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30 minutes ago, TCP said:

 

Yeah I read that Clarice isn't very good, though it's early in its run. Supposedly Hannibal is great so I think that might be the next show we watch. Is 86 Manhunter any good?? They essentially remade it with Hopkins in the early 00s right?

Manhunter is terrific! Michael Mann directed that and Brian Cox plays Hannibal Lecter. Yes, that was remade into Red Dragon (the name of the novel) which came out in 2002 with Anthony Hopkins. Actually, a year before that we finally got the Silence Of The Lambs sequel Hannibal which was without Jodie Foster and directed by Ridley Scott. Julianne Moore took over the role of Clarice. The only thing that I remember about Hannibal was a scene with Ray Liotta that almost made me pass out in the theater. 
 

My favorite Jonathan Demme film is Something Wild. 

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20 hours ago, TCP said:

Jonathan Demme, who I always thought of as a documentarian due to his movies with Neil Young did an utterly fantastic job.


I've been a huge Demme fan since the late '80s. He surely made many great docs (Stop Making Sense is a landmark), but he is perhaps better known for his narrative features. Both Philadelphia and Silence of the Lambs made massive cultural waves (Silence swept all five major Oscars!). Even better, to my eyes, is 1986's Something Wild, which was my introduction to Demme and ranks among the greatest of American movies. I don't want to write an essay here, so I'll just say that there must have been a divine alchemy at work in Something Wild--how did one film get so lucky with its perfect script, perfect casting, and perfect choice of director? Everything sparks, including its mesmerizing tonal shifts, but one of the things I most cherish about the film is what happens on the margins. Demme consistently presents a view of America and her people that is honest, weird, egalitarian, lived-in, and totally sublime. And the music fucking rules.

Back to Lambs, though... maybe it's my age speaking, but I actually miss lengthy credit sequences that used the time and space to artistically set the narrative table (tone, exposition, etc.). In the case of Lambs, that sequence strikes me as totally brilliant. The visuals inform the viewer of exactly who Clarice is and how this male-dominated agency completely discounts her. (She is dwarfed by the tall men, and the only person who actually seems to acknowledge her--and earn a glowing smile in return--is a fellow female.) The culmination is a careful shot of Clarice hurrying to catch an elevator: Once inside, the composition and lighting call attention to her marginalized status, as she stands, tiny in a gray sweatshirt, against a backdrop of nine men (yeah, I went back and counted!), all of them towering over her in identical red shirts. The point is clear: She isn't one of them. Then the door closes.

EDIT: Below, I added a screenshot of the elevator shot.

Long ago I read an essay by Amy Taubin about the movie. Allow me to simply present a relevant portion here:

TAUBIN: 

In one of the great opening sequences in narrative-movie history, Demme places Clarice on a rough path through a thicket of towering trees. An early-morning mist envelops their gnarled branches, nearly obscuring Clarice, who appears in the distance, rising as if she’s reached the top of an unseen hill and continuing her run straight toward us. Demme’s crane-mounted moving camera avoids so many traps. It doesn’t stalk Clarice from behind, or secretively peer at her through the tree trunks. It is simply her mirror—thus, we are her mirror—as she tests her endurance and agility on this FBI training course that is also the forest of children’s nightmares. Clarice is concentrated on the task at hand, but the gloomy setting, the threatening sounds all around her, and, most of all, Howard Shore’s score, with its Mahler-like surging melodies and yearning harmonies driven by an ominously accelerating bass line, speak to inchoate fears and desires and barely repressed feelings of abandonment and loss—everything she tries to vanquish with her commitment to law and order. Demme’s direction, the mise-en-scène, and the score magnify Clarice’s interiority, but even without them, these feelings would be evident in Foster’s every glance and gesture. It is a complicated, perfectly calibrated performance, most expressive in its reticence and refusal of accommodation. The film could not exist without her. Clarice’s solitary run is interrupted—just as she comes face-to-face with a sign bearing the FBI’s injunction “Hurt, Agony, Pain, Love It, Pride”—by a male superior who tells her that Crawford, their boss, wants to see her. As Clarice runs off, Demme holds on his face, his puzzled expression the first example of the reaction to her from every man whose path she will cross: What is this alien being doing here?

 

Lambs.jpg

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18 hours ago, Beltmann said:

Even better, to my eyes, is 1986's Something Wild, which was my introduction to Demme and ranks among the greatest of American movies. I don't want to write an essay here, so I'll just say that there must have been a divine alchemy at work in Something Wild--how did one film get so lucky with its perfect script, perfect casting, and perfect choice of director? Everything sparks, including its mesmerizing tonal shifts, but one of the things I most cherish about the film is what happens on the margins. Demme consistently presents a view of America and her people that is honest, weird, egalitarian, lived-in, and totally sublime. And the music fucking rules.

 

I haven't thought about this movie for a long time. I loved it as well. IIRC, it was kind of marketed as a quirky comedy, so when Ray Liotta's character was introduced, I was taken on an incredible, and completely unexpected thrilling, intense ride. Watched it several times after my initial viewing. Haven't seen it in a LONG time.

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15 hours ago, uncool2pillow said:

I haven't thought about this movie for a long time. I loved it as well. IIRC, it was kind of marketed as a quirky comedy, so when Ray Liotta's character was introduced, I was taken on an incredible, and completely unexpected thrilling, intense ride. Watched it several times after my initial viewing. Haven't seen it in a LONG time.

 

I agree with both of you on your love for Something Wild.  I remember seeing it in the theater right when it came out, and I had no expectations walking in.  As you said, it's a quirky and funny road trip movie until suddenly it is not.  I remember going back to the theater about a week later to see it again.  

 

I had also just gotten into the Feelies and they show up as the band at the reunion (as the Willies).  Demme later did a video for their song Away.

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16 hours ago, uncool2pillow said:

I haven't thought about this movie for a long time. I loved it as well. IIRC, it was kind of marketed as a quirky comedy, so when Ray Liotta's character was introduced, I was taken on an incredible, and completely unexpected thrilling, intense ride. Watched it several times after my initial viewing. Haven't seen it in a LONG time.

 

That performance got him the Goodfellas gig. 

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The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - Series 1

 

A very welcome reshowing on Auntie Beeb of the iconic late 70s surreal comedy starring Leonard Rossiter.

The series that spawned the most quotable lines for schoolboys in the period between Monty Python and The Fast Show. ("I didn't get where I am today ...", "Great/Super", "Cock up on the ... front", etc.)

Even stranger to me now that I live amongst some of the locations when at the time it was all off in that far off land of London commuter belt, not to mention now being of an age to appreciate a mid life crisis (Have never imagined my mother in law as a hippo though).

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Ok

17 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - Series 1

 

A very welcome reshowing on Auntie Beeb of the iconic late 70s surreal comedy starring Leonard Rossiter.

The series that spawned the most quotable lines for schoolboys in the period between Monty Python and The Fast Show. ("I didn't get where I am today ...", "Great/Super", "Cock up on the ... front", etc.)

Even stranger to me now that I live amongst some of the locations when at the time it was all off in that far off land of London commuter belt, not to mention now being of an age to appreciate a mid life crisis (Have never imagined my mother in law as a hippo though).

 

This show sounds very intriguing! 🤣

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6 hours ago, kidsmoke said:

Ok

 

This show sounds very intriguing! 🤣

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/aug/10/david-nobbs-reginald-perrin-drama-sitcom

 

Some good soul has put them on YouTube

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS7VWQfelyM&list=PLm-XJrnsc1Gq81E1kDjfB9cvALgEIbg9l

 

 

 

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Definitely fair point about the opening credits setting the mood and giving information about how Clarice is viewed/treated by the rest of the FBI. That elevator shot says a lot. 

 

I'm watching Hannibal, the NBC show, right now and while sometimes it feels like a police procedural, it is very good. Mads is also a great Hannibal.

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Over the weekend, the wife and I watched Something Wild - thanks for the recommendation, folks. Definitely a fun flick. 

 

Really enjoyed the dance scene with Daniels and "Fame". Like stated, the whole soundtrack was great. 

 

 

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Wife and I recently started The Wire.  She's never seen it and I only caught on to it the last 1.5 seasons. We're most of the way thru season 1 and it is every bit as great as I remember.  So very much worth it!

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16 minutes ago, Winston Legthigh said:

We've been pleasantly surprised by Schitt's Creek, which we almost quit after the very unfunny pilot episode. But we pushed forward, and it's grown on us. The four leads are great. 

 

Yeah - the pilot turned my wife off -- I stuck with it and think it is a great, great show. I have been a fan of Chris Elliot since he first started to appear on Letterman. His character is great, as well as the rest.

 

Definitely will bring back my wife into the fold and re-watch at some point. I think I am on Season 4.

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, calvino said:

 

Yeah - the pilot turned my wife off -- I stuck with it and think it is a great, great show. I have been a fan of Chris Elliot since he first started to appear on Letterman. His character is great, as well as the rest.

 

Definitely will bring back my wife into the fold and re-watch at some point. I think I am on Season 4.

 

 

 

We are half way through Season 2 and loving Schitt's Creek.  Didn't think I would like it as much as I do.

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21 hours ago, calvino said:

 

Yeah - the pilot turned my wife off -- I stuck with it and think it is a great, great show. I have been a fan of Chris Elliot since he first started to appear on Letterman. His character is great, as well as the rest.

 

Definitely will bring back my wife into the fold and re-watch at some point. I think I am on Season 4.

 

 

 

They definitely hit their stride in season 2. Currently in season 3.

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I'm a big fan of Schitt's Creek - and feel like it got better as it went along.  For me, Chris Elliott is the weak link.  I generally like him so I'm not sure why his character bothered me.  It's not just because he was obnoxious at times but I can't figure it out.  

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1 hour ago, Oil Can Boyd said:

I'm a big fan of Schitt's Creek - and feel like it got better as it went along.  For me, Chris Elliott is the weak link.  I generally like him so I'm not sure why his character bothered me.  It's not just because he was obnoxious at times but I can't figure it out.  

 

Maybe Elliot is sticking out for you because he is the only American actor (among the main cast, at least) on the show. I think he meshes well with the rest of the cast, though.

Esp. when he is in scenes with just Stevie and Johnny Rose. His character is very one dimensional, though.

 

The Bob Curie character always cracks me up, too --- his whole demeanor. 

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5 hours ago, Oil Can Boyd said:

I'm a big fan of Schitt's Creek - and feel like it got better as it went along.  For me, Chris Elliott is the weak link.  I generally like him so I'm not sure why his character bothered me.  It's not just because he was obnoxious at times but I can't figure it out.  

 

I kinda hope that in an alternate universe that John Candy would have had that role. 

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