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

[ringo]

Spaced Series 1, episodes 1 - 4.
Only saw bits of this at the time. Enjoyed it, but would have been better at the time.

 

[Chz]

Watching Ash vs. Evil Dead.

It has Bruce Campbell, so it's obviously incredibly good. But even by the Almighty's standards, it's pretty good fun. It remains to be seen whether it suffers the same fate as most projects where a bunch of old buddies get together and fart around (disappearing up its own arse, usually), but I'm quite enjoying the silliness for now.

 

[DotCommunist]

^^I watched the latest of that Ash vs Evil dead, still strong. Was hoping for a kind of 'deadite monster of the week' set up, every week the book spits forth another etc.

I watched the penultimate episode of syfy's Z Nation which was darker than usual. You saw all the main characters origin stories.

Tried to watch The Hunt: Conservation but attenboroughs avancular tones and the lush scenery put me to sleep

 

[Idris2002]

Spoiler

"We are werewolves, not swear wolves!"

It was very very Kiwi-ish.

I see it was co-produced by someone who wrote a couple of the Flight of the Conchords episodes.

 

[Reno]

It was very very Kiwi-ish.

I see it was co-produced by someone who wrote a couple of the Flight of the Conchords episodes.

It was co-directed, co-written and it co-starred Jemaine Clement, who is one of the duo.

 

[Idris2002]

It was co-directed, co-written and it co-starred Jemaine Clement, who is one of the duo.

Ah yes, Jemaine Clement, man of a thousand faces.

 

[Orang Utan]

Ah yes, Jemaine Clement, man of a thousand faces.

Eh? Quite the opposite, surely? He's instantly recognisable

 

[trabuquera]

What Maisie Knew (2012) - an updating of a Henry James novel to modern privileged-boho New York, with a small girl's-eye view of her awful parents' chaotic divorce. Julianne Moore (as an utterly narcissistic and needy rock star) and Steve Coogan (an art-dealer/weasel hybrid) are memorably horrible as the parents; the young lead actress Onata Aprile is great as poor Maisie. Your sympathies though will lie with the sensible, kind nanny (Joanna Vandersomething) and the dazed, doofus new bartender husband of Julianne Moore's character, played by Alexander Skarsgard (impossibly gorgeous, impossibly tall, plausibly nice-but-dim), who end up actually doing most of the childcare. It's not thrilling and it's not perfect, but it's a deft and sensitive minor movie about children and adults and their conflicting needs.

 

[krtek a houby]

Werewolves always look a bit rubbish. The only werewolf designs I've really liked so far were the ones in the original The Howling. Even the one in An American Werewolf in London (the greatest werewolf film ever made) looked more like a wild boar when fully transformed. The werewolves in this looked great at a distance and not so great close up, but they weren't the worst ones I've seen.

Have you seen Company of Wolves? A Neil Jordan film from the 80s - creepy, fairy tale, other worldly kind of vibe. I recommend it.

 

[Orang Utan]

the wolves do look rubbish though

 

[krtek a houby]

Eh? Quite the opposite, surely? He's instantly recognisable

Really?

 

[DotCommunist]

Being Human and Dog Soldiers had good werewolves.

 

[krtek a houby]

Being Human and Dog Soldiers had good werewolves.

And Hemlock Grove; despite the story spiralling into just plain silliness...

 

[Orang Utan]

Really?

His voice gives it away! Bit generally there's no getting away from that face and stature!

 

[Reno]

Have you seen Company of Wolves? A Neil Jordan film from the 80s - creepy, fairy tale, other worldly kind of vibe. I recommend it.

I really liked it when it came out, but I watched it again recently and it hasn't quite stood the test of time for me. Angela Carter was influenced by the Czech New Wave film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders when she wrote it and I prefer that one, though it has vampires instead of werewolves. It has one of the most beatiful scores ever written for a film. It seems effortless where Company of Wolves strikes me as a little forced.

 

[Reno]

And Hemlock Grove; despite the story spiralling into just plain silliness...

Spiralling ? I never made it past the first episode .

 

[Reno]

Being Human and Dog Soldiers had good werewolves.

The werewolves in Dog Soldiers looked rubbish. They only built heads, the rest they tried to hide with fast editing and low light, but they didn't pull it off.

I still think the werewolves in The Howling were very cool. They were animatronic rod puppets, not a guy in a suit, so they looked spindly rather than beefy or porky.




I like for werewolves to walk upright, but to still look like wolves and to have some animal beauty to them and I think they have all of that.

 

[Voley]

Is it the one about virgins?

That line cracked me up. Good film that.

 

[Belushi]

Lore (Cate Shortland 2013) A teenage girl whose parents are imprisoned by the Allies leads her younger siblings across occupied Germany to their Grandmothers house. Unconvincing script but well acted and nicely shot.

 

[Reno]

Lore (Cate Shortland 2013) A teenage girl whose parents are imprisoned by the Allies leads her younger siblings across occupied Germany to their Grandmothers house. Unconvincing script but well acted and nicely shot.

Or "Nazi Walkabout" as I like to call it.

 

[belboid]

Trainwreck

An Judd Apatow & Amy Schumer comedy vehicle that got pretty good reviews a couple of months back. A slightly odd title as Schumer's life really isn't any kind of trainwreck, but let's let that one go. Schumer herself is great in it, and the people playing her beau, her sister and her father are all good too. The actor playing the English boss is a bit weird, and only gets weirder on discovering that its a virtually unrecognisable Tilda Swinton. I hope she had fun. The whole thing would be pretty good if it was 90 minutes long, but its 130!! The plot is all incredibly obvious so it really needs to zip along to get away with it, but it doesn't.

It's no Bridesmaids, it's probably not even a Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but Schumer is good to watch, and you can go make a brew in the bits she's offscreen.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Finished S1 of The Bridge (fucking brilliant), and started Transparent, just the first 2 episodes so far.

Wow. The main characters are utterly self-obsessed and complete fucking idiots but idk what it is about it... it's brilliant.

 

[Voley]

Started rewatching Game Of Thrones and am enjoying it more this time round. There were a few subplots that are set up early on that passed me by first time round. I think it took me about half the first series to decide whether I was really into it or not and by then I'd missed a fair bit.

 

[The39thStep]

Magnolia- haven't watched this for years.Sprawling, flawed, and overlong but never the less a magnificent and memorising effort .

 

[DotCommunist]

Magnolia- haven't watched this for years.Sprawling, flawed, and overlong but never the less a magnificent and memorising effort .

possibly Cruise's best performance 'TAME THE CUNT'

 

[Reno]

possibly Cruise's best performance 'TAME THE CUNT'

It's just his most cast-against-type performance in a serious film and people fell over themselves to praise him for doing this at all because he has to be unsympathetic. I find him as self-conscious and unconvincing as every time he actually attempts to act. Just as well that Magnolia is an ensemble piece and that he isn't in it very much, though people always talk about Cruise in Magnolia like he has the starring role. I'll credit him for helping to get the film made at the budget it did. The truly great performance people should mention is that of Melora Walters as the fucked up coke head who gets together with the cop. It's a great film though. It may overreach at times, but better that than being safe.

 

[DotCommunist]

It's just his most cast-against-type performance in a serious film and people fell over themselves to praise him for doing this at all because he has to be unsympathetic. I find him as self-conscious and unconvincing as every time he actually attempts to act. Just as well that Magnolia is an ensemble piece and that he isn't in it very much, though people always talk about Cruise in Magnolia like he has the starring role. I'll credit him for helping to get the film made at the budget it did. The truly great performance people should mention is that of Melora Walters as the fucked up coke head who gets together with the cop. It's a great film though. It may overreach at times, but better that than being safe.

I just think he nails it because the character is an emotionally stunted dickhead with a tenuose grasp on reality so it is no great stretch for him

 

[Reno]

I just think he nails it because the character is an emotionally stunted dickhead with a tenuose grasp on reality so it is no great stretch for him

Tom Cruise is a very different type of asshole from the one he plays in Magnolia and that's not quite how acting works.

 

[Ponyutd]

"What would you say if I rubbed your nose in the coke!?"

A very well known film this. Hugely popular on Rottten Tomatoes and always gets a mention in the top ten lists on here, and elsewhere. I only watched it just now because it was mentioned on the radio today.

Name that film... if you can.

 

[Chz]

I've no idea.

But I did just watch Kingsman. I really shouldn't have enjoyed that anywhere near as much as I did. That's going to be a guilty pleasure.