What DVD / Video did you watch last night ?

[maya]

a weird Spanish (?) film about this guy who is in prison for killing his girlfriend, and hides his (disfigured?) face behind a mask-
he tells his story in flashbacks to a psychiatrist, it sounds a little bit like this:

after a car accident he got a misfigured, elephant man-like face, which the doctors tried to fix...to no avail.

he then gots drunk and falls asleep in the gutter, then wake up and the girl of his dreams is there and says she loves him, suddenly the doctors call and have found a cure etc.- everything's perfect.

then suddenly he gets more and more paranoid: the face of his girlfriend starts to switch back and forth between an unknown girl and the "familiar" face,
he meets a man in a bar who tells him that "it all depends on your state of mind", and "perhaps you're dreaming, this is a dream, try tell these people (around them in the bar) that you want silence"...
he does that, and everyone stops dead silent, he runs out in a panic and when he sees his face in a reflection it's not perfect any more, it's back to the elephant man deformity lump...he kills his girlfriend in a psychotic panic, when her face morphs into a woman he don't know.

then it takes another bizarre twist as he (in prison) have a flashback dream which involves a strange reception and a company...and a contract he has signed.

he finds out the name of this company through accident and manages to get a guarded parole together with his psychiatrist to this company's offices in madrid...
i won't tell too much but its really OTT and involves a company that specialises in cryogenics (putting dead people in freezers to revive them in the future) and "dream life" virtual reality...

fucking bizarre, and really bad, but so bad it's almost good...
the ending was like something out of the matrix...

 

[Reno]

a weird Spanish (?) film about this guy who is in prison for killing his girlfriend, and hides his (disfigured?) face behind a mask-
he tells his story in flashbacks to a psychiatrist, it sounds a little bit like this:

after a car accident he got a misfigured, elephant man-like face, which the doctors tried to fix...to no avail.

he then gots drunk and falls asleep in the gutter, then wake up and the girl of his dreams is there and says she loves him, suddenly the doctors call and have found a cure etc.- everything's perfect.

then suddenly he gets more and more paranoid: the face of his girlfriend starts to switch back and forth between an unknown girl and the "familiar" face,
he meets a man in a bar who tells him that "it all depends on your state of mind", and "perhaps you're dreaming, this is a dream, try tell these people (around them in the bar) that you want silence"...
he does that, and everyone stops dead silent, he runs out in a panic and when he sees his face in a reflection it's not perfect any more, it's back to the elephant man deformity lump...he kills his girlfriend in a psychotic panic, when her face morphs into a woman he don't know.

then it takes another bizarre twist as he (in prison) have a flashback dream which involves a strange reception and a company...and a contract he has signed.

he finds out the name of this company through accident and manages to get a guarded parole together with his psychiatrist to this company's offices in madrid...
i won't tell too much but its really OTT and involves a company that specialises in cryogenics (putting dead people in freezers to revive them in the future) and "dream life" virtual reality...

fucking bizarre, and really bad, but so bad it's almost good...
the ending was like something out of the matrix...

That's Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) and if you thought that was rubbish, just wait till you see Vanilla Sky, the remake with Tom Cruise.

 

[MysteryGuest]

Director's Series, Michel Gondry (again)


Michel Gondry is god. I love the way he allies sheer depth and power of intellect, sheer quality and novelty of ideas, with sheer fun. I mean Chris Cunningham's amazing all that too, but I get tired of the darkness. It's easier to be original if you're dark, but to make stuff that's fun yet still has intensity is a harder trick to pull off imo.


Oh yeah, then I watched a couple of episodes of Jam to freak meself out like. Then watched the Adam & Joe parody "goitre" to cheer myself up again.

 

[maya]

goitres are unsettling. very unsettling.

 

[MysteryGuest]

goitres are unsettling. very unsettling.

True, but the Adam and Joe parody of Jam made me cry with laughter. Respect to Chris Morris for putting it on his DVD.

 

[maya]

is there something in the water, i mean most european comedy is kind of crap,
but british comedy is mostly top notch- is it the grim thatcher years, or the weather? i'm curious.
(or perhaps the ale? )

 

[Orang Utan]

It's because we're better at everything.

 

[maya]

It's because we're better at everything.

but will that rub off (har har ) at me too, then?

 

[Orang Utan]

but will that rub off (har har ) at me too, then?

You already are pretty funny, maya.

 

[maya]

You already are pretty funny, maya.

 

[Orang Utan]

Well you make me laugh!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Director's Series, Michel Gondry (again)


Michel Gondry is god. I love the way he allies sheer depth and power of intellect, sheer quality and novelty of ideas, with sheer fun. I mean Chris Cunningham's amazing all that too, but I get tired of the darkness. It's easier to be original if you're dark, but to make stuff that's fun yet still has intensity is a harder trick to pull off imo.

Here here.

Gondry rules, the other directors pale in comparisson. Jones is a prick who just tries to come up with poorly executed gimicks and though cunningham is brilliant his dvd is quickly becomes fairly boring.

 

[belboid]

Cecil B Demented again. John Waters is still ace, not a bad film to his name!

Ill Met By Moonlight - Dirk Bogarde kidnaping nazi generals in Crete. Very good, for that kinda thing, intriguing touches of homoeroticism. Mebbe.

 

[belboid]

Jones is a prick who just tries to come up with poorly executed gimicks

what a load of bollocks

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

what a load of bollocks

So you say.

I think he is compleate crap, I don't understand why anyone rates him.

 

[belboid]

whether one likes him or not is obviously a matter of taste. But to say that his works are 'poorly executed' is such a complete load of bollocks, I would have to wonder if you'd seen more than one.

 

[spartacus mills]

I watched 'The Ghastly Ones': the first half of an Andy Milligan double bill. Milligan was an exploitation film maker who made Ed Wood look like Orson Welles.
http://www.horror-wood.com/milligan.htm

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

whether one likes him or not is obviously a matter of taste. But to say that his works are 'poorly executed' is such a complete load of bollocks, I would have to wonder if you'd seen more than one.

I was talking of his music videos actualy in reference to the gondry music vid comp, but I think being john malcovich looks really shit anyway and I haven't seen any other films.

I get the impression that like sofia copla it's the crew that they work with that actualy get anything decent done.

 

[Pete the Greek]

Watched 8-Mile last night, featuring Eminem and Brittany Murphy.

Thought was good. He showed himself to be a good actor. Liked the battle of the rapper scenes, and the depressing portrayal of trailer park life. Good stuff.
Although I felt Brittany's character's presence was pointless to the plot.

Kim Basinger was excellent as the down and out mum though.

 

[belboid]

I was talking of his music videos actualy in reference to the gondry music vid comp, but I think being john malcovich looks really shit anyway and I haven't seen any other films.

so was I, have both of them, and enjoy both immensely (by and large). Hence I am at a loss to see how anyone could say that, say, Buddy Holly or It's Oh So Quiet are 'poorly executed' is beyond me.

 

[Velouria]

Last night I was watching, thanks to the miracle of Internet and lots of bandwidth, this:

Takin' Over the Asylum

**Please note the sound is slightly out of synch on some episodes due to technical problems.**

First broadcast on BBC2 - January 1994

Ken Stott plays Eddie McKenna, a double-glazing salesman who moonlights as a DJ for hospital radio in a Scottish mental asylum - St Judes.

He nurtures close friendships with the patients there including Francine, a self-harmer and Campbell, a manic-depressive, with whom he shares a dream to make it onto the commercial radio scene.

Campbell's inspired antics promise to bring the pair closer to their aim, but the pressures of life outside of the hospital begin to tell on Eddie. A vindictive colleague leads his small-minded boss to ban his activities at 'the looney-bin' and his eccentric grandmother returns suddenly to Lithuania leaving him penniless and alone.

Eddie finds himself drawn to the troubled Francine, but when the radio is threatened with closure it is to another 'wee friend' he turns for comfort. Slowly we watch the roles reverse. As Campbell regains control over his life and courts success, Eddie goes into decline and is finally forced to face his own illness - alcoholism.

With black humour this drama deals perceptively with the issues surrounding mental health and the prejudices faced by sufferers.

Ken Stott - Eddie McKenna
Katy Murphy – Francine
David Tennant - Campbell McBain
Angus McFadyen - Fergus
Ruth McCabe - Rosalie
Elizabeth Spriggs - Eddie's Grandmother
Spike Milligan - Himself

Story & cast info found at:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-20442/
​

I saw one episode of it in 1994 and missed all the others and regretted it It's great to finally get to see the lot, and it is a good series

I don't know actually even tho it says BBC2, if it was transmitted nation-wide or was Scotland-only...

 

[shoddysolutions]

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

A gentle, exqisitely crafted comedy in the Chaplin/Keaton tradition. Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot takes a week's vacation at a pleasant seaside hotel ... and that's it.

8/10

 

[shoddysolutions]

Michel Gondry is god

That Kylie video. Best walk around the block of all time, ever.

 

[sorearm]

Boys don't cry on DVD - not seen it before... fucking powerful, was really shocked and moved by it actually.

24 Party People ... class! Tony Wilson is a CUNT!

... got La Femme Nikita (the original! not the crappy glossy remake) to watch this week!

 

[belboid]

started with Rude Boy. I'd forgotten how really jolly bad the actual 'story' is. Decent gig footage tho.

Then there were the selection of extra's from my Powell & Pressburger DVD's - original trailers, a couple of short documentaries (Red Shoes one was quite good), two short films that were 'practise' for RS and Tales of Hoffmann and a fascinating interview with George A Romero on how ToH was the film that influenced him most - it's an opera for gawds sake!

Then wound the evening off with Rings 1 & 2. Both surprisingly good, 1 had far more tension, suspense and creepiness, but 2 managed to maintain the horror (the horror) pretty well.

 

[SonOfGoatboy]

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

A gentle, exqisitely crafted comedy in the Chaplin/Keaton tradition. Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot takes a week's vacation at a pleasant seaside hotel ... and that's it.

8/10

8/10? This is my favourite comedy of all time. True classic.

Last night I watched Versus, a japanese teen zombie movie. Was pretty stoned; didn't make much sense.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Then wound the evening off with Rings 1 & 2. Both surprisingly good, 1 had far more tension, suspense and creepiness, but 2 managed to maintain the horror (the horror) pretty well.

bad remakes make me cry

 

[belboid]

haven't seen either of the japanese versions of R2, neither of them sounbded that great to me, tbh. R1 was surprisingly well done tho, didn't manage the spookiness of the original, but maintained the tension well I thought. Was quite suprised.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

the japanese ring 2 was so so a decent horror but not a patch on the first and i never did see rin 0 thouh i do really want to

 

[foamy]

Rabbit Proof Fence.... enjoyed it but wasn't blown away by it.

the true story it is based on is amazing though