Films Recently Watched

[Taupe Beats]

9 minutes ago, Tim_J said:

Yeah I used the search function and found them... Just wondering what's the difference between the library and the now showing list... The plan says there's 30 movies per month and one new every day... Just wondering how this really works... 

Yeah Mubi's categorization system is all funky. I've never ran into limitations on viewing. As far as the 1 new every day, I think it's a new movie added to their library each day, but it doesn't stay up there forever. For instance, that link I sent for the Lav Diaz, for a month they kept up almost his entire filmography, but then a lot of them left (but the ones still listed on that link, are available to watch).

edit:  To clarify, I got Mubi as a channel through my Prime account. It's got the whole catalog that you'd find if you signed up through the website.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Taupe Beats

[IDEM]

22 minutes ago, Tim_J said:

Browsing the now showing list and apparently there's no Lav Diaz in there... How exactly does Mubi work? I notice there's a library with lots of movies... Do these movies rotate trough the now showing list is that it? 

Yes

[MadameChaos]

Watched the Other Lamb on Mubi which was great. It stars the guy who plays the brother in The Haunting of Hill House as a super creepy/charismatic cult leader. 8/10

Free Fire by Ben Wheatley, not my favourite of his by far but still very good and don't understand the hate for this. Watched it back to back with High Rise which gets worse every time I watch it. 

[ooqpoo]

Alone (2020)

Tense stalker type thriller, nothing original but does it almost perfectly.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7711170/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3

[cruising for burgers]

• Alan partridge 
• Beyond the black rainbow 
• Coherence 
• Bernie
• Better watch out
• Bronson

... just to name a few, all for free on Crackle... Fu Netflix... 

 

Edit: just browsed their entire catalog, this is a goldmine, so many gems... 

One of my favorite movies of the last few years, watch it for free dudes... 

https://www.crackle.com/watch/6811

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Tim_J

[Taupe Beats]

Karel Zeman's "Invention for Destruction" 

Fuck that movie is just cool! There is a sequence that is the perfect visual match to Mr. Bungle's "The Bends". Cannot recommend any Zeman stuff high enough.

[cruising for burgers]

the devil all the time - I really liked this guy's first movies but this was a major clusterfuck... I feel embarassed for this cast... Miserable performances... 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Tim_J

[iococoi]

Carriers (2009)

www.imdb.com/title/tt0806203

Quote

A swirl of brown poop, shaped like soft-serve ice cream with large, excited eyes and a big, friendly smile.

 

The Cell (2000)

quite tarsemi-y, cast, except d'onofrio

[cruising for burgers]

i'm such a newbie in this streaming services business... been founding lots of sites to watch shit for free... this site is a pretty good way to browse streaming services... here's a link for the free stuff...

https://reelgood.com/source/free

[MadameChaos]

Watched Paterson, thought it was dull.

Guess I'm not a Jarmusch fan.

[Taupe Beats]

8 minutes ago, MadameChaos said:

Guess I'm not a Jarmusch fan.

Same, always found him and his films obnoxious.

[Taupe Beats]

Finally saw Barbara Loden's "Wanda" last night. I will join the chorus who find this film revelatory. Agreed totally with Marguerite Duras's observation that this was an almost impossible and miraculous bond between a character and the actor who portrayed them. The actor is an actor, and not the character. Yet the actor can relate to the character in the way where the performance transcends the plasticity of acting and instead truly channels the life this character lives.

And tangentially, Duras taking the opportunity of an interview with Elia Kazan and choosing to talk about this film instead of his own work is reason #2353453456435345 why I love Duras. And any opportunity to show Elia Kazan as the piece of shit he was should be celebrated.

[Enthusiast]

Watching all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies on Disney+. I think I saw all of them in theatres, but I am watching the third one now and I have no recollection of it. Which is great!

[IDEM]

1 hour ago, Enthusiast said:

Watching all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies on Disney+. I think I saw all of them in theatres, but I am watching the third one now and I have no recollection of it. Which is great!

The little psychedelic parts in the third one are nice. Was p. cool in the theatre.

[cruising for burgers]

The Tall Man - lol poor rednecks, nobody deserves such a thing...

/

[Taupe Beats]

Mikhail Kalatozov's "Letter Never Sent"

Sergei Urusevsky's camerawork was a revelation in "The Cranes are Flying". Here it lapses to overkill (that persistent flame filter/superimposition, GAH!). Shame as well because the location (Northern Siberian Taiga) is so promising for his style. Kalatozov's taste for melodrama doesn't fit here, either.

Spoiler

There is an excellent opportunity for a Russian-take on the El Dorado myth. It's squandered by either Kalatozov's own style, or a Soviet desire to frame the Sabinin character's motivations as pure virtue. The latter is basically undeniable with how the Sabinin character steadily lapses. However the former does that plot no favors as there's far too many distractions elsewhere (shoehorned romantic tensions, big man/little man struggles).

Wanted to like this but meh. Tatiana Samoilova is beautiful as always, so there's that.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Taupe Beats

[Taupe Beats]

On 11/6/2020 at 3:47 PM, Tim_J said:

Have you watched this? Do it...

https://mubi.com/library/specials/arabian-nights

I missed this, will check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!

[cruising for burgers]

26 minutes ago, Taupe Beats said:

Sergei Urusevsky's camerawork was a revelation in "The Cranes are Flying". Here it lapses to overkill (that persistent flame filter/superimposition, GAH!). Shame as well because the location (Northern Siberian Taiga) is so promising for his style.

Soy Cuba is stunning, politics aside... 

[Taupe Beats]

15 minutes ago, Tim_J said:

Soy Cuba is stunning, politics aside... 

I still need to see that. It's definitely on the watchlist.

[cruising for burgers]

44 minutes ago, Taupe Beats said:

I still need to see that. It's definitely on the watchlist.

Have you watched these? 

Spoiler

 

 

[Taupe Beats]

9 minutes ago, Tim_J said:

Have you watched these? 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Have seen the former (well-made but not really my style). Haven't seen the latter (premise didn't seem that interesting to me).

I've already said a lot about it in this thread and maybe even elsewhere on this forum, but Wang Bing's "Dead Souls" from 2018 is the most moving piece of cinema I may have ever seen. That work will (not might, will) ultimately be held up as a document of importance the way Shoah is. Hopefully in my lifetime.

[iococoi]

it's moon (2009) time, again

[Taupe Beats]

Gave Barbet Schroeder's "General Idi Amin Dada:  A Self-Portrait" a re-watch last night. Had been many years since my prior viewing.

First:  This film is a documentary, that is not subjective. Schroeder has commented that there were French audiences laughing at several scenes in this film. A reflexive action is to consider that wrong. But I put more of a critique/judgement on Schroeder himself. This film is the blueprint for a mockumentary, before the genre existed. The fact that that the subject matter happens to be very real with very real consequences is only represented in the film 3 times, I reckon (if you've seen the film, it won't be hard to figure out the 3 scenes I'm referring to, not giving anything away here). The rest is a thorough (and frankly, funny) depiction of a tyrannical despot living in isolated luxury without any scrutiny. This is where the film becomes problematic:

p.s. If you choose to read this spoiler and don't know the history of Idi Amin. He was a general who became the sole ruler of Uganda for several years, in which an estimated 300k of his own people were killed. Keep that in mind.

Spoiler

Barbet Schroeder contradicts himself in his motives. He got the opportunity to make this documentary via-invite from a tv series that was doing hagiographic portraits of despots. Schroeder claims he only agreed to do it if:  Idi Amin was the subject, if he could first release a 90 minute cut theatrically before giving the tv series a 60 minute version, and that this would be a "Self-Portrait" (meaning that Idi Amin himself would choose all settings for his depiction).

So far, so good. But then Schroeder claims that he advised Amin he'd only shoot scenes Amin wanted if Amin was actually in them. So for example, Schroeder claims Amin wanted to show a factory as a symbol of industry and production. Schroeder advised he'd only shoot it if Amin was actually in the scene. Consequently (for reasons unknown to me), no scene of a factory.

Another far more indicting example. The infamous scene of the cabinet meeting. Schroeder is on record saying that Amin did not hold these meetings normally and this scene was not Amin's idea, but rather Schroeder's. Schroeder states that Amin needed a scene that showed him as a government leader. So much for the "Self-portrait". But the far larger issue here is the consequence of this particular scene. For those who've seen it, you know this is one of the 3 scenes I mentioned earlier, due to the Minister of Foreign Affairs getting his death warrant in that scene. Again, that scene would not have even happened without Schroeder's suggestion! By extension, its fair to imply the fate of that cabinet member may have been sealed by Schroeder's hand, as much as Amin's!

But wait, there's more! In an interview on the film, Schroeder tells an anecdote. During production but not filmed, Amin was furious about a picture showed on Ugandan state television (which was a tool of Amin's propaganda) that showed Amin shaking an Islamic leader with his left hand. That is against Islamic culture. Schroeder then tries to reassure Amin that in fact, the cameraman had not made an error and that it was an error on the editor's part, thinking this would reassure Amin. Amin then replies "Oh, it was the editor! Not the cameraman!" and at this moment, Schroeder finds out the cameraman has already been killed! Schroeder then admits he realized he's sealed someone else's violent fate! He tells this story with a bit of a chuckle.

Schroeder also implies that he may have been at least partially responsible for the genesis of the idea to use Entebbe airport as a hostage holding spot. If you want detail, watch his interview from 2001 on this film.

So yeah, an indictment of French audiences for laughing at several scenes in this film rings utterly hollow to me. It's an amazing and singular work for the access and the reality of Idi Amin's reign. But it's also Schroeder's complicity in his hand as an editor and director. 

There is a line at the very end of the film that was somehow removed in all the controversy surrounding the post-release edits demanded (I have not gone into that here, you can do your own research on that if curious). It goes:  “After a century of colonialism, isn’t it in part a deformed image of ourselves that Idi Amin Dada reflects?” That's a profound thought and its unfortunate it was lost in the cuts (its since been re-inserted on home video release). But it also feels a bit short in the grand scheme of the film.

 

[markedone]

5 hours ago, iococoi said:

it's moon (2009) time, again

i didnt really like this film, which was surprising considering im generally a fan of real-leaning or minimal-storytelling scifi. been quite a few years tho.. worth giving it another chance?

Edited November 13, 2020 by markedone

[Rubin Farr]

The New Mutants - this wasn't nearly the clusterfuck that Dark Phoenix was, and we actually liked it.  Kind of had the appearance of an FX pilot, but with more CG. The actors were well cast, Chris Claremont wrote the script himself, so it was somewhat faithful to the books, but with a Hollywood adaptation. There was a nice reveal about half way thru,

Spoiler

Xavier is not controlling this facility, but Mister Sinister is, using Essex Corp.

that sets up future stories possibly. Overall, a better ending for the Fox X-Men franchise.