Xixax Film Forum

Not sure is there is already a thread for this, but wanted to put it up mainly for older flicks that don't require a page of their own. Sort of like a Letterboxd thing to see what everyone has seen lately and maybe share some thoughts on recently viewed flicks...

Today I went with Kill Me Again (1989), which I wanted to catch before it expired on Amazon Prime, followed by Death Sentence (2007) because that leaves Netflix tomorrow. Kill Me Again was pretty bad, even with a playfully sadistic Michael Madsen who actually has a scene where he tortures a guy tied to a chair a la "Stuck In The Middle with You", tried to play like early noir, especially in its dialogue,  only to be bogged down by uninspired twists. One of the biggest problems for me aside for the cheesy writing was the dearth of chemistry between Kilmer and the female lead. Has a real late-80's early 90's crime vibe to it.

Death Sentence was equally silly and unbelievable in story but so very damn fun, a pulpy B-movie like I had not seen in a while. Really enjoyed how serious everyone took the schlocky material, and Bacon is fucking killer. Also Garret Hedland came through as a heavy, heavy badass, relishing every cigarette and shoot out like any over the top psycho villain would. The Violence and action was really nicely done.

[nerd facts] Kill Me Again is and feels like John Dahl's first. my personal favorite is his next, Red Rock West, with Nic Cage and Dennis Hopper. at the time he was considered a prominent figure within neo-noir, and his third movie, The Last Seduction, was considered the best example. Unforgettable i've never seen and Rounders i always thought of as okay, but Joy Ride is another solid entry. Steve Zahn and Paul Walker. screenwriter JJ Abrams at a pivotal point. Joy Ride i own on blu-ray.

this is a good topic imo. i finished rewatching Napoleon Dynamite today. i felt emotional at the end, after Dynamite's dance, after the clapping, when hope comes to Pedro's face. then when Dynamite and Deb played tetherball at the end. i felt emotional.

One of the theatre's down here is having a Wes retrospective in conjunction with the release of his new flick, with Rushmore being the only one playing on 35mm, so naturally I went with that over the weekend. Pretty good print for being almost 20-years old. For most of the running time I had this irremovable grin that bordered on embarrassment, in disbelief how strongly the film holds up and how much affection I have for it after all this time. Took me back in memory to seeing it for the first time as a teen.  I can't remember the last time I popped on my Criterion, at least 5-6 years, but I had forgotten just how much I love this flick, so sweet and quirky and full of emotion. Wes has since gotten more sophisticated in his storytelling and subjects, here he's brimming with youth. Had a really good time watching that one.



Also peeped White Ribbon yesterday on FilmStruck. I had seen it at a press screening tail-end of 2009 but nodded out a few times towards the end, having since wanted to revisit it in full. That time was yesterday. The movie is mesmerizing, a masterpiece in my eyes. Such understated evil, all so masterfully done, always shocking you with quiet cruelties. I need to see more Haneke.

Quote from: KJ on April 02, 2018, 12:58:01 PM
edit: sorry, I misread that as White Robbin, as if you were talking about jessica robbin. the porn actress. my bad.

edit 2: sometimes I wish that I could ban myself from xixax, or that I had a more sophisticated film taste, so I had anything to add about Haneke.

At least your taste in porn seems to be pretty good.

Amour is the first movie I've seen in full since the last post. Saw bits and pieces of other movies since (most of Ace in the Hole and half of Downsizing), passing out without fail 20 minutes in; an understandable side effect of being up and at'em for 18/19 hours. Between work and family duties, movie watching tends to suffer. Went with Amour because I guess I'm high on Haneke recently. It's a movie this side of devastation without going over the top and wringing out tears, a direction I could easily see other directors going for. There are many scenes that have stuck with me since last night, such as the husband's nightmare, his firing of a nurse, the final few minutes, and of course the wife's entire disintegration. It's a somber reminder of life's fragility and how temporary these frail bodies of ours really are. If I have one complaint is Isabelle Huppert being underused, could have used more of her onscreen but that's just nitpicking.

Also saw the documentary A Fuller Life, thought it condensed his film career too much but was overall a decent love letter from his daughter. Having read Fuller's autobiography last year, 80 minutes is too little time to devote to this man's monumental life.

Saturday night saw Kids on 35mm, really good print. By the time the movie started at 12:30am I had been awake 22 hours, ready to nod out through most of it, but went anyway because who knows when, if  ever, I'll have another opportunity to see this one  on film. Kids really is one of a kind, almost like a documentary with no narrator. Now it's a filmed time-capsule of a generation that faded away over two decades ago, still bearing relevance and hitting as hard as any timeless classic does. The authenticity is jaw dropping. Most of the roles were tailored to the person cast in it, so it's no wonder how the conversations and actions feel so natural, the performances so effortless. Having not seen the flick in full for at least 10-years, I forgot just how good it was. First time I heard of this one was waiting for the school bus about 2 months after its release and overhearing a bunch of kids waiting with me go on about how it's easily the best movie ever made. Growing up around skaters at the time, this movie was hard to avoid, everyone I know saw it, spoke about it, reenacted scenes, but I actually did not get around to Kids until probably '02/'03. I have a distinct memory of reading the screenplay in the fall of '97 on my dad's computer and being amazed by the dialogue, how real if felt, like someone was transcribing taped conversations of kids I knew. As big an impact as Kids had on the indie scene, I can't think of many movies that imitated it successfully and were able to stand on their own. I know there were a few cheap knock-offs, although I can't rattle off any titles off the top of my head. Really glad with my decision to man up, fight the fatigue and make the screening, if only for Harmony Korine's fishbowl-lenses glasses cameo. This retro movie theatre down here is playing movies programmed  by Korine all month (titles include Easy Money, OC and Stiggs, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, BMX Bandits, Gleaming the Cube, Any Which Way You Can, Belly,Beat Street)  in addition to all his work. They played Trash Humpers on 35mm last week, which I missed thanks to a cold. Will try to catch julien donkey-boy and Gummo next week, think the only Korine I've ever seen was Spring Breakers, which didn't do much for me mostly due to Franco's sorry excuse for a Riff Raff imitation.

I really enjoyed Spring Breakers the one time I saw it. It's the only HK I've seen. Tried to watch Mister Lonely a couple of days ago and turned it off less than half-way through, I just couldn't get into it at all.

Quote from: Sleepless on April 17, 2018, 01:15:05 PM
I really enjoyed Spring Breakers the one time I saw it. It's the only HK I've seen. Tried to watch Mister Lonely a couple of days ago and turned it off less than half-way through, I just couldn't get into it at all.

you should at least try gummo. not my favorite, I actually like mister lonely more, but it's the one people seem to enjoy the most. it's completely different to mister lonely, too.

Gummo has been at the top of my list for DVD's I need to own going on something like 2 years now, but I just can't get past the idea of spending $20 for a DVD with no special features... I really need it in my life, though. Harmony Korine's realism and sense of humor is hard to come by in any other filmmaker..

Quote from: Something Spanish on April 17, 2018, 10:45:21 AM
First time I heard of this one was waiting for the school bus about 2 months after its release and overhearing a bunch of kids waiting with me go on about how it's easily the best movie ever made.

First time I heard about KIDS was at a pool party, I must've been about 7. All I heard was that "the first scene is two 12 year olds screwing" lol.

I found the DVD cheap at a thrift store last year and got rid of it soon after rewatching. Just kind of disgusted by Larry Clark's leering gaze throughout.

I read somewhere that herzog realized what a genius korine is the moment he saw that piece of bacon taped on the wall in the bathtub scene. I always thought that was hilarious, says a lot about both of them I think.

(https://thehumornation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/gummo-bathtub-scene-1108x0-c-default.jpg)

QuoteIn some of the scenes there's strips of bacon, if you look closely, because like, bacon was my aesthetic.

QuoteSeriously, all I want to see is pieces of fried bacon taped on walls, because most films just don't do that.

just imagine for a second korine pitching this scene to herzog, and how much he must have liked it, " flying nuns you tell me? shit, that is good" (in thick german accent)

I've only been catching the standard new stuff in the cinemas, partly because of being busy, but then also because I'm in sort of a rut for older films being able to grab my attention. Last time I consistently watched things that weren't brand new was last summer or so when I went through Kubrick's films from 2001 on, and went through some of Olivier Assayas' films. I really enjoyed Something in the Air.

Other than that, I tried to get through Killing of a Sacred Deer on Netflix, but shut it off halfway through in only mild interest. I did enjoy The Lobster, but I don't enjoy Lanthimos' style enough to sit through a story that had the mood of The Lobster but a worse story IMO. I also did watch Darjeeling Limited again somewhat recently, which was fun.

I'm trying to look through the Criterion catalogue and see if anything catches my eye, but I haven't been totally successful. My friends and I watched some bad movies a little while ago too. I Know Who Killed Me was a highlight.

Gummo has 20 scenes great for party conversation. this is a minor example, that's how good Gummo is



creatively speaking he was born beautiful

yes

Actually, I forgot about some Demme films I caught recently. One not very good starring Meryl Streep, and one very good starring Jodie Foster. Other than that, I've watched TWBB, Punch-Drunk Love, and IV more than three times each in the last year.

I've seen Spring Breakers, but I don't know if I have the stomach to see any other HK movies. His new one sounds really cool, though.

Saw Julien Donkey-Boy over the weekend on 35mm, not sure what to make of that one. It's a ballsy  experiment, giving you the feeling you're watching a disturbed family's home movies, all the more so since it was shot on mini-DV, ultimately not adding up to any traditional satisfaction, though I can't say I regret the experience. Korrine's intentions of putting you in the shoes of a young schizophrenic ultimately pays off, achieving his intended desire, especially since it all fees so authentic, making you forget at times you're watching a movie. Not much happens throughout, except Korrine's depiction of life with mental illness. We basically join Julien in his daily routines. Herzog is funny in the father role, berating his family with off-beat insults, and Ewen Bremner leaves little doubt that he is heavily deranged. Would like to revisit down the road, but way down; the last 5-10 minutes aren't easy to watch.



Realizing that I haven't seen a new Adam Sandler movie since That's My Boy (probably a good thing), I wound up watching Sandy Wexler, and to my surprise enjoyed it for the most part. Sandler is great in an otherwise mediocre to shitty movie and elevates the schlock to a watchable level. The romantic inclinations were beyond corny and unbelievable, like that 90's Woody Allen playing a love interest, the rest was pretty fun and watching Sandler inhabit this character was impressive. Felt like it had the spirit of his earlier flicks like Big Daddy and Deeds, with plenty of moronic cameos from pals like Rob Schneider and Nick Swardson, both generally always good for a few laughs. Would give it a C+. My next move would prove unwise, thinking one good Sandler turn deserves another, I hit play on The Do-Over. That one was bad. Very much so.

Saw most of Tropic Thunder, too. Didn't hold up as well and I was surprisingly turned off the way Stiller spoofs graphic intestine spilling war battles. 

Pulp Fiction on 35mm this weekend. This is the movie that opened my eyes to the possibilities of filmmaking, that raised me, that took me from PG-13 to R, that intensified my movie obsession like nothing else. Before Pulp it was Gremlins 2, Roger Rabbit, Jurassic Park and Jim Carrey, after it was Godfather, Goodfellas, and The Untouchables. I can remember seeing the TV/print ads at 11 and reading the script, my first ever, at 12. I remember renting the VHS dozens of times and the joy of buying a copy on cassette for my 13th birthday once the price wasn't over $100 (ownership was a struggle on its own since my mom's boyfriend had a bug up his ass about me watching R movies, but that's another story). The screenplay put me in a permanent trance, the dialogue opening portals in my brain though which Scorsese/Coppola/Depalma would soon  stampede through. Those who remember the impact Pulp had at the time know what I'm talking about; it birthed a generation of filmmakers. I've seen it on the big screen once before, an experience that can never get old and that I'll always take advantage of given the opportunity. Not going to get into why this film earns its reputation as one of the GOAT's, but seeing it in my 30's the part that always stands out is the last few minutes, when Jules flips the tables on Pumpkin, holding him at gunpoint. That last speech, where he gives personal meaning to Ezekiel 25:17 is a TKO, saying more about the gangster genre that any flick since.

Smack in the middle of reading Cassavetes on Cassavetes, decided to watch Husbands for the first time last night. The only other Cassavetes I've seen are Shadows and Love Streams (edit: actually saw Minnie and Moskowitz) , both very interesting. I'm on the Husbands chapter and kept falling asleep trying to watch Faces 2/3 times earlier in the week, most likely induced by the B&W, so wanted to switch it up a bit. Husbands was alright, not as impressive as Shadows, feeling too indulgent for the most part, but at least it was not boring. When you have Cassavetes, Falk, and Gazzarra starring boring is far from problematic. Reading the Cassavetes book, the main takeaway is that the man's sole focus while he's making a movie is his actors' performance and doing everything in his power to bring out the most truthful performance possible. Everything is in service of the performance. I can't say I learned anything about human nature or behavior, as is somewhat intended according to the book, but the trio's chemistry was enough to hold interest. I always assumed the three were tight buds before they got together for Husbands, apparently not the case, although you'd be convinced otherwise when watching it. Their camaraderie makes the flick what it is, and Cassavetes is always so fun when onscreen, in all his roles, not just Husbands. 

(https://img.myvideo.net.tw/images/IFI010/0000/0201/201802061503242630_420x600.jpg)

just watched this, and thought it had that movie magic that I can't put my finger on or try to explain without spoiling it - but I recommend it to everyone!

It's a very imaginative movie. I got scared by the frenetic japanese rhythm of the first twenty minutes, but that movie just transports you.

Just caught up with Atomic Blonde because it's on HBO Now.

Pros: Some of the best continuous-shot fight scenes I've ever seen. Not unlike that Daredevil scene that went viral. Worth watching just for that. And Charlize sells everything so hard.

Cons: The rest of the movie is either (A) a character smoking a cigarette or (B) the most boring/obvious 80s pop hit one could possibly choose. Sometimes both.

I spent the whole time feeling bad for Charlize for committing so hard to a movie that was so intent on not living up to her.

I wasn't even as impressed with the fight scenes as I thought I was going to be. For all that the John Wick dudes are amazing at choreography, they've never figured out where to put the camera so it looks like the people are actually hitting each other.

Finally got a chance to watch Sebastián Silva's "Magic Magic," the better half of his 2013 "Let's fly Michael Cera down to Chile and shoot some movies" duology. I do not suffer from paranoid schizophrenia myself, nor do I have direct experience with it, but I'm pretty sure nonetheless that this is one of the better cinematic portrayals of it. Certainly better than the cartoonish approach of "A Beautiful Mind," and much more restrained and convincing than Lodge Kerrigan's massively overrated "Clean, Shaven" and "Keane." There are some really savvy cinematic storytelling techniques at play, though it never once feels showy or ostentatious.

This is to date the only movie I've seen that fully utilizes Michael Cera as an actual actor more than a screen presence (while also taking full advantage of the somewhat off-putting nature of said screen presence). And the fact that we're not constantly talking about Juno Temple as one of the great actors of her generation is some serious bullshit. She's fearless and she's honest, beyond anyone else I can think to compare her to, and that's everything I ask for out of an actor.

(https://i.imgur.com/UW5LRUw.jpg)

Just Withnail and i were walking by CBS Television City, and i told him, you know, "this is where they shoot Price is Right, and James Corden's show." and then Just Withnail mentioned that James Corden was in Mike Leigh's All or Nothing, and i hadn't realized that so i about flipped out. Just Withnail said something like, "you got a movie to watch tonight!" and i'm actually not one prone to accepting suggestions from others, but because of the environment and just the right timing and everything, because All or Nothing is 1 of 2 Mike Leigh movies i own on dvd (others on blu-ray), it did so happen that i watched All or Nothing soon after and, now, true story, i'm making this post about it.

i think James Corden did a fine job acting. and--oh--the beginning of Sally Hawkins! well i'll be. it's been over ten years since i last watched All or Nothing. Lesley Manville is in it too. and Timothy Spall's gaping mouth plays a major role. maybe the first hour of this movie is flawless? it starts off so strong. i can't remember what i thought about it a decade ago, but i probably haven't watched it since that long ago because the ending doesn't quite impress me. it emphasizes narrative themes that to me were latent and unexpressed but completely present since the beginning. so to me it's like the second hour explains the first hour, and plus it's a two hour long movie. oh, now i'm being hard on it, no i didn't begin this post to be hard on All or Nothing. who portrays real normal and flawed people better than Mike Leigh? Ken Loach is perhaps his equal and they're both better than America, because of their commitment, because they don't use these types of movies as stepping stones toward a Hollywood career.

i went to see Lubitsch's So This Is Paris (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017409/) on the opening night of its series coinciding with the release of Joseph McBride's How Did Lubitsch Do It?, which btw isn't titled The Lubitsch Touch because a book is already titled that and in fact The Lubitsch Touch was a popular expression during his career while he was alive and Billy Wilder worshipped him. i saw the movie in the Billy Wilder Theater, and everyone was mentioning how Lubitsch was better than Wilder. like for example the fact is How Did Lubitsch Do It? was written on a sign owned by Wilder. that's funny enough. so, Lubitsch was the name known as a director before Hitchcock*.  i sat in Peter Bogdanovich's row Peter sat at the end by the aisle i think i correctly remember that he was wearing sunglasses when speaking as offered during a post-movie q&a with for example Lubitsch's daughter who was a naturally awesome person obviously by the way. Peter mentioned that Renoir mentioned that Lubitsch invented Hollywood, then Peter explained he meant that before Lubitsch Hollywood was DW Griffith and Lubitsch made Hollywood cosmopolitan (*it does seem clear that Griffith was the first director known by name). then Peter made a dig at contemporary comedies, mentioning how they aren't as good, and a theater full of mostly old people absolutely agreed with him. Peter didn't mention him but from background conversations btw i think Apatow is perceived as like leader of church of satan-type comedian in terms of middlebrow comedy which they hate the same as lowbrow comedy but middlebrow gives them the chills because it's the closest enemy i think. it's also tough not to notice how intricately woven Lubitsch is. he's his own breed and his movies literally taken place in his own world. oh and he invented romantic comedies and the musical. everyone in the theater fucking died with laughter when Peter said other people were confused about what to do when sound film began and Lubitsch said "gonna make a musical duh" (obvs exact quote). the movie itself was a real kick and utter delight i had to see it because of course i did. i didn't see a young person who looked like a young me i saw a few young people who looked like the kind of people who weren't like me when i was young too. of course again as always i observed the elderly cinephiles and thought about life etc you know.

so i went to my friend's and watched Shanghai Express (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023458/), which i'd been dying to see since forever. Anna May Wong is a name i became familiar with--she's savage and elegant in this movie. the beginning train station is outrageous next level. it's beyond. when the animal stops the train on the tracks! what a moment. oh i was glad as hell i watched this movie.

with the same friend we watched Sundays and Cybèle (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055910/). have you seen it? can they please just have been friends? i'm really hoping i don't hear otherwise, i'm hoping the movie thought of them as just friends too, in fact i'm hoping that was a narrative point like i think it was. it did win on Oscar too after all. it's just nutso well made. ugh. it was so good it turned me into a mouth breather.

and i watched Barton Fink (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101410/) on my own. oh i watched Bad Lieutenant (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103759/) on my own too. you know what? oh you already know. well i'll mention it anyway: now my King of New York (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099939/) blu-ray skips. that was quite devastating, but i checked it another player to make sure it was the disc and not the player. it's the disc. but i first brought up Barton Fink, so let me get back to that. it's interesting to me that it's the writer whom i'm obsessed with thinking about, but Charlie Meadows brings the flames. how easy it is for me to picture the entire movie happening because of Barton. i don't think the Faulkner character is essential. his secretary is essential, because of that great mosquito slap. i don't think the navy vs army dance-off is essential. but how fun these extra things are anyway, and they help set this movie's atmosphere. the Coens can stay on track and fuck around like nobody's business.

and i went to see Oyster Princess (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0009893/), I Don't Want To Be A Man (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010281/), and Forbidden Paradise (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014925). Ossi Oswalda is a name to know! such unbelievable personality. and the first vamp, Pola Negri. Lubitsch impresses me even when i know how he'll impress me. his reality is so delightful.

lol i keep almost writing this post, this page open

i watched my Shampoo (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073692/) dvd to think ahead re upcoming criterion release.

it's written by Beatty and Robert Towne, directed by Hal Ashby, first Hollywood role for Carrie Fisher, with Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, Lee Grant and Jack Warden (actors Oscar nominated for this movie), László Kovács dp, Richard Sylbert production designer, music by Paul Simon

so that's insanely impressive and absolutely perfect for the time period.

the election night party is cutting edge good. fully interwoven characters, every actor fully engaged. just nailing it left and right. the bulk of this movie is spectacular. i accredit all the sprinkled in perfect lines to Robert Towne based on guessing.

though i submit that the overall narrative is conservative. it benefits Beatty because we come to feel sorry for him, but the audience cares about him to the extent that Jack Warden plays the more challenging character who wins the audience brightens the theme won the Oscar and he was a Republican even. now, it is a smart and progressive movie in that context actually, in that favoring the left is the Hollywood thing to do. Warden stays a Republican but turns out to be the better man. that's healthy thinking, that's fine. good men are republicans. but what i'm saying is the movie tidies itself up too cleanly by the ending. and perhaps you think--hmm you are always against that, what do you see as the benefit to your fight? and i can tell you clearly: life is not simple, that is a lie. that is politics. life is not easy. and as i grow and age etc what i learn more and more is that the complex is not simple. so i don't appreciate when a movie turns the complex into simple. this production method limits its dynamics to me.

Man, wish more young cats would start ripping off Ashby. With the possible exception of Harold and Maude, his style has never quite been aped so readily as all the other 70s stalwarts, and yet, I find it so vital and relevant. Re-watched The Landlord recently and just damn, what a picture. Maybe even ahead of our times.

And Shampoo, yeah. Imagine somebody made Shampoo today. We'd all love them. Cool, humanist movies, actually funny comedies and sincerely tragic dramas, kinda equally shaggy and sharp, stylistically interesting but subtle and humble. With the exception of Bound For Glory, you could make these movies cheap too.

that's a really beautiful post

This raises a good question; are there any current filmmakers who might be considered the standard-bearer for the continuation of the Ashby aesthetic? Baumbach and Gerwig come to mind... anyone else?

Quote from: polkablues on August 03, 2018, 12:21:17 AM
This raises a good question; are there any current filmmakers who might be considered the standard-bearer for the continuation of the Ashby aesthetic? Baumbach and Gerwig come to mind... anyone else?

Alex Ross Perry? His films might be a bit too tempestuous and stylized, though, to cozily fit that bill.

it is not to argue with you people, who surely must by now embrace being internet friends, that i ask the question of how well these people being mentioned have depicted the working class. as to say, not those both comfortable and troubled, but those troubled and troubled. i believe that is missing in art, and i believe art suffers for it. the people are the same.

yes i would say that for example The Lowery Touch is thinking from the human outward, as a variety of humans, creating different movies around different humans, embracing what's human, loving what's human through art, this a vital aspect of The Lowery Touch i am suggesting. The Old Man & the Gun might/could gracefully stroll into positive feelings from outside the usual, and be appreciated by both critics and emotions, which is the kicker, the one for the team imo.

Quote from: jenkins on August 03, 2018, 03:58:23 PM
i ask the question of how well these people being mentioned have depicted the working class. as to say, not those both comfortable and troubled, but those troubled and troubled.

I would propose that in the case of Greta Gerwig, the answer is "very well," which is to say I believe Lady Bird is the modern quintessence of what you've described. In the case of Baumbach and/or Perry, that particular story doesn't seem to be a primary artistic concern in either's body of work, so my answer would be "N/A."

While I wouldn't say she's an Ashby disciple, Kelly Reichardt consistently and humanely depicts the working class. It's really the thing I enjoy most about her movies: the characters seem like people I know but not necessarily people I think about. Which is so wonderful and true to life. Interesting things happen to everybody. Just caught up with Certain Women recently and boy oh boy, it knocked me out.

As for the question of who's sporting an Ashby influence among younger filmmakers, I also thought of Alex Ross Perry but also found the same reasons to exclude him. Lowery too, yeah, though I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say his films are like Ashby's. I'd bet all of the "mumblecore" crew dig him, but none seem to be really going for that particular feel. Lady Bird would probably be closest out of all the recent releases I've seen and even there the one I'd compare it to most is Harold and Maude. Has anything remotely like Shampoo or Coming Home been made lately? Let alone both by the same filmmaker?

oh idk, we're just making it up on the spot you know. i think the conversation is going along fine. i'd want to say the Safdies or Sean Baker of course. but who makes those big narratives these days, the ones that stretch out across different types of people? no one and i'm hungry for it too.

all i really care about is the people. i recently discovered Nothing But A Man and it's better than the trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSjgshFzHJE

currently still watching Shadows, John Cassavetes

it's somehow his less famous? it's been over a decade since i watched it. i'm in the middle? the literary party was great. nothing too shocking or unheard of, but i like to hear it. Cassavetes was plugged into the times it's fair to say. though he questions them, and later moves away from any theory and all the way into being human.

this lady at the literary party, she makes a description i enjoyed. they're discussing Sartre. one person doesn't see what Sartre is saying. the lady says it's easy to see what he's saying, and what he's saying is that humans are the only animals conscious of their own existence, and therefore they are also conscious of non-existence, and that is called anxiety.

i've said that before in terms of humans being the only animals conscious of their existence, but i liked her closer

I just watched Disclosure, the Michael Douglas-Demi Moore movie from 1994. It's quite bad and in many ways ludicrous, but also eerily prescient and incredibly interesting in the context of our times. Issues surrounding tech, white maleness, #metoo, corporatism, some weird parallels with the Clintons. All jumbled up and presented as an early-90s sex thriller. There is also a sequence where Michael Douglas's character enters a virtual reality world that resembles the game on the Encarta CD-ROM. Profoundly funny.

saw Beyond the Black Rainbow on the big screen, mainly because I'm very much looking forward to Mandy this month. heard all about its general oddness and ambiguity, a real understatement, but didn't think it'd be as out there as it was. experiencing it on a large screen with booming sound made it easier to get sucked into the experience, I just have didn't get it, which doesn't equate it with bad movies just self interpretive ones. it had its own style, that's for sure, even if that style could be comparable to a high budged film school thesis. this is a hand crafted unique vision that maybe could have benefitted from some audience inclusion. as a sensory experience, it did its thing. wouldn't mind sitting through it again someday.

after that saw this cheesy, strangely fun early-0techno-rave movie from 1996, Vibrations, starring the lovable Kelly Bundy and James from Twin Peaks, playing an aspiring musician who loses both hands in a violent attack and is nurtured by Bundy and her neighbors into becoming a keyboard techno maestro known as Cyperstorm, due to his new  mechanically implanted robot arms. it's inarguably bad, yet somehow found myself into it in the way a bad movie can spray its charm on you. enjoyably ridiculous. haven't intentionally watched a bad good movie in a long time. it's funny, I remember going for shitty movies on purpose back in the day to get inspired. you kind of imagine how you would handle the bad scenes and dialogue if you were in charge.



went to a midnight showing of Blues Brothers on 35mm, too, passing the fuck out halfway in. never saw the whole thing before, but from what I sat through completely understand its cemented legacy.

 

Mulholland Drive (35mm) last night, awesome trip down memory lane. When you revisit a favorite movie after not having seen it in over a decade, it really is like being  reacquainting with an old friend, being reminded why you loved them to begin with. Had the same experience two weeks prior with Dazed and Confused, seeing on film for the first time, but it had only been about 4-5 years since seeing that one last. Anyway, Mulholland feels like Lynch's version of Pulp Fiction. It's his epic. I know sitting through it the first time in 2001 I had no idea what the fuck I had just experienced, chalking it up to the insane wonderings of a schizophrenic,  those feelings supplanted by a mysterious inclinations to revisit the movie, totaling about 4 viewing by the time it left theatres. It's one of the few movies I felt the need to see over and over without the certainty of a final judgment, having no idea whether I ultimately liked it or not. Now I can say without reservation  Mulholland is a favorite, one of the best out there. The broken narrative, the oddities Lynch infuses it with while connecting those idiosyncrasies with a showbiz parable. All those weird characters weaving in and out like a traveling freakshow. The mood this movie produces is impossible to replicate unless you're its creator. Clichéd as it sounds, there really is only one David Lynch. The Silencio club sequence gets me every single time, those unexplainable emotions welling up as the transformations commence. What a great side by side comparison showing Naomi Watts as this naive newcomer is this dream state only to be smacked into the reality of the morose darkness when success is never achieved and dreams breakdown. Already itching to pop in the blu tonight.

Quote from: Something Spanish on September 11, 2018, 09:58:19 AM


...awesome trip down memory lane. When you revisit a favorite movie after not having seen it in over a decade, it really is like being  reacquainting with an old friend, being reminded why you loved them to begin with.

My exact experience Sunday evening seeing Barry Lyndon again on the big screen (DCP).  I don't think I'd seen it in at least a couple of decades, and it held up beautifully.  In fact, I think I caught more nuances of plot and performance than I ever had on any previous viewing.  I was surprised at how much of the film I had forgotten. In many ways it was almost like seeing it for the first time.  An excellent audience, too.  No fidgeting, rapt attention, no texting, hearty laughter in all the appropriate places.  Leon Vitali (Lord Bullingdon) was present, and had a short Q&A before the screening.  The moderator asked for a show of hands from those who had never seen the film, and there must have been 50 or so in that category--which surprised me a little in the moment, but probably shouldn't have as the film is over 40 years old now. 

Streamed the Arthur Penn movie Night Moves last night, a prime example of why Gene Hackman was one of the best to ever do it. He gets into character in a way that feels effortless, taking on mannerisms that add subtle layers not really seen these days. He plays Harry Moseby (great name), an ex football player turned PI, and at one point as he's casually walking away you see Moseby imitate quarterbacking pigskin. The movie is really interesting in how so little happens until it comes together in the last 20 minutes, up until then you're simply basking in the character interactions with minimal plot progression. This is not the Hackman of Hoosiers, Unforgiven, or Uncommon Valor, but a much more vulnerable role than I'm used to seeing him in. Didn't realize Melanie Griffith plays the missing child until some chunks of dialogue later recognizing the pipsqueak sound to be the same as the one from Milk Money, a childhood classic. I don't think her voice changed a drop from age 17 on. 

This is good LA noir with a touch of East Coast swamp soaked in a bleak 70's vibe. Glad to have finally seen it, one of many unseen classics I need to catch up with.

i'm able to mention not only Michael Nyman but also a favorite song because of how many times i've listened to the soundtrack since i watched this movie a couple days ago. you guys: Wonderland a true contemporary classic. is it known as such? i wonder the same about Goodbye Solo.

Michael Nyman made music for The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, A Zed and Two Naughts and others. check out this fact: Wonderland brought Sean Bobbitt into cinema. he'd been doing docs and Michael Winterbottom brought him into movies. who influenced Winterbottom? i can't wait to tell you! it was WKW and Chunking Express--i'm not making that up, it's been quoted. and this/that was shot on Super 16. the production designer's name is Mark Tildesley, a Brit who's worked with Winterbottom, Leigh, Boyle, Wheatley, and DGG for Your Highness, PTA for Phantom Thread.

for like a direct comparison, i think it's better than All or Nothing

Oh wow, I forgot all about Wonderland. One of a long line of deeply underrated classics by Winterbottom, who rarely gets the recognition he deserves.

this is strip club music according to Exotica (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109759/), which really does say a lot about the movie. it's not a song in Jarmusch's Down by Law, btw, referring to the youtube image grab.

Exotica is mainly about feeling depressed, or almost depressed--Exotica thinks about reasons one might feel depressed, and the weird things we do to not feel that way (those things usually being quite depressing)

i'd say it's definitely better than The Adjuster. did i write about The Adjuster here? i watched it after Cronenberg's Crash, and i think Exotica is better. why? because it's like a lot clearer that everyone is hella bummed out in Exotica, while in The Adjuster it felt like a damn mystery why and how anyone was feeling anything.

like for example Exotica references this true point: that no one chooses to become alive. but Exotica builds on that darkness to ask this: why does anyone choose to stay alive?

Elias Koteas, who btw let's look at him

(https://i.imgur.com/zQb58CM.png?1)

walking along having a conversation while getting to know someone, Koteas mentions pushing everything away from him in life, especially when and if it comes his way.

and in terms of like sociopolitical dimensions, the movie is ahead of 2018

it's a real a+ movie that i'm glad i revisited

now that i'm older i can say that i don't watch movies like this to be different or watch different types of movies than most people do. everyone just follows their own heart and gravitates toward what makes sense to them. this movie makes total sense to me, and it's hella dark, but it says that life is hella dark, and you just keep going if you can

I remember seeing that and never wanting to go back, not because it wasn't well done, but because it occupies such a sad state of mind it can turn your whole day or week a different color. It's indeed one of the most depressive and hopeless feeling movies I've ever encountered (Abel Ferrara's Fear City is up there, too). Exotica deserves a special place on a list of films taking place in something like cinematic purgatory, where no hope is offered, no resolution is sought, and not even a violent escalation takes place that might serve as catharsis in lieu of narrative progression. A pure wallow. I get a sick shiver just thinking about it.

vibing. cinematic purgatory is a great description. there is this scene that touches upon what this movie might offer though. it's true that it doesn't offer hope, resolution, or catharsis. it's true that this movie says life doesn't offer that. but here's the scene i mean, it's Bruce Greenwood talking to Sarah Polley in a car at night

QuoteSarah: Do you consider my dad a friend?
Bruce: Why?
Sarah:  J-Just asking.
Bruce: Does he consider me a friend?
Sarah: I don't know.
Bruce: Why not?
'Sarah: Cause he always seems different when you're around.
Bruce: Different in what way?
Sarah: J- Tense.
Bruce: Is that bad?
Sarah: Well, I don't really like to feel tense around my friends.
Bruce: Well, sure, yeah. I didn't like to feel tense around my friends when I was your age either.
Sarah: But you do now?
Bruce: No, it's not a question of liking it or not. It's just something that happens.
Sarah: Why?
Bruce: Um...well... as you get older...you become aware that the people you meet and the person you are... um, as carrying a certain amount of baggage. And, and that baggage creates tension. So what do you do about it? Well, you can pretend it's not there... or you can choose not to have friends... or you can acknowledge that it's there and have friends anyway.
Sarah: Like my dad?
Bruce: Right.
Sarah: I don't think that I like my dad when he's around you.
Bruce: Hmm. Well, that's...because your dad doesn't like himself when he's around me. But that's okay. That's... part of what friends do to each other.
Sarah: Good night.
Bruce: Good night.

That's a quality exchange. Actually makes me want to go back and watch it, again.

Exotica makes me think about what movies should be about, if a movie like Exotica, for all its depressive tendencies, has worth (it does, but for argument's sake...) and that movies, or scenes, are fundamentally about people connecting or not connecting. Not if they do or do not, from one scene to the next, but how they do or how they don't.

When movies like Exotica, or Amour, or Solondz's comedy-tempered works err towards the more disappointing answers to those questions when pursuing the brighter answers in so much earnest, they become hard pills to take. In those films specifically, effort expended to connect is not necessarily matched in favor, and coping mechanisms that might help alter the character's behaviors seem to be beyond their grasps. It's the fearless gaze on the answers found to how they don't connect that give these types of films "worth", I think. They don't. We know they don't. But these movies see the moment-to-moment how, and that's what I want movies to be.

outside The Silence of the Lambs (special category), Melvin and Howard remains my favorite Jonathan Demme movie. and Paul Le Mat remains an actor i treasure, from this, Aloha Bobby and Rose, and Citizens Band.

so i was sitting around wondering whatever happened to Paul Le Mat. and it turns out he's a writer now (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Paul+Le+Mat), with a YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn046OVYu4-xlZIPjnFKadQ)



i was going to say more about Melvin and Howard, which i just finished rewatching, but i became distracted by Paul Le Mat as a writer. i wouldn't call it a bad distraction btw, as in i'm not like "look how far he's fallen," if anyone is thinking that, rather i'm thinking "look how human he is"

been wanting to see Exotica long time now, Felicia's Journey too. only significant Egoyan I've seen is The Sweet Hereafter.

over the weekend I saw Miami Blues, a film that got on my radar nearly four years ago when BAM was having a film noir series ahead of Inherent Vice's release. not certain if this falls into film noir, it's way too batshit and off the rails to be categorized there. if not for baldwin and jason leigh and fred ward i don't think i would have made it all the way. it's awesome to see baldwin so untamed , his eyes glint animal primacy the entire time. he's a great actor, but no role he's had in the past 25 years compares to the lunacy of career criminal Junior. the movie is fucking out there, in the cheesiest of bad good movie ways. at one point baldwin attempts to stop a convenient store stick-up using a large jar of pasta sauce to fend off the gun toting robber. also, he somehow has the preternatural  abilities to place himself smack in the middle of criminal activity, be it a drug deal or robbery. if you're looking for something kitsch, completely unbelievable yet fun, you could do much worse.

also saw The Ballad of Jack and Rose last week for the first time, knew i was in for a good one the second 'i put a spell on you' plays at the start. a few good Dylan tunes come later. it's a very good, slightly disturbing, portrait of a father-daughter relationship.

I saw Miami Blues on 35 at The Roxy a few months back and found it similarly enjoyable. Jennifer Jaaon Leigh stole it for me.

Yeah, she's very sweet in it. A bit naive for a prostitute, but we've seen those type before (in movies, that is). Never been to the Roxy before, any theater that plays 35 is a blessing.

it's beach noir, in this case Florida noir, stemming from Floridian writer Charles Willeford, the first in his Hoke Moseley series.

Willeford also known for Cockfighter, which he adapted for Monte Hellman, and this memoir of his youth

(https://i.imgur.com/IqptUFr.jpg?1)

Quote from: Something Spanish on September 24, 2018, 10:13:03 AM
been wanting to see Exotica long time now, Felicia's Journey too. only significant Egoyan I've seen is The Sweet Hereafter.

All three of those are so good. Ararat is another one I'd recommend seeking out.

Down Terrace (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1489167/) took me seven days to watch (the longest i've spent watching a single movie?) and i almost gave up on it at least twice, but eventually i finished it and was glad i did. was that my second or third time watching it, i'm not sure, but i'm sure it's been seven years since i last watched it. i think Ben Wheatley has a fascinating career. the co-writer for Down Terrace is one of its lead actors, Robin Hill. the writers for Sightseers are listed as its two main actors, along with additional material by Amy Jump, who wrote the High-Rise script, and co-wrote Free Fire with Wheatley.

Down Terrace has an overall rubbish logic, i believe. as in i don't think its logic aligns with realworld possibilities. but its self-contained nature, its logic within itself, its logic as a movie, works fine. all you have to do is listen to the characters, and feel what they feel. now i'm realizing that i don't have much to say about this movie. why am i glad i watched it? i like how it keeps its narrative near the hearts of its characters. it reminds me that when you do that you can do anything.

I watched Win It All last night. it wasn't as enjoyable as Drinking Buddies, and I am not exactly sure what the point of it all was, but it was entertaining enough. joe swanberg and jack johnson is a good match. 

a conversation about Scorsese's worst movie would be just as interesting as a conversation about his best movie, maybe. it's almost kind of obviously Boxcar Bertha innit, but then isn't it maybe Who's That Knocking at My Door actually, and after that is when it gets interesting. for example, i almost want to rewatch The Aviator and Gangs of New York now, to compare them to each other, and compare them to what i watched tonight, The King of Comedy. Scorsese himself is imdb trivia quoted as saying "I thought the movie was just a one-line gag: You won't let me go on the show, so I'll kidnap you and you'll put me on the show." as in, it's not a very dimensionally complex movie. there isn't really a lot of character material, and that's almost kind of silly coming from Scorsese.

at the same time i think De Niro plays it to a perfect pitch. his mania reminds me of life choices i don't want to make. he pushes me back from the ledge because i see how crazy the ledge is. although he almost explains his entire outrageousness with a great line, "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." that's a pretty good point. it's also a pretty crazy point and i think it's what all the crazy people say. the movie doesn't tell me much more than Don't Be Crazy.

the fashion and interior design are atrocious, but 1982 owes some blame for that. Sandra Bernhard does fine enough but her character is rather startlingly flat, well below Scorsese's scope--what can i tell you about her? nothing. i'm not even sure why she's crazy. what can i tell you about Jerry? nothing.

it's the Rupert Pupkin show. yet somehow still i'm glad i rewatched it, for the reason i stated, about being reminded to step away from the ledge, which i do sometimes walk toward, to be frank. perhaps in fact i should watch this movie whenever i feel myself headed toward the ledge. i'm not sure why i'm calling it the ledge but i think you all know what i mean.

Quote from: jenkins on October 22, 2018, 02:07:22 AM
a conversation about Scorsese's worst movie would be just as interesting as a conversation about his best movie, maybe. it's almost kind of obviously Boxcar Bertha innit, but then isn't it maybe Who's That Knocking at My Door actually, and after that is when it gets interesting. for example, i almost want to rewatch The Aviator and Gangs of New York now, to compare them to each other, and compare them to what i watched tonight, The King of Comedy. Scorsese himself is imdb trivia quoted as saying "I thought the movie was just a one-line gag: You won't let me go on the show, so I'll kidnap you and you'll put me on the show." as in, it's not a very dimensionally complex movie. there isn't really a lot of character material, and that's almost kind of silly coming from Scorsese.

at the same time i think De Niro plays it to a perfect pitch. his mania reminds me of life choices i don't want to make. he pushes me back from the ledge because i see how crazy the ledge is. although he almost explains his entire outrageousness with a great line, "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." that's a pretty good point. it's also a pretty crazy point and i think it's what all the crazy people say. the movie doesn't tell me much more than Don't Be Crazy.

the fashion and interior design are atrocious, but 1982 owes some blame for that. Sandra Bernhard does fine enough but her character is rather startlingly flat, well below Scorsese's scope--what can i tell you about her? nothing. i'm not even sure why she's crazy. what can i tell you about Jerry? nothing.

it's the Rupert Pupkin show. yet somehow still i'm glad i rewatched it, for the reason i stated, about being reminded to step away from the ledge, which i do sometimes walk toward, to be frank. perhaps in fact i should watch this movie whenever i feel myself headed toward the ledge. i'm not sure why i'm calling it the ledge but i think you all know what i mean.

No way, man, it's not King of Comedy, man. And it's not The Aviator or Gangs of New York neither. I'd rewatch any of those right now and so would you. But would you rewatch New York, New York right now? Would you rewatch Hugo? Even Bringing Out The Dead or Shutter Island, granted I still think they're pretty good, but would you rewatch them over The Aviator or Gangs? No way, man.

But none of em are bad movies. I don't think Scorsese could make a bad movie.

it's cool because this is that interesting conversation i suspected.

Hugo is flames, as far as i remember. i was a big Hugo fan, saw it twice. only kind of because of the order in which i first saw them did i actually in fact watch Bringing out the Dead recently enough. my most recent with Scorsese goes Bringing out the Dead -> Mean Streets -> King of Comedy, all following falling back in love with him via Silence. King of Comedy expresses being crazy, but Bringing out the Dead expresses feeling just way fucking bummed, so i actually experience closer emotional identification with Bringing out the Dead. plus it's just insane when that one guy is stuck on that spike at the top of the roof and they're using that whatever-it's-called to free him, and sparks are flying, and you can see the same famous NYC building skyline you see in Mean Streets. that's a nice touch.

ultimately we overall fully agree on top of New York New York and Shutter Island being definite contenders. the funny thing about Shutter Island is i've only seen it once, in theater when it came out, and i didn't like it, and i still don't want to see it again, because i want to preserve my memory of it. i want to preserve my memory of not liking it?? hm, well i was positive one time someone pointed at a graph and it was hilarious, so i guess i mean that.

I saw Hugo twice too. It's a good movie. But Scorsese has never made a bad movie. Except for maybe New York, New York and Boxcar Bertha, you're right. I haven't seen either of those in ages. Silence I've watched a few times and will revisit soon. Up there with his absolute best.

Tonight, I watched Requiem for a Vampire. Seen a few Jean Rollin movies in the past couple years. Him and Jesus Franco. They're very strange films but really nice and psychedelic. Like, that super deep cut psychedelia that almost isn't even good but still manages to be great.

a course of events unrelated to the main point of this post led me into reading The Melancholy of Resistance (https://www.amazon.com/Melancholy-Resistance-New-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811215040/).

now that i have finally read that, after i was all the way finished, i went back to its cinematic adaptation, Werckmeister Harmonies (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249241/).

Werckmeister Harmonies now makes total sense to me. and you know what, i'm not sure it can make total sense without the book. i do have an example, yes. when the movie's protagonist, János Valuska, is reading a journal. it is of course a long shot, it begins on the other side of a room, pans across the ceiling, and lands on János while he sits on the floor reading. in the movie no other person is in the room with him, while in the book he's where people are being interrogated, he's around other people, and it's quite clear where he gets the journal from, whose journal it is, and what it's talking about. in fact the journal has gorgeous lines ["a moment's victim in an infinitely vast arena"] relating to philosophical concepts being developed by the book. in the movie it's contextualizing the previous scene's violence, that's all it's doing, and i only know it's doing that because i read the book. how could someone just watching the movie know that?

the title switch makes sense because you see, The Melancholy of Resistance is in fact a literal title. to rephrase it, the book is about Life's Fight Being Sad. it sees this concept through to the end, in that acceptance is reached by both central characters at one point, and acceptance is how movies often end, but actually there are about 100 pages left after acceptance is reached in the book, i admit i had been wondering what would happen, and it's almost as if the movie ends republican, funny enough. it's kind of calling everyone a snowflake and saying the best possible course of action is to look at things from a practical perspective. i shall side mention that all characters, including the "republican," find love impossible, and it is a cynical book, in that the "republican" is in some ways not the ideal character, for even with an ideal perspective the absence of spirituality in their life is apparent.

this philosophical perspective is not represented by the movie. rather, the formal idea of Werckmeister Harmonies is indeed worked upon, in terms of the movie's tonal structure, and it is mentioned in the book too. Tarr's long shots parallel Krasznahorkai's long sentences, it's funny how much more sense his long takes make now. frankly as i said, i don't think the movie's logic works independently, but the movie is not trying to convey logic. the movie is conveying a feeling. and, oh: the feelings of the movie find foundation within the filmmaker's logic, that is how that is possible.

in terms of cinematic grammar, it's absurd how impressive Tarr is. that's just really impressive. i read that some shots took a month to put together and i thought, wow, only a month. again, the shots parallel Krasznahorkai, but i believe Tarr had to invent the parallel. i read Tarr described as Tarkovsky without the spirituality.

(https://i.imgur.com/38nzjxT.jpg?1)

it took me two tries to watch this movie because the premise is extraordinarily stupid. there's an alien probe traveling space and destroying ships, about to destroy all of Earth, and Spock (back from the dead, learning how to be alive again) is somehow the only person who recognizes the probe's distress signal as the singing of a humpback whale, so they time travel to bring two humpback whales into the future, which does indeed satisfy the probe and end the movie.

my viewing was initiated by having recently rewatched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and having enjoyed that so much i thought that maybe i've been a Trekkie my whole life without realizing it. the Star Trek movie theory is the evens are good and the odds are worse, and i read about #4 as like a buddy comedy, so i went into it next. the first time i went to watch it i saw the beginning and wasn't having it, fell asleep, woke up at the end and thought fuck this shit. but today i successfully completed the entire movie, and i still think of the premise and execution as rather inept and unimpressive (every scene in the movie is a great example) but now i'm somehow a big fan of it after all, for reasons i can't explain. because it wasn't so hard to watch after all? because everyone seems to be enjoying the making of it? i have no idea, it just happened. it is indeed a rather positive movie.

from here i'll head to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, followed by Star Trek: First Contact, that's my current plan, i'm not sure how long that'll take me.

Ah, Voyage Home is my fav of all the Star Trek movies. The ludicrous fun of it. Wrath of Khan is probably the better movie, but I'd rewatch Voyage Home first. I'm decidedly not a Trekkie. Have seen all the movies though. Would like to try to watch one a year, that seems about right.

Gonna watch The Fog (1980) and In The Mouth of Madness tonight. A rare double feature. Feeling good about it. Haven't seen The Fog since high school and never did get around to Mouth of Madness. Probably gonna watch the whole Carpenter filmography before the end of the year. Seems strange to say cause he's so obviously a great filmmaker, but this guy's a great filmmaker.

In the Mouth of Madness will be a positive experience that will confirm, potentially increase, your esteem

(https://i.imgur.com/5Phdjnl.jpg?1)

i own 8 Paul Schrader movies, and not even the criterion one. and i own The Yakuza and Taxi Driver and Bringing out the Dead. oh and Last Temptation and Raging Bull and Rolling Thunder. and once i owned The Mosquito Coast i'm positive, i bought it from a discount Wal-Mart bin, but i don't currently own that i must admit.

that tripped me out last night, when i decided i wanted to watch Touch, which movie i couldn't remember.

y'all, Touch is cray. okay, it's the only theatrical composition done by Dave Grohl. it's the only one. that's cray. and that's the beginning. so, Schrader liked Edward Lachman (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005767/) before he was popular, Ed was the dp for Touch. it's an Elmore Leonard adaptation. and now let's get into the actors. Bridget Fonda doubles this with Jackie Brown for Leonard adaptations. and it's insane how good she is, it really is, if what i mean by insane is impressive, which i do. she kills it. she's better than Christopher Walken, who is only good for being himself. she's better than Skeet Ulrich, and it tripped me out that Skeet Ulrich stars in this movie. he's the one with the Touch. but here's a surprising part: Bridget ties with Tom Arnold. Tom Arnold does a good job in this movie, he really does.

so on top of all that there's the movie, which tbh i'm not in the mood to talk about. it's okay.

I saw Touch in theaters early '97 because knew Tarantino was adapting Leonard's Rum Punch and would see anything QT related, no matter how distantly related it was. That one's one of Schrader's lesser known flicks. Don't remember much except blood coming out of Ulrich's palm and how goofy the whole thing seemed.

I love 'The Mosquito Coast'! Just watched it a few weeks ago. Like 'Taxi Driver' it's such an interesting character study of a guy who you're rooting for because he seems to have his heart in the right place as they slowly decline into insanity. It's my favorite 'jungle' movie.

I can't believe how much of Schrader's stuff I haven't seen, Taxi Driver being my #1. Maybe it's because I have found them to be kind of hit or miss for me. I still think I owe it to him to have more familiarity with his body of work there are so few screenwriters I've encountered with as singular a voice as his.

I went to a Paul Schrader speaking engagement last November. Forgot to bring any stuff to sign. He was very open to chatting and taking pictures afterwards but I just wasn't confident I'd be able to have the conversation I wanted to with him, which would ultimately be about me wanting to write the 'taxi driver' of the new millenium. No, not 'uber driver' but an urban vigilante movie with that visceral grit of life on the streets. I believe he said somewhere in his speech that Taxi Driver would be impossible to be made today and I took that as my answer.

Since I felt too awkward about standing in line to meet him, I resolved that I need to have some kind of interaction with him. So, when he asked for any final questions, I blurted out ( instead of raising my hand ) "Do you think your movies have the potential to change what's going on in society?" or something to that effect. Not a well thought out question, but I had to get something out there to veer away from the stupid college-kid questions he was being asked ("What's your favorite movie that you've ever made?")

I can't remember his answer verbatim, I had some of it written down in my phone that I lost. It was something like this:

Q: Do you think your movies have the potential to change what's going on in society?

A: Well that would be assuming that movies still have an effect on the culture, which they don't. 'First Reformed' goes into climate change, but do you think that's going to change a Trump supporters mind? There are too many venues for people to get their information for one movie to have the impact they did in the 70's. Back then, everyone was just getting their news from Walter Kronkite, so when a movie came out like 'Coming Home' it would make people want to go out and protest the Vietnam war.

This is the part that really stuck with me, that was along the lines of the conversation I wanted to have with him. (keep in mind I was wearing my work uniform when I asked this)

"When I was your age, I was already radicalized. And if I were your age right now, I would be radicalized. If you want to make a change, get a gun"

So yeah, I'll be kicking myself the rest of my life for not having him sign my Taxi Driver poster: "If you want to make a change, get a gun"

That's like the perfect tagline for that movie, too.

Yeah, I've kind of puzzled over exactly what he meant by that. What is he implying in becoming radicalized? The origins for Taxi Driver were when he was living out of his car and had to buy a gun to protect himself. Was that his moment of radicalization and he's literally suggesting I buy a gun, to feel that rush of power it gives you? Or is he saying that the only way to have an effect on the culture these days is to shoot a place up?
I've never wanted to own a gun, if I ever do feel the need to and it's not for hunting purposes then I'm going to need to seriously re-evaluate my life situation. Nothing against shooting targets, but I don't want something like that in my house, and I've been burglarized.

I believe he was being metaphorical. What can you do that will make people raise their hands and listen to you? It bothers older people a lot, how transgressive art is basically dead. Basically after the 50s subculture art flowered and by the 90s grunge occurred, and there kind of hasn't been a change since then, in terms of art culture. In terms of ideology. How can you make people listen to you? Point a gun at them. What is your gun, use it, that's what he's saying.

Always a good experience when you start a movie with the intention of only watching a few minutes, are mesmerized by those ensuing minutes, and wind up watching the whole damn thing. Happened twice recently with two movies I hadn't seen before, while fucking around on Filmstruck. Last week it was The Soft Skin, swindling me out of a sunny afternoon with its transfixing story of seduction, bearing Truffaut's stamp in every sense. After about 10 minutes, not finishing it was out of the question. It's a movie where the mood is enough to captivate you, eager to experience the tumultuous emotions, the beautiful B&W, the graceful camerawork, especially those long lonely tracking shots following Jean Desailly down long hotel corridors. Not one of Truffaut's best, but an original little ditty anyways that deserves to be on his resume.

Same thing happened with The Marriage of Maria Braun, that war-torn matrimonial opening was plenty of incentive to lock ass in seat. Haven't seen much Fassbinder, damn shame considering the tizzy this beauty got me into. There's a strong authenticity in the way peacetime Germany is depicted, the uninhabitable ruined buildings, rubble in piles on every street corner, hunger and pain in everyone's eyes. Maria is a great character, her rise to power a viewing to remember. Added to these two flicks I had to see Secret & Lies finally, and fucking loved it. No matter how hard you fight the melodrama, those tears start welling one way or another. Those long takes between Brenda Blethyn and the daughter she gave up for adoption are performance showcases to a T. Everything about this movie is just so good.

Quote from: Something Spanish on November 12, 2018, 09:14:31 AM
Always a good experience when you start a movie with the intention of only watching a few minutes, are mesmerized by those ensuing minutes, and wind up watching the whole damn thing.

This is one of my favorite things in life. Cherished examples: Birth, Margaret, recently Private Life, It Happened One Night, ...

QuoteSame thing happened with The Marriage of Maria Braun, that war-torn matrimonial opening was plenty of incentive to lock ass in seat.

One of my favorite openings of any film. It's so funny and terrifying and (literally) explosive! And those gorgeous titles....

QuoteAdded to these two flicks I had to see Secret & Lies finally, and fucking loved it. No matter how hard you fight the melodrama, those tears start welling one way or another. Those long takes between Brenda Blethyn and the daughter she gave up for adoption are performance showcases to a T. Everything about this movie is just so good.

Top-shelf Leigh, for sure. I haven't watched it, or any of his films for that matter, in a few years, and it's high time I revisit them. Naked, Life Is Sweet, All or Nothing, Topsy Turvy, Meantime, High Hopes, Vera Drake - I even liked Career Girls! Of his more recent stuff, I found Mr. Turner quite captivating.

The Three Musketeers by Richard Lester because it's on Mubi. Thought it'd be an easy, old-fashioned romp, but it was actually much better than I even anticipated. Really enjoyed it. Some great bits of humor throughout, too, which I wasn't expecting. It was weird watching numerous fight scenes that didn't really "up" the action. In fact, quite often those fighting aren't really great at it. As the film ends pimping the sequel, I immediately went to Amazon to buy the boxset of all three Lester-Musketeer films, but alas, it does not exist.

I actually recommend checking out the Paul WS Anderson Three Musketeers flick. It's surprisingly fun, has a ridiculously good cast (give or take your feelings on Logan Lerman), and is 100% batshit insane.

"If we don't burn, how will the night be lit?"

Just finished House of Tolerance, one of the most disturbing and beautiful films I have ever seen, is my spontaneous reaction. If Lars von Trier made a film about a Parisian bordello in the 19th century, it probably would have looked like this. Basically perfect until the very last minute.



I'd recommend it to anyone regardless. It gave me a movie high that I haven¨'t felt in a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ0KNVU2fV0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljkaq_he-BU


I watched both Fyre (Netflix) and Fyre Fraud (Hulu). Believe it or not, I think both are essential viewing to get the full story.

The Hulu doc is actually more journalistic and unflinching in its assessment of what happened. It goes into much more detail about Billy McFarland being a scam artist from the very beginning. It has no interest in pretending Billy had any noble intentions or good faith whatsoever.

The Netflix doc is far more charitable to the marketing team that promoted Fyre Festival, because that marketing team... co-produced the Netflix doc. It's absolutely wild that the producers of this documentary are interviewed without being identified as producers. So the Netflix doc is ethically compromised to say the least. We're supposed to believe that Billy McFarland cast a spell on everyone who worked for him, and that only he knew this was a scam. Give me a break. The Hulu doc pretty thoroughly exposes that as an absurd notion. THAT SAID, I still very highly recommend watching the Netflix doc as well, because it's more professionally-made and has better footage — and some of the insider footage they have access to is just breathtaking.

I watched them both as well.   I think I preferred the Hulu doc, but I agree that watching both gives you a fuller picture of what went down.  (I didn't know about the FuckJerry connection to the Netflix doc when I watched it.  Bad form, indeed, to not point that out.)

Ethical faceplants aside (what do you expect from a media company built on stealing other people's creative works), I strongly preferred the Netflix doc over the Hulu one. I found myself less interested in the cultural contextualization that the Hulu version was obsessed with and more interested in watching these hubristic slapdicks step on a rake over and over. But I agree, it's worth it to watch both, which is an insane thing I never imagined I would say when I first heard that there were two competing documentaries about the fucking Fyre Festival.

Thank you, Polka, for recommending me Coherence. It was absolutely fantastic considering its budget.

Attended the all-day Jeff Goldblum Mystery Movie Marathon at The Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn!

Four movies - two of which I'd never seen, and one of which I'd not seen since I was quite young! All on 35mm (spotted Alex Ross Perry in the crowd, as I frequently do at screenings round here).

First up, Earth Girls Are Easy - this was not nearly as bad as Leonard Maltin's guide led me to believe as a kid. A bit long, perhaps, but goodnaturedly silly with some solid laughs throughout and lots of great early Jim Carrey-Marlon Wayans In Living Color-esque alien antics. Strangely recommended.

The Fly - hadn't seen in years so this was largely like a first watch for me. Classic Cronenberg stuff, really disgusting (ate pizza during some of it, not recommended) and of course tragic. And damn Goldblum's got a torso on him! Recommended but I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted.

Into the Night - This mostly bored me, but it had a lot of cool director cameos. And young Michelle Pfeiffer! (Better off just watching Married to the Mob though, to be frank). Oddly flat Goldblum performance here. Skippable.

and lastly

The Lost World: Jurassic Park - not my preferred installment by a long shot but certainly the best of the sequels. And honestly, for about an hour and ten minutes it's pretty good! But fuck fuck fuck some of it is JUST. SO. DUMB. I get why they chose this instead of JP1, Goldblum being the lead and all, but every one of his iconic Ian Malcolm moments are from the original. Who fucking quotes The Lost World? Don't know if any of y'all have ever read the book, but the movie bears very little resemblance to it, and much to its detriment. The material in the book would have made a far better film; the one we got is mostly a collection of strung-together set pieces that didn't make the first one. Was surprised to remember this is actually one of John Williams' better scores too. Mostly Recommended, but really we all know Jurassic Park remains king.

Well, that was fun! We even got Goldbling!

Very jealous of that bling! lol.

The Fly is the greatest body horror film of all time... okay, not really, but almost.

The Vanishing of Sidney Hall
This film was far from perfect, but it struck a chord with me and kind of made me lose my shit about halfway through it. Kind of sloppy and pretentious in a way, but every time my mind started to go "this isn't really as good as I feel it is" there was a moment or a scene that overwhelmed me with emotions again and made me forget about all of its flaws. Still kind of shocked from the experience, because I wasn't really expecting it to be one of those films...

Quote from: Robyn on January 25, 2019, 05:52:46 PM
Thank you, Polka, for recommending me Coherence. It was absolutely fantastic considering its budget.

I'm glad you liked it! I thought of another underseen recent film that I hadn't mentioned before: Honeymoon (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3177316/?ref=m_nv_sr_1). Tonally similar to Coherence, and absolutely gutting.

Quote from: polkablues on January 29, 2019, 12:02:57 PM

Quote from: Robyn on January 25, 2019, 05:52:46 PM
Thank you, Polka, for recommending me Coherence. It was absolutely fantastic considering its budget.

I'm glad you liked it! I thought of another underseen recent film that I hadn't mentioned before: Honeymoon (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3177316/?ref=m_nv_sr_1). Tonally similar to Coherence, and absolutely gutting.

I will watch that as well for sure.

Realized earlier today that I have seen 27 films in the last 15 days, so I am basically just watching everything that looks interesting at the moment. Most of them are obvious ones, but one I recommend is Personal Shopper... no wait, nevermind, I just checked letterboxd and everyone I follow from here have already seen it, haha.

I haven't seen it yet, but I will. I'm running about three years behind on getting caught up with movies I want to watch.

Personal Shopper is one of my very favorites from the last few years. The Criterion Blu is well-worth a blind buy. Olivier Assayas is an extremely interesting filmmaker. Saw an older film of his on a whim last year called Clean - I knew nothing about it, other than that Nick Nolte was in it, and it was an emotional firestorm that left me gutted.

Personal Shopper enters my mind all the time.

Irma Vep -- that's also where it's at

That's one of the coolest trailers I've ever seen! And that's the same actress from Clean! Maggie Cheung, his wife at the time, I believe. Definitely checking that out soon.

Fyre Festival Was a Huge Scam. Is Netflix's Fyre Documentary a Scam, Too?

The festival's marketing agency also co-produced the film, resulting in a misleading version of who bears responsibility for the fraud.

https://newrepublic.com/article/153095/fyre-festival-huge-scam-netflixs-fyre-documentary-scam-too

Went for The Limey over a two night period, having not seen it since theatrical release, when I was too green to appreciate it. Damn if that doesn't deserve a slot among 99's best. As refreshing a rinse to the revenge genre as one can hope for, Soderbergh's use of experimental editing techniques and new ways of depicting scenes we've seen hundreds of times before contribute to the sheer entertainment factor of this terse, even slightly emotional, thriller. Stamp, as the mean limey bastard, rocks hard. The footage used from Loach's Poor Cow, where Stamp was 30 years younger, have an overwhelming effect when woven into the story. Incredulously, I slept on this one for almost 20 years, shrugging the movie off as an undercooked potboiler. Soderbergh's tampering with conventions is rarely a misfire, in fact, I can't think of single one of his I dislike, having seen about all if them. Peter Fonda's presence serves as an appropriate reminder of that yearning for a bygone era, here it's the 60's, when everything changed, felt meaningful. The Limey is tinged with these reminisces,  even the driving force of seeking answers to Stamp's daughters death has an unaddressed wonder of lost youth, an attempt to reclaim the past. Criterion needs to get on this one.

Yeah man, I've long been a fan of this one! Sod's output between Sex Lies and Erin Brok/Traffic is sadly under-appreciated. So many great little character moments sprinkled throughout (especially with Luis Guzman and Nicky Katt). "You tell him, you tell him I'm coming. Tell him I'm fucking comiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Good shit.

Quote from: Something Spanish on March 30, 2019, 09:18:32 AM
Went for The Limey over a two night period, having not seen it since theatrical release, when I was too green to appreciate it. Damn if that doesn't deserve a slot among 99's best. As refreshing a rinse to the revenge genre as one can hope for, Soderbergh's use of experimental editing techniques and new ways of depicting scenes we've seen hundreds of times before contribute to the sheer entertainment factor of this terse, even slightly emotional, thriller. Stamp, as the mean limey bastard, rocks hard. The footage used from Loach's Poor Cow, where Stamp was 30 years younger, have an overwhelming effect when woven into the story. Incredulously, I slept on this one for almost 20 years, shrugging the movie off as an undercooked potboiler. Soderbergh's tampering with conventions is rarely a misfire, in fact, I can't think of single one of his I dislike, having seen about all if them. Peter Fonda's presence serves as an appropriate reminder of that yearning for a bygone era, here it's the 60's, when everything changed, felt meaningful. The Limey is tinged with these reminisces,  even the driving force of seeking answers to Stamp's daughters death has an unaddressed wonder of lost youth, an attempt to reclaim the past. Criterion needs to get on this one.

Quote from: eward on March 30, 2019, 10:49:53 AM
Yeah man, I've long been a fan of this one! Sod's output between Sex Lies and Erin Brok/Traffic is sadly under-appreciated. So many great little character moments sprinkled throughout (especially with Luis Guzman and Nicky Katt). "You tell him, you tell him I'm coming. Tell him I'm fucking comiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Good shit.

I love this movie so fucking much. Terence Stamp is a force of nature. I also still quote Luis Guzman's "You could see the sea from here, if you could see it," any time it's foggy out.

Just watched Mister Lonely for the first time, got caught completely off guard. what an incredible movie, had no idea Korine had one in him like this. hulu'd it, now may have to buy a dvd.

these are movies i've recently watched and would talk about with anyone who wanted to talk about any of them, otherwise simply making this post you're currently experiencing

(https://i.imgur.com/ubKABAZ.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/bOTPcIg.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/ptF2v3J.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/sCQQW0O.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/4Q1pUXo.jpg)

also i'll shittalk E.T. if you need me to, but you probably like it like a person one chromosome away from being a polar bear

Oh yeah, Blast of Silence, Scarface, House by the River, these all slap. Blast of Silence especially. Haven't heard of the other two. I'll defend ET to the death though.

Deciding if I should finally watch Tree of Wooden Clogs. Well, I know I should, but am I going to? On a weeknight?

i think you should watch Tree of Wooden Clogs if you haven't seen it in a while. i think i'd like it more than i did after my first viewing, since i'd better understand it now for various reasons, that's my guess

nah about ET that was a pretty exhausting fight but now it's settled, ET sucks

currently can't figure out what movie i want to watch next

don't worry i'll figure it out

in recent days i've watched and would be willing to chat about

(https://i.imgur.com/zJcvFSE.gif)

(https://i.imgur.com/V92qMyo.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/hP87NT4.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/NiV2SNU.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/hDGAVPf.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/CU4oRi2.jpg)

How was Sans Soleil? I'm vibing with that premise at the moment.

for me it's what's called a perennial favorite. it's essential, memorize it (https://www.markertext.com/sans_soleil.htm)

memorized, lol

have since watched

(https://i.imgur.com/NcFkmQF.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/LPezxAa.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/u55LXYX.jpg)

so there i was experiencing my one chance at being alive, and Ready or Not had opened this week, and The Peanut Butter Falcon had expanded, but well my true calling came to me when i noticed this celebrating its 50th anniversary in a multiplex

(https://i.imgur.com/1oeYyFi.jpg)

i do not know for sure if i have seen this one, i only own The Pumpkin One, so i invited all my friends to watch it with me, and it playing in the center of LA you can pretty much imagine what the theater looked like

(https://i.imgur.com/ilDcaBj.jpg)

trailers did not play before the movie that began right on time, and wow what a fantastic first scene



i felt comfortable and open to this movie that felt open to the imagination

Charlie Brown is a failure and he fails in this movie but his friends help his sucky life feel cute, like a pitcher on a pitcher's mound covered with dandelions

watched 35 Shots of Rum last night, and now completely understand the love for Denis, such a simple, endearing, warm hearted movie. If her other stuff is half as good I'll be a happy film camper. that sad French sounding score thumped the sympathy buttons on every cue. the understated father/daughter relationship crept in my emotional chamber, waiting for that final moment to pull levers of awe. I love movies that hit you when the end credits roll, all along you're thinking, yeah, this is good, but just as it ends you're like, fuck that was GREAT. nice little Ozu homage that carries its own weight.

also earlier this week I watched Night and the City, which is easily one of the best noirs I've ever seen. Richard Widmark is a bolt of adrenaline, just as incinerating performance. so much I love about this movie, mainly the characters being more fleshed out than most noirs of that period i've seen. it's a movie i know i'll return to frequently.

throw in Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the zillionth time and Spirited Away for the second time and that's my movie week so far.

Quote from: Something Spanish on October 11, 2019, 11:46:43 AM
watched 35 Shots of Rum last night, and now completely understand the love for Denis, such a simple, endearing, warm hearted movie. If her other stuff is half as good I'll be a happy film camper. that sad French sounding score thumped the sympathy buttons on every cue. the understated father/daughter relationship crept in my emotional chamber, waiting for that final moment to pull levers of awe. I love movies that hit you when the end credits roll, all along you're thinking, yeah, this is good, but just as it ends you're like, fuck that was GREAT. nice little Ozu homage that carries its own weight.

Denis has two modes: one indeed, as you said, simple, endearing, warm hearted (35 Shots of Rum, Let the Sunshine In, Nenette et Boni) and the other hard, homicidal and horny (Trouble Every Day - my favorite... Bastards, High Life - very disturbing, violent, subversive spins on genre). Eager to hear your thoughts on some of her other titles...

Quote from: Something Spanish on October 11, 2019, 11:46:43 AMalso earlier this week I watched Night and the City, which is easily one of the best noirs I've ever seen. Richard Widmark is a bolt of adrenaline, just as incinerating performance.

Have you seen Sam Fuller's Pickup On South Street?

yeah, seen Pickup on South Street, he's great in that too. haven't seen him in much else.

re: Denis. can't wait to dig through those treasures.

(https://i.imgur.com/MPng4Jj.jpg?1)

um, oh shit this is dope

i had recently shown up for Zodiac—both these at the New Bev—and Zodiac is a well-made movie that i have to like imagine what people like about it so much, while this movie slaughters

it's this impressive tapestry in which nobody is perfect everything is fucked and everybody is just trying their best, set to a fever pitch

based on having seen it today i can tell you that i hadn't remembered a damn thing about it, and it totally won be over. when it ended the audience gasped before applauding, and i can first-hand tell you that that's not how the audience response to most movies

kevin spacey makes fun of himself in this movie in a way that's even more hilarious now, since he's been looking like a real dipshit, the audience was dying

Finally saw Vertigo the other week. (MILD SPOILERS.) It was good but doesn't really get going until the twist. Kind of shocked it was AFI's #1 at one point. I can see the argument for it being a great and highly influential film, but do people really think it's one of the very very best?

Jimmy Stewart is wildly miscast, and all the age differentials are very weird in a way that seems unintentional. He has two friends from college who appear to be generations apart. And the "wife" is much younger than her husband, in her early 20s IIRC. Jimmy Stewart is greying and I have no idea how old he's supposed to be. Their age difference is never commented upon. I was more engaged with this mystery than the pre-twist mystery, to be honest.

jb it's Sight & Sound and it's still there, from the most recent. it climbed from 11th in 1972. it's not my favorite movie and really if everybody agreed what the best movie was the list would never change. i love the room soaked in neon and kind of forget the rest

Quote from: Something Spanish on October 12, 2019, 08:36:34 AM
yeah, seen Pickup on South Street, he's great in that too. haven't seen him in much else.

re: Denis. can't wait to dig through those treasures.

late to the party, denis is my goddess, all the ones eward mentioned are brilliant/can't really go wrong, but Beau travail should be your biggest priority, even though there isnt a decent transfer that's readily available.  she's the best, and agnes godard is a criminally underrated dp, their collaboration indispensable. 

as for night and the city, fuck yeah.  my favorite dassin. also love thieves' highway, both of which i enjoy much more than rififi.  have you seen Sweet Smell of Success and In a Lonely Place?

first move for quarantine bingefest was Meek's Cutoff into Almayer's Folly, which turned out to be a weirdly apt double feature.  the former was very good and makes me even more curious about First Cow, the latter completely blew me away and ill be spending some time catching up on akerman.

Have been watching movies on YouTube today, both great decisions:

https://youtu.be/OkNBcuTVImA


https://youtu.be/66yMA8xWCH4

Feels nice to stumble on good movies through youtube playlists without seeking out specific movies on torrents. Here's a TCM playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZeDY88ZrZTcrQnySYGvIayrx8e8ItqbN

that's great. great use of the internet and great movies. Poetry and Mother are both important to me

yesterday i watched three movies. i can't remember the last time i watched three movies in one day but it probably wasn't that long ago i bet, since if i see a double-feature i only have to watch one movie at home to hit the number. anyway so i was at my friend's and he has the criterion channel so i said what about

(https://i.imgur.com/7aOpaMj.jpg?1)

i shittalk teens and say i don't like teens anymore but then i like things like this and Call Me by Your Name and how does that happen let me tell you. the movie itself doesn't have to act like a teen. all that weird mania that's called teenage sense, save it for the character and let the narrative act like an adult. basically everywhere not america is better at doing this. from the opening shot to the end shot this movie feels as if taking place in reality and basically hits all the right points. idk it's drenched in being great

so then i thought hmm what else and ahh what is that that you have bought semi-recently yes let us watch that

(https://i.imgur.com/KT4OAmf.jpg?1)

'27. silent obviously. the beginning introduces the sideshow and this stuff is um ethereal to me. the sideshow introduction is holy to me

(https://i.imgur.com/oFwV1Jt.jpg?1)

but in the middle of the movie the score started tiring us so we played forever changes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forever_Changes) meanwhile and really what can happen did happen which is the score is helpful in that without the score one follows the narrative less successfully. i partially knew what was happening at the end which is a hollywood happy ending taking place at the sideshow

so then i was leaving his place and i thought you know what and so i asked hey do you mind if i borrow this movie and he was like go ahead and borrow this movie

(https://i.imgur.com/Tn7Twbj.jpg?1)

for no particular reason that i can recall i've been wanting to rewatch this movie for a while now. i last saw it a dime and a nickel years ago in a downtown long beach loft i shared with two friends and since i had been with a friend yesterday the whole day became wonderful time traveling. um the um what's going on in the fisher king is what i say all the time which is we're making up the way we look at life use some imagination have fun and remember love you know. in case it's region locked or disappears the following is the waltz scene from this movie

i'm doing a hulu 30 day trial and at the end i will or will not talk about what i watched, this is to remind me what i've watched so far:

Support the Girls
Minding the Gap
episode 1 and 7 of What We Do in the Shadows season 1, both directed by Waititi (who also directed the last episode but i haven't watched it yet, never saw the movie btw)
episodes 1-3 of the Napoleon Dynamite cartoon
all of Littlekenny because they're so short
The Beach Bum
Skate Kitchen
Hunt for the Wilderpeople

i'm not fully sure what else i'll watch or how i decide what to watch

you see if i owned these i wouldn't forget one. because it'd be right in front of me. or to the side of me, you know, somewhere around me in a physical capacity

i also watched Spaceship Earth and it sucks. it was a waste of my time. i watched it the day it arrived but that was nonsense. a reminder about the dangers of a streaming service

i activated the hulu trial to watch Devs, which i haven't and probably won't before the 30 days expire

all my hulu experiences will be "duh"s and "finally"s

(https://i.imgur.com/dglsxxu.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/1Z58DlI.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/DKSUNdg.png)

What's the name of the second still?

These are the films i've watched first time and loved so far this year:

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Millennium Mambo
Brief Encounter
Midsommar
Goodbye, Dragon Inn
Being There
Call Me by Your Name
The Descent
Thoroughbreds
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Sherlock, Jr.
L'Âge d'Or
Singin' in the Rain
Kiss Me Deadly
U.S. Go Home
Gun Crazy
Pale Flower

<3 your list

the three stills are from Kusama: Infinity

I mean this (https://i.imgur.com/gJRQMhs.jpg) is literally a picture of me right now so I obviously already like her

I actually watched that doc.  I MUST be cool now.  (Just waiting for the paperwork.)

Quar Views:

Mars Attacks!
Contagion
Leaving Las Vegas
Bully
The Pope of Greenwich Village
Schizopolis
Ocean's 12
The Knick S1, S2
Haywire
Magic Mike
Men In Black
Pixote
Mad Max
The Road Warrior
The Host
Mother
Life Itself
A Nos Amours
Vagabond
L'Argent
A Man Escaped
Southland Tales
M
The New Girlfriend
Logan Lucky
Hellraiser
The Forest For the Trees
Fear City
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
Empire of Dreams
Dogville
It Happened One Night
Blade Runner 2049
Hot Fuzz
Mad Max: Fury Road
Brewster McCloud
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

quar (for me march 13th til now filmz):
Images
Knightriders
Dark Star (rewatch)
The Funeral
The Addiction
Dangerous Game
Alien: Resurrection (rewatch)
Hana & Alice
Love Exposure (rewatch)
Alien3 (rewatch)
Austin Powers Goldmember (rewatch)
Austin Powers Spy Who Shagged Me (rewatch)
The Mad Magician 3D
Experiments in Love 3D
the Stewardesses 3D
Clifford (1994) (what the hell iz this movie)
Shut Up and Play the Hits (rewatch)
Dead Ringers
April Story (rewatch)
Hardcore
Brainstorm
Her Smell

I prided myself in my early cinephile days of NEVER walking out on a film.  I was very proud of my long-standing record. Your list reminded me of the movie that broke that resolve:

The Stewardesses (3D).

As a healthy young man, not even the tits nor ass could keep me in my seat.  Jesus, what a piece of shit. 

he prefers the Experiments in Love short

Now, there was a 3D, full XXX-rated film at the Pussycat on Santa Monica once that was a hoot-and-a-half.  (Although I think I was the only one in there laughing, if I recall correctly.)  Honestly the best and most-effective use of 3D I had seen to that time.  Even better than the 70mm 3D re-release of House of Wax at the Chinese.   

that's hot

until recently i had it stuck in my head that House of Wax was the first 3d film, but i just made that up or something. this is the truth about that movie: "the first 3D feature with stereophonic sound. House of Wax, outside of Cinerama, was the first time many American audiences heard recorded stereophonic sound." like what it's sound related. k weirdo history. anyway what happened was i rewatched Five (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043539/) which initiated a typical internet background research sideproject that led to my being informed (or reminded maybe) about Bwana Devil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwana_Devil), "notable for sparking the first 3D film craze in the motion picture industry, as well as for being the first feature-length 3D film in color and the first 3D sound feature in English."

Disney's "Fantasia" was presented in "Fantasound"--"the first commercial film released in stereo"--in 1940.

Fantasia a traveling roadshow (the sound equipment traveled?), the stereophonic sound wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereophonic_sound) mentions both the Fantasound and that "most moviegoing audiences heard stereophonic sound for the first time with House of Wax"

House of Wax wasn't the first 3d film it was the first 3d film with stereophonic sound, and how many people heard that sound setup for the first time

facts are tiring and that's a conversationally unrelated statement, general statement

lemme make a quar list too (since march)

Flight - 2/5
As Good As It Gets - 2
The Commuter - 3
Call Me by Your Name - 4
First Reformed 3.5
Triangle - 3.5
The Descent - 4
Honeymoon - 3.5
Dismissed - 1
Thoroughbreds - 4
Martyrs - 2
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - 4.5
Sherlock, Jr. - 4
The Abyss - 3
The Dying Swan - 4
A Corner in Wheat - 4
Battleship Potemkin - 4
L'Âge d'Or - 5
Fuses - 3.5
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 2
Blood and Black Lace - 3.5
Singin' in the Rain - 4.5
The Goddess - 3.5
Kiss Me Deadly - 5
Vertigo - 5 (rewatch)
28 days - 1.5
The Hangover Part II - 1.5
The Lake House - 3
Jumanji: The Next Level - 3
His Girl Friday - 4
The Act of Killing - 5 (rewatch)
Moneyball - 3.5 (rewatch)
Disturbia - 2 (rewatch)
Erin Brockovich - 3.5 (rewatch)
Kiss the Girls - 2
Meshes of the Afternoon - 4
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom - 3.5
U.S. Go Home - 5
April Story - 3
Bicycle Thieves - 3.5
Gun Crazy - 4.5
6 Underground - 3

not a single 2020 film. what's available and what's good?

I enjoyed:
Once Were Brothers
Deerskin
Spaceship Earth
Saint Frances
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Circus of Books
Bad Education
Crip Camp

Bad Education is directed by the same dude who did Thoroughbreds, so i'll watch that one for sure. Never Rarely Sometimes Always seems good and Deerskin sounds... well, interesting?

A man's obsession with his designer deerskin jacket causes him to blow his life savings and turn to crime.

I posted elsewhere here about my indecision regarding Deerskin, but it's grown on me since. I actually watched Thoroughbreds, too, recently and enjoyed that as well.

Quote from: wilberfan on May 15, 2020, 12:20:52 AM
The Stewardesses (3D).

As a healthy young man, not even the tits nor ass could keep me in my seat.  Jesus, what a piece of shit.

lol!

Quote from: jenkins on May 15, 2020, 01:19:10 AM
he prefers the Experiments in Love short

A better skin flick & film, and much shorter.

Quote from: jenkins on May 13, 2020, 03:47:46 PM
i'm doing a hulu 30 day trial and at the end i will or will not talk about what i watched, this is to remind me what i've watched so far:

Support the Girls
Minding the Gap
The Beach Bum
Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Really dig these filmz. These are four humanist flicks with generous heart. Support the Girls iz the kinda film that's easy to miss, indie to the bone, without chomping at the pedigree-bit of A24/Neon's aesthetic.

eward, robyn:
Southland Tales... Salo.... Schizopolis! Kiss Me Deadly! April Story!!  Y'all are having fun. These are filmz that I'll rewatch forever.

Quote from: WorldForgot on May 15, 2020, 09:51:43 AM
eward, robyn:
Southland Tales... Salo.... Schizopolis! Kiss Me Deadly! April Story!!  Y'all are having fun. These are filmz that I'll rewatch forever.

that's one way to put it :p

Finally got around to this on Criterion Channel and I've got to say it's an instant favorite. By turns batshit crazy, hilarious, and very clever. I absolutely loved it. Brilliant.

Stay safe out there everybody  :salute:

More, I guess, why not:

Cast Away
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Prodigal Sons
Notes On An American Film Director At Work: Martin Scorsese
Outside In
Laggies
Rolling Thunder
The Prestige
A Constant Forge
MacGruber
Love Streams
Bound
Chopper
Speed Racer
Dancer In the Dark
The Lodge
Machine Gun McCain
Mean Girls
Help!
Imagine: John Lennon
Head
The Adventures of TinTin (in 3D)
The Vast of Night
Hugo (in 3D)
Panic Room

Yeah, I know, who cares

i mean, we care

For the record, I care too.

 :yabbse-cry: thanks guys

https://youtu.be/3s0LTDhqe5A

A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.

tonight I'm going to begin watching my copy of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and it's actually like maybe just what I need, I'll find out

Funny movie! Channels the "sex comedy" mood rly well through Brand without ever leaning too far from pure Rom Com ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-bWf2QD4vw

I saw that in theaters day of a break up years back. It brought me some much needed laughter and heart.

"...and now I have the freshest cereal."

it's not logical to feel as if suffering while watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I concentrate on remembering while watching it. since movies cannot offend me the biggest threat is a waste of time. but humor is like anything else in life, in terms of you exercise it to keep it in shape. so I am watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall to be funny although it depresses me how no one is a realistic person. they are characters. ahaha they are funny characters and Hawaii has beaches and Jason Segel wrote this. are they realistic characters? yes: life sucks like this. it feels too honest. it is always light and friendly and also trying to touch my heart, which is sweet. I think I'm about 1h15min in and I took a break which I do do during most movies I watch at home that's true

funny enough I think my favorite moments come right after where I left off, when Jason and Russell and Kristen and Mila eat dinner and drink wine together. this is about 1h15m to 1h25m and the auxiliary characters are absent except for brief Jonah. Bill in this movie as an awful auxiliary character is a waste of talent. Paul single-handedly redeems his nonsense character. Da'Vone is the best, far better than Jonah, although still so one dimensional, like Taylor. the christian married couple is wasted space. there is lame humor throughout but it shines for about ten minutes at the table: I like how Kristen and Mila understand how to speak with each other, and Jason and Russell do too in another way. gendered relationships can be like that at least in that table scene. then Belle & Sebastian plays and that was one of two things I remembered about this movie, aside from Jason's cock. I had forgotten about the puppet Dracula musical actually happening although I remembered while watching it again. that was cool but I was like itching itching itching for the movie to just end, it's total cringe for the last fifteen minutes. pretty good failed blowjob scene but that's a tacky use of a titular female character imo. the depth of her final scene is the depth of this movie

(https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/b8d150ed20e90cb009b9cd92f6b838a2/OkOUDcVNqdlmsGnZOh3S4rYkZfKhfF_large.jpg)

Movie I never thought I'd watch yet here we are:
Penguin’s Memory: A Tale of Happiness (1985)

Moviez I'd Recommend You Avoid if You Can Help It:
Cats (2019)
Old Dogs (2009)

That's a great doc with some amazing Wexler handheld footage annoyingly fused with a halfassed narrative, still enjoyed it though.

Movies I've seen recently that I really liked:

Every Man for Himself (1980)
80s Godard seems like where all his filmmaking powers come together, excited to see some of the other ones I really enjoyed this.

Don't go Breaking my Heart (2011)
To just knows how to use space, maybe the best rom-com of the past decade, or at least definitely the best directed.

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
This lived up to the hype - just a singular experience I can't really compare to anything I've seen before. only seen a couple from Tourneur but they've both been amazing.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart 1 & 2 broke my heart.
Gao Yuanyuan iz frkn amaze in both though.

Gosh. Part IIz reverse logic works for our new triangle, and esp in keeping the script from being merely alluding to the past, but it doesn't work as well for our previous triangle, imo.
Still, enjoyed the staging/blocking and cute turns of both.

Quote from: putneyswipe on December 27, 2020, 02:00:39 PM
maybe the best rom-com of the past decade, or at least definitely the best directed.

*joking gesture toward Phantom Thread*

I watched what VS released as Dial Code Santa Claus (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096741/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) and is described on imdb as "Home Alone meets Die Hard in a mansion during Christmas" and on letterboxd (https://letterboxd.com/film/dial-code-santa-claus/) as "Psycho Santa versus Psycho spoiled Rambo rich brat." it's two years after The Monster Squad (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093560/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) and it's that kind of boy power movie. it's Last Action Hero  (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107362/)if the boy was the hero and it's France making Hollywood. Vinegar Syndrome makes me feel like a child watching HBO again

QuoteHappy Birthday Christmas
Welcome Home Jesus

Caught up with Bone Tomahawk. Just a fun little western thriller. And good lord what a cast! If nothing else, it's a study in extremely skillful comic relief. Mild spoiler: there's one scene that must have had everyone talking. Wow.

Jacques Rivette's The Nun (https://letterboxd.com/film/the-nun/) really blew me away, which goes to show I was previously somehow continuing to underestimate his abilities. it's an adaptation of an 18th century novel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Religieuse_(novel)) described like this

QuoteDiderot was probably, but not definitely, an atheist; he used the novel to attack the supposed corruption of the Catholic Church's institutions, which foster a hierarchical power dynamic between the Mother Superior and the girls, who are forced to take their vows. Diderot depicts the life in the convent as intolerable, dehumanizing and sexually repressive.

what you get here nails the feeling this quote from the movie describes

QuoteYou like convent life; I hate it. God has given you favours; I have none. You would be lost in the world; your salvation is here. I will be lost here and I hope to be saved in the world.

it's somehow--somehow--the best nun movie I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of fucking nun movies. you know movies about depressed priests? that restless existentialism bullshit is given solid footing in this movie. it really is reality's fault this time. how does Anna Karina do? I think Rivette lights her like a pro and the costumes are spot on the sets are spot on the whole script the whole movie is spot on and so Karina is fine. she can do the rebel side but sometimes misses moments of pure cosmic weight. she's definitely giving it her all in this nun movie though, nice

^ and The Nun is relatable in terms of society can feel like its own convent btw. you know, when you're trapped in a life that doesn't suit you, with its rules you don't want to follow, its leaders that are power hungry, etc. i'm mentioning the relatability of The Nun

last night i watched Us (https://letterboxd.com/film/us-2019/) and i talked my friend who invited me over for NYE into using his amazon prime account for Turbo Kid (https://letterboxd.com/film/turbo-kid/) which doesn't have a region a blu-ray for some reason, so i'll watch that tonight

it was a virtual new bev nye experience: i'd brought over mid-century modern animation (https://www.amazon.com/Mid-Century-Modern-Animation-Blu-ray/dp/B07GJ5F6YY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=mid+century+modern+animation&qid=1609494592&sprefix=midcentury+modern+animation&sr=8-2) and those were a hit. one from a petroleum company and it's about capitalism plus involves martians, then one from a train company about friction. two from the navy. cartoons made for adults and then Turbo Kid (https://letterboxd.com/film/turbo-kid/) which is basically genius and flawless. and my friends they're solid people, they were married yesterday, and i brought some options and they chose Shivers (https://letterboxd.com/film/shivers/) which we watched past midnight although we did take a music break right at midnight. but so Shivers is Sex of the Living Dead and it's modern filmmaking from the 70s and there's this pretty gorgeous monologue

QuoteForsythe: Roger, I had a very disturbing dream last night. In this dream I found myself making love to a strange man. Only I'm having trouble you see, because he's old... and dying... and he smells bad, and I find him repulsive. But then he tells me that everything is erotic, that everything is sexual. You know what I mean? He tells me that even old flesh is erotic flesh. That disease is the love of two alien kinds of creatures for each other. That even dying is an act of eroticism. That talking is sexual. That breathing is sexual. That even to physically exist is sexual. And I believe him, and we make love beautifully.

i think the ending is so good. all those sex crazed people driving into the city

watched Live and Let Die because of the Soggy Bottom marquee. haven't watched a Bond movie in oh a decade and i've never seen all the Bonds had never seen this one and i must admit i had a lot of fun. haven't fact checked but i hear it was Moore's first Bond effort and it's total camp which bothers the austere Bond fans but didn't bother me. it's blacksploitation and oh tarot cards and voodoo isn't a wide perspective but i am personally a fan of those things. it's not a progressive movie it's sensationalism. who's most made fun of is southern cops, especially that tobacco chewing sheriff. the boat chase was hella tight and Jane Seymour total babe 

Mickey Rourke in Barfly is one of my new favorite things.



And so is Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street.

Two longtime faves of mine! I love Thelma Ritter, in particular.

2021 watches:

1. Good Hair
2. Death Proof
3. The Thing
4. Escape From New York
5. Prisoners
6. Husbands & Wives
7. Broadway Danny Rose
8. Die Hard With a Vengeance
9. Another Woman

Was gonna watch Lincoln but can't tear my eyes away from Congress live atm

(https://i.imgur.com/OqOS9Rg.jpeg)

when I actually heard the rhetoric of neo-fascist Germany I wasn't surprised but it is just exactly how Trump and his supportors speak. I didn't know it would be exactly the same. Fake News and everything. this is ultimately a troubled teenagers movie but I think it's well made

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drva4gp66lc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVTmtfzPPCI

so innocent you know

We Are (http://weare.fyi) which is right there for free, wf  (https://xixax.com/index.php?action=profile;u=8506)told us about it, and this stuff is pretty essential to my life. I need stuff like this because I need movies that are more like life than movies. sometimes. I need the variety. this isn't a new take on anything and director Eugene Kotlyarenko is a millennial, which is simply no longer the youngest generation. it's not plugged into the future it's plugged into the present and it was worth my time. it's sort of more sophisticated than, oh, Quiet City (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0914382/), and what I mean is it has an experienced cinematographer and people talk more. there's a script but it's still mainly valuable for its atmosphere and personality

Lil editing gags had me laughing way too much.
Crop-in bobble head ~

Keith Poulson, Dasha Nekrasova, and Sean Price Williams, I'm in... Also really enjoyed Eugene's BEE interview, and saw Wobble Palace when it came out, high time I checked out more.

this one is fresh out of the oven too, still hot because it's not a month old. it's a straight road but it's a rainbow road. i like when movies present the perspective that life is so absurd it's funny

I adored this film from start to finish! Probably my best film experience in like a year or so. Up there with Badlands, Gun Crazy and Bonnie & Clyde as the best lovers on the run movies.

(https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/blog_post/primary_image/scanners/opening-shots-they-live-by-night/tlbn1-thumb-510x381-35141.jpg)
(https://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/scanners/opening-shots-they-live-by-night/tlbn2-thumb-320x239-35144.jpg)(https://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/scanners/opening-shots-they-live-by-night/tlbn3-thumb-320x243-35147.jpg)
(https://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/scanners/opening-shots-they-live-by-night/tlbn4-thumb-510x383-35150.jpg)

Quote-Someday I'd like to see some of this country we've been traveling through.
-By daylight, you mean? That'd be nice.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ou0WyTuCL._SL1500_.jpg)

Have to mention this one because it seems to be criminally overlooked. Super entertaining film with Burt Lancaster and Diane Lane, and also featuring Amanda Plummer's debut. Watched it because I was looking for female led westerns and because Pauline Kael had this to say about it:

QuoteThe cinematography [by Larry Pizer] is vivid ... the colors are strikingly crisp and intense. The dialogue and most of the incidents have a neat, dry humor. It's a wonderful, partly true story ... there are some wonderful performances. As Bill Doolin, Lancaster (who made the film before Atlantic City) is a gent surrounded by louts — a charmer. When he talks to his gang he uses the lithe movements and the rhythmic, courtly delivery that his Crimson Pirate had when he told his boys to gather round. In his scenes with Diane Lane, the child actor who appeared in New York in several of Andrei Serban's stage productions, and who single handedly made the film A Little Romance almost worth seeing, Lancaster has an easy tenderness that is never overdone. Lancaster looks happy in the movie and still looks tough: it's an unbeatable combination. Young Amanda Plummer gives a scarily brilliant performance.

Films watched in 2021 so far:

Miami Blues - 4
Cattle Annie and Little Britches - 4
Robocop - 3.5
All That Jazz - 4.5
Days of Being Wild - 4.5 (rewatch)
Two Days, One Night - 4.5 (rewatch)
Five Easy Pieces - 3.5
Straight Time - 3.5
Slap Shot - 3.5
Saturday Night Fever - 4
Soul - 3
Shock Corridor - 4.5
Roman Holiday - 4
Boys State - 3
They Live by Night - 5
White Heat - 4.5
Promising Young Woman - 3
Eraserhead - 5
El Camino - 3 (rewatch)
Thoroughbreds - 4 (rewatch)
First Man - 3
The Maltese Falcon - 4
Clouds of Sils Maria - 3.5
Wild at Heart - 2.5
Double Indemnity - 4.5
New Rose Hotel - 2
À Nos Amours - 3
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 - 4.5
Pulse - 4.5
Freaky - 2.5
First Love - 4
Heavenly Creatures - 4
Experimenter - 3.5
Pickup on South Street - 4.5
Diego Maradona - 3
Shin Godzilla - 3
Run - 3
Barfly - 4.5
Vivarium - 1.5

My January in reverse chronological:

Southland Tales
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny   
The House by the Cemetery
Pulse
This Is Spinal Tap   
Euphoria: F*ck Anyone Who's Not A Sea Blob
The Tall Guy
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
City of the Living Dead
Coherence
Father of My Children
King of the Hill
A Brighter Summer Day
Euphoria: Trouble Don't Last Always
You Cannot Kill David Arquette
The Philadelphia Story   
Locked Down
Promising Young Woman
The Dissident
Happy Gilmore   
Boss Level
Paths of Glory
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
Angst
The Beyond
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Bad Day at Black Rock
Jackass: The Movie   
Pride & Prejudice
Happiest Season
We Are
Romancing in Thin Air
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
The Boat That Rocked
Taipei Story
Joint Security Area
Sylvie's Love
The House That Jack Built

Beginning the year with The House That Jack Built. :bravo:

January thus far...

1. Good Hair
2. Death Proof
3. The Thing
4. Escape From New York
5. Prisoners
6. Husbands & Wives
7. Broadway Danny Rose
8. Die Hard With a Vengeance
9. Promising Young Woman
10. Alien
11. Back to the Future Part III
12. Catch Me If You Can
13. We Are
14. Pretend It's a City
15. Wanda
16. Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer
17. The Nest
18. Arachnophobia
19. Public Speaking
20. The Purple Rose of Cairo
21. *batteries not included
22. Living In the Material World: George Harrison
23. The Shawshank Redemption
24. Ocean's Twelve
25. Ocean's Thirteen
26. Intolerable Cruelty
27. The Underneath
28. King of the Hill
29. Shadows and Fog
30. And Everything Is Going Fine
31. Jurassic Park III
32. Welcome to Marwen
33. Marwencol
34. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
35. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
36. Masculin Feminin
37. Burn After Reading
38. The Uninvited (1944)

Quote from: eward on January 28, 2021, 08:04:48 PM
11. Back to the Future Part III

totally did this but back in December at my friends', and that night I said, "I was considering the possibility that we're the only people who have selected to watch just this one, but I bet it's happened" and there we go

movies i have watched at my friends' place since they started inviting me over for this reason recently:

Heavy Traffic
Back to the Future Part III
Turbo Kid
Shivers
Excision

I pretty much talk about the movies I watch constantly

Been watching a lot this month, gonna prob slow down

The list :
Law of Desire
Thief (re)
Le Samourai (re)
First Name: Carmen
Vive L'Amour
Femme Fatale
All the Vermeers in New York
World on A Wire
The Long Goodbye (re)
Querelle
The Third Generation
Sparrow
Trouble Every Day
Chinese Roulette
The General
The River
The Falls
August in The Water
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Mulberry St.
Spies
The Show about the Show
Platform
Letter Never Sent
Mayor
Quick Change
Fat City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIO18Du5aY

Trailer's a bit spoilery. Basically has a highlight from all the best moments.

This movie is exactly what you think it is. Most importantly, it teases a new dawn in Russell Crowe's career where he could follow a Nic Cage type path if he so chooses. In this film, Mr. Crowe is indeed entirely without hinge. He is an angry bear who growls and claws his way through every scene. And I want to see more of it.

ONE FALSE MOVE (1992, dir. Carl Franklin)

Really what I was looking forward to was watching Devil in a Blue Dress, which I missed at the Bev while luckily scoring an Easy Rawlins lobby card. Well I watch that film on Hulu and it's like, whoa, cool editing, very classy, let's see what's up with Carl Franklin before this. Criterion Channel has ONE FALSE MOVE in its expiring End of April section so I figure best not dally. From its opening scene you can tell this iz going to be a bleak crime film, where the noir iz shades of metallic black and rusted red. It takes the South as badlands. Billy Bob on the co-writing credit, and playing a hedonistic demon on the run.

But we ain't in Ebbing, Missouri. Few contemporary filmz feel like this. Maybe Zahler. But there are complications there.  (https://letterboxd.com/unawarewolf/film/bone-tomahawk/1/)At times it feelz like a play, the way each scene arcs. You can't sing enuff praises for this cast; Michael Beach as Pluto and Cynda Williams as Lyla especially bring the blunt stakes up close.

Physical redlining emphasized the psychic segregation infecting this movie an elevated crime tale, tearing out hope, our souls stuck to scorched earth, yet existing in that sweet spot where the tropes are functional to real, emotional stakes. It's bookended by two scarred children. I've already said too much.

good post and good quote

Thanks, jenkins ~ glad to see ya 'round.

BAMBOOZLED (2000, dir. Spike Lee) (https://xixax.com/index.php?topic=2306.msg367927;topicseen#msg367927)

My month so far, in descending order w/most recent at the top:
Bamboozled (2000)   
Minari (2020)   
One False Move (1992)   
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002)   
PVT Chat (2020)   
Blockers (2018)   
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)   
Mortal Kombat (2021)   
Monday (2020)   
Galaxy Quest (1999)   
Paranormal Activity 4   (2012)   
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)   
Perfect Blue   (1997)   
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge (2020)   
Zappa (2020)   
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back   (2001)   
The Devil’s Rejects (2005)   
SAS: Red Notice (2021)   
Just Married   (2003)   
Dr. Satan (1966)   
Host (2020)   
Dirty Girls (2000) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3MxEHQk644)
Blow Out (1981)   
Dressed to Kill (1980)   
Shiva Baby (2020)   

(https://i.imgur.com/wyVEXMr.png)

Best I could do on short notice.

February til now:

39. Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork Footage (1928)
40. The Thing (1982)
41. Irma Vep
42. Halloween (2007)
43. Badlands
44. The Maltese Falcon
45. Belle de Jour
46. Empire of Dreams
47. Jurassic World
48. Jurassic Park
49. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
50. Casablanca
51. A Nightmare on Elm Street
52. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
53. Never Sleep Again
54. Nomadland
55. Frankenstein
56. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
57. Se7en
58. Fight Club
59. Road to Perdition
60. In the Mouth of Madness
61. The Exorcist III
62. When a Stranger Calls
63. Blood Simple
64. Forbidden Planet
65. Saint Maud
66. Scre4m
67. Shutter Island
68. Bowfinger
69. Taxi Driver
70. Smooth Talk
71. Beau Travail
72. Nenette et Boni
73. Annie Hall
74. The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone
75. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
76. Whiplash
77. Tenet in IMAX 70mm - AMC Universal City Walk
78. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
79. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
80. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
81. Wes Craven's New Nightmare
82. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
83. Deconstructing Harry
84. Insidious
85. Insidious: Chapter 2
86. Insidious: Chapter 3
87. Insidious: The Last Key
88. Law and Order
89. The Driver
90. Nobody - AMC Universal City Walk
91. Godzilla vs Kong - 3D - AMC Universal City Walk
92. The Matrix
93. French Exit - AMC
94. Colors
95. A New Leaf
96. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
97. The Heartbreak Kid
98. Chinatown
99. The Following
100. The Kid Stays In the Picture
101. Shampoo
102. Mikey and Nicky
103. Tour de Pharmacy
104. Almost Famous: Bootleg Cut
105. A New Leaf (again :D)

Watched the long-anticipated 4K restoration of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (theatrical cut, ~160 min.) yesterday.
Magnificent work, highly-recommended for the fans of the movie.

i appreciate your detectable humor

Quote from: jenkins on May 03, 2021, 10:52:44 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/wyVEXMr.png)

Gonna use this a lot, lol.

The Innkeepers -- I can't remember how I remembered this movie and after I ordered it I then forgot I had ordered it so when I checked my mail table and saw a package I thought oh what's this until I opened it and was like oh right. but anyway I know it's the normalcy of this movie that attracts me to it. I think Ti West achieves Ermanno Olmi-levels of normalcy, and in fact that's why this movie in particular stands out for me. the premise itself is normal. the end of the movie is normal. it's so normal and yet it's cinematic from the first to last shot. I can't think of another movie that so accurately depicts the experience of throwing away a large trash bag with liquid at its bottom. poetry to normalcy is one thing, but it's widely agreed that normalcy to poetry is even harder

Shaun of the Dead -- because certain people find the Sparks documentary downright awful, it's also being revealed to me that certain people find this director awful in general. which made me want to rewatch Shaun of the Dead, to see if I still don't like it much, because I've never liked it much. and, well there are some great shots at the beginning, a crisp cinematic grammar, but this movie is, in fact, even worse over time. that generic rock music during transitions: way ughck! normal fine, but generic gross. and, just, Ed shouldn't have used the n word. he shouldn't have. and the meta references to British tv shows were vaguely interesting at the time but they don't hold up worth a damn. it possesses appreciable qualities but it's not an impressive movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JulqcHPEuhA

I watched Ilo Ilo (https://letterboxd.com/film/ilo-ilo/) because I had to, because I wanted to watch a Singaporean movie, and it's the first Singaporean movie to win a Cannes award, back in 2013, the Caméra d'Or, which has also been won by over a handful of celebrated filmmakers. props to wilder for having started a replyless xixax topic  (https://xixax.com/index.php?topic=12872.msg332182#msg332182)for this movie. it's a flawless movie and the best Caméra d'Or discovery I've experienced since Or (My Treasure) (https://letterboxd.com/film/or-my-treasure/). it was my first time watching a movie on tubi (https://tubitv.com) and the commercial experience wasn't so bad, I just fucking opened another browser window meanwhile. it took me about six hours to watch this 1 1/2 hr movie in my bedroom, which is shorter than average for me. they say that tubi makes more money off the commercials than streaming subscriptions, which can explain tubi's massive library. anyway this movie was so good I don't even deserve it

tonight will be my fourth night in a series of nights dedicated to rewatching Gods and Monsters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120684/). because my current primary friends are the same age difference as Brendan Fraser and Ian McKellen i'm basically imagining i'm Brendan Fraser this time. i'm going to follow this rewatching with a rewatching of another favorite from 98, this Les Misérables (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119683/)

three nights into my rewatching of Pulp Fiction. how many times I've seen it before I can't remember. last watched it, oh, eight years ago, I think. I could see it in qt's movie theater but I want it spaced out like this (the next qt movie I want to see in his theater is kill bill, preferably the whole affair but that's really so uncommon). what last happened was the adrenaline shot to the heart, then the goodbye outside her house, with the tv pilot joke finally told

it feels both highly cinematic and fully authentic. not sure I've ever so specifically appreciated Travolta's performance, plus his rather flawless hairstyle. it dawns on me that this is the birth of hipster culture, and all its primary characteristics are achieving their boldest form. it's confusing to me to watch Pulp Fiction and think about how diner culture is dying. this is a pretty moment-by-moment great movie. how Travolta crashes the car in the side of the house: everyone remembers that. how Travolta shittalks the piercings of his dealer's wife by accident. any normal person should have this whole movie memorized. to provide criticism about anything, I'll say that Monroe having her dress blow up in Jack Rabbit Slim's is like overkill, too much. chill movie so why try so hard right then. Monroe is later commented upon and seen in a natural moment rather that tacky like this, too easy to be impressive

what's the intersection of this moment in Pulp Fiction, when Butch hits Marsellus

(https://i.imgur.com/pYt1dbT.jpeg)

Fletcher and Atwater (https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/pulp-fiction-la-locations-25/)

Beat me by 5 minutes...  :yabbse-grin:

<3. There's a PTA tidbit in the Pulp Fiction locations

QuoteWasco says the house, written to be in Toluca Lake, was actually found in nearby Studio City on a tip from filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson. As Wasco and Craft remember it, a friend of Anderson's father, radio and television personality Ernie Anderson, owned the house.

Jimmie's House

as previously mentioned it's been eight years since I watched Pulp Fiction, and still I somehow had the scene with Raquel and Wolf (call me Winston) outside the car dump memorized, beat by beat. tbh I was a little startled by this, because I have that scene memorized more than others, and it's not a particularly favorite scene of mine. I must confess that I multiple-times rewound, and laughed out loud, at "Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face," although I remember that part as well as my mother's maiden name. Travolta really kills it, I think because Sam L is so impressive I've never paid attention to John so much. the lowest point in this movie is QT himself saying Dead N storage. it doesn't kill the movie but it is its lowest point. and although I truly think the movie feels authentic and alive in so many ways, I don't believe when Sam L references "Guns of Navarone," just saying. I should finish it tonight and it's been a delightful rewatch

So I just watched The Anniversary Party - as far as I know this iz the only film attributed to Ghoulardi Film Company that isn't Paul's?

Great cast! It's like early wave mumblecore. And although Baumbach has his whole formal things, here Cumming and Jason Leigh play it looser, clearly vibing off the emotional chaos of their script and ensemble. A fun experiment that may not stick its landing for everyone, but if you wanna see John C Reilly trip with Parker Posey and Kevin Kline, well, I don't really know where else you can go.

Black Widow is a pretty standard action movie. The first act is great, but the third act is absolute cookie cutter. Definitely not as essential as Wandavision or Loki. But it's pretty fun and probably worth seeing for Florence Pugh and David Harbour. Those two humans are composed entirely of charisma.

There is not a single good Russian accent in this movie. Pugh's might be the least bad, counter to expectations set by the trailer. Rachel Weisz definitely has worst accent. She's pretty severely miscast, too. (Or I don't understand the character, which is possible.)

I saw F9 last week, and it's definitely the superior action film.

I suddenly remembered what Scarlett Johansson was able to accomplish in Lucy. She is absolutely bursting with intensity and emotion in that film, all while playing a terminator sorceress. That honestly might be one of my favorite performances ever. Hard to believe it's the same actor in this movie. You'd think she'd be tapping a similar vein of badassery in Black Widow, but no such luck. The actor who plays the young version of her makes a stronger impression in, what, 5 minutes of screen time? Sadly, ScarJo is kind of forgettable and lifeless in her own movie. In fact I didn't even mention her in my previous post.

I should also reiterate how much the third act does not hold up. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought in a different writer to craft an action movie climax, and they spun a wheel to select and assemble various recycled elements. Or it was some kind of madlibs situation. Mainly they needed to determine which things explode and when, and how to position characters during the various explosions.

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on July 22, 2021, 01:57:02 AM
The actor who plays the young version of her makes a stronger impression in, what, 5 minutes of screen time?

Milla Jovovich & Paul WS Anderson's daughter.

I keep telling myself I'll stop watching these Disney Marvel flicks but then it feels like I can't whinge if I don't watch it. This one was as rote as you said, and ultimately this character wasn't given any true depth throughout a decade of franchising.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

The first one was okay - an origin film that never takes off due to a whole lot of exposition - but this one is a genuinely great film. Beautifully shot blood splattered mayhem (and the blood in this one is very blood as in it's the reddest of red squirting like fountains) with one amazing action set piece after another, and the iconic and tender father/son relationship at it¨¨'s core. The use of music, camera moments and the Sergio Leone-esque closeups and cuts makes this an awesome and thrilling genre film. Just skip the first one and go straight for this one. It's super worth it.

(https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/24eeb2dee1e42ab06aaed3c486f00939/CnXoyCADKyul3CulQ9MSBa4MeB9mZX_large.jpg)

Rewatched Rachel Getting Married (god do I love that film) and Something Wild for the first time... both perfect.

Some other ones:

Speed - 3.5 (rewatched)
Love & Mercy - 3
Brokeback Mountain (r) - 3.5
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - 1.5
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (r) - 3
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (r) - 3
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (r) - 3.5
The History of the Seattle Mariners - 4
Lovers Rock - 4
Pig - 4.5
The Green Knight - 3
Being John Malkovich - (r) 4
Charade - 3.5
I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore - 2.5
The Cincinnati Kid - 4
Grosse Pointe Blank - 3.5
Thelma & Louise (r) - 4
Deep Cover - 3.5
Tremors - 4
Barton Fink (r) - 4.5
Breakdown - 3.5
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx - 4
The Suicide Squad - 3.5
Thelma - 3
Breathless (1983) - 3.5
De Palma - 3.5
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (r) - 4
Smokey and the Bandit - 3.5
Kill Bill Vol 1/2 (r) - 4
A Quiet Place Part II - 3
I Am Burt Reynolds - 3
Raiders of the Lost Ark (r) - 4.5

Quote from: Robyn on August 29, 2021, 05:54:42 PM
Rewatched Rachel Getting Married (god do I love that film) and Something Wild for the first time... both perfect.

I just got to see it again on 35 at the Museum of the Moving Image, and it was bliss. The restaurant where the movie begins/ends is right around the corner from Film Forum in Manhattan - you can actually see Film Forum in the background when they peel out en route to Lincoln Tunnel.

May til Now...

105. Chinatown
106. The Two Jakes
107. Nichols and May: Take Two
108. Punch-Drunk Love ❤️ 💕🎹👊🏻🌺
109. Girlfriends
110. Midnight Run
111. Seven Psychopaths
112. Serpico
113. Down and Out In Beverly Hills
114. Bram Stoker's Dracula
115. They Came Together
116. Heaven Can Wait
117. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
118. Top Gun - Dolby: AMC Lincoln Square 13
119. 1941 - Extended Cut
120. The Heartbreak Kid
121. Beethoven
122. King Kong (1976)
123. Chaplin
124. Looking For Mr. Goodbar
125. A Quiet Place Part II - Spectrum 8
126. Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
127. Hard Eight
128. Super 8
129. Friends: The Reunion
130. Cruising
131. A Quiet Place Part II - Dolby: AMC Lincoln Square 13
132. Raiders of the Lost Ark - 4K
133. Undine - IFC Center
134. Jerry Maguire
135. 8 1/2 - 4K Restoration - Film Forum
136. Cruella - Dolby: AMC Lincoln Square 13
137. Misery
138. Ishtar - Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn
139. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
140. Clifford
141. Goodfellas
142. The Yards
143. Casino
144. In the Mood For Love - 4K - Howard Gilman Theatre, Lincoln Center
145. A History of Violence
146. To Catch a Thief
147. Eastern Promises
148. Mars Attacks! - 35mm - MOMA
149. Le Cercle Rouge - 4K - Film Forum
150. The Sopranos S1 E2
151. The Sopranos S1 E3
152. Full Metal Jacket - 35mm - Museum of the Moving Image
153. Thief - 35mm - Museum of the Moving Image
154. Filmworker
155. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
156. In a Lonely Place - Film Forum
157. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom
158. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
159. Zola - AMC 42nd St.
160. Jaws 2
161. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn
162. Jaws 3-D
163. Jaws: The Revenge
164. Scream
165. Scream 2
166. Scream 3
167. Scre4m
168. Old - Dolby Cinemas
169. They Drive By Night - 35mm - Film Forum
170. Three Days of the Condor
171. The Last Seduction
172. To Have and Have Not - 35mm - Film Forum
173. The Big Sleep - 35mm- Film Forum
174. Pulp Fiction - Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn
175. Old - Dolby Cinemas
176. A Nightmare on Elm Street
177. A Quiet Place
178. A Quiet Place Part II
179. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
180. Dark Star
181. The Green Knight - AMC 42nd St.
182. The Visit
183. Split
184. Piranha
185. Don't Look Back
186. The Age of Innocence - 35mm - Museum of the Moving Image
187. Ed Wood
188. The Heartbreak Kid
189. Halloween
190. Black Christmas
191. The Fog
192. Something Wild - 35mm - Museum of the Moving Image
193. Lawrence of Arabia - 70mm - Museum of the Moving Image
194. Candyman (1992)
195. 52 Pick-Up
196. Someone's Watching Me!
197. The Card Counter - AMC Lincoln Square 13 (09/11/21)
198. NYC Epicenters: 9/11->2021 1/2
199. Beetlejuice
200. Insidious
201. Insidious Chapter 2
202. Insidious Chapter 3
203. Christine
204. Licorice Pizza trailer - 35mm - Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn
205. Boogie Nights - 35mm - Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn
206. Prince of Darkness
207. Oblivion
208. Possession - 4K Restoration - Metrograph (finally back!) - apparently they've been switching out their 35mm screenings to DCP (frequently day-of) without advertising/announcing it to ticket-holders. Not cool, Metro. You used to be beautiful.
209. Starman
210. The Dark Knight
211. They Live
212. Big Trouble in Little China
213. Body Double

Gonna see Halloween Kills on Sunday....who knows what could grace my eyeballz between now and then? (Hopefully some sleep)

Fav films you've seen this year, eward?

New releases? Green Knight, Old, Undine, Card Counter...

Oldies/rewatches: Just about every Carpenter I've revisited (particularly Starman, Big Trouble, and They Live), In the Mood For Love 4K, Possession 4K, the 35mm Bogies I got to see (In a Lonely Place, They Drive By Night, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT *better than Casablanca*, The Big Sleep), ISHTAR ISHTAR ISHTAR

and the Licorice Pizza trailer, obvi.

and last but certainly not least, the masterful SHADOW KINGDOM starring the Great Bob.

Ooh, Shadow Kingdom! I had completely missed that one.

You also reminded me that I has to watch more Ray. They live by night is probably one the best films I've seen in the last few years. How is A Lonely Place?

In a Lonely Place is fantastic. Especially enriching when viewed with a little LA experience under your belt.

I highly recommend you read this as a primer:

https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2021/04/12/in-a-lonely-place-an-artists-apology/ (https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2021/04/12/in-a-lonely-place-an-artists-apology/)

(https://i.ibb.co/GvN98yS/May-diary-moviesxixax.png)

This was my month of May '23, 'til now.

The Ninth Configuration, Beau Is Afraid, and Straight Time (1973) have been my favorite first time watches of late. Good compasses.