List the films you've seen at the cinema: 2013

[Reno]

Before Midnight. Like with Toy Story this is a series of films that gets better with every instalment. I didn't care much for Before Sunrise when it came out, because the pseudo-intellectual philosophising got on my nerves, but it was of course understandable for someone in their early 20 to try and win over a pretty French girl that way. Before Sunset I liked a lot more and it made me appreciate the previous film retrospectively. And this is great too as the film catches up with Celine and Jesse another 9 years later. As the characters are put through the disappointments and frustrations of daily life, they have become more interesting and oddly enough the films get more entertaining the more mundane their story gets. Like with all the best sequels this can be watched on it's own, but it's far more rewarding if you have seen the earlier films. Looking forward to Before Noon in another nine years time.

 

[Sue]

The Iceman, story of a hitman. Reasonably well done though probably not worth going to the cinema for. Lots of laughter at David Schwimmer playing a gangster with dodgy tache, ponytail and dubious tracksuits. In fact, lots of dodgy facial hair all round.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

The Iceman. Good, but didn't feel like a film for the cinema. It felt a lot like a HBO film, ir an episode of The Sopranos. Shannon was very powerful in the lead role. Without the cast this could have easily been just been another piece of low budget hitman pulp.

I'm not sure where the Gangster genre has to go currently with TV doing those stories so well in the form of Sopranos/Boardwalk Empire.

 

[Gingerman]

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/bfi-film-releases/aguirre-wrath-god
Going to see this at the weekend,one of those films I've always wanted to see but never got round to watching.

 

[Sue]

Therese Desqueyroux, Rich young woman marries bit older rich man in 1920s France and feels suffocated by bourgeois provincial life.
Based on the novel by Mauriac (which I haven't read). Assume there must be a lot of inner dialogue or something in the book that's not conveyed in the film because going by the film, Therese is spoilt, sulky and just not very interesting. In fact, everyone's quite unpleasant and uninteresting which is a bit of a major problem -- if I hadn't paid to see it, I wouldn't have sat through this to the end. (Had been going to see something else but screwed up the times which is why I ended up seeing this.)

 

[Gingerman]

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/bfi-film-releases/aguirre-wrath-god
Going to see this at the weekend,one of those films I've always wanted to see but never got round to watching.

Well I saw this last night,really drew me in,looked fantastic and Kinski was mesmerising, my mate who watched it with me thought it was dull as fuck

 

[Sue]

Well I saw this last night,really drew me in,looked fantastic and Kinski was mesmerising, my mate who watched it with me thought it was dull as fuck

My ex was really into Herzog, I never really got his films at all. (Building an opera house in the jungle -- WTF?) Maybe should have another go...

 

[5t3IIa]

My ex was really into Herzog, I never really got his films at all. (Building an opera house in the jungle -- WTF?) Maybe should have another go...

It's all so different Try The Grizzly Man

 

[Reno]

My ex was really into Herzog, I never really got his films at all. (Building an opera house in the jungle -- WTF?) Maybe should have another go...

I've never been big on Herzog and his films mostly leave me cold. I think the documentary Burden of Dreams about the making of Fitcarraldo crystallised some of the problems I have with him, where he was insistent that dragging a ship over a mountain has to be staged for real and exploiting the indigenous people hired as extras. And then he sees himself rather self-pityingly as the victim of his own, driven genius.

His films may look beautiful, but Herzog's type of hubris doesn't appeal to my sensibility. There is something of the German romantic in him, the type of romanticism embraced by the Nazis, which as a fellow German seriously put me off. His reasoning and type of auteurship is not that far from that of Leni Riefenstahl, whose early films and aesthetic were not dissimilar from Herzog's (check out her film The Blue Light for comparison). Anything seems justified in pursuit of their "vision".

I'm also dubious about the supposed genius of Klaus Kinski, an actor who mostly operated with everything dialled up to 12 and such an unbelievable asshole in his private life and interactions with the media, I found it hard to seperate his on- and offscreen personality.

Herzog has mellowed and is less full of himself now. I find him quite amusing in interviews and the one where he is interviewed by Mark Kermode, gets shot by someone from a car and carries on like this happens to him every day, is his finest moment. I still don't care that much for the films. Some of the documentaries are interesting, but he still keeps imposing his bullshit on his subject matter.

Fassbinder is my favourite of the 70s German New Wave directors, but he mostly dealt with specifically German subject matter, so his work travels less well. I don't think Herzog ever made a film as beautiful, intelligent and profound as Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul.

 

[redsquirrel]

My Neighbor Totoro - Unfortunately it was the english language version (and not dubbed/translated as well as most Studio Ghibli films are these days) but even so the quality of the original film is such that it cane through.

Mud - very, very impressive. Both the young kids were excellent, indeed the whole cast are top notch. The film looks pretty good and the characters were well drawn - not just the major roles but also the minor parts like Ellis' parents and Neckbone's uncle. I quite liked the directors previous film 'Take Shelter' but this is even better.

Broken - I don't think the idea of using To Kill a Mockingbird as the inspiration/basis for a book/film set in modern Britain is a bad one. OK you're unlikely to capture the brilliance of the original but the idea appealed enough to me to make me go see this. Unfortunately, the decision to use some shitty cliche's - working class people are sexually promiscuous, violent thugs who constantly swear; mentally ill people are a danger - is not only offensive and stupid (particularly given the source material) in and of itself but also weakens the film significantly. Which is a real shame because there is a potentially good film in there, the performances of Tim Roth and Eloise Laurence (who plays the Scout character) are good and their scenes together are believable and moving, but they can't overcome the crappy cliched plot.

 

[Gramsci]

The Act of Killing​

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I saw this at the BFI today on screen one.​

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It is coming to Ritzy in London from 28th June. So I guess its will be on release in other parts of the country.​

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The opening night at Ritzy will show the extended version 159 mins ( the version I saw at BFI) with Q&A with director.​

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Thought I would flag this up now as its a must see on the big screen rather than TV/ computer.​

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It is the best film I have seen for ages. Riveting if gruesome viewing.​

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It is a documentary about those who killed communists during military rule in Indonesia. The military encouraged local gangsters to kill communists.​

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The director got a few of these now old men who were killers to talk. These killers have never been punished. In fact they are publicly lauded for there actions even now. So they were very open about how they killed people.​

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The two gangsters the director focuses on were smalltime hoods who used to sell tickets at the local cinema. One of them loved films. Particularly Hollywood. So the director got them to re enact there murders by using scenarios from films they liked. Musicals, Cowboy, gangster and police films.​

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The film starts turning into a surreal nightmare that one cannot get out of. But that is the position of the main "gangster" in the film. He , whilst hating the communists, confesses he still has nightmares about what he did.​

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Using scenarios from fictional film genres provides a way to show what happened. Its like film is a distancing technique.​

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The documentary makes one question film as well.​

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They discuss at one point a famous Indonesian propaganda film , still shown , that is about how terrible communists are supposed to be. The main killer in the film said watching that film always made him feel better about what he did. Even though he knows its a blatant piece of propaganda.​

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There is something particularly scary about watching someone direct a scene of an interrogation and killing of an alleged communist who is a killer.​

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Some of the most amazing bits are when the killers talk amongst themselves about how the cope with the memories they still have of what they did.​

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It does show how relatively ordinary people can end up doing monstrous things.​

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At one point it reminded me of the history of the holocaust I read a while back. The Germans found it difficult to kill lots of people in cold blood so developed less bloody ways of doing it. So did the Indonesian killers.​

 

[Gramsci]

I've never been big on Herzog and his films mostly leave me cold. I think the documentary Burden of Dreams about the making of Fitcarraldo crystallised some of the problems I have with him, where he was insistent that dragging a ship over a mountain has to be staged for real and exploiting the indigenous people hired as extras. And then he sees himself rather self-pityingly as the victim of his own, driven genius.

His films may look beautiful, but Herzog's type of hubris doesn't appeal to my sensibility. There is something of the German romantic in him, the type of romanticism embraced by the Nazis, which as a fellow German seriously put me off. His reasoning and type of auteurship is not that far from that of Leni Riefenstahl, whose early films and aesthetic were not dissimilar from Herzog's (check out her film The Blue Light for comparison). Anything seems justified in pursuit of their "vision".

Fassbinder is my favourite of the 70s German New Wave directors, but he mostly dealt with specifically German subject matter, so his work travels less well. I don't think Herzog ever made a film as beautiful, intelligent and profound as Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul.

I went to see Aguirre Wrath of God at BFI. I had seen it years ago at the Scala. First time I had seen one of his films. It did leave me cold this time around despite the fact I found it gripping to watch. Particularly unnerving were the shots where the actors looked directly at the camera.

However I took it as a critique of the kind of Germanic romanticism and hubris that the Nazis used. ( in the case of Romanticism misused ).It has moments of very black humour. As at the end when Klaus is left with the monkeys on the raft. So whilst influenced by Leni I do not think she used humour in her films like Herzog did here. Which undercut the hubris. Her later films for the Nazis were done completely straight.

Klaus/ Aguirre leads the men into disaster like Hitler did with the German people. Like Hitler he is a commoner not an aristocrat. He like Hitler did with Germany manages to gradually take over the expedition from the aristocrats. The men either willingly or grudgingly accept his leadership until to late.

Whether Herzog meant this film to be read in this way I do not know. But its one possible reading imo.

I agree with you about Fassbinder. I still have not seen all his films.

 

[BipsonPressure]

The Hobbit (in New York) - a film the phrase 'by-the-numbers' was invented for

Star Trek: Into Darkness - cracking fun

 

[Sue]

The Best Years Of Our Lives. What happens when three veterans return from WW2. Shamefully, I'd never seen the whole thing before. What a great film.

 

[Reno]

Sofia Coppola's true-crime black comedy The Bling Ring based on the case a group of pampered L.A. teenagers who robbed the houses of the celebrities they admired. I thought it was pretty funny. It is probably her most conventional film so far, but also quite entertaining and much better than the dreary Somewhere, her last film. Like all her films it's beautifully shot, has a dreamy atmosphere and a great soundtrack. The Bling Ring has been accused of being superficial, but then it's a satire about superficial people and her take on it is that of an anthropologist. She observes, but she doesn't judge. The characters have enough rope to hang themselves with and that they do.

Reading up on it, it sticks closely to the real case and it's quite incredible that the robbers got away with it for so long and that it was so easy for them to get into the houses. The likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan who they robbed just have so much stuff, they didn't catch on for ages that things went missing. And they went out leaving patio doors unlocked. I always thought celebs would have lots of security or at least burglar alarms. Emma Watson gives the best performance of the bunch, as a dead eyed dimwit who is amazingly self-deluded. This is very different from what she's done before and she's becoming a pretty good actress.


http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwi...ve-a-problem-with-privilege-or-do-her-critics

 

[DaveCinzano]

Wow - this looks... unmissable:

Bula Quo
Tuesday July 2, 7.30pm
Rocking All Over the World, Status Quo legends Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt witness a murder in Fiji. Fleeing a gang trafficking body parts; have they played their last gig? Parfitt and Rossi are on the run taking along their manager, Simon (Craig Fairbrass) and cheeky intern Caroline (Laura Aikman) along for the ride.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Sofia Coppola's true-crime black comedy The Bling Ring based on the case a group of pampered L.A. teenagers who robbed the houses of the celebrities they admired...

There's a moderately interesting article in the current LRB on said gang of halfwits:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n12/andrew-ohagan/so-many-handbags-so-little-time

 

[belboid]

Aguirre.

My favourite film in a language other than English, and in a really cracking print. It still manages to maintain its power, beauty and wit like no other. And I'd pretty much agree with Gramsci that it is using a visual romanticism as a way of criticising the romanticism of the nazis.

 

[Reno]

Aguirre.

My favourite film in a language other than English, and in a really cracking print. It still manages to maintain its power, beauty and wit like no other. And I'd pretty much agree with Gramsci that it is using a visual romanticism as a way of criticising the romanticism of the nazis.

Which I would possibly buy that had I only been talking about Aguirre, but I wasn't.

 

[belboid]

Which I would possibly buy had I only been talking about Aguirre, but I didn't.

I think its used and undercut in most of his films tho. Its the same in Fitzcaraldo fer sure. And while I fully take your point about the egotistic excesses of a director, and the way he has exploited people to create his vision, I cant help but admire it as well.

There's a bit toward the end of Grizzly an where he sums it up, Treadwells naive romantic view of the bears and nature versus the brutal reality of it. grizzly indeed.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

Behind the Candelabra - hate Michael Douglas as an actor usually, but I have to say that he is quite superb in his portrayal of Liberace, its a very understated movie considering the subject matter, and I loved this, sometimes the hype is justified.

 

[Dillinger4]

Before Midnight. I liked it.

 

[Gramsci]

There's a bit toward the end of Grizzly an where he sums it up, Treadwells naive romantic view of the bears and nature versus the brutal reality of it. grizzly indeed.

Good point. But on further thinking this came to mind as a possible reading of Herzog doc:

Going back to read Reno original post Reno did say German Romanticism.

I think what Herzog was criticising was a type of romantic view of nature. Treadwell thought he could get closer to nature. It was new age type romanticism.

Where as another type of Romanticism is being in awe of nature and its inhuman power. Which is Herzog standpoint.

The movement validated strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities,

Romanticism as an idea is a lot more complicated than I realised.

 

[Sue]

World War Z. Not great but not terrible either. The set pieces are pretty well done and Glasgow looks zombie-tastic . A few years since I read the book but it doesn't seem to keep a great deal from it -- can see the episodic nature would present difficulties but it does lose quite a lot by having a more conventional narrative. Found some of the dialogue a bit difficult to hear at the start which was a bit annoying.

 

[redsquirrel]

There's a bit toward the end of Grizzly an where he sums it up, Treadwells naive romantic view of the bears and nature versus the brutal reality of it. grizzly indeed.

I'm not sure Herzog's view of nature is that much more realistic than Treadwell's.


Days of Heaven - It's been raved about time and again so I won't bother repeating what plenty of others had said, just really glad I got the opportunity to see it at the cinema.

In The House - Francis Ozon's newest, the first of his I've seen since Angel. It's very Ozon so if you don't like his style/game playing you probably won't like this. I really enjoyed the first hour which had some very funny moments but the ending didn't really work for me.

 

[Reno]

World War Z. Not great but not terrible either. The set pieces are pretty well done and Glasgow looks zombie-tastic . A few years since I read the book but it doesn't seem to keep a great deal from it -- can see the episodic nature would present difficulties but it does lose quite a lot by having a more conventional narrative. Found some of the dialogue a bit difficult to hear at the start which was a bit annoying.

Saw it yesterday and felt exactly the same about the film. Actually I can't think of anybody else on here who I tend to agree with on just about every film like I do with you. Are we the same person ?

 

[Sue]

Saw it yesterday and felt exactly the same about the film. Actually I can't think of anybody else on here who I tend to agree with on just about every film like I do with you. Are we the same person ?

I'm very flattered... Wish I had your knowledge of films though -- I'm an amateur by comparison...

 

[Reno]

I just saw a preview of Rush, Ron Howards new film about the 1976 Formula 1 season and the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. While Daniel Bruehl's Lauda acts circles around Chris Helmsworth's Hunt, this is very entertaining and genuinely exciting and I'm someone who has absolutely no interest in Formula 1. Maybe fans may will find more stuff to criticise, but I thought it got the mix between racing and their private lives right.

While Helmswoth feels too American for Hunt, but Bruehl really has Lauda down and he emerges as a fascinating character. The whole thing moves at a tremendous clip and while this isn't a Hollywood film because Hollywood doesn't make films like this anymore (all the money came from Europe) this is the most satisfying mainstream films I've seen this year. Sure, it's a little cheesy here and there, but it's also how a biopic should be done. It's not a cradle to crave epic, but tightly focused on one thing, the complicated relationship between those two rivals and it makes for a great story. The film also looks good and the 70s art direction is spot on.

 

[Sue]

The East. Woman infiltrates ecoterrorist cell and has to decide where her loyalties lie. Interesting-looking trailer but the film itself is the worst I've seen in quite a long time. (Was there a cliche that they hadn't disinterred? Erm, no.)

I did laugh out loud at the dinner scene in a cringey way but not sure you were meant to...

 

[Gramsci]

World War Z. Not great but not terrible either. The set pieces are pretty well done and Glasgow looks zombie-tastic . A few years since I read the book but it doesn't seem to keep a great deal from it -- can see the episodic nature would present difficulties but it does lose quite a lot by having a more conventional narrative. Found some of the dialogue a bit difficult to hear at the start which was a bit annoying.

It had mixed reviews. My friend saw it and like it.

I enjoyed it. I agree about set pieces. Some great set pieces: The beginning, the lost platoon in Korea and nutjob Zombies invading Israel.

The storyline did not grab me in the end. I am not sure why. As it was interesting at start. I think I would have like a darker more ambiguous ending. The opening credits gave impression that this is how the story would go. Not Brad Pitt saving the world.

I found dialogue ok. So maybe the cinema you were in?

I also saw it in 2D. Fine I thought. Did not feel I was missing anything for not paying more to see it in 3D. Perhaps the novelty of 3D is wearing off.