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

[inva]

Finished up Rossellini's war trilogy with Paisà (1946) and Germany Year Zero (1948).

Broadening out the scope from Rome, Open City, Paisà tracks the progress of the campaign across Italy in a series of episodes each in a different location and with new characters focussing on the interactions and especially the miscommunications between Italian civilians and American soldiers. Often these kind of episodic films can end up a bit disjointed, in this case I thought it kept a strong cohesion and carried its themes well enough through each segment to maintain its narrative drive.

Germany Year Zero is the bleakest of the trilogy, a relentless punishing depiction of the human and material wreckage of a defeated Germany. I was surprised at how gruelling a watch this is, there's no sense of liberation. Despite being the last to me this felt the roughest production wise and was hampered by some pretty wooden performances but it still creates a powerful sense of desolation.

Although I still think Rome, Open City is the most effective out of the three films for its intensity and deftness, I got a lot out of these other two and overall it's a really impressive and unique trilogy.

 

[T & P]

Rewatched REC and REC2 last night. This will be no news to fans of horror movies, but what a fantastically brilliant horror film REC is. Truly superb.

REC2 is not nearly as great (I can’t honestly imagine how it would have been possible to equal let alone surpass the first, as the originality factor would have been largely lost), but it’s still vary decent and worthy sequel, and one that seamlessly follows from the original and delivers its own interesting twists.

As pure raw terror goes, the first one is undoubtedly imo in the top three greatest found footage films of all time.

 

[Part 2]

Watched Pistol yesterday. It's fine entertainment even if I haven't a clue what's true or not.

Just started We Own This City. Looks like a binge.

 

[platinumsage]

The Killing of a Sacred Deer - I wish I’d read beforehand that it was based on a Greek myth, because I didn’t know anything about it, even what genre it was, so spent the entire movie thinking what the fuck is this?

 

[Indeliblelink]

The Innocents [De uskyldige] (2021)
A group of kids living in a suburban housing estate develop psychic powers and start to experiment with their abilities. This a a great great psychological thriller from writer/director Eskil Vogt [he also co-wrote last year's The Worst Person In The World],

 

[Gramsci]

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (2019) - IMDb

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao: Directed by Karim Aïnouz. With Julia Stockler, Carol Duarte, Flávia Gusmão, António Fonseca. Kept apart by a terrible lie and a conservative society, two sisters born in Rio de Janeiro make their way through life each believing the other is living out her...

m.imdb.com

On Mubi. Tale of two sisters separated due to family rejecting one of them.

Touching film with feminist angle. Set in. 1950s Brazil. But could be about life for women in most industrialised countries at the time.

One sister is free spirit the other gifted in music. Society they live in thwarts and stunts their abilities.

The viewer interest is kept by the will they won't they ever meet again.

It's not as dour as it might sound. Plenty of life in this film.

It's also wonderfully shot. The 1950s look real in this film. A lot of it is told by the way scenes are set and way people look at each other

Thought this would have been good to see on big screen.

 

[T & P]

High Sociery. The 1956 romantic musical comedy with an all-star cast including Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. Still highly enjoyable.

 

[Chz]

A Man Called Ove
Rolf Lassgård as crochety old man dealing with loss who learns to live and love again. Yeah, it sounds like tripe but it's very well done and only slightly emotionally manipulative. I enjoyed it.

 

[skyscraper101]

Ambulance (2022) ⭐ 6.1 | Action, Crime, Drama

2h 16m | 15

www.imdb.com

Saw this last night. On paper it was bang up my alley. A heist/hostage drama where most of the action takes place in a police pursuit of a stolen ambulance set against the backdrop of modern day Los Angeles. A sort of Heat meets Speed - or so I thought. In reality it's just packed full of overused clichés and ridiculously unbelievable plot including pursuits down alleys, conveniently placed bins to crash into, police captains with attitude, explosions, helicopters, and a ridiculously underprepared heist crew - one of which was a sandal wearing stoner. Right.

Jake Gyllenhaal has delivered in the past with the excellent Nightcrawler but this was a total let down. I should've headed caution when I saw it was directed by Michael Bay.

 

[krtek a houby]

Constantine

Well, it's no Hellblazer. Best way to deal with it is to see Keanu's JC as a variant in the multiverse. Believe Sandman the series will be deviating somewhat from the original source material. Which is fine.

Keanu does a decent enough job, smoking like a chimney and despatching demons. It's passable but, like several other films around the time, could do without Shia Lebouf.

 

[DotCommunist]

Constantine

Well, it's no Hellblazer. Best way to deal with it is to see Keanu's JC as a variant in the multiverse. Believe Sandman the series will be deviating somewhat from the original source material. Which is fine.

Keanu does a decent enough job, smoking like a chimney and despatching demons. It's passable but, like several other films around the time, could do without Shia Lebouf.

A very good portrayal of satan in this, unusual.

 

[Orang Utan]

Old, M. Night Shyamalan’s last movie. It’s not great. Like with most of his other films, the premise maybe could have worked as a Twilight Zone episode but it is too weak for the scrutiny of a movie audience.
So all it deserves is lazy commonplace dad jokes
Shyamalan’s schtick is getting ‘Old’
I got ‘Old’ just from watching this
M Nighty Night Shyamalan
The Twilight Zzzzzzzone
1 heavily semaphored plot twists out of 5

 

[PricelessTrifle]

Old, M. Night Shyamalan’s last movie. It’s not great. Like with most of his other films, the premise maybe could have worked as a Twilight Zone episode but it is too weak for the scrutiny of a movie audience.
So all it deserves is lazy commonplace dad jokes
Shyamalan’s schtick is getting ‘Old’
I got ‘Old’ just from watching this
M Nighty Night Shyamalan
The Twilight Zzzzzzzone
1 heavily semaphored plot twists out of 5

I remember watching that, and just being overwhelmingly bored with it; then by the end it was just ridiculous, but not in a fun way, more of an obnoxiously stupid way. But, Ive never really been enamored with shymalan's films, any of them, i don't even care that much for his actual good (..film); but the sixth sense was passable, at least, the twist was an actual experience, it felt, and not just forced gibberish.

It did however have the good fortune of being watched between 'vivarium,' and 'mother!,' so it ('old') probably felt a little less like nonsensical horse shit than it should have. Which is really poor wording on my part, they were all nonsensical rubbish, but I was less frustrated with having forced myself to finish 'old' than I was the other two mentioned, those movies genuinely agitated me, I kept thinking 'wow, this must be building toward something truly awesome,' and then..they didn't, just more nonsense.

 

[PricelessTrifle]

'The northman' was a disappointment, which shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did considering I hated 'the witch' - I just loved the lighthouse so much id forgotten the witch existed, I guess.

And the new season of 'love, death and robots' seems good so far; my only gripe is a scene in one of the episodes where a woman is injected with morphine, and when it zooms into her pupils they dilate - which obvs is the opposite effect that an opioid injection would have - and then a bit later she's injected with amphetamine, and her pupils remain the same (large). A petty gripe to be had, surely, but I'd thought it was common knowledge that opis = miosis, amphs = mydriasis. I think I got those right, anyway, lol it's been years since I used those words now, but, constriction vs dilation. I just hate when so much work is clearly put into something, but then they couldn't put that little bit of extra research into something so (admittedly trivial) to please (loathsome pedants) like myself, really?

 

[platinumsage]

The Kill Team - a simple yet effective film showing a solider uncomfortable with crimes committed by his unit under the direction of their new psycho commander.

 

[Part 2]

The House that Jack Built...Von Trier film about a serial killer played by Matt Dillon. Some very funny moments but at times it plays like a second rate Man Bites Dog and after the first 90 minutes I was getting a bit bored. By the final 2 incidents I was fatigued by the whole thing before he tried to make out the Nazis were some kind of artistic project.

 

[Chz]

Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe
After 25 years, it's a fun enough return to the two idiots. I'm not sure they can sustain a shorter interval.
In many ways, inferior to Do America but there are a few outstanding gags that made it worth the <90 minutes spent. You'll know whether you want to see this or not irrespective of anything I can say about it. I had fun, and I'm happy to shelve B&B for another 25 years.
I'm not sure I dig the concept of Butthead scoring, even if it's an alternative universe, smartest Butthead of them all.

 

[Gramsci]

Pleasure (2021) ⭐ 6.3 | Drama

1h 49m | 18

www.imdb.com

Pleasure on Mubi

New film that has got release on MUBI.

Swedish woman goes to US to work in the Porn film industry.

The director started this as a short film. Then decided to make it as cinema release length movie.

To do this she went to US and took several years to research for the movie and find the actress to fill the main role.

The actress went to US to meet those who work in the Porn industry.

Looking up the film after seeing it and apart from the lead a lot of the people in the film are in the "industry"

The plot is the rise to the top of a newbie in the porn industry. From nervous starter to ruthless climber up the ladder to the top.

Its almost documentary style. Not judgemental. You make up your own mind.

To my view, after seeing this, the Porn industry is a capitalist industry. Where men are mainly in charge.Though not always. The BDSM scene is directed by a woman and is one where care of the performers takes first place. It's the one in the film where the lead says she enjoyed the experience.

In way plot is comparable to any industry where a woman tries to make it to the top.

So in a certain way the film is saying this industry has its upsides and downsides.

Downside is the pressure to do the "rough" stuff to get ahead.

The commodity is one's body as a sexual object. In order to get ahead despite want one might feel as new sexual experiences the thing is to be able to treat one's sexuality as an inpersonal commodity. As the main character finds out when she has reached the top.

So way I read it its not making porn is bad. Its making it in a society where one labour is alienated from oneself.

 

[inva]

The Beguiled
2017 dreamily southern gothic-ish suspense thriller directed by Sofia Coppola. Set in the southern US during the civil war, Colin Farrell's wounded Union deserter is taken in by the staff and students of a girls school in Confederate territory where his intrusive presence upends their insular world. I remember hearing mixed opinions about this one when it came out, but have to say I thought it was very good. Features a very strong cast - alongside Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning were all great, and likewise it has excellent sound design (one for creaky floorboard fans) and especially beautiful lighting and cinematography. Some of the shots are genuinely stunning.

One thing Coppola and co create very effectively is the sense of isolation from the civil war setting. Even when guns are heard or soldiers appear, it only emphasises how unreal and remote it seems within the languid, melancholy bubble of the school. I think this partly contributes to it feeling like quite a thin film in many ways, and it seems happy to dwell on its almost storybook imagery and a detached observational approach, but it really worked somehow.

 

[krtek a houby]

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Marielle Heller (The Queen's Gambit) directs Tom Hanks in this oddly heartwarming story based on an interview with Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers fame.

Hanks pretty much nails it as the almost too good to be true Rogers. A fascinating character.

 

[surreybrowncap]

The Beguiled
2017 dreamily southern gothic-ish suspense thriller directed by Sofia Coppola. Set in the southern US during the civil war, Colin Farrell's wounded Union deserter is taken in by the staff and students of a girls school in Confederate territory where his intrusive presence upends their insular world. I remember hearing mixed opinions about this one when it came out, but have to say I thought it was very good. Features a very strong cast - alongside Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning were all great, and likewise it has excellent sound design (one for creaky floorboard fans) and especially beautiful lighting and cinematography. Some of the shots are genuinely stunning.

One thing Coppola and co create very effectively is the sense of isolation from the civil war setting. Even when guns are heard or soldiers appear, it only emphasises how unreal and remote it seems within the languid, melancholy bubble of the school. I think this partly contributes to it feeling like quite a thin film in many ways, and it seems happy to dwell on its almost storybook imagery and a detached observational approach, but it really worked somehow.

Have you seen the '71 original version of this?
Starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Have you seen the '71 original version of this?
Starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel.

Moviedrome massive represent!

 

[krtek a houby]

A Gunfight

Western from '71 with Johnny Cash, Kirk Douglas, Karen Black and Keith Carradine.

Two ageing gunslingers embark on a possibly fatal money making spectacle.

Be warned, there's a bullfight shown that is kind of graphic. Hopefully not real...

 

[surreybrowncap]

A Gunfight

Western from '71 with Johnny Cash, Kirk Douglas, Karen Black and Keith Carradine.

Two ageing gunslingers embark on a possibly fatal money making spectacle.

Be warned, there's a bullfight shown that is kind of graphic. Hopefully not real...

I vaguely recall seeing this - probably just the once.
Just checked and it's available in full on YouTube..
Thanks for this!!

 

[inva]

Have you seen the '71 original version of this?
Starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel.

No I haven't is it good?

 

[krtek a houby]

No I haven't is it good?

Very

 

[DaveCinzano]

Is no one going to throw in an it's very much of its time caveat?

 

[krtek a houby]

Is no one going to throw in an it's very much of its time caveat?

It's a given, really

 

[DaveCinzano]

It's a given, really

Well you can deal with the complaints, comrade

 

[krtek a houby]

Well you can deal with the complaints, comrade

View attachment 332065

Foolish Took!

Tbf, most of us are aware that older films/shows/books can contain dubious material within.