What was the last movie you watched?
- Thread starter jamesblakefan#1
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Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
Detective Pikachu (6/10)
They are adorable wee creatures but I was bored for a good part of it.
They are adorable wee creatures but I was bored for a good part of it.
thehustler
Semi-Pro
John Wick 3. Awesome. Amazing how packed the theater was for a very violent R rated movie a week after it came out. I learned about how you can die by a book and how you can also not die in some strange ways. Very enjoyable.
Capulin Zurdo
Hall of Fame
One of my most favorites, it's amazing. Absolutely amazing.
hoodjem
G.O.A.T.
Seen Avengers: Endgame three times. The first time I went for the story and the plot. The second time I went to spot references and easter eggs.
This most recent time, I concentrated on the acting and what it did for the characters and their relationships.
It's about love, friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, and heroism--with some cosmic battles and universal consequences thrown in.
This most recent time, I concentrated on the acting and what it did for the characters and their relationships.
It's about love, friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, and heroism--with some cosmic battles and universal consequences thrown in.
TennisHound
Legend
All the Devils Men, with Mel Gibson’s son. Ehh, it was oki, not great
The Green Mile
Bionic Poster
The Man who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot.
Average, title sounds like it's going to some sort of parody film, ends up taking itself serious. Interesting elements, boring execution. Sam Elliot was awesome as usual though
Average, title sounds like it's going to some sort of parody film, ends up taking itself serious. Interesting elements, boring execution. Sam Elliot was awesome as usual though
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
I never would guess that someone with Laver as their avatar would see Avengers three times
hoodjem
G.O.A.T.
Why, thank you!I never would guess that someone with Laver as their avatar would see Avengers three times
Sysyphus
Talk Tennis Guru
Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003), un film d'animation franco-belgo-québécois. Tells the story of Madame Souza, and elderly lady who goes on a quest to rescue her grandson Champion, a Tour de France cyclist, who has been kidnapped by the French mafia for gambling purposes and taken to the city of Belleville. She brings along Champion's obese but loyal dogs and teams up a group of music hall singers, the Triplets of Belleville. Charming, droll, odd, burlesque even. The animations are creative and different, and nothing is really in proportion with reality.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
Always be my maybe 8/10
''Always Be My Maybe is a 2019 American romantic comedy film, written by Ali Wong, Randall Park and Michael Golamco and directed by Nahnatchka Khan. It stars Wong and Park as childhood friends from San Francisco who have not been in touch since a brief teenaged fling ended badly.''
Been a while since I've watched an ol romcom. This was hilarious. Some tennis moments. We have tennis balls and goats in a world where nobody watches tennis. Keanu Reeves cameo as himself is as excellent as you would expect it to be. Two thumbs up.
''Always Be My Maybe is a 2019 American romantic comedy film, written by Ali Wong, Randall Park and Michael Golamco and directed by Nahnatchka Khan. It stars Wong and Park as childhood friends from San Francisco who have not been in touch since a brief teenaged fling ended badly.''
Been a while since I've watched an ol romcom. This was hilarious. Some tennis moments. We have tennis balls and goats in a world where nobody watches tennis. Keanu Reeves cameo as himself is as excellent as you would expect it to be. Two thumbs up.
NonP
Legend
So I was invited to a group convo (courtesy of @AnOctorokForDinner) just last week... and turns out my very first contribution had to do with the movies! (You can thank/blame @helterskelter for that.) And it also happened to list some of the must-sees of 2019 (year of DC release, hence the inclusion of Cold War and The Image Book) that I've been able to catch thus far (so potential contenders including László Nemes' Sunset and Claire Denis' High Life are omitted). Here they are, in order of preference (though a critical ranking wouldn't look much different), accompanied by a capsule review or a link to an existing one:
Transit by Christian Petzold
Cold War directed by Paweł Pawlikowski
The Sower by Marine Francen
Leto by Kirill Serebrennikov
Ash Is Purest White by Jia Zhangke
The Image Book by Jean-Luc Godard
The Burial of Kojo by Blitz Bazawule
Working Woman by Michal Aviad
Long Day's Journey into Night by Bi Gan
I admit I'm cheating a bit with Leto which I was fortunate to see last Christmas (in Seoul of all places), but now that it's finally getting a US release starting this past Friday (not yet in my hood, alas) I'm spreading the word so more of you can bask in its sonic assault with fellow moviegoers.
On to the reviews:
You asked for a new recommendation, I give you Christian Petzold's Transit starring - drum roll - Franz Rogowski of In the Aisles (and the ubiquitous Paula Beer):
I must confess this was my very first encounter with the German auteur, but no matter - based on this film alone I'm ready to declare him a major figure of European cinema. It's remarkable how much mileage he gets out of Anna Seghers’s 1942 novel: the lines blur as the characters' social and temporal displacements turn existential and back, and though the film's ambiguous setting seems to evoke a distant if familiar past it also exposes the alienating facets of law and technology more forcefully than most films of more recent vintage. Easily one of the year's best, and I'm itching to explore the rest of his oeuvre.
P.S. After a long hiatus from the DC film scene Transit is now playing at the lovely Avalon Theatre. Don't miss this chance if you live nearby or happen to be visiting, and if not check your local listings.
It's hard to improve upon Giles Harvey's comprehensive review in Harper's, so let me just comment on one angle he might have overlooked: the richness of the film and its title is such that Pawlikowski might have taken a cue, however inadvertent, from the warfare of the heart in Laclos' masterpiece Dangerous Liaisons. The comparison would usually inspire instant howling, but not in this case. Hell, one could even argue that both suffer from the rare affliction of undue brevity.
As for the rest, I'm afraid Ash Is Purest White is not Jia's most masterful (among those I've seen I'd go with The World) and its parts are greater than their sum, especially when Transit beats it at its own game, but it's still good to see his ambitions unabated and I wish he will revisit his mythical environmentalism in a new feature. No such qualifications are necessary for lead actors Zhao Tao (Jia's off-screen wife and longtime collaborator) and Liao Fan, who are respectively flawless as the resilient heroine Zhao Qiao and her mousy boyfriend Guo Bin whose fall from street-justice grace propels the major plot turns:
With all due respect to Hou Hsiao-hsien, and despite my deep-seated reservations, I don't think it's arguable that Godard is the greatest filmmaker active today. Of course respect doesn't necessarily engender love, and the former again wins out in my appreciation of The Image Book which occasionally borders on obscurantist navel-gazing (Godard's own gravelly narration doesn't help). And while he's always been given to bursts of melancholy at the state of the world his swipes at cinema at large for its dereliction of responsibilities are out of step with the obvious love he retains for its greatest examples even as he attempts to distance himself with dizzying montages of dissociative alterations of said classics. Still a new Godard film is almost always a cause for celebration (the only work of his I've seen that didn't do anything for me is For Ever Mozart), and I invite all to see for themselves in their living room with speakers at a distance, as Godard meant it to be seen:
Blitz Bazawule's The Burial of Kojo, available on Netflix, is an exciting debut feature by the 37-year-old hip-hop and visual artist who has clearly not forgotten his Ghanaian roots despite having resided in the US since 2001 (the film is mostly told in Twi, with smatterings of English in between). Part magic realism, part Romeo and Juliet (which reminds me of Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's The River Between, one of my few positive experiences in college), the film disappoints in its pat ending which dilutes its heartfelt critique of neoliberalism and neocolonialism, but this is a promising start by a young artist in his element. Let's hope he keeps on an even keel when Hollywood inevitably comes knocking:
#MeToo has its most bracing on-screen champion of the year in Working Woman, and Aviad is particularly perceptive in illustrating the folly and cruelty of discrediting women who "don't come forward" right away. Where the film falters is in the title heroine Orna's (Liron Ben Shlush) relationship with her chef husband Ofer (Oshri Cohen), which is mostly one cliche of man vs. woman after another. And this is decidedly a middle-class business world, with high-end clients to boot. But the focus is rightfully on the working woman everywhere, and as such it deserves a look:
Bi Gan's Long Day's Journey into Night (unrelated and clearly inferior to the 1956 Eugene O'Neill play of the same title) is my least favorite "must-see" of the year, and its troubles become evident early on when its hero Luo Hongwu (Huang Jue) muses in voiceover that films are always fake whereas memories are made of truth and lies, which almost stuns in its banality but seems to have been taken seriously by enough critics to have turned this into an indisputable arthouse hit (posting an impressive three-week gross of $41 million in China). And I'm still not sure if the film's much-hyped final sequence, an unbroken 59-minute long take, would've lost much if at all without the 3D treatment. That technical feat alone makes this worth seeing, just don't expect a life-changing romance because chances are you've seen it all before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yPt3kQzxa8
And now some housekeeping:
Given that the original Gloria is arguably one of the best films of the century I was really surprised at how tame the remake was. I was still ready to give Lelio the benefit of the doubt as Disobedience, while a disappointing follow-up to A Fantastic Woman, had its moments and drew strong performances all around, but it does look like he's become too enamored with Hollywood. Hopefully this setback (at least at the box office) will make him rethink his career trajectory.
Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but I must say the Avengers bored me for the most part. I generally skip superhero movies and when I do go see 'em I'm acting less as an active spectator than as an anthropologist of sorts who's interested to find out what the fuss is about. But even I can appreciate the salubrious (if too reductive for adults) messaging and entertainment value of a Wonder Woman or Black Panther. Not here, and its climatic battle struck me as indiscriminate fan service to the max.
Transit by Christian Petzold
Cold War directed by Paweł Pawlikowski
The Sower by Marine Francen
Leto by Kirill Serebrennikov
Ash Is Purest White by Jia Zhangke
The Image Book by Jean-Luc Godard
The Burial of Kojo by Blitz Bazawule
Working Woman by Michal Aviad
Long Day's Journey into Night by Bi Gan
I admit I'm cheating a bit with Leto which I was fortunate to see last Christmas (in Seoul of all places), but now that it's finally getting a US release starting this past Friday (not yet in my hood, alas) I'm spreading the word so more of you can bask in its sonic assault with fellow moviegoers.
On to the reviews:
You asked for a new recommendation, I give you Christian Petzold's Transit starring - drum roll - Franz Rogowski of In the Aisles (and the ubiquitous Paula Beer):
I must confess this was my very first encounter with the German auteur, but no matter - based on this film alone I'm ready to declare him a major figure of European cinema. It's remarkable how much mileage he gets out of Anna Seghers’s 1942 novel: the lines blur as the characters' social and temporal displacements turn existential and back, and though the film's ambiguous setting seems to evoke a distant if familiar past it also exposes the alienating facets of law and technology more forcefully than most films of more recent vintage. Easily one of the year's best, and I'm itching to explore the rest of his oeuvre.
P.S. After a long hiatus from the DC film scene Transit is now playing at the lovely Avalon Theatre. Don't miss this chance if you live nearby or happen to be visiting, and if not check your local listings.
It's hard to improve upon Giles Harvey's comprehensive review in Harper's, so let me just comment on one angle he might have overlooked: the richness of the film and its title is such that Pawlikowski might have taken a cue, however inadvertent, from the warfare of the heart in Laclos' masterpiece Dangerous Liaisons. The comparison would usually inspire instant howling, but not in this case. Hell, one could even argue that both suffer from the rare affliction of undue brevity.
As for the rest, I'm afraid Ash Is Purest White is not Jia's most masterful (among those I've seen I'd go with The World) and its parts are greater than their sum, especially when Transit beats it at its own game, but it's still good to see his ambitions unabated and I wish he will revisit his mythical environmentalism in a new feature. No such qualifications are necessary for lead actors Zhao Tao (Jia's off-screen wife and longtime collaborator) and Liao Fan, who are respectively flawless as the resilient heroine Zhao Qiao and her mousy boyfriend Guo Bin whose fall from street-justice grace propels the major plot turns:
With all due respect to Hou Hsiao-hsien, and despite my deep-seated reservations, I don't think it's arguable that Godard is the greatest filmmaker active today. Of course respect doesn't necessarily engender love, and the former again wins out in my appreciation of The Image Book which occasionally borders on obscurantist navel-gazing (Godard's own gravelly narration doesn't help). And while he's always been given to bursts of melancholy at the state of the world his swipes at cinema at large for its dereliction of responsibilities are out of step with the obvious love he retains for its greatest examples even as he attempts to distance himself with dizzying montages of dissociative alterations of said classics. Still a new Godard film is almost always a cause for celebration (the only work of his I've seen that didn't do anything for me is For Ever Mozart), and I invite all to see for themselves in their living room with speakers at a distance, as Godard meant it to be seen:
Blitz Bazawule's The Burial of Kojo, available on Netflix, is an exciting debut feature by the 37-year-old hip-hop and visual artist who has clearly not forgotten his Ghanaian roots despite having resided in the US since 2001 (the film is mostly told in Twi, with smatterings of English in between). Part magic realism, part Romeo and Juliet (which reminds me of Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's The River Between, one of my few positive experiences in college), the film disappoints in its pat ending which dilutes its heartfelt critique of neoliberalism and neocolonialism, but this is a promising start by a young artist in his element. Let's hope he keeps on an even keel when Hollywood inevitably comes knocking:
#MeToo has its most bracing on-screen champion of the year in Working Woman, and Aviad is particularly perceptive in illustrating the folly and cruelty of discrediting women who "don't come forward" right away. Where the film falters is in the title heroine Orna's (Liron Ben Shlush) relationship with her chef husband Ofer (Oshri Cohen), which is mostly one cliche of man vs. woman after another. And this is decidedly a middle-class business world, with high-end clients to boot. But the focus is rightfully on the working woman everywhere, and as such it deserves a look:
Bi Gan's Long Day's Journey into Night (unrelated and clearly inferior to the 1956 Eugene O'Neill play of the same title) is my least favorite "must-see" of the year, and its troubles become evident early on when its hero Luo Hongwu (Huang Jue) muses in voiceover that films are always fake whereas memories are made of truth and lies, which almost stuns in its banality but seems to have been taken seriously by enough critics to have turned this into an indisputable arthouse hit (posting an impressive three-week gross of $41 million in China). And I'm still not sure if the film's much-hyped final sequence, an unbroken 59-minute long take, would've lost much if at all without the 3D treatment. That technical feat alone makes this worth seeing, just don't expect a life-changing romance because chances are you've seen it all before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yPt3kQzxa8
And now some housekeeping:
Given that the original Gloria is arguably one of the best films of the century I was really surprised at how tame the remake was. I was still ready to give Lelio the benefit of the doubt as Disobedience, while a disappointing follow-up to A Fantastic Woman, had its moments and drew strong performances all around, but it does look like he's become too enamored with Hollywood. Hopefully this setback (at least at the box office) will make him rethink his career trajectory.
Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but I must say the Avengers bored me for the most part. I generally skip superhero movies and when I do go see 'em I'm acting less as an active spectator than as an anthropologist of sorts who's interested to find out what the fuss is about. But even I can appreciate the salubrious (if too reductive for adults) messaging and entertainment value of a Wonder Woman or Black Panther. Not here, and its climatic battle struck me as indiscriminate fan service to the max.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) - doris_day, rod_taylor, arthur_godfrey, john_mcgiver
Soso romantic comedy. Needed a light movie.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0060463/
Soso romantic comedy. Needed a light movie.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0060463/
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
What Maisie Knew (2012)
Director: Scott_McGehee, David_Siegel.
Starring:. Julianne_Moore, Steve_Coogan, Alexander_Skarsgård, Joanna_Vanderham.
https://imdb.com/title/tt1932767/
Director: Scott_McGehee, David_Siegel.
Starring:. Julianne_Moore, Steve_Coogan, Alexander_Skarsgård, Joanna_Vanderham.
https://imdb.com/title/tt1932767/
thanks for the recommendation. nice movie. Mum liked it.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Wow thanks Senti, this is a pleasant surprise. I did not know that you planned on showing this. So how does it work? Do you take movies that people watch here, you watch it yourself and then show her?
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
No, i don't first watch it, but I do check the story line, and sometimes check IMDB to see the parent advisory. I might even go through the subtitles to see if there isn't too much language.
My mum was very touched by the girls plight, then after the movie she started reminiscing about her childhood and how innocent they were back then. No one back then was concerned about child abuse, and children often got left with strangers. She has often told me of all the cases she saw in parks and in the neighbourhood, people who fondled children and the children did not know what was going on.
She was also wondering how Child Services did not get involved, but then figured that this was based on a 1897 novel. I was actually waiting for Child Services to take the child away and was relieved it did not happen.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Yes the movie is based on a novel. Child abuse is still rampant unfortunately. In this case it was pure selfishness on the parents' part. I don't understand why people have children when they are not mentally prepared to take on the responsibility of rearing a child. It was at least a solace to see that the partners of the child's parents often gave a lot more attention to the child. The most touching scene for me was when the child is uncared for, for a whole night and a drop of tear falls on the child's cheeks. The child knew more than what the parents thought she did. Poignant.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)
Director: Pat_O'Connor.
Starring:. Gerard_McSorley, Meryl_Streep, Michael_Gambon, Catherine_McCormack.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0120643/
Interesting movie about five unmarried sisters around 1936, one child, and old brother who returns from Africa.
Director: Pat_O'Connor.
Starring:. Gerard_McSorley, Meryl_Streep, Michael_Gambon, Catherine_McCormack.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0120643/
Interesting movie about five unmarried sisters around 1936, one child, and old brother who returns from Africa.
ollinger
G.O.A.T.
"The Dead Don't Die"
In theatres presently. The reviews weren't promising but you'd think with a solid cast (Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, and more) and top notch writer/director (Jarmusch), it would be worthwhile. It wasn't.
In theatres presently. The reviews weren't promising but you'd think with a solid cast (Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, and more) and top notch writer/director (Jarmusch), it would be worthwhile. It wasn't.
Sysyphus
Talk Tennis Guru
Watched Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979). I can't help but find it terrific. There are some indelible shots, and no one can match the boundless surplus of wit that permeates the dialogue. Some very good acting performances as well, the interplay between Diane Keaton and Allen is obviously the stuff of legend.
That said, in the age of MeToo it's hard to not feel a bit uncomfortable with the way Allen treats the relationship between his character and a 17-year-old girl (portrayed by Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernie). Allen's usual mode of scrutinizing ethical complexities is hardly applied to this part of the story. What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? asks Claire Dederer about said unease. For me, it doesn't deter me from enjoying the film for its artistic merits, but I can understand how some others aren't able to compartmentalize that way.
Another one I watched was Agnès Jaoui's Place publique (2018). Some celebrities and pals hold a chaotic moving-in party in the countryside outside of Paris. It all amounts to a critique of the foibles of the French bourgeoisie. Bit too much (or too tame?) farce for my taste, but the film certainly has its moments.
That said, in the age of MeToo it's hard to not feel a bit uncomfortable with the way Allen treats the relationship between his character and a 17-year-old girl (portrayed by Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernie). Allen's usual mode of scrutinizing ethical complexities is hardly applied to this part of the story. What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? asks Claire Dederer about said unease. For me, it doesn't deter me from enjoying the film for its artistic merits, but I can understand how some others aren't able to compartmentalize that way.
Another one I watched was Agnès Jaoui's Place publique (2018). Some celebrities and pals hold a chaotic moving-in party in the countryside outside of Paris. It all amounts to a critique of the foibles of the French bourgeoisie. Bit too much (or too tame?) farce for my taste, but the film certainly has its moments.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Manhattan is hands down my favourite Woody Allen movie. Hilarious dialogues.Watched Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979). I can't help but find it terrific. There are some indelible shots, and no one can match the boundless surplus of wit that permeates the dialogue. Some very good acting performances as well, the interplay between Diane Keaton and Allen is obviously the stuff of legend.
That said, in the age of MeToo it's hard to not feel a bit uncomfortable with the way Allen treats the relationship between his character and a 17-year-old girl (portrayed by Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernie). Allen's usual mode of scrutinizing ethical complexities is hardly applied to this part of the story. What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? asks Claire Dederer about said unease. For me, it doesn't deter me from enjoying the film for its artistic merits, but I can understand how some others aren't able to compartmentalize that way.
Another one I watched was Agnès Jaoui's Place publique (2018). Some celebrities and pals hold a chaotic moving-in party in the countryside outside of Paris. It all amounts to a critique of the foibles of the French bourgeoisie. Bit too much (or too tame?) farce for my taste, but the film certainly has its moments.
Your point is interesting and something I incidentally contemplated when reading about Simone de Beauvoir yesterday. What's the legal age for consensus in France? What is it in US? I felt the same when watching Manhattan too and clearly its an abuse of power by the older man.
Sysyphus
Talk Tennis Guru
Interesting, in what context did the topic arise w/r/t Beauvoir?
I think the age of consent in the US varies from state to state, but in NY the age of consent is supposedly precisely 17, then as now. But it's a tricky law in terms of finding a balance between not criminalizing perfectly normal relationships (for example one partner being 16 & the other 17?) but still discouraging more obviously problematic relations.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
I am reading her autobiography at the moment. I read about her on wiki and other places and realised that she was once in a scandal:
From wiki:
Former student Bianca Lamblin (originally Bianca Bienenfeld) wrote in her book Mémoires d'une jeune fille dérangée (English: Memoirs of a Disturbed Young Lady), that, while she was a student at Lycée Molière, she had been sexually exploited by her teacher de Beauvoir, who was in her 30s at the time.[27] In 1943, de Beauvoir was suspended from her teaching job, due to an accusation that she had seduced her 17-year-old lycée pupil Natalie Sorokine in 1939.[28]
I then understand that she fought for lowering the age of consensus later as well. Some youngsters are quite mature even at 17 (case in point, the current president of France!) - these are very thin lines and often its the parents who panic.
Harry_Wild
G.O.A.T.
NonP
Legend
I'd all but written out lengthy rants against these two films I saw in the last week or so (Denys Arcand's The Fall of the American Empire and Rodrigo Sorogoyen's The Realm, if you care to know), but I didn't expect my computer to crash and was foolish enough to rely on this forum's auto-save. Since I've no inclination to try to replicate walls of text about empty arthouse films masquerading as timely social critiques (and also because I'm feeling high myself following the Raptors' win and parade) let's talk about a few veritable masterpieces (and a recently departed giant of the French New Wave) that I do like.
This trio (Cukor/Judy's A Star Is Born, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Stalker) would most likely show up somewhere on my top 100 all-time faves, if I ever got around to putting together such a list. Just a couple comments:
- I find it remarkable that Cukor to this day tends to be left out of most discussions of the greatest American filmmakers (let alone the greatest filmmakers period), and the only plausible reason I can think of is his well-earned reputation as a "woman's director." Now it's true that his best works (ASIB and Sylvia Scarlett in my book, or at least among those I've seen) generally involves female empowerment feeding off female narcissism and vice versa as portrayed by A-list Hollywood actresses, but there's always a crack in the facade of ethereal, inscrutable femininity: Judy Garland's Vicki Lester is an unconventionally attractive heroine whose marriage never gets off the ground to even approach the honeymoon phase of bliss, while Sylvia (Katharine Hepburn)'s constant drag makes it dicey to describe the film in gender-binary terms. Of course it's this very gender ambiguity which guaranteed the latter film would be a flop both with the press and with the public, and the director's continued underappreciation even among cineastes strongly suggests that we have yet to catch up with him.
- Legrand's score for Cherbourg is justly celebrated, but he saved his best for The Young Girls of Rochefort, the next great Demy musical and another desert-island film of mine. There are few things in life that make me wanna get up and dance like the famous "Chanson des jumelles" ("A Pair of Twins" - a better-Q vid here if you can do without the English subs), "performed" by Catherine Deneuve and her real-life sis Françoise Dorléacby (who sadly died in a car accident just three months after the film's release):
And FYI Demy is generally considered to have made five masterpieces: his debut feature Lola, Bay of Angels, Chebourg, Rochefort and Une Chambre en ville. Personally I've never been sold on Bay and Chambre (an updated Carmen in working-class Nantes works better in theory than in practice), but they're all must-sees that can be acquired in one convenient Criterion box set (one of the few titles in my relatively scanty Blu-ray/DVD collection), at least for US and Canadian viewers.
- Tarkovsky ranks among my top 10 if not top 5 of all great filmmakers, but there's no escaping the conclusion that Nostalghia is probably his weakest feature. His deep-seated misogyny rears its ugly head here, and though his first work in exile despite its occasional pretensions remains a marvel of pure filmmaking I don't see how one can prefer it to such masterworks as Andrei Rublev (and I don't even like this much!), Solaris, Mirror and Stalker.
Since I missed the chance to post anything of note following Varda's death in March from a long bout with cancer let me just comment briefly on this and several other notable films from her oeuvre. The title of Cléo from 5 to 7 isn't a mere pun - its total running time is 90 minutes - but also a distilled meditation on mortality (the heroine is possibly waiting for a diagnosis of, yup, cancer) and the lot of women in an unforgiving world. Without question the major entry in the French New Wave by a woman, and probably Varda's best:
It's closely followed by Vagabond, in many ways an even more daring work than Cléo that finds the director at her most polemical, and The Gleaners and I, a lovely documentary about harvesting the extraordinary out of the ordinary which struck a chord with perhaps the largest ever share of her audience. That same communal generosity of spirit also informs The Beaches of Agnès, a follow-up of sorts to The Gleaners and a predecessor to her recently Oscar-nominated Faces Places, and in fact nearly all of her distinguished filmography where no one is a villain beyond redemption and everyone is invited to face and embrace the constant, countless surprises life has in store for each of us.
Now I'm afraid a thumbs-down is in order:
The now-infamous wooing of a teenage girl by a middle-age male isn't even what's most egregious about Manhattan, which, as has been pointed out by several critics by now, achieves its dreamy atmosphere by nearly wiping out the black and Hispanic populations of real-life Manhattan. It's an indictment of the myopic focus of #MeToo activists and the critical community at large that this aspect of the movie hasn't attracted as much scrutiny and denunciation as its morally ambiguous power dynamics between the sexes that may not be so clear-cut in another time or culture.
Marathon !!!
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964), a musical romantic drama written and directed by Jacques Demy, starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo, with a classic score by Michel Legrand. Set against a stylish and burstingly colorful backdrop, we follow the two star-crossed young lovers as their bond is tested by chance and circumstance. Well-known tropes, perhaps, but carried out with adroitness. While undoubtedly an homage to the Hollywood musical tradition, Demy's sensibilities are ultimately very much European, and he waves a middle-finger to the illusions of cinema and audiences' romantic expectations. Capital B Bittersweet.
more importantly, how elegant wasn't Catherine Deneuve in this role(powerfully acted as well.)
(a nice piece on the ambiguous role of the music score in the film's notorious final scene.
https://film.avclub.com/is-the-umbrellas-of-cherbourg-s-score-at-odds-with-its-1798242550)
edit: another nice homage from A.O. Scott:
This trio (Cukor/Judy's A Star Is Born, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Stalker) would most likely show up somewhere on my top 100 all-time faves, if I ever got around to putting together such a list. Just a couple comments:
- I find it remarkable that Cukor to this day tends to be left out of most discussions of the greatest American filmmakers (let alone the greatest filmmakers period), and the only plausible reason I can think of is his well-earned reputation as a "woman's director." Now it's true that his best works (ASIB and Sylvia Scarlett in my book, or at least among those I've seen) generally involves female empowerment feeding off female narcissism and vice versa as portrayed by A-list Hollywood actresses, but there's always a crack in the facade of ethereal, inscrutable femininity: Judy Garland's Vicki Lester is an unconventionally attractive heroine whose marriage never gets off the ground to even approach the honeymoon phase of bliss, while Sylvia (Katharine Hepburn)'s constant drag makes it dicey to describe the film in gender-binary terms. Of course it's this very gender ambiguity which guaranteed the latter film would be a flop both with the press and with the public, and the director's continued underappreciation even among cineastes strongly suggests that we have yet to catch up with him.
- Legrand's score for Cherbourg is justly celebrated, but he saved his best for The Young Girls of Rochefort, the next great Demy musical and another desert-island film of mine. There are few things in life that make me wanna get up and dance like the famous "Chanson des jumelles" ("A Pair of Twins" - a better-Q vid here if you can do without the English subs), "performed" by Catherine Deneuve and her real-life sis Françoise Dorléacby (who sadly died in a car accident just three months after the film's release):
And FYI Demy is generally considered to have made five masterpieces: his debut feature Lola, Bay of Angels, Chebourg, Rochefort and Une Chambre en ville. Personally I've never been sold on Bay and Chambre (an updated Carmen in working-class Nantes works better in theory than in practice), but they're all must-sees that can be acquired in one convenient Criterion box set (one of the few titles in my relatively scanty Blu-ray/DVD collection), at least for US and Canadian viewers.
- Tarkovsky ranks among my top 10 if not top 5 of all great filmmakers, but there's no escaping the conclusion that Nostalghia is probably his weakest feature. His deep-seated misogyny rears its ugly head here, and though his first work in exile despite its occasional pretensions remains a marvel of pure filmmaking I don't see how one can prefer it to such masterworks as Andrei Rublev (and I don't even like this much!), Solaris, Mirror and Stalker.
Since I missed the chance to post anything of note following Varda's death in March from a long bout with cancer let me just comment briefly on this and several other notable films from her oeuvre. The title of Cléo from 5 to 7 isn't a mere pun - its total running time is 90 minutes - but also a distilled meditation on mortality (the heroine is possibly waiting for a diagnosis of, yup, cancer) and the lot of women in an unforgiving world. Without question the major entry in the French New Wave by a woman, and probably Varda's best:
It's closely followed by Vagabond, in many ways an even more daring work than Cléo that finds the director at her most polemical, and The Gleaners and I, a lovely documentary about harvesting the extraordinary out of the ordinary which struck a chord with perhaps the largest ever share of her audience. That same communal generosity of spirit also informs The Beaches of Agnès, a follow-up of sorts to The Gleaners and a predecessor to her recently Oscar-nominated Faces Places, and in fact nearly all of her distinguished filmography where no one is a villain beyond redemption and everyone is invited to face and embrace the constant, countless surprises life has in store for each of us.
Now I'm afraid a thumbs-down is in order:
Watched Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979). I can't help but find it terrific. There are some indelible shots, and no one can match the boundless surplus of wit that permeates the dialogue. Some very good acting performances as well, the interplay between Diane Keaton and Allen is obviously the stuff of legend.
That said, in the age of MeToo it's hard to not feel a bit uncomfortable with the way Allen treats the relationship between his character and a 17-year-old girl (portrayed by Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernie). Allen's usual mode of scrutinizing ethical complexities is hardly applied to this part of the story. What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? asks Claire Dederer about said unease. For me, it doesn't deter me from enjoying the film for its artistic merits, but I can understand how some others aren't able to compartmentalize that way.
The now-infamous wooing of a teenage girl by a middle-age male isn't even what's most egregious about Manhattan, which, as has been pointed out by several critics by now, achieves its dreamy atmosphere by nearly wiping out the black and Hispanic populations of real-life Manhattan. It's an indictment of the myopic focus of #MeToo activists and the critical community at large that this aspect of the movie hasn't attracted as much scrutiny and denunciation as its morally ambiguous power dynamics between the sexes that may not be so clear-cut in another time or culture.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Finished The Prisoner of Second Avenue last night.
Funny movie. Had a short appearance by Sylvester Stallone whom Jack chases and jumps.
Jack loses his job and has a nervous breakdown. He drives his wife nuts. Only negative to the movie is that everyone is screaming at everyone.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
The Black Stallion (1979)
Enjoyed this movie, especially the first half. Mickey Rooney as a trainer.
Director: Carroll_Ballard.
Starring: Kelly_Reno, Mickey_Rooney, Teri_Garr, Clarence_Muse.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0078872/
Enjoyed this movie, especially the first half. Mickey Rooney as a trainer.
Director: Carroll_Ballard.
Starring: Kelly_Reno, Mickey_Rooney, Teri_Garr, Clarence_Muse.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0078872/
acintya
Legend
thanks for this quality reply - I will watch Transit today! You seem to know a lot about good movies.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
Pretty interesting movie about a child who is kidnapped and then found many years later, and how the two families and the kids deal with it.
Director: Ulu_Grosbard.
Starring:. Michelle_Pfeiffer, Treat_Williams, Whoopi_Goldberg, Jonathan_Jackson.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0120646/
Pretty interesting movie about a child who is kidnapped and then found many years later, and how the two families and the kids deal with it.
Director: Ulu_Grosbard.
Starring:. Michelle_Pfeiffer, Treat_Williams, Whoopi_Goldberg, Jonathan_Jackson.
https://imdb.com/title/tt0120646/
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Mommy by Xavier Dolan
A touching story of a troubled boy and his mother.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3612616/
Dolan is surely a prodigy. I look forward to watching other movies of his.
On a side note, Canadian French so different from European French!
A touching story of a troubled boy and his mother.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3612616/
Dolan is surely a prodigy. I look forward to watching other movies of his.
On a side note, Canadian French so different from European French!
acintya
Legend
Franz Rogowski is such a great actor - superb
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4453291/?ref_=tt_cl_t2
tnx @NonP
guys this will be a great movie:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5827916/
you can tell it by the cover alone:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4453291/?ref_=tt_cl_t2
tnx @NonP
guys this will be a great movie:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5827916/
you can tell it by the cover alone:
Steady Eddy
Legend
Ordinary People, a 1980 movie. Sons in a well-off family have a boating accident, one lives, one dies. The family struggles to deal with the aftermath.
I'd seen it before, and would have described it as being about how a well functioning family tries to cope with a tragedy. Now I'd say that the tragedy doesn't so much cause trouble, as it reveals what has already been there. The trophy wife married the nerdy guy because she knew he'd bring home lots of money. As long as he makes money, and everyone does what they're supposed to do, she's down with the family. But if some turbulence comes along, she's like, "I didn't sign up for this, I'm outta here."
The boating tragedy creates a distraction which allows people to miss what it's really about, which is about class and money in America.
I'd seen it before, and would have described it as being about how a well functioning family tries to cope with a tragedy. Now I'd say that the tragedy doesn't so much cause trouble, as it reveals what has already been there. The trophy wife married the nerdy guy because she knew he'd bring home lots of money. As long as he makes money, and everyone does what they're supposed to do, she's down with the family. But if some turbulence comes along, she's like, "I didn't sign up for this, I'm outta here."
The boating tragedy creates a distraction which allows people to miss what it's really about, which is about class and money in America.
Rafa.the.Magnificent
G.O.A.T.
The remake of Cape Fear, with Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, and Jessica Lange. I’ve long been a fan of the original with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum (who are both also in the remake, as different characters). Well, it was better than I expected, it really was, until about the last twenty minutes when the scenes became Hollywood ridiculous in nature. I mean it was perfectly scary and decently realistic and then bam, they went crazy and ruined it, in my opinion. Oh, well!
Rafa.the.Magnificent
G.O.A.T.
You make me want to see it again, as I find your interpretation interesting! I also saw Ordinary People long, long ago.
Steady Eddy
Legend
I read the book, and what the movie doesn't mention is that the Dad grew up in an orphanage. So he came from nothing, and is very pleased he does so well. The Mom is much more aware of social standing, they are kind of a strange couple. She was the beauty when they met, so what does she see in him? That he'll be a good earner, and that she can control him. He's never much thought about being popular, but she sure has. She loves having the image of the woman who's "got it all".
Her son's suicidal tendencies don't concern her, they just piiss her off because it makes her look bad. At the end of the movie, the Dad realizes that she doesn't love him anymore, and that she probably never did. Look at this scene. Poor kid, at first I thought she'd discovered that he was burying bodies in the backyard. Actually, it was only that he'd quit the swim team. Big deal. Notice how she has NO interest in how he's doing.
Rafa.the.Magnificent
G.O.A.T.
Yes, she is quite cold!
Always be my maybe 8/10
''Always Be My Maybe is a 2019 American romantic comedy film, written by Ali Wong, Randall Park and Michael Golamco and directed by Nahnatchka Khan. It stars Wong and Park as childhood friends from San Francisco who have not been in touch since a brief teenaged fling ended badly.''
Been a while since I've watched an ol romcom. This was hilarious. Some tennis moments. We have tennis balls and goats in a world where nobody watches tennis. Keanu Reeves cameo as himself is as excellent as you would expect it to be. Two thumbs up.
This is a very funny movie
The TV wasn’t on, that was your reflection.
Lleytonstation
Bionic Poster
Just finished Generation War. Great 3 part movie series about German friends during WW2. You usually dont get to see the war from that point of view.
Then to stay with the same genre, I went and saw Toy Story 4... actually was pretty good.
Then to stay with the same genre, I went and saw Toy Story 4... actually was pretty good.
The funniest part of this movie is Billy’s translation of the phrase “major sh!tstorm”
.......... makes me laugh each time
