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.