What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

[trabuquera]

Bitter Lake on iPlayer - the new Adam Curtis BBC dream-documentary, which purports to be about Afghanistan, but is really just another Curtis free-associationfest. It's a lot less annoying and irrelevant than I thought it might be from his shocker of a 'teaser' on Charlie Brooker's 2014 Wipe; it contains, as always, lots of striking and thought-provoking archive footage, which you probably won't have seen before. But also, as always, the central premise is often wrong when it's not just irrelevant; it's under-informed and primitive in its treatment of Wahhabism, which is a central part of its story; and it completely loses its way in the end. It's also much much much too long (2h 16 minutes!) and only available online for 2 more days. I would say it's worth watching for its new recombination of stuff you already knew, but the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome is strong with this one. Not as clever as it thinks it is, by half

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Had a friend come round this afternoon with a poorly three year old so i had to sit through Wreck It Ralph http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/

It was ok, did the trick with the three year old who loves it and i thought it was surprisingly deep.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

The Keep - utterly terrible (and dull) film. Strangely, I had seen it before (as a kid).

 

[Indeliblelink]

The Golden Dream [La Jaula de Ora] (2013) - Beautifully done debut by cameraman turned director Diego Quemada-Diez, a road movie about the hazardous journey of young Guatemalan immigrants trying to get to the US by hitching rides on freight trains and walking the tracks.

 

[Idris2002]

Lady of Burlesque.

Barbara Stanwyck is the lady of the title, star of a New York burlesque house where a string of murders have happened.

Stanwyck had pretty much cornered the market in Bad Girl roles by this point. I think Double Indemnity was a year later. If you haven't seen DI see it before Lady of burlesque: But do see both of them (they're both on YouTube).

Lady of burlesque is based on the novel "the G-string murders" by Gypsy Rose Lee, the original stripper.

 

[butchersapron]

The Absent One - decent but not great second film (crime-thrillers) in the Deaprtment Q series (two mis-matched cops re-investigate mysterious unsolved old crimes). First one is The Keeper of Lost Causes-again,decent but nothing spectacular. Both worth a look if you're after nothing too taxing.

The Return to Homs - brilliant bottom and utterly demoralising up look at the development of a small group of FSA Homs based rebels, concentrating on the most charismatic of them Abdul Basset Saroot. Follows them as they develop from peaceful demonstrations, writing songs and poems against the regime and dreaming of a non-sectarian social media led revolution and becoming local and national heroes in the process, to being forced to pick up arms after their neighbourhood is shelled and their friends and family massacred, to being outgunned and out-supplied then to being under siege then to being trapped in a few houses to having to dig their way to the outskirts of Homs, then back in to help those left there. At each point there are fewer and fewer of the original group - killed or taken into assads prisons to be tortured and then murdered, invalided out with missing limbs and so on.

The limits of their power under each stage of their development is clear to see, and suggests why so many people who began like these lot did on a moderate simple anti-regime basis later decided to join the better armed and better supplied islamist groups - they wanted revenge for their family, their friends, their martyrs and they wanted to help those left inside - and they simply couldn't without the arms and resources these people provided. You can see the creeping advances religion made throughout the film. You never got the sense that the brilliant and fearless basset would fall for that though. I looked for any news about him after watching this and he's become a fighter for a hardline Islamic State along ISIS lines (ISIS fanboys claim he has joined them, he's certainly in pics and videos being very friendly with them). Devastating.

 

[Mogden]

Frances Ha. Loved it.

 

[May Kasahara]

Punch Drunk Love - Adam Sandler exceptionally good in this PT Anderson film. Great soundtrack and visuals and there's a swear off between 2 of the characters that is outstanding.

Mr K took me on a Valentine's date to see this It was excellent.

 

[belboid]

American Sniper.

It's quite clever how the film is made so that pretty much whatever expectation you go in with, you'll have it confirmed. I mean, what is a Clint eastwood movie about the yanks 'best ever' sniper going to be like? A gert big whizz bang, blow the heads off the gooks? You got it. A film showing you how war is hell and destroys even the winners? Bingo! A racist fantasy about an all-american hero from a tough background saving America, and who gives a fuck about the Iraqis? In spades.

There are some very well done bits, especially on his first tour, but the bits set 'at home' are poor, and Cooper seemed miscast. Probably didn't help that I could barely tell what was going on in the climactic scene thanks to the dodgy download combined with it being set in a sandstorm. Although maybe it did help, as from what I could tell, the whole scene seemed grossly implausible.

 

[May Kasahara]

Had a friend come round this afternoon with a poorly three year old so i had to sit through Wreck It Ralph http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/

It was ok, did the trick with the three year old who loves it and i thought it was surprisingly deep.

I'm watching this right now, again. It's my favourite kids' film.

 

[Belushi]

Love (William Eubank 2012) Odd, shortish film about an astronaut abandoned on an space station. Lots of ideas that don't really work. Looks good (especially as it was made on a very tight budget).

Side by Side (Chris Kenneally 2013) Interesting documentary produced and narrated by Keanu Reeves about the impact of digital film making and the decline of celluloid.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Inherent Vice (2014) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1791528/
Mumbling characters, no pace, gave up with it after 40 mins; i lost the will to live and cleaned the bathroom instead.

 

[belboid]

Should have gone to the cinema to see it

 

[Yetman]

The Mule - Ozzie true story(?) about a simple fella who gets coerced into swallowing a load of smack and transporting it into the country. Very good I thought

 

[Idris2002]

Breaking Glass.

Hazel O'Connor tries to make it as a pop star without selling out in the bleak dystopia of Thatcher's Britain.

"How can Rik be dead if we still have his poetry?"

 

[rubbershoes]

Nightcrawlers

8/10

Excellent performance from Jake Gyllenhall and it's nice to see Riz Ahmed getting some exposure

One part of the film didn't work for me

Spoiler: spoiler

the last scene was completly superfluous and detracted from what had gone before

 

[Sirena]

I just watched 'Ginger And Rosa' on BBC2 and thought it was excellent. A film about growing up in 1962 with the dread of nuclear annihilation stalking the world. I was 12 at the time and I felt the nightmare inside me even though I barely knew what it was about.

A Sally Potter film (she also did 'Orlando')

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2115295/

 

[Maltin]

Should have gone to the cinema to see it

Why? Quite a few people who saw it at the cinema I was at had a similar reaction, with some people walking out and my mate falling asleep. I'm sure they would have preferred to save the money by watching it at home rather than in the cinema. Whilst I didn't dislike it, it is a bit convoluted and odd and definitely not for all tastes.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Ted - a film about a man and a talking bear!

 

[starfish]

Bitter Lake on iPlayer - the new Adam Curtis BBC dream-documentary, which purports to be about Afghanistan, but is really just another Curtis free-associationfest. It's a lot less annoying and irrelevant than I thought it might be from his shocker of a 'teaser' on Charlie Brooker's 2014 Wipe; it contains, as always, lots of striking and thought-provoking archive footage, which you probably won't have seen before. But also, as always, the central premise is often wrong when it's not just irrelevant; it's under-informed and primitive in its treatment of Wahhabism, which is a central part of its story; and it completely loses its way in the end. It's also much much much too long (2h 16 minutes!) and only available online for 2 more days. I would say it's worth watching for its new recombination of stuff you already knew, but the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome is strong with this one. Not as clever as it thinks it is, by half

I have a memo on my phone that says "Bitter Lake" & I couldn't remember what it meant. Until now.

 

[pesh]

Nightcrawlers which was brilliant,
St Vincent, angry Bill Murray looking after his new neighbours kid, which was lovely, but i think most things would have been after Nightcrawlers.
Inherent Vice, gave up on this 20 minutes in the first time i tried it, decided to give it a second chance, lasted about half hour before switching it off this time.

 

[belboid]

Why? Quite a few people who saw it at the cinema I was at had a similar reaction, with some people walking out and my mate falling asleep. I'm sure they would have preferred to save the money by watching it at home rather than in the cinema. Whilst I didn't dislike it, it is a bit convoluted and odd and definitely not for all tastes.

if you know anything about it at all, you know it is a long, highly visual, detailed and complex piece that you will need to concentrate on. Watching a crappy dopwnload on a laptop....it's just never likely to work. If you cant be arsed to put an effort into a film, you're not going to get much out of it.

 

[belboid]

Inherent Vice, gave up on this 20 minutes in the first time i tried it, decided to give it a second chance, lasted about half hour before switching it off this time.

shoiuld have gone to the cinema to see it

 

[pesh]

why? it would still have been mind numbingly dull, just much bigger and more expensive and harder to get away from.

 

[pesh]

if you know anything about it at all, you know it is a long, highly visual, detailed and complex piece that you will need to concentrate on. Watching a crappy dopwnload on a laptop....it's just never likely to work. If you cant be arsed to put an effort into a film, you're not going to get much out of it.

who said anything about laptops? i was watching an Oscar screener on a decent quality TV. if thats good enough for the Academy members to judge it's Oscar worthiness it's good enough for me to decide it was shit.
that said, i do think it's about time the film companies switched to blu-ray for their screeners. it is 2015 after all.

 

[butchersapron]

Optimistic Tragedy - bizarre anti-anarchist Soviet Union film from 1963. After the October revolution anarchist sailiors gain control of a ship at Kronstadt. A Bolshevik commissar is sent to deal with them and take the ship to fight in the civil war. It's a woman.The drunken, dirty wild haired anarchists immediately attempt to rape her. She kills one on the spot. Main theme established - anarchists are rapists who refuse to fight the whites (if you're reading this cockers this is not true) and bolsheviks take no shit. The anarchists then proceed to try and mete out their own form of justice and kill a sailor for robbing a granny, when it's revealed the woman made a mistake and their was no robbery they then kill the old lady too. Theme number 2 established - there can be no order or justice among coward anarchists. The commissar then establishes trust through her confident actions and builds a working relationship with the ex-officer in technical charge of the ship and off they sail to the black sea to fight the whites as infantry. Along the way the anarchists squabble and kill each other unjustly, run away from battle, kill others on a whim and cover it up with political justifications etc whilst the commissar steadily establishes fighting order and proletarian discipline through exemplary bravery and military and organisational intelligence and preparedness to make tough decisions. When they finally reach the black sea they are sold out to the whites by the remaining anarchists. Theme 3 established, anarchists will sell out class conflict, don't trust anyone who isn't an official of the regime (then and now). The only honourable people in the film are the two upper class characters, the commissar and the former officer who has fallen in line and become a good bolshevik.

Nietzsche and the Nazis - an overlong and pretty crude doco on...guess what. Tells the story ok but rather lifelessly. Don't really know why i watched it.

 

[belboid]

I dont think Academy members watch dodgy screeners, dear.

You couldn't be arsed to make an effort with a film, fair enough, its only a film.

 

[pesh]

i think at least some Academy members do watch screeners, love. otherwise they wouldn't exist.

and believe me watching the first 20 minutes for the second time was very much an effort.

 

[belboid]

Really? They watch dodgily ripped copies rather than the ones they are sent? Most peculiar.

 

[pesh]

where did i say anything like that? i think you must be a little confused.

that said, there will always be some loss in quality as the the rip is compressed slightly further, but the real crime here is how little effort most of the major studios put into the transfers they use for their screeners. i think it shows a total contempt for the film makers, the academy members who have to watch them and the public who steal them.