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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
1951 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Something actually I watched recently — my girlfriend hadn’t seen it yet — A Streetcar Named Desire. I’m a huge Marlon Brando fan, as a lot of actors are. I know it’s a cliché, but obviously there are many performances of Brando’s that are just exquisite, but there’s something about that performance as Stanley in Streetcar that I think is just so raw and electric, as everybody says. I’m not saying anything that anybody hasn’t said before, so excuse my banter, but you just cannot take your eyes off him. I think as a young male actor at the time, when I first started seeing that film, you just wanted to deliver everything that he could deliver, and of course, none of us can. I certainly can’t, but the envy that I would feel for him, as well as the thrill of watching what he could do, was so mixed up in my head and my body that I just go back to that film every couple of years and watch it again. Obviously, Tennessee Williams is such a wonderful writer, and we all understand, I think, those powerful emotions that exist within families, and those things that seem very subtle at one point that can then be the breakdown of a family. I just think the combination of his writing and Brando’s performance is just exquisite. It’s really exquisite."

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Danny Boyle recommended Apocalypse Now (1979) in Movies (curated)

 
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
1979 | Action, Drama, War

"Always, and always number one for me in every list is Apocalypse Now. There are lots of reasons. It’s imperfect; which every film should be. I love action movies. I believe in motion, in the motion picture industry. And Apocalypse Now is the ultimate action movie. Firstly, it’s the only period film you’ll ever watch where nobody ever says it still ‘stands up after 30 years.’ Every other film — like Alien, and I’m a huge fan of Alien, I even did some promotion for it when they re-released it — the main thing you say are phrases like “Even after 25 years it still stands up.” You never have to use that (phrase) for Apocalypse Now. Everyone always just says: “Wow.” The second reason it’s the ultimate action movie is every time it stops moving it’s weird and unnatural and disturbing. Everytime it stops moving: they stop to collect mushrooms, they get attacked by a tiger; they stop and watch the playboy bunnies arriving; the boat stops and they end up shooting these people over a puppy in a little boat. And it stops, of course, with the ultimate stop: When he (Martin Sheen) meets Marlon Brando, Colonel Kurtz at the end. You can tell by how unnatural the stops are, how natural an action movie it is."

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The Cotton Club (1984)
The Cotton Club (1984)
1984 | Drama, Musical
Richard Gere has made a lot of forgettable movies
Really. Seriously. If you think about it. The guy has been acting since the early 70s and he is mostly remembered for Chicago and Pretty Woman. Honorable mentions maybe to Officer and a Gentleman, Primal Fear or American Gigolo.

Director Francis Ford Coppola I'm sure was hoping to recreate the magic of the 1920s/1930s jazz club gangster era as he did with The Godfather in this film and it just didn't work. It seemed I just didn't care about the characters nearly as much and the case just wasn't up to it. Any time you have James Remar is your main bad guy in a film you are in trouble.

The highlight of the film for me was all the great jazz music, large vaudeville song and dance numbers and great tap dancing scenes with the great Gregory Hines. It was cool to see a very young "Larry" Fishburne and lots of other people you know from other movies, but it just wasn't enough. Nicolas Cage overacting (I know what a shocker) and over the top violence just to have over the top violence.

You won't find the caliber of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall or James Caan here.

I really wanted to love this film as it has been on my "to watch" list for a long time; however, I was ultimately disappointed.

  
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen
1973 | Compilation
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is Bruce’s first album and probably one of his best. There’s a richness and naïvety on this record that ends up in these lyrical paintings that speak something dear to my heart. It’s about my home, and it’s in a language I understand. I always felt like this was “our” record. The people like “us” who were outcasts growing up. It’s one part Dylan, one part Van Morrison, and then there’s this Marlon Brando part that encapsulates the beautiful losers. There aren’t any winners on this record, only people in “Lost in the Flood.” Even the brighter moments have a sadness to them. “Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” says it well: “Drink this and you’ll grow wings on your feet.” Since reality is so hard, at some point the fantasy takes over. Fantasy, and die hard belief in a different life just over the horizon. It’s that fantasy of rock and roll that some people are too affected to believe in anymore. But this record helps me keep the faith in the childlike wonder of music, and rock and roll in particular. This was my rulebook starting out writing songs. It still is. For the lost, for the lovers, for the crazies, and everyone in between—""For You."" It was like he was saying to me and everyone I knew who lost but believed in spite of those losses, you could still win. “I came for you.”"

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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
1951 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando. I just want to put there. All these movies that I’ve listed, including Casablanca, you have flavors, which I like it. Drama. Comedy. And again, we may argue back and forth about what is drama, what is a comedy, right? What is melodrama? The Room never did melodrama. The thing what I listed all the movies, they’re not melodrama, they are relate to real life. Streetcar Named Desire, for example, you have, my understanding was, the time the movie was made, the main characters, Brando and… He actually raped the girl. And they cut this on the movie. That’s my understanding, that it was part of the script. So this is again saying that Streetcar Named Desire give us some evidence that people were still cautious what we present in the big screen that certain ideas or situation between two people, you cannot do it. Today’s society, as you know, we go extra miles. The Room is perfect example. We show the nudity, we show the certain stuff, because I myself, I was struggling as a filmmaker, as a director, how I present the scene. Same, you see, if you look at Casablanca, a relationship between two main characters, how they, you see… I love it, black and white movies. Sometimes you can educate yourself that you don’t have to physically show it, sexuality, but it’s there because you can feel it. Now, just because of our culture, I decided to say, “Hey, we go extra miles.” And I was struggling with this. You see, I had talked to Greg. I don’t know if he remembered but I said, “Hey, okay, is it Johnny naked or not?” I said — and I was so frustrated — and I say, “Hell with everything because I don’t know how… I want to be real as much I can.” Even though people say… Remember, The Room, and is again, The Room is supposed to be play. People forget that; they are short-handed. [laughs] I don’t want to be too negative, but that’s the history of The Room. So I will say, originally I was supposed to… I wanted to put into play, but it didn’t come out right. Actually it come out better because more people can see it. That’s basically what happen."

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