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

[Reno]

I agree it was an effective scene. But in context how does it fit into the story? And if it doesn't what does it symbolise? If it's there to just scare then I'm annoyed whether or not it's effective. Kubrick did some great war films, he seemed to get it with those, but I'm glad this was his only horror. Random scares are the hallmark of bad horror, all the best horror films have a bit of intellect to them even if they have the reputation that they don't.

The scene in room 237 comes from the novel it's an adaptation of. Danny gets hurt by the ghost despite having been told by Halloran to stay away from it and later Jack investigates room 237 and encounters a ghost for the first time himself. One could argue that scene suffers from having been taken from its context in the novel where that female ghost is a larger character with a back story. Kubrick makes it more ambiguous by having the ghosts be a possible extension of Jack's declining mental state but only to a certain point. I think it works for the film, which could not have adapted all of what is a very long novel. While Kubrick plays down the supernatural elements from the novel, they are still there. It's a story about a haunted hotel full of the ghosts of former occupants who now haunt it, so I don't see why the woman in room 237 is random.

 

[Detroit City]

I watched a dark scifi drama called Enemy Mine (1985)....didn't much care for it but it had some good points

 

[redsquirrel]

Gate of Hell - part of the BFIs Japan 2020 showcase, a samurai becomes obsessed by a woman who is already married. It is absolutely gorgeous to look, and the use of light and colour is fantastic. Definitely worth checking out.

The Orphanage - story of a boys orphanage in Afghanistan just as the Russians are moving out. Some very good performances by the young cast, with naturalistic scenes interspersed with fantasy dream sequences in a Bollywood style. Worth watching.

 

[Part 2]

Black cat white cat....mentioned here before but not for many years. Outdoor cinema experience in the estate.



Amazing, funniest film I've seen in a long time....I'd had a few drinks and may have been a bit stoned aswell which is something I usually avoid before watching films but seemed to suit this one.

A low level criminal comes up with a hair brained plan to make loads of money and fucks up so has to agree for his son to marry the sister of a gangster who just takes coke every minute of the film. There's a tune that plays a few times called Pitbull terrier and he goes mental to it and there's a wedding scene that might be second only to The Godfather. Its super fast paced and I didn't follow the story as closely as I might have with eating, drinking and smoking through...but expect it stands up to multiple viewings anyway.

The only other Hungarian film I've seen of the top of my head is The Werkmeister Harmonies which I loved and been planning to rewatch for ages.

Any other recommendations?

 

[Part 2]

I appear to be wrong and it's not Hungarian but Serbian.

 

[Reno]

Why Don't You Just Die!, the Russian black comedy which OU mentioned and which is a lot of fun if you can handle the violence.

The Towering Inferno...again. One of my comfort films. Not sure what it is about watching over-the-hill Hollywood stars burning to a crisp that I find so soothing.

 

[Reno]

I appear to be wrong and it's not Hungarian but Serbian.

Ambitious programming none the less. Love your set up !

 

[Part 2]

Ambitious programming none the less. Love your set up !

Not mine I must confess but it made for a great shared experience.

 

[Knotted]

He was famously extremely fastidious and demanding, not only of the actors but the props & set. One well known anecdote is that in the scene when Wendy flicks through the half written novel her husband had been meant to be typing for weeks, and sees that it is just hundreds of pages of ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’.

Even though the shot only shows the written content of about 10-20 pages as Wendy flicks through them, Kubrick insisted that some crew member must actually type the several hundred pages that made pile. Not even photocopy some of them- every sheet had to be typed individually. I’m sure his incredible attention to detail made his films what they are, but the above demand is unjustifiable bullshit. From what I’ve read he could come across as a sociopath and horrible person to work under.

I love the detail in that. I love all the interior design and lighting as well. It's just I don't like the way it's all belaboured. Might watch it again with subtitles and the sound turned off...

 

[Knotted]

The scene in room 237 comes from the novel it's an adaptation of. Danny gets hurt by the ghost despite having been told by Halloran to stay away from it and later Jack investigates room 237 and encounters a ghost for the first time himself. One could argue that scene suffers from having been taken from its context in the novel where that female ghost is a larger character with a back story. Kubrick makes it more ambiguous by having the ghosts be a possible extension of Jack's declining mental state but only to a certain point. I think it works for the film, which could not have adapted all of what is a very long novel. While Kubrick plays down the supernatural elements from the novel, they are still there. It's a story about a haunted hotel full of the ghosts of former occupants who now haunt it, so I don't see why the woman in room 237 is random.

Well we could call it non-specific rather than random if you prefer. The scene could be cut without it affecting the rest of the film.

Having said that I actually don't think it is just a random/non-specific ghostly encounter. It's obviously sexually charged and reflects Jack's misogyny. Women are desirable yet repulsive. I also think it's too cold and distant to be scary and that's not a criticism. I think it's supposed to be queasy but not scary - if it were scary we would be empathising with Jack's misogynist perspective which would be all sorts of wrong. The scary thing in the scene should be Jack not the woman.

The film's substance is the horror of having an abusive husband/father. I'm pretty sure that Jack not the lady in room 237 strangled Danny. That appears to be a completely different story to the one Stephen King wrote (I haven't read it mind), but that's not necessarily a problem. The film is cryptic while being extremely unsubtle in its execution. I think the real horrors are not shown (is there child abuse going on?) while the (in practice inconsequential) ghost stuff is ramped up to a continuous 11. It's an odd way to go about it and I have no idea why anybody would get anything from a film like that. I don't think it's an intelligent way to make a point about abuse if there is even a point being made. The whole thing seems shallow to me.

 

[Reno]

Well we could call it non-specific rather than random if you prefer. The scene could be cut without it affecting the rest of the film.

Having said that I actually don't think it is just a random/non-specific ghostly encounter. It's obviously sexually charged and reflects Jack's misogyny. Women are desirable yet repulsive. I also think it's too cold and distant to be scary and that's not a criticism. I think it's supposed to be queasy but not scary - if it were scary we would be empathising with Jack's misogynist perspective which would be all sorts of wrong. The scary thing in the scene should be Jack not the woman.

The film's substance is the horror of having an abusive husband/father. I'm pretty sure that Jack not the lady in room 237 strangled Danny. That appears to be a completely different story to the one Stephen King wrote (I haven't read it mind), but that's not necessarily a problem. The film is cryptic while being extremely unsubtle in its execution. I think the real horrors are not shown (is there child abuse going on?) while the (in practice inconsequential) ghost stuff is ramped up to a continuous 11. It's an odd way to go about it and I have no idea why anybody would get anything from a film like that. I don't think it's an intelligent way to make a point about abuse if there is even a point being made. The whole thing seems shallow to me.

Cold and distant has been applied to Kubrick's general filmmaking style though.

I will leave it here as my response to the film used to be similar to yours but it has changed over the decades. I now love it on a purely emotional and aesthetic level which is hard to verbalise.

Stephen King would certainly be in your corner as he famously hates the film. I've enjoyed your posts on the film, even if I don't entirely agree.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The Wave. A Norwegian film about a mountainside collapsing into the fjord and destroying a town at the head of the fjord from the resulting tsunami. Quite well done. Based on a real unstable mountainside that is moving year on year and will eventually fall.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Wave. A Norwegian film about a mountainside collapsing into the fjord and destroying a town at the head of the fjord from the resulting tsunami. Quite well done. Based on a real unstable mountainside that is moving year on year and will eventually fall.

Just read about something like this happening only last week:

 

[Reno]

The Wave. A Norwegian film about a mountainside collapsing into the fjord and destroying a town at the head of the fjord from the resulting tsunami. Quite well done. Based on a real unstable mountainside that is moving year on year and will eventually fall.

I saw that at the London Film Festival wondering if it was a more arty version of a 70s disaster film but it was just as trashy, only with less glamorous looking actors. That isn't necessarily a bad thing as I love 70s disaster films, I was just hoping for a smarter spin on the genre. There is a sequel to this called The Quake which I enjoyed more because the suspense and the action sequences are handled better.

 

[redsquirrel]

Take Me Somewhere Nice - Dutch teenager goes to visit her dying father in Bosnia and goes on a road trip with her cousin and his mate. It's a debut film and it shows it there is some promise there but it suffers from many of the same faults that loads of indie debuts do, a real need to appear quirky, characters with elaborate mannerisms, daft plot turns that bend/break any suspension of disbelief. Despite all that the cast do give good performances and the style (obviously indebted to Jarmusch) is just about enough to get it over the line. If you want something for an entertaining 90 minutes and don't want to think too much this is worth checking out.

 

[flypanam]

Black cat white cat....mentioned here before but not for many years. Outdoor cinema experience in the estate.

View attachment 217446

Amazing, funniest film I've seen in a long time....I'd had a few drinks and may have been a bit stoned aswell which is something I usually avoid before watching films but seemed to suit this one.

A low level criminal comes up with a hair brained plan to make loads of money and fucks up so has to agree for his son to marry the sister of a gangster who just takes coke every minute of the film. There's a tune that plays a few times called Pitbull terrier and he goes mental to it and there's a wedding scene that might be second only to The Godfather. Its super fast paced and I didn't follow the story as closely as I might have with eating, drinking and smoking through...but expect it stands up to multiple viewings anyway.

The only other Hungarian film I've seen of the top of my head is The Werkmeister Harmonies which I loved and been planning to rewatch for ages.

Any other recommendations?

The other Emir Kusturica I’ve seen is Underground. It was years ago though. Something to do with the Yugoslav partisans had quite a few laughs in it. Seem to remember it took an age to watch but could be wrong.

 

[butchersapron]

Depends if you watch the 8 hour version or not... Even the shorter ones start at 4 plus I think.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I watched a dark scifi drama called Enemy Mine (1985)....didn't much care for it but it had some good points

It's a future war update of the WW2-set Lee Marvin-Toshiro Mifune two-hander Hell In The Pacific

 

[DaveCinzano]

I appear to be wrong and it's not Hungarian but Serbian.

If you were in the market for a Hungarian movie, may I suggest Két Félidő A Pokolban?

It is a based-on-real-events 1962 war (well, POW) movie that in turn inspired Escape To Victory.

Escape To Victory – The Original: ‘Here’s Magyar Eye’

‘Két Félidő A Pokolban’, a.k.a. ‘The Last Goal’, a.k.a. ‘Two Half Times In Hell’, is a 1961 (or 1962, if you trust the running dog Western websites) Hungarian fi…

bristle.wordpress.com

 

[DaveCinzano]

I appear to be wrong and it's not Hungarian but Serbian.

But if you wanted Serbian/Yugo reccos, then you might like to try Bure Baruta AKA Cabaret Balkan, which has an Altmanish vibe to it.

Cabaret Balkan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Orang Utan]

Taxidermia is the only Hungarian film I've seen and it's weird as fuck but in a good way

 

[krtek a houby]

Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee takes on the Vietnam experience for black veterans in search of a lost comrade. Rage, race, regret and a treasure hunt. Lindo and Peters head a great cast.

 

[platinumsage]

Leave No Trace - kinda reminded me of Lean on Pete

 

[not-bono-ever]

Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee takes on the Vietnam experience for black veterans in search of a lost comrade. Rage, race, regret and a treasure hunt. Lindo and Peters head a great cast.

i thought it was all over the place and about half an hour too long

 

[krtek a houby]

i thought it was all over the place and about half an hour too long

Not as tight as Black Klansman, but thought it conveyed that sheer madness of conflict and the legacy of.

 

[Part 2]

Why Don't You Just Die!, the Russian black comedy which OU mentioned and which is a lot of fun if you can handle the violence.

Watched this tonight. Great fun and the colours reminded me of beanpole with all the red and green going on. Definitely one I'll be recommending.

 

[RTWL]

Jodorowsky's Dune

2013 documentary about an adaptation that never was. The controversial director's vision would have been interesting, for sure, but possibly too far out for mainstream audiences.

What a film it would have been .... Holy mountain and El Topo where amaaaaazing but this ... with Dali as the emperor and totally luminaires involved all round would have been transcendent .

 

[Part 2]

After Hours....reminded by The39thStep mentioning it, I'd been meaning to rewatch for years. I'd only seen it by accident maybe 30 years ago. A Scorcese film that rarely gets mentioned it's unlike any of his others.

Loved it. Very funny, great lead performance by Griffin Dunne, recognisable as Jack from An American Werewolf in London.

 

[T & P]

I finally got to see Parasite. It is certainly very good, though perhaps not as incredibly brilliant as a few of the critics had painted it as.

But a 7.5/10 at the least for me, and most definitely worth a watch. Any film nowadays that still boasts an unconventional, original story and keeps you guessing as to the direction it’s going to take next deserves praise and a viewing AFAIAC.

 

[T & P]

I’ve also discovered and started watching Get Shorty (the TV series). On Now TV & Sky. Four episodes in and good enough without being great. Will continue watching.

I’ll say something else for it as well. Even though I was initially put off a bit when I saw two of the main characters were played by actors that irritate me deeply and I did not previously rate much, namely Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano, they’re both very good in this. The former in particular.