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

[Reno]

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the 1967 film of the hit 1961 Broadway musical. I'd never watched this before and the film is now relatively obscure as it was a flop at the time, but it was great fun even if it runs out of steam towards the end.

It's a corporate satire about a window cleaner who one day steps into a NYC office building he is working on and then manipulates his way from the mail room to the top of the company. This is broad and cartoonish but in a way that works, with very precise performances (much of the cast were in the stage show) and the art direction is an eye popping Technicolor version of 60s modernism.

This must have been a huge influence on both the Coen's The Hudsucker Proxy (my favourite film of theirs) and on Mad Men (my favourite tv series). The Hudsucker Proxy has a similar plot about how a nobody makes his way to the top of the corporate ladder and the physical comedy is very similar. Robert Morse, the lead of this film, later played a senior partner on Mad Men, which can't be an accident.

 

[Part 2]

Surge - Mentioned in the Netflix thread. An airport security officer descends into a psychotic episode. As intense as Uncut Gems. Ben Whishaw gives a great performance and the camerawork is really disorientating.

County Lines - follows a 14 year old kid drawn into exploitation as a drugs courier. It felt a bit rushed in terms of how the kid was groomed but otherwise felt realistic enough. The kid in the lead role was good and as a film to highlight the issue it works.

Spoiler

If I had one criticism of it it would be the 'happy ending' that most kids who get involved in CL don't get.

 

[Reno]

I watched this Kiwi thriller last night, only knowing that it got good reviews at various film festivals. It's about a psychopath and his side kick who abduct and then torment a family who were out on a day trip. It is very well directed and acted and it is the most tense and harrowing thriller/horror film I've seen in a while. I'll recommend it with reservations, this is for you if you thought Funny Games was too upbeat and light hearted.

 

[Sue]

I watched this Kiwi thriller last night, only knowing that it got good reviews at various film festivals. It's about a psychopath and his side kick who abduct and then torment a family who were out on a day trip. It is very well directed and acted and it is the most tense and harrowing thriller/horror film I've seen in a while. I'll recommend it with reservations, this is for you if you thought Funny Games was too upbeat and light hearted.

View attachment 293998

I might give that a miss, despite its merits...

 

[DaveCinzano]

this is for you if you thought Funny Games was too upbeat and light hearted.

View attachment 293998

...And there's the quote for the poster

 

[May Kasahara]

Last Night. Been meaning to watch it for ages, and a quiet moment presented itself.

 

[T & P]

50 States of Fright. A new anthology horror series that feature a tale inspired by local folklore from each of the fifty States.

Very watchable. The stories so far have been decent enough (and far better than the recent Creepshow and American Horror Stories anthologies), and the format also makes it very easy to watch, if an unusual one. Each tale has a total running time of around 20-25 minutes, and it’s split into three episodes. So each short instalment leaves you wanting to check the next one. It’s on Roku.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Malcolm X (1992) - almost three-and-a-half hours long, but somehow never seems to drag. Great performances (apart from Spike, who needs to stop casting himself in his movies).

 

[LeytonCatLady]

"Thanks for the Memory" and "Stasis Leak" from Red Dwarf, second series. In TFTM, Rimmer drunkenly confides in Lister that he regrets being so career obsessed and letting his love life fall by the wayside - so Lister gives him eight months of his memory!

SL, self explanatory, they find a stasis leak which enables them to go back into the past. The plan is to warn their crewmates of the radiation leak that wiped everyone out, but as with most sitcom plots, it doesn't quite go to plan.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

"Thanks for the Memory" and "Stasis Leak" from Red Dwarf, second series. In TFTM, Rimmer drunkenly confides in Lister that he regrets being so career obsessed and letting his love life fall by the wayside - so Lister gives him eight months of his memory!

SL, self explanatory, they find a stasis leak which enables them to go back into the past. The plan is to warn their crewmates of the radiation leak that wiped everyone out, but as with most sitcom plots, it doesn't quite go to plan.

I fondly remembered those episodes, so went to rewatch them only to discover that Netflix removed all of Red Dwarf back in June.

 

[LeytonCatLady]

I fondly remembered those episodes, so went to rewatch them only to discover that Netflix removed all of Red Dwarf back in June.

What?! That's criminal. I'm so glad I kept all my DVDs.

 

[The39thStep]

No Sudden Move . Steven Soderberghs recent period crime heist set in the States in the 1950s is superbly well acted , well written and well casted. It’s key is the understated but calculated ambition of some small time thieves/ gangsters who come across an opportunity in a wider web of larger players. The middle bit gets a little complex and sprawling in a number of different sub plots and excursions but the ending or series of endings round this film off well and sets crime in a bigger context .
Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

 

[rubbershoes]

Last Night. Been meaning to watch it for ages, and a quiet moment presented itself.

Which one? The Kiera Knightley 2010 romance or the 1998 end of the world black comedy?

 

[May Kasahara]

Which one? The Kiera Knightley 2010 romance or the 1998 end of the world black comedy?

The latter. It was good, although inevitably amplified my own apocalypse feelings.

 

[hash tag]

Been watching some Dutch crime thing with my Dad called The Blood Pact on All4 - quite good. Subtitles naturally and Dutch is a funny language to listen to.

Have just launched straight into series 2 on all 4 having completed series 1 last night cheers Elpenor

 

[Elpenor]

Have just launched straight into series 2 on all 4 having completed series 1 last night cheers Elpenor

Glad you’re enjoying it

 

[hash tag]

We have just discovered Wout. What a charmer, not to mention estate agent.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The Towering Inferno.

 

[Idris2002]

The Towering Inferno.

It's so long since I saw it, I'd forgotten that Steve McQueen was in it.

 

[LeytonCatLady]

It's so long since I saw it, I'd forgotten that Steve McQueen was in it.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

The latter. It was good, although inevitably amplified my own apocalypse feelings.

Is that the one about cab drivers, with Winona Ryder and that excellent Austrian (or maybe German) actor whose name I can never remember but played the father in Shine?

I watched Oscar winner Spotlight (2015) tonight. Lots of serious men having serious conversations and looking serious in a newsroom that apparently only employs one woman. It was well done, and Liev Schreiber was surprisingly good, even though I think The Big Short should have probably won Best Picture that year.

 

[May Kasahara]

Is that the one about cab drivers, with Winona Ryder and that excellent Austrian (or maybe German) actor whose name I can never remember but played the father in Shine?

No, that's Night On Earth. Which I also haven't yet seen.

 

[Elpenor]

We have just discovered Wout. What a charmer, not to mention estate agent.

He is particularly vile. Marius is my one of my favourite characters across any show.

 

[hash tag]

He is particularly vile. Marius is my one of my favourite characters across any show.

We have now done part 4, series 2. Missing the first girlfriend, not keen on the new one. An interesting twist developing which sees Kitty getting in to trouble as well this time.

 

[Elpenor]

We have now done part 4, series 2. Missing the first girlfriend, not keen on the new one. An interesting twist developing which sees Kitty getting in to trouble as well this time.

I wasn’t a fan of the new girlfriend, but I think her character is meant to be a bit cold.

 

[T & P]

Untitled Horror Movie. Paranormal horror-comedy-ish using a similar format to Host (shit happens while the main characters talk on a Zoom call). Wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. Watchable but nowhere near as good as Host.

 

[T & P]

Most Dangerous Game. Series starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz about a desperate man agreeing to take part in a deadly game for money. For what it’s worth it came out last year so no Squid Game copycat,

Haven’t finished it yet but so far quite watchable. The one annoying thing is the episode format. Each one is just about ten minutes long, and whereas it certainly helps keeping you hooked, this thing is only 15 episodes long- so they’ve basically made a film and packaged it as a series.

Seems pointless. Second time I see Roku doing the format.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Most Dangerous Game. Series starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz about a desperate man agreeing to take part in a deadly game for money. For what it’s worth it came out last year so no Squid Game copycat,

Haven’t finished it yet but so far quite watchable. The one annoying thing is the episode format. Each one is just about ten minutes long, and whereas it certainly helps keeping you hooked, this thing is only 15 episodes long- so they’ve basically made a film and packaged it as a series.

Seems pointless. Second time I see Roku doing the format.

Caïd AKA Dealer on Netflix did similar, but the conceit of that kind of worked well.

 

[Chz]

For what it’s worth it came out last year so no Squid Game copycat,

The story came out in 1924, so I think they're safe there.

 

[T & P]

As far as funny, clever, well written incisive comedy goes, Immoral Compass is just fucking brilliant. It’s only been out for five days but every single review so far is not just positive 5/5 in most cases. On Roku and a very strong recommendation from me.

Written by stand-up comedian & actor Bill Burr, whom some of you might recognise as the former Imperial soldier from The Mandalorian who appears in the spaceship prison episode in S1 and then gets recruited for a mission at the end of S2.

Anyway, Ten very short ludicrously easy-to-watch episodes and if you can find it you’d be mad not to give it a try.