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Post by assisi on Jul 11, 2019 14:17:29 GMT
I went to see "Yesterday" yesterday. It's a film about some chap finding himself in a world where the Beatles never existed. He passes off their songs as his own and becomes a mega-star. There is a love interest as well, of course. It was pretty good, feelgood and formulaic. I think it could have been better, though. I've often found myself wondering if great works of art/entertainment would always be just as successful whenever they appeared, or whether timing and context is a major part of it. If the Beatles appeared today, would they be just as successful? If Yeats was writing today, would he be published? The story could also have delved into questions of originality and imagination and authenticity, but it didn't really. The cultural legacy of the Beatles wasn't really addressed, either. Personally I think this can be overstated, and that, if it hadn't been the Beatles, it would have been some other band who were the flag-bearers of 1960s youth culture. It's interesting that you can see the liberal-conservative divide even within the Beatles; John Lennon was a revolutionary who despised Paul McCartney's hymns to domestic comfort (like When I'm Sixty-Four), describing them as "granny s---". This is what Paul Johnson had to say about Beatlemania at the time. His predictions were hardly accurate, but I think there is something to be said for his perspective. The film is worth going to see. (Incidentally, do you say "movies"? A female friend used to take me to task for this, saying it was an Americanism.) Malcolm Muggeridge included the Beatles as part and parcel of the decadent 1960s and the moral decline which followed. But I'm not sure they were the were the worst proponents of that era. As you say Lennon was a paid up member of the hippie generation, McCartney was much less political (although he did have a song 'Give Ireland back to the Irish'). George Harrison was what I call a 'seeker', trying to find direction through Christianity and eastern religions. Ringo wasn't really political or religious at all. At the time the Beatles were the top group. But close behind were the Rolling Stones and then a plethora of others (Kinks, Beach Boys, Pink Floyd et al.). But they were there on musical merit as well as their teenybop allure. If they were around now they would be head and shoulders above anything else due to their songwriting ability, which was incredible. I think the more important question is if the Beatles (or Yeats) were young men in 2019 would they be as artistically fruitful? And the answer would probably be no. New Millennial Yeats would not receive an education that was suffused by classical cultures, myths and other such influences. And I can't see a Millennial Paul McCartney writing Eleanor Rigby.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 12, 2019 11:51:27 GMT
I went to see "Yesterday" yesterday. It's a film about some chap finding himself in a world where the Beatles never existed. He passes off their songs as his own and becomes a mega-star. There is a love interest as well, of course. It was pretty good, feelgood and formulaic. I think it could have been better, though. I've often found myself wondering if great works of art/entertainment would always be just as successful whenever they appeared, or whether timing and context is a major part of it. If the Beatles appeared today, would they be just as successful? If Yeats was writing today, would he be published? The story could also have delved into questions of originality and imagination and authenticity, but it didn't really. The cultural legacy of the Beatles wasn't really addressed, either. Personally I think this can be overstated, and that, if it hadn't been the Beatles, it would have been some other band who were the flag-bearers of 1960s youth culture. It's interesting that you can see the liberal-conservative divide even within the Beatles; John Lennon was a revolutionary who despised Paul McCartney's hymns to domestic comfort (like When I'm Sixty-Four), describing them as "granny s---". This is what Paul Johnson had to say about Beatlemania at the time. His predictions were hardly accurate, but I think there is something to be said for his perspective. The film is worth going to see. (Incidentally, do you say "movies"? A female friend used to take me to task for this, saying it was an Americanism.) Malcolm Muggeridge included the Beatles as part and parcel of the decadent 1960s and the moral decline which followed. But I'm not sure they were the were the worst proponents of that era. As you say Lennon was a paid up member of the hippie generation, McCartney was much less political (although he did have a song 'Give Ireland back to the Irish'). George Harrison was what I call a 'seeker', trying to find direction through Christianity and eastern religions. Ringo wasn't really political or religious at all. At the time the Beatles were the top group. But close behind were the Rolling Stones and then a plethora of others (Kinks, Beach Boys, Pink Floyd et al.). But they were there on musical merit as well as their teenybop allure. If they were around now they would be head and shoulders above anything else due to their songwriting ability, which was incredible. I think the more important question is if the Beatles (or Yeats) were young men in 2019 would they be as artistically fruitful? And the answer would probably be no. New Millennial Yeats would not receive an education that was suffused by classical cultures, myths and other such influences. And I can't see a Millennial Paul McCartney writing Eleanor Rigby. I actually just read something recently about this,possibly in relation to the movie's release,which took the opposite veiw:that The Beatles would have never made it without being the subcultural symbols and icons that they became. But I can't recall where the article was or whether I still have it (my youngest niece is staying with us at present, so most of my spare communication time is used playing cards right now) (and she's more interested in SecretLivesOfPets1&2). I can recall during the 90s when NewAge was a big story,both for and against,Ringo Starr was mentioned as one proponent of the eastern meditations,etc. But he did voice Thomas the TankEngine,which was the creation of an Anglican minister- a small thing I know,but, like Swift,you'd imagine somebody trying to divorce modern culture altogether from faith would white-wash contributions like this? Richard Page has toured with Starr in recent years also,which is of interest. Although he's the son of a Protestant minister Mr.Mister (his original group) had the rather Catholic inspired KYRIE as an American #1 and had an interesting scene in the BROKEN WINGS video of Page in a chapel. That particular song had the unusual pop distinction of being poetically (Gibran) inspired. And the band,despite saying they weren't religious when Kyrie was released did record some Gospel shortly after that
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jul 13, 2019 7:42:43 GMT
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Post by cato on Jul 28, 2019 19:36:17 GMT
I passed the ruins of the old Screen Cinema in Dublin today. It was demolished a few days ago. I always remembered the large screen with old fashioned scarlet curtains but it looks strangely small and insignificant now that it has been reduced to rubble. Seeing a building used to give pleasure to so many vanish brings out the melancholic in me. The bronze statue of a uniformed ussher that was outside was rescued and is now in the cinema on O Connell Street.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jul 29, 2019 12:38:36 GMT
I passed the ruins of the old Screen Cinema in Dublin today. It was demolished a few days ago. I always remembered the large screen with old fashioned scarlet curtains but it looks strangely small and insignificant now that it has been reduced to rubble. Seeing a building used to give pleasure to so many vanish brings out the melancholic in me. The bronze statue of a uniformed ussher that was outside was rescued and is now in the cinema on O Connell Street. It's very sad, but I'm glad the statue has been saved. Funnily enough, I'm reading Seats in All Parts: Half a Lifetime at the Movies, by Leslie Halliwell. He was a prolific English film critic who died in 1989, and who is particularly suitable to be mentioned on this forum since he had a reputation for nostalgia and dislike of modern trends in cinema! Anyway, the book describes his cinema-going from early childhood to...well, I haven't finished it, but I'm at least two-thirds through and he's just reached the post-war years, so I'm guessing it's not up to the time he was writing it, in 1980. What's extraordinary is the detail with which he recalls the various cinemas he attended and the circumstances under which he saw various movies. He writes about carpets, furnishings, lighting, advertising, staff, projection, and all sorts of particulars. It's particularly extraordinary considering there were many more cinemas back then, and he made it his mission to go to as many as he could. There are all sorts of interesting little facts; for instance, today we are all used to cinemas showing more or less the same movies at the same time, but there was a time when cinemas in each town competed to show the more popular films, and each cinema would have a different bill at any given time. One of the things I like about cinema is how it combines the general with the particular. When a film hits the cinemas, it's a shared experience for thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, but everybody sees it in slightly different circumstances, depending on the cinema and the audience and the time, etc.
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Post by Séamus on Aug 3, 2019 8:08:31 GMT
I passed the ruins of the old Screen Cinema in Dublin today. It was demolished a few days ago. I always remembered the large screen with old fashioned scarlet curtains but it looks strangely small and insignificant now that it has been reduced to rubble. Seeing a building used to give pleasure to so many vanish brings out the melancholic in me. The bronze statue of a uniformed ussher that was outside was rescued and is now in the cinema on O Connell Street. It's very sad, but I'm glad the statue has been saved. Funnily enough, I'm reading Seats in All Parts: Half a Lifetime at the Movies, by Leslie Halliwell. He was a prolific English film critic who died in 1989, and who is particularly suitable to be mentioned on this forum since he had a reputation for nostalgia and dislike of modern trends in cinema! Anyway, the book describes his cinema-going from early childhood to...well, I haven't finished it, but I'm at least two-thirds through and he's just reached the post-war years, so I'm guessing it's not up to the time he was writing it, in 1980. What's extraordinary is the detail with which he recalls the various cinemas he attended and the circumstances under which he saw various movies. He writes about carpets, furnishings, lighting, advertising,... etc. Coincidentally,Australia lost a similar figure,with similar tastes, in June this year. Bill Collins,whose career as an expert on Hollywood's 'Golden Age' (although he also reviewed current films through the years) saw him hosting shows at different times for all the country's networks with spots of uni lecturing also. As matter of interest he rated his favourites (in order) Gone With the Wind, The Band Wagon, The Wizard of Oz,Vertigo and All About Eve- the closest to an Irish-inspired film as #8 The Picture of Dorian Grey with Angela Lansbury. Unusual for a critic to rank a Fred Astaire so high and not to include Citizen Kane in his favourite ten. Speaking of New South Wales,did I mention St Christopher's church Sydney before,turned into Catholic church in the 60s having been built,around WWII I think,as a cinema ? Consecrated finally last year,apparently. Going by images in their diocesan paper it's appearance is far from horrifying,even for those of us who complain that new churches look like cinemas
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Post by cato on Sept 11, 2019 20:19:38 GMT
I went to see Marianne and Leonard today. It's a documentary on the romance between the womanising Canadian singer Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian lover Marianne Ihlen. It largely centres on the bohemian artistic community on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s.It was the era of heavy drug use , cheap foreign living in a beautiful environment, and open "relationships".
Most of those interviewed were now in their 70s and they look it. The documentary didn't shy away from the mental toll and the destructive impact on children of all the bed hopping. Marianne aborted several of Cohen's children as obviously they were not meant to be part of this idyllic Greek paradise. At times the lifestyle did sound hellish as people sank into more and more depravity. Heavy use of drugs like acid and speed suggests very troubled souls.
I do like Cohen's music and I always knew he was no saint. His vices are on full display in this movie. We do see a few references to his wealthy Jewish roots and his time as a Buddhist monk in his later years. I was fortunate enough to attend one of his final Irish contacts and was impressed by his reverence towards the audience . He also struck me as a strangely humble man.
Marianne and Leonard broke up after 8 years but got back into contact occasionally. They died 3 months apart. An interesting movie about a mad time which helped mould our present world. And the music is great.
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Post by cato on Jan 22, 2020 13:51:01 GMT
A Hidden Life directed by Terrence Malick is a cinematic meditation on the life of the Austrian Catholic Franz Jagerstatter who resisted compulsory service in the German Werhmacht in World War II. It is an art house movie and runs to 173 minutes but it deals with issues of Martyrdom , conscience , duties to God , family and the state. It looks beautifully filmed in the Austrian mountain village of St. Radegund.
Jagerstatter is in some ways a model for Christians and conservatives today in a Western world that is becoming more and more hostile to traditional values. I haven't seen this film yet and it is only available in a limited amount of venues for a short run. I will post my impressions here after I see it.
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Post by cato on Jan 30, 2020 17:23:57 GMT
I went to see A Hidden Life today at my local cinema. It was the very last showing and I had the entire cinema to myself which always makes me feel slightly guilty. The film was almost three hours in length. It's a really beautiful , moving work of art steeped in biblical references woven seamlessly into the story of a married couple torn apart by the refusal of a young man to take an oath of loyalty to the Anti-Christ (Hitler).
I had heard how arty this film was but it didnt have any of the annoying quirks or silly self importance of many art house movies. The Nazi vision is compared with an Idyllic Austrian rural paradise , Hitler is in his mountain lair a few miles away from this peaceful stunningly beautiful mountain village. There is much to say about this meditation on family , community , country , duty , conscience , faith and martyrdom.
This is a great film. Go and see it. I 'll post more thoughts later.
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Post by cato on Oct 4, 2020 14:56:21 GMT
The giant Cineworld franchise looks like it's going to close or rather not reopen in Ireland and the UK. I wasn't a fan of its Dublin operation on Parnell St as it struck me as factory like and overly anonymous. Still it drew in the public especially youngsters and we generally get the cinema bug by starting with going to a Disney , a Marvel or a Bond movie.
A sad day for all the staff who will lose their jobs and another casualty of the Great Covid Breakdown.
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Post by Tomas on Oct 5, 2020 8:52:16 GMT
I saw the immensely surprising intelligent mystery-comedy Dean Spanley at home Friday evening. Bought it by chance and was hugely happy after seeing it. Never seen such a script and lovely play in years. Important not to let go any spoiler. Only saying it is a great movie. Small moves, yet great fun. Maybe it was Peter O´Tooles last appearance in a long career? Sam Neill had another lead role, as the odd dean, and it fit like a glove!
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Post by kj on Oct 5, 2020 18:49:34 GMT
I watched Ad Astra a bit back and really enjoyed it. In spite of looking on the surface like a sci-fi vehicle for Brad Pitt, t's really a religious movie. At times I was put in mind of Tarkovsky and Malick, and it also reminded me a fair bit of Soderbergh's Solaris. Ignore the moronic reviews on IMDB. NOTE: The second half of the article below contains major spoilers, but I'm really posting it for the headline. Ad Astra is about lonely Brad Pitt in space. It’s also about an absent God.
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Post by Séamus on Oct 12, 2020 2:38:49 GMT
The giant Cineworld franchise looks like it's going to close or rather not reopen in Ireland and the UK. I wasn't a fan of its Dublin operation on Parnell St as it struck me as factory like and overly anonymous. Still it drew in the public especially youngsters and we generally get the cinema bug by starting with going to a Disney , a Marvel or a Bond movie. A sad day for all the staff who will lose their jobs and another casualty of the Great Covid Breakdown. We can probably learn from Jon Bon Jovi's recent surmise that Bono would have been bashed by Orangemen as a youth that superstars can fail to make intelligent guesses,but a few producers have predicted that virus restrictions will bring an end to cinema altogether. Whatever of that, last month there was an interesting side effect in Western Australia to Marvel's and James Bond's no-shows with some mainstream cinemas showing the 2020 release FATIMA for want of anything else (perhaps prodding from Catholic parishes also). Plenty of traditional Catholics picked faults out,but the fact that a mostly Portuguese cast could seemingly recreate scenes in modern Europe with backdrops that looked no different to 1917 and having Andre Bocelli on board makes a generally positive statement. Our Lady could possibly have been a bit brighter at times. Statements by Bernadette could lead to an interpretation of an ordinary looking Mary at Lourdes,but the Fatima apparition did always seem to look heavenly,perhaps a necessary thing at the beginning of modern warfare. A bit more aura at times wouldn't have gone astray.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Oct 12, 2020 9:09:09 GMT
The giant Cineworld franchise looks like it's going to close or rather not reopen in Ireland and the UK. I wasn't a fan of its Dublin operation on Parnell St as it struck me as factory like and overly anonymous. Still it drew in the public especially youngsters and we generally get the cinema bug by starting with going to a Disney , a Marvel or a Bond movie. A sad day for all the staff who will lose their jobs and another casualty of the Great Covid Breakdown. We can probably learn from Jon Bon Jovi's recent surmise that Bono would have been bashed by Orangemen as a youth that superstars can fail to make intelligent guesses,but a few producers have predicted that virus restrictions will bring an end to cinema altogether. Whatever of that, last month there was an interesting side effect in Western Australia to Marvel's and James Bond's no-shows with some mainstream cinemas showing the 2020 release FATIMA for want of anything else (perhaps prodding from Catholic parishes also). Plenty of traditional Catholics picked faults out,but the fact that a mostly Portuguese cast could seemingly recreate scenes in modern Europe with backdrops that looked no different to 1917 and having Andre Bocelli on board makes a generally positive statement. Our Lady could possibly have been a bit brighter at times. Statements by Bernadette could lead to an interpretation of an ordinary looking Mary at Lourdes,but the Fatima apparition did always seem to look heavenly,perhaps a necessary thing at the beginning of modern warfare. A bit more aura at times wouldn't have gone astray. Personally I was impressed that Jon Bon Jovi had even heard of Orangemen! The first record I ever owned as Slippery When Wet by Jon Bon Jovi. I didn't buy it-- my sister's boyfriend gave it to me.
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Post by Séamus on Oct 14, 2020 4:26:44 GMT
We can probably learn from Jon Bon Jovi's recent surmise that Bono would have been bashed by Orangemen as a youth that superstars can fail to make intelligent guesses,but a few producers have predicted that virus restrictions will bring an end to cinema altogethe.... etc.... Personally...etc... The first record I ever owned as Slippery When Wet by Jon Bon Jovi. I didn't buy it-- my sister's boyfriend gave it to me. I've only ever been familiar with the bigger hits but,in hindsight,the lyrics "... union's been on strike,he's down on his luck.." was a contrast to some of the more government-blaming music of just before that time,if we think of the Flying Pickets raising money for anti-Conservative protesters in Britain or Simply Red making it big in the US by singing against 'Reaganomics'. Perhaps Bon Jovi were being as reactionary about this as they were about the synthpop music and dress of the time. One newspaper printed a 1914 poem last week by American Sara Teasdale containing the verse: Lyric night of the lingering Indian summer Shadowy fields that are Scentless but full of singing Never a bird but the Passionless chant of insects Ceaseless, insistent.... Worth contemplating a pre-Hollywood, Fox, Disney America,where people could miss the presence of a bird without recourse to to watching David Attenborough team up with the Cambridges on Netflix. Maybe covid can least teach us to listen to the bugs again?
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