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Post by assisi on May 28, 2020 12:00:56 GMT
I decided to watch 2 related films that I didn't catch first time around, Wall Street (1987), with Michael Douglas and directed by Oliver Stone, and Wolf of Wall Street (2013) with Leonardo Di Caprio and directed by Martin Scorsese.
I was shocked at the content of the Wolf of Wall Street, not just because it was one protracted orgy and drug scene after another, but mainly because it never seemed to take itself seriously at all and any moral lesson it was supposed to communicate, if any, was badly compromised by the tone of the movie. The main protagonists, the immoral cobbled together bunch of lowly speculators and analysts, were nothing more than a group of middle aged slobs acting in a way that would give adolescents a bad name. I'm sure that it would be argued that the tone of the movie was black humour delivered in quick episodic bites, but for me I didn't feel anything but contempt for the rogue dealers and in no way felt that they were likeable rascals. So, for me it was neither moral or comic, it failed on both accounts and left a bad taste. I do think that there is something badly wrong with Martin Scorsese.
Wall Street by comparison came across as a bit more standardised, where the rogue trader protagonist, Charlie Sheen eventually sees the error of his ways, mainly influenced by his honest working class father (played by his real life father Martin Sheen). The movie doesn't have the shock value of the Wolf of Wall Street, but at least you know where you stand.
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Post by Séamus on Jun 8, 2020 3:38:48 GMT
Without having tremendous experience in Bond films,I always find it something of an anomaly that Irish,Welsh,Australian and Scottish actors have taken the perfectly-English part of James. I was just as surprised when recently becoming aware of the 1971 The Snow Goose,that Richard Harris scored this even more patriotic-English part. Even the story's goose had to fly in from a Commonwealth nation,when I'm sure plenty of birds could have blown in from neutral Ireland. Not part of the same D-day mission,but the Royal National Lifeboat Institution recently published archival pictures,as a fundraiser,showing the War-era teams- mostly men in their 50s due to the War's military service. Down can boast a Patrick Murphy who,among other things, rescued 39 men from SS Browning, aground through natural causes,and received at least five medals according to one article published last week.
A recent National Geographic History article indirectly brings up another head-scratcher- why is Amazons-legend-based Wonder Woman depicted as originating from a Greek- or tropical-style island,when the one thing certain about the legendary Amazons is that they were generally enemies of the Greeks and were probably from a cold climate. "Late 2019 researchers from Russia's Institute of Archaeology made a landmark discovery in the Voronezh province of Western Russia:a burial containing four female Scythian fighters,ranging in age from 13 to 40,who fought lived and died on the Steppe of western Russia some 2300years ago...(a woman)was buried with her legs bowed,in the position of a horsewoman,with two spears alongside". No magic bracelet. The proximity to Christ's time might remind us of mention of Scythians in Paul's letter to Colossæ. There's only a slight hint of any conversation to Christianity and one can only wonder how the horsewomen (another 1940s discovery,recently DNA tested, shows ladies with "marks of combat injuries,slashed ribs,fractured skulls and broken arms" - it was no Paradise Island) would have taken to the all-male apostolic leadership- Perhaps peoples like these necessitated the designation of some ladies as deacons of some sort when and if any did convert?
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Post by Séamus on Jun 13, 2020 9:03:19 GMT
I assume those who've put Gone With The Wind on the racism chopping-block are aware that it was responsible for the first AfroAmerican Oscar winner and not without cost- Olivia DeHavilland reportedly ended up in tears at the ceremony after sitting through Vivien's and Hattie's acceptance speeches. If the book and/or film is guilty of racist stereotypes, then racist stereotypes of whom? The Irish could feel just as vilified for being chosen as a representative slave-owning family. Atypical surely. A Fawlty Towers episode is now no longer available for streaming either and Mickey Rooney's role as a Japanese photographer has been cited as derogatory also,but no mention of Breakfast at Tiffany's being withdrawn- brilliant-but-bohemian Capote is usually a figure of the Left- that would be interesting. While it does seem strange to our era that Asian roles would go to Rooney or,elsewhere, Katherine Hepburn (actually The Good Earth book's principal character describes the only caucasian person to appear in the story as some 'type of creature'),I'm still curious,as I may have mentioned before, whether the Japanese character would have really existed in WWII America,when Tiffany's is set. Australia generally detained Japanese and German nationals during the War, including a Japanese cook who worked at a Christian Brothers orphanage and,at least during WwI, German Pallotine missionaries stationed in aboriginal territory. I was unaware until reading an article this week that small Australian city Port Hedland is a corruption of Port Hedlund,founded by a 1850s Swedish migrant whose life sheds light on negative and positive sides of indigenous peoples,having a native Yamatiji daughter-in-law and possibly wife, but being eventually murdered by aboriginal staff in 1881. After his son's death, his grandchildren were raised in a Benedictine monastery,one becoming a famous footballer whose descendants are still represented in the current Australian Football League. With everything else going on in 2020, policemen guarding Churchill's statue in Britain itself is possibly the last thing we'd have expected to be seeing at this point. Whatever relevance his India policy or attitudes has for current AfroAmericans and policeforces,it's always worth thinking about India viewed by England as seen in popular culture,from Bronte's Jane Eyre,where it's seen as a place where a missionary goes to to die, to Wolfe's Mrs Dolloway,where it becomes a political problem discussed in the mansions of the powerful (wonder why Clarissa's ex-lover,about to marry an Indian or Anglo-Indian lady, was given the usually Irish surname of Walsh?)to the Anglican nuns of Black Narcissus,in an India about to farewell the Empire, to Richard Attenborough and his Ghandi. Seeing that several of Boris' cabinet members have obviously had background from the Indian subcontinent,some of the opinions expressed should be worth waiting for.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 7, 2020 11:16:31 GMT
"..........Reading about the early Jesuit missionaries lately has brought to mind the strengths and weaknesses of Jeremy Irons' film The Mission,even though that film was set in a later era than St Joseph Anchieta and the others highlighted in the book,such as Frs Nóbrega or Nunes who were writing letters about the Amazon mission to St Ignatius himself. In particular the mention of a couple of adventurers,like the above-mentioned, who were admitted into the Jesuits in 'Portugese America' at mature age after unsettled lives have a superficial resemblance to Robert DeNiro's character, although there's no mention of either fractricide committed or of these mature age entrants being admitted to the priesthood. Someone who knows canon law quite well assured me that current canonical restrictions blocking anyone guilty of homicide from receiving Holy Orders are longstanding. In a more perfect world,the reality would have made a more interesting blockbuster, remembered fondly for more than the instrumental background or a Rev. Jesuit holding a loveable sloth. Vale- Ennio Morricone who composed the music for this.... his theme for 'The Good,the Bad and the Ugly' would rank among the most recognisable instrumentals of the last century,but,on the copyright holder's behalf,I'd wonder who the 'ugly' actually referred to... If a tough Hispanic Mexican it will beg a cultural sensitivity preamble (though I expect calling an Anglo-American ugly passes muster)
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Post by cato on Jul 7, 2020 21:40:54 GMT
Morricone's album The Mission is one of my favourite piece of music. I recall entering St Peter's Square for a papal Mass for the great jubilee and a recording of Gabriel's Oboe was being played. It's a moment I will always remember. A moment of grace. May he rest in peace.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jul 8, 2020 13:43:48 GMT
Morricone's album The Mission is one of my favourite piece of music. I recall entering St Peter's Square for a papal Mass for the great jubilee and a recording of Gabriel's Oboe was being played. It's a moment I will always remember. A moment of grace. May he rest in peace. I've never seen this film. I actually can't think of many films directly about religion that I've ever liked. I think Groundhog Day might be my favourite "religious" movie! Somehow spirituality seems more effective when it is subtly infused on screen.
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Post by Tomas on Jul 9, 2020 14:19:17 GMT
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Post by cato on Jul 10, 2020 11:19:15 GMT
Morricone's album The Mission is one of my favourite piece of music. I recall entering St Peter's Square for a papal Mass for the great jubilee and a recording of Gabriel's Oboe was being played. It's a moment I will always remember. A moment of grace. May he rest in peace. I've never seen this film. I actually can't think of many films directly about religion that I've ever liked. I think Groundhog Day might be my favourite "religious" movie! Somehow spirituality seems more effective when it is subtly infused on screen. I watched the Mission once many years ago and was a little disapointed. The scenery and music made more of an impact on me than the story. I will try to revisit it soon as the story line of the church and colonial exploitation is yet again controversial. In the Mission at least some Jesuits were on the side of the angels. I agree with your view on religious films. When they try too hard they can become one dimensional pious stories. At the risk of contradicting myself I think it is important serious religious movies are made like Doubt and Silence although neither gained enthusiastic reception in conservative catholic circles. There is a interesting biographical documentary of Saint Patrick on Netflix at present which manages to be educational , thoughtful and respectful all at once and aimed at a wide audience not simply the faithful. Worth watching. I learned a few things and I thought I knew the story fairly well.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 18, 2020 8:44:56 GMT
A review of a recent book (by an Englishman of course) makes much of the inaccuracies of the 90s Private Ryan film "it's not Stephen Spielberg's fault- he was just making a good film- but it undoubtedly overshadowed the the true story,just as did The Longest Day before it....all three service chiefs on D-Day were British...892 of the 1,213 warships were from the Royal Navy....two thirds of the 3,500 aircraft involved were British....3,261 of the landing craft involved were British and two thirds of the men landed on D-Day itself,76 years ago,were British and Canadian" (cf James Holland, Normandy '44,who also wrote the advertising article) Britannia certainly rules for Mr Holland. Maybe it was the Ryan surname that got him? I couldn't help but think of the recent David Copperfield which has Indian, African and Asian actors in roles they couldn't possibly have filled in Victorian England, notwithstanding the Empire indeed having subjects in all these regions. Is it racist to ponder the extend that inclusion should go? India was mentioned several times in the novel,making it not an impossibility to,at the very least,introduce a character from the subcontinent. But I saw something in a news-service recently which highlighted the life of Joshua Johns(t)on, America's first AfricanAmerican artist, active 1790s-1825, former slave-cum-blacksmith,freed in 1782(interestingly,one of his better known works was a portrait of a Captain John Murphy,now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum),which shows the both interesting and inclusive roles and stories of the same or earlier eras that readily exist without changing history from what it simply is.
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Post by assisi on Jul 18, 2020 12:13:32 GMT
A review of a recent book (by an Englishman of course) makes much of the inaccuracies of the 90s Private Ryan film "it's not Stephen Spielberg's fault- he was just making a good film- but it undoubtedly overshadowed the the true story,just as did The Longest Day before it....all three service chiefs on D-Day were British...892 of the 1,213 warships were from the Royal Navy....two thirds of the 3,500 aircraft involved were British....3,261 of the landing craft involved were British and two thirds of the men landed on D-Day itself,76 years ago,were British and Canadian" (cf James Holland, Normandy '44,who also wrote the advertising article) Britannia certainly rules for Mr Holland. Maybe it was the Ryan surname that got him? I couldn't help but think of the recent David Copperfield which has Indian, African and Asian actors in roles they couldn't possibly have filled in Victorian England, notwithstanding the Empire indeed having subjects in all these regions. Is it racist to ponder the extend that inclusion should go? India was mentioned several times in the novel,making it not an impossibility to,at the very least,introduce a character from the subcontinent. But I saw something in a news-service recently which highlighted the life of Joshua Johns(t)on, America's first AfricanAmerican artist, active 1790s-1825, former slave-cum-blacksmith,freed in 1782(interestingly,one of his better known works was a portrait of a Captain John Murphy,now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum),which shows the both interesting and inclusive roles and stories of the same or earlier eras that readily exist without changing history from what it simply is. In all honesty I would not watch a David Copperfield with African and Asian actors as I would see that as not a true representation of what Dickens portrayed. I don't like this over politicised and gesture driven attempt to rewrite literature to make a political point and somehow cast doubt on the integrity of the author or the modern audience. I don't want a moral lesson driven home by a modern liberal who, the majority of whom I read about, don't love minorities at all, but instead have a sizeable chip on their shoulder against tradition and natural order. Similarly I would not watch a movie that had a sassy Tom Cruise playing Nelson Mandela. Or a skinny Christian Bale playing Mahatma Gandhi. Or a mouthy Colin Farrell playing Barack Obama. If people want to see more black people in movies then the thing to do is to make movies about black people's experiences and let the movies live or die in the cinemas or netflix on their merits. I know that black actors like Denzel Washington have produced their own movies which focus on stories related to black people, which is fine. More power to them. But to corrupt historical literature by adhering to some ridiculous attempt at inclusion and diversity aimed at achieving a 'quota' is to ruin the original feel of a movie (or play) by changing the original context and feel.
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Post by cato on Jul 18, 2020 13:13:26 GMT
A review of a recent book (by an Englishman of course) makes much of the inaccuracies of the 90s Private Ryan film "it's not Stephen Spielberg's fault- he was just making a good film- but it undoubtedly overshadowed the the true story,just as did The Longest Day before it....all three service chiefs on D-Day were British...892 of the 1,213 warships were from the Royal Navy....two thirds of the 3,500 aircraft involved were British....3,261 of the landing craft involved were British and two thirds of the men landed on D-Day itself,76 years ago,were British and Canadian" (cf James Holland, Normandy '44,who also wrote the advertising article) Britannia certainly rules for Mr Holland. Maybe it was the Ryan surname that got him. In fairness to James Holland who is a complete world war II nerd that contribution by the British And Commonwealth is pretty impressive.It would also seem to be the last great UK imperial hurrah apart from Suez. James is the brother of Tom Holland the popular classics writer and author of the superb book Dominion on the influence of Christian Civilisation in the modern world. The extras on the D- Day scenes in Saving Private Ryan were the bold boys of the Irish FCA. There were many jokes at the time that this was their greatest military action. The scenes are unforgetably realistic. Alas the FCA are no more .
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Post by Séamus on Jul 27, 2020 8:04:21 GMT
vale- Olivia DeHavilland,who was just recently photographed riding a bike despite being well over 100. Specially adapted design of course. And just as the British PM has appealed to his nation to take up the art of bicycle riding for the sake of health and fitness (!). I'm not sure how frustrating it was for a British citizen to be remembered largely for playing a unbelievably nice Southern Belle,but her Asian birthplace, British background, French residence, earlier working partnership with Tasmanian Errol Flynn (who probably had Irish ancestry)and her actress-sister being Hitchcock's sole best actress Oscar-winner (despite Alfred's working relationship with Grace Kelly) all highlight the international input that always existed,even in an era known as the golden age "of Hollywood". A quote on her Wikipedia entry where she mentioned her interpretation of the role of Melanie as a kind-of preserve of the qualities of femininity was rather unusual for a top artiste of any era...I wonder had she ever heard of St Anne, perennially popular amongst French Catholics,whose feast it was on Sunday, reportedly the day of Olivia's passing? Or of the enigmatic but faithful mother of St James who took centre in the Gospel of her son's feast the day before?
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Post by cato on Jul 27, 2020 16:53:02 GMT
vale- Olivia DeHavilland,who was just recently photographed riding a bike despite being well over 100. Specially adapted design of course. And just as the British PM has appealed to his nation to take up the art of bicycle riding for the sake of health and fitness (!). I'm not sure how frustrating it was for a British citizen to be remembered largely for playing a unbelievably nice Southern Belle,but her Asian birthplace, British background, French residence, earlier working partnership with Tasmanian Errol Flynn (who probably had Irish ancestry)and her actress-sister being Hitchcock's sole best actress Oscar-winner (despite Alfred's working relationship with Grace Kelly) all highlight the international input that always existed,even in an era known as the golden age "of Hollywood". A quote on her Wikipedia entry where she mentioned her interpretation of the role of Melanie as a kind-of preserve of the qualities of femininity was rather unusual for a top artiste of any era...I wonder had she ever heard of St Anne, perennially popular amongst French Catholics,whose feast it was on Sunday, reportedly the day of Olivia's passing? Or of the enigmatic but faithful mother of St James who took centre in the Gospel of her son's feast the day before? Was a little bit suprised to hear she was born in Japan which as we all know makes her 100% Japanese. Anyone who queries this is clearly a hated filled racist who deserves to be publically named , evicted from their job and denied any right of reply.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 28, 2020 4:05:17 GMT
vale- Olivia DeHavilland,who was just recently photographed riding a bike despite being well over 100. Specially adapted design of course. And just as the British PM has appealed to his nation to take up the art of bicycle riding for the sake of health and fitness (!). I'm not sure how frustrating it was for a British citizen to be remembered largely for playing a unbelievably nice Southern Belle,but her Asian birthplace, British background, French residence, earlier working partnership with Tasmanian Errol Flynn (who probably had Irish ancestry)and her actress-sister being Hitchcock's sole best actress Oscar-winner (despite Alfred's working relationship with Grace Kelly) all highlight the international input that always existed,even in an era known as the golden age "of Hollywood". A quote on her Wikipedia entry where she mentioned her interpretation of the role of Melanie as a kind-of preserve of the qualities of femininity was rather unusual for a top artiste of any era...I wonder had she ever heard of St Anne, perennially popular amongst French Catholics,whose feast it was on Sunday, reportedly the day of Olivia's passing? Or of the enigmatic but faithful mother of St James who took centre in the Gospel of her son's feast the day before? Was a little bit suprised to hear she was born in Japan which as we all know makes her 100% Japanese. Anyone who queries this is clearly a hated filled racist who deserves to be publically named , evicted from their job and denied any right of reply. I suppose it's rather amazing that the part of Scarlett was awarded to someone also born on the Asian continent;some might see Leigh as an image of past colonialism. Merle Oberon, of the same era, had insisted that she was Australian,they used to say to hide her Anglo-Indian blood,but now it's said to deflect from her mother's infedelity- apparently an Irish BritishIndian resident was her real father. As bizarre as "Heathcliff,it's me,I'm Cathy" any day.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Nov 3, 2020 13:40:00 GMT
I saw the Martin Scorsese film Silence the other day. I didn't expect to enjoy it but I did. I tend not to enjoy "arty" films, and I expected this to be arty from its reviews-- to have a minimum of story and a lot of long, lingering, wordless scenes. It wasn't really like that, it had a strong plot and lots of dialogue. It also had beautiful cinematography.
As you probably know, it's about two Jesuit missionaries in Japan, during a period of persecution, looking for another Jesuit who is rumoured to have apostatized.
Since it was made by a self-confesed lapsed Catholic, and since the dubious Fr. James Martin SJ was an advisor, I expected it to be liberal propaganda. I didn't think it was, though. It's left to the viewer to decide what to make of the existential and religious questions the film raises. I doubt I will ever watch it again, but it was nice to see a film that takes religion seriously.
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