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

I rewatched Alan Clarke's "Elephant" (available on Dailymotion in 4 parts) - a film that really shocked me when I first saw it on TV in 1989. A film with little or no dialogue and just a hand held camera documenting multiple murders and showing how desensitised and brutalised N.Ireland had become to violence and the mundane nature of the act. Still just as powerful if you can handle it and a document of how grim Belfast was at the end of the 80s:


Superb film, by the end it felt like I'd been dropkicked in the solar plexus. Just unrelenting, unsexy, banal, but with rhythm and a stickiness that keeps you hooked.
 
Superb film, by the end it felt like I'd been dropkicked in the solar plexus. Just unrelenting, unsexy, banal, but with rhythm and a stickiness that keeps you hooked.
Yep - it has that effect on me too. A bit of a blast from the past too as I was familiar with many of the locations (& fashions).
 
Le Samouraï

1967 Jean-Pierre Melville crime thriller, maybe distilled to its purest form in contract killer Alain Delon’s fatalistic noir journey. I did wonder if we were even going to be told who was killed and why, the answer is just barely the plot is perfunctory only a vehicle for the film’s style which is flawlessly executed. Although it’s a long while since I saw it I think of Melville’s gangster films I preferred Le Circle Rouge but this is right up there.
 
He Got Game

A Spike Lee joint from '98. Denzel Washington, Rosario Dawson, Ray Allen, Mila Jovavich are top of their game in this tale of basketball dreaming. Great cinematography, you know what to expect from 90s Spike... but most women are portrayed as victims, sex workers, easy, eye candy, untrustworthy and so on.

Good support from John Turturro and Ned Beatty, perfect music and songs from Aaron Copland and Public Enemy.

Washington is brilliant in an unlikeable role but as mentioned the women get a raw deal, imho. Damn.
 
Late Night with the Devil. Wogan meets The Exorcist. Not bad.
It’s brilliant. Worth a second watch (which I haven’t done myself yet), as there are various clues and references early in the film to the background history of the main characters and how they relate.
 
During the last couple of weeks I’ve taken to revisiting The Orville. Even as a MacFarlane fan, I had wondered how it would stand up to a repeat viewing, and I am pleased to say that it does very well indeed, certainly S2 and 3.

I was extra chuffed last night when I discovered I had somehow missed one of the S3 episodes- either that or I was so utterly shitfaced the first time I saw it I retained literally zero memories of it. Either way, result :)
 
Their very different approach to time travel vs. the usual Trek tropes was probably their best, up with the best Trek easily.
I just like the fact that whereas some idiots might label it as a ripoff of Star Trek and any other number of classic sci-fi franchises, this is in fact a tribute sci-fi show made out of love for the genre. It just happens to be that the person behind it is someone who is a successful and rich TV writer who can afford to have his vanity projects produced and released by the major studios. I wish I was in the same position.

Whereas I am sure MacFarlane had never intended to compete, never mind aim to come up with a show of better quality than the Star Trek series The Orville pays homage to, whether by accident or design it still has matured from a goofy parody show to something that not only fully embraces the spirit and philosophical depth of the golden era of ST New Generation, but actually is far more engaging than most of the revival ST series of the last decade, excluding Strange New Worlds and S3 of Picard.
 
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Barbie

Searing indictment of the patriarchy and as the greatest film ever made, herald to the end of cinema. It's all been done now and nothing can ever top it. The end.
 
Late Night with the Devil

Oh, good fun. Anyone who likes a bit of horror here and there should appreciate, and the retro 70s talk show format is fantastic.
 
Starwars One: The Phantom Menace
I would not recommend it.

The most memorable thing about it is the fake ‘Chinese’ accents of the Trade Federation Viceroy and cronies and how blatantly racist the whole thing is.
 
The Criminal Code
Prison film from 1930 directed by Howard Hawks about questions of guilt, honour and solidarity in an unjust and brutal system. Being static and stagey as early sound films often were doesn’t feel limiting in this case where instead it is turned towards an effective sense of claustrophobia. Great performance from a pre-Frankenstein Boris Karloff.
 
Starwars One: The Phantom Menace
I would not recommend it.
This isn't just an uncommon instance of us fully agreeing on a film’s review, but one you will struggle to find any adults on the planet who would think otherwise.

And if you think it’s a bad film, even within the Star Wars universe, wait until you see Attack of the Clones :D
 
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This isn't just an uncommon instance of us fully agreeing on a film’s review, but one you will struggle to find any adults on the planet who would think otherwise.

And if you think it’s a bad film, even within the Star Wars universe, wait until you see Attack of the Clones :D
I’ve already seen them all.
 
This isn't just an uncommon instance of us fully agreeing on a film’s review, but one you will struggle to find any adults on the planet who would think otherwise.

And if you think it’s a bad film, even within the Star Wars universe, wait until you see Attack of the Clones :D
There's just something off about the prequels. Individually, each one has its moments but the sequels really put the series back on track.

Duel of the fates is well cool, though.
 
There's just something off about the prequels. Individually, each one has its moments but the sequels really put the series back on track.

Duel of the fates is well cool, though.
Not just something off but a lot. The visual effects for starters are the complete opposite of the soul of Industrial Light & Magic and what the original trilogy looked and felt like. Within the first two minutes of the start of Phantom Menace I was crestfallen at the flat and shockingly underwhelming feel the film had.

And then it got far worse near the end of the film when it became clear that what should have been an epic origin story of the most iconic movie franchise in history had wasted the first instalment with a pretty boring storyline, including a shamelessly time-filling chariot race to win a bet to free a slave from a glorified fly, which ate up a third of the film for good measure.

If Han Solo or Luke Skywalker had been there instead, it would have taken about 90 seconds of running time to solve the predicament, and it would have involved Han shooting the big fly to pieces, nicking the ship parts they needed, freeing not just Anakin but his mother, and shoot their way out of town. We go from the protagonists of A New Hope deciding to roam the insides of a massive battle station crawling with Stormtroopers to free someone held in a cell, to that fucking plot device in the first prequel.

And then of course there s the most fucking annoying and unfunniest comic relief character in cinema history.
 
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Not just something off but a lot. The visual effects for starters are the complete opposite of the soul of Industrial Light & Magic and what the original trilogy looked and felt like. Within the first two minutes of the start of Phantom Menace I was crestfallen at the flat and shockingly underwhelming feel the film had.

And then it got far worse near the end of the film when it became clear that what should have been an epic origin story of the most iconic movie franchise in history had wasted the first instalment with a pretty boring storyline, including a shamelessly time-filling chariot race to win a bet to free a slave from a glorified fly, which ate up a third of the film for good measure.

If Han Solo or Luke Skywalker had been there instead, it would have taken about 90 seconds of running time to solve the predicament, and it would have involved Han shooting the big fly to pieces, nicking the ship parts they needed, freeing not just Anakin but his mother, and shoot their way out of town. We go from the protagonists of A New Hope deciding to roam the insides of a massive battle station crawling with Stormtroopers to free someone held in a cell, to that fucking plot device in the first prequel.

And then of course there s the most fucking annoying and unfunniest comic relief character in cinema history.
Oh, the pod racing. That's great fun as well. Although completely superfluous.

It's such an odd messy film. With the later output and stories set in an around the prequels, can appreciate it a bit more. The Darth Plagueis novel (although not officially canon) works well in that regard.
 
This isn't just an uncommon instance of us fully agreeing on a film’s review, but one you will struggle to find any adults on the planet who would think otherwise.

And if you think it’s a bad film, even within the Star Wars universe, wait until you see Attack of the Clones :D
Cardboard cutout Hayden Christensen is worse than a dozen Jar Jars. I don't think he's an abominable actor, but when people like Natalie Portman and Sam Jackson are struggling with poor direction the poor bloke never had a chance.
 
Cardboard cutout Hayden Christensen is worse than a dozen Jar Jars. I don't think he's an abominable actor, but when people like Natalie Portman and Sam Jackson are struggling with poor direction the poor bloke never had a chance.
He's been served better in recent shows. There's a lot of genuine love for him out there in the fandom. Ditto for Ahmed Best.
 
Last Holiday
Gently sad comedy from 1950. After getting the news he has only weeks or months to live, Alec Guinness arrives at a hotel for a final holiday and spends a lot of time wandering around smiling weakly at people. Nice cast of familiar character actors and Guinness is very good. Quite liked it.
 
He's been served better in recent shows. There's a lot of genuine love for him out there in the fandom. Ditto for Ahmed Best.
I watched Shattered Glass recently, and he was very good in the role of arch-Billy Bullshitter New Republic journalist Stephen Glass - a blend of pathological pleaser and wet-eyed empty vessel :oldthumbsup:
 
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