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

[Shit Good Nose]

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.

Dildos.

[Dex Sawash]

2036 Origin Unknown

Katee Sackhoff falls flat(ter) in green screen performance. Fails to find justification to wear tank top in third act ramping up my self-loathing for no reason.
4/10

[SteveDave]

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

Played by Mehmet from Eastenders. This will never not be amazing to me.

Blood Fest (2018)

A huge horror festival turns into a real-life horror film. It was OK.

[ToneLa]

if 2018 is old..

Sorry to Bother You

Charming, even in the context of American pals saying OMG SOCIALISM. Yeah it's vaguely anti-capitalist. I just found 70% an honest but hilarious portrayal of work tbh. The sci fi twist came a bit late but even then managed to add to the overall adorable, courageous feel. A brave film with few missteps. Convincing performances, genuinely and surprisingly funny, right-on as well. Cannot think of a reason to not recommend this. Would be a good date movie if you're not kidding yourself about your partner(s) and not a drone. Cannot wait for Boots' next project. It's so put-together, with vision and meaning and, best of all, genuinely seems divisive in the best way of that term.

[hedgehog90]

Tried some early Gaspar Noé earlier:

Carne (1991)

Pretty unpleasant. Some nice shots of horses though.

I Stand Alone [Seul contre tous] (1998)

Pretty unpleasant also, but at least it had a happy ending.
After contemplating raping and murdering his retarded adolescent daughter, he decides not to. Pachelbel's Canon in D starts playing while the father and daughter wholesomely embrace, and then he starts fondling her breasts.
It was probably the most appropriate music that could have played at that moment.

[Neomod]

Newtown Utopia (2017)

A very Paul Kelly take on a very british subject. Basildon (It's a small town).

[Small Man Big Horse]

Brakes (2016) - This improvised british dramedy is told in two parts and we see the second first as various couples break up, and then the first part as they get together. I watched it due to the cast which includes Julian Barrett, Julia Davis, Paul McGann, Kerry Fox and Steve Oram but it's an incredibly uneven mess, and actively dull and annoying at times. 30 minutes of it is plausibly interesting (with the segments featuring Barrett and Davis unsurprisingly being the best) but it's an 85 minute film, so even if you're a huge fan of the actors involved it's not worth watching. 3.1/10

[Shit Good Nose]

This improvised british dramedy

That should have been warning enough...

[Small Man Big Horse]

That should have been warning enough...

It was mis-sold as a black comedy and I didn't know it was improvised until about 15 minutes in when I thought man, the script for this is dodgy, and checked online. Otherwise I'd have never gone near it and only hope my sacrifice saves the sanity of others.

[Shit Good Nose]

I'll be giving it a wide berth on the basis of your capsule review, so you've saved at least one (ar)soul.

[Phil_A]

Finally got around to seeing The Machinist, the film most notorious for Christian Bale's physical transformation into a walking skeleton. Turns out that was probably the most compelling part of it, unfortunately.

The first two thirds had some promise and certain amount of queasy oddness, but the big twist when it arrived was so laboriously foreshadowed it provoked nothing but a sigh of disappointment. I suppose if you'd never seen Fight Club, American Psycho, Angel Heart or any other famous work where the protagonist doesn't have a reliable view of reality it might've come as a surprise, but God almighty, this was some corny sub-Twilight Zone shit.

The first time he sees the hangman note with the letters "ER" filled in I said to myself "Right, that's going to be KILLER isn't it?" and hoped my expectations would be subverted. When he fills in the first letter with an "M" I just thought, "Oh for fuck's sake."

Why was he so skinny? How can a person not sleep for a year, your brain would turn to soup, surely? I just hoped for some weirder, more imaginative explanation for what was going on rather than "He was guilty because he ran over a kid."

[zomgmouse]

Brakes (2016)

Where did you find this? Despite your warning I'd still like to track it down avec if I won't ever watch it.

Finally got around to seeing The Machinist, the film most notorious for Christian Bale's physical transformation into a walking skeleton. Turns out that was probably the most compelling part of it, unfortunately.

The first two thirds had some promise and certain amount of queasy oddness, but the big twist when it arrived was so laboriously foreshadowed it provoked nothing but a sigh of disappointment. I suppose if you'd never seen Fight Club, American Psycho, Angel Heart or any other famous work where the protagonist doesn't have a reliable view of reality it might've come as a surprise, but God almighty, this was some corny sub-Twilight Zone shit.

The first time he sees the hangman note with the letters "ER" filled in I said to myself "Right, that's going to be KILLER isn't it?" and hoped my expectations would be subverted. When he fills in the first letter with an "M" I just thought, "Oh for fuck's sake."

Why was he so skinny? How can a person not sleep for a year, your brain would turn to soup, surely? I just hoped for some weirder, more imaginative explanation for what was going on rather than "He was guilty because he ran over a kid."

I remember having a very similar reaction to you at the ending. So dull! I groaned.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Where did you find this? Despite your warning I'd still like to track it down avec if I won't ever watch it.

Just sent you a pm good sir.

[zomgmouse]

Just sent you a pm good sir.

Much obliged!

[Dex Sawash]

The Machinist, Christian Bale

I keep seeing that thumbnail on Netflix and read The Mechanic and I've seen both of those. Only just realized that Bale isn't in either of the and it is a different movie.

[amputeeporn]

An Angel At My Table - 1990

Really lovely, sad film based on the autobiography of Janet Frame, largely about overcoming mental illness through writing. There are several things in the film that I thought impossible to believe, only to look them up and find them true. Very beautiful, though, and I thought the three actors who played her were terrific. The ending was also very understated and sweet. I have a feeling it will stay with me a while and I look forward to reading her stuff - particularly the collection of short stories which essentially literally saved her life.

Somehow reminiscent in tone of Bill Forsyth's Housekeeping, though I don't know how much of that's in my head. Perhaps just a similar blend of the truly lovely and the truly sad, with a fascinating view into the inner lives of young women.

[SteveDave]

People's Republic Of Desire

Documentary about a Chinese website where ordinary people become online superstars and get given thousands of dollars (or whatever) for singing dodgy songs and saying hello to people. My big takeaway from it was that everyone smokes like chimneys over there. They also drink out of plastic disposable cups a lot.

Also the Internet is awful.

[zomgmouse]

Ginger and Fred. Equal parts cynical and sentimental late period Fellini starring Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina as two retired dancers who reunite on a shitty television special. Lots of satire of television as well as some quite moving moments.

Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet. A ridiculous romp with an American detective in turn-of-the-century Prague chasing a villainous botanist and a carnivorous plant. Loads of fun from the director of the similarly fun Lemonade Joe.

Smiley Face. My first Gregg Araki film. This was very funny! Anna Faris plays a stoner who's caught in a massive chain of stupid events that are mostly her own fault. Really enjoyed it.

[Shit Good Nose]

Finally got around to seeing The Machinist, the film most notorious for Christian Bale's physical transformation into a walking skeleton. Turns out that was probably the most compelling part of it, unfortunately.

The first two thirds had some promise and certain amount of queasy oddness, but the big twist when it arrived was so laboriously foreshadowed it provoked nothing but a sigh of disappointment. I suppose if you'd never seen Fight Club, American Psycho, Angel Heart or any other famous work where the protagonist doesn't have a reliable view of reality it might've come as a surprise, but God almighty, this was some corny sub-Twilight Zone shit.

The first time he sees the hangman note with the letters "ER" filled in I said to myself "Right, that's going to be KILLER isn't it?" and hoped my expectations would be subverted. When he fills in the first letter with an "M" I just thought, "Oh for fuck's sake."

Why was he so skinny? How can a person not sleep for a year, your brain would turn to soup, surely? I just hoped for some weirder, more imaginative explanation for what was going on rather than "He was guilty because he ran over a kid."

I REALLY liked it at the time, BUT I only saw it the once when it came out at the cinema and I've not seen it since.  I remember practically nothing about it, other than Bale being a walking skellington.


I watched Savage Steve Holland's High School trilogy last night.  Better Off Dead still holds up well, One Crazy Summer is still my favourite one (I know objectively it's not as good as BOD, but I have a lot of sentimental memories attached to OCS), and How I Got Into College is a hell of a lot duller than I remembered.  I know HIGIC isn't really a Steve Holland film like the other two are, but even so you'd have thought he might have sparked it up a bit.

[Artie Fufkin]

Finally got around to seeing The Machinist, the film most notorious for Christian Bale's physical transformation into a walking skeleton. Turns out that was probably the most compelling part of it, unfortunately.

Why was he so skinny? How can a person not sleep for a year, your brain would turn to soup, surely? I just hoped for some weirder, more imaginative explanation for what was going on rather than "He was guilty because he ran over a kid."

I heard that Bale turned up for filming after losing about 40 stones or whatever and the director was like "Shit, I was just gonna put you in a baggy shirt...."

[amputeeporn]

I heard that Bale turned up for filming after losing about 40 stones or whatever and the director was like "Shit, I was just gonna put you in a baggy shirt...."

TBF - it became a huge talking point around the film, and Bale's performance was good. Can't fault him for going all the all the all the way in.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet. A ridiculous romp with an American detective in turn-of-the-century Prague chasing a villainous botanist and a carnivorous plant. Loads of fun from the director of the similarly fun Lemonade Joe.

I loved Lemonade Joe but for some reason didn't check out the director's other work, but have now obtained Adele and will watch it very soon after your glowing review.

Smiley Face. My first Gregg Araki film. This was very funny! Anna Faris plays a stoner who's caught in a massive chain of stupid events that are mostly her own fault. Really enjoyed it.

I'm a big fan of Gregg Araki (and Anna Faris for that matter) and liked Smiley Face a lot, but it's without doubt Araki's most mainstream film. Kaboom's my favourite of his as it's so ridiculously over the top but I also loved Nowhere, Mysterious Skin and The Living End, and the only film of his I didn't really get on with was The Doom Generation.

I watched Savage Steve Holland's High School trilogy last night.  Better Off Dead still holds up well, One Crazy Summer is still my favourite one (I know objectively it's not as good as BOD, but I have a lot of sentimental memories attached to OCS), and How I Got Into College is a hell of a lot duller than I remembered.  I know HIGIC isn't really a Steve Holland film like the other two are, but even so you'd have thought he might have sparked it up a bit.

For me it's the other way round and I have a huge amount of sentimental memories attached to Better Off Dead, I bought an ex-rental video of it for £20 and have watched it a ridiculous amount, when I was a pretentious and incredibly stupid teenager I used to claim I could never go out with a girl who didn't like it, though that was an obvious lie, I'd have gone out with anyone who asked me even if they'd killed before and planned to do so again. It's got to the point that I've seen it so many times I no longer watch it though, as I can quote pretty much every line of dialogue and have (finally) got a bit bored of it. I should rewatch One Crazy Summer some time soon though as I was very fond of it as well and have only seen it two or three times, the last occasion being over two decades ago. And yeah, I've only seen HIGIC the once, it's fine but nothing special at all.

[hedgehog90]

I saw Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter last night.
I don't know quite how else to put it, but this film felt like it came from another fucking universe.
I wish I'd had some inkling for what it was before I went into it as my experience was marred by the unexpectedness of it all.

Most of the film is from the point of view of the kids, and the way it's shot and acted, it feels like a kids film... but then you've got this pure embodiment of evil at the centre of it, hunting down 2 small children and it's MENTAL!
It was like a David Lynch film combined with a Saturday morning kids show.
It just felt so wrong, especially given the context of the era it was made. I haven't done any reading on it yet, but I bet there's some amazing stories regarding the making of this film.

I should have loved it, but my head was all out of sorts and I never recovered my footing from the initial shock...
But now I can't stop thinking about it; particularly the songs.
Like Pearl's song while they're travelling down the river. Goddamn, I've got chills just thinking about it now.
The way it starts with Robert Mitchum's murderous howl reverberating into the night, and then slowly transitions into this beautiful, dreamy song...
about....
                   a family of flies.....
                                                      that go......

to the Moon!

And the way the preacher sings his song in such a long, drawn-out way.

Leeaa-ning.... Leeaa-ning.. Leaning safe and secure from all alarms

Leeaa-ning.. Leeaa-ning... Leaning on the everlasting arms

It's almost serene, but the beat between each line seems ever so slightly too long, and it takes on a bone-chillingly sinister quality.
It also put me in mind of Hal's 'Daisy' from 2001, where the air is fraught with a similar sense of danger & tension when it's sung.

I'll definitely have to re-watch this one. I think I'll be able to tune into its weird, macabre alien frequencies a lot better a second time round.
I can't get over the fact it was made in 1955.
Why didn't I hear about this film sooner?

Charles Laughton... what a freak... an amazing, glorious, cunt of a freak.

[Custard]

Night Of The Hunter is great. One of my all time favourites

[ToneLa]

Oh I love it, absolutely love it. It's like a fucking nightmare in the best way. One long eerie dream.

[Ferris]

Night Of The Hunter is great. One of my all time favourites

I saw it years ago and have no memory of it whatsoever (except that it has Robert Mitchum). Must seek it out.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The Apple (1980) - Absolutely mental musical that is technically awful but also amazing. The songs are insane, the plot ridiculous (being a mix of the tale of the garden of eden and a parable warning of the perils of fame) and the acting's all over the place yet I loved it an enormous amount, and the ending has to be seen to be believed, and even then you might not do so. 8.1/10

[Phil_A]

It's my feeling that Night Of The Hunter, like Peeping Tom in later years, was a visionary work doomed to be misunderstood upon it's initial release,

It must've made a big impression on Tim Smith, as Cardiacs' "Guns" album is full of references to the film, which in turn inspired me to make a terrible quality youtube video using Window Movie Maker(those film grain effects, oof) some eleven years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AipXtRruGnk

Mercy Alive! Hot-Dog! Love's a winnin'!

It's also John Kricfalusi's favourite film of all time, for what that's worth.

[amputeeporn]

Re: Night of the Hunter - has anyone read the novel? iirc there's a lovely penguin modern classic edition with Mitchum on the front in character.

Edit: but google's stumped me, so perhaps I'm misremembering.

[Shit Good Nose]

Re: Night of the Hunter - has anyone read the novel? iirc there's a lovely penguin modern classic edition with Mitchum on the front in character.

Edit: but google's stumped me, so perhaps I'm misremembering.

Forget the novel - has anyone seen the remake with Richard Chamberlain?

Ooff.