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

[Gramsci]

I'm really looking forward to Under The Skin. Birth is one of my favourite movies of the last decade, is UTS as good?

So "Birth" is that good. I did not know about this film. Maybe in UK it was not widely shown. "Sexy Beast" was big hit in UK. Will have to check it out.

UTS is imo better than Sexy Beast. In sense that its worth a second look.

However my friend thought it was disappointing. Whilst it looked good he was expecting more after the rave reviews. I think he meant that the story was a bit thin. He compared it to unfavourably to "The Man who Fell to Earth" which he has seen recently on big screen. Which he reckoned had more involving story. Cannot judge myself. Never seen that film in a cinema.

 

[Sue]

Sadly the Renoir in London is next to be chopped up into multiplex.

What's happening with that? They were talking about splitting it into five screens IIRC though really can't see how that would even be possible.

 

[redsquirrel]

So "Birth" is that good. I did not know about this film.

I really rate it and I know Reno and David Thompson of the Guardian are also fans. Lots of critics hated it though, and that combined with the silly "pedophile" nonsense meant that it kind of died on release unfortunately. Got a a very good cast Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Danny Huston (who's managed to get a role where he doesn't just play a sleeze/pyscho for once) and some interesting ideas.

I think it might be one of the films that will be "re-discovered" eventually.

 

[redsquirrel]

According to director they did go around Glasgow in a van with Scarlet in a wig picking up men ( not actors). Director did not say which bits of film are non actors. They had to get signed consent for scenes to be used in film. Not surprisingly most of the men did not give consent.

Yes I would get in the van.

Would you have signed the consent form though?

 

[_pH_]

The link to the Rex is most interesting. Looks like a wonderful restoration. There are not many cinemas left that have not been chopped up into multiplex cinemas.

Supposed to be really good (Guardian cinema of the year or something), have been trying to get tickets for ages. Weekend showings sell out very quickly which is why I spent so long on the phone trying to get tickets for GBH - it sold out soon after I got ours. Going on April 19th so I will let you know what it's like then.

 

[Gramsci]

What's happening with that? They were talking about splitting it into five screens IIRC though really can't see how that would even be possible.

They have put in a planning application.

I have been promised it will mean that it can show more independent less commercial films and one screen will be for documentaries.

Now Picturehouse are part of Cineworld I guess Curzon are looking ahead to see how they can survive. As one of the last small chains I think they are feeling the pinch. They are stuck between the large chains and also find the growing sector of small cinema clubs as competitors. I have been told they are finding the growth in small cinema clubs affecting them. So maybe the Renoir conversion is way to make Renoir more like the small cinema clubs.

Depends on how they do the conversion. If its like some of the plush preview cinemas Ive seen it could work. If its chopped up with poor seating it would put me off.

I wish them well. They are not in an easy position. They also try to keep at least some performances at cheaper rates.

Picturehouse for example had the small cinema in Rupert street for art films. But they gave up on it. Its still empty. Its not an easy market to do commercially.

To look on the positive side they are trying to run a commercial operation ( Unlike BFI and Cine Lumiere which are not commercial enterprises) that does provide the cinema goer with an alternative to run of the mill commercial film.

Artificial Eye is part of Curzon. Under Artificial Eye they release films here. Artificial Eye brings films to UK that the larger chains would not.

Curzon also release film on there website where they can be watched online. I have never tried it. My computer struggles a bit with streaming films. Its old. But my friend says it works well.

The Curzon may lose the Chelsea cinema as the owner wants to redevelop the whole site.

 

[Gramsci]

Would you have signed the consent form though?

If Scarlett offered me a lift in her Transit van I would give her lecture on her association with Sodastream and politely turn down her offer.

Well I doubt it really.

I am camera shy. I was filmed once without my knowing it by film crew making an advert. They asked me to sign consent form. I said no.

 

[Gramsci]

"Strangely erotic"? Scarlet gets her kit off every 15 minutes. Mystery solved.

There is little actual sex in the film. Its what happens after she has given the them a lift. Do not want to give to much away. Also the scene with the guy who is disfigured worked well.

 

[mwgdrwg]

The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Thoroughly enjoed the caper. Ralph Fiennes comic timing was perfect throughout, and it looked amazing as usual.

 

[redsquirrel]

Nymphomaniac - Lars von Trier latest four hour spiel on sex. The plot is that Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finds Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) lying beaten on the street and takes her back to his place to recover. She then narrates her life story which is interspersed with interruptions by Seligman.

You could generalise and say that the first half is a comedy while the second is a tragedy. (Although one of the most moving scenes in the entire film is the death of Joe's father (Christian Slater - I can't remember the last thing I saw him in but he's good here) which occurs in volume 1). Personally I much preferred volume 1, and judging form the comments I overheard from other people I think that was the general consensus. The film does show that von Trier is a talented film maker, there are some very funny moments as well as some scenes that really did get to me: the death of Joe's father, a scene where Joe leaves her young son alone in the house while she goes out for a meeting with a man, the sadism scenes with Jamie Bell. I even liked many of Seligman's digressions which I know a number of critics found annoying.

There's a lot of talent and effort that is present in this film, not just from von Trier but most of the actors have obviously worked really hard. Which makes it all the more depressing that IMO it's all been used to produce something that is fundamentally so cynical and empty. At the end of the day when I left the film my main feeling was a combination of "is that it?" and boredom. That ultimately it's nothing more than yet another attempt by von Trier to try and provoke people. One of the most obvious examples of this is a part in the film where Joe talks about 'negros', and when Seligman points out that this is 'un-pc' she replies with a justification that modification of language due to political correctness is an assault on democracy (this is from memory but it's pretty close IIRC). But any validity in this "debate" is undermined that von Trier has clearly just shoehorned this episode in to try provoke people through the use of the negro.

Ultimately LvT's juvenile foot-stamping undermines a lot of the very good stuff present, making the film less than the sum of its parts. I'd only recommend it to film buffs and/or von Trier fans, and even then I'd recommend that if possible you try and see the two volumes over two sittings rather than back-to-back as I did.

 

[Belushi]

Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer 2013) Superb. Hypnotic, erotic, disturbing and moving. Some stunning cinematography, a great score and an unearthly performance from Johansson. A memorable and thought provoking film.

 

[Orang Utan]

It made me reread the book, which is also awesome

 

[Belushi]

I never read the book if I really rate a film, I don't want to discover my ideas are completely at odds with what the author intended

 

[Orang Utan]

It's quite different. The film adaptation is very loose. We know a lot more about the alien's inner life. And she has colleagues. Her interactions with them are key scenes in the book.

 

[Belushi]

Ah you see I don't want to know; I felt the same with Let the Right One In, the film is enough, anything else would just lessen it for me.

 

[Orang Utan]

Aw no! You have to read both!

 

[Onket]

It's quite different. The film adaptation is very loose. We know a lot more about the alien's inner life. And she has colleagues. Her interactions with them are key scenes in the book.

I wondered how close it was to the book.

 

[youngian]

I didn't have any expectations of Starred Up and anticapated it was made by some hack like Nick Love who watched Alan Clarke films as a kid. It is in that tradition (Jimmy Boyle, Scum's Carling and Tim Roth's Trevor can all be evoked in the central character) but is very exciting and never lets up due to all the frenetic performances which keep you guessing what their motives are. There are some stock characters including a Harry Grout who runs the wing but they have a lot more to do than your average Brit crime picture. Plenty of cockney prison mumbling and Danny Dyer take your noteboook you can also update your rhyming slang. The screws are now kangas apparently, I see what they did there. But its a very character centred thought-provoking piece, well worth a butchers.

 

[youngian]

I'm boycotting the racist Johansen so, I hope she starts getting shit films.

She was very good in Matchpoint playing an obnoxious self-centred narcissist.

 

[Dr. Furface]

The Past. French film about a man returning to Paris to get divorced and acting as a catlyst for a series of revelations that will shatter his ex-wife and her new lover's relationship, and the lives of their children. As you'd imagine, it isn't an easy watch, but it's a very rewarding one - I doubt that I will see a more intense, emotionally charged movie this year, or a better acted one either. More and more is revealed as the film delves deeper into the details of a tragic event which proves devastating for all concerned. I was engrossed from start to finish - it will easily be one of my films of the year.

The Double. Interesting and amusing, if not brilliant, film about an insecure office geek whose humdrum existence is disturbed and gradually transformed by a man who looks like he could be his identical twin, but whose personality couldn't be more different. It's based on a short Dostoyevsky story (which I haven't read) but for me it had strong echoes of Kafka's The Trial. I probably wouldn't have bothered with it except that the 2 main roles are played by the ever-excellent Jesse Eisenberg, whose casting for this was a masterstroke - and I suspect that without his involvement this project would never have even got into production.

 

[youngian]

The Double. Interesting and amusing, if not brilliant, film about an insecure office geek whose humdrum existence is disturbed and gradually transformed by a man who looks like he could be his identical twin, but whose personality couldn't be more different. It's based on a short Dostoyevsky story (which I haven't read) but for me it had strong echoes of Kafka's The Trial. I probably wouldn't have bothered with it except that the 2 main roles are played by the ever-excellent Jesse Eisenberg, whose casting for this was a masterstroke - and I suspect that without his involvement this project would never have even got into production.

Eisenberg does good work and its directed by Richard Ayoade. I liked his previous effort and saw him promoting the Double on Graham Norton. It was a refreshing juxtapositon to Russell Crowe and Cameron Diaz talking a load of tosh and touting films that looked even bigger tosh.

 

[MellySingsDoom]

Forgot to add this from a couple of weeks ago:

"Bloody Homecoming" (dir. Brian C Weed, 2012) - An amusing, if albeit predictable and somewhat clunky, take on early 80's US horror tropes. Various cast members get bumped off by a masked, covered figure ("borrowed" obviously from George Mikhalka's 1981 clunker, "My Bloody Valentine"), and the "shock" ending is no surprise at all. Whilst not quite as self-referential as Wes Craven's "Scream", I can't escape the feeling that the audience is meant to know each trope thrown into the mix....also, the female characters are somewhat more than stereotyped, even for a genre where said stereotyping is sometimes "key", it seems...

"Bloody Homecoming" is worth seeing once, I guess, if you're into this genre, but otherwise seek out something like the former "video nasty" "Dead And Buried" (dir. Gary Sherman, 1981), where horror tropes are employed to sometimes stunning effect (& this film also features some great over-acting from James Farentino!)

 

[oryx]

The Past. French film about a man returning to Paris to get divorced and acting as a catlyst for a series of revelations that will shatter his ex-wife and her new lover's relationship, and the lives of their children. As you'd imagine, it isn't an easy watch, but it's a very rewarding one - I doubt that I will see a more intense, emotionally charged movie this year, or a better acted one either. More and more is revealed as the film delves deeper into the details of a tragic event which proves devastating for all concerned. I was engrossed from start to finish - it will easily be one of my films of the year.

Really want to see this next weekend. Sounds like it's as good as A Separation.

 

[redsquirrel]

Tracks - An Australian biopic about a Robyn Davidson who walked from Alice Springs to the coast of WA in the late seventies. It's not bad, nothing special but Mia Wasikowska is pretty good in the lead role and makes it enjoyable enough.

Rear Window - One of my two favourite films of all time, this is the first time I've seen it at the cinema. It's absolutely brilliant in every way of course. James Stewart and Grace Kelly are fantastic leads while Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr are good in the supporting roles. Looks great, fantastic plot, if you haven't seen it then go out and watch it asap.

 

[Sue]

The Past. French-set Iranian film by the same director as A Separation. Turned out to be a different film than I thought it was going to be at the start and very good it was too.

Starred Up. Violent youngster is sent to an adult prison. Thought the script was good (if the ending was a bit meh) and excellent performances from Jack O'Connell (who I don't remember seeing in anything before) and Ben Mendelsohn (as ever). The ensemble acting's really good too. Definitely worth catching.

ETA And, even better, got to see the CAP ad I managed to miss for Under The Skin.

 

[Sue]

Tracks - An Australian biopic about a Robyn Davidson who walked from Alice Springs to the coast of WA in the late seventies. It's not bad, nothing special but Mia Wasikowska is pretty good in the lead role and makes it enjoyable enough.

Rear Window - One of my two favourite films of all time, this is the first time I've seen it at the cinema. It's absolutely brilliant in every way of course. James Stewart and Grace Kelly are fantastic leads while Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr are good in the supporting roles. Looks great, fantastic plot, if you haven't seen it then go out and watch it asap.

What's the other?

 

[Sue]

Tracks - An Australian biopic about a Robyn Davidson who walked from Alice Springs to the coast of WA in the late seventies. It's not bad, nothing special but Mia Wasikowska is pretty good in the lead role and makes it enjoyable enough.

Rear Window - One of my two favourite films of all time, this is the first time I've seen it at the cinema. It's absolutely brilliant in every way of course. James Stewart and Grace Kelly are fantastic leads while Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr are good in the supporting roles. Looks great, fantastic plot, if you haven't seen it then go out and watch it asap.

What's the other?

 

[redsquirrel]

What's the other?

John Sayles Lone Star, I don't know if you've seen it?

It's set on the Texas-Mexico border, with Chris Cooper (in a lead role for a change, and just as good as he usual is) investigating a possible crime committed by his father (Matthew McConaughey), but it's as much a political film and drama as a mystery. Sayles manages to balance the different strands/themes in the film perfectly. Like Rear Window I've probably seen it 6+ times and each time a I see it I get something new. It's probably not as good a movie as Rear Window but on a personal level it's equal to it.

 

[Pickman's model]

the double. thought it was very good.

 

[redsquirrel]

Ben Mendelsohn (as ever). The ensemble acting's really good too. Definitely worth catching.

Glad to see Mendelsohn is getting more work outside Australia, he deserves it.