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

[krtek a houby]

Babylon

Messy but fascinating film chronicle the heyday of silent Hollywood and the transition to talkies.

First half an hour it felt like Moulin Rouge and then it settled down feeling a bit like a Coen Bros film, then a bit Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and then it went David Lynch...

Quite liked it

 

[T & P]

Completely unplanned, but we’ve ended up having a Tim Curry weekend. We started yesterday with The Rocky Horror Show Livestream Theater, a 2020 Zoom reading of the show involving both members of the original cast, and younger actors/ musicians. Recommended to fans of The Rocky Horror Show. Very sad to see Tim Curry in a wheelchair and severely impaired after the massive stroke he suffered more than ten years ago, but also heartening to see him soldier on.

We followed today with yet another viewing of Clue, the perfect Sunday film, and one that has aged perfectly well and remains highly enjoyable no matter how many times one has previously seen it.

And I have just watched for the first time What About Dick, a 2012 stage musical comedy-cum radio play homage. A word of warning first: Russell Brand is unfortunately among the cast, but if you can get past him, it’s very funny and well worth watching.

If I can find IT on a free stream, I might catch one episode before going to bed for good measure

 

[T & P]

Babylon

Messy but fascinating film chronicle the heyday of silent Hollywood and the transition to talkies.

First half an hour it felt like Moulin Rouge and then it settled down feeling a bit like a Coen Bros film, then a bit Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and then it went David Lynch...

Quite liked it

The final 15 minutes were so bad and weird it was actually cringeworthy to watch, and it could have had another 10-15 minutes shoved off, but I still really liked it.

It was never likely going to be considered for many Academy awards given the picture it paints of Hollywood, but that Margot Robbie didn’t at least get a nomination is laughable. Superb performance.

 

[krtek a houby]

The final 15 minutes were so bad and weird it was actually cringeworthy to watch, and it could have had another 10-15 minutes shoved off, but I still really liked it.

It was never likely going to be considered for many Academy awards given the picture it paints of Hollywood, but that Margot Robbie didn’t at least get a nomination is laughable. Superb performance.

Ending felt a bit Kubrick/Malick or Spielberg's AI.

Am guessing if nobody was aware of a certain other film that deals with this era, they would be then, after the theatre scene.

 

[Idris2002]

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Its a guy richie film loosely based on the arthurian myth, weird as fuck but oddly great. Charlie Hunnam as Arthur (see below) just makes it odder, at one point he tells someone 'you haven't had enough porridge this morning to talk like that son'. Incongruous dialogue and guy richie style shots abound. It opens with a demonic olliphaunt rip off being ridden by Mordred who is dressed like the Kali-Ma guy from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and is also a fire sorcerer. Littlefinger is in it as crack shot bowman and master escape artist.

They decided to play arthur as a lad who grew up in a brothel into a local villain with a heart of gold. Sort of works.

Speaking of Game of Thrones alumni, over the weekend I watched the first three episodes of The Gone, an Ireland/New Zealand coproduction featuring Lady Catelyn Stark as an Irish judge whose daughter goes missing, along with her boyfriend, in rural Kiwi-land. Things turn murky at an early point. Plot centres on the maverick Garda and the by-the-book Maori smalltown lady cop who have to team up to crack the case. There may not be much here we haven't seen before (though the Maori representation is pretty good, and avoids cringey liberal patronisation), but it's done surprisingly well. My guess is that that is down to the NZ side of things, not my lot.

Watched this on the RTE player - I don't know how you might access it outside of the four green fields. But if it comes your way, do check it out - like I said, it's surprisingly good.

 

[DotCommunist]

Speaking of Game of Thrones alumni, over the weekend I watched the first three episodes of The Gone, an Ireland/New Zealand coproduction featuring Lady Catelyn Stark as an Irish judge whose daughter goes missing, along with her boyfriend, in rural Kiwi-land. Things turn murky at an early point. Plot centres on the maverick Garda and the by-the-book Maori smalltown lady cop who have to team up to crack the case. There may not be much here we haven't seen before (though the Maori representation is pretty good, and avoids cringey liberal patronisation), but it's done surprisingly well. My guess is that that is down to the NZ side of things, not my lot.

Watched this on the RTE player - I don't know how you might access it outside of the four green fields. But if it comes your way, do check it out - like I said, it's surprisingly good.

I'll find out if its on the torrent seas of piracy

 

[DotCommunist]

I watched Blackjack, a 1998 tv movie- a 90 minute banger, o nostalgia- with Dolph Lundegren in the lead and directed by John Woo. Dolph or Woo alone wouldn't have tempted me but both promised gold, and delivered. At one point Dolph comes up from a dive to a trampoline dual wielding his pistols and slaughtering henchmen who have appeared from nowhere. Dual pistol wield looks amazing but as you only ever see it in John Woo films and various computer games I can only conclude its a load of bollocks.

I'll also give massive props for the scene where a biker chasing the car rigs a timed bomb on the cycle, powerslides it and rolls off so the bike explodes just as it slides under the car. Thats why John Woo will always have a place in my heart

 

[Idris2002]

This is John Woo the Hong Kong guy, who did Hard Boiled?

 

[Sasaferrato]

Finally, Oppenheimer is available for download.

I watched half of it last night.

WTAF? They could cut the run time by an hour, and lose nothing.

 

[DotCommunist]

This is John Woo the Hong Kong guy, who did Hard Boiled?

Hard Target and Face Off too.

 

[Indeliblelink]

Couple of Japanese WWII films that made a good double bill.
Operation Kamikaze [Taiheiyo No Washi] (1953)
Historical drama focusing on Admiral Yamamoto, politics & circumstances that led to Pearl Harbour, Battle of Midway and Yamamoto's death.

The Last Kamikaze [Saigo no tokkôtai] (1970)
Drama based on a squadron of kamikaze pilots in the last few months of the war

 

[krtek a houby]

The Killer

New David Fincher assassin tale that works as an antidote to the likes of John Wick.

 

[krtek a houby]

In The Earth

Ben Wheatley back on form with a folk horror that blends Blair Witch with early Pink Floyd. And early Slaine. And maybe a bit Stephen King.

Anyway, it's a new favourite.

 

[MBV]

Finished season 1 of Mindhunter after being reminded about if in the Killer/Fincher coverage.

 

[May Kasahara]

Darkman. Another favourite from my youth now shared with my 15yo - happily, he enjoyed it.

 

[Idris2002]

Uncut Gems

Not as good as I remembered (Mrs Idris hadn't seen it)

 

[T & P]

Rewatched Renfield, and enjoyed it even more than the first time. As much fun as the likes of Kingsman or Kick-Ass, and Cage is really at his best here.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Squid and the Whale

Noah Baumbach's breakout film and yeah, I can see why. Laura Linney is excellent as a successful writer who has to deal with her boorish husband. Jeff Daniels excells as a thoroughly unpleasant academic who has to control, denigrate and dismiss all those he considers beneath him.

 

[Karl Masks]

House of the Dragon, which I bought on a whim, is the most confusing show i've ever seen. Aside from the, ugh, token incest, there are so many time jumps which result in weirdly inconsistent cast member changes. All the princesses have huge broods all of whom look the same and have similar names, except the two kids that are clearly bastards (in character )

Plus the lighting is fucking atrocious.

The Dragons are awesome though.

 

[manji]

In The Earth

Ben Wheatley back on form with a folk horror that blends Blair Witch with early Pink Floyd. And early Slaine. And maybe a bit Stephen King.

Anyway, it's a new favourite.

Loved this. Generally got poor reviews . Who cares ?

 

[krtek a houby]

Loved this. Generally got poor reviews . Who cares ?

Ace film, really embedded in my head now.

 

[Elpenor]

Europa Europa. A teenage Jewish boy tries to hide from the Nazis and survive the holocaust by joining the Hitler youth. Asks some interesting questions on identity and survival. Some of the minor characters our hero meets are very much fanatics - Soviet and Nazi, but he manages to be both and neither at the same time.

Of course he’s a teenager so is also trying to get off with other teenagers, and this is a part of the film too; but it doesn’t feel out of place given the serious backdrop.

 

[krtek a houby]

Richard II

First part of The Hollow Crown, stars Ben Wishaw, Rory Kinnear, Patrick Stewart and several other great cameos.

Wishaw is extraordinary. Fun fact: He based his performance on such icons as Jesus Christ and Michael Jackson!

Scenery is fantastic, even if the ancient castles and churches standing in for palaces seem a bit incongruous, and the whole thing is very atmospheric.

 

[belboid]

Herzog Blaubarts Burg (aka Bluebeard's Castle)

What was an almost forgotten final operatic film from Michael Powell, Bartok's only opera was staged thanks to Hein Heckroth and some German TV company. Bernard Tavernier describes it as the missing link between Tales of Hoffman and Peeping Tom. Which it is, but it's also the missing link between ToH and Doctor Who - ohh those sets! Tin foil, polythene and polystyrene have never looked so impressive.

Seriously though, the colour is magnificent, the singing superb (in the German version, unfortunately Ana Raquel Satre is almost incomprehensible in the English version), and the ambience engrossing. I don't normally like Bartok, but this works really well. And while it is superficially deeply misogynistic, something, something, Freudian, blah blah blah,

The extras are good too. And the essays.

 

[krtek a houby]

Finished season 4 of Amazon's Mrs Maisel. Favourite season so far. Stephanie Hsu is great, wish she'd had more screen time.

 

[DotCommunist]

season 1 of Slow Horses. Its good, lets see if the second series keeps the quality up. Taking a break from that to catch up with Doctor Who tonight tho.

 

[Chz]

Brimstone.
It started well enough, and has a pretty good cast. But it does that thing where at some point the lead's father stops being a mean piece of shit and becomes an evil wizard. It's quite silly after that.

 

[krtek a houby]

Dreamscape

Sci-fi from 1984 with Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow and George Wendt.

PotUS has apocalyptic nightmares, secret psychic tests on the ability to enter the dreams of others, shadowy deep state factions, assassinations, car chases on racetracks and dubious dream seductions.

A little bit Inception/Scanners/The Dead Zone... all of which do this kind of thing better.

Still, enjoyable cheesy waste of time ... and fun fact - this was one of two films that summer, both starring Kate Capshaw, in which still beating hearts were torn from people. Bloody marvellous!

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I've got Killers of the Flower Moon on it's way down at the moment. I'd like to have watched it a the cinema, but there's no way my bladder can last that long. Still found a decent sized 4k rip so should be half decent. Although it got 5 stars in the Guardian which makes me nervous. I often find I enjoy the 3's and 4's more.

 

[The39thStep]

Dinner in America. Manipulative, violent, fire-setting 'punk' persuades a vulnerable autistic girl to let him stay at her parent's house when he is on the run from the Police. Very enjoyable black comedy which tells a fine story. Gave me the same vibes as Little Miss Sunshine . Very enjoyable.