TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Charlie Baker]

Best thing about New York, New York is that it's a great showcase for Liza Minnelli, in particular, performing "But The World Goes 'Round". And putting back the "Happy Endings" production number helps the movie.

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 7/5/2024 at 11:28 PM, Wiendish Fitch said:

I love The Women. No, a lot of it hasn't aged well, but with that witty dialogue, impeccable casting, gorgeous fashions, scene-stealing Marjorie Main... well, can you see why I can forgive it of any sins?

The musical remake, The Opposite Sex, with June Allyson was for many years a subject of weird fascination for me because I knew that Jeff Richards (the handsomest Pontipee) had a role in it. I had not been aware that Leslie Nielsen played the straying husband. I don't think there are any truly outstanding musical numbers, but I enjoy most of the cast. It's also (probably because the women are the leads and Kay is meant to be younger than Allyson) the rare occasion where the male actor [Nielsen] is younger than his female counterpart [Allyson] even though in the story he is presumably the same age or a little older. 

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

Best thing about New York, New York is that it's a great showcase for Liza Minnelli, in particular, performing "But The World Goes 'Round". And putting back the "Happy Endings" production number helps the movie.

Continuing to watch on and off.  I keep turning it off because it's so awful.  DeNiro's character is so brutish, always manhandling Liza.  Ugh.

[EtheltoTillie]

Oh, no!  Now he's cheating with Mary Kay Place.  And they're in a hotel room with purple furniture!

[fairffaxx]

At 1:30 PDT today, Green For Danger (1947) is scheduled.  Excellent mystery movie, based on the novel of the same name by the brilliant writer Christianna Brand.  Highly recommended!

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, fairffaxx said:

At 1:30 PDT today, Green For Danger (1947) is scheduled.  Excellent mystery movie, based on the novel of the same name by the brilliant writer Christianna Brand.  Highly recommended!

It's also preceded by Sapphire, a murder mystery involving a black woman who was passing for white. 

[Suzn]

On 7/7/2024 at 3:11 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

I started watching both New York, New York and Mr. Goodbar, from Mario's picks.  I have to finish, as I stopped watching for a work deadline.  NY NY still seems as terrible as it did at time of its release.  DeNiro is just playing twitchy Rupert Pupkin/Travis Bickle.  But I want to see the deleted scenes they're restored. 

 

I had somehow avoided ever seeing New York, New York and thought I ought to watch it.  It was so awful and I couldn't find any redeeming part of it.  Liza Minelli and the music couldn't make up for the absolutely disgusting character played by Robert DeNiro.  He was just despicable, unpleasant and made my skin crawl.  I am a fan of Martin Scorsese and truly don't understand what he was trying to do there.

[Suzn]

On 7/5/2024 at 10:28 PM, Wiendish Fitch said:

I love The Women. No, a lot of it hasn't aged well, but with that witty dialogue, impeccable casting, gorgeous fashions, scene-stealing Marjorie Main... well, can you see why I can forgive it of any sins?

The Women is one of my all time favorite movies.  I don't think it has aged badly at all.  It is a snapshot of another time and of course many things have changed drastically in attitudes, values and behavior, but human nature hasn't changed at all.  As stylized as it is, it captures something about how women are with each other.  I also love it for very shallow  reasons - the fashions and jewelry knock me out.

Edited July 8 by Suzn

[Palimelon]

Worth it for this quote alone:

"There's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society...outside of a kennel."

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, Suzn said:

I had somehow avoided ever seeing New York, New York and thought I ought to watch it.  It was so awful and I couldn't find any redeeming part of it.  Liza Minelli and the music couldn't make up for the absolutely disgusting character played by Robert DeNiro.  He was just despicable, unpleasant and made my skin crawl.  I am a fan of Martin Scorsese and truly don't understand what he was trying to do there.

I still haven’t finished watching, and it’s tough going. I am incomplete agreement. Deniro is an even worse character than he was as Jake LaMotta. 

Edited July 9 by EtheltoTillie

[voiceover]

9 hours ago, Palimelon said:

 

Worth it for this quote alone:

 

“Get me a bromide…and put some gin in it!”

Mary Boland.  Always knew what to say & when to say it.

[bmoore4026]

Hang 'em High is on very late tonight.  I love the movie but I ironically don't like the opening, even though it is the crux of the film.  I guess it's because they don't believe him and that's happened to me quite a few times that it hurts.  Seeing Eastwood getting dragged through the water, having his hands tied, and all that is also distressing.  Ironically, when the hanging actually happens, those feelings go away as I know he's going to be saved.

I do wonder if this is the first time in a movie where we get close ups of a hanged man's face as he's hanging, especially since this one doesn't kill him right away, along with his dangling body from different angles including from seeing him from the ground up.

Other than Clint not believed, dragged, tied up, being put on a horse, and a noose placed around his neck, I mostly like this movie.  The subplot with Inger Stevens drags the film down, slightly, as they bond and become intimate, but they don't fall in love with each other.  So, what was the point?  The ethical clashing between Clint and the judge is more riveting, especially those two teenage boys who stole those horses.

[Tom Holmberg]

I'm "asportsual", which means I'm not interested in most sports films (I like "A League of Their Own" and the original "Bad News Bears") but one of my favorites is on Friday night, "Slapshot".  I recall that Siskel hated the movie when it came out and later picked as his biggest reviewing mistake and he regretted panning it.

12 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

Hang 'em High is on very late tonight.  I love the movie but I ironically don't like the opening, even though it is the crux of the film.  I guess it's because they don't believe him and that's happened to me quite a few times that it hurts.  Seeing Eastwood getting dragged through the water, having his hands tied, and all that is also distressing.  Ironically, when the hanging actually happens, those feelings go away as I know he's going to be saved.

I do wonder if this is the first time in a movie where we get close ups of a hanged man's face as he's hanging, especially since this one doesn't kill him right away, along with his dangling body from different angles including from seeing him from the ground up.

Other than Clint not believed, dragged, tied up, being put on a horse, and a noose placed around his neck, I mostly like this movie.  The subplot with Inger Stevens drags the film down, slightly, as they bond and become intimate, but they don't fall in love with each other.  So, what was the point?  The ethical clashing between Clint and the judge is more riveting, especially those two teenage boys who stole those horses.

This was Clint Eastwood getting back into Hollywood movies after his success in Spaghetti westerns.

[bmoore4026]

5 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

This was Clint Eastwood getting back into Hollywood movies after his success in Spaghetti westerns.

It worked

[mariah23]

TCM Remembers Shelley Duvall who passed away today at the age of 75.

[Rinaldo]

On 7/7/2024 at 4:11 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

NY NY still seems as terrible as it did at time of its release.  DeNiro is just playing twitchy Rupert Pupkin/Travis Bickle.  But I want to see the deleted scenes they're restored. 

More crucial, to my mind, is that De Niro and Scorsese seem to encourage each others' weaknesses: De Niro imagining that being "real" means being self-involved and abrasive, with no generosity toward the audience for whom all this supposedly exists. He can be so great, but he needs a director who, without being a Philistine, will say No to him sometimes and shape him in more communicative directions. And Scorsese... well, every movie director seems to imagine he can make a musical, without having the respect for the form to learn how it works, and I'll leave it at that. (The list of forgotten failures is long.) 

Have they restored scenes beyond the ones that got restored in the 1981 reissue? (Including the whole "Happy Endings" movie-in-the-movie with Larry Kert's only film appearance.)

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

More crucial, to my mind, is that De Niro and Scorsese seem to encourage each others' weaknesses: De Niro imagining that being "real" means being self-involved and abrasive, with no generosity toward the audience for whom all this supposedly exists. He can be so great, but he needs a director who, without being a Philistine, will say No to him sometimes and shape him in more communicative directions. And Scorsese... well, every movie director seems to imagine he can make a musical, without having the respect for the form to learn how it works, and I'll leave it at that. (The list of forgotten failures is long.) 

Have they restored scenes beyond the ones that got restored in the 1981 reissue? (Including the whole "Happy Endings" movie-in-the-movie with Larry Kert's only film appearance.)

I'm glad you pointed that out about DeNiro and Scorsese seeming to amplify each other's worst impulses.  I had been thinking about something similar.

Scorsese seems to use De Niro for wish fulfillment, making him a tough guy he could not be himself.  I thought all the way back to Mean Streets and De Niro's unhinged neighborhood character. Scorsese was a sickly child and could not have been a street tough.

I still have not finished watching NY NY--maybe I'll get back into it later in the week--so I don't know the answer about the restoration of scenes.  I might have to look it up in some other resource.  It really is a slog. 

Edited July 11 by EtheltoTillie

[Rinaldo]

18 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

It really is a slog. 

I remember my reaction when it first came out. I knew about it in advance and had been looking forward to it -- I mean, all the ingredients seemed tip-top, and I love musicals if they're done well. And then sitting in the theater, and getting that sinking feeling, "Didn't we just have a remake of A Star Is Born?" (OK, it's not an exact duplicate, but she ends way more "up" than he does.) And conceding the occasional pleasurable moment, but they're truly just moments.

The other sinking feeling of the same nature had come for me just 2 years earlier: At Long Last Love. I'd loved Peter Bogdaovich's earlier movies, felt that here was a filmmaker who had a real gift for popular entertainments that were old-fashioned in a good way. And he was going to give me a confection full of Cole Porter? Bring it on! Except, no. The story wasn't a story. There was no structure, no reason for the songs to happen (again, Writing Musicals 101 but Mr. B. never took that class). People always say it was bad because Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd couldn't sing but honestly, that was the least of the problem. Worse voices than his have sold a song through style & charm, and hers wasn't even bad, abstractly as sound. They just gave nothing of themselves to a song, each one was DOA. A sign of the malaise was that Madeline Kahn and Eileen Brennan, who did have all the musical skills, came off just as poorly. But I've gone off on too long a tangent already on a movie TCM never shows (nor should they).

Edited July 12 by Rinaldo

[EtheltoTillie]

24 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

I remember my reaction when it first came out. I knew about it in advance and had been looking forward to it -- I mean, all the ingredients seemed tip-top, and I love musicals if they're done well. And then sitting in the theater, and getting that sinking feeling, "Didn't we just have a remake of A Star Is Born?" (OK, it's not an exact duplicate, but she ends way more "up" than he does.) And conceding the occasional pleasurable moment, but they're truly just moments.

The other sinking feeling of the same nature had come for me just 2 years earlier: At Long Last Love. I'd loved Peter Bogdaovich's earlier movies, felt that here was a filmmaker who had a real gift for popular entertainments that were old-fashioned in a good way. And he was going to give me a confection full of Cole Porter? Bring it on! Except, no. The story wasn't one. There was no structure, no reason for the songs to happen (again, Writing Musicals 101 but Mr. B. never took that class). People always say it was because Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd couldn't sing but honestly, that was the least of it. Worse voices than his have sold a song with style & charm, and hers wasn't even bad, in itself. They just gave nothing of themselves to a song, each one was DOA. A sign of the malaise was that Madeline Kahn, who did have all the musical skills, came off just as poorly. But I've gone off on too long a tangent already on a movie TCM never shows (nor should they).

I’ve never sat through that movie!  

[Crashcourse]

Just finished watching All Fall Down with Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint and Brandon De Wilde.  Beatty was called "Berry-Berry", and I must have heard people calling him that stupid name about 972 times.  The movie didn't do that well at the box office, and I think the constant "Berry-Berry" might have been the reason. 

[Charlie Baker]

Yes,  All Fall Down is derailed by the simple choice and repetition of that character's name continuously taking a viewer out of the movie. The name is the original from the James Leo Herlihy novel, according to Wikipedia. Too bad the adapter William Inge (!) didn't change it.  The cast is in there pitching--Angela Lansbury and Karl Malden as well as the ones @Crashcourse mentions.  Ben said this is one of Eva Marie Saint's favorites of her films--and her role is a good one and she's lovely in it.

[EtheltoTillie]

I've seen All Fall Down before, and yes, that name BeriBeri was too much!  As in it was like a disease.

No one has commented on Looking for Mr. Goodbar.  I find that a difficult movie to watch also. 

Edited July 12 by EtheltoTillie

[Crashcourse]

I'd seen Looking for Mr. Goodbar a couple times and, yes, it's disturbing and sad since it's based on a true story.

[voiceover]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

No one has commented on Looking for Mr. Goodbar.  I find that a difficult movie to watch also

I made myself sit through it, then spent the next three days squicked out and depressed, every time I thought of it.

There’s a list of 70s movies filmed in NY that always leave me feeling grimy & needing to shower after.  

This was one.

[Charlie Baker]

It was poignant that Friday's night of 70s movies should wrap with Shelley Duvall's debut in Brewster McCloud.

[voiceover]

I dunno…I’ll have to recheck my files, but I think the movie farewell I regret the most* belongs to Mariette & Gaston (Kay Francis & Herbert Marshall) in Trouble in Paradise.  And I don’t even cry during it!!

It’s more of an “Awwwww, shit! really??” moment.

I demand the Director’s Cut, where Lubitsch admits his mistake, and those two move to Rio & open a casino.

*More than Karl and Kathi (The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg) or Rick and Ilsa or Hubbell and Katie (I don’t include Rhett and Scarlett because *of course* she got him back).

[ratgirlagogo]

Actress Cheng Pei-pei has died.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/cheng-pei-pei-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-come-drink-with-me-actress-dead-at-78-1235952807/

Come Drink With Me is my favorite wuxia (kung fu) movie ever. It was shown a lot on the El Rey Network (Robert Rodriguez's project) some years ago as part of their kung fu weekend film slot.  It deserves to be shown on TCM or the Criterion Channel but of course, pretty much can't be, because,  like all the Shaw Brothers movies, it's dubbed rather than subtitled, which of course cheeses it up and camouflages the beautiful photography, art direction, dancing, fighting, even the plot. Probably the reason (at least, IMO) that the Academy didn't accept it as an Oscar entry when Hong Kong submitted it in 1966.  Remember what a revelation it was 25 or so years ago when the original Godzilla was released with subtitles instead of dubbing - and all of us non-Japanese speakers could finally see what a sad, upsetting film it actually was.

The story is a familar corker - all the bad guys in the province are terrified because they hear that an incorruptible government agent who is a  master of martial arts is coming to bust up their criminal enterprises -  what a shock when that incorruptible master turns out to be a beautiful young woman. It would be great if this ended up on TCM Imports one Sunday.

Edited July 22 by ratgirlagogo

[Tom Holmberg]

On Monday TCM will be showing a Tony Anthony spaghetti western, "A Stranger in Town" (1967), AKA "A Dollar Between the Teeth"). Hopefully someday they'll show Anthony's "Blindman", co-starring Ringo Starr. about a blind gunfighter, based on the Japanese blind masseur swordsman gambler series "Zatoichi".

[Palimelon]

Quote

blind masseur swordsman gambler

That's...wow.

[mariah23]

Blind masseur swordsman gambler?!

[Tom Holmberg]

13 hours ago, mariah23 said:

Blind masseur swordsman gambler?!

Yep.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi

There are 17 Zatoichi movies (my favorite is "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo") and 100 episodes of the Zatoichi TV show.

There's a whole Zatoichi world out there. 😉

Edited July 22 by Tom Holmberg

[Charlie Baker]

I'd agree with Eddie Muller about this past weekend's Noir Alley, Red Light, that it's underrated.  Really heavy on the noir visual style, and besides the story going slightly over the top, it has some plot elements that aren't typical--religion, for one, and the relationship between the lead characters. Eddie also has some interesting things to say about the star, George Raft. I don't have strong feelings about him, but he's well cast in this.

[EtheltoTillie]

So they were showing The French Lieutenant's Woman.  What a pretentious bore.  I tried rewatching because I realized no one ever shows it anymore even though it stars Meryl Streep.  (I have made no secret of my antipathy for Meryl Streep.)  I was curious to see what I thought now.  Jeremy Irons is a scientist who studies fossils.  Symbolism, anyone?  I couldn't make it through.  Anyone else have any more to say about this? 

[Charlie Baker]

I remember going to see The French Lieutenant's Woman when it was released out of curiosity, because it read like a book that would be very difficult to adapt for film.   At the time I thought they did a pretty good job.  I haven't seen it since.   August 10th is Meryl Streep's Summer Under the Stars day on TCM, by the way.

[hypnotoad]

Quote

So they were showing The French Lieutenant's Woman.  What a pretentious bore.

Bette Midler did a great bit about this movie. 'I tried out for the french lieutenant's woman. I read that part. I'm the french lieutenant's wwwwwhhhhooooorreeee ... what's it to ya?'

I've never managed to get through that movie, but I always think of this line from Bette!

 

Edited July 24 by hypnotoad

[Rinaldo]

12 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

So they were showing The French Lieutenant's Woman.  ...  Anyone else have any more to say about this? 

It's one of my favorite books ever (I'm a sucker for stories that have fun with the narrative frame, but I don't think it's just that). I knew it would be a challenge to film, and I was willing, in advance, to cut the movie some slack on that count... but as it turned out, I couldn't find that the chosen method worked at all. We lost a vast amount, and gained nothing. Harold Pinter has a lot to answer for.

Coincidentally (well before it was scheduled to air), I was thinking about The French Lieutenant's Woman, and wishing that somebody would try again. Perhaps as a streaming miniseries, to give it room to breathe, using an ongoing never-seen narrator and emulating the book's stylistic/narrative tricks and jumps. It would be worth trying.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 7/23/2024 at 12:25 PM, Charlie Baker said:

I'd agree with Eddie Muller about this past weekend's Noir Alley, Red Light, that it's underrated.  Really heavy on the noir visual style, and besides the story going slightly over the top, it has some plot elements that aren't typical--religion, for one, and the relationship between the lead characters. Eddie also has some interesting things to say about the star, George Raft. I don't have strong feelings about him, but he's well cast in this.

I'm only about halfway through this, but I already think it's one of my favorite noirs. 

[Mindthinkr]

Wow. The Killing. A Stanley Kubrick film I’ve never seen is playing right now! 

[Crashcourse]

Yeah, that was something.  All that money flying around at the end!  

[Mindthinkr]

9 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Yeah, that was something.  All that money flying around at the end!  

It gave me a chuckle as it looked more like squares of toilet paper. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I watched Barry Lyndon.  I found it very compelling--partly because of the beauty, partly because of the human tragedy.  I know I saw in 1975, but I had no memory of it. It made no impression on me. It was like watching for the first time. 

Edited July 25 by EtheltoTillie

[graybrown bird]

I like Barry Lyndon's stately pace.  It's like watching an aesthetically pleasing slow-motion train wreck.

[Charlie Baker]

Like @EtheltoTillie I saw Barry Lyndon on its release.  I thought it was beautiful to look at but it didn't engage me emotionally at all.  I think I'm paraphrasing a reviewer at the time who wrote something like watching it was like studying a beautiful painting for an extended period of time, and then once you've had your fill, there's no other painting to move on to in the gallery (or theater).   I might appreciate it more now if I revisit it, but I will admit the pacing and the running time don't make me want to rush to do that.  I'll also admit that I really like some of Kubrick's films and some just leave me cold.

[EtheltoTillie]

33 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

Like @EtheltoTillie I saw Barry Lyndon on its release.  I thought it was beautiful to look at but it didn't engage me emotionally at all.  I think I'm paraphrasing a reviewer at the time who wrote something like watching it was like studying a beautiful painting for an extended period of time, and then once you've had your fill, there's no other painting to move on to in the gallery (or theater).   I might appreciate it more now if I revisit it, but I will admit the pacing and the running time don't make me want to rush to do that.  I'll also admit that I really like some of Kubrick's films and some just leave me cold.

Yup, when the movie came out, the main topic of discussion was the filming technique, and the natural light, and so on.  It overwhelmed the discussion, as I recall.  So I'm glad I found more to it in this time period.

[Milburn Stone]

16 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

 I saw Barry Lyndon on its release.  I thought it was beautiful to look at but it didn't engage me emotionally at all.  I think I'm paraphrasing a reviewer at the time who wrote something like watching it was like studying a beautiful painting for an extended period of time, and then once you've had your fill, there's no other painting to move on to in the gallery (or theater).   I might appreciate it more now if I revisit it, but I will admit the pacing and the running time don't make me want to rush to do that.  I'll also admit that I really like some of Kubrick's films and some just leave me cold.

This from beginning to end. Including that I hold out the possibility that I'd appreciate it more now, but I'm not betting the farm on it. In its boredom factor, I compare it to a Kubrick film that I did see as an older adult--Eyes Wide Shut. I can't blame the stupefied, coma-induced reaction I had to Eyes on "not being old enough to appreciate it," as might possibly be the case with Barry Lyndon. 

Kubrick from 2001 on directed his actors to be cyphers. That actually worked sometimes. It was perfect for 2001; if anything it increased the aura of mystery and suspense, and carried a meaning of "this is what people are going to be like in the technological near future."  But it meant we were stuck with a zero in Ryan O'Neal's performance as Barry Lyndon. And O'Neal could be good, so obviously this was Kubrick making him be this way. Same with Tom Cruise, who could be good, but was a bore in Eyes Wide Shut. (Although he was good in the scene with Sydney Pollack near the beginning.) Same with Matthew Modine in Full Metal Jacket.

 

 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

@Milburn Stone Eyes Wide Shut is one of the worst movies ever made.  What a colossal misfire.  What would even motivate someone to make such a ridiculous story and to cast Tom Cruise in it, of all things?   Don't let that keep you from trying Barry Lyndon again. 

[Rinaldo]

On 7/25/2024 at 3:34 PM, Charlie Baker said:

I might appreciate it more now if I revisit it, but I will admit the pacing and the running time don't make me want to rush to do that.  I'll also admit that I really like some of Kubrick's films and some just leave me cold.

Like @Milburn Stone, I echo these sentiments. I could appreciate its visual beauties and other technical achievements when I saw it on initial release, but once was enough for me. I too like some of Kubrick's movies a great deal: the consecutive quartet Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, and Dr. Strangelove. After that, really nothing except Full Metal Jacket (and that with some reservations). Yes, I'm a traitor to my generation and didn't feel anything for 2001.

[SomeTameGazelle]

29 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Like @Milburn Stone, I echo these sentiments. I could appreciate its visual beauties and other technical achievements when I saw it on initial release, but once was enough for me. I too like some of Kubrick's movies a great deal: the consecutive quartet Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, and Dr. Strangelove. After that, really nothing except Full Metal Jacket (and that with some reservations). Yes, I'm a traitor to my generation and didn't feel anything for 2001.

I am really struggling to get through Lolita. I had recorded it recently and then put off watching it until I had finished reading the book, and it is already bothering me that everyone calls Dolores Haze "Lolita" when in the book that is a private pet name that Humbert uses (leaving aside the fact that Humbert also uses pseudonyms for everyone which is also a layer that is missing); it is also troubling that Sue Lyon is styled to be more like a young adult than a child. I doubt that it will turn out to be am adequate representation of the story Nabokov wrote.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 7/25/2024 at 11:43 AM, graybrown bird said:

I like Barry Lyndon's stately pace.  It's like watching an aesthetically pleasing slow-motion train wreck.

It seemed to recreate the pace of novels from that era. Saw it when it first came out. I always liked Barry Lyndon, but I know many people dislike it.

22 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Yes, I'm a traitor to my generation and didn't feel anything for 2001.

I really liked 2001.  It was one of the first scifi movies that recreated on the screen the images I had in my head when reading the books (Stars Wars did the same)

[Milburn Stone]

19 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

t seemed to recreate the pace of novels from that era. Saw it when it first came out. I always liked Barry Lyndon, but I know many people dislike it.

That is an interesting insight. If I do watch it again, I'll have that in mind and maybe it will help.

It doesn't explain why all of Kubrick's movies from 2001 on were super-long and super-methodically paced--some of them more successful for me than others--but that doesn't invalidate the insight. Very possibly Kubrick was influenced by 19th century English literature to want to emulate it in all these movies.

(I myself am a devotee of the novels of Anthony Trollope and I believe he influenced my writing style in some ways, although perhaps it's not always apparent!)

Edited July 28 by Milburn Stone