What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2019 Edition)

[Sebastian Cobb]

Never heard of 'The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick' but for the title alone it definitely seems worth a watch. Not sure it can live up to the high intense focused expectations I have built for it now.

There's actually two translations of the title, the second being 'The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty', but for some reason the more tin-eared translation is the one that stuck.

[SteveDave]

Wreck-It Ralph

Lovely stuff. For some reason I saw this after Ralph Breaks The Internet.

Bad Times At The El Royale

Some good bits but it's far too long. Also, did people have bodies like Thor's in 1969?

[sevendaughters]

KAILI BLUES set in rural Taiwan, a man searches for his nephew, a musician. The high point is an unbroken 45 minute take of the man's journey from village to village on a moped, in the back of a pick-up, and then on a boat across a lagoon. Slow, metaphysical, beautiful, but not without humours. 7

POST TENEBRAS LUX saw a film called Silent Light by this Mexican director (Reygadas) in 2006 when it came out and wondered where he'd got to. He made this, among other things, a story of a wealthy family who move off-grid to a rural valley. Things fall apart, but slowly, and beautifully, with lots of animals gazing mournfully on. There's a magical realism/folklore aspect when an animated devil turns up that I wasn't mad keen on. Great to look at but I can't say I'll be thinking about it next week. 6

LEON interesting Euro twist on a classic US genre film, dropping the emotional payload of this slightly Lolita-esque relationship into an otherwise normal (but good and stylish) action/revenge thriller. For me it's actually at its best in full action mode, with stylish and slightly weird moments and great design. In its emotional moments it is creepy and uncomfortable - by design - and as such I can see why some people violently reject this film as it lures them in with thrills and then smacks them over the head with a 12 year old trying to flirt with a grown man while he tries to repress his urges (or sublimate them through gunplay). 7

THE FIRM (2009) Absolute bollocks compared to the original. I don't necessarily object in what they've done - which is to take a second tier character from the original and make it about his journey in the world of organised hooligan activity - but it's done in such a superficial way that I can't believe for a second they understood what the fuck the first one was about. It turns a vibrant original into a dumb cosplay. 2

THE CLASS may have reviewed this in thread already but 2008 French film about a French teacher (of French) and his class of stroppy and diverse 13 year olds in the Paris banlieus. Very provocative film that can play to the prejudices of any political persuasion and the central stories are brilliantly executed. 9

DAISIES strange Czech art film about two women who decide that because the world is spoiled, they too will be. Obscure meanings but some great visual moments and original, if a bit annoying at times. 7

CLOSELY-OBSERVED TRAINS tar black satire about a Czech malingerer from a family of ne'er do wells and lazy bastards (hypnotist grandad dies trying to hypnotise Nazi tanks into turning around, gets his head run over) just trying his best to get through WW2, even though I think it's also suspicious about Stalinists and indeed any kind of big ideological movement. I was laughing throughout but it's in that mordant/hilarious mould that some will just find weird/sad/unfunny. 9

[Ferris]

Why?

I wasn't in the right frame of mind for a film, but I thought it was pretentious bollocks and all very pleased with itself. "Ooh, look how we cool we are - here's the Yardbirds in the middle of our film haha!" The weird ending scene was the best bit, and that's not saying much.

It's probably me though - like watching Seinfeld's standup, it looks cliched because it helped to create the cliches. It's helping to create the "swinging London" aesthetic maybe? Plus I was half asleep with an infant next to me, dropping occasional tods that meant I had to pause it and deal with that.

To be honest, I don't think I remember anything about it. Just left with an impression that I didn't like it and everyone was a bit too smug for my liking.

[holyzombiejesus]

Re-watched The Last Picture Show this week as I got the Criterion blu-ray with some Christmas money. Still one of my top 5 films. Love the feel of it, the gorgeous cinematography, Sam the Lion, the soundtrack, Timothy Bottoms' hair and pretty much everything else.

[Shit Good Nose]

The weird ending scene was the best bit, and that's not saying much.

And the only reason that scene is the way it is is because they ran out of money.  Lots of people have theorised and philosophised about it over the years, but no - literally cos the budget ran out and they couldn't do anything else.  Also cf. If...'s change from colour to black and white - depending on who you ask, they ran out of colour film and couldn't afford any more, so raided the studio off-cut bins and all they could get was black and white stock.

I'm with you actually - I've always thought it was a bit naff for the most part, and I'd have preferred it if they just stuck with mystery of the photo and forgot about all the trippy stuff.  One of those films that dated pretty much the second it was released, like Roger Corman's The Trip.  In fact most of those counter-culture films made in the mid to late 60s.

Re-watched The Last Picture Show this week as I got the Criterion blu-ray with some Christmas money. Still one of my top 5 films. Love the feel of it, the gorgeous cinematography, Sam the Lion, the soundtrack, Timothy Bottoms' hair and pretty much everything else.

Woss reckon to Texasville?  I didn't much care for it when I first saw it in the early 90s (having seen Picture Show on Moviedrome some years before), but I watched it again recently and I thought it held up pretty well.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I wasn't in the right frame of mind for a film, but I thought it was pretentious bollocks and all very pleased with itself. "Ooh, look how we cool we are - here's the Yardbirds in the middle of our film haha!" The weird ending scene was the best bit, and that's not saying much.

It's probably me though - like watching Seinfeld's standup, it looks cliched because it helped to create the cliches. It's helping to create the "swinging London" aesthetic maybe? Plus I was half asleep with an infant next to me, dropping occasional tods that meant I had to pause it and deal with that.

To be honest, I don't think I remember anything about it. Just left with an impression that I didn't like it and everyone was a bit too smug for my liking.

Fair enough, although it does sound like you weren't in the best frame of mind to watch a slow-moving art film about a paranoid, randy fashion photographer. Or maybe you wouldn't have liked it anyway, regardless of circumstances!

As for it being smug, I don't get that from the film at all. It's not trying to be self-consciously cool, it's largely a critique of the emptiness behind the superficial glamour of swinging London - and by association, any self-satisfied 'beautiful people' clique. Hemmings' character is an arse, we're not supposed to like him. As for that cameo from the Yardbirds, they're exactly the sort of hip band who'd be playing in a swinging London nightclub frequented by famous fashion photographers of that era. Their presence makes sense.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

And the only reason that scene is the way it is is because they ran out of money. 

They couldn't afford to buy a couple of tennis rackets and a ball?

[Shit Good Nose]

They couldn't afford to buy a couple of tennis rackets and a ball?

More the way it ended - just sort of running out of steam - but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case as well.

Ronan O'Casey (who played the mystery man subject of the photo) took great delight in destroying critics' theories about it, and Mark Kermode, who is mates with O'Casey's son, has often mentioned the time he basically got into an argument with the elder O'Casey and shamefully (by his own admission) uttered the "I know what I'm on about - I'm a professional film critic" line of egotistical superiority, to which O'Casey replied "I know what I'm on about - I'm in it", which Kermode has always said was one of his most humbling moments and changed the way he looked at films.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Ha, that's great. I do like Kermode. He's often (unfairly) dismissed as an opinionated blowhard, but he's actually always willing to admit to when he gets things wrong.

As for Blow-Up, I personally like the way it eventually peters out, even if that was more by accident than design. The protagonist never gets to the root of what happened, it was just a weird, unsettling incident he became obsessed with for 24 hours during his otherwise empty life. He's a cynical and arrogant man who, for a brief moment, engages with something very serious outwith his shallow little bubble. Whether that was Antonioni's intention or not doesn't really matter to me, as it works.

I also don't think it's dated as much as those Corman-produced counterculture exploitation flicks - charming, albeit cynical, period pieces for the most part - as Hemmings' cossetted media hipster character still exists in this day and age. He'd be depicted as some sort of social media 'influencer' or wanker entrepreneur if the film was made today.

You also get to see what the streets of central London actually looked like in 1966, which is fascinating.

[Shit Good Nose]

You also get to see what the streets of central London actually looked like in 1966, which is fascinating.

Even that is questionable, seeing as how Antonioni had loads of the buildings, landmarks, signs, trees and even grass artificially painted and also had several facades built on as he wasn't happy with the way it all looked on film.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Well that's that buggered.

[Shit Good Nose]

Could be one of the reasons they ran out of money...

[Ferris]

Could be one of the reasons they ran out of money...

I love this. To be a fly on the wall.

"We spent a lot on those buildings. I mean... we sort of... We've spent all the budget rebuilding swinging London for those few exterior shots"

"Ah. How much do we have left?"

"...errr"

*smash cut to some people pretending to play tennis with no equipment*

[Sebastian Cobb]

Occidental - surreal weird French film with not good reviews, although I really enjoyed it.

Actually this review makes me like it more.

"Grand Hotel" this most certainly isn't. Set in an expensive if rather seedy looking Parisian hotel on a night when student riots are taking place in the streets outside it's a kind of metaphysical thriller whose air of mystery is portentous to say the least but perhaps that is only down to a lack of coherence in the script. The cast mope about as if in a trance, (possibly they were), and nothing of any significance happens. It's less than 80 minutes long but it feels interminable and if I see anything as bad in the next eleven months I may abandon cinema altogether.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Midnight Special

I watched this as part of a home-school film club that a friend has run for the last few years. This was the first screening we've done just for the older kids and I was entrusted with teaching them myself. I tried to get them to think about it on a thematic level and I'm pretty sure I failed miserably, but at least the film was pretty good. It's not quite what I was expecting, though: After an austere thriller style opening, reminiscent of Sicario or somesuch, it takes an unexpected turn into Spielbergian wonder territory.

The cast are all very good, with Michael Shannon making good use of his coiled intensity, minus the occasional lurches into bug-eyed excess.

[zomgmouse]

The Hudsucker Proxy. Boo to everyone who'd given me the impression that this was in any way bad or a lesser Coen film. What a hoot! Certain moments reminded me a lot of Gilliam and the cynical cartoonishness really appealed to me. Great performances by Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh in particular.

I Was Born, But.... A fairly early (silent) Ozu, simple but affecting. Follows two little brothers as they adjust to life in a new neighbourhood and struggle with growing up. It's a very sweet film.

[Mister Six]

There's actually two translations of the title, the second being 'The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty', but for some reason the more tin-eared translation is the one that stuck.

The other one has a much better cadence. Lots of lovely hard consonants and doesn't have that flimsy "fear of the" ffuhffuhffuhffing bit in the middle.

[Custard]

Frank (2015) - Quite funny, this. Michael Fassbender is really good as Frank Sidebottom, and for once doesn't get his 'ol willy out. Hurrah!

Southern Comfort (1981) - Deadwood's Powers Boothe (what a name eh?) is great in this tense and brutal war film. It reminded me a bit of Predator. But, well, without a Predator. Except for maybe the predator that is man. Ahhhh, you see?

The Vikings (1958) - A quality cast, led by Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. Some decent battle scenes. And the two hours absolutely flew by. Good stuff.

Brian Eno: 1971-1977 - The Man Who Fell to Earth (2011) - Long documentary on Eno, on Amazon Video. Really interesting, though it goes on a bit! He gets bald really really quickly.

[greenman]

I wondering has the idea ever come up to structure discussion here into some kind of weekly/monthly group viewing? its informally happened a bit in this thread and that kind of discussion has for me generally been the best we've seen here so wouldn't mind seeing more of that, would anyone be interested?

Brian Eno: 1971-1977 - The Man Who Fell to Earth (2011) - Long documentary on Eno, on Amazon Video. Really interesting, though it goes on a bit! He gets bald really really quickly.

I always imagined some kind of exposure to a dangerous piece of eastern European sound equipment might be to blame, the price of that solo on John Cale's "Gun".

Enjoyed Les Diaboliques but not as much as Wages of Fear, did feel much closer to classic Hitchcock(who supposedly tried to buy the rights to the book first) without as many hints at new wave naturalism/charisma, very nicely filmed though especially the ending(although the picture quality wasn't nearly as good as Wages either).

[zomgmouse]

Blood Feast. Surprisingly very ordinary and yet quite odd at the same time. There's a lot of perhaps unnecessary gore and the Egyptian theme is an interesting frame - I think what makes it odd is how mundanely it's all played and the acting is terrible. There's a couple of (what I assume are intentionally) funny moments with one of the characters being more preoccupied with her dinner party than the grisly murders. Really curious film.

[phantom_power]

Theatre of Blood (1973) - much better and less cheesy than I was expecting. Pretty grim and grisly stuff and pretty funny as well. Not sure whether the "twist" was deliberately obvious or not

The Monster Club (1981) - enjoyable shite. Too much fucking BA Robertson obviously but any film where Vincent Price teaches John Carradine the etymology of monsters, including Weregoos and Humegoos, can't be all bad. A very slight and cheap anthology tale that is nonetheless entertaining

Halloween (2018) - Pretty shit. I had heard good things about this but it disappointed. It sort of shits on the first one a bit to have Laurie's life be so fucked up from its events and none of the characters are particularly likeable. The mad doctor strand doesn't really go anywhere and is over too quickly to be of any interest. And the fact that the policeman was there on the night of the original killings is almost completely irrelevant. A waste of Judy Greer as well

Kodachrome (2018) - a typical "man makes amends with his dying arsehole father" film that is lifted by the performances of Ed Harris and Jason Sudekis. Perfectly watchable and predictable but I still had a little sniffle at the end when Harris meets all the people who have been inspired by his work

[Shit Good Nose]

He gets bald really really quickly.

Spoilers!

[bgmnts]

John Q.

Horrendous film, absolutely pissed myself laughing at how poorly this subject - a really important one in my opinion - was handled and the jarring tonal shifts.

Denzel is still good though, performing well above this film's deserved quality.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The Hudsucker Proxy. Boo to everyone who'd given me the impression that this was in any way bad or a lesser Coen film. What a hoot! Certain moments reminded me a lot of Gilliam and the cynical cartoonishness really appealed to me. Great performances by Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh in particular.

I've always been extremely fond of it as well, and have no idea why it got a kicking from certain quarters upon release.

[Shit Good Nose]

The Hudsucker Proxy. Boo to everyone who'd given me the impression that this was in any way bad or a lesser Coen film. What a hoot! Certain moments reminded me a lot of Gilliam and the cynical cartoonishness really appealed to me. Great performances by Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh in particular.

I've always been extremely fond of it as well, and have no idea why it got a kicking from certain quarters upon release.

One of my favourite Coen brothers films and always has been.

Most critics at the time thought that it was just flat and empty satire (I think Ebert's review actually used the hoary old "style over substance" line) and, IIRC, had particular venom for Jennifer Jason Lee's performance.

Fortunately it has aged very very well indeed, and Lee perfectly channelled a Hawksian screwball comedy smart and sassy female lead, to the point where she could have been timewarped straight out of His Girl Friday or Bringing Up Baby.

Great film.

[zomgmouse]

Must be one of the last people on this site to watch The Tall Guy and be utterly swept up by it. Silly and sharp and very funny. I feel like Mel Smith had the right amount of wackiness as a director to counteract the Richard Curtis sappiness and make it an utterly charming experience.

Theatre of Blood (1973) - much better and less cheesy than I was expecting. Pretty grim and grisly stuff and pretty funny as well. Not sure whether the "twist" was deliberately obvious or not

Would make a great double bill with Dr Phibes!

[St_Eddie]

The Hudsucker Proxy. Boo to everyone who'd given me the impression that this was in any way bad or a lesser Coen film...

What fucker said that?!  I want names and addresses.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

What fucker said that?!  I want names and addresses.

[Dex Sawash]

I tell people to watch Hudsucker and if they respond with "is that the one about <brand of toy> " I know they are not going to like it. I think not knowing <brand of toy> is important for the full enjoyment of the first half of the film.
Apparently the <brand of toy> had been spoiled for the entire planet minus me.