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

[krtek a houby]

The new Beverly Hills Cop sequel comes out on 3 July. Even though it actually has Eddie Murphy in it, I fear the worst

The original is great and what a brilliant cast and script. Only seen the follow up once, and was very disappointed. The story drags, despite all the action scenes and Billy is now, inexplicably, a gun fanatic and a lot of the heart has gone out of the series. Never seen the third installment.

 

[T & P]

The Blackening. A 2022 dark comedy parody of the slasher film genre about a group of friends who hire a cabin in the woods for a weekend, and are forced to play a board game they have found in the cabin by sinister forces unknown.

I had never heard of this film before, and put it on late last night to kill a few minutes while I completed my sudoku, expecting it to be a truly shit effort that would make even the Scary Movie franchise look good by comparison.

So I ended up going to bed at 3.30 am because it turned out to be a genuinely funny, cleverly written, dialogue-rich satire about not just the slasher horror genre but far more prominently black stereotypes in present-day America.

Not the defining incisive comedy of the decade, but still a delightfully enjoyable and well written social commentary comedy film that turns out to be far better and cleverer that it ought to be. 87% Rotten Tomatoes rating if you doubt my judgement, and a big recommendation from me

 

[krtek a houby]

Jarhead

Sam Mendes war effort from 2005.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx are standouts in this Gulf War film that takes us through the training (nods to Full Metal Jacket) boredom and finally the conflict.

Roger Deakins does his magic and the soundtrack Thomas Newman/Public Enemy etc is all good.

A bit macho, but watchable nevertheless.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Strawberry Statement

Student revolution loosely based on the occupation of Columbia University. This was made in 1970, two years after the protests and didn't do well at the time.

Now it's a fascinating counter culture snapshot of the times. Bruce Davison, Kim Darby and Bud Cort star. Great soundtrack with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

 

[Idris2002]

The Strawberry Statement

Student revolution loosely based on the occupation of Columbia University. This was made in 1970, two years after the protests and didn't do well at the time.

Now it's a fascinating counter culture snapshot of the times. Bruce Davison, Kim Darby and Bud Cort star. Great soundtrack with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Not on youtube is it?

 

[krtek a houby]

Not on youtube is it?

Unfortunately, no. Watched it on NHK BS.

 

[nottsgirl]

Rented The Holdovers online last night. An embittered teacher, a grieving school cook and a wayward student spend Christmas at a boarding school together with heartwarming and life changing consequences. 10/10. Absolutely brilliant. I missed it in the cinema, if you did too I’d highly recommend renting it or looking out for it on streaming.

 

[petee]

I Know Where I'm Going
i'm on a powell and pressburger kick. saw this ages ago, liked it well enough. this time i saw so much more in it. a bit treaclesome at the end but there are so many moments of cinematic gold. petula clark is listed as the scholarly kid, and it seems she's that petula clark.

e2a, she is that petula clark. she's just excellent in the movie too.

e3a: it occurs to me that wednesday addams could be an elaborated version of that character. however, wednesday (unnamed at the time, per wiki) first appeared in the cartoon in 1944, and the movie is from 1945. did p&p have access to the New Yorker during wartime? (i think i just gave someone an MA thesis.)

 

[petee]

L.A. Confidential
when i first saw it, i think i knew that it was both guy pearce's and russel crowe's first big US movie, and i'd have guessed that pearce was going to be the bigger star. he's excellent in this, spacey and strathairn are good too, but devito is somehow unconvincing.

 

[krtek a houby]

Andrei Rublev

Tarkovsky's epic from 1966. Not the easier of watches but it will stay with you for a long time. A medieval odyssey concerning the titular icon artist. If you thrilled to The Colour of Pomegranates, Silence, Fitzcarraldo and any other Tarkovsky film, this will be your thing.

The pagans in the woods is quite a magical and strange interlude and the raid on Vladimir is shocking. The violence gets a bit Game of Thrones, in places.

 

[petee]

Andrei Rublev

Tarkovsky's epic from 1966. Not the easier of watches but it will stay with you for a long time. A medieval odyssey concerning the titular icon artist. If you thrilled to The Colour of Pomegranates, Silence, Fitzcarraldo and any other Tarkovsky film, this will be your thing.

The pagans in the woods is quite a magical and strange interlude and the raid on Vladimir is shocking. The violence gets a bit Game of Thrones, in places.

my favourite film. I've seen it with two translations now.

 

[nottsgirl]

I couldn’t find the film I wanted to watch on streaming so I rented Inside Out. It’s still good.

 

[Idris2002]

I Know Where I'm Going
i'm on a powell and pressburger kick. saw this ages ago, liked it well enough. this time i saw so much more in it. a bit treaclesome at the end but there are so many moments of cinematic gold. petula clark is listed as the scholarly kid, and it seems she's that petula clark.

e2a, she is that petula clark. she's just excellent in the movie too.

e3a: it occurs to me that wednesday addams could be an elaborated version of that character. however, wednesday (unnamed at the time, per wiki) first appeared in the cartoon in 1944, and the movie is from 1945. did p&p have access to the New Yorker during wartime? (i think i just gave someone an MA thesis.)

I'm pretty sure they would have had New Yorker access during the war. Publishers used to do "army editions" of their mags for example, and us soldiers in England would have had them.

 

[petee]

us soldiers in England would have had them.

you were a soldier in England in WW2?

 

[Idris2002]

you were a soldier in England in WW2?

You stupid boy.

;-)

 

[imposs1904]

Binge-watching Slow Horses again.

Every season is great until it gets to the final episode, and then for some reason it gets overly saccharine. Every fucking time.

Is that Mick Herron's fault - I haven't read the books - or is it the downside of having Centrist Mum and Dad adapting the books for TV?

 

[krtek a houby]

Judge Dredd

There's a good deal Danny Cannon and co. get right in the original 1995 effort. The Dredd comic font at the start. The overall look, the designs, Mean Machine... but so much they get wrong. A warden basically handing Rico the means to escape without checking, Armand Assante's ott performance, the timelines, the clones making zero difference, Joan Chen's motivation, and Rob bloody Schneider.

That's before we get to Stallone's Dredd, the lack of helmet and the kiss.

Not as annoying as I originally found it, but still disappointing.

 

[rubbershoes]

Binge-watching Slow Horses again.

Every season is great until it gets to the final episode, and then for some reason it gets overly saccharine. Every fucking time.

Is that Mick Herron's fault - I haven't read the books - or is it the downside of having Centrist Mum and Dad adapting the books for TV?

The books are good

I don't remember them going saccharine at the end, though the endings are the endings and Blofeld doesn't get to destroy the world

 

[krtek a houby]

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

It can't quite escape its stage origins but this 2020 tale based on the blues singer does an excellent job, all the same.

Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman (in his final role) are at the top of their game.

 

[DotCommunist]

Cast Away. Somehow never did see this all the wy thro

Judge Dredd

There's a good deal Danny Cannon and co. get right in the original 1995 effort. The Dredd comic font at the start. The overall look, the designs, Mean Machine... but so much they get wrong. A warden basically handing Rico the means to escape without checking, Armand Assante's ott performance, the timelines, the clones making zero difference, Joan Chen's motivation, and Rob bloody Schneider.

That's before we get to Stallone's Dredd, the lack of helmet and the kiss.

Not as annoying as I originally found it, but still disappointing.

I seem to remember the bits in cursed earth being fairly good but everything else being a disappointment.

 

[krtek a houby]

Cast Away. Somehow never did see this all the wy thro

I seem to remember the bits in cursed earth being fairly good but everything else being a disappointment.

Apparently Cannon and Stallone saw the project very differently. Stallone wanted more comedy elements and the director wasn't happy with his interference.

And Dredd's "I knew you were gonna say that" catchphrase was so lame.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Apparently Cannon and Stallone saw the project very differently. Stallone wanted more comedy elements and the director wasn't happy with his interference.

And Dredd's "I knew you were gonna say that" catchphrase was so lame.

He should have held out for Ford

 

[T & P]

You’ll Never Find Me. A fantastically gripping psychological thriller/ horror Australian film about a young woman who knocks on the door of a remote trailer park cabin during a fierce storm.

It feels like a two person stage play rather than a film, and it is ridiculously atmospheric and tense. The ending might not be to everyone’s taste, which might explain the ludicrously off the mark IMDB ratings, but this is an instance where I’m with the critics all the way. Loved it, and a big thumbs here

You’ll Never Find Me review – profoundly creepy and thrillingly bold Australian horror film | Australian film | The Guardian

This debut feature steeps you in a kind of waking nightmare – with a shockingly brilliant final act you may not be able to forget

amp.theguardian.com

 

[inva]

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
2020 romance set in the late 18th century written and directed by Céline Sciamma. An artist is employed to covertly paint a woman who is resisting an unwanted arranged marriage by refusing to sit for the portrait intended to seal the deal, and as she intently observes her subject things develop fairly predictably from there (not a criticism, it's done very well). It’s a beautifully made film, I loved the cinematography and the lighting and sound design give a really intense atmosphere. Special mention for the ending which is brilliant.

Despite being excellent it’s not my favourite of Sciamma’s films but I think it’s the one that best showcases her skill as a writer.

 

[Chz]

Furiosa
It's a damned good action film, but it's not as... breathless as Fury Road. It's a normal action film, albeit a good one. Fury Road was just a crazy ride that never left you two minutes to catch your breath. It also suffers slightly in the peril stakes in that you know her later story.

 

[Epona]

I don't watch DVDs and videos these days (I have neither a DVD player nor a VCR!) so I hope it's OK if I just pop on here occasionally to mention things I have watched tonight.
Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse was on C4 earlier and is just fucking superb - absolutely breathtaking animation, great plot, humour, multiverse, well worth a look.
First Man - on C4 (although I'm watching it on +1), I think it's a really decent film about the NASA Gemini and Apollo programs, leading up to the moon landing.
Both could well be on the C4 streaming service if you missed them tonight.

 

[inva]

Hanagatami
2017 final part of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s trilogy of anti war films. Doomed youth in the delirious shadow of the approaching war with the US is the focus for this one. I don't know why but the boys are played by far older actors which results in a distinctly creepy effect, and whatever the reason for the choice it seemed like the wrong one. Dodgy digital effects and oversaturated colours give a lurid, manic look to the film to evoke the militaristic psychosis of 1941 and if there’s one thing the film really does well it is to create this nightmarish fantasy atmosphere.

Other than that it is much, much too long and as with the trilogy as a whole its an anti war politics pretty much solely concerned with militarism as some sort of aberrant episode breaking the natural traditional order of Japanese society so for all its obvious sincerity and sometimes power it is very limited in its critique.

 

[ska invita]

VIDEODROME
I wrongly had this down as a film just made for shock/horror/titillation, turns out its a work of philosophical... genius? Yeah maybe genius.
Thoughtful, provocative, fun, fast-moving (comes in under 90 mins), incredible golden 1980s production values, poetic, and thanks to everyone's internet addiction its maybe even more relevant today than when it was made. Definitely leaves you thinking, including thinking what the fuck did i just watch! I was genuinely blown away. They dont make em like this anymore...
Can watch it for free here, the full uncut version too

 

[DotCommunist]

VIDEODROME
I wrongly had this down as a film just made for shock/horror/titillation, turns out its a work of philosophical... genius? Yeah maybe genius.
Thoughtful, provocative, fun, fast-moving (comes in under 90 mins), incredible golden 1980s production values, poetic, and thanks to everyone's internet addiction its maybe even more relevant today than when it was made. Definitely leaves you thinking, including thinking what the fuck did i just watch! I was genuinely blown away. They dont make em like this anymore...
Can watch it for free here, the full uncut version too

Have you seen eXistenZe?

 

[ska invita]

Have you seen eXistenZe?

yeah i saw it at the time it came out....i didnt love it then, but that doesnt mean much, i was a lot younger....but i wonder how that holds up...what do you think?
i really dislike jude law which is a barrier for me

i might try some of his more recent films
(luv Naked Lunch, thats a benchmark for me)