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

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.
Oh, I was looking forward to this. Where did you see it?

The Commune - Thomas Vinterberg (Dogme) film set in 70s Danemark, a married couple (with kid) decide to start a commune. Shortly after the husband begins an affair with a student of his and things become problematic. Lighter than some of Vinterberg's stuff it is not totally successfully but is entertaining enough, stand out is the performance by Trine Dryholm (who was also excellent in Queen of Hearts)

Meek's Cutoff - Kelly Reichardt is one of those artists who's work I respect but which I never really click with, and this film continues that trend. I admire the work of all involved but it just left me a bit cold, and while I appreciate it is meant to be austere there needs to be some sort of emotional response.
 
Oh, I was looking forward to this. Where did you see it?

The Commune - Thomas Vinterberg (Dogme) film set in 70s Danemark, a married couple (with kid) decide to start a commune. Shortly after the husband begins an affair with a student of his and things become problematic. Lighter than some of Vinterberg's stuff it is not totally successfully but is entertaining enough, stand out is the performance by Trine Dryholm (who was also excellent in Queen of Hearts)

Meek's Cutoff - Kelly Reichardt is one of those artists who's work I respect but which I never really click with, and this film continues that trend. I admire the work of all involved but it just left me a bit cold, and while I appreciate it is meant to be austere there needs to be some sort of emotional response.

You are not the only one, I can't get into Kelly Reichardt's films. I never find them very involving and I'm not sure I can be bothered to check out First Cow, her new one.

Got Vinterberg's new one, Another Round, lined up as I'm working my way through the acclaimed films of 2020.

Speaking of which, I watched Sound of Metal last night, about a heavy metal drummer who suddenly looses his hearing and has to readjust his life to being deaf. Very good, Riz Ahmed isn't the first actor you'd think of for the role (and he wasn't the first choice) but he is great and the sound design is excellent. Most of the supporting cast are deaf actors. I have questions about the end.
 
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Soldier (1998)
Kurt Russel and Sean Pertwee star in this classic slice of ninties sci fi. Jason Scott Lee is the muscle baddie, Gary Busey puts in fine work as the likeable, decent at heart baddie next to real villain, an officer. They do not make them like this anymore. Also Kurts character Todd was at the Tanhauser Gate battle thus confirming its sort of in the bladerunner universe
 
Never Rarely Sometimes Always...a pregnant teenager and her cousin travel to New York for an abortion. Not the cheeriest of films but incredibly well done. Great performances and it's as much about the everyday sexism experienced by the two girls as the abortion issue.
 
Oh, I was looking forward to this. Where did you see it?
via the bay of pirates

Meek's Cutoff
- Kelly Reichardt is one of those artists who's work I respect but which I never really click with, and this film continues that trend. I admire the work of all involved but it just left me a bit cold, and while I appreciate it is meant to be austere there needs to be some sort of emotional response.
Meek's Cutoff is her best, imo, mostly for the way it is shot. She does excellent landscape and her characters are intriguing, if not entirely 'satisfying' (for want of a better word). I've got First Cow to watch, but it wont play on my telly, annoyingly, even tho it is in the same format and from the same source The Kid Detective. I'll get round to it eventually.
 
Clemency. A warden overseeing death row starts to feel the impact of her job. Another end of year list film that looked promising but after a very intense scene at the beginning where an execution doesn't go to plan it just wasn't very good. Characters I couldn't believe in coupled with some terrible acting and a story I should've carried about but didn't. Proper rubbish. šŸ˜•
 
I don't know how the numbers are working out but if you are given the option which do you choose?

1. Continue with 2nd dose at 3-4wks. 50,000 deaths in Q1
2. Modify 2nd dose regime which is low risk but will add some confusion to the general public. 30,000 deaths in Q1

I'd go with option 2. If it saves a lot of lives it's worth it imho.
 
I don't know how the numbers are working out but if you are given the option which do you choose?

1. Continue with 2nd dose at 3-4wks. 50,000 deaths in Q1
2. Modify 2nd dose regime which is low risk but will add some confusion to the general public. 30,000 deaths in Q1

I'd go with option 2. If it saves a lot of lives it's worth it imho.
I dunno, but it sounds well boring for a video
 
A couple of night ago, I watched Adoration which is a 2019 Belgian young lovers on the run film. It explores themes of mental illness and abuse and it will shock without warning. Shaky, intimate camera work and an incredible, intense/paranoid performance from Fantine Harduin make this film something very special. It's on BFI player.
 
Hamilton

It's pretty good. A nicely done filming that captures a most of the staging and properly cinematic moments. The women could have been given somewhat stronger roles, they're a bit sidelined, but otherwise an excellent piece of historical entertainment.
 
3 eps into The Queen's Gambit. Stunning, sad, dark humour and an excellent performance from the 2 actors playing Beth.

No clue about chess, but still the makers manage to make it exciting and trippy, in parts.
 
Manhunt: Deadly Games. Second series after Manhunt: Unabomber, one of the best recent crime drama series imo.

Started it last night and already 5 episodes in. It's exciellent....about the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics and following investigation. Interesting to see a series focused on US domestic terrorism and inability of agencies to work together. Holding off in doing any reading about the case until I've finished it.
 
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The Assistant. "A searing look at a day in the life of an assistant to a powerful executive" - absolutely loved this, and it does make you think of only one man at the centre of it all.

First Cow - "A skilled cook has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two collaborate on a successful business". A lovely slow moving thoughtful and interesting film.
 
Festen - First film shot in the Dogme95 manifesto, made by Thomas Vinterberg. Despite the plot (child abuse) being far, far more common now than when this was made the film still hits.

The Kid Detective - as belboid said an enjoyable 90 minutes but the film does not really get the (shift in) tones correct. It veers between darkly comic and tragic but in a manner that undermines both.
 
Festen - First film shot in the Dogme95 manifesto, made by Thomas Vinterberg. Despite the plot (child abuse) being far, far more common now than when this was made the film still hits.
I went through a bit of an obsession with Dogme films years ago, and loved this one. Loved most of them tbh.
 
Bad times at El Royal - never watched this as Iā€™d seen a lot of bad /medium reviews however no worse than Tarantinosā€™s Hatefull 8 tbh . Interesting plot reaches a dead end with the arrival of the bad guy and inevitable stand off. A little more black humour , fleshing the roles out and more interplay between the characters plus a a few more twists would have made this but overall a good yarn and enjoyable .
 
The Long Goodbye 1973 directed by Robert Altman.

Never seen this before watched it few nights ago.

I really enjoyed this film. He transposes the story to his present day. Hippy trippy US.

The Marlowe character ( an excellant Gould) is out of place. Spends the film in his crumpled suit and tie. A lot of humour in the film but its also very violent. There is an undertow of potential violence thorughout the film. Marlowe - " the born loser" goes through the film being knocked about, played and its not until the very end that he finds the truth.

Some great set pieces. The beginning with him trying to feed his cat is hilarious. But today I thought the cat is like the characters in the film. Taking him a merry. dance. Taking advantage of good natured Marlowe. He ends up with nothing.

The pyscho gangster/ alcoholic writer, charismatic controlling pyschiatrist and his hippy trippy yoga loving neighbours all start to become appaling by end of the film. Reviews say its a critique of the liberated sixties/ early seventies. Its in the end harsh look at people who are bound up with themselves. Not really interested beyond themselves. The one time he asks for something- asking his neighbours to feed his cat he is ignored.

Its an old film but comes across as fresh. The way its filmed and shot does not look dated. Even if fashions etc have changed.

So I would recommend looking this film up.


 
Liberte (2019) by Albert Serra


Spanish film maker. First of his films Ive seen. He is in the arthouse category from seeing this film.

Plot is fairly simple. A group of decadent French aristocrats spend a nght "dogging" in a forest.

Reminded of Marquis de Sade. Also Pasolini Salo. But in this film the sex is consensual. Women are also active in the sexual scenarios.

Its wonderfully shot. Some bits look like a painting. I like films that do that. It takes place over one night in a forest. As the night deepens so it becomes more dreamlike and surreal. What is rather fascinating is how the different characters watch and comment. Voyeurism plays a large part in the film. The characters also engage in lengthy discussions of sexually depraved scenerios. Which are rather riveting considering its turns out to be just talk. But then sex is in the head. Its socially constructed. They are sort of making a mockery of that by producing their own little world of sex in the dark of the forest.

I don't think the film was a critique of aristcrats. It was rather a group of people attempting to go beyond everyday life. It becomes surreal as they are playing with desires that are kept deep down in the normal world.

Its not all grim. Not grim at all. Some dark humor cuts through this film.
 
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The Long Goodbye 1973 directed by Robert Altman.

Never seen this before watched it few nights ago.

I really enjoyed this film. He transposes the story to his present day. Hippy trippy US.

The Marlowe character ( an excellant Gould) is out of place. Spends the film in his crumpled suit and tie. A lot of humour in the film but its also very violent. There is an undertow of potential violence thorughout the film. Marlowe - " the born loser" goes through the film being knocked about, played and its not until the very end that he finds the truth.

Some great set pieces. The beginning with him trying to feed his cat is hilarious. But today I thought the cat is like the characters in the film. Taking him a merry. dance. Taking advantage of good natured Marlowe. He ends up with nothing.

The pyscho gangster/ alcoholic writer, charismatic controlling pyschiatrist and his hippy trippy yoga loving neighbours all start to become appaling by end of the film. Reviews say its a critique of the liberated sixties/ early seventies. Its in the end harsh look at people who are bound up with themselves. Not really interested beyond themselves. The one time he asks for something- asking his neighbours to feed his cat he is ignored.

Its an old film but comes across as fresh. The way its filmed and shot does not look dated. Even if fashions etc have changed.

So I would recommend looking this film up.


I hated it the first time I saw it - it wasn't Bogey! Didn't get a chance to rewatch for many years, but when I finally did, it was a real 'ohhh, yeah, okay, i get it now' moment
 
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