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SCREENING LOG
-12/06-12/12, 2004
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I watched the entire INFERNAL AFFAIRS trilogy. This
series, along with HERO and SHAOLIN SOCCER, was the key sign
that Hong Kong filmmaking had reinvented and revitalized itself
after its post 1997 trauma, with product that is more slickly
packaged and digitally enhanced than what it had offered in
its pre-Handover heyday. It was this slickness that turned
me off the first INFERNAL AFFAIRS when I first saw it last
year -- I saw this action thriller about moles who work on
opposite ends of a police-gang war as a dull recycling of
Michael Mann's HEAT for the virtual age. But having seen the
entire trilogy, was taken in by how well-defined the characters
were and how cleverly all three films play with our expectations
of which characters we should take sides with. It almost achieves
the philosophical depth that is hinted at by the Buddhist
scripture that opens each installment.
Laurel and Hardy. I had never seen any Laurel and
Hardy films before last week. The five sound films I saw,
four shorts and a feature, were all lovely. I gladly claim
them in my own pet canon of "a cinema of imperfections," (other
members being John Waters, Paul Morrissey, Godard, Cassavetes
and Rossellini) where a certain perceptible lameness and ineptitude
in the production (stilted line readings, clumsy gags, incredibly
bad rear projection processing) actually contribute to the
artistic vision -- which in this case is about two individuals
whose consummate social ineptitute seems to mock and deride
the rules of conduct and good behavior that would otherwise
keep them oppressed.
EXASTE / ECSTASY. I heard Antonious and ali discuss
this film a couple weeks ago -- the words "Hedy Lamarr nude"
came up and so I immediately put a library hold on this. It's
got a tremendous sense of style, mostly influenced by Murnau,
turning Soviet structuralism into cause for erotic montages.
The ending of the film seems muddled by a need to moralize.
Looney Tunes. After having cable for two months, I
finally discovered that the Boomerang Channel runs eight episodes
of Looney Tunes cartoons every morning and night. Last week
I watched 27 cartoons. I've been able to get a stronger sense
of how Looney Tunes evolved over the years, and my personal
opinion is that they peaked with the efforts of Robert Clampett
and Tex Avery (though the latter's work was conspicuously
absent from the broadcasts). Chuck Jones is somewhat overrated
in comparison - or at least they didn't show his best work.
Robert McKimson is okay -- his shorts seem more character
driven and less groundbreaking in animation technique. Friz
Freleng strikes me as the least interesting overseer (he seems
the most prone to recycling jokes from earlier cartoons).
Infernal Affairs (2002, Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) second
viewing http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338564/ yes
Infernal Affairs 2 (2003, Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369060/
mixed
Infernal Affairs 3 (2003, Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374339/
yes
Extase / Ecstasy (1932 or 1933?, Gustav Machaty) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022867/
or http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297111/ YES (#9 for 1932 between
COUNTY HOSPITAL and BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING)
Another Fine Mess (1930, James Parrott) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020643/
yes
The Music Box (1932, James Parrott) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023251/
yes
County Hospital (1932, James Parrott) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022782/
YES (#8 for 1932 between FREAKS and EXTASE)
Busy Bodies (1933, Lloyd French) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023858/
yes
Sons of the Desert (1933, William A. Seiter) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024601/
yes
Super-Rabbit (1943 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036402/
yes
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946 ) Robert Clampett
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038576/ yes
This Is a Life? (1955 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048716/
yes
Wackiki Wabbit (1943 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036508/
yes
Person to Bunny (1960 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054174/
mixed
The Old Grey Hare (1944 ) Robert Clampett http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037147/
YES
Old Glory (1939 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031749/
mixed
Rabbit Every Monday (1951 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043952/
yes
Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037022/
yes
What Makes Daffy Duck (1948 ) Arthur Davis http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040959/
yes
Foxy by Proxy (1952 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044632/
yes
Little Red Rodent Hood (1952 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044842/
mixed
Back Alley Op-Roar (1948 ) Friz Freleng http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040143/
mixed
Little Pancho Vanilla (1938 ) Frank Tashlin http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030376/
mixed
Crowing Pains (1947 ) Robert McKimson http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039287/
yes
Really Scent (1959 ) Abe Levitow http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053211/
yes
Touch? and Go (1957 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051101/
mixed
Porky's Naughty Nephew (1938 ) Robert Clampett http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030609/
yes
Henpecked Duck, The (1941 ) Robert Clampett http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033707/
mixed
Lovelorn Leghorn (1951 ) Robert McKimson http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043760/[/url]
yes
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045710/
yes
Robin Hood Daffy (1958 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052139/
yes
Get Rich Quick Porky (1937 ) Robert Clampett http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028925/
yes
Conrad the Sailor (1942 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034611/
mixed
Elmer's Candid Camera (1940 ) Chuck Jones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032439/
mixed
Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner (1965 ) Rudy Larriva -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059664/ mixed
Easter Yeggs (1947 ) Robert McKimson http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039345/
yes
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