What was the last movie you watched?
- Thread starter jamesblakefan#1
- Start date
stringertom
Bionic Poster
No, I needed your description here. Are cinemas still restricted in Foggy Town?
Azure
G.O.A.T.
I so want to watch it. Huge Craig fan here! Lea Seydoux as usual, I am not surprised to hear good things once again- need to catch it some time soon
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Hope you have the 4DX Motion option. If so, grab a seat and hold on!
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
So does Saboosh.
Looks like you have a date.
Tip: you'd better carry money for the popcorn and coke, and not expect to be picked up. You'll have to ignore the munching sounds from the next seat
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Lol you really don’t think Saboosh AND anyone can possibly fit in one cinema hall?
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Azure
G.O.A.T.
This makes me actually question whether Saboosh ever took his better quarter to the movies!Oh that's a technicality that completely slipped my mind.
Saw wee.
Back to the topic of this thread - Watched Enchanted April last night. I really enjoyed the first half of the movie but the second half was a bit too convenient. Nevertheless it had a small role for one of my fav actors Michael Kitchen andI couldn’t be happier.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
I work in the industry, have film critic friends who work for major publications. and I know many in WGA/DGA etc. They took security around no time to die pretty seriously, it was only showed theatrically to the press at the same time the premiere was held. So your story is interesting…
Mike Bulgakov
G.O.A.T.
"Point Blank" (John Boorman, 1967)
Neo-noir on LSD. Non-linear & disorienting (w/jump-cuts); slow & hypnotic.
Neo-noir on LSD. Non-linear & disorienting (w/jump-cuts); slow & hypnotic.
Dedans Penthouse
Legend
Yes indeed (brunette). And yes, I've see all three of that 'trilogy' (L'Avventura, La Notte & L'Ecllisse) : )She looks really good to me as a brunette. Have you seen "L'Avventura"?
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
I've watched it a few years back. Nowadays just surfing Netflix trying to find something my mum can bear to watch.
We're watching The Talented Mr. Ripley which I've watched in 2014. As yet she's not objected to the violent scenes (2). I skipped over the first one. She remembers Jude Law from The Holiday (a pic she likes, she's watched it on telly a gazillion times).
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Your review, dear sir? Closer to my take than ^^^ ???
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
I just got the bad news before I put the bow tie on, Grandkids (my nieces) needed minding and good ol Mum was the only one available. I didn't complain or anything because my sister continues to help me out so much with various problems.
It has been rearranged for next Monday.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Started Crazy Stupid Love but abandoned it after about 15 minutes. Netflix rates it as 13+ but it is full of stupid innuendos.
Now am watching an Italian movie, My Brother, My Sister about an estranged brother and sister, the sister has a schizophrenic son.
Now am watching an Italian movie, My Brother, My Sister about an estranged brother and sister, the sister has a schizophrenic son.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
I watched Shazam the other night. Review of that is a ''2 hours I'll not get back.''
Yeah, Shazam is rubbish.
Yeah, Shazam is rubbish.
Vcore89
Talk Tennis Guru
Insiders would’ve euphemistically considered: were they encased in plastic jewel cases, sheathed in cardboard or sleeved in thick paper [w/ or w/o flap?]; with warnings of fines and imprisonment for illegal copying, sharing and/or demand to destroy after viewing? Was there a studio screener number to call for inquiries regarding terms of use? Were the discs non-watermarked DVDs or the lesser used but expensive watermarked Blu-rays? Were they delivered by-hand, or DHLed [ha!], UPSed, USPSed, FedExed, TNTed [not in the mailing room dept.?]? Were you aware the industry is trending with streaming screeners, and so on and so forth?
Off-topic,
I was reading a book series under Wiley Publishing on one of the more common calculations done with time values, that is, calculating elapsed time. Interestingly, came across this fun and easy way to achieve total stupidity by hiding under multiple user accounts; comes in handy huh?!
Vcore89
Talk Tennis Guru
Brace yourself for the upcoming Shazam 2.
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
The real drama.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
I was just messing. It wasn't that bad. Shazam wasn't that over the top, even though things get extra magical when the villain is casting his spells. Was nice to see Lionel Luthor with the younger looking tech. Don't know why I expected him to be an upstanding gentleman but those thoughts were quickly eliminated, son...
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Magic Beyond Words - Wikipedia
Dramatized Biography of JK Rowling.
Sysyphus
Talk Tennis Guru
haven't been chronicling my film viewing in here in a while, but feel like giving a shoutout to Joachim Trier's Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World), which I watched in the cinema this weekend.
It caps off Trier's loosely related Oslo trilogy, following Reprise (2006) and Oslo 31. August (2011).
We follow the restless ~30-year-old Julie, portrayed by Renate Reinsve who got Best Actress in Cannes for this role, as she navigates through relationships and finding her role in life. She has moved in with the 15 years older cartoonist Aksel (Trier-regular Anders Danielsen Lie, who also turns in an inspired performance), who wants children, something Julie is hesitant about. Walking into a random party, she meets the younger Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), and their chemistry is apparent.
Trier is clearly inspired by French 60s New Wave masters like Rohmer, Godard and Truffaut, but there is also a hint of Woody Allen Annie Hall comedy, and it isn't surprising to see that he references Ingmar Bergman as well. While the lines back to older European art cinema are obvious, the movie still feels fresh and of this age. He combines timely and timeless themes in a satisfying manner.
It's funny, before this I had only briefly seen Renate Reinsve in a TV show and thought she was awful. Here she is magnetic -- both subtle and overflowing at different times. Her chemistry with Lie and Nordrum is also wonderful. Trier and the gang film Oslo mesmerizingly -- pretty but real, not prettified.
If you enjoy, say, old French New Wave films about life, love and death and would like to see one skillfully transported to 2021, I urge you to check this one out whenever it airs near you. The trilogy as a whole unquestionably stands comparison to lauded pieces like Linklater's Before trilogy.
It caps off Trier's loosely related Oslo trilogy, following Reprise (2006) and Oslo 31. August (2011).
We follow the restless ~30-year-old Julie, portrayed by Renate Reinsve who got Best Actress in Cannes for this role, as she navigates through relationships and finding her role in life. She has moved in with the 15 years older cartoonist Aksel (Trier-regular Anders Danielsen Lie, who also turns in an inspired performance), who wants children, something Julie is hesitant about. Walking into a random party, she meets the younger Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), and their chemistry is apparent.
Trier is clearly inspired by French 60s New Wave masters like Rohmer, Godard and Truffaut, but there is also a hint of Woody Allen Annie Hall comedy, and it isn't surprising to see that he references Ingmar Bergman as well. While the lines back to older European art cinema are obvious, the movie still feels fresh and of this age. He combines timely and timeless themes in a satisfying manner.
It's funny, before this I had only briefly seen Renate Reinsve in a TV show and thought she was awful. Here she is magnetic -- both subtle and overflowing at different times. Her chemistry with Lie and Nordrum is also wonderful. Trier and the gang film Oslo mesmerizingly -- pretty but real, not prettified.
If you enjoy, say, old French New Wave films about life, love and death and would like to see one skillfully transported to 2021, I urge you to check this one out whenever it airs near you. The trilogy as a whole unquestionably stands comparison to lauded pieces like Linklater's Before trilogy.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
Always refreshing to read your posts here! I will bookmark this one.haven't been chronicling my film viewing in here in a while, but feel like giving a shoutout to Joachim Trier's Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World), which I watched in the cinema this weekend.
It caps off Trier's loosely related Oslo trilogy, following Reprise (2006) and Oslo 31. August (2011).
We follow the restless ~30-year-old Julie, portrayed by Renate Reinsve who got Best Actress in Cannes for this role, as she navigates through relationships and finding her role in life. She has moved in with the 15 years older cartoonist Aksel (Trier-regular Anders Danielsen Lie, who also turns in an inspired performance), who wants children, something Julie is hesitant about. Walking into a random party, she meets the younger Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), and their chemistry is apparent.
Trier is clearly inspired by French 60s New Wave masters like Rohmer, Godard and Truffaut, but there is also a hint of Woody Allen Annie Hall comedy, and it isn't surprising to see that he references Ingmar Bergman as well. While the lines back to older European art cinema are obvious, the movie still feels fresh and of this age. He combines timely and timeless themes in a satisfying manner.
It's funny, before this I had only briefly seen Renate Reinsve in a TV show and thought she was awful. Here she is magnetic -- both subtle and overflowing at different times. Her chemistry with Lie and Nordrum is also wonderful. Trier and the gang film Oslo mesmerizingly -- pretty but real, not prettified.
If you enjoy, say, old French New Wave films about life, love and death and would like to see one skillfully transported to 2021, I urge you to check this one out whenever it airs near you. The trilogy as a whole unquestionably stands comparison to lauded pieces like Linklater's Before trilogy.
JackSockIsTheBest
Professional
Rush Hour
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Started this Brazilian movie tonight. Interesting start. The Dreamseller (2016).
Mike Bulgakov
G.O.A.T.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Very thorough and informative is the documentary Detainee 001 that recounts the John Walker Lindh incident, arrest, trial, conviction, incarceration and now release on probation from a Federal prison in Indiana. I was surprised there was such a complete amount of actual footage from the Afghani prison yard where the uprising occurred that killed a CIA agent. His death was not directly at the hands of Lindh but he was charged with conspiracy to commit the uprising when he didn’t come forward and volunteer information he had regarding the planned uprising. Got 20 years in a plea bargain.
junior74
Talk Tennis Guru
Verdens verste menneske (the worst person in the world). Liked it a lot.
Award for best female actor at Cannes 2021.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10370710/
Award for best female actor at Cannes 2021.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10370710/
ollinger
G.O.A.T.
"Dopesick" (2021)
Is it a movie or a miniseries, I'm not sure. The Oxycontin story, with Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg (loved him in "A Serious Man"), a few B-listers scattered about. Pretty standard good-guy-bad-guy drama and everyone is fully lawyered-up. No cliche has been left on the cutting room floor. Especially boring for me as I deal with these drug reps all the time. Only if you have nothing better to do.
Is it a movie or a miniseries, I'm not sure. The Oxycontin story, with Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg (loved him in "A Serious Man"), a few B-listers scattered about. Pretty standard good-guy-bad-guy drama and everyone is fully lawyered-up. No cliche has been left on the cutting room floor. Especially boring for me as I deal with these drug reps all the time. Only if you have nothing better to do.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
NonP
Legend
K kids, time for some grown-up movies and analysis. Before I proceed, though, let's take care of the TCM watchlist 1st since the last one has been sitting on the previous page for a while now (the usual terms apply):
10/21 - Forbidden Planet (1956), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955 | Criterion)
10/22 - An Autumn Afternoon (1962 | Criterion), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), The Left Handed Gun (1958), The Long, Long Trailer (1954)*, The Lusty Men (1952)
10/23 - Exodus (1960)
10/24 - Pride and Prejudice (1940)
10/25 - Old Acquaintance (1943), The Old Maid (1939)
10/26 - The Corn Is Green (1945), Easy Living (1949), The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959 | Criterion), Treasure Island (1934)
10/27 - Blithe Spirit (1945 | HBO, Criterion), An Ideal Husband (1947 | Criterion)
10/28 - Brute Force (1947 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling), Network (1976)*
10/29 - Battleship Potemkin (1925 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling), City Lights (1931 | HBO, Criterion), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Freshman (1925 | Criterion), The Passion of Joan of Arc/La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling), The Wind (1928)
10/31 - Room at the Top (1958), The Testament of Dr. Mabuse/Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933 | HBO, Criterion)
11/1 - The Heiress (1949), Trouble in Paradise (1932 | FlixFling)
11/2 - The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961 | Criterion)
11/4 - L'eclisse/The Eclipse (1962 | Criterion), Rome, Open City [listed as Open City]/Roma città aperta (1945 | HBO, Criterion), La strada (1954 | HBO, Criterion)
11/6 - Room Service (1938)
11/9 - Sans soleil [given the unusual English title Sunless] (1983 | Criterion)
11/11 (all available on Criterion) - Le Beau Serge (1958), Cléo from 5 to 7/Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962 | HBO), Le Coup du berger/Fool's Mate (1956), Lola (1961), The Lovers/Les Amants (1958)
11/13 - M (1931 | HBO, Criterion)
11/18 - A Taste of Honey (1961 | HBO, Criterion)
11/19 - A Canterbury Tale (1944 | Criterion, Curia), Pygmalion (1938 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling)
And here are the horror titles, presented separately for jack-o'-lantern points:
10/21 - House of Wax (1953), Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964 | HBO, Criterion)
10/22 - The Ghost Ship (1943)
10/23 - Bedlam (1946), Isle of the Dead (1945), Cat People (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
10/31 - Freaks (1932 | HBO)
11/3 - The Body Snatcher (1945), I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
11/5 - Deadly Friend (1986)
11/13 - Eyes Without a Face/Les Yeux sans visage (1960 | HBO, Criterion)
11/14 - Carnival of Souls (1962 | HBO, Paramount+, Criterion, Fandor, EPIX, Shudder, Screambox, FlixFling)
11/16 - Poltergeist (1982 | HBO)
Not listed here is a Val Lewton production that has superseded The Night of the Hunter (depending on your definition of the genre) and Lewton's own Cat People as perhaps the greatest American horror film I've seen, and whose understanding of the underbelly of city life arguably rivals that of Lang's noir masterwork M. That review will have to wait for time constraints, but you can bet it'll appear here before All Hallows' Eve.
On to more recent titles. The first one, I'm Your Man/Ich bin dein Mensch, is in the early running to make my top 10 of 2021, though you probably wouldn't guess that from this blurb:
At this point you're thinking, "Just what the world needs, another sci-fi romance between a human and a robot." But pay closer attention to that "her" and "his," which should tell you this film is a woman's story told from a woman's POV. That woman is in fact a composite of two female personas (or auteurs, if you will): a German archaeologist named Alma played by Maren Eggert, winner of this year's inaugural gender-neutral Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance, and directed by multihyphenate Maria Schrader whose name is virtually new to me but perhaps more recognizable to you from the series Deutschland 83 where she starred as the protagonist's aunt or from the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox which she directed.
And it's clear I need to further explore the work of both of these German talents. Eggert is sensational as the heroine, juggling her professional duties and ambitions with the caretaking of her increasingly demential father and an acute midlife crisis which somehow never descends into solipsistic self-pity thanks to Eggert's light touch and Schrader's deft direction. And while I could've done without the conclusion of Alma's evaluation - voiced in its entirety by Eggert - Schrader is too perceptive an artist to let that be the final word on the age-old question of the ramifications of artificial intelligence. One could also argue the abruptly cryptic ending is the opposite extreme of the spelled-out evaluation, but I say its suggestion of love's impenetrability ultimately fits into place, no doubt amplified by the female perspective of Schrader whose exaltation of longing over fulfillment - Alma's chance meeting with a more fulfilled male patron of the "club" where she picks up her robot companion Tom proves crucial in her arrival at her conclusion - harkens all the way back to The Tale of Genji of Lady Murasaki.
For all my praise for the German ladies, though, I must confess it's the Englishman Dan Stevens (yes, he of Downton Abbey and Beauty and the Beast fame) who really carries this movie. Native Deutsch posters are welcome to chime in with their thoughts on Stevens' German accent - he's reportedly also fluent in French! - but his Tom is so pitch perfect that those who watch this movie without any advance knowledge will probably suspect the character is a robot even before he starts quoting the "sixth and seventh lines" of Rilke's "Autumn Day"/"Herbsttag" (from The Book of Images/Das Buch der Bilder) flawlessly or performing impossible arithmetic in a nanosecond:
And you'll be hard-pressed to name a more understated yet dazzling showcase of virtuoso acting than when Tom, almost unprompted, matter-of-factly tells Alma that he completely understands the "human emotion" of - spoiler alert - her sadness over her miscarriage (which led to her breakup with museum colleague Julian whose new GF is now carrying a child) and fear that she'll be left behind like her father with no loved one to take care of her. Clearly a product of Tom's algorithms, but Stevens' probing eyes seem to have feelings of their own, further blurring the lines between humans and robots which keep flummoxing Alma and no doubt most of us viewers.
It'll be an absolute scandal if Stevens and Eggert aren't showered with plaudits to the end of this awards season. (Sandra Hüller is great as always, but her role is probably a tad too minor to compete with the year's best.) If you're in the same boat as moi today was your last chance to see the movie in theaters (I actually saw it last week but didn't wanna damn it with a short capsule review), but it's now available for rental on your favorite streaming platforms. You know what to do.
A couple quick replies:
Shoulda realized those Fandango vids may not be available outside the US. I suppose you didn't see the Be Natural trailer, either?
FYI both of the Meet the Parents clips are from that dinner table scene where Greg (Ben Stiller) tries to cozy up to his GF's father Jack (De Niro), with predictably disastrous results. Will see if I can find replacements.
Had to trim this part last time. Saw it at my local AMC. Quite better than I expected and dug how it refuses to make clear villains out of the Russians. The Americans lite, so to speak.
10/21 - Forbidden Planet (1956), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955 | Criterion)
10/22 - An Autumn Afternoon (1962 | Criterion), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), The Left Handed Gun (1958), The Long, Long Trailer (1954)*, The Lusty Men (1952)
10/23 - Exodus (1960)
10/24 - Pride and Prejudice (1940)
10/25 - Old Acquaintance (1943), The Old Maid (1939)
10/26 - The Corn Is Green (1945), Easy Living (1949), The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959 | Criterion), Treasure Island (1934)
10/27 - Blithe Spirit (1945 | HBO, Criterion), An Ideal Husband (1947 | Criterion)
10/28 - Brute Force (1947 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling), Network (1976)*
10/29 - Battleship Potemkin (1925 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling), City Lights (1931 | HBO, Criterion), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Freshman (1925 | Criterion), The Passion of Joan of Arc/La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling), The Wind (1928)
10/31 - Room at the Top (1958), The Testament of Dr. Mabuse/Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933 | HBO, Criterion)
11/1 - The Heiress (1949), Trouble in Paradise (1932 | FlixFling)
11/2 - The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961 | Criterion)
11/4 - L'eclisse/The Eclipse (1962 | Criterion), Rome, Open City [listed as Open City]/Roma città aperta (1945 | HBO, Criterion), La strada (1954 | HBO, Criterion)
11/6 - Room Service (1938)
11/9 - Sans soleil [given the unusual English title Sunless] (1983 | Criterion)
11/11 (all available on Criterion) - Le Beau Serge (1958), Cléo from 5 to 7/Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962 | HBO), Le Coup du berger/Fool's Mate (1956), Lola (1961), The Lovers/Les Amants (1958)
11/13 - M (1931 | HBO, Criterion)
11/18 - A Taste of Honey (1961 | HBO, Criterion)
11/19 - A Canterbury Tale (1944 | Criterion, Curia), Pygmalion (1938 | HBO, Criterion, FlixFling)
And here are the horror titles, presented separately for jack-o'-lantern points:
10/21 - House of Wax (1953), Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964 | HBO, Criterion)
10/22 - The Ghost Ship (1943)
10/23 - Bedlam (1946), Isle of the Dead (1945), Cat People (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
10/31 - Freaks (1932 | HBO)
11/3 - The Body Snatcher (1945), I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
11/5 - Deadly Friend (1986)
11/13 - Eyes Without a Face/Les Yeux sans visage (1960 | HBO, Criterion)
11/14 - Carnival of Souls (1962 | HBO, Paramount+, Criterion, Fandor, EPIX, Shudder, Screambox, FlixFling)
11/16 - Poltergeist (1982 | HBO)
Not listed here is a Val Lewton production that has superseded The Night of the Hunter (depending on your definition of the genre) and Lewton's own Cat People as perhaps the greatest American horror film I've seen, and whose understanding of the underbelly of city life arguably rivals that of Lang's noir masterwork M. That review will have to wait for time constraints, but you can bet it'll appear here before All Hallows' Eve.
On to more recent titles. The first one, I'm Your Man/Ich bin dein Mensch, is in the early running to make my top 10 of 2021, though you probably wouldn't guess that from this blurb:
At this point you're thinking, "Just what the world needs, another sci-fi romance between a human and a robot." But pay closer attention to that "her" and "his," which should tell you this film is a woman's story told from a woman's POV. That woman is in fact a composite of two female personas (or auteurs, if you will): a German archaeologist named Alma played by Maren Eggert, winner of this year's inaugural gender-neutral Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance, and directed by multihyphenate Maria Schrader whose name is virtually new to me but perhaps more recognizable to you from the series Deutschland 83 where she starred as the protagonist's aunt or from the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox which she directed.
And it's clear I need to further explore the work of both of these German talents. Eggert is sensational as the heroine, juggling her professional duties and ambitions with the caretaking of her increasingly demential father and an acute midlife crisis which somehow never descends into solipsistic self-pity thanks to Eggert's light touch and Schrader's deft direction. And while I could've done without the conclusion of Alma's evaluation - voiced in its entirety by Eggert - Schrader is too perceptive an artist to let that be the final word on the age-old question of the ramifications of artificial intelligence. One could also argue the abruptly cryptic ending is the opposite extreme of the spelled-out evaluation, but I say its suggestion of love's impenetrability ultimately fits into place, no doubt amplified by the female perspective of Schrader whose exaltation of longing over fulfillment - Alma's chance meeting with a more fulfilled male patron of the "club" where she picks up her robot companion Tom proves crucial in her arrival at her conclusion - harkens all the way back to The Tale of Genji of Lady Murasaki.
For all my praise for the German ladies, though, I must confess it's the Englishman Dan Stevens (yes, he of Downton Abbey and Beauty and the Beast fame) who really carries this movie. Native Deutsch posters are welcome to chime in with their thoughts on Stevens' German accent - he's reportedly also fluent in French! - but his Tom is so pitch perfect that those who watch this movie without any advance knowledge will probably suspect the character is a robot even before he starts quoting the "sixth and seventh lines" of Rilke's "Autumn Day"/"Herbsttag" (from The Book of Images/Das Buch der Bilder) flawlessly or performing impossible arithmetic in a nanosecond:
And you'll be hard-pressed to name a more understated yet dazzling showcase of virtuoso acting than when Tom, almost unprompted, matter-of-factly tells Alma that he completely understands the "human emotion" of - spoiler alert - her sadness over her miscarriage (which led to her breakup with museum colleague Julian whose new GF is now carrying a child) and fear that she'll be left behind like her father with no loved one to take care of her. Clearly a product of Tom's algorithms, but Stevens' probing eyes seem to have feelings of their own, further blurring the lines between humans and robots which keep flummoxing Alma and no doubt most of us viewers.
It'll be an absolute scandal if Stevens and Eggert aren't showered with plaudits to the end of this awards season. (Sandra Hüller is great as always, but her role is probably a tad too minor to compete with the year's best.) If you're in the same boat as moi today was your last chance to see the movie in theaters (I actually saw it last week but didn't wanna damn it with a short capsule review), but it's now available for rental on your favorite streaming platforms. You know what to do.
A couple quick replies:
Shoulda realized those Fandango vids may not be available outside the US. I suppose you didn't see the Be Natural trailer, either?
FYI both of the Meet the Parents clips are from that dinner table scene where Greg (Ben Stiller) tries to cozy up to his GF's father Jack (De Niro), with predictably disastrous results.
Will see if I can find replacements.Had to trim this part last time. Saw it at my local AMC. Quite better than I expected and dug how it refuses to make clear villains out of the Russians. The Americans lite, so to speak.
Mike Bulgakov
G.O.A.T.
If I were an extra who screwed up towards the end of that shot, I would have started running.
haven't been chronicling my film viewing in here in a while, but feel like giving a shoutout to Joachim Trier's Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World), which I watched in the cinema this weekend.
It caps off Trier's loosely related Oslo trilogy, following Reprise (2006) and Oslo 31. August (2011).
We follow the restless ~30-year-old Julie, portrayed by Renate Reinsve who got Best Actress in Cannes for this role, as she navigates through relationships and finding her role in life. She has moved in with the 15 years older cartoonist Aksel (Trier-regular Anders Danielsen Lie, who also turns in an inspired performance), who wants children, something Julie is hesitant about. Walking into a random party, she meets the younger Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), and their chemistry is apparent.
Trier is clearly inspired by French 60s New Wave masters like Rohmer, Godard and Truffaut, but there is also a hint of Woody Allen Annie Hall comedy, and it isn't surprising to see that he references Ingmar Bergman as well. While the lines back to older European art cinema are obvious, the movie still feels fresh and of this age. He combines timely and timeless themes in a satisfying manner.
It's funny, before this I had only briefly seen Renate Reinsve in a TV show and thought she was awful. Here she is magnetic -- both subtle and overflowing at different times. Her chemistry with Lie and Nordrum is also wonderful. Trier and the gang film Oslo mesmerizingly -- pretty but real, not prettified.
If you enjoy, say, old French New Wave films about life, love and death and would like to see one skillfully transported to 2021, I urge you to check this one out whenever it airs near you. The trilogy as a whole unquestionably stands comparison to lauded pieces like Linklater's Before trilogy.
The Joachim Trier films I've seen have been excellent. I really want to see this, but the theatrical release seems to be currently limited to Norway and France, and legal streaming options aren't available yet.
junior74
Talk Tennis Guru
Sorry, imagined no one had posted it since it's freshly released. I can only echo @Sysyphus - you get that 60's French vibe from the get go, and the mix of narrator voice and action emphasis this further. Very European. I too recommend the two other movies from the Oslo trilogy, they are close and in depth, tragic but beautiful. It's only life, after all.
NonP
Legend
(Forgot to say this part about the next two recent features had to be cut.)
Also making the streaming rounds is the South Korean political action thriller Escape from Mogadishu, still for me the pleasant surprise of the year:
Y'all can follow that link for a more thorough analysis, but there are two missing pieces that I'd better add here. First, some of you might already know that P. J. O'Rourke habitually refers to Mogadishu as the most dangerous place he's ever reported from as well as the most appalling example of what no functioning government can look like, and it's safe to say few movies in any language have underscored that point more vividly. Second, the continuing hostilities between the two Koreas guarantee a bittersweet coda to the (mostly) successful escape, but it's still a strangely hopeful one, free of sentimentalism without driving out sentiments altogether.
After sitting through No Time to Die bored silly last nite (at DC's Georgetown AMC at 10:30 pm no less - figured I wouldn't have time to catch the final IMAX screening Thursday afternoon) and given a bunch of remakes and sellouts to follow (Dune, Eternals, West Side Story and others I don't care to look up) I'm not optimistic that we'll see a refreshing blockbuster from Hollywood this year, but perhaps that's for the better. This South Korean import remains the best commercial release of 2021 in the US, and for all my reservations about much of SK arthouse, long may the Korean invasion of Hollywood continue if it can keep showing us the way.
Now on the other side of the ledger, I almost walked out on this year's Palme d'Or winner Titane and you can click that first link to see why, but for sheer execrable posturing even this third-rate imitation of Cronenberg must take a bow to New Order/Nuevo orden. Michel Franco's mistitled F-U to the establishment has caught predictable flack from the intersectionality police for its perceived racism, which is quite amazing to me because you must be utterly unreceptive to our economic realities to take the most umbrage at anything other than the film's class condescension (guess which class most of its detractors belong to). And to say the classes in this make-believe Mexico are demystified would be an understatement. It's as if Franco took every stereotype about the rich and the poor, amplified it to the max, and then decided to blow it all up in a Grand Guignol-style freak show.
But posturing isn't quite the right term for Franco's game plan because, as can be expected from a pamphleteer of such limited imagination, his disdain for the upper class is evidently very sincere. The problem here is that a little posturing might have actually saved the movie from complete frivolity because Franco also seems to have few if any qualms about exploiting the underclass to hit back at the elites. Hence the mind-bogglingly risible development of the country being overthrown by the rioters and then overtaken by a military dictatorship where even the better sorts are r@ped for fun, sold for ransom or killed for no good reason at all.
"What a complete load of crap!" I muttered when the credits began rolling - some of you might already know I almost always stick around for the end credits, but not this time - apparently a bit louder than I intended as this guy sitting behind me was cracking up at my put-down and another one (both Black men, curiously enough) was almost waiting at the exit for a brief chat. So I gave the latter a(nother) piece of my mind, almost shouting in the hallway about how this premise of the proletariat somehow overcoming the privileged class with the tacit agreement of the military in our contemporary world is a complete fantasy, and he just kept on smiling and nodding before excusing himself (TBF he might not wanted to engage a stranger in a political rant close to midnight). Now that I look back on it, though, even that was too charitable a verdict. Fantasy implies at least some connection to reality, but this filth had none. My original "complete load of crap" is more like it.
Let's get back to real cinema that has something to say about the world we live in. Every now and then I make note of faves/classics on other platforms than TCM and mean to share them here with at least a capsule review, but since that has proven to be an impossible undertaking for an unpaid gig I'll just settle for the next best thing. Here's the list, with links to reviews/comments where available:
Amazon Prime - A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Ace in the Hole (1951), Do the Right Thing (1989 - also on Netflix), Invisible Life/A vida invisível (2019 - I'd put it ahead of Portrait of a Lady on Fire now), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Sunset Boulevard (1950)
HBO Max - Clueless (1995), plus a gazillion others (HBO may be a tad pricey but it also offers the best mix of options)
Hulu - The Man Who Killed Don Quixote* (2018), Thelma (2017 - Joachim Trier groupies will probably dig this)
Netflix - High Strung Free Dance (2018 - this is a so-bad-it's-good classic), My Fair Lady (1964)
*Forgot about this for my best-of-2019 list cuz it received just a one-nite-only Fathom Events screening in the US due to legal issues (the one I attended was PACKED). Unquestionably Gilliam's best in years, arguably his 2nd greatest after his magnum opus Brazil (1985).
Now some (very) overdue replies:
I actually have never seen that one, largely cuz I don't much care for Levinson's work. But maybe I should give it a try, especially now that his miniseries Dopesick seems to be getting some awards buzz.
I'm frankly surprised that this sleek yet minor effort from Alexander Payne still has its acolytes. Maybe it's because I'm a teetotaler, but exactly what does this piece of man-child cynicism have to offer us in 2021?
Payne has made far better movies, including the delightfully irreverent Election (1999) and the unjustly maligned Downsizing (2017). And of course there are plenty of other living filmmakers who deserve our attention.
Also making the streaming rounds is the South Korean political action thriller Escape from Mogadishu, still for me the pleasant surprise of the year:
Y'all can follow that link for a more thorough analysis, but there are two missing pieces that I'd better add here. First, some of you might already know that P. J. O'Rourke habitually refers to Mogadishu as the most dangerous place he's ever reported from as well as the most appalling example of what no functioning government can look like, and it's safe to say few movies in any language have underscored that point more vividly. Second, the continuing hostilities between the two Koreas guarantee a bittersweet coda to the (mostly) successful escape, but it's still a strangely hopeful one, free of sentimentalism without driving out sentiments altogether.
After sitting through No Time to Die bored silly last nite (at DC's Georgetown AMC at 10:30 pm no less - figured I wouldn't have time to catch the final IMAX screening Thursday afternoon) and given a bunch of remakes and sellouts to follow (Dune, Eternals, West Side Story and others I don't care to look up) I'm not optimistic that we'll see a refreshing blockbuster from Hollywood this year, but perhaps that's for the better. This South Korean import remains the best commercial release of 2021 in the US, and for all my reservations about much of SK arthouse, long may the Korean invasion of Hollywood continue if it can keep showing us the way.
Now on the other side of the ledger, I almost walked out on this year's Palme d'Or winner Titane and you can click that first link to see why, but for sheer execrable posturing even this third-rate imitation of Cronenberg must take a bow to New Order/Nuevo orden. Michel Franco's mistitled F-U to the establishment has caught predictable flack from the intersectionality police for its perceived racism, which is quite amazing to me because you must be utterly unreceptive to our economic realities to take the most umbrage at anything other than the film's class condescension (guess which class most of its detractors belong to). And to say the classes in this make-believe Mexico are demystified would be an understatement. It's as if Franco took every stereotype about the rich and the poor, amplified it to the max, and then decided to blow it all up in a Grand Guignol-style freak show.
But posturing isn't quite the right term for Franco's game plan because, as can be expected from a pamphleteer of such limited imagination, his disdain for the upper class is evidently very sincere. The problem here is that a little posturing might have actually saved the movie from complete frivolity because Franco also seems to have few if any qualms about exploiting the underclass to hit back at the elites. Hence the mind-bogglingly risible development of the country being overthrown by the rioters and then overtaken by a military dictatorship where even the better sorts are r@ped for fun, sold for ransom or killed for no good reason at all.
"What a complete load of crap!" I muttered when the credits began rolling - some of you might already know I almost always stick around for the end credits, but not this time - apparently a bit louder than I intended as this guy sitting behind me was cracking up at my put-down and another one (both Black men, curiously enough) was almost waiting at the exit for a brief chat. So I gave the latter a(nother) piece of my mind, almost shouting in the hallway about how this premise of the proletariat somehow overcoming the privileged class with the tacit agreement of the military in our contemporary world is a complete fantasy, and he just kept on smiling and nodding before excusing himself (TBF he might not wanted to engage a stranger in a political rant close to midnight). Now that I look back on it, though, even that was too charitable a verdict. Fantasy implies at least some connection to reality, but this filth had none. My original "complete load of crap" is more like it.
Let's get back to real cinema that has something to say about the world we live in. Every now and then I make note of faves/classics on other platforms than TCM and mean to share them here with at least a capsule review, but since that has proven to be an impossible undertaking for an unpaid gig I'll just settle for the next best thing. Here's the list, with links to reviews/comments where available:
Amazon Prime - A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Ace in the Hole (1951), Do the Right Thing (1989 - also on Netflix), Invisible Life/A vida invisível (2019 - I'd put it ahead of Portrait of a Lady on Fire now), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Sunset Boulevard (1950)
HBO Max - Clueless (1995), plus a gazillion others (HBO may be a tad pricey but it also offers the best mix of options)
Hulu - The Man Who Killed Don Quixote* (2018), Thelma (2017 - Joachim Trier groupies will probably dig this)
Netflix - High Strung Free Dance (2018 - this is a so-bad-it's-good classic), My Fair Lady (1964)
*Forgot about this for my best-of-2019 list cuz it received just a one-nite-only Fathom Events screening in the US due to legal issues (the one I attended was PACKED). Unquestionably Gilliam's best in years, arguably his 2nd greatest after his magnum opus Brazil (1985).
Now some (very) overdue replies:
I actually have never seen that one, largely cuz I don't much care for Levinson's work. But maybe I should give it a try, especially now that his miniseries Dopesick seems to be getting some awards buzz.
Finally, I could watch Sideways (2004) complete, after a couple of incomplete viewing occasions on TV.
Sideways - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
I'm frankly surprised that this sleek yet minor effort from Alexander Payne still has its acolytes. Maybe it's because I'm a teetotaler, but exactly what does this piece of man-child cynicism have to offer us in 2021?
Payne has made far better movies, including the delightfully irreverent Election (1999) and the unjustly maligned Downsizing (2017). And of course there are plenty of other living filmmakers who deserve our attention.
Mike Bulgakov
G.O.A.T.
Have you also seen "Thelma"?
ollinger
G.O.A.T.
"Simple as Water" (2021)
Documentary about the Syrian refugee crisis. Shown today at the Montclair (NJ) Film Festival. I like documentaries that show me something and also teach me something I didn't know. This one fell down a bit on the latter but valuably reminded us of a problem that few still think about.
Documentary about the Syrian refugee crisis. Shown today at the Montclair (NJ) Film Festival. I like documentaries that show me something and also teach me something I didn't know. This one fell down a bit on the latter but valuably reminded us of a problem that few still think about.
Azure
G.O.A.T.
What a fascinating clip this is! I am very curious to know what happens next!
I watched Never Look Back (German)
I like the premise of the movie but it wasn’t fulfilling. There was a lot that was lacking.
milk of amnesia
Legend
The French Connection. 1970's gritty New York crime drama featuring Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. I just recently found out that the movie was based on a true case. It features one of the best car chase scenes in cinematic history.
Bagumbawalla
G.O.A.T.
Last night I saw the movie Hitchcock, the one with anthony Hopkins- and about the production of Psycho.
It reminded me of a "problem" I notice not just in the shower scene- of Psycho, but in other movies, as well.
In Psycho, Janet Leigh steps into the shower and then turns on the water. Really, who does that? People tend to turn on the
water, wait for the right temperature, then step into the shower. Did that ruin the movie? Well, no, but it was a distracting element during the
most famous scene.
It reminded me of a "problem" I notice not just in the shower scene- of Psycho, but in other movies, as well.
In Psycho, Janet Leigh steps into the shower and then turns on the water. Really, who does that? People tend to turn on the
water, wait for the right temperature, then step into the shower. Did that ruin the movie? Well, no, but it was a distracting element during the
most famous scene.
Dedans Penthouse
Legend
La Strada (1954)
(it’s on right now, TCM - 2:32 am EST)
(it’s on right now, TCM - 2:32 am EST)
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Catch Me If You Can. 2002.
Second time for me. Tom Hanks, Leonardo di Caprio, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams.
Catch Me If You Can - Wikipedia
One of my fav movies ever.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Psychos, I guess
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
stringertom
Bionic Poster
The real life Popeye Doyle (Eddie Egan) played Hackman’s captain in the film.
I lived in Brooklyn a few years after I had seen the film and it was just a short ride over to Bensonhurst and then about 10 minutes or so driving time to “recreate” the chase scene albeit without close calls with pedestrians or paint swapping with other cars/immovable objects.
That summer I also visited the real life First Brooklyn Savings branch where the bank standoff/hostage situation occurred in 1972 that inspired the movie Dog Day Afternoon. For artistic and cinematography purposes the film location for the exteriors of the bank were shot on Prospect Park West, miles away from the real bank branch in Gravesend on Avenue P. The real branch is quite near a section of the car chase from The French Connection.
Also, another iconic film Saturday Night Fever did exterior location shooting in the adjacent neighborhoods of Bay Ridge. For example, the paint store where Tony is employed is on Fifth Avenue and 73rd Street and you can still buy home improvement products there today.
