What Films Are We Watching?

[jenkins]

Jacques Rivette's 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 described like this

Diderot 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

You 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

[jenkins]

^ 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 and i talked my friend who invited me over for NYE into using his amazon prime account for Turbo Kid which doesn’t have a region a blu-ray for some reason, so i’ll watch that tonight

[jenkins]

it was a virtual new bev nye experience: i’d brought over mid-century modern animation 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 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 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

Forsythe: 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

[jenkins]

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 

[Robyn]

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

And so is Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street.

[eward]

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

[jenkins]

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

[WorldForgot]

[jenkins]

so innocent you know

[jenkins]

We Are which is right there for free, wf 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, 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

[WorldForgot]

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

[eward]

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.

[jenkins]

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

[Robyn]

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.

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

[Robyn]

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:

The 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.