List the films you've seen at the cinema: 2014

[Gramsci]

Another film related to HIV/AIDS is being shown at Tate Modern.

Its Derek Jarmans last film "BLUE"

There is a retrospective of his films at BFI and an exhibition about him at Somerset House.

IMO one of the best recent British film makers. Should be better known. He had AIDS and was starting to lose his sight. So he made this film "Blue". Thats what it is 75 mins of a Blue screen with music and voiceover by him and his collaboraters.

Its on at Tate Modern in one of the galleries for free. With back to back shows of the whole film.

Sounds tedious for a cinephile to watch. I was at Tate and started to watch it on the offchance. Ended up watching the whole film.

I am still trying to work out why its mesmerising. It build up to be a emotionally powerful film about approaching death. Its not a spiritual film but somehow by the end the Blue of the screen takes on meaning. Quite what meaning I am not sure. What it reminds me of is painting. Somehow the Blue starts to hover in front of ones vision like an abstract painting.

The dialogue by Jarman works well with this idea of Blue. There are details of his hospital visits, poetry ( not his ) and music. It all builds up as it goes along.

Its also an unromantic view of someone nearing death. Thinking of how they will meet there end. At one point he recounts how many of his friends ended there days.

This film is how Jarman worked out the way he would deal with death. You need to see the film to get the point. As all good films its not easy to describe only in words.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

Yes I really enjoyed this. It's not exactly believeable (not yet anyway) but it's not totally absurd either and it gets a lot of mileage - and a fair few laughs - out of the idea that some human beings might just be needy enough that they could become emotionally involved with an artificial intelligence.

re: Her
Agree with this but the jump from a speech recognition computer to AI was a jump too far for me. Brings up lots of interesting themes for sure especially towards the end. No idea why it's up for any Oscars???? it's just a little indie movie playing around with some ideas? Nothing particularly stands out.

Finally saw 'Act of Killing' this weekend which is up for an Oscar. Not a film that would be shown in Indonesia perhaps. You can tell this as the end credits roll all the Indonesian film crew are just 'Anonymous.' It's not the truth but an insightful way of looking at past atrocities.

 

[belboid]

Dallas Buyers Club

Very good indeed, top notch performances, a smart, understated, script. Thankfully lacking in sentimentality, and undidactic, almost casually devastating about the effects of the pharma industry.

 

[Sue]

The Stranger by the Lake. A body is found at a lake used for gay cruising. Built the tension and sense of menace very nicely, ambiguous ending. Thought this was good.

 

[redsquirrel]

12 Years A Slave - very good, though not as good as Hunger. Very good performances all round, everybody praises Fassbender, and he is excellent, but Ejiofor has the harder role in many ways and is excellent too. Benedict Cumberbatch (as the "enlightened" salve owner) and Sarah Paulson (playing Fassbender's wife) also do very well in their parts.

Utopia - John Pilger's new film about Indigenous Australian's in present day Australia. It's clearly still a massive issue (as Pilger shows) and deserves to be highlighted but I have to say that this is far from being Pilger's best work. It was shown on the TV in the UK and it really feels much more like a TV docu than a film, it's pretty disjointed. I also have problems with some of the assumptions Pilger makes.

The Great Beauty - absolutely fantastic, one of the two best films I've seen so far this year (see below for the other). I wasn't that keen on Sorrentino's previous film, This Must Be The Place, but I loved this. Part of the reason is probably Toni Servillo who I'm a fan of, but it's also absolutely gorgeous. If I wanted to be hypercritical it just be a touch too long, I found the part with the nun lacking something compared with the previous two hours. But overall it's absolutely wonderful, I'm very tempted to go see it again, I think it will be one of those films that you get something different out of every time you watch it.

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom - What is it with biopics (and music documentaries) that makes directors so unwilling to try anything other than the usual. Like so many this is filmed strictly by the numbers, it's perfectly competent but just doesn't break out from the traditional format. That said it's decent enough, Idris Elba is pretty good in it, though I think the decision to use make up to age him was a poor choice. Like a lot of accents in film it's just distracting and Elba is a good enough actor that he can play age without it. Noami Harris steals the show for me, in the far less sympathetic role.

Blue is The Warmest Colour - my other film of the year so far, deserved to win at Cannes, an absolutely excellent piece of work. Everything works: performances, script, acting, plot, cinematography. As she's in virtually every minute of the film Adele Exarchopolous needs to be great and she is. In what must have been a really demanding role due to the explicitness, not just of the sex scenes but also the scenes where she's sleeping, crying, fighting - all of it must have been draining. There's loads of beautiful moments in the film and for something that's three hours it doesn't feel nearly that long, it just swept me along. (the English title is better as well)

The Past - Asghar Farhadi's follow up to A Separation, this is set on France with a husband returning to Paris from Iran to divorce his ex, who intends to marry someone else, in person. It has a very similar feel to A Separation so if you liked that there's a good chance you will like this, though I think this is probably a slightly "warmer" film. It's good, well acted, with the plot, thoughts and secrets of the characters all revealed slowly.

 

[belboid]

finished my pre-Oscars viewing with Her. And, pretty much what everyone else has said, very funny and touching. Takes a standard sci-fi idea and runs with it cleverly, Phoenix & Adams are both great and Johanssen is spot on with the voice, just the right squeaky clean and perky until she switches to squeaky clean soft and empathic) tone. I could probably have done with one less date scene, Phoenix's goofy grin only has so much charm. A very good couple of hours tho. And I was glad to see the music was by Arcade Fire, as I kept thinking 'this sounds like Arcade Fire.' Also glad that I didn't talk the in-laws into going to see it with us at the weekend.

 

[marty21]

The Stranger by the Lake. A body is found at a lake used for gay cruising. Built the tension and sense of menace very nicely, ambiguous ending. Thought this was good.

Saw this tonight, enjoyed it, agree about the ending - thought it was also very funny in parts as well.

First film of the year!

1. Stranger by the lake (L'Inconnu du lac)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_by_the_Lake

 

[goldenecitrone]

Utopia - John Pilger's new film about Indigenous Australian's in present day Australia. It's clearly still a massive issue (as Pilger shows) and deserves to be highlighted but I have to say that this is far from being Pilger's best work. It was shown on the TV in the UK and it really feels much more like a TV docu than a film, it's pretty disjointed. I also have problems with some of the assumptions Pilger makes.

I wonder what those assumptions could be, Mr 'the aborigines destroyed Australia'.

 

[Sue]

Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch's latest. Hmm, bit torn over this. Looks stylish, it's quite funny in parts, Tilda Swinton is great as ever and there's real chemistry between her and Tom Hiddlestone. But...it's so fucking pretentious, with heavy handed references to scientists and writers and a 'plot' involving the John Hurt character that's just cringeworthy. However, each time it all got a bit too much, something happened that made me not hate it. I would say though that it promises more in the trailer than it delivers.

 

[redsquirrel]

Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch's latest. Hmm, bit torn over this. Looks stylish, it's quite funny in parts, Tilda Swinton is great as ever and there's real chemistry between her and Tom Hiddlestone. But...it's so fucking pretentious, with heavy handed references to scientists and writers and a 'plot' involving the John Hurt character that's just cringeworthy. However, each time it all got a bit too much, something happened that made me not hate it. I would say though that it promises more in the trailer than it delivers.

Shame I was quite looking forward to this, doesn't come out here for another month.

Nebraska - Alexander Payne's latest, excellent. Like belboid said over in the DVD thread the script is excellent, and the acting not only from Bruce Dern but also June Squibb and Stacy Keach hits all the rights notes. It also looks fantastic, the decision to film in black and white suits the wide flat scenery. Indeed in some ways it's as much a western as a road movie, certainly the score (which is great too) is clearly evoking past westerns.

Le Week-end - Another film with an excellent script and performances, Lindsey Duncan doesn't seem to have got a lot of recognition unfortunately. The ending might just be a little on the pat side but the style which Duncan and Broadbent pull it off means they very, very nearly get away with it. Not quite in the class of some of the stuff I've seen this year but still very enjoyable.

 

[Dr. Furface]

Dallas Buyers Club

Very good indeed, top notch performances, a smart, understated, script. Thankfully lacking in sentimentality, and undidactic, almost casually devastating about the effects of the pharma industry.

Yeah I really enjoyed it. Matthew McConaughie isn't an actor I've had much time for previously but he's excellent in this.

 

[belboid]

Philomena.

Had seen it already, but it was a good reason to take the in laws to the Tuschinsky in Amsterdam (2 hours without speaking,glorious!) and they enjoyed it greatly. As did I once again, probably more so than they first time. Fucking catholic bastards.

 

[Orang Utan]

I saw Penny Woolcock's One Mile Away at an LSE literary festival. Great film about a pointless post code war in Birmingham that is brought to an uneasy truce by the riots of 2011. Even though it appears to have been produced by James fucking Purnell!
Should have just watched it at home though. The wallies who organised it played it on a lecture room white board on VLC and failed to put the film into full screen, which was very distracting. And the speakers weren't up to the job either. But the worst aspect was the LSE audience, sniggering at some rather depressing scenes. There's a slightly awkward scene in which some gang members meet Purnell and Jonathan Powell (who oversaw the Good Friday Agreement) in Whitehall, and the audience were laughing at this, like it was a chimps' tea party. Made me want to strangle them all.

 

[belboid]

after it won the Oscar, mrs b decided she did want to go and see Her after all.

And I must say that on second viewing, it really disappointed. Phoenix, Adams & Johanssen all very good, but the plot-holes were gaping, the more interesting bits of background story just ignored, the repetitious scenes of Phoenix goofing just annoying (wow, you can smile AND spin around, amazing). There's a decent basic gist of a story going on, but it doesn't really make as much of it as it should.

 

[quimcunx]

Wolf of wall street. Steaming pile of shite.

e2a: a 3 fucking hour long steaming pile of shite at that.

 

[quimcunx]

Should have gone to Dallas Buying Club instead.

The trailer for Her looks dreadful. And loads of people have been having relationships or strong connections with people they got to know online or only know online for a long time now. So what.

I also saw American Hustle this year. It was ok, but nothing more.

And a film called Leviathan - a documentary about fishing. It was an endurance test.

And another film that I can't remember the name of about a unit for disruptive/disrupted teens and a woman who works there. It was good. Would recommend. E2A: Short Term 12.

I think that's all I've seen this year so far.

 

[Orang Utan]

Isn't that more films than you've watched in your lifetime previously?

 

[quimcunx]

I have had little phases throughout my adulthood of going to the cinema but even then its not usually the 'everyone has seen' films.

In the last couple of years I've been to whirled art more often than big cinemas which tends to show less well known films.

 

[Belushi]

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson 2014) I'm not a huge Anderson fan but this is one of his more enjoyable films, and looks beautiful of course.

 

[MellySingsDoom]

"Only Lovers Left Alive" (Jim Jarmusch, 2013) - a decent entry into the vampire stakes, though it's actually more of a love story than anything. Also has one laugh-out-loud line about the music industry, and a band called White Hills in the rock club segment (wonder what the actual US band White Hills will make of that one?). The Lebanese song done towards the end (in the Tangiers segment) is great too. Recommended!

 

[Sue]

The Grand Budapest Hotel. Very entertaining, looks very stylish, bit distracting that everyone who's anyone's in it. Storyline was a bit all over the place but not sure that's what you go and see Wes Anderson's films for. Fun.

Rome, Open City. Know very little about the German Occupation of Rome so found this interesting. Great film, now want to see the other two films in the trilogy.

 

[ruffneck23]

Just came back from the new 300 film, it was very violent , not really my cup of tea tbh, but it was actually pretty entertaining.

It's not a sequel but set in the same time line, so what was going on in the first film the second is parallel to it.

 

[marty21]

1. Stranger by the lake (L'Inconnu du lac)
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Hugely enjoyable, looked fantastic, and ripped along at a furious rate.

 

[blossie33]

Went to see The Rocket today, set in Laos it's about a young boy and his family who have to leave their village because of a dam being built in the area and him trying to make a rocket which might bring much needed rain. Some quirky characters and quite dark in parts but also humour and some lovely moments. The child actors were excellent. Enjoyed it.

 

[oryx]

Finally got to see Inside Llewyn Davis tonight. Overall very enjoyable (though it had its bleak moments) and beautifully and atmospherically shot. I could almost feel the cold of the snowy freeways and NY streets.

The best bit is the dinner party/wrong cat scene. Absolutely hilarious.
Especially as in one shot it looked just like the I'm poopin' LOLcat.

 

[Sue]

Under the Skin. Visually stunning, original, erotic. However, not sure what you'd make of it if you hadn't read the book/knew nothing about it going in and it is a little bit slow at times. Overall though, excellent film.

 

[Gramsci]

"The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Wes Anderson s latest film. The opening credits name the writer Stefan Zweig as the influence. I had to look him up afterwards. He lived in Vienna in the interwar period. So saw the final days of that centre of European culture.

Piece here on Wes talking about Zweig.

After reading that interview and this article on Zweig the films take on a darker tone in hindsight.

The plot is not the main interest. The Hotel and Gustave the concierge are what the film revolves around.

The first third of the film I loved. Its wonderful. Starting in the near present then going back to the last days of the hotel is brilliantly done. Ralph Fiennes, as usual, shows himself to be a top notch actor. A real presence on screen.

It is good to see a film that so inventively uses special effects. He creates scenes which hark back to early cinema and magic lanterns.

The film sags a bit in last half. However the final black and white scene shows the beginning of the end for the Europe as WW2 starts.

I did find it amusing that the fictitious country its set in is called Zubrowka. This is the name of a famous Polish Vodka.

Thinking more since I wrote the above (Brixton Ritzy film thread) I feel there is something missing from the film. Considering that Wes does foreground the influence of Zweig I feel he could have done a more involved film. Nothing wrong with using humour or surreal take on events. Its just that once I looked up the background to the film (Zweig and the history of the period) I think he could have made it more explicit in the film. Definitely in the beginning it looked like he was going to do that. But half way through the film it turned into chases and slapstick. Probably why Iiked the first half best.

 

[Gramsci]

Just came back from the new 300 film, it was very violent , not really my cup of tea tbh, but it was actually pretty entertaining.

It's not a sequel but set in the same time line, so what was going on in the first film the second is parallel to it.

I remember seeing the first one by accident. It was what was on at the time.

I liked it because it was so bonkers. It was a combination of a piss take on the war on terror and so hyper masculine that it tipped over into being homo erotic.

I was rooting for the "decadent" Persians against the clean living American Spartan beefcakes.

Most amusing was the scene when the Persian king shows the clean living Spartans the life of decadence they could have if they surrendered and joined him. So the Spartans choose to die like real men so they can go back to a life of back breaking work on there farms. Sorry Id surrender straight away. A life sloth and decadence please.

 

[Gramsci]

Utopia - John Pilger's new film about Indigenous Australian's in present day Australia. It's clearly still a massive issue (as Pilger shows) and deserves to be highlighted but I have to say that this is far from being Pilger's best work. It was shown on the TV in the UK and it really feels much more like a TV docu than a film, it's pretty disjointed. I also have problems with some of the assumptions Pilger makes.

Not seen it yet. Ur are Australian I think?

Not criticizing but what are the problems with Pilgers assumptions?

I do find Pilger a bit predictable. Not always wrong. But I did not pay a cinema ticket for it as I kind of know he is going to say how terrible it was. How the colonists/ settlers have always and still oppress the Aborigines. Probably throws in for good measure that all Australians are complicit in this. Whether they say so or not. I do find him unrelenting and totally humourless. He makes a good point then is so totally puritanically moral about it that it puts me off.

Or am I wrong?

 

[Gramsci]

The Stranger by the Lake. A body is found at a lake used for gay cruising. Built the tension and sense of menace very nicely, ambiguous ending. Thought this was good.

One of the best films I have seen recently. And worth seeing in a cinema rather than on DVD.

Its not to long and well shot. A few recent films I have seen have been imo self indulgent in there length. This film shows how its done.

Its a film that is still in my head. Not sure what to make of it. Its very odd film. ( I like odd films.)Not sure whether its critical of aspects of gay life or whether that is the point of the film at all.

Well I propose the following as the point:

The point is imo that its a discussion about the differences between sexual desire , love and friendship. Aspects of life that affect "straights" and gays.

Friendship wins hands down. In that sense the film is not ambiguous. The ending is the horror (like Brando in Apocalypse Now).

Thinking on it the gay aspect of the film is a way to build a closed world to enable this to be portrayed.

There is a feeling that this all takes place outside everyday life. ( I had to remember that in France basically no one works in August).

It kind of reminded me of Greek plays. It is stylized. The lake, beach and woods all have there role to play in the film.