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moshkito View Drop Down
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    Posted: September 24 2023 at 11:43
Hi,

(Updated if I have reviews ... and thx to all mentions!)

Some great films about "artists" and their work! Posted it under this section because not all of these are about music!

While many would state that the truth is not the real thing, in many ways, this is all that we really have and few of these films actually try to manipulate the events into some unusual and crazy ideas and thoughts. 

In some cases, it's hard to not get a better idea of some of the things at the time, and "Amadeus" is like that, as are quite a few films in the list ... it could be said that some of it is "overdone" but I have never thought that it was out of line or improper ... but some of these films are far out and special in many ways.

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
All That Jazz (Bob Fosse)
Amadeus (Mozart)
An Angel At My Table (Janet Frame)
Andrei Rublev
Basquiat (Jean Michel Basquiat)
Becoming Colette (Henry Gauthier-Villars and Colette)
Camille Claudel 
Caravaggio (crazy look at the artist)
Carrington (Painter)
Cezanne et Moi (Cezanne)
Chaplin (Charles Chaplin)
Ed Wood (Ed Wood)
Farinelli (Carlo Broschi)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Gonzo)
Girl With The Pearl Earring (Vermeer and his model)
Gothic (Crazy times with Byron, Shelley et al)
Goya in Bordeaux (Francisco Goya)
Hemingway and Gellhorn (Hemingway and Gellhorn in Spain)
Henry and June (Henry Miller and Anais Nin)
Immortal Beloved (Beethoven)
Impromptu (George Sand)
Kafka (no comment)
Lisztomania (Liszt)
Mahler on the Couch (Mahler and Freud)
Marat/Sade (monumental play about some discussions between these 2)
Monster in a Box (Spalding Gray)
My Left Foot (Christy Brown)
Neruda (Pablo Neruda)
Moulin Rouge (Toulouse Lautrec //John Huston's)
Naked Lunch (William S. Burroughs)
Nico (Film about Nico in her later years)
NIghtwatching (Rembrandt)
Renoir (Pierre Auguste Renoir)
Savage Messiah ( Henri Gaudier-Brzeska)
Swimming in Cambodia (Spalding Gray - continuation of Monster in a Box)
Rosencrants and Guildenstern Are Dead (added as Tom Stoppard is a bard special!)
Steppenwolf (The story with cartoons for the internal stuff)
The Brothers Grimm (a cartoon'ish version of their story)
The Doors (film about the Band)
The Music Lovers (Tchaikovsky)
The Mysteries of Rampo (Edogawa Rampo)
Tom and Viv (T. S. Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot)
Tous Les Matins du Monde (Pascal Quignard)
Valentino (Ken Russell's version)
Visions of Light (About Cinematographers in Film)
What's Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner)



Edited by moshkito - November 19 2023 at 07:42
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guy Guden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 24 2023 at 18:12
  9 off the top of the head, alphabetically: 

     A Dangerous Method: (Cronenberg does Jung & Freud)
     Freud: (john Huston's film)
     Lisztomania: (Ken Russell over the top on Franz Liszt)
     Mahler: (Ken Russell again)
     Moulin Rouge: (Huston again with Jose Ferrer brilliant as Toulouse-Lautrec)
     Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle: (Dorothy Parker & The Algonquin Round Table Writers)
     Naked Lunch: (Cronenberg again on William S. Burroughs)
     Total Eclipse: (Rimbaud & Verlaine)
     Wolf at the Door (Oviri): (Gaugin & Strindberg, with wonderful performances by Donald Sutherland & Max Von Sydow)


Edited by Guy Guden - September 24 2023 at 18:15
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 24 2023 at 18:35
Films about rock musicians also count here, don't they?
I loved "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" and "Beware of Mr. Baker" (Ginger Baker).
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hiram Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 24 2023 at 21:00
Lots of good films listed above! Here's a couple of my recent favourites off the top of my head. Will be back with more later. 




Edited by Hiram - September 24 2023 at 21:43
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guy Guden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2023 at 02:27
^   ^   ^   ^   ^
your listing of Peter Greenaway's film reminded me that I was going to mention...
Nightwatching: (Rembrandt)


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2023 at 05:11
Originally posted by Guy Guden Guy Guden wrote:

  9 off the top of the head, alphabetically: 

     A Dangerous Method: (Cronenberg does Jung & Freud)
     Freud: (john Huston's film)
     Lisztomania: (Ken Russell over the top on Franz Liszt)
     Mahler: (Ken Russell again)
     Moulin Rouge: (Huston again with Jose Ferrer brilliant as Toulouse-Lautrec)
     Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle: (Dorothy Parker & The Algonquin Round Table Writers)
     Naked Lunch: (Cronenberg again on William S. Burroughs)
     Total Eclipse: (Rimbaud & Verlaine)
     Wolf at the Door (Oviri): (Gaugin & Strindberg, with wonderful performances by Donald Sutherland & Max Von Sydow)

Hi,

And I have reviews for some of these ... didn't even notice the obvious misses.

Liztomania ... believe it or not, I have not seen yet!
Mahler was accidental miss on the list
Moulin Rouge - original - I have not seen.
Mrs. Parker - I have not seen
Naked Lunch was accidental miss on list
Total Eclipse - I have not seen
Wolf at The Door - I have not seen
Nightwatch - I have not seen
Shadowlands - Accidental miss. I have the review
My Left Foot - Weird that I did not review this yet.
The Walk ( the story of French high wire artist Philippe Petit's attempt to cross the twin towers)

That PG film I have not seen yet and am looking for it.

I was close to listing a few more things by Ken Russell ... I got the DVD set that had his early BBC stuff, and I've always liked the one on Dante Gabriel Rossetti and then the film/special on Elgar is really fine, and his version of Isadora Duncan is also fine.

And now I have a few more things to find and see ... I took my list off the film reviews, but still missed some. I was actually looking for Ken Russell's film on Guy Guden ... didn't find it! Wink


Edited by moshkito - September 27 2023 at 07:23
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mirakaze Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2023 at 12:43
Tim Burton's Ed Wood is one of my favourites in this category, and if fictional artists are allowed then I'd have to include This Is Spinal Tap as well.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hiram Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2023 at 23:20
How could I forget Ed Wood, especially as I watched it again not long ago. My favourite Tim Burton film and a true ode to persistence, do-or-die way of life, and "freaks" and "weirdos" as heroes. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MortSahlFan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2023 at 05:59
Good topic.
I wonder how many are on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2023 at 08:38
Hi,

I'm not sure why I passed on "Ed Wood" in the list ... somehow it didn't click, and while I do not think it isn't worthy of mention, there is a lot of material in this area that is slightly nebulous, and somehow the "Ed Wood" film feels like one, combined with the thought that it is hard to take the director seriously in the first place.

Is Ed Wood considered an artist? I'm not sure, at least compared to some of the subjects in the listing, that have a very rich history for the most part. But, perhaps, he should be considered.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2023 at 08:49
Hi,

My biggest issue with the majority of films, is that over here in the Pacific Northwest, the chance of catching these things is ridiculously low, and Amazon does not have at least half to two thirds of those films, and I would have to "subscribe" to 10 more film services to see handful of films.

The "internationalization" of a "world economy" was just a term that did not mean much ... many of the European folks don't seem to care of their film sells in America at all, and you will find many Italian, Spanish, French, German and Eastern European films not seen or found over here, other than the film Festivals at the unlikeliest and weirdest places. The Portland Film Festival refuses to really show the big things in many other places, and instead continues to fill out their lineup with English films, which always sell out ... while the Italian and Spanish films (other than Almodovar ... already very passe!) are barely getting half an audience. Some French films do OK, but none that well. And of course, trying to find a Peter Greenaway film? Good luck ... the Festival would not even consider it and suggest that the film was too expensive to bring about!

I will start TODAY on looking for the stuff that is missing on my list that was added by some folks that obviously watch a lot of these things. Hopefully I can add these to my listings ... already over 600 films, but finding things, even on Amazon, these days is tough ... it's buried under a lot of crap, and other listings mixed in to make it look like a bigger and better listing ... with several things showing up in 10 places!

I wish ... I really do ... but here in Portland/Vancouver film watching is more of a joke than it is  meaningful, and I can tell you that 80% of the stuff reviewed that I have was taken off videos off a couple of stores that I scavenged in the 90's and in the 00's. But those stores are gone. And so will a lot of film, sadly enough!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2023 at 10:06
Anthony Hopkins has done a few good ones
Hitchcock (about Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the making of Psycho)
Shadowlands (about CS Lewis and his romance with Joy Gresham)

Others that I've seen
My Left Foot (about Irish writer and artist Christy Brown who was born with cerebral palsy)
The Walk ( the story of French high wire artist Philippe Petit's attempt to cross the twin towers)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hrychu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2023 at 10:12
Toonstruck. It's about a cartoon creator sucked into the universe of one of his own cartoons... played by Christopher Lloyd! I know it's a video game, but it is very cinematic and has a lot of cutscenes! The visual style combines footage of Lloyd on a green screen with hand drawn animated cartoon characters and scenery done by the legendary studio Nelvana.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2023 at 07:57
Hi,

I'm not sure that I can define a favorite in all of these films, but some of them were astounding and very special.

All That Jazz -- it really shows where a lot of "modern dance" came from, and its interpretation on the film is very nice and strong, and also ... sexist ... but sometimes it's hard to not associate "people" with any of the arts. There is always an underlying theme!

Amadeus -- A fun film to watch that has some outstanding moments, although it is likely to have issues with a lot of "music" fans, that don't know/realize how much music comes from VISUALIZATION, and not just notes and chords and this is visible towards the end, when Mozart is dictating the music to Salieri who is astounded by the note choices and ideas.

Henry and June -- Neat film, that didn't quite get a lot of attention, but I think that it treated their relationship really well and really helps explain a lot about Henri Miller.

Neruda -- Listening to the words is the best part. Even funnier was realizing that my own dad, who did a lot of poetry this and that in many places all over the world, really read things very similarly to Pablo Neruda.

Nightwatching -- Amazing film about Rembrandt and one painting in specific that made him better known and famous.

Savage Messiah -- unlike a lot of Ken Russell films, this one does not have any cutesy stuff and remains serious all the way, though the "shock" ending was sad ... but you got to see right away a whole bunch of the works before the credits.

Monster in a Box/Swimming in Cambodia -- Spalding Grey's take on the war in Vietnam and what a lot of the kids did during their time there. All it is missing is the sex, but it has everything else! A one man show, which is hard on viewers, but if you pay attention to the stories and tales, you will laugh a lot.

Steppenwolf -- Didn't get much of a release or attention, but the film is really good and the philosophical sections are handled with some cartoons and the whole thing is very nicely done. 

The Mysteries of Rampo -- Amazing film ... with some cartoons for the stories, that lights up the screen beautifully.

,,, and lastly, but not least, one of the films that anyone that loves film has to see ... sometimes we do not realize how much a cinematographer MADE a director, and when you see this, you will get a better appreciation for a lot of film. VISIONS OF LIGHT is a must see film for anyone appreciating film, though no one here on PA has ever made a comment about the film ... I must have scared people away, because this film alone, will likely help you evaluate what it is that you like in a film or two and probably dissipate a lot of your "favorites".

Enjoy
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote octopus-4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 20 2023 at 04:05
It's more a documentary than a movie, but I think "Searching for Sugar Man" is amazing


Edited by octopus-4 - December 20 2023 at 04:05
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 20 2023 at 04:21
Fly Jefferson Airplane - a documentary film in nine parts with Spanish subtitles. Ole! Smile

Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIyZdVR9QtE
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflJIbKC1Ss
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vsecEcDeD8
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4oBqyCbifU
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VksYtjw1iFc
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m59dZ5VT20A
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac6bl2-ZYVQ
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJtI5PKp9Jo 
Fly Jefferson Airplane - Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3_FhNzYROs


By the way, I just read that Richard Branson's first Virgin plane on the inaugural San Francisco route was named Jefferson Airplane in the band's honour. Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 20 2023 at 07:02
Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Fly Jefferson Airplane - a documentary film in nine parts with Spanish subtitles. Ole! Smile
...
By the way, I just read that Richard Branson's first Virgin plane on the inaugural San Francisco route was named Jefferson Airplane in the band's honour. Thumbs Up

Hi,

I guess I have to see these to find out why PP posted this in this particular thread. Richard Branson is one of the biggest thieves in the history of music ... a perfect show of how the rich rip off everyone else in England.

But .... JA ... now you know why I have such a respect for that SF scene. The stuff that you see in this special, shows how progressive and out of this world, JA was ... he goes that way, he goes the other way ... and they liked it best when everyone went everywhere ... that ought to sat some FEAR into 95% of all "progressive" wanna bees.

"Artists" ... are people that changed the moods, and the story, of what the art form was. And they did it their way, and are remembered for it. The list of the films, I have, is pretty much about that and the individuality that those folks had to have to be able to do what they did ... it was special ... something that we do not quite understand these days, when everything is listed as special, even though it is so formulaic and so unlike the time that we love dearly ... however, the source of that time and place, is something that folks today do not like to discuss ... too much sex, drugs and music ... and the rest is left behind and forgotten, and sometimes disrespectfully discussed.

There are "scenes" that created a lot of art, and NY is the perfect example, in a style that is not exactly clean, and is badly manipulated, and in terms of creativity, it hardly had any ... some of it grossly over rated by everyone because of the "fame" ... we easily forget that in a huge place like NY, if a band sells 10K albums, 40 years ago, they were not only a HIT, but also immediately famous. And many of us everywhere else believed it, even when the music, and the art was .... you gotta be kidding me!

There really aren't many specials about the 60's in the Bay Area, and many of those folks are long gone. There were a couple on Bill Graham, but in the end, it was more about him than the music and the scene. The "Haight-Ashbury" scene is still hazy ... or likely too stoned to know and remember anything, I guess you could say.

And, goodness ... that Grace had a monster voice! Quite amazing! Thanks for posting this ... I had never seen it, and it should have been twice the size, since it completely ignored Grace and Paul together and there albums, and Grace had been with Spencer Dryden (have to recheck) before. Together, they also put together a couple of monster albums ... 

The Grateful Dead has a couple of films and they are only about the playing of the music and nothing else. In many ways, their material still was not addressed as the bootlegs showed for over 45 years ... they were very far out there in many pieces and some of the remasters being done are actually posting some of those live jams, probably to make it "better" than the bootlegs, although it was known that most of them were recorded directly off the GD's sound board, which was allowed and open to the fans! The long cut in rock music owes the GD a big thanks ... but we don't see that because none of the GD albums concentrate on the long cuts and their musical excursions.

And we don't consider JA "progressive" ... goodness gracious ... they broke and made more rules in that band, more times, than ever, more so than we can count them in our fingers and toes. The GD might not have as much wildness and we might say was more relaxed ... but no less courageous as the JA was!


Edited by moshkito - December 20 2023 at 10:07
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 20 2023 at 07:11
^ He was good in Baywatch though, although Branson does get in a bit of a pickle later in that same episode when he has to be rescued by The Hoff. Tongue

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