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

[krtek a houby]

1938 classic, Angels With Dirty Faces. Cagney, Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan and The Dead End Kids all shine in one of the finest Irish American gangster films ever made.

5/5, because of that ending.

 

[redsquirrel]

Lifeguard - The makers of Baywatch must have watched this - that said it is better than that suggests. Sam Elliot is a lifeguard who is the 'wrong' side of 30, he loves his job but is also aware of the time passing by and forming a relationship and job that will see him secure. The sexual politics of it are dodgy, but almost certainly true to the time. Elliot is excellent and Kathleen Quinlan takes a rather formulaic part - young women exploring her feelings and sexuality - and imbues it with depth. It is not amazing but it is an interesting picture of that time, and also has a rather well done soundtrack.

 

[starfish]

Sasquatch Sunset. Almost a year in the in the life of a family of four Sasquatches!

An interesting idea for a film which was both disturbing & heartbreaking.

 

[Sue]

Sasquatch Sunset. Almost a year in the in the life of a family of four Sasquatches!

An interesting idea for a film which was both disturbing & heartbreaking.

Saw that at the pictures. It's a bit weird but yeah, that ^.

 

[T & P]

Silent Night, which starts out like a Richard Curtis style comedy about a posh family Christmas, but turns into an example of the sub-genre of apocalyptic films where people come together for one last party before the world ends. It's not bad and if the poshos irritate you, there is the knowledge that they'll all be dead by the end. I can't believe that people would be quite so carefree with the knowledge that they'll only have a few more hours to live. The Australian These Final Hours handled this more believably in that everybody has shitloads of drugs to disassociate, but Silent Night goes more for an arch, stiff upper lip type of British black comedy. Two other similar films I liked are It's a Disaster (2012) and Last Night (1998). This isn't quite as good, but I still liked it's shift from light comedy into something genuinely grim and dark.

Just watched this (Reno, what’s up man? We miss you). Utterly fucked up and depressing. Not a bad film, but don’t watch unless you enjoy soul-destroying films.

 

[The39thStep]

Barber .

Set in Dublin during the covid period. Adrian Gillen is Barber ,a private investigator, who is approached by a grandmother's concern about the disappearance of her 20 year old granddaughter. So far so straightforward however in addition to the dead ends, the sense of conspiracy Barber also has issues to wrestle with. He is bisexual, ex cop, separated from his wife and daughter and the daughter has her own medical problems from a car accident. His hushed by and large socially distanced conversations at night with people who might have information ,in locations sparsely populated, due to coved, really aids it as a noir. Enjoyable.

 

[krtek a houby]

Got round to watching this. It's wonderful in a lo-fi way and the story of J, Murph & Lou is, as they mention, the story of a family.

Great cameos and commentary from the likes of Rollins, Moore, Gordon, Mould and an enthusiastic Frank Black.

Recommended.

Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr review – it’s all about the music

This warm-hearted profile of the US grunge-rockers doubles as a poignant rumination on friendship and personal growth – but gets its heft from the unpolished performance footage

www.theguardian.com

 

[krtek a houby]

Absolute Beginners

Bowie appeared in some odd roles back then. Weirder than the Goblin King.

Strange and sleazy musical from 1986, set in 1958 but feels like it was made in 1968 but not as good as musicals from then.

Acting is surreal but Sade and Ray Davies are standouts, despite their meagre screen time.

Nods to fash, the race riots, gentrification and class war but overall a missed opportunity.

A streaming remake could tidy up the mess and actually say something...

 

[Elpenor]

Make Way For Tomorrow (1937). It’s on the internet archive

A very good and rather depressing film about an elderly couple who lose their house during the depression. None of their rather cynical offspring particularly want to take them in, and in the end they are split between two of them, accepting this heartbreaking outcome with quiet dignity. The final act is in charming, funny and tragic in equal parts as they reminisce about their honeymoon 50 years before, and experience the kindness of strangers which had largely been lacking from their children.

It’s easy to imagine this being a rather sentimental and cloying picture, but it’s not. The elderly couple aren’t perfect; the children aren’t monsters. The subject hasn’t aged, only the context. The subtle touches of director Leo McCarey allow the actors and the script to shine.

Ozu supposedly based Tokyo Story on the plot.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Wizard of Oz

An earlier version of the classic fantasy, this one is from 1925. Starring husband and wife team Larry Semon and Dorothy Dwan, with decent support from Oliver Hardy and Spencer Bell (a bit of confusion about his credit - and some sources have listed a different actor - Curtis McHenry playing the role) as Tinman and the Lion.

Semon likes mugging for the camera and breaking the fourth wall. Stunt work is enjoyable but an odd slapstick film, overall.

 

[Idris2002]

Sabotage

Alfred Hitchcock 1936. Conrad's The Secret Agent updated for the 1930s. Not quite "Hitchcockian" yet, but getting there. And already authentically brutal in the grand Hitchcock manner.

 

[belboid]

Revenge

2017 French movie from Coralie 'The Substance' Fargeat. A similar visceral style, with a somewhat familiar theme (although CF said she had never seen a rape/revenge movie before) and general course of action. It does what does stylishly and effectively, the woman's transformation into kick-ass action star after being left for dead is totally absurd, but it doesn't have the leering view many others of its type do. Couldn't exactly recommend it, but if you want to see a recent r/r movie, this would do you well.

Alice, Sweet Alice

aka, Communion, aka, Holy Terror. a 1976 slasher by first time Director Alfred Sole - and boy does it show. It was highly tempting to quit after ten/fifteen minutes, despite it being Brooke Shields' first movie and the most direct inspiration for Scream. Wooden af, but clearly deeply anti-catholic, so I stuck with it. And while neither the acting nor the script improved a great deal, it dragged me in with some clever little touches - and anti-catholicism. Ended up being 100 minutes well spent.

 

[krtek a houby]

Anchorman - The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Dated comedy from 2004. Very popular with quotey types. The trailer has all the best bits, imho.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Fabelmans

Quintessential Spielberg from 2022. Dysfunctional families, Nazis and close ups camera shots are all there.

Love the magic of movies and making them, and this one was lovely.

Michelle Williams is outstanding and there's a couple of great cameos where scenes are stolen.

 

[krtek a houby]

Under Paris

New Netflix shark pic. Ridiculous science, but a very watchable yarn, all the same.

And what is it about mayors and sharks eh?

 

[T & P]

Alien, for about the 1,500th time. Just fucking perfect in every conceivable way.

 

[krtek a houby]

Pearl

2022 prequel to X. Mia Goth, dodges the pandemic, dances with the scarecrow, feeds the alligator and dreams of stardom.

Gorgeous and disturbing horror set in 1918 with nods to the cinema of yesteryear.

 

[The39thStep]

Talking Pictures have just released their Encore app for Firesticks and smart TV’s. Very handily it works over here with a vpn. So I settle down after the football last night to enjoy the The Pickwick Papers (1952) which I remembered watching on TV as a child . It was very enjoyable , amusing and with some surprising insight into Victorian England . A couple of cameos of young versions of future household stars of the 60s/70s .

It’s also got a collection of old horror / monster type films . I’ll try and watch The List Continent with Cesar Romero today as well.

 

[DotCommunist]

The Pickwick Papers

I tried to read this as a kid having successfully made my way through Oliver Twist and Hard Times at my nans recc. Couldn't do it. Too contemporary in language and reffs of the era in its written form for a kids understanding maybe.

 

[The39thStep]

I tried to read this as a kid having successfully made my way through Oliver Twist and Hard Times at my nans recc. Couldn't do it. Too contemporary in language and reffs of the era in its written form for a kids understanding maybe.

Can sympathise. I've never read it either, in fact never read any of his books however I have enjoyed films from his books

 

[Orang Utan]

Training Day
Denzel Washington’s finest hour.
Dunno why I hadn’t seen this film before. Mightily impressive police thriller covering very similar territory to The Shield.
It’s pretty star-studded with a whole bunch of quality cameos - even spotted Terry Crews just as a silent bystander. Best is Macy Gray though as an off-her-tits gangster’s concubine. Could have done without Dre & Snoop though.
It has a ludicrous plot, and Washington is certainly grandstanding rather mannerly by the end, but it’s so horrifyingly tense, you just go along with it all.
I had the director, Antoin Fuqua, down as a journeyman action director, but this is a cut above most action fare, especially going by the camera work and location settings.
Glad I watched it - it was a spontaneous choice to watch that just came from me watching a trailer for Gladiator 2 and remembering this was on my impossible watchlist

 

[krtek a houby]

The Thing from Another World

Sci-fi classic from 1951. Apart from the obvious influence on John Carpenter, there's an influence on Alien and Aliens in the mix, too. Most enjoyable.

My Old Ass

Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza are a delight in this wonderful indie from this year. Not at all what I expected (title seemed to indicate a zany comedy) and all the better for it.

And, omg, the scenery is magnificent.

 

[Elpenor]

Payroll (1961), recorded off film 4 last month

Shot on location in Newcastle, though there are no geordie accents to be heard, this is a heist movie inspired by The Asphalt Jungle / The Killing and other films I’ve probably not seen. Pulling off the job is the easy bit, but what happens next?

The gang, Tom Bell being one of them, inevitably squabbles. The nervy inside man has a breakdown, and his wife, having an affair with the leader, is pursued by the widow of the security guard killed during the robbery. Plenty of double crossing to enjoy and all to an incongruous jazz soundtrack that may have worked better at the time.

 

[DotCommunist]

Ronin

Watched this classic for the first time in many years and while its still gold I had forgotten some of the cheese and the terrible oirash accents in it

 

[inva]

Compartment No.6
Sort of romance from 2021 directed by Juho Kuosman but not very much of a romance to be honest, more a small spark of connection formed between two strangers who share a train compartment on a long and fairly dispiriting journey from Moscow to Murmansk in I think the early 90s. Very good lead performances by Seidi Harla and Yuri Borisov and the whole film is well made in a low key way. A few funny scenes, I enjoyed the intensely hostile atmosphere caused when the compartment has to host a man who plays the guitar. I like a film set on a train

 

[Orang Utan]

One of the henchmen in Anora was the young man in Compartment No.6. He was very impressive in Anora, so that’s going on the list

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Finally got around to watching Frank (2014), which I thought was going to be a relatively straightforward biopic about Frank Sidebottom, but was instead a dark comedy about mental illness and being in a band. Very good though.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Oklahoma Kid - Cagney and Bogart again in a Western yarn from 1939. Featuring boomers, sooners, brawls and bullets galore. An enjoyable, if slight, production marred somewhat by the cheesy ending.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - can't believe this is 20 years old. Had forgotten most of this, and ironically some scenes that I thought I remembered were different to how they actually played.

Such a beautiful and sad film, with a perfect cast.

 

[Silas Loom]

Civil War.

Very pretty and expensively done. Two major annoyances:

1) It’s just cheating to have Alex Garland or one of his minions arrange a tableau that they think will look pretty fucking stonking when filmed, then to write a script around it where famous photographers say “whoa, stonking tableau, better take a snap of that sharpish”.

2) Any coming American civil war will be livestreamed on social media by paid partisans and idiot influencers. Reuters won’t be paying out precious Canadian dollars to ruggedly independent photojournalists using old school SLRs. It’s like the story was written thirty years ago and nobody could be arsed to update it, but there’s always been this weird convention in American cinema that journalists are portrayed as heroic rather than as cowardly drunks, so perhaps they just refused to accept that times have changed.

 

[Orang Utan]

I enjoyed Civil War, but I’m inclined to agree with you.
Really need to see Oliver Stone’s Salvador again, but in my recollection it’s a much better depiction of war photojournalism