What you seen Good or Bad recently?

[Blinder Data]

Battleship - utter shite. They should ban Michael Bay from making films.

A Prophet - pretty great. Extremely tense in parts. Great performances from everyone, especially Niels Arestrup as a Corsican gangster and cool as fuck Tahar Rahim.

The Night of the Hunter - not what I was expecting at all. Much stranger and off-kilter than the stone-cold film noir I thought it was. Beautiful cinematography and lighting; some of the camerawork was breathtaking. I did get a little bored in parts. I think it would benefit from a rewatch. The kids in it were brilliant, as was Robert Mitchum.

[Pepotamo1985]

Night of the Hunter is a fucking wonderful movie. Saw it at the Prince Charles a little over a year ago and it was a total curveball - wasn't expecting a 50s US flick to have such a strongly satirical edge, or such good politics either.

[Blinder Data]

Night of the Hunter is a fucking wonderful movie. Saw it at the Prince Charles a little over a year ago and it was a total curveball - wasn't expecting a 50s US flick to have such a strongly satirical edge, or such good politics either.

I couldn't get a handle on what it's about. There's examinations of the corrupting power of money, sin, religion and family structures in there, but kind of wrapped up in the guise of a straight thriller. Need to see it again.

[zomgmouse]

Just rewatched Apocalypse Now Redux on a 35mm print, nothing really to say. It's totally brilliant. As soon as it begins and those cross-fades come in and the low "The End" comes in... it's mastery through to the end.

[Paaaaul]

Just rewatched Apocalypse Now Redux on a 35mm print, nothing really to say. It's totally brilliant. As soon as it begins and those cross-fades come in and the low "The End" comes in... it's mastery through to the end.

Last time I watched Redux, I got really bored by that plantation section.
Did you not find that bit drags it down a bit?

[Dr Rock]

I saw The Prestige. It looked great, the acting was variable but I found the plot preposterous. How many times did a fake beard fool these magicians into letting them on stage to ruin each others tricks? Disappointed, thought it would be good.

[Steven]

I saw The Prestige. It looked great, the acting was variable but I found the plot preposterous. How many times did a fake beard fool these magicians into letting them on stage to ruin each others tricks? Disappointed, thought it would be good.

It is good, just didn't like the casting too much, even felt Bowie (sacrilege these days) was out of place in it to be honest. Came out at the same time as The Illusionist which is what messed everything up when people would refer to seeing that film about a magician..

[monolith]

Last time I watched Redux, I got really bored by that plantation section.
Did you not find that bit drags it down a bit?

First version I saw was the redux. Was bored to tears during the plantation section and felt the film was far too long despite some great scenes.

Have seen the theatrical version multiple times now and it's fucking brilliant.

Having said that about the plantation scenes, I'm still interested in watching the (possibly) mythical bootleg that is about 5 hours long.

[Famous Mortimer]

Just rewatched Apocalypse Now Redux on a 35mm print, nothing really to say. It's totally brilliant. As soon as it begins and those cross-fades come in and the low "The End" comes in... it's mastery through to the end.

I'm surprised. I watched it when it first came out and felt like it went on for days. Nothing they put back in really added to the experience, for me (apart from the bit with the hookers in the helicopter, which I liked) and it's not like it was short in the first place.

[Small Man Big Horse]

He Never Died
Weird little indie flick where Henry Rollins is an immortal cannibal, though one who's all but withdrawn from day to day life and gets his kicks from playing bingo, only devouring the public when he's got no choice in the matter. That is until his daughter turns up and insists on meeting him for the first time, only to get herself kidnapped, the minx that she is. It's well written and a darkly amusing piece at times, with smart dialogue and a cool noir-y style in places, but for some reason it didn't feel completely satisfying. 7/10, rather than 8.

Turbo Kid
A really daft pastiche of straight to video sci-fi flicks played pleasingly straight, it's 1997 and after everything we worried about in the 80's has gone wrong, the world's a largely apocalyptic wasteland. The population are mostly blood thirsty types (including Michael Ironside in a superb turn as the main villain), but can one kid emulate his comic book hero and save the day? And will he get to fuck his cute robot friend? With the latter, no, no he won't, it's not that type of movie. Drenched in blood and all rather sweary, it's an odd mix but it works really well, and I enjoyed it a lot.

[RDRR]

I couldn't get a handle on what it's about. There's examinations of the corrupting power of money, sin, religion and family structures in there, but kind of wrapped up in the guise of a straight thriller. Need to see it again.

Watched this yesterday and really loved it.

Spoiler alert

The bit where John and Pearl are hiding out in a little wooden building and looking Mr Powell silhouetted on his horse, and he's singing that "What of liberty, what of something something, etc."

[close]

... do either of you know what song that little bit is included in (in the sort of 'outro', I think)? Really botherin' the hell out of me.

Great film tho, loved the bits on the little rowboat.

[zomgmouse]

Last time I watched Redux, I got really bored by that plantation section.
Did you not find that bit drags it down a bit?

Most people seem to feel that way (as evidenced by the comments on this thread!) but I thought it still flowed well and I didn't think it detracted from it at all. Weirdly everyone picks on the plantation scene and not the abandoned Playboy Bunny camp scene. But no, I thought it worked quite well, it adds some interesting perspectives to the film, I appreciated them. I've never seen the original theatrical cut - which "technically" doesn't exist anymore as they recut the original negative to make Redux.

He Never Died
Weird little indie flick where Henry Rollins is an immortal cannibal, though one who's all but withdrawn from day to day life and gets his kicks from playing bingo, only devouring the public when he's got no choice in the matter. That is until his daughter turns up and insists on meeting him for the first time, only to get herself kidnapped, the minx that she is. It's well written and a darkly amusing piece at times, with smart dialogue and a cool noir-y style in places, but for some reason it didn't feel completely satisfying. 7/10, rather than 8.

Caught this at the Melbourne International Film Festival last year. Solid film! I really dug the mix between charming and violent. I do feel the immortality is a spoiler though, despite being kind of implied by the title.

[Puce Moment]

I don't mind the plantation scene at all - I rather like the dinner set-piece and I enjoy how it calls back to Conrad's source novella, as well as echoing some moments in The Godfather. I also like the bunny scene, and the rain soaked misery of it, plus the weird dead body. My only issue, really, is the earlier scene when they steal Kilgore's surfboard and a rather farcical scene of running around to escape him flying around in his helicopter takes place. It's tonally all wrong and is played for laughs. Willard is largely an observer - things tend to happen to him, or he witnesses them. But in that scene he is running around with a grin on his face and it is all wrong.

I do think the original cut is the best, and keeping Brando's monologues clipped down has to be a good idea, but as a super-fan it is great to see those extra scenes.

BTW, the plantation scene was cut out not because it is boring, or stalls the action, but because Coppola could not get the lighting right and hated the final shots. The Redux partially came about because technology allowed him to digitally enhance the scene to get the lighting he wanted.

[zomgmouse]

I had no idea the surfboard stealing wasn't part of the original. I liked it because it felt nice to have some outright farce to balance out the sheer horror of the situation - plus I feel it fits really nicely with the rest of the surfing narrative, and seems like a good way to conclude it and then move the story along.