Barry Lyndon- I've not really read anything about this but I was struck by the incestuousness at work in many of the characters' relationships. Also not sure how you're meant to feel about Baz himself. On the one hand, he's a lying cheating conniving shit. On the other, the world he lives in is so dismal you could never really blame him.
Dr Strangelove- I know everyone has long since decided that this is officially a good film. But even then I was surprised by how entertaining it is, and how relevant it remains. I especially liked the way the characters involved in the eschatological predicament seemed able to switch their attention to trivialities, as if the end of the world was just inconvenient. 3-4 years ago I was struck by how some of the hawkish US military types on twitter (John Schindler for example) could tweet "I reckon this situation is Ukraine is going to get nuclear any day now" one minute then "How about them Red Sox" or whatever shortly afterwards.
I LOVE Barry Lyndon. It's one of my favourite Kubrick films. I recently got the Criterion blu ray. Fuck me, it looks (and sounds) amazing. But your point about how the audience is supposed to feel about the character - one of the reasons Kubrick cast O'Neal was because he wanted the audience to be drawn to the character with some sympathy and, up to that point, O'Neal had only really played "good guys" so he was perfect for giving the audience some sort of built-in liking for a man who steals, cheats, is cowardly and beats his step-son. Stunt casting in a way.
Also Strangelove is a classic, goes without saying. Sellers gets all of the usual plaudits (and excellent he is), but ever since my dad first showed it to me when I was a wee lad of 8 or 9 I was always more drawn to George C. Scott and his character. I still am to this day.
At this point I can also heartily recommend, if you haven't seen it, Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe - Strangelove played absolutely bloody deadly seriously. Stephen Frears' live TV adaptation was pretty good as well, although Sam Elliot fluffed a couple of lines if memory serves.
Got the Arrow release of Kieslowski's Dekalog(very reasonable at £25 for 5 BRs and 5 DVDs plus a decent sized book) and watched the first couple of episodes last night...
One - Certainly combated any fears I might have that the series would be below his latter work in terms of craft, indeed I think it might be the best looking Kieslowski I'v seen next to Veronique. In terms of the story I would confess I'm a little torn, I mean its certainly very effecting and I spose you could argue it exists purely as a tragedy but I can't totally get past the idea of it as some kind of judgement of the lead character which doesn't really seem justified on the evidence presented or really inline with Kieslowski's other work.
Two - Surprisingly different in look and I see looking at the book with it each episode switches cinematographers which I spose makes sense given the overlap in location, much more down to each here although a few shots do have me thinking Gondry was watching it before making that video for Protection. Dramatically as well more what I would typically expect offering a nice middle ground in terms of religion.
I suggested to someone that Dekalog was, in my opinion, probably the best thing Kieslowski had ever done. Was it you? I remember the Arnolfini in Bristol showed all ten episodes back-to-back once. Christ, what an event.
SMBH - please do give them another shot. Like the full length feature films that a couple of them spawned, they're not all doom and gloom.
Leap of Faith - not seen it since it first came out. I remembered enjoying it at the time, but not much more than that. Still a pretty good little film. Steve Martin really is great in it. Also clocked for the first time that Ricky Jay was the consultant for the preacher show shenanigans. Debra Winger great as well, as per usual.
Faults - micro budget indie with Leland "oh, it's that guy" Orser and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Interesting twist at the end, although it comes from no real background and feels a bit twist-for-twist's sake. The rest of it fine, particularly Orser.
Half Baked - I know most people LOVE Dave Chapelle, but I've never really got him or found him or his show very funny. Had some moments, but permanently stoned guy very quickly got on my tits and the prison "jokes" were already 20 years old (and the rest) then. Steven Right as "guy on couch" was the best thing in it.
Beginning of the Great Revival - pretty gash. It doesn't help that my knowledge of that period of China's history is lacking (to say the least), but the mix of propaganda, a VERY ropey turn from Chow Yun Fat and it mainly being comprised of meetings and speeches make the whole thing incredibly hard going. You know you're in trouble when Andy Lau gets about 7 minutes of screen time and Simon Yam has one single line of dialogue. I can't bring myself to watch its companion piece The Founding of a Republic.
My Own Swordsman - TOTAL gash. Admittedly I'm not fond of Chinese comedy, but this had all the very worst elements of that genre, as well as the worst elements of tail-end classic era martial arts films - too much wirework and anti-gravity, shitty self parody and so much on the nose content you need a box of fucking kleenex.
Convenience - typical low budget Brit "comedy" that spends far too much time being deadly serious and dramatic. Why can't us Brits make a decent out-and-out comedy any more?
(Did we ever?, I hear some of you ask)Miles Ahead - difficult one this. I KNOW it's not terrible, but as a huge Miles fan, particularly of the period most of the film covers, it just watches like a silly cartoon in the same way Straight Outta Compton did. Cheadle does his best, but just whispering doesn't really capture it. Still, nice to see Herbie Hancock get some air time, even if his keyboard sound sucked enormous balls.
What Dreams May Come - another one I haven't seen since it first came out. So I saw it at the cinema when most critics savaged it for all bar its visual effects, and most average Joe Public peeps who saw it said it was too schmaltzy, Robin Williams wasn't really right for the character, and there were far too many changes from the book. There's been a LOT of re-appraisal in the intervening years, and it's seen as something of a noble and admirable mini-failure if not an outright masterwork. Of course, being a Vincent Ward film, the visuals ARE brilliant, but there's a lot of sick-making bleeding heart stuff. It's also incredibly depressing, despite a happy ending (of sorts). It hasn't made me want to rush out and read the book.
Misery Loves Comedy - Kevin Pollak's documentary (expanded from a question he sometimes asked on his web show) about whether the best comedy is born out of depression, including interviews with some of the best known depression suffering comedians (Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, Jim Jefferies, Lewis Black, Richard Lewis, et al). Meh. Lots of tantalising little apples dangling, but it amounts to little more than a load of celebs telling capsule stories. No real meat to it.
I'm also re-watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy for the first time since I saw them at the cinema, as ITV2 are showing them on successive Sundays, but I'll wait until I've seen the third one before I comment.
