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

[fatguyranting]

Holocaust 2000.

I love that film and even bought myself the original UK quad poster. A messy but enjoyable Euro Omen rip off with proper disturbing opening credits of famine and disease. Haven't seen it for years so perhaps it doesn't quite stand up to my first teenage watch though.

[zomgmouse]

It kind of has its moments and almost gets close to being something to care about but it never really got there for me.

[Artie Fufkin]

Brubaker

Robert Redford is the new governor of a bad prison, and pretends to be a prisoner at the start. He doesn't want his hair cut. Morgan Freidman is a sad prisoner for about 5 minutes who threatens to kill that bloke from An Officer & A Gentleman who committed suicide. The mayor from Jaws tells Robert off for trying to turn bad prison into nice prison. M Emmet Walsh tries to sell Robert some wood.

Really good, actually.

[gilbertharding]

Watched Yangtze Incident (1957) last night. A gripping yarn, forgotten story and all that. The plot doesn't seem to deviate too much from what's supposed actually to have happened.

There are some good performances from Richard Todd and Doctor Who, and a cameo from Bernard Cribbins - but the best thing about it is the use of some of the actual ships from the story. Also a Sunderland flying boat at one point. The banks of the Orwell estuary don't look much like China to me, but who knows?

The reason I watched it was because it was a DVD I bought for my Dad (who died last week). I bought it for him because his Dad served in the Navy during the war, including a spell commanding a ship identical to HMS Amethyst.

[peanutbutter]

McQueen

Nathan Barley was much more a throwback to this kind of shite that was emerging in fashion from the 90s than it was a prescient image of the future, wasn't it?
Okay doc, nothing amazing but seemed objective enough and whathaveyou.

[Sin Agog]

Watched Yangtze Incident (1957) last night. A gripping yarn, forgotten story and all that. The plot doesn't seem to deviate too much from what's supposed actually to have happened.

There are some good performances from Richard Todd and Doctor Who, and a cameo from Bernard Cribbins - but the best thing about it is the use of some of the actual ships from the story. Also a Sunderland flying boat at one point. The banks of the Orwell estuary don't look much like China to me, but who knows?

The reason I watched it was because it was a DVD I bought for my Dad (who died last week). I bought it for him because his Dad served in the Navy during the war, including a spell commanding a ship identical to HMS Amethyst.

Really sorry about your dad, gil.  It's weird how incredibly important movies are for blokes in particular when it comes to processing grief.  Or at least it's like that with me.


Watched Jodorowsky's Peter O'Toole and Omar Shariff reunion (with their new friend Christopher Lee), The Rainbow Thief.  It's a total second-tier movie for all of them, but it's for that very reason that I found it so strangely compelling.

[zomgmouse]

Wizards. Never seen a Ralph Bakshi film before - some cool ideas and some cool animation, though a bit higgledy-piggledy in parts. Very classic fantasy seen through a crooked lens.

Radioland Murders. Not great but not terrible, some good bits of fun and a nice supporting cast. Genuinely keeps you guessing.

Good Morning. Terrific, light Ozu - almost like he took notes from Tati on this one. A selection of intersecting storylines, including two brothers who decide to be silent to protest their parents not buying them a television. Also features the most fart jokes I've seen in a film for a long time.

Early Spring. Another really solid Ozu, dealing with infidelity and bourgeois capitalist humdrum.

End of August at the Hotel Ozone. Interesting Czech existential post-apocalyptic-ish film that doesn't really go anywhere but has a weird mood reminiscent of a lot of other Czech films of that era (this films is from 1967).

[phantom_power]

A Touch of Class (1973) - An interesting film that is an odd blend of slapstick sex comedy and a more subtle, grown-up film about love. It could never be made nowadays without making George Segal's character a lot more likeable and with some proper reason for cheating on his wife. I doubt the ending would stay the same either. Glenda Jackson surprisingly won an Oscar for this and I can see why as she is funny and charming, traits I wouldn't normally associate with her

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) - It took me a while to get into this but after a while I found it very compelling and it has stayed with me. Ben Gazzarra is fantastic in it and it works more as a character study of him and his seedy club as it does anything else as the actual killing and subsequent escape is a bit silly and unbelievable. POP FACT: David Bowie can be seen in the background of the scene at the end where Cosmo talks to Flo in the club near the end

[Sin Agog]

I really love this Walter Matthau movie called Hopscotch co-starring Glenda Jackson, but I never followed her later political career as a Labour MP.  Was she all proto-May or something?

[sevendaughters]

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) - It took me a while to get into this but after a while I found it very compelling and it has stayed with me. Ben Gazzarra is fantastic in it and it works more as a character study of him and his seedy club as it does anything else as the actual killing and subsequent escape is a bit silly and unbelievable. POP FACT: David Bowie can be seen in the background of the scene at the end where Cosmo talks to Flo in the club near the end

Yeah I like this a lot for the performance (Seymour Cassel is good in his role too) and atmosphere but I think Cassavetes was never the best at sensible narrative, which is understandable given his other films. One of those films that makes you realise the star system and bankable leads holds US cinema's artistic potential back to a certain degree.

[sevendaughters]

I really love this Walter Matthau movie called Hopscotch co-starring Glenda Jackson, but I never followed her later political career as a Labour MP.  Was she all proto-May or something?

Began as a Blairite but turned on him after the invasion. Remained centre-left but essentially a decent sort (here is where someone piles in with a more considered critique).

[phantom_power]

Began as a Blairite but turned on him after the invasion. Remained centre-left but essentially a decent sort (here is where someone piles in with a more considered critique).

I was talking more of her film roles. The ones I have seen are mainly serious with her playing stern or not overtly fun or funny characters. I may be wrong

[zomgmouse]

I was talking more of her film roles. The ones I have seen are mainly serious with her playing stern or not overtly fun or funny characters. I may be wrong

She was great in Sunday Bloody Sunday.

[phantom_power]

Nosferatu (Herzog version) - As much as I wish I did I think I just don't get Herzog and thought this was a bag of balls. Stilted, hammy, boring. The only redeeming feature was the Popol Vuh soundtrack

The Seventh Seal (Not sure what year, it's the Seventh Fucking Seal of course you know what film I mean) - I am only about half way through this but enjoying it more than I thought. I thought it would be a real slog, "nutritional film" full of pregnant pauses and overly oblique allegorical conversations but it is actually pretty light for a film with this subject matter. I am looking forward to watching the rest and I loved that song the actors sing on stage about the Black Lord farting on the beach. Has anyone done a cover of it?

[Ferris]

I wrote one of my finals on The Seventh Seal. Got a 2:1. Still never seen it though - is it any good?

[phantom_power]

I wrote one of my finals on The Seventh Seal. Got a 2:1. Still never seen it though - is it any good?

I don't know. I haven't finished watching it. None of the seals have turned up yet

[St_Eddie]

The Seventh Seal (Not sure what year, it's the Seventh Fucking Seal of course you know what film I mean)...

That's the Pixar movie with Rob Schneider as the voice of the seal, right?

[phantom_power]

That was the sixth one. The seventh had Nick Swardson

[Shit Good Nose]

I wrote one of my finals on The Seventh Seal. Got a 2:1. Still never seen it though - is it any good?

A large chunk of it depends on the viewer being a fan of Bergman as it is one of his most Bergmanesque films.  It's also worth seeing to fully appreciate the nods made to it in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Last Action Hero.

After that, it's pretty hard going.  And that's coming from someone with Malick/Tarkovsky/Lav Diaz levels of patience.

Also, it's the one with the infamous anal gape.

[St_Eddie]

It's also worth seeing to fully appreciate the nods made to it in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Last Action Hero.

I still haven't got around to watching The Seventh Seal yet but I still fully understood the references in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Last Action Hero because the scene of the knight playing chess with Death has entered popular culture and the public's collective conscience.  Like Casablanca, it's a film which can be safely referenced without a reliance on the audience having actually watched the film in question.

[Shit Good Nose]

I still haven't got around to watching The Seventh Seal yet but I still fully understood the references in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Last Action Hero because the scene of the knight playing chess with Death has entered popular culture and the public's collective conscience.  Like Casablanca, it's a film which can be safely referenced without a reliance on the audience having actually watched the film in question.

But there are more, more subtle, nods in both that go beyond the basic iconic imagery, hence "fully appreciating".

[St_Eddie]

But there are more, more subtle, nods in both that go beyond the basic iconic imagery, hence "fully appreciating".

Intriguing.  I shall move it up on my 'to watch' list.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Also, it's the one with the infamous anal gape.

Intriguing.  I shall move it up on my 'to watch' list.

[greenman]

Intriguing.  I shall move it up on my 'to watch' list.

Von Sydow: "Best of seven?"

Death "Dam right!

[phantom_power]

After that, it's pretty hard going.  And that's coming from someone with Malick/Tarkovsky/Lav Diaz levels of patience.

Really? I am by no means a fan of hard to watch films (though I do love Malick) but I found it a pretty easy watch. There is a plot, however basic, rounded characters and it looks nice. I am sure I missed most of the allegory in the film but it can be watched on a pretty surface level as well

[Shit Good Nose]

Really? I am by no means a fan of hard to watch films (though I do love Malick) but I found it a pretty easy watch. There is a plot, however basic, rounded characters and it looks nice. I am sure I missed most of the allegory in the film but it can be watched on a pretty surface level as well

It's mainly because I'm not a huge Bergman fan (and, for the same reasons, most of Woody Allen's late 70s to early 90s films where he went from spoofing Bergman to straight remaking Bergman).  I find a lot of his stuff very trying. 

Lots of time for The Virgin Spring and Fanny and Alexander though.

[phantom_power]

In what way do you think it is hard-going? Apart from being Bergmanesque, which I don't really understand

[peanutbutter]

Mike Birbiglia - My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Don't think it held together quite as well as some of his other shows but it was pretty sweet stuff still. There's something really jarring about a guy like Birbiglia doing these kind of shows to HUGE CROWDS, he's very good and definitely deserves the crowds but it just feels like a poor fit atmosphere wise.

Let There Be Light
Absolute bullshit ending aside, I can see why this was shelved for decades. Even if it were largely staged and softened it's very obviously something that would've gone down very poorly with the army in 1946.

[Phil_A]

30th anniversary screening of Batman '89.

Have to say, this film looks incredible on the big screen. The cinematography and production design are absolutely superb, no complaints there.

The script and most of the acting has aged less well. Structurally it's also really odd with some peculiar peaks and troughs, particularly in the latter third of the movie when the Joker's running around causing chaos and the Gotham police just kind-of disappear until the final ten minutes.

Particularly odd is the part after Vicki & Bats escape the Joker at the museum. He carts her off to his cave, then drugs her(with his cape apparently?) and takes her all the way back to her apartment...where the Joker almost immediately tries to abduct her again. Nice going, Bruce.

Also everyone's fine attending the Joker's parade after he's tried to poison half the city with Smilex, gassed a load of people at the museum and trashed all the exhibits. Yeah, the guy's obviously on the level, he's giving out free money! There can be no catch to this!

The final confrontation in the tower is also a bit of a mess, terrible on the nose dialogue and the way it contrives to have Vicki and Batman both hanging off the ledge is so silly. There's also a hilarious bit after the bell falls blocking the stairwell to the cops, Gordon gives the most half-hearted shove to try and move it and just sort of goes "Well, done all we can do, guys."

Something I never knew until now - the actor playing the young Jack Napier in the flashback to the Wayne's murder? Hugo Blick, writer of Operation Good Guys, Marion & Geoff, The Shadow Line etc.

[Shaky]

The most incredible thing about Burton's Batman is the fact it was written by two people genuinely named Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren. What are the chances?