I saw it when it came out and really enjoyed it. Maybe need to rewatch it though as that was quite a while ago. Also love Rear Window if Perry Mason/Ironside being the baddie seemed kind of wrong the first time I saw it...
List the films you've seen at the cinema: 2014
- Thread starter belboid
- Start date
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
yes, i went to see this yesterday and also enjoyed it (i think).
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
The Double (dir. Richard Ayoade, 2013) - Overall, a decent, solid and entertaining effort by Ayoade, with Jesse Eisenberg impressing as both doppelganger characters. Didn't realise that this is actually based on a Dostoevsky novel, until the end credits rolled. The only slight caveat I have is that I felt the film slightly lost its focus in the final 15 minutes, but certainly it didn't affect "The Double" overall. Cameo appearances include those by Chris Morris, and Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis (!). Certainly worth seeing if you get the chance.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
The Raid 2
Unbelievably OTT kickass flick, even more so than the first one. There was an actual plot involved this time too, which was a bit of a surprise. Highly entertaining, and it was amusing to watch it amidst the malest cinema audience I've ever been at. At various points there were 300 blokes tightly crossing their legs and protecting their bits while the three women in attendance just laughed. The mud battle scene was just hilarious.
Unbelievably OTT kickass flick, even more so than the first one. There was an actual plot involved this time too, which was a bit of a surprise. Highly entertaining, and it was amusing to watch it amidst the malest cinema audience I've ever been at. At various points there were 300 blokes tightly crossing their legs and protecting their bits while the three women in attendance just laughed. The mud battle scene was just hilarious.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
All Is Lost - Robert Redford plays a yachtsman in trouble in the Indian Ocean, Redford's the only actor in the film and he barely says a word. The film really rests on Redford's performance and it's a good one, far, far better than one's he phones in in the films he's directed recently. The plot is nothing out of the ordinary, another survival tale, but it's directed well and keeps the tension going, though the ending is a bit of a cop out. Also I never really fancied yachting before, now I know I'm not going to take it up.
Gran Budapest Hotel - A huge wedding cake of a film, very much Wes Anderson, with painstakingly designed sets and chock full of cameo's. Ralph Fiennes is great as the concierge who romances old women, he keeps the whole thing moving, but pretty much the whole cast is good, Harvey Keitel supplies a very weird performance. It's very funny but there are also some touching moments, I don't think it's quite as good as The Royal Tenebaums, which remains my favourite Anderson film but it's still very good.
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own - Saw this as part of a retrospective 40th Anniversary of a bunch of Australian films, wish I hadn't. An absolutely appalling piece of shit, not just totally unfunny but also horribly racist. The scene where immediately after arriving in the UK a bunch of Indian immigrants head straight for the benefits office stands out as a particularly nasty example. Avoid at all costs.
The Lusty Men - Newly restored print of Nicholas Ray's 1952 film starring Robert Mitchum. Mitchum plays an ageing rodeo cowboy who starts to coach a younger man (played by Arthur Kennedy) and his wife (Susan Hayward). It's not in the top drawer of Fray films but Mitchum and Hayward are both very good playing off each other and Kennedy provides decent support in a pretty dry role. It has similarities, not just in subject matter but also in tone, to Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner, though with less dirt under the fingernails.
Gran Budapest Hotel - A huge wedding cake of a film, very much Wes Anderson, with painstakingly designed sets and chock full of cameo's. Ralph Fiennes is great as the concierge who romances old women, he keeps the whole thing moving, but pretty much the whole cast is good, Harvey Keitel supplies a very weird performance. It's very funny but there are also some touching moments, I don't think it's quite as good as The Royal Tenebaums, which remains my favourite Anderson film but it's still very good.
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own - Saw this as part of a retrospective 40th Anniversary of a bunch of Australian films, wish I hadn't. An absolutely appalling piece of shit, not just totally unfunny but also horribly racist. The scene where immediately after arriving in the UK a bunch of Indian immigrants head straight for the benefits office stands out as a particularly nasty example. Avoid at all costs.
The Lusty Men - Newly restored print of Nicholas Ray's 1952 film starring Robert Mitchum. Mitchum plays an ageing rodeo cowboy who starts to coach a younger man (played by Arthur Kennedy) and his wife (Susan Hayward). It's not in the top drawer of Fray films but Mitchum and Hayward are both very good playing off each other and Kennedy provides decent support in a pretty dry role. It has similarities, not just in subject matter but also in tone, to Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner, though with less dirt under the fingernails.
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
Noah (dir. Darren Aronofsky, 2014) - Aronofsky's take on the biblical story of....well, surely everyone knows the story of this one by now? As expected, this is a big-budget effort, with a fair amount of special effects work, and a big-name cast heading up the whole thing. What could have been an entertaining effort is hampered by the script (far too much exposition going on), and a running time that could easily have been cut by 30 minutes. Messrs Crowe and Winstone have presence indeed, but come across as surprisingly muted much of the time, and the female cast seem to simply act as foils for the men.
There's two moments of amusement - the character Shem trying to engage sexytime mode with his beloved (and getting absolutely nowhere), and Winstone's initial appearance, where he mugs at the screen shamelessly. The moment where Emma Watson seemingly gives birth in record time also made me chuckle. But that aside, everything is played straight, almost to the point of po-facedness.
"Noah" could have been a big budget Biblical b-movie per excellence, but it ultimately doesn't hit the mark. And to be frank, what "Noah" really needed was a script written by someone like our very own DotCommunist - at least that way, we would have been assured of a film full of Old Testament-style fire-and-brimstone chest-beating by all and sundry!
There's two moments of amusement - the character Shem trying to engage sexytime mode with his beloved (and getting absolutely nowhere), and Winstone's initial appearance, where he mugs at the screen shamelessly. The moment where Emma Watson seemingly gives birth in record time also made me chuckle. But that aside, everything is played straight, almost to the point of po-facedness.
"Noah" could have been a big budget Biblical b-movie per excellence, but it ultimately doesn't hit the mark. And to be frank, what "Noah" really needed was a script written by someone like our very own DotCommunist - at least that way, we would have been assured of a film full of Old Testament-style fire-and-brimstone chest-beating by all and sundry!
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
they just don't do films like 'The Ten Commandments' anymore. Cast of thousands, that disturbingly inaccurate and bright blood, the stark colours as parodied to fuck in 'Hobo With A Shotgun'
There was a same era follow on to Ten Commandments as well, it depicted the judean revolt where the Romans had so many dissidents to crucify they ran out of wood for the crosses and nailed people to walls, or sometimes just pinned them to a wall with a big spear. That was a grim scene. It did make me feel better about my pidgeoun chest though, when they were spearing people to the wall most of them had a chest that resembles mine. Don't get that in modern films do you. Every man or woman viewed topless by the camera has magnificant chests.
There was a same era follow on to Ten Commandments as well, it depicted the judean revolt where the Romans had so many dissidents to crucify they ran out of wood for the crosses and nailed people to walls, or sometimes just pinned them to a wall with a big spear. That was a grim scene. It did make me feel better about my pidgeoun chest though, when they were spearing people to the wall most of them had a chest that resembles mine. Don't get that in modern films do you. Every man or woman viewed topless by the camera has magnificant chests.
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
Yep, know what you mean here - remember seeing the re-make of "The Amytiville Horror" a couple of years back, and I couldn't believe that the male lead kept showing off his buff chest/torso at every available opportunity. I mean, obviously I enjoy the male form, but that was frankly ridiculous. I think myself and the mate I was with ended up laughing at all the buffness business, and wishing we'd just re-watched the original instead.
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
Girlfriends (dir. Claudia Weil, 1978) - this one is a drama film, with touches of comedy, and is based around the life of Susan Weinblatt (Melanie Mayron), a Jewish photographer based in the West Side of New York City, who struggles to gain success and acceptance with her work, whilst having to struggle to keep up her apartment, and all the situations that happen in her life. Initially apartment sharing with her best friend Anne (Anita Skinner), Susan soon finds herself alone, when Anne gets together with the guy who later becomes her husband. Going through a number of loveless encounters, and having to deal with various sleazebags, Susan finds some happiness when she begins to fall for an older married guy. Already being in a relationship with Martin (Bob Balaban) though, she becomes conflicted about what she wants from her love life, and eventually falls out with Martin. By the end, Susan finally achieves professional success, and gets her first full photography exhibition; however, she is still to find true happiness at the end...
"Girlfriends" is essentially a study of one woman's desire to be happy and successful, whilst still maintaining her own sense of identity. Susan is seen to be a funny, aware and thoughtful woman, yet one who is also prone to secret desires and feelings - she has an unrequited crush on Anne, for example, and seems to be in conflict about her being at times. Although her Jewish background isn't heavily prominent in this film, it does get touched upon at times; for instance, there's a (sweet) moment when she recounts her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, and her desire as a seven year old to become a rabbi. She also insists at the exhibition that a particular bar mitzvah photograph is displayed, even though the gallery owner argues against this. There's an appearance by Eli Wallach as Susan's older lover, and he comes across as a funny, considerate but ultimately un-commited partner.
This film is only one of three made by Claudia Weil, who moved onto TV work for the rest of her career, and I knew nothing about her when I saw this - in fact, I literally walked in off the street with no knowledge of this film at all! On this showing though, Weil could have cut a decent career in making films depicting the lives of contemporary people, and how they deal with these lives and those within them.
Although "Girlfriends" is essentially a low-key film, it is nonetheless a decent and enjoyable effort. This is well worth checking out should you get the chance to see it.
"Girlfriends" is essentially a study of one woman's desire to be happy and successful, whilst still maintaining her own sense of identity. Susan is seen to be a funny, aware and thoughtful woman, yet one who is also prone to secret desires and feelings - she has an unrequited crush on Anne, for example, and seems to be in conflict about her being at times. Although her Jewish background isn't heavily prominent in this film, it does get touched upon at times; for instance, there's a (sweet) moment when she recounts her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, and her desire as a seven year old to become a rabbi. She also insists at the exhibition that a particular bar mitzvah photograph is displayed, even though the gallery owner argues against this. There's an appearance by Eli Wallach as Susan's older lover, and he comes across as a funny, considerate but ultimately un-commited partner.
This film is only one of three made by Claudia Weil, who moved onto TV work for the rest of her career, and I knew nothing about her when I saw this - in fact, I literally walked in off the street with no knowledge of this film at all! On this showing though, Weil could have cut a decent career in making films depicting the lives of contemporary people, and how they deal with these lives and those within them.
Although "Girlfriends" is essentially a low-key film, it is nonetheless a decent and enjoyable effort. This is well worth checking out should you get the chance to see it.
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The Double. Richard Ayoade's second film, based on a Dostoyevsky short story about a man and his doppelganger. Thought this was really good -- the look and feel, the way it was shot, the acting -- and definitely makes me want to see what Ayoade does next.
Calvary. Priest in rural Ireland is threatened with murder. Again, liked this -- funny, dark, though maybe the whodunit thing was a bit too contrived -- and Brendan Gleeson is excellent.
Last Year at Marienbad. Had never seen this before and found it a bit meh. Wasn't really very interested in what happened or who these people were or anything else tbh.
Calvary. Priest in rural Ireland is threatened with murder. Again, liked this -- funny, dark, though maybe the whodunit thing was a bit too contrived -- and Brendan Gleeson is excellent.
Last Year at Marienbad. Had never seen this before and found it a bit meh. Wasn't really very interested in what happened or who these people were or anything else tbh.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
saw this on saturday. I quite enjoyed it, and there is a lot to like in it, but it all felt a bit of a clever cut up of a dozen other movies. I found it oddly long for a 100 minute movie. A very interesting step for Ayoade after Submarine tho, and his next one will undoubtedly be worth seeing too.
Good thing you weren't interested, cos there is no way we are ever gong to find out. I do like it, but it really is a pretentious load of old tosh that is very of its time. Quit funny in places, tho who knows whether that is intentional.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I am going to see Movement, Magic and Mirrors: Five short films by Maya Deren at the Cornerhouse, on Sunday.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Only Lovers Left Alive - I liked this more this a lot more than Sue did, I admit that it doesn't really have much of a plot and the Marlowe/Shakespeare stuff is a bit wince inducing but the style, and Tilda Swinton, carried it through for me. Swinton is just great in it, Hiddleston was ok and Mia Wasikowska is good in a bit role. It's not a masterpiece and could do with a bit of cutting but it's good fun.
The Invisible Woman - Ralph Fiennes' second feature about Nelly Ternan the mistress of Charles Dickens. I really loved ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus and so I had high expectations for this. Unfortunately it didn't manage to fulfil them, it's not a bad film and very well acted, Felicity Jones is particularly good as Nelly, but compared with Coriolanus, which I found so exciting, it lacked a bit of energy for me.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - Never seen any Buñuel before so this was something else I was looking forward to, there are a couple of funny moments but overall I have to say it didn't blow me away. Always nice to see Stéphane Audran though.
The Invisible Woman - Ralph Fiennes' second feature about Nelly Ternan the mistress of Charles Dickens. I really loved ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus and so I had high expectations for this. Unfortunately it didn't manage to fulfil them, it's not a bad film and very well acted, Felicity Jones is particularly good as Nelly, but compared with Coriolanus, which I found so exciting, it lacked a bit of energy for me.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - Never seen any Buñuel before so this was something else I was looking forward to, there are a couple of funny moments but overall I have to say it didn't blow me away. Always nice to see Stéphane Audran though.
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
Under The Skin (dir. Jonathan Glazer, 2013) - this is the latest effort from the "Sexy Beast" director, and features Scarlett Johansson in the lead role. The plot, such as it is, involves Johansson (who has no name in the film) going around an un-named part of Scotland, first within a town, and later on into the countryside. She wanders around in an almost random at times fashion, and has intimate encounters with a number of men she picks up - mostly just hinted at, but the last encounter is more candid. Eventually she ends up in some woodland, where a woodland officer attempts to rape her. She fights off this attacker, only for her then to literally shed her skin and transform into an alien-like creature. The rapist returns and sets Johansson on fire, and the film ends with her demise.
"Under The Skin" has no real narrative form, so depends on the visual aspect to keep things going, and I have to say it really doesn't work. Whilst Johansson has presence indeed, and comes across as an empathetic, confident woman, there simply isn't enough going on to keep things engaging, and I have to admit to finding myself becoming somewhat distracted in parts. There's some nice visual touches at times (harking back to Glazier's previous career as a music video director), and the thematic and and incidental music works well, but there's also moments where the pace really does slow down too much, and the sci-fi element only really comes into being right at the end. In addition, I didn't particularly enjoy the message that this film seems to convey, which is that if you're a confident, engaged and sexually active woman, you can expect to end up abused and dead! Hardly a cheery or positive thing to take on board, is it?
This is the first film that Glazier has directed in nearly 10 years (following on from 2004's "Birth"), and to be honest, he really could have done a much better job here. Such is the general ennui and lack of focus in "Under The Skin", that not even Johansson can save it, and ultimately this is a more miss than hit affair for me. The first truly disappointing film I've seen on the big screen so far this year.
"Under The Skin" has no real narrative form, so depends on the visual aspect to keep things going, and I have to say it really doesn't work. Whilst Johansson has presence indeed, and comes across as an empathetic, confident woman, there simply isn't enough going on to keep things engaging, and I have to admit to finding myself becoming somewhat distracted in parts. There's some nice visual touches at times (harking back to Glazier's previous career as a music video director), and the thematic and and incidental music works well, but there's also moments where the pace really does slow down too much, and the sci-fi element only really comes into being right at the end. In addition, I didn't particularly enjoy the message that this film seems to convey, which is that if you're a confident, engaged and sexually active woman, you can expect to end up abused and dead! Hardly a cheery or positive thing to take on board, is it?
This is the first film that Glazier has directed in nearly 10 years (following on from 2004's "Birth"), and to be honest, he really could have done a much better job here. Such is the general ennui and lack of focus in "Under The Skin", that not even Johansson can save it, and ultimately this is a more miss than hit affair for me. The first truly disappointing film I've seen on the big screen so far this year.
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Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
I really loved it. Did you understand what these 'intimate encounters' were though? I'm not sure i would have had I not read the book
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belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
I haven't read the book as you know but understood. It's a real marmite film, I loved it.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Yeah, that looks great
I didn't take this from the film at all. More that she's exploiting the fact the men really believe they're so desirable that an attractive woman would randomly pick them up like that and have sex with them. Which isn't specially flattering as far as the men are concerned but is kind of the opposite of what you took from it.
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
MellySingsDoom
Decimated by the shrapnel of his rhetoric
Haven't read the book myself, as it goes, and yeah, I kinda "got" the reason behind the encounters, but in the end the film simply didn't work for me at all. A real shame, as I've certainly enjoyed Glazer's other output.
). Really enjoyed it, Tom Hardy's acting, his face, the pace of it. Excellent.redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
I saw DCotB as part of the Melbourne Cinematheque, which shows classics, it was actually a double bill of Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie with Exterminating Angel but because of public transport had to leave after the first half.
Viridinia & Exterminating Angel are musts
Looking forward to that loved Moodysson's early work (Show Me Love is one of my favourite films of the 90s) but I'm less keen on his more recent stuff. This is supposed to be more like Show Me Love or Together.
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