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

[platinumsage]

Capone - the last year of Al Capone’s life as he suffers from syphillis. I managed 33 minutes and 17 seconds at which point I gave up and left Al to finish watching The Wizard of Oz without me.

 

[DotCommunist]

Ip Man 4. I've enjoyed all 4 Ip Man films immensely, great martial arts choreography. Some cheese to the stories but perfect for it nonetheless. Ip man demonstrated the superiority of chinese kug fu to first the invading Japanese general, then the arrogant English and their lackeys in hong kong and so on in each film. Really its all about the fight scenes though, theres a mass brawl in Ip Man 1 that sold me on the lot tbf

 

[redsquirrel]

Blue Valentine - When I first saw this at the cinema 10 years ago I was very impressed and re-watching it now it still holds up. Williams and Gosling are absolutely excellent in the lead roles - real, flawed but very much people you can empathise with. Also has a wonderful soundtrack.

My Blueberry Nights - Wong Kar-Wai's English language film and a total mess. Norah Jones's performance in the lead role is probably not the worst given by a musician in a film but neither is it very good, that said despite the presence of some decent actors (Rachel Weisz and the usually excellent David Straitharn) nobody really manages to pull this things together - ironically probably the best scene of the film has another musician, Chan Marshall, trying her acting chops in it. The plot is that Norah Jones goes on a trip across America as a means to try and get over a break up, all the while writing to Jude Law, along the way she meets some people. I guess the plot is not the point in this type of film so much as the style but unfortunately the style fails utterly, the films was made in 2007 but it is not only dated but feels dated from the 1990s rather than the 2000s. And Jude Law's "Manchester" accent is a fucking crime.

La Grande Illusion - Again another film I've seen before, I actually liked this film more this time I watched it than the first time. Don't think I can say anything that about it that has not already been said but just wonderful. If you haven't seen it yet do so.

Stalag 17 - Billy Wilder's POW film, with William Holden as a Sefton, a man unfairly(?) marked out as the cuckoo in nest, feeding information to the Nazi's. The parts with Holden I really enjoyed, while the film obviously influenced The Great Escape hugely with the Steve McQueen and James Garner character's being inspired by Sefton, Holden's character is far, far less of a hero than those - a man who's fundamentally only in it for himself. However, while that part of the film worked the second strand the comic elements just fell totally flat. The film was adapted from a Broadway musical and apparently the two lead comic parts where taken by actors from the play, that may help explain why the comedy feels so overdone, and it really is overdone, the German guards could have come from Allo, Allo. It probably didn't help matters that I watched this just after La Grande Illusion. Decent in parts and interesting but not a success for me.

 

[The Octagon]

Free Fire

Not bad.
Not great either.

Good cast (Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer the highlights, as they usually are), some funny writing, but could have been shot much better.

Crying out for some overhead oner shots to better establish where the characters were.

Almost dragged, which is not great for a 90 min film.

 

[Sue]

I also watched My Blueberry Nights. Like redsquirrel, didn't think it was great but I didn't think it was terrible terrible either. Suppose more disappointing given the talent involved.

L'Eclisse. So I've tried with Antonioni but.... This is the kind of film on paper that I should love but just found it really slow and dull. I think the only one I've seen that I thought was okay was The Passenger and I suspect that's not very typically Antonioni.

ETA And one I didn't watch. Was flicking through the TV guide earlier and saw Brief Encounter was just about to start. Turned out not to be the David Lean classic (which I love) but some 70s remake with Richard Burton and Sophie Loren.

 

[redsquirrel]

L'Eclisse. So I've tried with Antonioni but.... This is the kind of film on paper that I should love but just found it really slow and dull. I think the only one I've seen that I thought was okay was The Passenger and I suspect that's not very typically Antonioni.

Yes I just watched this, I liked the scenes in the stock exchange but all the stuff with Monica Vitti's character seemed untouchable. I guess that's kind of the point, modernism creating this space between us and making it impossible to connect with each other - but to me that makes the film itself hard to connect with.

The Go-Between - Losey and Pinter's final collaboration and probably their best - "the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there". Wonderfully shot you have the sweaty, lazy heat of The Accident repeated but also some fantastic long shots showing the minuscule figures moving like ants in the Norfolk countryside. If I do have one criticism it is that the flash forward scenes don't totally work, I know they are in the book but I'm not sure they are needed for the film.

 

[redsquirrel]

Night Movies - The Kelly Reichardt one not the Arthur Penn one. Looking back about what I said about this 6 years ago I don't think my opinion has changed much, it's a very good piece of film making and Fanning shows hoe good an actor she can be if given good material. That said it does seem to be just missing something that would make it a top quality film.

 

[redsquirrel]

Ghost Town Anthology - Strange Canadian film set in a small town in rural Quebec, after the suicide(?) of a young man, silent strangers start to appear in the town. This is where MUBI can be really good, I doubt whether I would have ever bothered searching out or even watching this if it was not going to disappear from the now showing list soon which would have been a shame because it is a rather good piece of work, it is quite strange - I'm still not entirely sure what I make of it - but that is to it's credit, and it is very well made/acted/etc. One of those strange pieces of work that are worth checking out - I can recommend that those with MUBI subscriptions (Part 2 , Orang Utan , Sue) that haven't seen it yet check it out before it disappears tonight.

 

[Part 2]

Cheers redsquirrel. Just finished Better Call Saul so I may get chance to have a look at that.

 

[Fedayn]

Everton: Howard's Way

Lovely bit of mid 80s football nostalgia. Basically telling a story of the Everton team 1982 -1985 (1987) set against the backdrop of Britain and the Liverpool Labour Council. Utterly glorious if you're an Everton fan, bit less so if you're not.

 

[Idris2002]

Ip Man 4. I've enjoyed all 4 Ip Man films immensely, great martial arts choreography. Some cheese to the stories but perfect for it nonetheless. Ip man demonstrated the superiority of chinese kug fu to first the invading Japanese general, then the arrogant English and their lackeys in hong kong and so on in each film. Really its all about the fight scenes though, theres a mass brawl in Ip Man 1 that sold me on the lot tbf

Bitten by a radioactive Ip, was he?

 

[Sue]

Ghost Town Anthology - Strange Canadian film set in a small town in rural Quebec, after the suicide(?) of a young man, silent strangers start to appear in the town. This is where MUBI can be really good, I doubt whether I would have ever bothered searching out or even watching this if it was not going to disappear from the now showing list soon which would have been a shame because it is a rather good piece of work, it is quite strange - I'm still not entirely sure what I make of it - but that is to it's credit, and it is very well made/acted/etc. One of those strange pieces of work that are worth checking out - I can recommend that those with MUBI subscriptions (Part 2 , Orang Utan , Sue) that haven't seen it yet check it out before it disappears tonight.

Interesting, quite liked it. Also not very often you see smalltown Canada on film.

Spoiler

Reminded me of Les Revenants.[\Spoiler]

 

[Part 2]

Ghost Town Anthology - Strange Canadian film set in a small town in rural Quebec, after the suicide(?) of a young man, silent strangers start to appear in the town. This is where MUBI can be really good, I doubt whether I would have ever bothered searching out or even watching this if it was not going to disappear from the now showing list soon which would have been a shame because it is a rather good piece of work, it is quite strange - I'm still not entirely sure what I make of it - but that is to it's credit, and it is very well made/acted/etc. One of those strange pieces of work that are worth checking out - I can recommend that those with MUBI subscriptions (Part 2 , Orang Utan , Sue) that haven't seen it yet check it out before it disappears tonight.

Yea I watched it this afternoon. I liked it and agree with Sue's spoiler. As a film about grief it was good but there seemed to be a connection being made between the characters with depression that didn't go anywhere and the film lost it's way a bit towards the end I thought. I loved the kids masks though, reminded me of a Boards of Canada music video.

Spoiler

I think it probably lost me at the point Adele started levitating....wtf was that about?

 

[Sue]

Yea I watched it this afternoon. I liked it and agree with Sue's spoiler. As a film about grief it was good but there seemed to be a connection being made between the characters with depression that didn't go anywhere and the film lost it's way a bit towards the end I thought. I loved the kids masks though, reminded me of a Boards of Canada music video.

Spoiler

I think it probably lost me at the point Adele started levitating....wtf was that about?

In terms of your spoiler, not quite sure but was happy to go with it...

 

[Orang Utan]

Ghost Town Anthology - Strange Canadian film set in a small town in rural Quebec, after the suicide(?) of a young man, silent strangers start to appear in the town. This is where MUBI can be really good, I doubt whether I would have ever bothered searching out or even watching this if it was not going to disappear from the now showing list soon which would have been a shame because it is a rather good piece of work, it is quite strange - I'm still not entirely sure what I make of it - but that is to it's credit, and it is very well made/acted/etc. One of those strange pieces of work that are worth checking out - I can recommend that those with MUBI subscriptions (Part 2 , Orang Utan , Sue) that haven't seen it yet check it out before it disappears tonight.

Looks like Mubi have now opened up their back catalogue online - can't quite work out if it's possible to get on my telly via the Playstation app, but looks like I can only view on the laptop, but that's quite a collection:

Films Now Showing on MUBI

Stream ambitious films by visionary filmmakers. From iconic directors to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by us.

mubi.com

 

[Part 2]

Looks like Mubi have now opened up their back catalogue online - can't quite work out if it's possible to get on my telly via the Playstation app, but looks like I can only view on the laptop, but that's quite a collection:

Films Now Showing on MUBI

Stream ambitious films by visionary filmmakers. From iconic directors to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by us.

mubi.com

Yea it's not on my TV app either. I noticed this is free for anyone to watch. Those who haven't got an account just need to input an email address and password.

Night Tide (1961) | MUBI

A sailor (Dennis Hopper’s first starring role!) falls in love with a girl in a beatnik jazz club, and is drawn into a strange world in which she may be a mermaid. Turning Venice Beach locations into indelible film noir images, Night Tide is part gothic horror, part mood piece, all fever dream.

mubi.com

 

[Orang Utan]

Worked out I can search for and watch MUBI films via Amazon Prime Video

 

[redsquirrel]

Looks like Mubi have now opened up their back catalogue online - can't quite work out if it's possible to get on my telly via the Playstation app, but looks like I can only view on the laptop, but that's quite a collection:

Films Now Showing on MUBI

Stream ambitious films by visionary filmmakers. From iconic directors to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by us.

mubi.com

Yep some good stuff.

Spoiler

I think it probably lost me at the point Adele started levitating....wtf was that about?

Like Sue I did not quite get that, but I didn't feel it was out of place.

 

[redsquirrel]

Anyone recommend any of the work of Jean-Pierre Mocky? Or know where's a good place to start?

 

[redsquirrel]

La Bête Humaine - Jean Renoir adaptation of Zola starring the always watchable Jean Gabin, this is not the masterpiece that La Grande Illusion is trying to get all of a book into 96 minutes results in some themes feeling rushed, while at the same time other there are other scenes that you feel could be cut, but it is still a very assured and enjoyable piece of work. The scenes on the trains are particularly effective and the tension and spiralling emotions of the principles are nicely ratcheted up in the hour and a half. Seeing these two Renoir's underlines that I need to watch La Régle du Jeu.

Chloe - Amanda Seyfried and Julianna Moore play off each other in an 'erotic' psychological thriller by Atom Egoyan. It's all a bit depressing you've got one good and one excellent actor in the leads, a director that used to make some interesting films and the result is this pretty dull flawed drama. It doe not have the sleazy drive that somelike Verhoeven might have brought to it but neither does it have remotely enough depth and characterisation to go beyond such. Seyfried is actually very good but her character is so woefully drawn that it is a waste of her acting ability, and Moore is a good as usual but is also limited by the script. The best things about it is the sense of location, it makes Toronto - and the places it references there - look wonderful, Canadian tourist board must be fans.

 

[Reno]

Like Father Like Son, another great film by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The parents of a six your old boy are informed by the hospital where he was born, that at the time of his birth he got swapped with another baby. The family then contact the family of their biological son to consider what they should do. One is a well to do family, the other are a working class family of a shop keeper. The father of the well to do family starts to believe that blood is stronger than emotional bonds. As always with Kore-eda there are no simple heroes and villains, everybody has their reasons.



The Fan from 1981, a trash favourite of mine. Lauren Bacall players a famous actres (basically a nicer version of herself) with an obsessed fan who attacks her staff and coworkers with a razor as she prepares to star in a Broadway musical. This was a big studio attempt to get in on the slasher craze of the period and it was capitalising on Bacall's career revival in musical theatre. As was the case for so many villains of the period, the killer is a self a hating closet case. The glimpses of the musical are hilariously awful. It's very entertaining though, I'm a sucker for New York set films of the period, especially slightly dodgy thrillers and the cast is great, with James Garner as to off-on love interest , Maureen Stapleton the year she won an Oscar for Reds and a very young looking Michael Biehn as the psycho.

 

[Sue]

Citizen Kane's on at 15:15 on BBC2 if anyone's interested -- they're showing a progamme with clips from interviews with Welles at the moment.

 

[Sue]

La Bête Humaine - Jean Renoir adaptation of Zola starring the always watchable Jean Gabin, this is not the masterpiece that La Grande Illusion is trying to get all of a book into 96 minutes results in some themes feeling rushed, while at the same time other there are other scenes that you feel could be cut, but it is still a very assured and enjoyable piece of work. The scenes on the trains are particularly effective and the tension and spiralling emotions of the principles are nicely ratcheted up in the hour and a half. Seeing these two Renoir's underlines that I need to watch La Régle du Jeu.

I'm a bit lukewarm on La Regle due Jeu -- I think his Le Crime de M Lange and Boudu Sauve des Eaux are much more interesting depictions of class conflict -- though obviously it's worth a watch.

 

[The39thStep]

Forgot to say I rewatched the French film the Man on the Train with Johnny Holiday in it. Loved it as much I did many years ago . Understated poignancy.

 

[redsquirrel]

I'm a bit lukewarm on La Regle due Jeu -- I think his Le Crime de M Lange and Boudu Sauve des Eaux are much more interesting depictions of class conflict -- though obviously it's worth a watch.

Ta, I'll bear those recommendations in mind.

The World is Yours - good French comedy from Romain Gavras, with a small time crook having to get involved in a deal in order to finance his dreams of going straight. Isabelle Adjani is great as the mum from hell and Vincent Cassel puts in a good performance as a just released criminal that gets caught up in illuminati conspiracies. Reminded me a bit of the excellent Louise Michel.

 

[Part 2]

Calm with Horses....shocking. Really very poor I thought. A real mess. It's got me worked up more than the press conference this afternoon.

 

[krtek a houby]

Jack the Giant Killer

Fantasy adventure from 1962. Loved it as a kid, can see some influence on Terry Gilliam and Doctor Who. A bit ropey now, tbf.

Uncut Gems

Adam Sandler in career best? Disturbing, disagreeable and hypnotic film. Great soundtrack, too.

 

[redsquirrel]

Grosse Pointe Blank - This is almost 25 years old now and it's now become a bit of a picture of the 90s. Still excellent though. Top notch soundtrack, great lines, Minnie Driver should have got more work

 

[Part 2]

We Are One film festival coming to Youtube from 29/5. Talks, Short Films, Premiers.

Any tips on what to watch?...noticed the Trojan Records Story that I fancy seeing.

We Are One

Experience a film festival like never before during this first ever 10-day global film festival co-curated by over 21 film festivals from across the world. A...

www.youtube.com

 

[redsquirrel]

The King and Four Queens - Clark Gable and Raoul Walsh western, with Gable trying to trick hidden gold from a woman and her four daughters in law. Nothing special but entertaining enough.

Mr Klein - Losey directs Delon as a man caught up in a Kafka like nightmare (through his own actions?) of the anti-semitism of Vichy Paris. I can't say it's an enjoyable watch, l It's a little too long IMO but some scenes are really effective, like Klein the viewer is set on a path that can only lead to one place, the appalling inevitability is almost exhausting but very effective. Delon is good, smooth and stylish as always but with more uncertainty than he sometimes shows.