What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)
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Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
The F-Word
Worth watching if you fancy seeing Daniel Radcliffe get punched in the face, and shoved down a flight of stairs. He looks like a junkie throughout the whole thing, which is odd given that it's meant to be a lighthearted romantic comedy. Seriously, he looks like death warmed up.
A Canadian-Irish co-production, which is why I watched it. They don't do much with the Toronto setting, but it's odd that Dublin is portrayed as if the Celtic Tiger is still in full swing. Little would the average Canuck viewer realise that Dublin is in fact the greatest hive of scum and villainy in the known universe.
Fallen Angel.
Now this is more like it. An Otto Preminger Film Noir from the fifties, with a dodgy, dodgy guy as the antihero lead. From wikipedia:
"As the frustrated adventurer, Dana Andrews adds another excellent tight-lipped portrait of a growing gallery. Linda Darnell is beautiful and perfectly cast as the sultry and single-minded siren, while Miss Faye, whose lines often border on the banal, shoulders her first straight, dramatic burden, gracefully. Charles Bickford, as a dishonorably discharged cop, Anne Revere, as Miss Faye's spinster sister, and Percy Kilbride, as the lovesick proprietor of the diner in which Miss Darnell works, are outstanding among the supporting players. But for all of its acting wealth, Fallen Angel falls short of being a top flight whodunit."
I wouldn't be so hard on it, I'd say it's still an effective bit of work that stands up six decades on. Deeply conservative of course - the bad girl gets punished, the good girl gets rewarded for acting like a doormat, and the dickhead male lead gets the girl and the money, despite the fact that he's a dickhead. Interestingly, though, it did acknowledge the reality of police brutality, in fact that's a major plot point.
Also some interesting use of natural light in the street scenes - contrasts very well with the way the noir element is used in more set-based scenes.
Reno, do you know this one?
Worth watching if you fancy seeing Daniel Radcliffe get punched in the face, and shoved down a flight of stairs. He looks like a junkie throughout the whole thing, which is odd given that it's meant to be a lighthearted romantic comedy. Seriously, he looks like death warmed up.
A Canadian-Irish co-production, which is why I watched it. They don't do much with the Toronto setting, but it's odd that Dublin is portrayed as if the Celtic Tiger is still in full swing. Little would the average Canuck viewer realise that Dublin is in fact the greatest hive of scum and villainy in the known universe.
Fallen Angel.
Now this is more like it. An Otto Preminger Film Noir from the fifties, with a dodgy, dodgy guy as the antihero lead. From wikipedia:
"As the frustrated adventurer, Dana Andrews adds another excellent tight-lipped portrait of a growing gallery. Linda Darnell is beautiful and perfectly cast as the sultry and single-minded siren, while Miss Faye, whose lines often border on the banal, shoulders her first straight, dramatic burden, gracefully. Charles Bickford, as a dishonorably discharged cop, Anne Revere, as Miss Faye's spinster sister, and Percy Kilbride, as the lovesick proprietor of the diner in which Miss Darnell works, are outstanding among the supporting players. But for all of its acting wealth, Fallen Angel falls short of being a top flight whodunit."
I wouldn't be so hard on it, I'd say it's still an effective bit of work that stands up six decades on. Deeply conservative of course - the bad girl gets punished, the good girl gets rewarded for acting like a doormat, and the dickhead male lead gets the girl and the money, despite the fact that he's a dickhead. Interestingly, though, it did acknowledge the reality of police brutality, in fact that's a major plot point.
Also some interesting use of natural light in the street scenes - contrasts very well with the way the noir element is used in more set-based scenes.
Reno, do you know this one?
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Melancholia - Lars Von Trier does sci-fi. Sort of. Shades of Solaris, Tree of Life in there. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are compelling as 2 sisters dealing with approaching catastrophe.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
seriously though if theres one complaint I have about MITHC the book is that it has cast a long, long shadow over the alt.history genre. Every man and his dog wants to do an 'if der narzis won the war' story.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Not sure about it as a TV series, or not sure about in terms of its 'message'? (genuine question)
Reno
The In Kraut
There have been a lot of literary ones, even before Dick but there haven't been many on film or TV. It Happened Here from 1966 is still the best one and then there was the okeyish TV movie of Fatherland and the rest isn't that memorable.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Just not sure if we're going to persevere with it. It's quite heavy and rather slow. We'll probably watch another episode or two, then decide.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Fatherland made a better book for me although the film didn't fall completely flat. It Happened Here is...interesting. I don't see as I'll ever watch it again but its closness to the period makes for a kind of authenticity iyswim?
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Only one pre-Dick, really. Sarban's The Sound of His Horn [/pedant]
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Reno
The In Kraut
...and I don't mind heavy and slow if there is substance and great characterisation, but there isn't. I don't think I'll get back to it and I'm not sure why this is getting rave reviews.
sovereignb
Well-Known Member
Pretty Persuasion - about a very manipulative 15yr old girl who persuades her friends to make a joint claim of abuse against their teacher in order to get famous
Very funny and inappropriate at times but with a great political subtext. Excellent film
Very funny and inappropriate at times but with a great political subtext. Excellent film
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Terminator Genisys
started strong and looked like it was going to be amazing but then went crap. Not the poorest addition to the series but a load of balls anyway. First 30mins were banging then it all went south.
started strong and looked like it was going to be amazing but then went crap. Not the poorest addition to the series but a load of balls anyway. First 30mins were banging then it all went south.
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
CARTEL LAND - documentary available via iPlayer (was broadcast as part of the STORYVILLE strand) and I think some subscription sites as well. Visually striking film following the parallel stories of two "self defence" militias formed either side of the US/Mexico border fence, supposedly to fight drug cartels but (of course) getting enmeshed in hideous violence, corruption and paranoid confusion. It's got brilliant access and the stories themselves are astonishing, BUT it's light on proper analysis and understanding of Mexico. It's a good companion piece to NARCO CULTURA, which covers similar ground but is better (and gorier, and more depressing, and more Mexican.) Cartel Land also contains some stills of revolting cartel 'messages' full of blood and body parts but the action sequences are less distressing than Narco Cultura's. If you enjoyed Breaking Bad I guess you really ought to watch both of them...
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
Adult World - Indie comedy about a girl who aspires to be a published poet. John Cusack plays a semi-reclusive poet who she idolises and bothers a bit, inbetween working in a sex shop called Adult World, and hanging out with some 'fringe of society' types while being completely oblivious to her lack of 'fringe of society' credentials...
It was ok. Cusack was very good. Highlighted how shit some of the straight to netflix movies he has currently started to appear in have been.
It was ok. Cusack was very good. Highlighted how shit some of the straight to netflix movies he has currently started to appear in have been.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
Finished Mr Robot.
I think it got a bit lost by the end. Too busy driving towards a cliffhanger ending and trying hard to be a bit weird.
I think it got a bit lost by the end. Too busy driving towards a cliffhanger ending and trying hard to be a bit weird.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
...and still quite like Extant. For sci fi lite it keeps good momentum.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
I have watched the first episode of Mr Robot twice now. Don't get the appeal. Seems like something from Channel 5 from the 00s
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
Kind Hearts and Coronets - I'd forgotten how weird Joan Greenwood's voice is, how ruthlessly the plot rips along, and just HOW MANY TIMES the script repeats the N word (in a non racist context but still.)
Voley
🐀
Thanks for recommending this. Very tense. I liked the gallows humour of all the blokes involved. Seemed realistic didn't it? The helicopter fuck-up bit was painful to watch. As was the bit where the rescuer who had no idea it was a minefield just legged it right into the middle. I actually went 'Nooooo!!!' out loud. Good little film, schmaltzy end music notwithstanding. I'll have to keep an eye out for other stuff by this guy; I like directors who can create dramatic tension like that on a small budget.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Whirlpool.
1949: like Fallen Angel mentioned above, this one was by Otto Preminger. The blurb on the box said it was a mix of noir and woman's picture, and. . . it was OK I suppose. The sight of a psychoanalyst having the cheek to condemn an astrologer as a quack was funny. The rest of the film was - not bad. Neurotic "doctor's" wife falls into the clutches of a blackmailer, thanks to her kleptomania problem. Her troubles escalate from there.
If you're into Art Deco stuff you might like this one.
1949: like Fallen Angel mentioned above, this one was by Otto Preminger. The blurb on the box said it was a mix of noir and woman's picture, and. . . it was OK I suppose. The sight of a psychoanalyst having the cheek to condemn an astrologer as a quack was funny. The rest of the film was - not bad. Neurotic "doctor's" wife falls into the clutches of a blackmailer, thanks to her kleptomania problem. Her troubles escalate from there.
If you're into Art Deco stuff you might like this one.
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