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What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2018 Edition)

Started by zomgmouse, January 07, 2018, 12:20:15 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

St_Eddie

Quote from: Blumf on December 14, 2018, 03:17:12 PM
...Speaking of 80s children's films with a creepy bent, how many here have seen Return to Oz (1985)? If you haven't, and liked Labyrinth (or any of the other similar films e.g. The Dark Crystal) should track it down.

I adore Return to Oz.  A great kids film, the likes of which they just don't make anymore.  Pure nightmare fuel.

Neomod

Finally got round to watching A Field in England. I enjoyed the performances but it does show it's budget doesn't it.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Neomod on December 14, 2018, 09:57:50 PM
Finally got round to watching A Field in England. I enjoyed the performances but it does show it's budget doesn't it.

Oh, I don't know.  It must have cost a fortune to build an entire field in England over at Pinewood Studios.

amputeeporn

Sorcerer - 1977

Goodness me. This has been hanging around on my list for a while after seeing it mentioned in books like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, etc as one of the great ambitious movies of the new Hollywood. I must admit that it's troubled reputation (and the fact that I've never really seen it mentioned outside of those tomes) meant I didn't hunt it out immediately. I think the title also put me off. I'd just always assumed it was a supernatural/paranormal thriller, a mistake my girlfriend also made when I suggested we watch it. I wonder if Friedkin was hoping for some of that Exorcist magic in naming the film after one of the trucks?

Anyway, it completely blew us away. I find it really hard to believe that this failed so spectacularly in a world where Apocalypse Now succeeded. I was finally convinced to watch it after seeing someone on here hail it as a masterpiece and I have to agree with that assessment. It's riveting from the opening scene, steadily building to a pitch of madness rarely glimpsed in movies. When I think about it for a second the ending is completely inevitable but I think I'd been through so much by that point that it did catch me by surprise.

In conclusion - something I'll be buying for/recommending to friends.

Why do we think it failed so badly at the time? And even though there are stirrings of cultural reappraisal - why isn't it mentioned alongside the real greats from that era?

zomgmouse

Quote from: amputeeporn on December 14, 2018, 11:25:49 PM
Why do we think it failed so badly at the time? And even though there are stirrings of cultural reappraisal - why isn't it mentioned alongside the real greats from that era?

Star Wars

Neomod

Quote from: St_Eddie on December 14, 2018, 10:23:42 PM
Oh, I don't know.  It must have cost a fortune to build an entire field in England over at Pinewood Studios.

Smoke machines obviously cost a fortune these days.

greenman

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 15, 2018, 02:58:35 AM
Star Wars

I'd imagine that was the real issue at the time, Starwars came out a month beforehand and was probably expected to be on the way down by that point but ended up doing to it what ET did to Blade Runner 5 years latter.

Long term I suspect Friedkin having several other highly praised films has hampered rediscovery, different to Scott who had that early peak well beyond his latter work. Still to watch it(probably next week) myself but also perhaps it wasn't really a "video nasty" kind of appeal the way overlooked Carpenter films like The Thing did in the mid/late 80's.

zomgmouse

It was also a massive production that went way over budget and the confusing title didn't help either.

Small Man Big Horse

Oh Lucy! (2017) - I was in the mood for a comedy the other day and after a quick google found Rotten Tomatoes list of the best of 2018 (as this was released in the US this year, but in 2017 elsewhere) and it took the no.1 spot with a 100% critical consensus. And it is a pretty decent film, but also a fairly bleak one as well, it's much more of a comedy drama with the emphasis on the latter so I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have if I'd been in the mood for such a thing. Anyway, it's all about Setsuko, a Japanese woman who learns English from Josh Hartnett (surprisingly good for once) before he returns to America with her niece, and so she decides to fly over and track him down as she's all rather smitten with him. Again, if I'd been in the right mood I might rate it higher, but because it's quite downbeat in places I can only give it 7.1/10

The Extra Man (2010) - An adaptation of the Jonathan Ames novel that gets most things right but inexplicably mostly ignores a big part of the book when it comes to Louis's sexual adventures with transgender individuals, and is a lesser work for this. Which is a shame as the odd couple friendship at the centre of the movie works well, and even John C. Reilly doing a silly voice doesn't spoil it. 7.0/10

Mary and The Witches Flower - Sweet and pretty charming tale about a young girl who discovers a college for witches and is mistaken for a pupil due to the mysterious magical flower she found. But it turns out that not everything is as amazing as it seems and that those running it have a dark plan. Not as good as the best of Studio Ghibli's work but this first film from Studio Ponoc shows a lot of promise and there's an awful lot to like here. 7.8/10

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 15, 2018, 02:51:09 PM
It was also a massive production that went way over budget and the confusing title didn't help either.

Most of the critics weren't particularly kind to it either. 

Add in the foreign no-name (in mainstream cinema) actors and four main characters who are scumbags, and you've got a film that basically came out too late (or way too early, depending on how you look at it).

I've mentioned before about the time I was once in a situation where I was being "interviewed" by Empire magazine's Ian Nathan and when he asked what my favourite films were and I named Sorcerer as one of them, he incredulously said "what?  That TERRIBLE remake of Wages of Fear that William Friedkin did!?!?"  Cut to a few years ago and the US release of the blu-ray and the cunt gives it a four or five (I can't remember now) star review.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on December 15, 2018, 05:50:06 PM
Most of the critics weren't particularly kind to it either. 

Add in the foreign no-name (in mainstream cinema) actors and four main characters who are scumbags, and you've got a film that basically came out too late (or way too early, depending on how you look at it).

I've mentioned before about the time I was once in a situation where I was being "interviewed" by Empire magazine's Ian Nathan and when he asked what my favourite films were and I named Sorcerer as one of them, he incredulously said "what?  That TERRIBLE remake of Wages of Fear that William Friedkin did!?!?"  Cut to a few years ago and the US release of the blu-ray and the cunt gives it a four or five (I can't remember now) star review.

Maybe it was down to you that he gave the film another go though, and realised how great it is. Either way I really have to watch that soon, I did download it after it was recommended in the fucking amazing films thread, so it'll definitely happen at one point.

garbed_attic

Quote from: Blumf on December 14, 2018, 03:17:12 PM
You are now ready to join:
http://id34111.securedata.net/areaology/area.html

BTW, Speaking of 80s children's films with a creepy bent, how many here have seen Return to Oz (1985)? If you haven't, and liked Labyrinth (or any of the other similar films e.g. The Dark Crystal) should track it down.

I post enough to just about get away with a shameless plug... but such films are mainly what my podcast is about and more recommendations in this vein is always appreciated!
https://stillscared.podigee.io/

The '80s definitely seems to have been the decade for traumatic children's films (as the 1860s was for children's literature!)

zomgmouse

Steven Soderbergh's Bubble. What a stark simple piece of American independent cinema. I keep reading that this was some kind of experiment (using non-professional actors) but all I noticed was that it was a fucking terrific film. That small-town gloom is carried across excellently. Reminds me a little of Stroszek somehow. Really blew me away.

Small Man Big Horse

I forgot about one very positive point about Oh Lucy!



She's 25, so I feel no guilt.

Large Noise

Mean Girls

Well executed but too plot-driven. Needed to go a bit more off piste and let the characters and jokes come to the fore. Instead they're forced to spend the whole 3rd act wrapping up various plot points, none of which are really going to matter to the viewer.

sevendaughters

UNDERGROUND Serbian film and 1995 winner of the Palme D'or and probably the best new-to-me film I've seen in 2018, a year in which I watched a hell of a lot of films. Absurd take on the history of the Balkans since 1941 told through two war profiteers. Toward the end of WW2 one of them gets injured and has to stay in the underground hideout and the other one, sensing a chance to steal his wife and get a cushy job as Tito's mate, doesn't bother to tell his friend or their comrades that the war has ended when it does. So they all stay...underground...awaiting the signal to come out and kill the fascists while their mate gets rich and powerful.

The story (and I've only covered maybe 25% of it there) is told in this absurdist tar-black satirical style that wouldn't work if it wasn't made by a bunch of people probably actually recently bereaved and peeling off war scabs. The band above seem to be constantly playing. A zoo is bombed and loads of the surviving animals end up living in houses and the underground. It's like Vic & Bob consulted on it at times, except it heightens the madness and anger rather than makes it into a farce.

Proper amazing stuff really. Some people won't get on with it and some will find it heavy-handed in parts. But I thought if was magnificent. The 1994 Palme was Pulp Fiction and the year after this won was Secrets & Lies. Other 90s winners include: Taste of Cherry, Barton Fink, Wild At Heart, and The Piano. I like all of those films. And this is better than those. 10

Z

Support the Girls
Andrew Bujalski's latest, great cast but they're not really given a lot to work with. Regina Hall has gathered some rewards for this one which is kinda weird but is maybe more down to her just being pretty underappreciated until recently, she's good in it for sure, it's just not a role I'd expect to see awards going to
Between this and Columbus, Haley Lu Richardson is looking like she's angling to be a bit of an indie darling (and she's absolutely lovely so she deserves it too)

Sin Agog

Mandala, old Korean movie about two monks, one a bit cold and ascetic, and the other more of a warm, worldly epicurean who breaks all the rules but is still just as spiritual.  Really liked it. Lovely cinematography, and it's always worth reminding that there are multiple paths to the same destination.  Supposedly based on the life of a long dead Korean figurehead called Wonhyo who I might have to read up on.

Shit Good Nose

Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas, still IMDB's lowest rated film.

It features a monologue about torture and babies being murdered, a hobo looking Saint Nicholas beating the crap out of someone with his staff, a hip-hop dance sequence with 80s breakdancing, Cannonball Run style bloopers (two sets!), and it ends on a Middle Eastern-American man rapping to a fat black man's beatboxing.  All in less than 80 minutes.

As amazing as all that sounds, it's one of the dryest and dullest films I've ever seen.

Also the cover is not representative of the film.  Kirk Cameron isn't even wearing the same clothes.

bgmnts

Finally got round to seeing Logan on the insistance of many that it's not the regulat superhero shite.

A very fitting end to my childhood and teenage X Men fandom, to have to bitterly and brutally destroyed in 2 hours of pure savagery.

Stephen Merchant was weirdly good as Caliban. Looked creepily like comic book Caliban if memorry serves. Didn't know Caliban was a wurzel though.

Sin Agog

As part of my quest to fill in the gaps in my cult classic sticker book, I watched Over the Edge for the first time.  Really refreshing seeing kids playing kids, and getting wrecked at 14 in the local park just like I did.  I know we like to convince ourselves that we're constantly evolving and refining, but in a way we see the world clearer than ever at about 14.  See all the cognitive dissonance, injustices, and deflated ambitions better than we ever will.  Great music and debut performances.  Must have been a gargantuan influence on Dazed & Confused.

Hundhoon

Walkabout (1971) by Nicholas Roeg..about the children who get lost in vast Australian outback after their dad takes them for a picnic goes Bezerk and starts shooting at them sets his car on fire and blows his brains out.

been a massive fan of Don't Look Now for ages, but after he died the other week someone recommened this one, apparently it was nearly as good. it was.
visually mindblowing. Australia looks psychadelic, Roeg was up there with Kubrick in this department.



SteveDave

"The Woman" (2011)

The woman from the junkyard in The Walking Dead plays a feral woman who gets captured by the abusive dad (who looks like Will Ferrell) of an awful family. Fun ensues.

It was truly awful.


greenman

Quote from: amputeeporn on December 14, 2018, 11:25:49 PM
Sorcerer - 1977

Goodness me. This has been hanging around on my list for a while after seeing it mentioned in books like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, etc as one of the great ambitious movies of the new Hollywood. I must admit that it's troubled reputation (and the fact that I've never really seen it mentioned outside of those tomes) meant I didn't hunt it out immediately. I think the title also put me off. I'd just always assumed it was a supernatural/paranormal thriller, a mistake my girlfriend also made when I suggested we watch it. I wonder if Friedkin was hoping for some of that Exorcist magic in naming the film after one of the trucks?

Anyway, it completely blew us away. I find it really hard to believe that this failed so spectacularly in a world where Apocalypse Now succeeded. I was finally convinced to watch it after seeing someone on here hail it as a masterpiece and I have to agree with that assessment. It's riveting from the opening scene, steadily building to a pitch of madness rarely glimpsed in movies. When I think about it for a second the ending is completely inevitable but I think I'd been through so much by that point that it did catch me by surprise.

In conclusion - something I'll be buying for/recommending to friends.

Why do we think it failed so badly at the time? And even though there are stirrings of cultural reappraisal - why isn't it mentioned alongside the real greats from that era?

Watched it today and I'd definitely echo this, even with all the hype it exceeded my expectations. I do love other Friedkin but this was definitely his best work for me and sits very nicely against the best of Coppola, Kurbick, Scott, etc. It does feel quiet unique to have that level of ambition but to also stay as a pretty pure action thriller as well.

Z

Skate Kitchen
Crystal Mosselle obviously got a nice enough amount of money to do her dramatic debut and she's used it to show she has absolutely nothing to say. Just another floaty post-Malick indie, some cringeworthy attempts at teen dialogue (possibly improv'd but even still); All This Panic covered similar-ish ground in a floaty way much better.


mid90s
The making out scene was misjudged and well dodgy, all to cover a piece of pretty well worn and unrealistic ground.
The use of homophobic slurs was totally justified, the 90s were homophobic af.
16mm film helped but something about the color saturation didn't have the level of effect it could have.
4:3 aspect ratio probably made it feel a lot more 90s for a lot of people, but as someone who has seen a fuckton of 90s US indies (basically all of which were 16:9), it didn't work and felt like a bit of a cheap stimulant.
Writing was mostly crap, plot was crap, Lucas Hedges was very good as the older brother.

Small Man Big Horse

13 Going On 30 - Because Mrs SMBH loves it and was convinced I would too. As it goes it's perfectly amiable stuff, Jennifer Garner does the goofy uncoordinated teenager in an adult's body thing well, and Mark Ruffalo's fine as the love interest. It gets a bit bland around the fifty minute point and takes a little too long to get the end but it's amusing enough. 6.7/10

zomgmouse

Forgot to mention about a week ago I watched WR: Mysteries of the Organism. Batty blending of documentary and fiction and sexual socialist polemic, everything's such a joyous mishmash that it can't help but get you caught up in it. Not sure how much of it worked as individual segments but overall it was a hoot and I loved it.

Sin Agog

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 24, 2018, 11:10:23 PM
Forgot to mention about a week ago I watched WR: Mysteries of the Organism. Batty blending of documentary and fiction and sexual socialist polemic, everything's such a joyous mishmash that it can't help but get you caught up in it. Not sure how much of it worked as individual segments but overall it was a hoot and I loved it.

WR is the manifesto and Sweet Movie (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L3N37cgU5rs) is the beautiful chaos that resulted once it was put into action.  Makavejev is a roight ballsy genius.

zomgmouse

Quote from: Sin Agog on December 24, 2018, 11:16:07 PM
WR is the manifesto and Sweet Movie (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L3N37cgU5rs) is the beautiful chaos that resulted once it was put into action.  Makavejev is a roight ballsy genius.

I watched that years ago and remember precious little. Probably due for a rewatch. I remember it being a special kind of bonkers.

Blumf

Commando Ninja - Did you like Kung Fury? Well, you'll probably like this.
Another Kickstarter film that pays homage to 80s action schlock. Dumb but fun, whether it just laughing at the crapness, or spotting the copious references throughout the production (a lot of Commando as well as other Arnie flicks, and of course that telephone has to turn up, the film has 'ninja' in the title). Drags a bit in the middle, as so many of these films tend to, but I think if you're in the mood, you'll enjoy it well enough.

Anyway, it's free and on Youtube, and only an hour long:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No6isuzn0FQ