DexterTCN
Troy and Abed in the morning
same as usual I think but you get the globes and baftas first
What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)
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TheHoodedClaw
acknowledging ur soup leg
Arrival
This kind of blind-sided me, really. I didn't expect it to be quite so, I dunno, it really hit home in some unexpected ways. A good and thoughtful film, probably my favourite science fiction one since Contact.
This kind of blind-sided me, really. I didn't expect it to be quite so, I dunno, it really hit home in some unexpected ways. A good and thoughtful film, probably my favourite science fiction one since Contact.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
watched this last night also. String, both story and performances. Sci fi plus linguistics was always going to be an easy sell to me but this was more thoughtful than those two things describe.
Indeliblelink
\......👁&👁......./
Gabriel Over The White House (1933) – Walter Huston as a newly elected US President who turns the country into a dictatorship, after divine intervention from the Angel Gabriel, following a near-death injury in a car accident. Interesting political fantasy that received financial backing and creative input of William Randolph Hearst and FD Roosevelt took time off his first week in office to help tweak the script.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
What Doesn't Kill You
downbeat crimme/drama about two young men growing up in crime in south Boston. Rufffaloe stars. Well done n all but a bit depressing
downbeat crimme/drama about two young men growing up in crime in south Boston. Rufffaloe stars. Well done n all but a bit depressing
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller) - some sort of early-2000s recut of this big manly macho WWII flick first released around 1980. Bit of an odd one overall.
Stars Lee Marvin at his most flinty and taciturn, but playing a surprisingly good and gentle man (when he's not bayoneting Germans that is) trying to get himself and his callow bunch of kid soldiers out alive through a pretty chaotic career through North Africa and Europe. It's a bit Tin Drum or Catch-22 or Mash-like in parts, plenty of surreal and horrible and odd moments, civilians catching it all over, snooty toffeenosed Brit soldiers, and lots of bickering among the multiethnic (but all white) US GIs in between their random blunderings into major campaigns or abandoned concentration camps - and it's very, very very long (nearly 3 hours).
It's more interesting than anything else about the mindset of how macho guys who'd served in the war (like Fuller himself) processed the whole thing. Weary cynicism but trying to be decent now and then, faith in humanity tested etc etc etc. The sexual politics are UNBELIEVABLY retro, all romping about with blowsy willing local prostitutes, prehistoric 'jokes' about women which are 99% pure misogyny and the guys even having to deliver a baby in the middle of a tank battle at one point. ("well I don't really know what to do here Sarge, but it's almost making me horny" <-- actual direct quote
)
Then again it was showing on a channel called Movies4Men so what was I expecting
Stars Lee Marvin at his most flinty and taciturn, but playing a surprisingly good and gentle man (when he's not bayoneting Germans that is) trying to get himself and his callow bunch of kid soldiers out alive through a pretty chaotic career through North Africa and Europe. It's a bit Tin Drum or Catch-22 or Mash-like in parts, plenty of surreal and horrible and odd moments, civilians catching it all over, snooty toffeenosed Brit soldiers, and lots of bickering among the multiethnic (but all white) US GIs in between their random blunderings into major campaigns or abandoned concentration camps - and it's very, very very long (nearly 3 hours).
It's more interesting than anything else about the mindset of how macho guys who'd served in the war (like Fuller himself) processed the whole thing. Weary cynicism but trying to be decent now and then, faith in humanity tested etc etc etc. The sexual politics are UNBELIEVABLY retro, all romping about with blowsy willing local prostitutes, prehistoric 'jokes' about women which are 99% pure misogyny and the guys even having to deliver a baby in the middle of a tank battle at one point. ("well I don't really know what to do here Sarge, but it's almost making me horny" <-- actual direct quote
)Then again it was showing on a channel called Movies4Men so what was I expecting
Reno
The In Kraut
That one was a pleasant surprise and it has one of the most darkly (or brownly) funny gags of any horror film ever.
His new horror film Split has been well received too, so maybe he's remembered how to make decent genre films again.
TruXta
tired
I'd actually forgotten it was an M. Night Delight until the opening credits, but I'd heard good things so didn't let it deter me. Started a bit slow and the mom character is a bit annoying, but got a lot better. The ending was maybe a bit heavy-handed but I was willing to let that slide, all over my face
DexterTCN
Troy and Abed in the morning
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Ill Manors - Plan B's directorial debut & a lot better than I expected. Riz Ahmed is brilliant in it and the pace never lets up. Not exactly cheerful viewing and the female characters have a pretty rough time of it but yeah, worth a look. Great soundtrack.
Reno
The In Kraut
I don't understand.
DexterTCN
Troy and Abed in the morning
I don't want to say then.
Hacksaw Ridge.
Allowing for the inevitable 'tweaking' by Hollywood - this is apparently based on a true story! Does rather put 'modern life' in to perspective!
Allowing for the inevitable 'tweaking' by Hollywood - this is apparently based on a true story! Does rather put 'modern life' in to perspective!
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Watched this last night. Unexpectedly good, indeed. Amiable Adams is always an easy watch, even alongside Jeremy Renner. The linguistics were surprisingly well done, the flashbacks neat, only a couple of 'why the fuck would they do that?' moments. A solid B
Followed it with (Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance. Which is a bit different to the earlier two, but absolutely belting. A must see for anyone who likes that kis no of thing.
seventh bullet
sovietwave
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
OK, over the weekend.
Wild Card. Jason Statham as a Vegas based "security consultant". JS gives the worst performance I have ever seen, and I didn't bother finishing this one. Worth watching, just so you can appreciate what good acting really means.
Last two episodes of Callan. There is nothing like this today.
First episode of "the Lakes", a Jimmy McGovern series from the '90s which I missed at the time, but which looks to be really good. Ticks all the McGovern boxes, of course - "I've got a theory about Scousers", "who made me? God made me", etc., etc.
Wild Card. Jason Statham as a Vegas based "security consultant". JS gives the worst performance I have ever seen, and I didn't bother finishing this one. Worth watching, just so you can appreciate what good acting really means.
Last two episodes of Callan. There is nothing like this today.
First episode of "the Lakes", a Jimmy McGovern series from the '90s which I missed at the time, but which looks to be really good. Ticks all the McGovern boxes, of course - "I've got a theory about Scousers", "who made me? God made me", etc., etc.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
The Lakes is excellent - series 2 is seriously dark and bonkers. At the time I was thinking a bit Twin Peaks like... without the paranormal/alien stuff, of course.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Last Man on the Moon
good stuff. Not particularly technical but really the mans own experience. You can tell he's not a sentimental or emotive soul but even from some hardbitten pilot sort- the moon humbled him. Looking at the earth rising over the shoulder of the moon and thinking 'I want to grab that and put it here *indicates heart* so I can show people what it is'
we shall return
good stuff. Not particularly technical but really the mans own experience. You can tell he's not a sentimental or emotive soul but even from some hardbitten pilot sort- the moon humbled him. Looking at the earth rising over the shoulder of the moon and thinking 'I want to grab that and put it here *indicates heart* so I can show people what it is'
we shall return
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Pluto - 2012 South Korean film about dangerously competitive students. Compelling, disturbing and not at all the Disney "short animated film about Pluto, Chip & Dale" that our Tivo seemed to think it was...
74drew
Well-Known Member
Manchester by the Sea (2016) - IMDb Manchester by the Sea. A really well layered family drama. Made me think of my relationship with my brother a lot.
The Pervert's Guide To Ideology.
Comedy gold.
Comedy gold.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
X MEN APOCASHITS
Basically the story of how Prof X went bald and aquired a better wheelchair.
Give me Superman 2 anyday.
Basically the story of how Prof X went bald and aquired a better wheelchair.
Give me Superman 2 anyday.
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
Belle (2013) - I absolutely loved it, 18th-century period drama with added feminism and black history, so what's not to like. A little too genteel in the style, but full of good actors voicing a clever script in lovely surroundings. Tom Wilkinson's brilliant, Gugu Mbatha-Raw is brave and convincing in a tough role to find the right voice/body language for (mixed-race illegitimate daughter of a slave and a toff, brought up among the aristocracy in one of Britain's most stately homes) and the supporting lot all do their bit. The plot doesn't race along, it's more of a series of thoughts (why are things so messed up in Georgian London? how can a woman be happy in a viciously sexist age? is money or beauty a bigger liberator? etc) than a story where this happens, then this happens, then that happens.
The only bum note is that they have to shoehorn in a reconstruction of the real historical painting (school of Zoffany) with a detail of Belle which is one of the best-known depictions a of Black Georgian person, and very well known in its own right - it's this one:
But in the movie - as in so so many historical romps - the prop picture is HORRIBLE, fake and tacky-looking, worse than a bit of velvet art you'd find in a trailer or that Spanish granny's Ecce Monkey fresco repair. Why does this always happen? (Other really crap reconstructions of known paintings appear in Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Tudors tv series etc etc etc. Why? can't they just scan and print the original onto a canvas, or is it some obscure copyright battle? anyway, paintings in historical movies are nearly always terrible.)
Then A Most Violent Year (2014) - chilly, not all that engaging "trials of a gangster" flick set in early 1980s New York following threats and tactics of a dealer in heating oil taking a lot of heat (heh) from the Mob. Critics loved it. I can see why they liked it (leads Oscar Issac and Jessica Chastain are both great - she in particular better than I've seen her in anything - there's some great retro clothing + cars - and it's overall a miserable but intelligent treatment, not a bang-bang entertainment.) But overall it felt a bit pointless to me. Crucial things which would make you care a bit more - where does the hero spring from? What really drives him? Why bother with all these shenanigans? - are just never explained or even touched on.
The only bum note is that they have to shoehorn in a reconstruction of the real historical painting (school of Zoffany) with a detail of Belle which is one of the best-known depictions a of Black Georgian person, and very well known in its own right - it's this one:
But in the movie - as in so so many historical romps - the prop picture is HORRIBLE, fake and tacky-looking, worse than a bit of velvet art you'd find in a trailer or that Spanish granny's Ecce Monkey fresco repair. Why does this always happen? (Other really crap reconstructions of known paintings appear in Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Tudors tv series etc etc etc. Why? can't they just scan and print the original onto a canvas, or is it some obscure copyright battle? anyway, paintings in historical movies are nearly always terrible.)
Then A Most Violent Year (2014) - chilly, not all that engaging "trials of a gangster" flick set in early 1980s New York following threats and tactics of a dealer in heating oil taking a lot of heat (heh) from the Mob. Critics loved it. I can see why they liked it (leads Oscar Issac and Jessica Chastain are both great - she in particular better than I've seen her in anything - there's some great retro clothing + cars - and it's overall a miserable but intelligent treatment, not a bang-bang entertainment.) But overall it felt a bit pointless to me. Crucial things which would make you care a bit more - where does the hero spring from? What really drives him? Why bother with all these shenanigans? - are just never explained or even touched on.
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Reno
The In Kraut
A Most Violent Year is an odd one. I agree, it's more interesting than truly successful in what it does. It's a gangster film about someone working hard not to go down that path and therefore deprives you of the thrills of the gangster film. It stuck with me though and I'd like to see it again.
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
I enjoyed it, but it is a bit icey around the edges. Well crafted. Well acted. Looks lovely.
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