Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Penelope]

Yes, I totally agree about The Class as well. Unquestionably the best portrayal of teacher/student dynamics ever.

[anonymous1980]

Lola ("Grandmother") (Brillante Mendoza) - 8.5/10

[Sabin]

EDIT as I still let WTWTA run around in my head.



Edited By Sabin on 1255814913

[Sabin]

Who's Camus Anyway? (Mitsuo Yanagimachi) - 9/10

Anyone know about this one? This is a movie to fall in love with and in. I loved it.

[FilmFan720]

Wow, there are a lot of teachers on this board! I am currently subbing, and trying to find a permanent teaching job. I agree, The Class may be the best teaching movie out there, with Blackboard Jungle having some strengths too. I think Dead Poets Society has done more damage to the teaching profession than any other film out there.

[dws1982]

Some of you may know, others may not, but I have started teaching at a high school

Awesome! I'll be teaching soon as well. I could teach now if a job came open...hoping to get either a permanent sub gig or a maternity leave in the spring. My main goal is to teach at a college (preferably the one I graduated from), but I'm a lot more excited about teaching in a high school than any of the other careers I've considered or gone into so far.

Of the teacher movies I've seen since I started working towards my certification, The Class seems to "get" the dynamics of the classroom better than anything else.



Edited By dws1982 on 1255787217

[Penelope]

Lean on Me (1989; John G. Avildsen) 0/10

Up the Down Staircase (1967; Robert Mulligan) 7/10

Some of you may know, others may not, but I have started teaching at a high school, so just for kicks I thought I'd check out some education themed movies; hadn't seen Up the Down Staircase in probably 2 decades, had never seen Lean on Me, and The Blackboard Jungle is in my Netflix queue.

Started the evening with Lean on Me. Gave up after about 30 minutes. Avildsen is a horrible director and when I saw Freeman deliberately demeaning a student in front of the entire student body in the cafeteria, I was literally appalled (this is something you NEVER do). At that point, I just turned it off in disgust. Maybe it gets better, but it looked like an endorsement for fascism to me.

Up the Down Staircase gets it mostly right--the excessive documentation; the hope that you'll connect to that one, reticent student; the frustration when they don't respond or act out. Sandy Dennis is mannered as usual, but it generally works here; Mulligan's direction is probably his most dated--unlike, say, To Kill a Mockingbird or Summer of '42 (which, admittedly, are period pieces), which have a timeless appearance, Up the Down Staircase is very much a film of the late 60s in look, sound and attitude.

(As well, some of our modern concerns are a bit different--one of the more frustrating aspects of the job is constantly patrolling the classroom to make sure the students aren't playing games, watching youtube, chatting or looking at more "inappropriate" websites on their school-distributed laptops.)

[Reza]

Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) 8/10

Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994) 7/10

Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962) 5/10

[flipp525]

Even in 1997, when we watched the film in our mass media class, I remember the chalkboard being absolutely filled with the names and titles of Haldeman, Liddy, McGruder, et al. Katherine Graham, as well.

I grew up listening to Liddy on the radio (my parents had him on constantly). And Katherine Graham, of course, is a Washington institution. Last night, I attended a benefit for a Children's Arts program chaired by a gaggle of local gays held in her childhood home on Crescent Street. It's a stunning property.

All the President's Men succeeds on so many levels, I'm not sure what is the strongest although certainly Robards and Alexander whose brief, but powerful scene(s?) are two of the best things about it. A very taut script and atmospheric cinematography are also in play -- the Deep Throat scenes in the Rosslyn garage are just chilling.

I would've nominated Hal Holbrook, too. Maybe in place of one of the Rocky guys.



Edited By flipp525 on 1255720213

[anonymous1980]

Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) - 9.5/10

[Eric]

Even in 1997, when we watched the film in our mass media class, I remember the chalkboard being absolutely filled with the names and titles of Haldeman, Liddy, McGruder, et al. Katherine Graham, as well.

[HarryGoldfarb]

Thanks for the info Tee. And thanks for putting the film in perspective for me, a foreigner allthesame. Even though, of course I know the story, for sure. And that's one of the things the film itself is a triumph... you know the ending since the beggining, you already know what happened and that's why I think the amazing directing work in creating that atmosphere of mistery and intrigue is so unique. Maybe I didn't expressed myself rightly. I felt that after watching that atmosphere, so solidly built through the whole film, the way it ends was managed artistically correct but in terms of emotional effect was some kind of a disappointment. Maybe that's just me, and most likely you are right: even though I know the background the fact that I'm not american and I'm not watching it back in 1976 has something to do with it.

While watching the film I hadn't the Oscar specifically in mind, but I came to think about Alexander "this is almost as short as Straight's work" without realizing that both were nominated in the same year.

And thanks for the comment on Shire, you made me remember that issue. She definitely would have been a deserved winner in the supporting category. Straight, as Dee a few years ago, was great, for sure, but I would have preffered a deserving winner rather than an oddity or a trivia fact. And I am one of those who place Network over Rocky any day...

[Mister Tee]

Was Robards the expected winner for supporting? And I guess Alexander was in a cool wave effect... how did she get a nod for this.

To the first question, yes. Robards had won the major critics' awards and, though he'd lost the Globe, I never considered Olivier a real threat for such a silly movie. Burgess Meredith, on sentimental pull, was the chief competition in the end, but Robards had career points of his own, and was a deserved winner. (His repeat a year later was considerably less predicted)

Alexander -- and Beatrice Straight as well -- made the list because, once Talia Shire (NY/NBR supporting winner) was elevated to lead actress to fill out that category, the pickings were extremely slim. The same performance in an obscure film would never have been cited, but the best picture strength of President's and Network helped both ladies score.

Harry, did you know the background story going in? The thing to remember is, in 1976, Watergate was like 9/11 or last year's election..something over which American audiences had obsessed for so long that most of the details were common knowledge (especially the ultimate outcome -- the ending seemed abrupt in '76, too, but we were all able to fill in the blanks of the two years that had followed). I wonder how different it is seeing the film without all that knowledge.

[HarryGoldfarb]

- All the President's Men (1976): Interesting. The film almost has no plot of its own. It's intriguing by its atmosphere and at that it gets more and more effective. Maybe that's why I felt the ending was kind of rushed or anti-climatic. Now I understand how it got the Art Direction award. Was Robards the expected winner for supporting? And I guess Alexander was in a cool wave effect... how did she get a nod for this. She is cfedibly scared and disturbed but she's in two brief scenes and doesn't do a lot. Anyway, a better film than Rocky for my money. 8/10

- Braking the Waves (1996): This was a good excuse to have an interesting argument with my wife about the nature of love. Not a film that I wish to see again soon. Watson is great and even though I know 1996 was a great year for supporting performances, I guess Katrin Cartlidge deserved a nod. 8/10

[anonymous1980]

Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat) - 7/10

(I can definitely see why this film's very divisive).