481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

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bearcuborg
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#101 Post by bearcuborg » Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:56 pm

Anyone else notice a broken street date on these? At least in NY/Philly...

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tavernier
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#102 Post by tavernier » Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:05 pm

Armond's rave review of both Godards includes this gem of idiocy that only he could have concocted:
Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things have more in common with the visual wit of Michael Bay’s Transformers 2. It is Godard’s bold example that taught Bay to love sound and image. All these films share a visual language and a way of seeing the world that is rooted in an artistic use of technology. What a triple bill.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#103 Post by swo17 » Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:17 pm

Ugh. At least that didn't make it into the Criterion booklet. It's bad enough I have to open up my Marienbad booklet and read about Vanilla Sky.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#104 Post by cdnchris » Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:09 pm

Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things have more in common with the visual wit of Michael Bay’s Transformers 2. It is Godard’s bold example that taught Bay to love sound and image. All these films share a visual language and a way of seeing the world that is rooted in an artistic use of technology. What a triple bill.
That would be the most awesome box set ever.

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Jean-Luc Garbo
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#105 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:23 pm

Isn't Armond making the rather large assumption that Bay saw these Godards and that they provided the inspiration? For all we know, Die Hard was inspirational enough.

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Fiery Angel
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#106 Post by Fiery Angel » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:48 pm

Armond assumes many things--most of them wrong.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#107 Post by dadaistnun » Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:17 am

Nice piece by Michael Atkinson on Made in U.S.A. --> Lamentation for a grand romance

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#108 Post by James » Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:02 pm

Michael Atkinson:
It's one of the 15 essential rockets Godard launched that made the decade his and his alone, and if you don't find it a privilege to be able to discover it in 2009, you don't care about movies.
Godard is my favorite, and while I still haven't seen Made in U.S.A (I wanted to rent it first, because I've heard it's not one of Godard's best from many sources), I still wonder how he means to say this. Would it have been any less of a privilege to see it in the 1960s?

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#109 Post by royalton » Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:55 am

I admit, I still can't wrap my head around Made In U.S.A. after multiple viewings. 2 or 3 Things... OTOH is always stunning.

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domino harvey
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#110 Post by domino harvey » Mon Aug 03, 2009 4:40 pm

Even at 17 minutes, the reference guide on the Made in USA disc is still pretty incomplete-- I mean, come on, how do you fail to mention Szabo's Sylvester impression?!

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Ovader
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#111 Post by Ovader » Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:08 am

Did Richard Brody aka Mr Exactly Right offer to Colin MacCabe anymore insightful and outrageous claims of what Godard was expressing with these two films?

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#112 Post by BrianInAtlanta » Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:40 pm

Watched 2 or 3 Things with the commentary track last night. Great job! (I forget the name of the commentator). He made a lot of sense out of the structure of the movie and pointed out the poetry making a difficult film much easier to grasp. I'll try out Made in U.S.A. tonight.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#113 Post by Zazou dans le Metro » Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:30 am

BrianInAtlanta wrote:Watched 2 or 3 Things with the commentary track last night. Great job! (I forget the name of the commentator). He made a lot of sense out of the structure of the movie and pointed out the poetry making a difficult film much easier to grasp. I'll try out Made in U.S.A. tonight.
I put this on the Jeanne Dielmann thread as it was specifically related to Crietrion's practice of cutting up extras but this answers the above quote too.
From the horse's mouth...
Many thanks for the kind words from my various surrogate mothers !! Seriously, I
apreciate it, especially coming from my fellow Godardians. For the record, all
the Godard DVDs I have done audio commentaries for here in Australia are: VIVRE
SA VIE, MASCULIN FEMININ, 2 OR 3 THINGS, LE GAI SAVOIR, MARRIED WOMAN. (I have
done 25 commentaries in all, also covering Ozu, Fassbinder, Bunuel, Bertolucci,
Sternberg, Lang, Preminger, Wenders ... ) For Criterion I did a written piece on
MASCULIN FEMININ some years ago, and then most recently Criterion recycled my
Madman 2 OR 3 THINGS commentary - without anyone in either company informing me
of this !! Ah well, I'm the 'licensed extra' ... I remember Labarthe doing his
nut in CAHIERS when he bought a few Criterion discs and discovered that segments
of his '60s documentaries on filmmakers had been unfussily excerpted without his
permission (presumably only the TV channel's permission). As for me, I'm getting
some of the best notices of my career from this Criterion deal, so I won't
complain too much !!

Adrian

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#114 Post by BrianInAtlanta » Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:45 pm

Adrian the commentator wrote:For the record, all
the Godard DVDs I have done audio commentaries for here in Australia are: VIVRE
SA VIE, MASCULIN FEMININ, 2 OR 3 THINGS, LE GAI SAVOIR, MARRIED WOMAN. (I have
done 25 commentaries in all, also covering Ozu, Fassbinder, Bunuel, Bertolucci,
Sternberg, Lang, Preminger, Wenders ... )
Now I'm tempted to track down some of those just for the commentaries!

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Florinaldo
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#115 Post by Florinaldo » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:19 pm

Sometimes, going back to a movie that impressed you many years ago is a disappointing experience. Such was the case for me recently with Melville's Les Enfants Terribles; I guess those self-centered siblings did not annoy me as much when I was younger. But now I could not get over the silliness of their behaviour, especially in Dhermitte's interpretation (the milk throwing scene being truly the straw that broke the camel's back).

Fortunately, my reacquaintance with 2 ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais d'Elle was of a quite different nature. Still as challenging and engaging , despite all the distancing devices Godard uses (the philosophical musings of the characters, the nearly-whispered narration, etc.) that should work to put off many viewers. Somehow, even the socio-political elements are still relevant and sometimes even prescient. I will have to watch it again to fully appreciate all of it.

And only Godard and Coutard could make the ugly fashion of the days (that plastic overcoat Vlady is wearing!) into a gorgeous geometrical polychromatic device, as if they had been deliberately designed according to a coherent aesthetic approach by the clothing manufacturers.

I have listened to only to a few snatches from the commentary and it sounds very relevant. It made me realize I had heard Mr. Martin before, on an excellent commentary he did for an Australian edition of The Exterminating Angel.

This is a very strong contender for my DVD of the year (so far, of course).

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#116 Post by cysiam » Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:54 am

For anybody in the Austin, TX area, The Paramount Theatre is showing a double feature of Made in USA and Shoot the Piano Player tonight and tomorrow.

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Re: 481 Made in U.S.A.

#117 Post by Noiretirc » Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:57 pm

domino harvey wrote:It's being released on its own because it's a sister film to 2 or 3 Things-- which I think we can all assume is the missing spine number here-- and that film is big among the Godardites. Though honestly I find both equally weak.
I'd pay a small fee to have you expand on this please Domino. Why do you find these both equally weak?

I've just immersed myself in them, and I very eagerly look forward to subsequent viewings. I'm surprised that Made In The USA is often deemed to be the "little sister" to 2 Or 3 Things. I thought Made stood up very well, or maybe even surpassed the later film.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#118 Post by knives » Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:40 pm

This (2 or 3 things) is a horribly wasted opportunity. it has the blueprints to two great films, but because of that very thing it failed me. I honestly wish that Godard had left behind any half assed attempt at story and character and just went head long into the Slacker prototype it felt like he was itching for. Even had he gone the other way and focused simply on the girl, something I feel he would fail at, he was playing with an interesting prototype, this one with Schziopolis. As is though it completely lacks focus and is only good in it's cinematography and the last thirty minutes or so, even than the second to last scene doesn't fit even though it is reasonable as a stand alone.
I really want to respect Godard, I feel that Contempt and Band of Outsiders are great, but the man is not making that easy.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#119 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:14 pm

I thoroughly enjoyed Made in the USA. 2 or 3 Things was a rare Godard fim that left me unengaged -- didn't hate it and didn't enjoy it.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#120 Post by Napier » Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:47 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:I thoroughly enjoyed Made in the USA. 2 or 3 Things was a rare Godard fim that left me unengaged -- didn't hate it and didn't enjoy it.
Wow MK, I enjoyed 2 or 3 Things very much, (thanks for the nicely priced DVD Murdoch). But Made in the USA was the one I couldn't seem to warm up to. Even with all the eye candy. :?

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

#121 Post by Noiretirc » Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:58 am

I love 'em both, like Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About He

#122 Post by Noiretirc » Wed May 26, 2010 1:38 am

knives wrote:Made in USA is just terrible. His worst film by a country mile.
Wha......what? I thought it was his funniest (ie HA HA HA) film ever, in a good way, with the most ingenious soundtrack in film history. (Incl Marianne.) And the ending....oh that ending.....Philipe arrives, the strings billow, they chat, ......LEFT, YEAR ZERO....off they go........"this whole business of yours is not very clear"........left/right........"how then?"......strings still billowing........../FIN. (Exit Karina) It's Maltese Falcon mixed with Warholia. I adore it.

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knives
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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About He

#123 Post by knives » Wed May 26, 2010 1:39 am

Noiretirc wrote:
knives wrote:Made in USA is just terrible. His worst film by a country mile.
Wha......what? I thought it was his funniest (ie HA HA HA) film ever, in a good way, with the most ingenious soundtrack in film history. (Incl Marianne.) And the ending....oh that ending.....Philipe arrives, the strings billow, they chat, ......LEFT, YEAR ZERO....off they go........"this whole business of yours is not very clear"........left/right........"how then?"......strings still billowing........../FIN. (Exit Karina) It's Maltese Falcon mixed with Warholia. I adore it.
I just expect something more out of Godard, especially when he goes all nuty. Watching the movie I couldn't help but feel that he was on auto-pilot, hitting all of the expected points but not really doing anything with them. I know it's not, but it really just feels like a paycheck. The one or two good points about the film he had and would do better elsewhere. Watching Made in USA I asked myself why I wasn't just watching Detective instead. It does that disdain for popularity so much better. The only thing that really stands on its own here is the art design, but even that was done better elsewhere. I'll admit to not remembering the score at all so you may have a point there.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About He

#124 Post by jorencain » Sun Dec 19, 2010 2:46 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:I thoroughly enjoyed Made in the USA. 2 or 3 Things was a rare Godard fim that left me unengaged -- didn't hate it and didn't enjoy it.
I am having my own little Godard retrospective this month in my living room: I'm watching all 30 of the Godard films that I own DVD, in order, and I just finished "2 or 3 Things I Know About Her." It has been a fun project so far, and I've had a few revelations along the way: "Band of Outsiders" is not nearly as satisfying as I once thought it was, now coming across as a fun but frivolous exercise in genre, with little to say. I have a newfound love for "A Married Woman," on the other hand, which would now rank quite high on my list of favorite Godards.

I agree with Michael Kerpan about "2 or 3 Things," though. It seems like it was a very personal and necessary film for Godard to make, but it's a personal crisis that I perhaps could have done without. He sums it up in the closing voiceover when he says that he has lost faith in many things, which has forced him to return to zero. Godard seems to be at a loss: he no longer has faith in Hollywood-style storytelling, faith in contemporary culture, or faith in his filmmaking techniques. There are some beautiful moments in the film, mostly involving swirling coffee in a coffee cup or construction sites. And I was intrigued by all of the questions about language and communication. He is, by far, the most interesting "character" in the film. The actors, however, are not engaging at all, nor do they seem to understand what Godard is going for. His technique of "interviewing" the actors, as he did to great effect on "Masculin Feminine," yields almost no results here...Vlady comes off as disinterested and bland throughout the film, and the other actors, through their lifeless discussions, don't offer any real insights into communication, sex, or politics.

It's been a while since I last saw "La Chinoise," but I believe Godard is no longer grasping at straws in that film, as he seems to be doing in "2 or 3 Things." After watching his first 13 films, this is the first one that felt superfluous to me. Maybe, like Godard, I just missed Anna Karina.

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Re: 481-482 Made in U.S.A. and 2 or 3 Things I Know About He

#125 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:56 pm

I see quite a few critics commending The Theory of Everything on one particular shot involving a coffee cup. (Telegraph: "Benoît Delhomme’s cinematography is a creative boon, giving us the cosmic swirl of cream in a coffee cup." THR: "McCarten's background studying poetry in college turned out to be helpful in constructing some of the film's scientific metaphors — a swirl of cream in coffee to illustrate a black hole..." Etc.)

REALLY PEOPLE?!?

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