crack of Doom (#2.9)" (1956) Excellent.
    
23. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Jonathan (#2.10)" (1956) Good.
    
24. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Better Bargain (#2.11)" (1956) OK.
    
25. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Rose Garden (#2.12)" (1956) It felt a tad predictable, but had some nice surprises.
    
26. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Mr. Blanchard's Secret (#2.13)" (1956)
    
27. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: John Brown's Body (#2.14)" (1956)
    
28. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Crackpot (#2.15)" (1957)
    
29. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Nightmare in 4-D (#2.16)" (1957) End of Disc
    
    
30. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Brother, Richard (#2.17)" (1957)
    
31. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Manacled (#2.18 )" (1957) Pretty good survey of one man's conscience (bribery).
    
32. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Bottle of Wine (#2.19)" (1957) 8/10
    
33. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Malice Domestic (#2.20)" (1957) 8/10
    
34. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Number Twenty-Two (#2.21)" (1957) Good. 7/10
    
35. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The End of Indian Summer (#2.22)" (1957) 8/10
    
36. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: One for the Road (#2.23)" (1957) 7.5/10
    
37. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Cream of the Jest (#2.24)" (1957)
    
38. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: I Killed the Count: Part 1 (#2.25)" (1957) 7/10
    
39. Part 2 (#2.26) (1957) 6/10
    
40. Part 3 (#2.27) (1957) I didn't like how this one ended. 5/10
    
41. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: One More Mile to Go (#2.28 )" (1957)
    
42. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Vicious Circle (#2.29)" (1957) Ok.
    
43. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater (#2.30)" (1957) A little ridiculous but good.
    
44. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Night the World Ended (#2.31)" (1957) Good.
    
45. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Hands of Mr. Ottermole (#2.32)" (1957) Okay.
    
46. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Man Greatly Beloved (#2.33)" (1957)
    
47. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Martha Mason, Movie Star (#2.34)" (1957) Really good.
    
48. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The West Warlock Time Capsule (#2.35)" (1957) Good.
    
49. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Father and Son (#2.36)" (1957) Good.
    
50. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Indestructible Mr. Weems (#2.37)" (1957) Ok.
    
51. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Little Sleep (#2.38 )" (1957) Ok.
    
52. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Dangerous People (#2.39)" (1957) Blah.
    
    
53. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Last Request (#3.8 )" (1957) Crime never pays in AHP episodes and this one is a good one
    
54. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Young One (#3.9)" *disc scratched/saw half
    
55. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Diplomatic Corpse (#3.10)" (1957)
    
56. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Deadly (#3.11)" (1957) A good one that explores the subject of blackmail. Could have had a better title (the deadly???)
    
57. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Miss Paisley's Cat (#3.12)" (1957) Moderately good, but it had a little too much paranoia.
    
58. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Night of the Execution (#3.13)" (1957)
    
59. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Percentage (#3.14)" (1958) Unfortunately, I missed the ending due to a really bad copy of the DVD. This was one of the lesser episodes, still, it could have had a great ending. I'll never know!
    
60. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Together (#3.15)" (1958) This one could have been better, but it was already pretty good, because Joseph Cotten was in it.
    
61. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Sylvia (#3.16)" (1958)
    
62. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Motive (#3.17)" (1958)
    
63. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty (#3.18 )" (1958)
    
64. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Equalizer (#3.19)" (1958) Good.
    
65. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: On the Nose (#3.20)" (1958)
    
66. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Guest for Breakfast (#3.21)" (1958)
    
67. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Return of the Hero (#3.22)" (1958)
    
68. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Right Kind of House (#3.23)" (1958) Really good.
    
69. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Foghorn (#3.24)" (1958) A weird/ ok episode.
    
70. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Flight to the East (#3.25)" (1958)
    
71. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Bull in a China Shop (#3.26)" (1958)
    
72. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Disappearing Trick (#3.27)" (1958) For some reason, this was my favorite out of the Season Three, Disc 4.
    
73. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Lamb to the Slaughter (#3.28 )" (1958) There was a 15 minute special on the last AH disc I rented. It said that this was probably the most acclaimed episode, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. I really liked it, but I would only say it was very good. Besides, the "special" sort of spoiled the episode, describing it in detail (???).
    
74. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Fatal Figures (#3.29)" (1958) Interesting.
    
75. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Death Sentence (#3.30)" (1958) Classic blackmail episode.
    
76. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Festive Season (#3.31)" (1958) OK. End of disc.
    
    
77. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Listen, Listen.....! (#3.32)" (1958) This one was a little cruel, but still good.
    
78. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Post Mortem (#3.33)" (1958) Excellent
    
79. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Crocodile Case (#3.34)" (1958) Chilling and creepy. Good ending.
    
80. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Dip in the Pool (#3.35)" (1958)
    
81. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Safe Place (#3.36)" (1958)
    
82. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Canary Sedan (#3.37)" (1958) Somewhat interesting, but really no payoff.
    
83. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Impromptu Murder (#3.38 )" (1958)
    
84. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Little White Frock (#3.39)" (1958) Not a great one to end on, kinda blah
    

Other TV:

1. "The Directors: The Films of Robert Altman (#2.9)" (????) Really good overview of his work.
   
2. "The Dick Cavett Show: Woody Allen" (1971) Pretty funny. Woody Allen a long time ago, even before his success with Annie Hall.

Shorts:

1. All Eyes on Sharon Tate (1967) This 11 min. short was as funny as it was sad. Sharon Tate's promotional video was made after her first movie. They were counting on her to become a big star. Since this movie was made before her tragic death, it focused on her potential.
   
2. Poulet, Le (1962) Came with the Criterion movie "The Two of Us" and was a good short by director Claude Berri.
   

Partial Movies:

1. Campanadas a medianoche / Chimes at Midnight / Falstaff (1965) Saw the battle scene.
   
2. Chat et la souris, Le / Cat & Mouse (1975) It was dubbed so I wasn't going to waste my time on it.
   
3. Nouvelle vague / New Wave (1990) Had to give up on this Godard movie - can't really be called a movie. Just endlessly repetitive and boring dialog.
   
4. John and Mary (1969) I love Mia Farrow but probably wouldn't watch the whole thing. I caught the tail end of it and it looked ok.
   
5. Aquamarine (2006) Really terrible and annoying film.
   
6. Love Affair (1939) I tried watching it. And saw the ending but it didn't click with me. 

(according to me, in no especial order, so you know it's going to be a weird list)

Monica Vitti
Naomi Watts
Humphrey Bogart
Cary Grant
Isabelle Adjani
Rita Hayworth
William Holden *swoon*
Gregori Derangere
Gloria Swanson
Owen Wilson

honorable mention: Ludivine Sagnier, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot and Jean Reno

10) Animal Collective - "For Reverend Green"




This is the early live version of this song.  They have not made a music video for this song yet.

9) The Rolling Stones - "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"




Since some of these songs are too early to have videos I can only find live videos.  Unfortunately, for this song, there aren't many professional live videos.  So I figured I'd change it up and show a rehearsal version of this song.  Long, but neat to watch.

8) Tom Waits - "Chocolate Jesus"




Live version with an interview!

7) Neil Young - "After the Gold Rush"




This is an absolutely incredible version of this song.  The original version of pretty much just him and his piano.  But this is incredible.

6) The Beach Boys - "You Still Believe in Me"

Believe it or not... there's not a single good video for this song.

5) The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever"




This was the promotional video for this song.

4) Radiohead - "No Surprises"




This is easily the best video out of these 9.  This is probably competitive as my favorite Radiohead music video as well.  It's so completely and utterly against the mainstream idea of what a music video is supposed to be.  I love it.

Thom Yorke did not get this video right the first, second, or third time.  It took him several attempts before he finally mastered holding his breath for so long.  Here's the video from the Radiohead documentary, "Meeting People Is Easy," showing clips from the difficult video shoot.



2) Radiohead - "How To Disappear Completely"




Beautiful live version with several Ondes Martenots being played.

1) Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks - "Surf's Up"




This is a piano rehearsal version with most of the lyrics from the song.  It's Brian Wilson solo on piano and the natural beauty of his voice really shines through.




This is the 2004 SMiLE album version put to a video of Brian Wilson and his band performing it from the very first full performance of the entire album.  Not sure why the live video's sound was not used but you can pretend.

Top ten artists how I see them.

 

Dead Kennedys: What more can you say?

 

 

D.I.: Classic California Punk in a modern day context

 

 

Hub City Stompers: "Got a shiny silver keg and it's as big as a whale and it's full of bass ale! Some Sorority girls, yeah, I count about 20! So come on and don't bring any beer Money!

Well 5:00 and the weekends in sight. But what's to do on a thursday night? 16 skins and a broken down car"

Best Ska/Oi!/ Skinhead band ever

 

 

Adam and the Ants: Beat my Guest

 

 

Tom Lehrer: I just love those effectual little diddies he does.

 

 

TSOL:CODE BLUE!

 

 

Adolescents: "We are scientist in our lair, looking through the microscope.

 

 

The Business: Working class! Oi Oi Oi!

 

 

Vandals: Got a problem? Lose a girlfriend? Just tell them all she's dead... or stalk her.

 

 

Mustard Plug: I like "Gum" "Throw a bomb" and their rendition of "The Freshman" is just plain sad