don't you just love...

[scylis]

how you notice more and more things about a movie when you watch it for the second and third (and on) time?

like today, right now. i'm watching Fight Club again. i just noticed three new things. Ed Norton's line in his monologue about flying and such hints at the truth of Tyler Durden, but i never noticed before b/c my attention was drawn to the fact that they appear to be in the underground walkway in the United terminal at Chicago's O'Hare Intl. i just noticed the real owner of the sporty red car Tyler hops into and speeds away in yell "HEY!! THAT'S MY CAR!!" and i just noticed the word "S C A T" on the cab door that Norton gets out of just before he finds his appartment went BOOM!

so what interesting little details has anyone else noticed in favorite movies watched regular?

 

[willfulbrat]

Fight Club is one of my favorite movies. Not at all what I expected. I've only seen it twice, but I wouldn't mind seeing it agian.

Kind of like that Bruce Willis movie ("i see dead people" -- what was that movie???) The more you watch it, the more you think you should have known sooner.

 

[Laurel]

I've seen Brazil dozens of times and notice something new & different every time.

 

[Never]

The Sixth Sense

I've seen Basic Instint a few times and the last time I noticed something I hadn't seen before; when the police take Sharen Stone's character into the police station and interragate here there's thing one cut where she crosses her legs and.. get this, you can almost see right up her skirt.

Pretty wild hun?


Hun?
Don't you think it's pretty wild?

 

[TN_Vixen]

Never

who are you kidding? I know you freeze-framed it on that scene each time you watched it.

;-)

 

[Never]

Yes, I did. How did you know?

I don't know why so many gay groups didn't like that movie, her character was bisexual, not a lesbian. Besides, I'd kill a guy if it meant I could sleep with her. Maybe not with an ice pick though, too phallic.

 

[sexy-girl]

I don't know why so many gay groups didn't like that movie, her character was bisexual, not a lesbian

i agree i never got why lesbians were up in arms either ... everybody knows you can never trust those bisexual girls hehe j/k

only reason why i didnt like the movie was because i thought it was naff sorry

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Double.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Because of its non-linear structure and heavy emphasis on symobls and layered script you an see something new in "Citizen Kane" every single time. (It took me two viewings to realize that Kane as a boy is playing in the snow with, well, you know what...)

The amazing rapid-fire dialogue in "His Girl Friday" (based on "The Front Page") keeps the movie fresh each time you see it. (Note Cary Gran's withering gaze at Ralph Bellamy for not getting a joke -- something you miss the first time because you're laughing too hard or listening too closely.)

Same thing with "Stage Door". I dare you to catch every line the first time you see it. Not possible. You can see that flick a dozen times and still not run out of "heard" jokes. ("I'll have to call you back, Gangrene just set in.")

It must have taken 20 viewings over 20 years of "An American in Paris" before I was old enough to recognize all the artists "honored" in the American in Paris Ballet sequence, or to truly appreciate Oscar Levant's love/envy affair with Gershwin -- both of which deepened my appreciation for the movie.

I recently saw "Reds" again, and realized that I'm finally at the point where I could not only follow the politics of the film, but I could probably write the film.

Seeing films you loved in your youth when you're older is an interesting experience. John Wayne movies are invariably dumber and Clint Eastwood movies are invariably smarter (major exceptions exist of course). Some movies you realize you "got" immediately (nothing too hidden in flicks like "Sixteen Candles"), while others offer a treasure trove of insights for years to come (see "2001 A Space Odyssey" and "The Conversation").

You may be wondering why I'mnot mentioning too many contemporary films. Well, most of today's films are created in an executive culture where everyone's afraid of being fired (this began after "Heaven's Gate" and has gotten worse and worse), so scripts are reduced to safe "edited entertainments" rather than actual films. Executives trained at Harvard Business school now make creative decisions in films, and their mantra is TELL the audience what to feel and when. Don't hide anything in fancy-shmancy behavior or symbolism. Good writing has been abandoned. You no longer have a propensity for dramatic writing (conflict based on behavior), but flow chart writing (where a character's motivations and inner thoughts are spelled out, clearly, over and over again.) Who the hell wants to see a movie like that more than once (even with the CGI dinsaurs I'm pretty much never going to to see Jurassic Park 3 again.)

(Exceptions exist, of course, but less and less each year, despite the growth of "Independent" film.)

No way does a movie like "M*A*S*H" or "Apocalypse Now" get made today, two films that you can watch 20 times and still see and hear things you missed before.

Things you might have missed the first time around:
-Rick's last name in "Casablanca" is Blaine
-The importance of the cactus rose on John Wayne's coffin in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
-Shane is dead at the end of "Shane" (don't debate it, just accept it and move on LOL)
-"Mary Poppins" is not about Mary Poppins or the children, it's about George Banks.
-The symbolism of Benjamin running out of gas before destroying social convention by stealing a married bride off the altar in "The Graduate".
-How in "The Prince of the City" the movie starts with all wide shots and slowly uses more and more medium shots and finishes with extensive close-ups to accentuate the closing paranoia and lonelieness and abandoment by the world of the lead character.
-The fact that Dan Akyroyd is in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."
-The fact that Phoebe Cates shows her tits in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". Oh, you noticed that the first time? Me too. LOL

 

[GuyJD]

SCHOOL DAZE

I remember seeing that movie about 5 times and never understanding its content and meaning. It took reading about it in a book ("Color Contrast") for me to see it a 6th time and enjoying it.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Speaking of Mr. Lee...

People have told me they've watched "Do The Right Thing" over and over and still can't figure out why Mookie throws the garbage can through the window of Sal's Pizzaria. Maybe it's the screenwriter in me, but the whole movie's emphaisis on conflict during the hotest day of the year was naturally leading up to an ending where a match would be lit. There was no "reason". There was just a reality of what is. (And of what will happen again. The day after the riot is also "Hot!")

Hey, anyone ever see "She's Gotta Have it?" Nothing subtle at all about that movie, no hidden meanings whatsoever, and some of the worst acting you'll ever see, but really good, with a fabulous soundtrack.

 

[Gitane]

wow...

Because of its non-linear structure and ...
(snip snip)

Wow. Just not what I was expecting to find here.

 

[Laurel]

-The fact that Dan Akyroyd is in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

He is? Where?

Ever see Neighbors? It's not exactly a multi-layered piece of cinematic brilliance, but it's pretty twisted.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

There's a sequence where Indy is being hustled onto an airplane. The man speaking to him, whose face is somewhat shadowed, is Dan Akyroyd.

"Neighbors" was weird, just weird. A good premise that didn't quite work, in the same vein as "The Burbs".