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

[redsquirrel]

Watching this also reminded me that romantic comedies up to the 60s were a perfectly fine genre, while most romantic comedies from the 80s onwards make me run for the hills.

Absolutely. There was a documentary on MUBI about romantic comedies that touched on this, though overall too much focus on the modern stuff and not enough on the classics.

Never heard of Indiscreet but I'm going to have to check it out.


Shoot Out - Pretty weak Henry Hathaway western with Gregory Peck as a former bank robber who ends up having to take care of (and incredibly annoying) child. Not one of Peck's or Hathaway's best.

 

[DaveCinzano]

The Looking Glass War

1970, from the Le Carre novel. Anthony Hopkins is the young MI6 agent training an even younger Christopher Jones for infiltration into the GDR. Everything goes horribly wrong. The themes are the late sixties generation gap, and the inability of the UK to get over the Second World War. The ancient and decrepit handlers of the section are hoping to refloat their careers by reenacting the glory days of that conflict: which means that Hopkins and his kid soon get a lesson in betrayal.

I think Le Carré sums it up best in his introduction to a later reprint of the book, which is not about MI6 (‘the Circus’), but about a smaller, rival, barely-still existing SOE-rooted intelligence-gathering organisation (‘the Department’) “that is really not very good at all; that is eking out its wartime glory; that is feeding itself on Little England fantasies; is isolated, directionless, overprotected and destined ultimately to destroy itself.”

He goes on:

 

[Sue]

She's found out that he's deceived her about something just before and is considering whether to dump him.

Watching this also reminded me that romantic comedies up to the 60s were a perfectly fine genre, while most romantic comedies from the 80s onwards make me run for the hills.

Hah. Though presumably hasn't treated her as badly as in Notorious. (I haven't seen Indiscreet -- really should.)

See also screwball comedies which I love and modernish rom coms which I do not.

 

[Sue]

I think Le Carré sums it up best in his introduction to a later reprint of the book, which is not about MI6 (‘the Circus’), but about a smaller, rival, barely-still existing SOE-rooted intelligence-gathering organisation (‘the Department’) “that is really not very good at all; that is eking out its wartime glory; that is feeding itself on Little England fantasies; is isolated, directionless, overprotected and destined ultimately to destroy itself.”

He goes on:

View attachment 227771
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I've actually read the book (not quite sure why as it's not my usual kind of thing) and it's clear they're deluded and trying to (very badly) emulate past glories. I found it quite sad.

 

[Orang Utan]

Emma full stop
Loved this, though not sure why they needed the full stop. It's annoying. Period.
Some great performances there - Anna Taylor-Joy and Bill Nighy are particularly great, but I also enjoyed Josh O'Connor and Tanya Reynolds as a couple of horrids and Miranda Hart as poor Miss Bates. Great music too. 5 jaunty bonnets out of 5

 

[DaveCinzano]

I've actually read the book (not quite sure why as it's not my usual kind of thing) and it's clear they're deluded and trying to (very badly) emulate past glories. I found it quite sad.

Yes, I quite agree. An absolute shower of holding-onto-the-past fuckwits, who condemn Leiser to a horrendous fate before he so much as steps across the border, all in pursuit of prestige as currency.

 

[Idris2002]

And fifty years on the ideological children of those deluded defectives are running the show, and the discourse in UK has gone backwards.

 

[T & P]

Prodigal Son, newish HBO crime drama that has finally made it to the UK. Main premise is a physiologically fucked up man who gets hired as a police consultant for certain cases due to him being the son of an infamous serial killer (played by Michael Sheen) and having a certain insight into the minds of other psycho killers. And also having to ask his serial killer father, who is serving a life sentence in an asylum, for help.

I was surprised to see a lukewarm critics reception so far. I’ve watched the first four episodes and thought it is very good indeed.

More so as I rarely give police/ crime dramas the time of day, simply because it is by far the most overdone genre in TV history. But the premise is interesting if not original, and I love Michael Sheen as a Hannibal Lecter-ish serial killer recurring character.

I suspect that could be why the critics are unimpressed, because they feel his character is too much of a Silence of the Lambs rip-off. And in some ways it does feel that way. But Sheen makes the character far creepier, in a creepy uncle way, than Lecter was. And the story arch clearly has some shockers in stock regarding family secrets. At the least I found it more gripping and better paced that countless other police dramas out there.

 

[Reno]

Peninsular, the sequel to Train to Busan. Unfortunately not nearly as good, just another post-apocalyptic zombie film. Not the worst film of its kind but by opening the film out in favour of an Escape from New York/Mad Max scenario, it loses the appeal of the original, which worked so well because it was mostly contained to its train setting. The characters are far less memorable. There are too many of them who we never get to know well enough to care about. This goes for a more epic feel and the budget is obviously larger, but still not large enough. The last act features Mad Max style car chases which don't really work because they are so obviously CGI. One aspect carried over is the mawkish spectacle of small children crying over a dead relative. While that was earned in the original, because it concerned our lead characters, here it involves characters who barely featured until then and it just feels gratuitous. The zombies feel more like an afterthought here and rarely pose any real thread.

 

[krtek a houby]

Struggling through season 2

 

[Reno]

Struggling through season 2

...of ?

 

[krtek a houby]

...of ?

Oops. Altered Carbon. It's cartoonish.

 

[T & P]

I Hate Suzie. A new bitter comedy-drama series starring (and co-written by) Billie Piper. She’s fucking great in it, and we’re really enjoying this so far. If you have Now TV or Sky Atlantic I thoroughly recommend you check it out.

Don’t just take my word for it, plenty of glowing reviews out there

'I Hate Suzie' review: Billie Piper is back on the box in one of 2020's best new series

Former teen pop star turned sci-fi actor Billie Piper is back on TV as... a former-teen pop star turned sci-fi actor

www.google.com

 

[Reno]

Waves, which I thought was great. I've been on the fence about Trey Shults as a filmmaker. I really liked his first film, the ultra-low budget Krisha about the middle aged family fuck-up returning home but then I wasn't very keen on his second film, It Comes at Night because......nothing came at night !!! .

While not entirely flawless Waves is a beautiful piece of filmmaking and it's on a different level entirely from his earlier films. Not going to say anything about the plot apart from that structurally this pulls off an interesting switch which reveals whose story this really is quite late on, which works incredibly well. Now I'm excited about whatever Shults will do next.

 

[Reno]

Lean On Pete, which is a film I've been meaning to watch for ages because I love almost everything Andrew Haigh has done (only his first film Greek Pete is a dud).

This was one of those cases of movie-synchronicity, where two films with very similar subject matter came out at the same time. The other film was The Rider by Chloé Zhao, which got more attention, possibly because the hook was that it was a real story where the people who had experienced it, all played themselves. I preferred Lean on Pete though, which I found more involving and by the end, tremendously moving.

After Waves this is the second film in a row I've watched about boys who are failed by their father and the importance of kindness. Both had me in tears.

 

[T & P]

Kill Ben Lyk. A 2018 British comedy crime thriller. It was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be, and a rather watchable light entertainment film of a weekend afternoon. I checked the reviews afterwards and was surprised how well it fares in Rotten Tomatoes.

kill ben lyk - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[redsquirrel]

Lean On Pete, which is a film I've been meaning to watch for ages because I love almost everything Andrew Haigh has done (only his first film Greek Pete is a dud).

Not seen this yet but Willy Vlautin is pretty great.

Witchfinder General - Great. One of the things that struck me most about this is what a truly visually beautiful film it is, the shots of the countryside full of colour and atmosphere. I kind of had an idea of what it was going to do thematically but the visuals are great, and done on a small budget. Price keeps the camp in check enough that it works, and Ogilvy gives some nuance to what could be a pretty flat role, Hilary Dwyer's part is underwritten though. The soundtrack is great, obvious influence/inspiration to whole load of people.

 

[T & P]

It’s been mentioned in this thread before, but as it has just arrived to Sky Movies, I make no excuses for plugging Ready or Not again. Ridiculously entertaining comedy-horror and perfect Saturday evening entertainment

 

[redsquirrel]

The Principles of Lust - One of those films that wanted try to and capture the energy of Trainspotting, but was just pretty shit and embarrassing. Bloke has to choose between 'regular' life with his girlfriend and her kid and the excitement offered by his 'uninhibited' mate, played by Marc Warren. This is directed by Penny Woolcock, who did the great Tina films, but she cannot rescue this mess.

Stories We Tell - Sarah Polley's great documentary about her family and memory. I loved this when I saw it at the cinema when it was released and coming back to it for a second viewing I'm pleased it stands up. Polley is a real talent as both an actor and a director and it's a huge shame that she has not done more since this.

Live Flesh - The first Almodovar film I saw and, while probably not quite in the 1st tier of his work, still a personal favourite of mine. It's from the beginning of that period that marked a change in tone in his work. Bardem is good and Francesca Neri gives a good performance in a great role. Still love it.

 

[Reno]

I got my Blu-ray of The Woman in Black yesterday, the hard-to-get-hold-of ITV movie, not the crappy 2012 remake with Harry Potter. It still holds up, "that moment" still is pant-wetting and it is one of the best ghost stories ever committed to film.

Nigel Kneale's screenplay improves on the Susan Hill novel, which I found disappointing when I read it soon after catching this on TV in 1989. He adds his ongoing preoccupation with hauntings as recordings of traumatic events to great effect, the looping sound of the horse and carriage accident still is chilling. The sparseness and naturalism of the art direction ends up being far more sinister than the gothic overkill of the remake. Here the supernatural disrupts the real world, while the remake seems to take place in a haunted house theme park attraction. The sentimental ending of the remake was another serious misstep, when compared to the shockingly bleak ending here.

The Blu-ray, taken from the original 16mm, film looks glorious. Till now this was only available as a VHS quality youtube version and a long out of print Canadian DVD which didn't look much better.

 

[flypanam]

Kids by Larry Clark - remains a grim movie even after 15 years since I’d first seen it. Great OST.

 

[redsquirrel]

A Fine Pair - Italian comedy with Ruck Hudson and Claudia Cardinale trying to fool each other, he's a cop she's a thief. Premise is fine but the jokes just aren't funny enough which no amount of Cardinale legs can make up for. I wasn't expecting greatness but this is disappointing.

Howards End - I know that a lot of the cliches about Merchant-Ivory adaptations are semi-fair but a lot of the films, including this one, were very good. Thompson and Bonham Carter are good and Hopkins, not an actor I'm especially fond of, is better than he can sometimes be.

 

[danski]

Angel Heart.

 

[Reno]

Angel Heart.

Not sure what to do with that information.

 

[Sue]

Rescue Dawn, Werner Herzog's take on a true life story of a US Naval pilot shot down in Laos just prior to the Vietnam War and his capture/escape from Laotian/Viet Cong forces.

I'm not a huge Herzog fan but he generally has an unusual/interesting take on things. This felt very conventional by contrast (with a schmaltzy ending to boot) and while it was okay for what it was, a bit disappointing overall.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Rescue Dawn, Werner Herzog's take on a true life story of a US Naval pilot shot down in Laos just prior to the Vietnam War and his capture/escape from Laotian/Viet Cong forces.

I'm not a huge Herzog fan but he generally has an unusual/interesting take on things. This felt very conventional by contrast (with a schmaltzy ending to boot) and while it was okay for what it was, a bit disappointing overall.

Plus Bale Does An Accent

 

[danski]

Not sure what to do with that information.

Assume it was the dvd/video I watched last night.

 

[Sue]

Plus Bale Does An Accent

And Acting.

 

[DaveCinzano]

And Acting.

 

[redsquirrel]

I'm not a huge Herzog fan but he generally has an unusual/interesting take on things. This felt very conventional by contrast (with a schmaltzy ending to boot) and while it was okay for what it was, a bit disappointing overall.

And Acting.

Capital A acting?
Hmm, I was mulling over whether to bother with this or not, and you're not inclining me to it Sue. Might re-watch another Almodovar instead.