Films Recently Watched

[azatoth]

 

 

Watched the classic 'Blade runner' last night. It was a huge let down, nothing really new in it.

*Watches 30 year old film, wonders why there isn't anything new in it*

 

Feels stupid. Well, it was so praised and all. I had good faith for the movie, but halfway of it, you really knew what was going to happen. The plot was boring, there was nothing new. Well I guess it can't be helped, cos it's an oldie.

 

Blade Runner and Syd Mead's design is iconic and spawned iterations of it for a multitude of movies, books and games. Visually it's a stunning movie and still the themes presented in the movie I don't think have been explored that much.

[Squee]

Inherent Vice 7/10

 

I'm a big fan of PTA. There Will Be Blood is on my Top 3.

I knew going in that it was going to be a chaotic story and wouldn't make that much sense, but unlike the rest of his movies I didn't care about this one one bit and I haven't given it a thought since I watched it last night. It seems more like an experiment to see if he can still make a movie which is rich on characters even though each character has about 4 minutes of screentime.

Anyway, it didn't do it for me.

[cwmbrancity]

How can TWBB find its way into your top-3? It wouldnt even get into my top-250.

 

Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Lynch, Scorsese, Welles, Polanski, Meville, Herzog, Loach, Hitchcock, Coppola, LVT, Lang, R Scott, D Lean = real cinema.

 

Compared to IV, There Will Be Blood is a bloated piece & DD-Lewis looming large isnt enough to carry the story imho. As for the The Master = complete shambles. Paul T.T.T.Trouble Anderson (sorry i couldnt resist that insipid early 90's garage-house reference) seems better equipped and to have really matured with Inherent Vice, where the feel of ending eras/stoned fug of Sportello's perspective/cinematography/performances really come together to do justice to Pychon's writing.

 

,,,,,and how anyone can diss Blade Runner is beyond,,,,,,,

[usagi]

How can TWBB find its way into your top-3? It wouldnt even get into my top-250.

 

it's alright to be wrong once in a while.

[cwmbrancity]

yeaaaaaah well,,,,,,, opinions maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

and @ half-4 on a friday its def time to hit the vape

[yshf]

Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Lynch, Scorsese, Welles, Polanski, Meville, Herzog, Loach, Hitchcock, Coppola, LVT, Lang, R Scott, D Lean = real cinema.

oh piss off

 

coming from someone who loves every single one of those directors, just please piss off with the whole "real cinema" bullshit. there is no elite group of "real filmmakers" - there are thousands of amazing films and filmmakers, and everyone has their own opinions.

[yshf]

Enemy - 8/10 - really great art direction and cinematography. jake gyllahoolio was excellent. really loved this film but have no desire to watch it again...

[GORDO]

 

Watched Birdman, fine film and all but the next day I realized it's a watered down, version of synecdoche, New York.

 

An interesting comparison. I thought Birdman was so-so but Synecdoche, New York was outstanding! It's one of my favourite films and rarely gets the recognition it deserves.

 

 

The similarities are too much, same overall theme, same location, both protagonists putting together a play, both struggling with reality...

 

I started thinking that birdman is a much more calculated film, depurated for success and award winning, I was thinking about the 'looks-as-one-take' gimmick, whether is has a purpose or not, and I'm probably reaching here but it kinda achieves the feeling that what we are watching is a play, a play about a man doing a play which would be another Kaufmanesque thing to do, or maybe it's just meant as another thing that film buffs get to praise. I think Synecdoche is much much more profound and has more meaning whereas Birdman uses tricks and tropes to simulate it (the meaning and message), that as a whole they do not really meld together.

 

Still, birdman is great, it may be a masterpiece of calculated film making, and lingers in your mind days after you've seen it, even if it's only to figure out how much it borrows from synecdoche. I need to watch synecdoche again.

 

And I don't think any of this should substract form bridman but that as you say, it should add to the appreciation of synecdoche.

Edited February 13, 2015 by GORDO

[cwmbrancity]

 

Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Lynch, Scorsese, Welles, Polanski, Meville, Herzog, Loach, Hitchcock, Coppola, LVT, Lang, R Scott, D Lean = real cinema.

oh piss off

 

coming from someone who loves every single one of those directors, just please piss off with the whole "real cinema" bullshit. there is no elite group of "real filmmakers" - there are thousands of amazing films and filmmakers, and everyone has their own opinions.

 

 

Its not a case of high/low culture or elitism, its about plain fuckin quality, so piss off yerself mate.

 

There's "art" and there's There Will Be Blood......and as an open forum i'll express whatever opinion on a movie i choose to.

 

If you want to be a prissy cock, crack on.

[cwmbrancity]

Stephanie: "So what do you think?"

 

Miles: "Mmm. Quaffable. But, uh, far from transcendent."

 

Jack: "I like it. Tastes great."

 

Edited February 13, 2015 by cwmbrancity

[Herr Jan]

Fantastic Planet - fantastic/10

 

Human Traffic - save as fuck

[Schlitze]

 

This was impressive, but the horror aspect is kinda overshadowed by the brilliantly scathing dissection of the loathsome hipster schtick. An actress who would do anything to get to the big time goes for a couple of auditions with some otherwordly producers who send her mind wandering into the sky about the possibilty of getting the lead in their upcoming horror film 'The Silver Scream' and break free of the hipsters who she feels are holding her back. The reality is she serves burgers and fries at a resturant and hangs out with some real ironic self absorbed doucebags who, in true hipster fashion believe that they're part of the film world too. We're introduced to them at a party where one of them is talking Poe lyrics over an electropop beat. They spend their days sitting around around taking photos with retro camera's and talking about non-existent scripts they have in the pipeline, it starts to grind down the aspiring actress, after a couple of successful auditions inspired by positive feedback from the casting agent she quits her waitress job only to come crawling back, where the tolerant boss (Pat Healy) tells her ''Look, i know we're not self aware and ironic enough for you, but this is my thing, do you want to be part of that?''. Depressed to be back where she started, she talks to the loser from the party who said he had a script, she meets him at his defunct RV which he lives in (it has a little library inside and a couch outside on a path) and they agree over ecstacy that she'll star in his film, knowing that he's a boring cliche with thick rimmed glasses a showreel like a pile of used toilet roll. Having previously being warned by the producer of 'The Silver Scream' that hipsters are talentless nobodies who sit around talking about doing things and try to make people believe they are part of something they're not and will never amount to anything apart from their shit part time jobs, she finds herself at a crossroads, does she make a sacrifice? Or does she stay hip?

 

this was alright. I dunno, I may appreciate it more with another viewing, I'm pretty tired and my brain isn't really functioning right now. I didn't like it when

 

 

it went all Contracted and her body started falling apart. meh. but it fit into a bigger plot device, so ok.

 

 

cool soundtrack. lead actress is cute and talented, hope to see more of her. the violence was super-effective because the build up to it was so slow and deliberate and I didn't really think it was going to go that way.

 

all-in-all, a p deece horror flick. I don't agree about the commentary on hipsters overshadowing the horror, your writeup makes it sound like an episode of Nathan Barley or something.

 

Glad you checked it out, usagi I think my hipster evaluation must have clouded your mind before you watched it and you went in expectin a barley. The hipster shit wasn't something that occurred to me until a day later when i was thinkin about it. I guess i overthought it a bit when i wrote the review...Mmmm.

Spoiler tags on every film review from this day forth.

[AJW]

Compliance

A scam caller posing as a police officer persuades the staff of a fast food restaurant to strip search and antagonize an employee under false claims of theft. Amazingly enough it was based on actual events http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_phone_call_scam

 

Paperhouse

Well made little late 80s gem from the director of Candyman. About a young girl who creates a fantasy world through drawings. Nice imagery and score.

[Schlitze]

Compliance

A scam caller posing as a police officer persuades the staff of a fast food restaurant to strip search and antagonize an employee under false claims of theft. Amazingly enough it was based on actual events http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_phone_call_scam

Yeah thats a creepy film, especially when the guy on the other end of the phone is revealed and you get a glimpse into Pat Healy's world*

 

 

*Can i get some spoiler tags up in this bitch

[eugene]

Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Lynch, Scorsese, Welles, Polanski, Meville, Herzog, Loach, Hitchcock, Coppola, LVT, Lang, R Scott, D Lean = real cinema.

lol, wtf is this mainstream bullshit?

 

torkin, brown, teller brothers, anotelli, de luove, crinderson, bo-wai, ölsen - now that's real Cinema with a big C.

[cwmbrancity]

mainstream bs? timeless classics....i can pick specifics and have done thru this thread but you already know them ;)

 

add Kobayashi, Shepitko, Antonioni (Red Desert/Passenger especially), Miike, Klimov, Kusturica, Bunuel,,,,,,,

 

more mainstream bs or simply rrrrrrrockin cinema? c'mon, you know thats not highfalutin bunk Eugene

its a war of c-words

[cwmbrancity]

phogot Jesus Franco & my main man Alejandro Jodorowsky....have you seen Dance Of Reality or is that mainstream bs too? His mother's tits are quite something to behold.

[Danny O Flannagin]

Watched In Bruges again, still great as always

[Silent Member]

I think Eugene is trolling, I don't recognize any of those names.

[cwmbrancity]

the earlier directorial stuff is so influential and comparable to specific albums that inspire,,,,,, eg: Awesome Welles/Citizen Kane.....the long-tracking shot that actually takes you through the sign Scorsese picks out as a benchmark in one of his guides. Slag that off all you want, but i must've seen that film 20+times and never get bored of it.

 

Umberto D. is a must watch (especially if anyone around you is elderly it'll bring plenty of lumps to throats). The old fella and his dog are so fuckin sad but cool, brilliant stuff.

 

More classics boy? Fuck aye - The Leopard, The Night Porter, The Conformist, The American Friend, Death In Venice, Performance, the original Wicker Man (Robin Hardy when Britain still managed to make transgressive films)

 

Scorsese's Personal Journey Through doc is a must watch.....just for the catalog of genius that was New American Cinema in the early 70's....the absolute antithesis of mainstream bs

 

I got Franco's Venus in Furs and The Demons for the rest of Le Weekend, but Val's Day might put a dent in that plan

[cwmbrancity]

ps: stumbled on an article by ex-Coil boffin Stephen Thrower on music in film,,,,,,,articulate stuff

 

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/aug/18/horror-film-movie-music

[usagi]

I think Eugene is trolling, I don't recognize any of those names.

lol noob. everyone's heard of Crinderson's Grand Bucharest Motel. leave real cinema to the cinephiles, mate.

Edited February 14, 2015 by usagi

[Candiru]

Yeah, go watch Transformers.

 

You can't appreciate true artistry like Christopher Dolan.

[cwmbrancity]

 

leave real cinema to the cinephiles, mate.

 

 

 

its like anything in life, sometimes yer in the mood for a beer/Guinness, other times you might push the boat out on a decent bourbon, or you might pick your way through a lush Burgundy..........but some nights after a long day @ work a dose of crash-bang-wallop couldnt be more appropriate

[cwmbrancity]

(and i dont really drink)