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Best Movies Featuring Photography or Photographers


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29 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Nobody mentioned Full Metal Jacket. Matthew Modine is a photog in the Nam for the second half of that Kubrick film. I've never been able to put my finger on it, but that vision of the war seemed wrong. ???

 

Someone did list Under Fire. Sorry. Ed Harris had an important small role in that. 

Was it because Kubrick shot it in the UK?

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Surely that was a factor.

 

Michael Herr wrote Dispatches, maybe the best book to capture the ambiance of the Vietnam War. And he cowrote the film script. Jacket was two movies. The first half of basic training was so powerful that the war itself seemed a letdown. True the weather in the UK is not the weather of South East Asia . . . but . . .

 

The combat took place in the city of Hue, not in the jungle, so the temps during the Tet Offensive would NOT have been hot and humid. Basically, I found the acting bad. Modine was good, the others rang stylised and false. 

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1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

The combat took place in the city of Hue,

So it was for the most part in the film- it was shot in the disused Beckton gasworks, which had been designed by the same architects as parts of Hue which is why it looks right.

As to the acting, Kubrick's direction of actors borders on the abstract.

The only real false note was actually the Parris Island road markings- it was Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire, so they were on the wrong side of the road. Not the sort of detail Kubrick usually misses.

A favourite quote: "How can you shoot women and children?" "It's easy, you just don't lead them so much". Eurgh.

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There are small details that they get wrong in every film. Most don't bother me. In Apocalypse Now, De Nero returns to Saigon in his Green Berets uniform and he has a bread. Beards were not acceptable. A major "error" was the business of the Russian roulette game that was played. None of that was true.

 

My favourite combat BS is when antipersonnel grenades blow up buildings with a dramatic orange flame. Grenades give up a little grey smoke and do not blow up building. And no savey trooper would fire off a full clip of ammo on full auto. 

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On 16/08/2020 at 00:35, Sally R said:

 

One that came to mind is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013 version with Ben Stiller). It is not really a photography movie but Sean Penn plays a photojournalist in it. At one stage his character is in the Himalayas with the goal of photographing a snow leopard. There is a scene about living in the moment when he is up on a mountain. It's kind of a reminder to us photographers to sometimes be in the moment rather than being so stuck behind the lens that we don't actually really experience the moment. I found a clip of this scene (but maybe a bit of a spoiler if you want to watch the whole film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmB8MZvWASo

 


+1 for Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I took a trip to Iceland because of this movie. It’s one of the best trips I’ve ever done. A bit of a fun movie.

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  • 11 months later...

Just watched this documentary about the life and career of the legendary rock and roll photographer, Jim Marshall.  Really well told and excellent editing.  Not sure where it can be streamed in Europe but I found it on Apple TV+.  Looks like it can be watched via YouTube as well.

 

 

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Just finished watching Tiny, the life of Erin Blackwell (documentary 2016) with Mary Ellen Mark.

 

Trailer

Whole movie on youtube.

The original 1984 film Streetwise on youtube.

On BluRay there are many extras like deleted scenes and interviews.

 

It reminded me a lot of the wonderful book by Nacio Brown, Rag Theater, about the 2400 Block of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, 1969-1973.

Nacio Brown on facebook.

The book on fb. (If you're into books, get a signed 1st edition -1975- from him on Amazon!)

 

wim

 

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33 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

Just finished watching Tiny, the life of Erin Blackwell (documentary 2016) with Mary Ellen Mark.

 

Trailer

Whole movie on youtube.

The original 1984 film Streetwise on youtube.

On BluRay there are many extras like deleted scenes and interviews.

 

It reminded me a lot of the wonderful book by Nacio Brown, Rag Theater, about the 2400 Block of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, 1969-1973.

Nacio Brown on facebook.

The book on fb. (If you're into books, get a signed 1st edition -1975- from him on Amazon!)

 

wim

 

Great images from an iconic period in history.

Thanks...

 

Phil

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17 hours ago, Phil Crean said:

Not a movie, but definitely photo related and entertaining!

Not sure how serious this guy is....😏

https://youtu.be/pN6cA8nYzbI

 

It's in Dutch but with English subtitles...

 

Enjoy😊

 

Phil

 

Great car! His website here (in English). His book Olifantenpaadjes/Desire Lines is a classic. On his website here. Short documentary here (all Dutch no subs.)

 

More Dutch from one of our former National Photographers: Robin de Puy - Ik ben het allemaal zelf. (2015) Mostly in Dutch, partly in English, with Dutch subtitles. A road movie about a girl on a HD with a camera and a light. (Very short) trailer on Facebook with English subs. With great portraits.

Time Magazine: “The American road trip is a photographic trope that’s often abused by countless photographers, but Robin de Puy, through her truly personal approach, has produced an opus that sets her apart from the masses. Her American road trip spanned 8,000 miles on a motorcycle, but you’ll rarely see pictures of stunning landscapes in her work. Instead, the Dutch photographer chose to focus on the people she met – sharing personal experiences that many photographes would shun. The result is a stunning study of today’s America made all the more relevant after the election.”

 

wim

 

 

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On 26/10/2021 at 18:09, Michael Ventura said:

Just watched this documentary about the life and career of the legendary rock and roll photographer, Jim Marshall.  Really well told and excellent editing.  Not sure where it can be streamed in Europe but I found it on Apple TV+.  Looks like it can be watched via YouTube as well.

 

 

Michael,

 

I am suppose to see it next week.  Jimmy was a good friend, I hope it tells his entire story.....

 

Chuck

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11 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Michael,

 

I am suppose to see it next week.  Jimmy was a good friend, I hope it tells his entire story.....

 

Chuck

 

I think it does.  I have a close childhood friend who moved out to San Francisco in the early 80s and became a music writer.  He became good friends with Marshall, they worked together on a few books and other projects.  My friend just saw the movie and liked it a lot tho he is not a fan of the woman who became his "office manager" and now is in control of his photo library.

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4 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

Great car! His website here (in English). His book Olifantenpaadjes/Desire Lines is a classic. On his website here. Short documentary here (all Dutch no subs.)

 

More Dutch from one of our former National Photographers: Robin de Puy - Ik ben het allemaal zelf. (2015) Mostly in Dutch, partly in English, with Dutch subtitles. A road movie about a girl on a HD with a camera and a light. (Very short) trailer on Facebook with English subs. With great portraits.

Time Magazine: “The American road trip is a photographic trope that’s often abused by countless photographers, but Robin de Puy, through her truly personal approach, has produced an opus that sets her apart from the masses. Her American road trip spanned 8,000 miles on a motorcycle, but you’ll rarely see pictures of stunning landscapes in her work. Instead, the Dutch photographer chose to focus on the people she met – sharing personal experiences that many photographes would shun. The result is a stunning study of today’s America made all the more relevant after the election.”

 

wim

 

 

I watched the first two of his youtube thingys and subscribed...I like his sense of humor a lot!

 

Phil

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4 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

I think it does.  I have a close childhood friend who moved out to San Francisco in the early 80s and became a music writer.  He became good friends with Marshall, they worked together on a few books and other projects.  My friend just saw the movie and liked it a lot tho he is not a fan of the woman who became his "office manager" and now is in control of his photo library.

Yea, Michael, not many are, I do not know her, Wondering if I knew your friend in SF.

 

I now wish I had bought a couple of his prints instead of his old Leica M2.  I've always

been sort of hurt that he did not offer to give me one of them.  I used to go over to his flat in 

the Castro and drink coffee and whisky (Blanton's) with Jimmy.

 

I also remember when he got banned from the bar we all use to hang out at South of Market.

 

Best,

 

Chuck

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2 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Yea, Michael, not many are, I do not know her, Wondering if I knew your friend in SF.

 

I now wish I had bought a couple of his prints instead of his old Leica M2.  I've always

been sort of hurt that he did not offer to give me one of them.  I used to go over to his flat in 

the Castro and drink coffee and whisky (Blanton's) with Jimmy.

 

I also remember when he got banned from the bar we all use to hang out at South of Market.

 

Best,

 

Chuck

 

His name is Eric Lefcowitz and he wrote often for the San Francisco Chronicle in the 80s and wrote some books about The Monkees and The Beatles, he worked with Henry Diltz and Jim Marshall on these projects.  He did manage to get a signed print of that classic photo of Johnny Cash giving the finger to the camera, at San Quinten Prison.

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