poehler-bear

Oh enforced quota! Kind of wish they had it in here. But I wonder how that would work for Netflix, how do they quantify that? I wasn't very keen on quotas but after I started uni I realized there's no other way for Brazilian film & TV industry. Lately they passed a new law for cable TV and it's excellent for us in the business,up many opportunities. (Sorry, didn't mean to start this convo)

It is, I feel like I'm never moving with that one. But it's a good reference to pick a movie from a specific director, decade, country or even genre (thanks icheck filters!). And they have a smaller list (100+) movies of "highly recommended".

I saw Aga checked Bob Roberts, so what did everybody think? I'll start by saying, whoever thinks that is a comedy need to check their genre knowledge. That's a horror film. It's even hard to think of it as a dark comedy towards the end. It's horrifying!

Gelfling

and there is so much in the book, so many details, so much to feel and think about, it's very hard for a movie to cram all that in even 4 hours and to be on par with the book.



We can wait. I'll be away from September 5 to 15 so there's time

I hear ya! The thing is, as all things enforced, it ends up having the opposite effect and quantity sadly isn't quality.

I'm not sure about the actual percentage that's required but French productions are supposed to amount to x% of their catalog. And (that's a more interesting part), as distributors, they are also asked to participate in creation of content, which means that x% of the money they make distributing content has to be used to produce/co-produce original content in France.

I started it and I don't mind. The business aspect of the industry determines the content we get to see.

I'm not done with that one yet!

Right??? And the more time passes, the closer it is to reality! Politics are scary and the manipulation of the media/public opinion is the scariest part.
There are definitely dark comedy elements to the script, even though most of it was improvised, and it crosses a lot of genres, but it's not meant as a comedy.

I think Tim Robbins did a fantastic job as a director. It really feels like a documentary and he managed to slip in little things here and there that reveal the true face of Bob Roberts but it's always in B-roll, or moments caught off guard. It's very well done.

And the idea of making it a "musical" was also brilliant. Just the anti-Bob Dylan thing Bob Roberts has going, with the folk music genre being by nature a liberal, activist kind of music, flipped to the conservative extreme.
Apparently, he was asked to release a soundtrack for the movie but refused because he didn't want the lyrics to be taken seriously. Music is a powerful propaganda tool.

What did you think of all the characters and cameos? Who was your favorite?

Aga_darkside

Where can I find it? I can't see it on their site.

I'm going to watch that movie with Jean Gabin though

Oh, after I watched La Belle et la Bete - what a beautiful movie!! I went to see Jean Marais' filmography and saw this Les Miserables and it sounds intriguing, Have you heard about this movie?

As for Bob Roberts, yes, whoever thought it is a comedy?! It is scary how easy it is to manipulate people! And it really felt like a documentary, Tim Robbins did a great job (I have a thing for him ). And what a cast - Alan Rickman, Giancarlo Esposito, not to mention Jack Black's cameo

yes, Bob Roberts tapping put the rhythm while being paralyzed...

poehler-bear

Ohhh okay. That makes much more sense. Yes, I agree. That's by far the biggest problem. I don't mind bad quality if it means these are talented people slowly learning. But the problem, and it's what mostly happens, is cheap-made products to fill the quota. Worst of all is that this turns the public against the quota creating the opposite effect the law intended :/

That's really great! I'm not sure about the % thing. For regular TV I get it, but Netflix? It's a weird concept.

once again, IMDB genres and icheck's lists tricked me. It certainly started out really funny. And the thing is, they didn't really changed much towards the end but as the movie progresses what to me was funny (the songs for example) start to become horrifying. This movie didn't have a Leslie Knope to save the country from Councilman Jamms. And the movie, despite the exaggerations, wasn't that far off.
Agreed about Tim Robbins' work. Though something felt weird to me. I can't decide if it was this clash of expectation/reality or a yet to be identified problem in the film.
Favorite cameo? lots of great people but I was very into Susan Sarandon's journalist.

On TSPDT site and on icheckmovies. And I'm not sure how this list was compiled but it's pretty great as well, and a good introduction to different directors.

IKR? I really like people call this and other Cocteau works as "cinema of poetry"

Gelfling

Cocteau never treated cinema as anything but a medium for his art. Like a canvas. Although, interestingly enough, and especially with La Belle et la Bête, he acts more like a painter of moving tableaus than like a poet. So much of the movie is conveyed through surrealist images and so little through dialogs.

I also strongly recommend Orpheus in case you haven't seen it yet. Also with Jean Marais (well, they were lovers back then and who wouldn't work with Marais if it was an option??) and a very similar atmosphere to La Belle et la Bête although in a league of its own.

Yeah. It's really bad although their intent was good, it was just a vehicle for the lead and it never really achieves its potential.

hey! get in line

And David Strathairn and all the others gleefully playing shallow news anchors
Actually Rickman personally financed the movie in part because Robbins had a hard time getting it finances in the US (shocker! ) so I guess he had a pick of the best parts and did he pick a good one with his best deadpan delivery ("excuse me, I have to go pray" )
As for Jack Black, he was a member of Robbins's acting troupe The Actors Gang (which also included John Cusak and Helen Hunt among others) and that's why he's in all three of the movies Robbins directed and I think they're in an HBO comedy next season together.

and his outbursts when he is ambushed by Raplin or when he falls off his motorcycle and tells his aide "get your hands off me you ******".

right. And that also works quite well with the narrative because Bob Roberts starts off as a kind of a joke, some sort of political commentator who gets involved in the game, but the closer he gets to actual power, the scarier it gets and the deeper the revelations go.

nope. Or should I say Knope?

Sadly no. And it's made worse by the fact most politicians don't even try to disguise their contempt and manipulations anymore. In fact, Bob Roberts was a Tea Party candidate long before they even thought of the name.

Well, it has a very lefty slant. Robbins has always been very vocal about his politics and he certainly doesn't shy away from that here. But I think he managed to make it a fair fight because he also takes shots at the media's complacency and the liberals inability to fight dirty and their somewhat naive view that "virtue always prevail" with Gore Vidal's character. He gets trashed with irrelevant BS and he still thinks things will be ok because he asks people to eat their vegetables.

and her inappropriate uncontrollable giggling in the midst of a report on poverty and homelessness
Susan and Tim!

exactly!

TV and movie theatres.
And the creation quota is not faring much better when you see that big movie theatres like Gaumont produce cheap (even crappy) comedies in a few weeks and then they reserve 70% of their screens to those movies, making it impossible for other movies to get seen, which is why most indies never make it to the big screen here. Only big blockbusters do.
So it ended up creating more of a monopolistic environment which in turn does nothing to promote creation. oh well

Aga_darkside

Thanks!

I'll check it out All I'm watching these days are old French movies and I love it

Oh I see Btw, I watched Les Mis with Gabin and I must say I really enjoyed it, 3 hours went really fast! I have some issues, for example with Javert, mostly with the changes to his backstory and his appearance, but I guess any Javert after Philip Quast looks wrong to me And the Thenardiers looked too neat for my taste, but overall it's a really good adaptation and now I'm in the mood to read the book again Btw, I was reminded about that miniseries with Depardieu and Malkovich, have you seen it? It serves as a cover of my edition of the Brick (though I would realyyyyy prefer a generic one )

Damn

yes, those short glimpses were very telling

Haha, no wonder Robbins had trouble to raise funds
And Alan Rickman can do no wrong

poehler-bear

I haven't yet. Thank you! I've been meaning to watch another Cocteau movie for ages!

Oh it wasn't about the politics, but from the artistic point of view. Or even the entertainment pov. I was expecting something funnier for example.

They should - but never will - prohibit monopolies like this. How can someone be allowed to produce, distribute and exhibit?? They could at least have a quota of outside products, same for TV. But then, they'd have to fight the giants.

Our movie club speed is very, very slow but I'd still like to suggest the next theme, 30 days, 30 countries. Maybe we'll take 30 weeks but I'm gonna have a break from work in a couple of weeks so, if you girls are up to it, I could do the 30 days thing. Or something of the kind, less ambitious.

Aga_darkside

I'll try to watch Dark City over the weekend, but since I'm busy again I'm not gonna be able to do a 30 days thing, it would have to be something less demanding

poehler-bear

No, you're right. It's a lot. How about one movie per week? Each week from a different country? That seems doable.
I'll watch Dark City this week, hopefully.

Aga_darkside

Sounds great

Gelfling

I don't think much of most of French cinema these days but we really did have a great era back in the day. It seems the movies were about people more than they are today. Today they are about the drama.

yep it does.

Yeah I don't know why they did those changes honestly. I don't see the point.

Well things weren't as pretty as in Hollywood but it was still the Golden Era so even poor people were pretty spruced up



I haven't although I heard good things about it. I guess I had reached my quota of Les Miz

Seriously! I have yet to see him in a part in which he didn't make him love the character, no matter how horrible he is.

and you're welcome

by trying to fix things, they create bigger problems.

I'm all for ambition! It's not as if it was a race so even if we only make a few movies a week, that's good

I'm back and I'm all set for the next movie when you girls can see it

Aga_darkside

Yeah it made no sense. I always felt that Javert's background was that one defining thing that shaped his character and world-view.



Yeah I don't mind I don't have time for a proper re-read right now, but I've been reading random passages recently and damn, this book is a masterpiece


I may check it out sometime, but I don't like Depardieu




I wanted to watch it but well I'm living for volleyball these days We're hosting the World Cup and we've just beat Russia and got into semifinals so it's a double win But I'll try to watch it tomorrow.

Btw, Nanda, I see you've watched a movie about Napoleon and Maria Walewska Is it any good?

I've watched 1931's adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde and I must say that it didn't feel like a movie that old, the transformation into Hyde was pretty impressive, though I hated Hyde's appearance besides the transformation. Also, Fredric March

poehler-bear

Maybe we can start by suggesting countries? Or movies. I like the idea of country because less-known things can pop up. I'd just like to veto the US and the UK for obvious reasons.

Either today or tomorrow. Unless I'm too tired then i'll watch it on Saturday.

Awful. I knew the story would become typical Hollywood under the code (and it was even worse that it needed to be) but I wasn't expecting the editing to be so bad. It had no rhythm and it kept cutting at weird moments. Nothing was that interesting, though Garbo looked gorgeous. Costume was nice...

I still haven't watched any Jekyll & Hyde adaptation, but I'm curious about this one. Pre-code!
Oh Fredric March fan? You have to watch Design for Living (with Miriam Hopkins again) and Nothing Sacred, so good!

Aga_darkside

Yeah, it's a good idea to ban US and UK movies this time. So countries? I suggest one movie from Poland, because I'm seriously behind on Polish cinema, I'm sure I can find a movie we can watch that isn't too incomprehensible for foreign audience

That's a shame

Yeah it's pretty clear that it's pre-code, there are some pretty bold scenes, especially one with Miriam Hopkins.

Thanks, I'll watch them! Oh and Design for a Living is a Lubitsch movie, awesome

Gelfling

Aaaaah I've been having internet problems and of course now I'm finally online and it's 4am but I'll post tomorrow, promise