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

[Reno]

Halloween Ends, the last film in David Gordon Green‘s Halloween trilogy, which feels like he lost interest in the whole thing along the way. For 90 minutes this is a film which has almost nothing to do with Halloween (in terms of plot this is closer to Carpenter‘s Christine), introducing a new main character, while sidelining Jamie Lee Curtis‘ Laurie and Michael Myers, who barely features till the end. In the last 20 minutes he tacks on the obligatory Laurie/Michael face-off, which is unrelated to the rest of the film (which also is rather boring). What a mess !

Next Gordon Green is doing an Exorcist trilogy. Why ? He bit of more than he can chew with this, running out of steam by the 2nd film, clearly not planning in advance where to take this. Why not just commit to one movie first ?

 

[May Kasahara]

Three Identical Strangers. Interesting doc about triplets who discover each other by chance after being adopted into separate families as babies.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Clerks III, Kevin Smith's final visit to the New Jersey Quick-Stop where it all began. 10/10 if you're a Kevin Smith fan, probably about a 2/10 if you're not.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Clerks III, Kevin Smith's final visit to the New Jersey Quick-Stop where it all began. 10/10 if you're a Kevin Smith fan, probably about a 2/10 if you're not.

Basically everything since clerks has been shit except Jay and Silent Bob strike back. . . . a rewatch of clerks a few years ago made me rethink even thinking that was any good. . . I bet if I watched Jay and Silent Bob strike back again I might be a little less enthusiastic too.

 

[Elpenor]

Nikita (1990)

One of my favourite action films and love the synth heavy score.

 

[T & P]

Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. A 2021 fantasy/ sci-fi/ thriller film noir about a young woman with mind controlling faculties who who escapes the institution she’s been kept in since she was a young girl, and gets taken in by a stripper who realises the girl’s potential as a cash-extracting tool from unsuspecting punters.

Very watchable and enjoyable without being amazing, and a fantastic soundtrack throughout. Recommended.

 

[redsquirrel]

Miserable rainy day here yesterday so re-watched two old classics - Arsenic and Old Lace and Anatomy of a Murder - both excellent. The latter must still be the best trial film of all time.

 

[rubbershoes]

Threads. The news footage about US/Soviet tension in the Middle East was given an extra frisson by all the Ukraine stuff we hear now

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017) finally. Wasn't at all what I was expecting - I wouldn't be surprised if it's now being taught in film schools as an example of how to repeatedly confound audience expectations.

 

[Reno]

Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017) finally. Wasn't at all what I was expecting - I wouldn't be surprised if it's now being taught in film schools as an example of how to repeatedly confound audience expectations.

I hope not !

 

[not-bono-ever]

Late night and I found myself watching the Harry palmer reboot bullet to Beijing. I forgot how bad it was. Not sure where to start. It’s proper dreadful. I’m not skilled it reviewing filums but this is awful

 

[Part 2]

Heads up for anyone looking to ditch Amazon, Netflix etc....Mubi is currently £60 for a year subscription or £90 for Mubi Go that includes a cinema ticket every week for a film chosen by Mubi.

MUBI

mubi.com

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Heads up for anyone looking to ditch Amazon, Netflix etc....Mubi is currently £60 for a year subscription or £90 for Mubi Go that includes a cinema ticket every week for a film chosen by Mubi.

MUBI

mubi.com

Why don't they ever let you browse all their films without subscribing? Neflix and disney do this too (With prime it is possible).

 

[Part 2]

Why don't they ever let you browse all their films without subscribing? Neflix and disney do this too (With prime it is possible).

If you Google Mubi library there are lists of films. Not sure if there's a list of currently available films.

 

[Reno]

Why don't they ever let you browse all their films without subscribing? Neflix and disney do this too (With prime it is possible).

If you google Mubi and klick on "Films" you can do just that.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

.

 

[Reno]

.

Did you find it ?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Did you find it ?

I wrote something complaining about Netflix and Disney but realised it wasn't appropriate. I can't understand why they won't just let you browse the menu as if you had an account. I had to search google (which wasn't always up to date or region specific) I thought mubi was the same when I couldn't find anything other than suggested films when clicking on the first link.

My (very minor) criticism is that did not appear to be able to search for films by country of origin (was looking for Japanese films as both my wife and daughter are fluent). . . . I'm probably doing that wrong too (a search for 'japanese' only found films with the word in the title . . . though there was a documentary from the 90s on Japanese underground rock which I have never heard of, and appears to have some friends of mine in it). Might do the seven day trial.

 

[DotCommunist]

I recently re-watched Kingdom of Heaven and wanted more medieval fighting so took a punt on Ironclad (2011) its quite good if a little sparse. But this cast was unexpectedly full of future GoT people and quality act-ors of the UK:

• James Purefoy
• Brian Cox
• Derek Jacobi
• Kate Mara
• Paul Giamatti
• Charles Dance
• Jason Flemyng
• Jamie Foreman
• Mackenzie Crook
• Rhys Parry Jones
• Aneurin Barnard
• Vladimir Kulich
• David Melville
• Daniel O'Meara
• Annabelle Apsion
• Steffan Rhodri
• Bree Condon

Haven't seen purefoy in a leading role since he was Marc Anthony in HBO's Rome.

 

[Idris2002]

The Sting
Stands up surprisingly well.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

The Sting
Stands up surprisingly well.

I love the bit where he does the whole 'hiding on the ladies lap' in the toilet to escape "OCCUPIED" only to be spotted again as soon as he exits the building.

 

[Idris2002]

I'm not quite sure if the ending is that plausible, but the Sting is full of memorable scenes and all that.

We also watched Easy Living, an unjustly forgotten 30s screwball with Jean Arthur. Appalled by his wife spending 58,000 dollars (in Depression-era money, remember) on a fur coat, an outraged millionaire throws the coat out on the street. It falls on office girl Jean Arthur, who is thus wrongly assumed to be the millionaire's "bit on the side". Hijinks ensue. Worth seeking this one out, if you can.

 

[Yossarian]

Moulin Rouge - I was considering bailing on this until around half an hour in, but after the Elephant Love Medley I was sold, would be good to see this on the big screen.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Moulin Rouge - I was considering bailing on this until around half an hour in, but after the Elephant Love Medley I was sold, would be good to see this on the big screen.

My brain bailed when I saw it at the cinema and I just fell asleep. Absolute shit.

 

[redsquirrel]

We also watched Easy Living, an unjustly forgotten 30s screwball with Jean Arthur. Appalled by his wife spending 58,000 dollars (in Depression-era money, remember) on a fur coat, an outraged millionaire throws the coat out on the street. It falls on office girl Jean Arthur, who is thus wrongly assumed to be the millionaire's "bit on the side". Hijinks ensue. Worth seeking this one out, if you can.

I discovered Jean Arthur during the lockdown and she is fantastic, it is criminal that she is not better know - you should check out The Devil and Miss Jones, The Ex-Mrs Bradford and of course A Foreign Affair

 

[Elpenor]

Watching the later Bonds while I have prime video for the next week or so. So far seen Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies.

I think I’m reappraising Brosnan as a Bond having not previously liked him. He is clearly enjoying himself in the films, some very good stunts / set pieces, better delivery of the gags than Dalton and Connery, some fun scenes at the baddies lair (being destroyed at the end, tannoy announcements like “launching in 2 minutes and counting”), and plots which remind me of the best days of Moore and Connery.

From memory though his next two outings are absolute stinkers though.

 

[DotCommunist]

Miller's Crossing. Eh, its not a bad film but 7/10.

Watching the later Bonds while I have prime video for the next week or so. So far seen Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies.

I think I’m reappraising Brosnan as a Bond having not previously liked him. He is clearly enjoying himself in the films, some very good stunts / set pieces, better delivery of the gags than Dalton and Connery, some fun scenes at the baddies lair (being destroyed at the end, tannoy announcements like “launching in 2 minutes and counting”), and plots which remind me of the best days of Moore and Connery.

From memory though his next two outings are absolute stinkers though.

I'd seen most of the older bonds on tv as a kid but Brosnan was the first New Bond for me. I saw Goldeneye in the cinema. Xenia Onatop lol. Sean Bean putting in quality villain work. The 'I am inwincible!' nerd. The N64 game based on the film became a runaway classic for its multiplayer mode.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

The Sting
Stands up surprisingly well.

The Sting is the only film where I temporarily forget the ending every time I watch it. It's that well put together.

 

[trabuquera]

Private Road (1971) - perhaps the most late-sixties early-seventies British film ever made in mood and feel.

Bruce Robinson (yes, him! who back then was a beautiful young actorrr, not yet a raddled screenwriter) plays a clever, naive, posh-but-rebellious, literary-but-lazy young man aspiring to be a novelist but not really getting anything done until he gets his long-suffering, slightly neurotic gf (Susan Penhaligon) up the duff. They run away to the countryside together and have a chaotic bohemian time until the forces of social convention, her parents, and the need for money get them back to down-at-heel London (to land a job in copywriting for him and a rapid abortion for her).

It's talky and spiky nad baggy - and really, really vivid on the visual colour and the intellectual feel of those times - reactionary oldsters, poseur radicals, nascent feminists, early-stage heroin addicts and the politics of graphic design drop in and out of the frame. (and a bit of casual racism and sexism is sort of baked in, but not enough to ruin things.) It makes total sense that this was made by the late lamented Barney Platts-Mills (whose other film Bronco Bullfrog of 1969 is one of the best-loved and respected 'new British cinema' realist projects of the time).

It's all weirdly prefiguring of the Withnail and I milieu which Bruce Robinson would reconjure decades later as screenwriter. The character he plays is basically the "I" of W&I in embryo - the same pretentions, strange mix of bickering, pedantry and lovableness, same elaborate language, same misadventures with rural habits etc etc. Worth a watch in my view - if only for the way you could make films in those experimental days with no obvious plot or 'message' at all - it's more like a carefully-devised improv session throughout.

 

[Part 2]

The Kingdom series 1 on Mubi. Been planning to watch it for a while ready for the release of series 3. I love a short series and after watching 1899 this was an easy watch at four episodes. The final episode is just brilliant, proper funny.