SCFZ

15 Dickson, can't help with the others but close with del Ruth so hopefully next time

Hugely mixed feelings, has made some great films but much of his critically lauded stuff is trite. So I'll vote for these two....

1. Bad Timing
2. The Witches

with two people with 10+ del ruth, and one with 6, i think with the newer more relaxed criteria, i'd be happy to run that poll if bure or someone else has also seen 6+. i just want to be sure enough people can participate to make it worthwhile.

failing that, dickson will clearly work, and i would have thought lewis would be good, that's a poll i'd love to have, but so far doesn't seem like he's got enough viewership

i have 6 del ruth

I have :
Joseph H. Lewis -9, W.K.L Dickson -1, Roy Del Ruth-1

01. The Witches (1990)
02. Castaway (1986)

Roeg seen: 4


I also have
Roy Del Ruth: 2
Joseph H. Lewis: 1
W.K.L Dickson: 1

flip wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 6:56 pm

Caracortada wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 6:20 pm Worst: The Witches or How to Ruin a Roald Dahl adaptation.

I haven't seen The Witches, but The Sound of Claudia Schiffer might be the worst thing I've ever seen.

I've seen Roeg's first seven features, then only two later works, and I'm curious if there's anything worthwhile in his later period (1990 onwards).

Now you've made me curious for The Sound of Claudia Schiffer.

nrh wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 7:29 pm

flip wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 6:56 pm I haven't seen The Witches, but The Sound of Claudia Schiffer might be the worst thing I've ever seen.

I've seen Roeg's first seven features, then only two later works, and I'm curious if there's anything worthwhile in his later period (1990 onwards).

but i've been (morbidly?) curious about the later works too

I'ven seen the last 10 minutes of his "Heart of Darkness" movie on TV by chance, and they were fantastic. Only found out it was Roeg afterwards. Haven't seen the (whole) film yet, though.

Performance is a great example of a terrible Anglophone copy of a respected Euro art film. Awful film. Have never understood the praise or tolerance for it.

I rewatched The Witches recently and it plays like a TV movie at times and a bad auteurist piece. Don't Look Now has some great scenes but still not a fan. So yeh, Roeg is not for me.

1.Walkabout
2.The Man Who Fell To Earth

Don't Look Now
Track 29
The Man Who Fell To Earth

Seen 8 Joseph H Lewis, if that's still an issue.

Ok. I watched The Sound of Claudia Schiffer. It's very silly, but I'm predisposed that type of stuff. I went to a very conceptual art school and have seen more than my fair share of 2nd and 3rd rate video art, so I can stomach it.

Would absolutely not make any list of mine, but I got just enough of a kick out of it to merit the 15 minutes.

I watched Eureka. Certainly one of his most idiosyncratic despite being a little termed down as far as kinetics go. Really loved a big chunk of it. Kind of baffled by another chunk of it. It's not going on the list, but one of the most interesting I've seen of his for sure.

eureka is a truly strange film - the idea that the hackman character's life peaks when he makes his fortune (and in some ways the movie peaks in those crazy opening few minute) means that the rest of the film is just inevitable decline, into tortured family melodrama, and the clashing acting styles are either fascinating or a total disaster depending on how the film sits with you. still always remember hackman bellowing "jack mccann never made a dollar on another man's sweat!" (i think that's the quote)...

It's a fascinating mess, but I wouldn't say it's good.

Yeah... the opening is completely hypnotic and bizarre in a wonderful way. It starts almost like a Carpenter picture with this sense of foreboding and gruesome practical effects, then we get the island which is a bit tricky to parse, but I kind of like the way that drama builds in its own way. But the melodrama centered around Teresa Russel for the last 25 minutes (which honestly felt like an hour) is so weird, and feels like its just trying to verbally summarize the themes of the first two parts. Really doesn't work for me.
It really suffers whenever Hackman's not onscreen, which is unfortunately kind of a lot. But when he is onscreen its magical and just ambiguous enough for my tastes.

jack mccann never made a dollar on another man's sweat!" (i think that's the quote)...

Love it. Watching him in Alaska then menacing Hauer with a butcher knife screaming this. That's a perfectly absurd and effective piece of filmmaking.

1. Don't Look Now
2. Walkabout

I've seen 4 of Roeg's films.

if you plotted year of release against poll points, you'd get a plummeting curve, not sure we've polled another director with such a vivid and uninterrupted decline. maybe roeg's late career will get reappraised one day, but none of his ten or so credits after the witches got any support at all:

results

1. Don't Look Now (1973) -- 41 pts
2. Walkabout (1971) -- 33 pts
3. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) -- 22 pts
4. Bad Timing (1980) -- 16 pts
5. Performance (1970) -- 11 pts
6. Eureka (1983) -- 9 pts
7. Insignificance (1985) -- 8 pts
8. The Witches (1990) -- 3 pts
8. Glastonbury Fayre (1972) -- 3 pts
10. Track 29 (1988) -- 2 pts
10. Castaway (1986) -- 2 pts

posted to lbox:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-208/