Idle Thumbs Criterion Film Club?

[Roderick]

Switch out Friday the 13th for Austin Powers in Goldmember and you've pretty much got my story. Especially these Japanese 2+ hour monstrosities can be really daunting to get into. But every time I took the effort to get into one of these film, it paid off in a major way.

[Professor Video Games]

Okay, it was a tough call between two Japanese films. One a bona fide classic (so I hope you haven't all seen it yet), and one a samurai epic. It was a toss-up between Tokyo Story and Vendetta of a Samurai. In the end, I went with Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu, so that's the next film. Again, I hope it isn't a cheesy pick, but this one has been on my list for a while and it's the perfect opportunity to see it.

 

I saw this one years ago and remember finding it way too slow for my tastes at the time. Curious to revisit it and see if I feel any different now. Certainly will be a change of pace stylistically from the previous two movies. I think there's maybe two tracking shots in the whole thing.

[Shibboleth]

I'm not sure if this applies to the Xbox 360, and I know that they advertise a trial on the podcast, but there was a three month Hulu Plus trial on the dashboard of my Xbox One. 

[prettyunsmart]

In one of the threads, someone (Roderick I think?) floated the idea of slowing down the pace of the film club. How is everyone feeling about that? I was going to post about my possible picks for the next film, but since the Tokyo Story thread is just getting started, it seems premature.

[Patrick R]

I'd be cool with it, personally.

[Roderick]

Tycho raised an objection to it above, but I'm also okay with doing it every other week. I wouldn't mind catching my breath after Tokyo Story. And the list of people in the club (the list of AWESOME people) isn't so terribly long that it'll take more than a few months.

[Professor Video Games]

Yeah I could do two weeks. It's not even about getting through the list as much as it's having time to sit down and watch the movie. Like this time I've been busy all week and I think having an extra potential weekend for watching would be good.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Alright everyone's voting for two weeks, so let's do two weeks, you slow pokes!

[Roderick]

We've bested the tyrant, hooray!!!

[elmuerte]

I'm not objecting to 1 week cycle, but to watch subbed movies I need to be more alert, which slows me down.

[Ben X]

Can I join the club, please?

[elmuerte]

only when you do a dance

[Ben X]

How's this?

 

 

Or this?

 

[Ben X]

So is that a yes, or fucking what?

[Roderick]

Holy shit it is the biggest of yesses!

[Ben X]

Woooo! Bagsy Gremlins 2 for my week!

[Boris Stoke]

I want to join, but I don't want to dance.  Where does that leave me?

[Ben X]

Sitting quietly in the corner watching al the cool kids dance.

[prettyunsmart]

Ok, so I guess it's my job to pick next week's movie. I did a stupid thing and went to criterion.com to pick out what movies I'd want to watch, not realizing that Hulu's selection is much more limited. So, after thinking I was going to pick Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera or something nice and strange like Tourneur's  Cat People, now I have to pick something else. 

 

I don't know yet. I kind of want to watch Kurosawa's Ikiru, since I've never seen any of his non-samurai films, but that might be a bit too much mid-century Japanese despair after Tokyo Story. Maybe we need something campy like The Blob? Female directors in film history are hard to come by, so maybe Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7? Buñuel is rarely boring, so maybe we should watch Viridiana? I don't know. What are people in the mood for?

[ariskany_evan]

I'd just prefer something with more dynamic shots after Tokyo Story, though don't worry about pleasing the crowd!  I think of this as a good way for me to watch movies I normally might otherwise put off viewing.

[Roderick]

I know what you're feeling, prettyunsmart, but you can't mindread what people want, so just pick whatever YOU want. That'll go against every empathetic grain in your body, but it's the only way forward. Everything you said sounds great! I don't know any of them! Maybe something with color just to spice things up?

[Professor Video Games]

But remember, if you pick something I don't like (or even worse, something I deem lame), I'll hold it against you forever.

 

But seriously, my selfish preference would be for something in English, though I assume that within this collection that might be a bit limiting.

[Roderick]

It should probably be a movie starring Orson Welles.

[tegan]

Maybe we need something campy like The Blob?

 

I know I'm not in this, but you should totally pick something campy.

[prettyunsmart]

I know I'm not in this, but you should totally pick something campy.

 

I was going to go with Viridiana, but House almost looks too good to pass up. I don't know! I swear I'll make a decision by tonight.