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

[redsquirrel]

The Other Side of Hope - latest Aki Kaurismäki film, really really good. It's very much in Kaurismäki's usual style. Funny, moving, looks great with some top visual gags.

Wild Honey Pie! - the worst sort of indie film, cliche, try hard crap, that is painfully unfunny, lacking any sort of rounded characters. Avoid.

 

[Part 2]

Lynn + Lucy - really interesting film, brilliantly acted and every scene is thought-provoking/insightful. Got the feeling that the big thing that happens in it (which you think is going to be the focus) isn't really what it's about. One of those films that you want to watch again after knowing where it goes.

Watched it tonight. Had no idea what it was about. Wow! A great debut for the director, reallyhard hitting and excellent performances from the 2 leads. I read Kermode's review afterwards and apparently it was inspired by a story of a mother who'd been in the same situation as Lucy. As you say it would definitely stand up to a rewatch.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Watched it tonight. Had no idea what it was about. Wow! A great debut for the director, reallyhard hitting and excellent performances from the 2 leads. I read Kermode's review afterwards and apparently it was inspired by a story of a mother who'd been in the same situation as Lucy. As you say it would definitely stand up to a rewatch.

Worth listening to his radio review - he talks more about the bigger themes and ideas in that.

Spoiler

I was a bit bothered about the girl lying. Did I miss the motivation, or are we to assume there was no real motivation?

This looks worth a watch.

 

[Jay Park]

Happy Gilmore - still holds up
Anchorman - doesn’t
Whip It - formulaic crap that I was inspired to watch after Hard Candy. Couldn’t finish it.
Ex Machina - s’alright

 

[Part 2]

Worth listening to his radio review - he talks more about the bigger themes and ideas in that.

Spoiler

I was a bit bothered about the girl lying. Did I miss the motivation, or are we to assume there was no real motivation?

This looks worth a watch.

Spoiler

Yea I thought the only reason she had to do that was the relationship with her parents and wanting some attention. Dad seemed to be on his laptop all the time and mum shouting at her to get her shit together for school or come downstairs. I'd also not thought of her as being so young until mum went into what was obvs a junior school.

The film did seem to play a few different angles and as you said I don't think it was really about the big event and the relationship between Lucy and Clark but more about Lynn being a young mum trying to find her way and make friends. I think that's how I would watch it second viewing because I was consumed more with Lucy's storyline.

 

[krtek a houby]

One Man's Hero - Tom Berenger stars in this old fashioned tale of the San Patricios, who left the brutal nativist American army and joined up with the Mexicans in the 1846-48 war. From 1999 but feels like an 80s mini series.

There's a fascinating story to be told about this almost forgotten chapter of American/Irish/Mexican history. Sadly, this isn't it.

 

[Part 2]

Still walking... another Kore Eda, another middle class Japanese family. The family have three children including one son who died rescuing a boy from drowning. The father, a doctor, had hoped one son would inherit his practice however he went for a career restoring paintings and married a widow with a son from a previous marriage. I found it involving perhaps because there were aspects of Japanese culture that I understood less although the old couple who nag at each other is clearly universally accepted.

 

[Part 2]

Also...Time. Seen this in a few end of year lists. A black woman fighting for the release of her partner from a 60 year jail sentence for armed robbery. It's only 81 minutes and super intense, all black and white, very captivating. I found it hard to get on side with someone who'd gone until a bank with a gun to save his families failing hip hop clothing store though.

Spoiler

American sentencing is fucking stupid but it's disclosed that he rejected a plea deal that would've had him out much earlier than the 20 years he ended up serving.

On the other hand she's an inspiring partner and mother to her kids. The family present as bright and positive. Shame about all the church going but interesting how the law is challenged by her in terms of her marriage vows because he belongs to her so the justice department shouldn't be able to take him away.

Anyway...a challenging documentary that's worth a watch.

 

[Reno]

The Twentieth Century, a retro-style pisstake of biopics about Canada's former PM Mackenzie King, this is an absolute riot. My only reservation is that it looks and feels exactly like a Guy Maddin film, who has been doing this sort of thing for over three decades and who should probably sue. I'm a huge fan of Maddin, but have to admit that this is better paced than his films, which often run on for 20 - 30 minutes too long. I know nothing about Mackenzie King and I don't know whether some of the satire went over my head but this is very funny, very weird and lovely to look at.

 

[May Kasahara]

Just watched Drop Dead Fred with the kids. I loved this film as a teen (enduring love of Rik Mayall, plus I could watch Phoebe Cates all day) and was delighted to find I enjoyed it just as much today as I did back then. Kids also enjoyed, win win.

 

[Part 2]

Kajillionaire. In an oddball family of scammers the daughter discovers a different way of life when a stranger joins them.on a job. It's a quirky film and I don't generally get on with quirky but it's very sweet.

It made me think of other films where a stranger comes along and changes people. It's an idea I like.

 

[Orang Utan]

Cocoon - excellent coming of age movie set in Berlin during a hot summer - very good at examining the fleeting but intense feelings one has as an adolescent.

 

[Jay Park]

Lynn + Lucy - really interesting film, brilliantly acted and every scene is thought-provoking/insightful. Got the feeling that the big thing that happens in it (which you think is going to be the focus) isn't really what it's about. One of those films that you want to watch again after knowing where it goes.

yeah watching it again, who is in the wrong?

I think with the story about the husband and the allusions toward the UK’s foreign military exploits and the tat rags that stir up hatred for people to indulge in.

 

[Reno]

Not sure what made me watch 84 Charing Cross Road. Never seen it, it was well liked in its day but it's like getting bludgeoned to death with a feather duster. Dire.

 

[Sue]

Not sure what made me watch 84 Charing Cross Road. Never seen it, it was well liked in its day but it's like getting bludgeoned to death with a feather duster. Dire.

Hah, I started off watching that a few years ago and gave up about half an hour in as I was really bored. Sounds like I made the right choice...

 

[not-bono-ever]

Bait

Fucking brilliant

 

[Chz]

Not sure what made me watch 84 Charing Cross Road. Never seen it, it was well liked in its day but it's like getting bludgeoned to death with a feather duster. Dire.

I remember watching it when it came out. Mostly because I don't think I've been that bored since. (Untrue: I have watched The Piano)

 

[D'wards]

Just watched Shoplifters.
What a fantastic wonderful film.
Best film I've seen all year

 

[Reno]

Never Rarely Sometimes Always about a teenage girl who has to travel to NYC to get an abortion, because she can't get one in Pennsylvania without her parent's consent. Sounds like a heavy issue drama but it never feels like it, this is all about the accumulation of details. If Ken Loach made films which were less didactic and more lyrical, that's what it would look like. Loved this.

 

[Part 2]

First 2 episodes of Patrick Melrose. I've almost finished the second book and although they're hard going, I didn't want them spoilt by the TV show.

Fucking hell it's brutal. I hadn't pictured it quite the same and I'm not a big fan of cumberbatch but Hugo Weaving as David Melrose is terrifying.

 

[DotCommunist]

I watched half of Kenneth Branagh's Hanry V- a story which I previously just knew a couple of quotes from cos they get everywhere- enjoyed, its a good war story so far. Will watch the rest tonight

 

[belboid]

Wonder Woman 1984

Bummer. We really enjoyed the first one, but the sequel tries to hit the same buttons but fails. Superhero movies are, by their very nature, a bit silly, but they make you ignore, or not even notice that, with wit or cracking action. WW84 fails on both scores. There wasn't a moment when I didn't think 'this is very silly.' Steve becomes an idiot, GG doesn't have enough action scenes (and isn't a very good actress). Kristen Wiig is good fun, but the conclusion just doesn't make sense. Hey ho.

 

[T & P]

The Dark (2018). A horror film that appears to be of supernatural origin about a man-killing monster in the woods, but ends up being something else, and more of a drama/ thriller than horror.

There are some dark themes in it, but also tenderness. I rather liked it.

 

[Gramsci]

La Noche

The Night (2016) - IMDb

Argentinian film that follows middle aged man as he goes around clubs and bars picking up partners for sex.

Not a happy man. Its not a didactic film - which I liked. Simply follows him around. You see what he watches.

Very graphic depictions of sex and drug taking. He moves in a night world of gay / transexual bars and clubs.

No one is that nasty in the film. There is a certain camaderie in the clubs. But no one is that happy. In the night world everyone accepts who they are. There is no judgement.

Its a long film and not fast paced. Takes one into a dark underworld. One point in the film they go out into the daylight and can't deal with it. The world they live in / have a different life in is the night.

No one says much. There is little conversation. What there is is stilted. It is though the characters are all slightly detached. Even when having sex.

The film gradually revolves around him and a transexual. Really liked the ending ofthe film.

I found it easy to watch. The lack of action and storyline might not be to everyones taste. But I preferred that. There is no back story of why the man is out every night getting wrecked and having casual sex.

Its on BFI player which Ive got now as cinemas are closed.

 

[belboid]

The Kid Detective

Imagine if the kid from Brick had grown up, still pretending to be a detective (with all his glory days behind him). Still trying to be sly and neo-noir, hitting a lot of the right buttons, but never quite managing to get the tone quite right. An enjoyable if hardly earth-shattering hour and a half.

 

[belboid]

Relic

Now that's more like it. An elderly woman complains of strangers being in her home, so her daughter and granddaughter go to check her out for a while. For the first hour, if it weren't for the soundtrack, this could almost be a Ken Loach film about trying to deal with dementia. There are external events and actions that do seem relevant and proper spooky, but its blates granny has alzheimer's. And then there is the last half hour, which brilliantly throws us into classic horror territory. Slow building right up until the point of release, which turns out not to be the climax at all (natch). Is granny mad or is there some terrible family secret that haunts them all? Only one way to find out...

 

[trabuquera]

The Liability (2012/2013) - droll, slightly underfunded Brit-crime-noir-black-comedy frippery with Jack McConnell uncannily convincing as a teenage moron wastrel getting in way over his head with a mysterious 'colleague' of his psychotic gangster stepdad. As the menacingly random colleague, Tim Roth is very Tim Roth, while Peter Mullan's extremely Peter Mullen, and the tone throughout is extremely Fargo-by-way-of-Sightseers-via-Tin-Star ... so it's not all that original, larded with smartarse Tarantino and crime-flick references, and all gets extremely silly in the last half hour. Still generally fun and not a waste of time.

 

[Elpenor]

Bonded by Blood. Passable but no Rise of the Footsoldier

 

[T & P]

Relic

Now that's more like it. An elderly woman complains of strangers being in her home, so her daughter and granddaughter go to check her out for a while. For the first hour, if it weren't for the soundtrack, this could almost be a Ken Loach film about trying to deal with dementia. There are external events and actions that do seem relevant and proper spooky, but its blates granny has alzheimer's. And then there is the last half hour, which brilliantly throws us into classic horror territory. Slow building right up until the point of release, which turns out not to be the climax at all (natch). Is granny mad or is there some terrible family secret that haunts them all? Only one way to find out...

Did you get what the core reason of it all was? We had to look it up- then everything made sense But rather enjoyed it, even when we still didn’t know what the meaning of it all was.

 

[belboid]

Did you get what the core reason of it all was? We had to look it up- then everything made sense But rather enjoyed it, even when we still didn’t know what the meaning of it all was.

umm, my initial thought was 'don't really know, don't really care, its a macguffin.' But chatting to mrsb about it it suddenly made sense and neatly played on what we might have expected from the set up.